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mooksie01 · 4 years

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With Teammates Like These, Who Needs Friends (4/5)

Chapter Summary: It turns out that the only thing worse than a tense first date in an airship... is an awkward first date in a haunted dust mine.

Or: In which Clover feels like a moron, Elm causes problems, and nobody knows how to deal with a crush.

Warnings: More swearing, canon-typical combat, SPOILERS for V7C3, light angst

AO3 Link: [X]

Link to First Chapter: [X]

Notes: THIS IS A REPOST. Tumblr basically blanked my first attempt at posting this a few hours ago. Hopefully this one will actually show up.

Long chapter today to make up for the short one yesterday! I hope you all enjoy!

Please like, reblog, and comment if you like this chapter, and thank you so much to all of you who have been! Your support means the world!

(Just to preface, I haven't edited this chapter as thoroughly as I usually do, as I'm currently in the process of packing to go back to college tomorrow. I might come back later and give it another run-over when I have time, but for now, I'm sorry if there are any major mistakes or awkward spots in the chapter!)

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Walking through the abandoned dust mines with Qrow, Clover can’t help but be… a little distracted.

Up until now, Clover had only ever seen the other man move in a manner so instinctively disconnected and introverted that he’d just assumed that that was how Qrow always was. Now, though, he sees that he was wrong before; beside him, Qrow marches forward, back straight, shoulders carefully held lax in preparation for any possible conflict, head high, and eyes shining with a startling clarity and determination that takes Clover’s breath away.

In short, he’s a vision and it’s a herculean task not to stare.

Still, Clover is a soldier first and foremost, and he doesn’t allow himself to be sucked in so much that he might lose focus on the mission.

After a few long moments punctuated by nothing but his team’s routine check-ins, Qrow speaks up, “Gotta say, ’m still not really used to working with other huntsmen in the field.”

Clover glances at him out of the corner of his eye, mentally jumping hurdles in an attempt to figure out what the best route to steer this conversation in would be. He decides to tread lightly--nothing too personal. “But you were on a team before, weren’t you?” he asks, as though he doesn’t already know. That should be safe.

Qrow sighs softly and his gaze darts to the ground.

Fuck.

Just kill him already.

“Long time ago…” Qrow’s voice comes out sounding gruffer than usual, “I’ve just found working alone tends to be for the best.”

Clover’s heart constricts in his chest. What is he supposed to do?! He’s already upset Qrow (twice, now!), how is he supposed to avoid doing it again?! He doesn’t want him to shut himself off from the Ace Ops just because Clover can’t stop sticking his foot in his mouth! Should he comfort him? He seems like he needs comfort. Fuck, he has to respond. What can he say?!

“Well, I think that’s a shame,” he blurts out, and immediately wants to punch himself.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he is saved from having to ruminate over his social missteps when Qrow suddenly pitches forward, his foot catching on the uneven terrain of the cave floor underneath them.

Clover dives after him, seizing him by one arm and grunting with the unexpected strain of having to pull his partner back to his feet, then moves one hand to clasp his shoulder and make sure he’s steady. He is unsure if he has his skill or his semblance to thank for the feat, but he is grateful nonetheless to whichever it is.

He determinedly does not think about how this is the second time today that he has gotten the opportunity to hold Qrow close. Because that would be weird.

Once Qrow is standing again, they stare at each other for what feels like a long time, but is probably only a split-second. Clover feels like tiny nevermores are making a mess of his insides the longer he looks into Qrow’s eyes.

Then, those incredibly nice-looking eyes narrow into a slight glare and Qrow takes a firm step back. Rather than think about what he’s messed up this time, Clover decides that now would be a perfect time to report in to his team.

“Alpha, here. Give me an update.”

Qrow falls into step behind him as they proceed forward. Once again, the minutes pass mostly in silence but for the intermittent interruptions of their comms. Unlike Squads Bravo and Charlie, they see no sign of any sentinels or the target itself, but Clover has a feeling that they will soon enough.

His comm buzzes in his ear and makes a soft beeping noise, a signal that someone is contacting him through the Ace Ops’ private channel. Clover is about to answer aloud, but stops when a quiet series of taps and drags echoes down the line. It takes him a second to realize he’s being spoken to through morse code. His heart starts racing. They almost never use morse code in the field. Has something gone wrong?

He listens closely.

“ .... --- .-- … / -.-- --- ..- .-. / -... .. .-. -.. “

HOWS YOUR BIRD

He takes a deep breath in and steadily lets it out through his nose. Now is not the time to figure out if it’s possible to throttle someone through a comm line. Instead, he tries to discreetly raise a hand to his ear and respond:

“ .. -- / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- / ..-. .. .-. . / -.-- --- ..- “

IM GOING TO FIRE YOU

“Who are we firing?”

Clover startles, whipping his head around to look at Qrow. The other man stares impassively at him, a single eyebrow raised. Clover swallows hard because oh no, he’s hot. “Nobody. Well, Elm, probably.”

“What did she do?” Qrow asks, quickening his pace half a step until he is walking shoulder-to-shoulder with Clover again.

“Fooling around on comms during a mission. Don’t worry about it.” Clover stops walking, turning to face Qrow, who takes the hint and also comes to a halt. “How do you know morse code?”

