#and my uncle timmy on my moms side | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ladylemrelle · 11 months

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Sneak Peek at Original Story!

Chapter 1:

Wheat-blonde waves braided back, the young woman worried about the length her travels allowed to grow. Her uncle handed her the carryon she had packed for this homecoming, and she slung it over her shoulder as she began following those in front of her exiting the plane. Her relative was not far behind when she entered the terminal.

“It’s so dead here,” his words were spoken with something of a softened Scottish accent.

What had once been a busy hub of international travel was now a sort of ghosttown. Instead of too many people, there were too few. The cacophonous noise of years ago had decrescendoed to eerie near-silence. Only a few tracks of footsteps echoed around the large, open area.

“Barry,” her fear was faint in the sound of her feminine voice, “will they want us back?”

Had her uncle not noticed? The last time they had been in this land, the place that saw each of their births, they were ten years younger. Since that decade ago, much had happened; they had been in their genetic homelands, her complexion had slightly shifted, and his thinning ginger locks fell to baldness with addition of the new scruffiness framing his face. He gave a couple clicks of his tongue before answering, “They never not let me come back home. You were there last time too, remember?”

“Mhm,” she affirmed. Back then she had yet to embrace her authentic self.

“Dad?” Her cousin’s shocked voice still rang in her ear along with the anger that poured after, “You’re alive? All of this time we thought you were DEAD and you WEREN’T!”

“Tommy, please, I’m here again now,” Barry had tried to soothe his youngest son.

But Tommy would not have it, “So what? You left us when we needed you, Mom needed you, Timmy and Tammy and I needed you! You left and then Timmy left and Mom’s heart left and I would not still be alive if not for the clan which I’m tied to through YOU! I’m as much a McArra as any of us, but I am NOT your son!” He had turned and run off into the surrounding woods. She had run after him, both in basic shirts and cargo pants, short socks and sneakers.

He had long been enveloped in anger but the rage had boiled and evaporated til nothing was left but sadness. She had found him on the lakeshore, head between his knees, black hair messed, glasses sitting beside him in the rough sand.

Hand to his shoulder, she murmured, “At least your dad is living and did return. Mine cannot and the man meant to be my father does not accept me as his own, but just another kid in the family.”

And her cousin sobbed, “Our entire lives they’ve just lied to us… how could they do that? What are we supposed to do when we’ve been living lies?”

“There they are!” the words came from someone she would never forget and was able to distinguish the voice of despite the unusual loudness and emotion it now carried.

Her heart skipped, her breath caught; she halted and grabbed her uncle’s arm. “I can’t go back yet.”

Barry pulled her to the side of the walkway before the steps down. As his niece began breathing rapidly, her hazel eyes suddenly so lost, he offered some words, “Ky, Fallon and Kian have already seen us. They’re glad to see you again, I have no doubt!”

“I can’t face them!” she gasped and looked up from the floor to his face, “Everything is so different now!” She was so different now. Her skin was no longer as pale as theirs, her eyes not green nor gray but messy, dark hazel, and even her hair was no longer short and so purely blond but longer and brownish, however slightly so.

A small sigh of empathy escaped him, “Chimere,” the lingering little accent was clunky with the French name, “Your mother and your uncles and aunt and all the rest of the clan love you dearly. That has not changed and will never change regardless how you look or present or love. Clans in the states got so isolated before even my grandparents were born that we forgot why we had fled Europe and those who stayed behind had gone underground.”

“But-,” Chimere attempted to protest as tears welled and began to fall.

Barry insisted, “All that is new is that you have embraced the true you, and the you that you have always been but hid. It has been many years since we learned you were never Clark’s son but another’s daughter. You look more like it now that you’ve embraced it and that spell no longer masks you. But you are still entirely and totally the same you!”

“Kyleigh!” Kian was calling up the steps, “C’mon Ky, your mom and I have been waiting for hours!”

The blonde beside him fretted, “What’s wrong? Why isn’t she coming down here?”

Barry was glancing in their direction and offered a wave, “We’ll be there in a moment! Can you meet us at our claim? Don’t wanna miss the luggage!” He turned back to his niece and chuckled, “I don’t think Kian has had a haircut since before we left! Long as ever and that shirt he’s got sure clashes with his auburn too, not that he would care!” He offered a wink from behind his frames.

A final few sniffles were all that was needed before a sense of happiness began to blossom inside Chimere. They lifted their bags again and began down the steps toward the baggage claim.

With only a few more yards before they were beyond the secured zones, Chimere could see her mother bouncing in a way she never had before. A giggle could not be helped and tears of joy hit as soon as Fallon cleared the distance to hold her firstborn close to her for the first time in so long.

“Mom,” she said, “you’re wearing a dress!”

The older woman had yet to let her eldest pull away in the slightest, “My baby came back home; I couldn’t just wear sweats and housecoat!”

The uncles could be heard exchanging pleasantries. Both remained alert to the circulating bags tied and tagged to find their respective owners from the flight.

The tiniest distance was between mother and daughter. Fallon’s hands held Chimere’s face, “Look how beautiful you are, and so happy too!” Yet her own visage scrunched in what the younger assumed was regret.

“I missed you,” was it a lie? In some ways it felt untrue but it also did not.

Fallon smiled with mouth, wrinkles, and eyes. “I missed you the entire time, Kyleigh. I love you so much: please never forget that.”

“Of course,” she warmly agreed.

Kian carried so much that he may well have been a pack mule. He grunted as he walked by his sister and niece, “We got your stuff, now let’s get going before rush hour starts.”

They packed the van, the men upfront with the homebody driving. Fallon kept an arm around her adult child the entire ride through suburbia and down the expressway that became more and more natural wonder than man-made habitat the farther south they drove.

“There’s so much more than there used to be,” Chimere noted, finding stores and apartment complexes and more where there had formerly been few to none.

“When I first came back,” Barry recalled, “That’s how I felt when we got about the same area we were passing through just twenty minutes ago!” The destination was not a full hour from the airport when traffic was thin.

The vehicle carried them from well-paved roads to those pockmarked with potholes and then to gravel and then to dirt. The dust was orangish and the sunset exaggerated the clay-tinged coloration. The van parked among several other vehicles, not a proper lot but a mere plot of deadened, flattened grass that would seemingly never stand up again.

While the siblings and their cousin were grabbing various bags to bring inside, Chimere stood a bit before the cars and took in the sight of the clan home. She had grown up frequenting this place, but it seemed so different and with both more and simultaneously less majesty than it had before she had traveled so far for so long.

Kian, hunched over from the weight of several suitcases, awed as he walked by his niece, “Damn, Fal, Kyleigh really looks different. Whatever spell was used did a lot of work, and for the time it had to work after he died too? I still hate the guy, but he must’ve been a pro with his magic!”

He noticed his niece’s frown and offered a small, always thin, smile, “You look good though. You’re a pretty young woman for being a mutt.”

“Kian!” Fallon’s sharp scold pierced their ears. She did not need to say anything more, just used her silver gaze to shoot him sharp daggers. He moved ahead, as did she, and once Fallon was nearer her daughter she expressed with a never-known-to-her-children joy, “Ky, you look so much like him.”

Not all that far ahead, Kian called back, “They all looked froggy to me!”

“I’ll have a word with him later,” Fallon grumbled.

Chimere tried to help, “No, it’s okay. I wasn’t meant to be like this, so it’s really okay.”

Barry cheerily hummed as he closed the van with the last of the luggage and began toward the front door to the mansion in front of them.

The hefty double-sided doors had both been opened by the time the four people reached them. Several others had spilled out to help ease the load and let those now home to catch a break on the parlor’s chairs.

“Kian you’ve made an ass of yourself,” his slightly-taller dark-haired twin told him.

Chimere found amusement in how the brothers interacted which was the same as when she was a small child, and probably since they had been little boys themselves!

“What do you mean?” Kian was ready to fight Ciar despite that they were sharing what the one had been hauling.

“You let the others get you to carry most of the bags like a pack mule!” Ciar beamed childishly but lovingly to the younger twin.

A more youthful laugh from a similar-looking man was added to the commotion. With him was one of their cousins, the porcelain carrot-top who had not once cracked in her life.

Her rosy cheeks dimpled when she caught Chimere’s attention and they sat near each other, the man joining her on a loveseat.

“Kyleigh, you look so vibrant,” Tabby’s voice was smooth as ever, not a squeak despite the high pitch.

A nod from the fellow, “Very vivacious indeed!”

“Thank you both,” Chimere blushed, bashful to be around her older cousins once more. They had been adults when she had not quite matured into one, and so she had never known them on these terms.

Chimere kindly inquired, “I stayed offline mostly but snooped the socials occasionally… are you two just that private or do you keep the tots off for safety?”

Tabby managed to keep a polite smile and charm about her. It was not enough a mirage by strict body language and well-commanded voice for the truth to go unnoticed by the younger woman. Chimere could hear the internal sobs and screams that Tabby kept sealed behind golden demeanor. It had been roughly a decade, with marriage between Tabby and Timo having happened not many months before departure.

“I’m so sorry,” the cousin immediately regretted not feeling out the emotions of her relatives before so casually speaking. She reached a hand out but Tabby shook her own dismissively.

How could she speak without betraying any sadness at all? “You just returned after such a long journey, of course you aren’t caught up and you must be so exhausted that now is simply not the time.”

Timo forced a smile upon his face, “If you want to talk to the newest parents you’ll have to wait until Tommy and Janie come over. We usually see them both on the weekends, and Tommy drops in a few times during the week too.”

Even in the genuine happiness for his younger brother, it was obvious that Timo had restless jealousy within him. An awkward silence settled for a few moments before Tabby excused herself, “I must go help with supper.” Her husband and cousin watched the skirt of her dress trail in the breeze her perfectly ladylike stride was able to muster as she rushed toward the kitchen.

“I’m so sorry,” the sentence was barely a breath from Chimere.

He rubbed his temple and messed up his neat not-exactly-short hair in the process. Arms then folded as he leaned forward to somberly explain, “We’ve had so much trouble even conceiving. The few we’ve managed were lost before their hearts could even beat. I imagine we only caught a couple of them because we were vigilant in checking for pregnancy. Admittedly, I think her obsession with testing for positives is overall harmful, but I can’t say I’m not disheartened too.” Timo sat straight up again, leaning against the back of the seat, and brushed the bit of his hair down. As if this was enough to uplift the mood, he chimed, “Tommy is ecstatic and rightfully so! Janie is more soft-spoken about it and very protective already about them, but you were always closer to them anyway so I’m sure they’ll happily tell you everything.”

“Them?”

He gave a nod, “They’ve got twins. Don’t yet know what kind though, but that news should break soon.”

“Twins?” Chimere felt excitement surge through her, “Do you think they’ll be the next Ciar and Kian? It skipped ours, so-,” but a shrill shriek cut the thought and captured Chimere’s attention.

Timo witnessed with much amusement as the teen girl who had just burst into the room was now hugging Chimere tightly and nearly tearing up as she speedily spoke. “Ky, you’re finally back home! So much has happened and changed and you missed so much! You didn’t even keep in touch, how were we supposed to know anything or tell you anything?”

The eldest of the cousins tapped the youngest’s shoulder, “Cypress, come sit. You’re overwhelming Kyleigh.”

Cypress looked much more womanly now. She was shapely in ways not even subtle in her preteens. Her hair was still long and black except for one streak of blonde paler than her sister’s natural shade. The eyes–one blue and one green–looked Chimere up and down and became even moister.

“Ky, you’re so beautiful,” Cypress could not keep herself from wavering as she expressed her admiration, “You are even prettier than when you looked like you were pure!”

Eyebrow lifted and Chimere teased, “I thought I was quite pretty back then considering I spent my years trying to look like a boy instead. But I appreciate the compliment anyway.”

Timo quipped to the admiring teenager, “If Kyleigh had been a proper McArra you probably wouldn’t have happened. Be glad she’s just your half-sibling!”

“Of course,” Cypress assured, “I’ll always love Kyleigh and Tyler equally, no matter what.”

“As you should,” he approved.

“Speaking of,” Chimere asked, “how is Tyler?”

Tension had returned. Cypress could not be read, but Timo’s inner turmoil betrayed that a problem had been building. There was a broad stormwall on the horizon nearly ready to burst.

“Is he okay?” Chimere’s concern was easily heard.

“Yes,” Timo said, “but currently there is not much to discuss regarding him.”

Memories flooding back seemed broken into puzzle pieces warped by unknown waters. They no longer fit so well. Tyler was barely younger than Chimere, and they had been close in a brotherly sort of sense. He had always been so serious and reserved, and that contrast to outgoing, overbearing Kyleigh had been their biggest contention with each other. When they all were just kids, Tommy had been her closest cousin, but Tyler preferred to pester Timmy. Perhaps his calm demeanor was better suited to Tyler despite that she shared with Timo the same relaxed attitude. Things were no longer so easy and simple. Timo and Tyler were a bridge barely held up while rotting away.

The family members had let their attentions slip but were now returning to the situation at hand. Timo and Chimere exchanged meek looks, and Cypress stated a lone word with confusion: “Chimera?”

Cypress looked to her sister quizzically, ripples from what had just been still water.

“What?” Chimere said, nervous of potential insinuations.

Timo commented, “Of all the things around here, there are none of those somehow.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Tabby’s call rang similarly to a schoolbell declaring class had ended.

#the lady writes #i have more in the document in which im drafting this #might publish as a full legit book one day #have had the cast in stories since I was a teen haha #fantasy fiction

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petersasteria · 3 years

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What You Don't Know Won't Hurt - Tom Holland

Tom || Main || Taglist

Pairing: Tom x Chalamet!Reader Requested? Nah 4,289 words

* * * *

“Happy five-month anniversary!” You whispered in Tom’s ear as you hugged him from behind. He smiled and turned around to pull you in for a short, but sweet kiss.

“Happy five-month anniversary to you too, babe.” He said softly with a bright smile on his face. “I spoke to your brother.”

“Oh?” You raised your eyebrows before pulling away from him to prepare breakfast for you and Tom. “What did you talk about?”

Tom shrugged, “Nothing important. He greeted us, that’s for sure. He’s inviting me to hang out with his friends, actually. Should I go?”

“Do you want to go?” You asked and he nodded slightly. “Then, go for it. When is that supposed to be?”

“Tomorrow after lunch.” Tom answered and you nodded. Both of you prepared breakfast and ate breakfast. You didn’t eat that much because you knew you’d puke it all out later. You’re two weeks pregnant and you wanted to tell Tom later tonight.

You and Tom haven’t been confirming your relationship to the public despite being seen together for a bunch of times. That’s about to change, though.

You and Tom were caught by the paparazzi and it was normal for both of you, but what you didn’t know is that you two were caught kissing and that caused so much reaction from the media. When you two got home from your shared flat, you were surprised that your relationship was outed by the paps. It was something that surprised both of you. You had no problem with that because you didn’t want to hide anymore. Tom, however, was fucked.

Tom’s phone rang and he glanced at the caller ID and quickly went to your shared room to answer it. You didn’t even have the time to ask who it was because he just bolted straight in the room. You didn’t mind, though. It was probably his manager or publicist or someone important from his team.

It was his girlfriend, Nadia.

Tom answered the phone immediately. “Na-”

“When were you planning on telling me that you’re cheating on me? Did you even want to tell me?” Nadia asked. She was mad and rightfully so.

“I was planning on telling you, but-”

“Cut the bullshit.” She said angrily. “It’s so unfair that you and her have gone public, but you haven’t gone public with me and we’ve been together for a year.”

“I was planning on leaving her, I swear!” Tom hissed.

“You leave me with no choice, Tom. Goodbye.” She said before hanging up. Tom let out a frustrated sigh as he sat on the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands and just sat there.

A few minutes later, his phone’s blowing up with notifications from Instagram. He clicked on it and was shocked to see Nadia’s post about her relationship with him. He scrolled through each comment and he was hurt that everyone started going against him.

Timmy saw the post and sent it to you. You were confused as to who Nadia was but when you looked through the pictures and read her caption, you realized she was Tom’s girlfriend. His real girlfriend. You went up to your shared room and saw him sitting on the bed with a shocked face.

“You didn’t have the decency to tell me that you were taken?” You whispered as tears streamed down your face. You didn’t have the energy to speak loudly. “All this time, I thought you were single when we met because that’s what you told me. Everyone’s going to think that I’m the snake who took you away from her, don’t you realize that?”

“That’s not my problem.” He said before getting up and grabbing a suitcase to pack his things. “We’re done, Y/N. I lost her because of you.”

“Wait a second.” You grabbed his arm and he looked at you. “Why are you acting like it’s all my fault? There’s two of us in this relationship! It’s your fault too!”

Tom went back to packing and said nothing. You watched as he moved around the room to grab his things. You suddenly felt sick to your stomach when you realized that you’re carrying this man’s baby.

“You came on to me!” Tom shouted and you flinched at the sound of his voice. He was angry.

“No, that’s not true and you know it! Don’t twist this!” You shouted back. “How dare you blame me for something I didn’t know! If I knew you were taken, we wouldn’t be where we are right now!”

Tom was finished packing his things when he stared at you one last time. He took in your features. Like your older brother, you had a face that made you look like you came straight out of a renaissance painting. In truth, Tom was lucky he was graced to wake up next to a beauty such as yourself.

“Look, I’m sorry. I have to go.” Tom sighed as he grabbed his suitcase and left your shared apartment. You knew he was going to try and get his girlfriend back. You stared at the man you loved as he left your shared flat without another word.

News broke out and Tom defended himself saying shit about you and that he was working on apologizing to his true love which he did. He even got her back and vowed not to do it again. He still got his job and because of all the attention he got, he was being asked to take on roles left and right.

You got the short end of the stick, though. Everyone thought you were a liar and the few people who defended you were facing backlash for being on your side causing them to leave you. Your parents had no say and your sister just dismissed you. Timmy stayed by your side and he never left. He even defended you when no one else would.

This caused a rivalry between Tom and Timmy. Timmy took it personally because even he didn’t know that Tom was taken and Tom promised him that he’d care for you and love you. Tom, of course, didn’t let it faze him. He was still a jackass.

Meanwhile, your pregnancy was going well. The baby was healthy and Timmy has been very supportive. He’s the best uncle in the world, in your opinion. You still get casted for some roles, but you asked them to hide your pregnancy and you were thankful that no one said a thing.

The media still wasn’t so nice to you, though. Since they didn’t know you were pregnant, they assumed that you let yourself go after Tom left you. They made rumors about you having breast implants, you gained so much weight after Tom left, and so much more. This pissed Timmy off because he kept asking you to clear the rumors and just tell them you’re pregnant.

“I don’t want to, okay?! I want this baby out of the spotlight! You saw how the media treated me and I admit that it’s shitty, but can you imagine how the media will treat my baby?! They won’t be so kind and we both know that.” You frowned. “I don’t want Tom to know either.”

“Fine.” Timmy nodded. “Don’t stress yourself, okay? How’s the baby?” He asked as he sat next to you.

You smiled and looked at him, “The baby’s fine and I know the gender.”

“Spill!” Timmy said in excitement. His eyes sparkled and he was happy.

“I’m having a boy.” You grinned.

“Ahh!” Timmy screamed in joy. “Tu as un fils! (you are having a son)” You laughed and nodded as he pulled you in for a hug.

A son. You’re having a son. He’s the center of your world.

A year later, Beau Julien Chalamet is now turning 1. He was very playful and he was always laughing. It brought you joy despite having a tough work life. You were thankful that Beau took almost all your features which made him really look like a true Chalamet. In short, his name suited him well.

Today is Beau’s 1st birthday and you were celebrating in your flat. Your sister will come over later and Timmy won’t be able to come because he was halfway across the world to attend an awards show. You were now waiting for his call while Beau watched Sesame Street in the living room.

You were looking at Beau with an amusing smile as he danced around to the song Elmo was singing on tv. Your phone rang in your hand and you glanced down to see that Timmy wanted to FaceTime you. You smiled and quickly answered, “Hi, Timmy!”

“Hey!” He grinned. “Where’s the birthday boy?”

“Il regarde la télé! (he is watching tv)” You turned the camera to Beau and he was watching while dancing. Timmy laughed and you turned the camera back at you. “I thought you’re at an awards show.”

“Yeah, it was. It’s the after party now and I’m in the men’s room so that it’s quiet. Everyone’s having fun out there and I figured they’d be too busy to go to the bathroom.” Timmy explained.

You nodded, “Tu es intelligent. (you are intelligent)”

“Merci beaucoup.” He said with a playful smile on his face. “Anyway, I want to speak to the birthday boy!”

You grinned and called over your son. You pulled him on your lap and he instantly smiled when he saw his favorite (and only) uncle in the whole world. “Who’s that?” You asked Beau.

“Timmy!” Beau said with a cute smile which made yours and Timmy’s heart soar. Timmy was his first word and your brother will never not let go of that.

“Hey, buddy! I miss you so much!” Timmy pouted. “When I come back there, I’ll give you lots of presents. Okay?”

“‘Kay!” Beau smiled. He can repeat the last syllables of words, but he can say ‘mama’ and ‘Timmy’ really well. It was weird, but hey, every kid is different.

You, Timmy, and Beau kept talking for a few minutes. On the other line, Timmy didn’t notice Tom entering the bathroom. Tom has never seen Timmy ever since the incident and seeing your brother made Tom nervous. He noticed that Timmy was talking to you and he hid in one of the cubicles to listen.

“Y/N, you don’t have to worry about me giving gifts to him. He’s my nephew! I’m allowed to spoil him. Plus, that’s mom and dad’s first grandchild.” Timmy said.

“I know. I’m just telling you not to spoil him. I can’t afford those things and he might go looking for them.” You told him which made Timmy sigh.

“That’s why I’m here and that’s why I’m his godfather. Besides, who else is going to do that? His deadbeat dad? No fucking way, Y/N.” Timmy shook his head. “I swear I’ll beat him up, but at the same time I’ll thank him for giving you Beau.”

“Don’t beat him up, but thank him for me too.” You said. “Well, I have to go. Pauline is coming over in a few minutes and Beau is making a mess in the living room right now.”

“Alright. I’ll talk to you later before you go to bed.” Timmy said.

“Okay. Bye! Beau, say goodbye to Timmy.” You smiled as Beau walked over to you and showed his face to Timmy. He gave Timmy a toothy grin and said, “Bye!”

“Bye!” Timmy smiled and flew him a kiss through the screen. “Bye, Y/N/N. Take care.”

“You too.” You smiled before hanging up.

Timmy put his phone in his pocket and washed his hands. Tom emerged from one of the cubicles and stared at Timmy. Timmy looked up and saw Tom through the mirror. They stared at each other and Tom cleared his throat and said, “H-How are-”

“Skip the formalities and tell me what the fuck you want.” Timmy hissed. He turned around to face Tom and he crossed his arms.

Tom gulped and took a deep breath. “Y/N has a son?”

“Why does that matter?” Timmy raised an eyebrow.

“Is he mine?” Tom asked.

“Everything related to my sister and my own sister will never be yours. Excuse me.” Timmy said angrily before leaving Tom in the bathroom.

Tom looked at the door where Timmy left and he pulled out his phone to call Sam who was back at home and because he conveniently lived near you.

“Hello?” Sam answered. “I thought you’re at an awards show.”

“That doesn’t matter.” Tom said quickly. “You live near Y/N, right?”

Sam was silent on the other line before speaking again, “Why? Are you planning on getting on with her again? Because if you are, at least break up with Nadia first. What you did was fucked. You’re lucky mum and dad love you.”

“That’s not it, Sam. I think she’s hiding something from me. I overheard her brother saying something about having a nephew and the kid having a deadbeat dad. I’m the deadbeat dad, Sam. I think she hid that from me.” Tom said.

“Are you drunk?” Sam asked in concern. “You know, I think you’re an alcoholic.”

“I’m not fucking drunk, Sam! Just check. Please.” Tom begged.

“I can’t just show up at her place a year later! That’ll be weird. What will I say?” Sam shrieked in panic.

“Tell her that I told you to get something of mine that’s still there and then look around. Tell her that I must’ve left my jacket there.”

“Are you hearing yourself?!” Sam shouted. “That’s fucking weird! You left your jacket and you want it back a year later??? Do you know how suspicious that sounds?! Just straight up ask her!”

“I don’t have her number!” Tom hissed.

“Grow a pair and ask her brother! I won’t help you do your dirty work. Besides, if she did have a child that she hid from you, she has a reason for doing so. If she wants to keep the kid away from you, then she has every right to do that.” Sam told him.

