#idk if reading that last sentence in the post gave you a strong wave of revulsion

[ssttitdramon]

Ready To Hear It?

Ramón Morales x Stella Nicholls

Request: Ramón x Stella thing where Ramón comes back from the war and Stella confesses her feelings to him and idk what else to put

Word Count: 2,769

Note: Sorry that I posted this later than promised. You might’ve just wanted a Ramón x Stella moment, but the thought of the three in college, letters from Ramón in Vietnam, and Ramón’s family was something stuck in my head so I included all of that too. If you’d like to send in a request, take a look at the rules.

Also: The random u.s. state generator gave me Texas so that’s where he’s from in this fic (M.G. is actually from there btw!) and I made up family members because the ssttitd writers really didn’t give us much on Ramón’s backstory.

Warning: Brief mentions of the Vietnam war, including an injury/surgery (left hand + broken ribs)

Stella riffled through her backpack once again, checking that she had everything she needed before leaving to Texas. Two years after Ramón left for Vietnam, he came back on a stretcher with three broken ribs and on the verge of losing his left hand. 

According to his sister, Elizabeth, he was finally home from the hospital a week and a half later, recovering from a broken hand and lower rib removal surgery. 

When Stella received the first phone call from Elizabeth, she and Auggie were in the middle of flipping through flashcards for an upcoming major government test. The knocking on her door woke up Chuck, who was passed out on the floor and tried to reach for it.

Stella beat him to it first, opening the dorm door to the bossy redheaded RA, “Yeah?" 

"There’s an Elizabeth on the phone for you down there.” she scrunched her face at the sight of Auggie and Chuck in the room.

Stella turned to look at them, both shrugging. The boys still followed Stella downstairs and stood close by, trying to figure out who the mysterious Elizabeth was.

“Hello?”

“Ah hi, Stella Nicholls?” answered the quiet voice from the other end.

“Yes, this is she. May I ask, who are you?” Stella asked, looking over to the two boys in confusion.

“Oh, I’m Ramón’s sister. He gave me your number some months ago, but I wanted to let you and your friends know that Ramón is back home now and-” her voice cracks and she sniffs, “I’m sorry. He’s injured, but he’s okay.” she manages.

Stella was stunned, “Ramón is back…” she said softly, trying out the words in her own mouth. Stella was afraid saying it any louder would somehow make it false.

“What?” Auggie and Chuck snap in unison, getting closer to the girl.

“Ramón is back.” Stella declared, bringing her hand up to her mouth. “Wait, so he’s injured? Have you seen him?" 

"No, he came in four days ago and is held up at the hospital. They won’t tell us more, but we’ll get to see him tonight.” Elizabeth answered her, voice shaking and on the verge of tears. She couldn’t help but to think about her older brother, she lost him and can hardly handle the thought of losing another brother too.

Stella quickly thanked her for thinking of them and asked to be called for any more news on his recovery. When she hung up, the three were all silently staring at the phone, no one knew how to react. 

“So Ramón’s back? How is he?” Auggie broke the silence, eyeing his friend carefully.

As Stella started to explain the call, she didn’t realize she was tearing up until Chuck wiped her cheek with his sleeve. She pulled the boys in for a hug, the three letting themselves wallow in a pit of emotions. 

Now, while she was packing up to visit him, she couldn’t stop the onslaught of questions she’s already mulled over since the first call. 

How much has the war changed him? How is his family dealing with his return? How different could he be now since he last wrote? Is he in a lot of pain? What if he doesn’t want to see us? 

She frowned at the last one, she couldn’t think like that now. Not when the three were practically invited by his family with his consent. Plus, Chuck finally convinced his roommate to let the trio borrow his car and make the 20+ hour drive to Houston, Texas.  

As Stella walked over to her shelf to grab her journal, the metal tin box containing all of Ramón’s letters caught her eye. Her heart jolted, she opened it up and peered inside, feeling warmth at the sight of the boy’s slanted, tall handwriting. On the nights when Stella had panic attacks, she would open the box and read over bits and pieces of Ramón’s day, finding comfort in his letters.

