#did I just accidentally sort of make this canon compliant?

[steddiealltheway]

The upside down is colder than Steve remembers.

To be fair, he only wearing a vest, pants, and no shoes at the moment, and he may be actively bleeding out even with the bandages because of the damn bats but… he just doesn’t remember it being this cold.

He probably didn’t spend long enough in the tunnels to truly get a feel for things. But now that he’s fully here, he can’t imagine what it must’ve been like for Will.

The place is dark enough to even give Steve nightmares although he has Robin, Nancy, and Eddie at this side. How did Will survive with no one?

Steve looks down and carefully steps over a vine as he makes his way through the woods. Did Will ever step on-

“Is this a bad time to mention that I haven’t kissed anyone?”

Steve and the girls turn to Eddie, giving him looks of confusion at the random outburst.

Eddie keeps walking, staring at the ground as he tries not to activate the hive mind. “I’m just saying, it kind of feels like the end of the world here, and it makes you think. Like, do I really want to die a virgin? Not really, but dying without kissing anyone… I feel like that’s a bigger problem in my book.”

Robin and Nancy share the same look of confusion mixed with an air of why are you talking to us about this? But Steve thinks he gets the nervous rambling. He wouldn’t want to die unkissed either.

Eddie slowly stops and turns around, finally noticing that the three of them stopped when he made his first comment. He just stares at them for a moment before sighing, “Forget I said anything. I just hate walking in silence with all these thoughts of impending doom.”

With that, the girls start walking again, quickly catching up to Eddie, but Steve struggles as he thinks a little too hard about what Eddie said instead of thinking about not stepping on a vine. So he compromises speed for a very important thought.

Eddie wants to kiss someone. Probably. Definitely.

He can’t kiss Nancy because she’s with Jonathan, and Steve’s pretty sure Nancy would not be the greatest choice of a first kiss - since she would be unenthusiastic.

And Robin… well. She would be equally as unenthusiastic, probably even more so.

And really, everyone must be thinking the same thing. Because there’s one obvious solution.

“I’ll kiss you,” Steve announces as he steps over a vine. He watches as the three of them freeze in front of them, and Eddie almost even trips on a vine.

Once he catches up to them, Steve says, “It’s the clear solution to the problem.”

Robin shoots him a look of bewilderment and mouthes what??

Steve just looks away from her. It’s not a crazy thought really. Eddie wants to kiss someone before the world maybe ends, and Steve is just a really generous person who would like- enjoy- no, volunteer very very generously to help the good cause.

“You’re kidding, right?” Eddie asks.

And oh. Steve hadn’t really thought about how Eddie might not want to kiss him. Shit. He shakes his head. “I’m not kidding, but I wouldn’t do it unless you wanted to. And it’s okay that you don’t. Let’s just keep going.”

Eddie reaches out and grabs his arm. “I never said that I didn’t want to,” he says quickly.

Steve’s pretty sure he hears Robin snort at the comment, and he can sees Nancy trying to hide an amused smile behind her hand. He ignores them and puts his hands on his hips. “Alright.”

“Okay,” Eddie says.

They both stare at each other not moving.

“We’re going to give you some space,” Robin says, grabbing Nancy’s hand and pulling her deeper into the woods.

Steve doesn’t pay much attention to them as they walk away, he’s too busy staring at Eddie. And yeah, he’s a good looking guy. He knew that from high school whenever he would go on his rants, and Steve had an excuse to stare. And really the thought of kissing him is definitely not the worse and actually… he’s kind of looking forward to it, if the fast beating of his heart is any indication.

Eddie though, he looks… scared. Maybe just nervous. But his expression definitely isn’t in any way happy.

Steve takes a step toward him and softly says, “We don’t have to do this, okay? And it’s okay if you don’t want to.”

Eddie shakes his head and laughs humorlessly. “It’s not that I don’t want to it’s just… you’re Steve Harrington.”

“And?”

“And that name means something. And it shouldn’t be tangled up with my name.”

Steve raises his eyebrows at him. “I’m pretty sure we already crossed that line a while ago.”

“But you know what I mean,” Eddie sighs, looking at the ground.

Yeah, he does know what he means. But… “The world might end. I think there are stranger things than you and me kissing.”

Eddie shakes his head. “I think that would be the most shocking thing out of all of this.”

“Then get ready for me to rock your world, Munson,” Steve says with a smirk, stepping closer and brushing a curly strand of hair out of his face.

Eddie takes a deep breath and settles his hands on Steve’s waist above the wounds he’s forgotten about. “Is this… okay?”

Steve nods and wraps his arms around Eddie’s shoulders. “Yeah. Is this?”

Eddie just hums mhm, his eyes get a little wider and his cheeks flush a deeper pink.

Steve can’t help but look over Eddie’s face, taking in what he looks like at the closer proximity when he’s allowed to look. His eyes wander down to where Eddie’s full lips are slightly parted as if they’re just waiting for him to kiss them. But Steve looks back into Eddie’s dark eyes, searching for hesitation but only sending nerves and anticipation.

“I like that you’re the same height as me,” Steve randomly blurts out.

“Why’s that?”

Steve feels a blush creep up his neck. “Because my neck won’t strain when I kiss you.” Eddie laughs, and Steve decides that if the world really is coming to an end, he should be fully honest. “Plus, it’s easier to look at your eyes when they’re at my level.”

Eddie’s grin turns into a soft smile. His eyes glance down at Steve’s lips.

He knows the moment has come. “I’m going to kiss you now, if that’s okay.”

“It’s more than okay,” Eddie says, leaning in closer.

Steve smiles before closing the distance between them and kissing Eddie slowly as if they have all the time in the world. He breaks the kiss and pulls back enough to take in Eddie's expression - eyebrow raised in astonishment, lips slightly parted, and eyes still closed.

And yeah, they might not make it to tomorrow, plus Eddie looks hot. So, Steve doesn’t pull away. Instead, he kisses him again, this time with much more fervor and… yes, tongue. Sue him. He just wants to make Eddie’s first (and second) kiss memorable.

Eddie’s hands press into Steve’s back, pulling him closer as Steve slows the kiss, needing air. He pulls back and breathes in deep, staring at Eddie’s kiss swollen lips and feeling… many things.

But instead of giving into those feelings, Steve just pats Eddie on the arm and says, “See, you’re a natural.” As soon as he walks away, Steve wants one of the vines to drag him far far away so he doesn’t have to think about what he just said. Christ. He’s not smooth.

As soon as he catches up to Robin, she practically yanks him back so Eddie and Nancy can wander off out of earshot.

Steve crosses his arms and stares at her. “What?”

“Don’t ‘what’ me. You know exactly what this is about,” Robin says, jabbing a finger into his chest.

Steve winces. “Okay. Yes. I kissed Eddie. But what else was I supposed to do? Make you or Nance kiss him? No way.”

“You realize that he was just thinking out loud, right? You turned his thought into an invitation.”

Steve shrugs and walks toward the other two, trying to make sure they don’t go too far. “It sounded like an invitation to me,” he says with a shrug.

“I’m sure it did,” Robin mutters.

Steve turns to glare at her.

Robin sighs and lays a hand on his arm. “You can talk to me, you know? Even if you’re in the process of figuring things out and can’t get a true read of things.”

Steve turns and looks back at Eddie, noting how his heart beats a little faster and his body wants more than anything to get closer to him. He looks back and Robin and asks, “How obvious am I being?”

The tension in Robin’s shoulder goes away slightly at the question, and she smiles. “With the ‘you’re a natural’ comment? Totally fooled. No one would guess a thing.”

Steve’s jaw drops. “You were watching that?”

“How could I not? And do I regret it?” Robin pauses before answering her question, “A little when you started using tongue.”

“Jesus, Robin,” Steve says, trying to sound annoyed, but he can’t help but laugh.

Robin smiles and nudges him. “It seems like you have a type.”

Steve raises an eyebrow before he looks to where Robin is staring. He watches as Nancy and Eddie talk quietly about something, both sharing a small smile, amusement evident in their big round eyes, and dark, curly hair framing their faces. Maybe Robin has a point.

“Maybe I do,” Steve says as Eddie glances back at him and smiles. When he turns back, Steve asks Robin, “Do you think we could talk more about it when we’re not in an alternate dimension, and I have time to think about things?”

“Of course,” Robin says and squeezes his arm. “But for now, I’m going to give you things to think about!” she announces before running ahead to Nancy and quickly starting some type of hushed conversation.

Steve looks at where Eddie lingers behind the girls and quickly runs up to him, deciding maybe he can figure things out now. And maybe he can verbally thank him for saving his ass instead of just kissing him and hoping he gets the message.

Gosh, he doesn’t know if he can get through this without getting distracted by his lips. But he’s going to try.

(And he’s going to fail)

#steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie ficlet #stranger things #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #did I just accidentally sort of make this canon compliant? #maybe #do i regret it? #not at all #now I’m just going to insist this is a deleted scene #because it is #they kissed your honor

[moonlit-tulip]

A variety of fanfic which I wish people did more often (and which I plan to try to contribute some entries into myself, once I get more unblocked on Actual Writing): 'alternate universe' fanfic where the universe is compliant with a limited subset of the canon. Fanfic of the first two seasons of a show which doesn't treat itself as bound by anything revealed in the later seasons, or fanfic of a visual novel which makes sure to be compatible with the VN itself but ignores the broader franchise to which the VN belongs, or fanfic of specifically the third book of a five-book series (not the first two), or suchlike.

It can be difficult to write, once that other material in fact exists. It requires a certain sort of focused ability to compartmentalize away one's own knowledge of the rest of whatever series one is drawing on one piece of. Easy to accidentally let background-assumptions from elsewhere leak in. But I think that pulling off that sort of compartmentalization anyway, despite the difficulties, can be very valuable. It gives the writer a chance to do interesting alternate worldbuilding-development while still being grounded on a familiar core; it gives the writer a chance to generate interesting tonal and/or thematic contrasts with whatever direction the broader canon went in; et cetera.

It's kind of shocking to me how rarely this is done. There are a couple contexts where I see people doing it—involuntarily when writing fics in not-yet-finished canons which subsequently reveal further information, or deliberately by disgruntled fans who are upset at specific directions in which the canon has gone—but I rarely see it done deliberately outside of that context of disgruntlement, even though it seems to me it has large quantities of potential for use in far more contexts than just that. Still, I hope to see it done more in the future; it's a very promising avenue-of-writing, I think.

#Archive #Writing #Fanfic

[groovinrightalong]

Alright, as promised, here are some ✨married Byler/Byler dads headcanons✨

A little preface that this is specifically for my transmasc Mike headcanons, so it’s not necessarily canon compliant, it’s pretty much just MY older byler AU so if it’s not your cup of tea you can just scroll along. Brief mentions of being a seahorse dad and a heads up right now that transphobia will get you an IMMEDIATE block:)

Now that that’s over with!

-Mike and Will get married at some point in the early 90s. Mike doesn’t get his birth certificate changed until some point in the 2000s, so legally he’s considered female, and you better believe they take advantage of it. He’s like at least three or four years on hormones by the time they get married but they’re just like :D yes we’re a straight couple I love my wife :D

-Bonus points if Will wears a dress for the wedding

-They get a dog pretty much as soon as they move in together. Will loves dogs (Mike’s more of a cat person but he adores the way Will’s face lights up when he sees them) and she’s probably a birthday present from Mike to Will. They like to joke that she’s their child, they bring her along to family picnics and events. Joyce and Jonathan are obsessed with her, she reminds them of Chester.

-Mike grows up to be an author! He makes a decent living between selling his books and a gig working at the local library, and Will does some graphic design. He doesn’t particularly like how regimented it is, he prefers doing art for the love of it, and he gets his chance when they’re early to mid 40s because Mike’s books start to get really popular and they can live off that income. Will then pretty much just does the art for the covers and works as a freelance artist. Gloats about being a trophy husband.

-They spend the first decade of their marriage just being the cool uncles for Jancy’s kid, always stopping in for surprise visits because they all moved to a bigger city within a decent distance from each other. Mike likes to buy the kid gifts he knows will piss off his sister, like water guns and play dough that’ll get stuck everywhere. He’ll sneak them candy, pick them up from daycare to take them out for the day. He’s a nuisance.

-Will aids in the schemes, but obviously he’s Jonathan’s baby brother so he’s the good one and Mike is the bad influence😇 And then the kid learns their first curse word from him when he accidentally slips up in front of them and he never hears the end of it.

-He’s really soft and happy with them though, and Mike obviously notices. Mike’s sort of iffy on if he wants any kids but he can tell Will does even if he won’t say anything.

-They adopt their son in like early 2002/2003. His bio mom was really young. They keep in contact with her, send her pictures and updates. His name’s Sam! (Short for Samwise. Because they’re fucking nerds.)

-They end up with two kids. Their daughter’s only six or seven months younger than Sam because hey y’all testosterone is NOT birth control. She pretty much looks like a mini Joyce, her name’s Gwen. (Gwendolyn. Like I said, NERDS.)

-Their kids kind of have a similar dynamic to Will and El because they’re so close in age, they’re always in the same grades, etc. People jokingly call them the twins.

-Nancy takes her revenge by doing pretty much the same thing Mike did with her kid with the twins. She’ll sneak them treats, get them sugared up when they’re at her house then send them home. Sam thinks she’s the coolest person EVER (much to Mike’s horror)

-Gwen’s nonverbal. As a toddler, Sam talked for her pretty much all the time. She never said her first word, was really quiet and reserved, and it worried them obviously. But then they were like, oh wait, let’s try sign language (Mike has times where he’s pretty much totally nonverbal too so they already know a decent amount) and as soon as she figures it out she’s talking to them all the time. She’s super high energy and between her and her brother, they get into a LOT of trouble (Mike’s first gray hair comes in when he’s like 34😭)

-She also has a bit of a sixth sense! It’s mostly to do with the supernatural (which isn’t really an issue since the gates are all closed now… right?) but sometimes she’d react to something right before it happened and it would freak her parents out. Will has it too, but he’s so used to it now that he doesn’t really notice it? And Mike’s just like oh well that’s just how he is it’s not weird. It’s a… lot freakier when it’s a toddler.

-(Bonus!! Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Will, and the kids all have the last name Hopper. Hop adopted Jonathan and Will and they changed their names to match him and their mom and El because FUCK Lonnie.)

I have lots more thoughts but this is going on really long and just🫠 Yeah. Byler dads.

#stranger things #mike wheeler #will byers #byler #byler headcanon #trans mike wheeler #transmasc mike wheeler #autistic mike wheeler #byler dads #byler uncles #married byler #older byler #byler kids #my headcanons #jancy #jonathan byers #nancy wheeler #this is all canon compliant with my Juno fic btw

[oceanic-sunsets]

hey, everyone! as you know, there has been an incredible increase of byler fics on ao3, and since it can be hard to find what do read or how to find what you're looking for, i thought i could contribute with my own list of fic recs. This is only part one, i'll keep updating as i read. Also, if you have any fic rec for me, please share them with me via ask or dms!

None of the fics in this list are rated Explicit.

The italics represent the fic summary. The comment underneath is my opinion.

...

a game of truths - RomeoWrites | 22.5k | canon compliant “Tell me something that you’ve never told me before.” OR Mike and Will play a game of truths. I loved how their relationship was portrayed here. The change between being so close, to suddenly not telling each other stuff and even lying, and then slowly trying to rebuild their friendship and trust. Their relationship developed beautifully. I wish i could read this again for the first time!

no end to this want - astrobi | 21.4k | canon compliant "Mike thinks back to the painting Will gave him, rolled up and placed carefully in his dresser drawer because for some reason it felt too wrong to hang it up on the walls with everything else. Too intimate. Like Will had made it for his eyes only. Or, apparently as everyone else thought, some mystery lover in California. And then he thinks about Will dozing off on his bed, and saying I think I’m in love with you all soft and slowed down from the inertia of sleep, and that’s right about when Mike starts to feel seriously lightheaded. He leans back against his bed and focuses very hard on taking deep, even breaths." Mike contemplates his feelings for Will Byers, partakes in a concerning amount of swooning, and learns to drive. Sort of. This was amazing. I love reading from Mike's pov because i wanna study his brain under a microscope. This fic takes you through the process of realizing his feelings while trying to mend his friendship with Will, and where he accidentally tells the party Will likes someone and they think it's some mysterious girl and it's hilarious. you're not gonna regret reading this one!

i'm tearing you asunder - smoosnoom (moonsooms) | 21k | canon compliant “Did I do something wrong?” Mike questions, mouth twisted in a frown, eyes less wide than they were a few moments ago, sleepiness gone. His arms stay at his sides, although his fingers fiddle with his sleeves. “What did I do wrong?” Will frowns back. “You didn’t do anything wrong.” Mike doesn’t look like he believes him. Will doesn’t blame him. “Then why do you keep leaving?” The world ends, and then some. Mike and Will find each other again, amidst the debris and distance. I'm pretty sure a lot of you have already read this one, but i just have to include it. I love how, from Mike's perspective, Will is the one pulling away from him. We're so used to reading everything through his eyes, that sometimes we forget how confused Mike must feel. But then again, he fails to understand how sidelined Will has felt for a while. They misunderstand each other, which is hard after so many years of friendship and being so close. This fic takes us through the journey of them relearning how to trust each other and be vulnerable.

i’d love to see me from your point of view - unidentifiedblackthorn | 8k | canon compliant Now that Will’s sitting and Mike’s the one that’s standing, he looks impossibly tall. Tall and lanky, and huge. He should sit back down, Will thinks, lay back down next to Will and stay in their own secluded little bubble. “I really want to kiss you,” Mike says, and Will’s eyes snap back up to his so violently he thinks he hears his own neck crack with the force of it. “Don’t,” Will croaks, before his brain has even processed the words. “Don’t say that.” “Okay,” Mike says easily, still staring. And what the actual fuck is going on? Is Will hallucinating? Is the weed making him hallucinate? “So sausage and pepperoni?” Will stares dumbly at him. “Um - yeah. Yes.” “Cool,” Mike replies and then just turns around and leaves Will sitting dumbly in his own room. or Mike and Will get high on Jonathan’s weed and Mike has an amazing idea. Just as the summary says: basically Mike and Will get high and Mike makes a petition. This was hilarious, beautiful, and a little heartbreaking, you name it! it has everything. I just really love Mike in this one:)

darling, you got to let me know (should i stay or should i go?) - andiwriteordie | 11k | canon compliant (pre vol. 2) Nobody expects it to be Mike. Everyone is expecting it to be Max or Nancy, who both have already been targeted. Or maybe El, whose childhood in Hawkins Lab makes her the perfect target. Or Will, who has gone through more than enough trauma in the past three years alone for all of them. Nobody expects it to be Mike. Or, the one in which it's Mike, not Will, who Vecna targets. Mike gets vecna'ed, and we get to see what he's really going through. This was a great fic to read while we waited for vol. 2, but it's always going to be an amazing read! and honestly, everything this author writes is wonderful, i'm not including all of their fics only because i haven't read them all (yet).

what a goddamn kiss to think about - zadurn | 5k | i think au? unsure of the clasification here i'm sorry “Can I kiss you?” he asks. Hearing the words out loud makes everything feel that much more real, and Mike loves it. He thinks he might love Will, too, and the thought doesn’t feel new. It’s like a stone that’s half buried in the dirt but just got kicked loose. It’s something that’s been deep in Mike’s heart for a while, years, maybe, but just got unearthed. Will pushes him away, and Mike has no idea what he did wrong. He was just telling the truth. Friends don’t lie. “What?” Will asks, voice sounding kind of choked. He’s grimacing, and Mike wants to un-say whatever bad thing he said so that Will smiles at him again. “I— I asked if I could kiss you,” Mike says, and Will shushes him. He looks around frantically. “Mike,” Will replies. He sounds tired. “You can’t just ask that.” “Why not? I want to kiss you so I asked.” “But you don’t, Mike. You don’t want to… to kiss me. You’re just drunk.” – alternatively: mike pines while drunk, and then he pines while sober. Listen, i just really love pining!mike fics where he asks Will if he can kiss him and Will thinks it's not real because Mike is under the influence of some substance. This was such a fun read! the ending was beautiful!

when the dust settles - teafortozier | 4.8k | canon compliant When all is said and done, days later, when Hawkins is condemned and quarantined and the town evacuated, Wheelers and Byers divided between four motel rooms in the nearest town with any vacancies after the mass exodus from Hawkins—it’s just Mike and the painting. * The post-season 4 fix-it the Duffers are too cowardly to write. They have the very necessary talks where they address what should've been addressed in the show too. This is Mike's pov, which, at this point, is notable i love haha. One of my favorite fix-it fics, definitely!

why would you ever kiss me? - aghostlybreath | 51k (so far. ongoing.) | canon divergence When Eleven saves Will from Vecna she gets more than she bargained for when they wake up in the wrong bodies. Now to prevent Vecna from infiltrating the mind of his most perfect host the two of them must pretend to be the other. Will grapples with the feelings that he’s trying to push away. Mike wonders why it feels like he’s falling in love all over again. What will become of everything when Hawkins finally falls? In order to save Will from Vecna, El traps herself in his mind. What he doesn't know, is that this causes them to switch bodies. And on top of that, they can't tell anyone about their switch because Vecna would find out if he entered their mind. Soo, Will has to pretend to be El, and El has to pretend to be Will. And let me tell you, i can't stop thinking about this fic since i read it, seriously. This scenario makes possible to explore a lot of themes and situations! Will suddenly has to deal with having Mike's attention all the time, and El understands how it feels to be ignored/pushed away by someone you love. Willel is amazing here, too, they start bonding even more thanks to their particular situation. And Mike... Poor Mike, he's so confused and doesn't know what he's feeling and why. This fic has everything! it's funny at times, really sad and heartbreaking at others, clever, and makes you go through so many different emotions. Be aware it's still ongoing, but don't worry, it's usually quick to update!

Us against the world - wasabi8000 | 13k | canon compliant They were right, Mike really is oblivious. Which is why when he figures out Will likes him, his entire world is turned on its axis. Or Mike finally puts the pieces together. Chaos ensues. It's really common to have Mike be absolutely oblivious to what is happening with Will, but what would happen if he figured it out? he's a little clueless when it comes to feelings, but he's also smart. This fic explores that. A great read that differs a little from the most popular interpretation of "mike doesn't figure it out".

i think we're alone now - friendstolovers | 3.5k | canon divergence i think? "Whatever," Lucas shrugs. "You’re just jealous that you aren’t getting any.” Mike raises an eyebrow, like he knows something the rest of them don't. Will looks like he wants to drown him. He probably deserves it. In which Will has a love bite, the Party freaks out about it, and Mike is jealous of himself. Teens being teens, Mike being jealous and not being able to stop thinking about Will. The party being clueless as to what is really going on haha. It was a sweet and fun read! perfect for when you want to step away from angst for a bit and are looking for something more lighthearted.

