EDIT: OMG I AM SUCH AN IDIOT I FORGOT TO SCHEDULE THIS. HERE YOU ARE I AM SO SO SORRY!!!!!
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This past weekend (August 7-10, 2025) was the annual Fic Writers' Retreat and the first European Writers' Retreat, and I was fortunate enough to be a part of such an exciting and magical experience! I put up the offer during the retreat to boost the fics that everyone either wrote or started during both retreats, so here are the ones that I have found or has been enthusiastically submitted to me!!
If you were part of the 2025 retreats and have a fic that you want to promote, please let me know and I'll add it to this list!
Please note that that unlike my normal lists, I am linking to TUMBLR posts as well on this list (indicated in the fic listing); I've tried to link to the ones I have reblogged to my own blog in case they disappear, but I will do my best to keep the links on this post updated.
I am ALSO aware that there will be (is?) an AO3 collection, so when that link is available, I'll add it as well.
ALSO NOTE!!! THIS IS A MULTIFANDOM / MULTISHIP LIST! Please respect those fandoms, and the fandoms/ships are listed as well if they're different than Johnlock.
FULL WORKS (AO3 LINKS)
Reluctant Topping Series by ShirleyCarlton (E, 6,805+ w. across 2 works || University AU || Alternate First Meetings, Bisexual John, First Time, For a Case, Virgin Sherlock, Switching) – During last week's Fic Writers' Retreat, I finally picked up the WIP of part 3 of this series, which had been sitting in my WIP folder half-finished for OVER THREE YEARS. Aaannnd.... I just managed to finish its first draft, yay! It's bottom!lock, from Sherlock's POV. (And this time, he is *more* than a bit of a slut. However, meeting John of course changes everything. Well, not everything.) (FROM THIS POST HERE)
Darwin Drift by StellaCartography (E, 3,689 w., 1 Ch. || Mystrade || Cliff Jumping, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Sex While Swimming, Mild Fleeting Angst, Public Sex) – In fluid dynamics, Darwin drift is the displacement of fluids through two fluid parcels after the passage of a body perpendicular through the plane of separation. Part 3 of Surface Tension
FLASH FICS (PRIMARILY TUMBLR LINKS)
Flash Fic 1 by @raina-at (G, 635 w. || TUMBLR || SHERLOCK FANDOM || Parentlock with Rosie) – For the prompt 'Write an argument', and I drew John and Rosie as characters (so, easy mode, really).
Flash Fic 2 by @raina-at (G, 439 w. || TUMBLR || SHERLOCK FANDOM || Dancing, Undercover for a Case, Cruise Ship) – This was a prompt we all did together. We had four words, ship, money, accusation, shield. We could skip one word. I skipped shield.
Flash Fic Round I by @shirleycarlton (G, 486 w. || TUMBLR || SHERLOCK FANDOM || Crack) – So today, at our European Fic Writers' Retreat, we did a Zoom call with the Canadian retreat (which happens to take place at the same time!) We used a random number generator to choose several prompts from various lists and websites. First, you had to write a list of characters you were willing to write about, and number them. Then the random number generator tells you which ones to use. This way, I ended up with the following prompts to use: Lestrade, Mrs Turner, An argument, flight, superhero The rules were: you have 20 minutes.
Flash Fic Round II by @shirleycarlton (G, 420 w. || TUMBLR || JOHNLOCK || Board Games, Stroppy Sherlock) – So here's my flash ficlet from the second round we did today at the European Fic Writers' Retreat, together with the Canadian retreat (over Zoom). This time, we all used the same prompts. We used storytelling dice to come up with the following prompts: ship, shield, money, accusation. The rules were: Use at least 3 of these. You have 20 minutes.
Crying in the Elements (Flash Fic 1) by @meetinginsamarra (G, 448 w. || TUMBLR || MYSTRADE || Stroppy Greg, Kissing) – We used a random number generator to choose several prompts from various lists and websites. First, you had to write a list of characters you were willing to write about, and number them. Then the random number generator tells you which ones to use. The rules were: you have 20 minutes. I got Greg and Mycroft, so first written Mystrade ever, and used the following prompts: Write about an argument, Flight and to depart, Superhero, fic title "Crying in the elements"
Flash Fic Round II by @meetinginsamarra (G, 341 w., || TUMBLR || SHERLOCK FANDOM || Crack, Piratelock) – So here's my flash ficlet from the second round we did today at the European Fic Writers' Retreat, together with the Canadian retreat (over Zoom). This time, we all used the same prompts. We used storytelling dice to come up with the following prompts: ship shield money accusation The rules were: Use at least 3 of these. You have 20 minutes. I used ship, sack of money, accusation
Avoiding Secrets✨ by @helloliriels (G, 708 w., || TUMBLR || SHERLOCK X SANDMAN CROSSOVER || Pre-ASIP, Army John, Light Angst, Dreaming, Character Study) – John stepped into the large marble hall, gazing around in wonder at the great expanse. At one end of the vast room was a raised dais above a winding set of stairs, and out the window beyond, the stars - the stars! - too numerous to count, shone through the window brighter than they should at any time of night. He knew he must be dreaming.
Brooklyn Dust by @beccibarnes (G, 540 w. || TUMBLR || GOOD OMENS / MARVEL CROSSOVER || Steve Rogers POV, Bars/Pubs, Bartender Crowley) – I rolled Steve Rogers and Crowley as characters, which is an interesting combination in itself. Then I kinda mixed and matched the two prompts, "Protagonist visits a place of their childhood home" and "He drank life before spitting it out". But mostly I just tried to make these two meet in a believable way. Written in 15 minutes with only minor edits afterwards.
Flash Fic by @seekers-who-are-lovers (G, 366 w. || TUMBLR || RKDD FANDOM || Bombing, Tension) – The moment the rockets dropped on the Izu Islands, Toto Isshiki dragged Alice Moriarty with him, shielding her away with his jacket, running fast. He forced her to hide inside the cave nearby.
A/N: This is a crossover between my three OCs - Belén, Anais & Graciela. However, you do not need to read Anais' or Grace's story to understand anything here!
It was early - very early - in the morning when Belén heard her cell phone going off on the nightstand. She reached for the phone with her eyes shut and after patting her hand around for a few seconds, she finally found it.
"Hello?" she muttered in a half-awake state. She didn't even bother checking to see if Barry had woken up. He slept like a rock.
Of course, when she heard the other person on the line, her eyes snapped open. She rose from her pillow, one hand on the mattress supporting her upper body.
"She's what!? She's really — got it! Okay! We'll be there—" she started moving Barry with her free hand, "—as soon as we can! Just - just tell her to hold on!" She hung up and turned her attention to Barry, who still slept peacefully.
