Rattle the Stars

James Pleiades Hawkins | 26 | Future Astronaut

[traverse-the-stars]

moon-yeongjun​:

Rabbit Cleans Up! || Jimmy Jun

Jun did not know this person. Not on a name basis that is. Sure, he met basically everyone in town because they all eventually popped into the Market at least once a week! But some lingered, some made conversation, some showed up more than others. This young man was undoubtedly a student at the uni who was not native of the town, so naturally Jun had never gotten a chance to make a proper acquaintance.

But look at this: another positive of his brilliant neighborhood clean-up plan! People meeting, getting to know each other!

Ah, he really was a genius.

“Ah, Mr. Hawkins! Good to meet you. Yes, yes, well, it’s just a little event, not a big deal!” Jun laughed with a wave of his hand, very proud though. “Thank you for turning out for it, eh? That’s where the real success will lie– with the Swynlakers themselves. I was a bit worried, truth be told, but then again, if it was just the Small Business Owners Coalition, I think we would have managed okay.” 

.

The Small Business Owners Coalition sounded so fancy and formal and Jim kind of wanted to laugh. Not because it was silly or funny, but because he couldn’t see himself ever belonging to something like that, which was...probably not good. If he was going to graduate and live his life, he might have to end up joining something like that--some group of adults that met at Town Hall and did things--or at the very least he would have to get a real, every day sort of job like working at a Market in a small town. 

There was nothing wrong with working at a market in a small town. Jim knew that and he actually thought Jun Moon was a very accomplished, good person who tried his best for the good of Swynlake. It was just, ever since he was young, his vision of his life had been so much different than this. 

What if he graduated and stayed in Swynlake? 

What if he never got a job in his field, except for maybe teaching, and never traveled and grew old without ever achieving his dreams? 

Well, these were definitely all thoughts for another time and Jim tried to push them away and nodded. “I’m sure you would have. That’s a really fine group of people--all of you are so determined, you know? You guys sort of made your dreams come true, opening your own businesses and running them. Very admirable. This is just sort of the icing on the cake, isn’t it? Making the town better?”

[traverse-the-stars]

moon-yeongjun​:

Rabbit Cleans Up! || OPEN

“Ah, I see you’re here to join the first ever Main Street clean-up!” Jun exclaimed.

 Yes, he’d gotten his little idea approved by the Small Business Owners Coalition, and so here he was, on a crisp fall Sunday morning, the Moon Market sponsoring the first one with trash bags and extra gloves and a good attitude!  He had been organizing small groups so people wouldn’t all clean one place at a time, but really, he imagined the whole thing should be rather casual. After all, working together to tidy Main Street with the community… what could be better? 

.

Jim was here to join the first ever Main Street clean-up, because he had to get out of his apartment and do something so he didn’t stress himself out and wallow in premature self-pity. Because Jim was graduating this year, he’d decided to take his shot and apply to NASA. As an astronaut, obviously, but also mission control tech. He would not get either one of these jobs. He knew that. 

Being colorblind, he could not be an astronaut. 

He was also pretty sure that might disqualify him from guiding space shuttles into space and helping bring them home, even though that wasn’t explicitly stated. 

BUT, since he hadn’t heard back yet, and miracles totally could happen, he was trying not to let himself get too down. 

Thus, community service. 

Cleaning would make him feel better about himself. 

“I am,” Jim said with a smile and held his hand out to Jun Moon. “I’m Jim Hawkins. You orchestrated this whole thing, right? I think that’s pretty awesome.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

ashley-incharge​:

Birthday Preparations | Open

It was insane to realize that it was almost Asher’s first birthday. Not only that, but it was almost Asher’s birthday and Ashley did not have all the decorations and things that she needed to make it as extra and amazing as possible! Scandalous!

But this was a scandal that would soon be mended. Ashley A. was going to go all out for her son. As she should! Asher was turning one, which proved that Ashley had been able to take care of him and that he was doing well. A party was well deserved for both of them.

The problem was…Ashley did still have limited funds, so she was at this garish party store that was mostly decorated for Halloween. She hated that Asher had almost been born on Halloween. “It was sooo smart of you to come when you did Asher. You’d never hear the end of it as a Halloween baby,” Ashley informed her son, who she’d set into the shopping cart she’d found. 

Ashley pushed the cart forward, eyeing some of the decorations, when Asher cooed and waved his arms and his arm collided with someone else. “Oh baby are you okay? Watch where you’re going,” Ashley quipped as she gently reached out for her son’s hand.

.