Mike Wheeler is Doing Just Fine - AtomosphericNonsense | 5k | canon compliant Mike Wheeler is doing just fine. No. Really. He’s okay. He’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with him. Nothing to see here, just mind your own fucking business. AKA: local stressed and queer teen has a mental breakdown, yells at a lake, and then has several more breakdowns. This is a Mike character study, in which he has several meltdowns. Luckily, he has people who help him endure it. Steve and Robin are wonderful here!

the winner takes it all - andiwriteordie | 9k | canon compliant “Honestly, I bet they’ll end up dating at one point or another. I’ve just got a feeling.” “I’ll take that bet,” Steve says, voice filled with certainty. “Bet you ten bucks Wheeler and Byers are just friends and don’t get together.” Robin and Steve make a bet on whether Will and Mike will end up together. Naturally, chaos ensues. Just as established by the summary, Steve and Robin make a bet about whether Will and Mike will get together. Then it escalates, more people get involved, and the bet changes from if to when. Such a fun and entertaining read!

when will you accept yourself? - awhstrangerthings | 8k | canon compliant, but post s3 and pre s4. There was only one thing he and Robin Buckley had in common; they both were undeniable nerds. So he's a little confused when he walks into the Video Store, and Robin offers advice of all things. After many visits and conversations about life, relationships, who he is as a person— Mike realises why he's been so drawn to converse with Robin, and that there were two things they had in common after all. Over the course of a month, we see Mike Wheeler in a state of vulnerability that we've never seen him in before as he comes to terms with himself, his sexuality, and his feelings for a certain friend in California with the help of Robin. Or, Mike Wheeler and his blossoming friendship with Robin Buckley. We have quite a few fics of Robin befriending Will, which i love, but now think about this: Mike befriending Robin. Their friendship is truly everything!

head over heels - ashhaxkerman | 11k | canon compliant On their way to Hawkins, the group decides to stay at a motel for the night. Mike and Will get a moment alone to talk. In which Will's birthday is forgotten and Mike attempts to fix their friendship, which he realizes, is something so much more.

we could be heroes (just for one day) - buffymysavior | 8k | canon compliant (pre vol. 2) Will can’t help but feel a sense of dread as Jonathan speeds past the familiar “Welcome to Hawkins” sign, the cold air pouring in through the windows and making the back of his neck prickle in a way it hasn’t since he’d left town. The past week had been…unexpected, to say the least. At the most, he thought that maybe, just maybe, he would give Mike the painting currently sticking out of the front of his backpack and that Mike would suddenly remember how much Will meant to him, and then things could go back to how they were supposed to be, and maybe Will could write off the past year of loneliness and self-pity as overthinking and nothing more. Instead, he found himself spending the week in the back of a pizza truck that had at one point housed a dead body, and when they weren’t in danger of getting shot by rogue government agents, he was trying to ignore the butterflies Mike Wheeler gave him whenever he smiled at him like it meant something. This fic written by my friend! Will gets vecna'ed, and Mike has some realizations. Although it doesn't follow vol. 2 events because it was written before, it deserves a read! It's both heartbreaking and sweet:) Also, you can pretend Mike's monologue here is the real one, instead of the one we got in the show haha.

Unbreakable Connection - Tea_For_One_Please | 20k | Soulmates AU At midnight on everyone's sixteenth birthday, they receive a connection of some kind with their soulmate. Some are connected by strings. Some have contact marks, a shadow of the first time their soulmate touches them. For some, the first words their soulmate says to them appears on their skin. Some find objects that their soulmate has misplaced. On the night of Will Byers' sixteenth birthday, he hears a little voice in his head. But whom does the voice belong to? Will he ever get to meet the mysterious "Gabriel"? This is the first AU on this list! I'm usually drawn to canonverse fics, but this caught my attention and i don't regret reading at all! It was great and their bond was portrayed in a unique way. Definitely worth a read!

Expect part 2 soon, as i'm consuming fics as if my life depended on it!

#byler #byler fics #byler fic rec #fic rec #mike wheeler #will byers #stranger things #seriously making this list i realized how much i love mike's pov #i just wanna read his mind and study every thought.... #i love him #writers please never stop posting fics from mike's pov #i need more #im serious if y'all have Mike's pov fics recs please send them to me #RIGHT NOW

[bi-widower-dads]

bi-widower-dads' February Fic Recs: Canon

Thank you to everyone who submitted recs for us! We've done some sorting and collating, and we've got two posts for you: AUs and Canon-'verse - and a whole load of excellent fic for you to get stuck into while we wait for Barduil Month in April! Without further ado, here are the canon fic recs, featuring tags, links, summaries, and all the reasons why the recommenders think you should give these fics a try!

Header image by mod @piyo-13!

(a note about tags and trigger warnings: tags are selected from those on AO3 as being those that best describe the story for the purposes of this event; trigger warnings are supplied by the recommenders and may not be comprehensive - your mileage may vary. We've tried our best to include Tumblr handles wherever we can, but if we've missed yours out and you want it included, just let us know!)

One-shots

Scenes From a Not-So-Clandestine Romance by MasterofAllImagination / @cutlerbeckettt | G | 3258 words | tags: 5+1 things, so much fluff it's sickening, seriously don't even read this

Summary: As the relationship between Bard and Thranduil grows beyond merely that of two allies, they become proportionately blind to how obvious their displays of affection are to their people. Pretty soon their feelings are an open secret shared among everyone in Mirkwood and Dale-- except the kings themselves. (or, five times someone caught Bard and Thranduil secretly kissing, and the one time they did it in public) What do you love about this fic? The author's completely correct that this is just So Much Fluff. It's great, it's cozy, it's a palate cleanser that makes you go "aww" and giggle a little at how oblivious they are.

We'll lay here for years or for hours by bispecimen | M | 5000 words | tags: canon divergence, different first meeting, animal death, hunting, could be considered canon compliant since it still works w future events, dilf vs dilf parenting techniques, canon-typical violence

Summary: "The leaves were rolling, green and healthy. Swirling around the legs of the Bowman as if they were about to bring some magical creature in his presence. But Bard didn’t feel like anything good was about to be brought in front of his eyes. The stillness of the air was suffused with something nocive. This part was forbidden for a reason. The deeper he went, the longer he stayed. He knew, he knew that." What do you love about this fic? Am possibly biased because I did the art for this, but lovely and lyrical!

but the sun is eclipsed by the moon by RC_McLachlan | G | 5288 words | tags: none

Summary: The Battle of the Five Armies threatened to unmake the world, but The Negotiations of the Three Kings might actually succeed. Or, a short lesson on the lifecycle of dandelions. What do you love about this fic? Great writer I've followed for a long time!

more than words can wield the matter by BiSquared / @scary-grace | M | 5422 words | tags: cultural differences, love letters, miscommunication, accidental marriage, getting together, laws and customs of the eldar are somewhat followed, POV Bard the Bowman, post-BotFA, as canon-compliant as barduil gets

Summary: It might be uncommon, but Bard knows it’s not unheard of for humans to share a single night of passion and part ways in the morning – or if not to part ways, then at least never to meet as lovers again. Apparently it’s unheard of among elves, because the first letter that arrives from Mirkwood, two weeks after the elves’ departure for their forest, is significantly less businesslike than expected. What do you love about this fic? The premise is funny enough that it could have come across as crack, but it creates actual narrative tension and a satisfactorily cathartic ending.

The Well-Worn Path of Words by Ias | T | 10,725 words | tags: letters, slow burn, pining, miscommunication, love confessions, epistolary

Summary: It wasn't so strange that Thranduil would call him a friend. And yet the word seemed to draw them closer like a length of string, binding them together, yet still so fragile. [In which Thranduil and Bard begin writing each other letters over the long winter after the battle.] What do you love about this fic? Fantastic epistolary fic from a great Barduil author!

Multi-chapter (in progress)

Language of the Forest by BaccaratBlack | T | 1,095 words | tags: victorian flower language, sort of unrequited feelings, cultural differences, cultural misunderstandings, courtship, secret admirer

Summary: Bard is perplexed by elven courtship rituals. Thranduil is very determined and unaccustomed to not having his way. What do you love about this fic? Who doesn't like a fic with the themes of courtship, flowers and a "secret" admirer?

Multi-chapter (complete)

A Tale of Love and Longing (as told by Galion) by jotunblood | T | 39,288 words | tags: courtship, secret relationship, developing relationship, sexual tension, light angst, post-BotFA, slow burn, Galion POV, Galion is a good friend

Summary: Galion knew all the almost imperceptible ways joy, anguish, and hate could change his King’s face. He also knew-- Thranduil’s denial be damned-- exactly how he looked when he was pining. What do you love about this fic? We see Thranduil's and Bard's relationship develop through Galion's POV and he's the best BFF/Wing Man a King could ask for.

Blossoming Spring by SlytherinImpala | T | 56,210 words | tags: fluff, post-BotFA, snark, slow burn, healing, friends to lovers, scars, movie canon, first kiss, getting together

Summary: Bard and Thranduil meet again as winter gives way to spring following of the Battle of Five Armies. What do you love about this fic? I love the gentle snarkiness between the 2 characters and how they slowly learn to open up to one another. They feel very in character and when they fall in love it doesn't feel abrupt. Definitely worth a read if you love a gentle Barduil slowburn.

Series

The Kings of the North by Evandar | T | 14,240 words | tags: partial fix-it, interspecies romance, fluff, blind thranduil, self-esteem issues, communication

Summary: There is unease in the north, as old alliances must be rebuilt and leadership learned. Bard is confused, mostly by King Thranduil, and King Fili is determined to be the best king he can be. Sigrid, meanwhile, wishes things could go back to the way they were. What do you love about this fic? This was one of the first series I ever read for barduil and definitely played a huge role in getting me into the ship in the first place!

Boundaries 'Verse by Sir_Nemo | T | 30,967 words | tags: fluff, getting to know each other, getting together, family bonding

Summary: Bard has been working for the elves for years, never actually meeting one, until one day he notices an elf watching him work. The elf becomes a constant in his life, and the two of them slowly start warming up to each other. What do you love about this fic? Bard and Thranduil's personalities really shine through in their conversations, which I feel is a core component of the plot, and makes for a very stable relationship that the story can lean on.

#barduilmonth2024 #barduil month fic rec february #fic recs #the hobbit #the hobbit fanfiction #the hobbit fanfic #barduil #bard/thranduil #barduil fic recs #long post

[angstigone]

𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 (𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡)

the title is a lyric from the song 'everybody talks' by neon trees

𝗛𝗮𝘆𝗮𝗸𝗮𝘄𝗮 𝗔𝗸𝗶 𝘅 𝗡𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗿! 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 (+ 𝗗𝗲𝗻𝗷𝗶 & 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿)

(A/N): hello there, lovelies!

alrightie, I am... I am not going to lie, aki dragged me into this fandom as well, as I have been thinking of slowly getting more into animes, now that I feel less the social struggle of it. still, I hope you'll enjoy this silly little thing and I have another fic with neighbor! reader (an au of sorts, far angstier as it's my usual).

so, pls, if you enjoyed this, pls consider leaving a like, a comment or a reblog and I'd appreciate it a whole loooottt!

SUMMARY: «Alright… alright… let’s take this from another perspective» he started again while Power got her own drink, having Denji open it for her as it ruined the pretty nails you had painted for her«… Hayakawa is a huge pain in our ass, isn’t he».

«He is» Power relented as she duked her head low in obvious displeasure.

«… but…» and Denji held up a finger in utter conviction «… if he got laid! Then the problem would be solved! And he doesn’t seem the type to bang somebody he meets in a bar… or he’d have probably hit it off with Himeno by now… don’t you think?».

Power seemed to consider it for a moment and right when Denji thought that his partner got it, she screeched. «I don’t see how getting laid might solve it!» and after a moment of meditation «… laying down in the bed might help him but…!».

«I don’t mean laying down like that!».

what happens when a fiend and a chainsaw man gets together to make their squad leader and you, his neighbor, happy?

WARNINGS: fluff, (bad) matchmaking, denji and power playing cupid, not canon compliant (himeno doesn't have a crush on aki) and the characters might be slightly ooc, getting together, requited unrequited love, unresolved sexual and romantic tension, mentioned sexual harassment, 5+1 things, jealousy, idiots in love, reader genre is not specified but a few characters reference them being a lady.

Denji might have been considered an idiot by the large variety of the adults around him, but he did notice things.

Such as the way topknot would always be more smiley and far more relaxed whenever you – his adorable neighbor – were around the house, by now living there more than in your own apartment.

Not that he minded the thing in itself: you were kind, not focused onto hunting devils and baked him and Power a treat every weekend.

You were also pretty.

Not on Mrs. Makima’s pretty level, certainly, but Denji had stolen a look as you leaned a bit too close to Hayakawa, brushing accidentally your chest against either his own or his back and God, did the stern head of the squad blushed worse than a teen.

In conclusion, you two were in love but somehow far too stubborn to admit and this where he and Power came to play:

«Think about it!» he muttered as he Power were outside for their patrol stroll, in the service area waiting for their sugary drink «… if they came more often… we’d have treats more often… and I know just how much you love them!».

Denji had also noticed the way that Power, who thought humans all beneath her, was almost warm with you; certainly, eccentric and bold but after having witnessed Nyako brushing against your legs on your first meeting, she had grown much mellower around you, rubbing against you as the cat did and somehow… purring.

Denji had by now stopped trying to police Power’s behavior, still he thought that in this case it was favorable to his general idea, although his friend remained as stoic as ever, even going as far as showing him her tongue.

«Why should we help some humans?» she grimaced lightly as Denji grabbed his beverage from the vending machine «… if they are too stupid to notice their obvious feelings for each other… why should we meddle?».

«Because it’d be fun!» Denji promptly intervened although he understood they had two very different – and violent – definitions of fun and his first argument didn’t have much effect on Power «… and it’d mean that we might get more treats… as I was saying».

«We could simply imprison them in the apartment, and they’d be forced to make us treats»

Power’s mind never failed to amaze – and scare – Denji who simply shook off his head.

«Alright… alright… let’s take this from another perspective» he started again while Power got her own drink, having Denji open it for her as it ruined the pretty nails you had painted for her«… Hayakawa is a huge pain in our ass, isn’t he».

«He is» Power relented as she duked her head low in obvious displeasure.

«… but…» and Denji held up a finger in utter conviction «… if he got laid! Then the problem would be solved! And he doesn’t seem the type to bang somebody he meets in a bar… or he’d have probably hit it off with Himeno by now… don’t you think?».

Power seemed to consider it for a moment and right when Denji thought that his partner got it, she screeched.

«I don’t see how getting laid might solve it!» and after a moment of meditation «… laying down in the bed might help him but…!».

«I don’t mean laying down like that!».

Denji was growing frustrated, unable to explain to power the utter genius behind his plan, clutching his head tightly in his hands as he slowly crumped on his ass against the wall.

«… God, almost… almost pretend I didn’t say anything, I just… thought it’d be fun… and it might get us a bit more of treat and kindness from topknot».

And right as he was losing all hope, Power leaned against him to be at his height, smiling what seemed a pure devious smile.

«… it’s going to be fun?» and at Denji’s obvious nod she cheered almost as if she had been told that she had won the Nobel Prize «… why didn’t you, immediately, say so?!».

And like that Denji’s and Power’s partnership started up to get you and Aki together.

First action: getting rid of the competition.

«… shouldn’t we also get rid of Mrs. Makima?» Power asked as she and Denji stared off Aki’s window to look at the entrance to the apartment building, waiting for your arrival.

It had been a few days that they had met you as they returned from their patrol with a man that you had presented as one of your colleagues.

Still, the way said man flustered whenever you’d chat him up was definitely a sign that he could be a rival to Hayakawa and they couldn’t have that.

«No!» promptly Denji protested, ripping himself from the window, where he was staring through the cones made by his hands.

«Why?» Power questioned also disrupting her watchful gaze on the entrance «… didn’t you say that the topknot has a crush on her?».

And that was also another reason why Denji wanted for you and Aki to get together: if you got together then Aki wasn’t anymore a threat to his conquer of Mrs. Makima.

«Well…» obviously he couldn’t have said that to Power after he had convinced her that what they were doing for the greater good «… well! It’s because we all know that Hayawak has zero… zero chances with Mrs. Makima!».

Power seemed to consider it for a moment before a grim smile appeared on her face.

«… and we would have zero chances of intimidating Mrs. Makima, considering she’s as scary as a bath in the middle of the day» the blood fiend commented, her voice showing the obvious fear they felt towards their leader and Denji couldn’t help but agree by taking a huge intake of saliva, and noticing that you had come back.

Annoying suitor on your tail.

«Hey!» he called out to Power who had noticed the same thing and was barely able to contain the excitement she felt «… let’s go with the next phase of the part, alright?».

And just like that they both rushed to the entrance of the building, waiting hidden that you’d be passing and going up to your apartment, and then they rushed out of the gates with matching mischievous smiles on their face as they were switch, to catch up with your colleague.

He looked the least aware possible of a fiend and a chainsaw devil following him but so wouldn’t be for long as both Denji and Power came to stand in front of him, blocking him from walking further and right as he moved to the side to avoid them, they both matched his step, stopping him in his walk.

Now Denji knew that he wasn’t that scary – and he couldn’t exactly evoke the chainsaws as he knew that Mrs. Makima would have been disappointed with him – but Power had horns.

And even more importantly: a crazy personality.

The poor man seemed already startled as he took a step back, mumbling something that seemed like apologies and just like that Power started rolling.

«Yes! Yes, stupid human, apologize!».

Well, Power shouldn’t have definitely tried for the Nobel Prize when she might have as well won an Oscar for her thrilling performance as she moved closer to the backing away human who looked halfway through running away but, Denji was right there for it, by pushing himself to the shoulders of the man to cut off his escape rout.

«… hey! I am talking to you! Shit of a human!».

«I… I… I…» and pathetically the man went to his knees.

Denji would have felt bad for the man, hadn’t it been for the fact that they were doing this for the greater good: letting Hayakawa have a stable sex life.

«… don’t know… I… am sorry if I…».

«That woman…» now Power had moved closer to the man, lowering herself to further tower over him while Denji made sure to close all the areas around him «… you must let her go! Don’t you understand!».

He looked confused for a moment, before saying your name almost questioningly and that’s when Power evoked her blood hammer, a good scenography bonus that had the man widen his eyes as his arms went to his head waiting for a bow.

«Don’t! Speak! Her! Name!».

With each word, Power smacked the hammer against the palm of her hand and although he hadn’t been hit, he convulsed on the floor as if he had.

Like a pig

«… and don’t ever… ever! Don’t ever come close to her! Understood?».

«But…» he tried to protest although another smack of the blood hammer against Power’s awaiting hand was enough to have him shut up promptly.

«You aren’t to come closer to her than a…» and scrunching her brows at Denji who was holding up five fingers, she went to add «… than at least seven meters! You understand me, silly, stupid human?».

The man nodded heavily and clearly scared for his life and Denji couldn’t help to think that – aside Power’s lack in math – they might have taken the game a tad too far especially as Power was laughing maniacally, spurred on by the man’s terror.

«… alright…» he tried to lean in the thing, by letting the man’s back be free and going to retrieve poor Power, who wasn’t satisfied as she was dragged away by Denji before a crowd could form around the crying man.

«… and I’ll know it! I’ll know it if you come close! Understood?» she was definitely having far too much time on this «… you silly… silly… humannnn».

So, it shouldn’t have surprised that although you reported that your affectionate colleague had suddenly started distancing himself from you – “it’s strange as he was always insistent on walking me home if anything happened, when we finished late” – to Aki, who comforted you – a victory in both Power’s and Denji’s eyes – they got an horrible reprimand – and their sugar privileges revoked – because apparently a fiend and a blond-haired boy had been reported threatening an honest neighbor.

Well, who said victory tasted sweet was wrong.

According to the magazine that he had forced Power to buy for them – something called Teen Vogue with a quiz that told you whether you were a pea, chickpea, or a banana but also a lot of photos of hot celebrities – what got a couple to form was spending time together.

Now, you and Aki didn’t spend too much time together, mostly because you both were hard-workers and especially in the last period neither you nor Aki had been in each other’s apartment at the same time, forcing Power and Denji to take extreme measures, as they had to force you to stay together.

You had come over ahead of time as you had wanted Power and Denji to try a treat that you had done in your free time and to wait Hayakawa’s return at home – according to Power, you, two, were already disgustingly domestic – and although you’d have stayed a few hours to chat with Aki and might have stayed even for dinner, they needed you to spend more time immediately.

Hence while Power distracted you with Nyako, Denji stole your apartment keys from your purse and flushed them; he hadn’t exactly thought the whole thing through, especially as you panicked once while checking your purse after dinner – they both celebrated Aki being the one to ask you to stay for dinner – and didn’t find the keys, worried that you might have lost them or left them inside of the house.

You were panicking and again Power and Denji celebrated because Hayakawa was so sweet with you, calming you down with his usual neutral tone and helping you focus on where you might have last left them.

“I swear they were in my purse!” you promptly repeated, and you were right, hadn’t it been for two special busybodies who feigned utter focus in searching the entire house, although eventually a universal truth was delivered: you must have lost your keys.

The landlady would give you a copy in the afternoon and you now needed a place to stay, for the night.

As you were flipping through some contacts, Denji pipped up the discourse he had readied for himself that afternoon while making sure that the keys would be properly flushed out.

«Why don’t you stay here?».

He even made his puppy eyes.

He had thought of being the one saying something this time, especially as Power had gone a bit… overboard the last time.

«… I mean… I am sure that topknot will agree… it’s… late and if anything happened… God forbids a demon.. or…».

And he had expected sweet and dependable Aki to join in, but the man had just lowered his head in an obvious dismissal.

Didn’t he have a heart for poor you who’d be forced to walk in the dark?

«… it’d be terrible if anything happened to you» he stepped up on the subtlety as Power joined in and nodded eagerly and tried to have Nyako do the same in a show of support «… and we have… we have a lot of space and… I mean you’d be forced tosleepwithHayakawa because Power is a very delicate sleeper and… I am a teenager boy, and it wouldn’t do…».

«That’s very kind, Denji» you sufficed softly with a gentle smile, before nodding to your phone «… but I have a friend who lives in the apartment complex right beside this one and…».

«But you might never know» God, Denji couldn’t believe that Power was able to act like that «… humans… you are puny, and I have heard of a fiend terrorizing the neighborhood. They… well… they apparently terrorized this silly-looking and coward man…».

«Power».

Oh, finally Aki did speak, although it wasn’t the ‘oh please, stay! Stay forever if you want’ that Denji had been expecting.

«… did you… did you… flush all the toilette paper confection?».

And right as Denji was trying to understand the reasoning behind such a crass comment and Power was about to defend herself from such a vileaccuse – it had also happened once – he noticed that Aki hadn’t been looking at his shoes but to the water erupting from behind the bath door.

That’s how Denji discovered that you shouldn’t – ever – flush keys in the WC.

The silver lining of it all was the fact that the toilette did push out your keys – and other stuff – and hence you did have them back, while Denji, Power and Aki were forced to sleep at your apartment while they waited for somebody to fix the toilette.

Oh, and apparently Nyako being blamed didn’t seem believable, so their sugar privileges were revoked for another week.

«Hear me out!».

Denji hadn’t relented the plan; he didn’t care that it had gotten him deprived of his candies – both you and Mrs. Makima had sneaked him some – when the purpose of his actions was far more glorious.

And he had come to collect further information about how a couple came to be, especially from experts.

«You want to push them together?» Himeno had asked as both Denji and Power had come to her asking for help.

A horrible decision considering how annoying and crass the woman could be, but Mrs. Makima was out of question and Kishibe would have laughed right in their face, something that Hmeno had done as well.

Then she had spoken to be useful.

«… alright, alright» she had settled brushing her hair off her face with her invisible hand «… you, then, need to make Aki jealous».

At that both Power and Denji had seemed utterly confused: how did making Aki jealous of you would have helped you forming a couple?

Still, Himeno had promptly illuminated them.

«It’s what always happens in romcom» she explained with the air of an expert, although the fact that she quoted movies should have been a huge red flag to her flawed reasoning «… whenever the guy realizes that somebody is threatening their girl… well, he also concludes that he can’t live without her. That he loves her».

And in both Denji’s and Power’s book that perfectly made sense.

Now the difficult part was making Aki jealous; he didn’t seem bothered by anything who could offer a threat to you?

Considering they didn’t have much choice, Denji and Power had to be the ones.

That day you had decided to spend it together with Aki, Denji and Power grocery shopping, which was already a nice start because whenever you’d be around the head of the squad would be far more lenient of the two troublemakers.

Your own good mood rubbing off him, as Power and Denji raced through the aisles on the shopping cart.

Still, this time they hadn’t come to play.

Denji and Power exchanged a swift look and so it began.

«Mrs.!» Denji asked gaining your attention but also the one of Hayakawa who looked at him as one would do to a bug.

An ugly bug right on their toilette roof.

«… did you do something to your hair?».

You looked taken aback, flustering lightly but mostly because you seemed taken aback by the question.

«Ahem… I… washed them… this morning?».

«Oh» he feigned innocence as Aki’s distrustful gaze became more evident and he felt like he might have been on the right road, especially delighted that Hayakawa would feel threatened by somebody like him «… it looks better than the usual».