Stella flipped through some of the trifolded letters, catching random sentences from the top of the papers,

“My mom finally wrote back and she’s not mad at all, I forgot how much I missed her worrying over me…” 

“You’re not much of a flower girl, are you? Here’s this neat flower I pressed, the villagers around here call it Hoa Dao-“

“Sorry it’s been so long, the sky’s been pouring buckets on us in the past month and we’ve only…" 

"Tell Chuck I won’t be able to write him back until next week, but tell him I said congratulations for winning…”

“but I might go to Japan for R&R in a few months,”

“My dad’s still learning English and he’s practicing some on his letters. It’s the best thing seeing chiquillo next to ‘today I took your sister to the tienda y ya ni la hacen aquí, mijo-’” 

“I’m telling you, you’ll be a famous writer. You’ll be selling out all over the world, just wait.”

“oh and there’s this guy here who laughs just like Auggie.”

“This one will be short, the Sgt just got back and already complaining about one grain of sand too many inches to the right- the boys here call him Ol’ Knuckles,”

“Also, remind Chuck to add 5th platoon to my address,”

“but the package that my sister sent me lasted a good two days because-”

“and he had to tackle this stupid scrawny kid to the ground as soon as the dirt started kicking up,” 

“the team did lose two men before we got there though, they left a rosary behind and I didn’t even notice there was a-”

What if I tell him?

That’s a question she’s been avoiding, but it still managed to pop up out of nowhere. Stella never really figured out when she started to have strong feelings for Ramón. Maybe it was when they were running around Mill Valley together trying to figure out the Bellows girl. Maybe it was in the midst of writing back and forth, finding ease in his words. Stella felt silly, she knew she liked him the minute she barged into his car at that drive-in, but she did not expect for the small crush to stick around for that long.

Stella felt conflicted with the idea of confessing to her first real crush. What if he could only see the two as friends while she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him for the past two years? Plus, Ramón just came back from Vietnam and if she considered the stories of those who have come back, would he even care about something like this right now?

She felt her heart twitch at the thought of Ramón’s head still stuck on the other side of the Pacific.

The knock on her door snapped Stella out of her thoughts. Putting the box back on the shelf, she grabbed her journal and went out to Chuck. He flashed her a goofy smile and dangled his roommate’s car keys by the fingers, “I’m driving first, already argued with Auggie about it and it’s settled.” 

The drive to Texas was a long one, the three would switch between driving, reading off from the map and sleeping in the backseat. The first time Auggie was on the wheel, they accidentally veered off course because Chuck apparently doesn’t know how to hold a map. The pair argued in hushed voices, but Auggie’s frustration still woke up Stella. She groggily pushed her way up front and looked over the map, commenting on Chuck’s great sense of direction. Immediately, she pointed her finger at the new route they found themselves in and flopped back down.

In a small town where they stopped to get gas, a couple of middle school students were playing baseball in a nearby field and nearly missed the car’s windshield by an inch. In a split second, Stella was having to hold Chuck back from freaking out on them and had Auggie throw the ball back to the apologetic kids. 

Later that night at a lonely rest stop’s restroom, the boys rushed out of there swearing up and down the men’s room was haunted. “Stella, I’m telling you, the only flickering light was the one in the last stall. We were washing our hands and we suddenly heard shaky humming from there, with no one inside.” Chuck widened his eyes and wiggled his fingers at Stella. 

The tall grass that surrounded the rest stop waved about from the light wind, seeming to make waves towards the woods. As the three looked beyond the pasture, following the waves into the trees, they could barely make out several tall, slender figures in the moonlight at the edge of the woods.

“Those are just tree trunks right?” Auggie asked quietly, until one of the “tree trunks” seemed to let itself glide back like a blade of grass from the wind.

“Alright, I believe you.” Stella admitted as the three rushed into the car, she began to pull out of the parking lot, “I’m so not dealing with this shit again.” 

They drove a few towns over before agreeing to stop at another rest stop that wasn’t completely abandoned and slept in the car for a few hours.

Once they reached the Louisiana-Texas border, Auggie and Stella kept their eyes peeled as they drove an hour into Houston. They managed to find Ramón’s house after passing by it twice and knocked on his door.

Elizabeth welcomed them in, “Hey, my parents are out right now, but Ramón’s awake upstairs.” she noted, closing the door behind them.

