#a continuation of my previous aa fic

[randomwriteronline]

Klavier Gavin has his eyes on the man and a smile on his lips.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he smiles and it looks sweet and nice and fake beyond recognition but he is honest when he speaks. “I thought you were busy defending every single accused of an entire country.”

Apollo Justice has his eyes on the man and does not smile.

His shoulders shift in some kind of uncoordinated shrug, he avoids the other’s gaze for a moment: “Law schools are booming,” he explains in that way that he speaks, so matter-of-factly and dry. “I’ve gotten some time off to come back.”

Klavier Gavin hums and nods: “A little vacation must be nice.”

Apollo Justice is not in his screaming red suit, which is jarring but makes sense since he is not working. It’s still an insane amount of whiplash, because they are colleagues so to speak, and it feels like he is either naked or a completely different person who was mistaken for the screaming attorney. It feels like it’s not a state a colleague is supposed to see him in.

Apollo Justice looks back at Klavier Gavin in the eyes.

“How are you?”

Klavier Gavin turns his smile bitter and tilts his head.

“You know I do not like this game of yours, Herr Justice.”

Before Apollo Justice can unfurl from his own shoulders where he has recoiled defensively and argue about the statement, Klavier Gavin gives a vague wave at the large golden bracelet on his wrist.

“I cannot be honest with you and I cannot lie to you. So when you decide you want to play your little spot-the-differences game you get me in a nice little cage where no matter what I do you get your pie and you eat it too, and I don’t like that in the slightest.” he says.

“It’s not a game,” Apollo Justice replies.

“And what is it then, worry? Concern? I know you’re a clever boy who reads his news of the legal world, you know enough. Didn’t you even call me? Yes you did, I remember that.”

Klavier Gavin has a voice like ice and a stare that’s like slowly pushing nails into the hands of his interlocutor. He wants him to feel uncomfortable.

He wants him to leave.

“It’s been a while since then,” Apollo Justice mutters.

“And what do you care?” Klavier Gavin gives him the most beautiful smile he’s ever given a man and tilts his head to the other side with a practiced airy laugh, looking as charming as a prince. “What have we got in common, hm? Aside from a few cases? Verdammtes Nichts, as far as I remember. Oh, but you are sweet.”

Now the words drip molasses, but Klavier Gavin doesn’t bend down teasingly.

“Getting worried for me. Is it Fraulein Wright who sent you? Is it Herr Edgeworth? Is it Herr Wright? Is it that friend of your co-worker, that judge-in-training? Woods, was it?”

“I came here by my own volition.”

“Of course you did.”

Apollo Justice glares at him angrily.

“Would it kill you to believe I really did come just to check on you?”

“Interesting choice of words.”

Apollo Justice bites his tongue and glares harder.

“I’m fine,” Klavier Gavin laughs, hands in the air, “I’m not fine at all, but considering I used to think of killing myself thrice a day I suppose that just once weekly is far better, ja? Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Don’t say things like that,” Apollo Justice mutters.

“Why not? Is it not the truth? What does your bracelet say, am I lying? Will you have to press on and cross-examine me?”

The bracelet is perfectly unresponsive.

Klavier Gavin smiles.

Apollo Justice glares.

“I don’t like you at all, you know,” Klavier says suddenly.

His smile drops.

“I don’t like you in the slightest. I truly cannot stand you.”

Now he looks at Apollo like he’s some kind of specimen to study, with a face like death, and the younger man seems to make himself smaller.

“I have nothing against you and I don’t like you at all,” Klavier continues remaining perfectly still.

Apollo doesn’t reply.

“Did you know I tried to kill myself four times?” Klavier asks. Of course he doesn’t know. Even Herr Edgeworth only knows of one. “The first time I wanted to bleed out in a bathtub after Kristoph got convicted.”

Apollo sinks in his shoulders, uncomfortable.

“The second I tried to defenestrate myself,” Klavier continues, looking at him to see how far he can go to make him shrivel and leave. “For Daryan. Because I couldn’t stand getting reminded of all that. You remember Daryan, don’t you. Don’t you? You were right there. I bet you remember him.”

Apollo does but says nothing.

“The third time I tried to… Well, the third time was pathetic.” Klavier notes. “Hanging myself with a tie. Not even hanging. I tried choking myself with a tie. Can you believe that I thought tying the loose ends to a door handle and kicking the door away from me would have just snapped my neck in half?”

Apollo recoils.

“I was so certain of that. But it came undone and I just knocked myself out on the floor. Must have been hilarious to look at. Absolutely pathetic. It was Miss Corte’s tie, my teacher, the one who got murdered? She got it for me. You can piece this one together yourself, can’t you? You’re so clever. So verdammt clever. Ein verdammt klug Kaninchen, bist du nicht, Herr Justice. Doch du bist.”

Apollo doesn’t even look at him in the eyes anymore.

Klavier wants to kick him in the stomach and ask him what is taking so long for him to fucking leave.

“Do you know for who I wanted to kill myself the fourth time?” Klavier asks. Apollo shakes his head slowly. “Guess. Come on, guess. I bet you can’t. Guess.”

Apollo doesn’t guess. Klavier keeps himself from slamming his fist against his shoulder with all his might.

”Guess, I said. We did your little bracelet game, now do mine. Guess.”

Apollo doesn’t guess.

Klavier takes one step forward, watches him close a little tighter in his shoulders.

“For you.”

Neither speak. Both just wait.

“For you,” Klavier repeats slowly. “I tried to kill myself for you.”

Apollo looks at his own feet. He can catch the tip of another pair of shoes about to enter his field of vision.

“Don’t you think that’s weird?” Klavier muses. “That all these people I loved couldn’t get me to die, but you almost did?”

Apollo bites his lower lip.

“It might have been the time it happened, du wisst. I would have split my head right open, the ambulance would have been there in fifteen minutes to get me to the morgue… All nice and clean. My only mistake was calling Herr Edgeworth to send the ambulance instead of my manager, or the Paynes. Or Blackquill, even. They don’t have the same power over me that the chief does, you understand…”

Klavier trails a moment. Takes him in.

“And I would have died because you were never coming back.”

He listens to his own words as they leave him slowly.

Apollo listens to them as well.

He looks back up, eyes pointed directly into the ones before him.

Klavier looks so fucking tired.

“You wanna sit for a while?” Apollo just says, also suddenly tired. He gestures vaguely to a nearby wall, to the pavement near it.

Klavier follows his hand with his gaze: he leans against the wall and drops so heavily there’s no way he didn’t get hurt. Apollo crouches before sitting next to him, elbows on his knees, and looks far away from him.

For a minute or so they don’t speak.

“Who gave you the right,” Klavier says, toneless. “Who gave you the right to do that to me. To make me like that.”

Apollo knows he turned his face to look at his, but holds his stare away onto the end of the corridor.

“I don’t even like you.”

Well.

“I think you’re fine.” Apollo says. “As a person.”

Klavier still looks at him: “Was ist das,” he mutters, “Ein Lob? Eine Art Liebeserklärung? Tu mir ein Gefallen und geh dich ficken. Ich habe keine Lust, diese Scheisse zu hören. Du denkst sowieso das nichts.”

“I think you’re fine.” Apollo repeats a little louder. “As a person.”

“Ja, sag das.” Klavier hisses. “Sag das lauter. Dann können alles hören, wie echt das ist. Bessischene Kaninchen vom meinem Arsch.”

“I think you’re fine,” Apollo says much louder over his insult. “As a person.”

Klavier desists and looks into nothingness with him.

They don’t talk.

For a long, long while, they don’t talk.

Thank anything and everything that those who do see them sitting miserably like that make no comment or barely even register them.

Klavier slams a fist into the wall.

“Why you?” he croaks. “Why was it you?”

He sounds in pain.

Apollo thinks it’s pretty clear. He convicted his brother; he convicted his friend.

He didn’t kill his teacher, but he was there for the trial and for the investigation, and he played courthouse with him in the same school the body had been found, with the same fucking script, forcing him to feel everything longer.

Somehow, if something horrendous happens to Klavier Gavin’s social sphere, Apollo Justice is always there.

“Did you talk to anybody?” Apollo asks. “About… The people?”

“No,” Klavier answers.

Ah.

That explains it.

Apollo Justice is the only person who knows Klavier Gavin barely has a social sphere anymore.

And once Apollo Justice flies to a fuck-off country on the literal other side of the world and just does not come back, Klavier Gavin feels the weight tenfold and lets his knees buckle horrendously and cracks his head open on the cement.

And you don’t call some guy who has worked with you a couple times for help with something like whatever all of that can be called.

Apollo Justice has people he can talk to about losses.

Klavier Gavin doesn’t, and he goes to therapy, and it’s not working that well it would seem. Or maybe he never got to consider the possibility of the last person because of whom he tried to die coming back and so his first response was vitriol and anger and some kind of something else that Athena Cykes would pick up in a moment if she could just hear him speak now once.

(Apollo might ask her if she wants to check on Klavier. She could help.)

“We can be friends,” Apollo says gently.

Klavier doesn’t look at him: “So I have a better reason to kill myself?”

“So you can call someone who cares about you to say ‘hey I feel like fucking garbage do you want to talk about how you’re the only person who knows I’m completely alone in this bitch of a world’ instead of just some fucker from work,” Apollo snaps. “And next time you say that I’ll beat you in the head. Don’t even joke about that.”

Klavier pulls his upper lip up in a snarl until his face doesn’t even look like it’s his anymore, like any moment he will turn around and tear him apart with his teeth, make him a bloody mess of gore, cannibalize his corpse.

“I hate you,” he says, and the bracelet tightens.

“That’s a strong word.”

Apollo watches him huff and bare his teeth first, then hide them.

“It is.” Klavier concedes.

Now Klavier fidgets. It’s not something visible like a physical tell or other stuff like that. There’s just a tension about him that fucks him up, it’s plain to see.

“I don’t like you,” he repeats. “I don’t even like you.”

He yields; his body leans to the side heavily, his head falls to rest on brown hair.

“I don’t even like you,” he sobs.

Apollo listens to him breathe.

He leans into him as well.

God.

“Do you want to be friends?” he asks like he’s fucking three years old and they’re kindergartners at the park or something.

The answer comes weak and honest and frankly tearful: “Yes please.”

Apollo swings an arm behind the tanned neck and over the shoulders and gives him a half hug, tugging a couple times to get him a little closer, to make him feel welcome and held enough. His mouth presses flat on blond hair and neither of them makes a deal out of it or out of the fingers combing through the wires of gold, not even a sound or a strangled cry.

“I’ve got you,” he just says against the prosecutor’s head.

Klavier believes him and feels like puking his guts out on the floor.

#klavier gavin #apollo justice #ace attorney #suicide mention #suicidal thoughts tw #cutting mention #defenestration mention #asphixiation mention #random writing #a continuation of my previous aa fic #klav continues to be not ok feat (thinks abt a post pointing to how hes flirty at first but then shows he doesnt like pollo that much) #the theme in my current works seems to be men in misery arguably because i myself am currently a man (debatable) in misery #hopefully it will stop tomorrow once i either pass or fail the next exam #if i fail im dropping tf out of uni <3 ive already failed one and im not taking any fucking chances babes!! #if i cant get it right at first then theres no fucking point trying again!!! #dont be like me kids. #other works of my men in misery series include uncomfortable weirdly hateful-but-not-really sex with murder kink(?) apparently #and two ace lads forget about asexuality existing and have miserable sex as a replacement for physical affection and romantic love #(and one of them is aromantic so the other isn't even getting what he's doing this wretched thing for) #both are in italian so good luck finding them

[suicidalgamergirl]

I love larian but in my opinion, the way they've tweaked AA's scenes over the updates paints a different picture than what we got when the game first released. And it doesn't help that they've portrayed Tav as fearful or unsure of their own lover in his kiss scenes. Is it major? Not really. But I do think it is enough to cause misunderstandings, especially between people who played the game in EA or as it released, and those who are just beginning to play.

But of course as you said, nothing in the game justifies someone to go and harass a creator for enjoying something. Which is unfortunate to see happening but Im not shocked as I've seen many fandoms end up this way recently 😞

Dude, I’m part of the Sailor Moon fandom. I know drama cause we had Elly from MissDream harass a Viz Editor off Twitter for making the translations wrong in her eyes.

Even though I’m new to BG3 fandom, I feel a connection to the vampire. He was used for sex to please his prey to bring to his master and uses sex to make others fall for his antics.

I like the Ascending scenes cause it shows how proud he is of getting rid of an abusive master and become the powerful Ascendant Vampire.

Anyways, picking up two sourcebooks from D&D to learn more about vampire lore in their universe. I been obsessed with vampires and scared of them cause I read all of the Anne Rice novels as a tween. There was one scene in Interview With The Vampire that caused me to be scared of curtains. That pretty much fucked me over.

But anyways, looking at clips and reading about Neil’s vision of Astarion, I can see why naysayers say you shouldn’t ascend our fave vampire spawn. Despite it is his end goal throughout the entire game.

Plus the bat form is cute. Hence the whole fic I was writing about started from drawings of that bat being coy in some artworks.

Do you want the brushy brushy? You can sleep on this soft pillow for the night.

I am slowly reading/checking out positive Ascendant fics and a new Reddit that was made for fans because the previous Reddit had fans harassing others for liking him.

But yeah. Definitely need some help if I want to continue my writing skills.

-V

#ascended astarion #my rants

[write-like-wright]

Hello, everyone! I hope you're all doing well in these trying times.

First of all, I would like to apologize for my unexpectedly long hiatus. I recently checked my inbox for the first time in months only to discover some requests have been collecting dust in there for a year. Yikes.

This year has been a wild ride in more ways than I ever could have anticipated. I'm currently working a full-time job (which I love) and also studying full-time (which I hate), so I'm pretty low on energy and time. That being said, one thing I've realized in the past months is that I desperately need some sort of a creative outlet or I go a bit loopy, which brings me to my main point.

That's right, besties, I'd like to tentatively announce that I'm coming back! Here's what I have in mind for the future:

Some housekeeping - I finally intend to upload all of my previous works to AO3 to make them all easily available in one place

Catching up with your past requests, which means that I will likely be closing the inbox for new requests

I may write some LOTR fics in the coming days twink Elrond has been living rent-free in my mind lmao

As a continuation of the previous point, I intend to expand the list of fandoms I write for because the lack of fresh AA content definitely makes me lose interest quickly

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for sticking around, following the blog, sending in requests and casual asks, and for interacting with my old posts. I live for the applause. Hopefully, more will come soon.

Your friend,

M 🖤

#i forgot what my tag system was lmao #announcement #update #idk

[metaphorical-goblin]

Ask game! (For AA bc I’m not familiar with DnDads):

🎁💕✨📚

Ahh hi! First off thank you so much for asking! Hopefully we'll get some good stuff ehehe

🎁Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

I feel like I'm nothing but WIPs lately so let's see what we've got! This is from a little snippet of Miles traveling to Germany and getting himself a little companion.

Then, he stumbled his way to an animal shelter.

This was stupid. Utterly stupid.

The volunteer showed him around the facility–surprisingly clean, considering the nature of the business–and pointed out their residents while he fought the urge to cover his ears. Loud, yapping things and big, drooly mixes and old, trembling beasts that were standing on shaking legs. His heart twisted at the sight of those; he wasn’t sure that he could handle something like that at the moment.

Then, her. A collie mixed with something else (they weren’t quite sure), tapping back and forth on her feet, great pink tongue lolling out of her mouth as she kept jumping down into a bow in front of him. Her card said that she was about two years old (they weren’t quite sure) and that she was brought in because her previous owners could not handle her high energy. 

This was a horrible, terrible idea.

“I think… I think I’m interested in this one.”

💕What is your favorite fic that you've written?

I hate to repeat myself about this one all the time, but I just adore The Essential Guide to Avian Development. Seeing all of my research and work and everything just come together in such a beautiful and cohesive way is something I'm really proud of! Plus, seeing how others interpreted Avian characteristics and the characters' development was just so euphoric to see! It was such a blast to plan and write, and I really want to write another long fic soon!

If I had to pick another, it would probably be The Things We Agree to Believe Are True, which is kind of my self-indulgent sappy marriage fic, or Change of Heart (which, honestly, I wish I could go back and make longer lol).

✨Out of the comments you've received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

I'm going to be honest, I love ALL the comments I get! It makes me feel so nice when someone takes the time to write something out and share it with me; it's sort of like reading the story with someone!

Having said that... there have been a few that have made me feel extra-special, ehehe. One of the more recent ones was from Living_Death on "Double Date:"

I have come to the point at which I have noted your username at the top of really great reading experiences enough to where when I see it attached to a new fic, I get to feel excitement, and I am relieved to know that it's a fic from an author I trust. And that's honestly such a gift. I love your work, this included.

There are a few more that are a bit too long to post, but seeing ArthurtheGatekeeper basically live-react to reading "And I Will Stay With You Through Spring" was such a boost of confidence, and bat15's consistent and kind comments on every chapter of Avian Dev. when I was first posting was such a sweet feeling! It really helped me to continue writing.

📚Is there a fanfic or fanfic writer you recommend?

Ohhhh boy. That's a long answer. I won't rec any mature/NSFW fics at the moment since I'm not sure if you're comfortable with that, but I do have a few favorites I'd love to share (though, to be honest, you've probably heard of them already).

As far as authors go, you are in good hands with anything by Ophelia_Writes, kbots, whackamacka, JustNerdyThings, ArthurtheGatekeeper... I could go on, but we'd be here all day lol.

For fics, I'll try to keep it brief (and maybe not exclusively the authors I recommended).

I do have to point out "A Brief for the Defense" by Ophelia_Writes, specifically, though, because it is just such a beautiful illustration of grief and loss, character depth and development, flaws (Ophelia is incredible with character flaws that are realistic and functional). This is honestly one of the best overviews of Ace Attorney and I kind of consider it canon lol. The representation of Maya and spirit channeling, specifically, alongside the VK sibs complicated feelings about Manfred, are what really drew me in.

Another great read (particularly if you're interested in some fun Mia & Bratworth bonding) would be "No Winners" by MostWeakHamlets. It's still ongoing, but so far it has been really intriguing, especially regarding how Miles reacts to his losses and how Mia almost "coaches" him, in this parallel of treating him like a little brother, that is really beautiful.

A great fantasy fic would be "Phoenix Wright and the Myth of the Amethyst Prince" by EdwirdoNomen and prince_pqul. (Yes, I KNOW it says "Major Character Death," but just ignore it, I promise everything is happy in the end.) It's honestly this really whimsical, mythical quest to rescue the "captured prince," so to speak, with the whole cast of characters well-suited for the fantasy environment. The lore of the dragons is incredibly well-thought-out, and the world itself just oozes whimsy. It's a fantastic story, and it's complete!

Aaaaand, just so I'm not here all evening, my last recommendation is "The Wedding Planner" by famousinthatanonymousway. It's long, fluffy, and complete, so it's really the perfect little read to curl up with. I'm a sucker for AUs, and a WEDDING PLANNER AU?? WITH A BAKER??? oh that really takes the cake (pun so graciously intended). Plus, Pess is there! And who wouldn't want more Pess?

Wooo, sorry for the long-winded answer! I've never done an ask before so I think I just got excited. I hope you enjoy the recommendations, and thanks for reaching out!

#ace attorney #fanfic writer ask #ask game #fic rec #ao3 #phoenix wright #miles edgeworth #narumitsu #wrightworth

[glazelilyy]

hi hi small mini announcements! :D

(figuring out how to use queue as i type this so other lovelies in diff timezones will be able to see this too!)

i've been pretty quiet for a while and that's largely been because of school, but i've also been feeling a bit overwhelmed from this account and all the ideas i've tasked myself with writing on top of requests. i've been running on empty for a while so i decided to take a step back and reevaluate things. after thinking for a while and getting some rest, i've finally decided on a few things that of which i'll list below:

i will be clearing all wip items except for scaramouche x dendro!archon reader reqs

i will be hosting an event for my belated 5k milestone and one year anniversary (this event will be time sensitive and i'll only post the ones that inspire me)

AA YES I KNOW I KNOW i missed my tumbirthday (it was the 9th of april :'>) but i still want to celebrate that milestone because it's huge for me and everyone who's ever interacted with my account and i really want to do something special to celebrate :)

3. after the event, i'll open up regular requests again for the first time in almost a year, and then close them after i get a certain amount (about 20 or so)

but yep! that should be all the announcements i have as of right now. a minor one that i have is that i'll be reworking all my current name cards, adding ayato to my writing list and, if i have time, i'll be fixing all the grammatical errors in my previous fics (cause BOY are there a lot of em)

i'd like to informally thank everyone for coming this far with me and i hope we can all continue to go further together! :D <3

#luce chats—☆ #important—☆ #i'm excited to start writing daily again! #i always considered it a way to unwind and i love seeing the requests i'm given :) #i'm working on making this event as packed as possible hehe >:) #i won't share too much but the theme revolves around the stars and objects in space :D

[crystaltrinket]

you put a move on me - Naruto - Uchiha Sasuke/Hyuuga Hinata - drabble series for SasuHina Month 2021

Summary: Rogue-nin Sasuke holds Hinata captive after an act of robbery goes awry.

[Rating: G-T? | Prompt: A Tribute To Your Favorite Fanart/Fic | Word Count: too many to count at this hour | Warnings: None]

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21

Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28

Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31

Author's Note: Whew! Honestly, I had half of this done yesterday and worked on the rest today. Please forgive any mistakes. I relied on Google docs to correct my grammar.

I don't have a specific favorite SasuHina art or fic, so I just put together my favorite elements in SasuHina fic. Hope that works. This part is a little bit longer since I included 10 Omake pieces from Hinata's POV. Part 31 is wayyyy at the bottom but follows directly after Omake 29.5.

I hope you enjoy! And I hope to see you again next year ;) @sasuhinamonth

Omake Part 1.5 - 100 words

Hinata could feel herself moving. She willed her eyes to open but her body didn't obey. 'Am I dying? Is this death?'

She heard a low voice curse. Hinata tried to remember what happened before her vision went black. She remembered dressing in her finest kimono, getting into the palanquin and heading toward the country's borders to meet her new civilian husband. And then...

'Ah, yes,' she thought. 'The bandit murdered my clansmen in charge of handing me over to my new prison.' Red eyes came into her mind. Red eyes that could only belong to one clan.

'Uchiha Sasuke.'

Omake Part 7.5 - 100 words

Hinata steeled herself against her captor. She's no fool. She heard the rumors of his strength. Hinata figured the only way to deal with him was to pretend she was talking to another elder. Her clan head voice was something she perfected before she was cast away.

--

They rarely talked during their travels. But when he asked why she continued to follow him, she wished he kept silent. She was sure he could hear her heart beating loud in her chest.

Remembering her clan voice, she lifted her chin and answered.

Her shoulders almost slumped in relief, hearing his laughter.

Omake 10.5 - 100 words

Hinata could tell he was lying.

She can't imagine he accepted his clan's massacre so easily. To live without hearing their voice, seeing their smile, feeling their touch. Hinata's heart clenched.

She knew herself how the loss of a loved one can affect a person's psyche.

Unfortunately, O-bon festivities don't allow a grieving person the impact of acceptance.

Still, she doesn't pry and lets him rest. Her eyes wandered to him laying beside her on the hillside. Without his perpetual frown, he looked peaceful.

Hinata closed her eyes and exhaled.

She wished she could feel as peaceful as Sasuke looked.

Omake Part 12.5 - 100 words

She repeated those words to herself after Sasuke's team found out she was a missing-nin. Hinata shut her eyes, unwilling to cry. She couldn't give up her freedom now.

'I don't want to go back.'

Hinata felt a light tap on her shoulder. Sasuke was ready to go.

--

He said nothing to her on their journey. He didn't mention where they were headed to his teammates either.

She half expected him to desert her. The other half hoped that he wouldn't leave her.

At night, she repeated those same words to him. His eyes were understanding and she felt relief.

Omake 17.5 - 100 words

Hinata softly cursed. Of course her plan to lure the ANBU team away didn't work. Nothing ever worked in her favor.

She bit her lip, trying to figure out the best course of action to save Sasuke. Hinata grinned, seeing the telltale sway of long brown hair.

She deactivated her bloodline and made herself comfortable in her position. She waited.

--

Hinata was ready to confront them and rescue Sasuke at sunrise. But a commotion entirely not her own, brought them out ready to strike. Seeing her opportunity, Hinata revealed herself. Chakra blazed at her hands.

"I'll fight you for him."

Omake 22.5 - 100 words

Sasuke's breathing steadily became regular as she talked about their former village. She continued a little more even though he was already in deep sleep. Hinata glanced over her shoulder to peek at him. Carefully, she turned to fully face him.

Hinata studied him. Memorizing every line from his travels, the eyebags from lack of sleep, the face that she grew accustomed to seeing everyday.

She felt tears drip from her eyes. 'I can't believe I was so foolish.' Hinata hid her face in her hands. Her shoulders gently shook as she tried to maintain composure in Sasuke's sleeping embrace.

Omake 25.5 - 180 words

Frustration bubbled inside her. Karin and Suigetsu, sitting across from each other, continued to argue despite their shared goal. Hinata sat adjacent to them, anger simmering underneath her calm façade.

"Hinata-sama," Juugo came up behind her, carrying a tray of tea. He placed the tray beside her and took his place, sitting behind her.

"Thank you, Juugo-san," Hinata took the lone cup. "Had I known it would be like this, I would've left myself."

"Sometimes, they need a little help." His voice lowered. "If you know what I mean, Hinata-sama."

She hummed thoughtfully and sipped from her cup, testing the temperature.

"This is very good tea, Juugo-san," Hinata placed it back on the tray.

The large man bowed his head, smiling. "Thank you, Hinata-sama."

The other two continued to argue, their thumping rattling the tray.

Hinata moved swiftly, her fingers deftly touching their chakra points.

Stunned, the two bickering teammates fell on the ground.

"What gives?!" Karin yelled. Suigetsu sneered at her from his position.

Hinata calmly retrieved her tea. "Now, I have your attention. Let's talk about rescuing Sasuke."

Omake 27.5 - 100 words

Juugo's birds flew up in a tree, ending their journey.

"Tell Juugo-san, thank you," she whispered.

Hinata felt her blood coursing through her veins. Her fingertips tingled in trepidation.

They couldn't afford to risk Sasuke's strength. She knew who he was up against.

She snuck around the prison, evading the guards surrounding the perimeter. Hinata scaled the prison wall to reach the roof. She quickly found the ventilation shaft.

Taking a deep breath, she concentrated her thoughts on locating Sasuke's chakra signature.

'There!' It was weak, but it was his. Gritting her teeth, she made her way down the shaft.

Omake 29.5 - 172 words

Hinata knew Sasuke felt the same. The village was too quiet, too accepting of their vagrant ways. It seemed all too convenient a vacant house was available. With the previous owner having died alone, it was an opportune moment for them to move in with the village's blessing.

--

Months soon turned to a year. Sasuke's teammates came and went as they pleased, leaving Hinata with Sasuke.

She found him in the cold, practicing his kata. He moved fluidly going through the motions ingrained in his body.

She didn't want to bother him, but she knew better than to leave without notice.

"I'll be at the market," she called out. He paused mid-form to walk over to her. Seeing him in front of her, Hinata noticed his breaths were visible from the biting cold. "Is your kata keeping you warm?”

He smirked. "Aa." His eyes studied her as he tucked stray hair behind her ear. "Don't take too long."

Hinata felt her face warm up as she looked up to his face. "Aa."

Part 31 - 632 words

She went through the market, politely greeting everyone who knew her. Here, she was Hana and he was Makoto, two people not quite married but living together.

The market was a little busier during this time of year. The village was preparing for their annual snow festival. Hefting her groceries in her arms, Hinata left to return to her home.

"H-Hana-san!"

Hinata turned at the sound of her alias. A young man came up to her out of breathe. "Oh, Shigure-kun! H-How can I help you?"

The young man blushed. "I-I wanted to help you with your groceries. To carry them for you, I mean."

"That's kind of you to do, Shigure-kun," Hinata smiled. "But I'll be alright." She took a step towards the pathway to her home.

"Please, allow me," he reached for one of the bags. "I'm not surprised Makoto-ji-san isn't here to help." The young man scoffed. "He never seems to help you."

Hinata slightly turned from the boy so her groceries were out of reach. "I don't mind. Makoto-san doesn't need to help me."

"Hana-san, I -- " the young man stopped, his eyes frozen in fear.

Hinata looked at him confusedly, before feeling familiar chakra behind her.

"She said beat it, kid," Sasuke growled.

Shigure regained his composure and looked straight at Hinata. He took a deep breath and bowed. "Hana-san, I want to say that I like you and I hope to see you at the winter festival!" He straightened and turned his eyes to Sasuke. "Makoto-ji-san," he said through clenched teeth and bowed his head. "Good day to you."

Hinata looked between the two males, caught in a gridlock.

"I'm not going to repeat myself," Sasuke said menacingly. Shigure nodded again and stiffly turned on his heel to leave.

--

A few days later, Hinata found herself at the winter festival, admiring the fresh snow on the plum blossoms and the ice sculptures carved by the village's artisans. Beside her, Sasuke walked with a hand on the small of her back, eyes roving around for the troublesome boy.

"I don't think Shigure-kun will come around, don't you think?" Hinata giggled behind the thick sleeve of her kimono.

Sasuke grumbled. "He won't if he knows what's good for him."

Hinata grabbed a hold of his sleeve. "Come, let's enjoy the festival."

Hinata pulled him around the village, visiting artisan stalls and eating sweets to her heart's delight. Sasuke showed no interest but indulged her whims.

Hinata's teeth started to chatter as they continued with the festivities. She felt Sasuke wrap his arm around her shoulders.

"Come, maybe the weeping plum blossom tree will provide some insulation." He guided her towards the pink flowered tree covered in snow.

"Isn't it beautiful, Sasuke?" she said in awe. She gingerly touched a low hanging branch causing some snow to fall.

"Aa," he answered. "Absolutely beautiful."

Hinata turned to see him gazing intently at her. "Sasuke? Is something wrong?"

Sasuke blinked and turned his head away. He shoved his hands into his kimono sleeves.

Hinata stepped closer to him, using him as a way to shield her eyes from the passing villagers. She activated her Byakugan.

"Sasuke, I don't see anyone tracking us..." Hinata blinked away her bloodline. "I--"

Hinata's arms folded against Sasuke's chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"I was going to wait a little while longer," he whispered in her ear. Hinata felt her heart pound at the warmth of breath on her ear.

"Wait for what?"

Sasuke gently pushed her away to place something in her hand. Hinata gasped, tears welling up in her eyes. His fingers came up to wipe them away.

"Marry me, Hinata."

Hinata looked up, seeing a small smile on Sasuke's face.