And although he had meant it as a compliment, it didn’t sound like that as promptly Aki shook his head with a huff while you regarded Denji with a kind but a bit startled smile, saying nothing but a lukewarm ‘thank you’.

As you and Aki turned to focus on the grocery shopping, Power flicked his forehead and muttered:

“Let me try” and before Denji could say anything, she was off to your side.

«Mrs.!» she called out to you as you smiled gently to her «…you are the smartest human, I know».

Shit, Denji cursed himself for not having thought about that, all too focused on the physical side.

He had thought hair to be a safe zone, but he had been so wrong as your smile promptly brightened on your face and you went to gently put a hand over Power’s shoulder, right as the girl opened her mouth again, ruining everything.

«… I mean… you are still pretty stupid, because I saw you falling on your ass that one time while trying to carry all those grocery bags on your own».

And just like that your easygoing smile was gone replaced by an embarrassed expression while Power turned to Denji to show her his tongue, considering it a victory.

«Power!» Aki reprimanded her promptly, waggling a finger, although he also turned to you with a sober expression «… and please, don’t hesitate to ask for me when you need to carry something heavy… you do live a floor above us and with the elevator not yet fixed…».

You, further, flustered at Aki’s suggestion and although it wasn’t due to the whole jealousy thing, it seemed like you and Aki were now talking.

«I… I mean… I didn’t want to disturb you and…» you looked to your shoes «… you weren’t at home».

«Then please feel free to ask Power and Denji, as they are always not doing anything» and just like that the intimate moment was destroyed and Power and Denji got another reprimand, although this time they hadn’t done anything.

Both Denji and Power relented from the jealousy program the entire grocery store run, thinking it was stupid and neither of them were equipped to have Aki jealous and thinking about it, Hayakawa hadn’t seem even bothered by your colleague accompanying you.

Was it possible that they had seen wrong, and he wasn’t interested in you?

All their hard work couldn’t be for nothing, could it?

As they were panicking – or better Denji was panicking and Power plotting her world domination dream – in the grocery shop parking lot, they witnessed a scene that reinforced their resolution; you were filling the back of the truck with the grocery while Aki was smoking a cigarette a bit far away hidden by the car, when a guy approached you.

Neither Power nor Denji were minding him any attention, till they heard Aki’s voice.

«Leave the lady alone».

And just like that, they both moved their eyes to where the man had grabbed onto your wrist with you looking utterly at unease and clearly wanting to be anywhere but there.

Aki had appeared right in front of the scene and had pushed himself in front of you, right in the line of the man.

«… she said she isn’t interested».

«And who’d you be, dude?» the man asked as both Denji and Power were startled by the fact that man made perfect pristine asshole Hayakawa tick in a way that they hadn’t been able to in a long time «… I was just fucking talk with her».

«And I said I wasn’t interested» you reiterated, clearly at unease, at which both Denji and Power came closer.

Now they might be disasters in relationships but they had no qualms in helping topknot kick this dude to the curb as he had come onto you, the person who baked goods to them and treated them like two teens and not an adult and a monster.

Still, Aki had it promptly handled as the man didn’t seem ready to release your wrist, hence he twisted it in a way that hurt him and wouldn’t bother you, effectively getting him to release his hold and once he had done such a thing, he slammed that same fist in the dude’s face with an agility that gave Denji the chills.

And so happened to the man who had tried to approach you.

«Scram».

It was said in such a neutral tone that suddenly Denji thought that he was face with all too powerful demon and not topknot.

Thankfully it wasn’t direct towards him as the man got the message and left you alone, your wrist still clutched – far more gently – in Aki’s hand as he took a moment to caress it before turning to you.

«Everything alright?».

You nodded painfully out of breath and red in the cheeks, although Denji reasoned that both reactions weren’t due to collusion, but to Aki treating you tenderly as his whole face and demeanor softened turning upon you.

«… he didn’t hurt you, right?».

«Not really» you explained with a soft-spoken tone as if you didn’t want anybody to hear the words aside Aki. As if it was just the two of you «… I… it was so kind of you to intervene, Aki. I am sorry that you had to… though… God, I don’t think it has ever happened to me in sunlight and in the center of a parking lot!».

«It shouldn’t happen at all» Aki commented categorically before he finally snapped back from his reverie, letting your wrist go that fell limp between the two of you as if it hadn’t been ready to let go «… and it wouldn’t have happened if those busybodies had helped you with the groceries! Instead of minding their business!».

Why was it that whenever he tried to do anything for the greater good, Denji got kicked in the metaphorical – and not – balls?

Slowly Denji was losing faith: his own ideas didn’t work, advice on magazine didn’t work and this was the last time that he listened to Himeno.

He didn’t know how to bring you and Aki to kiss kiss make up.

Was it possible that he was simply not meant… to work the greater good? 

Unless, obviously with the greater good you meant the gun demon and the possibility to have his wish grant by Mrs. Makima.

Or maybe it wasn’t his fault: you and Aki were just a desperate case, stealing longing gazes to each other and never acting upon your emotions. Although it seemed like something had changed at work, as Himeno had sneakily told them, since Aki had seemed quite… unfocused and constantly checking his phone which meant – according to the older woman – that he was texting you.

Denji and Power had once tried to steal Hayakawa’s phone, but they had soon risked of finding Aki’s katana shoved up their asses at such infractions and had immediately given up such a thing.

Maybe they should have just stopped and minded their own business as it seemed like this was what best suited the situation.

And Denji was minding his business, looking lightly gloomy as you tried to teach – with little results – to Power how to make cupcakes as she had insisted that she wanted them now and to ease her tantrum you had opted to have her do them with you, while Aki settled the laundry and Denji comfortably lazed around.

Looking gloomy which you immediately noticed.

«Anything of the matter, Denji?» you asked as you left Power to press the baking solution in the mold, trusting that she wouldn’t coat the entire kitchenette with it «… you are looking a bit sad, my dear».

«Eh?» he kissed lightly his teeth, wondering what lie he could come up with to cover the fact that he felt disappointed because his genius plan of bringing you and Aki wasn’t working. Still, Aki answered for him.

«He’s just grumpy because he hasn’t been given enough attention» he hissed almost disgusted with Denji although they were past now the initial hatred «… Mrs. Makima was disappointed with him because he doesn’t seem focused».

«I could say the same to you» Denji whimpered through a lowered octave enough not to be heard by Aki, as you came closer.

«Still, trying to catch Mrs. Makima’s attention?» you lightly teased him, settling in front of him «… isn’t she a bit too old for you?».

«She’s a tad too much for him» Aki muttered happily, as this time Denji flipped him off.

«Oh no need to be mean, Aki!» you called out to him gently, before grabbing both of Denji’s hands and pushing him to his feet «… if you want I can teach you a sure way to impress Mrs. Makima, alright?».

And just like that Denji’s eyes brightened as he nodded eagerly.

You smiled, always gentle and reassuring.

Thinking about it, you were far too much for the old grumpy man, Aki and maybe the universe was doing you a favor by not allowing you to be together with topknot.

«… I’ll teach you how to dance, alright».

And like that you were swift to put one of Denji’s hands on top of your shoulder and another on your waist, just shy of your lower back and enough to have the poor boy flustered, huffing, and wondering whether he could die from the simple contact.

It got even worse when you pulled him closer with a hairline distance between your body before starting to tut a rhythm.

«… now usually it’s the man that guides… which is an antiquated thought, but… oh well, I am blabbering. I’ll guide this time».

And like that you twirled Denji and all the exactment he had felt for the closeness of a hot female body was gone, busy as he was to keep his balance at rhea sudden move much to your chagrin.

«Alright, we’ll start slow» you proclaimed, adjusting the rhythm as you moved up and down and then side-to-side showing Denji all the base moves, although he kept on not getting the full hang of it, stumbling a bit while you patiently repeated the move before a disgruntled Power claimed her own turn at the ‘dance contest’.

Only once pushed back again on the sofa, Denji noticed the way Aki’s lips had lightly quirked up in a pleasant smile, as if he was genuinely happy.

He looked almost… peaceful, which was a weird sight to see on his face and Denji wondered whether something awful would be happening all too soon.

The oven beeped and you separated from Power, who apparently was better than Denji at dancing, to get the muffins and just like that it seemed like the dance contest was finished, everybody all too happy to enjoy the sugary treats while you praised Power for helping you make them, although her help had been abysmal unless you counted the mess in the kitchen that neither of the troublemakers helped clean, leaving it to you and Aki as they took their turns in the bath.

Denji, feeling a bit bad, went to see whether he could help you after his shower – and not totally because he wanted to smuggle another muffin – but as he came in sight of the kitchen he was startled to find a soft music playing in the background alongside your giggles as – ever serious – Aki twirled you with much more ease than you had done with Power and Denji.

He was far better than Power and Denji as a partner and again, he looked genuinely amused as you joined in the general hilarity something akin to intimacy being reached between the two of you as Denji promptly turned around, thinking to have witnessed something far too private for his sight, although he regretfully had to let go of his muffins since Power had no shame and stole his own.

Suddenly spurred on by the kitchen memory, Power and Denji decided one last attempt: they had recently gone to the cinema with Mrs. Makima, a memory that the boy treasured dearly in their heart, but both he and Power had especially been hit by a scene of the movie where the main couple exchanged a romantic dinner, using it to confess each other’s feelings.

And just like that Denji and Power had their own final plan.

If it didn’t work, you’d have to handle your own, you and topknot. Denji did like you both, but the next step was just to smash your head together and scream ‘now kiss’, an idea he wasn’t especially fond considering that while Aki would have straight up killed them, you would have stopped baking them any good.

So, the dinner it was. 

After all, how hard could a dinner be?

Very, apparently.

Ordering everything from a nearby shop had been an idea, but neither he nor Power had enough money having mostly spent it in magazines, candies, and drinks on their patrols.

So, they had to improvise and neither of them had the skills to cook.

Empowered by the muffins episode, Power insisted to prepare the dessert, leaving Denji to the main course.

Naturally he had read somewhere that some specific foods could be used to put people in the mood and God knows how much Hayakawa needed to fuck.

Hence without thinking he had thought of making an omelet with asparagus and saffron as he had both the things at home.

The problem started with the eggs; they were difficult to crack without the external shell not going in them and when it came to cook the eggs, he had a bit of difficulty in turning them as he had seen in TV, burning every and each one he tried, till he obtained a somewhat nice result.

The asparagus didn’t help, and the saffron stole the entire flavor of the thing, as Denji dutifully tasted the meal to assure it’d be up to your taste.

He couldn’t serve such a thing and yet, there wasn’t anything else he could have offered for the romantic dinner.

He turned to Power, hoping she had succeeded in something, just to see her trying to use Nyako as a rolling pin, effectively contaminating the whole muffin baking base.

They were royally fucked, especially as you came in.

They both hid behind the kitchen counter, as was the plan: the table was already set with a candle that they had found and that wasn’t as beautiful as the one in the movie but smelled of lavender that was supposed to be calming.

A bottle of wine – that they had grabbed from the top shelf, jumping one over the other – was opened and technically both Power and Denji should have been in their uniform feigning to be waiters.

But the meal wasn’t ready and the kitchen was a mess.

Everything aside the romantic dinner they had planned.

“What did you try to do, busybodies?” Aki promptly asked once he got to them, while you tried to lenite his harsh words “… how many times have I told you not to cook unsupervised? And… you shouldn’t use the phone but for emergencies! We both rushed here…”.

«Aki» you promptly caught the topknot’s attention «…I think that they might have meant well. For once».

Your eyes were set upon the dinner table with what could only be described as a tad of emotion while looking over the elegant set up – Power and Denji might have fucked up the food, but they certainly hadn’t done the same with the table – before turning to the two troublemakers with an inquisitive look.

«But why only two plates?».

And before either Power and Denji could reply with the obvious statement that it was for the romantic dinner between you and Aki, you moved to where the cutlery was kept – by now more at ease with Aki’s apartment than your own – and got a few plates out while the topknot followed you and grabbed the glasses, catching your drift without words.

«… if this needs to be a celebratory dinner, we should be I four».

And turning to Denji with a provocative smile you added:

«Don’t tell me that the idea was for you and Power to have a romantic dinner?».

Both Denji and Power felt more disgusted by that insinuation than the rotten food that they had prepared that night, grateful when you simply suggested ordering pizza to ease their tormented souls.

Well, at least this time the plan hadn’t backfired.

Denji, after endless nights spent in a general state of alarm, had developed a rather light sleep, waking himself up at any slight noise, which was especially troublesome when a snoring fiend was sleeping beside you.

Still, it wasn’t Power the reason behind his suddenly awake status as he held footsteps coming from the other room, and the giggles.

Your giggles.

And yet, you hadn’t stayed over. You hadn’t even come over that night, feigning yourself busy with some work matters much to Power’s and Denji’s disappointment who had hoped to spend some time with you now that Aki had been dismissed by the hospital.

You did visit them, but with work you had had just the time to drop some meals over, before going to the hospital as well to visit poor sweet Hayakawa after his last fight against an annoying demon.

Hence your sudden presence seemed almost a dream and Denji shook lightly Power, risking being bitten in a leg as the fiend didn’t enjoy being woken up – her sleep being especially heavy with Nyako on her chest, as was the case – although once settled she also confirmed to the boy he wasn’t hearing fantasies.

You were there.

In their apartment.

And as a second voice joined, they realized you were there with Aki.

Shouldn’t he have been still in hospital? 

Power went to move to greet you and Hayakawa but Denji held her back as a conversation seemed to sparkle between the two of you as he leaned with his ear against the door to catch onto it.

“… can’t believe that she brought alcohol in the fucking hospital” you spoke bubbly and much to the shock of the fiend and the boy, Aki joined your tone.

“It’s fucking Himeno, what the fuck were you expecting?”.

Neither Power nor Denji had heard the man speak so unbuttonedly and they exchanged a determine look before going to open the door with as little to no noise as possible.

“… I think it was her ‘get well’ bouquet of sorts”.

Both Denji and Power moved like spies across the house till they came in the dining room, hidden by the kitchenette and hallway to the rooms to sneak a look to the slumped form of Aki leaning onto you while you helped him to the sofa, before sitting down next to him as a fit of giggles filled the room.

Again, Aki being strangely happy.

“Do you think they…?” and Denji signed the gesture of ‘getting high’ to Power who obviously didn’t understand it, sending him a confused look but whatever she was going to say was promptly stalled by your voice echoing.

«… I think that she was extremely worried for you, Aki» and Denji noticed that your hand had moved to pat gently Hayakawa’s hair, which weren’t put in his usual updo and when he turned lightly, the younger boy couldn’t help but think that he looked so young.

And happy.

«… I was also extremely worried for you».

The tone sobered up immediately.

«It’s my job».

Did Hayakawa sound almost… resentful?

Power did look halfway through giving out her hiding spot to protect you.

«… I… you shouldn’t worry».

«And Himeno should?».

Was that jealousy in your tone?

Was it possible that they had used the wrong tactic, and it was you who should have been made jealous?

«You know what I mean» Aki hissed through his teeth as your hand moved from his hair onto his chin and grabbed it tightly.

Again, Denji had that sensation of when he had caught you and topknot dancing in the kitchen

«… I… don’t want you worrying for me. It’s rotten work».

«Not to me» your voice was above a whimper and Denji had to jumpe from his hiding spot to shush Power.

“He is hurting her!” she protested, trying to bite his fingers.

“They are adults!” he shut back, trying to keep his noise quiet “… they can handle it”.

“It doesn’t seem so!”.

«I can’t…» Aki looked right about unable to be as smart as usual and Denji almost wished he could have had a camera to immortalize this moment «… make you undergo that. I… can’t promise to…».

«You don’t need to».

Your voice was so brave that for a moment Denji thought that you’d have made an even finer Devil Hunter than Aki.

«… you just need to let me love you, Aki».

The ‘l-word’ you had finally said it and Power sent Denji a look of pure victory, although he kept the hold onto her mouth.

«… I…» also Aki seemed taken aback and it took everything in Denji not to curse him out for promptly letting such an occasion «… guess… that’d work… I…».

«Then let me fuss and care for you, Hayakawa» you teased him lightly, making to get up promptly to get the white paper bag on the table with the medication, but before you could, the topknot had stopped you.

You seemed promptly stalled in your steps.

«… does it…».

Still, before any further words could leave his words, Aki brought you into a breathless kiss.

Denji didn’t think that he’d have expected it from his emotionless squad leader, but the way his arms promptly clutched you down to push you further against his lap was anything but cold and neutral.

Power let out a small giggle and when you detached you took a step back obviously taken aback although a warm smile appeared on her face.

«Thank you, then» Aki had the audacity to utter «…for caring for me».

You nodded, without words and both Denji and Power thought that you got this, retreating to their rooms with a pip in their walks, and imagining it the warm voice of topknot through the door muttering.

“Thank you, busybodies”.

Afterall, Denji did it for the greater good.

Tits.

credits for the separators go to: @strangergraphics

#Aki Hayakawa x Reader #Aki Hayakawa Imagine #Aki Hayakawa x You #Aki Hayakawa Fic #CSM Fic

[djpurple3]

his tears freeze when he cries, did you know that?

3k words, Empires s1, romantic scwhip (fWhip/Scott), vaguely canon compliant, set just before Scott leaves on his Elsa Arc. Full fic both on AO3 and posted below.

Tagged: kissing, crying, self-deprecation, abandonment issues, hurt no comfort, angst, winged Scott and fWhip, tragic romance.

Summary:

After fWhip's sister gets hit by Scott's newly developing and quickly out-of-control powers, fWhip has that sort of... gut feeling that everything is about to fall apart. He rushes to Rivendell to see Scott just in time - catching Scott as he is about to leave. fWhip now has to try, in vain, to convince his love to stay.

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

fWhip has that… that gut sort of feeling. When Gem had shown up, allegedly ‘feeling fine’ but corrupted to all hells and back, and talking about Scott, fWhip had a terrible sort of feeling. Now, coming to a quick landing in Rivendell’s main plaza, he sees he was right to assume the worst.

Scott, wings half-unfurled, stares at him, caught off guard, and… painfully scared.

When fWhip dares to approach, he has to swallow hard, stomach twisting itself into agonising knots, because as he draws closer, Scott shies away.

“I’m not mad,” fWhip says quickly. He raises his hands in a show of peace. “Not anymore, I promise.”

“It’s not just that,” Scott says, and he doesn’t even look at fWhip, and that hurts too. “It’s… no. You should go.”

“Go?” fWhip stops five paces away, hands still in the air, and he tries to smile, tries to joke it off. “But I just arrived! And it was such a long journey, too.”

“You may use one of my people’s homes to rest,” Scott says. He’s really trying to brush fWhip off. And, fWhip notices, Scott’s… not in his usual robes. He’s in warm weather gear – not sleek and well-fitted royal garb, but thick and sturdy. Scott is… he’s in runaway clothes, isn’t he? “I will send word for you.”

“Scott.”

“You can’t… I-,” Scott cuts himself off with an aching sigh. “We can’t, fWhip.”

And Scott finally looks up. His eyes are wide and bright and exhausted. fWhip can’t help but notice that Scott’s been clutching his hands tightly together over his stomach this entire time.  It’s a stark contrast to the usual way Scott would gesture as he spoke.

“You should understand better than anyone else.” Scott’s lips purse, and he looks away. “…How is she?”

“Well, she’s…” fWhip looks away, too. Scratches the back of his head as he fumbles for his words. “She went looking for a cure herself, and got corrupted, actually, but… I took her to Katherine, who managed to purify her. She’s good as gold, now, …if not a little shaken.”

“Corrupted?” Scott echoes, horrified, and he steps back sharply, hands flying to his mouth. “Even Gem? E-even the… the Great Wizard of the Crystal Cliffs…”

“Hey. We both know that it doesn’t matter who you are,” fWhip says sharply, but the way Scott’s face falls tells fWhip he’s accidentally hit a sore spot. “But! She got help! We defeated it together.”

fWhip does his best to smile, now and takes a half-step closer.

“And besides. This,” fWhip gestures at Scott, now, up and down, “isn’t that. You’re… you’re you, Scott. You didn’t mean it. She knows you didn’t mean it. I know you didn’t mean it. It… it’s okay.”

“It’s not!” Scott’s hands tighten, and the air gets several degrees colder even as Scott takes a jerky step back that spreads frost from where his boot makes contact with the ground. fWhip fights down the urge to shiver, and holds his ground. “I… you’re not listening to me! I can’t control myself, fWhip. A-and I don’t… I don’t want to keep hurting people.”

And fWhip watches in quiet horror as tears fall down Scott’s face. But… but they aren’t normal tears. They’re frozen on his cheeks, long before they hit the ground, and bounce on the cobblestones with little tink-tink-tinks.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Scott says, and he reaches out to fWhip for a moment, just a moment, before he catches himself, and tucks his hands away again.

fWhip involuntarily makes a distressed sound in the back of his throat, before he has a thought, eyes lighting up. Scott watches him in confusion as fWhip frantically pats down his coat.

“Look, wait, hang on,” he tells Scott, before he finds the right pocket and pulls out his work gloves. “These- these babies? Designed to withstand the extreme temperatures of my forge.”

And fWhip doggedly closes the distance before Scott can argue, pulling his gloves on, and takes Scott’s hands in his. Scott flinches, gasps, his hands flex as frost spreads across fWhip’s gloves, but fWhip just raises a shaky eyebrow, and smiles.

Scott’s eyes widen.

“See?” fWhip squeezes Scott’s hands, coaxing him along, and finally, the tension leaks from Scott, his shoulders uncurl enough to stand tall again. “You can’t hurt me. It’s alright.”

“…Your technology is marvellous,” Scott says, musing. He gently turns fWhip’s hands over so Scott can inspect the gloves closer. “And you’re sure I’m not…?”

“Can barely feel a thing,” fWhip assures him. “You’d really need to start pumping the temperature up or down to damage these.”

In truth, he hasn’t actually really tested these for cold. But they certainly work for heat. Wearing these, he can handle magma and, to some degrees, even lava with his hands. Which is more where his expertise lies. But they’re holding up more than fine right now. fWhip squeezes Scott’s hands again, even as the frost thickens. He still doesn’t feel the cold.

Scott looks up now, finally meeting fWhip’s eyes… and, gods above and below, he looks tired.

“I’m about to go,” Scott whispers. “I’m… I’m going.”

“Where?” fWhip asks, voice equally hushed, worried, and he immediately steps closer.

“Somewhere. Anywhere. Away from here. I have to.”

“You… Scott.”

“I have to,” Scott’s still crying, his frozen teardrops are almost piling around them now. “I need to learn to control myself. And I need to do it somewhere I won’t freeze someone half to death. O-or worse.”

“And you?” fWhip tilts his head, studying Scott’s face.

“Oh,” Scott says, his best attempt at playful, and he even does his best to give fWhip a smile. “The cold doesn’t bother me.”

“…H-how long will you be gone?”

“Long enough,” Scott says, and his hands tighten around fWhip’s for a moment. “I… I don’t know if I should even…”

“You better come back,” fWhip cuts Scott off, brow furrowing as the pain in his chest threatens to seal off his throat. “You better. I’ll hunt you down if you don’t.”

“fWhip,” Scott says He sounds in pain.

“Scott,” fWhip matches his tone. “You… you can’t go. …I-I’m sorry. I hate seeing you like this.”

“Like what?” Scott says, the bitterness in his tone taking fWhip aback, and he watches as Scott’s lip curls. “A menace? A danger? A threat?”

“Scared,” fWhip says, earnest and simple. “In pain.”

He moves in, now. fWhip catches Scott in a full-on hug, and wraps his leathery wings around both of them, best he can.

“You better come back,” he half-growls, hugging tighter as Scott tenses up with a sharp gasp. “We… gods, Scott, we were just beginning to work.”

“I know,” Scott says, and he sounds so… mournful. “Maybe we just weren’t meant to-”

“You better not finish that sentence either,” fWhip cuts him off again, voice so dark, and fWhip looks up sharply to meet Scott’s ice-blue eyes. They’re practically pressed chest-to-chest now. Scott’s shaking in his arms. “I… you can’t… I can’t… I’ve already lost so many, Scott, you…”

fWhip closes his eyes for a moment, before he finally says, “I can’t lose you too.”