Chuck and Auggie immediately noticed the wall of family pictures by the entrance. Elizabeth was quick to point out Ramón’s baby pictures and mentioned the charming resemblance between him and their older brother. Stella looked closer at the image of Ramón and his siblings at a pool before following Elizabeth upstairs.

They stopped at the first white door to the right and lightly knocked, “Ramón, your friends are here.” 

After hearing his “come in”, she opened the door to see Ramón sitting on his bed, occupied with his younger brother. The toddler was too distracted with his plastic dinosaurs to notice the visitors, only looking up when Ramón stopped playing with him and finally noticed everyone at the door.

“Vente,” Elizabeth held her arms out to the small boy, “en un rato juegas con Món.”

The toddler hesitated with leaving Ramón, but after getting his older brother’s go-ahead he walked over to Elizabeth’s arms. The two disappearing into the hallway.  

“Món?” Chuck asked cheekily as Ramón carefully got up.

“Mateo can only pronounce Món and it stuck,” Ramón smirked, “also, I can’t hug you entirely, so you’ll have to do with my right side.” he informed, getting closer to the three.

Stella was the first to hug him, careful with his left side as she buried her face into his shoulder, “If either of you start crying, I’ll start crying too.” Ramón jokingly warned, hand stroking her hair. 

“You hear that, Chucks?” Auggie nudged Chuck’s arm before hugging Ramón.

“Yeah, whatever. I’ll start bawling for our guy here any minute now.” Chuck quipped before turning serious, “No really, we missed you dude.” 

“Me too Chucks, even when your letters would keep on ending up miles away from me.” Ramón pulled Chuck in. 

The four settled on his bed, catching up with him for hours into the afternoon. Chuck even took the liberty of drawing on his small arm cast, “Does your hand hurt?” he asked, doodling himself onto the white. 

“Right now it doesn’t, mostly numb thanks to the pills. I still don’t know when I’ll be able to move it and use it.” Ramón noted as Stella grabbed another marker and started to draw a dragon onto his cast.

When Ramón’s parents came home, they invited the three to stay for dinner. Despite the awkward communication and Auggie’s choppy Spanish, they were all comfortable at the table. Most of all, Stella felt content with Ramón sitting next to her and seeing him with his family. Even considered confessing her heart out later that night, but she was still anxious about his reaction. 

After hearing that the trio planned on staying at a hotel for the night, Mr. and Mrs. Morales did not like the idea. “En un hotel? No, como crees. Diles que por lo menos se queden aquí esta noche y ya ven si se van a un hotel mañana.” Mrs. Morales told her daughter, eyes darting between the three. 

“Mija, deja que se duerman en tu cuarto, tú te vas con Ramón.” Mr. Morales added.

Elizabeth smiled, “My parents want the three of you to consider staying here at least for tonight. You guys can sleep in my room, there are two beds there.” she translated. 

Chuck’s eyebrows shot up, “Really? There’s no trouble?” he asked.

“Nah, you guys are fine. My other sister, Ana, is out of town this week and Elizabeth will sleep in my room.” Ramón assured. 

The three thanked Mr. and Mrs. Morales with an awkward, but genuine “gracias”. Chuck and Auggie even got up to help Mrs. Morales gather and take the dishes to the kitchen, much to Ramón’s amusement. Left alone at the table, Ramón and Stella decided to go back upstairs with Mateo on her hip. 

Ramón went into the restroom, took out a bottle of pills from behind the mirror and started to brush his teeth, “Ever since the surgery I’ve been getting tired easily and these pills knock me out.” he explained. “Won’t be able to stay up with you.”

“It’s no problem, we need some sleep too.” Stella let Mateo down once he nudged at her arm to get down. 

I should tell him now.

There it was again, she pondered over confessing as she followed him into his room. For a while, the two were deep in conversation on his bed until he started to drift off, “Sorry if I just fall asleep on you.” he apologized with a small smile.

“Ramón, I…” Stella hesitated, biting her lip. Ramón’s eyes fluttered open a bit, trying to listen to anything else she had to say.

As Ramón’s eyes grew heavy, Stella tried again. “I think I…” she began, hands fidgeting on her lap. “I think I’m in love with you.” she whispered, it was finally out but Ramón was already asleep. 

