#ps your ask with the Other Characters made me heave a little | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cuthian · 3 years

Text

Unfinished Business Chapter Two

Hi.

Remember when I said this was gonna be a short prequel? One chapter, two tops?

Yeah. Apparently I lied.

There's gonna be a third chapter: a Luke chapter 😉 This chapter is all Reggie, so I hope you guys enjoy!

I do have a few warnings: - the chapter definitely earns an M-rating for (implied) sexual acts and language - there is a scene depicting homophobic language and parents being shitty - Reggie has a panic attack and stops breathing for a second before the boys calm him down.

Exercise caution where needed, darlings.

Much, much love, Annaelle

PS Eternal thanks to my darling Juulna, who still doesn't know what's going on with these himbos, but continued beta'ing for me anyway. 😍 I'm nothing without you, darling.

PART TWO -- REGGIE (MARCH 1994 - MAY 1994)

EARLY MARCH 1994

“Is there something going on between you and Alex?”

Reggie’s head snapped up and he stared at Bobby, who looked back with an unreadable expression. They stood, waiting in line at the nearest pizzeria, and Reggie hadn’t expected anyone to pick up on the minor tension between him and Alex, and if anyone would, he certainly hadn’t expected it to be Bobby.

“No,” he squeaked, and then cleared his throat. “No. We just…”

He shook his head and started again, trying to come up with a believable lie. “It’s stupid,” he said, “We’ve just been spending a lot of time together, what with Luke… occupied.” The mere implication of Luke’s most recent infatuation with a girl he’d met in detention left a bad taste in his mouth, but… well, it wasn’t exactly a lie, was it?

He and Alex had been spending a lot of time together, even after Reggie had confessed his feelings towards their other best friend—towards Alex’s ex-boyfriend—but things were different now.

Alex hadn’t really been as open with Reggie since he’d confessed how he felt, had been notably more tense around Reggie, despite promising that there was nothing that would push him away, and Reggie didn’t know how to bridge this new gap in their friendship. It wasn’t like he could just stop loving Luke—if that was an option, he would’ve taken it in a heartbeat—so he didn’t know what to do.

“We just had a stupid disagreement,” he continued, smiling lightly at Bobby. “It’s fine, we’ll work it out.”

Bobby looked away for a second, and he looked conflicted, confused, before he said, “You’d tell me if you guys were…” he sighed and added, “if you guys were… more, right? I mean, you know I don’t care who you date, right?”

Reggie stared. He’d thought he and Alex had been sneaky, all this time, but if Bobby had picked up on it, then obviously they hadn’t been so very good at it.

“We’re not,” he denied quickly. “Just a stupid argument. I’ll talk to him, promise. It won’t affect the band.”

“That’s not—” Bobby began, but then it was their turn to order pizza and the conversation was, mercifully, dropped. Reggie kept up a steady stream of inane chatter as they waited for their pizzas and as they walked back to the studio, desperate to keep Bobby’s mind off of him and Alex—or worse, him and Alex and Luke—and as soon as they walked in, let himself be dragged off by Luke, who wanted to show him the chorus for their newest song ‘right now, Reggie, come on’.

It was easy to let himself be sucked into Luke’s orbit, to imagine that Luke was smiling at him because he felt the same way, to ignore the weird way Alex looked at him now, and the idea that Bobby could see right through him. “This is great,” Luke crowed happily when Reggie suggested a different pace for the chorus of his new song, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Thanks, Reg.”

Reggie, who was doing his level best to not burst into flames at the casual affectionate contact, squeaked, “No problem,” and then fled to the couch, where Alex and Bobby had already started on the pizza. He snatched two slices of whatever pizza was nearest and stuffed as much of it in his mouth as he could fit.

Luke, thankfully, didn’t seem to think this was out of character at all and just laughed, setting down his guitar before he joined Reggie and the others on the couch.

“So,” Bobby said once they’d finished off the pizzas. “I saw Clare from Coconut Teaszer yesterday. She’s gonna talk to her friend at Juvee and Circus Disco, see if she can call in a favor to get us a gig there.” He grinned and continued, “She said if we can get those and they go well, Teaszer’s manager might be willing to give us a regular gig—we could save up for a professional demo, finally.”

“Sweet!” Luke exclaimed, leaning halfway across Alex to bump his fist against Bobby’s.

“Bobby, that’s awesome,” Reggie grinned, patting his shoulder, and he could tell Bobby was preening a little under all the attention. “How’d you convince her? I thought she didn’t like our sound.”

“I can be persuasive,” Bobby smirked, self-satisfied, and Reggie wrinkled his nose a little. It wasn’t that he didn’t approve of a little flirting to get ahead here and there—they’d all done it at some point—but somehow he didn’t think flirting was what Bobby was implying.

“Oh, gross, Bobby,” Alex whined, falling back against the cushions. “Are we stooping that low, really?”

“Hey, I don’t see anyone else getting us an opportunity like this,” Bobby said defensively.

“Guys, guys,” Luke cut in before Alex could snap back and turn it into an argument. “It doesn’t matter, okay? All that matters is that this is a great opportunity for us, for the band. This could be the springboard that we need to jump into the big leagues.”

“Yeah,” Reggie nodded enthusiastically, because he didn’t want Alex and Bobby to start fighting, and Luke was right—it didn’t matter.

Alex didn’t say anything, but he frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, and Bobby very pointedly looked away from him, and no amount of chatter from either him or Luke could save the night. It was only a few minutes later that Bobby told them he had to work the next day and left, leaving Alex, Reggie and Luke sitting in awkward silence.

“I wanna hang out, guys, but I’m supposed to be meeting Charlie later,” Luke finally said awkwardly, rubbing his hands together, looking at both him and Alex with a pleading expression.

“Yeah,” Alex said curtly. “Fine. Go ahead.”

“Jesus,” Luke turned and frowned at Alex. “What crawled up your butt and died?”

“Nothing,” Alex snorted. “I’m totally fine with Bobby sleeping his way to the top and you cancelling band practice last minute so you can go make out with your newest girlfriend and pretending it’s all fine.” He finished with a sneer.

“Alex,” Reggie whispered, but Luke had already jumped to his feet and was stalking towards the door.

“Fine,” he spat angrily. “Fine, be like that.” He grabbed his jacket and backpack up off the floor and slammed the garage door shut behind him.

Reggie sat, stunned, for a few minutes before he turned to Alex. “What the hell, man?”

Alex heaved a sigh and shut his eyes, leaning his head back against the couch. “Don’t, Reggie.”

He sounded exhausted.

“What’s going on?” Reggie asked, scooting closer to Alex and carefully reaching out to put a hand on his arm. “You’ve been… off for weeks. Since I told you about—”

“It’s not that. Not everything is about you,” Alex snapped, and Reggie reared back in surprise.

Alex never snapped at him. He sassed and teased and he was sarcastic as hell, but he never snapped. Reggie must not have realized just how strained things had become between them and he felt like an idiot for it.

“I’m sorry,” he said hoarsely, scooting away again, looking away from Alex. “I just wanted to help.”

Alex swore under his breath, and Reggie winced a little. He didn’t do great with people being angry around him, and even though he knew Alex would never even dream of hurting him, knowing he was angry made Reggie feel nervous and twitchy and he didn’t like feeling that way around Alex.

“Reg,” Alex said, softer, and Reggie instinctively flinched away when Alex’s hand fell on his shoulder. Alex pulled away as though his hand had been burned, staring at Reggie with wide, startled eyes. “Shit,” he swore again, “I’m sorry, Reg, I didn’t—I didn’t mean to snap at you.” He exhaled roughly and shook his head. “My parents have been… pushy lately. About conversion therapy, getting a girlfriend, going to college… It’s been a lot, and I—I took it out on you guys. On you.”

He lifted his head and smiled weakly. “I’m so sorry, Reg. I didn’t mean to make you think it was you.”

Reggie wanted to just accept that, wanted to smile at Alex and tell him it was okay, but instead, the words that came out of his mouth were, “I thought you hated me. For… for what I said about my feelings for Luke.” He sounded more upset than he had meant to, and Alex made a soft, concerned sound.

This time when Alex reached out, Reggie didn’t flinch away, but the tension didn’t leave him until Alex folded him up in his arms, pressing his face into Reggie’s hair. “I’m sorry,” Alex muttered. “I’m so, so sorry. I don’t care that you fell in love with him too. I don’t wanna argue with you. I truly am sorry.”

Reggie exhaled shakily and wrapped his arms around Alex’s middle, leaning into him.

“It’s okay,” he conceded. “I’m okay. I just…” He swallowed thickly, ducked and pressed his nose in the crook of Alex’s neck. “I thought I screwed everything up.”

“No,” Alex whispered. “No, you didn’t.”

Reggie nodded against him. “Are we okay?”

“Yeah,” Alex huffed, his breath ruffling Reggie’s hair. “Yeah, Reg, we’re okay.”

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

LATE MARCH 1994

Reggie didn’t like drinking.

He didn’t.

The only time his dad ever raised a hand at him was when he’d been drinking, and Reggie had made a promise to himself to never get tempted, but then Bobby had shown up to practice with a bag full of liquor that he’d taken from his parents’ liquor cabinet, complete with a grin, and both Alex and Luke had been so enthusiastic that Reggie hadn’t wanted to be a downer.

Alex had babysat Maggie for him like four times this week and Luke had been super stressed about getting bigger gigs, his parents pressuring him about college and his girlfriend, who didn’t like how much time he spent with them. Even Bobby’s parents had been on his case non-stop about getting into a good university and not wasting his potential on their band.

They probably needed a drink and Reggie wasn’t going to be the one to keep them from it.

He’d only had one drink himself, and it’d made him feel all warm and just a little fuzzy, and if that was what drinking was, he wouldn’t mind. After they’d all reached an appropriate level of inebriation—Reggie had no idea what that level was, but the other boys all seemed to agree that three drinks was it for them—Bobby walked Luke home, and Reggie watched them laugh and giggle as they walked away.

Alex stood behind him when he turned, cheeks flushed pink and his pupils slightly dilated. “Walk you home?” he asked, holding out his hand and grinning, chewing on his lower lip. And Reggie was very stupidly in love with his other best friend, but he’d always been a little sweet on Alex too, and—

Well…

He knew that Alex smiled when he was kissed, that he liked to be held when he fell asleep and that he giggled when Reggie scraped his teeth over his earlobe.

He was in love with Luke, but this thing he had with Alex was also real.

“Yeah, okay,” Reggie chuckled, his insides going warm and squiggly when Alex honest to God giggled as he looped his arm through Reggie’s. They set off for the short walk to Reggie’s house, swaying lightly across the sidewalk as they walked.

“You know,” Alex said, slinging his arm around Reggie’s shoulder and drawing him closer. “Maggie asked me to marry her yesterday.”

“What?” Reggie exclaimed, laughing lightly, though he didn’t resist when Alex pulled him closer again.

“Yeah,” Alex laughed. “I had to explain that I didn’t like girls. Although I promised that if I ever changed my mind, she’d be the first girl I’d tell and give a chance.”

Reggie laughed. “I’m sure she was thrilled with that.”

“Eh,” Alex hedged. “She’ll get over it.” He tugged them to a stop and leaned in to press a lingering kiss to Reggie’s cheek. “I think I prefer her brother anyway.” Reggie swallowed thickly, and turned his head just a little, their noses brushing together.

“Good,” he whispered, brushing his lips across Alex’s in a barely-there kiss.

Alex swayed after him when he pulled away, eyes still shut, and God, Reggie loved him. Not like he loved Luke—not with the same breathless longing that he felt when he looked at Luke, not with the same burning desire that threatened to consume him when Luke smiled at him—but it was love nonetheless.

Alex’s eyes fluttered open again and he smiled, wide and happy, pressing his palm to Reggie’s cheek. Reggie kind of melted into the touch, swaying back towards Alex despite being in the middle of the sidewalk, only a few feet from his house, where just about anyone could see them. “I know you’re in love with Luke,” Alex said quietly, and he was so close that Reggie could feel his breath on his lips. “But I’m going to kiss you anyway.”

“Oh,” Reggie breathed, leaning in to rest his forehead against Alex’s. “Okay. Yes. Please.”

Alex chuckled lightly and leaned in to press their lips together, running his hands down the length of Reggie’s back. Reggie shuddered and kissed him back, pressing into Alex’s embrace as much as he could, relishing in the easy comfort of Alex’s touch. “I don’t wanna stop,” he admitted in a rush when Alex broke the kiss, slipping his arms around Alex’s shoulders. “I know I love Luke, and I don’t know if that’s going away anytime soon, but…”

“Yeah,” Alex whispered, leaning in to press a flurry of small, soft kisses to Reggie’s cheeks, nose, and lips. “I get it. I don’t wanna stop either.” Reggie leaned into the kisses, allowing Alex to soothe the frantic energy within him, slanting their lips together again as soon as Alex tried to lean back, shivering a little when Alex slipped his—cold—hands up under his shirt.

“You know,” Reggie chuckled when Alex leaned back to gulp a few breaths, “My house is right up there. With my bedroom. I’ve got a bed and everything.”

“Yeah,” Alex grinned. “You gonna invite me in?”

Reggie smirked and bit his lower lip. “I think I might.”

-----------

Reggie smirked when Alex shoved him down onto his bed and unceremoniously plopped down on his lap, wiggling enticingly on top of him, pressing his palms against Reggie’s shoulders and grinning cheekily at him. Reggie barked a laugh and let Alex push him down until he rested on his back on the bed, fingers trailing down Alex’s torso until they came to rest on his hips.

“Tipsy you is handsy,” he chuckled, grinning up at Alex in delight.

“Shut up,” Alex laughed quietly, pressing his thumb to Reggie’s jaw to tilt his head up for a kiss, moving back a little on his thighs when Reggie moved to sit up again. “Just can’t keep my hands off of you—you’re too sexy.”

Reggie tried—tried so hard—not to blush at Alex’s words, but he could feel his cheeks heat up nonetheless, lips parting as he tried to figure out a way to say something smooth in response to that. “You can’t say stuff like that,” he whined, dropping his head forward to rest against Alex’s collar bone, and wrapping his arms around Alex’s waist.

“Aw, but you blush so pretty when I do,” Alex teased him playfully, poking at the ticklish spot just below his ribs that no one but Alex—and maybe Maggie—knew about, and Reggie yelped.

“Alex!” he exclaimed, jerking away from Alex’s questing fingers as much as he could with the other boy still perched on his lap and determined to make him produce the sound again.

“Shhh, be quiet, Reggie,” Alex laughed triumphantly, “We can’t wake up your mom and your sister.” And Reggie couldn’t—he couldn’t do anything other than writhe with laughter beneath him, falling back onto the bed in a desperately futile attempt to escape Alex’s relentless quest to make him laugh.

“Stop, stop,” he gasped breathlessly, tears of mirth rolling down his cheeks as he struggled to catch his breath between chuckles. “I give. You win.”

“Good,” Alex smirked, settling himself on top of Reggie with an elbow on each side of his head, and Reggie had to focus to keep his entire train of thought from becoming derailed by the feel of Alex’s body pressed along his own. “Now be quiet and let me decide if I wanna kiss you again.”

