TMR+

| Ajani Parker | Asha Johar | | Hugo Weasley | Raleigh Byrne | | Zola Flanagan|

[othertmrkids]

tmrfrank​:

“You make me happy,” he quickly chimes in, unable to let the comment go without making something clear. He brings a hand up to stroke the cheek of a man who doesn’t deserve the pain he’s so clearly feeling. The pain Colton inflicted. He had been a fool for thinking that love was enough to shield Ajani from the inevitable, being sucked into the black hole of Colton’s chaos. How could he ever forgive himself for this? 

“This isn’t about that, about what makes me happy. If it was, I wouldn’t be doing this.” If it was, I’d be with you. “This is just something I need to do by myself right now. I need to stop fucking around and focus everything on getting better.” Colton couldn’t shake the image of them in ruins because he was too selfish to let go. The truth, that he could see now but was unwilling to before, is that Ajani was always going to get caught in the crossfire of the war in Colton’s mind. It doesn’t matter how much he loves him. 

Colton doesn’t know at what point he started crying, but it suddenly becomes evident to him that he is when, for just a moment, he finds it hard to catch his breath. He’s suddenly aware of the salt streaming from his eyes and shakes his head at himself, wishing he was stronger. Ajani always deserved better.

“I think this is something we need.” He wipes his face, a mixed success at cleaning himself up. He does the same for Ajani, fingers brushing away evidence of Colton’s broken promise. The kiss that follows is his heart taking the reins. “I love you.” As if that will make a difference. “I love you.” Another kiss, another meaningless phrase. They’re the only words he can muster up. “I love you.” He’s a broken record, skipping and skipping and skipping. “I love you.”

For every second Ajani had spent earlier, adamant that he was too strong to look down from Colton and their reality, he spends one now refusing to look back up. His clouded vision finds itself fixed on a spot of bare skin by Colton’s hip, raised in a small scar that Ajani himself had inadvertently caused months ago during a play fighting mishap in their kitchen. Quickly slipping away from him is the image of Colton’s cheeky smirk at the time, insisting he was never going to let this one go. In its place, the knowledge alone that Colton is shedding tears right alongside him is beginning to burn holes in the brightness that the thought of them usually brings. 

Ajani barely hears Colton’s insistence that their relationship makes him happy over the sound of his own choked up sob but he still nods, because what is he if not understanding? What is he if not susceptible to the instinct to lean into Colton’s touch? The implication that Colton has been “fucking around” all this time isn’t one that Ajani can dwell on for long amid his seas of overanalyzed and hypercritical thoughts. Instead he nods again, leaning into the gesture that allows Colton’s hand to brush his cheek just a little more. 

The insistence that this is what’s best for both of them sparks an unexpected restlessness in Ajani and for the briefest of moments he wants to argue. Colton’s fingers burn on his skin in places where they’re meant to soothe, and at the tip of Ajani’s tongue sits his own insistence that he doesn’t need this. He doesn't need to have his heart broken or the hope stolen out of his chest. He doesn’t need them to be apart, he doesn't need any of that, he just needs…he needs…

The first kiss renders Ajani breathless, as though they weren’t doing this and more earlier. But things were different then, their eyes, their words, their kisses different. They were together then, they were going to spend the rest of their lives together then. Ajani didn’t hesitate to return I love yous then. He just needs…

The second kiss begins to melt the firmness that Ajani had committed to focusing that hip scar. His chin chases the right tilt so he can fit properly against Colton’s reckless mouth. Perhaps if it was busy it wouldn’t continue making Ajani’s silence so damning. He collides into the next kiss, meeting it halfway to blur the sound in his throat, so different from the ones that involuntarily left him before. And the fourth kiss is just a hyphen to the last, an extension that Ajani can’t bring himself to let go of.

And when the dampness between their cheeks and the taste of it between their tongues brings his stomach to a rolling boil, Ajani suddenly circles his arms around Colton’s neck. He pulls his body close to the other man’s, straddling Colton’s lap in a way he has so many times before. But now he’s interrupted their frenzied kisses so he can press his bare chest to Colton’s and feel their hearts beat in tandem one more time. So he can hook his chin over the older’s shoulder and finally be free of his eyes. Now more than ever, his frame feels so very small in Colton’s hold as he shudders away the tears, fighting to maintain what will remain of him after tonight. 

God, he doesn’t need this. Not after everything he’s overcome to grow into the man he was when he met Colton. Not after learning to love his own smile and accept that others can love it too. He doesn’t need to feel himself sinking back into that muddled place of lovelessness he called home before. He doesn’t. God, what he needs is…

Ajani stills the tremble in his fingertips with a deep inhale. And as he exhales a cooling breath, he drags his touch lightly up the back of Colton’s neck. His lips, still salty to the taste, lower to Colton’s naked shoulder, pressing hotly against his skin once, twice, tracking their way up towards the man’s throat. He feels something sharp twinging inside of himself to swipe his tongue against Colton’s pulse and his other hand, eager to join in being even a little more elated in this moment, begins caressing at Colton scarred hip. It’s easier to picture his cheeky smirk now. Feeling that the only thing that can cure his breathlessness now will be the oxygen straight from Colton’s lungs, Ajani moves his mouth up the man’s jaw. And as he begs for permission by the corner of his lover’s lips, Ajani intentionally pulls his body ever closer, ever warmer, ever longingly to the other man. 

He just needs Colton.

[othertmrkids]

chelstmrangst​:

Sloane wasn’t the kind of person that minded being left alone at a bar with a group of strangers, most people were strangers anyway. She’d been avoiding drinks the entire night on account that her body was still suffering from the night before, but the last thing she wanted is look like a little bitch in front of all of Nash’s teammates. She could shrug off drinks from him all night, but when Indra came up to her she clenched her jaw. “I’ll have what you’re having.” She hated surprises, but nothing sounded appealing right now. “You’re Indra.” If she was wrong she sure didn’t sound like it. 

“And you’re Sloane,” Indra nods simply, catching the other’s eyes briefly before gesturing to the bartender for another. “Normally, it’s some form of whiskey on the rocks for me, but I lost a bet to Diederich earlier and all he wanted with his miniature puppy dog heart was for me to finally try this 7 liquor cocktail that apparently tastes like juice.” As the bartender places another mason jar filled with a glittery purple drink before her, Indra slides it in Sloane’s direction. “So we’re about to fuck around and find out together and if it’s shit Diederich can pay double the hell for it.” Lifting her own glass for a subtle clink against Sloane’s, Indra goes in for quite a healthy sip despite any reservations, also unwilling to be a little bitch in any regard. 

[othertmrkids]

chelstmrangst​:

Had Fraser managed a sip of his Sherry before stepping into the cold air surrounding the bar, maybe, just maybe he might’ve been able to brush off his dizziness to the alcohol. Bo had stuttered out prose on privacy, on being here tonight as a ‘we’, as a pairing, together, but Fraser was no longer sure what together meant for them. He was no longer sure what together had ever meant for them, if they’d been leaning on two different definitions to the same word, denotation dependent on circumstance. When Fraser felt himself stumble to his heel at the brush of the stranger’s shoulder, mixed with the cool trickle of blood from his nose, mixed with the muffled sound of Bo’s voice over the doorway music, he had nearly lost his sense of place. 

He was brought back solely by the coarse, familiar feel of skin against his skin. He knew those hands, the touch of them, the overworked grit of them, the clean curve of the nail. These were hands that had touched him before, hands that had touched him everywhere, and while usually his skin would tingle and rile from underneath at the stroke of them, this time he felt his chest swell and deflate—afraid to float. He finally looked over at Bo as those hands, those hands he thought, Bo’s hands found way to his cheek. The blood ceased and cleared. Fraser drowned in a rare rinse of being taken care of. He knew the man didn’t need to touch him, but had chosen to. Before Bo pulled his hand back Fraser thought not of what they were or weren’t, of whether Bo would continue to hide him, but only of the physical truth as it stood before him: regardless of what had transpired tonight, this was a man who cared for him.

