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#also everyone involved is older than me (they’re both 23) but it all just feels like such high school behavior
stuckinapril · 4 months
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me stoically navigating my way through drama bc bigger things are ahead and it’s not my fault people are dumb
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Soulmate AU part 3: The teenagers slowly become adults;
Leon is endlessly proud of his kids (he’s long accepted that he’s a dad of three unruly teenagers now, and shares custody with Gwen and Hunith, the only other sensible ones), and Morgana and Merlin are abruptly made aware of their new... role(s).
Part 1   Part 2 Part 4
All of their birthdays pass in the next few months. Of course, Arthur’s and Morgana’s come with big celebrations, insisted on by Uther (I mean... Morgana had just come of age, and Arthur was the Prince, can you blame him?), but the gang put on mini celebrations just for them in the evenings.
Everyone got everyone gifts, and they spent as much time together during the birthdays as they could, even Gaius and Hunith joining them when they had time.
Leon was quickly climbing the ranks within the Knights, and was the youngest to be granted the title of captain at just 23, which gave him little more control over his own schedule. He worked incredibly hard, was a good teacher, and never took advantage of his post, so his fellow knights didn’t mind so much when he gave himself the occasional day off, for his kid’s birthdays.
The other knights had definitely picked up an Leon’s... older brother instincts when it came to The Prince, The Ward, The Servant, and The Physician’s Apprentice, and ribbed him mercilessly for it, but he didn’t really mind too much. Said kids certainly found it hilarious.
Morgana coming of age also meant an influx of potential courters, both foreign royalty and local nobility.
Much to Uther’s annoyance, she rejected every single one before even meeting them, insisting that she would marry for love, not because some old man wanted to suck up to The King.
It didn’t take long for him to give up on finding her a suitor to be honest. She wasn’t heir to the throne, so it wasn’t too important, and he knew how stubborn she was; the more he tries to set her up, the more she’ll resist.
Merlin’s sixteenth birthday came a few weeks after Arthur’s seventeenth, and Uther begrudgingly gave Morgana and Arthur a day off from lessons and meetings. Frankly, he knew there would be no point in trying to enforce anything, they would just ignore him and sneak out to see the boy anyway.
~
A couple months after Arthur’s seventeenth birthday, it came time for his official Knighting (he talked about it endlessly when it happened, being one of the youngest to ever be officially knighted, most aren’t knighted until they’re closer to 21. Leon had been very young as well, at only 19).
Much to Uther’s chagrin, Arthur and Morgana insisted that Hunith and Merlin have a front row seats.
He gave in eventually, after Arthur threatened to not turn up to his own ceremony, and Morgana pointed out that the only people in attendance would already know about the whole soulmate thing.
It was a momentous occasion, that involved huge public celebrations (which Arthur and Morgana, of course, snuck out of the castle to join in on, with Gwen and Merlin), and a large feast in the evening.
Hunith finally got a chance to wear one of her nicest dresses, and Arthur even managed to wrangle Merlin into some smart clothes (just a touch of red and gold, to subtly compliment what the Prince was wearing, of course).
Though Uther did insist on having them introduced as “Family of the Court Physician” to anyone who asked, which annoyed Arthur to no end. But he’d agreed to not go public until he turned 18, so he was just going to have to put up with it.
They had a great time, and even Uther loosened up a bit once he’d had a little to drink. He still avoided Hunith and Merlin like the plague, but did get tipsy enough to clap Arthur on the back, and tell him he was proud “Of both your achievement today, and the happiness you found with your soulmate.” which Arthur definitely did NOT tear up at, thank you very much Morgana, and which Uther will deny happened until the day he dies.
Despite having to hide their respective soulmates, the gang had fun. Once the food and tables where cleared away to make way for music and dancing, things livened up a great deal.
Morgana dragged Merlin to dance, despite his insistence that he didn’t know how. Arthur, Gwen, Leon, Hunith, and Gaius watched on in amusement as Morgana tried to teach him the steps in the middle of the floor, no one in the hall daring to complain (she was the King’s Ward, after all).
Morgana made her way through the group, insisting that Arthur danced with her next, then Leon, and then, much to Uther’s annoyance, Gwen and Hunith.
Everyone soon forgot about their worries, maybe it was inappropriate for commoners and servants to mix with royalty and knights, but this celebration was for Arthur, he could bloody well do what he wanted.
Thankfully, by the time Morgana managed to force Arthur and Merlin on the dancefloor together, everyone else in the room was too drunk, and too wrapped up in their own dance partners, to notice The Prince dancing with the Physician’s Apprentice.
Overall, despite the stress of feeling like Uther was glaring a hole in the back of all of their heads, they enjoyed the night. Hunith and Merlin felt, even though it was obviously much fancier, the celebrations were similar to the ones they had back in their little village.
They had greatly missed the Yule celebration that had undoubtedly happened at the end of last year in Ealdor, but this more than made up for it, and by the end of the night, their spirits were lifted, so much so that they weren’t nearly as homesick as they used to be.
~
It was just days after the celebrations, that Arthur and Merlin (choosing to sleep in Merlin’s bed tonight, so they could have breakfast with Hunith the next morning) woke with a start to the sound of frantic banging on the front door. It was very late, still hours before sunrise.
Arthur woke immediately, his instincts kicking in as he grabbed his hidden sword and made his way out of the bedroom before he was even fully aware of himself. Merlin woke up a little slower, but still grabbed his own sword and crept out of the room after Arthur, meeting a worried Hunith in the corridor.
Arthur gestured at them to be quiet and raised his sword a little higher as the banging started again.
Merlin ignored him however, as he widened his (now golden) eyes and dropped his sword. He rushed to open the door before Arthur could stop him, only to find a distraught Morgana shivering on the front step.
She was still wearing sleep clothes, with a cloak and shoes hastily thrown on. He eyes were red and she had tear tracks down her face, her hair a mess.
The moment Merlin threw open the door, Morgana falls forward into his arms, the Warlock only just managing to catch her as she begins crying again.
It takes Arthur a moment to recover form his shock, but he quickly gathers his and Merlin’s swords, dropping them on a side table, before mouthing “tea?” to Hunith and stepping towards his soulmate and his sister.
Hunith nods slightly, and with one last worried look to the girl who had become like a daughter to her, she busies herself in the kitchen; lighting the fire, boiling some water, and gathering together some tea leaves, the type that help with sleep.
Arthur manages to pull the other two inside, so he could shut the door, and he guides them to the living room. Merlin settles in a large, soft armchair, and Morgana follows closely, falling into his lap and continuing to cry into his shoulder, clutching desperately at his sleep tunic.
Arthur sits himself on the armrest, and Morgana gropes blindly for his hand, which he quickly takes, before looking to Merlin and raising a worried eyebrow.
Merlin just shakes his head in confusion. Morgana hadn’t said anything yet, just cried, and he had no idea what could’ve brought on such hysterics so suddenly in someone who was usually so calm.
He wipes all thoughts of his own nightmares from his mind as he strokes Morgana’s hair and whispers gentle words to her. She finally calms down a little as Hunith walks in with four cups of tea, and Merlin asks quietly:
“Would you like Gwen? She only lives a few streets away, Arthur could fetch her and be back in only a few minutes.” Arthur gets up, moving to put on shoes and a cloak, but Morgana croaks out a desperate:
“NO! No, I don’t want to worry her.”
She goes to stand up, but Merlin pulls her back down, settling her comfortably in his lap, as she fiddles with her hands and refuses to meet anyone’s eyes.
Merlin just frowns, still stroking her back, and Arthur speaks up quietly:
“What’s wrong ‘Gana? Are you hurt?”
Morgana shakes her head and looks up at Arthur, then Hunith, before finally looking back at Merlin. She gulps before she begins to speak:
“I... I had a nightmare-”
Merlin gives her a sad smile, knowing how terrifyingly disorienting they can be, but before he can say anything, Morgana continues:
“-but not a normal one. I’ve always suffered with night terrors, and Gaius makes me sleeping draughts but they never work. This one was so vivid. Like it was real.-”
She looks down to her lap, and Merlin begins to frown again as she continues:
“-I never really noticed before, or I just wrote it off as coincidence, but all of my dreams... they come true. And this one...”
Arthur speaks up as she trails off:
“Are you sure, Morgana? Maybe you just got a little muddled up, perhaps you dreamt about them after, and got confused?-”
Morgana looks up sharply, somehow still managing to look a little intimidating despite the messy hair and tears:
"Do you remember when you got caught by that mace during training last week?-”
Arthur frowns slightly, nodding as he rolls his shoulder automatically, still feeling a dull ache:
“-well the night before, I dreamt about it, that’s why I came to watch that morning. I just wrote it off because in my dream, it was Leon that hit you, not Sir Kay, but that was the only difference. Even the bruise looked exactly the same.-”
The other three look surprised, but before they can say anything she gulps and continues:
“And when we got attacked by those bandits? I dreamt about that a few days prior. In my dream, Leon was with us as well, and there were three more attackers, but again, other than the slight difference, everything was the same. Even how Merlin ended the fight, and the memory charm.”
Arthur collapses in the chair behind him, looking thoughtful, and slightly worried, as Merlin breaks himself out of his train of thought:
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Morgana bites her lip, before saying timidly:
“I almost did, but I just thought I was being paranoid; seeing connections where there weren’t any. But tonight...”
Arthur looks up sharply, frowning (not accusingly, just... worryingly) as he says:
“What was your nightmare about ‘Gana? I’ve never seen you this scared before.”
She looks up and meets his gaze, tears gathering in her eyes again:
“We were in a cave, me and Merlin. It was dark, and we were... not quite scared, but confused. And then a dragon appeared, huge, angry. It spoke, I couldn’t understand it, but Merlin obviously could, and they talked for a while. Merlin got angry, and then the dragon looked at me, and reared up and started spitting fire. I woke up just before... just before it burned me. I snuck past the guards and came straight here.-”
She looked to her lap again, before mumbling:
“Honestly, I didn’t even know you were here, I just wanted to see Merlin, because he was in it.”
Merlin pulls her close again, and she settles with her head in the crook of his neck as he strokes her hair, worrying his lip at her description of the night terror.
Hunith looked worried, and Arthur was deep in thought for a few minutes, before speaking up again:
“I suppose you two just... stay away from big caves? And if you find one somehow, come find me, and Leon would probably be good as well, and we’ll see what’s going on, together.”
Morgana looks up at him through her lashes, and mumbles:
“It felt... evil. Not the dragon or the place, but... me. Like it was justified in attacking me, like I wasn’t supposed to be there.”
Merlin tightens his hold on her, and his eyes flash gold as he grinds out:
“ ‘Gana, anything that tries to hurt you, will have to go through me first, dragon or otherwise.”
Arthur smiles comfortingly as he says:
“Exactly. As if I would ever let the two of you explore a dragon’s cave without me anyway.”
She looks up as she laughs, just a little, and Hunith speaks for the first time since Morgana had appeared:
“Would you like to stay here for the rest of the night? I can move in here and you can take my bed.”
Merlin shakes his head:
“No, she can stay with Arthur and I, the bed is big enough for the three of us. That way we can wake her up if she gets any more nightmares.”
Arthur nods and pats Morgana’s shoulder before going to their bedroom. He lights a candle, pulls the covers back, and places the swords back in their hiding places.
Morgana sits up straight and looks down at Merlin:
“Are you sure? I can make my way back to the castle easily enough.”
Merlin shakes her head, smiling at her:
“No, it’s fine. I’d prefer you to stay with us anyway. We can talk to Gaius tomorrow about the dreams. I was born with magic remember, it’s not impossible for it to have happened to you as well, we’ll just have to be careful, ok? Everything will be fine, ‘Gana, promise.”
Morgana smiles, and wipes her eyes as she stands up. She gives Hunith a quick hug, thanking her for the tea as she picks up her an Arthur’s cup. She follows Arthur into the bedroom, and Merlin gives his mother a worried look, before grabbing his own cup and saying goodnight, telling her quietly:
“Make sure your door is shut. Hopefully she won’t have anymore nightmares tonight, but I have a feeling she’ll wake up loudly if she does.”
Hunith nods, before whispering:
“Do you think she’s right? Is she some sort of... seer?”
Merlin sighs, looking towards the bedroom, before looking back and replying:
“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never exactly met any other magic-users, I only have Gaius and my own experiences to go off.”
Hunith nods, and the two separate, heading to their own rooms and shutting the doors behind them.
Arthur and Morgana were already settled, having finished their tea. Arthur was back where he was earlier, and Morgana sat in the middle of the bed, her head resting on his shoulder.
Merlin walks around to sit on Morgana’s other side, abandoning his undrunk tea in favour of laying straight down. Morgana and Arthur follow him, and Morgana turns over, curling up under Merlin’s arm, and whispering a quiet, teary “thank you”.
Arthur settles an arm over Morgana’s back, his hand intertwining with Merlin’s on the pillow, and Merlin’s other arm settles over her waist, holding her close.
The boys share a worried look, before closing their eyes. They fall into a shallow sleep, prepared to jump awake at even a twitch from Morgana, determined to keep her safe.
~
Morgana wakes the next morning having slept surprisingly well through the rest of the night.
Merlin is sitting up next to her, one hand protectively splayed on her back, the other holding a book in his lap. She can hear people bustling around in the next room, and she can see the sun start to peak through the curtains.
Merlin looks down at her when he feels her wake, and puts a finger to his lips, before whispering:
“Gwen and Leon arrived earlier to join us for breakfast, we haven’t told them you’re here.-”
Morgana frowns in confusion as she sits up, and Merlin continues:
“-I think you should tell them what happened, they can help, like they helped me, but we still thought it should be your choice. You can sneak out the widow and head up to the castle if you want?”
Morgana shakes her head, and murmurs:
“No, you’re right. They should know, I don’t like keeping things from Gwen, and Leon can always tell when we lie, anyway.” She says the last bit with a weak smirk, and Merlin chuckles:
“Come on then, I think breakfast is almost ready. Plus, some of us have semi full days today, so we should get going before we all start running late.”
Morgana nods, and moves to stand in front of the mirror, grimacing before trying to straighten her hair a little, and washing her face in the fresh wash-bowl.
Merlin chuckles a little before following her up, and throwing a jacket on over his sleep clothes. He waits for Morgana to finish, and allows her to nervously take his hand as they exit the room.
It takes a few moments for anyone to notice them when they first enter the kitchen, Arthur and Hunith cooking, whilst Gwen and Leon play cards at the table.
Arthur is the first to notice, and gives Morgana a smile, before looking to Merlin with a raised eyebrow, meaning “the truth?”. Merlin answers with a small nod, and Arthur smiles again, before saying loudly:
“Morning, you two certainly slept in, didn’t you?”
Everyone looks up at that, Hunith briefly smiling before going back to the food, and Gwen and Leon widening their eyes in surprise. Gwen jumps up to give Morgana a hug, which she enthusiastically returns:
“ ‘Gana! I thought I felt you close, what are you doing here? Did you stay the night?” There’s no accusation in her tone, just concern, and Morgana gives her a brief smile before nodding, and saying:
“It’s... a long story. Let’s sit, we can tell the both of you.”
Leon packs the cards away, and moves up the bench so Merlin can settle next to him, Gwen and Morgana opposite them, and Arthur and Hunith hurriedly serve up food before sitting down at the ends of the table.
Morgana explains timidly what had happened just a few hours previously, and Gwen grabs her hand as she describes the feeling of being deserving of the flames. 
(The way she words the sentence does make Merlin tense slightly, but only Arthur notices, and he squeezes Merlin’s knee under the table.)
Leon listens intently, and when she’s finished, he leans across the table to clutch her hand briefly before looking to Merlin:
“Is that possible? Could she be some sort of seer? I know there are lots of them among the druids, but I’ve never actually met one.”
Merlin shrugs slightly, and replies:
“I’m not sure, it’s possible. We were going to talk to Gaius, he knows more about this sort of thing than me.”
Gwen and Leon nod, and Hunith speaks up:
“Me and Arthur are busy today, and I’m assuming you are as well, Leon?-”
He nods, though reluctantly:
“-But why don’t you two go with Merlin to see Gaius? He’ll probably be more able to understand if you can explain it directly to him.”
Morgana looks a little tense at having to explain it for a third time, but Gwen nods her head:
“That sounds like a good idea, maybe we could... get into contact with some druids somehow? If they do have seers, they might be able to help.”
Leon looks troubled at that, but Arthur speaks up first:
“That could work, but only if we absolutely have to. I don’t want to put them in any unnecessary danger, by potentially exposing them. Plus it would be a long journey, we’d have to come up with excuses. I don’t think my father would accept any reason we gave for needing a few days off to leave the kingdom.”
The others nod in agreement, Morgana looking even more worried, but Hunith sees her expression and speaks quietly:
“I’m sure that won’t be necessary. Gaius knows a great many things, and if not, I’m sure we can figure it out ourselves.”
Morgana smiles at her gratefully, and with that, the conversation comes to an easy end.
After they clean up, and a round of goodbyes is had, Hunith rushes off to the tailor’s, and Arthur and Leon reluctantly head back up to the castle.
Morgana wraps herself in a cloak, with the hood up, and Merlin quickly gets dressed. In the end, they had decided that Gwen and Morgana would head to Morgana’s chambers, so she could get washed and changed and run a brush through her hair, and Merlin would head straight to the Physician’s chambers, and explain the situation to Gaius.
He was indeed troubled, when Merlin explained what had happened, in as much detail as possible to stop his best friend from having to recount it again.
He knew of her nightmares, and had been making sleeping draughts for her for years, but she had never talked about the similarities to real life events before.
Gaius mentions not knowing much of her heritage, passed her parents and grandparents, but even if it wasn’t an inherited gift, it’s possible for the occasional, naturally magical child to be born. As proven by Merlin.
Morgana and Gwen arrive shortly after, and Gaius gives the King’s Ward a comforting pat on the shoulder, before saying quietly:
“Merlin has explained what has happened, it does sound potentially magical, but beyond that, I’m afraid I can’t be of more help. I think the Prince’s suggestion of just being careful where you go is currently the best course of action. Might I also suggest that you stop taking sleeping draughts for a while? It might be that they are interfering with the process, making them more or less vivid, accurate.”
Morgana looks a little scared at that, but Gwen squeezes her hand and Merlin speaks up:
“That might be a good idea, it’ll be easier to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with if there isn’t any interference.”
Merlin’s confirmation gives Morgana a little more confidence, and she nods firmly. She’s never run away from things before, she’s not going to start now, especially when she has her soulmate, best friend, brother, and knight in shining armour beside her.
Merlin gives her a smile, and Gaius gives him the day off, encouraging the three of them to take the day to relax, and recover from last night’s ordeal. Merlin gives his mentor a grateful smile, and takes Morgana’s other hand, dragging the girls out the door, before saying with a cheerful grin:
“Fancy going to watch Arthur get his arse handed to him on a silver platter during training?”
~
During everyone’s lunch break, they explained the plan... or lack thereof.
Leon was a little... tense, at the idea of stopping the sleeping draughts and just seeing what happens, but in the grand scheme of things, there weren’t any other options.
A few days passed, getting less and less tense as each sun rose and set. Morgana slept peacefully, no more nightmares or... visions. It was still a worry in the back of all their minds, but it was no longer a pressing issue that they lost sleep over.
Until the fourth day.
It had been exactly a year since Hunith and Merlin had moved to Camelot, and they were having a mini, evening celebration at the house, with the whole gang there.
Morgana had gone into the garden to cool off a bit (seven people all in one small room at the beginning of summer... yeah it got pretty hot, pretty quick).
Merlin joined her and they chatted quietly, reminiscing about all the ridiculous things they had gotten up to in just one year, laughing about how many grey hairs they had given Leon.
The conversation halted when Merlin straightened his back, and took in a gasp at a voice echoing through his head:
“Emrys...”
Morgana frowns at Merlin’s sudden reaction to seemingly nothing:
“Birdy, what’s wrong?”
Merlin looks at her in surprise:
“Did you not hear that?-”
“Emrys!”
He gasped, and took a step away from the house, peering into the dark:
“There it was again, can you not hear it? Who is that?”
Morgana looks troubled, and takes Merlin’s shoulder, pulling him round to look at her:
“Merlin there’s... no one there. I didn’t hear anything. Are you alright?”
Merlin looks at her, confused, but tenses, and whips his head around again when the voice echoes again:
“Come and find me, Warlock, I’m waiting. Come alone.”
Morgana calls desperately for Arthur, but Merlin pays her no mind as his eyes strain to see something that isn’t there. After only a second the Prince appeared with a pop by Merlin’s side:
“Merlin, what’s wrong?”
Merlin doesn’t answer him, and he looks to Morgana, worried. She has the same troubled expression on her face as she replies:
“I don’t know, he keeps hearing something that isn’t there.”
Arthur looks back to Merlin, and shakes his shoulder roughly, finally getting his attention:
“Merls?”
Just then, the others walk out of the house, looking worried at Morgana’s scared call, and Arthur’s sudden disappearance. Merlin looks over the group, before glancing once more out into the dark street, before looking back to Arthur:
“It’s a voice, someone’s calling for me. They’re calling me the wrong name but... they’re definitely calling for me.”
Everyone looks troubled at that, and Merlin shakes his head when Gaius asks if he recognises the voice.
Leon lifts his head in sudden thought before speaking hurriedly to Morgana:
“In the dream, you said Merlin and the dragon spoke to each other, but you couldn’t understand them, right?-”
Morgana gives a nervous nod, and the group looks to him, confused, as he speaks again:
“Well, maybe it’s... like that. Maybe that’s how you and Merlin find the cave, you follow the voice.-”
The others look doubtful, but he continues anyway:
“I know it’s far fetched, but how else were the two of you just going to stumble upon a cave big enough to hold a dragon?”
Arthur nods at that, mumbling that it makes sense, and Morgana looks scared. Gwen grabs her hand, and Gaius and Hunith look to each other nervously.
No on really knows what to say, but they all look to Merlin as he groans, bringing a hand up to his forehead, as the voice echoes louder:
“HURRY Warlock, I find myself running low on patience this night.”
Arthur pulls him close, and Gwen takes his other hand, Merlin mumbles:
“Whatever it is, it’s telling me to go find him, alone. I have a feeling he’s not going to stop until I go.”
Leon scoffs before saying:
“Like hell are we letting you go alone, but we should see what this is all about. Lead the way, Birdy.”