Qrow shrugs, folding his arms over his chest. “Just a useful skill for a huntsman to have, isn’t it?”

Clover scrutinizes Qrow for a long moment, detecting that there’s something more to that. Unfortunately, though, he’s not Robyn, and he doesn’t know Qrow well enough yet to pick up on any tells he may have, so he just nods and they continue walking.

“Must’ve been something real interesting,” Qrow says after a few more minutes spent in silence, “to get you to blush like that.”

Clover’s steps falter. His face grows hot as he stares after Qrow’s retreating back.

Fuck.

He isn’t allowed to stew in his embarrassment for long, as their target suddenly phases through the cavern wall and appears right in front of them. Before Clover can even react, Qrow has already drawn his weapon and started shooting one-handed at the geist.

While Qrow keeps the creature busy, Clover shakes himself out of his stupor and speaks into his comm, “This is Alpha! We’ve engaged the target!” He pulls Kingfisher from his belt. “All squads head towards our position!” He extends the pole, and casts out the line, hoping to catch the geist by its ribs and haul it in before it can reach any materials to build a body out of. Unfortunately, his shot misses, the hook clattering to the ground just as the target darts into a giant chunk of ice sitting on the cavern floor.

Pieces of rock and ice begin to float into the air around them, pulled unrelentingly into the geist’s orbit. Clover curses under his breath and rushes forward, hoping to snag the geist and pull it out of its half-formed body before it can finish construction….

...Only to hear Qrow’s panic-filled voice echo from behind him, “Wait, stop!”

Clover looks up just in time to see a large metal beam tumble from the ceiling above. He raises his arms and takes a stumbling step back as it crashes into the ground just a few feet in front of him.

When the dust settles, he peers down into the hole it had made, taking the target with it.

Dammit.

He knows for certain that that beam would’ve done some serious damage if not for Qrow’s warning. He probably wouldn’t have died, but he certainly would’ve been out of commission for more than a little while.

Still, the target got away, and as Qrow runs to stand beside him, he reports in to the rest of the teams, “Target escaped. Last seen headed east.”

He shoots a sideways glance at Qrow, who is staring contemplatively down into the chasm, a strange light in his eyes that Clover can’t quite comprehend.

He looks back into the seemingly-bottomless darkness. Kicks a medium-sized stone into the newly-made pit in an attempt to get a rough estimate of how deep it goes. “Thanks for the call-out,” he says, suddenly remembering that he should probably express his gratitude toward Qrow for saving him an awful lot of injured leave. He props a hand on his hip and shifts his weight as the rock lands below. “That could’ve been bad.”

Qrow sighs heavily next to him, “I wouldn’t thank me….”

Clover is taken aback at the sheer amount of self-loathing and shame loaded into those four little words. He looks at Qrow. The other man is firmly avoiding his gaze, and the strange quality that Clover had noticed in his eyes earlier now registers in the back of his mind as guilt.

This… was not the Qrow Branwen that Clover had thought he’d be dealing with. Just a few hours ago, he couldn’t fathom a world in which such a famous huntsman would be anything less than confident and secure in himself, but it is becoming increasingly clear that that assumption couldn’t have been more wrong, as the intense self-contempt Clover hears seems to settle within a well-worn place in Qrow’s face and voice.

Qrow angles his upper body away a bit more so Clover can no longer see his expression. “My semblance brings Misfortune. Sometimes… I can’t keep it under control.” His voice gets weaker at the end of the sentence. His fists clench weakly at his sides.

Clover’s chest seizes with some unnamed emotion.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course Qrow had been upset this morning--his semblance was literally bad luck and here Clover had been, walking around with a bunch of good luck charms and making luck-based puns.

Reviewing the events of the past hours, more and more pieces fall into place. Qrow’s sudden shift in mood from playful to downtrodden after they’d run into each other, how he’d repeatedly downplayed his hurt feelings as “dramatics,” the way he’d said on the airship that he “couldn’t blame” Clover for--for what?

He remembers the way Qrow had gestured to his ensemble earlier. His world tilts on its axis.

Oh, Brothers, Qrow thought that Clover already knew his semblance and had been wearing all of his charms as some sort of twisted precautionary measure. To ward off him. A human person with thoughts and feelings.

Stupid, stupid, so stupid.

He shakes his brain’s attempts at self-punishment away. What’s more important at the moment is that he now knows what’s wrong, and that he can fix it, and Clover decides in this moment, a million thoughts running through his head, that he no longer cares about the other Ace Ops’ teasing. If hanging around Qrow from here on out is what it will take to boost this gorgeous man’s self-confidence, then that’s what Clover will do.

“That so?” Clover asks, as though he hasn’t been rethinking every single one of their interactions up to this point. When Qrow turns to look at him, eyes wide with shock, having obviously expected a far worse reaction, Clover flashes him the most reassuring smile in his repertoire (and that’s saying something, since he has a lot of reassuring smiles saved up at this point). “Well, hey,” he says, purposefully making a show of glancing casually at his scroll’s screen and extending Kingfisher, “don’t beat yourself up about it.”

(He hopes desperately that this remark comes off as encouraging, rather than callous.)

