I promised more the nwanyi spirit and the woman who bent blood excerpts and here it is!
Suki, Toph, and Katara are a team of bounty hunters known as The Runaways in this AU and they were “recruited” by the mysterious White Lotus and offered work with them. Iroh makes them an offer they can’t refuse…
(NSFW: sweary words)
Suki’s smirk remained, plastered into place, but she tilted her head towards her friends and pitched her voice low. ‘The old man’s job offer. Thoughts?’
‘Oh, we’re taking the veiled threats as a serious offer, are we?’ Katara drawled around a mouthful of food. The spoon rubbed against her bandages which in turn were rubbing against her wound but despite the discomfort, the hot meal was doing wonders for her spirits.
‘I take all and every opportunity seriously, you know that.’
‘You really believe the White Lotus, a group whose members we’ve personally hunted down and delivered to the authorities more than once, is interesting in partnering up?’
Suki studied her carefully from behind the mask she wore. ‘I take it you don’t.’
‘Hm, you think?’
Toph poked at her dinner, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. ‘They’re alright,’ she muttered. ‘Silvertongue and Jun and the others we met on the road. They’re cool.’
‘Alright, are they?’ Katara asked stiffly. ‘The people who essentially forced us to come meet their boss because he had a humble offer for us?’ She lowered her voice when Suki widened her eyes in warning. Katara leaned in closer. ‘They’re firebenders, Toph. Zuko definitely is, his uncle and cousin might be too. We don’t know how many more there could be. I don’t trust them.’
‘Well none of us trusts them,’ Toph said as though Katara had pointed out that two badgermoles plus two badgermoles equals a whole lot of trouble. ‘No one trusts anyone in this business, we all know that.’
‘You trust Jun,’ Katara accused in a hushed tone.
Toph frowned, her lip popping free of her teeth. ‘I want to fuck Jun, I don’t trust her, Madame Fussy Britches. Big difference.’
Suki cleared her throat, moving her stir fry from one side of her bowl to the other. ‘I want to take him up on it. Iroh. I think we should take it.’
‘Are you insan—’
Toph elbowed Katara so hard in her ribs that she nearly spat her rice halfway across the table. ‘You sure are light on your feet, fire boy,’ Toph acknowledged, turning to face Zuko. The man stood behind them, his eyes narrowed and calculating. ‘Sneaky little firebender, aren’t you?’
‘Only because you can’t see, Toph,’ Suki said, grinning up at Zuko. ‘He’s actually quite tall. Impressive ninja skills for a man of your… size.’
Zuko went from irate to a blushing mess in little under ten seconds. ‘I’m not— That’s not even—’ he spluttered, dropping his bowl onto the table beside Katara. ‘The waterbender left her herbs at the serving table!’
Katara arched a brow, still rubbing her side. Suki always knew how to exploit a person’s weakness to her advantage; Katara would have high fived her success if the firebender hadn’t been spluttering so close to them.
Instead, she glanced at Zuko. ‘How thoughtful,’ she simpered. Then, after a meaningful look from Suki, begrudgingly added, ‘Thank you.’
The firebender, his cheeks red as flames, slammed down a bubbling cup of tea with the now familiar scent of comfrey, centella, Hei Bai’s wort, and marigold. ‘Don’t mention it.’
Katara lifted the cup and swilled the liquid around. ‘You’ve definitely overcooked the herbs.’
But the firebender bent over his food and ate without any sign of having heard her.
Toph was snickering into her own bowl— something about touchy firebenders— but Suki took pity on him. ‘So, Zuko,’ she began, nibbling at a piece of broccoli. ‘How did the White Lotus end up running a boarding house?’
The firebender chewed awhile, glaring straight ahead even as he answered. ‘The White Lotus is more than you think it is. We provide shelter to those who need it. This boarding house is for wives who need a safe place from dishonourable husbands, refugees who need somewhere to stay while the state allocates them a permanent home, students who can’t afford to live at the university.’ Zuko jabbed his finger across the table, gesturing to the far side of the room. ‘See that old guy in the shabby robes? He’s a cabbage merchant whose never sold enough cabbages to afford a place to live. Used to live under his cabbage cart before someone smashed it. So now he lives here.’
‘For free?’ Toph asked.
Zuko shrugged. ‘Sometimes.’
‘How can your uncle possibly afford to house people for free?’ Katara demanded, before a wry smile claimed her face. ‘Oh, that’s right. His hands aren’t as clean as all that. He’s like us. Trades lives for money.’
‘My uncle does not trade lives for money,’ the firebender snarled with such ferocity that a prickle of trepidation ghosted its way down Katara’s spine. ‘You don’t know anything about us, waterbender.’
Neil woke up in a blind and brief panic, reaching under his pillow for a gun that wasn’t there as a separate pillow hit him in the face.
“Oh good, you’re alive.” Seth said, turning and immediately leaving the room, “it’s like six in the afternoon.” He called over his shoulder, shutting the door behind him.
Neil slumped back into his pillow and then reached for his contacts to go and join the world. He ignored Seth’s explanation about where the others had gone but paid close attention to his mention of bagels in the kitchen. Neil swiped one before leaving the dorms in search of fresh air.
He laid back in the grass behind the dorm and ate his bagel in peace. For all of three minutes.
“Well at least you’re not wasting that.” Andrew mused.
“I think setting my bagel on fire would cause a bit of a scene,” Neil mumbled through his food. Andrew sat next to him and lit a cigarette.
“It’s my turn.” Andrew said, waiting for Neil to nod in agreement. “How wrong, exactly, was Riko’s assumptions about your abandonment issues?”
Well, wasn’t that a question. Neil had been expecting this- something along these lines at least. The second he’d gotten on the bus and had a second to think about all he’d said at the banquet. He’d realized he’d said a bit too much all around. At least it didn’t really matter.
“Very.” He answered, his body would probably be far less scared if his parents had ignored him. “My mother cared about me until the day she died.” In her own way of course. He couldn’t imagine most of what she did coming off as caring, but she’d kept him alive.
“Did you kill her?” Andrew asked.
Neil almost dropped his bagel. Now, he’d brought up her death on purpose- to hopefully distract from the complete lack of mention of his father. But not only had Neil not been expecting to be accused of his mother’s murder, it also wasn’t Andrew’s turn in the game.
“Did you kill yours?” He asked instead of answering.
“Yes.” Andrew said. “I told her what would happen if she hit Aaron again. She didn’t listen.”
Fair enough, if Neil could kill his father he would and he wasn’t exactly in a judging kind of position; just overall considering his entire life. Neil held up his bagel in a mock salute.
Andrew raised an eyebrow- as if he’d been expecting anything else as a response. Neil rolled his eyes.
