#fallforub

[handsomesunshine]

@wayhavenmonthly

Fall for Unit Bravo Day 8: Photo

I had to make a mock Polaroid for this one, I really did! I’d like to imagine Felix is happy to have something replace Mason’s other photo he has...

[the-ham-juice]

Day One - Write

Alys scribbled furiously in her notebook, carefully jotting down every detail that came to mind before she forgot.

The door to the garage clicked shut softly as Ivy arrived from her soccer club. Alys stood at the soft click of her cleats on the hardwood floor, eager to share her most recent plot.

“Ivy!” Alys was careful not to wrinkle the pages as she rushed to meet her sister in the kitchen. Their nanny seemed one step ahead, already putting an afternoon snack for them to share; apples and peanut butter.

Her elder sister barely regarded her, staring at the plate with little interest.

“Ivy what’s wrong,” Alys clutched tighter to her pencil. “You look sad.”

“I’m okay,” Ivy perked up and quickly shoved food in her mouth. “Were you writing? I wanna read!”

Alys clutched her journal closer to her chest, “it isn’t done!”

“It’s my favorite story.”

“You haven’t read it!”

Ivy turned her nose up in the air, earning an affectionate if not amused pat on her head from their nanny.

“Doesn’t matter.”

—

“You must swear to me that you will not tell Alys,” Rebecca glanced back at Ivy in the rearview mirror. “I am only telling you because you’re old enough.”

“Are you gone a lot because daddy died?” Ivy could barely be heard over the sounds of the road. “You’re going to find who did it, right?”

“No and you won’t ask me questions like that ever again.” Rebecca snapped, turning onto their street. “I lost a lot that day. I need your help with Alys.”

“Okay, mommy.”

The car shuddered as Rebecca put the car in park, not bothering to pull into the driveway. She’d head back to work, leaving her children to be fed and tucked in by another.

“Was school okay? Did your science fair project win?” Ivy’s door was already open by the time she asked but her daughter hesitated.

“That was a few months ago,” the door began to close. “Bye, mommy.”

The door clicked shut leaving Rebecca alone once more. She waited, car in gear, for Ivy to head inside. The flash of the nanny’s red hair was indication enough she made it inside, and Rebecca drove away.

I was confused by the assignment @wayhavenmonthly 💗

[handsomesunshine]

Fall for UB Day 16: Rain

@wayhavenmonthly

Pairing: Mason/Detective Xing “X” Volkov

Word count: 640

The rain always brought with it pain for Xing and Mason.

For Xing, it caused his back to hurt, old injuries causing new aches and pains. For Mason, it caused all of his joints to tingle and burn uncomfortably, the shifting in barometric pressure even worse on his over-sensitive joints.

The two of them could not be considered cheerful on the best of days, but on rainy days, the two of them became downright insufferable. They were both grouchier and more sarcastic, with their only solaces being a warm bath and the embrace of the other.

Mason would never outright admit it, but he liked having his hair played with. Something about the feeling of X gently running his hand through his hair was utterly peaceful to him, helping to melt away the stress of the rest of the world and bring everything down to the one focal point of him and nothing else; which is why, as the rain pattered against the window outside, Mason felt oddly at peace with X stroking his hair. His nerves felt duller than they would, the pain of the rain being slowly washed away with each gentle carding of X's fingers through his hair.

He let his arm wrap slightly tighter around his waist, noting the happy hum that X let out and the way his entire being seemed just as utterly content as Mason did. He still seemed like he was in pain somewhat, but he seemed as at peace as he could be at the moment, occasionally humming bits and pieces of one of his favorite songs in a way that Mason knew he did when he was happy.

It was almost strange to the vampire how much just being in one another's presence could help when it came to the pain. Perhaps it was having a distraction, or simply the fact that they both knew what the other one was going through. Whatever it was, Mason knew that he was more than happy for X's presence, and for the gentle way he played with his hair as they lay there, embracing one another in such a soft, intimate embrace that Felix would certainly have a field day if he could see the two of them together right now.

Mason could still smell the rain and hear it against the windows, but the sounds and smells didn't grate on him the way that they normally would. Instead, he was comforted by X's smell-- cinnamon and patchouli, a spicy and smoky in a way that nearly left his head spinning; the only sound he was interested in was the deep, rumbling sound of X's humming, and the soft sound of his breathing.