Not for long.
Belén grabbed her pillow and started hitting him hard with it. "WAKE UP!"
Barry had no choice but to spring up, eyes wide, and head jerking in every direction. "Wh-what!? What's-what's going on? Who's attacking!? I'm ready!"
Belén tossed the pillow on his lap and started getting out of bed. "Nina went into labor! She's at the hospital! We gotta go!"
~ 0 ~
Nina held her newborn daughter in her arms while a nurse checked her vitals. A moment after the nurse left the room, there was a very, very light knock on the door.
"Knock-knock?" Belén poked her head inside the hospital room. "I didn't know if knocking might have woken her up so I went with a light knock, but I also felt the need to let you know and—"
"Breathe," Nina laughed quietly.
"You'd think she'd learn by the now," Barry walked in with Belén, his free hand holding three different balloons while Belén herself held a gift bag.
"This coming from the uber nerd of all nerds," Belén mumbled and ignored his mock offended face. "How are you, though?" she asked Nina and eyed the newborn curiously. "Elliot called saying you went into labor and I swore we'd be down quick, but...she's out…" Belén's eyes did a little widening, which made Nina laugh.
"Yeah, no, she was in a hurry to get out, thank God!"
"I don't mean to...ask hard questions, but...isn't there a danger of the doctors figuring out she's a meta?" Barry asked. It had been the same question bothering him ever since Belén woke him up.
"I'm a Doctor myself, Barry. I have connections around this place," Nina reassured him. "But, uh, after we're out of here I would like Caitlin to run her own tests just to make sure everything is okay."
"I'm sure she would be more than up for it," Belén smiled and set down her gift bag on the table. She pulled the balloons from Barry's hands and settled them beside it. "So, where's Elliot—"
"Right here!" A dark-haired man strode into the room with a cellphone in hand. His dark eyes radiated at the site of his wife and newborn daughter. "I had to make calls to the family to let them know how things are going. But thanks for coming." He smiled at the two metas, but Barry was just a little awed since he technically hadn't met Nina's husband yet.
For him, he was just another Julian Albert. Another addition to the timeline.
"Everything okay, Barry?" Elliot asked, eyeing the speedster as he moved to take his seat beside Nina's bed.
Nina gave a sharpened look at Barry. "He's just not used to waking up this early. Right?" By her gritted teeth, Barry knew better than to not play along.
"Yup. Plus, Belén almost smothered me with a pillow, so…"
"The world's toughest hero, ladies and gentlemen," Belén rolled her eyes and moved closer to Nina's bedside cautiously to peer at the newborn. "So, what's her name, then? Did you guys pick it already?"
"Yes we did," Nina was proud to say. She pulled her daughter's blanket just a little lower to let the others see her. "Say hello to Emery Kemper."
"She's so adorable!" Belén gushed. "I remember when Maritza had Axel - babies are just so cute!"
"You want to hold her?" Nina's question made Belén freeze.
"I-I...could I?"
"Of course," Nina chuckled and carefully passed her daughter to Belén.
"Oooh...look at her," Belén didn't even want to move for fear of waking Emery up. She moved only a bit so that Barry could get a better look at the baby. "Isn't she adorable?"
Barry chuckled at her. "Yeah, she is."
Emery gave a meek yawn and barely opened her eyes to reveal chocolate brown irises. The more Barry stared at her, the harder it was to picture her as what she was: a little meta. It was almost bittersweet thinking about it. Such a sweet innocent little being could face so many dangers in the future.
"Get a good look at her because you'll be seeing a lot of your goddaughter in the future." Nina smirked when the two in question froze. They both simultaneously looked at Emery then at her. "I said what I said."
"We decided that we would very much like it if you were Emery's godparents when it came time to baptize," Elliot said in a much nicer, nonsarcastic manner.
"U-us?" Belén blinked, for some reason swallowing hard.
"L-like…us?" Barry pretty much did the same as her.
Both Nina and Elliot laughed.
"Yes," Nina answered after a moment. "I can think of no one better than the Azalea and the Flash to be my daughter's godparents. She'd be in the safest hands if something were to happen to Elliot and I."
"So...what do you say?" Elliott seemed to be amused like Nina, but was far more modest about it.
Belén exchanged a look with Barry, both sharing identical dumbfounded expressions. Their heads turned down at the newborn in Belén's arms who'd gone back to resting quietly.
"Why are you two acting like bigger dumbos than usual?" Nina raised an eyebrow at the pair. "We're not asking you to do anything that you haven't already done before. You guys go out and save people all the time!"
"Nina, it's just we don't usually have to think about saving babies," Barry said solemnly. It made it that much harder not to get upset when they failed to save some part of the city. Adults were one thing, but children?
"Of course we'll be her godparents," Belén eventually said, smiling softly at the baby, "It'll just take some time getting used to it…having another baby around. The last one was Axel and that was in a very, very different version of my life." She then handed Emery back to her mother before the nerves got to her. "I just don't know what a godmother really does…"
"Or a godfather…" Barry admitted awkwardly.
"Good news is you'll have plenty of time to figure it out before she starts walking and talking," Elliot said. "And who knows, by then you might be expecting your own little one!"
Nina snorted at how synced up Belén and Barry were. They jumped simultaneously and immediately started sputtering about how crazy that was.
Barry nervously reached for Belén's hand, his face the same shade of his Flash suit. "Hey Bells, you want to go?"
Belén nodded fervently and gripped his hand, begging him to get her out of there. "Uh...yeah, um... congrats, obviously…"
"And thanks!" Barry called just before hurrying towards the door.
~0~
"So Nina had her kid already? I have to go see her," Iris grinned at the news when Belén and Barry informed the group.
They were in the cortex while Caitlin and Cisco examined Wally's new speedy abilities.
"She's so adorable," Belén gushed. "Axel already wants to be called uncle Axel. He doesn't quite understand how it works, but…"
Iris laughed but quickly sobered when Caitlin and Cisco walked in. "Is Wally…?"
"He's fine, your dad took him out to eat," Caitlin said but Cisco went straight for his chair without looking at anyone.
He was still having trouble with Barry and the fact his brother was dead...because of a timeline change.
"Wally is showing remarkable progress in such a few days," Caitlin was happy to report. "His running economy, lactate threshold are all way above expected levels."
"I think we might have a little prodigy on our hands. Like a Wizard of Whiz," Cisco remarked but kept his eyes off a certain speedster.
Iris pinched the bridge of her nose, eyes shutting for a second. "Guys, I don't want Wally thinking that he's Barry, rushing off half-cocked, trying to take down Alchemy or Savitar the next time one of them shows up."