“Oh I’m sorry, is this another ‘concerning for my mental health’ thing? Would you, the most well adjusted man I’ve ever met, like to tell me how I should respond to you confessing to murder?”
“Meep meep.” Andrew mocked, digging a finger into Neil’s cheek to turn his face away. Neil had no fucking idea what he was talking about.
“Yeah, I definitely know what that means.” Neil swatted at Andrew’s hand. “Thank you- meep meep.”
“Is everything that comes out of your mouth a half-assed lie?” It wasn’t a question. “Meep meep is the only dialogue in Road Runner.”
“Huh, I never had the volume on when I watched it.” He could now, Neil realized, he could go and find a DVD of the show and watch it with the volume as high as it could go. It didn’t matter who snuck up on him now.
Andrew took a drag from his cigarette. “The three of you seemed cozy yesterday. How often is my doppelganger guest starring at the cheerleader’s math lessons?”
Oh fuck that. “Nope- nope. I’m not spending the rest of my life dealing with whatever the fuck is going on between you two. Actually,” Neil turned to face Andrew, waving his bagel around for emphasis. “If you really want to drag me into the middle of this you can give me all the context. At least that way I’d know what to be irritated about.”
He wasn’t Andrew’s spy and he refused to be Aaron’s scapegoat. The next person to try and get Neil to be a part of the Minyard Madness would find out just how badly things went when Neil got involved. He was a fixer- he’d always been. Being on the run meant having to use your own hands to get yourself out of every possible problem. Not necessarily the right way, or the kindest way. Which meant no one would like how Neil fixed this if they kept bothering him about it.
“Fine. Why did you stay with Renee during the banquet?” The ‘when you avoid her most of the time’ went without saying.
“The same reason you let Katelyn come. Safety in numbers.” Neil got up and shoved the last of his bagel into his mouth- having decided that he was tired of talking. He gave Andrew a two fingered salute and headed back into Fox Tower.
He found his dorm in a state. Dan and Matt unpacking various alcohol bottles as Allison and Seth argued over music. Neil sat down on the couch without asking, someone would explain unprompted. The upperclassmen loved talking almost as much as they loved weird bets.
“The Monsters are getting us fucked up tonight. You drink right?” Allison asked, pulling a CD out of Seth’s hand and frowning at it in distaste. Renee came in, leaving the door open and setting a box of cookies on the counter.
Neil shook his head and then realized she wasn’t looking. “No, I don’t”
Seth tried to snatch the CD back but Allison held it over his head- her heels made her a good four inches taller than him.
“That’s okay Neil,” Renee said, dropping onto the couch next to him. “I don’t drink either. We can be mocktail buddies.”
“How’d they get Andrew to agree to this?” Neil asked in a low voice.
“Free alcohol,” she said.
Neil thought that if it were as simple as that Andrew would be drunk 24/7 and the team wouldn’t be divided.
Seth gave up on getting the CD and just slung Allison over his shoulder, she laughed, dropping the CD and weakly smacking at his back while demanding he put her down.
“Hey!” Matt yelled as his CD cluncked against the floor.
“Yet, put me down before I break you.” Allison said, still laughing, kicking her legs in the air- again with far less power then she would if she really wanted to get down.
Seth grumbled but put Allison down once she agreed to some CD Neil didn’t recognize the name of.
Kevin was the first to arrive, exactly ten seconds before the cousins. He made a beeline for the countertop full of drinks only to be intercepted by Dan with both her arms out.
“Absolutely not Day, this isn’t just a get shitfaced Sunday. We have a purpose tonight, as a team.” She told him, looking around him as Nicky and Aaron came into the room. “Fancy. Cocktails.” She gestured to the table and swiped a bottle of whiskey in one flourish.
Nicky cracked his knuckles and grinned. “Mission accepted Captain.” He said, stepping up to the counter.
Aaron shook his head but stepped up next to him.
Dan went to where Andrew was still standing in the doorway and handed him the bottle she’d grabbed. He accepted it and crossed the room, joining Neil and Renee on the couch.
“DRINKS. DRINKS. DRINKS.” Matt started chanting, the others joining in as Nicky and Aaron began making drinks. Nicky performed some tricks and winked every three seconds. Aaron, pretty much just poured liquids into cups as everyone yelled around him.
Neil watched it all with a ghost of fascination. This was the third party he’d ever been to. If he counted Eden’s Twilight and the Banquet as parties. So maybe it was actually his first.
The Foxes started playing a drinking game after the first round, Neil couldn’t follow the rules. He didn’t really need to- as he wasn’t drinking or playing. Renee and Andrew weren’t playing either. Although Andrew was drinking. Kevin said he was playing, but was mostly just drinking. And Aaron had said he wouldn’t play but then Nicky had begged and so he did.
It involved two decks of cards and a lot of yelling. It was an odd thing, watching the Foxes. Neil usually put himself on the outside of them. Observing and listening without participating if he wasn’t outright avoiding. But it was as he watched them play this game, that wasn’t Exy, that he really saw just how much space there was between them.
Maybe if Neil was going to live, maybe if he would ever be free- truly free from his father, maybe then he could laugh and drink or at the very least learn how to. Learn how to be a college student and not just a dying thing.
He glanced at Andrew and Renee. They both put themselves on the outside too but it was different with them. Allison called Renee over yelling that she could just drink water. She smiled serenely and got up off the couch. Andrew took another long sip from the bottle Dan had given him.
Neither of them were as separate from the team as they tried to make it seem. Renee might not drink or take sides but she was always there. And Andrew might- well Andrew might be Andrew with his knives and homicidal smile. But at the very least as long as Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky were a part of the team he was to.
And far from the least Neil had noticed plenty. Had noticed how the upperclassmen had waited until the last possible moment to tell Neil that Andrew played games sober. That during that first game Andrew had stepped between Matt and the massive opponent he punched. That Matt had known to run to Andrew in the first place. Neil figured that probably hadn’t been the first time something like that had happened.
Neil watched Andrew watch the team play their drinking game and Neil thought that as much as everyone said the team was fractured into pieces- despite the fact that Neil had counted out four separate groups when he first got there. The team was only broken in two. The Foxes. And Neil.
The game dissolved as Nicky and Aaron made another round of drinks. A very drunk Kevin slumped into the couch inbetween Andrew and Neil.
“Will you tell me something?” Kevin asked in low slurring French.
Andrew glanced at the two of them but said nothing.
“Why’d you call him second best?” Kevin asked. It was one of the dumbest questions Neil had ever heard.
“Because he is. You’re better than him.” Neil answered. It would only inflate Kevin’s ego if he remembered it although with all the Foxes there and a majority drinking it didn’t seem as if Kevin had managed to get as drunk as he had at Eden’s. Maybe that had something to do with why Andrew had agreed to this.