Jim was definitely the type of person who decorated his apartment for Halloween. Yes, the only thing that would be seen by any trick or treaters would be the front door, but that didn’t mean the rest of his apartment wasn’t going to be festive. He had all the staples: the cool paper skeleton to hang on his door, the cool hat to pin on top of it, the candy bowl and the candy. Now he had to get into all the good stuff, like the things that made noises when you walked by them and the orange and black streamers. 

Turning the corner, Jim’s cart bumped into someone else’s and he stopped to apologize. Before he could, though, the girl snapped at him. And yeah, Jim had totally run into her, but he was going to say sorry and she was being really mean about it. 

“Oh, uh, sorry. I just got a little excited. You know how that is.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

mads-morey​:

hell hath no fury || open

Mads hadn’t slept since his eleven hour layover in Russia, where he’d laid down on the airport floor cuddling his carry-on and set an alarm on his phone to wake him two and a half hours before his plane boarded.

Add ‘on an airport floor when trying to go home after learning your older brother is a missing person’ to the list of places Mads Morey can fall asleep.

He’d barely had enough time to set his luggage down in the living room before Mama was handing him a stack of the missing person flyers she’d made. The look Papa gave him told him there would be no nap first.

(Okay, look, he wasn’t going to suggest he nap while Dian was missing. But if Papa said ‘son, you should rest’ he would’ve been like ‘say less, Papa’ and gone his arse to sleep. What good can a sleep-deprived person do in a missing person search anyway?)

With the last of the flyers passed out, Mads had two options. 1.) Go home immediately, and surely Mama would shove a fresh stack in his hands. 2.) Stall.

Mads was probably a bad person, he came to understand, as he sat in Hatters and sipped at his tea. 

A sharp pain shot up his arm, and he scanned the room for the source. His eyes landed on a young woman shouting at someone and then – ouch, throwing her ceramic mug down and sending glass and coffee flying.

Mads’ eyes followed her and she and her shitty emotions left the shop, and from a mix of curiosity and sympathy, stood up to help clean up the mess she left.

“That didn’t look fun,” Mads muttered, handing some napkins to the person who’d just been covered in coffee. “For your trousers and shoes.”

.

Jim didn’t really believe in luck exactly, but it was really hard to discount it on days that bad luck clearly had it out for him. Okay, yes, he knew that luck was actually more about probability than any sort of mystical force or outside manipulation by some divine being which was why the whole concept of luck was silly, but today was just not going in his favor and blaming it on bad luck rather than wondering if he was somehow an asshole was just a lot easier. Especially because he’d done nothing to deserve being drenched in coffee.

The woman in front of him had been...very angry. Jim got it. Some days he was really angry too, but Jim didn’t think being angry gave someone the right to shout at innocent baristas about their coffee orders. 

Today he’d decided to say something about it. 

The burn on his shins sort of made him regret it. 

Jim bent down as the barista rushed around the counter to help him pick up the broken bits of ceramic and another man held out some napkins for him. 

“Oh, thanks,” Jim said, offering a smile. “It uh, burns, yeah. I think she got her latte extra hot.”

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

.

“No, no, I like grocery shopping too,” said Charlie with a laugh, his cheeks pink– but for once, not because he was embarrassed. 

He was just happy. 

For most of Charlie’s life, he’d never made room for that feeling. He’d always wanted to be prepared first, and safe second. The rest of his energy went to making the people around him those things too…which usually meant meal prepping for his dad and making sure he went to his doctor’s appointments, or taking on extra shifts when he was needed around the hospital. These acts of service weren’t really as selfless as they seemed, cuz they made Charlie feel better about the world he was born into, which to him, seemed like an irreparably broken place. And fragile, too.

But these days…

These days, Charlie was prepping less. Sure, he still had his bunker and he still performed inventory, but he was straying from his schedule. He had stopped his various diets, settling into a vegetarian option that allowed him to enjoy more things that he actually liked.

He was sleeping better too. Sometimes, he even had a good dream, now and then.

A lot of that was Alana, some of that was Jim, but all of it was Charlie. He was proud of himself for taking this step. It made him wonder…what was next? What was happy gonna be like? He grinned wider and took Jim’s hand. “Yeah, uh– let’s go!” he exclaimed. 

.

And so they went. 

Jim and Charlie went grocery shopping and a part of Jim, the part that always looked to the stars because he knew that somewhere up there had to be better than down here, melted just a little. Over the past year space had become less of an escape for Jim Hawkins and more of a close friend. He no longer wanted to surf the stars as a way to break free from his life and prove his father--the man who left him because he wasn’t good enough--wrong. 

