#this is a monster so posted to ao3 for easier reading

[strangersteddierthings]

Writing Prompt for this list, requested by @suddenlyinlove. #42. "His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow." and #30. “Can I sit here? The other tables are full.”

Details - This is an AU with a twist I don't wanna spoil so like... suspend your disbelief please. Period-typical homophobia and thus, the use of slurs derogatorily. Stir clear if that is triggering.

Posted on Ao3 because it is long (9.7k) and it might be easier to read there for some.

-

August 25, 1984 - Two Days Before the Start of School

There's a good view of the whole party from their dark corner of the yard, where Jeff, Gareth, and Brian are huddled around him. Eddie'd told Carol Perkins he'd show but only if his friends could come, too. If she wanted weed, then his friends could have beer.

Plus, if he was going to suffer, they were going to suffer. That's what friendship was about.

"His ego is so visible; I can almost watch it grow," Eddie mutters, glaring in the general direction of Steve 'The Hair' Harrington as he laughs at something (he's clutching his beer awfully tight for someone having fun- Nope, Eddie doesn't care).

"Right? Can see it ballooning right before our eyes," Jeff says. This is why Jeff is his best friend. They hate on the same things. People. Whatever.

"Sorry for you guys," Eddie fakes sympathy, "once I graduate, I won't have to deal with it. Let me know if anyone shoves you into a locker though. I'll slash some tires or refuse to sale 'em weed. Whichever hurts them more."

"You said that last year," Gareth says. "And yet."

Eddie pretends to stab himself in the heart, falling to the ground dramatically, gasping like he was dying before finally stilling, staring as unblinking as he could at the sky.

Jeff nudges him with his foot, "good riddance, Munson. People will remember you weirdly."

Eddie breaks character to grin up, lifting a hand that Jeff takes and helps pull him up. "Remembered weirdly is what it's all about."

"Speaking of weird, Harrington's being... weird," Gareth says, tilting his head slightly, still looking in the direction they'd all been looking at just moments before. "When you just dropped he like... I dunno. Weird."

"What, weird how. What did he do?" Eddie whips to look at Harrington, who is looking back, looking worried, and is slightly closer than he was before. Eddie watches as Harrington's eyes track his entire self, looking for what, Eddie can't even begin to understand. He can visibly see the tension leave Harrington's body, pretty sure even his friends clocked that (even though they have less experience in the Harrington-watching department than himself).

"When you dropped, he like... rushed forward. I think he caught how fucking weird that would be for him to do 'cause he stopped just as quickly. That's weird, right?"

"Really fucking weird."

Harrington steps back into his friend group, more on the outside than he was before. (Did seem like people loved Hargrove a bit more than Harrington these days).

Eddie and his friends go back to trash talking everyone they can set their eyes on. It's easy to do, what with being ignored in the corner again. Occasionally Eddie is flagged down by someone, or they try and make eye contact (which is worse), so he huffs as though put upon and marches off to a different corner of the Perkins' backyard to sale his contraband.

(If he's marking it up, well, these rich kids can afford it.)

Anyway, their trash talk always seems to come back to Harrington. None of them acknowledge it out loud but Harrington's the easiest to shit talk in public because he's the safest. He's egotistical, kinda airheaded, and an asshole, but in a different way than Hagan or Jackson or most of the other jocks.

Harrington is the kind of asshole that you introduce yourself to 15 times and unless you're 'popular' he doesn't bother to remember he's already met you. Hagan and Jackson are assholes that give you a swirlee if you sneeze wrong near them, or will call you a fag before gut punching you behind the bleachers because they think they caught you staring at them (which Eddie was not ((It was Harrington he was staring at)).

He's safe to shit talk because he doesn't get physical (couldn't win a fight if the rumors were true (Also they all saw how he looked after Jonathan got him)) and rarely gets confrontational (less so with each passing year). Eddie thinks that's his ego - he's so full of himself that anything you say about him can't possibly affect him. (What are the words of a peasant in the face of a king, after all?)

That's not to say they haven't fucked up and said something at just the right time to provoke Harrington in the past, because they all have, but it's typically his lackeys that jump in defense, that say something first to defend Harrington. And The King will let them bark and growl just enough to put the peasants back in their place, calming his dogs with words of 'they're not worth it' and 'if what he said meant anything it would have hurt, wouldn't it?' which is just rude. Like Eddie and his friends aren't even people capable of drawing Harrington's attention, much less his wrath.

If Eddie's honest with himself (he's not), he would stop to question why he even wants to provoke a reaction from Harrington (it's because of his stupid crush), but Eddie's not honest so...

The point is, they feel pretty comfortable trash talking Harrington in hushed whispers to themselves in a corner of Carol Perkins' yard.

"Do you think he, like, genuinely thinks he looks cool when he does that?" Gareth whispers as they watch Harrington shotgun a beer, again.

"Dunno, probab-" Jeff cuts himself off, a quizzical expression on his face as he turns his head to look towards the Perkins' house. He's got ears that pick up everything, so Eddie just watches as he moves away from the group to the fence. Watches as Jeff jumps to look over. When he lands, he flips quickly back to them, looking between them and the group of party goers. He takes a moment, assessing his options it seems, before cupping his hands around his mouth and shouting, "Cops in bound! Just turned onto the street!"

The party starts scattering instantly, teens running in all directions.

Brian and Gareth eye the back fence and Eddie knows immediately they're not going to jump it. Eddie throws Gareth the keys to his van, "get Jeff and go."

They don't argue, they've done this song and dance before. Eddie knows they might get a stern talking to for smelling like beer but if Eddie's in the van with them, they're all ending up in jail because of what's in his lunchbox. (Hell, they'd still get a night in jail instead of just a warning for the beer if Eddie's in the van without the lunchbox).

Eddie's not the most athletic but he's gotta run. He tosses his lunchbox over the back fence before hauling himself up, one leg over and trying to get the other when he gets high-centered for a moment before gravity starts to pull him down (thankfully on the correct side of the fence) only to find the chain on his jeans catches along something at the top, leaving him to cling quickly to the fence, praying he can muster enough upper body strength to haul himself back up enough to unstick the chain before the cops get here. He tries to readjust and his hand slips, he can't get any leverage. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

He's so screwed. Officer Callihan said if he was caught again, he'd be tried as an adult. Wayne's going to kill him. Why won't these stupid jeans just rip, how has the chain not given way yet? He's going to get caught with his lunchbox right at his feet. He's-

Being shoved back up, someone's shoulder digging painfully into his ribcage to get the leverage needed for Eddie's body to be high enough for the stranger's hand to sneak up and unstick the chain. Eddie expects to be dumped suddenly and unceremoniously on the ground but this does not happen. Instead, his mysterious hero manages to keep him pinned up on the fence long enough to turn themselves so both of the stranger's arms are under Eddie and then they kind of just... sink together, using the fence as a counterweight by leaning into but not actually dragging Eddie down against it.

The culmination of which ends with Eddie being held like some blushing bride in Steve Harrington's lap. Eddie opens his mouth to say... something. What, he doesn't know, but Harrington lifts a finger to his lips to signal him to be quiet. So, he stays quiet, heart pounding.

It takes about five full seconds before the sounds of the cops busting the party actually start, the sirens on the cars flipping on to let the scattering teens know they've been caught. In that same instance, Harrington sweeps up Eddie's lunch box and shoves it onto his chest, where one of Eddie's hands comes up to wrap around and hold it close on instinct, the sound the metal handle clanging on the metal lid meaningless in all the other sounds happening.

Using his other hand, Harrington basically folds Eddie forward and out of his lap, back on his own feet in a crouch. Harrington shoves his chin forward, a silent instruction to move but Eddie's still wrapping his head around the fact he's no longer dangling from a wooden fence like an idiot, so Harrington steps forward, a hand wrapping around the wrist of Eddie's free hand, forcing him to follow along as they stealth along the wooden fence of the Perkins' residence, then the fence of the neighbors, and finally a third neighbor before the fences run off and all that's left is the woods that boarder the town one way, and a way back to the road on the other.

Eddie should pull his wrist free and book it, run as fast and as far from Harrington and this party as he can get but he's kind of star struck right now (he can be a little honest with himself, as a treat). He just follows, lets Harrington jerk him around (don't even think it Munson, do not think about it-) and follows quietly.

Harrington peeks around the end of the fence, looking for any incoming trouble, Eddie assumes, and quickly jerks back, looking to Eddie, "you trust me, man?"

And Eddie, the idiot, says, "Yeah, man."

Harrington grabs his lunchbox, ripping it away from him with ease (Eddie's still star struck, okay?) and shoves it up against the fence, twisting his body as he does, so he ends up sitting with his back to this fence, body blocking sight of the lunchbox before pulling Eddie into his lap.

This is what brings Eddie back into his body. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"Just don't punch me until I get the cop that's gonna round the fence any time now to go away."

Eddie could bolt but he's not particularly fast, so he'd be caught, and he knows the odds. Between himself and Harrington, they'll book him and let Harrington go with a warning. So, Harrington thinks he can get the cop to go away? Okay. He lets Harrington manhandle him (don't think it don'tthinkit don't-) He's absolutely thinking it because Harrington grabs his ass and pulls him flush against him before a hand cups the back of his head and shoves his face into Harrington's neck, and then Harrington whispers in his ear, "just pretend we've been making out back here for the last half hour."

Fuck! Harrington's trying to get him shot by the goddamn police. He is an idiot and should have known better than to trust him. Well. If Harrington thinks he can get away from this unscathed, he's sorely mistaken. Eddie lifts his hands to ruffle Harrington's perfect hair before gripping it roughly with one hand, the other moving to brace himself on the fence, then he latches onto Harrington's neck, intent on giving Harrington the biggest, ugliest hickie of his life. Try and explain that away you asshole.

Except Harrington's reaction isn't what Eddie had thought it would be. Instead of being shoved, the hands on his ass and in his hair squeeze, seemingly trying to get Eddie closer and that is definitely a moan his hears, breathed directly into his ear. It eggs Eddie on a bit, truthfully, so he pulls back a little, less set on just marking Harrington and a little more set on seeing if he can make Harrington actually enjoy it.

Eddie presses kisses over the bit of skin he'd just bit like a wild animal and runs his tongue up to gently pull at Harrington's earlobe, before kissing his way back down to suck at the same spot some more. Harrington keeps switching from squeezing at him to petting him and Eddie's not really going to complain. The police can come shoot him. He'll die- well, not happy but at least alright.

"Jesus Christ, kid!"

Eddie tries to jerk away, a reflex because that's Chief Hopper's voice and he's so fucking screwed, but Harrington keeps him moored there, face hidden, hand cradling his head more gently than it has been thus far, the hand on his ass moving up to his lower back, holding him closer... dare he say, protectively.

"Hopper," Harrington sounds more calm than Eddie thought he would, "hi."

Eddie wishes he could see what is happening because there is an awful lot of silence going on in which he can only assume Hopper and Harrington are staring at each other. (Having a silent conversation, perhaps?)

Then the heaviest sigh he's ever heard from Chief Hopper (and he's heard some heavy ones in his days) greets the air, "I don't want to know who that is. Just this once, I am going to pretend I didn't see you here. You'd think that you would learn- Next time you and your boyfriend sneak away from a party to- just go to his house. Jesus, if it had been anyone but me walking around this corner... Give it about twenty minutes before you leave." The sound of retreating footsteps and Hopper's voice reporting in his walkie an 'all clear' follow those words.

They don't part immediately. Eddie waits until the footsteps cannot be heard before pulling back. Harrington makes no move to remove his hands from Eddie's person, so as a result the hand that was in Eddie's hair falls to his shoulder, then his chest, where it rests now that he's back far enough to look at Harrington. The moon is bright, and Eddie's eyes have adjusted to the dark of the evening, so he can see Harrington's face. "How the fuck did that just work?"

Harrington gives an almost hysterical sounding giggle before he tries to drop his head back to rest on the fence. He can't successfully do that, because Eddie realizes he's still cradling Harrington's head with one hand.

He makes no motion to move his hand, just holds Harrington's head up as he seems to be going through... something right now.

It takes several minutes, but finally he speaks. "It's kinda personal. Let's just say, Hopper and I got history, a- well, a good history isn't how I'd put it, but like, we're on the same page with it."

"Did you fuck Hopper?"

Harrington laughs out loud and Eddie slaps his other hand (the one not currently petting his soft, soft hair) over his mouth to muffle the noise. That sobers Harrington a little, remembering the 'wait twenty minutes' thing and once it seems like he's got it together again, Eddie removes his hand.

"No. Nothing like that with Hopper."

Eddie's a bit hung up on that fact Harrington is not immediately shouting that he's not a fag and would never have slept with the chief of police, a man. "You're really not gonna tell me."

"No."

They just kind of look at each other after that. Eddie's not sure what to do now. He should get out of Harrington's lap, right? That's a thing he should definitely be doing right now.

But.

But Harrington isn't shoving him off. In fact, his eyes are half closed as he stares at Eddie, eyes occasionally flicking up to meet his own, so Eddie feels like he can confidently say King Steve is looking at his lips. Eddie licks his lips, a test of sorts.

Harrington passes, because his tongue flicks out to lick his own lips.

"Hey, Eddie," (what the fuck. Harrington has never, not once, said his name, and Eddie has re-introduced himself several times.) "I want to kiss you. Can I?"

Oh.

Eddie's never been asked that before.

Gross. Eddie's got fucking butterflies in his stomach from Steve fucking Harrington.

Eddie wants to say yes so fucking bad but- well, his whole world view of Steve Harrington has just been rocked and now a ball of guilt is forming inside him for how he's marked up Harrington's neck like a wanton slut and Harrington asks for a kiss. But Harrington is also, at minimum, five beers in plus the weed, so he's clearly not thinking straight (ha fucking ha) because he wouldn't be asking him for a kiss if he was.

"No," Eddie says softly, "you're drunk. If you still wanna kiss me in the daylight, ask then."

Harrington scrunches his face and Eddie doesn't know him well enough to decipher what that look means, but he nods, sitting up so he can lean forward and nuzzle his face into Eddie's chest, bumping the top of his head against Eddie's chin like a cat.

Eddie leans his head atop Harrington's and lets himself be cuddled.

What a weird fucking night.

-

"Jeff!" Eddie flings himself on his friend's couch the next day, face down in the cushions, his voice mumbled as he continues, "I don't know what to do."

Jeff, ever patient with Eddie, just folds his legs at the knee and sits on the couch, dropping his legs back down and into his lap. "The way I see it, you do nothing."

"Nothing?"

"You sound extra pathetic mumbling into the couch. Nothing. If Harrington wants to kiss you, he'll ask again. If he doesn't, or tries to turn this on you, remind him he's the one that let another boy mark him up. You don't know if you can trust him."

Eddie musters all his strength to turn his head to the side so he can breath again. "You're right. As usual."

"Try not to sound so annoyed and disappointed."

"I should trust the Munson doctrine. If it's too good to be true, then it's not true," Eddie says as he wiggles forward, out of Jeff's lap and onto his knees, shuffling around until he's sitting cross-legged on the center cushion.

"Maybe, maybe not. Like, we know Harrington's an asshole but he's not mean," Jeff says. "besides, maybe being dumped by Nancy Wheeler for Jonathan Byers might have shaken some decency into him. Humility, even."

Suppose they'll learn if that's true tomorrow. "You can't tell anyone what I told you."

"Duh. Blackmail only works if the leverage you have is still a secret."

-

“Can I sit here? The other tables are full.”

Eddie, Gareth, Jeff, and Brian all look up at the same time. Harrington isn't even holding a lunch tray, hands in the pockets of his letterman jacket, striped polo tucked into light wash jeans under his opened jacket, Eddie's hickie only half hidden by the polo's collar.

Eddie's eyes scan the cafeteria quickly. Hawkins is a small town, so it stands to reason the schools are too. There are literal, completely empty tables. So, Eddie's eyes go to the table Harrington usually sits at.

Ah.

Everyone there is looking over. Watching. Waiting, probably. This is the trick. The joke. If Eddie lets him sit, they've pegged him for the desperate fag they all tell him he is.

"'Fraid this table is full, too," Eddie says, careful to sound bored as he says it, looking directly at Harrington.

Harrington's eyes widen slightly, like he hadn't expected Eddie to deny him. Well, joke backfired, buddy.

"I.... see," Harrington says slowly. "My mistake."

And they all watch him leave with such little fanfare that Eddie's wondering if he misread the situation. Was Harrington actually wanting to sit with them- but no. He watches as Harrington returns to his table, to the royalty of Hawkins High. Hagan says something to him and Harrington just shrugs with one shoulder before plopping onto the bench.

They wait for Harrington to start up conversation, for the leering and mocking to start up but it doesn't. Harrington just sits there in silence.

"What... was that?" Gareth asks, looking away from the Royalty to look at Eddie.

"Got no idea," Eddie lies, even as Jeff is leveling him with a look he refuses to acknowledge.

-

November 7th, 1984

Harrington was absent yesterday (not that Eddie keeps track) and now here Harrington is, slinking into the American History class they share for first period, face busted to shit. Eddie does a double take because he thinks his eyes are playing tricks on him but no. Harrington looks worse than when Jonathan got him.

Eddie spends the first twenty minutes of class just watching Harrington. Harrington slides into his chair and keeps his head down, eyes closed most of the time. Every now and then he winces and drops his head into his hands, palms digging into eyes. He looks bad.

Then Harrington goes a little green around the gills and looks like he's forcing himself to swallow down vomit and Eddie's done watching the sad display. "Hey, Miss Click, I think Harrington's gonna lose his breakfast all over the back of Thompson if he doesn't get outta here soon."

Miss Click looks like she's gonna give him detention again but then she looks at Harrington and must agree with his assessment. "Help him to the nurses office, Eddie."

Normally Eddie would argue but Harrington is also looking at him now and he really wants to know what happened so instead of arguing, he stands. Harrington does, too, grabbing his bag from the floor and shuffling towards the door.

The halls are empty and Steve makes it maybe ten feet down the hall before he falls against the lockers, shutting his eyes tightly.

"Come on, Harrington," Eddie grabs his backpack from him and shoulders it, then pulls one of Harrington's arms around him. "Just keep your eyes closed. I won't walk you into any walls."

"Thanks."

It's so quiet, Eddie's not sure he was even meant to hear it. They walk in silence a bit more before Eddie asks, "so, what happened?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, sure. Nothing causes this all the time."

"What'd'ya care."

Fair. That's fair. He shut Harrington down quickly at the beginning of the year. And Eddie's had plenty of time to concede it might have been the wrong thing to do. Harrington really wasn't setting him up to be a joke, or a punching bag, because if he had been, Eddie would have been jumped by now. Especially since it's fairly common knowledge that Harrington has fallen from grace, replaced by Billy Hargrove. A whole asshole and a half, that one.

They're silent all the way to nurse and even after Harrington vanishes behind the door, Eddie loiters in the hall. He doesn't care about getting back to class. Whatever is happening with Harrington is so much more important.

Another period later and Harrington is shoving himself through the door, even as the nurse protests behind him.

"I'll be fine, really. I'm sure my mom's not answering because she's not near the phone. There's no need to worry," Harrington catches sight of Eddie then. He looks surprised, but says to the nurse, "Eddie here will drive me home. I promise I won't be driving with a concussion."

She looks past Harrington to Eddie and he finds himself nodding frantically. The nurse, not paid enough to argue with teenagers, nods back and Harrington escapes back into the hall without argument.

"You need a ride?"

"I can drive myself."

"Absolutely not. You just said you were concussed."

Harrington looks like he wants to argue more but before he can, he folds a bit into himself, hands pressing into eyes again.

"Look, I owe you anyway, alright. Let me repay."

There's a long silence, then, "okay."

Eddie walks into Gareth's third period class and deposits the keys to his van to him with instructions to pick him up from Harrington's after school (Jeff is his best friend, but Gareth is the safer driver) before helping Harrington limp his way to his own car, where he hands over his keys very forlornly and climbs into his car. Eddie takes the driver's seat and they're off.

"You gonna give me directions, Harrington?"

"You've been to my house before."

This is true. He just didn't know Harrington remembered that. Hagan had invited Eddie to deal there, once; Harrington himself, twice. He didn't know Harrington had even remembered he was there. "Didn't know you remembered that."

"You've been to my house four times."

"Three."

Harrington lull his head to the side to squint (is he trying to glare?) at Eddie. "Four."

Four? Eddie didn't remember- oh. Harrington's ninth birthday party. Eddie was invited, one of the few who hadn't been in Harrington's class to get an invitation. He was in fifth grade, Harrington in fourth. It was shortly after Wayne had brought him to Hawkins.

"Your birthday party. Why'd you even invite me to that?"

Harrington doesn't answer.

-

"I thought you said your mom was home," Eddie says as he follows Harrington into his house.

"I lied."

"Clearly," Eddie says, looking around as he continues to follow Harrington upstairs.

Harrington just allows it, which Eddie wants to question but won't because he's working out how to apologize for the first day of school without apologizing.

"If you're here alone, who's waking you up to make sure you aren't dead?"

"No one. And clearly, I am not dead."

"Someone's supposed to wake you every few hours, right?"

Harrington shrugs. "Don't need anyone to. Why, were you gonna offer?"

Was he? No. Maybe. He follows him all the way to his plaid hellscape of a room, watches as Harrington flicks on his light, then tries to block the sunlight with his sad curtains and gives up quickly, opting to toe himself out of his shoes and crawl under his covers instead.

