#we all know why Mickey suddenly decides to do the redhead himself

[jomilky]

AU where Mickey owns a massage salon where he hires masseurs who rub their chest and asscheeks on clients naked body. Ians exhausting and thought this is a normal massage place, and Mickey decides to massage Ian himself

Ian almost falls asleep when he’s lying on the massage bed waiting for the masseur to get ready. When he opens his tired misty eyes, he sees a male figure wearing nothing but a black thong. He knows he prolly comes to the wrong place and thinks abt whether to call this whole thing off.

He’s already sitting up when the guy comes closer. Then the raven-hair masseur with knuckle tattoos turns around to pick out the massage oil in the cabinet, and holy fuck, he knows he’s gonna have the best massage in his entire life.

So Ian lies down again and sighs with happy anticipation.

[kairibee]

Bruh, felt like I was working on this piece ever since KH3 came out...  but here ya go. Some fresh SoRiKai. Get it while it’s hot.

“Are you... are you dreaming about him too, Kairi?" In which Riku visits a sleeping friend in order to get some clarity. [Post Re:Mind. Sorikai.] Wish Genre: hurt/comfort AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23886133

“Master, I’ve decided I’m going to let Ansem the Wise study my heart.”

Kairi’s voice had been firm, and Riku knew she was not going to take no for an answer from anyone. Figures, he thought. Sora and her had always followed their hearts; always did what they wanted to.

Gazing down at her beside him, he felt his hands clench almost as if on their own. Mickey thought to argue against her but in the end kept silent and could only gaze down at the floor. Master Yen Sid had nodded with his distinct hum but was unusually quiet as well. The air in the room was heavy but Kairi stood firm. Her heart was set.

...

12:03 A.M.

Riku lay wide awake in his guest room at Radiant Garden. He had been spending more time here lately, working with the Restoration Committee, Ansem the Wise and Ienzo, trying to help decipher their data. To try and find some sort of key to finding Sora. The days felt long and fruitless, and it seemed no matter how long Riku spent here, he was no closer to finding Sora.

Ansem the Wise had prepared this room for him at the castle, and it was comfortable enough. The bed would creak when he moved sometimes but the mattress was soft and he liked how easily he could sink into it. It really was nice of him to let him stay here for so long.

Although Riku felt both physically and emotionally exhausted, sleep just would not take him. For what felt like hours, he had been restlessly tossing and turning. Hearing the bed often creak as he shifted.

For some reason, Kairi’s words from almost a year ago kept echoing in his ears. From the day she decided to let Ansem the Wise study her heart.  “I know... that the answer to finding Sora is in here,” she had said, hand placed over her heart. The key to finding Sora...

Riku thought that maybe Cid would be able to figure out something from the data they had recovered, but the endeavor turned out to be mostly fruitless. They couldn’t extract much at all from it.

“Sora, where are you?” Riku sighed. His best friend had felt so close at times, but as the days went on, he was no where closer to reaching him. Every few nights, Riku would have dreams about him. Dreams that always took place in the same dark city. Riku wasn’t ever physically with Sora in them but he could still feel him nearby, somewhere off in the distance. The Fairy Godmother had told him that these dreams might be a key to finding Sora, but every night they ended before they could give any real answers.

Riku groaned in frustration, shifting in the bed. He was laying on his back now, the back of his hand resting against his forehead as he fell deeper into his thoughts.

It had also been a year since Ansem the Wise started investigating Kairi’s heart. He and Ienzo were not yet able to uncover anything remarkable from it either. The key to finding Sora remained so elusive. Riku often wondered how Kairi was doing. Sure, she had been physically stuck in that stuffy laboratory for months, but was she at least dreaming? He had hoped that she was, that she was at least dreaming about something nice while this all was happening. Maybe she was dreaming about Sora, too.

The moonlight softly poured in through the bedroom window, and the curtains kept fluttering about from the outside breeze. Riku let out a yawn, and in a sudden swift movement, lifted his heavy form from the bed. Sleep certainly wasn’t coming, and he wasn’t going to wait for it any longer. His thoughts were too all over the place right now, and he was tired of having the same cryptic dream anyway. He needed to get some fresh air or something. As he began to make his way out of the guest room, Riku’s thoughts drifted to his childhood. To his best friends; images of Sora and Kairi flashing through his mind. A supercut of memories: of the three of them sitting on the paopu tree together, of the day they came up with the idea of the raft, of playing in the ocean. Memories of fishing together, of Sora challenging him to sword battles and losing, of teasing Sora about Kairi and watching his face turn bright red. It really did feel like those days would last forever, at the time.

Riku quietly closed the door of the room behind him, making sure it didn't creak too loudly. It was late and he didn't want to wake anyone in the castle. As he made his way down the long corridor, his thoughts continued to race. When was the last time the three of them were together, that didn’t involve destiny, or keyblades? When was the last time they all just hung out as friends? Riku couldn’t even remember, it must have really been that long ago.

He had missed them. His two best friends. It had been over a year now after all, since he had lost them both.

Riku couldn't remember the last time he had felt so restless. At the very least, he knew where he wanted to go tonight. It was an easy decision, as he had only one place in mind. So he made his way there, quietly walking down the dimly lit and winding halls of the castle.

...

“Kairi.” His friend lay there before him, eyes closed and expression neutral. Her lips were a thin line, features absent of their usual spark. He hadn’t visited her for a while now. He felt guilty, coming here with no good news. But he couldn’t help it tonight, he had wanted to see her. Ienzo and Ansem the Wise had already retired to bed it seemed, leaving a couple of loose papers and empty coffee cups around the laboratory. They also seemed to have tucked Kairi in with a blanket. At least she looked comfortable.

Riku let out a sigh, leaning against the cold wall for a moment. Crossing his arms, he slowly lifted his head up to look at the ceiling of Ansem’s laboratory. His childhood friend was right there in front of him, and yet she had never felt further away. It was strange how someone so familiar to him suddenly seemed so foreign. He missed her wit, how she would grin at him, and how easily laughter escaped her lips.

“I feel like there’s so much I want to tell you,” Riku let out finally. The girl before him lay still as ever, but he was determined to let out what had been weighing on his chest for so long.

“We haven’t found Sora yet,” he admitted lowly, voice seeping with shame. He couldn’t help but look at her after that, to check for any sort of reaction from her but she hadn’t budged an inch.

“But Aqua, Ventus, and Terra are searching the realm of darkness, and Xion and Roxas are having their memories examined by Naminé . They’re all busy and working hard. Even the Radiant Garden gang are at it every day, trying to decipher important data.”

Riku forced out a small laugh out of pity. He uncrossed his arms and brought them down toward his sides. The tension he was feeling made him tightly clench his hands. “Guess you’re wondering what I’ve been doing? Well... to tell you the truth, I... don’t know what I’m doing.”

Riku set his eyes back on his redheaded friend again, a deep sense of pleading and urgency behind them. She was still distant, and unmoving.

“Are you... are you dreaming about him too, Kairi? Every night, I’m in a strange city looking for him. There are tall buildings all around, the sky is dark and I feel someone watching me from above. I don’t know who they are, or whether they’re a friend or foe.”

Riku suddenly remembered how Aerith had asked him earlier, whether he would tell Kairi about the dreams he had been having. Telling her while she was sleeping was the same thing, right? Riku didn’t think he had the courage to tell her otherwise. About these dreams that continued to lead him nowhere.

“The fairy godmother told me this might be our only shot at finding him... in dreams.”

Riku felt a little strange all of a sudden, carrying on a one-sided conversation. His friend hadn’t budged one bit, while he kept unburdening himself in front of her. A sad smile surfaced on his lips.

It felt exactly like two years ago, when he had carried her sleeping body across the worlds, desperately searching for a way to restore her heart. He remembered feeling so desperate to help her. He was so desperate he even let Maleficent of all people help him. Riku shuddered at the memory. Back then, he used to talk to her too. Things had felt so awkward between them. He knew Kairi felt it too. Maybe that's why he was so talkative to her, as she slept. It was easier that way. He brought up Sora a lot, and told her about the worlds that he had visited. Riku kept talking about trivial stuff because it distracted him from the real issue at hand. He was trying so hard to dance around the fact that, deep down, he knew he should be apologizing to her. For everything. He messed up back then, had taken her home away from her. Pulled her away from Sora, too.

Riku was tired of it being like this. He was tired of talking at her. But it was all he could do for now.

Maybe they could have a real conversation someday soon.

“I don’t know what it all means,” Riku admitted. “ I don’t really know where to go from here. But Kairi, you were so sure of what you had to do. It was easy for you."

He let out a chuckle as he gazed at his sleeping friend. His eyes shone with a sense of fondness. Sora and Kairi would always move mountains for each other. They were always so sure of themselves too, ever since they were little. Riku had once felt jealous of their bond. It seemed so long ago now but it was still a hard truth for him to swallow. For a long time, Riku felt unsure where he fit in with them. He always felt like he was observing his friends, rather than actually being with them. While they were attached at the hip, he was off in the distance.

Of course, he no longer felt this way. He knew that Sora and Kairi had a special bond. And while he was still their best friend, his bond with them was different. Not any less remarkable, but different.

For a second, Riku thought he heard a stir from his friend but as he looked down, he noticed she was as still as ever. The blanket Ienzo and Ansem the Wise gave her had somehow slipped off of her shoulders however. Delicately, as if not to disturb her, Riku lifted it back up to her shoulders, making sure to tuck the ends in so it wouldn’t slip down again. He then took a seat on the chair next to her, looking down at his hands in deep contemplation.

“I wish I could have been there for you,” he admitted. “I’m to blame for not protecting you from Xehanort. This never would have happened had I,” Riku’s eyes winced shut, “... had been there for both of you.” The whirling guilt inside of him was finally starting to well up. Riku couldn’t remember the last time he actually let himself feel his emotions.

“I’m sorry, Kairi,” The pain and guilt he had been hiding for so long, from Mickey, from Yen Sid, his friends, from himself, was surfacing.

The past year had been... a lot. It had been lonely. He felt lost. And most of all, he missed his friends.

Riku remembered crying in front of Kairi only once before, when they were both much younger. They had gotten into some silly fight he couldn’t remember the details of. He remembered Kairi’s chubby kid-cheeks stained with tears. Knowing how he was as a kid, he probably fooled her into believing something he had made up and ended up upsetting her. He remembered the two of them holding onto each other furiously, after he had apologized to her. Faces hot and wet from crying. Here he was, crying in front of her again. The heaviness he had felt for so long was slipping from his eyes, sliding down his cheek, and falling into the palm of his open hand. It became harder to see, his hands in front of him blurring out of focus. Maybe... he just needed to let it all out.

As Riku closed his eyes, he let his doubts, worries, and fear wash over him. He had to take it all in, in order to get through it. Become a witness to the pain he was feeling.

It came first in the form of the memory of Sora and Kairi sitting on the paopu tree together. Riku had brought all of their friends out to the islands that day for a beach party; to celebrate their return home. It was supposed to be a happy day. The sunset scene had started to sour, however, and Riku watched again as Sora disappeared with the sun that evening. Just like before, Kairi was distraught, crying into Riku's chest, as the darkness set in and the rest of their friends watched on with worry. His arms awkwardly went around her, trying to bring her some sort of comfort. Anything. But he felt just as upset as she was, and nothing he did in that moment alleviated either of their pain.

