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mischiefandspirits · 3 years

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Bloodlines (2 of 3)

After receiving a vague warning from his mother about his cousin and Richard, Damian goes looking for his runaway ward.

Part of Batkid and Robin

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“Someone’s in the house.”

Damian paused, one foot out the door of the car. He turned to Jon to study him.

If it was a Bat, Jon wouldn’t have said anything so he could see how long it took Damian to notice. If it was Kon or Lara, he’d already be telling them off for breaking into their house. No one else in his family would have broken in and neither would most of their friends. If Jon didn’t recognize the person or considered the person a threat, he’d be worried. For most anyone else, he’d be annoyed.

He wasn’t worried or annoyed though, which only left one person.

“Stay here,” Damian sighed and got out.

Jon grunted, still staring at the house with enough fury that Damian was surprised his heat vision hadn’t activated.

Once inside, Damian dropped his keys into a dish on the entryway table then hung his jacket on the coat rack. “You know Jonathan doesn’t like it when you show up unannounced.”

“With your alien’s powers, I never should have made it inside without his knowledge.”

He came into the living room to see his mother sitting in an armchair, a pair of teacups waiting on the table next to her. “I asked you not to call him that. And it’s about being polite, Mother.”

She hummed and grabbed her cup. She tilted her head towards the chair next to her as she said, “He is never going to approve of me and I am never going to approve of him. This is something I have come to terms with so I wish you would as well.”

He ignored the invitation, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorway. “You only don’t approve because he doesn’t have any more interest in providing me -- and therefore you -- with an heir than I have in obtaining one so he won’t help you convince me to allow your scientists our DNA. You should just come to terms with the fact you’ll never have a grandkid.”

“But I already have one,” she said into her drink.

“What are you talking about?” he growled, marching into the room to loom over her. “What did you do?”

“Calm down, my Baby Bird, I haven’t done anything. You know I wouldn’t do that without your permission.”

“After what you did to Jason, how can I be sure?”

She sighed and placed her drink back on the dish. “This isn’t what I came here to talk to you about and, unfortunately, I don’t have time to debate with you as I have to cull another uprising of the Council of Demons. When was the last time you spoke to Richard?”

Damian frowned at the change in subject. “Why do you care?”

“The Demon’s Followers are gathering.”

“Have they joined forces with the Council?” That didn’t make sense. Mara was all about gathering power for herself and she wasn’t foolish enough to think she could use them for her own gain then betray them without facing serious consequences. “And what does this have to do with Richard?”

“So you really haven’t been paying attention to the boy’s antics.”

Damian bristled. He’d been watching as closely as was possible without risking Richard discovering the invasion of privacy, something he knew would surely drive the boy away forever. “I ask again, why do you care?”

His mother stood, brushing nonexistent wrinkles from her pants. “I suggest you look into what the boy has been up to. Perhaps ask your pet, I know he’s been hounding Richard.”

Damian opened his mouth to argue, but his mother just pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before slipping into the hall. “And tell your cousin that should my grandson face significant harm, the League will wipe her little organization from existence.”

“Mother!” He followed her into the hall, but she was already gone. He didn’t bother to give chase, knowing she wouldn’t tell him any more than she already had.

“What was that all about?” Jon asked, coming through the front door.

“I’m not sure.”

Oh, he could certainly put the pieces together.

Mara was up to something, something that could put Richard in danger, but what could she be up to that would put her on the Teen Titans’ radar? His team was efficient, but they didn’t handle the type of secretive things the League of Shadows or Outsiders dealt with. The kind of things the Demon’s Followers dealt in.

There was also his mother’s descriptor for Richard. Saying that his mother wasn’t fond of his family was an understatement. She absolutely loathed Tim and Duke, more than even Damian had during those first few months after he’d been brought back to life, and the Council’s interest in Tim had only aggravated her feelings for him. She was more neutral about Cass and Jason, but she saw his sister as a stand-in child that his father should have rid himself of when his true child arrived and she saw Jason as his and his father’s pet street trash. For her to not only claim his ward as her grandson, but to also place him under her protection was… out of character. They had never spoken about Richard before, what with her going dark due to the Council’s actions during his father’s absence followed by his feelings towards Jason’s death and resurrection, but Damian had assumed she’d feel no different for him than Jason given his circus heritage.

“Are you going to go talk to Richie?”

Damian shot his partner a look.

“Yeah, yeah, you’re giving him space. It’s been over a year, though, D. I think that’s enough space.”

“He has to come to me. If I force myself into his life -”

“He’ll resent you,” Jon finished. “Okay, but he’s got that Bat stubbornness you’ve all somehow managed to inherit from Bruce despite the fact most of you aren’t actually related to him. Richie’s not going to make the first move. So if neither of you reaches out…”

“I don’t have time for this,” Damian muttered, heading for the door to the basement. “I need to figure out what Mara is up to and if the Teen Titans can handle it on their own.”

“Bats,” Jon huffed and followed him down. He stayed on the stairs, though, as Damian opened the secret door that led down to the Perch. “Do you want any help?”

Damian paused. “… Not at this time. Somerset will need your focus while I’m distracted. If anything changes, I will let you know.”

“Alright.” Jon drifted up behind him to wrap his arms around Damian’s waist. “Just know I’m here if you need anything. And be careful.”

“I will.” He leaned back into his partner for a moment before pulling away.

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

Red Hood was watching a factory burn when Flamebird found him. The teen had a gun pointed at his head before he could even speak. “Come for the fireworks, Boss-Bird.”

“I don’t want to fight. I need to talk to you. It’s about Robin,” Flamebird said, holding up his hands. He quickly ducked to the side when Red Hood shot at him.

“Yeah, no, you lost your chance to talk about him when you let Bitch-man kick him out.”

“That’s not what happened,” Flamebird said and threw a feather, lodging it in the gun’s barrel. “And it’s not the point. Mother came asking after him.”

That made Red Hood’s anger spike into fury, but at least he paused his attack. “She has even less of a right to talk about Red Bird.”

“Agreed, but I’m not about to ignore a warning about Robin’s safety, no matter who it came from.”

“So now you care?”

Flamebird sighed. “Hood, please, can we at least agree to put this aside for Robin’s sake?”

Hood threw the plugged gun at him. “You’ve got ninety seconds. This better be good.”

“Have you heard of the Demon’s Followers?” Flamebird asked as he grabbed the gun and slowly approached his brother.

“No. They related to your dear grandpa's cult?”

“Sort of. Like the Council, the Followers were a faction of the League that left when Mother took power. Instead of worshiping Ra’s, though, they follow my cousin.”

“You have a cousin?”

“Mara al Ghul, the daughter of one of Mother’s elder brothers. She resents me for leaving the League. She came after me when I was just forming the League of Shadows, but we took her down. The Followers have mostly operated as an organized band of mercenaries since, though Mara’s always looking for a way to gain power or spite me.”

“And you didn’t tell us about this because…?”

“I told Father, and I’m sure Barbara knows, but Mara shares Mother’s opinion of you all -”

“Meaning she thinks we’re trash.”

“- so there was never any reason to involve you.”

“Right,” Red Hood snipped. “And why does this matter?”

“Mother insinuated the Teen Titans have gotten or will get involved with the Followers, specifically with Mara putting Robin in harm’s way. When I asked for more information she acted surprised that I wasn’t already aware and suggested I speak to you. I looked into it and found evidence of the Followers in California, but nothing focused on Jump or the Teen Titans. So here I am.”

Red Hood crossed his arms and turned to leave. “Well, I haven’t heard about any Mara or her Followers so you’re out of luck. I’ll let Red Bird know to keep an eye out, though.”

Flamebird nodded, knowing he wouldn’t get any more out of his wayward brother. “Let him know she might use an alias as well. She has used Maria, Miranda, and Mariam for given names and Raatko, Tate, and Šabaḥ for surnames.”

“Sh-Shabac?” Red Hood said, looking over his shoulder.

“Šabaḥ,” Flamebird repeated slowly. “It means ghost in Arabic. She chose it to pay homage to her father, who went by White Ghost.”

Red Hood stared at him for a moment then pulled a communicator out of one of the pockets on his belt. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“What?”

“Shut up!” He brought one of his hands to his helmet and the red color leached away until only an X remained, the drain revealing a white skull on black. Similarly, glowing red X’s appeared on the back of his gloves and across his chest.

Red X flipped open the communicator and pressed a button on the side.

“What’s going on?”

“I swear, if they lost him again…” Red X muttered as the communicator rang.

“X -”

“Who is this?” a voice said from the communicator and Flamebird looked over to see Nightstar’s face staring back.

“Take a guess, Princess. Where’s Red Bird? And if you tell me you lost him to that stalker bitch again, I’m going to wreak bloody vengeance on the lot of you.”

Nightstar scowled, but was knocked out of view before she could say anything by Impulse. “What stalker? Do you know something about Robin’s disappearance? Howdidyoucallus? WhydoyouhaveaT-Comm?”

“Bloody. Vengeance,” Red X growled and Flamebird grabbed the communicator before he could destroy it.

Impulse gasped as he came into view, but he ignored her. “What do you mean Robin disappeared?”

“I, uh…” Impulse glanced between him and someone offscreen. She mouthed, Help!

The screen’s view expanded to show the rest of Robin’s team.

Virus was vibrating, the edges of their body going to static. Nightstar was glaring up at him, eyes glowing. Impulse was still gaping and Wonder Girl looked startled as well, but was working to hide it as she stepped forward.

“Flamebird, this is unexpected. What are you doing with Red X?”

“We’re looking for my baby brother!” Red X growled.

“X, calm down,” Flambird said and the boy flipped him off. “What can you tell me about Robin’s disappearance?”

“Why do you care?” Nightstar asked, eyes narrowing further.

Flamebird breathed out through his nose as Red X snorted. “Knew I liked you, Princess. I’ll make your death quick.”

“I received information about a dangerous group of mercenaries in your area. There may be a connection. What happened?”

Virus leaned towards Impulse and whispered, “Are the Teen Titans going to work with the Flamebird?”

“I think so. This is so cool! Do you think Batgirl will be there?”

“Or Nightwing!?”

“We can hear you, dorks,” Red X huffed and the two flinched, Virus ducking behind Nightstar and Impulse blushing. “Just tell us what happened to Robin!”

Wonder Girl cleared her throat. “Well, last night Impulse and Robin were on a date at the boardwalk.”

Flamebird blinked.

Red X snorted. “What? Didn’t know your kid had a girlfriend?”

“His kid?” Impulse squeaked.

“Flamebird is Robin’s father?” Virus asked.

Wonder Girl looked at her team, uncertain, and Nightstar sighed.

“Short answer: No, he isn’t. It’s complicated and not important right now,” she said with finality. “Robin and Impulse were at the boardwalk. They got separated in the mirror maze and no one’s seen him since. We searched the entire area, but couldn’t find any evidence of where he could have gone.”

“Virus scanned the maze,” Virus said. “Impulse was worried Robin’s disappearance was the work of Mirror Master or Reflek, but Virus didn't find any energy anomalies, not even any that would suggest teleportation. Robin just vanished.”

“You didn’t even find evidence of a fight?” Flamebird asked and the teens shook their heads. “Have you faced anyone recently who could have taken out Robin without leaving evidence?”

Wonder Girl shook her head. “We’ve considered that, but there aren’t many of our villains that could who aren’t locked up right now. The only one we considered was, well,” she gestured vaguely, “X. But Nightstar said she had evidence he wasn’t in Jump City at the time.”

