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whereianonymouslypostfics · 9 months

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Growing Pains Part 1

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x reader

Word count: ~9.9k

Summary: Little Nat is almost 13 and school’s a bitch. Retired mob boss turned stay-at-home mom Wanda has to figure out how to deal with bullies at her daughter’s school.

A/N: Credit to @rianncreates for this fic idea. Enjoy 😘

Warnings: Fluff, teen angst, injury, reference to previous injury/trauma, bullies, and mentions medicinal drug use

"Mama, I’m going to be late!”

Natalya is running out of her room with only one shoe on as she hurries to finish getting ready for school. She has to stop for a second to pull on her other shoe, and she nearly gets pushed down the stairs by one of her dogs. Rogue is 14 years old and moving slowly these days, but he still tries to follow her everywhere she goes. This leads to her almost flying down the stairs as he bumps into her when she stops suddenly. She bites her lip to stop herself from cursing in surprise.

The last time she’d done it in front of her parents, they’d been horrified and she’d been forced to rat out her uncle for saying that particular curse word in front of her. She’d had to text her Uncle Pietro and apologize for the rant she knew he was about to face from her redheaded mom.

“I’m ready, milaya. I’m waiting for you.”

Nat sighs in defeat because of course her mom is ready on time. She is only ever late if she has to drive with her brother. She jumps down the last few stairs and lands with a loud thud that surprises Fletcher who’d been sleeping in the living room. She doesn’t have to turn to her mom to see the disapproving look, but it’s unfortunately still there after she’s tied her shoes and heads over toward the older Maximoff.

“You know I don’t like it when you do that, Natalya. Your mom’s a bad influence on you. “

Wanda watches as her daughter just smiles widely before seeing that she’s holding her lunch and her face lights up. She realizes what Nat’s forgotten only a second before she spins around and runs back upstairs.

“My backpack! I’ll be back!”

Wanda rolls her eyes as she watches her daughter run back upstairs to retrieve her bag. Rogue thinks about following her back up, but he decides against it and comes to stand next to her. She smiles down at him and scratches him behind the ears as she waits for her daughter to return.

Natalya is almost 13 and although she looks more like her, it’s obvious to anyone who meets her that her personality is far closer to yours than hers. It’s funny and a little confusing at times but Wanda wouldn’t want it any other way. Her daughter is always full of energy and she worked hard in school despite not liking it very much. Not that Wanda expected her to at this age. Middle school was rough and before she became involved with the mob, this was where most of her traumatic memories came from.

Like you when you were younger, Natalya could go a mile a minute and had a seemingly endless amount of energy to burn at the end of each day. She was an odd combination of overly focused when it came to school work, but a little spacy about everything else. She could study quickly and efficiently, but she sometimes struggled with everyday tasks like making sure everything she needed was in her bag for school. As well as remembering to grab her bag for school.

Given her daughter’s high energy and desire to always be moving, you had suggested that she try out for sports. Wanda had needed to be persuaded to agree because she was worried about Nat getting hurt. She wasn’t the most graceful kid, and you definitely weren’t taking responsibility for that. Sure, she tripped weekly on the dogs and sometimes missed a step on the stairs, but it wasn’t anything serious. Also, you were convinced that getting her into sports would improve her coordination.

So far, you’d been proven wrong.

“Do you have everything you need for practice?”

Wanda realizes she should have asked this earlier, but luckily Nat just nods as she returns with her backpack and reaches out to pet her dog before taking her lunch box. She leaves most of her things at the dug out because she forgets to bring them home, and that’s worked out so far. She smiles and grabs her mom’s arm to lead them to the car with a sigh.

Another thing that both you and Wanda love about your daughter is the fact that she’s not a typical almost-teenager. While Natalya’s friends and classmates are beginning to develop a begrudging tolerance toward their parents, she just seems to continue to treat them nicely. She always has been very affectionate and open with them, and you both sincerely hope that continues into her later teen years.

Wanda turns down the road toward her daughter’s school and she holds back her sigh at the sight of the long line of cars waiting to drop their kids off. It’s an everyday occurrence and if she weren’t so paranoid about a bunch of kids near her house, or Natalya walking down the mountain a bit to another neighborhood she’d let her daughter ride the bus. You’d told her it would be good for her. You joked that it helped build character when you had to sit with a bunch of people you may or may not like. The bus was where you’d had your first fight, but you’d only told Wanda that, not Natalya.

“Can I ask you something?”

Wanda’s brought back to the present by Natalya’s voice, and she turns to see her daughter glancing out the window with a frown. She briefly wonders if she missed something, but she doesn’t waste too much time thinking about it before she smiles.

“Of course.”

Natalya hesitates as she tries to talk herself into the question she’d originally wanted to ask her mom. She loved both of her moms a lot, and equally, but sometimes it was easier to talk to one over the other. Depending on the circumstance, would go to one parent or the other, and although she knew they both would find out eventually, she just felt more comfortable that way. She felt less pressure than she would if she tried to talk to both parents.

Natalya went to Wanda for potentially embarrassing questions like when girls in her grade started to talk about periods, or boys. Wanda found having these conversations with her daughter bittersweet yet rewarding in a way that she hadn’t expected. You were certainly willing to talk to Nat about these things too, but Wanda did a better job of it.

Nat usually went to you for animal-related questions or when she had difficulty getting something done. You both shared a painfully short attention span at times, and you’ve taught Nat plenty of ways to combat this over the years.

She honestly would have asked either of you this question, but you were out of town until tomorrow for a work thing and this had been weighing on Nat for a while.

“Were you or mom popular in school?”

This isn’t exactly what she’d wanted to ask, but she chickened out last minute. She knew that between her two moms, Wanda was the one who tended to cross the line into being overprotective. She never said anything outright, but Nat would see her get a look in her eye that scared her a little, and made you intervene, if you noticed it.

Wanda’s trying to figure out why her daughter would ask her this as she finally pulls into the school’s parking lot. She still has a ways until she’s close enough to drop Natalya off, but she decides that this might be a good thing for once. She senses that this conversation might be going somewhere important, so she answers truthfully with a shrug.

“Not really, no. We liked to keep to ourselves or our small group of friends.”

People were exhausting. Wanda didn’t say this part but both you and Wanda believed this at times. She’s sure Natalya does as well because she’s definitely an introvert like her mothers. She might actually enjoy getting out more than them, but she was just as tired when it was all over and she’d crash sometimes before she even made it to her bed.

Natalya thinks about this with a pout that she doesn’t realize is on her lips. She has a few good friends that she hangs out with sometimes, but she likes her alone time outside of school. She uses it to recharge with drawing or spending time with her parents or dogs. Fletcher doesn’t really like anyone but her redheaded mom.

“And that worked for you two? You never got…lonely?”

Bullied is what Nat was going to say, but just watching how her mom shot her a curious look made her panic. She didn’t want to tell her mom for the first time that she was being picked on at school while she was driving a car. She didn’t want to tell her at all, but things weren’t getting better, and she didn’t know what to do. You both had told her the importance of standing up for herself, but never resorting to violence. You’d stressed this part for some reason, but Natalya got the idea. She only defended herself when girls in her class threw insults at her, and she let them shove her into lockers as they walked by her without retaliation. She was getting sick of it though and she needed someone’s help to figure out what to do to make them go away.

Wanda pulls up to the drop off lane and frowns at the idea of this conversation ending. She feels like Natalya’s not saying everything on her mind, but unfortunately, she’s running out of time to figure it out. She slows the car before reaching out for her daughter. Natalya turns when she feels a hand on her shoulder, and she sees her mom smiling kindly at her.

“Not really no. Sometimes I wondered what it would be like to be popular, but it honestly seemed exhausting. I was happy just being a bit of a loner. Your mom too.”

Natalya smiles at the fact that she knows this is true. Sometimes when they all spend time together in the living room, they watch tv or a movie together. Other times they’ll all be doing different things, and are just content to have someone nearby.

She smiles as her mom pulls up to the school, and she knows she has to get out now. She feels a little better knowing that her parents coped well in school despite being a loner like her. She can do that too. She just needs to figure out how to get her bullies off of her back.

“Thanks for the ride. I’ll see you after practice!”

Wanda smiles as the brunette leans over to hug her just long enough for her to kiss her hair. She nearly flies out the door and only a couple of steps away from the car Wanda’s lowering her window to call after her.

“Natalya, you forgot your bag!”

You sigh heavily as you lay sprawled out on the bed in your hotel room with your dog curled into your side. You’re exhausted from all of the networking and chit-chat that this CE trip involved. You had met more people in the last two days than you have in maybe 5 years, and it’s making you want to curl up and sleep for the next 24 hours. You’re just grateful that you have Boone with you because otherwise you’d be tired, lonely and overwhelmed by the number of extroverts you’ve met.

You run your fingers through your dog’s fluffy coat, and you smile widely when he turns around to lick you. You look at his cute face that’s turned whiter in the past couple of years. He’s nearly 16 now and despite slowing down he’s still your trustworthy companion. He still follows you wherever you go, or at least he tries to, and you’d considered leaving him because he was mostly just going to sit around the hotel, but the day after you’d decided you found that he’d ripped up one of your shirts. You took that as a sign that he didn’t want to be left behind and you rebooked a room at a dog-friendly hotel that day.

“Are you having fun bud? Are you excited to go home tomorrow?”

Boone’s tail starts to thump against the bed and you laugh before sliding down toward him so you can kiss his furry head. You sigh as you lean against him gently before closing your eyes and trying to relax. You’ve had a good time, and you’ve learned a lot here, but you are very eager to go home. You miss your wife, daughter, and other fur children, and you’re excited that you’ll be coming home the night of a family dinner. You’ll get to see everyone and catch up on how they’re all doing.

You’re thinking of what food you’re going to be eating tomorrow when your phone rings from where you left it on your pillow. You spin around careful not to hit Boone as you grab it before turning back so you’re on your stomach again. You smile widely when you see who’s calling you.

“Hey, Wands, one second. I’m just walking my mistress out.”

Wanda rolls her eyes with a dramatic sigh as she grabs a basket at the front of the grocery store. She’d needed to pick up a couple more things for dinner tomorrow, and after dropping off Natalya she’d wanted to talk to you. She hears shuffling on the other end of the line and despite calling bullshit on her wife’s statement she decides to check in on her.

“Don’t even, Y/n, but turn on your camera so I can see your ridiculous face.”

You laugh at this before turning on the camera and tilting your phone so you can fit both you and Boone into the shot. Wanda smiles at the sight of you and your dog, and she brushes her hair out of the way as she fixes her earpiece. You realize immediately that your wife is at the store and you have to hold back the urge to ask her to get you some chocolate.

“Hi there, beautiful. How are you?”

Wanda smiles at your cheesy greeting that despite knowing it’s sincere makes her cringe a little. The two of you have been married for almost 18 years, and there have been many ups and downs that led you to this point. When she was 18, she never would have thought that this would be her life. She would have assumed she’d be stuck with the mob until she died, but instead she’s married with a beautiful daughter and a big family that was finally on the right side of the law.

When she’d left her job almost 14 years ago, she’d wondered if she would ever be free from the stress and danger associated with it. She’d gambled a lot and quite literally made a deal with the devil to get not just her, but all of her friends out. She didn’t want them stuck there because not only would they still be in danger, but having any association with them would put her at risk and make her exit just a formality. She never would have guessed that Strucker would hold up his end of the deal, but she was grateful. He should be too honestly, he had gotten her entire criminal empire, and all it cost him was ensuring their protection.

Wanda’s eternally grateful for how things have turned out, and she’s looking forward to having everyone over tomorrow. Even her brother.

“I just need to pick up a few things for dinner tomorrow and thought I’d check in with you. How are things there?”

You sit up so you’re more comfortable before you look around the room with a shrug. You’re glad that tomorrow is just a brief closing event so you can make your flight mid-day and be home in time for dinner. Despite still being filthy rich, Wanda had given up some of the perks that came with her job. Such as the private jet she’d once flown you to Miami with. As far as you were concerned this was okay because you were still able to fly with Boone sitting at your feet on his own bed in first class for this trip. You would have never let him fly in cargo because not only is it too hot or cold down there, but the noise and the separation anxiety would have been too much for both of you.

“It’s been fun, but I’m sick of people, Wands. I want to come home and see you and Little Nat.”

You sigh dramatically as you flop back onto the pillow and look up at your wife who’s glancing between you and the items she’s looking for. You wonder what she’s grabbing, but as if she can read your thoughts, she flips the camera so you can see where she’s walking in the busy grocery store.

“We miss you too, detka, but tomorrow’s not too far away.”

You smile in agreement as you stand up and stretch while holding your phone above your head. You cringe slightly at the uncomfortable pull on your tense stomach, but you take a deep breath and shake your head to focus back on your wife.

“I’ll be back in time to help cook, and I’ll make my famous cheesecake.”

Wanda smiles at the idea of this and she reroutes toward the dairy aisle at your subtle reminder about your plans. She’d forgotten to get the ingredients for that and she knows that both you and Natalya would be upset if she forgot. It was your daughter’s favorite dessert and you tried to make it every so often and, on her birthday, so you both could eat too much of it and suffer from a sugar high.

“That sounds great. Steve and Bucky will bring the booze and Kit with them.”

Kit is the 7-year-old rescue dog that the duo had living at their house. You’d met him as soon as Bucky had brought him home and you fell in love. He was adorable albeit very nervous, but you were used to anxious dogs given your experience at work and he’d warmed up to you, Steve and Bucky quickly. He hadn’t been as quick to warm up to your dogs, and the trio had actually just growled at each other for several minutes before you called it and decided to try the meet-and-greet later. Your dogs were older, but they were still very protective of their family and their territory. They hadn’t liked a new dog coming onto their turf even if he was with a familiar face.

Over the past couple of years, Kit had warmed up to the idea of having older brothers, and your dogs had deemed the younger dog an acceptable addition to the family. He often came to visit during biweekly dinners with Yelena’s younger Akita, Fanny II.

“As long as they all get along and your brother knows he’s being locked in the basement if he gets too drunk.”

Pietro’s certainly calmed down in the past decade, but he still sometimes over indulged when the family was all together. You used to tolerate it better, but now that Natalya was old enough to pick up on certain habits and be influenced by her family’s behaviors, you and Wanda had warned him off from getting drunk in front of your daughter. They believed their daughter was smart enough to not follow in Pietro’s footsteps, but the second he suggested sharing alcohol or anything else with her, you were allowed to toss him in the basement.

Wanda’s finishing up grabbing the last ingredient you’ll need for cheesecake when someone accidentally bumps into her. The store is crowded and she’d been a little preoccupied so she doesn’t think much of it. She hears someone mutter an apology before she heads to the produce section.

“Believe it or not, I think he learned from his last trip down there. He’s getting too old for that behavior anyway. I doubt he can bounce back like he used to.”

You sit back down with a quiet groan before you think about the truth in Wanda’s statement. Once the group passed their mid-30s, their ability to drink like they did in their twenties quickly dissipated, even for Yelena and Nat who had been able to drink any of them under the table on any occasion. Pietro was the one who suffered from it the worst because he didn’t catch on very quickly, or rather he tried to resist by over indulging more regularly which ended in many nights of blacking out. Wanda had actually sat him down and talked to him about his behavior on their 40th birthday. She didn’t want him to get stuck in this bad habit when he was really just drinking for fun and something to do. He wasn’t an addict and she didn’t want him acting like one. Especially around Natalya. She wanted her brother to be a role model for her daughter, and she swore that if he got her into drinking before she was 25, she’d make him regret it.

Now that they were both in their mid-40s, they rarely drank more than a glass of wine, beer or half of a cocktail at night. Wanda drank even less because she only really drank socially or if she was stressed, but those days were mostly behind her. She was more of a stress eater or tv-show binger these days, and you still couldn’t hold your liquor. She’s also made you stop smoking for fun except on very rare occasions like your birthday or vacation. Now, you only did it for your chronic pain if your medication wasn’t enough to control a flare up.

“Whatever I say to that can be taken the wrong way, so I’m going to just say that Pietro better behave.”

Wanda laughs at your response before she turns the camera back around so you can see her for what she says next. She’d put more thought into it, and she is a little worried about how Natalya is doing at school. She has near perfect grades and all of her teachers love her, but her questions this morning concerned her a bit. She’d always wanted her daughter to be happy and do well in school. She didn’t need straight A’s, she just wanted her to try her hardest, and she saw everyday how much time she spent working. Even if she didn’t do well on something, Wanda wouldn’t get mad.