Scott’s face crumples, and he watches fWhip with a devastated expression. fWhip takes his opportunity to lean in and place a kiss on Scott’s cheek.

“fWhip!” Scott reprimands him, and snowy owl wings push draconic ones aside. Scott physically shoves his way out of fWhip’s arms.

“What?” fWhip tries not to sound choked up even as he stumbles back a few steps. “You can’t say you don’t want it!”

“I’ll freeze you!” Scott cries, and fWhip’s eyes widen as frost spreads from around Scott’s boots, seeping deeper into the ground, edging closer to fWhip. “I’ll kill you, fWhip, and I don’t want to. You’d be safer without me!”

Scott puts his head in his hands, turns away, wings circling himself, drawing in tight.

“Everyone would be safer without me,” he whispers to himself.

fWhip chokes on his tongue. He can’t breathe. He needs to say something, anything, but he can’t. The words won’t come.

He takes one hesitant step forward. Then another. He tries to take care not to slip on the ice. Scott doesn’t look up until fWhip is directly in front of him again.

“…fWhip?”

fWhip reaches out, now. He reaches out, worn leather gloves reaching out until he cups Scott’s face gently, so gently, and fWhip tears up as he watches Scott’s eyes widen. fWhip guides Scott’s head down, not all the way, just until their foreheads are resting together, and fWhip closes his eyes, staying there. It’s almost too much to bear.

“I can’t stop you,” he says, low and slow. “I know I can’t. But promise me, Scott. Promise me you’ll come back. I need you to come back.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“You can.” fWhip’s face scrunches up, eyes screwing tighter shut. “…Who’s even looking after your people, when you’re gone?”

“My advisors,” Scott says. “I’ve left them letters; they know what to do.”

“…The Grimlands will lend aid, if they need it,” fWhip’s voice is so soft. Scott’s touch is much colder than it used to be, but fWhip isn’t scared of it. He likes it, even. It… fWhip runs too hot for his own good. He could even get used to this, grow fond of this, …if Scott would stay.

“Thank you,” Scott whispers, and somehow, he’s the one who shivers. “…fWhip.”

“Scott.”

fWhip hasn’t opened his eyes yet. He can’t. If he opens his eyes to see that fear on Scott’s face, it’ll… make this far harder. Too hard. fWhip wants to remember what Scott looked like with a smile. What he used to look like before the demon. Before everything.

“What are you doing?” Scott whispers to him.

“I-I’m trying to remember you happy,” fWhip replies honestly. “So it’ll hurt less when you’re gone.”

Scott’s breathing hitches. Under fWhip’s touch, he shudders. Slowly, fWhip feels the familiar warmth and softness of being encircled by feathery wings, and he melts into it.

“Don’t go.” fWhip can’t help but beg.

“I have to.”

“Then kiss me,” fWhip finally opens his eyes, and takes in Scott’s tears, the fear in his eyes, the way his mouth is hanging a little open, the way he’s drawn tenser than a bowstring, and knows he won’t be able to erase how Scott has changed, has been changed, by all of this. “Kiss me, one last time. Please.”

Scott gasps again, and fWhip watches Scott as he openly wars with himself, fear and longing clawing at each other until Scott gasps for air, and-

“I…” Scott’s hands almost make it to fWhip’s face, but they falter, fall a little, and lightly cup his throat, over where his scarf is, like Scott can’t bring himself to touch fWhip’s bare skin.

“Lean in,” fWhip whispers. “Close your eyes, if it helps. I just… Gods. Give me something to remember you by, Scott.”

Scott caves. fWhip watches it happen, watches it play out across Scott’s face. Scott caves, and closes his eyes and tilts his head down, hesitant, waiting. fWhip is the one who cups Scott’s face again to guide the kiss.

Scott’s lips are cold. fWhip doesn’t let it throw him, just presses their mouths together insistently, tries to press everything he can against Scott’s lips to try and let Scott know he has something to come back to.

When they part for air, Scott doesn’t open his eyes for another moment.

fWhip leans back just a little to start undoing his scarf, and he slips it off, loops it around Scott’s neck, and he’s fumbling with doing up the knot when Scott’s eyes fly open.

“I… I can’t take this,” Scott tries to argue, though he makes no move to stop fWhip.

“I have others,” fWhip tells him sharply, doing up the knot a little too tight as his nerves spike. “Remember me.”

Scott touches it softly, his expression twisting. “Red’s not my colour,” he whispers.

“Means you’ll have to give it back.” fWhip drags him in by the scarf now, and kisses him again, pressing his words to Scott’s lips. “Means you’ll have to remember me.”

It seems to be yet another touchy thing to say to Scott – his lips part like he was going to say something. fWhip almost takes the opportunity to deepen the kiss then and there, but he doesn’t. He… doesn’t think Scott would forgive him if he did.

They break away. fWhip just doesn’t want to take his hands off the elf before him, yet. When he does, Scott will go, and it’ll all be real.

“Is there any last things you need?” he asks instead, makes himself ask instead.

“No.” Scott’s hands fall away to hang at his sides.

“You have enough food?”

“I do.”

fWhip smooths down the scarf. …Scott isn’t wrong about red not being his colour. It just kind of washes Scott out.

fWhip still thinks he looks beautiful.

“…Be safe?”

“You too,” Scott says earnestly. “…If there’s an emergency, send an owl. They’ll find me.”

“I will,” fWhip promises.

And the conversation lulls. It’s come to an end, fWhip can feel it has, but he doesn’t want it to. But Scott steps away now, leaving fWhip’s hands trailing behind him. Snow has started to fall around them, slow and soft.

It settles on Scott’s hair, gleaming in the sun.

fWhip wants to say all sorts of things. Things like I’ll miss you and things like I love you. He doesn’t say any of it, though, because… at the end of the day, he knows Scott knows. And he knows it’ll only make this hurt more.

fWhip knows he can’t stop him. Despite how badly he wishes for the contrary, fWhip cannot stop him. And he knows Scott wouldn’t cope with fWhip following. Even if fWhip wanted to, he …can’t. because even outside of the ‘powers’ thing, it isn’t really, politically, the best of times to leave. But fWhip won’t tell him that. He’ll just have to… to try to cover Scott’s tracks for him.

Scott now leaves five, now six, now seven, now eight empty paces between them, before he smiles, so sadly, so scared, at fWhip; and… there. In that moment right there, fWhip knows that this expressionwill be the face that will haunt his dreams from now on.

“Goodbye, Count fWhip,” Scott whispers. It’s almost as soft as the snow falling around them, but it falls louder than an avalanche on fWhip’s ears.

fWhip swallows hard.

“Goodbye, King Scott,” is all he can whisper back. Helpless. He feels helpless, watching Scott extend his wings, put his back to fWhip, and hesitate only once before he takes off.

Scott circles once, overhead. What gold he’s still wearing catches in the sunlight, as does his hair. fWhip has always thought his hair looks particularly fetching in the sun. It makes his heart lurch now. With a few mighty beats of powerful wings, Scott is soaring into the distance.

Just like that, he’s …gone.

fWhip stays rooted to the spot until Scott’s out of eyeshot, and then a little longer, just for good measure. Snow settles on his hair, his shoulders, his wings. fWhip stays, still as a statue, frozen in place until he can’t stand the cold anymore, and he cracks. fWhip wraps himself up in his wings, finally giving in and shivering as he rips his eyes away from the horizon.

 He feels barer – colder – without his scarf.

As fWhip drops his head, gritting his teeth, something sparkling catches his eye. fWhip makes a sound – a sound that’s a little too close to a sob to play it off, before he leans down, and scoops up a handful of Scott’s frozen tears. He cradles them in his hands, watching them glint in the morning sun.

They are small and delicate in the palms of his thick, dark, leathery gloves.

…It’s only morning. He has a whole day ahead of him. Buildings to build. Councils to meet with. Treaties to negotiate. Paperwork to finish. Inventions to fix.

He…

H-he needs to replace his scarf first.

fWhip stands, turns sharply, and spreads his wings too, closing his hands around the tears. They don’t even seem to be melting, yet. And they don’t the whole way home, and not even when he takes off his gloves and cups them in his bare hands, where they sit, freezing and lonely, against his skin.

fWhip leaves them on his windowsill, in his bedroom, by his bed. He puts his back to them as he huddles by the fire long enough to stave all the cold off, replaces his scarf, though he gave Scott his favourite one. …It was bloodsheep wool. Sausage had made it for him, years ago.

…It’s one he can probably never replace, nowadays.

Eventually, fWhip rises to his feet, making to leave, to try function for the day, and ends up turning back to the window. fWhip can’t help but notice with detached curiosity and buried pain that, even in the full sun, Scott’s tears aren’t melting.

Well then. Good to see fWhip’s got something to hold onto, too.

So, fWhip doesn’t let himself cry. fWhip plasters on his best smile, and leaves, trying to put some fake pep in his step as he goes to meet up with his civil planning committee to try suss out the last of the preparations for their newest building project, and does his best not to slam his bedroom door behind him, as all he can do is to… continue on with his life, and hope for Scott to come back.

#empires smp #empires s1 #empires fwhip #empires scott #scwhip #empiresshipping #empires fanfic #empires smp fanfic #empires fic #djpurple3's writing yo #i havent posted fic in so long. and it's rarepairs. B) #it's 2am im going to bed now

[breakaway71]

ANIJATP PLEASE

aaaaaaaahhhh I love this fic SO MUCH but I uuuuhhhh legitimately sort of forgot it existed until like a week ago when I found it on my flashdrive and was like DID I WRITE THIS IN A FEVER DREAM OR SOMETHING?? So this is my JATP/Animorphs crossover, which is mostly canon-compliant for both universes, except the Yeerk war ended more quietly than in the books, so they were still secret at the end. Essentially, Reggie was also an Animorph, getting caught up in it by virtue of being Marco's older cousin, who was visiting when Elfangor crashed in the construction site. The war ended, and a couple months later Reggie ate a bad hot dog and died anyway. (Yup I managed to make hot dog death even more ironic and tragic.) The story picks up post-S1, and Reggie is struggling because his friends still don't know his secret, and he also misses his other team and wants to know that they made it, that they're okay, that they recovered from the war and losing Rachel everything else that happened to them. Also I accidentally made it Marco/Ax :D snippet:

“Reg?” he hears from far away. “Dude, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Reggie shakes his head, coming back to himself all at once to find that he’s shaking all over, jaw clenched around a scream. “No, I’m, um. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine,” Alex says, and Reggie turns to find him hovering at his other shoulder, looking worried.

“Bad dream,” Reggie mumbles, and can’t miss the look Luke and Alex exchange. Because, yeah, they’ve seen him zone out before, but it doesn’t happen to them. He doesn’t know if it’s a trauma thing or just a himthing, and honestly doesn’t want to know. “Look, it’s fine. I’m all good.” He tries for a smile and knows it falls short when Luke crowds in closer, reaching out to grab Reggie’s shoulders.

“Hey,” he says. “You know you can talk to us, right?”

Reggie just barely stops himself from snorting. Yeah, he can talk to them. He can tell them all his wartime trauma stories, and then wave goodbye as they cart him off to a rubber room for ghosts. Sounds fun.

“I…”

“Whatever stupid thing you’re about to say,” Alex says, “don’t.” He nudges Reggie’s side. “Come on, you think we didn’t notice all those times you disappeared on us? We knew something was going on. You don’t have to tell us what it was, but it’s obviously still bugging you, dude. We’re your best friends. We’ll listen if you want us to. You know that, right?”

Reggie shakes his head, not because he doesn’t know, and not because he doesn’t want to talk to them, but because he promised. Because even if he could tell them everything (and he can, he knows he can, they’re ghosts now and even if the Yeerks were still on Earth, his friends would be safe by default because they don’t have bodies to infest), he wouldn’t know where to start.

Once upon a time, I was visiting my cousin, and he and his best friend and a few other kids dragged me through this construction site on our way home from the mall. A dying alien crash landed his ship right in front of us, and suddenly playing bass with you guys wasn’t the most important thing in my world, no matter how much I still wanted it to be.

“I can’t…I…” Reggie swallows. In a much smaller voice, he says, “I promised. A long time ago.” It’s the only excuse he has. “I’m sorry.”

Another look is exchanged, but then Luke and Alex are hugging him, one on either side, and for a little while, that’s the only thing that matters.

#julie and the phantoms #animorphs #crossover shenanigans #ask meme #snippet

[annabethwarriorprincess]

Can you rank the grandchildren from oldest to youngest?

Harlen- 23

Claire- 22

Bella&Donna - 20

Allegra Grace - 19

Benji - Forever 17

Karma - 16

Stan - 12

And Baby Billy who's a Newborn

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Claire spent a few months accidentally shifting reality, seemingly at random, before she finally recognized her Trigger Words.

"I Don't Believe That"

Then she said "I Don't Believe That There's No one who can teach me how to use my Powers" and found herself in an entirely new reality.

One wherein both her parents had died, and after her father's family found her powers to difficult to deal with, they had sent her to live with Reginald.

But also Grandma Grace, and Uncles Pogo and Luther.

Claire made the Strategic Choice to stay in this reality and allow Grandpa Reggie to train her to use her powers.

But inevitably, Reginalds Abuse became too much for her, and she said "I Don't Believe That You Are My Only Family"

And found herself in Allegra Graces apocalyptic Reality.

Allegra had a fairly Idlyic childhood, for a Sharkgirl. Diego and Eudora were the world's favorite SuperCouple, and Allegra was like Superhero Royalty.

Until her Parents were killed by a Supervillian *cough*Leonard*cough* bent on ending the world by detonating a well planted bomb that would to kick off WW3.

With This Reality on the brink of Nuclear Armageddon, Claire grabbed her cousin and bounced into the Next Reality in search of more family.

They bounced through three alternate versions of the Dallas Timeline, finding Bella, Donna, and Benji along the way.

They then landed in the fourth(mostly canon compliant) version of the Dallas Timeline and before they could find Karma, Harlen found Them.

Part of Harlens power is a sort of Psychic Ability to locate people who have powers like him. In the years since the Hargreeves left, the only other person like Him that he Felt was Karma.

He kept a Psychic Eye on her through her childhood, and a few months before her 16th birthday he had a Sense that she was in Danger.

So he tracked her down, and joined Destinys Children to be close enough to protect her from Whatever the danger he Felt was.

The thing is, although Most of Destinys Children are good hearted and wholesomely spiritual, there is a small faction who have darker intentions.

When Karmas powers first presented These People saw it as some kind of Dark Omen or something?

Jill did her best to keep These Types away from her kid, but the older Karma got, the more Powerful be Became, the harder it was to deny that the Messiah was her Father.

Destinys Children decided to Name Karma the New Messiah on the 16th birthday, had a whole ritualistic party planned. Jill didn't like any of This and had her own plan to take her kid and leave.

The Dark Faction figured out what Jill was planning and decided to Kill Her before she could take Karma from them.

So Jill was Murdered. Her Afterlife took the form of a Dennys Parking Lot at 3am where she fistfought God Herself for the right to return to the land of the Living.

God: No Wonder Those Hargreeves Brothers Like You So Much. *happily sends Jill back, but Damns her just a little, making her a Vampire*

So on Karmas 16th birthday her Undead Mother clawed her way out of a Shallow Grave and made her way across the Destinys Children Compound, slaughtering anyone and everyone who got in her way.

Harlen Heard the chaos and brought Karma to a safe room to protect her. When Jill burst in she went straight for Harlens Throat. Karma recognized her Mom and jumped in front of Harlen to reassure Jill that He wasn't a Threat.

Jill accidentally Bit Karma. Just a little Bite. But now they're a badass Mother Daughter Vampire Duo. Harlen is their Emotional Support Human.

When Claire &Co. Land in this reality, Jill happily adopts her Alternate Reality Children and Nieces. They're a Happy Family, for a While.

Then Benji dies as the prophecy stated he would. Claire and Karma combine their powers to bring him back just enough for Mama Jill to Vamperize Him.

The family tries to settle back in but there's a palpable tension. This Reality no longer feels Safe.

Watching her cousins with their Mother starts to eat away at Claire, and she proposes one last* shift, into whatever Reality her Mother and her siblings went after Dallas.

She convinces her family that she can give them everything that's still missing from their lives. Her cousins can all get their parents back.

Harlen can reunite with V.

Jill can actually meet Ben for real. (And maybe have a Threesome with him and Klaus?)

They can kick Grandpa Reggies Ass.

The family agree to go for it.

Of course it's not as easy as Claire made it out to be, and they have to hop through several realities before they find the right one.

In one of these Realities they meet Stan, Klaus Son. Stan had a really good life and Klaus was a Really Good Dad, but had recently reunited with his Siblings to try and Stop the Apocalypse.

They Failed and Stan was left alone in an empty Acadmey riding out the Apocalypse with only a partially functioning Robot Grace for company.

Jill: *free real estate voice* it's a free son.

Stan: I just want my Dad.

Claire: can I interest you in an Alternate Reality Version of Your Dad?

Stan: ...yeah that'll work.

Their next jump brings them into the a Kugelblitz free version Sparrow Reality. They do the math and decide a timeline where the majority of their parents are alive and there Isn't an impending Apocalypse is the best they can hope for and decide to stay.

Harlen and Viktor and Claire and Allison reunite. Allegra gets to know this version of her Dad, Lila excitedly declares herself Stepmom. Klaus dives headfirst into being a Dad for Karma and Stan.

Jill and Sparrow Ben fall passionately in love and make baby Billy, much to their older children's embarrassment.

Luther and Five along with the Sparrows compete for the Title of Coolest Aunt/Uncle.

Reginald keeps quiet for while and lets the family settle in. But eventually he starts making moves to start up his Abusive "Training" with the Kids. The Kids know better and decide to make His Life a Living Hell.

#the umbrella academy #tua au #au outline #tua next gen #tua season 4: grandchildrens revenge #hargreeves au #hargreeves fam

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Maybe If I Tell Myself Enough

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36149161

Summary: In every season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we had some sort of Bangel kiss. The comics do not keep this up at all (for some obvious reasons). But I attempted to rectify this and give us some semblance of a Bangel kiss for the seasons that didn't have one (9-12), while still trying to stay mostly canon compliant (which was actually pretty difficult). But here you go. Bangel. Fix-It-Fic, somewhat. Making Buffy in the comics a bit more IC. Becoming okay with each other again. Becoming friends again. Falling in love again.

Knowledge of the comics might not be necessary, but it’ll probably help a lot. Yeah.

Season Nine

Buffy’s PoV

When Buffy called Angel after the whole Twilight fiasco—and wasn’t that putting it mildly?—it was actually an accident.

She’d butt dialed him, if you could believe it. But once she’d realized that she had, and he was saying her name in disbelief that she’d called him, she found that she couldn’t just hang up on him and act like it hadn’t happened. Even if, more than anything, she wished that she could.

Buffy wasn’t exactly ready to talk to her former lover, after all, and she had no idea how she felt about him at all.

Somedays she wished that Faith had taken Angel even further away than London—like Japan, or somewhere—so their time difference would be even crazier… and so maybe Angel would be so used to talking in Japanese, he would start speaking to her in said language and then she’d have an excuse not to have this conversation.

But Buffy had no such luck.

And as it was, she wasn’t as heartless as to leave him hanging here, when she flashbacked to how he’d been catatonic the last time she’d seen him.

So Buffy swallowed, and tried to act like this was her plan from the start. “A-Angel,” she started. And instantly cursed herself for stuttering and how awkward she sounded. She used to be able to tell this man everything—things she never would have dreamed of telling anyone else—so how was it that they had come to this sad, miserable place? “How are you? How’s Faith?”

And once upon a time, there would have been a jealous lilt in her voice at the mention of Faith, Buffy knew. And she honestly didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing, that there wasn’t at all when she mentioned her sister Slayer when speaking to Angel now.

She’d never been a good actress. Buffy would be the first to admit it. She’d been sitting down, somewhat depressed with a half-a-pint of ice cream, about to try and call Spike after he’d mysteriously disappeared, or maybe even Dowling before she accidentally made this call, and Angel must have been able to tell.

She could easily imagine the half-smile that would have been lighting up his face now while he chuckled, even as sadness came to light in his eyes. “You didn’t mean to call me, did you, Buffy? I won’t hold you, then. You should get back to… whatever you were doing.”

“Angel, wait!��� Buffy cried. And then she had to wonder why she had. He wasn’t wrong, after all. And she wasn’t ready to talk to him. Why lie, and force herself to have a horrible conversation that might leave things worse than they were?

But at the same time, could Buffy really leave things like this? Surely there had to be some way here, right?

Taking a bite of her cookie dough, fudge mint chip ice cream for some endorphins to see herself through this, Buffy reminded herself that honesty was the best policy—it was what she’d always wanted from Angel, wasn’t it?—so she’d be honest, and she’d see where they went from here. “Angel, truthfully? I did kind of call you by accident, yeah. I don’t really think I’m ready for the heavy yet. But I don’t entirely want to leave things where they are, either. Can you… can you at least tell me how you’re doing. Are you okay?”

Buffy heard the vampire take a breath on the other end of the line. And that hurt—she wasn’t gonna lie; she knew well from Angel himself, that vampires didn’t need to breathe—and as he did, Buffy wondered if maybe it would have been best if she had hung-up on him. What? Did he think she’d sucker punched him or something?

If so, Buffy had some bitter thoughts about how Angel kind of deserved that and more after he’d killed a plethora of her girls. But she tried to force these ideas down.

See? This was really why they should not have been talking now.

“Uhh, yeah, sure. I- I’m… okay, I guess. Better than I was before. Faith and I have been-been trying to do some detective work, I guess.”

“Oh. That’s-that’s really good. Glad- Glad to hear it, Angel. Uhh… you keep on fighting. I-I’ve also been good. Been doing some bodyguard stuff with Kennedy, if you can believe it. It’s a hand that I won’t bite, but I still think I’m the Slayer first and anything else second.”

“…I’m so glad to hear you say that, Buffy. Do you finally feel something about your calling, then? I always admired you for all that you did. And thought you had a fire about you, that the other Slayers didn’t.”

God damnit! She couldn’t do this! As awful as it had been to speak to Angel like this—and it really had been—Buffy had been able to stomach = it, if she could imagine that he was sitting on the couch with Faith, drinking a beer with her or something, as he casually talked with her on the phone.

But with what he had just said, Buffy could just imagine Angel in his room, thinking about her and loving her—perhaps even drawing her—and she just couldn’t bring herself to rip his heart out right now, when he was still in such bad shape. Because that was what she would have to do here! She couldn’t love Angel again after what he’d done!

Buffy couldn’t love him again, because it seemed that fate had decided long ago that them together meant a slow death to everyone and everything.

“Uhh, yeah, Angel, I have to go. I’m Kissing you on your cheek now, bye.”

Oh, God. She had not meant to say that. Buffy had not meant to say anything remotely romantic sounding towards Angel at all! It just had slipped out! It was what she had used to say whenever she’d talked over the phone with Angel, when they’d been dating. And her brain must have short circuited and gone back in time for a moment, or something, and thought that since they were doing that old type of thing again, that everything was okay and they were back together, when they were clearly not.

Buffy was about to take it all back, when with the arrogance she would have expected from Angelus—which really took her aback—Angel said, “Kissing you on your cheek now, Buffy. Bye,” and hung up.

Buffy decided then and there, that she had never hated anyone so much in her life.

She would not be letting him in again.

Season Ten

Buffy’s PoV

Buffy had thought that she would be prepared to see Angel once more, but she should have known that she never could be. The moment she saw him, all the feelings that she’d tried to keep locked up—that she’d even thought were completely gone—hit her like a tidal wave. And she prayed to every god that she could think of that Spike didn’t see this.

Because she hadn’t been lying when she told him that Angel coming here wasn’t going to change things between them. As it stood, all of the issues with Angel were still there. And Buffy cared about Spike and was excited about finally seriously trying things with him. Their relationship was good, whereas her one with Angel wasn’t.

