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wkil-109-fmx-radio · 3 years

Text

[Zone Info]

Events:

Helium I - Fought between 1993 and 1998 when tensions between governments around the world finally turned to war. Nuclear warfare wiped out Northern-Middle Eurasia, most of South America, South-Eastern North America, and Southern Africa. The war ended when what was left of Europe and Asia surrendered.

The Rise of Better Living Industries - BL/ind started as a weapons manufacturing/power company that rose into a major monopoly and self-governing body that overthrew the US toward the end of the first Helium War. It immediately began an effort to bring “peace” to the nation by ridding the country of all individualism and “radical” beliefs, believing that different ideas would turn into conflict. This quickly turned into ridding the country of creativity and self-expression to make a perfect, crime-free society.

Helium II - Fought between 2006 and 2011 when Better Living Industries had taken control of what was left of North and South America and began attacking the rest of the world, trying to rid the planet of ideas that didn’t match theirs. The East Coast started rebelling against the West Coast, where BL/ind had established their capital in what was once Los Angeles but had been renamed Battery City. A wall of nuclear bombs was dropped around the Rocky Mountains and thanks to the radiation around the globe affecting the radio waves, no one knows for sure whether there is anyone else living on the planet outside of Battery City and its surrounding Zones.

The Rise of the Rebels - Since the very beginning of Better Living Industries’ reign, rebels had appeared. When Battery City was established as BL/ind’s capital city, settlements started popping up in the desert outside of the city. On the East Coast of North America, a massive rebellion effort was led against BL/ind during the second Helium War. As the years passed, more rebels started appearing in Battery City and moving to the desert, eventually renamed The Zones, especially after BL/ind seemed to have destroyed the East Coast rebels. Rebels in the Zones became known as Killjoys and rebels in the city became known as Juvie Halls. Rebels began attacking Better Living Industries factories and facilities, hoping to weaken the company but only resulting in angering BL/ind.

The Fires of 2012 - From April till August of 2012, Better Living Industries began lighting fires across the Zones in an attempt to destroy the Killjoys, as they had grown out of BL/ind’s control. The Fires got out of control and ended up spreading to some Better Living Industries camps and buildings that were still stationed in the Zones. As a result, BL/ind blamed the rebels for the Fires and denied any claims of the truth. The blame being placed on the rebels sparked the start of the Analog Wars.

The Analog Wars - Fought between 2012 and 2017 or, to some, from 2012 to the present. The Analog War wasn’t your usual war; it was mostly small battles in the Zones or sabotage of BL/ind or rebel facilities. Better Living Industries describes it as “an effort to suppress the rebels and their radical and dangerous ideals.” During the war, BL/ind established the Draculoid and S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W units.

The Pig Bombs of 2017 - On July 4, 2017, Better Living Industries dropped a series of bombs in Zone 8 to destroy the Killjoy farming communities that were settled there. BL/ind had previously withheld using nuclear weapons in the Zones because they didn’t want the radiation destroying Battery City so they settled for dropping them in Zone 8, although they ended up also destroying several important Better Living Industries facilities in the process. The bombs wiped Zones 7, 8, and 9 off the map, left some places in Zone 6 uninhabitable, and created a wall of radiation around the Zones and Battery City, trapping them and isolating them from the rest of the world. This marked the end of the Analog Wars, although some believe that since there was no official surrender or treaty, the war is still going on.

Places:

Battery City - The capital of whatever is left of the US that Better Living Industries can control. In Battery City, the citizens are required to take “Happy Pills.” In the city, BL/ind controls the weather, the way people dress, where kids go to school, and where adults work. Every citizen has a set routine, sent to them in the morning along with their medication. In the center of Battery City is the Better Living Industries headquarters which is the tallest building and largest complex in the city and home to the Director, the head of BL/ind.

The Underground - The subway systems under Battery City where many juvie halls live and plot against Better Living Industries. “The Underground” doesn’t always literally mean the subway systems and can be used as a relative term for anywhere juvie halls may live.

The Outskirts - The edge of Battery City, bordering Zone 1. This is where lower-class citizens live, along with some juvie halls, as this is the least regulated part of the city.

The Zones - The desert surrounding Battery City, where the Killjoys live. As the number of the Zone gets higher, so does the population, as the Killjoys like to be as far away from Battery City and BL/ind headquarters as possible.

Route Guano - The most used interstate in the Zones, running from south-eastern Battery City all the way out past Zone 6.

The Getaway Mile - The interstate south of Route Guano, which is shorter and goes more south but is often used for quick escapes from Battery City.

Death Valley - The area outside of Zone 6 that is dangerous and completely uninhabitable due to the extreme radiation.

Lighthouses - Well-known places across the Zones that provide sanctuary for Killjoys on the run

Train Station Avenue - A popular lighthouse along Route Guano in Zone 5 that is notorious for fights, food, and hitchhikers

The Nest - The largest lighthouse in the Zones, located next to DESTROYA in Zone 4

DESTROYA Site - The home of DESTROYA, a massive droid built by Better Living Industries to destroy the Killjoys during the Analog Wars but ended up malfunctioning and turning against them. The droid was shot down and has remained there ever since.

The Bunker - An underground bunker turned nightclub in Zone 6, popular for raves and huge amounts of attendees

Witch’s Hut - A small hut in Zone 6 where a supposed prophet of the Phoenix Witch lives

The Tracks - A race track in Zone 5 used for competitive drag races where parties are held and bets are placed for your favorite racers

Vocabulary:

Angel Cake - Killjoys who travel across the Zones selling food for cheaper prices

Audition - Initiation rituals that gangs in or outside of Battery City may have for you to be able to join. What you have to do varies from gang to gang

Babysitter - a term used to poke fun at a gang leader but also used as a genuine term for gang leaders who may be visibly older than the rest of the gang

Bacon - dead or dying Dracs and Crows

Batt out of hell - a term for new Killjoys but not used in a derogatory way

Batt Rat - a derogatory term used by Sand Pups to describe new Killjoys who just escaped the city and don’t know the Zone ways

Black Smith - someone who’s good at repairing or modifying technology or cars

Bifrost - places in the Zones that were so greatly affected by bombs, that the sand turned to glass

Blanket drive - driving at night with the headlights off, the windows down, and the music turned up loud

Carbons - The currency used in Battery City and the Zones. One carbon equals four dollars

Chilly - something or someone that’s suspicious

Clap - a physical fight

Cloud - A large group of Draculoids and S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W traveling through the Zones

Compass Rose - a Killjoy who knows the desert like the back of their hand

Costa Rica - things that went crazy or got out of control

Crash Queen - a daredevil or thrill seeker who is known for doing things that could easily get them killed and doesn’t care

Deadfaced - taking Battery Acid

Dead Pegasus - a fuel company in the Zones

Debut album - someone’s first love

Digital - An important moment shared amongst two or more rebels that they know they will never forget

Draculoid - droids and brainwashed Killjoys designed to kill rebels. Also called "bats" or "Dracs"

Drifter - someone who lives a nomadic lifestyle and strays from commitment in relationships

Drifting - A relationship that isn’t strictly anything but simply some sort of attraction between two individuals. A sort of go-with-the-flow, whatever happens, happens kind of relationship

Drive sidestreet - another way to tell someone to piss off. Also could use “get off the highway”

Dust Trail - an urban legend or a term used by non-religious Killjoys to describe religious Killjoys’ beliefs

ElectroKat - the most popular battery brand in Battery City and the Zones

Exterminators - High ranking Better Living Industries officials placed in charge of S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W units

Fact News - The one news program in Battery City, notorious for spreading lies to the citizens

Favorite Record - someone’s significant other

Firefight - a fight using ray guns

Fly half-mast - that state after having recently lost someone close to you

Gearhead - someone who’s obsessed with all things mechanical

Gemini - someone suspected of being a spy for Better Living Industries

Ghost Chase - Searching the Zones for someone who is possibly, or most likely, dead

Ghosted - killed. Also can use "dusted"

Graffiti Bible - A collection of religious writings across the Zones, mostly talking about how DESTROYA will come back to life and destroy Battery City and the Phoenix Witch

Gravehead - crazy Killjoys who have lost everyone and everything and throw themselves into dangerous situations

Gravity - anything that brings you down

Groupie - someone who travels with different gangs and trades favors for food, water, and protection

Halo Head - religious Killjoys who believe their beliefs put them above everyone else, especially non-religious Killjoys

Happy Pills - Pills issued by Better Living Industries that they say will lift your spirits and protect you from the radiation but make you more submissive and easier for BL to control. The rebels call them "Battery Acid"

Hit the red line - run away, usually from a bad/dangerous situation

Icy - when someone dies or goes missing in a suspicious way

Juvie Hall - rebels who haven’t left the city, usually because they can’t or because they’re working with the Killjoys to smuggle supplies out to the Zones and/or give them information from the city

Killjoy - rebels who live in the Zones

Lawyer - someone who ruins all the fun

Mailbox - small landmarks in the Zones where an old mailbox is painted and decorated and filled with letters, mostly to people that other Killjoys have lost. The more religious Killjoys believe the Phoenix Witch delivers the letters put in the mailboxes to the dead

Maple Plaza - Places in Zone 6 where radiation is still very thick and dangerous

Mega - interchangeable with "wicked"

Motorbabies - people who live and breathe all things car-related

Mousekat - a cartoon character from Battery City

Murder - a magazine in the Zones with Zone news

Pangea - A friendly gathering of two or more gangs

Paperboy - someone who travels across the Zones collecting news, gossip, and reporting deaths, usually for Dr. D or Murder magazine

Phoenix Witch - a supposed deity of the Zones, looking out for the rebels and carrying the souls of the dead into the afterlife

Pigs - another term for Dracs and Crows

Plus - A battery replenisher used by droids that are known for being highly addictive

Power Pup - a pre-moistened dog kibble brand that is often the only source of food in the Zones

Ray Gun - guns that shoot high-powered lasers instead of bullets. Rebels often customize them

Rebel - anyone who actively works against Better Living Industries

Ritalin Rat - drug addicts, usually used for those addicted to Happy Pills but can be used for Zoneweed addicts as well

Robin Hood Honey - party going Killjoys that look beautiful but don’t act like it

Rongee Kay - Killjoys who wander from party to party

Royal - something fancy or high end

Runners - juvie halls who smuggle supplies into the Zones

Sand Pup - someone born in the Zones or someone who has lived there most of their life

Sand Worm - a derogatory term for Killjoys used by Better Living Industries

S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W - BL loyalists specially trained to destroy anything they deem worthy of destroying. Also called "Crows"

Screwhead - someone who parties too much and thinks too little

Shiny Magazine - a magazine for mature readers in the Zones

Shiny - interchangeable with "awesome" or "cool"

Shower Curtain - A rare day when the sun is behind the clouds and the heat isn’t so unbearable

Smiley - someone acting suspiciously

Sour - something off

Squeaky - not having committed a crime against Better Living Industries but still wanting to rebel against them. Also used when someone seems to avoid fights or dangerous situations even though they’ve never done that before

Static - another word for sand or remote areas of the Zones

Trojan Horse - a painfully obvious lie

Tumbleweed - someone who wanders the Zones, living a nomadic lifestyle, having no home or gang

Vend-a-Hack - A device used by Killjoys to hack into Better Living Industries vending machines to steal various supplies

Vending Machine - Dispense a variety of items, including ray guns, batteries, ammo, stickers, stress toys, Plus, Power Pup, and water

WKIL 109 FMX - Doctor D’s pirate radio station that plays news and music

Zone Rat - a derogatory term for Killjoys used by Better Living Industries and some Battery City citizens

Zoneweed - a popular drug grown and passed around in the Zones

#mcr #my chemical romance #killjoys #the zones #danger days #better living industries #bl/ind #party poison #fun ghoul #jet star #kobra kid #death tw #drugs tw

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sunlightwoo · 3 years

Text

Come Back Home

☀︎ pairing: hidden king!Sunwoo x queen!fem.reader

☀︎ genre: there’s fluff for a small part of this, but there is more angst because of the inspo that I got this idea from hehee. WARNING: there are mentions of blood, wounds, and killing in terms of it being a war and a major character death will happen in this.

☀︎ wc: 4.7k

☀︎ plot: The king that the people see in the kingdom that is ruled by him is not the true king, but rather someone else. However, when the life of the king that has been playing the role for his friend’s life is endangered at the stake of a war, what will Sunwoo choose when he knows that he’d have to come back home to you unscathed somehow?

☀︎ a/n: i’ve had this idea back when the music video dropped for Come Back Home by Oneus last july, and loved it as this plot has been collecting dust since then from the switching and changing characters to stopping the kingdom come series that this originally would’ve been for. however after watching the road to kingdom stages i thought that this was fitting after their mama stage too and decided to post it for Sunwoo. anyways happy sunwoo day and hope you guys enjoy this one!!

[ gina is listening to: Come Back Home - Oneus ] [ the spinoff ]

Here comes the king!, the familiar four words that he was used to hearing all the time when he looks over to the man that was walking towards the throne that was on the other side of the ballroom. He watches from a balcony up above, watching the grand man closely as he waited for today’s round of laws to pass by for today.

As though, he was the true king after all hiding in disguise.

His eyes are cast upon his companion, Juyeon who regally sits on his throne for him and connects a short gaze as he goes on with his day helping him out with more laws to go through and be signed. The reason for it; his own safety from the general public.

Ever since the early days of the previous king and queen’s announcement of the regal heir that was yet to take over their place when they passed, nobody knew who the individual was as it was kept a secret in fear that the enemies would use him as a leverage. It was up until he had turned the age of 18, a month after a war that his parents bravely fought in and died in honor of the kingdom that he had to step up and play the role of the king.

However, he couldn’t risk his own identity just yet because he knew that there were enemy lines speculating his friend’s true identity. Hence why he had never revealed his true identity as the king with the royal bloodline that ran in his name, nor had he acted like he was the king whenever he was in the castle since he disguised himself as the royal guard to keep an eye out on the front lines of the kingdom.

Until he had met you.

It was quite coincidental that you, the adopted sibling sister of a friend of Juyeon’s, had walked into the office one day to overhear their plans of making Juyeon play the role as the king until his time was done and you were the least to say shocked. Your reaction to finding your brother negotiating with the true king, Sunwoo, was rather confusing considering you had no other input towards the matter after being in the same room as the man that you had thought to be the royal guard.

Truth be told, you had always thought of him very highly from afar as you thought that for a person that had such high standards and sight in the kingdom, he was rather playful and had lots of charisma for someone that was raised as a king in secret. It took him three months since then to finally court you and eventually marry after having to somehow find a way to have you be Juyeon’s fake queen for the kingdom to rely on when they needed one.

All of the plans were perfectly planned to the brim and executed well, where Sunwoo was rather happy with where he was in the present today, even if he had to hide in secret like he was at the moment on a balcony. It wasn’t until hours later when Juyeon finishes that he looks out the window, noticing how the sun was already on the brink of sundown that he remembers today’s plans with you as he rushes to your bedroom almost immediately.

He makes it into your bedroom after knocking first, hearing a soft hum to allow him inside while he enters to see you sitting on your balcony with a smile on your face as you look at him. Sunwoo lets out a soft chuckle at your idea of a date for this evening as he walks over to where you were sitting on top of a blanket that you had prepared, a quiet picnic just for you two to enjoy.

“You seemed to have remembered about our date this time.” You say as he playfully rolls his eyes at your words and the raised eyebrow look that you were currently giving him.

The golden yellow hues of the sun setting were perfectly reflecting against Sunwoo’s skin, you thought to yourself, as you admired how he looked at this hour. You weren’t sure how you had gotten lucky with having to marry the king, as you were once a noble woman that came from a family that wasn’t as well off as the other ones that you had known of. However you could recall that night when he was supposed to pick who he had wanted his queen to be, as though the flower festival of the week for him to get to know all the other women had been tossed to the side as he chose you that night.

“I was helping Juyeon wrap up the last of the laws that had to be seen out tonight. Have I kept you waiting long?” He asks sitting as you shook your head in response, smiling as he already found purchase in laying his head into your lap, curling his body up into a ball as you were finding yourself playing with his hair out of habit.

“Long enough for my stomach to grumble because I wanted to be nice and wait for you,” You grin and look down at him as he was already staring back up at you with a soft smile on his face, “But I guess I can make some exceptions for you, your majesty.”

For whatever reason it may be, whether it was the stars and fate or even the coincidences that you both were given, Sunwoo felt as though everything was perfect even if it may be a bit misfortunate on his end. Although he could not properly tell the world that you were his, he knew that he was still yours in moments like these when it was just you two and the golden hues of the sun that were setting on you both.

“I love you.”

His random confession of love takes you off guard while heat is already rushing to your cheeks as you look at him, looking into his lovestruck eyes that were boring right into your very own gently but deeply. You think that this must be what it was like to fall in love with your soulmate, feeling happy that Sunwoo was the one person that you could only want in this life and the next. However, it had caught you off guard because he was rather someone that showed his love language through touch instead of words of affirmation, which made you confused at the sudden confession.

“I love you too, my love. Why the sudden confession?” You say to him teasingly with an undertone of confusion, continuing to play with his hair as he lets out a soft breath while holding your hands that were now no longer playing with it.

“Moments like today makes me really want to tell you, rather than just showing you that I do since I don’t say it enough. I love you, Y/N, and I’d rearrange the stars and the universe into your eyes and heart if I could to show you that I do.” He says, leaving small kisses right on your knuckles until he reaches your ring finger and leaves a soft, but lingering kiss right on the ring that he had proposed to you with just about a year or two ago.

There was a warm feeling in your chest as his hand was still holding onto yours, as if you were to leave at any moment now but you felt like you were at home. With him you felt like you were continuously falling in love with him more than the last sunset, and with the warm golden hues that the sun was giving off at this time, you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else if it wasn’t with him by your side.

“Cheesy.” You mumbled jokingly and suddenly felt your weight being shifted to where you were now sitting in his lap, his arms wrapping around your waist securely as he rests his head on top of your shoulder so that you wouldn’t go anywhere.

“That may be true, but you love it anyways,” He says while grinning widely and you turned your head to give him the same look that you always gave him when he started to get greasy, up until he suddenly steals a kiss from your lips that made you blink from the spontaneous act.

“Come on, let’s finish up the food before it gets too cold and the sun leaves us alone in the dark.”

He was the gift that you never expected to receive in your life.

Today you felt as though there was a heavy feeling on your chest. You were currently sitting at the throne next to Juyeon, listening to your scribe explain to you what has been going on with the surrounding kingdoms around you both from the last few weeks and you could’ve sworn that you were going to give out from boredom right in that moment.

It was one of the rare occasions that you had to be seen with Juyeon, considering you had finished up your financial affairs with the ambassadors that came from those foreign kingdoms days ago after your picnic date with Sunwoo. However you weren’t sure what this could mean for the future of your own kingdom, considering the events of then did not exactly end up on completely good terms.

“Your majesties!”

The sound of the door being barged open to the chambers echoed as the person who had interrupted your meeting, not that you had minded, came in rushing in with hurried feet. You notice Juyeon rise to his feet with a stern look on his face and grabbed his wrist as it made him turn to look at you with a confused look, however you made a small notion for him to leave it as a gesture of boredom was passed onto him from the thoughts that were forming in your head.

Your eyes turn back to the individual rushing in and you noticed that it was one of your generals and good friends, Changmin, and you knew that he wouldn’t have arrived frantically if it weren’t an emergency. His eyes screamed urgency as he attempted to catch his breath and you were almost concerned for how crazed he had seemed, which meant that this was bad.

“King Hyunjin has declared war on us.” He breathes out and there was silence as your stomach churned at the words he had mentioned.

War.