It's fucking pathetic.

Eddie leaves Harrington's room to start opening and closing doors around the upstairs. Rich people always have a- yes! A linen closet. Eddie pulls out the darkest towels and heads back to Harrington's room.

"You got tacks or nails or safety pins?"

Harrington pokes his head out from beneath his covers, squinting at Eddie. "Tacks in the cup on the dresser." then he disappears again. Quite an awfully lot of freedom Harrington seems to be giving him. He could be snooping through things.

He doesn't, though (yet). He uses almost all of the tacks to get the towels to stay up, but no sunlight breaches them when he's done. Then he turns off the light and closes the door, leaving it open just a crack, before sitting himself on the edge of Harrington's bed.

"I owe you an apology, Harrington," Eddie finds himself saying. Fuck. He was trying to do this without having to actually do it. Too late now.

"Oh," he hears in the near darkness Harrington's surprise, feels shuffling as Harrington must be moving to look at him. "Erm, why do you think you owe me an apology."

"For the first day of school. I thought- I thought it was a prank. Or a joke. A cruel one."

Eddie turns to see Harrington peering at him, just his nose and up visible, hair a static ruffled mess, the comforter held in place by one hand. "It wasn't."

"I know that now," Eddie whispers, picking at a loose thread on the comforter. "I just- I'm sorry. I did want you to sit."

Silence. Then, "I get it, Eddie. I wouldn't trust me either."

"I said I trusted you, that night," Eddie says, "and I did. I do? I think... I didn't trust myself, I think, enough to believe that you were truly being genuine with me. I was shitty to you. So, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," Harrington says, "I'm gonna go to sleep now, my head is killing me. If you're hungry help yourself to whatever you can find in the kitchen. You're missing lunch period."

"You gonna sleep in your jeans?"

"Too much work to remove 'em," Harrington mumbles.

"Undo your belt and jeans."

"How forward," Harrington has an eyebrow raised.

"Just do it, ya tool," Eddie says with more bravado than he feels. He slides off the bed and watches the comforter shift as Harrington does as he's told. Eddie rounds to the end of the bed, pulling up the comforter and reaching under blind, finding Harrington's legs and trailing up to his knees to grasp of the jeans. "For your modesty. Lift your hips." Harrington does, and Eddie pulls. Harrington drops his hips back down once the jeans are near his knees, lifting his legs slightly instead, allowing Eddie to pull them off and drop them on the floor at the end of the bed. "Alright, sleep it off, Harrington."

Eddie leaves him to wander to the kitchen because he is hungry and missing lunch, and this free food is going to be infinitely better than whatever the cafeteria was offering simply because it's free.

The fridge has some leftovers in it, so Eddie helps himself to leftover chicken and mashed potatoes. He eats it standing in the kitchen.

Once done, he explores Castle Harrington. A big kitchen leads to a dining room, which rounds to a large living room with a wall of windows that lookout to the pool. Eddie's familiar with the backyard, where he'd station up and wait for people to buy. There's a little hall that leads from the living room to the stairs and front door, with another hall alone the middle of the wall there. It leads to a bathroom and a rec room, complete with pool table (fucking rich people) and another door farther still. It's locked but Eddie's a snoop, so he flips the latch and opens. It's an empty garage.

Eddie ends up removing his shoes, denim vest, and leather jacket, flopping down on Harrington's couch to channel surf, though his eyes keep flicking down to his watch. At the one-hour mark he sneaks back up to Harrington's room and looks for signs of life. Easy enough, Harrington snores.

He checks each hour. Eventually Gareth shows up, signaling his arrival with three sharp jabs to the horn of Eddie's van. Eddie heads out without putting anything back on.

"I'm staying. Harrington is not- it's not good, dude," Eddie says. "Looks like he got beat worse than I did when took a chance behind The Hideout."

Gareth's eyes go wide. Eddie'd gotten beaten for being gay (a busted lip and bruised ribs; would have been worse if the owner of The Hideout hadn't been stepping out back to smoke and ended up chasing away Eddie's assailant). "What happened?"

Eddie shrugs. "Don't know. But I gotta find out. I think he was being genuine with us, on the first day of school. I feel like I have to make sure he's okay."

Jeff leans forward to peer around Gareth from the passenger seat. "You feeling guilty, Munson?"

This is a conversation they've had several times. One Eddie never wins. "Well, yeah. If I'd let him be our friend, he might not have been wherever he was when he got the shit beat out of him. Might have been watching us at band practice or something instead."

Gareth makes a gagging noise. "Ew. You've got it so bad for Harrington. Polos? That's what gets you hot and bothered?"

Eddie feels his face go red. "Fuck off."

"Don't fuck up this time, Eddie," Jeff says before sitting back out of view.

"Call if you need a ride to school tomorrow," Gareth says before reversing out of Harrington's driveway.

Eddie waits until Harrington's gotten a full eight hours (most of which he spends snooping about the place) before going to wake him up. "Hey, you gotta get some food in you, I think. Up, up."

Harrington groans, but it sounds more annoyed than pained.

"Up, up, up, up," Eddie repeats, swatting lightly at Harrington's legs, occasionally grabbing to jiggle a leg.

"'m up. I'm up," Harrington says, sounding more like himself than he has all day. "Have you always been this annoying?"

"Call it the Munson Charm."

"Charm," Harrington repeats flatly.

"I already ate your mashed potatoes, so I'm hoping you're not wanting those for dinner. Lunch? Whatever."

Harrington throws the covers off, standing before Eddie in a polo shirt and plaid boxers. "Hey, Eddie. It's still daytime out there, yeah?"

"Yeah, didn't miss it."

"Cool, cool. Can I kiss you?"

Eddie freezes, remembering that's what he'd told Harrington to do. Ask him in the daylight. He does still want to kiss Harrington, but also, he's afraid. "First you ask drunk. Now you ask concussed. Still a no, buddy. It's gotta be daylight and without anything that could be messing with your mind."

Harrington takes the rejection well, just nods an okay and motions towards his door for Eddie to lead the way to the kitchen.

Harrington opts for a TV dinner, offering one to Eddie. He accepts, because, again, free food. Then they eat them at the dinner table like it's a real meal, instead of off of TV trays in the living room like normal people.

And the odd thing about it all is how not odd all of it is, actually. The last time they were alone together, Eddie ravished his neck like a goddamn vampire. And now they're just hanging out, chatting ideally like it's a thing they do all the time.

Eddie can see why Harrington became popular so quickly. He's easy to like when he's like this, soft spoken and kind. Eddie finds he wants to know if the guy sitting across from him is the real Harrington, or an act. Or was King Harrington the act? Eddie really hasn't known him enough to say that but he's seen this house. Conformity seems important to the Harringtons.

"You looked like you could use something to cheer you up," Harrington says, out of left field.

"What?"

"It's why I invited you to my ninth birthday. You'd just transferred to our school. Looked so sad all the time. Eight-year-old me hadn't experienced a sad birthday party, so I thought it would cheer you up."

Oh. "That's-" what is that? Sweet? Considerate in a way Eddie didn't think young Harrington possible of? "It worked. Your party was fun."

Harrington smiles at him, a soft and shy thing that makes the butterflies erupt in his stomach again. "Well, thanks for watching over me today. Made it easier to sleep, having someone else in the house."

"Anytime."

"You mean that?"

Does he? Eddie can't promise even himself that it will always be true, that he does really mean anytime, but it's true right now so he says, "yeah, man."

-

Being friends with Steve Harrington is so much easier than Eddie thought it could be.

Steve -because he's Steve now, not Harrington- doesn't come back to school the rest of the week, but he makes Eddie go, asking if he can gather his homework from his classes so he won't fall behind. And school has never been a real priority for Eddie (it is his second senior year) but hanging out with Steve has become important.

Jeff, Gareth, and Brian even come over on Saturday evening, at Steve's insistence. He wants to be their friend, too, it seems. And what an odd thing to see, his friends and Steve lounging around his rec room, Brian beating all of them at pool so easily it should be humiliating. Steve chats with them all like it's easy, normal, a thing he enjoys doing.

He can see his friends keeping the topics safe, music, high school gossip, they even start to discuss their grades. Eddie is mostly listening because he's been chatting with Steve all week, so he can see his friends are steering clear of anything other. They don't bring up anything Steve wouldn't talk to other jocks about.

Leave it to Steve to throw them for a loop. "Hey, you guys are all in Hellfire, right?"

The room screeches to a stop, all eyes going to Steve. He's not sure what's showing on his own face, but he can see all his friend's faces. They look surprised.

"Yeah," Jeff finds his voice first. "We're the only members."

Steve nods, "right. You play Dungeons and Dragons?"

"You know what Dungeons and Dragons is?" Brian asks.

"Yeah," Steve shrugs, fiddling with the beer can in his hands, "I know that, it's like -Hellfire, that is-, a high school club but- oh, this is gonna sound bad. I can tell already."

Eddie raises an eyebrow, curious, "just say it, Harrington. If we don't like it, there's four of us and one of you. We'll give you a swirlee in your own damn toilet."

Steve laughs and that seems to be all the push he needed because he relaxes, setting the beer down on a coaster, "I know some super cool kids who'll be freshman next year. I think they'd really want to be in your club. But, uh, since Eddie and I will be graduating this year, I was wondering if you'd want to move your game from the school to here? So they can join in."

Eddie's brain shuts off. Steve knows some cool middle schoolers, who play Dungeons and Dragons, and thinks the should all come to Steve's house to do that. Play DnD together. (Steve also believes he's going to graduate this year, ha!)

"I'm sorry," Jeff says, laughter in his voice, "there's no such things as cool middle schoolers."

Steve frowns slightly, "well, these will be the first, then. They've got their own DM, his name's Will, but I think he could learn a lot from Eddie. And Dustin loves this game so much. But if they wait until next year to officially join the club, Eddie won't be there."

Steve knows that Eddie is the DM. Steve knows what a DM is. (Steve really believes he's going to graduate this year?). "How- what? How do you even know about Hellfire? Or that I'm the DM?"

"I go to school with you guys," Steve says, "I know I'm an asshole but I'm not oblivious. Just because I didn't acknowledge the existence of your club before now doesn't mean I was unaware of it."

Fair point.

"Alright. Let's have our next club meeting here instead of the school. You can bring these cool middle schoolers and we'll see. If they're just lame middle schoolers, we're going to be very disappointed."

"Great! You meet Thursdays, right? They'll be here."

-

Monday is the real test. Eddie's feeling some kind of way about Monday. It's lunch, and everyone is already at their usual tables except Steve, who hasn't arrived yet.

Jeff catches his eye and Eddie can see he's thinking the same thing. It was easy to be friends with Eddie 'The Freak' Munson behind closed doors and in front of people already his friend. But if Steve actually comes through those doors and sits at their table, he'll be a target. Fully and officially.

Of course, Eddie catches sight of Steve as soon as he does come in, sack lunch in hand. He watches as Steve doesn't even hesitate. He weaves his way around other teens and plops down at their table, into the space left available for him between Eddie and Gareth. Watches as Steve beams at him before pulling a fucking pb&j out of his stupid brown sack.

Eddie can hear the murmuring around them, catches Steve's name and his own, knows that they've all been noticed today. The outcome of what will happen because of this, unknown.

Eddie doesn't like the unknown.

He might be willing to face it, though, if Steve keeps smiling at him.

-

The week passes. No one says anything to him. Steve sits at their table every day.

Thursday comes and he gets to meet some pretty cool middle schoolers, though unexpected ones. Will, the DM, turns out to be Will Byers, who was dead and then not dead and also the little brother of the guy who beat Steve up and stole his girlfriend (what the hell sparked this kids friendship with Steve?). Mike Wheeler, little brother of said ex-girlfriend. Lucas Sinclair and Dustin Henderson are the last two. Eddie has never heard of these two, and therefore doesn't have any opinions just yet.

The kids know their stuff but they don't end up playing. Character creation takes some time, and Eddie's gotta think about how to incorporate four new characters (he was expecting one lame middle schooler, even though Steve had used the plural of kid every time he talked about them).

Before they all head out, Steve asks to talk to Eddie.

"Hey, I just- if the kids get into other after school activities, would you be okay with moving the date of the club meeting? My house is available every day, not just school days."

What an odd request. "I guess? Why?"

Steve shrugs (but it's a shrug Eddie has come to know doesn't mean 'I don't know' and means something closer to 'I have a perfectly valid explanation for this but don't know how to put it into words so it's easier to say I don't know') and says, "some school activities can't be rescheduled. It's be kinda shitty to make them miss this by forcing them to chose."

"There's a story there. I want to know it."

Steve looks at him, open in a way that Eddie hasn't experienced. "I want to tell you. But I'm not ready for that. Not yet. Now, go home and do your damn homework. I gotta drop these kids off."

-

December 21st, 1984 - Christmas Break

"I can't believe you did Dustin's hair for their Snowball dance," Eddie says as they watch Jeff, Gareth, Brian, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin pile into Eddie's van after a rare, afternoon meeting of Hellfire. Gareth offered to take everyone home (maybe Eddie had to beg him to do it so he could stay and bother Steve, but that's between him and Gareth).

"He deserves a good older role model. I try to be that person," Steve says, and before Eddie can mock him for being egotistical, he continues, "that's why I wanted them to meet you, I guess, back in November. Dustin deserves a role model who understands the things he likes. Dustin needs you."

Eddie doesn't know what to say to that, so he just walks to the living room, grabbing the remote and settling in on the couch. Steve joins him shortly, sitting next to him rather than at the other end of the couch.

"You finish your homework?"

"Oh my god, mom," Eddie rolls his whole head dramatically, "no. I'll get it done eventually."

"Eddie," Steve says, sounding serious. Eddie turns to him, and Steve reaches out, grabbing one of Eddies hands, slotting their fingers together and Eddie feels those damn butterflies he's so used to these days. "I want to graduate with you. We can have a joint graduation party here. But that can't happen if you don't do your homework."

Eddie looks at Steve, feeling more seen than he's ever been in his life. His hand clutches back at Steve's. "Yeah. Okay. I'll graduate with you. Class of '85."

"Joint party?"

This is Eddie's chance to ask the question he's been itching to ask. "Your parent's won't mind you sharing with the resident freak?"

"My parents won't be here. They send me a card with a letter to take to their local accountant, who will arrange for a graduation cake to be delivered on a date of my choosing and give me money to host whatever kinda party I want. And what I want, is a joint party."

"You sound so sure of that."

"I am," Steve says, looking away to stare towards the TV, "I know the exact date they'll be in town between now and April 1986."

The fact Steve says 'date' and not 'dates' is not lost on Eddie. "When's that?"

"May 28th, 1985."

Eddie studies the side of his face, looking for any hint of a joke. "How do you know that?"

"Would you believe me if I said it's because I'm actually twenty-one, and have already lived through these events, and by some miracle was sent back into the body of my 17-year-old self to try and stop something terrible from happening?"

Eddie hits him with a throw pillow. He'll get the truth out of him one day.

-

May 3rd, 1985

Eddie graduates with Steve. It was fucking hell making it happen, but Steve recruited Nancy Wheeler to help tutor them both. (Eddie thought he'd be jealous, but Steve really isn't into Nancy anymore. They'd chat, he'd ask about Jonathan even, but most importantly, he'd always sat closer to Eddie than Nancy).

All of Hellfire is invited to their graduation party, his Uncle Wayne, too, along with the entire Byer's family, Chief Hopper and his daughter, Max Mayfield, and Robin Buckley. Most of these people aren't a surprise to Eddie by the time the party comes around but meeting them and learning that Steve considers this odd group of people his family was a surreal thing when it was happening.

(The real surprise person is Robin Buckley, who Steve had tried to befriend briefly during January but quickly backed out of doing that when he saw how weirded out it made Buckley. Buckley does not show to their joint graduation party but everyone else does.)

Steve and his uncle get along well and it makes some deep part of Eddie warm and fuzzy. Wayne was initially distrustful of Steve (rightfully so, given Eddie's history with jocks, and that he might have complained, loudly and often, about Steve to his uncle before. Hard to backtrack that.)

But Steve had shown up one day, asking to speak to Wayne instead of Eddie. Wayne had said yes, and then they both climbed into Wayne's pickup and went God knows where because Wayne and Eddie both know if they'd stayed on the property, Eddie would have done his best to eavesdrop.

Upon return, Steve had given Wayne a hug, hopped in his own car, and left.

Neither will tell him what they talked about, the jerks.

But all that to say, they're here, the sliding-glass door that leads to Steve's backyard wide open as people freely move from the inside to the outside and back. His friends, Steve's friends, their friends mingling easily. Hopper and Wayne chat, Jonathan and Gareth are hucking kids into the pool (at their request), Nancy is talking with Jeff and Brian, and Steve is standing at Eddie's side, holding a plate and eating cake (chocolate with raspberry filling, Eddie's favorite).

Steve spends a lot his time at Eddie's side.

Eddie expected Steve to be tired of him by now. To give up. But he hasn't. Every now and then, he still asks if he can kiss Eddie. And Eddie keeps saying no. Always an excuse, always a reason. It's been fucking with Eddie's head because he doesn't understand how Steve can be so willing, and wanting, to kiss another guy. Especially since the guy he wants to his is Eddie Munson!

Steve doesn't always ask when they're alone. He's asked when other people at this party are around, but always too quiet to be heard, like he's protecting Eddie's secret but doesn't care if people know his own. A little part of Eddie was mad at him about it; Steve's never been beaten up for being queer which probably makes it easier to be open about it.

In fact, Steve had asked him just this morning as they put their graduation gowns on over their regular clothes in the school parking lot.

"Eddie, can I kiss you?"

"No. Why are you so eager to get beat up?"

"I'm not scared of these people, Eds," Steve says with that damn shrug.

"You should be! This town'll try and kill you for being a fag," Eddie spits out, memories of Hagan, Jackson, Hargrove, the man from The Hideout, all come back to him.

"I've seen Hell, and I'm not afraid of a single person in this town," Steve says, voice cold and Eddie used to doubt that, but they've been friends for months now and Eddie's seen the nail bat he keeps in the trunk of his car, and been there when Steve's woken up screaming. Steve doesn't talk about it and Eddie hasn't pushed but this is- hearing this is the most direct Steve's ever been about it. Whatever the fuck it was.

"Tell me about it," Eddie finds himself say. "You've seen Hell?"

This brings Steve back to himself it seems, because he looks shocked by Eddie's words even though Steve said them first. "Not today. Today, we graduate!"

So, they've graduated, they've partied, and now, Eddie has questions.

"Hey, Steve, follow me," Eddie says and heads back into the house. He doesn't look back, doesn't need to to know Steve is following. He goes up the stairs and into Steve's room, waiting for Steve to enter before closing the door behind him.

"Want to get me alone, Munson?" Steve asks, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I want to know about Hell."

Steve drops onto the edge of his bed like a stone. He can see the war going on in Steve's head. He can wait this out. He leans back against the door, a confirmation for Steve that he's not going to give up on this easy.

"Eds, you didn't believe me before. I don't- I don't want to lose you if you don't believe me again."

Again? Eddie would have remembered if Steve had told him anything about Hell. "Trust me, then. Trust that I'm not going to leave just because I don't believe what you say."

"Okay," Steve says. "You asked, back in December, how I knew when I'd be seeing my parents again. Remember?"

Eddie thinks before wrinkling his nose and saying, "Yeah. Time travel."

"Yeah. Like Back to the Future but- shit. That's not out yet. But yeah, time travel. Sorta? I don't know. Maybe I didn't travel through time and instead just had a vision of the future. Or a prophetic dream. Or whatever."

Eddie is less leaning against the door, and more using it for support now. "The fuck, Harrington? You weren't joking about that? You really believe that?"

"Yeah. And I got a majority of the people in my backyard to believe me, so I'm hoping I can convince you, too. And if-if I lose you. If you think I'm crazy, or a liar, or whatever, it's better that I lose you this way than-" Steve cuts himself off, a choked sob following those words. Never, not once, has Eddie seen Steve cry, but he's seeing it now. Crying, over the mere thought of losing Eddie. Because Eddie isn't gone, he's here in this room with Steve, and still Steve cries.

"Hey, hey, shh," Eddie shoves off the door to drop to his knees before him, hands going up to cup his face. "I'm here. You're not losing me because I'm here."

Steve nods, cheeks rubbing against Eddie's palms before Steve's hands come up to grip loosely at Eddie's wrists, Steve leaning in to rest his forehead against Eddie's. He takes a shaky breath in before he speaks. "I've already changed the future. In that other timeline, the bad one, you didn't graduate this year. You don't meet Dustin or Mike or Lucas until next year. I'm so fucking jealous of you because I think Dustin like you better than me because you understand the things he likes and I don't. You never got to meet Will, the Byers' had already moved to California by the time the kids are Freshman."

Eddie stays quiet, waits, closes his own eyes to just hear Steve.

"There's another world, Dustin says it's another dimension. I don't know enough about how it all works but we call it the Upside Down. There are monster there, the Demogorgon and Demodogs, and later, Demobats and Vecna."

"Vecna and Demogorgon at from Dungeons and Dragons."

"I know. These things had no name until we had to fight them. The kids named the Demogorgon. You and Dustin name Vecna. Now shush."

