"Send nudes." Barty urged, shrugging at Regulus. He was staying the night with Barty and Evan, and James Potter— the man regulus had been in love with for years— just happened to text him while he was there. So now Regulus was getting unprompted advice from the two.
"No, that's too crude for Regulus. Don't be completely nude, go for something sultry but not outright slutty." Evan added, wrapping an arm around Barty who was sitting on his lap.
Regulus made a disgusted face at the two. "Like hell I'm doing that. I just need something that I can reply to 'you up?' with."
Evan's eyes widened. "Wait he sent you a 'you up' text? Barty's right, send nudes."
"You two are so unhelpful, you know that?"
"Well we're the ones in a relationship— one going on three years thank you very much. So if you should be taking anyone's advice it's ours." Barty huffed, rolling his eyes as he turned his attention to Evan's neck, which was too bare for his liking.
Regulus sighed, hating that he couldn't argue with that, "Do you really think…?"
"Yes. Barty will help you take pictures. He's really good at them." Evan hummed in a way that made regulus not want to know how that ended.
"Mhm!! Let's go!" He sat up, kissing— or maybe eating would be a better word in Regulus' opinion— Evan, before getting up and dragging Regulus to the bedroom.
Evan and Barty were proud to say that Regulus left with his prospects of getting fucked into a mattress that night much higher than before. Regulus had to admit, they did give good advice.
Hey hi hello so um this was gonna be a whole comic with multiple pages but thanks to this thing called exams I gave up after three pages because it was impacting my ability to study...I did continue the scene in prose form after the third page though. So um. Yeah. Under the cut. Based on this post.
"I mean, all that work, and yet they couldn't afford to be even a little bit nicer! Show some proper appreciation!" Greylock continued. "All I am is another way King Magnus can show himself up to the rest."
He grimaced as he took another long sip of his tea. "And no matter how much you enjoy something...when you're forced to perform all the time, only what the king wants? Ha! It takes all the joy out of the job, Kendrick."
"It's Cedric," came his friend's usual reply, which drew a chuckle out of him.
"Of course, Toothpick." He settled back now, wondering only now what had come over him. Honesty of this kind did not come to him easily. But perhaps it was the fact that he was glad to be reunited with an old friend, and perhaps it was also the comforting quietness of the workshop and the hot tea that Cedric had poured them. And so he did not regret spilling his heart out like this, at least not yet.
Cedric set his own teacup down on the floating saucer in front of him. "But you're right, yes. These bloody royalty simply do not appreciate us! And really, I think we should do something about it."
He smirked. "I mean, imagine if we took their thrones from them! And they were the ones to follow our orders! And maybe then they'd get a taste of their own potion, when they're forced to have to do everything we said and..." He faltered a bit at Greylock's widening stare as he realised, in a rare moment of foresightedness, that it may bot be the best idea to be revealing such plans as this during casual conversation, even to Greylock.
He cleared his throat. "Of course though, I'm not being serious. You know that, right?"
Greylock shook his head quickly. "No, no, of course you're not, Cedric. No proper sorcerer goes about taking the place of a king...his place is by their side. As miserable as it may be," he muttered.
His face broke out into a grin. "It reminds me of when we were at Hexley, though. You were always muttering about some silly little evil schemes..."
Cedric scoffed. "Well, they were less ridiculous than your tricks! At least my schemes didn't simply have the aim of blowing things up and ending up in the headmaster's office! They were more complex!"
And so their conversation drifted to topics unconcerned with acts of treachery. But Cedric's supposedly nonserious words constantly drifted back into Greylock's mind both during their conversation and afterwards, not leaving him alone for weeks after the jubilee, always showing up whenever he was feeling the same dissatisfaction again that he expressed that night. And eventually he decided to let those words stay and root themselves properly in his head.
5. Caitlyn and Vi build some kind of furniture together
from this post
"I said that you made it look easy, not that it is easy," Caitlyn protested for the umpteenth time, the servos in the gauntlets whirring quietly as she held the door up against the rest of the cabinet.
Vi hid a grin behind the manual. "Uh huh, all I'm hearin' is -" CRACK.
"Well," Vi said with deliberate composure, taking in the splintered wood and Caitlyn's wide, guilty eyes, "Think that PILKEA will give us a freebie replacement for the fourth time?"
