#ALSO if anyone has particular links they’re fond of or suggestions for prompts
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Febuwhump day 11 - fever
Starting febuwhump in the middle of the month with my Links from my own au Courage of Ages, because I looked at the list and basically gave into temptation 😅
I’m going to try and keep these short so i don’t get stressed, just fun oneshots and an excuse to write my Links more :)
Here’s an explanation of courage of ages, as well as who’s who, but in this fic only four of them show up. Gloam is tp Link, Hue is albw & tfh, Era is hw, and Sprite is oot & mm.
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“Gloam?”
The Hero of Twilight blinked his eyes open, looking up at who’d addressed him. Hue stood next to the tree that he’d been dozing against up until a few seconds ago, looking like he felt extremely bad for disturbing him.
“Hey Hue, what’s up? You need something?” he yawned, and the younger hero shifted his weight nervously, and scratched the back of his neck.
“Era isn’t awake.”
Gloam tilted his head. “And..? Is that a problem? I mean, we weren’t going to head out until tomorrow morning anyways, he may as well take a nap.”
“No, I mean he hasn’t woken up all day,” Hue stressed. “I was going to tell you earlier but I couldn’t find you or anybody else, so I figured I’d just wait, but now...”
Hue glanced behind him at the inn in the distance where they were all staying.
“He’s barely moved. He was making weird noises before too, I’m... I’m kinda worried Gloam.”
The goatherd furrowed his brow and stood up, forgoing his comfortable spot against the tree to instead follow Hue back inside to where Era had apparently been sleeping all day.
If it were almost any one of the others Gloam would brush it off as them just taking a nap, but Era was one of the Links in their group who barely slept under normal circumstances.
Maybe he was just really tired?
They entered one of the rooms several of them were sharing, Gloam noting the lump on one of the beds. Drawing closer with Hue on his heels, Gloam saw Era tightly curled up under the sheets, already odd since he tended to sleep ramrod-straight on his back. His blanket was tight around his shoulders, breath wheezing in his throat, and when Gloam leaned closer he could see his face was flushed.
Wait...
Gloam leaned down and pressed a hand to Era’s forehead, then winced at the heat under his palm.
“Darn it, he’s got a fever,” he muttered, and at his touch, Era’s eyes flicked open.
He looked exhausted, dark circles under his eyes and hair limp with sweat. He was always so put together, Gloam had to admit it was weird seeing him this... disheveled.
“We moving again?” the knight rasped, and made to sit up, arms trembling. Hue pushed him back down, and shook his head.
“No way, you’re sick Era. We’re not moving anytime soon.”
Era’s face paled.
“Sick? No. No way, I’m not sick I can’t be sick—” he said thickly, panic leeching into his voice.
“Era calm down, you’ve just got a bit of a fever,” Gloam soothed, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. “You only need some rest, you’ll be fine.”
Era swallowed, and Gloam could see him mentally push the panic down.
“But... we need to get going tomorrow,” he protested with a cough. “This was only supposed to be a quick stop, and then—”
“We can spare a day or two,” Gloam interrupted. “We switched pretty recently, I doubt we’ll leave this time for a little while yet. And you can’t go anywhere in this condition.“
Era looked like he was about to argue, but instead sneezed several times in a row, each one getting progressively louder.
Hue muffled a giggle at the surprisingly high-pitched sneezes, then shrank back at the look Era gave him.
“Umm, I’ll go get some soup I saved from the other night,” he said, then quickly escaped out the door. Gloam watched him go with an amused smile, then pulled a chair to Era’s bedside, sitting down as he looked down at the other hero.
The knight’s eyes were half-lidded and weary, but he made an effort to look more awake once he realized Gloam’s gaze was on him.
“I really am all right,” he rasped, and Gloam shook his head, sighing.
“No, you really aren’t,” he countered. “Hue said you’ve been sleeping all day.”
“So?”
Gloam eyeballed him. “You are always up at the crack of dawn, same as me. The only reason I didn’t notice you sleeping in earlier was because I was preoccupied,” he said a bit guiltily, then resumed his stern look. “You. Are. Sick.”
Era shrank in his blanket, looking away from Gloam.
“But I’m holding us up,” he rasped quietly. “We were going to try to make it to the castle, we might not have time if we w-wait—”
Era broke off into a stream of thick coughs, raspy and painful sounding. He groaned when he finished, and Gloam handed him some water, the knight weakly sipping at it. Once he’d finished, Gloam put his hand back on his forehead, trying to get a sense of just how bad his fever was. Era flinched, but relaxed after a minute, eyes drooping.
“I think your fever could be worse, but I don’t know how long you’ve had it either,” Gloam murmured, then pulled his hand away with a sigh. “Either way... it’s certainly not the greatest. We can see if this town has a healer, but in the meantime try and get more sleep?”