But fuck. There was something about Angel that still made her weak in the knees, even though Buffy was trying to hide it and to fight her body’s reactions to him.

She tried to blame it on her inner sixteen-year-old, but deep down she knew the real reason. She had found it out very recently, hadn’t she? Angel was her soulmate. The universe had created the two of them to be together, so it could evolve. She had hoped that with the Twilight prophecy being over, that wouldn’t be the case anymore. But with her clearly still being so drawn to Angel, Buffy knew she wasn’t getting off that easily.

And oh, how she wished that she was. Because, ironically, it seemed their being soulmates was the exact reason that she and Angel couldn’t be together.

“Listen, it’s.. it’s great to see everyone, but… can I have a minute with Buffy? I mean, if that’s okay with-” Those words were coming out of Angel’s mouth the moment he was inside the apartment Buffy shared with her friends. And while there was a part of Buffy that wanted to playfully shut him down for the way their last conversation had gone.

Or, moreover, because she was still so furious at him for some of the stuff he’d done as Twilight and always would be (though she was also trying to understand it some), Buffy knew that they did need to talk.

And she’d heard from Giles that Angel had wanted to settle things with her more than once, but had held himself back for her sake. So, she could give him this, Buffy allowed. “No, totally. We should.”

Then, before Buffy even knew it, they were in her room. And once again, she was a teenager. And all of her feelings for Angel were back. Even with how she felt about Spike.

Oh, God. If Angel a monster, then so was she, for wanting him as she did.

Without having noticed where Buffy’s own thoughts had led her, Angel began talking about how sorry he was for everything he’d done—which was something Buffy could certainly appreciate; this wasn’t Twilight, the strange universe they’d created, or Angelus: this was the man she’d loved so much, for so long—and this led to Buffy realizing she’d mostly made peace with him, which astounded even her.

One of Angel’s greatest sins had been taking Giles from her, so when he’d returned him—and Buffy was now looking into the face of someone who could do so much good—what could she do but remember how she had once championed him, and would again.

Though, even with that, it was all still so confusing: a mess inside Buffy’s head. And she tried to explain it all to Angel, upon him sitting down beside her on her bed. “I probably haven’t spent enough time thinking about it all, like you have. It- it hurt too much to do so. Seeing you now… I honestly wasn’t sure how I’d feel.”

“And?” Angel asked her. There was a hopeful note to that question, as he peered at Buffy from beneath his lashes. He was again Peter, asking her—Jesus—to save him from drowning. And Buffy couldn’t help but fall in love with him even more with that. This was the Angel that she would always love. Not the swaggering Angelus, but the Angel who wanted to believe in miracles but needed just a little bit of guidance to do so.

“It’s complicated. What else is new, right?” Because that had been their entire life story, hadn’t it? Only a fool would deny that. And even if Angel had gotten a second chance and had found his water legs again, Buffy still had to remind him of this sad fact of their lives before he really committed himself to her and her cause here. “But enough of it’s good.”

“Buffy,” Angel whispered her name, as if it were a prayer and his only lifeline: like he had so often done before.

Angel’s right hand found her chin and very gently tilted it up towards his lips. Buffy was about to protest: to tell him that even though he’d always be in her heart, that things didn’t work between them—that they couldn’t work between them—and that she was with Spike now.

But the moment his lips very lightly glided over hers, she was lost. She always had been when Angel kissed her. Really, his lips should have officially been registered as a drug. It just wasn’t fair.

The kiss was actually soft and sweet for them. Angel was clearly asking for permission as his lips moved with hers, and one hand petted her hair and the other encircled her waist.

It was permission Buffy readily found herself giving, lost in the haze. Her tongue mated with his own and her hands tangled in Angel’s hair, just as things began to heat up.

Funnily enough, it was when that turn of phrase reached Buffy’s head, that she remembered what she was doing and pushed him way. Because she remembered when things had “heated up”, and they’d raised the Earth’s climate to a dangerous degree when they’d both ascended by their coupling before.  “Oh, God, Angel. I’m so sorry. I- we can’t. That was… temporary insanity on my part. And I’m so sorry for doing that to you. I guess what we were both created for will always hold power over us. But Angel, that’s exactly why we can’t. We’re too dangerous when we’re together.”

Buffy got up from the bed, smoothed out her hair and clothes, and grabbed a mint that she thankfully had in her pocket (she did not need Spike smelling her “Angel breath” again, thank you very much, when she had not meant to kiss him at all), before trying to continue some of the conversation that she and Angel had been having before.

“And also, uhh… Back to some of the ‘good’ I was talking about before; I at least hope that it is. Spike, can you come in here?”

And Angel, poor Angel. Maybe he knew that she was about to break his heart (why she did, exactly, Buffy didn’t know. Though she would certainly try and piece it all together later.)

Because almost as if to delay her, Angel began talking about battle strategy, of all things. “Hold on- We can talk battle strategy in a minute. I want to make sure we’re okay.”

“So do I,” Buffy said somewhat awkwardly herself now, the moment Spike came around the corner and held her hand. “‘Cause it’s been a long time and we have a lot to talk about.”

And Angel’s betrayed face in seeing her and Spike together would be something that would haunt some of Buffy’s worst nightmares.

Season Eleven

Buffy’s PoV

“So, we agree that this ray that the U.S. is making to zap everyone’s powers away, isn’t going to just stay here, right? And it’s probably going to reach other countries before we can even blink?” Dawn asked about everything they’d just learned from having kidnapped the Vice President, that Buffy was still panicking about, thank you very much.

“Uhh… yeah, Dawnie. We’ve been over this. What’s the sitch? Please tell me you’ve decided you’re actually going to leave the country and go somewhere safe. Even if the other countries are only going to be days away from this, I’ll feel safer knowing my little sis is there and not on the front lines.”

Dawn crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Buffy for that. It was honestly pretty chilling. Sometimes, when Dawn wanted to, she could really look like their mom. And here Buffy had thought that that was supposed to be her job. Jeez. “I’m going to pretend that you didn’t say that. You know you guys need me as the Key, if you need me to teleport you out of a place, toot sweet. But, no. What I’m getting at, is that you should warn Angel about this. Especially since if vampires get hit with it, they just flat-out die. Does he even know what’s been going on here? Does he have a plan to fight this, if they come-a-knockin’ on his door?”

Dawn actually didn’t wait for an answer to that, Buffy saw. She just jumped onto her hotel bed, and began work on one of her art projects for school—in probably not wanting to psych herself out too much before tomorrow’s big battle, if Buffy were to guess. Surely, she must have that Buffy was better than she was, and that she’d told Angel about all of this ages ago… except that she hadn’t.

In her defense, Buffy tried to remind herself now, she did have the excuse of having been in an internment camp for a long time here—and under duress in general—and thus not in her right mind at all, as she’d worried about herself and her family.

But more than that… maybe she’d been too lost in her relationship with Spike to give Angel much thought lately.

And maybe she’d even felt betrayed by him, somewhat, when he’d tried to kill Spike while under the control of Archaeus, even though she’d of course understood that that wasn’t his fault.

What a woman she was, Buffy thought, furious at herself now, as she began pacing a hole into the of their hotel carpet. She’d told Angel that they should stay friends and keep in touch by texting and e-mailing and stuff, but had she even listened to her own advice?

Well, Buffy was going to start now, by warning him of this impending danger.

Digging out her phone, Buffy dialed Angel’s number—fully intending to mean to call him this time—and waited several rings until someone finally picked up… it was a voice she’d never heard before. And someone with an English accent, though what did she expect when he was living in London? “You’ve, uhh, reached the phone that Angel left behind. How ever may we help you?”

“Who is this?!” Buffy demanded, hating immediately that jealousy was coloring her tone, when she had absolutely no reason to be jealous, since she was happily in love with Spike. She and Angel could never be together, anyway. And if she did still have some feelings for Angel, she certainly hadn’t been showing it lately, so what was this? ‘Get it together, Summers’, she scolded herself. ‘You attract more bees with honey than vinegar.’

“The name is Sophronia Fairweather, though those I care about call me ‘Sophie.’ Including my dear sister. I assume if you have dear Angel’s phone number, you’re someone he cares about, since he hardly gives the number to anyone. The poor thing also barely knows how to use his phone. He’s also sort… of disappeared now, as it were, but if you want to leave a message, I’ll give it to him whenever he eventually reappears.”

“Sophronia Fairweather…” Buffy muttered, now sitting on the bed beside Dawnie and pulling out a notepad and writing this name down to try and figure out where she’d heard it before. “Are you- are you Giles’ great aunt? One of the ones responsible for him looking like a kid now?!” Buffy shrieked the last bit out, as it all came back to her in sharp detail.

Yes, indeed. One of the first things that had happened when Giles had returned to life, was him ranting to her, Xander, Willow, Spike, Andrew—hell, anyone who would listen—about how Sophronia and Lavinia had wronged him once again… whatever that meant.

“Uhh, yes, that would be me. But I think what you’re forgetting here, that is we that helped revive him! And in such prime form, too! Why, think how long he’ll go without having to worry about wrinkles, warts, and skin tags now! We did him a favor and he should be thanking us, really!”

“…Right. So, what’s going on with Angel?” Buffy ventured. She’d also heard from Giles that Angel was working with his two great aunts, alongside Faith, in Magic Town. So now that she’d figured out who she was talking to, she supposed her connection to Angel shouldn’t have surprised her too much. And Sophie surely must have actually known what was going on with him… if she could get her to talk about Angel, that was.

“He seems to be jumping through time with that temperamental goddess Illyria. Something about them trying to fix some sort of paradox, but it seems to have spiraled out of control,” Sophie said with a yawn. And Buffy could just imagine her painting her nails, or doing some other girly thing, whilst recounting this “boring story”.

How Buffy wished she were Sophie, and not dealing with the fate of the world yet again. But alas.

“Illyria’s back?”

“Buffy, what’s going on? Are you actually trying to tell Angel all of this info now? This conversation seems to be going a lot deeper than I thought it would,” Dawn said, looking up from her homework, seeming to be pretty curious now.

“Yeah, Buffy. Who are you on the phone with? What’s going on?” Buffy waved Dawn and Willow’s questions away (it seemed that Willow and the rest of the gang were coming back upstairs from the cafeteria they’d been at), and charged on with this bizarre conversation, and her need to see to it that Angel was safe, damnit.

“I mean, she is an Old One. What did you expect?”

That was fair, Buffy supposed.

“Anyway, Sophie… have you been keeping up with what’s going on in America. Do you know they’ve made a ray to steal everyone’s magic powers? And, more than that, it’ll kill a vamp if it touches them?”

“Oh, yeah, Buffy… I’m assuming your little Rupert’s golden star, Buffy, anyway. I keep my ear to the ground for anything that might steal my powers and ruin my beauty routine that way. And this is Magic Town, sweetie. You’ve gotta believe that Magic Town doesn’t want that sort of nonsense coming here. We’ll be fine. But thank you so much for your concern, my love. Rupert made a true real one with you, I’ll tell you that much.”

And now Buffy was whispering into the phone, as quietly as her voice would let her. Because Spike was in the room now. And even though she was doing this all platonically for Angel’s safety—and she thought that even he would surely do the same for his sire—she didn’t want him getting the wrong idea here. “If Angel comes back, though… Will you just make sure that he lays low and has a plan to survive this?”

“I have the feeling, dear Buffy, that by the time Angel is back from his Wibbly-Wobbly, Timey-Wimey Stuff, you’ll have made this entire threat blow over, but if not, I’ll see to it. Now bye, love. XOXO. If Angel were here, I know he would tell you the same thing.”

“…Bye, Sophie,” Buffy said somewhat gravely. She just felt that she wasn’t taking this threat to Angel seriously enough. And she was afraid that she would lose him over it, but hopefully—for once—she was panicking over nothing. “XOXO. And I hope we get to talk again sometime! And with Lavinia, too! You’ve been great! Any family of Giles, is family of mine… And when you do see Angel, tell him ‘XOXO’, as well.”

And this time, Buffy actually meant it. Because she thought that now, with this, she was repairing the bond between her and Angel as friends, at least.

And she wanted little else in the world, but that.

...

Season Eleven

Angel’s PoV

When Angel eventually got back from his chaotic adventure with Illyria, feeling all kinds of confused for so many different reasons, the apocalypse that Buffy had faced (that Sophie had told him about) was already over.

But it warmed his dead heart to hear that Buffy was fighting for his sake once again.

He did, however, cringe in hearing that Sophie had told Buffy he would have told her “hugs and kisses”—because he wanted to believe he never would have done something so cheesy—but, hey: if it had led to Buffy saying the same things back to him, even if it was just friendship, since her heart was with Spike now, Angel would take it.

Because he may have been in some sort of… something with Illyria now, that had started when he needed comfort after everything that had went down with his family in the past.

But his and Buffy’s relationship was a forever kind of love, and that would never change.

So, okay. Maybe for that reason and none other, Angel would embrace the cliché. “Hugs and kisses, Buffy. Wherever you are,” Angel whispered, blowing a kiss out into the London night.

He hadn’t been able to keep Kathy’s ring—Zuzu’s petals, as it were—but he would keep the feelings that Buffy had inspired in his heart, always.

...

Season Twelve

Buffy’s PoV

Buffy had fallen in love with Angel again. There was no denying it.

She wasn’t entirely sure how or when it had happened.

Maybe it was when she’d begun to realize that she and Spike only worked together when there was some apocalypse going on, and she then remembered the vampire who had fallen in love with her before she’d become the Slayer.

Maybe it was in seeing how much Angel had changed for the better, and how hard he had fought—like no one else, even—to keep her from accepting her fate and going to Hell.

Or, if it had been the only option, to suffer and go with her, then. To suffer for the umpteenth time there, really.

And even when they miraculously had their hard-fought victory and happy ending, Angel was still planning on putting himself through more torment by going to said Hell dimension to try and save Fred-Illyria, because that was just who he was.

The truth? Buffy Anne Summers had probably never fallen out of love with Angel, she supposed. And it probably had something to do with something he’d said what felt like a lifetime ago—when he’d done something that she had thought had ruined any chance for them being together ever again—that they just couldn’t be happy with anyone else.

Perhaps she was ready to accept that now, and actually try when it came to them again.

They’d beaten fate so many times now, that who was to say they couldn’t beat the odds that said they were doomed to fail every time they tried to love one another?

Buffy had wanted to tell Angel she loved him, the moment she’d told Spike that seeing them all fighting so hard and caring so much had filled her heart… or when she had touched him in wanting to alleviate his sorrow for Illyria and Fred.

But she had held off on it, in knowing that he needed to heal some first.

Angel was still healing… but Buffy thought that now might just be the time to test the waters, at the very least.

Because like the young girl who had learned she couldn’t take any time for granted, when she’d given Angel her virginity when they’d faced the Judge, Buffy understood how short life was after facing Harth and she didn’t want to waste any more time.

The two of them were outside an ice cream shop right now—and yes, they were even very cautiously holding hands—and as they were, Angel was giving Buffy his new epiphany about something: “I know I invited you to get coffee all those years ago. But I didn’t even like it. I only suggested it because Willow did. But moving to L.A., I actually developed a taste for it, because I knew in starting a detective business, I was going to need the caffeine.”

“And you’re thinking it’s going to be the same with ice cream, huh?” Buffy all but purred, leaning into him. How glad she was that Angel was coming out of his fog some. And glad that they could have these flirty, fun days with each other back, when they had once seemed forever out of reach. Buffy was also thrilled that he’d decided to stay in San Francisco with her, and for once not run from their relationship, either. “That’s a pretty big bet, Angel. Ice cream’s a whole different kind of temperature and texture. What if you hate it? What will you do then?”

The two of them were sitting at a table now, waiting to have their order taken, and Angel took both of Buffy’s hands and kissed them. And good God, it took everything Buffy had in her not to swoon. Fuck! She wasn’t a teenager anymore. She was thirty-years-old. Shouldn’t she have more control over herself than this?

But… he was Angel. And hadn’t she long ago realized he’d always have this affect on her? And, perhaps, they were finally getting their happily ever after—or at least trying to—so maybe it was okay if she swooned a little bit, even as an adult. And she did. Oh, did she ever.

“If I do, it’ll be okay, Buffy. Because I happen to know a certain someone who loves cookie dough, fudge mint chocolate chip ice cream. And if I dislike it, it’ll just be more for her. But I don’t think that I will. I guess I’m open to taking chances now, is what I’m saying.”

There was something with what Angel had said there, that Buffy couldn’t put her finger on. And she somehow knew that if she looked deeply enough into Angel’s eyes, she would be able to puzzle it out: the truth… and all the happiness and pain of whatever it was, too.

And as much as Buffy usually wanted her answers… she found that she really didn’t want that right now. Because as much torment—and oh, was there ever torment—and bloodshed as there had been to get here, she was content where she was right now.

Before she could second guess herself on this, Buffy leaned across the table and kissed Angel.

It was just a peck on the lips. She barely even gave him the chance to react before she was pulling away.

Because this moment? It still wasn’t absolutely perfect. (Though given Angel’s history of perfect happiness, that could have been a good thing.)

Buffy got the sense that Angel was trying to get himself to like ice cream to have something else positive in his life after losing Illyria and his friend Fred forever (as it seemed she never wanted to leave that Hell dimension now).

But this instance was definitely a start on their road to recovery. A start that wasn’t ending in tears for them. Wasn’t that a miracle.

And somehow, time had slowed down when their lips had brushed even just that microscopic amount, and the strange alchemy that was always present when they kissed was definitely still at work there. Maybe even more than ever before.

“Buffy?” Angel asked, clearly confused when she pulled away, but then settling on grinning like the cat that got the canary as he leaned his hand on his palm.

“Uhh… Just checking in to see if you’re still with me, Angel,” Buffy weakly tried to defend her position. It was horrible even to her own ears. Maybe she really should have been doing love confessions here already, but she was still somewhat afraid and she didn’t want to push her luck. She didn’t know how over or not over Illyria he was, after all.

And at that, Angel raised an eyebrow and laughed before he covered her hand with his own.

Finally, a waiter was coming to take their order. But Angel finished his piece by the time the man finally got there.

“I’m with you, Buffy. I’ll always be with you.”

#Buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #buffy #bangel #fanfiction #oneshot #buffy comics #buffy dark horse comics #buffy season 9-12 #canon #canon compliant #mine #my work #shanna's various forms of art #buffyangel

[lucky-katebishop]

What I Read in August 2021

I... my first draft got deleted and that took forever to make so please like this for my sanity. I bookmarked 26 fics and read 1 book this month, so not as much as my previous two months but still! The majority is Harry Potter, but there's a spare Sherlock one and Friends one in there. A lot of these fics have other people raising Harry because that's just what I've been in the mood for lately.

Friends

For someone to ripple the waters by teatrolley

Plot: He’s fine, though, he tells himself. He’s dealing with it. He’s dating girls, and using the excuse that he’s bad at it when Joey asks him why he never brings anyone home anymore. He’s fine. That is, until Joey kisses him at New Year’s, and everything changes. Or: Chandler is in love with Joey and it's not the sort of thing you say out loud. Until, one day, it is

Characters: Chandler, Joey, Monica

Relationships: Chandler/Joey

Warnings: none

Tags: canon compliant, friends to lovers, POV Chandler, Chandler is gay, coming out

My Notes: I watched a lot of Friends over August and just!!! Chandler and Joey were the Troy and Abed of the 90s, I said what I said. This fic is so beautiful, the prose is amazing and it’s so heartfelt and it did make me tear up a little bit. I don’t typically read fics for sitcoms but I highly 100% recommend this one!

*complete*

Sherlock (stand-alone)

Feel the Tide by positivelymeteoric

Plot: Things John Watson doesn't expect to do when he transfers to a new school: A) Befriend his (possibly) mad roommate. B) Investigate a particularly nasty streak of murders with his (most likely) mad roommate. C) Fall slightly (or not so slightly) in love with his (definitely) mad roommate. D) All of the above.

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry Watson, Mycroft, Lestrade, Moriarty

Relationships: Sherlock/John

Warnings: none

Tags: teen!lock, high school

*complete*

Harry Potter & Sherlock

My Experiment by lemoncurry

Plot: Sherlock steals a boy. Sorry- rescues. John helps, because what choice does he have? But not even Sherlock knows just how not-boring things will be...

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry Potter, Mycroft

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse

Tags: pre-Hogwarts

*incomplete* [last updated 2013]

Logic, Meet Luna by Applepie

Plot: Luna Lovegood has moved into 221c Baker Street! So what happens when you mix a 'loony' pureblood witch in a muggle area with logic driven residents? Err... not much, really. Just a whole lot of confusion.

Characters: Luna, Sherlock, Mycroft, John, Lestrade, Sally Donovan

Relationships: none

Warnings: none

Tags: humor

*complete*

Recalibration by Noxilicious

Plot: Mycroft more or less finds himself constantly cleaning up his dear brother’s messes, but in the case of one Harold William Holmes-Evans, he might just prove to be the one ‘mistake’ he won’t be able to rectify.

Characters:

Relationships: Sherlock/Lily Potter; Mary/John; Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: none

Tags: parentlock, canon compliant, pre-prisoner of Azkaban, post series 3, family drama, angst, hurt/comfort, muggle Sherlock, Sherlock is a Good Parent, Sherlock has a Heart, protective Sherlock, genius Harry, bogus deductions, fluff

*incomplete* [last updated 2017]

In Search of Companionship by kris799

Plot: After the events of the Sign of Three, Sherlock falls into a bout of melancholy; Mycroft, the consummate manipulator, suggests "filling the gap" and events largely get out of hand from there. A Sherlock adopts Harry!fic, set between Episodes Two and Three of Season Three.

Characters: Sherlock, Harry, Mrs Hudson, Mycroft, John, Mary

Relationships: Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: none

Tags: Parent!Sherlock, Child!Harry, adoption, John is out of the picture but not really, manipulative!Mycroft, magic, slow paced, perhaps glacial, Sherlock has many thoughts, and a mental!John to call him out on his crap, he’s not crazy, Harry cooks, and tries to take care of everyone, bored!Sherlock leads to bad [great] ideas, set in season 3

My Notes: don’t get your hopes up for Sherlock to find out about magic, it doesn’t happen and since the last time this was updated was almost seven years ago, I don’t think we’ll get to read it. However, it’s still very good and while it does give off some weird Sherlock stalkery vibes, this fic still kept me engaged and Sherlock and Harry’s relationship is great.

*incomplete* [last updated 2015]

Harry Potter of Baker Street by Dayja

Plot: Sherlock Holmes discovers family he never knew he had, and John Watson finds a child living in the cupboard.

Characters: Harry, Sherlock, John

Relationships: none

Warnings: none

Tags: family, friendship

My Notes: this one!!! Is so amazing!!! It’s so cute! I don’t really like to read kid fics all that much, but this one is worth the read!

*complete*

No Thank You by IHScribe

Plot: Harry Potter declines to attend Hogwarts, and Albus Dumbledore is forced to go and convince him otherwise. Too bad he didn’t expect the boy’s father(s).

Characters: Sherlock, John, Harry, Dumbledore, Mrs Hudson, Mycroft, Moriarty, McGonagall, Pomfrey, Hagrid, Snape

Relationships: Sherlock/John

Warnings: none

Tags: none

My Notes: this one is very funny and very sweet. Honestly fuck Hogwarts.

*complete*

Friend by esama

Plot: Sherlock finds the skull when he's five.

Characters: Sherlock, Harry, Mycroft, Mrs Holmes

Relationships: Sherlock & Harry

Warnings: character death

Tags: kid fic, alternate universe

My Notes: This one is so cool and original! I never thought about where Sherlock’s skull came from!

*complete*

Harry Potter & Supernatural

The Youngest Winchester by TheLastWincehsterStanding

Plot: Harry James Potter had thought, given the current circumstances, that going to America to track down his biological father was a fantastic idea. Unfortunately, like most of Harry's plans, there had been very little planning and far too much impulsiveness. Had he known what sort of monsters lurked in America, he would've stayed in England.