Eddie nods against Steve's forehead and listens to the impossible. Will being stuck in the Upside Down, a girl with superpowers, how Steve got involved, that Steve returned to a body that had fought the Demogorgon but the Demodogs hadn't happened yet. That he and Nancy break up because Steve knows both their hearts belong to others (Eddie's insides twist because he's sure that Steve is hinting that his heart belongs to Eddie but that's for later in the story).

Steve talks about going to Carol Perkins' party because he'd heard Eddie was going to be there. He doesn't know how the events go before this timeline because Steve hadn't gone to that party last timeline. He'd been with Nancy still, then.

He talks about how Hopper was the first person he told about the timeline change, because if anyone could prove he was telling the truth, it was El. Hopper hadn't believed him but it had built enough of a trust that Hopper was willing to let them go at the party.

He talks about the events that led to the concussion he'd got, that sparked their friendship fully. How he'd gotten it protecting those kids from Billy Hargrove. Burning down a pumpkin patch.

"You said you were twenty-one," Eddie says, when Steve stops talking. "That would make the year 1986? '87?. What happens next?"

Steve shakes his head. "I can't- there are things I can't say. Can't talk about yet because if I change the timeline too much, Vecna could win. And I can't-he cannot-I-"

"Shh, shhh," Eddie soothes, "no, you don't have to tell me. Thank you, for sharing this with me. I do... I have a question."

"Mmm?"

"How do I play into this. Why did you decide to be my friend now?"

"To change the future. In March of '86, you get- the Upside Down shit effects your life, too. We trauma bond and- I realized that I wish I had known you better. Sooner. We had one week together and honestly, I spent most of it pining after my ex. It took a while, but I realized I will always love Nance, but I wasn't in love with her. But that realization came after it was too late for us-" Steve cuts off, sobbing.

Eddie doesn't know what happened. Isn't sure he wants to. That's a timeline that's already lost forever. For it to come true, it requires him to be in high school and he's not. "Hey, it's okay. We're okay. We're going to stay okay."

They stay there, close, until Steve is calm again and ready to rejoin the party.

"Hey. Any chance I can see El move something with her mind?"

"Yeah. Gonna have to wait until your side of the family leaves, though. It's still fragile, who knows and who doesn't."

His side of the family. Like- Eddie cannot think on that too long or he's going to combust. "Can't wait to see."

Eddie does get to see. Steve pulls El aside as the party winds down and whispers in her ear. A little while later, while Eddie is the only one outside for his smoke break, his cigarette gets pulled from his mouth and flung into the pool. He jumps, because Jesus Christ, but a quick look towards the house shows him Steve, arms crossed and smiling, with El, arm extended towards Eddie still.

He can't find himself to be mad about the cigarette when El smiles at him.

-

Steve is already cooking breakfast when Eddie emerges from the guest room the morning after graduation. He'd been invited to share Steve's bed (just to sleep, Steve had sworn) but Eddie had to decline because he wasn't sure he could trust himself.

"Morning," Eddie says, draping himself boldly against Steve's back to look over his shoulder as he fries up hashbrowns. Steve doesn't even hesitate to lean back against Eddie.

"Morning."

"Put that down and turn around for a moment," Eddie steps back and Steve obeys, setting the wooden spoon he'd been pushing hashbrowns around with down, turning to lean himself against the counter rather than stay in front of the stove.

"What's up?"

"Just wanted to report that I am suffering no hang over effects. You?"

"None," Steve says, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Good, good. Didn't fall out of bed and concuss myself either. Same for you I assume?"

"Same."

Eddie thinks Steve is starting to understand, if the little surprised face he does is anything to go by. "And I can't help but notice the daylight out that window. You see the daylight?"

Steve gives him a lopsided grin. "I do see it. Eddie, can I kiss you?"

"Yes."

They meet in the middle. For a kiss that's been a long time coming, it's so gentle. Steve cups his face like he's made of glass and Eddie should be annoyed by that but he's not. It just makes him feel safe.

Feel loved.

They break for air but don't go far from each other.

"I don't know what the future holds, unlike you," Eddie says, because he's a cheeky boy, "but I do know that no matter what it brings I'm here. You can't get rid of me now."

Steve looks conflicted, "not even if I asked you to go? For your safety? Even if it's to save you?"

Eddie shakes his head. "Babe, you've already saved me. You've already changed the course of my life." He clocks the way Steve's eyes darken when he calls him babe. "I'm gonna make sure I've changed yours for the better, too."

Steve hauls him back in by his shoulders. They kiss and kiss and kiss until the smell of burning hashbrowns ruins the mood.

Eddie doesn't know what horrors await (no one but Steve does) but they'll face those together.

[kalpasio]

A Long Drive Masterlist

I already said that this story was up on my AO3, but I'm supposed to post every Monday so here's the links to the 3 chapter short-ish fic. It's about a psychicMANTIS!Reader and their relationship with Kalpas, both on base and fighting together.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

let me know if the links don't work!

[atvace]

Lady Dior and the Seven Dilfs

Call of Duty men x Female!Reader

(y/n) got demoted from the FBI inspector general down to sergeant because of her valiant move in a drug smuggling mission. she has been assigned to task force 141.

"what a bunch of fuckers." she thought.

˚₊‧꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

available to read in AO3 and Wattpad!

• not owning any character, they belong to their creators whatsoever

• slow building, eventual porn, character development. slow update because I need to play the campaign first

• not so accurate, might ooc a lil

• Los Vaqueros, Mexican Cartel, Kortac included

● This was originally written in my Wattpad (@Atvace) but I decided to post it here too for more recognition.

●warning: Harsh words, incoming shameless smut (non-con will have a warning in the chapter intro), drug addiction, smoking, drinking (me, im sorry), sh, sa, ptsd, mention of rape, angst (from the comics), F/M/M type a smut, etc. chapter that contains smut will have the TW.

copy my work, I hope your cat makes biscuit to your face with their murder mittens and leaves claw marks all over yo shit face, I hope you did your homework but forgot to publish it so you got an F, I hope your mom forgot your lunch and you starved for the rest of the day, I hope a roach fly to your face when you're taking a huge shit, I hope when you take that huge shit it's so huge you got hemorrhoid for the next 5 months

Spotify:

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

chapter 8

chapter 9

chapter 10

[ftsmutweek]

Come One, Come All - It is time to get some spice on with:

Fairy Tail's Hot & Steamy Smut Week!

Prompts

—Dom Prompts—

Overstimulation

Praise Kink

Desperate

Tease

Entangled

Edging

Something New/Experiment

—Sub-Prompts—

Wine & Dine

Semi-Public/Public

Monster

Swap

Gender-Swap

Double Penatration

Potion

69

Creampie

Bondage

Degration Kink

Choking Kink

Master/Slave

AU Setting

Bound Hands/Feet

BDSM

Domestic

Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics

Noisy Neighbors

Anniversary

Mutual Pining

Simping

Jealousy

Protector/Protectee

Brat

Power Bottom

—Written Prompt— "Warm...their body simmered and boiled, sweat cooling over heated skin. Back arching, hands grasping, they fought for a piece of control, even just the semblance of it. Too much...this would be their final mark in the world, an expiration date date too early. A keening sound rang in their ears, deafening them. When they realized they were gasping, desperate and yearning for the fresh air around them, they finally realized the cry came from them. And the lasting pleasure rolled over them as mind and body finally reconnected."

How Does This Work?

—Dom Prompts— The main prompts, or the Dom Prompts, are the main topics set for the week to use. There are seven there for the seven days the event will be going on.

If one of the Dom Prompts makes you uncomfortable or you cannot come up with something on the prompt, any option from the Sub Prompts can be used.

—Sub Prompts— These are additional items you can choose from to add to your story. Sprinkle in a bit of extra spice, or just use the first prompt alone. Mix and match to your hearts desire!

These prompts, as mentioned above, can also be used as substitutions for any of the Dom Prompts that just don't work for you.

Rules / Event Information

—Submissions— Smut Week is to showcase the works of content creators who make the spicier content. To make things easier for readers and those interested, please ensure the following: At least ONE (1) Dom Prompt, or a substitute from the Sub Prompt list, should be used as the Main Prompt and mentioned. After that, any additional Sub Prompts can be used and mentioned.

—Posting— Please mention ( @ftsmutweek ) the blog to help ensure the post is visible and it will be reblogged. Include the tag #ft Hot & Steamy Smut Week 2024 or #ft Smut Week 2024 within the first five tags as well. ALL SUBMISSIONS NEED TO PUT content warnings in the tags accordingly. While many might not see issue with adult-fun stuff, there are many who are either: - Minors - Have Triggers to certain topics - Are uncomfortable with this topic - Or generally might not be interested in it Due to the subject of this week, please ensure all submissions - here and on AO3 - are properly tagged. This also helps those who are looking for certain topics to read about - so it is a win-win for everyone!

—AO3 Collection— Fairy Tail's Hot & Steamy Smut Week 2024

—Generic Rules— - Please, keep it friendly between submitters, and no blatant character bashing. - Any and all ships with characters of age are welcomed, even Poly ships are welcomed! - ABSOLUTELY NO ships involving adult/child. This is illegal. Let's not. - If the subject matter has or is part of a non-consensual relationship, please ensure this is in the tags and addressed in warnings.

If there are any questions, please feel free to send an ask!

-

Art by @phoenix-before-the-flame Designed by @genavere Thank you @pencilofawesomeness for posting their event before mine so I could copy and paste some of your event rules (otherwise, I would have totally forgot)!

@ftguildevents

[dreamsinthewitchouse]

They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet

Rating: Explicit Wordcount: 10k Major tags: Alex/Henry, Supernatural & Constantine AU mash-up, monster hunter Alex, demon Henry, meet ugly, annoyances to lovers, mutual pining, Alex has a cat, Make Mercury Fanon 2024

This idea came out of nowhere and settled into my brain, refusing to leave until I sat down and wrote it. Mercury the Cat is the brainchild of me and @mulderscully — thank you so much for yelling with me about her and the boys. ✌🏼💕

This fic is finished and will be posted during March.

Read Chapter 1 on AO3

By now, Alex has heard it all. Well well well. If it isn’t Ellen Claremont’s golden boy. You look like your mother. She was one hell of a woman.  Do you really think this is what she would have wanted for you, after meeting such an awfully sticky end?  Alex knows better than to rise to the bait, but he can’t deny his already shitty job would be so much easier without constantly struggling to live up to one of the most revered hunters this side of Bible Belt.

[demigod-shenanigans]

Lean on Me

Summary: After the war, Leo finally has some time to process some pretty big feelings he’s been avoiding. Thankfully, Piper is there to help.

Shoutout to my friend @halcyon-hyacinth for beta reading!

Word count: ~7K

So, I passed 250 followers a while back and I thought I’d take this as an opportunity to do a test run of tumblr fanfic posting (Ao3 version linked in the title). Therefore, have my very first HoO fic from all the way back in March! Feat. lots of Leo and Piper friendship, Leo being an oblivious pining little idiot over Jason and some very minor background pipeyna.

———

Even though it had been weeks since they’d gotten back home, Leo was sometimes still in disbelief about the fact that he was back at Camp Half-Blood after how long they’d been away. It felt weird not falling asleep to a rumbling engine anymore. It felt even weirder to wake up in a cabin full of people.

The number of people being home involved was something he didn’t think he’d ever grow used to. He’d grown up with just his mom and the very occasional visit from family who couldn’t be bothered to care about him after she’d passed away. Then there’d been the foster homes… well, the less said about those, the better. Point being, it was strange how different things were here, and despite the months he’d lived here before the mission, it never stopped feeling that way.

Leo liked his half-siblings, but he wasn’t great with people. He was even worse at being any kind of role model. Most of his time as head counselor for the Hephaestus cabin had been spent on constructing the Argo II. What exactly being head counselor involved now that that was done… that was a problem for future Leo, he supposed. Current Leo was perfectly content hanging out in the same space as some of his siblings, watching their various contraptions grow as he worked on his own. So far, no one had asked him to do anything else, save for the occasional question about his epic adventures. Those he could handle just fine.

Part of Leo missed the time on the Argo, beyond the soothing familiarity of piloting Festus. Not all of it—not the constant monster attacks or knowing the world might end or having to replace the mast four times in the same week. Not the lonely moments when everyone seemed perfectly content without him. But he missed the group breakfasts, and the peaceful bits of the night time watches he’d had with his friends, before something inevitably tried to eat the ship. He missed running into Jason when he got up for a midnight snack, the strange comfort of knowing neither of them could sleep. He missed teasing Frank, and spending three hours arguing with Annabeth about one of her architectural sketches that was as gorgeous as it was physically impossible to construct. Something about the contained space of the ship had made certain things easier. Camp wasn’t huge, but most of them got swept up in their respective tasks, and it just wasn’t the same, especially since Frank and Hazel had left. Some of the Romans had stayed to help with the rebuilding effort, but they’d needed at least one praetor back at Camp Jupiter, so he’d gone, and Hazel had gone with him.

Still, for the most part, Leo was glad to be back home. It was nice to not be fighting for his life every thirty seconds for a change. It was even nicer to be back in his usual tinkering space. Note to self: if he ever built another flying ship, it desperately needed to come with a furnace. His own fire was handy, sure, but setting his limbs alight wasn’t the safest or the most effective way to forge Celestial Bronze. Kid Leo really should have thought his crayon sketch through better.

Speaking of projects he should have spent more time thinking through… he dipped the hot metal disc into cold water, waiting for a moment before he retrieved it with his bare hands.

He’d always felt kind of silly wearing protective gloves considering he could reach into the furnace just fine without it affecting him. (He’d done that exactly once, before a very startled Nyssa had ruined his fun by insisting that the head counselor maybe shouldn’t be teaching his not-fireproof younger siblings that it was fine to stick your bare hands into the furnace. Being a role model was seriously boring sometimes.)

Leo eyed his device, uncertain. It looked better than it had before the last correction, but… yep. Like he’d suspected, the folding mechanism still wasn’t working right. On the last few attempts, the helmet hadn’t unfolded at all, and now that it had, it wasn’t retracting correctly. He had a feeling it had something to do with uneven volume distribution, but he’d gotten too attached to this prototype to just start over now. There had to be a way to make this work. He’d rebuilt a whole metal dragon nearly from scratch, for crying out loud. Like Hades was he going to let a piece of armor defeat him.

Leo was still thinking about whether to take a break and try sketching out the prototype to see if that would help or continue to just wing it when Piper appeared.

“You busy?” She looked tired, but satisfied, like Leo felt when he had a breakthrough on one of his projects at two in the morning.

She’d been dropping by more often since they’d gotten back. Jason was about a million times worse.

It felt… not like old times, exactly, since the time when they’d been a trio of friends and Piper and Jason hadn’t been dating had mostly been Mist memories. But it did feel nice.

“Very. Currently having a staring contest with my newest project. Don’t distract me, or it’s going to win,” Leo joked.

He was met with an eye roll, but Piper’s smile didn’t waver.

“Right. What are you working on, and how worried do I need to be about it blowing us all up?”

“Not very, I hope. That’d kinda defeat the purpose.” He showed her the palm-shaped device, a few parts of metal still sticking out of the sides where they weren’t supposed to. “Retractable helmet—though currently not as retractable as I’d like it to be. I’m tired of Jason constantly getting concussed. There’s only so much brain damage any demigod should be subjected to, ambrosia or no.”

Piper snorted.

“Yeah, he could really use that.”

She was looking at Leo in a strange way—like he’d just answered correctly on a game show he hadn’t even known he was participating in.

“Why are you in such a good mood? Do I need to be worried?”

“Reyna said my combat skills needed more work. She’s spent all morning repeatedly disarming me in three moves.”

“Your girlfriend is terrifying.”

“Yeah, she is.” Piper sighed contently.

Leo was happy for her—she hadn’t been dating Reyna for long, but he’d never seen Piper smile this much before. In some ways, it was easier than seeing her with Jason. It didn’t come with the same weird pang in his chest.

That didn’t mean being around Reyna had stopped feeling weird to Leo, though. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she hadn’t fully forgiven him for getting possessed and firing on her home. Not like he’d fully forgiven himself for it, either. He was still seriously considering that Slap-Leo-in-the-Face machine. He was unfortunately pretty sure there’d be more opportunities to use it in the future.

“I really don't get what Reyna’s problem is. You’ve got excellent aim when it comes to firing smoked hams at monsters. We just need to come up with a convenient way to carry those around now that we don’t have the cornucopia anymore.”

“Har. Har.” Piper rolled her eyes at him. “Anyway, any chance you could interrupt your glaring contest with the helmet for a bit? I need to talk to you.”

Leo’s mediocre mood had started to improve slightly since the start of their conversation, but now it took a massive dip. Those words never meant anything good.

He squashed down the first question that popped into his head—that being ‘who died’—because Piper was still smiling, so even if someone had died, it probably wasn’t anyone they liked.

More likely, Leo was about to be scolded for something.

“Whatever it is, it wasn’t me, and if it was me, it probably wasn’t on purpose,” he tried, mentally running through all the ways he’d messed up lately to figure out which one she was most likely to be mad about. It wasn’t that Piper scolded him a lot—half the time, she was a very enthusiastic participant in his nonsense—but maybe her rule-abiding girlfriend was being a bad influence. “If it’s about the glitter bomb I placed in Drew’s handbag-”

“You did what?” Piper asked, crossing her arms.

Great. So she hadn’t known, and Leo had just snitched on himself. Good job, him.

“I needed to test the mechanism for a new monster fighting gadget.” He shrugged.

“And you didn’t let me help?” Piper did actually look kind of offended. So Reyna wasn’t being that bad of an influence. Good to know.

“Hey, I can’t let you have all the fun. I’m head counselor of the Hephaestus cabin, remember? Someone’s gotta teach Harley about strategic glitter bomb placement. I take my responsibilities as an older brother very seriously.” Piper snorted, and Leo knew he was forgiven. Still, he wasn’t willing to risk any more guesses. “So what did you want to talk about, if it isn’t that?”

“Walk with me?”

“Slightly ominous request, but okay.”

Leo dropped the prototype into his tool belt to be retrieved later, then started fiddling with his rings until the crutches folded out obediently. Those weren’t his own design, unlike his prosthetic leg. They’d been a gift from his siblings. He didn’t need them as much at the forge, where he mainly went from briefly standing up to sitting down a lot, but outside of that, they were extremely convenient. It was great to not have to worry about where to put them so they wouldn’t topple into the campfire during singalong.

Relearning to walk was more frustrating than he cared to admit, but hey, at least he was about ninety percent less dead than the Fates had wanted him to be. That was pretty great.

“And me wanting to talk to you is ominous, why, exactly?” Piper asked, an eyebrow raised at him.

“She said, luring me into the woods like any half-decent murderer would,” Leo joked. It wasn’t that he actually feared for his life—not after Piper had put up with him for this long—but the whole situation did make him nervous. “For the record, I will be the world’s most annoying ghost, so, you know. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“I was actually going to help you, but I think I’m pushing you into the canoe lake instead,” Piper deadpanned. “Or maybe I’ll just ask Reyna to-”

“Alright, alright, message received. No need to actually threaten my life.” Leo lifted his palms in surrender, which was a bit of a ridiculous balancing act with the crutches, but entirely worth the effort as far as he was concerned. “Just tell me why you’ve dragged me out here.”

Piper moved to sit on a large rock at the edge of the water and patted the spot next to her. Leo flopped down next to her, his crutches obediently folding back into the jewelry. He swung his legs back and forth, the celestial bronze parts of his prosthesis clunking whenever it hit the rock. That maybe wasn’t good, but he’d fix it later if it got dented. His fidgeting always got worse when he was nervous. There wasn’t much he could do about it.

He pulled a spring from his tool belt and started bending it with nothing specific in mind to keep his hands busy. Maybe he’d end up with something handy to use for one of his devices later. Maybe he’d just end up with a completely ruined spring. Who knew.

“Like I said, I wanted to talk to you. Preferably alone—or as alone as you can be here, with the dryads and the harpies everywhere.” Piper sighed. “I feel like we’ve not done that in a while.”

“Yeah.” Leo looked down at his sneakers. “Not that I can remember most of the time we did spend alone.”

That still stung. For the first few weeks after they’d freed Hera, Leo had assumed his and Piper’s real memories of Wilderness School would come back—that the influence of the Mist would fade. It hadn’t. They’d saved Hera’s life, but she wasn’t quite so grateful that she could be bothered to fix the memories she’d messed up by interspersing them within a bunch of fake memories of Jason.

Leo wasn’t even sure what was made up completely, and what had been Hera taking memories that should have been him and Piper messing with Hedge and testing out some of his faultier contraptions during lunch break and replacing her with Jason. Part of him wondered if it had been the two of them sneaking onto the roof for the meteor shower, sitting next to each other and lamenting about how romantic this would be if they weren’t both so painfully single.

Wondering was all he could do, for most of these moments. He couldn’t remember.

Some memories were clearer than others, like Piper telling him about her dad, or when she’d realized he was down on the anniversary of his mother’s death. She hadn’t pushed him to talk about why he was upset—just suggested they sneak into the kitchen for some low-stakes theft. He remembered being sprawled out on the carpet in her room afterwards, laughing, victoriously splitting a box of strawberry ice cream. But even in those memories, Jason was there, distracting the staff and laughing with them.

It was like Hera had pressed Control-Alt-Delete all over those first months of their friendship, leaving only fragments. File that under even more reasons to hate his evil babysitter.