The next morning as everyone went downstairs for breakfast, Ramón winked at Stella and pulled her close for a hug, “Good morning, how did you sleep?” he asked with a raspy voice.

“Alright, you?” she chirped, the idea of him having heard her last night racing through her head.

“I actually slept pretty well, no nightmares. Think it helps that you’re all here.” Ramón smiled, not knowing what he was doing to the poor girl’s heart. “Tonight, you, Auggie and Chuck should stay in my room to keep the jungle away for another night.” he added.

After breakfast, Mr. and Mrs. Morales rushed to work, promising everyone they’d come home early. Everyone settled to watch TV in the living room except Elizabeth, who had already secured plans with her friends. 

“Mateo’s fine with four babysitters today, huh?” Elizabeth commented, carrying the toddler over to Chuck and Auggie’s place on the couch. The two kept the smaller boy laughing by mocking the voices of characters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on screen. On the other couch, Ramón and Stella sat close with his right arm over her shoulders, hand mindlessly playing with her hair. 

Once the three boys tired themselves out from imitating random noises from the TV, they fell asleep with Mateo sprawled out over the older boys. Stella took the opportunity to tell Ramón how she felt, again.

“Ramón, last night in your room.” she recalled, feeling his gaze on her. “I told you something I don’t think you heard.” 

“I heard you, Stella.” Ramón nodded, “I can tell it’s hard for you, but I know what you said last night.” he kissed her temple reassuringly.

“Yeah, it’s hard but I feel like I need to make myself clear.” Stella explained, finally turning to look at him.

Ramón shook his head, “That’s okay, every time I got your letters it would become more and more clear. I feel like I’m the one who hasn’t made myself clear,” he cooed. Hearing that, Stella felt her heart at ease.

“Ready to hear it?” he asked with a knowing smile. 

Before he continued, Stella spontaneously began to pepper kisses all over his face, drawing out a soft giggle from Ramón.

*Feedback is always welcome!*

#ramon morales #scary stories to tell in the dark #ramon morales x stella nicholls #stella nicholls #august hilderbrandt #chuck steinberg #ssttitd #mine #when you do a bunch of vietnam war research #and not even half of it makes it on the work -_- #the ssttitd writers did ramon dirty tho omg #he's got a brother and he ran away :) no :) further :) questions :)

[lgbt-malec]

for @warlockragnors prompt:  idk ngl i could get behind a post 2.18 thing where to seal the rift magnus has to summon asmodeus to help and then has to give up the thing he cares most about (because REASONS) to seal it and so magnus gives up his memories of alec to save him and everything else happens kinda the same so alec still feels jace die and magnus for some reason can't stand to watch this random shadowhunter in pain aND LIKE THE OMAMORI CHARM CAN GIVE HIM FEELS TOO and somehow this ends happy. this really got away from me

(forgive me i dont know much about asmodeus okay so if this is shit then just lmk and i’ll write something else okay) ((also it’s so long it’s like 2k words sjfjdjf)

Magnus had been pacing in his living room for nearly two hours, yet he still hadn’t reached a decision yet. He knew the consequences of this, and that it would not turn out well for him, but after Alec had come by this morning asking for him to shut the rift, he knew he had to go to desperate measures. He finally sat down in the blue, velvet chair that was next to his glass coffee table and summoned a glass of some mixed drink to him with a snap of his fingers. He brought the glass to his lips and took a long drink, his eyes shut as he drank nearly half of the glass in just a few seconds. He set the glass down onto a coaster on the glass table and took a deep breath before he stood up once more. He walked out of the living room and into his office, which was rather large. It was maybe a square foot or two smaller than his living area, but it was where he met most of his clients so it needed to be rather large to fit everything he needed.