“Slept all morning,” Era mumbled. “Don’t need more.”
“You’re practically dozing off Era,” Gloam said dryly. “Just go back to sleep. Or I’ll get everyone in here and they can yell at you too.”
Era winced. “...don’t do that.”
The door creaked as he finished speaking, and Gloam turned, expecting to see Hue. But Sprite walked in instead, looking a little out of breath, like he’d run all the way here then stopped right at the door in an effort to seem nonchalant.
“Hue said you’re sick,” he blurted out, then crossed his arms and gave Era a foul look. “How on earth did you manage that?”
“You think I know?” Era croaked, and Gloam watched the worry in Sprite’s eyes grow more prominent at how weak his voice was.
The kid hesitated, then stalked over and jumped up on the bed next to him, ignoring Era’s immediate protests.
“Kid I’m going to get you sick, get off,” Era said sharply, but Sprite only crossed his arms behind his head and laid down.
“You shared your canteen with me yesterday, I’m probably already doomed,” he snipped back. “And I heard you and Gloam arguing, just go back to sleep, huh? It’s going to take you forever to get better if you don’t rest.”
“This from the kid who sleeps like two hours every night,” Era said with an eye roll, and Sprite elbowed him.
“Just go to sleep!”
Era still looked reluctant, and Sprite sighed, then creamed the knight with a pillow he’d grabbed without an ounce of apology. Era let out a affronted hey! and Sprite glared at him, holding the pillow threateningly under his arm.
“Era. Captain. Old Link. Go to sleep,” Sprite stressed. “Or it’ll be even longer ‘til we can leave.”
Era continued to glare half-heartedly at him, which Sprite returned with an equally fierce look, and Gloam decided to leave them to it.
“I’ll go see if Hue found that soup or not,” he said, trying not to smile, and began to leave the room.
“Wait, make sure nobody else comes in here,” Era rasped before he could go, grabbing Gloam’s wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. He gave him a serious look, and Gloam paused. “We don’t need it spreading. Keep Cloud out especially, you know h-how—”
He broke into a coughing fit again, and Gloam pulled his blanket back up around him, Sprite giving the knight a thinly-veiled look of worry.
“We’ll try and keep everyone out, calm down,” Gloam assured. “We’re serious though, obviously you need more rest. At least try and go back to sleep, I’ll go bring you some food in a bit.” Era didn’t reply, and Gloam left the room as Sprite rummaged in his pouch, already wondering how he was going to keep all the other Links out.
The sound of an ocarina followed him down the stairs, the slow notes of a lullaby ringing softly through the inn.
#legend of zelda#legend of Zelda au#courage of ages#coa Gloam#coa Hue#coa Era#coa Sprite#febuwhump#day 11#fever#febuwhump2023#writing from the floor#posting this and then looking away because abgddhdsgh#I go through this same song and dance whenever I post anybwritung with my Links#ack#ALSO if anyone has particular links they’re fond of or suggestions for prompts#hmu I might take em
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whatever our souls are made of (his and mine are the same), pt. 9
Hi!
Today I have another one-shot just for you.
Hope you guys like it!
You can also read it here.
See you!
as long as i have you
Prompt: us against the world
Summary: Even if no one else understands their relationship, it’s alright as long as they have each other
Things have been tense since Rukia and he have been hanging out with his humans friends again.
Ichigo can tell she wants to tell them off, but doesn’t.
She’s prudent like that.
Meanwhile, all of them except for Ishida seem a bit put off by Rukia’s presence.
Ichigo doesn’t get it.
Especially when it comes to Inoue and Chad.
He thought they considered Rukia their friend as well.
But it appears as they don’t.
He has to wonder if they link her to the Shinigami and to all the battles they had to fight in.
Not that it is Rukia’s fault.
It’s not his fault either.
He never asked them to come and join him.
They did so willingly.
Although, maybe the last war had been too draining for Inoue and Chad.
Perhaps they wanted to forget everything and Rukia’s presence complicated things.
Still, they had absolutely no reason to treat her like she was a bother.
Or like they disapproved of their relationship.
Ishida, who has always known how to read the room, does all he can to strike up conversation with Rukia and not let her feel excluded.
But it doesn’t work.
Not really.
Because Ishida is often left behind as well.
Probably for the same reasons Rukia is.
Ichigo is not.
Not when he is by himself.
But he sometimes feels as if he can’t relate with his friends anymore.
Like they are from completely different worlds.
He had heard about things like this happening before.
Of growing out of your childhood friends.
Yet he hadn’t realized it would feel this lonely.
His sentiment rings a little true, though.
He has never been normal.
From his birth, Ichigo has been able to see spirits and that has made him different to everyone else.
And even if that hadn’t been the case, his hair color had often alienated him when growing up.
But with Tatsuki, Chad, Keigo, Mizuiro, Inoue and even Ishida he had felt accepted in some way.