Flamebird nodded, well aware that his youngest brother had been taking down a warehouse of drug dealers in Gotham the night before.

“Did you consider White when you went through your list?” Red X asked pointedly.

The teens shared a look.

“White hasn’t bothered any of us since she came back to life,” Impulse said.

“Maybe because she’s been reconnecting with all her minions,” he snorted. “I thought Red Bird said he was trying to track her progress.”

The teens looked uncomfortable.

“Which none of you knew because you all get mad when he investigates her. Of course.”

Nightstar crossed her arms. “He’s obsessed. We -”

“News flash, your teammate is a Bat. Any of your relatives who’ve worked with one of us could tell you that obsession and Paranoia come with the gig. And that’s, you know, ignoring the fact that that psycho is stalking him.”

“Stalking?” Flamebird asked.

“You better hope he’s fine when I rescue him or I'll raze that tower to the ground,” Red X said then snapped the communicator closed.

“What’s going on? Who’s White?” Flamebird asked as Red X grabbed the communicator and shoved it into his belt.

The boy stared him down for a moment then groaned and switched his suit back to Red Hood. “Follow me.”

His brother led him to a dilapidated apartment building. As he perched on a ledge to open a window, he muttered, “I’ll have to burn this safehouse now.”

The apartment was sparsely furnished, just a small card table with two folding chairs on either side and a couch in front of a book-covered coffee table. It was tidy, though. The books on the table were in neat, organized stacks. The kitchen counters were wiped clean and the only dishes that were out were the ones drying on the rack. The mattress that could be seen through the half-open bedroom door was also made to Alfred’s exacting standards despite its lack of frame or box spring.

Red Hood stomped across the living room to a closet door, opening it with a keycode to reveal weapons and ammunition arranged on shelves. He grabbed a tablet off a lower shelf and pulled up a file.

“She’s called the White Woman,” he said, opening an image for Flamebird to see.

The woman was covered from head to toe in a white suit styled after a Komon. The skirt only went halfway down her knees, though, revealing grey leggings that matched the obi around her waist and the hood that hid her hair and neck by connecting the suit to her hannya mask. Like the suit, the mask was primarily white, just with silver teeth, horns, and eyes. She also wore silver boots and gloves along with a matching utility belt over the obi that was designed to look like an obijime. A sword was strapped to her back, though he couldn’t see what kind from the angle.

“She started setting up shop in Jump City around a year ago. Her motivations weren’t very clear at first. Her lackeys stole and she set other villains loose on the city, but there didn’t really seem to be any goal in mind.”

“But she did have a goal.”

Red Hood nodded. “Dick realized she’d been testing the Titans, toying with them. He thought she was planning something for them, like trying to figure out how to take them down so she could take over. He… miscalculated.” He closed the picture and opened a new one from the file. “She was only after one of them.”

The image appeared to have been captured by a security camera. Richard was clearly the focal point, but he wasn’t Robin. The suit he was wearing almost seemed to be mocking the Robin suit. The tunic was still red, but a darker blood-like color that had also replaced the green on his boots and gloves. His belt, cape lining, and tunic’s trim were a dull silver instead of bright yellow and his sleeves, pants, and cape had inverted from black to stark white. His domino mask has similarly flipped colors, going from a black mask with white lenses to a white mask with black lenses. The R logo on his chest was replaced by a silver and black bird’s claw.

“Don’t know a lot of what went down since Red Bird did a hell of a job burying everything, but Robin went renegade for a week or two and started working with White. I thought he had just been undercover, but one of the few things Dick would tell me about his renegade act was that he wasn’t doing it by choice. She forced him to become her apprentice somehow, the creepy bitch. She’s obsessed with him, and would probably still be after him if she hadn’t died about six months back after one of her schemes backfired on her.”

Flamebird frowned as he switched the picture back to White.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know where Talia is,” Nyssa had said when Damian had contacted her after he’d found out about Red Hood. “She cut contact with me two weeks ago. Apparently, she objected to my use of the pits. If only you had called earlier so I could have called out the hypocrisy. Healing my niece is a far better use of the pits than fixing your pet.”

At the time, Damian had been so focused on arguing that Jason wasn’t a pet, he hadn’t questioned why Mara had needed to be healed in the pit. Especially one of Nyssa’s, which rarely saw use as his aunt was far warier of the effects of the pits than his mother or grandfather.

“Mara’s the White Woman,” Flamebird said, eyes tracing her mask. It reminded him of the Oni mask she’d worn thirteen years earlier, when she’d first attacked his team. “But why would she suddenly target Jump City?”

“Specifically Dick,” Red Hood corrected. “And beats me. Like we established, none of you al Ghuls give a crap about us.”

Flamebird opened his mouth, to argue that he did care. He cared about his Robin and he cared about his Batkid, no matter what either boy might think.

Then he froze.

“Grandson.”

“What?”

“When she came to warn me, Mother called Richard her grandson,” Flamebird said, turning towards the window. “I don’t know why she’d claim him as family, let alone acknowledging him as my heir, but if she was willing to overlook our lack of blood relation -”

“White could too,” Red Hood finished, tossing the tablet back into the closet and slamming the door closed. It locked automatically as the anti-hero raced after his elder brother. “She’s been targeting Dick to get at you, and you didn’t. Even. Notice!”

“I need to find Robin.” Flamebird pulled out his grapple gun, but Red Hood grabbed his arm before he could fire.

“I’ll find him. You’ve done enough.”

“I have a list of places where Mara might be.”

“And I have a list of places where White might be.”

Flamebird pulled his arm away, but turned to the boy. “Then we can compare our lists and narrow it down.”

“Not happening,” Red Hood growled.

“Ho-Jason,” Flamebird said, setting his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “This is about Richard, remember. Our focus right now should be locating him as fast as possible. You can be as mad at me as you want later.”

Red Hood slapped the hand away. “I’m going to shoot you in the kneecaps when this is over.”

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

For clarification:

League of Assassins: The normal LoA in the comics, ran by Talia (with Nyssa as an advisor when they aren't fighting)

League of Shadows: Dami's team (Flamebird, Nightwing, Abuse, Beacon, Flyway, Nobody, Quick)

Council of Demons: A cult that worships Ra's and seeks to bring him back to life

Demon's Followers: Mara's criminal organization

#damian wayne #Jason Todd #red x #red hood #mara al ghul #fanfiction #batkid and robin

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frostsinth · 4 years

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Deals with Demons - Pt. 4

Prologue | Part 1 | 2 | 3 | MasterList

Hello hello, my ace man, my mellow. Here’s the next part. I feel this fic might be a bit shorter than the others, or may be more like a ‘revisit for a steamy scene’ just jumping around fic. It is far too elaborate a plot line to follow along with the characters day by day. It’ll just end up being a novel, really.

Hope you all enjoy! A bit of smutty smut at the end, but otherwise a soft installment, I think. I have a related surprise gift for fans of this story that hopefully I shall post tomorrow if I finish it.

My body felt heavier. I was very aware of my eyes opening and swore I could even feel them moving about inside my skull. As if they were boulders rolling around instead of soft little squishy balls of jelly. I felt the air rushing in and out of my lungs like a mighty gust of wind with each breath I took. Heard the sound of that and my heartbeat in my ears like waves crashing on the shore. I could feel every single minute cell of my body that touched the huge bed, and when I started to turn my head to look around, it sounded like nails scraped along a wooden table to me.

It took a few moments for the sensations to settle, for everything to become a little more understandable. The canopy of the bed overhead seemed very detailed; each tiny individual string was as vivid as a sunset. As if made of thick corded rope rather than silk. I drew in another deep breath and could smell the thin smoke of an extinguished candle blown out hours before across the room as easily as if I had stuck it up my nostril. I blinked at it, studying the tiny fibers of the burnt wick thoughtfully.

Slowly, I managed to sit up. But the assault on my senses quickly had my head pounding. I reached up, cradling it in my palms. Though even that sensation seemed so buried beneath everything else I wasn’t sure I had moved at all. I could feel the air touching my skin, the individual molecules and almost the electrons moving between them. Yet was so overloaded I couldn’t tell if I had touched my own face. I groaned, then had to wince as the sound from my vocal chords overpowered the sound coming from my mouth and made my ears ring as if someone had fired a canon next to me. A more foreign sound I had never heard and couldn’t believe I had made it.

I became aware of a familiar, deep and throaty chuckle, and narrowed my eyes. I blinked a few times, my eyelids crashing together like planks of wood, and tried to sort out the source of the sound. Somewhere in my mind, I was able to maintain a thin trail of thought; I needed to find Abhilash to sort out this mess. Whatever this mess was. He was the answer.

I knew he was near, the chuckle had told me as much. But beyond that… I felt a strange, pulsing heat. Like that sensation when someone is standing next to you and you can almost outline their whole body just from feeling the heat washing off it. I didn’t think he was quite so close though, and managed to glance out of the corner of my eye to check. No, not within my peripherals at least.

I had to speak, to summon him to me and order him to lift whatever strange ailment had befallen me. But I dreaded the idea of hearing my own voice; my breath was certainly more than loud enough. I couldn’t imagine the pain my own voice would resonate within me. I groaned internally, trying to fortify my will and sort out my focus amid the assault.

“Concentrate.” Came his voice suddenly, filtering through my haze of over-stimulation like a delicate breeze on a blistering hot day. “Take a moment. Breathe it out.”

Had I spoken? I couldn’t seem to remember. But I clung onto his words, using them to anchor myself and holding my breath for a moment as I pushed back all the other things trying to demand my attention. I buried them down, packed them away into a more manageable input source. Then I released my breath in a great rush, and felt the pressure in my head lessen.

As things became more reasonable, I relaxed my shoulders, dropping down my hands from my face. Giving a deep sigh of relief. I almost started when another smoky chuckle tickled at my ear.

“You took too much at once.” He said.

I looked up at him, standing in front of the foot of the bed. As I turned my attention to him, he crossed his arms over his chest and raised one brow. A smirk played at the corners of his elongated mouth, and his tail flicked thoughtfully behind him.

“Took too much of what?” I asked, and even now the sound of my voice sent a sharp pain through my head. I reached up a palm, rubbing at my forehead with my brow furrowed.

“Magic,” He explained, considering me, “You pulled too much into yourself.” The smirk blossomed fully on his lips now. “Mortals are not designed to contain such amounts. At least not without extended exposure and tempering.”

I became aware again of the sensation of his body in space. As if without even looking, I knew exactly where he stood. How his arms crossed over his chest. How his muscular tail flicked in the air behind him. I even swore I could feel his nose twitch and his lungs expand as he sniffed at the air. I stared down at my lap, frowning as I considered that new awareness.

“Did you sleep well, My Queen?” The demon asked, and I felt him drop his arms and step closer. Another smirk slid over his lips. “You are positively glowing.”

I waved away his words irritably, still sorting through the strange extra sense of his body and the now much more subdued assault of my senses. “Don’t patronize me. How long was I out?”

He shrugged, leaning against the bedpost. “Not long. A few hours.” He cocked his great horned head to the side, “I sensed you might wake soon, and sent for one of the Sisters to tend you.”

“The Sisters?” I echoed.

Suddenly, the events of the previous day came rushing back to me. I straightened, blinking back the distractions and looking around the room.