She wonders if maybe she should have pushed for Natalya to hang out with her friends more when she was younger. She was always worried about kids coming over to the house because with kids came their parents, and when they saw how large and isolated their house was it usually led to questions she didn’t want to answer. It was difficult to believe that a veterinarian’s salary alone could pay for the house and the large property that it sat on.

For this reason, most play dates happened at other friends’ houses, and those were pretty few and far between. She’s asked Natalya about it sometimes and she’d given her an answer that she struggled to come to terms with.

“So Natalya asked me something on the way to school today that I wanted to run by you."

Immediately, you catch onto the change in your wife’s tone, and you’re sitting up straighter as you give her your full attention.

“What did she ask?”

Wanda summarizes the conversation she had not too long ago with Natalya as she finishes shopping. She makes it to the check-out counter before she finishes, and she greets the cashier while waiting for your response. She knows that you are a little worried about how self-isolating Natalya is, but given that your daughter doesn’t seem to mind and is still able to get along well with the friends she does have, you hadn’t been overly concerned. Hearing that she might be hinting at being lonely makes you frown and consider your options.

You know Wanda doesn’t like people over at the house, and you’re honestly a little anxious about it as well. You just can’t help but think about the many, many guns that are still locked up in the basement and have been for over a decade. You and Wanda had talked about moving them at some point, but you always got side-tracked or never really came to a decision about it. You knew that the rest of your family still had guns in their houses, and you wouldn’t be surprised to know that they had them stashed around the house like you did before Natalya came along. Maybe you could give them all to your brother-in-law.

Other than the many weapons that were safely locked away, the house was huge and very secure. In the past, you’d used the two guard dogs you have at home as excuses to not have kids over, but really you just feared that someone would be too curious and look into the house and as a result find out about Wanda’s past.

She’s been a law-abiding citizen for nearly 15 years, and she’d cut ties with the mob completely. You’d only learned about what really happened when Natalya was 3, and the fact that Wanda had just handed it over to someone else was baffling to you. Her life’s work and she traded it all away for a comparatively boring domestic life. At the time you’d wondered if your wife ever regretted it, but so far she hadn’t given you any indication that she did. She loved being there for Natalya, and she loved not having to stress about her house getting shot up. No one had approached her or even mentioned her previous life for years, and Wanda liked it that way. She liked to focus on the present and appreciate the life she had always dreamt of having.

Wanda’s back at the car and you still haven’t responded. She looks at her phone to make sure she’s still on with you before she frowns slightly at the sight of the ceiling. You’d disappeared and Wanda doesn’t hear anything other than Boone licking his paws as she starts her car.

“Y/n, you still there?”

You take a deep breath before you’re nodding despite the fact that your wife can’t see you. Sitting up carefully you cringe before you grab the phone again to see that Wanda’s in her car. You open your mouth to apologize, but your wife knows all too well what’s going on.

“Yeah, sorry. I think maybe we start simple. Ask if she wants to have some friends over or to go out next weekend. Go from there.”

Wanda nods in agreement but her attention’s shifted to you and she frowns as she shoots you a questioning look.

“Is it bothering you again?”

You sigh in defeat, but you can’t help but smile at the fact that you still seem to think that you can hide something from your wife after all of these years. You’d think that your many failed attempts would be enough to get you to stop trying. You nod before claiming that it’s fine and it’s no worse than usual which luckily is true.

“Just the usual amount. I’m about due for my meds again is all.”

Just shy of 16 years ago, you’d been injured in a man’s poorly executed scheme to steal your wife. Despite healing and being able to take comfort in the fact that those involved were dead, you still weren’t free from the consequences of that day. A couple of years after healing completely, you’d started to experience a tingling sensation around the scar and throughout your abdomen where you’d been shot. It was only every month or so that it would almost tickle oddly for a few minutes before ceasing. Eventually it became more of a pins and needles type feeling that came more frequently and persisted for longer periods of time. It didn’t become debilitating until a few years ago. One day you’d been playing with Natalya and the dogs in the backyard, and an electric shock-like sensation shot through your side and sent you to your knees.

Nat had been so worried she’d started crying, and that alerted your wife and her brother who had been visiting at the time that something was off. Wanda had taken you to the hospital immediately where you’d just been told that this is something that can happen down the road. It had been news to you because dogs and cats couldn’t complain about previous trauma affecting them years down the line. You’d been put on a pain medication and an antidepressant. You hadn’t liked the idea of being on drugs like this, but you also didn’t want to experience this type of pain again, or scare your family.

Now that you’re on your medications regularly, you only had a few episodes of pain that made you reach for medical marijuana. You did your best to stay healthy and exercise regularly so you can improve your chances of decreasing these episodes. They mostly happened at night, right after you go to sleep or right before waking up, and you’ve learned that you just have to get up and smoke. You won’t be able to go back to sleep without it, and you hate to wake up your wife with your tossing and turning.

“Take your meds, detka, and then have fun at the rest of this conference because I’m not letting you go to another any time soon.”

You’re grateful for the distraction from your tingly skin at Wanda’s joke. At least you think it’s a joke. Since you’d become the managing vet at your practice you’ve been working longer hours. You split your time so you’re no longer working just with clients and seeing appointments. About 25% of your time is working on management stuff, and as much as you don’t like it, you’re making a lot more money. Not that you need any.

Wanda may have left her old job behind, but most of the money she’d made, she’d kept and moved it around enough so it wouldn’t raise suspicions at any bank. You didn’t understand it, but since the rest of your friends had done the same, you’d just let them handle it. You know you have more money than you’ll need, and Natalya should be able to have everything she needs and then some. You don’t want her to grow up spoiled, but you also don’t want her to feel like she can’t ask for something.

“Will do, Wands. I promise to spend all weekend with you and Nat. I’ve missed you both.”

Wanda is driving home when you say this, but she steals a glance at you as she comes to a stop at a light. She’s missed you too and as much as she hopes you had fun and learned a lot on your trip, she hates it when you leave. She’s spent every night with you for years, and having to go to an empty bed at the end of the day was no fun. Sometimes she lets Rogue sleep on your side on a large blanket just so she doesn’t feel so alone. She’ll be glad to have you back.

“We’ve missed you too. I’m going to let you go rest before lunch is over, and I’ll let you know what Nat says tonight, okay?”

It’s 12:40 here and you realize you only have half an hour before you have to go back downstairs. For now, you stand up so you can find your meds before you try to sleep for the rest of lunch. Boone will have to go out before you leave, but you’ll worry about that later. You smile at your wife before offering her a little wave.

“Sounds good. I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”

“Love you too. And you Boone!”

When Wanda arrives home a little later, she puts her purse and the groceries down on the counter with a sigh before she wanders up to the bedroom. She greets Rogue and her old, lazy cat along the way before she heads into the bathroom with a sigh. She walks over to the small safe that was hidden in the vanity and opens it quickly. Both you and Wanda agreed that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a gun nearby just in case. You hadn’t experienced any issues and hadn’t needed it at all, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Since the safe was already nearby, you decided to put your marijuana from the medical dispensary in here. You didn’t want it just sitting out for anyone to find, and you kept it in the safe for whenever you needed it.

Wanda frowns slightly when she picks up the jar and sees that it’s not as full as when she last checked. She makes a note to call in a refill soon as she puts the jar back and shuts the safe. She has a few things she needs to get done today, including cleaning all of the dog hair that’s managed to evade the Roomba. She stops short of leaving the bedroom when she sees one of the pictures that sits on the dresser.

It's one she hides behind the other two because she was embarrassed by it when her brother had first taken it. They had all been at the beach when Natalya was 5-years-old, and you and Wanda had spent the day chasing after your overenthusiastic and hyperactive daughter. She’d wanted to do everything at once and she was not willing to slow down at all. You’d joked about putting her on a leash, but after Little Nat had tuckered out mid-swim you and Wanda had collapsed too. You’d fallen asleep under the tent with your daughter between you and Wanda and you woke up an hour later to the sound of someone calling your name. You’d seen Pietro with his phone and after stealing it and finding the cute pictures, you’d sent one of them to yourself so you could frame it. You had given it to Wanda for Mother’s Day and despite hating how she looked in it, she loved seeing how peacefully you and Natalya slept.

Wanda frowns as she leaves the room and thinks back to Natalya’s questions this morning. She wasn’t sure if she was just reading too deeply into things because she’s been guilty of that before, but she hopes that her daughter knows she can come to her if she needs help.

Natalya was leaving her least favorite class when her phone vibrated from her jacket pocket. She figures she knows who it is, and she decides to wait until she washes her hands and heats up her lunch to text back.

She only has a single class with her friends, but most days she has lunch with them in their science class, the library or outside if it wasn’t too hot. Natalya leans against the counter as her food spins in the microwave and reads the text from her friend Taylor. Usually she hates group texts, but her friends know this and don’t expect her to text back unless it’s an emergency. She has her read setting on and she puts her phone back in her pocket without responding.

We’re outside on the hill. Blame Luke.

Luke was the only guy in her friend group, and she’d actually met him first a couple of years ago in science class. They’d been paired for a project and despite hating the assignment, they’d gotten along well and Luke had introduced her to his other friends, Taylor and Alyssa. Nat had been and still was pretty sure that he liked them both, but she never felt comfortable asking, and it didn’t really matter in the end. She didn’t feel like a third or fourth wheel with them, and they always made her feel included when they sensed her spacing out. She hadn’t hung out with them outside of school for a while and she was considering asking them to do something soon as she walks through the cafeteria toward the doors that lead to the hill.

“Whoops.”

Nat hears the sarcastic voice before someone bumps into her and makes her food splash out of the Tupperware and onto her hand. She hisses in pain and nearly drops it as she tries to set it down quickly and wipe off her hand. She turns to look over her shoulder at the group of girls laughing at her as they continue on as if nothing happened. Nat scowls at them before she covers her food ad runs to the bathroom to wash off her spilled lunch.

She’s not sure how she’d managed to catch the attention of this particular group of mean girls, but it had started a few months ago. Stacy was the ringleader and honestly the dumbest person Natalya had ever met. She attempted to overcompensate for her stupidity by wearing too much makeup and putting other girls down whenever possible. Her two closest friends Jocelyn and Lisa had jumped on the bandwagon with her, but they luckily didn’t harass her if they were alone. They mostly just kept up appearances around Stacy, and Nat almost felt bad for them.

Natalya had thought about complaining to someone, but the blonde’s mother was the president of the PTA and her dad was probably one of the richest people in town. He was the CEO of some hot shot company that Stacy knew nothing about, but she didn’t care. Having rich parents and being as dense as a brick didn’t give her permission to be a jerk.

“Hey! There you are.”

“You know, I wonder why your moms got you a phone just to have you neglect it.”

Natalya rolls her eyes as she drops her bag onto the grass next to her friends. She sighs as she carefully sits down and crosses her legs with a small smile. She looks to the trio that are already laid out comfortably and eating and she decides to address Luke’s comment first.

“I don’t neglect it. I read Taylor’s text, didn’t I?”

In all honesty, Natalya was surprised that her parents had gotten her a phone. She was notorious for losing things and after leaving her first one outside and not finding it again until it had rained two days later, her parents had bought her a waterproof case for it. She mostly texted her family, like her aunts or uncles, and these three, but her parents insisted she keep it on her at all times when she wasn’t home. They wanted to be able to reach her wherever she was, and there may or may not be a tracker in it because old habits die hard.

Taylor’s the first one to sit up as the smell of Natalya’s lunch reaches her. She recognizes it immediately and she’s once again jealous of how the brunette gets a home-cooked meal more often than not. The one time she’d stayed at Nat’s house for a sleepover, her redheaded mom had cooked for them, and it was honestly the best meal she’d ever had.

“Why do you always have such good lunches! You’re so lucky.”

The other brunette creeps toward Nat to potentially get a bite when she notices something that steals her attention.

“Wait, what happened? Did you burn your hand?”

The back of Natalya’s right hand is red and looks painful. Nat shrugs her off but lets her grab it to inspect it more closely. Alyssa slides away from where she’d been sitting next to Luke to get a look and she cringes at the sight. The blonde wants to follow in her mom’s footsteps and become a doctor, so Natalya indulges her and lets her friend fuss over her for a minute.

“Ow, did you trip or something?”

It’s a fair question because they are well aware that she’s a klutz, but this time she just shakes her head before muttering something under her breath. She looks around to make sure the trio aren’t nearby before she explains what happened. Luke and Alyssa frown while Taylor looks like she wants to fight someone. Between the four of them, Taylor is the least afraid of confrontation, and she’d definitely been to detention more times than anyone else in their group. She would go find the trio and shove all of their heads in a toilet, but Nat didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

“My fan club accidentally spilled it on me as they fought over my autograph.”

Taylor looks around next and she scowls as she shakes her head in annoyance. Her friend was a little too passive aggressive for her own good, and things were only getting worse with the trio. She shouldn’t have to deal with this every day.

“They’re jerks, Nat, you should tell them off.”

Nat had tried to once, but it just ended up in her getting shoved to the ground by all three of them. She’d just watched them laugh as she brushed the dirt off of her clothes and tried to convince herself that they’d get bored. She didn’t want to get in trouble by resorting to violence, but sometimes she daydreamed about punching their sneers right off their faces.

“I don’t want to get in trouble. Also, my mom will probably lose her shit if she finds out.”

None of them needed clarification because despite having only met Nat’s parents a few times, it was obvious to them which mom was more of a worrywart. While you were silently concerned and seemed more chill on the surface, Wanda wasn’t as good at hiding her anxieties and often verbalized her concerns. It was a no brainer that she’d be furious if she found out that her daughter was getting bullied.

“She would, but this can’t keep going on.”

“Maybe we should beat them up after practice today.”

Nat shakes her head quickly before she decides to change the subject because she’s getting a little self-conscious. She’ll deal with Stacy and her minions at some point, but for now she’s going to keep ignoring them.

“No, no. Let’s not. I was going to ask if you wanted to come over soon though? We could have another sleepover?”

Natalya realized that her distraction had worked as soon as her friends start to plan what they’ll do when they come over. They loved walking around the woods with the dogs and hanging out in the den eating too much junk food. The last time she’d had them over, they’d had a movie marathon of kind of scary movies that her parents had approved. They had still freaked her out a little bit, but she hadn’t told them that. She wanted her mom to let her watch her favorite horror movie when she turned 13, but her redheaded mom still wasn’t on board.

“We can have another mac and cheese fest. Your aunt seemed to like that.”

The last time that they’d come over, you and Wanda had been busy so Yelena had come over to supervise. Despite their daughter being mature for her age, they knew she needed to be watched closely. Teens could too easily get in trouble if not held accountable, and they wouldn’t be good parents if no one was around to supervise them. When you two had come home to find the kitchen was a mess with 10 empty boxes of mac and cheese on the counters, you realized that maybe Yelena needed supervision as well.

“Or we could cook with your mom again.”

Nat can’t help but laugh at this as she rolls her eyes at the fact that she’s fairly certain her friend has a crush on her mom. It’s only a little horrifying, but she tries not to dwell on it most times. This is not one of those times though and she can’t help but find her friend’s blush amusing.

“I think you like more than just my mom’s cooking, Taylor.”

The brunette in question just coughs awkwardly before she just wordlessly grabs her fork so she can take a bite of Nat’s lunch. She decides that she’ll ask her moms about spending the night at Nat’s. They would probably say yes because it would give them a night with one less kid at home. Her brother was usually at a friend’s house and her sister liked to stay holed up in her room on the weekends.

“No comment.”

Wanda sighs heavily as she gets off the exercise bike that she’s been spacing out on for the past 40 minutes. She steps over Rogue carefully before she checks the time to make sure she’s still on schedule. She doesn’t have to pick up Natalya until 6:30 and dinner is ready to be put in the oven as soon as they get home. She decides to spend the next couple of hours finishing up her workout before relaxing outside for a while. She had a book she wanted to finish reading, but when she hears her phone beep nearby her this thought leaves her mind.

Practice cancelled. Coach is sick. Gonna study with w/ T &A

Wanda frowns before she starts to type out a response. She wouldn’t mind getting to skip the rest of her workout, but if Nat wants to spend time with her friends, she’s not going to protest.

Are you sure you don’t want me to pick you up?

Natalya and her friends are already settled in the library when her mom texts her back. They had been on their way to practice when they’d gotten a text from their coach to cancel practice for the day. Apparently, she’d had to go home for the day because she’d gotten food poisoning from whatever takeout she ate for lunch. Natalya is a little bummed because she’d been hoping to run around and burn some of the extra energy she had. Instead she’s going to work on her math homework so she doesn’t have to do it later tonight. She loved having nothing to do but relax when she went home. Relax and eat.