You were almost certain that you had been allies with the kingdom that King Hyunjin had ruled, knowing that he had been a good friend of yours with the rest of the Hwang family. However, an unexpected war seemed almost conspired as you turned to look at Juyeon with a scared look on your face. He seems almost taken aback had he not composed himself from the sudden news, eyes looking off to a distance that you knew was a hidden balcony for Sunwoo to sit in and listen.

But there was no telling what the two could think of, because it was all so sudden.

“Did he say why, or have sent for someone that he wants to declare a war?” You say while standing up from where you were sitting, not caring about how improper you might’ve seen at the moment because of how fast your mind was already racing at the speed of light.

It wasn’t until he motions for you to go with him that you realize it must’ve been even more serious, and you could only assume the worst from the situation. Bidding a muttered excuse from Juyeon and the scribe, you head out of the royal chambers to head out and walk with Changmin towards your office quarters knowing that you could only get privacy there, even with the rambling inevitables that were making you spiral from how anxious you were progressively getting.

With the door shut behind you, you noticed that Sunwoo had already met you there as he stood in front of the chairs that were in front of your desk with his arms crossed in front of his chest. Both of you looked over towards where Changmin was still looking distressed and it wasn’t until he locked eyes with you that you knew why.

“He knows about Sunwoo’s true status, doesn’t he?” You whisper quietly and he nods in response, nervously looking between you both with so much stress that you could’ve sworn he would’ve exploded right then and there in front of you.

“He wants the war to happen in a week’s time.” Changmin whispered, and that was when the atmosphere fell into a deadly silent room, if it were even possible from how much tension that was also being put into it.

Sunwoo’s identity wasn’t meant to be exposed, which was why you felt a wave of emotions that included fear and betrayal from how someone would stoop so low that they would risk a king’s life for their own. You knew that, and there was also the acknowledgement of Sunwoo having the urge to leave as well knowing that his pride wouldn’t let him just sit back and let the war happen because of him.

However you had your reasons this time around for him to not leave, and you were adament on him not leaving, especially after Changmin mumbles to himself that he was going to dismiss himself after the loud silence engulfing the atmosphere.

“Sunwoo, you can’t go out there into the war, no matter how serious it may be.” You say, sternly looking at him the moment that Changmin shuts the door behind him while crossing your arms in front of your chest assertively.

“Y/N, I know you’re scared-”

“No, I mean it this time, Kim Sunwoo. At all costs, I’m not going to let you go out there and risk your life dying, when you could be safer here. What if going out there is a trap to get you to get into your coffin?” You retort and you could tell that he was thinking about it from how quiet he was being.

The war was due in a week’s time, and only time could tell what could happen in a span of a week because of everything. You blink for a second to realize that Sunwoo is walking up to you with a heavy heart in his hand, the same hand that cups your face momentarily before stroking your cheek for a moment and it took everything in you to not give into his warm and gentle touch. No matter how much you loved him, you still had to stand your ground and be selfish by telling him to not go.

“I won’t go, only because I love you.” He concludes, making your heart feel a bit at ease in the moment as you looked into his eyes for that clarity that he had meant it.

However it was in the time that he kisses you with the same amount of love and passionate that you were so used to feeling everyday that surpassed all the negative thoughts and placed them onto a shelf. He was here now, the kiss seemed to express, and you wanted to hold onto that grain of hope that was filling into your thoughts, but you could only wish that it were true until then.

“I love you too, idiot. Just stay here a little longer… with me.”

“Do you think she’d actually let me go?”

Sunwoo looks over to Changmin with a pained look on his face, one that expressed how dangerous the plan that they had in mind was going to be, but it had to be done. It had been three days into the war that King Hyunjin had declared onto your kingdom and it wasn’t until one of the soldiers that was a close friend of theirs, Jacob, had come back scathed to tell that Juyeon had been killed off after being ambushed during the first night full of snow.

“I don’t think we have a choice… He won’t stop killing our numbers, unless you’re there.” Changmin says as the written paper that was in Sunwoo’s hand felt heavier than earlier.

The written note that he recognized to be Hyunjin’s handwriting demanded that he should show up, along with the additional information that had passed on by Changmin that he had Juyeon at hostage in the snow. The thought of his friends’ lives being put on the line of life and death made him sick and guilty, knowing that this war was specifically targeted towards him and that he wouldn’t be able to do anything if he were to stay back and watched it all happen from the sidelines as he usually would.

“Give me an hour and I’ll meet you outside with my gear.” Sunwoo mumbles almost inaudibly, avoiding the eyes of his best friend with his head in his hands as he could hear him let out a hum in response, feet heading towards the door of Sunwoo’s office while leaving.

In that moment, he felt as though he had just been set up for inevitable death. There were hundreds of thoughts as to how betrayed he had felt about the fact that the war was happening, along with the mourning emotions that filled his heart because he knew that Juyeon might die because of him. However there was still you, who was still waiting for him to fall asleep with you in bed because it was nearly three in the morning.

He was fearful, scared of the fact that he would lose you in the end of all this.

He knew that you didn’t want him to go because he would leave you alone with a king to rule by your side, and that wasn’t seen to be fit for any kingdom whatsoever considering it would be considered unruly. Yet he also felt as though he had to go off and stop the war once and for all against Hyunjin, to find the real answer as to why he was so insistent on exposing Sunwoo’s status to the rest of the kingdom as it was.

The stuff that Sunwoo would’ve needed was just in the room next to his office with a letter that was ready to be addressed to you, everything already having been packed since the first day of war in case Juyeon had died, and he felt his chest grow heavy at the thought of it. He gets up from where he sits in his office to head over towards the room when he flickers on the light to see you standing next to all of his packed gear with the letter opened in your hand.

“You almost forgot something.” You mumbled quietly and tossed him a small item that was in your hand over towards him, and it was the sight of it that made his heart drop into his stomach as you were already on your way to leave the room.

“Love, wait-”

“When were you going to tell me that you were leaving, Sunwoo? Before or after I had found out that you took off the ring and left without another word?”

The ring that was in his hand was accompanied by the one that he had once placed on your hand, both small objects having such a large impact on how everything was going downhill from here and it was like he was caught red handed. You were beyond livid at the fact that he had taken off the ring in the first place when you had gotten up to get a drink of water, seeing as though a letter of his writing saying that he had to make things right had accompanied it, and you felt it get worse as your thoughts were everywhere because of the anger and hurt that you were ready to unleash onto him.

“I thought we trusted each other enough to the point where we could tell anything, Sunwoo, but you lied to me. You said you weren’t even going to leave, but here you are getting ready to go ahead and hurt yourself because you’re scared-”

“I’m not scared of anything-”

“Then let’s just skip our excuses and divorce, if you’re willing to give up your ring so fast.”

Tears had already been glossing in your eyes as the evident twisted pain in your heart was pounding loudly in your chest, your breath not even wavering in the slightest as you looked at him. In his eyes, he felt as though he had already been stabbed in the heart because of those three simple words, because he never would’ve thought that you would actually want to divorce him after everything that the two of you had gone through.

“You wouldn’t-”

“Then don’t leave me here alone without you,” Your voice cracked, tears finally streaming down your face as you could already feel yourself slowly breaking away from the fact that he was going to go anyways.

“If you leave right now, then don’t bother coming back home if you lived to see the light of day.”

Sunwoo wants to reach out to you, to wipe away the tears that were falling down the apples of your cheeks because of the pain that he had caused. He wants to tell you that he was going to make it home safely and that he promises to come home, but he couldn’t find it within himself to hold such an empty promise as he moves almost past you to hoist his bag over his shoulder and turns to look at you with a heartbroken expression on his face.

He takes in every inch of your face one last time, every curvature that he has kissed once in this lifetime and the eyes that he came to love every time that they looked at him with such love, outlasting the entire galaxy and universes that could possibly shine brighter than yours. With a heavy breath that brushes past his lips, he walks over to you with a shaky movement of his hands holding your cheeks with fragility, fear as he is scared for himself.

He knew was going to lose you to the universe in this life, and he doesn’t want you to be taken away from him.

With a final kiss against your lips, he lets out a final breath as he leaves while placing both rings into your hands as he closes the door behind him, blocking out the sobs that he was able to hear from you in the closed room that he just left. He meets with Changmin outside on his own stallion and leaves with him as the two went off into the wintery night to where the war was yet to be finished in this night of time.

He didn’t even say ‘I love you’, when he had left for good.

“Y/N, we need you to make an announcement today.” You hear Chanhee, one of your close friends say from behind you and there was a beat of silence as you were staring off past your window to look at the crowd of people gathered in front of the palace.

“He’s going to come home soon, I know it.” You muttered back, more toned to convince yourself that he was actually coming back as you hugged your stomach closely to yourself.

A week has gone by since he had left, you noted to yourself since then as you had been awake for endless nights waiting for the soldiers to come back home; at least someone to make sure that they were alive. You grew anxious as you fumbled with the necklace that was around your neck, a simple string with a wedding band attached to it as the growing fear of him actually not making it back home continued to settle in your stomach.

It was over, you remember hearing as the scribes from Hyunjin’s kingdom had come to say as you were on the edge waiting for any sign of life. However, nobody has come home as you could feel the tears prick at the corners of your eyes. He had to be alive, you tried to convince yourself as you turned to look at Chanhee, who had been giving you a solemn expression on his face with something in his hand.

“Y/N…”

The feeling of dread suddenly fills your heart as you noticed that the letter in his hand was addressed to you in a familiar handwriting, one that you never wanted to see once again. There was a sharp intake of a breath that you made, realizing what it must’ve been considering there were blood stains on it as you looked up at the latter with teary eyes.

“Changmin was the only survivor… He came back home last night when you slept, and wanted me to give you this.” Chanhee says, walking over towards you with caution as you glanced between both him and the letter.

He leaves you alone in the room with the letter in your hand, your own instincts debating on whether or not you should open it as you knew what this had meant. Your hands were shaky as the weight of the light parchment felt heavy in your own possession, not wanting to open the blood stained letter that can only mean one thing.

Sunwoo’s last words.

The moment that he had written them was one of the most unforgettable memories that he would definitely remember in his next life. The night that he had faced Hyunjin in the snow, the strength that he gathered from the anger of seeing his friends and soldier’s brave deaths because of him, he went down in pride and in pain knowing that he had used you as a way to unleash the last few moments of life and death between the war.

“It’s a shame that you won’t be able to see your beloved queen again, Kim. Maybe she’d be better if she were with me, wouldn’t it?” Hyunjin’s words taunt him just as Sunwoo finally paints his blood onto the snow, his breaths uneven as he finishes him off and looks at his lifeless eyes staring back at him.

“Never in a million years, will I ever lose to you again, Hwang.”

Sunwoo stumbles back to his tent, seeing Changmin already there healing and his friend was ready to treat his injuries when he shakes his head in response. Both Changmin and Sunwoo share a glance of unspoken words that were exchanged, until Sunwoo grabs a sheet of parchment and ink to write down everything that he had been meaning to say to you even if he was bleeding out on that winter morning.

“Sunwoo, you have to save your energy and let me-”

“I’m bleeding out too much, Changmin… Just let me do this and die in peace,” Sunwoo murmurs, already feeling his life being taken away from him as he grew weaker while ending his letter that was supposed to be addressed to you.

“Just make sure that she gets this.”

To you who has always been the golden highlight of my life, the hues of love and adoration in the confinements of the yellow sun to my dark shades of the moon…

I knew what I had forgotten that night., and I should’ve said it before leaving.

I’m not coming back home, my love… and I’m sorry.

We won, and I know that if I were to see light of day tomorrow, you would still let me in despite the fact that you probably hate me at the moment. But you have my ring and that’s all that matters, because only Changmin will come home, and I made him promise that he would take care of you no matter what.

You don’t need a king to prove that you are strong, Y/N, and I know that you are the greatest queen that this kingdom will be ruled under, because you are the strongest person that I’ve ever met in my life.

I don’t regret loving you, marrying you, spending all of our picnics in the hues of the golden sunset in secret, because I knew that I was yours, just like you knew that you were mine.

But don't miss me too much, please. For us.

And I knew what I forgot to say,

I love you.

We will meet again.

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yourwitchmama · 4 years

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Full Moon on Samhain, October 31st: The Hunter’s Blue Moon With Horoscopes

For the first time since World War II, people in all parts of the world will be able to see the Oct. 31 display. Samhain's full moon will be a blue moon. What is a blue moon? A blue moon occurs when there are two full moons in one month. We are halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, a turning point in the season when we prepare for the cool months and shorter days. This is also a point in time where we turn our focus inward. How are we doing in our relationships? How do we feel about ourselves? What do we have to learn from our shadow self? This full moon falls under the sign of Taurus. Since the sign Taurus is powerfully rooted to the earth, this will be an ideal time to preform earth magick. Take this time to reflect on the magick and mystery of nature. This moon, though in Taurus, will inevitably shake things up in your life where things have been stagnant. Below, I am going to touch on the influences of this blue moon on each sign. Remember that it is important to know other signs in your chart, because it does affect your main sign.

Capricorn (December 22- January 19)

You may feel as if you want more attention or prosperity for the work or energy you have been putting out into the world. You may feel like you are fading behind the scenes, or maybe you aren’t getting close to desired achievements. This moon will reveal why you are feeling this way, and will bring you the boost of creativity you need in your life to move forward in what you are wanting to do. Meditate this Samhain, have a bonfire if you can, and add herbs and incense to set the mood. You aren’t alone, there are many spirits, for this is the most spiritual time of the year. If you are looking into spellwork, doing a spell on boosting creativity and insight on how you can get things done is going to be highly effective on this full moon.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

There are two polar ways you will be feeling during this full moon. You may feel overly excited and you may want to go all out with the decorations and costumes. Do it! This full moon is activating your inner child, so don’t feel weird if you have an urge to trick or treat or watch a kids movie. If people give you weird looks, so what! You want free candy! In turn, you could be feeling bleak or depressed, stuck on your past and how you were robbed of your childhood. Don’t let any of this get you down. Inner child work is going to be very beneficial this Samhain. You will easily see into your past, and if you don’t have clear memories, feelings will guide you through your inner chid work. Nurture yourself like a child, but don’t coddle yourself. You are allowed to feel however you want, but like all things, in moderation.

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

If you have been feeling stuck lately, look forward to a burst of inspiration and motivation. It might come out of nowhere, but you will feel ready to take on a new project or feel motivated to get things done that have been sitting for a while. You may feel inspired by those around you, or spirits could be putting subconscious information into your head that will inspire you. This is a highly spiritual time for you, and you will benefit from doing manifestation spells during this full moon. Remember to not take too many things on at once, and little steps are what you need to take to get where you want to be. Use this motivation to make a vision board.

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

You might feel like you are financially tight this year, which is understandable. Know that you are worth much more than you think you are, and you can get a job that you might not think you can get. If you couldn’t get fun decoration or a costume, don’t be upset! Samhain isn’t all about superficiality, it is about connecting to the other side while the veil is thin. Write down what you should be spending your money on vs. what you should not be spending your money on. Focus on what you can do to really save money, even if it is a few cents, it adds up. Consult your ancestors on what to do about money. You could use a ouija board (please use the proper precautions when doing this) or tarot cards to do this if you do not have the ability to talk directly. This is also a good time to cast money spells.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

You are going to feel much more energized than normal, but don’t let this scare you! You aren’t manic, you are extremely excited and ready to take the day, no, year on. This energy will be intense since this full moon is in Taurus, but it will not be a bad intense. Choose wisely where to put your energy. This is also a good time to examine the rules you set for yourself, and try to see if there is anything you need to change. Try to step out of your comfort zone, and realize that you are capable of much more than you think you are capable of. This is going to be a good time to think about all of the things you are capable of doing, so write down ideas for yourself and focus on each idea, exploring the possibilities that are available to you in this life. Charging crystals or any magical items will be highly effective for you on this full moon. Hold whatever you want to put energy into, and tell it what you want it to do. Let your items soak up the full moons rays all night.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

You have been wanting to explore your creativity more and open your mind to something new. This full moon is a perfect opportunity for you to get lost in your thoughts, take a magical bath, and curl up with an interesting book. You may want to watch horror movies or halloween movies from when you were a kid. This will bring a lot of inspiration and energy that you can harness for your creative journey. Any blocks you will be having will clear with this Samhain blue moon. You will be able to come up with new ideas and break out of your box to explore new creative things that you can thrive in. Crystal magick is going to be the best way to harness this creativity. Use crystals such as lapis lazuli, jasper, blue lace agate, herkimer diamonds, and tigers eye to help boost your creativity. You will also get signs from spirits as to what you can do, so look out for any symbolism or repeating numbers this Samhain.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

You are feeling upset that this Samhain isn’t going to be a normal one, but that isn’t stopping you from indulging in the Samhain spirit. You may feel lonely or like something isn’t right, and that can lead to depression. Call some friends and talk about your hopes and dreams together, and delve into spirits and ghost stories as well. The goal of this Samhain Reflect on your ancestors and their accomplishments, and how they may affect your DNA. You are a collective being of all of your ancestors, so look at what runs in your blood. Know that you are not alone, and your ancestors and other beings are around you in spirit. You can talk to them, though you may feel crazy talking out loud to the air, they can hear you. You may receive signs that they are there, like something falling off a shelf or a knock on the wall.

You should focus on divination, talking to your ancestors through candle scrying, ouija boards, and pendulums.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

This year has made you restless and ready to get things done. This full moon is going to amplify those feelings, so you may feel frustrated that things aren’t going back to normal. Luckily, the stars are aligned for positive change, so making a move now is going to land you in the right place. Try to get some of that pent up frustration and energy out by carving pumpkins, making a vision board, deep cleaning your house of any residual energy hiding in the dust, and anything else active you can think of. If you play an instrument or sing, do that to your heart's content. This Samhain, focus on your higher self and try to take advice from it. If you get tired from all of your physical activities, sit down with a good book or watch a movie that brings nostalgia and motivation.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

You may feel like your world is upside down, and you don’t know what to do with it. You could be feeling depressed that this Samhain isn’t going to be normal, but know that you are not alone, spirits are all around you. Try to connect with them to get rid of that loneliness. Try scrying, ouija boards, and pendulums to connect with those beings around you, you will feel less lonely. You also might feel that this year has been against you, and you are stuck in a rut. This full moon will give you inspiration and motivation, getting you out of this rut with new solutions to old problems. Journal and try to figure out what you need to do to get out of this rut. You can try automatic writing to see what spirits are trying to tell you to help you as well.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Your highly empathic feelings have been hurting you this year, and you might feel sorrow from the deaths, fires, riots, corruption, and disease. Your highly sensitive heart needs a break, and this Samhain, you will get it. You may feel more empathic than usual, but focusing on what you can do to help yourself is going to be important. Go for a walk under the moon, take a long bath, watch some movies, and indulge in good food. You will learn how to feel for others without it harming you, bringing you motivation to help the world by donating, praying, and getting active in your community if you can. It is important to cleanse and cord cut this Samhain, focusing on taking negative energy out of your space and inviting healing energies in. Cut yourself off from negative people and thoughts with cord cutting. It will also be helpful if you place bowls of salt water around your space (don’t do this if you have animals or a way to get animals out of the space you are putting the bowls in) to soak up the negative energy.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

You are fully immersed in the autumn spirit, embracing your birth month to the fullest, and revving up for a full on Samhain. It won’t be like other Samhains, but you don’t care. You are going to make the most out of this holiday, and it will bring you satisfaction and coziness like no other time of year. Watch nostalgic movies and embrace the colder weather. Drink some hot cider (you could add a little spiced rum if you are about that life) or smoke a little thc (if you are about that life). If you haven’t set the mood yet, what are you waiting for? Go get a cheap tiny gourd if you are out of money, and try to carve it. ANY squash will do, so don’t feel upset that pumpkins might not be in the cards because of the price tag. Have some pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, candy, any kind of food that will get you into the fall mood. If you don’t have fall room spray, boil some sticks of cinnamon in hot cider, the smell is heavenly. Spiritually, focus on your shadow self, and try to communicate with the spirits around you. Make sure to use black crystals for protection.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

You are feeling EXTRA spiritual this Samhain. You may not even feel like yourself, but that is normal to experience on the most spiritual day of the year. You are more psychic than usual, so divination is going to be highly accurate and easier to perform at this time. Give out free tarot readings, read friends who don’t know what tarot is, chant, drum, sing, and get fully immersed into the spiritual side of this Samhain. You might feel to magickal to participate in more materialistic things, so make this Samhain your own. There is no right way to celebrate. Let the spirits guide you in your actions, and maybe do some rituals if the inspiration strikes.