When Jim looked up at the stars, it was with wonder. 

When Jim saw something interesting, when he read about something that blew his mind, he not only wanted to share it with his mother, but with Charlie too and now, walking through the grocery store with one too many bags of chips in his arms, he realized that Charlie felt that stuff too. 

Charlie wanted to buy too many bags of chips with him. 

Charlie wanted to share cool space facts with him. 

Jim settled into that feeling, really let it sink in, and then thought to himself that if he was going to be stuck on earth, at least he had some really cool people to do it with. 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

Charlie didn’t know what to do, and Jim didn’t know what to do, but that didn’t seem like the case at all. In fact, Jim appeared to know exactly what to do, suggesting food without hesitating like he’d done this a thousand times.

Well, he probably had. Charlie knew he’d had boyfriends before. Maybe not too many– he came from a kinda small town and all that– but he obviously had more experience than Charlie. Charlie was absolutely going to embarrass himself but–

Wait wait wait. No. Why was Charlie already thinking so negatively? He pushed those thoughts away and let himself smile, shy and small, at Jim’s own grin. And the truth was, breakfast for supper sounded super cute. Especially because Charlie honestly hadn’t had breakfast in… years. He slept too late or he was working early shifts or whatever. 

“That– sounds really fun,” said Charlie. “Uh, we can go back to my place maybe? And make omelettes or something? Oh, I might have a waffle maker actually somewhere…”

That was an old Christmas present he’d never really used. Which was dumb! He should use it! He should make waffles! 

.

Both. They should absolutely make both, Jim thought, and then thought about how cute Charlie probably was when he was cooking. He’d never seen Charlie cook, but he couldn’t imagine he was anything but adorable. 

“Both,” he declared aloud, reaching for his drink to finish it off. “I think we should make both. We can walk over to the Moon Market first, too, just to make sure we have all the ingredients we want. Omelettes can really be anything so that’s exciting.” 

Jim had a boyfriend. 

This was really happening.

The reality of it hit Jim again and he giggled. “Wow, I just--I’m really excited to go grocery shopping with my boyfriend.” The word fell from his lips and his smile got even brighter. “Is that weird? I don’t know, maybe. I’ve always sort of liked grocery shopping, actually, but none of my friends ever really felt the same way because it’s a weird thing to like and who wants to go grocery shopping on an outing with friends.” He laughed. “The Moon Market is such a cool grocery store, too. They have so many awesome things.” 

Jim cleared his throat and stood up, brushing his shirt down to straighten it. “Anyway, uh, let’s go?” He held out his hand for Charlie to take if he wanted.

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

.

Hindsight really was everything. 

It was why Charlie’s power could be so useful if he learned how to master it properly– especially the part where he could visit multiple timelines in the future. Because as Jim took his hand, he realized there was going to be a point in the future where he looked back and saw everything so much clearer: his friendship with Jim, his own type of attraction, their friendship which was… well, yeah, they were definitely friends, but had they really been fooling each other at all that they wanted to be this, also? 

Charlie could have saved a lot of time and personal agony if he’d just visited the future and seen himself and Jim, happy, wherever, whenever, they were. 

He wouldn’t have been so scared. Why had he been scared? Had Jim ever been an asshole…about anything? Why would he have rejected him for something as small in the end as this? At least– to Charlie. Sexuality had been basically invisible to him his entire life, which he’d just assumed was because he had a tonne of other health problems to worry about. But now he realized that it didn’t take up space because it had never needed to, not for him. It was kind of like how Charlie needed glasses. Every day, he put those glasses on, and he didn’t think about it anymore. It was part of him and affected the way he saw the world, but…

It’s like a quark in the entire atom of my feelings for you.

Yeah, Jim said it better. Way better. Best. 

“O-oh,” Charlie exhaled the word, and as he did, he finally smiled like he couldn’t help it. “Oh, yeah, duh– I– that’s– you’re awesome,” he gushed, and then turned even more red. With a tiny groan of embarrassment he put his other hand up to cover his face. “Aghhhh sorry, I’m really bad at this. I dunno what happens next.” 

And wasn’t that a nice freaking feeling, for once? Not to know???

.

Charlie was seriously so cute. The idea that Jim could ever not feel one-hundred percent like the luckiest person on the planet--or the entire universe, really--was completely crazy. He loved hanging out with Charlie. He loved talking to him about anything and everything and now he could keep doing that, but he could also flirt too and not feel like he was overstepping a friendship. He could flirt with Charlie and hold his hand sometimes and they could nap together and have tea and so many things!