He pulls down what’s left of the metal beam that had almost crushed him, resulting in a small-scale landslide that just-so-happens to give them a way down with which to follow the target.

He turns to face Qrow, making direct eye contact with the other man, who seems to have frozen in place.

And hey.

“My semblance is good fortune….”

If he can get in a little flirting while he’s hanging around the aforementioned gorgeous man?

“...lucky you, huh?” He gives the other a wink as he speaks. Qrow’s eyes widen. Clover raises his eyebrows and turns away, watching Qrow until the last possible moment.

Well, that’s neither here nor there.

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More Notes: And there we go! Only one chapter left in this part of the series! I'm glad everyone seems to be liking it so far, and I'm so, so thankful to those of you who have been so kind and supportive in the comments. You're all amazing! Lots of love, fair game rights <3

#rwby #qrow branwen #clover ebi #fair game #qrowver #lucky charms #luckbirds #elm ederne #rwby volume 7 #rwby7 #rwby v7 #rwby fanfiction #rwby spoilers #pining #angst

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lilaclily00 · 5 years

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Apologies (3)

Danny Fenton secretly sort-of joins the family business.

(DannyMay 2019 Day 23: Scream [It’s still the 23rd somewhere in the world, right?]

DannyMay 2019 Week 4: Dreams)

Hopefully, this is a decent concluding chapter! And decently uses the prompts! They helped so much to get this written, but I struggled a lot, so I am mostly happy for it to be finished.

Part 1 and Part 2

AO3 link

@goinggoblin and @pigte

Val was missing.

That was the consensus when all the other A-listers had met up at lunch and realized that none of them had seen her in morning periods and no one's texts had been answered.

Dash wasn't an idiot. He would've noticed if anyone on the A-list wasn't at school, then would’ve proceeded to not worry about it. He wouldn't have even bothered with checking up on any of them by text. With how often some of them (read: Paulina) skipped anyways, there was no need to worry or feel responsible for them, besides perhaps cover their backs if a teacher was suspicious.

But this was Val.

Val, who spent the whole day on her phone.

Val, who always prided herself on having everything, including good grades. She just about never missed school, where she had the opportunity to achieve and show off her newest clothes.

Val, who took MMA after school for years.

Val, who recently became kind of literally dead, a secret that could lead to a lot of bad stuff if it came out--which admittedly seemed very likely to happen with how impossible she'd found it to control her new powers.

He couldn't say for sure what, but something had to have happened to her.

"Should someone go check on her?" Paulina voiced, biting her lip, picking at the questionable school lasagna on her tray.

Dash deliberated for a couple seconds. "I can. I rode my bike to school," he offered, shoveling lasagna into his mouth. After swallowing, he added, "And I don't have any absences for History yet."

"You sure, man?" Kwan frowned. "Your parents won't be happy about you missing a class if it wasn't because of football."

Dash shrugged in lieu of a vocal response, seeing as there was lasagna in his mouth again. He could live with his parents throwing a tantrum later. He tried to keep them happy most of the time, but they hardly ever were. Sometimes he wondered why he bothered.

After a few more mixed messages of encouragement and caution from his friends, Dash waved them off and pushed the rest of his tray to Kwan. He meandered out of the cafeteria and hid out of sight from staff wandering the halls, then snuck to the bike racks and successfully made it off school property.

It didn't take long to reach Val’s place. He wasn’t terribly fazed when he knocked harshly on the front door and no one answered. He went around back to right under her curtained bedroom window and searched for something to throw at it, ultimately settling on a small rock on the ground. It only took a few seconds for him to get a reaction, a frustrated growl that was so Valerie, especially because he could hear it from all the way down there.

“So you are alive!” he shouted up with a grin, then winced internally. Not the right word to use. “Let me in!”

“I can’t!” she shouted back, some sort of strange echo in her voice.

Dash looked around them; no one in sight. “Why not?”

“I... I physically can’t,” she enunciated behind the curtain, something that sounded like pain in there behind the echo. If his suspicions were correct, it was more likely painfully embarrassed--she must’ve found herself unable to touch anything.

“Then come outside!” he tried, ignoring the pang of guilt that hit him at that realization.

"...Can’t do that either."

Dash threw the rock again. This time, a white-haired girl poked her head out the window--wait, through the window--to properly glare at him with glowing red eyes. He startled at her appearance; he'd only seen it once before, in the accident. She blinked and eeped, flinging herself back out of sight into the room.

"Give me a minute," she called again, her voice nervous but resigned. "Go to the back door."

Dash scrunched his eyebrows, but nodded and walked to the back end of the house. He stood there, tapping his foot, mind ruminating on Val's altered appearance at the window. He felt a strange sensation on his arm, like when things were so cold they felt hot. He yelped, then yelped louder as the sensation yanked at him and pulled him through the unopened door. It immediately released him once he had stumbled inside, and he rubbed at his arm for the tingling to go away.

"Sorry, that's the best I could do," Val's voice said. He flinched, hearing it right next to him. It still sounded like her, but not quite, and not just because of the echoing quality. He couldn't help but feel like it sounded like a supernatural imitation of her.