Kevin blinked rapidly and then got back up to rejoin the others.
Andrew looked pointedly at Neil.
“I don’t report to you and it’s still my turn.” Neil told him.
Somehow, in much the same line of confusing dominoes that had turned a little league exy game into a blood bath. Getting a drunk Seth off the dorm floor had turned into going shopping with Allison.
“Help me get him to the car,” “help me get him to Abby’s,” “Coach’s orders. Someone needs to take you shopping and because you keep dodging Dan and Matt that leaves me. Unless you’d rather go with Renee or Nicky.”
If he really had a choice, Neil would rather get shot again. But as Allison was already barreling down the highway to the mall, he just screamed internally and accepted his fate. Although he did glance at the lock of the car door. But ultimately he decided another patch of road rash wasn’t worth the escape.
“I don’t have money on me.” He informed Allison despite knowing it wouldn’t change anything.
“Did I ask?”
He let the rest of the ride pass in silence, rubbing at his dry eyes. Allison parked the car and he followed her into the mall. It seemed like she knew where she was going, he didn’t ask any questions. Largely because he didn’t want to engage and get locked into some stupid conversation.
She walked into some trendy clothing store and then turned to consider Neil for a moment before pulling clothes off racks and handing them to Neil. He didn’t pay attention, it wasn’t like he’d actually wear any of them.
Unsurprisingly, Neil didn’t spend much time in malls. Buying clothes new was too expensive while on the run. And there were far too many people for it to feel comfortable. Anyone could be around.
Allison held up a shirt and then put it back after a moment. Neil blinked a few times to try and get his contacts to stop itching. Then he glanced at his watch, they’d only been there for ten minutes.
He wondered if the silence was awkward or not, he couldn’t really tell and didn’t care to rectify it.
“Once I’ve got a good selection you’ll need to try stuff on so we can find your actual size.” Allison eventually said.
Neil preferred the silence.
“I know my size.”
“Yeah, sure.” She rolled her eyes. “Anyways, are you actually stealing Aaron’s girlfriend or are you bringing your own unbearable personality to the banquet as a date?”
“No, just no to all of that.”
“Come on Josten, you can’t be the loser without a date. Even if you’re not sweeping Katelyn off her feet there has to be someone else. I’m sure any other cheerleader would fall on her ass if you asked her out. Unless, Nicky’s right and you are gay?”
It was too much. Neil couldn’t deal with being at the mall, Allison’s fucking nonsense, his headache, and his contacts. Something had to go and he didn’t think he could get away with murder in a crowded store in the middle of the day. He wished he could.
He dropped all of the clothes.
“Neil!”
“I fucking- just.” He held up a finger and then pulled out his contacts. The relief was instant, late nights with Kevin and early starts with the team meant that he was wearing the contacts more than ever. “Holy fuck that is so much better.” He blinked his eyes, tearing up from the strain. He shoved the contacts into his pocket to throw out later.
“They’re blue!” Allison groaned. “Josten, you just lost me eighty bucks.”
“Why was there that much money on my eyes?” None of them ever made any fucking sense. He spent twenty-four seven with a bunch of freaks.
“That’s not even the biggest pot involving you. Also, what the actual fuck do you not own eye drops? You look like you just hot boxed a coffin for three weeks straight.”
“Eye drops?”
It was rare that Allison looked stunned, her usual modes of facial expression were smug and annoyed.
“Okay, I’m adding the drug store to the list of places we need to go today. You put eye drops. In your eyes. To prevent that.” She gestured to his face.
“Those exist?”
“Yes!”
Neil ducked down and picked back up all the clothes. He wondered if his mother hadn’t known either, or if she’d just deemed eye drops an excessive luxury.
“Can we please go back to shopping?” He asked, uncomfortable.
Allison stared at him for a long moment and then turned back to the rack. The silence lasted barely a minute.
“If I ask you a question will you be an unbearable little shit about it?” She asked.
Neil shrugged.
Allison sighed. “Why do you wear contacts? If they hurt and you didn’t know about eye drops.”
Neil considered being an unbearable little shit about this. But he couldn’t think of anything good enough. So he just readjusted the clothes in his arms and settled on the truth.
“I don’t like my eyes.” It came out quieter than he meant it to.
Allison glanced at him and then handed him a sweater before moving to the pants aisle.
“I don’t like you.” She said.
“Okay.”
“You called my boyfriend easy to kill.”
“Well-” He had, he wouldn’t deny it. Seth was easy to kill.
“I think you’re an asshole.”
“And you aren’t?”
“Let me finish. You’re an asshole. And you’re a Fox.” She squared her shoulders. “When I was sixteen I almost died. No- I’m serious, Neil, put your eyebrow down. I stopped eating and got dizzy and fell off the fucking balcony. I woke up in the hospital with no idea how I got there and all these nurses telling me I was lucky to be alive. If I had fallen in any other way then how I did I would have died or permanently injured myself. I didn’t feel lucky, I hated my body. Ridiculous? I know, I’m amazing.”
She kept picking clothes as she talked.
Her voice stayed steady. “But when I got out of the hospital I realized I had done it for them. My parents. I did everything for them. I studied what they wanted me to study. Talked to who they wanted me to talk to. Wore what they wanted. Watched what they wanted. Went where they wanted. And when they told me I was getting too big I stopped eating. And it almost killed me. And they didn’t even bother to visit me in the hospital.”
“My life wasn’t-” Allison paused for a second. “Isn’t theirs, it’s mine. My body is mine and once I stopped treating it like it was theirs… Well I stopped falling off of balconies for one.” She looked at Neil. “Whoever it is, or was, or whatever that made you hate your own eyes. It won’t make them love you or treat you differently. It won’t change anything. Your eyes are yours not theirs.”
Neil didn’t know what to say to that. It wasn’t that simple. It wasn’t? When he was running it was more about hiding than anything else. But he wasn’t running anymore? And sure his mom had hated how much he looked like his father but he didn’t do it for her. He hated the way looked just as much, if not more. It wasn’t about her? It wasn’t. It wasn’t?
It wasn’t.
“Yeah, they’re mine and I don’t like them.” He said, staring at the clothes in his arms.
Allison just pointed at the changing room.
“I don’t-“
“Oh save it, we both know you’re not winning this argument.”
He hadn’t thought this through. Neil went into the changing room and dropped the clothes on the stool. He could do this, he was fine.
He tried the clothes on keeping his eyes on his body and avoiding his face. It all fit better then he was used to, but most of it was okay. There was one crop top that he tossed aside immediately. Despite the fact that he planned on never wearing any of it, he made sure that the things he put in the ‘let Allison buy’ pile didn’t let his scars show.
