Title: Meanwhile, Whirl Was Shipping
Rating: Teens and Up Audiences
Words: 1245
Pairings: Cyclonus/Tailgate
Summary: Throughout the adventures aboard the Lost Light, Whirl watches Cyclonus slowly change from a stone-cold loner into a hopeless romantic... and does more than a bit of changing himself.
Author's Note: IT'S MY PIECE FROM THE FIRST EVER ZINE I'VE BEEN PUBLISHED IN! :D As you'll see, I ended up doing something a bit outside the box, but I hope you enjoy all the same! If you read this already in the zine, THANK YOU and also maybe swing by with some delicious feedback? Pretty please?
Warnings: Major Spoilers for Avengers: Endgame
Title: On Relativity
Rating: T (Mild language, alcohol mention.)
Words: 1900
Pairing: StarMora is mentioned but is really not the point.
Summary: Set after Avengers: Endgame in a theoretical first act for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. Quill loves his family and would do anything to protect them. Rocket loves his family and would do anything to protect them. So, naturally, they have a fight over it.
External Reading: FFN, AO3
“Guys… I’ve got her.”
Everything froze. Drax’s epic story to Mantis about his arena days. Mantis’ giddy yammering as she absorbed her friend’s excitement. Nebula grunting as she failed to get the high score in Arcade Defender. Groot’s backseat gaming. Thor’s never-ending questions about space. Rocket’s never-ending answers as he tinkered with something explosive.
It took a moment for the (As)Guardians of the Galaxy to process that they’d actually heard Quill say what they thought he’d said before the six nearly trampled each other to get a better view of Quill’s monitor and the odd life signal flickering in and out next to an old mugshot of Gamora.
“Are you certain?” Drax asked.
“That’s her,” Quill replied, his hands trembling and one slowly reaching towards his long-missing girlfriend’s photo on the screen. “Exact DNA scan. It took forever but this could only be her.” Quill shot back down into his seat and started working the Benatar’s controls. “Setting course now. Get ready for 3 jumps.”
“I am Groot?”
“I don’t know. Some mudball in the Helgentar System called Vormir.”
Nebula, Thor, and Rocket shared a look that Mantis didn’t have a chance to ask about before Quill continued. “Jumping in 5, 4-”
“Wait.”
Quill stopped with his finger an inch from the jump button. He didn’t move it when he looked over at Rocket, perplexed. “What? What’s the problem?”
“That ain’t just some mudball; it’s where the Soul Stone is.”
“...What?”
Thor glanced between Rocket and Quill, debating if he should speak but knowing he could not keep such important information from his new team… and also knowing who else might yet be alive if his hunch was correct. “That would make sense. Maybe.”
Strange for this group, nobody interjected, so Thor continued. “There is a legend about the Soul Stone among my people, in which it can not only control souls but also house them. There is said to be an entire alternate world inside of that stone. If such a place does exist, it’s possible that’s where your friend has found herself.”
“So you’re saying that if we want to find Gamora, we need to go for Vormir,” Quill’s hand was now a centimeter from the jump button, “get inside the Soul Stone, and bring her out?”
“Assuming the legend is true, yes.”
“Well, I guess we’re going to Vormir to find ou-”
“Quill, would you slow down for a second, please?” Rocket pleaded.
Quill blinked at Rocket actually displaying manners. His finger was now close enough to the jump button that an accidental twitch could fling them across the Galaxy.
“This is an Infinity Stone we’re talking about. Remember? We all held one on Xandar and would have died if your mom hadn’t gotten knocked up by an all-powerful planet? One of those things that Thanos used to cause pretty much the worst day ever? The one that specifically got Gamora killed in the first place? Maybe you weren’t listening when we filled you guys in on how we saved your sorry butts, but the Soul Stone deals in lives. You have to off someone to even get your hands on it much less figure out how to get in and out of it. We could go there to pick up one person only to have to leave someone else there. Add some whole other world we know nothing about except for Thor’s fairy tale into the mix and we could all wind up dead.”