Jim was excited for whatever came next, because he didn’t know either. They were both busy people--with school and jobs and hobbies--and Jim knew it wasn’t going to be like everyone always told him relationships should be. Jim wasn’t a relationship expert by any means, but he knew one thing. 

“We should get food,” he said. “I think that seems like a really good next step, but I don’t know if I want like, the fancy restaurant and all that stuff.” He looked at Charlie, smiling so hard his cheeks were hurting as he looked at the flush sprinkled across Charlies cheeks. He knew his own face was probably a bit pink too. “I think we should do breakfast. Now. Like, I know it’s not breakfast time but I think having eggs with you sounds very nice. Oh, and we obviously need to have a stargazing date. That’s second.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

Not for the first time, Charlie definitely wanted to replay this.

He winced, blushed, ducked his head. His mouth had gone a little dry and his fingers scratched at his own trousers, like they were lost and looking for something to do. He was a habitual fiddler, exacerbated by situations like this. And now that he’d royally fucked that up, he was going to have to royally fuck up his explanation– 

Jim, always the most easy-going guy in the room though, wasn’t bothered. 

“Like you want to date me?” 

Charlie’s eyes darted up. They were as round as his glasses behind the frames, stuck staring at Jim as if HE was the one who said two very absurd things that didn’t go together back to back. 

Jim was smiling. 

Maybe he hadn’t heard right. 

Maybe he didn’t realize… 

(Maybe he doesn’t care?) 

“Uh–” said Charlie. Uh was not one of the answers to Jim’s question. Charlie shifted a little in his seat, his heart beating rapidly but now not just because he was nervous and scared. Unfortunately, now he was hopeful. 

“I– yes, um… but I– you did hear the…the thing about me being asexual, right?” Charlie said timidly. “I don’t think I’d um…I don’t want to even kiss. It grosses me out.” Shit. “I mean–no offense! It’s not you at all, I just don’t…like it.” 

.

Now Jim was frowning, just a little, as he tried to piece together everything Charlie was saying. 

It wasn’t the thing about not wanting to kiss. Jim would still want to be around Charlie--date him if that’s what Charlie wanted, because, yes, Jim wanted that too--even if he didn’t like touching at all. So it wasn’t the part about kissing being gross that had Jim frowning. 

It was the but. 

It was the part where Charlie had clearly been afraid that Jim would reject him because he was asexual and, therefore, thought he wasn’t good enough. “Yeah I heard it. Can I touch you?” Jim asked, reaching his hand out. When he saw Charlie’s small nod, he took his hand rubbed his thumb over the skin of Charlie’s knuckles. 

Jim wasn’t really sure what to say. He had a lot of ideas, but none of them seemed exactly right. If he was the hero of some epic adventure series (like he used to pretend he was when he was small--or maybe even a little bit longer than that if he was honest) he would know exactly the right thing to say to have Charlie breathing a sigh of relief and smiling. This would be the part of the story where he secured his partner in crime--his best friend--his boyfriend, and it would be perfect. 

Instead of anything perfect, though, Jim just smiled and shook his head with a little laugh. “Charlie,” he said. “I literally like you so much in like, so many ways, and if you don’t want to kiss me that’s totally fine. It’s like a quark in the entire atom of my feelings for you. I think I’ll survive. Hell, I’ll still be literally so happy, are you kidding me?” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

This was extremely embarrassing.

Never in Charlie’s life had he confessed to someone. He loved those scenes in dramas and graphic novels and anime, but now that he was here, he realized how cringe every single one of those scenes was when translated to real life. Really, kids mastered this kind of thing from an early age. Best way to confess: write it on a piece of paper with a yes or no box and just slide it over to Jim’s desk and hope for the best. 

Unfortunately, Charlie had not brought a small piece of paper. He was nearly 24 years old. If he wanted a… relationship– he probably should know how to ask for it. 

He brought his tea up to his lips and gulped a bunch more down, before his hands fled to his lap below the table so he could rub at his palms without Jim watching him. Of course, Jim was watching. His brow had creased and Charlie knew he was freaking him out.

But the ceiling wasn’t about to fall down.

A tsunami wasn’t going to crash into them and sweep them away. 

The worst thing that happened was…Jim said no thanks. 

“Um– okay right so–” his face was the colour of strawberries. “The thing is… I know I– I was the one who kind of ended us because I– I wasn’t ready and… um, other stuff–but lately I’ve been doing some um, research online and reading and well, we’ve obviously bee hanging out a lot and I think…” 

His mouth felt ridiculously dry. Ugh, this was so not romantic at all. Charlie took a deep breath.