Arthur steps back and tells everyone to wait a minute, before popping away. He reappears moments later with his and Merlin’s swords, and three spares, for Gwen, Morgana, and Leon.
Leon just raises an eyebrow, taking the offered sword, and Arthur shrugs:
“Pays to be prepared. There are at least two more still in the house-”
He looks to Gaius and Hunith:
“You two wait here, we’ll try not to do anything too stupid.”
They both look worried at that, but Arthur rolls his eyes, and says:
“Leon and Gwen will be with us.”
At that, Gaius and Hunith relax slightly, which everyone would find hilarious if they weren’t focusing on bigger things.
Arthur turns back to Merlin, taking his hand, and gesturing him to lead the way.
The Warlock leads them up the main road, towards the castle gates. The others are confused at that, they had expected him to start walking out of the city, towards the wilderness, not further in.
They follow him though, getting tenser and tenser, as he allows his feet to carry him through the castle, going further and further down. Towards the dungeons.
They duck out of the way when people pass, and thankfully manage to avoid being seen by everyone. No one notices them even as they move through the dungeons to a hidden, back staircase that falls deeper and deeper into the earth.
All of them frown at this, none of them had been aware of this section of the castle, all having thought the dungeons were the lowest level.
They reach the bottom, seeing a great metal gate in front of them, that opens to a large cave. Morgana gasps, and mumbles that this is the cave from her dream as she grips Gwen’s hand tighter.
Leon takes a deep breath, before stepping in front of the group, and walking slowly forward, pushing the gate open easily, and stepping into the cave, sword raised in defence.
Arthur and Merlin follow quickly, Gwen after them, holding a fearful Morgana behind her protectively.
They gather on a ledge, staring in wonder and fear at the huge cavern that stretches out in every direction. After just a moment, a deafening roar echoes from somewhere near the roof, and the group collectively gasp before huddling closer together.
That is, apart from Merlin, who steps forward, a frown on his face as he yells:
“Like hell I was coming alone. What is this?”
With that, a blizzard like wind whips through the cavern, and everyone takes a step back, looking fearfully up at the giant dragon that descends from above.
Merlin holds his ground, automatically gripping his sword tighter, as the beast lands in front of him, gazing at him impassively.
Arthur speaks up loudly, but his voice shakes as he says:
“Merlin... step back... come here. Please.”
Merlin doesn’t move, but the dragon absentmindedly moves his gaze to the group, making direct eye contact with Arthur before tilting his head downwards, slightly reminiscent of a bow, before looking back to Merlin.
The group moves slowly towards Merlin, unprepared to leave him alone, and the dragon grumbles again, in a language that Merlin doesn’t realise isn’t even English:
“I let you have your year of fun. Now you must grow up, and learn of your destiny. There are bigger things in motion that you could ever hope to imagine.”
Merlin frowns, and the group looks to him in confusion as he replies:
“You let me? What does that even mean? And how did you call me down here? What destiny? And my name isn’t Emrys or whatever, it’s Merlin, always has been.”
The dragon narrows his eyes, before replying, the deep rumble of his growling unnerving to those who can’t understand him:
“So many questions. You are the great Warlock, known as Emrys, the most powerful magic-user to walk the earth. Arthur is the Once and Future King, destined to unite Albion.”
Merlin tilts his head in confusion:
“...right.”
The great dragon appears to huff in frustration, before continuing:
“He will face many threats. It is your destiny to protect, and guide him on his way to unite the land, and bring magic back into balance.”
Merlin furrows his eyebrows. He was already sort of expecting the whole “bringing magic back” thing, but the official “destiny” thing is definitely news to him:
“And how do you know all of this?”
Kilgharrah takes a great step back, ignoring his question, once more looking over the group stood just behind Merlin. His nostrils flare, smoke swirling out as he huffs, and narrows his eyes:
“You should not have brought the witch. In another life, she was destined to become a monster, the hatred to your love, the darkness to your light. The risk is too high, she must be destroyed, before she falls once more.”
He rears up, and takes a deep breath as Morgana stumbles back fearfully, the group gathering around her protectively. Merlin rushes back, standing between the dragon and the group before he can exhale. He falls back down onto his front claws and growls, but Merlin shouts before he can say anything:
“NO! You want to hurt ‘Gana, you’ll have to kill me, and I suspect your precious Once and Future King, first.”
With that, Arthur steps further forward, to be in line with Merlin, and the dragon turns angrily, whipping his tail to the floor with a bang, before turning back and glaring at him:
“Her destiny is inevitable, none of us choose our destiny, and none of us can escape it. She must be destroyed before it’s too-”
Merlin interrupts him:
“I don’t give a FUCK about your destiny. No one’s future is set in stone, and I will never let you hurt her, especially not for something she hasn’t even done yet.”
The dragon growls once again, before leaning close to Merlin, he speaks in English this time, so the group can understand, his voice deep and gravelly, filled with anger:
“On your head be it, or more likely, your precious soulmate’s head.”
With that, he gestures a giant claw briefly at Arthur, before flying off once again, disappearing into the shadows of the cavern.
Merlin blinks a few times, and the anger on his face fades to confusion as he looks back to Morgana, gazing at her assessingly.
She looks terrified, and gulps before saying:
“What is it, what did he say?”
Merlin shakes his head roughly, and walks forward, gathering her in a hug, before pulling back, his hands still on her shoulders. He gives her a small smile before looking to the others:
“Let’s get back to Hunith and Gaius, we don’t want to be gone too long. I’ll explain as best I can when we get back-”
He lets go of Morgana and shrugs briefly:
“-though to be honest, I’m not sure even I fully understand.”
With that, he leads the group out of the cavern, holding Morgana’s hand tightly, and refusing to look back.
Leon and Arthur bring up the rear, and they quickly find themselves back at the house, having made the whole journey in silence.
Hunith and Gaius hurriedly stand and look nervously to the group as they re-enter the house, and grimly settle around the kitchen table without a word.
Merlin and Arthur look stuck deep in thought, and Morgana quietly sniffles whilst Gwen comforts her, so Hunith and Gaius look to Leon for explanation.
He bites his lip and takes a deep breath, before beginning to explain:
“Well... we found the dragon.-”
Gaius gasps at that, and Hunith frowns, worrying her lip between her teeth:
“-Though none of us but Merlin could understand what he was saying. Something about destiny, and Kings, from what we could hear Merlin saying. It wanted to hurt Morgana, and got angry when Merlin and Arthur stepped in the way. Then it... flew off I guess, and we came back here.”
The others, apart from Merlin, had started to pay attention as Leon explained, and when he was finished, everyone looked to the young Warlock.
He still had a deep frown on his face, and was sat exceptionally still, staring at his hands folded on the table.
Morgana gulps and takes his hand, shocking him out of his internal deliberation:
“Merlin, why did it attack me? What did it say about me?”
Merlin takes a deep breath, and stares at her, a slight frown on his face as he noticed the reappearance of tears.
He pursed his lips, trying to decide what to tell her. Risk terrifying her even more, by telling the full truth, but being able to work together to combat it? OR, only tell part of the truth, lie, and save her from the heartbreak, trying to help her avoid her so called destiny from the side-lines?
He clenched his jaw, before giving her a small smile and looking around at his family; the decision was much easier than he first thought:
“He told me about our... destinies. Apparently my real name is Emrys, and I’m a powerful Warlock, destined to help Arthur become The Once and Future King, whatever that means, so he can unite all of Albion, and bring magic back into balance.-”
The others frown in confusion at this, and he looks back at Morgana, squeezing her hand once more before continuing:
“-He said that... in another life, Morgana was destined to become a monster, to fight against mine and Arthur’s destiny-”
Morgana let out a breath at that, and a few more tears fell as everyone else around the table tenses at the accusation:
“-he said that the risk of it happening again, in this life, was too high, and she had to be... destroyed, before she got in the way.-”
Arthur stands abruptly in anger at that, and Leon has to put a hand on his shoulder to calm him before he started angrily yelling. Merlin gave Morgana a reassuring smile before saying:
“-I, of course, told him to fuck off, that he would have to go through me before I let him punish you for something you hadn’t done, and have no intention of doing.”
Morgana shakes her head quickly, like she feels the need to convince her family that she isn’t some sort of beast (that breaks all of their hearts a little bit), before putting her hands over her mouth, and tightly closing her eyes.
Merlin stands and quickly walks to the other side of the table, pulling Morgana up and gathering her in a tight hug. He blinks away the tears in his eyes at her distress, and pointedly ignores the painful stares of everyone else in the room.
Gwen puts a comforting hand on Morgana’s shoulder blade, as she once again finds herself crying into Merlin’s shoulder.
The Warlock tries not to sound angry (he feels the urge to go back down those steps and yell at the bastard, but he figured that probably wasn’t such a good idea) as he murmurs comfortingly to her:
“Don’t you worry ‘Gana, you’ll never be a monster, not to us. Pre-written destiny is a load of crap, our lives are whatever we make of them, dig your own path. I’ve got you, and I’m never letting go. You aren’t alone.”
She looks up at him with bleary eyes, and the others crowd closer as her next question comes out as just a whisper:
“Promise?”
Merlin smiles at her, and wipes away her tears, but before he can answer, Arthur speaks up, in a strong voice:
“We promise, ‘Gana.”
Leon gives her a reassuring smile, and Gwen nods her head firmly as she speaks:
“We’re in this together, destiny or no.”
Gaius and Hunith take the beds that night, as the other five fill the living room with various blankets and pillows. They crowd in together, Morgana held protectively in the middle, everyone else silently making oaths to themselves that they would never let her down.
~
That’s the end of part three!! 
I reckon there’ll be two more parts to the story, but again, that depends on how many different ideas I want to fit in. I also haven’t started writing part 4 yet, so it might take a little while longer for it to arrive.
339 notes · View notes
sterekficrec · 3 years
Text
Lost fic masterpost 2.0
This is the new masterpost list for lost fics we haven't found ourselves yet and we need some help with finding. This list contains all asks that are asked after May 31st, 2018. If you asked us something before that date and it hasn't been answered, please check out our Last Chance Asks post first, if it isn't on there feel free to send us the ask again.
If you know what one (or more) of these are then let me know through an ask and mention the number.
Thanks in advance for all your help :)
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1.
Hii! I'm looking for this fic I read a while ago, it was on ao3 and kind of short I think.. Stiles catches Derek smoking weed naked, and it involves shotguning.. I remember it had embeded images of shirtless Derek(or some model who looks like Derek more likely) sitting on the floor by the bed.. Hope somebody knows this, I really want to find this :'(
2.
Hi! I don’t know if you can help with this but I’ve been looking for a fic everywhere. Stiles is older than Derek and Talia brings him in to help Derek through his rut or heat. I can’t remember much else. I hope you can help!
3.
Hey, I was wondering if you could help me find a fic where stiles thinks Derek doesn't find him attractive Derek doesn't get hard, and Derek thinks that stiles doesn't want him because of this and there's just hella miscommunication?
4.
Hey I was hoping maybe you could help me find a fic? All I remember was that is was like a retelling of season one but Stiles was older and an FBI agent?
6.
Hey there! I wanted to ask about a fic I read some time ago. It’s sort of au. Stiles doesn’t live in Beacon Hills anymore but helps out Deacon and him and Derek meet when he helps out Dereks pack with something. He’s a witch or something like that. I’m sorry for being so vague and in one of the cases Derek gets possessed by a demon, who kills people by dehydrating them. And Stiles gets the demon out of him. Have you guys recced anything like it? I really want to read it again. Thanks :)
7.
Hey!!!! So I was wondering if you could help me find this sterek fic?? They are married and they have a few kids I think mpreg. It has a lot of chapters and in one of them their daughter I think her name may start with an l goes to a dance with a vampire, Derek isn’t so sure ab it. And one time stiles has to go on a trip for work or maybe a retreat with Scott and Derek has to console there few month old, as he hasn’t been away from stiles. Please please!!
8.
I was wondering if you’d be able to help me find a fic? Derek and Stiles are on a date and they have Cora with them. When they’re buying tickets, the person at the ticket counter flirts with Derek and assumes he’s chaperoning a date between Cora and Stiles. I think Stiles yells oh hell no and then kisses Derek?? I wish I could remember more, but that’s all I recall..
9.
I've been looking for a certain nsfw fic where someone "gives" Stiles to Derek as a birthday present, I'm pretty sure Stiles is tied up in a hotel bed or something like that. Thank you so much in advance 💖
10.
Hello! I read a fic once and I cannot find it again and I would really like to reread it. Of what I remember the sheriff is an alpha and dies and Stiles has to take over and the sheriff left a lot of debt. So Stiles starts to sell off chunks of land and works a ton of jobs to try to pay it back.
11.
Hey, I’m looking for a fic where Stiles is a spark, but he’s hella freaking powerful because when his mom died he kind of tried to bring her back, but it latched onto his baseball bat? I think Lydia is actually the alpha of the pack, and Laura and Cora are alive (I think the rest of the Hales are too?). Derek was like, literally married to Kate for a while and then they divorce and Stiles and him break into her house and totally trash it. Help????
12.
I was wondering i you could help me find a fic (i'm desperate), the only thing i can remember is that derek keeps a 20 dollar bill by his door in case any girl scouts come by, but they never come because the moms think he's some kind og bad guy. Stiles meets a girl scout mom and konda confront her about it (and by confront i mean like really yell at) i think it might have been a slowburn fic Thank you:)
13.
I've been looking desperately for this fic where Stiles gets Emissary/Druid training from Deaton but eventually Deaton refuses to teach Stiles anymore so Stiles leaves Beacon Hills in search of another teacher he leave sometime before the alpha pack he finds a teacher and travels a lot but eventually returns Beacon Hills after a few years very powerful helps them defeat somthing and eventually hooks up with Derek.
14.
Hi please if u could help me this sterek fic? Both derek and stiles were deputies . Derek was new there and parrish like stiles which made Der jealous . I dont remember much but help ..
15.
Hey I was hoping you could help me find a fic? It's been a while since I've read it, but I know it was based around the sacfricial killings, but they were being used to resurrect some people I think? It was magic!Stiles, and at the end he kinda changed the spell to resurrect the Hale family instead? Sorry I can't remember much else, but I know I really enjoyed it and I can't find it at all. It would mean a lot if you found it!
16.
Hello. Love this blog helping find fics for other people some of which I’ve read and loved. I’d love if you could help me find a fix where stiles, Jackson, Erika, issac and Boyd are selected to be seventh to the hale family. Mr. Harris is the servant and the living family is Cora Derek Laura Peter and the grandmother. Stiles of course is Derek’s servant and finds the truth out about his forgotten pass and what he is to Derek’s. Changing him Erika and issac into werewolf’s. Hope you can find!!
17.
Hello! I was wondering of you could help me find a fic. From what I remember, Derek comes home (from college I think) for the first time in years, and finds that his family loves Stiles, who he has never met. They hate each other in the beginning. Thank you for any help you can give, and thank you for all you do for this amazing fandom! :D
18.
hi!im looking for a sterek fic that has stiles staying in beacon hills as a supernatural doctor? and then he gets an email from derek that says that derek is hurt. stiles also has a bunch of journals full of information about the pack. and them stiles has a really bad leg injury. and the sheriff is dead. stiles listens to either mozart or bach to calm down, i can’t remember. please, help me. sorry if my descriptions are a little messy, im stressing over it bc i want to reread it. thanks.
19.
i’m trying to find a fic where the pack accidentally wishes on a shooting star about stiles, and they wake up in this alternate universe where stiles doesn’t know who they are and he’s being brought in by deputies, && they find out that stiles is a mage of some sort in another pack, i’ve been trying to find it forever. also thank you!
20.
For the prompt you asked: what about Stiles going crazy trying to plan the perfect Christmas party with the pack but everyone has a different religion or belief and Stiles is squishing a little of everything in there, the party wont even be on Christmas eve but in a different neutral date or smthng. And obviously since most of the pack is still busy with school(or college?)he ropes Derek into helping with preparations. Obviously they end up making a big mess out of everything. they also fight a lot untill Derek snaps and Stiles realizes that Derek's only problem with Christmas is he misses his family so much(and the only reason Stiles wants to party it's bc it makes him remember his mother)And the pack arrives at the new Hale house to find them like that, depressed and with a burnt out dinner in the kitchen, ligths popped and tree destroyed. And it magicaly snows in that moment(or maybe it's Stiles?)
21.
Hi, sorry for my bad english. I’m looking for sterek fic. I know I read it in AO3. I don’t remember much but almost in the end Stiles and Chris are arguing because all the stuff his family did. How bad Stiles was tortured by Gerard and I think Stiles was pemanently injured in one ear and one eye. And also Chris was yelling that he killed his father and Stiles said in the end it didn’t mather because He was damage forever. I really hope you can help me.
22.
hi, so i was hoping you could help me find a sterek fic where stiles and derek are childhood friends, and stiles is pining after him but derek and paige are dating, and stiles gets jealous when paige is sitting in his seat and almost has a mental breakdown? i think stiles starts ignoring him, and derek realizes that he no longer sees paige as his future mate but stiles. thank you!!
23.
Hi, Sterek fic I can't find. With Stiles drowning, bc of himself or feelings being too much, Derek notices and saves him, and the Derek warms him by turning into his alpha form? Stiles really like shifted Derek. Thank you guys! :)
24.
Hi I was wondering if you could help me find these 2 sterek fics where: 1. Derek and stiles are on a stakeout looking at a bank I think when someone approaches the car and Derek pulls stiles into his lap and stiles begins to question his sexuality and if Derek likes him. 2. God I can’t believe I didn’t save this one but I can only remember a scene in the fic where stiles and Derek were at a drive though movie theatre and they were kissing and it was all about Derek self healing. Pls help.
25.
Hey I'm trying to find this fic on archive that I read before but I can't seem to find it. If you don't do this sort of thing sorry in advance. But if you do all the teenagers are alive and Stiles is getting bullied by a group of douches so the pack challenge them to a series of games. Girls vs girls and boys vs boys. They win of course. Anyway if you know of this fic please let me know
26.
I need help finding a fic pls. Stiles meets Derek young (around 4ish) and they're soulmates (Derek knew when Claudia was still pregnant). There is def an age gap. Stiles grows up knowing Derek is his mate, and tries to mate with him, but because they spent so much time together while he was young, stiles's wolf develops quicker than it should and goes into heat, so they try to separate them. Mama S. and Hale family is still alive, and theres an alpha/alpha mate convention at some point. Thanks!
28.
hey! i'm looking for a fic where stiles is living on the east coast working for the government and then he saves somebody's life by recognizing that the agent was walking into a trap of a vampire coven so he starts working with this supernatural sector of the government (and people named jessica and jason i think) and gets sent to a national council thing and reconciles with derek and the pack after having left beacon hills and stuff
29.
Hi! ❤️ thank you so much for taking the time, I was just hoping someone could help find that sterek fic where it’s established relationship, and stiles works for a company because he came up with a famous slogan for some type of candy/food and the company rlly loves him, at one point goes on a business trip where someone tries to have an affair and stiles is like WHUt NO and goes back to Derek immediately feeling guilty even tho he was 100% loyal? Thank youuuu ❤️
30.
Hello! I love this blog a lot , keep up the good work. :) I was recently reading a fanfic where stiles is kidnapped by jennifer and she uses derek’s semen in a spell to make the “werewolf messiah”. Can you help me find it?
31.
I am looking for a fic. Derek is the alpha and he and stiles get together and cook meals. First Boyd is added to the group and then Isaac. Isaac becomes a foster of Boyd's parents. Then Erica is added. They give Erica the bite after discussing it with her parents. Please help
32.
Hi! Looking for a fic where Stiles is bitten by a fox at the zoo, changes into an actual fox, which means he’s terrified of the werewolves, including Scott and Derek. Derek has to lure him out with a trampoline (definitely inspired by that video of a fox on a trampoline). I looked everywhere I could think of but no luck :/ hopefully someone’s heard of it! Thank you!
34.
Hi! I’m scouting the internet for an old sterek fic I read once where stiles and Allison bond over the summer after s2 and in a drunken mistake Allison gets pregnant but it’s not romantic? I can’t find even a trace of it anywhere but I VIVIDLY remember it
35.
Not a fic Rex but could you help me find a fic? It’s been months apon months since I have read this fic but it’s a sterek fic and stiles was kinda of controlling and would never be a good bf to Derek so they never did anything derek wants to do only stiles. And I remember they talked about it and were getting better and Derek asked to go on a hike to show stiles this pond or something idk for sure and stiles almost says no and it’s angsty and amazing.
36.
Hi! I've been looking for a fic that I read a while ago, I don't know if it's been deleted or not and I don't remember it clearly. But from what I remember, at some point Derek stayed with Stiles and his dad in his wolf form because he was traumatized and felt like he was inconvenient to everybody? Sorry I'm not being very clear but if that rings any bell... Thank you!
37.
hi! There was this Sterek fic form Isaac's POV where he was Stiles' PA and he really shipped him with Derek, but all the other two do is fight-- and in the end, he finds out they've been married for around 5 years. Do you know it's linked, by any chance? :)
39.
Hey! I’ve been looking everywhere but I can’t find this Sterek fic and was wondering if you could help me? All I remember is that Stiles is pregnant, him and Jackson are really close friends, and something about ‘is Thursday a good day to tell your ex you’re pregnant?’. Thank you so much if you could help! ❤️
40.
Hello! Okay so I have my been here in a while, but I've ran out of fics to read. And I'm not sure if you guys are still active. But do you guys have some where Sterek start dating, but it's because one of them like the other and the other one thought, "why not?" But they end up falling for the other. Sorry I know this is too specific. :/ but thank you!!!
41.
I'm looking for a fic that Stiles was invited to Derek's wedding to Julia/Jennifer, but it turns out he was magically controlled to go along with everything so she'd have control of the pack???? Eventual sterek.
42.
Hiiii! I'm wondering if you can help me. I read this fic forever ago and it was a supernatural FBI type situation. Stiles was magic and sold potions on the side (I know to at least Ethan). Deucalion was selling drugs that were killing people. I remember that the drugs made you hover in the air before you died and Stiles got drugged (also pretty sure he was a suspect). Derek was an agent. Thanks in advance!
43.