"At least it worked," Dash muttered, dropping his arm even though it had not ceased the apparent after-effects of... whatever that was. He glanced over to his friend, then corrected his gaze when her face was higher up than usual. She floated at his own height, her mouth twisted apprehensively.

"Yeah. You're the first person I've seen or talked to since I got... stuck."

Dash had a hard time looking at her in the eyes, the unnatural glowing eyes, and turned his sights instead to watching her hair float around her. It seemed he was going to need to get used to this. "When'd you get stuck?"

"In the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I might as well practice." Valerie hugged herself, curling up in the air. "I've been trying to go back to normal all morning. I was hoping I'd at least manage to do it before lunch ended, but now I don't know if I ever will!" Dash's eyes were drawn back to hers when her haunting gaze turned harried and desperate. "Am I just gonna be a ghost now?"

"No," he told her, face hardening with determination. It was his fault she was in this mess in the first place, and he refused to believe the mess could be even worse than they thought. They did not kill her. He did not kill her. "There's gotta be something you haven't tried yet."

"Yeah, like what? You know even less of what's going on than I do!"

"Two heads are still better than one." Dash glanced to the door. "I think first, you need to chill a little. I think it's easier to calm down outside, so--"

"Not happening!" Valerie stepped--no, floated away. Dash suddenly realized her legs were gone, replaced by a tail sort of thing. It was so strange he couldn't look away. "I do not want anyone seeing me. Why else would I have stayed in my house all day?!"

"No one's going to see you in your backyard," he said slowly, as if she didn't already know that. Everyone was at work or school. "And can't you, like, turn invisible and stuff now? You said that a couple days ago."

"I'm trying to stop turning invisible, Dash," she muttered, curling her tail around herself agitatedly. "Let's just say things didn't go well last time someone saw me while looking like this. I don't want to take the chance."

He frowned, but didn't push it; with how much her powers acted up, it wasn't too surprising that she ended up in ghost... mode(?) by accident or something. Hopefully, it was only one person. "Alright, fine. You still need to stop panicking. What will make you relax?"

"I dunno. Most of my efforts to relax have failed because they require being able to touch stuff." Val glared at her tail, flicking it back away from her. "I hate what this feels like. It's like... everything's too numb and too much at the same time. After hours like this I'm going insane. Please tell me I'm not just a ghost now."

"You're repeating yourself," Dash said, only to distract himself from the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at her description. He didn't know whether he wanted to understand it better or not--understand better just what his own stupidity was putting his friend through. "What about... music? That doesn't need touch." Not if he took charge of whatever was playing it, at least.

Val gave a single, slow nod, then hesitantly added another one. "It's worth a try."

He found some songs on his mp3 player that he knew Val liked, and sat at the kitchen table, lazily bopping his head, as Val slowly took to lounging in the air. She swayed to the beat, but it didn’t seem like she was really relaxing.

"C'mon, I thought you were always the life of the party," Val's ghostly voice teased halfway through the third song.

He raised his eyebrow; that comment was better reserved for a situation that wasn't this. But maybe she needed some sense of normalcy for a second.

"And I thought you were the queen of karaoke," he tried, folding his arms challengingly.

She did not react to that quite like he had hoped, glancing away and looking like she didn't know what to do with her hands. He realized belatedly that she probably didn't like the distortion in her voice at the moment any more than he did.

He drummed his fingers on the table for a few seconds, then turned back to the player. Perhaps what she needed was a hype song. He put on Dumpty Humpty's classic hit "I Punch You in My Dreams (A Lot)", one he knew by heart because the majority of it was just the title repeated a bunch of times.

"I punch you in my dreams!" he shouted more than sang, and Val cringed, putting her hands up to her ears, then stopping to glare at her palms.

"Ugh, that doesn't even work," he heard her groan as he stood up, a giant grin on his face.

"I punch you in my dreams!" He pointed at her to finish the line, but she was instead staring at him like he grew a second head.

"This song stopped being cool in middle school!" she shouted over the insane instrumental.

"Nothing stops being cool until I say it is," he declared, watching as she reoriented herself to a standing position, rolling her red eyes.

Something about that so-very-human action eased a bit of his worry. He couldn't put what the worry was into words, but... it was there. His friend really was there in front of him, no matter how different she seemed.

The next line came up, and he "sang" along gladly. "I punch, I kick, I scream in your face! I hit you over the head with a bass!"

Dash air-guitared as the bassist audibly destroyed his instrument. Luckily, the bass line always picked back up soon on a spare.

"If you think this is supposed to relax me, it isn't working." Nonetheless, the corners of her mouth twitched up.

“I punch you in my dreams!” he repeated loudly, pointing at her again. She shook her head at him, fighting a smile. “If you don't sing, I'm not inviting you to my next party.”

“I don't want to go to your next party anyways!” Nonetheless, she finally started laughing.

“I punch you in my dreams!”

She tacked on grudgingly, “A lot.”

Dash grinned; maybe this was a good plan after all. “Louder! I punch you in my dreams!”

“A lot!”

Together they finished the chorus, “I punch you in my dreams a lot!”

She joined him in rocking to the next instrumental, white ethereal curls flying as she head-banged, her giggles infectious.