Like a normal teen, minus all the world saving and whatnot.
And he had felt bad.
Lying to them.
In particular to Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro, who had never been a part of his adventures.
Even if it had been for their own good.
However, eventually Ichigo had realized he didn’t want to be normal.
After seventeen months without powers, he had known who he wanted to be.
And that wasn’t a human being.
He would have never imagined this would isolate him from his friends.
Or that they would try hard to isolate Rukia.
Rukia, who had never hurt them or done anything to be disliked.
And, gods, Rukia is on a whole different level than they are.
She just gets him.
Period.
Although she’s not a human and there are many things about his world she doesn’t yet understand, she knows how to read him.
Whether it’s because of their shared trauma, similar personalities, or hell, even destiny, at the end of the day it is Rukia who makes him feel understood.
And it’s not something that Ichigo can explain.
Not something his friends could ever fathom.
Meeting Rukia was earth shattering.
His bond with her just is the way it is.
So it hurts when the people he trusted most don’t see her that way.
Ishida sort of gets it.
In a “I’m not sure what is going on here but I support you” kinda way.
He is fond of Rukia.
Considers her a friend.
And he knows how important she is to Ichigo.
That is enough for him.
He just wishes the others were like his cousin.
Keigo doesn’t get it.
Or thinks he does in a more simplistic manner.
To his credit, he tries.
He likes Rukia well enough.
But he doesn’t understand how deep their bond goes.
Chad is probably aware there is more going on.
Yet, as of late, he has put this barrier that Ichigo cannot break.
It is as if his best friend is telling him he doesn’t approve of Rukia.
Ichigo can’t really understand why.
It is the same thing with Inoue.
It is as if she thought Rukia was going to vanish from their lives forever.
It seems she wants to keep her at arm’s length.
And the others follow her example.
Tatsuki and Mizuiro, for their part, haven’t grasped the idea of him and Rukia sharing their lives and being together.
Not that Ichigo can blame them.
It’s just annoying how they do what Inoue and Chad want and purposely ignore her.
It’s not only annoying but insulting at this point.
So much so he doesn’t want to hang out with them anymore.
Not even when they had supposedly made up.
So one day, he suggests that they simply shouldn’t show up at one of their get-togethers.
“Why?” Rukia questions him.
“Because they keep ignoring you.” Ichigo answers her honestly.
“But they’re you’re friends.” She retorts.
But you’re more important. He wants to say but doesn’t.
Rukia must read it on his face anyway, because she shakes her head, sighs, and then says, “I’m not bothered by them. I don’t care what they think. I’m just worried about you. I want you to keep your friends.”
He wants so too.
Friends who actually care about him.
That won’t make a fuss because Rukia is not really human.
And his own friends aren’t that.
He thinks they might find that acceptance in the Soul Society.
But he quickly learns it isn’t as easy as that.
The Kuchiki elders don’t approve and much less after Ichigo insulted them at dinner.
They deserved it, though.
Assholes.
But it’s not only them or the other noble clans who talk smack behind their backs.
Other Shinigami aren’t approving either.
Thankfully, it’s none of their friends.
Even Renji has nothing to say against them.
They’ve got Byakuya’s full support.
But there are other Shinigami, some from the 13th division too, that look at them with disapproval.
As if they believe it simply isn’t right for a human and a Shinigami to spend time together, not even when that human isn’t fully human either.
It’s grating.
Hell, it’s tiring.
Cause everywhere they go, someone has to say something about it.
They’re lucky that their families get it and encourage them.
Yuzu and Karin adore Rukia and look up to her like an older sister.
Isshin already considers her his daughter.
And Byakuya has fully embraced him as a Shinigami, ally, and, say, even a friend.
But outside of their very small circle, it seems like everyone’s against them.
Ichigo just doesn’t understand why.
They’re not hurting anyone.
They’re just not normal.
And their bizarre bond is hard to accept for some people.
Ichigo doesn’t want that.
He wants to give Rukia all the love and acceptance she deserves.
Which others won’t give her, so long as they’re together.
He expresses as much one day when everything feels as it is too much.
“So?” She replies, seemingly uncaring.
“So, doesn’t it bother you?”
Rukia grows quiet and then shrugs. “Kinda. But I’ve already decided this is worth whatever is thrown at us.”
She’s right.
Of course she’s right.
“So it doesn’t bother you you’re stuck with me forever?”
“Nah. I made my peace with you being an idiot already. Besides, you need me to keep you in line.”
“More like you need me to reach high things for you.”
“Well, that too.”
They share a laugh and it all seems better.
Brighter.
And Ichigo guesses things won’t change anytime soon.
There will always be those who oppose them.
But he doesn’t have the energy to care anymore.
Because, even if no one else understands their relationship, it’s alright as long as they have each other.
“It’s you and me against the world, then.”