Hey I'm really sorry to bother i am looking for a fic were stiles and derek are in a long term relationship but derek starts to neglect stiles so he decides to leave for a new apartment and derek realizes how much he has been missing. thank you i hope you can help me
44.
Hey! So I’m looking for 2 sterek fics that might have been deleted but I’m not sure. The first, someone is poisoning the wolves to makes them shift, and stiles and Derek get locked in a cage so that Derek would kill stiles. The second one, the pack goes to college, but Derek breaks up with stiles to keep him safe, and stiles starts taking pain killers. The Alpha pack shows up, but at the end Peter tries to kill Scott or Derek to become an alpha again. Any idea? Thank you!!!
45.
Hey I'm looking for a sterek fic and going out of my mind because I cant find it! All I remember is that they had at least one kid together and in the epilogue or sequel or something they were having a family dinner where their college age oldest daughter was bring home her boyfriend to meet the family. And I think the younger brother was non-binary of some sort and they were worried how the boyfriend was going to handle that. And werewolves existed but still a secret. Thank you in advance!!
50.
Im sorry i might be stupid but i cant find the askbox, im looking for a fic where stiles and derek are mates and there might be a abo dynamic, derek knows they are mates before stiles is born because he meet Claudia while she i pregnant, they start of young in the fic but get older as i goes. I must have been an explicit one. Sorry for any inconvinience
51.
a.
Hi! Looking for a stereo college au where stiles is obsessed with Greek mythology and even got a tattoo of it. Some internal homophobia in there too. Thank you in advance!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
b.
hi! i am looking for this sterek fic i read last year I think. Stiles and Derek are both in college and Stiles is crazy about greek mythology - has some of the stuff tattooed on him. Derek is kind of closeted and maybe a little internally homophobic but is crazy about Stiles. Stiles has some Dark Things that happened to him back in BH.....Eventually Derek gets him a ticket to go to Greece? Any ideas? Thank you in advance!
I think these two are asks for the same fic, if not I seperated them in a. and b. so let me know the latter if they are not the same.
53.
Hello, sorry I have another ask. I'm looking for a fic where werewolves are known and the hale family is alive. Stiles has to spend time with every member of the pack to determine compatibility I think? They all dislike him. Laura hates him because they had a previous encounter and she bruises him. It's a sterek fic I think. Thanks!
54.
there's a fic i read years ago about stiles and derek both being accountants and working together. i think stiles was a new employee? possibly a student/graduate? sorry i dont have much information, its been years since i read it and i just randomly thought about it but cant find it
55.
Hey! I swear I got this Fic from y’all but I cannot find it now for the life of me. It’s a college AU where stiles rushes fraternities on a whim and meets Boyd. Boyd is a legacy for Derek’s fraternity and joins them, Stiles ends up rushing and joining Scott’s fraternity. There’s a whole bunch of pranking that ensues including Stiles stealing Derek’s pledge paddle... it’s a fantastic fic but I can’t find it
56.
hi!!! i was wondering if you know the fic where the pack finds actual wolf cubs and decides to raise them??? i remember it being a WIP and the wolves names were sköll and haiti (?). btw: i love this blog so much 😭😭💝
57.
hi! I’ve been looking for a fic where stiles (for a reason that I forget) pretends to be gay and ends up dating Derek while still pretending to be gay and then actually falls for Derek in the end. I can’t seem to remember what it’s called and I really wanna reread it. Hope you can find it!
58.
Hi, I’m wondering if you could help me find a fic. One where Derek had to sacrifice his love for Stiles to keep his family alive (some sort of curse on him to make him fall out of love) and magic!Stiles does everything to break the curse? If you know it please help
59.
Hi! I’m looking for a Sterek fic on Ao3 where the day after Stiles and Derek finally go forward in their relationship this random ass guy shows up, claims he’s an old friend of Derek’s from New York and convinces the whole pack, minus Stiles, too. From what I remember he used their names to place a spell on them to control them. Derek attacks Stiles then kicks him out of the group, Lydia shows up and helps Stiles break the spell because she’s queen, and they get the guy arrested. Plz help?
60.
Hey guys no pressure but theres been a fic stuck in the back of my head for months and I can’t find it. What I remember is that the pack are in a bar when a siren does a siren thing and everyone in the bar is under his spell and it was something d&s could resist only because they were truely in love. Sorry if this doesn’t make sense, English is hard for a dyslexic
62.
Hey!! First of all...... thank u so much this is always so helpful..... Second of all, I can’t remember the name and hopefully you can help?? It’s Sterek, it’s not an AU. Derek leaves and moves to Montana? Colorado? Something like that and coincidentally Stiles ends up going there for college and slow build???? And knowing these boys, some Angst™️
63.
UGH!! Can you help? Stiles goes to stay with Derek in Brazil?
64.
HELP, goin crazy looking for fic I wanna reread, Remember tons specific odd details. Listing them w/ hopes someone knows what I'm taking about! ABO adjacent, Stiles heat is called a wetting, Stile's dad gives his hand away only cuz its good alpha Derek, marital/mate tradition w/ fancy ornate bathtubs, Stiles has skirt w/ embroidered list of his skills on it, Derek bad a verbalized emotions. Regency era. Stiles has a miscarriage w/ lot of self blame. Issac is Derek's ward since he's a kid. Aaah?!
70.
Hello I'm trying to find a fic where when Stiles was young (and with the help of Lydia or Scott) did a spell to never find his soulmate. Like it was: he will have blue eyes, no green and brown; he will be strong enough to lift a car; he will play cello. The point of the spell being to not find him. Later he meet Derek and freaks out because he is perfect (multicolored eyes, werewolf strength...). Please help me find it! Thanks
72.
I am looking for a fic that starts with Stiles and Derek researching but then Stiles gets turned on and him and Derek end up hooking up. It's a 5+1 fic
73.
Hi! Can you help me find the fic where Stiles, Sheriff and a few other people from town were held hostage by werewolves(?) but also some humans I think and they were planning to escape but stiles said they should stay put. And at the end or towards the end Derek bursts in as a full wolf and stiles has to talk him down so he’ll shift back and the people who held him hostage know him as one of the most dangerous in the Hale pack.
76.
Hi Mod(s)! I am currently looking for a fic about magic Stiles. I don't remember any of the pairings, but I vividly remember a conversation between Stiles, Allison, and Lydia. To prove that his magic is real, Stiles sets his lacrosse stick on fire. Allison is prejudiced toward magic and says that Stiles could probably light a house on fire, and Stiles responds that he could, but then he would die of organ failure. Thank you for your help! I appreciate the time and care you put into this blog!
77.
Hey, thanks for all you do. Do you perhaps know a fic that is basically a rewrite of season 1 but Stiles has a dog, and Derek gets jealous of the dog, honestly I've been searching everywhere for this
79.
I have a question
all I can remember is Alison is matriarch of the hunters, Stiles is sassy as fuck... I think he was magic. I believe there was a coffee shop showdown where Alison didn’t realize that Stiles was there... I can’t remember if it’s a recent fix or something I stumble across finding new docs to read.
Cheers
80.
Hello! I've been trying to comb my way through your blog and searching google but I haven't been able to find the fic I've been looking for so I hope you can help me (and I hope I'm not missing the post and making a duplicate)
The story is a sterek fic where Derek goes to stiles for help because hes developing a sexual problem and only trusts stiles to look up the answer. Stiles find out it's likely a mate thing and suggests derek figures out who hes been spending a lot of time with. Derek checks out and crosses off each of the pack before settling on Scott (because of his scent, thinking its what's triggering the response), turns out its stiles and that stiles has a very active libido and that's what's causing Derek's problem.
I swear I had it saved but I can't find it in any of my bookmarks. So, any help you can provide at finding the fic would be super helpful! Thank you!
81.
hi, hoping for some help finding a fic? from around 2015 - sterek (either established couple or they got together during +), there's a big bad that mind controls or possesses Derek and makes him stab stiles. then in the next part stiles trains with the argents and they're still trying to fight the big bad. there's an OC that stiles is jealous of bc she is able to bring Derek out of the mind control/possession when he wasn't able to. that's everything I remember. any help is appreciated! thanks!!
82.
There is this fic that I cannot remember the name of. It’s a very slow burn where stiles and Derek once they decide to be together, wait until 18 for kissing (before that they do Eskimo kisses) and then to like 21 or something for sex. It’s really sweet and cute and stiles is understanding of his trauma. It may have been a de-aged derek, cursed, bonded, or fake/pretend relationship? If you know, I will love you forever and ever +1.
83.
I'm looking for a long Teen Wolf fic. Here's what I remember.
Stiles left to join the FBI. Cut ties with Beacon Hill. Never looked back. Becomes an FBI wunderkind.
On behalf of the FBI he goes to some werewolf or Supernatural Council event with his unit. It's a complete surprise the Beacon Hill pack is there, they're all cold shouldering each other. Everyone has grown into their own, and the pack is beyond thriving. Derek is some high muckity muck.
Scrooby doo mystery plot stuff, ends in Sterek.
It's long and has some time stamp sequels.
Does this sound familiar? I've been looking for it to reread.
85.
I’ve been looking for this one sterek fic where stiles has a crush on Derek and Derek is like in high school while stiles is still a kid. And like stiles comes over to the Hale house to hang out with Derek and he catches Derek making out with a girl (maybe Kate) and it breaks his heart.
86. 
Hi :) I’m looking for a fic where Stiles and Derek fake being in a relationship when Derek has to go to some werewolf retreat. Stiles learns magick and can see strings that run between…mates, maybe? I think there’s also a toddler named Luca running around. Idk I remember reading this YEARS ago and would really like to find it again🥺
87.
Hey. I was wandering if you knew of a fic that’s kinda oldish. But stiles and Derek meet and they’re like mates or soulmates or something. Anyway stiles pack which is like Scott, Allison, Lydia, Danny etc have been cursed by a witch and I thinks they’re getting their power drained or something? They’re lived are in danger and Derek helps coz Stiles is his mate. Possible chance they’re all at college
88.
hi! I am looking for a sterek fic. stiles works two jobs and is really tired driving home one day and accidentally rear ends derek (who is a cop?) who then comforts him when he freaks out. it is abo au and the pack are included. thanks in advance!
89.
Do you know a ao3 fanfic about sterek where stiles just presented as an omega and gets taken by the government to be the omega in dereks military group?
90.
Hey I was wondering if you could find this fic for me? I’ve been looking lol night and I can’t find it anywhere. I know it’s on AO3 if that helps at all.
So it’s a royalty au and pretty much Derek is a werewolf and he invades stiles kingdom under peters orders but when Derek gets to the palace stiles father isn’t there as stiles has hidden him and he ends up marrying stiles and stiles is like tricky and stuff and there’s one scene where they are in the garden and dereks soldiers end up in a field of wolvesbane and gets really sick and stiles goes in to save him and he gets really mad at his guards for letting the wolf just walk into it. And Peter is bad and intends on killing derek and stiles realises this and tells him and Derek ends up killing him. I think it would be classified as enemies to lovers? I hope that’s enough info to go off of
Thank you so much in advance I really appreciate it if you find it!
91.
Hi I have been looking for this fic for literally years, all I remember is that stiles and allison had a kid together years before when they were both on the outs from the pack in LA, but they come back and scott and allison end up together again, and derek left beacon hills for years but comes back and settles but keeps leaving and stiles is upset—eventual sterek of course—and there’s something big going on supernaturally? And stiles gets intense migraines? Honestly it’s been so long I could have imagined this haha but I will be so grateful if someone has heard of this! Thank you for all you do!
92.
Hi there! I read a fic a looong time ago and unfortunately, I can't find it. What I remember, is that Stiles and Derek move out of Beacon Hills and also get their own dog. I also think at first Stiles was on his own and he moved away for himself, not necessarily bc he was pushed out of the pack, but that may have been in a different fic and I'm just mixing them up. So sorry for being so vague! I hope you may be able to find it
93.
hi! i'm searching for a fix where the pack goes on vacation and derek and stiles have to share a room. basically stiles thinks that derek doesnt like his scent and leaves the windows open and they freeze their asses off lol. i think it was in a cabin or something in the woods.
94.
Hiya! Not sure if you’re still taking SOS Fic Searches. I cannot for the life of me remember anything more than a sterek fic with stubborn Derek / Stiles where Jackson asked Stiles out on a date on Valentines Day knowing Derek would be jealous, but when Derek doesn’t step in immediately, after the “date” Jackson texts Stiles “you’ll thank me for this” and then kisses him on the porch and Derek wolfs out and chases him — thus allowing for them to discuss their feelings and get together (but also keep it a secret from the pack for being assholes and making group chats without them)
95.
i’m looking for a fic that starts with stiles and derek getting into a fender bender. it’s in a universe where everyone registers as a dom, sub, or switch. stiles is a sub and derek is a dom. derek works with scott. after the accident stiles brings derek cookies and brownies at work. derek is some sort of officer or something that works with dom/sub rights or something?? there’s a protest which stiles goes to and it gets violent and at another point someone vandalizes where derek works. stiles and jackson are friends and jackson coaches lacrosse. i’m sorry if this is vague but i appreciate the help!
96.
I'm trying to find a fic and I'm hoping you can help- I've read it before but can't for the life of me find it on Ao3, and it's killing me! It's one where Stiles is magical, Scott pretty much goes insane- and there is a super amazing scene towards the end where Stiles winds up magically taking Scott's wolf away and giving it to Melissa, who lovingly embraces it. It was a great read that I could have sworn I bookmarked :(
97.
Hi! I’m not sure if you can help me find a lost fic. But I thought I’d give it a shot and ask. I read this Sterek fic within the last couple of months and i remember very little unfortunately. Basically I remember that stiles was allowed to sleep in dereks bed and Derek was acting like that was no big deal, but everyone else in the pack thought it was a massive deal because wolves and scent and stuff and I remember one of the women in the pack was pregnant but no idea who. This is so convoluted and I’m sorry. If you can’t find it no worries! Thanks!!
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opaljm · 3 years
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not gonna lie, but i liked you better when you were just doing your own little thing on tumblr. youre hybrid stories were so good and your hades!taehyung story was so promising. but now instead of writing and posting fics- literally where is eye of the tiger it's been more than a year since you teased it and where is turbulent part three?! your becoming a shooter for people that dont even like you as much as you like them. why do you hype up hantaev and chateautae when they never hype you up naia. i dont think they've ever read a single thing by you either. naia their never gonna become your bsfs and its pathetic to see you keep trying 💀 you should just write and post your fics (you know the ones that we ACTUALLY WANT) why did you even release yours truly. just give us eott youve had more than a year to work on it i dont get it. the more you draw it out the less people will care when you finally post it.
Um wow. Okay so, my readers know I have a policy of not answering hate asks and in general the treatment I get from my readers is so good and so pure and I'm always grateful for it but it seems like this motherfucker wants to ruin that relationship, but you know what? I have thick skin and I don't even know if you're actually one of my readers or you're one of those toxic anons that @hantaev and @chateautae have, that decided to come over here and bother me now.
The reasons why I'm suspicious whether or not you're even one of my followers or just fine combed my blog to find ways to hurt me is because I have actually explicitly stated why there is no Turbulent part 3 yet (It's a drabble series that I work on when I have inspiration for it or when I am not working on other works. But I literally have so many WIPs right now. All my readers know that Turbulent is the least of my priorities and they're so respectful of that).
And when it comes to Eye of the Tiger, I've literally stated that I've lost over 20k words of the fic when the file got corrupted and that actually put me into a slump and not want to write that fic anymore. Since then I've decided to completely rework the plot into something that I would want to write again. I had made it into a chaptered form before changing it back to a one-shot. It's even on my list of WIPs for this year. But let's assume for a second that you actually have read my stories and you're not a random anon from the depths of hell. Congratulations! You have delayed Eye of the Tiger for everyone. I was going to work on it next month but now it looks like everyone is going to have to wait until August at earliest. I also don't care if you think that Eye of the Tiger's anticipation is going to die down and no one ends up reading it when I finally do post it. It's not like you have clairvoyance and can see the future.
Now moving onto you insulting Yours, Truly and saying no one wants it. Anon, just because you love Taehyung to the alarming degree that you keep harassing creators for their Taehyung fics just cuz it's not set to your specification or whatever the fuck does not mean that everyone else is such a rabid crazy Taehyung stan. It literally makes no sense for me to put more importance onto your opinion of Yours, Truly over the hundreds of people who have reblogged and hearted it and even asked to be on the tag list. Not to toot my own horn but I really like Yours, Truly and I wish you would open your eyes so you could enjoy it like everyone else. Except I don't know that I want someone like you on my page so 🤷🏻‍♀️ maybe it's a blessing in disguise that you don't like Yours, Truly and won't be able to bother me about it in the future.
I left this for last because it's literally so stupid that I even have to address this. Anon, I don't think you realize this but Hads and Sammy are friends in real life, they are the type of friends that talk every day, facetime and text, and send each other presents. Not only that but they are also the same age. IN contrast, I am... get this... their online friend. I am not as deeply involved in their lives as they are in each others lives. And you know what that's perfectly fine and I'm okay with it, maybe one day it'll turn into something IRL maybe not, it's cool we're chilling either way. Also, I can't believe I even have to say this but anon do you realize that Sammy and Hads are both 19 and I am 23? I'm actually rubbing my forehead right now because there is literally no situation where it's normal or acceptable for a 23 year old to be jealous of a relationship that two 19 year olds have with each other. I just treat them like my little babies that I'm so so proud of.
If you think I'm trying too hard to be their friends, I feel like you genuinely have never seen people act kindly towards others without expecting anything in return. It literally costs me nothing to interact with them and brighten up their days. Also maybe it's my age but I'm not insecure about whether or not my mutuals read my fics or constantly reblog and promote it. We are all so busy I'm never going to ever demand that from someone. Sammy and Hads don't demand anything from me either. How can you say Hads as never read anything by me when she's listed as the beta reader of Yours, Truly (yet another reason why I think you have never read it but are just insulting it because you can)? Sammy has given me private updates of how much she's enjoyed my work. Just because she or Hads never posted a review for YOU to see on multiple works doesn't mean that they don't read and support my stuff. And it's so weird that you're claiming that about them but you're not holding me to the same standard? The last time I reviewed one of Sammy's Maybe I Do chapters was probably for chapter 4 but I've privately been keeping her updated on my progress with reading her fic. I haven't even read Hads' Before Dawn yet. But you know what? It's fine. We're all okay with it and we don't have insecurities like that, we understand that we will all read and support each other's fics when we can and when we're free. I feel like as you get older you realize that friendship is not just what you can physically show off to others its more so all the ways you can be there for someone. I thank Allah that Sammy, Hads, and I are all so much more understanding than you are and that there is not even an ounce of toxicity in our relationship.
Lastly, maybe I'm not jealous of Sammy and Hadiyah being best friends because I have my own best friends? @vivian146 is literally the light of my life and we're going on strong for almost 7 years 😭😭😭
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alittledizzy · 4 years
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29 Things I Love About Dan
1. That he came out to his family via email. Aspirational.
2. Dude really, really loves his grandma.
3. That one time at a book signing when the bookstore overpromised tickets and there was a dad that was really upset because his daughter had been waiting in line so long and didn't get to meet them. The dad was just shouting at Dan and Phil and everyone else was trying to just quickly walk on but Dan stopped, turned around, and talked to the dad.
4. That he's the first person to defend someone he loves in any situation where he even perceives they're being shit upon, but in the same breath will make fun of them himself. He's the epitome of older brother attitude.
5. He spends a lot of money on clothes but then he wears what he buys every single day for a span of at least a year so he does at least get his money's worth.
6. That time on vyou when someone asked him what he looks for in a girl and his answer was the ring that fell off his hand last time that he really wants back.
7. His reaction to the Phil's wife story. I still laugh thinking about Sabrina and Lola. In the process of answering that he made a remark about how Phil leaves to go with his 'real' family and sometimes that just latches itself onto my brain. There was a similar comment during the blue/gold dress debate where Phil referenced Dan in with family and it's just... like, yeah, they're in love, they're in a relationship. But they're not just partners, they are full on out and out family to each other and that Dan found that at a time when he was so scared and felt so isolated with his own family is worth everything.
8. The depth of feeling in his voice during that one "Katie, Katie, Katie... Katie, Katie, Katie. No." liveshow answer. You know the one. He was having none of that and if Katie got verbally incinerated in the process of his answering, so be it.
9. When he'd be doing a liveshow and get on a tangent and end up talking about condiments or dips for like four minutes straight.
10. The way he never minded putting someone on blast that pissed him off but knew that it bothered Phil so he would consult with Phil first sometimes but then if the situation actually involved Phil being hurt in some way all bets were off he Was naming that trainer that made Phil puke he did not Care if Phil gave him an alias for the video Kai deserved what he got for pushing Phil too far.
11. That after a decade he still wants to impress Phil's family by doing things like cleaning before they come and making them all coffee.
12. And yet still made a cake to give to Phil in front of them that talked about wanting to see Phil's ass. The duality of man is real, indeed.
13. Nicer Internet. Young Minds. Make-a-Wish. Mermaids. He only just came into his own with being charity-minded in the last few years and I don't for a second doubt he does more privately than publicly and probably has some mental spirals about using his platform vs being accused of virtue signaling. But this is just one way I love watching him find his footing in the world as an adult with privilege.
14. He introduced an important word to my personal lexicon with Haru and I'd like the rest of the world to catch on because it's just a very specific action of lying while obviously lying and pretending you aren't lying and I love it.
15. When he was fifteen he was so in his emo kid feelings that he wanted black angel wings tattooed on his back.
16. That little tune he'd hum when he was trying to space out thoughts during liveshows.
17. That somehow he beat all the odds and is best friends with the first person he subscribed to (Bryony) and in a relationship with his teenage self's favorite youtuber (Phil, obviously). Teenage Dan had a really shit time of almost everything but in that one specific 'meet your idols' area he was truly blessed with all of the luck.
18. "All I can taste is cherry, all I can smell is cherry, all I can hear is cherry and all I can feel is cherry. Can't really see much though."
19. The fact that he owned up to previous bad takes and opinions and deleted old videos and tweets.
20. Litralee.
21. They originally wanted Phil to run the board at the radio show but he did such a bad job of it after the first episode that they gave it to Dan instead, and I think for someone with zero radio work experience or training Dan did an amazing job. He may spend a lot of time doubting himself but when a spotlight is on him he's clever and confident and adapts quickly.
