12months_challenge | March themed challenge.

merikuru posting in

Somewhat late, but no master list for Februantasy, so on we go.

March's challenge is:

M/March!

This is the month to bring out all your male/male relationships. A cuddle before a warm fire, a romp in the sheets, a day spent fixing up the house or car or something else in friendly contemplation - here's where it all belongs. Let there be men!

All fics written for this challenge should be posted as a comment on this entry (a comment with a link to an offsite post is also fine). If your work has spoilers, please add an [S] tag to the comment title. If it has mature content, please add an [MA] tag.

This theme challenge will end on March 31st, 11:59 PM Central Standard Time.

Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Miracle of Sound - Beyond These Walls

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From:

sarajayechan

Goaded. [Dead Dove: Do Not Eat]

From:

sarajayechan

You can recruit the Ashen Wolves anytime after you complete Cindered Shadows once, and there's very few "Yuri comforts Ashe about Lonato" fics out there, so with a few little adjustments, I made my own food.

--

He'd had a good feeling about Lonato when Count Rowe introduced him to a group of nobles, scolded him for not talking loudly enough, and Lonato had firmly told him to pay it no mind. Then he'd met the kid Lontato had taken in, seen the smile on his face, and known the man wasn't like most other nobles.

Ashe had a habit of trying to see the best in everyone, even the ones who smiled gallantly in public so no one would realize they were actually bastards, but Lonato was the real deal. Worth every gushing praise the kid could offer, even when Yuri realized it was only a matter of time before the man struck out against the Church. He'd kept it to himself, hoping that maybe the professor or even Ashe could talk Lonato down, but no such luck. Ashe's heartfelt pleas fell on deaf ears, Lonato refused to fall back, the Thunderbrand piercing his chest as he fell from his horse. Whispering for his sons to forgive him with his last breath.

Yuri knew he should hurry back down to the Abyss before someone caught him on the surface and sicced the knights on him, but he was too worried about Ashe. He hadn't seen him since they returned, and when he'd asked Prince Dimitri where he was he hadn't known either. He's either in his room, or the cathedral.

He didn't know what made him go for the cathedral first, but he did. Sure enough, there was Ashe, slumped over on a bench with his face buried in his hands. Yuri quietly sat down next to him, and Ashe's head jerked up. He quickly rubbed at his eyes, swallowing, trying to look like he hadn't been crying.

"Oh...hey, Yuri. Did Prince Dimitri send you to look for me?"

"No, I figured I'd find you here on my own." Yuri sighed. What can I do? I should be angry that something could hurt him this badly, but that doesn't change anything. It wouldn't bring back Lonato, anyway. It wasn't that he was bad at comforting people, he just wasn't exactly a genius at it. He wasn't gentle and nurturing like Mercedes or a good listener like Dedue. "Sorry. I mean...I'm sorry for your loss and all."

"I feel like I failed him," Ashe muttered. "Even though I know it was his choice and all, if I'd tried harder-"

"Exactly, it was his choice." And even if he'd survived, Lady Rhea would have him executed anyway, but Ashe didn't need to hear that. "There's nothing you could've done short of bringing Christophe back to life." Ashe sniffled, rubbing at his cheeks.

"I know. Prince Dimitri said we did what we had to, the professor said this is the reality of battle," he said. "Everyone's gotta face reality sooner or later, right? Especially guys like me." Yuri clenched his fist, then moved to embrace Ashe tightly, smoothing his messy hair.

"Guys like you are an example of what the world should be like," he said. "Just because it's cold and harsh and gritty doesn't mean that's right. Someone like you shouldn't have to raise a weapon to his own father because the Church said so." Or lose his parents at such a young age, have to steal to survive, have his happy found family life wrecked by the death of yet another person he loved.

You don't deserve this pain, Ashe, not you. You've never done anything wrong, even when you stole it was to help your siblings. You've had too much taken from you already.

He'd grown up among people who knew how ugly the world could be and gleefully rubbed it in the face of anyone naive enough to think otherwise. But Yuri, born into lower than poverty, selling his body the moment it started to change, killing without a second thought to protect his people, wished anyone naive enough to think otherwise could just be right for once.

"Sorry," Ashe muttered, looking up from the damp spot on Yuri's jacket. "I must seem pretty pathetic right now. I can't let it go..."

"You're hurting. You're allowed," Yuri said, pulling him closer. "I just wish there was something I could say or do to help right now, I'm not good at this sort of thing."

