HARLOW BISHOP

Liv has to fight the urge to roll his eyes the entire tie that Marco and Cool Larry are talking to them, to each other. This was all such a waste of time, but it couldn’t be said that Liv and Harlow had cut any corners, and at least it was a vaguely amusing moment to look back on later, when this case had been solved. Liv would be making fun of Marco in his head for weeks to come, and he got the distinct impression that it was lucky the guy was so hot. It probably got him through a lot in life. 

It wasn’t exactly the most illuminating conversation, and it hadn’t really told them anything important, but at least they knew now that Marco hadn’t even watched the tape the last time that he rented it, that he wouldn’t know if it had been tampered with or broken in some way, or if the curse was present on his version before Katie rented it herself. It told them, at the very least, where they didn’t need to look. Liv was one hundred percent certain that Marco wasn’t some kind of secret wix mastermind, hell bent on cursing VHS tapes from Blockbuster just to fuck with some people.

He smiles, and nods his head when they answer Harlow’s question. “Awesome.” He says, still fake and shoddily excited. “Well, that was super helpful for us, boys. And…we have your number on file with the store, so you’ll like, totally be hearing from us soon about that rental prize.” 

“Dude, nice!!” Marco enthuses, as Liv is already starting to walk away, giving Harlow an amused look and starting to make their way out of the store together so that they can move on to the next spot. 

“Well, that was as illuminating as I expected.” He says, with a wry kind of smile, finally giving in to the urge to roll his eyes about it all. He kind of loved this, despite having to talk to stupid people. It was nice to be here with Harlow, to not worry about what exactly the lead auror on the case was thinking about him. He wouldn’t get in trouble here, with them beside him, he wouldn’t have to worry about being judged or messing up too badly, revealing too much or not enough in the grand scheme of things. They would work this case together and do it well, and at the end of the day they’d go home and still just be Harlow and Liv. 

He glances at them, giving them a decidedly flirty smile when he looks at them, just for the fun of it, because its hilarious for Harlow to think that they’re hot. “What do you say boss, wanna take me on a side along to our next witness?”

The conversation with Marco wasn’t the most illuminating, which doesn’t really surprise them after their conversation with the store clerk. Everything about this case seemed to be pointing back to Katie and her own experience. Whatever was going on here seemed to both start and end with the young witch. If the tape was cursed, or haunted, or whatever in the hell it was, it seemed to focus solely on Katie Chen, now it was only a matter of figuring out why and how. 

Rolling their eyes at Liv’s flirtatious smile, they take hold of his arm, silently agreeing to his suggestion. Within a few seconds they find themselves outside Katie Chen’s home, a one story ranch style house in the middle of what seemed to be a fairly quiet cul de sac, from what Harlow could tell. 

 “So I guess we just interview her, figure out as much as we can about this tape, then have ourselves a movie night later?” They ask, as they look over to Liv. “And before you say it no, that’s not my way of asking you out, jackass.” 

Liv seemed to be having an absolute ball with this concealment of his, and they’re secretly pleased with it. Liv needed a light case, something fun where he had the chance to goof off for a bit. Rory seemed to always have a knack of picking just the right concealments for the right occasions- or deliberately the wrong ones. They’re just glad Rory’s expertise favored the former on this case, instead of the latter. 

Liv is about to nod along in agreemnet to what Harlow is saying, but he gets distracted by the new commotion going on, and turns to watches in baffled amusement as the men walk in and start their conversation. Liv kind of gets what they’re talking about, but that doesn’t mean he’s actually interested in the conversation. They’re just so loud and enthusiastic that Liv can’t help but watch them and listen in. His eyebrows shoot up when Clara mentions that one of them is Marco, exactly the guy they were looking for. 