"Yes," she gently smiled, bringing his face closer to hers. "Yes."

#shmonth2021 #sasuke x hinata #sasuhinamonth2021 #sasuke uchiha/hinata hyuuga #sasuhina #drabble: you put a move on me #creator: crystaltrinket #day 31

[maraariana01]

hi hello ik no one's online but im gonna ramble a bit about my ideas for aai3 aka Simon Blackquill : Ace Attorney Investigations which is also related to my Turnabout Rescue AU <3

- as you might have guessed from the title, an AA Investigations game where you play as Simon Blackquill

- the first episode would basically be my fic: Turnabout Rescue

- game focuses on both Simon continuing his career as a prosecutor after Dual Destinies, and Bobby's relationship with his sibling, The Phantom, as he helps them with their rehabilitation

- certain parts where you can play as Bobby Fulbright !!! cuz i think that'd be rlly neat :]

- investigating mainly alongside Bobby, but also Detective Gumshoe (first episode), Athena Cykes and Apollo Justice

- various appearances of other prosecutors, including Miles Edgeworth, Klavier Gavin and Franziska von Karma

- cameos of previous characters from Dual Destinies (and previous games) like Trucy Wright, Phoenix Wright, Juniper Woods, Jinxie Tenma, Sasha Buckler, etc.

- Taka would absolutely be part of this game one way or another

- Simon gets an ability similar to Edgeworth's Logic Chess, where he manipulates people into giving him the answers he needs and you have to choose what he will say carefully (which i guess it's basically what Edgeworth also did but....make it more Simon.........)

- the overworld sprites are still pixel art, but the close up/talking sprites are 2D art

- CUTSCENES!!! BRING BACK THE ANIME CUTSCENES

- Simon gets his own objection theme of course :] and the Pursuit theme would be a remix of the Dual Destinies one bc i rlly like it

i think that's all i have for now :0

#[ turnabout rescue au ] #ace attorney #aa5 #aa5 spoilers

[i-write-nsfw-sometimes]

Royalixy- Virgil's new job pt. 2 (NSFW)

Pt.2 to “Virgil’s New Job”

Hey Guys.... been a while but I’ve been having so many ideas and barely getting started on one before having another so here is the part 2 to the introloxiety fic 

Thank ya kindly!

Patton and Roman find out about Virgil’s... pastimes... and decide to treat their little Stormcloud

(Pre AA kinda)

Virgil stretched, flinging their legs off of the bed. They stood up and sniffed the air, throwing on their clothes before making their way to the door

"Wonder what Pat made for breakfast..." Virgil sighed, they didn't really feel like eating but they knew they probably should... not like they could escape Patton's love for stuffing them full of food. Virgil creaked open their door, locking it behind them as they trudged to the common room

"Ah, good morning Anx." Virgil gave a silent nod at Logan as their face burned purple, feeling a little embarrassed as they were reminded of the previous weeks... activities.... Roman was at the table typing on his phone, but his brow quirked up as Logan brought attention to Virgil "Don't tell me my little kitten is avoiding me now." Virgil hissed at Logan, using their eyes to point out Roman's presence. Logan just chuckled, placing his book face down on the arm of the chair

"Oh! Anxiety! I made you some blueberry pancakes! Please sit." Patton smiled, easing Virgil's nerves as they were led to the table

"Thanks Pat." Virgil moved to grab a fork, but pulled back as Patton smacked their hand away

"Uh uh uh! Keep those hands to yourself angel!" Virgil quirked an eyebrow, paling as Roman brought his chair over

"Forgive me my light, I am rather selfish." Roman grabbed their fork, stabbing a piece of pancake and lifting it to their lips "Now open for me will you?" Logan sat across from the three and resumed his reading. Virgil glanced around before opening their mouth, Roman smirked, feeding them the pancake "Good kitten." Virgil was tense as Roman's voice made their head spin, it took every ounce of control to not moan at the praise... that was new.... they were used to degradation, but praise? That was certainly strange....

"Angel?" Two hands rested on their shoulders, making Virgil wonder what was in store "Have you ever made love?" Virgil whined, shaking their head "I suspected as much, Logan told us that you like it rough, but I was wondering if my little angel had ever been worshiped." Virgil blushed, continuing to eat as Roman fed them

"Such a shame is it not? This sweet little kitten has never been praised like they deserve~" Patton sighed, kneading Virgil's back, smiling as Virgil began to relax. "Now kitten, we would like to pamper you today." Virgil whined "Just nod for me cutie, you don't need to think. Just let us take care of you." Logan chuckled as he watched Virgil turn to putty in the other's hands

"I will be helping Thomas today, please overwhelm them in the best way possible for me." Patton chuckled

"Of course we will Logie, is that what you want Angel? Want Daddy to overwhelm you?" Virgil nodded rapidly, Roman and Patton sharing a laugh as they other leaned into Patton's touch "Such a good angel, so perfect. Daddy will be right back. You be good for your Prince ok?" Virgil nodded, whining as Patton's hands left their back. Roman sighed patronizingly

"Oh such a vulnerable little kitten, does our little kitten want to climb into my lap so I can feed you some more?" Virgil whimpered, nodding as they crawled into Roman's lap, a soft purr emanating from their throat. "Such a pretty kitty, so well behaved." Roman continued to feed Virgil, their eyes falling shut as they felt their mind go blurry

"Roman? Is that...?" Roman nodded

"Yes, it seems our little kitten can purr~" Patton walked over, kissing Virgil's neck softly

"If they're done eating I can take them to their surprise." Roman nodding, fawning as Patton lifted Virgil up, a small whine pushing past Virgil's lips.

"Please do, I will join momentarily." Patton carried Virgil into the other room, laying Virgil on what felt like a fuzzy blanket, but it was too solid to be a blanket

"Shh angel, no thinking, just let daddy take care of you." Virgil whimpered, staring into Patton's eyes as they pushed their hips up towards Patton. Patton chuckled, pushing their hips back down, "Soon angel, let us treat you first." Roman walked in, noticing Virgil squirming on the ground

"I could provide them some relief, then we could treat them." Patton hummed in thought, smiling at Virgil's quiet begs and pleads

"Ah but good things come to those who wait, and I think our little angel hasn't had to wait to be fucked... but I think they should wait for us to make love to them." Virgil whined, turning over and grabbing onto the plush fabric.

"Aww look how cute, they are throwing a little tantrum. Anxiety, now that Patton and I have joined the mix you'll have to ask permission to touch yourself." Virgil whined louder, demanding the attention of the two

"Please... fuck me... need it..." Patton chuckled, lifting Virgil up onto his lap, stroking their back softly

"Shh kitten, so needy aren't you? Our perfect little kitten." Roman stepped towards the two, snapping his fingers to dress them all in pajamas.

"There we go! Now what do you want to watch kitten?" Virgil whined

"I...I don't know..." Virgil's hips tensed as they tried not to grind onto Patton's thigh

"How about we watch some rage compilations? They watch those all the time." Roman nodded before joining the two on the couch.

"Lookie here Patton, our little kitten is trying not to grind onto your leg, so well behaved." Roman stroked Virgil's cheek, smiling as the other nuzzled into his touch, Virgil's skin felt like it was on fire. Patton chuckled, leaning up to kiss Virgil softly

"Lay across us Angel, let us take care of you." Virgil laid face down across the two's laps, Roman's crotch was directly to the right of Virgil's head... so close yet so far. Patton kneaded Virgil's calves and feet while Roman massaged their back. Virgil's head was swimming with need, they closed their eyes and tried not to focus on being so close to Roman's dick.

Six hours later, Virgil blinked their eyes open lazily.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." Roman teased, running his hands through Virgil's hair, Virgil purred as their eyes landed on Roman's crotch. The whimpered in need

"I do believe they have waited long enough, but our angel needs to eat. How about this." Patton pulled Virgil up "You eat like a good little kitten and right after Daddy and your Prince will take care of you." Virgil nodded, standing up and tugging at Patton's shirt. "Well someone's in a rush." Patton teased, following Virgil to the table and snapping his fingers to summon some food.

After eating, Virgil wouldn't stop squirming in Roman's lap.

"Please... please..." Virgil couldn't stop themself from grinding onto Roman's lap

"What do you need angel?" Virgil let out a loud obscene moan

"I need your cocks! I need to be fucked until I can't remember my own name! Please Daddy! My Prince! Need your cocks! Need your cum!" Roman chuckled, lifting Virgil up

"Shall we?" Patton smirked

"We shall." The two took their sweet time making their way to the bedroom, but once they were there Virgil was about to explode.

"Please....." Roman sighed, a small grin soothing the smaller side

"Breathe my love, we are here." He place Virgil down on the plush bed, one that Virgil didn't recognize but didn't really care to think about. Patton peeled off Virgil's clothes, leaving small kisses and bites on their chest. Roman reached forward to pull Virgil into a tender kiss

"How are you holding up there baby?" Virgil whined into the kiss as Patton rubbed their thighs, once Roman pulled away Virgil turned to look at Patton.

"I can't... I need..." Small frustrated tears began to gather in the corners of their eyes. Roman leaned down to kiss the streams of tears

"Would you like to stop?" Virgil shook their head wildly

"Just no more teasing... please... I can't take it..." Patton nodded, helping Virgil pull off their pants, their soaked panties coming off shortly after.

"Wow Pat... they're soaked..." Roman licked his lips, holding Virgil's legs apart to stare at their glistening heat. Patton hummed, laying Virgil down before attacking their neck with hickeys.

"Aren't they just precious?" Patton hummed, tracing patterns on Virgil's hips. Roman leaned down to suck on the inside of Virgil's thigh, rubbing the outside of their hole

"Aww look at them, I love the way you squirm mi amor." Virgil whined as Roman eased two fingers in, turning his attention onto them. Virgil tangled their fingers in Patton's hair, pulling him into a kiss. Roman chuckled as he watched the desperate display

"Such a good little angel, are you ready?" Virgil nodded, clutching onto Patton.

"Yes... please fuck me..." Roman hummed, pulling off his clothes and easing a condom onto his cock

"Oh baby, we aren't going to fuck you... we are going to make love to you." Roman kissed Virgil's stomach, slowly making his way up their body before rubbing their sides in small circles. He reached a hand down to angle his tip to the rim of their hole

"Please..." Tears fell down Virgil's cheeks as their mind became dazed. Roman chuckled, slowly pushing in

"How do they feel Ro?" Patton smiled softly, carding his fingers through Virgil's hair. Ro groaned, holding up a thumbs up

"Gimme a minute... I don't want this to end too soon." Virgil whimpered, bumping their face against the tent in Patton's pants, staring up at his with glassy eyes

"Please daddy, wanna suck you off." Patton hummed

"Ok baby, you've been so good." Patton pulled off his clothes, freeing his cock from his pants. Virgil immediately leaned over to suck on the tip, trying to take all of it in their throat at once. They gagged, Patton grabbing their hair and pulling their head back "Tsk tsk tsk, slow it down baby. No need to rush." Patton released them, letting Virgil lean back over to lick up his shaft before taking the head in their mouth.

"I think I'm good... you ready mi amor?" Virgil hummed and nodded, Roman slowly thrusting. Virgil moaned around Patton's dick, Patton moaned and as he reached down to hold Virgil's hand

"You're doing so great angel, so perfect for us." Virgil whimpered, spreading their legs further

"Oh? Does someone like hearing how good they make us feel?" Roman smirked, reached a hand down to rub their clit, Virgil let out a loud surprised moan against Patton before melting under the wanted touch. Virgil pulled off Patton's length before whining

"Please I'm so close... I just... I can't..." Roman smirked, speeding up his thrusts to a point where they were faster but not as fast as Virgil needed. Patton smiled softly as the small thing in his arms... or in his lap

"Cum for us baby, whenever you're ready... but don't think for a second that we are done just yet." Virgil nodded, wrapping their lips around Patton's tip and sucked. Patton let out a low moan, squeezing Virgil's hand as he fought the urge to buck into Virgil's mouth. Virgil gave a smirk before sucking harder

"Something wrong Pat?" Roman teased, seeing that Virgil was trying to take back some control

"You want me to lose control baby? Is that what you're after? You want Daddy to fuck your mouth?" Virgil nodded, Patton gave them a small smirk, "Oh... well that's too bad... unlike the others, Roman and I have a bit more self-control than that... now how about you be a good little kitten and spread your legs wider... no cumming if you really want to make Daddy proud." Virgil whimpered, spreading their legs as Roman growled

"I can feel them pulsing around me Pat... I'm gonna cum..." Roman groaned before thrusting a few more times, milking himself into the condom. Virgil whined as Roman pulled out, Patton moving away shortly after. Patton moved up the bed and sat down, making himself comfortable as Roman tossed the condom in the trash.

"Angel? Why don't you come sit down?" Virgil climbed up and quickly sheathed themself on Patton's dick, facing away from him.

"Woah... someone's eager." Roman chuckled as Patton held Virgil down, not allowing them to move.

"I bet... poor little thing wants to be filled up so badly... well Roman... what do you say we help out?" Roman smirked, leaning forward to suck Virgil's clit. Virgil hissed grabbing onto Patton's arms as their hissed turned into a sultry moan. Patton growled and bit their neck as he felt them clench around him

"Taste so good... doing so well for us baby." Virgil whimpered as they clenched, they just wanted to cum!

"Please please please please, daddy my prince I can't... I need..." They broke off into sobs as they held off their orgasm, their legs shaking.

"It's ok baby, cum around daddy's cock..." Virgil all but screamed their orgasm rushing through them, Roman left small licks to help them through their orgasm before turning his attention onto Patton's cock, which was still buried deep inside Virgil.

"Daddy, please gimme your cum..." One look from those tear filled eyes and Patton was gone, he groaned as he shot thick ropes of cum into Virgil, some dripping down to mix with Virgil's juices. Roman pulled back, running off to the bathroom to grab some towels and prepare a bath.

"How..." Patton took a moment to breath before continuing, "How are you feeling baby?" Virgil hummed

"Tired... but amazing." Patton chuckled and kissed their neck

"I'm gonna pull out ok?" Virgil nodded, allowing Patton to lift them off his dick. Virgil shuddered as cum dripped down their thighs and onto the bed sheets, Patton stood before lifting Virgil into his arms

"Bath is ready you two!" Roman smiled at the dazed look in Virgil's eyes

"Lets get our little angel all cleaned up."

#nsfs virgil #nsfs Roman #nsfs patton #royalixy

[starstruck-xavier]

[4] 5 Times Someone Stopped Virgil From Self-Harming and 1 Time He Stopped Himself

it’s time for janus!! this one’s centred around getting good sleep and not pulling all nighters but there’s some discussion of other s-h methods so just still be warned. i’m finishing up the last chapter and i cant wait to finish this fic aa!!

1 - Logan || 2 - Roman || 3 - Patton || [4 - Janus] || 5 - Remus || 6 - Virgil

ao3 || wattpad || fanfiction masterpost

words for this chapter: 1001 ships: platonic anxceit warnings: mentions of cutting (not described or actually done within the chapter)

“Virgil, you are not staying up all night.”

Janus sighs, leaning on the doorframe as some distant church bells somewhere in the city chime midnight. Virgil is sat at his desk, donning his smudge guard, his pen gliding across the tablet screen tirelessly and showing no signs of stopping.

“Virgil.” Janus tries again to get his attention; this time, he’s met with a tired stare. "Is your deadline set for tomorrow?" He waits for a moment before Virgil shakes his head. "Then you have no reason to rush. You’ve had a long day, just try to get some sleep.”

There’s a few seconds in which they stare each other down, but then Virgil finally gives in, saves his files and shuts off the monitor with a sigh, or maybe it’s a yawn. "I wanted to just get it out of the way, not worry about it.”

"Yes, I understand, but you could finish your art at a much higher quality tomorrow if you get some good sleep." The corners of Janus’ lips tilt into a sympathetic frown as he walks over to Virgil’s bed and sits down, patting the spot next to him. "Come here, tell me what’s wrong.”

"But I—“ Virgil blinks confusedly and hesitates for a second but still complies, setting the smudge guard and pen down and moving to sit next to Janus. "How do you know something’s wrong?”

Janus hums nonchalantly. "I think I've spent enough time with you, I can just tell. You seem a little… mentally exhausted.”

“I'm gonna assume you can tell by being a psychology student and not by my outward appearance.” Virgil rubs at his eyes self-consciously, well aware of the dark shadows that are always there, but continues. "I guess it’s been a weird week. On Monday I got startled by some dumb driver in a sports car and nearly cut again but Logan helped me calm down, and later that day Roman told me that I shouldn’t be so hard on myself when I'm dancing and to take a break before I hurt myself again, which— I— I didn’t know I was even doing that. On Tuesday I didn’t do much except go to class, I guess I was feeling a little depressed that day, but then yesterday Roman and I were doing relays together and Patton came to watch. He brought me some food and then I realised just how hungry I was. I keep… realising that maybe I'm hurting myself in more ways than I first thought, and it’s making me anxious, so I was just trying to get other stressors out of the way, like this art project.”

As he’s listening intently to Virgil telling him about the week, Janus remembers those short moments that he’s seen in the past few days - like when Logan and Virgil returned to the dorms before their class was even over and Virgil took a quick nap between then and his dance class. When he returned again with Roman late that night, looking fatigued and dozing off on Roman’s shoulder while they both watched Youtube videos together on the couch. As well as that, while Janus was happy to see Virgil eating a full meal yesterday evening like the rest of the roommates, he did think that it was a little unexpected, and perhaps somebody had encouraged him to do so.

"I suppose me telling you that you look tired wouldn’t help with those anxious feelings, hmm?" He smiles faintly when Virgil shakes his head again. "Realising your unhealthy habits are just the first step to overcoming them. Maybe discovering many of them in a short amount of time is a little overwhelming, but you can work on them one at a time. You still have your timer going, right?”

Virgil reaches for his phone on the corner of the desk and opens it up to the timer; it’s a sobriety timer meant for people trying to quit drinking, but it works as a great ‘days since cutting’ timer as well. "Two months, fourteen days, five hours and thirty-one minutes.”

A look of proudness overcomes Janus’ usually neutral features. "That’s almost two and a half months, you’re doing amazingly. See, all you have to do in regards to trying not to cut again is to remind yourself of how far you’ve come, and to use those other techniques you’ve learned to lessen the urges." He places one arm around Virgil’s back comfortingly. "We can talk about those other habits you have some other time, but for now, it’s time to sleep.”

“I'm not tired, though.” Virgil attempts to protest, but Janus is already standing so he can pull back the bedsheets and wait for him to lie down.

"I can stay with you if you want?”

Virgil seems to think for a moment, fidgeting with his hands, but then sighs and starts to move. "Okay, fine.”

Once the two of them are underneath the heap of blankets and bedsheets that litter Virgil’s bed, Janus reaches to turn off the bedside lamp and then wraps his arms around his friend’s waist from behind so that he’s spooning him. "Just lay here long enough and you’ll feel tired soon." He mumbles into Virgil’s hair.

It feels extremely comfortable for Virgil to lay there with his back pressed against Janus’ chest; he feels the previous anxiety and tension draining from his shoulders and his breathing becomes softer, slower as he relaxes and sinks into the touch. Janus is right, he thinks to himself, sleep should be able to help him concentrate more on his art once he wakes up again tomorrow, or rather, later in the morning, as midnight has already passed. He’s about to question himself on why he hadn’t thought of that before, but then figures that the anxiety had his thought process set on other things.

Hopefully, he can try to feel this relaxed more often, for it only takes another few minutes for him to drift into a deep sleep.

~

(let me know if you want to be tagged for the other chapters!) @underestimatemethatwillbefun

#self harm tw #anxceit #platonic anxceit #sanders sides #sanders sides fanfic #sanders sides fanfiction #xavier's fanfiction #virgil sanders #ts virgil #janus sanders #ts janus

[ajokeformur-ray]

From oldest to newest ~ Erika answers asks ~

hailmary-yramliah said: Wait I’m really tripping out. I realized you were following me on Tumblr and I didn’t even know?!?!?!? I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOUR FICS LIKE WTF IM SO SLOW BUT THANK YOU YOURE LIKE ACTUALLY AMAZING AND ME STANNING YOU RN MAKES ME EMBARRASSED BUT I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT YOU ARE SO TALENTED!!! Ahhhhh I love your Arthur/Joker fics XD 

Thank you so so much!!! <33333 This means so much to me! <3333 I hope you continue to enjoy the works that I work so hard on x

Anonymous said:Ngl I feel like it’s wrong to like Arthur & read fics about him only bc my sis thinks it’s weird af. Our interests are complete opposite & finds mine very weird and it kinda makes me sad. I wish she loved the movie as much as me & understood my “obsessions” as she calls them. Anyways, love your fics sm! You’ve gotten me into this fandom so quickly and I love it! 💕

Your sister sounds just like my, and others’, family. They don’t understand because the film wasn’t for them. It was for people like us who see Arthur and who understand him. If you find enjoyment in something, darling, most especially if it’s fictional (though very realistic), then there’s no shame in indulging in it. Thank you very much, that means a lot! <3

insfirebunny said: Ok As you might see rn I make myself comfortable in your blog. Hope you don't mind. I enjoy every single one story of yours. You write so beautifully that it's magical. Take care of yourself, sunshine ☀

I don’t mind at all, I’m flattered, thank you so, so much! <33333 take care of yourself too!!!!

Anonymous said: Would you rather date Arthur or Joker??

To me, Arthur never went insane and ‘became’ Joker. He’s not the insane one; the world is mad. So I would date Arthur and I would love him and protect him and help him (everything I write about is everything I would do for him; the things I write for others are very self-indulgent lmao I have no shame) and if, in his own time, he grew into himself (Joker), then I would still love and support him just the same. I don’t think he went mad - I think he just dropped everything holding him down, holding him back, and said “fuck the world”. And honestly? That’s a big fucking mood.

Anonymous said: Okay speaking of the multiverse theory, what is your view on it regarding fictional characters. I personally believe that not only do they exist, but with the right skills you could connect with them in some way.

Since I was a child, for as long as I could remember, I’ve had this super vivid made up, carefully crafted world inside my head with all my most loved characters. I have spent my life inside my head daydreaming. I’ve never needed real life friends because I have my imagination and though I tried to make friends. I tried so hard but I never got anywhere because I was a freak, I was this and that etc. etc. (I was bullied for like 15 years lmao fuck ‘em) and so I stayed inside my head and didn’t bother trying to cross that invisible glass wall between me and everyone else. I’m 22 and I still haven’t bothered to try; it’s cosy here so I’ll stay inside my head where I can make others happy with my daydreams. But I digress - I like to think that our loves know that we love them. Every thought, every tear, every daydream, every squeal, every pillow we’ve squeezed wanting to be them, every imagine, everything we have done or do because of them, for them, they know. They see it; they feel it. I like to believe that Arthur Fleck knows how deeply he is loved and cherished he is by all of us and more than that - he loves us all just as fiercely, and he’s so, so proud of all of us. (Also lowkey I know it’s your skin shifting due to temperature changes etc. but you know when you think you feel a hand on your shoulder or fingers in your hair when you’re like half asleep and just dozing??? Or when you have a dream of him? That’s Arthur reaching out to us in the only way he can to say he knows, he sees and he loves us too.)

Anonymous said: I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH! Like it’s crazy how good you write

Thank you so, so much!!! <3333333 I work .v. hard (one piece can take up to three hours, though the longest I’ve ever spent on a piece (Coming Home To You) was six hours. I still say that is the best thing I’ve ever written, so that means a lot! <3

Anonymous said: I love Joker from our dearly beloved 2019 Joker movie as well as Joker from The Dark Night. I can't choose which I love more so why not both! At the same time! ifyouknowwhatimsaying 👀👀👀

Sksksksksksk I believe @gothamslittlejester can help you out here lmao she’s written for poly!readerxJokerxJoker so go check out her works; they’re phenomenal! <3

Anonymous said: There's a tornado warning in my area. We NEVER get tornado warnings, like ever, so I'm kind of scared.

Ohmygoodness please stay safe, darling!!! I’ve never experienced any kind of natural phenomena like that so I can’t imagine how scary that must be! I hope everything turned out well x

Anonymous said: I read what happened to you at work and deeply sorry. I’m sure you are more than aware of this but their reaction is a reflection of themselves than of you. You have the full power to enjoy and like what you please. Also, it is okay to bite back when it is needed. It may be hard to, but sometimes it’s healthy to stand up for yourself at times. Of course it is easier said than done. Remember you’re a goddess! Take back your power ✨

Thank you so, so much!!!! I’m not really all that affected by what happened anymore; it was only a week ago but already I’ve reached that nice part of apathy where you still care but you’re like, aa fuck it, I don’t wanna be hurt by it anymore. Standing up for myself is very hard; I’m a lot like Arthur in that respect: I put my head down, bite my tongue and take it because I hate confrontation. I hate it so much so I’d rather stay quiet. My parents told me I need to be a bit less Arthur and a bit more Joker; maybe in time that bite will come to me xp thank you honey! Your words mean a lot; I’m always here if you ever wanna talk about anything!!!

Anonymous said: I just read what you said about your coworkers. Honestly that's so horrible and I hope you're feeling better soon. ♡ I feel you so much, things like that happened to me all the time while I was still in school. But please, don't hate yourself. You have such a beautiful mind, you have talent & creativity most of them couldn't even dream of. It's not your fault that they can't see how beautiful being an introvert & a daydreamer can be. You're wonderful the way you are. ♡ ( @buried-in-windy-meadows )

I’m so sorry that you had to experience that, too, it’s an awful feeling when you try to be yourself and people are mean. I hope you know that they are no reflection on you, as the previous anon says - it’s all on them! Thank you so much; your words mean a lot <3 I’ve always been this way, for as long as I can remember I’ve lived inside my head, so I see no reason to change; I’m happy in, not necessarily myself, but my imagination and my creativity is my favourite part of myself (even when I’m at war with the rest of me, I can find solace in my imagination and I’m very lucky to have that) and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Anonymous said: I’m pretty sure you’re on the opposite side of the world from me so I just wanted to let you know your words and your attitude are making someone on the other side of the planet smile. We are all so lucky to have you and to have this movie to connect us. It makes me feel really human 🧡

This film is without a doubt the best thing that’s ever happened to me - we’ve all found a home, a place to go to vent and to write and to support each other and it’s so beautiful how such a tragic, grisly and dark film has brought light to so many of us. Arthur would adore it, I know he would. Thank you, darling, this means a lot to me! Please know I’m always here for you should you ever need anything or just wanna drop a line! <3

rafaelina-casillas said:Aw, I'm so so sorry that happened to you! People can be so nasty - especially to those who never deserved it! I hope you're feeling a lot better now! I can only say that in my country (where Halloween is not a tradition but more and more people are celebrating it) I saw at least 5 or 6 people in less than an hour who were doing the same makeup as you - and no one tried to mock them. I guess you had the worst luck with your colleagues but try to not mind them. They don't deserve your nerves! 💖

Exactly! I didn’t go out with my makeup, I just stayed home and enjoyed my private and personal display of love for Joker - I’m sure he’d have been flattered! And I dared to open up to my colleagues; it’s a mistake I won’t make twice, that’s for sure. Thank you, you’re always so kind to me and it means a lot - will have to DM you soon!

insfirebunny said: You look so cute and your writing is a pure gold. Stay strong

Thank you so, so much, you’re too kind!!! Take care of yourself, love! <3

Anonymous said: binge watching Batman: The Animated Series this weekend. Mark Hamil’s joker is amazing tbh

I’ll have to check that out; see if it’s on Netflix or Youtube. I hope you had a wonderful weekend! <3

theclownsqueen said: Hi! Im a new page, i love your page so much and your work is amazing! Sorry just thought I'd drop by. :)

Yeeeees ohmygoodness I gotta reply to your DM; I’ve got so many lmao <3333 thank you so much, you’re far too kind, I hope you continue to enjoy my works; I’m always here if you need anything x

Anonymous said: I relate to Arthur so bad. I’ve always been a loner and really shy, plus I’ve been helping out my mother a lot with financial problems. Once I saw the movie in theaters I just fell in love with it and it really brings me joy to read your fics. I just wish I wouldn’t get labeled a weirdo or freak for openly expressing that I like Arthur. Just makes me feel ashamed for liking something which sucks.

Thank you, darling - I’m glad my works can bring you joy; that’s really all I want to do with my writing is to help people in the moments they most need it. Even if all I manage to do is make your lips quirk upwards, that means I’ve done what I set out to do! I’m sorry you’re having such a rough time of it and I hope things start to look up for you soon! <3 The people who should feel ashamed are the ones labelling you for expressing yourself; truly, they’re the punchline of the joke Arthur was laughing at during the end of the film. Don’t let them take your sun from you, love - that means they’re winning. Please know I’m always here for you; don’t be afraid to drop me a line! <3

Anonymous said: I love your writing!

Thanks, honey! That means a lot <3

Anonymous said: Any tips for fic writers out there? Love your work btw!

There’s so much I could tell you but honestly, rules and guidelines don’t matter. Just have fun with it. Write what you wanna write in the way you wanna write it, when you wanna write it, and if anyone doesn’t like it, then who cares? Do it for you, even if you’re fulfilling requests for other people. Step back when you gotta, don’t be afraid to turn down writing requests if you don’t gel with them or you just don’t wanna or you’re not comfy with it, and really just have fun. If you have fun with the work you put in, then it’ll shine through and people’ll love it!

writings-of-a-gen-z said: hey love hope everythings going okay for you and the world isnt being too mean x

You’re too good to me, you always are. Thanks, love, and the same for you <3 sending hugs and love!

jibanyyan submitted:

I love your writing so so so so much you don’t even know it! I get excited each time I get notified that you posted again and I even take my time to read them in uni!!!

Just know that I love your blog and you can always reach out to me if you need someone to talk to even though we don’t know each other!

Much love goes out to you love xx

Thank you so, so much omgggggg you’re always so kind and supportive and it’s???? amazing ???? Please know the same for you; I’m almost always online when I’m not at work (even when I’m studying I have tumblr open in case people need me lmao) so I’ll reply .p. quickly! <3333 thank you so much omgggg sending you loads of love and hugs, I hope you’re well!

harlyquln said: when do you plan on opening requests again? 🥵

I’m not sure yet, love, but because I love to put myself under pressure lmao because nothing will make you work like an impending deadline, shall we say the beginning of December? That gives me just under 3 weeks to write almost 40 requests and honestly, that seems reasonable (ish). <3

Anonymous said: your comfort fics are always so beautiful 💕 i’ve never felt like i was actually IN an imagine before i read one of yours. you’re honestly one of my fav authors

Omggggg thank youuuuuu~ comfort fics are my favourite thing to write so that means so much! <3

kat-o-combs said: Good morning sunshine ☺️ I hope your day is going well. You deserve happiness, comfort, and contentment 💕 love ya!