Get a psychic reading here

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sunset-curve-fantom · 3 years

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Hi ! Could I posible a Luke Patterson request? In which the reader starts hanging with Reggie a lot and Luke gets jealous ? And they realize he has a thing for you or something like that 😭

JEALOUSLY- LUKE AND READER

A/N: I HOPE YOU ENJOY- I PUT ALITTLE TWIST ON IT!

For as long as you can remember, Luke Patterson was your best friend. There was many of times where you guys had slumber parties, or long nights of partying that ended in fits of laughter. Luke had always been your number one, the one you always turned to with your problems. But that all changed when Julie Molina rolled into your lives.

Being the stage manager for Sunset Curve, you and Luke shared a unique bond even further than the title of best friends. You knew what he needed in certain songs, that he needed exactly four extra guitar picks on his microphone stand, even that he wore a lucky tie around his left arm for each performance.

Julie didn’t know any of that- but she did know that she liked Luke’s attention and the music he was writing. Your music journal was beginning to collect dust. As the song writing sessions turned from your and Luke’s time to write into his and Julie’s.

You were slowly being pushed to the sidelines and so was your music. You were losing your best friend to her. Instead of keeping to yourself, you turned to the one person who listened most… Reggie Peters.

“God Reg- is he blind? He’s losing his best friend and he doesn’t even realize it. Luke is so focused on that… that… ugh her. I thought our music meant something… I thought I meant something.” you said, pacing in Julie’s kitchen as she worked on yet another song with Luke.

You roughly raked your hand through your tangled hair as your pacing continued, the sole of your shoes making contact with the hardwood. You were sure your walking pattern would be worn into the floor permanently.

“Okay- you need to stop pacing… you are making me dizzy darling.” Reggie said, rubbing his eyes as he watched you spin towards him.

A small chuckle escaped as he sat down at the island, waiting for you to talk more.

“I just… we have been best friends since we were 7, and now I am a shadow in his past. She took the forefront of his attention and now- God Reg, what do I do?” you said, leaning against the island.

Your mind was swarming with questions, but you had no real answers as to why Luke could forget you so easily. The amount of stress caused by this situation had sent your anxiety into high gear, your manicured nails had turned into nubs and scars littered your arms due to excessive scratching and picking. Your small, perfect world was beginning to crash in on all sides… all because you were losing your best friend, you were losing Luke.

You tucked your hair behind your ear as you looked up at Reggie, he was just staring right back at you. A clear look of concentration crossing his normally confused features.

Confusion crossed your own features as you asked, “What? Is there something on my face?”

You gently brushed both of your cheeks as he gently chuckled at you, the one thing about Reggie was he made you feel better no matter how much Luke was getting under your skin.

“No, you dork… I was trying to picture how Luke can blow you off. Clearly you are the better choice here.” He said, making a vibrant blush cross your features.

“Flattery will get you nowhere Mr. Peters…” you joked, as laughter fell from your lips, only making Reggie join in with you.

Laughter boomed through the kitchen which only drew in Luke and Julie’s attention. They came in the back door, with confusion written all over their own faces.

“What the hell is going on here?” Luke’s voice boomed, as you wiped the laughter induced tears from your eyes. The laughter continued to spill from your lips as you tried catching your breath.

You opened your mouth to speak, only to be cut off by Reggie, “We were waiting for you two… clearly you needed to have a little love song fest. So, are you ready for rehearsal now?”

A snicker fell from your lips as you watched the shocked face of both Luke and Julie… Reggie may be a bit slow, but he wasn’t dumb. He knew that Julie and Luke’s new closeness was bothering you, so why not say something?

You bumped hips with Reggie as you started heading to the backdoor, “So are we rehearsing or not?”

Reggie couldn’t help but smile as he headed out behind you, leaving Julie and Luke even more confused than before.

You plopped down on the couch, a small shiver coming over your body. The change in the weather was as apparent as Julie’s crush on Luke. Reggie was the only one who noticed, as usual. He handed you his leather jacket, before picking up his bass and making sure everything was in tune.

Alex was neatly seated behind his drum set as Julie and Luke slowly stalked back into the garage. Luke briefly caught my gaze before you averted your eyes, focusing on the magazines on the coffee table. You couldn’t help but chew on the inside of your cheek as you were drawn into your thoughts.

How could two best friends, go from attached at the hip to being like total strangers with an extra dose of awkwardness somewhere in between.

A soft melody began to fill the space, and it was immediately clear what song it was. It was the one song that you wrote for Luke on your own and spilled every ounce of love into.

The words softly fell from his lips as he strung his guitar slowly, Julie had a careful eye on him.

Love me as I am

I'll hold your music here inside my hands

We say we're friends, we play pretend

You're more to me, we're everything

Our voices rise and soar so high

We come to life when we're

In perfect harmony

Whoa-oa-oa, whoa-oa-oa

Your gaze couldn’t help but fall onto him as he finished the final lyrics of the song. He shot you a quick glance before switching over to his electric guitar. A swift blush swept over your features as your looked down at your beat-up converse.

Gently pushing yourself off the couch, you made your way over to Reggie. Just trying to not focus on Julie and Luke as they ran through some new lyrics.

“Hey babes” you said, the words just swiftly rolling off your tongue, drawing Luke’s attention to you. He watched as your hand went from your side onto Reggie’s shoulder, he watched as laugher fell from your lips. All he could think about was there was a time where the two of you were thick as thieves, and now you were more interested in Reggie than him.

“Yes- Hello Jealously” Reggie said, causing laughter to spill from you. You gently shoved his shoulder, before following his gaze. Tossing your hair over your shoulder, you saw Luke’s intense gaze on you and Reggie. It was like he was emitting jealously as well- but what could he be jealous of?

“He’s been watching you this whole time” Reggie said, drawing your attention from Luke. You just scoffed at him.

“Yeah okay. He doesn’t have time to watch me when he’s with her.” You said, rolling your eyes at him. Your reaction only made Reggie break out in laughter.

“Oh shush… come here. I wanna show you something” He said, taking off his bass before looping it over you.

“You know I can’t play an instrument to save my life… right?” you said, your hands becoming clammy with nerves.

He guided your hands to the proper placement on the bass, making sure you had a decent idea of what he was going to tell you.

“Just play these notes... okay?” He said, showing you just a quick scale.

Taking a deep breath, you played the same scale with only minor difficulty. A smile erupted across your face as you pulled the bass off you. You couldn’t help but jump into Reggie’s arms, laughter echoing from the both of you.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” You said repeatedly before placing a swift kiss to his cheek.

“Okay- what the hell is going on?” Luke bellowed from across the room, the displeasure was extremely clear in his voice. You couldn’t help the smirk that crossed your face as he walked closer to you and Reggie.

“I’m sorry? Why does my life have anything to do with you? You made your decision a long time ago” You spat back at him, standing your ground next to Reggie.

He scoffed back at you, “I’ve been busy for 5 minutes and you moved on… I think you are the one who made up your mind so clearly.”

“I’m not the only one who made up their mind, Luke. You are so blind; you don’t even see that you chose Julie over me. I have been your best friend since we were 7 and now… now I am nothing to you. So, you don’t get to bash me for how I fix what you broke.” You said harshly, tears beginning to fill your eyes.

He was speechless, Luke looked at you the same way he did when you met all those years ago. You had fallen off your bike in front of the Patterson’s house and he came out to help. He looked at you with such sadness because of how badly you hurt yourself. But this time you did nothing, he was the one who hurt you.

“I didn’t choose her… you are the one wearing his clothes and being all into him nowadays. You never once wanted to learn about my instrument or music. You turned your back on me too, no matter how much you don’t see that.” He said, sadness evident in his voice.

You opened your mouth to respond, but Reggie quickly cut you off. “You may not see it Luke. But you hurt her. She did the one thing she could, turn to the other people in this band who love her. You turned you back on your best friend, for some girl you met a week ago. Have you lost your mind? She was the best thing in your world, and you shattered her.”

Tears quickly fell down your cheeks as you wrapped your arms around yourself. You just wanted to protect yourself from getting hurt again. You loved Luke, but was love worth this?

“Why would I try to shatter the one person I love… the only person I see a life with?” He blurted before quickly clamping his hand over his mouth. Your eyes couldn’t help but widen as his omission.

You looked around the room, trying to make sure this was reality. That the boy you so longed for, loved you just as much as you loved him.

“I-uh Y/N… that is not…” Luke began to stutter as he walked towards you. You watched as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, just waiting for you to respond in some way.

A smile broke out across your face as you made your way to him. The fear disappeared from his face as he lifted you in the air. He just held you tightly against him, almost terrified you would disappear if he let go of you.

“I love you too Luke…” you quietly whispered in his ear as he placed you back on your feet. A small blush crossed his features as he looked from your eyes to your lips.

You couldn’t help but smile as you pressed your lips to his, your hands intertwined in his hair as he gently gripped your waist.

You pulled away from the kiss with this content look upon your face, you opened your mouth to say something to Luke. But you were cut off quickly,

“So, can we get back to rehearsal?” Alex said, twirling his drumstick while the two of you looked like deer in headlights.

You nodded sheepishly as let go of Luke, making a quick round to Reg.

“It seems like you got your man.” He said, sending a quick wink at you causing laughter to echo from you.

“Hey! Quit winking at my girl” Luke said, before winking at you again. He could not be hotter than with that guitar pick between his teeth as he focused on the song ahead.

You both knew deep down; this was only the beginning of a new chapter in your story. Luke Patterson was the last man you ever wanted to love, and now that all seemed more than possible.

TAGLIST:

@imsydneywalker @dancethroughthethunder @ghostofreggie @thee-ava-mariee @notasofti @julies-molina @calamitykaty @kcd15 @crybabyddl @all-in-fangirl @gia-kerks @morganayennefertyrell @merceret @lovesanimals

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wolfstar-bigbang · 3 years

Text

Welcome to the 2021 Wolfstar Big Bang!

The Big Bang is a chance for writers and artists to collaborate and create fanfiction stories paired with artwork, all of which will focus on the much loved pairing of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

Authors sign up to write stories that are 25k words or longer. Artists then claim stories and create art inspired by them. Creations may be canon, canon divergent, or AU. They must be Remus/Sirius centric, featuring Remus and Sirius in a romantic, aromantic, or queerplatonic partnership pairing.

Timeline

1 Feb 2021 (Monday): Author & Artist sign-ups open 21 Feb 2021 (Sunday) Author sign-ups close 3 April 2021 (Saturday): Author Check-in 30 April 2021(Friday): Artist sign-ups close, Author summaries due (12k of fic complete) 1 May 2021 (Saturday): Author summaries available for preview 8 May 2021 (Saturday): Claims open, partnerships announced (details tbd) 5 June 2021 (Saturday): Author & Artist Check-in, posting date claims 26 June 2021 - 11 July 2021: Posting period

Rules and FAQ

What sort of content am I committing to if I sign up?

Authors will be required to create one original, cohesive story with a minimum of 25k words (no maximum). Artists will claim one or more stories (depending on the number of sign ups we receive, as well as artist interest) and create one piece inspired by that story.

What sort of artwork is acceptable?

All art must be visual, original art. By original art, we mean that the final product must be an original product of the artist. Using photos for reference is fine, and you can use whatever traditional or digital medium you require, so long as the art starts and finishes as your own product. Photo manips are not allowed. Hit up the mods if you need clarity on an idea.

Can I use a work that I’ve published previously, or that’s been sitting in my drafts for 3 years?

For this fest, we need all original content, none of which has been published previously. That being said, authors, if you’ve got an outline or a draft that’s been hanging around your WIP folder for too long, now’s the perfect time to dust it off and finish it!

What if a friend and I want to work together?

Writing teams are welcome, but since claims will be anonymous, no author/artist teams will be allowed.

Can I create whatever I want?

Yes! Anything goes! Within reason! Every creation must be centered around Remus and Sirius’ relationship. This is a Wolfstar-centric event, designed to create and promote content for this pairing specifically. It’s also a collab, and your partner will have signed up expecting to work on a Wolfstar-centric creation. Therefore, we will not be accepting polyamorous relationships with Sirius and Remus paired with others, though we do encourage polyamorous side pairings (and other side pairings as well). If you choose to pair Sirius or Remus with other people during the story, these relationships must be incidental, and you must have a Wolfstar endgame in that case.

Any and all ratings are cool with us, as well any setting, be it canon, canon divergent, or AU. Authors will be able to outline their preferences on rating, do-not-wants, and collaboration interest level if desired so that artists may take that into consideration when choosing what stories they’d like to collab with.

All fics must be edited, beta read, and legible. All content must be thoroughly and appropriately tagged.

Are there any age restrictions for participation?

Sorry, but yes. You’ve got to be 18 or over to participate.

How will claiming work?

Authors will create slides with information on their stories. Claims will take place at the halfway mark, and authors must have a minimum of 12k words written to be considered for claims.

The mods will compile the author submissions anonymously to share with the artists prior to claims. Once claims open, artists will submit their choices via Google forms.

Where are the submissions going to be hosted?

All submissions will be posted on AO3 under our Wolfstar Big Bang collection. We will also promote all creations on Tumblr and Twitter.

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bookandcranny · 3 years

Text

Shortwave Radio

Why he decided to leave behind a perfectly good astral cluster and go sight-seeing on a spinning ball of dirt in this great cosmic nothing of a solar system is a mystery to the entire family, but it’s been almost ten years now and so they’ve all had no choice but to conclude that he’s not coming back any time soon.

The right thing to do is to support him in it, so says tender-hearted big brother Hercules, and if that means jumping through a few hoops to attend some strange human ceremony in this hot and lifeless wasteland, then that’s simply what they’ll do.

summary: Five siblings from the stars come to earth by invitation of their estranged little brother, who’s only request to them is that they take a road trip across the American southwest and try to learn to see this planet the way he sees it.

content warnings: dysfunctional families, carsickness, strong language, fear of abandonment, and accidental misgendering of a nonbinary character

length: about 7k words

also, have a playlist!

🛸🛸🛸

On a particularly sticky day in late July, a black minivan rolls up outside Gruber’s Convenience somewhere in the vague liminal world of the i-110 out of El Paso. Shimmering like a mirage the vehicle comes to a stop and five figures shuffle into the station. Working the counter is a greasy-faced teenager who calls himself Benj, though according to his nametag he’s Benjamin until the end of his shift.

If he weren’t intentionally ignoring the group that just walked in, resenting the loss of quiet and the cool air that just escaped with the chime of the door, Benj would notice a few things about them. For one thing, while they all look quite different, all five of them are wearing the exact same clothes: pale blue t-shirt, gray jeans, plain white sneakers, not a toe scuffed or sullied by the dust they kicked up coming in. They’re perfectly inconspicuous outfits, but too new, too deliberate in their banality.

The people in the clothes have much the same effect. They’re collections of ordinary, aesthetically pleasing parts assembled as if at random, almost uncanny at the wrong angle. Not supermodel pretty, but perhaps stock photo passable. One of them keeps touching things. Just, touching them. He trails his fingers over snack cakes and little pouches of corn nuts with an unreadable expression. Three of them are clustered together in front of the drinks fridge speaking in hushed tones.

The last one of the bunch is hovering in the corner making eyes at the shop’s resident mascot, Garfield, an uncreatively named tabby cat who’s taken to sleeping on a box underneath the AC unit. The cashier does notice her (he thinks she’s a her) if only because she’s kind of cute, in a straight-laced camp counselor kinda way. He’s already building up an idea of her in his head, every atom of it more false than he realizes.

The Christine or Sydney or whoever reaches down and gives the cat a poke, which turns into an experimental stroke.

“Mrph?” says Garfield, like cats do.

“Mrph?” parrots the... Liz maybe? No, not quite, he thinks. Garfield blinks at her, yawns. She withdraws, looking half offended by his indifference.

“Don’t take it personal,” Benj says. “He’s not very social.”

She looks at him for the first time and he reevaluates his earlier assessment. Eyes too pale, too far apart-- not ugly per se but definitely not worth the possible write-up he’d get for flirting with a customer.

“He’s the owner’s cat,” he babbles, scratching his chin and looking anywhere but at her. “Or so they say. Honestly I think he just showed up here one day and no one could get him to leave.”

Before she can reply, one of her matching buddies comes up to the register and dumps an assortment of snacks onto the counter. It’s a baffling, eclectic pile, but like any good retail worker Benj has long since learned not to examine anything too closely.

“Road trip, huh? Where are you guys headed?”

The radio behind the counter has gone all staticky. He fiddles with the antenna.

“Visiting family,” says snacks guy. His voice is soft and monotonous, a stark contrast as the guy’s built like a US SEAL.

Benj looks from face to face. “All of you?” He’s having a hard time believing any two of them are related.

He nods, once. A stiff, decisive shake of the head. The crackling of the radio is getting worse. Benj turns it off.

“Will that be everything, sir?”

Another nod.

“Herc, wait!” One of the man’s supposed relatives comes up behind him and shakes him by the shoulders. “Hercules, look at this.”

He slams a book down on the counter, one of the cheap paperbacks Gruber’s pedals between the condoms and the first-aid kit stuffings. The cover reads, “The Chest from The West” and features a heavily airbrushed model in a cowboy hat and unbuttoned flannel shirt.

“What am I looking at?” Herc asks.

“Get this too. I want to read it.”

“Why?”

He opens his mouth but whatever he’s about to say, Benj doesn’t really want to be present for it. He quickly scans the book and throws it cover-side-down into the bag. Let them work this one out on their own, hopefully somewhere else.

“Your total’s $29.75” He spins around to shake the radio, which is somehow now back on and blaring louder. When he turns back, the register is telling him everything’s been bought and paid for. Guy must be lightning quick with a credit card, he thinks.

“Huh. Guess you’re all set, man-- sir.” He hands them their bags. “Have fun at your family thing.”

He flashes the big guy a thumbs up. He looks strangely staggered by the gesture and replies haltingly, “Thank you. You also, have fun.”

“Come on, sibs,” the more energetic one chirps. “Cass? Cass, come on.” He drags his sister away from the cat, who’s just starting to warm up to her. “That’s you, remember? Let’s go.”

They don’t get any gas from the pumps outside. Benj is pretty sure he saw the testy looking one with the ponytail shoplift a bottle of off-brand cola, but he isn’t paid nearly enough to care. At least after they’re gone the radio starts working normally again.

Hercules drives, though it’s not so much driving as sitting in the driver’s seat and telling the van to go. Earth machines are simplistic and easy to manipulate. Slow though. Cass is riding “shotgun”, as is apparently customary for the navigator. Andromeda, Zeta, and Camelopardalis share the backseat, where the formermost is rehashing the same tired debate with the latter.

“We need to work out a better earth name for you,” he insists. “Myself, I’ve been doing some research and I’m thinking about going by ‘Andy’ from now on.”

“I’m not calling you that,” says Zeta.

Camelopardalis asks, “What’s wrong with the name I have?”