For the @rerarepairmonth prompt - Festive Cuisine
Finn Macauley/Jake Muller - Rated T - AO3 Link
The snow muffled his footsteps as Finn carefully trekked his way down the side street. Snowflakes drifted lazily through the still air, the gentle threat of a later promised storm that Finn had no intention of getting caught in. He could admire the coming blanket of white from inside, dry and warm. Night fell early this late into the year in Edonia, and there were no lit streetlamps left to light his way, only the small handheld torch he carried, and his memories of which paths to take.
Taking the last corner leading up to Jake’s duplex, Finn curtailed his urge to hurry down the street. He would be no use to anyone if he slipped on a patch of ice and broke his neck, or got ambushed by one of the infected simply because he wasn’t paying attention. Instead, he took his time, watching where he placed his boots and straining his senses for any signs that he wasn’t alone out here. The falling snow silenced the world, and the encroaching darkness blinded it. Less than ideal conditions for a lone soldier sneaking away from his base in the middle of an outbreak zone just to visit his mercenary boyfriend for the holidays.
Though he still wasn't exactly sure if boyfriend was the right word to use here. What did you call someone who saved you from an infected ambush after you got separated from your squad and made you promise to keep his existence secret? Then you keep meeting up, first by accident and then on purpose, until you’re sneaking off to make out behind a half broken brick wall like you're sixteen again. And then he asks you if you want to come over to celebrate Hanukkah at his place with him, and you say yes because you want to spend more time with him. There wasn’t exactly a dictionary definition for this.
At least the falling snow was still sparse, not yet limiting what visibility the night still had. Which made the soft warm glow in the window ahead all the more obvious. Thick black plastic sheets normally blocked any light from Jake’s apartment being spotted from the street below, but tonight one of the sheets had been pulled back to reveal the menorah and its two burning candles behind the glass. Finn’s steps slowed to a halt in front of the steps as he stared up at the window, childish delight and joy at something so simple flickering to life in time with the dancing candlelight.
Tearing his eyes away from the upper story, Finn carefully climbed the icy steps up to the duplex, shouldering open the front door. Snow tickled his boots from where it had been blown in through the bottom floor’s windows, the door leading into the home still hanging on for dear life. Once he ducked his head into the abandoned home to ensure there were no unwelcome surprises waiting, Finn made sure to shut the front door behind him before turning down the narrow hallway to climb the creaking wooden stairs leading up to the next floor.
The tarp stapled over Jake’s door to conceal it further from view and trap both light and heat inside was still in its normal place, waiting for Finn to brush it aside and knock quietly against the wood. “Jake? It’s Finn.”
Jake must have been waiting by the door, or heard the sound of Finn's boots on the stairs, for almost as soon as Finn finished knocking came the quiet click of the door being unlocked. Sharp blue eyes flicked over him as Jake stepped aside, beckoning him inside the apartment with a casual wave of his hand. “Ran into any issues out there?”
“No, all quiet.” And thank God for that. Finn did not want to explain what he was doing out here if a squad followed the sound of gunshots. Grinning up at his boyfriend, Finn flicked off his torch, tucking it into his coat pocket, only to pull out a small container instead. “I brought the sour cream you asked for.” That in itself had been a strange request, when Finn had asked if Jake wanted him to bring anything for tonight. It had taken a fine hand of bartering and some slight begging, but he had managed to get his hands on a small container of sour cream. Even if he wasn’t exactly sure what Jake had in mind for it.
Jake’s crooked grin softened into something warm, a calloused hand coming up to cup Finn’s jaw as he lent down to steal a kiss from Finn’s lips. “Knew I could count on you, boy scout. Now come on, I’m making latkes.”
Finn’s brain needed a moment to reboot as he stopped to remove his boots and rest them on the mud mat waiting by the entrance for this exact reason. Jake was way too handsome for his own good to be giving out kisses and expecting people to be able to function afterwards. “Latkes?”
Jake glanced back over his shoulder at Finn’s befuddled question, one eyebrow raising at the expression on Finn’s face. “You've never had latkes before? Don’t worry, you’ll like ‘em.” The silence seemed to stretch for a moment before it finally seemed to sink in what exactly Finn was asking. “You don't even know what latkes are?!”
Finn couldn’t help but laugh at Jake’s scandalised expression, shrugging helplessly. The other man seemed to take that personally, mock scowling at Finn before grabbing his hand and dragging him further into the apartment and over to the crackling fireplace. “Latkes are a Chanukah staple! Crispy and salty with a fluffy potato center, you can eat ‘em with sour cream, applesauce, honey, or smoked salmon.”