Sam had a point. A minute later, Tom hung up and exited the bathroom to find Timmy. He looked around and he couldn’t find him anywhere. When he asked Timmy’s friend, they told him that he left. It devastated Tom.

A week later, Timmy flew to London to stay with you for a couple weeks. Because he hasn’t seen Beau in a while, he decided to go on a roadtrip with Beau to somewhere far away so you can have some alone time. Your alone time was ruined when someone knocked on your door. You looked through the peephole and furrowed your eyebrows when you saw Tom.

“What the fuck.” You said as soon as you opened the door.

“Hey, Y/N.” Tom said with his hands in his pockets. “May I come in?”

“No.” You said and closed the door, but Tom stopped it with his foot. You inwardly groaned and opened the door again to face him. “What?”

“Where’s my son?” Tom asked.

Inheriting your great acting skills from your older brother, you acted like you didn’t know what he was talking about. “What the fuck are you talking about?” You asked.

“Don’t bullshit me. I overheard Timmy talking to you last week. He was talking about a nephew and a deadbeat dad.” Tom snapped.

“Why are you listening to conversations that don’t concern you?” You asked angrily. Tom shook his head and invited himself inside your flat. You rolled your eyes and sarcastically said, “Sure, come in. Be my guest and make yourself at home, will you?”

You closed the door and walked to the living room as Tom walked around the flat in search of a little boy that he hoped would resemble him. He found the room he once shared with you and saw a crib there. He went back to the living room and asked, “Where is he?”

“It doesn’t concern you.” You simply said.

“I have every right to know because I’m his father!” Tom shouted.

“You just gave me your sperm and I did all the work with the help of my brother. You’re technically a sperm donor, Thomas.” You said with your arms crossed. “Besides, you went back to your girl. I didn’t have the time to tell you.”

“You could’ve-”

“No, I couldn’t. Do you know how that’ll turn out? It’ll be messy! You have a relationship to prioritize and I can’t imagine how she’ll feel when finds out that the girl you cheated on her with is having your baby! That would totally suck! I was thinking of her more than you because she’s been through so much hurt. I wish I could apologize to her, but she probably hates me.” You admitted.

“Fuck that shit. You could’ve told me! When was I supposed to see him? Huh? You took him away from me! I want my son and I have every right to have him! You're so selfish!" Tom yelled angrily.

Tears streamed down your face as you looked at him while you sat on the couch. You took a deep breath and calmly said, "You got your girl back. You got all your dream roles and you are constantly wanted by directors for their movies. You have friends and family who are supportive of you. You have parents who love you and cherish you because according to them, you're the best thing that's ever happened to them. You have all the money in the world to support yourself and there's no doubt that you'll be financially secure for the next ten years. You have everything that I've always wanted."

"Tom, I don't have anyone by my side; I'm single. I've been single ever since you left me. I never got my dream roles and I rarely get casted for anything and if I do get casted, I play either a whore or a mistress because that's what the public sees me as. My whole reputation is now tainted as 'Tom Holland's side chick' and the media will forever portray me as that. It wasn't even my fault because you never told me that you were in a relationship that was hidden from the public."

"Ever since news broke out about you cheating on your girlfriend with me, I lost all my friends. They're all disgusted with me now and everyone thinks I'm a liar when I tell them that I never knew you were taken. My parents? They don't like me; they never did. I may be the youngest, but I was a mistake that they decided to keep because my siblings wanted me. My parents never loved me and they never supported me. I'm the worst thing that's ever happened to them. I don't have all the money in the world because like I said, I rarely get casted for anything. I don't want to live off of my brother's money because he worked hard for it. I struggle to make ends meet and I struggle to find work and I'm doing my best at that while being a single mother for MY son."

You sighed as you wiped the hot tears that never stopped falling from your eyes. "My son is the best thing that's ever happened to me and he's the ONE THING I did right. He's also the one good thing that came out of our little mistake. I don't know what I'd do without him. He's the only one I have and you want to take him away from me? Hell, he's the reason why I'm alive right now. When I look at him, I want to be better so he can have better. You don't understand that, Tom. Just because you're a hot shot doesn't mean you can get everything that you want."

"I just want to be with him. I want him to live with me for a while." Tom said.

"Over my dead body, Thomas." You said sternly. "You can't just strut in here like you own the place. I'm sorry you had to find out through someone else, but I won't let you take him from me."

"Were you planning on telling me?" He asked and you shook your head.

"You told me that being with me was a mistake and that you didn't want anything that has to do with me. So, I kept my mouth shut when I found out. I hid it well and when I did an indie film where I was, you guessed it, a mistress, I was already 5 months pregnant. But I hid it well."

"I just want to help you because I was absent in this child's life."

"I got through it with the help of my siblings, especially Timmy, but I did most of it alone. If I can do it alone now until the rest of my life, I'll do it. I don't need you."

"The kid needs a father and that's me."

"No, he doesn't. You're just thinking that because it's like a trophy for you."

"That's not true." Tom shook his head. "My parents want grandkids and he's my son. I want them to know him."

"They can have grandkids the right way. My son was born out of marriage. I'm sure they'd want their grandkid to be a legitimate child." You told him before getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen to get yourself a glass of water.

"Lock the door on your way out, Thomas." You called out from the kitchen before drinking water. Tom sighed before leaving and slamming the door on his way out. ‘The audacity of that man.’ you thought as you shook your head.

Tom went to the pub with the boys and told them everything. Sam shook his head and said, “You pushed through it?! You pushed through your stupid plan of seeing her?! That’s really stupid!”

“Watch your mouth, Sam.” Tom spat.

“You shouldn’t have done that. Besides, she’s right. Nadia will be really hurt if she found out that Y/N’s having your baby. If Y/N can do it without you, she can manage. Just leave her alone. At least you know.”

“Yes, but I want to see him at least. I missed one year of his life. I want to be there for him forever.” Tom frowned.

“You can’t.” Sam shook his head.

“I agree.” Harry nodded. “You ruined Y/N’s reputation and that kid is the only thing that holds Y/N together. She kept it a secret because she wants it all to herself because the media will say shit about her again. If you’re in the kid’s life, you’ll be exposing him to the dangers of the media. She’s just being a mum and that means she’s not risking it.”

“Well said, Harry.” Harrison nodded. “He has a point. You’re not good at keeping secrets either.”

“So what should I do?” Tom asked.

“Nothing.” Tuwaine answered. “Don’t do shit until Y/N says so. Besides, her brother can straight up kill you because you broke her heart and you’re forcing yourself in her son’s life like nothing happened. You’d be a dead man. Imagine the headlines.”

Harrison laughed, “It’s hilarious; ‘Tom Holland killed by Timothée Chalamet’! You’re sending yourself to your own grave, mate.”

Tom sighed heavily as his brothers and friends laughed at his misery.

You told Timmy about Tom’s visit and it angered him. You had to stop him from going to Tom’s flat to give him a piece of his mind. You assured him that Tom wouldn’t bother anymore and that it’s up to you if you want Beau to know who his father is.

It wasn’t until you got your big acting break that you revealed Beau to the public. You’ve been casted in a big movie alongside Timmy and you’ve never been happier. You confided with Timmy and he agreed that it was time to reveal Beau.

You saw Tom’s comment on your Instagram post and ignored it. It’s his first time seeing how Beau looks and he’s probably shocked that Beau doesn’t look like him. Tom messaged you on Instagram and you didn’t want to reply at first, but you figured that it’s been years. Beau is now 4 years old and you knew it was time to let go of your past. It was time for a new chapter. You replied to his message on Instagram and began talking.

With Timmy’s advice and consultation, you allowed Tom to meet Beau and if he wants to, he can visit him every other weekend as long as he follows your rules.

You finally spoke to Nadia about your past issue and now both of you are okay. She believed every word you said and you thanked her for that. She even said that Beau was a very bright child with a great future ahead of him.

Tom wasn’t around all the time due to his schedule, but whenever he’s in the country with a free schedule, he makes sure to give it to Beau. They may not be as close as Tom would like, but at least they were getting along.

You moved on with your life and you finally got everything that you wished for. You got your dream roles, your parents were finally trying to have a decent relationship with you, your sister was around you more, the media was finally asking your side of the story to clear your name, you’re financially secure, Timmy finally moved in with you to help you with Beau, and you started dating someone again. Life is great.

* * * *

sorry if the ending shitty

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @blueleatherbag @cocoamoonmalfoy @thatforgottenangel @parkerpeter24 @turtoix @slutforsr @givebuckyhisplumsnow @buckys-little-hoe @runawayolives @chewymoustachio @hollandsrecs @just-here-to-escape-from-reality @yourstrulyamour @juliediggory @lharrietg @alexx-stancati @rumplebutterbaby @dummiesshort @spideyspeaches @thevelvetseries @buckymylove @quxxnxfhxll @marvelsimps @dreamy-clousds @bora-world @hunnybunimdun @supred12 @more-like-reyna @caitsymichelle13

𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓: @holland-styles @trustfundparker @calltothewild @felicityparkers @hufflepuffprincess24 @tommysparker @justasmisunderstoodasloki @quaksonhehe @call-me-baby-gir1 @itstaskeen @theonly1outof-a-billion @lost-in-the-stars03 @justafangirlduh @piscesparker @speedymaximoff @miraclesoflove @lexirv @blairscott @getbywithasmile @pqrkerr @lavender-writer @blackbat2020 @hoodpankow @bi-lmg

#tom holland #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland one shots #tom holland angst #in-a-lot-of-fandoms-tbh #chalamet!reader #timothee chamalet

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trashcankitty12 · 3 years

Text

Helia Headcanons

Helia Scofield, nephew of Saladin; Master Artist in the making.

Don’t let his soft demeanor and pacifistic leanings fool you; Helia’s up for the fight if he’s needed.

(All headcanons are mainly for my verses: Left and the New Company of Light. Fair warning.)

-Helia was born to Harley and Hannah Scofield.

-Hannah, Saladin’s twin (and the elder twin, thank you) is an illusion-based witch who works with her Great Uncle’s army. She’s a commander of the Pegasus Unit of the Callistan Army, and unlike her brother, tries to keep herself out of trouble.

-Harley’s more of a gentle soul who enjoys art and runs an art gallery in Callisto.

-As you can imagine, his parents, though loving to him and though they did love each other at one point, have had many disagreements about their lifestyles and what would be best for the family.

-Harley was more pacifistic while Hannah preferred to ‘face things head on’. (Both have great strategic minds though, and… Tended to use them against each other.)

-At a young age, Helia showed potential for magic. Hannah and Saladin tried to help hone his potential skills as a wizard, but the best he could do was simple spells to make himself faster and stronger than normal and to send magic notes. (And a few other minimalistic spells. He couldn’t do anything fancy like his mom and uncle though…)

-It didn’t really bum him out too much though. In fact, it was partially a relief that he wouldn’t have to worry about hurting someone with his magic if his feelings or concentration went out of control. And he had an easy way of keeping his utensils nearby while he was working.

-Helia was in a junior sword fighting league as a kid, something his Uncle Saladin and his mother were very proud of. (Though his father thought it reckless and dangerous and ugly… Even if there was a sort of elegance to sword fighting when done right.)

-He also participated in art clubs at his school and did his to earn high marks in elementary and middle school. (He tended to be a daydreamer and often spaced out in class, especially if the subject was boring to him. Which became another argument for his parents.)

-When he was about 12/13, his parents decided to divorce. Hannah relocated and deployed to serve in Magix at the Callistan Embassy (and to be closer to her brother). His father remained in Callisto.

-He was actually happy that they finally divorced, thrilled to never have to hear one of their ‘we’re not really arguing, just having a heated discussion’ sort of fights. Having to decide where to live and what his plans for the future, however, made him sick.

-His social anxiety was through the roof anyway, and on top of all of this… His art took a bit of a dark turn and so did his poetry.

-How dare his parents fight each other and then demand he choose? How dare they implode on him like this?

-(Faragonda and Griffin were honestly the best people during this time. And so were his childhood friends. They helped him keep his cool and realize what he wanted and how to go about talking to his parents about this stuff.)

-Helia left the sword fighting league, he never really enjoyed it anyway except for the moments he was benched and could sketch the matches. And he decided to stay with his father and enroll at the Callistan Art Academy. His mother was so proud that he wanted to follow his dreams, and agreed to weekends and holidays.

-(Honestly his parents were just happy that he was talking to them again instead of pushing them away. They were so worried, they even went to therapy so they could try and do better for Helia.)

-Helia stayed in touch with some of his sword fighting league friends and kept up with his childhood friends when he went to the Art Academy.

-He loved showing off his new works and talking his friends into being models for some of his works. (One of his favorite portraits is of his best guy friend posing with his new weapon after being accepted into Red Fountain.)

-His parents did move on from each other. On his dad’s side, he has a stepdad and a lovely younger stepsister who adores him. (And he has a half-brother on the way!!)

-His mom remarried a fellow soldier, Monroe. And Monroe has two children of their own; Seneca and Marie. (Older stepsisters… They’re loud and boisterous, but they mean well and Helia enjoys watching them pose and give him fashion shows to help out his own work.)

-Though he was only at the Academy for a short time, Helia discovered many things about himself. (And made friends with the Princess of Linphea who had gotten in despite her age. The fairy is truly gifted in making topiary art.)

-He loves his charcoal brushes and using colored pencils when doing sketches. Something about the way it moves on the paper just makes him so happy.

-And he does love to paint, though he’s not much for water colors. (And never ask him to do a digital piece. The last time he tried working with a tablet, he nearly got electrocuted. Granted, it was probably a one-time thing, but he took it as a sign.)

-Poetry is second love, aside from sketching and painting. He loves being able to verbalize his feelings and put the words down that he can feel inside. Its one of the few ways he feels he can truly connect to people, since it’s easier to write down the words instead of saying them. (Though he has done poetry readings from time to time.)

-Between portraits and landscapes, Helia prefers landscapes. And he’d really gotten into architecture drawings before he left the Academy.

-Because his parents were often busy when he was a kid, he found he had useful skills to ‘adult’ while at the Academy and on his own for the first time. (He can cook fairly well, at least, you know what you’re supposed to be eating and it tastes pretty good. But he’s no Chef Langdon.)

-He was great at keeping his room spotless and clean. His workspaces however? Not so much.

-Over half his wardrobe is stained with either paint or charcoal or clay.

-(Yes, he can do pottery. Just not very well. In fact, it usually looks pretty shit, but hey, he tried.)

-After seeing the news about what happened in Magix and how his uncle’s school was destroyed and the people he cared about nearly died, Helia decided to transfer. (Which took a lot of convincing with his dad and the Dean of the Academy and Saladin.)

-But once he was in, he was in. And when given the choice about his weapon, he went with one his mother loves to use, the laser-string gloves. Great for restraint and for quick weapon-recovery in battle without potentially causing further harm.

-Add in his ability to make himself stronger, and he can wield that glove with the confidence of a sword fighter.

-He quickly clicked with Timmy once he joined their squadron, despite the two having different views of technology.

-Helia was Riven’s roommate though, and while their personalities didn’t compete with each other, they didn’t completely get along either. (Riven reminded Helia of Hannah with his ‘let’s just face it’ ways and Riven felt Helia wasn’t much of a hero if all he did was restrain instead of fight.)

-Of course, as time went on, Helia and Riven do have respect for each other, and have many inside jokes that came from their time living together.

-Helia quickly found he was one of the ‘advisors’ of the group, with everyone coming to him for advice. He was flattered, sure, but dudes… Just because he managed to get what he got, doesn’t mean he knows how he did it.

-Aside from training with his gloves, he’s good using a whip and decent with a sword. Bows and arrows/anything needing aim isn’t his strong suit. He’s also not the best at giving reports on how things went on their missions, which is why that task gets delegated to Sky or Riven.

-He trained as a medic too, deciding that while he wouldn’t be the best in a fight, he can help with the aftermath. And his squad kind of needed a medic aside from Timmy and Brandon…

-Helia may not enjoy fighting, but he’s not above doing what’s necessary when the people he cares about are in danger. There have been plenty of times, not just when saving the Magical Dimension, that Helia has risked his life and limbs to protect his friends.

-One such incident was a survival trip to the Marshlands of Amanal. Brandon never would have made it home in one piece if Helia hadn’t thrown himself at the hippogriff. (And he somehow managed to befriend it afterward. No, he has no memory of how he did it.)

-Helia tends to be a stress-sketcher. Worried about a test? Doodles on his notes from class. Worried about an upcoming mission? Sketchbook in hand. Relationship issues? Sketchbook.

-Oh! He’s a great pilot too! Helia has a great sense of direction and has grown up around the ships, so he knows how to work them. (Now, if you want to know what makes them tick or how to put them together if they fall apart, ask someone else. Preferably Timmy or Riven.)

-Helia has a whole stash of teas. A collection, if you will. (Something that he blames Faragonda for, but hey, it’s not the worst habit ever.)

-After all the traveling he’s done thanks to Red Fountain, Helia sort of understands better why his mom and uncle loved their military days so much. Seeing new places, learning new things, enjoying new foods… It’s quite an existence. (If you can look passed all the fighting and wars and invasions…)

-Yes, Helia does yoga. He also enjoys dance. (And with friends like Layla, Musa, and Nabu, he never has to do it alone.)

-Some of his favorite people to sketch: Flora, for her grace and beauty and the way she seems to just breathe life into natural settings; Sky, for his posture and presence and ability to always appear in charge; Layla, for her strength and grace and how every body of water seems to be at her command; and finally, Timmy and Tecna, As a couple, those two just radiate this feeling of joy and it just… How can you not want to sketch it?!

-(Kiko is also a favorite sketch subject. The little rabbit just has so much personality!)

-This may come as a shock to people, but Helia enjoys horror movies. Preferably the psychological/thriller-based horror movies. It’s the way they capture human emotion and it’s just so poignant and interesting. He wants to learn how to convey such feelings in his work.

-Between his parents, you’d think Helia was closer to his father… In actuality, he’s closer to his mother.

-His mom enjoyed doing things and showing him things and just getting him to be more active and curious as a child.

-His father was more of a watcher. An observer-type. Always looking for something awe-inspiring for his next piece. (Something Helia and Harley bond over now. And laugh at, from time to time.)

-Helia enjoys swapping sketching ideas with Bloom and Stella, looking to see what they’re up to and how they can try and work off of each other.

-(And he has done some physical character sheets and layout ideas for Tecna’s video game idea to help her see her vision more clearly.)

-Helia doesn’t play a lot of video games. They’re just not his thing… But he does have a soft spot for the Sims series after Bloom introduced him to it, and he enjoys this maze creation game that a Solarian gaming company came up with for phones (level 200!!!).

-He swears more than people think he does. It’s almost comical how shocked people are when they meet this ‘sweet and soulful guy’ and then he drops a few ‘f’ bombs while working on his projects. (Not just ‘f’ bombs either… Dude gets creative with his curses. Even Riven’s impressed.)

-Helia didn’t go to Earth with the others, instead taking up a job offer on Callisto to help with remodeling his great uncle’s barracks. (And now, the castle itself… He’s so honored it’s his designs in the works.)

-However, he does visit from time to time. It makes him a little sad though, seeing Earth the way it is. All the pollution creating cars, the strange fashion, the way people seem to disregard each other. It’s so sad.

-When the ‘saving the Magical Dimension’ stuff stops, Helia’s hoping to join with his father’s art gallery and to build on his portfolio of projects. (He knows he already has a few jobs waiting for him, like Stella’s coronation portrait for when she becomes queen.)

-He just hopes his works inspire and touch people the way they do as he works on them.

#winx club #winx club au #winx club headcanons #winx club helia #winx helia headcanons #helia scofield #winx club helia headcanons #helia au #artistic warrior

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ahatintimestorybook · 3 years

Text

Ebb and Flow Chap. 7 Disaster on Board

Hey everyone! Back for another chapter!

I tried to get this one done sooner, but work the past few weeks have been rough! I got longer hours, and the weekends are a big punch to the face! AKA SO BUSY!!! During those times my mind goes blank and I can’t get a single thing done in my stories other than a word, sentence or paragraph in. My days off from work, I’m drained from the weekends and need to rest and play videogames.

Despite all that, I was glad to get this chapter done! I made a bit of a reference to the Little Mermaid in this story as well as revealing a new potential ship!

Enjoy!!

On a small ship miles away from Subcon, a crew of people were setting up tables for a big celebration. While everyone was setting up a young girl with long blonde hair was looking out at the ocean board out of her mind. She let out a long sigh as her blonde hair, and fake mustache blew in the wind.

A boy, who looked two years older than her, was humming as he brought over a box of decorations. He saw the girl staring out into the ocean and went up to her. “Hey Mu, what’s wrong?” The boy asked. The girl didn’t reply and just looked out into the ocean. “Come on Mu, I can’t expect my cousin to be sad on her birthday.”

Mu gave a sigh. “No one showed up. Well, except you and Uncle Gio, but I invited the entire class to join and have an amazing time and they all ditched.” Mu felt like she was ready to cry as she told her cousin everything. She hoped a boat birthday party would have everyone show up, but nope.

The boy sighed and put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey even though no one showed up. We’re still going to have a fun time!” He exclaimed. “And if it makes you feel better, you could lie and tell everyone what they missed so they can feel guilty and promise to show up next year.”

This made Mu giggle a bit. “Thanks Timmy.”

“No problem.” He replied as he ruffled Mu’s head, which made her giggle. “Now come on, your mom is baking your cake and I want to see how it looks, and tastes.” Mu nodded and the two went inside the ship to check out Mu’s mother’s baking.

Not too far from the ship, Lucas, Hali, Willow and Vanessa were in the water. Willow was having fun getting used to using her fins, but Vanessa just sat on a rock as she watched her best friend enjoying the time of her life. Lucas took notice of Vanessa just sitting there and swam up to her. “Aren’t you going to join us?” He asked.

“I am, but isn’t just being a mermaid like regular swimming just breathing underwater and what not?” Vanessa replied.

“It’s not like that Vanessa!” Hali spoke up. “Being a mermaid also has survival in it. Not sure how you humans can survive big scary storms, garbage destroying your homes, or humans coming to capture you one by one!” She listed, overexaggerating all the disasters a mermaid can go through which horrified Vanessa. “So, it’s best you girls know.”

Vanessa rolled her eyes as Willow swam over to her. “Come on Nessa, it’s fun! You can swim gracefully!” She beamed. Vanessa sighed and slid off the rock and fell into the water.

“Well now that we are all here,” Hali started. “Let’s go exploring!” She then dived into the water splashing the older mermaids.

“H-hey! Hali! Wait!” Lucas shouted following after her. Willow and Vanessa looked at each other and nodded to follow after the mermaid siblings. In the ocean, Hali looked behind her brother and the girls before swimming off faster. Lucas and the girls tried to catch up to her, but the mermaid siblings were a bit faster than Vanessa and Willow. The two were getting exhausted following after the mermaid siblings, and had to stop to relax their fins. Lucas turned back and stopped seeing the girls had fallen behind. He turned back to see Hali was swimming back to them.

“Hey slowpokes why are you just floating there?” Hali asked. She then turned to see Vanessa and Willow slowly swimming to the siblings.

“Lucas,” Willow tried to catch her breath before continuing. “Your sister is a fast swimmer.”

Hali laughed nervously, and rubbed the back of her head. “Sorry. I'm a fast swimmer.” Soon her laughter was put on hold when she heard chirps coming from a distance. Hali started to swim again following where the chirps were coming from. Lucas, Vanessa and Willow looked at each other worriedly and followed Hali again.

The younger mermaid swam faster and the chirps and calls were getting louder. Once Hali got closer to the chirps she gasped seeing a dolphin tangled up in a net. Quickly, she swam towards the dolphin and started to remove the net so that it could be free.

Lucas, Vanessa and Willow finally caught up with Hali and saw her trying to rescue the dolphin. Not wanting to see it suffer, Vanessa and Willow swam by to help Hali with the netting.

The three untangled the net and freed the dolphin who chirped happily doing some flips. “Aww don’t thank me, my friends helped too.” Hali said, not wanting to take all the credit.

The dolphin turned to Willow and Vanessa and each gave the girls a kiss on the cheek. Willow giggled and Vanessa gave a smile. The dolphin then gave his kiss to Hali, making the mermaid giggle before swimming away.

“Goodbye! Be safe!” Hali yelled, waving to the dolphin.