Dash held her gaze, making sure she was singing aloud, as they shouted in unison, "I punch, I kick, I scream in your face! I punch, I kick, I scream, I scream, I SCREAM!!!"

They both screamed, but Val's was significantly louder, and Dash ended up stopping to cover his ears and watch her, horror in his eyes. Val, however, didn't notice and kept screaming and screaming, eyes screwed shut. When the scream section of the song was over, a bright light formed around her waist; Dash now covered up his eyes to not go blind. He heard Val topple onto the ground and hurried to help her up--her human body up, dressed warmly from the previous night.

"We... we did it!" Val breathed, patting herself down once standing, a relieved grin stretched across her whole face. "That worked!"

Dash turned off the music and wore a smile, but more of a mask, as she continued to ramble, pacing the kitchen. She pondered aloud the possible reasons why it worked--though she admitted screaming was therapeutic, she liked connecting it to the practice of shouting in her MMA class to move more energy from oneself out.

Val turned back to him, triumph in her eyes. "Would you mind waiting a few more minutes so I can get ready for school?"

"Well, duh," was his reply, and he sat back down at the table as she hurried out of the kitchen to her room. With her gone, he let out a sigh big enough to sag his whole body. He propped his elbows onto the table and buried his face in his hands. He hadn't expected to be so affected by that.

Dash remembered Val's scream.

It was really only a few days ago when he heard her screaming in agony, undergoing torture as the portal did something to her, put her through the kind of pain he couldn't even imagine. The kind of pain he was this close to going through himself.

This scream wasn't the same, he knew that, but... apparently, it was close enough.

He was glad to help somehow, but hated that it ended up being that way, a way that unexpectedly made his heart ache and pound. But he had no right to complain, not really. He couldn't complain about what he was going through, because he wasn't going through anything. He wasn't the one living through this, he was just the one that almost did, and had to watch someone else do it instead.

He rubbed his eyes with his hands, and quietly groaned out, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" He jumped and turned to the doorway--Val had just come in, more silent than she'd ever been before, in a sweater and jeans.

He opened his mouth, then closed, then tried again. He didn't really know how to explain it. His face flaming, he helplessly gestured. "Everything?"

She breathed out, hands at her hips, and watched him for a second. "Apology accepted, but no more, okay?"

He stared at her dumbly, then stood and moved out of the kitchen, feeling the weight of glowing red eyes that could’ve been his on his back. "Okay."

Dash huffed as he finally got to hang up the phone and shove it into his pocket. “Yep, just got grounded.”

“I don’t get them sometimes.” Kwan shook his head as they walked out of school--after classes this time. “Still better than what Val’s dad might’ve done if she was still stuck like that when he came home. How did she get stuck anyway?”

“I dunno. I’m just hoping that was a one-time thing.” Dash shrugged, holding onto his bike’s handlebars. “Guess I’ll see you later.”

He hopped onto the bike as Kwan split away. He cruised down the street, suddenly aware of what being human felt like. The October chill on his bare skin and the warmth of his letterman jacket. The air beating on his face and through his hair as he glided down a hill. The droning, grating noise of the bike’s wheels and chain over the wind whistling through trees and the occasional car passing by. A surprising amount of sun coming through the cloud cover to blind him. How much of that would Val have experienced?

He narrowed his eyes and made his turn around the corner block sharper than necessary. He’d been distracted by these thoughts all day and they didn’t help at all. He needed to stop, and at least try to not feel sorry. He was rarely sorry for anything in the first place. It was easy to act in the few other insistences, but actually not being sorry when he already was was impossible!

He needed something to take his mind off of all... that. School didn’t work, but he didn’t expect it to anyways. Maybe food? Chowing down on leftovers sounded good right now. Or--

He veered to a stop to glance back behind him, up in the sky. Did he--? Yes, that really did look like a person. A person, hovering in the air! Decked out in a futuristic blue suit and helmet! On a surfboard-looking thing shooting fire out the back! He started to wonder whether he really was looking at a time-traveler, because there was no way hoverboards were already a thing.

He nearly fell as he scrambled to turn his bike to get a better view. They barely swerved to go over one of the taller trees, and made a slightly unsteady recovery. Apparently, they were inexperienced with this. It was still so cool, though!

“Hey!” he shouted up, pedaling after them. The startled person lost balance for a second, but successfully froze their position in the sky to glance down to him. He continued, “Can I try out your hoverboard?”

After a few seconds, a fake-deep voice replied, “No,” and returned to flying away.

Dash couldn’t help but pout as he watched the figure disappear behind some houses--surely intentional so they (he?) couldn’t be followed so easily. He thought of taking on the challenge, but his stomach beckoned him to go home instead.

Well, perhaps he could catch a flight with Val, if she ever left the house, he considered as he turned back around for the last stretch home. Hey, if that dude showed up again, Val could hang out with him in midair! Even she would have to admit that’d be cool!

...And there he was, feeling guilty again out of nowhere.

What else could distract him? Using Fenton as a punching bag always worked pretty well, but Val asked him not to for a while. Wanted to try to start on good relations with the loser, she said. He didn’t think it was worth it, but agreeing to a favor like that was the least he could do so she wouldn’t be as miserable.