Omgggg you’re always so good to me wtfffff <3333 thank youuu I hope the same for you too; you deserve all the best things in life! Love you too x

Anonymous said: Hope you're gonna feel better! I've discovered your blog... a week ago, I think, and your stories have helped me more than you'll ever know. I find a lot of comfort and support to keep me going when I read your stories and I'm so thankful for your blog. :)

Anonymous said: Hope you're gonna feel better! I've discovered your blog... a week ago, I think, and your stories have helped me more than you'll ever know. I find a lot of comfort and support to keep me going when I read your stories and I'm so thankful for your blog. :)

Helping people with my writing is a literal dream so thank you for telling me this! When I write the softer comfort imagines, they’re very emotionally draining and I have to dig deep to write them so usually I come away feeling old wounds and pretty tired in myself; I take care of myself in the ways I know helps (funnily enough, writing is both the issue and the solution) and I come back out on top. Thank you very much for telling me this, I’m glad I’m able to help you! <3

Anonymous said: Awww I hope you feel better soon!!

I do, darling, thank you so much x

Anonymous said: Sneaking up to nuzzle Arthur, then blowing a raspberry on his neck and watching him grin and shy away with a giggle.

Yeeeees~ lmaooooo it’s what he deserves!!!!!! <33333

Anonymous said: I saw joker for the second time and I think I've finally accepted in myself what you had a while ago. Arthur feels like home, he feels like comfort. When he would be dancing or just even smile I felt like I was there and I felt like everything was okay. I've fallen in love with a fictional character, but I can accept that. Because escaping with him brings me so much joy and love, I cant imagine being without it

Neither can I, nonnie. I’ve felt love for characters before but never like this. Never. I never wanna be without him or without this community again. We found a home in Arthur Fleck and fuck he’d love that so much. I’m glad he’s able to to bring you joy and love, it’s all he’d want for you and he’d be so proud of you!!! <3

Anonymous said: I had a dream about arthur last night???? Like I got into a car crash and he came and got me and brought me home and cuddled me and gave me kisses and honestly the dream was super scattered but so nice wow

That sounds like such a lovely dream omg loving Arthur and being loved right back??? Where do we sign up?? <3

Anonymous said: wish i could make Arthur a flower crown right now god damn

A) he’d look so fucking cute and B) he’d wear it around the apartment all the time omgggggg ~ he’d never wear it outside bc he’s scared it’ll get lost or stolen or broken but at home he’d cherish it so much and he’d look adorable ohhhh~ ;33333

Anonymous said: Hey, Ily and all though I'm not the biggest fan of Joker fics I just want you to know I still support and care for you

Thank you honey, this means a lot!!!! If this isn’t your scene, you’re welcome to unfollow, I won’t be mad or anything at all. Thank you for your continued support if you decide to stay, though, it means so much x

rebs-doom said:reminder that u r my fave person bye

Come here and let me love you, you precious, beautiful soul. I love you so much.

Anonymous said: What do you get when you cross a sad, touch-starved man with a blog that cherishes him and treats him well? I'll tell you what you get, you get what you fucking deserve. *smooch*

Can you imagine:

“Hey, Arthur?”

Arthur made a soft noise of acknowledgement from where he was sleepily cuddled into your side.

“Wanna hear a joke?”

“Mm,” He chuckled, “What?” He blearily opened his eyes to gaze at you fondly.

*You tell him this joke but swap ‘blog’ for ‘person’ and kiss him before he can react*

And see how fast he gives you what you deserve ;) ;)

(high key it’d become a way for you to say ‘i love you’ without saying it. Like, “you’re always so good to me” // “it’s what you deserve”) <333 sweet boi deserves the world.

Anonymous said: Can I just say how much of a blessing you are to the Arthur Fleck/Joker fandom!

Istg I’m drowning in all this love omggggg you’re far too kind to me I’m just a simple girl pouring out her love for Arthur/Joker into her blog because it’s got nowhere else to go <333333333 thank you so much!!! <3333

Anonymous said: I feel so sad for Arthur; he pretty much had the world against him from day one. I could only imagine some of the stuff he'd gone through when he was small. I just see baby Arthur lying in a filthy crib, crying for his mother's comfort or from hunger, and Penny just not even noticing it or caring.

I know :( it’s so tragic and dark and there are thousands of Arthur Flecks in real life who are unseen and defeated and broken down but they can’t get help but they’re trying and they work so hard and they just. Keep. Going. I left the cinema each time crying really hard and got home and cried some more for Arthur and for all the people, including myself, who watched the film and saw pieces of themselves in Arthur. When I think of Penny, I find it oddly funny that she always called him ‘Happy’ when he was anything but and it was only until she died that he became what she always thought he was. It’s beautifully ironic, in a strange way.

Okay, so uh... I gotta not let asks build up like that again lmao this took me two hours wowowowow <3333 I’m aiming to get some writing done today, there’s three or four pieces I’ve started and not finished so I’ll work on those. Thanks, loves, you have no idea how much you all mean to me! <3

[jay-cult]

A Golden Promise

Hey guys :D I wrote a little one shot for Rhon during my free time in school. After this I can start working on chapter fics and stuff during class. For now have this lovely fic.

*Features Rhon and Scree, told from Rhon’s perspective primarily *Hints of Jaya, maybe more than hints *Also has lots and lots of Jay. Lots *Mild swearing because Rhon is a hecker *I actually have no idea how making jewelry works, I literally made this up I’m admitting this now, but I’ll fill in that hole with “it’s Rhon’s way”

While “lounging” around in her freetime, Rhon puts on a new task when her nephew brings her news and asks for help with a creation, and perhaps with more.

A Golden Promise

Rhon was having a sort of usual day.

“So, what are you thinking for this one, eh? How much are you gonna rip me off this time?” Her client asked, half joking.

She leaned in. “I told you the price,” she said flatly, but still repeated the obviously fair payment that he was to give her. In return for his vehicle being fixed, he would give her money. That’s how life worked, weirdo.

Scree was perched casually on her shoulder, and he leaned toward the client like her, trying his best to appear intimidating. The eagle fixed him with a piercing stare.

“Alright, alright, I’m jokin’, calm down,” he smiled and waved his hand in a sweeping motion as if to say, “Forget about it.” He readied a bag full of gold coins and tossed it at her.

Scree hopped off from her shoulder and quickly grabbed the bag before it hit her, but the weight of it immediately made him drop to the ground before he could spread his wings enough. He let out a screech.

Rhon looked menacingly toward where her client had just stood, but he was already climbing into his newly fixed vehicle.

“Ninjago should really establish some form of paper money,” she muttered to Scree while picking the bag of gold up from the ground.

To keep property private and all that, Rhon wouldn’t usually do her business while her airship was docked where the ninja’s place of residence was, which at this time was the newly built Monastery. She wasn’t there often. The lack of business, the noise of her companions, and the distance from fresh resources also made for a not-so-beneficial time. But today, she was staying with said companions for the simple reason of wanting to spend time with them. She did care about them, after all.

She and Scree made their way inside her airship, the Grayscale. It was big enough to hold a workshop where she could work on a couple of business and creative projects, a bedroom, a large guestroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a general piloting area atop the deck that contained many control panels filled with levers, buttons, and monitors, and of course the cockpit with a steering wheel. The deck itself was plain, with a few masts with sails enabling its flight. It was maybe two thirds of the size of the ninjas’ many previous models of the Destiny’s Bounty.

She built it herself, with some help from a friend, a long time ago.

Rhon set the bag down on a table in her workshop. She sat down and sorted through the coins, counting up the value. Scree disappeared while she was counting and returned with a couple of lizards in his mouth, settling down on a perch by the table to consume them. Rhon looked down at her calculations. One gold coin short. Figures.

“RhooOOOOON! AUNT RHON! Hi-”

Rhon jumped in her seat, scattering coins all over the table. Scree lifted into the air and let out a surprised shriek. Rhon exhaled and relaxed, but Scree continued to flap in midair, clearly choking on something.

“Scree? Fuck-” Rhon stood out of her seat again, jumping up to grab her bird.

“Aa! Oh no! I’m sorry, ooohhhh no.” It was Jay. He ran over quickly, clearly not really knowing what to do and looking on concerned.

Finally, after a few retches and hits on the back, Scree coughed and a lizard came flying out of his throat. It splatted on a wall.

“That... literally could not have gone worse,” Rhon sighed.

Jay scratched his neck, embarrassed. “I am SO sorry, shoot, I didn’t mean to-”

“Of course you didn’t, don’t get all twisted up,” she interrupted, though frowning. If it was any normal person they would be up to their ears in Rhon’s insults and accusations, but this was Jay. “Just… shake it off.”

Her nephew suddenly brightened up. Scree flapped over and landed on his shoulder, signifying forgiveness. “Okay, okay. I came here to tell yoouuu something great, oh man.”

Rhon crossed her arms and narrowed on of her eyebrows, looking at him curiously. Sure, Jay was enthusiastic and, well, emotional, but him being THIS excited-looking was a rare case. “Alright, what?”

“So, uh, like, you know, Nya.”

“Yes, yes, I know Nya, she’s kind of a close ally of mine,” Rhon said slightly sarcastically. She couldn’t really help it.

“Yeah, yeah, Nya, well. Going to….. I’m going to….. ask her to be my Yang!” Jay revealed enthusiastically.

“Oh wow, really?” Rhon asked, actually surprised. “Wow, uh, congrats!” She awkwardly smiled.

She noticed that her nephew was about ready to jump out of his pants.

“Damn Jay, calm down,” she said a bit forcefully, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. Rhon knew that her Jay was an expressive person, so something this huge might just have made him explode. “I can barely understand you.”

“Sorry, sorry, just.” He forced himself to stop being so jittery. “I’m…. really excited, and nervous especially.”

No kidding. She stood there looking at him with Scree on his shoulder and thinking it over. Jay and Nya were, at the least, different. That’s what made them special, she thought. The two were quite obviously mad for each other. The reason was, quite simply put, that they had just been through so much. Through suffering and even through death… real death. Young love, am I right? She thought sarcastically. To herself.

“Anyway, um.” Jay chilled down a little bit, becoming much more like himself. “I’m not just telling you the news.”

Rhon raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I really need your help.”

She thought he must have been joking for a second, and was about to say that he got her. But for once he had a serious look on his face. “Wait,” she said after a few moments of silence. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah, of course, I need a charm.”

Rhon let out a huge sigh of relief. “Oh, thank FSM. I thought you meant- oh, nevermind.”

Her nephew stood confused for a while before he burst out laughing. “WHAT? You thought I wanted to ask you to help with the general thing? Like th-the asking and the romance and like, the wooing-”

Rhon wasn’t really used to being made fun of, so she just stood there frowning and rolled her eyes. “Yeah, hell no am I a romantic. Great Garm does that generate a weird image.”

Jay laughed more at her statement. “Oh man I’m just imagining this like, you, but Scree’s kind of flying around in majestic circles,” Scree let out a little noise at the mention of his name, “and your cape is flowing in the wind and you’re going, uh, ‘hey there, sweetheart,’ with a twinkle in your eye or something.”

She started to laugh a little. “Imagine I’m making some sort of a heart made of lightning.”

“Ah, Garm,” he let out his breath, “that’s funny. Wait wait wait, look, you mean like this?”

Jay brought his hands up to his chest and jerked them a little. Lightning flew out of them and formed a fantastic heart shape. His face was twisted in extreme focus.

“Hey, that’s actually really good,” Rhon complimented. She followed, bringing her hands up to her chest, and trying the best in her mind to flex out the bolts. Same jolted off to the side, while others flew up too far.

“Try bending your hands back a bit more,” the blue ninja instructed. “And you gotta focus, which yeah, is really hard, but you can- yeah, there you go!”

Rhon smiled upon seeing herself be able to do the fun trick. She was extremely tempted to bust out a “Hey there, sweetheart,” but as much as she loved her nephew, she retained her dignity.

“You could try this thing out on your girl,” Rhon suggested.

“Ooh, yeah you’re right, that’s a great idea!” He said, accepting her suggestion. “I sure will sometime.”

She rolled her eyes again. “Okay, fun’s over. You wanted the charm, right?”

“Yeah, you know how to make stuff, right?”

“Well, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but I’m not exactly the craft-tsy type. Draw-tsy, sure, but…”

“Bold of you to assume I’m not the same.”

He chuckled a bit.

“Ah, I’m just kiddin’. I’ve made odes of gold from my last fix. I may not be ‘crafty’ but I’ve got an idea. We can try it out.” She ruffled the short boy’s hair and walked off to retrieve a stool from her workshop’s auto-fixing… area… thing. The place where vehicles would go when she worked on them.

She returned to her desk and set the stool beside her chair, making an area of two seats. Rhon looked at the still-scattered coins on the desk. With the help of Scree (Jay was off poking around in her workshop. She let only him and sometimes Nya if they were together do so with the whole ship) she gathered the coins up into a bag.

Rhon readied her smelter and placed a large amount of coins- there not being enough later would be a problem- in it. Finally, some hard clay and carving tools in her hands, she made her way back to her desk.

Jay returned there at the same time and Scree made a perching area out of his head. She placed the glob of clay in front of him, leaving a little for herself. In front of him she also placed a piece of paper and a pen.

She sat down, ready to give him a few hours of her time. “What are your ideas?”

“Well it’s a Yin and Yang charm, obviously,” he replied. “We’ll be making that symbol with the charm. Each part goes to its respective party.” Jay reached for his head and scratched Scree on his neck. The eagle let out a soft churr. “So then maybe we could the elemental signs on each respective part.”

He carefully sketched out the symbol. He drew another circle around it, putting his two lines on one side and Nya’s curvy splash on the other. He labelled his with Yin and hers with Yang.

“Well it’s really nice but also too bland,” he sighed.

“Creativity’s your thing,” Rhon pushed. “Do something with it.”

“Well I can’t just… force myself to do it,” he argued. “Ideas aren’t made, they pop out of thin air, during the wrongest times, like in the shower, or in the middle of making-”

“OKAY, alright, yeah, sorry,” she interrupted, “I just hoped you’d at least have gotten an idea already. How long ago did you start thinking about doing this again?”

“Like a week ago, but in all honesty, there’s so much else to distract me about it, I can hardly think about something as detailed to the situation as charm designs. Like what about the clothes I’ll wear or the way I’ll have to have my hair look on the day I ask.”

As Jay spoke he looked down at his gi, emphasizing his point. His eyes trailed the intricate gold designs of the beautiful dragon that stretched across him. “Oh, wait! Dragons… dragons are really cool.”

Rhon nodded as he sketched down the design onto the paper. “You know, I hate being prodded, but I’m still gonna prod you. You seem a little nervous to do this. ‘Little’ is, ah, relative.”

“YEAH YOU THINK?!” Jay yelled. He seemed to know what to do, as he took the clay and some tools and began carving the shape of a half of the charm, frustratingly digging out the curves and lines. “I mean, what if I’m not really the best. Actually, yeah, I’m not the best, it’s a fact. What am I even doing, I’m not even as strong as Cole, I’m not as smart as Zane. I don’t have near Kai’s looks… those do run in the family… and Lloyd’s leadership abilities and social skills are beyond my ability. And Nya, well she has like, so much of all of those skills. I’m just a rip-off compilation of everyone. And I mean, I have freckles. What cute person has freckles?”

Rhon was taken slightly aback. Very aback, actually. It had been ages since someone had ever expressed such deep negative feelings to her before, since she wasn’t exactly the best giver of advice. When her sister had yelled in distress, she had listened.

When it came to family, she’d still listen.

She made sure her nephew was done and looked at him. “What cute person has freckles?” she mumbled. “I’ll show you what cute person has freckles.”

“Huh?” Jay said. “Nevermind. Stop staring at me like that, you make eye contact as often as I enter a fight without fear.”

“Jesus,” she said, tilting her head and frowning. “You sure know how to put yourself down.”

He suddenly looked as if he regretted everything. His eyes widened in realization, he scrunched back guiltily, and he purposefully looked away, focusing back on his project and saying not another word.

“You know,” Rhon piped up quietly, “I may not be the prettiest woman alive… I mean I’m getting so OLD. And my eyes definitely show how tired I am, and I’m rarely seen smiling. And have you seen this slouch?”

He continued to pick delicate strokes into his clay. “Old, huh? Thirty is old…”

“But when I was a kid, and I grew up with your mother, I thought she was the prettiest person alive. Us Staticholders valued beauty and wealth, so the way I was raised should really show how right I was. And you’ve seen your father, yeah? Up on the big screen, bein’ that cool, hot mess, famous n’ all. And though not nice-looking myself, I have a say in the matter for sure. And what I will say is that you’re a perfect mix of the two. You are the hottest kid on this side of Ninjago.”

He smiled a little bit. “Yeah, yeah, I guess that makes me feel a little better.” Scree flew off his head and landed behind his carved cast, cooing at him.

“And even if you had the grossest, most repulsive face in the history of every creature alive, your heart of gold wins above everything. You care so much about all your friends, and definitely about your girlfriend, and that’s all that matters.”

“And don’t forget you, you crazy old geezer,” he snickered.

“Oh yeah? Call me a geezer one more time and I’ll kick your ass,” she laughed, standing up off her chair and plunging her hands into his hair, messing it up in the everlasting aunt move of rufflement.

“Geezer, geezer, geezer,” he prodded.

“Oh you’re just asking for it!” she yelled, messing it up even more.

They settled down and she patted his head in a finishing touch.

“Okay,” Rhon said, “One more thing. What the hell is up with the freckle thing?”

Her nephew chuckled and shyly answered, “Ah, yeah, sorry, didn’t mean to offend you or anything..”

“Freckles, dear Jay, are like the beauty spots of the waking world. Nobody hates freckles. They are a damn blessing.” She tugged on the wraps on one of her arms and wrapped it off quickly.

“Holy shit,” he marveled, seeing her freckle-invaded arm.

Rhon gasped and smacked him upside the head.

“What was that for-?”

“You don’t just say shit like that!”

“But you do- you JUST-”

“Just because it’s me, doesn’t mean it should be you,” Rhon growled.

“Aw, come on,” Jay was smiling, an eyebrow narrowed. “I’m VERY grown-up.”

“The minute you say grown-up you lose the ability to BE grown up,” she commented back. “But anyway. How is your charm coming along?”

He picked it up and placed it in front of her. It was very intricately carved, a dragon with the dot in its jaw in line with the flow of the shape.

“Okay, good,” she said. “Now we have to put this in the oven so it hardens.”

~

Scree A. Buckbeak III soared above the monastery on his midday hunt. His independence from Rhon was only certain times, usually in the relaxation periods of the day. Relaxation for her, that is. He flapped down to perch on the roof. His claws scraped the fresh brick, still so smooth and perfect because of how recent the monastery had been rebuilt. He twitched his head sideways so that his eye faced the commotion of the humans below.

A newly-old-bodied Sensei Wu sipped some tea under the shade below. In the shade beside him, Rhon leaned against an outer wall. Wu put the teacup down and closed his eyes in a focused thought.

In the blazing sun, six brightly-dressed ninja were already standing aside, weary. They had already grown tired of their previous excitement for the brand new training equipment, and as it moved and mechanized in the searing heat, they whined.

“But Sensei,” Jay, Scree’s favorite, argued. “We’re already so… trained up and old and learned. Do we have to still..?”

“Yeah,” the red one agreed. “Isn’t there better things to fight around the island somewhere?”

The green one stepped forward, looking a little reluctant. “I’m afraid I have to agree with them, Sensei. Why train on useless things when we could be saving people and fighting crime out there?”

Wu opened one eye, gazing at the ninja. “I am quite aware that you wish to be the heroes of every crime in Ninjago,” he replied, “however not every nuisance needs a ninja.”

Scree turned his head and scratched the back of his neck with his claw. As the ninja began to train like police dogs the sun sunk lower into the afternoon, lengthening their shadows across the course.

He watched as Jay stumbled over to the girl, exhaustion evident in every one of his limbs. “The FSM is merciless,” he groaned.

She giggled and patted his back. “What happened to all that spunk you always had after hours of working?”

“It’s just not the same anymore,” he replied, smiling. “I don’t feel like a student anymore. This is basically a profession. We’re on the end of eighteen.”

“Come on,” she said, but her hopes looked like they fell a little. If Jay was the most positive ninja, him being negative usually meant a real emergency. “Just because we’re a lot older doesn’t mean we have to be so serious all the time. We can work without the weight of people’s lives or possessions in our hands, and just have fun like we used to.”

“That’s much deeper advice than I signed up for, Nya,” he joked. “I’m just… tired.”

“We always are, but we gotta keep pushing,” she responded. She lowered her voice. “Especially because of old guy and old guy junior over there.”

They both laughed, glancing over to where Wu and Lloyd were working on moves.

“Think they’ll care if we just run and ditch the rest of the day?” She asked.

“Oh, yeah. We’ll be in trouble, big time,” Jay answered.

“What’s life without a little risk?”

“No, seriously. Let’s not.”

“Okay. Well in that case, let’s do what we have to!” she quickly kissed him on the cheek before jumping up and getting in a position with her weapon.

With renewed strength, Jay too jumped into action, facing her, ready.

The two worked like magic, in and out, back and forth. Fighting against each other was a rare thing for them now, that was sure. It was different from fighting alongside each other. They knew each other’s moves to well and rarely struck.

Scree hopped off the roof and flew away to hunt again.

    ~

After the clay had been heated, hardened, cooled, carved, and all the works, the gold had been poured and set out to cool the same, twice. Rhon slid the second golden half from the cast, handing it to Jay for him to ink in some black designs.

“Can’t believe you’re really growing up, buddy,” she commented as he focused on the intricate patterns.

“Don’t be nice, it’s creepy,” Jay said, but smiled. He put the inking instrument down and smiled as he looked at the two halves. He picked them both up in his hands, studying them as if he were an archaeologist studying an artifact. They were precious to him.

He looked up. “Thanks to the ends of Ninjago, aunt Rhon,” he said slightly nervously. “I’m actually really glad I was able to think of things and you know. Make it myself.”

“It’s all gotta be from the heart,” she pointed to her chest.

Scree soared in through a window and greeted Rhon with a nuzzle after landing on her shoulder. She patted his head.

“Now get outta here, kid. Show her how much she means to ya.”

#ninjago #fanfic #fanfiction #jay #nya #rhon #scree #ocs #oc

[lifeinahole27]

CS ff: “On the Two” (Chapter 9/9) (au)

Summary: He’s one bad trip from ending up in AA, and she’s one performance away from a solid job and moving closer to home. Their paths were unlikely to cross until Camp Hope brought them together. How and why they meet and intertwine is against the odds, and definitely against the rules, but will that really stand in their way? A Dirty Dancing inspired modern au.

Rating: E

Content Warnings: Borderline alcoholism, very brief mentions of past relationships, mentions of the loss of a limb - this fic is primarily tame but I’ll do my best to tag anything that might need tags.

Chapter Specific Warnings: Mentions of sex.

A/N: I cannot express my full gratitude that you’ve read this whole fic. I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed it and I can’t wait to see what I produce for the next one! Much love and appreciation for all of you reading this! <3

Catch it on FFN & Ao3! Or find the previous chapters here on Tumblr!

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 

There’s something to be said for having a girlfriend who dances. Emma’s definitely agile, and while she’s incredibly fit she’s still soft in all the right places. By now, Killian knows she sleeps in next to nothing and eats junk food as much as possible, with her snacks as fruits and vegetables in order to mislead people into believing she’s some kind of health nut. These are all things he knew before the summer at Camp Hope ended and life after began.

Thankfully, the list of things he knows about Emma just keeps getting longer.

“Not on the one, darling,” he murmurs against her ear, his hand resting on her stomach with her back against his chest. He tenses his fingers momentarily so she chortles in his hold. She’s ticklish, he’s discovered, and has exploited this fact many times over now. And when she’s not on a deadline, it’s so easy to derail any kind of attempt at dance rehearsals.

This studio is different than the one at camp. For one, there’s no issue with the heating and air conditioning, which is good considering it’s been snowing for three and a half days and shows no signs of stopping. But they’re cozy inside the studio space with hours to spare thanks to it being so close to the holidays.

Another difference in the studios is that this one is downstairs from Emma and Ruby’s apartment. The living space had come first, when they’d found the perfect apartment with just the right amount of space and the perfect price tag.

Downstairs, there’d been an empty retail rental big enough to be a studio. It had taken time, and some help from David and Snow (their way of making amends for what they later claimed was a huge oversight in their judgement), but they’re preparing to do a Grand Opening ceremony in two weeks to mark the official start of business. They’ve taken on a few private clients, but soon they’ll have classes and lessons of all kinds. They’ve even found a couple more teachers interested in employment.

With the two women on holiday break from the hotel’s entertainment schedule, Ruby drove up to Storybrooke to spend some time with Granny and Mulan. Already, she’s been able to go see her family and girlfriend more than expected since moving out of Boston.

That leaves the apartment free for Emma and Killian to spend their own time together. Today, with the snow continuing to thwart any plans they may have made, they’re down in the studio. The front of the building is all windows, and looks in at the space where Ruby or Emma will hold classes for groups of people. There are two slightly smaller spaces, however, and one of them is windowless, a line of mirrors against one wall, and a solid door so no one can peek in.

It’s not that anyone would be doing so today, of all days. Again, with the studio closed and the place to themselves, there’s no chance anyone will walk in on them. That’s a good thing, too, when Emma promptly abandons the steps to slide down Killian’s body, taking his sweatpants down as she goes. Thankfully, they’re near enough the wall that he leans forward, bracing his left forearm on the mirrored surface and reaching down to rest his hand on the back of her neck just as she engulfs him in one slick slide.

He had no idea the sex could get better, but he’s never claimed to know everything.

Afterwards, when they’re both satisfied and sprawled on the floor, Emma bundles up one of their shirts for Killian to use as a pillow before resting her cheek on his chest. Her breath ruffles the hair that’s slowly growing back, and he feels the way she smiles as she must notice the same thing. With wispy touches, she traces along his chest, around a nipple, and down his stomach. Her body starts shaking with mirth as Killian groans. It’s been five minutes, and yet his body already wants to start again. She’s brilliant at eliciting such a response from him.

“Darling, we need a bed if you wish to go for another round. And water. I need to rehydrate after that.”

She chuckles out loud this time, lifting herself to a sitting position next to him with one hand resting on his stomach. “Good idea. Maybe some food, too. Oh! D’you wanna make pancakes?”

“Whatever your heart desires, love.”

She grins, her eyes crinkling up as she does. Her hair is an absolute tangle, the last of the sweat still drying at her temples, but she looks even more beautiful every time he looks at her. “Come on, sailor.” She stands up, holding out a hand to help him up.

“Now, why does this feel awfully familiar? But I seem to remember being fully clothed the first time we did this.”

At mention of their disastrous first meeting, Emma throws her head back and laughs. He smiles as he watches her, taking in the relaxed stance despite her total lack of clothing. He lines up the images in his mind of that first memory of her hovering over him, her face pinched in annoyance, her lips pursed as she tried to coax him off the ground. How long ago that night feels compared to where they are now.

With one more bracing breath, Killian sits up, taking her offered hand and helping to gather their clothes. They’ll clean later, top to bottom, as they did with the camp studio. For now, however, he wants to make her some hot chocolate and help her with the pancakes. They slide on only what’s necessary, and then Killian sends her on her way up the back entrance while he gathers the rest of their discarded clothing. He pauses before he shuts off the lights, looking at the man that stands in the mirror and smiling. If he could go back to May and let his past self in on the secret, he may have been less reluctant to go to camp, even if it all seems surreal.  

He never figured dancing would become something he did on the side. To his surprise, Regina had followed through with the offer to sign Killian on as a part-time entertainer, even after she learned that he was a total amateur, taught only in the weeks leading up to their performance. Twice now, he’s danced on their performing nights, once with Emma and once with Ruby. They’ve even started teaching him a few new dances that they’ll start using after the New Year begins so he has more than a single Mambo in his repertoire.

It was all a whirlwind after the summer ended at Camp Hope. He and Emma had a week in the city together before she and Ruby began hunting for a new apartment. He helped any way he could, but mostly he was happy to be able to take Emma out on dates after their initial return. When she officially relocated to Portland, he weighed his options for a couple weeks before deciding it was also time for a change of scenery for him.

But instead of moving to Portland with Emma, he went further. One weekend in October before the hotel job officially began, when she was tied up with planning meetings with Ruby and Regina, Killian drove to Storybrooke. He took David and Snow out to dinner, and informed them he wanted to move to town, and that he’d like to offer his services for maintaining the camp.

It was awkward, at first, with David. Somehow, the entire time they talked, Killian was sure the man was going to forbid him from seeing Emma, like Killian was a suitor for David’s princess daughter, but the demand never came. The dinner helped to smooth over the last rough edges from the incident over the summer, and it helped that they got to see how dedicated he was to helping around the camp – that he intended on staying in Emma’s life.

After seeing what Killian could still do as far as repairs and maintenance to the cabins, the tension eased even further. When the spring hits, Killian will go to camp again to help Marco, their lead wood-worker, to make some renovations. He’s discovered that he works wonderfully with the older man, even if his adult son, August, can be a bit much sometimes.

Killian shakes his thoughts free, finally extinguishing the lights and locking up the studio before jogging up the steps. He heads straight to Emma’s room to drop their clothes and tie on his robe, smiling for what feels like the millionth time today when he sees Emma’s missing from the hook.

The pancakes end up taking a little longer than he or Emma intended, primarily because she looks too tempting in her robe, standing there mixing batter as she hums along to whatever song is playing from the radio in the kitchen. He presses up close behind her, finding a spot just above her ear as he inhales.

“Something smells delicious.”

“I haven’t even started cooking them, yet.”

“I’m not talking about the pancakes,” he says, moving forward to nuzzle the side of her face.

Her smile grows, and she spins around to kiss him, then – fiercely and fondly all in the same move – until she breaks away. Her eyes search his face as her hands rub up to his shoulders and back down.

“What?” There’s something there behind her expression, but she doesn’t look sad or upset, so he knows the answer can’t be bad.

“I’m just… happy. Still surprises me sometimes.”

With a sweeping look of his own, he gives her a small smile. “Aye, love. Me too.”

She leans up, then, kissing him again, letting it quickly morph from a tender moment to one filled with passion. She has him backed up against the table in no time, one hurried “To hell with the pancakes,” thrown out for good measure as she takes control of the kiss. Their robes are pushed off to the side, dropped to the floor like their clothes were earlier, and they truly put the kitchen table to the ultimate test of how much weight and activity can take place on top of it without collapsing.

Killian makes a mental note to thoroughly clean the kitchen when they’re done, as well.

With one kind of appetite filled once more, they finally get down to the business of making their very late second breakfast. The rest of the day is spent on the couch in their pajamas, fuzzy blankets wrapped around the both of them as they catch up on whatever is on her Netflix queue.