I had never been in the private chambers of the Mother Superior, but I assumed these were them. The room was huge, with vaulted ceilings and decadent furniture. Most notable of the furniture was a large wardrobe and a great golden mirror beside it. Down a single step was a small sitting area, with a large plush looking couch and a polished wooden table set before a large fireplace. The stone walls had shelves carved into them, and most were filled with books and tomes. A few had artifacts and relics; some I recognized from the stories we were told as initiates, others I had no name for. There was also a great gold and wood chest at the foot of the large bed, with a huge lock set into the front.

The bed itself was large enough for five full grown men to lay in comfortably without touching. It was round, with four intricately carved wooden posts evenly spaced around the outside to support delicate, gossamer white curtains and a silk canopy. The bed was currently on the floor, and heavily lopsided. My face grew a little hot at the memory of our antics the previous evening. No doubt such a bed had not been designed to withstand such… exercise. Especially the kind involving a demon. But I also felt the tingle of anticipation in the pit of my stomach at the reminder. The corners of my mouth twitched as I struggled to fight the rush of warmth through my body at the thought of a possible repeat performance.

I certainly wasn’t going to bother getting the bed fixed.

In fact, I decided I rather liked it in its half broken, disheveled state. The rest of the room was far too pristine for my liking; it looked fake to me. Another lie cultivated by the Mother Superior to suit her selfishness.

“A few agreed instantly to your terms,” He explained, bringing me back from my contemplations and crossing his arms back over his chest. “I decided to let the rest stew it over for a night before facing the consequences of their decision.”

I nodded, pleased. “Where are those that did not?”

“Locked in those quarters off the Southside. I placed an enchantment on the Abbey as well. None may enter or leave.” I turned to look at him and saw his four black eyes watching me. “I hope I was not overstepping your orders.”

I shook my head. “No. I appreciate your forethought. It will give me time to execute my plans more efficiently.”

His grin returned. “Excellent. And what are your plans?”

We were interrupted by the soft knock of knuckles against the large wooden door. Abhilash turned to look, his flames swirling about his head with the movement. I considered their flickering depths for a moment, finding myself more distracted by the display than usual with my keener eyesight.

“Enter.” I called finally.

The door slid open and a small, matchstick thin young woman slipped through the opening. Her head was down, her eyes on the floor. I could see her hands shaking from here. I recognized her as one of the newer initiates, and as she side stepped into the room, I tried unsuccessfully to recall her name.

“My Lady,” She breathed, then winced. Obviously uncertain how to address me.

I saw her glance up at Abhilash, her eyes wide and frightened, then over to me nervously. When they settled upon me, they widened even more. My brain decided to recall the fact that I was naked right at that moment, rather than a more convenient time earlier. Like perhaps before I had let her enter.

But I brazenly brushed the embarrassment and self-consciousness aside. Modesty had been a grandiose ideal of the Mothers; I would not degrade myself to fall into their poorly formed footsteps. Slowly, I stood, trying to maintain as much poise as I was able. She dropped her head down again, clasping her hands before her.

“‘My Lady’ is fine,” I instructed her simply, then turned, padding barefoot over to the wardrobe, “‘Your Majesty’ and ‘Your Grace’ are also acceptable.”

“Th-thank you, y-Your Grace,” She stammered, working hard to study the floor at her feet for every detail it might hold, “I am grateful for your patience... May I assist you dressing?”

I shook my head. “That won’t be necessary. It is not why you are here.”

I pulled open the wardrobe doors to begin pursuing my options there, ignoring the strong sense of amusement that suddenly filled the air around me like a blast of steam. I even went so far as to physically wave my hand at the intruding emotion, as if I could brush it aside.

“Your Sisters; how do they fair?” I asked without looking at her, “Be honest. I will know if you are lying.”

I wasn’t entirely sure I would, but decided it seemed a fair statement. And better that they begin believing the impossible of me now; it would better ingrain their respect for me.

“They… they are afraid, My Lady…” She seemed to hesitate, “We… we are not sure what to expect.”

“There is no need for fear,” I told her, slowly considering each item in the wardrobe as if they were an important document of war as an excuse to keep my back to her, “You and your Sisters will find life here quite pleasant in time, I am certain. I do not hold with the same… mentality of the Mothers.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” She replied courteously, dipping her head.

“All I ask is that you maintain the Abbey; keep the garden tended, keep the halls clean. Wash the sheets and cook my meals. Everything you have always done.” I paused, and my voice became tight. “Except your prayer time shall be used in devotion to me.”

“...Y-yes, My Lady,” She bowed slightly again, “Of course.”

I turned to look at her, trying to sort the words in my head. Fighting through an alien curiosity that pricked at the edges of my mind and threatened to distract me. “I am reforming this place, Sister. For the better. And I do not intend to keep you against your will for long.” To her credit, she didn’t flinch at that. I waited a heartbeat before continuing. “I only wish for you all to have an opportunity to see the changes I am making before you decide whether or not to stay.”

“That is very gracious of you, Your Majesty.”

I waved away her falseness. “Enough of that. Address me with respect, but do not hide behind fake words.” I ordered her, my voice becoming sharper. “I always hated that. A leader should not oppress their followers, but elicit loyalty and respect without coercion and lies.”

She winced, but slowly chanced a glance up at me. “I.. I am sorry, My Lady. It is… force of habit.”

“I know that well. But you and your Sisters are free now. Free to read the books in the library. Free to wear what you’d like. Free to speak your minds and spend your free time however you wish.” I continued. “And, once I find a proper teacher, you will learn to fight.”

She looked up at me in surprise, but seemed uncertain where to rest her eyes. “Fight, Your Grace?”

I nodded, and smiled coyly. “Remind me, what is your name?”

“I am called Treya, My Lady.”

“Tell me; Can I trust you, Sister Treya?”

She blinked at me, then nodded. “O-of course, Your Majesty.”

I waved her closer. “I intend an order of Sisters. Built on respect and trust of each other. Who have had their bodies and their minds honed. An elite force, the envy of all others.” I glanced over at Abhilash, and saw him watching with a mask of neutral bemusement. “Loyal to me. And together, we will change the world.” I turned back to Treya. “Does this interest you?”

I could see a small flicker of awe growing in her big eyes, and she shifted her weight quietly. “...Yes, Your Majesty.”

I smiled at her again. “Then I need your help.”

“M-my help, Your Majesty?” She stammered, her bottom lip quivering.

“Your Sisters. Not all of them have seen my liberation for what it is; I need your help showing them my vision.” I turned back to the wardrobe, pulling out a white silk robe at random and pulling it slowly over my shoulders. “This is no longer a place to worship a false prophet; this is my castle. And from my new seat of power, I will make my mark. So tell me,” I left the front of the robe open and faced her again. “Is there a Sister who most vehemently speaks out against me?” I saw her waver, and hesitate. I raised a hand, smiling. “No harm will come to her, I promise. You don’t even have to tell me who.”

Quietly, she nodded. “Yes, My Lady, there is one Sister.”

I nodded. “Good. Release her.”

Surprise filled her face. “...R-release her, Your Grace?”

“Yes. Bring her to the gates and set her free. As a sign of my goodwill. Let your Sisters know that should they choose to accept my offer and denounce their old ways, not only will they have everything I have just told you, they will be allowed to walk free in one year’s time. Should they so choose when the time comes.”

Treya turned that over quietly in her head for a moment. I saw her glance over at the demon, and her hands shook again briefly. I felt Abhilash shift his weight slightly and flick his tail with eagerness. But the young Sister straightened her back and squared her jaw. I almost smiled at the sight.

“And if they should refuse to join you now, My Lady?”

“Then they shall be put to death.” I replied, coldly. Her new strength wavered slightly, and I saw her start to hunch into herself again. “Make no mistake, Sister Treya. I am Queen here. And I will be obeyed. But you will never question my true goal, nor will I hide my intent from you or your Sisters. You are not slaves, and I will not treat you as such.” She raised her gaze back to me. “My power is absolute, but I am not the Mothers. I am just, and reasonable. I will not lie to you, or try to brainwash you as they did. All I ask is respect, and you and your Sisters will flourish here.”

Slowly she nodded, and I nodded to the door, dismissing her. She bowed her head, carefully backing away. I saw her give one final fearful glance at Abhilash before she turned and slipped out the door once more.

I heaved a sigh once she had gone. So it has begun, I thought quietly to myself. I turned and walked towards the mirror.

“I do not see why you are releasing her,” Complained Abhilash after a few moments, “It would be better to simply kill the noisy one.”

I sensed more than saw him move, following after me. I shook my head.

“She will serve a better purpose.” I told him, stepping in front of the mirror.

The person I saw reflected there made me start suddenly. The soft silken robe draped down to my ankles and wrists, perfectly splitting my front in two with the opening running down over the top of each breast. But my soft flesh... My eyes went wide, and I realized it was not just my naked body that had first startled the girl.

My bare skin seemed to glow with a soft, ethereal shine. It didn’t seem to directly give off light, as when I looked down at my hands I could not see anything amiss. However, when looking at myself in the mirror, it was unmistakable. Like an aura of a soft, rose tinted white. The setting sun through a layer of clouds. My eyes seemed more blue, like glittering gemstones, and my hair was like gold. I stared for a long while, taking it in. I even went so far as to touch the glass, not entirely trusting what my eyes told me I was seeing.

The demon appeared at my shoulder, and as my eyes flicked to his mirror image, his grin made me scowl. “I did say you were glowing.” He reminded me.

“What the hell is this?” I demanded, looking back at my own reflection.

I stiffened slightly as his hands slid over my hips, sliding smoothly over the draped silken fabric. He stepped closer, molding his body around mine. I felt a foreign eagerness tickling at the back of my thoughts, and the presence of his heat in my mind’s eye slowly melded with my own. Until they were nearly indistinguishable.

“It is a manifestation of your new power.” He told me, leaning down to rest his chin on my shoulder. “Consider yourself in a fresh... raw body. Like a snake who has just shed its skin.” His hands slipped under my newly donned robe, his fingertips skimming over my bare flesh. “It will fade with some time, until you replenish your power again.”

I shivered beneath his touch, and my eyes fluttered. He leaned his chest against my back, curling around me and pulling me into him gently. Again, I felt an eagerness not my own, and frowned at it. I was quickly distracted by his breath on my neck as he brushed his lips against my throat.

“What purpose does the freed Sister serve?” He murmured curiously against my skin.

I pushed away the curling desire in my stomach, focusing instead on my plans. Finding strength and an anchor in them.

“She will bring word of us to the outside world.”

He raised a brow at me in our reflection. “This is a good thing?”

“I cannot build a reputation of power without demonstration.”

The corners of the demons mouth curled downwards, and I saw him studying me with one set of eyes while the other met mine in the mirror. His tail came around, curling around my ankles. The tip twitched, and I half wondered if it would catch my robes on fire.

“You would have them come here?”

I nodded, purposefully ignoring his hands as they slid over my breasts. “Heroes and adventurers are suckers for an innocent, pious girl who screams ‘monster’.” I explained quietly, my breath catching a little as his thumbs played with my nipples. “And from our defensible position, they will be easy to defeat. Spreading word of my new power.”

“And keeping the Sisters?”

“I will train them, as I told Sister Treya. They will become my own personal guards and spies.” My eyes fluttered again as he began to trace his lips against my neck. “Once I have instilled loyalty to me, I will send them out into the world as my agents.”

He gave a soft ‘hmm’ that vibrated through his lips against my neck and sent another shiver running down my spine. His long tongue slipped out, and he traced its tip along my jaw.

“There are not enough of them for an army.” He pointed out, his raspy voice at my ear.