Not to say that he wasn’t going to watch Fenton closely. The favor ran the risk of him getting out of line in some way, and Dash wasn’t going to accept that. If Fenton pulled anything on Val...

He was going to be more sorry than Dash could ever be.

#Danny Phantom #DP #DP AU #D/V roleswap!AU #roleswap au #Phoenix AU #Discord is wild #Lily? Lily.#Lily? Lily. Fic.#fun fact: almost had Dash pull out a pet rock instead of picking a rock off the ground #but I figured canon Dash would've punched me enough times by now #does this sound like him at all? who knows #am I glad to be able to sleep now? definitely

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juliaburnsides-blog · 6 years

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Angus McDonald, The Greatest Detective Alive and Even Greater Son

hhheeeeeere is the second part to that lil thing i did earlier today!!!!!! it was so much longer than i wanted it to be yikes! this was supposed to be for fathers day but oh well!!

heres the first part!

Kravitz was extremely grateful to Angus as he held a steaming mug of cocoa between his cold hands. He admittedly hadn’t made hot chocolate since before he was alive and would have most definitely scorched the milk to the bottom of Taako’s nice pan. Taako had taught him a few things here and there, but Kravitz had never fully grasped the concept of... food.

Angus on the other hand took Taako’s teachings and had made leaps and bounds. The kid was eight and could make macarons from scratch for Pan’s sake!

Angus was again seated on the edge of the island, closer to the stove now, swinging his little legs as he sipped his cocoa. He and Kravitz sat in silence- a comfortable one- until Kravitz stood up from his leaning position against the counter and said “Healing potion!” quickly before rushing out of the room. Angus sat in still silence, confused until Kravitz rushed back in with six or seven bottles stacked precariously in his arms. One by one, he laid out the bottles on the counter next to Angus and then put his hands on his waist, nodding at the bottles and then to Angus.

“I uh, I don’t really know which one I’m supposed to give you but I’m sure you don’t want to walk around with a split lip,” he said, then leaned in with a glimmer in his eye, “Even if it does make you look like a total badass.”

Angus reflexively brought a hand to his mouth, wincing when he touched the split skin. He smiled- which turned to a grimace quickly- and then set his cocoa down, hopping off the counter top and examining the bottles.

“Hmm, well I could probably take that tall one over there, it looks like its base ingredient is-” he lifted the bottle and looked at the adhered parchment on the bottle. “Yeah, the main ingredient is comfrey, but I can only take half of it because I’m just a little boy,” Angus explained. Looking up at Kravitz for permission he was surprised to see the man who’d haunted his nightmares a few times staring at him in admiration.

“You’re only eight?” Kravitz asked, his hands clasped under his chin.

“That’s right,” Angus replied.

“And you learned from...?”

“...Books?”

Kravitz shook his head in disbelief. “See, here’s the thing Angus, I’m quite literally centuries old and I have never known any of that until just now when an eight year old told me.”

Angus shrugged. “Who was gonna measure my healing potions for me? You gotta figure it out at some point in life-” He stopped and grinned sheepishly “-Or in death I suppose, sir.” He picked up the bottle of shimmering green liquid and popped the cork, taking a hearty swig that would’ve put Magnus to shame and set it back down on the counter. Within seconds his wounds disappeared, and within seconds Kravitz was undeniably attached to this little detective.

Taako had been walking for twenty-some odd minutes before realizing he could probably just teleport in to Lucas’ office or at least levitate, but continued to walk. He hoped the exercise would burn out the anger, but if anything it ignited it. By the time Taako crossed the threshold in to Lucas’ so-called magic school he wasn’t just angry, this fully realized creation was livid.

He walked briskly through the recently renovated halls, following the signs stating “Headmasters Office”. When he approached the office, he rapped on the door twice. When there was no answer he knocked again. Angrily sighing, he knocked one more time saying a quick spell under his breath, and sent the door flying open.

Lucas Miller was not expecting visitors. It was 8 p.m., the students had long since left the educational buildings for their dormitories, so when he’d heard a quiet knock he’d assumed he was hearing things (Which wasn’t uncommon for him, he was a bit bonkers.) At the second knock, he begrudgingly rose from his comfortable desk chair and shuffled over to the door, unable to reach it before he was blasted back to the ground with a wave of force.

A tall, beautiful and angry elf stood over him, a look of sheer rage on his face as he pointed a glaive at the prone man.

“T-Taako! What a p-pleasant surprise?” Lucas said, flinging a hand up in genuine fear for his life.

“Oh you’re surprised? Imagine my surprise when one of your students showed up on my doorstep with a broken face!” Taako screeched at the grovelling man-boy on the ground, shoving the Krebstar ever closer to Lucas’ neck with each accentuated word.

Lucas shook his head, blinking in confusion. “What do you mean, I haven’t had any incident reports today,” he sputtered.

Taako let out a noise of disbelief. “Lucas, your school has been open for two months, how many trouble-makers do you have already?” he asked accusingly.

Lucas scrambled away from the Krebstar and stood up quickly, adjusting his glasses and robes before standing tall in the face of his adversary.

“Not many, save for that McDonald boy. He’s been causing quite a bit of trouble with some of my brighter students,” Lucas said with a sniff.