22. The way when he says 'at all' he still sounds like his five year old self.
23.  That he tried to run the marathon last year, and didn't, and tried again this year. When you're someone that fears judgement for your failures and knows everything you do is scrutinized by a very large audience - not just fans but people waiting for you to fail so they can report on that, too - sharing in that way seems like it would be really hard. It was shit luck that he couldn't run it this year either but I have faith he's gonna cross that finish line because the man Dan Howell has turned into goes after what he wants and fuck what anyone else thinks or expects of him.
24. That one liveshow they did without pants. You know that was Dan's idea. Phil is a respectable young man who does not go live on the internet to thousands of people in just his underwear. But Dan? Dan would. Dan does. And Dan is a terrible blerson.
25. That in a video to ten million people he said with his whole chest that his relationship with Phil made him feel safe for the first time since he was a small child. And like, yeah, sure, I'm infatuated with their relationship so it made me happy on a personal level. But beyond that; putting words to things is clearly not easy for Dan. It took him decades to acknowledge he was gay to himself. It took decades plus a little to tell his family. Sometimes it doesn't matter how much people know things, giving it a label is fucking scary and I think his fear of labeling his relationship with Phil (to the public) felt like a different kind of exposure than just his sexuality and he still faced them both.
26. He clearly has a very complicated relationship with his parents and family in general but that one story he told about being young and on holiday to Disneyland Paris and his mum is terrified of roller coasters but went on one with him like six times because she didn't want him to be alone. I'm glad through all the badness and doubt and fear he's had at how conditional his parents' love might be, that he had those good memories as well.
27. It was Dan that coined the phrase 'post-baking universe.' He's very aware of the stages of their life and his growth and he shares that self-awareness with the viewers even if he doesn't share all the depth of reasoning behind them. (He also coined the term 'phan' but in that instance I think uhh he didn't know what he was doing so.)
28. That he's learned better coping mechanisms than lashing out online. That he's got therapy now and the option for medication when he needs it. That depression doesn't go away but he knows he has options and support now.
29. He's given us almost a decade of content to watch and rewatch and enjoy and view through the different lights of his growth and our own growth, and who knows what the future will hold.
Okay, last minute addition - we'll call it one to grow on:
30. That Starcourt selfie.
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makaias-trash-heap · 3 years
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Soooooo lately ya girl here has been running into a lot of writing issues so I gave something a try...BACK TO BASICS FOR WHAT I ORIGINALLY MADE THIS BLOG FOR!!! First time I’ve written anything for my favorite Tsundere in a while. Enjoy!! Just more of my own self indulgent writing while I have no requests.
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“Sooooo, guess who I just heard from.” 
Shin glanced up from his book with his usual blank expression, “Why not just tell me?”
Mira smiled and rolled her eyes slightly, “My parents. They called and asked me to come over for dinner for my sister's birthday this weekend.” She stated, plopping on the couch next to him.
Mirdorima raised an eyebrow giving her an intrigued look, “This is the first time they've wanted you over since we've been together nanodayo.” 
Mira hummed in agreement leaning into his side, naturally causing him to blush like always. 
“Are you going?” 
Mira shook her head, “Probably not.”
“Why not?”
“Shin, my family and I haven't gotten along in years. I've tried going over a few times and it always ends in a fight.”
She ignored the look he gave her in favor of playing with his fingers, a habit she picked up on when he still tapped them.
“Mira, they're still your family nanodayo. We've been together for nearly 3 years and I don't recall you seeing them at all.”
“Not true, I've seen my brother.”
“Mira.”
“Look, I don't want to go because I don't want to fight and that's exactly what will happen. Especially going now.”
He gave Mira a slight confused look, “What does that mean?”
She sighs turning to face him, “We've been together for about 3 years and aren’t engaged, I'm perfectly with how things have been going but my parents are incredibly judgmental and will nag and question why. There's also the fact that I’m 2 years older than you. And even though it’s incredibly stupid, my parents will not agree with the fact that I'm with someone younger than me. And to top all of that off I'm pregnant out of wedlock, big no no to my parents. We also fight about my brother everytime I'm there. I guess they invited him too so this is going to be twice the chaos.” 
Midorima adjusted his glasses looking down at her, “I understand these situations can be uncomfortable, but they're still your family and you haven't seen them in years. For all you know they may have changed from the last time you saw them.” 
Mira halfheartedly glared at him and sighed realizing this wasn't going anywhere, “You aren't letting this go until I agree to go are you?”
“I don't intend to.”
“Fine. But if I have to deal with them you're coming with me.”
He turned his full attention to her, “What! Why am I involved in this?”
“You got involved when you bugged me into going. And besides, as you've said, we've been together for 3 years, and you've yet to meet my family.”
If looks could kill Mira would be dead right now, multiple times over. 
“You'll see why I don't get along with them and I promise you'll never end up going with them again and you won't bug me into it.”
Midorima lets out a sigh leaning back into his seat, “I suppose. When are we supposed to be there?”
“Saturday at 5.” 
(Skip to weekend)
“Remind me again why we're here?” Mira groaned as they pulled up in front of her parents house. She ignored the slightly surprised look that snuck his way to his face. She’d given him warning that her family was pretty well off. 
He recovered quickly enough, “Because they're your family nanodayo.”
Mira rolled her eyes trying to mentally prepare herself for the interaction tonight. They climbed out of the car and started making their way up to the house. Mira spotted her brother coming up the sidewalk and waved.
“So you decided to come too huh.” Kenjuro said, returning the gesture.
“Not really, Shin forced me into it. I'm kinda surprised you came though.” 
He shrugged, “Boyfriend forced me to. He offered to come for moral support but you and I both know that that would have been a really bad idea.”
“How’s Reo-chan doing?” Mira asked as they started walking up the sidewalk to the house.
“Good. I watched him play basketball with his old team from high school. So that was kinda exciting .”
They finally reached the door and stood awkwardly glancing at each other until Midorima gently nudged her forward.
“Ok ok sheesh.”
Mira knocked on the door secretly hoping that her parents would ignore them and not answer….sadly that did not happen. Much to her dismay her sister Aika answered the door. 
“Hey Kenjuro, Mira.” Aika greeted them with a fake sweet smile.
“Hey Aika, happy birthday.”
Mira slipped past her with Kenjuro and toed her my shoes off pulling Midorima in behind her. 
“Hello Mira, Kenjuro. We're glad you could make it.” Her parents appeared at the door to greet them
“Hey mom, hey dad.” Mira forced a smile. 
“Who is your guest Mira?”
“Oh, right, Um, mom dad, this is Midorima Shintarou, my boyfriend. Shin, these are my parents.” 
“It's nice to meet you Hashigawa-San.” Midorima politely greeted her parents. 
“The pleasure is ours. Please right this way. Dinner is almost ready.”
Everyone started filing into the dining room, Mira and Midorima following behind last. 
“I don't understand your concern. Your parents seem rather pleasant.” He mumbled quietly so only Mira could hear it. 
“Oh, just wait for dinner. That's usually when the show starts.”
They all took a seat at the table, Kenjuro sitting as far as possible from their parents. Which left Mira and her sister to sit by them. Midorima sat next to Mira starting to notice the awkward atmosphere.
“So Mira. It's been a while since we've last spoken. What have you been up to?” Her father asked after a few moments of silence.
Mira hesitated a second before preparing to answer, this most likely this wasn’t going to go well.
“Working mostly, I just finished up art school not that long ago so I've been working freelance for a while. Making films for tourist companies, helping design Billboards, things like that.” 
Her parents stayed quiet before turning their attention to Midorima.
“Midorima-San, may I ask what you do for a living?”
“I am going into the medical field. I'm currently working on my internship at the hospital.” Midorima straightened up answering.
Mira’s father nodded, “Then a man as logical as you, you can't support this crazy dream of hers.”
Midorima froze and glanced at Mira before answering, “It's her decision to make and if it's something that she feels strongly about then naturally she has my support.” 
Her father was about to say something when he was cut off, “Now now dear, we're trying to have a nice civilized dinner tonight. Ok, this is a discussion we can have another time.”
Mira quickly turned her attention back to her food to avoid more questions. It worked for a while. Although this point Midorima was very uncomfortable. Kenjuro followed Mira’s lead but he's usually safe from questions. Their parents hate the fact that he's gay so they usually don't even acknowledge that part of his life. 
“Mira.” 
Mira looked up from her plate to see her mom holding the wine bottle out to her.
“Oh no thank you mom. I'm good.”
Aika snorted across the table, “wow, you of all people are turning down alcohol?”
Mira rolled her eyes, “do you really want to go there Aika?”
She shrugged, “I'm just saying for a while here sobriety was not your strong suit,” Mira shot a glare at her across the table, “oops sorry, did your boyfriend not know about that?”
“Do mom and dad know you've been sneaking into the liquor cabinet since you were like 14?” Mira shot right back at her.
Of course he knows, he helped her get her act cleaned up. Still a rather sensitive topic right now.
“Ok that's enough you two.” 
Mira rolled her eyes at her dads warning, ready to leave. On top of the unpleasant conversation, the constant nausea from the morning sickness was rough on her today.
“Mira, you ok?” Kenjuro asked, starting to notice her discomfort.
She just nodded waiting for the nausea to subside, “Yeah, stomach is just a little upset.”
Naturally Aika didn't seem to miss a thing.
“Oh my god you're pregnant aren't you?”
Mira immediately tensed up, hoping to completely avoid this topic, “What are you talking about?”
“You aren’t drinking which is pretty out of the ordinary for you, you’re randomly sick and I’ve noticed the weight gain.” Aika quickly insinuated.
Mira didn't answer, deciding instead just to get up and get ready to leave. Midorima grabbed her hand to stop her, it seems like he has other plans.
“They were going to eventually find out Mira.” He said, looking up at her.
“Is that a confirmation?” Her father looked back and forth between them waiting for an answer.
Mira sighs, “Yeah dad, it is. I'm pregnant.” 
Neither of the parents said anything right away. The tension gathering in the air was enough to show that this news was about to be either very well accepted or very poorly.
“We had the perfect life laid out for you. All you had to do was do as you were told and follow it.” Her father started to lecture, “First you turn down one of the best universities in Japan, and then rather than going to any university at all for a real career, you start to follow this ridiculous idea at some art school, and now you're 23 and pregnant. You couldn't have at least been decent enough to get married before spreading your legs for the first guy to take interest in you?!” 
For the first time in an argument with them, Mira was speechless. Her father certainly had a tendency to be cruel, but that was low even for him. He continued yelling, Kenjuro and Aika eventually getting involved in the argument. Mira started to tune out the yelling. This whole night has done nothing but stress her out, and stress is not good for her right now. She felt a sharp pain rip through her abdomen and lower back which snapped her back to reality and the current argument at hand.
“I don't understand where I went wrong with the two of you. My son is a faggot and my daughter is a who-”
“That's enough,” Mirodrima said sternly, “I understand you don't agree with Mira’s life choices. But you cannot control her. She is an adult and it's still her decision to make. As for her being pregnant. No it's not ideal timing right now. My parents were rather disappointed as well. 
We’re not married, and I’m only 21 years old and in medical school while starting this family, but we’re doing it. And my parents have never once referred to myself or Mira in such a derogatory manner.”
“Shintarou.” Mira grabbed his hand and squeezed to get his attention. 
He crouched by her side, “What's wrong?”
“Can we go? I'm starting to cramp badly and I'm just ready to go home.” She whined starting to stand up.
“Yeah let's go, but I'm going to call your doctor to make sure that things are ok before we go home.” 
He helped her stand up and started walking with her to the front door. He occasionally glared back behind them to make sure their family got the hint to leave them alone. Kenjro followed behind them to the car. Midorima helped her into the passenger seat taking her keys to drive.
“Feel better sis, call me later so I know things are ok.” 
Kenjuro closed the door and then went around to talk to Midorima who was on the phone. Once he hung up he turned his attention to Kenjuro to talk to him before climbing into the car.
“How are you feeling? Are you still in pain?” 
She shook her head, “No, it stopped for now. I just feel really sick now.”
He nodded and started the car. The ride home was fairly silent as he focused on the road and Mira focused on not throwing up. He pulled up to their apartment and he quickly came around to her side in case she needed help getting inside. 
“Your doctor said that as long as you aren't bleeding and you don't continue to be in pain that you should be ok. Sometimes some cramping isn’t uncommon, especially in stressful situations. But if they start again she wants us to come immediately,” He explained while they were settling in the bedroom, “so if you're in pain like that again I don't care what time it is wake me up and we’ll go ok.” 
Mira nodded changing into one of his shirts to sleep.
“Why do you insist on stealing my clothes all the time, you have your own dresser full of them.” He grumbled and changed as well.
“Oh stop whining,” She teased looking back at him, “I only steal your shirts and it's only for bed. Besides you never wear these.” 
He grumbled under his breath again while he settled in bed. Mira crawled in next to him and curled up into his side. He's finally used to cuddling with her...it only took him forever to do so. He turned on the lamp on his side of the bed signaling that he planned on reading for a bit before bed.
“Don't fall asleep with your glasses on again.” Mira said rolling over to turn off the light.
He scoffed, “that was once.”
She chuckled, situating herself into a comfortable position to drift off. Mira was nearly asleep when Midorima poked her in her back to get her attention.
“Hmm? What's up?” She rolled over and looked at him. 
“What your parents said earlier, it's bothering me.”
She sighed and sat up, “Just ignore it. Don't ever let anything they say bother you. Like you saw they're a bunch of judgmental assholes.”
He shook his head, “Nothing like that. They aren't bothering me. It just has me thinking. Are you really ok with how things are going?”
She cocked an eyebrow at his question, “I told you earlier I was. I mean, so long as you aren't planning on taking off on me anytime soon I'm perfectly fine with how we're doing ok.” 
He nodded, setting his book aside, “we should go to sleep.”
Mira leaned over and kissed Midorima before laying back down, “Goodnight Shin.”
Midorima returned the kiss and put his book away before laying down and wrapping his arm around her, “Goodnight Mira.”
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thegc4life · 4 years
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Do you any other Hawks fic ideas you'd like to write? Or is Hawks-sensei all you've got on your mind right now?
Wyv. You know not what you ask. I have to put them in categories, Wyv. Categories.
Kid!Hawks:
-Kid!Hawks growing up with the LOV (both as a permanent thing and various ridiculous drabbles) This involves Unwilling Big Brother Shigaraki, scarily willing Big SisterToga who knows all the coolest knife tricks, Best Uncle Twice who sometimes on his real good days doubles as temporary Dad, the Dad who teaches you how to hot wire cars and laugh people’s money straight out of their wallets Compress, mother-henning can-not-leave-you-alone-for-one-god-damn-minute Spinner, True Mom Kurogiri, Big Sis Mag who seems to be the only actual one that realizes that children need to sleep at some point for the love of god, extremely confused but horrifically soft Dabi who may or may not eventually turn his whole life around because of this feathered idiot that needs someone to make sure he lives a happy life whether it be a permanent shrinking or not. Oh, and Machia. The best Mountain Monster Dog brother (?) a boy could ask for.
-Kid!Hawks with UA (staff edition) also both in temporary and permanent circumstances. Temporary is already in progress. Permanent? Oh boy, permanent world. They raise him within UA so as to keep him from the Commission. Hawks often sits in on their classes with coloring books, picture books, or just to sit there and watch them. He is very smart. He picks up on things, but mostly he just likes being around all the staff. He picks a new person to sleep with every week because some of them have really shitty sleep schedules and even as a kid he knows they would feel bad keeping him up, thus forcing them to go to bed through good-person guilt so he tragets the sleepiest looking people for the week (hint: Aizawa gets picked a lot, and even if he’s not sleep deprived Hawks would pick him because he adores his grumpy cat Dad). Thirteen does crafts with him all the time. She watches every kid show and gets really into it with him. Hawks and Mic make the meals and they sing the entire time. They sing together throughout the day. Hawks will chirp out a line of notes and out of nowhere Hizashi will burst in to sing the lyrics. Midnight reads him bedtime stories cause her voices are the best. She does his nails and lets him do hers. He practices on the UA students to surprise her with new designs (the students fall over their own feet to offer to be his test subject). Snipe does little challenges with him. Things that, while technically helping him get used to controlling his quirk, are more fun than anything else because Hawks enjoys using his feathers in games. Hawks dresses up like a cowboy for an entire month, quoting old western movies and driving everyone but a very proud Snipe up the wall. Hound Dog and Hawks go on walks together ALL THE TIME. They explore the woods around UA and Hound Dog tells Cementoss to change up the geography every once in a while so they have something new to explore. He teaches Hawks how to go camping and Hawks fricken adores him and is always on his shoulders just kicking his feet or napping in Hound Dogs hair. Ectoplasm is Hawks favorite person to play any kind of tag based game because the others are too easy to catch with his feathers. But with Ectoplasm and all his clones? hawks goes nuts. Ectoplasm cried once when Hawks asked Aizawa for peg legs for Halloween and when someone asks him if he wants to be a pirate he says no because he wants to be a super cool hero like Ecto for Halloween. No one will be as cool as him. Hawks fricken loves Vlad. Like, adores him. Whenever Vlad is in the room Hawks will just go hang off his shoulders, or tuck under his arms with a book to read, or just lean against him. He has a little stuffed bull dog that has Vlad’s exact resting bitch face and carries it with him every time he leaves the dorm because he feels safer with it. He goes to Vlad when he’s injured because Vlad just takes care of it, gives him a hug, and doesn’t tell him to be more careful. Just asks if Hawks learned something and moves on. Hawks and Nezu are penpals. They see eachother every single day, but they are penpals. Hawks grows up with the most beautiful calligraphy handwriting because he keeps trying to out-do Nezu’s. He absolutely tattles on every single teacher in these letters, giving Nezu years worth of blackmail. Hawks thinks Nezu is a stuffed animal until he is fourteen because Nezu never fesses up. He just thinks the staff is even cooler for letting a stuffed animal run the place. He only ever cries around Nezu.
-Kid!Hawks UA(Student edition): So many. There’s lines I’ve written where they’re still in school when Hawks is kidified. When they’re already pros. In Canon, in Hawks-sensei, I even a small blurb sentence of Deku running a preschool that Hawks gets put into in an AU with quirks still. I can’t even... there’s too many students, cause I’d do all 1-A and 1-B. My favorite one to randomly wake up in a panick and write about though is the one where it’s Hawks-sensei verse based and Kid!Hawks gets taken in by the Monoma family. Rui and Eiko are older and Monoma is a pro-hero by then. The pure amount of fluff, sass, and Hawks spoiling that will happen. Big Brother Rui and Bigger Sister Eiko.  I think about this one a lot.
-I’m currently (slowly but progressing) writing a gift for @saltwater-sweets where Kid!Hawks is taken in by the Uraraka family. Like, he’s not even shrunk in this one. Uraraka’s newlywed parents were involved in the accident he first saved people in and they found him before the Commission. They realized his homelife situation and opened their home to him and now he is Uraraka’s big brother and that one line I threw out there? About him being a global superpower in household moving? Teaming up with Uraraka for that? Yeah.
-Kid!League of Villains and adult Hawks. Yeah, you heard me. They all get shrunk instead of him. And he can’t just... turn them in. They’re kids. They haven’t done any of the crimes their older counterparts have. And if it’s a permanent thing? They stay kids? Then he has a chance to really, truly save them. To give them the happy lives stolen from them. The Commission doesn’t like that. So Hawks takes them and runs. Dabi can be an adult too, I guess, if that’s the ship or something, but I just really wanna write Kid!LOV and Dad!Hawks.
-Kid!Aizawa. Dad!Hawks. Same concept. Beautiful dream. Need I say more.
-Kid!Hawks, Best Jeanist
-Kid!Hawks Gang Orca
-Kid!Hawks RUMI!!
Vigilante Hawks:
- Raven was born and I dived down that rabbit hole so fast I went back in time. Raven. But from a way earlier age. Those guys mugging Hawks when he was fifteen? The spark. Hawks stayed on the streets, he never went back, and he learned some things. He got some freedom, learned some shit, and realized that hero society was pretty fucked up. Shigaraki starts the LOV up and realizes there’s this whole underground community he was never aware of that Hawks has been building for years. It’s great.
-Hawks was never found by the Commission so he was never ‘Hawks’. His Dad raised him as a criminal but Hawks, with his little heart of gold, took every chance he could to make something good out of the bad deeds. Then he got old enough and he took full control. You ever seen the Levi OVA’s of Attack on Titan? Where he’s walking down the stairs and you realize every single person there is part of a huge ass gang of awesome with Levi at the head? That. THAT.
-Hawks loses his shit in Canon and goes completely AWOL. full Feral. He sees the problems, and he is prepared to do whatever it takes get rid of them. Whatever it takes.
AU Hawks
-Horribly injured, recently retired at the ripe old age of 23, and looking for something to save him from depression. Hawks meets Todoroki Fuyumi who gets him a job at her school. This one makes my brain happy.
-Takami Keigo and Todoroki Natsuo meet in college, graduate together, join the same hospital, and open one as partners as soon as they can. Ship or no ship, they go through their entire lives together. (I just... I really like the Todoroki sibs, okay?)
-Takami Keigo was born a lot earlier. So much, earlier, in fact that he is classmates with this overly optimistic ball of light named Yagi Toshinori and the grumpy ball of flame Todoroki Enji. Big Three anyone? Also, everyone needs a dumb smart birb to keep them sane. Hawks loves his friends, and he’ll kick anyone’s ass that tries to hurt them be it physically, mentally, or emotionally. Also, he meets Nana. 
-I LOVE THE IMAGINARY KAMAKIRI FAMILY DYNAMIC OKAY?! literally anything with Hawks involved in their lives, okay?! I did not expect to spiral so hard when I made up Hideo and his relationship with Kamakiri but my god did I spiral! I just really love them!
-I’m a sucker for the classics. Tattoo/flower. Coffee shop. College. Roommates. Love. 
- (she made me write this) a story surrounding the amazing love story of my sister and Iida Tenya with Aizawa crashes the wedding even though he was invited and Mirio is her maid of honor, with Eri as the ring bearer, and All Might is the flower girl. Twice is the officiator. Uraraka releases a flock of fake pigeons (not real ones cause they don’t deserve that). Oh, and everyone else is there too, I guess. Except for Mineta. Cause he’s in jail.