It’s been six months since they met, and five since things took a turn for romance, but Killian’s mind wanders away to what comes next. It’s those thoughts of the future that follow him into his dreams, and he wonders what kind of ring Emma might like best.

-x-

“Killian’s going to ask me to marry him,” Emma says quietly into her phone. The screeching response is loud to her own ears, so she’s glad she’s sitting in the living room and far away from the man in question, soundly sleeping in her bed.

It takes Ruby just a couple seconds to calm down again before she starts her line of questions. “Wait, did you talk to him about it? How do you know this?”

“So, Killian talks in his sleep. Not often, and most of the time it’s total nonsense, but I was just dozing off last night when he grabbed my hand and asked me what kind of ring I want him to get. Completely asleep, dead to the world, and he just told me he wants to marry me.”

He never talked when they were sleeping together at the camp. It wasn’t until about a month of actually dating him that he first babbled some words at her as she was waking up to make breakfast at his apartment. Last night was the clearest he’s ever spoken to her in his sleep, though, as if the message defied being garbled by sleep.

Once, the very thought of getting married would cause her chest to constrict in panic. Now, however, she has that feeling you get when you’re trying not to laugh while speaking. As it is, she can’t fight the blissful smile stretching across her whole face.

“And what kind of ring should I tell him to get when he asks?”

“His subconscious has already ruined part of the mystery. Let it be a surprise. I trust you to know what I like.” “And you’re not freaking out?” “You know, I would’ve a couple months ago. Probably right after we slept together I still would’ve run away. But now,” she pauses, trying to think of the best way to describe how she’s feeling. She wants to run, all right, straight down an aisle with Killian waiting for her at the end of it.

“Now it’s just right?” Ruby finishes for her.

“Exactly. Okay. Merry Christmas and all that, in case I don’t talk to you tomorrow. Send my best to Mulan, and tell Granny thanks for the cookies. We have been steadily working our way through them since we opened the package.”

“We already finished ours, honestly. And same to you and Killian. You guys coming up tomorrow or Christmas Day?”

“Tomorrow, as long as the roads are clear. I think the snow was due to stop last night.”

“Good. Drive carefully. Try not to have sex on everything.”

“Too late,” Emma says. Chortling as Ruby starts squawking again on the other line. “Okay, bye!” She ends the call before she gets hearing damage in her ear, still chuckling to herself as she stands up from the ball she’d curled up into on the couch. With a long stretch and yawn, Emma makes her way back to the bedroom where Killian is still sleeping.

She tilts her head as she looks at him from the doorway, his face eased of any expression, his breathing soft and even. His brace and prosthetic are sitting on a shelf she installed especially for him, and his hand rests on the spot she vacated in her need to bubble over with her secret just a bit ago.

Once, Emma found Killian sleeping on the side of a trail, and the thought of that shared memory from the day before makes her snort. The noise causes Killian to stir, and he blinks his eyes open to search for her.

“Coming back t’ bed, love?”

“Yeah, be right there,” she tells him, turning once to go use the bathroom and get a glass of water before she curls up with Killian again. She knows that with the late hours they kept the night before and all their strenuous activity, they’re likely to stay in bed all morning if they can. It is Christmas Eve-Eve, and they have nowhere to be today.

There’s still a nervous flutter in her belly as she climbs back into the bed, back into the sleepy embrace Killian bestows upon her after she’s situated under the covers. She rests with her head on his shoulder, his arm loosely wrapped around her back, and thinks about how much life has changed since this time last year. For one, her bed was definitely empty. And for another, her bed was in Boston, her heart locked away, her future uncertain.

Now she’s snuggled to a man that helped her move this bed into this very room, with her heart next to his, and she’s happier than she ever imagined she could be. And now, apparently, he wants to marry her. It takes a lot of effort to not let the giddy laughter erupt once more, and she focuses instead on the other developments that have taken place to get her mind off the elephant in the unconsciousness.

When she moved to Portland, Emma wasn’t sure what was going to happen with her relationship with Killian. They’d barely made it past a third date before she and Ruby signed a lease for this place, so there was a lot she and Killian hadn’t been able to discuss yet. She knew she loved him, and that he loved her. And that alone was a shock, still. Of all things Emma was expecting from camp this year, falling in love in such a short period of time was not one of them.

Though they hadn’t been together long, that didn’t make Emma any less sure of her emotions. She kind of figured when she was willing to invite him to her cabin that night after their performance that it had to be something bigger than a one night stand.

And then came the end of camp. Killian and Liam both stuck around after all the guests checked out to help out any way they could. Killian explained later that he felt he owed it to David and Snow for not decking him on the spot, and he wanted to give them back something for all they gave to him. Even after the studio was cleaned and locked up for the season, and her car packed to the brim with all their gear, he still stuck around.

There were several jobs that Killian was perfectly fit for, given his background in building things, and he helped Leroy make some repairs, helped Marco fix up some of the furniture in a cabin where he hadn’t had time to update it yet, and he helped David with anything the man even hinted at needing help with. Sure, they snarked their way through any and every job they did together, but Emma could see at the end of their clean-up week that David was fighting smiles when Killian made a joke.

When she moved, Killian took the initiative to go make solid amends with her brother and sister-in-law. She was busy with rehearsals for an upcoming show at the hotel, but Killian assured her he would be fine, that he would backtrack and spend the night in Portland with her after dinner was completed. It was still nerve-wracking to wait around for news of that dinner, however. Almost worse than waiting for Regina when she and Ruby went to sign their contracts.

Of course, he surprised her in the best way possible when he told her he was moving to Storybrooke.

“I don’t ever want to make you choose between visiting me, and visiting your family. So I’m moving to where they are. David and Snow have even offered to lease out their old loft to me until I find a place of my own.”

The loft was a first home on their own for all of them, at one point or another. After Ruth passed away and David and Snow moved out to her old farmhouse, no one could see fit to let go of the apartment, so they sublet it during the summer months and kept it, just in case. And now, full circle, Killian was living in it. Because they hadn’t really talked about the future or what comes next between them, he’s just been nestled there until further notice.

It does make it really handy when she has a week off and she can hop up to see the Nolans. She stays with Killian and gets to see everyone for days on end, which is just about the most settled she’s felt since Ruth first took her in.

Killian mumbles in his sleep, turning to press his nose against her forehead, barely kissing the skin before he falls back to sleep once more. Emma wonders if they ever truly relaxed at camp, given how much more comfortable they seem to be now that it’s all said and done. Not that it really matters, since it all worked out, but she wonders what she would’ve done had her family truly banished her. She wouldn’t have let them. She shouldn’t have left like she did – especially without giving Killian a way to contact her – but she would’ve made sure it all worked out this way no matter what.

Her boyfriend’s budding friendship with her family is all just a bonus. As is her own slow-building relationship with Liam. Just as Killian experienced pushback with David, Emma had some problems getting along with Liam right off the bat. She’s pretty sure he was just looking out for Killian, but it took a heated conversation to turn it around. He’d been touting how he waited to start courting Tink until after camp was finished and they had time to get to know each other.

In one instance, it was a lovely lunch at Killian’s apartment in Boston right after she moved to Portland. In the next, the brothers were angrily talking over one another about morals and propriety and she thinks there was something about disrespect? She lost track quickly. She just remembers standing up between the two of them and telling them to both shut the hell up so they could talk it out like adults or take it out back like children.

It took some extra rum and whiskey, and another beer for her, but they hashed it all out that night. Liam is, as she guessed, incredibly protective of his younger brother. And changes had taken place really fast in their lives. She was the force that was taking Killian away from Liam, though she didn’t know that at the time.  When Killian moved, she made a promise to Liam that she would keep on Killian to call and FaceTime with his brother, but she’s never had to remind him once in the last couple months.

It helps that Liam comes up to Storybrooke once or twice a month on the weekends to visit Tink, so that the brothers don’t ever feel truly separated. And it also helps that Liam has seen the full turn-around in Killian from the beginning of the summer. Now, when Killian has a glass of rum, he stops at one. Full bottles are not a rarity anymore. In fact, since he moved, she’s pretty sure the same bottle of rum has been in his liquor stash.

After spending most of the morning doing absolutely nothing, Emma finally shoos Killian out of bed so she can get her laundry done and pack for the week they’re staying in Storybrooke. He helps by cleaning almost the entire apartment while she works on her task, helping to load up her laundry basket when it’s all done and bring it down the hall to her bedroom.

They make dinner together, a simple meal of spaghetti since there’s nothing left in the fridge. They make hot cocoa again after they’ve cleaned up from their meal, settling on the couch to watch Christmas movies until bedtime. She’s a little sad that the apartment is mostly bare of decorations. They put up a few small ones, but no tree this year.

First, neither she nor Ruby will be home to enjoy it on Christmas day, so what was the point. And second, it didn’t fit in the storage space located outside their door, so Emma reluctantly kept it in Storybrooke this year. So while the urge to decorate simmers in her right this very minute, it’s not like she even can. She tides herself over with a reminder that there will be a tree at David and Snow’s place, and she’ll appreciate that one to the fullest.

The drive up the coast is about what Emma was expecting it would be. Enough of the snow has melted down that it’s not treacherous, but it’s not a quick and easy drive, either. Because of this, they end up arriving at the town line about an hour and a half beyond what they were hoping for.

“We’ll just come straight out to the farmhouse,” Emma says to Snow on the phone.

“No, honey, go to the loft and settle in a bit. We can wait. Dinner’s not for hours, still. We understand.”

Even though she protests one more time that she wants to see them, and sooner rather than later, Snow still insists they go do what they need to at the loft first. Maybe if she wasn’t so tired from the constant vigilance on the trip up, she would’ve caught the note in Snow’s voice letting her know something was up.

But because she is that exhausted from the drive, she’s still completely blown away when Killian shoulders open the door to the apartment and they’re greeted with a puff of warm air and the scent of cinnamon instead of the chilled exterior they were expecting to come back to.

The whole place is decorated like Snow and David used to, with lights hanging from the exposed beams and railing of the loft above. The lamps suspended above the breakfast bar have tinsel wrapped around them, and the lights switched to red and green – something that used to absolutely delight Emma when she used to come over around the holidays. The one winter she was living here, they did the same thing, and that’s probably exactly why they did all this now.

“Surprise!” Snow says as she rounds the tree – Emma’s tree – set up in the corner by the bathroom, placing an ornament and sprucing as she goes. Her sister-in-law beams as she looks at Emma’s wonderment, and she finally remembers to close her mouth and push Killian through the door when David snorts from upstairs.

“We thought we’d give you a true Storybrooke welcome,” her brother says as he comes down the stairs, grabbing Emma’s suitcase and moving it to the side so he can shut the door behind the two of them. He helps Emma with her coat, taking Killian’s as well and hanging them on the hooks by the door. Only then does Emma remember how to function, to slip off her snow boots and take off her hat and gloves, stashing them in the appropriate places, only vaguely aware of Killian doing the same beside her.

After that, her only goal is to hug David and Snow. She starts with her brother, as he’s closest, and then to Snow who is painstakingly placing tinsel on the tree, making sure each and every strand looks perfect. “We were going to wait,” Snow explains, opening her arms and accepting the tight hug Emma gives her. “But we also wanted to surprise you once the drive kept getting longer and longer. We had plenty of time.”

There are even two stockings hung from screws in the brick wall, hung with twine so they rest just at the height they’d be at if there was a fireplace and mantel here. Hers is old and worn – the one that Ruth made for her when she first came to live with the Nolans – but Emma can see that the purple thread that spells her name has been refreshed with some glittery yarn accents. And now, one adorned with Killian’s name hangs next to it. She sees that he’s finally moved, as well, his fingers gliding along the delicately embroidered red.

“Look inside,” Snow urges, going to stand with David as the other two stand in awe of their stockings.

Killian casts one glance Emma’s way, lifting his eyebrow in question and she shrugs in response. In unison, they reach into the stockings and pull out small items wrapped in tissue paper. The item from hers feels like fragility, and she’s not mistaken when she unwraps the milky glass of a hand-blown ornament shaped like a swan. It’s likely by someone in town, and Emma makes a mental note to ask who so she can thank them in person, but her gaze is caught by Killian’s ornament.

It’s clearly one made by Marco, the handcrafted carving too detailed and precise to be done by anyone else, and she thinks it’s just a tall ship until Killian laughs once, finding the little pirate flag attached. Clearly, Marco had wheedled Killian’s love of ships and pirates out of her boyfriend at some point during their work together. She imagines he must’ve spent weeks working on this one ornament and adds a second trip to their thank-you-tour for the days following Christmas.

“Thank you,” Emma says as she turns to David and Snow. “For all of this.” She gestures to the apartment in whole, from tree to lights to stockings.

“We just thought it would be nice for your first Christmas back to feel as close to home as possible.”

She just barely stops herself from crying, but it’s a close thing. And now, with the ornaments, it’s not just Emma’s first Christmas, but both of theirs.

That night, Emma watches the lights stretch and twinkle as her eyes grow heavy. She and Killian are wrapped around each other, the blankets tightly tucked around them to keep out the December chill. She stares at everything they kept lit, watching some strands cycle through their programmed flashing and dancing.

Knowing that Killian is likely to ask her a very important question soon, Emma lets herself daydream about what a future with him will look like beyond the new year, or even the next one to come. If she squints just the right way, the loft transforms into somewhere bigger, and theirs. With rooms to fill with decorations and no landlords. She sees little shoes lined up by the ones they would keep at the door, and a little girl balanced on Killian’s feet as they dance together in the living room.

The image is so startlingly clear that Emma almost declares that they start trying right now, but she settles for slowly coaxing Killian back to full wakefulness, initiating lovemaking so sweet that her heart almost bursts with happiness somewhere in the middle, let alone the end that leaves her sweaty and panting and satisfied but craving, as always. He gives her everything she asks for and more, only letting himself chase release when he feels she’s been thoroughly pleased, and he kisses her tenderly after they’ve both cleaned up and crawled back into bed, whispering his love and merry wishes as they both drift off together.

A few days after the most perfect Christmas Emma could’ve ever imagined, she gets roped into making breakfast with Snow while David and Killian go out in search of more hot chocolate packets. When they come back, it might be her imagination but David’s eyes look a little misty. If Snow notices at all, she doesn’t say anything, and David must not share with her over the next couple months, because her sister-in-law is notoriously terrible at keeping secrets.

In the end, Killian hands her a ring of a different kind first, to a grand Victorian that she used to admire every time she drove by it, close to the water and large enough for her own practice space and a workshop for Killian. The other ring comes later, when they’re lying in bed together a year to the date after their first performance. Their future unfolds in the facets and sparkle, in the way Emma says yes after she slides to kneel on the floor in front of him.

Their first dance as husband and wife is definitely not a Mambo.

#cs ff #cs ff au #captain swan ff #captain swan au #sarah writes ff #cs multichap

[mthofferings2018]

Arukou

See Arukou’s existing works here.

Preferred contact methods: Email - [email protected] Tumblr - arukou-arukou

Preferred organizations:

Anything from the list of approved organizations

Will create works that contain:

Fluff, hurt/comfort, AUs, gen fic, team-as-family, PWP

Will not create works that contain:

On-screen non-con, sexual acts with bodily waste, A/B/O, character death, dark fic, Mpreg

-- Fic or other writing --

Auction ID: 94

Will create works for the following relationships:

Steve Rogers/Tony Stark - MCU, 616, Ults, Marvel Adventures, AA, EMH, AVAC; Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson - MCU; Bucky Barnes/Natasha Romanoff - MCU, 616, AVAC; Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter - MCU, AVAC; Steve Rogers/Tony Stark/Bucky Barnes - MCU; Clint Barton/Natasha Romanoff - MCU, AVAC; Avengers fandom OT6 gen or poly - MCU

Work Description:

I am a graduate student, so I may not be able to produce your work at a particularly quick pace, but I will get it done. Your auction work will be at least 5,000 words in length and most likely longer. My prior work for a fandom auction was "Temerity," which took me about six months to complete and rang it at roughly 40,000 words. Bidders are welcome to bid on me writing continuations of my previous works. If bidders are asking me to create a new, non-sequel work, a fairly detailed idea is appreciated, but not a necessity.

Ratings: G, Teen, Mature, Explicit

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#arukou #mth2018 #auction: fic #universe: au #universe: mcu #universe: 616 #universe: avac #universe: emh #universe: aa #universe: ma:a #universe: ults #ship: stony #ship: samsteve #ship: buckynat #ship: stuckony #ship: clintasha #ship: polyvengers #ship: steggy #char: avengers family

[otagamerkorin]

Turnabout to Hijink

My incredibly belated (so, so extremely belated) @aasecretsanta2017 gift for @defcnestrate! (Why it won’t let me @ you, I do not know.) I’m so sorry this took so long to get to you. (It actually was gonna to be up Monday, but my laptop decided to fuck up the formatting.) Thank you for being so patient with me. In return for the wait though, here’s a utter monstrosity of a fic! You asked for Ugly Christmas sweaters, Christmas fluff, Christmas dinner gone wrong, and this thing includes all of them. I hope you like it!

You can also read it over on AO3 here!: http://archiveofourown.org/works/13475997

(This actually takes place within an Deaths Averted AU I’ve been working on and is canonically connected to my SS fic from last year. There will be a brief  explanation of the AU under the cut, but beware, cause it contains spoilers for certain character things in Duel Destinies and Spirit of Justice. For those who don’t with to be spoiled, the fic itself is safe for the most part, nothing major spoiled, but I will bold the AU description itself so it can easily be scrolled past in case. Happy reading!)

Warning: Will contain mentions of someone’s cause of death (during a trial), guns get pointed at people and there’s a fight scene at one point.

Deaths Averted AU Explanation: 

Ok, so there’s really only two big changes between the canon AA stuff and the AU. Those two things being (WARNING HUGE SPOILERS INBOUND! IF YOU DIDN’T READ THE EARLIER WARNING AND DON’T WANNA BE SPOILED TURN BACK NOW!...OK?...OK, ONWARDS WITH AU) that Fulbright and Dhurke aren’t dead. In Fulbright’s case, the Phantom actually kept him alive in case he needed fresh DNA from him for like check ups and such. Simon realizes this after they capture Phany and they go rescue him. Once he’s out of the hospital, his job as a detective gets reinstated and he returns to being Blackquills partner. (Both professionally and in a shippy way.)(I also headcanon that during the first few months of their relationship, Blackquill did have the actual Fulbright with him, so there’s already an actual bond going there.) As for Dhurke, things get a bit weirder. Basically, when Maya started channeling him, his body was still somewhat alive, just without his soul bound to it, since he was getting close to death. So, when he put his body in the crypt, since it was specifically designed to preserve people, it ended up slowing down his vitals a ton and keeping his body alive those few days till they found him. At which point he kinda defrosted, and was rushed to the hospital when they realized the dead body was not so dead. (Mind you, Dhurke had no idea this was happening, so he was more than a little surprised to wake up again and not be in someone else’s body.)

In terms of how this connects to my previous story (which can be read right here: http://otagamerkorin.tumblr.com/post/154933722995/the-christmas-turnabout), it basically just takes place a year later. Any Athena/Blackquill implications (which were purposefully vague to begin with) from the previous fic are basically getting retconned, I view them as more of a sibling relationship anyway, but everything else is staying the same.

(There will be a few scattered mentions of someone names Terrwyn throughout this. She’s one of my AA OC’s, who is a girl Blackquill takes on as his protege, but she really has no effect on the plot.)

See authors note at the bottom for more interesting lil tidbits!

“So you see, my client couldn’t have committed the murder. Because at the time he was still drunk inside the bar, singing karaoke! And that security footage is the proof!”

Phoenix slammed a hand down on the table with a bang and for a moment the courtroom went quiet.

Then the silver haired man across the way shook his head with a confident smile.

“Wright, I believe your age is beginning to show.”

Reaching for his controller, the prosecutor began to rewind the footage displayed on the monitor nearby. The count down in the corner flew backwards, stopping just before 8 o’clock.

“Since Mr. Wright seems to be showing a spot of memory loss, let’s review shall we? Our defendant, Mr. Teatrale, arrived at the Spearmint Pub at 7:55. Once there he joined a group of revelers in the corner and began ordering drinks. Unfortunately, the angle of the camera does not allow us to see a portion of that area, so we are unable to see all that goes on there, but thanks to his chosen seat we can still see the suspect.”

Another click and the footage jumped once more, popping back to normal speed at 8:30. They watched as the casually dressed man glanced around before standing and moving off towards then corner once more, out of sight of the camera.

“We aren’t able to see exactly where Mr. Teatrale goes from here, but from the floor plan of the bar we can presume that he went into the bathroom. All other exits are visible in the tape, so if he returned we would be able to see it. Here is where things get interesting however.”

The footage ran forward, everything appearing normal, till someone suddenly ran in through the front doors at 11 sharp, inaudibly shouting and waving to gain the bars attention.

“Here is the moment where the body was discovered. The victim, Ms. Lyra Minora, was found strangled behind the restaurant, her time of death determined to be approximately 9:15. And we can all see, during this time Mr. Teatrale never returns from the bathroom. This footage, along with the open window found in the bathroom, just large enough for a slight man like our suspect to slip through, shows that there is no evidence he was inside the bar at the time of the murder!”

There was a clamor of muttering and discussion from the gallery as Edgeworth lay the controller back down with a smile, looking up at his rival. For a moment Wright merely stared at him, before suddenly crossing his arms and giving a smirk.

“You sure about that Edgeworth?” He replied and the prosecutor blinked a few times in surprise.

“W-What?”

With that the spiky haired attorney retrieved his own remote, rolling back the footage to the suspects exit to the bathroom.

“Yes, it’s true that we see the suspect leave the room. However, we also see him return!”

He paused the footage and leaned forward, pointing to a figure entering from the corner of the screen.

“There he is, plain as day!”

“...Wright, that’s a woman.”

“Nooo, that is a person in a dress. There is a big different, as you all know.” The blue dressed lawyer pointed out, holding a finger up in a matter-a-fact manner, and the prosecutor gave a huff of frustration.

“But the figure you pointed out looks nothing like our suspect!” He replied, and he was right. The new arrival’s long braid of dark red hair was a far cry from the suspects light brown, and their face looked a bit more angular and long, accented by a dose of tasteful makeup.

“Ah, Edgeworth, you forget. Mr. Teatrale is a musical theater professor. Knowing how to disguise and change one’s appearance is a part of his profession. You’d be surprised what one can do with a nice wig and some makeup skills.”

The prosecutor stood there simmering for a moment before taking a deep breathe, calming himself before he continued.

“All right, Wright. Let us suppose that the figure we see in the video is indeed the defendant. Tell me, where would he have gotten these supposed supplies? I doubt you’d just find a wig and makeup laying around in a bar’s bathroom, let alone a dress.”

“Of course not. That’s why he brought his own.”

“He did?” The judge interjected, looking simultaneously fascinated and befuddled by the whole situation.

“That he did your honor. Doesn’t it strike anyone else odd that Mr. Teatrale would bring such a large bag with him? One wouldn’t normally need a carpet bag for a night on the town. Unless they needed to bring another outfit. A dress for example.” The lawyer replied with a grin, pointing out the man’s choice of accessory in the video.

“And I’ll bet dollars to donuts, if you there to go and check the defendant’s home, you’d find that same dress hanging in his closet at this exact moment!”

He could tell that his opponent was beginning to feel the pressure by the way his knuckles went white as he clutched the table edge. He gave a little cough to clear his throat when he noticed the blue clad man watching and straightened.

“Well then, do you have any other evidence, or are you done with your foolish ramblings?” He asked, glare seemingly challenging the defense attorney to answer and Wright smirked, rising to meet the challenge.

“Oh, don’t you worry, there’s plenty more where that came from.”

He quickly riffled through the court record, giving a little sound of victory as he found the piece he needed.

“Let’s take a look at this, shall we?” He asked cheekily, bringing the new video up on the monitor.

“As luck would have it, one of the bar’s patrons that night was celebrating her birthday. One of her friends happened to take some video of the festivities. After the crime, it was submitted as evidence, but the police didn’t seem to find anything useful on it. However, they might have been looking in the wrong place. Let’s take a look see, shall we?”

The footage was blurry at first, finally clearing as the phone’s camera managed to focus.

“Happy birthday Aubrey!”

The wild haired girl grinned at the cry that went up from around the table, closing her eyes for a moment before ducking down to blow out the candles on the cake before her. Another cheer sounded from the party goers and she laughed. As another one of the celebrators began to cut the cake, a nise came from offscreen.

“Hmmm, hmmm, oh, yeah, that’s a good pitch.”

The videographer turned towards the quiet vocalizing, catching sight of a familiar green dressed figure standing atop the small karaoke stage across the room. The filmer gave a gasp and reached over to grab the birthday girls arm.

“Aub! Aub, look! Aria’s here tonight!”

The girl turned and spotted the so-named woman and her face lit up, snatching up a plate of cake and making a beeline towards the stage, the rest of the group quickly following.

“Aria, I didn’t know you were coming tonight! I would have invited you!” She exclaimed, drawing up beside the stage edge, and the figure looked down at her with a bright smile.

“Aubrey darling! So good to see you!”

She spotted the cake the girl held and her grin grew wider.

“Oh, is somebody celebrating something? I wish I’d have known, I’d have brought you something. Well then, has the birthday girl got any requests?” She asked with a coy look and the girl giggled. She leaned up to whisper something in the woman’s ear and Aria’s eyes lit up.

“Ooo, good choice.” She replied, straightening from her bend and punching a few commands into the rather hi-tech looking karaoke machine. Music began to pour from the speakers and she grinned, lifting the mic to sing.

“Where all the boys at with emotional stability?”

“Nice car, a CEO, and almost just as smart as me”

“Where all the boys at with financial security?”

“A doctor, a model, a man of possibilities.”

Her voice was clear and rich, expertly hitting the higher notes while easily dropping down to hit the lower ones as well.

“(They say!) Expectations are too high.”

“And you’ll never find a guy like that.”

“It’s driving you mad, honey.”

She swung her hips as she sang, shoulders giving a little shake along to the beat as the crowd interjected with their own lyrics.

“(They say!) That its just a waste of time.”

“Get your head out of the sky.”

“But why? (Here we go!)”

She smirked and held out a hand to the birthday girl, who gladly took it and allowed herself to be pulled up on stage. The two began to dance together to the cheers of the crowd as they sang.

“Oh I, wish I could synthesize, a picture perfect guy.”

“Oh I, oh I.”

“Six feet tall and super strong.”

“We’d always get along.”

“Alright, alright.”

“Oh, he'd pick me up at eight.”

“And not a minute late.”

“Cause I don’t like to wait, no.”

“Kind and ain’t afraid to cry, or treat his momma right

“That's right, that's what I like.”

This went on for several minutes, more people joining them on stage as they made their way through a number of songs, Aria the center of attention the whole time. She also managed to make her way through a few more drinks in the process and by the time Phoenix paused the video halfway through the 4th song, she had begun to develop a slight flush along her cheeks.

“This goes on for a while, but I think you get a good picture. As you can see from the timestamp in the corner, “Aria” and the other residents of the bar were celebrating at the estimated time of the murder.”

“Alright, so we’ve determined that this woman has an alibi at the time of the murder. How does this prove she and our defendant are one in the same? All your evidence up to this point has been mere speculation.”

“Well, if she isn’t Mr. Teatrale, then she sure is stealing his drinks.”

The prosecutor made a quiet sputtering noise, blinking quickly in befuddlement.

“W-What? What evidence is there of that? The records we recovered don’t even mention what the defendant ordered that night.”

“True, but let’s think about this. I might not be an alcohol connoisseur, but something tells me that a singer like Mr. Teatrale, especially one currently using specialty throat lozenges, would stick to smoother alcohols, like wines and ports. And if we take a look at both our videos...”

He brought up a side by side of the clips, zooming in on the two figures each reaching to pluck a glass off the tray on the table.

“We can see that both of them are the only ones at the table not drinking some form of hard liquor.”

There were loud murmurs and discussion from the gallery and he crossed his arms with a confident smirk, glancing over at Edgeworth. The one of the man’s hands that was resting on the table was clenched so hard Wright would be surprised if he wasn’t leaving nail marks in his palm, eyes narrowed in equal measures frustration and determination. He wasn’t giving up this fight just yet. Good thing Phoenix wasn’t either. He smirked, cockily leaning over his table towards the other man.

“And if that wasn’t enough to convince you, let me ask you one little thing: Where did Aria come from?”

This seemed to throw the prosecutor off guard, a flash of panic streaking across his face as the realization hit him.

“I-I don’t think I follow.”

“Take a look at the footage. We see Aria exit the bathroom. We even see her drunkenly head out with the partiers before the body discovery. But we never see her go in.”

“Yes, but the section of footage we have only starts a bit before Mr. Teatrale’s arrival. She could have gone in before the footage starts.”

“And have her hiding out in the bathroom for 2 hours with nobody noticing? I doubt it. It’s far more likely that she arrived far later, simply with a different appearance.” Wright grinned.

Edgeworth looked about ready to blow a gasket, bend low over the table, teeth grinding and sweat pouring down his face.

“Conclusive. Evidence.” He gritted out, eyes narrowed, and Wright froze.

“If you’re so confident that the defendant and this woman are one and the same, then give us some hard proof!”

“You do being up some good points Mr. Wright.” The judge chimed in, nodding his head wisely.

“But, I believe what Mr. Edgeworth says remains true. All you’ve shown us so far are coincidences. Unless you manage to show us some hard evidence of your claim, I’m afraid I’ll have to call my verdict.”

Just as it always did, the defense attorney’s mind flew into a panic. Crap, he hadn’t though this far ahead. Of course his defendant was Aria, it was obvious to all of them. But damn it, he didn’t have anything that actually proved it. Unless they put the defendant in a dress and had him sing right now there was no way to-

The man eyes lit, up, a smile snapping into place. No! He had exactly what they needed!

“Mr. Teatrale?” He called out with a smirk, and the man who’d been watching from the witness stand jumped, not expecting to be called on.

Mr. Festos Teatrale was a thin wisp of a man, tall and gangly with flyaway brown hair and wire rimmed glasses. From the moment Wright had met him, the man’s nervous disposition was fully on view, flinching away from sounds and staying quiet when he could. Defiantly not what one would expect of a professor of musical theater. In truth, the only reason the investigation had landed on him to begin with was due to his past associations with victim. One of his former students, the two had been on either end of a long running feud for several years, one that the police believed ended in her death. It hadn’t helped that a note reading “Please come to the bar at 9:00. I’d like to right our wrongs.” had been found hidden away in her jacket during the investigation.

“Y-Yes Mr. Wright?” He squeaked, rubbing his arms to calm himself.