Taako let his mouth hang open. He didn’t care if the flies got in. This was just too, “Un-damn-believable, you really want to tell me that you’ve got Angus McDonald, boy detective under your roof and there are boys smarter than that? Wow Lucas, you really must have done some crazy hinky magic to attract that much intelligence to a dopey place like this,” Taako razzed, using the Krebstar to gesture to the room around them.

Lucas spluttered. “I-I never said they were smarter than Angus they just... Have more potential is all,” he explained tentatively.

Taako nodded slowly. “Uh-huh... Potential...” He glanced over at Lucas’ desk and spied four sacks of coins, bulging. It didn’t take much to piece together the circumstances of the situation. “Potential... Monetarily, you mean.”

Grinning and shrugging as if to say ‘guilty as charged’ Lucas looked over his shoulder at the fat sacks of gold, a small but pleased smile crossing his face. It quickly faded when he felt a sharp prick on his adams apple. Turning his head back slowly he looked down at the glaive that was ever so precariously placed against his throat.

“So... So you’re telling me... That you would rather take hush money from your beneficiaries than let a little boy get a quality education?” Taako asked, his head tilted slightly, his left eye subtly twitching.

At a loss for words again, Lucas wracked his brain for a rational response. “I-I mean, their fathers are very powerful people Taako, I can’t just, I can’t just turn them down.”

Taako’s eyes flashed dangerously and he took a step closer, pressing the Krebstar harder sending Lucas Miller stumbling backwards in to his desk. A pen holder dropped to the ground and shattered, sending nice pens scattering. Lucas let out a disappointed noise but his attention was immediately drawn back to Taako as the powerful wizard began to speak again.

“So what you’re telling me is... That because Angus doesn’t have a powerful father he isn’t as valuable to you and he won’t amount to anything,” Taako said slowly. “And don’t lie, I want your complete and honest truth, Lucas.

Lucas shut his eyes and grimaced as he let out a weak “Yes” but was surprised when the needle-point pressure from his neck was removed. When he opened his eyes, there was no Taako but a jingling from behind him.

Taako lifted two bags of the hush money from the table and shrugged. “Well, good thing he’s about to have two then.” And with that, he kicked Lucas’ window out, sending glass shattering and hopped out of the window, mustering as much confident panache as he could. He was about to do something very, very stupid.

The Headmaster watched dumbly as a dazzling elf stole his money and destroyed his property, but couldn’t help but feel like he brought it on himself. He’d already learned once to not fuck with the Seven Birds. He done goofed.

Angus had been tucked in by Kravitz, read a bedtime encyclopedia and sent off to snooze-land. After gently removing glasses and setting them on the nice bedside table that was comically shaped like a duck, Kravitz left the dark room and began pacing in the sitting room, impatiently waiting for Taako to return.

It was after midnight when the lock turned in the door. Kravitz rushed over and flung the door open, revealing a nervous but... glowing(?) Taako.

“H-hey babe, sorry I was out for so long, I had a couple things to take care of-” Taako began, before being cut off by a bone-crushing hug from his dead boyfriend. He let out a sound of distress and Kravitz loosened his grip.

Looking down at his boyfriend, Kravitz searched Taako’s face for some sign of guilt or remorse but found none. Only unwavering anxiety and excitement. “Is everything alright love?” He asked, guiding Taako over to the lounge.

Taako tucked a piece of his hair behind a long ear and nodded. Sitting down he looked at Kravitz with a face full of terror. “So, uh, you know that I like, love you and stuff,” he said nervously. Kravitz nodded vigorously, his grip tightening slightly on Taakos hand. “And uh, well we’ve talked about getting married and like, like having a family and junk and I uh, well I still really want that but uh- oh shit, just let me show you what I did,” he rushed out.

Reaching in to his robes he withdrew some parchment, rolled up and sealed with the Neverwinter Government Official sigil and wax. Kravitz blinked and took the roll from Taako, glancing up at him briefly. Taako waved him on and watched anxiously as the love of his life broke the seal on the biggest decision he’d ever made for himself and others. He silently sent a prayer out to Istus and Pan and the Raven Queen and whatever God that would listen, praying that this would turn out alright.

Kravitz was at first confused, then shocked, then... unbridled happiness. On the paper were two names next to eachother, and below them another. Their names. And Angus’.

Kravitz looked up, blinking rapidly. “Wh-what is this?” He asked, stupefied by this feeble piece of parchment.

Taako quickly explained what had transpired at the school, and then what had occurred after. The government offices were closed, of course, but Taako knew of one government official who would wake at any hour for the Seven Birds. He marched right in to Lord Artemis Sterling’s office which had been occupied by the regal and two small dwarven children. Mookie laid passive in front of the fireplace on a fur rug, and Mavis sat in the window overlooking the garden, reading a book. They stayed there as Taako explained the predicament, his very shallow plan, and quite literal need for this all to work. And Sterling obliged.

“Adoption papers,” Kravitz breathed out.

Taako nodded almost imperceptibly. “Y-yeah, I know I should have probably asked and all that but Lucas just made me so mad I just wanted to prove that little weasel wrong, you know?” he replied, his voice trembling.