This wasn’t a thought he could sit in long. 

Fraser was convinced he’d solved the problem, twice, but Bo clearly didn’t have intentions to make it easy for him. Panic tightened his chest as the other man listed options for Fraser to choose from, and his eyes darted from Bo’s shoulder to his chin to his abdomen to the lobe of his right ear to his face again. His throat dried and tightened and while the sentiment of being wanted by Bo should have eased him that hadn’t been part of what nerved him to begin with. Fraser hadn’t been concerned about whether or not Bo wanted to be with him, he at least knew this much. What truth Fraser lacked was whether or not Bo wanted to be with him enough. 

Fraser found himself overwhelmed and exhausted. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had asked him what he wanted, let alone what he needed. In the brief breaths between Bo’s questions Fraser tried to breath, as though he was using Bo’s shuttering chest as a guide. I don’t know. He panicked. Fraser didn’t like not knowing what to do. I don’t know. I don’t know. Tell me what you need. “I don’t know!” Fraser finally let out, and instantly put his hand to his head and turned away, but only briefly enough to inhale and turn back with a weighted adrenaline. He was both high-strung and strung-out. “I don’t know what I need. You know-” this was hard for him, he felt seen but in the naked way, where Bo had stripped him and gifted him what he’d always craved but at a time where he couldn’t eat it. But he knew what he wanted.

“I want to leave. I’m tired, Bo. I don’t feel good,” a hand rested against his stomach, but he said it as though he was trying to convince. “But I don’t want to see you hurt. I mean, I don’t want you to be hurt. I don’t want you to be alone.” Tonight, he meant, but did not add. Ever, he also meant: to have no one, no tens to crawl to in the morning. Fraser’s instinct once more was to stick to his original plan, to go home with a man he missed, one that felt distant to him despite standing before him. He almost reached for this option before taking a shallow breath and fixing his gaze on the Bo’s face, his thumping heartbeat calming to a patter. Once he relaxed, a realization settled. He didn’t know what he needed, or what he wanted, but he also didn’t know the next time someone would give him the chance to decide. He feared if he didn’t take it now, he wouldn’t ever find out. “I can walk you back.” he offered, let it sit before he finished, “I want to.” he clarified. “….But I don’t know if I can stay.” Tonight, he meant, but did not add.

It was his training as an immovable federal agent that kept Raleigh’s expression perfectly even as Fraser’s voice rose. Otherwise, he might have flinched in the face of such clear distress dealt by him to someone he so desperately wanted the opposite for. But as it stood, Raleigh could not look away from the man unraveling before him. His narrowed eyes were stuck on what he’d done to the sweet tone of voice Fraser usually took with him, where he’d banished Fraser’s quiet laugh and bright eyes to. He had scrambled a man who took joy in the simplest things in life and asked for little in return. 

Raleigh felt sick too but he wouldn’t mention it. It didn’t matter the very same way that it didn’t matter whether he was hurt or not. Even in his own suffering, Fraser was being generous with him but Raleigh had been hurt and alone a thousand times before, and he’d be so a thousand times again. It was alright. Truly, it was alright, one grew comfortable in such an environment eventually. But if Fraser felt unwell, felt hurt and alone then it mattered, god, it mattered. 

Raleigh shook his head at Fraser’s offer and opened his mouth to support the gesture, but found his breath shaken. He had decided so suddenly what he was going to do, what he had to do, that he hadn’t allowed himself to come to grips with what it would mean for him- for them. He was committed to following through, of course, but that didn’t mean he could do without a moment to look down and blink back the mess of emotions that had gripped his chest their entire time outside.

His chin moved side to side again. “I know you want to, because you don’t want me to be alone… But if you don’t feel okay then you shouldn’t be either. Let me bring you home. And when you’re alright I’ll go.”

It was a well practiced skill of his, taking away the weight of being the one to leave. Even still, there was nothing Raleigh wanted more than to stick to Fraser’s plan to walk. They could still breathe the same air, bump shoulders, look upon each other while they still had the chance. They could take the time to slowly untangle the parts of themselves that they’d willingly handed to one another. Maybe, they could even exchange a few more words that would save them.

But Fraser was tired, Fraser had begged to leave, Fraser had physically broken down. So instead, Raleigh laid a light hand around his elbow, “Will you be alright to apparate?”

[othertmrkids]

tmrfrank​:

“I have a lot that I need to say so I just need you to let me get through it and then you can… you know, yell at me or say whatever you have to. Just please let me finish first.” He knows his preface to everything he’s about to say is not reassuring in the slightest, but he needs to say it. If Ajani doesn’t let him get through it all, he’s scared he won’t. His heart feels heavy with the words he has yet to say, the same ones that have been littering his mind in preparation for this. He almost threw them away for another night with the half-naked beauty in front of him, but his self control has been surprisingly good tonight. For his sake, for their sake. Colton brings his hand to rest on top of Ajani’s, already placed on his other one. I’m sorry for what I’m about to do. Please, don’t hate me.

“You know I love you. I love more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. You’re the sweetest man I’ve ever known and I’m thankful everyday that you chose me, that you choose me.” He needs Ajani to know that none of that has changed. Colton’s eyes retreat down to their hands. “I’m sorry again, for everything. For when you found me, for when I left, for what I did after.” He knows no amount of apologies can make up for it all, but they come spewing out of him anyway. “Rehab was a bitch, it always is, but I know I needed it. People think once you come out you’re good, you know? That you’re fixed or something. I used to think that. Truth is that it’s just the start.” There’s so much he’s realized about what the rest of his life is probably going to look like, how frustrating his situation is, but bringing any of that up will just derail this. 

“I think I was leaning on you too much.” His voice is quieter. It’s something he talked a lot about while he was in rehab and he’s curious if Ajani will have a reaction to it. “That’s not fair to you. But I know you and I know that’s not something you’re worried about. You’ll let me and you’ll be happy to do it and… I love you for that, but I can’t do that again.” He forces himself to look at Ajani, to not let himself cower away from this next part, from the rest of it. “I guess, what I’m getting at is that I… right now, I need to be selfish. I need to focus on the meetings and therapy and taking my medication and all the other bullshit that comes with this and somehow on top of that also be a person and not lose my fucking mind. I need to just focus on me.” He’s gonna hate me.

“I… I can’t do that and be with you. I just can’t. I can’t be selfish with you. I don’t know how. There’s just no way I can be a good boyfriend to you right now, probably for a while. And you don’t deserve that. That’s not fair to you.” Up to this point, he’s managed to keep it together. The first cracks in his tough exterior show with cracks in his voice, causing him to clear his throat. It doesn’t help. “I love you to death but if I’m ever going to get out of this loop I’m stuck in, I have to be by myself. It’s the best thing for me right now.”

Ajani nods quickly and compliantly when he’s asked not to interrupt, despite the anxiety injected in him at Colton’s assumption that he’ll react negatively. He inhales deeply through his nose, still fighting to show how attentive he is, how ready he is for however harrowing a journey Colton wants them to brave together. 

I love you too, he almost whispers when Colton says it first. But he was told to remain silent and so he does. With his heart lodged so firmly in his throat, Ajani isn’t sure if any sound would have come out of him anyway. And though Colton looks away from him as he speaks on, Ajani’s eyes remain firm on his boyfriend, adamant that he isn’t too fragile for conversations like this. He’s never looked away when things were hard between them, never the one to apparate away, and he won’t be now either. 

He thinks that perhaps the reason his eyes are growing watery is because his blinks are far and in between, insistent that he won’t look away when they’re so low. But as Colton apologizes for the very series of events that brought them here to begin with, it becomes undeniable that his vision is blurred with tears of heartbreak. Surely, because it’s still difficult to think about all of the feelings surrounding Colton’s disappearance, ones he can barely talk about even after months of stewing with them. But also because right about now, his all too active mind is beginning to piece together where this conversation is going. 

