Imagine being an Eternal in The Boys universe when the Deviants start appearing
You’ve lived through the rise and fall of civilizations, but this world this Earth is different. It’s loud, corrupt, and crawling with false gods wearing latex and corporate smiles.
You weren’t supposed to intervene here. You and your fellow Eternals scattered, living quietly across the planet, pretending to be ordinary.
Until the Deviants reappeared. Something strange is happening, deviants, mutated by Compound V experiments, are beginning to surface.
They attack indiscriminately, drawn to the strange energy in Vought’s facilities.
"They’re not supposed to exist anymore,” Ikaris mutters, staring down at the charred remains of one.
“They’re evolving,” you reply, scanning it. “ The Compound V’s rewriting them. This isn’t nature, this is man’s hand in something they don’t understand.” you state grimly
When the Deviants start showing up not in deep space or ancient ruins, but in modern-day America, tearing through civilians like rabid gods even Vought can’t spin it. Their Supes are suddenly useless against creatures immune to Compound V-enhanced attacks.
The Seven go in for a flashy televised battle and Homelander’s laser eyes barely singe one. It heals. Fast.
The beginning of the Emergence has started
Arishem’s plan has started again, and this time, the planet of Compound V, hypocrisy, and corporate gods is next on the list.
Sersi tries diplomacy first. She appeals to Vought: “These creatures are not your PR opportunity. They’re extinction.”
Vought, of course, sees branding potential. They broadcast the first Deviant attack on live TV. The Seven are sent in to “save” the day until Homelander’s heat vision only feeds the Deviant’s mutation, evolving it into something unrecognizable.
That’s when you step in.
Your Eternal powers maybe you manipulate energy, matter, or emotion tear through the Deviants like a divine force. People record it. Within hours, social media is calling you “The Real God-tier Supe.”
Vought scrambles to find your “file.” There isn’t one.
You and your team become a global anomaly.
The Boys They don’t trust you either at first.
They start tracking you after Vought’s PR stunt. When they discover footage of you speaking an ancient language to a dying Deviant, that's when they start suspecting something far more unusal than their typical weirdness was going on.
When Butcher realizes Earth itself is basically an egg for a Celestial, he goes pale.
“So lemme get this straight some cosmic wanker’s gonna pop out the planet like it’s a f***in’ Kinder Egg?”
“Exactly.”
He just laughs bitterly.“Figures. The bastards couldn’t stop playin’ god now they’ve pissed off the real ones.”
The Boys are horrified by a literal god-level threat beyond Vought’s control. But they also see the potential: if Arishem or the Emergence goes public, Vought collapses overnight. No corporation can spin “The Earth is a gestation pod.
When Arishem’s shadow eclipses the sky, everything unravels.
Cities lose power. Supes panic. Even Homelander kneels, not from faith, but fear. The Boys and the Eternals join forces to stop the Emergence Phastos, working with Frenchie and Hughie, hacking Vought’s orbital weapons to delay tectonic shifts. You channel your energy with Sersi to freeze the Celestial mid-birth.
Butcher, watching gods save the world while Supes cower, mutters:“Guess there’s a difference between a hero and a headline.”
Arishem appears, dragging all of the Eternals (including you) into space for judgment.Before you’re taken, you look down one last time at a world that’s broken, corrupt, but worth saving.
Somewhere in Vought Tower, Homelander stares up at the red figure in the sky, realizing for the first time that he was never a god.
Just another man pretending to be one.
Note: For more content follow me on https://www.tumblr.com/sammyquarius
a/n: couldn’t choose btwn ajax and thena for this buy mahd wyry parallels won my heart also i haven’t seen eternals in so fucking long
not requested
“When will y/n return?” Druig asked without prompt, which stunned most of his company since they hadn’t mentioned your name in some time. While each had a glimpse of fear in their eyes, Thena stepped forth to give Druig an answer.
“Druig, y/n’s gone.” She knelt before him and placed a hand on his cheek. “They’ve been gone a long time.” A long stare and silence from Druig followed.
“I don’t understand, I just saw y/n—not two hours ago.” Druig began to argue with tears in his eyes, not understanding why Thena would say such a thing. He looked beyond her, seeing the rest of his team all staring back at him in sorrow. “You, too?! You’re playing tricks? How dare you? Why won’t you tell me where y/n is?!” His rage boiled over before he fell to the ground with Thena in tears. “Why won’t you tell me where my love is?” Sobs ensued as Thena wrapped her arms around him.