"Well he won't do that if he gets the proper training," Belén tried to dissuade her doubts. "But, to be fair, none of us really know how to fight the monk and the disappearing speedster so he really wouldn't be at a greater disadvantage than the rest of us."
Iris dropped her hand and released a deep exhale. "I'm serious. He has to be ready and to do that for the time being we should tell him that he's not ready."
"Iris... I'm not sure that's a good idea," Barry said hesitantly. Wally had definitely shown he was capable of great speed and with some more training he could really become an important asset to their team.
"We can't encourage him, train him, and you…" Iris settled a sharp look on Cisco, "...no talking to him about a suit, please. It's for his own good."
Before Cisco could even tell her how ridiculous she sounded, Belén made her own remark. "Yeah, I don't think making that decision for him is the best idea."
"Belén…" Iris knew where Belén was going with it, her own choice not to suppress her powers had been a delicate subject amongst the group, "... he's not you."
"Yeah, thank God. That means he's more than capable of getting things right and not losing control. And I'm sorry if this sounds rude but you are not qualified to make any decision like that for your brother."
Iris blinked at the blunt statement that apparently wasn't supposed to be offensive. Her eyebrows soon raised with growing irritation. "Well maybe—"
The alarms went off in the room, and while Caitlin and Cisco quickly searched for the new problem, Barry turned to the side and mumbled a 'thank god' because the last thing he wanted was for Belén and Iris to go at it. The group was divided enough as it was.
"Was that...is that a meteorite?" Caitlin's eyes widened in alarm as the screens changed to an incoming object.
"Why, yes, that is a meteor, and yes, it is heading for downtown," Cisco rubbed his eyes over and over. This was actually happening, a meteor…
"We got to go," Barry told Belén, although he waited for her to respond. She hadn't been out in the field since her small-time personality switch and she had been training a bit but it could still be too early.
Belén nodded with a clean smile. She wasn't going to be scared and stay away. That would mean they won, and she couldn't go down without at least trying.
"Let's," she gave a firm nod.
~0~
The 'meteor' crashed down near the waterfront, thankfully without any casualties. Smoke billowed from it, shielding itself for a moment. However, once it started to clear, Barry noticed the strange appearance.
"That doesn't…" Belén stopped on instinct. Her eyes narrowed on the meteor suspiciously. "That's not a meteor…"
"What is it, then?" Cisco eagerly asked from the other end of the comms.
Barry slowly walked forwards, missing Belén reaching out for him from behind.
It was not a meteorite, Barry was now sure of it. The structure of it was all wrong. His hand barely grazed over it when it burst open. The force of it knocked Barry back and he fell on the ground.
The next thing he knew, something(s) burst through the opening of the not-meteorite and rushed past him.
Belén let out a shrill scream like in a horror movie and cowered with her arms above her head. Massive creatures with tall long legs and monster-like claws swarmed past her.
"What!? What is it!?" Cisco managed to shout over her screams.
Barry scrambled up to his feet and sped over to Belén. "Aliens!" he exclaimed. He held Belén his arms, both of them staring after the creatures disappearing (regretfully) in their city.
~0~
'Government officials are reporting the mysterious object that crashed in downtown Central City was simply a DOD aircraft on a routine training operation.'
Caitlin turned off the television in the cortex and pursed her lips together as she looked at the rest. They, however, were staring at Director Lyla Michaels of A.R.G.U.S, who came to STAR Labs as soon as she learned that the team had made contact with the ship before the government even got there.
Before Lyla said a word, a strong force of wind slapped her in the face. When she re-opened her eyes, Barry had appeared with a tall blonde woman at his side. Said woman angrily ripped her arm out of his grip.
"How did you find me!?" Anais glared at him.
Given the situation they were in, Barry found it best to be direct with her. "We pinged you!"
"How!?"
"From the tests we did on you!"
Anais gasped and rounded on the rest of the team. "Seriously!?"
Cisco shrugged nonchalantly at her from behind the desk. "People from different Earths have a different frequency. You thought we weren't going to keep that in our data?"
Belén stepped in as Anais made a clear beeline towards the desk. "Anais, hold on there! We have a situation, okay?"
"Yeah, hear us out here," Barry reached over to turn her in Lyla's direction.
Lyla didn't appreciate the disdainful look-over Anais gave her.
"Am I supposed to know her?" Anais looked between Barry and Belén.
"This is Lyla, director of A.R.G.U.S," Barry explained, "And she has some information about something we stumbled on last night."
"Which would be…?" Anais folded her arms disinterestedly.
Barry looked at the woman in question and gestured for her to use the screen behind her to make her point. "Lyla, please?"
Lyla barely understood what was happening but for the sake of moving things along, she obliged. She lit the screen with a video loop of the same aliens that they had seen last night.
"Dominators?" Anais' interest was still barely piqued.
"So you do know them?" Belén raised an eyebrow at the blonde. She had her reservations about dragging Anais back to STAR Labs after making it clear it was the last place she wanted to be in, but 'aliens' was uncharted waters for them all.
"I've heard of them on my birth planet. That's it," Anais said sharply. "You want me to tell you that I brought these aliens to your world? Well, I didn't! I'm not even from here, remember!?"
"Wait, you're an alien?" Lyla pointed at Anais then looked at the others for an explanation.
"Multiverse," they all chorused together.
Anais groaned. "Look, if you guys think I E.T'd these Dominators, I didn't. If they're here, they're from your world. Isn't that right, director Lyla?"
Lyla begrudgingly nodded. "This," she gestured at the screen behind her whose loop she had finally ended to show them the real footage, "is a clip from the 50s. It's the furthest we've known about the Dominators."
"That was them. Redmond, Oregon," Joe snapped his fingers at Lyla with the sudden knowledge. "The government tried to cover it up." He then saw the amused glances of the others and shifted. "What? I watch Syfy channel."
Lyla gave a nod to confirm his statements. "In 1951, they appeared under the same sort of circumstances. A ship crash-landed. Little to no communication. We learned they were abducting humans to gather intel about us. They attacked, and hundreds of soldiers lost their lives. Then, for some inexplicable reason, they left. All contact had been lost until three months ago when the DOD received this." She produced a voice message left by the aliens themselves.
'We pose no threat, human inhabitants. Understanding is our purpose. Any action against us, as shown to us in the past, will prompt swift retaliation.'
"So when we discovered four ships heading towards Earth, we were concerned that it was happening all over again," Lyla said with deep regret. "One of them, obviously, landed here."
"Right, 'cause we don't have enough crazy going on here in Central City," Veronica said bitterly. They really could not catch a break. "Do you know what they want?"