“It is a bit long,” Cassiopeia agrees. “A shorter one would help you fit in better.”

“Speaking of fitting in, something else has been bothering me. What’s your gender supposed to be?”

“My what?”

“You know, your gender. We all picked one.”

“It’s almost like you didn’t read the brief,” Zeta says, instigator that she is.

“It’s almost like none of you read the brief, that I took the time to write specifically to help you all acclimate to earth culture.”

“Zeta, don’t upset Cass,” Herc scolds.

“I’m not upset.” She turns in her seat to stare pointedly out the window. There isn’t much to look at, just miles upon miles of rolling desert interrupted by the occasional billboard or truck stop, all crawling by at a snail’s pace compared to the sort of travel they’re used to. Not that she’d recognize the analogy. She misses the cat.

Camelopardalis fiddles with their seatbelt. “Which one are you again?”

“I’m a ‘man’,” Andromeda recites. “Earth men are known for their physical prowess and carnivorous diet, they live in cave environments, and often congregate in packs called ‘fraternities’.” He waves the gas-station novel in the air. “I’m going to research their habits and perfect my persona. By the time I’m done with this I’ll practically be a local.”

“I don’t know… Zeta, what made you decide to be the other one?”

“Flipped a coin.”

“Women,” Cass informs them. “Can be most commonly identified by their long hair, fastidious hygiene habits, the use of traditional face paints to accentuate the eyes and lips, and by fleshy protrusions of the upper torso. Any of these traits can indicate an earth woman, though none are necessarily required.”

They throw up their hands. “How is that helpful at all then! Zeta?”

“What do you want me to do about it? I didn’t invent them. Hercules, are you sure these ‘snacks’ are safe to eat? They have a strange texture.”

“If you don’t like it, don’t eat it.” He punctuates the point by reaching back and grabbing a cream-filled cupcake off the pile. He tears the plastic with his teeth and eats half of it in a single bite. He barely tastes the thing, but he’s hoping if his siblings follow his lead their mouths will be too full to whine at him.

“Yeah, Zeta, don’t be a bitch.” Andromeda opens a pack of mini donuts, albeit more gingerly, and pops one into his mouth.

Cass whips her head around. “Where did you learn that word?”

He holds open the paperback and points to a page.

Austin hesitated. “I’ve never ridden a horse before. What if I fall?”

Derek chuckled manfully. “Don’t be a bitch, city boy,” he teased. Then he placed his large, calloused hand upon the small of Austin’s back. He leaned in and whispered, “Don’t worry, I won’t ever let you fall.”

The navigator leans over the center console and tries to snatch the book away but he dodges swiftly, clutching it to his chest.

“That’s foul language, Andromeda Alpheratz.”

“Earthers use this kind of speech with each other all the time. It’s a sign of familiarity and affection. You guys need to be less formal if you want to blend in.”

“If it’s meant to be an insult,” Camelopardalis wonders. “Why would they use it to convey affection.”

“Because they’re brutish, unevolved lifeforms,” Zeta sneers. “‘Blend in, blend in’. The rest of you can worry about blending in with the apes. I’m only doing this for Perseus.”

“We’re all doing this for Percy,” Hercules says in a chastising voice that makes even Zeta shrink down in her seat. “So can we please agree to be somewhat civil and not make this trip more painful than it needs to be?”

There’s a murmur of general agreement and peace is restored, however temporarily. Camelopardalis clears their throat.

“I still don’t really understand why we couldn’t land directly at Perseus Nine’s coordinates.”

Cass huffs, blowing a dark curl out of her face. “For the last time, Percy specifically requested we partake in the human ritual of the ‘road-trip’ for this last portion of our journey. It’s the same route he traveled the first time he came to earth, and apparently holds some sort of sentimental significance. It’s important to him we experience the same pilgrimage. For some reason.”

She adds the last part under her breath, knowing full well the others will still hear her. They can hear one another when separated by countless miles of empty space, their voices resonating from star to star, clear as a bell. Compared to that, the close proximity of a rented minivan is stifling. There’s an uncomfortable intimacy to it, these crudely assembled physical forms pressed together, bloated and heavy with all the trappings of humanity. Sweat and road dust and gravity cling to Cass like an over-warm coat and she longs for the cool estrangement that comes so easily in the void of space. It’s tough to be a star-dweller away from her star.

“The reasons don’t matter,” Herc declares, and his word is as good as law here. He is the eldest of them, though the concept of seniority is abstracted somewhat by the literal millennia they’ve all lived through.

Percy is the baby, as well as the black sheep of the family, so to speak. (His actual moniker among their kinfolk roughly translates to “the dissonant note”, a scathing insult for those who knew what it meant.) Why he decided to leave behind a perfectly good astral cluster and go sight-seeing on a spinning ball of dirt in this great cosmic nothing of a solar system is a mystery to the entire family, but it’s been almost ten years now and so they’ve all had no choice but to conclude that he’s not coming back any time soon.

“At least we can check one more stop off the list,” Zeta quips. “What’s next?”

Cass checks her itinerary. “We are to visit one national historic landmark, one ‘tourist trap’-- whatever that means-- followed by a stop at ‘Diane’s Diner’, home of the world’s best pie. After that, we can head straight to the meet-up location.” She glances at the clock on the dashboard. “We’re a little behind schedule but we should make it right on time as long as there are no unexpected delays.”

An hour and a half of driving later, Andromeda throws up corn chips and mini donuts all over the back of Herc’s seat.

They pull over on the side of the road. The desert sand is just beginning to give way to sparse yellow grass, brittle from the sun. Herc steadies Andromeda, looking viscerally displeased as he finishes emptying out his recently manifested stomach.

Camelopardalis frets through the whole episode. “We’ve all been eating the same food, except for Zeta. If it’s poisonous, one of us will be next.”

“It’s not poison, it’s carsickness,” Cass sighs. “Honestly, I’m starting to think none of you even looked at the brief.”

“Zeta, look in the back for something to clean up with.”

“Why me?”

“We’re going to lose so much time…”

“Would you rather hold him?”

Andromeda retches.

“Do you think Percy would care if we skipped a couple stops?”

“Cassiopeia Sigma,” Hercules begins sternly.

“Alright, alright. I’ll figure something out.”

Fortunately they’ve happened to stop within walking distance of something called The Trinity Site, according to the map. Camelopardalis and Cass go ahead to check another stop off the list while Zeta and Herc clean up the van and make sure Andromeda isn’t actually dying. (How embarrassing, to be a quasi-immortal astral being only to perish at the hands of a tainted twinkie.)

They wander from the roadside, following the map and occasional signposts, and shortly find themselves standing in front of an ominous looking stone obelisk with a bronze placard affixed to one side.

Trinity Site: Where the world’s first nuclear device was exploded on July 16th, 1945

There’s more but Cass stops reading. Camelopardalis asks her to explain what the plaque means by nuclear device-- they’re familiar with nuclear power as a concept, fission and fusion, ideas not far departed from the system of energy exchange that sustains their natural bodies in the heart of their stars-- but goes pale when she goes into the relevant applications of said devices.

“Wonderful,” she grumbles to herself as she snaps a few photos of the monument with a disposable camera. “I’m sure Percy will be thrilled.”

“Excuse me.”

The pair turn to see a man in a colorful button-up and khakis and a woman with a day-old sunburn peeling off beneath the straps of her tank top.

“Boy are we happy t’see the two of yous. Couldja take our picture real quick?”

The woman holds out a camera, a significantly more professional piece of equipment than the one Cass is holding.

“Oh, sure,” Cass replies. She’s nervous as she takes it from her hands. She’s never encountered this sub-species of human in her research before, and finds it difficult to parse the woman’s peculiar dialect. Both of them are smiling, but they’re also showing a lot more teeth (and a fair bit of gum) than she thinks is normal. A subtle threat?

Nevertheless, she fumbles with the camera for a moment before managing to take a decent snapshot. The man wraps an arm around his wife’s waist and she slots herself in against his side.

“Ope, wait, let’s do a silly one to send to Marsha and the kids. Were my eyes closed? No? Perfect, you’re a doll. We’ll leave you kids alone now.”

“Sure,” she says again, feeling out of pace.

“My nephew wears his hair like that,” the man says without segway. He’s talking to Camelopardalis, they realize. “It’s very… hip.”

They touch their hair. They hadn’t given it much thought before, might not ever have if he hadn’t pointed it out. It’s nice, they think.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

His expression flinches into a puzzled frown. Cass smacks their arm.

“Sir! Thank you, sir.”

After they’ve walked away Cass gives him another jab for good measure.

“His hair was longer than the other one’s,” they complain. “And the chest was sort of fleshy. How was I supposed to know?”

“We’re lucky you didn’t cause an incident. Earthers carry weapons in this part of the world.”

They rub their arm. “I don’t know, they seemed nice.”

Still they give a fleeting glance at the plaque behind them and argue no more.

They return to the van, now blessedly puke-free. Andromeda is looking better too. They all pile in and almost immediately Camelopardalis misses the freedom of being able to move without touching somebody. It may be their imagination, but the car seems to be moving slower than ever.

“How was it?” Zeta asks, despite her obvious disinterest.

“Uninspiring,” is Cass’ reply.

The other nods and doesn’t force her to elaborate. “I wish I knew what Perseus intended for us with this… chore list.”

“It’s not important, we just do it.”

Herc is always a steady presence, but even he is starting to sound annoyed with repeating himself. Zeta, of course, can’t leave well enough alone.

“If we just knew what he wanted us to do or say we could do it and go back to how we were before.”

Cass snaps. “Maybe you should stop complaining and make an effort for once.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

The car erupts into a heated four-way argument. Only Hercules resolutely abstains from comment, though his hands tighten into fists on the steering wheel. The fight doesn’t end in resolution so much as exhaustion. Everyone’s too miserable to keep hurling accusations and insults for the next hundred miles, and at length they lapse back into tense silence.

Zeta rests her head against the window, taking the arythmic rattle into herself, breathing it out in silent, frenetic melodies. She dislikes fighting with her siblings, no matter what they might claim to the contrary. It doesn’t happen often, or didn’t, but things have been different since Percy left home. The littlest star-child had a natural soothing presence to him, one that she’d long taken for granted. Earth is so noisy, she thinks. She strains to listen but she can’t hear a trace of him anywhere.

She tries to imagine what he’d say, if he were here.

“What are we even doing?”

Probably not that, but she already has everyone’s attention now so she figures she might as well keep going.

“I mean, we’re still behind schedule, we can’t stop bickering, Andromeda can’t even eat right apparently, and I’m pretty sure half of us didn’t even look at Cassiopeia’s brief.”

“Are you getting to a point?” Cass asks irritably.

“I’m just saying we’re all… bitches.”

“Zeta!”

“Get comfortable with it! We’re all bad at this. Me, you, all of us. So can we just stop blaming each other and have a truce in the interest of getting this over with?”

Cass opens her mouth, then lets it fall shut, sinking back into her seat. For a moment it seems they’re heading for another long awkward silence, when Andromeda sits up and points out the window with a sudden urgency.

“Look!”

Herc slows down and they see a billboard lit up in eerie green neon light, directing them to the next off-ramp.

Must see attraction! Visit the one of a kind Ancient Aliens Exhibit!

The star-folk look at one another.

“Is this what they call a tourist trap?”

“It seems likely.”

Andromeda is glowing-- in a very literal sense-- with excitement. “It’s an exhibit about us.”

“‘Ancient’? Speak for yourself, I’m still only in my six-thousands.”

Needless to say, they do stop at the roadside museum. Cass takes pictures aplenty and, to her surprise, actually enjoys it. Andromeda is disappointed to find there isn’t actually a display dedicated to their kind. Instead there are a lot of grainy photos of some squat, bug-eyed species called “greys” and diagrams of the Egyptian pyramids for some reason. He gets over it by the time they get to the gift shop.

By unanimous decision, they do not buy anymore snacks, though Zeta’s eye does linger on a cooler in the corner advertising “the ice cream of the future!”. Herc does however buy a number of souvenirs. (Rather, he convinces the automated register to record a purchase that didn’t technically take place, and bumps up the number in the bank account of one very nice tour guide while he’s at it.)

They leave with a mood ring, a handful of polished stones in a small velvet bag, a “gravity defying” purple yo-yo shaped like a UFO, and Camelopardalis sheepishly lays claim to a friendly looking martian figurine with bendable limbs. Overall, spirits are much higher by the time they make it back to the van.

“Hercules,” his meek younger sibling ventures. “Could I try driving? I’ve been curious about it.”

Feeling generous and more than a little tired of staring out at the road for hours at a time, he agrees. He shows Camelopardalis the basics and makes sure they know how not to veer off the road or into other drivers and then he climbs into the middle backseat and stretches out his arms so the siblings on either side of him can tuck in against him and rest. Eventually even the diligent navigator Cassiopeia begins to doze. It’s been a long day and none of them are quite accustomed to the burden of having earthbound bodies.

When Andromeda wakes up the first thing he registers is that it’s getting dark, the day reduced to a slim red band sinking over the horizon. The second thing is the yelling.

“What do you mean you don’t know!”

“I thought I could read the map myself--”

“What about you, navigator? What were you doing?”

“--didn’t mean to--”

“As if you’re one to talk! I can’t believe--”

“--and you were the one who--”

“Shut up!”

Hercules’ normally subdued baritone booms through the van. The windshield wipers begin swinging as if in indignation, while the passengers wince and cover their ears. Andromeda can’t remember a time when his brother’s frequency had felt so violent. The shivering resonance it leaves behind makes his teeth ache.

There’s a pregnant pause, then Cass slams open the door and begins to pace.

“Shit!” she yells at the empty air. They’re parked in a field somewhere, no sign of life save for the buzzing of insects and the rumble of a train somewhere off in the distance. Cass kicks at the ground and screams again. “Shit fuck bitch hell! We are so fucking lost! And so fucking late!”

Andromeda winces again and gets out to try and calm her. “Hey, it’s okay.”

“It is not! We’re probably missing the ceremony right now. Percy will never forgive me for this.”

“It wasn’t your fault…”

“I’m supposed to be the navigator!”

“Well, yes, but…” The words come out strangled. He touches his chest and realizes he’s breathing rapidly. His eyes are beginning to water as well. “I should’ve… I didn’t…”

Zeta hurries over to him. “What’s wrong? Are you going to be sick again?”

Without warning he doubles over and begins bawling.

“Hercules, do something! Something’s wrong with him!”

“Don’t… don’t… don’t…” he gasps and stammers.

Herc clutches his brother. “Don’t what? Talk to me.”

“Don’t fight,” he finally chokes out. “I don’t want to lose anybody else.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Percy,” he sniffles miserably. “He doesn’t care about us anymore. He has earth now, and all his new earth friends, and we can’t even do this one thing for him. It’s my fault. I knew he hated when I called him a dissonant note and made fun of his earth music but I did it anyway. Now he probably hates me and all of us and this whole thing has been for nothing.”

The eldest braces his arms on Andromeda’s slumped shoulders. “Percy doesn’t hate us. He invited us here because he wanted to see us.”

“Herc’s right, Andromeda. Percy doesn’t have it in him to hate anyone.”

“It’s not easy, but he chose this. He chose earth. We have to respect that.”

Zeta grumbles, “And just what is so special about this stupid planet anyway?”

“It has cats,” Cassiopeia says quietly. Her sister glares but she stays firm. “Well it does. And… people.”

“Strange, silly earth people,” Camelopardalis adds, nervously fussing with their hair. “Confusing and contradictory and fascinating.”

“People who hurt each other for no good reason.”

“People who are kind for no good reason too.”

Andromeda wipes phosphorous tears from his eyes and takes out the rumpled gas-station paperback. “In this book Austin leaves his job as a big city lawyer to follow the cowboy he’s in love with.”

“You think Perseus traveled to earth for cowboy love?”

“It’s a possibility!”

Cass scoffs. “I honestly don’t think he was thinking that far ahead. You know Percy. He probably crash-landed without any plan whatsoever. Or, he probably thought he knew what he was doing, and then when he actually got there he was terrified. And then he probably didn’t want to say anything because he was afraid his siblings would think less of him once they realized he was actually just as clueless about earth stuff as they were. That would probably be really, really stressful for him.”

“Are we still talking about Percy?”

She makes a wordless noise of frustration and kicks up another patch of grass.

Andromeda puts an arm around her. “If… Percy was worried about that, I’d tell her-- him! I’d tell him that he shouldn’t be, because there’s nothing he could do that would make us stop believing in him.”

She exhales. “Thanks.”

“I was talking about you, Cass,” he whispers. “It’s you I believe in.”

“Thank you, I got that.”

“I just… miss him, I guess.”

Herc hums in agreement. “Barely a millennium old and he’s already grown up and gone completely terrestrial. This past century has been the longest of my existence.”

“Hercules, it’s only been ten years.”

That news causes him to make such a face that Zeta starts laughing. It’s the first time she’s so much as cracked a smile the entire trip.

“So… what do we do now?” Camelopardalis asks.

After a moment, Cass grabs the map off the dashboard and holds it open.

“A little more light please?”

They step up behind her and hold a glowing hand over the paper. Her brow creases in concentration.

“Alright, I think we’re somewhere around here,” She gestures. “And we need to be here. There’s no way we’re going to show up on time, but we can still show up. We owe him that much.”

They get in their seats, Herc back at the helm, and begin trying to reclaim the distance they lost with the unplanned detour. Cass breathes a sigh of relief when road signs start to reappear. A driver honks at them as they pick up speed and Herc steers closer and makes their radio start playing at top volume. Zeta opens the window and a cool night breeze tickles her skin. The stars are bright and beautiful above them, and looking up, suddenly home doesn’t feel so far away.

All at once they slow to a near stop.

“What’s going on? Why are we stopping?”

“Traffic,” Herc says like it’s a curse. “Looks like there was an accident.”

“Take this exit,” Cass commands. “We can cut through the next town and get ahead of it.”

So he does and soon they find themselves driving through the quiet streets of Kismet, Nevada. That is, quiet until Zeta catches sight of something out the window and yells, “Pull over!”

“What! What is it now!”

She points, and they see. The sign ahead reads, “Diane’s Diner: Home of the World’s Best Pie”. They pull in so fast they nearly end up colliding with a stout aproned woman who’s pushing a teetering hand cart across the lot.

“What do you maniacs think you’re doing?” she demands as they clambour out of the van.

“I’m very sorry, ma’am,” Cass says in a rush. “It is just very important to my siblings and I that we get to this establishment.”

The woman huffs. “You’re a mite late then, I’m afraid. We’re closing up early tonight. Got a big catering order I have to deliver.”

Herc asks, “Are you Diane, of the diner?”

She laughs. “Close. I’m Maddie Finkle of the diner. Diane’s my mother’s name. It’s a family business. But what brings you folks here looking for Diane at this time of night? I don’t think I’ve seen your faces around town before, and I always remember a customer.”

“Do you remember a customer named Percy? It would’ve been years ago, but this place was very important to him. He’s our brother.”

Maddie’s eyes light up. “Why didn’t you say so! Of course I know Percy. And if you rowdy lot are his siblings, then I’ve got a message for you.”

“A message?” Percy hadn’t said anything to them about a message. Maybe this was his way of ensuring they actually made it to the last stop on his list.

“Well, sort of. Come, come, help me load up all this grub and I’ll tell you everything.”

Herc and Zeta go to either side of her and help push the wobbly cart to a truck with the diner’s logo emblazoned on the side. As they load the boxes, Maddie speaks.

“I first met your Percy when I was just a waitress, mama still working the kitchen. One day this kid walks in, looking as lost as can be, comes straight up to the counter and tells me he’s just fallen from outer space and could use some assistance.” She barks a laugh. “I didn’t go for the whole alien thing but that second part was a lot more believable. He looked a mess. I asked if he needed something to eat but he just said he needed a safe place to rest for a moment. He’d been on his feet all day, walking and hitchhiking his way clear across the desert.