“Always.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
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I would tell you that I loved you (If I thought that you could stay)
one shot | set after COE in a Ianto never dies au | date night | Ianto POV | Jack/Ianto | 2500~ words | can also be read on my ao3 (m_feys) |
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They decide to walk to the upscale restaurant. They're close enough that their jackets brush together as they move, but they don't touch. They often don't. Ianto used to be content with that, had been happy about it, even, that he could pretend to be something other than deeply in love with this man in the eyes of other people.
Now he's not so sure, but Jack still doesn't touch him in public, save for the reassuring hand to his shoulder on special occasions. No, Jack reins himself in. Ianto is not sure he'll ever have a proper scope of just how much. But he understands that the culture Jack had been born into, one some three thousand years into the future, was one where touch was freely given and love didn't get held back. Jack had changed so much since he was a young man, that was something Ianto could easily understand.
Right now, he's traded in his slacks and suspenders for a proper suit, a deep grey color with a pale blue dress shirt. It's buttoned-up neat and his hair's been slicked back. He looks like someone who stepped straight out of 1945, as he often does, even more so now. Ianto is certain the look is more than love for the aesthetic, there must be something about the era he's particularly fond of. The tie he's wearing is coral blue with deeper blue swirls twisting across the fabric. Jack knows its one of his favorites.
They sit at their reserved table, it's one on the second floor, by the window with a stunning view of the bay. You can see Flat Holm from here, though the island dark, save for the faintest of lights in the distance.
Ianto shrugs off his jacket and drapes it on the chair behind him, with Jack following suit. Ianto has on one of his nicer three-piece numbers. It's deep black with an embroidered vest, delicate white vines decorating the dark fabric. The vest makes a fine cut of his figure in a way he knows Jack appreciates. His shirt is a stiff, clean white but the tie he's worn is a deep red blooming at his throat. Jack loves him in red, for the way it compliments his eyes.
Jack smiles at him where they sit across from one another, "What do you think of the view?" Jack asks, never one to stay silent for too long.
"Amazing." Ianto smiles back. The couple's table with a candle burning in the center is an unmistakenly romantic venue for them, though Ianto wouldn't mention it. He knows how Jack gets when he starts commenting on the specifics of their relationship. The annoyance he has about how much Ianto cares about definitions, and other people's opinions.
Ianto desperately wants to broach the topic of exactly what they are but he has no idea how, when Jack seems so reluctant to invest any words in them. Maybe they're not what Ianto thinks they are, so often he's not sure.
Jack's hand has come to rest in the middle of the table, it's an invitation. On nights like these Jack always reaches for some sort of physical contact, even in public, like they're playing romance on these nights.
Jack will take Ianto home, and if Ianto initiates it, they'll hold hands as they walk. He'll wait to see if Ianto invites him up to his flat (he always does), and it's not as if Jack needs to be invited, he does have a key, after all. And they sit and talk and kiss until they've strewn those nice suits on the floor and Jack stays the night with him, and Ianto watches him sleep sometimes, studying the way his face shifts as he dreams.
He wonders if, tonight, because they're playing romance, they could do the sorts of things that couples do. That maybe he could ask.
He crosses his ankles under the table, he knows Jack will keep his feet flat on the floor until he gets bored and decides to rub his calf against Ianto's leg and curl his foot behind Ianto's ankles and try to urge him closer. The thought brings an amused tilt to his smile as he leans forward and meets Jack in the middle, sliding their hands together. Jack tightens the grip of his relaxed fingers to grasp Ianto's hand in return. It's so simple, he wonders if Jack is aware of how it makes his chest ache with want.
They pick up their menus and peruse them languidly, they have all night, after all.
"I'm thinking about the chicken and mushroom pasta. How about you?" Jack asks conversationally. He always tries something new when they go out together. Ianto always steals a few bites.
"Would you believe it? I'm thinking of trying the fish," Ianto tells him, grinning wryly. If they come to this particular restaurant he always gets fish, he'd tried it the first time they came and it was so good he never could bring himself to get anything else.
"No," Jack gasps, grinning too, "finally stepping out of your comfort zone?" He teases.
"I know what I like," Ianto tells him, smirking in return.
Now, Jack is turning their hands over and looking at them as if he's examining how they fit together. Ianto follows his eyes and studies their hands. Jack's wide, and tan, and calloused from handling guns, Ianto's long-fingered and pale and steady from handing out mugs. He watches the way Jack's thumb plays over his knuckle, touch feather-light. They're just playing romantic, Ianto tries to remind himself.
"Well, you'd better get something green as one of those sides," Jack advises him, smiling sharply. Jack is well aware of his aversion to vegetables and always urges him to eat them at every chance he gets. The fact that Jack knows and notes these simple little things about him makes him feel so achingly fond.