Vanessa was surprised over Hali’s kindness with animals; she just saw her as an annoying brat, but saw she had a sweet side to her too. “Hali you were amazing back there!” Willow beamed, which snapped Vanessa out of her thoughts.

Hali gave an embarrassed smile, “It’s just what I do. I love to help every creature in need.” She replied. Speaking of creatures, Hali heard another cry for help not too far from where they were and went to swim in the direction of what animal needs help next. Lucas, Vanessa and Willow followed her and the four saw a mother whale crying as her baby was stuck between some rocks. Hali looked at her brother and gave him a quick nod as the two siblings went to help rescue the baby whale.

The mermaid siblings helped the baby whale with Lucas giving the baby a push so he can be free. Hali carefully pulled on the whale’s fins and soon enough the baby whale was free and reunited with his mother. The two whales gave a call before swimming off together.

“You’re welcome!” Hali called out, waving goodbye.

“Aww. That was sweet.” Willow sighed happily seeing the wholesome reunion.

Hali and Lucas smiled. “Thanks Willow.” Hali replied. “Now you see I’m the fastest and my big brother is the strongest.” She added giving her brother a pat on the back. Lucas gave a nervous chuckle and gave an embarrassed blush.

Vanessa and Willow giggled at Lucas’s expression. Vanessa gave a smile to Lucas, still having her crush on him and knowing how strong and caring he was, fueled her crush on him further.

After saving sea creatures, the rest of the day was exploring other parts of the ocean where Lucas and Hali would usually hang out when getting away from their kingdom life. Vanessa was lying down on the rocks staring at the sunlight beaming through the water. It felt magical to her to the point she closed her eyes and started to remember something in her past.

She remembered jumping into the ocean swimming down below, before feeling pressure on her chest for being underwater for so long. Before thinking anymore, Vanessa snapped out of her thoughts to see Hali right in front of her face.

“You okay?” Hali asked.

“Y-yeah I’m fine. Just thinking.” Vanessa replied as she got up.

“Thinking about my brother?”

“No.” Vanessa glared back at the younger mermaid. “Just an old memory.” She replied, turning away from the younger mermaid.

Hali stepped back and turned away as well. “Sorry.” She apologized. “Was it a good memory or a bad one?”

Vanessa scoffed, “Why do you ask?”

“I’m just asking.” Hali quickly replied. “You just were spacing out and looking uncomfortable.” Vanessa blinked in surprise. Hali looked at Vanessa and sighed. “Look when I see someone looking sad or uncomfortable I just need to know.”

“Sometimes you don’t need to know.” Vanessa replied. “Unless the person feels comfortable with telling.” It was then the two girls realized they had a conversation that didn’t involve them yelling or screaming insults at one another.

While that didn’t mean they were friends yet, it did show Willow that Vanessa was progressing with Hali well.

“Hey, can we show you a place where Hali and I usually hang out?” Lucas asked. Willow and Vanessa nodded and the four started to swim off again. The four made it to some rocks, the same rocks where Hali would stare at Subcon all day and what made the mermaid siblings start their adventure.

“A rock?” Vanessa asked.

“This is my special rock, I’ve been on this rock for three years watching Subcon.” Hali explained as she got up on the rock. “If you're here at the perfect time the sun makes the island shine.”

“Yeah. That’s Subcon for ya.” Vanessa replied. The mermaids watched the sun setting on Subcon before they heard voices coming from the distance.

Hali turned to see a ship and people celebrating a birthday party. “What’s going on over there?” She asked. Before anyone could respond, Hali jumped from the rock and swam towards the ship.

“H-Hali! Wait!” Lucas shouted following after his little sister.

“Not again.” Vanessa sighed as she and Willow went to follow Hali and Lucas. The four mermaids swam towards the ship, once they got close enough they stayed underwater so no one could see them.

The mermaids saw Mu’s birthday party going on with everyone dancing, eating and celebrating. Hali’s eyes sparkled seeing everyone gathered together having fun. She realized that mermaids and humans celebrate the same way, no differences except feet and fins.

Hali heard the strings of a guitar and turned to where the music was. Her eyes then gazed at Mu and Timmy playing their guitars to get the party moving. Hali’s eyes were more focused on Mu as she wanted to get a closer look, but couldn’t as she would be seen.

“Wow! She’s amazing!” Hali commented.

Vanessa and Willow looked up at the young girl the mermaid was talking about and recognized her. “Oh yeah she’s part of the Captain family.” Vanessa revealed.

“Captain family?” Lucas asked.

“Their another famous family in Subcon.” Willow replied. “They aren’t big as Vanessa’s family and just have a well known business with training goods.”

“Then.” Hali started. “Who is she?” She asked, pointing at Mu.

Willow turned to who Hali was talking about and told her. “That is Emily Captain, aka Mu. She’s Giovanni Captain’s niece who lives in Subcon.” Willow introduced.

“Mu.” Hali sighed saying her nickname. Vanessa looked at Hali and recognized that look. It was the same look she gave when she saw Lucas for the first time.

The four kept spying on the party, until Mu saw them. Quickly, the mermaids dived down before Mu caught sight of them. The birthday girl looked at the ocean, but with how dark it was starting to get she couldn’t see what was near the boat just now.

Timmy caught his cousin looking at the water below and walked over to her. “See something Mu?” He asked.

Mu turned to her cousin and looked back at the ocean. “I thought I saw someone or something, staring at me.” She told him. Timmy looked where Mu was staring at and saw nothing then the ocean.

“Probably just a fish.” Timmy told her. “Come on we’re about to have cake.” Mu smiled and followed her cousin, which made her pull away from looking at the water. Hali was the first to peek her head up as she slowly went around the ship, keeping her eyes on Mu. She didn’t know why, but something made her want to jump onto the ship and talk with Mu, which was crazier than it sounds, but she wanted to.

“What are you doing?” Lucas asked, whispering. Hali didn’t listen and kept staring at Mu. With a sigh he grabbed his sister by the shoulder and pulled her away. “Hey! Ocean to Hali!” Lucas yelled. Luckily, no one heard it, except Vanessa and Willow. Hali snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her older brother. “What’s wrong with you?”

Hali nervously chuckled as she played with her hair. “S-Sorry.” She stuttered. “I just seemed interested in Mu.”

“You mean to be her friend?” Lucas asked.

“Y-yeah.” Though from the blush on her face it seemed to be a lie. Vanessa and Willow looked at each other knowing what Hali really wanted to be with Mu. The four decided enough was enough and decided to swim back to shore and head back to Willow’s for the night.

However, that became a big problem. Once reaching shore, clouds started to cover the evening sky and a few drops of rain fell from the sky preventing the four from drying their legs. “Oh great!” Vanessa complained. “How will I explain to my mom about this!”

Willow giggled. “Relax, she won’t get mad at you now for being out in the rain.”

“True.” Vanessa groaned in reply.

Lucas and Hali giggled as well, and sighed looking at the rain. It wasn’t a big storm or anything, just a rain shower. A cool relaxing rain shower. That is...until a large clap of thunder in the distance surprised them. “Quick, dive!” Lucas yelled. The mermaids all dived underwater, and saw it was completely different underwater then on the surface. You couldn’t tell it was storming unless you were closer to the surface.

Hali realized it was about to storm and got worried for Mu and the people aboard the ship celebrating the party. Quickly, she started to swim towards the ship hoping that Mu was okay. “Hali! Where are you going!?” Lucas yelled, but Hali ignored him and went to check up on Mu.

Mu however, was not okay. Everyone on the ship was screaming in fear after the clap of thunder spooked her and she fell overboard with a piece of rope tied to her foot. The rope was dragging the young girl down, and no one grabbed it in time to stop Mu from falling. “Mu! Mu!” Her mother shouted, almost in tears.

Mu was below the sea trying to remove the rope from her foot. She was slowly losing air trying to get the rope off from her foot. Her eyes slowly closed as she slowly started to lose air.

Just before Mu could drown. Hali finally made it to her and quickly removed the rope dragging her down off her foot. Mu slowly opened her eyes and got a glimpse of Hali before she closed them again as Hali helped Mu up to the surface.

“Mu’s okay!” Timmy yelled. Quickly, the crew reeled in a floater for the young girl and brought her back on deck. Her mother came by and held her daughter and cried seeing her daughter almost died.

“My baby! My baby!” Mu’s mother cried as she held her close.

Mu slowly opened up her eyes seeing her mother. “M-mom.” She groaned. Mu’s mother gasped and hugged her daughter tight. Mu slowly turned her head and saw a glimpse of Hali’s tail swimming away. Only she noticed it as everyone was worried for Mu’s safety.

Hali smiled seeing Mu was going to be alright, and quickly swam back to her brother and friends, seeing as they were coming towards her and they swam away from the boat and that it was time to call it a night.

Luckily, the rain quickly passed and soon the group was able to dry off their legs and quickly make it to Willow’s house for the night. Vanessa called her mom, and told her about the rain and she’ll be staying the night. Good news, her mom was understanding with the rain and let her daughter spend the night at Willow’s.

Hali was looking out the window relaxing after the long day she had. Lucas came by and went to stand by his sister. “Why did you do that?” He asked. Hali looked up at her older brother. “Why did you go back, almost risking yourself being caught.”

With a sigh, Hali spoke up. “I just wanted to check up on the girl and well I saved her life.”

Lucas sighed and put his arm around his little sister. “I know, but please be careful Hali. We don’t want to be caught.” He told her.

“Right.” Hali replied with a nod. For the rest of the night before falling asleep, the siblings watched the moonlight sky.

At another house miles away, Mu to was watching the moonlight from her bed. She was constantly thinking about Hali, and why she saved her life tonight. It was a surprising birthday for her to say the least.

#ahit au #mermaid au #Ebb and Flow AU #ahit the prince #mustache girl #ahit Timmy #hat kid #queen vanessa #ahit the florist #cooking cat

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miss-choco-chips · 4 years

Text

Teaching you, teaching me

Four times mother and son learned from and about each other, and one time Tim used his knowledge for evil good.

(Warning: Tim is older in some and younger in others, without order)

(For my babes @the-quiet-carrotcake and @animemangasoul who cheered me up when I was feeling bad, hope this makes you happy as well!

Also, hon tagged me on a ‘five word prompt generator’ thing and I lost the post, so this is my contribution, five words that inspired each part)

Animal

When Jack died, it was sad but they were prepared. He’d been in a coma for two months by then, and Janet had practically been readying both herself and her son for the outcome. Tim had been sad, but it was more because of a possible future lost (he’d never given up the hope of his father changing one day, of Jack wanting to stay and being more present in his life), than genuine sorrow. Or so had the therapist told her.

Janet hadn’t felt bad, not really. Her relationship with her late husband had been cold long before his death, ruined by years of neglecting their son and being absent of their lives, but she suffered for her son, with his too big heart, who didn’t hesitate on wasting his tears on a father that never deserved them, the second she told him the news.

Still, she held his hand through the entire funeral, surprised by the way he held his head on high. When he threw an arm over her shoulders to guide her away, after the service was over, she realized he was trying to be strong for her. The thirteen year old, heart breaking inside his small chest, was puffing it out to make himself seem bigger, more reliable, to comfort a mother that didn’t really need it.

Her beautiful, kind son.

Max’s death, a short two months after, was nothing like that.

The dog had been part of their household for nine, almost ten years now. Bought shortly after the circus tragedy, in a desperate attempt at soothing her son’s nightmares with the company of something fluffy and loveable, Max had grown up next to Tim, been there for any sad or happy moment, comforting him or sharing his joy by turns. The golden retriever had seem made specifically of love, giving all of it to the kid he’d been gifted to, and for that alone Janet had gone all out on his medical treatments, desperate to make him live as long as possible for a dog.

Still, he was gone too soon, taking with him Tim’s smile and leaving ample space for tears. Tim had stayed by his side from the moment the veterinarian informed them of his chronic condition, to the tragic end of it, petting him softly and speaking in low, comforting tones.

Max’s last act before dying had been to lick Tim’s hand, the only thing he could reach from where he was lying on the dog bed, and wag his tail once. Even at death’s door, he’d showed Tim more love than his father ever had. Just for that, Janet would Max more than she did Jack.

It also baffled her, when Tim rejected her offer to bring home another dog a week after the small funeral they held in the backyard, softly closing the book on his lap to give her his full attention.

-You love getting new pets -she felt compelled to point out, because it felt like the obvious course of action.

-I do, but I also know why you are suggesting it now, and it won’t work. You can’t make me forget my sadness over losing Max by getting me a puppy, mom.

-It’ll fill the void -she insists. Almost desperately.

(She can’t stand to hear her child cry by himself at night, his despair breaking her heart worse than anything else ever could)

-It won’t -he says, shifting in the window seat he always choose when deep in thought or in a contemplative mood-. I loved Max, not because he was a dog, but because he was Max. Even if you buy me a hundred puppies, I’ll love them because they’d be them. It won’t make me forget my pain over Max’s death.

She wanted to fight him on it, offer more, whatever it took to wipe the dim and far away look from his eyes, but he glanced up at her, so softly and fond, and she felt her tongue glueing itself to the top of her mouth.

She thought, weirdly enough, of Wayne. Of how, when his first son went away, how he took another boy in. Despite loving Jason, he never stopped missing Dick. She thinks she understands, a little, where Tim was coming from.

(Tim would throw his book at her, if he knew she was comparing the Waynes to dogs, but, if the shoe fits…)

Demonstration

They say watching was the best form of learning, and Tim took it to heart. He analyzed people, going to work, hanging out with friends, buying groceries, fighting, laughing, crying… he saw, and he learned.

The one he watched the most was his mother, though.

How she smiled oh-so-politely at parties, how she ruthlessly destroyed the person speaking to her with short, well informed facts and dirty laundry. How she did both at the same time.

He went with her to DI, and took notice of the way her hips swayed with each step whenever she needed the room’s attention on her, or made her heels click extra hard against the porcelain floor when she wanted averted eyes.

She waved sweetly to her secretary, and frostily glared at the board member sitting three seats away from her.

She clenched her teeth during a phone call with someone she hated, but kept her voice perfectly smooth, warm even, as if speaking to an old friend.

He knew he would inherit the company one day. And, small as DI had been in the past, it had flourished under Janet Drake’s tender and constant care, blooming into the powerhouse it was today, on par with Wayne Enterprises. It was intimidating, to imagine all that power, all that responsibility, on his shoulders.

Mother, Aunt Nicole, Uncle Lex, Uncle Bruce, Dick, Jay… they all said it, that Tim was too kind, too soft. He would give his hand to someone down without a thought, rather than see if they had a weapon first. Sweet, they called him, and made him blush, because he liked it. Liked that, to all that ruthless, sharp, for moments cruel people, he was a warm presence. A safe, comfortable place to lay worries to rest and smile. He liked being their sweet Timmy.

But he also despised it, because he was a gothamite, and this city ate sweet people whole for dessert, just after finishing with the foolish and naive ones that made for it’s lunch. There was no place for tender people, because that was the best kind to sink teeth into, and Gotham feeds on them. And he can’t die, because who is going to make sure mom and Nicole don’t go off the deep end? Who’s going to help Lex understand and bond with his son, with Conner? Who’s going to make sure the Waynes are getting along, when Alfred himself decides to leave them to their terrible life choices?

So he watches his mom, because she’s a prime example of someone not to be fucked with. Someone who is going to survive this wreck of a city until her drawn out, bitter end, and when that comes, she’ll go kicking and screaming and suing people to the ends of the earth. She doesn’t fear Gotham, and while sure as fuck Gotham doesn’t fear her either, it at least respects her.

So he watches, and memorizes, and adapts behaviours and gestures into his own, tries to mimic the look in her eyes that send people flinching back and laughing nervously.

And, since he’s watching, he notices that she knows. How she’d look over her shoulder, straight into his eyes, as if saying ‘pay attention, I’m only showing you this once’ before she does something particularly tricky. Demonstrates her way of surviving, and lets him learn from it to make his own.

Tim, eleven years old, so tender and soft he’s like a warm, eatable bunny in everyone’s opinion, closes his eyes and breathes in, deeply. When he opens them, the icy blue of his gaze is enough to send the closest board member stumbling back and mumbling an apology (for what, who knows) before scurrying out of the room.

Mom looks back to the rest of the board, but Tim knows (because he watches her all the time, he’s learned her to the smallest detail) that she’s smiling.

She’s proud.

Galaxy

It’s late, and she feels sick and wants nothing more than to go to sleep. She’d basically lived at the office this last week, because of some stupid mistake Jack had made with the one piece of paperwork she needed him to sign (how he manages to screw up from all the way across the world, she can’t quite understand; it surely requires talent), and feels about ready to collapse on her bed.

But, because it’s been a while since she saw him, something in her gut tells her to go look for her son. Tim’s probably asleep right now, it’s almost four a.m, but if she’s silent enough, she could sneak a quick peek through the door, make sure he’s fine, and then go to bed completely unburdened.

Except, when she gets there, she’s treated to the sight of her son, her eight year old son, getting back into his room from God knows where by climbing through his window. Which, by the way, was located on the third floor.

Janet pressed a hand to her chest, as if to make sure her heart was still beating. It was, but the speed couldn't be normal.

Was this a heart attack?

Hidden by the shadows on the hallway, she noticed how he removed his tiny sneakers, that she had completely forgot he even owned, and thrusted them under the bed. They were worn out, full of grim, obviously used often for activities like sneaking out at night and climbing the house.

Yes, she was having a heart attack. And an aneurysm. Simultaneously.

The camera around his neck, she did remember. The one gift he had asked for his last birthday, the only thing he ever begged her for. She hadn’t understand his passion for owning one, but since he never had looked so earnest (and wanting to make up for Jack missing the day) she conceded.

Was it a mistake? Watching the little boy making himself comfortable in his bed, going through the photos in the camera with the most delighted expression ever, she felt like ‘fuck yes’ wasn’t a strong enough answer.

Her first impulse, to jump inside the room and demand answers, was squashed down almost as soon as it hitted her. If she did, Tim would clam up and deny everything. Instead, she breathed in deeply and tapped her knuckles against the doorframe.

Tim almost jumped straight out of his skin, looking at her like a thief caught red handed. It’d be almost funny, if her heartbeat wasn’t still off the charts.

-Timothy, it’s quite late. Why are you awake at this hour? And with your camera? -she made a show of scanning his clothing, as if she wasn’t aware of the jeans and hoodie- Why aren’t you on your pajamas?

She could almost hear him thinking, brilliant mind kicking into overdrive as her prodigious son searched for an answer that would satisfy his mother and keep him out of trouble. Shame no such answer existed.

-I… was outside, mama -he mumbled; calling her like that, amping up the cuteness, was almost overdoing it, but she supposed the situation called for big guns- Taking pictures of the sky. I-I know it’s dark, and polluted, but I heard today was going to be extra-starry, and I thought maybe I could photograph the stars for you?

He was good, she ought to give him that. But years too young to even try to lie to her.

-I see -she answers, calmly walking closer to him. Her face betrayed nothing, and she could see how that was getting into him by the way he was fondling with the camera, almost carelessly compared to his earlier reverent touch.

He flinched when she sat by his side.

-M-mom?

-Well? -an arched eyebrow- Aren’t you going to show me? You did something incredibly dangerous, climbing down your window- no, don’t even try to lie, I saw you climbing back in. Don’t think we won’t be talking about that in the morning. But you did something truly reckless, for those pictures for me. The least I can do is see them.

Quick, trembling hands fumbled a bit with the buttons. Janet was honestly surprised when he turned the camera around, showing actual sky pictures to her. She believed it a bluff. Maybe preventive measures, in case he got caught? She was sure he was lying, because even if they were sky pictures, it wasn’t a particularly nice view, all foggy and polluted Gotham landscape.

She also noticed (though pretended not to) how those angles weren't ones he could achieve from their backyard, which upped her panic levels a few notches. Her baby had been alone, at night, away from home, in this shithole of a city.

-What a pity -she says, instead, giving back the camera, despite her burning desire to search for older pictures to get an idea of her son’s true activities-, those look like the usual sky. I would have loved to see the stars. Well, not your fault, this place is just ugly. Maybe we should move to Metropolis, I’m sure there are stars there.

-Mom…!

-Hush, now, go to sleep. We are talking about sneaking out and bedtimes tomorrow, I’m too tired right now.

She could see his anxiety (at moving away? Why did he love this place so much?), but he must have realized he’d push his luck too far if he insisted, so he kissed her cheek and let her tuck him in.

Despite her bone-deep tiredness, Janet couldn't get a single second of shut eye at all. By six a.m and truly out of ideas, she picked up the phone. Too respectful of Nicole’s boundaries to bother her at that hour (or at least, not desperate enough; had the situation been a little more urgent, she wouldn’t have hesitated to drag her to the manor kicking and screaming), she called Lex.

At the fifth ring, her old friend's voice answered- I have a conference with the president in a few hours and need rest, this better be important.

-Please, your sleep schedule is even worse than mine. I need an opinion.

-And is Al Ghul unavailable? Why are you bothering me, when you two usually ignore my advice and go to each other?

-Don’t be jealous, green isn’t your color. Lavender isn’t either, but well, I guess you can’t win all your battles…

-Bold words for someone asking for help.

-Who said anything about help? I just need a new perspective. And I’m already regretting going to you for it.

-Well, I’m awake now, so might as well. Mercy -Luthor’s voice sounded a little muffled, probably covering the receiver while he addressed his bodyguard slash buttler- I’ll be in the study, bring me coffee.

She gave him a few minutes, twirling one of her dark locks in her pointer finger. Laying in bed, unmade by all the tossing and turning she did for the last hours, she looked the picture of unrest. Luthor would laugh himself sick if he saw her now.

-Alright, I have coffee now. What happened?

-I caught Tim coming back home after sneaking out last night. It looked like he did it before, multiple times; he had specific shoes for it that he hid, and even got some backup-plan photographs to make it look like he was just in the backyard photograpying the sky.

She heard the squeaking sound his chair made as he sat straighter, floored by her confession.

-You should oil that chair. Is unbecoming for your image if it makes that kind of sounds everytime you move on it.

-Sorry, I can’t answer properly to the last part because I’m still reeling for the opening bit.

-Weak.

He ignored her (rude), muttering under his breath- Tim what? No, he wouldn’t… well, he does have Janet’s genes, so maybe…

-So -she cut him off, because if he kept that line of thinking, she would hang up and he still hadn’t given her any advice-, your thoughts?

-Get a bodyguard on him 24-7 who’ll keep him from going out at night -he answered quick as a wip, not even needing to think it through. She huffed.

-If it were that easy, I wouldn't need your opinion, you fool. This is my son we are talking about. Guilt and duty might keep him from going out, if I appeal to those, but brute force and shackles? He’s smart, smarter than you, maybe even than me. If he really wants to go, and finds no moral obstacles, he’ll find a way.

-So, do what you said, attack his conscience.

-I want to keep him safe, not emotionally destroy him.

-Forbid him from going? Like you said, he’s a dutiful son, and very well behaved.

-Which means he’ll make sure I think he’s obeying, but no guarantees he’ll actually do it. Think harder.

A few minutes went by, before the man sighed.

-You said it yourself, if he really wants to go, there’s little you can do, short of locking him up like a prince in a tower. Maybe speak to him, tell him your reasons to worry… and get him some martial arts teacher, to give him a fighting chance if he ends up disobeying anyway.

----.----

After speaking to Luthor and a quick call to Nicole for a favor (namely, get Lady Shiva to accept a work as a sensei for Tim), Janet slept for a solid nine hours. Eating, overseeing some papers and phoning her secretary to clean her schedule for the rest of the week, and she was ready to face her son after having dinner together.

They sat on Tim’s bed, and she held his hand as she spoke to him. About how cold it was, how easy it was, before he was born. How life was do this, think about that, conquer here, throw something away there. Act, consequence, simple as that. Clinical as that.

It was different, she said, when he came to her life, to her arms. Because it was warm, and difficult, and so, so scary. She’d never been so afraid of the butterfly effect before. Now, consequences of a misstep could come to bite her in twenty years, a simple act now could make Tim despise her in the future.

“I’ve never been so afraid in my life”, she told him, baring her soul for the first time in her life. “But I’ve also never been happier, and it’s all because of you.”

“I love you”, she told him, giving her heart away for the first time in her life. “And I can’t lose you.”

Those words were the hardest for her to say. She did it, anyway. Because he needed to hear them, and because they might be enough to keep him from pulling last night’s stunt again.