“From what I’ve heard, you have quite the singing voice. Would you mind giving us a demonstration?” Wright asked and the smaller man looked around nervously at the gallery and guards.

“R-Right now? Just out of the blue? I’m not really warmed up or anything...”

He glanced over at Wright’s pleading look and gave a little sigh, shoulders slumping.

“But...I-I can try...”

With that he took a deep breath to calm himself and closed his eyes. He fidgeted in place for a moment before opening his mouth and beginning to sing.

“One foot in, one foot out. One moment away from shutting down. “I’m too complete to need something, for someone who’s not on my frequency.”

The courtroom stilled as they listened, and Phoenix grinned. Just as he’d though. While their client had normal, if slightly high, speaking voice, his singing voice was that of a counter-tenor, easily reaching up into the woman’s range. A perfect fit for the one on the tape. As he sang out, a little smile came to his face and he relaxed.

“So if you’ve got what it takes, then baby don’t hesitate. “Hey, just blow me away cause I’m waitin.”

He gave a few shoulder pops along to the words and across the room Edgeworth paled, instantly recognizing the motion from the video.

“Don’t need no fake promises, someone who knows who he is.”

“Someone who’s ready for this cause it’s waitin.”

“All these other boys, they’re just not enough. So talk to me, come to me, hurry up.”

“Hey baby, I’ve never been in love.”

“But I wanna be, I wanna be, so hurry up.”

He paused, opening his eyes and looking around nervously. As though a spell had been broken, the gallery began to applaud, and he blushed, grinning bashfully.

“Quite impressive Mr. Teatrale.” The judge interjected, clapping a few more times before lowering his hands.

“And I do believe you just proved Mr. Wright’s point.”

“Anything you’d like to say defendent?” Wright asked, giving the man a questioning look. The singer bit his lip, staring down at the stand for a moment before taking a deep breath.

“...Alright, yes. The woman you see in the video is me.” He admitted, looking up at the gathered eyes shyly.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did this whole thing come about?” The Judge asked and the younger man chuckled sheepishly.

“Well, I love singing, but god I just get so nervous in front of people out in public. I thought maybe that if they didn’t know it was me, it wouldn’t be so bad. So Aria was born. Well, technically I never actually planned the name bit, the people at Wintergreen just started calling me that after a while, but I think it’s a good enough choice...plus it’s just nice to be called pretty once in a while.”

“Understandable.” The old man nodded in agreement,

“Well then, any objections from the prosecution?”

“...Fine, we’ve proved that the suspect could potentially be the person seen in this video.” Edgeworth begrudgingly admitted.

“But that still doesn’t explain the murder weapon.”

He riffled through the files on his desk and gathered a group of papers.

“According to the autopsy report, the victim was strangled with some form of cloth, leaving abrasions on her neck deep enough to draw blood, and traces of mint were found in the wound. The same type of mint found in the defendant’s specialty cough drops. In addition, Mr. Teatrale’s tie, one which he was seen wearing when he entered, was found outside the building, also containing traces of mint.”

Phoenix felt himself still, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.

“Any idea why your tie would be out there?” He asked the defendant and the man nervously shook his head.

“I-I set it on the bathroom windowsill when I was changing. I-I must have forgotten it in there when I packed up.”

Well, back to panic town it seemed. He spread his own evidence out over the table, eyes flickering over it desperately. There had to be something here. Something that would tie all of this together. He had an idea of where he needed to take this trial, but he needed something to get them there. Damn it, damn it, there had to be something!

His gaze flickered over the crime scene photo’s showing the bars exterior and paused. The photo showed the establishment back lot, where the murder had taken place, but the edge of the glowing neon sigh denoting its name was still slightly visible around the corner. Wintergreen...

Something clicked and the man grinned, snatching up the picture and looking up at his opponent.

“You’re correct about that Edgeworth, and it’s pretty solid evidence in your favor.” Wright replied with a nod and the prosecutor stared at him before giving a long, almost defeated sigh.

“But?”

“BUT, do you know where else in the vicinity mint could be found? Mint juleps. Which just so happen to be the bar signature drink.”

“...Wright, are you implying...?”

The attorney didn’t even reply, just grinned and turned to the Judge.

“Your honor, I’d like to bring Mr. Collins to the stand.”

“...Yes, yes, I believe that would be a wise idea.” The old man replied, seeming to catch onto the thread the young man was dangling.

“Bailiff, if you would please.”

Jack Collins was just as intimidating on the stand the second time around as the first, all wide shoulders and sharp lines, the silk vest and flowing shirt of his uniform impeccable. According to the records, he and his twin brother Gibson had bought and rebuilt the old bar several years back, running the small establishment nearly solo ever since. It was a job that took both class and a no-nonsense attitude, the latter of which was on fine display.

“Is there a problem gentlemen? I’ve already told you everything I know.” He asked, crossing his arms and looking out over the assembled figures in annoyance.

“Oh, just a few questions. Shouldn’t take long.” Phoenix replied and the man gave a frustrated sigh.

“Fine, but please make this quick. The longer I’m here, the longer the bar stays closed.”

“Of course. Mr. Collins, you said before that you and your brother are the only ones on staff at the restaurant currently?”

“That is correct, yes. It’s hard work, but we manage.”

“That’s very impressive. According to the court record, you are the establishment’s bartender while your brother is the cook, correct?”

“Yes. We are both able to mix drinks, but I’m sad to admit that I’ve never had much of a hand for the food side of things.”

“That’s a shame. Though I must say, you’re a very well dressed man Mr. Collins.” He continued with a smile. The witness gave him a pleasantly surprised look, while in his peripherals he could see the prosecution shoot him a slightly jealous expression that read ‘What the hell Wright?”

“Well, I certainly like to think so.” The bartender replied with a bit of a smile.

“From what you told me during the investigation, both you and you brother’s uniforms are custom tailored. That’s some nice attention to detail. Even those signature sashes you wear are commissioned.” He continued and they could practically see the man puff up with pride, a wry smile creeping cross his face.

“Right you are Mr. Wright. No two like them in the world.”

The defense attorney’s eyes seemed to flash, a smirk of his own streaking across his face. Hook line and sinker.

“No two like them hmm? Interesting.” He replied and the man’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well, Mr. Collins, you’ve just brought up quite the interesting inconsistency.”

“Inconsistency?” The Judge questioned him.

“Oh, just a little something I noticed in the security footage.”

Snatching up his remote, he skipped through the footage on screen, stopping at a certain spot and zooming in on the establishments bar.

“Mr. Collins, that’s you in the video here, right?” He asked, pointing to the figure polishing a glass.

“...Yes...” The man replied, cocking his eyebrow in suspicion.

“Alright then, let’s see what happens.”

As they watched, a customer strode up to the bar and ordered a drink, Jack nodding and quickly setting to work. With practiced flair he began to mix ingredients and liquids, quickly producing a well-mixed cocktail. Grabbing a pair of scissors, he turned and snipped a sprig off the plant on the shelf behind him, settling it gently on the drinks surface. As he turned to set down the scissors however, his sleeve caught the glass and it tipped back over towards him. He made a grab for it, but wasn’t quite fast enough, and it clattered over, splashing the drink across the front of his uniform. He scowled and apologized to the customer, quickly making them another.

“Now, Mr. Collins, would you say the drink you made there was a mint julep?” Phoenix asked, pausing the video. The man on the stand scowled, brow furrowing deeper as he seemed to catch on.

“Well, I don’t really remember, Mr. Attorney. I made a lot of drinks that night.”

“Hmm, I can understand that. But if I’m not mistaken, that plant behind you is a wintergreen mint, correct? According to your menu, the only drink you make garnished specifically with a fresh wintergreen sprig is your signature julep.”

“...I suppose it must have been.” He growled between his teeth, staring daggers at the attorney.

“Interesting. Now then, afterwards we see you leaving the bar for a time.”

They turned once more to the screen and watched as the bartender looked down at himself and grimaced, swiping some of the liquid off before turning and walking through the door into the kitchen.

“If you don’t mind my asking, why did you leave?”

“I was covered in alcohol you idiot. I went to go clean up. Watch the tape, you can see me come back a few minutes later.” Jack replied, his voice lifting for a moment from the controlled tone he’d been keeping.

It was Edgeworth this time who took control of the footage. He sped it forward, and as they watched Jack did indeed reemerged a few minutes later.

“I don’t see how the witness changing clothes has anything to do with the case Wright.” The prosecutor declared, but the glint in his eye told the defense attorney he was secretly hiding a smile.

“Oh, it has everything to do with the case.” Wright shot back, turning back to the witness.

“Mr. Collins, you changed into fresh clothes while you were backstage?”

“Are you deaf? I just said so!” He snapped, but Wright simply smiled amicably and tilted his head.

“Then what about your sash?”

This caught the man off guard and his eyes widened, a streak of fear bolting across his expression.

“M-My sash?”

“You just told us that there only two sashes like that in the world, so you obviously wouldn’t have an extra laying around. And yet, here we see you in a fresh one. Where did you get it?”

“I-I borrowed my brothers. The rest of the outfit was clean extras we keep on hand.” If you doubt me, just watch. He came out into the main room when the body was discovered.”

Edgeworth quickly fast forwarded the footage and they saw an identical man indeed emerge from the kitchen shortly after the commotion started, dressed in a matching uniform, sans the sash. Yet the smile stayed firmly stretched cross the defense attorneys face.

“Hmm, that’s interesting, because the footage seems to say differently.”

The man froze, staring at Wright in disbelief.

“What?”

“If we look here, we can see a stain on the shirtsleeve of the bartender in the footage. The type you might get while cooking. Mr. Collins says he changed into clean clothes, and yet here’s evidence that he didn’t. Unless the shirt we see here is also his brothers. But now why would he do that, rather than just grab a new one? Unless the man in the footage isn’t our witness at all.”

“W-What are you trying to say!?” the man snarled and Phoenix slammed a hand down on the table.

“I’m saying that the man we see in the video is not our witness, but in fact his twin brother! Because at the time, the witness was outside killing the victim!”

The gallery erupted into loud discussion as the bartender smashed his fists on the stand with a roar.

“This is slander!”

“Order! Order in the court!” The Judge yelled, slamming his gavel down a number of times before the place quieted. Before the last of the voices could even fade, Edgeworth was already on the move.

“Wright, there are no rear exits from the kitchen and all the others pass by cameras! It’s the reason only one brother was brought in as a witness, it was impossible for him to have seen anything! So how do you propose that he managed to get outside?!”

“The same way we thought Mr. Teatrale did, through a window.”

“Have you gone daft Wright?! The only window in the kitchen is a sky-!”

He froze, eyes going wide, and Wright grinned.

“The skylight. On his own it of course would have been impossible to reach. But with the help of another...”

“Mr. Wright are you implying...!?” The Judge asked.

“Yes, your honor! I believe this murder was a two man affair! After helping him up through the skylight, the witness’s twin took his place at the bar to fool the cameras, while his brother met up with the victim outside!”

The witness couldn’t even reply to the accusation, too busy boiling with rage to form a single word. The judge leapt to action in his stead, eyes wide and disbelieving.

“B-But why would these twins want to kill the victim?”

“I wasn’t too sure of that myself, till something Mr. Collins said peaked my interest. When we first mentioned the victim during our investigation, he called her by her first name. That made me curious, so I asked Detective Skye to look into a few things for me.”

He gave a smile over to the girl lurking in the corner of the courtroom and she gave him a thumbs up.

“What she found was very interesting.”

He flipped open a file that had been laying off to the side, grinning as he read through it.

“A little over a year ago, Ms. Minora worked as a waitress at Wintergreen. A few months into her employment, there was a break in and a large amount of money was stolen. The alarm was never flipped and thus the brothers reportedly became convinced that Ms. Minora was the culprit, firing her and ordering a police investigation. However, the cops were unable to turn up anything to turn up anything connecting her to the crime and she was released, much to the twins’ displeasure.”

“She was a dirty little thief! Those fools may not have been able to find anything, but that doesn’t change the fact she stole from us! She deserved what she got! And I don’t care what you think, you have no proof to back you up!” The witness roared, nails biting into the wood of the stand as he raged.

“That’s where you’re wrong! The very crime scene that you set up so carefully is the last nail in your coffin!” Wright replied, shouting back with equal intensity.

“Because that skylight you’re so convinced was full proof plan?”

He threw down the crime scene photo for them all to see.

“It was left open, as we can see in this picture.”

The witness’s face went sheet white as the realization hit him, Wright’s face more confident than ever.

“If we look close, you can even see where the gutter was bent from you climbing back up. And I’ll bet if we send some forensics officers back out there, they’d find a nice fresh set of prints all over that roof.

“Y-You can’t do this! Everything was perfect! You have no-!”

Wright cut him off before he could continue, slamming down a hand with a resounding bang.

“The victim was killed with a length of fabric, that much is true, but not with a tie as we had thought. Instead she was killed with a mint soaked sash that in the struggle ended up stained with her blood. Blood that was missing from Mr. Teatrale’s tie. Blood that the culprit was unable to remove, and thus was forced to hide away somewhere inside the restaurant. And a sash that is missing from our culprit ensemble at this very moment!

He flung out a hand, pointing at the man on the stand before them.

“Jack Collins, you murdered Lyra Minora in cold blood with the help of your brother!”

The man lost it. Everyone near him quickly backed up as he began raging and throwing things about (where the hell did he even get that many tumblers and martini shakers?!), before finally collapsing to the floor in an exhausted heap, hair awry and outfit in disarray.

“Well then, if that over; Guards, arrest that man! Then send a squad to find his brother. They both will be answering for this.” The judge announced and the guards gingerly stepped over to seize him, dragging the limp culprit away between them as the old man cleared his throat.

“Well then, I believe we have a verdict to announce. Mr. Teatrale?”

The flighty man cautiously stepped back up to the stand, looking up at the man hopefully.

“I’m pleased to announce your verdict as...Not Guilty!”

Confetti exploded from the ceiling and the younger man slumped against the stand in relief. He turned to Wright with a smile, mouthing a “thank you” and the lawyer gave him a thumbs up.

“Now then, court is adjourned!”

With the bang of the man’s gavel as his que to exit stage right, the defense attorney turned and finally made his way out the door near him.

As he stepped out into the lobby and allowed the door to swing closed behind him, the lawyer gave a long relieved sigh and slumped backwards against the wood.

“Ok, that one was way too close.”

“Hey! Mr. Wright!”

He glanced up to find Athena and Trucy hurrying towards him down the hall and straightened with a smile, walking forward to meet them.

“You did great Mr. Wright!” The ginger cheered and his daughter jumped up to give him a hug.

“Yeah! I knew you’d be able to figure it all out!”

“Well, it wasn’t thaaat impressive.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck as the teen hung off of him.

“You just need to keep calm, look at all the evidence and then just put it all together.”

“Ahh, so your normal grade of bullshit then?” Athena asked with a smirk and he shoved her playfully.’

“Watch it. I’m the one who pays you, remember?”

“Wright.”

Someone appeared at his elbow with the soft call and he looked over with a grin to find a certain prosecutor beside him.

“Miles!”

“Oh boy, here we go. Time for us to exit stage left Trucy.” Athena chimed with an amused eyeroll, giving a wave over her shoulder as she turned and started down the hall, Trucy hot on her heels.

“See you back at the office Daddy!”

Giving a wave after them, the defense lawyer felt an arm gently wrap around his waist and turned into the half-embrace, tangling his arms loosely around the taller man’s torso.

“That was impressive work in there Wright.” The prosecutor muttered and the spiky haired attorney’s smile grew even wider.

“Well, you certainly gave me a good fight.” He replied, leaning up to plant a peck at the corner of the man’s mouth. Athena gave a wolf whistle from down the hall and Phoenix grinned into the kiss as he threw a crude gesture over her shoulder at her, the man in his arms flushing a tad. He shifted over to properly press their lips together, chuckling when the man relaxed against him and clenched at the back of his jacket, then pulling back after a few moments with a smirk.

“Now then, I believe we had an agreement about if I won the trial?”

The older man gave a sigh with a hint of fondness, shaking his head.

“Very well. Where do you want to have dinner?”

Phoenix gave a cheer and released the other man, giving a little twirl of victory and earning a chuckle from the other man. The defense attorney paused as he felt something tap against his ankle and glanced down to find a letter settling on the ground beside his foot.

“Ahh, that’s right. I’d nearly forgot.” Miles murmured, reaching down to retrieve the dropped article. He dusted it off then offered it to the attorney. Still puzzled, Phoenix pealed the envelope open and drew out the nice parchment from within, eyes scanning over the printed words it bore.

Dear Mr. Phoenix Wright, You and your law office are invited to attend our annual Christmas dinner. Please feel free to bring as many guests as you wish, the more the merrier. The party will be held in the ballroom of the Gatewater Imperial Hotel on Christmas Eve. It will be a potluck, so please bring a dish to share. We hope to see you there. Sincerely, The Los Angeles Prosecution Office

“A dinner?”

“Yes, I believe after last year they decided this would be a safer bet.”

Phoenix gave a snort of laughter and tucked the letter away in his jacket, pressing another peck to the prosecutor’s cheek.

“We’d be more than happy to come.”

With that he sidled up beside the man, wrapping an arm around his waist and tugging him towards the door.

“Sooooo, about that dinner...”

His partner gave a scoff and rolled his eyes with a smile.

“Alright, what would you like?”

“That nice seafood place down by the bay. I earned that win, so I’m milkin this for all it’s worth.”

“Pfft, of course you are.”

“...Did you ever even think the defendant was guilty?”

“Oh, not for an instant.”

“Heh, you sap.”

*

As the taxi turned the corner and a familiar law office came into sight, Apollo felt his heart warm. It had been the better part of a year since he’d been here after all. He rarely had the chance to keep in touch with the others much, kept too busy helping Dhurke rebuild the justice system most days to as much as sit down and write a simple email. Hell, he hadn’t even had the chance to properly plan this holiday visit, having simply begun throwing clothes into a suitcase the instant he got the ok from the former revolution leader. He had managed to shoot Trucy a text while he had been waiting for his plane, so he hadn’t really dropping this whole thing on their heads completely out if the blue, but regardless it wasn’t the most polite of situations.

Still, etaquite was the furthest thing from his mind as the cab stopped before the office and, paying the driver, he stepped out onto the sidewalk with his luggage. As the car drove away he felt his nerves buzz with anxiety. How would they react to him after so long? A million insecurities whirled through his head and he found himself taking a deep breathe to calm himself. Well, no time like the present.

He gave a soft call as he pushed the door open and strode into the entryway.

“Hello? Is anybody-?”

He saw the flash of blue before he heard the footsteps and the door clicked shut behind him just in time for the sprinting figure to leap onto him and send him slamming back into it. The breath escaped him a huff as his bags hit the ground with a thud and his head spun for several long moments, barely registering the arms wrapped tight around him. Finally his brain seemed to reboot and the buzzing in his ears cleared enough for him to make out the muffled words coming from around his chest.

“Polly! You’re back!”

Despite his disorienting entrance, he found himself smiling and wrapping his arms tight around the magician.

“Trucy, is somebody he- Oh!”

At the voice, he glanced over to see Athena standing at the end of the hall, her face lighting up when he spotted her and rushing down the passage to join the hug.

“Apollo!”

He let out a laugh, contorting himself enough in the two’s vice grips to wrap an arm around the other girl.

“I walk through the door and already I’m in trouble. Yep, definitely in the right place.” He snickered and the two gave matching sounds of indignation.

“Ahh, and the young lawyer makes his triumphant return.”

He looked up when a shadow fell over them, grinning at the blue clothed man smiling down at him.

“I’m gone for a year and this is the welcome I get? Wow, I can certainly see you all sure missed me.” He sarcastically joked and the attorney gave a snort of laughter, reaching sown to ruffle the younger man’s hair.

“Welcome back Apollo.”

When the girls finally peeled themselves off of him, Trucy seized his hand and began to drag him down the hall.

“We’re still putting up decorations! Come on Polly, come help!”

The others followed as she pulled him through the next door into the main bit of the office, the room decked out with wreaths, garlands and lights, even sporting a small sparkling tree in the corner beside a light draped Charlie. Releasing his hand, she plucked a box of white lights off the table and dropped it into his arms.

“These need to go up on the ceiling! We’re making it look like snow!” She declared, plopping down on the couch and he affectionately rolled his eyes. With a little help from Athena he set to work draping them from the little hooks the others had screwed into the ceiling earlier, starting at one corner and slowly working his way outwards.

Ka-click

He paused to turn in the direction of the sound, instead finding Trucy still lounging away, phone now out and hands flying over the screen, tongue stuck out slightly in concentration. Shaking his head, he turned back to his task, easily slipping back into his space in the office. As the time passed, he regaled them all with the tales of his many new misadventures in law, gesturing with whichever hand was free as he lost himself in the storytelling.

“So, instead of giving me a day off to catch up on all the sleep I was missing like a normal person, instead Datz just goes “Hey, if we just pour a bunch of energy drinks in his coffee, he should be fine.” And in my exhaustion, I actually drink this monstrosity, so halfway through a trial-“

Reaching out for the next hook, he instead found empty air and glanced over to find an empty space.

“One sec, need to grab some more hooks.” He declared, handing the bundle of light to Athena and clambering odd the step-stool.

“Now, they must be around here som-“

There was a loud crash as the office door behind him was flung open and ricocheted off the wall with a bang. Giving a startled yelp, the red clothes attorney whipped around to look and froze in his tracks.

In the doorway stood an all-to-familiar figure, shaking with over-exertion and clinging to the doorframe, his normally stylish hair and clothes windblown and in complete disarray. He stood there with an incredulous expression, wheezing like he’d just run a marathon and staring at the shorter man like he couldn’t believe his eyes. He paused for just a moment, then his face screwed up in heart-wrenching relief, tears filling his eyes. With a choked sound, he threw himself into the room. Apollo had a mere second to brace himself before he was wrapped tightly in the man’s arms, a face burying into his neck amongst a muttered stream of relieved German.

“Du bist hier ... Du bist wirklich hier...”

At the sound of his voice, the situation finally hit the apprentice attorney and, his own expression twisting into tears, he clung on tight to his companion.

“I’m back Klav.”

They stayed that way for a long time, Apollo gently rocking the two of them from side to side as the taller man held him. Finally the former musician pulled back a bit, one hand sliding up to cup the attorney’s cheek. As the smaller man lean into his touch, he gave a dazzling smile and leaned down to press their lips together. Apollo gave a little sigh and practically melted against him, feeling the last piece of what he was missing slid into place.

“Oh would you two get a room?” Athena chirped, grin in her voice, and the red-clothed lawyer pulled back to fix her in a poisonous glare. His gaze softened however as the blond in his arms broke into quiet laughter, drawing his face back around to plant a soft peck on his forehead.

“Perhaps we should take the Fräulein up on her suggestion, hmm? I have plenty of free room at my place after all.”

The younger man turned red at the suggestion, sputtering as he tried to lace some words together, certainly not helped in his embarrassment by the new bout of laughter the other man broke into.

Flustered, he tried to pull back, only to have the prosecutor’s grip on him tighten. He found himself being dragged towards the couch, Trucy having just enough time to pull her lounging legs out of the way before Klavier plopped down beside her. He pulled Apollo along with him, tugging him into his lap and holding him close like an oversized stuffed animal. The attorney cocked an eyebrow at him, giving an experimental tug and finding himself firmly stuck.

“...You realize you have to let me go at some point right?”

“...No.”

He finally gave up and slumped back against the prosecutor’s chest, earning a giggle from Trucy and an exasperated sigh from Athena.

“Oh, just abandon me to the decorating. Real nice Apollo.”

“Does it look like I can help you right now?” He asked, gesturing to the man playfully nuzzling his neck.

“That sounds like a quitter talking.”

“If there was anything within reach right now I’d throw it at you.”

“Alright children, calm down.” Phoenix cheekily replied, chuckling at the dirty look the two threw him.

“Heh, chaotic as always in here, eh Nick?”

They all paused at the giggle from the doorway and turned, every face in the room lighting up at the sight of the woman in the doorway.

“Maya!” Phoenix cried with a grin, rushing over to wrap her in a hug.

“Don’t forget me!” Chirped a little voice, another shorter figure ducking out from behind the taller girl, and Phoenix’s smile grew even wider, scooping the younger medium up to join the hug.

“Pearls! What are you two doing here!?”

“Well, a little bird told us that there was gonna be a party.”

“Ah, so Ema then.”

“Yeeeep.” The tall medium replied, popping the last syllable with a smile.

“Besides, after the disaster of a holiday last time, there was no chance we were gonna miss another chance to celebrate with you.”

“Ugh, I still feel sorry about that.” The attorney replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“You came back from your training to visit and everything.”

After a moment he brightened once more, planting his hands on his hips confidently.

“Well, guess we’ll just need to make sure we don’t screw it up this time. Your timing is actually perfect by the way. We were just about to head out shopping.”

“Ah, so you got an invitation as well? I look forward to it.” Klavier chimed in from where his head lay on Apollo’s shoulder, the attorney’s hair slightly brushing his cheek as he tilted his head in a confusion.

“Ok, what the hell is this party you all keep talking about?”

“Prosecution office’s holding a dinner tomorrow. Probably thought that if they planned it this year, they wouldn’t accidently get half their best workers trapped in a snowstorm.” Athena called over from where she was stuffing decorations back in the closet.

“So, how’s a lil shopping trip sound? Shouldn’t take very long.” The blue clothed attorney asked, receiving a chorus of agreements. He nodded in satisfaction, crossing his arms with a grin.

“Alrighty then! Everybody grab your coats! A quick run to the store, then we’ll be back here celebrating in no time!”

*

“Shouldn’t take long, my ass.”

No one seemed to even notice Athena’s grumble, all too busy staring in slight horror at the building before them. What was normally a quiet shopping center had been swamped by a veritable horde of people, transforming it into a sort of holiday battle arena. A seemingly endless stream of shoppers was flowing through both sides of the entrance,

“...To be honest, we should probably have expected this.” Phoenix admitted with a defeated slump of his shoulders.

“Well, it is two days to Christmas, Heir Wright.” Klavier offered and the attorney slumped even farther with a groan.

“Yes, thank you for reminding me.”

Maya bit back a snicker at the dramatics, striding to the front of the group and taking point.

“All right everybody, enough belly-aching. Let’s get the move on. The sooner we start the sooner we can leave.” She declared, turning on her heel and starting for the entrance, the others quickly jogging to keep pace with her.

“Heh, when did you become the voice of reason?” Phoenix chuckled, an amused smile pulling at his lips and she shot him back a smirk.

“Oh trust me Nick, you haven’t seeeen crowded till you’ve been through a Kurainese festival. “

Somehow managing to slip smoothly into the stream of people, the group found themselves quickly sucked into the building. Luckily the place was larger than it appeared and so as the space widened out the crowd thinned, allowing them some room to breathe.

“Does anyone even know where we’re going?” Athena called over the din, wincing at the noise and rubbing her temples to try and ward off the coming headache. As she spoke, Phoenix fished the list out of his pocket, glancing over it.

“Well, we somehow got shouldered with the main dishes, hence lots of ingredients, so this is gonna be a bit of a trek.” He replied, handing the list over to Trucy when she leaned up to look at it.

“I’m not sure if some of these would even count as ‘main dishes’.” She replied and he gave a little snort.

“Well, I did get it from Edgeworth. Sometimes I wonder if he knows things like ‘peach incrusted flambé’ aren’t part of your average dinner lineup.”

As he spoke he glanced out over the crowd, gaze scanning over the surroundings, and suddenly paused, eyes locking on something. For a few moments his expression grew thoughtful, brow furrowing the tiniest bit, before a smile stretched over his face.

“Hmm...Hey, Maya? Mind, uh, checking out something over here with me?” He asked, nodding in the direction he’d been looking and the woman stretched up onto tiptoe to see what he was indicating. She stared for a few seconds, giving several long blinks as the gears seemingly turned in her head, before her face lit up. Without even giving a proper reply, she grabbed him by the arm and began to drag him off into the crowd, the lawyer shouting back over his shoulder to the rest of the startled group.

“Just start makin your way down the list! We’ll find you later!”

“Wait, Boss! Don’t just leave us he- Hey, watch were you’re going!” Athena exclaimed, jumping back from her pursuit to avoid being run over by someone’s cart. The middle aged, soccer mom looking woman driving it snapped around to look at them and the whole group flinched backwards. Her gaze was pure venom and boy, if looks could kill. Still cowering together as she turned her nose up at them and stalked away, the band of wayward shoppers glanced at each other in fear.

“...Everybody stay together?” Apollo proposed, met with some very vigorous nods of reply.

Trying to squeeze their ways down isles and around other shoppers proved to be a bit of a challenge, what with the 5 of them huddled together like they were trying to assimilate into one being, but they managed, slowly picking their way through the crowd. They even managed to pick up most of their ingredients along the way, marking off each item as it was gathered.

It was when they they’d begun to near the bottom that problem arose.

“Ok, says here that we need flour for some Yorksire pudding, whatever the hell that is.” Athena announced from somewhere behind Apollo’s shoulder, having been designated as the official list master at some point along the way.

“It’s a baked dish made using the juices from cooked meats Fräulein. It’s actually quite good.”

“It’s made. Using flour and meat. That’s not a pudding, that’s an atrocity.”

“Alright, enough bickering. We need to focus.” Apollo replied, giving them both a swat.

“Now let’s see, flour must be around her somewhere...”

The young attorney’s powerful eyes swept over their surroundings, scanning each shelf and nook down the long corridor, finally letting out a little “a-ha!” when at last he spotted it. There at the end of the isle, sitting on a high shelf was a bag of plain flour. And as luck would have it, it seemed to be the last one.

“Seems like our lucky day.” He chimed in, pointing it out to the rest of the group. Just as the words left his mouth he was jostled sideways as someone stepped up beside him, his head quickly turning to find the disturbance. It was another woman, this one a bit on the older side. She was staring down at a list of her own, her eyes scanning over it before looking up to glance around. After a moment her eyes also caught sight of the flour, a smile breaking over her face, and Apollo felt his hear sink. This lady seemed nice enough, but they had technically been the ones to see it first. But it was still going to feel like a bit of a jerk move on his part if he just took it. Maybe they could come to a compromise?

“Um...”

The attorney wasn’t even aware he’d spoke till it was too late, and the woman looked over at him. She glanced at his still pointed arm, the flour, the items already stowed way in the groups basket, back to the flour, then directly at Apollo himself. She stared at him for a moment, eyes slowly narrowing. Thank god for all those years of training a quick mind, because the lawyer had just enough time to process what was about to happen and push off before they were both sprinting full tilt down the aisle. Right, this was a store during the holidays, the normal rules of human decency no longer exist here. Apollo tried to keep that fact in mind as he tucked his head and ran, distantly noting the flash of blue trailing close behind him.