“I understand.” She whispered to him. “I’m sorry you didn’t get to say goodbye.”
prompt: @the-kinnie-in-me: “Hi! I saw the extension for your 8k event (congrats btw) and wanted to participate with “I know the end” by Phoebe Bridgers + Marvel’s Eternals + Familial and reader is an eternal too if that’s okay 😅 tysm in advance 💕”
It happened to be that you left the Eternals long before the rest felt the need. Something just didn’t feel right as you spent some thousand years protecting humanity and regardless of what the others thought or their devotion to the mission, you knew you wanted out.
You snuck away in the dead of night feeling a massive sense of guilt the further the distance from the only family you’d known all these years. Ajak, Druig, Sersi, all of them would be so hurt you left without a word—but would they have let you leave if you told them?
You didn’t want to be found, not for now. Maybe not ever. But those memories would always haunt you and urge you to go back and you couldn’t drown them out.
Now it was the 21st century and the Eternals were at your front door.
“Found you.” Druig chuckled, inviting himself and the others into your little apartment. “The end is here, y/n.”
“No ‘hello,’ huh? What do you mean? Why are you here?” Your voice chock-full of frustration and embarrassment.
“There was no ‘goodbye.’” Sersi replied, lightly stepping on your creaky hardwood floor, observing some of your collection. “Six hundred A.D.” She pointed to an item on your shelf. “Egypt without us?” You sat down on your couch and shook your head.
“Why did you guys come here? ‘The end’ isn’t good enough.” You demanded as Sprite sat beside you.
“Deviants are back.” Ikaris explained and you rolled your eyes.
“You can handle those. I saw them on the news.m already.” Your guard hadn’t dropped yet, but you felt tears welling just from your family being present in your home.
“A new Celestial is being born.” Sersi added, something they should have led with. “From Earth. It will destroy everything if we don’t find a way to prevent that.”
“You want to kill it?” You asked, completely horrified.
“Merely put it off until a better option presents itself.” Druig continued the conversation and your eyes widened, not understanding how that would even be possible. Your life flashed before you and you just felt lost—you had no idea what happened between when you left and now. Fifteen hundred years passed and now they were asking for your help as if nothing had happened.
“Will you come with us?” Ikaris asked and all eyes fell onto you. You felt a lump in your throat when the question was presented, and Sprite grabbed your hand and squeezed it.
“We need you, y/n. Goodbye or not, we want you there with us when we figure this out.” Sersi assured you, and you smiled lightly.
“Yeah. If you don’t, everyone might die.” Druig added and Ikaris glared at him. You chuckled out of amusement and discomfort and nodded.
Synopsis: 1,000 years after the Eternals split off, Deviants defeated, the unfortunate family comes back together to save humanity from its biggest threat. But they can't do that without talking, and if old rivalries still stand, that might be a little hard.
[This might be a two-parter or more]
[Use of y/n, reader is nonbinary]
Let's GO!
"I will never leave you"
It had been about 500 years since Sprite had stopped believing those 5 words. And another 500 years on top of that since she'd last seen the person, Eternal, rather, who'd spoken them. But now she was following Ikaris and Sersi through a crowded Osaka airport towards the taxi port and bus terminal, trying to find the exact person who'd made that flaky promise - Y/N.
"They're not gonna be here," Ikaris growled, "Why can't we just go get Kingo? He's agreeable at least."
"We need Y/N," Sersi reminded the Eternal of Flight, "Besides, if there's anyone who can get through to Druig, it's them."
"You just don't like that she's got more powers than you," Sprite teased, but secretly she was a little nervous. It hadn't just been a century since she'd last seen Y/N, it had been a century since Y/N told her where they were going to disappear off too. They'd specifically instructed her not to tell anyone, and now she'd broken that promise.
"Uhh, hello, we need to get to Hyogo..?" Ikaris tried asking a taxi driver in english. Sersi covered for him with google translate.
An hour and 45 minutes later, they had arrived in Hyogo prefecture. Sprite looked around nervously.
"There isn't enough ... EARTH for this to be where the fearsome Eternal of nature lives!" Ikaris mocked, rolling his eyes as he got out of the taxi.
"IKARIS!" Sersi scolded.