Taylor and Alyssa were also on the softball team and didn’t have a ride until 6:30 either, so they’d all decided to hang out and study. The library was open for the kids who stayed after school until at least 6, and then afterwards people typically went to the hill to wait for their parents to pick them up.

“I don’t get the second question. Do you?”

Nat hears her phone vibrate when Alyssa asks this and she takes a few seconds to tell her mom that she’s fine waiting here before answering. They get most of their homework done because Luke’s not with them to be a distraction. He barely did his homework on time, and he was the type who could only focus on work if he was alone in his room with music blaring. He got too tempted to talk or people watch if he was anywhere else.

“The library’s about to close. Do you want to keep studying outside?”

Instead of studying, they end up chatting until their parents arrive to pick them up. They’d walked to the softball field where they were usually picked up and Nat stretched out of the sidewalk as she sighed heavily. She turns to look at her friends that just smile before Taylor reaches out to grab the phone that’s fallen from Nat’s pocket.

“Let us know what your moms say about next weekend, okay?”

Natalya nods as she sits up at the sound of a car pulling up. It’s Taylor’s dentist mom and she and Alyssa both stand up to head out. As always though, Alyssa turns and speaks up for the trio as the passenger side window rolls down.

“Do you want us to wait with you until your mom gets here?”

Nat shakes her head but she stands up to hug her friends before going to greet Taylor’s mom. She smiles at the blonde before opening the back door so her friends can get in.

“Hi Doc, how are you?”

She’s always liked the blonde despite not enjoying her visits to the dentist. She was funny in a dry sort of way that reminded her of her moms, and she was laid back like her aunts. Nat always felt like she was someone she could go to if she had a problem but couldn’t tell any of her family.

“Hi Nat, good to see you! Are you sure you don’t want us to wait with you?”

Wanda’s pulling into the parking lot where she sees Natalya standing next to an unfamiliar car. She’s smiling as she chats with them and Wanda has to stop herself from freaking out. She knows her daughter’s smart and that she knows better than to talk to strangers, so she assumes this is one of her friend’s parents. This is confirmed when she drives by them and sees three familiar faces inside.

“Hi Mama! See I said she would be here any minute.”

Wanda gets out of her car and smiles as her daughter runs up to her and wraps her arms around her waist in a hug. She moves a little so she can wave at the woman she recognizes as one of Taylor’s moms. She shoots her a polite smile before they’re on their way home for the weekend.

“Hi Kayley, thanks for watching this one for me.”

After bidding them goodbye, Wanda can hear Kayley asking her daughter something that makes her laugh. She leads Natalya to her car, making sure that there’s nothing left on the sidewalk as she opens the door for her.

“Why don’t you hug me like that, Taylor?”

“Mom!”

Natalya’s stomach growls as she gets into the car, and it’s so loud that her mom can hear it as she’s opening her door again. Wanda’s amazed by how much her daughter can put away and still be so small. She’s a lot like you, and you joke about her inheriting your hollow leg now that you’re older and can’t eat nearly as much without it showing. Natalya is young and energetic, and she’d eat 5 meals a day if she had the time. Instead, she eats breakfast and lunch and then comes home so hungry she eats two or three helping at dinner. Wanda’s already getting buckled and starting the car again to get them home when she hears confirmation that her daughter’s hungry.

“Let’s get home so we can start dinner, shall we?”

Natalya smiles before practically bouncing in her seat at the idea of getting to eat. She’d had most of her lunch, but some had spilled and she hadn’t gotten her usual snacks at practice, so she was famished. She’s already brainstorming possible dishes her mom’s made when the older Maximoff speaks up with a curious look.

“Did you finish your lunch?”

Wanda asks this because 99% of the time the answer is yes. Very occasionally Natalya will be busy during lunch and be too distracted to eat. She’d come home once or twice with most of her lunch still packed away and Wanda would have to remind her about the importance of eating throughout the day. You’d always add to this by telling her that food was really the only way you ever got through a school day.

Natalya tells her about how she’d eaten all of her food as well as some of her friends’. She owed them some on Monday, but for now she was more concerned about dinner. She was about to ask what her mom had made when she hears a gasp that makes her frown in confusion.

“What happened to your hand??”

Natalya curses herself for not covering up her burn or even bothering to go to the nurse for that matter. She realizes her mom will be upset with her, and that she won’t get any dinner until she’s treated and wrapped her hand. It stung a little and hurt to touch, but she’d forgotten about it during her afternoon classes and then the nurse had already gone home. She decides to tell the truth because she’d learned very early on that she took after you when it came to her ability to lie.

She wrings her hands nervously before she covers up her burn with a frown.

“I spilled my lunch on it and forgot to go to the nurse.”

Wanda frowns in response because damnit sometimes her daughter is too much like her. She never used to take care of herself and her friends or brother had to convince her to go to medical to get checked out after any sort of injury. It wasn’t until you came along that she started to do a little better because well you’d threatened her with a bad time, or took care of her yourself which was both unpleasant and slightly humiliating.

When Wanda sighs Nat has to hold back her urge to shrink down in her seat in shame. She hates to upset her parents, and she knows that that they don’t like it when she doesn’t take care of herself. Like that one time she sprained her ankle during a game, but didn’t tell anyone until she was having difficulty running. She’d been lucky enough to have both parents present for the game, and they’d both chastised her before having Alyssa’s mom take a look at her.

“You need to take better care of yourself, milaya. I’ll look at it when we get home, okay?”

Nat just nods before she stares out the window for the next few minutes. She feels chastised and that familiar pressure in her chest makes her want to fix it immediately. Nat looks back to her mom when she speaks up a few minutes away from home.

“How was the rest of your day?”

Natalya’s first thought goes to Stacy at lunch and she frowns before shrugging as she starts to play with the hem of her shirt. She rambles nervously about the rest of her day and how it was fairly uneventful. She finished all of her homework and hopefully her coach’s food poisoning would be over by Monday.

Wanda smiles as they arrive home to see that Rogue is sitting in the driveway waiting for them. She’d been nervous about letting the dogs outside while they weren’t home, but you’d set up an invisible barrier and Rogue was the only one who really left the decks upstairs. He mostly just lingered around the house or very occasionally walked to Nat and Yelena’s down the road. He was only let out during the day and you’d put tracking collars on them so they wouldn’t get lost.

Seeing him stand up and wag his tail excitedly as she opened the garage made her feel even more love for her precious dog. Natalya waited impatiently for her to pull into the garage and park before she jumped out of the car and greeted her dog.

“Hi Rogue. How was your day bud?”

The shepherd pants happily as his ears and neck are scratched. He shakes himself out sending hair flying and Nat cringes slightly at how it’s now covering her hand, specifically her burn. She tries to shake out her hand but she’s unsuccessful and unfortunately her mom doesn’t miss it. She grabs her daughter’s backpack before calling her to come inside.

“Natalya, I’ll get dinner started then we’ll look at your hand.”

About 10 minutes later, Natalya’s sitting at the dining room table with her mom and an assortment of first aid supplies. Wanda had given the brunette a Tylenol before setting up everything she needed to clean and dress her wound. Wanda’s frowning as she takes her daughter’s hand and tilts it slightly to get a better look of the burn.

“This looks like it hurts. Hopefully covering it will help it heal faster.”

Wanda works in silence and Nat tries to distract herself from the stinging as her hand is cleaned meticulously before it’s slathered in ointment. Eventually Nat starts to get bothered by it so she speaks up to keep her mind off of it.

“I know, Mom will be back tomorrow, so it doesn’t have to be this weekend, but would it be okay to have my friends over soon for a sleepover?”

Wanda smiles immediately at the idea of this and she secretly wonders how Natalya just happened to ask this today after the conversation she’d had with you earlier. Either way, she’d be glad to host Natalya’s friends, they were both very polite and treated her daughter well. She couldn’t really ask for more than that.

“Of course. We’d be happy to have Taylor and Alyssa over.”

This makes Nat frown slightly as she realizes she needed to be more specific. The last time she’d had a sleepover they’d invited Luke as well. Her parents hadn’t known about it until he arrived and Yelena had called to tell them. Wanda had been freaked out and you’d wondered if Nat had been intentionally vague when mentioning her friends. This had led to a slightly uncomfortable conversation about the nature of Natalya’s relationships with all of her friends, and she’d certainly learned something new. When asked if Nat liked Luke, she’d simply shaken her head and told her that she was the only one without feelings.

“I think he likes Taylor or Alyssa. Or both. I think they like him too. It’s kind of confusing”

Wanda certainly was a little confused by this and she’d paid extra close attention to how they all acted together when they were at her house. She couldn’t tell from watching them because they all got along so well and no one really was extra clingy in a way that would suggest deeper feelings.

Still, Wanda doesn’t mind having Luke over, but until she’s told otherwise, she’s going to still insist that he sleeps in a different room.

“Luke too?”

Wanda nods as she starts to wrap Natalya’s hand first with gauze and then with the compressive wrap.

“Yes, but the same rules apply.”

Natalya just nods at this because last time Luke had slept in one of the guest rooms with Boone sitting at the door. The dogs didn’t mind visitors and since meeting the trio they even come up to greet them like they would for anyone else they knew. Luke liked the dogs the best, but Wanda remembers seeing both girls cuddling with a shepherd on the couch during one of their movie marathons.

“Okay, Mama. Thank you.”

Masterlist

#wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x female reader #wanda maximoff fanfiction #wanda maximoff #wanda x reader #wanda x you #pietro maximoff #yelena belova #natasha romanoff #steve rogers #bucky barnes #natalya maximoff #growing pains au

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adastra121 · 4 months

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Touchstarved OC Relationship Chart

Part 2! This is my Unnamed!MC Luneth's relationship chart, using the template created by @deiimi.

“Fate has weaved our destinies together. Let us hope neither of our threads are cut short.”

Likes Kuras — “A fascinating patient and a fascinating doctor. How appropriate that our paths have crossed.” He saved her life. How can she hold a lesser opinion of him? Finds his presence to be the most calming, but she remains wary of him. Their interactions are amicable and polite.

He is unlike anyone she has ever met before, because of what she’s seen, what she’s sensed from him.

He might hold a greater secret than anyone else in Eridia, and for once, she is unable to foresee the consequences.

She is understandably unsettled by him because of that.

However, he is kind, calm, and patient, so he’s easy to be at ease around. For that, she is grateful and naturally gravitates toward him.

Of all the Touchstarved LIs, Kuras is the one she would most likely voluntarily spend time with.

Likes/Dislikes Leander — “Never trust a mage with an oracle’s mission.” Admires his bravery to a degree. He did offer to be tied up, completely at the mercy of a stranger. It is brave — absolutely foolish, yes, but undoubtedly brave. She thinks he’s a bit of an idiot.

Would point out his blush every time. “Leander, you have gone red. Do you require water?” I think out of all my Touchstarved MCs, she embarrasses him the most often unintentionally. Good for her.

“I can keep you safe as long as you trust me.” “…Okay.” (disbelieving)

You know that one SNL skit with Benadryl Gingersnap and the guy just saying, “Okay.” in the most unaffected tone? That’s Leander and Luneth.

Leander doing his utmost to charm her, and Luneth responds with an unfazed, “Cool. Moving on.”

The only one of my MCs who refused to touch him so she saw that scene.

He crossed a line when he grabbed her, not only did he ignore her warnings, it was also incredibly foolish and reckless. Both of them could have gotten hurt from his refusal to follow her lead.

He’s not a direct threat to her (yet) but she continues to be wary around him.

Not planning on doing Leander’s route with her, but I feel like they’d be hilarious together. And it’s not even like he wouldn’t be her type. The thing is, she’s fallen for a “heroic” mage before…but it didn’t end well.

All of their interactions feel like she’s going, “This could have been an email.”

Dislikes Vere — “You can peer into souls as easily as you breathe, yet you still see so little.” She believes he acts difficult on purpose and she would be right. As someone with a rigid sense of right and wrong, she dislikes his flippant morals. He claims to be old enough to have witnessed Eridia’s ascension, yet he has all the restraint and maturity of a child.

Basically, “you had a hundred years to grow out of it and you still act like this? Cringe.”

I feel like the dislike would be mutual. Vere would find her too rigid and strict with herself and others. It’s like forcing a paladin and a rogue to work together.

His power does not unnerve her, because she’d been around seers and clerics her entire life, and she has her own gift of sight.

Yes, she would prefer to keep her past and her secrets under wraps, but there was very little privacy in the temple. She survived then, she’ll survive now.

She just hopes the little fox won’t do anything drastic for a power fantasy. It would be…inconvenient.

And although his power of sight is something she’s used to, she knows his other abilities are a very real threat. Unlike him, she is not a fighter nor a killer. If he chooses to sink his teeth into her, she has little way to stop him and for some reason, he seems to find her soul irresistible. “Kindly resist it.” So she remains on guard.

Oddly, as much as she dislikes him, she trusts his instincts the most.

Luneth is an efficient oracle and prefers to take the path of least resistance where she is able — and then you have Vere. A restless, hedonistic, chaotic obstacle that threatens to not only block off but also completely destroy the path to her objective, not even necessarily on purpose. Oh, but she has a feeling that he would.

As of the demo, they are mutually disappointed in each other — Vere finds Luneth imposes too many restrictions on herself that prevents her from realizing her actual strength and Luneth thinks Vere has the potential to be more than his facade, more than his desire for power, even. Both of them are going, “You could be so much more.” at each other about different things.

Likes/Dislikes Ais — “…Is there a bird in here?” Her feelings about him are similar to her feelings about Vere, to a lesser degree. He seems to have been honest with her thus far, so she holds some respect for him.

Ais is a bit of a bastard but he’s more manageable than Vere. At least he doesn’t go out of his way to get in hers.

She has very neutral feelings toward him.

To be fair, she has very neutral feelings toward most people.

Vere seems to hold some regard for him and she knows that Vere can see into people’s souls, so she assumes that Ais is one of the more genuine people in Eridia.

If it weren’t for Vere and Kuras, however, I don’t think she would interact with him very often.

They are on different paths, but there is potential for a strong friendship between them.

Her quote is in response to: “You look lost, little sparrow.” “…?” *looks behind her*

Dislikes Mhin — “Calm yourself. There is no need for such hostility.” She’s glad that she is still alive due to Mhin’s actions, but in all honesty, she just happened to be in the right place at the right time. So she doesn't feel very indebted to them, at least, not in the way she does Kuras.

They tell her they didn’t save her, she was only in the near vicinity of their mark and she believes them. Their goal of killing the Soulless just so happened to be beneficial to her. That is the extent of their exchange that first meeting and she owes them nothing. That works just fine for her.

Luneth is often annoyed by Mhin’s temper and standoffish attitude. It clashes with her cool, detached, and reticent nature.

Lowkey judges them for not having a better handle on their emotions but that could also just be projection on her end.

Mhin makes her feel more like an inconvenience to them than anything else, so…she simply won’t inconvenience them.

The hunter seems to prefer to keep to themselves and Luneth does the same.

#and I think I’ve caught up now with luneth #whew #she is initially very wary and mistrustful of all the lis because everyone in the only world she'd ever known had lied to her.#that includes the person who was trying to get her out and see the truth. they double-crossed her as well.#if she can't even trust the people she loved and thought she knew how can she possibly trust these five strangers #all with their own mysterious agendas and futures she cannot see #like alon she does not feel particularly close to anyone yet but that'll change with whichever character route she goes for #like jin she is more cautious about her relationships now #touchstarved #touchstarved game #touchstarved oc #luneth the unnamed #touchstarved kuras #touchstarved leander #touchstarved vere #touchstarved ais #touchstarved mhin #my oc #my original character #oc

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legacygirlingreen · 7 months

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May 1889 // Farmer Sebastian Sallow x Reader (part 1)

The prologue.

Warnings: parent death

Word count: 800

Masterlist here

Life is emotionally abusive…

When their widowed mother dragged her and her younger siblings from the only home she had ever known, she was angry. Kicking and screaming, she fought the decision all the way to the United Kingdom. Their mother brought the remainder of their broken family to the Scottish highlands, where she’d grown up to move in with the kids' dying grandmother. Having spent her childhood rarely visiting the small hamlet of Feldcroft, it hardly felt like home, but instead a strange land in which she was dragged a handful of times.

The rugged countryside with its cold winters and windy coastline were a far cry from the ever stretching fields of lavender on the Mediterranean she had grown up with. The way the sun cast the lovely bronze on her skin, despite its more fair nature - thanks to her mother’s northern roots unfortunately - always made her feel alive. Moving to a place that hardly experienced a summer at all, instead of the many months of warmth, only further added to the cold and isolating feelings she bore at the loss of her father.