"Mom, they just said it," Belén shuddered. "'Understanding is our purpose'. Cisco has made me watch one too many alien movies to know what that means. Dissection!"
"They've ignored all attempts to communicate," Lyla said, "but we do know, just like before, that the dropships contain reconnaissance teams sent here to gather more intel about us. Looking for our weaknesses."
"See?" Belén frowned. "We need to do something."
"We are," Lyla reassured. "Nearly every member state in the UN is in talks to coordinate a response. Action is being taken."
"So, wait, you want us to just sit this one out?" Barry frowned. "These things are like 'World War Z' zombies. If they decide to attack, no military can stop them."
"Neither could you. Not by yourselves, anyway. Just let us handle this. For now." Lyla eyed Anais who was refusing to say anything and much less look at anyone. There was no point in sticking around, so Lyla left the room.
"Sooo…we're not going to listen to that, right?" Belén specifically looked at Barry for the answer.
"No," Barry was on the same page as her. That was probably why they were together — for better or for worse.
"Barry, you heard Lyla. You can't do this alone," Caitlin reminded quietly. She would help, she would, if she didn't fear her powers.
"And I'm sorry, but I am not signing up for this," Anais made sure to leave clear as she got ready to leave as well.
"Wait a minute, you're the only alien who isn't evil and you're not going to help us?" Cisco stopped her midway.
"You don't need me."
"Uh, yes, we do!"
"I can't!" Anais practically shouted and made sure everyone in the room heard her. "I'm sorry but I just literally got out of a war and I don't exactly feel like entering another one." She dared anyone to tell her she was in the wrong. When no one said anything, she walked out of the room.
"She's sure a lot of help," Cisco mumbled under his breath.
"What are we going to do if Anais doesn't help us?" Belén asked Barry off to the side. "Because I don't think we're all that qualified to do it on our own."
Barry had to agree. They needed a lot more back up to handle all those Dominators. The good news is that their team wasn't the only team they knew…
~0~
Cisco bitterly adjusted his goggles to make an interdimensional trip across 30 different Earths. That was the cost of fighting aliens. It was just too bad he had to make the trip with Barry.
Thea Queen was looking at the spacious hangar in awe. It was meant to serve as their temporary team-up headquarters. "What is this place?" her voice echoed.
"It's this old hall hangar thing that S.T.A.R. Labs owns," Barry explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "Or I guess I own it." He supposed at some point he should actually sit down and go through the list of properties under STAR Labs' name.
"Well, you should do something with it," Thea said and gave a knowing smile like she already had a few ideas for him.
"Yeah, what exactly are we waiting for?" They heard Belén's question when they walked out of the hangar. She, Felicity and Diggle were staring up at the clear sky for something.
"The Legends," Felicity replied with an anxious smile.
Diggle didn't exactly share the same excitement. He was still trying to understand. "All right, so let me get this right. Our time-traveling buddies in a flying timeship are supposed to just pop up right here, right?"
"Yeah. This is the time and place I gave them, so if they got my message, they should be here…" Felicity trailed off just as a large gray ship appeared out of nowhere in the sky. "Right now!"
Belén laughed in awe, but Diggle stared with wide, blinking eyes. "You know why I've never done drugs? It's 'cause I was always afraid I'd see weird stuff."
"Okay, take everybody inside, all right?" Barry instructed Belén who quickly nodded. "Tell Oliver I'll be right back."
Belén saw Cisco putting on his goggles on the side and wondered how awkward that would be. "So, you're going to get... her…?" She tried to be nonchalant about it but the specific Earth that Barry would be travelling to was a special one.
"Uh, yeah," Barry cleared his throat, his cheeks getting warm. "We'll be back…"
"Where are you going?" Felicity asked before Barry left them.
"Well, since we're fighting aliens, I figured we should get one of our own, right?" he smiled and then turned for Cisco. His smile slowly faded into a serious expression. Cisco barely directed a word to him so Barry always tried to be careful with the few words he got to say around him. "You found the right Earth?"
"Tachyon device tracked you on Earth-38 when you met them, so we should find them there," Cisco said. "Just so you know, I'm only doing this because we're on a mission. I'm not gonna let my issues with you get in the way of that." All Barry could do was simply nod and give him the space he needed. "This might take a few tries."
A few tries turned out to be five times first. By the sixth time, the two found themselves inside a spacious apartment with a fresh scent of cinnamon.
"This better be the right place. 'Cause if this isn't the right place, someone's about to be real confused," Cisco pulled off his goggles to get a better look at the empty apartment.
Barry wasn't sure this was the right place. He'd never seen where Kara lived nor Anais. Thankfully, he wasn't left pondering for much because a minute later they heard the apartment door unlocking.
A familiar blonde in glasses walked in with a grocery bag. Kara Danvers gasped at the two men in her apartment but didn't seem so surprised to see them.
"Barry? I knew it! I knew that was you!" she exclaimed, rushing to put her bags down and hug him. "I knew it was you in that weird space…" she pulled away, revealing a confused face.
"Sorry, it took a couple tries to get here," Cisco gave a meek wave. He was still trying to get the hang of that power.
"This is my friend, Cisco," Barry introduced before thinking it clearly.
Cisco extended a hand to shake with Kara, smiling awkwardly. "Well, friend is a loose term. We work together."
"Hi," Kara was happy to meet any of Barry's friend. But then she realized who would be even more happy. "Oh! Anais!"
"Uh, yeah, can you help us—" Barry began to ask when Kara whipped out her phone to send a quick text, "—get in contact with her? We weren't even sure how to get here…" But he was forced to stop when a strong force of wind slapped him and Cisco on the faces.
Anais Allen squealed at the door.
"Dad!" she ran and basically threw herself on Barry.
He laughed and hugged her back. This was definitely a different doppelganger than Earth 19's Anais.
"You're back!" Anais only let go when she saw Cisco awkwardly standing on the side. "Uncle Cisco!"
"Nope, no, not doing that," Cisco warned her with a finger. "I don't—!" Anais didn't let him finish because she jumped to give him a hug next.
"You look so young!" she laughed again then took a step back to really examine them, ultimately having a stare-off with Barry.
"Still weird," they both concluded about their relationship.
"Still my adoptive dad here…" Anais reminded, making Barry's go warm again.
"Oh yeah, I've seen them now!" Kara was happy to announce, furthering Barry's embarrassment. "You look…" Kara purposely hesitated to finish when she realized what her words would be.
Anais however, had no issue. "Old, you look old. But Mom looks great!"