Characters: Harry, Bobby Singer, Dean Winchester, John Winchester, Sam Winchester

Relationships: Harry & Dean & Sam Winchester; Harry & John Winchester; Harry & Bobby Singer

Warnings: none

Tags: non-Potter Harry, the hunt for Yellow Eyes, season 1 of Supernatural, book 5, surprise! It’s a sixteen year old boy!

My Notes: I don’t really remember this one, I’ve read like four of these types of Harry being a Winchester story and I generally forget what happens in this one

*incomplete* [last updated 2018]

Harry Potter (stand-alone, specifically Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood)

That escalated quickly by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Percy and Oliver get stuck in a Ministry lift (with seven other people present).

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, Ron, Charlie, Arthur, original male character

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: humor, fluff

*complete*

Petty Theft by pinksnowboots

Plot: Percy pilfers Oliver's sweater. The twins are suspicious.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: slice of life, drabble, sweaters, accidental coming out, established relationship, sharing clothes, quidditch, Oliver is protective

*complete*

Five Times Percy Thought Oliver was Beautiful and One Time Oliver Did Something About It by hufflebadgerinthetardis

Plot: The rule worshiping, strict, and by-the-books Gryffindor Prefect Percy Weasley has a secret. He’s got a huge crush on fellow Gryffindor and Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood. Percy was resigned to loving him from afar but he should have remembered that secrets don’t stay secrets for long at Hogwarts.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: none

*complete*

Burn Across the Sky by MoonytheMarauder1 (beforethemoon)

Plot: When Oliver Wood stops talking about Quidditch to stare at Percy Weasley, Ron, Fred, and George know something is up.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia, Katie

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: secret relationship, bad matchmaking, humor, protective siblings, quidditch, gay Percy, gay Oliver, injury, the hospital wing, exasperated Hermione, Harry is oblivious

My Notes: this isn’t the full plot, but it was very long and I only have so much time. Read this, it’s very cute

*complete*

I dare you to dare me by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Fred didn’t even blink. “Harry said he didn’t want to join.” “So did I,” Oliver murmured. George didn’t allow him to stall any longer. He put his feet up between Fred and Angelina on the sofa and tilted his chair on its hind two legs. “Oliver, mate, truth or dare?”

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Angelina, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell

Relationships: Percy/Oliver

Warnings: none

Tags: truth or dare, Gryffindor Quidditch Team, the consumption of innocent earthworms, fluff

*complete*

It’s the truth by SquaresAreNotCircles

Plot: Fred and George refuse to believe Percy has a girlfriend. Oliver seems to know more. It's all very mysterious, until it isn't.

Characters: Percy, Oliver, Fred, George, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, Ron

Relationships: Percy Weasley/Oliver Wood

Warnings: none

Tags: fluff

My Notes: Percy and Oliver really are just teenage Sherlock and John, aren’t they? Just saner and have less crimes involved.

*complete*

Harry Potter (stand-alone)

Harry Potter and His Increasingly Worrying Letters Home by hopeless_hope

Plot: Dear Mum & Dad, Sorry my letters have been brief lately. I hope you’re all well! Just wanted to let you know that my friends and I stumbled upon a three-headed dog on the forbidden corridor that the stairs rather determinedly took us to. Is that normal? Love, Harry… or In which Lily and James survive Voldemort's attack, Sirius is never sent to Azkaban, and long-distance parenting is hard. Especially when your reckless Gryffindor child keeps sending concerning letters home and rushing into trouble before anyone has the chance to respond.

Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, Draco, Snape, Dumbledore

Relationships: James/Lily; Sirius/Remus; Harry & Lily; Harry & James; Harry & Sirius; Harry & Hermione & Ron

Warnings: none

Tags: everyone lives/nobody dies, Lily and James live, angst and humor, the Golden Trio, most things are the same except now harry has adults who care about him, the marauders are a lil happy family, not peter tho bc fuck that guy, fix-it, friendship, harry grows up with a loving family but he’s still a reckless little shit

My Notes: this is another fic I’m very excited about. Reading new fics is something I don’t do often, I usually sort my fics by kudos and go backwards from there which usually means I miss out on amazing stuff like this! I do have to wait, which is a pain, but I’m still very excited about this fic, I see a lot of potential in it.

*incomplete* [last updated 1 August]

turn and face the strange by viennawaitss

Plot: ‘He sees himself as a creature of evolution, or perhaps a phantom of peculiarities - a great, winding python, yearning for the snap of his jaw, a snowy lamb, unchristened and stumbling across land on trembling legs.’ Reality, growth and the steps toward change. Or, how Harry’s brief expulsion isn’t the worst thing to happen to him.

Characters: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Blaise, Pansy, Sirius, Theo Nott, Draco

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse

Tags: resorting, trauma, nightmares, the Golden Trio, book 5, Slytherin Harry, friendship, mental health issues, growing up, coming of age, and already fighting the government

My Notes: I am so freaking excited for this fic! It has everything I want! Resorted Slytherin Harry, dealing with abuse and trauma, amazing Slytherin friendships, I mean come on!

*incomplete* [last updated 19 August]

Know this: in some way, you’re already dead by ulittuq

Plot: Harry has been fighting against being an obscurial his entire life and Sirius’ death is what pushes him over the edge.

Characters: Harry, Dumbledore, Tom Riddle

Relationships: none

Warnings: implied/referenced child abuse, canonical character death, some noncanonical character death, suicidal thoughts

Tags: obscurial Harry, ambiguous/open ending

My Notes: part of a series but both fics are very short. It's only about 2k words.

*complete*

The Chosen One and The Halfblood Prince by waitingondaisies

Plot: Severus Snape was discovered as a spy mere days before the start of the school year. Thankfully, Albus had been working on a vague contingency plan for this possibility. It had been inspired by the question, “What would it take for Severus Snape to see that he was wrong about Harry Potter?” The answer? Force Severus to go undercover as Alfonse “Eli” Hopkirk, a sixth year Gryffindor.

Characters: Harry, Ginny, Snape, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Neville, Luna

Relationships: Harry & Ginny; Harry & Snape; Hermione/Ron

Warnings: child abuse

Tags: angst, undercover, Harry needs a hug, slow burn friendship, Ginny is a good friend, not canon compliant - HBP, no Snape as defensive teacher, no Slughorn

My Notes: this one is so fun! Snape tries to act as a sixteen year old and it goes as well as you’d think. It’s really funny but also really heartfelt, it’s part of a series of two and the second one is more Severitus than the first.

*complete*

By His Side by silver_fish

Plot: After what is surely a more-than-preventable potions accident, Harry Potter winds up stuck in the hospital wing, unable to wake up. Severus just wishes he knew why Poppy won’t stop bothering him about it.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Pomfrey, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore

Relationships: Harry & Snape

Warnings: references to addiction

Tags: severitus I guess? Just some good bonding, set during HBP, harry is sad and so am i, emotional hurt/comfort

*complete*

Unmasked Lilly’s - Year One by TheWillofTheQuill

Plot: Severus Snape was adamant, no - determined to hate Harry Potter. After all, he was the spawn of James Potter, his childhood bully. But when Harry turns up for his first year, malnourished and fearful, it is up to Snape to solve the mystery of why the small boy has bruises that he will not show and scars that will not heal. Sworn to protect Lilly's son, Severus Snape is about to face his hardest challenge yet; gaining the trust of a boy who has sworn to never trust again.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Dumbledore, Draco, Hermione

Relationships: future Drarry

Warnings: child abuse

Tags: Severitus, hurt/comfort, angst, abused Harry, Snape adopts Harry, Slytherin Harry, good Slytherins

*incomplete* [last updated July 2021]

A Pair of Shoes that Fit by Darkorangecat (Calacious)

Plot: Harry is lost in the Forbidden Forest when he goes looking for Neville’s Remembrall after Draco steals it from the boy once again. As Harry wanders the forest, wondering if he’ll ever make it back to Hogwarts, the entire staff is sent out to look for him, including a much peeved Severus Snape.

Characters: Harry, Snape

Relationships: none

Warnings: child abuse and neglect

Tags: Snape eventually adopts Harry, first year, hurt/comfort, angst

My Notes: this one is so cute and so sad, Harry’s only eleven in this fic and Snape is trying his best

*complete*

The Guiltless by branwyn

Plot: When Harry appears at the Welcoming Feast wearing a glamor only Snape notices, Snape decides to find out what the glamor is hiding.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Luna, Dumbledore

Relationships: Harry & Snape & Luna

Warnings: domestic violence, child abuse

Tags: Severitus, Snape mentors Harry, hurt/comfort

*complete*

Within Doors by Lomonaaeren

Plot: It takes three detentions for Severus Snape to realize why Harry Potter cleans cauldrons so well—and even more for him to decide what to do about it.

Characters: Harry, Snape

Relationships: Harry & Snape

Warnings: canonical child abuse

Tags: angst, detention, present tense

*complete*

Summer of Bonding by MagicaDraconia16

Plot: It was the summer of love . . . er, no, not really. Left waiting for the Dursleys, Harry is found by the last person he'd expect to see.

Characters: Harry, Snape, Dumbledore, Flitwick, Hermione, Ron, Molly, Fred, George, original house-elf characters, original male character, Stan Shunpike, Dobby

Relationships: Harry & Severus

Warnings: canon-typical violence, child abandonment, minor violence

Tags: humor, angst, nightmares of canon-typical violence, spiders, awkwardness, someone else (not Snape or Harry) dies too

My Notes: this one is so sweet and really captures how awkward Harry and Snape are

*complete*

Harry Potter & Everything

Raising Harry Collection by Steerpike13713

Fandoms: Harry Potter, Daredevil, Sherlock, Labyrinth, Batman, Gravity Falls, MCU, Once Upon a Time, Doctor Strange (comics), Buffy, Merlin

Plot: A collection of unrelated fics that have to do with people other than The Dursleys raising Harry Potter

Characters: too many to name, really

Relationships: Matt Murdock/Foggy & Belle/Rumplestiltskin

Warnings: none

Tags: genderqueer Loki, genderqueer Lily Evans, Loki is Lily Evans Potter

My Notes: since the fics are unrelated you can flip flop around the chapters to find the ones you really want to read. I think my favorite ones are the Batman and Daredevil ones :) (also the author wrote a really good Lucifer & Chaos Adventures of Sabrina series)

*complete*

#harry potter #fanfiction #fic recs #fanfic recs #supernatural #sherlock #johnlock #hogwarts #the mauraders #wolfstar #drarry #the golden trio #my posts #mcu #marvel #harry james potter #my recs

[myloversthesunrise]

but in your sacred air i am full of light (v)

"Have you never heard the phrase 'two's a company'?" "I don't need you as my company." "There could be dangerous animals in this forest," "I have my candelabra."

rhysand x original character | not canon compliant | can be read as a reader fic if you don’t mind her physical description | AO3

chapter: i. never be rude to a faerie | ii. never give them your true name | iii [a ghost from the past] | iv. faeries cannot lie | v. faeries cannot lie [ii] | vi. never make a bargain with a faerie

warnings: none

word count: 5375

notes: so sorry for the late update! work has been busy and i think i will be posting once every one and a half week or even once every two weeks instead of once a week now :( also if you noticed the constant change between "woman" and "female" it's because the third person pov sort of constantly change between hers and rhysand's.

as usual feel free to leave any kind of feedback you want!! and thank you for reading my fic <3

Lin frowned deeply at him.

"I don't recall ever inviting you to go with me," she protested. Annoyance shone from her dark eyes as she stared into his violet ones as if he had just imposed on her during an important time.

Well, technically he was, but he didn't know that, and even he did Lin highly doubted that he would care.

Her annoyance for him began to outgrew her fear of him, and Lin began to grow more concerned for his annoying presence rather than the possibility that he might be dangerous to herself.

"Have you never heard the phrase 'two's a company'?"

"I don't need you as my company."

"There could be dangerous animals in this forest,"

"I have my candelabra."

The High Lord of the Night Court snorted with amusement as the female in front of him raised her candelabra to show it off, the corner of his lips twitching and he resisted the urge to smirk at her attempt to make him stay and leave her alone.

"I doubt that it would do much against them," he teased.

The short female in front of him let out a resigned sigh before beginning to follow his steps, but kept her distance and allowed him to walk one step in front of her, not fully trusting him to show her back.

A moment of silence passed between them, both of them stuck within their own head while simultaneously being hyper-aware of each other's presence.

Lin had come out in the hope to scope out her surroundings and find out where she had been staying, perhaps even enjoy the fresh air of the outside world. But instead, she was stuck watching her own back and accompanying a complete stranger she didn't know.

At least she still got to enjoy the fresh air.

As they began to walk into the woods in silence, Rhysand—unbeknownst to her—tried to pry inside her mind to find out what had happened earlier today before he started to get friendly with her. He made sure to be gentle with his power, not wanting to harm her or accidentally see something private he shouldn't have. His darkness tenderly slipped into her mind, ever so subtle and mild.

Only to be met with nothing.

It was black. Never-ending darkness inside her mind. His own swiftly searched for any signs of memories or thoughts or even a shield, only to find a void inside her mind.

Safe to say, The High Lord of the Night Court was dumbfounded by his recent discovery.

He had found mental shields strong as adamant or weak as a feather, but this might be the first time he found absolutely nothing inside someone's mind. Not even a shield or a word or a thought or a memory.

Her mind was an empty void filled with never-ending darkness.

Was she an idiot? He thought to himself.

She definitely didn't seem like one. And he highly doubted that Amarantha, the self-proclaimed High Lady of Prythian, the Never-Fading Flower, The Deceiver, and The Unconquered General, would personally invite a mindless fool to her study.

Rhysand had barely caressed her mind with feather-light touches of his own, testing her mental shield and protection. Even a daemati would barely recognize it.

Yet somehow, the female flinched.

Her head snapped towards his direction at a neck-breaking speed, eyes fierce and glaring at him.

Lin had thought she would catch him in the act of doing something suspicious, like his hand reaching out to her or muttering a spell or any possible explanation that could be the reason for the feather-light touch she had felt just then.

But she found nothing.

He stood right there, both of his arms were loosely by his sides and his lips were pursed tight. The stranger might have been a High Faerie, but there was no way he could possibly retract whatever he was doing before Lin turned her head.

However, she did find him staring at her.

Intensely.

Almost glaring at her, but there was nothing hostile from his gaze. Only curiosity and marvel, as if he was a researcher and she was a newfound exotic bug for him to study under a magnifying glass.

For a moment, they stood still, staring at each other so intensely for two completely different reasons.

An insane idea came into Lin's head. Nearly, but not entirely impossible.

Can he... read my mind? She asked to herself, eyebrows furrowed towards him warily.

Lin conjured an image of Amarantha in a court jester's costume and prancing around like a fool in her mind.

His expression didn't change. If anything, he looked slightly confused from her death stare.

The young woman continued her mission and created other ridiculous and humiliating images inside her head before she finally stopped at the thought of her and the stranger feverishly kissing each other like in one of the harlequin novels she had read in secret.

His face remained the way it was. Curious and confused.

But it was her face who changed.

Lin quickly darted her eyes when she felt her cheeks warm up at the ridiculous idea and mentally cursed herself for letting her imaginations run a little too wild.

Her sudden turnaround did not escape Rhysand's attention, who began to smirk when he saw the red tints on her cheeks after she stared at him for a little too long.

"Find something you like?" He purred, gone were the curiosity and puzzlement from his eyes, replaced with flirtation and a coy smirk upon his lips.

The female scowled at his playfulness before turning her head away and marched ahead of him, forgetting her wariness of turning her back to the man she had just met.

Rhysand smirked at her retreating back, knowing that he finally got into a little bit of under her skin, before following suit and catching up with the female.

"So," he started after they walked in silence for a few moments, trying to crack the tension between them. "What made you storm out like that earlier?" Rhysand shot his question straight to the point. On any other day, he would've coaxed it out of her more carefully. Gently coaxing her out of her shell in hope that her mouth would accidentally reveal more than her heart ever would. But after the surprising revelation of the emptiness inside her head, he decided to do it differently.

"None of your business," Lin shortly quipped. "Why were you outside?"

"None of your business," he shot right back at her.

Lin silently wished he didn't ask her that question. If he was silent, it would be easier to pretend that she was enjoying an evening walk all by herself. But she was also grateful for his annoying and probing question, or else she would've lowered down her guard.

"Which court are you from?" Rhysand asked nonchalantly, masking his curiosity, and tried to pass it off as if he was asking her if she liked the weather.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she hoped he didn't hear it.

"Across the ocean," Lin lied. "A small village outside Montesere, small enough not to have any name."

Rhysand hummed in reply as they both carefully trekked into the forest. The air was cool and soothing, perfected by the woodsy scent of the forest and the distinct scent of pine trees.

If it had not been for her unfamiliar companion, Lin would have enjoyed her time out. She loved the feeling of the wind caressing her skin and tossing her long black hair. She adored the scent of nature kissing her nose, a much-welcomed change of the earthy underground scent.

But there was something unsettling about this forest.

Lin couldn't tell what it was, but the feeling nags her. Perhaps it was how the moonlight could never really break through the thick forest canopy, or how quiet it was inside the forest with barely animal presence, or how every shade and corner around the forest seemed just a bit darker than what it should've been. She could hear the sounds of crickets and cicadas in the distance if she concentrated carefully, but otherwise, the forest was deadly quiet.

Almost like everything was trying its best to not be seen or heard.

"Did you feel it too?" he asked out of nowhere.

The young woman let out a confused "Huh?" as she turned her head to look into his violet eyes, waiting for him to elaborate.

"The forest," he explained. "Doesn't really feel like a forest. More like a lair, if anything."

The younger woman silently agreed as she stared at her surroundings. Explains the feeling of being watched, she thought to herself.

Maybe having a plus one wasn't so bad after all.

Unless he was one of the creatures I should be worrying about.

Dear gods these thoughts were not helping her to calm down.

Lin let out an irritated huff and stopped in her place.

She had come out here to take a breather and enjoy the outdoor scenery but all she could think about was the many, many ways she could die right there and then.

Rhysand paused, watching the female pause her footsteps and sulk in silence. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were pursed. Her expression was as sour as lemon as if she had just accidentally splashed on a puddle of water while wearing her favorite dress.

Is it her time of the month?

Even Mor's and Amren's moods had never switched up as quickly as hers did.

He watched as she opened her lips, before closing it, swallowing any words she wanted to say.

"What's your name?" She asked after a few moments of silence passed by them as they trekked deeper into the woods.

Maybe trying to make a conversation would help her relax, she thought to herself. And maybe she could get something out of him. An ally, an answer, a clue, a way out, anything really. Lin wasn't a picky person when it comes to favors and help.

From the corner of her eyes, Lin watched as the stranger's lips twitched in amusement.

"Ronald."

Lin frowned.

She had often met men like him.

In books.

And they have never been named 'Ronald'. It was always something compelling and remarkable and even a little seductive, like 'Dimitri' or 'Damian' or 'Xavier' or even 'Ryder', which was a little tacky to her taste but still much more interesting than 'Ronald'.

She kept her dark eyes on the man while studying his expression with a frown. The stranger's lips twitched harder and pursed his lips hard until it looked like he was holding back a grin.

The frown on her face turned into a hard scowl.

"Fine!" She huffed. "Let's not know each other names, then." Lin turned her head back to stare at the view in front of her. "Where are you from?"

"The Night Court."

"Are you a soldier?"

"Something like that," he hummed in reply, his hands folded behind his back.

Lin's eyes darted to his shoulders and noticed the expensive materials of his jacket. Her mind remembered how the governor of her village would wear or higher lords and their sons would wear, but she didn't want to seem rude by asking why a soldier would own such an expensive jacket.

Her dark eyes studied the way he casually folded his hands behind his back and strutted around the forest like he owned the place, but she kept her mouth shut.

Rhysand noticed Lin's analyzing gaze on his appearance and quickly took this as a cue to start asking questions to avoid her reading through his lies.

"Any family?" The stranger asked, pulling Lin out of her thoughts.

"No," she lied.

Well, technically it wasn't a complete lie. Ah Ma might have been kind to her and loved her like a family, but she had always been so distant. Especially when Lin noticed how her friends' family would kiss each other affectionately on the cheek or forehead, and how they'd easily hug each other unprompted. The most affection she had gotten was a pat to the head or a hand caressing her hair.

She was also... detached. Lin would even say she was holding her at an arm's length.

Lin could count with one hand just how many times Ah Ma had praised her, or show any sort of affections towards her own granddaughter.

Her mind trekked back further into her memory, and she remembered how her grandmother's gaze would be trained at her for a long, long time when she happened to be doing her chores around Ah Ma.

She knew the thousand-yard gaze, had seen it in her neighbor, Grandpa Welkins who fought in the Seven Years War. How his eyes would look so blank and empty when someone recalled the War, as if he was a world away and still fighting for his life and the life of his people.

But her grandmother had the thousand-year gaze.

Lin had caught one of her stares, once or twice. And the look in her eyes pained her so that the younger woman had to look away.

It was full of sorrow, longing, and yearning. It was so wistful yet so bitter, clouded and clear, delighted and pained. So many emotions flashed through her eyes as if she was recalling a thousand-year worth of memories with people who had been born and lived and died long before she was born.

At that moment, her grandmother had never felt so distant from her.

And there were also her strict rules.

Lin mentally groaned and tried not to remember Ah Ma's overprotectiveness and controlling behavior. One thing she was grateful for during her stay Under the Mountain was her freedom, and she despised herself for every second she felt it.

She also hated the way her Ah Ma's lack of presence made her feel like she was missing a limb and how her chest pained her every time she would remember her grandmother and how she missed her so despite her hatred for Ah Ma's authoritarian grandparenting.

"You know it's your turn to ask me a question, right?"

The stranger's voice broke her out of her thoughts. Lin turned her head to look at him, but he was staring straight ahead as if ignoring her little jog down the memory lane.

Lin opened her mouth, before closing it again like a gaping fish out of breath. Her eyes furrowed as she thought of her question carefully and her head was bent down, carefully watching her steps as they walked around aimlessly.

"What was the Night Court like?" Lin asked after thinking her question through. She wanted to ask where exactly were they, or how far it is to the Wall, but she didn't want to risk arousing his suspicion of her.

His dark eyebrows raised up to his forehead, surprised to see her choice of question.

'Ronald' took a deep, resigned sigh before answering her.

"Horrible," he cursed.

This time, it was her eyebrows that were raised up high in surprise.

Rhysand could feel the female's eyes upon him, urging him to continue. He turned his head to face hers, violet eyes meeting dark ones. With her hair held back by the scarf on her head, he could see her eyes clearly, yet the High Lord couldn't tell the exact color of it. In a glance, it reminded him of Amarantha's cursed obsidian dark eyes, yet her eyes held a warmth the redhead did not have. Curiosity glittered in her eyes like stars across the night sky.

"How much do you know about the Night Court?" he turned his head away before he could get lost even further in her starry eyes and asked her the question, one of his arms pushed away a shrub that was blocking his way.

Lin frowned.

"Not much," she answered. Rhysand could see the gears inside her head turning and working as she dug into her memory. "I know that it has the strongest military force in Prythia, thanks to the Illyrian race, but I also know that they, uh.."

The female beside him pondered as she searched for the right word that would offend him the least.

"Hate women?" she offered with a shrug on her shoulders, unsure of her answer. The sound of cicadas grew louder, and Lin had never been so grateful to know that they weren't completely alone in the woods, even if they were accompanied by bugs and insects.

Rhysand snorted at her questioning answer.

"Pretty much," he grunted in annoyance.

"They are... traditionalists.. and conservative. Even worse than the Courts of Prythia. I—My High Lord has been working on changing the rules so women could live a better life there, but it's hard. Changes are slow in here, but it moves even slower in Illyria."

The stranger finished and Lin could see the frustration in his tone as he smacked away the branches and shrubs around them a little harder.

"He's the High Lord," she chided. "How hard could it be? If he can't do it then who can?" Lin complained.

Rhysand scowled in response.

"I told you, he's working on it." He grumbled and smashed their path open, hitting any lost branches or strand bushes that stood in their way. What does she know about ruling a court?