“...So you’re saying,” Quill glared, “ we shouldn’t try to rescue Gamora.”
“Oh for-” Rocket rolled his eyes. “I’m saying we shouldn’t mess with a crazy powerful cosmic object that could easily kill us all! Again!”
“Yeah, except that’s the only way to rescue Gamora,” Quill’s volume started increasing and he finally moved his finger away from the console to ball both his hands into fists, “so you’re saying we shouldn’t rescue Gamora!”
“We don’t even know if she’s actually there or if your stupid ‘upgrade’ of a ship is glitching out!”
“Yeah, but if it isn’t a glitch, you’re saying we shouldn’t rescue Gamora!”
“Fine! I’m saying we shouldn’t rescue Gamora! You happy now?!”
Rocket didn’t recognize the next expression on Quill’s face, but Mantis, Nebula, and Drax did. They’d seen it on Titan.
“...Are…” Quill chuckled in disbelief. “Are you for real right now? First you run with your tail between your legs from Thanos and now you’re afraid of one of his rocks?!”
Thor took a step forward, his eyes starting to glow faintly. Groot extended his arm as a barricade. “I am Groot.” No, let this happen.
“Watch it, Quill,” Rocket said through his teeth.
“You watch it!” He took a step towards Rocket, but he didn’t expect Rocket to actually take a step back in response. Quill paused for a moment at this but it only seemed to make him more angry.
“Gamora’s our friend! Our family! How could you not even care what happens to your family?!”
Silence.
Absolute and instant silence. Quill realized his mistake before his last sentence had finished echoing across the bridge. Rocket stared at him with an expressionof complete betrayal and his eyes started to water.
Surely, Rocket - of all people - would start yelling back before any actual tears could fall.
He didn’t.
“...Rocket,” Quill reached a hand out towards his friend. Rocket had never looked so small before. “I’m s-”
“It’s fine.” Rocket said with a cracking, quiet voice as he stared at the floor. “I’m sorry. Of course I want to save her, I just… Just… keep working on the rescue plan without me, okay? I’m gonna go make sure our gear’s ready.”
Nobody said a word as Rocket left the bridge, and Quill was fully prepared for someone to all but murder him as soon as their friend was out of earshot.
He deserved it. He was ready for it.
He did not expect “someone” to be Gamora’s sister.
Nebula was on Quill the moment Rocket had left, punching him square in the jaw with a metal fist. Drax and Groot both stepped forward, ready to hold her back if she swung again. Mantis’ antennae glowed and she reached a hand towards her. Thor did absolutely nothing.
“Do not touch me,” Nebula warned Mantis. “I do not wish to be calm about this.” Mantis realized Nebula was going to stop at a single punch and complied; the fact that Quill was getting back up and was still able to talk was sign enough that she’d held back a little.
“Ow,” Quill said, groaning as he stood. “What the hell, Nebula? I thought you of all people would be with me on th-”
“Five years.”
Quill’s eyes widened. Mantis, Drax, and Groot all looked between each other with varying levels of surprise.
Before that moment, there had been a silent agreement among the Guardians that the victims of The Snap didn’t need to know and didn’t want to know exactly how much time they’d lost. Measurable time in Space was barely a thing to begin with, seeing how every culture had its own system and trying to keep everything on a single calendar was a fruitless chore they’d long since abandoned in favor of pretending it was somebody’s birthday whenever the team felt like it’d been long enough and wanted something to get merrily plastered over. Quantifying just how long most of the Guardians had been “sleeping” seemed so pointless and depressing.
Until Nebula, with wisdom she usually kept under a cloak of violence, realized it meant absolutely everything.
“For five years,” Nebula continued, “he played your same paltry collection of music every day. Like clockwork. He’d tell me which song was each of your favorites whenever it started playing as if he’d never mentioned it before. For five years, in every free moment, he shared stories about every little thing all of you did together from idiotic space adventures to the tree learning how to walk to pointless verbal exchanges he found amusing. For five years, he complained about how hard such a large vessel was to maintain but protested violently at the mere suggestion of trading it for something befitting two people. For five years I pretended I didn’t hear him crying himself to sleep on the occasional night he tried to rest and for five years I pretended I believed him when he insisted he wasn’t having horrific nightmares.”