“It doesn’t change anything, you know,” Piper said gently. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still mad that Hera messed up our memories. But memories or no, you’re still my best friend. I wanted to make sure you know that.”

“Hate to break it to you, but Jason is my best friend,” Leo joked, because he absolutely could not let Piper get away being this sappy, no matter how relieved it made him feel.

Piper raised an eyebrow at him. “Sure.”

He had no idea what that was supposed to mean, and honestly, he was afraid to ask.

“So did you bring me out here just to talk about how amazing I am? Because I’m absolutely down to talk about that any minute of the day, obviously, but we really could have had that conversation back at the forge.”

Piper rolled her eyes at him, though it was in a way that Leo knew was more fond than anything. He’d learned to tell the difference at some point. Which, if nothing else, really did say something about how much she rolled her eyes at him.

“I actually wanted to talk about why you spent so much of the mission avoiding me and Jason. A lot of the time before the mission, too, honestly.”

Oh, great. Part of him had hoped she wouldn’t notice, naive as that had been. He kind of wanted to bolt, but that would just make her bug him about it more. Besides, running with crutches was really inconvenient, and Will would not be happy with him if he overdid it again. Forget Nico being scary. Will could be terrifying when he wanted to be.

“Maybe I just thought you wouldn’t appreciate my presence as much as you should,” he joked, but the words felt hollow in his throat. He really didn’t want to talk about this, but he couldn’t exactly skirt the topic forever.

Avoiding them hadn’t been a conscious choice—not at first. It had been a lot of work to finish the Argo in time. Then he’d had to fix it. Then he’d had to work on Festus. And, well, a bunch of their missions required him to go with Hazel and Frank instead of Piper or Jason. Most of them, really.

Leo wasn’t sure at which point he’d realized he was just making excuses to not be around his two closest friends. To not see them be perfectly happy without him. He loved them both so much, and he’d hated the resentment he’d felt looking at them. So he’d found reasons to look somewhere—anywhere—else.

“Well, you were wrong.” Piper looked at him, expression soft. She’d known him too long. His humor deflections only worked so well when the other person was aware that was what he was doing. “We both missed hanging out with you. I know you couldn’t see it, but you’ve always been part of the group. You were captain of the damn ship. We couldn’t have done any of it without you. No matter what some goddess says.”

Leo tensed. “Hazel told you? About the Nemesis thing?”

“She’s been worried. So have I.” Piper squeezed his shoulder. “Talk to me, please. Tell me how you’re actually feeling.”

Piper wasn’t charmspeaking him—she’d done it enough times by accident that Leo knew how to tell when she was—but he still found it nearly impossible to refuse when she looked at him like that. It was obvious she cared. So few people in his life had, since his mom passed away.

The truth came tumbling out, then, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“It’s just, you were probably the first real friend I made, and Jason’s my best friend, and when you two started dating… it sucked, okay? It felt like you didn’t need me anymore.” It was like something burned inside him every time he thought about it. His chest felt hot and painful enough that he kind of wanted to cry. The spring he’d been carefully uncurling snapped in his hand. “I finally got myself to stop running and tried to fit in somewhere, and it still didn’t work. I just found new and exciting ways to be alone.”

No matter what he did, he’d always be the odd one out. The seventh wheel. The sacrificial lamb that no one would miss too much. That was the only role he’d ever been promised.

“Oh, Leo.” Piper hugged him, then, fierce and warm. He sunk into her, hands cramping into the back of her shirt. She didn’t seem to mind. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because, as we all know, I’m the ‘talks about his issues’-guy. Key defining Leo feature.” He tried to smile, but he wasn’t even fooling himself with that embarrassing attempt. His heart was a piece of burnt-up wood, fragile and aching. Human emotions sucked. “Besides, we were so busy saving the world and trying not to die. Me feeling a little excluded seemed kind of unimportant in comparison.”

For a while, they stayed curled into each other like that, in a way they hadn’t really done since Wilderness School. Gods, he’d missed this. But being around her and Jason had just stung too much.

“It’s not. I’m sorry that I made you feel like it was. I haven’t exactly been a great friend lately.”

“Hey, you saved my life a couple times, that counts for something.” Leo nudged her. “It’s not your fault that I’m not great at the whole feelings thing. That’s just part of what you signed up for when you agreed to be my friend. Unfortunately for you, I’m non-returnable. You get the honor of being stuck with me forever.”

Leo had never minded being an only child when he was little. Then he’d met Piper, and for the first time he’d realized how much he liked having a sister. He teased her, sure, but that came with the territory. That didn’t mean he liked seeing her upset.

“I wouldn’t get rid of you even if I could,” she said, nudging him back. “But I know you. I know talking about stuff like this isn’t easy for you. That means I need to pay more attention to it, not less. I should have realized something was wrong. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. I was so caught up in my own problems that…” Piper trailed off. She looked seriously unhappy with herself. “I can’t believe I didn’t even notice how jealous you were until after Jason and I broke up.”

“I-” Leo stared at Piper for a long moment, then he burst out laughing, despite his charred coal of a heart. The thought was so completely ridiculous that he couldn’t help it. “Gods, Pipes, I’m not- you’re great, but I don't like you like that. You do realize I can hang out with girls without falling in love with them, right?”

Piper quirked an eyebrow, as if to say ‘can you?’ But the next words out of her mouth were, “I didn’t say you were jealous of Jason.”

Leo felt like he’d just walked face-first into a wall. “I- hang on. You think I- with Jason?” He didn’t feel much like laughing anymore. He felt a bit like he was suffocating, actually—like the time he’d been in that underwater cave with Frank and had accidentally set his oxygen supply on fire.

“You didn’t realize?” Piper asked, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Oh great, we’re both idiots. No wonder we’re best friends.”

“Pause. Can we take, like, fifteen steps back, maybe?” Leo felt like he’d missed about an hour of this conversation. And sure, he zoned out sometimes, but not that much. “What exactly makes you think I’m into Jason?”

“Do you want the list in alphabetical or chronological order?” Piper deadpanned. “You were literally napping on his shoulder at campfire yesterday. Clinging to him like a freaking koala. Apparently he had some trouble getting you to let go once he got you to bed.”

Leo’s face burned. He had vague memories of drifting off to the crackling fire, his head lolling to the side. He had wondered how he’d gotten back to his cabin. “I haven’t gotten a ton of sleep lately. And I just- I cling to stuff when I have bad dreams. You know that.”

Now that he thought about it, that did explain the strange looks he’d gotten from his siblings this morning.

“Right.” Piper looked amused in a way Leo wasn’t sure he liked. “Then there’s the fact that the project you’re working on at the moment is for him. Or how you’re always trying to make him laugh. Oh, and the wistful little looks you give him. You stare at his mouth a lot.”

“Making people laugh is my thing, that’s not exactly Jason-specific,” Leo protested. Of course he liked making Jason laugh. He was so serious a lot of the time, like at some point someone had decided to drop the whole world on his shoulders and he had just taken it and carried on. Whenever Leo managed to make him laugh, something inside his chest softened. That didn’t mean anything aside from the fact that he liked to see his friend happy. Did it? “And it’s not my fault his stupid scar is so distracting.”

Piper grinned. Yeah, well, he’d walked right into that one. “So?”

“Fine, I do think he’s attractive. Obviously. I have eyes.” Leo shrugged. His face still felt hot. Part of him was worried he’d catch his nose on fire again. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Right, and me walking around grumbling about Reyna being all ‘how dare she be so beautiful and powerful and competent’ was peak heterosexuality.” Piper’s tone was teasing, but her expression was soft. “You know it’s fine if you like him, right?”

“It’s not that. I’ve liked guys before. There was this kid across the street from my mom’s shop…” He trailed off. Okay, so maybe the kid had been a blond guy with glasses. Getting into that probably wouldn’t help his case. “But I get crushes on people a lot. You’ve witnessed an embarrassing amount of them. They’re not- they don’t usually feel the way it does with Jason.”

“So what does it feel like with him?” The teasing had melted out of Piper’s voice. She sounded sincere, like she really was just offering to listen in an attempt to help. Somehow, that didn’t make it any easier.

“It’s… I don’t really know how to describe it.” Leo sighed. “I’m not great at this stuff. ‘This stuff’ being people, just in general. But it’s easy with Jason, in a way that it’s never been with anyone else. I like being around him. It just makes me feel good. He treats me like I’m competent, even when I feel like a colossal fuckup. And he won’t always get it when I ramble about my inventions or fidget with whatever new thing I’m working on while we talk, but he listens like he’s actually interested in what I’m saying. Sometimes he’ll just sit with me, and we don’t talk at all, but it still doesn’t feel weird the way it would with other people. But it’s not… that doesn’t mean I have a crush on him.”

His legs tapped a discordant rhythm against the rock. He couldn’t believe he was actually saying all this. He wasn’t the type to talk about things so openly. Not even with Piper.

Never mind the fact that he wasn’t sure what there was to talk about. Leo’s crushes tended to be pretty easy to pin down, usually. Jason was just… different, somehow.

“So, let’s recap: the reason you think you can’t have a crush on him is that he’s easy to be around and it feels nice?”

“Uhm.” Well, when she put it like that, he just sounded like a moron. “I mean, doesn’t it feel like that for everyone? Do you not feel like that when you’re around him?”

“Not… exactly.” Piper looked embarrassed. “You remember the incident with the giant killer shrimp?”

“No, I fight those about twice a week. You’re gonna have to be a little more specific,” Leo replied sarcastically. He had no clue where she was going with this. It felt like he’d lost several minutes of the conversation again.

“When Jason and I were cleaning up after, I kept wishing we were more like Percy and Annabeth. There I was, dating the guy that was everything I thought I was supposed to want, and didn’t at all know what to do with him. Jason’s great, I’m glad he’s my friend, but we never had those kinds of easy silences. Us being together romantically was a total disaster. I’d just sit next to him with nothing to say, being all ‘wow, this is awkward’ and trying to convince myself that some relationships were just like that.” Piper laughed dryly. “Some daughter of Aphrodite I am.”

“Hang on. Are you telling me that the times you two ditched me to hang out, you just spent sitting awkwardly next to each other in silence?” Leo felt bad for her, truly, but he was also trying not to laugh.

“I plead the fifth.” Piper still seemed embarrassed, but also a bit amused. “Honestly, it’s gotten better since we broke up, but we’re still not great at it. There’s a reason we don’t hang out much, just the two of us.”

“I thought that reason was mostly you and Reyna being attached at the hip, but that’s honestly way funnier.”

“Well, it’s also that.” Piper got that dreamy, faraway look in her eyes again, and Leo briefly hoped he’d successfully distracted her, but his luck didn’t hold. “And it doesn’t help that Jason followed you around everywhere for days after you got out of the infirmary.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Leo snorted. That experience had been so ridiculous that it was easy enough to talk about. “He spent a bunch of time hovering—and I do mean both metaphorically and literally hovering—while I was at the forge. His feet were not touching the ground.”

Piper burst out laughing. “You’re kidding.”

“I wish. I don’t think he even realized he was doing it until I pointed it out.” Leo probably should have minded that. He didn’t need a babysitter. But honestly, getting all that time with Jason had been kind of nice, even if Jason was being an overprotective idiot about it. “You die once, and suddenly everyone’s all worried you’re gonna drop dead a second time. Like, no thanks. Been there, done that, never doing it again. Death really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“Yeah, you better not.” Piper flicked him in the head. “You scared all of us pretty badly.”

“Sorry.” Leo shrugged. “Next time I go up in flames and get half my leg chewed off, I’ll try to be less dramatic about it.”

“I really don’t know why I’m friends with you.”

“Because I’m hilarious and smart and I make great tofu tacos?”

Piper put a hand on her chin like she needed to consider this. “It’s mostly the tacos.”

“I can’t believe you.”

“Unfortunately for you, I’m non-returnable,” Piper said with a wink, echoing his words from earlier. “Suppose we’ll just have to be stuck with each other.”

“Suppose we will.”

“Circling back to your little Jason issue,” she said, just when Leo had been starting to hope he’d finally escaped that topic. Damn the fact that Piper knew him well enough to realize he was trying to derail the conversation and didn’t let him get away with it. “I really think you should just talk to him.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.” The piece of coal in Leo’s chest flickered with heat. He’d snapped the third spring in a row in half, scooping the scraps back into his belt. The dryads didn’t take too kindly to littering. He’d learnt that the hard way. “Jason’s… I don’t know. He’s a born hero. He’s brave and powerful and kind. He trusts other people to lead and know what they’re doing. Even me. He’ll tell me I can do something, and I’ll feel like I can. And then instead I’ll get possessed and blow up half of New Rome, or I’ll make a crappy deal with Nemesis and everyone else suffers the consequences. I’m a huge mess, Pipes. Even if I was into him, what chance would I have with someone like that?”

“Right, you only sacrificed yourself to save us all. Not a heroic bone in your body.” She rolled her eyes again, this time in a distinctly fond but annoyed way. “Putting aside the fact that you did save the world, that’s not a requirement for someone to like you. There’s a reason you were my best friend way before you were ever a hero. And Jason cares about you. A lot. You know that, right?”

“No, I thought he just hung out with me because I’m so hard to get rid of.” Leo was back to looking at his sneakers. Wow, those were some thrilling shoelaces, alright. “That’s just how he is, Pipes. He cares a lot. About many people. That doesn’t really mean much. Besides, I don’t want to mess up a perfectly good friendship. I don’t get to have these a lot.”

It was too much and too raw and he barely resisted the urge to throw another joke at it to make it hurt less.

“With all the love that I have for you, sometimes I think you’re the dumbest smart person I know.” Piper squeezed his shoulder. “Jason wouldn’t leave the infirmary the first three nights after we revived you. He barely slept. We all visited a lot to check on you, obviously, but Jason refused to move.”

“I did tell him he looked like death when I woke up,” Leo commented, not thinking about it.

Not thinking about the days he’d spent drifting, not registering much except faraway voices and the warm feeling of a hand in his and fingers brushing softly through his hair. Not thinking about waking up to a hand pressed to his cheek and blue eyes like storm clouds. Not thinking about the way Jason’s entire face had lit up when he’d said his name. Leo’s brain had still been so filled with fog and charcoal at the time that he hadn’t been sure how much of it he’d made up after.

He’d known Jason had worried about him, with the hovering and all. He wasn’t going to feel all warm and fuzzy just because it was a bit more than he’d realized. Absolutely not.

“Leo…” Piper looked at him, exasperated. Having a friend who had a love goddess for a mom and could read you like a book on top of that was really inconvenient sometimes. She opened her mouth to say something else, but then her eyes widened in alarm. “Leo, your shirt is smoking.”

“Crap.” So maybe he was feeling warm about it. Maybe a bit more than was convenient. His thoughts running rampant was always an excellent way to catch himself on fire. So was him being nervous. Both of those combined… well, this should be fun.

He moved away from Piper to avoid lighting her on fire by accident and tugged his rings off to drop them into the tool belt—a burnt-up shirt was annoying, sure, but there was a reason he didn’t get too attached to most of his clothes. Melting the crutches would be way more inconvenient. Once that was done, he started patting down his sleeves, trying to smother the sparks before it could get worse. The dryads would be furious with him if he started another forest fire.

It finally felt like he was starting to succeed, but because his life was a comedy intent on making jokes at his expense at every opportunity, that was when Jason wandered into the area. One of the slightly charred sleeves he’d just carefully put out immediately burst into flame again.

“I was wondering where you two-” Jason started, then stopped. “Why is Leo on fire?”

“Maybe I just really hate this shirt,” Leo joked, distinctly not focusing on the way Jason’s eyebrows knitted together in an expression somewhere between worry and amusement.

“Do you need anything? Should I get Percy so he can put you out? Or a bucket?”

“A hug would be nice.” It should have been obvious that he was still joking, but Jason was chewing on the stupid scar on his lip like he was genuinely considering it. And yep, Leo was definitely staring, heart migrating into his throat where it didn’t even slightly belong. If he got in any deeper, he’d be all the way underwater. “Sparky, I know I'm, like, extremely hot right now, but trust me, those third degree burns are not worth it.”

“Maybe get him a new shirt?” Piper suggested unhelpfully.

She was visibly struggling not to burst out laughing, and Leo briefly considered that maybe her shirt would look better on fire. He was also reconsidering the bolting option. Maybe Gaia could wake up just enough to swallow him whole? That sounded great just about now.

“Right, yeah, I can totally do that. Anything else?”

“A cheese platter would be nice, since you’re offering. Oh, and maybe a new gaming system.”

Leo wasn’t sure if he was being funny or just extremely annoying at this point. Gods, his jokes always got so much worse when he was anxious. Why did any of these people want to hang out with him? He desperately needed some time off from humans after this.

To his relief, the corner of Jason’s mouth just ticked up into a smile, and Piper did not push him into the canoe lake—though if she had, that at least would have resolved the fire situation.

“Gonna have to decline on the other stuff, but I could get some sandwiches, since you two missed lunch. Is it… are you sure there isn’t any other way I can help? I don’t want to just leave if you’re upset.”

Jason was looking directly at him, soft, worried eyes and all, and if he kept looking at him like that, Leo would fully combust. Jason staying right now, nice as it sounded in theory, would be the opposite of helpful. Leo really didn’t want to accidentally melt part of his prosthesis again. He was pretty sure demigod insurance wouldn’t cover that.

“No need to go all mushy on me, Superman,” Leo tried, his voice barely working. Gods, what was wrong with him? “I’m fine. Don’t start hovering again.”

“That was one time!” Jason protested. “And the last time you went up in flames-”

“It was three times,” Leo corrected, because like Hades was he ever going to let him live that one down. “And this isn’t Gaia, okay? It isn’t- I’m not in danger or anything. This is just me being my usual smoking self. Seriously, I’m good.”

Jason still didn’t seem entirely convinced. He glanced at Piper, who looked meaningfully back and gave him a nod in return. That was… slightly worrying. Them communicating in facial expressions was never a good sign. They might have been a terrible fit as a couple, but they’d still spent enough time together to develop some alien language that Leo couldn’t understand. Constantly being in life-or-death situations together apparently did wonders for your ability to silently communicate.

“I’ll make sure Leo doesn’t burn the forest down until you get back, don’t worry.”

Leo thought that was slightly unfair. Sure, his left shoulder was still on fire and currently refusing to go out, but he had managed to keep the fire from spreading after it had eaten his entire shirtsleeve. He’d probably manage to extinguish it completely the moment Jason and his stupid smile finally left the area.

Leo needed to get his shit together and make sure this didn’t become a regular occurrence. If he started to burst into flame every time Jason smiled at him… well, that would be somewhat inconvenient.

“Maybe check in with Reyna while you’re at it,” Leo tried, desperate to change the subject to something that wasn’t him or the fact that he was on fire. “Let her know Piper hasn’t been kidnapped before she sends out a search party.”

Now it was Piper’s turn to blush. Ah, sweet revenge.

“She’s not going to-” she started to protest, but Jason cut her off.

“She was a bit nervous about you not showing up for lunch, actually. She said something about your mom?” He shrugged. “Can’t really blame her for worrying about her girlfriend disappearing, after what happened with Hera.”

“I did tell her what I was going to do,” Piper said, face still burning. “I guess we lost track of time. I didn’t realize we’d missed lunch.”

“Breaking news!” Leo said, extending his arms outward like an overly dramatic TV host, careful to avoid brushing Piper with his burning shoulder. “Two ADHD kids have a shockingly bad sense of time! Also, water is wet! More details at six!”

That got them both laughing, and Leo laughed with them, having to focus really hard on keeping his fire situation under control. It was so easy to feel warm when he was with Jason and Piper. It was a feeling of home—something no place or person had been since his mom had passed away. His heart was all sparks.

“Let Reyna know I’m still hanging out with this dork for a while, yeah? No kidnappings scheduled for the day,” Piper joked. “Oh, and tell her I want a rematch for this morning.”

“I’m honestly afraid to ask, but noted.” Jason met Leo’s eyes again, smiling, and Leo smiled back, trying to calm the live wire feeling in his chest. “See you in a bit?”

“Only if you really do bring sandwiches.”

Jason laughed and gave a thumbs up before he disappeared between the trees, thankfully missing the way Leo’s entire left arm caught fire in a last nervous burst before the flames finally had the decency to flicker out. The live wire feeling stayed behind, and so did the extensive need to fidget, but at least that wasn’t a forest fire.

“Yeah, I really have no clue what gave me the idea that you might be into Jason,” Piper laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. “Gods, you are a complete disaster.”

“The universe is punishing me for giving you shit about Reyna, clearly.” Leo sighed dramatically. “I’m going to get you back for this.”

“You’re welcome.” Piper grinned, elbowing him. “You and Jason would be good together. I really do mean that. As long as you don’t accidentally set yourself on fire every time you try to flirt with him, at least.”

“I hate you.”

So maybe Leo did have a crush on Jason. Worse—and better—Piper actually thought he had a shot. The anxiety he felt about it being out in the open after he’d run from it for so long, the same way he always ran when things got hard, slowly gave way to relief. It might take a minute for him to process all the things he’d been feeling that were suddenly starting to slot into place in a way that actually made sense. But he was glad that, out of anyone, it was Piper who knew. Piper, who understood, even if she teased him relentlessly.

Piper, who was the first real friend Leo had made.