Reggie hummed contentedly and tilted his head up, pushing his lower lip out into a pout until Alex relented and leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. Reggie grinned against Alex’s lips and dug his fingers into Alex’s hair—he was probably going to get it cut soon, it was longer than Reggie had ever seen him wear it before, and Reggie was going to take advantage of the longer coupe for as long as he damn well could—to drag him closer, licking up into Alex’s mouth as the other boy moaned against his lips.

The triumphant feeling only lasted for a second though, because it didn’t take long for Alex to get with the program enthusiastically, and Reggie thought it was entirely unfair that Alex knew to scrape his teeth against Reggie’s lower lip like that, the way that made him shiver all over and melt into a puddle beneath Alex’s steady weight.

“Alex,” he whined when the kiss broke, both of them gasping for air, Reggie’s fingers—the ones that weren’t locked in Alex’s hair—grabbing uselessly at the jean jacket that Alex was still wearing.

“Yeah, Reg,” Alex breathed harshly, grinding down and sending red-hot arousal rushing through Reggie’s veins. “I know, sweetheart,” Alex whispered against his lips, and Reggie’s brain—kind of—shorted out—

“Oh,” Reggie choked, slipping his hand down to dig his fingers into the meat of Alex’s ass. “That’s new.”

“Yeah,” Alex chuckled lightly. “Want me to stop?”

“No, dear God, don’t you dare stop,” Reggie groaned as Alex sat up, entranced by the graceful way Alex moved to get his jean jacket off and tossed aside, swiftly followed by his shirt, the light coming in through the window glinting on the gold chain around his neck.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Alex quipped cheekily, but before Reggie could say anything snarky in reply, Alex was on him again, and Reggie would say something, but Alex’s tongue was in his mouth and he was pretty sure he forgot how to think—much less talk—altogether when Alex’s chest rumbled with a moan against his fingers, his tongue sweeping against the back of Reggie’s teeth.

He keened when Alex’s fingers tugged on his hair, shooting sparks of pleasure down his spine, dragging his head to the side and breaking their kiss to mouth his way down Reggie’s jaw and neck.

He paid particular attention to the little spot just beneath Reggie’s jaw that had him practically melting into a puddle beneath Alex, the sensation of Alex’s lips against his feverishly hot skin and the solidness of Alex’s body pressing into him, surrounding him almost too much—but also not nearly enough.

“You’re being—” He gasped as Alex scraped his teeth across his earlobe, fingers digging into Alex’s biceps. “—you’re being really unfair.”

Alex laughed huskily against him, and Reggie shivered but pressed back into the touch when Alex’s hand slipped down from where his fingers were tangled in Reggie’s hair to cradle the back of his head. “It’s not unfair unless I don’t finish what I started. Don’t worry.” He shifted, pushing one leg between Reggie’s and pushing up, dragging his teeth across Reggie’s bottom lip teasingly. “I plan on following through, sweetheart.”

Reggie moaned, clutching at Alex as the other boy pushed his legs open to settle himself between them, lips occupying Reggie’s in a downright filthy kiss. Reggie couldn’t bring himself to care about the noise and the possibility of his parents finding them anymore, because Alex was between his legs, pressing up against him, and he could barely remember how to breathe.

God, Reggie adored him.

He groaned against Alex’s lips when the other boy rolled his hips down, slipped one leg up and around Alex’s hip, and slid his hands down to the edge of Alex’s waistband and then up, marveling at the fact that he could feel Alex’s warm skin beneath his palms and could feel the twitch of Alex’s muscles as he dragged his blunt nails across Alex’s back.

“I’m not done with us,” Alex panted when the kiss broke, teeth scraping across Reggie’s collar bone before he soothed over the abused skin with his tongue as he ground himself against Reggie’s painful hard-on. “I don’t care that you love Luke. I’m not done with us.”

“Me either,” Reggie croaked, feeling unexpectedly overwhelmed when he realised that he was with Alex, that Alex wanted this, him, too.

Still.

Even after Reggie had told him about his feelings for Luke.

Even though they weren’t actually in love.

Even though he didn’t think either of them actually had any idea what they were doing together.

“Me either,” he repeated, before pulling Alex down to kiss him again, grinding up against him. “I’m not done with us either.”

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

Reggie woke the next morning when he felt something flutter lightly across his forehead, then his nose, his lips, his chin, his collarbones, blinking in confusion before he realized it was Alex, gently tracing his fingers across Reggie’s face and upper body. He stilled for a second, and Alex froze before Reggie relaxed and leaned into Alex’s touch.

“Hi,” he whispered hoarsely when he rolled his head to the side to look at Alex.

He wondered, when Alex remained quiet and unreadable for a long, tense few minutes, if last night had been a mistake. They’d crossed a line they hadn’t crossed before, that they’d never meant to cross when they first kissed, and though Reggie had been so sure that they were on the same page, that Alex knew that Reggie cared about him so much, he was a little worried that maybe Alex had been more drunk than he’d let on last night.

And then Alex exhaled shakily and slid his hand down, coming to rest on Reggie’s bare waist. “Hey,” he finally said, sounding quite sleepy still, offering a tight smile when Reggie shuffled a little closer.

“You okay?” Reggie said quietly, reaching out to pat his hand on Alex’s bicep.

“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “Yeah, just…” He looked down and smiled wryly. “Trying to figure this out, I guess.” Reggie swallowed thickly, eyeing Alex nervously—he didn’t look like he regretted much of what they’d done and said the previous night, but then Alex always had the best poker face out of all of them.

“It wasn’t bad, right?” Reggie asked quietly, looking away from Alex, because he wasn’t sure he wanted to see the potential rejection on Alex’s face, not after Reggie had dared to hope that maybe… maybe he and Alex could figure out what they could be together.

“No,” Alex whispered, and Reggie’s head snapped back up to look at him.

Alex was smiling softly, expression open and fond. “You scare me sometimes,” Alex admitted. “Because I think… I think it’d be so easy to just get caught up in this. In us.” He swallowed thickly and ran his fingers through Reggie’s messy hair, and Reggie’s eyes fluttered shut for a second. Alex chuckled quietly and added, “I don’t want us both to end up with a broken heart, Reg.”

“I don’t ever wanna break your heart,” Reggie said urgently, pressing his hand to Alex’s cheek.

Alex smiled sadly. “I don’t want to break yours.”

“Then we just won’t,” Reggie said optimistically. “We can just… we can just try. And if it’s not working anymore, we’ll just be honest about it.” He looked at Alex pleadingly, rubbing his thumb across Alex’s cheek. “Can’t we just try?”

Alex huffed a breath through his nose, tipping forward to rest his forehead against Reggie’s with a small smile. “Yeah, okay, Reg. We can try. Does that mean we’re telling Luke and Bobby too?”

Reggie froze.

“I—” he choked. “Is it okay if I’m not ready for that?”

Alex nodded lightly. “Yeah, Reg, that’s okay. But,” he continued thoughtfully, “We can’t just keep lying indefinitely.” He ran his hand down the length of Reggie’s back and Reggie shivered a little as the move dislodged the sheet and exposed his bare skin to the cold morning air.

“I don’t want that either,” Reggie said. “I don’t like keeping things from Luke either.”

“So you’re going to tell him how you feel?” Alex asked.

“No, not yet,” Reggie shook his head. “But… maybe. When I feel less like I’ll break when I say something and he doesn’t feel the same way.”

Alex’s eyes darkened a little and his lips turned down into a frown, but he nodded in understanding.

“On a happier note,” Reggie said brightly, pressing into Alex with his entire body, “I am much less sore than I was last time.” He grinned when Alex’s cheeks flushed immediately and his hand tightened on Reggie’s bare hip. “Must mean we did something right this time,” Reggie finished.

“Oh, yeah, it’s gotta,” Alex snorted, but when Reggie leaned in to kiss him, he kissed back slowly and deeply. Reggie let Alex nudge him back until he was flat on his back again, Alex leaning over him, one hand on his hip, Reggie’s fingers tangled in Alex’s hair.

His lips were incredibly soft and still tasted faintly of the cherry liquor he’d drank last night. Reggie sighed happily against Alex’s lips and sank into the kiss, sliding his leg up over Alex’s to pull him closer. The feeling of fabric startled him though, and he leaned back to pout at Alex. “When did you put on pants?” He reconsidered and then said, “Why did you put on pants?”

Alex chuckled and whispered, “I didn’t wanna run to the bathroom naked. What if I’d run into your parents?” He grimaced and added, “Or worse, Maggie.”

Reggie snorted a laugh and nodded. “Okay, fair enough.”

Alex grinned down at him and pressed one more kiss against Reggie’s lips before he tapped at Reggie’s hip. “Come on, put something on. Everyone’s going to be up soon.” Reggie pouted and then smiled when Alex groaned, before he gave in and kissed Reggie again.

Reggie smiled when Alex pulled away, and he inhaled deeply, taking a second to, you know, remember how his limbs worked before he managed to roll out of the bed and onto his feet. He grabbed the nearest pair of sweatpants and tank top and shimmied them on, spinning around with his arms spread wide to grin at Alex.

“Better?” he asked teasingly.

“No,” Alex smirked, leaning back on his hands, blatantly eyeing Reggie up and down, and Reggie could feel Alex’s eyes burning on his skin. “I preferred you with less clothing.”

“You told me to put something on,” Reggie pointed out, raising both eyebrows at Alex.

Alex grinned and pushed to his feet, approaching Reggie with a kind of predatory gleam in his eye that Reggie had never seen before and that—that did things to his insides. “Jesus, Alex,” he groaned, “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Why not?” Alex asked playfully, reaching out and tugging Reggie to him by his hips.

“It makes me wanna do really inappropriate things,” Reggie admitted, framing Alex’s face in his hands when Alex wrapped his arms around Reggie’s waist. Alex just raised an eyebrow at him, and really, that was a challenge if Reggie ever saw one—he never could resist a dare. Alex huffed a mildly surprised breath against his lips when Reggie crashed their lips together again, but Reggie could tell he was smiling too.

And then Reggie’s bedroom door swung open.

They jerked apart, eyes wide and slightly horrified, but the damage was done, and Reggie’s dad stood in the doorway, large and imposing and frozen in shock.

“Dad,” Reggie choked.

It was like the sound of Reggie’s voice unfroze his father, his pale cheeks flushing with anger and his entire face twisting into a nearly unrecognizable, furious expression that Reggie instinctively flinched away from. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing, boy?!” he hissed dangerously, and Reggie knew that tone, knew that when his dad spoke like that, it was time to hide in his room and to make sure Maggie was asleep or wearing earphones.

But Alex was right behind him and his dad was blocking the door and there was nowhere to hide.

“Dad,” he tried, and he hated how small and weak his voice sounded, how scared. “It wasn’t—”

“How dare you do this to our family?!” his dad roared, and Reggie flinched back, bumping into Alex, who steadied him with his hands on Reggie’s upper arms. That, evidently, was the wrong thing to do, because Reggie’s dad stormed forward and ripped Alex bodily away from him, shoving him so hard that Alex nearly tripped over the various items of clothing they’d carelessly thrown around the room last night, barely able to catch himself on the side of the bed.

“You,” his dad hissed, and Reggie watched in horror as his father loomed over Alex. “You’re so lucky your parents are prominent members of the church. They will hear about this and I will make sure that they know you defiled my boy.”

“He didn’t—” Reggie tried, “Dad, I’m—it’s not—”

“This isn’t about you,” his dad screamed at him, and Reggie recoiled again. “Do you think you’re ready for this kind of lifestyle, boy? Do you think anyone will want to employ you? Do you think they’ll employ me and your mother? All of our trouble will be on you! What do you think they’ll call your sister if they know about you, you stupid boy? She’s gonna lose her friends—parents won’t let their kids play with her now, this is gonna follow her forever!”

Reggie winced and hunched in on himself—was he being selfish? He’d never… he’d never considered that what he did might have ill effects on his family—on Maggie.

“This is more than just you,” his dad spat disgustedly. “This affects us all, you spoiled, selfish, ungrateful little faggot!” He glared at Reggie and Alex both and then hissed, “Get out. Get your stuff and get the fuck out—and don’t you dare come back. You have five minutes to get out. Don’t you darken our doorway again.”

He shot one more venomous glare at them and then stomped out of the room, slamming the door so hard it rattled in the frame.

Reggie let out a shaky breath he hadn’t known he was holding, staring at the door. He didn’t even realize he was breathing erratically until Alex pressed a hand to the center of his back and said, urgently, “Reg, calm down. We have to pack your things, okay, really fast. We can freak out later, but I need you to focus right now. Please, Reg.”

Reggie’s eyes fastened on the red mark on Alex’s arm. “He hurt you,” he whispered hoarsely, reaching out trembling fingers to touch Alex’s arm. “Alex, he hurt you.”

“No,” Alex sighed, “No, Reg, I’m okay, I promise. It’s probably not even going to bruise.” He took Reggie’s hand and squeezed it. “Grab a bag, okay? Put your clothes in there, as many of them as you can fit. I’ll get your school things and your guitar.”

“Alex,” Reggie choked when Alex tried to pull away, and Alex exhaled sharply before ducking down and pressing a hard, brief kiss to Reggie’s lips.

“We’re okay,” he insisted. “Now get your things, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Reggie nodded shakily.

“Good,” Alex smiled shakily. “Good.” He pressed one more kiss to Reggie’s forehead and then pulled away, leaving Reggie swaying in place, cold and disoriented for a couple of seconds before he managed to do as Alex asked and got a bag, pulling open his closet and stuffing as many clothes in there as he could.

When the bag was full, stuffed with jeans, socks, t-shirts and underwear, Reggie turned to Alex, who had Reggie’s bass slung over one shoulder and his bag with school books and materials over the other.

“Come on,” Alex said quietly, holding out a hand. “Let’s go.”

Reggie stared at him for a beat and then, slowly, feeling like he was making an irreversible decision, took it, and let Alex lead him out of the house.

-----------

Later, Reggie couldn’t remember much of the walk to Luke’s house.

He knew that Alex, at some point, had moved the book bag he was carrying to his other shoulder and had wrapped an arm around Reggie, tugging him close, and that Reggie had sunk into the warmth of him eagerly, because he was dressed in sweatpants and a tank top and flip flops, and Alex wasn’t even wearing a shirt, just an unzipped hoodie he must’ve shrugged on as they were leaving, and it was still cold outside.

He knew that he had, at one point, tried to talk, but that his mouth just didn’t want to form the words.

Alex had understood anyway.

He knew that he’d suddenly found himself on Luke’s front porch, Alex’s arm still around him, when Mrs. Patterson opened the door in her bathrobe, looking confused and then horrified to find them standing there in their pyjamas, bags in hand and tears still burning in Reggie’s eyes.

She had ushered them inside immediately, and Reggie knew that she was asking them things, that Alex was answering, but he felt like his head was under water and all sound was muffled.

He let himself be led to the couch and relinquished his death grip on his bag when Alex pried his fingers open, and when he looked up he could see Alex’s lips moving, could tell that he was talking to him, that Alex was probably scared and confused and hurt too, but he couldn’t—

He couldn’t breathe.

What was he supposed to do now?

He couldn’t go home anymore. He couldn’t go home. He was barely eighteen, he hadn’t even graduated yet—Sunset Curve was nowhere near successful enough to support him.

