#'sevens' was a typo but i'm absolutely keeping it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

goldsbitch · 5 months

Text

That second flight

part 4 to That one Christmas flight

summary: What happens when people stop lying to themselves? Sometimes, you get a good night out of it.

warnings: cheesy af, swear words and alcohoI guess, cliche probably, typos most definitely

Do not fuck it up, do not fuck it up, do not fuck this up.

Hey you? What kind of a message even is that? Ugh. She ruined it. Now she will have to move away and start her life again.

The weather forecast predicted high levels of overreacting for today.

He must have liked the cool girl vibe she somehow gave of on the plane. Y/N prayed for the gods of cool vibes to bless her again.

Lando was just about to start an interview for Sky Sports when he received her message. He imagined this was how it felt to win a podium. On the top of the world. He gave an absolutely charismatic, energetic and funny interview. One that would surely create lots of gifs on the socials. PR manager even high-fived him when they finished. To be honest, he could not wait for a moment of solitude so that he could reply.

"hey" he started. "so I broke the rule, ups" Her reply came instantly.

"I've noticed. But then again, you radiate speeding tickets vibe from miles away. So no surprise."

He smiled, well aware of how efficient the Italian ticketing was running.

"paid one last week, so you got me there" "so, how's your cool student life going?"

"Trying gain some wisdom, as people just feel free to call me dumb on social media these days."

"compliments come in a variety of forms, don't discriminate"

From now on, there was no way back.

The next few days consisted of constant texting. Joking around, sending pictures capturing their daily life - both of them keeping in secret that lots of the information shared was nothing new. They were careful, somewhat distancing themselves from any real deep topics. But, days felt like blur, waiting for the next text to come and somehow managing to live the real life in between that. Y/N stayed in most evenings, almost making her friends concerned.

It did not take long enough for famously patient Lando to getting sick of it. They had a week between the next three week round of races. It was now or never. He missed one chance by being mr. mysterious, so mr. direct it was now.

"so, lady. what are you doing this weekend?" he asked out of the blue.

"I dunno. Probably studying, I guess."

"well, you're smart enough, you can skip that. let's meet up."

Y/N pretended to herself that she was second guessing. She headed out, to the bar where her friends were hanging out before they planned on heading to some faculty party. She felt joining them suddenly. Sat quietly, listening to their usual chit chat. Her charade lasted about seven minutes.

"Yes. Let's." she texted and threw her phone deep down to her bag. She was nervous, heart racing and mind quite not catching up yet.

"I need to tell you guys something," she interrupted them and almost demanded immediate attention. Questioning looks followed. "Uh, so I met this guy on a plane. And I'm gonna see him again this weekend."

Saying it like that, she realized that it was all kind of real and that she probably could not explain it in words how bizzare it all felt.

"Aw, that's cute! Tell us more!" Teresa clapped excitedly, the whole weird vibe surrounding her friend making more sense now.

Y/N expected her friends to be more shocked. "Um, yeah. It's just this guy. I don't really know how it's gonna happen, but yeah."

"Is he coming here? Can we meet him?"

Y/N kept the information that they already did to herself. Just in case she is left stranded alone and disappointed.

"I don't...I don't know actually. Yeah."

"We will do as we always do - sharing location and staying by if needed, honey."

Y/N missed a text notification. "great. i'll fly you out to somewhere where we can be alone, not to sound too creepy."

She landed an hour after him. Lando sent a picture of him waiting at the airport cafe.

He booked the best hotel room he could find. Well, technically he booked two rooms. Just in case she wanted to keep her distance or if by any chance he fucked up so royally, that she would refuse to share space with him. At least, he could walk away from this like a gentleman.

Since she last him, she forgot just how hot this guy was in person. Seeing him, sitting casually sipping coffee and glued to him phone, she took a moment to study him. It was as if he was tailored specifically to her taste. His clothes covering his godlike body, not too muscular but enough for the sight of his arms sending her to different dimension. The origin of her audacity she had to be the first one to talk to him on the plane was unknown to her. There was no more panic left in her body, as she had done nothing but panicking the whole flight.

She walked and sat opposite to him.

"Hey," he smiled.

"Hey yourself," she replied. There was a moment of awkward silence. Turns out there was a bit of panic left in Y/N after all. Last week she though she'd never see this guy. And now she was staring in his eyes.

"Do you want some coffee?," he asked innocently. He looked her up and down, excited to see her. All of his worries he refused to acknowledge were gone. After all, she got up and flew here just to hang out with him. The reality of this filled him with confidence.

"Yes. A small tiny espresso with no milk."

"Great. Let's grab that and hit the road."

Lando's car might have as well run on butterflies alone present in his vehicle. There was absolutely no way for him to drive some random rental car, so he called up McLaren people to provide him one for the night. It came up in the same conversation when he requested personal time off. Both things came to a certain level of surprise, as he had never done this before. Y/N knew she had to work on a group project for one of her minor classes. Just like him, she had done something she would not have dared - and completely ghosted her group for this weekend.

"You look nice, btw," he commented casually.

"Well yeah, when you're not on an overnight flight across half of the world wearing airport attire, it makes thing easier."

"Hm, I would say sweatpants have some magic to them."

It was hard for Y/N to get the image of him out of her head.

"So, where is my lovely kidnapper taking me?"

They discussed prior to this that the vibe they would like out of this was a casual dinner and then finding the shittiest club possible and have some fun, trying to remain as private as possible yet within the vicinity of the small Italian city.

"My assistant found this lovely little place in the centre. Don't get mad, but I had him completely book it out. You know, the privacy thing," he said with more insecurity than one would expect.

Y/N picked up on that and tried to lighten up the mood. It seemed a bit excessive to do that, but he probably knew what he was doing.

"Your assistant," she gagged over dramatically. "Jesus, am I not worth enough for you to google on your own? Mr. Busy man. Was he also the one who found me online them?" she joked?

"I'm sure I'd have to hire a special person to that if I planned on outsourcing it."

"Creep."

"You love it."

And she did.

He parked in front of the restaurant, without a care for the world.

"So you're telling me we're making a big deal about keeping a secret that you're here, yet you decide to park like a proper asshole?" she remarked while he opened the door for her. Jokes were making her focus on something else than the fact she was falling for him too hard.

"Oh, you're going absolutely hate my plan," he laughed as they were entering the full on empty restaurant.

"Wow, look at that. I invited all my friends!" he whispered to her ear before addressing the owner.

"Hello, you must be Dario?"

This Dario person smiled brightly at him. "Ah, mister Papaya!" Lando nodded and Y/N rolled her eyes. Dario then started speaking Italian without a care of the world. Language wise deaf Lando did not count for the fact people just did not speak English in this part of Italy. A tiny crack in his plan. What was he suppose to do, call Carlos? But, Y/N having spend a good year or two studying there was there to ease the situation. She whipped out her B1 Italian and greeted the man. Dario's happiness filled up the room.

He seated them and immediately brought local red wine and giving a long talk about where this wine was from and how his grandma used to pick up the grapes herself and how the notes did this and that. Y/N tried to translate at the beginning, but Dario looked like was ready to give a TED talk. She started to loose the grasp of the story, which Lando observed. And like good gentleman he helped her out. No, of course not, when he saw her getting lost, he put on a super interested face and asked about seven follow up questions. Y/N was super annoyed. The kind of annoyed that creates a smile on your face.

When this showdown finally ended, Y/N nearly gulped the wine down. "So rude, Dario just said, you're suppose to sit it and let it roll," said Lando and with too much affect sipped his wine. "Aah," he took a deep breath and the bit his tongue. Y/N stuck her tongue out completely like a five year old child. "Yes, I can your red tongue, that's also one of the reasons why you sip it."

They sat, talked and laughed. He seemed genuinely interested when she blabbed a little bit too long about her latest projects. And then he asked her for a feedback on his latest merch, which by sheer coincidence included lots of photos of him. It was hard to admit how much he enjoyed the idea of her looking at him.

"So, um. I'm not sure I understood Dario correctly. But it looks like he insists on getting us the local speciality," she said hesistantly.

"Well, only if his grandma would approve. But why is this strange look on your face?"

"I must have gotten it wrong. Because burnt pasta just sounds wrong. If I wanted that, I could have stayed and have my roommate cook for us."

"Hm, that is an interesting idea." Lando pretended he did not know her roommate's name.

Once Darion brought out the burnt pasta, the couple had a hard time not to laugh.

"When in Rome...well not in Rome, but you get the idea."

"Why is this good?" Y/N proclaimed with her mouth full to the limit.

Lando laughed. "Ah, we have a lady at the table, I see. I mean yeah, I am not supposed to be having pasta now, but this is so weirdly good."

They finished their strange pasta and the bottle of wine. Said goodbye to Dario, Y/N tried not to think on how much it cost to close a restaurant down.

"Wait, what are we going to do about the car? We can't drive now."

"Not to sound like a complete asshole, but I'd like we remove the WE from any sentence including driving now at the beginning, if that is ok. And like I said at the beginning, you're gonna hate this."

"Go on, Lando boy. Tell me."

"Yeah, the car was provided by my employer. And they really need me, so I'm just going to leave the car here to get towed and inform them later."

"Jesus, why!"

"Well, I figured we'll get a taxi in the morning. I want to enjoy all the time I have with you. Dealing with the car is not on the menu today."

There was nothing for Y/N to reply. She was having too much fun to be thinking.

They found what seemed to be the shittiest bar playing 80's and 90's songs, weirdly colored lights swinging out of the rhythm and with people there consisting of old papas and few probably underaged kids. They brought their own wine bottle from Dario, Lando paid 100 euro for two glasses and for the bartender leaving them alone. It did not take long for Y/N to break out to the dance floor. Lando watched her clumsy yet somehow elegant moves for a moment, before he joined her. They danced, as if they were the only people there, laughing and completely ignoring the looks they were getting. And to the tones of remix of Brother Louis, they kissed again. And this time, they kept kissing until late hours, hand roaming around each other, as if they were two teenagers making out for the first time.

part 5

__________________________________________________

Tagged all those who like to suffer: @prudyhoo @anuksunamon @sagestack @esquerkaren @ushygushybaby @ilove-tswizzle @thehufflepuffavenger1 @superlegend216 @mehrmonga @lovely-blackinnon @mylifeihate1029 @lausdigitaldiary @tswizzleismother

405 notes · View notes

battlekilt · 11 months

Note

Fanwork creators self rec! When you get this, reply with your five favorite fics/art/podfics/etc. that you've made, then pass on to others. Let’s spread the self-love 🌼

From @anstarwar :}

Sorry to say, I don't really have five things to my name that are public. As you're aware, I've got a massive fic I'm working on that kind of has... slowed down my progression for churning out numerous pieces. Hopefully, it will be worth it—to someone.

The only thing I do have:

1. Aay'han—Mournful celebration: How ARC Troopers saved the galaxy

Rating: PG-13 Warning: Canon-typical deaths, just a tad prematurely. Tags: Jedi Order survives, Order 66 Happens Differently, Jedi meta, Clone meta, Force-sensitive Clones, GNC Clones Summary: Advanced Recon Commandos were the most, and the least, like Jango Fett. Prized for the very traits that also made Sidious so wary of them: their unpredictability, their independence, their intelligence— They were also… much more trained and diverse than their genetic Prime. This close to the conclusion of the thousand-year revenge of the Sith, he knew to keep track of them, particularly the Alpha-class Clones hidden among the regs. From far, far away, across their galaxy… they had come, and they had gathered. They had defended the Jedi Order, kept the Republic from its fall, and stopped the rise of an Empire. When it was over, they grieved similar to how they celebrated; they lived each day, for they knew they’d someday die. If Obi-Wan ever tried to explain to someone how a moment would be mournful & celebratory; the definition of aay'han—this was it.

What is this?

So, a modified Post-Order66 fic. It was a fic for a holiday exchange—caution being in exchanges with me, it might be excessive—intended to be based on some headcanons and crack ideas. Instead, it became massive and derived from a speculative thought I had. What if the ARC were the ones to save the day? Not a single one, but our skirted terrors. They were, after all, the only Clones who made Sidious a little... nervous.

Just the one?

However, I'll list four additional "don't count" things I've done that are on my tumblr. They are typically AUs or meta content I've written, but snippets and previews of public things to come. Warnings for typos, POV swapping, and just all around hot-mess of things because I didn't intend for them to become a thing. Yet, here they are.