“Oh…” A shaky, involuntary and breathless sound escapes him when Colton says he was leaning on their relationship too much. The next explanations to leave Colton are like an avalanche, working together as an undeniable force to make an undeniable point. Ajani can barely see through the pooled up heat in his eyes, but it’s only when Colton’s voice gives in that Ajani takes a quaking breath that spills his tears over. And even so, he looks directly at Colton. Brows and lips and chin and fingers quivering, Ajani still stares, willing himself to be firm for several seconds even after Colton finishes speaking. And then…he can’t take it anymore.

All this time, Ajani had been telling himself there was no point in allowing a meltdown to sneak through the cracks of the trials they’d been enduring since Colton’s overdose. Telling himself that all he had to do was count down the minutes and seconds till they could be together again, and once he made it to today, he would be home free. But now he’s here and the hope he’d clung desperately to is gone, replaced by everything he didn’t let himself feel before. Every little twinge and hurt that that he had foolishly thought would be erased when he had his boyfriend back, floods forth now. And when Ajani finally looks down, the tears roll seamlessly off his cheeks, dripping onto the bedsheet between them without a second’s pause.

He nods with great effort, not knowing what to say. Wanting so much to beg Colton to choose him too, wanting to argue that things will be better with his support during this healing process but Colton said the opposite himself. He sounded so sure that Ajani was detrimental to his healing and how could he fight that? How could he beg when Colton himself believed that they would be harmful to his healing process? He wants to say so much but only nods unsteadily. None of it matters, none of his words about this matter.

Ajani draws short, abrupt inhales through his nose, shoulders shaking from the effort of keeping his breakdown contained, because if he’s sobbing, if he’s hysterical, well that would make Colton uncomfortable and wracked with guilt, wouldn’t it? When the man is already going through so much, how could Ajani pile guilt on top of that? 

When he finally speaks, the sound is oxygen deprived. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that I-“ was bad for you. “I want you to be happy-“ even if it’s without me. “Colton-”

Are you sure? He wants to ask, but he knows the answer already. Colton wouldn’t have done this to them lightly. Even during his lowest moment, in a haze in their living room, seconds from fleeing into the darkness of his addiction, Ajani was sure Colton hadn’t done so lightly.

“If this is what-“ you want. Ajani braves a glance back up in Colton’s direction, but to see that they’re suffering together chokes the thought on his mind. He can only nod. He can only whisper, “If this is what you need…”

[othertmrkids]

tmrfrank​:

There’s nothing surprising about the ferality that Ajani exhibits, despite Colton’s statement. He doesn’t have any context, no indication of the anxieties that are plaguing Colton’s mind. With each moment of intimacy, each kiss, Colton can feel himself slipping further. There is nothing he wants more than to give in to his deepest desire, to push Ajani back onto the bed and spend the rest of his life intertwined in their bedsheets. 

There’s a fleeting moment, where he considers pushing back their conversation. He might never get a chance to do this again, just more evidence of life’s cruelty. Would it be so horrible for them to spend one more night together? Colton knows the answer because he’s gone over it countless times already. If there is any evidence that he’s an addict, it’s hidden in the rationalizing his brain is attempting to do. 

Just one more time… one more day? One more hit. That’s all he needs. Then, maybe he would be ready to cut his heart to pieces. Life has already thrown so much shit at him, so much pain and abuse. He deserves this, doesn’t he? It’s just sex. He’ll be breaking Ajani’s heart either way, might as well wait until after they can enjoy each other again…. right?

Colton looks down at Ajani, his beautiful brown eyes looking up at him for approval. Instead, Colton leans down to kiss his boyfriend with passion that’s rivaled their most intense moments. He knows by the time that he pulls away that he can’t go any further with him, not before he rids himself of the guilt he’s holding. Not until he says what he needs to say. Not until he lets him go.

“I’m being serious,” Colton says without a hint of a smile. He sits back and maneuvers himself into a crossed legged position, a heavy sigh from his mouth. All he can do is hope that Ajani can stand to look at him after all this. Which is funny, because Colton’s having a hard time with that already. “Believe me, I want this too but… we need to talk.”

The blissful laugh that initially sparks onto Ajani’s lips from Colton’s kiss is smothered only by the passion that Colton brings into it. His boyfriend’s intensity sweeps over him, weakening him in ways he’s always welcomed, and damn if he doesn’t want to just melt into Colton’s arms, into his very heart and soul. After all this time, he’s grown to love feeling drunk on nothing but Colton’s deepest affections. 

Even upon hearing Colton assert that he’s serious, Ajani nearly teases away the sentiment, insisting that he’s serious too- about getting laid, that is. But when Colton backs up enough for their eyes to meet, every trace of joy has been sucked out of them and the sight suddenly hollows Ajani too. His heart sinks along with his smile, slow and heavy with a twist in his gut that he hasn’t felt since finding Colton high in their home. 

Abruptly pulled out of the glitter of their celebratory reunion, Ajani realizes he’s staring at Colton wide-eyed, like he’s been caught in headlights. “Sorry,” he mumbles, biting his lip in worry that maybe Colton had actually been trying to open up to him about the hard parts for once. The things he never talked about before rehab that may have given Ajani some kind of indication at all of what was to come. He felt terrible to think that he was steam rolling Colton’s attempts at vulnerability with so much careless lightheartedness. 

“Sorry. We can talk,” he repeats quietly, reaching out a hand to place gingerly over the back of Colton’s in a show of support. Are you okay? He wants to ask, curling his fingers around the other man’s palm. But he doesn’t want to say the wrong thing again, doesn’t want to simply assume that Colton is struggling even after his two months away. “What’s going on?” Ajani asks instead, fixing his eyes back on Colton’s to prove that he’s completely willing to listen and be there for him now.

[othertmrkids]

tmrfrank​:

Colton only manages holding off a little while before he and Ajani are intertwined on the couch, hands and tongues making up for lost time. He’s missed this, missed him, and so much so that he’s fighting his own goddamn morals for another kiss and another grab until he finally respects his own boundary. It feels right to be in their bed again, half naked and on his way to pleasing the only man he’s ever loved this much… but Colton knows better than to trust himself in moments like this. In the middle of a kiss, Colton wraps an arm around the man straddling him and flips the both of them over. He pushes against the bed, now sitting up and looking down at Ajani. His hands make their way to the exposed skin at Ajani’s waist and he gives him a small squeeze. Will this be the last time he’s given the privilege of gazing at him this way? Only one way to find out. He knows if he doesn’t do this now.. he might never do it at all. “Ajani, we need to talk. You know, before we get too carried away.”

Ajani is wracked with excitement. He’s barely managing between the nerves of anticipation vibrating through him and the butterflies that Colton’s touch gives him even now. Even three long months since the last. Ajani’s expression fluctuates between framing the moans of sheer desire on his lips to housing small smiles, soft laughs that betray him and fall into Colton’s mouth to feel so overtly loved once more. It’s one such senseless giggle that leaves him when Colton flips them over, Ajani’s arms beginning to reach around his boyfriend so they can kiss from the new angle. But Colton sits up out of reach and Ajani is sure that he’s pouting despite himself. He busies himself with running his hands down Colton’s stomach, down towards the hard lines leading to his pelvis. He rolls his hips up into the touch that Colton offers him and licks his lips, barely able to focus on the words that are so painstakingly delivered to him. 

“Hmm...” Ajani mumbles at first, knowing they had been very eager indeed to get back into it. And sure there are a lot of things in their relationship that need to be ironed out and worked through, but they have always done such things successfully. They always found a way out of the messy and hurtful parts side by side, so he was sure this would be no different. They would have all the time in the world to talk and figure their lives back out. “Mhm,” Ajani chuckles as he sits up too, wrapping his arms around Colton’s back to be able to hold himself up. He leans in to kiss at Colton’s neck and then collarbone, trailing down to his pec before glancing up at the man cheekily to gauge his reaction at being so readily adored. 

[othertmrkids]

more | ace&yulia

It was hard to miss how Yulia Anokhin lit up at the first sign of company after a long night of restlessness. And even harder to miss the dart of her gaze over Ace’s shoulder to catch sight of anyone following behind him through her hospital room door. Of course, there was no one and Ace subsequently watched her eyes drop to her hands before realizing she had an audience to keep. 