What was he going to do?

And then someone’s warm palm was burning on his cheek and when Reggie looked up, Luke was right in front of him, brow furrowed in concern, Alex hovering anxiously just behind him and—and—

“Hey. Hey, Reggie. Look at me.” Luke was talking, and though he still sounded like he was miles away, his voice managed to penetrate the haze of static white noise that encapsulated Reggie’s entire world. Luke smiled when Reggie looked at him, and Reggie vaguely thought that if he could still breathe, that smile would probably take his breath away all over again. “Yeah,” Luke grinned. “Okay, hey, buddy. Take a deep breath for me, okay? You’re not breathing right, Reg.”

Reggie thought that was probably a bit of an exaggeration, because he was pretty sure he wasn’t breathing at all, so how could he not be breathing right?

“Reggie,” Alex pleaded, rushing forward to kneel in front of him, next to Luke, his voice piercing through the white noise as his hand landed heavily on Reggie’s knee. “Breathe.” Reggie obeyed before he thought about it, inhaling sharply, dizzy with the sudden rush of oxygen, and swayed in place for a single heartbeat before he tipped forward into Luke and Alex.

They both caught him, as he had known, instinctively, that they would, their arms wrapping around him and holding him steady, and Reggie broke.

He burst into tears, pressing his face into the crook of Alex’s neck, fingers clenched in the back of Luke’s shirt too, to keep him close, where Reggie could feel him and hear him and smell him, because he couldn’t bear the thought of either of the boys being any less close than this, being anywhere other than right here with him, warm hands rubbing soothingly over his back and their voices melting together in a wordless, reassuring murmur.

“We’ve got you,” he heard Luke mutter as his hand swept up and down Reggie’s back. “We’re here, Reg.”

Reggie had no idea how long he cried, but slowly, his tears tapered off, and his body relaxed in his best friends’ arms, and he kind of drifted into a light doze. He barely registered being moved back onto the couch, refusing to loosen his grip on Alex, who didn’t stop running his fingers through Reggie’s hair.

“What happened?” he heard Luke ask quietly, rubbing his thumb over Reggie’s ankle soothingly.

Alex’s chest rumbled a little under his cheek, but it was soothing, and Reggie kept his eyes closed, relaxing into them as much as he could. “I stayed over,” Alex said softly. “I’d had a little too much, yesterday, and I didn’t want to walk all the way home, so I stayed. His dad’s always been a little weird around me, but I guess when he walked in and saw us hugging, he lost it. Called Reggie a fag and…” He paused and Reggie was just aware enough to press into him a little more, to move to comfort even though he wasn’t even looking at Alex. “... It was awful, Luke. He’s probably gonna tell me parents God knows what too, but—”

“Shit,” Reggie heard Luke curse. “Shit, Alex, I’m sorry.”

“Nothing we can do now,” Alex muttered. “Besides I think Reg got the worst of it, not me. My parents already knew I was an incurable homosexual, in their words. This probably won’t change much for me, but…” Reggie hummed under his breath when Alex tugged very lightly on his hair. “He can’t go home.”

“Yeah,” Luke whispered. “We’ll figure something out. My dad’s driving over to talk to Reggie’s dad, to see if he can pack up his stuff, at least.”

Alex exhaled shakily. “Well, that’s something.”

They fell silent, and Reggie relaxed further into them, the steady beat of Alex’s heart under his ear lulling him deeper and deeper into a doze until he eventually managed to fall asleep.

He was with Alex and Luke. He was safe.

They’d figure everything out.

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

MAY 1994 (SATURDAY)

There was something different in the way Alex kissed him, these days.

It was like… like his heart wasn’t in it anymore, like he was just going along with whatever Reggie wanted, and Reggie hated it. Alex was distant, was pulling away from him, and Reggie didn’t know what had triggered it, what had changed to make Alex go from desperately affectionate in the wake of Reggie’s dad kicking them out, to… to this.

Before, whenever Reggie would look at him, Alex would catch his eye and grin back at him or wink at him; would smile the same kind of smile that he smiled right before he’d lean in to kiss him, and Reggie would have to look away so he wouldn’t have to explain to Luke or Bobby why he was blushing.

Now, whenever Reggie managed to catch Alex’s eye, Alex would wince and look away or pointedly gaze at Luke or Bobby instead, and Reggie…

Reggie would feel like an idiot.

They barely spent any time alone together anymore, and Alex hadn’t managed more than a perfunctory peck on the lips unless Reggie reached out for him first; he’d hardly made any sort of move towards Reggie at all.

He wondered, as he curled up on the little bed they’d put together in the loft, if Alex had just grown tired of him, of them, or if he’d decided he couldn’t deal with Reggie not being over Luke yet, or if he’d just decided that they weren’t working anymore.

Reggie shivered.

He didn’t want Alex to break things off so soon after they’d decided they wanted to give things a real shot. He didn’t know how they’d gone from an easy, effortless relationship that they’d kind of tumbled into, to this… this strained connection that felt like it was seconds away from shattering if Reggie pushed too hard, too fast.

He missed the simplicity of their relationship before, missed how sure he’d been that if he reached out for Alex, that he’d find Alex reaching out for him too. Missed kissing Alex and making out with him and having sex and sleeping together—

He missed Alex.

And that was ridiculous, because Alex was right here; he hadn’t stopped spending time with him and the others, but the simple intimacy Reggie had gotten used to had vanished as if overnight, and he was afraid that he’d done something to make Alex pull away.

He heaved a sigh and let himself topple backwards into the pillows and sheets, staring up at the ceiling blankly. The band, thankfully, was doing really great—they’d gotten bigger gigs, and even a few specifically advertised as Sunset Curve that had a turnout they hadn’t quite expected, and it’d helped Reggie keep his mind off of Alex (and Luke).

Most of the time anyway.

He’d gotten really good at keeping his mind off Luke, made easier by Luke hooking up with every pretty girl—and the occasional guy—that fluttered their eyelashes at him, but he’d been so focused on Alex for so long that he didn’t know what to do with himself now that Alex wasn’t there.

“Hey man.”

Reggie startled and nearly rolled off the loft, eyes wide as he looked at Luke, who’d just appeared atop the ladder. “Jesus,” he groaned, heaving himself back to the middle of the bed. “Warn a guy, Luke.”

Luke snorted a laugh and crawled onto the bed too, kicking off his shoes and wedging himself into the narrow space beside Reggie, pressing their sides together. “Didn’t feel like going home,” he explained, nudging his shoulder against Reggie’s. “And I feel like you and I haven’t spent time together in ages.”

They really hadn’t.

Reggie had made sure of it because he couldn’t act normal around him. He kept getting lost in Luke’s eyes, kept catching himself staring at Luke’s lips while his best friend was talking, gravitating towards him even when he was trying not to—

He didn’t want Luke to pull away from him too, just because Reggie couldn’t keep himself in check.

“I guess we haven’t,” Reggie admitted quietly. “We’ve both probably been busy.”

Luke winced a little and Reggie turned his head to look at him quizzically. Luke frowned and said, “Yeah, I’m sorry, I’ve—” He heaved a sigh and shrugged. “My mom’s been putting a lot of pressure on me about college, and I just wanna focus on the band now that we’re actually getting somewhere, and it’s—it’s been a lot.” He smiled at Reggie and Reggie’s heart did some kind of funny flop in his chest.

“Right,” Reggie choked. “That sucks, man. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well,” Luke sighed. “She’s not gonna let go and neither am I, so…”

Reggie bumped their shoulders together and offered Luke a sad little smile. “Still sucks.” He wished there was something else he could say, a way he could make this easier for Luke and his mom, but he knew that this was something they’d have to work out themselves too.

This had been brewing for years, ever since they’d started the band.

Luke sighed and rolled onto his side, tucking himself close to Reggie, his nose pressed against Reggie’s neck and his arm slung around his waist, and Reggie was terrified that Luke would hear the way his heart was racing, terrified he’d realize Reggie was holding himself just a little too stiffly even as he folded his arms around Luke in return.

“You cool if I crash with you?” Luke muttered against Reggie’s skin, and Reggie shivered.

“Yeah,” he squeaked, ignoring the little flutter in the pit of his stomach at the thought of getting to spend at least eight hours pressed up against Luke like this. “Yeah, anytime.”

Luke hummed happily, and Reggie smiled stupidly up at the ceiling, relishing in the soft weight of Luke’s body as he leaned against him. Before he could second guess himself, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of Luke’s head, slipping his arm around Luke’s shoulders, waiting for Luke to start talking again because he’d known him long enough to know Luke wasn’t done yet.

“She just doesn’t get it,” Luke muttered, splaying his fingers out on Reggie’s chest, absent-mindedly rubbing the fabric of Reggie’s shirt between his fingers. “She still thinks this is just… just… a hobby. A teenage obsession that I’m gonna grow out of.” Reggie swallowed thickly when Luke accidentally rubbed his fingers over Reggie’s nipple, which hardened immediately beneath the innocent touch, and briefly lost track of what Luke was telling him.

“...just so focused on college, and building a regular career and she doesn’t get that I don’t want that, and I hate that she doesn’t get it, she’s my mom, I love her, and I want her to understand—” He broke off with a barely muffled sob and buried his face against Reggie’s throat again, and all Reggie could really do was hold him and hope that Luke knew Reggie wasn’t going anywhere.

“It’ll be okay,” he whispered against the top of Luke’s head, rubbing his hands over Luke’s back and arms. “You two are gonna work this out, I know it.”

Luke was quiet for a while after that, and Reggie almost thought he’d fallen asleep when Luke whispered, “She hates everyone I date too. I can’t do anything right anymore. She hates the band, she hates whoever I date, she hates my grades, she hates that I don’t want to go to college. It’s exhausting.”

Reggie bit down on his lip, waiting for Luke to tell him more, as he tried to squash the little spark of jealousy that ignited in the pit of his stomach at the idea of Luke actually liking someone else.

“It’s just…” Luke hesitated. “I hate how tense I am every time I go home.”

Reggie swallowed and rubbed his hand through Luke’s messy hair, smiling a little when Luke groaned and then went boneless against him. “Maybe don’t bring up the actual amount of people you’re messing around with to your mom,” he suggested, taking care to infuse nonchalance and sarcasm in his tone—Luke needed Reggie to be supportive, not jealous of said aforementioned people.

“Yeah,” Luke snorted. “Like I’m bringing those up around mom. Or my dad. I know they’re okay with it, with me, just… they don’t really understand that either. I just—I want them to get me.” He unsuccessfully tried to stifle another sob by pressing his face against Reggie’s neck, and choked, “Why can’t they just get me? Why is that so much to ask?”

“I dunno, Luke,” Reggie whispered, and his heart squeezed painfully as he thought about his own parents, about his father, who had kicked him out without a second thought, about his mother who hadn’t lifted a finger to stop him, about his little sister who barely had a clue why Reggie had abandoned her. “You got me, though. And Alex. And Bobby. We get you.”

“Yeah,” Luke whispered hoarsely, tightening his fingers in Reggie’s shirt. “Thank God.”

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

MAY 1994 (WEDNESDAY)

Reggie managed to corner Alex after rehearsal when Bobby and Luke left, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him back inside the studio. Alex, to his credit, didn’t struggle when Reggie dragged him back in, and looked at him with raised eyebrows as soon as Reggie closed the doors, almost like he was saying “well, what now?”

“You’ve been distant,” Reggie blurted, and Alex’s eyes widened minutely before he schooled his expression into a cool mask of indifference.

“No, I haven’t,” he said, but his voice went up a little higher at the end, and Reggie knew he was lying immediately. Alex, it seemed, realized that too, because he heaved a sigh, his shoulders slumping as he pushed his hands into the pocket of his hoodie. “Okay, maybe I have,” he admitted.

“Why?” Reggie demanded, pushing forward, pressing his hands to Alex’s shoulders. “I thought we were—I thought we were okay. That we were trying, you know?”

“Yeah,” Alex breathed, looking down. “Yeah, we were. Look, Reg—”

Reggie abruptly stepped back. “Are you breaking up with me?” His voice was shaking and he didn’t like how hard the idea of Alex actively wanting to stop everything between them was hitting him, even though he’d been… he’d been kind of prepared for it too.

“Reg, we’re not even really dating,” Alex said, and that—that really wasn’t what Reggie had expected.

“Oh,” Reggie choked. “We’re not?”

Alex heaved a sigh, running his hand through his hair. “Okay, look,” he said slowly. “I know I said—I know I said that we could try, that I didn’t care that you were still in love with Luke… but it—it hurts. Seeing you look at him like that when… Shit, Reggie.” He shook his head and Reggie felt vaguely nauseous. “I don’t know if I can do it anymore.”

Reggie sucked his lower lip between his teeth, chewing on it anxiously as he took a few steps back until the backs of his legs hit the couch and he sank down onto it.

“Why didn’t you just tell me that?” he asked quietly, looking up at Alex helplessly. “We promised.”

Alex heaved a sigh and then moved to sit beside Reggie. “Look… After your dad, I know we were… I know I let myself get so caught up in this, in us, and I—” He shook his head again and looked down at his hands. “Reg, I want to give us a shot, I really, really do, but I feel like you can’t do that. Not really, not while you’re in love with Luke, and I don’t want to force you to get over that. I know how hard it is, but—”

“No, hang on,” Reggie interrupted, holding a hand up. “Why do you get to decide how I feel?”

“Reg,” Alex tried, but Reggie jumped to his feet, actually a little angry at Alex for just presuming.

“No,” he said harshly. “No, you don’t get to decide who I love more—yes, I’m in love with Luke, but that doesn’t mean I don’t… that doesn’t make what you and I have any less real, Alex, I thought… I thought you knew that.”

Alex looked up at him, eyes wide and lips parted.

“Alex,” Reggie sighed, deflating. “Alex, tell me you know that.”

Alex swallowed thickly and looked down. Reggie exhaled shakily and dropped back onto the couch beside Alex, reaching out to put a hand on his thigh. “Alex,” he said quietly, rubbing his thumb over Alex’s thigh soothingly. “What’s really going on?”

“I got you kicked out of your house,” Alex blurted, and Reggie blinked. Of all the things he’d expected Alex to say, that hadn’t been one.

“What?” he whispered.

“You were kicked out because you were with me,” Alex said again, a little wildly, “and I know how hard it’s been on you, not being able to see Maggie, and—” He looked down and exhaled shakily before he took Reggie’s hand and entwined their fingers. “Reg, I don’t want you to resent me.”

Reggie blinked again.

“Why would—Alex,” he shook his head and turned, curling one leg up and underneath him so he was facing Alex directly. “Look at me,” he told Alex, squeezing his hand hard when Alex didn’t comply. “Alex, look at me.” Alex heaved a sigh, but did as Reggie asked and mirrored his position.

Reggie smiled tremulously and reached out, touching Alex’s cheek lightly. “I need you to listen, because you’re being a massive, massive dumbass, and that’s coming from me.” Alex grinned despite himself and Reggie smiled back. “I am never going to blame you for what my dad did. You took care of me after, when I was a mess, when I could barely even remember how to breathe, you made sure I was somewhere safe, you—” Reggie leaned in and pressed a brief, hard kiss against Alex’s lips. “Nothing that happened was your fault.”