He knew that X felt calm and content as well, able to smell it in his scent, (and also just knowing him well enough, though he wouldn't admit that to anyone but himself.) The human was still hurting; still fragile in a way that worried Mason in the back of his mind, but he was happy. Though he had no idea why, exactly, Xing truly appreciated having him around, no matter what it is the two of them happened to be doing. His soft humming quieted and quieted, tapering off in a way that meant that he was falling asleep, finally comfortable enough to do so.

Mason didn't need as much sleep as the others, but even he felt the soft tugs of tiredness creeping into the edges of his mind. Normally, he wouldn't be caught dead cuddling someone like this, much less falling asleep in their arms, but there was something about X that was different enough that this time, he couldn't bring himself to care.

He did care, of course, when Felix framed a photo of the two of them sleeping together, but that was another issue entirely.

[handsomesunshine]

Fall for UB: Day 7-- Combat

@wayhavenmonthly

Pairing: Adam du Mortain/Detective Xing “X” Volkov

Word Count: 802

Xing was not a fighter.

He could handle himself in a fight, that much was true. And he was often smart enough to gain a tactical advantage over his foes, using whatever technology he had on hand to defend himself against his opponents.

None of that mattered, however, when going up against Adam. For starters, Adam was eleven inches taller than him, and pure muscle— whereas X was much leaner.

Normally, being smaller would give X the advantage of being faster than his opponent, and therefore harder to hit. But with Adam’s vampiric speed, that advantage was gone completely.

That didn’t matter, though, he told himself. He just needed to get a hit on Adam, to prove that he could. To prove that the training hadn’t been for nothing— to prove that he wasn’t useless simply because he was human.

He wasn’t sure if he was grateful that Adam wasn’t going easy on him, or if he despised it. It felt like going up against a genuine target, which he knew would help his training— but it also made it that much harder to actually get a hit in.

He tried hitting underneath Adam’s ribs, and was swatted away like it was nothing. He tried his neck— doing his best not to think about the strong lines of it, and how they’d feel under his touch. He continued over and over, throwing punches (and a few defiant kicks) that didn’t come anywhere close to hitting. Every time, Adam batted him away, like he was just an annoying fly.

One thing, X noticed, was that Adam adamantly avoided hitting X’s back, where he knew the old injury still occasionally throbbed and ached.

He was making sure not to hurt him, even as X came at him with everything he had.

It made X’s face heat up, and he stormed back over to take another water break. He barely even registered the conversation he was having with Adam, too busy thinking about how thoughtful he was being while kicking his ass.

He did notice, however, how distracted Adam got when a single drop of water slid down his chest.

“You know what?” He said, smirking softly. “It’s really hot in here. You’re already shirtless, so let’s even it out, hm?”

Adam watched him take his shirt off like a man experiencing his first religious experience, and X grinned in triumph. “Much better. Again.”

As it turns out, operation “Fluster Adam to the Point of Landing a Hit on Him” was a complete failure. He was able to attempt a few more defiant hits before his back started to give out, and he hit the mat with a soft groan.

Nothing could have prepared him in that moment for Adam straddling him, though.

“Giving up won’t help you learn,” Adam said, though X barely heard it through the rushing of blood in his ears. Their hips were almost touching, both of them sweeping their gaze up and down the other’s form.

A plan coalesced in his brain as Adam’s body stiffened in shock at their position— one where he could finally gain the upper hand.

It was far easier than he thought to roll them over so that he was the one on top. He reveled in the way Adam’s previously steady breath turned heavy, thanking the universe that he had a photographic memory— this was truly a sight he never wanted to forget, especially as his body angled to close the gap between them in a way that made him feel like he’d just won the lottery.

“Adam...” X purred, sending a shiver through Adam’s body that caused him to let out a low, wanting growl.

X resolved, somewhere deep in the back of his mind, to hear that sound as much as he possibly could. He reached a hand out to Adam, thrilled at the tension between them finally breaking—

“Don’t.” Adam whispered, sounding like a plea that he himself didn’t even want. X froze, and Adam pushed him off, all but springing to his feet in an attempt to put as much distance between them as he could.

Mason entered the room, and X wasn’t quite sure how to feel about his entrance. He was glad to have a buffer between the tension and the training, but he wished that he and Adam could spend more time together, and maybe talk like people for once.