Right now, at this very moment, I can not for the life of me think of any others but I KNOW there’s at least seven more that I just can’t remember because my brain is work dead. Wyv. @wyvernspirit do you see what you’ve opened here? Close the box! Close it before it’s too late! There is always more! I am never without MORE ideas!
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random West Wing character addition
\\CONTAINS SPOILERS//
I love the West Wing with all my heart and this is just something that came to me last night. The dynamic with Charlie and Zoey was always so great that I wished there were more youngish people on the show, so out of my random imagination came Katie Welland!
In my mine she joins the show mid-season 2, sometime after Noel, after graduating from Georgetown Law at 23 years old. She's really smart and driven, and very perceptive in a way that most people aren't at her age. She's very well educated and speaks 4 languages, and she's a very gifted writer.
Background:
She's from Manchester, New Hampshire, and grew up really poor. Her parents both worked multiple jobs and as a kid she was always concerned about not having enough money. Her father worked as a security guard at the Governor's Mansion and he used to bring her with him on weekends. One day she wandered into Jed Bartlet's office and he took her under his wing after seeing her potential and became a real role model for her. She skipped fourth grade and won several writing competitions in high school, then graduated high school at 17. She went to Cambridge for undergrad (double major in political science and English) and came back to the US for law school at Georgetown. After she graduates, she applies for an internship position at the White House and works for Sam and Toby in communications. When her internship is over, Josh and Sam make up a job for her as the Junior Deputy of Communications because they love her and she's really good at her job. After Sam leaves for California, she's promoted to Deputy Communications Director (in my mind Will Bailey still works at the White House, but in more of a speechwriting job than as Toby's deputy). After Santos wins, Josh asks her to be Press Secretary.
Characteristics: Growing up in poverty really shaped her upbringing and as a result she's always in favor of progressive policies that give more welfare aid and do outreach for children in low-income families. She's very knowledgeable about current events/policies and the impacts they'll have on the administration, so Toby and Sam definitely trust her with message shaping. She has very dry humor and likes to make fun of Josh's overall craziness and can be the person who encourages everyone to lighten up. Despite her age and lack of experience she projects a very confident personality, although sometimes she privately questions her abilities and skills.
Relationships:
The President: Jed Bartlet is her idol/mentor/role model for pretty much everything, and he's the reason she got involved with politics. She's incredibly loyal to him and would walk off a cliff if he asked, and she always feels indebted to him for how he helped her embrace her own abilities.
Josh: I love the Josh/Zoey relationship on West Wing and I pictured something similar with Katie. In season 4(?), there's a scene with Josh and Amy Gardner where they're imitating each other before a meeting, and that seems like part of Josh and Katie's dynamic as well. Even though they bicker all the time, Katie adores Josh and looks up to him as an older brother.
Zoey: Katie and Zoey are about the same age and grew up together, so they're super close and they spend a lot of time together. Katie is also definitely the most emotionally affected when Zoey gets kidnapped.
Sam: I pictured Katie as having a super flirty, definitely-attracted-to-each-other kind of relationship that I thought would be a really interesting parallel to Josh and Donna's. Katie's much more assertive and outright flirtatious with Sam, unlike Donna and Josh's relationship where it's more Donna taking care of Josh while he pretends to complain. I really liked Ainsley and Sam's back-and-forth style, but there wasn't enough of it onscreen for me, so this is my replacement where we actually get to see their relationship fully develop (sorry Ainsley!). Like Donna and Josh though, they don't end up getting together until season 7 when Sam comes back from California.
Toby: He comes to really respect Katie's opinion after initially being very hesitant to talk to her, and she's one of the few people he'll trust to write important speeches without breathing down her neck because he knows she really cares and will get the job done well.
CJ: Kate is very similar to CJ in my mind, because they're both confident women in a male-dominated workforce. They're good friends and Katie looks up to her as a role model, and they have lots of jokes and banter together.
Donna: Donna and Katie would have a good relationship with a lot of mutual respect and affection, but Donna at times feels slightly insecure about Katie's accomplishments and confidence. Because they're similar ages, I think Donna would feel like Katie represented a lot of what Donna gave up with Dr. Freeride and how that affected her career and confidence going forward. That said, they still team up to bully Josh when he's being stupid.
That's all my brain has for now, but I'm sure I'll come up with some random AU scenes that involve Katie (:
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daisychvins · 3 years
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。・゚゚・ — introduction.
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introducing ... violet’s demise ! aka grayson aka her big brother she’s been wiring money to stay away in europe <33333
name: grayson swag money jeon  age: 22 turning 23 (don’t ask me about his sign that’s for liza to figure out someday <3) gender: cis male; he/him hometown: baltimore, maryland sexuality: bisexual & biromantic
listen i was feeling rlly committed to completing his stats but i’m already over it so don’t ask dont tell xx anYWAYS let’s get on to the juicy stuff hehe
i tend to ramble a lot so this intro is gonna be probably a mixture of paragraphs and bullet points and everything in between but let’s start simple. also i rlly wanna emphasize a massive DRUGS TW bc his character largely revolves around his interest in and addiction to drugs
blackmails
grayson is claiming that he's been in a rehab program for the last year and is now completely sober and reformed when he really was just using the money to party and travel throughout europe.
without his parents paying to support him now, he's had to start dealing to make ends meet and keep up appearances. it’s mostly coke, but he dabbles in harder substances depending on what his connections can get him. 
grayson dabbles with calligraphy and was notorious for forging excuse notes and parent signatures all throughout high school and even now sells forgeries for a quick buck. the most notable of these was xavi’s letter of recommendation that helped him get into yale. 
background
grayson is violet’s older brother!!1 yes, that’s right, THE big brother who’s been out of the country getting LIT (and by lit i mean he’s been traveling europe on a series of solo trips w his parents’ money and doin lots of recreational drugs)
i haven’t fully fleshed out the dynamic he has w his parents but just know it’s ,, bad ASDHFJNK basically the jeons treated their children like accessories and expected them to be their little trophies and grayson just was not having that as a kid!!! so he acted out a lot and obviously got himself into a pretty bad scene (thank u goosie) and is basically the bane of his parents existence at this point <3 yet they still try to appease him to keep him under control but that’s for the family task to work out hehehehe
despite hating his parents, he adores both of his siblings. before the drug use started, he was always a big nurturer and would have done anything for either of them......now he wouldn’t be caught dead praising violet but he loves her in secret from afar HSJDFKG
yeah basically he met goose when he was around 15 i think????? and got introduced to drugs around 16 or 17 i wanna say and by the time he graduated high school he was just....a much different person than the soft big brother he used to be. his parents sent him off to europe pretty much as soon as he turned 18 under the guise of going to school internationally, but grayson obviously knew the truth and understood that he was being sent away so he wouldn’t be his parents problem anymore. 
he basically spent the last four years galavanting europe and just....trying to enjoy it???? but it’s hard to enjoy an extended vacation when u have no family or friends on ur side anymore </3 he basically used the money to stay in hostels and worked odd jobs here and there to stay afloat and keep supplied w the...special goods....but yeah lots of drugs, alcohol, sex, and recklessness but he DID learn a couple languages??? or at least enough to get through some pretty basic conversations in most european countries so <3 guess it’s all okay then!!!! 
anyways idk what else to put here that u won’t just find out in the family task so uhhhhhh idk lmk if u need anything else i guess
present/personality
so now grayson is just vibing at yale obviously ummm he actually got super into writing after high school, especially poetry. he used to carry journals full of just random prose about his addiction and his deepest thoughts, as well as probably some lighter stuff about his love escapades or maybe goose idk...basically he used poetry as an outlet and it allowed him to really ground himself and find his place in the world even if it didnt include who he thought it would SO with that being said, grayson got into yale due to a poetry competition he was a part of. he saw some big fancy competition being advertised and on a whim decided to submit some poem about his struggles with addiction and losing his family (a v raw piece that he didn’t expect to ever see the light of day) and he actually ended up winning! it caught yale’s attention and they invited him to apply and, knowing how much it would probably disturb his little sister, grayson very smugly applied and was pretty stoked to see he got in 
because that poem gained such publicity, it was assumed that he was a survivor of addiction and was writing from a sober perspective. he didn’t want to correct anyone, so he just went with it and has basically crafted this story about his massive success and has become an advocate for addiction treatment and rehabilitation. of course, none of the companies that sponsor him or the events that host him as a motivational speaker know that he’s snorting lines in the bathroom beforehand or dealing to half the elites, but that’s between grayson, god, and the blackmailer !
basically grayson showed back up because of violet’s blackmail being exposed. he was off in europe, unable to defend himself, and with a massive vendetta against his family so he decided what better way to reenter society than by publicly outing himself as a martyr <3333 his plan is basically to bash the family name to fulfill whatever angsty coming of age arc he has in store for him to make up for the pain of being sent away .... really angsty yeah </3 rip grayson 
anyways yeah he’s a total fake. he’s been using his status as a martyr to his advantage a lot, the best example being his recruitment into the elites. he guilted them into accepting him by discussing the PR benefits of recruiting a member that struggles with addiction and how supporting addiction treatment and second chances would be such a good look for them. like he basically threatened to publicly expose them for denying him due to his troubled past and accuse them of being exclusionary so they said boop ! ur in. now the elites are proud advocates for second chances <3333
i would describe grayson as fearless, overconfident, infamous due to his condition being exposed recently, a little gloomy, he’s kind of just got this chip on his shoulder and feels like he has something to prove....he’s gotta be better than his parents, gotta stick it to them and to violet and to everyone who doubts him. he’s a grumpy guy with a massive vendetta and a need for some kind of justice. he just doesn’t know what that is yet. despite all of the bad, however, he’s genuinely a pretty good guy. he’s really goofy and a genuine person, pretty friendly with literally everyone until they give him a reason not to be. basically, unless you are a member of the jeon family he probably likes you or is at least cordial to you (unless we plot differently ofc but u know). he’s just a big lovable dummy with some sweet drug connects and a knack for poetry. he also knows calligraphy but that’s beside the point . 
idk if this is enough to describe him but yeah if u have any questions just let me know hehe
this is probably gonna make things hard but considering violet was just exposed i think that he’s pretty new to yale ???? like probably just transferred in/started this spring semester rather than being here for the entire year/a prolonged amount of time so most of our plots will likely have to be newer/center on him first showing up OR we can establish their connections from pre-europe which is also fine w me....idk i didnt rlly think this timeline through so let’s just plot and see what happens aghbfjnd anyways i included some connection ideas to help us all just in case
wanted connections
i’d say he’s the honorary dealer of the elites aghbdfjn so literally anyone who needs a plug could be a potential connection. we can obviously tweak this and customize it to each character <3
maybe someone who met grayson in europe. they could have travelled together for an extended period of time or even just a brief encounter. he was over there for four years, so the possibilities are endless. 
building off the last one, this same connection could work with a romantic interest. maybe they were romantically involved for a time in europe and fell out of touch or maybe grayson/your muse just left in the middle of the night and they never saw each other again until now and maybe there’s some unresolved feelings/one-sided longing or need for closure. it could also be that they just hooked up whenever this person was in the area and that was that, no strings attached. 
maybe someone who genuinely believes that grayson is actually sober and really admires his strength and idk maybe they’re struggling w their own issues and seek advice from him or maybe they just make it harder for him to actually do his thing bc they’re constantly around and it’s not like they can catch him strung out and acting up 
someone in the literature department or with a background in english or writing. someone he could read poetry to, or share his favorite lines with. someone who’s taken the same professors and can tell him who to watch out for or what to expect. idk i just want him to have someone to share his passions with. maybe a little crush is forming? maybe they’re just friends who share a love of fiction? idk i’m open to literally anything 
he’s sort of a motivational speaker now bc he advocates for rehabilitation resources and stuff so like maybe ur muse saw him give a presentation or participate in some kind of seminar and they called bullshit on him after the show bc they were like,,, bro i literally saw u partying w max and avery last weekend what the fuck are u on about and now they could potentially hold that blackmail over his head hehe......
exes plots are always fun we love angst in this house 
fuck it let’s bring another family member BHJFNGKM no but grayson rlly is a nurturing guy and like....definitely develops unhealthy attachments to cope w his loss of family so he’d love all the sibling-like bonds he can get to kinda numb the pain of “””””losing””””” violet 
if none of these interest you i’m literally so down for anything pls just let me know and i’m happy to brainstorm always <333333 
thank u for reading this....smooch . 
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archadianskies · 4 years
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Whumptober Day 23
Exhaustion + Sleep Deprivation  → part of the MT-RK900
Whumptober Masterlist | 23/31 of RK900 short stories ↳ on Ao3
Tags:  Post-Pacifist Best Ending x Exhaustion x Sleep Deprivation
{Character sheet + bonus art here, and here. }
It starts small, starts as barely noticeable symptoms that can easily be mistaken for something else. Nothing is easily mistaken to him, nothing is ever dismissed casually, not when he deals with people’s lives on a daily basis. That includes the lives of his colleagues too, and today, specifically, it involves the lives of his human colleagues.
“Dr Fitzpatrick, you are exhibiting the initial signs of influenza.” He tells his senior, the Director of the trauma unit and his attending leader for the shift. “It is best to take precautionary measures and time off to recuperate whilst removing yourself from possibly infecting others.”
“What?” She blinks at him, brows creased and lips pursed in a frown. “It’s been a long shift, that’s all.” He says nothing, though his expression must say a lot because her frown deepens. “You’re sure?”
“With adequate care you will recover much quicker and stop the spread amongst our colleagues, than if you were to continue working and possibly, quite rapidly, infect others.” Ronan says evenly. “Influenza season is already underway, we are treating more and more patients everyday and we have had three deaths already.”
She gives him a long hard look, searching his face for some sort of reaction before she sighs tiredly. “Are there others on the team you think might have it?”
“There are four possible nurses, one clerk, and two registrars also exhibiting early signs.” Ronan informs her and she groans into her hand, rubbing her temples. 
“It’s not up to me to give others time off, you know.”
“I know. But you can speak to the right staff, and I can give them my findings.” He nods.
“We’re run off our feet already, and you’re rostered at Jericho for the next three days!”
“I can change that. Androids are not susceptible to influenza, and aside from the cold weather affecting some of the older models, we weather winter well.” He glances at the door. “If you can help arrange it, I will stay on for the week and use mainly a team mostly made up of the other android nurses here, minimising the risk of infection amongst the staff.”
“Ronan, you- that’s insane! No one can work an entire week, especially not in trauma!”
“No human can, but I am not human.” Ronan reminds her gently, and he knows she is tired and she knows he is counting on this. She relents, shoulders sagging.
“Four days. Not seven. Four, and I will aim to be back by then.” She points her finger at him accusingly. “Don’t you dare take on more than you can handle. You’re the best trauma surgeon I’ve ever worked with, so god help me if you run yourself ragged because you’re too damn nice!”
So it begins. After careful negotiations the ration rises from five human nurses for every one android nurse, to two humans per one android. Ronan assigns various amounts of memory in his processing core to take over the clerical duties, and the E.D. phone is now answered by an ST300 temporarily stepping in from reception. This means she can answer the call and feed the information directly onto his HUD for ease of triaging. He keeps patient charts in a digital folder, and medication schedules, and theatre bookings.
He utilises programming that would normally be used for listing mission objectives and keeping tabs on the status of other soldiers in his battalion, for good instead, for saving lives and managing their care. At the seventieth hour mark, one of the android nurses pass him a bottle of thirium and he drains it, belatedly realising his levels are below optimum given how fast he is burning through it due to the high number of processes he is running. No matter. He will continue.
 At the eightieth hour, he receives a concerned message from Simon while he is operating on a stabbing victim. The knife penetrated into the victim’s small bowel and it is a race against time to repair the damage. He manages to send Simon a quick reassuring message that yes he is fine, but will not be able to come home for some time yet. Dr Fitzpatrick had said four days but he knows it will not be four days. He will need longer because the humans will need longer. It is alright. He is an RK900, CyberLife’s latest cutting edge android. He can manage.
As predicted, Dr Fitzpatrick does not return after four days. No matter. Ronan powers on, temporarily rotating out the last of the human nurses as a precautionary measure as a surge of new influenza patients floods the hospital. Humans are woefully unprepared for the season due to a lot of factors, be they socio-economic or just plain ignorance. There was a pandemic his father lived through, with many wild tales of humans simply ignoring even the basic, primitive safety measures attempted. It does not surprise Ronan to see so many victims this season either, given all that Hank has told him about those ‘unprecedented times’. 
There is no time to stand under the charging bay downlights. There has been a shooting and there are multiple victims en route to the hospital. And hours before that, there had been a multi vehicle crash on the highway. And hours before that, there was a case of food poisoning at a children’s party which meant Ronan had to call the paediatric registrar for extra help. There is never a good time, and so he has to be conservative about power usage to ensure he can still handle the workload safely. 
“Your hair is white.” One of the nurses whisper to him as they’re scrubbing up for yet another surgery. Ah. His stress levels must be high. He hasn’t checked- he turned off his notifications ten hours ago. 
“I am functioning adequately. It is only cosmetic.” He reassures them with words, and he’s glad there’s a mask over his mouth because he hasn’t quite mastered how to give reassuring smiles to match. 
“You’ve been on call for five days, nearly six now.” They’re brows crease in concern and beneath their mask Ronan knows they are frowning. “You’ve given all of us an hour break every eight hours to ensure we have enough time to charge adequately. You’ve done this for all android staff except yourself!”
“There is no other android qualified for surgery.” He reminds them, flicking through the patient’s stats and passing them on to the surgical team. “So I cannot rest.”
On the first surgery on his sixth consecutive day as the trauma surgeon on call, Ronan finds that the bulbs in the surgical downlights have been replaced with UV charging lights. The same nurse who raised concerns earlier gives him a somewhat stern, no-nonsense look.
“So you can charge while you operate.” A compromise, he realises, and a very kind one too. He gets to work, and he feels the tension unwind from his shoulders, his battery core soaking up the charge as the lights bear down on him. It’s not quite stasis, not quite reprieve from the onslaught of duties, but it’s close.
**
“Simon?” Dr Anthea looks up from her tablet, blinking in surprise as the Jericho leader stands in the doorway of her office. “What can I do for you?”
“Ronan is still at Detroit Metro.” The PL600 chews his bottom lip, wringing his hands together anxiously. “It’s been six whole days straight and he stopped answering my messages on the fourth day.”
“Yes he’s temporarily removed himself from our roster to manage Detroit Metro ED while the human staff recover from the flu.” She sighs, shaking her head. “He’s very much like you, you know: he’ll work himself ragged for the sake of others.” Not quite the answer Simon hopes to hear, she’s sure, but it’s the one she’s giving because she’s right. She’s heard the tales from Professor Joshua. She knows during Jericho’s early stage, Simon nearly died keeping everyone safe and functioning. 
“I just- I’ve left so many messages at reception and though the receptionist assures me she’s passed them on, I can’t help but feel like he literally won’t stop unless he’s physically unable to keep working.” Simon gives her a pained look to which she can only reply with a cocked brow.
“Like you, Simon?”
“Well- alright, yes, like me!” Simon huffs, and it coaxes a laugh from her as the PL600 looks torn between embarrassment and determination. “You are the only android surgeon still qualified to work at human hospitals. To work at that human hospital.” He says it quietly, with caution, because they both know that was a different part of her life. Not an unpleasant one, definitely not, given she deviated out of empathy, out of kindness, but still a different chapter now put behind her. She has the qualifications because she never bothered to give them up like the other medroids. Sentimentality, perhaps, because Detroit Metro had been her home for so very long and to still see a valid ID badge gives her a little spark of joy whenever she opens her drawer. 
“Please?” Simon of the Jericho Four is pleading with her and she knows she cannot deny him a single thing, lovely and courageous and prone to martyrdom as he is.
*
It’s been eight days, twice the number of days she thought she’d need, but she’s feeling strong and healthy and definitely not weighed down by any symptoms anymore. Damn that android and his perceptive, persuasive ways. She both hates and loves how he’d been right, and yes he’s been running an incredibly tight ship here in her absence, though she wonders which other staff he’s rostered on to replace him because obviously he hasn’t been working the entire eight days straight. Right? Surely not. Obviously not. She warned him she’d be Very Cross if he worked more than four days. 
“Nicola?” She turns at the voice and there, right there is Medroid Anthea. The surgeon she shoved into an ambulance with as many android nurses as she could find when racing through the unit after that horrible announcement androids had to be surrendered to the police. Not on her watch, no damn way. 
“Anthea.” She smiles, though a little puzzled. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, you’ve worn my best surgeon down to his bones here so I’m coming back as a favour, just so he gets rest.” There’s a pause as she lets that sink in.
“Are you telling me Ronan’s been here the entire time?! All eight days?!” She nearly explodes with anger and Anthea cocks a perfectly arched brow in that gesture she hasn’t realised she’s missed seeing so much. They made such a great team.
“Why do you sound like you didn’t know this?”
“Because I didn’t! I’ve been on sick leave, recovering from the flu! Oh that boy, honestly!”
“Simon’s here to drag him home, and I’m here for his shift.” Anthea smiles as she clips her ID onto her scrubs. “Just like old times?”
She’s smiling so hard her cheeks ache. “Yeah. Just like old times.”
Simon can’t even stay angry with him. The anger just seeps out of him the moment he sees how exhausted Ronan looks, his hair stark white meaning his stress levels are at their peak given the weather isn’t cold enough to activate his tundra camouflage. He’d demanded his stats and the RK900 had given them with great embarrassment and Simon realised he’d been so very close to just shutting down to conserve what pitiful charge he had left. Honestly.
“You’re mad at me.” Ronan says quietly as Simon ushers him inside the apartment.
“I was.” Simon hangs up their coats before wrapping his arms around his waist and pressing his cheek to his chest. “Couldn’t stay mad, though. I know why you did it.”
“I had to help.”
“I know, love. I know.” Simon sighs, looking up at him fondly. “Because you’re a good, kind person and a wonderful colleague.”
Ronan says nothing, only offers a small smile before leaning down to bump his nose against his fondly.
“Right.” Simon declares with a nod, stepping back, grabbing his wrist and tugging him to their bedroom. “I’m putting you under the lights for a six hour charge and you are not leaving the bed a second earlier.”
“Yes, doctor.” Ronan smiles tiredly, pausing only to press their lips together in quiet gratitude before he lays down and closes his eyes. 