He smirked when Alex chased after his lips when he pulled away, but didn’t give in and lean back in right away. “I meant it,” he said quietly, leaning their foreheads together. “I meant it when I said I wanted to try. And I’m not over Luke, and I know that’s hard for you, and I’m sorry. But I’m trying. I’m trying.”

Alex nodded shakily. “Okay. I’m sorry, I—it’s okay. I wanna try to.”

“Yeah?” Reggie whispered.

“Yeah,” Alex smiled, before fitting his hand around the back of Reggie’s neck and pulling him in for another kiss, deeper and hungrier than the first. It was easy, to let loose and lose himself in Alex’s eager touch and the slide of their lips, easy to let Alex draw him closer, so close Reggie was practically in his lap, fingers curled in Alex’s hair and the drummer’s firm hands in his hair and on his waist.

Reggie rolled his hips against Alex’s and Alex moaned against his lips, a deep, wanton sound that abruptly reminded him that they were on the couch in the studio and that the garage door didn’t lock.

Slowly, he leaned back, barely able to bite back a groan as Alex tightened his hold on him, digging his teeth into Reggie’s lower lip and his fingers into the back of his neck.

“Slow down,” he chuckled. “I just don’t want to do this on the couch.”

Alex pouted, but conceded the point wordlessly, and Reggie grinned, pressing a single, lingering kiss to Alex’s lips before disentangling their limbs and getting to his feet. “Come on then,” he smiled, offering Alex his hand to pull him up from the couch. “We got a perfectly good bed up there.”

“Good,” Alex hummed, letting Reggie pull him to his feet and slipping his arms around him. “I got plans.” He pressed a kiss to Reggie’s lips. “I’ve missed you.”

Reggie grinned and took Alex’s hand again, their fingers slotting together neatly.

“Me too, ‘Lex. Me too.”

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

READ IT HERE:

Start from the beginning:

Becoming a Memory, Becoming a Treasure:

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

Unfinished Business:

(1) (2) (3)

Or read it HERE (BaMBaT) or HERE (UB) on AO3 :D

#Alex #Reggie #jatp #Luke patterson #ruke #Alex/reggie #Julie and the phantoms #Julie and the himbos #bambat #unfinished business

4 notes · View notes

roombagreyjoy · 4 years

Note

“Shh. Come here. It’s just a nightmare.” prompt for jonmartin >:3

OKAY THERE IS A PERFECTLY GOOD EXPLANATION FOR THIS: I had a perfectly good draft, already edited, ready to be posted. But it was too angsty/filled with anger/not enough comfort for all the hurt and I had a TERRIBLE week and I woke up from a nightmare (oh, the irony) at 6AM and wrote this one instead on a burst of fear-induced mania in like four or five hours. I've barely edited it, so bear with me.

PS: I’m so sorry.

Seriously I did my best I’m so sorry.

-----

Prompt #2: “Shh. Come here. It’s just a nightmare.”

Read it on my AO3 Page as well

Alternative Title: Nightmares Aren’t Fun

[They really aren’t]

Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)

Pairings: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Sims

Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan Sims

Content Warnings: Hurt/Comfort, Depression (not explicit), feelings of solitude/loneliness, low self-esteem (not explicit), there’s literally an Apocalypse going on what else do you need to know

Addendum: I am so sorry, I had a perfectly good draft and went for this one I just wrote in four hours nonstop instead, the other one was too angsty/angry/sad and I had a terrible week so I chose to remake the entire thing I am so sorry, the first part of this is very statement-y and it was completely on accident but then again as your resident nightmare expert what can you expect, please don’t kill me I tried my best and I only have one (1) brain cell.

Length: 2515 words (do not trust AO3 I know it’s 2515 don’t fucking @ me)

-----

It’s a weird feeling, waking up from a nightmare. You don’t realise when you’ve woken, you just… are waken, sometimes bolting upright in bed due to the shock, others jolting awake with tears streaming down your cheeks; heaving, or breathing rapidly, or just straight-up sobbing, with snot coming out of your nose in the least dignified way possible. The heavy weight of the world on your shoulders, the fear clinging to your soul, rooted deep beneath your skin, in your brain, in your heart, in your lungs and your stomach and your knees and your shoulders and your chest and your teeth and your eyes and your tongue…

You can feel it clutching at the last cracks of sleep left within you. Sometimes it takes a while for it to be left behind. Can be minutes. Can be hours. Sometimes you carry that fear with you for a day, two days, a week… oftentimes not even remembering what exactly it is you’re supposed to be afraid of.

Waking up from a nightmare with someone by your side is an even weirder feeling.

At least, it is, for people who are not used to having anyone by their side at all.

When you have been lonely for so long, companionship can become a prison as well as a salvation. The balance is hard to find, processing your emotions is more complicated than it used to be when you were alone. You have someone else there; someone who’s affected by your actions and whose actions you’re affected by. Someone who depends on you and on whom you depend. It’s in equal parts comforting and terrifying.

Especially when you’ve just woken up from a horrible, terrible, godawful nightmare.

That had just happened to poor Martin Blackwood, who, in fact, did not quite remember what the nightmare was all about at all! All he remembered is that it was horrible.

But, then again, this is the Apocalypse, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be bad. Awful, even. And that, it was. He shook a little at the touch of cold hands tentatively brushing past his arm and resting on his bare shoulder. He could already feel the tingle in the back of his head, like his brain was tickling, but not necessarily in a good way. The more awoken he was, the more his senses started brushing off the tiredness and sleepiness, he became more and more aware of it. The feeling of being watched, of being observed; the underlying fear of being judged. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to keep that fear at bay. ‘You’re not judged. You’re safe. You’re okay. Being looked at does not mean being submitted to judgement.’ A constant reminder, time and again. The incessant push to make his brain rationalise the situation. Trying not to break. Not like this. Not in front of Jon. He already had enough on his plate as is, to have to deal with him even after the nightmares.

It’s hard to convince yourself of some things when your entire life you’ve felt otherwise.

He did not open his eyes, but he leaned into the touch when he felt Jon cupping his cheek softly. The feeling of his hand on Martin’s skin was comforting; his skin was rough, coarse, the texture of his palm uneven and scarred, his once delicate, slim fingers now slightly bent, fragile, yet their touch was certain, his fingernails only a little too long (Martin bit at them when he was stressed, but Jon never did; he resorted to nervously tangling his fingers instead). He felt himself letting out a long breath of air he didn’t know he had been holding until then, and with it went some of the tension bottled up deep inside his body, when he felt Jon’s thumb slowly caress his cheek in a circular motion. He didn’t open his eyes yet, and he felt the other man’s hand shifting slightly, at an infuriating slow pace, probably in order not to startle him. Said hand slowly reached up, and he felt Jon’s thumb softly against his skin again, this time in his eyelid, moving upwards, tracing his eyebrow, his index finger drawing circles over his forehead with a gentleness almost unparalleled… Jon ran his hand a few times through Martin’s hair, in a calming motion, only for his thumb to then trace the way back down, gently playing with his ear, lingering there for a second or two, before it made its way to Martin’s jawline, lips…

Jon finally let his hand down, and Martin begrudgingly opened his eyes. He was staring at him. Of course, he was staring at him. He blinked whatever was left of sleep within him and smiled back. He stared at the other man for a few minutes, without saying anything. Jon seemed reluctant to say something either. Martin eventually blinked. Jon didn’t. He finally opened his mouth, his voice coming out hoarse yet filled with such affection Martin felt his stomach twist for a second with what he might have once called butterflies. Not anymore, though.

“You’re beautiful, you know.” Was all Jon said. Martin knew he didn’t look beautiful. He could still feel the tears drying up in his cheeks, although he didn’t know why he was crying in the first place, and he sniffed. He shifted his body, so he’d be looking up, to the ceiling. The sounds of the outside world were… bad. They were bad. He shook a little beneath the bedsheets.

“Do you, err… do you want me to bring you another blanket?” Jon asked, cautiously. “The one in the couch is… very comfortable.” He was aware Jon knew he wasn’t shaking out of coldness, but he nodded regardless.

“I know.” Martin said. He was the one who put it there, after all. That’s where Jon spent most of his time after the change. He used to stare silently at the wall, shaking. Sometimes he would let out small huffs of air, like he was trying to laugh but his voice wasn’t there to laugh with him. Martin took the warmest looking blanket he could find (Daisy was, apparently, not one for seeking comfort underneath a blanket and a warm cup of hot cocoa) and put it around him, making sure to cover him entirely. He used to leave Jon like that for a while, not wanting to invade his privacy, but sometimes he felt the need to rest a hand on his shoulder, whisper comforting words he knew Jon would not believe (after all, neither did he), kiss his forehead or his hair… although he wasn’t sure Jon even noticed he was there most of the time.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an unknown feeling to Martin. So, he carried on, he made tea…

But the tea was gone.

So was the world.

Martin shook slightly harder. Jon bent over his arm to stare at him properly, this time; his green eyes glowing almost imperceptibly to the human eye. If Martin didn’t know, he wouldn’t have noticed. He always noticed, though.

“Are you sure about that blanket?” He asked again. “It’s… I…” He closed his mouth in defeat, at a loss for words.

“Yes. Yes. Go grab it,” Martin conceded. “… please.” He added.

Honestly, he just wanted to get Jon out of the room for a bit, give him a chance to collect himself. To function properly. To take a deep breath without feeling a pair of big, inquiring eyes upon him. Of course, Jon knew this. He should feel guilty. He just didn’t have it in him to feel guilty anymore. This, Jon also knew. Martin wished he could believe there was something Jon did not, in fact, know, at that point. But he had chosen not to care about that either. Not anymore. It was only going to hurt the both of them if he did anyway.

Jon, however, got up silently, took his share of bedsheets he was leaving behind and tucked them closer to Martin so he would keep the warmth his body was leaving behind. Not like Jon produced a lot of body heat, tiny and cold as he was, but the gesture was sweet. It made Martin feel slightly better, and also, slightly guilty, now for real. He closed his eyes with a soft, quick hum and heard the door open and close behind him. There was no need for Jon to close the door, he shouldn’t be long if all he needed to do was retrieve the woollen blanket on the couch, but Martin realised. This was Jon’s way of giving him some privacy. He still felt observed, but this time, the only pair of eyes he actually didn’t mind being observed by were gone.

It did take some of the tension out of him, however. The cabin was… safe. Allegedly. At least, he thought so. And the feeling of being watched decreased significantly with Jon being out of the room. He heard him fumbling in the adjoining room through the paper-thin walls, but he didn’t know what the other man was doing. He used this time to calm himself down as best he could. He sat on the bed, stretched a bit, felt his shoulders crack and moved his neck around. He took a deep breath, held, let it out, repeat. Five breaths later, he felt almost like a person. Almost.

“Jon?” He called out, voice loud enough for the other to hear. He didn’t wait for a response or a confirmation that Jon had, in fact, heard him, when he added: “I think you can come back in now.”

Jon opened the door trying his best not to let his eagerness show, carrying the infamous woollen blanket and… two mugs. For some reason. Martin eyed the man who stood in front of him suspiciously. Jon, patient as a saint, waited, leaning against the doorframe. Finally, Martin nodded, and he made his way to the bed. He didn’t climb onto the bed outright, sliding his knee up first instead, and dropping the objects he was carrying on the mattress carefully. He took the blanket and rounded up the bed until he got to Martin’s side. He placed it gently over his shoulders, instead of putting it on top of the bedsheets.

“I think we can both curl up under there.” He commented casually, a smile painting his words with comfort and love. Martin couldn’t help but smile back, softly.

“Sure, that sounds good.”

As much as he wanted to ask about the mugs, he knew he had to let Jon do his thing, on his own time. This was as much of a coping mechanism to him as it was to Martin.

Finally, with Jon on his side of the bed, Martin opened up the blanket as the other man positioned himself beneath the bedsheets. He took his side of the blanket as well, curling up beneath Martin’s big arm, pressing close to his side. He let out a content sigh and Martin’s heart beat a little faster. He didn’t even care how they’d ended up in this situation, all he cared about was the man who embraced him in his arms and hid his face in Martin’s neck, taking a deep breath. Martin absentmindedly pet Jon’s hair while his gaze diverted to the mugs, standing on the corner of the bed, untouched, empty.

“Jon…”

“Oh! Yes, right. Sorry.” Jon let out a small chuckle, not unlike him these days, but that would’ve been foreign to Martin before all this happened. He seemed so much better than… well. Before.

To some extent at least.

He knew though. He knew Jon was only putting up a show. Martin had been the one in charge of taking care of them before, and he knew Jon felt like it was his turn now. Martin thought it shouldn’t be like this. They had to take care of each other mutually, not just take turns and whatnot. While he was lost in thought, Jon had reached up for the mugs and handed one to Martin. The one with the tartan print on it.

“What’s this?”

“… A mug.”

“No- yes. Jon, I know it’s a mug-”

“Oh. Yes. Sorry, I-”

They kind of stepped on each other’s words for a bit until Jon decided to shut up, looking away with a flustered expression and a shame-induced smile that was still too endearing to Martin to avoid blushing too, himself.

“Look. I… why did you bring the mugs? You said there was no tea left and…”

Jon patiently waited for him to finish. But he didn’t. When it was clear he wasn’t going to say anything else, Jon sighed and pressed harder to Martin’s flank, shifting his own mug in his hands abstractedly.

“I know you like that mug.”

“What?”

“When… when everything was… when I didn’t… before I… well.” Martin did not press him to continue, just as Jon had waited for him to sort out his thoughts. Jon let out a quiet damnit and looked up in frustration. A storm raged in his eyes, and Martin slowly brought his hand to the other’s knee, squishing softly. Jon resumed, sometime afterwards, leaning into Martin’s touch almost desperately, like a sailor stranded at sea for far too long.

“When there was still tea left,” he said, and Martin knew. He had tried to talk to Jon about it, but the blame, the shame, the pain, the fear… it was all too much for him still. Maybe time was running out. Maybe not. Maybe it was all in his head. It could be. He didn’t know. There were so many things he didn’t know these days… But he wouldn’t push Jon. Not so hard. Not yet. Not still. He nodded, and Jon continued, a pinch of sadness crawling onto his voice. He tried to hide it with a cough, but he couldn’t. “When there was still tea left, you used to take these two mugs to make it the most often. You always kept the one with the tartan pattern on it, so, evidently, I assumed… you know.”

“Oh,” Martin whispered, softly.

“Yes. Well.” Jon coughed again. “It thought maybe… even if it was an unconscious choice, you know… I just… maybe, just maybe, it would make you feel better.”

Martin felt a warmth in his body that he knew was not because of the blankets, or Jon’s body next to him (though that sure helped), he smiled, tears threatening to bloom out of his eyes once again, albeit this time for very different reasons. He kissed Jon’s hair and kept his face buried there, the smell of the person he loved the most lingering, covering him, plunging him into memories of a different time, a different world, a different life. He closed his eyes and kissed Jon again, in the same spot, over, and over, slowly, gently, taking in as much of him as he possibly could, while his hands clutched the tartan mug.

Nothing else mattered. For now, he was safe. Jon was here. They were safe.