“Of course I wanted to know where he was going that was so important, but he said he didn’t know for sure yet. Said he was following a melody, a song he’d heard from very far away that had drawn him to this place. I told him I couldn’t help him there. The only music we had in the diner was this old stereo system mama had put in when she first opened the place and it was long broken. Mama was too sentimental to get rid of the old thing and the repairman couldn’t do anything for it so broken it stayed.

“He asked me to show him so I did, figuring it couldn’t hurt anything. Then that kid walked up to the busted speaker and just like that it started playing again like it was new. I told him, ‘For that, I owe you more than a place to rest your legs. Stay in town for a while, let us put you up and get you back on your feet, or at least let me drive you to the train station so you can get where you’re going.’ But he refused, and before long he was gone again.

“Then, not a couple days later, spaceboy comes back traveling with this other kid, heading in the opposite direction. I ask him what happened and he says he was going one way but he changed his mind and turned around. He leans in like he’s sharing a great big secret, like we’ve been friends all our lives, and says, ‘I found it, Maddie. I found the song.’ Weirdest kid I’ve ever met! But they make a cute couple, him and that boy, and they’re some of my best customers to this day.”

They finish packing up the truck, Maddie leaning leisurely against the fender as she reminisces. Herc frowns, confused.

“Was that the message?”

“Yup.” She pops the P. “He just told me to tell you the story. Not sure why. I mean, it’s a good story, I think. But you already know all about it, right? You’re his family after all.”

“No, he never told us,” he admits softly.

“Huh. Weird. But then, he’s kind of a weird kid, yeah? I always wondered, is it all you aliens who talk in riddles like that, or just him?”

“I thought you said you didn’t believe his claims.”

“I didn’t the first time, but if your Percy’s one thing it’s… Perc-istent.” When no one laughs, she pushes onward. “Well, that’s all of it. We’d better get a move on, huh?”

“‘We’?”

“Sure, aren’t you folks on your way to Percy’s place too? I figured you’d be staying over, and I gotta get everything set up for the wedding tomorrow.”

A palpable shock ripples through the star-folk. “Tomorrow?”

“‘Course, what did you think all this was for?” She pats the truck. “I wanted to get everything ready ahead of time so we’re good to go in the morning. It’s not easy being the caterer and providing my lovely self as a guest on the same day, but I couldn’t let those sweet boys down.”

Andromeda slumps over, leaning on Herc for support. “Percy told us the wedding was tonight.”

The chef raises an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone’s been having a little fun with you. Nah, they’re doing some sort of get-together tonight since neither one of the bachelors wanted a bachelor party, but the actual wedding ceremony’s definitely not until tomorrow.”

“I’m going to end him,” Cass mutters under her breath.

“Hurry up now,” she says. “I’m sure the groom-to-be’s expecting you.”

The five follow Maddie’s truck away from the main drags, away from the buildings, the scenery becoming gradually greener as the road turns from asphalt to gravel. At last they find themselves pulling up in front of the house that Percy has come to call home. It’s a raised ranch, flanked by evergreens and patchwork plots of small white and yellow flowers that Percy’s fiance must have planted, and a tower of plastic chairs and tables covered by a tarp.

It’s a nice place, large and somewhat secluded, set apart from the noise of traffic or threat of nosy human neighbors. Percy’s sensitive to loud noise and, after all, still an alien living in secret amongst humanity. Yet as they get out and follow the caterer where she’s cutting around back through the garden, they’re struck by the sounds of laughter and music and lively chatter.

A group of earthers are gathered on the patio, smiling faces lit by a string of twinkling lights. A man with a guitar strums along with the music coming from inside.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Andromeda whispers.

“You think there’s a second Perseus Nine about to be married in this town?” Cass shoots back.

Zeta hisses, “Quiet, I can hear him.”

To his surprise, Herc can too. Above the noise, laced into everything he touches, there is a resonance, his baby brother’s unique personal frequency. To describe it as sound alone would perhaps be inaccurate; it’s a vibration, an echo. Percy is everywhere in this place: his whispers and his shouts, his twinkling laugh, but also the part of him that no human being can detect, the part of him that is still, and will always be, of the stars.

He must sense them too, because in that moment he appears standing in the doorway, bathed in its yellow light. His face breaks out in a glowing grin and he runs to greet them, bolting like a comet being pulled into his siblings’ orbit.

“You made it!” he exclaims.

Zeta snorts and allows him to throw his arms around her. “No thanks to you and your list of demands.”

“You brat,” Cass accuses. “You told us the ceremony was tonight.”

Percy tilts his head to look at her, his expression not half as guilty as it should be. For a moment she reels at the sight of him; the body he’s constructed for himself has aged since the last time they crossed paths. It’s subtle, the way his dimples have deepened into true laugh lines, and his hair has grown ever longer, though it also isn’t as tangled as she remembers. He is still himself, underneath, the light of his true being faintly visible beneath the skin.

“I was worried if I told you the real date you wouldn’t make it in time. You’re not used to traveling the human way. It can be messy.”

She grimaces. “You’re not wrong.”

“You’re actually here way earlier than I thought you’d be.” His smile falters, only slightly. “This is… everyone?”

Herc swallows. “The others…” he begins, but quickly finds he doesn’t have the words that should follow.

“Well, it’s not like I had enough chairs for all two-hundred-ninety-seven of them anyway.” He reaches out and squeezes his brothers tightly. “Hercules, Andromeda, It’s so wonderful to see you. Camelopardalis, Cassiopeia, it means so much to me that you came. I know it probably wasn’t easy. Zeta…”

She scoffs. “The only hard part was putting up with these bitches.”

Hercules interjects, “We shouldn’t keep you from your party. Go on, I need to get some things from the van.”

“You didn’t bring presents, did you?”

“It’s customary for weddings, is it not?”

Percy grins. “You’re becoming a real expert on earth customs.”

He shrugs and looks at Cass. “I just read the brief.”

Percy invites his family in, along with Maddie, who is perfectly tickled by the siblings’ awkward affection. After helping her bring in the food, Percy beckons over the man with the guitar.

“Adam!”

The man looks up. He has a boyish, freckled face and a head of dark curls that spill over his brow. He sets down the instrument and comes to slot himself against Percy’s side, thoughtlessly, as if that was always where he was meant to be.

“I’d like to formally introduce you to my fiance, Adam. And Adam, this is my family.”

His smile broadens. “Hey, great to finally really meet you guys. Percy talks about you all the time. Did you have a long trip?”

They look at one another for a moment until finally Herc shrugs and says, “Only about twenty-five trillion miles, give or take.”

The happy couple linger for a moment longer, sharing stories and talking about honeymoon plans. Adam is especially thrilled when Andromeda and Zeta begin to co-narrate an embarrassing tale from Percy’s childhood in the Alpha Persei Cluster. Eventually though the pair wander off together, leaving the star-folk to their most harrowing challenge yet: mingling.

“Sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Camelopardalis.”

The guest, one of the couple’s mutual friends, goes a bit bug-eyed. “Wow, okay, that’s really cool. Kind of a mouthful though. Got a nickname?”

“Nick… name?”

“Like, something that your friends call you for short. My friends call me Dee, but my highschool nickname was Dent.” They point to a scar on the side of their head, just above their left ear. Their fair hair is buzzed short, making it easy to see. “Long story. What if for now I called you ‘Cam’?”

They consider it. “I think I’d like that.”

“Cool, nice to meet you, Cam.”

“Nice to meet you, Dee.” They hesitate. “Would you say you’re a man or a woman?”

Dee frowns.

“Nevermind! I’m so sorry, I just don’t understand the earth gender binary at all. Everything about it just seems so arbitrary and senseless.”

Oddly enough, their new friend perks back up at this.

“Honestly, same,” they laugh.

Andromeda joins shortly, having struck up a conversation with Dee’s partner who is deeply intrigued by his review of “The Chest from The West”. The three of them spend a while swapping book recommendations. Meanwhile, Zeta gets hit on by a slightly intoxicated young woman with an undercut and an eyebrow ring, although the star-dweller vastly misinterprets her none-too-subtle questioning about alien biology. Cass meets Adam and Percy’s pet dog, Chowder, and deems him as good a companion as the convenience store cat.

Herc catches Percy alone in the kitchen and the two have a long overdue talk. It’s clumsy but earnest, and when Herc mumbles something out about possible future family visits, Percy throws himself into his brother with such vigor that he momentarily forgets about gravity and starts to float off the ground.

“I’m sorry too, by the way, for the whole thing with the list,” he sighs. “It probably seems pretty stupid, I just kind of hoped I could get you to see this world the way I see it. Full of life and love and adventure.”

“And music,” he finishes, catching the way his gaze flits back to the patio. To Adam, singing softly and dancing with one of their friends.

He nods. “I thought maybe then you’d understand why this is so important to me.”

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see earth the way you do,” Hercules confesses. “But I don’t think it was stupid of you to try either, and I don’t think it was for nothing.”

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the mood ring. The friendly prismatic face of a cartoon alien glints up at him. Perseus takes the gift with an understanding chuckle and slips it onto his pinky finger.

“No, not for nothing.”

Tomorrow, there will be a wedding. Percy and Adam will stand in front of their friends and family and exchange their vows. Adam’s mother will complain about them not booking a proper venue for just short of an annoying amount of time, Maddie will bring out a ridiculously tall tier cake that will taste almost as good as one of her mother’s pies, and for once Percy will not be the worst one on the dance floor.

Tomorrow, there will be a bright silver band around Percy’s fourth finger, neighbored by a smaller ring in the shape of an inside joke, and with all the weight of a promise.

#aliens #original fiction #writeblr #short story #original writing #road trip #me? posting my writing again? its more likely than u think #lgbt #my writing

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amythecinnabunny · 3 years

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38 66 Jukebox. Muhahahah!!!

38. Grief Fic

66. It’s Not You, It’s My Enemies

🚨 ANGST WARNING 🚨

I wanted to do it canon-verse but then I remembered an old arc I had planned for the hold on au and since I've completely scrapped it and it fits these two, I figured I could beat you to tears with it :>

Okay so for those of you who aren't aware of the hold on au, it's a Julie Dies au and the general consensus is that it's way more hurtful and angsty than it needs to be. I concur. The true angst, however, can be found in the several things I've scrapped, such as this next bit.

It'll be set in Come Back, I Still Want You, after they rescue the boys from Caleb.

So unlike the ridiculously long slow burn in the fic, Julie and Luke actually act on their very obvious feelings and I mean since they're both dead and none of them know what any of their unfinished business is, there's nothing stopping them, right? WRONG

Julie trades places with the boys but that's not all Caleb wants. Caleb wants to actually fully properly get rid of Julie and if he can't get her to cross over, he'll find other ways to get rid of her . . .

Given that I scrapped this idea early, I never quiet figured out how Caleb would accomplish this. I just knew he would and I'd deal with that issue later.

They're trying, and I mean they're really trying hard to make it work but Caleb is relentless. If he can't have the boys, Julie can't either.

Everyone's scrambling to find a way to save Julie but there's nothing. They even out the existence of ghosts to the world, but no one can offer a solution. (Carrie has several nervous breakdowns, not unlike the one she had the day Julie died)

Julie tries to end things with Luke. Maybe he'll take it easier if they're not together when it happens, right? I mean, WE know that's not true, but SHE doesn't. She tries to say that Caleb will go after Luke just to hurt her even more but Luke isn't buying it. Still, it hurts like a bitch when that's almost the last interaction they ever had. Lots of angst about this, trust me.

Julie gets one last interaction with everyone, in the studio, and they all leave her alone with Luke in the end. The whole thing is reminiscent of the day Julie died and even though she's a ghost and she was with him since then, the day has always haunted him. If he slept, he was sure he'd have nightmares about it.

The fact that it's so similar is tearing at his heart. Julie's not sickly and confined to a bed with heart monitors and respirators, but he can tell she doesn't have the energy she used to. She's fading away. Again.

And just like last time, Luke reminds her that she's loved, by him most of all.

They lean in for a kiss, just one last kiss, but their lips never meet. And just like that, Luke is alone in th dark room. Julie's left him for the second time and there's not a single chance she's coming back now.

Both of her deaths because of Caleb, and both of them unable to be stopped.

Luke breaks down completely when Alex and Reggie return, sitting on either side of him, Reggie where Julie was just a moment ago.

They sit together like that for hours maybe. The rest of them want to rush in and soothe the boys, but Willie's the only one who can see them. Without her, they're just ghosts. Ordinary phantoms without Julie.

Luke doesn't pick up his pen for months, at least. It's a further few months before he even touches his guitar. Maybe Echo of You, wink wink

They don't perform again, but they do strike against Caleb. The whole thing set in motion almost a year ago by Julie herself, from the first time she visited the Hollywood Ghost Club. It doesn't take much to convince the club to rise against Caleb.

Julie was beloved by all who had ever met her, lifer and ghost alike. To stand by and accept what Caleb has done doesn't sit right with them.

So they strike against Caleb. They strike hard and fast, without any warning. In all his arrogance, Caleb never saw it coming. They free the club, rendering Caleb powerless. And without his magic from stolen and trapped souls, Caleb doesn't survive Reggie.

For a while, after the drive of destroying Caleb leaves, the boys become empty shells of themselves. Willie brings Alex back to himself first. Flynn, Carlos and Ray eventually return Reggie. But Luke? Luke's lifeline was pretty much Julie.

Luke spends his days wandering Hollywood, meeting ghosts who are now enjoying their afterlife, ghots who are free to search for their unfinished business, ghosts who are eager to finally cross over. He smiles at them and chats with them. But Luke spends his nights in Julie's room or the studio. Reggie and Alex never stop trying to engage him, but nothing really seems to pique Luke's interest.

He plays the songs he wrote for her. He teaches himself to play the piano, just to hear her sound again. He listens to their recorded songs, just to heatlr her voice again.

And then one day, Luke accepts the fact that Julie's never coming back. Never. And that night, Luke lays his head on Julie's pillow and for the first time since he died, Luke falls asleep. And quietly, alone in her bedroom, he crosses over.

They spend weeks searching for Luke, refusing to accept what they all know to be true. Even on days when Luke wasn't seen at all, they could always soon hear the guitar, or the piano, or the band's songs. But for weeks, the studio has been silent. Luke didn't just uo and leave. Even if he could somehow turn his back on them, he would never turn his back on the notebooks filled with his and Julie's overlapping handwriting. He would never turn his back on Julie. So, with hearts heavier than on the days of Julie's deaths, they visit Luke's grave. He's really gone now. Alex and Reggie cry the most.

A month or so after, Ray gets to cleaning out the studio. It's collected far too much dust. He's thinking of renting the space out. There's a couple of young kids putting up posters, looking for a space to keep their instruments and host band practice.

Ray struggles and it takes him weeks to even clean out one area of the studio. This was where Rose and Julie spent most of their time and now, within nearly two and half years of each other, he'd lost them both.

When he finally gets to the loft, it's somehow worse. Sunset Curve things are coated in even more dust. Ray trips and sends several items falling to the ground below. He heads back down and starts picking the various items up. He drops them all when he catches sight of one of Luke's notebooks.

Their handwriting is all over it, like passing notes in class, song lyrics in between.

We're okay, right?

We're together, aren't we?

Ray hugs the open notebook to his chest and he cries, but it's not the exhausted tears of the family left behind. It's relieved tears of finally having a sign that everything is okay. Or it will be. It'll never hurt less. Never. But that's okay. They're okay. They're together.

And that's all either of them ever wanted. Right?

#mara's hold on jatp fic #julie and the phantoms #jatp #julie and the himbos #julie and the fat ones #jatp fic #ask #thanks for the ask!#trope mashup ask #ask meme #jatp ask #juke #jukebox #angst #julie x luke #julie molina #luke patterson

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heloisedaphnebrightmore · 4 years

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Love through potions [Remus Lupin x Reader] - Requested

Title: Love through potions Pairing: Remus Lupin x Reader Word count: 4.8k Published: 26 July, 2020 Author: Heloise Daphne Brightmore Notes: I got this request by khyati1379 on Wattpad a couple of days ago. I hope you will all like this cute little one shot. Summary: Remus gets to know you while looking around in your Potions shop. Soon you start helping the werewolf with his monthly transformations, involuntarily falling for the man. Request: [x]

Hi, can u please write a Remus x reader where, after Halloween of 1981 he meets the reader in Diagon alley and she's a potioneer and owns her own potions shop. As the marauders are not there anymore to help him during his transformations she helps him by brewing him the wolfsbane potion and thats how they fall in love and get married. And after 1993 when Remus and Sirius meet up again, Sirius is happy and suprised as well that his best friend found the love of his life. Btw I love your writting. Keep up the good work!! Thank you" - khyati1379 [Wattpad]

Harry Potter Characters Masterlist | Masterlists

If you enjoy my stories, please consider donating and supporting me on Ko-fi. Of course, it’s completely your choice, I will continue updating for free anyway :) Thank you <3

Remus Lupin was a lone wolf suffering through the loss of his pack. Since his best friends, James Potter's and Peter Pettigrew's death and Sirius Black's imprisonment, he was nothing but a sad man full of sorrow. He has been trying to keep himself composed, but losing all his friends at once was something he was struggling to get over. Understandably, of course.

You didn't know much about Remus though. One afternoon, he walked into your Potions shop on Diagon Alley, right across Ollivanders. His eyes held deep despair, which was accompanied by a pair of deep black sockets under them. He seemed like someone who wasn't familiar with the importance of sleeping. He had a tall, lean figure, which seemed to be skinnier than a man of his height should have been.

It was the first time you have seen him in your shop.

He was looking around all the ingredients sitting on the shelves. He started asking about different kinds of plants and their preparations, however he wasn't subtle enough about his questions. You could clearly spot which ones he was interested in, while the rest were simply provided as a fill in, not to seem suspicious. At first you didn't understand what he wanted, until you realised the hopeful glint in his eyes, once he mentioned the ones he needed.

Aconite, in other words wolfsbane didn't necessarily get your attention as you knew its usage has been part of many potions. When he asked about pulverised Black Quicksilver, being rather interested in its price, it did get you a tiny bit suspicious about his needs. Then your conversation deterred to Giant Moonworts and by that time you were almost certain, that you knew what he needed the ingredients for, but you didn't state your findings just yet. As he has changed the subject to Myrrh and not just any kind, ones that have been pickled in carrow spider ichor, you were completely sure of your findings, knowing that the preparation of Myrrh in such way has only been used in the Wolfsbane potion so far.

He seemed rather disappointed by the end of your conversation, but you didn't understand why. You didn't let him know that you were aware of what he needed the ingredients for, nor did you look at him any differently.

"Is everything okay?" You asked as he held a tiny jar of Acromantula venom in his hand.

"Yeah..." He breathed, his voice defeated.

"Can I be honest?" You asked, trying to establish an eye contact, but he didn't look at you.

"Sure." He spoke weakly.

"If you walk into a potions shop, you might want to be more subtle about what you are interested in." You said casually. His head turned towards you abruptly, his eyes wide in shock.

"What do you mean?" He asked, still trying to cover up his furry secret.

"Wolfsbane is a very difficult potion, with its very particular way of brewing. It wasn't hard to understand, even between your numerous questions, what you actually need." You explained to him with a gentle smile, but his face stayed still.

"I have to go." He said as he returned the jar to you and headed towards the exit.

"I could help." You stated, making him turn around suddenly and for a second you surprised yourself too. You didn't know the man. As far as you knew, he could have been a Death Eater. And there was the price of the potion and its ingredients. How were you supposed to help by going bankrupt?