“Ace, hi!” Yulia beamed for him, respecting the nickname he’d introduced himself by, rather than what her brother insisted on referring to him as. And Ace gave her the satisfaction of seeing someone light right back up for her, “Yulia, hi!” 

She laughed quietly and Ace felt a warmth at bringing a smile to her face that he was never quite able to achieve with either of his own siblings. “How are you feeling?” He asked as he took a seat beside her bed. To which she offered honestly, “Awful,” though the smile on her lips didn’t fade and neither did his. 

“Well, that’s warranted,” Ace sighed deeply, brows raising in a manner that let Yulia know she wouldn’t have to upkeep the pleasantries with him. Not if she didn’t want to, not if she didn’t need it to cope. “You have taken a bit of a physical, emotional, and maybe even spiritual pounding if you believe in fate and all that.” 

Yulia had to chuckle. “Yeah, all of the above.” And then, just as Ace noticed the fidget of her fingers on her lap, she added, “How’s my brother?” 

There was no right answer so Ace chose to go with, “Stubborn,” and again, Yulia laughed. But as she began to agree, Ace spoke over her with a pointed, “Same as you.” That dampened her demeanor slightly but she only shrugged at the accusation, “You’re not going to convince me to let it go, Ace.” 

Ace couldn’t bite back his fond smile. “You are so his sister, you know. Through and through. I don’t know what this other guy’s like but if he’s anything like you two, it’s a good thing you haven’t tracked him down yet. For my sake.” 

Despite Ace’s joke, Yulia’s eyes drifted. She looked for a moment as though she might apologize for the secrecy but decided against it, remaining loyal to her faith in her brother’s choices. 

“I’m not trying to convince you to let it go, by the way,” Ace sighed.

“Brother said you are.”

“I want you safe and him happy,” Ace insisted, brows raised at the quickness of her rebuttal. “That’s all.” 

“Very diplomatic of you, Aeson,” Yulia rolled her eyes, now choosing to enunciate his name in a tease as her brother so often did. 

But Ace was quick to cut down the statement. “Don’t call me that. I’m a junior, that’s my father’s name and I can’t stand it. Radimir, he’s something fierce, something magical and he loves me through the mess in my head when I hear my own name. But otherwise it just reminds me of the man that used to beat the shit out of me and my kid siblings when we were growing up.” His voice was matter of fact, devoid of the feeling that he was explaining some of the hardest things in this life for him to even come to terms with, let alone talk about. And he even let Yulia flounder for a bit, open her mouth and close it again to figure how one might respond to such revelations. 

But then he presented her with an out from the tension. “Your turn. What’s your big bad hang up? Why is this so important to you that you’d fight even your brother about it?” With laser focus in his eyes he waited, as he sometimes did with the older of the two Anokhin siblings.

Yulia weighed her options, of which there were few, looking anywhere but at Ace’s unmoving gaze for a while. And then she sighed. “Because I don’t have any part of my mom for myself. Nothing. Everything I have is Radimir’s or my aunt and uncle’s or my grandparents’...and I’ve heard it all and pictured it all a thousand times already. Every story, every little memory, I’ve played in my head since I was a kid, hoping there’ll be more every time but…there’s only so much. And Mikhail…he might have more. He might have nothing too, like me, but then I could give him something so he doesn’t have nothing either.” 

Yulia finally caught Ace’s eyes and hers glistened now, her voice quieting to an uncharacteristic whisper as she admitted, “It sucks having nothing, Ace.”

Ace nodded immediately, not because he could ever quite know her loss, but because everything in him ached for her, just as it did any time Radimir hurt before him. He slid a hand over the back of Yulia’s and squeezed his fingers around her lightly. With his voice dropped low and his brows furrowed, he willed himself to focus on the matter at hand rather than slipping under the weight of how deeply his heart went out to these siblings. Tightening his hold, Ace implored, “Why didn’t you tell your brother that?” 

“Why didn’t he listen long enough to find out?” 

Ace took a breath. Her response had been instantaneous; she’d been wondering the answer since the last time they’d seen one another and had come up short.

“Because he’s scared…” Ace answered reluctantly, his expression narrowed in a manner of understanding the risk he was taking in speaking so vulnerably. “He always gets this way when he’s afraid, he got this way when he was afraid for me too. The instinct to protect someone you love is blinding, Yulia. It’s stronger than any force on this earth, it’s illogical, it’s selfish, it’s so much to process that…I don’t think he always has space to listen when it’s happening. But…if there’s one thing I know about your brother then it’s that his love is bigger than his anger. And his sheer force of will-” He intentionally paused his sentence as a watery chuckle burst out of Yulia. “Yeah, that’s right, there’s something greater than his stubbornness. I know that and you do too.”

Yulia nodded, dragging the heel of her palm across her eyes and Ace took the opportunity of her being preoccupied to continue. “I’m not saying you have to give up on finding something more, or giving more, if that’s what it comes to. Just…wait until some of this mess blows over. Please. Don’t give him more of a reason to be afraid, at least not right now.” 

Yulia opened her mouth but Ace didn’t wait to hear if she would agree or protest. “You know how curious he is too,” he insisted. “How important it is to him to have all the facts. He’ll come around, just when he doesn’t have to be so worried. And this time, I’ll be there to help out too, you have my word. But for now, you have to focus on getting better, alright? We’ll be better as a team, the three of us. But only if you’re well enough to join and we’re all on reasonably speaking terms.”

Ace let out a breath, shoulders easing as he finally got his point across. Neither of them had realized how impassioned he would grow over his plea and they both fell into a lapse of silence over it. 

“You know right?” She found the courage to begin in a tone so hushed it seemed reserved for confessions. “You know that I didn’t mean to hurt him?”

Ace blinked, reading the guilt off of Yulia as easily as he could from her brother. “I do,” he granted her reprieve, though with a stipulation. “And even if he does too, I think it would be good to hear anyway. Alright?”

Yulia seemed hesitant at the notion of facing her brother again so soon, much less in some form of apology. But that didn’t deter Ace’s gaze, wiling to allow her time but ultimately pressing her for confirmation that she understood what was at stake. There was a strength in her eyes as well, a look Ace was very much accustomed to being fixed with. But eventually, Yulia released a large sigh, rolling her eyes with the aid of her chin and her shoulders as well. “Alright, alright…”

“Alright.” Ace nodded, running a relieved hand through his hair to know he wouldn’t have to push his case any further, for now at least. He expected to catch his breath in the next moments as they both came to terms with what they’d agreed upon, but Yulia wasn’t finished with him just yet. 

Realizing that her hand still rested under his, Yulia gave his fingers, curled loosely around hers, several quick squeezes to pull his attention, “Ace?”

Bright blue eyes flashed upward as Ace let out a small acknowledgement of, “Hm?”

“The next time you call my brother magical better be during your wedding vows.”

The corners of Ace’s eyes creased right away with the smile that appeared on his lips. Yulia could almost swear he was reddened by the statement, though she was more curious as to why he was shaking his head than a tease over his complexion. 

“No promises,” the older chuckled, running his fingers in a familiar gesture of comfort over his beard. “I might slip a couple in before.”

The blossom of Yulia’s smile mirrored the one she’d aimed at her brother weeks ago over a restaurant table in the company of the very same man she sat with now. Even for someone as forthcoming and outspoken as her, words couldn’t do her gratefulness for him justice. And she hoped Radimir felt the same. 

"Now...” Ace interrupted her thoughts as he shifted in his seat to reach into his pocket, “we have more more important business to tend to.” The get well soon gift that he withdrew brightened Yulia’s features even more than his initial entrance into her room. “Careful, careful!” he warned through his laugh as the chocolate frog box was snatched precariously from his hands. He marveled to see her glimmer in even the darkest of times and without looking up from her mission to secure her frog, Yulia made a request so simply, so sincerely that Ace never had a choice but to concede. 