Barry wasn't even going to start on that topic. Finding out on Earth 38 that his doppelganger and Belén were older, both scientists, and adoptive parents of an alien daughter was something he would never get over. "Okay, um, do you remember last year when I helped you out and you promised to do the same for me?"
Anais and Kara exchanged glances, both silently agreeing they were ready to follow through on their word.
"What are we up against?" they simultaneously asked.
~0~
When the Legends landed and emerged from their ship, their Captain was the last to actually step out. Belén's mouth dropped open in astonishment as Graciela Haynez stepped down.
"Graciela!?" Belén didn't waste a second and sprinted towards the brunette. "Oh my God! Graciela!" She threw her arms around Graciela who sheepishly patted her back.
"Hey, Belén…" Graciela chuckled, "Nice to see you again…"
Belén pulled away, still laughing from sheer confusion. "Last time we saw you, you were…you were being…you were going…"
"Going to jail?" Graciela bobbed her head at the memory, her short curls framing her face with every bounce. "Yeah, I mean I did go to jail. No trial — shockingly — and definitely imprisoned, but the good news is that it all blew up!"
"It bl — what!?" Belén's exclaim was interrupted by the sounds of a breach opening up in the hangar. She turned, as well as most of the others in the hangar, just as Cisco and Barry popped out with two women behind them.
"Woah…" The two blondes gawked at the site, and technically of the new universe they were now in.
"Um, everybody," Barry called to the watching teams, "these are my friends, Kara Danvers and Anais…" he cleared his throat and hoped to God his face wasn't already red again, "...Allen, or, as they're known on their Earth, Supergirl and Golden Girl."
"Um," Anais tapped his shoulder, her face still cheery but with traceable dislike for the name he'd given her, "that's not my name."
"It's not?" Barry recalled that being what Cat Grant had branded her as. It had been a long time ago.
"No, it never was, remember?" Anais clarified before speaking out loud, "Scratch that please, I'm Solar. Nice to meet everyone."
Those who met Anais' doppelganger from Earth 19 were surprised to find this woman to be much more cheery. Their questions over just how different she was from her doppelganger were answered pretty quickly when she and Kara started going around to people in an attempt to learn their names.
Kara was more serious in learning everyone's names and alter-egos but Anais was speeding back and forth across the hangar, blowing wind in people's faces as she stopped to greet them and ask if she'd gotten their names right. She left those she knew for last because she was extra giddy about them.
"Aunt Caitlin!" Anais didn't hesitate to give Caitlin a bone-crushing hug.
"O-okay…" Caitlin just blinked rapidly and patted the woman on the back, though she thought it was all strange.
"And Uncle Cisco—!" Anais made a second attempt to hug him but Cisco pointed at her finger.
"Ah! Stop where you are speedy-alien," he warned, but Anais laughed it off.
She laid eyes on Iris who, for the time being, had been struggling not to laugh. "You're a lot more gleeful than the last version we met," Iris remarked.
Anais paused, her brows furrowing. "What other version?"
"We sort of met another you from another Earth," Barry was the one to explain when he and Belén joined them.
Anais momentarily forgot about Iris' comment and gasped with delight. "Mom!" She squealed and sped up to Belén to give her a bone-crushing hug.
Belén was frozen in her spot, feeling her face practically go up in flames. "Uuh…Barry?"
Barry cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah…"
Anais held Belén by the shoulders and pulled away. "Gosh, you're so...you look exactly like Mom's pictures! Except, you know, you have powers and she doesn't, but…" she chuckled. "It's really nice to meet you. Barry told me all about you."
"Yeah, he told me about you too…" Belén swayed her head to Barry. "Adoptive daughter and whatnot…"
"Mom and Dad are doing great, though!" Anais clapped her hands and acquired a somewhat smirk on her face. "In fact, things have been going so great that…" A giggle filled the air around the group, "...Mom's pregnant."
Belén nearly choked on her own saliva.
Barry had his hands behind his neck, his face red as his suit. Their friends were really trying not to laugh at them but it was physically impossible. Iris and Caitlin lost it. He might just speed those two to the pipeline if they didn't stop soon.
"Send her back! Send her back right now!" Belén shook Barry by the arm, forcing him to drop both his hands.
Anais laughed, quite proud of herself. When she finally felt like she had her fun, she confessed. "I'm just kidding. They're happy, but definitely not pregnant."
And that earned simultaneous glares from Belén and Barry.
"Not funny," Belén pointed at her.
"Hey!" Anais touched Belén's finger with her own. "You do the same thing like Mom!"
Belén pulled her hands behind her back and glared up at Barry. "Fix this, now."
"Oh, I like her so much better," Iris was happy to tell Caitlin. She wiped a fake tear from her eye. "She's so funny!"
Cisco was the only one not too content. He was only happy to hear that on another Earth there was no psycho-Belén and that instead she was happy. "So, are we going to start?" He got up from his chair, his seriousness ending all laughter amongst his team.
Barry agreed that it was time to get to business. They gathered the other two teams in the middle of the hangar. Cisco activated all the screens and played the footage Lyla had left behind of the 1950s Dominators for them to see.
"These are the Dominators. We don't know much about them. Except they're really strong…"
Kara gave a thoughtful tilt of her head when she saw the creatures. "I heard a lot of stories about them when I was a kid." Everyone, including Anais, blinked at her. She pursed her lips together, forming a little smile. "They came to my planet before I was born. They did experiments on a lot of people. Killed a lot more."
"I've never heard of them," Anais admitted, sounding rather ashamed of the fact. Kara put a hand on her friend's arm and eased her thoughts.
"Well, they're not the only ones with superhuman strength, I hear," Thea eyed the two blondes with curiosity. "Barry says that you're more powerful than a locomotive."
Oliver Queen believed what he heard and instantly thought of the obvious place to start. "We should use Kara and Anais as stand-ins for training."
"Since when is Robin Hood calling the shots?" Mick Rory grumbled from his spot with his team. He paid no attention to the mini-glare Oliver sent his way.
"What I think Mick is trying to say is it would be nice if we knew who was in charge around here," Jax simplified his teammate's words for his sake.
Ray Palmer certainly liked the idea. "Maybe we should take a vote. Choose a leader." He grinned cheerfully, much like Anais. "Someone we can all trust."
"Well, I trust Oliver. He's got my vote," Cisco's unusual coldness did not go unnoticed by most of the teams. He plopped against the desk and waited for the others to make their decision.
"Appreciate that, Cisco, but Barry put us all together," Oliver motioned to the speedster who was trying not to look as hurt as he was. "It should be him."