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brainsdivided · 4 years
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Uncommon Questions for OC’s and Their Creators (1/2)
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(Art by Yesjejunus!)
I saw @bloody-fists-beating-hearts and @socksual-innuendos​ doing it so I’m answering all of them cause I can and I love my boys. Original by @cassandrapentayaaaaas​
So I don’t take up someone’s entire dash, peep under cut for it :) 
ps. some warning: read tags for any mentions of triggers or things you find uncomfortable, Isaac and Ezekiel have had tough lives and since a lot of that occurs during childhood it may cause some distress for readers.
QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs:
What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?
Ezekiel? Never. If it looks like he’s doing nothing, he’s actually daydreaming or bouncing his leg or fiddling with pieces of his clothes. Isaac also cannot sit still. This starts to change as he gets older, but when he moves to Zion he needs to be keeping his mind active on a physical thing, like studying.How easy is it for your character to laugh?
Ezekiel will laugh at just about anything. He’s a child at heart and will crack a giggle and the smallest of things. Even when he’s in combat, you might hear a devilish chuckle. Isaac is different, because of his teenage years, he doesn’t feel as much happiness as he once did. Genuine laughs are rare and at most, he’ll give a weak light-hearted laugh, especially when recalling a good story. For kids, he’ll feign a belly laugh.
How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)
Ezekiel never puts himself to bed. It will always be Joshua or Isaac that reads or talks him to sleep just as Courier Six once did. If Ezekiel is alone, he will think himself to sleep. If Joshua is available and not willing to put Ezekiel to bed and depriving him of comfort items, he will scream and cry himself to exhaustion.  Isaac has cried and screamed himself to exhaustion on more than one occasion but will never admit it. he does his best to fall asleep to music on the radio or on a holotape.
How easy is it to earn their trust?
It’s not very easy to gain either brothers’ trust. Ezekiel follows the ‘If you’re a friend of theirs, you’re a friend of mine’ phrase. Isaac doesn’t trust anyone completely until he spends enough time around them. He believes everyone has good in them and will give them the benefit of the doubt, BUT he won’t be caught off guard if someone happens to turn on him. 
How easy is it to earn their mistrust?
For either brother, the second you turn on one of them or their family and friends, it’s game over. Ezekiel won’t take verbal or physical acts lightly, but if it’s verbal, Isaac will offer a second chance. He won’t give out a third.
Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?
Ezekiel will follow laws that he feels he doesn’t need to break at the time. If he can justify it, including ‘Cause I can, there’s no one to stop me’ he will break it. Isaac follows all laws, even the ones he doesn’t want to. For the ones he doesn’t want to, he’ll find ways to bend them, especially if they’re immoral/unreasonable in his eyes. Best example I can give is in the Legion, not sure if it’s actually a law, but, women are treated as breeding stock and that’s it. Isaac had slaves but would only treat them as such around the other legionaries. Behind closed doors, he cooks for them and looks after them personally. Never once did he use them as breeding stock.  
What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?
Ezekiel is in almost a complete state of nostalgia constantly as he unconsciously tries to live his old life in Goodsprings in Zion. Good food, sleeping in a quiet camp, hunting, learning from Joshua/father-figure, etc. helps keep him grounded in his world. Isaac often receives nostalgia from intrusive memories, but as a physical thing, probably his appearance. In a fit of fear and rage, he destroyed his mirror and where the river runs next to his home he added extra rocks to help disfigure his reflection when he’s near the water. It brings him great pain to see his own face and body due to the scars he received from the Legion. 
What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child?
Pre-story... Ezekiel was probably told to stop beating up kids for minor offenses and Isaac was probably told to not worry so much about Ezekiel doing dangerous things.
Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?
Both swear and neither remember when they first did.
What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?
Isaac’s most common lie is the typical “I’m fine.” a lie that isn’t spoken about except when before the story takes place, is that the Courier was very sick, but Isaac, Courier, and Cass made Ezekiel believe otherwise so that Ezekiel could continue to dream of the amazing man his dad once was. Which that in itself would be haunting, because he’s holding up a dam of terrible things. While Ezekiel would constantly say “No.” to the question, “Did you eat anything you weren’t supposed to?” 9/10, he ate something he wasn’t supposed to. That doesn’t haunt him, but he’ll regret lying when he ends up with intestinal obstruction or food poisoning. 
How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?
As soon as the confusion hits, depending on the scenario and how he’s feeling he might interrupt the conversation to ask for clarification or he’ll tune out what’s being said so that he can think on his thoughts. Isaac will pretend he understands if the conversation isn’t relating to something dire. 
How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?
Isaac will ask his brother or a friend for help but if he’s alone, he’ll use a stick or his wall. Ezekiel will go up to anyone and ask, but if not, he’ll turn into a yao gui and rub his back on anything. GOTTA GET THAT ITCH.
What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?
Ezekiel likes orange and Isaac likes white. I think they could both pull off black. Anyone can, black is a flattering color but who would want to wear that in the desert sun?
What animal do they fear most?
Ezekiel doesn’t have a lot of fear towards any creature, but I’d say feral ghouls or Deathclaws and Isaac fears spore carriers.
How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?
Ezekiel will always say what comes to mind. Isaac will think before he speaks.
What makes their stomach turn?
I’ve got nothing for Ezekiel, but Isaac would barf if he smelled or saw a rotting corpse. 
Are they easily embarrassed?
Ezekiel is fine being quirky but there are some situations that makes him a radstag in flashlight. Isaac feels more shame than embarrassment. 
What embarrasses them?
Ezekiel has been known to wet the bed even into early adulthood. Also, while he is fine playing with kid-oriented items, depending on his current emotion and he’s made fun of, he’ll either respond with embarrassment or anger. Isaac gets second-hand embarrassment from Ezekiel’s behaviors sometimes. He once wet the bed and was caught by Daniel when doing laundry but it was agreed to never be brought up or mentioned again. He mostly feels embarrassment/shame when doing or caught using chems.
What is their favorite number?
Ezekiel’s is the number 6 because Courier Six was his dad. Isaac does not have a favorite number.
If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?
Oh boy. Ezekiel might not be able to tell the difference. He might just say that romantic love makes ‘funny things happen’ so to speak even as an adult. All three might overlap for him. Though I guess it would depend on the person reading since my RP partner did not like when I had Ezekiel be affectionate towards Joshua (Hugging and asking to share a bed) as ‘boys don’t always ask their dads for hugs or to sleep with them, it’s inappropriate’ but if daughters can do that with their mothers, who cares? 
Isaac would go on a long shpeel about the psychology of romantic, platonic, and familial love, I’m too tired to write how he’d explain it.
Why do they get up in the morning?
Ezekiel gets up because it’s a new day and the second he opens his eyes, he’s a ball of energy! Breakfast. Also breakfast. Isaac gets up for the people he loves and for the people who need him.
How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?
Ezekiel gets vocal. He’ll make sure you know that you’re spending too much of his time around his brother or Joshua. Isaac will get quiet. 
How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?
Ezekiel will take what he wants/intervene. Isaac might get bitter about it, but he’ll remind himself that there are others that are more important or who need it more.
Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?
Their thoughts on this is pretty similar regardless of age, but speaking from age ranges 18-23, Ezekiel doesn’t really understand it, so he’ll talk to anyone about it. When he does, he’s blunt about it, too which makes for some comedic relief when Joshua is involved in the conversation. Isaac won’t really talk about it if he’s involved. If he does, it’s with Daniel or with whoever he ends up sleeping with. If it’s in a medical context, it doesn’t matter the person. 
What are their thoughts on marriage?
Ezekiel doesn’t have an opinion on marriage, but his brother and godfather would feel as though he isn’t ready for a relationship, yet. Isaac likes when others get married, but he himself does not feel worthy of a steady relationship.
What is their preferred mode of transportation?
Walking.
What causes them to feel dread?
When Ezekiel gets caught doing something he shouldn’t by Joshua. Isaac - when it’s night, his generator dies, and when his radio stops working simultaneously or when Daniel forbade him that one time from studying and working because he nearly worked himself to death.
Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?
Both would want the truth, but Ezekiel believes in a lie that his brother and mother once told.
Do they usually live up to their own ideals?
Ezekiel believes he’s the best at almost everything and Isaac knows he could do better, but it’s too late.
Who do they most regret meeting?
N/A
Who are they the most glad to have met?
locating Joshua was Ezekiel’s primary goal when running from Goodsprings so I’d imagine that he’d be glad to have found him. Isaac’s could be either Daniel or an unnamed Legion girl.
Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?
Ezekiel would try to talk casually about his parents’ death and of the crimes he’s committed. Isaac doesn’t have a go-to.
Could they be considered lazy?
Yes and no. To others, they’d be lazy, but Isaac has depression and insomnia, and Ezekiel’s behavior is similar to a child so he may just be stubborn.
How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?
If the guilt was brought on by Joshua, Ezekiel would need some reassurance directly from him to fix it. Isaac is constantly ridden with guilt.
How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?
Both are supportive!
Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap?
Neither seeks romance. Isaac might look for partners for one night stands, but that’s it.
Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)?
Both are very good at matching names to faces, but Ezekiel uses his fingers to count and sometimes uses melodies. Isaac likes to file things.
What memory do they revisit the most often?
So far that’s been thought of, Ezekiel revisits the death of his parents most often and Isaac revisits the possible events that led up to him becoming a decanus. 
How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people?
Ezekiel is willing to forget them if they didn’t directly wrong him. Isaac never forgets, he just chooses to overlook them but still keeping them in mind.
How sensitive are they to their own flaws?
Ezekiel never really recognizes his flaws until they’re pointed out. As he gets older though he does start to acknowledge them more. A scene I’ve thought of is when he’s 22 and still playing with children’s toy soldiers. He plays with them with little enthusiasm, abandoning his amusements not by choice. Isaac is aware of his flaws but doesn’t try to better them, but instead tries to better others. 
How do they feel about children?
Ezekiel at times believes he is a child, and will try to engage with other children. Some find it creepy but those that know him are fine with it because they know he has good intentions. Isaac is passionate about children and will protect them with his life. While escaping the legion, he had recruits younger than him that he helped escape, some ending up being adopted out to Dead Horse, Sorrows, and New Canaanite families. Even in the Legion, Isaac showed all children he came across respect and kindness.
How badly do they want to reach their end goal?
Neither truly has an end goal. Isaac wants to see the Legion end in a way where it’s people can recover as quickly as possible, so by working with the Followers of the Apocalypse, he can help out stragglers. Ezekiel just wants to become someone Joshua can be proud of. Be the son he never had and never expected to have.
If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?
Isaac would say that he used to be attracted to women, but because he spent so much time around women who loved and cherished him for his kindness, he’d find it wrong to date someone who only loved that he was kind to them. He still finds women attractive, just not enough to act on it. As for men, he could tell you who is handsome, but in a platonic way. 
Ezekiel couldn’t tell for the longest time what he was attracted to, but in an alternative story line, when he thought it was women, he ended up finding himself feeling more for a man.
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eirenical · 3 years
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Because @kingesstropolis was kind enough to ask me several questions from the character solidifying meme, and I decided to answer all of them for all four of my central characters, I thought I’d break them up.  Otherwise, these would be very VERY long posts.  XD
If anyone else would like to ask me questions, I welcome them!  Adesina, Braden, and Declan are a poly trio (FxMxM), and Lehana is a younger woman who comes to them for help.
And… here’s the second question!
23. What do they want from a partner? What do they think and feel of sex?
OHOHOHOHO.  This is a fun one.  ;D
So… a bit of a preemptive explanation.  Because of certain aspects of this world (some of which I've figured out, some of which I'm still working on), if a person doesn't marry by the time they're 25 years old, they become kind of a ward of their family or their town or the state.  Same deal if they lose their spouse and are unable to remarry.  These laws originally came about for somewhat nefarious purposes and essentially remained in place because they were advantageous to this world's 1%/nobility and no one with power wanted to change it.
Adesina: So, we come to Adesina.  She is a bit of an unusual character for this world.  When Braden and Declan first meet her, she is older than 25 and still unwed. (They're in their very early 20s at the time.)  Her family is well aware of this and supports it.  She wants to see the world and doesn't want to settle on someone just because her age has forced the situation.  She wants to marry for love.  She wants to marry the right person, not just the nearest available one. She's looking for someone who will support her the way her family has, who will let her be herself and who will take on their share of the work.  She wants someone kind, someone gentle, and who appreciates a good story and even an intellectual pursuit here and there.  Between Braden and Declan, she finds everything she wants.  
As for sex, she's definitely a sex-positive character.  She's into it and she experienced enough to know what she likes, but she's also a little adventurous and willing to try new things. As long as everyone is happy and feeling good, she's down for it.  If I were trying to pin down her sexuality, I'd say she's bisexual but with a bit of a preference for men.  (…probably a good thing, since she ends up with two of them.  ;D)
Lehana: Lehana is aromantic and asexual.  She does not want a partner.  She does not need a partner.  She is just not at all interested in romance or sex or ANY of that.  She's never understood it and she doesn't want to. She doesn't understand how it seems to turn even the most sensible people around her into hormonal idiots.  And she resents like WHOA the fact that she'll have to marry by the time she's 25 (probably earlier, because alliance marriage) or risk losing her position, especially as she has designs on her mother's throne.  (Don't worry, her elder brother ALSO has designs to put Lehana on their mother's throne.  He has no desire to be heir, but he has even less desire to see Lehana put in the position of having to have a child when he knows she doesn't ever want to have sex.  It's… complicated.  But they're working on it.  :P)
Braden: Braden is… complicated.  And a bit spoilery.  So, I think I'll put his and Declan’s answers behind a cut, because they’re both related…
So, Braden is… ironically generally… pretty much straight?  Or at the very least, he's bisexual but with a strong preference for women.  Then thing is, though, that that hardly matters.  Because Braden has had a firm, solid crush on his best friend (Declan) since he was old enough to know what a crush WAS… and probably before then, too. So, his 'type' is pretty much soft and intellectual with a dry, occasionally biting wit, willing to let themself be taken care of (by Braden, of course), willing to let themselves be pampered (again, by Braden)… you get the idea.  ;D So, when he meets Adesina and starts to fall for her a little, too (and Declan, lord help all of us, does HIS level best to push them together when he figures out it's mutual OTZ), he kind of panics.  Because he loves Declan and he's only EVER loved Declan and now he thinks he might love Adesina and what is he supposed to DO.  Fortunately, Adesina has the brain cell that day and knows that there are loopholes in the marriage laws that allow three people to marry and once she gets Declan on board, everything works out to everyone's advantage.  ^_^
As for sex… gender kind of complicates things, so let’s talk about that, shall we?
Braden was born Kiera and AFAB.  Braden had known he was a man since he was pretty young.  And it didn't help that he never really fit into the gender role he was expected to fit, either, nor did he fit into the familial role as heir to a wealthy merchant family.  He was always more interested in physical pursuits than mental ones, and if he weren't his family's heir, he'd have taken himself off to sign up for the Guard the second he was legally allowed to do so.  The Captain of the Guard and her wife were always more mothers to him than his biological mother was, and they encouraged him where they could, but there was only so much they could do.  And he probably would have found a way to live and be true to himself as best he could, but Declan had a better idea.  The long and the short of it is that Declan found a way to use his magic to turn Braden into the man Braden always knew he was.  Before that transition sex was… not something that really appealed to Braden. There were a few experiments pre-transition that involved Declan and strap-ons, but there was so much concern about getting caught that neither was ever able to fully enjoy it as much as they could have.  Post transition, OTOH?  Oh.  Oh, Braden is INTO IT.  No more rushed adrenaline-laced couplings, no more dysphoria, and he is ready to make up for lost time.  ^_~
Declan: Declan… isn't looking for a partner.  It's the last thing on earth he wants, actually. Because of the way magic works on this world, he knows he's going to die young, younger than most, if he keeps pushing himself the way he's been doing.  He'll be lucky to see 35, much less 40.  So, because of the way the marriage laws are set up, the absolute LAST thing he wants is to put someone he loves in a position to become a ward of whatever government rules the place they end up settling in.  He's more willing to put himself in that position than anyone else.  To him, it's just not worth the risk.  BUT, if he had to pick someone… it would be Braden.  Hands down. Because…
Declan is demiromantic and asexual as FUCK.  Part of it is that he just honestly never really has the energy or opportunity to be attracted to anyone.  Part of it is natural inclination.  He just… doesn't really feel sexual attraction.  Towards the end of Braden's time as Kiera, he's willing to experiment with him a little, but that's really more because he knows Braden wants it and can't really go to (…nor does he WANT to go to) anyone else.  Which isn't to say that he doesn't enjoy the sex; he does! But left to his own devices, he would never have sought out that kind of relationship, nor does he ever really initiate sex on his own.  He ends up in a similar kind of arrangement with Adesina once they become a triad, but they're both careful not to overwhelm him with attention that he may not have the energy or desire for.
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starchildsteven · 4 years
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This was originally a response to someone saying they viewed Rose’s death as let’s say suicide adjacent (which is a totally valid take btw, it just made me think) but it got so long I decided to just make my own post.
Suicide doesn't feel like the right word for what happened with Rose. Rose is so accepting of not existing. Not saying that never happens with suicidal people just she so completely at peace with it. Usually when suicidal people come to accept their death as inevitable it isn't with the degree of happiness Rose seems to feel. Yes, she is creating Steven but that doesn't change anything in my mind because lots of people who kill themselves think they are doing a good thing, that they’re ridding the world of a burden, they’re giving something to someone. Even then they don’t feel good about it just content with their choice.
I tend to see it as Rose considering the only thing she could do was create Steven rather than there is nothing she could do to fix what she had done. It isn't about self-loathing (though I'm sure she felt that too). We've come to see the act through Steven's perspective which also has us paint it as selfish when I think Rose's intentions were actually selfless in nature. Rose's motivation to me always felt like her thinking removing herself from the situation would be best for everyone involved but she took pride in that. She did it because she loved the Earth, humans and the Crystal Gems and like she said in "A Single Pale Rose" she wants to give it too them. I think Rose was aware that the Diamonds never really took their eyes off the Earth. Pink's "shattering" was not the end of the war so she was wrong about how much Yellow and Blue cared the first time. I don’t think she was foolish enough to believe corruption ended their interest either.
It’s baffling to me how ready fans are to chalk Rose becoming Steven up as some type of cowardice or running away from her problems. Fans are so ready to believe her choice was made for her with no regard to others. They are so willing to believe she just gave up. Which is a little ridiculous considering everything we knew about her character. She pleaded with Blue and Yellow for the freedom of Earth, she started a rebellion to save innocents and help other gems like her who felt trapped, she became Rose Quartz not to hide but to make the other Diamonds see her. She always faced her problems head on. Why then are fans so ready to ascribe this one actions to selfishness and fear. Maybe that is how the Diamond who abandon Spinel would have seen it but Rose Quartz is a very different gem by the time Steven is born. She has learned a lot and grown a lot. Sure she was still dismissive and manipulative. She still lied and thought she knew what was best for everyone whether it was true or not. She never really lost her sense of superiority over others. As their leader she still expected blind obedience from the Crystal Gems. She was not perfect.
But she cared about others too. She loved the Crystal Gems in a way she didn’t love Spinel. She also knew that she was what the Diamonds really cared about. Or she believed that to be the case. I think as far as she believed if she were not in the equation then the Earth would be safe. Pink Diamond was gone already but all that did was make her as the shatterer their new point of interest. I think Rose knew that there was only one way to truly give the Earth to the humans and the Crystal Gems and it was to make sure there was to no longer anything the Diamonds cared about on the planet.
"Jungle Moon" really does show us an interesting parallel between Rose/Pink and Steven. Pink believed herself to important  because she was a Diamond and clearly asserted such "I'm just as important as you!" Steven likewise asserts his value often. Many episodes have moments where Steven insists that he is a Crystal Gem. I could name three now. “Laser Light Canon,” “Bubble Buddies” and “The Test.” That isn’t nearly a complete list either.
The key difference here in my opinion is that Steven's insistence is fueled by a feeling of inadequacy. Rose's is fueled by a feeling of superiority. However with that said Steven is not immune to this holier than thou mentality. Honestly I hate the way he talks to Connie in “Dewey Wins.” He sounds so self-important when he says, "It had to be done." From this we can infer at least that Pink probably had her moments of feeling like a failure. Especially considering she was most likely a defective gem given her size. (I actually always loved the theory she was meant to be red and was over-cooked.) Feeling both more important than others and like you can never atone for your sins isn’t a great combination.
I also think something the fandom overlooks a lot when considering the creation of Steven and by extension Rose's non-existence is Greg. In "Three Gems and a Baby" Garnet is wrong but also not wrong. Steven is in essence a fusion of Rose and Greg. That's basically what a baby is biologically speaking. Though even if it isn't, that is most definitely the way a gem would see it. The way Rose probably saw it.
Whether you trust the timeline I made or not. One thing in it is definitely canon. Greg was 22 when he met Rose and Sour Cream was born 9 months later when he was either still 22 or 23. Sour Cream is about 5 to 6 years older than his son so Greg was around 30 when Steven was born. That’s at most 8 years.
That is nothing to a Gem! That's maybe a few weeks in human terms or if we’re generous a few months. Yet Rose only knew Greg for 8 years and decided to have a baby with him! That has to be clear here. Rose wanted to have a baby with Greg. Not a human. Greg!
That is so often overlooked! Rose was not looking to have a human baby when she met Greg. She wasn't actively trying to find a perfect guy for her experiment. In fact the Gems were intentionally cut off from humans at that point. Rose even tells him to leave, even though she liked him and barely considered him more than a plaything until he forced her to. Rose was not considering giving up her form to make a human baby before meeting Greg! At least not seriously. Maybe it had crossed her mind but she wasn’t seeking it out. He was a factor in her choice. 
My guess? Fusion is the best and worst parts of both gems (which is again the way Rose would see having a baby) and Rose wanted to be like Greg! Not just wanted to be like a human but specifically like THIS human. And Steven would be both of them and since she would be Steven so in a way she would like him.
Greg is a good person. Do you know how many times I have heard a fan say that they hate Greg? Never! I'm sure some fans do but it's not a popular opinion by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, most PearlRose shippers still like Greg. It's hard to not like Greg. Because Greg is authentically a good person. Greg is kind and giving and empathetic. Greg has a lot of happiness and love to spread.  Rose/Pink was adored in a very superficial way that she didn't feel she earned. Obviously in reality Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl loved her but it was never going to feel deserved. She would always be their leader before their friend or at least in her mind she would. In contrast to that people like Greg for who he is as a unique individual. Something I'm sure Rose admired.