“Stay with me for a while?” 

[othertmrkids]

with open arms | reed&finch (college au)

All of Finch’s life, it had been the little things. Like asking from Reed’s door if he was busy and being met with an instant, “No, come in.” Things like watching the man set aside all of his papers and notebooks, scattered across his bed on a clear deadline. Finch had leapt across that bed since he was a child, skittering to a halt just before colliding with the wall, his twin’s laughter in tandem with his own. But today, he sat neatly beside Reed, tucking his legs crisscross under himself as he often did in his most unsure moments. It was the little things, like Reed shifting to match the posture, and then waiting with kind eyes for Finch to be ready.

“I think I’ve been kinda rude lately,” Finch began, his gaze angled toward his lap rather than the pleasantly surprised man beside him. The maturity he was being approached with moved Reed to prompt, “What makes you say that?”

“Because I miss you,” Finch spoke through a burdened sigh. “And Ms. Hughes told me that sometimes when people are scared we do stuff that makes people we love feel far away.”

Relieved as he was that Finch’s guidance counselor, who Reed had met on the odd occasion, was providing the boy with sound advice, he couldn’t help his heartache for Finch’s growing self-awareness. “I miss you too, buddy,” he admitted earnestly before adding, “Can I ask what’s scaring you so much?”

Finch chewed on his lower lip and then, “Benji didn’t already tell you?”

The worry of perception was a harrowing feeling even for someone his age, and to know Finch was experiencing it currently narrowed Reed’s eyes. “He talked to me a little bit about what’s going on, but I’d like to hear it from you so I know the whole story. Is that okay?”

Finch nodded but didn’t speak, his heart beating in his ears in wonder of how the words on the tip of his tongue would be received. So Reed offered him one more gentle nudge, “Is it something to do with mine and Benji’s relationship?”

Finch nodded again. “People don’t stick around here, Reed,” he mumbled, eyes fixed to his lap. “People always go and they always take Benji’s whole heart with them. Every single time. And he gets sadder and sadder because he was hoping they weren’t gonna go and I was hoping they weren’t gonna go and Sabrina was and Forrest and Jack…” Finch’s rapidly growing, lanky shoulders rose and fell with a heavy breath. “And I know you’re our best friend but if things get weird with Benji and you have to go…” He bit his lip again, unable to finish the sentence full of detrimental possibilities that he’d been mulling over since his initial conversation with his older brother.

“Finch…” Reed reached a hand to the middle of Finch’s back as permission before he began moving it in slow circles. “I can promise you with my whole heart that I will never do anything to hurt your brother. Either of them. Or your sisters. Or you.” His chest felt screwed tight with the gravity of his sentiments, paired with the intense responsibility he felt over Finch’s well being. But still, he pushed himself to give to Finch what he knew few had before. “I love Benji so much that I plan on being with him till I physically can’t anymore. But, if something happens out of our control, I still don’t plan on leaving you kids behind, ever.” Finch’s eyes had begun watering a few syllables ago but Reed wasn’t yet finished. “Because however much love I have for Benji, you’re privy to also. Every one of you. It’s not just for him, it’s yours to have too, if you’ll take it. Do you understand?” 

Despite working hard to piece together why tears were threatening him in the first place, Finch nodded. He had to. There were few times in his life he could acknowledge a feeling so clearly as what Reed described. Sniffles escaped him as though he were still eight years old, unable to keep up with his twin’s roughhousing with the man beside him, defeated in thinking he was on the verge of being left out of one more good thing in this life. 

Back then, Reed had showed Finch that he wasn’t less than for needing to take things one step at a time, and this time he told him. “It’s alright to be overwhelmed and even a little sad at things changing around you, you know. Everyone feels this way at some point or another, especially with so much going on.” 

“You don’t.” The two words, spoken as Finch dragged a tiring arm across his eyes, took Reed somewhat aback. “I’ve never seen you sad or scared or empty,” the boy’s tone was so matter-of-fact.

A slow breath passed Reed’s lips, and with it rushed memories of the sister who was so blindsided by his departure from their family because of how carefully he’d shielded each of his struggles. He’d spent years wondering how much harm he’d done over good in keeping his truest self from her and he refused to do the same with Finch.

“...A few months ago, before I graduated I had a really hard talk with Mei,” Reed began, licking his lips to gather his own bearings on something he had never quite said aloud before. “She’d been really wanting me to move to New York for a while because that’s what couples do, they find every way to be close no matter what. But every time I thought about living over there my stomach felt like it was sinking. It was one of the worst sadnesses I’ve known and even though it took some time, do you know what I realized was making me feel so scared and so, so empty?”

Finch, entranced by a peek into things he’d never been allowed before, shook his head slightly, a small, mesmerized part to his mouth.

“Knowing that if I picked up and took my life to New York, I would have to leave all of you. And yes, the thought of being without Benji hurt because some of the best parts of my days were made of him. But you kids…I knew having me here made you smile just as much as it made me. I knew that everything I’d ever done for you, each of you kids always gave back to me in full, in your own special way and I…I couldn’t give that up for anything. Everything terrifying and heartbreaking that I felt all pointed in one direction; that I couldn’t move to New York. Not because of Benji’s love, which I didn’t think could be mine back then- but because of yours.”

A light tap to Finch’s chest from two of Reed’s fingers made him feel breathless for a moment, glancing down at the gesture as he wondered what it meant to be so important to someone simply by existing. He had only been told such things by one other person in his life and she stirred nothing less than love out of him, no matter how little time they’d known one another.

Finch didn’t know what the right answer to Reed’s unbridled honesty was, so he blurted out the thing he meant the most instead. “I’m really glad you stayed with us.” And then added, in a show that he’d grown more than he’d ever give himself credit for, “I’m sorry you were sad. And that you had to choose.” 

Reed couldn’t keep the gratified smile out of his voice if he wanted to. “It’s alright, buddy. Trust me, it was worth it.”

Finch seemed accepting of the statement, thinking it through for a few moments before finding Reed’s eyes to comment on something else that had caught his attention. “Benji does love you.”

Reed couldn’t help his fond chuckle. “Oh yeah? How do you figure that?”

Something in Finch’s demeanor dropped, including the gaze that returned to his hands. “Because everyone makes Benji sad sometimes. Everyone makes him a little bit hurt even when they’re not trying to.” The deep sigh that followed his words made Reed wonder just how often Finch poured over feelings that weren’t his own. “But not you,” Finch continued with a surety that seized up Reed’s chest again, but this time with a tremendous warmth. “You’ve never made him sad. And I just know he’s gotta love you for that.”

The 12-year-old logic was impenetrable and a small smile touched the corners of Reed’s lips, even as he drifted back to those crushing moments he stood across from Benji in a Utah motel parking lot not too long ago. Etched in his mind was the sight of his best friend’s face twisted with frustration and confusion beyond even his own scope of understanding. Undoubtedly Benji was weighed down then and burdened for the days that followed but what came after…

“Finch, sometimes the lonely and hard times are what help us see more clearly on the other side,” Reed took a breath, almost able to feel Benji cautiously hold his hand back over the kitchen table after making the confession of a thousand lifetimes. “And sometimes we have to face what’s scary head on and trust that we’ll be better for it after. So if…you’re worried about talking to your brother about all of this again because you don’t want to make him sad or hurt him again…then know that he’ll be more sad if he can’t talk to you or even have the chance to be better after. Alright?”

Finch only conceded with a quiet, “Alright,” but Reed had known the boy long enough to recognize when he had taken something to heart. He was content to allow Finch his time to process but the younger felt it necessary to add just one more thing. “Sorry about bothering your room time,” he mumbled, referring to the York family term for the rare occasions in which Reed actually spent time within the confines of his own bedroom, away from open access to company.

Reed imagined that the sparks of pride he felt repeatedly through their conversation at how Finch seemed to be growing into a finely formed young man before his very eyes rivaled what actual parents experienced daily. Finally, he leaned over in Finch’s direction and reached an arm around the boy’s shoulders for a hug. He only pulled away to beam at Finch and tell him through a soft laugh, “You know, between you and me, if I play my cards right, Benji might just let me squirrel away in the master bedroom with him sometime soon, so you could be the one who has room time all to yourself sooner than you think.”