He tugged back on his own clothes and then gave in. Allison had been right about them being completely bloodshot. She was wrong about them being his though. Completely wrong. Neil looked in the mirror and his father’s eyes looked back. And he was struck with the fact that they would likely be the last thing he saw when he died.
He clenched his jaw and turned from the mirror. He could always get lucky and Andrew or Riko or whoever else he pissed off would kill him instead.
He left the changing room. He watched Allison buy him the clothes. He followed her into some fancier store to get a suit for the banquet. He didn’t pay attention as measurements were taken. As Allison paid for that. He came back to the world once he realized they were standing in front of a phone store.
“No.” He said to Allison. “I don’t need or want a phone.”
“You do,” she corrected. “If you want to keep disappearing to wherever it is you go, you need to be able to tell someone you’re not dead.”
“I don’t think that’s anyone’s business.”
“Well you should have thought of that before joining the Foxes.”
Neil turned around and walked away.
“I’ll meet you outside!” Allison yelled after him. “Don’t get murdered!”
If the walk were shorter he probably would have just gone back to campus. But it had been a long enough drive that the effort wasn’t worth it. So he just went to Allison’s car and sat down on the closest curb, setting the clothing bags down next to him.
He stared up at the clouds until Allison gave him a gentle kick in the leg.
“Here,” she held out a phone.
Neil stared at it.
“What are you allergic?”
The last time he had a phone he’d been throwing his mother’s into the ocean after burying her. “Deathly.” He said.
“You used Seth’s to call me.”
“And I hated every second of it.”
“And you wonder why we keep making bets about you,” Allison snarked. “I know we’ve both had enough of this so just take the phone Josten.”
He reached out and took it from her and then dropped it into one of the clothing bags.
“Whatever, as long as you keep it on you.” She unlocked her car and got in, leaving Neil with the bags.
Neil pulled the phone back out of the bag. It was fancier then he was used to, it had a keyboard with every letter and number on it. He turned it on, all the Foxes were already programmed in. As well as Wymack, Abby, and Dobson. He shut it back off. Just another useless thing to carry to the end.
It wouldn’t do what Allison or anyone else wanted it to. When it came down to it, there was no one among the twelve of them that he would call when his father came to get him because not one of them could save him.
He stood up and shoved the phone in his back pocket. He grabbed the bags off the pavement and tossed them into the backseat of Allison’s car. Then he got into the passenger seat and waited for her to drive.
In the days since the attack, Seth had been acting erratic. To the point that even Neil noticed despite his best efforts to avoid everyone. He made a quick escape after Coach had showed back up on Sunday. Hiding out behind the dorms in the grass until sundown.
There was just- too much going on. All the blabbing about how the guy disappeared, how the cops weren’t looking into it. All the Foxes talking over each other, he wanted no part in it. But he couldn’t avoid them at practice.
Seth wasn’t there, not Monday or Tuesday, he was benched for two days for almost being murdered. Go figure. Neil found himself wondering how benched he would be if Coach ever found out how many people were trying to kill him. Forever probably. If anyone on the team knew the truth, the whole truth, he can’t imagine they’d ever let him stay.
The upperclassmen were subdued at practice and whenever Neil saw Seth he seemed to switch between being a huge asshole and being a quiet asshole- well just quiet but Seth made even that seem angry and ripe with angst.
They all seemed thrown by the attempted murder, Neil found it all exhausting. If he wanted to face his mortality he’d just look in the mirror.
He’d figured his stunt the day prior would get them all to give a bit of distance. But Matt and Dan kept trying to talk to him. He should have known better, the upperclassmen still tried to make nice with Andrew and the guy had the disposition of a rabid dog- Neil’d know.
At night practice Monday, Kevin had gone ahead to set up, getting ready faster then Neil. When Neil walked past the section of stadium that Andrew always sprawled against, he’d spoken up.
“I thought you said you weren’t running anymore and yet no one’s seen you all day.”
“This isn’t running, it’s healthy avoidance.” If Neil were running again he wouldn’t be showing up at night practice no matter how much of an effort Kevin put into using actual words instead of secret codes.
“You look like a rabbit hopping around to avoid everyone.”
“Fuzzy ears too?” Neil deadpanned back as he turned to keep walking before Kevin got impatient on the court.
He walked out of his Calc class Tuesday only to immediately turn around at the sight of Matt and Dan waiting for him. He ducked out through an unalarmed fire exit and made a beeline for the library. He did have to admit it was awfully rabbity of him.
Studying. It was studying time. The two of them would go back to the dorms or whatever and Neil could do his homework in peace before afternoon practice.
There was a low level of chatter throughout the entire library, completely silent spaces saved for room students had to reserve. The main room was large- tables, chairs, computers, dingy couches, the expected amount of books and shelves. It measured up to just about any other library Neil had been in over the years.
He instantly found an empty table to drop his bag on, pulling out his workbooks. This was simple, easy. Math had always been easier than people. He got through almost half of the problems when he leaned back to stretch and noticed Matt and Dan stroll in.
Fuck.
Neil swiped everything off the table immediately looking for an out or a hiding spot. He did not want to talk. He yanked his hood up and weaved through tables and then hopped over the back of a couch ducking his head as he settled on it. He craned his neck to see back over without being visible and saw the two of them sitting at a table by the front. He’d need to find a different exit.
“Josten, what the fuck?” Aaron loudly asked from right next to Neil who had not noticed him. All of Neil’s things slid out of his arms and onto the floor.
“Shut up, if Dan and Matt realize I’m here I’m screwed.” He sank lower on the couch, glancing at Aaron, who seemed more pissed off than bewildered, and the girl sitting next to him, who seemed entirely bewildered. He didn’t bother with his things yet, if Minyard gave him away he wouldn’t be able to escape even if it was all packed up.
“Why are you screwed?” The girl asked.
“Who are you?” Neil asked, “wait, don’t answer that-”
“Josten!” Aaron repeated.
“Shhh” He glanced over again to make sure Dan and Matt were still on the other side of the room.
“Go away,” Aaron’s voice was filled with barely restrained anger.
Neil looked around for another exit, there wasn’t one that he could get to unseen without having to crawl around on the floor. He wasn’t crawling around on the floor.
“No, I’m stuck here until Matt and Dan leave.”
“Just walk out!”
“Then they’ll want to talk to me!”
“Oh my god! You anti-social freak.” Pot meet kettle, Neil had never even seen Aaron with anyone other than his family and Kevin. Although, considering it appeared that not only did Aaron know a woman but she felt comfortable enough around him to admonish him for the attempted insult, maybe he wasn’t as anti-social as Neil had assumed.
“You must be Neil, the new guy. I’m Katelyn,” the girl greeted, pausing for a moment as if that would mean anything. “With the Vixens.”