“Take over training.” Adam practically barked, slamming the door open so hard that it broke.

X signed, adding ‘training room door’ to his ever-growing mental list of things that Adam had broken.

More than anything, X worried that there was one, final thing he’d have to add to the ‘broken by Adam’ list, if he kept playing at whatever sort of game he was playing—

His heart.

[handsomesunshine]

Fall for UB Day 13: Kindness

@wayhavenmonthly

Pairing: Mason/Detective

Word count: 654

Mason didn’t understand the Detective’s kindness.

He was not a kind person to most, and he made that clear. He had no problems being rough and abrasive to anyone who was not a member of Unit Bravo, and often stated his mind in a brutally honest fashion.

Yet, for some reason, the Detective was always kind to him. They would check in on him genuinely, caring for him in a way that caused a rather confusing stirring in his chest.

He didn’t understand it at all— he wasn’t like Felix or Nate, the kind of person everyone wanted to be kind to. He was the type of person that left your head spinning for a night, and was gone in the morning.

He did exactly that with the Detective, but he couldn’t help but look forward to another time with them— something he never did. And when they showed up the next day for training, thanking him genuinely for helping, that confusing stirring made its way through his chest again.

He did his best to dismiss it— the Detective was just a genuinely kind person, befriending everyone they came across. Even Adam warmed up to them, something he never thought he’d see— the prickly team leader got along with the Detective and cared about them in a way he’d never seen before (at least, not towards a human).

Annoyingly for him, it seemed as though they had the entirety of Unit Bravo wrapped around their caring finger, seamlessly blending in and offering a softer, more optimistic outlook to their team. As much as he wanted to dislike it, he couldn’t deny that their presence brought something much needed to the group.

Then there was that annoying stirring in his chest, whenever they said something kind to him. He had no idea what it was, but he knew he didn’t like it. The Detective was kind, and shyly responded to his flirtations, but they were more than up to having fun with him.

That’s all it was. Fun.

And yet, it felt different, to be with someone so concerned about him, and so kind. Every kiss they initiated was soft, as if they were trying to savor it as much as possible. Every touch was gentle, as if they were afraid of hurting him.

It was all so goddamn frustrating. He was a vampire, near-indestructible and much stronger than they were— but for some reason, they were rushing into danger to protect him, saving him from thralls in their office and stopping Murphy just to help him and the rest of the team.

Murphy. He had bitten them, and Mason had no idea why the faint marks on their neck bothered him so much. A reminder of his failure, of his inability to protect them from him.

He didn’t beat himself up over it too much, but he knew that they were still struggling to forgive themselves for the Trappers. He had come out of it fine, only having to rest for a few days— and they had saved the carnival woman as a result. But the look on their face when they saw him bandaged up in his bed was still one that lingered in his mind— the sad, worried look that eventually melted into soft smiles as he reassured them he was fine.

Their smile was soft, but the kiss was even softer.

No one had ever kissed Mason like that— he wasn’t the type for gentleness or intimacy, for kindness or for love.

Love.

Was that was this was? This constant stirring in his heart, the yearning to see them? Had he really fallen in love with the kind, gentle Detective who blushed every time he said something inappropriate, who looked at him like he was worth looking at?

Oh, shit. He’d fallen for them, and he’d fallen hard.

Mason was in love, and he knew what he had to do next.

[handsomesunshine]

Fall for UB Day 2– Dead

@wayhavenmonthly

Pairing: Mason/Detective Xing “X” Volkov

Word Count: 723

I wanted to try and do something a little more fun with this prompt, since I’m sure everyone else is already working on that sweet, sweet angst!

“No, no, no!” Xing groaned, storming back into the office like a small hurricane. “I can’t believe this!”

“What’s wrong, detective?” Adam asked, a blond brow arching in his signature expression.

“She’s dead!” He yelled, and all four members of Unit Bravo instantly stiffened— staring at him with looks of confusion and concern.

“Who’s dead?” Nate asked.

“Umbra!” He responded, as he began to pace in distress.

There was silence from Unit Bravo, watching X as he continued his pacing, lighting a cigarette— apparently ignoring his own rule of “no smoking in my goddamn office.”

Then, Mason spoke.

“...Are you talking about your stupid car?”

“Yes!” X responded, noting the way that everyone seemed to relax at that. “I knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but I didn’t expect her to go so soon!”