"Uh, okay…" Barry thought fast since now everyone was staring at him, waiting for him to start leading. "Cool, all right, well, I guess as Team Leader, first thing to do is start out by…"
Oliver gave him a couple more seconds to figure things out, but since it wasn't working he went ahead and quietly "whispered", "Doing a test run…"
"Let's do a test run. Yeah, let's do a test run," Barry grabbed the words but failed to take the assertive leadership attitude which might have helped him figure out his next words.
"Against Supergirl and Solar…" Oliver threw out there in his whisper.
"Against Supergirl and Solar, all right?" Barry once again took what he could get. "Test run against Supergirl and Solar."
Sara Lance raised a finger, probably amused but she was trained to keep a straight face. "Are we just supposed to pretend like we don't hear him?"
Graciela nudged her elbow in Sara's ribs. "Obviously," she whispered and Sara smirked.
Barry purposely did not look at either one of them. "So just suit up. Mm-kay? Look alive. We're training to fight aliens by fighting an alien, so...do it. Suit up."
Although it wasn't the most leadership way, the others followed the instruction.
"Oliver, hey," Barry reached out for the man, "Kara?" the blonde in question stopped and turned back. "Really quick," he brought both of them together. "I was excited about the two of you guys meeting each other. Oliver was the first person to train me."
Kara beamed. She knew a thing or two about being a mentor since that's what she was for Anais. "Really? Well, you did a really good job!"
Her cheeriness made no effect on Oliver. His straight face eventually made Kara stop smiling, even more so when he responded with, "It's 'cause I didn't hold back. I shot him." Kara paused and looked at Barry. The speedster gave a small nod. "You can't hold back either."
"He did shoot me," Barry whispered.
"Ouch," Kara made a face. "I didn't even do that with Anais and she's just as strong as me. I just met these people, so…"
"These people need to understand this isn't gonna be easy. Don't hold back," Oliver reiterated, leaving no room for arguments. "Especially against me."
"Yes, sir," Kara felt compelled to say. Oliver thanked her and moved on his way. "Wow. Does he not like me?" She looked after him with a degree of concern.
"He's like that with everyone. He'll warm up to you," Barry said, although saw it hard to see Oliver warming up to anyone for that matter. Kara took his word and headed to join Anais again before the two were subjected to training.
"Barry, so, Oliver Queen is the Green Arrow?" Iris had that question ready the moment Barry returned to them.
"Yeah," Barry nodded, now realizing that after everything Iris was the last to know about Oliver's true identity, and the rest of Team Arrow and Team Legends for that matter.
"Oh, my God. He just got so much hotter," Iris put a hand to her cheek and thought about it some more.
"Mhm," went both Belén and Caitlin behind her, even simultaneously nodding dreamily.
"Oh, my God," Barry whispered, throwing his head back.
"Don't get jealous," Belén warned and moved around the desk to walk up to him. "There's just, admittedly, good looking heroes around here…" Her eyes drifted past him to the other teams.
"For real?" came Barry's sour response.
"Don't forget I'm co-adoptive parenting with you in another world," Belén reminded, her face soon red as she grabbed his hand to lead him away.
It may have helped a little bit.
~ 0 ~
Cisco was conversing with Ray about the latter's Atom Suit. Apparently, Ray had gone through quite a journey with it as of late.
"Old West Dwarf Star plus Replicator, equals new suit," Ray said cheerfully as he reminisced about the Legends' most recent trips.
"You know what, Ray? Maybe it's just me, but I think this thing's due for an update," Cisco eyed the suit with some potential ideas.
"I wouldn't mind a suit either," Graciela startled him. She smirked at his girlish squeal. "You know I just stole this thing?" she gestured to her own purple and black leather suit. "Well, technically, I pieced it together from older Jinxes but it would be nice to have one of my own, you know?"
Cisco pointed at her with the same look that he had when he was studying the Atom suit. "We could talk," he told Graciela who immediately beamed. However, the moment was cut short when he saw a certain speedster being dragged towards them. "Later. We can talk later!" He said to Graciela then bolted.
Graciela and Ray didn't make anything of it and moved on.
"You think I should be worried that Nate isn't answering?" Graciela asked Ray dead seriously.
"Amaya is with him," shrugged Ray.
"Yeah, leaving the two newbies on the ship…that sounds smart…"
"Grace!" Belén exclaimed as she and Barry came to join them. "Hey!"
Graciela smiled at the two metas. "How's the training going? Mick hasn't accidentally killed anybody, has he?"
"Uh, no, no…" But Barry still peered behind Belén just to make sure the ongoing training was still doing fine. When he was sure things weren't going up in flames — literally — he shifted his focus back on the conversation. "So you're…here…here?"
"Unless I'm a ghost, yes, I am here," Graciela nodded. Belén giggled beside Barry.
"H-how is that possible?" Barry asked, subtly nudging his elbow in Belén's side to make her stop. She seemed to be very much in control of the Legends. It was a huge jump from going to prison. "Weren't you arrested?"
"Mhm," Graciela nodded again, "Basically the Time Masters - the ones that imprisoned me for time travelling to this time period to kill Vandal Savage - were all wiped out by a band of misfit Legends…"
Ray waved a hand when Belén's and Barry's gazes drifted towards him. "Uuh...yeah, that was us. I guess we never really thought about what would happen to the Time Masters' assets after they were wiped out."
"Okay, so the people holding you in prison were cleaned out but...that still doesn't explain how you went from convict to the Leader of a time travelling team?" Belén said, confused.
Graciela's playful demeanor changed as she cleared her throat. Ray's eyes flickered from her leader to the metas. "Uuh, I will go see if Sara knows where my...helmet is…"
But everyone knew that was a blatant lie since his suit came with the head helmet together.
Graciela shook her head at him. "I've only been on this team for a couple of weeks and Ray is probably the softest man I have ever met," she ended up chuckling. "It's funny. He's funny."
"Grace?" Belén eyed the curly-haired woman, getting the sense that Graciela was hiding something, probably even from her own team at the moment.
"Remember that friend I stole the time watch from?"
"Yeah, you said you loved him," Belén remembered all too perfectly, much to Graciela's dismay.
Graciela crinkled her nose, scrunching her face. "Yeah, don't say that so loud please. No one knows. Anyways, he's...he's gone missing. The Legends say that there was a mission that went wrong and he…he sent them all away from the ship, dispersed them through Time. They were able to come back but now he's missing. Nobody knows where he is. He, uh, he left this letter for his team to, um...come and find me, back in the future. Apparently, he thought that if he was ever in deep shit, I'd be able to get him out of it. We had some problems in the past, and...he wrote that letter before we had a really bad fallout. I'm not really supposed to be here, but...I want to find him. I need to find him."
"Grace, we're so sorry," Barry said, "If you need anything from us, tell us."