Her father, the ever charming and playful man, had met her mother while visiting London for work. The two, having made such a profound connection in only a matter of days, lead to him whisking her away from the UK to marry and live with him in the south of France. Their whirlwind romance had always been an epic tale of love, devotion and laughter, told over the dinner table and as a bedtime story.

His passing had been so sudden. The man unfortunately had been killed for his research on magical plants, by a traveling rogue wizard. Later apprehended in Wales, the British ministry reached out to offer condolences. Pairing that with a pain existing in a place without her love, it made sense to her why her mother had left France, despite how much it hurt her and her siblings.

As they finally arrived via the floo flame in Feldcroft on a late May evening, they were greeted by the sight of their very old, sickly looking grandmother. Their grandfather passed away a few years back, and they’d revived the owl. Their mother left for the funeral alone, before she returned to take care of them.

Standing in the brisk May air with her siblings, and a simple suitcase housing all her possessions she tried not to grimace. Rickety looking houses, ruins of a castle nearby, cows just simply walking around unattended. The place looked… interesting.

As her Scottish grandmother made her way down the line reuniting with her younger siblings and mother before making the way in front of her. Reaching out, sensing the panic and fear rolling off her in waves, her grandmother simply offered a small hand, allowing her to take it instead of forcing affections on to her. A fact she appreciated.

Allowing her grandmother to cup her palm in her old hands, she leaned up to kiss the old woman on the cheek in greeting, before continuing to scan the area. At the house next door she could see broken fences as well as a man grumbling around trying to force sheep back inside. Distracted, she stared until her grandmother broke her out of a trance.

“That’s Solomon Sallow, former auror. He’s an… interesting man I admit. Has a set of twins in his care a few years older than you, but they are off to Hogwarts this time of year. Their parents died a few years ago, poor things. Anyways, come along dear, you’ll have the loft entirely to yourself” her grandmother said with a small smile and a comforting squeeze before dropping her hand. She tore her eyes away from the gentleman having successfully used his wand to repair the broken fence around his sheep.

“Did you say former auror?” Her mother, Evelyn, asked her Gran, as the old woman nodded.

“Yes. He’s a bit grumpy, but it’s nice to know someone who can put dark magic in its place is nearby” Gran said, hoping to ease the tension.

“Well… that’s comforting to know. Did you hear that y/n? She said that he takes care of twins not much older than you. Perhaps you could make a friend or two” her mother offered and she shrugged, wanting to curl up in bed and sleep. The fatigue of missing her father daily still weighed heavily and after traveling she just wanted to rest.

In hindsight, she wished she had paid more attention to the conversation between her mother and grandmother as they ushered the family inside, as it told all about the boy next door…

#hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow #sebastian sallow x reader #sebastian sallow x you #sebastian sallow/reader #sebastian sallow x slytherin!reader #fluff #hogwarts legacy fandom #ominis gaunt #anne sallow

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that1emowitch · 5 months

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Villain - Chapter 5: Breakout Band

Summary:

Dick teams up with Roy, Harley, and Ivy to break Jason out of Arkham.

TW: Death, Violence, Flashbacks, Blood, and Swearing. lemme know if I missed anything!

Chapter links: Ch. 1, Ch. 2, Ch.3, Ch. 4, Ch. 5, Ch.6

POV of Dick Grayson, approximately thirty minutes after the last chapter because that’s how much time I wrote this in after uploading chapter 5.

I’m sitting on the roof of the manor, thinking. Why would Bruce do this? Why now, of all times? When I’d finally gotten my little brother back?

I can feel tears form in my eyes. Jason must be so scared right now, he must think he’s all alone again…

A hot tear runs down my cheek as I bite my lip.

“You always cried too much,” A familiar voice pipes up from behind me. Wiping my eyes, I turn around to see my old friend Roy Harper climbing onto the roof. Smiling slightly, I got up to give him a hug.

He wraps his arm around me and whispers, “He’ll be okay, Dickie, he’s the strongest person I know.”

Then why do you sound like you’re trying to convince yourself?

Pulling away, he sits down beside me, his green eyes meeting mine. “So, why’d you call me, of all people, to help? Why not, like, Superboy or someone?”

“Because you’re not just my friend, you’re Jay’s friend too. He trusts you.”

“Yeah, friend .” His smile fades slightly. My eyebrows furrow, but I decide not to pry.

“Well, I was going to call Star too, but she’s off-world with her sister, and I have no idea how to contact Artemis or Bizarro.” I shrugged. “But it’s okay, we’ve got a pretty good team here.”

Roy raises an eyebrow. “Just you and me? We’re gonna break into Arkham, one of the most heavy-security prisons, all by ourselves?”

I laugh a little. “Well, rogues break in and out of that place on the regular! Which is exactly why we’re gonna ask one of them for help!”

“Wait, what? ” Roy’s confused. “Do you even trust them? Why would a rogue help us? If anything they’d be happy Red Hood’s locked away for good—”

“Chill, Roy,” I smile. “We’re asking an ex-rogue for help. Harley Quinn! She’s broken out of that place about a billion times, surely she knows her way around there. Plus, she went straight-ish over the past few years, she was even batgirl for a few days.”

Roy snorts. “Straight-ish? Isn’t she dating that plant chick?”

“You know what I meant!” I slap him playfully on the arm. “Now come on, we gotta go find her.”

“So you want me to risk my life, help you break into a heavily secure facility, go to the cell right by my crazy ex’s, break out your baby brother, kill a couple guards, get Hood out, break a few hundred laws, and bring him back to you, when I’m finally starting to gain the police’s trust?!” Harley Quinn questions us with a pointed stare.

“Well, yeah,” I mumble, “Except for the killing guards part. Plus, Arsenal and I will be helping you.”

She stares at us for a few more seconds before answering, “HELL YEAH! ‘Course Aunty Harley’ll help you, birdie!”

“Harls, think about this,” Ivy spoke up from the corner. “What if you get caught?”

“We won’t get caught,” Roy answered for her. “It’s a simple in and out mission. Little to no damage, if possible.”

“Well, that won’t be possible,” Harley says. “The only way in is to break the walls down.” She turns to look at her girlfriend.

Ivy stares back at her for a second before realising what she’s talking about. “No. No. Absolutely not. No way!” She replies sternly.

Harley jumps off the table she’s sitting on and clings to Ivy, making her best puppy dog eyes and giving a pout. “Pwease, baby?”

Ivy gazes into her eyes like a lovestruck simp before finally looking away and huffing. “Fine. I’ll use my plants to break through the walls.”

“Yay!” Harley spins around excitedly. I smile at her gratefully. “Ooh, we need a team name! What about Breakout Band?”

“We are not calling ourselves Breeakout Band!” Ivy tries to say, but Roy speaks over her, hyping Harley up.

“WHOO! BREAKOUT BAND!!!” He yells as Herley cheers.

“Great, now we can start planning!” I say, pulling out a map of Arkham Asylum.

We’re coming, Jay, I think, hoping he can somehow magically hear me. Just hang on for a bit.

#jason todd #ao3 fanfic #dick grayson #jayroy #tim drake #timbern #roy harper #bernard dowd #red hood #robin #nightwing

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mariaofdoranelle · 2 years

Note

So I thought of a hilarious prompt and I think it might fit the fic you wrote for Rowaelin Month single parent AU - Empty Nested.

Rowan and Aelin are very much official and dating as you know 🤭 and you know their kids are happy but not when Finn and Maisie are looking for something in Rowan's bedroom and they stumble upon a box of condoms (it's not the box itself but they did not need to know the size!)

Maisie with her everlasting confidence tries to make light of the findings and says - while their parents hear - "way to go Aelin!"

Thank you so much for the prompt, Emma ❤️❤️❤️ I had the worst day today and you kinda saved me with this @thegreyj

Do You Delight in Traumatizing Your Children?

Empty Nested AU but it can be read as a oneshot too (I think)

Warnings: language, innuendos, condom box family drama

Word count: 1,2k

˜˜˜˜˜˜

Rowan woke up with a sore neck from sleeping on the couch, but his pain turned insignificant when he saw rogue rays of sunshine that peaked through the curtains illuminating Aelin’s golden hair. It cascaded down her figure a bit messy and tangled, probably from last night’s activities.

Aelin’s body started to stir above his, she’d wake up any moment now. He brushed back a strand that fell on her face and kissed the crown of her head.

In the months they’d been dating, her presence in Rowan’s life had shifted his mood in such a way that he began to think of her as his little miracle. In fact, the way he viewed the world had changed so much that Rowan could swear Aelin was the one who lit up the sun.

“Morning, Buzzard,” she greeted in her adorable sleepy voice.

He hummed, idly rubbing her shoulders. “Happy birthday, Fireheart.”

Aelin lifted her head to look up at him, smirking. “It is my birthday today, isn’t it?” she smirked. “Do you have anything planned? Because if you don’t I really want to have brunch at that new place we saw last week.”

“I have many plans about you. One of them is wrapped at my office.”

He gave her a reverent, adoring kiss, trying to show Aelin how in love he was without being called an “old sap” early in the morning. He decided to ask his daughter what that meant once, and the only thing he got was more teasing and zero explanations. Thankfully, Google always had his back.

But her joke had a twist that almost made it funny: Aelin would never admit it, but she was a “sap” as well.

Cradling his face with both of her hands, she said, “You know I don’t need plans, right? You’re the best thing I could have for my birthday.”

“Is this a love confession or an innuendo?” He had a smug smile, proud to rise up to her witty remarks.

Giggling, she rested her head on his shoulder. “Both.” And then looked up again. “I love you.”

Rowan smiled. “I love you too.”

She got up, covering herself with the blanket they got last night to watch TV.

“Prude much?”

Aelin stopped and slowly turned around. Without her or the blanket, there was nothing hiding Rowan’s bare body. Her lips parted. The pace of her breathing changed. And he knew the cause by the way her eyes roamed through his chest and landed on his erection.

The blanket fell on the floor in a heartbeat, and Aelin turned to get the condoms on his TV stand’s drawer. Rowan never thought he’d be the type of person to leave condoms in various spots of his house, but they came in really handy at a time like this.

Aelin sat on his lap first, but didn’t fight when Rowan trapped her beside him and languorously kissed her body, going downwards.

“Do you have any birthday wish, Milady?”

˜˜˜

Their brunch ended up becoming lunch, but what mattered to Aelin was having chocolate cake, so they were fine.

“Buzzard, why didn’t we get a cab?” she whined, slowly walking through the sidewalk.

“Because it’s only three blocks.”

“But I’m too full.”

Rowan chuckled and squeezed her hand.

When they neared his home, his chest filled with warmth by the sight of two blonde teenagers lying on the grass, using their backpacks as makeshift pillows. Aelin stopped dead on her tracks, an affectionate smile slowly building as her eyes glowed. She squeezed his hand, then dropped it and rushed towards them.

Turns out the kids surprised them both by staying this weekend for Aelin’s birthday. Rowan could plan as many things as he wanted, but none of them was better than spending some time with those troublemakers after so long.

Aelin went upstairs to get her place’s key so Finn could leave his things there, and the boy took it as a cue to approach Rowan.

“She seems happy. You’re okay for now.”

Rowan was used to this subtle threat already, so he ran a hand through Finn’s hair, messing it on purpose. “Come on, kiddo,” he digressed while leaving for the kitchen to get the healthy snacks that Aelin’s son loved—and she never had for herself at home.

After getting everything settled, they sat on the living room to catch up. They were talking a lot about their classes and carefully dodging their parents’s questions about parties, alcohol and drugs, but Rowan was too content to brood about that now.

Finn was showing some pictures on the TV when he noticed his phone battery was running low.

“Do you have a charger? Mine’s at mom’s.”

“Dad keeps one in the TV stand.”

He mentioned to get the charger when Aelin paled and yelled, “The left drawer!”

But it was too late.

When Finn opened the drawer, there was a large box with very visible condoms. The whole room froze, and Aelin’s son was only blinking at what he saw, not quite processing it. Unsuspecting, Maisie looked at the drawer, and that’s when the commotion began.

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

Maisie’s scream put Finn out of his trance. He backed away and faced the wall, repeatedly screaming, “EW!”

Rowan looked at Aelin, and she was gaping at the scene with flushed cheeks, probably as lost as he was.

“FINN, I’M BLIND.”

“Are you kidding me?” He turned to Maisie, yelling, “I wish I was blind!” And then he turned to his mother, finally gaining his words back. “Why is this box so big? Are you trying to repopulate Orynth?”

Aelin tilted her head. “I don’t think these would be useful for that, honey.”

Finn’s jaw went slack by his mother’s snark, and Maisie laughed, somewhere between amused and horrified. “Way to go, Aelin!”

Rowan scratched his forehead. “Look, I know this is too much, but the XL ones are never on sale, so—“

“NO!” the kids screamed in unison, and his cheeks blushed when he realized what he’d just said.

Pointing a finger at him, Maisie demanded, “Don’t you dare finishing that sentence!”

Rowan straightened his posture to look more imposing, not that it had ever worked with Maisie. “Do I need to remind you who the parent is?”

“No! You don’t get to use the dad card now! Do you delight in traumatizing your children?”

He took a deep breath. While Rowan was wondering where did Mais got that flair for the dramatic from, Aelin decided to speak. “It shouldn’t be traumatizing to you guys. In fact, we expected you to be acquainted with those already.” She gave Finn a pointed look.

Her son’s eyes went wide, and he said, “This is too much. I’m leaving.”

“And I’m fucking gay!” Maisie reminded them before following Finn out.

“But what about the STDs?” Rowan asked a second before they closed the front door.

There was a small stretch of silence while they watched the kids cross the road and enter Aelin’s house. He turned to his girlfriend and asked, “Do you think it was too hard on them?”

Aelin leaned a hand on his chest. “It was fine.” Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed his cheek. “They’ll be back in no time for food.”

TAG LIST

@autumnbabylon

@courtofjurdan

@elentiyawhitethorn

@goddess-aelin

@leiawritesstories

@rowanaelinn

@thegreyj

#rowaelin #rowaelin fanfiction #throne of glass fanfiction #rowan whitethorn #aelin x rowan #aelin galathynius #empty nested

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tired-truffle · 1 month

Text

Yet Broken Still You Breathe

An AlistairxOC fic

Chapter Word Count: 4k

Part 3/40

"I think I've come to terms with the fact that there will always be a ribbon of loneliness running through who I am." - Jenny Slate

Masterlist

“So, you think you’ll want to join our crew as we valiantly fight against the Darkspawn invasion?” Darcy pulled out his sword and started duelling an invisible enemy where they stood in the courtyard of Redcliffe castle. Old blood stained the grass beneath their feet, the bodies of the undead they’d fought only a few hours beforehand strewn across the ground like discarded playthings. The smell of copper and rot filled the air but Darcy seemed bothered by none of it, instead, it seemed to almost enthuse him. “I know you almost got killed,” he said with a flippant motion of his hand, his other resting on his hip, quickly moving past that unfortunate fact, “but you aren’t afraid to fight dirty and you took down those three undead all on your own. I’d be remiss not to ask you to join our team, we could use a rogue like you. We’d have Leliana for all the- well, whatever it is she does when she’s not talking about her supposedly prophetic dreams from your Shemlen God, and you, the intimidating aura and ruthless survival skills. A perfect combination.” Darcy clasped his hands together and batted his eyelashes at her pleadingly.

“Uh,” Gwen said with all the intelligence of a wolf caught in a bear trap. Her head felt like it had been shoved full of cotton, and run over by a wagon, and the ringing music in her ears had only gotten stronger in her weakened state.

“What our fearless leader means to say,” Alistair interjected while Gwen continued to blink at Darcy, at a loss for words, “is that we would be honoured to have your strong and ruthless fighting spirit on our side.”

“Yes, that,” Darcy agreed.

“Why am I being the tactful one here,” Alistair said with exasperation, “That’s usually not my strong suit.”

“Then you can rest easy, Alistair, intelligence would be a necessity, which you are sorely lacking,” Morrigan droned, her arms crossed over her chest, her robes covered in sprays of dark blood that did not belong to her. Out of all of them, she was relatively unscathed - the perks of being a mage.

“Oh, well excuse me if I don't possess your level of intelligence, oh great and wise Bog Witch.” Alistair huffed.

“My hut was adjacent to a swamp, Alistair. Anyone with even the slightest semblance of wisdom would be aware of that fact.” Morrigan shot back, Alistair looking more and more miffed by the second.

“Children, the both of you” Darcy cut in, stepping between the two with his hands up as though they were quarrelling school children, ”trading insults isn’t going to convince Gwen to join us.”