More memories came to Riku's mind. This time, of watching Sora set off on his own to find Kairi. Sora was so sure of himself then, so positive that he would return. Riku watched again as his friend turned away from him, and aimed his keyblade at the giant dark keyhole that had enveloped the sky. Even still, Riku believed in him; knew that Sora would come back home someday. But as his friend's figure disappeared in front of him once more, Riku was left on his own. The image of his friend's back etched deeply into his memory. Even now, he was still left waiting for his friend's return. Kairi's departure appeared to him next. A memory that took place in Yen Sid's study. Riku clenched his fists as Kairi made her decision to go to sleep, in hopes of finding Sora. He had already lost one friend, and the thought of losing her too was too much for him. She was so sure of herself though, her voice firm and facial features sharply set with determination. ”I’ll see you soon, Riku,” Kairi’s voice echoed in his ears. She was smiling, and Riku tried his best to say a casual goodbye. They never really had much of a chance to talk to each other; losing Sora was too much for either of them. There were still things he wanted to say to her, but Riku watched as she faded from his view again, leaving Yen Sid's study with Donald and Goody beside her. And so, Riku witnessed once again, his two friends setting off on their own perspective journeys. Every single failure, setback he had faced finding them over the last year rushed through his mind. But he knew he had to witness it all, in order to get to the other side of the pain. Riku just had to believe, just like his friends had done before they went on their own journeys. He had to believe that he would be the one to find both Sora and Kairi. That he would reunite with them both. Somehow, believe that he would find a way. He remembered just how sure of themselves they were, both of their hearts set in stone; both so determined to find each other. His best friends' optimism was rubbing off on him. Riku just needed to be reminded of it.

After what felt like ages, Riku eventually opened his eyes to the laboratory around him. The same papers lay around, the same used coffee cups, same ceiling and floors, but he felt different somehow. Lighter all of a sudden, as if the weight from his chest had finally been lifted. As if he was seeing from a fresher set of eyes. A moment of lucid clarity. Riku let out a chuckle and turned his gaze towards his sleeping friend, smiling fondly at her. She looked cozy in that blanket. “Thank you,” he let out with another quiet laugh, lifting himself up from his chair. “You guys had it right all a long... I just need to follow my heart."

Riku would find his best friends. He would do it no matter what, no matter the setbacks he had faced over the last months. He would be the one to ensure that they both came back home safely. "Next time we see each other, we'll all be together. I promise, Kairi.” Riku was suddenly reminded of what the Fairy Godmother had told him, just a few days ago. When he had felt distraught and downtrodden, disappointed that the data Cid was working hadn't provided answers. "You can always make your wish come true, dear."

This time, as Riku silently said goodbye to his sleeping friend, he was conscious of the fact that he was the one setting off on his own journey now. Confident, his heart set in stone. He would find his friends on the other side. His dreams held the key, just like the Fairy Godmother had told him, and it was finally time to follow their trail of breadcrumbs. His mind felt lucid and clear, his heart open to the path set out in front of him. Time to realize this wish.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Shrinking Violet

Summary: The first SoKai story I wrote after beating Kingdom Hearts III, where Sora doesn't fade away and everything is happy. And Sora and Kairi are officially together... but still super innocent and not thinking about anything sexual at all and are fine just holding hands and stuff, and figuring out how to balance this new relationship with everything else in their lives now.

Kairi's PoV

Sora squeezed Kairi's hand tighter—as the two of them sat on the paopu tree, and breathed a long sigh of relief after the awful adventure they'd just been on.

Kairi hated that she'd once again been used to hurt Sora... That that man from her nightmares—because of the experiments he'd performed on her when she was a child, before throwing her into space—had killed her twice, and then Sora had nearly died trying to save her.

It made Kairi sick to her stomach, that she'd told Sora he was safe with her—and he had been once (him, and the others through their connection), as she'd kept his existence from fading away completely—and yet it had all still ended up this way.

She knew Sora didn't care in the slightest, or her friends… that they were just happy to have her back, to have them both back, and that's what Kairi tried to focus on now.

Right now, Kairi saw Roxas and Xion debating with Lea and Isa on whether or not sea salt ice cream that fell into the sand was still good... She noticed Pence inspecting Donald's perfect mud castle, that the duck had just erected, as he tried to decide if the mud on Destiny Islands with a Wonder in and of itself. And she caught Riku watching Naminé drawing a hat into her sketchbook, and trying to magically get it appear to protect her hair from the wind.

Kairi smiled at all these displays—and even more that were still going on—and was about to ask Sora if he wanted to go down there where they were at, and swim in the water.

Usually, Kairi avoided the water. But she thought there was enough reason to celebrate today, that she wouldn't really mind getting salt water in her eyes.

But before she could even dream of uttering the words, Sora completely caught the redhead off-guard: "I love you, Kairi."

And she was so much in shock by this confession, that she almost fell backwards onto the island behind her.

And the part of the princess' brain that wasn't reeling, wondered if this was how Sora had felt when she'd sprung the paopu thing on him so suddenly.

"…Sora, I love you, too. Of course I do." But Kairi's words were a lot more calculated than Sora's had been, and she was ashamed for it.

For Kairi knew that she and Sora were in love... but he had a tone to his words, that almost seemed to hint of marriage. And Kairi wasn't quite sure they were ready for even a promise ring yet. They were still only fifteen.

But Sora had changed… and become a bit more desperate with his feelings for her after she'd died that second time—and even a bit before that—Kairi could tell.

And if Kairi was being honest with herself... So had her own feelings become much more desperate, when she hadn't been able to sense him after the Demon Tide and had hoped against hope that her greatest of loves was alright.

Just imagining again, what it had been like without Sora in that moment—and without Riku, Lea, Donald, Goofy, Aqua, and everyone else... but Sora in particular—was nearly enough to make Kairi blackout.

So overcome with her own need now, Kairi reached her hand out and held Sora's face in between her palms.

And then—much more slowly and gently than she'd moved to get here—Kairi placed her lips to Sora's, and let her mouth dance with his as if it was their last night on Earth.

It wasn't a perfect kiss—it wouldn't be, as no one's first one was—as Kairi bumped Sora's nose a few times; and Sora moved away from her whenever he though Kairi's face against the stubble on his chin: clearly thinking it was hurting her—but it was theirs, and that's what made it superb.

And the two lovebirds broke apart only, when they heard everyone giving them a round of applause and whistling.

Kairi and Sora blushed beet red, as they remembered everyone around them and finally started acting proper again.

…Though Kairi was a bit irritated about the interruption, and she could tell Sora felt the same way.

"Shall we go read our friends the Riot Act?" Kairi questioned, grabbing onto Sora's hand as she began leading him down the bridge.

"Please do," Sora agreed, with a slight smirk on his face. But much like her own words, Kairi could tell what her boyfriend said held no real weight.

And instead, Sora began watching in amazement—just when Kairi did—Aqua toasting chestnuts over an open fire.

"You guys want any?" the mage asked, when she noticed the items had caught the couple's eyes. "Terra and Ven have missed my cooking, as it turns out. I'd much rather do some baking, to be honest... but Terra really only likes nuts. So what's a girl to do?"

Truth be told, Kairi was a bit hungry... but she knew if she said yes, Sora—who clearly also wanted some—would let her have the only silverware here to eat, as he went home to get more utensils for himself and everyone else. And not wanting to be away from Sora for even a second, Kairi declined.

"Thank you so much, Aqua... But I'm actually really tired. And I think I'm going to go home and go to bed."

For at least that way, if she had to be separated from Sora… she'd still be with him in her dreams.

But surprisingly, Sora had an even better idea:

"And I'm gonna go with her, Aqua. Riku and I always had sleepovers with Kairi when we were little, so I doubt Kairi's mom Mihoshi will mind if we do the same thing now. But you guys have fun camping out! And I'll see you tomorrow... Oh, Riku. Do you wanna come?"

Sora asked the last, when Kairi and he caught up to him and Mickey trying to figure out if he could do Starkeeper type flips via a water ski.

Riku smiled—clearly glad that they wanted him around more than they wanted alone time, Kairi could see, but she also immediately knew he was going to refuse.

And he did.

"Nah. Xion wants to talk to me about something: Probably about me bequeathing her her own Keyblade, since even now she wants to make sure her identity is her own."

And as those words washed over her, Kairi pondered if Xion had gotten that from her:

Because so often she wanted to stand on her own two feet... but she always came back to thinking she was the shadow of Sora and Riku. And that was why she'd been afraid to even try and escape the Castle That Never Was, until Naminé had told her to believe in herself.

And maybe, in some ways, Riku still needed to believe in himself, too. Which was why Kairi sought to reach to the heart of the issue, as she let her heart do the talking. "If you change your mind, Riku, please do come. You know where to find us." And she made sure to take Riku's hand in hers—the way that she had when she'd helped Sora to see through his disguise-so he understood that no matter what, it was the three of them against the world.

Soon after that—when Sora and Kairi had gotten more than enough hugs from Riku, Donald, Goofy, Roxas, Xion, and Naminé—they were piling into Sora's boat, and rowing back to the Main Island together.

As as they did, Kairi eventually found herself thinking about the upcoming situation. "I'm sure Dad will let you borrow some pajamas, Sora. It's the least he can do after you saved the multiverse again, I mean."

Sora looked like he was about to say something to this… but maybe in not having the right words, he didn't speak what he'd clearly meant to.

"…I can just stop at the moogle shop and get something to sleep in there, Kai."

But Kairi was already cutting Sora off—as she stopped paddling, for they'd reached their destination—when she began climbing onto the dock just above her. "Sora, that's silly. And a colossal waste of money. If you don't want to wear my dad's, who's closer to your size, than wear my brother Ryke's…"

Sora must have thought that was a better idea—because when they were in Kairi's home and she was clothed in her own nightgown, Sora came into her kitchen dressed from head to toe and yelled "Tada!"

"Sora, you sound like Ven," Kairi giggled, grabbing the belt around his waist and pulling him to where she'd got cereal out for them. "And via the sleep mask, you have your eyes covered up like Riku did a year ago. Really?!"

And seeming somewhat abashed by that—Sora took the eye covers off without much wait, whilst he stammered: "B-b-by the way, Kairi. You saved the world, too, and you should know that."

So this was what he'd wanted to mention earlier. And it sort of figured, that Kairi's lazy bum would get up the courage to say it only when he was lacking it elsewhere: in wearing the sleep mask, like he truly wanted to. But Kairi wouldn't have had it any other way.

"Th-thank you," Kairi replied—feeling gooseflesh begin to develop on her skin, since she was humiliated in thinking she hadn't done too well in the Keyblade War at all… but appreciating Sora's heart all the same.

She ended up looking at the purple walls of the room they were in—with its orange polka-a-dots for some kind of comfort—but it only served to make Kairi even more embarrassed, since her family clearly sucked at interior design.

"Umm, but about the cereal, Sora. Forgive it for being popcorn-esque—which is weird in milk, I know—but I'm figuring my mom doesn't have any real popcorn, and is planning to soon use this to string on the Christmas tre-"

"Kairi... We- we kissed… Are we going to talk about it, and what it means for us?"

And to say that Kairi wanted to drown herself in the milk in her bowl here would have been an understatement.

Sheesh. Since when had Sora become so confident about this stuff, and she so shy?

But Kairi answered, anyway—even though she found herself becoming the Shrinking Violet she'd been when Sora said she made him strong in the light—because above all else… she wanted to talk to him about this.

"What do you think, Sora? We're going to manage to still spend time with Riku... and figure out who our new friends are, like we both want. But moreover... we'll see what it means to be soulmates at such a young age. I mean… after everything we've gone through to be together now, how could we not?"