“It’s a car, Detective.” Adam said, his tone full of confusion (and not-so-subtle disapproval).

“Hey, some of us need our cars to get to places. With a back like mine I can’t exactly walk everywhere all the time, and I’m not nearly as fast as you all are.”

“I don’t know, handsome, you can be pretty fast when I’m—”

“Well!” Nate interrupted, not letting Mason get the chance to finish his obvious innuendo. “You mentioned you were saving up for a motorcycle, didn’t you? At least now you’ll have an excuse to buy one!”

X seemed to muse it over for a moment, before nodding. “There’s that, at least. I have enough for the bike I was looking at, though I’ll have to wait to buy some of the nicer upgrades for a while— stupid small town detective salary.”

“Personally, I’m glad that car’s dead! It seems safer for you to be driving, well, anything else.” Felix chuckled, half-surprised when no one chastised him for the statement.

“The vehicle did seem to be in a rather unsafe condition.” Adam agreed. “It’s better that it died while you were trying to leave the office than while you were on the road.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. Everyone hated Umbra, it was a hazard to my safety, so on and so forth.” X rolled his eyes, finishing the cigarette and putting it out on the bottom of his boot. “Mason especially complained about it all the time— well, he seemed to hate every part of it except the back seat.”

“...Shit.” Mason groaned. “I never got you into that backseat before the car died.”

“Now you get why I was so upset! Or, well, part of it!” X sighed. “I had plans for that car, but it isn’t salvageable at this point. Well, parts of it, maybe. The rest of it will have to be scrapped.”

“It’s about time.” Felix muttered, but Mason didn’t seem to hear him.

“The car may not be going anywhere, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have an opportunity to give it a... proper send off.”

“Oh, really?” X asked, smirking as he raised his eyebrows. “Years of hating that car and everything it stood for, and now you want to give it a ‘proper send off?’”

“Hey, it took care of you for a long time. That’s worth something.” Mason shrugged, oblivious to the stunned looks the other three were giving him. “Besides, I spent so long trying to get you into that backseat, and I can’t exactly do that if you’ve got a motorcycle.”

“Great observation, sunshine.” X grinned, looking like the very picture of mischief. “Motorcycles don’t have back seats.”

Mason growled, and Felix burst into laughter. X puffed his chest out slightly, all five-foot-two of him looking smug and proud enough that Mason wanted nothing more than to wipe that grin off of his face.

“But, well, I’m not going to discuss that sort of thing in front of the rest of Unit Bravo, and not in my office. It’s called not safe for *work* for a reason, isn’t it?” X grinned, slowly making his way to the door.

“I’ll be outside. If you can find one last way to try to get me into that backseat, then I’m more than up for a final attempt.”

Mason followed him out, moving faster than he had in a very, very long time.

And if he was genuinely excited by the idea? Then that was no one’s business but his own.

[handsomesunshine]

Fall for UB Day 1— Write

@wayhavenmonthly

Pairing: Platonic M!UB/Detective Xing “X” Volkov, implied Mason/Detective and Best friends Adam/Detective

Word count: 1,074

Xing was always writing, scribbling things down in small notebooks that he kept with him. Whether they were at a crime scene or simply relaxing in the warehouse, he seemed to always have some sort of observation that needed writing down. He went through notebooks and pens almost as fast as Adam went through training dummies (when he wasn’t bothering to hold himself back, he would argue).

Felix, being the curious (and frankly, nosy) man he was, decided that he needed to know exactly what it was that he was always writing. Was he making up some sort of scandalous story about them, using real-life events to affect his story? Was he writing down all of the hilarious things that Felix said? Was he making a list of every item of his Adam had broken? Well, Felix knew the last one was true, as X always reacted intensely any time Adam broke anything he owned.

Felix smiled at that— X and Adam were best friends, through neither of them would admit it. Despite all of their bickering— and Adam’s disapproval of X and Mason’s... relationship, they both obviously cared for each other.

Which was likely one of the reasons that Adam was holding X’s journal out of Felix’s reach, trying to stop him from his pursuit of knowledge.

“We can’t invade the Detective’s privacy like that, Felix.” He stated, tone suggesting no room for argument.

Of course, that had never stopped Felix before.

“Come on, Adam, just a peek? I promise I won’t tell him! It’ll be our little secret, I swear!”