“He never got over it, not even once, and when he realized there was the smallest hope that he might regain even a fraction of what he lost he was ready to die, not because of any sort of altruism but because dying for the only people who ever loved him sounded better than spending another second alone with his thoughts and single companion who never had the words to help him with his grief in the slightest.”
She grabbed Peter by the collar. Nobody, including Quill, moved to stop her.
“Five. Years. And you have the absolute unshackled insolence to ask him if he cares about his family?”
She put him down and returned to her seat on the bridge without another word but kept an aura of animosity. He’d rather she just punched him again.
It took Quill several minutes to break out of his guilt-driven daze. When he did, Thor seemed to be examining Stormbreaker in a new light. Drax and Mantis has resumed their earlier conversation with less vigor and much more whispering. Sometime during Nebula’s tirade, Groot had left the bridge altogether. Quill wanted out of the crushing silence and hesitantly started the Zune back up.
Title: Mail Call
Rating: K
Words: 523
Pairing: Unikitty/Master Frown I guess??? This was written with Unifrown Week in mind but Unikitty would pull this stunt completely platonically.
Summary: Unikitty really loves Valentine’s Day. Brock is almost done with his new JRPG. Master Frown just wants to pay the water bill.
FFN, AO3, DA
“No.”
“Dude.”
“No.”
“Dude!”
“No way! I am not going out there!” Master Frown made a show of crossing his arms and huffing. “Not today!”
“It’s your turn to get the mail, bro!” Brock protested as he finessed the game controller. “It’ll take you like, two minutes!”
“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Frown gagged, “And knowing Unikitty, it’ll be the worst two minutes of the year. Now be a good henchman and deal with this for me!”
“Ffffffffine!” Brock paused the game and placed the controller next to him on a couch cushion. “But if I’m out of the zone for beating this boss when I get back, you owe me.”
Brock left the duo’s apartment for the mailbox while Master Frown watched from the window. Every year Frown would forget about this stupid holiday and unsuspectingly saunter to the mailbox, giddy for his mid-month paycheck, only to be showered with more confetti hearts and glitter than the tiny box should have been able to fit. Well, not this year. This year he’d doodled a cross-eyed picture of that dumb cat looking dumb on the living room calendar, reminding him to make Brock suffer in his stead.
“Oh, and hose yourself down before you come back in!” Master Frown pointed to a fire hydrant. “Otherwise we’ll be living with glitter until the end of eternity!”
Brock rolled his eyes and looked back at the window. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting just a little? I mean I think it’s sweet that she goes to all the trouble, given how all you do is cause her trouble.”
“Whatever! Just open the stupid thing already.”
Brock shrugged and reached for the mailbox door. Master Frown braced for the explosion, and…
“Oh sweet! Pizza coupons!”
“WHAT?!”
Frown stormed out of the apartment, flabbergasted, as Brock started sorting through junk mail and a handful of completely normal Valentine’s Day cards addressed to him. “Lesse… from Unikitty, Hawkodile, Puppycorn… aww, they’re so nice!”
“Give me that!” Frown yanked the pile of mail from Brock and flipped through it His smile grew as he confirmed that his name was only on a water bill. “Sweet!” Happy, broken-hearted sparkle matter shimmered above him. “She finally gave up! I’m free! Haha!”
“Yeah dude, cool. I’m ordering a large anchovy and finishing off Xehanort.” Brock took back the mail and headed inside as Frown continued to cackle.
“Haha! Ha! Ha…. Wait, my paycheck wasn’t in there.” Master Frown headed back to the mailbox and peeked inside. “Brock! Are you sure you got everyth-“
BOOM!!!!!
A mushroom cloud of pink and rainbow glitter, visible for miles, obliterated the mailbox. Living, heart-shaped confetti rained down on Master Frown, giggling and planting dozens of smooches all over his face as he screamed and tried to swat them all away like a swarm of angry bees. When his attempts to be free of the attack failed he curled up into fetal position and cried in anguish on the concrete. Brock, playing a cutscene-heavy level with the sound turned up too high, wouldn’t notice his roommate needed rescuing from his living nightmare for several hours.
