#Four hours ago I was feeling fine but I have the strangest feeling that once I actually lay down I'm gonna be Disturbed tomorrow when I wake

[liminalhymnal]

Getting sick is a lot like a zombie bite where I can feel my body getting slower and worse by the hour until I finally fall asleep and wake up groaning and dead

#Four hours ago I was feeling fine but I have the strangest feeling that once I actually lay down I'm gonna be Disturbed tomorrow when I wake #Uwah ah ahah <- The Down With Sickness noise when I start inevitably hacking up mucus from my lungs gn everybody

[earnestly-endlessly]

kind of an odd request — do you have fics where erik is grumpy with everyone else but a ray of sunshine with charles?

Hi anon, thank you for the ask. First and foremost, I'm so sorry for how long this took me but I've been searching for all the fics that come to mind that fit your request. Second, this is not an odd request because I love this trope so much. I mean, it's basically canon that he's grumpy with everyone except for his Charles, right? Anyway, I might add to this list later on, but I can't sit on this any longer and hope that you have found some fics that you enjoy!!

Fic Recs Where Erik is grumpy with everyone but a ray of sunshine with Charles

Twice as Blind – Darksknight

Summary: Erik is probably the biggest asshole on the face of the earth, and because of this, he'll probably die alone. Charles is a complete flirt and playboy and, probably, will never commit to anyone ever.

(The lesson here is that when you have two friends who are BOTH secretly seeing someone, well, it's probable that they're seeing each other.)

In the moonlight, on a joy ride – scarlettblush

Summary: Librarian AU. Charles is the young librarian and Erik is the college student who is completely besotted with him.

The Proper Care of Actors – Clear_Liqueur, Clocks, Etherei, afrocurl

Summary: Erik is an A-list action star who is notoriously difficult to work with, until the day he gets cast alongside Charles Xavier, rom-com darling who can charm the pants off movie audiences the world over and apparently even one Erik Lehnsherr. The paparazzi catch them out and about soon enough, and their real-life Hollywood movie romance becomes instant tabloid fodder.

Rumor Mill – ikeracity

Summary: Erik is the grumpiest, most foul tempered worker at Stark industries. His grumpiness is the stuff of legends.

So it's obviously the talk of the office when Erik is being made to go to the company party and he's bringing his husband. There's rumors flying round about how much of a masochist or equally antisocial bastard Erik's husband must be to put up with him. Others think he must be a meek mouse perhaps bullied by Erik.

What they weren't expecting was the confident, charming, adorable and unbelievably nice Charles that turns up on Erik's arm. What they certainly weren't expecting was how much Erik obviously adores his husband and how happy he is to let others see this.

Work/Life Balance – pocky_slash

Summary: Alex is pretty sure his weird, anti-social boss is a robot. Right up until the guy's adorable husband shows up. His adorable husband who happens to be a famous actor. His adorable husband who happens to be the very same famous actor who was the source of many of Alex's teenage fantasies.

Terrifying Domesticity – ishipitsobad

Summary: Erik is the most dangerous and notorious mafia boss around for miles, and yet the strangest things terrify him.

For example: his children, and his very pregnant mate.

Of kittens and teacups and love – Ren

Summary: Modern AU in which Charles and Erik are flatmates. Charles studies psychology and likes tea and chess and keeps bringing home stray kittens, and Erik lets him because he's maybe perhaps a little bit sort of in love with him.

Fools Rush In – LoveSupreme

Summary: Erik owns a cafe on the edge of campus and accidentally starts maybe-stalking a Biology Professor there.

Growing Pains – ikeracity

Summary: Twelve-year-old Erik Lehnsherr is an angry, closed-off foster kid with trust issues and a bad temper. Ten-year-old Charles Xavier is a lonely kid in boarding school who just wants a friend.

Logan pretends he doesn't think they're both fucking adorable.

Series

Home Together (The Finding Our Way Remix) – significantowl

Summary: Erik is not the sort of person other students strike up conversations with. His expression, his posture, every part of his manner say: Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to talk to you. But none of that stops the boy ahead of him in line with the collapsible white cane, and nothing can stop Erik from falling for him, like it or not.

Melted Ice Cream and Macaroni Art – pocky_slash

Summary: Everybody likes Charles. Nobody likes Erik. And that's really the source of Erik's doubts. Also, there's ice cream and a baby. Part of ‘the Daycare’ verse.

Walling in or Walling Out – stlkrchck

Summary: Erik stifles a sigh. Of course this is Mr. C. F. Xavier. Of course.

For the prompt: Charles and Raven are throwing a holiday party. Erik is the grumpy neighbor who is annoyed by how loud they are being. So he goes to complain, and Charles makes it up to him.

(Wise Men Say) Only Fools Rush In – wildelybroken

Summary: After reading a fic where Erik and Charles are super sluts, meet at what is presumably Raven and Emma's engagement party, and end up sleeping together, I made the following comment and just inspired myself.

"They start casually texting each other throughout the day, maybe while they’re bored or frustrated at work, and start out meeting up and sleeping together semi-frequently. And eventually they accidentally start dating without noticing it at first, not until Raven and Emma get them alone and are like “wtf you two super sluts are actually dating??” And at first they deny, but then they’re both like “holy shit, we are!” And they meet back at one of their places and they don’t have to say anything, they just look at each other and come together immediately, kissing passionately and ~making love~. In the middle of it they realise that’s what they’ve been doing for a long time now and they confess their love to each other and they live happily ever after because they deserve all the good in the world."

For Charles – Shigai

Summary: Tired of being told he has to find his 'heart', classical piano graduate Erik Lehnsherr decides to travel to Italy and drink from the famous Italian passion for music. While searching for it, he meets Charles Xavier, a graduate in Fine Arts who is basically travelling around the world perfectioning his technique, and who will turn his world upside down.

Together they will discover that, sometimes, what you thought you didn't need is what you needed the most.

Erik Hates People – Anonymous

Summary: Erik hates people- it's his rule, a way of living.

Sugar – humanitys_cutest

Summary: Erik glances at the clock for what feels like the tenth time in less than half the minutes. It feels like he's been in some meeting or other since the day started almost 10 hours ago, and he's had just about enough of listening to these pompous old men discuss what would be the best design for his building like they know anything about it. He tries as subtly as possible to massage his temples to assuage the building migraine, but he knows it's no use.

He just wants to go home.

Everyone Likes Charles – Rosawyn

Summary: '“Everyone who's met him likes him.” Cain's grin was even stupider than before. “Once you meet him, you'll see.”

It was almost like a challenge then. And damn. Erik hated saying no to a challenge.'

Still Going Strong – JackyJango

Summary: Speaking of forty-eight, Erik hates it. Hates it even more that others are aware of it. While he’s pragmatic enough to know and accept that aging is inexorable, the increase in number gives the people around him the freedom to pounce at him with questions, opinions and advice he'd fought to keep at bay all year.

Besides, Erik believes that youth is a state of mind, not a phase in one’s life.

You have a child’s mind in a man’s body, Charles constantly tells him.

But despite his age, Erik is healthy. He works out daily. His muscles are steel and he can dead-lift four hundred pounds. He can break bones without breaking a sweat. Most importantly, he can still carry Charles to the bedroom and fuck him senseless. And as long as Erik can do that, he’s perfectly happy.

All I know is pouring rain and everything has changed – hllfire

Summary: Charles meets Erik, the man he had heard about many times from his sister and some friends, on a rainy Sunday morning. The stories about Erik paint him as a distant and intimidating man, but Charles finds out that maybe the stories had been wrong.

How to Successfully Ruin Your Life – humanveil

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Charles Xavier accepts a job at his local café, expecting nothing more than a fun, new pastime. What he gets is a mysterious customer and a schoolboy crush.

Stolen – ishipitsobad

Summary: Erik is a miserable, grumpy, cantankerous bastard, and he has every fucking right to be. He drew the short end of the stick when he got the Underworld as his domain, and there isn't very much fun to be had in judging and governing dead souls who would rather be anywhere else but with Erik in the depths of Hell.

So when he meets Charles, brilliant and lovely Charles who is more popularly known amongst the mortals as Persephone, and feels the promise of something wonderful that could make his eternally doomed existence infinitely more bearable... you can bet all your drachmas Erik's not going to let Charles go any fucking time soon.

Erik Lehnsherr's Guide to Saving the Universe By Meeting Your Soul-Mate and Falling in Love in Less than 72 Hours – magneto, pangea

Summary:Army Pilot Erik Lehnsherr is just trying to enjoy his day off when a mostly naked person crashes through the roof of his car. Even more alarming, the strange falling naked person—who goes by Charles Xavier when he's not speaking an ancient dead language—brings tidings of the apparent potential end of the world, and begs Erik to help him put a stop to it.

Well. His mother has been nagging at him to go out and meet new people.

The Theory of Partnership Dynamics – Pangea

Summary: “Detective Lehnsherr, how wonderful to see you out on the job!” The fed in the front greets him as they draw nearer. He’s shorter than the other two by a full head, and he’s beaming at Lehnsherr as if completely undeterred by Lehnsherr’s paint-peeling scowl.

“What do the feds want?” Lehnsherr asks bluntly.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” the fed answers cheerfully. Then his gaze lands on Alex, and, impossibly, his grin gets even brighter. “Did you get a new partner?"

“No,” Lehnsherr says through his teeth while at the same time Alex says, “Yes.”

#fic recs #cherik fic recs #cherik #asks #earnestly answers #I'm sure there are waaaay more fics out there #might add more later

[anika-ann]

In the Strangest Place (We Just Might Find Love) - Pt.2

Type: two-shot, pretty much canon

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader     Word count: 2750

Summary: You’re hiding from your boss in a supply closet, minding your own business, when a stranger joins you unexpectedly.

Steve is not entirely a stranger anymore; he knows about your troubles and you know about his. And he’s determined to sort out yours this very moment.

Warnings: mention of sexual harassment, a bit of angst, language, something that might be close to a panic attack if you squint

A/N: There we go... hopefully I’ll make mid-week a bit sweeter for some of you ;)

Part 1

“Alright, kids. Let’s have a trip.”

And you just stared.

…what?

“W-what?” you stuttered, suddenly consumed by the familiar feeling of losing the firm ground under your feet at the idea of trying to confront Gregory head-on. Not even Steve at your side was helping at all as the four of you started walking towards the IT department.

“I-I don’t have any prove! I can’t-- he told me he would--- that he would-”

“That he’d twist it around, convince the HR that you were crushing on him and he turned you down, which turned you into a soulless bitch craving revenge?” the billionaire finished for you and you just uselessly opened you mouth, unable to let out a word to deny it. It seemed to amuse him, because he scoffed; and there was something very bitter in that sound too. “Kid, he’s not the first asshole to take advantage of his superior position. I’ve seen the types. Relax. If Cap here believes you, then so do I. Plus, I know a liar when I see one. And you ain’t lying.”

You breathed in shakily, a flicker of hope igniting in your chest. Could it really be so easy? That couldn’t be right…

“T-thank you, Mr. Stark. I-”

“Yeah, yeah, just name your first kid after me,” Mr. Stark uttered, waving it off.

The Falcon next to you chuckled and you shot Steve a confused gaze. Was that how Mr. Stark usually was? You had never met him in person; you had only ever heard him giving a speech on TV and you knew he had a certain reputation, but this was… different.

You were surprised to find Steve watching you; perhaps he worried about your reaction to such bluntness, since he had seen your outburst in the closet. Upon meeting your gaze – probably shy and undeniably surprised – he charmed a tiny smile for you.

“It’s gonna be okay, see?”

“What are you even worried about? You have three Avengers coming with you!” Mr. Wilson questioned lightly and you bit your lower lip as you thought of the source of anxiety indeed.

Yeah, I have three Avengers and they are all men. Sue me for not being sure which side they would take – not until now.

“You’re not a full-time Avenger, Wilson.”

Falcon gasped, clutching at his chest theatrically at Stark’s remark. “Ouch, Tony. My heart.”

You let out a breathy laugh at their banter and felt yourself relax despite your better judgement. You almost let yourself believe it truly would go alright. Well, as much as dealing with such shitty thing could.

“You’re all my heroes,” you whispered timidly, which earned you a bright smile from Sam Wilson.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Cruel, Birdboy. You stole the old man’s line,” Mr. Stark hummed, amused.

“Heh! Sorry, Cap. But I’m sure you have a whole set of other lines to use on her.”

You choked on your own spit as Steve faltered in his steps, his grip on you growing stronger. What the hell did the Falcon just say?

“Oh my God, Wilson, shut up before we get stuck with another harassment report.”

“I don’t think this a subject for joking,” Steve interjected, slightly irritated, and you shot him a grateful look, because he definitely had a point.

Except… once you weren’t in such a sticky situation, you totally wouldn’t mind Steve Rogers using a line on you. Not at all. And his hand around yours felt nice for multiple reasons, the wordless comfort and support only being one of them. It was warm and slightly calloused, a reminder of his physical work, and it was bigger than yours, so sweetly and distractingly enveloping yours…

But now it was so not the time.

Your peculiar group approached the office and you didn’t even have the time to brace yourself as Tony Stark simply threw the door open, not bothering to knock.

“Thomas Ian Gregory, you are fired this very second,” the billionaire exclaimed dramatically.

You would think he was just being a drama queen, except he sounded deadly serious, using your boss’ full name which he must have read out on the door, and his eyes were throwing daggers at the man sitting behind the desk, looking as if he was the fucking king of the world.

Your boss blinked in surprise and eyed all four of you; Falcon with his arms crossed on his chest, Ironman minus his suit with a murderous glare and a hand raised towards him as if he wanted to point a finger and then Gregory’s gaze fell on your hand connected with Steve’s; you wanted to retrieve it quickly, but Steve wouldn’t let you, his grip growing firm. Anger flashed through your boss’ eyes for a second, before he composed himself and rose from his chair with an innocently confused expression.

You wanted to puke and you felt your legs turning into a shaking mess of jello. This was it. Now he would use his slimy words to turn this situation around and you were about to get fired and humiliated so much that jumping under a bus would be the most likeable option for you.

“Mr. Stark, it’s an honour. Captain Rogers, Mr. Wilson. What do I owe the pleasure?”

You couldn’t believe this--- this pig. Seriously. Who the fuck did he think he was?! How could he--- just lie so easily, pretending that everything was perfectly fine?!

But Tony Stark was not fooled by the charade and you mentally sighed in relief, sure they must have heard the weight falling off of your shoulders even in Jersey.

“I’m sure you heard me, Mr. Gregory. You quit and you’ll be hearing from the HR soon. And you’ll be damn lucky if this young lady right here won’t sue you.”

You honestly wished you were invisible when Gregory’s gaze flickered to you, subtle anger with a promise of consequences in his irises – consequences that would come should you not cut this bullshit right now.

“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Mr. Stark. If this is about the unfortunate feelings my assistant has for me-”

Tears of rage and baseless shame stung in your eyes at his words and you breathed in sharply to defend yourself; before you could, Gregory continued.

“Though I can see they weren’t very… honest. Obviously my inferior seems to be the ‘love them and leave them’ type, which I should warn you about, Capta-”

Breathless at his malicious made-out theories, you did not expect Steve to drop your hand in favour to tower over your boss, making him shut up with one single glare.

Alright, you could see why he had thought that simply appearing at your office would make Gregory tremble in fear. Your boss actually backed off and learnt onto a table, looking as if he was supporting himself under the weight of Steve’s judgement.

“I met this woman for the first time not half an hour ago, hiding from you, too scared of your dirty hands to return to her own workplace. Trust me, it left an impression, just like you are leaving one now,” Steve grunted menacingly, causing your heart to pound in your chest in fright even with his words not aimed on you. “If I can give an advice, you pack your things as fast as you can, apologize to her profusely, begging for her forgiveness and you don’t set a foot in this building or speak to her ever again. Do we have an understanding?”

You weren’t the only one affected. Your boss tried to reciprocate Captain America’s glare, but he failed miserably. He visibly gulped and circled his desk, still watching the soldier as if he was expecting to get hit; then his eyes just dropped to his desk and he frantically started picking random things from it.

You watched the scene in front of you, paralyzed. Your heart was beating its way out of your chest, pulsing in your temples, your breathing alternating between hitching and picking up. Your vision started to swim.

Holy. Shit.

“Cap, I think you broke her.”

Steve spun to you at instant, his eyes roaming your face; or you thought so. He looked worried now; or you thought so. Thinking and frankly evaluating the stimuli your senses were receiving was a bit difficult at the moment.

What the hell had just happened?

Gentle hands took yours, leading you out of the room. You blindly followed, unsure how to put one foot in front of the other, your body running on autopilot.

It was over. Thomas Gregory was no longer your boss and it had happened without you losing your job. And Steve Rogers had scolded him as if he was a five-year old kid – a very pervert one, but a kid nonetheless. Steve put a fucking fear of God into him. All of that happening within three minutes. And you just… couldn’t quite process all that.

You barely registered getting into and out of an elevator, being seated on a couch, having a blanket tossed over your shoulders and a cup of warm liquid pressed into your hands. You automatically brought it to your lips, only to be stopped by a tender fingers curling around your wrist.

“Careful. It might be too hot,” a pleasant voice warned you and you blinked, finally focusing your gaze, finding rather worried and very handsome face staring back.

You glanced at the cup, surprised to identify the drink as Steve’s hand let go of yours.

“Is that… is that hot chocolate?” you stuttered, bewildered. Well, more like… astonished.

“Yeah. You’re not allergic to milk or anything, are you?”

You looked up back to Steve’s face, only to find him with his brows furrowed in concern, lips thoughtfully pursed. It snapped you to action.

“No! No. It’s just… I didn’t have one in years. Thank— thank you.”

His expression cleared, as he was evidently pleased with himself. “Good. You’re welcome.”

The words fell off his lips so easily. As if he just hadn’t… hadn’t saved your career. Or your mental health, really.

You eyed the table by the couch, setting the cup down, only to fully turn to him. He seemed a bit confused at that; but God, you had something important to say and since you didn’t want to give up the blanket just yet, you decided to get rid of the mug at least to look less pathetic.

“No, Steve, I… thank you,” you whispered sincerely, feeling tears in your eyes for like a millionth time that day. His smile widened a little.

“You’re welcome. I’m sorry if I… if I scared you down there. It wasn’t meant for you.”

“You didn’t-” you blurted out in attempt to deny it and make him feel better, only to waver as his eyebrow rose, picture perfect of doubt. It made you chuckle at yourself self-deprecatingly. “It’s not your fault that I was… surprised by your little hulk-out. I guess I just didn’t see it coming.”

“Hulk-out, huh? How do you feel?”

You shrugged, exhaling slowly, thinking hard about your answer.

“Like I just watched my life take a way better turn that I would expect... and I’m still only watching,” you whispered honestly, which led to his face twisting in a grimace.

“Anything I can do?”

You couldn’t help it; you scanned your surroundings, realizing you were in something that looked fancy enough to belong to Tony Stark and was way too big to be part of an actual apartment. You ran your hand down the blanket covering your shoulders, reaching for the abandoned cup to blow on it softly and take a careful sip of chocolate. Steve’s questioning gaze observed you while you did so and you smiled blissfully into the cup as the delicious rich taste caressed your tongue.

“You mean besides comforting me despite being a complete stranger, getting my harassing boss fired and scaring the hell out of him, taking me to--- here, giving me a blanket and making the best cup of hot chocolate I had in years? Give me a second, I’m sure I’ll figure out something else,” you babbled and Steve’s smile grew, tense shoulders relaxing. “Seriously, Steve. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I owe you. I- I know you’re a hero and all that, but… yeah. I should be asking you what I could do for you in return.”

“That’s not-- I’m not--- ...you make a pleasant company,” he said in the end as if he realized he couldn't deny any of the things you had listed. You lowered your gaze to the chocolate as his eyes twinkled at the statement.

“Ditto.”

“Does that-” he blurted out and you tilted your head to side, watching him curiously when he stopped talking just as abruptly. “This is a terrible timing, but that’s apparently an infamous quality of mine, because usually I wait too long, and… uhm…”

Your heart skipped a beat at the suddenly embarrassed soldier scratching the back of his neck, peeking at your through his eyelashes. Was that--- was he trying to-? No, it couldn’t be.

“Yeah?” you softly encouraged him to continue.

He wetted his lips, causing your previously tight gut to warm up.

“I understand that it’s the last thing you’re thinking about right now, but… when you settle down again... and things are a bit calmer for you… would you- uhm,  like to… maybe spend some more time with--- with me?”

If he had blurted the sentence in one go, you would have dropped your mug in surprise despite suspecting this incredible thing when he had turned bashful. But he didn’t so your brain had enough time to process the words slowly leaving his lips, one after another, little shy, little hopeful. Your heart was speeding up with each of them, ready to burst when he finished with a tiny nervous smile.

Well. How could you possibly say no to that irresistible creature in front of you? You smiled into your drink.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

His face lit up. “Really?”

You wanted to chuckle at the pure surprise on his face, but it was just too endearing and so you had to fight the urge to make an embarrassing sound like an aww instead.

“Yeah, Steve. I’d really like that,” you repeated, hiding the teasing note in your voice. “But you’ve got to teach me how to make a chocolate that good, because seriously, it tastes amazing.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” you demanded, a bit hurt, rather surprised. “I don’t want you to give up your secret recipe right away! Just… in time.”