By the time she was done, Tim’s face was a mess of tears and snot. He hadn’t uttered a single word, holding onto her hand like a lifeline, but his smile was the brightest, prettiest thing she’s ever seen.

-I’ll be careful, Mom -he promised, between wrecked sobs. It had truly affected him, to hear her heart thoughts so bluntly. She ought to do this more often, if he treasured it so much- I.. I won’t go out at night alone, not until I’m someone not even the Rogues can mess with. I promise -he looks at his bedside table, where the camera sits, and looks regretful but determined at the same time. She knows he means it. Whatever feeling he got from sneaking out to take pictures, it evidently wasn’t as strong as what he felt now, holding his mom’s hand and shaking from such strong emotions.

-Thank you -she breathed in deeply, relaxing for the first time since the night before, letting go of his hand to hug his shoulders, pressing him into her side.

After a few seconds of silence, he weaseled out of her hold, raising a hand to halt her when she tried to follow his example and get up- Stay there a minute, Mom, I have something to show you.

With that, he sprinted to the light switch, and turned them off. But a slight, greenish glow remained in the room, and then she noticed the glow in the dark stars sticking to the ceiling.

There were… a lot of them.

Tim came back and sat once again next to her, hand quickly snatching hers.

-You said… you said you wanted to see the stars, so I made you a little galaxy. Whenever you want to see them, you can come here… You’ll also know, that way, that I’m here and not sneaking out.

Thanking people wasn’t something Janet did often. But she had said ‘I love you’ today, and that one was a first, so this wasn’t too far fetched for her.

-Thank you, Tim.

Feedback

A week after showing his mother his multiple closets full of disguises and aliases’ clothing, he was called into her office.

He had expected some questions, maybe even feedback or advice in how to perfect his portrayal of other people.

He hadn’t expected this.

-..and I know I’m not as… adapted to the ever changing times as younger people like you. Me, Lex, sometimes Nicole, we are too set on our ways, but.

She cleared her throat. Tim still wasn’t sure he wasn’t having some kind of fever dream.

-But. It’s important for you to know that I… I won’t ever judge you for something you are. I might judge your actions, like when you accept Todd’s offers for a ride downtown, or Grayson’s requests for a dance, or when you are too dumb/ kind, too kind, towards other people… But I’ll never judge you for something you didn’t choose. Like this.

In the midst of this confusing speech, Tim still couldn't quiet comprehend why mom was gesturing towards the shoes on the desk. They were simple, red heels, not even that high, belongings of Caroline Hill, one of his more successful aliases. It was a wonder how people on the Alley’s clinic hadn’t catched on that their favorite voluntary nurse slash doctor in training was a fifteen year old kid instead of the nineteen year old shy girl they thought, but it was an ego boost when they called him Miss Hill, and a boost to his medical skills when they taught him something new.

-I understand this is an… -a quick glance to the papers in her desk. Had mom… wrote this down beforehand? What…?- age of changes, yes, an age of changes for you. And you are… discovering- no, learning yourself. And I’m honored that you trusted me enough to show me that, and came to me in this… confusing times.

Tim opened his mouth to speak. Mom seemed to panic, as much as mom ever did anyways, quickly sorting through her sheets of… Information? Pointers?

-Not that I think you are confused! I trust that you know yourself the best, and I trust whatever you say to me are your honest feelings on the matter.

-I… I am confused -he managed to blurt out.

Mom winced, and searched among her papers some more. When she seemed to find whatever it was, she pulled it above the others, gave them a quick glance, and kept going- It’s okay if you don’t know it yet, too. There’s more than just… male or female. According to my research, there’s a ‘neither’, ‘both’ and ‘sometimes one, sometimes the other’ option.

Janet seemed lost at her own words. Tim could relate. He wasn’t even sure they were talking about his aliases anymore.

-What I mean to say is -she breathed in deeply, letting the papers fall to the desk and meeting his eyes head on-, I love you. You are my son, daughter, neither, both, whatever you feel, but still mine. My child, and nothing you do about your… identity or sexuality can change that. I’ll always accept you, as you are. And if anyone ever gives you trouble about it, you can always come to me and I’ll set their minds straight, or remove them from the picture.

Tim felt fondness surging in his chest, even as his mind came to an abrupt halt when he finally understood what this was all about.

-You might have to be patient with me, or explain some concepts, as I learn about this, because its all new information to me. But I promise you I’ll always love you no matter what, and I’m willing and ready to do my best to/

-Mom -he finally choked up, torn between embarrassment and profound love- I’m not… I’m a boy. I really, really appreciate all this, but you don’t need to… I mean, the shoes and clothes? It’s because I’m making aliases, so I can learn different things and meet people without it being traced back to me. Like, tools. Caroline Hill, the shoes owner, for example, is a tool to learn about medicine, and practice the way of women in case I ever need to disguise myself as one. Not… not actual representations of Tim Drake.

There was a minute of silence.

-Well, this is… unexpected.

-But -he continued, cheeks warm but hurting from smiling so hard- you are the best mom ever, and this learning you are doing? It’s great, even if not applicable to me, because it… it’s good, for people to understand and accept other people like that. It makes you a better person, and I’m really proud of you.

He got up from his seat and walked around the desk, sitting in the floor by his mom’s chair like he did when he was a toddler, and rested his head in her lap, hugging her legs, eyes going to hers with wonder and happiness. She seemed utterly relieved, both at not having fucked up their chat, and at him not being mad at the misunderstanding.

-Aliases, huh. I can help with that. We can talk about it over dinner, and I’ll give you some suggestions.

-Thanks, mom. And, hum, since you brought up the whole gender and sexuality stuff… this might be a good moment to let you know I’m bi.

Long, sharp nails scratched his scalp softly, his eyes closing almost on instinct. Her laugh ringed in his ears.

-It doesn’t matter to me, Timothy. Boy, girl… whoever you bring home, I’ll…

He smiled, expectant.

-... never accept them. No one, no matter their genders, is good enough for my son.

Ah, there she was, the mother he knew and loved.

Movie

Tim, sitting in his study, didn’t even raise his eyes from the paperwork mom had assigned him (to help make him accustomed to dealing with it for when he’ll have a more central role in DI) when the door opened and closed with a bang. He continued signing contracts with one hand, while the other patted his desk for his phone, shooting a quick text to the butler without looking.

-Can you believe it? -his intruder clamored, walking back and forth in front of Tim’s desk, hands messing through long locks of black hair.

-No -he replied, eyes still not leaving his work- It's amazing, how the stock market dropped on Wayne Enterprises. What is Bruce thinking, with the neon knights? He can’t do that and then go gallivanting around the world alone again, the stockholders won’t stand for such a big inversion without the logical follow up. I need to phone Damian about this, maybe he can ask his brothers to pose as Bruce and/

-I’m not talking about your precious Waynes!

-I know -he replied, hand finishing the last stroke of his signature, raising his eyes to his godmother just as the door opened and the butler brought a tea (and coffee) set, placing it by the little table in the corner of the study-, but I needed a few minutes to finish this before paying attention to you, Aunt. Now, a cup of tea? I’ll be having coffee, but it might not be the best for your frayed nerves.

-My nerves aren’t frayed, you little brat. Show some respect. Where is my cute little angel of a godson? -she complained, sitting as elegantly as ever in the plus couch by the little table. Tim sat opposite her.

-He hasn't slept in three days -and is being asked to meddle into adult’s problems, but he didn’t voice that part, merely mixing ingredients in the steaming cup-, It’s natural to be bitter. Now, tea?

She didn’t answer, but accepted the offered drink, already prepared to her tastes perfectly. Despite her anger, she smiled. Two sugars, no milk, a little lemon, the smallest hint of vodka. Her godson knew her so well.

A few seconds went by as Tim readied his own coffee and downed half. The butler topped the cup for him, and then left just as quietly as he had came.

-Now, want to tell me what has you so mad?

He already knew, but playing innocent was one of his strengths. Bruce still blamed Dick for the incident on the music room of the manor, despite the fact that Tim had been there at the moment and his eldest far away on a secret mission civilian Tim wasn't supposed to know about. That was the true power of a goodie two shoes.

-Your mother, she… You know we were planning on going to the movies today, and she…!

-Ah -he nodded, as if only catching up then- She went with Dana, right?

Nicole gritted her teeth, downing her cup in one long glup to calm herself. Tim merely took the teapot and filled it again.

-Janet doesn’t even like the movies! She hates being around other people. The only reason she goes is to humor me, and now… That woman…

-Dana is a good person -he intervened, because he genuinely liked her. Dana Winters had been in charge of taking care of his comatose dad until his death, and they had spent some time together during his visits to Jack. A lot of his alias Caroline Hill had been based on her. And right now, she...

-Too good -Nicole muttered, which Tim suspects, was the root of the problem.

-Shouldn't you be glad? -he asked, head tilted in his best show of naivety- That mom is trying to get someone kind to be by her side? Dad wasn’t… dad wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t as nice to mom as he could have been. I, for one, want her to be happy.

-Janet doesn’t do nice.

It took everything in him to not answer ‘well, she might tonight’, because that would ruin his innocent image, and he was afraid Nicole might actually stab Dana. Really, refraining himself like that was almost painful. Mom better appreciate his sacrifice.

-The nicest thing she could ever stand was you -she continued, ignorant to her godson’s internal struggle-, and you are her baby.

-I’m fifteen -he felt compelled to inform her, but was promptly shushed.

-To us, you never grew past your chubby stage.

-I didn’t have a chubby stage, and you can’t prove otherwise -he’d know. He was the one who got rid of the evidence.

-Back to the point… Dana is no good fit for your mom. She’d end up tearing off her own hair in frustration in less than a month after countless discussions of morality and ‘doing the right thing’. She can barely resist when it’s you doing the nagging and, again, you are the exception to all of Janet’s rules.

Tim hummed, thinking distractedly how someone as smart as Nicole couldn’t see that Dana’s good heart wasn’t the problem here. Oh well, he needed to be a little more direct.

-And who do you think would be a good match for mom? Someone distant, like dad? Or easily manipulated?

A growling almost came out of Nicole’s mouth. Tim refilled his coffee cup again.

-Neither… those make for good tools, but not partners. Janet needs someone who understands her, who couldn’t judge, who likes her as rotten and twisted as she is.

Should he protest? This was his mother they were talking about. Not that she was wrong, but… still.

Deciding against it, because he needed to get back to work and this conversation was already exhausting, he nodded- Mm, but plenty of people in high society adore her...

-Those fools either don’t know of her true nature, or are too scared of it. None would make for a good life companion.

-So, someone who isn’t scared of her, knows her inside out, isn’t morally upright…

-They should also have similar objectives in life -Nicole interjected, empty cup clattering against the plater when she placed it there-, otherwise Janet might feel the need to remove them to keep them off her way.

-Objectives, like…?

-Staying on top of the food chain of the corporate world, for example. And keeping loved ones safe. Like you, for her.

“And Damian, for you”, he didn’t say. Finally, they seemed to be reaching the end of the discussion. Just a few more lines...

-And they should be strong -she kept on, digging her own grave for Tim’s convenience-, because Janet is, too, which means her enemies are as well, and she needs someone to have her back if she ever needs it.

-I don’t think -he wondered, finger tapping his chin in childlike confusion- that such a person exists. Someone as morally compromised as mom, strong enough to help her achieve her objectives, who knows her and loves her. I never met someone like that… I mean, besides you.

Time seemed to stop for Nicole, who dropped the scon she had halfway through her mouth. Tim knew what having a romantic realization felt like, so he let her deal with it while he finished his coffee. After a few minutes letting her stew, he force a look of curiosity and concern on his face- Aunt Nicole? Are you alright? You went really quiet…

Nicole wasn’t sitting in front of him any longer. Okay, he’ll forgive the rudeness, in the spirit of love and all that. Picking up his phone, he sent Dana a quick text, warning her to make herself scarce.

“Everything going according to plan on my end”

“Ah, okay. I’ll thank Janet for accompanying me, and ask her to just be friends. Then I’ll catch a taxi :) “

“Yeah, let me know once you are back on your house, it’s getting pretty late”

“Aw, you’re such a gentleman. Me and your mom spent all afternoon talking about you, you know. And Nicole”

“You buttered her up to the idea?”

“She seemed to be considering ending this ‘date’ early as well to go looking for her, so I’m guessing I did ;) “

“Thank you again, Dana “

“Make sure they invite me to the wedding, and we’re even!”

“If they don’t elope, that’s it”

“They won’t. That would mean missing the chance to make Uncle Lex miserable by asking him to plan the whole ceremony”

Smiling despite himself, he put his coffee cup down and went back to his desk. Better to get work out of the way before Mom and Nicole came back and informed him of the good news.

Shocked face number three might do.

#Tim Drake #janet drake #Janet Drake au #Nicole Al Ghul (oc)#My writing #lex luthor #dana winters #dana is not involved in the way you'd expect #sexuality and gender identity discussed #janet tries y'all #janet drake is a good mom #misunderstandings #jack dies but we care more about the dog's death tbh

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ericsonclan · 3 years

Text

A Christmas Day We Won't Soon Forget

Summary: Minnie and Sophie along with their families wait for Tenn to come home from college to celebrate Christmas.

Word Count: 3257

Read on AO3:

“Oh, careful there, Raylan.” Sophie looked over at her eldest child who was struggling to hold onto a glass bowl Marlon had just washed and Minnie had dried.

“I will. I’m strong,” Raylan’s blue eyes poked out from his wild red hair as he smiled brightly as his mom.

“I get the next dish!” Marley declared as she waited impatiently by her aunt’s side, her blonde hair bouncing slightly along with her movement. Minnie smiled down warmly at her niece before looking over as Renata hummed along to some Christmas music that was playing. She worked side by side with her son who carefully handed over the ingredients Renata had finished using in the dishes for Christmas dinner to be put away.

“Here you go, Mama.” Timothy brushed back his red hair and handed over the container of butter.

“Thanks, Timmy.” Renata took the butter then placed a quick kiss on her son’s forehead before continuing her work. All of them worked hard to get the kitchen clean in time for when Tenn showed up. Marley, Raylan and Timothy were all beyond excited at the chance to see their uncle again. Sophie and Minnie seemed just as excited if not more so at the idea that within minutes they would be seeing their brother again. They’d ask him about classes and how he was enjoying college while he got tackled with hugs from all different members of the family. Sadly their parents wouldn’t be able to make it due to a snow storm cancelling their flight, but Sophie and Minnie knew they’d just throw another celebration when they did show up.

The warm, happy, albeit not always in tune voices of the family sang along to the Christmas songs as they all continued their work. Renata’s feet danced around the kitchen, stealing kisses whenever she could from Minnie as she continued to help out. After a few minutes they were done and the kids were excused to go and play. Marley immediately grabbed her cousin’s hand while Raylan worked to get both of his aunts to the front to play with them while they waited for Uncle Tenn. Sophie and Marlon laughed as they saw Minnie tell Raylan to hold on for a moment as she tossed back the dish towel. Sophie caught it with ease and put it up to dry.

“Well, so far it seems like it’s going to be quite the Christmas,” Sophie leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on Marlon’s cheek who smiled lovingly at his wife.

“Yeah, I’m sure it will be a great one,” Marlon intertwined his fingers with Sophie’s and began to walk forward towards the living room. Renata was giving Raylan an airplane ride while Minnie was somehow managing to give piggyback rides to both Timothy and Marley. Renata’s infectious laughter was met in kind by the kids and her wife as they enjoyed the moment playing together when suddenly Renata paused. Her brown eyes danced with curiosity as she jogged over to the window.

“Hey, buddy. I’m gonna need to set you down for a moment,” Renata knelt down and Raylan hopped off, immediately making his way over to get his dad to play with him. Renata glanced out the window, an excited smile appearing on her lips.

“Hey, looks like Tenn is here.” Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment as she looked outside. “Min, Soph, you two don’t happen to have a secret sister, do you?”

Minnie quirked an eyebrow and placed Timothy and Marley down before walking over to her wife’s side. “Why do you ask?” She stopped in her tracks when she saw Renata’s expression change. “What?”

“Never mind, I hope it’s not your sister,” Renata glanced over at Minnie for a second before looking outside again.

Minnie immediately looked out to see her brother walking hand in hand with a girl with dark brown hair who had a light blue headband covered in little white snowflakes. A small mole adorned her left cheek and an adoring smile was on her lips as she looked at Tenn.

“Why not?” Sophie joined the pair and glanced outside. “Ren, they’re just holding hands. Maybe they’re really good friends or something.”

A laugh escaped Minnie’s lips, making her twin glance over her way.

“What’s so funny, Minnie?” Sophie asked with a small frown.

“Nothing, just old memories,” The older twin smiled mischievously at Sophie.

Before Sophie had a chance to respond, a small gasp left Renata’s lips.

“They kissed again!” Her face was pressed against the window, the steam from her warm breath fogging up the glass more and more with each passing second. At this point the three kids and Marlon had joined in, looking out the window beside Sophie.

“Kissed?!?” Sophie looked shocked by that.

“Again?!?” Minnie’s head shot towards her wife.

“Yeah, they smooched once. So maybe they're best friends.” Renata gave a shrug.

“Best friends don’t kiss on the lips,” Sophie shook her head then paused. “Was it on the lips?”

“Yes,”

“Then Sophie is right,” Minnie stared out the window. “Best friends don’t do that.”

“Well, maybe not all best friends,” Renata crossed her arms.

“Babe, stop trying to win this argument,” Minnie smiled over at her wife.

“They’re at the door,” Marlon nodded toward it, causing the twins and Renata to look and see that Tenn and the girl were at the front door. Without warning, Renata ran forward towards the door. Raylan and Marley grabbed Timothy's hands and sprinted forward as well. Minnie and Sophie walked side by side while Marlon moved forward to tell the kids to step back and give their uncle and his friend some space. Renata swung up the door without warning, not even giving Tenn or the girl a chance to knock.

“Tenn! Merry Christmas!’ Renata’s sudden action made both Tenn and the girl’s eyes grow large.

“Oh, hey, Renata. Merry Christmas,” Tenn gave a small nod of thanks when Renata moved back to let them in. The plastic bag in his arms crinkled as it brushed against his leg.

“Tenn!” Sophie ran forward and swept her brother in and hugged before Minnie joined in. The three siblings remained in that moment for a few seconds before pulling back.

“Welcome home, Tenn.” Minnie smiled warmly at her younger brother. Tenn was about to respond when his two nephews and niece ran forward to hug him.

“Uncle Tenn!” Raylan smiled up with a huge grin.

“You’re back!” Marley declared loudly before Timothy spoke up.

“Merry Christmas, Uncle Tenn.”

“Thanks, guys,” Tenn replied softly as he returned the hugs. “It’s good to be home.”

“Holy cheeseballs!” Sophie let out an impressed whistle as she held out her hand and measured Tenn’s height. “You keep on growing even though you’re twenty. That’s totally unfair! I better watch out or you’ll grow taller than me and Minnie.”

“I doubt that,” Tenn gave a gentle chuckle.

“Hey, Tenn,” Marlon strolled forward and gave him a hug. “You gonna introduce us to your guest?”

Tenn’s eyes grew large for a split second. His right hand reached over and began to fidget with his left. “Yeah,” He took a second then intertwined his left hand with the girl’s. “Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Mariana.” He smiled over with tenderness as his girlfriend returned the smile in kind.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Mariana smiled warmly at Tenn’s family who were still processing what had just been said. The news that Tenn had dropped hit everyone, putting them in such shock that they all remained quiet for a second except the three kids who were already asking a million questions. Renata was the first adult to speak up.

“Girlfriend, you say?” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully. “Do tell.”

“Why don’t we go over to the table and we can catch up for a bit,” Minnie offered and began to lead the way. Marlon was about to walk forward when Sophie gently grabbed his arm.

“Babe, could you get out some coloring books for the kids?” Sophie nodded over, directing her husband’s attention to the kids who were all trying to convince Renata to make hot cocoa instead of tea for Tenn and his girlfriend in hopes they would be getting some too. It seemed like catching up with Tenn would be more than just talking about classes this year so it’d be best for the kids to be distracted. Marlon gave a nod in understanding.

Within minutes the six adults were sitting around the table, each with their own mug of tea. Rosie and Ferdinand emerged from a bedroom and immediately went over to greet a familiar face and the new one at the table. After a minute or two the two dogs settled down beside the kids. Raylan, Marley and Timothy were quietly talking as they colored in the living room right beside the table.Tenn glanced over at his niece and nephews, a small part of him wishing that he could be coloring alongside them right now. Maybe he could even get Mari to join in too. He was pulled away from his thoughts when Sophie spoke up.

“So, how long have you two been dating?” The redhead leaned forward, clearly interesting in hearing more about this. The rest of the people at the table seemed just as invested in learning this too.

“Mari and I have been dating for almost an entire semester now,” Tenn smiled over shyly at his sisters.

“Almost a whole semester?!” Minnie nearly choked on her tea. “Why didn’t you let us know before?”

“I was busy with classes and I wanted to make sure that it was serious before letting you guys know, and...” Tenn intertwined his fingers with Mari’s, “It is.”

“That’s great!” Renata declared loudly. “Now for the real tea: How did you two meet?”

“Well, Tenn was trying to find a book on Van Gogh’s illustrations in the library and he asked me to help him.”

“Oh, were you studying there?” Marlon asked Mariana, taking a sip of his tea.

“Actually, I was working there,” Marianna fidgeted with her headband.

“Oh! That’s cool. That��s pretty impressive, working part time and going to college,” Sophie nodded in approval, clearly thinking highly of her brother’s girlfriend.

“Well, I don’t take classes at the college. I just work there.” Mariana’s statement made everyone pause for a moment.

“Wait, wait, wait,” Minnie began before Renata cut her off with a question.

“Mari, how old are you?”

Everyone looked at Renata then over at Mariana who readjusted her seat. “Twenty four.”

“Tenn is a cradle robber!” Renata exclaimed with a gasp before stopping when she noticed her mistake. “Wait, no.”

“Tenn just likes older women,” Sophie gave a teasing smile that made her brother glance away in embarrassment. Minnie laughed softly at that.

“Sophie, Minnie,” Tenn pleaded but the table erupted with talk and laughter as they teased the couple.

“Sorry, Mariana. It may take you a minute to get used to the teasing,” Marlon smiled warmly over at her.

“No, it’s okay. I’m used to this kind of teasing,” Mariana’s statement made the chatter stop. “My uncles are notorious in their teasing. Poor Tenn had to go through quite the wringer with my family. So bring it on,” She gave a confident smile.

“Dang, you already met her family,” Sophie leaned back in her chair.

“Well now that we’re on the subject of family, why don’t you tell us a bit about yours,” Minnie looked over at Mariana with a gentle smile.

So Mariana began to share about her family. She had an older brother named Gabe who was happily married. She then spoke of her uncles Javi and Santiago and how they had always been supportive of her even if they went overboard with their teasing. Any other family that she may have had Mariana brushed aside. Based on her body language, they figured it was best to just leave it alone and not pry. Renata was about to ask another question when Raylan ran forward and held up his art.

“Look, Mommy. Look! Look! It’s an airplane!” He held up a drawing that had a plethora of colors on it.

“Wow, Raylan, that’s amazing!” Sophie took the picture and looked truly touched by the art before playfully ruffling her son’s hair. “Gotta add this to the fridge!”

“Add mine too!” Marley scampered forward and held up a drawing that looked like a giant log with four long sticks attached to it. “It's Rosie!”

“It looks just like her!” Marlon rose up from his spot, causing the two dogs to run over. Ferdinand got up on his hindlegs and began to do a spin in hopes he would get a snack. “Not now, Ferdie.” Marlon gave some pats to the dogs then strolled forward. “How about we put these up on the fridge while everyone else gets ready for presents?”

Marley and Raylan laughed and began to drag Tenn over to the Christmas tree along with Mari while Timothy shyly walked toward the table. He held a piece of paper in his hands and lifted it up towards Sophie.

“Auntie, can I have mine on the fridge too?” The young boy held up the picture which was some sort of beetle with red hair. “It’s Raylan but a bug.” Raylan sprinted back and slid on his fuzzy Christmas socks to take a look. “Whoa! That’s so cool!”

“It is very cool,” Sophie nodded in agreement. “I think we’ll find the perfect spot for it on the fridge.” With that Sophie and Marlon headed off to find that spot with the help of Raylan while Minnie and Renata walked hand in hand over to join the others by the tree. After a few minutes of placing the special drawings on the fridge Marlon and Sophie took their spots by their two kids.