And at first, Kairi didn't think Sora was going to react at all.

But then he went into Kairi's kitchen cabinet—pulled out two wine glasses, and then some sparkling grape juice from the fridge—and assured her: "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"...Me neither, Sora. I love you."

And Kairi clinked her glass against Sora's, and leaned her head against his until the moment they both slumped down on the floor and fell asleep.

The cereal, much like their desire for Aqua's chestnuts, completely forgotten.

And yet even without either amazing food, life was good.

[celtics534]

Natural Chapter 12

Natural Chapter 12 is ready for y’all to enjoy! I have two things to say about this chapter. First: @gryffindormischief helped with Ginny’s killer comeback. Second: sorry for the ending.... 

Read on: FF.net, AO3, or down below!

"Come on!" Ron looked like a child going into the local sweet shop. He refrained from dragging Harry by the arm, but only just. Harry, for his part, was too amused to say anything. When he had offered to take his future brother-in-law to the pub, he hadn't expected the full-grown adult to become a toddler.

The Cannons frequented a small pub only a few miles from their stadium. With such a limited fan base, the pub rarely filled after games. Harry and Ron had no issue entering the place, let alone finding the team.

"Holy Merlin's balls," Ron breathed as he stopped dead by the front door, rather reminiscent of a teenage witch seeing her favorite member of the Weird Sisters.

"Hey, Potter!" Lance Goone waved them over with a smile

"Ron?" Harry had made it halfway to the table before he noticed Ron was still at the door. His mouth was wide open, welcoming any sort of insect to fly in. "You coming?"

It took a solid five seconds for Ron's feet to start moving, though still at a sloth's pace.

Merlin! At the rate Ron was moving, Harry could drink four beers and down three shots before he made it to the table.

Harry moved back a few steps to gently push Ron forward. The tall man stumbled slightly, but picked up his pace.

"Hey, Goone!" Harry greeted the Cannons' beater while nodding at the rest of the team. "How was the game today?"

"Not too bad." Goone snapped his thumb and forefinger together, and got the attention of the barman. "Another two drinks, please!" He turned back to Harry. "We only lost by a hundred."

"Who were you playing?" Harry asked while the grumpy barman placed down two bottles in front of him and Ron- the latter of whom instantly took a slip of his liquid courage.

"The Wigtown Wanderers."

Harry could feel his brow rise. "Really? Not bad, Goone."

Goone pretended to shine his fingernails on his shirt sleeve. "They weren't expecting me and Snyder to focus on their keeper every time we were about to take a shot." He waved his hand dismissively. "But, anyways what are you doing here? And who's your mate?"

Harry could hear Ron's breath catch. Such a teenage witch!

"This is my fiancée's brother, Ron. He's been a fan of the Cannons forever and I promised to show him your preferred spot."

Goone looked shocked for a moment. Most likely never met a fan before, Harry thought sarcastically.

"Nice to meet you, Ron." Goone stuck out his hand. Ron remained as stiff as a board, just staring at the proffered hand.

"I'm glad this moment happened before Ginny showed up." Harry laughed lightly. "She would never stop taking the mickey."

"Oh, your girl is coming here?" Goone turned his attention back to Harry, letting his hand drop back to his side. Ron was still sitting ramrod straight. "I've never met her before."

"Yeah, she had a late training session with the Harpies, but after that she wanted to come- and this is a quote from her-'watch Ron make a fool of himself'."

Goone snorted, but gave Ron a kind smile. "Well, I look forward to meeting her. Remind me again, what does she look like?"

Harry could feel his lips curl in a stupid grin. It always happened when he talked about Ginny. "She's got semi-short red hair, brown eyes -"

"Athletic build?" Goone interrupted.

Harry nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"Does she tend to order a firewhiskey?"

"How do you -"

Harry turned in his seat and saw Ginny at the bar, a glass of whiskey in one hand and an annoyed scowl on her beautiful face. It didn't take long for Harry to see why she looked irked. Alfie Malcolm, the Cannons' seeker, leaned against the bar, clearly flirting with her.

A creature within Harry's chest started to growl. The way Malcolm was leaning over Ginny… It wasn't as if Harry didn't trust Ginny. Fuck no! He trusted her more than anyone else, but that didn't mean he liked other men hovering over her like she was a piece of meat.

Harry snorted in glee as Ginny's expression shifted. He knew that look. That sickly-sweet batting of eyelashes that meant she was about to crush some dreams - and likely a few toes.

Sure enough, Ginny patted the seeker on the cheek not-too-gently with her left hand and gave him a smile that could make a tough man whimper in fear. Malcolm's eyes darted towards the ring on her finger. Harry had never been good at reading lips, but he could see Ginny's mouth form the word engaged. Then she stepped on his toes as she walked past the seeker, making the man flinch.

"Hello, love." Ginny placed glass her next to Harry's, giving him a quick kiss in the process. She pulled an empty chair from another table and sat down next to Harry. "Ron." She nodded at her still star-struck brother. "And you must be Lance. Harry told me you're a decent bloke, unlike that prick." She gestured back towards the bar where Malcolm was still standing stunned.

"I've always heard redheads are feisty, and you seem to be the epitome." Goone laughed as he looked over at his teammate. "Alfie needs to learn to look for rings before chatting up a bird."

"He should also learn to how to chat someone up properly." Ginny sipped her whiskey. "I mean, his lines are pathetic." She deepened her voice. "I'm a seeker and let me tell you, I think I already have you in the palm of my hand."

Harry and Goone both snorted into their beers. "Seriously?" Goone asked.

Ginny nodded. "Yeah, and I told him I bet a cactus got more action than him." Ginny grinned mischievously. "Self-attention not included."

"Oh," Goone choked, as his body shook with laughter. He rested his forehead on the table. "That's good!"

Harry couldn't agree more. The creature in his chest purred as Ginny leaned into him. He pressed a kiss to the side of her head.

"So what have you lads been talking about?" Ginny changed topic as she looked over at her brother. "Did I miss something good?"

"He's been like this since before we sat down," Harry confided. "I think he's broken."

Ginny dismissed Harry's concern with a careless gesture. "Oh, I know how to fix that." She turned to look at Goone, who had only just composed himself. "Wanna hear the story of how Ron got knocked out?"

To Harry's surprise, Ron came back to attention. He glowered at his sister. "You don't tell it right!"

"Well then, dear brother." Ginny smiled wickedly (something Harry found way too attractive). "How do you explain the time you ran into a door frame while fleeing from a three centimeter spider?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I like this color blue." Ginny admired the fresh coat of paint on the sitting room walls. "It's simple and keeps the room feeling light."

"I see what you mean," Harry rested his back against the base of the sofa. He and Ginny had moved all the furniture to the center of the room so the paint that had been casted up on the wall could dry without an issue. With all their different spells and enchantments to make things simpler for themself, Harry was shocked there wasn't a paint drying spell. Sure, they were able to make the mid-grade blue color stick the walls no problem, but they still had to wait for it to dry. Wizards were odd.

Ginny grabbed another piece of pizza from the box that sat between them. Harry had decided that a picnic in the sitting room was perfect for their Saturday night. Neither of them had practice (both coaches decided their team needed a night off with it being a quarter of the way into the season) and a quiet evening sounded pretty amazing.

They had been living in their cottage for a few months, but hadn't gotten around to improving anything. When Harry had started working on the place he knew there would be things Ginny would have opinions on, such as paint colors. Today alone, they had changed the colors of all the rooms and reorganized the furniture.

"So, Mum's been getting on my case again," Ginny started nonchalantly. She placed her half- eaten slice down on her paper plate. "She has wedding fever."

"Better than baby fever," Harry joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Ginny frantically shook her head. "Don't give her any ideas. I bet the minute we're married she gonna start knitting booties."

"But she has Bill and Percy to help with her grandkid craze, right?"

"You'd think that'd be enough." Ginny sighed and scooted her body closer to his, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. "But no, she can't wait for her only daughter to have a baby."

She suddenly jerked her head up. "Oh! I forgot to tell you! Fleur's pregnant!"

"Really? That's great." Harry was happy for the older couple. They would make great parents. "I didn't know they were trying."

"For over a year. They were really starting to get stressed about it. Fleur told me she thought it was a sign they weren't meant to have children." Ginny's smile somehow widened. "But here they are, three months along. She's even showing a little."

"Wow! They waited a bit to tell you, didn't they?"

Ginny shrugged. "Fleur wanted to wait until their chance of miscarriage was lower."

"Ah." Harry understood that. He couldn't imagine telling everyone the good news, only to have it ripped away from you.

"Anyway, Fleur wants to give baby a French name." Ginny took a bite of her dinner. "They don't have a boy's name yet, but they are saying Victoire for a girl. It's close to victory in French. She says getting pregnant is a victory to them."

"Well, that's..." Harry wasn't quite sure of the word he wanted to use.

"One way to look at getting knocked up," Ginny supplied with a sly smirk.

Harry laughed. He tilted her chin, intending to give her a light kiss, but Ginny seemed to have other intentions. She pressed her mouth hard to his, her fingers tangling into his hair.

"You know," Ginny murmured against his lips, "we could celebrate their victory… We haven't shagged in this room while the walls are blue, yet."

Harry pulled back slightly, adjusting their bodies so he hovered over her. With a wave of his wand (that had been sitting beside him) he lit the fireplace, filling the room with the happy sounds of crackling logs. "We wouldn't want break our streak, now would we?"

He moved his mouth down from her lips to her throat, then to her sternum. Ginny let out a sound of approval as he slid his hands to the hem of her shirt, letting his fingers play with the the little bit of exposed skin.

"You know, they rightly named this carpet." Ginny's voice was husky as she untangled her hands from his hair. She guided her fingers to the top button on his shirt. She made quick work of the first three. "It is perfect for shagging."

Harry stopped his ministrations and connected his eyes to hers. They gleamed with delight at her own joke. "Really?"

"Do you disagree?"

"Oh no! I couldn't agree more."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Have I ever told you how much I hate wedding planning?" Ginny moaned as she flopped down onto the sofa beside Harry. Deciding he would find out who murdered the young woman in his novel later, Harry placed a bookmark into the folds. His fiancée need his attention more.

"You have, but it is the groom's job to listen to his ranting bride. So please, keep me up to date. What happened?"

Ginny glared at him for his sarcasm, but clearly decided her tirade was more vital than reprimanding him for his satire. "My mother spent three hours on flowers. Just flowers!" Her face contorted in pain. "Do you know how little I care about flowers?"

"Probably as much as I care about tablecloths." Harry twisted his body so his back was against the armrest. He helped Ginny position herself with her back to his chest, their legs spread out in front of them on the cushions.

"Remind me again why we can't just elope?" Ginny whined, as Harry rubbed small circles into her thigh.

"Because we want to live to see thirty."

"Right, our mothers would become murderers."

"And I don't think our fathers would forgive us for making that happen." Harry pressed a kiss to the top of Ginny's head. "I get why they are pushing us more."

"Oh, don't bring logic into this!" Ginny complained, her hands coming up to cover her face. Her voice was muffled, but Harry had become completely fluent in the ways of Ginny Weasley allowing him to understand her through the barricade. "Two months is plenty of time."

"How many weddings have you planned?"

Ginny turned her neck to look at him, her hands dropping. "Huh?"

"You say two months is plenty of time, but I can say that I have no idea how hard it is to plan a wedding. But I have heard it takes quite a bit of time, maybe more than two months."

"Stop with your logic, Potter. Can't you just agree with me?"