#*Trexel Geisman voice* FINALLYYYYYYYY IT'S DOOOONEEEEEE #mine #my fic #my writing #GOD I'M SORRY THIS IS TERRIBLE #*laughs maniacally*#the gremlin writes fanfiction #jonmartin is good for the soul #this is supposed to be between 160 and 161 right? but i suck at timelines because time isn't real #if the format gets fucked up again i am going to cry #it's gonna tho innit #oh i forgot DO NOT REPOST I SWEAR TO GOD

4 notes · View notes

ohmyomegasteveandalphabucky2 · 5 years

Note

More surprise pregnancy but more angst. How about surprise birth during an Avengers battle?

now here’s the tea: personally i don’t think that bucky would ever let steve go out in the field pregnant. doesn’t matter if he’s thirty days or thirty weeks, bucky is going to be disgustingly overbearing. but! for the sake of storytelling, let’s consider what would happen if steve waddled his way onto a mission.

((this turned into a character study lol))

When Bucky heard Steve cry out through the comms, immediately his thoughts jumped to the worst. His mate had been shot, or a building had come down on him. The other avengers were shouting at him to hold his position, to stay put, but Barnes didn’t hear them. He was already diving down the side of the building, on the move to Steve’s position.

“Bucky!” Steve screamed again, and his voice was pitched, high and afraid.

“Stay put, sweetheart, I’m comin’,” Bucky growled as he shot two incoming aliens. God, the twenty first century.

“Bucky! I can’t!” Steve sounded really panicked now; Bucky moved faster.

“Drop me your live location, Rogers, I’m -”

“It’s the pup!” wailed Steve. “The baby’s coming!”

Bucky felt like he’d been doused with ice cold water.

“Excuse me what?” Tony deadpanned over the comms. “It sounded like Cap just said -”

“Shut the fuck up, Tony! I said what I said!” Steve was breathing heavily through his nose. “Buckyyy,” he whined desperately. “Hurry, please hurry.The pup - pup is comin’ - ah!”

“Thor, I need a lift!” shouted Bucky, grounded now and running on foot to his mate’s location. He heard thunder rumble somewhere off his five, lighting crackling and making the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

“The Falcon is closer to your position,” Thor boomed in reply, hacking through three monster invaders at once. He never used the comms. And funnily enough, everyone always heard him. Bucky shot him a grin over his shoulder; he liked the guy.

“Bucky!” Steve cried. “Bucky, oh fuck - Bucky, it hurts! It hurts, hurry!”

“You better pick me up, double-time, Wilson!”

“Don’t be a dick, Barnes,” Sam sassed back, gunshots echoing in the background static, in time with shots ringing over at his nine o’clock. “You’re not the only one a little preoccupied at the moment!”

Steve screamed “Sam!” in exasperation at the same time Bucky screamed “Wilson!” in frustration.

“Fucking fine!” groaned Sam, like they were asking for the most inconvenient thing. “On your left, Barnes.”

“Always on my fucking left,” Bucky grumbled, extending his metal arm up above his head as an invitation for Sam to pick him up, which he did, though not without the appropriate amount of complaining. Never without the What have you been eating, Barnes? and the I can’t believe that Miss America himself slept with your fat ass! Bucky made a mental note to spit in Sam’s cereal the next chance he got.

The two of them managed to take out twenty more aliens before reaching Steve’s location, little shield icon blinking on his gps from inside an abandoned warehouse, now on the outskirts of the fight. Sam said he would lock down the perimeter while Bucky took off, racing inside on foot, following the hurt, echoing whimpers of his mate in labor.

“Steve?” Bucky yelled breathlessly.

“Bucky?” he heard the other reply faintly, followed by a sharp cry of pain.

“Stevie! Sweetheart, I’m here, I’m comin’!”

“Not that we’re not all invested in this soap operatic reunion,” drawled Tony, blasting things to pieces in the background. “But could you maybe keep the lines open for shit that actually matters, like when the next wave of alien fucks are coming in?”

“Fuck off, Stark,” snarked Natasha, sounding almost equally as bored. “But seriously, Barnes, he’s right. Cut your comms, go be with Steve. We’ll call you if we need anything.” She paused. “But we won’t.” And Bucky could hear the smirk in her voice.

“да, Natalia,” Bucky replied with a smirk of his own, switching off his gear as Steve’s form came into view.

The omega was laid out on his back, lower half of his uniform removed and placed under his hips and bottom with his knees bent, legs spread. The star on his chest was heaving up and down rapidly as Steve struggled to keep his breath. His brow was furrowed deeply, jaw clenched tight against the pain, fists curled up by his sides; the concrete was cracked beneath them from where Steve had beat his hands against the floor. Bucky watched as the blonde’s body went taut and rigid, supposedly in the throes of labor agony, mouth dropped open in a silent scream. The contraction passed and Steve went limp. He would’ve cracked the back of his skull open if Bucky hadn’t been there to catch his head. Large, gentle hands cradled Steve’s blonde head, cool metal thumb soothing that special spot behind his ear. Hazily, Steve blinked his blue eyes up at Bucky and a tired grin broke out across his face.

“Bucky,” he whispered, dripping with satisfaction and nuzzling into the touch. “Alpha, you’re here, you came to get me.”

The brunette kissed the top of his forehead, a loving touch of lips to sweat sheened skin. “‘Course I came to get you, sweetheart. You’re havin’ our babies, ain’t nowhere else I’d rather be.”

Steve was panting harshly through another contraction, gritting his teeth as he tried to bite back a scream. “It hurts, Bucky. It hurts, it hurt - mmm oh my god, Bucky,” he whined, low and pained. “The pu-ups…’re coming, Bucky. They’re comin’, I can’t -” Steve’s sentence ended when another contraction began. “Fuck! It hurts so bad, I can’t, I can’t -”

“I ain’t never heard Steve Rogers say he can’t,” Bucky scolded firmly. He quickly stripped out of his tac jacket, folding in into a makeshift pillow for Steve to lay his head on before moving to position himself between his mate’s legs.

“I’ve never had a fucking kid before, Barnes!” Steve near shrieked, staring accusingly down at Bucky.

“Well if you’re still fuckin’ sassin’ me, then you can’t be too far gone,” came Bucky’s mumbled replied. Steve kicked at him with his bare foot, albeit weakly.

“Shut up,” groaned Steve, head lolling back. “Fucking shut up and help…me…”

Steve’s eyes were shut tight again, so he missed the fond smile that tugged at the corner of Bucky’s lips as he settled in, grounding himself in order to care for his sweetheart.

Forty five minutes later and the battle was over. Sam had called in the location of the abandoned warehouse. Now all the avengers were there, trailing after one another as they clamored to see the new parents. Bucky had made a makeshift nest for them, out of discarded tarps beneath layers of their own clothes, their own scent. Steve was completely naked, curled up in his alpha’s arms and snuffling at his neck contentedly. In his arms were two tiny bundles, one in the crook of each arm, sleeping soundly and nuzzling at their mama’s touch.

“Well, wouldja look at that,” whispered Clint, slinging his bow behind his back.

The group shuffled around a few feet away from the nest, torn between wanting to come close and preen over the newborns, and wanting to respect their space. They all knew how possessive Barnes could be; he hadn’t stopped growling since they’d come into view.

“Just so you know,” Sam started dryly. “Barnes has been acting a little more caveman than usual. Careful not to get your fingers bitten off.”

“Fuck you, Wilson,” Bucky spat back as he tightened his arms around his omega and their pups.

“Right back atcha, Johnny Silverhand.”

Bucky growled; Sam rolled his eyes; Steve huffed in exasperation.

“Stop it, both of you,” the blonde omega said. In his right arm, one of his babies yawned, causing Steve to purr sweetly down at them. “Bucky, they’re family. Let them see, oh look how beautiful they are.” He blinked up at his friends and smiled. “Come see our little pups.”

Steve passed one sleeping baby off into Bucky’s arms, then held his now free hand out to the group. They glanced warily at Bucky, who was still scowling - clearly not happy with having others in his nest, his mate in such a vulnerable condition - and back at Steve’s outstretched palm. It was Natasha who met his wide grin first and placed her hand in his.

-han

ps: mod raven is doing a fill of this as well, so y’all are getting doubles!

#mod han #omega!steve #alpha!bucky #beta!sam wilson #the avengers #birth fic #mpreg #ma and pa

61 notes · View notes

darth-rainbow · 4 years

Text

Basically, I have a fanfic going on called 'The Traveler' and it follows Lucie, my main character through the multiverse. At this point, Lucie and Clary have been hiding in Narnia. The rest of the Shadowhunters crew finds them and basically, so does Jonathan & Leith (Lucie's brother, a well trained hunter) and they slaugher them. Do you guys mind reading and giving me some feedback?

WARNING : It's pretty gorey and blood filed.

ps : wooden mallets are because Lucie & Clary were playing croquet before they rejoined with the rest of the gang.

"Can you please stop pacing? It's frustrating me." Alec told his parabatai. Jace rolled his eyes but halted his steps, standing arms crossed next to Isabelle. The female was chewing on her nails, apprehension growing in her eyes. She had no idea of when that Clary had been taken from reality. But it was still Clary, her Clary. And knowing that she was safe, would be enough. It had to. Magnus fondly glanced towards his seemingly exasperated lover. Bringing a hand to Alec's face, he gently ran a thumb along the male's cheek. "Thank you." Alec said softly, mustering an exhausted smile. Magnus gave a silent nod, before pressing his lips against Alec's in a short kiss.

Wooden mallets in hand, Lucie and Clary entered the vast castle hall. The redhead instantaneously recognized her friends standing at the center and dropped the possible weapon, rushing into Simon's open arms. Clary tightened her grip around the male's neck as she felt Simon shake a little, recognizing the muffled pants against her neck. He was crying. "Hey, hey, it's okay Si. I swear, I'm okay." The redhead promised, glancing with confusion towards the rest of the group. Clary nodded when Isabelle mouthed the word 'later', holding her best friend just a little tighter.

Lucie stood a couple of meters back, a perplexed expression on her features. The female recognized none of these people, and she knew she wasn't supposed to, since she hadn't met them yet. But there was something disappointing in not being able to recognize a single face. Tightening her grip around her wooden mallet, she watched as the blond took a couple of steps towards her. "You're alive." He said, looking so relieved.

"Huh, yeah." The female replied, uncertainty coloring her voice.

The blond smiled, letting out a breath that visibly moved his chest. It was as if an invisible weight had been removed from it. "You're alive." He repeated, bringing a hand to Lucie's cheek.

"Jace, don't..." Too late. Out of reflex, the Traveler grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcibly removing his hand. Clary sighed, untangling herself from Simon completely to face the blond. "She's from the past." The redhead finished, belatedly. "A past in which she hasn't met us yet. She's not even a Traveler." The blond rose his eyebrows at the information, eyes flickering from Clary to Lucie. Narrowing them, he took the time to examine the female's features. He saw the subtle shift, the greater roundness of her cheeks, and the missing spark in her gaze.

Lucie blinked at the visibly wounded expression on the male's face, her features loosing the animosity. "I'm sorry." She said softly, letting go of the male's wrist as if she'd been burnt. "Just don't..." She shook her head. "Don't do that."

After a beat, the blond nodded. "I won't." Jace's lips parted as he heaved a soft sigh, taking a couple of steps back. "You're from the," he wet his bottom lip. "the past." He finished, in a whisper. "Okay. I can, I, it's fine." He nodded a few times. The blond cleared his throat, visibly embarrassed. "Sorry. I, I didn't knew."

Lucie pressed her lips together, as she clutched the mallet with the both of her hands, protectively holding it against her chest. "It's fine." She repeated, before swallowing thickly.

Jace furrowed his brows. "No. It's not. It made you visibly uncomfortable. That's not fine. I'm truly sorry for invading your space. It's just that my Lucie, I mean, the one I knew, she—"

"You had a different bond. I get it." The Traveler said. "If anything, I'm sorry for you. But I'm just not your, Lucie."

Jace nodded. "Thank you for being so understanding." The female shrugged as a reply and the blond sighed, turning to face his brother. Alec instinctively grew closer to his parabatai, gently putting a hand on Jace's shoulder. The taller male nodded and the two exhaled in synch. This was fine. A minor set back. Jace could deal with it.

Clary and Isabelle observed one another, uncertainty mirrored in the gazes they exchanged. "Iz, I..." The redhead swallowed thickly, reducing the distance between her and the brunette.

Isabelle's gradually gently curled up, eyes filling with tears. "I thought," she breathed through her nose, trying to stop herself from actually crying. "I thought I'd lost you." She breathed out, as the first tears started to roll down. "I thought I'd never see you again." Clary shook her head, taking ahold of Izzy's hands and gently squeezing them. "Please," The shadowhunter looked down at their hands. "don't interrupt me. I need to say it. I know, you're not," She looked up, smiling. "you're not exactly the Clary I lost. But you're still my Clary, right?" She asked, letting out a short chuckle when the redhead nodded at the words. "I love you Clary. I truly do." She admitted, before squeezing her eyes shut.

Clary slid her fingers between Isabelle's, intertwining them. "Iz," She whispered out, lovingly. "look at me. Please." The brunette let out a long breath before obeying, her eyes meeting with Clary's. "I love you too." She replied. "I've probably loved you since you said 'You have me. And that's not gonna change.' I think." The redhead let out a short laugh. "I wasn't lying at the Seelie Court." Isabelle let out a breath she didn't knew she was holding, smiling at the female.

"Does anyone get a little bit of a gay vibe?" Simon interrupted, earning himself a chuckle from Clary. "Sorry, I had too." The redhead scrunched her nose, fondly shaking her head for a second. "The occasion was too great." Simon went on, seeing the glare Alec shot his way.

The two females focused back on each other. Tentatively, Clary reached out for Isabelle. Cradling the brunette's face in her hands, she wiped away the traces of tears left her cheeks. Isabelle stood, eyes wide and full of vulnerability as the redhead gently ran her thumbs on her cheeks. Clary leant in, smiling when Isabelle gave a short nod and met her halfway. Their first kiss was tentative, a way to translate both fondness and longing. There was no regret in there, no haste. The two had enjoyed their friendship. This made sense. This was the next step. And they'd gotten there very organically.

"I am deeply, deeply touched. Moved beyond measures, really." A male voice interrupted, seemingly coming from nowhere. Lucie stilled as she recognized it, drawing in a loud breath.

"I, personally am disgusted." Another male voice said. This one familiar to everybody in the room. "How could you, sister?" The voice asked, seemingly coming from closer.

Isabelle protectively stood in front of Clary, lifting up her seraph blade. "Magnus?" She called, hoping he'd have a solution to make their opponents visible again.

With a swift kick, Lucie sent the wooden mallet towards Clary feet. The Traveler's stance shifted as she anchored her feet to the ground, protectively holding an arm in front of her as she kept her weapon raised.

"You truly think that little toy of yours will be able to stop me, sister?" Lucie snarled at the voice, wildly swinging the mallet in front of her. He sounded so close, so uncomfortably close.

"You think you could stop us at all?" Jonathan asked, a whisper in Jace's ear. The blond flung his elbow backwards, to be met with nothing but a pleased chuckle having distanced itself.