2. Sometimes, you have to let go.

Part of my Little Troopers AU. It features Waxer & Boil being adopted by Numa's family, and Cody struggling with it.

3. Sons of the ocean.

Part of my Rexx AU, which WILL be published. This little snippet comes from a glimpse into their best. Features a gift art by the lovely @ninjigma. It depicts baby Sixty-seven (Rex) and Tintin (Fox) floating on water, holding their ickle hands like sea otters. (Read that in Ewan McGregor's voice, please.)

4. They're only babies.

Another one from my Little Troopers AU. This is from Obi-Wan's POV, when they are trying to track down all the regressed Clones on the Negotiator. Just so you know, he's absolutely NOT on the verge of a sobbing breakdown because there are TINY BABIES on a warship, and they've found in the worst places. Also, where's Cody. He isn't ready to gnaw on things until a specific Clone is found because, that found be favoritism, and that... implies attachment. Nope. Abso—Where's Cody?! SoMEONE FIND HIM CODY.

#bucket's answers #anstarwar #foxglovecove #tumblr games #bucket plays games

22 notes · View notes

sissytobitch10seconds · 7 months

Text

Long Lost

Fandom: The Umbrella Academy Summary: They realize after a while that Five took Seven with him when he left. Now both of them are gone, and soon so is Six. But two out of three returning isn't bad, right? Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, pseudo-incest, mentions of pedophilia/child trafficking, and accidental misgendering Word Count: 10,371 Ship(s): Viktor Hargreeves/Five Hargreeves

Archive link!

A/N: So if you're noticing that this fic isn't the kind of thing I write anymore, you would be correct. This was actually written almost an entire year ago and has gone through several different stages. I went between making it a chaptered fic and writing the whole first season with this AU and just making it this oneshot. I totally burned myself out writing my fiktorla fanfiction series and don't want to write canon rewrites anymore, so I'm leaving this as a oneshot. I tried to edit it as much as I could but there might be issues or typos that I missed since I was kind of skimming it. I also think it's funny that this has been on my 'to upload' list longer than I've actively interacted with some of my TUA mutuals. Have fun reading! Stay sissy and bitchy everyone <3

Funerals were something that they attended more often than most people would think. Many of their adoring fans had speculated that the few publicized funerals, which had been for make-a-wish kids, were the only ones that they had to attend. However, the Umbrella Academy superheros were often forced to attend the funerals of those that they had failed to save as a way of punishing them. Reginald would spend the entire car trip informing them of what a piss-poor job they had been doing by not showing up right as the crime had been committed or beforehand to save absolutely everyone. It was only when they got older did they realize he was doing it to keep them in their place and stop them from lashing out.

The funerals that were hardest to attend were the ones that they had actually failed to save. It didn't happen often, but there had been a couple missions that went wrong. Those missions usually resulted with them being bedridden with injuries and attending the funerals of everyone that they had failed to save. Allison had been instructed to rumor anyone who recognized them at the smaller funerals. They were never allowed to apologize to the family of those that they had lost.

The worst funeral that any of the children had ever had to attend was Ben's. He died when they were seventeen after a mission that had gone worse than any of the others that they did at the beginning of their careers. It was somehow so much more grueling and traumatizing than the actual mission, or having to attend the funeral of the woman he had killed in the accident. It was already harrowing and difficult to have lost their brother, but the new portrait inside the house over the mantel seemed to make it even worse. Five and Seven had already been gone for almost five years by the time that Ben died, and yet Five was the one that hung in eternal remembrance over their fireplace. Ben got a statue in the backyard and ignored after the funeral had been used to control the children even more.

It was most likely the reason that so many of them had run. Klaus was the first to leave, just a couple months after Ben had passed away. They had no idea where he had gone. One day they woke up and found his bedroom window open and half of his possessions gone. They had done some searching around The City, but every time they got word of someone that looked vaguely like their missing brother, they ended up losing the trail.

Diego left on their seventeenth birthday with the promise that he was going to join the police force. He was sent to an apartment that their father had already paid for after packing up all of his things. Both of the others knew that the only reason he wasn't completely out in the world is that he was still doing what Dad wanted him to, even if he was doing it indirectly now.

Allison left next. She waited until she was nineteen when she finally left. It was the dead of night after a rather harsh fight with Luther. They were arguing more and more now that it was just the two of them trying to keep the foolish superhero business alive. Luther was always desperate for their father's attention and Allison wanted them both to grow into their own people. He would refuse to go out with her into town to see a movie or eat at a diner like they used to when they were kids, back when there were seven of them instead of two. They got into it, arguing about everything under the sun and a few stranded in space. She had packed up her things and said goodbye to her mother and Pogo, leaving only a note for the two men in the house. She then charmed her way onto a plane to Los Angeles where she could live out her dreams as an actress.

Luther technically never left. He stayed by their father all throughout his teenage years and then deep into his twenties. The only reason that he ever left residence in the house was to go on the mission to the Moon, and even then he was still only going where his father wanted him to.

It had been four years since any of the children had occupied the house when they all returned to it.

They had decided to forgo a funeral with the general public because of Klaus' condition and Allison's newfound fame. Instead, they all returned back to their childhood home so that they could hold a familial memorial service and then return to their lives. None of them had stayed in contact with each other since they had left the dreaded house anyway.

Despite their haste at getting away from the abuse of their father to live their own lives, all four siblings ended up returning. Diego was the first to arrive since he had kept tabs on the house while doing vigilante work around The City after failing the police academy. Klaus was next, since he was still bumming around the town he had grown up in while trying to look for the next hit that would keep his demons at bay. Allison had the shortest trip out of the last two siblings so arrived next, and the last to come home was Luther.

The interactions were inevitable, but they still somehow put it off.

Diego was helping Grace with something in the kitchen, purposefully ignoring all of the signs of wear and tear in her code that caused her to act a little off. He loved his mother unlike he had loved anyone or anything else in his entire life. She was his constant source of endless comfort and encouragement when he had been struggling through his stutter and learning disorders as a child, so he was a little blind to the faults that she might have.

The door clicked behind Allison as she finally got back to her childhood home. "Hello? Is anyone else here?" she called through the still air. It was like walking back in time the second she passed through that door. She was no longer the famous actress, mother, and wife that she had been before she got on the plane. She was nineteen, fresh off a sort-of break up with her sort-of brother.

Diego took his mother's arm, guiding her away from the rice that she had been rinsing to cook on the stove for that night's dinner. "Allison, welcome home," Grace chirped as soon as she caught sight of her daughter.

"Mom," the woman's gaze softened from that defensive, wary look they all took on when they were back in their childhood home. She rushed over to her mother, wrapping her arms around the robot to bring her into a hug. "It's great to see you again. Sorry I never visited."

"It's alright dear. I was programmed to take care of you as children, and you're no longer a child. I was aware that you were all going to grow up and leave the nest eventually," she chuckled. "Diego told me that you made your dream to be an actress."

"Oh, yeah," she nodded. "I got married and had a kid too."

"Didn't know that," Diego commented, moving his head to the side as he looked over his sister. She wasn't that different than when they were kids, other than the outfits that she was allowed to wear now that she had some bodily autonomy. She had also changed the color and style of her hair.

She turned away from their mother to look over him as well. Diego had barely changed from when they were teenagers, other than the hardened look in his eyes. He had a couple new scars marring the lower parts of his neck, no doubt also streaking across his abdomen and shoulders. "Well, the wedding got a little bit of publicity but Patrick and I made sure that Claire wasn't ever in the spotlight. I never get to go out with her in public, but it's for her safety," Allison explained.

"I didn't know that I would be a grandmother after all this time," Grace said lovingly. While she had originally been programmed to be nothing more than a nanny to them all, when they started to call her mom, her program had seemingly adjusted itself to fit the more human nature they had given her. "Do you have any pictures of her?" the android asked, bringing both of her children back towards the kitchen.

"I do, actually," Allison replied. She dug her wallet out of her backpocket after depositing her bags near the door for retrieval later. She flipped it open and then revealed a picture of a little girl around four years old sitting on Allison's lap while laughing at something her mother had just said. "This is my daughter, Claire."

"She looks just like you, my dear," Grace praised. She sat both of her children down at the non-formal dining room table where they would take their breakfasts. Lunch was something that they got to eat wherever they wanted, and then dinner was taken in the formal dining room with their father. She placed more snacks than either of them could ever eat down on the table in front of them before she went back to her work.

The silence was stifling before Diego managed to find the words to ask more about her life. He already knew most of what she could tell him about the actress part, since it was well publicized, but he enjoyed hearing the stories of her daughter and husband that she was willing to share. He was willing to give her a little bit about his life as well. He told her about his vigilante work, though he dodged the questions about the girl she had heard he was dating back when she left for LA.

The conversation got a lot easier when their brother stumbled into the room. He was babbling at someone behind him, either a figment of his imagination or one of the ghosts he swore roamed the halls when he was a child. He turned on his heel and then stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed that it wasn't just his robotic caretaker, but two of his siblings. "Allison! Diego!" he crowed as he saw them. He removed the cigarette or blunt or whatever he was smoking from between his lips as he moved to hug them, ignoring how they were leaning away from him. "What a surprise!"

"Surprise? It's our father's memorial," Allison objected, giving him a firm pat on the back to make him detach from her.

He did, flopping down at the head of the table that had remained unoccupied since Seven and Five had disappeared almost seventeen years ago. "So how've the two of you been?"

"We've been living lives," Diego replied. He had his arms defensively crossed over his chest and was examining his brother like he was a criminal (which, knowing Klaus, he probably was). "What have you been doing, Klaus?"

"Seeing the universe, running away from demons, mooching off poor old schmucks too scared to come out to their wives. Same old, same old," he shrugged.

"It's good to know that you're not dead," Allison, glancing over to her other brother and their mother. It had been a serious concern for the remaining heroes when Klaus had left and never come back. They had all known about the alcoholism and the drugs, especially when they found ecstasy in his stuffed animals while searching his room for clues. It had only led them further down the path to believing that he had overdosed in an alley somewhere after getting a bad batch of his newest poison and they were never going to see him again.

"Mm, thought about it a couple times but decided that life was so much more fun!" Klaus gave them a near-demented smile. His eyes were rimmed with two different types of black, one eyeliner and the other bruises from lack of sleep, and they were sunk back into his face. Around the facial hair he had somehow managed to keep well-maintained they could see the way that his skin stretched across the bones of his skull. Underneath the huge feathered coat he was wearing, it was also apparent that he had been doing more substances than eating in the last thirteen years. "After all, if I had told the EMTs to go fuck themselves the last time I OD'd then I never would have been able to attend Dad's lovely memorial service."

Allison felt her heart melt a little in her chest despite herself. She might not have been as emotional as a sober Klaus or Ben had been, but she still loved her family. Seeing Klaus alive had been a huge relief for her, as was hearing (in his own odd, roundabout way) that he had wanted to keep living so that he could see them again.

Diego, on the other hand, was less moved by his ramblings. He leaned towards the other man menacingly, "You came back here to steal shit to pawn, didn't you? You did the same thing when he left to go to Mexico with Luther and Allison. Sold a bunch of shit and then did meth in the attic."

"Meth doesn't settle well with me," Klaus shuddered. He had been awake for a solid seventy hours, which meant that the nightmares when his body actually shut down and got some sleep were so much worse. He had stayed away from anything close to an upper since then, preferring things like ketamine and weed. Things that sedated him into a comforting dozing state where he could avoid the ghosts in both his waking and sleeping mind.

Both of the sober siblings glanced at each other, having a conversation that their brother didn't care to be privy to. This was going to be a tense couple of days while they waited for Luther to return from his moon mission.

---

Their interaction with their remaining brother had gone about as well as they had been expecting it to. After so long being by himself and only sending voice recordings back to their father as his proof that life still existed, he was a little manic about the man. He had spent most of his first day back, after giving them all a curt greeting, rummaging through their father's bedroom and study despite the proof of death and how he had been killed being provided to him in the coroner's report.

The next day they had actually been able to persuade him to attend the memorial they wanted to do now that they were all together.

All four siblings walked solemnly out into the courtyard, the urn containing the ashes of their father's body tucked carefully under Luther's arm. Pogo was the only one that wanted to speak to remember their father. Despite everything that he had done for Reginald and his obvious loyalty, Luther had remained silent when the old ape had asked if anyone wanted to speak. The eulogy had resulted in Diego and Luther getting in a fight, and Allison storming back inside. The last thing that happened in the courtyard, until later that night, was Klaus stubbing his cigarette out on the ashes.