"Sorry, darling. You know I love playing the devil's advocate."

Ginny let out a deep breath. "You're right."

"Can I get that in writing?"

"No. I guess I should go back and work with my mum, huh."

"I mean." Harry leaned around to kiss her cheek. "I could come with you. I picked white tablecloths so I can help to make sure the flower's color works with the tables."

Ginny turned her entire body around, her eyes locked on his. "You'd do that?"

"For you, I'd suffer through the seating chart rearrangement for the twentieth time."

"Well if that isn't love..." Though her tone oozed with sarcasm, the way she kissed him told Harry he had done the right thing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Weasley has been unstoppable today!" Mothers told the listeners. "She hasn't missed a shot. It's as if the Magpies haven't had a keeper at all."

"Fifteen shots and fifteen goals." Gregory clapped his hands together. "We don't tend to see such a one-sided game this close to the finals."

"Make it three-hundred and ten to one-hundred and twenty. Harpies still in the lead."

"I wish we could bottle whatever is driving Weasley today so we can have more games like this," Gregory mused as he watched the red-head speed pass him. "What do you think is her inspiration today?"

"I have no idea, Dan," Mothers admitted. "We did speak with her fiancé, Harry Potter, before his match today. When we brought up Weasley, he claimed she was ready for today's match, and clearly, he wasn't lying."

"Have the happy couple set a date yet?" Dan asked, more for himself than the listeners at this point.

"Actually, I did ask Potter." Mothers smiled at his partner. "He didn't say the exact date, but he hinted it was less than a month."

"Amazing! I can't explain how much I love the -"

Gregory gasped as Ginny Weasley started to fall fast. Her body was like a rag doll, moving through the air limply.

"Weasley has been taken down by a bludger to the head!" Mothers informed the crowd. "There is no one near her! She's gonna hit the ground!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mr Potter, I need you to remain calm."

"Oh, I'm plenty calm. I'm calm enough to hex you from here to Timbuktu."

"Harry, dear, how about you and Ron go get a cup of coffee down in the canteen."

Ginny couldn't move. She recognized her mother's soothing tone and Harry… a very distressed Harry. What would cause him to be so upset? She tried to open her eyes, but it was as if her lids had been stuck together with a permanent charm.

"Ergh." She tried to call Harry. She wanted to comfort him, but instead of saying his name loud and clear (like she had planned) the only noise that came out was an odd grunt.

"Ginny!?" Harry's voice had moved closer. "Gin, are you awake? Open your eyes, love."

Ginny tried to follow his instructions, but she just couldn't. The more she tried the more her head pounded.

"What's going on? Why can't she open her eyes?" Molly Weasley's voice accused fast and sharp. It was the tone she used when interrogating a trouble-maker.

"If she opens her eyes, her brain will face a sensory overload. I have made it so her eyes will remain shut until her brain has had more time to heal." Ginny didn't recognize the man's voice, but based on context clues she had to assume he was a healer of some sort.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Harry's tone made her want to laugh. He sounded ready to rip the head off the assumed healer. "Gin, can you hear me?"

"Ye-" Ginny tried to say yes, but she seemed unable to complete her task.

A hand she knew was Harry's lightly traced her cheek. "Good, love. Just relax then."

Ginny was more than happy to comply.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Multiple contusions, brain swelling, shattered bones in the hands, a broken leg and broken arm," Healer Rhodes explained, his elbows resting on the desk in his office "Miss Weasley is going to have quite a recovery process."

"Why did it take a week for her to wake up?" Harry asked for the fifth time. He, Molly, and Arthur sat together on the opposing side of the healer's desk.

"We believe she was in a comatose state." Rhodes laced his fingers together. "Her brain tissue swelled. Her body decided to shut down in order to focus on the trauma. It takes time for the body and mind to recover from such a serious injury. Our concern now is to test for any side effects from the swelling."

"Like what?" Arthur asked, his hand squeezing Molly's.

"Memory loss, speech functionality, motor functions, change in personality, things like that."

Harry didn't like it at all. "She might not remember things?"

"It's a possibility." Rhodes turned to Harry. "Though based on the response to you earlier I will hypothesize she knows you, Mr Potter."

"How do you check for…"

Rhodes gave Harry an understanding expression. "Slowly but surely. First we get her to a state where she can use her eyes comfortably. Then we see how well her brain responds. I would like to start healing some of the more serious injuries as soon as we can confirm she is mentally responsive."

"I'm going to go tell the boys to head home." Molly wiped away some stray tears. "It sounds like she doesn't need the whole family here right now."

"I have to agree with that, Mrs Weasley." Rhodes pulled out some charts from a drawer in his desk. "I'm going to wake her in about an hour and we are going to try and test response time. Mr Potter, I would like you to be there. It's always better if we have someone the patient is comfortable with."

"I had no intention of leaving," Harry told the healer. He knew he must sound rude, but at this moment he didn't give a shit about being charming and nice. If the healer had told him to leave, Harry had been more than prepared to fight the man.

"Good. Like I said it's going to be a hard recovery." Rhodes leaned in closer. "I want you to be prepared, Mr Potter. Miss Weasley is going to need you more than ever."

"Won't be a problem." Harry had never been more sure of anything in his life.

"I thought so." Rhodes stood, grabbing the charts with one hand and offered the other. "I'm going to check on a few other patients. Feel free to wait in your fiancée's room. I'll be there within the hour."

[shamelessly4shameless-blog]

Kitty Cartoons.

Part of the ‘Here Kitty, Kitty’ challenge over on AO3 a Gallavich story involving a cat. Fun and fluffy and set in season 1. Thanks for reading :) xx

The street was fairly quiet. Summer had one of two effects on the residents of Chicago’s South Side, it either made them loud and raucous, like a mob on the verge of total mayhem with parties raging into the small hours and out the other side, undiminished in their ferocity. Or, on days like today, people were slow and quiet, subdued by the heat and the light which managed to creep and stray into every crevice.

Only the most diligent people would work today and Debbie Gallagher was nothing if not diligent. She had dragged her deck chair out to the front of the house, poured herself a pitcher of water and set up her rickety easel on the cracked paving slabs. She set out her example pieces and hung up her price list.

She did better trade when the adults of the neighbourhood had been drinking, they were more likely to egg each other on and commission several pieces at once. Still, she persisted and worked on her tan during the long wait between customers … well … not really worked on it, more like worked on trying not to burn too much. She applied sun-cream every hour and set her egg timer to make sure she didn’t forget. It was as she was reapplying cream to the back of her legs that a shadow fell over her and Debbie glanced up startled.

“What the fuck is this?”

Debbie blinked up at the trio of teenage boys and swallowed heavily. She hadn’t heard them coming but rumour was that when the Milkovich’s meant business, you never did. All three were wearing grubby shorts and tank tops, but the steel toes of their boots were just as formidable in the sun as in snow.

“This is my new professional venture, it operates on Friday, Saturday – that’s today…”

Debbie tried a smile but did not receive one in return. The shortest Milkovich drew heavily on the last dregs of a cigarette before flicking the butt over his shoulder in a shower of sparks. Debbie cleared her throat nervously and pressed on.

“…and, um, Wednesday.”

The two bigger boys looked bored of her already but the other one who had asked the question, whose name she thought might be Ricky or Mitch, or something like that, was looking at her with something close to amusement.

“Professional venture, huh? You sellin’ lemonade?”

“Not today. That is available Monday, Tuesday, and most Sundays.”

Debbie bit the inside of her cheeks as one of the older brother’s reached past her to pick up one of the samples.

“Um … if you are interested, my business is called ‘Kitty Cartoons’ I can draw anyone as a kitty… a cat.”

Debbie amended hastily as the boy holding the drawing frowned.

“Mickey, this is bullshit. It’s our turf. This fuckin’ kid is making it look like a playground.”

“It’s public property!”

Debbie shot back and then took a step backwards as the huge mountain of unwashed teen-boy lowered the picture and glared at her directly.

“So?”

“So I can trade here too.”

Mickey discretely placed himself between Joey and the little redhead. He had no problem with telling the Gallagher kid to fuck off, maybe even tipping the stand over if it seemed appropriate, but there was no need to scare her. Joey always went straight to physical intimidation; it was, in Mickey’s opinion, why he couldn’t get shit done properly. Smack heads, drunks, or women beaters – sure. You get up in those guys faces straight away and show ‘em who’s boss. But other people required more subtlety. Besides it wasn’t like they were actually going to rough up a kid, especially a girl.

“Ay! I ain’t decided if you can trade here or not, little orphan Annie.”

“Original.”

Debbie dead-panned and Mickey decided he liked at least two Gallagher’s. He smirked at her and glanced at the house, licking his lip absently

“Your brother’s home?”

“Yes. My Dad too …”

Mickey looked back down at Debbie and his smile took her by surprise

“Frank’s a useless shit, kid. Better off learning to use your own fists than ever relying on him.”

Debbie let out the breath she had been holding and squared her shoulders.

“I don’t need to! Your reputation would suffer if people knew you beat up a little girl in the street for selling cartoons. Hmm?”

Mickey’s smile, already prettier than Debbie had expected, blossomed into a beautiful grin and despite her heart pounding in her chest, she smiled back at him. It was impossible not to. Mickey was about to say something when the front door flew open and Lip and Ian burst onto the front porch. Lip was holding the bat at his shoulder and he took the steps in one jump, though when he spoke, his voice was cheerful enough

“Hey Mickey! Joey, Tony. How’s it going?”

“Pretty good. Too hot though.”

Lip nodded as if the small talk was all in neighbourly fun.

“Yeah, yeah. So what’s up?”

Mickey shrugged, his gaze flicking between Lip and Ian, lingering on Ian for just as long as he dared. He was shirtless and his hair was damp, like he’d just got out of the shower. Mickey took a deep breath and flexed his biceps a little, drawing himself up to his full height, so that he was just a smidge taller than Ian.

“Nothin’. Just explaining to … what’s your name?”

“Debbie.”

“Right, Debbie, that this is our turf. As a rule we don’t like other businesses on it.”

“It’s a cartoon stand run by a little kid, Mickey.”

Ian said, frowning as he stepped up beside Lip, though his hand came to rest on the bat, urging it down and well away from Mickey’s face.

“Yeah and I see that, but my Dad sent us over to have a look cause he heard it was somethin’ else.”

“It’s not.”

Ian retorted flatly and Mickey licked his lip again, squinting down the street as if looking for something on the horizon. He didn’t understand why, and maybe it was just because Gallagher made his balls fizz like a crazy fucked up cola can, but he didn’t like the thought of displeasing Ian. It was the only reason he had bothered to get out of bed and traipse the few blocks over to the Gallagher house with Tony and Joey. The whole thing really shouldn’t have been his problem but he didn’t want shit going down that didn’t have to because a fall out with the Gallagher clan would mean a fall out with Ian and Mickey liked what they had going on. Whatever the fuck it was.

“I could do you a free drawing?”

“What?”

Mickey had pretty much forgotten Debbie was there and he looked down now with a scowl.

“I have black and blue pencils so your hair and eyes will be fine and I could do your tattoos on the kitty’s paws so it’s more tailored to your unique style.”

Joey snorted and Tony made a noise that could have been a sign of amusement or a phlegmy throat but it was Ian who Mickey found himself looking at again. His eyes had taken on that particular shine they got when he was hoping things would play out a certain way… normally Mickey only saw that look when he stomped into the Kash’n’Grab and Ian looked up eagerly, like Mickey was actually important or some shit. It was like a blend of excitement and hope that Mickey was there for him, which he always fuckin’ was, and seeing that look was one of the best parts of Mickey’s day.