“I still like you,” he said, finally. And then the next words jackrabbited out of his mouth before he could properly lead up to them: “I– I’m also asexual.” 

Well– two confessions at once! Charlie regretted it immediately! He shrank back in his chair. “Sorry, that’s– two separate but kind of connected things, and I didn’t mean to spring them on you at the same time, um.” 

Jim...wasn’t sure what was happening because his brain was seriously struggling to catch up with the present. The more Charlie blushed and squirmed, the louder his worries got up until Charlie said I still like you, then everything got really quiet. Jim’s mind scrambled, trying to replay what it was Charlie had said right before those words--stuff about research and them hanging out a lot--and he was having trouble piecing it all together. 

Then Charlie spoke again and it made a little more sense. 

I’m also asexual. 

Jim knew what that was. 

Back when he’d been trying to figure his own shit out in high school, he’d read a lot of forums and tumblr posts and visited a lot of LGBT websites. He’d settled on gay because that seemed the most true to him, but he’d definitely read about asexuality--lingering a little longer than was probably necessary on demi-sexuality before deciding not to adopt that label. Not because it didn’t feel kind of true, but because he just didn’t feel like it was necessary. 

Charlie’s confessions tumbled around in his mind and before he could stop himself, Jim was smiling. Charlie still liked him. 

Charlie liked him.

Jim’s heart fluttered in his chest and his ears flushed pink. 

“You like me?” he asked, his grin getting bigger. “Like you want to date me?” 

From deep down where it was buried, Jim’s crush started to breathe once again. He looked at the way Charlie’s curls fell into his eyes and he wanted to brush them away, touch Charlie’s cheek with his tingling fingers. 

[the-little-prophet]

traverse-the-stars​:

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

Keep reading

[traverse-the-stars]

The mood at the table shifted just a little when Charlie started to act all squirmy and Jim’s heart sped up just a little bit. Charlie was his best friend in Swynlake, that was just a fact, so Jim couldn’t help but worry that maybe Charlie was trying to friend-dump him. Jim didn’t really think that was the case, but the way Charlie’s fingers were gripping his tea and the way his voice went up a couple octaves surely weren’t helping his worrying mind. 

Oh, also, Charlie dodged a chance to talk about prepping! Charlie loved talking about prepping, so whatever he wanted to say was clearly important and Jim took a deep breath and leaned forward with a smile. Even if Charlie was trying to friend-dump him, Jim didn’t want him to be anxious about it. 

“You can just say it,” Jim said, with a little laugh and he nudged Charlie’s hand with his fingertips. “I promise I’ll listen, no matter what it is.” 

And yeah, okay, maybe the small remnants of Jim’s crush were showing just a little bit in the way his eyes softened and the way he genuinely meant what he said, even if Charlie was trying to get rid of him, but Jim didn’t even bother with thinking about that. Those bits of left-over crush were unimportant. Charlie was more than a crush. He was a really good friend--the kind that stuck for life. “You don’t have to be nervous.”

[traverse-the-stars]

eilonwy-notjustgirl​:

Remise and Riposte || Jeil

The thing was, Eilonwy knew she was good at this point. Possibly one of the best here. Between her training with Arthur starting last year, her training with retired general Laurel starting November, her training with fairy tale prince Edward starting January, her training with Rose (who despite whatever she said definitely had some kind of deal that resulted in additional training that she wasn’t describing), and now her letters from the Monan captain, she was a mishmash of styles, teachers, and practices that she worked at for hours each day. 

But for her, part of that was a genuine desire to know. Anytime she faced someone better than her, she wanted to learn the exact move they had used to beat her so she could practice it and add it to her repertoire. But on the flip side, anytime she trained with someone who who wasn’t as good, she wanted to help them improve. The better they all were, the more likely they were to survive whatever the Blackwells threw at them. 

And she so badly wanted everyone to get through. She could handle it if something happened to her. But that only mattered if everyone else made it through. 

As Jim approached her, she smiled and shook out her wrist. “Don’t hold back. This is an offensive combo, so its assuming you’re trying to take me out the whole time.” 

Once she had given that piece of advice, she firmed her grip on her sword. Then she lunged forward, slashing hard once before slashing again with her backhand to begin. 

Jim hopped back, quick on his feet, which was really the only thing he had going for him. He could dodge a sword fairly well, and blocking with a blade of his own was getting easier, it was just the whole offense part that threw him for a loop. Yes, he could swing a sword, but not very effectively. So he kept dodging, bringing his blade up to block Eilonwy’s and smiling when he saw the determined look in her eyes. 