“Alrighty,” Renata did a drumroll. “It’s time for gifts! Who wants to go first?” Her question made all three of the kids excited as each of them begged that they go first. It took a few minutes but it was decided that they would go from oldest to youngest. Raylan seemed happy with this as he caught the present that Minnie tossed over towards him. The redheaded boy bounced excitedly in his spot as he tore open the wrapping paper and chucked it across the room. Marlon casually got up to pick up the trash when his son made a high pitched sound of joy. He held up a small toy airplane to his face; his blue eyes practically sparkled with happiness. The boy looked down at the hat that was still in his lap. It was a deep brown hat with a fuzzy interior lining.

“That hat is called an aviator hat,” Minnie explained as she leaned back in her seat and wrapped her arms around Renata who sat in her lap.

“All the pilots wear it,” Renata added with a smile.

Raylan’s eye grew large as he placed the hat on his head and began to giggle as he played with the toy airplane while making special flying sounds. “Thanks, Auntie Renata and Minnie!” He smiled happily over at his aunts who returned the smile in kind.

“It's my turn!” Marley declared but her sneaky plan was found out immediately as Marlon shook his head.

“It would be best to wait your turn,” Tenn smiled gently to his niece who pouted but listened to him.

“Here ya go, Timothy,” Sophie handed over the present. “Hope Marlon and I did a good job this year,” Sophie reached up and took Marlon’s hand as he stood behind her. Ferdinand hopped up and sat beside her while Rosie moseyed over and plopped down next to Timothy. The boy scratched the dog’s ears before proceeding to carefully open the wrapping paper. It was as if he was worried he’d tear the gift if he was too rough with the wrapping paper. A small gasp left his lips when he saw a beautiful hardcover illustrated children’s book inside. He gently opened up the book and looked intently at the illustrations with awe dancing in his eyes.

“You like it, buddy?” Marlon’s voice made the young boy look up and give a nod. He held the book close to his chest with a soft smile. “Thanks, Auntie Sophie. Thanks, Uncle Marlon.”

“My turn?” Marley asked, her eyes looking over at her aunts with impatient hopefulness.

“It sure is,” Renata leaned over and lightly tossed over the gift. Marley practically lunged forward to grab it and didn’t wait a second before she tore through the wrapping paper and revealed a book on hobo signs. The blonde looked confused by the book for a second before Renata spoke up.

“It’s Billy Bob the Hobo’s book from Insane Trains and Planes!” Marley’s eyes sparkled and grew large at her aunt’s explanation. Her focus turned to the book as she flipped through it. Marley loved all the hobo signs, becoming completely captured by the images.

“We brought gifts too,” Mariana spoke up. “Although we just picked them up on the way.”

“I think all three of you will still like them though,” Tenn added with a kind smile.

All the kids seemed excited at the idea of more presents and so Mariana got up to get the plastic bag and handed it over to the three kids. All three of them worked together to open it together and pulled out three sets of fake mustaches. The trio gasped and began to put them on each other as the adults laughed. Once they had all gotten them on they ran over to hug Tenn and to Mari’s surprise she got hugs too.

“Looks like from now on you mustache the questions.” Renata smiled proudly at her pun. She continued to make more and more as the adults began to open gifts. The kids were all too excited about their gifts and repeating Renata’s puns to notice.

After the gifts had been shared, the three couples continued to talk as Raylan ran around as he pretended to fly the toy plane, chased by Ferdie. Marley and Timothy sat side by side, both of them completely wrapped up in their books. Every so often they would lift up their books and point out a cool picture or symbol in it while Rosie slept beside them. Time seemed to fly by and before anyone would've guessed it the oven’s timer went off, signalling that dinner was ready.

“Oh, looks like it’s time to feast!” Renata got up from her spot.

“Yes!” Sophie pumped her fist which her kids quickly mimicked.

“Wanna help me, Min?” Renata smiled lovingly at her wife who got up from her spot.

“I’d love to!”

“Soph and I can help,” Marlon moved forward along with his wife.

“Mari and I can too,” Tenn offered.

Soon the whole family was working to set the table while Renata and Minnie got the dishes out of the oven. It was a team effort but eventually the table was set and the free spots were filled with delicious Christmas food. Mari gave Tenn’s hand a quick squeeze, the couple sharing a happy smile that everything had turned out alright. Tenn’s family had accepted Mari with open arms. Sophie and Renata shared jokes while Minnie worked to serve the table along with Marlon. Everyone was chatting happily, excited for the Christmas feast and to enjoy the rest of the evening with the family they loved dearly.

#twdg #twdg sophie #twdg marlon #twdg minnie #twdg renata #twdg raylan #twdg marley #twdg timothy #twdg tenn #twdg mariana #twdg rosie #twdg ferdinand #twdg marlie #twdg minata #twdg tenniana #fanfic #ericson's diner au #twdg christmas #ericsonclanchristmaschallenge

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iphoenixrising · 4 years

Note

How d’you think everyone’s favorite threesome in the Doctor!universe would spent Christmas? Or perhaps just Christmas Eve, if they go to the manor for the big day? -🐉

Aww, hi babe!

Hm, we’re going to talk a minute about Dr!Tim? You know, after a bit of thought, I think Tim’s first Christmas after finding a vigilante on his fire escape bleeding out would have probably started out awful.

Let’s say he’s usually the one to work Christmas Eve and into Christmas Day whenever he could during his time learning under Tony Stark before he started his Residency in Gotham.

He didn’t have Stephanie and Layla or anyone else but Tony, really, so it was fine for him to take shifts so people with families could be off with the ones they loved.

Once he got to Gotham and met back up with Steph and pretty much became Uncle Timmy to Layla, he only took Christmas Eve or Christmas Day off when they weren’t out of town visiting with Steph’s mom. The years Layla’s dad has her, they run the Gauntlet together, and work until they’re sleep-deprived and delirious, laughing at crazy things while they stumble to Steph’s house to pass the fuck out for twelve hours or Tim’s penthouse to binge some boring nature show.

But last year Layla’s dad had her, so this year, his girls are off to Metropolis, waving at him out the back window. Steph offered a place for him, but he knows her mom’s place will be cramped as is, so he just watches them go with his heart in his throat, and no shift at Mercy General to keep him up and moving.

I think he spends Christmas Eve wearing the ugly sweater Layla got him, something crazy playing on Netflix completely un-Christmas related because he doesn’t really have good memories of the holiday, not even from when his parents were alive.

(One year, Mrs. Mac stopped by to check on him and bring him cookies, gave him a hug and a pat on the head before she left to be with her daughter and grandchildren. When he was really young, he can remember laying on his mother’s lap with the tree glowing gently, opening presents with them there, watching and laughing. The next year, they were on a dig somewhere exotic, just like the year after and the year after that until they were just gone, never coming back this time...)

So, he plans to keep himself busy and ignore all the movies and decorations, ignore the warmth and family and togetherness. He’s going to bury himself in research and tech articles, write on one of his articles for a medical journal, maybe hang out in his lab down the hall for a few hours, just let Christmas–

–go on without him.

The knock on his window at three a.m. is jarring, shocking because the city has been silent for hours at this point.

The second round is enough to make him stand up off the couch, wander closer to the window with squished brows, probably bleary eyed from staring at the screen for too long (probably also from those old memories rearing up).

When he moves the curtains, and those whiteouts are right there, he eeps and almost falls on his ass.

The window is nudged up by a gloved hand, Nightwing hanging upside down with a Santa cap somehow staying on his head when he swings in without hesitation.

“Timmy! Are you okay?! Geeze, I’m sorry. I didn’t even think you’d be awake at this time of night.”

“Wazzat, Big Wing? Got Timmers with that old trick?” Hood is right on his heels, calves wrapped around the wrought iron fire escape, the Elf hat probably on the helmet with double-sided sticky tape.

“Wh–?” Wide-eyed, looking from Nightwing to the Red Hood peeking in at him, he’s pretty much at a loss.

“We came to see if you were home! You weren’t working at Mercy tonight.”

“Sides, it’s Christmas, ya feel me, Baby Bird?”

Hood tosses a small sack inside before he’s through the window just that fast, he and Big Wing offering hands down to their sometimes personal physician.

“Oh, I mean, I tried to sign up for a shift, but the Chief of Staff said I couldn’t work another double,” he shrugs and wearily lays his hands in gloved ones, imagining the warmth of palms against his, lets them pull him to his feet.

“Mmhm,” Hood hums as he and N pull their doc to his feet, looks him over critically. “Looks like ya been up long enough,” the free hand thumbs the dark circles under his eyes.

The doctor quirks a brow at them, “well, let me at least make you some coffee before you have to go back out in the cold. Does anyone in the class have any potentially fatal injuries you’d like to tell me about before I have a whole lot of unconscious vigilante on my couch?”

Both vigilantes obligingly hold up their hands and turn in small circles to show off no punctures in the suits or injuries he can see. Nightwing is grinning softly at him and Hood gives him a thumbs up in an all good here.

They follow him to the kitchen, exchanging a glance after his back is turned, wondering where the Christmas Tree is, or decorations, at least. There’s only one sad little construction paper wreath on the end table by the door made by Layla, but that’s...it.

Gauntlets and gloves come off, helmet and holsters on the back of a chair while the coffee perks and Tim moves around his kitchen, talking idly about doing some research before bed, fervently hoping they don’t ask him the hard questions.

But, of course, Tim doesn’t talk much about his past with anyone, not even Ives and Steph, prefers to just keep moving forward instead of looking back. He might be a little more compromised tonight than usual, and pours coffee with a slightly trembling hand.

It might be the night Nightwing and Hood start taking more of a shine to their doctor than they should, considering how close to danger he is just by helping them when the injuries are bad and they’re in a bind. It might be how he obviously has no one to be with on Christmas, how he doesn’t have anyone to celebrate with, to decorate for, to have presents wrapped up, or leftovers from a good dinner in his fridge.

They’re detectives and the story is right there in every inch of the penthouse, in Tim’s awful sweater and pj pants, his slightly red eyes, the way he won’t really meet their eyes when they talk about the quiet night in the city because of the holiday.

They stay with him until dawn, drinking coffee and juice, watching awful fails on YouTube, waiting until Tim’s finally tired enough to pass out on the couch between them.

And dawn is just peeking on the horizon when Nightwing gently carries the doctor to bed, Hood pulling the sheets back, maybe lightly touching Tim’s hair before covering him back up.

The two ease out of the room and close the door behind them.

When Tim wakes up the next night, Christmas Day will be over in a few hours, and he’s grateful because the world can finally go back to normal. Steph and Layla will be back, and the Gauntlet will be waiting for them to try saving Gotham in their own way. Nightwing and Hood will get beat-up fighting the good fight and at least come to him when they need to. Robin will still tt at him, Tony will visit soon to just remind Tim he’s making awful life choices. Lucas will ride his ass about how much he works and Ives will be his safe haven. The world will somehow balance out again.

He won’t get stuck like this next year, just make sure he’s always on the schedule when his people have other places to go.

But when he finally pulls himself out of bed, gets his feet under him to stumble in and try finding something to eat in his kitchen, his gaze falls on something sparkly sitting on his bedside table. Something vaguely square and wrapped in crazy black and yellow paper with little bat signals on them, the ribbons Robin red and green.

He’ll gasp softly, his heart leaping into his throat, blink once, and then blink again.

The package is still there.

He tentatively touch the box with trembling fingertips, pull it against his chest, hold on a little too tightly with his eyes wet and a laugh on his face at the utter absurdity of it.

But damn if it doesn’t give him the strength to get his legs under him, and fucking stand.

(Jay and Dick don’t find out until next year that Tim never opened the present, wanted to keep it just like that since he hadn’t gotten gifts from anyone but Steph, Layla, and Ives in years. It comes out the next year when they drag him to the Manor for a few hours before riding back to the penthouse to meet up with Steph and Layla, when there’s a massive tree decorated with stacks of presents underneath. When his place has lights strung up all around and cut-out snowflakes from Batgirl, when the ornaments are Nightwing blue and Robin red, Jay and Dick drug him to Hobby Lobby to pick out. When the special one with three snowmen labeled Dick, Jay, Tim is right in the middle surrounded by Layla’s nutcracker, Dami’s picture one from school, and Lian’s ballerina. Steph managed to get a few picture of the three of them together wearing Santa hats and the picture is framed on the end table.

When they get home that night, cuddling on the sofa a year later, watching It’s a Wonderful Life and drinking eggnog Alfred sent with them, Jay will ask why he never used the little gift they left him last year. And Tim will get a little pink in the face when he admits he never opened it, he just put it away with his other good memories, not wanting to spoil the magic.

That earns him soft kisses and more cuddles since Dick is literally a cuddle machine, and Jay finds it so easy to fit their little boyfriend under his chin.

They’re on either side of him when he finally brings the box after some digging, and pulls out the bow.

The small device fits in the palm of his hand, easily fits in his doctor’s bag.

“A comm, in case you ever needed to contact us,” Dick tells him with a kiss to his temple.

“We started takin’ a shine ta ya, Baby. Thought ya might use it when we don’t come ta ya, you feel me?”

“Oh,” and he has to clear his throat, his voice a little wavery, his eyes a little hot. “That’s...even back then?”

“Merry Christmas, Timmy,” Dick replies gently in answer, palming the back of his neck.

“Merry Christmas, Sweets,” Jay’s deft fingers move the comm to thread their fingers together and hold on.

“Merry Christmas,” he chokes, face buried in Jay’s neck, squished between them while the lights from the tree glow and the warmth in his chest is so beautifully, perfectly fragile.

It’s certainly the best Christmas ever.)

#winter rambles #dr!tim #some sad but happy ending #pre and post relationship #tim drake #dick grayson #jason todd #dickjaytim

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badass-women-league · 4 years

Text

TIVALI

17- From Paris to D.C

It was their last night in Paris. Tomorrow they will close the door of their Parisian apartment for the last time.

The apartment was almost empty. Tali and Adam's bedrooms furniture were gone to D.C. Tony and Ziva had to share their bed with the kids for over a week, much to the joy of Tali and Adam. Adam was long gone asleep on his mother's chest. Tony grumbled:

-"Tali, your feet are very cold"

Tali moved her feet away from her father's legs, then she smiled mischievously and touched Tony's legs again.

-"Tali ! Stop !"

Tali giggled.

-"you know what's gonna happen if you don't stop ? The king of tickle is gonna have to crack down on you"

Ziva raised an eyebrow, she was hoping that Tali would fall asleep soon but now that Tony had provoked her, there was no way this would happen and on top of that they will probably wake up Adam during the fight.

Tali giggled again and touched her father's leg with her feet again.

Ziva warned as she saw Tony moving on the bed::

-"Tony don't"

-"It's too late Ziva, She's gonna have to face her fate"

Tony jumped and grabbed the little girl. Tali started to giggle and struggle. Ziva smiled and nonchalantly said:

-"you are going to hurt yourself..."

After long minutes of a tickle fight on the bed, Tony and Tali fell from the bed and collapsed on the floor. They both said:

-"ouch!"

The next thing they heard was Ziva saying:

-"why do I always have to be right"

And Adam started to whine.

Tali and Tony still on the floor looked at each other with a guilty smile.

An hour later, Tali was still not sleeping. Ziva knew that she was obviously anxious about leaving Paris for a new life. Tony was asleep with Adam next to him. Ziva turned to face Tali and whispered: ⠀

-"do you want to talk about it ?" ⠀

The little girl shook her head and Ziva cursed herself in her mind for giving that aspect of her personality to her daughter. Ziva smiled and gave a boop on Tali's nose. It was always making her smile and this time was no different. Ziva started: ⠀

-"I know how hard this is for you Tali. It's going to be a different world and you'll probably feel lost at first. But one of David's biggest strengths is our faculty to adapt to a new situation. And you are a David as much as you are a DiNozzo. I've been through this. I was living my life in Israel, with my work, my friends, my habits and then I had to move to the U.S. I've met new people which were very, VERY different from the people I used to know, and they became my family. Changing is difficult but you should remember one thing: home isn't a place, it's the people you are with. If I never moved to D.C I would not have met Aba, I would not have had my baby girl (she booped her nose again) and I would not be as happy as I am now. You're gonna be fine" ⠀

Tali smiled and asked: ⠀

-"you promise ?"⠀

Ziva raised her pinky finger and said: ⠀

-"I promise" ⠀

Tali locked her pinky finger to her mother's and smiled. She cuddled up to her mother's side and closed her eyes. Her mother had made a promise to her and she was always keeping her promises. She knew she would be fine.

They were finally home. Their new home for their new life. The first night had been pretty rough, especially for the kids. It was a beautiful morning. Tony was moving some boxes around the house under Ziva's instructions. Adam was wrapped in a baby sling on his mother's chest and Tali was helping her father. Ziva asked them to move Tali's stuff to her bedroom and Ziva went to the garage to see what they should deal with next. After quite some time Ziva came back from the garage. She was surprised that neither Tali nor Tony were back already. She heard a sound coming from upstairs, a melody. She rolled her eyes and smiled. She climbed the stairs and opened the door of Tali's new bedroom. Tony was playing guitar while Tali was listening, dancing and clapping around him. She loved it when her father was playing some music for her and he loved to see his little girl dancing. Tony noticed Ziva:

-"Sweet Cheeks, thank you for joining us"

-"what happened to 'moving boxes' ?"

Tony, still playing his song, answered:

-"I wanted to check if my guitar was still tuned. Spoiler alert, it was not, and Tali asked me to play a song for her. I could not resist her David pleading eyes"

Ziva squint her eyes. She was leaning on the door with her arms crossed around her chest. It did not stop Tony from continuing his song, on the contrary he walked to Ziva and used all his charming skills to get a smile from her. It worked. How could she be upset at him for being so charming. Once he had reached Ziva. he placed a kiss on Adam's head, still playing his song and waited for Ziva to give him a kiss. She hesitated and finally granted him with the reward he was waiting for. The day went on until the house was finally starting to look like a functional house and not a cardboard boxes warehouse.

During the evening, someone knocked on their door. Tony opened the door. A man and a woman were standing on his doorstep with a young girl, probably around the age of Tali. They introduced themselves as Tony and Ziva's neighbors. Tony invited them inside and apologized for the mess. Ziva soon joined them with Adam and Tali in the backyard. Tony introduced them:

-"This is my wife, Ziva and this is Tali and Adam. Ziva this is Jerry, his wife Sharon and their daughter Emily"

Ziva greeted them and Tali asked if she could show her bedroom to Emily. After spending the entire afternoon together, the neighbor left. Tony was clearing the backyard dining table, Ziva was looking at him with a smirk. She said:

-"they are nice"

-"yes, Jerry looks like a fun guy. And he loves movies"

-"she's sexy.."

-"what ?"

-"Sharon.. she's a pretty beautiful woman"

-"really ? I haven't noticed"

Ziva threw the wet sponge to his face and did not miss her target:

-"Liar. The old DiNozzo would have drooled over her perfect body"

Tony walked to Ziva and grabbed her waist:

-"oh so this is it.. you are jealous"

-"I am not .."

Tony cut her off:

-".. you are jealous that I might find another woman more attractive than you. You are right, the old DiNozzo would have 'drooled over' her perfect body BUT today's 'very handsome and funny' DiNozzo is married to a very sexy woman and he does not care about any other women because these women cannot compete with the sexiness of my middle-east beauty"

He kissed her with passion to prove his point. The kiss was lasting for long minutes and was becoming more arousing every minute until they heard Tali yielling:

-"IMA ! I think Adam just pooped in his diaper"

Tony and Ziva sighed. The kiss was suddenly less sexy. Tony said:

-"YOU REALLY HAVE TO WORK ON YOUR TIMING TALI"

And Ziva walked inside to take care of Adam.

A few weeks later. The family was now living their life in a beautiful house. They were trying to accommodate to their new life as a family of four living in D.C. The first weeks had been pretty challenging for Tali but Tony and Ziva were doing their best to make things smoother. McGee and Gibbs have helped a lot to get the house ready. Tony was in the living room playing with Adam when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw "Elf lord" on it. He answered his phone by saying:

-"how's my favorite Elf Lord doing ?"

-"Hey Tony, you remember when you offered a trumpet and a drum to morgan and john so they could make a lot of noise and drive us crazy ?"

-"yeah ! That was a good one admit it! Your twins are really gifted you should be proud"

McGee felt the irony in Tony's voice. He smiled and said:

-"remember I told you I would get my revenge? That day is today"

-"you think you're going to scare me McHarmless ?"

-"come out and see for yourself"

McGee hung up the phone and Tony looked through the window. McGee was holding a puppy in his arms. Tony's eyes widened. He could not believe it. He rushed out from the house. He still had time to stop this as long as Tali was not aware of it:

-"what is this ?"

McGee smiled:

-"this is your dog"

-"no it's not ! Take it back to where ever you found it"

Tony peaked over his shoulder to be sure that Tali was not around.

-"won't happen"

-"you are taking this to the next level McGee ! You have no idea what's coming for you next if you do that. You can still back out"

-"UNCLE TIMMY !!"

Too late. Tony closed his eyes in despair. McGee walked past Tony and knelt in front of Tali:

-"look what uncle Timmy brought you"

Tali was already in love with the puppy. She petted the puppy's head and turned to her father:

-"oh he is so cute, look Aba"

Tony tried his best to smile:

-"yeah sweetheart, I can see. We really need to find a way to thank uncle Tim in a proper way"

Tali took the dog to show it to her mom and shouted:

-"come on aba ! Ima has to see it"

Before following his daughter Tony looked at McGee and said:

-"you brought this on yourself McDoomed ! We are at war !"

Ziva was sitting on the floor next to the couch in the living room and she was holding Adam in front of her to help him stand on his feet. Adam was focused on the little puppy that was chewing on the coffee table leg far away from him. Tony and Tali walked in, they were apparently trying to fix a disagreement:

-"no Tali, Mister Chewie is a dog and dogs do not sleep in children's beds."

-"please Aba, he is so little"

-"I said no Tali. We bought a very beautiful, comfortable and very expensive dog bed for Chewie so he's gonna use it, like every other dog before him"

Tali turned to her mom and complained in Hebrew. Tony continued:

-"hebrew isn't gonna save you. Ima agrees with me."

He turned to Ziva, so did Tali. Ziva saw her daughter's pleading face and her husband face asking for backup. Tali's face was breaking her heart but she knew that Tony was right. She had to support him on this:

-"aba is right Tali. Chewie has to learn to sleep in his own bed"

As the conversation went on, Adam let go of Ziva's hand and walked to the puppy all by himself. Ziva could not believe it. Her baby was taking his first step. She stopped the argument between Tali and Tony and said:

-"Tony look !"

He could not believe it either. His son was walking and he had no idea that this meant that from now on, a brand new world of mischief was opened to Adam. Tony knelt a few feet away from Adam and called him:

-"come on buddy, come see Aba"

Adam looked at his father and turned his attention back on the puppy. He walked to the dog and collapsed right before him. Tony looked at the dog with threatening eyes:

-"you !"

The next morning when Tony walked to Tali's room to wake her up he was not even surprised to find Chewie sleeping in Tali's arms on her bed. His first thought was that this child was as stubborn as her mother and it actually made him smile.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. The DiNozzos were still asleep. Only the sound of birds could be heard. Tony woke up 30 minutes later. He was thirsty. He looked at Ziva next to him. She was still deeply asleep. He had a furious desire to wake her up with kisses on her neck to enjoy this sunday morning before the kids wake up. But he is still thirsty. He will try that option once he had quenched his thirst. He walked downstairs, quietly enough not to wake up the kids, which would have been very unfortunate for his sexy awakening plan. While getting downstairs he could hear the sound of someone cutting wood with a saw. He thought 'what kind of psychopath cuts woods at 8am on a Sunday'. He grabbed a glass, filled it with water and walk to the window. He almost spit his sip out when he saw that the psychopath cutting woods was actually Gibbs. He cursed in his mind as he saw his bedroom plans going away. He walked out of the house. Gibbs raised his head to Tony and said:

-"nice outfit DiNozzo"

Tony looked at his pajama and said:

-"yes this is what normal people are wearing at this time of the day. Please tell me you are not building a boat on my driveway"

Gibbs smirked. Tony continued:

-"what is all of this ?"

Gibbs pointed at the tree in front of the house and said:

-"my grand daughter asked me to build her a treehouse, I am building a treehouse.."