They kept walking. Sprite led them through the small city to a modest house near the school down the road. Ikaris knocked sharply. Sprite knew it was wrong to lead him and Sersi to Y/N, but they really needed to get their family back together, or else everyone on Earth was going to die. After a moment, the door opened enough to see Y/N's silvery-blue hair surrounding their features, then it promptly shut again. Ikaris stuck a foot in the door and heaved it open despite Y/N's hearty attempts to close it using their nature-given strength. They shot him a dirty look as he shoved his way into their house. Sprite pushed past Sersi and wrapper her arms around the shocked and annoyed Y/N, gripping their waist tightly. A second later, Y/N was returning the hug, gripping the shorter Eternal's hair in their fingers and pulling her close.
"We need to talk," Sersi said as she too stepped into the room, breaking off the hug.
Y/N rolled their eyes.
"We," they indicated between themself, Sersi and Ikaris with a finger, "Don't have anything to talk about. Please leave."
Sprite pulled Y/N down to eye height and murmured, "I'm really sorry I had to bring both of them, believe me, but we really need you. Everything's changed, Deviants are back, and we need to save the world again. Please help us."
Y/N breathed for a moment, contemplating. Then they nodded.
"Make yourselves at home, I guess," they said finally, "I'll..uhh, I'll make tea."
"I'll help!" Sprite offered, eager to get away from the two ex-lovers and to spend more time with Y/N, who had always been her favourite.
The kitchen was silent except for the beeping of the oven and hiss of the kettle. Sprite didn't know what to say, or how to act around her sibling. They seemed so much more grown up than everyone else, especially Sersi. Maybe being apart had changed them.
"Y/N... Ajak is dead," she said, internally cringing at the suddenness of the reveal.
Y/N didn't say anything. Then they did.
"And the deviants are back and the emergence is happening," they added, finishing Sprite's thought, "I know. The question is, what are we doing about it?"
They glanced at Sprite, who was tearing up a little.
"I'm sorry, I know it's hard for you. I wasn't as close to Ajak as the rest of you, that's all," they murmured, wrapping Sprite in a side hug.
The two Eternals stood like that, staring out the window into Y/N's small garden and watching the world go by together. Then the tea kettle started whistling and they were shocked back into the world.
"We'd better get back to the two star-crossed lovers, hadn't we?" Y/N teased, nudging Sprite's shoulder, "I'll take the tea, you grab the cookies."
They walked back in to the dining room with the trays.
"Break time's over lovebirds~" Sprite crowed, clanging the cookie platter down on the table and sitting loudly next to Ikaris. Y/N casually placed the four cups in front of the others sitting at the table like the leader of a parent's club setting up for a meeting, then took their own place.
"So," Sersi started awkwardly, "The-world's-about-to-end-and-we-need-to-save-it-from-being-destroyed-in-the-emergence."
"And Ajak is dead," Ikaris added.
Y/N just stared at the two of them. Sprite couldn't help glancing in between Ikaris and Y/N like a child between fighting parents, and waited for someone to speak.
"..I know," Y/N said finally, "What I was going to say was - how do we stop the birth of a celestial?"
Awkward laughter from Sersi faded into silence.
"Ah... That's what we don't know. We were thinking maybe Druig could put the celestial to sleep, or Phastos could think of something," she murmured, pushing a useless strand of hair behind her ear.
"So why do you need me?"
"We need all of us to come up with a solution, Y/N!" Ikaris man-splained, "And Sprite said you were closer than Kingo."
"To Britain? Definitely not. To sanity, maybe," Y/N replied sassily, "But I would like to see Makkari or Kingo again. It's been too long since I spoke some decent slang. And, I can feel you wishing you were anywhere but here right now."
They pointed right at Ikaris' chest, causing everyone else to turn to them.
"You can sense emotion?" Sprite asked incredulously, "Since when?"
"I can't. I can just tell cos the air soured around him."
Dull silence. Then Sersi pushed out from the table. She cleared her throat, dusted imaginary crumbs from her pants, and pushed her plate closer to the cookie platter.
"Well, we'd better get going if we want to have saved the world this time next week."
I was going to publish an Eternals x reader fic I've had in my drafts for quite a while now, but if nobody reads them anymore I'll keep them in drafts.
Summary: Druig says something he wishes he could take back.
Warnings: I used Fem pronouns, Angst, mention of name calling, some language, groveling.
Author's note: I wrote this in a hour and it’s 2 am so I will come back and edit later. I just feel bad that I abandoned you all.