Title: Blue Roses
Rating: K+
Pairing: Jay/Nya
Words: 1500
Summary: Jay reminisces as he and Nya head together into the future.
Nya and Jay (and Jay's ever-excited parents) had tossed around a lot of ideas, but one thing about the wedding was always a given: blue roses. A single blue rose pinned to Jay's light blue tuxedo. Nya, adorned in a deep red kimono, carrying a blue bouquet. Petals of blue roses cascaded down the white isle that separates the two as the bride enters the room and silences the chatter of friends and family.
Jay can't even hear the strings start to play – all of his senses are focused on staring at his about-to-be wife and telling himself not to faint. He thinks he hears Cole lean over and mutter something to him teasingly but it doesn't register.
Nya sees how smitten Jay looks and the hundreds of awed eyes staring at her and clings tighter to her bouquet to resist fiddling with her hair and destroying hours of work. She looks to the ground, to her brother smiling reassuringly, to Jay's parents grossly sobbing, before finally regaining to nerve to look up at Jay and smile as she reaches the altar and takes her place beside her fiancé.
Master Wu starts into a long diatribe they've rehearsed a dozen times, and the two ninja gaze into one another's eyes and think back to how they first met, and how they became a couple, and how they finally – after a great deal of soul-searching and turbulence and pirates – decided they wanted to spend their lives together.
"So, um, Nya! We've been together for a long time, right? Well, I mean, we weren't together again until kinda recently I guess, but when you add up the total amount of time we've been dating, it's been a pretty long time! And I was wondering if… well… Look, what I'm trying to say is… Oh, this is stupid."
"Yer telling me, kiddo," Ed commented.
"Oh, Ed!" Edna scolded, taking off her black "Nya" wig and scratching her head. A park made out of junk metal with Jay's mother standing in was hardly the optimal way to practice proposing, but it was the best idea the Walker family had. "The boy is doing his best! Nya is a strong, independent woman, after all. Of course he's nervous to ask her!"
"Well why should he be? Why, those two are as close as we are, don't ya know, and Jay's a smart young man! Any girl would be lucky to have him if he'd just show a little confidence!" Ed patted his boy on the back. "Ladies like a man with confidence, son. It makes them feel they'll be taken care of. There's no need for you to be scared; you love Nya, don't you?"
"Yeah, Dad, I just…" Jay looked around at his humble junkyard home. After the initial shock and high of learning he was also Jay Gordon, he'd realized that didn't really change as much about him and he would have liked it to. It didn't help that his biological father's dating advice had turned out to be a huge garbage fire; what Ed was saying was probably more practical but sure didn't sound as good. "I just… don't always know what she's thinking. First she liked me, then it seemed like she couldn't stand me for a while, and now we're back together, but I still don't really get what she sees in me."
"Oh, honey," Edna rested her hand on Jay's shoulder near Ed's, "she sees something about you that you don't even see in yourself! You need to put a little faith in her – you know very well she wouldn't stick around if she didn't really care about you."
"Right, listen to your mother, and just do what I did! You walk up to that girl, get on one knee, show her that fancy ring and your signature Jay smile, and confidently ask Nya to be the future Mrs. Walker!" Ed's eyes lit up. "In fact, I think I still have my old suit from when I asked this Mrs. Walker!" He gestured to Edna and then skipped off towards the trailer, rambling about it being good luck or something.
There was a pause while Edna and Jay waited for Ed to be out of earshot.
"…So how did Dad really ask you?"
"He choked on a chocolate covered strawberry while leading up to it. The ring box fell out of his pocket while I was giving him the Heimlich."