He grinned at you boyishly, leaning a bit closer to you. You held your breath in anticipating, a the change. “I could. But then I wouldn’t get to enjoy the process of preparing it for you and your smile in return.”

You stared at him for few moments, taking the statement in, wondering if he was teasing you or was being serious. The corners of his lips were quirked up as if he was indeed joking, but there was a certain spark of honesty in his eyes.

You decided to play along, whether it was a game or not. Perhaps it was the relief of newly found freedom from a sleazy man in your life that plucked up your courage and woke up your jovial side.

“Aww, Steve, that’s so sweet. Is that your way of telling me you’re planning on spoiling me? Because then I would need significantly less time to… settle down.”

His grin widened at your words. “Is that so?”

“Mm.”

“Well then…” he brought up lowly, torturing you with anticipation when he didn’t continue, only to watch you with a mischievous smile.

“...then?”

“What are your plans for Friday evening?”

Oh, you were so glad you were sitting, because otherwise the force of the moment in which Steve Rogers asked you out on Friday night would knock you down.

You tried to think of an answer that wouldn’t sound like an over-enthusiastic YES, but his blue eyes staring into yours made it very difficult for you.

Dammit, it was harder to talk to him when you could actually see--- you smiled smugly at the idea that popped up in your head and raised an eyebrow in silent challenge.

“I’m hiding in a supply closet. Why, you wanna join me?”

Steve burst out laughing, throwing his head back with that sound and the picture armed your heart so thoroughly it was unfair.

“Sure thing. Would you like me to bring muffins and coffee or do you prefer an actual dinner?”

You found yourself laughing too and you suddenly believed that your life would indeed get better. It already had, after all.

S.R. masterlist

Beautiful divider by @whimsicalrogers 

Thank you for the kind feedback on the first part and I hope you liked this one too :))

Thank you for reading!

#fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers imagine #captain america imagine #captain america x you #captain america x reader #steve rogers #captain america #steve rogers fluff #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers fanfic #mcu #marvel #in the strangest place we just might find love #anika ann

[justlightlysedated]

24 or 25...or 31.....or 32....

31. You will receive the same injuries as your soulmate (unless deadly).

Alex is in the middle of speaking when his voice cuts out with a gurgle.

Alex feels the pain sharp and sudden in the hollow of his throat and he lifts a hand to his neck, and feels the blood, hot and gushing.

It immediately pools in his palm and starts slipping between his fingers.

Alex looks over to Kyle, who is looking at him in horrified silence.

"Michael," he breathes out, and the word seems to snap Kyle out of it.

Before Alex is really aware of it, Kyle has him down on the dirt outside, putting pressure on his wound, talking into his phone, but all Alex can fully concentrate on is Michael, that Michael is hurt. Not badly enough to kill him, no, probably because Max was around.

But Alex, Alex is pretty sure that he's not gonna make it.

Which is why it's such a surprise that he opens his eyes and finds himself blinking up at the hospital ceiling.

It takes him a second longer than usual to remember how he got here, and once he does, he's sitting up, and trying to rip the IV off, needing to leave as soon as possible. Pain spears up the back of his neck and down to his right shoulder, making him grunt in pain.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kyle is saying, pushing Alex back down on the bed. "You need to keep still. You shouldn't even be awake yet."

"How long?" Alex asks, needing to know how much time has passed. He has the strangest feeling that something monumentally bad was about to happen, and he needed to get to Michael before it did.

"About three hours," Kyle says. "We just got you settled into this room."

"I need to go," Alex says as firmly as he can.

Kyle gives him a highly incredulous look, "You just got out of surgery. You move too much and you can rip your stitches open, and actually bleed out."

Alex just shakes his head, "I'll strap my right arm to my chest and not do any heavy lifting, I promise. But I have to leave. I need to see-"

He cuts himself off, shaking his head, and looks at Kyle as seriously and capable as he can manage, "I need to get out of here. And I will, with or without your help."

Kyle sighs, long and loud, and then steps forward, turning the machines that were monitoring Alex's signs off, "You will be careful. And you will be coming in tomorrow morning so that I can check you over."

He looks at Alex seriously, and Alex just looks back at him unwavering.

Kyle puts the sling on him, and threatens to put him in a brace if Alex didn't agree to the wheelchair.

Alex had ordered an Uber and it was waiting for him once he got out.

He let Kyle help him into the car, but he waited until the driver was on his way before he let his head fall back, wincing just a little when it pulled at his stitches.

He breathed out heavily, looking up at the roof of the car, and watched the fabric at the corner right where the wind shield is, flapping in the cool AC breeze, and he hopes that Michael is okay, that Max got to him in time.

The Uber leaves him right in front of the Airstream, and Alex gives the driver five stars and an extra tip, since he didn't speak and didn't play any music, just let Alex stew in his silence.

The truck isn't there, and Alex can see his car, and can just barely make out the dark spot where he'd been bleeding out until the ambulance had gotten there.

Alex presses a hand to the gauze wrapped around his neck and he swallows hard, wincing slightly.

He gets inside of the Airstream and sits down heavily on top of the small bed, lifting his free hand to his head.

His stomach clenches unpleasantly, and the anxiety makes him bounce his knee a little too fast, and he can��t shake the feeling that something really bad is going to happen.

He spends almost half an hour trying and failing not to think the worse, and when he hears the crunch of the tires pulling up, he feels the relief threatening to overwhelm him, but he tries to keep a lid on his hope until the door to the Airstream gets pulled open and Michael runs up the steps.

He turns towards where Alex is, and Michael stops frozen, staring at Alex.

Alex's eyes dart all over him, and he stares at the blood staining the collar of Michael's sweater, the mark spreading down his chest and across his shoulder. And Michael’s eyes dart all over him at the same time, making a low pained sound when he sees the white bandages wrapped around his throat.

They both move forward at once, and Michael’s hand hovers above his shoulder while Alex stares at the mark less spot on Michael’s neck.

“You’re okay,” Michael says, voice coming out choked. “I thought for sure it would’ve killed you.”

“No,” Alex says, swallowing hard. “If it would’ve been fatal then I wouldn’t have gotten the wound.”

“Just because it wasn’t fatal for me doesn’t mean that it won’t be for you,” Michael says, the words sounding familiar, like it was something that Alex had told him before.

“I’m fine,” Alex says, shrugging a little, and wincing as the move tightens the bandages across the stitches. 

Michael steps closer, and presses one hand to Alex’s jaw, tipping his head upwards with fingers pressed against his chin as he undoes the bandages wrapped around his throat with his other hand.

Michael lets the gauze fall to the floor, before he unpeels the square bandage tapped over the stitches.

Alex winces as the adhesive tugs against his skin, but he doesn’t say anything as Michael stares at the wound.

He hadn’t asked Kyle how many stitches, but the cut didn’t feel like it was big, only deep.

Michael’s breathing shakes, but he doesn’t say anything as he tips Alex’s further to the side and then ducks his head down, leaning in close and pressing his mouth right to the spot where Alex feels the pain flashing red and hot.

He shudders at the dual sensations of pain and pleasure that sweep through him, and Michael just inhales ragedly and presses another kiss against his skin, before he’s leaning away, and pressing his hand across the wound, palm pressing tightly against his skin.

Alex hisses because it hurts, opening his mouth to ask Michael what he’s doing, but then he gasps as a bright light begins to fill the room, coming from where Michael has his hand pressed to Alex’s neck.

Alex feels heat, like a balm spreading across every spot where he hurts and aches, and gently sweeping it away.

Michael gasps a little after a moment, a small and painful thing, and he pulls away from Alex then, turning to brace himself on the counter.

Alex swallows hard, eyes wide and staring at Michael, and he lifts his hand to his neck, and he can still feel the stitches against the tips of his fingers, but he can’t feel any of the pain.

“I can’t really heal, I haven’t practiced nearly enough for that, but I can take the pain away, at least for a little bit,” Michael says after a second, and Alex focuses his gaze on him, and sees that Michael is staring at him from beneath the fringe of curls that have fallen across his face.

“Thanks, anyway,” Alex says, taking a step closer to Michael and wanting to reassure him in some way, but Michael takes a step back away from him, shaking his head.

“I’m sorry,” he says when Alex frowns at the move. “I want to sit with you, and maybe lie down with you and just go to sleep and forget this god awful day for a good twenty-four hours, but I can’t. Noah is still out there, and so are Max and Isobel, and I know they’re in danger, and I have to help them.”

Michael turns to look at him, eyes bright with tears, and Alex just crosses the couple of feet separating them and he puts his hand to Michael’s face, and shudders when Michael leans into the touch almost desperately. 

“Then go and help them,” Alex says softly, and Michael’s eyes snap open, and he looks at Alex, slightly incredulous. 

“Go help them, “ Alex repeats, moving closer. “But promise me you’ll come back. We need to talk. There’s so many things that I want to say to you. So many things that I should’ve said to you a long time ago.”

Michael nods his head and pushes his face forward, pressing his forehead to Alex’s, both of their eyes falling shut.

“I promise,” Michael says, voice low and earnest, and Alex just shuts his eyes tighter, pressing his fingers harder to Michael’s face, wishing that he could keep him here and safe by sheer force of will, but knowing that when it involves Max and Isobel that whatever he wants comes second.

He pulls away from Michael then, and Michael’s eyes flutter open and he stares at Alex, as Alex takes a couple of steps backwards and drops back to sit on Michael’s bed.

“Then go,” he says, feeling like maybe he’ll be able to actually fall asleep, and wonders if Michael’s trick with the pain also erased some of his anxiety.

“I’ll be right here, waiting,” he finishes.

Michael nods his head once, and he heads towards the laundry, pulling his bloody sweater over his head and pulling on a clean shirt.

He stops right by Alex, and then leans down and presses his forehead to Alex’s temple.

“I’ll be back,” he says, and Alex just lets his eyes fall shut and he doesn't open them again until he hears the truck driving away, taking with it the peace and warmth Alex had been feeling a couple of seconds ago.

He breathes in shakily and carefully leans back on the bed, looking up at the ceiling and feeling like this was going to be a long night.

#malexprompts2021 #thank you for the prompts my dear this is the one i picked! #i hope you like it 😊😊❤ #me constantly thinking about the retcon malex scene where alex was very clearly telling michael that he was ready to fight for him?? #more likely than you think

[fruitcoops]

hi! i was wondering if you could do couples play truth or drink with coops and o’knutzy? i wouldn’t mind it being spicy :))

This is VERY spicy, so please be aware of that before you go in. Coops and O’Knutzy belong to @lumosinlove!

TW for many mentions of sex and alcohol

Sirius was warm, a little tipsy, and perfectly content. The carpet was soft under his palms and Remus was cuddled happily against his side from their spot on the floor; across from him, Logan was sitting in Leo’s lap with his legs over Finn’s, whose Spotify ‘gaylist’ played from the speakers. Their cheeks were all a little pink from alcohol and Sirius was glad they were staying the night instead of driving home.

“Okay, okay, new game,” Leo laughed as they gathered the last of the Scrabble pieces. The five of them had made it through a whole fifteen minutes before Remus and Finn began arguing about symbolism in Great Expectations, while Sirius sat on the sidelines deeply regretting his choice to build ‘mansion’ for a triple-word score. Twenty points really wasn’t worth the near-fistfight.

“It’s time,” Logan singsonged as he took the truth or drink cards off the coffee table, which had been pushed aside to make room for their game board. “The rules for this are a little different. Do you have alcohol?”

Sirius scoffed. “Of course we have alcohol, we’re adults.”

“Other than wine.”

“Mon dieu,” he muttered, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet and walked back into the kitchen. He returned a few moments later with a bottle of cheap whiskey he had been given on his birthday and set it in the middle of their circle, along with five glasses. “There.”

“Before we start, let’s make an agreement that whatever we say stays in this room, alright?” Finn held his hand out, palm down, and they stacked theirs on top. “No cameras, no holding back.”

“Deal. Who goes first?”

“Alright, so with the group game, there’s one judge each round,” Logan explained as he took a few cards out and put them face down. “Every card has two questions and the judge decides who asks who. They give the card to the person with the best answer, and whoever has the most cards at the end wins. Ready?”

“Let’s do it.”

Finn drew a card. “Okay, I want Remus to ask Leo the first one, and Leo asks Remus the second one.”

“Have you ever walked in on your parents?” Remus asked.

Leo groaned. “Yeah.”

“Not Eloise and Wyatt!”

“Yes, Eloise and Wyatt. Scarred me for life, that’s for sure.” Leo shuddered and took the card, immediately grinning. “This is a good one. What’s your most embarrassing sex moment?”

“I really want to drink.”

“You can’t chicken out this early!”

“Ugh, fine.” Remus ran a hand down his face, which was faintly red. “Um, it was after my first game with the Lions and I tried to ride and…” He sighed. “My legs were too tired to actually sit up.”

“No,” Finn gasped, looking like a kid on Christmas morning. “You couldn’t even get up?”

“I could get up, I just couldn’t move.” Remus tucked his knees under himself. “Like, I got to here and it was fine, but there was nothing left.”

Sirius snickered. “Almost broke my sternum trying, though.”

All three cubs burst out laughing. “This one goes to Loops,” Finn managed after a moment, wiping a tear from his eye as he handed the card over. “Oh, shit, that’s the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. Leo, you’re up.”

“Okay…I want Cap to ask Logan the first one, and vice versa.”

Any higher power, give me strength. “What’s your favorite position, Tremzy?”

Logan grinned cheekily. “Middle.”

“Didn’t need to know that.”

“Too bad. When was the last time you had sex?”

“It would have been three and a half hours ago if your boyfriend didn’t insist on being early to everything.”

“I knew it!” Finn practically shouted. “I told you two they were fucking.”

“Did you bet on that?” Remus asked, incredulous. “Oh my god!”

“It was less of a bet and more of an assumption,” Leo corrected. “Cap, answer the question.”

“Last night.”

“That’s a lame-ass answer and I’m giving the card to Lo.”

“Bias,” he coughed, earning himself three different smacks to the shoulders. “Rude.”

“My turn!” Logan reached over for a new card. “Loops, ask Finn the first one, and Finn, ask Loops the second.”

Remus cleared his throat, took a second to laugh, and then read. “Name the person here you think I should hook up with.”

Finn snorted. “Aside from your actual fiancé?” They both turned to Logan, who shrugged. “Alright, which one of my boyfriends am I willing to hand over for a night? I feel like you’d object to sleeping with Lo because he’s basically Sirius’ brother. You and Leo are close already, which means it wouldn’t be all that awkward. Honestly, when it comes down it, I’d tap that.”

“Oh, you think you’re doing the tapping?” Remus raised an eyebrow and Finn glanced at Sirius, who grinned. “That’s cute. My turn, Harzy, hand it over.”

Finn obliged, shocked into silence while Leo and Logan cackled next to him. “Are you really surprised?” Sirius asked.

“I mean, a little.”

“Shush, you two. Finn, have you ever done anything sexual on camera?”

“Does Snapchat count?”

“Yes.”

“Then yes. Multiple times.”

The five of them looked to Logan, who shook his head. “I’m going to have to give it to Loops, who is apparently a top, much to everyone’s surprise. Sorry, mon rouge.”

“To clarify, I’m a switch,” Remus said as he added the card to his pile. “Let’s not get too hasty here.”

Sirius took a card off the stack and scanned the two questions. “Logan, ask Leo the first one, and vice versa.”

“Oh, this should be interesting. Knutty, who here do you most want to hook up with?”

“Just one?” Leo looked over to Sirius who nodded. “Fuck, I don’t know. I can’t choose!”

“Are you going to drink?” Sirius asked. “That means you lose the card by default.”

“Yeah, I’m not going to choose between my boyfriends.” He downed the shot and reached for the card. “Have you ever had an awkward sex dream? Was anyone here involved?”

“Fuck,” Logan muttered. “Yes, I have had so many awkward sex dreams and several of them involved people in this room.”

“Aw, Tremzy, I’m flattered,” Remus teased, taking a sip of his water as Logan stretched a leg out to kick him in the thigh. “Do I get to be the judge now, seeing as you won by default?”

“Get me some cards, Loops!” Finn said.

“Sirius, ask Finn question one and Finn, ask him question two.” Remus kissed Sirius on the cheek as he handed him the card.

“Harzy, what’s the sexy nickname they’ll give you in the old folks’ home? You have no idea how bad I want to know this.”

Finn winked. “Big Red.”

“That is the shittiest nickname ever. Do better.”

“Ugh, fine. Hmmm…” He hummed along to the playlist while he thought, and Sirius couldn’t help but bop a bit as well. Sue him, Gloria Gaynor was catchy. “My nickname in the nursing home is going to be Harzy because that’s already sexy. Hand it over, Cap. What’s a sexual thing you tried, but just couldn’t get into?”

“Having sex with women.” The entire group burst out laughing at that, and it took a solid minute for everyone to calm down enough to continue. “It’s true! They were all very nice and lovely, but it wasn’t quite right. Alright, Re, who won?”

“You did,” Remus laughed. “By a landslide, holy fuck. Batter up, Harz.”

“Ha! Everyone has to answer this one except me. What’s the sex skill you’re most proud of?”

“Do we just go around the circle?” Leo asked. Finn nodded and he tilted his head. “Hmm. I’m really flexible.”

“Damn right you are,” Logan grinned. “I’m most proud of my riding ability.”

Sirius did not miss the flush that came to both Finn and Leo’s faces at that. “Easy, boys. I think I’m a really good kisser.”

“That’s not a sex skill!” Finn protested. “Everyone can kiss.”

Remus huffed a laugh. “Not like he can, trust me. Um, I give top-notch blowjobs.”

Finn looked between the four of them, deep in thought. “I hate having to choose between my boyfriends.”

“You know there are two other people here, right?” Sirius asked drily.

“Yeah, but I don’t have to go home with you tomorrow and neither of you are in direct control of whether or not I get laid. I think I have to go with Logan on this one. Peanut, I am grateful for your flexibility every single day, but it’s not a specifically sexual talent.”

“We’ll see if you get to experience it ever again,” Leo scoffed, flicking him on the ribs playfully. “My turn. Logan, ask Finn the first one.”

“Okay, baby, what did you get in major trouble for as a kid?”

“Oh, that’s tough.” Finn absentmindedly ran his hand through Logan’s hair. “There was one time when I told Alex I was going for a bike ride, but he didn’t tell my parents and they thought I’d been kidnapped. Got grounded for a month after that.”

“Even though you told your brother?”

“Mhmm. Oh, I hate the way this is worded. Tell us about a time a fluid got on you during sexy times.”

Logan snorted. “Do you remember the day we found out I was allergic to dust?”

Both Leo and Finn started laughing, but Sirius shared a bewildered look with Remus, who shrugged. “Spill it, Tremz, we weren’t there.”

“D’accord, we had forgotten to clean the apartment after a roadie, so it was pretty dusty. I went down on Leo and then pulled off to sneeze right as he came, and it got in my eye.”

Sirius winced at the thought and Remus hissed in sympathy. “Yikes.”

“After we finished rinsing my eye out, we dusted the whole place and now we vacuum at least once a week.”

“Logan is the winner for this round because I still feel bad about that,” Leo said as he handed the card over. “I have never felt so guilty for coming. Lo, you’re the judge now.”

“Since the questions stayed within the triad last round, I’m going to be nice and give you two a chance to catch up,” he teased. “Cap, read Loops the first one.”

“Alright, sweetheart, what’s the strangest place you’ve had sex?”

“I don’t think a lot of people can say they’ve fucked at the rink.”

“Yeah, um, how often did that happen?” Leo interrupted, making a time out motion. “Because I thought it was maybe twice and I’m a little worried about sitting on that table now.”

Sirius winked. “Pre-game rituals, Knutty. At least once a week.”

“The Habs PT room was also interesting,” Remus mused. “They had a very heavy door, which was nice. Okay, gimme. What was your best orgasm?”

“When I wore your jersey,” Sirius answered without hesitating. “No contest. Logan, who won?”

He blinked twice before responding. “Sorry, I’m still stuck on the fact that you got off in the Habs PT room. I think this one goes to Loops.”

Sirius sighed and picked a new card. “These are incredibly similar. Um, Re and Leo.”

Remus took the card and snuggled up against his side as he read. “Leo, how much money would a voyeuristic billionaire have to pay us to have sex in his velvet blimp? That is so specific, what the hell?”

“There are two parts to my answer,” Leo said. “Number one: it would take very little actual money to get me to have sex with you if I wasn’t head over heels in love and you weren’t engaged. Number two: a hundred million dollars.”

“What?”

“He’s a billionaire! That’s nothing to him! Think of another time when you’d be allowed to fuck in a velvet blimp and get paid obscene amounts of money, Loops. I’ll wait.”

“Good point.”

“My turn. What would we do on our first date?”

“Hmm. I’m getting, like, coffee shop and bookstore vibes.” Remus paused. “Wait, we literally did that last weekend.”

“By that metric, we’re basically already dating,” Leo laughed. “Cap, who won?”

“Sorry, honey, but Leo put a lot of thought into his answer.” Sirius slid the card across the floor and Leo kissed it in victory.

Remus shook his head and drew a card. “You’re sleeping on the couch tonight. Finn, ask my traitor fiancé the first one and vice versa.”

“I’m getting punished for being fair?”

“We’re in this to win, baby.”

“Ask away, Harz.”

“How are we wrong for each other romantically? Ooo, can I answer this after you?”