"What do you mean?" He asked, looking at you suspiciously. You kept quiet, trying to collect your thoughts. He didn't seem like a bad person and if anything, you had hundreds of deadly plants and potions laying around to feel protected enough.

"I could help you with the potion." You spoke, upon finding your words. He furrowed his brows at your unusually helpful words. He was definitely not used to receiving help from people he didn't know.

"What's the catch?" He asked, eyes squinting at you.

"I want you to help me out in the shop." You replied casually, trying to keep yourself composed. You have just asked a complete stranger to help you, while you'd help him not to go on a killing spree in his werewolf form. You officially concluded yourself to be mentally unstable, but didn't show any of it to the man.

"Why would you help a werewolf? Why would you let some unknown guy waltz around your shop when you don't even know anything about him?" He questioned you and you finally realised the weight of your sudden decision. You walked back behind your counter and fell back into your chair with a deep sigh leaving your lungs.

"I have no idea." You hid your face in your palms, covering your embarrassment. "But..." You lifted your face to look at the man. "if you were a bad person, you wouldn't be questioning my intentions. You would just accept it, instead of giving me time to think it through. Or even reminding me that I might not have made the most sane decision of my life." You tilted your head as if your statements were questions and you were waiting for an answer.

"You never know. It might be a tactic." He replied with a simple shrug.

"I don't think so." You shook your head in disagreement. Silence fell upon your pair as you went through your thoughts once again, concluding that he seemed like a genuine person. "So? You need help and I could use an extra hand." You said. It was his turn to think. He looked out the window as if it helped him to collect his thoughts better. You waited patiently, until he finally turned back around, facing you.

"I guess it's not so bad of a plan." He replied nodding slightly. "You are not planning to poison me, right?" He added suspiciously, which made you chuckle.

"You are not planning on attacking me, right?" You returned his silly question, which made him smile just a tiny bit. "Then I think we are good." You confirmed and he nodded in agreement. "I will start brewing the potion tonight. Will you be able to start tomorrow?" You asked with a raised brow, knowing that you have given a rather short notice.

"Certainly." He replied, making you smile gently.

"Brilliant." You said as you stood up and reached for his hand to shake it. "Welcome to my shop." You grinned.

"Thank you." He spoke with a warm smile, accepting your hand. His kind demeanour made you question how such a sweet man could have such a dark secret hidden in his life, but oh you didn't even know the rest of his story.

"I'm Y/N, by the way." You introduced yourself.

"Remus." He replied, letting go of your hand, after holding it inappropriately longer. You cleared your throat, feeling maybe just a tad bit awkward and said your good byes.

That same night you started brewing the potion as per your promise to Remus. You knew it would take quite a while and as you have only done it once, you were hoping that your skills in potions would help you along your way.

The following morning, Remus arrived to your shop, waiting at the counter for you to join him. You were rearranging some of the jars on the shelves at the back of the shop, when you heard Remus calling your name. You came down the ladder and walked over to the man, welcoming him once again.

You showed him around the store and asked him to replace the ingredients at the front of the shop from the new order you have just received. He simply nodded and started helping you out without a word. You found his behaviour adorable, as he listened to each and every word of yours carefully.

He was working hard, not even complaining about the dust on the shelves causing a coughing attack to break out of his lungs or the heaviness of the boxes that he had to bring up the ladders. He was diligent and very helpful, making you smile as you watched him from behind a wall, poking your head out just enough not to blow your cover.

However his behaviour wasn't the only thing that caught your eyes. As you watched him concentrate on the jars, rearranging them by name, just the way you have asked of him, you could gaze at his handsome face, which might have been rather skinny, but certainly attractive. His green orbs were fixed on the labels, carefully reading each and every one of them, but your attention was on the way how those dark green irises kept changing their colour between emerald green and hazel, occasionally taking on a brownish undertone under the sun's bright rays.

You shook your head as you realised how you have been ogling at your new colleague. You were rather unhappy with your inappropriate behaviour, so you quickly headed back to your shelf that needed some rearranging too.

Weeks passed by and before you knew it, your gaze lingered over Remus more often than you dared to admit. It was the week before full moon and Remus has already started drinking the Wolfsbane potion you made for him. It didn't seem to have any side effects, confirming that your potions skills have indeed come in handy when meeting an unusual brewing.

After the full moon, Remus came into the shop, looking exhausted. His skin was pale, the dark circles under his eyes greater than ever. You walked over to him and stood firmly by the man with crossed arms in front of your chest.

"What are you doing here?" You asked.

"I came to work." He breathed, powerless.

"No, you didn't. As much as I feel bad saying it, you do not look too well. You should not be working today." You stated, trying to hide the worry in your voice.

"Today is not my day off." He shrugged, but you just grabbed his shoulders and forced him to turn around, before you nudged him towards the door.

"I am your boss and I am telling you, it is your day off." You chuckled sweetly, which caused a small smile to appear on his face.

"Are you sure?" He asked, not wanting to leave you alone.

"Do I look like I am not?" You asked playfully. He shook his head, before he took a deep breath and left the shop.

You were brewing a potion that you have been requested to do by one of your clients, when you heard the door open, indicating a customer's arrival. You quickly adjusted the fire under your cauldron and walked to the front of the shop.

"Can I help..." You wanted to speak, when you realised your visitor was not a customer after all, but Remus Lupin. "What are you doing here?" You asked, clearly remembering sending him home just about an hour ago.

"I thought if I can't work and you have to do double of the job, I would at least bring you some food." He smiled gently, making your heart skip a beat. He was beyond sweet to you and you couldn't stop yourself from giving a small kiss on his cheek, gratefully. You didn't miss the way a slight blush creeped up on his face though.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel awkward." You chuckled as he kept adjusting his weight from one leg to the other. "Thank you." You smiled happily as you took the boxes from him.

"It's fine." He replied with a smile growing bigger.

You headed to the back where a small table was placed in a corner with two chairs next to it. You put the food on the table, opening the boxes, whilst Remus took a seat on the chair closer to him. You picked up two sets of cutlery and gave a set to Remus, while you kept the other for yourself.

"I'm glad you brought me food, I am starving, but you could have gone home and just rest. You had a difficult night yesterday, or rather today." You said, letting your worry take over you.

"I really am fine. And your potion helped a lot." He smiled softly.

"I'm glad I could help. I guess we made a good deal." You joked happily. It was an idillic moment as you both sat over the table, eating together, talking casually. You could have gotten used to it. He was a good company. He was sweet and funny, certainly more helpful than anyone you have ever met and he seemed to care about you, even if he only meant it as an employee.

Halfway through the lunch, you got up to check on your potion. You stirred it a couple of times before it finally took on a vivid green colour. You removed the cauldron from the fire and started pouring its content into small little vials. As soon as you finished, you put them all in a small box and placed it into one of your drawers.

You walked back to the table to finish your food, when you saw Remus' hunched form over the table. You walked closer to check on him, realising he fell asleep. His breathing was even, occasionally letting out a small sighing noise. His lashes laid flat against his cheeks, his lips parted involuntarily. You watched him for a mere second, admiring his handsome face, before you grabbed a blanket from one of your cupboards and placed it over his back, leaving him to rest.

Weeks went by and you were at a tipping point. Remus' kind behaviour got under your skin. You felt like you were a mere friend, a colleague, noone that really mattered to him. You wanted more though. You wanted him to feel the same feelings you have been harbouring for him. You kept watching him on every occasion you could get a sight of him and if you couldn't, you simply made it happen by leaving your job to creepily spy over him.

By the time you realised you have fallen for him, you were giving up. He did not show any interest towards you and it was killing you. He was just as nice as always and you hated how it gave you false hope.

You were sitting in your chair right across the entrance, behind the counter. Remus was at the back, bringing out some boxes, but you couldn't care less. You were holding your head in your palm, sighing deeply every few seconds, annoying even yourself with your love-sick behaviour.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he listened to another sigh leaving your lungs.

"Yeah..." You replied dreamily.

"You don't seem alright to me." He frowned at your unusual behaviour.

"Actually, nothing is alright, but I can't do anything about it." You sighed again, still halfway lost in your daydreaming about Remus.

"Can I help you?" He asked kindly, but you just scoffed, making his frown grew deeper.

"Actually, you could. But you could only help if I told you what bothers me. But if I told you what bothers me, you would leave. In conclusion, I don't want you to leave, so I don't need your help." You heaved a deep sigh and placed your forehead on the edge of your table in defeat, closing your eyes. You were cursing yourself for falling for Remus. You wished he could see more than a friend in you, but for some reason, he just couldn't.

You looked into the mirror more often recently, than ever to check if you looked okay. You didn't need to be perfect, but just an okay. Still he clearly didn't want your okay look. He was just not satisfied with you and it hurt you to know that you weren't enough.

You turned your head to the right and opened your eyes, when you met a pair of green orbs, forcing you to shot up in surprise.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He spoke, his tone light and gentle. As soon as you calmed down, you placed your head back against your table and kept your eyes on his, not caring about how inappropriately you have been staring at him. "Look, I really didn't understand anything you said. Why would I leave, if you told me how I could help you?" He asked curiously, making you pout at the thought of your unrequited love. At this point you wanted nothing, but letting your feelings out. But you stopped yourself.

"Just ignore me." You told him as you turned to your left. You could hear him move and in seconds he was crouching beside your left side.

"Talk to me, please." He spoke softly.

"No." You said harshly as you jumped up from your seat and forced yourself to concentrate on your previous tasks. You walked up the ladder and started rearranging the vials of ingredients in alphabetical order. You didn't even realise when Remus appeared, but when you looked down he was standing beside the legs of your ladder.

"Y/N, something is clearly bothering you. Just talk to me." His tone was more forceful than before.

"I don't want to talk about it." You said shrugging, your lips pouting like a little child's. You kept your attention on your task, up until you felt your ladder move. The next thing you saw was Remus walking up the steps, right before his eyes were finally levelled with yours.

You could feel his breath against your face, he was so close to you. His green irises wondered between your eyes, searching for something. But you couldn't have possible concentrated on that. He was way to close and you couldn't understand how he couldn't see the effects he had on you. Your eyes wondered down to his pink, plump lips, before they returned to his eyes.

You could feel the deep breath he took as he exhaled. His tongue darted out of his lips to lick across them, making your head feel dizzy at the inappropriate thoughts your mind was harbouring. You gulped loudly trying to get rid of the picture you have just witnessed, replaying the motion of his tongue across his lips in your memory.

"Just talk to me." He spoke in a low tone and you weren't even sure, if a simple note could leave your lips, let alone a complete sentence. You cleared your throat, trying to compose yourself, but you just badly failed as he accidentally slipped on the step of the ladder, grabbing on to your waist to steady himself. He involuntarily pulled you closer to him, your nose touching his. You couldn't do this anymore. As if a confidence boost took over your mind, you placed your hand behind his neck and kissed him.

You could feel the hesitation in him as he forgot to kiss you back. You pulled away, feeling tears collect in your eyes at the harsh rejection. You just wanted to run away, forget that you have dumbly took a step you should never have done. The grip around your chest became stronger, the lump in your throat grew wider, almost suffocating you. Your will to disappear heightened by the second. But unfortunately for you, you were seated on top of the ladder, Remus right in front of you, closing your only escape route. You gulped loudly before deciding to speak.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that." Your head dropped forward, fearing to look into his eyes.

"Why?" He asked simply.

"Because I kissed you." You explained, feeling even dumber.

"No, I mean why did you kiss me?" He clarified his question. You just scoffed in a reply, feeling as if he tried to make fun of you. Although you knew he wasn't that kind of a person, you were still hurt by his rejection.

"Why do people kiss each other?" You asked as you played with your hands nervously.

"Because they like each other?" It was more of a question than a statement, so you nodded in agreement. "And you like me?" He asked softly, making you feel even worse. He was supposed to be angry at you for doing something he didn't want. Instead of answering though, you nodded as a reply. "I can't hear you." He said, his tone more confident this time. Your blood was boiling that he didn't think of you as a potential partner, still he was trying to get you to confess to him.

"I love you. Are you happy now?" You asked in anger, feeling desperate to just get out of that awkward situation.

"You love me?" He asked, uncertainty clear in his voice.

"Are you kidding me?" You lifted your head, your expression distraught. "Are you trying to make fun of me? I get it okay? You don't like me. It's fine. But it's cruel to make me suffer through this unnecessarily awkward conversation. Please just let me down." You didn't even realise when your tears started rolling down your cheeks. You stood up, trying to push him to the side, to get yourself out of there, but before you could have gone anywhere, he got hold of your waist and gently pushed you back into your seated position.

"I didn't want to hurt you." He said as he removed your tears with his soft thumb. You could feel his warmth radiating through his skin.

"But that is exactly what you are doing." You told him weakly.

"I was just surprised, Y/N. I didn't think you had feelings for me." His voice was light as a feather, perhaps trying not to scare you away. "I might have reacted badly, but I didn't mean to hurt you." He spoke as he caressed your cheeks, painfully getting your hopes up. "I wish I could turn back time and act differently, but unfortunately I can't do that." He smiled softly, making you frown. "But if I am good at something, it has to be trying. Maybe we could try that kiss again?" He asked, your eyes growing wide at his words.

"Why would you want to do that?" You questioned, completely lost in what was happening.

"Maybe because I might just love you as much as you do?" He asked smiling sweetly. Your lips parted involuntarily, your face showed clear shock. You were unable to get any words out. He chuckled at your dumbfounded expression and without waiting for an answer, he closed the gap between you, capturing your lips with his own soft pillows. You didn't need to be told twice to kiss back, you have been waiting for it since forever.

His kiss was sweet and caring. He massaged your lips like noone has ever done before. You tried to keep yourself composed, but you just wanted to melt into his arms, enjoying this perfect moment, wishing for time to stop.

As he pulled away, he looked into your eyes with an unusual grin across his face. He seemed more confident than you have ever seen him. His cheerful expression forced a smile to spread across your face too, before he captured your lips once again, this time more passionately, more aggressively. You honestly felt like you were kissing two different people, but if anything, it just made you fall for him even more.

Your breath was running out on you. You pulled away from him and placed your forehead against his, breathing heavily.

"If you kiss me like that, I will fall for you even harder." You giggled lightly. He let out a wholehearted laughter, throwing his head backwards. You watched his carefree behaviour, which you haven't really seen before, but enjoyed even more.

"I really do love you." He spoke as his laughter died down.

"I love you too." You smiled at him lovingly, before capturing his lips again.

Years passed by and you and Remus were stronger than ever. After a couple of years he proposed to you and you married in a small, intimate ceremony. It was sweet and cozy, not the typical big wedding with big families, but you loved it even more. Remus was the only person you needed and he was right by your side.

As Remus was offered to go back to Hogwarts to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, you encouraged him to do it. You believed in him more than anyone and you wanted him to know that. You were always there to support him. Except when he made stupid decisions, but you always made sure to let him know.

You read about Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban and although you knew he was once a friend of Remus, you couldn't feel relaxed assuming Sirius would go after Remus. You knew all about their times as Marauders in Hogwarts and the relationship they had after they left school and joined the Order of the Phoenix, but he was a convict you were terrified to see around your husband.

One night, upon receiving a letter, you shot up from your bed to open the window for Remus' owl. You opened the letter and started reading with shaking hands, knowing he wouldn't mail you at such late hours, unless there was a problem. Your heart quickened as he explained how he forgot to take the Wolfsbane potions you have prepared for him. As you continued, your breath hitched, reading about his meeting with none other than Sirius Black. Your thoughts were swirling, terrified to read the letter any further. But you were glad you did. Remus explained everything from how Sirius was accused of the murder even though he was innocent and how Peter wasn't even dead, but lived in his rat form with the Weasley family. You finally felt relieved when you read Sirius escaped the Dementor's Kiss and he was in hiding.

On a warm summer night Remus invited Sirius over for a little dinner, to take back some of the time they have lost. Sirius might have been a bit late, but you didn't mind. You walked behind your husband and wrapped your arms around his torso, placing your face against his back. He got hold of your hand and gently pulled you in front of him.

"Thank you." He whispered with a loving smile, cupping your face in his big hands.

"For what?" You asked with a frown across your brows.

"For loving me. For being by my side. For supporting me. For being you." He breathed as he hinted a small peck on your lips. You smiled warmly at the love of your life, wrapping your arms tighter around him, hiding your face in his chest, enjoying the warmth his body provided.

The door bell rang and Remus hurried to open the door, engulfing his best friend in his arms. They exchanged a few words, before finally heading towards the dining room where Sirius stopped right in front of you with a huge grin across his face.

"So that's the infamous Y/N." He smirked. "I have been hearing a lot about you." He said and reached out for your hand. You accepted the offer and shook his hand.

"Welcome, Sirius." You smiled gently. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Indeed." He nodded in agreement. "You know, Moony..." He started as Remus led him to a chair at the table, while you prepared the food. "I never thought you would get married. You were always so reserved when it came to love. But honestly, I am glad you are happy. You deserve it." He smiled, patting his friend's shoulder proudly, which made your smile grow even wider.

You were happy that Remus got his long lost friend back. You were happy that you finally met Sirius. You were happy that you were having a relaxing dinner, even though war was coming your way. Things were chaotic outside, times were dark, but you were happy in that moment with your loving husband by your side and his best friend who he finally found his way back.

Notes: If you enjoyed it, don't forget to like and/or reblog the chapter. Thank you :)

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bloodfromthethorn · 3 years

Text

Friendly Fire

Mac tries very hard not to make mistakes, because whenever he does, people always, always get hurt. An army days fic.

Part thirteen of the July of Whump 2021 prompt challenge.

Also on AO3.

Despite what a lot of people seemed to believe, Mac did make mistakes. It didn’t happen all that often because he was viscerally aware that a lot of what he did was dangerous to more than just himself and that meant that you goddamn checked your working, but he wasn’t infallible. When he’d been younger, those mistakes had usually been small things, like falling out of a tree because he’d misjudged the distance between two branches or not picking up on his father’s mood quickly enough to avoid a lecture, but there had been some big blowouts too. The football field was probably the crowning example, but it wasn’t the only one.

Then he’d joined the army and been sent into the desert and suddenly the idea of making a mistake went from ‘possibly dangerous’ to ‘will almost certainly cost lives’. It was around that time that he started triple checking his working, just to be sure.

Which made it all the more horrifying when he did finally screw something up badly enough to get someone hurt. And, just in case that wasn’t punishment enough for his own stupidity and hubris, of course that someone would be Jack. Of fucking course.

He dug through the rubble like a man possessed, tearing open a gouge on his hand as he did so but not faltering for even a single second.

“Jack!” He didn’t dare raise his voice too high just in case any hostiles had survived the blast, but he needed his Overwatch to answer him. Since the wall had come down, he hadn’t heard a peep. “C’mon Dalton, you’re not going out like this. You do not get to die on me.”

He scrabbled for a moment against a chunk of sundried stone just a little too heavy for him to comfortably shift, then was rewarded with the smallest sliver of desert camo. More carefully, he tossed aside some of the smaller bricks, uncovering a gloved hand to go along with the arm he’d first seen. From there it was the matter of moments to clear the rest of Jack’s body, quietly thankful with each new revelation that at the very least he was still in one piece. Bruised and bloody, but whole.

And still not waking up. Maybe Mac wasn’t so relieved after all.

“Jack? Dalton? Can you hear me?” He felt for a pulse, gusting out a pained sigh when he finally found it – a little too fast for his liking, but strong all the same. “Thank god,” he breathed quietly.

There was blood around Jack’s eye from a gash on his forehead, with more dripping from a split lip, but otherwise he looked remarkably alright. No doubt his combat gear and dust coated skin was hiding a multitude of bruises and possible broken bones, but at the very least he wasn’t in danger of bleeding out. Or- well. A thought suddenly occurred to Mac and he spent the next ten seconds wrestling with Jack’s vest to get at his stomach to search for any signs of severe internal bleeding, not relaxing until his search turned up nothing more than unbroken skin.