Despite the fact that he was on a job for his dad.

Despite the fact that his brother’s and that asshole, Lip were stood there.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of the day in the middle of the street, Mickey felt himself softening and suddenly the thought of a little girl drawing a kitty version of him as payment for setting up on Milkovich turf seemed like the most natural thing in the world.

“Fine. But it better look badass.”

Debbie grabbed her pad and colouring pencils and pointed to the deck chair.

“Sit, please.”

Mickey lowered himself down, tongue firmly set in his cheek and Debbie held up a pencil and squinted through one eye at him.

“What would you say a cat’s best qualities are?”

“What?”

Mickey’s brows knitted together and he spread his hands in an exasperated gesture

“I don’t know. They’re sneaky and shit. They can see in the dark, which is cool I guess.”

“Actually, that’s a myth, although their vision is ...”

Lip trailed off as blue eyes narrowed in his direction, then rolled lazily in the direction of the older Milkovich’s, who both moved ever so slightly closer. Lip shoved a smoke between his lips and stayed quiet about the attributes and capabilities of cats.

His point proven, Mickey turned his attention back to Debbie who was carefully sketching an outline

“How much do you sell these for?”

“A dollar.”

“How much you made so far?”

“Thirty three dollars.”

Mickey nodded and rubbed a finger down the bridge of his nose.

“Fine, that don’t seem to be much of a problem to me. You done?”

“I need to do the paws…”

“Well hurry it up, I got shit to do.”

“Hey!”

Ian cocked his head to the side and gave Mickey a sharp look which Mickey mostly ignored but when Debbie presented him with the drawing, he gave Ian a cursory side-eye after thanking her to be sure his appreciation had been sincere enough. A small smile and a nod confirmed that it had been.

The cartoon was actually pretty good. Cat-Mickey was lean, scrappy looking thing, scowling from large blue eyes, a cigarette poking out between neat little fangs and distinct lettering across its white paws.

Joey and Tony realised that whatever promise of a fight had hung in the air when the Gallagher boys came out had disappeared into the hazy heat of the day, along with any chance of trashing the kids stall. If Mickey was satisfied, and the chaos was cancelled, they were going home.

“We’re leaving.”

Joey grunted and Mickey waved him off without looking up.

“You good?”

Lip had been observing the play by play of events and whatever was going on between Ian and Mickey Milkovich was clearly nothing he wanted any part of. Weirdly his little brother seemed to be the one in control of the situation and although it was disappointing not to be able to crack Mickey with the bat; it was also probably for the best.

“Yeah, thanks. Debs, you want to take a break? I’ll call you if you get a customer.”

Ian ruffled his sister’s hair as she bounded past him, following Lip up the steps into their home.

“See ya, Mickey!”

Debbie called and disappeared inside, leaving Mickey and Ian on opposite sides of the thin mesh fence. Mickey turned the cartoon so Ian could see it and grinned at the redheads smiling reaction.

“You’d make a good cat.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I’d pet you.”

“Fuck off.”

Mickey smeared away the goofy smile with the pad of his thumb and folded the picture, stuffing it in his shorts pocket.

“Am I seeing you later?”

He asked, hoping that there was no desperation in his voice.

“Sure. Three? Usual place?”

“Yep. See ya.”

Mickey turned on his heel and began to walk down the street when Ian called after him. Ordinarily he would have kept walking and let Gallagher wear his throat out yelling or come running if he had something to say. But Mickey was never too sure about what sort of stupid shit might come out of Gallagher’s mouth so he turned around and walked back.

“What?”

Ian knew better than to lay hands on Mickey, but he fixed him with a look that blew the older boys pupils wide in an expression that Ian knew all too well but disregarded for the moment.

“Mickey, you ever come after my little sister again, I’ll kick your ass.”

Whatever he had been expecting it wasn’t a threat and Mickey shifted his feet uneasily as his body stirred.

“Bitch, you wish!”

He managed once the blood began to flow back toward his brain, but it was a feeble quip and had no real heat to it. A drunk lady swayed around the corner, her arm around a friend who was equally intoxicated.

“See you at three, Mickey.”

Ian let the expression on his face soften and gave Mickey a lopsided grin, before turning and hurrying up the steps to get Debbie.

[futurepast56]