Gwen had been watching the exchange with tired eyes, barely hearing what they were saying in her exhausted state, still unsure how she was managing to stand on her own two feet. But at the mention of her name, she focused her gaze on Darcy. She had attempted to uncover any ulterior motives lurking in the shadows. He had seen her in action, swift and deadly with her daggers in hand. But beyond that, he knew almost nothing about her except for the way she could take down their enemy without hesitation. She wasn’t exactly the kind of person one would want hanging around your camp late at night. And yet, during their entire battle through Redcliffe castle and their talk with Lady Isolde - who was now dealing with the consequences of her poorly thought-out plan - she could find none. Darcy, Alistair, Morrigan, and even Barkspawn had had her back throughout the entire fight, save for when she had gotten separated, though that was as much her fault as it was theirs. Darcy had treated Lady Isolde with kindness and grace that she had returned with self-righteousness and a judgemental eyeing of Darcy’s ears. It had left Gwen confused as to why they were going to go out of their way to fetch a mage from the Circle to un-possess Connor at great personal risk to Darcy when it was the Arlessa who’d gotten them into that mess in the first place. She had caused the death of most of the castle’s occupants and had unleashed a horde of undead upon the people she was supposed to protect. The assassin mage they had freed from the prison had offered an easy trade, Isolde’s life for her son’s. It seemed simple to Gwen, but Darcy had refused and had instead offered an alternative that would have them making the trek back to Redcliffe from the Circle.

By all accounts, Darcy was a good person trying to help everyone he came across, whether they deserved it or not. She wasn’t entirely convinced he wanted her to join them just because of her ability to fight, there had to be something else, some other reason he wanted to get her to travel with them. Perhaps it was as simple as having her ‘intimidating aura’ around so that others were less likely to take advantage of Darcy’s good-hearted nature, though Morrigan provided enough intimidation to scare off an entire army if she so chose to.

Did his Grey Warden senses pick up on what she hid behind her bandana? Was he trying to get her out of the town so he could put her down like the feral monster she was? It was certainly a possibility, yet he seemed too genuine to have anything sinister planned for her.

“But,” Gwen furrowed her brow, “you don’t know anything about me.”

Darcy shrugged, “I’m good at reading people, and I can tell you’re the type of person who tries to do the right thing.” Gwen kept her lips pursed, that still didn’t negate the fact that she was hiding things about herself she had no intention of revealing, things that would turn them all against her in the blink of an eye. As if reading her thoughts, Darcy continued, “You’re a secretive person, I can tell you value your privacy, and I respect that. You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to, as long as you don’t plan on betraying us that is.” He grinned as though he’d told a funny joke. No one laughed. Morrigan looked as disinterested as humanly possible, and Alistair… Alistair was looking at her with barely concealed curiosity and a dash of hope that made her heart start to race. He was going to be a problem. He couldn’t find out what she was or what she’d done. Even men with the kindest of faces could be hiding viciousness underneath. She was sure that that curiosity would turn to disgust, fear, and hatred. Feelings she couldn’t afford a Grey Warden to have for her, not if she wanted to complete what she had set out to do.

Gwen rubbed at her eyes with a bloody hand, probably smearing it all over her face, but she found she didn’t care, “I guess I’ll join you, for now.” These people held the key to her salvation - answers about the Darkspawn and an end to the incessant ringing in her head that was slowly driving her crazy. She was determined to get what she needed from them, no matter what it took. And if they tried to kill her, well, she’d either kill them first, or she’d be put out of her misery. At least she could say she tried.

Darcy squealed and clapped happily like a child being given a puppy for their birthday. Alistair's face lit up with a large, toothy grin, his eyes sparkling with excitement and Morrigan continued to look as disinterested as she always did. Barkspawn barked happily, his butt wiggling with the force of his enthusiasm.

“But first, I need sleep and maybe some more health potions.” Gwen swayed on her feet, leaning a hand against the cool castle wall for stability. Alistair winced and took a step forward, reaching out like he intended to hold her arm, but stopped when Gwen shied away, dropping his arms and looking away awkwardly. She supposed it wasn’t entirely irrational, considering he had all but carried her into the throne room to confront Lady Isolde and the demon wearing her son like a skin suit. He appeared amiable enough, but on instinct Gwen had cringed away from him, her mind immediately going into survival mode. Every muscle in her body had tensed, ready to defend or flee at a moment's notice. It wasn't that she thought he would harm her, but over the years it had become ingrained in her the need to constantly be aware and prepared for any potential danger. She couldn't control these automatic survival instincts, they guided everything she did and they kept her safe. She didn’t correct herself or apologize either, she didn’t need him thinking he could just touch her whenever he wanted, that would lead to complications she wanted to avoid experiencing again.

Darcy heartily agreed - Gwen was relieved to turn Alistair’s attention away from her - having already asked Bann Teagen to allow them to stay the night in the castle, he got the attention of a soldier who pointed them in the direction of the guest wing. There were only two spare rooms available that didn’t have dead, rotting corpses being cleaned out of them, so they had to split who slept where. Darcy, Alistair, and Barkspawn took one room, while Morrigan and Gwen took the other. Gwen wasted no time and quickly exited, making her escape to the room. Thankful that there were two twin beds inside the little room and just enough walking space to comfortably fit two people. The last thing she wanted was to roll over, have her bandana shift, and for Morrigan to wake up to a face full of unnatural split cheeks and sharp, pointed teeth. Having separate beds meant that Gwen could ensure that the covers stayed over her head while she slept to avoid any accidental face reveals. And a dagger in hand for good measure.

The late evening light shone through the small window on the far wall, the orange and pink colours of the sunset illuminating the old wooden furniture, knicks and scratches carved into the surface speaking to the lives of those who had previously occupied the room, servants who were more than likely dead. A worn carpet that once must have been a lively shade of red now sat brown with age and askew, dejected on the cold stone floor. The pillows were indented in the middle as though they hadn’t been moved since their last owner had peacefully slept the night away, unaware of the dangers that lurked around the corner. Gwen’s stomach rolled and she quickly turned her thoughts to other matters, unwilling to stay on that distressing subject.

Morrigan followed soon after her, casting her a cursory glance before complaining about the lack of service and proclaiming she would leave to find a clean bucket of water to wash herself with. Gwen doubted she would be successful, but was pleased to have the room to herself for a moment so she did not point that out.

In her absence, Gwen peeled off her armour, blood-crusted clothes following suit until she was only in her smalls. She felt vulnerable in this state, her pale, blue-tinted skin like that of a corpse was littered with scars, most she did not care if anyone saw, but the ones that she did… well she’d rather not have to explain them. The most haunting were the ones around her neck, wrists, and ankles, as though something had dug into her skin slowly for a long time. They left jagged edges and indentations, discoloured skin and marks that at one time had clearly been worn down to the bone. Her back was more raised red scar tissue than regular skin, long strips intersected with smaller ones made her back look like a gruesome patchwork quilt.

She doubted Morrigan would ask questions, nor did Gwen feel compelled to answer should any arise. She didn’t want to talk about them and she hoped that Darcy had meant what he said about respecting her privacy. She’d never travelled with anyone before, so she wasn’t sure what to expect. But even if they didn’t ask, they were sure to come to their own conclusions, and she wasn’t sure if she liked that any better.

Gwen quickly re-tied her bandana, ensuring that it was tight - almost too tight - against her face, and threw on her cleanest tunic before flopping into bed. She didn’t care that she was sweaty and covered in blood, there would be a lot more of that in her near future. And right now, her battered and bruised body, having consumed a few too many healing potions that were pulling on her body’s depleted energy stores to heal her many wounds, was too exhausted to do anything else but sleep. Thankfully, she had enough awareness to ensure that her favourite dagger was clutched tightly in hand and the blankets pulled up and over her head. It was comforting, a familiar habit she had developed in her youth - though the sheets of her childhood had been threadbare and stained a variety of disturbing colours and these sheets were soft and downy as one would expect of linen that was kept in a prestigious castle. As she curled up under the covers, she was quickly lost to sleep and her mind was consumed by familiar terrors. She was trapped in a relentless cycle of nightmares, as she was every night for as long as she could remember, another curse of her existence. Before long, she was lost in the depths of sleep's dark grip where her deeply suppressed memories came out to haunt her.

***

When Gwen woke the next morning, the early morning rays shining softly through the window, she was not surprised to find Morrigan gone. However, she was shocked to see a small glass bottle filled with a glowing red liquid, and a delicate porcelain cup filled with clear water that had been placed carefully at her bedside. Having rested and healed up quite well she had no current use for the healing potion and carefully to tucked it away for later. Gwen sniffed the water suspiciously and then decided she was being ridiculous, if someone - likely Morrigan as she was sure the castle servants were too busy to provide such frivolous items to guests - had wanted to kill her they had plenty of opportunity while Gwen had been unconscious all night.

She drank the water and didn’t immediately keel over. She declared it a victory, threw on her clothes, and went to find a bucket of water for a speedy sponge bath, hoping that with the continued cleaning of the castle, it wouldn’t be too hard to come by. It didn’t take too long searching to find one and haul it back to the still-empty room along with some bread and apples she had found stashed in the cellar. As she sat down to eat, a sense of relief flooded through her. She could enjoy a meal without Alistair's attentive gaze following her every move. The thought of being constantly watched while they were on the road together made her stomach churn. So for now, she took solace in this moment of solitude, savouring each bite as if it were her last. The quiet rustle of leaves and the distant chirping of birds provided a peaceful soundtrack to her meal, a temporary escape from the journey ahead.

She emerged from the castle's entrance, her eyes scanning the area for her new companions. She spotted them standing in a small group, their figures silhouetted against the rising sun. They were all armed and armoured, ready to set off. Despite the early hour, the sun shone brightly on them, highlighting their features and casting shadows along the gravel path. Behind her, the castle stood tall and imposing, with its stone walls and towers reaching towards the sky, unwelcoming and urging her to move out of its grasp. She nodded at them, not willing to say much more at the time, loath to admit that she wasn’t a morning person lest they learn that weakness.

“You snore in your sleep,” Morrigan remarked with disgust, before turning on her heel and marching off. Gwen's eyebrows furrowed, creating deep lines on her forehead as she tried to recall the sound of her own snoring, her lips pulled into a slight grimace.

“Don’t let her get to you,” Alistair said, coming to stand beside her, looking at Morrigan’s retreating form with a scowl marring his face, “She’s all bark and very little bite.”

“It’s okay,” Gwen shrugged, “she reminds me of a barn cat I once… roomed with. It would hiss at me whenever I tried to pet it, but when I woke up at night it had curled itself into a ball at my back. I don’t know if it liked to cuddle or was just stealing my body heat, but I enjoyed it all the same.” She didn’t add that by ‘rooming’ she meant stowing away, it wasn’t relevant to the conversation and Alistair really didn’t need to know. No need to pique his curiosity any more than it already was.

“That is… an oddly apt analogy,” Darcy murmured, shooting her a surprised look.

“I think it has some room for improvement,” Alistair interjected, “how about instead of a cute, cuddly cat, she’s prickly lizard? Or maybe something that breathes fire and poisons everything it touches.”

Gwen started walking after said prickly, fire-breathing, poisonous lizard, “It’s your head if she hears you calling her that.”

“It’s always my head with Morrigan,” Alistair grumbled, but he reluctantly trailed after her as they began their journey toward the Ferelden Circle. His heavy footsteps echoed against the cobblestone path, and he glared holes into Morrigan’s back, who seemed determined to ignore him.

While they left Redcliffe, Darcy quickly explained that the rest of their group, Leliana, the aforementioned rogue, and Sten, a Qunari warrior had gone ahead to scout for Darkspawn in the area. They were to meet mid-morning on the outskirts of Redcliffe.

“Do you usually split up when heading into battle? Surely more fighters would be better,” she’d asked.

To which Darcy had nonchalantly replied, “It’s best to be prepared for whatever lies next so we don’t march headfirst into a trap after a particularly taxing battle,” he stayed quiet for a moment, “besides, if we were to all die then there would be no one to carry on the fight against the Blight. Someone has to make sure that Ferelden survives this.” His eyes were focused on the horizon, his jaw set, a subtle shift in his stance. The lightheartedness with which he had so far carried himself momentarily vanished as she saw a hint of the leader within him emerge. Despite the constant presence of Grey Wardens and their threat, she couldn't help but feel reassured by Darcy's fierce determination to end the Blight and silence the ever-present haunting music in her mind. For once, she felt like she might have made a good decision in following him.

They met up with the two other companions and Darcy regaled them with tales of their battle, acting out his most favourite parts, and greatly exaggerating how easy it was. Gwen thought about pointing out that she’d almost died, but felt like Darcy would take to that in the same way as a child would take to having their favourite toy tossed into the mud. Besides, the orange-haired woman - who Gwen assumed must be Leliana - was watching him with rapt attention, and she couldn’t bring herself to diminish the small woman’s joy. The large Qunari on the other hand seemed to have tuned out immediately and stared at the horizon, face set in what she could guess was a permanent scowl. She’d seen a few Qunari before, and his attitude seemed par for the course.

“Is he always like this?” Gwen tilted her head towards Darcy as she whispered to Alistair. He shot her a quizzical look.

“Always like what?”

Gwen waved him off with a shake of her head and he went back to eagerly watching his friend.

As the story came to a close, Darcy officially introduced her to the two new companions, although she couldn't help but feel like she was actually the newcomer. Leliana bound excitedly up to her and expressed her joy at having another woman to travel with, and Sten followed up her statement questioning if Gwen was a woman at all, given that they could not see her face and her figure was hidden under her armour. Gwen held back a sigh as Darcy admonished him in a joking tone for being ‘blind to Gwen’s obvious womanly ways’. There had been many reasons why Gwen had never travelled with a group before this, but she could add a new reason to the list; constantly being around differing, colourful personalities was exhausting and it hadn’t even been an hour yet.

Maybe ending the Blight wasn’t worth it after all.

Once Morrigan started barking at them for their ‘ridiculous chattering’ and urging them to move on before the Blighted Army descended upon all of Thedas, the group started their Northward journey.

It didn’t take long for them to share the details of how their quest had begun. The Teryn who commanded King Cailan’s army, Loghain Mac Tir, had betrayed the King and retreated during the battle of Ostagar when they had called for help, abandoning those fighting and resulting in the King’s death, along with Duncan, Alistair’s Grey Warden mentor and the man who had recruited Darcy only a week before the battle. Alistair had tried to hide the sorrow that had crossed his face at the mention of his former mentor, but even his witty sarcasm couldn’t hide that deep sort of pain. Gwen made note to not bring it up. If not for the timely intervention of Flemeth, the famed Witch of the Wilds, and Morrigan’s mother, Darcy and Alistair would have perished as well. Their current objectives were to invoke the Grey Warden treaties with the Dwarves, Elves, and Mages to get aid in hunting down the Archdemon and its Darkspawn Army. Darcy recited the tale to Gwen, who only responded with a grunt of confirmation. The amount of information was overwhelming and gave her a great deal to think about.

Gwen quickly learned how to tune out the sounds around her and focus on the road ahead. It had limited success as she was often roped into conversations by Alistair - which of course it was him trying to include her, he probably thought he was doing her a favour - but she did not care to partake in them, something that he didn’t seem to be able to grasp. Sometimes, a sharp glare was enough to get him to leave her alone, but once he learned that the glare was never followed up with acts of violence, he started to push more and more.

Maker, it had only been two days and already she wanted to throttle the Grey Warden. She refused to let herself be pulled in by his attempted thoughtfulness. She didn’t need it, she didn’t need to be included, and she was quite fine walking in silence until she could get what she wanted. She knew better than to allow herself to fall for this, she was a monster, a freak, an unlovable creature. She did not deserve their kindness and the guilt of deceiving them into thinking she wasn’t rotten at the core of her being threatened to choke her. She had tried to go against her nature once, but that had only ended in pain, and she had never wanted to feel that kind of pain again, nor inflict it on others. She had kept to herself over the years, but now, surrounded by people, she felt that loneliness crush around her. It was silly, but seeing these people be able to joke around and be open with each other in a way that she would never be able to, only widened that aching space within her heart where… where she had been. This would be harder than Gwen had anticipated, but to get her answers, she would do just about anything.

Next Chapter

A/N: I would love to hear your thoughts!

#angst with a happy ending #slow burn #fluff #eventual smut #falling in love #humour #alistair dao #alistair dragon age #alistair theirin #alistair x original character

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autumnalwalker · 1 year

Text

Find the Word Tag

Thank you for the tag, @winterandwords.

My words to find were bad, bear, break, & being.