Fate was a funny thing—when it wasn’t actively trying to kill you, at least. Sure, fate was prophecies, and for some people, it was romance, doomed or otherwise. But sometimes, fate was looking at a girl in an old band shirt and faded jeans, and knowing, somehow, that you were meant to be friends.

———

Some notes:

This takes place in a universe where the whole Calypso/Ogygia stuff didn’t happen. The ending of BoO went down a little differently, which is obviously vaguely referenced here and which I’m hoping to eventually do a oneshot about (it’s been sitting in my app at around 2.5k continuously getting neglected in favor of the Orpheus Eurydice fic so we’ll see when I get around to that). Jason and Piper amicably broke up halfway through house of hades, which I do have a oneshot on my Ao3 about that I’ll probably post here eventually.

Yes, technically this fic is part two in a series of oneshots. Why didn’t I post part one first? Excellent question. The thing is, the oneshots are mostly standalone anyway (they obviously take place in the same universe and are loosely connected but aside from missing a joke or two, you’re fine to read them separately or in whatever order you want), and I have a couple more ideas for that universe that won’t be written or posted in order either, so I thought I’d start confusing you early on, lol

…in all seriousness, this is just the only HoO fic that I hadn’t already posted the link to here yet and since it was the first one I wrote, it also just felt appropriate for it to be the first I cross-post to tumblr.

Anyway! Would love to hear your thoughts on this if you have any (here or over on Ao3) and thoughts in general about whether or not you’d like me to keep posting my fics on tumblr. It’s been a long time since I last did that and putting all the italics back in was a little annoying, but it’s definitely doable.

Fun fact! I reread pjo and Heroes of Olympus specifically because I couldn’t afford to get into a new fixation during exam phase. Unfortunately, Leo Valdez whacked me in the back of the head with a baseball bat, and well, here we are. As you can all see, that plan did not go well for me, lmao

Tagging @poppitron360 very specifically since you said you wanted to be tagged if I ever posted any of my fics on tumblr!

[mychoombatheroomba]

Black-Out Names

Between the Bones (Leon x GN! Reader) - Chapter 39

You read through your contraband and Leon finds a way to spend time with you - in short, both of you continue to find new ways to break the rules.

(Cross-posted from Ao3)

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Chapter Index

Leon’s muscles aching, finishing the day with fresh bruises, getting knocked on his ass thanks to your and Krauser’s combined efforts, stealing glances at you when there was a lull in instruction . . . it was almost like old times. If what had only been a few months ago could be considered “old times”. 

Having you back after that first week was enough to brighten the worst days. 

Even if you couldn’t join the rest of the squad in marches, or combat drills, you were at least allowed now to sit in for Reed and Hellman’s lessons. Leon watched you throw yourself into the studies, unyielding in your desire to learn. To prepare in some way for what was out there. Every time the agents would go over knowledge of known bioweapons, your eyes would sharpen, your muscles tensing. And if your body couldn’t perform right now, you made every effort to make sure that your mind could. Even if it meant setting mock explosives up with Krauser every morning before drills - and sometimes while everyone was taking meals. Even if it resulted in tripwires being set up in annoyingly inconvenient places, you were doing a little better. You always worked best when you had a goal. A purpose. You wouldn’t fall completely behind, if you could help it. 

Leon did his best to follow suit, trying to work in time to practice new skills between nights sparring with the others, or getting his ass handed to him by Major Krauser - who still took to the task with fervor. The impending graduation made it easier to focus, but you . . . 

Maybe Krauser hadn’t been entirely wrong about you being a weakness, because it was hard not for Leon to look your way when he was in the classroom with you. It was hard not to let his thoughts drift to you during the day, wishing it was you that he locked blades with instead of Valeria or the others. 

With Hellman’s eyes on the two of you, though, he knew he couldn’t afford to be obvious. He couldn’t even afford to let a glance betray the two of you.  

Still, on those days when you weren’t helping Krauser set clever traps and you joined the others in the mess hall, he would sit at your side. You were friends, after all. Reed and Hellman knew that much. There was no harm in you two speaking, so long as it was in public. With others. Still, Leon would sometimes risk a self-indulgent touch; fingers brushing as he handed you water, his knee resting against yours under the table . . . 

He felt like he was in a goddamn old-timey movie. One of secret affairs and longing glances. Forbidden love. 

You would have hated that way of describing it, but Leon would have given just about anything to see your annoyance at the description. He could imagine the eye-roll you’d give him. You’d probably continue that eye roll as he kissed you, too, he could almost see it. 

He could almost see a lot of things, as he sought solace in the memory of your touches. 

It wasn’t enough. 

He’d gone a long time without your touch before, at Fort Benning, but now it was your company he craved, too. Desperately. With eight - and now seven - weeks on the clock, he wanted as much time with you as possible before he was shipped off to fight the horrors Reed and Hellman described to the others. The monsters that Leon, in ever-dwindling spare time, would describe to his squad mates, telling them how he fought and killed the nightmares. He wasn’t ready to face them again, and he wasn’t ready to leave you behind. 

So, he would seek opportunities to be with you. Reed and Hellman wanted him to learn spy shit? He could do that. He could find more ways to be around you that wouldn’t draw suspicion.

And he started that process mostly by accident. 

⧫⧫⧫

You had never been one to stay up late reading, even before joining the Army. Your youth had been spent in other ways, and if there was a late night to be had, it was often one involving being out and about in the world, finding ways to get in trouble. 

You hadn’t thought that your C.O. would so readily help you find that trouble. 

The reports weren’t supposed to be in your hands - that much was clear. Krauser would have just openly given them to you if they were something you were supposed to have. So, during the day and when you helped the Major with setting up more traps around the base, you kept them stashed away in the lining of the mattress you slept on. 

In the free hours of the night, though . . . you kept the light on and the blinds closed, and you did as Krauser ordered you to do; you read. 

Leon was the one trained to be a police officer. You’d been a grunt from the day you could put the uniform on, but still you found your mind making connections. You were an investigator, trying to understand just how everything had gone so wrong. Trying to tie together the events that had put you and Leon and so many others through such hell.  

It did your mind no favors, knowing that, whatever else was going on behind the scenes with Umbrella, all known records of anything bioweapon-related started on a date you knew all too well. 

January 29th, 1998. 

The night your life nearly ended and was forever changed. 

You didn’t reread the report. You were the one who made it, after all. You’d agonized over the details of that night enough. 

Total destruction . . .

Viral weaponry . . .

Unknown paramilitary group involvement . . .

One survivor . . .

The only thing of importance in that report was the date. The fact that everything else followed it, which exhumed an old guilt that had started to eat at you when you heard the reports of Raccoon City. Even if the government had wanted to cover up what happened there, you’d seen the news. Heard the reports of people gone mad, a strange sickness that made its victims violent. 

“She looked like a corpse. Like a walking corpse!” you’d heard on the radio, one day. You remembered. 

You’d known in your heart what it all was, before it had even been confirmed to you. And in those nights you spent reading and rereading, you found yourself filled with anger. You’d often thought that if you’d been faster or stronger or smarter on that night in January, then maybe there would have only been one report for you to read through now. You’d let your own guilt talk you into believing that you could have stopped what was to come. 

Now, though, reading a chain of communications from August, you realized that it was inevitable that it would end up this way, because the government that employed you had smelled blood and come running. 

𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝: (𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎)

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖: █.█.

𝙼𝚢 𝚗𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚜 ███████ ██████, 𝚊 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚜𝚌𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙸’𝚖 𝚠𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚔 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙾𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔, 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 ███████ 𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝. 

𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 ███████ 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛, 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚏𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎. 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚒𝚏 𝚋𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚡𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗. 

𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚝, 𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝. 

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚕 𝚊𝚝 █████ ████ 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 - 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚟𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜. 𝙸𝚖𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚒𝚙𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗. 

𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 - 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚜𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚞𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙸𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍, 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚕 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚋𝚎. 

𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 𝙲𝚘𝚛𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙰𝚕𝚕 𝙸 𝚊𝚜𝚔 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢. 

𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍, 𝙸’𝚖 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎.

You’d read that part time and time again. You’d let ink on paper seed rage and retribution in your heart. Even blacked out, you knew the name of the scientist writing - Leon had told you and Krauser both all those nights ago. Birkin. A name for you to assign blame to, if not for the knife in your gut, then for the creation of the virus that destroyed your life. 

Trouble was, you didn’t have a name for whoever had been stupid enough to answer his call for help. Not with the letters blacked out, hidden from your view. 

𝚂𝚞𝚋𝚓𝚎𝚌𝚝: 𝚁𝙴 (𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎)

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖: █.█.

𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚜, 𝙳𝚛. ██████. 𝚆𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 . . . 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚛, 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚕𝚍, 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚏 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚄𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊’𝚜 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚂 𝚌𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙽𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝙺𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚞𝚜 𝚞𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜. 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖 𝚖𝚢 𝚜𝚞𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜.

█████ ████

Not without something actionable . Reading that sentence was molten metal being poured into your gut. This wasn’t something the CIA agents had bothered to talk about. Nor would they, you imagined. Too damning. Too irredeemable. It left the taste of bile behind as you read confirmation of what Leon had already told you; the US had seen potential instead of tragedy from the destruction of your base. 

Whoever this blacked-out name was, they’d wanted a weapon and damn the consequences.

Damn the consequences, and damn the man who made that weapon, as you later discovered.

𝚂𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝟸𝟽𝚝𝚑, 𝟷𝟸:𝟶𝟶

𝚁𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝: █████ ████

𝚁𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢

█████ █████ 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚜 “█”. 𝙸𝚏 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒��𝚕𝚎, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝙳𝚘𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝙱𝚒𝚛𝚔𝚒𝚗, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚗𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚛𝚞𝚜 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚜. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚎𝚕𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚢.

And then, a few lines down . . .

𝚂𝙴𝙿𝚃𝙴𝙼𝙱𝙴𝚁 30𝚝𝚑, 01:𝟶𝟶

𝚁𝚎𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚝: █████ ████

𝚁𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝙲𝚒𝚝𝚢

𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 █████ █████, 𝚠𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚞𝚛𝚎. 𝚂𝚒𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎. 𝚂𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍.

Shit had hit the fan and they’d left Birkin out to dry. Him and whoever had been sent into the city on a suicide mission. You couldn’t say you pitied the Doctor. In fact, you were glad that he was dead. Glad that, according to what little Leon had told you of that night, Birkin had been stripped of his humanity by his own creation, until Leon put him down at last.

As you read the reports, you sighed as you learned that no one - or, at least, no one in the reports you were handed - had walked away with the virus. The US had lost out on their dirty prize. And then they’d destroyed an entire city. 

All for Umbrella’s idiocy, hundreds of people had suffered. The man you cared for most in the world had suffered. 

You needed to know all there was to know.

So you’d stayed up night after night, reading and piecing together the story until Krauser would come and get you to set more traps. And when you returned, you would read into the waking hours or until exhaustion demanded rest, whichever came first. 

Even if you’d asked, in essence, to see those reports, they frustrated you. 

As if you weren’t already frustrated enough as it is with your situation. 

The only thing keeping you sane were your outings onto base. Going with Krauser at night to set the traps . . . and the few classes you were allowed to take with your squad. Seeing Leon again, even if it had to be in public settings, even if you couldn’t let yourself express what you wanted to express, was enough to keep you sane and make you teeter on the edge all at once. 

So you focused on reading. On the radio. On anything you could focus on. 

Like the little lockpicking set in your hands, one you twisted and turned, trying to get it to click open. 

Hellman had been nice enough to give you a few sets of locks to practice on - as if “nice” was an act you really bought from the man who’d waterboarded and beaten you. Maybe he felt bad that his friend broke your ribs. Reed sure as hell didn’t. The darker-eyed agent hadn’t really spoken more than a few words to you since the interrogations. That suited you well enough. Getting into a fistfight would be a bad idea in your condition. 

A really cathartic, bad idea . . .

The pins aligned, and the lock in your lap gave way, opening up to nothing at all but a slight feeling of satisfaction, somewhat familiar. You’d tried to learn in your youth. Helped to have actual instruction now, even if it was from men you hated.

“You’re goo’ a’at.” The observation was barely audible as Doc shoveled more pasta into his mouth. Penne with a red sauce. You were fairly certain that Krauser had asked the medic to watch and make sure you weren’t doing anything to aggravate your injuries. You were also fairly certain he was always eating homemade meals in the room just to torture you. 

Joke’s on you, old man. Been there, done that.

“Have to be. It’s all I really can do.” That might have been an over exaggeration, but there was enough truth there to warrant the statement.

It just made the grizzled man swallow and shrug. “You’re good at picking radio stations and frowning, too.” 

You wouldn’t have hesitated to tell a superior officer to fuck off, once. Not one who had started becoming less and less formal with you, anyway. Still, you held your retort but for a glower. 

Besides, footfalls and Doc’s attention being drawn elsewhere stole your chance for a reply. 

You couldn’t be mad at the theft when you looked up and saw who stepped into the room. 

Only Leon could look so gorgeous covered in mud and grime, his fatigues dirtied on the front and his arms covered in it too. Arms that were held up against his chest, one hand clasped over the other. It wasn’t a tight enough grip to prevent the blood from slipping down his muddied arm, though - a sight that made your eyes widen involuntarily. 

“What’d you do this time, rookie?” Doc asked, setting his lunch down and rising to his feet. 

Leon looked from the older man to you, and there was no evidence of real pain in his soft smile. “Ask that one. Unless you want to tell me someone else put a tripwire charge in barbed wire.” 

Ah, so he’d been the first one to run across the tripwire charge that you and Krauser had left there the night before. Well, more so the Major than you. The low hanging barbed wire set up to train for the infiltration course wasn’t something that you’d be crawling through any time soon - a fact that should have immediately cleared you of any blame for setting the charge there. Now, were you guilty of thinking of putting it there? That was another story.

Did you feel guilty for your little idea causing Leon to bleed? 

Also another story. 

“Come on,” Doc moved forward, ignoring the playful jab thrown at you. “Let’s see.” 

It was a nasty cut. Or maybe tear would be the better word. Deep and still gushing some blood on Leon’s right hand. Nothing incredibly serious, but for the mud Leon had been crawling through. “Krauser wanted me to go get it cleaned.” Your suspicion was confirmed with those words, and Leon once again looked between you and the Doc. 

“Better stitch it, too,” the Doc nodded, pulling the supplies he’d need as you were struck with a feeling of deja vu. It wasn’t so long ago you were stitching up Leon after the tear gas ambush, telling him that you wanted to talk about the kiss you’d shared. You’d been able to offer your services then and have it not be suspicious, so Doc would leave the room. You weren’t sure you could do that a second time without raising the man’s scraggly eyebrows. Luckily, though, as he searched through what he had available, you realized that you might not need to. “Come on . . .” he groaned. “Make yourself useful and clean it out, would you? My idiot assistants didn’t replace the thread.” A fact you were all too grateful for as Doc left to grab some and you and Leon were finally, mercifully, gifted your first few moments alone. 

Leon wasted no time, just as you knew he wouldn’t. 

“So,” he said, watching as you collected the supplies to clean his wound, “you gonna kiss it better?” 

It was stupid enough to stop your movements, and you just raised your eyes to meet Leon’s, unable to stand the cheeky grin he gave you. 

No, that was a bold-faced lie. You adored that look. 

Smug bastard knew it, too. 

“You been thinking of that one the whole walk over?” you asked, wiping away the grime carefully and then disinfecting the cut. It was bigger than you thought, now that you were getting a good look at it, a rip in the flesh between his thumb and pointer finger. “You know, you’re supposed to avoid the barbed wire.” 

Leon smiled, not even flinching this time around as you poured the disinfectant over the wound. “I’ll keep that in mind next time.”

And Krauser called you the smartass. 

“So you, what, decided to backhand it this time around?” 

“Wire had it coming,” Leon shrugged, but then after a deadpan from you, he shifted to a more serious tone. “I was trying to disarm the charge. I triggered it instead and pulled my hand away too fast.” 

That made you raise another incredulous look his way. The charges you and Krauser had been little more than firecrackers - a placeholder for the real thing. Still, you supposed that having your hand right next to an explosive of any kind when it went off wasn’t a good idea. Still . . .

“Think you were just looking for an excuse to end up in the infirmary.” Your voice was low, just in case the Doc came back. 

Leon just smiled and shrugged. “Believe whatever you want,” he said, blue eyes finding your own. Searching and savoring in a way that sent sparks through you. Was that all it took, now? Just him looking into your eyes, like you were some idiot teenager looking at their crush? 

It would be so easy to close the distance between you. A quick journey that you so desperately wanted to take. 

But as you heard Doc’s returning footsteps, you backed off. Even if the man, you were fairly sure, had helped Krauser pass along classified documents to you, you didn’t want to take a risk like that. 

Now, a risk of another kind . . .

“If I stitch him up for you,” you looked over at Doc as he returned, the older soldier caught by surprise as you spoke, “can I have some of your fancy home-made lunches?” Frame it as you wanting something else. Reed and Hellman teaching you to all to move and act without suspicion could be their downfall, because Doc didn’t seem suspicious whatsoever of your offer. 

Just annoyed. 

“You want payment in my wife’s cooking for stitching up one cut?” he asked, and Leon smiled at you sympathetically. “You want good food, kid, you gotta earn it.” The older man looked between you and Leon’s injury, and then shrugged once more. “Not a bad place to start, though.” 

You could work with that. Not only an opportunity to be with Leon right now, but a chance to maybe get some better food overall? That sounded like a net gain to you. 

So, you sealed Leon’s cut with needle and thread, your hands steady even if the rest of your body felt like it was atrophying slowly. Just as you’d done all those nights before, you worked near silently, doing your best to get this done painlessly . . . but not too quickly. You wanted whatever time you had with him to last, and even stitching up a wound for him was something you’d savor, because it was the first time in nearly two weeks you’d been able to touch him. To do something for him. 

Still, he had to get back to training. He had to focus, because his life was going to be in danger again far sooner than your own.  You couldn’t take away from his time preparing for that-

“So I was thinking,” Leon began, his tone more neutral than you’d heard it in a long time. Almost . . . formal was the wrong word, but nowhere near the playfulness you’d heard from him even a minute ago. He spoke in a measured way, even as you pushed a needle through his skin and tugged on the thread tied to it. You looked up, realizing his eyes were set on the little open lock and lock picking set you’d left on the bedside table. “A lot of us are still struggling with the stuff they’re showing us in Reed and Hellman’s lessons.” A gesture to the very lock that had caught his eye. “Thought we could all work on it together. In our off hours.” 

Not beaming at him took some effort, because you knew he was just coming up with more excuses to spend time with you in a safe way, even if he was serious about wanting to practice new skills. 

“Sounds like a plan.” You didn’t have to think hard to agree, didn’t have to hide the fact that you thought it was a good idea. 

You would just hide why you did. 

And so, that night, you found yourself hosting a company of six, including yourself - even Alejandro had joined in, this time. Just like that day after Krauser pulled you from the prison, you let the radio play softly as you all exchanged phrases in different languages, as you let Alenko correct your pronunciation, or you showed Williams how you’d gotten a particular lock to turn. 

It was all good practice, good knowledge for you and everyone to have . . . but your attention was divided. Torn between the man you wanted so desperately to get lost in, and the folder of reports you’d stashed beneath your mattress. You thought of whether you should tell them all you’d learned. 

You wanted to. The knowledge you’d gained felt like it was trying to claw its way out of you, a beast looking for more of its own kind. You wanted to fill in the gaps of everything you didn’t know. You wanted to have the full picture, because even now, it seemed that there were still things being kept from the others. You wanted to know everything there was to know. Names, locations - everything. 

And yet . . . there were still two reports you refused to read. Two stories.

One known in full, the other known in pieces. 

Those reports weighed on you for a different reason. It wasn’t about understanding an enemy, or why a tragedy beyond measure had happened. Your story and Leon’s weighed on you because, in the back of your mind, you knew that time was running out. Whatever happened to Leon after his graduation was beyond your control. It always had been - that was what you’d warned him of so long ago. 

You would know as much about Leon S. Kennedy as you could before fate took control of you both. 

And he would know as much as he wanted to know about you. 

You would find a way to make sure of that.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Chapter Index

[lampmanliveblogs]

Yesterday’s Lie, Today’s Truth, Tomorrow’s Promise

Chapter 3: Understanding Clara (who's she?)

(Note: the story includes intermissions between chapters. Thus, chapter 3 is listed as chapter six on AO3)

((Some may wonder why I didn’t make a post like this for chapter 2 or any of the intermissions. I forgor skull emoji))

Rating: Teen

Language: English

Status: Ongoing

Chapters (including intermissions): 6/? (≈12)

Current Total Word Count: 41 324

Warnings: Canon-typical violence. May change with future chapters.

Relationships: Masha/Vee, Masha & Vee, Vee & Cabin 7, Vee & Camila (mentioned), Vee & Luz (mentioned)

Relevant characters: Vee, Masha, Cabin 7, Jacob Hopkins, Blonde Cheerleader (aka Clara), original characters

Additional Tags: Confessions, Romance, Love, Friends to Lovers, Mystery

Story Summary After Luz, Camila, and the others follows Belos back to the Demon Realm, Vee is walking back home when she is accosted by Jacob. She is saved by her old friends from summer camp, and it is then that she makes the decision: She is going to tell them the truth of who she is. At the same time, a series of strange burglaries are puzzling the police. Something is happening in Gravesfield… and with everyone else gone, it’s up to Vee to figure out what. Easier said than done when she also has to deal with having fallen in love with her best friend. This story has it all; action, suspense, monsters, explosions, and romance!