6PM. The end of the year was closing in, and Ninjago Central Park's trees were covered in snow and fairy lights. Dinner had thankfully come and gone without anybody needing a life-saving maneuver, and Jay stared ahead at Nya tightening the water-themed scarf Lloyd had given her for a recent holiday. It was like she could tell he had something to say and was giving him a little space to think, but he wondered from Nya's slightly dejected stance if she thought it was bad. Jay wanted to remedy that assumption before things could get anymore awkward.
"Uh, Nya…"
Nya turned and looked back at Jay. Her black hair was tied back into a bun with a few strands running playfully down in front of her face. She looked gorgeous with the backdrop of colored lights and snow and for a moment Jay, much like the first time they met, was unable to string together a coherent sentence. "I…" he choked out before clearing his throat, "Nya, you…"
"Is everything okay, Jay?" Nya took Jay's hand. It felt impossibly warm. "You've seemed off all day. It's like, I'm here with you, but you're not really here, you know?" She chuckled nervously. Jay joined her.
"Haha… sorry. I guess I'm just really nervous."
"About what?"
"About, well," he already had her hand in his; it was now or never. Jay reached his free hand into his pocket as he slid down onto one knee.
Literally slid. The sidewalk was slick with ice and he fell a bit too hard. Jay grabbed harder onto Nya's hand for stability and she almost tumbled down right after him, fumbling to catch her balance and keep up with the situation. By the time the two were stable, they'd gathered a fair amount of attention from passers-by.
"You okay Jay?!"
"Yeah, fine. Ow." He clutched the ring box tightly in his hand. "Nya, y-you mean the world to me. You make me so happy and I…" Something about looking at her as he spoke both managed to make him more nervous and know exactly what needed to be said. "…I was wondering if… hoping that… Nya…" he let go of Nya's hand so he could open the box and presented Nya with a handcrafted ring featuring red and blue stones.
"…Nya, will you marry me?"
Nya just stared at Jay for an uncomfortably long time (especially with the growing audience), but after that beat her face lit up in a grin. "Yes! Jay, yes! I… I'm…"
She bent over to kiss him and slipped. The engaged duo finally collapsed together onto the cold ground, laughing the whole way down.
"Oof!" Jay was snapped out of his memories by Cole elbowing him – his part was coming up.
"…Jay, do you take Nya to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"Oh, yes! I mean, I do." Chuckling echoed through the crowded church and Jay turned beet red. Nya was among those giggling good-naturedly. Somewhere, there were fans watching this streamed online who would never let him live that down.
"And do you, Nya, take Jay to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
"I do," Nya said, smiling over at Jay reassuringly. Jay's anxiety melted away.
"Then I now pronounce you man and wife." Wu smiled as he looked between his two students. "You may kiss."
Jay gulped and turned to Nya, reaching his arms towards her. He stared at his lovely bride with shaking hands hovering over her waist for a moment before Nya understandingly pulled him closer and their lips met. Ear-splitting cheers erupted (Ed and Edna could clearly be heard whooping it up amongst the cacophony) and Jay and Nya pulled apart after a long moment. Wu introduced them as a married couple the best he could over the cheering while the new family gazed at each other lovingly.
There would still be many adventures to come, and Jay and Nya still had a lot to learn about themselves and each other, but now they knew that no matter what, they could count on one another to be there through it all. As lovers, as best friends, and as part of a great team.
Title: Hot Brown Water in a Cylindrical Container
Rating: K
Ships: None
Words: 275
Chief Burns blinked several times to make sure he wasn't dreaming.
It was 3AM – Charlie had been up all night studying a slew of new federal regulations - and Chase was tapping on his window with one servo, balancing a dwarfed mug on a saucer on his index finger. The Chief stood up, stretched his legs for a moment, and made his way over to opening the window. "Chase, what are you doing? You sleep, don't you?"
"I recharge, yes, but I woke thirty minutes ago and, whilst stretching my servos, noticed the light in your room was still on, indicating you were awake. My studies of human culture have noted that during such "all-nighters" as humans put them, they often desire coffee." Chase moved his hand forward as much as he could without breaking anything to present Charlie with the mug.