He walked to the middle of the room, a pentagram already drawn out from earlier when he originally was going to do this. He had moved most of the breakable things away from the center of the room, apart from the chandelier hanging down from the ceiling over the pentagram. Magnus rubbed his hands against each other, his eyebrows knitted together in concentration as he muttered some words under his breath, his eyes squeezed shut as he moved his hands about in a slow manner, beginning the summoning ritual. He spent a few moments doing this, not wanting to rush anything, but he said the last words of the ritual loudly, so loud that they rang throughout the entire apartment. “I summon thee, Asmodeus, a Greater Demon and Prince of Hell.” With those final words, the lights in his apartment flickered and turned off completely for a minute or two, and Magnus felt the presence of the demon, of his father. The lights in his apartment turned back on, and he felt chills down his spine when he saw Asmodeus in front of him.

“Son. Thought you’d never call. Though, if you would have just asked me to come, I would have. No need for,” with a wave of Asmodeus’ hand, he broke the pentagram and sent Magnus backwards, so that the warlock’s back was pressed against the wall, “this mess. You should have known better, however. Summoning me means that you need something.” Asmodeus’ words were cold, no warmth available anywhere in his tone, and his eyes were nearly black. His suit was a dark black, with red lining on the cuffs and the collar, a red tie matching the small detailed lining. His button up shirt underneath was a dark grey, with red buttons, bringing the whole look together. He had a clean shaven face, apart from a smooth, even beard lining his jaw and his chin. His hair was gelled up, in a similar style to Magnus’, but not as long, the sides weren’t shaven either, they were the same length as the top, but gelled down. His hair also wasn’t pure black, like Magnus’ natural hair, instead it was black with grey highlights in it, not enough to age him too much, but making him appear more mature.

He stepped over to where Magnus was still pressed against the wall and brought his hand up to his son’s face, gripping his jaw as he turned Magnus’ head side to side, taking in how his son looked. His face lacked emotion, but he let out a dry laugh as he let go of both Magnus’ jaw and the way he was using his demon power to hold Magnus against the wall. Magnus nearly fell to the floor but held himself up, not daring to look at Asmodeus yet.

“You’re.. Different. Who came into your life and changed you?” Asmodeus walked around the office, running his fingers over some surfaces, humming while he awaited a response.

“That isn’t what I called you here to speak about. I need your help.” The second half of his sentence was soft, nearly a whisper. Magnus knew the consequences of asking for help, but he couldn’t just let asmodei keep coming into the mortal world. It wasn’t fair to any mundanes or even the Shadowhunters. Or any Downworlders who would be affected.

Asmodeus grinned slyly, turning to face Magnus, a devilish glint in his eyes. “You know what I’ll require. It’s the same thing I required the last time we spoke.”

Magnus’ strong facade faltered. “I-” He took a deep breath, shaking his head before he spoke again. “Okay. Let’s do this then.”

“Magnus!” “Magnus!” Alec was running towards Magnus, who’s back was still turned to him while he was sealing the rift between Edom and the mundane world. Magnus had been ignoring Alec since this morning, and while it hurt Alec greatly, he couldn’t blame him. He’d lied to Magnus. But now he was really in danger, this asmodei was flying towards him and he was terrified. “Magnus!”

Magnus couldn’t figure out why this Shadowhunter kept screaming his name, but right as he was nearly finished with sealing the rift, he heard his name screamed again, but this time it brought out a feeling in him and without even thinking twice, he turned and used the red magic in his hands to smite the demon coming towards the Shadowhunter, then turned to finally finish sealing the rift. He collapsed to the ground; the magic that he had used had been a combination of his and the power his father had given him, and he was exhausted. He laid there for a few moments, then felt a hand on his shoulder. He shook it off, looking incredulously at the Shadowhunter who looked, if he wasn’t mistaken, concerned.

Alec sighed in relief when Magnus looked at him again, but couldn’t stop the hurt look crossing his features when Magnus shrugged his hand off of his shoulder. He mumbled an apology, chewing on his lower lip as he stood up and looked around. There wasn’t an asmodei in sight and it looked like Magnus had successfully sealed the rift. “Thank you, Magnus. Now we’ve got one less thing to worry about.” His tone wasn’t cold, he knew Magnus was angry, but he still loved Magnus and he wanted his words to portray that if he couldn’t do it with his actions.