“Right, there’s cheerleaders.” Neil realized, still not at all recognizing her.
“You are not staying here.” Aaron said.
“You’re taking calc?” Katelyn asked, leaning down and picking up the workbook from the floor.
“No,” Aaron groaned.
“Are you in the morning class or the afternoon one?” She flipped through the workbook.
“Afternoon?” Neil checked to make sure Dan and Matt were still far away- they were.
“I’m in the morning one-”
“Kat-” Aaron tried to interrupt.
“And I can’t believe he’s already assigning homework and I honestly have no idea what’s going on and it seems like you’re ahead-”
“Please-” Aaron tried again.
“So, do you?” Katelyn ignored him.
“What?” Neil asked.
“Do you understand Calculus?”
“Who are you again?”
“Katelyn,” Aaron turned to her, “he’s fucking creepy.”
“That’s what everyone told me about you.” She said gently. “Neil, do you understand Calculus?”
Neil wouldn’t have minded much if someone had burst into the room then to shoot him. He’d mind a little, but not much.
“Yes,” he settled on, still not sure of what was going on.
“Awesome, so could you explain the first problem to me for lesson three?”
“Don’t all the athletes get tutors?”
“We do,” she paused for a moment. “Mine are less than helpful and I was actually just asking Aaron if he knew anyone who could help me because if I don’t understand the fundamentals then I’m definitely gonna fail and low and behold you literally fall from the sky. So, if you helped me out I’d owe you one.”
Neil did not want to speak to Katelyn, she seemed to talk a lot. He did not want to spend quality time with anyone much less Aaron Minyard. He was stuck on this couch until Matt and Dan left.
“Fine, but you don’t owe me there is nothing you could possibly give me.”
“Really? Most people wouldn’t even hesitate before asking me to set them up with another Vixen.”
“I’ll actually consider us even if you never do that.”
“Got it,” she held her hands up in surrender.
Neil realized that he just agreed to helping Katelyn at the same time Aaron did.
“What did I do today to deserve this?” Aaron said.
“I’d consider this worse for me than you.” Neil murmured, taking his workbook back and looking at the problem.
Katelyn patted Aaron on the arm.
Neil explained the problem, once. Checking periodically that Matt and Dan were still studying. Katelyn asked questions, Aaron mostly brooded. Neil answered both to pass time and because he couldn’t help himself. He knew the answer, he had to say it.
“You’re really good at this Neil, thank you.” Katelyn said.
“Okay.” He had no idea how to respond to that. His neck was starting to hurt from the weird position he was sitting in. Katelyn looked at Aaron and then stood up. She winked at Neil- who in turn asked “what the fuck?”
Katelyn went across the room almost skipping up to Dan and Matt emphatically talking.
“Oh What-”
“Can it, Josten. She’s gonna get them to leave.”
“What are you two telepathic?”
“No, I just know her and Katelyn’s not the type to sell anyone out. Speaking of- this,” Aaron gestured around. “Doesn’t get back to Andrew, got it?” he was trying to be threatening. Compared to Andrew it was sort of funny, compared to Neil’s dad or Lola it was down right comedic gold.
“I don’t care enough about you to gossip to Andrew.” Neil told him. “I’m also not one of you goons that has to report back to him.”
“I don’t have to do anything.”
“Right,” Neil raised an eyebrow, “which is why you and the cheerleader are hiding in a library.”
“You’re hiding here too fuckface.”
“Yes, to avoid this.” Neil glanced back over his shoulder and sure enough Katelyn had gotten Matt and Dan up and moving out of the library. He jammed all of his things on the floor back into his backpack. “This was terrible, let’s not do it again.”
“I’d rather die.” Aaron said. Seemed a bit dramatic but Neil had to agree. It was the most time he had ever spent talking to Aaron and it made him understand exactly why that was.
He went out the now accessible exit of the library checking to make sure there weren’t any lurking Foxes.
He was starting to get a headache, Wednesday wasn’t any better. Not with Seth back at practice oscillating between hostile comments and staring into the distance. Not with the other overly dramatic Minyard deciding it was his time to shine. One cryptic phone call from a cop and a punch directly to the wall and Andrew was off leaving behind a host of confused Foxes.
“Answer’s now, Aaron.” Wymack said the second the door slammed behind Andrew.
“I don’t know,” Aaron said.
Neil went back to stretching, shaking his head and deciding this wasn’t his business. Even ignoring the shit Andrew had pulled with Neil, his past had at least four dudes nearly beaten to death. Neil was good, he had enough problems.
“My ass you don’t.” Coach continued.
Neil tried to find the right angle to stretch to fix the tweak in his neck.
“I don’t know. I don’t know why Higgins is calling. Call him back or take it up with Andrew if you want answers. He was Andrew’s mentor, not mine. I only met the guy once.”
“He obviously left an impression if you still remember him.”
“Oh, is he-” Nicky interjected, trailing off.
“Yeah,” Aaron said. “He’s the one who told me I had a brother.”
“What the fuck?” Allison asked.
“Allison.” Renee scolded gently.
“No, you can’t just fucking drop that on us. Explain, fun sized.”
“Fuck you Reynolds,” Aaron shot back..
“In your sweet dreams.”
“Aren’t we supposed to be practicing?’ Neil loudly asked because Kevin hadn’t already.
Coach knocked everyone into gear, ordering them all to gossip on their own time. And they went into the usual aggressive drills.
After practice, Neil saw a prophetic vision of everyone being super annoying in every car on the short drive back to the dorms, so he jogged back instead. He walked straight past all the Foxes standing around the parking lot.
“Hey Neil,” Nicky called.
“Don’t care.” Neil called back, going directly into the building. He checked his pockets for his cigarettes and went out the side entrance of the dorms. Going to the back to sit in the grass.
He figured that the Foxes would have some kind of group meeting, sans Andrew and Aaron. They all had too many questions and Nicky was always quick with answers in an effort to make others like him. Neil decided that explaining theorems to Katelyn was enough communication for the week. Maybe next week he’d be a nosey bitch.
On Friday they had a six hour drive to Belmonte University for a game. After he finished the last of his homework, Neil spent the rest of the ride staring up at the ceiling and debating whether jumping out of the window of a speeding bus would be less painful then his headache.
When they got to the stadium after a quick dinner, Neil was once more glad that he’d ripped the bandaid of his scars off early. As Belmonte had no shower stalls. If he’d been attempting to live that would have been a conundrum. One that likely would have ended with him kicked off the team for reeking. But alas he didn’t have that problem.
Once they were all suited up, Neil stared out at the Terrapins. He didn’t think they’d win. Everyone was still on edge from Seth’s attempted murder and Andrew’s phone call. Which meant they were all taking it out on each other. Part of Neil realized he’d probably die before he won another Exy game.