They were all pretending to get along with each other for the sake of their robotic mother. At this point, all of the siblings could tell that something was up with her. She had been acting erratic and had even made an error with dinner the night before. If she was human this wouldn't have been at all alarming considering the fact that their father had just died, but she was a robot programmed to be the perfect housekeeper and mother. She had never once in their entire lives made a mistake when it came to cooking or cleaning.

"What's that?" Klaus asked suddenly. They ignored him until he got up, wandering towards the window. Something was swirling outside like a storm, right in the backyard where they had held the terrible memorial earlier that day. It was shedding black and blue lights onto the tile floor despite the yellow light fixtures hanging every three feet in the room.

Diego shot up out of his seat as soon as he caught sight of whatever was happening outside. Luther and Allison hurried after their brother, Klaus only turning to follow after a good five minutes. The siblings stumbled out into the pouring rain to look up at the vortex that was causing the ashes from earlier, along with a lot of the fall leaves, to swirl through the air in a mad jumble.

"What is that?" Allison called, holding a hand up to her face to try and block out the aggressive wind.

"Get behind me! It could be dangerous," Luther shouted over the blistering noise that was emitting from the swirling energy in front of them. It looked vaguely familiar in a way that Allison couldn't quite put her finger on, and less familiar to the other three ex-superheroes.

"Yeah, get behind us!" Diego shouted as he moved so that he was at the same level of closeness to the vortex as their much bigger brother. No one was trying to move closer to it, but Luther and Diego didn’t actually care about that. They just wanted to act like they could fight whatever it was.

Allison rolled her eyes but didn't try to argue with them, just brought all of her attention back to trying to figure out the fuzzy shapes that were beginning to lean closer to the other side of the vortex. She let out a screech when she was pushed back by Klaus. A stream of fluffy white foam rained down on them before they all realized that he had stolen one of the numerous fire extinguishers stocked around the house. The irony of it was that they had one in almost every room exactly for the purpose of putting out Klaus-related fires. When he had run out of the extinguisher fluid, he just chucked it through the vortex.

"What was that supposed to do?" Diego snarked, turning to look at their drugged brother. Allison was the only one to notice that it hadn't fallen through the other side like it would have had this been a cloud like she had suspected.

They all backed up in a panic as the vortex began to swirl louder and louder. Two figures were pushing through the center that had turned more beige and green than the swirling white and blue on the outside. Before any of the four ex-heroes could react, two people tumbled down onto the ground in front of them.

"Is it just me or is that little Number Five that I see?" Klaus asked, moving so that his chest was pressed up against Allison's arm.

The two figures that were lying on the ground were about the size of teenagers, but it was a little hard to tell since they were hunched over like they were in pain. They were both wearing neatly pressed black and white suits, though one of the figures looked as if his clothing had all been enlarged on a scale his body hadn’t followed. The shirt and jacket cuffs pooled around his hands as he tried to push himself off the ground, and the pant legs were like huge bags around his stick legs. They both had ruffled brown hair from pushing themselves through the portal. The man that fit better into his suit seemed to have a smattering of scars over the exposed parts of his skin as well.

When Klaus’ words really sunk in and they had more than a few seconds to look at the new arrivals, the other siblings nodded in agreement, but were too shocked to do much else. So much grief piled back onto them as they looked at the form of the brother that they had lost far too early in life.

Five had always been closest with Seven, who had been ostracized from the rest of them by their father. The only reason that Five got away with hanging around her as often as he did was because of how willing he was to go along with their father's experiments. They had all bonded with him, however, as well as a bit with Seven. They had all been learning in the same classrooms, and they had to take care of Five when they were on their way back from missions but too far away from home to let Seven take over like she was wont to do. Something that had made the disappearance of their siblings even more heartbreaking was that their last interaction they ended up having with them both. It had been all of them refusing to stick up for either of their now-missing siblings while their father berated them for speaking out of turn, Seven, and having delusions of grandeur, Five. The last time they ever saw either of their siblings they had both been inconsolably upset. Five had stormed out of the room and Seven had sat at the end of the table while sobbing until she was finally told to go to her room. After that, neither of them were ever seen again.

Five at least had a portrait hanging in the living room to remember him by, but it was as if Seven had never existed. They could still sometimes hear the phantom playing of her violin, though. She had picked up the instrument when they were young, around the time they started going on longer missions, and played it near constantly. The violin was resting somewhere in the storage space along with the rest of her things. Her room had been packed up shortly after she and Five had disappeared. The grief increased exponentially as they realized that they had some form of their missing brother back, but no sign of their sister.

“Five?” the man that wasn’t their brother called out. He turned around, his eyes wide as he searched for the aforementioned superhero.

Five lurched forward despite having difficulty moving in his baggy clothes. He reached out so that he grasped the other man’s arm and pulled them slightly closer together. “I’m here, I’m here,” he soothed. His hand came up to the cup the back of the stranger’s head so that their foreheads were pressed together. The stranger reached forward so that he was grasping the front of Five’s baggy suit jacket so tight that his knuckles turned white. They stayed pressed together like that for a couple of breaths before Five detached from him and properly got to his feet. The stranger sunk back down so that he was sitting hunched over with his head in his hands.

Five looked around them, mostly up towards the Academy, before his eyes fell on the gathering of siblings that had been dutifully watching from a few feet away. "It worked!" he crowed, a maniacal grin forming on his face. “My dear, it worked,” he turned back to the man that he had come through the portal with, though his smile faltered just a little bit as he began to realize something.

"Sort of.” The stranger slowly began to raise himself up to his feet. He was still holding his head with one hand, like it ached so bad that it might explode if he let go. He looked down at his body, and then swore loudly, "Shit! Five, I told you that you had done something wrong. Look at me!"

A hungry look took over their brother’s eyes for a moment and he licked his lips. He moved forward, grasping the sides of the strangers lapels, "Look at you?”

“Five,” the man growled out before his eyes went wide. He looked up and down the body of the other man a couple of times, like he couldn’t really believe what he was saying. “You might want to take a look at yourself, my dear.”

The teenager looked a bit taken aback about that. He looked down at his body and then back towards his companion, face filled with fury. “Viktor, Look at me! I'm fucking thirteen again!"

The older man, apparently named Viktor, shot him a look that could kill. His attitude seemed to be the perfect mix of humor and anger. His voice was light and teasing but it was clear he was panicked and uncomfortable by his body posture and expression. "So we have the same levels of testosterone, that's great for the both of us," he snarked.

"Well when we've finished saving the world from doomsday you can go harass the Commision to take you back for medical care, alright?" he sniped. They were snapping back and forth like they were an old married couple, like they had known each other forever. "Maybe they'll even give you that stupid old man body again. You should be grateful that I gave you another chance to be young."

"Maybe you should be grateful you get another chance to go through puberty. Now you know what it was like for me," Viktor replied. The two looked like they were just going to keep going until it ended in an all out brawl. They already had blue and white energy spirals forming around them, similar to what the vortex had been made out of.

Allison stepped around her brothers. She placed her hand over Diego's clenched fist so that he wouldn't be able to chuck a knife at their long-lost brother and his friend. "Okay! How about we all calm down and explain this situation? Who are you and why are you in our backyard?" she directed the question towards Five.

"We're your brothers," he replied, giving them that same smile he had seventeen years ago. He hadn't changed at all, despite talking a little bit differently and wearing clothes that definitely did not fit him.

Luther seemed to snap out of his shock and into the mode of a leader like he did every time they were on a mission. "Not possible. We had one brother that went missing when we were little. The other one is dead," he began to walk closer to the duo. "So tell us who you really are."

Viktor walked so that he was standing so close to Five that their shoulders were almost glued together. Their hands naturally reached down and threaded together. The man standing next to the photocopy of their brother grimaced and then asked, "Who died?" His eyes were flitting over each of the sibling, as if trying to place who they were despite them never having met before.

"Excuse me?" Allison asked, placing a hand on her hip.

"You said that you lost two brothers, one of them died. Which one was it?"

"Ben," Klaus spoke up for the first time since the new arrivals landed in their backyard. "Ben died."

"Shit," Five swore, dragging a hand over the side of his face.

"Explains it though," Viktor commented, shaking his head as well. He turned back to the group of siblings who were eagerly awaiting answers. He cleared his throat and rolled his shoulders to try and give himself the confidence to speak. Five responded to the action by breaking apart their hands and weaving his arm around Viktor’s waist. They were brought even closer together after that, if it was even possible. "Do you remember back when we were all thirteen, how there was a little girl running around the house, who didn't have any powers?" VIktor asked. His dark brown eyes seemed to become more familiar as memories of their missing sister were returned to the four ex-heroes.

They all glanced at each other. Diego spoke for them, "Number Seven, yeah. What's your point?"

"Turns out Number Seven had powers and wasn't a girl. I'm him. Though I prefer to go by Viktor now," he introduced, holding his spare hand out in front of him towards them after removing it from the pocket of his slacks.

Klaus pushed past his siblings so that he was grasping the other man's hand. "Wonderful to re-meet you, dear brother. Now I finally have someone who understands the constraints of gender norms," he gasped as he slung an arm around Viktor's shoulders.

Five actually growled at the action as Viktor was jostled away from him. He bit the edges of his tongue to stop himself when Viktor gave him a gentle look to tell him that it was okay. "We don't have time for this," Five hissed.

He turned towards the house, but just before he had the chance to summon the energy to jump, Viktor detached Klaus from his shoulders and grabbed a hold of him. "If we don't have time to talk to our siblings then we don't have time for you to go all limp and comatose because you overused your power. We're walking," he almost commanded. It was a bit humorous, watching an adult shorter than the teenager dragging him around by his tie.

They pushed past the siblings into the backroom that they had all piled out of, leaving the others behind in their wake. Something was off about this entire situation, which added to the feeling of static electricity that hung heavily in the courtyard from the vortex. The four ex-superheroes glanced at each other before they followed after the duo. The information that they had been given was not enough to really draw any conclusions, but served to make them nervous.

"Wait, wait, wait," Diego called after them when they finally reached the downstairs kitchen where the two had disappeared. It was late and Grace was already charging in her chair upstairs, leaving them to have the space all to themselves. The rest of the siblings were sticking close to their knife-wielding brother as they also followed after the duo.

Viktor and Five had very easily made themselves at home. They moved around each other in perfect synchronicity, which caused the siblings to stutter for a moment. Viktor was rifling through a cupboard while standing on his tiptoes to be able to see the second shelf properly. Five moved behind him, placing one hand on his hip so that he could alert the other to his presence. He reached above Viktor so that his chest was pressed flush to the other man's back as he got the item that the shorter man had been struggling to reach. "Hate you," Viktor mumbled, though there was no heat or venom behind it.

"Love you," Five replied, his voice so soft that Allison was the only one able to pick up on it as she had learned to listen for tiny noises during her time with Claire. He pressed a kiss to the side of Viktor's head, his hand moving up from the other man's waist to hold the side of his head. Viktor's eyes fluttered shut for just a moment as the action was completed.

The siblings thought that they'd stop touching after that had finished, but it just kept happening. Slowly, the four of them filtered into the space so that they were sitting around the table. Allison and Luther were sitting on either side of the table, the last setting, while Klaus took up residence in the middle. Diego stood behind Luther, his arms folded over his chest while he ran a knife over his knuckles over and over again.

Viktor turned around so that his front was pressed to Five's and then took the bag of marshmallows from his hand. "Get the peanut butter for me if you're going to rub your height in my face so much," he ducked underneath Five's arm so that he was standing at the very end of the table.

"You're just upset because I'm still taller than you even though I'm stuck as a thirteen-year-old," he teased with a bright, soft smile. They had never seen him look anything like that when they were all kids, before they had disappeared. He had smiled before, but it had always been cocky and full of venom. This was something that felt a little too intimate to be watching, and yet none of the siblings could bear the thought of looking away from their siblings lest they disappear again.

"Maybe I shouldn't be mad at you for still being taller than me," Viktor hummed thoughtfully. Five rearranged himself so that he had his arms wrapped around the other man's waist and his head tucked on Viktor's shoulder. He turned to press a kiss there as the physically older man continued, "Because your error made us stuck in these bodies, you're not going to be getting any-"

"Okay!" Allison shouted over the top of him before the man had a chance to continue. "So are you going to explain what's going on here or do we just have to follow you two around until the secret reveals itself?"