"You're here with me. I know the professor or Prince Dimitri or Dedue or the others wouldn't look down on me, but they're all so worried about the fake assassination note and I don't want to be a burden on them," Ashe said quietly. "I wish you could stay the night with me, but..."

"I could take you down to the Abyss with me...if you were okay waking up before dawn so I could sneak you back to your room." The very idea invited even more risk than an Abyssian staying above overnight, but Yuri was used to taking risks and sneaking around. And he wanted to leave Ashe even less than Ashe wanted him to leave. "It's just a thought, but-"

"I'd like that." Ashe offered the barest hint of a smile. "Sorry to put you out, but-"

"Hey, hey, if you were putting me out I wouldn't have offered." Yuri helped him up and they slipped from the cathedral into the night, cloaked in darkness as he led the way towards the Abyss. The shfity merchant only nodded towards Yuri, paying little mind to his guest. Luckily, Hapi was asleep, Balthus was chatting up a middle-aged woman in the tavern, and Constance was too busy in the library; he doubted Ashe wanted any questions or curious looks right now. Before tonight, the professor was the only one who ever bothered to visit the Abyss.

"So here's the guys' dorm," he said as they took off their shoes. "Balthus'll either be back within the hour or not at all depending on whether or not the lady's got a ring on her finger." He could see the curiosity in Ashe's eyes, the concern, but thankfully he didn't say anything. The last thing he wanted was for Ashe to worry about him when he'd just been dealt such a hard blow.

"I'll take the floor, so I'm not displacing anyone," Ashe said, but Yuri pulled back the covers of his bed and patted the space beside him. "Wait, you-"

"You need a hug. And it gets cold down here at night, so..." Why was his face warm? He was comforting an old friend, nothing more or less. Ashe seemed to hesitate before sliding under the covers with him. Yuri's arms wrapped around him and Ashe immediately buried his face in his shoulder, fresh tears wetting the fabric of Yuri's jacket. "There, just let it out. You don't have to be okay right away, you know?"

"But-"

"They'll understand. Yeah, you'll have to move on, but who says it's gotta be sooner than later?" He toyed with a few strands of Ashe's messy hair. You shouldn't have to grieve at all, but anyone who tries to tell you to get over it right away is an asshole. "At least for tonight, don't worry about it." Ashe sniffled, pulling closer to him; Yuri couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this protective of anyone who wasn't his mother or the Ashen Wolves. But even if it was just for one night he wanted to take Ashe away from all the bullshit above ground.

Ashe relaxed in his arms, his tears slowly dying down as he fell asleep. Yuri's own eyes felt heavy, but he stayed up to watch over him anyway.

You don't have to be okay right away, but I know you will be.

Edited Date: 2021-03-10 03:44 pm (UTC)

From:

sarajayechan

"So, how are you liking your new home so far?" Niles grinned a little from the futon Leo had help him set up until they got a second bed for his room.

"It's fine, but I wish your dad let me play in the backyard more often. Damn squirrels keep taunting me," he said. Leo laughed, hanging the last of Niles's shirts in his closet before sitting down next to the futon.

"I suppose I walked into that," he admitted.

"You did." Niles shifted positions, lying down on his stomach in front of the old but functional laptop Xander had given him. His boxy desktop sat in the garage, clean of all files except for the main components, waiting to be sold to whatever vintage computer collectors lurked on the internet. "But seriously, I like it. It's nice being around people who aren't always in a shitty mood, you know?"

"Mm." Niles had been living at the Krackenburg home for a little over a week after a fight with his mother sent him packing, refusing to face the woman ever again. The feeling was mutual, she'd dropped the rest of his things off at the doorstep without even a note; Leo knew the legal end of things was still forthcoming, but he didn't imagine the woman would put up too much of a fight to keep him.

But this is still new to him. Sure, Niles accepted the clothing and extra food and the affections of Leo's siblings, but it was clear he still didn't know what to make of it at times. He spent most of his time with Leo at the library or studying in Leo's room, didn't say much at the table during meals. Considering Niles had no filters or compunction about speaking his mind normally, it was...odd. Rather sad, even.

"We're your family now," Leo said. Niles nodded.

"I know. Oh, hey, just got a message on Reddit! This could be good news," he said, quickly changing the subject. Leo, knowing better than to press the issue, glanced over Niles's shoulder as he pretended to be interested in whatever he was looking at.

