#all the boys

[bloomingdarkgarden]

Happy December, here’s every male from ACOTAR showing up at your door on Solstice.

Rhysand keeping it regal || Cassian keeping it slutty

Azriel is ready to be helpful || Lucien Vanserra is ready to be cheeky

Eris classy af Vanserra || Beron Vanserra stops scheming for the night because presents

Kallias bout to next level snowball fight || Tamlin obviously being emo on the holidays

Tarquin side eyeing the tomfoolery || Thesan drinking 12 artisan espressos a day by the fire

Helion ready to make akward sex jokes at family dinner || Papa Archeron finally in his helpful era

Jurian shows up extra as always || Varian dressing in solidarity with Amren

Keir ready for his eggnog

Hybern why show up evil when you can show up fabulous || The Bone Carver judging you for not eating his homemade peppermint bark

Koschei, the big bad daddy himself, shocks everyone not only by showing up but by being a solstice fanatic. He makes everyone sit by the fire while he reads holiday fables and does all the voices.

sorry not sorry, happy holidays you filthy animals.

#males of acotar #bat boys #rhysand #azriel #cassian #lucien vanserra #eris vanserra #Helion #sjm #acotar #all the boys #happy solstice

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Elastic Heart Ch 7 (Linked Universe story)

Summary: When Sky goes missing, the Chain scrambles to figure out where he is and what happened before it's too late.

(AO3 link)

First

<<Previous // Next>>

Hyrule Castle hardly felt like the safest place for any of the Links given most of their adventures, but it was as good a place to regroup and heal as any other. Although the entire group was well aware that the knights were useless, and the whispers of nobility hung close over their shoulders, the queen gave them as much privacy as possible and lent her best healers to their cause.

The next twenty-four hours were a somber affair. The heroes kept vigil at the beds of their fallen friends. When they weren’t fretting over them, they were wandering aimlessly, too forlorn for words and too anxious for rest.

It was late into the night after their return from the desert, and Time was staring into a fire contemplatively, his mind still trying to process everything. Twilight had already eased him out of his armor, which had been silently hidden until it could be cleaned of Sky’s blood. Somehow, despite all his experience, Time still seemed to be the least functional when someone was this injured.

How was it that in the span of four weeks he’d almost lost two of his boys? He still hadn’t figured out what had led to this, why Sky had been so terrified, so insistent that they leave, why he’d been apologizing with his dying breath.

There was just… so much. All of it was too much. The Shadow, Sky, all of it. Why had the Shadow taken his form and then spoken such words about Sky creating him? Was that why Sky had been so concerned with eliminating it himself? Some words about a curse, lies hissed between demonic teeth about how Sky had somehow made this mess?

Goddesses above… what had that thing convinced Sky? No matter what had started this… surely Sky wasn’t blaming himself for it?

That had to be the issue. Sky, sweet and soft, always in the background until he decided it was time to cause a little mischief… the boy had always been the least of Time’s concerns when it came to causing actual trouble. He’d always seemed the calmest, the most put together, the least traumatized, the most normal. Between that and his adoration for a sword Time would rather see at the bottom of Lake Hylia, the boy had never really been someone that Time had to keep a close eye on.

Yet here he’d been, taking on the weight of their journey himself and trying to leave the others behind. He’d nearly gotten himself killed for it.

Time had assumed the position of leader in this group and he’d nearly failed in recognizing when one of its members was in desperate need of help.

How long had Sky been spiraling like this? What had led him to this point? Had the Shadow spoken to him on the night he’d taken watch? Had it started before then? Did he blame himself for Twilight’s injury as well? What else was he hiding? What curse had the Shadow been talking about?

Time heard footsteps, and he turned to see the veteran walking morosely through the room, pointedly ignoring his leader. Twilight stood at the entranceway to the room sectioned off for their two fallen brothers, arms crossed as he watched Legend leave. When Time’s eye met his own, he said, “Finally convinced him to go to bed.”

“How are you holding up?” Time found himself asking before he could stop himself. He was worried for all of them, especially his descendant, who naturally took others’ wellbeing and protection as his own personal responsibility. They were all heroes, they all felt that burden, but his Ordonian made it his life’s mission to protect his loved ones far more than anyone else.

Not to mention Time had been doing a terrible job of checking in on anyone.

Twilight sighed tiredly. “I… would feel better if I were the one in the bed. It’s way worse just being the one helplessly looking on.”

Time would rather not relive the events of a month ago, but he knew what Twilight meant. It was the worst feeling in the world, being a child of destiny, someone who was so used to fixing all the problems, and being stuck in a situation where there was absolutely nothing to do.

“I know,” Time said simply, resting a hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Cap’s still in there,” Twilight said quietly, eyes looking at the ground as his own emotions got the better of him. “I managed to get the rest out. Vet was the last.”

Time hadn’t even been in there since their arrival. Warriors hadn’t left the boys’ side. It was almost as if their positions were reversed from the last time. He wasn’t sure he should be happy about it or not. He felt almost guilty for not hovering the same way, but he’d been fairly useless last time. It would be better if he could actually help the others as Warriors had, but he’d spent the majority of the day in a daze, guided around by Twilight, who had taken the captain’s role in guiding and leading everyone else.

What an insane week this turned out to be.

“Get some sleep,” Time finally said, patting Twilight’s cheek affectionately before lowering his hand.

Twilight watched him uncertainly, biting his lip and nodding. He walked by without another word. The eldest Link took a steadying breath, heading into the room.

It was a fairly small chamber, with both beds’ headboards against the same wall. Time saw Warriors asleep in the chair between the two, scooted a little closer to Hyrule’s bed. The captain was dressed down in his undertunic and pants, scarf and armor set aside in his own quarters. Time pulled an extra blanket that was folded by the bedside and wrapped it gently around his fellow hero. Despite his attempt to be gentle, the captain stirred, one of the lightest sleepers in the group, and turned bleary eyes towards his elder.

“Go to bed,” Time said softly. “I’ll watch them.”

Frazzled and exhausted, Warriors let out a weary exhale, rubbing his face. Time thought better of his dismissal, recalling that the captain had checked in on him in the past, that he himself had just checked in on Twilight. He shouldn’t brush off the man just because he held himself together better than anyone else.

“It’ll… be all right,” he tried to reassure the man hesitantly.

Warriors stiffened, shoulders shaking, much to Time’s alarm. However, instead of sobs, he heard an amused snort. The captain looked up, eyes exhausted but somewhat alight. “You’re really not good at this whole emotional support thing, are you?”

Despite his own mood, Time found himself scowling mildly. “That bad?”

“Your tone isn’t reassuring at all.”

“I’m not used to saying things that…”

“That you don’t believe?” Warriors finished for him. “Me neither. That’s why I try distraction instead.”

Time huffed, looking between the two sleeping boys. They both looked so peaceful now. Not pale, not on death’s door, not desperate or begging for forgiveness.

He sighed heavily as his gaze returned to the captain. Not recognizing he was under scrutiny, Warriors had let his expression be more open, fear and worry pulling at him. He looked so damn tired. He’d seen this too many times. Time himself had seen the expression when Twilight had been dying.

Warriors was far more accustomed to this than any of them. And Time hated that.

The captain shifted to get up, but then he paused, staring at the bed. Time followed his gaze, watching with sudden intensity as their esteemed traveler scrunched his nose and twisted in bed a little, eyes fluttering open.

“Traveler? Link?” Warriors leaned forward alongside Time, his hand gently reaching for Hyrule’s shoulder.

The Hero of Hyrule blinked a few times, seeming to register his surroundings, and then he gasped, practically leaping into a seated position. Time immediately sat on the bed just as Warriors jumped forward, both placing steadying hands on the teenager’s shoulders.

“Sky!” Hyrule immediately exclaimed, squirming under their hold.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Warriors insisted, putting a second hand on the boy’s chest. “He’s here.”

Hyrule paused, panting for air, eyes wide and wild, before they settled on the pair. “He’s okay?”

Time and Warriors exchanged a look before the leader spoke. “He’s here.”

Hyrule huffed, eyes wet, and then he laughed shakily, tucking his knees into his chest. “I—I thought—I thought he—I—”

He laughed again, more nervous than before, entire body trembling. Warriors settled on the mattress beside him, arm wrapping around his shoulders carefully. Hyrule wasn’t the most comfortable with touch and usually didn’t engage in it, and neither Warriors nor Time were particularly cuddly men, but after everything, they all felt the need to stick close to each other. The traveler leaned into the hold, tears trailing down his cheeks as he continued to chuckle, his breaths quickly accelerating into something akin to panic and relief, a conglomeration of emotions crashing out of him in a fashion that he couldn’t control. Warriors held him tighter.

“We’re glad you’re alright,” Time said softly, his thumb tracing across the boy’s collarbone. “You scared us back there.”

“Yeah, what with the Triforce and all,” Warriors piped up, squeezing Hyrule a little more tightly as he smiled. “You sure did have quite the trick up your sleeve.”

Hyrule’s tearful relief evaporated in an instant, eyes widening with alarm. Time felt his own concern rise – did the boy not remember using it?

“It’s okay,” Time assured him. “We’re all heroes here, Traveler. We’ve borne pieces of the Triforce as well. I just didn’t realize one among us had carried the entire sacred relic. That’s quite an honor.”

“R-right,” Hyrule mumbled, looking at his knees.

“How are you feeling?” Warriors asked, brushing past the distressing topic.

“Where’s the Triforce?” Hyrule countered.

The elder pair glanced at each other again before answering honestly. “We… don’t know. It vanished once you’d finished using it.”

Hyrule watched them a moment, still and silent. Then he buried his head into his knees.

“We’ll find it,” Warriors assured him. “One way or another. Such an artifact stretches far beyond our understanding – it might have returned to your era.”

“I—I didn’t want him to die,” Hyrule said in a trembling voice.

“We know,” Time soothed gently, sliding his hand along Hyrule’s back. “We didn’t want that either.”

Hyrule glanced up at him, cheeks stained with tears once more. “He’s okay, right?”

Time swallowed. Sky remained quiet in the other bed. He pushed lightly on the teenager. “Get some sleep, Link.”

XXX

It was the middle of the night when Legend finally gave up on sleeping.

His mind was whirling too much. Watching Sky basically die right in front of him, watching Hyrule nearly kill himself with the effort to wish him back with the Triforce…

It had been entirely too familiar.

He thought he’d gotten passed that. He thought he’d learned to keep moving in spite of the shadows cast over him by his journeys.

Clearly he’d been wrong.

So the young hero, a veteran of more adventures than any of the others individually, found himself incapable of handling the situation. And he hated that.

Legend wandered the castle, ignoring the cold and uninviting stone all around him. His feet guided him back to the room they’d set aside for Hyrule and Sky. The candle in his hand flickered slightly at the draft in the cavernous antechamber, chilled now that the fire in the large hearth had mostly died down.

When he slowly opened the door, he wasn’t surprised to see someone holding vigil. Time glanced up to meet his gaze.

“Just wanted to check on them,” he said dully, not bothering to hide his reasoning. This felt so different from when Twilight had been injured – Hyrule had been in there constantly trying to heal him. They’d avoided the area to let him concentrate. It had been awful, but at least there’d been a thread of hope to work with. It wasn’t as if there weren’t healers here, but the words they’d been given were little comfort.

They’d needed rest. There was nothing else they could do.

No potion could heal someone who couldn’t drink it. No spell could be cast when the one who knew the spells was the one who was unconscious. And so they’d all just done the last thing they could do, the only thing they could do.

They kept them company.

They kept them company, and Legend simmered with grief, guilt, and unresolved emotions from so many years ago that he didn’t even know how to put words to them.