They both sighed. "I guess we do have to tell them," Five muttered.

"Go get the peanut butter," Viktor said, instead of giving them any information relevant to the situation at hand. He nodded with his head and Five followed every single little motion that he made like he was trying to commit it all to memory.

"No, don't wanna let you go," Five muttered as he buried his nose in Viktor's neck.

Viktor dropped the bread that he had been getting out and let out a little giggle. He reached down so that his hands were on top of Five's, rocking them from left to right. "Do you want to eat so we can save the world or not?" he asked after he had sobered up from the rush of happy chemicals the cuddling caused.

Five let out a huffy noise and then immediately popped to the other side of the kitchen with a flash of blue. "I hate that you're always right," he groused as he reached for the peanut butter.

Luther jumped when his brother was no longer where he had been moments prior. "I haven't missed that," he grumbled under his breath.

"I thought we agreed that you were going to be jumping anymore," Viktor shot towards the other, though he held his hand out to the side for the peanut butter despite Five being on the other side of the kitchen.

"I did nothing of the sort," Five snapped shortly as he placed his hand in Viktor's hand instead of the requested item.

"You're an ass," he snapped, though he made no move to drop the hand that he had been offered. Instead he just used it to tug Five closer to him, the teenager-shaped man wrapping both of his arms around Viktor's hips as they had been before.

"Yes, but I'm yours," Five gave another one of those smiles to the shorter man as he pressed a kiss to the spot where Viktor's half-soft jawline met his neck. The aforementioned man let his eyes flutter shut as he leaned back into the touch for just a second.

The siblings on the table had been watching the entire interaction like it was a train wreck, something that no one ever wanted to see but couldn't look away from. It was as if the duo had no idea that there were people around them and that what they were doing looked far too intimate to share with their siblings. "So… you never answered my question from earlier."

"Right. Sorry, I'm not exactly used to having to explain myself," Viktor cleared his throat as a small flush formed over his cheeks. "What's your question?"

"Why didn't you come back until now?" Allison asked.

"What were you saying about the end of the world?" Luther asked.

"Are the two of you a couple?" Klaus asked.

"What have you been doing since you left?" Diego asked.

Each of the questions had been asked on top of each other so that they came out in a confusing jumble. The siblings turned and looked at Klaus while he just stared at the two beings trying their best to become one. "Why would you ask that?" Allison hissed. She couldn't keep the burning feeling of shame and embarrassment as she remembered the flirting she and Luther had when they were teenagers and yesterday when they had seen each other for the first time.

Klaus huffed at her. "We were all thinking it!" he said as he gestured vaguely at the duo. "I mean, they're practically hanging off of each other. That's not normal sibling behavior."

"What does our family know about normal sibling behavior?" Diego asked, raising a brow at Klaus.

Five cleared his throat to get the attention back to him and Viktor. "For your information, we are together. Viktor is my husband."

"We're not legally married," the other man supplied. He had finished spreading peanut butter over four pieces of whitebread and was now placing marshmallows over two in even spaces.

"We have a marriage license!" Five squawked.

Viktor laughed and leaned back into the touch of his husband once more. He turned his head to the side and gave Five a gentle kiss on the cheek to try and soothe him, like it was something he had learned to do a long time ago. "Yeah, one that doesn't have my legal name on it and is from before we were even born," he cackled, which earned him an eye roll from the taller man. He then turned back to his siblings and the food he was making. "The last time that you saw Five and I was… seventeen years ago?"

"What's the date? The exact date," Five said, interrupting his lover's explanation.

"We're the ones that are supposed to be asking the questions," Luther tried to challenge. He moved forward in his chair like he was going to stand up and try to intimidate them, but he barely even got a blink from either of the others. He was a little bit put out by that, confused about how they had changed so much in their time away from the family. When they were younger, before the two of them had left, Seven would cower away from him whenever he got anywhere close. Now, Viktor seemed completely unimpressed by any intimidation that he was able to scrounge up.

Allison looked towards Luther, extending her hand to rest on top of his own around Klaus. She then turned back to the duo, "It's March 24, 2019."

"Good, we still have time," Five nodded.

"Only seven days," Viktor objected.

"We've gotten a job done in less time than that."

"We had the briefcase back then. We don't have it anymore. And the Commission is going to be trying to come after us."

"They'd be stupid to try that with our powers," Five reached his hand up and got a few strands of Viktor's hair out of his eyes. Now that they were closer, the other siblings were able to see that his hair hung awkwardly in front of his eyes like it had been cut with a knife and without the use of a mirror.

"That's another thing that we wanted to ask about. Earlier you mentioned that Se-Viktor had powers. Dad told us almost constantly that he didn't, though," Luther spoke up. Diego perked up a bit at that as well. Much like Allison, he had been trying to both listen in on the duo and ignore them as much as possible. Relationships were sensitive for almost all of them, outside of the normal social urge to not want to watch two people make out.

They snapped back to watching their siblings. Viktor placed the sandwiches together so he had made two of the sugary monstrosities that he and Five had been obsessed with when they were little. He handed one to the taller man behind him. Five sat down in the chair closest to that end of the table so that they could still be facing the rest of the family. He reached forward so that his open hand was placed on Viktor's hip and was able to easily pull the shorter man back so that Viktor was situated on his lap. They ate a few bits of the sandwich like it had been years since they had eaten anything at all. Just watching them devour the odd meal gave Allison heartburn.

When he had finally had enough of the sandwich to actually focus, Viktor finally answered the question Luther had asked most recently. "He was lying. Do you remember the medication that I used to take before every meal?" Five let out a near-feral growl from where he was hidden behind Viktor's body. One of his arms was still wrapped tightly around the other man's wait, holding him in place so that they were almost flush to each other. His face was hidden behind Viktor's shoulder as he used his other hand to eat. "Shush, you. Well it turns out that the medication was actually being used to keep me sedated because my powers are half-linked to my emotions. From what we were able to study while we were away, I have the ability to change sound into energy. It means that I can do a lot of things as long as I have sound to manipulate."

"Telekinesis, weather control, energy manipulation, giving life," Five sounded off behind him. "My husband is very talented."

Viktor's cheeks turned a cute shade of pink as he ducked his head. "You're not allowed to call us that when we're in public from here on out. Not until you get a body that fits mine."

"What, you don't want to be married to a thirteen-year-old? What happened to 'til death do us part'?" Five asked, the joking smile dripping from his words.

Viktor just rolled his eyes and finished his sandwich. "To answer your earlier questions," he began.

"Wait, we're just supposed to believe that you suddenly have powers? How are we supposed to trust you over everything that our father told us?" Allison asked nervously. She didn't love their father and she didn't admire him the way that Luther did, but she was still a little bit suspicious of the two newcomers.

The shorter of the two men pulled himself off of his husband. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and then a fork from the side of the drawer next to the stove. He placed the glass down on the table and knocked into the side of it with the fork. The four siblings watched with rapt attention as Viktor's eyes flickered so that the iris flipped from hazel to pure white. It wasn't the same color white as sclera, this one glowed eerily. There was also a thrumming white-blue glow coming from his chest just below his collar bones. The glass raised and then shattered so that thousands of tiny pieces rained down on the counter.

Klaus let out a shriek and scrambled backwards so fast that he tumbled off the end of the table. Diego snickered but moved to help his brother up anyway. Since Ben had died, the two of them had been interacting every now and again, though it was mostly just Diego taking care of his brother since Klaus was a bit helpless, which resulted in them being closer.

"Wow, okay," Allison leaned back. Her brows furrowed together like she was trying to figure something out. She then gasped and clasped a hand over mouth, "You weren't sick… he made me…"

"What?" Viktor asked as he turned to face her. The glow had completely gone away now that he was no longer trying to use his power. He glanced back towards Five, who he had to move away from when he was planning for the demonstration. There was a wild, panicked expression resting on his features. Five was up in an instant, tangling their hands together.

Allison removed her hands from her face as she explained in a rush, "When we were little, maybe four-ish? Dad told us all that you were sick. He brought you somewhere else, I think it was somewhere down in the basement. He made me go down there and I rumored you. I don't even remember what he made me say but you stopped acting like yourself after that. We all assumed that something you had caught had made you kind of weak and that's why Dad never let us play with you anymore but it must have been something to do with the medication."

"You're the reason that he felt like that all those years?" Five nearly screamed as he whirled around. He was approaching his sister with a predatory stance. For once, he was the one to break contact with Viktor without being told to do so beforehand. "You're the reason that I had to hold him every night while he sobbed his eyes out because he just wanted to be included but couldn't? You're the reason that he went through literal fucking decades of pain because he couldn't control the goddamn star living in his chest?"

"Five, that's enough!" Luther called.

The man rounded on his brother instead. "You're part of the problem too! None of you were ever there for him the way that I was, to see how badly this stupid project of Dad's destroyed him. None of you know how hard it was to try and get him enough confidence in himself to believe that he was worthy of love even though it was only us. Do you know what that kind of abuse does to someone's psyche?" He turned back to Allison.

"It's not that big of a deal, Five," Viktor called out from where he was still standing at the end of the table. He had recovered from his shock of realizing why his entire life felt like a lie, why every single thing that he had done was nothing more than mediocre. It hadn't been because he was actually just lesser than his siblings, but because his brain and every single thing he did had been manipulated by something out of his control.

"No! We promised that if we ever saw the old man that we would kill him because of what he did to us. He turned us into walking experiments, Viktor. Now he's gone before we got the chance to give him what-for and we find out that Allison is the one that made you feel like this," he was seething with rage at this point. He turned back to the woman, taking another predatory step closer to her. "I should kill you and put you out of your misery."

"FIVE! That is enough," the lights above them flickered, and when the siblings looked back to Viktor they saw that his veins held a bright white glow to them, signifying that his power was activated.

Something about the way that his lover had shouted at him caused Five to snap out of the overprotective stance. He blinked once and then slinked back over to Viktor. As soon as they were close enough to do so, Viktor powered down and grabbed Five's hand. He brought it up to his lips and kissed the middle knuckle. "These are our siblings. They've been through more of Dad's torment than we have, we got out early. They don't deserve to be punished for what he made them do. Do you understand me?"

"Of course, my love. I'm sorry," Five whispered in reply.

Viktor lifted his other hand up and cupped the side of Five's face. He pressed his lips to his lover's for a split second before they separated and pressed their foreheads together. Five tilted his head to the side so that he was leaning further into the touch that Viktor was giving him. "Come on. We have a world that we need to save," he whispered softly, as if it were supposed to be an intimate secret between the two.

Despite the fact that they had answered almost none of the questions asked by their siblings, Five grasped his lover and teleported them both out of the Academy. Klaus, Allison, Diego, and Luther were left blinking at each other and rather shaken. What their siblings had said was frightening, to say the least, and they had no way of trying to figure out what it actually meant.

Viktor groaned when they finally popped back into the correct plane of existence. He hated teleporting with Five, no matter how many times they had done it together. When they were in the apocalypse, they had realized just how well fit their bodies were for the powers that were assigned to them. Anyone else that had to handle their powers faced unexpected consequences, like the nausea that came with teleporting. "I hate that, I hate it," he hissed.

"I know, my love. It was the fastest way to get us out of there, though. You looked uncomfortable," Five reached a hand up so that he was holding the bottom of Viktor's chin. He tilted the other man's face to the left, right, and then upward to inspect his face in as great detail as he could. Once he was satisfied that all signs of emotional distress had all faded, he leaned forward and kissed the tip of his nose adoringly.

Viktor giggled and then had to break them apart. The parking lot that they were in was most deserted, but he didn't want to risk someone seeing them and getting upset. Especially now that they were stranded at this time with no way of getting to another. They had bigger priorities that Viktor being arrested because of inappropriate conduct with what they saw was a minor.

He looked around to figure out where they had been transported to. When he saw the large neon donut next to the yellow and pink sign his face went soft. "You brought us here?" he asked as he reached out and took Five's hand. They really couldn't resist being apart from each other for too long, even if 'apart' was standing just a few inches from the other.

"Of course I did. It was the first place I thought of. Wasn't too big of a jump either, just down the street. How do you say we get some coffee and talk, husband of mine?" Five asked, smiling towards his lover.