Passing the tag to @talesofsorrowandofruin, @blind-the-winds, @writingpotato07, @void-botanist, and an open tag for anyone else.

Your words to find shall be did, didn't, don't, & doesn't.

Bad: Empty Names Side Story - Once Upon A Time...

Now, the Rogue’s two favorite adventures to go on were “Steal the hat” and “Spy.” “Steal the hat” was fun because there was no shortage of rich folks and nobles coming through the city who could afford to lose a fancy hat or three and they were usually guarded well enough to make getting close enough to swipe the hat a challenge. Even better, unlike most things that they took, the only ones who shouted at them were the now-hatless rich folks. And the guards, but shouting at people was their job, so they didn’t count. But the normal folks that saw the Rogue running around with a hat too big for them embroidered with gold and silver threads with a feather sticking out the top would smile and cheer at the trick. So long as the rich folks’ guards weren’t around, of course. If the hat belonged to someone mean enough, the Rogue might even get an apple tossed their way while they ran past, and a fresh one at that.

Keeping the hat was never a good idea though, so the Rogue always made sure to leave it somewhere where it was sure to be seen in case someone else wanted it. Usually hanging from atop a sign halfway up a building or perched jauntily on a horse’s head. They’d tried putting the hat on a goat once, but the goat just ate it, which they worried might have been bad for the goat.

Bear: The Archivist's Journal, Day 39

Lin spoke up at this, telling him not to blame himself. That he couldn’t have predicted how things would turn out and he certainly isn’t responsible for other people’s feelings or behavior. And besides, at the end, Bartolome wasn’t even aware of who was or wasn’t there, and hadn’t really been for weeks. She would know, she was there. She’d watched for months (alongside her father) as the old man grew less and less lucid and his sons became more and more distant. She was the one who had more and more become the man’s primary caregiver, keeping him comfortable, administering food, water, and medicine, and changing his sheets as his sons grew unable to bear the sight of a father who didn’t recognize them and her own father shifted his attention to other patients with sniffles, and headaches, and cuts that could be made better. She was the one who was acting upbeat every day for a sleepy old man who probably didn’t even notice. She was the one who couldn’t even get angry at the brothers for not wanting to see their father like that after having had to do so daily herself. She was the one who didn’t even have a day to process how she felt about it all because she’d had to ready the body for a funeral, and then attend the funeral, and then spend the mist night wondering what it’d be like when her own father got that old and if he would keep his mind to the end or not, and then got woken up at the crack of dawn to knocking on the door because the doctor and his assistant were needed to deliver a baby, and even though it’s normal for births to shortly follow funerals it’s not normally that soon after, and so she’d spent the morning dealing with all the pain and blood and everything that goes along with childbirth and how that to her always overshadowed how happy the parents might be holding their child afterward and how she was terrified of ever having to go through that herself but her parents wanted her to find a husband and have kids and she didn’t want to disappoint them and everyone else her age had already done so and were happy but she wasn’t even sure even wanted any of that and… and she finally ran out of breath and energy to keep speaking.

Break: Empty Names - 7 - Gathered Here Today

“So you’re saying each of these trees is part of a pair like the one we came in from,” Eris confirms.

“Most of them,” Bridgewood clarifies. “In some cases the other end of the bridge has been chopped down and made into something else and will spit you out into the biggest remaining piece. So far I’ve wound up accidentally breaking and entering four times that way and found myself in a ship at the bottom of the ocean twice ”

“You say that like you don’t know where they all go,” Eris says.

“My dearly departed wife preferred to memorize family secrets instead of writing them down. The signs are a recent addition.”

Being: Empty Names - 11 - Afterparty

“Just like it’s obvious she’s terrified of you? Seriously, what did you say to her when I wasn’t around?”

Sullivan clasps his apple-less hand over where his heart should be and gasps in mock indignation. “Why, I was nothing other than my usual charming self.”

“That’s what worries me. You were being antagonistic enough while I was around; I’m not completely blind to how you are when I’m not.”

The apple’s returned to its original hand when Sullivan pulls it away from his chest into an exaggerated shrug. He cheated that particular sleight-of-hand, but that’s one of the perks of being him.

“I was just stress testing them. If they can’t take a bit of light provocation now, how can we expect them to hold up a year from now in a real high-stakes situation with tensions running high? Besides, if I’d really been trying to antagonize anyone there would have been bloodshed.”

His friend sighs. “I know, I know. But for once, could you at least pretend to get along? I really want this to work out.”

Sullivan stops playing with the apple. “I know, and so do I. That’s why I did it. But since you asked, I’ll… show some restraint.”

“Thank you. Building up team trust and understanding is going farther than just learning to tolerate each other.”

Sullivan peels a bit of skin off the apple with his teeth instead of answering. The taste is so-so. Better as a prop than food, especially for one who doesn’t need to eat.

#find the word tag #manuscript search tag #tag game #my writing #writeblr #writing tag games

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highwayphantoms · 1 year

Note

Happy friday Jay! How about Briar & Anders with "if you take care of everyone, who takes care of you?"

shoutout to my friend thyme for giving me a Thought for the direction in which I was gonna take this, ahaha. For @dadrunkwriting!

Words: 1384 Rating: M Warnings: ehhh not really

From time to time, Briar couldn’t help but reflect on how fickle fate was. In the span of just a few years, she’d lost two siblings but gained a half dozen friends and enough coin to buy back the family estate. The Maker sure had an odd idea about what her life ought to entail.

Well, it wasn’t entirely fair to say that she’d lost Bethany. She knew where her sister was, could invoke her family’s reclaimed status to visit her, but moving to Hightown had felt hollow without Bethany beside them. Was it not enough that they’d lost Carver?

Briar had no interest in the fancy gatherings of the nobility, nor their fine clothing. It was one thing to wear things that your mother or sister had sewn. Quite another to have to stand there while the tailor and your mother discuss what you should have, as if you aren’t standing right there with the tailor’s assistant taking your measurements.

While new clothes would be nice after wearing the same well-worn and oft-mended things for several years, Briar lasted maybe half an hour in the tailor’s shop before she quietly took her leave. Rather than go back to the estate, which was still being thoroughly cleaned out and refurnished, her feet carried her towards the city lifts. Rickety things, they were—her mother preferred to take the long way and the countless stairs—but Briar wasn’t so easily spooked.

Partially to evade her mother if she took offense to her early departure, she took the lifts all the way down to the uppermost tunnels of Darktown. Three years and she had never witnessed her mother going anywhere near Darktown, and at this point she’d be surprised if she did.

Going to Darktown unarmed was, perhaps, not the best plan, but she’d built enough of a reputation to be left mostly alone. At worst, she could see some fresh-faced Carta thug trying something, but Briar was easily twice the size of even a tall dwarf. In a pinch, she could sit on them, and that would probably be enough to discourage nonsense.

Without really giving it any thought, she meandered through the tunnels until she reached the clinic, pausing only briefly to talk with an older mercenary she’d worked a couple of jobs with. He was, by her guess, about as old as her mother, though you wouldn’t know it just working with him. He was as spry as a man easily fifteen years younger, but his real advantage was his experience. Briar had learned more than a few useful things from him—things about the city, tips for fighting rogues, people never to take jobs from—and she’d been happy to toss him some coin in exchange. Kirkwall was like nothing she’d known in her first twenty-odd years, where the extent of her skill with a sword was what little she’d picked up from the templars first, and later the king’s army.

Poor fool should have never been allowed anywhere near the front lines at Ostagar. She and Carver had been nowhere near the front and it had still been a near thing getting out ahead of the horde.

The clinic was quiet when she nudged the door open, just a few people milling about. Anders was leaning over a girl of maybe fourteen, accompanied by a girl who barely looked any older. Sisters or friends, Briar guessed as she quietly sank into the chair beside the workbench where Anders made potions and salves. This part of the clinic always smelled fresh and herbal, a welcome respite from the foul smells of most of the undercity.

“Oh, Hawke, hello,” Anders said, breaking her out of the line of thought she’d wandered down. He looked tired, like he’d worked through the night and then some, and she realized that was a distinct possibility. “Did you need me for something?” he asked as he stopped a few paces away.

She shook her head. “No, no. I just… needed to get out of Hightown for a bit.” Not wholly accurate, but not a lie either.

He offered her a wry smile in response. “Tired of wealth already?”

Briar laughed. “I’ll have you know that I have maybe fifty silver. Until I get the next installment from Varric, that’s all I have to live off of.”

“Meaning you will need me for something. At some point.”

“Depends on what sorts of jobs I can get,” she replied with a shrug. “Maybe I can find some fool offering five sovereigns for something as simple as making his neighbor’s life unpleasant.”

Anders snorted, and she noted that he was leaning heavily on his staff. “No, please bring me along for that. It’ll be the easiest money any of us have ever made.”

“I’d be happy to, if you get some sleep first,” she countered, with a meaningful glance at his staff. “You’re so busy taking care of everyone down here, but who’s going to take care of you? Maker knows you aren’t doing it, and I doubt Justice is helping.”

“I’ll sleep when I’m not being plagued with dreams of darkspawn,” he said dryly. “And that will be approximately never, so…”

Briar winced. “Fair point. There’s nothing that helps?”

He shrugged and said, “Drinking, not that Justice will let me. And…” He trailed off, and after a moment he shook his head, deliberately looking anywhere but at her. “Well, nothing’s guaranteed to help.”

She got to her feet, watching him with a curious eye. “What was the second thing, Anders?” Briar took a step towards him, pleased when he didn’t move back, pleased that she’d guessed correctly. Pitching her voice lower, so as not to carry any further than she intended, she added, “Tell me how I can help.”

His eyes were dark when he finally dragged his gaze back up to meet hers. “Back room.” He briefly tipped his head towards the shabby curtain that covered what little space he claimed as his own, then took a step back with a sly smile. “Give me a minute to take care of some things.”

Briar matched his smile with a self-satisfied grin of her own, and she sketched a sloppy curtsy. “Yes, messere,” she said sweetly.

Later, after she’d quite happily sucked him off and been rewarded in kind, they lounged on his awful bed in comfortable contentment. Being eyed up by Anders was somehow less invasive than the way the tailor had looked at her earlier in the day, and besides, she’d grown bored of seeking pleasure alone.

For a while, his breaths were so slow and steady that she wondered if he’d fallen asleep practically on top of her, until he finally said, “You know, I really thought you were pining for the elf.”

Briar hummed softly, considering. “I mean, I am.” She exhaled, her breath stirring the loose strawberry-blond strands of his hair. “But I’m afraid to push him, and you and I are both lonely, aren’t we?”

Anders snorted in response, but made no attempt to move. “Well, you won’t hear me complaining if you want to do this again.”

“And this stays between us?” she asked, a thinly veiled request.

“Fine by me,” he replied, and finally turned over to face her. Loose from its ties, his hair neatly fell to frame his face in the dim room. “You take care of me. Of all of us. If that'll help, I'm happy. After all, you’re a beautiful woman, Hawke, and I’m still a man.”

She smiled wryly, and shifted slightly to press a light kiss to his lips. “Flatterer,” she murmured. “But I should head home before my mother arranges a search party.”

He sighed, reaching up to twist one of her stray curls around his finger. “That’s probably wise,” he conceded. “But…”

“I’ll be back,” she promised, cutting him off. “Get some rest, or at least try to.”

Evidently satisfied, Anders got up, freeing her to do the same. Before she left, though, he caught her by the wrist and reeled her back in for another, deeper kiss. “Guess you’ll have to come back and make sure I do,” he said when they broke for air, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

Briar shook her head with a laugh, and took her leave.

#jay writes #dragon age #briar hawke #beep bop boop just wait til you see the other fill I wrote for them heh

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twomanyideas · 1 year

Text

Santu Claus Is Coming to Town (Chapter 2)

A collaboration by @mdelpin and @oryu404

@becausewritingshouldbefun January 2023 Challenge Prompt: Resolutions Pairing(s): Gray x Natsu, Sting x Rogue, Lyon x Erza (mentioned) AO3 | Prev: Ch 1| Ch 2 Next: Ch 3

Chapter Summary: Rogue faces two challenges this Christmas eve: asking Sting out, and a confrontation with his childhood Christmas trauma.

Chapter 2: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fuck This

Rogue was well aware his family went all nutcrackers in December, but… man, they had really lost it this year. His mom and aunt in particular. He heard the Christmas music playing as soon as Ultear opened the door to welcome them in. Band Aid, now wasn’t that a perfect fit? That had to be their theme song.

𝅘𝅥 Do they know it's Christmas time at all? 𝅘𝅥𝅮 Yes. Yes, they did. But aunt Ur must've been worried someone might forget because she and that traffic accident magnet of a yard of hers made sure there was no getting around it.

𝅘𝅥 Feed the world! 𝅘𝅥𝅮 You know what? That might just be possible with the metric fucktons of food his mom had prepared.

No, Christmas was not Rogue’s favorite holiday.

Ultear’s laughter at the parking situation, and the fact she hugged him when he greeted her, were all he needed to know she was already tipsy. They’d never been all that close, but he had to admit it was good to see her again.

Her husband… hmm, not so much.

Rogue tensed up as soon as Siegrain approached him, the smirk on his face letting him know he wouldn’t like whatever was about to come out of the bastard’s mouth.

“Ho ho ho! Merry Christmas, little cousin!” Ugh, like that. It wasn’t that Rogue hated Christmas. He liked parts of it, like the coziness of twinkling lights in the dark winter days, the abundance of good food, and the joy of unwrapping presents or playing games with loved ones. And his family was nice–not counting Siegrain, and his permanently inebriated uncle. He just had some… issues with the supposedly most wonderful time of the year. Issue, actually. All the holiday's wonderful things combined weren’t enough to make him forget the one thing that ruined the season for him every year. Santa Claus. Of course, Siegrain knew this. Who didn’t? The story behind it had been told so many times that by now it was a family legend. And Rogue knew every last detail of it, despite having no recollections of his own.

His uncle, pre divorce and alcoholism, used to dress up as Santa for the kids. It was one of their family's many Christmas traditions. Gray, Lyon, and Ultear had loved it when they were little, so naturally they'd all assumed Rogue would too.

And who knows? Maybe he would’ve, if only his brother and cousins–who‌ were seven, eight, and ten years older than him, mind you–hadn't decided it would be funny to have him watch Krampus with them. Cause what’s funnier than traumatizing a four-year-old, right? While he believed that was never their intention, it was exactly what ended up happening once his mother woke him up from his nap and plopped him on Santa’s lap. End result: he’d never lived down the humiliation of peeing on his uncle, and the asshole's reaction had scarred him enough to leave him with a fear of Santa Claus that he still carried with him to this day.

Just as Rogue was about to give Siegrain the greeting he deserved, Jellal–Ultear and Siegrain’s four-year-old son–came running out of the living room. He took one look at him and immediately said the words that Rogue dreaded the most.

“Did you know Santa’s coming here today?!”

“Yeah, that’s great.”

Lies. It was not great. It was, in fact, about as far from great as you could get, but Jellal looked so excited that Rogue didn’t have the heart to say anything else.

The truth was, he’d flat out refused to attend the party when his parents had first told him they were bringing the tradition back for Jellal. They'd promised it would all be over before they even set foot in aunt Ur’s house, but he’d known that it wouldn’t be that simple, because if there was one thing about his uncle you could count on, it was the fact that you couldn’t count on him.

And wouldn’t you know it? Dear Uncle Asshole had yet to show up.

His mom had assured him he had nothing to worry about, because aunt Ur was handling it. He seriously hoped that was the case, because while he would never deprive Jellal of the wonderful experience, he wanted nothing to do with it, and that included talking about it.

So he excused himself and hurried to catch up with Gray, receiving a pat on his shoulder from dad as he passed him on his way back to help mom with the last of their cargo.

Rogue wasn't surprised to find the kitchen crammed full of people. After all, who in their right mind would want to sit with Siegrain? He’d already had enough of him after only a few seconds. Still, he fretted a bit when he saw just how many people there were.

A flash of something red in the crowd startled him enough to flinch and back up, and with no one behind him, he almost lost his balance. It was a good thing he caught himself at the last moment, because imagine the embarrassment of falling ass first on the floor over the long scarlet hair of mother and daughter duo Irene and Erza.

Where the hell did Sting go? He’d been right behind him just now. Had he lost him already? At least that meant he hadn’t seen that blunder, and judging by the lack of snide comments, it seemed none of the others had either. “You brought booze? Good man,” Lyon greeted Gray, immediately lowering his voice. “We’re gonna need it.”