“Sure. Where do I start?” Sirius laughed. “First we have the weird power imbalance if we’re still on the same team, then there’s the part where I’m super introverted and you’re painfully social, and finally you’re poly and I’m not.”

“I was going to say you’re not as kinky as me.”

Remus, who had been taking a drink of water, choked and nearly did a spit take. “Double check that before you commit,” he coughed.

Finn’s eyes widened. “Really? Again? I thought you guys were the wholesome vanilla couple!”

“Oh, honey, no,” Leo said, patting him on the arm. “Kasey made the same mistake.”

Sirius took the card from him. “This is easy. Have you ever had a threesome?”

“Take a wild guess.”

“Sirius wins that one,” Remus said. At Finn’s betrayed look, he shrugged. “Sorry, I don’t make the rules.”

“You’re literally the judge.”

“You are now, actually. The round ended.”

Finn rolled his eyes and took a card. “Loops and Logan, give it a go.”

“Loops, if we were on a desert island together, would we become lovers?” Logan batted his eyelashes and Remus laughed.

“Is anyone else there?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Sure, why not. You’re cute.” He paused and made a face. “Now that I think about it, that would be a lot like fucking Regulus and I don’t know how I feel about that.”

Sirius turned to look at him. “I hope you feel oh god, please no about that.”

“It’s a desert island!”

“Maps exist! We’ll find you!”

“Hand over the card before this gets ugly, Tremz.” Remus made a low oof noise as Sirius dragged him into his lap and placed a loud kiss to the side of his neck. “Thank you, baby. Describe the first time you had sex, including every cringey detail.”

Logan put his face in his hands. “I was a junior in high school and it happened in her parents’ basement. The school gave out free condoms—”

“You had sex with a school condom?” Remus grimaced. “I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“Yeah. Anyway, I had been crushing on her for a while, but she panicked as soon as her shirt came off and told me she was a lesbian, and that I looked exactly like the girl she was in love with.”

“No.”

“Yeah. It was so awkward. I gave her a hug and then we went and got ice cream.”

The room was quiet for a moment. “Damn,” Leo said with a low whistle at last as Remus passed the card to Logan. “Good for her, I guess?”

“I mean, she was dating the girl by the end of the year. Gay rights?”

“Gay rights,” the rest of them said in unison, breaking down into laughter as Leo took the last card.

“Bummer, everyone gets to answer this except me. Expose one of your kinks or take a shot, and you can’t repeat one that’s already been said. Nobody wins this card at the end of the round.”

“I am not opposed to a little bit of manhandling,” Logan said with a sly look at Leo.

Sirius eyed the shot glass in the middle of the circle, then decided against it. There was no way he would give up a chance to beat the cubs at this game. “Getting tied up.”

Remus gave him a surprised look. “I thought you’d take a shot.”

“Not this late in the game. Your turn.”

“Hmmm.” Remus bit his lip. “Praise kink.”

“Aw, man, that was mine!” Finn protested. Remus gave him a high five. “I guess I have to go with voyeurism, then. Whew, wasn’t expecting to say that out loud tonight.”

“Is that it? That was the last one?” Strangely, Sirius was a little disappointed. Despite the insanely invasive sex questions, it was fun to trade stories with the cubs.

“Yep. Count your cards, everyone.”

“I don’t have any.” Finn pouted.

Leo held up his single card. “Thank God for the velvet blimp.”

Sirius had two, and Remus shuffled his three. Across the circle, Logan was sitting pretty on five cards. “I win,” he said with a smug smile.

“Way to go, Tremzy.” Sirius reached over for a fist bump, doing his best not to jostle Remus. “I mean, it must have been nice having both your boyfriends here to give you cards.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Logan tossed his cards at Sirius, who grabbed a pillow off the sofa behind them and whacked him on the side of the head with it. “Oh, you’re going down.”

In the ensuing chaos, the truth or drink box and Logan’s winning cards were forgotten. None of them really cared, though; they had a pillow fight to win.

[aarons-main-blog]

I changed my mind, and decided to que this up immediately after posting the first one. I won't be home when you see this because I'm attending a funeral, but tell me what you think of it and I will see you when I get home!

Note: this was made on Google docs mobile, so when I get a chance I will actually use tab instead of just paragraphs.

"Wars, you said you knew the area!"

"I thought I did, but this is sure as hell not the same way I remember! Those ruins we passed back there? Those are completely new to me! This forest? I don't even recognize half of these plants! We should have reached a town hours ago!"

"Hey, stop fighting, you two, or-"

The group Link had been following for the last few hours came to a halt as the one with pink-tipped hair argued with the one with a blue scarf. He couldn't tell if they were a threat yet, they just seemed like lost travelers. Then again, that was the main way the Yiga clan tried to trick him. 

Pinky and Wars kept arguing, until finally the smallest one in rainbow colors seemed to snap. "How about we admit it. We are lost, and just happened to find something that reminded Wars of home. It was NOONE's fault, because we ignored the obvious signs something was wrong. Now, we are lost in the middle of a forest, and unless you have an idea of what we should do, then SHUT UP!"

The group all seemed shocked by his outburst, Link and the rainbow included, and once they all seemed to get over it, the kid apologized. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell."

The oldest one, probably the leader, said, "No, it's ok. Today has been a long day, and everyone seems on edge. Perhaps we should set up camp early, does that sound good to everyone?"

The group nodded collectively, and started to set up in the clearing that could barely fit all of them. The one in a green tunic and no pants volunteered for the night's first watch, and while it wouldn't be for a while, they seemed relaxed a bit more by the fact someone was willing to do it. 

Link, who had been hiding a good distance away from them, stood up. He got a stealth potion that would last him a few hours at least ready, then decided he would investigate that night.

As the sun set, an awful smell enveloped the forest. "Legend, what did you do?!"

"I don't know! It was fine a minute ago!"

"It's smoking! How did you burn SOUP of all things?!"

"I didn't burn it, it just got too hot!"

"Because you ****ed up, Legend! That's literally how things burn up!"

"Wind, watch your mouth."

Link had just come back from following the path the group of strangers had taken, looking to see if they dropped anything interesting, when he heard the commotion. It smelled like burning hair or that one shrine he had found with the awful cook. Maybe they were cousins? 

As Link got closer to get a better look, he saw four people standing around a large cooking pot with a brown/green liquid with chunks in it. Pathetic. Are all of them as bad cooks as that one? Link was amazed they had survived however long they had been traveling. 

Pinkey poked the 'soup' with a wooden ladle. "It's still edible, look, the vegetables seem cooked enough."

 "With all due respect, I don't know if I would want to eat that," the kid in a blue shirt said with a grimace. "I don't know if anyone else would either."

The old one took the ladle and used it to try a small sip of what they were calling a soup, and his face scrunched up immediately. 

"Uh, Time?" The blue kid tapped the man's shoulder. 

The man swallowed the drink, coughed, then said, "It is… certainly better than last time."

A few of the others gave their opinions, from encouraging to neutral, before deciding it was better than nothing. 

None of them looked that happy about it.

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

After what theoretically could have been called dinner, the one in the green tunic, which Link had identified as being named "Hyrule," started circling around the camp, gradually making them larger and larger before returning close and starting again. Near the middle of the third round, Link drank his stealth potion and snuck into the campsite. 

There was a young adult in tan with a tall belt, there was a boy in blue(wind), there was a kid in rainbow, there was a young adult with a wolf pelt on his shoulders, still on in his sleep for some reason, there was one in red with pink hair tips(legend), and then there was the leader. Link got a good look at him. He had a fancy set of armour, a big sword, a bad eye, but the strangest thing was he had familiar markings covering his face. They were almost the same… 

As the ones Link saw in nearly every mirror, looking right back at himself. 

"Time?"

Link turned towards the voice to see the one called Hyrule looking at him. He had to play this right. "Yes?"

"Oh, thank the goddess. What are you up to?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I was going to see if you wanted off early." This was dangerous. If he realized the real Time was sleeping soundly next to him, he would wake up all the others, and then he'd have eight grumpy travelers armed to the teeth on his trail in seconds. 

"You sure that's ok with you?"

"Yes, get some rest."

"Thanks, Time," the boy said with a smile. "I will."

Link somewhat directed Hyrule towards the opposite side of where Time was. He was extremely lucky the fire was ruining the boy's night vision. 

"Time?"

Link stopped and turned his head a bit. "Yeah?"

There was a pause. "Thank you for being here for us."

Link smiled. "You don't have to mention it," mimicking the somewhat fancy way he had heard Time use words. "Goodnight."

Hyrule mumbled it back, seemingly exhausted from the travel. 

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

The next morning, Hyrule woke up feeling well rested. The birds were singing a song only they knew, the trees provided shade from the early morning sun, the wind rustled leaves and bushes softly, and a nice smell emanated from the cooking pot. 

Wait, did someone cook something edible? Hyrule shot up, feeling excited to see what had made someone unlock their inner cook. 

"Hey, mornin, Hyrule!" 

"Goodmorning, Wind! What's cooking?"

Wind was grinning like an idiot. "No idea, but none of us made it, that's for sure! Four woke up and saw it cooking, then woke up the rest of us, except for you and sky. Time says you didn't wake him up for his shift, so we thought you could use some re-"

Hyrule was confused. "Wait, what? Run that by me one more time." 

Wind's grin fell just a little bit, before coming back up. "Four woke up first, saw something was cooking, and woke everyone but you and sky because we thought you must have kept watch the whole night. Is that not what happened?"

"Yeah, Time said he couldn't sleep last night, so he took over the watch early for me."

Time, who had been listening in, said "I think I would know my sleep schedule better than you would. You didn't wake me up last night, and I didn't wake myself up, that's for certain."

"Then who-"

Four hit the pot a few times. "Breakfast is ready, guys!"

The questions could wait. Nobody had had a good meal for at least a week or two, so they were excited to try the mysterious meal.

It. Was. Delicious!

After discussion, it was determined to be a mushroom, meat and rice based meal. The meat used was probably venison, and a high quality type at that. It was served with some mushrooms nobody recognized but everybody loved, and a strange rice they couldn't find an exact comparison of.

Idle conversation was of generally positive things and how beautiful the world was. All of their problems seemed far away, and the day promised to be a great one. As the last of the food was eaten up, and the bowl was starting to be wiped as clean as it would get, Twilight brought up the question on everyone's mind. 

"I wonder who made this for us."

"Maybe it was a ghost!" Wind exclaimed.

"Maybe it was a passing traveler?" Four said at the same time.

Legend laughed. "It was not a ghost, you idiot!"

"You don't know that," Wind huffed. "I met a ghost once, she was nice!"

"You did NOT meet a ghost!"

"Yeah I did!"

"Cut it out you two," Time said with his signature 'stop' look. "Whoever did it, they must have been a nice person. Don't argue about things this good, ok?"

"Ok!" Wind said. Legend just scoffed. 

Nobody noticed the person sitting on top of a tree, fiddling a strange ocarina.

I hope this was ok! I will be the first to admit my writing style isn't the best, but I think this is one of my better works at the moment. Comments and criticism is appreciated, and I may edit this if I find stupid things I want to change/fix. I should be home Friday, probably Thursday afternoon. Anyway, see you next time!

#linked universe #sky linked universe #four linked universe #hyrule linked universe #legend linked universe #time linked universe #twilight linked universe #wild linked universe #wind linked universe #warriors linked universe #no idea if this will be a oneshot or a multi-thing #depends on how i feel #inspiration is hard #story part one! #? #i was planing this to be a feral!wild thing #but i couldn’t make it work that well #sorry rambling in the tags #it is sort of fun though #i see why it's a thing people do

[imaginedhaven]

Undercover and Out of Sight

a smutty Rowaelin oneshot

Link to Hot Professors Collection Masterlist

Summary: Aelin is grading midterm papers. Rowan offers his own unique brand of assistance.

Rating: E for Explicit- not intended for readers under 18!

Contents/Warnings: College Professors AU, Enemies With Benefits, Semi-Public Sex

This take place in the same universe as “Flames On My Skin”, but it stands completely alone. Reading that is not required for understanding this piece, but it’s linked in the masterlist above if you want more enemies with benefits action!

~*~*~

Aelin let her head fall into her hands, sighing as she rubbed at her forehead. Midterms had arrived at Doranelle University, and with midterms came all of the papers from her advanced class to grade.

As the newest professor in the psychology department, she bore the brunt of teaching many of the more introductory classes. That was fine; not only did she like having the ability to bring new faces into the field to which she’d devoted her life’s work, but she had graduate assistants able to assist with grading the tests, since the answers were less open to interpretation.

Her more advanced course on personality theory, though, required a more in-depth and nuanced approach and therefore she had assigned a paper instead of a test. She’d thought it was a great idea, and it was certainly more fair to the students, as they would be able to develop the skills they would actually need in the field rather than responding to a multiple-choice examination. However, that meant she was now forced to read more than twenty papers comparing and contrasting the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and the Five Factor Model of personality traits.

Aelin groaned. The paper had been a mistake. At least it was the midterm; there was a less stringent deadline on her ability to read than there would have been if she’d assigned this paper as the final project.

“As much as I enjoy hearing that sound from you,” a smooth voice said from the doorway, “I think I prefer it being because of me.”

Fuck. She’d forgotten to lock the door, and Whitethorn must have seen an opportunity. “What are you even doing here? Your last class was four hours ago.”

Not that she had memorized his schedule. And even if she had, it wasn’t because it meant she would know when he was busy and when he could be interrupted. No, it was definitely so that she knew when she could work without interruption.

Whitethorn smirked from where he was leaning against her door. “Same thing as you, I’d imagine. Let me guess, you didn’t give yourself enough time to actually grade papers, because you thought it would be easier than it is.”

Arrogant bastard. “I have plenty of time, and how I grade my courses has nothing to do with you.” She could feel the tightness in her voice, and she deliberately took a deep breath. Calm and collected. If she didn’t rise to his baiting, he would leave, and she could work in peace.

“Testy,” he mused. “Sounds like you could use a break.”

“From you? Always.”

He locked the door and then shoved himself away from it, closing the distance between them in three quick strides and towering over her. “You know, it’s okay to admit you like what we do.”

Aelin scoffed, turning her attention back to the paper she was reading. “I don’t have to admit anything to you.”

“That’s true enough. And yet you never tell me to leave, either.” A quick glance his way told her he was rolling the sleeves of his shirt to his elbows and loosening his tie. Fuck. She shouldn’t have looked. There was no way his gaze would miss the way her thighs pressed together, or how she couldn’t quite help biting her lip. “Slide your chair back,” he said once he’d finished with his shirt.

Aelin froze, stunned. “What?”

“You heard me. Slide your chair back.”

She complied wordlessly, wondering exactly where he was going with this. As soon as she had, he slipped into the space she had created, kneeling on the floor. His large frame just barely fit beneath the wood of her desk, and if she hadn’t been so confused, it would’ve been almost comical. “What are you doing?”

Rather than reply verbally, he tugged her chair back toward himself and then pulled her hips to the edge of the chair. Aelin gasped as the movement caused her already-short skirt to ride up, exposing her simple black underwear to his gaze.

He remained still for a moment, and Aelin felt herself squirm as he quietly watched her. “Are you just going to stare, or are you going to actually do something?” she asked, feeling her irritation creep into her voice.

He slid his hands up her thighs, and she could just tell he was smirking as her muscles tensed beneath his touch. “Keep grading.”

Aelin frowned. “What?”

“Keep grading your papers.”

It was probably one of the strangest things he’d had her do, but Aelin shrugged and returned her attention to the paper as his hands continued to caress her thighs.

While the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is generally held to be less reliable as a measure than tests measuring the Big Five personality traits of the Five Factor Model, its popularity allows it to be more accessible as a concept and as a measure and has popularized several tenets of personality theory.

Aelin rolled her eyes. She’d known there would be a certain amount of unnecessary wording in order to get the papers to the minimum requirement, but she could’ve laid out this student’s thesis in half the words.

As she went to keep reading, she felt deft fingers tucking her underwear to the side of her outer lips. Fuck, was he…?

“Oh, gods.” He was, if the way he let out a slow exhale a mere inch from her clit was any indication.

His voice was stern when he spoke again. “Keep reading.”

With her attention as fragmented as it was, Aelin realized she’d already forgotten the introduction of the paper and returned to the beginning.

While the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is generally held to be less reliable as a measure than tests measuring the Big Five personality traits of the Five Factor Model, its popularity—

“Fuck!” Her hands clutched at the edge of the desk as his tongue traced along her core. He then proceeded to nuzzle the slick skin, nose brushing the skin just over her clit, and she struggled to regain her composure.

“Be quiet, now,” he teased. “Wouldn’t want someone to think you swear at your students’ papers, would we?”

“And whose fault would that be?” The words came out as a hiss, and she moved to push herself away so she could glare at him.

His hands grabbed her hips to keep her in place. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Fine. Whatever. He could say what he wanted. But she had to at least try to read this godsdamn paper; he’d be beyond insufferable if he truly broke her concentration. Carefully, she took a deep breath and began again.

While the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is generally held to be less reliable as a measure than tests measuring the Big Five—

His lips found her clit and began to suck, and she gave up with a whimper. Damn him, but he was far too good at this. His little game hadn’t been fair from the beginning, and he’d known it.

He nibbled at her flesh, letting just the faintest edge of his teeth brush her clit, and the edge of pain was almost too much. She snaked a hand down beneath the desk and grabbed a fistful of his hair, holding his face against her as she rolled her hips.

To his credit, he seemed to realize that she was far too close to the edge for him to stop just to be ornery. Instead he allowed her to ride his face, licking and sucking whatever flesh she made available to him. Between his efforts and the thrill of having him under her desk, it didn’t take long at all for her to reach her peak with a soft gasp.

She probably would’ve been more embarrassed by how quickly she’d gotten there if it hadn’t felt so damned good.

Aelin was still in a daze from the sensation of it all as Whitethorn carefully stood, urging her to stand and then bend over her desk. Several papers hit the floor with the sound of rustling paper, but she couldn’t bring herself to care.

She felt him slide her underwear down her legs and lift one of her feet to free her from the fabric, and with a sigh she spread her legs, giving him a view she knew he couldn’t get enough of. Rather than stop to appreciate it, though, he pressed her legs back together with hands on her thighs, and she twisted until she could look over her shoulder at him in confusion.

He simply smirked in response and rubbed the head of his cock against her—when had he pulled it free from his pants?

She shivered and bit her lip. “What’re you—?”

Her question trailed off into a moan as his cock pressed into her. Fuck, but it was somehow even better like this; the stretch of it inside of her always felt delightful, but with her legs pressed together like this the added friction had her grasping at the desk for something, anything to hold onto to keep her grounded.

“Gods.” The word was hoarse, his voice deeper than normal, and when she dared to glance back at him his eyes were fixed on where they were joined. She grinned and wiggled her hips, laughing huskily when the motion caused him to hiss.

In retaliation, his first thrust was just this side of too hard, and just like that they were moving together, any thoughts Aelin could’ve formed lost to the sensation of his cock moving inside her and his hips slapping against hers. Her cheeks were burning as her eyes fluttered shut, but she couldn’t bring herself to feel embarrassed by the deep blush she knew must’ve been showing. Not when it felt this good to let go.

He tugged her hips back just a little harder against his own, giving him just enough room to shove a hand between her and the desk. Deft fingers found and circled her clit, and just like that she was on the edge all over again.

“Do it. Come for me.” His words, rough and spoken through gritted teeth, pushed her over, and she clapped a hand over her mouth in an effort to muffle her cry as much as possible. A few moments later his hips ground against hers as he found his own release, and together they collapsed onto her desk, Aelin relishing the warmth of him at her back for just a moment. She could take a moment to enjoy this before composing herself and kicking him out of her office.

She regretted that decision almost immediately when she felt him brush her hair out of her face and saw the grin on his face. “You’re welcome.”

Aelin growled. “You’re not allowed to be this insufferable while you’re still inside me.”

“No?”

She flexed her muscles around him and watched him grimace at the squeeze around flesh that must have been as oversensitive as she was. “No.”

He lightly slapped her hip before pulling away, and a tiny part of her immediately mourned the loss of him while the rest of her glared at him. He only smirked in reply, doing the bare minimum to make himself presentable before sauntering over to the door again. “Enjoy your grading, Professor Galathynius.”

Gods, but he could make even the title she’d fought so hard for sound like an insult. She growled in response, but he merely grinned and left her office.

Aelin took a deep breath and stood up on shaky legs, slipping her underwear back on and up her legs. Her hair was absolutely a lost cause, so she simply tied it back and made sure her blouse was still on straight before smoothing her skirt back down.

Then she looked at the papers and growled out a curse. Most of them were fine, but a few were hopelessly crumpled from where he’d fucked her into the desk.

She carefully tucked the ones that were fine into her bag before gathering the ones that were worse off and stalking toward his office. He’d gotten her into this mess, and she would make him help get her back out of it if it was the last thing she did.

~*~*~

Tagging:

@ireallyshouldsleeprn @queen-of-glass @fangirlprincess09 @sassys-world @morganofthewildfire @superspiritfestival @perseusannabeth @sis-it-dont-add-up @jlinez @julemmaes @emilyoftheshadows @thegoddessofyou @mymultiversee @swankii-art-teacher @rowansfirebringer @livsdriverslicense @courtofjurdan @danibutterr @woollycat22 @rowaelinismyotp- your tag isn’t working! Sorry! @sleeping-and-books

#haven writes #rowaelin #hot professors

[draven-imani]

Journal 8

I met the Queen of Mendev. Which somehow managed to still be impressive even after meeting the Inheritor a few days ago, which speaks pretty highly to her. Aaaaaand the Queen kind of sort of knighted me and gave me a promotion to commander of own legion and I don’t know what to do and I’m freaking out a little.