“No. I will summon an army for that purpose. Then I will recruit.” I nearly stammered as his teeth nipped at my jaw. “Power draws the weak willed to it.”

“You will recruit more Sisters?”

I was wholly distracted by his hands pushing aside my robes. I watched our reflection in the mirror with bated breath as he ran them over my body. It took me longer than I cared to admit to realize he had spoken. I found myself entranced by a growing hunger that pressed against my consciousness. And the sight of him running his hands over me in the mirror.

“Sisters. Mercenaries. Warriors.” I breathed. “They will all flock to my ranks. I will have my pick of the best. And I can begin expanding my kingdom.”

He chuckled, and I felt it move through his firm chest pressed against my back as well as from his lips against my ear.

“Have I mentioned how much I love your conniving little mind, My Queen?” He hissed, then slowly snaked the tip of his tongue into my ear teasingly.

“S-stop that.” I gasped, jerking forward.

His massive arms tightened around me to hold me still. “Come back to bed, my little lamb,” he purred, nudging me with his nose, “I am feeling… inspired.”

Again, I felt the strange hunger gnawing at me. I was so distracted by it, I hardly noticed the demon steer me around and back into bed. He scooped me up and climbed in, placing me down in the soft pillows at its head.

“I told you not to call me that.�� I told him breathlessly, my retort delayed again by the alien sensation swirling around me. It was like a spectre I could not quite focus on when I tried, but which danced at the edges of my vision when I no longer looked directly at it.

He smirked, bending over me and pushing back my robe to expose my body to him. “I cannot help it,” He crooned, his long tongue lapping out to flick at my collarbone, “You are My Queen… but when I have your body like this…” His mouth closed over one nipple briefly, causing another soft gasp to escape my throat. I looked down and saw him grinning up at me mischievously. “I want to pretend you are just a little lamb for me to devour.”

Again I felt the strange sensation, and I paused, trying to chase it again. I reached down, cupping his face distractedly. My eyes danced around, as if I could actually see what it was that tormented me. I sensed him looking up at me, but didn’t turn to meet his gaze.

“What is that?” I asked, my voice wispy.

He leaned into my touch, then came back to hover over my face. “What is what, lamb?”

I kept my hand on his jaw, running my thumb over his lips. The flicker of foreign emotion spiked within my consciousness again.

“That!” I exclaimed.

I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I did know that the demon would also be able to sense the same thing I was. He titled his head to the side, blinking all four eyes at me. His horn nearly touched the bed at this angle, and his flames bathed us in a gentle glow. Slowly, a smile spread on his lips beneath my touch.

“That, my lamb,” He purred, leaning closer, “Is me.”

“You?” I echoed, confused.

Abhilash didn’t answer, instead bending down. Carefully, he pressed his forehead lightly against mine. His eyes closed, and I found mine naturally following suit.

There was a rush of strangeness, a lapse of my own consciousness. I felt instead a wave of invasive emotions and thoughts. I recoiled briefly, but then slowly relaxed. Opening myself to the sensation. I breathed slowly, and felt a matching deep breath twinning mine. A second heartbeat matched my own, drumming steadily in my ears. Then the thoughts. Less like words, more impressions and emotions. Amusement was most prominent, and I felt it so strongly I couldn’t help but smile as if it was my own. Beneath that, feeling familiar to this new consciousness within me, was the hunger. It coiled and uncoiled about me, like the midgard serpent, endless and eternal. Abated, but never satisfied.

I drank deep of this poison, and felt a little numb when it began to pull away. Slowly, I blinked, opening my eyes once more. And found four beady black eyes waiting for me.

“You.” I repeated, realization coming with the word as it slipped from my lips.

He nodded, tracing one large hand up my arm lightly. “The more I feed off you, the more connected we become. I can feel your emotions, your thoughts. I can sense your presence. But as can you sense mine. You will be able to feel my emotions, and soon, hear my thoughts.”

I ran my thumb over his cheekbone, and felt the hot intensity burning in my own stomach. “... You are hungry…”

He chuckled, his hand tracing over my collarbone, then down my sternum between my breasts. “I am always hungry.” He studied me with his smaller eyes. “You have a natural talent for this.”

I didn’t answer for a moment, feeling his hand trace down my stomach. It paused, lingering at my hip. I blinked stupidly, the heat already beginning to build up inside me. I wasn’t entirely sure how his touch was able to elicit such a response. I should be tired and sore from the previous night. But I found myself instead perfectly virile, as if our previous two encounters were a distant memory.

“Natural talent?” Again, delayed. Distracted. The hunger gnawing at my core.

It wasn’t mine. I could somehow distinguish that, despite how innately it entwined about me. But it was distracting. And it made my own desire that much stronger.

“Magic.” He explained. “I can feel it in you. I can feel you seeking it out when I feed.” He smirked. “Most mortals have to be spoon fed it. But you simply take what you want.” His mouth came down to my jaw again, and I felt his next words traced against my flesh. “Already you have taken more than I would have thought possible.”

I breathed out slowly, and felt his hand begin to move again. Nudging, smoothing, pressing. Massaging my skin tenderly. My eyes rolled back slightly, and I let out a hefty sigh. Relaxing against his touch as his big hand moved between my legs.

“We cannot linger,” I murmured softly, “I have a lot of work to do…”

But my eyes had already closed. I felt his lips skim up my jaw. When they pressed against mine, I responded happily. Parting my mouth to let his long tongue slide in and wrap about mine. His fingers teased my folds, tracing and retracing. Never quite pressing fully up between my legs. I breathed a soft moan into his mouth, and felt the tingle of his delight at the sound against my own consciousness.

“Your plan has excited me, My Queen,” He mewled against my lips, unwrapping his tongue from around mine to speak. “I am afraid I am powerless to resist your allure.”

I managed to pull myself back, away from the desire swirling in my chest and flooding my veins. I reached up and pushed against him with both my hands. He drew back obediently, looking down at me with an expression I couldn’t read in his demonic features. But the alien emotion of surprise skimmed alongside my thoughts, and I smirked.

“Tonight then.” I told him. “After I have finished my day.”

He growled softly, and the vibration beneath my hand from his chest made me shudder with desire. He brought his hand up, catching one of mine and turning it to kiss at my wrist. He teasingly licked at my long fingers, watching me out of the corner of his smaller eyes to see what reaction he drew.

“I will make sure you finish.” He promised, his breath tickling against the skin on my forearm as he worked his lips up it.

I sat up, pushing him back again. A frown settled on his large mouth, and I smirked in delight.

“Patience, Abhilash,” I told him.

I cupped his face with my free hand and leaned in as if to kiss him. I turned away at the last moment. Almost laughing with amusement at the mild frustration I felt melting off him.

“All good things to those who wait.”

....

UPDATE: Part Five HERE

#monster #monster boyfriend #demon #demon boyfriend #Deals with Demons #dnd #update #oc #demon lover #monster lover #terato #exophilia #monster x human #dark romance #evil couple #lovers #romance #slow burn?

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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 3 years

Text

Butterfly Fly Away

This short one shot might be a bit of a personal story for a lot of people. Trigger warning it does take place during a period for my OC. I tend to get massively overheated during them if I do anything strenuous or sometimes for no legitimate reason whatsoever they just happen because they feel like it with no rhyme or reason for it. The OC that I am using is in a Promare AU, my OC Keiko Katsuragi. In this AU she is a member of the Mad Burnish and Lio Fotia’s younger twin sister!! I thought that this universe just meshed super well with her personality. She still has the same personality and dresses in the same way but I just REALLY wanted a non scared Keiko au and this is what I came up with.

I had woken up to spotting in my underwear. I sighed knowing that was why I was slightly warmer than normal today. I had struggled with heat tolerance ever since I started getting my period when I was fourteen. To me it just meant that it was a day of being useless and leaning on my brother for absolutely everything. He kept a log of all my periods to make sure that I wouldn’t overwork myself and get sick. I knew that if he found out I would be stuck in bed all day. I promised Meis and Gueira that I would do the shopping for the time being with them. We did all need to eat despite the stress that it brought me. I pushed the sweat off of my forehead taking some deep breaths. It is just the store. It’s not so bad really. You just need to get the necessities and then get out of there. Maybe they’ll even be a bit more than we’re used to and I can get a treat for myself. Some mint chocolate chip, rainbow sherbet or birthday cake ice cream. I tied my hair back into the usual twin space buns grabbing my leather jacket and putting it over my mint tee shirt. I grabbed my favorite shoes and put them on carefully already feeling way too warm.

“I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. I just have to get to the store. I just have to get to the store. I’ll feel better once I’m back home. How much money do I have for something for myself?” I wondered aloud looking into my wallet seeing that Lio had put a hundred dollars in twenties with a note to the back of my wallet.

Kei,

Get yourself something, if you get a stuffed animal try to restrain yourself to just one. Whatever you don’t spend, keep it yourself.

Lio. I shook my head with a small laugh at my brother’s antics. Most of the stuffed animals that I bought were for the younger Burnish that we took care of. I hadn’t bought one specifically for myself in too many years. I put my wallet into my backpack and put that over my shoulders. I clutched my stomach in sheer agony taking a deep breath.

“You’re not pregnant time to run your stomach over with a 50 pound bus.” I snarked and sighed a little bit groaning. I had to do this for the sake of my best friend’s. They were counting on me. This was one of the few parts of the job that I looked forward to doing. I didn’t like causing fires but I did it because I enjoyed feeding off of the enthusiasm of my two best friends.

“What’s that about 50 pound buses?” Meis asked me leaning in my bedroom entryway and I sighed collapsing against my bed.

“If you tell Li I don’t know what I’ll do to you but it’ll be something. If I could think more clearly I could come up with a good threat but the only one that I have is that I won’t talk to you for a week.” He blinked a little bit in confusion before the resolution dawned on him and he closed my door.

“You got… it didn’t you?” I nodded my head and an embarrassed blush on my cheeks and I clutched my stomach in agony.

“Yeah I did but if Lio finds out I’m stuck here. I promised that I would do the shopping and it’s the one thing that I’m good for around here.” My best friend put his arm around my shoulders drawing me into his side a little bit.

“You don’t need to do the shopping, when you’re sick then Gueira and I go and do it. Those are the bosses rules for a reason. He just wants to look out for you and make sure that you’re safe. When you have your hot flashes and you get sick it scares the absolute fuck out of him. It’s not just a guideline it’s a general rule for your own health and safety. I mean I won’t tell him if you promise me something. Just get the things that are on the list and get out. You get a few things for yourself as well. It’s been way too long since you’ve treated yourself Keiko.” Meis lectured and I knew that my best friend was right, as he usually was.

“H-He gave me a hundred dollars and told me to buy some stuff for myself. I really want some ice cream. Maybe a new stuffed animal for myself this time around.” My best friend cackled with laughter a sound that never failed to bring warmth to me.

“We’re sending you to the all mighty Costco so I’m coming with you anyways. Don’t need you getting lost on me.” I stuck my tongue out at him muttering that was a one time thing and he just lightly shoved me.

“And why did you get lost again? Oh that’s right you were helping a cute kid get a stuffed animal out of the bin so you decided to crawl up the side of the bin to get it for you because you’re too short.” I sputtered in embarrassment at the fact that he was still teasing me about that even three years later.

“I-wah- you are cruel to me Meis, what the hell did I ever do to you?!” My best friend just laughed at me crossing his legs on my bright pink bed sheets.

“Hmm give me a minute here let me think because there’s a lot of trouble that you’ve gotten me into over the years…” I kicked his foot gently but my stomach cramped up in the middle of it and I froze, doubling over.