Liv kind of agreed that Marco wasn’t going to be very useful for them, but it couldn’t hurt to ask him a few questions, he supposed. He shares a look with Harlow, amused and a little wry, letting out a small sigh and reaching up to adjust his hair slightly. “Well, we might as well get this one out of the way now.” He says, smiling at Clara. “Thank you for your time, and for the addresses. We’ll make sure to mention to your superiors how coperative you were.” He grins at her, and she gives them a slightly more amused nod.

Liv and Harlow take a few steps away from the counter, and Liv looks at Marco for a long second. He was kind of hot. Kind of smoking hot. And hey, today, so was Liv. He had this crazy theory that Marco would respond well to a hot girl talking to him, so they might as well take advantage of that while they could. He glances at Harlow again, before shrugging a shoulder. “Nowhere to go but forward.” He says, and takes another few steps toward the boys in their conversation. 

“Hey, boys. Couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. I’m crazy excited for the match.” And he grins at Marco, smile wide and a little brighter than he’s used on anyone else today. “My money is on the Rock, any day.” 

“Hell yeah!” Marco enthuses, while his friend argues again. But Liv ignores that one, focusing in on what’s important here. “That’s what I’m talkin about. You’d have to be blind not to see it, man!!” 

“Totally,” Liv says, mimicing the enthusiasm. And then taking another step closer. “Hey, you come here often, man? I work for corporate, and like, if you do this quick survey for me and my partner here, you can get a whole month of free rentals. It’ll be super quick, too. All you have to do is answer my questions and then I’ll like, call you, with the rest of the details.” 

Marco’s eyes widen in excitement, clearly thrilled at the potential there. Who didn’t love free shit, after all? And he seemed so damn earnest about it, Liv kind of felt bad that he couldn’t actually hook the guy up with free movies. “Woah, yeah! I’ll play, man. Got nothin’ but time today, you know?” 

Harlow had half a mind to skip over Marco completely after the clerk points him out. He was far too loud and far too enthusiastic for their liking, but they figure Liv was in the right for exploring the lead further. As much as they didn’t think Marco had anything of use for them, it still wouldn’t hurt to talk to the no-maj. 

“Awesome,” they smile, as they step up to stand beside Liv. “Could you talk to us a little about your last rental? What the movie was, how you enjoyed it, and so forth.” 

“Oh yeah! It was that one with the Fresh Prince and like they’re all these aliens, but most are good aliens, you know? And he and that one old guy from The Fugitive are these secret agents who are protecting the world from the bad aliens. Who really like sugar water. It was dope, man.” He grins as he looks between the two of them, seemingly waiting for the next question. 

Harlow can only understand about half of what he’s saying, but even then it sounds like he’s actually watched the film, which according to the case file he hadn’t. 

“Did you watch it all in one sitting?” They ask. 

“Oh, well, so I didn’t watch it that time, but I checked it out the weekend before, and watched it then. I rented it again, because I wanted to show it off to my boys, but we ended up just playing Resident Evil 2, after Cool Larry here brought it,” he replies. 

“Dude, that game is tight, I had to,” Cool Larry speaks up from Marco’s side. 

They still feel like they’re lost in the woods with the conversation going on in front of them, but at the very least they feel like they have a handle on Marco’s side to this little story. Marco hadn’t watched the movie the weekend before Katie Chen had her incident with the tape, but he had the week before. 

“Do you know if it was the same tape, or a different one?” They ask, wanting to wrap this up sooner rather than later with these two. 

Nomi already likes Harlow’s uncle, in that natural and easy way that Nomi usually likes people. Any company is good company as far as Nomi has always been concerened, so they’ve never struggled with loving someone instantly. They like the idea that Harlow has someone like this in their life, they like the way that they act with each other, the soft fondness that is clear between the two of them. It makes Nomi wonder what their own family would think about Harlow, what Harlow would think of the messy little world that Nomi came from. 