Following Jake down into a controlled sprawl upon the softly worn rug, Finn lent against his boyfriend with a fond smile as he listened to Jake rant, watching the other man’s hands busy themselves with a skillet, a bottle of oil, and an already full mixing bowl. It was clearly something he had done plenty of times before, pouring out the exact amount of oil before carefully sliding the skillet into place on a small metal frame over the controlled flames.
Leaving Jake to his frying, Finn let his eyes wander over the small apartment before once again settling on the menorah balancing on the window sill. By now, the candles were burning low but it did nothing to take away from the sight. “I saw the menorah from outside, it was beautiful.” And it was. A street covered in nothing but darkness and ruin, void of the life and laughter that had once filled it. Except for a single window that whispered that even in the darkest of times, there is still light and hope. “But what about the infected?”
For such a long moment Jake was silent, that Finn thought that the other man wasn’t going to answer. But then he answered, speaking more to the fire than to Finn. “I thought about placing the hanukkiah on a little table next to the mezuzah by my bedroom door, or not even bothering to light it at all. But…” The gentle sizzle of latkes meeting oil filled the air as Jake took a moment to lay the compacted potato disks in the skillet before continuing.
“I never really considered myself religious. I'm Jewish because my mother was Jewish, simple as that. I went through all the steps growing up to make her happy, but when she got sick and died, I just… stopped. I had already picked up mercenary work by then because it was the only thing that made us enough money to pay her medical bills. So I stayed long enough to sit shiva for her, then packed my bags and tried to leave everything that made me Yaakov ben Batya behind.”
Using a metal spatula to flip the latkes over with a careful hand, Jake sighed and glanced towards the window where the candles had finally burnt themselves out. “When I finally came back here, it had probably been, what, seven years. But I grew up here, I know every street and corner and the people in them. It was part way through the High Holy Days, the synagogues should have been full and families returning home to be together. And yet…”
“Everyone was gone.” Finn’s voice was quiet as he gently squeezed Jake’s free hand, offering as much support as he could give. He couldn’t imagine walking through his home town to find it abandoned, all his family and friends gone without a trace. Just the thought made his throat close up with the urge to weep.
Jake nodded, shuffling the skillet off the fire and the latkes onto a wire rack off to the side to drain. “I searched for weeks. Found nothing, but that’s better than anything, I suppose. We’ve always been good at being able to run at a moment’s notice.” A bitter smile twisted at his lips before settling into something a little more heartsore. “But with everyone else gone, by the time Chanukah rolled around, I figured that somebody here had to light the hanukkiah properly, speak the full hallel, and fulfil the mitzvot, even if it was just a screw up like me. A reminder that the people of Israel still live.”
Melancholy shrouded his face like a veil before Jake physically shook it off, rolling his shoulders before nudging an empty plate, and bottles of honey and applesauce towards Finn, along with the container of sour cream and an unopened tin of smoked salmon. “But this today is not Tisha B'Av. We are not mourning, but celebrating our survival. So come on, eat before your latkes get cold then I can teach you how to play dreidel. I even managed to scrounge up some gelt for it.”
i'm clearing out my notes app and moving a lot of my old Merlin/Merthur fic ideas into other documents, and man. it's a graveyard of good ideas. really wish i hadn't fallen off the writing wagon, there's a bunch of great stuff in there
“I saw a titan eat her." After a couple of minutes of utter silence, Eren sits up, a different aura to him now. The fight inside of him starts to die, apparently, having him sit with a blank stare and shivers overtaking his limbs, "I— I couldn't do anything. She had to save me, again, like she always does… if she hadn't pulled me out of that titan's mouth I would be— I would be—"
"Dead. You would be dead." Annie finishes for him, not a bit remorseful.
—
Annie lost her humanity the day she was transformed into a blood seeking monster. She never had a say in what she became, and so she learned to pretend to be a human, a sheep instead of the wolf she actually was.
But maybe, just maybe, saving Mikasa returns a part of her human self.
How did they get themselves here? All they wanted was enchanted gear.