Tony wanted to argue about the fact that it was very early for such a task but Gibbs cut him off by handing him a saw. Tony got the message. He sighed and grabbed some wooden planks.

When Ziva woke up she was surprised not to find her husband next to her. He was usually the last one to wake up and sometimes she had to threaten him to sprinkle him with a glass of water to get him out of bed. She heard a hammer blow followed by a curse coming from a familiar voice. She got out of bed and looked through the window. Tony was sitting on a branch of their front yard tree, a hammer in one hand and his thumb in his mouth. No doubt that he missed his target a few seconds earlier. She heard babbling coming from the bedroom next door. She walked inside Adam bedroom and found him standing on his crib, with the help of the wooden fence. He smiled as he saw his mother:

-"daddy woke you up with his loud voice ? you want to go see him ?"

Adam babbled again.

-"let's go make some coffee for him"

She walked downstairs and was welcomed by Chewie who was running around the house. She walked past Chewie's bed and saw one of Tony's most expensive pair of shoes in it. She looked at Chewie and said:

-"you are going to be in big trouble for chewing his favorite shoes"

Chewie was looking at her, with his tongue hanging out and his wagging tail. She poured two mugs with hot coffee and walked out of the house holding Adam by the hand to help him walk. As he saw them Tony said:

-"hey look who's there ! My little walking monster"

Gibbs welcomed her with a kiss on her forehead, Tony jumped from the branch:

-"coffee ?" She asked.

Tony answered positively as he took a mug from her hand and kissed her right after. She smiled back at him and sweped some sawdust away from his hair.

Tony took Adam in his arms and said:

-"wanna help aba build a treehouse for your big sister ? She's gonna love it"

They returned to their work after the coffee break. A few moments later and after a few more smashed fingers, Tali walked out of the house still in her pajamas. As she saw the tree house she screamed and rushed to Gibbs. She hugged him and thanked him. Tony jumped again from his branch and said:

-"what about me ? Can I have a hug ? I helped him building it ! And I've almost lost all my fingers because of it"

Tali laughed at the funny and childish behavior of her father and gave him a hug too.

It was around noon. The tree house was almost finished. Tali was playing with Chewie around the front yard. Ziva walked out from the house and said:

-"Time for our brave sunday workers to take a lunch break. Go wash your hands, lunch is ready"

Tony and Gibbs looked at each other with an amused smile.

-"yes Ma'am" answered Gibbs.

10 minutes later Tony walked out from the bathroom and found Ziva and Tali standing and smiling in the living room in front of Chewie's bed. They were looking pretty weird. He asked:

-"what's wrong ?"

Ziva faked to be surprised:

-"what do you mean 'what's wrong' nothing's wrong ? Why do you want something to be wrong ?"

Gibbs joined them. He looked behind Ziva's back and saw the shoes still in Chewie's bed. He smiled. Tony continued:

-"you look weird! What is it ?"

He knew Ziva and Tali were trying to hide something from him. He gently pushed them away and saw the crime scene.

-"no ! Nononononon ! Not my favorite shoes!"

-"these are just shoes Tony ! And if you had not left them lying around he would never have found them"

-"I'm gonna kill McGee !"

They left Tony mourning his shoes and everyone then gathered around lunch in the backyard. It was a beautiful and sunny Sunday. A perfect day to share family time.

During the evening, Gibbs and Tony finished the tree house and Tali hosted the big opening ceremony, with the ribbon, the scissors and the solemn speech. She was such a clown sometimes. She was such a DiNozzo.

#ncis #tiva #tony dinozzo #ziva david #tali david dinozzo #cotedepablo #michaelweatherly #fanfiction #ncis fanfiction #tivali

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nerdasaurus1200 · 5 years

Text

AU Masterlist

Any and all asks for these AUs are more than welcome.

Kwaminette AU- AU where Marinette is Plagg and Tikki’s daughter. She’s a Kwami instead of a human, but she prefers to take on a human form because she likes interacting with humans. She’s the Panda Kwami of Balance, and the kwami of Cory Bernard/Panda Girl, my Miracusona. When she’s not helping out Cory, she’s busy trying to bond with Adrien. This one takes place within the show.

Miraculous Injustice AU- AU where the members of Team Miraculous are placed in the Injustice video game. The canon Team Miraculous gets sent to a dimension where the team is split up and akumas fight for both good and evil because Cat Noir turned evil after they found out Gabriel was Hawkmoth. The Quantic Kids (Felix, Bridgette, Melodie, Sparrow, Gavroche, Kim Mime, and Mercury) are included in this AU as well.

Dupain Cheng Kids AU- AU where Tom and Sabine adopt everyone in the Miracuclass as their child (except Adrien cause he’s their future son in law). Marinette keeps an eye for fellow classmates that don’t have the best home life. She then passes word to her parents, who fight tooth and nail to earn legal custody of said child (We don’t care they aren’t on the adoption list, they deserve to be in a home FULL OF LOVE).

Catbug AU- AU where Marinette has both the Black Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses. She calls herself Catbug. Plagg and Tikki are like a second set of parents to her, and she eventually develops a harem.

Mike and Mari AU- AU where Marinette has an older brother named Michael. He is her favorite thorn in her side as well as her go-to Miraculous Holder. He’s dating Miss Bustier and is going to school to become an interior designer.

Role Reversal AU- AU where Marinette and Adrien are switched Miraculouses. Lady Noire and Mister Bug protect Paris against Pavona and Hudie (Gina and Sabine); who want the Miraculouses to bring back Tom. Involves reverse crush and somewhat reverse life.

Adrien’s Monster AU- AU where Duusu summons a full time sentimonster to protect Adrien. He names it Hiss and it follows him everywhere he goes. Hiss and Plagg hate each other.

Supernatural AU- AU where everyone except Adrien (who’s still human) is a mythological creature. Marinette is a fairy, Kim and Rose are werewolves, Alix is a Hobbit, Mylene is a Dwarf. Juleka and Luka are vampires, Ondine is a mermaid, Ivan is an ogre, Alya is one of the last of the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, Chloe is an elf, Lila is a changeling, Max is half-sphinx, Nathaniel is a brownie, Kagami is a yokai, Marc is a leprechaun, and Nino is a Kappa (though nobody knows). The Kwmais are fae creatures that run/protect the school. Miss Bustier is a pixie, Ms Mendeleiev is a witch, and Principal Damocles is the owl of Athena. Gabriel is secretly a hunter of mythical creatures and sent Adrien to the school so he could get closer to them. (Courtesy to @miraclesoup for some of these ideas)

Hive Guard AU- AU where Chloe keeps her Miraculous at the end of Miraculer, runs away, and becomes a freelance hero of sorts. She’s extremely active is trying to find and stop Hawkmoth and Mayura. She lives in the eiffel tower, and trains with Pollen every day. Nobody but Sabrina knows her location; and she becomes Queen Bee’s right hand.

Jurassic AU- AU where Emilie’s maiden name was Hammond, and one day Adrien discovers is grandfathers work and reopens Jurassic Park.

House Cat AU- AU where Cat Noir actually decides to date Marinette in Weredad and becomes the Dupain Cheng housecat.

Mother Peahen and Papallion AU- also known as the MP3 AU. AU where Duusu and Nooroo adopt Adrien after Heroes Day with Plagg as the greasy uncle.

Road Trip AU- An AU where Team Miraculous travels around the world looking for Lost Miraculouses after defeating Hawkmoth and Mayura. Ali and Aurore bear the Moth and Peacock Miraculouses in this AU.

Miraculous Descendants AU- An AU where Miraculous characters are in the movie Descendants. Most of them are the children of Akumas.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 AU- An AU where there are two boys that like Kagami. Conner (a new student from America who tries to make Kagami jealous by lying about Ryuuko being into him) & Hiroki (a rival from Japan that she beat who believes that she should be his girlfriend) & Luka/Viperion doesn't like how uncomfortable they make her or how angry they make her feel.

Guard Dragon AU (Rockstar!Luka & Bodyguard!Ryuuko AU)- An AU where Kitty Section's new bodyguard is so mysterious and tough. Anarka trusts her to keep her children and their friends (Juleka and Rose dating) safe. Ryuuko does not plan on letting her down, but with Luka? It's hard for our Lady in red black & gold to stay professional.

SongHeart & The Queen (Ryuuka's Beauty and The Beast AU)- Kim is Lumiere, Anarka as Maurice (great parents are great), Chloé and Sabrina as Gaston and LeFou (duh), Emilie and Adrien as Mrs Potts and Chip (need that adorable mother/son bond), Marinette is (a younger) Wardrobe (fashion girl!) and Luka's closest friend in the place. Luka is Belle and Ryuuko is the Beast. Instead of inanimate objects, they’re cursed to be akumas.

Scales and Whiskers AU- An AU where Ryuuko and Cat Noir fight over who gets to date Marinette. She eventually gets so sick of it that she just tells both of them to date her. Before she knows it, she’s got a superhero boyfriend and girlfriend.

Behind the Scenes AU- An AU where Miraculous actually is a show in the canon universe and the characters are all actors. Chloe and Rose are sisters from the South. Jagged, Marinette, and Kagami are siblings. Gabriel and Adrien are Uncle and Nephew, and Lila is Marinette’s best friend.

Akumavillian AU- An AU where everyone who has been akumatized has the ability to turn into their Akumas without the power of the Moth.

Cat’s Shipping Show AU- An AU where Cat Noir runs a blog dedicated to all the ships of Team Miraculous, because he’s shipper trash. He gives people the news on certain ships, and reviews ships as well.

Ghost Bug AU- An AU where the past Ladybug’s are attached to Marinette. They’re like her 24/7 Obi-Wan, and they’re a little Ladybug family. Turns out, everyone on Team Miraculous (plus Hawkmoth and Mayura) are in the same boat.

Sentibug AU- An AU where Bugette wasn’t destroyed by Mayura and instead becomes Ladybug and Cat Noir’s sidekick/daughter

Mom Pink AU- An AU where Pink appeared instead of Steven when his gem was taken out. Somehow they can both exist now and mother and son are reunited.

Adrien Universe AU- Steven Universe, but with Miraculous characters.

Momma Mayura AU- An AU where as soon as Stoneheart appeared, Nathalie grabbed the Peacock Miraculous and became Mayura. She fights on Ladybug and Cat Noir’s side to bring down Hawkmoth and quickly becomes the team mom.

Tales of Pegasus and King Monkey AU- An AU where Master Fu instead distributed the Horse and Monkey Miraculous and Kim and Max are the main characters of the show.

Chatroom AU- An AU where Team Miraculous has a group chat

Genderbend AU- An AU where everyone’s genders are swapped.

Teacher Kwamis AU- An AU where Miss Bustier is fired and the Kwamis take over teaching.

Frozen Dragons AU- A Hiccelsa AU that combines Frozen and How To Train Your Dragon. Basically, just before the events of Race To The Edge, Elsa and Hiccup have an arranged marriage and her, Olaf, Sven, Kristoff, and Anna are present for the events of the show and Dragons 2

Kumafeather AU- An AU where Max and Kim have the Moth and Peacock Miraculous and are trying to bring Max’s dad back. They call themselves Kuma and Dark Feather and are like that classic supervillain and dumb sidekick trope but they’re gay.

GrayBlue AU- An AU where Adrien and Marinette have the Moth and Peacock Miraculous and are trying to bring Emilie back. They call themselves Grayling and Beau Blue.

Mastermind Fu AU- An AU where Master Fu is evil and the Miraculass steal the Miracle Box to fight him.

Evil Miracuclass AU- An AU where the Miracuclass is evil and steals the Miracle Box. Master Fu must use the remaining Miraculous he has to fight them.

Marigod AU- An AU where Marinette and her parents are Gods.

Tangled Sisters AU- an AU where Cassandra grew up in the tower with Rapunzel and Varian is Flynn’s protege/adopted little brother. It’s be the same as the movie, just Cassarian, Aged Up!Varian of course, and the sister duo we deserve.

Apprentice AU- An AU where Master Fu was Emilie’s mentor. They have a father-daughter bond

Killer Princess AU- An AU where Juleka has the Moth and Rose has the Peacock

Timmy Dupain Cheng AU- An AU where Timmy (Sandboy) is Marinette’s foster brother and earns the Dog Miraculous under the name of Pup Fidele

Forbidden Love AU- An AU where Flynn is still a thief and Rapunzel is the ruler of Corona. The two of them have a little flirty to and fro, as he’s the most wanted theif in the kindgom and they both really dig each other but don’t want to admit it, not even to themselves. Lance is his sidekick and Kiera and Catalina are their young protégés. Meanwhile, Varian and Cass work under Raps. Cass as her royal adviser and personal bodyguard, and Varian’s her little brother and the royal alchemist.

Cousins AU- Inspired by the theory that Rapunzel, Elsa, and Anna are cousins. An AU where they were there to celebrate her birthday in Secret of the Sundrop and went with her and the gang to the Dark Kingdom! Sven, Kristoff, and Olaf tag along too, of course.

Twins AU- An AU where Marinette and Kagami are long lost twins

The Prince and The Pup AU- An AU where Prince Ali starts going to Marinette's school after falling for the heroine known as Chien De Guarde after his first encounter with her. What he doesn't know is that Chien De Guarde is Sabrina Raincomprix.

Tales of Monarch and Chien de Guarde AU- An AU where Monarch and Chien are the main heroes

Tales of Ryuuko and Viperion AU- An AU where Ryuuko and Viperion are the main heroes

Tales of Ryuuko and King Monkey AU- An AU where Ryuuko and King Monkey are the main heroes

Elsa Padare AU- an au where Elsa is adopted by Cass and Varian

Gandalf Swears AU- An au where everything is the same except Gandalf swears

#miraculous ladybug #masterlist #ml au #miraculous au #frozen #How To Train Your Dragon #httyd au

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fountainpenguin · 4 years

Note

What are your favorite small details that you’ve noticed in your favorite shows? Things that the people working on the show really didn’t *need* to include, but did anyway in a way you appreciate. Body language, visuals, callbacks, remembering a random trait of a character and referencing it or bringing it up again, etc. Any random detail about a show that makes you happy to remember. Go wild!

I love how expressive Mikey Munroe is with his hands. Hands are my favorite body part when it comes to body language. If I feel sad or get stuck writing a scene, I like to flip on a random episode and just watch his hands.

I love that episode in “ChalkZone” when Rudy’s baby cousin Sophie starts doodling and all she can make is scribbles. Rudy thinks her art is meaningless and is personally offended when the ChalkZoners adore and praise her work. The Zoners don’t judge you for your art skill- they appreciate all art equally.

I love the extras in “WordGirl” and how they become fleshed out over time. I love how you can see their stories progress in the background and watch them become friends even though there aren’t episodes focused on those friendships.

I love how Kid Math doesn’t leave Earth after his debut episode and he can still be seen trying to integrate himself in Earth society (both as a superhero and a regular kid). Also I love how his regular kid disguise is literally just a shirt and shorts he threw on top of his costume. And I love WordGirl pretending to examine her nails when she’s putting on a confident persona even when she’s wearing gloves.

I love the little details in “T.U.F.F. Puppy” about animal people world, like the bathrooms for all different species.

I love the way their culture treats insects. It’s legal to wear flea collars and use bug spray, but if an insect gets hurt and someone calls an ambulance, the doctors will be there. Same deal when it comes to mouse traps and fishing. It’s a good take on how to balance nature in a predator/prey culture.

I love the weird host/parasite relationship Keswick and the Chief seem to have going on. I love how when someone says something like “Look what the cat dragged in!” or “You dirty rat!” there’s just… this two seconds of awkward silence and no one has to say it but it’s clear that was Not Politically Correct.

I love that one scene where peaceful music plays and Kitty is cooing over the deer eating out of her hand and the camera pans out and reveals the deer is an anthro and that is just A Thing anthro deer do. The whole show gives Far Side vibes and I love it. That’s absolutely my sense of humor.

I love how Timmy takes care of Cosmo and Wanda when they’re hungover on candy and soda in “Power Pals.” He doesn’t ask what they need, he just does it… implying this happens often. There’s also an episode where she and Cosmo have a probation hearing, meaning they got in BIG trouble for something… and since Jorgen flips out when he finds Wanda scarfing down chocolate, it was probably their tendency to get drunk on the job.

I love how Timmy kept heat vision for four seasons (“Escape From Unwish Island”) because he never unwished it after the Season 1 episode “Father Time.” The fact he still has it wasn’t even relevant to the plot, it was just acknowledged that he still has it.

Cosmo and Anti-Cosmo generally use the same body language, but for opposite emotions:

Timmy’s Mom boards a bus labeled Tibecuador in Season 6, confirming an entire continent between North and South America wasn’t erased after its first appearance in Season 5.

In the Season 10 episode “Fairy Con,” a lot of the tents from the Season 3 episode “Cosmo Con” can be seen in the background.

Cat memes and motivational posters in Fairy World are replaced with pixies.

Schnozmo instantly rescues his brother and nephew when they’re falling to their doom, but actively chooses not to catch Timmy and Wanda. “Hmm… Nah!”

The Burger World employee from Season 7 returns in Season 10, still hanging around Dimmsdale after Foop blew up his old restaurant.

Multiple episodes imply Happy Peppy Gary and Betty were aware of magic and working with the Pixies the whole time.

Timmy is sensitive to foul language, even snapping at Vicky for saying “Moron” on public radio. In contrast, sweet little Chloe Carmichael swears but keeps getting censored onscreen.

There are at least two other godkids in Timmy’s class…

… and both were absent in “No Substitute For Crazy” when Doombringer searched each kid for fairy dust.

Kevin can’t walk as fast as his uncle. When Crocker walks, Kevin falls farther and farther behind.

In “When Nerds Collide,” there’s a brief moment where the Anti-Fairies come flying out of a portal. Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda are holding hands.

When Foop is forced to work together with Vicky in “Scary Godcouple,” his magic changes color the more she torments him. At first he has brightly colored magic and has a good attitude, but his magic slowly changes to green the more miserable he gets. Of the possible colors of magic, green and red are the rarest in the series. If I recall correctly, the only other occurrence of green magic was when Cosmo and Wanda got in a huge fight back in “Apartnership.”

Foop is a Kelly Clarkson fanboy and if you look at her songs from his point of view, a lot of them could relate to his dissociative identity disorder.

In “Who’s Your Daddy,” a van comes barreling down a Fairy World road and it has no wheels… it doesn’t need any because it just flies.

After the Season 3 episode “Engine Blocked,” Vicky can be seen driving the Striker Z, still damaged from falling off a cliff (Here it is in Season 5).

*Inhales*

In “T.U.F.F. Puppy” the series starts with all these villains who call to alert the secret agents about their evil plans and this is generally regarded as a bad move to the point that one villain’s henchmen defects from the criminal organization to found a new one that solely revolves around revealing your evil plans after you’ve already committed a crime and not before, but halfway through Season 2 you learn it’s a long-forgotten law that it’s legal to break out of jail in Petropolis as long as you call in about your next scheme and this hints at a long history of evil parents teaching their evil offspring that This Is Proper Criminal Etiquette so you just get “Monologue to the heroes” scenes that are silly yet have this complex backstory behind them and it really drives home the fact that the Fiendish League of Potential Perpetrators are outsiders in this society who are copying what they see the big-name villains doing but don’t actually know their rights because they’re basically big little kids who just want to be cool and I am HERE FOR THIS. Also Snaptrap once chose to spend 3-5 years in jail instead of breaking out and then revealed his next scheme ANYWAY and it’s just a really layered joke that makes me laugh. That’s my sense of humor.

#asks #Anon #screenshots #FAIRIES!#Spy dog show #Red babysitter #Long post #Cosma family

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thejakeformerlyknownasprince · 5 years

Note

Animorphs in Zombie Apocalypse AU?

• It’s been seven years since the end of the war. Three years since the Animorphs — all six of them — stumbled off of the Rachel on its return, over two dozen ex-yeerk-hosts in tow. It’s beginning to feel like this peace might last.

• Rachel’s in the middle of a business lunch when the call comes in. Her line of fragrances (“Animal Essence by Rachel Berenson: Let out your wild side”) has performed pretty well this quarter. But there are always marketing campaigns to manage and deals to sign, which is why she and her PR manager Linda are in a trendy Brooklyn café when the phone in her purse buzzes.

Jake tries to sound calm, as he tells her that they’re being called in. Because it’s Jake, he almost succeeds. No details yet, he says, just a behavior-altering pathogen. Possibly extraterrestrial origin.

Around her, the room has gone cold and strange and far away. How silly the delicate spread of quinoa and avocado on her plate appears now, how pointless the fan of business cards in her hand and manicure on her nails.

“My cousin,” she says, and then “family emergency,” and then “I have to go.”

• Marco’s head lifts when the din of the crowd goes quiet ahead of him, scanning automatically for trouble. Jordan Berenson is cutting through the crowd on the dance floor. She’s utterly out of place in her full business suit amidst the night club’s flash and camp, her straight posture bizarre among the half-naked slouch of bodies that surrounds her.

“Hey there, G-woman!” Marco calls over the music.

“She’s a fed?” his security guard Rena asks sharply, glancing at the line of cocaine clearly visible on the nearest end table.

Marco waves Rena away. “She’s family.”

He sees Jordan absorb the label with no small amount of surprise. He’s not sure what the fuck else they’d count as: they’re not friends, but that doesn’t change the fact that they fought and cooked and lived and nearly died together during the war.

“I’m here on behalf of the NSA-CDC joint commission,” Jordan says, trying a small smile.

“And what’s Uncle Sam want with little old me?” Even as Marco says it, he knows: he really really does not want to hear what Jordan is about to say.

• Cassie rolls to her feet when the Army transport jeep approaches, heart already beating faster. The hork-bajir preserve doesn’t get many human visitors, and the official ones never bring good news. She glances over at Tobias – who was, like her, listening to Toby tell a surprisingly entertaining version of their war story to a group of youngsters – and sees him tense, feathers flaring.

Please, she thinks, don’t let it be the start of another “human” rights battle. Which just goes to show that it’s been a while since the war, long enough that she thinks another spat over land grants is the worst thing that can happen to this community.

• «Prince Aximili.» The aristh looks nervous enough to be about ready to trip over his own hooves. «Sir, there’s a message for you. It’s from Earth.»

Ax nods automatically, even knowing that the gesture won’t mean anything to his fellow andalites. «Who on Earth?»

The aristh shuffles his back hooves, tail tucked close to his body. «Just… Earth. A human called the President of the United States. She says she’s calling on behalf of the entire planet.»

A war-prince must always project calm and confidence, to reassure all warriors and civilians who might be watching. Ax manages, only just barely, to remain still and inhale slowly. To keep his voice level when he says, «Thank you. I’ll take the call in my private quarters.»

• There are three of them in the cramped observation room. Then four, then five, and finally six. A unit, huddled together and barefoot and unable to speak. They’re not the only ones here for the meeting, of course. Other people await them in the next room: the Joint Chiefs, the U.N. representatives. Collette and Timmy. Peter. Tom, Jordan, Walter and Michelle. The president.

On the other side of the glass, Eva beats her hands against the wall. A guttural moan gargles in the back of her throat. She’s walking forward, not seeming to realize that she encounters a wall again and again.

The flesh has already rotted off her extremities, leaving bone and putrescent muscle exposed underneath the peeling curls of skin.

“We’ll find a cure,” Cassie says. Even as she tries to breathe through a nightmare come to life, a flashback made present. “We’ll find a way—”

“My mom is dead.” Marco’s voice is as steady as the hands of a man sawing off his own leg. “No heartbeat. No brain activity. No respiration, digestion, circulation.”

Tobias looks back into the room, then at Marco. «But…»

“She’s an organ donor.” Marco’s eyes are dry, but he sniffs hard to keep them that way. “Wanted her body used for science, for humanity, when she couldn’t use it anymore. She’s dead. We’re respecting her wishes.”

Eva’s mouth gnashes at the air, teeth and jawbone exposed where her lips have already decayed. Her fingertips leave streaks of gore on the plexiglas.

“We know it spreads by fluids,” Jake recites dully. “That even a few drops can infect an entire water system. We know that it kills the hosts within hours of infection, and then uses their bodies to try and reproduce itself. We know it can be killed by fire, and by beheading the host, but so far that’s all we know.”

«How many humans have suffered its effects so far?» Ax asks.

“We don’t know,” Jake says. “Lowest estimate’s a few thousand.”

“And the highest?” Cassie asks.