My point is Rose believed Greg’s good would outweigh her bad. That’s actually really sad. Rose knew that she was bringing more of Greg into the world and less of her and saw that as a good thing. I'm sure she had many motivations but I think we should see her death as her sacrificing herself for what she ultimately knew was right and being at peace with that.
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deadcactuswalking · 3 years
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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 13/02/2021 (Digga D, AJ Tracey, Cardi B)
It’s not as big of a week as it is just a confusing one, so there’s no pre-amble. Olivia Rodrigo spends a fifth week at #1 with “drivers license” and let’s start REVIEWING THE CHARTS.
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Rundown
I started writing this a bit later than usual so I just want to rush through most of what’s here. The songs dropping out of the UK Top 75 are either debuts from not long ago like “Notorious” by Bugzy Malone featuring Chip and “Lo Vas A Olvidar” by Billie Eilish and ROSALÍA, or songs that have been here for a while, like “Monster”  by Shawn Mendes and Justin Bieber, “Holy” by Justin Bieber featuring Chance the Rapper and “Dynamite” by BTS. We even have some #1 hits dropping out of the Top 75 this week, like “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, “WAP” by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion and “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. In terms of fallers, we have, seemingly, some of the older Winter cuts being replaced, as we see “Sweet Melody” by Little Mix getting a harsh streaming cut down to #30,  “Whoopty” by CJ down to #33, “Levitating” by Dua Lipa and remixed by DaBaby down to #34 (although this could rebound given the album release), “you broke me first” by Tate McRae at #37, “SO DONE” by The Kid YAOI at #57, “All I Want” by Olivia Rodrigo at #61, “Looking for Me” by Diplo, Paul Woodford and Kareen Lomax at #62, “Train Wreck” by James Arthur at #63, “See Nobody” by Wes Nelson and Hardy Caprio at #64, “Take You Dancing” by Jason Derulo at #65, “Therefore I Am” by Billie Eilish at #68, “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi at #72 and “Golden” by Harry Styles at #73, as well as some more recent debuts, including the entirety of Fredo’s album impact from last week, as “Money Talks” with Dave is at #11, “Ready” with Summer Walker at #31 and “Burner on Deck” with Young Adz and the late Pop Smoke at #32. “Skin” by Sabrina Carpenter and “Apricots”  by Bicep aren’t faring that well either, at #51 and #56 respectively. When I said these songs are being replaced, I wasn’t overestimating anything as we have our new crop of hits seemingly all surging, as “Martin & Gina” by Polo G is at #54, “Be the One” by Rudimental, MORGAN, TIKE and Digga D is at #49, “Best Friend” by Saweetie featuring Doja Cat is at #42, “My Head & My Heart” by Ava Max is at #35, “Love Not War (The Tampa Beat)” by Jason Derulo and Nuka is at #27, “Heat Waves” by Glass Animals is at #24, “Your Love (9PM)” by ATB, Topic and A7S is at #23 (it’s honestly starting to grow on me), and “Blinding Lights” by the Weeknd is somehow back up to #20. Speaking of the top 20, we also have “Friday” by Riton, Nightcrawlers and Musafa & Hypeman dopamine re-editing itself up to #16, “Save Your Tears” also by the Weeknd at #15, and two new top 10 hits, both songs with basically the same chart run and genre. “Goosebumps” by Travis Scott, remixed by HVME, remixed by Travis Scott is at #10, becoming HVME’s first and Travis’ fourth top 10 hit here in Britain. We also have “The Business” by Tiesto grooving up to #7, becoming Tiesto’s fourth top 10 hit. I honestly feel bad for the still completely uncredited vocalist. We also have a third new top 10 entry but that’s a debut that we can discuss later. I should also note that “Roses” by SAINt JHN and remixed by Imanbek is back at #74, and a winning Eurovision song, “Arcade”, by Dutch singer Duncan Lawrence is also back at #39 off of the back of some TikTok traction. I think this is the most streamed Eurovision now – I’d watch out for this being a big hit. Welp, time to get into our really, and I mean REALLY, varied and weird crop of new arrivals, starting with...
NEW ARRIVALS
#75 – “Roadtrip” – Dream and PmBata
Produced by Banrisk and Perish Beats
Okay, so this is a song by Minecraft YouTuber Dream, or at least that’s who I think he is. I think there was some kind of scandal related to him, and a couple people got involved and someone got doxed... listen, I don’t care. Not only is this song really not worthy of reviewing on the principle that unlike Wilbur Soot a couple weeks ago, Dream has never been a musician, which is clear from how involved no-name singer PmBata was in this, but I care for my private information not being made public so... What ridiculous excuse do I have to not review this? Okay, 1997 reggae-rock classic “Doin’ Time” by Sublime returns to #75 after Boris Johnson made a TikTok in the Houses of Parliament where he says “Pogchamp, Brexiteers, I just got tested for COVID-19” with the song in the background, and Joe Biden is on a Zoom call with him a few seconds later visibly annoyed because he prefers the New Radicals. Sure, let’s go with that. What was this entry about again?
#71 – “Goodbye” – Imanbek and Goodboys
Produced by Joris Mur, Imanbek and Goodboys
Everyone’s favourite Kazakh house producer Imanbek is finally back on the charts with his collaboration with British pop trio Goodboys, who you may know from their carbon-copy hits made with MEDUZA. After listening to that EP he made with Rita Ora, I’m slightly less impressed with Imanbek’s production, but that EP’s impact, if any, will be seen when the lead single featuring David Guetta and Gunna debuts low next week. Yes, seriously, all four on the same track. Anyway, this song, “Goodbye”, is actually pretty okay, with a generic deep house groove and fake hand-clap effectively saved by the Goodboys’ really intriguing vocal delivery and processing, which ends up in a Travis Scott-like Auto-Tune harmony that’s honestly pretty endearing right before the anti-climactic slap-house drop. The song’s lyrical content probably isn’t worth talking about, but it’s about a generic struggle with a break-up, and how hard it is for one of these good boys to say good bye. The build-up with the pre-chorus before the blue-balls second drop is kind of genius, and that’s probably my favourite part of the song outside of the abrupt vocaloid drop at the end. For what it’s worth, it takes more risks than most of these house-pop songs, most notably by having only a single verse in the middle of the song, and being really short, clocking in at less than two and a half minutes. It’s not as infectious as “Piece of Your Heart”, but this is fine. I’m glad it’s here if it’s going to give Imanbek another non-Rita Ora-assisted hit.
#60 – “Little Bit of Love” – Tom Grennan
Produced by Jamie Scott, LOSTBOY and Daniel Bryer
Tom Grennan is an English singer-songwriter who released their debut record in 2016 and was crowned by the BBC as the “Sound of 2017”, before dropping off the face of the Earth. He was brought to fame by a guest feature on a Chase & Status song that didn’t even do that well and now he’s back with the lead single from his upcoming sophomore effort, and his highest ever charting song. Well, is it any good? I mean, I like OneRepublic too. The rising strings here in the intro and chorus are pretty cool, and I’ll give it to Grennan for having an interesting voice but the odd level of grit in it does not fit well for this plastic production, which quickly devolves into vaguely danceable synth-mess that’s just not interesting. The content is mostly about unconditional love, particularly one that feels not particularly reciprocated, although some of the detail in the second verse feels like it’s going somewhere. I’ll admit, the chorus is catchy, but this mix puts way too much emphasis on a flawed vocal take from Grennan, which really detracts from the pathetic excuse for a bridge. I do enjoy how this feels like a flash-back to the mid-2010s, where happier, synth-based pop was this prominent, and I do love how the strings come back in the outro, but good production can’t do much to save a song that just feels under-cooked and definitely under-written. The OneRepublic comparison feels particularly fitting here too because their stuff tends to be just as stagnant, not to mention the lyrical riffs off of “Counting Stars”. I mean, when you start your first verse – in the first 10 or so seconds of the track – with the most recognisable part of a very recognisable song, I think Ryan Tedder deserves at least some royalties.
#58 – “Astronaut in the Ocean” – Masked Wolf
Produced by Tyron Hapi
Masked Wolf is an Australian singer and this song is actually from June 2019, just gaining enough traction, presumably off of TikTok, to debut on the charts this week. The song got a 2021 reissue and I assume a remix and, well... for God’s sake. The Kid LAROI should not have been an entry point for Australian trap, because outside of a second or two of distortion in the intro, this is far from unique. It has a guitar-based trap instrumental with dark 808s that even Gunna would pass up on, and an Auto-Tuned delivery from Masked Wolf, clearly trying too hard to replicate Drake in the intro and bridge, Kid Cudi in the chorus, G-Eazy in the first verse, Eminem AND Kendrick on the second verse, to the point where he even directly references Kendrick Lamar’s much better music. He suffers from the same problems as all of these artists combined, with lyrics that seem like they’re building up off of something interesting about depression before going into aimless flexing like a mid-tier Kid Cudi track, flows that sound as meandering and checked-out as Drake’s, the failed attempt at some kind of white-boy swagger that G-Eazy hasn’t pulled off successfully since 2016, the substance-less content hidden behind fast flows from Eminem and... oh, my God, this guy’s just like Australian Logic. I don’t like American Logic, why do we need this guy too? Yeah, this is bad, and there’s not much worth nitpicking in this mix or even the lyrics to even point out. I guess the worst bar is when he says he believes in G-O-D but not a T-H-O-T. So he’s a slut-shaming NF now? Jesus Christ, I’d take a full album from The Kid LAROI over this.
So the next two songs are ones I’ll actually need to somewhat lump together, as they are consecutive on the chart and both from the same album, and the same washed-up band.
#53 – “Waiting on a War” – Foo Fighters
Produced by Greg Kurstin
We have two songs from Dave Grohl and friends here from their latest album, Medicine at Midnight, technically three if we count the entire top 100, which means, yes, the UK just had a Foo Fighters album bomb. I’ll focus on the album as a whole with the next song because this is easily the worse track here and the worst track on the album purely out of how misguided it is. Dave Grohl wrote this song because he felt inspired by the current hell-scape of the political climate, reminding him of his own youth when he was surrounded by rising Cold War tensions. His young daughter asked him if there was going to be a war and naturally this song came out of it, reflecting on the fears he and his daughter have and that everyone deserves a future and a lifetime not taken away from them by conflict and fear. This is a good song idea but it absolutely does not work, and that’s partially down to the production. When I first heard this track on the album, I genuinely grimaced at the vocoder-mumble that Grohl takes on against the scratchy acoustic guitars. The whole point of the instrumentation is that it builds tension with rising strings, multi-tracked acoustics and eventually some electric guitars and powerful drums, yet because of how slow-paced the song is, it fails to mirror the rising tension of the prospect of there being a war. Instead, it’s a slog and its pay-off by the end feels unwarranted in the most boring way. Sure, the squeals of the guitars in the back of the mix sound good, but surely a song like this should not end like any of the Foo Fighters’ other pop-rock anthems, especially not as abruptly as it does. Wouldn’t you want a more subdued outro to comfort your daughter’s fears that at least right now, everything’s okay? That would make the most sense to me, but that’s thrown out of the window, with pathetic songwriting, with verses that play word association with the blandest of rhymes, seemingly irrelevant pop-song-generator filer and a chorus that is mind-numbingly repetitive but ultimately fails to build tension because of the content asking us to wait, constantly, even when it gets into its heavier rock tone. We’re supposed to wait for something that is only implied to never come, because there isn’t finality. Sure, that could work as a way of saying that Grohl is just as uncertain and scared as his daughter is about political conflict, but that would imply this song gives off any further emotion than the fact the Foo Fighters felt the need to cut a vaguely political track out of necessity. As a song, and as an album, Dave Grohl is utterly confused, and “Waiting on a War” is way too slow and non-specific to act as a protest song, as well as being way too on-the-nose for it to work as a ballad. Let’s talk about this next single.
#52 – “Making a Fire” – Foo Fighters
Produced by Greg Kurstin
What the hell is Greg Kurstin doing here? This is the first track on the album and is supposed to make some kind of gripping impact but is instead just a snoozefest. The choral female vocals sound bored, but at least it’s not as strained as the struggling Dave Grohl trying and failing to yelp over a stiff groove which has its momentum killed by drumming too slow and mixed too oddly to make this pre-chorus even coherent, not helped by Grohl’s butt-rock delivery and non-descript lyrics. There could be a guitar solo here, to make this track feel memorable, but no, it’s hidden under a pre-chorus with an extended gospel bridge that doesn’t build up effectively to a chorus that just comes crashing in and hence has no effect. Maybe I just can’t listen to arena  rock in a quarantine context, but I can’t even imagine this making much of a fuss in a packed stadium without desperately needing tweaks in the songwriting and especially the production, because this just sounds stunted. It’s telling that Grohl made his best tracks as the Foo Fighters on his own and those first two records, alongside a pretty decent 2014 comeback in the form of Sonic Highways, are still great. I’m not denying that Grohl can write a good song, or that the Food Figures can’t play, because they’re all talented guys. This is just one album in many that leaves me with the feeling that these guys just can’t do much more outside of their comfort zone than fail miserably. These songs won’t stick around, and thank God for that.
#50 – “Believe Me” – Navos
Produced by Tom Demac and Navos
Another week, another... okay, but we already had a generic pop-infused deep house track from a couple EDM randos, do we really need another? Okay, well, this one is even less interesting than Imanbek’s effort as it doesn’t even try for a verse, instead going for a deep house groove I’ve heard countless times before, drowned out by some square synths and, yes, you guessed it, 90s piano loops and an uncredited female vocalist repeating basically the same couple lines over and over. This is made for the clubs, but I feel like even regular club-goers would tire of this vocaloid drop and cloudy production two minutes in. There’s nothing worth discussing here, because this probably took as many minutes to make as it did to listen to. I have no idea why Navos debuts a song so high, but I’ve got to assume TikTok’s to blame. Apparently this guy makes tech house, where’d any of that skill or intrigue go here?
#21 – “Up” – Cardi B
Produced by Sean Island, DJ SwanQo and Yung Dza
Anyone else surprised at how such a big name gets production from people I’ve never heard of before? Not that it matters, it’s just odd. Anyways, this is Cardi’s new single, presumably from that ever-elusive second album, debuting around 20 spots lower than it will in the US, and it’s going for a more gangsta-rap content than the hyper-sexual “WAP”, but does she keep the same energy? Well, yes... in fact, after all the mediocrity, I’m glad to have a genuinely great song debut this week. This is a great, bass-heavy beat that gives a Memphis phonk feel in the dark keys as well as the hard-hitting 808s and spacey percs and sound effects that add some needed distortion, even if there’s going to be some brief clipping along the way. Cardi brings some necessary energy from the brilliant opening lyrics and continues with a fast-paced, chanting flow that accentuates some of her funnier lyrics with her charisma that she always brings to a trap track like this. I’d say that this is maybe too repetitive – with very little of the verses to speak of – or even somewhat derivative of her previous song, “Money”, but there’s a lot better lyrical content in this one, not to mention how well she complements a more straight-forward but still killer beat. Oh, yeah, and Cardi’s stacks are Shaq-height as she dismisses haters with an impressive level of swagger and confidence, that carries the refrain, but that’s not to say the lyrics aren’t really great in the verses. There’s genuinely funny and sexy wordplay here, especially in the second verse, and also some great liners: “hoes speakin’ cap-anese”, accusing her haters of having pink-eye and their breath smelling like “horse sex”. This is a short, probably underdeveloped song, but it’s the type of surreal, high-energy trap I kind of really love and I hope this sticks around further in the UK.
#19 – “Latest Trends” – A1 x J1
Produced by ShoBeatz
A1 x J1 are a British rap duo with no other songs. Yeah, something’s fishy here: this is their only song on Spotify that blew up from a 15-second clip on TikTok, and their Spotify bio is trying to decide whether they’re the next D-Block Europe or the Beatles, as well as really emphasising how the song grew “all organically”, even though they’re already signed to Universal... yeah, there’s nothing subtle here, so I won’t buy this TikTok fame schtick, but does it matter when the song is good? Well, not really, and honestly, I’m kind of into this guitar-based drill-R&B fusion in the beat, but it doesn’t really help the fact that J1’s Stormzy impression is janky and unconvincing, especially if he’s going to try for some shallow wordplay, and that A1’s Auto-Tuned croon is just boring, reminding me a lot of A Boogie wit da Hoodie, but with a less recognisable voice and delivery, even if the first verse contains a funny line about a woman making that ass clap “for the NHS”, although he totally took that from Swarmz anyway. Yeah, I’m not a fan of this fake attempt at an organic pop-drill crossover, but unfortunately, I can very much see this working, though I’d be happy if the British public will see through this dishonesty as soon as possible.
#5 – “Bringing it Back” – Digga D and AJ Tracey
Produced by TheElements and AoD
Now for a rap duo that makes more sense to debut this high and are actually, you know, separately successful rappers, therefore they debut in the top five, which is impressive. The whole concept of this song is that Digga D and AJ Tracey are using old flows, those that would be nostalgic to their deeper fan base, to spit bars on a new track called, fittingly “Bringing it Back”. The flow AJ Tracey brings back is from his overlong “Packages” freestyle, a five-minute track from 2016, that works more as a freestyle than it does as a song, where he uses a familiar UK drill flow to go off for a really long time, and, yes, it is pretty impressive but the flow becomes stale too quickly. Digga D uses his flow from his “Next Up?” freestyle from 2017, a similarly badly-mixed UK drill freestyle but with a much more palatable length. Digga D’s flow he uses in that track is arguably slicker but honestly one that I see used a lot in UK drill and by Digga D, so I’m not sure it’s not worth “bringing it back” when you could come up with a new, catchier flow. I’ll admit that “Bringing it Back”, however, is a pretty damn good song, with Digga D’s more technical and fluid flow allowing for a lot more intricate internal rhymes that sound really great over the triumphant, string-heavy drill beat, as he trades bars with AJ Tracey’s slower but more confident, laid-back flow, which allows him to spit some more specific, interesting bars, some of which really hit, like when he says he “locked up the food for the kids like Boris and then I let it go like Rashford”. Hey, I respect it, I haven’t heard a more clever way of intertwining political commentary with cocaine smuggling since Pusha T last released a record. The way AJ Tracey and Digga D play off of each other’s lines is really smooth, and especially how Digga D plays with the beat, as while his lyrics may be less interesting, they mash perfectly with the beat’s frantic fades in and out, especially in his last lines before the first chorus, where he asks for the track to literally be turned off... and it is. So, yeah, I’m pretty damn happy with this debuting so high off the energy alone, even if Digga D is going to pronounce “LOL” like a one-syllable word. I’d say this is actually a really good starting point for people who want to get into more UK drill because it has a lot of the grit and menace of the genre in a more accessible, catchy form, even if it may run a bit too long for my taste.
Conclusion
Wow, what a weird, weird week... and a lot of it was straight garbage. I’m giving Best of the Week to “Up” by Cardi B, with an Honourable Mention to Digga D and AJ Tracey for “Bringing it Back”, though Worst of the Week is pretty much a toss-up. I’ll give it to the Foo Fighters for “Waiting on a War”, with a Dishonourable Mention tied between “Astronaut in the Ocean” by Masked Wolf and “Believe Me” by Navos for just both being worthless. Anyways, here’s our top 10:
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The UK Singles Chart is honestly kind of chaotic right now – even more so than usual – and I don’t see that changing. Even if I don’t like all of the songs, it’s at least compelling. Anyways, thank you for reading and you can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter if you want. I can’t really make any predictions for next week other than Taylor Swift re-recording her own music and I guess some impact from Rita Ora and Imanbek, or hopefully, slowthai. Regardless of what happens, I’ll see you next week!
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urmckidding · 3 years
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╰ °✧ that’s MARLENE MCKINNON and SHE seems to look a lot like NANA KOMATSU. according to ministry files, the PUREBLOOD used to attend HOGWARTS and be in GRYFFINDOR. now, they’re TWENTY and is A RADIO BROADCASTER. red wine stains on white linen ; bloody lips pulled into a defiant grin ; plunging into cold water ; the twist of your gut before you make a stupid decision ( still laughing despite the fear ) ; loud and unapologetic laughter echoing out ; a soldier — scared but marching on nonetheless ; a bonfire roaring to life, wood hissing and sparks flying are the best way to describe them. it doesn’t say in their file, but word around the street is that they’re a ORDER MEMBER.
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hullo  ,  it’s  ME  ,  bri  (  she/her  ,  23  ,  est  tz  )!!  this  is  my  trash  daughter  ,  marlene  ,  but  don’t  tell  her  i  said  that  because  she  will  bully  me.  any  who  ,  you  can  find  more  about  miss  mckinnon  under  the  cut  including  wanted  connections  (  at  the  way  bottom  so  feel  free  to  skip  the  about  bit  if  it’s  too  long  )!  and  feel  free  to  check  out  her  ABOUT  PAGE  &  PINTEREST.   
𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐒
FULL NAME:  marlene  isadora  mckinnon
AKA:  marlie  ,  len  ,  mckinnon
AGE:  twenty  years  old
BIRTHDAY:  
GENDER  & PRONOUNS:  cis  woman
PRONOUNS:  she/her
SEXUALITY:  biromantic  bisexual 
BLOOD STATUS:  pureblood 
FORMER HOUSE:  gryffindor
OCCUPATION:  radio  host  ,  order  of  the  phoenix  member
marlene’s  radio  show  is  anonymous  and  she  mainly  uses  it  to  shit  talk  the  deatheater  movement  and  share  stories  about  the  order  of  the  phoenix  and  their  allies.  it’s  fairly  similar  to  the  potterwatch  radio  show  that  lee  jordan  runs  during  the  seventh  book.  of  course  ,  since  this  is  marlene  she’ll  also  put  on  some  music  during  the  breaks.       