Graciela shrugged. "It's Time travel. We just have to follow some clues and hopefully find him before something bad happens. I'm not exactly the best of leaders so I'm hoping we find him fast."
"You will," Belén assured her, "You seem like you get whatever you set your mind to. I'm just glad we get to see you again."
Graciela's lips spread into a soft smile. "Believe me, I'm happy about that too."
Somebody yelped from the training session and Belén had an inkling suspicion that it belonged to Cisco. Graciela thought the same considering it sounded like his squeal from earlier.
"Let me go check in with them," Belén volunteered and walked off — sprinted.
Barry moved to do the same when Graciela grabbed his arm.. "Um, can I have a word with you? Just you?"
The graveness in her voice didn't allow room for any protest. He nodded at her and followed her in the opposite direction.
✄ DVD BONUS: pick a fic and I’ll describe or write a deleted scene!
Telepathy au pls
fic ask game
the way this isn't even an actual fic. let alone one that has deleted scenes. i don't think about it apart from when i'm like what should i write for mark lol. but! my forensic lecture was so boring yesterday that i spent the hour thinking about if it WAS a solid fic then what would be a scene i'd chew over and probably end up deciding nah this doesn't work or say what i am trying to have it say. so. long story short here is valtteri and george talking about fucking and being mind-bonded with lewis but fucking doesn't actually mean fucking or smth like that
"What?"
Valtteri's voice is hammered flat and low. This is the time for George to brake. He is about to end up in the wall, missing the racing line, tyres spinning.
He keeps going.
“Did he have sex when you were, uh, bonded with him? Or be with anyone?”
It is a little embarassing that he stumbles over Valtteri being bonded with Lewis, and not, more normally probably, his teammate and friend having sex. George tries to be glad that he actually gets the question out at least semi-coherently this time.
Valtteri stares at him unblinking. It is a heavy thing, heavier even than Toto’s. His eyes really are blue, George thinks, a touch hysterically, blimey.
He feels like he sometimes does after a particularly hot shower; raw and cooked and unpeeled at the edges, like a frog.
georgie, Alex texted him once, sick of George talking about sharing his mind with Lewis, or more accurately, sharing-but-not-sharing, it could be worse yeah.
And then: just think about it mate
Alex believes proper punctuation, or really, any punctuation at all, only belongs in things like job contracts and historical romance novels.
u could be paired w bottas
Oh, fuck off.
George remembers that now, blood gone cold.
Valtteri blinks.
“Are you really asking me this?”
George doesn’t think he’d understand Valtteri any better if he shared a mind with him. Not that he understands him at all now.
He can see Lewis laughing from inside the garage, surrounded by his mechanics. George and Valtteri are tucked away in a walkway leading off of it. Perhaps not the best place for a chat like this but the question, well chewed over, slipped out before George could help himself. When Lewis first spotted them, the sea in George’s head didn’t even ripple as Lewis made a questioning face at him. George only shrugged back.
“I just,” George starts, and then stops again. He is crossing a line, he knows he is, even if he doesn’t know exactly where or what that line is. This is something he should probably only be asking Lewis, if he is allowed to be asking at all in the first place. George’s head spins. His throat has gone dry. “You don’t.”
He inhales deeply, and lets it sit in his chest before breathing out. He does it again.
He glances over in Lewis’s direction to see him trying to make eye contact.
“I don’t get him,” George admits finally. It feels like he is showing Valtteri a hole in his chest and shining a light through. “I’ve tried – but, it’s just. He is just, I don’t know. Is he holding back because of – Is this how he is?”
The sea in his head wavers, shivering.
What George didn’t tell Alex is that sometimes it feels like he does share a mind with Valtteri. He isn’t sure someone could be in Lewis Hamilton’s head and not feel connected to Valtteri Bottas.
George knows he is crossing a line, mentioning this to someone other than Lewis, but this is Valtteri. He can hate it all he likes, covet it in a way that he wishes he never found out he was capable of, but it is true. When it comes to Lewis, Valtteri doesn’t really count. Or maybe, he counts for more, somehow.
George has never forgotten the sting in his hand after smacking that helmet, or the plane rides before and after. He once woke up two seats over from Valtteri with a blanket tucked around his knees, despite having fallen asleep without one.
“It is not you,” Valtteri tells him like that is not the best and worst thing George has ever heard. “Lewis isn’t.” He frowns here, careful. There is a slight colour to his cheeks.
George might actually be dying.
“This is not what Lewis does. He tried, I think, before, but it didn’t suit. He needs, um.” Valtteri rolls his eyes fondly. “It’s not about you. He is just Lewis. This is how he is.”
“Okay.” George clears his throat. “Okay, okay. Yeah, alright.”
“Alright,” Valtteri says, only a touch mocking.
“Yeah,” George continues, ignoring him. “I can work with that. Okay.”
Valtteri rolls his eyes again. George decides it is still fond.
Once, as Mance Rayder bore down on the Wall with the greatest army the north had ever seen, Jon had wished for a dragon or three. Now he watched from atop the Wall as a black dragon descended from the clouds like a god. The wind ran its icy fingers through his hair, a few strands flying loose from its tie to whip in his eyes. He was afraid to blink and miss seeing a living dragon dive from the perfect blue of the sky. Gorgeous beast. The powerful stroke of wings as large as ship sails, gleaming black. Here and there the sun caught a crimson streak. He squinted. A pale speck on the beast’s back. Daenerys Stormborn herself.
“Lord Commander, what would you like me to say to the Queen’s man?” Satin’s sweet voice broke his trance. The awe raising his soaring heart crashed down to the mundanities of running a castle. Far below, it was a seething anthill. Men running to and fro in preparation for Daenerys, Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and her entourage.
“About what, Satin?” Jon asked, clenching and unclenching his fist around Longclaw’s hilt. Satin raked a hand through his springy curls and gestured to the mess below. Far beyond, he could see the queen’s men approaching from the kingsroad.
“About . . . this! Where are we going to house and feed all these people?” Satin asked. A knife thin smile touched his lips.
“We’ll figure that out. Come, let’s go down. There is much to do,” Jon said. Together they entered the winch-drawn cage and began the long descent down. Jon craned his head to watch the dragon’s descent. From the tail of his eye, he watched Satin’s eyes widen in tandem as the dragon grew closer. Bigger than an aurouch. Bigger than a mammoth. Bigger than the giants he’d seen north of the Wall. The dragon roared. The sound rattled in Jon’s ears, made the fine hairs on his body stand on end. A savage smile touched his lips. Any who heard that sound would tremble. Perhaps even a dead army.