He saw orange and turned as the Vixen’s filed out to their bench. Right, cheerleaders. Sure enough as all the cheerleaders started checking each other over for ticks or something in a flurry of movement, Katelyn was stood entirely still staring at the Foxes. She made eye contact with Neil and then before he could look away she waved.
“Hey Neil,” she yelled.
“Damn, Neil. I get it- you’re too cool for us because you’re stealing Aaron’s girlfriend.” Nicky whistled, giving a wave to Katelyn back when it became obvious Neil wouldn’t.
“She’s not my girlfriend.” Aaron corrected.
“Jesus fucking christ.” Neil shook his head. He had the distinct feeling that he was being used.
“How’d you meet Katelyn?” Matt asked.
“She goes to the same school as us.” Neil unhelpfully informed him.
Wymack interrupted with his pre-game speech and they were off. It was a disaster. Neil was sort of shocked to find that his night practices with Kevin were paying off, his accuracy and force were both improving. Although he kept finding himself wanting to just run down players instead of passing or making shots. He managed to restrain himself for a while but quickly got tired of some dude calling him a ‘spineless rookie,’ in a grating voice. So he tackled him into the wall.
They lost by two points. Miraculously no one got a red card, but half the team had yellows, Neil included. Everyone moved back into the building, Renee and Dan hanging back for press. They showered and changed out, getting back on the bus for the ride home.
It was late when they got back and Neil went straight to sleep. Waking up with a headache to an empty dorm. A mostly empty dorm he realized when he stepped out of the bedroom and found Seth drunk on the floor in front of the couch in a pile of blankets and pillows.
Neil started to back up back into the bedroom.
“Neil?” Seth asked.
Neil hesitated a moment too long.
“You were right, weren’t you. I’m the weak link.” For once Seth didn’t angry. He didn’t sound like anything. “We’re just gonna keep being a piece of shit losing team. Cause I’m a piece a shitand I keep hitting everyone.” All of his words slurred together but Neil understood enough.
Neil wondered where everyone was. Wondered if not having a headache would make him more inclined to comfort Seth. Wondered if Seth would die anyways. If the both of them died this season the team wouldn’t have enough players.
“You’re right.’ Neil told him, squatting down in front of Seth and taking the bottle from him. “If you weren’t there picking fights the team would be better.”
“Fuck you.”
“What do you want Seth, why stick out this long?” Neil asked. Seth was the last remaining member of the original Fox line-up handpicked by Wymack to launch his charitable Fox den. The only one to make it to the fifth year.
“I don’t have anything else, this is it.” He sat up with a wobble and gestured around to the dorm nearly falling back over. “And fucking stupid Riko almost ended it in a fucking bar bathroom.”
Neil put the bottle out of his reach and spotted Seth’s phone under the couch.
“What. Do. You. Want?” Neil’s head was pounding. “Who’d attend your funeral, huh? Allison? You two have broken up twice since I met you. The team? Certainly not Nicky or Kevin. At least Renee might cry for you if you died. No family- I’m guessing. Maybe Riko would have shown up to gloat about killing you. Fucking pull it together. You want to stop being expendable, then fucking knock it off. Because your pity party is giving me a migraine. You’ve been on the team for five years, stop being useless.”
Neil reached over and grabbed Seth’s phone. “Are you mad at Riko? Then play the fucking game. You’ve met Kevin, he’s like him but worse. All that fuck cares about Exy. So suck it up, leave Nicky alone, listen to Kevin, and stop picking fights. The team will win and maybe when you die someone will say nice things about you.”
“And what’ll they say at yours, huh? Little bitch.” Seth was still swaying.
“Probably,” Neil sighed. “Now, who am I calling because if you start throwing up I will not stop you from drowning in it.” He held up the phone.
“Bitch,” Seth repeated, reaching for his phone. Neil leaned out of the way. “Ally.” Seth said when he couldn’t reach. “Call her.”
Neil rolled his eyes and looked through the contacts for Allison.
“I’m unavailable right now. If you can’t reach me, don’t reach me.”
Bruce tries not to let his panic show when his call goes unanswered before being directed to voicemail for the fourth time in a row. He doesn’t succeed, but he doesn’t really care right now. Not when his son could be hurt or worse!
He ignores the look Talia is giving him and tries Jason’s number again. It rings until it goes to voicemail. Again.
“Beloved,” Talia starts and Bruce almost cracks.
Images of Jason’s lifeless body fill his mind, as news reports from Jason’s last known location replays continue to fill the cave. He can’t help it. He already lost his son once, he won’t survive it if it happens again.
“I will call him.” Talia orders firmly, directing Bruce to a seat.
“If I can’t reach him, I doubt even you can.” Jason knows how he worries. If he was alright, he would let Bruce know.
Talia may have bonded with Bruce’s son while he was in her care but Jason is his son. It’s not the same.
Talia gives him a look, almost like the one she gets when she thinks he’s being stupid but not quite. He’s too worried about Jason to be bothered. She doesn’t say anything more as she pulls out her cellphone and dials.
The phone barely rings before Talia is speaking into the receiver.
“Habibi.” She greets , voice very fond and affectionate in a way he’s only ever heard her sound when she’s talking with Damian.
“I saw the news. Are you well?”
Bruce stares dumbfoundead as she lets out a small laugh. He can’t hear anything from the other end of the call, but the thought of Jason making Talia laugh, causes jealousy to burn hot and fierce within him. Jason used to make him laugh.
“Of course, my love.”
Bruce makes grabby hands for the phone, but Talia sidesteps him without missing a beat.
“Call your father, you know how he is.”
She smiles again, Bruce can’t get over how much softer her eyes are when she does that.
“Stay safe. Love you.” then she turns to Bruce after hanging up. “He is fine, just a bit busy.”
“What was that?” Bruce explodes. “Since when are you and Jason chummy?”
Talia lifts a brow at him, like he’s a bratty child throwing a tantrum. Like he’s making a mountain out of a molehill and she didn’t just have a whole conversation with his son, when said son sent his calls to voicemail.
“Since he is my son?”
“He’smyson.”
“I’m aware, Beloved.”
“He sent my calls to voicemail but he answered yours on the first ring.” Bruce did not whine. He is Batman. Batman does not whine.
“My calls are important.”
He ignores the insult, snatching her phone to get the phone number Talia had just used. Maybe she has a special contact that Bruce doesn’t have.
It turns out to be the exact same eleven digits he has. He dials it again on his phone. Listening to the phone ring and sighing when it is sent to voicemail.
Talia pats him on the arm. “He is busy right now. He will call you as soon as he’s able.”