FACECLAIM:  nana  komatsu 
𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐑
POSITIVE TRAITS:  humorous  ,  protective  ,  spirited  ,  passionate  ,  loyal  ,  courageous  ,  persistent  ,  independent  ,  playful  
NEGATIVE TRAITS:  bullheaded  ,  impulsive  ,  impatient  ,  self  destructive  ,  arrogant  ,  attention  seeking  ,  argumentative    
DEMEANOR:  marlene  can  come  off  one  of  two  ways  :  friendly  and  playful  or  cruel  and  spiteful.  she  is  a  person  set  in  her  ways  ,  that  means  she  probably  has  already  decided  how  she  feels  about  a  person  either  before  or  in  the  first  couple  minutes  of  meeting  them.  to  her  friends  and  family  ,  marlene  is  a  spitfire  with  a  penchant  for  adventure  and  trouble.  she  likes  to  make  her  loved  ones  laugh  and  have  fun  and  is  incredibly  protective  of  them.  however  to  those  she’s  not  so  crazy  about  ,  she’s  a  spitfire  in  a  less  fun  way.  she’s  hard  to  win  over  if  a  person  has  already  felt  her  judgement  but  it’s  possible  ...  maybe  ...  who  knows.      
𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓  (  trigger  warning  :  the  death  of  a family  member -  i  will  tag  the  paragraph  it’s  in.  )
the  mckinnon  brood  resides  in  SCOTLAND  ,  her  father’s  family  having  settled  there  for  quite  some  time  while  her  mother’s  side  has  never  left  japan  —  save  for  her  mother  of  course.  they  are  a  large  crew  even  when  only  counting  marlene’s  immediate  family.  she  has  four  siblings  ,  all  older.  it  had  been  a  contentious  subject  whether  to  send  the  kids  to  hogwarts  or  mahoutokoro  in  japan.  her  father  won  the  fight  eventually  and  the  mckinnons  went  on  to  scatter  themselves  throughout  gryffindor  and  ravenclaw.        
as  a  note  ,  the  mckinnons  have  not  mingled  with  many  of  the  other  zealous  pureblood  families  for  a  long  while  now  having  marked  themselves  as  blood  traitors  generations  ago.  they’re  a  rough  and  tumble  kind  of  group  who  don’t  care  for  haughty  parties  or  the  politics  of  it  all. 
marlene  has  always  been  a  whirlwind  of  spirit  and  trouble.  she  was  infamous  for  the  pranks  she  played  on  the  family’s  tutors  and  her  disappearing  acts  ,  though  her  parents  could  hardly  blame  her  with  the  kind  of  examples  they  set  ;  both  aurors  who  threw  themselves  into  trouble  even  when  the  odds  were  against  them.  marlene  grew  up  hearing  stories  about  their  misadventures  ,  all  tied  up  in  a  nice  little  bow  as  if  her  parents  weren’t  risking  their  lives  as  the  war  worsened.  but  it  was  not  them  that  marlene  wanted  to  be  like.  no  ,  she  completely  adored  and  idolized  her  grandmother.   
KIRA  MCKINNON  was  a  staple  in  the  mckinnon  household  ,  floating  in  and  out  as  if  it  was  her  own  home.  she  doted  on  marlene  as  her  youngest  granddaughter.  she  would  often  steal  her  grandchildren  away  to  different  adventures  in  town  or  the  lands  surrounding  the  mckinnon  manor.  marlene  always  looked  forward  to  her  grandmother’s  visits.  
even  when  marlene  was  whisked  off  to  hogwarts  ,  she  and  her  grandmother  exchanged  letters  —  probably  the  one  thing  that  marlene  would  let  her  friends  tease  her  about  solely  because  she  didn’t  care.  
marlene  was  sorted  into  gryffindor  ,  like  her  father  and  older  brother.  she  made  herself  comfortable  quickly  and  garnered  a  reputation  as  a  fairly  opinionated  and  sharp  witch.  she  liked  the  flashy  spells  and  never  cared  for  the  classes  where  she  was  required  to  sit  still  —  “  what  a  bore.  ”  she  would  often  say  during  history  of  magic  and  potions  classes.  
she  had  grown  up  playing  quidditch  with  her  family  and  tried  out  as  soon  as  she  was  able  to  ,  earning  a  proper  spot  on  the  house  team  in  her  third  year  (  either  beater  or  chaser  ,  whichever  position  works  with  the  other  gryffindor  headcanons!  ).  
most  notoriously  ,  marlene  had  trouble  picking  her  fights  wisely.  she  has  always  been  the  type  of  person  to  act  first  and  think  later  ,  which  during  her  time   at  hogwarts  got  her  into  an  awful  amount  of  trouble  —  fights  on  the  pitch  ,  in  the  corridors  ,  sometimes  even  in  classes.  it  was  difficult  for  her  to  stand  down  when  she  had  a  problem  with  someone  ...  
this  passion  became  more  and  more  focused  around  equality  efforts  for  muggles  and  muggleborns.  that  conversation  was  had  frequently  at  the  mckinnon  house  and  it  was  clear  who  her  family  stood  with  :  the  order.  however  ,  marlene’s  passion  for  it  was  based  in  the  seeds  her  family  planted.  i  think  that  if  the  mckinnons  sided  with  the  death  eaters  ,  marlene  would  have  fought  just  as  passionately  for  that  ...  at  least  until  around  the  time  the  rp  takes  place  because  this  is  when  she  begins  to  form  her  own  opinions. 
FAMILY  MEMBER  DEATH  TRIGGER  WARNING  BEGINS  ...  though  marlene  was  obvious  in  where  she  stood  in  the  war  ,  it  never  became  real  to  her  until  her  seventh  year.  she  had  nursed  a  quiet  fear  for  what  waited  for  her  outside  of  hogwarts’s  walls  until  she  received  news  of  her  grandmother’s  death.  kira  mckinnon  had  garnered  her  own  reputation  throughout  her  career.  she  was  no  one  to  scoff  at  as  a  looming  figure  in  the  efforts  to  catch  war  criminals.  however  when  she  retired  those  she  had  helped  imprison  didn’t  forget  what  she  had  done.  she  had  been  on  the  death  eaters’  hit  list  for  quite  some  time  and  they  finally  crossed  her  off  —  marking  the  beginning  of  the  mckinnon  family’s  demise.  marlene  refused  to  leave  school  and  took  her  grief  out  on  students  who  she  suspected  stood  with  voldemort.  it  nearly  got  her  expelled.  but  her  grandmother’s  death  left  her  with  a  nearly  paralyzing  need  to  fight.  TRIGGER  WARNING  ENDS.    
upon  graduation  ,  marlene  —  seventeen  and  burning  with  purpose  —  signed  up  to  join  the  order.  her  family  welcomed  her  ,  though  her  parents  had  reservations  about  their  youngest  and  most  reckless  joining  up.  they  tried  to  keep  her  off  missions  as  long  as  possible  and  so  marlene  went  elsewhere  to  try  to  help. 
she  began  her  radio  show  ,  title  TBD  ,  when  she  was  nineteen.  it  requires  a  special  tune  in  in  order  to  hear  and  is  riddled  with  passcodes  and  code  names  but  she  mainly  reports  on  news  and  stories  ,  including  her  own  passionate  rhetoric.  she  operates  it  out  of  a  wizarding  network  who  she  hosts  a  show  for  during  some  weekdays  but  at  night  she  uses  the  instruments  to  hold  her  own  show.  of  course  there  is  music  during  breaks  because  marlene  needs  to  jam.  
since  she’s  joined  the  order  she’s  actually  been  included  on  missions  and  meetings.  all  she  can  see  is  the  fight  right  now  ,  but  in  that  reckless  and  young  perspective  where  she  can  only  see  it  ending  well  for  her  and  her  friends.  because  of  that  she  tends  to  act  fearless  and  downright  stupid  ,  glossing  over  her  fears  and  worries  with  humor  and  general  avoidance.  
TLDR;  marlene  is  a  chaotic  dumbass  who  runs  a  secret  radio  show  under  the  guise  of  an  actual  radio  host  for  a  wizarding  network.  she’s  a  dedicated  order  member  who  will  absolutely  throw  herself  in  harm’s  way  because  ...  she’s  a  chaotic  dumbass.     
𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒
RIDE  OR  DIE’S  —  these  are  the  people  marlene  would  go  to  battle  for.  she  is  a  fiercely  protective  friend  and  would  rather  herself  get  hurt  than  those  she  cares  for.  these  are  also  the  people  she  would  actually  confide  in  too.  she  very  rarely  shares  what’s  going  on  in  her  brain  except  for  when  it  involves  these  people.  on  the  flip  side  ,  if  no  one’s  in  peril  ,  marlene  is  that  friend  who  always  pushes  her  limits  a  little  too  much.  she  wants  everyone  to  enjoy  themselves  but  it  won’t  stop  her  if  they  decide  not  to  partake.  she’s  a  bad  influence  point  blank.      
HOOK UPS  &  FLINGS  —  marlene  is  straight  up  afraid  of  serious  relationships.  she  sees  her  parents  and  their  parents  and  relationships  like  theirs  seem  so  out  of  reach.  i  wouldn’t  say  she’s  a  serial  one  night  stander  but  she  has  definitely  left  some  broken  off  flings  in  her  wake  because  of  this.  any  gender  ,  anyone.
LOVE  INTEREST  —  me:  *says  marlene  is  afraid  of  serious  relationships*  also  me:  *puts  love  interest  under  wanted  connections*  exCUSE  ME  if  i’m  a  sucker  for  a  guarded  person  falling  in  love  oK.  anyway  this  could  really  be  any  dynamic  but  personally  i  am  a  sucker  for  a  past  hook  up  catching  feels  but  marlene  doesn’t  return  the  sentiment  unTIL  LATER  or  enemies  to  friends  to  lovers  or  literally  anything  ,  it  does  not  take  much  to  please  me.  again  ,  open  to  anyone.  
RIVALS  &  ENEMIES  —  marlene  is  an  absolute  rage  machine  and  has  probably  started  fights  with  a  lot  of  people.  with  that  said  ,  her  favorite  people  to  hate  are  death  eaters  or  their  sympathizers.  other  than  that  ,  rivals  or  enemies  could  be  a  former  school/quidditch  competitor  to  someone  who  looked  at  her  funny  once.  
MENTOR  —  hello  i  am  a  sucker  for  the  mentor  -  student  dynamic  and  if  anyone  wants  to  knock  some  sense  into  marlene  ,  please  do  not  hesitate  to  do  it.  she’s  young  and  stupid  and  naive  about  the  war  efforts  ,  she  doesn’t  have  an  accurate  view  of  the  world  ,  a  place  she  thinks  is  neatly  divided  into  black  and  white.  your  character  can  tell  her  she’s  not  all  good  and  she  can  be  a  pain  in  your  character’s  ass!!  a  win  -  win  honestly. 
LITERALLY  ANYTHING  —  i  ,,  Love  to  plot  and  am  so  down  to  brainstorm  new  fun  things  with  y’all!!  
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queerebrum · 4 years
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smoke and mirrors || Deputy Dargent (Jordan x Derek x Chris) || Multiamory May Day 7! Also on AO3 Jordan hesitated for a moment before he knocked on the door to the apartment, knowing full well who lived inside. They’d gotten a callout for what sounded like a fight or a domestic disturbance, and it was somewhat surprising to see the address listed as belonging to Chris Argent. The Sheriff clearly trusted this man, and the quiet young man he’d been with when they were arrested. Argent had seemed like a level headed and reasonable man, even if he did seem to have acquired weaponry that should really not be available to civilians.
Steeling himself, he was about to knock on the door when it suddenly opened, and he was faced with the dark-haired man from earlier. They were about the same height, but the other man – Hale? – was broader than Jordan was, and something about him seemed dangerous. He intimidated Jordan in a way few people did. Currently, he felt trapped beneath inquisitive eyes until Hale finally asked, “Is there a problem, deputy?”
Jordan cleared his throat, “We got a call for a fight at this address. Is Mr. Argent home?”
A small, amused smile cracked across Hale’s face, and he reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “He’s in the shower.” Hale stepped back, motioning Jordan into the apartment. “There was a fight but nothing for you to worry about, deputy…Parrish, was it?” Jordan stepped inside and nodded, “Jordan Parrish.” He smiled at the other man, glancing around the apartment. He could faintly smell some kind of accelerant but if there had been a fight, it hadn’t happened in any of the areas that he could see. The living room was immaculate – it almost seemed like it was hardly used. The kitchen was tidy, and the doors to each of the rooms down the hallway were closed. Jordan resigned himself to the fact that this was another pointless callout and settled in to wait to speak with Mr. Argent.
“Are you from the area?” He asked Hale.
Hale’s face did something complicated, and Jordan couldn’t quite decide exactly which emotion it landed on. “Yeah.” He finally said, his voice underlaid with emotion, “I was born here. I left for a while, I’ve been back for a year and a half or so.”
“Where’d you go?” Jordan asked, trying to move away from talking about Beacon Hills, which had clearly made Hale uncomfortable. He made a mental note to figure out why that was later.
“New York.” That didn’t seem to be a better topic, and Jordan almost watched the emotional walls build themselves up in Hale’s eyes.
He was saved from trying another futile attempt at finding a topic of conversation that didn’t force the dark-hared man to clam up by the door to the bathroom opening and Mr. Argent walking out, dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. His hair was still wet, and he frowned at the pair of them. “Deputy Parrish, what brings you here? Into my apartment?” The second half of the question was clearly directed past Jordan.
“He got a call for a fight.” Hale answered, and Jordan could almost hear the smirk in his voice, “Just wanted to make sure everyone was fine.”
Argent lifted both of his eyebrows and Jordan watched him make an effort to retain his serious composure. “Well, we’re all fine here, deputy. Just a misunderstanding.”
Jordan nodded, though his eyes strayed to a line of developing bruises on the older man’s wrist. “Well, I guess I can head out, then.” He nodded to each of them and headed for the door.
“Stay safe out there, deputy.” Argent called after him. The tone sounded foreboding, like there really was a threat out there that Jordan needed to worry about. It made him as nervous as Hale’s gaze had. He was happy to leave the apartment then.
It wasn’t until he was back at the station, looking up Hale’s name that he’d realized what an ass he’d made of himself.
Derek Hale. 23. One of the survivors of the Hale House Fire that had killed most of his family.
Jordan sat back against his desk with a sigh, looking at the pictures of the Hale house ruins and trying to put a finger on what it was about Derek’s gaze and Chris’ calm, knowing voice that made him so nervous.
--
The next time Jordan sees Derek Hale and Chris Argent, there are no hidden smiles or inside jokes. Chris is sat at the bar in the local dive, and Derek is beside him, one hand running gently across the older mans’ back in an odd spiral pattern that seemed random but also practiced. Jordan was off shift, dressed down and steeled himself to take the seat at the bar next to Derek.
Days ago, Jordan took the statements from the Sheriff’s son and his friends about the death of Argent’s daughter. He isn’t sure what to say, but turns to the pair of them, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Derek looks at him in surprise, “Oh, I didn’t--” “Don’t you dare.” Chris growls from beside him, looking up with red-rimmed eyes, “We all lost her.”
“Random violence is really a problem. I’ve been trying to talk to the Sheriff about patrolling more consistently and upping our citizen’s watch programs but…” Jordan trails off as Chris Argent smiles at him, chuckling quietly and draining the shifter of whiskey in front of him. “I thought it was a good idea.”
Derek looked uncomfortably from Chris to Jordan and then settled on Jordan, “They’re good ideas he’s just…” Derek blinked, “Drunk, I think.”
“You think?” Jordan asked.
Derek licked his bottom lip and Jordan couldn’t help but watch, “Yeah, I don’t really…drink much.”
Something Derek said made Argent chuckle again, and Derek himself exhaled a quiet almost-laugh from his nose. “Don’t drink…Can’t drink…” Jordan frowned, “You can’t drink? What are you doing at a bar.”
Derek sighed, “Kinda thought that one would be obvious, deputy.” He tipped his head towards Argent.
Jordan blinked a few times and then nodded, “Right.”
Derek looked almost apologetic, “Sorry, we’re not very good company tonight.” Jordan shrugged, “I mean…all things considered if he’s laughed at all, I’ll call that a win.”
Derek muttered something under his breath in Argent’s direction, which caused the older man to start gigglingand then turned back to Jordan. “Thanks, I guess.” Derek gave Jordan a small smile that lit up his whole face, eyes glimmering under the fluorescent decorations of the bar.
They exchange small talk for a while after that, mostly Derek and Jordan, with Chris occasionally jumping in for a joke only Derek gets or repeating something Derek says and causing the younger man to roll his eyes. Jordan finds out that Derek played basketball in high school, that he majored in History at Columbia while he and his now-deceased sister were in New York. After an hour, the pair leave, leaving Jordan alone at the bar and incredibly confused about exactly what he’s feeling.
He can’t tell what they are. Are they a couple? Are they together or just friends. What he saw the day he was at Argent’s apartment showed a level of trust between the two – if Argent was willing to shower while Derek was in his apartment. And the bruises on Argent’s wrists either implied that they were lying and there was some kind of fight, or maybe it was just kinky sex misunderstood by prying neighbors. Neither of them gave much away, and it made it hard for Jordan – even with a the honed perception of a trained officer of the law – to figure out what was going on.
It felt like they were always a step ahead of him in any interaction.
Which makes a lot more sense when Jordan finally finds out that Derek Hale is a werewolf and Argent has been training to hunt werewolves since before he could walk.
--
Watching Derek die was more painful than Jordan had expected it to be, and that seemed to be the case for everyone involved. When he and Chris had arrived and the hunter had realized what he was seeing – Derek Hale, suddenly, inexplicably human, bleeding from the stomach, so similarly to the way he’d lost his daughter, he’d frozen, and Jordan swore he stopped breathing. The chaos hadn’t paused, though, and suddenly they had to fight again.
When Derek comes back to life, Jordan is sure he’s the only one who’s paying enough attention to Chris to see the blanket relief that crosses his face. His own chest loosens in a way he wasn’t expecting, both in relief for Derek being alive and the fact that Chris doesn’t have to go through that kind of loss again.
He also doesn’t miss that just before Chris leaves with the Calaveras, he pulls Derek aside and says something to him, the ‘evolved’ werewolf nodding, and stepping impossibly close to Chris under the guise of whispering something back, but Jordan doesn’t miss the gentle brush of their cheeks together, and the way Derek’s eyes stay fixed on Chris until the hunter is long out of sight.
Three weeks later, though, he gets a text from a number he doesn’t recognize, and all it is is an address to a hotel in San Diego, a room number, and;
‘This weekend, join us?’
He’s a hellhound, so really, even if he’s wrong, and the text isn’t from the only us he can think of, it’s not like it will be particularly easy for his would-be assassins to kill him.
(Plus, the dead pool is over anyway, he’s no longer worth 5 million dollars.)
He’s not sure what surprises him more; that the Sheriff is all too happy to give him the weekend off, or the too-knowing smile on the Sheriff’s face when he does.
--
He’s learned, particularly with Derek, that knocking on doors is incredibly unnecessary, so he’s not surprised – and incredibly relieved – when Derek opens the door to the hotel room at the fancy Oceanfront San Diego hotel. “You came.” The werewolf says, face splitting into the brightest smile Jordan has ever seen from him. He can’t help but return it.
“Sheriff Stilinski gave me the weekend off without any complaints.” Jordan shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets because he still doesn’t understand what exactly this is.
“That’s my fault.” A second voice calls from inside the hotel room, and Derek motions Jordan in so the hellhound can see Chris Argent relaxing. The sight itself is so out of place that if it wasn’t for the heat he can feel radiating off of Derek at his back, he’d wonder if this was even real.
Chris is dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of cargo shorts, barefoot, leaned against the headboard of the giant king-sized bed in the room.
The only bed in the room.
“Did I need to book myself a room?” Jordan asked, suddenly wondering if he’s misunderstood all of this.
Suddenly, the heat of Derek isn’t just hovering near his back, but is pressed up against it as a voice, close to his ear whispers, “That’s your call.” A shiver runs down Jordan’s spine and he blushes furiously as his dick suddenly decides to take notice of the situation; the way Chris’ ice blue eyes are fixed on the pair of them, face content, lips curved up into a small smile. Derek’s body, well-toned and werewolf-strong, plastered against his back, lips against his ear like this is a perfectly normal occurrence.
“What are you asking me?” He asks, swallowing hard. Sure, he can read into situations like no other, but he doesn’t want to do that here. The two of them seem happy for the first time in so long. He doesn’t want to get in the middle of that.
Or well he does but not in the ‘break them up’ kind of way.
“You’re not as subtle as you think you are, Jordan.” Chris says from the bed, and Jordan has to suppress the urge to groan as he feels Derek nose a line from the sensitive space behind his ear down to where his shoulder and neck meet. “At the very least you’re interested in Derek. I wasn’t drunk enough to miss that at the bar.”
“And I could smell it.” Derek murmured.
“You can smell attraction?”
A chuckle, “No, but I can smell arousal.”
“What does he smell like now, Derek?” Chris asked, and Jordan’s eyes finally tear away from the hunter’s face to follow his arm down to where he’s palming at what Jordan can only imagine is an erection.
“Arousal.” Derek says, and there’s a laugh in his voice. “What…” Jordan pulls himself away from the werewolf, turning so he can look at both of them, pointedly ignoring the plethora of erections in the room. “So, you two are together.”
Chris smiled, and he looks at Derek, “For some reason, yes. He could have had anyone.”
Derek rolled his eyes, “Ah, yes, I’m such a catch with my dead family, recent resurrection and metric ton of emotional baggage.”
“I mean, I think you are.” Jordan surprised himself with his words, but the smile he earned from Derek was worth it. “And you, you’re a good man, Argent. I can see why the two of you would work.”
“We want you, too.” Derek said softly, blushing high on his cheeks, pulling another amused grin from Chris.
The hunter got up from the bed and crossed the floor to stand in front of Jordan, “Derek’s wanted you for a long time. I think you’re a brilliant deputy and I can see the attraction, so, if you’re up to try it, we’d like you to join us.”
Jordan dragged in a breath, studying the relaxed, honest, open face of Chris Argent, silently wondering how small the list of people who had ever seen this face was. Derek was close to him too suddenly, the werewolf also open, earnest, eyes burning with a desire that surprised and delighted Jordan. “Are you sure? I don’t want to mess anything up for the two of you.”
Derek’s only answer was to kiss him, spinning Jordan so he was pressed between the werewolf and the hunter.
Jordan decided when Chris started kissing a line down his neck, apparent invulnerability aside, he might have been one of the safest people on earth in that moment.  
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