“Okay,” he said more to himself than his unconscious partner. “We’ve got to get out of here. Stayed too long as it is.”

A glance around didn’t turn up anything he could conveniently use as a litter. He was thoroughly unwilling to leave Jack’s side while he was so defenceless, particularly when hostiles might be closing in, so that meant they were doing this the hard way. He started by untangling Jack’s rifle and making sure the safety was on before setting it carefully on the ground beside him; Jack would be giving him hell for messing with it, but if that was an argument he wanted to have then he was just damn well going to have to wake up and have it, wasn’t he?

Next came the man himself. Even though Mac was technically classified as a non-combatant, he’d still had to go through Basic with all the other recruits, so he’d done plenty of fireman’s lifts before. None of them had really prepared him for the added weight of responsibility he felt as soon as Jack was on his shoulders. He’d always considered their partnership to be two-way: Jack protected Mac and Mac protected Jack right back. It had never really felt this literal before though. Normally his protection came in the form of defusing a bomb before it went off, not bearing the man’s limp weight as they moved through hostile territory when at any minute a bullet could come their way.

But now wasn’t the time to be frozen by indecision and fear. Certainly not when he had to contend with the not inconsiderable weight of Jack and his gear, and then had to juggle his rifle in his free hand. Now was the time for action.

Without stopping to overthink it, he hitched Jack up a little higher and took off in the direction of their Humvee.

No doubt he made a hell of a scene pulling into camp and skidding the vehicle to a stop beside the medical tent, but by that point he was far too wound up to care. Jack hadn’t so much as stirred once, and while his breathing and heart rate were holding steady, Mac could feel his skin crawling with the awful sense that maybe something was critically wrong after all.

As soon as the Humvee came to a stop, he was on his feet and shouting, summoning the random assortment of medical staff who happened to be both in earshot and available. On the other side of the ‘road’, a handful of signalmen poked their heads out of the communications tent to see what was going on. Mac barely spared them a glance – all he cared about was getting Jack inside and to help as quickly as humanly possible and then finding somewhere quiet so he could have a breakdown in peace.

To that end, he hauled Jack back up onto his shoulders and met the medical staff halfway, breathlessly explaining what had happened. A gurney was unceremoniously shoved in front of him and he carefully tipped his charge down onto it. The second Jack was down, the staff were pulling him away, whisking him off for an examination inside. He took half a step to follow, but was immediately blocked by one of the nurses.

“Sir, are you injured?”

Mac barely spared the Private a glance, trying to push past but getting stopped by a firm hand on his chest. “No, I’m fine, but he’s my Overwatch, I have to-”

“Specialist,” the nurse said sharply, moving with him to keep him from getting past. “Your partner is getting the best care he can. If you’re not injured, you’ll need to report in. Only medical staff and patients are allowed past this point.”

A prickle-hot wave of frustration raced through Mac at being denied access to his partner, but it was almost immediately chased away by a wash of cold when he properly registered what the man had said. ‘You’ll need to report in.’ Of course that’s what he needed to do – standard protocol and all that. Theoretically he was already in violation of his orders by not having turned on his heel the instant Jack was in the hands of the medical staff, although he was pretty sure he could be forgiven in this particular instance.

But even then, he needed to report in. He had to walk up to his commanding officer and explain that because of his own stupidity and carelessness, he might just have gotten his own partner killed. Jack wasn’t well liked by the Brass, exactly, but he was certainly well respected and now Mac had to walk up to the Major and explain just how badly he’d fucked up. And then, assuming that didn’t get him transferred or demoted or fucking arrested, he was going to have to walk into the barracks filled with Jack’s friends and hope that none of them decided revenge was a dish best served hot. The Brass might not like Jack too well, but the men sure did.

Well, at least he had one thing going for him: since they were in the FOB and not the main operating base, he wouldn’t have to report directly to the Colonel. Small mercies.

“Specialist?” The nurse was saying, apparently alarmed by his sudden freeze. “Are you injured?”

“N-No,” he managed when he finally managed to find his voice again. The nurse didn’t look convinced, so he repeated himself more firmly. “No, I’m fine. You’re right, I need to report. Just- Look after him, okay?”

The nurse’s severity and concern fell away under a blanket of reassurance, his expression turning soft. “We will, don’t you worry. I’ll make sure someone lets you know when he gets moved to the ward, okay? You’ll be able to visit him then.”

Barely clinging to the present moment, all Mac could do was nod. The nurse gave him an appraising look, but whatever it was that Mac was projecting apparently passed muster because he nodded sharply and backed off, giving him one last glance before ducking into the tent and disappearing. For a long moment, Mac just stared at the spot where he’d been in the hopes that if he waited long enough, his brain might kick into gear before he had to face the Major.

Of course, it didn’t happen.

In a daze, he backed up from the entrance to the medical tent, glancing about in sudden self-awareness but finding himself mostly alone. The few people he could see appeared to be going about their days as normal, not paying him the slightest bit of attention.

Right. Things to do. No matter what had just happened, he was still on duty. He had work to be doing.

With a firm mental shake, he forced himself to climb back into the Humvee and drive it over to the much more suitable parking lot. He procrastinated for a few minutes then, sorting out his and Jack’s stuff and making sure the equipment he’d collected earlier that morning was still secure. It already felt like a thousand years ago. That done, he checked the vehicle in with the mechanics and headed to the command tent to face his fate.

Mac had never had much cause to interact with Major Torres beyond receiving the occasional direct mission brief or having to give an in-person report when a mission went sideways. Both cases usually ended up being pretty stressful affairs, either because there was a lot on the line or because Mac had to own up to some hare-brained scheme that would probably have gotten him court marshalled twenty times over if his skillset hadn’t been in such high demand. The result was that almost all of Mac’s recollections of the Major were coloured in shades of concern and unhappiness, despite the man himself having never done anything particularly bad to Mac himself. On the contrary, the man had been ridiculously forgiving of some of the shit Mac had tried to pull in the past.

Nonetheless, as he stood in front of him now, he couldn’t help but feel incredibly small.

“So you arrived in Sakini at 1300 hours?”

“Yes sir.”

“What was the situation on the ground?”

“At first, quiet. There were a couple of locals around, but they didn’t appear armed and they didn’t visibly react to our presence at all.”

“At first?”

Mac swallowed, willing himself to keep his thoughts in the right order. The last thing he needed was to add ‘filing an inaccurate report’ to his list of transgressions. “Jack – Sergeant Dalton – went out to do a survey of the area. I stayed back in the vehicle. When he deemed it was clear, he called me out while he set up on the roof of a building in- the town square, I guess.” He pointed at the appropriate place on the map, well aware that the handful of buildings hardly constituted a town, much less one in possession of anything resembling a square, but the building Jack had chosen had good sightlines and that was the main point.

“You went looking for the IED.”

“Yes.”

“Did you encounter any resistance?”

“No. The locals all kept out of my way, but not so much so I thought they were actively avoiding me. More like they just didn’t want to get involved in our business.”

“But you did find a device?”

“Yes sir, but not for an hour or so. It had been tucked into the gap between two buildings and blocked off with crates. Just getting to it took longer than it should have done.”

Torres’ expression twisted in something that might have been sympathy. Two US soldiers alone in possibly hostile territory for over an hour was never the start of a happy story.

“Once I did get to it,” Mac continued, bracing himself, “I was able to disarm it pretty quickly. The device was well hidden, but not particularly well built. It had a single failsafe, but compared to a lot of what we’ve been seeing recently, it was surprisingly basic.”

Evidently, his opinion was not welcome; the Major’s face darkened. “If that’s the case, then why is one of my men in the infirmary following an explosion, Specialist?”

He ducked his head on instinct, shame and fear washing over him afresh. It didn’t matter; what had happened, happened, and beating around the bush now wasn’t going to change that.

“Because I messed up, sir,” he said honestly. “The device was successfully disarmed, but before I could pack it up, Sergeant Dalton alerted me to hostiles closing in on our position. One of them must have been watching Sakini in case we showed up. There were too many of them for Jack to safely deal with alone and they were between us and our transport, so I came up with a plan to funnel them into a small space, and then trigger the explosion. It seemed like our best shot of taking them all out at once, so Jack agreed.”

Torres nodded, but didn’t interject with his own opinion.

Mac cleared his throat. “I needed a minute to rearm the device, and we needed to make sure they all got into position, so Jack acted as the bait. He took a few pot shots at them to get their attention, then made a run for it. Thankfully, they followed. I planted the device at a weak point on the building’s exterior, armed it, and retreated.”

“Dalton didn’t have time to clear the building?”

If Mac had been a little more dishonest – and perhaps less certain that he wouldn’t immediately get caught in the lie – he might have said yes. It still put him on the hook for blowing up his Overwatch, but it still felt a little less like a crushing failure on his part. But that wasn’t who Mac was, and even if it had been, it certainly wasn’t who Jack was, and the second he woke up he’d be asked to give his own account of things. The only way forward was the truth, no matter what it might be.

“Actually, he made it out okay. Things appeared to have gone perfectly but… I wasn’t watching my back, sir. I thought that all the hostiles had entered the building and I wasn’t careful enough. One of them managed to flank me. He was yelling something – I don’t speak Arabic – and dragging me back towards the building – I fought him, but…”

The memory flashed back to him, a warm hand painfully tight on his arm, the hard barrel of an assault rifle jabbing into his ribs, and neither of those things as scary as the IED he was being hauled towards. He’d tried to say something, tried to struggle, but the man had been huge even if he hadn’t had a gun to back him up. Mac hadn’t stood a chance.

Fortunately, Torres seemed to read into what he wasn’t saying. “Dalton doubled back to help you.”

“Yes sir.” His voice sounded small even to himself.

“And he got caught in the blast when he came too close to the building.”

“Yes sir.”

A pause. “Were you hurt in the explosion?”

Mac blinked in surprise, caught off guard. In truth, once Jack had gone down and stopped answering his radio, it had never occurred to Mac to even think about himself. “Uh, no sir. The man holding me was – he was between me and the device, so he caught the worst of it. Knocked him out, I think.”

“You think?”

“I- uh. I knew Sergeant Dalton was hurt. I was more focused on getting to him and getting him out than I was about the hostiles.” He knew it sounded bad even as he said it. He tried his best to look sheepish, but all he really felt was bone-deep weariness. He wanted this to be done. “I’m sorry sir.”

The Major shook that off, unconcerned. “With your Overwatch down, Dalton should have been your priority. EOD aren’t trained to be combatants.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but Mac was hardly about to argue with the man. Besides, he doubted it had escaped notice that he wasn’t wearing his sidearm; he’d been given one as part of his kit and told to carry it with him whenever he was in uniform, but after about a month of working with Jack, he’d felt safer leaving it in the Humvee instead. He wasn’t confident that if there was a hostile in front of him he’d be able to shoot them anyway, so carrying around a loaded weapon was more of a liability than anything. Jack didn’t agree, but he hadn’t pressed the issue.

“What happened next?”

“I found Jack buried in the rubble. He had a visible head wound and he was unconscious. When I couldn’t wake him, I carried him back to our vehicle and came straight here.”

Torres nodded slowly. “Do you have anything else of note to report?”

“No sir.” He held still, waiting for his verdict. He could personally point out about twelve different things he’d done wrong, and every single one of them added up to Jack in a hospital bed. If it really was anything worse than a concussion…

If it came to that, there wasn’t anything the Major could do to Mac that he wouldn’t deserve.

“Alright,” the man said, his voice heavy and drawn. “I take it you know that I’ll have to report this up the chain. Circumstances aside, catching your own teammate in a repurposed IED blast isn’t going to look good and that’s before we even get to you getting ambushed.”

“Yes sir.”

Torres sighed, looking momentarily softer than he had any right to after the shitshow he’d just heard about. “For now, the most any of us can do is wait for Dalton to wake up so he can give his own report. We’ll go from there. In the meantime, I’ll send some men out to Sakini to work on clean-up; you go get washed up. You’re off rotation until your Overwatch is back on his feet.”

The very idea of having a shower and going to bed felt utterly heavenly – just thinking of being gifted such a reward after what he’d done made something in Mac balk. He straightened up, trying to make himself look firm. “That’s not necessary, sir. I’m still fit for work.”

Torres paused in surprise, then gave him a quick look up and down. “You’re asking for another Overwatch?”

Mac hesitated, but didn’t back down. “Not permanently, sir. I know Sergeant Dalton’s tour is conditional. But while he’s in recovery, if there’s work that needs doing then I’m happy to do it.”

The Major didn’t look entirely thrilled by the idea, but he wasn’t turning him down cold either. Mostly, he seemed thoughtful. “It sounds like you were pretty close to an explosion yourself. You’re sure you’re in good shape?”

“I mostly caught the blowback, sir. Made my ears ring, knocked the wind out of me. Nothing serious, nothing permanent.” It was true, too. He really had gotten off incredibly lightly given the severity of the situation, and he could mostly thank the man who had been trying to kill him for it. He’d ended up acting as a surprisingly effective human shield, in the end.

Slowly, Torres nodded. “Okay. I’m going to ask you to get a medical check-up to confirm you’re as okay as you say you are, but if that comes back clean, you can keep working. As it happens, one of our other EOD techs – Garcia – is shipping out in the morning, and his Overwatch doesn’t have a new partner yet. You know Corporal Lee?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. You can stick with him until Dalton’s back on rotation. Check in with him directly to get your instructions, clear?”

“Clear, sir. Thank you.”

“Good. Now, go get that check-up and find out what’s become of your partner. You know he won’t be happy about you working with someone else.”

Torres said it lightly, sharing something of an in-joke that Mac was only half party to. Jack had never properly explained the nature of his deal with Torres – and the Colonel above him – to extend his tour with some provisos, but he’d got the impression that there had been a lot of shouting involved. Honestly, he’d been glad to steer clear of it. Apparently, though, it wasn’t too much of a sore point with Torres anymore and Mac was grateful; he’d hated to know that Jack had put so much on the line for his sake.

With a clear dismissal, Mac saluted, then turned on his heel and headed back to the medical tent. He avoided the emergency area this time, electing instead to go into the space just beyond it that was set aside for the standard check-ups that active soldiers were routinely subjected to.

Stupidly, it wasn’t until he was gestured towards an unoccupied booth that he realised his palm was still coated in dried, flaking blood. In everything that had happened, he’d completely forgotten about the minor wound. Not that there was anything to be done about it now. It wasn’t like he could hide it and besides, it really was only very minor. It shouldn’t pose any threat to his ability to work.

When the doctor made it round to him, he suffered through the indignity of the exam with little grace, too worn out and drained to make small talk. Fortunately, the doctor seemed to understand his mind was elsewhere, because he maintained a solid professional demeanour throughout and didn’t prod when others might have done. He cleaned out the slice in Mac’s palm, agreeing that it wouldn’t need stitches, and carefully checked his torso for any signs of major damage. Finding none, he signed off on Mac’s duty form and gave him back his shirt.

“You’re Dalton’s partner, right?” He said, just as Mac finished getting dressed again.

Mac’s eyes snapped up to look at him. “Yes. Is he- Is there news?”

The man shot him a reassuring smile, flapping a hand to soothe his obvious concern. “Everything’s okay, calm down. He took a hell of a knock to the head, but there’s no signs of critical damage. We’ll be keeping him in for a few days for concussion and cognition checks and the like, but from what I’ve heard, he got off remarkably lucky. He’s sedated at the moment, but I think they’re planning to bring him around in the next hour or so – you can go and sit with him if you like?”

He made a vague sweeping gesture in the direction of the main ward, an obvious invitation, but despite his desperation to see that his partner really was still in one piece, Mac hesitated.

The last time Jack had been injured – a bullet graze over the meat of his shoulder that he seemed annoyed by more than anything – Mac had planted himself at his partner’s side and refused to budge. It had felt like the right thing to do; Jack had always made a point of sticking around whenever Mac was ill or injured, and the least he could do was return the favour. Besides, sitting and chatting with him was a lot better than continuously replaying the moment when the bullet had caught him, his cry of pain and surprise. Jack had certainly seemed to appreciate the company while he waited out the required bedrest portion of his recovery.

But that had been then, when Jack had been wounded by a bullet Mac couldn’t possibly have done anything about. Now, he was laid up with a head injury because Mac hadn’t been smart enough to watch his own back for all of five minutes and had ended up luring his partner into an explosion he caused. On every possible level, Jack’s injuries were his fault.

There wasn’t the slightest chance that the first thing he would want to see when he woke up would be Mac’s face.

He became distantly aware that he’d frozen in place and the doctor had started to eye him critically, so he slapped on what he hoped looked like a relieved smile.

“Nah, that’s okay. I don’t want to disturb him if he needs the rest. Besides, I’m knackered too.”

To his credit, the doctor managed to keep whatever he thought about that off his face. Instead, he offered an obliging smile. “Of course. You’ve had a rough day too.”

Mac nodded, then a thought occurred to him. “Can you let me know, though, if- If something happens?”

No matter how much Jack might not want to see Mac, the only way Mac would be able to not bear seeing him is if he knew that the man was going to be okay. He needed to know that his own stupidity hadn’t done worse than what he already knew about.

“Of course. You’re set up as his base contact anyway, so you’re supposed to be kept in the loop.”

He hadn’t known that Jack had done that, though in hindsight it made sense. He’d done the same the day after Jack had decided to stay on after all. Still, the very thought of it now, when Mac was just about the one person in the entire FOB who Jack shouldn’t be relying on to be there in times of trouble- It stung.

He buried the sensation as best he could under a wave of fatigue and hopped down off the examination bed. If he was going to have a breakdown over this, it sure as hell wasn’t going to be here.

“Is that everything?” He asked the doctor, wanting to be done and away from here.

He smiled. “That’s everything, Specialist. You make sure you get some rest before shipping back out tomorrow, okay? I don’t want to see you back here any time soon.”

“Sir yes sir.”

With that done and a form confirming he was ready for active duty clutched tightly in one hand, he scooped up his and Jack’s packs, as well as Jack’s rifle which he still hadn’t had time to return, and marched back out into the blazing sunlight.

The first few times Jack woke up, he spent the few minutes of consciousness he had in muddled confusion. There were bright lights and lots of sound, then pale blue moonlight and muffled voices, then light again – through all of it, he couldn’t have said where he was or what was happening. Everything was too distant and vague to grasp, and fatigue had sunk its claws deep into his mind, dragging him back whenever he dared to try to push ahead.

He couldn’t give up though. He might not know what was going on, but he was sure that there was something he was forgetting, something important. Whatever it was didn’t matter – all that did, was that Jack needed to wake up and get to it.

It wasn’t until he finally blinked himself properly awake that he was able to put some logic to the flashes he’d caught before. He was in a hospital bed, with the slowly undulating fabric of a tent above him – the FOB. That certainly made sense, given that he felt like he’d been hit by a truck, but it didn’t really explain the why of that whole situation and no memories seemed ready to spring forth from the depths of his mind to enlighten him.

Christ, what the hell had happened to him?

He crawled his hand over the scratchy bedding, searching for a call button and ending up surprised when he actually found one. Any higher tech than the stone age was normally reserved for the MOB, and since he was in a tent then he clearly wasn’t there. Shrugging it off as unimportant, he hit the button and waited.

A nurse appeared between the screens around his bed less than twenty seconds later. “Sergeant Dalton? Back with us this time?”

“This time?” He muttered, then regretted it when his throat rasped horribly over the words. Clearly he’d been out for a while.