The Pond is always growing and we want to make our new members feel welcome! Here’s a list of recent additions to our fishy family, along with a link to a work they’ve posted!
@chaoticcockles -
They’re new to Tumblr, and don’t have a masterlist or any fics posted, yet, but have expressed interest in becoming a beta reader!! Head over to their blog and make them feel welcome!
They don’t have a masterlist or any fics posted, but they are signing up to be a beta reader! [Insert “WE GOT ONE” gif here] Head over to their blog and make them feel welcome!
No SPN masterlist or fics found in her recent posts, so head over, say hi, and give her some inspiration!
That’s all for this month, folks! (If we’re missing anyone, let us know and we’ll add them to next month’s list!) Make sure to say hi to the newbies and let them know you enjoy their stories!
Summary:Jensen films in Vancouver, his wife Ava films in Atlanta.Living and working in different countries is hard but the reunions are definitely worth it!
Characters:Jensen Ackles x Ava Ackles (OFC), Madeleine (Maddie) Ackles (mentioned).
A/N:Text in italicsare internal thoughts. As always, this hasn’t been beta’d, so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy, like, reblog, comment, give feedback – all would be appreciated!
She licked and kissed her way up his body, paying extra attention to his neck until finally, she reached his lips and kissed him passionately. One of his hands caressed her side and back, the other settling on the back of her neck and squeezing gently. She pulled away from his lips and trailed open-mouthed kisses along his jaw and up his cheek. “Tell me what you need, baby,” she purred into his ear, lightly biting on his lobe, and smiling as his abdominal muscles twitched under her thighs.
“Ride me. Slowly,” he groaned.
“From the front or back?” She asked before lowering her head back down and sucking at the soft spot on his collarbone.
“Uhh, fuck!” His hips bucked up, looking for some much needed friction. “Front, Princess. I need to see you when you come!” He growled.
Raising her hips, she reached a hand between her legs and gently grasped his solid member placing it at her entrance, slowly sliding him inside her, both moaning the entire time. When she bottomed out, her hands skimmed slowly up his torso and chest before curling around those broad shoulders she loved so much and gripped gently to keep her balance. Jensen’s hands caressed her knees before sliding up her thighs, over her hips and coming to a stop on her waist. He tightened his hold on her when she began rocking her hips lazily up and down his length.
“Shit, Jensen! It feels so good!” Ava gasped as she set herself a slow and sensual pace.
*Do Not Read if you are Triggered by any of the following Warnings
Warnings:cursing, funerals, using people for profit, unprotected sex/wrap it up kiddos, intentional poisoning, slow death by blood letting, buried alive, rough oral sex, gun/knife play, blood play, necrophilia
A/N:Set Season 6 between Clap Your Hands If You Believe & ..And Then There We’re None
Summary:You and Jensen get hot and heavy (and loud!) in your hotel room.
Pairing:Jensen Ackles x Reader
Bingo Square: Quote J
Warnings:Language, smut, dirty talk, oral (fem receiving), face riding, fingering, a little bit of spanking, unprotected p in v (wrap it before you tap it!)
Word Count: 2,997
A/N: This is written as a submission for Tell Me A Story Bingo hosted by @supernatural-jackles. The square filled is “Quote J” and the quote used is in bold. This was so much fun to write, I hope you enjoy it! This hasn’t been beta’d so all mistakes are my own.
“Come on!” Jensen said, frustration evident in his words and wildly gesturing hands. He’d pushed and pulled on every switch but the spotlights on the ceiling of their hotel room remained on. Making his rounds to check every switch in the room for the third time, he was becoming desperate.
You’re lying in the big comfy bed looking like a Goddess in the plum, lace underwear set he’d bought you as a present. Well, it was more of a present for him, but whatever. He desperately wanted to be in that bed with you instead of dealing with this shit.
“How the hell do we get these lights off?” He murmured, travelling around the room again flicking all the switches.
“Babe, just come to bed.” You said.
“I won’t be able to sleep with that light on!”
“I can think of something that’ll make you so exhausted, you won’t care,” you bat your eyes at him.
A deep groan rumbled from his chest knowing exactly what you meant. “Just give me a minute,” he said as he appeared at your side of the bed to flick the switches next to you. You can’t help yourself as you reach out and grab at the half-hard bulge you’d been working on with your hands before he decided to turn some of the lights off and get cosy.
“Time passes. Memories Fade. Feelings Change. People leave. But Hearts never forget.”- Cherlynn Shakespeare
Dear Journal,
Bittersweet is a term given to explain the melding of joy and sadness. It is the emotional conflicting of two opposite emotions and is a part of life.
As I walked into the gates of Setessa, I was stopped by one of the warriors who guards the gates. I told her who I was and how I was going to meet my mother, Freyjania.
My mother was always a hard worker. She began her life training as a warrior and through hard work and determination, she slowly ascended the ranks of the Setessans and soon became an advisor for Anathousa. When I had last visited, only two months ago, she was busy advising so I wasn’t able to see her.
The warrior smiled hesitantly when I spoke my mother’s name and said, “I will take you to her.” Her hesitant smile and reservation in her voice sent a pang of worry into my heart. As we walked through the concentric circles, we did not head to my original home growing up, but to the infirmary.
As I walked into the infirmary, my sister Metiria was standing inside the door. When she saw me, she hugged me close and hard. The warrior showed herself out, and then my sister stepped back to look me over. As she looked me over, I noticed tears in my sister’s eyes. Metiria was not the one for crying, she often was able to stay stalwart in trying times. She broke the silence by chiding me, saying, “it looks like you haven’t grown any since your last visit, nor have you worked out, Little Wolf.”
I smirked and said, “well it’s hard to work out when you’re busy all the time.” My face then softened and said, “how have you been?”
“I have been okay. Life has its ups and down’s,” she said as she wiped a tear away.
“Where is mother?” I asked with a worried look on my face.
She led me down a few rooms to where our mother was staying. She was laying on a bed, mumbling quietly to herself. Her dark hair was mixed with a streak of white.
“Keranos struck her with lightning. He did it in repercussions to Karametra arguing with him. She’s lost most of her memories, only coming to once or twice a day,” my sister said through a couple sniffles.
I walked towards my mother. The woman who stood by my side as a grew up. The woman who taught me how to sing. The woman who encouraged me to follow my dreams. The woman who gave me my lute as a parting gift before my peregrination. I sat beside her and grabbed her hand and began to sob.
Once I regained some composure, I decided I would play her a song. I began to play the song she taught me to sing when I was young. It was a song about the stalwart trees of Setessa.
As I sang, something magical happened. My mother began to look at me and mouth the words of the song! I sang it louder and with more fervor as my mother’s eyes blossomed with tears. As I reached the last verse my mother began to lull to sleep.