The woman was astonishingly swift for someone her age and she easily kept pace with Apollo as they both wove through the minefield of other shoppers. Occasionally one or the other would get caught behind a group of stragglers and fall behind, only to regain their ground as the other met a similar misfortune. It was as they were nearing the shelf that the attorney suddenly noticed a small problem with this whole scenario. The flour was on a high shelf. A shelf neither he nor the woman would be able to reach without the help of a ladder. However...

Apollo spun around and screeched to a halt just short of the shelf, lacing his hands together and bracing himself with a shout.

“Trucy!”

The blur of a girl who’d been following him planted her foot in his hands and, with a vaguely concerning creak of muscles, he flung her up high. They watched as she sailed through the air, arm outstretched. For a moment her fingers wrapped around the edge, and Apollo felt a cry of victory gathering in his throat, only for her momentum to carry her too far and have it slip from her grasp, the corner catching and tearing slightly as it tumbled from the shelf. She made a ten point landing just as the bag fell into the woman’s waiting hands. She gave a hoot, and held it high above her head in victory.

“Ha, too bad for you!” She crowed, voice one of spiteful pride, and the cries of indignation from the rest of the group masked the flash of shadow darting along the top of the shelf. Before they could do a thing however, she swiftly stuffed the object she grasped firmly into her own basket and swiftly made her retreat, disappearing around the corner before they could even think to pursue her.

“Grrr, what is wrong with that woman!?” Athena finally roared, stamping a foot on the ground as she visibly bristled.

“D-Don’t worry! I’m sure we can fix this somehow!” Pearl chimed in and Athena sighed in defeat.

“But how? This recipe specifically calls for white flour, and she just made off with the last bag!”

“Oh, you’re looking for flour? Well, isn’t this a stroke of luck.”

The group paused and looked up as the voice floated down from above them, faces lighting up as they caught sight of the source.

“Kay!”

The girl was lounged across the top of the shelf beside them like the damn Cheshire Cat, with a grin to match. One arm was supporting her head, chin settled in an open palm, while the other casually coiled around a familiar white bag, the torn corner making its identity clear.

“You wouldn’t happen to mean this lil thing?” She asked cheekily, examining it briefly before tossing it to them, leaping down after it.

“Kay, how did you get this?!”

“I’m a master thief, how do you think? Hope that old coot doesn’t mind whole wheat.” She replied, stretching and popping her back.

“You guys grabbin stuff for the party I assume?”

“Bullseye. I take it Edgeworth invited you too?” Apollo replied, carefully tucking their hard-earned prize away, and she shrugged nonchalantly.

“Well, more like I saw the invitation on his desk and invited myself, but yeah. Just gotta grab some cake mix then I’m outta this looney bin.”

“You’re facing this horde solo Fräulein? Quite the gutsy move.” Klavier complemented her and she chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

“Appreciate the complement, but even I’m not that reckless. Just lost the second half of my dynamic duo in the crowd a ways back. She should show back up eventually.”

“Kay...I swear to god...I’m gonna kill you...”

The wheezing, tired voice behind them caused the group to turn, catching sight of a familiar figure bend almost in half as she tried to catch her breath.

“Ay, there you are Ema! Thought I might have lost ya for good for a bit there.” Kay cheekily chirped and the older girl’s eyes flashed with annoyance. Darting past the rest of the group, she seized the younger girl by the ear and tugged, the thief giving a little yep of pain.

“Well, you wouldn’t have lost me if you hadn’t decided that walking through the crowd was too much work and climbed off over the shelving. I’m surprised security didn’t catch you and throw you out. Oh, hi to all of you guys by the way.” She growled, pausing her tirade for a moment to greet the others.

“You better have grabbed that cake mix while you were off on your little misadventure.”

“Well I was, till I ran into these guys. So just calm down and gimme a sec.”

Pulling loose of the detectives grasp, the thief stomped off to a nearby shelf, muttering under her breath, and began examining the different types of mixes as Ema gave a sigh and rubbed her temples.

“So, Edgeworth send you along to keep her from tearing the store apart?” Apollo asked with a teasing grin and the girl made an ‘eehhhh?” hand motion.

“Sorta. I got roped into handling the prep for like half this whole party, so I’ve been having to keep track of what all people are bringing. Speaking of, how’s about you guys? Got everything you need?”

“Let’s see...”Athena muttered, smoothing out the list and scanning over it.

“Only thing left is... a goose? Well, if A Christmas Carol could pull it off, so can we. Should be over...”

She looked up at the signs hanging from the stores ceiling and gave a groan.

“...On the other side of the store.”

A wave of despair seemed to wash over the group, all slumping in exhaustion with matching groans.

“Well, no time like the present.” Klavier sighed and the 6 of them set off, Kay giving chase with a large box of black forest cake mix, shoving through the crowd and trying their best not to get flattened by the shoppers. 20 minutes and they finally had to stop and rest, having barely gotten halfway through the store. They were sweaty, sore from the numerous wayward elbows around them and beginning to feel like every step forward was two steps back.

“Ugh, this is useless!” Trucy cried, looking about ready to start pulling her hair ours.

“We’re making no progress! If we even get the goose it’s gonna be near impossible to get it back through here and Daddy is still-!”

Her frustration was cut off by a series of cries and insults beside them as someone came shoving their way through the crowd. As though the mere mention of his name were enough to summon him, Wright came popping out of the horde in front of them, expression one of vague horror. When he spotted them his expression brightened, only to turn to terror once more as the sound of someone moving through the crowd continued behind him.

“Guys, I’m so sorry. I tried to stop her.” He stammered, darting forward and partially hiding behind them.

“What? Mr. Wright what are you-?”

As though on que, Maya emerged before them, wielding a shopping bag stuffed almost to the bursting with...something.

“Uh, Mystic Maya? What is that?” Pearl asked, voice quiet and just a bit terrified as they all stared at the bags.

“A surprise!” She replied and a shiver ran down all their spines at her impish grin.

“So, what else have you guys got to do?”

“U-Uh, just gotta get the main dish.” Apollo replied, mind reeling from jumping from topic to topic. Phoenix perked up at that, smiling and crossing his arms.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. We stopped by the deli section on our way over here. One cooked goose officially ordered and ready to be delivered to the party!...Uh, guys? Are you ok?” He asked, his upbeat spirit delating in confusion as the group gave a massive sigh of relief, looking as though they’d just seen the face of God himself.

“Boss, I could kiss you right now.” Athena groaned.

“Umm, please don’t.”

“Wait, wha- Oh, never mind. Let’s just get the hell out of here.”

“Seconded!” Phoenix squeaked as the crowd began to close in around them, squeezing in from all sides. Doing their best to try and force their way through, they slowly made their way through the surging current of people, gradually advancing towards the checkout area.

“Alright everybody, almost there!” The lawyer at their head called back to them, trying his best to use his height to try and clear a path.

“Oh, wait guys my shoe is- Ah! Help!”

The groups heads whipped around just in time to see Trucy trip and stumble backwards, instantly getting caught in the flood of bodies and begin to be swept away. In an flash Phoenix jolted into action.

“Don’t worry Trucy! Daddy’s coming!” He cried before literally diving into the crown, shoving people out of the way as he disappeared after her.

“Nick!” Maya yelled, trying her best to scramble after him. The force of the crowd proved too powerful however and she quickly lost sight of his spiky hair as the sea of bodies pulled the two groups apart.

“Damn it, get out of the way!”

She tried once more, only to be more-or-less hip checked by what could only be described as yet another stereotypical PTA mom and sent flying back in to the others, almost knocking over Pearl as the woman shot them a nasty look and vanished into the swarm. Klavier shot some particularly nasty German after her as he helped the medium up, muttering angrily under his breath.

“Well now what the hell do we do!?” Athena complained, the lift in her pitch giving away her panic.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Ema suddenly announced, rolling up her sleeves and turning to face the onslaught.

“This isn’t my first battle with holiday shoppers. It’s all in the way you present yourself. Now, shoulders back, head up, think ‘murder’ and walk.”

With that she began to quickly stride forward, face fierce and eyes blazing. Like some miracle, the crowd began to part before her like the Red Sea, people literally diving out of her path when they met her gaze. The rest of the group simply glanced at each other in surprise before quickly trailing along close behind her.

It didn’t take long to find their wayward companions. The two had taken refuge beside a display, Phoenix keeping an arm wrapped protectively around his daughter as he scanned the crowd. His eyes widened when he saw Ema marching towards him, blinking a few times in disbelief as she moved with ease through the crowd. She reached them and, without missing a beat, seized him by the jacket and began to lead everyone towards the exit.

“Ok, this little field trip has dragged on a bit too long. Time to go.”

A chorus of agreements answered her and the group practically sprinted to the checkout, shoving their items through as fast as the poor overworked cashier could deal with them in a panicked rush to get the hell out of there. The instant they hit the cool air of the parking, a sigh of relief swept through the group, most of them slumping over against the cars in joy.

“None of you guys EVER let me talk us into that again.” Phoenix groaned and Maya let out an exhausted chuckle.

“Aww it wasn’t thaaat bad Nick. Just one more thing to add to our little winter adventure, right Pearly?”

She turned to the space to her left and everyone went silent when they realized it was empty. Slowly they looked back at the store, then at each other in horror, before making a mad dash for the doors.

“Hold on Pearly! The rescue squad is on the way!”

*

“Hahahaha, less than a day into your visit and you’re already embroiled in trouble! That’s my boy!”

“Dhurke...” Apollo sighed, trying to rub away the headache forming between his eyes as he listened to the uproarious laughter on the other end of the phone.

“Aww, don’t be so glum AJ! Nothin to get the holiday season going like a wild manhunt!” Datz chimed in from the background and Apollo flopped back onto the couch in exasperation. If he’d known when he called that not only was Dhurke listening in, but Datz and Amara as well, he never would have brought the little disaster up.

“Oh, stop teasing him you two.” Said queen jokingly chided them.

“The poor boy has been through enough today as is.”

“Good, at least I have somebody on my side.” He muttered to himself.

“Besides, I’m sure that young detective will tell us aaaall about it the next time she comes to visit Nahyuta.” She continued with mischievous glee and Apollo let out a loud groan.

“Well, they certainly sound like a fun bunch. I can see why you turned out the way you did Herr Forehead.” Klavier called over from where he was making tea in the apartment’s kitchen and Dhurke made a noise of interest.

“Hmm? Is that the young man you were telling us about?”

“Uh, y-yeah, that was Kalvier.” The attorney quietly replied, cupping his had around the speaker to try and muffle the man’s booming voice. Damn these two and their impressive hearing. Too little, too late it seemed though, as the musician quirked an eyebrow, looking over at him with a grin.

“Oh, you’ve been talking about me, hmm?” He asked, moving out around the kitchen counter and striding over to lean over the back of the couch. As he did, his loose hair fell like a curtain around the two of them, faces just a breath apart. Apollo felt his own breath stop, feeling suddenly swept up in the intimacy, eyes slowly beginning to slid shut as the older man leaned in, slowly inching their lips closer and closer together...only for the blond to snatch the phone from his hands with an impish smile, quickly pulling back as the red-clothed man gave a choked noise of surprise and made snatch for it. The prosecutor danced back out of his reach, flicking the device onto speaker phone mode and leaning in.

“Well, I hope he hasn’t been telling you too many of my secrets.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. We’ve heard quite a bit. Once he gets going, well, we don’t really have the heart to stop him.” Dhurke replied, smile evident in his voice.

“And if that picture in his wallet is anything to go by, he’s managed to net himself quite the looker! Way to go AJ!” Datz called once more, and Apollo’s eyes went wide.

“Why were you looking in my wallet?!”

Despite the embarrassment of the situation, he paused when Klavier turned to him with a touched expression, eyes soft.

“You keep a photo of me?” He asked quietly, and Apollo felt his heart warm at the happiness in his voice.

“Um, yeah, maybe...oh would you just give me the phone!” He muttered in return, face warming as he turned sheepish and made a grab for it as the blonde came close. Klavier swept down and pressed a kiss to his forehead as he pressed the phone into the attorney’s hands, pulling back with a soft whisper.

“Gott, ich liebe dich.”

Apollo froze as he let the words roll around in his head, a lovestruck grin slowly spreading across his lips. He was finally pulled from his thoughts by the voice on the phone calling his name.

“Apollo? You there son?”

“Ah, yeah! Yeah, I’m here!” He quickly replied, hearing the man give an amused noise on the other end, voice jovial as he continued.

“Well, he certainly seems like the respectable sort. You’ll have to invite him for a visit sometime soon. What kind of father would I be if I never met the man who my son will be sharing his life with?”

“D-Dhurke!” Apollo squeaked, face flushing brightly as both the old defense attorney and the blonde hovering over his shoulder broke into laughter.

“Aww, is there something you want to tell me Herr Forehead?”

“You are not helping!”

“Well, I’ve used up enough of your time. It’s about time I let you get back to business.” The king finally replied and the boy gave an audible sigh of relief. Finally an end to this embarrassment.

“Yeah, I’m sure those two have plenty of catching up to do.” Datz called and Apollo could practically hear the suggestive eyebrow wiggle in his voice, the young attorney’s face flaring red as his waistcoat.

“DATZ OH MY GOD!”

He had to wait what seemed an eternity for the laughter to settle once more, still hearing Amara and Datz trying to calm themselves in the background as Dhurke finished his chuckling and spoke once more, voice proud.

“Goodnight son.”

Apollo sighed in exasperation or what seemed the millionth time, but couldn’t help the soft smile that crept onto his face.

“Goodnight Dhurke.”

The line clicked off and the young man let out a breath, shaking his head.

“My dad is ridiculous. No, scratch that, my entire family is. That whole damn country in fact.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t trade them in for the world, would you?” Klavier replied, nudging his head to urge him upright and settling on the couch once he was out of the way. Apollo gave an amused little huff as he was handed a warm mug, soft smile still cemented firmly on his face.

“Heh, you got me there.”

They lapsed into silence as they enjoyed their drinks, simply basking each the presence of each other. As the night went on Apollo felt himself slipping back into the routine he hadn’t even realize he missed. Finish the tea, do the dishes together, shower, keep Klavier from making out with him while he showers so they don’t both slip and die, brush his teeth, riffle through the drawers for some clothes while the blonde does his skin care regiment, find the comfiest space under the covers while he waits.

By the time the singer pulled back the other side of the comforter, Apollo had already begun to doze off, the jet-lag finally catching up with him. Flicking off the light, the two of them settled, the attorney giving a little hum and shifting closer to the chest behind him as an arm wrapped around him. The prosecutor pressed a tired kiss to his neck, nuzzling his hair with a soft whisper.

“Liebling?”

“Mmm? Yeah Klav?” He sleepily mumbled back, teetering on the very edge of sleep.

“Please tell me that photo you have isn’t a Gavineers headshot.”

“What? No! It’s something Trucy took during the party last year.”

“Oh, thank god.”

*

“So then I got into an argument for like two hours with Mr. Are’bal over which show was better, it’s Steel Samurai of course, and then he...Nick are you even listening?”

The woman sitting at the kitchen table pouted as she turned to the man standing in the kitchen, the lawyer giving a quiet laugh.

“Yes Maya, I’m listening.” He replied, keeping an eye on the small pot bubbling on the stove, stirring it occasionally as he assembled various other ingredients. He was making hot chocolate the proper way damn it, no matter how much Maya tried to convince him doing it in the microwave was easier. His reply seemed to pacify the medium and she set back off with her storytelling once more. He listened as she recounted story after story of her time abroad, everything from little happenings to grand misadventures. (“Maya. Maya please tell you didn’t actually let Datz and the Princess talk you into stealing all of Dhurke’s eyepatches and gluing googly eyes onto them.” “Hey, it managed to get Nahyuta and Apollo to laugh themselves to tears, so I don’t see the problem here.”)

Eventually the drink was finished and he carefully poured it into the oversized mugs Trucy had bought him for just such an occasion, topping them both with a frankly unhealthy amount of whipped cream and marshmallows before joining his old friend at the table.

“How have things been over here Nick? Any adventures of your own?” She asked, taking a large sip and grinning at the taste.

“Oh, with these guys around, every day’s an adventure.” He replied, rolling his eyes playfully.

“And how’s about a certain silver fox we all know? How’re things going between you two?” She asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

“Oh hush you. He’s not even that old.” He rolled his eyes, the girl snickering as he playfully shoved her face away.

“If you really must know, it’s been...good. Better than ever.”

He smiled down into his own drink, swirling it gently around in the cup.

“That court room in Khura'in wasn’t the first time I’ve almost been shot, and it probably won’t be the last, but something about it just...made us realize how much we’ve got to lose.”

He gave a little huff of a laugh, taking a sip.

“So, we’re just living one day at a time. Might as well enjoy the time we got.”

Looking over the rim of his mug, he found Maya smiling warmly at him.

“You’re such a sap Nick.”

“Oh geeze thanks.” He scoffed and she laughed.

“But I think that’s what makes all of us love you so much. You can’t help but give 120 percent all the time. Cause you just care too much not to. It’s the reason you saved me and the reason you saved him... and if there’s one thing I know for a fact, it’s that Miles loves that about you more than anything.”

Phoenix gave a chuckle, giving her a wry smile.

“Who’s the sap now?”

“Oh shut up and drink your hot chocolate.”

With a snicker, he glanced over at the living room. Trucy and Pearl had passed out on the couch together a few hours prior while binging some show (One Upon a something?), and were now collapsed in a tangle of limbs on the cushions, completely dead to the world. They were still speckled with flour and various other ingredients from the cooking spree earlier (Phoenix wasn’t looking forwards to trying  to get those out of the couch fabric), the partially completed efforts of their work waiting on the counter in preparation for being finished in the morning. It wasn’t a perfect system, but it worked.

“Heh, Netflix and Conk Out.” Phoenix muttered in response to one of his daughters especially violent snores, if only to make the woman before him make an equally ridiculous noise as she slapped both hands over her mouth and tried to muffle her laughter. He smirked at her for a moment before his smile softened, eyes going soft.

“I missed you.” He quietly breathed, the words out before he could even realize he was speaking. She didn’t even seem surprised, just smiling softly and reaching out across the table to take his hand.

“I missed you too.”

Phoenix felt his chest warm, a wide smile easing onto his face.

For once, all was right with the world and it felt as though nothing could go wrong.

Tomorrow as going to be perfect.

*

Everything was going wrong.

“Crap, crap, crap...” Phoenix muttered as he ran around the house, the words quickly becoming his personal mantra as he rushed from place to place. Not only had they all slept accidentally slept till 1 in the afternoon after chatting all night, but he’d woken up with dozen less than happy messages from Edgeworth asking where they were. Hell, they hadn’t even gotten up till Detective Gumshoe had come uh knockin in an attempt to find them. And as a reward for his kindness, the poor man was currently getting his arms stuffed with half-finished dishes and various bags of ingredients.

“Ok, just, take those out to the truck. We’ll finish them at the hotel when we get there.”

“Are you sure they’re gonna let us use their kitchen Mr. Nick?” Pearl asked from where she was hurriedly shoving part of the mess on the table into her bag, paying no mind to whether what was falling in was actually hers or not.

“Uh, yeah! I’m sure it’ll be fine Pearls!” He replied with the strained smile that immediately told them all he was bullshitting. Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he rather haphazardly dumped the last of their cold items into the cooler and slammed it shut, eyes scanning over the room.

“Got that, got that, got that, Gummy’s holdin that, goose is getting delivered, ok we’re good to go! Everybody grab your coats and get to the truck!” He shouted, dashing to grab his own from the closet, cooler in hand.

“Daddy!” Trucy chimed in and he paused in his frantic searching to glance at her.

“Huh? Uh, yes Trucy?” He asked, mind going a million miles a minute.

“You’re not wearing a shirt.”

The lawyer froze and glanced down. Huh, would you look at that. Cursing quietly, he handed the cooler to Maya and rushed to the bedroom, reappearing in record time.

“Ok, now let’s go!”

Maya bit back a snort at his appearance (shirt buttoned crookedly so one side of the collar licked his ear while the other nearly dropped off his shoulder, tie lying open over his chest, locket chain somehow tangled in his hair) and made a break for the vehicle as he looked over at the noise. Ignoring her, he snatched up his jacket and rushed to the door, suddenly freezing with a little gasp just as he cleared the threshold, eyes going wide. Spinning on his heel and shooting back inside, they could hear the sound of frantic riffling, then he was back, stuffing something into his pocket as he cleared the step and swung the door shut behind him.

“Ok, everybody ready? We’ve got a lotta dishes to prepare and it’s already...”

He let out another curse as he glanced at his phone. The party started at 6 and his display read 2:30.

“...Detective, I need a favor.”

With a police car leading the way, they got there in record time.

*

“We’re here! We’re here!” The spiky haired attorney cried as they burst through the door, immediately leaning over afterwards and wheezing as he tried in vain to get his lungs to work properly. Sprinting across a parking lot and up a grand staircase was a bit much for him at the moment. The silver haired man standing nearby jumped a bit at their entrance and turned, starting towards them.

“Wright! Where have you been?” Edgeworth exclaimed, tone both one of annoyance and worry as he drew up before the other man.

“Sorry, time...got away from us...Just gotta finish some stuff...then we’ll be...right as rain...” He replied, perking up to plant a peck on the prosecutor’s lips between his wheezes. The older man’s brows narrowed slightly in concern and he wrapped an arm around the other, leading him to a nearby table.

“Alright, alright, just sit down before you pass out.”

He settled the younger man in a chair and sat beside him, watching with a sigh as he chugged a glass of water.

“...I truly was worried about you.”

“I know. I’m sorry for scaring you.” Phoenix replied, lowering the glass and patting the prosecutor’s hand as the man turned to him with an unamused expression.

“I never said scared. But, when I send you multiple text and receive replies to none of them, you can understand my concern.”

As he spoke he went about fixing the buttons on the younger man’s shirt, flushing a bit when the younger attorney turned his head to plant a peck on his knuckles.

“I promise to make it up to you.” Phoenix replied, leaning over to kiss away the furrow in the man’s brow. The prosecutor relaxed against him, letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as Phoenix nuzzled his hair.

“Hmm, we really should get to work on that food though.”

“Ah, that’s right. Very well, I’ll go ask speak with the staff about using the banquet kitch-oh.” Edgeworth moved to stand, only to pause as he glanced past Phoenix. The attorney turned in curiosity to see Pearl smiling sweetly as she spoke with a rather bashful looking bellhop, the man grinning dopily and turning to lead the others to said kitchen.

“Well, that one problem dealt with. Now, were we?” Phoenix smirked, leaning in to steal another kiss. He was stopped short by the hand Edgeworth threw up, the prosecutor giving him a stern look over it.

“No, finish your water then got get started. You can enjoy yourself once everything’s ready.”

“Hmph, killjoy.” The blue clothed man pouted, moodily sipping at his drink.

Eventually he did manage to propel himself up out of the chair, brightening as he made his way through the crowd. Apollo and Klavier having already joined in on decorating, and slipped into the small kitchen. The girls had already taken over the place, the counters littered with ingredients and a number of dishes already cooking away.

“So, you guys need any help back here?” He asked, the girls turning towards him in surprise.

“Ah, there ya are Boss! Though you might have gotten lost.” Athena chimed in. She, Blackquill and Fulbright had arrived a short time ago (Terrwyn unfortunately was stuck home with a cold, but sent her warm greetings), and the girl had immediately stolen away to the kitchen, probably trying to get a head start on tasting the dishes. Evidently she’d been roped into helping instead, if the apron around her waist and the bubbling pot she was stirring was anything to go by.

“Nah, I think we’ve got it handled over here. Maya’s over in there though, so you might wanna ask her.” She jerked her thumb towards a door off to the side and he nodded, carefully avoiding their workspace as he made his way through.

Whatever he was expecting to find when he entered the loading bay, this wasn’t it.

“So, what you up to Miss Mystic?” He asked, eyebrow cocked as he got a better look at the scene. The girl was crouched beside a large wooden crate, examining it in curiosity.

“Tryin to figure out what this thing is. They said it was delivered here earlier for us.”

“Delivered?”

“Do...Do you think it’s that goose we ordered?” She asked, cocking her head and he shrugged.

“Possibly. But why would it be in a crate?”

“Maybe to keep it fresh and warm? It comes cooked after all.”

The woman stood and began rummaging around in the drawer of a nearby cabinet, finally giving a little sound of victory and holding up a crowbar.

“Well, only one way to find out!”

As she sunk the claw into the groove of the crate, Phoenix noticed something. A series of holes were drilled in the lid, scattered evenly across the wood. As though to let air in...

His eyes went wide in realization and he leapt forward just as Maya put her weight down on the bar.

“Maya, wait!”

The lit popped loose with a crack, clattering to the floor, and they froze when they glimpsed the inside. Ever so slowly Maya laid down the crowbar and reached in, carefully picking up the contents and holding it out in front of her.

“Bwak?”

“...That’s a chicken.” Phoenix muttered, and Maya turned to him with a scowl.

“Yeah, no shit Sherlock.” She replied, before turning back to the creature in her hands with a worried look. It was a chicken all right, a big one too, it’s feathers a snowy white. It seemed remarkable calm despite having been sealed in a crate, cocking its head at them and leaning down to gently peck at Maya’s sleeve in curiosity.

“What the heck is it doing here?” She asked, voice squeaking a bit with concealed panic.

“There must have been a mix up when we ordered it.” Phoenix sighed, rubbing a hand over his face in sudden exhaustion. Just when they thought their bad luck was over.

“That seems like a pretty big mix up.” She replied with a sigh. Switching the bird over to one arm, she nudged the lid back into place and set him down. He immediately nestled down, calmly looking around at his surroundings, and Maya gave a little ‘aww’, crouching down to pet his head.

“Well, at least you’re a cute one.”

After a moment her expression darkened once more, biting her lip.

“Ok, but now what do we do? We needed a cooked goose, not a live chicken.”

“Well, we could always just...cook this one.” He offered and she looked over at him in confusion.

“What? Nick, you don’t just cook a chicken feathers and all.” She chided him and he rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I know that. I spent a few summers on my grandpa’s farm when I was a kid. I know how to clean and de-bone a bird.”

“Yeah, but that implies you’re going to...”

They both paused and slowly turned to stare at the chicken, the creature tilting its head cutely at them and staring back with innocent eyes.

“...Nope.”

“Wait, what?” He asked, turning to the girl in confusion.

“Nope, not doin it. I’ve bonded with this creature. He’s mine now.” Maya shook her head, scooping up the chicken and hugging it to her chest.

“Wha-Maya, you can’t just take it!”

“I paid for it, so I can and will.”

“Where would you even keep it?!”

“I don’t know! The village or something!...You aren’t going to eat my pet Nick!” She replied with a stubborn glare and he gave a groan.

“Alright, fine, fine. Keep the chicken.”

She grinned and nodded in satisfaction, turning the bird and holding it out to look at her.

“Hello chicken. Your name will be...Nugget.”

Phoenix gave a sputtering sound and burst out into laughter, the absurdity of the situation finally getting to him. Maya merely stuck her tongue out at him playfully as he clung to the wall for support, hugging the chicken closer to her.

“Don’t worry Nugget, he’s just jealous.”

“Well, you two certainly seem to be having fun.”

The pair turned to the doorway to find Ema watching them, arms crossed and eyebrow cocked.

“Ah, yeeeeah, things ended up going a bit off the rails.” The attorney replied, rubbing the neck sheepishly as his giggles died down.

“We also seem to be suffering from a severe lack of cooked goose.”

“Say no more. I heard it all through the door anyway. Lucky for you, I know a place a few blocks from here that should be able to hook us up.” She replied, gesturing as though to wave away his worries and Phoenix grinned.

“Ah, that’s the Ema Skye we know and love. Always got a solution up your sleeve.”

“Well, it helps that Sis is useless when it comes to cooking meat, so we have to order in for the holidays a lot. I’ll be back in like 10. Call if you need me.”

With a flip of her hand she exited, music from the next room spilling through for a moment before the door closed.

“Well, that’s one problem on its way to being fixed. Whatcha thing, should we help go and decorate? We need to introduce everyone to Nugget after all.” Phoenix chimed in teasingly.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up Nick.” Maya snorted, rolling her eyes. Her gaze suddenly lit up with realization and a grin broke across her face.

“Ooo, wait, I just remember something!” She chirped happily, setting Nugget down once more and turning to riffle through a bulky bag nearby. Something about it tickled Phoenixes memory and he tipped his head quizzically. Had he seen that somewhere before? A moment later she turned, arms holding a bundle of cloth and his eyes went wide with horrifying realization.

“Oh no. No, no, no. I know for a fact I hid those last night! How did you-?! ”

“C’mon Nick, time for everybody to get festive.” She sang, stalking closer to him with a positively predatory grin.

“Maya. Maya no.” He whispered fearfully and her grin grew frighteningly wide.

“Maya yes.”

She began to close in on him as Nugget watched, backing the terrified lawyer against the wall as she clutched the bundle.

Oh good god, what menace had he released upon the world?

*

The kitchen door slammed shut behind Apollo as he fled into the kitchen, leaning back against it as he tried to calm his racing heart rate. How had things gone downhill so fast? He looked down at the garment he was now wearing with a groan. It was black, woolen and tacky, with the embroidered image of a dog and the words ‘Bah Humpug!” emblazoned across his chest. It was everything he feared about Christmas themed clothing.

“Ah, so I see she got to you as well Polly?”

He looked up to find Maya and Trucy looking at him with tired amusement, both dressed in only marginally less ugly sweaters. The ginger’s read ‘Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal” and bore the image of some bizarrely buff deer, while the others was decorated with “Meowry Christmas” and a cat wearing a Santa hat.

“Yeah, she’s still out there wreaking havoc. I think some people are holed up in the bathroom, but knowing Maya, that’s not gonna stop her for long.” He replied with a shudder, still hearing the chaos going on outside. The woman had come tearing through the main room a few minutes prior, giggling manically and wielding an overstuffed Santa bag. Apollo had been the closest to the kitchen at the time and thus the first to meet her sweater-y war path, the woman stuffing it on over his head with gusto before moving on to the next victim. Once they’d realized what was happening, most of the others had scattered and run for their lives, many making the mistake of underestimating just how fast the girl could move in geta. Whoever remained was mostly likely getting stalked through the hotel by the woman and her terrible sack of garments like some Christmas-themed horror game.

“Well, not like we can do much about it now. Might as well just bid our time in here till things calm down.” Athena replied with a sigh and shrug, turning back to the pot gently simmering on the stove and giving it a stir as she reached over to tap at something on her phone. The portable speaker on the counter edge began to blare music once more, just as Apollo dimly remembered it had been during his entrance.

“I’ll take your advice! I’ll try to be more nice!”

“Really? You listening to this?” Apollo asked, giving a little laugh and cocking an eyebrow, and Athena spun around to look at him, Trucy seizing the spoon in her stead to keep it from falling.