The waiter comes and they place their orders, Jack gets water to drink and Ianto asks for wine. They don't let go of the other's hand like they might have when they first started going out on dates. Just playing romantic, he tries to tell himself as if Jack hasn't got his eyes trained only on him, looking like Ianto might be the only person in the universe. As if Jack's smile hasn't softened around the edges, becoming something so tender. As if they didn't have nights like these on the regular, nowadays.
But, things have changed now, haven't they? It's been months since the last, "end of the world," the horror that was the 456. Months since he'd watched Jack break once more. Months since he'd learned more about him than ever before. He knew Jack Harkness, and that was something he'd worked towards, something he wasn't planning to let slip from his grasp.
And Ianto was different now too. Rhiannon knew about them, not by his choice. But one of her friends had seen him in a place like this, seen the way he looked at Jack. She knew now. They weren't exactly how he had described it, because he never was so straight forward as to give anyone everything. Except for certain exceptions, people he was in so love with he could never hold it back.
But Ianto already knew how to appreciate men, just as well as women, but it wasn't any lie that Jack was so starkly different from any other person he'd ever met. Maybe subconsciously he'd been trying to tell her that. But it was the same with those little lies he told about his father, the sort of fantasy he'd rather be true. That Jack was the only man for him, some singular revelation, and that his father was a sharp-eyed tailor, instead of a drunken mechanic with a penchant for pushing too hard.
He and Rhiannon had never been especially close, but he still cared for her, she was his sister after all. And he was so fond of Mica and David, he'd always had a soft spot for kids, especially when he'd watched them grow up. Johnny, he'd rather not contemplate his opinion on, seeing as it wasn't particularly polite.
But now they knew him too, the last of his family actually had some idea of what he was. They now grasped the inclination that he was in love with this impossible man and he did impossible things every day. Rhiannon emailed him more often now, telling him how the kids were, and demanding visits, and stories, and explanations. And Ianto found he wasn't so annoyed with the more rapid interruptions to his life at Torchwood. These things that are shifting the tone of who he could be.
"Jack," he speaks seriously and its sort of intimidating that he's been watching Ianto this entire time. Those keen eyes of his, always intense in some way. Tonight, they are intently watching him, tracing over the shape of him as if Jack needed to drink him in. As if Jack didn't see him every single day.
"Hm?" The man hums, his face sobering instantly, he easily senses the tone change. But his thumb doesn't stop its minute movements over his knuckles and Ianto takes comfort in that fact as he inhales shaky breath.
"Jack, I know you, hate labels and when I..." he hesitates and stumbles over the words, "ask this kind of thing, so I—"
"Hey," Jack cuts him off, gently, "you're rambling," he points out. He knows its something Ianto only ever does when he's nervous and trying to compensate for something. "I'm not angry, just ask."
"Are you going to leave me?" Ianto blurts out at his prompting.
Something in Jack's eyes looks utterly heartbroken at the suggestion, but his face barely shifts.
But Ianto can't stop now that he's started, "Once something better comes along, will you just leave?" Like before, goes unspoken. "What would keep you here?"
"I told you," Jack starts speaking, his voice hard as steel and gaze lowered now. He hates having to repeat himself. "I came back for you," he informs him solidly, punctuating the sentence by meeting his eyes again with that piercing gaze.
"So this?" He says, brows raised and lifting their linked hands in demonstration, "lasts for as long as you want it to," his voice softens into a lower register, "as long as you'll have me." He leans forward now to press his lips to Ianto's knuckles.
"And how long would you have me, if you could choose?" The words seem to be rushing out of his mouth, unable to stop himself even when he knows the question is cruel to both of them.
Jack stares at him for an extended moment, silent and tense.
"Please tell me the truth," Ianto adds at a whisper, desperate to know even when he knows the answer will break his heart.
Jack just blinks at him for a moment and it's not until he speaks that Ianto realizes the shine in his eyes is that of unshed tears. "Forever," his voice breaks over the word.
Ianto can't breathe. Insanely, he wants to laugh, the idea that Jack Harkness wants to stay with him forever is ridiculous. But here the man is, close to tears and voice unsteady when Ianto has asked him for the truth. He surges forward, leaning across the table and catches his lips, putting every feeling he can't say into the kiss. It always has been their most effective form of communication.
It's awkward at this angle, with a table between them and Jack still in his seat. But he rises to meet Ianto and their hands are still clasped together and there's one of those big warm hands caressing his cheek now. Ianto feels the dampness of tears as his nose brushes Jack's cheek. He pulls back enough to look at his face, and lets go of Jack's hand to brush away the tears. his other hand braced against the table for balance.
"I would stay with you forever," Ianto murmurs in return, thumbing away tears.
Jack pulls away from him abruptly, dropping back down into his chair.