"Sounds wonderful," Viktor replied. He dropped their hands as soon as they were inside the restaurant, which caused Five to pout cutely. His sadness dissipated when he felt what could be seen as a fatherly hand on the small of his back.

They walked up to the counter and waited for the lone waitress still attending to the restaurant at this hour to notice that they were there. Once she did, she gave them both a warm smile. "Hi, what can I get for you?" she asked, looking directly at Viktor for the information.

"Raspberry filled," he said, tapping the menu in front of him. Neither of them were very good with pleasantries anymore. Saying things in a polite way wasn't necessary when you knew exactly what every twitch and tick from your partner meant. "And a black coffee."

"Right. And for your son, ma'am?" she asked, pointing with the end of her pen towards Five.

"It's sir," Five immediately corrected. "And his son will have a black coffee."

"Right, I'm sorry. It's late," she waved her hand in front of her face, but Viktor could see her embarrassment at her mistake. Despite that, the dysphoria that had been creeping up behind him finally smacked him down. He let Five dig the change from their last mission with the Commission out of his pocket before he fisted it over to the waitress. They moved to sit in one of the booths as soon as she had given them the things that they had ordered.

“You know that you don’t have to do stuff like that, right?” Viktor asked awkwardly. He hadn’t been anticipating his husband becoming that overly protective of him now that he didn’t pass as well as he had before they had come back to the new timeline.

“I do, actually,” Five huffed out. He had already drained about half of the black coffee that they had gotten for him. It was something that he had done every time they had snuck away to Griddy’s when they were younger. Viktor smiled affectionately at him as he felt his heart swell with adoration in his chest. They were sitting across from each other, the furthest apart they had been in a very long time, but their legs were still tangled around the center pole of the table.

Viktor nibbled on the edge of his donut. “What do you think they’re going to do once they’ve discovered that we’ve deserted?”

The other man’s face fell so that it was deadly serious. Had Viktor not been trapped with him in the wasteland when they were both actually thirteen, it would have looked a little silly for someone so visibly young to look so mentally old. “I’ve heard that they do a myriad of things to people that desert their missions or the Commission altogether. I don’t think they’ve ever had someone as powerful as either one of us, independent and certainly not together, do so, however.”

“We can handle anything that they throw at us, I know we can,” Viktor murmured. He reached across the table and took the other man’s hand into his own so that he could thread their fingers together. He was glad that the cafe was mostly empty and the few patrons that were scattered along the bar couldn’t care less about the duo in the corner. Both he and Five knew who they really were and what they really looked like, but Viktor wasn’t looking to be accused of child trafficking or otherwise endangering the man that was his husband.

Five brought the other’s hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “With you by my side I think that I could take down the whole board. You are the most amazing person that I have ever met,” Five smiled. His eyes were shining with a kind of happy-romantic emotion that had been and always would be reserved for Viktor.

Sometimes, despite the fact that they had been together since they were thirteen and married since they were twenty, it still felt like they were love sick teenagers that had just discovered what real love felt like. Viktor hoped that they could keep that feeling alive and burning inside of them once they finally got the chance to save their siblings. Viktor had spent so long with his husband right by his side that it was nearly impossible for him to so much as imagine a world in which Five wasn’t right there with him.

They lapsed into silence for a little bit as they processed everything that had happened. Portaling through space and time wasn’t something that they were unused to, but so much had changed in the world that they had left decades ago. Something was still burning in the back of Viktor’s brain, a loose thread that neither of them had ever had the time to talk about before they had decided that they needed to execute their plan.

“Five?” he asked after a moment. He had already finished eating the jelly-filled donut that they had purchased and was using the pointer finger of his free hand to pick up the powdered sugar that had escaped him.

“Yes, beloved?” the other assassin asked as he set his cup of coffee down.

“Are we sure that the apocalypse starts on April first?”

The question had been plaguing Viktor since they began the process of getting back to the time where they could stop it. When he noticed, over his husband’s shoulder when they were still struggling through the wastelands, that Five was computing for almost seventeen years after the time where they had left. Viktor had figured out that the other man meant to stop the apocalypse instead of putting them back in the time where they belonged. That wasn’t really what disturbed him, but the date that his husband had chosen to revolve his computations around did.

“What other time would it be?” Five asked, his brows furrowing together like he didn’t understand why it was being questioned.

“You can get so wrapped up in your own head sometimes,” Viktor whispered. He adored his husband so much that his heart ached obnoxiously in his chest, but he could still be frustrated by him quicker than almost anyone else. “Five, how do we know for sure that the paper was printed on the day that that apocalypse started? It’s not like the headlines were about the moon exploding or the sky raining down on the world. It was about standard news headlines and the sports for the day. Nothing in that paper would imply that day specifically is when the apocalypse is starting.”

“I…” he paused. “I guess that we have to assume that whatever starts the apocalypse happens on that day because otherwise the headlines would have been talking about it.”

“I think that we should just be wary about the dates being wrong, is all. It’s been bothering me for a while and I wanted to talk to you about it before we really got going on looking for the owner of the glass eye,” Viktor explained. Sometimes when he got nervous he still overexplained himself like he was the timid twelve-year-old that he had been when they ran as far away from the Umbrella Academy as they could.

His husband was adoring and compassionate so didn’t judge him for it, even for a moment. “We’re going to figure this out, Viktor. I promise you that.”

They sat in silence for a moment longer before the doors into the cafe burst open so hard that the glass in the left door shattered down onto the floor. The sounds of shards hitting linoleum wasn’t something that was unfamiliar to either of them, and neither was what happened next. They heard the sound of gunshots, three shots flying through the the air and into the wall behind them as they ducked underneath the table with perfect synchronicity.

“I didn’t think that they would be able to find us that quickly,” Viktor muttered under his breath. He glanced towards the other assassin to make sure that he was still in one piece, and once he was reassured of that, focused back to the task at hand. He summoned up as much of his power as he could with how hungry he was after only a single donut and fluffernutter sandwich. He didn’t know where his body was in the recovery process that he had to go through after they were tugged out of the wasteland by their manager, so he didn’t want to overdo it just in case.

He translated the sound of the gunshots, pumping it through his body until it had turned into wieldable energy. He could feel it pulsing out from the bright white-blue light that was glowing just underneath his heart. He wrapped it around his hands and then pushed it out around them so that it was making a convex shield towards the enemies still shooting at them. The bullets hit the wall of energy and immediately condensed down into a coin before they dropped harmlessly down to the ground. The force that they were propelled with only served to push them a few steps back every time one of the bullets hit the shield.

Five walked behind Viktor, calculating every single possibility that might happen during the fight before he jumped into action. While the agents that had been sent to kill them focused on Viktor, he teleported behind them without a single one of the agents noticing. He jumped up so that he could wrap his arms around the closest agent’s neck and then jerked it to the side so that the spine held inside snapped. By that point, the others had noticed and turned towards him instead of Viktor.

He had just teleported away by the time that his husband released a burst of energy, removing the shield from where it was taking his energy, so that it knocked them all over. He grabbed one of the guns that had tumbled down to the ground and then fired it at the closest man next to him. He tossed it to the side when Five reappeared then and shot the shield back up where it needed to be as some of the other agents began to wake up.

The other patrons and the cafe worker were completely hidden from where the agents were, so they didn’t have to worry about being stopped by them or having to protect civilians. They systematically took out each of the Commission workers until none of them were left. He didn’t usually do his kills like that when he was working alone, which was something he had only done a handful of times since he worked so much better with Viktor. Usually he was a lot more creative in his kills since he had the ability to surprise people with his teleporting anyway. With his husband by his side, however, he just wanted to get it done and over with as quickly as he could so that they could move on.

Five tossed the gun down onto the body closest to him and then grabbed a knife that was laying, forgotten, on the table closest to the door. Viktor threaded their bloody, sticky fingers together immediately after he lowered the shield of energy that he had created. They then walked out into the cold night, already discussing where they thought the trackers might be.

#fanfiction #fanfic #writing #ao3 #archive of our own #tua #the umbrella academy #oneshot #fiktor #viktor hargreeves #five hargreeves #luther hargreeves #diego hargreeves #allison hargreeves #kaz hargreeves #grace hargreeves #long lost fic

4 notes · View notes

ask-starla · 1 year

Text

Ya'll I think I need a betta reader beause these typos are a MESS!

Twilight paced the stone floor of the room. It was currently day seven of Twilight not sleeping and it desperately showed on her. Her bob looked closer to that of a bird’s nest, she probably developed like 30 premature wrinkles form the stress and her tail was swooshing erratically to and fro like a caged animal. Twilight felt like a caged cat.

How could they, how could the universe force her to choose like this. How could they saddle up her poor, precious, teeny, innocent, child with such a monstrous gift! The thought alone froze Twilight in her tracks as she forced herself to contain a dry heave.

The sudden sound must have alerted Discord from his trapped gaze as he traced the barrier, because he jerked around and slowly walked towards his partner. Walk not float mind you.

Placing one yellow talon on her shoulder he simply uttered “My Dear” softly trying to need the tension between her shoulder and wings.

The effect was useless as Twilight just collapsed into her partner's chest, buried her face into his fur and cried for the 10th time that day. It seemed almost impossible that her tear ducts could produce any more tears but they flowed freely as she proceeded to bawl her eyes out.

Discord, like the 9 other miraculous times before, remained solid and there through every single one. It baffled Twilight at the time because she was usually the more held together one of the two but seeing Discord step up while she felt she like was falling apart was the one good thing about this wretched ordeal.

“ she wont have magic”

“I know”

“She won't be able to keep up with the boys”

“I know”

“But what if she falls into danger Discord? What if one day the kids are playing and they decide to just conjure a monster just for funor maybe they decide to play hide and seen in the everfree forest of all places</i>!? What if”

"Twilight!” and this time discord voice felt strained as he held onto the purple pony, his claws digging in a little too hard.

“Discord?... Discord dear you're squishing my muzzle” Twilight said as she pawed his chest

Discord breathed out a strangled chuckle.

“My bad paramour” and slowly unhooked his paw and talons from her.

Twilight stared at the draconequus. The once vibrant and airy creature was down on the floor and seemed to be really showing his age. The wrinkles that lined his face looked deeper than ever.

Just as Twilight was about to open her mouth again the draconequus spoke.

“I know Twilight, for heaven’s sake I know how dangerous, chaotic and cruel the world could be! I know because I'm responsible for half the twisted turns this world provides. I’ve been constantly thinking about how one day, her and the boys could be just playing around and they concoct something of a spell that accidentally hurst her. Or Im thinking about how some wretched fillies could possible bully her and she won't be able protect herself, or worst of all what if she wakes up one day and -oh-I don't know <follow in her mothers hoofsteps of spreading the message of friendship everywhere by wrassling a taurturus to the ground</i>” that last part ended in a weak laugh as he grabbed both twilight shoulders and stopped and stared intensely. “For Gia’s sakes do you know how many times you have whitened my whiskers from fright”

Twilight was kind of at a loss for words because through all her fear and panic.. She knew. She knew that Discord was right.

Discord starred long and hard at his partner, wiping one tear gently away with a paw.

“I know how absolutely scared shitless you are, Twilight. I know there are probably a thousand whirling thoughts in your head as much as there are in mine. And I’m .... I'm sacred too-” the last part ended in a choked sob as discord desperately tried to forced it down and clear his throat "but fear shouldn't</i> be the reason she doesn't get to live her</i> life” He said pointing his tail at the sound of a sleeping infant in the crib illuminated by the soft pink glow of the force field surrounding her.

She looked so peaceful sleeping there. So safe and secure. It's as if the incident that happened 7 days ago felt like a cosmic nightmare. That maybe twilight just dreamed up the incident of finding her daughter crumbled on the floor. Maybe had just been delirious from previous sleepless nights when she saw the twitching form of her daughter surrounded by pink lightning bolts coursing through her fur and feathers. None of this felt real at all.

“or-or...if you want…if you truly in your heart this is right” Discord paused as he tried to formulate the right words “if you think this is right for our bundle of joy that we should keep her asleep, until we find the right cure.. Then I won't stop you” he said and he dropped his claws to his side

Twilight sighed and dug her face into Discords chest again. Savoring his strong surprisingly earthy smell. Goddess, how she wished she could smell her baby again.

She lifted her head “your right Discord” and walked toward the crib “Like so much of this week your absolutely right…'' She placed a hoof on the forcefield “Starla should be able to live her life... and we can't take that away from her '' Sadness and fear sswam around Twilight features, but she shook her head and replaced it with determination.