Chapter 3 Summary In which Masha has an essentially normal day; schoolwork, gossiping with friends, and worrying about their crush. Meanwhile, Vee stalks a girl.

Chapter 3 Excerpt (below the Keep Reading)

Morning came too soon, its arrival announced by the blaring ringing of an alarm clock. Masha’s eyes snapped open and they tried to sit up and silence the horrible noisemaker’s cacophony. However, they found themselves unable to move much at all. There was a moment of panic, though it faded away quickly as they realized the predicament they were in.

In their morning grogginess, they had somehow forgotten that they were not alone in the bed. Now, that bed was not meant for two people, so it was bound to be cramped, but Vee had had maybe taken things a step too far.

Facing each other, Vee’s arms were tightly locked around Masha’s body and her tail tangled in their legs. Their back was against the wall while Vee’s was out towards the room, almost like she was shielding them. Her face was nuzzled against Masha’s shoulder and she was beginning to slowly stir, groaning as the alarm’s incessant yowls invaded her dreams.

”Foul screaming demon,” she muttered.

”No, that’s just the alarm,” Masha said.

This got Vee’s attention. She opened her eyes, sky blue and sunshine yellow meeting Masha’s earthy brown.

”Good morning,” Masha said, a smile playing on their lips as they watched Vee’s face turn a deeper color. Goddess, she was so cute.

”Uh…” Vee quickly let go of Masha and did her best to untangle her tail from their legs. Finally able to move properly, Masha sat up and turned off the infernal alarm.

”S-sorry about that,” Vee mumbled, avoiding eye contact. ”I, um… constrictor instinct?”

Masha narrowed their eyes.

”I’m beginning to think you’re making that up”

”Maybe~” Vee said with a sly smile.

There was a moment of silence before they both burst out laughing, instantly dispelling the awkward tension between them.

Their mood shifted from jovial to sheer panic when their laughing fit was interrupted by a knock on the door.

”Masha, Luz?” sounded a voice through the door; it was mom. ”You two awake?” she asked, as if she hadn’t heard them laughing.

[adrift-in-thyme]

Whumptober Day 15: "I'm fine"

This one's for the anon who suggested some post-totk Wild hurt/comfort for day 15. I hope you enjoy!!

Read it on Ao3

- Wild & Time

- Summary: When Wild just barely manages to save Twilight, the wounds from his second adventure resurface

CW for blood and injury and a panic attack

Disclaimer: this fic has very minor spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom. Basically, if you've watched the trailers, you already know about the stuff I talk about here. But just be aware if you want to go in completely spoiler-free!

-----------------------------------

He’s fine.

That’s what Wild tells them. And himself. He repeats it like a mantra in the days following his return to the group of heroes he calls his brothers. It’s his reply to the endless queries about his welfare. His internal chant that keeps the demons at bay.

(Perhaps, if he says it enough times it will feel true. Perhaps, it will make the fear disappear, dissipate the nightmares.

(Somewhere, deep within though, he knows it won’t. It never did before. Why would it now?)

But he tries anyway. What else can he do? 

His brothers are worried about him. He can see it in their eyes, hear it in their voices. And it’s not fair. He didn’t return to have them shoulder this burden.

They already carry enough. 

So, he maintains the lie and convinces himself it’s the truth. Even when the dreams come, forcing him to relive the memories he runs from during the day. Even when his arm aches with the phantom pain of the ravenous evil that once ran through his veins.

And he keeps it together well enough. At least, he thinks he does. He shows off his new abilities, lets everyone inspect his arm, laughs and jokes and tells the most exciting tales from his adventure. 

Sometimes, it’s easy. After all, not every part of his adventure was bad. Most of it, he realizes as he shares more and more with his brothers, was not.

But those bits that were…it is all too easy to allow them to override all the rest. 

Especially when memories decide to repeat themselves. 

Especially today. Because Twilight is falling.

They had been fighting a group of monsters. Hefty beings, though nothing they couldn’t handle. And with all the heroes there it should have been easy.

But nothing is ever easy. Wild should know that by now.

He sees it happen at a slothful pace, as though time itself has slowed. But he doesn’t remember using stasis. He doesn’t even have the ability anymore. 

Though he desperately wishes that he did. Because, then, maybe, he could bring it all to a halt the moment Twilight stumbles. Maybe then he would have time to reach him.

It all falls down in a matter of seconds, racing into each other at breakneck speed despite their immeasurable slowness. One moment the rancher is beside him, trading quips and fighting back a moblin (just like before and somehow that had made breathing a bit easier). And the next the very ground crumbles beneath their feet. 

Wild doesn’t know what causes it — spell, wayward bomb, it doesn’t matter. All he can see now are Twilight’s eyes going wide as he loses his balance and plummets. All he can hear now is his own scream as he lunges forward to grab him.

“Twilight!”

He lands flat on his stomach, ignoring the way the fall rattles his ribcage. Desperately, he reaches out. The turquoise of his new arm glows. 

He can see it — crimson wrapping around it in wispy strings of clawing, greedy evil. He can see her terrified face as she reaches for his grasping hand.

Twilight stretches out his arm. His fingertips brush Wild’s. The feeling in his arm is not as good as it would be in a natural one….one that belonged to him, that his body didn’t sometimes decide to violently reject. But he can feel it anyway — the familiar touch of his brother’s hand, calloused and strong. 

He grabs for him. And misses.

Twilight falls.

“No.” Tears prick at his eyes, burning as they spill down his cheeks. “No!” 

Not again. Please, not again.

His world narrows, his breath grows short. But he fights to push past the panic, he fights not to fail again.

“Wild!” Wind appears beside him, eyes wide with worry. “What happened? Where’s Twilight?”

Wild doesn’t have time to respond (what would he say anyway to explain this?). Again, he reaches out, choking on his sorrow as he does so. Magic is at his fingertips, its golden glow warm and welcome. He directs it at the spot where the rancher once was.

His surroundings go grayish and dull. A ticking sound fills the air, like a clock rewinding. Wild draws in a breath and steels himself. This has to work, it has to. If it doesn’t…

He won’t entertain that thought. He won’t imagine the rancher lying broken and bleeding on a bed of jagged rock. 

Suddenly, there is the sound of wind rushing past his ears and a cry of a monster. Something falls with a thump beside him. The smell of blood drifts to Wild’s nose.

“Nice catch, sailor!” Hyrule cries.

Wild grits his teeth, struggling to keep himself from turning to look. He can’t afford to break his concentration, even for a second. Any moment now, Twilight will appear. Any moment now, he will have to grab him before the spell can break, plunging him back down. 

He makes a mental note to thank Wind when this is all over.

Twilight’s head appears just over the edge of the pit, then his shoulders. Wild doesn’t allow himself to take in the blood running down his forehead and splotched on his tunic, or the unnatural bend of his arm, or the pallor of his skin, the way he hangs limply like a puppet on a string. He digs the toes of his boots into the ground and leans forward. 

The ticking stops. The spell breaks. Twilight slumps into his hands.

The weight of him nearly drags them both back down. Eyes blown wide with panic, Wild struggles against the inescapable pull of gravity. But then someone grasps his legs and begins to pull him back toward the safety of firm earth. 

“Don’t worry, champion,” comes Time’s voice, sharp with worry and firm with resolve. “We’ve got you.”

Still, Wild doesn’t allow himself to breathe until they are firmly on land. And even when they are, he scrambles up, pulling Twilight further from the edge. 

The others rush forward to help him. They’re talking, he thinks, reassuring him that Twilight is alright. But he can’t hear them over the rushing in his ears. 

His shaking hands loosen their grip on Twilight, falling limp beside him into the damp grass. His breath comes in raspy, trembling gasps. The air he manages to drag in burns his constricted throat. 

He can see him even through the blurriness clouding his vision. The rancher is still unconscious, still deathly pale. Blood dribbles in a slow stream from his mouth and nose, bruising has begun to purple his face and neck.

Wild clenches his hands into fists.

I was too late. I missed…again.

“…fine. He’s fine, champion.”

Wild raises his eyes to Sky’s face, blinking away tears he hadn’t registered coming. The knight offers him a small smile.

“He’s just a little banged up. That’s all. And our captain’s going to take good care of him.”

“That’s right,” Hyrule pipes up, as he hands Warriors a potion. “He’s got some broken bones, but he’s endured far worse. Some potion and a bit of rest and he’ll be alright.”

He should respond in some way. A thank you or a nod, at the very least. But the atmosphere itself seems to be pressing down on him. And it’s all Wild can do to stand.

He manages anyway, rising on trembling legs. 

“Wild?” Wind looks up at him. “Are you okay?”

Wild shakes his head. Tears continue to fall unbidden down his cheeks. He can’t breathe. 

Casting one, last look at the fallen rancher, he turns and runs. ------------------

He ends up in the depths of the nearby woods, back against a tree, curled in on himself with his head resting upon his knees. Wild isn’t certain how long he sits there, trying to banish the horrific images that flash before his eyes, trying to breathe. But somewhere along the way, he hears footsteps.  

He doesn’t bother to raise his head. The steps are familiar, after all. No monster could walk so lightly, treading in rhythm with the crunch of fallen leaves and the sound of the wind rustling the branches. No one else sounds as though they are a part of the forest. Almost like the blupees do and the Lord of the Mountain. Sometimes, he gets the strangest feeling that if he looks away for too long, their leader will vanish amongst the shadows of the furs.

Time lowers himself down beside him, now, just close enough that their shoulders brush. Wild fights not to lean into him. He hadn’t realized how cold he had become.

“Twilight is awake.”

Wild lifts his head slightly, blinking. The tears have stopped now but his eyes feel like someone rubbed dirt in them.

“Is…is he okay?”

“He will need to rest for a few days. But yes, he is alright.” A large hand comes to rest on his shoulder. “You rescued him just in time, champion. Who knows how far down he would have fallen without your quick thinking.”

Quick thinking.

Wild can’t hold back a bitter chuckle. It hardly feels as though it was quick thinking. Panicked, more like it, a desperateness born of the need to not lose another loved one. Even temporarily.

Time is quiet for a long moment. Wild slumps further into his protective, little ball, battling between wanting to run again and wanting to sob into Time’s arms. In the end, he can bring himself to do neither.

“A second adventure is never easy,” the older hero says, at last, when Wild is certain he is going to either explode or dissolve into the dirt beneath their feet. “Honestly, I cannot imagine going on as many as our veteran has. Two was more than enough for me.”

With a jolt of surprise, Wild raises his head. He turns to frown at Time, who merely smiles.

“I didn’t want to talk about it either, you know. I kept what had happened on my journey a secret for many years. Telling anyone seemed more difficult than anything else I had endured. Sometimes, even impossible.”

Wild swallows, hard. He is almost certain the tears are returning. 

“I couldn’t let it happen again,” he admits, quietly, voice hoarse. “I couldn’t lose him like I lost her. Like…like I lost everyone.”

Time nods. “But you didn’t. Twilight is safe, cub. Allow yourself to believe that to be true.”

Wild drags in a shaky breath. The words he hardly dares to speak rise in his throat, screaming for release.

“And what…what happens if one day that’s no longer true? What happens if I fail him next time?”

What happens if I fail all of you? What if I fail her again? 

Time sighs. “I wish I had the answer to that. Believe me, it would do much to put my own mind at rest. All I can tell you, is to live for today. Allow yourself this victory. Allow it to strengthen you to face further challenges. That is all that you can do.”

Wild ducks his head, biting his lip to keep the tears at bay. But they come out anyway, spilling down his cheeks in cascading rivulets. He chokes on a mouthful of salt water.

Time shifts. The warmth of his hand leaves, only to be replaced by the warmth of his arms, enveloping Wild as he holds him close. Wild collapses into him, heedless of the tears and snot he is undoubtedly sullying Time’s tunic with. Sobbing into the Hero of Time’s chest is not something he ever imagined that he would do. Now that the great ball of agony has begun to unwind, however, he cannot drag it back into submission. 

He has kept it for this long, held it inside until it almost became a part of him. He has fought it down through months of chasing fleeting clues across Hyrule, fighting beasts that haunt his nightmares. Smothered it at night when sleep refused to come. It refuses to be held down any longer. 

It rushes out like a wave of water upon the collapse of a dam. And Time holds him while it does.

When, at last, the sobs do subside, the tightness in his chest and stomach is still there, as it always has been. But it has lessened somewhat and for that, at least he is grateful. Slowly, he pushes himself up, swiping at his eyes and nose, self-consciously.

“S-sorry about your tu-tunic,” he hiccups, eyeing Time sheepishly.

The hero gives him a small, kind smile. In that moment, it is hard to believe that this is the same hero who can make grown men tremble and take down the largest of monsters without breaking a sweat.

“Don’t concern yourself with it. It can be washed out.” He rises, dusting himself off, then holds out a hand. “Now, are you ready to go? I believe Twilight wants to see you.”

Wild takes a deep breath. His gaze flits to his arm, softly glowing where it rests on his lap.

All I can tell you, is to live for today. Allow yourself this victory. Allow it to strengthen you to face further challenges. 

Slowly, he folds his fingers into a fist. The glow strengthens in answer to his own resolve.

“Yeah.” He takes Time’s hand and stands. “I’m ready.”

[thelordofgifs]

the fairest stars: masterpost

Considering what a monster this fic has become, I thought it was about time I made a proper masterpost with all relevant links and info. Hopefully this makes it easier for people wanting to tackle it!

Rating: T

Relationships: Maedhros & Maglor, Beren/Lúthien, Fingon/Maedhros, Celegorm & Curufin

Characters: Maedhros, Maglor, Lúthien, Fingon, Curufin, Celegorm (and plenty of others)

The premise: a bullet point AU exploring what might happen if Beren and Lúthien managed to steal two Silmarils instead of one.

Links to the fic

the fairest stars on AO3 (currently updated up to part 30, or the end of the third arc)

On tumblr:

post i (parts 1-9)

post ii (parts 10-15)

post iii (parts 16-20)

post iv (parts 21–25)

post v (parts 26-30)

post vi (parts 31-34)

post vii (part 35, where updates go currently)

Notes on reading

I think of tfs as loosely organised into story arcs; there’s a natural break point of sorts at the end of part 10 (although it’s a cliffhanger so you may not particularly want to stop there. Nonetheless, I’d advise it if it’s 4am and you’re bingeing fic instead of sleeping). The second arc ends at the end of part 20, which is even more obviously a break between storylines. The third arc ends with part 30. The fourth is currently ongoing.

Extra material

The fun part of tumblr is I can share all the behind-the-scenes notes and ramblings that don’t fit as well on AO3! I put everything tfs-related under the tag #the fairest stars, but here are some highlights.

Alternate POV scenes and missing moments:

Maedhros’ POV of That One Scene in part 14 (not essential but pretty important reading after you’ve read part 14. Not recommended if you haven’t read part 14, because spoilers, or if you find That One Scene upsetting although I can’t think why you would).

a missing moment between parts 20 and 21 (not remotely essential reading)

Fanart from the bestest loveliest most talented readers ever:

Comic of Curufin in part 10 by @biginvisiblespider

Maedhros and the slaughtered orcs from part 12 by @biginvisiblespider

Comic of Fingon and Curufin's meeting from part 14 by @biginvisiblespider

Maedhros, Maglor and the old bright songs of their childhood from part 15 by @swanhild

Comic of Fingon and Maedhros in part 20 by @welcomingdisaster

Maedhros and Maglor in part 28 by @eilinelsghost

Maglor and Lúthien in the rose garden from part 31 by @anna-dreamer

An incredible playlist by @fictionalmenjusthitdifferent: listen on YouTube here

A small selection of behind-the-scenes commentary and ramblings:

director's cut: part 6

meta on Maedhros and grief (spoilers up to part 11)

director's cut: part 11

a dissection of That One Scene (spoilers up to part 14)

meta on Fingon, Maedhros and Maglor (spoilers up to part 15)

director's cut: part 15

thoughts on part 18

director's cut: part 18

director's cut: part 20 (the beginning)

director's cut: part 20 (the end)

thoughts on Maedhros and the Oath (spoilers up to part 30)

Maedhros and Maglor in the third arc (spoilers up to part 30)

director's cut: the cheek-touching thing (spoilers up to part 30)

director's cut: the religious language thing (spoilers up to part 30)

director's cut: part 30

[greencitrusfruitseeds]

Hello! This is the first post I’ve made besides reposting some stuff :)))

Anyways, I have a small collection of ideas that I don’t have time and skill to do, so I’m just going to post them here and then people can use them as they want!

All of the ideas are centered around Jere with different people, but feel free to change the ships as you like :D

I’m probably going to post more ideas as they come (This is not me trying to force people into writing, if you like the idea and want to write it then I’d love to read your stuff, so please tag me in anything IF YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE doing it :))))

- Jere is a cheerleader with an eating disorder at Bojan’s school, Jere falls unconscious during practice and Bojan runs over to ‘save’ him. Bla bla bla, they become friends, Bojan finds out about the eating disorder (maybe Jere vomiting his lunch) Bojan pressures Jere to eat healthy, Jere gets kicked off the cheer team because of his weight gain, and then I don’t know what’s gonna happen

- Bojan and Jere as Alpha and Omega captured in a fighting ring Bojan captured first and Jere going to get him out. ‘Jere get out of here! GET OUT!! RUN!!’ Jere whined ‘but-‘ ‘FUCKING RUN’

- Jere as a schizophrenic

- Jere gets harassed for being gay, he meets Bojan who is comfortable in his own skin. They have an argument and Jere calls him a fairy. Bojan is sad, but learns him to be comfortable and they fvck :))

- Bojan can’t wake Jere up during a house fire

They go to the hospital (Jere inhaled too much smoke so he passed out)

- Bojan is scared of his feelings towards Jere, so he says the most hurtful thing he can think of.

- Jere is deathly afraid of water and gets pushed in a pool at a party, Bojan jumps in to save him

- Jere is a werewolf living in a world where every werewolf has been eradicated. He’s saved up countless of pills to keep him from transforming. He meets Bojan, they get comfortable with each other quickly and he tells Bojan about his struggles.

- Jere gets stabbed by Tommy at a vinyl signing or smth, he gets paranoid and locks himself inside his home in fear of Tommy.

- Jere is owned by somebody, (I don’t know who yet) and feels as is he’s worth nothing without this person by his side

- Jere’s boyfriend is narcissistic and is convinced that Jere is the one who needs to change in their relationship. Bojan, Jure, Kris, Jan and Nace can only watch as Jere becomes a shell of his former self

- Jere is sold to Bojan’s stripclub from his old dodgy place that clearly mistreated him since he’s afraid of everyone and everything, but even then he refuses to not do his job and goes through with backstage visits even though it’s uncomfortable. Bojan notices and helps him. They build up a relationship and they fall in loove~ awww

- ‘Obsessed’

- Bojan ‘doesn’t’ like boys, so when Jere confesses to him ‘I can’t love you!’ ‘I’m not lazy like you, boys like boys and girls like girls it’s easier’

- Jere is used for experimentation, Bojan is a worker

- Bojan and Jere broke up. Jere is coming home from a long day at work and Bojan is just sitting on his couch, drunk out of mind, he forgot that him and Jere broke up

- Somebody gets dared to date Jere, and he is absolutely crushed when he finds out

- Jere is some kind of monster (Ruoska J) and Bojan is scared of him, horrified, and Jere doesn’t know why.

(These are just my silly ideas, feel free to interpret them as you want or message me if you’re unsure of something :D)

My Ao3 is Lime_Seeds

[theboarsbride]

yo, I saw that you deleted The Monster And The Butterfly, and I was wondering if you were doing a revamp of it? I absolutely loved the original, and was super depressed when I couldn’t find it on tapas. All in all, I hope the deletion isn’t permanent! That book was a work of art!

Hi!! Thank you so much for the words and taking a chance on this silly book when it was still a super rough draft!

Yes, it IS currently being revamped!! It's been rebranded into GHOSTS PLAGUE THESE HALLS, and at the moment it's on hiatus but I am making edits here and there with the intention of (self) publishing it. That is partially the reason why I took it down from ao3, and also general insecurity and not feeling comfortable posting drafts of my books online.

Plus I hope to publish my novella THE BONES WE HAUNT within the next year or so since it's a considerably smaller book (about 100k words smaller than GPTH lol) and I feel like it'd be easier to wrap my head around self publishing with (and also affordability hsbshdhfhshhsjs).

But I'm hoping that the version of TMATB/GPTH that ends up getting published is better than the version you've previously read!! It's still a "beauty and the beast" retelling but moving forward it will focus more on the Gothic ghost story i hope for it to become rather than the BATB story I initially meant for it to be compared to previous drafts lol

[livingfast04]

Hi, First- I am working on the steddie “monster au?”

I’m doing my best, and my brains doing a whole bunch of bs that’s making it hard- a lot of that is giving me new ideas. And also I'm balancing about 4 other wips, that I'm trying really hard to work on all of it- and again my brains a bit of a dumbass, so it's taking a while.

But! I’ve decided that I am going to try and finish the whole fic before posting it. Just so I can have all of it done, which makes things easier for me- So that I can just do weekly updates until it's all out, and then no ones has to wait for me to write the next part… like four months later-

I’m hoping to have it all done before the middle of November! (Hopefully, but again no promises- I am trying my best :D)

In the meantime! I do have another Steddie Fic over on ao3, that’s unfinished too, but it is way longer than the “monster au?” If anyone wants to read that- it's over there. (I am also working on that one, I'm having to re-read all my notes I left for myself, because it's been a minute, and I did not leave myself very many notes)

Second- the find the fic post scared the ever living shit out of me for no reason. Pft.