Druigs blood ran cold through his veins as soon as he realized what he had said out loud. The words had tumbled out of his mouth before his brain could register them. He was tired and exhausted from all the missions he had lately. It was no excuse, and he knew it.
Y/N’s body tensed a low gasp escaping her lips. The smile she had plastered on earlier fell. Never in a thousand years would she have expected him to be so cruel. A burning sensation formed behind her eyelids as she fought off tears. She refused to cry in front of him, not in here in this crowd either. Besides Druig didn’t deserve those tears.
The words bounced around in her mind as she took a deep breath. She was at a loss of what to do. She wouldn’t cause a scene at Tonys charity gala. Y/N’s nostrils flared as she began to lose some of her resolve. She downed the rest of the champagne in her glass.
How dare he speak to her like that. All she wanted to do was make the gala easy on Druig so he could relax and enjoy his time. But he wanted to call her worthless and a bitch?
Druig ran a hand over his face mumbling her name, but cut himself off at the glare she sent him. It was so full of anger. An anger he had never seen directed at him. He wanted to fix this. He had to fix it. There was a twitch in his hand as he moved to reach out to her. But he stopped, because she hated being touched when she was feeling big emotions like anger. She liked her space so she could think and control herself.
“Darling please, I am sorry.” The words were barely spoken above a whisper almost drowned out by the lively chatter of other guests.
Y/N shook her head some strands falling out of her up do. She needed to get out of there. This event was not theirs to ruin. Home was somewhere she could be alone, and a walk would cool her down. Maybe even pick up some greasy food truck tacos.
A tsunami of panic washed through Druig as he watched her briskly walk away towards the doors. Druig took off after Y/N trying to match her pace, but his long strides couldn’t match her speed. Even in her heels she was fast. He had to fix this.
An older women stopped the girl. In a millisecond Y/N’s frown tuned into her effortless smile. Hiding any emotion but happiness. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as the blue-eyed man come closer.
“Please excuse me. I am not feeling well and was going to head home.” Y/N explained, before slipping through the doors.
“Y/N- Y/N please.” The words came out as a plea he knew she would ignore. Which she did and kept putting distance between them.
Druig cursed himself. He knew he was stupid and there was no excuse for taking his cranky anger out on her. He never should have uttered those words to her. And now he couldn’t take them back. They would always echo in the back of her mind if he could fix this, and that terrified him.
An instant regret hit her as a shiver ran through here. She regretted the decision not to pick up her coat. But it would have given him enough time to catch up to her. Her steps were in the opposite direction of their home. She opted to take the long way, so she could get some greasy food truck tacos. Her comfort food. It was also time to avoid the man behind her.
“Darling. Please get in the car. Let me get you home safely.” His words were hard to understand against the sounds of traffic.
“No.” there was nothing behind the words. They were just dry. Not a hint of anger or sadness just empty. Druig winced there was going to be a lot of groveling and he would do whatever needed to fix this.
“I will say nothing and act like your Uber driver then leave.” It was late and cold. A bad combination in New York.
“No.” She crossed the road not bothering to look both ways. Her hope was that he would get cut off by a car giving her more space to disappear.
“Why not?” He knew why. He just was at a loss on what to do. She was going to catch a cold in her strapless dress.
“Because I am mad at you.” She called out against the sound of a car horn. Behind the wheel was a man annoyed that she was taking forever to cross.
The noise made her blood boil a little more. She wanted to stop and scream at the driver to come dodge potholes in a pencil heel, and she would honk at him. But she continued straight.
Druig however, turned and glared at the driver before flipping them off. Gold flashed through his eyes for the briefest second. He wanted to make them apologize to her and grovel. But he was the one who needed to apologize and… well grovel. The time he took to stop gave her more than enough time to slip away into a group of tourists.
It was loud and the lights were making it hard for him to find her. He frantically searched through the crowd of people. A few of them cursing him as he pushed through them. As he was about to give up and use his powers, he caught a glimpse of her silk dress.
“Darling Please let me make sure you get home safe.” His accent made her flinch. She didn’t believe he would have found her that quickly. She thought for sure she was going to find him sitting in front of their door.
“Stop please. I need to think. I beg you to please let me be.” The pleading in her tone broke him. He knew he had messed up and that the least he could do was respect her wishes.
“Ok. Call me if you need a ride. I will pick you up.”. Before turning to walk away he reached out wanting to touch her to remind her that he loved her. But shook his head and gave her the space she wanted.
The food truck she had her sights on was just a few more blocks away. That was her plan food, some tears then she will face the issue at hand.