“What, are you telling me you’ve never heard ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ before Apollo?” She replied and he rolled his eyes.

“Of course I have, who hasn’t? But seriously? This is what you cook to?”

“Oh, you’re just being a Grinch. Besides, fun is the secret ingredient in like half this stuff.” She shot back, hips swinging sassily to the beat as though to egg him on. He let out a chuckle, shaking his head and her eyes glinted playfully, her movements becoming more focused and choreographed as she began to sing along.

“Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!”

She bopped in place a few times before dramatically kicking out a leg, startling Apollo and making Trucy give a laugh.

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!”

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be!”

She flung out an arm to point at Apollo, giving a wink and this finally drew a laugh from him, the girl giving a little fist pump of victory.

“Sincerely, Me!”

She smiled cheesily, striking a pose and jerking a thumb towards herself. Apollo gave her some rather sarcastic applause, grinning a bit in spite of himself.

“Very impressive.” He replied and she rolled her eyes. Striding over, she grabbing his hand and pulled him up from where he was leaning against the wall, dragging him towards the open space here she’d been preforming.

“Come on, your turn to dance Mr. Scrooge.” She smirked and Apollo scoffed.

“Pfft, not on your life.”

“Aw come on, have some fun Polly!”

“A-poll-o! A-poll-o!” Trucy chanted, clapping her hands, and the attorney gave a sigh of defeat, voice deadpan as he joined in with the recording.

“Dear Connor Murphy,​”

“Yes, I also miss our talks. Stop doing drugs, just try to take deep breaths and go on walks.”

Despite himself, he found his body bouncing along to the beat, smile growing even as Trucy gave a joking “Heh, no” from her perch on the counter.

“I’m sending pictures of the most amazing trees.” (“No!”)

“I’ll be obsessed with all my forest expertise!” (“Absolutely not.”)

Slipping into character, he threw out an arm to point at Athena, her eyes lighting up.

“Dude, I'm proud of you. Just keep pushing through! You're turning around, I can see!”

“Just wait and see!” She sang in reply, quickly stepping up and unexpectedly pullin him into a spin before the two launched into a series of improvised steps.

“'Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!”

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!”

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be.”

“Sincerely, Me!”

“My brother’s hot!” Athena chimed in and Apollo gave her a horrified look as Trucy burst into laughter.

“Well, I think Detective Fulbright would agree with you on that!” She called over and now it was Athena’s to look disgusted. Apollo quickly intervening with more lyrics before the full reality of her brother and his detective getting down and dirty could sink in.

“Dear Evan Hansen,​”

“Thanks for every note you send.”

“Dear Connor Murphy,​”

“I'm just glad to be your friend.” She sang back, shaking off the thoughts. He grabbed her hand and she grinned, the two anchored together as they danced about in a series of hip swings and quick footwork.

“Our friendship goes beyond our average kind of bond!”

Now completely dedicated to the performance, they hugged each other close, before suddenly seeming to realize their position and awkwardly scooting apart.

“But not because we’re gay!”

“No, not because we’re gay!”

“Ha, that’s a lie if I’ve ever heard one!” Trucy snorted and they rolled her eyes.

“We’re close but not that way.”

“That only man that I love is my dad.”

“Pfft, which one?!” Athena chimed in, seeming unable to contain the joke, and he gave her a scowl, shoving her away playfully.

“You're getting better every day.” He sang and she grinned, shoving him back.

“I’m getting better everyday!”

They turned with mischievous twin smirks to Trucy and swooped in, dragging her off the counter and into the dance as she laughed.

“Keep getting better! Every! Daaaaaaay!” They sang, the magician joining in with them at the end. With a whoop the trio jumped along to the music, legs kicking and arms swinging wide as they went along.

“Hey hey hey hey!”

“'Cause all that it takes is a little re-in-ven-tion!

“It’s easy to change if you give it your att-en-tion!

“All you gotta do is just believe you can be who you want to be!

“Sincerely,”

They clung close together, squishing Trucy between them as they cooed jokingly before releasing her with a laugh as they crescendoed.

“Miss you dearly~.”

“Sincerely, Me.”

“Sincerely, Me!”

“Sincerely, Meeeeeeeee!”

“Sincerely, Me!”

They struck a final pose, all breathing heavily and grinning like a bunch of idiots. The music rolled to a stop just in time for them to hear an odd hissing noise and the trio turned to see the nearby pot boiling over, all three giving a squeak and making a dash for it.

“Crap, crap, Ow! Fuck!” Apollo hissed, jerking a seared finger away to suck on as he wrapped a towel around the handle and dragged it off the heat.

“Language.”

They froze at the voice and turned to see Phoenix leaning against the door of the loading area, eyebrow cocked. He too was clad in a sweater, no doubt the first of Maya’s victims, and his was the most ridiculous they’d seen so far, an entire plushy deer head mounted on the front within a wreath.

“...Boss, how much of that did you see?” Athena

“Most of it...do I even want to know?” The attorney asked, giving the tiniest of laughs as they all glanced at each other hesitantly.

“...I’m gonna take that as a no. Well, carry on with your weird musical numbers. I was just passing through.”

“Says the man who I caught listening to Rent on repeat.” Trucy laughed quietly and her father threw a hand dramatically to his chest.

“We swore never to speak of that!”

She stuck her tongue out at him playfully and he grinned, continuing on his way.

“Just try not to burn the place down.”

Slipping out into the banquet room, he found the place in slight disarray, tables pushed at weird angles and the occasional wayward item lying about on the floor. A scattering of people were attempting to right the chaos, all bearing signs of Maya’s rampage. The woman herself was nowhere to be seen however so he emerged from his hiding spot and made a beeline for the silver haired figure redoing the linen on a nearby table.

“Seem you’ve run afoul ol Mrs. Christmas spirit too huh?” He asked, snickering as he leaned around to get a look at the garment she’d chosen for the prosecutor. It read “I like to smile! Smiling’s my favorite!” and was lined hem to collar with images of trees, elfs and candy canes. It was the definition of ironic and one look at the man’s unpleased expression had the spiky haired man in tears of laughter once again. The prosecutor sighed as his partner bend over the table in conniptions, waiting till his giggles calmed down before he spoke.

“Yes, yes, laugh it up. Is the food done at least? Any stragglers should be arriving soon.”

“Yeah, for the most part. Bit of a mix up with the goose though.”

“Ah, yes. Mrs. Fey has been taking quite a bit of pride of showing off her new pet.”

“Yeah, not much I can do about that. Ema is dealing with the rest of it though...she has been gone quite a while though...”

Feeling a tickle of worry up his spine, the spiky haired attorney fished out his phone and dialed her number, frown deepening when the call went straight to her voice mail.

“She’s not answering.” He muttered, brow furrowing and his frame tightened with nervous tension. What could be keeping her? Was there an accident? Was she alright?

Noticing the other man working himself into knots, the prosecutor reached out and rubbed a hand along his shoulder to calm him, voice soft and soothing when he spoke.

“Wright, just think about this logically. I’m sure her battery just died, or something of the like. Ms. Skye is a resourceful young woman. She’ll be fine.”

Phoenix took a deep breath and let it out, feeling the tension drain from him.

“Yeah...Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

“Oh, finally emerged from you hidey-hole eh Nick?

They actually flinched a tad at her voice, as though expecting even more sweatery-chaos to be rained down upon them, and turned to see the triumphant prankster striding toward them. The woman of the hour was decked out in her own form of holiday torture and the most gaudy of them all, covered in a visual cacophony of lights, garland and bells, jingling quietly as she walked.

“So, I take it your mission was a success?” Phoenix questioned and she grinned.

“Yep, and I couldn’t have done it without the help of my partner!” She replied and Kay popped out from behind her, grinning equally big and carrying the now empty sack.

“...Kay, how could you?” Edgeworth whispered in betrayal and she puffed out her chest in proud defiance, putting her own sweater on display. It showed the Caped Crusader himself checking over the naughty list, Maya having crossed out one of the names and written “Yatagarasu” in its place.

“The Legendary Thief never turns down a cry for help, no matter how minor!” She declared, grinning widely.

“Also, I promised her cake.” Maya whispered to Phoenix and the man snickered.

“Very honorable of you.” He joked, ruffling the young girls hair. After a moment his expression softened and he stooped down a tad to speak to her face to face.

“Kay, can I actually talk to you alone for a minute?”

This caught the girl off guard and she tilted her head, regarding him questioningly.

“Uh, ok. Fine with me.”

Giving a nod, he quickly herded her off into a corner, leaving Maya and Edgeworth to themselves.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on there?” the prosecutor asked her as the two began to quietly converse, the medium going a shrug and an “I dunno” sort of noise. After a few moments the little thief’s face lit up, looking ecstatically over at Edgeworth for a moment before turning back to the smiling man in front of her and continuing her excited whispers. The prosecutor cocked an eye brow curiously at the exchange. What the hell did that mean? Turning slightly, he caught sight of Maya in his peripheral. She two was grinning widely with pride, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“...You know something.” He muttered and her grin grew even wider as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

“Maaaaaybe.”

“I’m never going to get a straight answer out of any of you people, am I?”

“I’d bet my money on it.”

He gave a sigh as the two strolled back over, trying their best to even their expressions.

“Are you two done?” The prosecutor asked, cocking an eyebrow with a deadpan look and the two glanced at each other, almost breaking out into grins once more before stopping themselves.

“For the time being, yeah. Soooo...”

With that, the attorney flopped down into a nearby chair, Kay quickly following his lead.

“Now we just gotta wait for Ema to return and hope whoever you terrorized during your little sweater quest will eventually wander back.”

“Hey, I didn’t scare them that bad...probably.” The medium replied, dropping beside him. All Edgeworth added to the conversation was another sigh as he rubbed at the quickly growing headache in his temples.

Maya wasn’t exactly wrong as it turns out. Over the next half an hour or so, most of the party did indeed come trickling back into the room. Most were sporting tacky new apparel, while a select few had been lucky enough to avoid the woman’s war path long enough for her to run out. (And then there was Fulbright, who seemed to proudly be wearing two sweaters at once, the second Blackquill’s no doubt, by the way the samurai seemed to be keeping an eye on Maya and a hand on his sword hilt at all times.)

They were almost on their third bottle of sparkling juice when Wright phone buzzed on the table, the lawyer jumping a bit before snatching it up. He sighed in relief when he saw “Skye” flicker across the caller ID and quickly answered.

“Hey Ema! I was calling you earlier. Did you have to go to another shop or something? It’s been way longer than 10 minutes.” He jokingly chided her.

The deep laugh on the other end though, far too deep to ever come from Ema, made him freeze.

“Oh, now this is perfect.”

At the darkly amused lilt of their voice, Phoenix felt himself tense.

“W-Who is this? Why do you have Ema’s phone?”

“Ah, so her name is Ema. Pretty name for such a pesky girl.”

Phoenix bristled. He’d heard words far too similar to that during his cases and they made a cold ball of dread fall into his gut. As though on instinct he rose to his feet, the others looking over at him in confusion, his brow furrowed deep in concern and tone one of barely concealed anger when he spoke.

“Where is she? What did you do to her?

“Oh don’t worry. The little detective is fine...for now.”

A shudder went through him as his fears rang true. This was a ransom call.

“...What do you want?” He gritted out, trying his best to keep his voice even and calm.

“Ah, right to the point! I like that. What we want...is you Mr. Wright.”

“...What?” He whispered, and his look of cold shock brought Miles to his feet.

“Phoenix? What’s happening?” He asked, tone steady and concerned, but the attorney was too distracted with the voice on the other end to even register him.

“I will send you an address. Come there in the next hour, or the else.”

“What? But-”

“Bring that silver-haired fop with you as well.”

Phoenix’s blood ran cold, eyes going wide as he glanced over at Edgeworth.

“No, no, leave him out of this. Whatever this is about, he’s had no part in it.” He replied, voice shaking and fearful gaze spurning the other man closer in concern. The kidnapper’s dark chuckle sent a fresh shudder through him.

“Heh, you’d be surprised. The prosecutor comes.”

At that his fear turned to anger and he grit his teeth, phone creaking in his grip as he trembled and squeezed it.

“You bastard...”

“Oh, and if we get a single whiff of you bringing cops, the girl pays the price. You have an hour.”

“Wait-!”

The line went dead and a new wave of dread washed through him as the screen flashed with a text.

“Nick, what’s happening?” Maya beckoned him, tone panicked, and he looked up to see everyone having gathered around.

“Ema...Ema’s being held hostage.” He announced, voice shaking and a number of gasps rang out across the gathered crowd.

“What?! But why?!” Athena cried.

“I don’t know, but they want Miles and I. They said that if we come to them, they’ll release her.” He admitted and the groups faces pales.

“What?!” Gumshoe shouted, shoving to the front of the crowd and causing Phoenix to jump. He hadn’t even realized the detective had returned already, yet here he was, sweating and pale with the information.

“Pal, you can’t! I might not know a ton about ransoms, but I know a trap when I see one! And this is defiantly a trap!”

“I know that! But we can’t just leave Ema with them! If we don’t go to the address they gave me within the hour, they’re gonna...well they didn’t say what they’re gonna do, but it can’t be good!”

“Well then let’s go rescue her! Detective Gumshoe and I will call for back up and we’ll head over there right away!” Fulbright announced with a nod, reaching for his phone. Before he could dial though Phoenix grabbed him by the arm.

“No, wait! They said that if they see any cops, they’ll kill her!”

Miles gave a deep sigh beside him, settling a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder.

“Then, as much as we may hate it, we’ll have to play by their rules.”

Phoenix nodded and slipped his hand into the prosecutors, turning towards the door.

“Then, let’s go.”

Before he could even make it a step, Maya seized him by the sleeve and yanked him back.

“No! No way am I letting you go in there alone Nick! If you go, I go too.”

A chorus of voices agreed, Wright looking from face to face in concern.

“No, you guys, you can’t-”

“And why not?”

He turned to where Blackquill had drawn up beside his detective, gaze sharp and focused.

“According to you, there fiends only ever mentioned the exclusion of police, not other companions.”

“He’s not mistaken.” Edgeworth gently prodded him.

“I know you’re worried about Ema, but we must think about this strategically. We’ll have a much better chance against whatever these ruffians may be planning if we have the advantage of numbers.”

Phoenix stared at him for a moment, conflicted, before giving a long exhale.

“I hate it when you’re right.”

Shaking his head as though to clear it, he looked up with new determination in his gaze.

“Alright. Maya, Blackquill, Apollo and Klavier, you come with us. You too Athena, your hearing might be helpful. The rest of you, stay here with the detectives. If we’re not back soon, send in back up.”

“Daddy, wait! I can-!” Trucy began, stilling when Phoenix shot her a stern look.

“No, I don’t want you in danger if things go sour. Stay here and hold down the fort.”

“You as well Kay.” Edgeworth chimed in, mirroring his partners expression, and the girls glanced at each other in concern as the rescue team began to ready themselves.

Bringing up the trade-off coordinates on his phone, Phoenix jumped as a hand settled on his shoulder, turning to find Miles gazing at him with a gentle expression.

“Phoenix, calm down.”

The defense attorney blinked at him a few times, suddenly growing aware of the shudders still wracking his body. His head fell and he took a few deep breaths, staring down at the carpet as his face screwed up in worry.

“Miles...what if we can’t...?”

He trailed off as the prosecutor stroked a thumb back and forth against his neck, stepping closer to comfort the younger man.

“We’ll going to bring her home. I promise you that.”

“...God I hope you’re right.”

*

“So this is the place huh? Certainly seems sinister enough.” Apollo sneered, looking up at the building before them.

The directions had lead them out to the industrial area of town, the salty air of the nearby bay blowing in as they stood before their chose destination. It was a warehouse (because whenever was it not a warehouse in these situations?); a small one, admittedly, but still obscure and hidden away amongst all the larger buildings around. The prefect place to hide a person.

“I’ve got bad feeling about this.” Maya grimaced as she climbed out of the truck.

“Have you got any sort of plan Nick? You know, other than “Get Ema and try not to die”?”

“Umm...” The lawyer replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly and the woman sighed.

“Of course not.”

“In a situation like this, it would be best to stay together.” Blackquill offered and Wright nodded.

“It’s better than nothing. Now we need to-“

“Ah!”

The small cry and the thud of something hitting the road caused the group to turn, finding a familiar little magician now laying on the pavement, another small figure half leaned out of the now open trunk, frozen halfway through her attempt to stop her companions tumble. Both stowaways slowly looked up at the groups shocked faces, Trucy giving a nervous little giggle.

“Heh, hi Daddy.”

“T-Trucy! Kay! What are you doing here!?” Phoenix cried, snapping out of his stupor and rushing over to them. Kay helped her friend up and the two glanced sheepishly down at the road, biting their lips and looking at each before shrugging and facing back towards at their respective father figures.

“We...We couldn’t let you do this alone.” Trucy finally admitted, holding up a finger when Phoenix moved to speak.

“We know you two just want to try and keep us out of the crossfire, because you care. But if something does happen, we want to be here for it.”

The man stared at the two for a long moment before smiling softly.

“You two are such troublemakers. Edgeworth?”

He turned to the other man and the prosecutor gave deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“It’s not like we could stop them if we wanted anyway.”

The two girls gave little sounds of victory and Phoenix stood, gathering everyone up and turning once more toward the building. From what he could see, the only visible entrance seemed to be the front door. Straight into the lion’s den it was then.

“Alright, everybody stay together and keep aware of your surroundings. Let’s go.”

With that, he reached out and grabbed the doorknob.

It was unlocked and the room beyond was dim. It wasn’t a particularly large room, probably about 40 feet square, with rows of cabinets and benches cluttering the shadowed walls, a few flickering florescent bulbs casting a meager glow over its center. Across from them in the gloom, they could see a single door, both unassuming and yet also sinister. They’re footsteps seemed almost dulled by the darkness as they cleared the doorway and gingerly made their way inside.

“Athena, do you hear anything?” Phoenix breathed and the girl closed her eyes for a moment.

“Yeah, I...I think there’s something...”

Her head suddenly leaned to one side for a moment and her eyes snapped open, jerking around to look into the shadows.

“Oh, no.”

The door slammed shut behind them, cutting off what little moonlight from the street had been trickling in, and the group spun around, finding a large burly man glaring at them beside it. As they watched close to a dozen people emerged from their hiding spots in the shadows, each one easily described as a goon. As they closed in, the group huddled together, back to back as they looked frantically from man to man.

“Who are you?! Where’s Em-!?” Phoenix began, cut off by the loud creak of hinges opening.

“Alright, calm down boys. It’s not time for fun just yet.”

Turning to face the newcomer, Wright froze.

“Wha-?...Jack?”

The tall well-dressed man before them gave a chuckle as the door closed behind him, one of the baddies taking up guard in front of it as he strode toward them.

“No, I’m afraid not Mr. Wright. My brother and I do share quite the striking resemblance though don’t we?”

“Wait, you’re his...But the police...”

“They couldn’t find him.”

The growl came from between gritted teeth and they turned to find the silver haired prosecutors face stormy, eyes narrowed in fury.

“Following the trial, the police were deployed to retrieve one Gibson Collins, and yet were unable to locate him upon arrival at the brothers’ place of living. Detective Gumshoe informed me of such this morning.”

“That’s the fun thing about having no one think you’re a witness; No one thinks to keep tabs on you either.” The twin replied with a smile, his expression one of calm amusement.

“But...why would you do this?” Phoenix questioned him and the man’s smile grew a bit wider.

“Ah, that’s the question of the hour now isn’t it?”

With that he began to pace back and forth before them, the rest of his goons backing up a bit to give them some space.

“Well, you see, the bar has always been a good source of financing for we and our boys more, let’s say, ‘underground’ pastimes.” He replied, waving a hand about dramatically, and Phoenix felt a shudder of dread go through him. If what he was imply was true, they’d just leapt into a far deeper pool than they’d intended.

“So, you can see why the fact that you not only shut down the place but also locked away my brother-!”

The last bit came out a snarl, the man’s whole frame tightening in anger before he caught himself and relaxed, the mask of calm amusement sliding back into place.

“...Might make us a bit upset.”

“Alright, I get it, you’ve got a grudge. What does that have to do with Ema?” Phoenix replied, and the man gave a shrug.

“To be honest, little. Some of the boys recognized her from the trial while they were out and brought her to me. When I first saw her, oh, I was mad alright, furious even. After all, she is the one who dug up that piece of evidence for you.”

He chuckled, unfolding his hands from behind his back to gesture grandly.

“But then we realized she could serve a much more useful purpose.”

“You could use her to lure Edgeworth and the boss here.” Athena pipped up and the man grinned.

“Ooo, quite the sharp mind, that one. A perfect bullseye.”

“But what do you get out of all of this? What do you intend to accomplish by bringing us here?” Miles replied, moving Athena behind him slightly as he stepped up beside his partner. The smirk the man sent them was enough to send shivers down all their spines as he spoke.

“Oh, it’s quite simple really. I only want to keep things fair. Because of you pair, two precious things were taken from me...”

For a moment, he was a blur of movement, then suddenly the dim light was glinting off the steel of his pistol, the barrel pointed directly at the two men.

“...so I’m going to take two from you. Your lives should do.”

“...You can’t be serious.” Apollo blurted out in shock, and the man’s charming façade spilled away, his face now deathly serious.

“Oh, I’m quite serious, I assure you.”

The grin made a return performance as he cocked back the hammer, but this time it looked like it belonged to the devil himself.

“Now, I advise you gentlemen say your prayers. Hope you haven’t got any unfinished bui-”

Before he could finish the sentence, there was a resounding crack from the door behind him. It bowed outwards for a moment, the metal of the hinges screeching before finally giving way. The whole thing went flying, taking out the man standing guard next to it before hitting the ground and skidding off into a corner. As the dust cleared they all turned to see a familiar figure standing in the empty doorway, leg still raised in position.

“Ok, who’s next!?...Oh, hey, you guys actually came!...What the hell are you wearing?”

“Now is really not the time Ema!” Phoenix shot back, flushing as he suddenly remembered their outrageous state of attire.

“Wha-?! How did you get out?! We had 4 guys guarding you!” One of the lackeys squawked and the detective grinned wolfishly.

“Yeah, well now there’s 4 guys in need of some basic first aid back there. So, which of you idiots wants to join the- Ah!”

The girl gave a little cry as she was grabbed from behind, an arm wrapping around her collarbone and pinning her back against Gibson’s chest. She struggled, reeling back a leg to try and kick at him, but froze when the cold barrel of his gun pressed against her temple.

“Anyone take a single step and little miss detective here gets it!” He growled and the whole room stilled, all eyes on him. He smirked and slowly scrolled his gaze of them, eyes hopping from on frightened face to the other.

“Now then, here’s how things are going to go. Wright and the fop are going to take a little ride with me and the boys, we give the rest of you the girl, and then you never see our faces again. Doesn’t that sound nice? Now then, if you’ll just come along quietly we can get this over-“

The thug paused, eyes narrowing in confusion as he scanned once again over the group, silently mouthing numbers as he counted them.

“Wait, where’s the little witch ki-?”

He let out a startled cry as Trucy dropped onto his back from her hiding place in the rafters, grabbing at his arm and twisting the gun out of his hand.

“Ema, run! And I’m a magician damn it!” She shouted, and the other girl slipped from his grip, the captor’s face screwing up in rage as she escaped.

“Get off of me you little brat!” He growled, reaching back with his free arm and grabbing Trucy by the scruff of her neck. He hefted and she flew forward over him, slamming to the ground on her back with a choked noise of pain, all the air knocked out of her. The man ignored her, looking from side of side in a bid to spot his former prisoner.

“Damn it, where did she-?!”

A crack resounded through the air as he turned just in time to see the flash of blue before him and meet the fist coming towards his face. He toppled with a cry, clutching his likely broken nose.

“Gah! Who-!”

He looked up to see Phoenix towering over him, the man’s face wild and eyes filled with a near demonic light, his voice a rage-filled growl when he spoke.

“Don’t you dare touch my daughter.”

With that, the place descended into chaos.

Gibson dove for his gun, but like a bolt of lightning Kay was across the room, kicking it out of his reach. In a glimmer of sparks it skittered away across the floor and disappeared beneath a set of heavy cabinets. He snarled and she leapt clear of his grasp before he could get a hold on her, getting in a solid blow at his fingers with the steel toe of her boot for good measure. Edgeworth used the distraction to hoist Trucy off the floor and out of harm’s way, slipping behind Phoenix as the attorney squared off against one of the other baddies. As though on cue, more of the kidnapper’s underlings burst through the now doorless doorway, bruises and scrapes gained during Ema’s escape already beginning to show.

“Gib, we tried to grab her but- whoa, what’s happenin?!”

“Ugh, don’t just stand there you idiots! Get them!” The twin yelled and they leapt into action, joining their companions and closing in on the group.

“Wright-dono, there isn’t enough room to defend ourselves in here. We will be overrun if we don’t move now.” Blackquill muttered to him as they were herded together and he gave a nod of agreement. Fumbling behind him, he finally found the handle of the door and quietly clicked it open. He glanced around at his companions, the others quickly seeming to catch on and nodding their agreement. In a flash of speed he threw the door open and took a swing at the nearest enemy, the others following suit, before spinning on his heel, distraction in place.

‘Everybody outside!!”

They flooded through the open doorway and out into the crisp coldness of the street, the enemy faltering for just a moment under their attacks before giving chase. Maya brought up the rear, giving a choked gasp of surprise as she was seized by the back of the shirt and pulled backwards, an obnoxiously tall lackey lifting her off the ground. Her eyes narrowed and with a quiet growl she spun around, the fabric of her sweater twisting in his grip, and drove her geta into his stomach. His eyes bulged and his knees buckled, dropping to the ground and doubling over as he tried desperately not to be ill. His grip didn’t fully release however, so she simply let herself go limp, slithering out of the garment and darting away to safety.

“See, aren’t you glad I bought these damn things now!?” She shouted over to Phoenix and he rolled his eyes, reaching behind his neck and yanking his own off over his head.

“Yeah, real glad! Now just keep fighting!”

With that he balled up the garment and reeled back his arm, launching the weighty bundle at a goon who’s gotten the upper hand on Klavier, dragging the singer back towards him by the hair. The flying plushy deer head took the baddie by surprise and he reeled as he was struck in the face with the projectile, releasing the prosecutor as he stumbled back and fell. The young man shouted a bit of thankful German to Wright before delivering a firm kick to the fallen man’s head, knocking him out cold.

Looking around, Phoenix took stock of the situation. Despite the circumstances, the rag-tag team of rescuers were actually holding their own pretty damn well. Trucy had produced one of her stage swords from somewhere and teamed up with Blackquill, the two easily holding off several men at once with a series of sharp jabs and flourishes. On the other end of things, Kay and Apollo were taking a more physical approach, the girl using her speed to trip their enemies up, leaving them for Apollo to take out with all those skills he’d learned from his years in the mountains. As for Athena , she was...well, being Athena, and as he watched she grabbed a man twice her size and tossed him a good 10 feet down the street, the other baddies backing away from her as she turned in search of new targets. Even Taka was doing his part, circling and dive-bombing anyone who got too close to Ema while the girl took cover behind the truck. As he himself took down another person, Wright felt himself grin. They might just win this.

His internal celebration was cut off however by a sharp crack and he flinched as something ricochet off the light pole beside him. Turning to its origin, he found a battered Gibson nearby. He’d been partially successful in swiping away the blood dripping down his face, though it did little to hide the fact that his nose was most defiantly broken, and it only seemed to intensify the rage on his face as he pointed the pistol once more at Phoenix.

“I don’t care what else happens, you’re still going to die tonight!”

His roar sent a wave of dread through the spiky haired man, eyes flickering from place to place in search of escape as the madman took aim.

“Gibson, please. You don’t have to do thi-” The attorney began, only for his blood to run cold as the hammer clicked back once more.

“Say goodbye Mr. Lawye-”

He gagged on the last word as an elbow abruptly wrapped around his neck from behind, choking him out. Quick as the first, another arm came around and seized the hand wielding the gun, twisting it to a painful angle and forcing him to drop the weapon. He gave a hoarse cough as his throat was released, hacking and heaving as he tried to get his windpipe working once more.

“Wha-?”

The word hadn’t even left his lips before the seized arm was being twisted tight behind his back, the attackers elbow planting itself between his shoulder blades. A sharp kick to his knees and he went down like a sack of bricks, head striking the street with a crack and body stilling.

“I think not.” Edgeworth replied, rising to his feet and brushing the dirt from his sweater. He turned in Phoenix’s direction with a concerned expression, starting towards the man.

“Wright, did he-?”

He paused when he properly saw the defense attorney. If the spiky haired lawyer had looked lovestruck around him before, that his expression now was on a whole new level. His cheeks were flushed and mouth hanging slightly agape, eyes wide with awe. He even had a hand pressed over his heart and despite the dire situation Edgeworth couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.

As though the spell had been broken, the remaining minion cried out to their leader, some rushing over to check on him while others continued their own battles. Shaking his head at the chaos, the prosecutor nodded towards the brawl and looked over at his partner.

“Shall we?”

Phoenix’s face broke into a wide smirk and he pushed up his sleeves as they started once more into the fray.

“Gladly.”

They’d just reached the action and were reeling back to join in on the fun when...

“EVERYBODY FREEZE!”

The whole battle did just that, everyone turning like deer in the headlights to look at the actual headlights now illuminating the area. As they watched the cop stepped out from behind the squad car door amongst the flashing lights they’d somehow failed to notice earlier, lowering his firearm slightly as several more squad cars pulled up as well.

For lack of a better idea, Phoenix smiled and did what he did best.

“Ah, hello officer. It’s a long story...”

*

“This is not how I imagined I’d be spending Christmas Eve.”

Phoenix sent Maya a deadpan look, everything about his expression and body language just seeming to scream “really?”.

“Yes Maya, I’m sure none of us expected to be spending Christmas Eve in a jail cell.”

The girl gave a shrug the best she could considering she was currently laying upside-down on one of the benches, her legs propped up flat against the wall to form a sort of ‘L’. Across the cell from her, Blackquill gave a snort.

“Speak for yourself Wright-dono.” He rumbled with a wry grin and the attorney winced slightly at the dark humor.

When the police had arrived earlier, they’d though it a blessing, backup sent by the others. That assumption quickly died however when it was announced that they were all charged with disorderly conduct and the conflicting groups were arrested. As it turns out, a spectator had overheard the conflict from their apartment and called the cops, who arrived to the fight having spilled out into the street. He and the others had tried their best to explain the situation, Edgeworth even going as far as pulling his rank as Chief Prosecutor, but twas not to be. The officers remained just as confused about the whole thing as before and they were all promptly wheeled off to the local precinct.