The quirk of Finch’s grin mirrored Reed’s but he shrugged anyway. “I don’t mind sharing with Forrest. He’s my favorite person. But I know Benji’s yours so I can just have my favorite person like a neighbor so you can have yours as a roomie.”

“What? Nonsense!” Reed balked. “You’re my favorite, Benji doesn’t stand a chance.”

Finch took a moment to let the smile rest on his face and take in the warm glow that Reed always gazed at him with. And then, instead of retreating as he often did after exerting himself, Finch offered something different. “Can I stay with you and do the sticker thing?”

Reed gave an amused, “Of course,” and reached for his cast aside grading to disperse before them once more, handing over a sticker pad that his teenagers seemed to love the approval of more than any child could. Picking up his pen, Reed asked tenderly, “Will you at least try to talk to Benji when you think you’re ready for it, bud?” 

Finch flipped open the sticker pad and skimmed the different shapes and colors he’d been helping to award students with since his oldest brother first brought home a very dear friend. And almost too much had changed since he had met the man who would, in due time, become just about his third brother. But some things, Finch could always rely on, and perhaps he could at long last, peacefully believe that the home of protective arms around him was one of them. 

Peeling back a black and yellow sticker that read, “Keep It Up!” Finch looked up to Reed and nodded.

[othertmrkids]

tmrmary​:

As much as he was a Ravenclaw, Victor funnily enough was not the most imaginative person. He always left more of that stuff to Vince and Nessa. So it took him a bit to imagine a life where Minnie would have been truly bothered by Victor’s career choice. “No.” He said plainly. “… Don’t get me wrong, I love my job. And I am very good at it… but I love Minnie. I love her more than any job.”

By now, Victor was beginning to have his suspicions over what Ace was trying to get to, even if he didn’t quite understand what it was exactly. He answered with a more hopeful tone, “I’m sure it was. Yeah.” Victor took another sip of his drink, looking at Ace wondering if he would explain himself and his spiraling train of thought. 

Victor’s answer gave Ace a moment of pause, one to think about what it meant to love someone so much that you’d surrender an integral part of yourself for them. He noticed the other man’s pointed expression right away, being able to read those eyes better than many. Deciding it wasn’t worth bullshitting his friend any longer than he had to, Ace sighed.

“Radimir and I got into a-” he almost called it a fight but was it really that when one of them was seething and the other was nearly too shocked at the notion to respond intelligently? “A disagreement at the hospital.” Ace dropped the elusiveness altogether to just come out with what was on his mind, trusting that his friend would listen and understand. “He was incredibly upset with me for responding to everything the way I did, standing up for us rather than running. Almost unforgivably upset it seemed. But call it the senseless Gryffindor in me...I don’t regret a thing. Even if I didn’t stand a chance, the moments spent on me could have bought a few precious more for somebody else, somebody more in need than myself and that, to me, makes it all worth it. And I understand how my partner wouldn’t see it the same way but…” With a quiet breath, Ace reiterated, “I don’t regret it. I believe in the way I am, I believe in people and I’d do it all again the same way, maybe I’d even go into it with double the force.”

Realizing he’d fallen into a spell of tense seriousness, Ace relaxed his features and let a breath pass his lips with an almost petulant sound. He rose to gather his and Victor’s glasses and bring them to the bar for another round. “Impart your worldly wisdom upon me, Vic; would it be smarter to cut the man I love loose in this increasingly tense climate that seems to have no end in sight, knowing I’d just hurt him again and again when the hard choices have to be made? Or do I selfishly cling to his companionship that keeps me sane and just hope that I never have to make a choice like that again?” 

Rinsing their glasses, Ace interrupted his own quandaries momentarily to ask, “Another of the same or should we mix it up?” He allowed a beat after Victor’s answer to conclude somberly, “He’s a stubborn fool and so am I. And I used to think that was the most endearing part of us…but I’m not so sure now.”

[othertmrkids]

the perpetrator | raleigh&reed

per·pe·tra·tor  /ˈpərpəˌtrādər/ noun 1. a person who carries out a harmful, illegal, or immoral act.

Reed roused with a start to the feeling of a nudge to his foot. His dominant hand shot toward his wand holster, halted only by the sound of a familiar drawl overhead; “Easy there, killer.” Looking up, Reed caught the narrowed blue eyes of Raleigh Byrne scoping out his worse for wear form. 

“Sorry,” Reed breathed as he sat up straighter in his rigid waiting room seat, “Long night.” And then he returned the favor of looking Raleigh up and down, in different clothes now than when they saw each other last. “What’s the status on your perps?”

“One apprehended and one neutralized,” Raleigh answered cut and dry despite the beat he had to take before he could continue. “An overall success. And yours?”

Where Reed would have otherwise only nodded in trusting acceptance of the report, Raleigh’s question instead pulled a rugged chuckle from him. “I daresay that my perp would give yours a run for their money in terms of being difficult in confinement…but is thankfully medically sound.” Reed could have gone into detail about Benji’s plethora of diagnoses, all of which he’d committed to memory, but chose to simply try and put Raleigh’s mind at ease instead. “All severe breaks, moderate fractures, and minor displacements treated and and being closely monitored. No lasting cranial, spinal, or internal injuries. He’s projected to make a complete recovery.” The summary was wrapped up with a weary but sincere smile before Reed relaxed into a more personal record. “Mei and I were here all day, Marisol and Ellis came by after they completed the escort and most of his family stuck around till late too. He’s been in good spirits.”

Raleigh shuffled a step back with a distant mumble, “That’s good.” Good, of course, that Benji had awoken to an outpouring of love and support from people ever so comfortable giving it to him. People who could bear to at least look him in the damn eyes after nearly losing him. 

“Actually, Jack’s still in there with him.” Reed’s voice yanked Raleigh from a particularly slippery tailspin and all he could manage as he processed the information that Benji was unavailable for him at the time was a quiet, “Oh.” He glanced around, as though the pale walls would give him a new mission objective now that his prior one had been taken from him. When his eyes landed once more, they were on Reed, who had a steady rise and fall to his chest and a surety about him that Raleigh couldn’t imitate on his best days. He licked his lips in hesitation for a moment… and then eased into the seat beside the older man. 

If Raleigh noticed Reed’s gaze soften to see him willing to wait things out together, he pretended not to. If he caught a hint of pride in his longstanding friend for finally conceding to rest his bones for a single second, then Raleigh disregarded it. Because if he didn’t, with his knee slanted close to Reed’s in a solace he felt with a rare few people, Raleigh might have slowed down long enough for the most visceral of his overbearing memories to catch up with him. He might have met Reed’s trustful gaze with one blistered confession upon another on what had been weighing down on him since early that evening. He might have spoken the God’s honest truth and would Reed’s eyes have remained so ingenuous then? Would Benji’s and Marisol’s and Ellis’s and Vivian’s when they found out? Would Mei’s?

Raleigh found himself on his feet again, smoothing down the length of his coat to avoid the stare at his side. “I’ll be back in the morning,” he explained himself succinctly, already half a stride away from Reed. What stopped him in his tracks was a troublesome loyalty that had built a tightly packed nest within him after so many years by his squad’s sides. And woven into it were branches of guilt that he was never quite showing off his undying fealty as much as the others. 

“Do you need…” Raleigh’s unfinished inquiry was met with a calm raise of Reed’s hand and equally as pacific words, “I’m alright, Byrne. Thanks.” And then an added sentiment that stiffened Raleigh’s spine, “I’ll tell him that you were here.”

It was always too little, too late with Raleigh, never showing up soon enough to make a difference, never being able to provide before things were already taken care of. Resuming his path out of the waiting room, Raleigh shook his head to Reed’s offer. “Don’t.”