“Lets do this” and she extended a wing to her partner

Discord eyes were wide and peppered with tears but he quickly wiped them away and stepped up grabbing her wing and interlacing into a sort of hand hold.

“For our little bundle of joy…for Starla”

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

The process was short but felt like a million years both Twilight and Discord had to use all their might and all their magical energy to cast this duo spell creating a 2 layers of magical locks. One to lock away the chaos magic and one to lock away harmony magic. The process was… cruel to be honest and even though Starla remembers nothing to this day… both Twilight and Discord remember.

They remember the screams as Starla’s magic was violently taken away from her and locked away

#mlp #mlp discord #mlp comics #mlpnextgen #mlpcomic

4 notes · View notes

daughterofhecata · 3 months

Note

All the sevens (7, 17, 27, 37, 47, 57, 67) for the writer's ask thingy. Pretty please.🫣

[fic writer ask game]

7. How do you choose which POV to write from?

Mostly the POV is kinda inherent to the story I want to tell - like, the last things I posted, they always started from a specific idea that only works from one POV (ie. Skinny losing his mind seeing Justus in a suit; Ty having a major crush on Skinny) (well, okay, they *would* also work the other way around but that would be very different fics then). With like, the KJ ficlets it's a different story, there I usually use the POV that appeals to me more instinctively - sometimes I have to scrap a draft after 300 words because the story just doesn't work from that POV and start over from the/an other one.

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

Read read read. Fic, and the DDF books, but also completely unrelated stuff, just "consume" art and entertainment and wait for the inspiration to come back. But I also keep trying to write at the same time, not force it, but sit down every day and do *something* creative at least.

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

Favourite part is definitely getting an idea down on paper and fleshed out and seeing it all come together. Taking the vibes/dialogue/etc and building a whole story around that. Least favourite is the "connective tissue", those 1-5 sentences missing between two finished bits that are absolutely needed to make the transition flow but do not want to be written and usually also aren't really interesting.

37. How do you choose where to end a chapter?

Instinct, mostly 🤷‍♂️ sometimes the story structure dictates them, sometimes I have a really nice mean cliffhanger, but usually I put chapter breaks where they "feel right".

47. How many times do you usually revise your fic/chapter before posting?

...maybe three, four times? idk, I give the finished thing probably two, maybe three once-overs, sometimes with changed font to make typos stand out more, but there is not heavy revision process.

57. Do you prefer editing as you write, or waiting until it’s finished?

And this is kinda why there's no editing process, because I usually edit as I write, I keep rereading what I already wrote and then add to that, but also rephrase things or change details as I go. In longer things I currently put some things in square brackets and mark it yellow, if I'm unsure or can't find a word or something and if I'm not in the mood to continue writing I sometimes just have a go at those brackets for example.

67. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

Both has specific but very different merits. I enjoy prompts and challenges, for some things I don't usually do/wouldn't have thought of on my own, for playing around with drabbles and sometimes formats and styles, for running with an idea for as long as it holds and then just stopping. But independent ideas are usually what my heart is involved in, the stories I want to make *good* and satisfying and where I'm really working creatively, which is why I do sometimes refer to filling like Writer's Month or Whumptober prompts as "typing" rather than "writing", because there's little inspiration and work on my part necessary to bang out a few hundred words on a given prompt. On the other hand, those do help me keep in the habit of writing regularly and provide easy outlet for that.

#thanks for the ask <3 #got sidetracked yesterday and had work today so a bit later than intended #ask #pointwhitmark

1 note · View note

thetomcruiseblr · 6 months

Text

I will always wonder how my comments on Come As You Are were taken. They were weird, and I made some jokes in them to try to lighten the genuinely devastated feelings I have about the situation, but as I wrote before, I didn't think that crying and groveling and saying how sorry I was, please please please don't hate me, would be helpful, either, though that was how I really felt. The last thing I told ____ was how sorry I was for everything that happened last year, that I hoped she would just do/write what makes her happy in the future, and it really did make me glad to read the things she wrote this year, because it was like, "Oh, that's ____ in her element!" Even something like her correcting the typo I had pointed out thrilled me because it was like, she acknowledged me! I don't care for acknowledgment of my own works, but I mostly missed them even acknowledging how I much I love and appreciate their works.

I used to look at ____'s tumblr even after it all happened because it was still a habit of mine - for the entirety of 2022, she was the only person from the Roosmav fandom who I followed and talked to on tumblr - and when she posted that Sim from what I presume was a scene from __________ (it was the one with kid!Bradley sitting at the kitchen table with the drawing he made for Maverick), I just bawled out loud because I knew I was never going to be able to compliment her for her writing again. I documented this reaction in real-time. People know how I feel about it - I am very open about the fact that while I used to have differences regarding how I approached some fictional content (and, really, I have a lot more in common with them than many - I know a lot of people don't even like bottom!Bradley, little dick, eggs, RPF, etc., and I enjoy all of it), they still mean the world to me as people. I'm glad that Fopps still leaves those wild comments she does on AO3 because they keep that bit of her personality alive for me.

It hurts me so much what happened here and in the Roosmav fandom. I desperately don't want any sort of division. It's already so small of a fandom with less than 30 people, both writers and artists, actively creating content, and to me, it's absolutely not necessary. I do have the feeling that VictoryFeather didn't make it onto the Roosmav server because she is friends with me, and that hurts me a lot. I am not able to ask my own friends about how their day went because I don't want to potentially get them in trouble with the Roosmav server. And these are all people who I woke up and talked to freely for the seven most formative months of my fandom. They know I'm not an anti. They know I was a Roosmav from the very beginning. They know I mean no harm.

I got less than five hours of sleep again, so I don't know if any of this makes sense or sounds combative, but it isn't meant to be. I have feelings, and I'm just really sad about all of this, all of the time.

#R00smav

0 notes

spookiekewchie · 3 years

Text

forever's gonna start tonight

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Characters: Shang Chi "Shaun" x woc!reader

Summary: a drunken night out at a karaoke bar ends with you meeting a mysterious yet sweet stranger

Word Count: 1k+

Warnings: fluff, general language warning, mentions of drinking, mentions of butchering a classic, set before the events of the movie so NO SPOILERS DON'T WORRY

A/N: Basically I had a need to write some Shang Chi after seeing the movie. Also please note that since this is set before the events of the movie he's calling himself Shaun. Anyways, all mistakes are mine so pardon any errors or typos I'm sure I missed a few. The divider is by @firefly-graphics

DO NOT repost or translate my work anywhere. Reblogs are always welcome, and let me know that you enjoy my fics.

You can’t believe you let your friends drag you to a karaoke bar, you also can’t believe that they have plied you with drinks just to loosen you up enough to get you up on stage. Yet there you stand, tipsy enough to justify the belting of Total Eclipse of the Heart to a crowd that’s thankfully singing the classic along with you. Well almost everyone in the crowd is singing along.

There’s one man sitting silently and simply smiling, while the woman he sits beside is screaming the lyrics out. You can’t keep your eyes off of him, even when you try to look somewhere else they always drift back and you swear that it’s the longest four minutes and twenty-seven minutes of your life because you know that every time your gaze drifts back to him he’ll be sitting there with that warm smile on his face. It has your stomach doing somersaults, and even in the dim lighting of the bar you can tell he’s handsome. Handsome and hopefully drunk enough for you to hope he doesn’t think you’re an absolute mess for how badly you’ve butchered sung this iconic song.

With the final words uttered, you set the mic down and jump off stage to make a beeline straight for the bar. You need another shot, maybe two or three now that your tipsy buzz is starting to fade and your nerves are gearing up. What the hell were you doing here? You don’t go to karaoke bar’s and get on stage! God your friends were going to catch hell for this tomorrow, and you hope every last one of them wakes up with a hangover for what they’ve dragged you into. You love them, but dammit this is so far outside your comfort zone that you can’t help but start to feel mortified at the off key performance you just gave.

“Let me pay for those.” A voice says from beside you, drawing your attention. Ever so slightly your eyes widen, it’s the guy, and those suspicions about him being handsome were nothing compared to actually seeing him up close. It’s almost embarrassing how openly you start to let your gaze drag over him appreciatively, you don’t even realize it until your eyes are back on his and he’s smirking down at you.

Fuck. Get it together bitch, stop being so obvious. You think to yourself before shrugging as if to say “go ahead.” It doesn’t help you at all when you hear the breathy chuckle that he gives when he sidles just a little closer to you and tells the bartender to put the drinks on his tab.

“I’m Shaun,” He introduces himself, and when you give him your name in return he repeats it softly and dammit you can’t help but like the sound of it on his lips. You manage to not let your imagination run wild at the thought of all the ways you can make him say your name, and instead just watch the bartender pour your shots. “I liked the song choice.” He says after a moment of watching you pretend that you aren’t aware of how he’s just let his gaze sweep over you slowly. You were grateful that your mouth was empty when he said it, otherwise you’re sure you would have choked at the mention of the performance you were trying to forget. He means it though, he enjoyed watching you up there, belting out the lyrics and adding a few dramatic moves here and there when the crowd started to join in. He especially liked the way you got caught up in the moment, enjoying yourself despite the nerves he could tell you were feeling up there.

But there’s one part that sticks out in his mind. It’s you with your eyes shut, lost in the crescendo of the song and swaying to the beat. Your head tipped back and the microphone gripped in your hands.

I really need you tonight...forever's gonna start tonight…

You were beautiful up there, backlit by the screen as it displayed the lyrics as the light shone behind you and the curls of your hair as it gave you the effect of having a halo. Who could blame him for being mesmerized by you.

“Too bad I can’t carry a tune to save my life.” You joke, hearing him chuckle under his breath, you’re thankful when the bartender slides two shot glasses towards you. You down one, letting the alcohol burn down your throat before you face the ridiculously attractive man at your side and smile. “You know that song isn’t about what everyone thinks it is.” You say, letting your nerves take over for a moment. The curious furrow of the man’s brow doesn’t deter you as you reach for the second shot and down that as well. “I mean it is, it’s a love song, but it’s about vampires.”

“No it’s not!” He seems genuinely surprised at that fact, and you just laugh as he pulls his phone out to do a quick google search that only confirms what you’ve told him. “No shit, huh...any other music facts that you wanna share?”

You regard him curiously, trying to gauge if he’s genuinely interested or just saying what he thinks he has to in order to get you to leave with him. “I’m a treasure trove of weird music facts.” You tell him, watching as that warm smile he’d been giving you while you were on stage returns and you can’t help but find it endearing.

“I’d love to hear them.” He admits, though truthfully he’s willing to listen to you talk about anything if it means that you’re talking to him.

You’re about two seconds from taking him up on the offer when your group of friends rush you at the bar and all but drag you away, oblivious that you were otherwise occupied. You’re nearly out the door before you convince them that you need to go back inside and take care of something. You’re hoping he’s still there at the bar, and the relief you feel when you see him there makes you smile happily as you quickly make your way back over. He gives you a curious look, watching as you grab a napkin and pull a pen from your purse. When he sees that it’s your number that you’re jotting down he grins, happily taking it when you hold it out to him.

“Call me sometime, Shaun.” You say before turning and going back to your friends who are annoyingly calling for you to hurry up.

He’s got every intention of doing just that, watching as you go. He’s quick to pull out his phone so that he can put your number in it because there’s no way he’s going to risk something happening to that napkin and losing it.

“So...how’d it go, lover boy?” Katy's voice rings out as she bounces over to the bar and grins knowingly at her friend.

“How soon is too soon to call? Because I really want to call her right now.” He won’t, he doesn’t want to come off desperate. So he’ll wait until tomorrow’s lunch break to give you a call, and hopefully set up a date.

#shang chi x woc!reader #shang chi x black!reader #shang chi x reader #shang chi x you #shang chi x woc #shang chi reader #shang chi fanfiction #shang chi fanfic #shang chi fic #woc!reader #black!reader #trilla writes

429 notes · View notes

kpop-pick-me-up · 5 years

Text

| Taehyung x Ravenclaw! Reader (fluff) :00 can't | | Wait for the HMC au bby💜 |

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taehyungxravenclaw! Reader pt. 1/?