Right. Right—let’s just take it from the top.

Our little group had met up at Defender’s Heart when we got word from Commander Spriggans that there was an attack on the horizon. We made our way outside and saw an enormous force approaching. There were a number of those colossal Ulkreth demons that Hiskaria had seen demolishing buildings during the first attack, as well as a full army of lesser demons. They were marching on us rather than teleporting straight in—we figured specifically to show off their might to lower our morale.

Then, before the army could reach us, a second army from the East came charging into battle. Above them great metal machines flew overhead, and they dropped into the middle of the demon army these huge metal scorpions, which landed and began shooting the demons with beams from their tails. A person with green hair and glowing lines down their body gave a battle cry as they grabbed onto one of those giant metal scorpions and caused it to shoot that appeared to be an empowered disintegrate out of its tail into one of the Ulkreths.

The United Mendev-Numeria Alliance had joined the battle, just in the nick of time. With the use of their ‘Annihilator robots’, those big scorpions, and ‘laser guns’, and all sorts of other weapons I’d never even dream up they cleared out the demons. Even Hiskaria was about speechless. I think her words were something like “I thought Kevoth-Kul didn’t have that many of those”.

We were all incredibly pleased with how that went, and everyone was heading to Defender’s Heart for a victory ‘we didn’t get crushed by demons for another day’ drink, when a messenger came to get the four of us. Apparently Queen Galfrey had come to Kenabres herself. And apparently she’d been told about what we’d done the day before. And apparently she wanted to meet with us personally. She gave us the option of meeting at her personal war tent or at a place of our choosing. We decided it seemed most polite to meet at her tent. Melody and I decided to go dressed in the fine clothes we’d gotten from the kind shop keeper who had given us the free incredibly nice clothing for saving his wares the other day. Hiskaria and Luna…did not. It turned out it didn’t really matter. I will compared Queen Galfrey to the Inheritor in one way—she is a warrior as much as anything else.

When we arrived to the Mendev-Numeria encampment, we were met by the green haired person, Coremagon—an android, the first I’ve ever met. They had a particular quirk, in that they were not particularly good with emotions, and kept blowing up in anger. It also turns out they are Cassandalee’s herald. I would say I bet that was pretty cool for Hiskaria, but honestly considering her goddess talks in her head, maybe it was kind of mundane compared to how utterly in awe I would have been in her place.

I admit, I may have gotten Coremagone riled up a little. I wasn’t necessarily trying to. I was actually trying to help. Legitimately. I’m not exactly the best with emotions myself. I figured, it’s more pleasant to focus on trying to feel the good ones than the bad ones, right? That’s what I do, at least. Smile.

Well, apparently telling the herald of the god that they should smile is a bad idea.

I got thrown into the air by a whirlwind and landed on my ass.

They got told off by the queen though, so I got a little vindication.

We went into Queen Galfrey’s war tent and met the Queen herself. She was an incredibly striking figure. Definitely more warrior than bureaucrat. She waved a hand over her war table, and an enchantment in the table went off that caused a feast to appear, and she invited us to sit and eat while we spoke of recent events. We confirmed the reports she’d received of what had happened at the Grey Garrison, and she told us some of what has been happening at the borders. The Stormlord’s forces have been attacking at the borders of Mendev since the fall of Kenabres, and without the Wardstone’s barrier it is now only the armies of the crusaders standing between them and the rest of the world.

She said that while some people understand the gravity of the choice we made, and the lives we saved in doing so, others are calling us traitors for destroying the final shred of the barrier and the last hope of renewing it.

Queen Galfrey had a new task for us. As a member of the Crusades I am, of course, obligated to see this through to the end, but she offered to the others that if they wanted to help to clear their names and to do something to strike a blow against the demon hordes, she had a mission for us.

Her Majesty asked that we travel with a legion of her men to Drezen, to take back the captured fortress, and to retrieve the Sword of Valor, the very banner once held aloft by Iomedae herself, which if hung in the town again would expel the demonic forces. Currently the bulk of the forces from Drezen were with the Stormlord on the border, and the Queen intended to take her army to keep their attention there while a smaller strike force went in and took Citadel Drezen. I mentioned that we’d discovered that Stauton Vhagn was involved in the attack on Kenabres, and that he was holed up in Drezen as well. The Queen felt this was all the more reason to strike while the iron was hot and take Drezen back from him.

Luna said she would be willing to help, but she had no desire to lead an army. Queen Galfrey agreed that Luna and Melody were not members of the crusades, and therefore the choice was theirs to not take such a role. She also asked Hiskaria for her paperwork, and signed off on her release papers, before sending them off to be returned to Kevoth-Kul via some sort of magic portal. She said that technically Hiskaria was free to go now, as she had done more than enough to warrant her release in good faith. However the Queen had a feeling that Hiskaria would see this through to the end, and Hiskaria agreed that she wanted to do so as well.

With that said, Queen Galfrey declared that she was going to have each of us knighted and titled for our services. Should we survive this, apparently we’d each have land back in Mendev should we want it. That’s. A lot. That’s more than I ever expected to get out of all this. I didn’t come here to get anything, except maybe a little justice for those who died, and the ability to stop as many people from being made victims as possible. Actual physical rewards never really crossed my mind.

Actually surviving to the end of all this never really crossed my mind if we’re going to be brutally honest.

Melody was titled Lady-Lady Melody Legro, Lady of Grace

Luna was titled Luna, Lady of the Crescent Moon

Hiskaria was simply titled Lady Hope—Hope being her last name and something meaningful given her story.

And I guess now I am Sir Draven, the One-Eyed Knight.

I guess it’s a good thing I decided to quit being so self-deprecating about my scars after last night, or I might have felt a bit of a sting about the big thing that held me back all these years and kept me wallowing in the Raven Corps being what she decided to highlight in my title.

Okay. There might still be a little bitterness there. But—I’m working on it.

With this done, we were given a timeframe to expect to go—we will be leaving in three days time. Then we were dismissed, except for Luna who asked to remain to ask the Queen something in private. The rest of us gave her privacy and remained outside while she talked to the Queen about…whatever that was about.

Then we headed back to Defender’s Heart for a little revelry and to meet three new allies who the Queen had brought to our attention would be joining us with the legion. Aron Kir, a master spy with a strong knowledge base in siege warfare. His boyfriend and an old friend of Melody’s, Sosiel Vaenic, a Shelynite cleric and tactician with a vast knowledge of demons who didn’t really understand Melody’s desire to keep her heritage on the down low. And last, smallest, but certainly not least, Nurah Dendiwhar, a halfling bard who kept the sangrias coming throughout the night from a seemingly never ending box on her back. The three were extremely colorful and enjoyable characters who I was feeling very optimistic about working with.

Then while we were chatting, Commander Spriggans flagged me down. We shared a drink, and he handed me new orders from Queen Galfrey. Hiskaria was officially no longer part of the Raven Corps. And neither was I, since I would be leaving the city and therefore the Corps behind.

Instead, as I alluded to earlier, I had gotten a promotion. Commander of my own legion. I have a couple of days to think of a name and to get everything in order. Commander Tirabade—I guess I should be on first name basis with her now like everyone else? Irabeth is coming as well, as neither of us have field experience outside of Kenabres, but she has longer experience as a commander and is meant to be an advisor of sorts.

Inheritor help me that might be the strangest sentence I’ve written in this journal so far, Irabeth Tirabade is supposed to be my advisor on being commander of my own legion. It has been a few hours and this is still surreal to me. Aravashnial is coming along to lend his magic expertise as well, and Anevia wouldn’t be caught dead being left behind with Irabeth going.

Oh! I had forgotten in the middle of everything else, Queen Galfrey had some of her personal clerics see to Aravashnial and Anevia, so their injuries from the attack are no more. It is a relief, especially in regards to Aravashnial’s eyes. Queen Galfrey offered to do the same for my own eye, but I declined. I explained that I’d already learned how to fight with one eye, and I’d have to readjust if she healed me now. Which is very true, although perhaps not my only reason after the other day. It’s a good reminder, too.

More surprisingly, Horgus is coming as well. He’s going to be managing the army’s funds, field supplies, basically all around making sure the numbers are in order and we don’t run out of what we need when we need it, or get overzealous and overstock on something we don’t need. Which is all well and good with me, I don’t have a head for numbers myself. Hiskaria’s volunteered to help him and I’m more than happy to let her. She’s proven with her magic and assisting Aravashnial that she’s good enough at bookkeeping.

As for me…I’m a bit at a loss. I talked to Leto, of course. Asked him how he does it. Plays off being the cool confident leader like he does. Well—obviously it’s because he is. His answer basically boiled down to fake it until you make it, which is so not the answer I wanted to hear. There’s no way he’s been faking that confidence all this time. I’ve seen him, that easy charisma that just draws people to him. He’s in a league of his own.

I guess I’ll just keep pushing on forward like I always do. It seems to somehow work out, although I’ll probably have to hit a few stumbling blocks along the way. ‘Just act like you have confidence’, hm? I hate him sometimes. He’s infuriating. I don’t think he even knows how he looks to everyone else.

#journal entry #pathfinder #pathfinder wotr #pathfinder wotr spoilers #draven imani

[welcometophu]

The Meaning of Home, Chapter 2

The Meaning of Home Chapter 2

Tags for all Welcome to PHU novels will be available at the PHU tag list on Pillowfort. This list is under construction as of Sept. 5, 2021.

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Pawel spends much of Monday lounging around the house. He gets up to help get Conor and Emma on the bus, so his dad can leave on time for work. After meeting the bus in his pajamas, he walks back to Dad’s house and lies down on the couch. He doesn’t really need a blanket, but he pulls it up to his nose anyway for the comfort factor and spends the day dozing and streaming old movies on his dad’s TV.

He never makes it as far as thinking about cooking anything for dinner, so he treats Dad and Conor to a night out. It eats up more time than he’d like, and it means Conor needs to scramble to finish the last of his homework once they’re home, but it’s nice to spend an hour letting someone else do the cooking.

Later that evening, after Conor goes to bed, Pawel and Dad spend the next couple of hours finally talking through everything that’s happened. Pawel doesn’t want to leave things out, but there are a few things he avoids for Dad’s safety, like the government involvement, and one thing he just doesn’t know how to explain.

He hasn’t seen Chelsea in a while. She’s relearning how to work within the world without draining souls to stay alive. He highly doubts she’s planning on stopping by his father’s for a visit, and even if she did, Dad never got to meet her as anything other than one of Pawel’s friends a decade ago.

Yeah. That is a complicated mess that he has no desire to go into detail about.

They go to bed late, but Pawel still wakes early on Tuesday to get his own kid on the bus. He figures it’s the least he can do, letting Dad get to work on time on a regular basis again.

Alone in the house again, Pawel feels refreshed and awake.

And bored.

He puts the phone on speaker as he putters around the kitchen, pressing to dial the number for Pels. She picks up after two rings, her voice gravelly and low. “What? Did we burn your house down?”

“I’m assuming you would have called me, rather than the other way around, if you burned my house down. Since you’re the one staying there.” Pawel rifles through his father’s cabinets until he finds a slow cooker. It’s dusty, but he’s pretty sure it’ll be functional. There should be enough ingredients for chili around. 

He looks into a cabinet, and nearly bare shelves stare back at him.

Okay, maybe not.

“What?” Pels asks again. “You woke me up. Are you looking for my mom? I thought you had her number.”

Pawel finds tomatoes and beans, and starts emptying them into the slow cooker. “I do. I thought she’d be at work, so I called you instead.”

“It’s too early and—Dad, Dad, no, I’ll talk to him. Give me back my phone.”

“Hello, Ammon.” Pawel might not be able to hear Pels’s father, but he’s well aware by now that the ghost can hear him.

“He’s leaving, and I’m not putting this on speaker,” Pels mutters. “I thought he was going to start spending more time with Mom now, after the whole unbinding ceremony last weekend, but apparently she told him not to follow her to work.”

“Can she see him now?” That would be an interesting development. Pawel sets the empty can on the counter and reaches for a pad of sticky notes so he can scribble a reminder to himself to look into more detailed information about the ritual that the Burlington community performed for Pels and her mother in order to remove the bindings from their Talents.

“I think so. I mean, I’m pretty sure she can, but we’re not really talking about it. But seriously. Did you call for a reason? Cheyenne’s got these final projects to finish up since she left school a couple weeks early, so she’s not bothering me. Dad wasn’t bothering me. I was sleeping.” Pels grumbles under her breath.

“I just wanted to see how things were going.” Pawel peels off the sticky note and tapes it to the fridge, where he might see it later. Another search of the cabinets turns up chili powder and a few other seasonings. “Now that you’ve had a chance to settle into the house.”

“We’re fine. We’re figuring out how to be a family again without Peter.” Pels hesitates. “I’m learning how to see the world a whole different way now that I can see everything my Talent lets me see. Shane and Jess and I are talking a lot, and I’m going to figure this Mage thing out. So… thanks. For everything. Including letting us stay in your house while you’re gone.”

Pawel shakes some cocoa powder into the slow cooker, before adding a handful of dried onion. “Someone’s got to water the plants.”

“The plants were already dead when we got here.”

He laughs at Pels’s dry words. She’s not wrong. Pawel was gone for a month; everything went to hell, while his son went to stay with his dad.

Which, yeah. That brings him right back around to where he is now.

Pawel stares at the slow cooker. “If you need anything, you’ve got my number.”

“I’ll tell Mom to check in with you periodically. Oh and—” Pels hesitates before asking, “Cheyenne wants to know if it’s okay if she uses your backyard to practice flying?”

Pawel thinks of the time they used Alaric’s dragon to summon a Shadow in that same backyard. “That would not be the strangest thing the neighbors could have witnessed. But she should try not to break anything, including herself.”

“I think we can do that. Gotta go. Dad says there’s someone at the door.”

The line goes abruptly silent, and Pawel looks down at the screen of his phone as the connection is lost. “Okay, then.” He gives the vegetarian chili a quick stir, then puts the lid on, plugs it in, and switches the appliance on to cook on low. “That’s set, at least.”

He feels a little better, knowing that his home is in good hands, or at least, it’s not burning down. It sat empty for a month before; having someone live there for the summer should be better.

As long as none of the newly powered Mages set the place on fire.

Fire.

That reminds him.

Pawel checks one more time to ensure that the slow cooker is on and set to low, then heads back to the living room to dig out his laptop. He starts it up and finds the tab he’d left open for the outdoor music festivals, with a list of dates.

That’s what he thought: the festival that Rory and Thorne’s band, Phoenix Rising, is touring with will be in Buffalo this weekend.

Pawel buys four tickets. He figures Dad will come with them, and Conor will want to bring a friend. Probably Alan. And if Dad doesn’t want to go, Alan’s mom, Emily, might join them instead. He’s not worried if the tickets don’t all get used; he just wants options.

Conor will be pleased by the surprise, anyway.

He closes the laptop and looks back to the kitchen.

How the hell does his dad live like that, anyway? And what has Conor been eating?

No, he saw the answer to that this morning. Toaster pastries and cereal, and Pawel’s pretty sure that the last of the eggs were finished off as well.

Fine.

If Pawel’s going to be here all summer, squeezed into his dad’s small space, the least he can do is lay in supplies.

Pawel spends the day scouring the cabinets, making a long list of everything from prepared garlic and ginger for easy seasoning, to pantry staples like pasta, to critical items like various forms of protein for the freezer. His dad has a standing freezer in the garage, and even that seems woefully empty.

He loses time going through the sites online for each local grocery store, poring over the ads to determine which store will have the best value for this shopping trip. He types up the list to rearrange it by food type, so that as soon as Conor’s home they can head out and maybe they’ll be organized enough to get the trip done quickly.

“Dad!” The door bangs open. “What’s for dinner? I’m starving and something smells really good.”

“It’s not dinner time.” Pawel folds up the printout of the list and shoves it in his pocket. “We’re going shopping. Grab a snack.” His own stomach growls and he’s not sure how he made it from early morning to half past three without a meal. “I think I saw a box of granola bars.”

Conor lifts the lid to the slow cooker, inhaling deeply, while Pawel finds the last two granola bars. He tosses one to his son.

“Let’s get some food.”

“Can we get meat for the chili? That looked like it was all beans,” Conor grumbles. He buckles his belt, then directs Pawel to the grocery store. 

Pawel already knows how to get there, but he’s not going to tell Conor that. Not when Conor seems comfortable in this place and is enjoying showing off that comfort level. He stays silent while Conor points out the entrance to the parking lot, then finds them a space close to the door.

Conor grabs a cart from the corral and pushes it into the store. “Emma’s Papa picks her up after school, so she doesn’t have to take the bus. She said they’re doing stuff today, so she couldn’t come over. I thought we could work on our—Emma!!” 

Pawel catches the cart, stopping it from rolling when Conor takes off into the produce section. Emma’s answering shout is sharp and loud as Conor skids to a stop near a display laden with peaches. Pawel pushes the cart there, half an ear listening to the kids talking as if they weren’t together a half hour ago in school.

“Dad!” Conor waves at him, so Pawel picks up the pace.

He’s not sure who Emma is with. She stands next to an almost empty cart, except for a bag of peaches sitting in the seat. There doesn’t seem to be any sign of an adult.

“Emma’s shopping.”

Emma rolls her eyes, pushing braids back over her shoulder. “Obviously,” she says quietly. “Jennie had to pee. He’ll be back soon. She forgot to go before we left school.”

“Does your Papa have two carts? We can help you,” Conor offers. “You and me can do one cart, and Dad can do ours, and your Papa can do the other one.”

“You can call me Leo. I don’t think your dad would like it if you started calling me Papa like the rest of the kids.”

Pawel knows that voice.

He hasn’t heard the voice in a very long time, but there are certain phrases still etched in the deep recesses of his memory. 

He exhales, and very deliberately makes himself look at the man who has joined him.

He looks good. Older, yeah. It’s been more than ten years since Leo graduated and left town for college. Apparently he’s back now, and from the police uniform, this would be Emma’s foster father that works for Pawel’s dad.  He has the name ‘L. Papa’ embroidered on his uniform, just above the pocket, and his badge is still visible. Leo stands with one hand on the handle of the cart and reaches without looking to take a package of donuts out of the hands of the small girl sitting in the basket of the cart.

When he smiles, Pawel’s heart twists.

“I was glad to hear you reappeared,” Leo says quietly. His voice is a warm, low tenor, as careful and even as Pawel remembers.

“You’re fostering a Weather Witch.” It’s maybe not the best reply. Pawel refuses to wince when Conor snickers.

“I told you he’s single-minded sometimes,” Conor whispers loudly to Emma. “He’ll help find your parents. I know your Papa’s a police officer, but Dad’s a Mage.”

Emma’s brown eyes are furrowed and dark. Her lips purse, but she doesn’t say anything.

Leo takes two sheets of paper from his pocket, then hands one to Emma. “You know which cereals the boys like best. Pick one for yourself and Jennie that they won’t eat before you get a chance. Since you’re the one with me, you get to pick the pasta. I know it says twenty boxes of mac & cheese, but we only need ten. We’ll be shopping again next week.”

Emma takes the list and reads it over solemnly. “Nevaeh said we need more tuna, but it’s not on the list. I’ll get that, too. C’mon, Conor. There were some cookies on sale. Help me pick out ones that the boys won’t eat before we can.”

“Popcorn,” Conor replies. “Remember, we used the last of it last weekend? Did that get on your list?”

They roll away with the almost-empty cart before Pawel can protest.

The small girl in Leo’s cart has the box of donuts in her hands again. She opens the plastic carefully and takes one out.

“Jennie,” Leo says softly.

“I need sugar to sparkle,” she whispers around a mouthful of chocolate cream.

Speechless feels so strange. Pawel can’t remember the last time his tongue has been this tangled. “I—” He tries to break his own silence, and fails miserably.

“Things get chaotic with five kids in the house,” Leo says. When he smiles again, his pale green eyes crinkle around the corners with tiny lines that definitely weren’t there before. They match the faint hints of salt in his dark hair. “Conor’s got a lot of energy. He probably keeps you on your toes.”

“Dad says I’ve been cursed with a kid that’s just like I was,” Pawel says. He pushes his hand through his hair, trying to figure out how to recover his balance. “He didn’t tell me you were one of Emma’s foster fathers. Just that she had two of them. Foster fathers. And two missing parents.”

Meeting his ex-boyfriend shouldn’t be this unsettling.

Pawel blames it on the fact that he’s probably still in a sleep deficit—two weeks is not enough time to catch up on missing sleep for several months.

“There’s a local teacher who works with a group that finds placements for Talented kids who need Talented families to stay with.” Leo has the second page of his list in his hand, and he refers to it while picking out produce.

Right. Shopping.

Pawel looks at his own list and tries to focus on that to give himself a little distance and wrangle his brain back into working order. Salad. They definitely need things for salad. And fresh vegetables for roasting wouldn’t be bad.

“Alice asked Colt if he knew anyone who might be able to take on kids about four years ago, and when he said we would, she put us in touch with Lucy and Rowan, and that’s how we got Matt, our first foster kid.”