-----
Once she made it to their apartment Druig was sitting by the front door. He looked defeated. His hair was a mess, the tie he wore was loosened. She was almost certain he had cried. It was funny though because she still couldn’t bring herself to cry. She was just angry, the kind that made you feel numb. Right now all she carved was her bed.
Without saying a word, she dropped the container of food she bought for him at his feet. She knew he hadn’t eaten and as livid as she was, she still cared about his well-being.
“Y/N?” His voice was thick and caught in his throat.
“I just want to go to bed.” She turned the key; the sound of the deadbolt was loud in the brief moment of silence. “We will talk in the morning.”
“OK. I will sleep in the guestroom then.”
“No.” She never could sleep well when he was gone. There would be a pillow barrier, but she wanted him there.
“Sleep in our room. Just don’t- don’t touch me. I still need my space right now. I am angry and haven’t come to terms with it yet.”
“I am very-“ Y/N cut him off. Apologies weren’t going to fix this. She wanted him to take back the words, but even if he did, they would be an echo in the back of her mind.
“I swear if you say sorry one more time I will leave.”
She walked to their room in the dark pulling out the bobby pins holding her hair up. Druig stayed in the kitchen eating the food she gave him. By the time he was in the room Y/N was in bed holding a pillow to her chest. Face buried in it. She put pillows up by her side so her back was facing Druig and he couldn’t touch her.
The bed dipped when he laid down. He faced her wanting to say something because he was stubborn. He could use his powers on her but that was a line that he wouldn’t cross. In fact, he would beg her to break up with him if he ever did something so despicable.
Y/N laid there for hours listening to his soft snores. She couldn’t sleep, the words were playing over in her mind like some personal horror movie. She got up and made her way to the living room.
Sitting on the couch she stared out the window with a blank look. Eventually the tears she thought would never fall did. At first, they were slow before she let out a sob. She buried her face in the closest throw pillow not wanting to wake him up.
That hope was lost though, because the lights flicked on. He was kneeling in front of her. His heart shattered at the sight. It was all his fault.
“Baby can I touch you? Please?” He begged. Desperate to comfort her.
She nodded, needing the comfort he could give her. His warm hand rubbed circles on her back.
“You are not those words I spoke.”
At those words Y/N turned her face to look at him. Another tear trailed down her cheek. Druig caught it with his other hand.
“Then why? Why did you say them?” She whispered, closing her eyes.
“I didn’t mean to I was tired and took my frustration out on you. I never should have; I should have had better control over my emotions. I will never say those words to you again.” His fingers tangled in her hair thumb moving up and down her cheek.
“You are my beautiful darling and I will grovel for this till we die.”
Y/N nodded slightly. She stayed silent and more tears fell.
“Please.” That word held a lot of emotion creating a thick cloud around her heart. “Tell me what to do to make this better.”
“Tell me you love me. Make those words go away.”
Druig smiled. He told her that all the time because he did love her. More than he thought he could love anyone. She was the reason he kept going.
“Y/N I love you and you are the best thing to happen in my eternal life. You are the reason I keep going and haven’t lost full faith in humanity. You are my everything…my world. I didn’t mean those words and will never mean words like that.”
She reached out to him silently asking for a hug. Which he obliged pulling her close. She buried her face in his neck inhaling. She fit there like he was made to hold her. As if his existence was to comfort her and make her happy.
“I am still mad you” She murmured. Druig chuckled his breath fanning the crown of her head eyes closed holding her tighter.
“Completely fair my love. Just know I love you.
A sniffle came from Y/N before murmuring. “I love you too.”
"Strawberry Cream Frosting" - Next Gen Eternals AU
Summary: Ikaris and Sephia's son fell in love with Thena and Gilgamesh's daughter. Chaos ensues.
Warning(s): Fluff, accidental love-bombing, Thena and Gil being the best adoptive parents EVER, Mara can't process emotions for shit
Author's Note: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TO ONE AND ALL! I hope everyone had a wonderful day reading a bunch of fics and looking at fan edits!
When Mara opened the front door, she had her baseball bat ready and was prepared to give whatever fucking dumb solicitor was on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell for the tenth time on a Saturday morning.
She wasn’t expecting…whatever the hell this was.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!”
It was a giant box that looked about four cubic feet big and was wrapped in shiny red wrapping paper, pink ribbons, and glitter. On the top was a little sign stating, ‘Bee my Valentine?’ with a little crochet bee keychain attached.