Time pat the empty chair beside him welcomingly. Legend was thankful for the invitation, thankful that there were no questions being asked. He shuffled over to the chair, watching Sky sleep before his eyes drifted to Hyrule next.

“Our traveler woke up earlier,” Time said quietly.

Legend turned to him, eyes wide. “He did?”

“Yes. I think he’ll be alright with some more rest.”

Thank the goddesses, he thought. He didn’t remember the Triforce being so draining, but Hyrule had used it to augment his magic and grant a wish, so perhaps it worked differently than it had for Legend all those years ago.

Time’s words hung in the air, and then there was silence. Legend’s candle held steady against the darkness, illuminating his face, but he had no words to offer. For a moment, as he watched Sky, it felt like he was holding vigil over a body, a mourner lost in time, adrift in a different Hyrule altogether, grieving the loss of someone who was equally displaced and wholly forgotten to this era.

His breath hitched in his throat. He swallowed hard.

The silence seemed suffocating, but he had nothing to say. Time shifted uncomfortably beside him, clearly trying to find the right words. Legend didn’t care.

Sky. Sky had… just like…

There was usually something to distract him at this point, some task he had to accomplish that made him move forward despite the emotions dragging him down. But this felt like the end of a journey, after his first one or after Koholint, where there was nothing left but the emptiness in his chest, the fresh wounds on his heart. He had no road to travel on, no home to go back to, no Zelda to talk to.

He just stared at Sky.

“I have confidence that the Triforce healed the worst of it,” Time said. “Though I do not know if he will fully recover—”

“He died,” Legend interrupted.

“Veteran… he’s right here. He’s alive.”

“No,” Legend said firmly, feeling his throat tighten. He swallowed hard to fight it. “No. You don’t get it. None of you gets it. He didn’t just get hurt, he didn’t just fall. He died.”

They didn’t understand. They didn’t realize why they felt the way they did. Even he couldn’t truly comprehend it, but he knew why. He knew because it had happened before.

“The Triforce brought him back,” Legend explained. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he died. He died and none of you get that, he died, he died—”

Legend didn’t know when he’d lost the battle with his voice, when the tears had started to leak out, when the words had devolved into pathetic sobs, an admittance to a grief that he’d carried with him for years, a fresh wound and terror and horror that had ingrained itself into his soul.

Sky was one of his dearest friends. And he’d died.

He couldn’t even be angry at the Shadow, couldn’t even be curious as to what its words had meant, couldn’t even be worried about why Sky had left in the first place. All he felt was utter and absolute grief and loss.

Because Sky had died. They’d had to resurrect him. The others were caught in a confused haze of worry and fear, as if they were just watching an injured brother instead of acknowledging what had actually happened, instead of realizing that they should be mourning too.

Legend’s cries grew louder, inadvertently waking Hyrule. He didn’t notice. He couldn’t see it through his tears, through the darkness that engulfed him when Time pulled him into a hug.

XXX

Sky didn’t wake the next morning when Hyrule did. The others celebrated seeing one of their brothers slowly recovering, but the mood was certainly dampened by a lack of progress from their most injured. Wild found purpose in nourishing Hyrule back to health while Warriors started to fall into a field medic mode of sorts. Sky’s comatose state still necessitated care, though it brought a morbid curiosity in Wild – after all, he’d been in a similar state for a century.

Clearly the Shrine of Resurrection worked its magic to help sustain him. Sky had no such luck. His body still functioned as if he were awake, requiring sustenance, removing waste. He needed to be fed and cleaned, to be moved so he wouldn’t get bed sores, to be prodded to see if there was a reaction. It was a morbid affair, and it made Wild uneasy. He’d only been asleep for two days and it already felt like a century in itself.

Wild found it too disturbing to watch. Instead, he helped the others. He felt like he had to pull his weight somehow, had to blink the images of Sky’s broken body in Time’s arms. Hyrule slowly improving was something they could all latch on to. Warriors never seemed to leave Sky’s room, and Twilight spent a fair amount of time in there as well alongside Time. Occasionally Legend and Four assisted, but Wind was kept away, as well as Hyrule. Wild just couldn’t stomach the sight of the care his beloved friend needed. Whenever any of the boys lamented the situation, however, Legend would firmly and adamantly say that Sky was going to be fine.

It was strange, how confident he was. But with all his experiences, Wild had to wonder if he knew something of the matter. He latched on to the hope nonetheless. It seemed silly not to hope in a recovery, given his own history, but, well… that had taken a while. Sky didn’t have a century.

As the sun set on the second day, however, worry began to hover over them like a cloud heavy laden with an oncoming rain. After all, there was no way they could nourish Sky if he didn’t wake up.

“He’ll wake up,” Legend insisted when Four pointed this out.

“Assuming he does, that still doesn’t address the biggest issue,” Four sighed. “What if… what if when he wakes up, he tries to leave again?”

“He wouldn’t!” Wind argued.

“How do you know?” Four fired back. “He’d been running from us the entire time!”

Wild watched the exchange warily. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t wondered what had caused all of this in the first place, but it honestly hadn’t crossed his mind that it could happen again. He felt Hyrule shift uncomfortably beside him, and he turned his attention to his exhausted brother.

“You don’t think he wanted to leave us, do you?” Hyrule asked him quietly.

Words latched on to the champion’s brain, having first hooked in his mind when he’d heard them two days ago.

You don’t realize how terribly you failed.

This entire journey, Wild had been the failure of the group. Hearing those words had made him think the Shadow had been addressing him when he’d known, he’d known that it had been addressing Sky. But what failure was Sky responsible for? He hadn’t done anything wrong. Unless, of course, the Shadow was simply talking about Sky’s pursuit of it. But… Sky’s frantic attempts to argue, to silence it…

“No,” Wild answered distantly. “I don’t think he wanted to leave us.”

XXX

“It’s been two hours; we should move him.”

“I can do it.”

“No, it’s all right. You carried him last time. I’ll do it.”

What? What was… what?

Link felt impossibly heavy. His half-addled brain wondered if he’d become a sword spirit like Fi, made entirely of metal.

He was lying on something soft, he knew that much. He felt like he was sinking into it so much that he would never be able to get out.

Except he was getting out of it. Or, well, floating out of it. Flying? Was he flying?

Warmth wrapped around his back and shoulders, around the back of his knees. Two grounding forces, holding him steady in a vast expanse of nothing. He felt himself dangling and shifting in rhythmic motions.

Distant voices grew closer as the sound of creaking wood emitted beneath him in shuffles.

“Don’t spill it!”

“Oh, quit your fussing, Vet! Here, Traveler, just drink slowly. We kept it warm for you.”

“Are you guys done arguing? I have a story to finish!”

Grumbles. Sighing.

“Go on, Sailor.” That voice rumbled, buzzing in Sky’s ear with the warmth of a hearth and accompanied by a gentle heartbeat.

“So there I was, thirty bokoblins between me and my goal—”

“Oh boy, they multiplied again,” a voice remarked dryly.

“What are you talking about?”

Sailor. Sailor? What?

Link tried to focus, but he was being lulled back to sleep by gentle sways as if he were laying on a hammock on Skyloft.

“It seems each time you tell it more bokoblins appear.” There was that rumbling tone again, waking Link slightly, relaxing him and drawing him into a trance. It was so familiar…

There was a decidedly annoyed huff in reply. “Hey, I know what I’m talking about! Anyway, so there were fifty bokoblins between me and—”

Link finally pried an eye open. Then he blearily tried to do it with his other eye. Everything was so blurry.

The hammock he was on continued to sway gently. Back and forth. Back and forth.

“That’s impossible and you know it, Sailor!”

“Nuh uh, that’s what happened—”

“Sky?”

The swaying stopped, jostling Link out of his relaxed state a little more. He tried to look up, but he couldn’t muster the strength. However, his perception was finally piecing together an image in his brain, and he belatedly realized he was not, in fact, lying on a hammock.

Someone was carrying him.

Someone was carrying him, and the sailor was here. But not just the sailor. He recognized all their voices.

“Sky, can you hear me?”

The rumbling from before returned. The gentle, steady heartbeat had increased a little. Who was carrying him? Link tried again with all his might to move his head, to tip it back just enough to see above, to identify who was holding him. It definitely wasn’t the captain; the voice was deeper than his. That just left Time and Twilight.

It had to be Twilight, then. The man was freakishly strong, and Time would never—

“Here—move this—put him here, old man.”

Huh?

Link felt his world move as the person carrying him—Time—took a few steps forward. There was scrambling and shuffling of items, hushed whispers and excited laughs. Link felt something somewhat hard and warm rise up to meet his back as he was laid on top of something, and his head settled on someone’s lap.

A hand gently brushed his bangs out of his eyes before settling on his chest, giving it a soft pat. With his head facing towards the ceiling, he saw eight faces slowly come into focus, all encircling him like flower petals around its center.

He drank in the sight, having missed his friends so much. Twilight was the one his head was resting on, the one who had a hand on his chest and a reassuring, gentle smile directly over him. Time stood behind Twilight, a hand on the rancher’s shoulder, also watching him, though his expression was less warm and more concerned. To Link’s left were Legend, who quickly placed a hand on Link’s shoulder, Wind, who was smiling so brightly he outshone the sunlight, and Warriors, who had both hands on Wind’s shoulders as he leaned over to see Link more clearly. Hyrule sat a distance away towards Link’s feet, with Wild directly beside him and holding him steadily in a side hug, his face beaming. To his right, Four’s smile was genuine and trembling, his eyes glistening with tears. Link managed to get the muscles in his face to cooperate, and he gave a weak smile.

The group let out a collective sigh of relief, and then laughter echoed in the air. Link was bombarded by voices competing for his attention.

“We were so worried—”

“Our Traveler nearly killed himself to get you better, we thought we were going to lose both of you!”

“We missed you so much, Sky—”

“We really thought you were a goner! Like seriously, Vet was crying—”

“I was not crying!!”

“Are you feeling okay?”

Everyone hushed at the question issued by Twilight. Link watched them all, his smile fading alongside his energy. He took a deep breath, trying to piece everything together, his mind still too slow to process it all, and Twilight patted his chest again.

“It’s okay if you’re too tired to talk,” Twilight said softly. “We got you out of bed so you wouldn’t get bed sores, but now that you’re waking up, maybe it’ll be okay?”

Here Twilight directed his attention to Warriors, seeming to ask him if it would, in fact, be all right. The captain ruffled Wind’s hair, making the sailor giggle and step aside, and he drew closer to Link and Twilight. “Mostly. If he’s too weak to move, we’ll still need to do it for him.”

Link could hardly put anything together. But one sentence suddenly burned in his mind, registering and making him try to bolt into a seated position. His body refused to obey, and he barely had curled into his abdomen before his head flopped back on Twilight’s lap with a grunt.

“Easy, Sky,” Twilight soothed gently, pulling Link onto his lap completely with strong grips under his arms. Link settled his head against the elder’s shoulder, gasping for air at the exertion. “It’s okay. We’ll take care of you.”

“T-Traveler…” Link managed to scrape out, his heart racing.

Hyrule shuffled closer, sitting on whatever object Link had just been lying on earlier. He reached a shaking hand out to the Skyloftian, squeezing his upper arm. “I’m here, Sky. You’re okay.”

His grip felt so incredibly weak, even to Link’s addled mind. He felt his stomach drop.

He’d made it worse. Somehow, he’d made it worse. Hyrule had almost died because of him.

“I’m s-sorry,” he stammered, his eyes stinging with tears, his mind berating himself over and over and over.