“You know, I think you’re probably the best of us,” he said, and when she paused for just a moment, he took a swing. She blocked it. Of course. Jim smiled wider. “See, nothing gets past you.” 

This whole knight thing was pretty stressful. Sometimes Jim wished he’d never ended up a part of it, but getting to hang out with people like the girl in front of him was definitely a perk, even if some super bad shit was supposed to go down soon. 

Jim hopped up onto a stump, steel clashing, then nearly tumbled off when she landed a little bit of a hit on him. “Ah, you got me!” Jim winked at her and jumped back down to the ground. “I got too cocky with the upper ground.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

Jim immediately launched into space talk, like nothing was wrong.

Because nothing was wrong, haha. Telling someone about your sexuality and asking them if they might want to date you anyway was not some kind of disaster to run away from or to prepare for or to brace oneself, as if readying for a giant asteroid collision. It was just a conversation, a maybe awkward and heartbreaking one but…a conversation. 

Which Jim had no idea he was here to have. 

That was the weirdest part. Charlie’s cheeks were already red, guilt itchy in the back of his throat. He couldn’t shake the feeling he had accidentally lured Jim into some kind of trap, especially as Jim grinned and chatted and was…well…Jim. 

Cute, sweet, perfect Jim. 

Charlie sort of zoned out through sheer overthinking then. He blinked when he realized Jim asked him a question. “Huh? Oh, uh– great. Tastes like…tea.”

Thrilling, Charlie. Smooth, Charlie. Keep it up. 

Jim smiled at Charlie, eyes lingering on the blush at his cheeks before taking a drink of his coffee. He didn’t really think it was that depressing to talk about. Or, well, yeah. It was definitely depressing, but Jim sort of saw climate change as a very depressing thing that was now reality and therefore should be treated as such. Like, if they didn’t talk about it, how were they supposed to mitigate it,  you know? Treating climate change like the name Voldemort was going to get more people killed in the long run, basically. 

“I think it’s a good thing to talk about,” Jim said. “I think talking about it is what’s going to help us find ways to slow it down, or at least be able to weather it better, you know? Like your forums. I bet there are so many people on those with so many good ideas and it’s because you guys talk about that stuff a lot.” 

Jim shrugged, wishing the world and all the people in it with all the money weren’t idiots. If he let himself really think about that, though, he’d get angry. “People avoiding it are basically just hurrying the inevitable, you know? Like you said, if billionaires talked about it more, maybe they would get off their asses and do something useful instead of sending gas station drinks to space.” 

Jim smirked, though, and bumped Charlie’s fingers with his. “Have you already decided how to waterproof your stuff? I could probably help, you know. I’m very handy.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

eilonwy-notjustgirl​:

Remise and Riposte || Jeil

@traverse-the-stars

So Eilonwy had come out of the dream thinking two things: 

1. Whatever time she had left, she was going to devote it to the people she loved most and making sure they were safe and happy. She was lucky enough to have some of the best people in her life, so there wasn’t any point wasting her time on stupid she didn’t care about. 

2. She was going to spend the time they were busy training like hell to ensure she could have as much time left as possible. 

It was what had pushed her out here to the training ground they had set up, longsword in hand and her light shield up as she practiced the combo that Gwillym had described to her in her letter. Slash, slash, block, slash, turn, shove, stab. Slowly she thought she was getting it and starting to pick up speed with it so it could potentially be useful. 

When she heard someone else join her, she looked over and grinned as soon as she recognized them. The fact that Jim was her TA and her fellow knight never failed to make her smile. 

“Hey, are you looking for a training partner for today? I think I’m getting this set but its hard to tell against a dummy.”

Jim was actually really bad at swords. Maybe it was the little bit of knight in him that helped him be able to actually hold it and block sometimes--and yeah, he was getting a little better--but Eilonwy was way better than him and the fact that she wanted to practice with him sort of felt like a compliment. 

Out of all of the knights, Jim was pretty sure he had most in common with Eilonwy. Plus, he saw her in class all the time which naturally gave them other things to talk about besides doom and gloom and town charters. Jim liked her. He also thought she was bad ass and he wasn’t going pass up a shot to get his ass kicked by her. 

Jim laughed and walked over to the dummy, picking up the sword leaning against it. It was always so weird to hold weapons. Jim had never really been the sort of kid who was into them--he preferred computers or loads and loads of cardboard so he could fashion things like space ships or fake radios--but he was getting used to swords now. 

He even sort of liked them. 