Mara just stood under Gil- her parents’ doorway for thirty seconds. She didn’t say anything. She just blinked at the giant package- until she blurted out the first coherent enough thought in her mind.
“What the fuck?”
A head popped from behind the…thing, and suddenly, it all made sense.
Laurie. And from how insane his hair looked, he decided it was a good idea to fly from Scotland to Ka’ena Point, Oahu.
“Happy First Valentine’s Day!” he exclaimed before shaking the box for emphasis. As if she couldn’t notice how fucking gargantuan it was from just staring at it.
“…Laurie, what the hell am I looking at?” Mara asked. She pointed at it. “Is Arthur in there with a confetti cannon?”
Laurie furrowed his brow in confusion. “What? Oh! No, I know it’s a little big. But it’s your first Valentine’s Day, and I wanted to do something nice be–”
“What the hell is ‘Valentine’s Day’?” Mara interrupted. “Is it like a food day or something?”
“You don’t know what Valentine’s Day is?” he gaped.
She shook her head. “No…what’s the big deal? Is it like that Christmas thing I went to with the small boxes under the tree?”
The mega-watt smile Laurie flashed to her made Mara slightly worried. Despite how predictable he was, Mara could never get a good read on the guy. He wasn’t dangerous- that much was obvious. But whenever he and Mara were in the same room, he would act like he was glued to her hip. It didn’t help that Uri and Arthur immediately clicked on their first meeting.
And it really didn’t help when she shoved a shotgun in his face before his dad with the pew-pew eyes slammed her against the ground by her neck.
“Don’t make that face,” she ordered. “I don’t like that face.”
But Laurie wasn’t listening. He was jumping on the balls of his feet in excitement. “I have to teach you about it! It’ll be lots of fun, I promise! We can do a bunch of stuff! Wait, just let me–”
Mara moved to the side to let him in. “Oh, yeah. Just–”
He set the heavily decorated box on the ground before asking if he could use the bathroom. She pointed it down the hall. When he was out of sight, Mara tried to lift the box to see how heavy it was, and- holy shit, it must have been over thirty pounds.
How the fuck did that tall-ass twig carry this?
She felt a different heat presence behind her- whipping her head, she calmed down when she realized it was only Gil.
“My dad, everyone,” Mara thought wryly while wearing. “The powerhouse of strength in the Eternals, wearing a ‘Kiss the Chef’ apron.”
“Why was Laurie at the door? And what’s in that box?” he asked while holding his famous quiche in a hot cast-iron pan without gloves.
Mara just shrugged. “Hell, if I know. He said it was for Valentine’s Day or something like that.”
“Ohhhh,” Gil smiled. “For Valentine’s Day? And that big box is all for you? That’s Sephie’s kid for you all right.”
“What’s Sephie’s kid?” came a new voice.
Turning her head, Mara watched Thena walk down the stairs carrying Uri on her hip. It still baffled her to witness how the ancient goddess never had a bad case of bedhead the entire time she and her brother lived with her and Gil.
Gil answered. “Laurie came to visit, giving a certain someone a gift for Valentine’s Day.”
Mara’s dad wiggled his eyebrows at his daughter before setting the quiche down on the table while she rolled her eyes at what he was implying.
Uri looked at his sister and then Thena before tugging on his mom's sleeve.
“What’s Valentine’s Day?” he signed.
Smiling at her sunshine son, Thena explained. “It’s a day humans made to celebrate love. You spend it with friends and the people you love. When you love someone very much, you ask them to be your ‘Valentine.’”
She bopped his nose with a finger and softly laughed from hearing his contagious giggles. Mara smiled, too. Uri’s happiness was infectious. His smile alone was her reason for fighting and running as long as she had. She’d do anything to ensure he was safe, which made her happy to know it paid off.
He signed another question. “If my Valentine has to be someone I love lots, does that mean you, Mara, and Daddy will be my Valentine? Or can I only pick one?”
Mara replied as she reached out to hold him. “You can have as many valentines as you want, Uri. No need to ration out the love.”
She pressed a kiss on his chubby cheek. Peace washed over her when he pressed a loud kiss on hers before wrapping his arms around her neck to hug his sister. Uri was the sunniest sunshine summer child to be born. He radiated comfort with his entire being. There was more love and warmth in his toothy grin than…anything. He was her whole world, and she was his. That was enough.