“Sorry?” Hyrule repeated, confused. “Sorry for what?”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” Twilight reassured him, his gentle voice relaxing Link’s body, even if his mind continued to whirl.

“Sky, we’re just happy you’re alive,” Four said quickly. “Please don’t—don’t try to do anything. Just stay here. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

“N-no,” Link protested weakly. “I—I need—I—it’s my—I can’t—”

His entire world shifted as Twilight lifted him into his arms and stood. “Shh, it’s okay, Sky. Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”

Despite his complete exhaustion, Link almost wanted to snap. He wasn’t a child, damn it. He had to tell them, he had to make them realize it was best to leave him here, he could recover on his own and then he could hunt—

Wait.

“Shadow?” he asked quietly.

“He escaped, as he always does,” Time said from somewhere to Twilight’s right. “He’s a coward.”

“Yeah, but the Old Man left him with a pretty good parting gift!” Wind piped in. “Arrow to the chest! And Champion got one in his eye too!”

Link wilted in Twilight’s arms. The Shadow was still alive, and he hadn’t even been able to land any meaningful hits on him. The others had to come rescue him. The others, who bore the brunt of his own stupidity and weakness, and who continued to do so.

He was too tired for this. Too weak to hold back his brittle mind and body’s reaction. Too spent to care that he was suddenly weeping.

It just wasn’t fair. Why did they have to suffer for him? Why couldn’t he get this right?! How did he just keep compounding upon his failure?!

“Sky, what’s wrong? It’s okay, we’re all okay, the Shadow didn’t get anyone except for you.” Wild hastily said as Twilight hesitated in lowering him, instead opting to sway back and forth calmingly.

He felt someone card their hand through his hair and wipe the tears from his cheeks. “Hey, it’s okay, Sky. Everyone’s safe, and so are you.”

Warriors’ words were both a blessing and a curse. Link was eternally grateful everyone was fine, but this just wasn’t right.

“I—I s-should’ve—should’ve—”

“Link.”

He snapped out his stuttering, surprised at hearing his own name for the first time in ages. He had long since stopped viewing himself as part of the group, but he’d been remiss to throw his name out for the world to hear when he’d realized he was in Twilight’s Hyrule.

“No one is expecting you to eliminate the Shadow by yourself,” Time said firmly. “We wouldn’t all be here if that was the case. Whatever has convinced you to think you should handle this alone, it’s wrong.”

The room suddenly exploded into sound, cutting off whatever argument Link might have had.

“Wait, you wanted to take on the Shadow alone?!”

“Sky, are you insane, I thought you were one of the smarter ones in our group, what the actual hell—”

“The goddesses wouldn’t bring us all together if we could take the Shadow by ourselves!”

“You could have gotten yourself killed, Sky, what were you thinking?”

“Enough,” Time interrupted the group. “Let him rest.”

Link felt himself being lowered onto the bed, and the blankets were tucked all the way to his chin. He saw the group surrounding the bed worriedly, some looking more annoyed than others, some looking scared, and some hurt and bewildered.

Link sniffled helplessly.

Wind immediately jumped into the bed, kicking off his shoes and snuggling in beside him. “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Everyone agreed with words that Link didn’t bother to discern, and he felt Wind tuck himself neatly in between his right side and arm, resting his head on his shoulder. Link suddenly felt sore, but he didn’t protest.

“Aryll loves cuddling when she’s scared or hurting or doesn’t feel good,” Wind whispered with a smile. “I figured you didn’t want to be alone.”

Link couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at his lips. He bit back another apology in lieu of letting the sailor have a chance to help, and he closed his eyes, resting his cheek on Wind’s forehead and closing his eyes.

The world grew warm and heavy. Exhaustion pulled at him, allowing him to settle back into sleep, but just before its gentle embrace could take him, his mind jolted back to—

Bleeding. He was bleeding so much. A bone deep exhaustion dragged his mind away, but he clung desperately. This was a different kind of tired, a far too permanent sleep beckoning him.

“S-Shadow…”

He had to know. He had to be sure.

“He’s gone,” Time said. “He’s gone.”

He… he did it?

He did it. They were safe. They were safe.

He felt tears sting in his eyes, his heart fluttering. His mission was… over.

He’d finally eliminated Demise.

He laughed, he laughed in relief. His brothers would no longer be haunted by that demon. He couldn’t eliminate the wounds of the past, but he could prevent any in the future.

“What were you thinking?” he heard Time whisper.

It didn’t matter now, whether they knew or not. But he still… he still felt obligated to say it. “M-making… amends…”

He could never truly make up for everything. But at least now he could…

He could rest. Goddess, he could rest.

I’m sorry Zelda, he thought. He apologized to her over and over, to Groose and to all his friends on Skyloft.

He knew. In his heart, he knew.

This was his last mission.

“I’m… sorry,” he said aloud before directing the apology at those around him. Because he knew he was leaving them too, and he knew he would never get a chance to truly apologize for all the harm he’d caused. “I’m s-sorry. I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry…

The darkness pulled, and he drowned in it.

Link’s eyes snapped open. He’d—goddess, he’d—how—

Hyrule. He—he must have—

“Why?” he asked quietly, his voice little more than a whine.

“Hm…?” Wind perked up, already groggy, but his eyes were sharp as he looked at Link. “What’s wrong?”

Link couldn’t let this out on their youngest. But he couldn’t stop his raw emotions either, and before he knew it he was crying again. “Why?”

Wind watched him, eyes suddenly far older than they had any right to be. The boy held a gentleness and understanding to him, a sympathy and sorrow that intermingled, and he leaned down to hold him tightly.

“Because we love you, Sky.”

Sky fell apart completely, sobbing in his brother’s shirt.

#writing #elastic heart #linkeduniverse #linked universe #I... don't know how I feel about Time's POV :-/ #I felt pretty good about Legend's as the point of his uncle's death and resurrection being very similar jammed itself into my brain #but... flow of this chapter... ehhh #oh well whatever just take it #I'm pretty ok with it overall #lu sky #all the boys #Warriors is not ok but he'll act it #I kind of want to address him too but I'm tired lol #somebody give Wars a hug for me #give ALL of them a hug for me #poor Legend #and Time #and just yeah #all of them

[mylifeisactuallyamess]

The Keldabe Kiss

A/N: It’s no secret I actually despise February 14th (whether I’m single or not!) and so I fall back on my boys to help me through. Don’t ask, I’m complicated. This year the lucky guy is Tech 🥹 honestly my clone fixation has blown up recently and I’m not even sorry. (I use that tag a lot.) I wrote something simple for him.

Summary: Festival of Love has come to Ord Mantel (yes I fucked with the timeline.)

Warnings: none except this is based on a little universe I have going on in my head where the Bad Batch rescued a medic and nicknamed her Stitch. F!Reader (I can’t remember if I stipulated that in the fic so just covering my ass. If could be GN I honestly can’t remember.) Mention of children (Omega.) It’s kinda fluffy.

Word Count: 3.5k+

You stood outside Cid’s parlour, watching some people put up flickering lights ready for tomorrow's Festival. You’d been so set on going, never having the opportunity to experience something like this before as you’d always been on the run or ‘avoiding the locals', your father had called it. These things were never fun alone though.

The wistful sigh couldn’t be contained but your sinking mood was lifted by the group coming toward you. Their armour was distinctive, marked with orange and grey, carrying their helmets as they eyed everyone with a healthy dose of suspicion. You knew where they were heading and you waited to side until they reached you.

“Ah, Stitch!” Wrecker grinned joyfully at you and barged past his brothers to grab you in a bear hug, lifting you clean off the ground.

“Wrecker!” You giggled, momentarily losing your balance after being swept off your feet. Hunter automatically reached out to steady you with a firm hand to your shoulder followed by the softening of his gaze. “Good mission?”

“Depends on what you’d define as good.” Hunter muttered and moved past you revealing Tech who made eye contact for a brief second.

“That bad?” You asked and fell into step beside the younger looking clone.

“Well no one was injured, so I think you’d class that as a successful mission. Cid, not so much.”

“Ah,” you understood perfectly. They left you at the bar with Omega and you glanced at her fallen face, wondering how you could cheer her up. “There is a festival tomorrow,” you told her.

“What sort of festival?”

“It’s a celebration of the best things in life. There’s going to be stalls selling special items, different food, they are putting decorations up and I heard, there might even be fireworks.”

“Fireworks??” Her brown eyes shone with wonder.

“Want to come with me?”

“Oh yes! Hunter, can I go with Stitch?” Omega swivelled on her stool and you looked up at the tired group as they all grabbed a drink.

“Go where?” He asked, his tone laced with doubt and you wondered if you should have offered at all.

“Oh it’s nothing…” you tried to gloss over it but once Omega got her teeth into something she didn’t let it drop.

“It’s not nothing! It sounds really cool! There might even be fireworks,” she parroted. “I want to go.”

“You’re talking about the festival, tomorrow?” Echo huffed as he slumped on the other side of you.

“The Festival of Love originated from Endor and has since been recognised in places like Naboo, Coruscant, Ord Mantell and other places. The Festival is to honour kinship and love. Traditions include exchanging gifts, eating meals and…dancing.” Tech lowered his datapad and glanced at the expressions on his brother’s faces.

Echo sighed and turned to look around the bar like he wasn’t even part of this conversation, Wrecker grumbled something about wanting to play dejarik and sidled off. Hunter’s shoulders slouched like he couldn’t think of anything more tedious while Tech had his nose in his datapad, probably scrolling through more facts.

“I don’t mind taking her,” you mumbled.

“You can’t take Omega on your own,” Hunter instantly said, causing Omega to cross her arms and sulk. “Plus we have another mission for Cid tomorrow.” He leaned closer to the little girl and you could see the regret etched on his tattooed face. “I’m sorry, Omega.”

“I never get to see anything fun!” She pushed away from the bar and stormed off to find Wrecker.

“Handled that well,” Echo muttered.

“You could have stepped in,” Hunter shot back hotly.

“May I suggest an alternative?” Tech appeared at your shoulder, taking Omega’s vacant seat.

“You’re going to anyway,” Echo snarked under his breath and you raised an eyebrow but Tech didn’t even notice the other clones' sour tone.

“If it’s Omega running off you’re worried about, I can watch her. I’ll make her wear a tracker.”

“Tech! You can’t put a tracker on a kid!” Hunter nearly spat out his drink in shock and stared incredulously at his brother.

“I can. I have before and she didn’t seem to mind.”

“Did she know?” You asked Tech gently, making him look up from his datapad as he thought about your question.

“Actually, no.”

“I don’t think she should go and it puts us at a disadvantage if Tech stays behind.”

“Not so,” Tech cut across Echo. “You don’t need my particular skill set for this mission.”

“He’s right,” Hunter agreed and Echo just rolled his eyes in response. A strained quiet settled over the group only broken by the sounds of the parlour and Tech’s tapping on his datapad. You clutched your drink, feeling bad that you’d not spoken to Hunter first, of course it was his decision if you took Omega or not. “All right, fine!” Hunter grumbled and then downed his drink. “Plant a tracker on her and do not let her take it off. Plant one on Stitch while you’re at it, we can’t afford to lose her either.”

“Gladly,” Tech blinked owlishly at his own response and his fingers stilled on the screen.

“Well! Now that’s settled I’m going to head back. I’ve had a long day.” You emptied your own cup and slipped off the stool, hoping no one would notice the silly smile you couldn’t suppress at the idea of Tech putting a tracker on you.

“Tech…” Hunter jerked his head in your direction and then went off to find Omega and no doubt tell her the good news about tomorrow.