“I said no. His journals are his own, and we are not going to look inside them merely to satiate our own curiosity.”

“So you admit you’re curious!” Felix grinned, eyes twinkling with mischief as Adam’s own eyes widened, if only for a second.

“That’s not— no. Whatever he writes in here is personal, and as such I have no need to know what it is.”

As they continued going back and forth, the door swung open, and Nate and Mason both walked in. Adam turned to look at them (likely worrying that X was with them for a moment), and Felix took that as his opportunity.

Felix was but a flash of movement as he grabbed the journal out of his hands, opening it and making his way to the opposite end of the room as fast as he possibly could.

Finally, he’d know what it is that X had been writing all this time. He stared down at the page, and—

“Felix!” Adam yelled, storming over, snatching the journal out of his hands with such force that he almost tore it in half.

“It’s fine, Adam, it’s not like I’m going to learn anything anyways. It’s...”

“Illegible.” Adam finished, before closing the journal, as if that would stop him from admitting he’d read it.

“Oh, come on. X’s handwriting might be fancy and stupid, but it’s not illegible.” Mason rolled his eyes, and both men turned to look at him in surprise.

“Give it here.” He stated, and Adam was too shocked to resist Mason tugging the journal out of his hands and opening it.

A deep frown creased Mason’s brow as he let out a soft growl of confusion. “This is fucking unreadable.”

“That’s what we’ve been saying!” Felix pouted, crossing his arms.

“Surely it can’t be that bad?” Nate asked, though he was starting to think otherwise, simply based on the looks the other three were giving him.

“Here.” Mason shoved the journal into Nate’s hands, running his hand through his hair as he did so.

Nate stared at the page for a second before his eyes lit up in recognition. “This is Russian Cursive.” He stated, causing all three of the other vampires to make various confused noises at him. “I knew that X spoke Russian, but I didn’t know he knew the cursive script for it as well. Truly, our detective is full of surprises.”

“You mean that’s not just scribbles?” Felix asked, eyes widening.

“No, it’s n—”

“What does it say? What does it say?” Felix grinned, practically bouncing in place.

“Felix!” Adam interjected. “We’ve been over this.”

“It’s observations about us.” Nate said, smiling softly. “This page has notes on to tell when we’re upset, based on body language and tone.”

“That’s...” Mason began, confusion making him frown once more, before it turned into a lazy smirk. “He sure spends a lot of time watching us, then. It’d be a lot better if he watched me—”

“Yes, Xing is very considerate!” Nate interrupted, giving Mason a disapproving glare. “He very obviously cares about us, underneath that sarcastic exterior of his.”

“You’re just mad that his jokes about you are all true, Natey.” Felix grinned, and Nate only rolled his eyes.

Then they all froze.

Coming down the hallway, they could hear the soft jingling of X’s jewelry and his familiar heartbeat. Felix raced to put the journal back where he had found it, and the other three did their best to look casual— to varying levels of success.

X walked in, taking his seat before giving them all one of his signature, charming smiles. “You all look like you’ve seen a ghost— well, more like if a human saw a ghost, I suppose.” He chuckled, and the tension in the room eased slightly.

That is, until his eyes fell on his notebook, and he picked it up. He flipped through some of the pages, watching as a few fluttered out, torn where Adam had grabbed it previously.

“So. Adam.” He stated, voice devoid of emotion as Adam stiffened. “You obviously weren’t the one to grab this first, so who did it?”

“I—that is—”

“We all did, Xing, and we all apologize, isn't that right?” Nate said, earning nods from Adam and Felix and a non-committal grunt from Mason.

(Mason’s eyes, however, conveyed a silent apology that he would deny to his grave and back.)

“Well...” X chuckled, playing with one of his necklaces gently. “I suppose I need to be more careful with these. Can’t have my secrets spilled everywhere, now can I?”

“I know something you could spill everywhere.” Mason grinned at him.

X grinned back as Nate started off on a tangent of how crass and vulgar Mason was. Opening his notebook, he made himself another note on a new page—

“These four are insufferable. They’re lucky I love them so much.”

[handsomesunshine]

@wayhavenmonthly

Fall for UB Day 9– Jacket

Since X is eleven inches shorter than Adam, so I can imagine he probably looked very small in his jacket in that first scene in book one!