Laurie walked back into view. “Hey, Uri! How’ve you been?”
Uri smiled wide before wildly clapping. He loved Laurie and his family. He mostly loves Ari, Laurie’s baby brother, who became Uri’s best friend after two minutes of meeting him.
She still remembers how Thena decked their dad after he asked if Uri gave his son any drugs after seeing them spin in circles in the dirt. Mara laughed so hard that tears came pouring out of her eyes.
Laurie put his hand to cover his mouth and loudly whispered in Uri’s ear. “Do you think I can take your sister out today? I want to teach her about Valentine’s Day.”
This distressed Uri as he scrunched his face while clinging tighter to Mara. He adapted wonderfully when Thena and Gil took them in, but he hated being separated from his sister for any period. The first day of her new school was a complete shit show because he cried while she was gone.
“But, I promise that I will bring her back shortly. We’ll even bring you souvenirs!”
Uri looked at her in confusion.
“Presents,” she clarified. “I’ll still be your Valentine, and we can go out and look for some pretty shells tomorrow, okay? You can show them to all your fishy friends.”
Although he liked the idea of presents and spending all of tomorrow with his favorite person in the whole world, Uri still didn’t want Mara to go- at least not without him.
“Why don’t we eat breakfast first? Laurie, can you help Uri get ready? I need to make sure Gil doesn’t dose his coffee with any booze.” She handed her brother to her…friend before going to the kitchen.
Gil had a big fucking smirk on his face when she walked in.
Mara snarled as she grabbed the apron he and Thena made for her as a new home present. “Not a fucking word. I don’t want to hear it. By the way, do we have any cinnamon rolls left in the freezer?”
He only smiled wider. “I wasn’t going to say anything. And we do. Why do you ask?”
Taking the leftover rolls, she preheated the oven. She then grabbed some oranges from the basket on the floor. Slicing them in half before setting the sieve over the plastic pitcher, and taking one half of an orange over the sieve. Taking a deep breath, Mara centered herself.
“Karla,” the name echoed in her mind as the soul covered her hand, and Mara squeezed the orange until the pulp was dry.
She took the rinds and absorbed the remaining qi inside it as a tribute of thanks for her friend’s help. Karla was the youngest and wasn’t called on as much as her other sisters, so Mara wanted to include her in something. The warmth on her skin when she returned to her ink-painted nest was a sign she appreciated the gesture.
Thena walked in and stood behind you. “You should go with Laurie.”
“Why?” she groaned out. “I don’t feel like it.”
The oven dinged once adequately preheated, and Mara plopped the rolls on the rack. She grabbed a metal mixing bowl and all the ingredients to make the cream cheese frosting- including some crushed-up freeze-dried strawberry slices. After measuring them and placing them in the bowl, she started to stir.
“You need more friends,” the two ancient beings spoke in unison.
Thena pressed a kiss on her daughter's head. “You don’t talk to anyone at school. And you can’t spend all your free time surfing, at the shop, playing with Uri, and studying.”
Gil pulled in for a giant bear hug. “Hey, no pressure. But you have to admit, it’ll be a nice change to have someone spoil you for once. And with a tall, pretty boy, too.”
Mara glared at her adoptive dad as he moved past her to get to the bathroom. She tried to fight down the red blush blooming on her cheeks. But she only continued to stir the bowl until it became thick and made the color she wanted.
“I get spoiled enough by the two of you as is,” she grumbled. “And also–”
Laurie and Uri, coming into the kitchen, cut Mara off. “We’re here! And I made sure Uri brushed his teeth and flossed. And – woah, Mara! Why is your face so red? Are you sick?”
He put down Uri and raced to her side. He put his hand on her forehead to take her temperature and used his other one to touch his for comparison. He was so close that she could smell the wind on his skin and the mint toothpaste on his breath. Mara stared at his face- how were his eyelashes so long? And why were his eyes so blue? She felt her face heat up even more and cleared her throat before turning her head.
“It’s nothing,” she croaked. “Can you…can you help Thena set the table? The plates and cups are in the overhead cabinets, and the utensils are in the drawers.”
Laurie moved to grab everything to help set up the table on the outside deck. Mara watched as Thena cupped his face with a warm smile and told him how tall and strong he was becoming. Gil returned and ruffled his air before asking if he was still set on becoming a doctor with how much his muscles had grown. Uri tugged on his sleeve to ask if Ari had missed him as much as he missed him.