“Of course.” To your surprise the datapad was put away and he stood, looking at you with an air of expectancy. “You were leaving?” He reminded you, a hint of uncertainty in his voice like he worried he’d missed something.

“You’re coming with me?” Tech swallowed and adjusted his specs as his honeyed brown eyes met yours for just a second.

“Hunter is worried about you walking back at this time. Crime activity has increased by 28 percent in this section and I believe it’s why he wants you and Omega to have an escort tomorrow.”

“Oh.” You stood there stupidly for a second, trying to gather your skittish thoughts. “It’s not necessary,” you eventually managed to say.

“I believe it is.” You couldn’t argue against that so you didn’t protest anymore and he followed you out. The street was almost empty, just a few people with their heads down as they went home. Tech kept a watchful eye, his hand never straying far from his DC-17s. He stayed about half a step behind you almost bumping into you when you stopped at your door.

“Well, we made it.”

“So it would seem. I have yet to check your residence.” You sputtered out a laugh but he only continued to stare at you as he waited for you to admit him.

“You’re serious. Ok, sorry about the mess.” The door opened and the lights came on automatically. You went to go in but he put out an arm to stop you, dropping the visor down over his specs and stalking into your apartment that also doubled as your treatment room.

Your droid woke up at the movement beeping out a greeting, coming forward a few steps before the power seemed to disappear completely from it and you huffed as it slouched lifelessly. Opening the front panel you stared completely clueless at the wires wishing you could afford to get the damn thing fixed.

“The charging ports might need replacing,” Tech announced his arrival from scouting out your place. “I could run a diagnostic if you like?”

“It’s late, you’ve barely been home.”

“Home is a state of mind.”

“Yeah…” he was right. You’d never had a place you could really call home. So home being a feeling rather than a place was the most accurate thing you’d heard in a long time.

“Another time then,” Tech said. “Your place is clear. I shall be back tomorrow with Omega.” He walked towards the door and you followed, desperately wanting to say something else but not sure what.

“Tech…” he turned at the sound of his name and you really tried hard not to gaze directly into his eyes, knowing that made him uncomfortable. “Be careful. On the way back.”

“Always,” he saluted you with two fingers before disappearing round the corner. You closed and locked your door letting out a frustrated sigh. Of all the clones to harbour secret feelings for…

Your droid looked like a patient, laid out on the table with its wires hanging out as you tried to repair it, not wanting to put Tech out. He had better things to do than maintain your equipment. The door alarm sounded and you quickly smoothed down the material of your outfit, your heart fluttering a little at the idea of spending the whole day with Tech. And Omega.

The latter wrapped herself around you as soon as your door opened, her mouth instantly going as she spilled her excitement. You grinned at Tech and his tense expression, beckoning them inside. Omega went straight to your table, standing on a supply crate to have a proper look inside the droid.

“Did she sleep much?” You asked him noticing the way he clutched his datapad and glanced over at the mess your droid was in.

“She slept less than the normal amount,” he informed you matter of factly. “Echo was not amused.”

“Not a lot amuses him at the moment,” you replied dryly.

“Echo believes we should be doing more against the Empire rather than just hiding. He cannot help it.” You hated to admit Tech was right. He seemed completely unruffled by the conversation and you admired his utter acceptance of his brothers.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!” Omega leapt down and hurried to the door. “Come on! We don’t want to miss anything!” She shouted and you smiled at Tech as he refrained from rolling his eyes.

“I’m not actually sure we can miss an all day event,” Tech called after her. “You forgot this.” You locked your door and turned to find him holding out a tracker on the palm of his hand, the light blinking innocently.

“I don’t think Hunter was serious about one for me,” you half laughed but Tech stayed standing in your way with his hand held out.

“He was. And so am I.” You took the tracker and slipped it into your pocket, Tech lifted his datapad and pressed a few buttons. “Perfect signal.” For some reason that made you so happy that you’d pleased him over something so simple.

“Are you guys coming?” Omega appeared around the corner eyeing you both just standing in your doorway. Tech brought up the rear as you reached for Omega and she clasped your hand eagerly.

The festival wasn’t what you expected at all, it was so much better. The streets were lined with pink and red coloured streamers, all fluttering in the breeze. Bunting stretched from one side of the street to the other and the lights were flickering. You couldn’t wait to get the full effect of it when it was dark.

Omega danced from stall to stall, her excitement contagious and you found yourself caught up in her joy and zest for life. Tech trailed after you both, suffering the chatter, loud noises and heavy crowds. Keeping himself occupied by noting down new facts or recording anything he found remotely interesting.

You happened upon a stall run by a twi’lek, your stomach rumbling at the fresh meilooruns. You approached the stall noticing the usually orange fruit had a purple tinge to the rind. You’d never had this variant before but before you could ask for one Omega was tugging on your hand and dragging you to look at something else.

Soon even Omega was flagging, but her eyes were still wide from all the sights she’d experienced. Her bag was full of trinkets and she’d bought something for each of her brothers. You felt honoured that she had asked for your opinion, enjoying the feeling she instilled inside you. She really was something special.

As darkness fell you suggested getting a good view for the fireworks and began to head in the direction of the seating area when Tech stopped you.

“I have a better place where we can watch the fireworks, away from the crowds.”

“Is it far?” Omega asked, chasing it up with a yawn.

“It’s approximately 0.5 klicks from our current location,” Tech rattled off as he adjusted his specs, the light of the datapad reflected in them.

“I can make it,” she said cheerily but you heard the fatigue in her voice, especially if she had been up early hassling her older brothers.

Now Tech took point, leading you away from the streets where the festival was still in full swing. You wanted to question him but instead you decided to trust him. Tech had never let you down yet. Your interest peaked when he told you to climb an outside staircase. Omega went first with no hesitation, climbing to the top of the seemingly abandoned building and gasping loudly.

“Oh…wow.” You looked up at the sky, mesmerised by the amount of stars that dotted the black sky above you. Tech had led you to a place on the edge of town that wasn’t affected by the lights of the festival, giving you an incredible view of the stars and no doubt the fireworks when they started.

“I calculated the amount of noise and light pollution from the festival. From that I was able to survey an appropriate place where it was quiet and had uninterrupted views.”

“Tech…this is amazing!” You gushed.

“He checked it out last night,” Omega said slyly and Tech looked at her in shock. “What? I was awake when you snuck out. Now I know what you were doing.”

“Clearly I wasn’t as subtle as I thought,” he muttered, reaching to adjust his specs again.

“Oh look! Seats!” Omega dropped her bag and fell into one, turning to wave you over.

“Were these you as well?” You asked Tech quietly.

“The fireworks are supposed to last approximately 15 minutes. I had assumed that by being on your feet all day and chasing Omega, you’d want to rest.”

“You assumed correctly.” Omega had taken the middle seat, cuddling up into you when you settled beside her. Tech sat on the other end, his trusty datapad in his hand as he counted down to the fireworks; and they started exactly when he said they would.

The fireworks were the best moment of the day, filling the sky with glittery flashes that lit up the world all around you. Omega laid her head in your lap and you rested a hand on her side watching the display together. You revelled in the deep bangs that seemed to explode in your chest and the fizzling crackles that popped in your ears. You’d never seen something so eye-catching and you were sorely disappointed when they finished; just a plume of white smoke the only evidence that they had happened at all.

“She’s asleep.” You glanced down at Omega and sure enough her eyes were closed, even breaths passing through her slightly open lips as she lay completely relaxed in your lap. “You’re good with her.”

“You think so?” Biting your lower lip you glanced over at Tech to find him looking at you both with a strange expression on his face that he tried to hide.

“I know so. Due to her nature she is exceptionally accepting but she does seem to favour you.” Gently you swiped some blonde strands out of her peaceful face, regretful that you were going to have to wake her soon.

“I think she’s great and after everything she’s seen and been through…she still has this innocence about her. She’s a credit to you all.”

“I don’t see us having much influence over her,” Tech said and you scoffed at his words.

“She idolises every single one of you.”

“That’s nice to hear,” you turned to find Hunter, Echo and Wrecker coming from behind. Tech stood up and greeted his brothers. Wrecker reached down and plucked the sleeping child from your lap, cradling her in his massive arms.

“Look at her,” he whispered in his gravelly voice. “This is the quietest she’s been for days!”

“Don’t wake her then, Wrecker!” Echo hissed as they made their way carefully down the stairs.

“Was it worth it?” Hunter asked you and the smile that spread over your face told him everything he needed to know.

“Thanks for lending us Tech. He did actually put a tracker on me,” you told Hunter who let out a soft chuckle.

“Good. I’d be having words with him if he didn’t.”

“You know, I’m scrappy. I can look after myself.” Hunter fixed you with a knowing glare and it reminded you so much of Tech for a moment.

“It’s what we do. Anyway we need you, Stitch. More than we like to admit.”

“Medics are everywhere,” you told Hunter with a quick roll of your eyes.

“Not ones, as good as you.” The pair of you stopped and looked back at Tech who came to an abrupt halt. “Well,” he adjusted his specs and lifted his datapad. “Stitch has performed 107 successful repairs on all of us together, the most drastic being my broken femur from the failed mission on Serenno. Not to mention the blaster shot to your chest and Wrecker’s shoulder. Also her continual observation of Echo…” Hunter gave his brother a lopsided smile and clapped him firmly on the shoulder.

“Now you’ve listed her best accomplishments, you can walk her home.” He melted into the shadows suddenly leaving you and Tech alone in the dark.

“Do you know the best route? I’m still not familiar with this part of town,” you admitted shyly.

“It won’t take us long,” he reassured you. The walk was quiet, you weren’t sure what to say to him and your feet were beginning to ache something drastic. You followed Tech onto a street you were familiar with and fished around in your pockets for the tracker.

“I should give this back.”

“Keep it. I have plenty.” Tech said quickly. He glanced at you and then continued. “It’s a modified one, with a panic option that goes straight to my datapad. Should you ever need it.” Your fingers closed round the tracker, suddenly finding it the most precious thing you had.

All too soon your door loomed and the pair of you stood under the small light that flowed on the outside.

“Tech…?”

“Yes?”

“I got you, something.” He watched curiously as you opened your bag and pulled out a small box, taking it gently when you offered it to him. “I hope it’s useful.” He opened the lid and revealed a brand new All-kit tool. The handle had a rubber grip, the alloy shiny from having never been used. At first Tech didn’t say anything, just reaching for the tool and you panicked, thinking you’d got something he really didn’t need. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know if you had one, I’ve never noticed you with one.”

“I don’t,” he interrupted. “I didn’t have one, until now.” He looked up to see the relieved smile cross your face and a small frown appeared on his own. “You shouldn’t be so worried, I am always in need of tools and this…” he pulled it from the box and with a flick began to cycle through the different heads. “It’s immediately my favourite,” he reassured you. “Which reminds me…” he put the box in his bag and extracted something that had you gasping a little. “I saw you looking at these but not actually buy one.” You took the purple fruit from his hand, trying not to over think the fact you both gave a gift during the Festival of Love. He probably didn’t realise the depth of the tradition and you were fine with that. Although out of the whole squad, he’d be the only one to know.

“Tech, thank you so much.” Emotion coloured your tone and you stepped closer to him. Gently resting a hand on his shoulder you made your intentions clear expecting him to pull away. When he didn’t you went ahead and planted a soft kiss on his cheek, breathing him in as you did. He lifted a hand to rest against your elbow, as though he was steadying you both. Your eyes were still closed as you pulled your lips into your mouth, reluctant to move away just yet. Tech’s quick breath fanned over your face as he pressed his forehead against yours. His fingers tightened on your arm and you both stood like that for a moment, just drinking in each other's closeness.