I ALSO HAVENT FORGOTTEN ABOUT MY ASKS (I totally did forget) and I'm going to try to answer most if not all of them this coming week.

[gimmie-a-sammich]

Absolution | Chapter 1 | The Best Kept Secret

Pairings: Resistance!Ateez x Fem!Original Character, Resistance!??? x Fem!Original Character, feat other idols

Genre: (18+ Minors DNI) Dystopian au, smut, angst, fluff

Summary: Absolution: act of absolving; a freeing from blame or guilt; release from consequences, obligations, or penalties. Haunted by the guilt of her choices, Serafina desperately searches for a way to atone for her sins. In a world ruled by power and corruption, will she find the forgiveness she seeks? Is she worthy of absolution? Maybe stumbling upon the resistance is the answer she's been looking for.

Chapter Warnings: death, depictions of death, violence, use of some pretty cool superpowers, manipulation

Word Count: 6.4k

read here on AO3

Absolution Masterlist

next chapter

**

Silence. 

Silence was a blessing. Silence meant they had not been spotted. Silence meant the others were doing their job, and doing it well. Silence meant Serafina wouldn’t have to intervene. Yet. 

Missions had been relatively the same lately. Information was intercepted regarding the resistance’s plans and locations. Once that information was determined accurate the special operations team Serafina was a part of was often dispatched. This team was not designed for mercy. Their solitary function was destruction and death, each member carefully selected due to their abilities.

Tonight they investigated a rumored trading post and convergence sector for the resistance. According to the Crown’s sources, an exchange of weaponry and classified information was to occur among two of the more influential and powerful factions. Two of their highest leaders would be in attendance, along with a large portion of their respective militias. The objectives were simple. Intercept the intelligence. Kill all present. Take no prisoners. Burn everything to the ground. 

“Hostiles located.” The com in Serafina’s ear came to life, a familiar voice filling the silent void she sat in. She glanced to the left, finding most of her team still in the same ready position they had been in for the past forty-five minutes. Jay and Jiwoo had moved ahead to take inventory of the seemingly abandoned town to be sure the intel was correct. Serafina, Ender, and Changkyun lurked on the outskirts of town, waiting for confirmation before moving in to proceed with the extermination. 

“How many?” Changkyun, the leader of their unit, responded. 

“Enough. Most are gathered in the town hall. Few on patrol, but nothing we couldn’t slip past easily. We haven’t gone through every building, more could be hidden. We’ll take a different route back and will reconvene.” Jiwoo, once again. 

“Do your best to remain undetected. This will be easier if we continue to rely on stealth, at least for now.” Changkyun’s voice was smooth, always calm and ever present during missions. 

Serafina sighed deeply, adjusting her hands around the helmet in her lap. She had taken it off to clear her head and stare up at the stars flickering in the black sky. They were never to come off in front of the enemy, so this lull in time was her only chance. The military’s anonymity played a key role in their tactics. Faces were never shown, given names were never shared. Even within the military itself certain individuals were shrouded with mystery, this unit being one of them. Many knew of its existence through whispers amongst the shadows, but noone truly knew the monsters lurking within it. 

“Echo, helmet.” Echo, her military provided codename. Changkyun’s use of it reminded Serafina of her place and role, snapping her back into that headspace. Yet another measure towards anonymity. Each member of the unit had one, along with all high ranking officials, other specialty units, and remarkable soldiers… especially those with more powerful abilities. 

“Right, sorry Knight.” She caught a glimpse of Changkyun smiling at her. His deep blue hair reflected in the moonlight before hidden by his own helmet. She slid hers on, holding her breath and gazed straight ahead while the retinal scanner verified her identity. Specs and stats flooded her vision for a split second while the helmet recalibrated and transitioned to her predetermined settings. 

Ender, or Indigo as he was known within the unit and military, had not removed his helmet of course. He shook his head at the two of them, questioning their reasoning for taking them off in the first place. Serafina could only imagine the glare he had given her when she had taken it off, knowing that his disdain would only be aimed at her and not Changkyun. In all honesty she didn’t care about his thoughts towards her. She hadn’t in years. 

“ETA five minutes.” Jay’s voice rang through the system this time. 

True to his word, Jay and Jiwoo scurried up to their vantage point in the hills exactly at the five minute mark. Neither seemed out of breath when they crouched to join their team. Both turned to Changkyun, ready to debrief completely about their scouting trip. 

Jay inhaled deeply before speaking. “Like we said, the majority of individuals in the town are located within the city hall building. That appears to be where the exchange is happening. The two leaders we are after are already in the conference room, along with their other officials. Patrols are scattered throughout the town, focusing mainly around the city hall and the armory. Teams of two, takes them about 10 minutes to complete a sweep.” 

Pictures and maps appeared on Serafina’s screen. “Pictures of important landmarks, the armory, and city hall should be coming through. They are marked on your maps as well. I set motion detectors at each patrol route so we will have accurate timing on the sweeps. Those should also be live and available now,” Jiwoo said. 

Each member pulled up the maps on their wrist and internal systems. As always, Jay and Jiwoo left nothing unturned during their scouting mission. Their trust in each other and skills led to them frequently being paired together whenever a bit of reconnaissance was needed. Jay’s ability only provided another fail safe in the event something went awry.

“Ace, Frost, Great work.” Changkyun’s smile was heard through his praise despite being hidden. He took great pride in his team. As soon as it came back to the mission, though, his voice shifted to firm and commanding, the voice that made his team follow him without question. “Ace, you and Indigo will make for the armory. Kill anyone who comes at you, but staying undetected is the priority for now. We don’t want to alert them of our presence too soon. Survey their arsenal and take inventory of what we could be dealing with moving forward. Burn it to the ground when you’ve sent information back to the Crown. Frost, Echo, and I will go straight to city hall. Echo will gather the information we need before we proceed with the rest of our mission.” 

Changkyun intentionally left off the second half of their orders, though it went without question what they were. Once the classified information was identified and retrieved, the extermination would be completed. Only ash and death would be left in their wake. 

Beneath the moonlight, the teams nodded in confirmation. Their sleek black tactical suit further camouflaged them and provided additional protection from bullets and whatever ability could be thrown at them. The Crown wasted no expenses on their military, their gear and weapons a perfect example of that, not that they used the guns and knives strapped to their bodies frequently. 

The quintet moved quickly and silently down the hill before breaking off into their designated groups once they came to town. Jay and Ender took a sharp left at the first street intersection, making their way towards the armory, Changkyun, Jiwoo, and Serafina continued straight along the main road. 

“We need to take the next right,” Changkyun said, glancing at the map projecting from his wrist. “Patrols will be crossing soon, side streets are our best option as we get closer to city hall.” 

Without speaking Jiwoo and Serafina followed close behind, remaining vigilant in their surroundings. For being an alleged hub, the resistance had done little to make the town livable. Boarded up and decrepit houses lined the streets, roofs caved around the crumbled foundations. Boxes and crates provided further coverage for the team. Casings from the broken streetlights crunched beneath their boots, the lack of additional light casting an additional layer of shadow. 

As always, Serafina remained calm as they moved through the streets, thankful they had remained undetected thus far. Although it only delayed the inevitable, she found solace that she hadn’t needed to kill anyone… yet. 

“300 feet,” Jiwoo stated. The trio paused behind a group of crates, but Serafina had a perfect view of the building ahead of them.

It wasn’t at all what Serafina expected, even with the pictures Jiwoo had provided. The building barely stood out in comparison to the other buildings, only being marginally more upkempt and larger. In the time it took Jay and Jiwoo to return and for the trio to sneak through town more guards had settled around the entrances. Whatever was set to happen tonight must already be in process. 

“Indigo, Ace, report.” 

“Coming to the armory now. Minimal security, it looks like most of the guards have moved elsewhere. We’ll transmit the inventory back to the Crown before we burn it.” Ender’s voice rose in glee at the end of his statement. He did nothing to hide his excitement regarding their current task. Ender reveled in his abilities and the destruction he caused.

“Copy. Come to town hall when you’re done. And Indigo, only burn the armory… you can do the rest of the town after we’ve finished here.” Again Changkyun made his tone firm. Ender had a habit of going too far too quickly, making it difficult to keep him in line at times. 

Changkyun held his arm out with a closed fist due to one of the guards' sudden movements. Fortunately, they had not been spotted. The guards continued laughing and joking with each other, although their hands still tightly gripped the assault rifles, fingers ready on the trigger. Serafina knew their presence would be known the moment blue flames rose to the sky, making it only a matter of time before bullets, or more, flew around them. 

“Echo, take the guards on the right, I’ll handle the ones on the left.” Changkyun directed. “Frost, watch for more to come. We all know Indigo and Ace will be noisy.” 

Serafina and Changkyun dispersed silently in either direction, leaving Jiwoo on reserve for backup. Light on her feet, Sera leapt through the side streets, coming to the six scattered guards quickly. Easy work for her. Energy began coursing through her, so much so that the air around her began to ripple slightly. The guards took notice of the slight change in the air, tightening their grips on the rifles and looking around the empty streets. They were marginally more alert, but it didn’t matter. 

She molded the surrounding energy, choosing to design her golden matter into chunks of razor sharp shrapnel hovering in the air, waiting for her will. With a simple thought they shot forward, slicing through the six guards and killing them before they could raise a gun or alarm. 

“Right side guards eliminated.” Sera slunk out of the shadows into the open street just as blue flames shot up in the distance. With Ender at play now stealth would no longer be an option  and there was no reason to continue operating with such.

Confidence oozed out of Sera as she walked towards the front of the building even with alarms sounding around her, keeping her eyes open for resistance reinforcements. Molten gold liquid lingered around Serafina, only needing a moment to transform into anything she imagined. Changkyun rounded the left side of the building at the same time, holding his trademark purple staff of psychic energy. Blood splatters coated his black suit, some still dripping off the staff’s tip. 

“Reinforcements are converging, Knight,” Jiwoo said with a huff. Based on her grunts she was in the midst of dealing with some of them. “Indigo and Ace are on their way. I’ll join them and we'll eliminate the threats before proceeding to the building.” 

Ender and Jay echoed her thoughts, completely in agreement with the plan Jiwoo proposed. Changkyun may be their leader, but this team was a well oiled machine filled with equals. Before Changkyun had a chance to confirm, the doors of town hall flung open. 

Without a second thought Serafina flung matter at the militiamen. It transformed into much larger spikes this time, impaling the first man with such force it sent him barrelling back through the open door. Bullets flew towards them, but all it took was a raise of Changkyun’s hand to stop them midair. He laughed when Sera melted them into nothing but blobs of golden goo. 

“Ah, my sweet Echo… we do make such a great team don’t we?” 

“Not willingly, and you know that,” Serafina shot back. Changkyun only laughed at her before taking off towards the building with purpose. The staff in his hands transformed into a katana, a second materializing in his other open palm. Sera had no choice but to follow, allowing more golden lava to form around her. Changkyun barked further orders, but his focus now was getting to the conference room and killing all who tried to stop them. 

Serafina had to give the resistance credit. These men and women didn’t run nor show fear even as Sera and Changkyun tore through them with as much ease as a knife cuts butter. Bullets, flecks of gold, and shocks of purple flung around the building as they fought. Neither left anyone standing and quickly found themselves at the door of the conference room. Changkyun forced the barricaded door open easily, blocking the shots fired at them the moment it opened, leaving Sera to liquify the bullets. 

“Are we interrupting something?” Changkyun asked with feigned innocence. 

Ten men and women sat around a table, each with their guns aimed at the pair in the door. One of the men made a sudden move but was quickly halted by Changkyun. He froze mid reach, a small ball of orange energy attempting to form in his hands. A terrified look entered his eyes at the inability to move and the flickering ball slowly disintegrated before it could be used. Changkyun’s telekinesis was some of the strongest Serafina had seen and one of the primary reasons he achieved his current position. Even if more around the table had their own abilities, which surely they did, all seemed too stunned or frightened to use them following Changkyun’s antics.

“I wouldn’t if I were you. Echo?” 

The weapons pointed at them turned to liquid in an instant, falling into golden puddles on the floor. Even without seeing his face Sera knew Changkyun was smirking. Serafina’s powers were awe inspiring, a fact evident based on the shocked faces in the room. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t even touched on what she could really do. 

“And how did we get the honor of having the fabled Hell’s Unit in our presence?” A gruff and weathered looking man standing at the head of the table spoke. A large scar slashed through half his face, marring what would have otherwise been a very handsome man. 

As hard as the Crown tried to keep their team hidden in obscurity, rumors of their escapades traveled through Meridian like wildfire. How could it not, given its members and kill count? Their operations and abilities became something of legend at this point, lies and truth intermixing to the point no one truly knew what to believe regarding them. 

Changkyun chuckled, clutching his heart. “Hell’s Unit? That’s a new one for me. I like the sound of it. You must be Giddeon.” He was the leader of one of the factions the team was dispatched to eliminate. “And you… you must be Kahanna.” Changkyun was speaking to the olive skinned woman next to him. Her features were dark and sharp, accentuated by the tight ponytail sitting on top of her head. Based on the dossier they received before the mission, they were the pair with the classified intelligence as well.

“Knight, the rest of town is clear.” Jiwoo appeared behind them. Still encased in her diamond armor, the sharpened points coming out the top of her wrists were stained red. Serafina always found this diamond state stunningly beautiful. Light reflected off Jiwoo, shooting rainbows on every surface. As much as she looked like stained glass, Jiwoo was more or less invincible in this state. 

Ender and Jay stood behind her, lit up further by the blue flames flickering in Ender’s palm. The two of them played around now that the mission was nearing its end. Jay created portals to move Ender’s flames to random places throughout the room, startling whoever the blue fire appeared by. Ender was on his best behavior, though, and didn’t let the flames burn for too long. Serafina knew him well enough to know that he enjoyed the fear he elicited. 

“We just need these two, kill the rest.” Changkyun stated coldly. He never took his eyes off Giddeon and Kahanna, arms folded tightly against his chest.

Jay took a small step forward, creating small portals directly above the heads of the others around the wooden table. With a flick of his wrist they snapped down, muffling the terrified screams, and at the snap of his fingers the portals closed. Eight decapitated bodies slumped to the floor with loud thuds. A metallic smell enveloped the room from the amount of blood pooling on the hardwood. 

Changkyun avoided the bodies on the floor as he walked closer to Giddeon and Kahanna. “What do you two know? What was so important to discuss that a secret meeting had to take place? What are you planning?” His gloved fingers drug across the table as he spoke, rustling the papers with his movements. 

Gideon’s laughter echoed through the room and only added to the growing tension. His dark eyes flashed in the light, voice seething with anger as he spoke. “You’re better off just killing us.” 

Kahanna remained stone cold beside him, not a single bit of emotion crossing her face as she stared straight ahead. Their resolve was commendable, if not foolish.

Changkyun’s low laugh rumbled from deep within his chest. Serafina inhaled sharply when he removed his helmet and placed it on the table. A common occurrence for him during investigations, but it still garnered the same reaction from her. Nothing Changkyun did was without purpose. He knew that neither Kahanna nor Giddeon would leave this room alive, but Serafina’s abilities provided a further fail safe which allowed him to be more reckless in these moments. 

Fingers tapped the top of his helmet, the soft thuds seeming much louder in the heavy air. Changkyun nudged a body out of the way so he could sit more comfortably in a chair. His dark eyes appeared almost black, hazy with the power he had in this moment. “Take a seat.” Neither Giddeon nor Kahanna moved a muscle. “Your defiance is commendable, truly. I said sit.” 

Using his telekinesis, Changkyun forced the two down into the chairs behind them. The struggle became prevalent on their faces, grimacing and thrashing against the force keeping them down.  Struggling was futile. If Changkyun wanted you to sit, you would. 

“You can force our bodies, but you can’t force us to speak,” Kahanna said fiercely.

The entire team with the exception Serafina laughed at her statement. Changkyun dipped his head to the floor, shoulders shaking with quiet laughter. When he lifted his gaze, his eyes were cold. “You’re right. I can’t. But I don’t need to.” He turned to Sera, beckoning her towards him with an outstretched hand. “Echo, please.”

Changkyun stood, allowing Sera to take his seat. Unlike the former, Sera kept her helmet on. Kahanna and Giddeon continued to to struggle against the force of Changkyun’s mind and she could see a slight strain from keeping them contained starting to creep onto his face. These two must be stronger than she initially thought if Changkyun had to work this hard. “You will not struggle and you will remain seated.” 

As soon as the command left Sera’s lips both Giddeon and Kahanna became still as statues within the chairs, letting Changkyun’s mind relax and focus on obtaining information. His hand settled on Serafina’s shoulder, squeezing softly in appreciation for taking the task of restrainment off his plate. It lingered for a moment, an action noticed by Sera. Attention returned to Giddeon and Kahanna once his hand brushed off her shoulder. Changkyun grinned  like a madman down at the two leaders. Confusion and fear had snuck onto their faces at the realization they had no control. That control resided within Serafina and Serafina alone. 

There was more to Serafina beyond her physical ability. She could manipulate minds, an ability that only those in the inner circle of the Crown were aware of. With only her words Sera could assume complete control, making the unlucky recipients do and say whatever she pleased. This in combination with her manipulation of matter made her an unstoppable force, her powers utterly limitless. She was precious to the military and to the Crown, their perfect weapon in every way.  

“You will answer all of Knight’s questions completely and without lies.” Serafina’s voice was soft and soothing. Her eyes became a striking gold within her helmet as she spoke, the only outward indication that she was using her powers, both physical and mental, mimicking the color of her self-produced matter. 

Changkyun’s smile widened to a toothy grin. He looked borderline manic standing between Kahanna and Giddeon. “Like I asked before… What was the purpose of this meeting tonight?” He placed a hand on each of their shoulders.

“We were reviewing new information released among the resistance. A former military member had intelligence regarding two members of your very team.” Giddeon’s voice was cold yet melodic, gaze unblinking and transfixed on Serafina.

The air in the room thickened. Changkyun’s fingers tightened on their shoulders, knuckles nearly white from the pressure. His eyes surveyed the four members of his team, mind immediately running through every possibility, but even Changkyun couldn’t have predicted this outcome. 

“The resistance received confirmation that Indigo and Echo are the prince and princess.” Kahanna’s voice had the same melody and intonation as Giddeon’s. 

Serafina felt her heart stop beating for a moment. She desperately wanted to look at her brother even though Ender’s helmeted face would provide no comfort. She needed to know more before letting herself spiral. Her and Ender’s identities and abilities were one of the best kept secrets in the military, or so she thought.

“What else is known about the prince and princess?” Changkyun’s voice and face remained steady and neutral regardless of the bomb that was dropped. Ever the perfect leader he was, never letting his emotions show even in the thick of it.

Kahanna gulped before continuing. “Their true names and appearance continue to be a mystery to the resistance, however factions are on high alert for any news regarding your team. It is known that Indigo’s abilities pertain to fire and the ability to control it. Rumors were that his flames are blue and that his power goes beyond others with pyrokinesis, which of course we now know to be true, but that is not known within the resistance.” 

“And the princess and her abilities?” Changkyun’s eyes settled on Serafina, flashing with concern briefly with the followup question. 

“Not as much as Indigo in that respect. The most common rumor is that she has a form of telekinesis, but there are also whispers that she can manipulate the world around her in some way. Now we know that none of the information remotely comes close to what Echo can do, and it’s unfortunate that we will never be able to share those details with the other leaders.”

A bit of good news. Sera felt some of the tension leave her body knowing there was still some secrecy. Her mother and father had shielded Serafina and her siblings from the eyes of Meridian’s people, choosing to keep their names and appearances hidden for this very reason, even if the existence of three Titon siblings was known throughout the continent. King Nikolai and Queen Delphine were ruthless in their manner of ruling and knew their children would be easy targets in attempts to topple their regime. They took endless measures to keep their children safe. Ender’s identity would only become public when he married or ascended to the throne. However, it was tradition among the royal family for their children to receive military and combat training at age fourteen until eighteen, even without the expectation of serving under the Crown. Ender and Serafina’s abilities were too powerful not to be used and both thrived during training, resulting in them following in the footsteps of their mother and father. Hence their current positions on this team and now the question of their safety.  

“What is the resistance’s plan in regards to the prince and princess?”

“Capture if possible to use as leverage, kill when necessary,” Giddeon said. 

Ender barked a sharp laugh from behind Serafina, scoffing at the thought. “Good fucking luck with either of those options. The resistance really does have a death wish.” 

Changkyun sighed and grabbed his helmet, placing it on his head before stepping away from Giddeon and Kahanna and rounding the table towards Jay, Jiwoo, and Ender. “Anything else pertaining to this team?” 

“We know the remaining team member’s military names: Knight, Frost, and Ace. Again, we don’t know their appearances, although you’ve kindly shown us yours, Knight, if only briefly. We’ve heard that you like to show your face, but none have lived to describe it. Whispers have also been swarming regarding your abilities. You have some variant of telekinesis, Frost with durability, and Ace with portaling. Again, nothing close to the reality of the powers this team holds.” Kahanna closed her eyes after speaking, a single tear sliding down her face.