“Alright I’ll play nice, I’m really sorry about this Keiko. Just breathe hun you’ll be alright.” I huffed cursing my womanly fate.

“Gah why me…” My best friend hugged me and I sighed a little bit hugging the long haired goofball back.

“Because you can’t be a badass all the time, even the boss needs breaks too. I feel like if you weren’t around then he’d never take any.” I chuckled a little bit looking over at the picture of the four of us on my nightstand. “

You might be right even when I am around he’s still the biggest workaholic I know.” Meis looked at me with a small smile on his normally more stoic face. “Hey you’re good at a lot of things Keiko. You’re awesome at listening to people, that's your best quality, you're always able to help people through that. A lot of us stopped giving a shit about most of humanity a long time ago but you’ve still remained optimistic that the world will one day become a little bit kinder towards us.” Meis reasoned and I felt myself tearing up at my best friend’s kindness.

“Do you think Gueira might come too? I have a feeling that I’m going to need more help… I might just sit in the cart and boss you two around. Sorry I feel like if I even try walking for an extended period of time today I’m going to pass the hell out.” I asked him and he instantly took control of the situation texting his boyfriend.

“And don’t worry getting your smoothie is on the list too even if you do get sick I’ll just freeze it in here and you can have it when you’re feeling better. Oo check this out Keiko.” He tapped my shoulder on the Costco website and I looked at him with my eyes huge. What he was looking at was a big Care Bear that was Share Bear my favorite.

“Um I think I might need that.” My best friend laughed at me already five steps ahead of the situation putting in his own credit card information and it said that it would be waiting for us when we got to the store.

“Thank you Meis.” I thanked my best friend and he just shook his head at me staring up at my ceiling.

“Another cool thing that you did was make those glow in the dark flames for the kids. It really helps keep the darkness away and I know that they appreciate that. You have the kindest heart of anybody that I’ve ever met aside from the boss.” I laughed a little bit agreeing with my best friend. The kindness gene had definitely been passed down through the Fiota family since we both had it and so did our mother.

“Sometimes I wonder if that kindness is enough. Like if people think I’m stupid for always going on about how one day things will be different. It’s hard enough for me to keep smiling. I do it for Lio mostly because I know that my smile makes him smile. If that’s what I need to do then so be it.” My best friend tangled his fingers with mine and a sad smile on his face. It was at times like this when I thought to myself just how needy I really was. I constantly relied on touch to make me feel better. A hug on a bad day, a cuddle on my period from one of the three most important people in my life. It must be so exhausting for them to have to take care of me.

“You stop that thought right now. You are not exhausting to take care of. I love taking care of you, so does Gueira and most of all the boss. All of us love you so much Keiko. You’re the heart and soul of the Mad Burnish. Without you well we wouldn’t all be together. You introduced the three of us and together the four of us all equally are trying to make the world a better place. You aren’t needy I mean look at Gueira, it's hard for me to get him away from me for five damn minutes.” I looked up at my bedroom entryway seeing the other general there with his arms crossed and pouting.

“I leave for two minutes to go and check inventory and this is where I find you?” He asked his boyfriend jokingly and I clutched my stomach rolling over to my side.

“Keiko!! Are you alright?” Meis mouthed to his boyfriend period and the other boy sat at the foot of my bed.

“Do you want me to get the boss?” I shook my head animatedly not wanting to put my brother out of his way.

“Not if you can help it. I don’t want him to put me on the bench for stupid grocery shopping. It’s the one thing that I can do around here that makes me feel truly useful. Plus it’s Costco and I am getting my very berry smoothie if it kills me.” Meis laughed at me squeezing my hand encouragingly.

“I already offered to get the boss and she denied me too babe. Looks like we’re both on shopping duty with her because she’s staying in the cart. We’re going to do everything that we can to keep her safe today and not overwhelm her too much.” I reached into my wallet and took out forty dollars.

“Take it Meis, just consider it payback for the Share Bear. I don’t know how I’m going to lug that thing around when we have to leave again… you really shouldn’t have bought that for me.” I protested and my best friend just laughed at me nudging my shoulder.

“We figure out that problem when we get to it. I mean I have that apartment and we could just keep it there if that’s the case. It’s a piece of shit apartment but it works.” He shrugged his shoulders and I saw Gueira snuggle into his boyfriend’s side.

“Besides this is the home base it’s the closest thing that we’ve got to a perfect hiding spot. We’ll be fine here Keiko.” He reminded me as an afterthought and I smiled softly at my best friend kicking my feet back and forth.

“Do you still have enough to get yourself some ice cream tubs?” Gueira asked me and I nodded my head with a small smile.

“Yeah I still have plenty and the items at Costco are cheap. Let’s go thing one and thing two and then I can come home and pass the ever loving hell out.” I tried to stand up but a wash of heat came over me.

“Keiko!!” Gueira rushed to my side and put his arm around my waist taking his boyfriend’s other hand.

“I’ve got you, let’s just pray that the boss doesn’t see us on our way out.” He joked and I laughed a little bit at him.

“He said something about an early morning meeting today so we should be fine. We are taking the car?” Meis nodded, swinging the car keys around with his finger smiling softly at me. Taking the car was for the big shopping trips so they were only made once or twice a year.

“We’re doing delivery today as well so the list is really long today. Costco trips are a big deal for us. Time to go and get some food to make the people happy!!” Meis cheered and I smiled softly at my best friend as we walked down the hallway and out to the car. I climbed into the familiar backseat of the car wishing that my brother could come with us.

“Remember your fucking seatbelts kids.” He lectured and I stuck my tongue out at him while Gueira muttered yes mom next to him. I watched the desert go by and I looked out the passenger side window. The atmosphere of the desert though big and vast brought me comfort. I had once wandered those deserts with my brother. But now we didn’t have to roam aimlessly anymore. We had a family even though it was small and a little bit dysfunctional.

“You’re really quiet back there Kei, are you feeling alright?” I nodded my head with a sad smile on my face.

“I’m fine Meis just memorizes that’s all. I was remembering when Lio and I were on the run before I met you guys.” Gueira smiled softly at me looking at the wasteland in front of us and the shopping center that catered to our kind just ahead.

“This was the desert right? That must have been really hard on both of you. I know that he did everything for you. He loves you Keiko.” Gueira mentioned and I laughed a little bit. It was hard but at the same time I loved those early days just my brother and me against the world. “I love him too, he's everything to me. Aside from you two lugheads anyways.” I joked and Meis halfheartedly glared at me through the mirror at the front of the car.

“Lughead she calls me a lughead after I buy her this massive stuffed animal I can’t believe this shit.” I laughed heartily at my best friend until my stomach let out a massive cramp and I whimpered in pain. Gueira went through his bag and found an apple, a bottle of water, some saltine crackers and three Motrin.

“I thought that your… you know what thing might be coming so I came prepared.” He told me and I smiled softly at my best friend taking the items from him. I untied the rubber band around the taking one of the slices.

“Thanks Gueira, that means a lot to me. I guess everybody has to be carrying this shit around this time of the month though.” I sighed cursing my fate and chewing on the slice of my favorite fruit treat.

“Not really, I just wanted to. The boss keeps that shit to himself he only logs it so that he can make sure that you are off your feet for the majority of the first two days. It’s not like he goes around the compound telling everybody to look after you. He likes to take that job for himself.” I sighed a little bit leaning against the back of the car seat.

“He’s right Keiko. He doesn’t even give that log to us. It’s between him and you we’re just not as much dumbasses as you give us credit for. We try to be a bit more on the lookout and be more protective around this time every month. To us you’re like a sister so I guess we kinda took after the boss in that regard.” My best friend reminded me and I sighed a little bit at the exhaustion that I must be causing everybody.

“I love you both, so much…” I sighed out and Gueira just grinned at me with a bright smile on his face.

“Love you too Keiko!!” He cheered and I smiled softly at him. I got out my phone and my headphones since the only thing that would get my cramps to calm the ever loving hell down would be to tune them out with music. I knew that if my brother were here he’d be wanting to watch Hello Dolly with me. I closed my eyes taking the Motrin that I hoped would help me to feel better. Surprisingly even though my brother acted tough as nails he just adored this soundtrack. He would probably never admit it to anybody other than Meis, Gueira or myself but it still made me smile. He could be tough as nails but deep down he was a really big softie.

“Listening to Hello Dolly?” Meis asked me and I nodded my head with a small smile drinking from the water bottle.

“It helps I don’t really know why partially because it reminds me so much of Lio.” I heard Gueira’s cackle of laughter that came out of his entire being and it made my heart warm. The laughter of my friends would never fail to light me up inside. As a burnish the people that I had in my life as best friend’s meant more to me than just about anything else. Having Meis and Gueira in my life changed just about everything. Before them Lio and I were often alone but with my two best friend’s at my side suddenly the world was filled with laughter. I never wanted to lose the ability to make my friends laugh.

“I think it’s really nice for the boss actually. Without her I think he’d probably take a break and now once a month he has to in order to make sure that she doesn’t overheat.” I sighed a little bit, already feeling like the baby. I was already a lover of all things cute and feminine so most of my interests were geared towards younger children. I didn’t need to be treated like a child. I shouldn’t need to be treated like a little girl.

“Nobody thinks that you are a baby Keiko least of all the boss. You might love girly things but that’s a big part of who you are. Maybe it’s over compensation for the lack of a childhood that you had on the run for a good majority of it. Your mom was notified as a Burnish when you were how old again?” Meis asked me and I took another wedge of apple sighing a little bit. I never liked talking about my mom. It was that I missed her more than anything in the world.

“We were nine when the freeze force broke down our door. We used to light bonfires in the backyard and I guess one of the neighbors called on them for her. We were just kids and of course we protested but Lio always made sure that I had somebody to lean on. I think he had to grow up way faster than me due to that. I was always really clingy with him though so that’s nothing all that new.” I told them sadly and Gueira looked at me with a sad expression on his face. His other hand that wasn’t holding his boyfriend’s took mine.

“I know that the boss would do it all over again if it just meant another day with you Keiko. You two have always been closer than siblings but I’ve admired that. Have you two ever fought?” I shook my head with a small laugh. “At least that I can remember the only time we ever fight is when we bicker. I mean I know sometimes he dislikes what I do, mostly the flirting I know he hates that. But only because he doesn’t want me to get hurt. I can take care of myself… usually.” I waved my hand a little bit and Meis just laughed at me. “I swear he has a ‘somebody is flirting with my sister’ alarm in his brain and he’s just there before we even know what’s going on. At least if we aren’t right next to you which is rare.” I muttered I have three brothers great under my breath.

“And you love all of us sunshine so fucking deal with it.” I pffted my long haired best friend jokingly crossing my arms.

“Count your lucky stars that I do Meis.” I shot back at him gently kicking his foot with mine and I swallowed my Motrin praying to the gods that it would work.

“I’m surprised that even when you two were traveling alone together that you two never had one major blowout.” I shrugged my shoulders. I think it was because Lio and I were just different enough.

“I think it’s because we are a lot alike but we like different things and react differently in certain situations. He pretty much had to be mother, father and older brother all rolled into one person. I don’t know who told him that even though he’s older than me by five minutes that means that he can be extremely protective over me.” I huffed and Meis pulled up in front of the supermarket that was basically five stores in one.

“Alright, do you need help getting out of the car your majesty?” He asked me with an over exaggerated bow. I rolled my eyes and tried to get out of the car by myself but got a sudden wash of heat and flailed a little bit.