“Tech?” His com lit up with Hunter’s voice and you separated. Clearing your throat you backed up and allowed him to answer, telling Hunter he was all right and was just making his way back.

“Thanks, Tech.” You swallowed down the huskiness in your voice. “For today, for all of it. Get back safely, please.”

“Always,” he said, touching two fingers to his forehead and giving you the casual salute. “I’ll be back tomorrow to fix your droid.” He told you, walking backwards down the street, his gaze still fixed on you.

“I’ll be here,” you answered, leaning on your doorframe and watching him leave.

“I know.”

#tech tuesday #the bad batch #tech tuesday fic #tech x f!reader #the bad batch fic #all the boys #tech x reader #tech x you #mylifeisactuallyamess

[kit-williams]

Which of the yanderes do you think gives the best hugs?

OH which of my darling boys gives the best hugs?

Dark Angel Azazel: Gives terrible hugs gonna be honest but he does enjoy holding his darling in a possessive manner but are those really hugs?

Emperors Children Palion Hiss: OH This man loves to show physical affection in all ways! He will try his best to always give the perfect hug!

Iron Warriors Harram: He's not super use to physical affection but he's doing his best to open up more to it.

White Scar: Good luck getting away from the last hug! Very affectionate.

Space Wolves Captain Arkyn: This man is all about acts of service and physical affection especially on cold nights where his darling little human will surly freeze. I hope you don't mind a hairy chest.

Imperial Fist: He's a bit of a prickly one but like Arkyn understands that humans get cold so easily. He'll see the practical use of hugs but boy do you feel so safe in those arms.

Night Lords Ghosk: Ghosk is a full body hugger like dont be surprised if you get picked up by his wings. He will hug you and then also wrap you up in his wings.

Blood Angels Sirus: Another romantic will have his face in your neck just ignore the way he licks it just focus on his poetry which all seem to be very blood and lifeblood themed.

Iron Hands Vauth: He doesn't give hugs.

World Eaters Zul: Another that doesn't give hugs but will more so hold onto someone if you're necessary to keep alive then be content to be a ragdoll in his arms. With his Spaseniye he will hold her when she is soothing him feeling the comfort and relief she brings to him.

Ultramarines Tulio: Bog Standard hug. Just you might not hear the way he might smell your hair or hold you just a bit longer than you hold him... and dont point out how flustered he is after the hug.

Death Guard Solos: He bites what he hugs. So be prepared for a bit of nipping and some just him drinking a bit of your blood and internal fluids. But if you can mind the bone growths he gives very nice hugs.

Thousand Sons Nakht: Of Course you want a hug from a man like him you precious little creature. Needing a big strong man like Nakht to hold you so tightly. Such a good little darling.

Black Legion: Cocks his head to the side when you ask for a hug but will do it. But... he's not letting you go oh no he's only letting go on his terms and when he decides it's been enough... he might be a little touch starved.

Word Bearers Jihias: Another slightly touch starved man. Hope you enjoy theology while he embraces you.

Salamanders: Big hug you're not being let go not until you see what he's been working on!

Raven Guard boys: Kazi is the first to give you a hug his also being the longest hugs so full of adoration. Moremo gives the next hug its warm and calming. You have to give Sor his hug first before he hugs you back but its a hug that makes one feel safe.

Alpha legion Alpharius?: He gives nice hugs. No mind games really just maybe perhaps who is giving you the hug but its a nice hug.

Tyberos the Red Wake: It's a little suffocating when he hugs but it's still a hug.

91-Yrac: His hugs might be a bit cold and a bit mechanical but they are decent hugs. Though you might get dragged into his shenanigans.

#warhammer 40k #Yandere Space Marines #Yandere #All the boys

[batrogers]

Artwork for my fanfic, The Mortification of Ordon. All the boys of That Broken Promise are present! They're just all being chill. Designs of the Links are my own.

List of who's who under the cut for the curious.

Going clockwise from Kokiri sitting at six o'clock out of the water we have:

Hateno, Smith (LbW), Four (FSA), Minish (MC/FS), Skyloft, Far (Z1/Z2), Prince (HW), Rabbit (LTTP), Outset, Chief (ST), and our poor poor POV guy for this fic: Ordon.

Who does not kindly have Outset and Chief between him and his view of Rabbit.

#Link's Meet AU #That Broken Promise #Zelda fanart #bath house #bathing #partial nudity #my art #All the Boys

[aliceisathome]

OK Pitbabe, I'm going in...

#thai bl #pit babe the series #pitbabe #Binge watch time #unless the finale tomorrow is sad in which case I will drop this like a hot potato #Look I don't make the rules #CharlieBabe #ALL THE BOYS

[love-from-the-other-side]

WAKE UP PEOPLE ALL THE BOYS AND MERCENARY ARE ON SPOTIFY NOW!!!!!!

#emo #yeemo #panic! at the disco #panic at the disco #p!atd #patd #all the boys #mercenary

[girlmikeyway]

i think it's sweet and very cool of dallon to have written more than one song with open support/mention of his wife's queerness

#i just. we stan!!! #dallon weekes #girls/girls/boys #all the boys #text #ash speaks

[maybe-your-left]

It's the Holidays, right?

I'm in a mood... a silly fun silly mood to write some delicious content for you all...

Here we go, saddle up, lets see if I can crank out some garbage after a long time on the bench!

Who I write for? Check out the Masterlist baby - No FLIP ZIMMERMAN OR ADAM HIMSELF

Want something different? Request something from my second blog @parallel-to-right for Anime men (see this post for people i will write for)

Some prompts:

Song Prompts (pick a SICK SONG & send it to me w the artist name too and I'll base something around it)

Smut Prompts

Fluffy/Romance Prompts

ROULETTE BABY PICK FROM MY RANDOM ASS LIST OF PROMPTS FROM MY PHONE (Pick a number between 1-24)

Types of Kisses

Dream Prompts

Tagging the old old old list for attention... @finn-ray-nal-beads @thepalaceofmelanie @ghoulian @botnasty @xxgarden @pop-rocks-and-skittles @historyandfandoms @doggycompiex @daydreamsofren @millenialcatlady @ladyjade83 @mariesackler @eagerforhoney @celestiasin @emi11 @caillea @livi-s @emeritusemeritus @jynzandtonic @ohdamnadamm

#adam driver #kylo ren #clyde logan #charlie barber #phillip altman #my writing #modern kylo ren #adamdriver #anime men #hunter x hunter #fanfiction ask days #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #demon slayer #ben solo #all the boys

[sukipershipper]

Are you Satisfied??

#punch out #punch out wii #punch out!! #punchout #all the boys

[awholeclxwn]

Okay but- hear me out- Skatic basically turns ALL OF HIS FRIENDS into marketable plushies™️

Absolutely COMPRESSES THEM WITH THE SHEER WILL OF THEIR HANDS

binary @hunni-hive

hex @lozylouzer

mal @satellite-starss

fallen @nova2cosmos

overescape sans @overescapeau

!!!

#my art #ask! #friend!! #ALL THE BOYS #im doin more soon i prommy #sans oc #sans ocs #sans au #binary error!! #hex!! #its mal!! #overescape! sans #fallen error!sans #and stakic!! #the boys but plushies

[sultrysirens]

I just turned 21!!! and it got me thinking, how would the guys celebrate their 21st? Got any headcanons for us, Miss Nightshade?

Oh shit how long has it been since you sent this...? Timestamps aren't a thing lmao, sorry. And congratulations! :D

Of course the boys would wanna try alcohol! They've been waiting their whole lives for this moment!!

Raph goes first and foremost for the hard liquor like gin and rum

gotta prove he's a MAN amirite??

then he smells the fruity drinks Mikey and Don are sharing and changes his mind

can't be that bad if TWO of his bros are drinking it, right?!

Leo tries to keep sophisticated about it and totally puts on airs lmao

"I'll drink the sake one sip at a time like you're supposed to"

also tries to keep his bros under some measure of control

it does not last

Mikey just starts chugging the drinks he's always wanted to try

and also spits out any of them he doesn't like just all over the table

Donnie's the smart one, making sure he stays hydrated between drinks and imbibes slowly while keeping active notes of how drunk he's feeling after each one so he can figure out his tolerance level

soon Mikey and Raph are hanging on each other and singing along with whatever music is on the stereo, probably loudly and off-tune

it annoys Leo a lot but he can't say anything cause baby bro Mikey looks so h a p p y

Donnie suggests they play arcade games as they get progressively drunker

Leo eventually gives up on propriety and chugs an entire bottle of wine which he fails to remember doing

Donnie starts filming shit at that point while chortling all the while

he thinks he's more sober than he is and keeps trying to narrate and thinks he's holding the camera steady but NOPE

Mikey strangely holds his liquor the best, but he also drank the hardest so he's still the first to blackout

Raph and Leo devolve to chanting drinking rhymes and doing complex patty-cake games in an attempt to out-sober each other

Donnie is now mumbling and slurring everything he says but he still thinks he's being perfectly coherent

Mikey intermittently gets up, talks to himself, yells at the TV, has another drink, etc, then blacks out again

usually he's staring at the neon signs when it happens with his mouth open like

like he's just lost in how pretty lights are, like bros, bros, hey bros, do you -- do you see how -- how pretty lights are??

keeps passing out and waking up and he falls into the canal like seven times

Leo and Raph have devolved further into arguing with each other but at the same time are having two completely different conversations with each other

Raph's talking about monster trucks and Leo's talking about Mozart

they both think the other is responding to their subject

somehow Donnie ended up filming the ground and mumbling about the cracks in the concrete and the tiny microscopic civilizations living inside them like tiny worlds all of their own

do you think there's tardigrades down there??

next morning Mikey is facedown on the floor in a puddle of drool

Donnie is slumped over in a chair, snoring louder than he's ever snored

Raph made it to the bunk beds but fell asleep in Mikey's

Leo's in the dump truck and has no idea why or how he got there

they all slowly rouse while Splinter goes about making hangover remedies

they crawl to the kitchen one by one, and when they're all there and staring at each other with dry, sunken eyes, they simultaneously just go

"...That was AWESOME"

and thus did getting blackout drunk become a yearly birthday tradition

#siren nightshade #tmnt #all the boys #all the turtles #honestly would not encourage this #but these dumbfucks are too resilient and incorrigible #they don't take their own safety into consideration #they just really liked getting drunk together lmao #sfw #drinking

[pleasantlycrazyworld]

What kind of bands do you think the three boys would be in or the kind of band members they would be? Sorry if this ask is confusing

I think Billy and Eddie would be in the band together first. It's a rock/metal band and they asked Steve to be apart of it but that's not his thing....at first. After hearing the band rehearse and practice Steve totally gets into it but all the spots are full :(. For a while he's just the merch guy and he doesn't mind that but that is until another member quits.

Eddie- lead guitar (obviously) and typically lead vocals but in some songs, billy is lead vocals.

Billy- backup vocals, sometimes lead vocals and at first, he was the drummer but then he fell in love with the bass guitar so they found a different drummer who was decent for the band.

Steve- he didn't have an instrument in his mind when he was asked to join the first time. As the merch guy, he dreamt of maybe keyboard. But when the drummer quit and the band was panicking he knew he had to learn the drums fast, so he did and he loves it! He takes the frustration of his every day out on them every time and the boys are shocked at how amazing he plays.

Taglist: @b-ritney If you'd like to be added let me know

#eddie munson #stranger things #steve harrington #billy hargrove #stranger things headcanons #headcanons #all the boys #requested #gracie writes

[pharawee]

I found a few chapters of Chains of Heart (and all of Art Adore En).