The tower above them loomed, adorned with spikes around its edges, the last pillar of defence. Tango yelled something up from where they were standing at the base of the monstrosity, Jimmy couldn't stop staring at it. It was unstable only held together by bits of wood and dirt, the support beam that tethered it to the ground was thin and Jimmy swore he saw it sway when the wind blew past. He glanced at his soulmate as if begging him to leave.
Sure the gear would have been great, but was it worth it? The risk of climbing up this tower? He was nervous, how couldn't he be? A million things could happen up that tower and no matter which way Jimmy imagined it, they all ended in a horrible death by plummeting to the ground below.
A water stream came crashing down from above pooling just below Jimmy's feet and before he could get a word in Tango was already swimming up it, slowly making his way to the top. With a sigh and a twitch from his wings, he followed his soulmate up the water stream, and now that he was looking directly up at it it really did look like the jaws of death.
Once they reached the top it took everything in Jimmy to not dig down, back to the safety of the ground below. Fear started to seep its way into his brain, alarm bells ringing loudly blocking out the noises around him. His heart started racing as he stared down at his feet, refusing to look at his surroundings. His wings wrapped around his body tightly and he knew he was probably shaking by now.
Despite being an Avian he was deathly afraid of heights, he was kind of thankful his wings were so small, he couldn't use them to fly so he'd never have to face his fears. He was very happy on the ground thank you very much.
Something gripped his hand and Jimmy almost screamed in surprise, he forced his head upwards the feathers on his head briefly moving away from his eyes, before returning. Tango smiled at him gripping his hand tighter, reassuring Jimmy that everything would be okay. "Hey, it's okay, I'm right here." Tango leaned in closer resting his forehead against Jimmy's. "I'll enchant our gear and then we'll go, it won't be long I promise. I'm right here."
The words rang in jimmy's ears, over and over he wanted to believe them, but as people started to gather around the base of the tower, standing where he was only minutes ago, his fear started to seep its way back in.
Everything had escalated so quickly, one minute tango is busy enchanting making small talk with the other duo and the next people are firing arrows past Jimmy's head.
Arrow after arrow whizzed by, Jimmy could hear them, he didn't dare look over the edge, he heard some embed themself into the freshly charged wood below his feet. Tango's grip on his hand only tightened something they did often, a sign that the other was there and that they were okay. A comfort to the both of them.
Tango peered over the edge as another arrow whizzed by, Grian and Scar were shouting about something and before Jimmy could even process what was happening Scar lept over the edge, plummeting down to the ground below. Screams broke out, and at that moment everyone left on the tower had expected Grian to fall over and die, sharing the damage that his soulmate would take.
But nothing happened. Grian was still there, standing in shock at the edge of the tower. Everything in Jimmy told him to back off, prepare for Grian's death, take his stuff and go, but instead, he gripped Tango's hand tighter and stepped forward. He looked straight down catching the moment when Scar had landed in his own bucket of water, reaching the ground unharmed.
Screams of shock and amazement broke out and Jimmy smiled staring down at the green life that somehow managed to pull it off. His fear seemed to vanish as he cheered and laughed, just in as much shock as the people around him.
And just like a canary celebrating that it was still alive the fumes of the coal mine caught up.
Pain shot its way into his shoulder, he yelped in shock, as the sudden force of the arrow caused him to stumble forwards, one step and then another and suddenly there was nothing left to step on. He felt Tango's grip slip from his own as he tumbled off the edge, he was falling.
Oh my god, he was falling.
He twisted and turned in the air, desperately stretching out his arm, reaching for something, anything! It can't end like this! He screamed as he fell further, the tower was getting further away, faster and faster. He saw Tango, climbing over the edge and reaching his hand down, trying to grab onto Jimmy, to stop him from the fatal fall.
Still falling,
Then suddenly he wasn't. Everything went black. The cold sting of death crept its way into jimmy's body, pulling him into an inky darkness. Everything was so cold, it was nothing like the warmth he'd grown accustomed to living with Tango. Though he guessed he was used to this feeling too, death was something he couldn't avoid.
There were no sounds apart from the whispers of the wind, he hoped it was the wind at least. Alone in the empty void, he didn't want to wake up, cause when he did he'd have to face Tango. A stupid mistake cost them another life and now they were red names. One life left. He didn't know how'd he even begin to apologize to Tango. Slowly Jimmy blinked his eyes open waking up on the bed he spent countless nights on, the warmth of a Netherborn soulmate beside him.
How did they get themselves here? All they wanted was enchanted gear.