As she began to sleep, I kissed her forehead and walked to Metiria, who was still in the room. “You’ll keep her safe, Metiria. I know you will as you are the best warrior I know,” I said with tears beginning to flow.
“As I always will my brother,” she responded with a reverence meant for the gods.
“May Karametra keep you and mom safe until we meet again,” I responded to her.
“And to you as well, Little Wolf. Come back soon,” she said as she embraced me one last time before I left.
As I sang a song of woe from the streets of Ravnica, Setessa disappeared and the Blind Eternities took me back to my home, Ravnica.
Words:990 Characters: Larry Daley & Steve Grant Summary: It’s Larry’s last night working at the Museum when a patron shows up asking for his help. A/N:I know literally nothing about Moonknight except the Disney+ show, but you can not convince me these two would not be best friends.
Larry Daley walked the familiar halls of the American Natural History Museum in New York City. The museum had seen many changes during his tenure as Chief Night Security Guard. And that night he would be joyfully ushering in another new era. Larry lazily swung his key ring on his finger as he walked, nodding politely to the museum’s few straggling guests he encountered while they hurried from exhibit hall to exhibit hall trying to see as much as possible in what little time they had left. The museum didn’t close for another hour or two, just around sunset, so Larry wasn’t even on duty yet.
He’d arrived earlier than usual to savor the museum in a state he rarely saw it, quiet. While most patrons went along happily from the bird hall to the reptile amphibian hall, never once thinking it odd to not hear a squawk or the flapping of wings, Larry found the Natural History Museum during the day unsettling. It was the calm before the storm. Thousands of exhibits just lying in wait. Of course, few knew about the true storm brewing in the museum. The list was very need-to-know and it was surprising how little anyone else neededto know.
But this was the eve of his retirement. After sixteen years of being the museum’s Chief and only night security guard it was time to pass the torch, or in this case flashlight, to someone else. It hadn’t been an easy decision for Larry to make. Fifty-six years old was young for retirement. As much as it pained him to say it, he just couldn’t keep up with the demands of the job anymore. A glance at his smart watch told Larry it was now an hour to sunset.
“Cutting it close, Nicky.” He shook his head. Twenty-six-year-old Nick Daley was Larry’s son and his night security replacement. Nick had been in on the museum secret since he was ten years old. It seemed only natural that he be the next to care for the exhibits and their nightly activities.
Larry came up on the Egyptian exhibit. It was mostly empty except for one man in a tattered brown jacket. The man’s back was turned to the entrance of the hall. He was looking at the tablet of Ahkmenrah in a way that made Larry feel uneasy. This happened sometimes. There were rumors and peopled talked about Ahkmenrah’s tablet possessing magic powers, what those powers were varied by story, and occasionally Larry or one of the day guards would have to shoo out an eager tourist hoping to stay the night in the museum. Most of the time these lurkers fell into one of two categories, teenagers on a dare or eccentric scientists.
“Ah, ‘scuse me?” Larry called out to the man, his New York accent sounding thicker than he ever remembered it. The man wheeled round, his expression surprised and possibly full of guilt. The man had dark curly hair and soft brown eyes. He was maybe a decade younger than the night guard and far too handsome to be an eccentric scientist. “Just wanted to let you know the museum will be closin’ soon. We usually shut down these back exhibits first.”
“Oh.” The man nodded, trying to gain his composure. “Yes of course.” That was when Larry caught the first hint of an accent. The man was British. “Sorry, I thought there was another hour or so until sunset.”
Larry didn’t think it notable that the man mentioned sunset rather than the time the museum closed. He supposed someone could make the very easy connection that the museum always closed at sunset. The operating hours were even changed in the winter months to accommodate for shorter days.
“Yeah, well, like I said, we like to shut down the back exhibits first.” Larry repeated.
“Dad! There you are!” Nick Daley, wearing his nicely pressed night security uniform, stepped into the Egyptology Hall. “Dr. McPhee said you’ve been here for hours. Am I late? I thought we said we’d meet at seven.”
“No, no.” Larry shook his head. “I just wanted to,” He stole a glance at the British man and chose his next words carefully. “Just wanted to give everyone a good send off.”
“Send off?” The British man repeated. “Sorry,” He apologized quickly. “I didn’t mean to ease drop but are you…going somewhere?”
“Not tonight.” Larry warned him. “But I am retiring. Nicky here is going to be the museum’s new Night Security Guard.” He tossed an arm around his son, pulling him into a sideways hug. Nick winced. Nothing like your old man embarrassing you on your first day.
“No, no, no.” The man shook his head. “That’s not going to do at all.” He sighed audibly. “You’re Larry Daley. The Larry Daley. I know how this is going to sound.” He sighed again “but I need to talk to him.” The man pointed to the sarcophagus of Ahkmenrah, “and I was told you’re the only one who can help me with that.”
Larry dropped his arm from Nick’s shoulder. He glanced sideways at his son, who only shrugged. “Don’t look at me.” Nick’s express said.
“Well, I hate to tell you this, Buddy, but he’s been dead for like three thousand years.” Larry laughed, pointing at Ahkmenrah.
“Over four thousand.” The man corrected. “But I’m not here to split hairs with you, Larry.” Larry tried to ask the man how he knew his name, but he kept talking. “My name is Steven Grant. Or at least I think it is. And I found these tapes…recordings that I made. And I know, I know, that this sounds crazy, but I think I worked here before at this museum, and I think me and this chap were friends.”
“What makes you think we can help you?” Nick asked.
“Because Kahmunrah at the British Museum said that I could trust you.” Steven replied.
Hey my loves it’s been a while. Most of you prob know that I write fan fiction for the sterek fandom (Your First,White Ferrari). I have sooooooo many more ideas for fics (including a sequel to Your First) but my time is very limited and I’m having a hard time structuring plots. If anyone is interested in being a co writer or just can be someone I bounce ideas off of please let me know! If not share this with your followers por favor :)
It’s been forever since I’ve written fic, but that “season finale” inspired me to try to make sense of the nonsense, and maybe give Mulder and Scully a chance to start to deal with the shit they’ve been dragged through.
PG-13, spoilers for My Struggle IV, obvs.
It’s dawn when Mulder shifts the car into park. A drizzle mists the windshield, muddying the house’s looming form, the dim glow of the porch light their only welcome. Next to him, Scully sleeps deeply, his jacket tucked into the crook of her neck.
He reaches across the console to touch her cheek. “We’re home.”
She stirs, blinking, before fumbling at the door handle in a rush. She’s out of the car before he can offer to help, making her way to the house. He watches with concern as she pauses at the foot of the steps, leaning on the porch railing for a moment as if to catch her breath, before disappearing around the side of the house. He winces when he hears retching.