Once again on solid ground, Jon sent Satin scurrying off on half a dozen errands. He settled his black cloak around his shoulders, the fine sable fur tickling the side of his neck. In deference to royalty, he dressed in his finest blacks. It was her laugh that greeted him first. A bright burst of sound. She was smaller than he’d pictured, the crown of her head coming to his collarbone. Windblown braids and cheeks pinked with cold, the curve of her smile struck him straight in the gut. A sharp, golden-eyed look from one of her women prompted the introduction.
“Queen Daenerys Stormborn of the Seven Kingdoms, may I present the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, Jon Snow,” she said in a voice smoothed by some singing accent. Jon sank to one knee in the snow. He heard muted thuds as all of the brothers in earshot made their deference.
“The Wall is yours, Your Grace,” Jon said, charmed by the scuffed toes of her boots. Well-worn and oiled, it was obvious she preferred them to silk slippers. This one. This one could save them all—if she would only believe him.
“Rise, Jon Snow,” Daenerys said. Jon met her gaze, startled by how fucking beautiful she was. Too beautiful to be fully mortal.
“We have a feast prepared in the keep,” Jon said, offering his arm. Satin appeared at his elbow, breathless, and fell in with the queen’s entourage. A glance over his shoulder found among them squat man with black device on a grey-green field that he couldn’t place. A Reed? What was a Reed of Greywater Watch doing at the Wall? Queen Daenerys stole his attention by threading her arm through his elbow.
Ignoring the fact that I'm half an hour into Monday...here's my seven sentences (plus a couple more) to make up for it!
The last of the WIPs from our discord's flash fics:
Fuck, fuck, Mitchell swore under his breath as he limped towards the building, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, even though all he wanted to do was collapse on the ground. His vision blurred, and he couldn’t help the flinch at the explosion that went off behind him, even though he knew it was coming, he had been the one who set it.
They were slowly dismantling the remaining ATLAS labs, one by one. It was a painful process, often requiring a full team of scientists, bomb disposal experts, and a team of soldiers; the bomb disposal experts to get them past all the booby traps, the scientists to confirm what was in the lab, and then the soldiers to get them in and out, all in one piece.
Other than the occasional security guard, they normally didn’t see much in the way of other patrols or defense. But as soon as they dropped into the lower levels of the building in Santorini, Mitchell had this sense that something was going to go wrong. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it. There were no signs that anyone had been in the hallways recently, a layer of dust had settled on the floor, and that musty smell lingered.
He even briefly checked on the comms, making sure that Gideon wasn’t seeing anything on his end; and everything was looking fine.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1 (683 words)
Fandom: Supernatural (TV 2005)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester
Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester
Additional Tags: Weecest, Horny Teenagers, Cock Tease, Needy Sam Winchester, Smug Dean Winchester, Based on a Tumblr Post
Series: Part 7 of Weecest Flash Fics
Summary:
Sam should have known better than to follow his brother into the poorly lit alley behind the pool hall where their dad is meeting with an old marine buddy turned weapons trafficker for the hunter community, but it had been far too long since the horny teen had been able to get his hands or mouth on his brother, and he was getting desperate.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I was a little lax in posting the links here to my Mermay/This is the May flash fic links, but here is the final one for May 31. The entire series of flash fics can be accessed under the different chapters on AO3. They're pretty much all Rogue One character fics or Rebelcaptain pairing in different AUs
Hannibal stared down at him and smiled. “If I move you’ll have no one to lay on.”
He cuddled closer to him and wrapped his foot around Hannibal’s ankle. “Then let it die. We’ve let plenty of other things die this year.”
“Hmm...yes we have.”
Encephalitis, the newest member of their family, sat at Will’s feet fast asleep. She’d been a last minute gift, something Hannibal had thought perhaps wouldn’t be welcomed, and yet Will’s face upon opening the box was filled with nothing but joy.
It had been nearly five years since the fall without Will even seeming interested in obtaining a canine companion, and Hannibal was glad he’d chosen to bring her into their lives.
He ran his fingers through Will’s hair and reveled in his contented sigh.
“Every year just gets better, doesn’t it?”
“Are you crazy? This year was terrible,” Will laughed, “We...”
“I meant with us, Mylimasis. Every year being together we only grow closer, don’t we?”
Will lifted his head and smiled. “We do, yeah.”
He ran his fingers across Hannibal’s beard and tugged a bit. “Will...”
“I’ll be sad when you get sick of this.”
“Will you?”
“Mmm hmm...it’s...been fun to see you like this.”
He smiled. “Like what?”
“Soft,” Will whispered, leaning in to press their lips together, “And...fluffy.”
“I killed a man with a crowbar last night, Will. I’m not sure how I am either soft or fluffy. Just because I’ve let my hair go gray doesn’t mean...”
Will cut him off with a kiss, and Hannibal pulled him up into his lap to be closer. He deepened the kiss, hungry for more, and when they pulled apart Will’s lips were swollen from his fervent need. “Still soft and tender,” Will said, grinning, pulling at his beard again, “You can kill as many people as you like but when you look like this...”
Hannibal closed his eyes as Will ran his hand over his shorn head. He shivered as Will pressed a kiss to his forehead and leaned in closely to whisper.
“I like it.”
“Then I shall never be sick of it and strive to be sure it remains soft...and fluffy.”
Will laughed. “You’d better.”
He laid his head on Hannibal’s shoulder and they both looked at the Christmas tree. Hannibal took his hand and kissed it softly. “Merry Christmas, Will.”
“Merry Christmas, Hannibal.”
“I hope for many more.”
“You think I’m going somewhere? Or you are?”
“Hmm...”
Will lifted his head and stared into Hannibal’s eyes. “Even if they find us and try to...we won’t go down without a fight. Right?”
Hannibal reached out to touch his cheek. “Yes, you’re right.”
“And thinking about that right now when we’re happy and having a great damn Christmas is just...not happening. We’re happy, Hannibal. Don’t think about anything else.”
Hannibal smiled. “Other than keeping my beard.”
Will grinned and kissed him again, rubbing his cheek across Hannibal’s beard when they parted. “Always.”
“I love you, Mylimasis.”
Will laid his head on Hannibal’s shoulder again and wrapped a hand around his back. He brought the other to Hannibal’s beard, playing idly with the hairs much to Hannibal’s delight. “I love you too, Hannibal.”
Hannibal’s chest ached as he stared at the fire. Soon it would go out, the flames dying, and part of him felt as if he should get up to reignite them again.
But he knew, even if they died, the flames could easily be reignited again.
Just like them.
No one would stop them.
And no one would take away this moment.
Every Christmas with Will just got better than the next.