Jim twirled the sword in his hand, almost dropping it, then looked at Eilonwy before falling back into a defensive stance. “Yeah, let’s see what you’ve got.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Second Try || Chickenhawk

So Charlie had done a lot of thinking post-1960s space adventure… as one does after grand magical adventures, at least growing up in Swynlake. And he gathered the facts: 

1. Being with Jim was the most fun he’d maybe had…ever. In his life. 

2. Being with Jim simultaneously made his whole chest shake, like his heartbeat was registering an impressive Level 8 on the Richter Scale of Earthquakes. 

3. Thus, the crush he had on Jim was not going away. 

4. It was, in fact, getting worse. 

From these facts, Charlie had to draw a conclusion. He either told Jim that being friends was probably impossible and so they should amicably part ways, or he actually tried their relationship again. Obviously, the first conclusion was more logical. It was safe. It was easy. If there was one thing Charlie knew how to do, it was run away.

But this time…

Charlie didn’t want to run away.

He wanted to try. He wanted, actually, to keep time traveling with Jim– not only to the freaking moon landing but…but to Europe, where they could meet Galileo! Or maybe to the future, if he figured out how to do that, when Man had finally figured out how to settle on Mars! Sure, Charlie didn’t know a lot about dating, but maybe that’s because he’d been doing it the wrong way for him. If he took a chance, if he were honest… if he came out to Jim, properly…maybe Jim would want those adventures too, and that would be enough.

And so here Charlie was, squirming in a seat in [name redacted] with his hands on either side of his green tea. He had asked Jim to meet him here and found a quiet place in the corner. This was probably going to be a disaster. But Charlie was prepared for disaster, at the very least.  “Oh um! Hey, over here!” He waved sighly when he saw Jim enter. 

.

If Jim could read minds, he might have been a little more nervous to meet with Charlie today. If he could read minds, he might also dressed a little bit better, but as it was he could not read minds so he showed up to [name redacted] in board shorts, sandals, and an embarrassing tie die shirt that his mom and him had made together. 

He wasn’t embarrassed, obviously, because he was just here to hang out with Charlie who was basically the nicest person in the world and would never make fun of him for wearing a shirt his mom made, and he lit up with a big smile when Charlie called out to him. He waved and walked over, sliding into the seat across from Charlie and noticing his drink. “Oh shit, I forgot to order,” he said. “Hang on.” 

Jim got up from the table with a laugh and made his way to the counter to order his vanilla latte. Charlie looked very cute today, something that Jim was not blind to, and he tried to convince himself not to ruffle his friend’s hair as he made his way back to his seat, latte in hand. 

“Dude, did you see that they sent a Slurpee into space the other day? That’s such a waste of money all for some stupid publicity stunt. Who is going to tell them that no one drinks Slurpees anymore? It was so dumb.” 

Jim took a sip of his latte and grinned. “How’s the tea?” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Perseverance & Ingenuity || chickenhawk

Jim, like always, was being super understanding. Which sucked actually! Because as soon as he grinned at Charlie and hooked their pinkies, Charlie knew his entire face exploded with colour. He looked away, hoping that through some miracle Jim did not realize what a massive freaking crush Charlie still had on him, but haha, very unlikely! 

Whether or not he did, he didn’t bring it up though. Because he was super understanding.

And cool. 

And funny. 

And somehow, the calmest person Charlie had ever met. Besides that one time– the first time– when Charlie had taken him to world war 2, but he could forgive Jim for totally losing it. How many times had Charlie lost it before then? His whole life. 

“O-oh, that’s– the easiest part,” said Charlie. “I just uh…have to hold your hand like this…” 

Charlie threaded their hands together. Great, his magic was really helping this whole crush thing, seriously.

“And then I just have to think myself back into my body, if that makes sense? Just um… gimme a sec…”

He closed his eyes. Once again, he tried to slow and even out his breathing. It was harder than it had been with Lana though. The weight of Jim’s hand in his was like an anchor. He couldn’t ignore it, even if he told himself Jim and himself weren’t really physically here. They were in 2021. They were in Charlie’s room. Picture the room… 

The pull happened again– like the stretching of a rubber band from Charlie’s navel. Then: snap. 

Charlie’s eyes peeled open and he sat up fast on hid bed with a massive gasp. 

.

Charlie linked their fingers together and Jim smiled. The weight of Charlie’s hand in his, the warmth too, it was so nice that for a second Jim just lost himself in it. He knew he shouldn’t. The butterflies in his stomach told him that, just like they whispered that maybe leaning a little closer to Charlie wouldn’t be so bad. 