Gallavich week: Day 2: BadBoy!Ian and Nerd!Mickey

Ian was a stereotypical bad boy in high school, although he really hated that word. He drinks, yes, get high – a lot, skip a lot of classes and causes enough disturbance to end up in detention after school or even in the police station, waiting for Fiona to pick him up. She loved to remind him how Lip was so much better than him, and how his behaviour was appropriate and he never got himself in trouble at which Ian answered how Lip did even more shit than he did, but he simply never got caught. To which Fiona usually mumbled something about Lip being smart enough to never be arrested and Ian sighing. *****  Ian skipped first fifteen minutes of his math lesson to smoke with Karen, Travis and Jake under the bleachers. He blamed half of his troubles on his friends if he had to be honest – Karen was a school slut, always happy to help him find some gay guy he could fuck in the midst of all straight people in this school. Travis' dad produce and sell his own alcohol, shitloads of kinds, which probably was the reason why they drink so much. And then there was Jake, the quiet one with mystery past and half of school thinking he killed a guy once - which he didn’t, he only majorly injured him, but it's not the same, guy was still alive and kicking when they last seen him. This problem started just like the rest of his problems started: with some stupid drunken dare.  "Boys, you know the Milkovich guy?" Karen asked, slowly smoking her cigarette.  "Iggy?" Travis suggested mostly because, Ian suspected, Iggy was one of his drug dealers, but he didn’t know for sure.  "Nah, Mickey. The one that actually goes to school" she explained.  "Nerd one?" Travis asked just to make sure and Karen nodded, while fixing her long blonde hair.  "I tried to fuck him last week and he kept on saying no to all of that – fucking asshole by the way – so I was thinking that he may be gay. If he is not then I, meaning we, will beat his ass up" she said.  "Not a good idea. You don't dare with Milkovich family even if it's the biggest nerd in town" Travis answered.   "Also, he is probably not gay" Ian added quickly. He remembered that this Mickey guy was in some of his classes, but he never really focused on him that much.  "There is no other fucking reason he would say no to me" Karen said with certainty in her voice.  "Maybe he just has some... how do you call it?" Travis started and looked at Ian.  "Self-respect" Ian offered and Karen flipped him off before continuing.   "Wanna bet?" She asked, looking Ian straight in the eye.  "Pass" he answered, for once happy that he didn’t get involved in another set of problems because of his asshole friends.   "I was asking Travis" Karen added and Travis nodded.  "I'm fucking sure that even Gallagher here won't fuck any Milkovich guy that exists on this Earth. No fucking way" Travis claimed and Ian raised his eyebrows.  "You think I can't do it?" He asked. "Well, fuck you dickface, you will be paying up with weed if I do fuck him. Deal?"   "Deal" Travis agreed. Only after another five minutes, in his way to math class, Ian realize that his friends tricked him, probably preparing another set of trouble on his way. He sighed. Was week of peace too much to ask for?  *****  "Mr Gallagher, how happy we are that you were kind enough to visit my class for once" Mrs Green said, welcoming him in the middle of explaining something that was written on the board.   "No problem" he answered smiling, causing couple people to giggle and couple to sigh loudly – usual reactions to his behaviour. He sat in his usual spot, next to Tommy, who also didn’t get maths too much, which Ian deuced from doodles on the paper. Redhead looked around, trying to remember if he has math lessons with Milkovich kid and he wasn’t disappointed when he saw raven-haired boy with tattooed knuckles and nerdy glasses – kinda cute contradiction if you ask Ian. He couldn't really see his face, but he was hoping that he won't be disappointed as Mandy Milkovich, Mickey's older sister, was one of Karen's biggest competition for getting dicks, which only proves how attractive this girl was.   "Remember about the test coming up next week. It will be on it" teacher voice pushed Ian away from his bubble of thoughts and he looked at the board understanding... absolutely nothing. Many would expect him to fail his classes, as a proper 'bad guy' would do, but Ian actually cared about his education – he was getting B's in English and mostly C's from the rest of his subjects – and of course an A from PE, but this one wasn’t that hard to get – but he kept on failing in maths and barely passing physics. His mind was thinking in words, as one would suspect brain to work, and numbers never made much sense to his as they made to Lip, whose favourite subjects were physics, maths and Extended Maths – mechanics, which helped him build awesome robots and use them to steal shit – Ian borrowed one once but he couldn’t properly control him (he should've suspect that to happen as he is the worst in every video game possible).   During one moment of confusion at maths lesson he came up with a plan that could help him win the bet and improve his grade from this hellish subject. After lesson, he stayed a little bit longer instead of coming out first like he usually did and he smiled towards Mrs Green.  "Gallagher, what do you want?" She asked, sounding tired, confused and pissed all at once, but Ian suspected that it was her usual tone of voice so he decided to ignore it.  "A tutor" he answered, fixing his jacket and staring with amusement at confused teacher.  "I'm sorry, what?" She mumbled and Ian grinned in response.  "A tutor. To improve my 'terrible grades that will cause me to work at this little shop till the day I die'. Using your words, Miss" he explained and raised eyebrows. "I'm actually doing pretty well in different subject, just don’t get those fucking numbers" he added and the teacher seem to understand it just now.  "Oh, of course. I could get you a tutor. Miss Tori could do that, or Fred or Simon-" she started, but Ian shake his head and looked at his teacher.  "I've been thinking about Milkovich. We live in the same neighbourhood so it would be easy to came over to him or he could crash to my place without making fifty fucking miles in between" he explained the excuse that he came out with during the lesson.  "Language" teacher mumbled out of habit, which caused Ian to grin. "I can talk with Mr Milkovich about that, but I'm hoping it's not a part of any prank that you and your friends are up to" she said and Ian never heard word 'friends' being used as offensive phrase, but the amount of venom Mrs Green put in it showed hatred towards the rest of his group.  "You kidding, right? Only suicidal idiot would try to prank someone from that family" Ian said, thinking about how he definitely fit in that description, because of this stupid bet.  "Smart" teacher agreed and sighed. "Okay, tomorrow find him and discuss the details, I will make sure to explain this situation to him till the end of today" she promised and Ian nodded.  "Thank you, that will mean a lot to me" he only half lied and walked out of the class, Travis standing there and waiting already.  "In what fucking hell, you could get into in half an hour?" He asked, laughing and handing him a cigarette that Ian gladly accepted.  "I just got myself a math tutor" he said only, causing his friend to trip over his own feet.  "Pardon me, but what the actual fuck, Gallagher?" He somehow managed to ask and Ian laughed.  "It's the part of the plan"  *****  When he told Fiona about math tutor she spit out her coffee and had little seizure before she was able to ask some question that he didn't even answer. For some reason Lip appeared in his door an hour ago and smiled.   "Dude, this bad boy look really works for guys?" He asked, pointing towards his ripped jeans and leather jacket next to his bed.  "This shit is sometimes uncomfortable as fuck and I actually know how to apply eyeliner, but fuck yeah it works" he answered and his older brother laughed.  "At least you don’t have any piercing" he offered and Ian stopped laughing, which made Lip froze. "No. You don’t have any..." He started and then he blinked couple times. "Where the fuck you are pierced?" He asked and Ian grinned. "Well I had my tongue pierced, but I wear it only from time to time. And then I may have had my nipples pierced, because we got drunk with Karen and we both did that" he explained and Lip stared blankly at his brother.   "Karen has pierced nipples?" He mumbled and Ian laughed out loud.  "Of course, this is the fucking part you get from this" Ian concluded and Lip nodded.  "So... What's the deal with math tutor?" He asked a minute later and Ian rolled his eyes. Of course, there was so hidden agenda in there. They didn’t have brotherly talk in weeks, he could've predict that.   "I plan to fuck him" he answered honestly and Lip smiled, sudden understanding on his face.  "That was my number one guess, to be honest" he confessed. "Just don’t say Fiona, she is too happy that you started to care about grades and shit" Lip added and Ian nodded.  "Noted" he promised and Lip smiled one last time before walking out and leaving Ian alone in his room.  *****  Karen high fived him for great plan next day and asked why Lip is suddenly all over her at which Ian only laughed and mentioned their conversation about piercing to which Karen answered with "Men are so simple" before going back to subject of fucking Mickey Milkovich.   "There he is" Karen said, moving her head towards boy standing next to his locker. "So nerdy and cute. I'm kinda afraid you will eat this poor guy alive" she added and grinned, which suggested that she hoped that he will indeed eat him alive. Ian give her one of his looks that screamed 'shut up' and he walked right towards Mickey, putting a suggestive grin on his face.  "Hello" he said, stopping right next to Milkovich boy. Mickey turned around and – holy shit, why no one told him this guy was actually, properly hot? Ian would have made a move months ago if he knew! With perfect face, big blue eyes that looked definitely too adorable in those simple glasses and those lips that Ian wanted to kiss right here right now. Ian blinked and noticed that Mickey was staring at him with raised eyebrows, which suggested that some question have been asked and Ian kept on standing there like a moron, just looking at this perfect man right in front of him and daydreaming about fucking him in so many different positions and places and-  "Dude, this begins to be really fucking creepy" Ian heard and bring himself back to reality.  "Uhm, sorry I-" he stuttered. He fucking stuttered. He never stutters! He is Ian Gallagher, walking definition of a confident fuckboy. "I wanted to ask if Mrs Green informed you about our study date?" He asked, trying to regain his confidence with smirking at the hot guy in front of him. Mickey raised his eyebrows.  "Yeah, I heard about our study sessions, because apparently you asked specifically for me to be your tutor. I was also informed to watch out on any pranks you could plan to do, which honestly would be really fucking stupid from your side to try to prank a Milkovich and you know it" Mickey said, putting notebooks to his bag.   "No pranks. I was just hoping to get some knowledge from the cutest nerd in school" he said with his charm and Mickey stopped putting his stuff and looked at Ian with those raised eyebrows and tried to fight Ian with a look, but Gallagher just kept on grinning at smaller teenager. "My place today after school would be cool. I'll wait" he said and walked away without giving Milkovich chance to answer or kill him with an angry stare.  *****  Ian was happy he only had English after that, because he was in different class than Milkovich boy and he didn’t have to face him after that awkward conversation they had before – Karen did not forget to laugh about it for entire break, while Ian pretended not to know what she was talking about. As English lesson was mainly focused on analysing gothic features in "Frankenstein" and "Strange Case of Dr. Jekkyl Mr Hyde" Ian could relax a little bit. He read both books months ago and completed this task week before they even started to analyse gothic novels – again: English was the only subject he truly enjoyed, which was reflected in his work. Thanks to that extra work he put his essay down on teacher's desk ten minutes after lesson began and smiled.   "I have something important to prepare to, but here is your essay, Sir" he informed the teacher and walked out, almost forgetting his bag. Gallagher quickly walked out of the school, flipping off two teachers that tried to stop him, and walked in the direction of Kash and Grab to get some bear and chips for today's study session. Fiona made sure home will be empty so he can "focus on studying", for which Ian will thank her later, because it only made his plan easier.   After stealing snacks from the shop – he fucked Kash couple times and then blackmailed him into letting stealing go or his wife will find out – Ian went to his house and prepared everything, making it look like he didn’t care or wasn’t bothered in going to shop - "oh, here is some beer left and I think we should have some snacks" kind of move. Then he went upstairs, took quick shower and had enough time to find his favourite green tank top before he heard a knocking downstairs. Gallagher smiled at his reflection in the mirror, made his hair a little messier in a sexy way – he did hear many times how he looked better this way - and walked downstairs. Is it possible that all his confidence disappeared when he met those blue eyes after opening the door? Ian wasn't sure of that, but he was sure that fucking Mickey Milkovich will be far more challenging than he expected.   "Hello, there" he said, smiling. Milkovich raised his eyebrows. "Welcome in my mansion. Please don’t touch any artefacts, we don’t want to get rough... Or maybe we do. Depends on you, really" he said, letting Mickey in. He could've swear that Mickey rolled his eyes only to hide a smile, and that definitely improved his confidence.  "We good to sit in the kitchen, or is it a million-dollar piece of furniture?" Mickey asked sarcastically and Ian smiled.  "Kitchen is good, but I was kinda hoping we will go upstairs" he added, sitting on the chair next to another teenager.  "To start we need to get a list of what you don’t get" Mickey said, completely ignoring Ian, but he didn't punch him yet so Ian took it as a 'go on'.  "I don’t get math" Gallagher said and Mickey looked at him like he was looking at complete moron.   "Five times four" he threw out of nowhere.  "Twenty, but-" Ian started but Milkovich had other plans.  "See? You know math. Now stop playing dump and wasting my time, just fucking tell me why I need to help you with" he said and Ian scratched his head. "I don’t really get trigonometry. Sine, Cosine, all of that" he said first thing that came to his mind. Mickey nodded and opened his notebook, showing Ian to follow his example.  "I can work with that" Milkovich mumbled and started explaining basics of triangles, sine and cosine rule that Ian couldn’t get since forever. The thing was: Mickey was actually really good teacher and it took Ian only couple minutes to get basics. He still made many mistakes, but at least now he knew how to start. He really wanted to listed to the rest of what Mickey had to say, but then Milkovich decided to bit his pencil while checking Ian's work and Gallagher froze. He never wanted be a pencil more in his entire life. In that moment Ian forgot this stupid bet and just wanted to kiss Mickey so badly, because he was cute and hot at the same time – how this perfect man even existed? Mickey was in the middle of explaining what he did wrong in one exercise when Ian couldn’t take it anymore.  "How are you real?" He mumbled and Mickey stopped and looked at him, which almost made Ian blush. Fucking blush. "I mean... Shit, sorry. It's just-" he stopped and sighed out loud.   "It's okay, Gallagher" Mickey said and Ian was sure he looked at his lips for a moment too long before continuing. "And I'm real mostly because I exist. But do we really exist though? Maybe it's all just sims game? Fuck knows, philosophy lessons only confuse people more than they actually teach" he finished, playing with his pencil between tattooed fingers.   "Again: how are you real" Ian asked and shake his head. "I think you are the smartest person in this neighbourhood and you somehow also the hottest guy around here-"  "Oh, please, have you looked in the mirror lately?" Mickey stopped him, raising his eyebrows. "Bad boy Ian Gallagher with his 'no fucks given' attitude, intimidating friends, tattoos and probably some piercing. Trust me, you are every girl wet dream, Gallagher" Mickey said, shaking his head.  "Girl? That was not a plan, damn it! I didn’t do all that work for girls!" His fake offended tone made Mickey laugh.  "Well, then you are fucked. I'm pretty sure my sister wanted to get with you, but then she heard that you are a fuckboy. Or men slut" Mickey added and Ian put hand on his heart pretend to be offended  "And gay" Ian added. "Don’t forget that one, it's really important" Ian added and looked Mickey right into eyes.   "Yeah, I can imagine" Milkovich answered without breaking an eye-contact. Then Ian decided to make a bold move, because he was already done with all this sexual tension. He put his palm on Mickey's thigh and smiled.  "I think we could have a little break" he said then, moving his hand up. Mickey closed his eyes and bit his lip.  "I would be totally for it, but, as I said, you are a fuckboy" Mickey said and moved away. "You get trophies, Gallagher. And I don’t want entire school to know tomorrow in what position we did it and how long we lasted. So better get back to your book" Mickey said, his speech too perfect to be improvised.  "Have you practiced it?" Ian asked and seeing Mickey's expression, he laughed. "Oh, God, you did".  "Shut up" Milkovich mumbled and Ian only laughed louder.  "Sorry, men, but I was really moved for a second, but then I focused on the part with you admitting that you are gay and basically saying that you are into me and I decided it's more important than the other part... And honestly, did you came up with that? You had any help with that speech?" He asked and Mickey's face again, gave all the answers. "It was Mandy, wasn't it?"  "Yeah, it was" Mickey admitted with serious tone. "She helped me after Iggy told her that a guy I've been crushing on since forever made a bet with his friends about fucking me" he added and Ian froze.  "H-how did Iggy-" Ian started, but he didn’t know how to continue without sounding like complete idiot.  "How did Iggy know?" Mickey finished and laughed with no humour in his voice. "Your fucking friend buys drugs from him. He got high yesterday and said something about the bet and Iggy kicked him out. Moron probably doesn’t even remember that" Mickey explained and started packing his things. "I was hoping they were all wrong and you won't be acting out only to fuck me, but well, I was wrong" Mickey added and zipped his bag, which bring Ian back to reality.  "There was a bet okay?!" He screamed, making Mickey stop.  "There was a fucking bet that I could get free weed if I fuck you and I went for it, but then I saw you and you are hot as fuck and you make me lose all my confidence and usual chill and it's really really really frustrating" he sighed and looked at Milkovich who was standing at the door. "And then I discovered how smart you are and that you are funny, which only made you hotter and honestly, I never been so close to beg a guy to blow him, but you are just so fucking perfect and I-I... I don’t know what to do, okay?" He mumbled and finally looked up to see Milkovich boy smiling. Ian frowned his eyebrows. "Are... Are you trying not to laugh on my perfect speech?!" He screamed, which made Mickey crack up into loud laughter.  "Oh, shit, Gallagher" Mickey said and shake his head. "I just wanted to see if you tell the truth and if you do then you fuck me, but damn, this speech was amazing. Better than mine. So glad I recorded it" he said and Ian raised his eyebrows.  "That was all a trick?" He asked and Milkovich nodded, taking step in Ian's direction.  "Yes, it was"   "And you are into me" he stated, little smile appearing on his face. Mickey nodded again.  "Yeah, I've mentioned something" he agreed, taking another step. They were standing right next to each other and Ian just wanted to kiss Mickey.  "That’s cool" he only said and was about to touch Mickey's face when he remembered something. "What was that part about recording it?" He asked and the other boy laughed.  "That's my insurance" Mickey answered and put his hands on Ian's jeans, and started to slowly unzipping his belt. "To make sure you will share that weed with me after" he added and Ian swallowed hard, looking in those big blue eyes.  "Yeah, sure, I will" he agreed and Mickey smiled taking Ian's belt out of his pants and putting it on the table next to his.  "Who would've suspect that our school bad boy can be so... obedient" Milkovich added and Ian raised his eyebrows.   "Who would've thought about school nerd being a hot, manipulating, bossy bottom" Gallagher threw in this conversation.  "Shut up and fuck me, Gallagher"  "Only if you keep your glasses on"   "Deal" Mickey agreed and Ian decided that this was the only deal that he could willingly agree to over and over again. He also thought about his weed that he was definitely smoke with Mickey after sex during this week. This deal was perfect. 