“Keiko!!” Meis caught me and carefully put me down on the ground next to the car as Gueira rushed around.

“I’m halfway tempted to just leave you here and go get your stuffed animal and make you stay in the car. I don’t need the boss bitching me out for you getting extremely sick later.” Meis lectured half heartedly and Gueira came around offering me a hesitant hand up. “

She’s just going to be sitting in the cart and I’m driving it so she’ll be fine babe chill.” I took my best friend’s hand on wobbly legs but sighed a little bit.

“I can walk on my own…” I whined but Gueira was already pulling me forward and Meis had his arm around my shoulders for extra support.

“Yeah yeah we’ve heard that one before we’re allowed to treat you like the princess you deserve today Keiko. Just let your stubbornness go for a bit.” Meis warned me and I laughed a little bit as my cramping slightly eased up. Gueira went and got a huge cart and I carefully sat down in it as he started pushing the cart through the front doors. He showed them the free membership card that I had. I hummed quietly as we went down the aisles and Gueira stopped at the large tropical skittles box and he handed it to me.

“Alright that’s one of your sweet treats you get four more.” Meis reminded me how many I had to get. They always forced me into picking out five sugary things for myself. Usually they were candies that I kept in my room for movie nights. We walked down the snacks aisle and I looked around the store seeing that they had the bag of animal cookies.

“For Kathryn.” I told them and Gueria nodded his head ruffling my hair softly and I was in a bad mood so I let him. Usually I would at least try and bat their hands away but I didn’t really feel in the zone today.

“That one doesn’t count as one of yours because you are getting it for somebody else.” The list keeper reminded me and we went through the non perishables where most of our food was that we had asked for. Meis went through the rest of the list before looking at me.

“What other treats do you want hun? You’ve got four left.” He told me and I glanced out of the cart pointing down the ice cream isle. “What flavor do you want to get Kei?” Gueira asked me and I looked at all the different Costco sizes before picking the birthday cake one.

“Three more.” Meis held up the three fingers and I hummed in thought before pointing down the pastry isle.

“If you want to get something from here it has to be only for you not the rest of the team.” He told me and I sighed at Lio’s rule. He was the one who told them that I wasn’t getting anything for myself and had insisted that I get at least five sweets every time we went to Costco and three when I went to the regular store.

“Are those cookies on their cupcakes?!” I looked at them in awe and Gueira picked them up winking at me. I could freeze them and make them last longer there. Plus their cupcakes were easily one of my favorite cheat treats.

“Two more are mandatory and then you can get your smoothie and stuffed animal.” I grinned excitedly. I couldn’t wait to get my new stuffed animal and I saw that they had the variety pack of fruit candy that Meis already knew I wanted and he put them in the cart putting up two fingers.

“The gummy collisions and then we can go. I'm not feeling so great…” Meis sighed a little bit feeling my forehead.

“You are getting super hot, baby let’s hurry this up.” He warned his boyfriend and Gueira nodded grabbing the last of my favorite candy and then hurrying to check out.

“We bought a stuffed animal online, the Share Bear.” Meis explained showing the receipt and the worker came back and I instantly hugged my new best friend sighing softly.

“Hun you’re really burning up let’s get that off of you…” Gueira took my leather jacket and I melted into my new giant plushie.

“Babe I think she’s having a hot flash. We’ll come back later and get the smoothie.” Meis shook his head looking at me with pain on his face.

“I’m sorry that you felt like you had to do this Keiko. It must have been so hard for you. You were in a lot of pain this morning. I should have demanded that you stayed at home. I’m going to get your smoothie. Baby, do you think that you can get her into the car? I’m calling the boss.” Before I could protest Gueira was already pushing the cart outside to our car. He carefully lifted me onto the seat and took off my shoes.

“Might want to lose the leggings and skirt too, just giving you a fair warning. I know that you’re having a hot flash now and you’ve got to shed the clothes. I’m sorry about this Keiko. I know that you hate this because it’s awkward but I don’t want you throwing up in the car.” He reminded me and I sighed just doing what I was told. Meis came back with a wet washcloth and my smoothie that he put in the front.

“I’m not taking any chances with you back there. I don’t want you getting sick. Boss was really worried about you. He'll probably wind up beating us back.” He put the washcloth on my head and kissed my forehead gently.

“I’m sorry…” I apologized and Meis just smiled softly at me scooting me over a little bit so that I could lean against him.

“It’ll be alright, there’s nothing to be sorry for. It’s not like you can control these damn things. I only wish that we could make them better. Drive like the wind baby. Let’s get her home.” He told his boyfriend and Gueira grinned peeling out of the parking lot and down the desert road. I grabbed my Share Bear and hugged her tightly while Meis took my hair out of its space buns brushing it away from my sweaty forehead taking my water and pouring a little bit onto the cloth and putting it back. I sighed at the cool texture and he ran his fingers gently through my hair. I settled my back against him and Meis just smiled down at me.

“Feeling any better?” I nodded my head tentatively before I felt the tell tale signs of vomiting coming. I saw the base in front of me and willed it to come later. I saw my brother standing looking worried out of his mind. Gueira stopped the car and instantly Lio was rushing toward the back seat on my side of the car.

“Keiko!!” He opened his arms and I felt tears come to them. He really had come for me even though I knew how busy he was today.

“Don’t worry about that I pushed it all back until four days from now. Until then you are not leaving my sight. Thank you for calling me Meis.” My brother carefully unbuckled my seat belt and Meis took my new stuffed animal from me.

“When I told you to get a stuffed animal… that was not what I was expecting. I don’t know why I’m even surprised at you anymore. It’s adorable. It suits you.” He joked picking me up with surprising effortlessness. For somebody so lithe and petite (the gene was cursed because I was tiny too) he had a hidden strength to him due to years of the two of us being on the run.

“I’m sorry Li…” I apologized and my brother just kissed my damp forehead with a small smile on his face.

“Don’t apologize for things that are not your fault. We have got to work on that. It’ll be like the eye contact problem that you used to have. With a little bit of training and hard work I know that you can do whatever you put your mind to. There is nothing that you need to apologize for. It’s not like you can control when these things happen and when they don’t. Did you get your five sweets?” He asked me and I nodded my head with a small laugh. He moved the hair out of my face and his brows furrowed together a little bit.

“Are you going to be sick?” I nodded my head with a nervous grimace and he instantly took off like a shot for my bathroom. He flung open the door and carefully put me down as I went over to the toilet. I hated this so much. Vomiting was the worst of this but my brother just rubbed my back carefully shushing my sobs of pain.

“Shush it’s alright Kei. I’m right here just get it out and you’ll feel a lot better most likely. I’m so sorry that you have to go through all of this torture every month.” He apologized and I wretched up the rest of what I had in my stomach. Lio just pulled me back from the vomit and flushed it down the drain.

“Oh Keiko…” He sighed a little bit and wrapped his arms around me. I gripped my brother tightly and he just ran soothing fingers through my sweat soaked hair.

“It’s going to be alright little sis I’m right here. I’ll protect you and look after you. Just like I always have. You’re always going to have me in your life. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I know what thoughts plague you during this time but trust me when I say that you are not a burden. I love you so much.” He reminded me and I wondered if Meis had told him just how bad my self esteem was today.

“Let’s get you horizontal, I’ve got you.” He told me picking me up like I weighed nothing and carrying me over to my bed laying me on top of my sheets. “I’m going to go and get you a cup of cold water. I’ll be right back I promise.” He told me squeezing my hand softly. Meis came into my room and sighed a little bit sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Hey hun, I’m sorry about all that in the car. I know that you tried to hold the vomit back and I’m proud of you for that. But you didn’t have to. I wish you would’ve told me that you were getting sick.” I sighed a little bit turning over onto my side with a sad expression on my face. My best friend tilted his head with a small smile on his face. He wasn’t angry with me. He was still the same Meis that he always would be to me. Still goofy, overprotective, spicy mom friend that he always would be.

“I didn’t want to be a burden on you…” I trailed off and my best friend sighed a little bit but kept his smile.

“Not a burden if you’re not feeling well. How many times have you taken care of me when I get my stupid ass hurt? How many times have you given up one of your prized stuffed animals to the younger children? Far too many times if you’re asking me. We love you Keiko. More than anything. You are not a burden and are in fact one of the best people that I’ve ever met. From the first moment I met you I knew that you were something special. Something to be kept safe and for the last ten years that’s what I’ve tried to do.” He pushed a sweaty lock of hair behind my ear and grabbed the book off of the shelf that was sitting there. My best friend sat on the other side of the bed and opened the book that had been with me since I was a baby. It was the one thing that Lio got for me before we had to run away from home.

“Once when I was six I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle, called True Stories. It showed a boa constrictor swallowing a wild boar. Here is a copy of that picture. In the book it said boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing. Afterward they are no longer able to move and they sleep for six months. In those days I thought a lot about jungle adventures, and eventually made my first drawing using a colored pencil. My drawing number one looked like this…” Listening to Meis’s soft voice read to me my favorite childhood story is what lulled me to sleep eventually. I did feel the bed dip a little bit and felt myself be covered with blankets. Arms wrapped protectively around me and I sighed a little bit melting against the person that was protecting me, I assumed that it was Lio. He was always protecting me no matter what. When I felt better I would have to do something for him in order to thank him. He wouldn’t let me do much but at the very least he would let me cook something for him. I owed Meis a huge favor now too one of the million that I probably owed my goofball. I woke up to a fresh mind a few hours later seeing a cold glass of water that had sweated it out for a few hours.

“Kei, how are you feeling? Any better after your nap?” I could hear the worriment in my brother’s voice and I smiled weakly. “A bit better, I’m sorry that you had to come away from your hard work today. Did Meis and Gueira deliver the rest of the food?” My brother sighed running a hand through his shoulder length mint green hair.

“What on earth am I going to do with you Kei? Even when you’re sick out of your damn mind you still can’t help but worry about the sake of other people. Yes I had Meis and Gueira deliver the rest of the food. They wanted to stay with you but I knew that when you woke up you would be really upset that they stuck around. And don’t you dare apologize for making me come home. I wanted to come home to you and I knew that you needed me. Whenever you need me I’ll always come for you. It’s part of being a sibling. I should have kept a better eye on that log. I thought that you had another few days. I’m marking it right now.” I saw the log in his lap and I couldn’t help but smile at the colorful stickers that I had put on it.

“Li, do you think that I’m a baby?” I asked him and he blinked a little bit in confusion before the idea dawned on him.

“Because of this?” I nodded my head gesturing to all around me and including my new stuffed animal.

“Well mostly because of everything. I act like a little kid so much of the time. Sometimes I wonder if it’s annoying. If I’m holding you back from being your own person. If you’ll ever get in a relationship or if you’ll just be stuck looking after the baby sister.” Lio looked at me, his magenta eyes shining with the emotion of the moment.

“Look at me Keiko.” He told me and I looked up at the brother that had to look after me for so much of his childhood.

“You are not a baby. You like cute things but that does not make you a baby. It makes you unique and you wouldn’t be my little sister by five minutes if you didn’t have these qualities. You kept your imagination and your heart. It has helped you to become a much kinder individual and taught me that no matter what you can be anything that you want to be. You’re still a badass general of the Mad Burnish but you’re also still so much your own person. Without these things in your life you would have no outlet. No way of being actually happy with the way that things were. Maybe it was part of your lost childhood having to give up everything in order to live a free life away from the prisons. Without your happiness I probably wouldn’t have made it out alive the same person. You reminded me of what it is like to have a childlike sense of wonder about things. So no in my opinion you are not a baby. You are a child at heart and there is a big difference between that and being a baby. You’ve always loved the same things. Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Spongebob they were always part of your life Kei. It’s just that you kept them there where most people eventually forget what their childhood was like. What is the main message of your favorite book again?” He lectured and I settled against my big pink pillow that my brother put behind my head.