He took over the boxes Gray had brought in, and organized the liquor bottles into the bar area they’d set up without elaborating any further, which didn't please Rogue one bit. Sure, most of the adults were likely getting drunk at some point, but this reeked of drama. Aunt Ur, frowning at something on her phone and typing furiously a moment later, further solidified that belief.

“Gray! I don’t see you enough!” She was the next one to greet his brother, putting her phone away so she could squeeze him tightly, as if not enough meant never.

“Sorry, it’s been hectic.”

“I was sad to hear Natsu won’t be able to join us, we always love seeing him too.”

“When will he be back?” Erza took a break from helping Irene gather napkins and plastic cups to join in, waddling over to give Gray a hug.

“No clue. Last I heard, they were having a hard time finding flights out.” Gray said, quickly changing the subject by asking “How’s baby treating you?” “Just fine.” Erza rubbed her belly, but Rogue caught Lyon’s expression of disbelief that suggested otherwise. “Although I have to admit, the closer I get to my due date, the more impatient I’m becoming.”

Speaking of due date… when was that? Erza looked like she'd swallowed a watermelon whole. He really hoped she didn’t go into labor mid-Christmas party. If that were to happen, he was out of here.

“You can only hope the baby doesn’t take after you,” Irene teased. “I swear, you were so late that by the time you were born, I felt like I’d been pregnant for about four hundred years.”

She, Erza and Ur launched the room into the utmost fascinating world of pregnancy and baby talk, which Gray and Lyon either didn’t care to or were too scared to interrupt. And Rogue couldn’t blame them, knowing just how scary the women in his family could be. Or who knows? Maybe they were actually interested.

But he sure as hell wasn’t. So even though he hated being the center of attention, he cleared his throat, stepping out from behind Gray and steeling himself for the circus that was likely to ensue once they set eyes on him.

“Hi–” he held up the bag of food he’d brought– “Where should I put this?”

“Rogue? Is that you?” Ur gasped, looking exactly like his mother had before when she hugged him. “You look great!”

“You'll want to avoid the tent in the backyard,” she whispered, winking and squeezing his shoulders before letting go of him to grab the bag he’d been holding.

“Thanks Aunt Ur,” he said, offering her the most genuine smile he was capable of as his gaze automatically drifted to the glass sliding doors leading out to the deck.

He could see the tent she'd mentioned through the gap between the curtains, and instantly recognized it as one she used for large parties. Given how few decorations surrounded it, he had no doubt she had scrambled to put it together for him.

But more importantly, most of the view of the tent's inside was blocked by a Christmas tree strategically placed near the entrance. How many did that make now? Four? Well, whatever. This was hands down his favorite one and Ur was definitely his favorite aunt. Thanks to her, he had one less worry.

He was so relieved that when Erza and Irene began gushing over him too, he just accepted his fate. He would have appreciated some help from his traitor of a brother, but apparently Gray would rather laugh at him with Lyon. Not that Rogue was all that surprised. It had always been like that; Ultear, Lyon and Gray on one side, and him on the other.

Him and…

“Where’s Sting?” Ur asked once she was done unpacking the bag and looked around the kitchen. “Didn't he come with you?”

“He did. He should be around somewhere,” Rogue said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked around in search of his friend, feeling oddly lost even in his own aunt's house.

He'd never resented his childhood, had even come to understand that the gap between him and his brother and cousins was simply the result of their age difference. But it hadn’t kept him from feeling lonely, like he didn’t quite belong.

That changed when Sting's mother fell ill. She and Mika had been longtime friends, and so Rogue's parents did everything they could to support the Eucliffe family through the difficult time of her treatment, which sadly wasn't enough to help her win the battle.

Although Sting had been Rogue's playmate from the moment they'd been able to sit up, it was through that tragedy that they truly found the friend they so desperately needed in each other. Despite being as different as night and day, they'd quickly become inseparable. The two of them against the rest of the world.

Maybe that was part of the reason it had taken Rogue so long to realize his feelings for Sting had grown into more than just friendship.

Once he had, it wasn't long before the worst-case scenarios had taken over his daydreams. So he'd kept it quiet for a while, hoping the stomach-fluttering, head in the clouds feeling would pass and he could go back to simpler times, but there'd been no way around it. Not when the guy lived in his head rent free.

And things between them had felt different lately, feeding the hope that Sting might feel the same way until it was driving him nuts. He’d had enough of wanting, dreaming and waiting; it was time to man up and do something about it.

And he was going to do it tonight. He'd done his best to look nice, and though the responses he'd gotten so far were annoyingly exaggerated, he couldn't deny they'd also boosted his confidence.

Rogue put his hand in his pocket, feeling for the pouch he’d placed there when he got dressed and squeezing it for courage.

He could do this.

Assuming he'd find Sting, of course. Seriously, where had he gone off to? You’d think a guy wearing bells on his shoes would be easier to find. Oh! Bells! He heard them! Rogue turned around only to see his parents putting more stuff they’d gotten from the car in the hallway, but no sign of Sting. And the last of his excitement deflated when he realized the sound was coming from his aunt.

𝅘𝅥 Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul, with a corn-cob pipe and a button nose and his eyes made out of coal 𝅘𝅥𝅮

“I’ve got to take this real quick,” Ur sighed before she’d even reached for her phone and looked at the caller ID. “I’ll be right back.”

“Here we go,” Lyon muttered under his breath in a tone Rogue easily recognized, having heard it plenty of times during his aunt’s divorce.

“Erza! You look wonderful!” his mother chirped the moment she entered the kitchen, while his father shook Lyon’s hand and nodded a greeting to the others.

“Where’s Ur?”

“Phone call,” Gray shrugged, wisely not going into further details. Their uncle was a touchy subject in their family. “She said it shouldn't take long.”

“Oh, alright. Can I get you guys to help me set out the food?”

Erza offered, but Mika and Irene were having none of it, sending her back to the living room with a slice of strawberry shortcake. Silver went ahead of them to set up the warmers in the dining room, while Irene and Mika followed with plates, napkins, and cutlery.

Rogue watched Gray walk towards Lyon, who was still busy with the bar. Not knowing what else to do, he went through the remaining bags, placing the food on the counter so that people who had a clue could do something with them.

His gaze landed on his mother's purse, which had ended up among them. He could hear her chatting and moving stuff around in the dining room, and Gray and Lyon were too busy doing their best impression of that one scene from Cocktail to pay him any attention. If he was fast enough, he could send himself those pictures she took of him and Sting by their tree…

Acting as nonchalantly as possible, he opened up her purse and quickly found her phone. The password wasn't a problem. They all knew it was her wedding anniversary. He'd just opened the camera app when he heard bells jingling closer.

Shit, he was coming! Rogue's heart raced as he tried to find the pictures he wanted amongst the hundreds of shots his mother had taken. How the hell did she find anything in here?

“Santa!”

Where?!

CRACK!

….Oh no.

Rogue picked up the phone–which had been an anniversary present from his father, by the way–from where it had landed screen down on the cold, hard kitchen floor. Closing his eyes, he prayed that when he turned it over, it would miraculously be fine.

“You are one lucky bastard.”

The relief he heard in Gray’s voice encouraged him to look, and he was shocked to discover that not only was the phone unscathed, it was also showing him the exact picture he'd been looking for. Whatever cosmic force ran this joint must be on his side today.

“He’s not here yet. See?” Sting entered the kitchen, carrying a very impatient looking Jellal in his arms.

So that's where he'd gone.

“What are you doing?” he asked, seeing Rogue on the floor with his mother’s phone.

“Doing his best to get on the naughty list,” Lyon said wryly.

“Huh?”

“No, Rogue, don’t do that! Then Santa won’t come!”

If only…

Jellal’s look of horror would have been comical if it hadn’t been directed at him. Even worse, how was he supposed to put the phone back in his mother’s purse with Sting watching him?

“Rogue, honey, did you unpack the mashed potatoes already?” his mom called out, her heels clicking on the floor as she walked over to the kitchen.

Foreseeing exactly what would happen even before she aww'ed at Sting and Jellal, he wanted to crack his own skull on the tile floor for being stupid enough to think about snatching her phone. He'd known she'd be snapping shots all night, paparazzi style, as he'd already seen hundreds of things she'd want a picture of.

And, yeah, Sting and Jellal together would definitely be high on that list. They looked ridiculously cute.

“Don’t move! Let me grab my phone!” She hurried to her purse, opening it in record time.

“That’s strange. Has anyone seen my phone?”

Rogue scrambled to his feet and handed it over. “Oh, yeah, I found it in one of the bags. I meant to put it back in your purse.”

Judging by the look she gave him, his mother wasn’t buying it. Even worse was the smug expression on her face as soon as she turned on the phone. Rogue really didn’t like the smile that played on her lips as she looked from him to Sting. It seemed to suggest that, at least for his mother, Christmas had come a day early. The cherry on top was his own phone vibrating in his pocket. He could make a fairly educated guess of what he’d find if he checked it.

“Thanks, sweetie. Now, why don’t you go stand next to Sting, so I can take a picture of both of you?”

He obeyed her commands without protest, realizing no amount of snark was going to improve this situation. Sometimes he really hated his family.

Luckily, his mom didn't get to take more than a few pics as Jellal grew more and more restless by the second.

“Oooh, I see cookies!” Sting tried to distract him, or maybe he just wanted cookies. Both were equally plausible. “Do you want some? Aunt Mika's are the best!”

“I want to see Santa,” Jellal pouted, his bottom lip trembling as his eyes filled with tears, causing Sting to look from one adult to the next with a face that screamed Help me.

“This is a very busy night for Santa, Jellal,” Lyon said, ruffling his hair and taking him from Sting.

“But Unka Lyon,” Jellal protested, “What if he doesn’t come?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Lyon assured him with a smile, although the steel in his voice made Rogue think his cousin was getting ready to take matters into his own hands. “Now, how about one of those cookies?”

“Okay.”

Mika handed Jellal a plate with a couple of snowmen sugar cookies and Lyon walked him back to his parents, talking softly to him all the while.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Sting said, managing to look apologetic even while shoving a cookie into his mouth.

“You did better than I would have,” Rogue shrugged, nudging him aside with his hip so he could grab at least one of those cookies before they all disappeared into Sting’s pretty mouth. “I truly hope he gets a better experience than I did. Then again, could he really have a worse one?”

“Not likely,” Sting laughed.

“Right?”

Gray walked up to them and put his arms around their shoulders. “That reminds me. Who’s in the mood to watch Krampus tonight?”

“Fuck you,” Rogue scoffed, giving his brother a shove and ducking out of his grip.

Gray laughed at him, and though his attempt to torment him annoyed Rogue, he was too glad to see his brother in a decent mood to let it really get to him.

“Why don’t you guys go join the others?” their mom suggested, peering outside. “I’m going to check on your aunt real quick.” She opened the sliding door and slipped outside.

Well, so much for seeing Gray in a decent mood. No sooner had mom left than his brother was back to looking glum, pouring himself another drink at the bar.

“You guys coming?”

Rogue almost caved, having a pretty good idea how Gray would feel sitting with the happy couples while his own boyfriend was a continent away. But he was on a mission, and he wanted to complete it now, before he could overthink himself into chickening out. Or worse, sensed the old bearded demon and self-destructed his mood for the rest of the night.

“We’ll be there in a minute,” he said, grabbing Sting by the wrist before he could disappear again.

He was sure Gray was going to pry, but all he did was offer a nod and a slightly more depressed version of their mom's smile after the thing with her phone, and then he left without saying a word.

This was it. The moment of truth.

Maybe it was the way Sting smiled at him, which was somehow even more distracting than usual thanks to the sugar and cookie crumbs sticking to his lips. Then there was that stupid outfit of his. No cropped shirt this time, thank God, but the image of his legs in those tights was definitely going to stick for a while. And did those shorts really have to be made of fabric that looked so soft it screamed 'feel me'? How was that fair?!

Either way, the end result was the same. Rogue's mind was eerily empty.

This was so dumb. He knew words. Lots of them! Pretty words, sappy words, dirty words… Now that the moment was here, and he still couldn't put them together to say what he wanted.

“So tell me,” Sting started, twisting himself free so he could squeeze Rogue's hand before letting go to grab another cookie. “On a scale from one to ten, how done are you with Christmas songs? Because believe it or not, I'm approaching a solid 9.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need a bigger scale than that,” Rogue snorted, glad that Sting had broken the silence. Grabbing one last cookie for himself, he moved the container out of Sting’s reach. “Never thought I'd see the day you got there, though.”

“I didn't either, but here we are,” Sting said, already scanning the counter for another snack.

“Hey, at least you got some variety. Try working at the mall. If I hear that Mariah Carey song one more time, I might commit murder.”

Rogue knew he was going to regret those words as soon as he saw a devilish grin spread across Sting's lips.

“I…don't want a lot for Christmas…”

“Don't,” he warned, groaning and facepalming when instead of listening, Sting snatched a salt shaker off the counter to use as a microphone.

“Theeeeere is just one thing I need…”

“You need to shut up.”

But Sting paid him no mind and kept singing, swaying his hips for good measure.

“I don't care about the presents… underneath the Christmas tree…”

Wow, he was really going for it, full performance. Rogue shook his head, but couldn't stop himself from smiling. If this was how the stupid song was going to take his brain hostage for the rest of the night, so be it, especially since Sting had such a nice singing voice.

He held his breath for the next line, which was something he would absolutely love for Sting to say to him, but he never got to hear it.

“That’s what I was hoping to see.”

“Huh?”

“Your smile, dimwit.”

“Oh.” Rogue looked away, feeling said smile widening. “Anyway, speaking of presents–” he reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the pouch. “You just said you didn't care about them, so I take it you don’t want this, then?”

Yes! That was a start! Sting had always loved presents, so it should get his interest. But sneaking a peek at his reaction, Rogue only got to see a flash of the excitement he was hoping for before Sting's expression fell, his eyes widening as he reached for his shorts pockets.

“Oh no. Where did I–” He patted himself down, muttering a long string of curses under his breath, and storming off to the coat rack to feel his coat's pockets. "You've got to be kidding me!"

“Is something wrong?” Rogue frowned at him when he came racing back in, phone in hand, to search through the now empty food bags.

“Nope!” Sting grinned rather unconvincingly, seeing as he looked more distraught than he had that time he’d lost his lunch money back in middle school. "Just don’t go anywhere, okay? I'll be back before you know it."

"No, wait! If this is about the gift, don’t worry about it. I just want to tell you some–"

“–thing,” Rogue sighed as the door slid closed on his words.

He watched Sting disappear from his sight, and waited for what felt like an eternity of nothing but his own dumbstruck face staring back at him through the glass.

He knew he'd missed his shot when he heard two familiar voices approaching, and couldn’t help but huff a laugh. Who knew when he'd be getting another moment alone with Sting? Had he really gotten himself all hyped for nothing?

“Wow, you look like you need a drink.” Lyon said, after taking one look at him. “You want one?”

“You might as well make us all one. It’s gonna be a long night,” Gray sighed, grabbing a deviled egg from an appetizer tray and shoving it in his mouth.

Sure. Why not? It couldn't be any worse than watching Krampus.

#becausewritingshouldbefun #stingue #gratsu #fairy tail #other #fics #multi #update #Christmas

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artisticbunny · 1 year

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Alright Bun— bonus ask before I go to sleep because I think I’m getting Whispering Willow brainrot lol (on top of utdr and fnaf rot ough—) Because tbh I sincerely think it’s really well thought out, with the little tidbits I’ve read about. The first chapter of it was cool Yk? I’m gonna guess that you’re new to ao3 writing? :3c am I right?

But, skipping the rambles, Lemme get to what I wanted to say:

Can you pretty please feed give us me Kat lore? Like I love ghosties and everything, especially ones that hang around. Like how does she hang around? We know she got buried alive (must’ve been terrifying seriously my bros buried me in sand once but not my face…) but how does her spirit hang about?

Also, why’d her adventure friends bury her? Was it for a reason or just them being like plain old toxic? I don’t think they’d have to like, bury her tho if it’s the second option… :( maybe it was a sacrifice??

(Thanks for storytelling tho Bun! I’m totally locked in! It’s very interesting so far! <3333)

UWAAAA THAT IS SUCH A HUGE COMPLIMENT THANK YOU!!! Literally I have no idea what’s more flattering than having someone brainrot over something you made!!! I’m so SO glad you like it so far!!!