[mxrkwxtneys]

Found

Fandom; Doctor Who

Pairing; 9th Doctor/Original Time Lord Character

Warnings; Slight angst 

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

The night air was filled with screaming and the sounds of ‘exterminate’ The Time Lords and Ladys tried all they could to protect their children. Their attempts failed as the Daleks fired their beams. On a hill stood a couple. Theta and Gemini. He cupped her face in his hands. 

“Don’t cry my love. It’ll be okay. I know a way to end this war.” he stated  She couldn’t help, a few tears escaped. 

“I know. But try your hardest to find me again my love.” She sobbed out. He  pulled her into a tight hug and pressed a kiss on her forehead. Then he pulled away and headed off, set to end the War.

The woman got into her Time Ship and stroked the side. She would be human again soon. All her memories would be concealed in a small watch. Her chameleon arc -which would change her DNA and biology to human- dangled from the ceiling, and she reached up to grab it. After quickly setting the settings to human and placing the watch into the spot, she placed it onto her head and pressed the button. To say that it hurt worse than regeneration was true. After a few more seconds, the pain stopped, and she couldn’t help but look around.

 Pressing the button that she needed to, Gemini set course for Earth, and decided on a small town in London,England. To at least try to fit in to human society.  She parked her Ship and changed the exterior so that it looked like a phone booth. Gemini sighed and stepped out, setting the key in the corner, where only she could get it. Then, she set out for the London streets, letting the memories slowly leave her mind. But the one thought that remained on her mind, was who was the mysterious man, and when she would meet him. 

But little did she know, she already had met him. 

-

Jolting awake, the female gasped for breath. The same dream that has been happening every night for the last week, happened again. This time it was more in depth. Letting out a soft sigh, she fell back against the bed, a huff escaping her lips. All Eliza wanted to know was why these dreams kept happening. What did they mean? 

Her phone dinged with a text and she flapped her hand around her nightstand before grabbing it. It was her best friend Rose, who up to two days ago, was working during this time. 

Rose: I’m coming over, I’ll be there in 10 [8:54am]

Rose: I’m here. [9:05am]

Her blonde best friend flung open the door and plopped herself next to Eliza on the bed. 

“Only nine in the morning and you look like crap.” Eliza couldn’t help but tease her friend. The blonde looked up from her spot on the bed and sent a glare at her. 

“I’ve been up all night trying to find more information on that man who blew up my shop. Says his name is ‘The Doctor.’” Rose rolled her eyes, and Eliza nodded. 

“If you want, my computer is open, I have to go and shower anyway.” The redhead pointed over to her computer that sat in the corner. Rose slipped her shoes off before padding her way over to the computer, as Eliza grabbed a clean set of clothes from the closet and went to shower. 

That name the Rose mentioned -The Doctor- sounded oh so familiar. She felt as if she had heard that name before, a long time ago. Rubbing the rest of the sleep out of her eyes, Eliza started the shower.

Twenty minutes later, she was done and pulling a towel around her body. A further ten minutes passed before she stepped out in a blue long sleeve shirt, black jeans and a pair of socks. 

“Find anything interesting?” She called out to Rose as she sat back down on her bed, pulling her glasses on. 

“A website, some man has been exploring the theory that the man that I met goes back generations. Or at least something like that. I’m going to go meet up with him. Wanna come with?” She asked Eliza, as she shut the computer down. 

“You know I’m always down for an adventure!” Eliza grinned, as she grabbed her boots from the floor, “besides, chances are the information the guy has could be true.” She grabbed her wallet from her nightstand drawer along with her ever so important pocket watch that she had gotten when she was adopted. Hand in hand, the duo headed out, and Eliza got the feeling that this day would be the most important day in her life. 

-

Pulling up to the house, Rose took the keys out of the car and slipped it into her pocket after getting out. 

“I’ll be only a bit, you can come in if you want to.” 

“I might as well, don’t know how long you’d be, since you like to talk a lot.” Eliza then followed Rose to the front door where a teenage boy answered it, exclaiming for his father. A man appeared, and after introducing himself to them, led them to the back and to the shed. The shed was filled with pictures and newspaper clips. 

“A lot of this stuff is quite sensitive. I can’t just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough and keep an open mind, this Doctor keeps popping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. It appears to be an inheritance, the name that is. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?” He pulled out a photo that had a group of people, and the supposed mystery man behind the. Rose nodded, and grasped the photo to look closer. 

“April 1912. This is a photo of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend. This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. They had said some man called the Doctor told them not to go on it.”

Eliza glanced around, taking in the sight of the room, and sighed. 

“There always seems to be something following him. Though out wherever he goes.” Clive continued, placing the photo back into its spot and leaned against the desk. 

“What’s that?” Eliza questioned the man, turning to look at him. 

“Death. “

-

They got back into the car, and Rose glanced at her phone, smiling. 

“Mickey is already on his way here, said he’s going to pick me up, apparently he’s taking me to lunch. You sure you’ll be fine on your own?” Rose questioned her friend. 

Eliza nodded, grabbed the keys from Rose’s pocket. “I’ll be good. Chances are I’ll probably stop at the chip shop down the road and get something before heading back home.”  They parted ways quickly, and Eliza drove off, headed to the restaurant that was down the road. Unknown to her, Mickey -well a weird looking version of him- and Rose were a few tables away as she sat down, opening the menu and glancing at it. Suddenly a fire alarm went off, and someone shouted to get out. 

After catching a glance at Rose, and making sure it was her, Eliza followed her out, grasping on to her sleeve. 

“What the fuck is going on?” she breathed out as they ended up outside in an alley, a seemingly ordinary blue box stood there. That was when she noticed the guy. It was the same one from the pictures, and boy was he cute. 

“The thing is following up! Use your tube thing!” Rose grasped the gate and tried to pull it open. 

“Nah, I think I’ll go in here!” The man called out, opening the door to the box, and Eliza didn't think twice before following him in. The inside was beautiful, and the girl let her hand rest on the wall, and could of sworn she heard it hum and a warmth filled her heart. 

“She’s beautiful.” She breathed out, looking at the man. He grinned at her, before taking a double take. 

“She is isn’t she?” He leaned against the console and they watched as Rose finally came in. Eliza tuned out their conversation, dropping her purse onto a seat and hoisting herself up onto the one besides it. 

“... follow the signal, hold on!” The man -the Doctor- it seemed, danced around the consol, pressing buttons and then pressed a lever and the box started to shake. The Doctor and Rose went out the doors, the man looking back at her. Eliza felt something inside her twist and churn. Her breathing picked up, going out in short breaths.

“Is it alright if I stay here, feeling a bit off.” She spoke, her stomach in knots and hands feeling clammy. He nodded, and shut the door, before what sounded like locking it. 

Eliza rested her head between her knees and focused on taking deep breaths. This whole thing, with the box and it moving, not to mention the man. Almost instantly, she was struck with pain in her head, and she was caught  in a flashback. 

[Gallifrey,age:407]

“Come on Gemini!” She could hear Theta call out to her from outside her room. She huffed, before going to her door and opening it. 

“You know, we have exams in the morning, and unlike some, I would l o v e to pass.” She quipped, a smirk growing on her face as she glanced at her friend. A pout formed on his face. 

“Come on! It’s just a little adventure to the fields! I’ll have you back in a bit! I promise!” he begged her, his voice quiet. Sighing softly, the young time lady grabbed her robe from the hook, slipped her shoes on and closed the door. 

“Better have me back in an hour or so.” She told him, before letting him grabbed her hand and leading her out of the building and to the fields. 

-

“Have you thought about if you would want to bond with someone?” The question came out of nowhere. Pausing to think about it, Gemini glanced up at the stars, curling closer to the boy. 

“I mean, if the time is right, then I suppose. There’s really only one person I could think about being bonded with.” She softly said, looking up at him. 

“What about you?” She asked. 

“Only one person in mind, he looked down at her, a smile on her face. “It’s you, you know. You’re the one that I could see myself being with for all of eternity.” a blush overcame his face. 

“I- Theta, I want you to be the one I bond with too. Nobody understands me like you. No one makes me happy like you do, and no one takes us on adventures like this. What if, say by the time we’re both 500 and we’re both not bonded, we’ll do it.” She states as she pulls herself closer to him. 

“Deal!”

Unknown to her, by the time the war was done and they were separated from each other, they were already 600 years old. At the time they were now, the time lady’s soul and memories had been in the watch for 300 years, and she had been human for a while. 

With a snap, she was back inside her own body, sobs escaping her lips. It was then that she heard the sound of the door opening and almost instantly the Doctor was beside her. 

“I- I don’t know what h-happened.” She sobbed out, taking shuddering breaths. Pressing his fingers to her head, she could feel  something pushing into her mind. A gasp escaped his lips as he pressed his forehead against hers. 

“Come on, I’ll take you to a room, so you can lay down.” 

-

What seemed like hours later, the door opened again and the man came in, sitting beside her. Eliza shoved herself up and pushed her hair out of her eyes. 

“What was that earlier? It was almost like I could feel you searching for something in my mind.” She spoke, glancing at him. 

He rubbed the back of his neck before responding, “I was searching for what caused you to react like that. What I found was impossible. There was no way that you should have had that go through your mind. I’m the only one left.” The last part was muttered. 

“Obviously it means something. I want to know what it means, and maybe it could be connected to my dream.” At that, a yawn escaped her lips. Glancing over to the clock, she could see that it was just past midnight. Her whole body felt sluggish and tired. 

“Think we can talk more in the morning, I am absolutely exhausted. Where’s Rose?” The Doctor reached over and turned the lamp off.

“I’ll be in the control room if you need me. Rose is in another room, I’ll be dropping you off in the morning, that is, if you don't want to go with us.”

“Where though?”

“Anywhere through time and space.”

-

Sleep didn’t come easy that night. Eliza spent hours tossing and turning before finally falling into a dreamless sleep. Voices woke her up slightly, they were speaking of the watch. 

You’re ready

Time to be free

Open it

You can be with him again

 She blinked, panicking a little bit as she fought to breathe. She wanted, no needed to open the watch. She wanted to know what was in it. Her watch laid on the nightstand next to her, The Doctor probably had been looking at it once she had fallen asleep. Dragging her body up, she could see it glowing gold, warmth pouring out if it. 

“What’s going on?” She muttered as she pulled herself out of bed and stood up. When she made contact with the watch, the warmth filled her body, and she let her mind drag her body out of the room. Upon getting to the hallway, the warmth started to get hotter and hotter, and she took a breath and forced herself to open it. It was time. 

 She could hear the Doctor and Rose talking a few feet from her, as she watched as gold mist came out of it and floated around her before entering her. 

The watch clattered to the floor as she forced herself to walk into the control room, and the Doctor finally noticed. Dropping whatever he had in his hands, he approached her carefully. The gold mist was burning at her, and she could see her fingertips start to glow. 

“Doctor! What’s going on with her?” Rose cried out, stepping closer, but the Doctor put his hand up. 

“She’s regenerating, stay back Rose.” His voice was filled with shock.

Fear filled her body as the glowing went further and further up her body. 

“I’m scared!” Eliza called out, voice pained. 

“You’ll be okay, deep breath okay?” 

It was then that the regeneration energy overcame over, forcing her head back as she felt her body start to change. As soon as it started, it was over. 

-

Her eyes opened, and she glanced at her feet. She was taller now. 

“At least I grew some.” Her new voice was different, her accent was a bit thicker. She could see the Doctor looking at her, love and amazement in his eyes. Eliza ran her hand through her hair, and ran over to the nearest mirror. Instead of being ginger, she was a blonde, well, dirty blonde. Her eyes were green. Everything seemed in order, then Rose’s voice reached her ears. 