They had been stuck in one of the holding areas a few hours prior, to “simmer down” they’d been told, and then more or less left to their own devices. His own group was split between two different cells, the two sharing a center wall and for the most part had submitted to their fate. (Gibson and his boys had been shoved into a different area entirely, presumably to prevent the two factions from squabbling, and Phoenix thanked the lord for small mercies.) Miles, Trucy, Kay and himself shared one, while the others were scattered around the other, some sitting or lying across the few wide wooden benches available, while others simply sat slumped against whichever available surface. The open iron bars surrounding them at least allowed for easy communication and sight of their surroundings, even if the fact that most of the lights had been switched off for the night limited the latter. The only one of them who hadn’t been locked up was Ema, who’d been taken in for questioning when she mentioned being kidnapped. That had been hours ago however, so who knew what was happening here.

“Ugh, Dhurke is gonna have a field day if he ever finds out about this.” Apollo muttered to himself, Athena chuckling and nudging him with her foot.

“Is that a challenge I hear?”

“Athena, I swear to god I will kill you myself.”

Kalvier gave a little laugh and continued stroking a hand over the younger man’s hair, the defense attorney giving a grumpy grumble and leaning over more heavily against the others thigh.

“What about you Maya? Was this enough of a winter adventure for ya?” Kay called over and the woman tapped a finger against her lips thoughtfully.

“Hmm...could have used more Steel Samurai.”

The chorus of laughter that rang through the room was soon interrupted by the creak of the nearby door opening and they turned to find two familiar faces entering, looking surprisingly chipper despite the circumstances.

“Hello! How’s everybody holding up in here?” Fulbright asked, as white and gleaming as usual in the dim light of the holding area.

“About as well as someone in holding can be.” Phoenix replied from his position leaned back against the shared bars, arms folded behind his head.

“Good to hear! Just let us know if there’s anything we can get you folks! I’d hate for you to be any more uncomfortable than necessary while you’re stuck here.” The detective cheerfully declared, eyes sweeping over the accidental prisoners. His gaze softened as he looked over at Blackquill, the samurai leaned back in one of the corners with Taka in his lap, and moved over to crouch beside him.

“Simon, are you doing alright?” He gently asked, reaching through the bars to touch his cheek, and the prosecutor sighed in mild exasperation.

“I spent 10 years behind bars, Foolbright. I believe I can handle one night.” He replied, his voice one of mock annoyance even as he leaned his head into the touch.

“I know, I know.” The detective admitted with a sigh, stroking a thumb over the man’s cheekbone.

“I just hate seeing you in here. I’m sure Wyn does too. Heh, she said she was gonna stay up all night and wait till we get home when I called to let her know earlier.”

This brought a tiny smirk to the prosecutor lips, the man giving a little huff of laughter.

“As though she doesn’t do that regularly anyway.”

“How’s about you Mr. Edgeworth?” Gumshoe asked, brow furrowing in concern.

“You doin ok?”

“I shall be fine Detective. Do you have any updates on our release?”

“Sorry pal, nada. This whole this is just a big mess, and the rest of the guys are still tryin to put together all the pieces.”

The silver haired man sighed and nodded in understanding. This section of the city was technically under the jurisdiction of the precinct they were currently trapped in, a separate one from that of their friends, creating a new legal hurtle to leap in order to sort this whole mess out. They’d been lucky the two detectives had even been allowed to help in the attempt, considering how convoluted the rules of this sort of thing tended to get.

“Well, please just inform us promptly if there’s any changes.”

“Course Mr. Edgeworth sir. Sooner we can get you guys out of here, the sooner ya can get home and celebrate the holidays.”

The door clicked open once more, an unfamiliar young man leaning out and calling for the trench-coated man.

“Ok, be there in a sec! Well, duty calls!” Gumshoe chimed, giving them all a little salute before marching off after the stranger.

It was quiet for a few minutes, the only sounds punctuating the darkness being the occasional noise from Taka and Fulbright soft whistling as he kept an eye on them. At first it was peaceful, but soon the awkward air about the scene began to get to them, Athena finally giving a loud sigh and breaking the silence.

“Well, hey, if there’s one good thing that’s come out of this whole thing, at least we can claim the title of “Most Adventurous Lawyers”, right Boss?...Boss?” she joked, cocking an eybrow when he failed to reply, seemingly lost in thought.

“...Hey, Fulbright? What time is it?” the blue clothed man suddenly asked and the detective gave a hum, fishing out his phone.

“Let’s see...says here that it’s 11:55. Almost Christmas everybody!”

The defense attorney stared up at the ceiling thoughtfully for a moment before sighing, unfolding the arms tucked behind his head and sitting up.

“Well, now’s as good a time as any, I suppose.”

Shifting up into a knelling position, he reached over and took Miles’ hand. The prosecutor made a little noise of surprise and the others turned towards them, watching as Phoenix gently held it between his own.

“Edgeworth, I’ve been meaning to say this for a long time but...thank you.”

The other man’s head tilted curiously, one side of his mouth quirking up in confused amusement.

“Thank you? For what?”

“For everything.” He replied, expression going soft.

“Without you, I‘d never have become a lawyer. I wouldn’t never have met Mia, or any of the others. I’d never have been able to save anyone. Without you, I’d never be where I am today. Who I am today. I’ve never been more thankful for anything than I am for the fact that you’re here with me...You’re everything to me.”

For a moment his face fell a bit and he released the man’s hand with a sigh, looking down at the ground with sad eyes.

“And to be honest...I’m really not sure I deserve you. That I’ll ever deserve you.”

With a half-huffed laugh, the prosecutor reached down and stroked the other lawyers hair, running his fingers through the silky strands and moving down to cup his cheek. He tilted the man’s face up to look at him, smiling softly.

“Don’t be daft Wright. You know that’s not true.”

The defense attorney gave a chuckle, gaze warm and loving as he looked up, leaning into the touch and nuzzling the man’s wrist.

“I had the feeling you’d say that.” He muttered, hand drifting down to his hip.

With that, he tugged out the item he’d been lugging around in his pocket all night, staring at it thoughtfully as he turned it over and over in his hands. The bench clattered back against the wall as Miles suddenly stood, wide eyes fixed on the small object. Something in his gaze told Phoenix the puzzle pieces were coming together and the spiky haired man took a deep breath to quiet the minuscule shaking that jittering over his frame. In, out, in out. Come on Phoenix, it’s just like being in court. No backing down now.

“So, I guess what I’m trying to ask is...”

He held his breath and flipped the little velvet box open, Miles sucking in a breath of his own as the dim light illuminated the object within.

Two hoops of gold encircled a tangle of silver filigree, polished and gleaming even in the dimness. Imbedded in the very top was a deep magenta stone, flanked on either side by smaller silvery-purple ones, each almost seeming to glow.

He waited for just a moment, hearing the various gasps echo through the holding area, before looking up at the shocked face above him, smiling gently as he gazed at the man.

“Miles Edgeworth, will you marry me?”

For a one terrible, suspenseful moment, the man simply stood and stared at him, gaze wide with shock and disbelief. Then the tiniest of smiles snuck onto his face, a quiet, relieved laugh bubbling up in his throat as bright grey eyes gleamed wetly. The next moment his knees hit the ground, Phoenix having just enough time to draw a breath before a hand again slid into his hair and their lips were slammed together.

He could barely hear the cheers around him through the pure relief buzzing through his head, grinning wide as he wrapped his arms around the prosecutor and pulled him tight against his chest. They knelt there for a long few seconds, each soaking up the presence of the other, every care in the world getting thrown out the window. Then the silver haired man gently pulled away, head dropping down to rest against the youngers chest with a teary chuckle, smile wide and brilliant.

“Of course I will, you fool.”

Planting a kiss on his crown, Phoenix reached down and took the prosecutor’s hand, stroking a thumb along the top as he wrestled the ring out of the box with the other hand, nearly dropping it a few times before he finally manage to slid it into its rightful place.

“For once, I must commend your sense of style. You picked well.” Miles chuckled, twisting his hand this way and that so the sparse light glittered off of it.

“Ha, you’d think.” Maya laughed.

“Poor Nick could barely figure out the difference between an amethyst and an emerald. Took us forever to get everything picked out. Why do you guys think we were missing for so long during that shopping trip?”

“...So much suddenly makes sense.” Athena whispered, staring up at the ceiling, eyes wide with dawning realization.

Rolling his eyes, Phoenix took his partner’s, his fiancée’s, face in his hands and swiped away the tears still rolling down his cheeks, pressing their foreheads together with a soft smile. Before he could get any further though, a shadow washed over them. Looking up, they found Kay hanging over them, having climbed the cell bars, arm outstretched and holding a sprig with white berries.

“W-Where did you even get that?” Phoenix asked, cocking his head in confusion, and Blackquill quietly chuckled, stroking a very smug looking Taka. Mile merely shook his head, lifting an eyebrow with a mildly amused look.

“So, you’ve been plotting against me as well, hmm?” He asked and the girl grinned impishly.

“Maaaaaybe~”

With a giggle, she leaned down beside him, loose hair draping around them as she whispered in his ear.

“By the way, he already asked for my blessing. Go be happy Miles.”

She planted a peck on his cheek before quickly leaning back and he stared after her, gaze softening.

“Kay...”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the distant toiling of the bell tower in the distance. There was a flicker of light in the dimness as a phone was clicked on.

“Midnight, right on the dot. You know what that means.” Fulbright announced, wide grin illuminated by his screen.

“C’mon lovebirds, don’t keep us waiting.” The little thief chimed in, shaking the mistletoe cheekily. The two couldn’t help the laughter that bubbled up in their throats as the younger reeled the other back in. Their noses brushed together as he leaned in, letting out a murmur against the man’s lips.

“Merry Christmas Miles.”

“Heh...Merry Christmas Phoenix, you lovable fool.”

Sweater references-

Maya: https://mom.me/lifestyle/15860-best-ugly-christmas-sweaters-ever/item/man-ugly-christmas-sweater/

Phoenix: https://www.halloweencostumes.com/reindeer-head-ugly-christmas-sweater.html

Apollo: https://www.target.com/p/women-s-bah-humpug-long-sleeve-ugly-christmas-sweater-well-worn-juniors-black/-/A-52481902

Athena: https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Sweater-Alone-Filthy-Animal/dp/B00AEVVQZS

Trucy: https://images.prod.meredith.com/product/ea7622bf8e9baeaeeee04071730dc38a/1510243387130/l/new-directions-cloverfield-6051-green-red-meowy-christmas-sweater

Miles: https://www.amazon.com/Festified-Smilings-Favorite-Christmas-Sweater/dp/B01EIG2OSC

Kay: https://www.80stees.com/products/naughty-list-batman-faux-ugly-christmas-sweater

Klavier: https://www.myuglychristmassweater.com/products/reindeer-vintage-80s-light-up-christmas-sweater-g513

Blackquill: https://www.belk.com/p/new-directions-penguin-with-glasses-sweater/0438593253761.html?CAWELAID=500001660011494316&c3ch=CSE&c3nid=Meredith&cm_mmc=CSE-_-Meredith-_-Women%20%3E%20Petite%20Clothing%20%3E%20Sweaters-_-0438593253761&irgwc=1

Fulbright: https://www.halloweencostumes.com/christmas-present-ugly-christmas-sweater.html

Pearl: https://www.popsugar.com/moms/photo-gallery/42696794/image/42696828/Light-Up-Reindeer-Sweater

Name puns!-

Festos Teatrale: References the descriptive title ‘festas teatrale’ (theatrical festivity) which is used for dramatic and musical works, often those of a celebratory nature.

Jack Collins: A combined reference to the Jack Rose and Brandy Coillins cocktails.

Gibson Collins: Refers to the Gibson cocktail and same as above.

Terrwyn/Wyn (Terrwyn Encontrar): A pun on the term ‘harrowing encounter’ cause of backstory stuff.

Aria's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2Kh_XMIDPU

Festos's song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsiWOp-ImoE&t=135s

And the song that the kitchen trio sung was ‘Sincerely, Me” from ‘Dear Evan Hanson’, which is an amazing musical and you should all listen to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOYAA13Bm9M

#aass2017 #ace attorney #wrightworth #klapollo #blackbright #There's no way in hell I'm tagging all these characters #My writing #secret santa

[theladyofdeath]

Kings and Queens. {Chapter 2}

Summary: Six students, from six different cliques, are trapped in the same room  for Saturday detention. They cannot stand one another, but find that they are not all that different. Inspired by The Breakfast Club (1985), characters from Sarah J Maas’ Throne of Glass series.

Author’s Note: First of all, I reached 1k followers this week. That, and all the love I’ve received for this fic, have really lifted my spirits! You all are wonderful, and I love that you love this story! I hope you enjoy chapter two!

You can find previous chapters here.

Aelin.

8:10 a.m.

I had been there for ten minutes and I already felt as if I would explode.

Maybe it was the fact that I was locked in a room for the next eight hours, or maybe it was the fact that I was locked in a room for the next eight hours with him.

Havilliard High was large enough that I rarely saw him, and when I did, I quickly turned the other way. Being locked with him, though, after doing everything in my power to ignore him for the last two years....

Aedion kept scribbling down notes on a sheet of loose leaf paper that said things like, Are you okay? Or You look like you’re going to vomit.

I needed to find a way out.

No, I scribbled back in sloppy cursive. I’m going for a walk.

“Where are you going to go for a walk?” he whispered, amusingly. “This may be a big library, but there’s only so many laps you can do before-“

I scooted my chair back before he could finish, causing a loud screech to force everyone else’s attention in my direction.

“The bathrooms are-“

“I know where the bathrooms are,” I snapped at Dylan – Dorian, whatever. “Your assistance isn’t needed. This isn’t my first time in the library.”

The quiet girl hiding behind her long, heavy bangs glared at me.

“Do you ever say anything, or do you just enjoy giving people the bitch stare?” I spat, tilting my head.

“She’s not the bitch, Aelin. Leave her alone.”

There were a thousand things I had wanted to say to him during the previous two years, but none of them came to mind the moment I heard his voice. I had heard that voice in my dreams. I had heard it when I was alone, crying, needing someone to talk to. That deep, sultry, perfectly accented voice.

That voice. That damn voice.

“Quiet, Whitethorn,” I shot back, calmly.

“Forget my first name?” he mocked. “Doesn’t surprise me.”

Giving me a curious, surprised look was Aedion, and I hated myself for responding to Rowan in the first place. I faced Dylan.

No – Dorian.

“Where were you saying the bathrooms were?” I asked, as sweetly as I could muster. The ability to distract: it was my greatest personality trait.

He looked shocked, as if me talking to him was the last thing he expected to happen. “I…um….if you go through the fiction section, between rows Aa and Al, there will be a hallway to your left.”

I blinked.

He pointed. “That way.”

“Thank you,” I winked, before hauling ass to the back of the library.

I wasn’t even aware the library had a fiction section, I thought it was only full of academic nonsense from authors who thought they were holier than thou. If I knew the library had a fiction section, I may have spent more time there in the past.

Then again, I probably wouldn’t have. My friends would have given me endless shit.

I heard his footsteps before he caught up to me. “What the hell was that?”

Not bothering to acknowledge my cousin, I stopped in the middle of the aisle and turned to the shelf.

“Aelin, do not pretend to be interested in novels, look at me.”

I eyed my cousin, with his long golden hair in a loose bun, sporting a long-sleeved shirt that was pushed half way up his forearms that read Havilliard High Football. His turquoise eyes, that we had both inherited from our mothers, were squinted at me, suspiciously.

“Don’t tell me it’s nothing,” he said, quieter than before. “I know you. I also know that you two were looking at each other like there’s history there.”

“It’s nothing,” I lied, just as he knew I would.

“You two fucked.”

I dropped the book that I had pulled from the shelf onto the floor with a thud, and spun towards Aedion. “Excuse me?”

“Did you?” he crossed his arms, and leaned against the shelf in typical Ashryver fashion.

“No!” I yelled, then brought my voice down before continuing. “No, we did not fuck, but thank you for speaking to me like the gentleman you are.”

He shrugged, a small smile now playing on his lips. “Something happened, though, and you can’t tell me otherwise.”

I wouldn’t tell him otherwise. I wouldn’t tell him anything at all.

Picking my book up off the ground, I turned my back to him and hurried down the tunnel of books. Dorian’s instructions were spot on. To the left, there was a narrow hallway. At the end of the hallway was the bathroom. I let myself in and locked the door behind me.

I expected Aedion to come knocking, but he didn’t, so I leaned against the door and closed my eyes, allowing myself to take a few deep breaths.

I deserved their hate. I deserved their glares. I deserved to be called a bitch. I was a bitch. I wasn’t sure if that bothered me or not. I’m not sure I even cared anymore. I was numb. I had lost who I was, and who I wanted to be.

I didn’t care anymore.

That’s why I was there.

After flushing the toilet as a precaution, just in case Aedion was waiting just outside, I checked myself in the mirror. My tank top was not weather appropriate, but all my sweaters were dirty that morning. I hadn’t been home much that week to do laundry. And when I was home, I was not motivated. There was no way Arobynn was going to do laundry. Some kind of parent he was.

Asshole.

When I opened the door, the hallway was empty. Aedion must have given up on me, just like everyone else had.

Oh well.

The library was exquisite. I walked through row after row, admiring the bindings of every book under the sun. I had to believe that most high schools didn’t carry that large of a selection, nor did they decorate their libraries like a medieval safe haven.

I dreamt of places like the Havilliard High library when I was young. I dreamt of big rooms with chandeliers and red velvet chairs. I dreamt of endless books and silence and peace. I dreamt of walking over long Victorian rugs that held more history than I could imagine. It was beautiful. It was how I imagined the inside of my soul.

I breathed it in as I made my way through the lower level, then I found my way up the spiral staircase, onto the upper level. I could see the lower level perfectly, a lovely labyrinth of literature. A dream.

The statue of Elena and Gavin looked smaller from up here, but it was still one of the only shiny, bright things in the library. In front of the statue were the others, sitting silently at their tables. Aedion was staring at his chemistry homework in a daze, probably thinking of the party that was being held at his house that night. Dorian was typing ninety miles an hour across his laptop’s keyboard, and the basket case was doodling with her ink pen.

Surprisingly, I found myself curious of what she was drawing. Probably something obscene. She seemed like the type.

And then, there he was.

Rowan.

It hurt to say his name, to even think it.

It had been two years. Two years since the incident that changed the course of my life, and from what it looked like, his life, too.

Criminal. That’s what they called him. The Rowan I knew when I was sixteen was not a criminal. The Rowan I knew was kind, gentle, and passionate.

She’s not the bitch, Aelin. That’s what he had told me. He had stood up for her, over me. Not that I could blame him, but it still hurt. It hurt to hear the bite in his voice. It hurt to have him spit my name as if it burnt his tongue.

He was just as beautiful as he was then. Even with his baggy sweatshirt covering his perfectly sculpted body, even with his hood covering his luscious silver hair. His bright green eyes used to watch me with utter bliss, now they observed me as if I were nothing more than a demon. I could see the top of a tattoo working up the side of his neck. I didn’t even know he had gotten one.

You shouldn’t care, Aelin.

I know I shouldn’t have, but I did.

Gods, I did.

Not that I would let him know that.

Chapter 3 coming soon.

@throne-of-ashes-and-beauty @sarah-akhavan @gcarroll @kortanna @nightquart @notjustanyoldfangirl @superhuman-imagines @iwouldtrusthagridwithmylife @callmeladytypewriter @saybell1994 @2-bookmaster-2 

(If I missed tagging you, it was not intentional. Please let me know so I can correct it, and add you to the list!)

#kings and queens tog #chapter two #my fanfic #fanfic #fanfiction #fic #tog #throne of glass #rowan #aelin #rowaelin #dorian #aedion #lysandra #lysaedion #i hope you liked #let me know what you thought

[xread2createx-blog]

Our Wild Dreams (on Wattpad) https://my.w.tt/UiNb/uTyBxNPsVH

A funny crack-fic I got inspired to continue, a fanfic I found and wanted to continue and edit a little. Hope you have a laughing fit. I don’t own the characters, nor do I own the the pins and only part of the story is mine.

The Dream Machine by Bullwinkle's Lady "Talking." 'Thinking.' On Screen. In living room. Part 1 "But... How?" Naruto, Choji, Kiba, Sakura, Ino, Lee, Shino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Tenten, and Sasuke; all ranging from ages sixteen to seventeen, stared at Kakashi with blank looks upon their faces. Kakashi sighed. He had been prepared for such a question. The jounin pulled out a pointer. After countless charts, surveys, graphs, and diagrams, the gray-haired shinobi some how managed to explain to the twelve teenagers just how he had gotten all of their dreams of the previous night on tape. 'I have no idea what he said, but I'll pretend that I do anyway.' Everyone thought. "Aa." "I see." "That makes perfect sense..." "Cool." In a matter of moments the large group had made their way to a living room. What living room you ask? No one really knows. It was just a living room, with a large couch, a wide screen television, and warm bowls of popcorn conveniently lying around. Did I dream last night? Naruto wondered, taking a place on the couch and kicking his sandals off. Foul odors drifted across the room. Hinata, who didn't really mind Naruto's many surprising odors, took a seat beside him. She blushed, remembering the various dreams that she'd had the previous night, and prayed that Kakashi hadn't recorded one in particular. As Sakura sat down on the other side of the couch, the Uchiha took a seat on the ground in front of her, his back against her legs as he absently leaned on them. Both silently tried to remember the dreams that they'd had the previous night, just in case something - ah - inappropriate popped onto the screen. Kami, I can't believe I forgot... thought Sakura, biting her fingernails. This is a violation of privacy, the Uchiha thought, glaring at the back of Kakashi's head. As Neji, Tenten, and Lee stood behind the couch (what with the easy access to the exit), Shikamaru and Choji took seats on the ground close to the television screen. Ino also sat on the floor, more near the couch, and Shino brooded in a nice shadowy corner. Lastly, Kiba stood on the ceiling above the couch, while Akamaru curled up beside it. "Ready?" asked Kakashi, smirking behind his mask. As some responded with snake-like hisses, others released reluctant yeahs. Hinata hid her face behind her fingers, and Sakura sighed, still unable to remember just what she had dreamed about the previous night. Using all of his will power not to hop up and down, Kakashi turned off the lights. He leaned down near the television, his pointer finger shaking in excitement as it landed on the PLAY button of the VCR. "I believe the first dream is Naruto's," he muttered, as he moved to stand beside the television. Naruto nervously chuckled, having no idea what he was about to see. Tape: Ruggedly handsome Uzamaki Naruto, looking to be about twenty-five, sighed as he leaned back in his jacuzzi, hot bubbling ramen oddly substituting the water. Giggling beside him in an itty-bitty red bikini was his dear wife Haruno Sakura... Living room: "Naruto!" Sakura growled, resisting the urge to leap across the couch to strangle the blonde in question. Naruto released an awkward chuckle, making sure not to catch Sakura's eyes as he resisted his own urge to run. As the rest of the room's occupants snickered, Sasuke's eyebrow twitched, though he couldn't quite understand why. Back to the tape: In the jacuzzi, Naruto wore only orange swim trunks, and his pointy Hokage hat. "Isn't life great?" he sighed happily. "It really is," Sakura responded, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. Living room: "YOU'RE DEAD NARUTO!" screeched Sakura, lunging at him over Hinata. "Hey, I can't help what I think in my sleep!" Naruto responded, batting away Sakura's probing claws. Despite all of the kunoichi's screaming, Naruto couldn't help but wickedly smile, taking note of the funny hat that he wore on the screen. Sasuke couldn't seem to stop twitching. Tape: There was suddenly a knock on the office door. Yes, he had built a jacuzzi right in the middle of his office. "Come in," Naruto called, an arm draped around Sakura's shoulders. The door slowly creaked open to reveal a woman. An extremely small woman actually, who appeared to be only two feet tall. On closer inspection one would realize that it was Hyuuga Hinata. Living room: Hinata stared at herself on the screen, her white eyes wide. She was embarrassed and flattered all at once that she was in Naruto's dream... But... Why was she so small in comparison to everyone else? She nipped her bottom lip, glancing at Naruto as he scratched the back of his head. "Hey Hinata-chan...you're in my dream," he said, blinking. Tape: The tiny Hinata was clutching a clip board. "Ah, there you are, my good assistant," Naruto muttered, Sakura still smiling under his arm. Hinata bowed slightly. Holding a pen to the clip board, she said something, but Naruto couldn't hear her. He beckoned her closer to the jacuzzi and asked her to repeat, but no matter how desperately he tried, he couldn't seem to make out anything but muffled sounds. Sakura seemed to understand fine though. "Oh yes, that's perfect for him dear. Just put it on the schedule after his meetings that day. You can go now." Naruto frowned as he watched the small woman leave. "Dammit," he muttered. "Hey, what's wrong?" asked Sakura, her fingers twisting though his wet hair. "Ano...nothing," muttered Naruto, not quite knowing himself. There was suddenly another knock on the door. "Come in!" the Hokage called. The door again opened to reveal...Sasuke. Dressed in a butlers uniform, and carrying a silver tray with a large bowl of ramen on it. Living room: Everyone in the room burst into laughter, not including the emos, the shy, and the fangirls of-course. 'Something's gone terribly wrong,' Naruto thought, as Sasuke's fingers clamped around his neck. Tape: "Your ramen," Sasuke muttered. Even in Naruto's dream, the Uchiha seemed dark and sinister. He walked up to Naruto and shoved the bowl in his face. "Ah, thank you lowly Uchiha," Naruto said pleasantly. "Good butler!" Living room: As people rolled around in uncontrollable laughter, Kiba fell from the ceiling and onto everyone on the couch, Lee clutched his aching chest, and even Sakura and Hinata giggled a little. Through all the commotion, Naruto desperately tried to free his neck, for the lack of air was making the room begin to spin. Tape: Naruto took a sip from the bowl of ramen (despite the fact that he was currently lounging in a tub of it). He face fell. "Sasuke, this is cold!" he said. Sasuke grimaced. "Gomen," he muttered insincerely. "If only I wasn't such a useless butler..." "Hey, you're not useless," mentioned Sakura, tilting her head. "Yeah, don't be so hard on yourself," Naruto grinned. "Why don't you just get me another bowl?" Sasuke scowled. "Iie," he said. "I think I'll quit." Naruto's eyes widened. "What?" but even as he said this, Sasuke's body seemed to grow transparent, until he completely faded away. "Sasuke..." he muttered. "Not again," Naruto then turned to Sakura, who's body also began to fade into nothing. The entire room went next, leaving only darkness, and a very familiar laughter. Living room: The room had gone silent, as people wiped tears of laughter from their eyes. Sasuke's hands dropped from Naruto's neck. He stared at the blonde who had looked down to glare at his lap. "Dobe..." The Uchiha muttered, poking Naruto in the forehead. The laughter... It had been Orochimaru's. Naruto attempted to smile, embarrassed with what had become of his dream - or rather, nightmare. His grin was fake and bitter, and he tried to speak, but could find nothing to say. The blonde blinked when a few strands of pink hair fell in his face, long arms wrapping around his neck from behind. "We're not going anywhere," Sakura whispered, kissing the top of his head. The three ignored the tape as it ran into Choji's dream. Tape: Choji sat at a large table as he feasted upon the delicious meal set before him. The feast consisted of fried chicken, egg rolls, curry, sushi, dumplings, dango, fried rice, soba, steaks, cakes, pies, ramen, udon, and many other favorite foods of Choji's. Dish by dish, he salvaged his meals. Living room: Everyone groaned. "Kami Choji, is food all that you think about?" asked Ino. Shikamaru merely sighed. Naruto meanwhile (having finally convinced Sasuke and Sakura he was fine), drooled at the sight. "Mmm, that looks good," his stomach growled. Choji's dream was making him hungry. Tape: Choji groaned and patted his bloated stomach when he finished the enormous meal. He looked up when the kitchen door suddenly opened, to reveal Ino, wearing a chef's hat, as she carried an enormous tray containing... Living room: "Good god," whispered Neji. "Is that a dog?" muttered Shikamaru. Kiba stared with wide eyes. "That's - AKAMARU!" he screeched. Tape: "Ah," said Choji. "The final course." The large hairless animal was roasted like a pig, a bright red apple stuffed into its mouth. The dead dog was slightly burnt and glazed over, lying down on his front, looking...rather delicious. Giving Ino an appreciative nod as she set down the enormous platter, Choji broke off one of the dog's front legs and began to chow down. Living room: As a green looking Kiba ran out of the room covering his mouth, Akamaru hid in a corner, whimpering. Choji was bright red, attempting to melt into the ground; while the others stared in shock and horror, yet, like watching a car wreck, found themselves unable to turn away from the screen. Tape: Piece by piece, Choji consumed Kiba's pet dog, occasionally adding salt or ketchup to the meat. Ino stood by the table watching him eat, a wide smile upon her face. When finally all of Akamaru had been ingested, and his bones had been sucked clean, Choji sighed and patted his stomach, before glancing up at Ino. He gave the blonde girl a thoughtful look. "I wonder how you taste." Living room: As many of the shinobi fell over, many others burst into giggles, while some continued to stare at the screen with disgusted looks on their faces. "Closet pervert!" Ino screamed at Choji, her face bright red. Choji blushed furiously, wishing only to disappear. Shikamaru merely shook his head, giving his friend an odd look. "Well that was... Interesting," said Kakashi, disturbed, as the tape continued on to the next dream. Tape: It began with a view of the road - and then a shop - and then into the woods. It was as though a person was running around, a shaking camera in their hands. It seemed that they were seeing the entire dream through another's eyes- -barking noises. Through a dog's eyes. Living room: Everyone blinked, watching the odd dream. "Kiba?" Sakura asked, as the Inuzuka trudged back into the room. Tape: Through the dog's eyes, it could be seen running about, chasing cats, barking at villagers, and digging holes. The dog ran through the woods passing Neji, Tenten, and Lee as they trained. It then leapt into a pond, swimming by Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura who were sparring on top of the water. Climbing out and shaking itself off, the dog headed back to the road where Ino was yelling, Choji was snacking, and Shikamaru was cloud gazing. Lastly, the dog found a field, only to find a smiling Hinata, a grinning Kiba, and Shino - whose leg it bit down on. Living room: In his dark lonely corner, Shino twitched. Tape: The dog continued to run about Konoha freely, chewing sticks, chasing squirrels, and sniffing bottoms. Living room: When Kiba's dream ended, everyone blinked. "Well, that was... Nice," said Sakura awkwardly, avoiding eye contact with Kiba who was glaring at everyone. The dog boy shrugged. "Sometimes I wonder what it's like, that's all. Being a dog." He muttered, before glaring at Choji. "As opposed to eating them." Choji looked away, his face burning. "All right, I believe that this one is Sakura's." Kakashi mentioned, the screen going black, before opening upon a new scene.

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