[othertmrkids]

to give hell | raleigh byrne

shape of lies - eternal eclipse

the path of silence - soul stories

Raleigh was the most calculated he had ever been in his career- no, his life, with his back pressed tight to the rooftop wall that served as his cover from enemy eyes. Two targets, male, thugs for hire with little traceable presences; one 6 feet tall with red hair, wand in hand, and the other, roughly 5’7’’, white haired, and wand holstered. Both completely unaware of being hunted from the shadows for the past two and a half hours. But finally, it was time. 

Inhale, exhale, and… 

Raleigh burst forth under the dying light of sunset with a sweepingly large Incendio, his bellow of the spell more akin to a roar demanding answers from those daring to near his friend, his family. Raleigh wished for them to be swallowed whole, and though the flames licked at his opponents from head to toe, they only managed to inflict moderate burns before one of the wizards threw up a defensive spell to shield them both. 

From where it was aimed high for his previous charm, Raleigh’s wand moved directly to the middle of his body, braced by his core as he fired off a barrage of electrical blue jets. Every sharp crackle that left the tip of his wand was paired with an imposing step forward, the point blank blows fracturing his enemies’ protection more and more by the second. And as the red haired wizard sent back an attack from behind his shield, Raleigh cut through it with one of his own, no mercy to be found between his defense and his transition back to the offensive.

When the translucent blue guard of his enemies waned, they spaced out to fight him head on and Raleigh pushed back with large flourishes of his wand so his spells covered enough ground to protect him and blaze forward all at once. His feet carried him so light and so steady toward his targets that he could be mistaken for a dancer, if such a talent was designed to kill. And then, when he was able to plant a firm boot down in front of himself, Raleigh outstretched one open palm to cast a nonverbal Bombarda, slamming the white haired wizard into a nearby network of industrial pipes. 

The other wizard caught a silent Stupefy, burning hot from Raleigh’s palm, fortified by the dogwood of his wand not a moment after. It was deflected but Raleigh did not relent. One after the other he fired off beams of light, red, blue, a poisonous green, an infuriated purple, and with each spell followed his feet, mapping the direction in which he was cornering his prey. Every step they took toward the edge of the rooftop was a threat from Raleigh, a warning to surrender as the distance between survival and perilous demise closed in. But the felon proceeded with an assault of curses and hexes that would not concede and Raleigh himself, would certainly not bow. He would never bow. 

But there was a moment, so quiet in Raleigh’s mind that he could hear a pin drop. One in which his keen gaze flickered down to the wizard’s boot, crumbling gravel precariously over the unguarded lip of the roof as he maintained his balance by a hair. Raleigh’s wand stilled, ceasing fire altogether as the part of him influenced by the brightest spirits in his existence quietly implored his target to take the out. 

But the wizard did not and the moment a spell left his lips, a deep weight befell Raleigh, like the surrendering rumbles of ancient runes collapsing within him.

Exhale…

Raleigh summoned a billowing Bombarada Maxima that not only plowed through his opponent’s spell, but blasted the man over the ledge as well, plummeting him five stories below. In the absence of magic cascading around him for the first time since he left with the orders to give hell nearly ten hours ago, Raleigh could hear the huff of labored breaths leaving him and allowed his shoulders to slump. Briefly, carelessly. 

His ears picked up the snarl of a spell soaring towards him just in time to pivot and parry the attack, and reds and oranges inside of Raleigh that had begun to quell into embers scorched back to life. He barely saw the white haired wizard that had recovered and launched a renewed strike upon him, Raleigh only knew the blinding tiredness and desperation inside of himself to come close yet again to losing one so dear to him. As he smashed spell upon spell at a damning proximity to his remaining adversary, every shred of calculation that had coiled his muscles throughout the day slipped away from him, replaced by the frenzied and reckless Raleigh Byrne that was best known to the world. The one who would splinter the wand out of a man’s hands before swiping him to the ground with a shattering punch to the jaw. The Raleigh who would lean his formidable frame down to press a knee into an injured wizard’s chest and crack him once more on the cheekbone. And then again. And again, and again, and again.

With his knuckles pulsing in pain and his knee feeling the creaks of an imminent collapse underneath, Raleigh pounded furiously on because he did not survive this far in life to be wounded so severely in his heart now as he was when he was 12. He was young and his bones were stronger then. Back then he loved because he had to, because everyone around him was a hero without any context. Now he loved out of choice, because he knew every part of those he surrounded himself with and admired them anyway. Now, if those choices and laughs and memories and kindnesses were taken from him, his bones would turn to dust. If he could never again feel Benji reaching out to him at a time when they both knew Raleigh was in the wrong, he would turn to dust. Benji would, begrudgingly, believe in Raleigh even now, with blood on his hands and the devil’s growl in his throat.

Benji would not want him to deliver sickening blows until a human being’s skull crunched under his fist. Benji would not want to sit in on an ethics trial to see if Raleigh should be disbarred from their work of passion or not. Benji would want to see another day where he could believe in his friend making the right choice just one time. Just one damn time.

Raleigh’s clenched hand stilled where it was pulled back by his cheek, prepared to strike once more. It trembled with the gravity of choice…and then it sank. Two fingers extended, he brought their tips beside the man’s throat, praying for a spark that it wasn’t too late for either of them. The slow but steady thump-thump he felt blew some of the sand off some of the still-whole runes in him. And then, with the sear of a wild animal still lingering in his eyes, Raleigh staggered to his feet. They carried him with less grace than earlier as he moved to where his other combatant stood moments before careening to the ground below. Raleigh peered over the edge of the roof to a pool of red surrounding limbs angled in directions not meant for people to land in naturally. Where most would look away, his gaze was fixed, narrowed into a laser point that he retained as he apparated in a crackle from the rooftop to directly above the body, which he did not have to touch to determine the status of. To look into the red haired wizard’s still-open eyes was enough. Crisp and glacial blue, just like his own. 

With a skillful snap, Raleigh was back on the rooftop, leaning once more, but this time to scoop his arms underneath the man he had brought within an inch of their maker. Instead, Raleigh decided to deliver him, with one final disappearing act, to the same place that housed his recovering friend.

[othertmrkids]

tmrmary​:

Victor laughs into his own drink as Ace makes one suggestive comment after the other over his own partner. “You dog!” He took a sip into his drink, then let it simmer a couple seconds after swallowing to ponder over Ace’s question. “I was already an auror when Minnie and I first started dating, so I guess it kinda came with the territory.” He swished his drink a little. “I think it didn’t unnerve her at first. I mean, she was totally in love with me by day one, but still, it was too soon to tell? It really didn’t get to be a player in the relationship until this war began picking up, around the time we first got engaged… Reality is always a pretty reliable reminder.”

As always, Ace was smiling lightly to hear Victor talk about his wife in any capacity, to hear him recall even an exaggerated version of their beginnings. “Do you think it would’ve been a deal breaker if it was something that came to bother her down the line? That the work is so precarious but it’s your passion anyway?” He licked his lips, wondering how much longer he could keep up the line of questioning before his friend grew suspicious and turned things back around on him, though Victor did love talking about himself and that was Ace’s gamble on making the conversation work in his favor.

“Reality, I’m sure, was also a suitable reminder to why you’ve been in your line of work for as long as you have, hm? You’re good, better than good. I’m sure that was a relief to her?” Ace added something of consequence to their chat, not wanting to bog it down with negative hypotheticals even though he was keen on picking Victor’s brain on them. 

[othertmrkids]

tmrmary​:

Victor’s smile grew a thousand yards bigger. “Merlin. You do know the way into a man’s heart!” At the mention of his darling wife, you could tell something in Victor’s spirit quieted. “Ah,you know Minnie. She looks delicate as a flower, but she’s just as capable as any auror. Even more secure than I am.” His hand mindlessly patted his chest, feathering down his button down as he trailed into thought. “She’s strong-willed. That humble reminder never ceases to surprise me. But I can tell she’s troubled at the outcome… Clearly, that’s why she’s most excited for the honeymoon. Well, you know, besides the obvious.” The same hand that once laid on his chest gestured to him, hinting he was the gift Minnie Edwards was most looking forward to unwrapping. 