Eyes shut as power seemed to flow through his ignited hands, the warlock was channeling his powers to create a growing sphere of energy. Being a warlock and not a seelie, the communion with elements, especially when it came to the generation of matter that wasn't there was difficult. But he was, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and soon enough, the blue sphere was elevating itself in the air. Magnus reopened his eyes, the feline part of him in full display as his yellow orbs glowed. With a flick of the wrist, the warlock made the sphere explode, dousing everybody in water. With more ease, he then generated a yellow orb that grew as it elevated itself towards the ceiling, smiling, the warlock made it explode by lowering his hand towards the ground, covering everyone in the room with sand. "I couldn't think of a visibility spell, I don't know egyptian magic enough." He admitted, panting slightly.

Alec grinned at his boyfriend. "You're a genius, Mags." He told him, before his eyes trailed ahead, searching for masses with no body. "Jace!" He called, nocking an arrow. "Duck." He told the blood, before shooting. Sadly, the arrow went through nothingness, both Jace and their invisible opponent getting out of the way. Isabelle and Clary stood back to back, matching determined expression on their features as they awaited to be attacked. Using his enhanced speed, Simon lunged at one of their opponents, wrapping his arms around them. His teeth sank into what he hoped was a neck to be met with a burning sensation. The male withdrew as soon as possible, spitting out the black, viscous liquid.

"What? Can't handle a little ichor, Downworlder?" Jonathan asked, watching the vampire crouch forward as the acidic blood burnt his lower lip. "It's in your veins now." He pointed on, as Simon fell onto his knees. The male raised his sword, planning to cut off Simon's head when an arrow lodged itself into his wrist. Hurling in pain, Jonathan dropped the blade to pull it out. Working in tandem with his boyfriend, Magnus sent a blast of red magic in the direction of their opponent, sending him flying backwards.

Meanwhile, Lucie was struggling with her own brother. While she was able to distinguish a vague shape thanks to the sand clinging onto him, she couldn't actually see his weapon. Whomever had cloaked the two, had done a pretty darn good job. A hand grabbed her wrist as she flung the wooden mallet forward towards the level of his head. Jace saw an opening, moving forwards to stab the male's side with his blade, but Leith dragged Lucie to him, pivoting his body to face Jace in a swift movement. He watched as horror wrote itself on the blond's features while his blade sank in the female's stomach. The hunter pushed Lucie forwards with an amused chuckle, shoving her into Jace's arms.

"Magnus!" Jace called, catching the Traveler.

"I'm fine." Lucie hissed, applying pressure on her wound. "Finish him." She let out through gritted teeth.

Jace shook his head. "I've already lost you once." He weakly argued, his gaze gaining a certain glaze.

"You don't know me." The female replied, disbelieving. Her lips remained parted, short pants coming out. Jace bit his upper lip at the word, holding onto her still. The female furrowed her brows, wondering what could possibly make her worth any sacrifice? She'd handled much worse pain in her life. Had fought through much worse pain. But there he was, holding her as if she was fragile, as if she was worth protecting. Tears welled in the female's eyes as gently pushed him away. Lucie sucked in a sharp breath, forcing herself to stand tall. "I'm fine." She repeated.

Clary had rushed to her best friend, gathering Simon's head and gently holding it as she brought her wrist to his lips. "Simon, please..." She whispered, ignoring the burning sensation of ichor on her own skin.

The vampire weakly shook his head. "Protect you. M'fine." He spoke, struggling as the demon blood burnt in him. Tears welled in the redhead's eyes as she pressed her wrist harder, sensing fangs coming out. "No—" Simon's plea was cut short by Clary thrusting her wrist into his mouth, letting out a sigh of relief as teeth sank in. Izzy was hovering over the two in a protective stance, unfurled whip in a hand and seraph in the other. Alec carefully retreated to stand beside his sister as Magnus threw blasts of red energy towards an ever elusive target.

Forgotten to the group, was a certain Shadowhunter, infused with demon blood prior to his birth. After entirely pulling out the arrow out of his arm, Jonathan applied an iratze and forced himself back onto his feet. The male ran to the wooden mallet forgotten by Clary, dodging the arrows sent his way by a particularly skilled Alec. But the Morgenstern son was just as deft when it came to weapons, and with a well-aimed throw, he managed to hit Magnus in the head, temporarily distracting the archer who yelled his partner's name, and ran to him, in order to protect him against any assault of Lucie's brother. Isabelle saw an opportunity, her whip easily wrapping around Jonathan's. The male chuckled, wrapping his two hands around it and tugged the brunette to him. "When will you learn?" He asked, disbelieving and a little amused as he kept dragging her closer, barely affected by the burning sensation on his skin. The female let go of the weapon, laying face first onto the ground, a couple of feet away from him. Unsheathing a dagger, Jonathan chuckled, grabbing the female's hair and harshly tugging. "I wish you could see me, I would I could be the last thing you see before you depart for the after life." He chuckled. "But I guess there's no room for sentiment today." He finished, sinking the blade into the female's throat.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Clary screamed, planning to lung at the male. Simon held her back, firmly wrapping his arms around her as tears formed in the both of them's eyes.

Alec turned at the gut wrenching cry, facing away from his opponent. Just the second Leith needed to sank his blade into the male's back and harshly tug it out. The eldest Lightwood fell onto his knees as blood stared to trickle down his chin and fill his lungs. Tears welled into Alec's eyes as his body fell sideways, next go Magnus' unconscious form.

The air was knocked out of Jace's lungs as the blond faltered, the strength of the pain hitting much harder than he would've anticipated. Tears welled in the blond's eyes as the realization hit him : His parabatai, his brother, was dying. Confused, Lucie kneeled in front of him, forcing herself to him straight even if it meant releasing the pressure on her own wound. Cupping the blond's face with her hands, the female frowned, unexpected tremors moving her chin. "How, how can I help?" She asked. Jace shook his head as tears rolled down his cheeks. Because there was nothing she could do. The blond squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the parabatai rune fade away, taking with it Alec's last breath.

Seeing the shape that moved closer to the two, Simon vamp sped between Jace and Leith, not caring about the blade that sank in his stomach as his fangs pierce skin. Mundane blood, he noticed as a sort of hazy afterthought, as he felt the male go lax into his grip. Simon forced himself to keep drinking, with the intent to drain, with the intent to kill. Despite the blade lodged in him.

Clary had picked up Jonathan's own seraph blade, anger darkening her gaze as a determined snarled settled on her features. "Show yourself." She said.

"I would, if I could. But it's not my magic." The male explained. "It'll make things easier this way. For both of us, sister." He spoke, lunging at Clary with a dagger for sole weapon.

Leith's body soundlessly hit the ground, becoming visible again now that death had claimed him. Tears rolled down Lucie's cheeks as she glanced past Jace's shoulders. Pressing her lips together as Simon turned to face them, she saw the blade lodged there. She saw the despair of the male as his eye shot to Clary. The redhead seemed to be holding her own, anger fueled and driven, but how long would it last? Inhaling deeply, Lucie glanced down at Jace. "I'll buy you time." She said, before wiping away a tear that had rolled down the blond's cheek. "But you have to win." The female finished, before standing up. She marched to Simon, pulling out the blade in his chest and letting it clatter at her feet. "She'll need you. The both of you." She spoke, exposing her neck. "Don't bother fighting it. I'm already bleeding. I'm dead weight." Simon shot a final glance at Clary, seeing the female push forward against a much shorter blade, teeth gritted due to the strain and sank his teeth in Lucie's neck.

Upon hearing the redhead moan in pain, Jace was forced out of his transe, eyes glowing golden. Nostrils flared and teeth gritted, the blond picked up the blade a few feet away and leaped to Clary and Jonathan, every rune on his body possessing a match glow.

Simon gently laid Lucie's body on the floor, nodding as she mouthed 'win', a tired smile on her features. He glanced towards Clary, to see that the female had a cut on her cheek and another, seemingly deeper on her neck. Meanwhile, Jace and Jonathan were fighting each other, matching determination in their belligerent gazes. But Jace was still weakened by the loss of his family, and despite having a much shorter blade, Jonathan seemed to be doing a lot more damage. Simon vamp sped to the two, once again sinking his fangs in their opponent's neck, but with every intent to drain a lot more this time. So Simon kept going, despite the burning sensation filling his veins and sneaking under his skin. Simon kept going until Jace buried the blade he was wielding into the man's chest. He then let go, falling onto his knees as he started to vomit dark ichor, tears of the little good blood left in his rolling down his cheeks. The acidic venom seemed to be spreading everywhere, despite his best attempts to regurgitate it, and soon Simon was crying tears of ichor, the liquid asphyxiating him into he passed out.

Clary glanced around the room, pressing a hand against her mouth as she sobbed. "It's..." She struggled to take in a breath. "It's all my fault..." The female shook her head. "It's all my fault. They're all, they're—" She choked out on sobs. Tears freely rolling down his cheeks, Jace slowly marched towards the female.

A detail neglected by the blond, was that the invisibility spell placed on Jonathan hadn't been lifted, like it had been for Leith upon his death. The male had risen to his feet, and before Jace could actually embrace Clary, his head was neatly chopped off, stains of the blood spattering the redhead's face. "I'm truly sorry, sister." Jonathan spoke, seeing the look of utter horror on the female's face as Jace's body fell to the ground. Letting out a soft, satisfied chuckle, Jonathan crossed over it to stand in front of her. He reached out for Clary's face, running his thumb along her cheek. "But you'll be my princess soon." He whispered, to an unmoving Clary, tears freely rolling down her cheeks, the sheer shock paralyzing her. "I promise." He added, sinking the blade in her ribcage. The male's eyes fell shut as he let go of her cheek, watching the exhausted female not even bother to fight for life. "Ave, Atque, Vale." He spoke, tears rolling down.

https://my.w.tt/MnpQQYMAU4

2 notes · View notes

otomeverything · 5 years

Text

CODE REALIZE: WINTERTIDE MIRACLES

Release Date: February 14, 2019 (North America) Developers: Idea Factory, Otomate Publishers: Aksys Games Platforms: PS Vita, PS4

I literally took my time playing this FD, knowing it’s the last (physical) otome game that will ever grace localization in the PS Vita.

Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles (Shirogane no Kiseki) is the second fandisc of the series, Code Realize. This game contains varieties of alternate and after stories that happened after the events of the last fandisc, Future Blessings.

This fandisc contains the following stories:

Cantarella (Side Story) – Walkthrough available here.

Finis’s Epilogue

Sholme’s Epilogue

Love Triangle Stories (Short Stories)

Wintertide Miracles “First Christmas” (Alternate Stories)

Special Epilogues (Epilogues for White Rose’s stories in Future Blessings)

ART AND MUSIC I know this is probably redundant as I’ve gushed about it a few times in my reviews for Guardian of Rebirth and Future Blessings. But, the artist Miko has done it again! I could not for the life of me, describe how incredibly beautiful the CGs are for this fandisc. There were also new sprites available for all the main and side characters, wearing their cozy winter outfits. Even Queen Victoria gets a new sprite wearing her expensive royal fur faux garb!

What I also loved about this fandisc were the new BGMs added for the series, they were all unforgettable and were specially made for the game’s Yuletide theme. One song that really stood out to me was the second Ending theme (Finis’ and Sholmes’ ED) “Beside You” by the artist SHOJI. Listen to the full track below:

***I purchased the whole soundtrack for Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles in iTunes. Link here.

NEW CHARACTERS

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Cantarella (CV: Mamiko Noto) – Fuuka (Persona 4), Kotomi Ichinose (Clannad), Inia Sestina (MuV Luv), Felicita (Arcana Famiglia), Marvis Vermilion (Fairy Tale)

Miles Strand (CV: Keiji Fujiwara) – Kagura Mutsuki (Blazblue), Jiro Hyuuga (Binary Star), Reno (Final Fantasy), Kiriya (Senran Kagura), Sakuya Tougane (Psycho Pass)

Baron of Aiguille (CV: Sugiyama Noriaki) – Akito (Norn9), Thor (Kamigami no Asobi), Suou Hana (Ayakashi Gohan), Katsuragi Naomasa (Yunohana Spring), Kashika Galle (Cendrillon Palika)

SIDE STORIES AND AFTER STORIES I did Cantarella’s route first, followed by Finis and Sholme’s epilogues, then knocked out the love triangle dates before I played the main course, that is the “First Christmas” alternate stories for Wintertide Miracles. I myself, enjoyed this play order, though I would suggest playing whatever story you feel like playing first because that’s the whole point of a fandisc! lol

CANTARELLA (Another Story) This story happened somewhere in the middle of Guardian of Rebirth’s common route. On their way home, after watching a performance at the Royal Opera House, Cardia and the rest of Lupin’s gang witnessed an attempted kidnapping of the Opera House’s beloved songstress, Cantarella. They’ve managed to save her as well as send her perpetrator running for the hills. They then took Cantarella to her home for safety measures, which lead the gang to meet her so-called “father” Miles. In this story, Cardia finds a friend in Cantarella and later on, discovers her true identity as both their existence managed to connect each other’s fates.

Just like “Lupin’s Gang’s” (side) story in Future Blessings, Cantarella’s route offers new likable characters and an interesting new plot for us to follow. Although I’ve very much enjoyed this story (for what it is), I didn’t like how the writers threw in these important characters on the third game, since canonically they don’t matter anymore as the main plot officially ended in Future Blessings. I would rather have this as an alternate story than a side story because It felt kind of unfair for Cantarella, Miles, and Auguille to get dissed like that after this little episode. lol Unless they’re planning on a third fandisc! (laughs)

Although the choices you make in Cantarella’s route, will not change the whole outcome of her story. It will, however, change a few scenes and dialogues in the game depending on the guy (main characters) your choices are inclined to. You can view my walkthrough for this route here.

FINIS’ EPILOGUE (After Story) This after story took place right after the end of Finis’s route in Future Blessings.

Six months have passed since Cardia managed to save his little brother, Finis from the unfortunate Nautilus incident in London. During this time, both twins return to their home in Wales and spend each day cleaning and repairing their old abandoned house while enhancing their bond as siblings. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose when one of Isaac Beckford’s invention called the “Knockers” have been spotted destroying a couple of buildings in London. It was made clear in the story, that these supposed-to-be-quarantined inventions of Isaac were “wrongly” activated by accident and it is now, up to the Beckford twins (Finis’ most especially, since he’s fully knowledgeable when it comes to their father’s inventions) to stop this heaving uproar that threatened London its peaceful days.

This was probably one of my favorite After Stories in the series. Not only we get to see Finis in his true nature, as Cardia’s adorable cinnamon roll lil’ brother. We also get to see Lupin’s Gang and the Gordon Family in action as they help out clear the disruption in the streets of London during the main incident. ***This epilogue was very heartwarming and I absolutely enjoyed seeing Finis’ soft side while he deliberately declares threats whenever one of the main bois flirts with his sister! *chuckles* (´ ω `♡)

HERLOCK SHOLME’S EPILOGUE (After Story) This after story took place right after the end of Sholme’s route in Future Blessings.