I now finally know who all of these people are with Hin and Phayu. 🥲

#jane watches stuff #chains of heart #it's a whole class reunion #it's literally the boys are back in town #all the boys #and they aren't even from this town but hey #i might make a post with some info fromboth books #bc it helps SO MUCH with understanding what's going on #turns out hin isn't an idiot who'd have thought lmao #art adore en & love puzzle are going to be SO CONFUSING you guys lmao

[thenovelartist]

The Costco Calamity - Ikemen Prince

Dangnabbit, @scorchieart 's post did it again! I am inspired. And I realize I’ve been writing a lot of comedy lately? Three in a row; That feels almost off-brand for me, but apparently, I need it. XD

Premise: Modern AU; Adoptive Dad Sariel with Jin(18,) Chevalier(16), Clavis(15), Leon(14), Yves(12), Licht and Nokto(11), and Luke (7); Older Emma with Adopted son Rio(16, for the purposes of our story)

I also want to minorly apologize of characterization is off. I’ve only read Chevalier and Licht’s routes, so I’m working strictly off that.

...

Emma, by no means, thought she’d end up getting married in her thirties.

Emma, by no means, thought she’d end up getting married to a man with eight adopted sons.

And Emma, by no means, was excited at the prospect of dragging those eight adopted boys, along with her own adopted son, to Costco on a Saturday.

“I fell in love with the devil,” she murmured.

“Well, yes, that is my most common nickname.”

Beside her in the driver seat of their renovated RV, AKA the “9 Prince Bus”, Sariel smirked.

Thanks to the exhaustion, it was impossible to even fake a smile. Instead, she stared him down with a flat look. “And you’re the king of hell,” she continued.

At that, his smile fell. “Frankly, my dear, you may be as lovely and divine as Persephone, but the duties that come with being Hades leave much to be desired.”

Equal parts amused and exhausted, she huffed a laugh. She’d give him props for his flirting, but it didn’t make this lovely little excursion any easier to face.

When they pulled into the parking lot, Emma took a moment to take a deep breath before turning around to face the circus in the back. “Everyone out!” she hollered.

“Luke’s asleep again,” Leon called out.

Sariel sighed. “That’s what he gets for staying up all night, although I won’t complain if it means one less of you to deal with. Alright. Rio, Jin, go grab carts. We’ll put him in.”

“Got it!” With that, Rio leapt out of the bus, probably happy to escape for five seconds. To be fair, he was the outcast, having gone from living alone with Emma to being one of nine boys.

Tailing behind, Jin was the second off the bus. “Got it.”

“Why did I have to come again?” Chevalier muttered as he watched the others slide out of the bus.

Emma answered, “Because if you didn’t, Clavis would have wanted to stay at home, too.”

“And the fire department specifically asked us not to do that again,” Sariel finished.

“It’s more fun with you, big brother!” Clavis chirped, giving Chevalier a far-too-happy grin.

Which was met by a wholly unamused glare by Chevalier.

With a chuckle, Clavis hopped out of the van, leaving Chevalier to follow.

The clacking of worn cart wheels against rough asphalt grew louder as Rio came running back with a cart. Upon the sight, Sariel asked Leon to help him get Luke out of the car. Seven years old, and already he was huge. At this rate, he was going to outgrow Jin.

“Can I push the cart?” Clavis asked.

“Absolutely not.” Sariel answered, assisting Leon in putting Luke in the cart basket for now. He’d wake up soon, no doubt. He always did, but then he’d want to go meandering around the store, and he was just too young and, frankly, unresponsive to let go like the others.

Clavis let out a long whine, right in Chevalier’s ear. Chevalier sighed heavily, his patience quickly waning.

Emma reached out to pat Chevalier’s shoulder. “Don’t kill your brother, please,” she quietly asked.

“No promises.”

Behind them, ignorant to their conversation, Yves was glaring daggers at Clavis. “That’s what you get for running over a baker the last time.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Clavis countered, turning around and wagging a finger defensively. “He got in my way. It was his fault for not paying attention. I was aiming for the cookie cart.”

“I’d wanted a cookie, too.”

Emma looked down to see the quiet twins standing on each side of her. She pat Licht’s head. “I know; I’m sorry.”

“I had, too!” Nokto piped up from her other side, not wanting to be left out of getting attention.

“I’m sure you did,” Sariel spoke, sneaking up behind them to ruffle Nokto’s hair.

“That the list?” Emma asked, noticing the paper in his hand.

With a nod, he handed her the list they’d created together, one organized by aisle so as to move through the store as quickly as possible. After five years of doing this, they knew what to expect from this trip and knew it could go one of two ways: painful or excruciating. And so, they did everything in their power to prevent it from being the latter.

Although, even with all the pre-planning in the world, that wasn’t always in their control.

As she took the list, she pulled a pen out of a pocket in her skirt—a purse was out of the question; she needed both hands and all personal effects attached to her at all times during these trips—that she used to mark off the list as they went. While she gave the list one last look over, Sariel let out a sharp whistle.

On que, all the boys gave him their full attention.

“Everyone’s phone is on and loud, correct?” he asked.

“Yes,” came the chorus, though Rio, Yves, and Leon double-checked to make sure.

Of course, the ones who checked were the ones she wasn’t as worried about. Rio would be with them the whole time, as he always was. Likely because it was the one reprieve from his step-brothers he had. Yves was loud but non-destructive. He was bound to go meandering the bakery section before stalking the bakers in the back behind the counter. Though, Emma could do without the bakers calling them their “monthly little stalker,” it wasn’t too bad when compared to some of the boys. Then Leon…

Well, Leon could go either way after getting chased out of the food court a year back, laughing all the way.

“Alright.” Sariel heaved a breath, double-checking everything and slipping the bag of clipped coupons in his pocket. “Let’s go.”

And so, the almost dozen marched towards the store.

Please, let this be a decent trip. Emma thought.

Not that it would do any good, but it never hurt to hope it wouldn’t be total hell.

…

Once past the entrance, Chevalier disappeared almost instantly. He was another one Emma didn’t worry about. Worst he’d do is upset some kid who wanted to try out the chair he sat on in the gardening section.

“I want food,” Leon announced, already causing the dread to well up in Emma’s stomach and likely Sariel’s, too. “Orders, orders?”

“Whatever,” Jin commented with a grin, pulling out a couple dollar bills to hand over. “Extra for the kid. Don’t count on him being asleep long.”

With a grin, Leon took the bills. “Cool. Anyone else?”

“Hot dog; you know what I like on it,” Rio said, handing over a couple bills as well.

“Yup, I do,” Leon said. “Yves, want churros?”

Yves huffed, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the mere mention of the offending food item. Emma lost track of how many times he’d commented on it being gummy and artificially sweet. That kid had a palette for sweets that could only be rivaled by French pâtissier.

“Don’t get kicked out of the food court again,” Sariel warned before a chuckling Leon slipped away.

“That was one time!” he hollered before disappearing.

“One time too many,” Emma corrected.

“Are we sure I can’t push the cart, Jin?” Clavis asked, siding up next to his oldest brother.

Jin gave him a firm glare.

Which Clavis returned with a pout.

“Do not make me get a leash for you, Clavis,” Sariel warned.

“You told me I graduated from that when I was twelve.”

“That’s not something to be proud of,” Licht quietly commented, a sniggering Nokto at his side.

With a clap of her hands, Emma called everyone’s attention. “Alright. Shall we weave through the aisles then come up the center?”

“Please,” Sariel agreed. “I want to get this over with.”

…

“It’s loud.”

Emma looked down at Licht, who had been standing right at her side the last three aisles. “I know. I’m sorry—Clavis, don’t touch the cart.”

Clavis frowned, upset his opportunity to steal Rio’s cart was interrupted. Rio had only had his back turned for a second to grab the paper towels from the stack, but it had been one second too many.

Dumping the paper products in the cart, Rio simply smiled at Clavis. “Nah, it’s okay. He can push my cart.”

“Rio,” Emma growled, watching the unspoken threat. For all his sweetness, Rio had… a secret side to him that could set the other boys on edge. Clavis once made the mistake of not taking Rio’s threat seriously, only to be tackled by Rio in the middle of the store. It was embarrassing, to say the least, to be a bystander in a mortal combat match between two pre-teen boys in the middle of Costco. Sariel had to ultimately step in to rip the screaming boys off each other.

And Jin, unhelpful big brother he was, had the whole thing video-taped on his phone. Four years later, and he still would not let either of them live it down.

“No, really. He can. Why not?” Rio pushed, looking at Clavis with that worrying smile.

After a moment of silent debate, Clavis touched the cart handle.

Only for Sariel to grab the front of the cart firmly enough to rattle both it and the boys.

“Because,” he growled out in warning, staring down both the boys. “It is wholly impolite to throw fisticuffs in the middle of Costco. That is ‘why not’. Now, shall we continue?”

…

“Free samples,” Nokto murmured, looking longingly at the station across the way.

“You may go,” Sariel commented. “Take Licht with you.”

“Licht!”

With a sigh, the older twin acquiesced. “Okay.”

“Stay together,” Emma warned. “Keep your phones on.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Licht said before following his slightly more reckless brother towards the sample stand.

That just left Clavis, Rio, and Jin, with Luke still sleeping in Jin’s cart. Yves had disappeared two aisles ago after Sariel’s dire warning to Clavis and Rio so he could go watch the bakers make cakes. No surprise there.

However, what was a surprise was Clavis was still with them. Behaving, somewhat. Besides having to take out the little trinkets or small boxes of whatnot that Clavis attempted to hide in the cart, he was walking along quietly. Too quietly. The last time he’d been this un-destructive was when Chevalier locked him in a gardening shed display.

Which meant he was plotting something. There was no way in hell Clavis would just calmly walk through this trip.

But at the same point, Emma did not want to jinx it. And from the looks Sariel had snuck her, he didn’t either.

…

“We made it halfway through our list,” Emma commented, tapping the paper list with her pen.

Sariel quirked an eyebrow at her. “Really?”

He didn’t have to clarify why he was surprised. They were halfway done with no emergency as of yet, nor had there been any obnoxious items thrown into the cart, like a shelving unit or television. The loud speaker had also not gone off informing of an incident or asking for a parent to come collect a boy from the front where the manager was yelling at him.

“I see food!” Jin called out, alerting the two adults to Leon’s presence.

“Nice!” Rio piped up.

“Dog for you, Rio,” Leon said, handing over the square paper bowl containing a loaded hot dog to Rio. In his other hand were two pieces of pizza, and napkins bulged from one of his jean pockets.

“It just came out of the oven,” Leon said, handing one of the plates over to Jin.

“Nice.” Jin happily took the plate and immediately took a bite.

“Food?” a groggy Luke asked, rubbing his eyes and looking at the plates. He’d only just woken up a moment ago, and if he was going to spend the rest of the trip a little tired or otherwise occupied with pizza, then Emma would count it a massive success.

“Yup,” Leon said, handing over the last plate. “And this one’s for you.”

“Sorry, no honey buns this time,” Jin said, taking the offered napkins from Leon.

“Awww.” Yet, he took the pizza without complaint.

“Manners, Luke,” Sariel gently scolded.

“Thank you.”

Jin ruffled his hair. “No prob, Kid. When you’re finished, we need you out of the cart.”

“I can walk and eat,” he said.

“Last time, you dropped that on your shirt,” Jin corrected, handing two of the napkins to Luke. “So, no. You finish, then you can be let out of the cart.”

Although he sighed, Luke didn’t make any more of a fuss as he bit into his pizza.