Understanding brightened in her face, and she stepped closer to retrieve a cup of water from his bedside table and present the straw in front of his face. Uncomfortable as he was, he was pretty certain he could have held the cup himself, but it hardly seemed worth the argument when she was willing to do it. Besides, having a beautiful woman feed him by hand was hardly going to be the low point of his day.

When he was done, she returned the cup to its place and pulled out his chart. “Can you tell me how you’re feeling? Any pain?”

“Headache. Feels like I got run over. What happened?”

Her eyes flicked towards him, measuring. “How would you rate the severity of your headache on a scale of one to ten?”

“Four. It’s fine. What happened?”

She pulled a penlight out from the pocket of her scrubs and leaned in to examine his pupils. He let it happen with increasing impatience, long since aware that trying to rush medical staff when they were intent on checking him over was a losing game. Better to let her get it out of her system before pushing too hard for answers.

“Pupil response is normal,” she said after a moment. “It looks as though your concussion is clearing up nicely. Unfortunately you’re still in what we would consider the danger period for head injuries, so you’re going to be staying with us a few days yet for monitoring.”

That was annoying as hell, but with no idea what was wrong with him, he had no scale of what was reasonable. “Sure, fine, whatever. Can you please tell me what happened? I don’t remember getting hurt.”

Truthfully, he didn’t remember much of anything.

She hesitated, but she must have seen the determination in his eyes because she folded without further argument. “You were hit by falling masonry following an explosion. I don’t know the details beyond that. Your partner brought you in.”

His partner-?

Mac!

A rush of memories suddenly hit him, so sharp and fierce that he actually sucked in a hard breath in surprise. The IED in Sakini, hostiles closing in, an utterly insane idea from Mac that just might be crazy enough to work – and it did, right up until he heard a scuffle over the radio, Mac’s voice tight with stress saying, let go of me, we can’t go in there, there’s a bomb-

He hadn’t hesitated for a second to race back in the direction he’d come.

“My partner-” He said wildly, coming to life all of a sudden as cold terror rushed through him. “Mac- Is he- What happened? Where is he?”

Something had to have gone wrong. If he was alright then he would be here, teasing Jack for being so muddled and letting him see with his own eyes that he was unhurt. That was what they did.

The nurse’s hand pressed down firmly on his shoulder, forcing him back down from where he’d tried to jackknife upright. “Sergeant! Please, stay calm. Your partner is completely fine. Specialist MacGyver, right? He’s okay. No injuries.”

Jack’s wild eyes found hers and latched on, seeking truth. “He’s okay?”

“Yes. I promise you. When he brought you in, he wasn’t injured. He had a physical to clear him for duty and came up clean. You’re the one we’ve been worried about.”

There was a lot there that he needed to process, and most of it seemed beyond his exhausted mind, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Mac was okay. That was- well, honestly, that was far better than he had any right to expect given the nightmare situation they’d been in, and the fact that apparently Jack had just checked out and left the kid to deal with it, in hostile territory no less. God, he owed him a beer.

But if he’d been sought medical clearance, then that meant… “He’s back on duty?”

The nurse nodded, evidently surprised by the question. It was standard practice for uninjured soldiers to rotate as needed around their teammates’ injuries, and if Mac really wasn’t hurt then there was absolutely no need for him to be sitting around the FOB twiddling his thumbs. But, then, ‘standard practice’ had never been their way of doing things. Thanks to Jack’s very carefully worded agreement with the Brass, the pair of them should have been free to turn down any requests for temporary reassignment.

Then again, Mac didn’t seem the type to pass on a call to duty, particularly if there were lives on the line.

He nodded slowly, letting that knowledge settle inside him. Mac was alive and uninjured, if not exactly safe. Jack was – apparently – alive and relatively okay. A win all round, really – so why did he feel like something had gone horribly wrong?

“Okay,” he said slowly, then again more firmly. “So, doc. Give it to me straight: how am I doing?”

Jack had kind of assumed that Mac had been absent when he woke because it was clearly the middle of the day, which logically meant that he was off-base somewhere. That was perfectly understandable and given the circumstances, Jack could understand why he’d done it – Mac hadn’t known that Jack was finally going to wake up after all and since he’d apparently been in and out for three whole days, it wasn’t surprising he’d not elected to sit around, bored out of his mind. Still, that logic fell apart just a little bit when night fell and no blond bomb nerd appeared at his elbow.

He knew that Mac was his contact, which meant he must have been informed that Jack was awake and talking and yet- He went to sleep that evening with no visitors.

He slept in the next morning, unintentionally, so if Mac had stopped by before heading out then he would have missed him. He almost wanted to ask one of the staff, but he had a sneaking suspicion that the kid hadn’t been by at all and that… That didn’t feel right.

It wasn’t that Jack thought he was owed Mac’s time or attention or anything like that, but he’d kind of thought that he’d get it anyway. The last time he’d been stuck in the hospital ward, he hadn’t been able to shake Mac off for more than a few minutes at a time, no matter how much he’d pleaded with him to go back to the barracks and get some proper sleep. Any time one of the staff had tried to chase him out, he’d planted his feet and refused to be moved. It had been touching, in an odd kind of way, a clear demonstration of Mac saying ‘If you’ve chosen me, I’ve chosen you too.’

Now- Now it was different, and Jack was pretty sure that wasn’t a good thing.

Some careful questioning – and an outright demand for an explanation from Major Torres when he showed up to get Jack’s report – had brought some things to light, but made others even murkier. For one, Mac had actively requested to remain on duty. After what had happened last time, that was a big red flag in its own right. He did at least have Lee watching his back, someone who Jack knew to be a crack shot and clever with it, so he probably wasn’t getting himself into too much trouble, but still.

Torres had also made it clear that their failed mission was not being received particularly well by the higher ups. When pressed, he’d alluded to the fact Mac had – apparently entirely willingly – painted himself right into the corner and placed the blame directly on his own shoulders. Jack hadn’t been able to keep himself from swearing aloud. Goddamn self-sacrificing idiot. He’d tried to make it clear that Mac hadn’t been to blame for what happened, and Torres seemed inclined to listen to him, but the details of his report did match up squarely with what Mac had said. The only difference was that Jack wasn’t about to start playing the blame game.

All signs pointed to something being very, very wrong with his partner.

When that evening rolled around and there was still no Mac, Jack had been about ready to climb out of bed himself and hunt the git down. In the end he was spared the trouble by a surprise visitor – just not the one he’d been expecting.

“Jackie! You’re looking- well, a bit shit, honestly, but much better than before.” Corporal Lee – Ryan, to basically everyone who had known him for more than five minutes – stuck his head through the break in the screens and offered him a wide, toothy grin.

“Thanks,” he shot back, grimacing at him then stopping when it pulled at the colourful array of bruising he knew was adorning his face – and most of the rest of him, come to think of it. “What are you doing here?”

Ryan slipped through the screens to stand beside him, casting a careful eye over his injuries even while he waved a careless hand in dismissal. “Your boy got a splinter that I’m making him get checked out. Thought I’d stop by to see you since I’m already here.”

White, electric panic shot down Jack’s spine. “Mac’s hurt?”

“No, no, he’s fine! Yeesh, calm down. It really is just a splinter, I promise, cross my heart. If he was anybody else, I wouldn’t have made him come here but I swear to god, someone needs to teach that boy he’s not immortal.”

The words were clearly meant in jest, but Jack felt the pit of worry in his gut that had opened when he woke up without Mac beside him suddenly yawn wider. Mac had never been particularly good at putting his own safety on his list of priorities, and if he really was blaming himself for Jack’s injuries, then there was a good chance he’d be acting downright reckless.

“He’s been giving you a hard time?” He asked, just to make sure.

Ryan rolled his eyes. “Honestly man, I have no idea how you do it. I’ve been driving myself hoarse telling him to keep his goddamn head down and I’ve only been working with him a few days.”

“Yeah, that sounds about right,” he said, hoping his levity covered the ice crawling through his chest. Goddamn it Mac, you don’t get to do this. “You two have any trouble?”

“Nothing worth reporting on. More IEDs than I ever wanted to see in my life but that’s kinda par for the course, right?”

“Tell me about it.”

“But other than that, it’s been pretty quiet. Word got around that your boy took out ten hostiles on his own, so maybe the T-men are all too busy trying to stay out of his way. I sure fucking would if I were them.”

That did actually pull a smile out of Jack, despite everything. The situation was definitely FUBAR, but it was about time someone other than him realised the sheer elemental force that was a pissed off Angus MacGyver. For a skinny little bomb nerd, he packed a surprising punch.

“You haven’t seen the half of it yet.”

“You have no idea how horrifying that is to hear, thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Hey, you said he was here, right? In medical?”

Ryan rolled his eyes, smiling. Clearly he wasn’t distracted by Jack’s meek attempts at feigning disinterest. “Yes, he’s about twenty metres that way, and yes, I will tell him to come and see you as soon as that pretty blonde nurse stops flirting with him. I thought he was gonna come yesterday, but he ended up just crashing. Not sure he’s been sleeping all that well.”

The last was said with a quiet, gentle concern, the type of tone that made Ryan one of the most popular soldiers on base. He might be a devil in a firefight, but he was genuine and he cared about the men he served with well beyond what he was officially required to do. Jack was, not for the first time, very glad that this was the Overwatch Mac had been transferred to.

“Who does, in this place? Can you remember what your twenties were like? I’m glad I didn’t spend mine in this hellhole.”

Ryan shuddered. “I don’t think I was ever that young.”

“Me neither.” They shared a look of weary amusement as Ryan patted a warm hand to his shoulder and kicked off from where he’d been leaning against the bed.

“I’ll go make sure your boy doesn’t escape without saying hello. You take care man, okay? We’ve missed you in the barracks.”

“Not sure anyone’s ever missed my snoring before,” he shot back with a smile, then sobered. “And hey, thanks man. For watching out of him. There’s no one else I’d trust more.”

“Don’t sweat it. You’ve pulled my ass out of the fire before. You just rest up and let me take care of your bomb nerd for a bit.”

Mac knew that Ryan had only really been making him come to medical to prove a point and that it was all in service of trying to watch out for him while Jack was laid up, but he still found himself pissed off by it. He wasn’t a child in need of someone to pull out his splinters – he’d been perfectly capable of doing that since he was five. Besides, Ryan hadn’t even tried to pretend it wasn’t payback for Mac ignoring his warnings earlier that morning and momentarily ducking out of his sightline to check out a suspicious rock pile.

There hadn’t even been anything buried under the rocks – it was just a false alarm. He’d been back under the protective watch of Ryan’s scope inside of a minute.

All of this to say, he was pretty sour about the whole experience. The nurse was incredibly patient with him, raising an eyebrow at Ryan when he cheerfully explained the problem like he was a parent dropping a kid off at daycare. The attitude had not helped matters. Regardless, she’d sat him down and pulled out her disinfectant and tweezers, and hadn’t reacted at all to Mac’s stormy expression.

It was a waste of his time, and more importantly hers. There were soldiers here with real, actual injuries that needed tending to and here he was taking up space and resources for a ‘wound’ he had scarcely even noticed. Still, he was here now and it wasn’t like Ryan wasn’t going to give him shit for it if he didn’t stick around, so he stayed where he was, feeling worse with every passing minute.

The splinter was hardly difficult to find, in inch long fragment of wood sticking haphazardly out of the inside of his wrist. Too shallow to cause any real damage, but long enough to itch something fierce. It had taken all of Mac’s willpower not to scratch himself raw on the drive back. The nurse hummed in sympathy when she saw it, but didn’t take the opportunity to make a comment that would so visibly have been unwelcome. She simply disinfected her tweezers and got to work.

The process hurt, but it was superficial. More frustrating was the agonising amount of time she spent examining the wound, trying to make sure she’d removed every last bit of debris before she let him go. He knew that it was literally her job to thorough and that he’d live to regret it if there was something nasty still lurking under his skin, but he couldn’t help his own impatience. He’d done everything he could to avoid the medical tents in the last few days and now he was stuck here, no doubt metres away from his Overwatch.

The urge to give in and seek Jack out was almost overwhelming now that he was actually here.

He’d been told that he’d woken up and didn’t appear to have suffered any neurological effects from his injuries or from his extended sedation, but Mac couldn’t trust that until he saw it with his own eyes. If he hadn’t been so sure that Jack wouldn’t want to see him, he’d have been at his side as soon as he heard the news. As it was, Jack hadn’t asked for him so he’d stayed clear.

Ryan reappeared just as the nurse was smoothing a dressing down over the small gash. “Dalton’s a tough son of a bitch, huh?”

Mac’s head snapped up to look at him. “You’ve been to see him?”

“Yeah. And, as it turns out, I think he’s pretty surprised that you haven’t.” Ryan raised his eyebrows pointedly, somehow both a question and a condemnation. Mac was in no mood to answer either.

He shrugged. “I’ve been busy, and he’s been sleeping.”

“He’s not sleeping now.” Mac bit his tongue to clamp down on his response to that. Fortunately, Ryan didn’t seem to need one, because he continued, “He’s asking to see you. If you’re done here?”

The nurse, packing up her things, nodded amiably as an answer, then bid them both goodbye and left. Mac somehow felt more exposed with her gone and nothing else to distract Ryan’s attention.

He wanted to refuse. The only reason Jack would be asking after him is if he wanted to tear him a new one for being so uncompromisingly shit at his job that he’d nearly killed his partner, and Mac just didn’t think he was solid enough to take that right now. But, really, that didn’t matter. If Jack wanted to chew him out, then it wasn’t like it was anything Mac didn’t one hundred percent deserve. He’d have to face the music sooner or later and he stubbornly refused to be a coward about it.

“Okay,” he said instead of trying to find an excuse. “Lead the way.”

Brave face or not, apparently he was a coward in the end anyway, because he hesitated at the very last hurdle; it had taken Ryan physically pushing him forwards to get him past the screens surrounding Jack’s bed. The view that greeted him was- not unexpected, but hardly a pleasant one either.

Jack was awake and blinking at him, which was a vast improvement on the unconscious slump he’d worn the last time Mac had laid eyes upon him, but his face was also a patchwork of blues and purples, softening to a sickly yellow at the edges. He looked – well. He looked like a wall had been dropped on his head.

He opened his mouth with absolutely no idea what was about to fall out of it, but it didn’t matter because Jack immediately cut him off.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

It brought Mac up short. “I- What?”

“Me getting hurt. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Jack-”

“No, shut up, listen to me. I know you and I think I’m finally getting some idea of what’s going on in that idiot head of yours because you told Torres that you were to blame for all this. Isn’t that right?”

“Well. I am.”

Jack huffed, visibly annoyed, and Mac had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. He’d expected anger, shouting, not whatever this was. “Goddamn it kid. This isn’t on you, of course it isn’t. Why would you even think that?”

He’d apparently meant it as some sort of rhetorical question because he blanched when Mac put up a hand to count his mistakes on his fingers. Jack spoke before he had the chance to start.

“No, don’t actually answer that. Forget I asked. Look, whatever moon logic you’re using to blame yourself for this? It’s nonsense, man. And no one else is going to tell you that because they don’t know, but I was there, okay? I was there the whole time. And I’m telling you right now that you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Distantly, Mac felt his body trembling. This wasn’t what he’d expected.

“We were in a shit situation, and your quick thinking is what got us out of it. I’m the one who was stupid enough to run towards an active IED even when I knew it was about to blow. And even after that, when the person who’s supposed to be watching out of you was out for the count, you kept your shit together long enough to get us both home without any further injury.”

Mac blinked at him.

“You saved my life, man.”

That was too much. He hissed, flinching at the absurdity of it. “I nearly killed you.”

“Nah, I did that. My mistake, not yours. And besides, I’m fine – couple of bruises ain’t nothing.”

“You were coming back because I was in trouble. Because I couldn’t look after myself for three minutes.”

Jack was shaking his head and Mac wished he’d stop because it looked like it hurt, and he couldn’t bear any more of Jack’s pain right now. “We were surrounded by hostiles Mac. It’s my job to keep an eye out for them so you can keep your eyes right where they need to be, and even I thought they’d all gone into that building. Anyone outside of that was trying to keep out of sight and you had no way of knowing you needed to be watching for that kind of threat. That’s what I’m here for, remember?”

Unable to find words to refute him, Mac just shook his head adamantly.

His Overwatch’s gaze turned soft. “Hey, man, c’mon. You’ve got to know that you didn’t have any control over what happened, and the bits you did, you did great. You got me out of there all by yourself. So what’s going on man?”

Mac hesitated, feeling torn open and raw, but somehow still entirely safe under Jack’s eyes. When he said nothing further, Mac felt himself deflate. “I’ve never-” He stopped, retried. “I didn’t come out here to hurt people,” he managed quietly. “All I’ve tried to do is disarm IEDs and limit the destruction and then this time…”

“This time you were the one setting the bomb.” Jack’s voice was level, understanding and without judgement.

“Yeah. And, of course, not only do I manage to-” He bit off the end of that sentence, his breathing ragged. “I also nearly killed you.”

He was aware that there were tears welling in the corners of his eyes, but he honestly couldn’t have been sure what emotion they were trying to convey. He just felt overwhelmed.

Jack put out a hand, setting his fingertips lightly on Mac’s elbow, the only part of him he could reach where Mac was keeping his distance. “That was the first time you killed someone,” he said calmly.

Wordless and bereft, Mac nodded. One of the tears slipped free.

“Ah, kiddo,” Jack breathed, leaning over a little further to grab Mac’s arm properly and pull him closer. Laid up as he was, he couldn’t offer much of a hug, but he was able to settle for tucking Mac into the curve of his arm and settling him there. “You didn’t do anything wrong, you hear me? I’m so sorry that you were in that situation at all, but you did everything right. Those men- They would have killed you and me and everyone in that village without hesitation, okay? I know it doesn’t feel like it, but you were protecting people Mac.”

Exhausted, overwhelmed, and with no way of voicing any of it, Mac just clung to Jack with a desperation he’d be self-conscious about if he was anyone else. Jack shushed him softly, running his hand up and down his back, and it was only then that Mac realised he was crying.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled wetly, not sure himself if he was apologising for Jack’s injuries or his own meltdown.

“Ain’t got nothing to be sorry for.”

“I do.”

“No, you don’t. I’ll keep telling you as long as you need to hear it hoss, but this wasn’t your fault. None of it.”

They stayed like that for a long time. Mac felt himself starting to come together again just a little, still raw and hurting but able to breathe again. It was imperfect, but it was still somehow the best he’d felt in days. When he pulled back his head to look at Jack, he found his Overwatch smiling at him.

“There you are. Had me worried for a moment.”

“Sorry.”

Jack snorted. “If you insist on apologising, you could at least have the decency to do it for something that actually deserves it. Like, say, driving Ryan up the wall with your reckless behaviour?”

Mac’s eyes dropped, flushing. Jack just laughed at him, warm and relieved, absent of any actual anger. That part would probably come later, but it was obvious to anyone who looked that Mac wasn’t going to be able to withstand that sort of attack right now.

“Damn it kid. You’re okay though, right? Not hiding any injuries or something?”

“No. I should be asking you that. You’re the one who nearly died.”

“I’m not that easy to kill, brother. And besides, I had you watching my back. I knew you’d get me home safe.”

Mac’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think unconscious counts as safe.”

“I’m awake now, aren’t I?”

“Jack.”

Unable to help himself, Jack ruffled a hand through Mac’s mop of hair, laughing when he chirped in alarm and rapidly backpedalled out of reach. “I’m going to be just fine Mac. Quit worrying about me. I’ll be back on duty and driving you crazy over the radio in no time at all.”

When it came, Mac’s smile was a careful thing. “Can’t wait.”

“Me neither kid. Me neither.”

#MacGyver #angus macgyver #jack dalton #sandbox #whump of july 2021 #fanfiction #my fanfic #fanfic

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