"But you can't," Jack points out to him, a bitter smile playing on his lips now. Ianto has nothing to counter that. He sits back down too then, warmth growing in his own eyes. He wonders how many people Jack would choose to spend forever with. He thinks, probably everyone he cares for, all those thousands and thousands of people he's met and loved. He would keep everyone close forever if he had the choice.
A wave of anger rises within Ianto suddenly, that Jack doesn't get an end. Jack doesn't get to live his life around who he chooses before letting go like everyone else. Jack has to just keep holding on. It's not fair.
Ianto holds out his hand for him again suddenly, "Jack," he says insistently when the man doesn't look up at the movement. He twitches his fingers expectantly, Jack gives him his hand but he doesn't look happy about it, staring Ianto down ruefully.
"Let's make the most of now, then?" Ianto suggested, keeping his tone deliberately light and meeting Jack's harsh stare head-on.
His gaze softens at that and slowly the corners of his mouth lift, "Let's," he agrees, voice still thick with emotion, but Jack is relaxing once more. They have right now, Ianto is going to make sure that matters.
#captain jack harkness#torchwood#janto#torchwood fic#ianto jones#jack harkness#fanfiction#my writing
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Since Cas is supposed to be spending a lot of time with Jack next season and teaching him about life and stuff, and probably being really sad about Dean while he does it, do you think Jack might notice and bring up Cas and Dean's relationship? He certainly would have no reason to avoid the topic like Sam or anyone else would. If they're really serious about focusing more on interpersonal relationships then I really don't see how they can avoid talking about Dean and Cas.
The tone of your question is making me weirdly feel like we’re verging somewhere between reality show and scripted drama, where the characters are almost out of control of the writers and all the drama is bubbling under the surface, ready to spill out at any moment :P
Like, from a writing perspective, I feel that they just do not approach it as if Dean and Cas are literally real and in love in the same way that to fans who only get the finished content, it can come across… There’s a much more mechanical approach to actually writing scenes than feeling like there is any inevitability. It depends entirely on what Dabb and/or the writer of the scene/episode wants to convey on a wider thematic level and on the closer personal level. If they wanted to emphasise that both Cas and Jack are missing Dean and Jack asks Cas about Dean, then it’s 100% in their control to script Jack’s innocence and Cas’s care with responding, based on circumstances, location, current mood, other things that happen this episode, and wider season-long factors, to be as cagey as he likes.
If Cas and Jack were having that throwing the ball back and forth moment I was dreaming of this morning, it could be cute and wholesome, and Cas regretfully says that they’re doing this because it’s the kind of human thing Dean would suggest, and Jack makes a sad inquiry about how Dean helped Cas become more human and learn to do human things, and Cas, aware that Jack is struggling to be human, answers from the POV of his own slide towards humanity that Dean’s caused, and talks about how Dean has lead him down that path with fondness and pain, and ends with assuring Jack he’s doing really well compared to Cas’s own attempt, and we just charged through a ton of serious Destiel territory without touching the sides.
Maybe Jack gets hurt on a fight that they get into in the sharp end of the dramatic search for Dean, and Cas has to heal him and laments his dumb humans always getting hurt and now Jack is one of them, but then prompted or not, starts talking about how strong Dean is regardless, and it lapses into a quiet moment of them agreeing they’ll save Dean and he’ll be okay, and again, Cas says some deep shit about Dean but it’s not romantic in the surface text, it’s prompted by his sense of protectiveness of Dean and Jack, and that linking factor is just the conversation starter.
Or Jack does some gross thing and then blames Dean, like spitting food like Dean did in front of him in 13x04 and Cas tells him off and Jack says Dean does it, defensively, and Cas gets all roll-eyes-fond-smile, and says that Dean is the best and worst teacher of humanity, and they get into the subject that way… You know, that would be a comic beats, quick answer, joke about Dean to break the tension moment and wouldn’t really get deep at all except for the implied massive fondness they both have for Dean.
Or Jack and Cas are having a quiet moment maybe driving somewhere or stopped at the side of the road and Jack asks Cas to tell him more about Dean because he seems to know him so well but they would be fully in the right to make the question innocent and to have Cas respond carefully like for a kid who doesn’t need to know all his angst, and Jack might see how Cas is handling it all but he will remember Sam and Dean acting so differently about losing Cas when he was newborn that he can only really at the most probing to maintain his innocence ask Cas about how he is feeling about Dean compared to how Sam and Mary are handling it. And as messed up as Cas might be he’s not under an obligation to tell Jack that he’s pining for Dean romantically, and their shared connection to Dean is a family one, not the extra romantic stuff that only Cas has, so talking about that is what can result in any probing directly from Jack in a calm moment if they don’t want to force a confession, which would be the writers’ hand, not Jack or Cas making it happen.
You know, those ideas just as an example of many ways of how to think about the themes and character stuff going on about how a scene is structured and why you would write it. As Jack spent so much more time with Dean than he did with Cas, and ditto Cas has of course more knowledge of Dean, AND that freakin attention hog drama llama is off being possessed by Michael and the main mytharc for them as a result, there’s so many reasons for Jack and Cas to discuss Dean or find him the common thread in a scene that will help them connect.