Leo’s voice rolls over Pawel, dropping tidbits of information that he struggles to grab onto.

“Matt’s not bad,” Jennie says around a mouthful of donut. “Sometimes.”

Pawel latches onto the names, his fingers closing around a broccoli crown and holding it a little too tightly. He fumbles with the plastic bag. “Lucy and Rowan? And… Colt?” He had to have heard those wrong.

He manages to get the bag open and shoves two broccoli crowns into it, dropping them in the basket of his cart.

Leo is silent.

When Pawel looks at him, Leo stands with his fingers wrapped around the handle of the cart, his grip tight. “Colt Harrison,” he says. “My husband. You—”

“Dated him in high school, yeah.” Pawel finishes Leo’s sentence for him.

That’s… too much information. Pawel is struggling to assimilate it.

“Dad did not mention that,” he mutters.

“This doesn’t have to be weird.” Leo grabs the container of donuts and moves it to another area of the cart. Jennie could still get to it, but she pouts instead, slouching down in one corner of the basket, her lower lip sticking out and flecked with chocolate. “Colt and I met when he was interning at the law office where he works now. We’ve been married about three years. We didn’t even know each other back in high school.”

“It doesn’t have to be weird,” Pawel echoes. He’s right, of course. It shouldn’t be weird. It’s not weird at all. People meet. They fall in love. They get married. They have kids. Sometimes there’s a small world effect and it turns out that they may have already been connected beforehand.

That’s all Pawel is in this; an ancient history connection.

“Your dad talks about you all the time,” Leo says. He pulls a napkin from his pocket and cleans Jennie’s fingers. “Try not to touch anything else,” he admonishes gently before tucking the dirty napkin back in his pocket. 

He’s so careful with her. Pawel remembers when Leo used to take care of his younger siblings. It only makes sense that he’d be good with kids now. As big and scruffy and rough looking as he is, he’s gentle, too.

“I need to—” Pawel holds up the list, showing just how long it is. “Dad’s cupboards are empty. I’m not sure what he and Conor have been eating, and I get the feeling that it’s takeout so I really don’t want to know. I need to stock up.”

“So do we. Matt’s eleven and Clan, and Duke’s fourteen. We go through a lot of food in our house.” Leo heads toward the back of the store. “Come on. We’ll catch up with the kids if we get moving.”

Pawel exhales and trails behind Leo. Jennie peeks around him, her thumb in her mouth as she looks at Pawel. Small brown brows furrow deeply before she turns away and curls up.

Her snores are adorable little rasps of sound. He can’t think how she’s sleeping through the rattle and squeak of the cart she rides in. Still, she’s silent as they work their way through the aisles, collecting items from their respective lists.

They turn down one aisle and spot Conor and Emma from a distance. Conor has sparks around his hand while Emma reaches for something falling from the shelves.

Pawel coughs, and Conor turns to give him an innocent look.

Wait. That reminds him.

“You’re taking in Talented kids,” Pawel says slowly. “So you or Colt must be—”

“We both are,” Leo says, glancing at him sideways. “I grew up Clan. Colt’s Emergent, but that’s his story to tell. I heard about you being a Mage from your dad. He’s proud of everything you’ve done at PHU.”

Pawel waves that away. “Youngest dean. Newest department. Only real expert on Talent as a whole because I’m the only person who’s bothered to go down the rabbit hole far enough to study it formally.”

“It’s still impressive.” Leo huffs.

“I just… I never knew.” Pawel thinks back and tries to catalog Leo’s family based on what he knows of Clan. He didn’t interview them for his thesis; they weren’t on his radar as a large Clan community. They grew up as a part of the town.

“You weren’t meant to.” Leo dips into his pocket and hands the napkin back to Jennie, who has somehow woken from her nap and polished off a second donut while they weren’t paying attention. “That was before the Emergence. We took a lot of care to be able to live here without anyone knowing.”

“But your community—”

“Widespread and buried within this town and the surrounding ones. We never really wanted to withdraw from the rest of the world. Which is what makes us good candidates for fostering. We don’t have those same prejudices that some might have.” Leo drops a hand to the top of Jennie’s head, and she looks up at him, smiling brightly.

There are, indeed, sparkles all around her, the air shimmering with her contentment and happiness.

“Conor wants me to help find Emma’s parents,” Pawel says quietly. “At the same time, I’m not sure if he really wants me to get involved, after everything that happened this last year. What do you—”

“I think they’re dead,” Leo says quietly. His hand still rests atop Jennie’s head, but his gaze is fixed on Emma. “I can tell you what little we know, but everything points to them being dead. The question is what happened to their bodies.”

Unfortunately, Pawel’s had experience with issues like that and can think of at least one scenario.

Which might mean they’re not dead.

They also might not be prepared to be parents anymore, either.

Leo pitches his voice louder. “You should come over for dinner some night.”

Both Conor and Emma turn to look at them. Emma grips the side of the cart, stepping up and holding on while Conor gives it a good push before jumping up himself. It sends them racing towards Leo and Pawel, until Pawel puts up a hand, throwing out a gentle cushion of magic to stop them before they crash.

“Yes!” Conor yells. “Dinner!”

“You could come over and meet everyone. If you want to.” Emma’s gaze drifts away, like she really doesn’t care about the answer.

“They’re like my second family. Third, maybe, because of Alan, but my second one here,” Conor insists. “And Emma’s dads are really nice.”

“They aren’t my dads.”

“I’m sure Colt would love to see you, too,” Leo adds.

Thanks for the gut punch.

“He says yes,” Conor says quickly. “Right dad? You say yes.”

What else is he supposed to do?

“Yes.” Pawel fishes out his phone, unlocking it and staring down. He doesn’t resist when Leo slips it from his fingers, opening up his text app and sending something.

Leo places the phone back in Pawel’s hands. “The first number is mine, the second is Colt’s. In case you don’t still have them.”

“I fried my phone and lost everything,” Pawel admits. “Back when I Emerged. So. Thank you.”

“It’s good to see you.” Leo’s touch is heavy and warm where he claps his hand against Pawel’s shoulder, then squeezes. 

Pawel could hug him, but he thinks that might be awkward. He’s never had this situation. He has three exes—two of them he hasn’t seen since they broke up, and the other one is Chelsea. Which is just complicated.

“Yeah, you too.” He watches as Leo walks away, Emma pushing the second cart beside him. Pawel wonders just how distracted Leo must feel since Jennie looks like she’s grabbing her third donut.

Or maybe that’s just how it is. Maybe he spoils his kids with plenty of sugar.

It’s not like Pawel knows anything about how Leo’s life is now.

Conor tugs sharply at Pawel’s shirt. “Dad. When are we going to dinner over at Emma’s house?”

Pawel looks down at his phone, at the new conversation sitting there. All it says is, this is Pawel.

He locks his phone and shoves it in his pocket. “I don’t know yet, but not tonight. Let’s go find that meat you wanted for the chili. Chicken might be good. We could sauté it up quickly and add it so it’ll get a couple hours in the slow cooker with the rest. Or we could cook it up with spices and add it afterwards.”

“You’re just saying that because chicken is healthy,” Conor grumbles. “I got more toaster pastries. Dziadziu lets me eat them.”

“I let you eat them, too, just possibly not in the same quantities,” Pawel protests. It’s not an argument he’s going to have right now, anyway.

He’s going to focus on finishing up the shopping, and finishing cooking dinner.

He’s going to focus on anything other than the fact that somehow both of the boys he dated in high school grew up to meet each other and end up married.

Yeah, he’s going to do his damnedest to focus on anything but that.

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#welcome to phu #welcometophu #the meaning of home

[goblinmanifesto]

Ive already accidentally deleted this once so fucking kill me (I forgot to save it).

⚠️TW FOR ANXIETY, TOURETTES, SLIGHT SELF HARM⚠️

But this is my post for @doinmybesthere Mental Health Awareness May collab! I will be doing Bokuto Koutarou. To explain a bit, to cope with bullshit that is life, I accidentally made myself a coping mechanism that I loving refer to as the ‘Klaus Hargreeves‘ (if you know anything about that character, you already know where my mental state is) because I can’t remember what my therapist said the actual name for it was. To put it simply, it’s like overactive day dreaming. I act out and create scenarios in my head to comfort myself, most of the time using characters or real people as an enabler for the comfort I wish to gain. Side effects being; if caught, considered crazy, sometimes don’t realize I’m doing it which can lead to awkward situations, sometimes I fuck up what’s real and what’s not. So, in these little stories, I will be retelling scenarios I have created through this coping mechanism that relate to both Bokuto and my mental problems! Each will be labeled with what they deal with so you can skip the one that might trigger you. Enjoy and happy reading! (I WILL ALSO BE MENTIONING AND USING STIMMING) ((I will probably use this to make other fics like this in the future mentioning my other ~stuff~ but in the meantime this is all I want to do so enjoy!))

⚠️LAST TW⚠️

1. ~Anxiety, Self harm, Mentions of Stimming~ He should’ve been home an hour ago! I was pacing in the living room, shaking hands holding my phone. It was 7:13 and Koutarou was supposed to be home at 6:00. I was spiraling and I could feel it, but I didn't know what to do about it. Id sent him text after text, but he was yet to respond. I glanced at my cell, only stopping my frantic shuffling to focus my attention on reading the screen;

Hey, is practice running late? [6:11] When do you think you’ll be home? [6:15] Are you there? [6:19] Koutarou??????? [6:23] Kou pick up your damn phone! [6:27] Did something happen???!! [6:34] Is everything okay?! [6:39] Are you mad or something??? [6:47] Bokuto Koutarou I’m dead serious where are you?!?!?! [6:53] Bo-ku-to!!!! [6:59] Koutarou it’s been hour please text me [7:07] Koutarou!!! [7:12] -Unread-

My eyes scanned the messages again, not leaving the blue screen until until my shin collided with the side of the coffee table. I hadn’t even realized I had started pacing again. I checked the texts I had sent to Akaashi as well, since I knew he was at that practice too, but I hadn’t gotten any responses from him either. Slipping my phone screen up onto the table I continued my pacing, not even processing when my finger nails found their way under my teeth, and how when they left my mouth to scratch at my neck or claw at my shirt, my teeth resorted to gnawing at my lip instead, tearing up the thin skin. All habits I was trying to kill but didn’t have enough brain power to focus on not doing them. My eyes constantly searched the driveway for the headlights of any car, any car at all, but they always came up with nothing. It was 7:24 when my phone struck with the sound of text, the bing of anticipation sent me diving for, and consequently almost dropping, my phone in an attempt to find out if it was Koutarou. It was!

Hey, is practice running late? [6:11] When do you think you’ll be home? [6:15] Are you there? [6:19] Koutarou??????? [6:23] Kou pick up your damn phone! [6:27] Did something happen???!! [6:34] Is everything okay?! [6:39] Are you mad or something??? [6:47] Bokuto Koutarou I’m dead serious where are you?!?!?! [6:53] Bo-ku-to!!!! [6:59] Koutarou it’s been hour please text me [7:07] Koutarou!!! [7:12]

-Read-

Im so sorry!! Yes practice did end up running late! But something else happened and I

wasn’t able to text you! I’m not mad about

anything I promise!! What happened is also

minor and nothing to worry about and I’ll explain when I get home in about ten

[7:21] minutes!! I’m so sorry!! -Read-

I sighed, relieved, the weight on my chest and in my head dissolved and I felt like I could finally breathe again. Though, as I came down from my anxiety rush, I became aware of a lot of things all at once. The first was a good deal of pain. From knocking my leg into a table and pacing for over an hour, to bitten lips and nails, and my scraped neck. I groaned, I need to get a better handle on this.

But that wasnt important. Koutarou was okay and on his way home! I waited at the window, feeling a bit like a dog waiting on its owner (that was a kink joke yes), and leaped to the front door when I saw his car in the driveway. Throwing open the door, I pulled him inside the second I could get my hands on him and pulled him through the doorway. The moment he was inside, I shoved myself into his arms in a tight hug, so glad he was okay. He returned the hug and held me tightly, I let out a shuddering breathe and he let out comforting sounds I sometimes use to stim. “Hey, hey, hey, I’m so sorry to have you worry, it was about Akaashi! We were running extra practice with a handful of the other guys and I literally had half a text to you written out when he a spike to the face! I was the only one left with a car so I drove him to hospital! I’m so sorry you are so worried you sent like 15 texts! I’m so-“ I cut him short with a hand over his mouth since that was one of the only ways to get him to stop talking. “Kou, it’s okay, I understand, it just really scared me ‘is all-“ he pried my hand off his face but held it in his own.

”I know, but that doesn’t mean I can’t apologize for it, whether I was in complete control of the situation or not! Which I was not, by the way, no control what-so-fucking-ever, I had four other guys in the car and one of them was bleeding and concussed, it was chaos!!” His eyes were wide and he went off on the stress of the situation and, for a moment, I forgot that it was 7:26 at night on a Thursday and I had a biology test in the morning, and that Koutarou just got home and I hadn’t even eaten yet and all the other things that werent right in the world. Everything was fine in that moment. But that ended when Koutarou took a good hard look at me. The redness and scratch marks on my neck, the bitten to bleeding finger nails, the small bruise forming on my shin, my blotchy face and my probably-way-too-red lips. He stopped dead in his words and I felt my eyebrows scrunch up.

“Whats wrong?-“

“You did the things again didn’t you?!” He sounded distressed and his broad shoulders sunk. Koutarous hands rubbed my shoulders as he stared into my eyes with the most concerned look I’d ever seen. He pulled me back to his chest again and promised it wouldn’t happen again.

7:46, Koutarou insisted on taking care of my ‘injuries’ since he was who I was having anxiety over anyway. I protested a little, but gave up when he gave me the baby-owl eyes.

First, he had wrapped bandaids on my fingers. Thankfully, they were black, and I made a comment on it was like a 2-second manicure just to hear him chuckle.

Then, Kou applied a moisturizer to my neck. “Kou, I can do this myself-“

”Nope! I insist!”

”I’m not a child-“

”Don’t care, I’m doing it so just shush up and let me do what I need to do!”

Next, he made me apply ice to my bruise even though it was tiny and caused by a damn two-foot-tall coffee table.

Lastly, he gave me chapstick. Again, wouldn’t let me do it myself, so I made several sarcastic remarks to make him blush, all working quite well. Koutarou had to tell me to stop giggling multiple times so I could stay still.

”Alright, are you done playing nurse?”

”Forgive me for wanting to take care of you!!” He stuck his tongue out at me with an audible “bleh!” and I cackled.

”You are forgiven, Nurse Bokuto.”

2. ~Tourette’s, Stimming~ My neck painfully popped when it jerked to the left, my tics had been bad all day and I no clue why. Could be exams, or the fucking toaster for all I knew. I hissed, rubbing at my neck and adjusting the water can I almost dropped, trying to continue about my Saturday.

It was obnoxious, really, having to me-proof everything around in case I end up kicking it, dropping it, or hitting it. My joints constantly cracking and snapping and jolting in the strangest ways at any given moment. Sometimes repeating what people say back at them in perfect mirror-like fashion. Though that last one can be kind of funny.

Clicking my toungue to make nice noises to try and stim the tic away, I returned back to my plants. I could feel them chuckling at me and, in that moment, I understood everything about Crowley from ‘Good Omens’.

I heard the door unlock in the other room and I put my can down as a precaution and peeked out of the doorway.

A moment later, Koutarou popped through the door after his morning jog. He called out; “Hey, hey, hey!” as a greeting.

I felt my hands go up behind my head and I thought Oh gods dammit, and then my jaw jutted forward in a very unattractive way and I repeated his phrase in the same manner as him, then immediately dropped, as my body decreed.

I groaned, looking up at him, who looked slightly bewildered at my little madness ritual. His hair laid flat on his head, he had chosen not to mess with it this morning, much to my delight, his amber eyes a little wide and his eyebrows raised. He was barely even in the house yet.

We just kind of stared at each other for a hot second before I awkwardly waved ‘hello’ and cracked a weird grin. He grinned back, his more pleasant than mine. Walking over, he opened his arms for a hug, and I accepted, since he wasn’t all that sweaty this time around, and it was the least I could do since he had to witness that.

Koutarou planted a kiss on the top of my head, cheering “Good morning!”

I muttered a response into his shirt.

“One of those days, huh?” I nodded.

“Coffee? I think we have muffins in the cabinet?” I nodded again and he lead me into the kitchen to set up some breakfast. It was 9:00 am on a Saturday after all. A weird Saturday, but watching Koutarou finagle through the cabinets, it couldn’t be that bad.

That is all for now! Have a wonderful day and I am going to sleep for three years see y’all (edited: June 18 2021, because I can’t spell)

#Mental health #Bokuto #Bokuto Koutarou #Haikyuu #Haikyuu!! #Haikyuu fanfic #fanfic #mental health awareness may #May #May fanfiction colab #fanfiction colab #fanfiction #fanfic colab #Bokuto fanfic #Tourettes #Anxiety #stimming #stim #TW #Self Harm TW

[lolas-writings]

I wrote a college TodoDeku meet-cute because I felt like it and I had an idea. Enjoy!! 

You can also find it on AO3 here if you want to leave a kudos and/or comment on it <3 

---

Midoriya sighs as he exits the building, feeling the warm breeze on his clammy skin. The sun is warm on his face, a welcome presence after being cooped up in a freezing room with nothing more to warm him than his own nerves. At least he’s free now; free of the cold classroom as well as his exams. 

He takes a deep breath to steady his racing heart, still anxious from his exam, and smells a mixture of fresh-baked bagels and chicken sandwiches lingering in the air. Now that he’s finished with the last of his exams he should get something to eat before heading home. Four and a half hours straight of testing has certainly been draining. His stomach immediately growls at the thought, agreeing with his decision, and he can’t help but laugh. Right, food then home for some well-deserved rest. 

After one last deep breath, Midoriya begins ascending the stairs that will lead him from the basement’s outside landing to the normal ground above. Halfway up the stairs he hears his phone vibrate with a barrage of texts — probably from Ochako asking how he thinks his exam went — so he shrugs off the right strap of his backpack and uses his left shoulder to swing his bag in front of him. He rummages through the top pocket as he makes it up the last of the steps, stopping on the top of the stairs as he searches for his phone. It vibrates one last time before he finds it, grabbing it with his right hand before closing the zipper and rearranging his backpack to rest properly on his shoulders. 

Phone in hand and bag situated, Midoriya begins walking again, on his way to the campus food court as he unlocks his phone and reads his friend’s messages. 

Raka [3:24 pm]: Dekuuuuuu 

Raka [3:24 pm]: how did it go?? 

Raka [3:25 pm]: your class is over now right 

Raka [3:25 pm]: please tell me the test was easy because I’m terrified 

Raka [3:25 pm]: Tenya’s no help 

Raka [3:26 pm]: he just keeps saying “oh stop worrying you’ll be fine I believe in you” blah blah blah 

Raka [3:26 pm]: which is sweet and all and I love him for it but 

Raka [3:26 pm]: telling me to not worry doesn’t stop me from worrying!! 

Raka [3:26 pm]: so Deku 

Raka [3:27 pm]: please 

Raka [3:27 pm]: tell me the test isn’t baddd :( 

A quiet laugh escapes his lips as he reads over the texts, his thumbs flying across his keyboard to soothe Ochako’s nerves. 

Me [3:29 pm]: we studied all the right material 

Me [3:30 pm]: and the professor has a bonus question 

Me [3:30 pm]: a whole five extra points and I know you’ll know what the answer is 

Me [3:31 pm]: you’ll do fine :3 

A bubble with three dots appears at the bottom of their text thread, indicating that Ochako is typing her response, but before it comes in Midoriya feels a hand on his shoulder and he barely manages to suppress a startled shriek. He still jumps in his skin, however, and quickly turns around to face whoever it is. 

“I apologize.” Another student — at least, he assumes it’s another student — says, voice carefully monotone and soft spoken. “I tried calling out to you but you didn’t respond.” 

Even now, Midoriya can’t find himself to respond. Not only is he trying to steady his racing heart, pounding violently in his chest from being startled, but he can’t help looking the other student over. With mismatched eyes and split-dyed hair, he certainly has a unique look. Not the strangest he’s seen on campus, for sure, but definitely the most handsome. Even with the subtle scar that surrounds his left eye. 

Midoriya lets out an awkward cough at the thought, minutely shaking his head to dispel that specific train of thought before it develops further. 

“I’m sorry.” Midoriya says as he offers a smile, pocketing his phone so he can turn and fully face the other student. “Did you need something?” He tries his best to sound polite, but the question comes out sounding more confused than he anticipates. Granted, he’s never seen this mismatched student before so his confusion is rightfully earned. 

“Actually, I wanted to return this.” Midoriya’s eyes are drawn to the stranger’s hand as he reaches out and offers something… familiar? As he looks over the enamel pin in the stranger’s hand he realizes it’s the same exact design as the one Ochako gave him two years ago: A simple, traditional tri-colored dango treat, except with pink, yellow, and blue coloring as opposed to the normal pink, white, and green. Her and Iida both have their own to match, Ochako with a pink, purple, and blue pin and Iida with another pink, yellow, and blue pin. 

Perplexed, Midoriya looks over his shoulder at his backpack, realizing the spot where his pin is usually displayed is now empty. He removes his backpack in a rush and sets it on the ground to inspect it and, sure enough, his prized pride pin has gone missing. 