Kravitz reached over and took Taakos hand in his, eyes watering. “He’s ours?” he asked quietly.

Taako swallowed hard, trying to keep the tears at bay. He failed miserably. Crying and laughing softly he nodded. “Yeah. Yeah he’s ours.”

Kravitz let out an overjoyed laugh and stood up, scooping Taako up and planting a big kiss on him followed by another bone crushing hug. Taako let out a breathy laugh, his tears (happy) falling on to the magical fabric of Kravitz shirt and rolling off. His smile faltered though, as he tapped Kravitz on the shoulder, signalling to put him down.

They both turned to face the small boy who had entered the room not 5 seconds ago, and sported sheepish smiles.

“Hey Ango,” Taako said softly. The young boy rubbed his eyes sleepily and padded over to the pair, looking up confusedly.

“I was real worried about you, sir. You left for a really long time, and you didn’t say where you were going, that makes detective work kind of hard you know,” he said in a scratchy and quiet voice.

Taako bent down, taking a knee in front of Angus and giving him a tender hug. “I know buddy, listen I’m real sorry I just had some stuff to take care of,” he explained.

Angus pulled away, surprised by the contact and Taako’s soft demeanor. Something was wrong. “W-what? What happened sir? Is everyone okay? Merle and Davenport, are they alright? Did something happen at the Chug n’ Squeeze?” He fired off these questions rapidly, working himself up and waking himself up.

Taako shook his head and looked up at Kravitz, who shrugged and sat down on the chair next to them. Taako turned his head back to Angus and smiled again, a little more nervous than before. “No, no Agnes, I uh.. Well gosh I think its good news but, uh, I dunno maybe you wont? And uh if you’re not in to it well thats fine I can uh go back to the office tomorrow and fix it but,” and with that Taako reached over to where the papers laid curled on the coffee table and handed them to Angus.

Angus... He didn’t know what to say. He stared at the papers for a long time without saying anything. Taako thought he might have paralyzed himself, until Angus looked up at him with tears in his eyes.

“Are these real?” He asked in a timid and shaking voice.

Taako nodded. “As real as you and me buddy. I’d say Krav too but he’s kinda not real?”

Kravitz laughed. Then Taako laughed. Then Angus cried.

He cried for hours, god Taako lost track of how long Angus cried. Through sniffles and sobs there were copious thank-yous and i’m-so-gratefuls, which he assumed meant that Angus was happy with the executive decision Taako had made.

Around 3 in the morning, Angus fell asleep. Kravitz walked behind as Taako carried him to his bed. His bed, and tucked the boy detective in for the night.

In the morning Taako was still thrumming with excitement and pride. He had a son. And a good one too. Smart, capable, talented- everything that he and Lup were as kids but with so much more. Angus was his. Theirs. Taako looked over at Kravitz who was staring at him with such intense love it forced him to get out of bed and pull his love along with him to wake up their new son who was... Not in his room.

Taako blanched. He knew that Angus wouldn’t take to it, he had probably been delirious from lack of sleep and that healing potion Taako probably should have thrown out when it had expired four years ago...

The two men frantically searched the room then ran down the hallway, past the kitchen to the living room, but were drawn back to the door left ajar to the kitchen. Pushing the door open quietly, Taako and Kravitz observed as Angus, The Greatest Detective Alive concocted a breakfast that required five different pans and a delicious smelling something coming from the oven. Taako looked up at Kravitz and jutted his thumb out towards Angus as if to say ‘can you believe this shit?’

Angus turned around to look at his recipe book and let out a screech and dropped the wooden spoon in his hand to the floor. “S-sorry sirs! Did I wake you?” he asked, wiping his hands on the too-big apron he’d borrowed from the back of the kitchen door.

Taako shook his head and sat down on the bar stool next to the island, Kravitz taking the seat to his left. They watched as Angus scooped various items on to a plate and placed the heaping ceramics (That they had 100% definitely painted at the Chug n’ Squeeze on Glaze Night) in front of his two new patrons. He nervously watched them eat and then quickly poured them two mugs of cocoa.

Taako looked over at Kravitz who was shoveling the food down as fast as in-humanly possible and snorted, then took a sip of his cocoa. Blinking he shook his head and looked down at Angus. “Little man, did you put chili powder in this?”

Angus wrung his hands together nervously. “Ye-yes, thats how I like it, I thought you might too sir. The capsacin really helps my gears get going in the morning,” he replied.

Taako leaned back and slapped his knee before downing the mug of cocoa and slamming it down onto the countertop. “Angus McDonald, you may be a good detective, but I don’t think you can be as great of a detective when you’re this amazing as a son,” Taako said jovially. Kravitz nodded and continued to eat like his life depended on it.

“Well, sir, I like to think that I’m a great multi-tasker,” he said, grinning.

Taako rolled his eyes and smiled widely back, before hopping off the stool and enveloping Angus in a bone-crushing hug that would put Kravitz to shame. “I love you, kid,” he said softly.

“Love you too.. Dad.”

#:))))))))#the end!!!#taz balance #taz fic #taz fanfiction #taakitz #taako #kravitz #angus mcdonald #sorry if this has typos i honestly didnt proofread it i just wanted to get it out of my brain

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