“I’m sorry, but where is Eliza? What sort of magic is this?” 

“I’m right here Rose, just changed again.” Eliza reassured her friend. “I’m still me, just my time lord self is back.” Turning her attention to the Doctor, she walked up and rested her hand on his cheek. 

“It’s so good to be with you again. I’ve missed you Theata.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, and she felt him pull her into a tight hug. 

“So who are you then?” Rose asked, pulling herself up onto the jump seat. Eliza turned to look at the blonde, blushing when the Doctor threaded his fingers through hers. 

“I’m the Professor, I’m 950 years old, and this man, is my best friend in the whole universe.” She spoke, loving the feeling the way her title came out of  her mouth. 

“I’ve waited 500 years ..”

“I know, but with the time war, I had to get away my love. I thought you had died or would have died with that plan of yours.” She spoke, and then tears came to her eyes. “They’re gone aren’t they?” A nod.

Taking in a deep breath, she wiped the tears from her eyes, and turned to the Doctor, “Once I get changed into my proper attire, we can set off on an adventure? Just like the good old days.” She turned on her heels and set off for the wardrobe room. 

“Hello beautiful.” She greeted the TARDIS as she walked in, shutting the door quietly behind her. The Time Lady quickly changed into a white creme top,with black leggings and nude colored boots. Over the top was a beige jacket. She pulled her hair into a bun and stepped out of the room. 

“So she’s basically your wife, though it’s not official yet?” She could hear Rose's question. Stepping into the control room, she answered,

“The war broke out before we could bond with each other, but I still want to if he wants to.” 

“I’m never letting you go again.” Was his promise. 

Up from the consol appeared a sonic screwdriver, almost identical to the Doctor’s, but with a white tip instead of blue. 

“Alright, so next stop Rose Tyler, where do you want to go?” The Professor questioned, a grin on her face as she let her hands rest over the buttons. 

This next adventure was bound to be amazing. 

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Turn me to Gold

Summary: Kairi had never liked yellow... and when her time training and in the Keyblade War is surrounded by that color, she thinks that maybe that somehow had something to do with her failures there. But her failures don't have to stay that way, right? Maybe she can finally succeed in finding Sora! Friendships. Kairi-centric. Character story. During Kingdom Hearts III. Leading into KHIV.

Kairi had watched this show once, where a student—in his first wrestling match—had essentially won a tournament by accident... And the person he'd won against had then demanded he go up against him again. And when the winner hadn't accepted the rematch, the loser kept getting up in his face and calling him "yellow": "yellow, yellow, yellow", to be exact. And for the life of her... ever since she'd come to train with Merlin, Kairi couldn't get the memory of this show out of her head.

She was just so concerned that she was going to completely fail in the Keyblade War, and her loved ones would only remember how far she’d fallen when all was said and done. And that was why—as beautiful as this green space Merlin had provided them to train in was—Kairi couldn't help but to blanch, when she saw dandelions all around her and even stepped on a few of them by accident. Gods, did she hope she didn't somehow just suck their yellowness into herself by doing so... And Lea (who Kairi still wasn’t sure how she felt about yet) must have noticed her discomfort when she did this:

Because cocking his head to the side and looking at her rather uncertainly, he asked: "Are you okay, Kairi?" And Kairi was quick to nod and try and reassure her companion that she was. ...But she had her own doubts on the subject. And maybe it was because of that—and not so much being affected by yellow—that Kairi felt that she couldn’t get her body to move the way she wanted it to during training that day.

... The next time Kairi had thoughts about yellow—though this didn't come until much later, because she'd been doing good to banish it from her mind—was when she surprisingly ran into Sora one night at the Mysterious Tower. Kairi was getting ahead of herself, she knew… but she'd come to ask Master Yen Sid if she could take the Mark of Mastery in the near future: perhaps it would give her something to strive for even moreso, and then she could excel at training that way.

And if Sora and Riku had taken it, after having all their skills stripped and having to learn them again in the Dream Worlds, maybe it wasn't too out of the question that the Wizard might want to do the same for her.

Kairi thought to herself that since Merlin’s plans didn’t seem to be working for her, perhaps Master Yen Sid would want to try this sooner rather than later? It was when Kairi was having these ideas, and trying to make her way to the former Keyblade Master's study, that she literally ran into Sora... Who was shockingly rummaging through the Sorcerer’s pantry for cookies? …Once the two friends calmed down from being "attacked by someone" at ten 'o clock in the evening, and then got over how dumbfounded they were to be seeing each other before their meeting in the Keyblade Graveyard (something neither had thought would happen), Sora was quick to explain his side of the story. "Sorry, Kairi. We ran out of food in the gummi ship, if ya can believe it. So, I thought I'd borrow some food from Master Yen Sid here, for Donald, Goofy, and myself. But I didn't know it was so late here! Hehe." Sora said the last bit, as he scratched his head nervously and grinned at her.

And to that, Kairi could only laugh—enamored with Sora as she always was—as she assured him: “It’s fine, Sora. If anyone should apologize, it's me. I actually had some idea of the time... and I was still coming to ask the Great Wizard about me taking the Mark of Mastery exam." And it was when Kairi said that, that she became aware of what sort of cookies Sora was holding in his hands and could only gawk at them.

They were mostly harmless, really—though Kairi had always thought that the frosting on these sugar cookies had almost seemed cemented on—but she couldn't get over the ghastly color of them. ...It wasn't even that she disliked them in particular—she admired these treats greatly… And it was perhaps in having had too many of them before her adventure last year, that she'd been unable to fit through the bars of her prison… Before Kairi’s mini freak-out, Sora had started to ask Kairi something about the Mark of Mastery--she'd heard him begin to utter the words—but he seemed to quickly change his mind when he saw the look she was now giving the dessert. "You never were big on yellow," Sora muttered to himself—now hiding the sugary items behind his back, which Kairi was thankful for. "…Which is maybe a bit weird, since you're a princess of light. But who am I to judge?" Kairi—not wanting to hint at just how much she'd perhaps lost her mind, or to keep Sora from his duties any longer—gave the boy a quick hug, and told him if there was any reason she disliked yellow... it was because they marked the stars she'd always have to lose him and Riku behind... But she'd selflessly do so, anyway. And the two of them bid each other the sad farewell they’d known they’d have to for the time being, but did so with grace.

… Sora was busy talking to Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, Aqua, and Lea in the back of the gummi ship, so that was why he wasn't piloting it for once. At first, they thought they could just ask Donald to do it… but apparently there was a reason Sora had taken over flying from him. So Riku manning the helm, it was. And Kairi had come to see him, so he wouldn't get lonely. "Question, Riku." the redhead said, as she leaned her arm over his shoulder and peered into her dear friend's face. "…Does the gummi ship look yellow to you?" Riku shrugged, before he turned his attention to manning the controls again. "Ish? But it looks more cream or white to me. Why do you ask, Kairi? …Aside from the fact that you've never liked yellow." The princess thought strongly of saying nothing... she didn't want to decrease morale, after all, or jinx anything… or put bad thoughts into anyone's head. But... "It's just-" she began before she could stop herself, fiddling with her necklace as she did so... "I didn't have as much luck with my training as I would have hoped. And, yeah: paranoid and superstitious or not... I think it has something to do with yellow. That color... doesn't like me, ever since that man with those eyes kidnapped me as a child. And bad things seem to happen whenever I run into it." Except for with people like Naminé, she of course wanted to add. But herhair was more white, anyway. But before Kairi could voice that, Riku was already appraising her. "...Kairi, is this partly because you suddenly thought your charm wouldn't be enough to protect all of us... So, you decided to move up to a paopu for Sora and yourself, but now feel uncertain about that?"

The truth? Kairi hadn’t consciously thought of that. But now that Riku had put it into her head, she couldn’t deny that it was a possibility she did feel this way.

At the moment, she was just about to give Riku the lucky charm that Sora had recently returned to her… but Riku stopped her, with his fingers over her own.

“Kairi… I think you know better than anyone—my now girly-girl friend—why too much thought shouldn’t be put into colors being cursed, or whatever. Surely Kingdom Hearts and the worlds gave them to us for a reason’.”

And she couldn’t argue with that, Kairi acknowledged inwardly with a smile.

So, telling herself to just entertain the bored Riku, like she’d meant to do since coming over here, Kairi couldn’t help asking proudly: “So… what is this I hear about you wanting to save my Other, too?”

…

In the end, things at the Keyblade War did not go well for Kairi… and she knew that that was putting it mildly.

Sora was now dead… because she’d been unable to defend herself, been murdered--and he had paid the ultimate price to bring her back.

And while it was so very foolish to be thinking about this now—because maybe her distracted thoughts during the Keyblade War were what had led to her doing so badly—she couldn’t help thinking it had been yellow’s fault.

And she found herself telling Donald and Goofy that now, as they quietly came to sit beside her—one on either side—on the dock.

“You know… I never understood why Sora didn’t wear bright colors himself,” Kairi explained—making sure to look at the court magician and captain of the royal guard in equal turn, even though she didn’t feel quite up to it at the moment. “…After his first journey, I mean. Sora shone brighter than anyone else did, so why…?! I didn’t get it. “But now I wonder if it’s because he subconsciously knew what had happened with Roxas, even then, and that… that guilt reacted to the Three Good Fairies striking him with their magic, and turned his outfit black. Because how could someone who stole the existence of another for themselves wear white… or something close to it, like yellow?”

“Kairi!” Donald quacked somewhat angrily, Kairi could tell. Perhaps thinking, in her grief, that she was now blaming Sora.

And Goofy frowned, as if thinking the same exact thing.

But Kairi swiftly let them know that that wasn’t the case:

“Don’t misunderstand. I don’t blame Sora for the Roxas situation, or anything like it… It just happened without him knowing it… He had no control over it, it’s true, but when he learned of it… he made certain to set it right.

“And maybe… maybe I’ll be the same way, if you’ll help me: I’ll take a page out of Sora’s book—and wear black myself: the way I should have after what I did to Naminé—but I’m going to look for him the way he always looked for me… and all will be right again.”

Kairi could tell that Donald and Goofy wanted to argue her belief of colors, the way that everyone else had.

But she was glad that they both—so in-tune with each other—breathed a sigh at the same time, and seemed to think better of it.

And both the dog and duck took one of her hands into their own Keyblade-wielding ones.

The new trio—for the time being—watched the gummi ship that the King had gone to get for them coming their way.

And it was when they could hear the sounds of the engines, that Goofy chose to speak: “The color yellow isn’t all bad, Kairi: Why, isn’t that the shade of the pendant Master Aqua enchanted for you, that first brought you to Sora? Push all the other versions of it away now, if ya must… But focus on that and your bond, and you’re sure to find him!”

And as those words reached her, Kairi realized she’d heard something like them before: when she’d been in Sora’s heart.

That special boy had been fretting that he would never find her or the King… and pondering how Donald and Goofy remained so cheerful and didn’t worry.

But then Goofy had promised Sora that they would find what they were looking for, if they just believed in themselves: Something they’d just learned about in Neverland before that, even.

And hearing this was exactly the kind of medicine Kairi needed for her wound.

So Kairi let Goofy and them know this—as they were teleported into the gummi ship together: now headed somewhere with a dark castle.

Kairi’s words sounded warmer—like a just-baked pie—than they had in a long time, and perhaps that was the answer to everything.

“Thank you… Donald… Goofy.”

Together, they looked towards the horizon.