I AM new to writing on ao3!!! You are correct!!! I actually just made my account about a month or two ago! I actually attempted to post this on a website I made in the past, but 1: it didn’t get any traction and 2: I didn’t like my writing, this is actually the third iteration of this story! I am much more comfortable with my writing now than back then :3

Anywho, on to Kat ;3

Here’s the ref I made for her for visualization’s sake! :D

You may recall on the post where I gave a brief rundown on each of my ocs that Kat was framed for a crime she didn’t commit. Kat was originally a Part of an adventuring group called The Rogues of Justice, though since her death she can’t remember the name of her group or the people involved, or even their faces. The Rogues of Justice were a chaotic good group of jokesters. They were known for helping wherever they could and for their wacky and often nutty solutions that didn’t seem like they would work, but always worked out in the end. They were very close.

On Kat’s final mission, she was framed for a crime that severely broke her team’s moral code. She was made to look like she’d ransacked and destroyed a nearby town. Entire livelihoods and homes were destroyed and burnt. People were severely injured. She was found with valuables from the people of that town hidden on her being, and thus was the one to blame.

Of course, she didn’t actually do this. She would never. She was most likely the one who believed in the moral code the most.

She was set up and doomed to be buried alive by a member of her team. Someone who, once upon a time, she loved dearly. When things didn’t work out between them, in a fit of rage, her ex was the one to have sealed her fate.

He didn’t exactly expect for it to go this far, but he didn’t dare speak up, even as the dirt was being shoveled onto Kat’s face. He stood on the sidelines, watching her last moments.

She woke up days later, memories missing, with only the feeling of once being part of something, a burning feeling of injustice and betrayal, a fuzzy memory of a single face she couldn’t recognize, and a crippling fear of tight spaces that gives her a horrid sense of deja vu. She had no idea where she was or how to leave, stuck in the middle of nowhere with nobody nearby. She had been stuck in those woods, going in circles, unable to escape, losing track of time until the day she would find a way to leave.

So basically what’s keeping her here is unfinished business that she forgot ;)

It’s honestly really really sad, but she copes with humor and distractions most of the time so she doesn’t have to think about her memory gaps and the extreme distaste for that one person she can’t quite remember.

There are quite a few dark themes hidden in the story beyond the found family and fun fantasy settings, sorry haha!

I should also mention that the main reason she sticks around with Brook and the gang is cuz she’s BORED. Like she has been stuck in the woods and these are the first people she’s seen in GOD knows how long and they’re on a quest??? That’s some high quality entertainment there!!! She also gets pretty attached pretty quickly because again: human interaction!!!! And they helped her get out!!!! It’s honestly the least she can do while having hundreds of thousands of years ahead of her of existing.

Fun fact!!! Ghosts are basically the magic sparks of people who refuse to return back to the cycle just yet for whatever reason. They can last a REALLY long time but eventually they will get re-absorbed back into the cycle as everything continues on. :)

#bun did a draw #bun rambles #kat whispering willow #whispering willow book #I’m sorry for any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes or anything I’m typing this before bed so I’m a bit tired hehe #also Moog i want you to know I’m reading all ur tags on the reblogs and every time I do I get all giddy #laying on my bed and kicking my legs like a schoolgirl <3 #i should also mention that these refs are a year old now- I made them for art fight last year #i think they hold up pretty well tho :)#long post

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worldbuilder-brainrot · 1 year

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(E)GG AU: “Furious Fu”

[AKA: “Oops, I made Su-Han huggable.”

Based on my version of the Guardian Order and Fu’s Backstory]

Su-Han awakens to old friends and unfamiliar Guardians. Guardians who claim it’s been thousands of years since the temple was destroyed. They’d been tasked with protecting what was left of the temple and containing the sentimonster, but explorers arrived, and though they hid everything else, the explorers managed to find and dig up the Petrified sentimonster. The modern Guardians had tracked the sentimonster’s whereabouts to a museum in “Paris”, and were in the middle of making plans to travel there when the Ladybug’s power swept through. Unfortunately, Paris is a big city and the Ladybug and its box could be anywhere. Fortunately, Su-Han has his magic compass (that specifically tracks the box he was guarding), so he quickly leaves to recover it for them. (Thus he misses out on having anything about the modern world explained to him… At least, upon reaching the first city, he remembered to eat a language candy (Guardians kept a package stashed beneath the compass in their staffs (they’re a good compass container that can double as a weapon)).)

Su-Han gets side-tracked by all the new things in the world until he finally reaches Paris, realizes it’s been dealing with monsters during all his lollygagging, and quickly (guiltily) forgets his curiosity to speed the rest of the way to the box (Guardian graduates are trained (with the use of a little magic) to be as agile and speedy as Miraculous users, just for instances like this). He soon reaches what appears to be a bedroom, though unexpectedly pink and cozy for a rogue “Guardian”.

[For timing and to not stray too far from the main character, this part would probably get cut from the episode. But this would be the information I’d post online if someone asked about the temple and Su-Han’s journey. (Same goes for the other contextual stuff I say.)

Aside from that, the beginning would play out similarly to the original except: While Daizzi distracts Wayzz, the other kwamis ask Marinette to let Wayzz go with her to meet Fu, and of course she accepts. When she tells him he can come with her, he’s so grateful, he promises not to make a sound (and he doesn’t). While talking to Fu, she glances at her purse a few times, thinking of Wayzz restlessly watching with Tikki. Eventually, Fu is distracted (orchestrated by her or not), and she takes the chance to peek into her purse and suggest to Wayzz that she show Fu “a toy she made.” He catches on to her idea and readily agrees (Tikki gestures for her to let this be just Wayzz’s moment). Once Fu’s attention is back on her, she shows him Wayzz, and Fu adores “the little turtle toy.” After they leave, Wayzz gets teary-eyed, “Thank you, Marinette.” “Aw, you’re welcome,” she pats him as the shot pans out to show she’s near her house. And that Su-Han’s on her roof.]

The kwamis hide as soon as they hear footsteps on the roof, and only hope whatever akuma or sentimonster that’s attacking doesn’t find them before Marinette gets back.

Just as she’s in sight of her home, Marinette witnesses some guy enter her room from her balcony. How did he get up there? Doesn’t matter, he needs to be out.

“Su-Han?” Tikki breaks Marinette’s thoughts.

“Huh?” she, already in an alleyway, looks at her.

“He was our Guardian before Fu,” she explains.

The background turns gray and everything freezes on Marinette’s look of horror as her thoughts are heard by the audience.

“She means the guy who made Fu think he’s a good guy despite taking him from his home and pressuring him into using the Peacock before he was ready?! One of the Guardians who kept the kwami in boxes!?! (Not to mention, I could lose my memories!)”

[I like to imagine (my version of) Marinette is the type of person to be hyper-aware of other people’s (potential) mistreatment, but not her own (bless her heart).]

The scene returns to normal as Marinette angrily transforms into Ladybug (Wayzz, still in her purse– poor guy looking like he’s going to faint– is shown reappearing in the Guardian Ball), and launches herself to her room.

Perched on her bed, she observes him glancing at a staff as he looks around her room. As his attention goes to her yarn box, she realizes it’s a tracking device, snatches it, and runs.

Elsewhere, Adrien witnesses some guy chasing Ladybug and quickly hurries to join the fight as Cat Noir.

Cat Noir’s appearance puts Su-Han on edge. Monsters can be dangerous, but they can also be helpful, especially against a terror like the Cat can be. And if the Ladybug is working with him, that’s a recipe for disaster.

Cat Noir takes Su-Han’s moment of shock as an opportunity, goes in for the attack, and promptly gets his butt kicked, scaring Ladybug even more. Knowing Cat Noir will keep him distracted long enough to safely get away, she keeps running. When she thinks she’s far enough, she flings her yo-yo back at them, grabs Cat Noir, and pulls him to her before dropping into an alley, looping back, and ducking out of sight.

Unfamiliar with the way the streets of Paris work, Su-Han immediately loses track of them, and aimlessly hops around until he’s drawn to an impossibly familiar laugh. He follows the sound to a park, and lo and behold, there is Fu. He nearly runs at him full speed yelling his name, but forces himself to use a less eye-catching method and just walk. A good thing too, because it dawns on him, if Fu doesn’t have the box, he probably doesn’t have his memories.

“Hello…” Su-Han awkwardly begins once he’s close.

Fu doesn’t recognize him at all, and Su-Han is nearly brought to tears, the only thing stopping him is not wanting to disrupt Fu’s nice day.

“Um… Sorry to bother you,” he forces a smile, “but… do you happen to own a compass?”

He thinks for a moment. “As a matter of fact, I do!”

“Would you mind if I see it?” he can’t help being sheepish, knowing how weird he must seem.

But Fu just smiles at him like he’d trust him with the world as he holds out his compass, “Not at all!” and it breaks Su-Han’s heart all the more.

“Th… Thank you,” it comes out quiet.

Being connected to the same box, Fu’s compass can also find Su-Han’s, so he figures out what direction the rogues went and then hands it back (maybe he wouldn’t have minded having to come back if he needed more precise directions). His guilt suddenly overwhelms him, compelling him to apologize to Fu for causing him to lose his memory (without saying how, but the implications prove it wasn’t a boating accident), relieving his guilt, but making Fu upset that Marianne lied. Before either of them can say anything, Fu gets akumatized. Su-Han realizes the true problem (and that it was his own emotions that led the akuma to them), grabs Marianne, and gets out of sight before Fu fully transforms and attacks.

“I’m so sorry, Miss,” he puts her down.

She places a comforting hand on his arm. “You must be his mentor,” she smiles.

He freezes. “… How much did he tell you?”

“Enough that I know the new Guardian too.”

He relaxes a bit. Then shrinks, “So she’s not a rogue?”

“Ladybug? Not at all! She’s the sweetest girl I’ve ever met! So I’m sure she’ll forgive whatever terrible first impression you made after we explain you meant no harm.”

“Well, that’s… good, at least,” his embarrassment is palpable, and it makes her chuckle.

“By the way, I’m Marianne.”

“Oh? Ah. Su-Han,” he introduces himself in turn.

“Nice to meet you, Su-Han,” she smiles. “Now,” she keeps them on track, “did you figure out Ladybug’s location?”

“Oh! Yes, I believe so.”

“Good. I’ll approach first to explain the situation, and then you can come out after I address you.”

“Okay.”

He carries her for faster travel, but she still has enough time to catch him up on the heroes and villains of Paris. Eventually, they find poor Ladybug panicking in an alleyway while poor Cat Noir struggles to calm her down.

Su-Han sets Marianne on the ground around the corner so she can approach the heroes at a more comfortable pace than suddenly appearing near them.

“Ms. Marianne!” Ladybug gasps. “Are you okay? What are you doing here? Where is Fu? His ex-mentor broke into my house and now he’s after me and the Miracle Ball!”

“I’m okay, Ladybug. Now, breathe…” She waits for Ladybug to relax before continuing. “You don’t need to worry about Su-Han. He meant no harm, he just wasn’t aware of the situation in Paris and thought you were rogues. If you don’t mind, he would like to speak with you to explain himself.”

She wiggles, a bit antsy that he’ll be upset with her now, but she trusts Marianne’s judgment. “Okay.”

Su-Han awkwardly steps into view. “Hi, again. I deeply apologize for the breaking and entering. Marianne is right, I was concerned you two were rogues and that you had stolen the Miracle… I’m sorry, did you call it a ‘ball’?”

“It, um, changed shape when it was passed to me,” she feels a bit sheepish.

“Interesting… Well, we can discuss that later. I apologize, but my ignorance has caused Fu to get akumatized. I assure you I will help in any way I can though.”

“Fu’s an akuma?!” the panic returns, but it’s focused into drive. “Where is he? And what happened?” she bites back her “What did you do?”

“I attracted the akuma and accidentally upset him.”

“Seeing Fu all grown up was a lot for him,” Marianne interjects, “and, even though it wasn’t his fault, he apologized to Fu for causing him to lose his memories. He had no way of knowing I told Fu he’d lost his memories to a boating accident, but Fu was understandably upset that I lied.”

All of Ladybug’s bad feelings melt away, fully sympathetic to him now. “I’m sorry I panicked. Oh! Here’s your staff!”

“It’s really my fault for trespassing, but thank you.”

Elsewhere, “Furious Fu” is leaping around in search of Marianne or the heroes. “This is fruitless! I’ll have to get their attention.”

Back with the heroes, crashing thuds bring their attention to the park’s trees unnaturally toppling over, and Ladybug and Cat Noir hurry over. (Su-Han stays behind to discuss with Marianne what to tell Fu after he’s saved.)

Outmatched alone, the two lead Furious Fu to the stadium to keep him away from people until Su-Han arrives.

As Su-Han is a much superior fighter to the heroes, Furious Fu sticks a “statue” paper to his forehead, freezing him in place.

Ladybug tries, but can’t pull it off due to magic holding it in place, so she calls on her Lucky Charm.

Furious Fu grabs her before she can catch it, and also captures Cat Noir. He nearly gets their Miraculous, but then Marianne reveals herself.

They have a bit of back and forth (Hawkmoth wants him to ignore her, but she is his true target) until he sticks an “honesty” paper to her forehead.

She admits the real reason he lost his memories, which does cause a bit of a breakdown, but it’s what allows Marianne to get his paintbrush and free the heroes with the Lucky Charm.

With everything restored, they get Marianne and Fu back to the park, and Ladybug and Cat Noir go home.

“I’m sorry about my akumatization. I’m really not that mad, the akuma just came so fast! But I am really… confused. Why did you lie about a boating accident?”

“Well… the truth involves things as crazy as superheroes. Even if you did believe me, it’d mostly leave you with questions, and I wouldn’t have the answers. I should’ve admitted this before, but I convinced myself I didn’t need to. I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re right. I’m sure I wouldn’t have taken it well, but…” he glances at Su-Han and lowers his voice to ask her, “if he is responsible, why do I feel like I can trust him?”

“Because he’s not responsible, but like all the silly, lovable people in my life, he’s blaming himself. Though… I guess I can tell you Hawkmoth is responsible.”

“… I knew I really hated that guy.”

Fu turns to properly acknowledge Su-Han, “I’m sorry I don’t remember you, but I know you were a good friend of mine, and I’m glad to have seen you again.”

Su-Han thinks his heart might burst. “Likewise. … But I’m afraid this may be the last time we meet. Even without the threat of Hawkmoth, I wouldn’t be able to stay.”

Though disappointed, Fu smiles, “I understand. You take care of yourself.”

“You, too,” Su-Han bows before leaving to find Marinette.

The kwamis are very joyful to see him again, and Marinette is happy for them, but also clearly bothered by something.

“Is there at least a way for me to keep my memories?”

“What?”

“You came to take back the Miracle Ball, didn’t you?”

His eyes widen with realization, then his expression settles into a smile, “There is a way to keep your memories if you need to pass Guardianship on– though I didn’t have the chance to teach it to Fu– but, no, I did not come to take it from you.”

“Huh? Really?”

“I trust Fu’s decision, and you’ve shown excellent skills as both Ladybug and Guardian.”

She frowns, finding it hard to believe, “But I almost lost today.”

“Against someone who’d been trained to take down rogue holders,” he shrugs it off. “I assure you, you’re doing a magnificent job. I can tell the kwamis adore you, and they wouldn’t if you were doing something wrong.”

“He’s right, Marinette! You’re amazing!" Tikki hugs her, and the other kwamis follow suit.

“Aww! Thanks, you guys!”

After the moment passes, Sass addresses Su-Han, “You won’t be staying in Paris though, will you?”

“I have to help the other Guardians at the moment, but I’ll be around if you need me.”

“Oh. Then, you should get back to them right away!” Marinette insists.

Over his years of teaching, he’s picked up on the meanings behind certain behaviors. “Marinette… is there something you want to ask me?”

“Well…” She dismissively shakes her head, “It’s a lot of stuff and you need to go.”

“I can stay for a day or two. Ask away.”

“It’s not going to take two days! But… For starters, how did you find me? Both times!?”

He grinned and opened his staff to show her, “Guardian compass.”

The episode ends with a still frame of Marinette excitedly looking over the compass as Su-Han explains how it works.

[Marinette giving shoes to (my version of) Su-Han is so sweet, but I know she would custom make them, tailored specifically to his needs, and that would take too long. Plus, Su-Han is light on his feet (and my Guardian Order takes care of people), there’s no reason his shoes would look that bad. He’ll make it home fine, and get a nice foot massage.]

#miraculous #episode: furious fu #my fanfics #(E)GG AU #I really wanted Su-Han to get to see Plagg again and talk to Adrien‚ but he'd have no way of finding him.#At least‚ not in this episode.#Honestly‚ my Su-Han would sneak around for a few extra days to find out Cat Noir's identity (someone does need to know).#But that would have to be off-screen/addressed in a later episode.#(Point being‚ “Ephemeral” never happens in this AU.)

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