A/N- You got it! Sorry it took so long I was adjusting to my new school schedule before I started writing again. And SAME! It's my motivation to keep improving, as I don't want to write/post a HMC au I wouldn't want to read. I wasn't sure if you wanted me to tag you or not,so just let me know for the next parts. Anyways, hope you enjoy sorry if it's absolute garbage :[ I'm going to go back and check it one more time tomorrow to look for any typos I missed, but until then please ignore them.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The halls were buzzing with excitement all over the castle. You couldn't walk 15 feet without hearing the news about the rumored new students. From what your ears had gathered from students rushed conversations while walking to and from your lessons and the occasional accidental (read: deliberate) snooping, they were international students coming from somewhere in Asia. You were quite uninterested to say the least. (Or so you tried to tell yourself). If anything, you were confused and even a little irked at the news. As rumors tend to lack factual evidence, there's is no telling how many new students you'll be getting, how old they are, when exactly they'll be arriving and last but not least WHY they are coming to hogwarts on the cusp of the first exam season of the year. How inconvenient for the new students and the teachers, to be plopped into a class and then taking an exam on it days later, in a foreign language as you can only assume English isn't their first language. You became so invested in the news however, that you just HAD to solve it. You had to figure out all the answers. You saw it as a challenge: a riddle if you will. This always happens when new rumors surface. You try to convince yourself that you just don't care, that you remain unbothered at all times. But your Ravenclaw spirit sees this as a brain game. You just love the rush of sneaking around and discovering the truth before everyone else. You never share what you discover though, it's just a personal accomplishment that you record in your journal. Sometimes you've gotten into a couple sticky situations but nothing terrible or detention worthy. Just a "Miss L/N, why are you pretending to be a gargoyle above the gardens?" Or a "Can you please stop smelling people's closets, we assure you we will find whoever is taking our gillyweed on our own. " You were so close to solving the last one too. Your money is on one of the Weasley kids. You could've sworn that they left a trail of fallen wet Dill leaves that they used to replace the gillyweed that led all the way back to the Gryffindor common room.

Your steps are quick as you make the last turn to the doors of the great Hall for breakfast, and your quick pace is kept all the way until you're seated at the nearly empty Ravenclaw table. Usually the table is bustling with students shoving food down their throat, chatting up a storm to their friends whose heavy heads are playing a sleepy game of tag with the table or their cereal bowl. This morning, however, you decided to arrive to breakfast as early as possible, for the sole purpose of gathering more information on the new students -but don't get it wrong, you aren't interested in them: no. Your mission to gather information on them stems from the fact that you need to know what to prepare yourself for. More trouble makers? Dear God, you can barely handle the ones you have. Pompous students that strut down the hallways and expect those around them to worship the ground they walk on? Ugh we don't need anymore of those. Snobs? Bullies? Sweet innocent small children? Not likely. But there's so many possibilities. As a Ravenclaw, you prefer to stay on top of things and be prepared for whatever is thrown your way. Your grades are important to you and the last thing you need is trouble right before your exams- ESPECIALLY care for magical creatures .... It is the only class you struggle with and just can't seem to bring your grade up to the same score as all your other classes no matter how hard to try. Hagrid pities you, he really does but you can only lose your projects so many times before he has to subtract it from your grade.

"It's not MY fault the projects can run away on their own" you mutter to yourself before pouring a cup of pumpkin juice standing up to examine the other foods available. Your eyes scan the contents presented on the table over the rim of your goblet as you sip from it. After the second wizarding war in Hogwarts, they partnered with other wizarding schools to help send students all over the world to the school of their choice for different opportunities. As a result of all the different cultures and traditions, the kitchen started loading the table with more diverse food choices at every meal. Clicking your tongue at the delicious looking Ethiopian breakfast dish, you decide to go for something you've had before so you don't upset your stomach before your school day.

By the time you're putting the last bit of scrambled eggs on your plate a few more students have shuffled in for breakfast. You quickly sit and begin to eat keeping your ears open for any news of the supposed newcomers. Again, you really aren't that interested in them you swear.....

However minutes pass of you listening to a young Gryffindor complain about the girl she likes not noticing her, suddenly a conversation that carried over from the Hufflepuff table caught your attention.

"Seven?!" A voice exclaimed.

"keep your voice down!"

You turned your attention to two girls, one Hufflepuff and one Gryffindor. You recognized the first voice to be Kim Yong Sun, and the second as Moonbyul Yi; the both of them seventh year transfers from South Korea during their second year.

"Sorry. But how do you know? There hasn't been any confirmation of them arriving let alone how many there are. " Yongsun eyed Moonbyul skeptically and you can hear the click of her chopsticks being set down from where you're sitting you're listening so closely. You slightly nod in agreement to the conversation you aren't a part of. She's right. There hasn't been any confirmation or factual evidence of transfer students. Yet here you are, sitting in the breakfast hall at 6:05 am on a Friday morning listening to fourth year romance drama and the yawns of a few other students like you're life depends on it. Maybe this is stupid, you should just go back up to bed and let it go. You aren't one for caring about new students or rumors anyways. Maybe you were just looking for something to distract you from the upcoming exams: Yeah, that was probably it. You sigh picking up one last piece of toast making up your mind to take it upstairs with you. Putting the piece of toast in your mouth you place your hands on the table to stabilize you as you swing one leg off of the bench to get up.

"I know one of them." Moonbyul responds quietly. You bite your toast out of surprise causing the rest of it to fall from your mouth as you plop down to straddle the bench with a loud thud while playing hot potato with your toast attempting to save it before it hit the floor. You glace around to see if anyone noticed, but thankfully those there are much too tired to care. You swing your leg back into your seat and continuee to listen to their conversation. Everyone needs a little distraction every now and then right? A hobby? Can snooping be considered a hobby....? I guess you're really doing this again.

"You know them? Really? So they're from South Korea too?" Yongsun asked while beginning to eat again.

"Yep. But I only know one of them pretty well, his name is Kim Seokjin and he's in my year. The rest of them I've only met a few times through him. "

Yongsun pondered what was said before speaking .

"Wait- seven of them..... Are they those loud boys from the music club you were in back home? Some of them are a little young don't you think?"

Moonbyul laughed. "Yep that's them! And no- the youngest of them should be a fourth year right about now."

You figured you had heard enough information to go on and decided to actually go back to your dorm this time. You left your spot at the table and began to make your way back to your room for a quick nap before school began. Your walk back was filled with thoughts of the new kids. "Loud boys? Great." You said bitterly turning down a hall. " What does it have to do with me? From what I heard they are different ages, which will separate them a bit. Maybe none of them will even be in my house, and I won't see them. After all, there's only seven of them and a whole school of other students. I probably won't even notice them. "

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -~ •~•~•~• ~- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A fork clinked gently against a goblet, and McGonagall rose to her feet. "May I have your attention please."

The loud dinner chatter quieted down almost immediately and all heads turned to the teacher's table.

"Thank you." She placed her goblet down before returning her gaze to the students. "As many of you have heard, there are rumors going around that Hogwarts will be accepting some new students. It is my pleasure to finally put these rumors to rest- "

A chorus of disappointed sighs and groans rang through the hall, looks like they weren't getting new students after all. You almost let out a disappointed sigh but caught yourself. You didn't want new students, they were a distraction and a nuisance. Right? I mean... It was a little bit of a disappointment considering all the hard work and snooping you had been doing recently. Your friend group doesn't spread rumors much, so everything you knew had been from eaves dropping and hiding, like the gargoyle incident. You guess you sat up there for 45 minutes all for nothing.

"-excuse me please quiet down." The students all shut their mouths quickly, afraid of angering her. "As I was saying, I am happy to finally introduce to you our new students from South Korea." The hall erupted into excited chatter, girls and boys alike fawning over whether or not the newcomers were attractive, nice, mean or any other possibility, like you have been for weeks ever since you overheard the students chatting about it outside the potions cupboard you were in when the rumors first started.

Clearing her throat the headmaster gave a sharp warning look to all the students, again silencing them. "As you know, usually transfer students come on the first day of school with the first years to get sorted. However, there was a couple issues regarding the ministry during their application process, so they arrived later than usual. I have no doubts that you will all make them feel very welcome here." She waved her hand as a signal to Filtch, who scampered out of the Great Hall, returning only a few moments later with a trail of students behind him.

Seven. There was seven of them just like you'd heard about this morning. You feel your chest swell with pride. You did good for a half assed Snoop mission. They were all male, and most looked to be around your age, and you'd be lying if you said they weren't in the least bit attractive. You scowled internally knowing that their looks would be all you'd hear about during your study sessions in the common room.

The sorting hat was brought in and the sorting began. McGonagall unrolled a small piece of parchment and read off the first name "Jung Hoseok", and you held your breath as the first boy made his way up.

He looked rather pleasant. His bright face was framed with medium length brown hair, and his smile was wide. He was practically glowing as he sat on the stool. There was a few moments of silence before the hat shouted out a loud "Hufflepuff!" And the hall clapped while McGonagall lead him to the proper table.

Slowly one by one each of the other boys went up. There was another Hufflepuff, his name was Park Jimin, and a Gryffindor whose name was Jungkook. 'So far so good' you think to yourself.

The next boy to go was called Kim Namjoon. He was tall and had a pair of square modern glasses perched on his nose, the legs of the glasses covered by his messy silvery gray hair. He's a bit taller than most of the others so the stool looked comically small beneath his long legs which he had stretched out for his feet to rest on the heels of his shoes. He radiated nerves with his hands rubbing up and down his black pants and his cheek pulled in slightly as he chewed on it. You were too lost in thought to realize it had been almost an entire minute of silence when the hat announced a very loud "RAVENCLAW!"

You felt your face scrunch up a bit but clapped anyway. I mean, it's only one of them and he looks rather pleasant; not too loud or obnoxious. He looks put together-maybe a little clumsily- but still respectable. You watched him take a seat and shake hands with other students. Yeah, he seems pretty ok. Instead of paying attention you continued to study the boy. After all, there's only a small chance one of the last three would be a Ravenclaw. The next name which you recognized as the boy Moonbyul knew, Kim Seokjin but blocked it out after that.

Namjoon seemed to be getting along nicely with the other students at the table. His smile was friendly and welcoming and his demeanor calm and assured.

"GRYFFINDOR"

You clapped absent mindedly as you continued to watch Namjoon become much less nervous than he had been up on the stool. His eyes gleaming and his honey skin shining in the great Hall lights giving off a faint golden glow. He literally held the presence of a god. You were beginning to doubt what Yongsun had said about them being loud as you watched the next boy climb up to the stool, and you looked around at the other new students and noticed they all were pretty quiet and calm, aside from Jungkook whose cheeks had flushed pink as Seokjin had an arm thrown over his shoulders supposedly boasting about what you heard to be his "handsome face", and his "baby boy kookie" . You really did seem to have nothing to worry about, it was just your anxiety that made you so scared of newcomers.

"RAVENCLAW"

Again you applauded without thinking before you froze. You looked back up to the stool and watched a boy about as tall as Namjoon bounce excitedly over to Namjoon and plop down right next him with a loud "Namjoon-hyung!" Followed by a box shaped smile and a joyful giggle. His eyes were dark to match his fluffy long ish hair that looked unsually soft. He was much louder than his friend Namjoon, you could hear his introductions and laugh travel down to your seat of the table, enabling you to hear his name: Kim Taehyung. You glared lightly at him sizing him up when suddenly your glare was met with bright cheerful eyes. 'Dont blush you're not interested, dont' You felt your face contort into a look of shock and heat slowly rise to your face before Taehyung sent you a wide boxy smile that caused his eyes to crinkle into small crescents, a sight that made you flush even more - you couldn't deny he was attractive. 'no no no no no-' At the sight of your blush you heard him laugh out a loud "cute", turning your face to an even darker shade of red than you had even thought possible. Those near him followed his gaze and laughed a little bit at your red face and a few "awww Y/N"'s and "oooh get it girl" were sent your way. You quickly tore your eyes away from his and shoveled the food down your throat causing you to choke on it, your hands grasped for your drink which a panicked seatmate handed you. You chugged half of it down before sputtering out a few coughs.

"Are you okay Y/N?" The same seatmate asked with a concerned look.

You nodded noticing that most of your table had now focused their attention on you. Embarrassment now completely took over your body as you shot up from your seat so fast you hit your knee off of the table and knocked your drink over to spill all over your robes. You let out a sound of frustration but you didn't let it stop you from your mission: to get out of the great Hall and to hide under your covers until morning. You turned and walked out as fast as you could ignoring the calls and stares you felt from the table. You made it outside of the great Hall and began to sprint down the halls all the way to the common room door.