It’s been half a year since Sholmes defeated his arch nemesis, James Moriaty (in Code realize Future Blessings). During this story, Cardia becomes part of Sholmes’ Detective agency together with his partner John Watson. The three of them fight crimes for the cause of good, even to the extent of ‘trying‘ to stop Lupin, the gentleman thief’s planned diamond heist of the prized jewel called “Mermaid’s Tear”. Though try as they might, Lupin, as cunning as he is, still gets the upper hand and was able to escape with ease together with his genius engineer assistant, Impey. I know this was just a filler episode but it was kind of weird seeing Cardia as their enemy for once, but oh well…

Anyway, Sholmes actual main story revolved around finding a cure to Cardia’s poison. As the Horologium still present in Cardia’s body, this fact still poses a threat that one day it will activate again, killing her along with the demise of London and its people. With this complication at hand, Sholmes gathered his A-team geniuses in the field of science and medicine; Victor Frankenstein, Dr. John Watson, Impey Barbicane and even the deviant genius scientist Nemo, who apparently now lives in a tiny cardboard box located in sewers (laughs) 😂 Poor guy! As all of them try their hardest to conduct research on a formula that will counteract the horologium’s poison, more problems seep into the picture that eventually causes Sholmes and Cardia make one life-threatening decision.

I like how Sholmes’ epilogue was narrated in a fairytale-esque kind of way. I enjoyed the story’s fluff content though, to be honest, this is probably the weakest story in the game (imo) as there really wasn’t anything “new” going on. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of Sholmes, I’m sure you’ll have an awesome time discovering a few surprising sides of our favorite hot daddy detective.

FIRST CHRISTMAS “Wintertide Miracles” (Alternate Stories) These are “after stories” that happened right after Finis’ route in Future Blessings. It’s merely an alternate story where our heroine Cardia finds love during the Yuletide season. We get one story for every five main characters. What’s really special about these stories is that Cardia falls in love with one of the guys while his brother is alive! …THIS couldn’t be any more perfect, ❤️ I almost wished this was headcanon!

Spoiler Warning: I will only be posting each story’s premise but I’m putting up my spoiler banner just in case.

Victor Frankenstein After Isaac Beckford’s Nautilus incident that wreaked havoc in the city of London six months ago. Victor ended up opening a clinic located in the downtown part of London in order to help as many people as possible at a cheaper cost.

Victor’s main story started when one day he receives a mail from his parents in Switzerland telling him to settle down. He, in reply, told them he has no plans in getting married anytime soon but then started talking about how he’s currently interested with this ‘one girl’ and went all out writing two whole pages regarding his feelings for Cardia. (´ ε ` )♡ Without thinking of any repercussions, he sends the letter back to his parents judging its only the right thing to do as he’s speaking honestly from his heart. uwu. The next few days, he receives a reply letter from his mom saying they’re coming to London for Christmas so they can meet their son, Vic’s girlfriend. 🤣

In result, a panicked Victor travels to Wales to ask Cardia to be his “pretend” girlfriend just for Christmas while his parents are in town. 😂

***This was by far the cutest, most endearing “First Christmas” story I’ve read among the selections and I absolutely enjoyed it to bits! Besides its overwhelming fluffy contents, we also get to see Victor introducing Cardia to his parents (in CG!).

Saint Germain Six months after the Nautilus Incident, Saint Germain, visits Idea’s leader Omnibus and reports that both Finis and Cardia, Isaac Beckford’s “problematic twins” are now living peacefully in Wales as normal human beings and are no longer a threat to humanity. As one of Idea’s faithful apostle, he awaits for Omnibus next order but was surprised to hear her tell him to take a long sweet vacation instead.

Still dumbfounded by their leader’s words, Saint Germain goes back to the mansion to find something to do with his newly acquired free time but since everyone in Lupin’s gang went about their own lives after London’s incident, he was left as the only resident in his house. This made him feel lonely and he admits to himself how much he misses the rowdy group clamoring inside the premise of his mansion. What’s more, is that he longs to see the face of his beloved, who he has not seen since his last visit in Wales.

This made him decide to write invitation letters to the group for a Christmas “Get-together” party. Though unsure if his anticipated guests would actually make it to the planned event. Saint Germain waits with hopeful eyes to see the faces of his precious friends again.

***The part where he waits for his friends actually made me tear 😭. Why are Saint Germain’s stories always melancholic? Why?! Thank goodness, this ended really REALLY happy. I would also like to gush on the fact that this is the only episode in the whole series where we get to see Guinevere outside her armor! Seriously, you absolutely can’t miss this!

Abraham Van Helsing After London’s Nautilus incident, Van decides to travel with Delly all over United Kingdom in search for survivors of the Vampire War.

During their travels, the duo hears about the upcoming Christmas festival in London and decides to come home for the occasion as well as attend the gang’s Christmas party at Saint Germain’s mansion. They haven’t seen everyone in a while, so this decision made Van and Delly both excited. While at it, Delly proposes to take a side trip to Wales before coming to London and see the Beckford twins. Van agrees with him with Cardia in mind. ( ´ ▽ ` )

A few days have passed and they both arrived at Cardia and Finis’ home in Wales only to be disheartened to see the twins not being around. But with optimism as their friend, Van and Delly decided to wait. Night falls, and finally, Cardia and Finis arrived in the most unfashionable way ever (their automobile almost came crashing towards the duo) 😂 Everyone says their greetings when Cardia noticed that Van and Delly have been waiting out in the cold for too long, so she insisted they stay for the night.

The supposed-to-be one night stay turned into days and the group eventually decided to go to London together. While still in Wales, Cardia wanted to make everyone Christmas presents in the form of knitting and Van insisted on helping her with it.

***I love this! (/▽＼*) This surprising side of Van Helsing is all I ever wanted. I’m so glad to see him happy, always smiling and in his positive beaming self. It’s so refreshing! I need more happy-ray-of-sunshine Van Helsing in my life!

Impey Barbicane Half a year has passed since the Nautilus incident in London and Impey visits the deviant scientist Nemo in prison from time to time as he plans to re-invent the gravity alleviator and is currently taking notes on Nemo’s advise while at it.

One day, In Saint Germain’s mansion, Saint tells Impey they received word from Van and Delly saying they’ll be back in London for Christmas. Since Lupin and Victor are already residing in the city, they decided to might as well invite Cardia and Finis in order for the gang to reunite once more this Yuletide season.

Meanwhile, in Wales, Cardia, (while fixing their automobile) thinks of how Impey’s constant declaration of love for her makes her heart feel woozy. She gets confused because she’s sure she loves Impey back but also “loves” the other members of Lupin’ s gang as well as her brother Finis. With this train of thought, she pesters her little bro and forced him to say the phrase “I love you” (to her), to which a blushing Finis, with all the effort, reluctantly did. 😂 But then yo girl was like “Oh but why does it feel different when Impey says it?” 😂 😂 😂 ROFL. This was adorably hilarious! I just can’t! 😂

Later that day, they received a package from London in the form of a miniature Impey doll with a recording of Impey, Saint Germain and Lupin’s voice telling the siblings to come home for Christmas.

***I really enjoyed reading this one! I love how Cardia was strongly forward of wanting to explore her own feelings as she tries to discover the different meanings of “love”. …and seeing Impey immensely blush time and again was such an awesome treat, I couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear! Another plus point was that we get to see Nemo give love advises to yo boi and that, to me was the icing on the cake in this story! (laughs)

Arsene Lupin After the Nautilus incident in London six months ago, Lupin is back doing his thievery schemes like the proud gentleman thief he is.

One day while on a mission to steal a prized necklace from a corrupt Duke’s estate, he ends up being chased by Leonhartd as usual and just when he was about to execute his dashing escape, he gets distracted (by thoughts of Cardia) and gets shot by a rubber bullet instead. This, not only surprised Lupin himself but his perpetrators, Leonhardt, and his men were also perplexed at how they were able to take out the famed gentleman thief in one easy shot. In the end, an injured Lupin still managed to get away as he limped his way back to safety.

Back at the mansion, Victor along with Impey confronts Lupin saying he’s not being his usual self lately and asks him to perhaps, take a rain check from work (theft missions). A week later, Saint Germain chimes in, telling him the same and suggests that perhaps he’s longing for “someone”. Taking in the Count’s advise to heart, Lupin begins to think of Cardia and how her absence is taking a toll on him. He then concedes with his true feelings and finally admits he misses her badly and the only way to cure this yearning is to see her face to face. So he starts writing the ‘perfect’ love letter for his beloved lady. 😂

***I must say, this after-story has the best CGs, as expected from the game’s headcanon boi. Just like Lupin’s uwu story in Future Blessings, it had its glorious romantic moments between the couple. As far as I see it, the game is clearly biased on Lupin’s story… the kabedon scene and that loooong kiss at the end, come on! I couldn’t ask for more!

TRIANGLE DATES (More CGs!) These are short stories which involve scenarios of Cardia spending her day with two main characters in the series. Although these are rather shorter stories compared to the ‘Wintertide Miracles’ selection, I was really impressed by how exceptionally good these little episodes were. You think you’ve had enough doki-dokis? Try this one on for size!

Here’s a list of all the Love Triangle episodes (you can play it in any order):

Lupin and Victor

Lupin and Impey

Lupin and Van

Lupin and Saint Germain

Van and Impey

Van and Victor

Van and Saint Germain

Impey and Victor

Impey and Saint Germain

Victor and Saint Germain

Secret Episodes:

Delly and Sisi

Aliester and Nemo

Hansel and John Watson

SPECIAL EPILOGUES These are short epilogue stories continuing the last events of Future Blessings (White Rose). These will unlock last, after finishing all of the above’s selections.

IMPEY It’s been a few days and Impey hasn’t returned home after going on a work-related project (fixing airships and submarine engines in London). Cardia was left alone in the mansion and although she knows Impey will come back soon, she thought of surprising him by gathering a lot of research documents related to their ‘moon-project’. She leaves for Wales to collect any information her father might have written in the past that can possibly help with the project. Not to ruin the surprise for her hardworking husband, she leaves a note that says “I’m going”.

Impey arrives at home, finds the note then begins to panic thinking Cardia has left him.😂 So he hurries and follows her to Wales to clear out this whole silly misunderstanding.

LUPIN Cardia and Lupin go on a picnic at their secret place which has a great view of the industrial city of London and Lupin suggest that it’s about time to go on a honeymoon. Next few days, he takes Cardia to his birth city, Paris. There, they visit and the grave of his master, Theophraste and both of them said their prayers. They also ran into the head of the French police whom Lupin coined as someone equivalent to ossan Leonhartd. They had everyone (French police) chase them for fun and the couple gallantly escaped in style.

VAN Cardia and Van are finally getting married and Shirley helps Cardia put on her wedding dress. Cardia decided to step outside the church so she could practice walking in her high-heel shoes when a bunch of men in black suits kidnaps her and takes her to another wedding location. There she finds an impatient man wearing a groom’s outfit who urges her to walk down the aisle with him. Cardia remembers the combat techniques her husband taught her and throws the man to the floor. Meanwhile, a worried and upset Van bursts out through the church door and started taking down the men in suits Liam Neeson style! 😂 😂 😂 Before things get worse, the gang stops Van and explains this was all a misunderstanding as the kidnappers and groom were actually actors and the bride actress never showed up for rehearsals so they thought Cardia was her by mistake.

The Moral of the Story: Don’t mess with this couple… ever! 😂

VICTOR Cardia is now working as Victor’s assistant in the Royal Society and they spend their days doing research in Victor’s lab. Though they call themselves husband and wife, they realize that they never really had an actual wedding ceremony. So Victor asks Cardia if she wants to have a proper wedding and she says yes. A few days later, they began their search for a church in London but couldn’t find any since it’s peak season. Queen Victoria, along with Leonhardt notices Victor’s sullen expression and asks him what’s wrong, Victor tells them their circumstance and a snarky Victoria promises to help him only if he can prove to her how much he really wanted the wedding. After their deal, Victor comes home later than usual as he’s working extra hard to get her beloved wife that perfect wedding she deserves. Finally, the day has come for Victor to propose to Cardia and Victoria granted them permission to use the newly renovated St. Paul’s Cathedral. They got married in front of their friends and the Queen, and Cardia couldn’t be any happier.

SAINT GERMAIN Cardia is now free of her poison and she and Saint Germain return to London so they can hold their wedding ceremony. The Count buys the ship “Gloria” from their mafia adventures in Lupin’s Gang (Future Blessings) episode and tells her this will be their venue. A day before their promised wedding, Hansel takes Cardia to Omnibus cottage and there they meet with Saint Germain and the leader of Idea herself, Omnibus. The old lady gives them her blessing, saying they will no longer be in the watchful eye of Idea and Saint Germain is now finally, freeee! Both couples said their thanks to Omnibus. They got married in their luxurious ship the next day and all of their friends are with them happily celebrating the couple’s most special commemoration.

Will I be able to enjoy this game even if I haven’t played Future Blessings? There were a lot of characters and events in Future Blessings that were present and added to this game, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to skip Future Blessings in the series. In addition, the main “Wintertide Miracles” stories continue from the last events of Finis’s route in Future Blessings, so, all the more reason not to skip the first fandisc.

Localization There were a couple of typo mistakes that I couldn’t really overlook which makes me think that perhaps because of it’s promised released date on Valentines Day, the game was rather rushed and there wasn’t a lot of time spent dedicated solely on proofreading it. ┐(︶▽︶)┌

TRAILER

youtube

FINAL THOUGHTS? ＼(＾▽＾)／ My overall play length for Code Realize Wintertide Miracles was a good 10-15 hours. Despite me trying to make the game last forever for about at least, two weeks, I finished it pretty quickly because I just couldn’t get enough of it.

Cantarella’s side story was way better than the gang’s Mafia adventures in Future Blessings and I sure did wish the ‘Cantarella-characters’ would’ve made a cameo in the special epilogues, because seriously, what a waste of good characters to be squeezed in, on the third game. ┐(‘～` )┌

Finis wins best boi in my book. This was one of the things I really appreciated most in this FD, and I’m sure most Code Realize hardcore fans would agree. Finis’ character finally gets justice! We get to see more of his adorable side as Cardia’s little brother while maintaining his hostile and dubious personality 😂. Who would’ve thought this boy is such a tsun-tsun! ❤

Do I recommend this game? YES (esp. to all Code Realize fans) Take note, this game is the series’ second fandisc. So literally, one cannot play it all willy-nilly without fully playing it’s first two predecessors. Personally, I’ve enjoyed this game a lot but that’s because I’m such a huge fan of the series. Perhaps to those who aren’t into Code Realize, you probably won’t enjoy this as much.

With the production of PS Vita consoles and games, completely shutting down worldwide this year, Code Realize Wintertide Miracles was such a special treat for us otome fans ~ esp. now, where there is scarcity of otoge releases in the West.

The game’s romantic Christmas theme really took this one up a notch and the newly added side stories are really something to look forward to. If you already like this series, loved the game’s main casts and wished for more adventures with them, this game is definitely worth the purchase.

CHLO’S RATING: 8/10

Code Realize: Wintertide Miracles Review CODE REALIZE: WINTERTIDE MIRACLES Release Date: February 14, 2019 (North America) Developers: Idea Factory, Otomate Publishers: 4,080 more words

#code realize #code realize wintertide miracles #Code Realize Wintertide Miracles Review #Otome game review #PS Vita #Shirogane no Kiseki #Wintertide Miracles Review

55 notes · View notes

metastable1 · 5 years

Link

It's easy to make big plans and ask big questions, but a lot harder to follow them through. Find out what happens to Harry Potter-Evans-Verres, Hermione, Draco, and everyone else once they grow into their roles as leaders, leave the shelter of Hogwarts, and venture out into a wider world of intrigue, politics, and war. Not official.