Jim didn’t lean closer. 

Jim glanced over at Charlie and watched him close his eyes before he followed suit and focused on where they were touching. That was what he was supposed to do, right? He was supposed to focus on one thing--clear his mind so that maybe--

oh fuck

Something yanked at Jim’s insides and spun him around. 

It was like that old Batman show, whenever they would transition to a new scene and everything twisted up into a spiral and that silly noise sounded from the speakers. Jim practically heard that noise all around him as his body twisted itself into knots and untwisted itself just as quickly. 

He was back on Charlie’s bed, laying on his side trying to catch his breath after all the air was sucked from his lungs. It wasn’t the most pleasant sensation, but it was definitely better than getting blown up by a bomb and as soon as he could, Jim sat up, beaming. 

“Holy shit,” he said, still sort of out of breath. He laughed and placed a steadying hand on Charlie’s shoulder. “We just saw the moon landing.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

ugly-anastasia​:

The Beach is Back | Open

The kids were dropped off at day camp, the house was (mostly) unpacked, and Anastasia was feeling, for once, like a real super-mom. She could handle this! She could totally handle this.

And just to show how much Anastasia could handle this, she decided to post something on her Instagram story. Maybe a nice picture of the lake, #SwynLAKE, #TheBeachIsBack, maybe a little gif of a shark (unless that was, like, too insensitive. Annie would have to workshop it). She had just lined up the perfect shot when someone stepped in front of her. 

“Oh! Sorry,” Anastasia said, forcing an apologetic smile. “I just–, well, I was about to take a picture. Mind moving for me?”

Jim liked the lake. 

Back in California he never really got to visit lakes. Sure, he lived like, five minutes away from the ocean and there was a river literally two minutes from his house, but there were no lakes. 

He hadn’t thought about it much when he lived there, but now that he was in Swynlake, he realized there is a very specific charm about lakes. They were still and pretty. Also, if he felt like swimming, it wouldn’t be freezing cold which was a very welcome change from back home. 

He was walking along the shore, debating on whether or not to stick his feet in the water, when he heard the voice behind him. 

“Oh, shit,” Jim said, hopping backward and nearly tripping over his feet. “Sorry. I didn’t even see you there.” 

[traverse-the-stars]

the-little-prophet​:

Perseverance & Ingenuity || chickenhawk

Charlie’s eyes widened and he literally almost tackled him to the ground. 

He probably should have explained to Jim the whole dying rule– and to empty his pockets before they went. Charlie had because Charlie understood. But yup, forgot about that. And taking out a cell phone, which was a huge freaking paradox of epic proportions, was absolutely the way to ensure a car veered off the street and took them out. 

Thankfully, Jim didn’t take out the phone. And he just laughed it off, still freaking out about how cool everything was, while Charlie meanwhile just got to freak out the way he always did.

He put a hand on his chest though, and sighed out in relief. It was fine. 

Though now he really was getting more paranoid the longer he stayed here. This… was definitely the longest it had ever been. 

“I…I dunno. I don’t do stuff like this,” said Charlie, and he tried not to look as worried as he felt. He shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Normally I just uh, you know, show up some place horrible and die.” 

He laughed like it wasn’t awful. 

“So… uh… I…we could try. But we could also die if the numbers do matter. Time travel– getting less cool, huh?” He rubbed the back of his neck. 

Time travel was never going to get less cool. It didn’t matter what the rules were or how many things he wasn’t allowed to do. Jim firmly believed that this was the absolute coolest thing that was ever going to happen to him in his entire life and he didn’t want to ruin it. Especially by being reckless. 

That’s what he was doing, he realized, when he looked at Charlie and noticed how his posture had shifted, how his shoulders were sort of hunched a little more and he was rubbing the back of his neck like his nerves were trying to take over. 

“Oh, shit,” Jim said, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. “That’s right. We could die because we aren’t supposed to mess anything up.” 

Jim pulled Charlie over to a bench, lightly hooking his pinking with Charlie’s index finger, and sat down next to him. “I’m so sorry. I think I got a little ahead of myself. 

Jim was still smiling because he was still excited, obviously, but he was trying to tone it down and think more clearly. “I just want you to know, though, that time travel is never going to get less cool. Everything needs rules so it makes sense that we need to be careful probably. Like--well, I probably shouldn’t have brought my phone or my wallet, to be honest. If we do this again I’ll empty my pockets.” 

Jim leaned his back against the bench and watched the people go in and out of the soda shoppe for a moment. “You think it’s time to go home, maybe? How does that work?”