“Growing up isn’t the problem, forgetting is…” My brother settled back against my shoulder and he played with the ends of my hair.

“That’s right sweetheart, you are always so open about loving your childhood favorite characters. I know how much Share Bear means to you. I was mostly joking when I told you that I said it was too big. You deserve a treat yourself every once in a while. Whatever makes you happy Kei.” He told me and I melted into the hug that he was giving to me. Lio made sure that I was sitting up straight before handing me my water.

“Is it still cold?” I nodded my head with a small smile. He gave me a tums as well that would help me to feel better in the stomach area.

“Besides it’s not your fault that I haven’t had a boyfriend yet. What about you? Why haven’t you had one yet? You clearly flirt with enough men.” I stuck my tongue out at my brother laughing a little bit.

“Mostly because men are cute and handsome like I don’t know. All of my thoughts when I see them are like I want to be cuddled in those arms. I don’t really think that’s normal. I should probably ask Meis he knows more about this stuff then I do.” My brother softly hummed a little bit, still trying to keep me calm.

“I have served your sweet treats and they shall suffice until the next shopping trip. Thank you for following those orders. I know that they might seem silly and ridiculous to you but I wanted shopping to be things for you as well when it could be.” I laughed a little bit at my brother wishing that I could have one of my cupcakes but not wanting to push my stomach more than it was worth.

“You do look a ton better Kei but let’s still take it easy. Are you hungry?” I nodded my head tentatively and kissed my forehead softly going over to my ordering station.

“How about buttered pasta with parmesan will that work with your stomach?” I nodded my head with a small smile looking down at my tank top and underwear that I was still wearing.

“Ah no wonder I’m freezing.” I joked and went underneath my bed to find my pajamas.

“Want me to leave for a little bit?” Lio asked me and I nodded my head but my brother just smiled at me.

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. You should probably want to shower as well.” He teased gently and I rolled my eyes at him. He left me alone and I went to go and do what I needed to. Putting my warm comfort pajamas that had Never Stop Dreaming on the front of them just brought back so many childhood memories back. I brushed my cotton candy hair out with a small smile on my face.

“Feeling better?” I nodded my head flopping onto my bed next to my brother who just laughed a little bit at me.

“I’m glad, you really scared me earlier. I know that you don’t mean for these things to happen to you but whenever they do and you wind up vomiting I always go into super overprotective mode. I wish that I had a reasoning for it other than must protect but I really don't.” I smiled brightly at my brother leaning against him a little bit.

“I didn’t mean to scare you that bad Li. I’m really sorry about all of this. Hard to prove to the world that it’s wrong when your sister gets sick once a month and you feel obligated to take care of her.” He ran some hands through my hair that I had just towel dried and brushed out the knots. I sighed at the affectionate touching from my older sibling.

“It’s not out of obligation Kei. I love you, you’re the other part of me, my twin sister and my best friend who I would do anything for. Besides, even people hellbent on changing the world need breaks every once in a while and once a month I get to take three days off to take care of you. I don’t know about you but that’s all the relationship fulfillment that I need.” He smiled softly at me kissing my forehead and there was a gentle knock at the door.

“I’m back boss, all the food has been delivered to its rightful place. Oh Keiko you are awake!!” Meis looked so relieved and I couldn’t help but imagine him panicking somewhere deep down pulling his own hair out and Gueira trying to console him.

“He was SO worried about you Keiko.” Gueira teased and I saw my best friend throw a halfhearted glare at his boyfriend.

“So what if I was? I felt like it was my fault for not forcing her to stay in the car or better yet here at home.” I laughed at the two of them interacting off of each other shaking my head at them.

“Good job, both of you. I know that it couldn’t have been an easy day for either of you.” I smiled sadly at Meis for having to spend most of the day worrying about me.

“I’m sorry about everything today Meis. I really just wanted to be useful.” I apologized and my best friend sat down at the foot of my bed.

“Don’t you fucking dare apologize to me hun you did the best that you could. Kathryn was really happy to get her frosted animal cookies. I told her that you got them for her and she promised that she would save one of them for you for when you’re feeling better.” I smiled softly at the kindhearted girl knowing that I would go back to the big store once I did feel better and get her a stuffed animal.

“I love that idea but this is your money you are spending it on something for yourself.” Lio reminded me and I sighed a little bit mentally face palming at the memory.

“Right, right maybe next time when I have more of my own money I’ll buy her one.” Gueira laughed a little bit at me kissing my cheek as he flopped next to me.

“Are you feeling better?” He asked me and I nodded my head with a small smile as he looked at one of my gummy lifesavers.

“Yes you can have a bag of them.” I told him and he cheered taking one of them and opening the bag to me.

“I think you’re mostly better, have some candy.” Lio waved his hand and I cheered with a bright smile taking one of them and sighing at the flavor.

“Did the reading help at all?” Meis asked me a little bit nervously and I nodded my head with a small smile hugging my friend.

“Thank you Meis for everything today. I love you.” I told my friend and he just huffed a little laugh smiling at me. “Love you too Kei. I’m just so relieved that you’re feeling better. You scared the fuck out of me earlier.” I rubbed the back of my neck a little bit and heard a small knock on the wall. I looked up seeing a massive tray of food.

“I ordered enough for everybody and proteins for the rest of us because I figured that you two would be coming back sooner rather than later. What do you want to watch Kei?” I hummed in thought getting my bowl of pasta grateful that my brother had ordered so much food because I was low key starving.

“Ponyo?” I asked and my brother just chuckled a little bit grabbing the dvd that I had since I was a kid. Even when I couldn’t watch it I still kept it with me. I settled next to Meis and he put his arm comfortingly around my shoulders while Gueira was on the other side. My brother hopped up onto my left side and pressed against it comfortingly. Watching movies with my found family and my biological family were some of my favorite moments. It was rare when all four of s were able to actually take downtime. I knew that there would be more days like this when I felt useless but also at the same time also knew that I could lean on my family no matter what and that they would always be there for me.

#fan fiction #family fluff #found family #promare

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malecsecretsanta · 6 years

Text

Merry Christmas, @sweetlittlepeapod!

I hope you enjoy the holiday (or whatever you celebrate!) I wasn't sure on prompts for you but I gave it a go anyways and this came out of it. Hope you enjoy <3

Read on AO3

*****

Hot chocolate can find you dates

A lot could be said about Alexander Lightwood. For one, he enjoyed his peace and quiet. But on the other hand, some could say that’s a lie because of the child his sister and her wife have that he loves dearly. Or the fact that he has a Jace Wayland in his life, or Herondale depending on who asked.

Though Jace only uses the last name Herondale for the perks (Alec truly didn’t understand his brother’s mindset with that one) or to get people off Alec’s back whenever they would tease him about being gay. The upperclassman of New York weren’t the most accepting of people but Alec has learned to deal with it and move on, but not Jace. He throws his last name around to “strike fear into them” as his brother claimed to do. (And truly, it only worked because his grandmother was a feared judge.)

He loved his little brother, although sometimes that was debatable. Especially with the day that Jace came to his apartment with a Clary Fray and Alec truly hasn’t known what a quiet day means or is after that.

But today, oh today was the day he was committed to having a day to himself. No immature adults, no children, no going outside. He had even taken the day off work today – which he usually never does! – to be able to “fully enjoy himself” in the words of his sister Isabelle.

He was going to sit on his ass on his couch while binge watching movies (or television shows, he hasn’t quite decided yet) and pretend to be a teenager again without a worry in the world (which isn’t quite true either, not when you grew up with a mother like Maryse Lightwood) but damn if he wasn’t going to try.

Sometime between laying down and getting comfortable, he began to doze off. He hadn’t planned on letting his eyes close, or to fall asleep, but his eyes were just so heavy and really, would it hurt to close his eyes for a little?

✧ ✧ ✧

He was jerked out of his light napping with the sound of his front door opening. He wasn’t expecting anyone home at this point in the day, his siblings in countless meetings and the handful of people had a key to his flat, as far as Alec knew, were all busy today. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he bolted into an upright position with his body tensed, braced and ready to defend against an attacker.

He squinted his eyes in questioning when he heard the soft giggling of a child and a loud ‘ shh! Uncle Alec is sleeping !’ followed by a female’s voice of ‘let’s go wake him up Madzie, he can’t sleep the day away.’

Alec bit back a groan because of course it would be Lydia and her daughter Madzie here to visit him on his day off.

He didn’t want to crush the little girl’s excitement of waking him up though (it wasn’t very often the little girl was able to do that, her uncle was up before everyone else in the morning.) He laid back down, stifling a yawn as he closed his eyes and forced his body to relax, not wanting the little girl’s mission to go interrupted or foiled. No sooner did he relax his body did he have his arms full of an excited 7 year old who was – if he heard right – demanding him to make her hot chocolate and, wait, did she mention Christmas shopping?

“Madzie! Is that the way we ask for things?” Lydia scolded the child while Alec tried to hide a grin. He didn’t mind when Madzie got this way, he knew the little girl was over excited and sometimes when that happened, her asks turned into demands. She shook her head and turned apologetic eyes onto Alec.

“I’m sorry Uncle Alec,” she murmured and released a sigh.

“It’s alright,” Alec replied and gave a sleepy grin. “Did you want to help me with making the hot chocolate?” He released a laugh when he got an excited squeal in response and felt his arm being tugged by a 7-year-old to his kitchen. He turned around to look at Lydia who was trying to hide her laughter behind her hand.

It wasn’t every day you saw a tall giant like Alec willingly going along with being pulled around wherever the young child desired and snuck looks around Alec’s loft - she had very clear instructions from Isabelle that morning. Before her wife left for work she demanded that Lydia go over to Alec’s apartment to make sure her big brother was living fine; see if he needed anything and she would go later to pick it up for him.

It was heartwarming to see how much the Lightwood siblings cared for one another, including Jace. But it definitely got exhausting at points. Deciding Alec was living fine and would “live to see another day” (her wife’s words, not hers) she followed the pair into the kitchen, pulling up a chair to sit down at the kitchen table.

Alec kneeled down to Madzie’s height and cleared his throat. “Alright, this is an important mission. Are you sure you’re up for it soldier?”

“Yes, Uncle Alec!”

The sound of Lydia’s laughter sounded around his kitchen at the antics between the girl’s uncle and her child. Alec was truly gifted when it came to looking after children, not that she was surprised. But it always warmed her heart to witness it for herself and she couldn’t wait until Alec had kids of his own. He’d be a great father and she was looking forward to getting back at him for the amount of times he had pumped Madzie full of sugar before sending her home to Isabelle and her.

“Okay, first we need a big enough pot to boil the water in. Do you think you can find one for me?” The little girl shook her head in a nod quickly and ran off to Alec’s cabinets in search of the pot. Alec smiled at the little girl’s excitement and went digging through another set of cabinets for the hot chocolate mix.

Madzie let out a triumphant noise when she found what she was looking for, presenting the pot she found hidden away in Alec’s cabinets with pride. Lydia shook her head and went over to the sink to help her put the water they were going to boil into the pot, placing it onto the stove top and waiting for the round to heat up. Meanwhile on the other side of the kitchen, Alec was frowning and searching around.