Changkyun kept his back to the table, choosing to face the rest of his team. “Let them speak freely now, Echo.” Serafina complied with her leader’s command, standing up to join her team and severing the connection, eyes returning to their natural color. Jiwoo slid a hand into hers, offering silent support. “Thank you for the information… this has definitely been an enlightening conversation.” 

“The Crown will break, Knight, and your team will burn along with it.” Giddeon spat, voice laced with anger. Fists hit the table with enough force to snap it in half. Finally, a demonstration of Giddeon’s known ability of enhanced strength. Kahanna made no moves to show her gifts, having accepted her coming fate.

“It’s you who will burn, Giddeon,” Changkyun said softly from the doorway, taking a few steps into the atrium before he paused. “Indigo, if you would.” 

Ender stepped around Changkyun, ignoring Giddeon’s screams of harsh words and expletives. He enjoyed holding life within his hands just as much as he enjoyed playing with the flames flickering around his fingers. Serafina turned around just as blue flames erupted beneath Giddeon and Kahanna. Screams of pain filled the building, echoing through the wooden halls. Somehow they grew louder in Serafina’s ear as she followed her team out into the empty town.  Ender stayed put, wanting to be sure Kahanna and Giddeon were both dead before considering vacating the now engulfed building. It was no surprise that Ender would let his flames run wild. For as much control he had over his ability, Ender himself was as volatile as the flames he wielded and let them run rampant without warning. 

“Asshole didn’t even make sure we were out before he let loose,” Jay mumbled, shaking his head at the blue flames shooting up into the sky. 

“You know I can still hear you,” Ender retorted. 

Jay laughed, a warm and welcome sound, although it did nothing to replace the imagined screams that rang in Serafina’s ears. “Which is exactly why I said it.”

Ender strolled out of the flames completely unscathed just a moment later. Not only was Ender entirely fireproof, his suit had also been designed to withstand the flames around him. He lightly punched Jay’s shoulder when he rejoined the group. The five of them stared at the blue fire, watching as the building toppled to the ground before backing further away due to the intense heat. 

Serafina found Ender’s cobalt and indigo flames beautiful, something she would never openly admit to her brother. It was because of this rare coloration that Ender received Indigo as his military name. His flames were exponentially hotter, and therefore more dangerous, than typical fire, something Ender took great pride in. 

“Ace, portal us back to the initial rendezvous point,” Changkyun commanded. “We need to burn the entire town and we’re not leaving until it's ash.” 

A black void opened behind them. Changkyun stepped through first, disappearing into the vortex. Serafina followed suit, walking through the portal and stepping back onto the grassy hill above town. Jiwoo and Ender arrived seconds behind her. Jay brought up the rear, closing his portal as soon as he stepped through. 

Now that the unit was out of harm’s way, Ender willed his flames to spread through the rest of the city. Even though Sera had seen her brother at work many times before, she always caught herself feeling a mixture of awe and disgust at his sheer ability to destroy everything in his wake. She felt a similar feeling with her own abilities, but unlike her brother Sera felt no joy in dealing death and destruction. 

Silence once again filled the air, only broken by the crackling flames and the occasional crash of houses and buildings caving in. Time passed by slowly to Serafina, though it only took minutes for Ender’s scorching fire to level the town to ash. The flames disappeared following Changkyun’s command. Ender’s fire would burn endlessly if allowed, and only he and Sera had the ability to extinguish the flames. This was a newer revelation between the siblings, and one that drove the wedge deeper between them. Following another command, Jay opened a new portal, this one leading them back to their homebase within the military complex. Back to Serafina and Ender’s father. Back to share the news that the children of the Crown may not be safe. 

The team’s handlers, Mira and Benjin, were at the ready the instant the portal closed behind the quintet. Of course they had seen the events and heard all the information gathered by the team during the mission, putting them on edge. Although they commended the team on a job well done, the air was heavy in the room. 

Serafina pulled off her helmet once Mira gave her space, handing it to the woman with a small smile. Concern filled Mira’s face, but she didn’t ask Sera any questions before scurrying off. The handlers were responsible for much of the team’s security, including keeping their identities hidden. The concern wasn’t only for Sera’s sake, it was also for her own life. Mercy and leniency were not routinely found in the Crown’s version of justice. 

“Knight, they want a debrief immediately,” Benjin stated. He had retaken his seat in front of the many computer screens, scrolling and typing as messages came in. He swiveled in his chair to face the leader, face falling with a sigh. “Changkyun… I hope you don’t suspect Mira or I. We would never-”

Changkyun shook his head, silencing Benjin with a raise of his hand. “More would have been known about Ender and Sera if it was someone in close proximity to the team. The information was too general to come from either of you. You’ve been with us since conception… I don’t question your loyalty to us, or to the Crown, and I will make sure the King knows where I stand.” 

Relief washed over both Benjin and Mira, but only briefly. Changkyun valued loyalty above all else and both handlers had proven that over and over again. While King Nikolai trusted Changkyun’s thoughts and opinions, it was his will that reigned supreme. If he questioned Mira or Benjin, or anyone who knew of his children’s identities within the team for that matter, there’s no telling what pain and torture they would endure. 

With a small bow and fleeting glance towards Sera, Changkyun exited the room, not bothering to stop at his locker to change out of his blood stained uniform. Blood was a common sight within the base and the importance of teasing out next steps outweighed the need for clean clothes at this moment. The rest of the team, on the other hand, could hit the showers if they desired while they awaited their next directive.

Serafina intended to do just that, grabbing clothes from her locker and heading to the bathroom located at the far side of the room. Due to their ranking, her team’s headquarters had separate showers for the male and female members, each with three individual stalls for more privacy. Everything else she needed was already housed in the bathroom, along with Jiwoo’s supplies. 

Sera paused in front of the mirror, surprised she didn’t look more of a mess. Her long black hair was relatively untangled thanks to the thick french braid cascading down her back, although loose pieces had fallen into her tanned face. Those pieces were quickly tucked behind her heavily pierced ears, both adorned with a variety of hoops, chains, and studs. Stormy blue eyes that leaned almost gray appeared hazier than normal due to the late hour. It was nearly 3am and all Sera wanted to do was wash the blood off her hands and crawl into bed. 

“Sera?” Jiwoo entered the bathroom, her fire engine red hair sticking out against the crisp white and gray tiles along the floor and walls. 

Beyond being teammates, Sera also considered Jiwoo a friend and sought her out frequently. Thankfully all members lived within the royal compound, not only to keep their most valued unit safe, but also because they knew of Ender and Serafina’s identities. Another measure taken to protect the Crown’s longevity and to keep those with powerful abilities under lock and key. 

“Hmm?” Sera paused brushing out her hair to give her full focus to Jiwoo standing beside her, locking eyes with her through the mirror. The two were similar in height and build, Sera only barely taller and leaner than Jiwoo. 

Jiwoo leaned her head onto Sera’s shoulder, not caring about the blood coating the uniform she was still wearing. “Are you okay?” The question was genuine, albeit a loaded one, filled with concern over her friend’s safety. 

“I guess? Changkyun is right… its very general information that was fed to the resistance. I’m honestly surprised that it’s taken four years for them to figure out anything about Ender and I.” 

Not a complete lie, but Sera hoped her answer would appease Jiwoo. Considering Jiwoo didn't push her further, it must have been enough to ease her mind. Sera never spoke much after missions anyway, especially ones filled with this much carnage. The additional element of her family’s security also weighed heavy on her mind. She left her friend in the mirror, stripping her uniform to enter her usual shower at the end of the room. 

Her thoughts spiraled the minute Sera stepped into the stall. Sera always made a conscious effort to hold herself together in front of her team, but exhaustion and fear clouded her head. She held in the tears that threatened to spill out, not wanting Jiwoo to hear the sobs that would heave from her chest if they fell. Tears were saved for the pillows in the safety of her room. Serafina worked hard to maintain the steely facade, pretending as best she could to be the everwilling weapon she was intended to be. But it ate at her day in and day out. Every mission became more difficult. Every kill burned into her memory, her ledger an endless list of red names. Sera hated herself for the desolation she wrought, hated the things the Crown and her father forced her to do. 

Defiance was something the regime did not take lightly. Punishment came swiftly, even if executed on a child of the Crown. Sera made the foolish decision to refuse a direct order from her father seventeen months ago. That singular act haunted her nightmares with the punishment she endured and the unintended results of her actions. Often she felt the weight of the collar around her neck and the chains that surrounded her wrists during her time in the Gallows, although those seemed mild when compared to the rest of Sera’s torture. Sera had no choice but to comply even if it pained her to do so. Nikolai’s threats were promises, and the promise that a second act of defiance would result in worse consequences terrified Serafina. 

No, outward defiance was not something that Serafina could risk, at least not at this moment. She would continue to bide her time, acting perfectly in the role she hated playing. For now, she could only watch the blood stained water spiral down the drain and wish that the rest of her sins could be washed away as easily.

notes: Here's the supes you've seen and the team's codenames in case they weren't clear

Changkyun (Knight) - Telekinesis, with the additional ability to manifest pure purple psychic energy into weapons of his choice.

Serafina/Sera (Echo)- Matter manipulation, can produce and mold her golden matter into nearly anything. Can also manipulate all forms of matter in the world around her. Mind manipulation, can control and will minds to do whatever she pleases without question, including manipulating memories and thoughts. Possibilities with her powers are limitless, but she is still learning what all she is capable of doing

Ender (Indigo)- Pyrokinesis, can form and control his blue flames at will, as well as control all other fire around him. Ender’s blue flames can only be put out by him or Sera.

Jay (Ace)- Portaling, creating mini black holes, transportation. Can use these portals for transportation or killing, as we’ve seen.

Jiwoo (Frost)- Diamond armor, can create and extend pieces of said armor into weapons. More or less invulnerable when she is in this state.

[mychoombatheroomba]

Nine Names

Disavowed (Krauser x GN! Reader/Krauser x Leon) - Chapter 1

Maybe he did wish that you were with him, if only to have someone he trusted with him as he did this. It would have been nice, Krauser thought, to die alongside someone like that. Someone who understood.

(Cross-posted from Ao3)

This is a spin-off of my Leon x Reader series, Between the Bones! It will switch back and forth between Operation Javier and Krauser's perspective on some things from the main story! This can be read in isolation though! Lots of unrequited love from Jack in this, and, well, we all know how his story ends anyway.

Next Chapter

Chapter Index

June 29th, 2002

10:52 

Mixcóatl, Amazon Rainforest

There would be noise, but it would be fast. Making it quick was the least he could do. It would be fast, but that didn’t make the sight before him any easier to stomach. Resigned eyes peering up at him from down the barrel of a gun. A single nod. Acceptance washing over paling features as those eyes closed. The tension of the trigger against his finger. 

It wasn’t the first time he’d had to do this. 

Hell, it wasn’t even the first time in the last twenty-four hours. 

Didn’t make it any easier. 

Still, he pulled the trigger because it’s what he needed to do. It’s what had to happen. It was that or watch another of his men lose their mind, become a threat. It wasn’t for fear of his own safety that he squeezed that trigger, but to spare the man standing in front of him that fate. Barnes deserved better than to turn into a mindless drone, a shell of the man he’d been. He deserved better. All of them did. The Major knew, though, it wasn’t about what he or anyone else deserved. 

So, with a bang that startled some nearby birds into flight, he did what needed to be done. There was the smell of blood and gunpowder, the sound of a body hitting the damp ground, and with that, Jack Krauser was alone. 

He hadn’t been alone two weeks ago, when he’d come to Mixcóatl under the cover of darkness, his men locked and loaded at his side. Ten of them, Krauser included. Nine of the best and brightest soldiers that Krauser had served with before, some that he’d trained. Men and women whose skill he hadn’t doubted for a moment, when they’d been given a name and a kill order. 

Men and women who might still be alive, if things had been different. 

It was hard not to think of those what-ifs, as Krauser looked down at the last of his men’s still body, as he lowered his gun. He’d never been one to entertain fantasies - seeing anything other than reality had always been a good way to end up dead, in his book. He was as good as dead anyway though, wasn’t he? 

If the intel had been better . . .

If they’d known what they were being sent into . . .

If they hadn’t been stuck in a jungle with no way out . . .

If they hadn’t been behind the lines of a foreign country . . .

If they weren’t living in a world where war now meant soldiers turning into mindless monsters . . .

If his evac request had been approved . . .

But that wasn’t the hand he’d been dealt. So, he ignored the tremor in his hand. Knelt at Barnes’ side and rested the soldier’s hands over his chest. Best that Krauser could do. No dog tag to take. There would be no retrieval of the body, Krauser knew that, and there could be no evidence that they were here. Hadn't started out that way, but if the government wouldn't send evac? That meant something had changed behind the scenes, that this had been moved off the books. No names, no traces. Plausible deniability. That had been the game for years now, a game he hadn’t wanted to play, but learned to anyway. Whatever the sacrifices. 

Not the first comrade he’d had to put down, not the first set of dog tags taken to keep a secret. 

He could still remember the look in your eyes when he’d handed you that spare tag, one with the name of a man you’d cared for deeply. 

Krauser wasn’t surprised to be thinking of you, now. Who better to let his thoughts drift towards? You, who had lived the exact moment he’d just lived dozens of times; staring down the barrel at someone you’d known. Cared for. Someone you’d had to kill. You, who’d worn that extra dog tag even if it wasn’t yours, even if you thought that Krauser hadn’t noticed. You’d carried that kill with you in the form of a silver ghost, just as Krauser carried his with him, now. Because even if their deaths would be twisted to keep a secret, they deserved to be remembered. 

Nine pairs of names. 

At least yours wasn’t among them. 

Then again, maybe things would have been different if you’d been here, too. You were a survivor. Always had been, even before Krauser’s training sharpened you into the blade you’d become. Maybe if you’d been here with him, you’d have been able to help him keep the others alive. 

Or maybe you’d be dead, too. 

No. Better that you weren’t with him. Better that your name wouldn’t be on Krauser’s conscience, because the thought of that . . .

He shouldn’t think of you. He’d learned that early on, years before this moment. Thinking of you was dangerous; a distraction. Don’t be stupid because it feels good. He’d told you that, once, and he’d been good at heeding his own advice. 

But if he was as good as dead anyway . . . 

Had this been how you’d felt? Krauser had always felt he understood what it was you’d experienced, all those years ago. He’d always been so sure that his experience in war had given him equal footing with you. Loss was a part of war, and he’d thought he understood why you’d moped around base so often, or why you’d pushed yourself to be the best. 

Krauser hadn’t known a damn thing. 

Now, he did. 

He understood what it was to feel the terror of seeing one’s own turn. He knew what it was to feel the truth settle in his gut that just one bite, one scratch, was all it took to doom someone. He understood how eviscerating it was to watch the color drain from their skin, the light fade from their eyes. He knew the utter fucking hopelessness that came with being unable to stop it. The realization that you were the only one left that was enough to make the world seem ready to cave in. 

He understood why you’d kept your Captain’s dog tag with you through it all - the training, the missions, all of it.

And he understood, perhaps better than anything else, the anger that he’d seen in you. Rage at the fate that had befallen your comrades. Fury at the people who caused it all. 

Or, in Krauser’s case, person. One name to answer for nine.

Javier Hidalgo. 

The same person he and his men had been sent to kill. War-lord head of the Sacred Snakes cartel, smuggler with connections to Umbrella, and the least lucky man on the fucking planet right now, because Jack Krauser was still alive. He was alone, behind enemy lines and outnumbered, but he was alive.

The Major may have been at the end of his rope, but he could still hang Javier from it. 

That was the thought that kept the pistol in Krauser’s hands from finding his mouth and turning skywards. That was the thought that pushed him on through the jungle, leaving Barnes’ body behind. His men would want him to keep going. You would want him to keep going. 

So he did, letting that burning and clawing in his chest carry him forward. 

He moved through the trees as silently as he could, looking like little more than a shadow in dim light painted by the canopy overhead. Enough time spent learning that the fauna in the jungle was just as deadly as the once-people that had dealt his squad so much death made him quiet as he moved on. He knew how to leave as little trace as possible, how to move unseen. The camo of mud he’d adopted kept his normally pale hair and skin from standing out amidst the foliage, and his eyes scanned the rainforest around him. Watching. Waiting. Anticipating.  

Give me your best.

This old dog would taste blood one last time. He’d fight his way through the whole damn forest if he had to. 

If you were there, you would be right there by his side, gunning along with him to mount Javier’s head on a fucking spike. 

Maybe he did wish that you were with him, if only to have someone he trusted with him as he did this. It would have been nice, Krauser thought, to die alongside someone like that. Someone who understood-

Footsteps in the distance - barely audible over the sounds of the forest - made him freeze. He wasn’t sure at first, but then he heard it again; the unmistakable squelch of mud beneath boots, no matter how well the owner of said boots was trying to hide it.  

He shouldn’t have used his pistol on Barnes. Too much noise. His knife would have been smarter. Slower, but smarter. 

Didn’t matter now. 

Just meant another fight. 

Another body added to the count. 

Krauser drew that aforementioned blade with his left hand, holding his pistol in his right. He couldn’t see whoever it was nearing him. And it was certainly a who . No zombie that Krauser had ever seen could hide the sound of their footsteps so well. He wasn’t as alone as he thought, then. Unfortunately for whatever bastard decided he was going to try and interrupt that solitude. So, the Major pressed his back against the tree at his side and listened. The footsteps were faint, but Krauser could hear them as they passed by the other side of that tree, slowly approaching him. He readied himself for a fight, craving that violence that might settle his soul a touch. He waited . . .

Then, nothing. 

Nothing for several heavy seconds but the croaking and cawing of animals and chirping of insects. 

Then, in a blur of movement, Krauser got his wish.

A gun trained on him. That was all the Major saw. A gun and the shape of a person holding it. 

They both moved fast. 

Krauser’s knife slashed out, arcing towards the assailant’s left arm. To their credit, they didn’t fire the pistol. Didn’t cry out as the knife cut into flesh. Not deep. Not enough to make them drop the pistol. The arm wove underneath the rest of his swing, but Krauser was already following through. His right hand, the one with the pistol, moved down, pressing against the armed hand. His knife, meanwhile, moved in a flash of silver forward. 

And Krauser was damned glad that he stopped short of going for that kill when he saw the person behind the gun for the first time. 

Not that relief was ever something he’d thought to feel when it came to seeing those pretty blues looking up at him. 

“Son of a bitch,” Krauser hissed, bloodshot eyes widening. 

As for Leon S. Kennedy . . . he looked like he hadn’t expected to be looking at Krauser at all. “Major . . .” the younger man breathed, slowly lowering his pistol in surrender, his too-perfect features twisted in an expression of utter shock. Krauser didn’t think it was just because of the blade at his throat. 

A blade that the Major lowered after he was sure his rage-and-exhaustion-addled brain wasn’t playing some sick joke on him. 

Or maybe it was the universe doing the joking, because he’d allowed himself to imagine you at his side for this suicide mission. 

And the universe had sent your fucking boy toy instead. 

Your boy toy who should have known better than to come at him in close quarters with a gun. “You’re lucky you didn’t need me dead, rookie,” Krauser growled, “because you’d never have been able to do it moving like that.”

Next Chapter

Chapter Index

A/N: Oh, Operation Javier, my beloved.

So, since I'm focusing on the Remake timeline, Operation Javier is different from what's depicted in Darkside Chronicles! Namely that Krauser had a team that he lost this time around, but Leon definitely seems to have still been involved. I was really curious as to how that all shaped up, so until Capcom gives us a more concrete timeline, here's my take on it! It will still definitely tie in a lot of events from the original, but will be adjusted to fit what I think might have happened to Krauser and Leon down there!

[tennessoui]

i don’t like hunger games au at all, and i avoid reading not completed fics generally but can i say. Can i say that your hunger games fic is the only think i’ve been capable of thinking for the last days and it’ s only the first chapter? the snippet of the dinner scene —"will you love me if i come back a monster?" / "i will always love you anakin"— made me lose my breathe jesus christ. this fic is everything i ever asked — unhinged lovers for each other, anakin being that younger version of vader who bite onto obiwan and never will let him go, obiwan too addicted to loving and be loved by anakin to standing the thought of losing him, codependency relationship based on needs and possessiveness and crazy addiction they will die if it’s not for this love? the "marriage vows who sealed the death of twenty three kids" line ? i can’t breathe you’re a genius

ahh thank you for giving my hunger games au a chance even though it is both a hunger games au and a wip!! i think having a lot written on tumblr really helps because it gives such a good outline of what the fic will become and what the story will be for both characters - putting it on ao3 is really just fleshing it out and making it sing as a written work

i think what i always struggle with when it comes to aus of other media is the instinct i have to make them 1:1 aus, which is what i call aus where i'm subbing my ship in for the characters of the media, i.e. putting anakin in for katniss and obi-wan in for peeta and pressing play.

at that point im like. why not just read the book if that's what i want to see, so that's something i like about this hunger games au because i'm just using the setting & the premise - anakin isn't meant to be a sub-in for katniss as the tribute and obi-wan isn't meant to be a sub in for peeta as the love interest or haymitch as the mentor and so i find writing it so much easier - i feel less constrained than i would if i was trying to make anakin feel like anakin skywalker from star wars, and also my own character for this fic and also katniss from this different media altogether

and yeah it's fun to make them fucked up and crazy about each other in new and different ways and so im so glad the first chapter has been posted and i can work on the second one now because damn that reaping is gonna be so fun