“I saw the twins making sample rounds,” Leon said. “Know where Chev is, and I’m guessing Yves is stalking the bakers again. Clavis make himself scarce?”

In unison, Emma and Sariel looked up from their list. Doing a quick headcount, Emma realized Clavis, in the three seconds she’d had her back turned, had disappeared.

“Well, shit,” Sariel murmured. “So much for hoping he’d behave himself.”

“There’s a good chance he went to bug Chevalier,” Leon commented. “Want me to go check?”

Sariel paused. “Sure… if you’re feeling particularly inclined.”

“Yup, sure am!”

But before Leon could scamper off, Sariel caught him by the collar. “What’d you do?”

Leon chuckled, carefully removing Sariel’s hand from his shirt. “Nothing, nothing. Just… had to get out of there before they realized I broke the soda machine.”

And with that, he disappeared.

Emma felt a headache coming on. No Clavis, and Leon food court damage. This was turning into… well, a regular Costco run.

“I’m going to assume it was broken and that Leon was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Sariel commented, turning back to Rio and Jin, who were downing their food with the speed of your average teenage boy. That is to say, they were halfway done.

“Boys, you can slow down,” Emma spoke. She then turned to Sariel. “I’ll push this cart if you get the other. Give the boys a minute to finish their food.”

“Sorry,” Rio said, looking a little sheepish.

“Rio, just enjoy the food. You don’t have to wolf it down. It’s fine.”

That got him to slow his chewing. But with his mouth full, all he could do was give her a thumbs up in response.

…

“Chevalier, you seen Clavis?”

Chevalier spared Leon a glance before returning to his book. “I’m not his babysitter.”

“Welp… that’s not good.”

Turning a page, Chevalier just shrugged.

“I’d ask where you think he went, but I doubt you’d have an answer.”

“He hasn’t been here. I’d have known.”

“True. You have a weird Clavis radar.”

“If I didn’t, my life would be hell.”

Leon couldn’t even come up with a response to that. Instead, he just nodded in agreement as he walked to the next section.

…

“Are your parents around?” the lady handing out samples of frozen dumplings asked.

Nokto shook his head, but Licht nodded.

Which… did not help the poor lady.

“This where you snuck off to?”

Licht turned around, seeing Leon walk up to them.

“Hey, Leon.” Nokto piped up. “Try these!”

“Ohh, those look good.”

Oh dear, the woman running the sample stand thought, forcing a smile as she handed out a sample dish, another unsupervised kid.

Leon took it with a smile. “Thanks. Hey, you seen Clavis?” he asked the twins.

Licht did not look amused. “You lost Clavis?”

Nokto, on the other hand, did. “You lost Clavis?”

“I’ll take that as a no.” Leon threw the sample dish away. “I’ll ask Yves. And if he doesn’t know, no one does.”

Licht frowned. “Nokto, It’s gonna get loud.”

Nokto pouted. He wasn’t Licht’s twin for nothing; he knew that was code for “I want to hide in the freezer because it’s quiet there”.

“Aww,” Nokto pouted. “But it’s gonna get loud.”

“That’s not a good thing.”

At that, Nokto sighed, resigned. “Fine. Let’s go see Yves first. Maybe Clavis hasn’t wrecked the cookie cart yet.”

The mention of cookies was all Licht needed to brighten up like a sunrise. “Let’s go. Maybe Sariel will let us get some this time.”

Nokto was suddenly all smiles, too. “Okay.”

And with that, the three boys took off.

Leaving a very confused and moderately worried sample lady standing in their wake.

…

“Kid, how old are you again?”

“Twelve,” Yves answered the baker behind the counter.

“Come back in a few years, and we’ll have a job for you.”

Yves’ eyes widened at the prospect of getting to bake all day long.

“He’d love it.”

Yves jumped at the unexpected voice behind him. He whipped around to glower at Leon. “What are you doing here?”

“You seen Clavis?”

At the mention of that name, Yves inwardly shuddered. “Clavis? Is he loose again?”

“Unfortunately.” Leon looked around at the bakers bustling about. “Hey, aren’t you the baker he ran over last time?”

At this, one of the men behind the counter scowled. “You know that kid?”

The bite in the man’s voice caused Leon and Yves both to duck in shame. “Sorry. He’s our brother.”

“Half-brother,” Yves corrected, his nose crinkled. “I already don’t want to be related to him, so don’t say he’s my full brother.”

“Honestly, same,” Leon muttered in agreement.

“We won’t hold it against you,” the head baker spoke up, cutting off the other baker who looked ready to go on a rant. “I’ve met your dad. For as scary as he is, seems even he can’t control that kid.”

“Adopted dad,” Yves corrected once again. “Our real dad was worse.”

At that, the bakery went silent.

“Um…” A soft voice spoke up to break the silence. Yves looked over to see the twins had appeared without him realizing it. “Are there any cookies?” Licht asked.

“Yeah, cause Clavis ran over the guy last time and we couldn’t get any,” Nokto added before spotting said guy in the back. “Sorry. He’s an ass.”

Leon dropped a warning fist on Nokto’s head. Not that that did anything but make the younger twin chuckle.

“He’s not allowed to drive the cart for that reason,” Licht added. “Sorry.”

The head baker hummed. “At least you kids have manners. Your half-brother’s something else.”

“Tell us about it,” came the chorus from the boys.

“Anyway,” Yves spoke up, aware of the twin’s presence and why they were here. “The cookies? I saw you put some in the oven.”

“Uh.” The baker turned around towards the ovens. “Three minutes left, then five to cool.”

“We can wait,” Licht said, his eyes wide at the prospect of fresh cookies.

“Hey, there’s one more sample lady. Let’s go try it while we wait.”

Before he could answer, Nokto dragged Licht off and away.

“Welp,” Leon said, patting the front counter. “I’m gonna head back, too. I have to report to Sariel that Clavis is nowhere.”

Yves heaved a sigh. Couldn’t they have one nice day? “’Kay.”

…

Clavis was most certainly somewhere. He was looking for trouble that could be started.

The produce section was always a decent place to start, but it was also open to where he could be found. Henceforth, after quickly turning all the food misters outwards for one section, he slipped away elsewhere.

Ducking and dodging around a worker restocking a large display of cheese puffs—oh, there was a sale on snack barrels; no wonder they were all being set out—he slipped away.

Only to hear a scream behind him.

Well, that was quick.

He turned around to see the misters had gone off already. Problem was, one of them was clearly broken because a steady stream came out of it instead of a fine mist, making a lovely little puddle on the floor. A puddle some older lady had slipped in that landed her on her backside.

Her cart rolling, rolling, rolling…

Not that anyone noticed. The worker who had been setting up the cheese puff barrels had ran over to assist the lady and turn the food misters back towards the food.

All while the cart picked up steam.

Huh, so the floor was not level here. Good to know.

And curved right there. Also good to know.

Or was that just the front wheel? Clavis stared at the moving cart but couldn’t quite tell. Those shopping carts… garbage, all of them. You could never count on them going straight.

Ask him how he knew.

Just as it curved around, trying to find a place to stop, the runaway cart no one was paying attention to demanded attention by taking out a cheese puff barrel.

And Clavis had the honor of watching his chaos come to fruition all too early as over seventy snack barrels came tumbling to the floor, some cracking open and sending toxic orange cheese-flavored balls rolling everywhere.

Well… he supposed that was a decent start.

…

“Found him,” Leon said.

Well, considering his report, it wasn’t that he’d found him, but it was impossible to miss the tumbling cheese puff tower.

“Oh, he’s long gone by now,” Sariel grumbled. “So I think it’s safer to say we know where he’s not.”

Emma sighed. “True. Unfortunately, very true.”

“You want me to see if I can catch him?” Leon asked.

“Or I could go?” Jin offered.

“If you—Luke, stay close,” Emma warned, catching Luke by the hand before he wandered off for the fourth time. “If you want to, you can, but I’m not holding out hope.”

“What even is hope when it comes to Clavis?” Sariel asked, dry smile on his face.

“Is there such a thing?” Rio answered.

“No, but we can hurry up and finish this trip, hoping we don’t give him any more time to cause more trouble,” Sariel said, looking down at his list. “We’ve got a third of the store left.”

“Alright.” Emma clapped her hands, looking over the carts once more. Only to spy an object that shouldn’t be there.

Grabbing the bag of candy and liter of soda, she looked in between the two possible culprits. “Would you like to replace these?”

With a grin, Jin pulled out a few more bills. “I’ll pay.”

“Jin.”

“Please?”

With a sigh, Emma decided this wasn’t worth arguing over. “Ask Sariel.”

“Sariel!” Jin called out, taking the candy bag from Emma’s hand while flashing the bills in his other.

“And popcorn, too,” Leon added, pulling out his own wallet and holding it up.

Sariel glanced over, pausing in thought for a moment. “Fine. This once.”

“Sweet,” Jin said, dropping the candy back in the cart and handing the bills over to Emma. Though reluctant, she put the liter soda back in the cart, taking the bills from Jin, who was currently getting a fist bump from Leon. Maybe they were planning a movie night in their room, AKA, the basement. Made sense to her.

And she’d allow any non-destructive activity that allowed her a moment’s peace.

…

Nokto’s smile couldn’t get any bigger. “Whatcha doin’ here, Clav?”

Clavis turned around with a grin. “Nothing."

“Doesn’t look like nothing.”

Which, was valid. Clavis was standing in front of the ice cream, the large freezer door swung wide open.

“Don’t ruin the ice cream,” Licht flatly warned. “They were really mad when you broke the door last time.”

“I’m not gonna do anything,” he said, letting go of the door and holding his hands up as though in surrender.

Only for them to hear a crack when the door shut. Followed a crash.

And another. And another.

And another.

The trio watched as an entire shelf collapsed along the whole row of the freezer. Which took out the shelf below it.

And the shelf below that.

Licht just sighed as Nokto and Clavis were struggling and failing to withhold their sniggering.

“I’m leaving,” Licht said, quickly slinking away. “I don’t want to get in trouble.”

Unfortunately, Clavis fell into step beside him, smile on his face as he strutted away. “Yeah, me neither.”

“Hey, Licht.” Nokto hopped up to his other side. “Bet the cookies are ready.”

“Cookies?” Clavis asked.

“Don’t ruin it again!” Licht firmly warned, glaring at his older brother with blazing red eyes.

“Yeah, even I won’t be happy if you do,” Nokto chimed in, giving Clavis a glare from his other side.

This time, Clavis decided not to test his brothers. Instead, he made a cross over his heart. “I won’t; I promise. The baker is still mad at me anyway, and it’s not good to press him twice.”

For being eleven, Licht and Nokto knew Clavis well enough to know Clavis wasn’t done causing trouble for the baker. Meaning, they better go get their cookies and run while they can.

…

They were almost done.

“Just the freezer section last,” Emma muttered. “Then we collect everyone and run.”

Sariel nodded his head tiredly. After all, they were not happy with the cheese puff incident and were going to have to yell at Clavis when they found him.

As they wove through the freezer section, Luke wasn’t able to keep his hands to himself, opening and shutting the doors, amused when they fogged up.

“Luke, stop that,” Sariel warned.

With a whine, Luke walked away from the door he held open. “Are we almost done?”

“Almost,” Emma promised, putting several boxes of frozen pizza rolls into the half-full cart Leon had offered to grab. With nine boys either close to or in their teenage years, they blew through food, and sometimes, it was easy to underestimate how much cart space they needed, particularly when they bought in bulk for a month like this.

“A few more rows, Buddy,” Jin encouraged. “Then we’ll be done.”

“… Fine.”

“You’ll live,” Leon teased. “Probably.”