The stranger softly clears his throat, presumably to get Midoriya’s attention, and speaks again once he has it. 

“I watched it fall off your bag a moment ago. Well, more like fly off, if I’m being honest.” The stranger presses his lips together and looks down at the pin for a brief second before he turns his gaze back to Midoriya. “You practically launched it down the stairs when you put your bag on. It almost hit me in the face, in fact.” 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” Midoriya sputters as he quickly stands up and takes a step closer to the stranger. “I didn’t accidentally hit you with it, did I? I’m so sorry, I didn’t even realize it came off. I was just distracted and-” 

The sound of quiet laughter interrupts his spiel, and Midoriya falls quiet as he watches the stranger’s shoulders shake minutely with the action. His two-toned hair falls in front of his face as he tilts his head down, as if he’s trying to obstruct the display of his amusement. 

Once the laughter quiets down the stranger lifts his head back up, tilting it to the side just so, allowing the hair to fall from his face and make his scar more visible. It looks a bit worse now that Midoriya has a better view of it. 

“I don’t think a small pin could do much damage, considering.” Considering the scar, remains unspoken, but Midoriya gets the hint. A small cut or bruise compared to that seems obsolete, and he feels slightly embarrassed, but that doesn’t erase the fact that Midoriya would have felt bad for causing injury regardless. 

“Thank you,” Midoriya says instead, letting their conversation progress past injuries. With gentle fingers, he takes his pin from the stranger’s hand gingerly, offering one of his signature Sunshine Smiles, as Ochako likes to call them. “This pin means a lot to me, so thank you for returning it.” 

“Of course.” The stranger returns the smile, albeit more reserved and formally polite, like it’s been carefully crafted for occasions as such. Once his hands are empty he takes to adopting a more relaxed posture, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his coat and readjusting his feet. “It’s a lovely pin, it’d be a shame to lose it.” 

“My friend would kill me if I lost it.” Midoriya chuckles nervously at the thought, his fingers curling around the pin protectively. Ochako may be tiny, but she’s terrifying when she gets mad, and Midoriya has seen her wrath pointed at others enough times to know he never wants to be on the receiving end. 

“It was a gift, then? From a friend?” The stranger tilts his head inquisitively, his eyes trained on Midoriya for his response. 

“Oh, yeah! She gave it to me two years ago, it was a—” pride month gift, he wants to say, but the words die on his tongue when he remembers a few less than pleasant interactions he’s had regarding this topic. Better play it safe, then. “—an early birthday gift.” He secretly amends, which isn’t too far from the truth, anyhow. The pin was technically a dual present, but he doesn’t have to clarify that if he doesn’t want to. “Why?” The question slips from his mouth without warning, but he can’t be bothered to care. It’s an innocent question, no harm done… right? 

“I was debating on asking where you acquired it from.” The stranger shrugs, adding an extra layer of casual curiosity that makes Midoriya start to relax again. “I know someone who would enjoy such a design.” 

“I’m sorry, she never told me.” 

“That’s all right, I was just curious.” The stranger clears his throat and straightens his stance, moving his shoulders to readjust the straps of his own backpack. “Anyway, I’m happy to have returned that to you. Wouldn’t want to lose such a precious token, now would we?” 

A laugh rumbles from Midoriya’s chest, hearty and good-natured. “No, definitely not. Thank you again, seriously. It really means a lot.” 

“Of course.” With one last polite smile and a parting nod of his head, the stranger turns around to make his departure. He only makes it a few steps before Midoriya’s eyes zero in on something shiny pinned to his backpack. 

There, by the uppermost pocket’s zipper, is an enamel pin of a black cat playing with a rainbow-colored ball of yarn. It’s simple. Subtle, even. Just one look may not be enough for most to understand, but Midoriya catches on right away. Even if he hadn’t seen that same pin on an Etsy shop before during his search for more collectables, the colors alone are enough. If you know, then you know. 

“Wait!” Midoriya calls out before he realizes what he’s doing, and he doesn’t even get a chance to evaluate the consequences of his actions before he’s back to staring at the stranger’s mismatched eyes, beautiful and glittering in the afternoon sun. 

“Yes?” The simple response breaks Midoriya out of his stupor, and he can’t help but bite his lip anxiously as he tries to think of what to say. 

“I-I’m sorry, I just… Can I get your name?” His heart is racing again, pounding so hard and fast in his chest that it almost distracts him from catching the other student’s name. Almost, but not quite. 

“Todoroki Shouto.” Midoriya may have almost missed his name, but he certainly doesn’t miss the hint of a smirk that grows on Todoroki’s lips. “You?” 

“Midoriya. Midoriya Izuku.” 

“Midoriya.” Todoroki says quietly, testing the name on his lips. It shouldn’t be enticing, it’s nothing more than someone learning his name, but the way his name sounds in Todoroki’s soothing voice sends shivers down his spine. The smile that comes after makes Midoriya’s heart melt. This is completely unfair. “It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya.” 

“You too, Todoroki-san.” This should be it, their final farewell, their parting goodbyes. Except it’s not. Neither of them take another step. Instead, they allow their eyes to linger. Midoriya’s hand twitches around his pin, nervous yet giddy as he makes a decision. “Todoroki-san, are you busy?” 

“Right now?” Todoroki asks, tilting his head again as he watches Midoriya enthusiastically nod in confirmation. “Not at the moment, no. My last class of the day doesn’t start for another two hours.” 

“Would you want to get some food, then? Together, I mean. A-As a thank you for finding my pin.” Midoriya stumbles over his words, silently chastising himself for getting flustered, but he also gives himself a mental pat on the back for taking a chance. He’s never been all that outgoing, especially in this regard. 

There’s a moment of silence that befalls them, no reply from Todoroki to fill the void. There’s a few birds that fly overhead and one of the many water fountains on campus is close enough to hear the gentle sound of the waterfall, but the longer Todoroki takes to reply the more Midoriya’s heart beats anxiously, slamming against his ribcage in anticipation. 

Mismatched eyes break their gaze and shift down, falling on Midoriya’s enclosed hand still wrapped protectively around his pin, and suddenly all the pieces fall into place. 

Their eyes lock again, green entrapped by enchanting blue and grey. The wind blows the hair from Todoroki’s face, revealing his scar once again as well as his sharp jawline, his faint freckles, and, finally, the uptick in his lips. He’s smiling now, less manufactured and more real, more natural. More genuine. The smile is mirrored on Midoriya’s own lips, and it only grows when Todoroki finally responds. 

“I’d love to.” 

#tododeku #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #bnha midoriya #shoto todoroki #bnha shouto #mha shouto #todomido #midotodo #college au #quirkless au #Lola Writes

[pasdecoeur]

batlantern. O.

O. The stars or space. (ahahahahhaahaha remember when this was supposed to be a minific. it’s not a minific. fuck me.) (T, 1.6k, Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne, complete) this fic is now on ao3.

send me a ship and i’ll write you a fic!

don’t you dream impossible things.

“Hey, so you remember that asteroid belt in Alpha Centauri?” Jordan asked, plopping into his seat in the monitor room, and shoving a vellum scroll in Batman’s face.

“You’re late.”

“You’re repetitive,” Jordan replied. “Are you gonna look at this?”

Bruce kept quiet. Eventually, it would penetrate even the Green Lantern’s enormously thick skull.

“Oh, what? You want me to apologize? I’m sorry. I had shit going on. Cut me some slack. Have I ever not turned up when it matters?”

Bruce kept quiet, and Jordan snorted. “Seriously,” he said, unfurling the scroll, “listen to this, ‘On the event of the Ascension of the Mir— Mirhhh—’ I can’t pronounce this. It’s the kid, you remember him? The little god-prince?”

“He’s the leader of their religion. He’s not royalty.”

“Hello? As good as!” Jordan countered enthusiastically. “And hey! You remember him! They’re inviting us to his, I don’t know, his official elevation to the post — inviting the League, I mean.”

“A formality, of course.”

“I mean, probably, yeah.” Jordan turned to the screens, and they peaceably watched a minor storm system form in the Southern Indian Ocean, and then dissipate when it hit an underwater cylon buried off the coast of the Maldives. “God, he was just a baby when we were there, wasn’t he?”

“Mm.”

Jordan turned to him. Bruce could feel the force of his gaze. “You know what… You know what? We should go.”

And then Bruce did turn to him. “I beg your pardon.”

“We should go!” Jordan enthused. “C’mon, it’ll be fun. I’ve read about the Ascension ceremonies, this is like, a once in a century deal! It’s literally epic! And the kid, you remember him, he thought you were the shit. He was so impressed by you! I bet he’d get a real kick out of it.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, and turned back to the monitors. “It was four years ago. More likely than not, the boy doesn’t even remember us anymore.”

“Aw, c’mon, Spooky. Ain’t nobody who can forget you.”

Jordan’s voice had dropped a little, and Bruce turned to him once more. Hal was watching him, eyes bright, mouth curled up in that warmly satisfied grin, the smile of a man who knew exactly how good he looked. And Bruce fought the urge to look down, look away, heat crawling up the back of his neck, before he fought it down again.

“Tomorrow night, yeah?” Jordan continued, in that softened, low murmur. “It’s only a two hour round trip in the Jav. We drop in, say our how-do-you-do’s to the prince, duck right back out. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

---------

But whatever Lantern’s schedule was for the intervening eighteen hours had him a proper wreck — he stumbled into the Javelin hangar, blinked blearily at Bruce, mumbled, “Hey, you drive, ‘kay?” before weaving dazedly into the back and conking right out on one of the bunks.

The flight was easy, and they docked in a bustling spaceport on the Ginaheri asteroid cluster an hour fifty later. Jordan had woken up on re-entry, and had managed to put himself together by the time they disembarked.

Where the kid was waiting for them, in person.

“Rain?” Hal asked incredulously, “What are you—?”

“Lantern!” Rain crowed, darting away from his attendants, and throwing his wide blue palm up for a smacking loud high-five, before Hal grabbed him, laughing, spinning the gangly kid around and carefully setting him down. Rain looked over Jordan’s shoulder and the jewel-like facets of his amber-gold eyes went luminous. “Batman?” he said in a tone of reverent wonder.

“Hello, Rain,” Bruce said, stepping forward. Rain was practically vibrating, the iridescent silver markings around his eyes taking on an electric gleam. Batman touched his shoulder, and then smoothly sank to a knee, so their eyes were level. The Ginaheri were not a tall people, and even by those standards, Rain was slight and delicate looking. He reminded Bruce of nothing so much as Dick, in the dark, early days, before he had become Robin. It made something in his throat seize, and when he spoke, his voice was gruff. “You’ve grown taller.”

“I didn’t think you would come,” Rain said shyly.

And Bruce felt a rush of gratitude towards Jordan. “Of course I did.”

Rain smiled at him, the sharp black of his canines glinting in the low light. “They’re putting up the weather dome in Tevona. You wanna come see?”

Bruce rose up to his feet. “There is nothing I would like more,” he said gravely, and made no comment when Rain locked his hand around two of Bruce’s fingers, tugging him off and away.

And over his shoulder, he glanced at the Lantern, who had apparently been watching them with the strangest little smile, bemused and off-kilter, papery soft at its edges. Hal had… never looked at him like that before. ----------

They ended up staying for the complete length of the ceremonies, before heading back to the Javelin. Bruce sank into the copilot’s seat and proceeded to ignore takeoff procedures entirely in favour of his tablet, and six weeks’ backlog of financial data Tim had forwarded to him for review.

They had put several thousand miles between themselves and the asteroid cluster before Hal said, “You think he’s gonna be okay?”

“Rain?” Bruce said, scrolling through Tim’s data dump. “He’s a good kid. Smart, tough. Got people who care about him. He’ll be fine.”

“PUtting a lot on him, though, isn’t it? The new gig?”

Bruce shrugged. “Kids are more resilient than people give ‘em credit for.”

He could hear the smile in Hal’s voice when he spoke. “You’d know, huh?” He paused a beat. “You’re very good with him. I’d forgotten that.”

Bruce kept his eyes on the tablet. “It’s merely a matter of experience.”

“Nah,” Hal replied easily. “I’ve got three brothers, and we all came out— Well. You’ve met me. Experience doesn’t count for much.”

“You think I haven’t made mistakes?” Bruce countered quietly. “Because, believe me—”

“I’m not saying you were some kind of model-perfect, you know, a Mr. Rogers dad,” Hal cut in, waving a hand dismissively. “I just think kids can forgive a lot, right? If they know they’re loved, right down at the— At the core of things, if they’ve got that to hang onto, kids can forgive pretty much anything.”

Bruce was quiet for a time, trying to understand what that meant. He was pretty sure there was a compliment buried in there somewhere. Trust Jordan to… He huffed a laugh, and that got his attention, brown eyes swinging around to rest on him.

“I wanted to thank you,” Bruce said.

“For?”

“For insisting we visit Alpha Centauri. I wouldn’t have, but I’m… glad we did.”

“Oh,” Hal said. He sounded a little… stumped. “I mean, sure. Of course.”

Hal stayed quiet for the rest of their ride back to the Watchtower, and Bruce quietly, ruthlessly pushed down the little voice in the back of his head wondering if he had, somehow, as usual, found exactly the wrong thing to say.

They spent the remaining hour plus change of their flight back in silence, and Bruce got out of his seat before the Javelin had even entered the docking bay, tucking the tablet away, and headed to the bay doors at the back for exit.

But Hal must have engaged the autopilot for wheels-down, because he was at Bruce’s side when the hydraulics on the Javelin began to engage, looking antsy and nervous, tugging at his hair, looking like he coudln’t figure out what to do with his hands.

“Get it out,” Bruce muttered.

“What?”

“Whatever you need to say.”

“Oh.” Hal looked faintly gobsmacked. “Um. If you– DId you mean it? Before? When you said…”

“Yes,” Bruce said slowly. “I’m glad we— yes.”

“Okay,” Hal said. “Okay, so if you really want to me make it up to me—”

“I didn’t realize I owed you now—”

“I was thinking—” Hal continued loudly.

“That must’ve hurt. Did you strain something?”

But Hal just snorted, and the tense lines of his shoulders smoothed out, beautifully and all at once. He was grinning now, shaking his head. “You dickhead,” he murmured. “That’s some kind of reflex for you, isn’t it?”

Bruce sighed. It really was.

“So if you wanna make it up to me? You should, um. You should let me take you out to dinner.”

Bruce paused. Blinked. Surely… Surely he had misheard. Misunderstood. “Dinner,” he repeated.

Hal was leaning back against one of the struts, and that smile had never really gone away, but it was warmer now, profoundly intimate. Hal was watching him, and Bruce couldn’t tell— couldn’t understand what his face was revealing. “Dinner,” Hal confirmed. “And you can take that any way you like.”

“Any way I like,” Bruce repeated once more. “Any way I like?”

Hal’s smile was widening now, and the temperature in the hangar bay rose a little more, like he was putting off heat, like the California sun had sunk into the bones of him and he was spilling it into the air, radiant and beautiful. The expression on Bruce’s face must have been some kind of stupid, because Hal laughed softly, and hooked a finger around the utility belt, and tugged. Bruce went with it, let Hal bracket his knees, let their bodies stumble together and collide, bracing himself only just with a palm he slapped against the cool metal strut above Hal’s head.

“Any way you like,” Hal murmured, sliding a hand around the back of the cowl, and pulling Bruce close. His mouth brushed Hal’s chapped, soft lips, and there was an bearable lightness crowding in his chest when he curled his fingers around Hal’s jaw, its fine, honed razor-edge, and it felt like it was all he could do, to hold on, to hold him, to kiss and kiss, anchored in the quiet, as they spun through the dark reaches of the ionosphere, starlight all around them.

#batlantern #hal jordan #green lantern #brue wayne #batman #hal jordan/bruce wayne #halbruce #dc #dcu #dc comics #my fic #kip answers #ask box open

[revisionaryhistory]

Three Days ~ 59

~*~Emma~*~

The lake had been fun. It was initially awkward, but after we loaded into the boat and were underway it got better. I snagged a spot up front in the bow. I was joined by three girls, now women, I’d known well in high school. We started by talking about our current lives and by the time we'd found a spot to anchor we were telling old stories and laughing through our memories. Once the four of us had reconnected the others were easy with conversations and groupings overlapping. An hour later it felt like old times. There were lots of pictures taken and we were texting them to each other immediately. I posted some on Instagram and sent some directly to Sebastian. I had no problem posting bikini-clad pictures of me in a group, but solo went only to him. I've never been one for posting me. It's usually an activity with people.

There was a dock near the southeast border of the lake for gassing up and they had a sandwich shop. Sandwich included hot dogs, hamburgers, french fries, and onion rings. We decided to eat at the picnic tables. Stowing food was more to pack up and could stink. We were relaxing and waiting for the last ones to finish when my notification went off. Chris Evans was asking permission to follow my account. Interesting. Approved. Not a minute later so was Chace Crawford. Also approved, but with a snarky DM about his pickup lines. He'd hit on me at Kirk's wedding. Very unsuccessfully.

Emma ~ Tell Chris hi and nice to meet him.

Sebastian ~ We’re not talking about you. Much. Ok, we are. Sebastian ~ We're mostly looking at pictures.

Emma ~ The ones on your phone are much better than IG

Sebastian ~ Chace will be the one to figure that out.

 Chris DM'd me, “Can't wait to meet you in person. Hearing very sweet things.”

I sent back, "A few are true. He exaggerates."

"Yeah, he's got a huge crush on you."

"Nice to know."

We watched sunset out on the water. It was beautiful. The haze and clouds made for muted pinks, purples, blues, and grays. I took a dozen of those hoping to catch the perfect one. I was in a group of people, but the sunset had me feeling lonely. It was fleeting and I was back into the party spirit quickly.

Amy thought it was a good idea to take everyone back to our house for a pool party. I did not agree. Our parents were home babysitting their granddaughter and we were about to invade with a hoard of drunk friends. All of whom were inviting more and asking them to pick up booze. It felt very high school and in need of at least a phone call. However, it was Amy’s idea and no one wanted to hear from me last night. I wouldn’t be calling ahead.

I went inside to go to the bathroom and ran into dad. "What's all that noise we just got Katie in bed?"

"Amy invited some friends back to the pool."

"You’re teenagers again."

"Seems like it."

"Try and keep it down."

"I will tell her." Not my party. Not my crowd control. I did my business and went back outside. Amy was making out with Max in the pool. I tapped on her head, breaking their kiss, "Dad said to keep it down."

They went back to kissing. I'd deemed my message delivered and headed to the bar, putting in the code and retrieving a bottle of tequila. When I stood up, I was surprised to see Kai on the other side of the bar. Kai was the boyfriend who broke up with me after rehab. Kai's hands were shoved in the pockets of his swim shorts. He nodded toward the group, "Amy said you'd be ok with me coming. I wanted to check."

My current plan for Amy’s death was drowning. She was already in the pool after all. I pasted a less than genuine smile on my face, "It's fine, Kai. It was a long time ago. How are you?"

Kai was very southern lawyer attractive. Thinking back, he always had been. "I’m good. I did become a lawyer. Work for a firm here in Alpharetta. I got married three years ago. Her name is Melanie. We're expecting a baby in January."

"Congratulations. That’s wonderful."

He nodded, "Thank you. What are you up to?"

"I teach first grade, love it. I play in a volleyball rec league. My best friend's in a band so I go into the city and visit. My boyfriend lives there too."

Kai laughed, "I might have heard about him."

"I bet. He's a good guy. Lots of fun and good to me.”

"Better than I was, I’m sure."

Ah! This was going to be some sort of apology. I cringed and pulled up my shades for a second, "Well Kai, you did break up will me three days after I got back from rehab. You kinda failed at supportive boyfriend."

"Yeah, I did. Sorry. In hindsight, it was a shitty thing to do. Bad timing and a lie of a reason."

"I knew that."

"Sorry. I’ve always felt guilty."

I smiled, "It was a long time ago, Kai. We've grown up. We're both doing well."

"I wish we could go back to friends again. We were friends since middle school."

I don't think he realized that made it worse. We’d been friends before we were anything else and none of that mattered when he left me. It didn’t matter to me now. “I stopped being angry with you a very, very long time ago, Kai. Forgave you for leaving me when I needed you. But there’s no reason for us to be friends now. I come back a couple of times a year. You and I are strangers now. And while I have forgiven you, I’d never trust you again.” His guilt is not a reason for me to welcome him back into my life.

“Wow.” He looked surprised.

I smiled, “I wish nothing but the best for you.”  I leaned back to see under the bar and brought up a couple of glasses. “Drink to old times?”

He looked surprised again. “Yeah, Em.”

“Good.” I poured the tequila and tapped my glass against his. “To happy memories and years of fun times.”

We both drank and he walked around to my side of the bar. It was my turn to be surprised when he hugged me, “I wish nothing but the best for you too, Emma.”

I patted his back, “Thank you.”

Kai let go and walked back toward the pool.

I tell you what, this has been the strangest visit I’ve ever had and that’s saying a lot. I’m starting to get paranoid about what the next three days are going to bring. I poured another tequila and questioned my decision to not hop back on a plane last night. I could be home in my bed or in the city tucked into Sebastian’s bed waiting for him to get home or out with Eli and Angie. All preferable to this mixed bag of what the fuck.