"Well work harder," she insisted.

He snorted after hearing her response. Easier said than done.

She turned her head back to him and asked him another question. "What else is there in the Night Court?"

Lin tried not to notice how wide his shoulders were as he shrugged a reply to her question. "Mountains, Steppes, War camps, Stygia, Tenebrae, and more Illyrian brutes." Rhysand lied through his teeth and tried not to think about the city of starlight he called home.

The black-haired woman frowned. "Stygia and Tenebrae?"

"The Prison and Court of Nightmares," he corrected the names into a more familiar one with Lin.

"Why the name change?"

"Easier to remember and a nickname from the people," Rhysand retorted in reply.

Lin knew that the Court of Nightmares is something akin to the capital city of the Night Court, but she wondered how horrible the place was to earn that nickname.

"What's the Prison?" she diverted the question from her thoughts.

"I thought the name says it all," he deadpanned, boredom shining through his eyes as he stared into hers.

"Well, who do they hold then?" Lin let her curiosity run a little too much and bombarded him with another question.

"The worst of the worst." 'Ronald' answered a question with a final tone in his voice, and Lin took the hint that he was getting tired of her interrogations.

Why does the Night Court seem like the worst place in Prythia? Lin scowled at her unanswered question. She wondered if the gods created the Night Court when they had a bad day and decided to release their anger into it.

Wait.. Speaking of Night Court...

The younger female was getting a little too quiet to his comfort, and that's when Rhysand knew that he had another question incoming for him.

"Ronald," she called out even though she knew it wasn't actually his name. Lin was hoping that she could annoy him into giving out his actual name, and no better time to start other than now.

Called it, he groaned at himself. And does she really think my name is Ronald?

Rhysand turned his directions to back where they came from without using the same path they left on and decided that they'd had plenty of sightseeing. He wasn't going to get any information out of her this evening, so the sooner she gets back, the sooner he gets free from being a tutor of Night Court 101. And from being called Ronald.

"If you're from the Night Court," she inquired while carefully avoiding stepping on any mud that might stain her dress. Her eyes were trained to the ground under her as her legs carefully chose her next steps.

"Then what are you doing here?" she cried while she struggled to catch up with the taller man. I can't believe he's not lending my any hand back here, Lin grumbled in her thoughts.

That question made the faerie in front of her pause his footsteps.

"You... don't know?" he trailed unsurely, his head was barely turned back and Lin hoped that he would actually turn around to help her walk across the muddy grounds.

Rhysand was certain that the news of Amarantha's conquers had reached outside Prythia, but why would she not know?

"Small village," Lin explained shortly and hoped that he would buy the half-lie she just told him. She finally finished hopping around and now they stood side by side.

Rhysand made a mental note to look into it later, not completely trusting her words.

"Fifteen years after the Seven Years War ended, the General came here under the reason for a trade." He began, his hands casually folded behind his back as they finally got off the muddy path and strolled back to Lin's tunnel "She was calmer, and more held together compared to herself during the war. Saying that her sister's death changed her."

From the corner of his eyes, he watched as her eyebrows furrowed. "Her sister... Cynthia?"

"Clythia," he corrected. "And the High Lords believed her, especially how the trades quickly helped their Court grow more prosper and they needed that improvement rather badly after the Seven Years War."

Quietly, Rhysand observed the female beside him and how she listened after his every words like a sponge would absorb water. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her lips were pursed in concentration.

"They let her build her own little court, even allowed her to build her abode Under the Mount of Seraphiel." Rhysand took note of how she began to open her mouth to ask another question and he quickly continued his monologue.

"Little did they know, she had been secretly smuggling her own soldiers into the heart of Prythia," he rushed, hoping that she wouldn't take notes of his fastened speaking pace. "After Amarantha gained the trust of the High Lords, she held a ball to celebrate their alliances. But unknowingly, she slipped a poison she had learned from the Hybern's kingdom, and weakened the High Lords."

The stranger stood a little straighter and his shoulders grew a little stiffer before he began to continue his story. "In their weakened state, Amarantha stole their powers, the very own strength that entwined them into their court, leaving only their essential magic, the very magic that made them High Fae."

"And ever since then, the High Lords of Prythian Court had been trapped here, under the same mountain as us, stripped bare of their magic and held as a captive under her rule." Rhysand finished his story with a resentful tone. He really hoped the storytelling would be worth the information he planned on getting out of her.

"But the High Lord of the Spring Court—" if the female noticed how Rhysand's throat tightened when he spoke of him, she didn't show it. "—did not come to the ball, and despite the important place his Court has in her plan, she would rather sacrifice one important Court than lose the other six of it. So she went with her initial plan instead of chased after the Spring Court."

"That's how she got the name the Deceiver," Lin whispered, her tone was awed and terrified at the same time.

She turned her head to face him and asked another question. "But why is she doing this? Why would she go through so much trouble for it?"

"To take back the mortal world," the stranger said matter-of-factly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "The Unconquered General wanted to seize back what was hers, both for her own pride and for her revenge of what the mortal had done to her own sister."

So that's what she needed the Spring Court for, she thought to herself. Having the closest thing to the enemy's land under your command would easily turn the tides of war.

Lin was not the one to push her own luck, but she couldn't resist speaking the question that had been hanging on the tip of her tongue.

"Then why hasn't she?" she blurted out. The Deceiver had six courts under her rule and her soldiers weren't something to be taken lightly either. What's stopping her from coming after the Spring Court?

Rhysand stopped in his track and stared into her eyes.

"We don't know."

Somehow, his short and straightforward answer made a shiver run down her spine. If there was a force on this realm that could prevent the Unconquered General from making her move, Lin could only pray it would be able to slow her down for her own people to get a surviving chance or even be powerful enough to stop her plans.

Lin cut off their eye contact and looked away, not wanting to think about the possibility of her people facing slavery again after escaping it a short time ago. She was prepared to ask the stranger more questions, but unfortunately, he managed to call his turn before her.

"Now it's my turn to ask questions," he purred. She could feel the smirk on his face and tried not to roll her eyes at his smug tone.

The stranger straightened up his body, and Lin prepared herself to hear any sort of interpersonal question that he was about to ask. He opened his mouth and her body grew tense.

"Tell me about the latest gossip around here."

Lin stopped walking and stared at the stranger's back with wide eyes and mouth slightly parted in shock.

"Gossip!?" she sputtered, not expecting those words to come out of his mouth.

He turned around and hummed in agreement.

"We soldiers don't talk much, you know. It's been getting quite boring around here," he remarked casually.

Do male faeries like to gossip that much?

Well, she knew that sometimes men in her village are worse when it comes to gossip and tittle-tattling (and whoever invented the rumor that women are the worst gossipers can die, honestly) but she wasn't expecting soldiers loved to gossip as much as villagers did.

"What is it with you faeries and gossips," Lin muttered under her breath before starting her story.

"Well, there's Ada who slept on Markus because Matthias slept with Lavina behind her back—" she paused and turned her head upwards, trying to remember what Edith had told her. "—and then there's Polly who was allegedly a past lover of the previous High Lord of the Autumn Court, and there's also—" Lin recounted every single gossip that Edith had filled her in. She would never expect that this gossips would come in handy, and the younger woman made a mental note to thank the feline faerie later on for it.

However, the stranger cut her off in mid-sentence.

"Anything about High Lords?" He interrupted her. His expression was bored and his body was relaxed, but Lin could hear the slight impatience and curiosity in his voice.

She leaned in her body towards his, hands folded behind her back and her body slightly bent forward, as if trying to catch his attention. Her eyes were curious and her face was sly yet careful.

"Why do you want to know about the High Lords?" Lin drawled, a curious tone accompanied her question as she scrutinized him with her dark eyes.

Rhysand mentally cursed her for being observative and cautious.

"Always nice to have another dirt on other High Lords," he replied and shrugged his shoulders 'casually'.

The female leaned back and stood up straight after hearing his answer while nodding her head in reply. Rhysand was about to ask her another question but she beat him into it.

"Do High Lords fight against each other?" Lin asked naively.

For someone who is careful and cautious, she sure is dumb. He thought dryly to himself.

"Sometimes they're allies, sometimes they're enemies."

"Why can't they just be allies forever?"

Dear gods, she really is a country bumpkin.

"That's not how politics work, darling." Rhysand answered sarcastically with a roll of his eyes, his patience brimming thin after having to be the source of information instead of getting a source of information as he had planned. His eyes met a familiar clearing and he tried not to let his shoulders sag too much in relief of finally being free of her constant questions.

"We're here," he quickly announced before she could start asking another question.

Lin's eyes turned to the familiar wall and shrubs and vines that covered the tunnel behind it.

"Already?" she mumbled to herself in surprise.

"Enjoyed your time with me a little too much?" The stranger flirted, a teasing lilt in his tone.

The younger woman scowled in reply and wordlessly fumbled into her bag, pulling out her candelabra and replacing some of the shorter candles with the taller ones.

Better safe than sorry, she thought to herself.

Rhysand watched quietly as the female prepared her lighting to accompany her through the tunnel before her eyes looked up and she stopped her movements—as if remembering something important.

Her head turned to his and her eyes stared into his own. "Where did you come from?" she frowned.

He tilted his head to his left, gesturing to somewhere on the other side of the forest. "Somewhere around there," he lied. Rhysand had winnowed his way here, but she didn't need to know that.

Lin grabbed two candles from inside her bag and raised them up to him. "Will you need these?" she offered.

Rhysand searched his eyes, trying to find something hidden in there. A plan, malice, a trick, but the only thing he found was her genuine kindness.

For someone who was so cautious, she sure warmed up to him rather easily.

He turned down her offer and waited for the female to light up her candle.

Lin opened her mouth to say goodbye, and a thank you perhaps, for accompanying her into the woods and being a decent company. The younger woman did not know if he was being genuine or if he had an ulterior motive, but even if he did, he didn't act upon it, and for that she was grateful.

Surprisingly, her heart felt lighter and she didn't feel as pathetic and miserable as she had been earlier.

But 'Ronald' cut her off once more.

"I'll come back here in two days," he stated offhandedly, and Lin's breath was caught in her throat.

"If I find anything about the High Lords," Lin started quietly. "I'll let you know."

It was the least she could do after letting him scholar her on the faerie knowledge.

They both stared at each other and nodded in agreement. Rhysand watched as the female opened her lips, but quickly closed it before nodding one last time at him in goodbye and turning around He waited as her back descend further into the tunnel until her candlelight was no longer seen.

Rhysand could only hope that their second meeting would be more fruitful than the first.

The High Lord of the Night Court turned his back and took one deep breath of the fresh forest air, enjoying his rare moments of freedom, before letting out another resigned sigh and winnowing back into his abode Under the Mountain.

#but in your sacred air i am full of light #rhysand x reader #relationship #acotar fic #rhysand #under the mountain #acotar #a court of thorns and roses #sol writes acotar

[jcmorrigan]

Blakeworther,,,but college

OKAY. I SAW THIS LAST NIGHT AND WAS THINKING ALL THROUGH LAST NIGHT AND THIS MORNING BECAUSE THIS HAD TO BE GOOD

Blakeworther: ORIGINS (hopefully actually canon-compliant?)

-Vincent didn’t want a roommate. But RMU has a policy that unless a first-year has an extreme medical condition that requires them to room alone, they have to double up due to high attendance rates vs. limited dorm space. So unfortunately, Vincent needs to stay in the same room as this “Victor Blake” person he’s never met before and probably won’t like.

-He opens the door to their room on the first day. Victor is already there, decorating his half of the room. And you think Victor is a flirt nowadays? This is a Victor straight out of high school, with lingering teenage hormones. He takes one look at Vincent, gives him a coy smile, and just goes “Hello, beautiful.” And winks.

-Vincent goes “Don’t talk to me” and starts setting up his side of the room.

-Well, that’s rude. Victor tries to engage in conversation a couple more times, but Vincent makes it clear he is NOT HAVING IT, so Victor eventually gives up and pouts. (Vincent really is pretty. But more importantly than that, Victor kind of wanted his roommate to be his friend. That seems like a requirement for the college experience.)

-Oh, well. If they can put up with each other for one (1) year, they can request new roommates for their second year.

-Vincent sets off for his 8 a.m. on the first day. Psychology 101. He gets going at about 7 because he NEEDS to make a statement by getting there first. Back in high school, he was valedictorian, and he must continue to show people how classy, smart, and punctual he is.

-He arrives at the classroom. Seemingly empty. He strides through the door -

-The next thing he knows, he’s on the floor. Someone has screamed. He thinks it’s him. He’s disheveled, his books scattered. What just happened?

-After assessing the situation and going over the split-second incident that is retroactively gelling in his memory, he realizes that he walked through that door, and somebody who was waiting on the other side of the wall, just around the corner and out of sight, leapt out and JUMPSCARED him the moment he walked in.

-He looks up at the perpetrator who stands above him, giggling his ass off. This asshole is wearing a bright pink shirt and he’s admittedly kinda cute but also this was unforgivable.

-Victor: “What the HELL was that for?” Pink Shirt Man: “I knew someone would come along who thought they were first, and I wanted to make it clear this is my territory. I was here for fifteen minutes before you.” Vincent: “Why the HELL were you waiting here for fifteen minutes - “

-He makes a point of gathering up his books VERY ANGRILY and stomping to the furthest corner of the classroom to sit as far away from Pink Shirt as possible. Then glares at him venomously.

-So. A word on Albert. He grew up an only child with very few friends. He’s got a roommate too, but the guy’s an introvert in dark glasses who barely talks, spends like all his time watching anime, and is visibly just scared of Albert. So that friendship is out the window.

-(Yes. It’s Winston. He has not had an easy life.)

-This leaves Albert, who has no idea how to appropriately interact with people but has way too much pent-up energy, trying to figure out how to get people’s attention so he can make friends. But when I say he has no idea, I mean he has NO idea.

-So he sits down in the front row where his stuff was previously and just turns and STARES AT VINCENT until the rest of the class files in. Vincent keeps his eyes turned anywhere but at this Pink Shirt Creep because who stares at somebody over their shoulder for ten solid minutes?

-Albert chalks this up as a victory. Sure, this dude hates him, but that’s more attention than he was getting before!

-For the rest of the class, Vincent is hoping they can just move on and have a normal day in which he knocks every question fired his way out of the park. But that’s not what happens. What happens is this PINK SHIRT ASSHOLE in the front row keeps answering questions without being called on, and not even seriously. With the most MORBID sense of humor.

-Prof: “What are the three ways to study the brain?” Albert: “Smash open the test subject’s skull, rip it out, and have fun.”

-Vincent KNEW the answer was “lesion, stimulation, recording” and he’s so mad.

-He leaves this class grumpy.

-He’s on an alternating schedule, so block A of classes one day, block B the next. His next classes for A day go well and he gets to show off a fair bit of his intellect. But then the last class of block B and it’s art.

-Guess who’s there? Not Victor, unfortunately!

-Vincent walks in the door and THE PINK SHIRT ASSHOLE is there and Albert just waves at him “Hello” and Vincent is in hell.

-Same thing. Albert spends the whole class being obnoxious and annoying, but in a way that gets the other students to laugh. And Vincent just stews.

-Over the next few days, Vincent spends a lot of study time in his room rather than in the library because it’s quieter. Victor respects that Vincent will complain if there’s too much noise and so wears headphones when he’s working because he likes music in the background.

-One day, he accidentally rips the headphone jack out of the laptop and the song he was listening to blares over the dorm. He fixes the volume, already going, “Well, sor-ry for the accident - “

-Vincent: “Actually, I like that song. Have you listened to the album or do you just like it as a standalone?”

-Victor: “I...I saw them in concert, actually.”

-They have the first real conversation they’ve ever had since they moved in together because they ended up liking the same song. And they’re happy to be talking about it. This is good! Maybe they can be friends after all!

-First exam in Psych 101. Vincent feels pretty confident. This is a test he didn’t really put too much effort into studying for because he’s confident he memorized everything from high school. Well...as it turns out, he didn’t. But he fudges it as best he can, sure he’s at least doing better than the simpletons of the class. He’s the only one who takes this seriously, after all.

-Exam results come back, and the prof reveals that he’s graded on a curve. One student and one alone got a 95% on the exam; the rest failed horrendously.

-Vincent is about to rest on his laurels when the prof says “And that person is Albert Krueger.”

-Who the hell is -

-PINK SHIRT ASSHOLE stands up and bows playfully.

-Vincent now has a name for his nemesis. ALBERT KRUEGER. He’ll remember that and not be happy about it.

-So he’s chatting with Victor a lot more now as they hang out. Victor has a problem one day because one of his econ courses has a particularly picky prof who’s failed every single one of his essays to date, and he’s afraid he’s going to actually fail his favorite subject.

-Vincent takes a look at that prof’s notes. To his eyes, it’s easy to see what arbitrary hoops the prof wants Victor to jump through. It’s also easy to see that Victor actually is doing what’s asked of him and grasping the material; the prof just demands these extra trappings, probably as a power trip.

-Vincent knows exactly how to write the next paper to make it fit requirements. And so he says, “If you don’t have a problem with plagiarism, I can get the next one to pass.”

-Victor: “Well, don’t make it too perfect, or they’ll catch on.”

-Vincent writes Victor a solid B- of a paper. And it’s graded with the expected B-. Victor is SO thankful and calls Vincent a genius.

-About time someone around here did. Since it strokes his ego, Vincent offers to do any paper Victor wants for him, free of charge.

-Meanwhile! In art class, they’ve been assigned a midterm visual art project. Vincent can already tell that his piece is...good but not great. You know who’s making a fantastic landscape painting that everyone else in the studio ahhs at every day he works on it? AAAAAALBERT KRUEGER.

-Vincent is trying so hard not to explode.

-Vincent and Victor decide to eat lunch together because they like each other now. They head on down to the cafeteria, load up their plates with food, go to get the last two puddings on the shelf -

-Somebody takes the last two puddings.

-GUESS WHO?

-Albert: “I believe it is they who snooze who must lose.” He didn’t even want two puddings. But while people can get temporarily impressed with his prowess, annoying people is the only way he can REALLY get lasting attention. Most people go “Albert’s painting is so cool!” and leave. Vincent, though? Vincent keeps on making a SCENE out of it and Albert likes that. So he made sure neither Vincent nor Vincent’s friend could have any pudding.

-Vincent and Victor sit down, pudding-less. Victor: “Who was that guy?”

-Vincent explains the whole thing. He rambles for almost the whole lunch period about how much he HATES Albert. Culminating in how he knows that Albert’s art project is going to get highest marks and make Vincent’s look so much worse by its very existence.

-Victor: “You know...I have a plan, but it’s not entirely legal. If you want to get back at him, though...” Vincent: “I’m listening.”

-They break into the locked art studio after hours and RIP ALBERT’S PAINTING INTO SHREDS. That’s, like, twenty hours of work just gone. They leave no evidence.

-The following day, Albert approaches the two of them at lunch: “I know it was you. You can’t lie to me about this. From now on, we are at war. You, Vincent, are my mortal enemy. And you, Vincent’s accomplice, I know were talked into this by him, but you’re on the thinnest of ice.”

-Vincent’s fine with this. Victor thinks it’s funny and doesn’t own up to having come up with the idea.

-Anyway, Vincent and Victor start hanging out more, so when there’s a school dance, they decide to go together. Just as bros, not as PARTNERS what are you even - no. Platonic. Heheheheh

-And they have a good time dancing! Vincent doesn’t normally like this sort of thing, but Victor’s into it, so they’re cutting a rug.

-A small throng of students is gathered in the middle of the floor, watching some spectacle. Victor wants to see what’s going on. So he brings Vincent over.

-Everyone’s watching a particular student just absolutely breakdance with the greatest of skill. And GUESS WHO?

-Vincent enters RAGE MODE

-Victor: “Oh, no, here we go.” (Secretly thinking to himself that Albert did have some sexy moves indeed.)

-Vincent storms in and CHALLENGES ALBERT TO A DANCE-OFF. Albert accepts. Victor calls himself a third competitor so as not to be left out, and Vincent rules that either he or Victor winning will be a victory for Vincent.

-Well, Albert gains more applause by a LANDSLIDE. Vincent and Victor are good dancers, but Albert is FANTASTIC. Vincent complains the rest of the night and Victor’s just “Look, I know he was gorgeous and he got all the attention but please pay attention to me”

-Things continue like this until the next semester, when classes are shuffled and FINALLY Vincent is free of Albert.

-You know who walks in to find Albert just staring creepily at him from the front row of his first class? VICTOR.

-It’s Biology. Right away, the class gets a partner assignment, and the prof sticks Albert and Victor together.

-Might as well make the best of this.

-So they get to just awkwardly chatting. Victor tries to keep himself level-headed. Albert still doesn’t know it was Victor’s idea to destroy his painting. So they’re just playing it cool.

-And...it’s actually kind of fun to talk to one another?

-Albert lets slip that he likes bio a bit better than psych, but everyone’s expecting him to take up the position at Krueger Health Corp. Victor’s just like “So fuck ‘em. Switch majors.”

-Albert then blurts “Have you ever wanted to dismember someone who wronged you?”

-Victor: “Yes. All the time.”

-So for the first time, somebody is giving Albert attention that is NOT rivalry and is NOT just marveling at his talents and antics. This is new. He’s not sure how to handle it.

-For the rest of the semester, Victor is technically on Team Vincent, but he still waves at Albert when they pass on the grounds.

-Vincent and Victor go off campus to a house party with alcohol! Albert doesn’t actually show up to steal the spotlight this time. And...that kinda pisses Vincent off. Where IS he? He usually shows up to these things -

-Victor tells him to pleeeaaaase stop obsessing about Albert, please. (But Victor also kinda wishes he was there and isn’t sure why.)

-Later in the night, some beefy upperclassman starts a fight and threatens Vincent. Vincent and Victor are both buzzed and riled up. Victor jumps in and decks the guy to protect Vincent. The guy decks him right back and HARDER. So Vincent tackles the dude because now HE’S protecting Victor.

-They both end up in the hospital with broken bones. Roommates, again. And when they look at each other across their hospital room, they realize something has changed. That they now know they would defend each other to the death, and each has to repay the loyalty of the other. They’re in this for the long haul, and most certainly not going to request new roommates.

-They get their classwork shipped into the hospital and have some nice calm chats with each other, away from the buzz of student life.

-Albert, however, suddenly has his archnemesis and his lab partner both MISSING and it’s driving him insane. Where are they where are they where are they

-When they get released from the hospital and finally go back to campus, Albert has to refrain from RUNNING UP TO THEM AND HUGGING THEM BOTH. HIS LIFE HAD NO MEANING

-Instead he says “Pity. I’d’ve hoped that you’d die and be out of my hair.”

-Vincent and Victor can’t really admit how much he was the missing piece of their lives either.

-It’s gonna be a few interesting years at RMU.

#vincent edgeworth #victor blake #albert krueger #blakeworther #vincent the secret of myers #vtsom #therapy with dr. albert krueger #twdak

[cheershalo]

By request, here are some of my favorite angsty fics in order longest to shortest. Some of these are angstier than others but I wanted to give a good range!

*note: make sure to read the tags because some of these deal with heavier topics! take care of yourself!

*also: most of these are b!L because that’s what i like to read! smut or no-smut is marked as well as the basic tags!

Remember to leave kudos and comment on all these lovely fics if you decide to read!!

💔 pray for some sweet simplicity by @eeveelou​ | E | 237k | abo | b!L - (motorcycles, racer louis, journalist harry, slow burn, a classic)

An AU where motorcycle racing is the biggest sport in a heavily divided world, Louis is trying to take control of his own destiny, and Harry is in for more than he bargained for.

💔 Collision by @tequiladimples​ | E | 225k | b!L - (mythology/fantasy, fairy louis, dark harry, enemies to lovers, slow burn, love love love)

Mythology/Fairytale!AU in which Louis is a dainty fairy with a temper who wants to be intimidating and Harry hurts people. Naturally, they hate each other.