“Ughhh,” Luke whined, deciding to ignore Sariel’s warning and open the next freezer door.

Only to scream when food came falling out on him.

“Luke!” Emma was the first on the scene, pulling him up off the floor, boxes rolling off him.

“You okay, Sport?” Jin asked, brushing off his clothes from the bits of ice.

Silently Luke nodded.

“This is why I asked you not to do that,” Sariel calmly instructed, walking over to inspect what had happened.

Only after he heaved a sigh did Emma look up from inspecting Luke for injuries and notice the shelves were broken.

“Clavis.”

“Seriously?” Rio muttered, beginning to help Jin shove the food back in the freezer. “How does he do this?”

“Rio, I know you’re the ‘newer brother’,” Jin started. “But even after fifteen years, I still haven’t worked out that answer.”

“Doubt any of us ever will,” Leon agreed, holding the boxes in place to prevent them from tumbling out again. “Chevalier might be the closest, but he ain’t talkin’.”

“Meaning we’ll never know,” Sariel said with a sigh, Luke clinging onto his hand. “And what a damn shame that is.”

…

“Clavis.”

“Chev!”

Chevalier looked up from his book to see his smirking brother. “Why are you here?”

Clavis plopped down on the porch swing next to Chevalier. “Because, can’t I sit and relax with my big brother?”

“No.”

“I’m not allowed to?” Clavis asked with a pout.

“Whether you are allowed to versus whether you’re going to are two different things,” Chevalier answered, turning back to his book.

“So I am allowed?” Clavis kicked back, rocking the swing a little too severely for Chevalier’s liking.

He planted his feet on the ground, forcing it to stop. “What did you do this time?”

“What do you mean?”

Chevalier glared at his brother. “You’re hiding. From what, is the question.”

“Aww, Chev. Do you want to know?”

“No, actually, I don’t. But since Sariel and Emma will be asking, I will ask you so I either know the answer or I won’t.”

Clavis gave him a strong pout. “You’re gonna throw me under the bus like that?”

Chevalier’s sharp glare narrowed.

“Ouch.”

“Maybe if you didn’t make a mess of things, you wouldn’t end up in such hot water.”

“But what fun would that be?”

“When is getting into trouble fun?”

“But Sariel’s face gets so red! It’s really funny.”

Unable to stand this worthless conversation any longer, Chevalier turned back to his book.

Clavis pouted. “You’re no fun.”

Chevalier refused to answer.

“Well, I guess I’ll leave.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Stupid? I never do.” And with that, he was gone.

And that, Chevalier thought as he turned a page, is what worries me.

…

“Are the cookies done, yet?”

Yves turned to see Licht and Nokto slide up to the counter. “They’re packing them up now.”

“Sweet,” Nokto said, excitedly drumming on the counter. Licht, for his part, just smiled like the sun.

“Here you go, kiddos,” the baker said, handing over a bag of cookies to them. “Your brother told me which ones you want.”

“Thank you.” Licht happily accepted the cookies before turning to Yves. “Thanks.”

Yves smiled, feeling warm at his little brother's attention. “You’re welcome.”

“Where do you think Sariel is?” Nokto asked.

“Text and ask,” Licht said.

“Done wondering around?” Yves asked.

“Well, we saw Clavis.”

That name had Yves’ hair standing on end. “What he do?”

“You don’t wanna know what he did,” Licht said. “But…”

Nokto looked up at the baker. “You guys have more freezer shelves, right?”

The baker’s brow furrowed, looking confused. “What do you mean?”

Yves sighed. So much for a nice trip.

…

They were finished. Now, they just had to wait in line at the checkout. Emma sent out a message to the five boys who weren’t with her that they were almost done and just waiting in line.

Chevalier was kind enough to give her a thumbs up on the text. Yves responded that he’d be right over, and Nokto replied he and Licht were on their way.

Clavis, though, was silent.

It was not a surprise. Clavis typically didn't answer that message. But for some reason, Emma had a very bad feeling about today.

“Sariel.”

Emma looked over just as the twins appeared, Licht holding a small bag of cookies. “Can we?”

“Pleeeeease!” Nokto added. “We didn’t get any last time.”

Emma looked over to Sariel, who somehow had the biggest soft spot for these boys. With a gentle expression, he took the cookie bag. “Okay.”

“Yes.” Licht’s smile nearly split his face in two while Nokto gave a fist pump.

… Okay, maybe they were just too cute and that’s why Sariel was weak for them.

Yves showed up shortly afterwards, looking huffy. Which wasn’t a good sign. “What happened?” Emma asked.

He glanced over at the twins, who seemed to shrink under his stare. “You want to tell them what you caught Clavis doing?”

Licht’s sunny smile was gone now, replaced with a rain cloud that Emma wanted to shoo away. Nokto was sniggering, though his head was bowed in preparation for chastisement.

In a flash, Sariel’s soft expression turned stormy. “What did he do?”

They were quiet for a moment before they quietly answered. “He broke the freezer.”

“The shelves.” Licht corrected.

“Yeah, those.”

Oh…

Emma sighed. “Yes, we know that.”

“Unfortunately,” Sariel muttered. “And he’s still loose in the store.”

“Want us to give one more look around?” Jin asked, Leon nodding beside him.

Emma pursed her lips as she inhaled a sharp breath. “Yeah, go. Rio, you got unloading the carts?”

“Yes, ma’am!” he chirped up with a salute. “You can count on me.”

She knew she could. That boy could unload and reload the carts as well as any veteran employee here. And the fact he could do it alone was wildly impressive.

Knowing that would be under control, she turned back to Jin and Leon. “Go. Don’t come back with anything other than Clavis.”

They gave her sheepish looks. “We’ve been caught,” Leon said with a smirk.

“Bummer,” Jin agreed.

She narrowed her eyes. She knew these boys so well. “Understood?”

“Understood,” they acquiesced before heading out.

Geez, these boys were going to send her to an early grave.

…

Employees Only

That’s what the sign read.

Now, that sign had always kept Clavis out, but today, after finding the badge and vest of an employee just laying around, wouldn’t it be kind to return it?

Clavis liked to think so.

…

“Chevalier, we’re almost ready to leave.”

With a sigh, Chevalier shut his book. This one was halfway decent yet not decent enough to waste money on. Emma’s text had warned him he best skip ahead if he wanted to know how this book ended, and the last chapter had proved this book would not be worth rereading.

“You haven’t seen Clavis, have you?”

Chevalier turned his attention towards his oldest brother. “Seen, yes, but I’m assuming you’re asking where he is now?”

Jin frowned. “And I’m guessing your answer is a no.”

“Correct.”

Despite the sigh, neither Jin nor Leon looked surprised.

“Sariel will have to call him,” Chevalier said, standing up from the swing. “You all know how this works by now.”

“Unfortunately,” Leon muttered.

With Chevalier leading the charge, they all headed up towards the checkout, making a detour so Chevalier could return the book.

Only, when he was there, he stepped on something crunchy.

Looking down, he saw he’d missed a bright orange… well, dust pile now.

“Ahh, they hadn’t cleaned up the cheese puffs yet,” Leon grumbled.

Chevalier was almost tempted to ask. Almost. But one looked at Jin’s grimace told him everything he needed to know.

Clavis had caused a scene again.

Placing the book back in the correct stack, under a few books of the same title so the weight would press the book back into resting shape, Chevalier decided it was best to head straight up to the front.

Only for a faint shout to stop him.

And Jin and Leon, too.

Leon was the first to open his mouth, yet it took a few seconds for words to fall out. “You don’t think…”

“Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Chevalier said.

“And when there’s screaming, there’s Clavis,” Jin finished.

As reluctant as Chevalier was—he was not Clavis’ keeper, for heaven’s sake, but on the other hand, Clavis was most likely to listen to him, and if he could get Clavis to behave for three seconds, he’d score points with Sariel, which in turn would allow him various luxuries—he decided to follow his two brothers towards where the shout happened.

But halfway there, there was an odd roar. Followed by people running and screaming.

Yes, that was definitely Clavis.

Picking up their pace, they ran towards the commotion. Only to see…

Well…

Chevalier’s lips pursed.

They should have left Clavis at home today.

…

There was shouting and chaos.

A worrying amount.

“What in the hell did that hellcat do?”

At his growled words, Emma turned to her husband. Ahhh, there was his devil smile. And contrary to what every fairytale and garbage romance novel would have you believe, it was not sexy. No, it was downright terrifying. She felt ice drip down her spine, and she was certain the other boys felt it, too. The twins had ducked slightly, putting a cart between them and Sariel. Yves had turned away, not daring to look at his guardian, and Luke was now hiding behind Emma.

Rio, for his part, was still assisting in bagging items, but Emma noted the way he had slowed his pace, fully alert to Sariel even though it was unlikely he’d heard Sariel’s mutter. Rio, along with all the boys, had developed a sixth sense in that way.

“He’s grounded for life, right?” Emma asked, daring to step into hell to break Sariel from his trance.

“Life?”

Oh, that wasn’t good. A new shiver of ice shot down her spine like lightning, and even she felt like ducking away.

“No.” Sariel sucked in a breath. “No, no, no. He’s grounded even when he dies.”

…

Everyone was outside, now. Jin, Leon, and Chevalier had brought back Clavis who, to his credit, had the decency to look properly ashamed about what he’d done.

But considering the fire department had pulled up after he’d lit a bag of flour on fire in the bakery, that look was not nearly enough to escape consequences.

Currently, Emma was back at the bus, watching as Rio, Jin, and Leon loaded up the back while the rest of the boys sat calmly inside. Sariel and Clavis, however, were apologizing to the fire chief, with whom they were on a first name basis.

Considering even she felt the need to reach for asprin for the Clavis-induced headache, she couldn’t imagine what the poor firemen were thinking upon seeing their worst enemy. Emma would ask Yves to help her bake sweets again in an attempt to smooth things over later.

“That’s it,” Rio chirped.

“Thanks, boys,” Emma called behind them as Rio and Jin took the carts back, Rio pushing the three stacked carts while Jin helped guide them from the side.

Sliding into the passenger seat, Emma heaved a sigh as she shut the door.

“Mom’s mad,” Luke whispered.

Someone shushed him, not that she knew who. Maybe Nokto; maybe Yves.

She felt someone pat her shoulder, only to see Leon giving her a sympathetic look when she turned to look. She pat the top of his hand in return.

“Maybe next time, we leave Clavis with the fire department,” Licht murmured.

That got even Chevalier to snigger. “Police department would be safer.”

“One of these days, he’s gonna end up there,” Leon agreed.

When Rio and Jin returned, Clavis and Sariel happened to be right behind.

“What did the fire chief tell you this time?” Chevalier inquired as Clavis slid into the bus.

The boy looked far, far too happy considering the situation. “He wants to know if I want to meet the police chief next.”

“Called it,” Leon chuckled.

“How’d you even start the back on fire?” Jin asked, grabbing Clavis’ shoulder tightly before Clavis could take a seat.

Plopping down beside Jin, Clavis just chuckled. “It’s a long story.”

“And it’s a long car ride home!” Yves shouted. “So start talking!”

As commotion erupted from the back, Sariel leaned over towards Emma. “For heaven’s sake,” he whispered in her ear. “Please tell me you don’t want children of your own.”

With a dark chuckle, she turned towards him, whispering in his ear in return, “We have every form of birth control under the sun, and if you want to make that permanent, be my guest.”

#ikemen prince #ikepri #all the boys #Modern AU #comedy... again somehow #Clavis is a hellcat #poor sariel

[queercodedlewis]

She’s so beautiful 😭😭😭

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