Gasping out the password you don't even wait for the door to open all the way before you push inside the common room and up the steps to your dorm room. You slam the door shut and fall on the floor, the only sound in the room being your loud labored breathing and your wild heartbeat. After a few moments your breathing calmed down and it finally hit you what you had just done.

"oh my God I'm such an idiot! Why couldn't I just let this one go? " You stood up and stomped your way to your dresser and ripped out some night clothes. "Was your life really this boring? You could've just ignored the new students. You could've just not given a damn but no. " You slammed the drawer shut and went into the bathroom to begin changing. Aggressively taking off your sticky pumpkin juice covered robes with a grunt "You just HAD to get involved in the rumors. You KNOW you can't let something go once you commit to it. You shouldn't have even committed to it. Hell, you should've stopped after you were caught snooping around the class attendance lists" You slid on your night clothes and picked up your robes to take a closer look at them with a sigh.

"now I have to wash my robes tomorrow because YOU have no self control and can't stop being nosy." You glared at yourself in the mirror, sticking your tongue out at the reflection.

Exiting the bathroom you ball up your robes and place them in your hamper. You have calmed down significantly, the steam and anger from the embarassing moment in the hall finally wearing off. With a inhuman groan you dragged your hands down the sides of your face. "He's just a boy. All he did was smile at me... And call me cute...." Your thoughts drifted off to his cute box smile, and twinkling brown eyes. You abruptly sat up with a determined look. "No. No no no no. You don't have time for crushes, you only have one more week till exams and you aren't letting your grades slip just because a cute boy happens to join your house. Just ignore him. It's easy as that. " You pull your covers down and flop into bed.

A couple hours had passed, and you pretended to sleep when all your dormmates came up to bed one by one. Eventually after some tossing and turning you sigh. Your mind is full of that stupid boy, and the way he called you cute. So much for not even noticing the new kids.

~DeepSheep

30 notes · View notes

shawnpetermuffins · 5 years

Text

Were you going to tell me?

A/N: this is my first fan fiction on here, so I'd love some feedback if you have any! Also, I'm writing this on my phone, so it probably has a bunch of typos.

Summary: y/n and Shawn have been together for 7 years, but y/n isn't so sure he still wants to be. (This is a really bad summary, wow. Sorry lol)

Warnings: some swearing. Angst and lots of it.

Word count: it's a lot sorry

***

Seven years. Five of which I was in school. (The unfortunate fact of getting into a long distance relationship during my senior year of high school and continuing through college.) Four of which he has been all about touring, and working at the studio, and doing promo. And two of which I have been living with him. Two birthdays and two anniversaries have gone forgotten - by him, I might add. I've never forgotten an anniversary or birthday. I'm good at remembering dates, especially with people that I love. And despite this, I have been completely invested in our relationship.

He's never home anymore. I'm always here cleaning our - his - condo, which used to feel big, but now it feels like I can't take a single step without being in his personal space. That is when he bothers to be home for more than an hour at a time and I'm not at work. He doesn't even notice anymore. It's like he just expects it now. Dinner is always in the fridge for him to heat up because he's never home in time to sit down with each other and eat like a normal couple would. And of course this also means that our sex life is pretty much nonexistent. It's not that I don't want to because that is definitely not the case, but every time I try to get him in bed he always says hes tired or "not now, y/n. I have to get this done." "I'm about to leave." "The boys are on their way."

We've gotten to this point in our relationship that I never thought we'd be at. I never thought he'd become disinterested in me, in us. He really doesn't even pay attention to anything I do or say anymore. So I high key doubted that he was going to notice when I didn't come home for a few days, weeks maybe. It's not like he texts or calls me to see where I am now.

I was throwing in a few more pairs of panties when the front door closed. He was home early. I panicked for a second, debated on whether or not I should I hide the suitcase, but I shook my head and zipped it, set it next to my nightstand. I went to the bathroom to grab my makeup and toothbrush.

“Y/n?” He said from the door to our room. I already wanted to burst into tears, but I couldn't. Not in front of him. He couldn't see how much I was hurting. I walked back into the room, “Hi,” I said softly, but I didn't dare look his way.

“What are you doing? Why is the suitcase out?”

I sighed and didn't answer for a while, trying to find the right words. “I’m going home for a while.”

“Home? You are home. What are you talking about?” He stepped farther into the room.

This was killing me because this was probably the longest conversation we've had in months. “No, Shawn. I'm going home. To y/h/t.” I finally looked up at him. He looked tired, so tired and I just wanted to put him to bed and have him rest for a few days, but I knew better than to say anything to him about how hard he was working himself. We've had that fight before. He thought I was having him choose between me and his work. I would never. (Because I know he'd choose work.)

“What?” He closed the distance between us, grabbing my elbows. This is the closest we've been in a while and it took everything in me not to melt into him. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Shawn,” I pulled away from him and tossed my bathroom bag on the bed.

“What? Is that not a fair question?” He was getting angry, that was obvious. “Why are you leaving?”

“Because I have to.”

“Were you going to tell me?” He asked again.

“Honestly? No. I didn't even think you'd notice.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“What the fuck are you-?” He threw his hands up. “Of course I would notice!”

“When? Huh? When there wasn't dinner for you in the fridge?”

“Y/N, where is this coming - what did I do?”

“I'm tired, Shawn.” I rubbed my temples.

“Why are you leaving?!” His voice rose, and if I hadn't heard him like this time and time again in the past year and half, I would probably be scared.

“Because I want to go home! Because I can't just sit here anymore!”

He crossed his arms, eyes wide. “This is your home! This is our home!”

“No,” I shook my head, letting out a bitter laugh. “It's not.”

“Yes it is.”

“Shawn, this doesn't feel like home. This condo is not my home! You would understand if you bothered to pay attention to anything I say anymore.”

“I do pay attention!” He said defensively.

“No, you don't! For four years all you've thought about was yourself and your career. You never ask me about me and mine. Which, by the way is pretty much nonexistent since I moved here.”

“So, it's my fault that you don't have a career? Don't you put that on me, y/n! You know I work hard to put this roof over your head and make sure the utilities and anything else you need is paid for.”

“I don't ask you to do that! And I'd pay for it if you would let me! It's not like you're here to use the utilities anyway.”

"What is your fucking problem?! Why are you doing this?!"

"Because I'm tired! I'm tired of being overlooked. I'm tired of everyone asking me how you are and how we are and having to lie to them. I'm tired of going to bed by myself and waking up the same way. I'm tired and I want to go home."

"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"

"I tried! You never listen. It's always 'I have an early day tomorrow, can we talk about this later?' Or 'I can't do this right now.' Or 'the boys are coming over, let's put a pin in it.'"

"You still haven't said why you're really going."

"I miss my family, Shawn! I miss my friends! I haven't seen them in two years and you don't care because it has nothing to do with you or your career!"

"Of course I care! How dare you say I don't?"

"How dare I?! How dare you?! You can't just come in here and act like you suddenly give a shit about what I'm doing! You haven't so much as looked my way in months, but now that I have a suitcase out, now you want to act like you care. That's bullshit and you know it."

"You can't just leave!"

"Yes, actually. I can. Because even though you feel like you do, you don't own me. I can make my own decisions. In fact, I've been doing a lot on my own recently."

"You're being ridiculous," he said with a scoff and an eye roll.

"I don't really think I am," I tugged at the ends of my hair. "I have a right to see my family. Even if I have to fly across the entire fucking continent to do so."

"Y/N-"

"Do you know how much I've given up for you?" I cut him off.

"Excuse me?"

"I moved to Canada for you. I left the only place I've ever known just because you asked me to. I left my friends and family. I left my job. I left my home to be with you in yours. Notice how I say this, Shawn. I'm in your home. Not ours. Yours. It's absolute fucking shit that I have had to give up everything I've ever known just to make you happy and you've never once said thank you. You don't act like you appreciate me. Half the time you act like I'm not fucking here. But I am, Shawn! I'm here and every night I make you dinner and I make sure the place is clean and your laundry is done. I do everything for you and you can't so much as look at me when I try to tell you about my shitty day or to say 'thank you for dinner, pumpkin' when you're coming to bed." I took in a shuddery breath, but didn't take my eyes off him. "I can't even remember the last time you kissed me goodbye when you were leaving in the morning. Or the last time you woke me up in the middle of the night because you thought of a new chord progression that you need a second opinion on. I don't remember the last time we made love to each other. Now, I don't know why you wanted me here, but I'm sick and tired of playing the role of the forgotten housewife. I'm absolutely fucking done!"

"What does that mean? Done. Done with what?"

"Us!" I said without realizing what was coming out of my mouth.

"Baby!" He reached for my hands again, his eyes practically popping out of his head. "I'm sorry! Okay? I know. I know I've been fucking up a lot lately-"

"You forgot our anniversary. And my birthday. Twice!"

"I said I was sorry about that. You know I was-"

"Working on the album. Yes, I know. I forgave you because you were under so much stress. But I'm stressed too, you know?" I pulled my hands away from him, wrapped my arms around my middle. "I'm here in a place that I still don't know that well. I don't have a single friend here that isnt your sister or one of the guys. And no matter what, they would tell you if I was feeling neglected or sad. But they shouldn't have to tell you! You should just know because we've been together for seven goddamn years and you know me better than anyone. You should know I'm not feeling well." I took in a deep breath before continuing. "But you don't. You don't notice that I've lost weight because I've been under so much stress that I can barely keep any food down. You don't notice that I clean this house spotless at least twice a week because I have nothing else to do, or that your laundry is always washed and put up. You don't notice anything I do for you and it hurts! I've given up everything in my life just to be with you and you. Don't. Care. That fucking hurts, Shawn! It hurts that you haven't realized that I'm not happy anymore!"

He flinched like I'd hit him. "You've never said that to me before," his intense gaze dropped to the floor.

I've never said it out loud before either and I felt just how powerful and hurtful those words acfually were. Not only for him, but for me. It hurt me to say that to him. To see his face after I said it. "Look," I said, guard down, defeated. "I'm going back to y/h/t for a little bit. I just - I need to get away from this for a while."

"Do you know when you're coming back?" He reached for my hand again and played with my fingers, swirled the promise ring he gave me six years ago that, even through all this, I've never taken off.

I shook my head. "No."

That's when he started to cry and I knew I had to get going before I changed my mind. "I need to do this, Shawn. I think it'll be best for the both of us. We need to figure out if this relationship is really what we want. If it's still worth the fight."

"I want you, y/n. I've never wanted anyone else the way I want you. Please." He took my right hand and rested it on his cheek, locking it there with his own hand. "Please stay. I'll be better. I'll work less. I'll make you feel as loved as you should be. I'll do anything you want me to. Just please," he begged again, his voice cracking. "I'll be lost without you. I can't- I can't lose you."

I sighed and kissed his temple, retracting my hands from his once again. "I have to go," I grabbed my bags.

He followed me out to the car, tears still streaking his face. I put my bags in the trunk and checked my purse to make sure I had my passport and ticket. Then I closed the trunk and stood face to face with my broken boy.

"Can I kiss you? Is that allowed?"

I nodded. I wanted more than anything for him to kiss me and never stop. I wanted this kiss go be enough to make me forget all that's fallen apart between us. Forget all the pain I've suffered watching him live his dream while I put mine on hold and stay in this house that isn't home, even when he isn't coming home and he can't send me something as miniscule as a text to tell me so.

But this lips still felt so good against mine. Like they were made to connect to my lips. His tongue wrestling with mine was heaven. To taste him again after so long without him felt surreal, and that's when I started crying because how could we be so terribly fucking broken and still be able to share a kiss like this? How could he still make my stomach do backflips when his fingers combed through my hair?

And how could it still not be enough?

"I love you," he pulled back, his forehead creasing as he fought back more tears.

I wanted to say it too. Wanted to put him at ease, but I'd been crumbling in that place for months upon months and some part of me, no matter how small, wanted him go hurt the way I have. Leave him wondering like he's left me. So I got in the car because the kiss, his words, they weren't enough.

***

So that's the end of that. Let me know if you want a part 2 I guess!

#shawn mendes blurb #shawn mendes fanfiction #shawn mendes imagine #shawn mendes #shawn peter raul #shawn mendes angst

469 notes · View notes