Significant Digits by Alexander D is an unofficial continuation of Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky. Despite being better crafted (from the wielding and richness of language standpoint, at least in the first half) it’s not as fun or funny as HPMoR, however, those rare moments when humor comes back, or when the author takes pokes at Rowling’s Harry Potter, make it feel exactly like the previous fic). Although the author abandoned heavy references made by Yudkowky to the heuristics and biases, it still feels like a rational fic and maintains ratfic’s qualities. One thing that I miss severely is a didactic tone of HPMoR - in Significant Digits, it comes back only for brief moments. I understand that it would be difficult to incorporate that when dealing with older and more experienced characters but still…

The thing I most respect about this fic is the amount of effort that clearly went into writing it, as well as the level of skill represented by the author, who, without a doubt, did a tremendous amount of research and is clearly quite an erudite. As one commenter said:

It saddens me a little that there is not a long discussion below this chapter. You are a good writter. I guess you are just too deep into the rabbit whole.

I admit that probably 95% of references, easter eggs and clues went over my head.

We spend most of the time inside Hermione’s head as if the author was afraid to write extensively from a perspective of Harry or Draco but when he does, he nails it. Alexander D did a really good job of writing more experienced and matured versions of the trio. Their dialogues also work well and one of them is my favorite fragment of the fic - I like it so much that I posted it below.

Fic is rich when it comes to fight scenes - there are a lot of fight scenes. The author deserves a great amount of praise for handling them so well - descriptions are really good and somehow he managed to not make them tedious or repetitious. If you wondered what would look like descriptions of duels featured in Harry Potter movies (they are quite different from those in the books) then wonder no more. Also, for the benefit of those with low tolerance level for violent scenes, I should note that continuation is a lot more gore-y than HPMoR.

Another aspect that deserves praise are awesome moments and lines of dialogues or internal monologues that stayed with me long after I took time off from reading. And then there are the Moments: those epic and deeply satisfying moments that the reader is often waiting for and when they arrive and unfold, there is this feeling of appropriateness and fulfillment; an exhilaration and “this is the way it should be” sensation. There were such moments in Rowling’s HP, in Yudkowsky’s HPMoR and they can be found in Significant Digits.

Now about the main plot and ending: I think that the idea for the main antagonist was pretty great, their motivations were solid. I think what failed was execution but I don’t have a good idea how intrigue should be lead or concluded instead. Don’t get me wrong - it’s still really good, I enjoyed it, don’t regret reading SD and its ending is quite unique and very risky, and despite that, it works! However, I feel that there was a greater potential that could be realized. Events leading to the main conclusion felt a bit clunky. On the other hand, the fic has a ”reread value” - with a benefit of hindsight readers can discover new things hidden by the author and spot hints that they missed during their first reading.

Overall, in my opinion, Significant Digits is a worthy successor of Yudkowsky’s fic. If you liked HPMoR give it a shot.

My favorite chapters:

Chapter Two: Buffering Conflicts and Chapter Nine: Boxes - for Harry’s perspective

Chapter Sixteen: Protagonists - for bringing back the spirit of J.K. Rowling’s HP

Chapter Thirty-Three: Walpurgisnacht - for a great ending of an arc and that dialogue

Chapter Fifty: Ultimate - for that final confrontation

PS. Important note: my comprehension of English let me understand HPMoR on my reread without much problem, however, Significant Digits has much richer language - it is possible that I missed some positive qualities because of this.

And now, my favorite fragment:

Wearily, Harry mounted the stairs to the workroom of the Headmistress. In his pocket were four phials of blood from Vincent Crabbe, obtained after two hours of intimidation and veiled threats. Moody had helped, along with two aurors Moody had trained himself -- an older one named Hedley Kwannon, and one barely out of training named Nymphadora Tonks. The glass phials, filled with the blood of Hermione’s enemy, clicked against each other as Harry climbed the stairs. He pushed open the door. It was silent inside. Reddish light from the dawn illuminated the alchemical diagram on the floor: nested and interlaced circles and pentagons surrounding a central pentacle. He’d been here once before, when he first demonstrated partial Transfiguration -- so long ago! -- and the room didn’t look to have been used since that visit. “Mad-Eye’s not here yet. We have to wait,” said Draco’s voice from his left. Harry started, and stepped forward to see that the boy was sitting at the base of the circular wall, head slumped forward. “How are you, Draco?” asked Harry, quietly. “This was your fault,” Draco replied. “I know.” “No, you don’t, you stupid piece of arrogant filth,” said the Slytherin boy, but there was no anger in his voice. It was disconcertingly flat, with nothing but weariness and sorrow -- the sorrow of someone who had been required to endure too much, too soon. “You think that you just made a mistake. You’d do the same thing all over again, but you’d just be sure to include one more trap. One more level of manipulation or cleverness. You don’t see that the entire thing is… impossible. It’s just impossible, and you won’t see that, and Hermione just keeps listening to you, and now she’s paid for your stupidity.” “I know.” “And even worse, this is just another reminder of why I was stupid to ever trust you -- to ever get involved in this asinine little play. Your goals are… mad. Insane. But you don’t recognize that, since you don’t recognize any limits to… to… to anything.” It was more than that, of course. It was even more than the terrible suffering and temporary absence of Hermione, as badly as that, too, had hurt the other boy. There was something more. You’re worried that I can’t deliver on my promises… that you’ve placed hope in false prophecies and a false prophet. You’re wondering if I am just a freak prodigy of Muggle science who looked really impressive in schoolyard antics, since he had a whole other world of tricks to steal, and who got lucky once… but who might just not be able to cut it in the real world. Draco looked up at him, and the boy looked unspeakably sad -- like he’d lost something precious. You’re worried I’ll never be able to bring your father back, after all. “Draco, there is--” “Shut up,” interrupted Draco, his voice hardening. “Shut up and let’s just wait without talking. You’re always talking, but it didn’t help her, did it? Her phoenix burned and she burned. And now she’s dead, again, just like she was afraid would happen.” Draco’s eyes were red, but dry. “She told me that… those months when she was trying to get her Patronus. To meet your expectations. She told me that she was terrified of dying again and that she thought that was probably the reason she couldn’t do it. ‘I wake up screaming sometimes, Draco,’ she said.” “Stop,” said Harry, squeezing his eyes shut. Draco sounded more like he was scolding himself than Harry. His words were black and bitter. “And now she’s all burned up and dead again, and it’s your fault again. Because you don’t understand what is possible, and you talk and you push -- oh, Merlin, it always sounds so insane when you first start talking, but by the end of the conversation it’s the rest of the world that seems insane, and how could I ever think that made sense? How could anyone be that damned arrogant?” Harry turned away, blindly. His eyes burned with hot tears. For a moment, despite all of his resolutions, he almost called on his dark side: to cool him and calm him and solve this problem. The cold emptiness of Voldemort’s thought patterns would have been preferable to this. Null was better than negative. But he didn’t, because one did not abandon carefully-considered decisions during the exact sort of situation for which you had prepared them. All he could do, instead, was sink to the stone, slick with dust under his fingers, and cry. After a time, his shoulders stopped heaving, and his breathing slowed from great shuddering gasps into quiet evenness. Draco had said nothing, and hadn’t moved. When Harry pushed himself up into a sitting position, he saw through a smear of tears that the other boy was just staring at him, dully, with red-rimmed eyes. “I…” began Harry, but he found that he didn’t have any words. He fell silent again. Eventually, he stood up and drew his wand. “Scourgify,” he cast, his voice heavy. The spell cleared away the dust. Putting away his wand, Harry opened his pouch and reached in. “Cauldron,” he said to it, and felt the metal lip of a small cauldron leap into his hand. He pulled it free of the pouch, which distended to permit its passage, and set it in the center of the diagram. Harry sat down next to it, and took the phials of blood out of his pocket. He set them down next to the cauldron. Draco pushed himself to his feet, and walked over. Digging into the pocket of his robes -- still the same burned ones, had he not had a chance to change? no, of course... he left them on for effect -- he pulled out a small bag of soft bicorn skin and dropped it down next to the other objects. The flesh of a servant, willingly given by Odette Charlevoix. Moody would be here soon, with a piece of bone from Hermione’s father. He had insisted on doing this part himself, saying that he didn’t trust anyone else to invisibly infiltrate Happy Smiles Family Dentistry, stun one of the owners, extract a chip of bone while the man was unconscious, and fix any memories afterwards. It was a thankless task, and Harry thought that some part of Moody’s insistence was probably repentance. Moody blamed himself for the attack, almost as much as he blamed Harry. “We weren’t paranoid enough,” he had said, bitterly. It was as heavy an indictment as he could deliver. They waited in silence. Finally, Harry spoke again. “I tried. I tried as hard as I could. I thought through everything and planned it out and assembled every bit of information… I counted forty-three known threats and planned for eight kinds of unknowns. We had just… layers of security and plans.” Draco knew most of them, of course. He’d helped, along with Moody and Hermione and Bones. There were fat folders, stuffed with parchments -- or had been, anyway, before the fire ate the hidden boltholes that had been serving as safes. Dossiers on people and information on countries: CHINA. Overview: Continued worries about European and British dominance in magic, may seek to strike before new regime rises. Often isolates self and seeks to extend power over Ten Thousand, but pragmatic leadership points to a willingness to shift tactics, if seems advantageous. Traditional value for immortality, connected to long specialization in potioneering. Informal and formal power structures largely mirror each other; little vulnerability to factionalization but suggests opportunity to shift key functionaries and alter trajectory of entire country. And so on. Plans within plans, contingency upon contingency: living and adaptable Matryoshka dolls whirling in a furious dance. A location that couldn’t be stormed by force, allies watching other allies, security measures and magical wards that could cut off the life of an attacker in moments. And none of it had done any good when the mind of a powerful wizard had broken. He had died, but so had others. So had Hermione. “It’s not your fault that you can’t do the impossible. It’s only your fault that you try the impossible, and other people pay for it,” replied Draco. He stared down at Harry. “You can’t plan for everything. The world is dark and people are vicious. Even the good ones are vicious, and the bad ones are worse, and the crazy ones do things you couldn’t possibly predict. You can’t control the universe, Harry Potter-Evans-Verres, you miserable, arrogant little scrub.” Harry was silent once more, and looked away, unable to meet Draco’s gaze. He hugged his knees. Draco turned away, walking heavily towards the door. There’s too much evil and too much madness in the world, Moody had said. Too much damn randomness. You can’t control the universe. “I don’t accept that,” he whispered, as much for himself as for Draco. “What?” demanded Draco, turning back around, his voice incredulous -- angry now, where he hadn’t been before. “I don’t accept that,” Harry repeated, more loudly. He looked up. “I do not accept that.” “You can’t--” Harry lurched to his feet, swaying slightly, his kneecaps popping from the sudden shift. There was iron in his voice, now. It wasn’t cold iron; it wasn’t the chill metal of his dark side, icy with hateful clarity. It was iron at a white heat. He glowed with it. “No,” Harry said, his voice as certain as a hammerblow. “No,” he repeated. “No,” he said again. “I do not accept that. I do not accept death. I do not accept decline. I do not accept madness. I do not accept randomness. They are all part of the universe, and they are all important… but I do not -- mankind does not -- have to accept them,” said Harry. “If you want out of this, then say so. If you want to lead a different life, then you know I won’t begrudge you that. I will make that happen, and that choice I once gave you will always be yours: you may choose another path and you will not hear a word of regret from me. Your preferences are sacred. So if you think this can’t be done… go.” Harry’s face was grim. “But I’m not going.” Harry walked towards Draco until he was inches away from the other boy. Iron was bright in his words. “Right now, there is a little girl somewhere in the world. She’s a small thing for her age, with big eyes. She loves her big brother. She wants to be just like her mother when she grows up. But tonight, there will be an accident. A rotten tree will collapse as the little girl climbs it, and she’ll tumble to the ground, and she’ll land badly. And she’ll die. And then her big eyes will be gone, and her brother will never see her again, and she’ll never grow up to be like her mother. Everything she ever was or will be: gone and dead and buried. “Her brother will deal with his grief, in time, and may even find solace and strength in stories about how death is necessary. Her mother will cry and hurt, but in time it will hurt less, and she’ll focus more on her son, and eventually the loss will fade until it’s just a nagging ache in her heart -- that never quite leaves. And the world will go on, because it’s happened every day in every way, and we have learned how to manage the loss. “But it doesn’t have to be that way. And I don’t just mean saving that little girl, or Hermione, or even your father, Draco, but every little girl and friend and father. People die every day and they always have but I do not accept it.” But something of Harry’s heat had communicated itself with his words, and Draco’s eyes were lit as bright as the red glow of Fiendfyre. He seized the front of Harry’s robes, twisting his fists in them, and shoved as hard as he could. Harry stumbled backwards, foot skidding, and only barely kept his balance. “Do you think I want them to die, you sanctimonious idiot? Are you even listening to me? I’m saying that it doesn’t matter how much you want them to live, because the world is too complicated! You’re denying the data! You want to do things that no one has ever done, and do them all at once which no one has even dreamed of doing. Not Dumbledore, not Salazar Slytherin, not the Peverell brothers, not even Merlin the bloody First Enchanter himself! The greatest wizards in the history of the world only barely attempted some tiny fraction of your insane fever dream! You want to rule the world and end death, good and fine, and you want to end poverty and sickness and make everyone equal and put goblins and other trash up on a pedestal and all that other fluffy nonsense, fine!” Draco was shouting, now. “But it is impossible! It is just impossible! To do any one of them was beyond anyone’s power, even those who tried, much less all of it at once! And by trying to do it, you’re going to burn down this world and everyone in it, and it is just beyond arrogant and stupid to look at the world and declare that you are going to change it so much and so fast, and we are all suffering because of that!” Harry roared back at Draco, his voice larger than himself, as though it were echoing the cries of others, of legions, “I don’t give a damn if it is impossible! I don’t give a damn if no one has ever done it or tried it or dreamed it in the history of the world! ‘Impossible’ is a little word and a petty one -- it’s the word of small minds and small imaginations, and I reject it.” Draco opened his mouth to say something, but Harry continued over him, shouting now, white iron in his words and eyes and heart, a white glow suffusing him as a glow from his wand waxed brighter and brighter. “We are standing on the brink -- at the moment of crux between peril and paradise, Draco! We are caught at the edges of two singularities, held equipoise at their event horizons, and it is terrifying, but when they offer you the Ring you don’t reject it with the word ‘impossible!’“ Draco shouted back, lunging forward to stab a finger into Harry’s chest: accusatory. “Not everything is possible in this world!” And Harry replied, quietly, caught with a sudden stillness as clear as the sweet ring of a tranquil bell, “Draco. There are more worlds than this one. We’ll find one where we can save everybody." His voice caught with emotion. "Impossible just means you haven’t figured out how to cheat.”

#fiction #hpmor #book

0 notes