“Odd for a Shadowhunter to thank a Downworlder, especially coming from a Lightwood.” Magnus couldn’t help but see the actual hurt on the Shadowhunter’s face, how there were tears welling up in the light, hazel eyes of the tall man, and he felt a pang in his own heart. It brought on confusion, because he didn’t know this Shadowhunter, he didn’t like Nephilim, yet he felt hurt by the pain on this man’s face. He turned and saw a hurt expression on the female’s face as well as anger, yet he brushed it off and opened a portal for the three of them and he was the first to step through.

Magnus stood in front of one of the screens in the Institute, and he was still so confused on why the Nephilim here were being so friendly to him, he didn’t know any of them, and the ones he did know, he had never been friendly with them. He stood in his spot, confusion clouding his thoughts as he read over the reports from the damage that the asmodei did. He briefly heard both Shadowhunters he was with at the beach earlier speaking about something, mentioning someone named Jace and then Clary.  “I’m sorry to interrupt. But I heard you mention Clary? As in Clary Fairchild? Why is she in Idris?” Magnus automatically recognized the odd looks that both of the Nephilim in front of him gave him but before either could answer, the taller of the two doubled over in pain, a loud yelp escaping his lips.

“Alec! What’s wrong?” Isabelle rushed to Alec’s side, kneeling down as he’d fallen on the floor, a pained expression on his face. He was hunched over in pain, his eyes squeezed shut, and all he could muster was a quick, mumbled word before he slouched against Isabelle, yelling out in pain.

“It’s- ah!” He held his side, where his parabatai rune was, and he had flashbacks of everything he and Jace had ever done together, every mission, every emotion he’d ever felt, how he loved his brother, how his brother loved him, and when he was brought back to the present, he breathed out the rest of his sentence, his heart aching in his chest. “It’s Jace. He’s dead.”

Hearing those words, and the way that the Shadowhunter- Alec- had said them, brought a pain to Magnus’ heart again. He didn’t know what else to do but drop to his knees next to Alec and rest his hand on his shoulder. What he wasn’t expecting was for Alec to reach up with one of his own hands and grip Magnus’ hand, and he wasn’t expecting for the Nephilim to look at him with so much pain but also so much love. He was taken aback and he didn’t know what else to do but to whisper soothing words to the Shadowhunter. He didn’t know why, he didn’t care for Shadowhunters like this, but he felt the need to comfort this man in front of him. “Hey, it’s alright. It’ll be okay. I don’t- you’re okay. We’ll fix this. I promise.” He let the Shadowhunter’s grip on his hand tighten, and when tears started falling down Alec’s face, he couldn’t resist himself when he brought his free hand up to wipe away the tears that were leaving trails on the man's face.

Magnus paced back and forth in his office, the events of the day bringing so much damn confusion, but he needed to figure it out. He’d been invited to a party at the Hunter’s Moon tonight and he knew all of the downworlders that were going, but Alec had invited him, and he didn’t even RECOGNIZE the man. He felt something in his pocket, and when he looked down, it was practically GLOWING. He reached his hand into his pocket, his fingers wrapping around a small object, and he pulled it out. He felt like a brick wall had hit him in the face when he pulled the object out to look at it. A thousand memories came at him at one hundred miles an hour, and he heard a voice in the back of his head. It was Alexander’s voice.

“Seventeen? That’s not- wait. Seventeen… hundred?” “Seventeen thousand?”

“I couldn’t ever have what I wanted. Until you came along.”

“I hear relationships take effort.” “Well, I’m all for effort.”

“Magnus- I- I love you.” “I love you too, Alexander.”

“This is the fourth morning I’ve woken up to an empty bed.”

“There is nothing ugly about you.”

“Magnus, they’re beautiful. You’re beautiful.”

“The key to having no fear is having nothing to lose.” “And then I met you.”

Magnus felt tears falling down his face, his grip tight on the omamori charm in his hand, and he collapsed on the floor. The tears were tears of happiness. He was thrilled he could actually remember. He couldn’t imagine a life where he never met Alexander. How could he have ever forgotten his Alexander?

#I DIDNT KNOW HOW TO END IT #and it's really long as it is #but here ya go #mickey tag #warlockragnors #liz's prompt party #my writing #malec #malec fic #shadowhunters #i hope this lives up to what you requested? #hsdrhf #it ended kinda happy #magnus got his memories back!!! #idk how #if i continue this maybe i'll explain how?