💔 And I Wait for Paradise by You_Just_Mightx3 | NR | 209k | abo | b!L - (addiction, ptsd, pining, best friends to lovers, eventual mpreg, so heartbreaking and heart-wrenchingly beautiful)

The one where it’s not the Harry who touched Louis’ heart that comes home, but an addict thought to be hopeless. A paradise above addiction when Louis wins so does Harry.

💔 Don’t Let It (Me) Break by @falsegoodnight​ | E | 169k | b!L - (exes to lovers, slow burn, grief, panic attacks, healing/therapy, sad louis, def read tags, a fav of all time)

The one where Harry is oblivious, Louis is broken, Zayn and Liam are in love, Gemma and Lottie are lovely, and Niall is just waiting for everyone to get their shit together.

Oh, and it's all Malcolm's fault.

💔 Saving Symphony Hall by @helloamhere​ | E | 125k | abo | b!L - (touch depri, businessman louis, hurt/comfort, a fav)

“I think I have an idea,” Louis said. Slowly, and reluctantly, but with a growing sense of the inevitable. “God damnit, I think I have a really good idea.”

“Oh christ, that's the problem-solving face,” Babs said. “Last time we saw that face, he sold a company.”

“Wait, what?” Zayn asked.

“Right place, right time,” Louis said. “Also, fuck my life,”

“What?” Zayn repeated. Niall patted his hand.

“I usually just roll with whatever Louis is about to do,” he said. “It’s better for us all.”

“That’s the attitude,” said Louis, “I’ll tell you tomorrow. Tonight, I need to do some research. Zayn, give me your number. I’m gonna save our symphony.”

💔 The Dead of July by whimsicule | M | 117k | b!L - (avengers au, captain america harry, louis as bucky, ptsd, so fucking good)

Harry is Captain America, and Louis’ been dead for 70 years.

💔 Untangle Me by suicxne | E | 103k | np smut - (canon compliant, friends to lovers, first kiss, cute <3)

The one where Harry and Louis finally get it right.

💔 nothing worsens, nothing grows by @soldouthaz​ | E | 103k | b!L - (roadtrip au, college au, enemies to lovers, friends with benefits, ot5, a fav of all time)

Another roadtrip AU featuring Harry as the misunderstood hipster, Louis as the bitter psych major, Liam as the one with the secret boyfriend, and Niall as the one who just wants everyone to be happy.

💔 Here in the Afterglow by @harrybridgers​ | NR | 89k | b!L - (high school au, historical, 70s au, small town, slow burn, strangers to friends to lovers, soft soft soft)

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

💔 And down the long and silent street by whimsicule | M | 86k | b!L - (historical au, regency au, poverty, wealth difference, hurt/comfort, a masterpiece <3)

Wherein Louis and Harry are on the opposite ends of the social ladder, but their paths still cross on the filthy streets Louis calls his home. The odds are staked against them from the beginning, and even more when Louis' past finally catches up with him.

💔 Consequences by @allwaswell16​ | E | 79k | b!L - (amnesia au, exes to lovers, hurt/comfort, secrets, amazing amazing)

Two years ago Harry let his powerful family come between him and the love of his life, something he deeply regrets. Louis has tried to move on from their devastating break up. Sometimes, he even thinks he has. It only takes one moment to freeze them back in time.

💔 We’ll Cast Some Light (You’ll Be Alright) by @harrybridgers​ | NR | 74k | b!L - (enemies to lovers, sort of exes to lovers, demons, demon hunters, INCREDIBLE)

There’s a standard procedure for this. Scan, track, kill. But with a solar eclipse and a Greater Demon with unfinished business looming, the path to keeping England safe from harm becomes complicated and shadowed by mystery and secrets. For Harry and his team, times have never been harder, especially when a few old friends turned foes show up. Harry is left with just over forty days to overcome the hurdle of tension between them and reconcile their past, and figure out just what Louis is hiding from him before it’s too late.

💔 Latibule by @quelquesetoiles​ | E | 54k | b!L - (spirited away au - ish, mythology, fantasy, god harry, human louis, sad louis, jealousy, amazing)

A Spirited Away AU of sorts where Louis just wants to heal and be left alone, only for all his plans to be destroyed by the hands of an infuriating British God.

💔 7 Up by @cherrystreet​ | E | 52k | b!L - (friends to lovers, growing up together, will make you cry like a baby, a classic)

Very loosely based on the British TV show "The Up Series" and somewhat inspired by the song “Something I Need” by Onerepublic, we follow the lives of Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson in an interview setting every seven years. They fall apart and come together, their lives and emotions recorded. Harry calls it a time capsule. Louis calls it a pain in the arse.

💔 Strangers in Love by @darlou | E | 42k | b!L - (amnesia au, car accidents, light d/s, growing up together, enemies to lovers, a fav)

Louis wakes up to find himself in a marriage with the last man he thought he'd ever end up with.

💔 Ever Fixed by @eeveelou​ | E | 42k | b!L - (strangers to lovers, divorce, depression, child death, the plot twist GOT ME SO GOOD - i read this yesterday with ris and h o l y s h i t)

Three years ago, Harry was happily married, successfully heading the largest technology company in the world, and raising his young daughter. After he loses nearly everything in the aftermath of his daughter’s lost battle with a rare brain tumor, it may take three strange and yet very familiar visitors – and a man from the therapy group Harry keeps refusing to go to – to get him back on track.

💔 before we knew by @falsegoodnight​ | E | 40k | b!L - (soulmate au, lawyer harry, editor louis, stubborn harry, pining louis, literally one of the best fics ever written) 

Louis has been skeptical of soulmates for years so it seems like fate when he finally bumps into the owner of the obnoxiously large signature printed into his skin since age sixteen: Harry Styles, a human rights attorney who is firmly against soulmates.

💔 where the lights are beautiful by twoshipsdrifting | M | 31k | abo | b!L - (THE accidental bonding fic, mentions of mpreg, have reread many times and it still hurts so good)

Harry wasn’t wrong about that, not in a general sense. Lots of omegas did seek out rich alphas and betas, hoping or planning to go into heat at the right time. Plenty of omegas saw this as their duty, especially if their families weren’t well off. Worse, Louis couldn’t honestly say he’d never thought about it.

If that had been his life, his goal, Louis would feel pretty good about himself now.

As it is…Louis feels like shit.

💔 autumn leaves by @suspendrs​ | NR | 28k | b!L - (war au, soldier harry, waiter louis, french louis, friends to lovers, so so good)

Harry is an American soldier in France during World War II, and Louis is a French waiter that doesn't mean to fall in love with him.

💔 Cherry by littlebluetui | M | 25k | b!L - (exes to lovers, famous harry, non-famous louis, comfort sex, light d/s, really good & really underrated!)

Harry and Louis were soulmates, no one doubted that.

Sometimes one soulmates leaves the other to go on a world tour though.

Sometimes not having them at all is better than only a little.

💔 like a bastard on the burning sea by vashtaneradas | NR | 22k | implied b!L - (cheating/infidelity - i don’t read cheating fics as a principle but this one just... hurts so good, haven’t reread and i don’t think i ever will but i think about it often)

Harry breaks Louis, Louis breaks everything.

💔 all this delusion in our heads by buttfucklarry | E | 15k | b!L - (exes to lovers, sad louis, sad harry, mentions of mpreg, another underrated beaut <3) 

After Harry and Louis break up, they cope with it in very different ways. What will happen when Harry keeps calling his ex over when things go wrong in his life, but Louis just can't take it anymore?

💔 a grocery list pinned in blue by dangerbears | NR | 20k | b!L - (exes to lovers, divorce, a masterpiece truly)

After eight years, Louis finally has everything he's wanted. Except for Harry.

💔 Cupid’s Chokehold by bluelemur | E | 35k | b!L - (soulmate au, cupid louis, human harry, virgin louis, feel good but also a bit angsty) 

Louis is a Cupid who tries to match up Niall and Harry. It doesn't work out as planned.

💔 Love is like this; not a heartbeat, but a moan by @loveletterharry​​ | E | 13k | abo | b!L - (enemies to lovers, ex-childhood best friends, pining harry, beach house, lovely)

In which Harry loves Louis, but Louis has been cold to him ever since he presented as an omega at age fifteen.

Eight years later, Louis approaches Harry with a request, and who is Harry to deny him?

Remember again to leave kudos and comment on all these lovely masterpieces! And feel free to let me know if I made any errors!

Request another category here. 

#my fic rec lists #angst recs #categories #jem's favs

[mellowasinyellow]

100daysofwriting - Day 1

So I thought for the first day I might just briefly outline all of the WIPs I have actually made a start on and that might help me to decide where I want to focus some energy. I have some for Katniss/Peeta in THG fandom and some for Natasha/Clint in the MCU.

Everlark

folklore series - so I started this series of fics inspired by songs from Taylor Swift's album folklore because honestly those songs just immediately bring to mind so many scenarios that made me think of Katniss and Peeta. I made a start on chapters based on peace, my tears ricochet, invisible string, this is me trying, and mad woman. I also have a bit of an outline for continuing the story that was started in 'the 1'.

I've had this one WIP ongoing since about 2015(?) which is a bit of a monster that has grown beyond me but basically it involves Katniss and Gale being raised in the Capitol in relative poverty after their fathers are conscripted into the peacekeepers because of traitorous activity. Mrs Everdeen is still from 12 but was moved to the Captiol to be married (this part is sketchy) and she still had a little childhood romance with Mr Mellark. Peeta gets reaped and Mrs Everdeen reacts to this as he looks like his father. Katniss gets a crush on him as she watches him prepare for the games. She hates herself for it but finds herself checking up on how he is doing even during non-mandatory viewing.

Arranged Marriage - I feel like this is such a cliche for thg fandom, but I just imagined my own way that the pairings happen but I'm so bad at writing slow burn so this will probably never materialise, but if you want a semi-decent thought out pairing/arranged marriage system I would be happy to lend you mine.

Miscarriage fic - I will never post this, but it's in my WIP folder. It's full of nasty feelings that feel a little better when they are written about.

Modern AU Pandemic Quarantine! - ofc, this is essential. Katniss and Peeta end up as the only people not to move home from their dorm for the quarantine. Slow burn that I can't fucking write should ensue.

Canon Pandemic Quarantine AU - pandemic a few years after the end of the war forces Katniss to admit she wants Peeta as more than a friend with whom she hunts, bakes, rebuilds the district. Cue sexy pandemic times and a resentful Haymitch that keeps accidentally breaking the rules.

Divorced but co-parenting Everlark - obviously finding their way back together

Another classic of their children being reaped and dying - I don't know why I write things this depressing. They just tend to come out in one big rush and then I never address them again.

Real weird teen pregnancy modern day AU - don't know where it's going or why...

Modern day AU dead Prim - Peeta and Katniss just met each other through mutual friends and are kind of flirting. Peeta is a bit infatuated. Katniss stops going to mutual friend parties and he finds out it's because her sister died. Instead of staying away he gets tangled up in her grief and does all sorts of practical things while Katniss wallows. Also it's E rated but not that much fun... can't entirely explain where this one came from either...

Single Parent AU where Finnick and Annie play match maker. Probably my fave Everlark in the works but it's another one that has grown so big for the 20 minutes I can dedicate to it each week.

Clintasha

Red Room Take Down - Nat and Clint are retired and living a quiet family life with their child. SHIELD appears asking for Nat's help in taking down the red room and dealing with the fall out, specifically what to do with the girls that they get out. Nat is torn but chooses to go. Chaos ensues with the 'rescued' girls. I need to actually develop some OCs a little if I ever want this to be good but tbh the pending Black Widow movie is kind of holding me back on this one too because I hope we find out more about the red room.

So I have a weird habit of writing from Lila Barton's POV. I can't explain it. I have AoU and like to pretend it never happened but anyway I have a WIP about Lila detailing the collapse of her parents' marriage after Clint retires and he and Laura actually have to spend time together without Natasha. She then goes on to describe the custody settlement and her utter joy that Auntie Nat sleepovers with them at her dad's place. She feels utterly betrayed when she finds out they are getting engaged.

Fluffy AU - Clint and Natasha in an established relationship with a son born between infinity war and endgame. Natasha still sacrifices on Vormir, but Steve gets her back no bother and it's so nice and happy and fluffy and Clint and Natasha are together and they have a son who has both parents back and Steve gets to make all this happen and he is so happy too and they have a barbecue and go swimming in a lake and clint/natasha have private time, and their kid wants to be captain america, and did I mention how HAPPY everyone is?

Another fic similar to the above just about everyone being so HAPPY. Endgame reverses the snap and instead of weird farm family coming back Clint and Natasha get their daughter back and it's just a cute moment about her reappearance and their race back to the spot she disintegrated from. (Steve/Bucky go to Vormir and Steve is sacrificed, but that fucker CHOSE to leave).

This is another one that has just grown bigger than my brain. it's based off the idea that Natasha helped with coordinating fosterings during the blip time. Clint loses his mind when he loses his family and crashes in BedStuy but finds a neighbour girl (Kate Bishop) who is fending for herself in post-apocalyptic Brooklyn. He helps her out and tries to get children's services involved but it has collapsed. Finds out Natasha is the one getting everything in order. He gets in touch. She's at the end of her tether and asks why he can't keep looking after her. In the end he does and she ends up getting involved and all three get overly attached to each other. I haven't got as far as the events of endgame and idk what's going to happen. It might be tragic.

Pregnant Natasha but nobody knows what is wrong with her because they don't even suspect her being pregnant is possible. Just a real vivid description of the early unpleasant pregnancy symptoms.

Another absolute monster - Sort of canon compliant to begin with aside from before the farm family disappear. Clint and Laura are in the middle of separating and tensions are running quite high at the farm. Snap happens. Nat and Clint accidentally run into each other while both a bit low during the blip and get drunk and share home truths. Begin working together from HQ and both get a little less sad. He convinces her she doesn't have to be responsible for the world's fate every moment of every day. Clint has a break down at Morgan's 1st birthday and realises that things will have to change. Nat has this realisation later. They begin sleeping together. Accidental pregnancy. More feelings come out between them. They enter a more conventional relationship and have baby. Baby is really hard work (colic) and they struggle with comparisons and feelings of inadequacy. Pepper helps them to identify the colic and improves everything greatly. Happy times with baby while also running the avengers. Opportunity to reverse snap. Some good scenes between Nat and Tony. A big conversation between Nat and Clint about what it will mean. Steve and Nat end up going to Vormir together. Nat is obviously about to commit suicide. Steve over powers her and gives her a pep talk about the situation she is running away from and how to deal with it. He self-sacrifices. Clint goes back to farm fam and Natasha goes back to BedStuy with baby. Clint has to tell Laura and then the kids about the last 5 years and their new siblings. Nate is super into it. Cooper is a bit aloof and cynical. Lila is confused. Laura is quietly seething. Clint helps put the farm back together about 5 years of neglect and the kids meet baby. Family gets happier. Laura and Nat eventually meet again and it's civil/friendly.

My own version of what happened in Budapest.

The Call - inspired by a post here on tumblr. Nat calls Clint as she bleeds out. Just needs a beta reader and then I would consider publishing.

AoU reimagined but with Clintasha - I'm not sure where this one is going it's like a massive spider web right now with lots of ideas shooting off, but basically it is inspired by this post and just involves a lot of hoodwinking the other avengers.

Accidental Baby Acquisition - Natasha becomes Yelena's child's legal guardian after Yelena gets taken out. Natasha and Yelena are estranged at this point and Natasha things the whole thing is a trap and brings Clint along. He is surprisingly good with the baby so she ropes him in to teach her. The three of them end up bonding.

5 times there's only 1 bed + 1 time they choose to sleep in the same bed.

non-superhero AU Clint and Nat both think they have adopted a stay cat but actually the cat has owners and just likes strokes and eats a lot so has many 'families'. They get into an argument over which of them the cat belongs to only to find out the cat has owners and they are moving away. They decide to adopt a cat between them as both are not hope that much and the shelter refused them as single people. Slow burn ensues, which I am shit at writing.

#100daysofwriting #everlark #clintasha #thg #mcu #clintasha fanfic #clintasha fanfiction #clintasha fic #everlark fic #everlark fanfic #everlark fanfiction #natasha romanoff #clint barton #katniss everdeen #peeta mellark

[cupcakemolotov]

Twisted Intentions: Chapter Two

@accidental-rambler​ let us not go back and check how long this chapter has been coming, yeah? But I think its finally finished? Probably. We are ending it here, at least.

Everyone please be checking the tags on this one. It is a fairly more darker take than I usually do, these two crazy murder fiends, and there is smut. The first scene below has some murder to it, but nothing smutty. You can find both chapters on A03: Chapter One, Chapter Two.

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Regency; Alternate Universe - Pre-Canon; Possessive Klaus Mikaelson; Vampire Caroline; F/F Smut; M/F smut; Non-Klaroline Smut (referenced); Referenced Threesome F/F/M; Canon-Typical Violence; Not Canon Compliant; Dark Caroline Forbes; Past-Prostitution; Klaroline End Game; no non-con; Suggested Sexual Coercion; Vampire Klaus Mikaelson; Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson; Compulsion; Murder; Dark; Violence; Smut; Orgasm Delay/Denial; Oral Sex; Sex; Murder Kink; Biting; Blood Kink;  Mutual Masturbation  

                                                          -

The pub was quiet so early in the evening, dust lingering the corners the same as the plague lingered on the street. It was not a place she would have willingly visited, but some summons could not be ignored. Casually, she ran her fingers over her lips to make sure she’d cleaned up any of the blood that might have lingered.

Today was her third day as a vampire, and tonight had been her first solo deliberate kill. Her sire had taught her how to compel a man, the taste of a rabbiting pulse against her tongue, the fastest way to a heart with her fingers, and she had taken well to the hunt. Caroline felt no shame in learning to enjoy what she had become, to embrace the choice that she had been given, that she had made.

Some monsters, after all, were not nearly so kind as to show their devil’s bargains with fangs and eyes, though she had learned to recognize them all the same. But while the life of a whore had taught her many things, this new existence had been illuminating. Caroline had learned to avoid the sun, begun to learn the language of the night outside of the stained sheets of her old bedroom, and not once had she gone hungry. Here in the midst of the plague, blood was as easy to steal as the streets made dying, and for the first time in her seventeen years, she felt strong. Powerful. The predator instead of prey, and it was a heady feeling after years of being powerless.

But dangerous. She could not forget the dangers of this new life. Dangerous that she had not yet fully come to recognize. While her sire was indulgent of his newest creations, she was not such a fool to take his pretty did not hide a terrible sort of lethal practicality. Those dimples masked a violence she had caught lingering in his eyes, and every instinct she had warned her that there was more to him than he wanted her to know. He was deliberately mysterious, and while he’d offered so few expectations for their behavior, showing them how best to indulge their sins, and Caroline wondered why.

Compulsion was no idle tool, and though it had opened the world to so many whims, greed was a risk she was not willing to indulge in. Not yet. Humans might easily be bent to her will, but she would do well to remember the lessons she’d learned and been taught in her handful of years. Avarice could leave her the fattened calf for others as easily she could take from those less wise. She was not the only creation her sire had made, and from his offhand comments, age seemed to make a difference in strength.

Better then, to teach herself control, to master every instinct and then indulge only when she controlled every aspect of the experience. She had no intention of letting the gift she had been given control her, not when she’d vowed never again would she have a master except herself.

Never again.

Though she would have to be careful.

Glancing towards the back of the room, she pursed her lips at the trio of men who unknowingly awaited her presence at a table. Caroline recognized two of them from her lessons, though her sire had not introduced her to them. She had not asked to know them, not when she understood how they watched her. Lustful, but stupid.

They thought themselves clever, and the new monster that lived in her bone and marrow that she knew in the back of her throat as hunger, did not approve of their ilk. They’d smelled weak. Eager. It wasn’t her place to judge her sire’s choices, but she’d been certain he’d picked up on her disapproval.

Chosen to be amused rather than offended.

Tonight, the blood that stained their clothing, the scent of sex and death that lingered on their skin did nothing endure her to them. Mixing those pleasures when you had so little control told her that her original assessment had been correct. Wrinkling her nose, Caroline wondered if leaving would be a mark against her.

She was not given the chance to find out.

Awareness and warning prickled down her spine, and Caroline turned to find her sire watching her from the doorway. His lips curled at the edges, a hint of dimple catching in one cheek, and he strode forward to meet her. “Good evening, love. I must say, your new life suits you.”

His eyes dropped from her face to skim her figure, the dimple deepening. Caroline gave the endearment little meaning, he dolled out charm too easily for it to be sincere. But even knowing some of his truth, the impact of him was unavoidable. Her sire was a feast for her eyes and the monster she had become did not find the violence of him unbecoming.

However, the compliment was sincere, so she allowed a smile to touch her lips. Her new dress was well made, but not so expensive to draw attention, but it was pretty and hers. It had been a very long time since she owned her own clothes.

“Thank you.”

His gaze swept back to her face as he approached and offered her his arm. She took it, because she would not be accused of not having manners, and he sighed, head angling as if letting her into his confidence. She took no stock in that either.

“It is a pity that the same cannot be said for the rest.”

Klaus, Caroline had learned, was as mercurial with his violence as he was with his mercy. He’d plucked her from the street as easily as he’d left others to die, had shown her the fastest way to a man’s heart with dimples and bloody clothes. Tonight, there was something in his voice, a hint of roughness that did not bode well for any of them and she had no intention of being a target for that rage.

“They seem to lack some... subtlety,” she agreed.

His smile shifted to a sort of dangerous amusement. “Let’s find out just how little they have exhibited, shall we?”

Very aware that this was not her choice, Caroline merely hummed in agreement and let him escort her to the table. Violence did not frighten her, but something about the way he moved, the pleasant tilt of his lips, was unnerving.

“Hello, lads. It seems that you have enjoyed yourselves.”

They went still in front of her, a court very aware of its king’s displeasure, for all that he was smiling. Lifting Caroline’s hand from his arm, he brushed her knuckles lightly with his lips. “Do make yourself comfortable, sweetheart.”

In the next heartbeat, he’d twisted and was suddenly holding a twitching heart in his left hand. Caroline paused from where she’d gathered her skirts to settle, her heart a thump in her throat at the ease, the speed of his strike. But it wasn’t exactly fear that danced beneath her skin, though wariness had her watching him carefully. Settling the heart casually on the table, he motioned for her to sit on the empty seat.

She sat.

Reaching into his pocket, Klaus removed a handkerchief and meticulously began to clean his hand. “It really is so much easier to deal with baby vampires when the sire bond exists, but I suppose you can’t win them all.” His smile widened at the sudden, sharp stink of fear. “I am a benevolent ruler, but there are some lines that will not be tolerated being crossed. Leaving bodies where they can be found by anyone, even during a plague, will not be allowed. Is that understood?”

Next to them, the body finally toppled to the floor, as if it had finally understood it was dead. Caroline stared at the heartless vampire, considered how quickly his life had been snuffed out, and she arranged her skirts to avoid the growing puddle of blood while wondering why she was here. She had not been so careless with her teeth or metaphorical cock.

Across from her, the remaining vampires stammered their understanding, but when her eyes returned to her sire’s face, it was to find him watching her. There was something about his expression, the set of his jaw, that left her very certain that this mess was much as a message for her as for them, and she worked through the whys. The point of this little warning. This show.

She had no care for these men, and she was certain, neither did her sire. Even with this warning, it was likely the remaining two vampires would be dead within the week. Klaus had never struck her as anything but calculating, even in his whims, and it dawned on her that perhaps that was his point.

Her sire wanted her to see just how easily he would snuff the life from his creations, should it be necessary. Should they make it necessary... Vampires were monsters, but they were hidden, tucked carefully between the shadows of the nights and humanity’s soft dreams of safety.

But if they did, he might offer a quick, clean death. That message was for these men. Her message was tangled in the quickness of the death, the way he had offered her his arm before leading her to this little slaughter. He might find her amusing, might be indulgent of her opinions, but she could not count on that indulgence to save her.

Caroline tipped her in silent acknowledgement of his message. Betrayal, she knew without it being said, would have far more dire consequences.

Link: A03

#my fic #klaroline #klaroline fanfic #darker than usual #please mind the tags #thank you!