But there’s no actual imperative on the writing or with the characters that will FORCE them to talk about Cas’s feelings because as much as they’re so strongly implied the text is sagging and tearing and creaking around the weight of it all, the writers are using romance TROPES but they are NOT writing a romance NARRATIVE. Like, romantic things happen all the time between Dean and Cas, but of course the actual story is action/horror/drama and all of those tropes have the bigger storytelling weight. The overlap is enough you can see the ups and downs of the story as basically any narrative - it’s like horoscopes in that sense - and you need to take common sense clues on the writing to know what is actually being told.
The jokes we make that the writers keep Dean n Cas separate or whatever because they’ll just start making out are funny and true in some ways for us as the audience, our expectations and desires if we had full control of the story, especially when reading the emotional weight of their personal narrative. Like, we can identify SO MANY “just kiss him you fool!” moments in the story, obviously none of which were actually kisses despite being the opportune moment.
In the wider picture, the story is never constructed around telling itself just about Dean n Cas and making the beats of their relationship the MAIN reason anything is happening, as in, this story is first and foremost about the hunter pining for the angel and everything has been constructed to be about that from the start. It can inform major events and stuff, but it still isn’t WHY they are writing the story. I know it’s common discourse to be like NOTHING MAKES SENSE WITHOUT DESTIEL but in truth you can ALWAYS see the real line the writers mean to take and while I don’t think the Destiel is accidental, I also don’t think it’s a primary motivator to the plot or characterisation.
This is also NOT a wild hot take for a Destiel shipper or meta writer, it’s being clear about what the show’s intent actually is, and trying to understand where the Destiel reading comes from. Like, in no ways am I saying Destiel isn’t real, a solid part of the narrative and acting, and knowingly written into scenes and story arcs and that there’s always a romantic flavour to Dean n Cas stuff that lacks elsewhere. Of course there’s all this subtext to float a massive ship on. But the luxury of this sort of subtextual romantic story is that the main arc between the characters can have plausible deniability and that in no way for where the writers are working from, does that force them to make choices which they aren’t extremely knowingly doing when it comes to the give and take of making scenes read one way or another.
Like, the entire point is, no previous season has been written as if the actual pitch was canon Destiel at the highest level, because if it had been, we’d have canon Destiel right now, I can say from the luxury of a hiatus where all previous seasons are laid out before us very firmly not having canon Destiel. 13x01-6 was written to be about Dean and Cas in a way that has not ever really been so overt that the emotional arc Dean feels about Cas is the controlling interest but at the end of the day it did not go canon in that time and we moved onto the next story arc. Which is nice we GOT a story arc so much about how they feel but it was still just teasing and subtext and all.
And I am seriously, seriously, not saying this from a place of negativity, bitterness, or whatever else. It’s not a criticism!!! it’s just stating how the fact of the story is. The narrative about Destiel has got so wildly derailed by attention grabbing hype I’ve been clutching my face and wailing at recently about how the end of last season was their big moment to make it canon or they’d have irredeemably fucked up, and blah blah everything seemed to be going that way... No! It wasn’t! The story is not beholden to Destiel! It’s CLEARLY not except for 13x01-6 and that was a contained arc and honestly I still haven’t processed what it means in a bigger picture except that I have no bitterness and all the chill for now.
But the writers’ room is just plodding along through seasons and plotlines and all the different character arcs, and all their MotW and episode pitches and ridiculous ideas and they’re using Destiel as a known emotional tool we respond to and they also clearly like, while at the same time all their focus on plot stuff can very clearly be nothing to do with Destiel and in no particular hurry to do anything about it.
I need this to be really really clear because I spent last season yelling into the void it felt like, repeatedly warning about fandom hype, expectations, and so on, and a bunch of people still got all revved up then really confused and disappointed and upset that the whole thing hadn’t been a massive Destiel whatever, and that instead the episode had been about *gasp* Sam and Jack and Lucifer??? (And also Michael!Dean with no build up and out of the blue because we hadn’t been warned since 12x12 it was happening, because the only thing that happened in 12x12 was Destiel flirting and confessions and sometimes if you were looking closely Mary being an evil hag :P)
So this year I’m going full grump about fandom narratives, expectations, predictions, told-you-sos and so on. At least on my blog, if you come chat to me sounding like the narrative is locked in stone and Dean n Cas are so real they’re breaking the bounds of reality to force the writers to write them being gay together, I’ve just been in fandom too long at this point not to feel like I’ve seen it all before and the only predictions I make are about the fandom meltdowns and what do you know, of THAT I have 100% clarity >.>
PLEASE be critical of what you read; things that might be jokes are hyperbole and things that might be are serious are usually filled with disclaimers and attention to how the reader might react, such as reminders of anyone’s ability to predict canon, and so on. If I’m going around making unfounded statements about Sam ripping the sleeves off his shirts, I’ve seen a BTS pic with a sensible explanation for why we’re not seeing this on screen but it’s a hilarious detail to know when he wears a jacket indoors... But I’m going to PRETEND Sam has flipped and torn the sleeves off all his shirts until canon proves me wrong, because I know it will so I can dick around making jokes about it because no one gets hurt when it doesn’t happen. When someone is making gargantuan claims about canon, Destiel, intent etc, even if you think they’re so much smarter than you (we’re all just faking it, truly. You’re good :P) don’t take anyone’s word as gospel. Understand that meta has no secret access or understanding, there’s no certainty in what we say or do.