“What about Radimir, hm? How’s that star reporter of yours doing? Considering last time I saw him, he was about to loose his good arm. If that happened, who then would scare us into thinking for ourselves?”

Ace noticed Victor’s shift in demeanor and wondered if people saw through him so clearly when his own partner was brought up. He could tell by sight alone that what his friend felt was similar to the focus that he gave to speaking about Radimir, ever reverent even in his absence. It made him smile; he was glad Victor got to marry his person regardless of the circumstances. Taken as he was by listening to Victor talk up his wife, his head even tilting slightly to the side at one point, Ace laughed at the joke to wrap up Victor’s long winded answer. “Obviously.” He shook his head in amusement and took a moment to sip his drink. “It’s only natural to be troubled by the outcome but I’m happy she’s able to look forward- regardless of the reasons,” his chin pointed down a bit to fix Victor with a suggestive smirk to match the man’s own. 

“Hm, I do like that arm...” Ace pondered even as Victor was still speaking. And then as an afterthought, “Oh yes, it would be a shame if he couldn’t write anymore too, of course.” It was easy for him to be so light hearted in Victor’s presence as his friend simply brought out that side of him and truthfully, it was a relief to know he could still be that way considering how heavy the thought of his boyfriend had been in his mind lately. He offered a more sincere answer as a sign of his gratefulness. “He’s been a little slow to recovery. Not so much physically but...” Ace clicked his teeth quietly. “Let me ask you something. How’d Minnie feel at first about you being an auror? Having this high risk job paired with your ever bold, always daring, never quitting disposition?” It’s a serious question but his descriptors for the other man are delivered in a teasing swoon, always looking to keep things a touch playful. 

[othertmrkids]

tmrmary​:

“Indeed, you do. I expect the celebratory parade you’re planning to be absolutely smashing!” Victor teased. Could it have been too soon to joke about a near-death experience? Pfft, did it matter?! It was probably better to act as normal as they could. It was easier to do that than to relive the harsh memories of that day. “… Then I won’t tell you it was no matter. It was all matter.” A cheeky smile swept over his face. Still sporting it, he genuinely now uttered, “I’m glad I was there to help.” Victor took a beat before adding onto the subject while they were on it. “I guess it should also go without saying too I’m sorry for what had happened, but there. I said it anyways.” He chuckled at the back of his throat. “I told Minnie our reception would be absolute wild. Complete party animals! … I did not expect it to come true quite literally.”

Ace couldn’t help but laugh at his friend’s approach to the matters at hand. There was a reason he enjoyed Victor’s company so; few people opted to meeting Ace in his optimism for life and then encouraging him higher rather than trying to forcibly ground him. “Planning? Absolutely not, the parade for you is composed entirely of the greatest minds in improvisation and their sole instructions are to not do anything you wouldn’t,” he beamed, playing along easily. He didn’t mind deferring to humor for now, knowing Victor had at least heard what he had to say and knew he was grateful.

“It doesn’t have to be said at all,” Ace insisted immediately. “Not one second of what happened is your fault, Victor. There isn’t an apology to be made in the first place so...take it back, I don’t want it.” He smiled at the mention of Victor’s wife and the predictability of him describing his wedding in such a way. Still, he asked carefully and considerately, “And has Minnie been able to take the absolute wildness in as much stride as her very immovable and chivalrous husband?”

[othertmrkids]

tmrmary​:

It’s the sense of relief Victor has when hugging his dear old friend, even when he knew well of his survival for a while now. The hug lasts a little longer than usual, but could you blame either one of them for going through what they have? At his wedding of all places. “Speak for yourself. Look at you! I’m more grateful to see you up on your feet again.” Even through his trademark cheeky tone, Victor spoke genuinely about his care. As Ace was the one quite literally hospitalized from this event, and Victor made it out with barely a scratch on his face, even he knew who had the shittiest hand dealt here. Victor takes over to the armchair with all the comfort of a friend to sit, as Ace offered him a drink. “Always!”

Ace chuckled when Victor turned the sentiment of relief back on him. Modest enough to not want focus put on his own experience at the wedding, Ace took a moment to gaze fondly at his friend making himself comfortable in a spot often filled by a different man dear to his heart. Moving his attention to fixing them both an Ogden’s Firewhiskey highball drink they used to enjoy as younger men, Ace admitted, “I hear that I have you to thank for getting back up on my feet at all.” Giving the drinks one last stir to perfection, Ace brought them over to hand one to Victor. “Radimir told me you pulled through for him at a time when things were looking rather bleak,” he said as he clinked their glasses lightly together in a thanks and cheers all at once. “And if he was lost in the smoke then for sure, I would have been too,” he spoke matter of factly as he took a nearby seat of his own. “Thank you for that,” Ace maintained his gaze on Victor, his sincerity on the matter painted on each and every one of his features. “I know you’ll tell me it was no matter but I mean it, thank you for being there for him when I couldn’t be, it means the world. It might mean more.”

[othertmrkids]

tmrfrank​:

She found Alizeh standing by a vending machine, Remi immediately caught off guard by the sickles the girl was holding. “Oh, crap.” She had not considered that the magical world might have a different form of currency from normal people… Finch called them muggles, right? What was he again? As if she wasn’t exhausted enough. 

“I figure it wouldn’t hurt to wake up to something nice, like some flowers?” Yes, it was for Benji but it was also a great excuse to get her out of the hospital. She was hoping some fresh air would bring her back down to earth. “I asked around to see what his favorite kind was and his friend knew. I think she said her name was Mei?” Remi said the name with fifty percent certainty, knowing there was a huge chance she didn’t retain it correctly with how hectic the day had been. “Anyway, apparently she couldn’t tell me *how* she knew, which is… honestly, don’t know how I should take that… but, turns out Benji is a tulip kind of guy.” That one took Remi by surprise. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t tulips. “Anyway, I have no idea where I’m going, so should be fun!”

“Yeah, the little one?” Alizeh had the audacity to say, as if she wasn’t microscopic herself. In her defense though, she’d known Benji’s co-worker for all of a handful of hours and in that time she’d mostly been flanked by a man over six feet, which really didn’t do her stature any favors. “That’s Mei.” She raised a brow to hear the secrecy around Benji’s favorite flowers but let it go for now. Maybe later she could steal Sabrina’s dog to bribe Mei into telling the story of Benji and tulips. 

Somehow, it wasn’t odd to imagine Benji tending to the seasonal flowers and she even smiled at the prospect of surprising him with them. It was Remi’s clear admission to being lost that got Alizeh to laugh a little more and she offered a hair of clarity. “There’s a gift shop in here with a whole bunch of magical gifts and plants and crap. But if you wanna go to an actual regular flower place and just walk around for a bit we can do that too, I drove here. But let me just go grab one of the boys’ phones first if we’re gonna go out cause once we get out of here one of these fancy wizard types is gonna have to let us back in and and our crappy little-” she pulls her own phone from her pocket and gives it a little shake, “calculators don’t work around here so...”

Alizeh lets out a breath as she tries to catch whether Remi has followed along or not. “I know, the rules are all weird and complicated, I swear, I’m always two seconds from the ministry coming for my ass at all times over some protocol I forgot about...but you get used to it.”

[othertmrkids]

Of course it’s a hug that Ace greets Victor with. Considering it’s the first time they’re seeing each other following the brutal events of the latter’s wedding, he embraces his friend tight for a moment before pulling back to give him a smile that matches the brazen Gryffindor demeanor that Victor had befriended back when they were in school. 

“Considering how hard we used to go on the pitch I know this isn’t the first time I’ve told you this but I especially mean it now; I’m happy as hell to see you in one piece, Vic,” Ace chuckles as he leads the man further into his home. The invitation to make himself comfortable is always present as Ace makes his way to the cabinet bar top in his living room first and foremost. “Drink?” He offers Victor, inviting him to peruse through the extensive liquor and wine selections on display.