I hung out for another hour before letting Amy I was heading to bed. Family day was supposed to start at about noon. That gave me time to sleep in a little, go for a run, and shower before arrivals started. Of course, because I had time to sleep in, I woke up at my normal time. I texted Sebastian, saying good morning, and was pleasantly surprised when his face showed up on my phone.

“It’s morning, but good is a stretch.”

He looked a little rough, but still handsome. “Good night with the boys?”

Sebastian nodded then winced, “Very.” He filled me in on his night. There’d been lots of laughs and he gave me back story on any conversations. I liked watching him talk. In his hungover state, he was less animated than usual, but his expressions and eyes still conveyed a range of emotions. I laughed at the late-night stories. My favorite was Chris edging between Chace and Sebastian in the bathroom, sharing a urinal with Seb because he couldn’t wait.

My stories weren’t nearly as funny. It’s possible things got out of hand after I’d gone to bed. I’m sure Amy would fill me in. I told him about the conversation with Kai.

“Ouch, you’re tough.”

I rolled to my side, putting the phone against the pillow, “It’s not my responsibility to ease his guilt.”

“True.”

“If we were going to be around each other my response might have been different, but there’s no reason. Haven’t seen him in twelve years, likely won’t for at least that long. We talked at the party, laughed. We’re just not going to be friends.”

“No, no, I get it.” He was shaking his head. “I think you might still be a little angry.”

I laughed, “Maybe I should have been less direct. I wasn’t expecting to see him. More indifferent than angry.”

“I don’t know if you should have. I just don’t want to be on the receiving end of your directness. The indifferent version.” He smiled with his using my word instead of his “angry”. “You were pretty direct with Drew in the bar too. I like you having a little bite.” He looked like he was thinking and I stayed quiet. “You are incredibly kind until you’re not. I mean, I think you give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but once they cross over the line where you don’t trust them you have no problem putting them in their place. That’s a good thing. Sometimes people don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt.”

“Ed tells me I let people get away with too much.”

“Do you think so?”

“Sometimes. I can give too many chances. It all depends on how much I care about someone and the size of the bad behavior. I think I’m usually direct and kind at the same time, but when I’ve had enough, I’ve had enough.”

“I tend to sugar coat too much. Then get pissy when nothing changes and sometimes it’s because I wasn’t clear.”

Now I had a question. “Are you sugar-coating and think I was mean to Kai?”

“I was imagining being on the receiving end. I wouldn’t have liked it, but, no, I don’t think you were mean.”

“You’d have to fuck up a lot.” Sebastian’s opinion was important. “I’m direct with the good stuff too.”

“I know you are.” His blue eyes lit up with his smile. “I always know where I stand, how you feel.”

Not always. Not right now. “You read me bedtime stories when I’m sad.”

“And you ask me what I need when I’m anxious.”

“Quite the pair.”

“Yes, we are.”

We just looked at each other for a long time. “Your flight is at three.”

“Twelve, moved up to squeeze in a dinner tonight.”

I looked at the time on my phone, “You need to get to the airport.”

“Yeah.” He turned the camera where I could see his bags. “All packed. I’ll call you when I get back to the hotel for our date.”

Our phone sex date. I smiled and kissed my screen, “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Definitely.”

I laid in bed for a few more minutes, just enjoying being happy, before I got up and got dressed to go for a run.  Mom and dad were already downstairs having coffee. I walked around the table, kissing both of their cheeks, “I’m going for a run before everyone gets here.”

Mom nodded over her cup, “How late was everyone here last night?”

I shrugged, “I went to bed about ten. Long day in the sun and then old friends showing up. I was done. Kai showed up. That was less than fun.”

“You left your sister to manage all your friends?”

Notice how they failed to ask how I was after an unexpected visit from my ex-boyfriend. I know I did. I thought about the conversation with Sebastian and what he’d said about some people not deserving the benefit of the doubt. The other night was the first time I’d been so confrontational with my parents in a very long time. Like since I was sixteen right before I moved to Seattle. I took a deep breath and tried to pull in some of the calmness I’d had upstairs in bed. “Guys, we’re almost thirty, not thirteen. Hopefully, we’ve grown out of getting so drunk we knock over patio furniture and throw up in the pool. If not, they are Amy’s problem. They are her friends, not mine. She invited them over. I haven’t seen most of these people for over ten years. And are you telling me in addition to not talking too much about my boyfriend or anything else that makes me happy, I am also expected to babysit my sister?”

“Emma, you’re overreacting.”

Again, with the fucking overreacting. I’m not an overreactor. If anything, I’m an underreactor. I’m positive I’m not overeating here. I guess it’s nice to know it’s not they don’t like Sebastian and don’t want to talk about him. They don’t want to talk about Kai either and I know they liked him. I muttered, “Unbelievable”, as I headed for the front door.

I ran far longer than I'd planned.

It took a long time to calm my mind and get into the zone. What often happens once I let go of my thoughts and get into a rhythm is that the thoughts organize themselves. When I stopped or during cool down I could see things more clearly. What I saw when I slowed my pace to a walk wasn't pretty. It had been my choice to leave rehab when it was no longer good for me. It had been my choice to call Ed to get me away from here when it was no longer good for me. I don't remember my parents favoriting Amy before that summer. Twenty-three days that strengthened me and weakened Amy. Broke my family and gave me a new one.

Choices, even ones that are good for you, have consequences. A tangled web of choices and consequences have led to now. This isn't my home. My parents' focus, as it had been since I went to Seattle or before, was Amy. I didn't agree with how they sheltered her, but I hadn't been here. In their view I was strong, I was fine, and they didn't have to worry about me. I had another family to worry about me. When I thought about it like this, it made sense. I'd left because being here was a threat to me. Now me being here was a threat to Amy. The situation was fucked. We'd all done the best we could. We still were. If what I'd told Sebastian was true, I wouldn't change anything if it meant I didn't know Ed, Jill, Olivia, and Harper. I had to accept the negatives too. I don't know what that means for the future, but as Ed tells me I put up with things too long sometimes.

I arrived back at the house as everyone was finishing breakfast. I'd separated myself from family time by taking a run. Or maybe I'd taken a run because I was separate from my family. I poured a cup of coffee and joined them at the table, helping myself to the container of Greek yogurt and covering it with berries. Blueberries for Sebastian and raspberries for me. That made me smile.

After I showered Amy and I went to pick up my grandparents. Amy told me what happened after I'd gone to bed, including her and Max having sex on the big round double lounger. I told her... nothing. I didn’t tell her about my fights with our parents, I didn’t tell her about the conversation with Kai. I most certainly didn't tell her about my phone sex date later with Sebastian, the early morning just woke up FaceTime, or how he'd read me Winnie the Pooh until I fell asleep. I hated it. I hated how yesterday we were back to talking like sisters and today it was not. Again, my choice, but I knew she’d tell our parents, which under any other circumstance would be fine, but I could not take any more. I could, but I didn’t want to.

The back yard easily held the gathering of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Kids played in the pool while adults talked with glasses of sangria and bottles of beer. The last stragglers were finishing their drinks when Katie crawled into my lap. She wanted me to take her to bed and read her a story. When the book was done, she curled up next to me, looked up, and said, "I love you, Emma."

I kissed her nose, "I love you, too.”

I joined my parents and sister in the family room. Amy explained they hadn't known how long I'd be with Katie and had started a movie without me. I lied and said it was fine, I'd seen it. There couldn't have been much left when “Dancing Queen” started playing from my phone. I stood up, "That’s Sebastian. He's in Canada. I'm going to take it upstairs. See you in the morning."

Mom yelled after me, "We need to leave at nine-thirty."

"OK." I connected the call, "Hey, baby, how was your flight and dinner?"

"Bumpy."

"Which one?"

"Both." His laughter was a balm that smoothed away the roughness of the day. "How was the barbeque and why can't I see you?"

I shut the door behind me and switched the call to video. "I was waiting until I could get you alone."

Sebastian put his arms across his chest, "What kind of a boy do you think I am?"

"A very handsome one." The top three buttons of his white dress shirt were unbuttoned and his tie hung loosely around his neck. "Damn, you look good."

"So do you."

I was in a plain peach t-shirt. He didn't care. To him, I looked good. I went back to his question, "It was fun. Caught up with lots of family. Watched kids in the pool. Mostly sat with my grandparents. Granny was happy to hold my hand and tell me I’m beautiful."

Sebastian's mouth dropped open in a gasp, "I like doing that too." He turned his head to the side looking over my face, "You don't look sad, but you don't look happy either. What's going on with you?"

I looked up for an answer, "I am accepting the reality of the situation. This isn't really home or really my family anymore. Their priority is Amy."

His face fell, "I’m sorry, baby. What can I do? What do you need?"

I smiled a real smile, "Nothing I don't already have." I could see he was struggling to believe me. "Since we were sixteen, they took care of Amy and Ed took care of me. I didn't realize exactly what that meant. Amy is doing better than she ever has. I always thought that when Amy was better." I stopped myself to figure out how I wanted to say this. "It took me coming home while things are good to realize it doesn't matter. Even if she is fine it's all a house of cards. I expected at some time things would be normal, but it won't be. I am changing my expectations."

"How do stop expecting your parents to support you?"

Good question. "You know why Jimmy and I broke up."

"He cheated."

"My parents do not. Amy didn't until Friday."

"Why not?" Sebastian's sadness for me was tinged with anger.

The list of things my parents didn’t know was long. "Just telling them we'd split. I felt like I might drown. The way they wanted to baby and take care of me felt like an anchor around my neck, like I was incapable of surviving a breakup. When I came here for Christmas, they had all these ideas for my life, but they never asked what I wanted. I knew if I told them he'd cheated it would be ten times worse. Does this make any sense?" It wasn't completely clear to me so how could it be to him.

Sebastian rubbed his fingers over his beard, pulling at the grey patch. "I hurt my knee once. They told me to take it easy for twenty-four hours, ice it, stay off it. Then I had exercises and had to move. Walking hurt like hell but it was the best thing if I wanted to heal. Your parents wanted you on bed rest when what you needed was PT. Support to get on your feet. Support should help, not cripple you."

"Exactly!" I smiled and ran my fingers over the video version of his face. "So not having their support isn’t new. I am working on accepting that's not going to change." I watched Sebastian bite his lip and let it slip free. "What's that about?"

"I feel lucky to know you. I'm so fucking proud of you. You don't get stuck in self-pity; you dig yourself out. It's the difference between seeing yourself as a victim or just someone who had something bad happen. They keep Amy stuck and Ed taught you resilience."

My heart stopped and I forgot how to breathe. Not in the good way. In the almost a panic attack way.

"I can do that with work, most things. Relationships." He scrunched up his face and rocked his head from side to side. "I'm learning."

"I'm not always good at it either." Sometimes I needed my ass kicked.

"That’s ok. I'll be here to help. You're still learning too."

I felt a slow smile form across my face and Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you supposed to be teaching me something tonight?"

I fought back the laugh at the way he squeezed his eyes shut and scrunched up his face. It took a good ten seconds for him to come back to me. I let go of the lip I was biting, "You ok there?"

"You cause me physical pain." He chuckled and smiled looking at me.

I don't think he minds all that much. "Where's it hurt, baby?" I dropped the tone and volume of my voice.

He made the face again and pointed his finger at me. "Turn off the camera."

My eyes went wide, "Why?"

"The first time I watch you get yourself off is going to be live."

"You have a lot of phone sex rules, Bastian." Still, I switched the phone to voice only. My screen went dark. I pouted. Not that he could see.

"Stop pouting and tell me what you're wearing."

I resisted the urge to tell him if he let me turn the damned camera back on, I'd show him. I didn't need to be taught how to do this. I was confident I could wing it just fine. What I didn’t know was if this was to be purely descriptive, giving each other instructions, or a role-play. It didn't matter. Any would be fun.

"I have on a peach t-shirt. It's not tight, but it fits against my body. Soft. My shorts are white. If you listen close, I bet you can hear me unzip them," I moved my phone lower to make sure he could. I left the phone by my hip, "I'm going to go ahead and take them off. My legs are smooth against my fingers."

"Take off your shirt too. Tell me about your bra and panties." His voice had taken on the timbre it gets when he's turned on.

"Nothing special. No one to see them. Simple white cotton. They do look nice against my tan."

"Next time we're together I’m licking those tan lines."

"Mmm, I'm looking forward to that. Tell me about you."

"Dressed from dinner. Black pants, long sleeve white shirt, black tie. You saw. Tie undone. A couple of buttons open and sleeves rolled up."

"Unbutton them all, but leave your shirt on. I like you undone. What’s going on with your pants?"

"They're tight. I’m not completely hard."

"Take them off. Rub yourself over your boxers. I love feeling you grow in my hand or my mouth. Your skin is so soft."

"Spread your legs. Touch yourself. Over your panties. I want them wet.” I heard a change in his breathing. Subtle. “I’m hard. Had to adjust my boxers. My cock's up toward my stomach where I can rub the underside. Feels good." He let out a little moan and I could easily imagine the little smile on his face.

"Take your cock out. I've got my hand over my pussy. Massaging myself. Warm. Panties are a little damp. I can tell I'm wet though. I can feel it."

"What's it like, Emma?"

"All the blood’s rushed between my legs. There's an ache, a throbbing, almost like I can feel my heart beating. An itch I need to scratch."

"My hand's around my cock. Slow strokes along the whole length. I flip my thumb over the tip every so often." His breath caught. "Hits the spot, you know the one, sends a jolt, like a shock through me. Feels even better when it's your tongue."

"Fuck. Your talking has me squirming. My hand is in my panties. My middle finger sliding from my clit to inside me. So slippery. How tight is your grip?"

"Tight. Not stroking my length anymore. Turned my hand around where my thumbs against the vein. Holding tight above the middle to the edge of the head. Feels good. Thinking about you touching your clit."

"Moving up and down, kind of slow. Tightening my muscles like you're inside me."

Words stopped, but it wasn't quiet.

Our breathing had synced up and there were these little catches, sighs, and soft moans.

"Faster and firmer now."

"Me too. I'm close."

I might not be able to see him, but I knew exactly what he looked like. His face, his body, were starting to tense.

"Feels good. Not as good as you touching me. Not even close."

"If I was there, I'd put my hand over yours. Feel how you like to be touched. So, I can match it. I'd kiss along your neck, taste you. My other hand, my fingers, barely touching your side, over your hip, across your thigh." The last word was interrupted.

" Em... fuck... yes..." Then a few seconds of silence followed by a long sigh.

"Where are you, baby?"

"Unhooked my bra. Nipples so tight."

"Perfect for me to suck on. I'd use my teeth. Run my hand up your inner thigh. Touching close. I can look down and see you touching yourself. God, how much I want to shove your hand away and taste you. Make you come."

"Oh fuck... Bastian." Everything tightened up then let go.

His voice was in my ear, "Turn your camera back on."

When I picked the phone up off my chest his face was already there. I hit the button and saw my face appear in the small rectangle. "Now you want to see me." I stretched with a contented sigh.

"I always want to see you after you come. The way your mouth is open and you lick your lips. Beautiful."

I rolled to my side, "What's an orgasm feel like for you?"

"Tonight. Mmm, for a while it just felt good. Like any touch, nothing special, except the where. Only more. Then it's like a switch. Goes from feels good to oh shit this is amazing. Starts where I’m touching and spreads down to my balls and lower stomach, base of my spine. It's like tightening a spring until it can't anymore and just let’s go."

"Is sex different? The orgasm."

"Oh yeah." His smile and eyes told me he drifted away a little. "I'll tell you all about it next time we have sex." Sebastian raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"Similar. Like you said just feels good. More of a building for me though. Sometimes it's a slow steady increase. Other times like stair steps. I have to remind myself to relax or I clench my butt and thighs too much."

"I've noticed this. You start to rise off the bed and I have to hold you down." He was clearly enjoying the memory. "Does it change how it feels?"

I nodded, "Tightening up takes the focus away. Eventually, everything gets warm, tingly, and tightens up. Finally, it's like a wave breaking on the shore with muscle contractions."

"I feel those."

"I like the resistance of having something to hold onto." His eyes had questions. I had to search for a workable metaphor. "If you're sitting in a chair and lift your foot you can feel your thigh tighten, but if you're on a leg machine with weights you feel that muscle more."

Awareness hit him, "Really?" I nodded again. "I knew you liked, but I like knowing the why." He laughed, "I love these talks."

I joined in his laughter, "It is fun."

"Hang on a sec." He laid his phone next to him and I could hear him moving around.

"What are you doing?"

Sebastian picked his phone back up, "There was a mess to clean up."

It is so sexy that he told me this. The whole conversation is sexy. Lying in bed a thousand miles apart having a casual chat about a not at all casual topic is sexy as fuck.

"What did you use?" I was amused.

He looked at me with disbelief. Not sure if it was the question or that he was going to answer. "My underwear. They were nearby." He stood up and lifted the tie as he walked. "Can I get rid of this now?"

"Do I get to see your bare chest?"

"Do I get... ok well, there we go. Thank you."

I'd shifted my camera lower and flashed him naked breasts before he finished asking. I moved back to my face, "You're welcome."

He held his phone out where I could watch him free his arm and be shirtless. I made an appreciative noise and he asked, "Enjoying yourself?"

"I am." I hadn’t intended to lick my lips. "I'd like to lay by a pool with you. Or a beach."

"Easily arranged." He stretched out on the bed. "What haven't we done that you want to do?"

"In general, or sex."

He shrugged, "Sex is the topic. Tonight anyway."

"I want you to give me a full body massage that veers off track to a happy ending."

"That will be just as much fun for me." His face showed his interest. "I want you to tie me to the bed, blindfold me, and do whatever you want to me."

I sat up enough to take my bra off, giving him another peek "We're going to need a weekend locked in one of our bedrooms."

"My weekend is free. I think I have company coming Thursday."

"My departure time keeps creeping up to get to you sooner.”

He sang, "Oh what a lucky boy."

“Pretty soon I’ll get there before you, waiting on the floor outside your apartment.” I got hit with a memory, "We need to talk about your birthday. What do you want?"

"Well, that depends on how you feel about birthday sex? I like birthday sex. Not a deal-breaker, not my preference, but fun for a change."

He stretched out on the bed and stuck his phone to his leg. I could see chest up. I propped my head upon my hand and adjusted my phone. "I'm speaking from limited experience here." Sebastian tried very hard not to smile. He failed, but he tried. "You're such a man."

He stopped trying, "You're such a woman." His laughter was a wonderful sound.

"Less than good experience the first time because neither of us realized the amount of prep work required." He winced. I shrugged. "Next time I’d researched. I liked it, he didn't. He was too in his head, worried about being dirty. Then there's you. I knew what I was doing more in theory than practice."

"You should feel free to practice on me anytime you want." He cocked his head to the side. "You can come in and brush your teeth while I pee, but that's as far as I want to go there."

"Women have complete conversations while trading places in a bathroom."

"The group bathroom break cracks me up."

"We don't want to stop talking or want to talk about a cute guy in private."

"Mostly the last one." He wasn't wrong. "Oh..." he shook his head and pulled his eyebrows down, "not into period sex. But you've got an IUD. Do you even have a period?"

"Nope, happy side effect." Condoms eliminated the need for the birth control talk. "How do you know I have an IUD? Can you feel the strings?"

"My fingers are up there a lot."

I smirked, "You're dirty."

"About to be dirtier. Turn off your camera."

#sebastian stan #sebastian stan fanfiction #fanfiction #sebastian stan X ofc #marvel actor fanfiction

[mari-onberry]

When the Day Met the Night

for  @theres-no-going-home for the zutaraang valentine’s exchange @zutaraangtastic​

read on ao3

In the back of his mind, Aang remembered an old superstition that if someone fell in love with a person who bent a different element than them, that the two of them would switch elements. He always thought this was absurd; after all, bending is a product of years of training, plus no one other than him could master more than one element. Then, he fell in love and nothing seemed as impossible as it once had.

It had been a quiet day and an even quieter night when Aang first told Katara and Zuko he loved them. People from all around were curious about the fact that the firelord, the Avatar, and a waterbending girl had become accustomed to spending so much time together, and that led to not much privacy for the three of them. Luckily, Zuko was able to pull strings every once in a while that allowed them to have a day all to themselves. 

It was always warm and comforting being so close with his partners, especially with one of them being a firebender. 

After Zuko and Katara both fell asleep, their heads snuggled into Aang's side, he whispered to both of them, quietly enough not to wake them up, "I love you." He fell asleep shortly after. 

When he woke up, something was off. Or rather, everything was off. Except for him, everything was off the bed, including his partners. He looked to the side of the bed to see Zuko still fast asleep, drenched in water from an unknown source. Katara was next to him, equally peaceful despite the fact that the position she was in did not seem comfortable. Aang frowned and shook Zuko awake as best he could. 

Zuko woke up with a start, alarmed that he had somehow ended up on the ground. He looked to his right and saw Katara, and then looked up at Aang, confused. "What happened last night?"

Aang didn't know, and when they woke Katara up, too, she didn't know either. 

"How did you get drenched in water?" Aang asked, since that was probably the strangest thing that happened. 

"It's not like I was waterbending in my sleep," Katara joked, but when she took out her vial of water it was nearly empty. She tried to bend the water from off of Zuko and back into the vial, but it didn't move. She panicked. "Did I lose my water bending? Zuko, what about you? Can you still firebend?"