This was the part of Laurie that Mara could never figure out how he fit in perfectly and seamlessly without issue or error in any situation. She could analyze and pinpoint a person’s position and physical weaknesses with her abilities without blinking. Every living thing had a heat signature that she could exploit.
But with Laurie…she didn’t want to do that to him. It was like his weaknesses only made him more appealing to others. Ever since the girl first met him, he would follow her around like a puppy desperate for attention from its owner. It bugged her for months. And if she were being honest, it still did after a year of knowing him.
Mara couldn’t really explain it. But it was like...his warmth was inherent- it came from a softer place where only goodness existed. It was less of a raging inferno like her own and more like a gentle campfire. If Mara was a snake, then Laurie was a bunny. A bunny nearly six-foot-tall with clear blue eyes and light freckles–
*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*
The oven’s timer went off- breaking her out of the analogy and into reality. She took the rolls out using an oven glove and placed them on a cooling stone.
“Are those cinnamon rolls?”
Mara looked over her shoulder, and Laurie was crouching right behind her. His chin was practically on her shoulder.
She nodded. “You like them, right? You said your mom made them for you for breakfast on your…um…what’d you call it?”
He was giddy with glee. “My birthday! I told you that at Christmas! We were all at Brympton d'Evercy to celebrate Sersi’s and Dane’s engagement! I can’t believe you remembered that!”
Mara supposed the way he smiled was…sort of cute… nowhere near as blindly adorable as Uri’s, but attractive enough.
“Yeah…well, you did fly to give me that…thing. And you're even teaching me about this Valentine’s Day stuff. So, I thought…this could be my present to you.”
If Mara was facing Laurie, she would have seen the softest look of love and adoration grace an adolescent boy’s face in the history of humanity. Laurie loved Mara Drake so much. His dad said he was too young for dating- let alone love, but he knew they were destined for forever.
He wanted to kiss her so badly. But he wasn’t sure if he wanted to be pinned down like how he was when they first met.
Mara scraped the little dried spot on the kitchen island. She so did not like feeling as stupid as she did right now. But…she had a gut feeling Laurie was worth it.
“Um…I crushed some dry strawberry things and added them to the frosting. It turned pink, and I thought that was okay since I saw pink on the box and thought–”
“Cinnamon rolls are my favorite, and I love strawberries,” he whispered. “And pink…pink’s my favorite color after blue. It reminds me of my mom.”
“And if you have time, we can…go find some good spots for sea-shell hunting. Uri can take forever, and it’ll save me some time. I know it’s kind of shitty- especially because you’re doing this whole thing.”
“I love you.”
Mara choked on her own spit and turned her head in shock. Her eyes were bulging out of your head.
What- what did he say?
“What?” her voice cracked.
Now, it was Laurie’s time to turn red. Did he really just say that? And with Gil and Thena literally less than twenty feet away? Was he trying to get the love of his life to hate him forever? Oh fuck, he needed to backtrack.
“IT! I meant to say, ‘I love IT!’ I’d love to help you find seashells! I could even bring some for Ari and Aggie! Actually – they made some Valentine's gifts for you and your brother, too! Ari made this really cool card for Uri. He summoned a bunch of turquoise and made this cool heart! So, um…thanks.”
His voice cracked as he stammered to save himself before awkwardly pausing to express gratitude.
An awkward silence echoed as the awkward future couple mutually decided that their feet were the room's most exciting part.
And the dads decided to make it even worse.
“MARA! IKARIS TOLD ME TO TELL YOU TO MAKE SURE THAT LAURIE’S VIRGINITY BETTER BE INTACT WHEN HE COMES HOME!”
Mara was caught so off-guard that she dropped the spatula in her hand. The pink frosting splattered all over the floor and would be a bitch to clean up.
Fucking-
“TELL HIM TO EAT A DICK AND FUCK OFF!” she yelled back as Laurie buried his face in his hands.
He really hoped Aggie had more luck not humiliating herself with Hamish the way he had with Mara.
Somewhere in Scotland, a little Ari sat on the couch with his mommy as she stroked his daddy’s hair. His daddy was lying in his mommy’s lap.
“Mama? Why is Da crying?” he innocently asked.
You only smiled. “Karma.”
At the same time, in the Amazon, a young girl was planning her and her forever love’s future wedding when she suddenly stood up and looked in the distance. Her future husband asked whatever was bothering his little lady love.
The young girl only sighed while shaking her head. “The idiot fucked up.”