He turns to look at her. The answer’s there on his face, in the way he can’t seem to stop himself from reaching out to take her hand.

• “How bad is it?” Ronnie asks Cassie that night.

She pulls him into her arms, desperate to sink into warmth and soft muscle and still-living flesh. “Remember last time humanity got attacked by an alien pathogen?” she asks. “Remember how that ended for the invading parasites?”

He has to know that she’s dodging the question. But then he wasn’t in the room when the graph tracing the U.S. watersheds spread slowly from blue to red, the entire continent glowing sickly crimson within weeks. The heading at the top said Conservative Estimate. They never saw the non-conservative one.

• Please remain calm, the president’s broadcast says, and stay inside your homes. Boil any water before drinking, she adds, even though they don’t think that that will do any good. Better to give people something to do, some way to feel like there’s still hope.

• Rachel goes up against entire hordes. She becomes elephant, alligator, grizzly and cheetah. She perfects the necessary motions to grab and rip, to sever the spinal column in one bite or one slash. She wades through firestorms as a salamander or rhinoceros, swoops in on kafit wings or surges upward on lerdethak tentacles to rip bodies to bits. Sometimes the others join her. They get infected a dozen, a hundred times, and each time they morph and survive.

• Which is where Tobias’s suggestion comes from.

«I say we arm the populace,» he says.

It’s the six of them, sitting around Marco’s kitchen table — one of his kitchen tables in one of his houses — after yet another bout of endless killing and very little progress.

“Meaning what?” Jake says.

“The civilian death toll’s already high enough, if you ask me,” Marco says. “Seeing as how everyone and their aunt is out there with hunting rifles and modified dracon beams blowing their neighbors away.”

Cassie winces. He’s not wrong. The riots have cost more lives than the plague, according to the latest estimates.

«We’re safe,» Tobias points out. «Or we can fix ourselves. Because we’re morphers. We have the cube… why not use it as widely as possible, on as many people as we can find?»

“That’d be illegal,” Jake says.

Rachel lets out a dull laugh. Cassie can see her point. They’re way past that by now.

“And when the vampires start morphing too?” Rachel asks. “What then?”

“Don’t call them that,” Marco snaps. “They’re dead bodies with parasites inside, not…” He laughs, humorless. “Vampires, revenants, the undead, that’s all stuff you play for pretend on some television show. It’s makeup and bad writing.”

“Yeah,” Rachel says, “just like aliens. Just like shapeshifters.”

«I sincerely doubt that the infected would have the necessary mental abilities to sustain focused attention upon achieving an animal shape,» Ax says. «Tobias’s proposal would indeed break several laws set by at least half a dozen species… and it may be the only way to save this planet.»

“How do we make sure the civilians are using the morph tech responsibly?” Jake asks. Which shows that he’s already thinking about it. Already halfway there.

• They make an announcement on the only remaining television channel. They send out a broadcast on every frequency that emergency radios will pick up. They go even more old-school, and pass out fliers. Anyone who wants the morphing can come. Can wait in line, sometimes for hours, to press their fingers against the box in Marco’s hand. Acquiring DNA is their own problem. So is the two-hour limit, for all of the warnings that Cassie repeats ad infinitum to the waiting crowds and the folks at home.

It’s inevitable, really, when the panic breaks out one day outside the elementary school where they’re recruiting. No one can say for sure if the woman was actually infected, or if the man next to her just thought she was.

Eight people are trampled to death in the ensuing crush. Nearly a hundred more are injured, too many to treat in a town that has already run short on dozens of essentials that must be shipped in from other parts of the country. No one can say how many are infected, just that the Animorphs spend nearly a week clearing the undead out of the area around the elementary school before it’s finally safe to use again.

• The reports coming out of the densely-populated East Coast are shocking. There was a battle between human and undead outside Yonkers, and now Yonkers is overrun. All groundwater from the Chesapeake Bay watershed is now considered infected, take precautionary measures. Florida has closed its borders, and is gunning down anyone who gets too close. A riot over a shipment of bottled water took out eighteen square blocks in downtown Philadelphia, and took out the entire shipment of water as well. The wealthiest residents of Boston and Manhattan are moving off-planet as fast as craft will take them, leaving the rest of the planet to die.

And then one day the reports… stop.

No CNN, no NPR, no MSNBC. No U.S., not really, not anymore.

• “I’m going to go lie down,” Jake’s father says, after a long day in the lab. And, “It’s just a headache, I’m sure.”

It’s the last thing he ever says. Eight hours later, Tom becomes the one to shoot him in the head.

• When Rachel picks up the phone, Jordan says, “You know you’re my hero, right?”

Rachel rushes out of the house, phone up to her ear, desperate for a better signal. “How… you…” She draws a sharp breath. “It’s been three months!” Not just three months since she heard from her sister. Three months since anyone that she knows of has succeeded in making a long-distance call.

“Sat phone,” Jordan says. “Government-issue. We’ve all been taking turns using it, in here.”

“Holy shit.” Rachel pulls the gun off of her belt and, almost unthinkingly, puts a bullet between the eyes of the child who has been shuffling toward her on corpse-stiff limbs. “How are you? How’s DC?”

“Not great, actually. INSCOM’s got me and a bunch of other essential personnel in a bunker. Or they did, anyway.” Jordan clears her throat. “The perimeter’s been breached, and there are about twenty of us holed up in this room. Maybe four—” Her voice wavers, steadies. “Four, five hundred hostiles outside, judging from the security cameras.”

“I’m—” Rachel is running down the street, cataloguing morphs. “I’m coming for you, just hang on.”

“Rachel.” Jordan’s voice is terribly sad. She’s three thousand miles away. “Just listen, okay?”

Rachel sits on the ground. Curls into herself. Fetal position, a ball of helpless rage.

“We’re each taking one phone call, and it just seemed really important to me.” Jordan takes a breath. “To tell you that I love you. That you’ve always been my hero. Since… forever, really. And that everything I am, everything I’ve done, is because of you. So…”

There’s a noise in the background of the call. One Rachel doesn’t want to identify.

“Tell Mom and Sarah I love them, yeah?” Jordan says.

Their mom’s been dead two weeks. Sarah is MIA. “I will,” Rachel says. “I promise. Jordan—”

“Time’s up, gotta go.” There’s a click, and the line goes dead.

• Ax lies so smoothly, so thoroughly, that he doesn’t know if he even remembers how to tell the truth. The fight against the pathogen is going well, he tells the Andalite Navy. Humanity is doing well. There’s no need for alarm. No need for drastic action. Yes, he would like to stay here indefinitely, but only to do what he can to assist the clean-up efforts.

• They morph every six hours, setting alarms to make sure that it happens. There is no uninfected water, not anymore, which means they’re constantly exposed. It can’t last forever. One of these days, Tobias knows, one of them is going to go in their sleep. And there’s nothing to be done to fend it off indefinitely.

• The being who appears in Marco’s living room is human and raptor and andalite and most definitely none of the above. (Ketran, Rachel will say later, and then silently shake her head when they ask her what the word means.) They all still recognize the Ellimist when they see him.

“I came to you once with an offer,” the Ellimist says. “Your lives, and your families’, in exchange for relocation to a different planet. I can bring your families back. Save them, and you. A way to preserve the human species, a final desperate measure.”

“And all of a sudden it’s back on the table?” Marco demands.

The Ellimist nods, or maybe he’s just bowing his head in grief.

They look around at each other, needing no words to communicate their thoughts.

They were so young, the last time they had this offer, Rachel thinks now. She was just a little girl, too caught up in worrying about being in love with a nothlit and disappointing her father to understand what was really at stake. She missed it entirely, the reason Jake and Marco were the ones to hesitate and grieve. They’d both lost loved ones to the yeerks already. They’d known what was at stake, the way that the little girl she’d been at the time could not have known.

Now she understands. Now, I can bring your families back isn’t abstract or principled. It’s real down to her gut, down to her pores. Now she understands, as do they all, just how much war can take. They’re adults. This time, their eyes are open. Their decision is informed.

This time, Jake doesn’t hesitate when he speaks for them all. “Go fuck yourself,” he says. “It’s our planet, and we’ll fight for it to the very last man.”

#animorphs #animorphs au #au #body horror #gore #character death #long post #zombie au #canon compliant

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crispyimagines17 · 5 years

Photo

“GOSSIP GIRL: New York, New York“ (Chapter 1).

Summary: Gossip Girl, your one and only social media source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s Elite. Things begin to stagger at the Upper East Side with the return of Alana Howarth and the unexpected arrival of Timothée Chalamet, a European handsome boy and rising ruler who has come for Alana; ignoring that NYC already has an heir and prince in its realm, Tom Holland. Secrets, romance, drama and lots of champagne are our daily bread. You know you love me, XOXO.

Originally based on: R’s & CrispyImagines writers’ idea.

Written by: @crispyimagines17

CAST:

Tom Holland

Timothée Chalamet

Disclaimer: This fiction is set on our days (2019). Gossip Girl is now all over social media, Twitter and Instagram being the best sites to find hot tea. Also, for those who may ask what happens with Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan, Nate and the original cast, they’re now grownups who set the reign and have left it for new generations.

Author’s Note: Well, I’m really really excited for this. A huge sorry for those who’ve been waiting an eternity; college and our sense of perfection got in the way. But now here it is. Hope you love it as much as we do and enjoy every word <3 (also hope this feels like watching a Gossip Girl episode).

Further author's note: So this me from the future haha I was reading this chapter and holy crap! I needed an editor for this, it's good but some scenes are garbage and just make the chapter really REALLY long. Please new reader, give my series a chance. I promise the 2nd chapter is better (check it on the masterpost). Way better. Also, I'll try to re-write this chapter to take away that shit. In the meantime, please try to enjoy my efforts.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hey Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here… And I have the biggest news ever. One of my many sources – jessica97 – sends us this;

Spotted at JFK International Airport, bags in hand: Alana Howarth. Was it only a year ago our It-Girl mysteriously disappeared for, quote, ‘boarding school’? And just as suddenly she’s back.

You don’t believe me? See it for yourselves. Thanks for the photo, Jess.

Wonder what Tom Holland thinks about her return? Not much, I guess. Manhattan’s elite prince himself was caught low-key undercover at a downtown Starbucks.

But she’s not the only surprise that comes up with foreign winds. Fresh meat sent from overseas, girls. A foreign handsome boy chatted with our Lana before taking his own way. New snack, huh?

Enjoy your mocha latte, Tom; you’re gonna need it. And welcome back, Alana.

The flight 0159 London-New York City had arrived at its destiny. And Alana Howarth breathed for the first time in a long time the air of her city. Maybe it was good to be back at home. The airport was somehow peaceful, at least.

Geoffrey, the family butler, was waiting for her in the same place as usual; near the candy shop where 7-year-old Alana loved to buy chocolates after a long journey.

“Geof!”, she took her Prada pale gold sunglasses up to her hair to glance at her old friend better.

“Miss Howarth”, the 50-year-old man who might be easily confused with Alfred Pennyworth showed her a bright smile.

“Oh, c’mon. I brought you something.”

“You’re so kind, miss Howarth. Let me take your luggage and…” Geoffrey went silent and only made a gesture with his eyebrows for Miss Howarth to turn her face behind her.

A young handsome man was decidedly walking towards her. By the Louis Vuitton travel pillow around his neck, one could say his flight had just landed too.

“Surprise!”, he shouted while shaking his hands as magicians do.

“Timothée?”, but Alana’s reaction wasn’t reciprocal. She frowned and narrowed her eyes, completely confused. “Wha- How?”

“I was on the same flight, London-New York. Literally crossed the sea to see you again.”

“But I never saw you on First Class boarding line”

“Ran late.” Before she could argue something else, he added “And asked for a seat far from yours, I didn’t want you to see me.”

“Wow… Why?”

Both youngsters were looking right into each other’s eyes; Timothée’s with a flash of hope and Alana’s were almost watery.

“I just couldn’t let you go so easily”

The following silence allowed Geoffrey to help her and cleared his throat loudly, bursting their bubble.

“Miss Howarth, your mother gave instructions to have you at the penthouse at 2 p.m.”

The clock read 1:40 p.m. Saved by the bell.

“Sure, she did. Thank you, Geof.”

“Go, go. I’ll send you a DM”, Timothée nodded and made a gesture with his hand for her to enter the limo.

They shared a brief eye contact once more before the handsome man turned back and walked away.

Overwhelmed, Alana was about to step into the limo when she heard a female known voice.

“Alana?”

“Marva?”, a brunette typical-Upper-East-Side-girl approached her with eyes wide open and eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Oh God, you’re back!”

Both girls shared a courtesy hug. Though, Alana was clearly tired.

“And… how you’ve been?”

“Cool. My cousin Jessica arrives today”, Marva answered as opened her purse to take out her cell phone and unblock it. “Well, I guess everyone knows you’re back now. It’s all over Gossip Girl”.

“Wait, what?”, Alana asked with a frown while trying to see Marva’s phone screen, but before she could read anything Marva kept it back into her purse.

“Gotta go, A. See you.”

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

Oh, A. New York has never been peaceful at all. You should know that more than anyone. Our princess is back, but apparently her crown has lost one diamond; what did she do last summer? And why did she return?

Down at Starbucks in the Upper East Side, Tom Holland had his phone on Do Not Disturb mode. He preferred it that way. His mother had announced him Alana’s arrival at breakfast, and he wanted to take a breath before seeing her. The last time both had spoken left a weird feeling down his chest, so he better be prepared.

Tom plopped down on his Jaguar’s leather back seats with a sigh, leaned against his back and sip his cappuccino. His mother words echoed on his mind over and over again.

“Our dear Alana comes back today, Tom. Please, don’t forget the party Margot and I have prepared for her at the Palace.”

Our dear Alana. Another sigh escaped through his mouth as he smoothed his hair back with one hand. But he had a special ringtone for Gossip Girl and its sound interrupted his thoughts, couldn’t helping himself on unblocking his device and check out the latest news.

Tom tightened his grip on his phone as his eyes read the lines about a foreign handsome man. In a single move, he dialed a number and approached it to his ear with pursed lips.

“Evan. Tom Holland here. Tell me everything you know about this man, I’ll send you his picture.”

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

Timothée looked through the polarized windows with his eyes fixed on New York City. It was very American, not a single glimpse of Europe, indeed. His phone vibrated under his right pocket and as soon as he read the name on the screen, he answered.

“How was your flight, Timmy?”, a soft female voice asked on the other line.

“Good, mom.”

“Fine. Your father wondered where the private jet was.”

“Father… Asking for the jet instead of his son”, Timothée gritted his teeth and nodded ironically.

“Are you…?”

But he anticipated to her words and answered right away.

“Yeah, I’m on my way to uncle Chuck’s. Call you later… Love you too, bye.”

Chuck Bass, his mother’s millionaire cousin. They were related by Chuck’s mother, but her death didn’t make them close. Though, family is family and the Chalamet were always invited to every Bass event. But Timothée hadn’t seen him in years, he barely remembered Bart Bass’ funeral or more so, Chuck’s wedding with Blair Waldorf.

But he knew one thing for sure; his uncle had been the king of the Upper East Side, and now that he’s not a youngster then his place must be someone else’s.

With a frown and pursed lips only a true Slytherin could do, Timothée opened his Twitter and typed “Gossip Girl”, being immediately presented to an account describing;

Gossip Girl, your one and only social media source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s Elite.

He smirked.

“Time to catch up.”

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

February 16th, 2018. One year ago.

The sun drew a soft orange-blue in the sky, ready to let the night its way. Her Louis Vuitton luggage set laid behind her, up in an airport cart.

“Bye, daddy”, Alana kissed her father’s cheek and embraced him as a couple of teardrops fell over his shoulder.

“Take care, sweetheart”, Dr. Howarth’s nose huffed in an effort not to cry.

“Bye, Geof”, she embraced her old friend. The butler took his hat off and smiled at the Howarth girl he had served since her very first day.

“Bye, mom”, Alana kissed her mother. Though their adieu was shorter than her father’s.

A male voice echoed in every corner of the Airport, announcing the boarding room for flight 912 New York-London. Alana took a deep breath before nodding an airport butler for him to drive the cart along her side.

And without further goodbye, she walked towards the VIP boarding line.

***

Once on her seat, she asked the stewardess for a glass of water and an Aspirin. This was more than she can handle. Though, they say it’s better to tear it from the root. So, she typed the well-known user on her Instagram and found right-away the latest hit she had read a couple of days before.

In fairy tales, Cinderella danced until midnight with her Prince Charming. But on the Upper East Side, our Cinderalana ran away before dancing with our Prince T and, instead of a crystal slipper, left a whole crowd open-mouthed. Sorry T, but you had to read the tale first; Cinderella didn’t kiss the Prince on Valentine’s Day ball while he was under vodka’s spell.

Her eyes went watery and bit her tongue to hold her feelings inside. Gossip Girl having perfect timing for dropping bombs. Suddenly, Alana felt the chills running down her spine as she remembered Tom’s closeness and everybody’s eyes on them with their phones out ready to snap the moment.

And it made her sick. She shut her eyes as she leaned against her back on the comfortable seat with a sigh. This had to end, now. But gossips would always be around, and people have no mercy. That’s why she had to leave.

In a movement worthy of dramatic film scenes, Alana looked out through the plane’s window and saw New York City lights vanish before her eyes. Then, she brought her attention back to her phone screen still on Gossip Girl and decidedly clicked ‘Unfollow’.

A new beginning, far far away.

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

May 2019. Present Day NYC - Howarth’s penthouse.

“What do you mean dad is not at home?”

Alana frowned at the woman standing behind a desk with her glasses in the middle of her nose, focused on the golden MacBook screen.

“Well, hospitals demand a lot of him these days. And it certainly did not help the fact he had to deal with the Foundation too when his daughter left.” Margot, Alana’s mother, answered throwing a reproach glance in her daughter’s direction while interlacing her fingers to rest her chin on top.

“But I’m back now.”

“He said he’d be here as soon as his meeting with the board finishes. Maybe you can re-join your place as ‘Charity and Foundation leader’.”

“I’d love that, truly.” Alana said as a warm smile covered her face. If one thing she had missed was the Foundation and all its activities; see children’s faces when they were told their surgeries would be free.

“By the way, the Holland’s organized an evening party at the Palace in honor of your return.” Margot added, bringing her attention back to the MacBoook screen and typing fast over the keyboard.

“Oh mom…”, the prodigal daughter rolled her eyes. Margot being Margot Howarth and the socialite.

“You know they’re very fond of you. Besides, Tom and you have always been close, like cousins.” Alana’s mom took her glasses off to fix her eyes on her daughter as she shrugged. “And when Elizabeth told me about her idea, well, I thought it was hilarious.”

“Hilarious for you.”

“Alana please don’t act like a chi…”

“I’ll be on my room!”, she shouted already on her way towards the stairs. “Until I move again somewhere else”, this last muttered under her breath.

***

As soon as her foot stepped into her room, a kind of relief relaxed every muscle of her body, plopping down over her big bed. After a few seconds, the whole world fell under her chest.

“Fuck”

The very one thing she wasn’t ready to face, and her mother arranges everything as always for it to happen. Alana could’ve continued regretting her bad luck, but jetlag dominated her will and a couple of minutes later, fell deeply asleep.

***

It wasn’t until Dr. Howarth kissed her forehead that her eyes opened, and she slowly got up, still under the sleep’s stupor.

“Morning, sunshine”

“God, what time is it?”

“Six.” He answered calmly as he lend her a glass of cold water. “So, how was Europe?”

After drinking the last drop, she placed the empty glass on the bedside table and fixed her eyes into her father’s.

“Great. Thanks for… everything. Spending my Senior high school year there was the best I could’ve ever done, thank you for supporting that.”

Dr. Marcus Howarth sat up on her bed with his lips pursed in an apologizing manner.

“I’m sorry we had to leave so soon on your Graduation Day, sweetheart.”

“It’s okay. You were there, that’s all that matters.”

“You know I’m so thrilled you’re back, and more so behaving like an adult. What happened to my naughty teenager?”

Both shared a laugh. Her father had always been honest with her and knew exactly when to act as a friend or as a parent.

“She grew up.”

Marcus nodded with a proud smile on his face.

“Yeah, she did.”

A brief silence floated in the room. Dr. Howarth was about to stood up when Alana asked.

“Dad?”

He looked at Alana with a slight frown.

“I met someone”

His father’s blissful aura faded and narrowed his eyes, ready to hear the story his daughter was about to tell.

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

February 17th, 2018. London City.

Alana closed the door as soon as the last worker left the last suitcase and stood before the mess, but a genuine smile covered her face making it almost shine.

There she was in her new, and so far craziest, adventure: living alone. After enjoying a few minutes of peace, Alana began unpacking. It’d be a long night and she had to hurry.

Tomorrow was her first day at Woldingham School for Girls in Surrey, only 35 minutes away from her location; her father alleged she should study somewhere in London, but her mother decided that, if her daughter was studying in the UK, then she’d do it at the same school she once did. At least Gossip Girl’s realm didn’t get that far.

The bell rang, bringing her back to Earth; approached to the micro near the button instalment that controlled the gate.

“Who is it?”

Her favorite female voice answered.

“It’s me. Blair.”

“Come up!”

A couple of minutes later, godmother and goddaughter were embraced with big smiles.

“Goodness, you’re here!”

“Chuck’s waiting outside, I just wanted to see the place you… chose to live”, Blair Waldorf glanced with a frown every corner of the floor as if looking a horror show. “Seriously, Lana, you should stay at my house here, nobody’s living there. And I’ve heard Benedict Cumberbatch lives a couple of houses from it.”

“I’d like to give this place a try. But thank you.”

Blair hold her goddaughter’s hands and showed her a sincere encouraging smile.

“And remember, no matter if your last name is Howarth, you’ve always been a Waldorf.”

***

The subway ride hadn’t been as bad as she imagined. But living in London with less privileges than in New York felt good.

Alana was about to step outside the principal’s office.

“Here”, the principal handed her a bunch of papers. “Your first class had just begun a couple of minutes ago. ‘Art History’, you better hurry up.”

“Thank you for receiving me, Principal Martha.”

Both women shook hands and shared polite smiles.

“You’re welcome, Alana. It was a pleasure.”

Once on the aisle, she inspected the papers content and between them found a map of the whole campus.

“Not even Harry Potter’s Hogwarts map was that difficult.” Alana muttered under her breath with her eyes locked in the drawings of aisles and buildings.

Apparently, this boarding school was only for girls but was related to the boys’ boarding one next to this, and so, some classes were shared; such as Art History.

When she finally figured out where the hell her room was, it had already begun as the principal warned her. She was standing near the door with her eyes trying to see through the little windows.

“Maybe it’s almost finishing”

But before she decided to leave, a boy with wavy hair and indie aspect cleared his throat and touched her back with his finger. He had drops of sweat running around his face, he ran late too.

“Excuse me uh, are you coming inside?”

“Uh, I don’t know. Seems the class is interesting, I’ll interrupt the professor’s speech, maybe.”

“Mr. Blackwood’s? He doesn’t mind.”

“Really?”

His aura was full of electricity and calm at the same time. And his eyes made Alana’s impression to sound reasonable; both eyeballs were surrounded by a smoldering green.

“Yeah. Besides, if you come in with me, he won’t get mad. Trust me”

“Alright”, she answered doubtfully.

Though his charisma convinced her about the professor’s behavior, this was the first time she trusted someone who had just met.

“I’m Timothée, by the way.” He stretched out his hand to shake it with hers, something not commonly used among youngsters.

“Alana.”

Timothée gently smiled at her as he made a gesture with his hand to let her walk inside first.

“Nice to meet you, Alana. Shall we?”

***

April (one week before Summer) 2018. Woldingham Boarding School.

A couple of months were enough for Alana to feel like a Londoner. She might not know the city by heart but had connected to it in a way she never had with New York. And she barely remembered Gossip Girl or the Valentine’s ball incident.

Mr. Blackwood was in front of the whole class pointing something on the projector’s screen. ‘Modern Art’ era and music was the main subject of the day.

“So, as many of you may know or even have the honor of meeting, Hans Zimmer did change the way film music was recorded…”

The boarding school, despite what her mother commented her, had rich kids from several Western Europe countries. Perhaps Margot referred to the fact most were new monied instead of old monied as in Constance, her former high school in New York.

Timothée was sitting next to her in the middle row.

“He’s getting sentimental.” He turned his head and whispered near her ear.