He stood up and tried his best to produce even a small flame, but nothing happened. Instead, he produced a gust of wind that shot across the room and was enough to push Aang back onto the bed. Now, it was Zuko's turn to panic. 

For Aang, though, it was when he finally figured it out. "That superstition. It's true." He whispered, incredulous. 

Zuko got closer to him, hoping he had the answer. "You seem awfully calm about this, Aang. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

Aang sat up and answered Zuko's question as best as he could. "There's an old wive's tale that might explain this. It basically means that if two," (or more, he had now found out), "different benders fall in love, they switch powers."

Katara looked at her hands, dumbfounded. She asked, "What powers do have?"

At the same time, Zuko asked, "How long does it last?"

Aang didn't know the answer to that, or pretty much anything else Zuko could ask. All he knew was that this confirmed that the two of them loved him back, and even though he was fine waiting on them to say it back, it made him happy. "We should test them out. Now you two can see a small sample of what it's like to be me."

Katara realized she had acquired fire and earth powers, despite losing her waterbending. She was excited to try them out, but she mainly just missed water. It felt odd when she was unable to move even that small amount of water earlier, like she had lost her connection to something important to her.

Zuko had a very different worry. "We can't go outside like this! How am I supposed to be Fire Lord if I can't even bend fire?"

Aang was worried for them, deep down, but he couldn't help but smile. He doubted something like this lasted forever, because if it did, he probably would've heard about it by now. "Well, if we can't go outside, let's stay here. I can help you control your powers, even if this only lasts for today."

Zuko and Katara looked at each other, their panicked faces almost mirror images of each other. Katara put her hands down and smiled for the first time that day. "Alright. That sounds rather fun, actually." 

Zuko let go of his worry, too. "Okay. But Aang, did your powers not change?" 

Oh. He hadn't even thought of that before. First, he tried to produce a gust of wind, like Zuko had a little bit ago. Nothing. Water, nothing. Earth, nothing. Fire; nothing. Aang panicked for a second-- the Avatar suddenly having no powers definitely wasn't good. But, he could worry about that if he woke up the next morning and everything was still the same. He still had a feeling that this was temporary. So, he tried his best to stay calm and told his partners he would go get materials they could try to bend.

When he came back with a cup of water and a cup of dirt, he was surprised to see Katara with a tiny flame in the palm of her hand. 

"Aang, look!” Katara looked overjoyed to be able to bend fire, even if it was for a short amount of time. When she stopped focusing to look over at Aang, it had disappeared. 

Aang thought it an odd sight to see his partners bending things he expected they never would be able to, but it was rather enjoyable. For the next few hours, they practically played with their new powers like they were kids again. Zuko had a hard time getting the hang of waterbending, but surprisingly, Katara caught on to firebending quickly. She preferred earth, though, probably because it was closer to water than fire was, and when Aang left to get her rocks to try and bend, she loved being able to make them levitate feet above them in the air. Zuko missed firebending, but airbending was rather fun, 

Aang loved watching them like this, although a part of him felt bad because they wouldn’t be able to work on their powers for years like he had. He wished he could share his bending with everyone, and at times it felt a bit selfish that he was the only one alive who could bend all four elements. Other times, it felt a bit lonely. But, he served a purpose in the world, and that was fact that he had come to terms with a long time ago. If anyone could master all four elements, that would only worsen tension between nations, so it was for the best that he was the only one. And he felt lucky to be able to share, even for just one day. 

Soon, it got dark, and the three of them were getting too tired to stay awake and work on their powers any longer. They climbed into bed, and in seeing that they had neglected to pick the sheets up off the floor, Zuko tried his hardest to lift it off the ground and on to the bed using firebending. Instead, it just hovered for a few seconds and plopped itself back to its resting place. They all laughed and snuggled closer, this time feeling how Katara was actually the warmest of them. Aang felt just as loved as before, but this time, he had proof. 

To add to that feeling, Katara, in a state of exhaustion, said, “I love you two.”

Zuko answered back almost two minutes later, as if he had fallen asleep for the little time it took him to speak, “I love you, too.” 

Aang fell asleep surrounded by people who loved him, and he was sure of it. 

#zutaraangexchange #zutaraang #atla #avatar: the last airbender #mari writes

[darlingrutherford]

Hey! Heard you were looking for fluff prompts, so maybe Alistair and Lana just hanging out in their tent together during origins, staying up late into the night and having a conversation/playing a game? Just something to maybe spark your interest.

“I'm not sure I'm catching on,” Lana said with a furrowed brow at the five cards in her hand. “I want them to match?”

“Matching is good.” Alistair nodded as his hand slid over the neat stack of cards in front of them. Dim magelight lit the tent, illuminating their cards as Lana shuffled hers around. Bryn, her mabari, lay curled at the side of the tent on his blanket, fast asleep and highly uninterested in their game. “The higher the suit matching the better.”

“I thought you said we were only supposed to take one card?” Lana tilted her head slightly as she regarded the cards in Alistair's hand. He cleared his throat as his ears reddened, giving her a smile as he put one back. Lana's eyes narrowed as he shifted on the bedroll. “Are you cheating?”

“It isn't called Wicked Grace for nothing,” he chuckled as he picked a card from his hand and discarded it into the second pile. When he met her eyes again, he couldn't help but laugh at the look of disbelief she was giving him. “It's part of the game! Everyone cheats at it. You're supposed to try to catch people cheating, while cheating yourself. It's how you squander them out of their money.”

“Seems fairly dishonest.”

“Well, I mean… If everyone is doing it…” Alistair trailed off, pausing as Lana continued staring at him with scrutiny. He could hear the chirping of crickets in the field outside their tent at the late hour, the pounding of blood in his ears as they held each other's gaze. Then, she began laughing, and Alistair sighed in relief. “Maker's breath, I thought… You are trouble, do you know that?”

“I'm already keeping you awake. I might as well entertain you a little bit,” she said with a small smile.

“I don't mind. The ‘keeping me awake’ bit. Or the entertaining, for that matter. I know those dreams can be unsettling.” Alistair watched Lana as she simply nodded with her eyes on her cards. The dream had been jarring, more so than usual. Whenever Lana awoke with such a fright, Alistair assumed it to be her recurring nightmare from her childhood. That a dream of the archdemon had frightened Lana to the point of not wanting to sleep had been extremely unusual for her, and Alistair had immediately broken out a deck of cards to occupy her mind. Lana set her cards face down in front of her with a sigh as she ended her turn.

“Have you ever… Had a dream like that? I mean… I know you've seen the archdemon before in your sleep, but… Has it ever…”

“A couple nights before you first saw it in your sleep, I saw it in mine. That first time especially was a bit unnerving…” Alistair picked a card from the pile and brought it to his hand, shuffling it around with the others as he decided which to discard. As he opened his mouth to continue, he froze when his eyes lifted to look at Lana. She had untied the ribbon she always used to finish her braid and was running her fingers through her hair as she unbraided strand by strand. He had only seen her with her hair down once before, that time at the river when he had accidentally came upon her. Small waves from the braid pressed throughout her long hair as she fluffed it with her fingertips as if shaking the memory of the dream from her mind. Maker, but… Sitting across from him in his much too large for her shirt with her copper hair almost to her waist, he was sure she was the epitome of perfection.

“Did you finish your move?” Lana asked. Her cheeks had begun to redden, all too aware of how he was staring.

“No. No, there's just one more thing…” Alistair hastily discarded a card into the pile before setting his cards face down as he leaned forward. He brought his hand to rest at the nape of her neck, gently encouraging her towards him until they met in the middle. Lana brought her hands to rest on the bedroll between them as she smiled against Alistair's lips. She couldn't help but sigh through her nose as he deepened the kiss. His kisses were always so passionate, so purposeful, as if she were the only thing he had ever wanted in the world. As he ended the kiss she gently pulled her hands back, laughing as he pecked the tip of her nose before straightening his back. Lana cleared her throat as she picked up her cards and shuffled them, biting her lip as her cheeks flushed while Alistair continued to gaze lovingly at her.

“I, um… I suppose I should…” She pulled a card from the deck, holding it out for Alistair to see. “That means the game's over, right?”

“Correct. I knew I found a smart one,” he teased with a wiggle of his brows. He picked up his five cards in front of him with a triumphant look on his face. “Now, just because I am about to destroy you with this hand doesn't mean you should be discouraged from…”

Alistair's voice trailed off, the smug look falling from his face in favor of a very confused brow as he looked at the cards in his hand, none of which he recognized from moments ago.

“Is this a good hand?” Lana asked as she presented her cards. She fanned them out on the blanket, and Alistair's eyes narrowed. Three angels and two serpents. His two serpents which had been in his hand only moments before, which had been replaced with two songs of two different themes. As he looked back at Lana accusingly, her brows lifted and lip pouted ever so slightly to tempt his mercy.

“A fine hand… For a cheater!” He kept his voice low to spare the others in their separate tents, but the accusation rang clear in his voice and his pointing finger. Lana's mouth gaped at him as she fought a growing urge to smirk.

“Me?” She repeated innocently as she held a hand to her chest.

“Fitting you chose serpents. Just like a sneaky snake, slithering them from my hand.”

“How could I have taken them from your hand without you noticing?” Lana asked. Alistair paused in contemplation, then shock grew on his face as realization set in.

“The kiss!” He gasped.

“The one that you initiated?”

“Yes, but, you… You put your hair down!”

“Thank goodness for my sentient hair. I would never steal anything without its help,” Lana teased.

“I know you switched them somehow… Using your womanly ways to distract me, for shame. Fine. Victory is yours, this time. Mark my words, though! I shall have my revenge!”

“Neither of us will live to see your revenge if you wake Leliana,” Lana laughed. “Best three out of four?”

“We should probably try to get some sleep,” Alistair chuckled. He began collecting the cards, his eyes occasionally flickering up to look at Lana as she quietly tugged at her hair. “Is it still bothering you?”

“It's just… I know I've seen the archdemon in my sleep before. I've felt its gaze on me, that's nothing new.”

“It doesn't mean it gets easier. It's okay if it hasn't,” Alistair said. He packed the cards away, shifting to the side to make room as Lana slid to sit beside him. Alistair waited patiently as Lana tried to find the words while she hugged her knees. He knew there must have been more to it. For her to have woken up screaming like that...

“It wasn't only the archdemon. I… I was dreaming about… About my mother, and… When I hid beneath my bed, this time, as she approached… I thought she was gone, and then it was there, in my face, terrible and surrounded by flames, and…”

“It intersected your nightmare,” Alistair said quietly. Lana nodded quickly before burying her face against her knees. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to lean against him. Alistair kissed the top of her head before running his fingers through her hair.

“It feels like it knows me now… But, that sounds silly…”

“It's not silly,” Alistair mumbled. He paused for a moment before grinning as he pulled her back. “I know how to fix it.”

“What? How?” Lana looked at him curiously, raising her brow in confusion as he encouraged her onto her back.

“Ready? I need you to be ready for this, because, if we want it to work, like, really work, you have to be ready.”

“Okaaay…” Lana trailed off. She watched Alistair in interest as he stretched his arms overhead, weaving his fingers before bringing them in front of him and outstretching his arms until his knuckles cracked. He wiggled his arms loose, clearing his throat as he moved his neck side to side and began humming. It was the strangest tune, not one Lana had ever heard before. It was more along the lines of a two note hum one may have done while meditating, occasionally evolving into higher and lower pitches as he moved his fingers in abstract shapes in the air. Lana tried her best to keep up her gaze with his movements, when suddenly his left hand fell to his side as the index finger of his right hand began spiraling towards her and, with an echoing pop from his mouth, booped her on the tip of her nose. As if the curtain had obviously fallen on his act, Alistair slid under the blanket, wrapping his arms around Lana and pulling her close as usual.

“What was that?” Lana laughed as Alistair buried his face against her neck.

“I fixed it,” he said simply while yawning against her skin.

“That easily?” She teased, hints of laughter still in her voice.

“I know. I'm amazing. Don't go telling everyone, though. I'll never be able to sleep if everyone starts coming to me going, fix our sleep, Alistair! Soon, all of Ferelden will want their dreams fixed and I will be exhausted.”

“I wouldn't want that,” Lana hummed in agreement. She turned to her side to shift her arm beneath Alistair's neck, making it easier for him to cuddle up against her. She knew it would have been an interesting sight, her and her not even five foot self cradling him and his over six foot broad frame, but, Maker, it felt wonderful holding him, knowing that he felt just as safe in her arms as she felt in his. As she closed her eyes, the magelight dimmed in time, and she smiled. “Good night, Alistair.”

“Good night, cheater.”

#thank you so much for this cute prompt!!! #alistair Theirin #lana surana #Alistair x warden #alistair x surana #Suranistair #lanistair #dragon age #dragon age origins #fanfiction #my ocs #my work

[writingformadderton]

Please come back to me💙

Ship: Madderton

Word Count: 1753

Summary: Richard gets a call one evening from Taron after having a fight a few days before. T is driving to him and gets involved in a car accident, which sends him to a coma. Since that day Richard is by his side every day, waiting patiently for him to wake up. The regret not telling Taron about his feelings breaks him, every day a little more. 

Additional Tags: angst, coma, car accident, mention of blood, first kiss, best friends, lovers, comfort, soft, fluff

Based on a request

Richard looks up confused when his phone rings with the special tone he put in for Taron. What did he want now? "Hey," he sighs.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you…I'm actually driving to you now," T says and stops at a red light. "I'm... I hope I’m not bothering you today," he rubs his face and waits for his best friend’s answer.

"No, it's fine. I have nothing to do anyway, when are you gonna be here?" Rich asks and looks around his living room. It’s all cleaned up which makes him feel relaxed.

"Three minutes or so," Taron says and starts driving again. "Rich, I know I said some stuff that was awful. I wanna make it good again."

Richard rubs his face and thinks back to their argument a few days ago. Taron had been enormously drunk, spilled some secrets in front of his friends and teased Rich because of his insecurities. Since then Taron has been extremely sorry and wants to make it good again. "Taron, it's.. it's okay. We're gonna talk about it."

"I'm sorry, I know I messed up. Rich I-."

Suddenly Richard hears him pushing the brakes and a loud crash. "Taron?" he asks and fear creeps up in him when he doesn't get an answer. "Taron?!" Did he just have a car crash? He ends the call and rushes outside to the car. His heart races when he drives a few streets further and already sees the ambulance.

A paramedic quickly makes sure he knows Taron and then he lets him step into the ambulance. Rich falls down heavily on the seat next to the stretcher where Taron lies, blood all over his face and closed eyes. He's pale which makes the blood look even darker and he moans in pain. T opens his eyes, groaning and turns his head to the side blinking slowly. "Rich," is all he says and Richard hears him.

He doesn't care about the paramedic sitting next to him and takes Taron’s hand carefully into his. "Hey, I'm here."

Taron looks at him with half closed eyes. "I'm sorry, Richard. For everything."

"Shh, have some rest now. We're gonna talk when you're better, yeah?" Rich says and strokes his knuckles swallowing hard.

"I don't wanna die, Richie," he chokes out and coughs, contorting his face in pain. "I don't want to." Tears are rolling down his cheeks.

"Taron, calm down. You're not going to die. We're driving to hospital and-." Richard gets cut off by T bending in pain and moaning loudly before his eyes fall close and his head tilts sideways, his hand sliding out of Richard’s. Rich softly gets pushed away by the paramedic who's telling the driver that Taron is unconscious.

 A bit later they knew it wasn't just Taron passing out. Taron had fallen into a coma and his body had been fighting against it for the last four months.

Rich sits on his bedside and watches him silently. He comes here almost every day since the accident, still waiting for his mate to wake up again. Sometimes he tells him about his day, what he missed or just sits there in silence holding his hand. He often starts humming Taron’s favorite song and it always brings him to tears because it's so ironic--Someone Saved My Life Tonight.

But most of the time Richard is mad at himself. He has been in love with Taron for so long and he missed his chances to tell him over and over again. And now he's lying here, right in front of him and his chance is gone. He doesn't know if Taron will ever wake up again or survive his coma at all, and it kills him sitting there not being able to do anything at all.

"I miss you so much, T," he says and tries to fight the upcoming tears. And once more he buries his face in their tangled hands and starts sobbing quietly. "Please come back to me, I can't lose you. I just can't," he begs and tries to calm down.

Through tears he sees Taron’s beautiful eyes closed, his face without any emotion and his fluffy hair that's a complete mess. His thumb strokes over his cheek while he bites his lip trying to get himself together. He kind of wants to stroke over his head but he doesn't. It feels wrong touching him so softly when Taron’s not present mentally.

  Taron feels like he's trapped in a big dark room. He can't move, he can't speak and he can't think in a straight way. But what the strangest of it all was, he couldn't get out of it. Whatever he tries to do, he can't open the door and get outside to see light again.

He feels immensely cold and left alone most of the time. Sometimes he feels like his best mate Rich is right next to him, like a voice from the outside keeping him alive. He would give everything to be able to hug him and just feel safe and loved in the light again.

He sees the good moments between them all the time flashing by in front of his closed eyes. Laughing and dancing, singing or cuddling. He sees Richard’s deep blue eyes, his always perfectly styled hair and hears his calming voice.

And sometimes he has this tune in his head. It keeps playing over and over again. Someone Saved My Life Tonight. And somehow he knows something is wrong with this dark cold world he's in now. He fights against it, tries to open the door and keeps this song in his mind.

 Richard is at home when he gets a call from Taron’s mum. "Hey Richard, I am so sorry. I know you've been with him today and I-." she starts crying and Richard heart starts kicking in his chest.

"What's wrong?" he asks, scared and feels panic rising in his body. Please say he's okay. He stumbles over to a chair and sits down heavily.

"They think he's gonna wake up tonight. I can't be with him, because of the girls and I wanted to ask if you maybe-."

"I'll be there," he says and Taron’s mother thanks him and tells him to call her. He promises it and ends the call. Tears fill his eyes and he presses his hand in front of his mouth. Could it be possible that he wakes up? The tears start rolling down his face and he starts sobbing again. But this time they are tears of hope.

When he arrives in hospital Taron isn't moving still and he sits down on his bedside. He rests his head on his arms on the mattress and looks at T. "Come on, you can do it," he whispers full of hope.

 He wakes up when someone bops his nose. Richard opens his eyes confused and looks into a pair of blueish green eyes. He jumps up and presses his hands in front of his mouth trying to hold himself together. Tears are streaming down his face and he can't get anything out. He breaks down on the chair sobbing and buries his face in his hands.

"Hey, come here," T says and rolls aside tiredly. When he opened his eyes half an hour ago, a nurse stood next to him and went away to get a doctor. They explained to him that he was in a coma for almost four months. As soon as they left Taron saw Richard sitting there next to him sleeping and he remembered how he told Richard he doesn't want to die in the ambulance. He remembers that his blue eyes were the last thing he had seen. And now almost four months later he was still here.

Richard sits down next to him and tries to control himself. But seeing him awake and hearing him talking is too much. He wraps his arm around Taron and pulls him close. T takes his hand and feels his own eyes filling with tears.

"You're still here? After all this time you're still coming to see me?" Taron asks with a shaking voice and tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Of course, Taron! I was here every day since the accident," Rich answers and now he strokes over his head, running his fingers through his fluffy hair.

"Why?" T asks and his voice cracks. "I hurt you!"

"I love you," Richard chokes out and swallows hard. That was fast.

"What?"

"I'm here because I love you. Like really love you," he explains and looks at him with fear in his eyes. "If that's too much now, I'm okay with that. I-."

"You love me?" Taron asks with a thin voice and sniffs. Richard nods and T feels his heartbeat increasing. "I kept on seeing you when I was in a coma. You, you, you. I love you too."

Rich presses his lips together and rubs his face. "I promise I'll take care of you!"

"I know. You always did," T admits and strokes his cheek. He leans forward and they sink into a salty and wet kiss due to the tears. But it's perfect for them.

"Oh fuck." Rich pulls back and takes out his phone. "Promised your mum I’d call her."

A bit later Taron’s mum rushes in and pulls him into a tight hug crying. Rich leaves them alone and goes for a walk through the corridors. He bites his lower lip and can't believe how lucky he really is. Taron is back and he loves him.

 A few days later Taron can go home and asks Richard if he can stay with him. Rich says yes and so they are lying in bed together cuddling. "Richie?" T suddenly says.

"Yeah?"

"I'm scared." Taron mumbles and cuddles deeper into him.

"What? Why are you scared, love?" Richard asks, concerned and looks down on his golden boy.

T looks up to him and he sees fear and shame in his eyes. "I'm afraid of sleeping and not waking up again."

Rich softly strokes over his head and wraps the blanket close around him. "You don't have to. I'll be here and I'm staying with you. You're not alone, bub."

Taron smiles weakly and nods. "Okay."

Richard can hear him breathing deep and peacefully after a while and he looks down at him a bit scared. But Taron’s expression is completely peaceful, with a small smile on his lips. His lover is just asleep.

@dreamingwolfthings @onceuponadetectivedemigod @primaba11erina @guns-n-marvel​ @shereighties @honkycrowley @multicoloredchicken @sarahegerton96  

#taron egerton #Richard Madden #madderton #taron egerton fanfiction #taron egerton fic #taron egerton fluff #Taron egerton angst #richard madden fic #richard madden fanfiction #richard madden fluff #Richard madden angst #madderton fic #madderton fanfiction #madderton fluff #madderton angst