"…Huh." Charlie blinked again, then reached out to take the cup and saucer. The smell of the drink hit his nose, thankfully, moments before the cup could reach his mouth. Startled by the strong smell of woodland, he looked down to find the cup filled with watered down mud, sticks, bits of leaves, and a ladybug. Apparently, when Chase had described coffee to the other Rescue Bots as "Hot Brown Water in a Cylindrical Container" that had been the entirety of his understanding.
"Is something amiss, Sir?"
"...I…. I'll explain in the morning Chase. Thank you." He closed to window before his partner could question him further and, having been tempted already, left his room to make a real cup of joe.
Title: A Doctor, Sort Of
Rating: K
Words: 600
Pairing: Hawkodile/Dr. Fox
Summary: Dr. Fox wishes Hawkodile wouldn't expect so much from her, or at least avoid getting so many stupid injuries.
"How did you even manage this? I thought it was leg day."
"Yeah, leg day: the day I use my arms to walk in case my legs get blown off."
Dr. Fox only sighed in response. The bodyguard had shown up at her lab ten minutes prior and presented her with the forearm he'd managed to snap clean off, trying his best to look completely casual about it despite the pained tears at the edges of his sunglasses.
"Hawkodile, you know my PhD is in Biochem, right?" Dr. Fox asked as she worked on taping back together and slathering ointment on Hawkodile's wound.
"Well yeah but, I mean, you fixed Rick's back just fine."
"Still…" as much as she appreciated having a willing test subject for her experimental healing ointments, her conscience picked at the back of her mind. One of these days, she worried, one of her friends would show up with something she'd fail to fix. This was especially true for Hawkodile, who had come to her with a variety of wacky and dumbfounding ailments from his training over the years. "A crack in the back is one thing – reattaching half of an arm can lead to a number of complications. If I don't connect this just right and keep it secure while it heals, I'll have to snap it back off and start over."
"…Oh." Hawkodile frowned and blushed with embarrassment over his misunderstanding. (She assumed that was why he was blushing, anyhow.) "Sorry. I didn't think this would require so much touching…. I mean so much… um… medical… stuff. I could go ask someone else if-"
"No, I'm already almost done. Just hold still – you keep shaking your hand." She finished up filling the cracks in Hawkodile's arm with ointment and started to wrap a tight bandage around the injury. Hawkodile's shaking only seemed to get worse as she gently ran her hands over his forearm to check the bandage, but despite this she was managing alright. "I just don't get why you don't go to a medical doctor in the first place."
Hawkodile didn't respond. Dr. Fox looked up and realized he was avoiding eye contact and sweating heavily.
"…Hawkodile, are you… afraid of the doc-"
"Oh hey look at that! It looks like you're done patching up my arm!" Hawkodile pulled his arm away, leaving one last bandage untied and dangling. "Thanks, Dr. Fox! I'll just be-"
Dr. Fox took the untied bandage ends and gently tugged, causing Hawkodile to yelp loudly and freeze in place. "There's no reason to be afraid of doctors, Hawkodile," she said as she tied the loose ends and finally let her friend go. Thankfully, he didn't try to bolt again. "They go through rigorous training to be licensed to practice medicine. Frankly, they know a lot more about the medical field than I do."
"I said I'm not afraid, alright? I'm not afraid of doctors!" Hawkodile's face grew increasingly red as he protested. "I just…"
Hawkodile turned away from Dr. Fox, clenching his good fist and tightening his shoulders. His next words came out as little more than a stubborn mumble.
"…I just… I trust you, okay?"
"Hmm?" Had she heard that right? If she had, that was a rather unscientific way of looking at things. "What was that?"
"Nothing. Thanks for your help, Dr. Fox." Hawkodile left, thoroughly frustrated with himself.
Dr. Fox watched Hawkodile storm out, perplexed by his sudden change in mood. Hopefully it wasn't a side effect of the ointment; she wrote down the strange occurrence in her notes just in case.
Title: Put It In A Song (The Indie-Rock Remix)
Author: narceus
Chapters: 1
Summary: Five times Blaine Anderson got impossibly, unexpectedly lucky.
(Or, the one where they're all in a band.)