“Shh.” Alana giggled.

“He is. Jesus, I told him to follow his dream, get his butt to Hollywood and ‘boom’ the Oscar goes to Joe Blackwood for Best Original Score”

Blackwood crossed his legs as he leaned his arms over the desk behind his back.

“Alexandre Desplat finally received his Oscar, but… Alright, back to topic, please eyes on the screen.”

Everyone did as told. Unlike other classes, this one gave them the opportunity to flirt, so in exchange they obeyed the young and cool professor Joe.

“The following video reflects what we’ve been talking these weeks; the power of music.”

Letters – Abel Korzeniowski

Lights had been turned down, leaving the room in complete darkness until two dancers appeared on screen. Their performance was so beyond perfect it almost made her wince.

Once the lights were on again, Mr. Blackwood’s excitement filled his face and voice.

“You see? Every note was sintonized with every movement. Did you feel the passion?”

A moment of silence between the students reigned in the room, until Timothée broke it and everyone’s heads turned in his direction.

“Indeed, Mr. Blackwood. The sequence of the young man reading his lover’s letter reflects pure desperation and pain. Ballet is quite misunderstood sometimes, just bodies moving doesn’t make any sense… But when music accompanies this, it’s… Art.”

His velvety voice was casting a hypnotizing shadow on his very feature. Everyone’s eyes were glued on him. However, it wasn’t interest what she saw reflected on them but a weird mix of respect and fear? She wasn’t sure.

And when he finished his comment, Mr. Blackwood cleared his throat bringing the class’ attention back to the desk where he had been without moving, also spelled by Timothée’s charm.

“That’s art, ladies and gentlemen. Your final Project is about this video, I want an essay on my desk by the end of the week.”

***

Ten minutes later, Timothée and Alana were walking down the aisle in silence.

“What are your plans for this summer?”

She glanced at him with a slight frown as she let out a chuckle. That was unexpected.

“Head back to New York, maybe.”

His eyes were fixed on her, ready to perceive any reaction on her feature while both kept walking.

“Why don’t you come with me?”

Suddenly, her face changed to a completely speechless expression. So, he decided to add more and ease her a bit.

“Yeah, road tripping all over Europe. Or at least Western Europe before senior year.”

Nothing. Her eyes were blank.

“Don’t tell me Summer at the Hamptons sounds better.”

Two blinks. And seconds later, a smile.

“No… Uhm, you know what? I’d like a road trip… Very much.”

It was true, another summer listening to her mother’s speech was the last she wanted to do. Or facing what she left.

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

May 2019. Present Day

***

Spotted: The airport handsome young man stepping into the Empire Hotel. There are only two reasons a stranger would walk in with such determination; he’s a guest in a hurry or he’s visiting our former prince Chuck Bass.

***

NYC – Bass’ penthouse.

The elevator door opened and Timothée walked into his uncle’s penthouse. He had his hands inside his pocket as he stared the whole place; it must be the biggest penthouse in New York.

Chuck Bass appeared in a blue suit, holding a glass of whisky on his right hand.

“Timmy, long time no see!”

Bass handed him the glass as he approached to his mini-bar and served a drink for himself.

“Indeed, uncle.”

“Your mother?”

“She’s fine but couldn’t come. You know, Europe is-“

“Her home. That’s what she always told me when we were kids.”

His uncle made a slight gesture for him to seat over the couch.

“And your father?”

“Business.”

“Chalamet… Guess his new empire got him pretty busy.”

Timothée nodded before drinking a sip of whisky.

“I still remember when my father learned your mother was going to marry your father Domenico, a nobody, as he called him.” A hint of a playful grin showed over his face. “He surprised us all when suddenly bought your mother a mansion at Monte Carlo and had investors everywhere.”

A naughty smile covered Timothée’s face as a memory crossed over his mind at the mention of Monte Carlo.

“Oh, that mansion… Got some cool parties over there”

Chuck joined him with the same smile.

“You got that fun sense from your mother’s family side, particularly me.” Chuck blinked as he reminded himself the main subject of that chat.“But, what can I do for you, nephew?”

“Well, I’m pretending to stay here for a while. Yale haven’t accepted me, but Columbia already did and just wanted to let you know.”

“You already found where to live?”

“Yeah, they’re sending my luggage there.”

Again, the elevator doors opened but this time Serena van der Woodsen stepped inside, announcing her hurried way.

“Chuck it’s me! Just came for something Blair left and…”

She was open-mouthed for a splice of a second, before approaching to Chuck though not taking her eyes away from the young man sitting in front of him.

“Serena, this is my nephew Timothée Hal Chalamet.” Both stretched hands politely. “Timothée, this is Serena van der Woodsen, my wife’s best friend.”

“A pleasure.” Serena, despite the years, still glowed in beauty showing him her characteristic smile. “Maybe you’d like to join us tonight. It’s at the Palace, Blair and a friend organized a party to celebrate Alana Howarth’s return.”

“Come, Tim. Blair would be delighted to see you.”

The young man raised his eyebrows in surprise at the invitation. He pretended to be speechless for a few seconds just before a big smile wrote all over his face.

“I’d love to. Thank you so much”

Well, he had to admit it. That insane egocentric philosophy ‘The Universe conspires in your favor to achieve your purposes’ proved him wrong. Thank you, New York.

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

May 2019. Present Day

***

Spotted: A prince with bewilderment written all over his face. Poor T, here’s an advice; if you need help, don’t ask Cupid nor Saint Vodka.

***

NYC – Holland’s penthouse.

Tom was under a warm shower. As soon as he arrived, he locked his door and went straight to his bathroom in an attempt to slowly regain his senses and clarity. He later changed warm for cold water, running his fingers through his hair and sniffing loudly at the freezing touch.

A couple of months ago, he would do this same thing and more, and still say he deserved this pain for what he had done. But today, his mind had changed. Now, he did it as a knight would’ve prepared his horse and his best sword before battle.

Evan was fast, his best informer in fact. Tom was quite pleased by his efficiency; he still hadn’t reached the building when already had the file on his phone. It took his informer less than an hour to get everything about Timothée Hal Chalamet and gather it onto a file.

The first pages were enough for Holland to understand what this man was doing here. He felt blood running faster than ever through his veins, his breathing sped up, clenched his jaw hard and his body was almost trembling in rage. So, he got himself into the shower.

And there he was.

“I fucked up, Alana… I fucked up everything.” He shut his eyes, trying to hold tears inside. ��And now this son of a bitch appears from Nowhere…”

Tom couldn’t blame him for the main title in the first page.

“Timothée ‘The King’ Chalamet”

He had laughed when he read it; only someone stupid would name himself a king and add it to his own name. But his smile faded as he kept analyzing and reading newspaper headers.

Chalamet had earned his nickname in late years, by heart. All over Europe, people recognized him as a nice charismatic and gentle young man when regarding adults. But among youngsters, a different story surrounded his name.

Not that he was terrifying or a murderer, a psycho or whatever. Not at all. He was more like a plague. A virus that entered through your ears and eyes.

Newspapers described him in few words as a promoter of good, mainly when he attended to hospitals or charity events. They ignored completely his scandalous life. Early on, his social status had remained low-key, almost nonexistent if not for a couple events his family attended hosted by the Bass family. His debut in true high society had been at the age of 11, when his family moved to Monte Carlo and since then have enjoyed a very wealthy life.

Though, he began building his realm in an Italian boarding school when he was 14; a professor was fired. Nobody really knew the reason; some said that had been because he had seduced her, others said that she scolded him after class for not delivering his homework on time and he turned things around until she cried, and others said she sneezed very close of him.

Later, at the age of 16, when his name was known in several Western Europe countries, he offered a party in Amsterdam. Some say celebrities such as The Weeknd and Cristiano Ronaldo were there. And more parties like that were hosted by him; it’s said Ed Sheeran got inspiration for a song that later became his hit ‘Shape of You’ while he attended one.

Although, when Chalamet turned 18 and moved to London, he settled down and devoted to Art in a calm boarding school.

“Months later, just after he decided to agree a kind of armistice with his realm, Alana comes to his life… And everything because of me.”

The water had ceased falling and Tom reached a towel, drying his face first and breathing deep while blaming himself.

“But this motherfucker is not in Europe. This is New York.”

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

Summer 2018

Seventy summer nights together. Perhaps Shakespeare, Nancy Meyers, and the whole bunch of screenwriters who wrote romcoms about summer loves were right. And she’d confirm it a thousand times… She hadn’t felt better in a long long time.

Alana chuckled and bit her lower lip from time to time as she reviewed her phone gallery with all her on-the-road memories.

He had told her this was his favorite, thus he set it as his lockscreen.

This was Paradise. Although the deal was road tripping, some luxury wouldn’t do any harm. She couldn’t even believe the beauty in the view their shared suite enjoyed.

The sound of the glass door from the shower made her immediately smile as the picture of Timothée with a towel wrapped around his waist filled her eyes.

He smiled at her too and turned around to open the mirrored cabinet and look for his Hugo Boss cologne. Once he found it, he poured some over his hand and dispersed it around his neck.

“Ready for your surprise?”

Alana smirked. Her eyes had been focused on his movements she didn’t expect that.

“What? You didn’t tell me”

“Oh, it’s true. I forgot to tell you about your surprise, maybe cause that’s what surprises are. A SECRET.”

“You’re a bad bad guy for not telling me.”

He walked towards her with a mischievous smile.

“But I’m YOUR bad guy.”

Timothée approached slowly and then captured her lips with his in a long and soft kiss. He cupped her face in his hands after pulling away.

“Go, babe. Get ready.”

Now was her turn to take a shower. Life couldn’t be better.

***

“Oh God. Timothée you didn’t…”

Alana was open-mouthed as she looked through the window how the limo drove them to the front door of the auditorium. A big poster announced tonight’s event: The 1975 in concert.

He rejoiced in his success for making her that happy.

“I did, darling. I did.”

“But- wh- how?”

“Let’s just say Matty Healy owed me a favor.”

“You know Matty Healy? Oh, dear heaven…”

Once inside the complex, another surprise came for her; Matty reserved them special seats in the front row. This had to be a fucking dream, one Alana wanted to never end.

The lights were all off, only a few white shadows were visible. Some guitar chords resonated. And suddenly, a blue neon light lit up the stage. Robbers characteristic sounds shouted making the whole crowd crazy and she couldn’t help herself but joining them.

Timothée just looked at her, at the shine in her eyes reflecting those lights and felt his heart melt. When he remembered the lyrics, he also joined the crowd and the woman next to him.

The group played a lot of songs more, connected, laughed and played with their audience. Matty even mentioned them:

“A few friends of mine are here tonight. Hope you’re enjoying this. ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS PEOPLE?”

As the end of the night came closer, the illumination changed slowly until a violet-pink light colored the stage and a kind of white smoke covered the arena. One more song and it’d be over.

It was ‘Somebody Else’. Alana’s favorite song from The 1975. Her eyes went watery as a soft smile wrote over her face.

He felt it too. Countless times he had told Matty this was their best song ever, so when it began playing Healy looked at him and blinked an eye before singing.

Timothée pressed his body against hers with her back touching his chest. He wondered if she could feel his fast heartbeats. Though she did nothing, but wince at his touch that only sent shivers down her spine.

He was a few inches taller, so his breath moved some strands of her hair. His hands ran down her arms until it reached hers and hold them as both crossed their fingers; hand to hand. Slowly, he led their arms to raise them above their heads and move with the music.

And if there’s a thought, it was a lie.

Two bodies, two souls, two hearts. Dancing together. Being one.

“Let’s keep dancing, let’s do it”.

Matty said to the audience, but Timothée felt the message had been more for him because he saw the way he danced with Alana. Yeah, he perfectly knew what Healy wondered and he was right; The King fell in love.

***

Backstage, Timothée introduced Alana to The 1975 members.

“You guys enjoyed the concert?” Matty asked as he grabbed a bottle of water.

“Hell yeah. It was amazing, you guys are AWESOME.”

Her smile was infinite. Almost nothing in the world would make it fade.

“Thank you, thank you. And what are you both doing? I mean, you wanna join us at the after-party?”

The couple looked at each other’s eyes and immediately knew the answer; they wanted to spend the night together at the hotel.

“Maybe next time, Matty. But thank you.” Timothée answered as he nodded to his friend.

“The King shall rest.”

The singer and Timothée shared a masculine hug before Alana took a picture of them with her Polaroid.

“Was a big pleasure seeing you, man. And hope to hear more from you, Alana; you gotta be The Queen.”

***

Alana stood before the mirror and started removing pins from her hair.

“What a night. I still cannot believe it.”

“Pure magic”, Timothée said standing behind her and slowly approaching to retake the same contact as in the concert.

Both looked at their reflection and stayed in silence for a minute before she turned her face to meet her lips with his in a soft kiss.

“Do you love me?”, she asked.

Instead of answering, he kissed her again but desperately this time. Her back hit the nearest wall as he deepened the kiss and unfastened her robe before kissing her neck.

But suddenly he stopped. The Killers Mr. Brightside’s chords coming from her purse interrupted the moment; her phone was ringing. She reached for it and her face paled when she saw the name flashing on the screen; Tom Holland.

She tried to collect herself, speechless as hesitance prevented her from making what her memory commanded her almost instinctively. Her thumb struggled between two choices; she answered, obeying her brain’s will.

“Alana?”

Alana winced at the sound of his voice, though she couldn’t utter a word. Timothée stood behind her as he smoothed his hair back with both hands, confused and frustrated.

“If you’re listening… Oh God, I-I-I don’t know what time is in your location, maybe it’s late or… not,” he began with jitters and hesitance cracking his voice. “Listen, it doesn’t matter if you’re a couple hundred miles from Japan… I was wondering if you have plans tonight.”

He made a pause, waiting for an answer or at least a reaction on the other line, but Alana kept frozen in her place, so he took a deep breath to encourage himself and continue.

“Maybe we could talk. Please, let me explain what-”

“Stop!” Alana exclaimed with an angry yet broken voice and hung up the phone.

She stood there for a couple of minutes more, with her eyes glued to the window view facing the darkness of the ocean at night. And when she finally faced Timothée, who had his eyes fixed on her, she swallowed hard. His eyes widened at the sight of her face, pale as ghost.

“I’d like to get some fresh air… Alone.”

He nodded with a slight worried frown. It was clear she had to make an effort to utter a word. He leaned against the couch, letting a sigh escape from his mouth.

The phone rang again. Mr. Brightside’s chords again over the bed.

Timothée answered.

“Alana? Please, listen to me. I-I-I’m so sorry.”

As soon as he heard a male voice, and even more after listening the weak apologize, his blood boiled.

Who the hell ever dared to hurt her?

He clenched his jaw when he read the name; Tom Holland.

***

When Alana crossed the door and entered their suite, a huge relief relaxed every muscle of Timothée’s body. A part of him told him not to, but he couldn’t help himself on pulling her into a tight embrace.

“Thank you.” She whispered over his shoulder before pulling away. “I’m sorry for leaving like that…”

His eyes were filled with tenderness for the woman standing face to face.

“No need to apologize, Alana.”

“Yes, I have to. We were having OUR moment and he suddenly calls with perfect timing and everything came back…”, a knot formed in her throat and her voice broke against her will.

Timothée immediately placed his hands over her shoulders, ready to pull her again and protect her. Only God knew what he was capable of if that man placed a finger on her without consent.

“What? He did something to you?”

Even though her voice was now recovered, he could tell it wasn’t easy for her to talk about it.

“Not exactly. There’s a stupid site called Gossip Girl that makes public everything that happens on the Upper E…”

Her lower lip trembled, perhaps as a sign for trying to keep the calm. So he made a decision; no more pain.

“It’s alright, you don’t have to tell me right now if you don’t want to.” Alana fixed his eyes into his in utter silence. “This is your fresh start.”

“A fresh start.” She nodded.

“The past is on the past”, he gently grabbed her by the chin. “Don’t feel you gotta tell me everything that happened before we met… Let’s make a deal, okay? Like… Hakuna Matata.”

She chuckled. And this relieved him in more than one way.

“No worries, no bad experiences, just today. Present is all that matters.”

“That sounds promising”, she said with a soft smile spreading across her face.

His thumb caressed her chin while both stared straight into each other’s eyes.

“It does, yeah. So… deal?”

“Deal.”

Timothée holded her right hand and kissed it as he promised himself he would never let her go.

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

The Palace. Present Day.

The terrace was crowded by those distinguished guests who were, in Mrs. Howarth’s opinion, indispensable to celebrate her daughter’s return.

Tom had arrived earlier than everyone hoping she’d come with her mother. But she didn’t. People started arriving and there was no sight of her. He was sitting at the Palace hotel bar, taking a sip of scotch as he tried not to check his phone again. One hour. One hour late to her own party.

Just when he was about to believe she wouldn’t come; a waiter tinkled a glass to gain everyone’s attention and music stopped. His mother and Margot Howarth stood mid-stairs with a microphone each in their right hand.

“Good evening”, his mother said.

“Thank you for being here, it’s a pleasure for us to…”

Margot’s voice was in the background while Tom kept glancing in every direction to see if Alana was around. But the face he recognized from the pictures made him grip his scotch glass a little too tight; Timothée Chalamet. What was he doing here?

“Well, she doesn’t really need an introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, my daughter Alana Howarth.”

The words resonated in his ears as Tom instinctively turned his face at the stairs. Everyone clapped joyfully.

“Thank you, mom. And thank you, Mrs. Holland. I’m so glad for being here with all of you…”

Still not a minute went by when her voice seemed to have everyone under a spell, as always. Her charm to connect with people had always been her strongest gift.

“…hope to rejoin the Olivia Howarth Charity Foundation and serve our people as it’s meant to be”

More claps. People loved her benevolent soul.

As she walked down the stairs, Alana made eye contact with Tom, but she looked away almost immediately, paying attention to Blair Waldorf and the couple talking with her.

***

Wind wasn’t blowing in Tom’s favor.

Alana had done everything in her power to keep herself busy eating canapes and talking about the beautiful flowers or the dress of Mrs. Perkins with every guest. With this luck, the night would end before he could approach her.

The clock read 9:40 p.m; it was now or never. Tom walked towards Serena van der Woodsen who was standing with a group of people, however when she saw from the corner of her eye her godson, she excused herself and turned to meet him.

“Auntie, I need your help”, Tom said handing her a glass of champagne.

“What is it, Tommy?”

She stared at him with a worried look on her face.

“You see that guy over there?” He glanced at Timothée’s direction talking with Chuck Bass and a couple more businessman. “I need you to distract him so I can have a word with Alana.”

“Oh, I saw him today with Chuck Bass. He’s his nephew.”

“I know. Would you talk to him while I’m with her, please?”

“He’s not with Alana, why don’t you just simply ask her?”

His eyes traveled the whole room.

“It’s… complicated, auntie S.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll do it, but please Tom don’t make a scene”, Serena placed one hand over her godson’s elbow. “It’s classic of Gossip Girl haunting for something in parties like this one.”

He nodded as putting on a smile and taking a step back from her.

“Don’t worry, auntie S.”

Serena went to the canape table and grabbed two, one for Chuck and one for her, then she headed up to their direction. Timothée welcomed her.

Fortunately, Alana was with a group of women who appreciated him very much. Confident of himself, he took a deep encouraging breath and he took three long strides to stand before her.

“Good evening, ladies.”

A couple of them raised their eyebrows, but they welcomed him nicely.

“Oh Tom dear, we were just talking about high school.”

“Thank God we graduated”, he chuckled, and the group joined him in his polite laugh. His charm might not be as powerful as hers, but it worked, and he used it. After the laugh faded, he cleared his throat. “Alana may I have a word?”

He got her. Fuck. The only thing left for her was nod and force a smile.

“Excuse me.”

Tom led her to a balcony away from the party, not without looking around to make sure no one saw them. In the midst of nervousness and excitement, Tom missed a pair of green eyes watching from the other side of the terrace.

Once outside, Alana turned to face him; she wasn’t chickening out this time.

“Tom, please don’t do this.”

He raised his hands as an innocent man would do in front of a cop.

“I just have to say something, please”

Her eyes were locked on his while she shook her head as if begging him not to press his finger over the wound.

“Don’t, don’t go there.”

“You just need to hear it.” He took one step to be closer to her, and when his mouth opened his voice had a soft sound. “I’m sorry, Alana. For that night. I never wanted to disrespect you or make you feel so bad for you to leave the city and…”

“I didn’t leave because of that!”, she cut him off.

His lips parted, looking genuinely confused. She shut her eyes for a brief moment before letting go a tired sigh.

“Jesus! What happened was the drop that spilled the glass. One day I woke up and… I didn’t want my life to be the way it had been with Gossip Girl shouting every party I hosted or even if I sniffed.” Alana swallowed hard and prayed her courage wouldn’t let her voice fail. “I… thought it’d be enough if I just stayed at the edge, but on Valentine’s…”, a complex mixture of rage and sadness were threatening to crack her voice, but she collected herself before tears flood her eyes. “The very person I cared the most about… showed me this world wasn’t for me cause no one would be truly a friend.”

She let the words hit him as she bit her lower lip in a last attempt not to cry. It still hurt.

“And, you know the rest.”

Silence set between the two of them. Tom was shattered; she had trusted him, and he failed her. He failed. And her words explained a lot of things but one. Tom tried to swallow the knot that formed in his throat.

“So, why you came back?”

“My aunt Blair told me Gossip Girl’s gift for Upper East Side grads was a clean slate for college. That’s why I’m here. A new beginning in New York, with my family.”

“I called you a thousand times and you were mad with me.”

Alana exhaled loudly and her rage seemed to come back for a second.

“I was, right. I knew you had feelings for me, and that night I expected you’d do something. And you did, but under alcohol’s effect. In front of the whole class with their phones out.”

“And I would never forgive myself for that”

Once more, Alana shut her eyes trying to control herself. When she got it, her eyes opened with a calmer pace and saw a dark knight walking towards them. Tom had his back to him and didn’t feel him coming.

“The past is in the past, Tom. Wish you a good life.” She administered the coup de grâce.

“Alana, please…”

Tom lifted his right hand to caress her arm. But Timothée’s hand stepped in the way, pushing his hands away before he could touch her.

Alana rolled her eyes, tired of this drama. She glanced at both men and moved a strand of hair out of her face.

“My dad should be wondering where I am”, she said as she brushed past Timothée making his shoulder move.

As soon as she left, Tom pushed sharply away Timothée’s hand with pursed lips and clenched jaw.

“Who the fuck you think you are to interrupt us?”

Timothée stared at him with a quirked eyebrow, challenging him as a mocking smile threatened to set free at the corner of his lips.

“Would say it was over before I came.”

“Listen to me you…”

But his sarcastic feature changed in a blink of an eye into serious, taking a step closer to him.

“No, YOU listen to me; you got your opportunity and you lost it.”

“Use your words carefully, you’re not in Monte Carlo anymore”, Tom warned him.

“Yeah, that’s what Google Maps says”, Timothée raised his eyebrows as he nodded with a smile.

“Alana would’ve never trusted you if she knew every thing I know about you”, Holland furrowed his eyes while putting his hands inside his pocket.

“And you think she’d believe a word you say?”, Chalamet scoffed. “Wake up, Thomas. She’s not under your mercy anymore.” He enjoyed the face Holland made, speechless. “Do yourself a favor and move on.”

Though, the prince reminded himself his advantage.

“You don’t know her at all. No matter how much time you’ve spent together, the good stuff is on the details and that’s something you won’t get.”

This hit Chalamet hard.

“Are you threating me?”, the European king asked sounding annoyed.

“I’m warning you”, now Tom used Chalamet’s same attitude with raised eyebrows and a smirk.

The atmosphere got heavier as both young men stared at each other with rage overflowing from their auras. But before one could do anything else, Nate Archibald walked towards them with a drink in his right hand.

“Tom? Here you are. Serena’s been looking for you. She’s inside.”

Whether Serena was indeed looking for him or not, Nate prevented him from making a scene and so, Tom had nothing to do but walk away with Nate.

“Thanks”

Alone, Timothée stared at the amazing view.

“New York, New York”

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

The identity of the mysterious airport handsome man was revealed; Timothée Chalamet. But our prince is not delighted by his presence. Looks like Manhattan’s Elite might quake with their outstanding chemistry to light a bomb up.

Alana, you did have fun in your year out… Enjoy your clean slate. I know it won’t take much time for you to dirt them up.

You know you love me, XOXO

Gossip Girl.

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