"What is it?" Niles clicked open the message, looked it over, and a huge smile spread across his face. "Is this something-"

"It's not porn or anything creepy, I swear," Niles said. "I mean, it could be creepy if you're afraid of puppets, but there's no hyper-realistic blood." Puppets? Leo raised an eyebrow, remembering a time where Elise was little and wanted to watch Sesame Street or Allegra's Window and Niles would want to go straight up to Leo's room or outside.

"Dare I ask?" Niles scrolled upwards in the thread. It was indeed about a show with puppets, and the word treehouse jumped out at Leo. "Interesting. I've never heard of such a show, and judging by the specifics you'd have been too young for it, too."

"One of the many perks of outdated technology," Niles said. "Our TV was so old it didn't just pick up random channels, it picked up random channels that were stuck in the past. Not literally, of course, but-"

"Public access," Leo said. That he was aware of, albiet mainly through his father's collection of old business tapes.

"Exactly. Some of those channels can't afford the new shiny shit, so they grab whatever cheap syndication they can get their hands on to fill time," Niles said. "So I grew up watching pre-code gangster movies and whatever weird kids' shows Nickelodeon threw away."

"And this is..."

"The latter." Niles quickly typed up a reply to the person. "Lucky for this guy I can afford to part with some Finders Keepers, I've never been a real game show guy," he said, sending the message. "And presto! Those three hours of Dusty's Treehouse will be mine."

"And here I thought tape trading was just for anime," Leo laughed, remembering Odin's collection of titles even the anime club at their school didn't know about.

"Nope! That just accounts for a third of it, there's a huge market for lost media and old shit that never made it to DVD." Niles closed the laptop and dug one of his cardboard cartons out from under Leo's bed, and Leo was somewhere between fascinated and confused. Niles had never seemed like the type to hold onto any relic of such a lousy childhood.

"And these old kids' shows..." Niles paused in the middle of picking up a tape and closed his eye.

"They're the only good memory I have of living in that apartment. While Mom was busy ignoring me, I felt like I had some kind of company even if it was just a bunch of dumb puppets and weird people in costumes." Oh. Leo fell completely silent as Niles picked up the tape again, running a fingertip over the label. "These shows aren't masterpieces, but they helped me through a lot of shitty times."

"I understand," Leo said quietly. His solace had always come from books; television wasn't exactly forbidden in the Krackenburg household, but for all the time Father spent working he refused to let his children be raised on it. Television was family time, or a reward for finishing your homework, or homework itself.

And we still have that battered old copy of The Little Prince lying around, too, he remembered. One of his favorites, especially on a bad day, a title he would be willing to pay through the nose for if they ever lost theirs. I really do understand.

"But anyway!" Niles put the tape down. "Camilla says you've still got a VCR lying around, so..."

"We can get it working." Leo smiled, taking his hand. "And...I'd like to check out some of those tapes with you. I'm curious now." A red label caught his eye, followed by the thick black Xs across it. "Especially about that one." Niles suddenly grinned.

"You thought I just traded old puppet shows?" He chuckled. "This, Leo, is an extremely rare copy of Eveready Harton." The pronunciation was not lost on Leo, who blushed even as he couldn't help smirking.

"Cartoon smut?"

"Leo, it's me." Leo smiled and rolled his eyes. Living with Niles was going to be quite the exercise in getting to know his dear friend, one Leo very much looked forward to.

"We will save that one for when my father's away and Elise is spending the night with friends," he says. "Now, let's go hook up that VCR."

From:

andersenmom

This might be a little late, but I did actually write for this challenge!

Title: In Recovery
Fandom/Original: ATEEZ, Onewe
Prompt: Sticky (s35)
Rating: G
Word or Line count: 782
Summary: Mingi's supposed to be resting. Dongmyeong catches him not resting.
Warnings: None

Title: Anxiety Defined
Fandom/Original: ATEEZ, Onewe
Prompt: Anxioun (c05)
Rating: G
Word or Line count: 599
Summary: Dongmyeong contemplates his boyfriend's hiatus due to anxiety, and what he can do to help.
Warnings: None

Title: Reflections on Strength
Fandom/Original: ATEEZ, Onewe
Prompt: Strong (c36)
Rating: G
Word or Line count: 752
Summary: Mingi thinks about his boyfriend's invisible strength
Warnings: None