i mean I am flat out being hesitant to talk about things which others think are firm spoilers because I just do not think they’re at the point where we know anything about them to say anything. What is the tone, the context, the, you know, full episode surrounding it? I don’t really care about spoilers because they never mean anything, it’s just a weird collecting hobby we do on the internet, and belatedly offer interesting context but before we see the episode are just infuriating and misleading and can only ever be. Full spoiler CLIPS of episodes can be infuriating and misleading, if it’s of an early scene that is pretending to be something else before we get to the real tone/plot/reason for the episode. There’s no validation or proof from spoilers, only glimpses and PR and no storytelling context to explain why it looks the way it does.
The spoilers from SDCC were all utterly banal, empty, predictable answers that tell us nothing of any use or relevance because they’re not going to tell us anything actually interesting or useful because if they were, Dabb would start narrating his full meaning of a chunk of episode. At best we can use the common themes of the answers they gave as our starting points for interrogating the text, like I did above with my hypothesis for Cas and Jack conversations, about Jack feeling human without his powers, and we know they’re spending more time together and they’re looking for Dean. So we can construct ideas but they can go anywhere the imagination takes us... Which is, of course, not where the season is going unless we happen to roll some really lucky speculation dice. Which means, again, the spoilers are only actually relevant/matter WHEN WE HAVE THE ACTUAL EPISODES.
Speculation is ridiculous and I am more and more annoyed by it the longer I’m in fandom, because it ends up with everyone seeming to want to know the story in advance. There’s a media industry in guessing, selectively spoiling, and basically just over-analysing things only to try and work out what happens next. People on the internet being able to guess all the plot twists and secrets because tropes work in certain ways and there are inevitable conclusions sometimes, or legit detectiveing the resolution to a final book or episode or whatever, are missing the entire point, in their need to KNOW what happens next, that it’s only watching it which is actually fun. And if people struggle watching something without knowing what happens, then wait a day and spoil yourself on the real facts and then watch... Blargh.
Wanting to know the raw beats of the story and all the things that happen, usually just to look smart and like you beat the system of the mystery of storytelling, is not what we should be doing as a fandom. We should be ENJOYING ourselves in the fictional space, not stressing over what will or won’t happen. Or feeling like the story now HAS to happen one way or another.
No. It doesn’t. It never does. It can act like it does right up until the last minute and we can hope that it goes where it seems to be indicating and talk about storytelling integrity ahead of any rug pull or whatever, but the writers themselves, the people crafting the story, are under NO pressure from the characters, story, plot... not to do whatever they want with it.
Like... idk, I just feel like fandom has got so full of hyperbole that we’ve got to the point where people aren’t reading it as hyperbole any more and are legit operating on a level where demands and interpretation are on this completely wild place where everything’s just Destiel holding the writers hostage and screaming and there’s full agendas and No Homo Interns galore and I really can not tell at this point, if I whipped up the No Homo Intern from scratch now instead of 3 years ago, if people would BELIEVE it because things got so wild at the end of last season, when it came to how people were treating the text as a living, almost violent thing.
Destiel is ever-present in our lives, yes. It is NOT the writers’ top priority in a scene and they’re under no obligation to make it so despite what would be in the best interests of the show and story, and scenes written without it overtly present are not going to be bad, negligent, stupid, poorly-written, confused, forced at gunpoint by the No Homo Intern, or all written by Buckleming. It is very very possible that the show continues to be written entirely as it has been almost the entire time - which is to say, with Destiel subtextual, and not on the top priority of the agenda in every writers’ mind in every scene, up to and including when Dean and Cas interact or one of them talks about the other.
It’s just one of those things like the social contract which I tend to assume we’re all operating on until things have gone way too far and I realise I am the only one who read the terms and conditions and also someone just got stabbed??
#Asks#destiel#riverboat gambling#fandom problems#wank for ts#like... I know comments like this ask are common jokes#but seriously#I would rather let you down and write this instead of a funny ask#than fuck up and write a funny ask about that comment and leave someone truly believing what they just wrote >.>
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