His frowned deepened when he came up empty handed and turned around to face the little girl. “We don’t have hot chocolate mix anymore, Madz,” Alec began. “But, if it’s okay with your mommy we can go to the grocery store and pick it up?”

The girl squeaked and turned to Lydia in a rush. “Please mommy! Please!” she turned to Alec and added, “I promise I’ll behave for you!”

Sighing and frowning a little, Lydia turned to Alec. “Are you sure?” she questioned. “I can take her out myself, you don’t have to feel pressured to take her.”

“It’s alright Lyds, I don’t mind.” Grinning he added, “Besides, it’s been way too long since we’ve had only Madzie and Alec time.”

“What he said mommy!” Madzie nodded in agreement and Lydia let out a sigh of defeat.

“Okay,” Madzie cheered and ran over to give her mom a huge hug. “But I want you on your best behavior, do you understand me?” The little girl nodded from where her head was buried in her mother’s stomach, Lydia wrapped her arms around her child and picked her up, resting her on her hip.

“Let’s go get you ready, you little munchkin,” murmured Lydia and proceeded to get her child dressed for the chilly winter day while Alec turned off his stove and set the pot with the water in it aside.

✧ ✧ ✧

“There, there!” Madzie pointed to the store’s doors as Alec struggled to keep up with her. For someone with tiny and short legs, she can run Alec thought to himself as he struggled to keep up. His heart was pounding into his chest with nerves as his niece ignored his warnings – and they were in a parking lot!

“Slow down Madzie!” Alec called after the little girl. “You might get hurt!” He managed to catch up with the little girl and released a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding. Stopping in front of the girl he put on his ‘mean uncle face’ as both Jace and Madzie called it and began scolding.

“What did I tell you about listening to me?” and fuck, those were tears beginning to form in her eyes but he had to do this. She could’ve been severely injured.

“You promised me you wouldn’t run off Madz, but that’s exactly what you did. Do you understand that you could’ve been severely injured by one of the thousands of cars in this parking lot? Or you could’ve been snatched away by a mean, mean person and I could’ve never seen you again?”

“But Alec—“

“There’s no buts here, Madzie. What would have I told your mother if that happened? Do you think your mother would’ve let us spend time together again after something like this happened while you were in my care?” And okay, he knows he’s being a bit dramatic – he knows that. He knows that both Isabelle and Lydia would have forgiven him but he never would’ve been able to forgive himself. Not when something like that happened to a kid under his care and his niece at that.

He received a quiet ‘no’ in response to his questions and sighed. “Look Madz, I don’t want to be the bad guy here but you need to understand that what you did could’ve had serious consequences.”

“I... I understand,” she whispered and looked up at her uncle. “I’m really, really, really sorry Uncle Alec. It won’t happen again. Promise.” She held up her pinky finger and waited for her Alec to do the same. She would never ever break a pinky promise, especially not to her favourite uncle.

A grin slowly graced its way onto Alec’s face and let out a small laugh. “Now I for one want hot chocolate,” standing up he held out his hand for the little girl. “I don’t know about you though... bad girls don’t get hot chocolate—“

“I’m a good girl!” exclaimed Madzie and stomped her foot with her cheeks puffed out. “Plus you promised me hot chocolate last week when you couldn’t make it to our play date last week because of work!”

“Alright, alright,” replied Alec amused. “Let’s go find you some hot chocolate mix.”

And that’s how Alec found himself with an overactive 7-year-old when they finally stumbled across the hot chocolate after countless minutes of searching. And to think I was supposed to have a relaxing day to myself he mused.

Alec winced when Madzie let out a high pitched squeal, high enough to rival that of a cat being stepped on. “Uncle Alec, look! Look!” The little girl pointed to the sign and Alec squinted. The sign the girl was pointing at read ‘3 for $9’ because of course today would be the day everything Madz likes goes on sale.

“Can we pick up the three boxes Uncle Alec?” she bounced with excitement. “Can we? Can we?”

“We can—“

“—thank you!”

“But you’ll need to promise me that if I get you the extra two boxes you’re going to behave yourself for your parents.”

Madzie nodded her head furiously and turned pleading eyes onto her uncle. “I will, I promise!”

“Pinky promise me Madz?”

“Pinky promise!” She held out her pinky and locked it together with Alec’s pinky, a grin spread out on her face and giggling. “Come on, we have to go buy them now!” She grabbed Alec’s hand and dragged him to the cash out, hurriedly placing her items down onto the thing with a bounce to her step.

“Settle down now Madz,” murmured Alec affectionately. “You have to let the person do their job in a timely way so they don’t mess up.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, darling,” and fuck, Alec already loved the sound of that voice. “But I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I have been working here for two years now.”

Alec looked up and lost his breath. The owner of said voice was the most gorgeous man Alec had ever laid his eyes on and god , Alec was staring at him like a fish out of water with his mouth open and he could vaguely hear Madzie telling him he looked like a fish out of one of her books, giggling with glee.

“I.. uh.. right,” replied Alec dumbly. He had met this man for a whole minute and he’s already a stammering idiot in front of him. Way to go Lightwood. If your last name wasn’t going to scare him off, the amount of brain cells you’re currently showing off will.

“That’ll be $9.45 please,” the gorgeous cashier said with a small grin on his face. Like he knew the effect he was having on Alec and was proud to do so. He stared back at the man but was broken out of his staring when Madzie began tugging on his sleeve.

“Uncle Alec, come on!” she urged. “I want my hot chocolate!”

“I.. right.” He fished in his back pocket for his wallet and pulled out a ten dollar bill. “You can keep the change,” Alec shrugged. “I’ll have no use for it.”

The male nodded and flashed a smile towards Alec who could feel a blush creeping up his neck, dropping his eyes down to find a name tag resting just below the male’s collar bone. The name tag read Magnus .

“—your receipt and your bag, sir.” The man, Magnus he reminded himself in his head, had apparently been talking and Alec awkwardly nodded along, pretending he had been listening to everything he had been saying to him. In truth, though, Alec really had no clue but he didn’t think it was anything different from when he had gone through countless other cashes with other cashiers.

He picked the bag up and stuffed the receipt inside, giving a little wave and murmuring a small thank you to Magnus. He grabbed Madzie’s hand and began walking back to his car with her, praying that Madzie wouldn’t go blabbering about this to Lydia.

✧ ✧ ✧

Alec was really starting to hate his luck. He had hoped Madzie wouldn’t mention anything about the meeting with the gorgeous cashier but as soon as she had one tiny foot through the door she had begun telling Lydia all about the “handsome man that had made her uncle speechless” and “uncle Alec looked like one of my fishes from one of my books when he saw the man mommy!”

Lydia had been listening to her daughter go on and on about the man and Alec threw his hands up, walking towards the kitchen to begin making the little girl her cup of hot chocolate. The two girls had followed him into the kitchen and as he went to go throw out the bag with the receipt inside, he was stopped by Lydia.

“There’s writing on the back of this,” she said as she bent down to pick it up and turn it over. On the back with neat cursive writing made Alec wish a hole would open up and swallow him.

�� 578-945

text or call me some time :)

~ magnus (the cashier)

Lydia burst into a fit of laughter. Madzie was too busy watching the water boil for her hot chocolate to care about what was going on – Alec couldn’t be more grateful for that, truly, but why did Lydia of all people have to find it before him? There was no way she or his sister was going to let him live this down.

“Only you could go out for hot chocolate and come back with someone’s number,” she said in between her fits of laughter. Alec scowled and tried to get the receipt out of Lydia’s clutches.

“Come on Lyds, it’s not that funny,” he tried to reason with the blonde but she wasn’t having it. She had calmed down a little at this point, so Alec believed it to be safe enough to turn around to help Madzie with her hot chocolate. He had just finished preparing her cup and ready to pour the hot water into the cup when he heard his phone chime. He looked around confused and his eyes landed on Lydia who was trying her best to act innocent.

“What did you do?” questioned Alec as he moved to pick up his phone.

“Nothing,” the girl replied. “Just sped up the process a little.”

“What do you mean—“ Alec looked down at his phone and his face lost all colour to it. Of course this is what she meant. How could she?! He wasn’t ready to talk with Magnus, he was fully prepared to throw out the number and pretend it never happened but of course Lydia wouldn’t let him do that and oh god, what was he supposed to do?

“Breathe Alec,” Lydia said as she walked over to the table where he had sat down, Madzie’s cup of hot chocolate in her hand with cool whip brimming at the top of it. The little girl had bounced over to her seat and beamed at her uncle.

“Thank you Alec!” she chirped and Alec managed a small smile, though he imagined it looked more like a grimace. His phone chimed again and he looked down at it, his breathing picking up and he looked at Lydia with panic evident on his features.

From: Alec

To: Magnus

Hey, this is Alec. We met at the grocery store earlier.

From: Magnus

To: Alec

Hello, darling. Is your name short for Alexander?

Would you mind if I called you that?

From: Magnus

To: Alec

Forgive me for being this forward but would you like to

go out and have some drinks tonight? My treat?

“He wants to have drinks this Saturday,” Alec said with a panic. “What do I do? What do I say ? I’m not good with this!” Lydia finally took pity on her best friend when she saw the man was close to bursting into tears or having a panic attack – or both.

“You tell him yes and that you’re looking forward to it.” She reached over and typed a reply for Alec. “There. Now all we have to do is wait for him to text back the time and place,” she continued on. “And wouldn’t you know it? Just like that you’ll have a date Alexander,” she teased.

“It’s Alec,” he corrected her and she only grinned back in reply. He rolled his eyes at her and turned his attention back on Madzie who was almost done her cup of hot chocolate. He was about to ask if she wanted some more as it’s not like he was going to run out of it any time soon when his phone chimed for the third time that night.

From: Magnus

To: Alec

I know this great club and it’s near my place.

I can pick you up tonight? How does 7:30 tonight work for you?

He stared down at his phone and started typing out a response, erased it, and repeated. This went on for a full two minutes before Lydia took pity on him.

“Any reply will work Alec. He’s obviously already interested in you,” she laughed. “I think you could text him back in Indonesian and he’d be happy just to have a reply back from you.”

“Still, it has to be the perfect reply. I don’t want to think I’m some uneducated person who is only after him for his looks – which he looks absolutely beautiful by the way you should really see him.”

“Right,” she said amused. “You forget the little fact of me being a lesbian and not having any interest in the male body.”

Alec groaned and stared back at his phone. He frowned before picking it up and texting Magnus back.

From: Alec

To: Magnus

7:30 works for me.

He hesitated for a moment before beginning to text again.

From: Alec

To: Magnus

I can’t wait to see you again.

He hit send and covered his face with his hands while he awaited a reply. He didn’t have to wait for too long though, a reply chiming through his phone a few seconds later.

From: Magnus

To: Alec

I can’t wait to see you again too, darling <3

He smiled down at his phone and looked towards Lydia. She made a gesture with her hands as if to say ‘see, that wasn’t so hard was it?’

He turned towards Madzie who had started to fall asleep after drinking a warm drink and felt nothing but contentment. He had wanted to start this day off as a relaxing, quiet day but Lydia and Madzie had stormed into his apartment to change that but Alec couldn’t find it within himself to be mad at the two girls for it. Not when they had brought someone as beautiful as Magnus into his life.

And to think, it all started with Madzie Lightwood-Branwell wanting hot chocolate.

#sweetlittlepeapod #malecsanta17 #*fic17 #*gifts17

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