They follow Manny and Harlow toward Manny’s office, and Nomi looks around it when they get back in. They’re instantly drawn to the corkboard, the news clippings and the pictures. They can see the most recent victim, the teenager. Laura Cooper. She was just a kid –– Nomi sometimes still felt like a kid, so she couldn’t imagine what it was like to actually still be a teenager. Nomi had a bad feeling about it, they were scared that in the weeks since the girl had gone mission something terrible would have already happened, something scary and impossible to deal with. Nomi doesn’t want to have to tell those parents that their little girl is gone forever, but its hard to picture a world where something unconceviably terrible hasn’t happened to Laura Cooper. 

Nomi returns their attention to Manny has he goes over the grand and all expansive details of the case with them, the missing werewolves spanning decades and everything that they’ve discovered over the years. All the way up to Laura. To the missing girl.

It makes Nomi think about Hadrian and Eden, makes them wonder if this could be another big smuggling ring situation. They struggle for a second with how to really ask about that, what exactly they should be saying about the situation that went down here a couple of weeks ago. A corrupt auror, a mess that ended with him dead, and two members of their own squad damaged in a way that nobody could fail to notice. 

“Could this be something to do with the black market?” They ask, finally, with a curious look around. Manny doesn’t look like he hates the question, because its undeniably a good question. 

“There’s always a chance,” He says, with a shrug of his shoulders. “But i’ve been working with Orion Thomas pretty closely lately, and we think it might be something else.” He roots around in his desk for some notes. “Thomas is aware that there’s a pretty large fighting ring in operation somewhere nearby, and he’s pretty damn sure that not all of the competators are entering the fray willingly.” 

Having heard both Manny and Imelda talk so much about this case over the years, most of what the older auror says is a recap of what they already know. Even the mention of the fighting ring doesn’t necessarily surprise them, as fighting rings had always been a possibility, but it’s the next piece of information that does surprise them. 

“Orion Thomas?” They repeat, clearly taken back by the information. It certainly wasn’t unusual that Manny would be looking into local pack leaders and asking for assistance, and if it were any other name they probably wouldn’t be so surprised. But Orion Thomas was not just any other name, it was a name that’d already been on their case file. “Isn’t he missing three of his pack members?” 

“He is,” Manny sighs, “that’s how we came to working together. I was investigating their disappearances and he came to me about this information on fighting rings. One of the three was a known fighter, I guess it was how he made his income. The other two were younger pack members though, who’d never expressed any interest in the sport before.” 

“What kind of interest would a fighting ring have in reluctant fighters?” They ask. Because it seemed counterproductive, if the fighters didn’t want to fight then the fights themselves couldn’t have been that evenly matched. Especially if the captured werewolf wasn’t a strong fighter to begin with. 

“Not all fights are between two wolves who are battling until one falls,” Manny replies solemnly, “some of them involve numerous wolves in the ring, and the goal is to see which is the last one standing. Generally they throw in a couple weaker fighters to fill the ring, make it more of a blood bath so to speak.” 

Their stomach churns with every new grisly detail Manny shares with them. They don’t know how he’s managed to investigate this thing for so long without losing himself in it, then again maybe he has to some degree. He’d been obsessed with this case for going on two years now, to the point it was all he and Imelda ever talked about when they were in each other’s company. 

Liv listens carefully, soaking up every word of what Clara says to them. It doesn’t actually tell them all that much, doesn’t fill them in on anything that they didn’t know. Chen kept the tape and turned it over to MACUSA, and nothing else strange has come out of this store as far as anyone is aware. No one who works here is a wix, as far as Liv knows, so he doesn’t see how anyone here would be responsible for the curse on the tape. 

Unless the last guy who rented out the tape did it. But from the brief overview of him in the case file, Liv wasn’t too sure about that either. You learned to get a sense of things after a while, to know at a glance what witnesses would actually be useful to you. Still, it might not hurt to check in later if they reach a dead end.

“That’s good.” Liv says, when the girl confirms that no more strange complaints have come in through the store that she knows of. “You have the addresses of the last two people who rented the tapes on file, don’t you? If you could just get us Marco Evangalista‘s along with Ms. Chen, we’ll be moving on and get out of your hair.” 

She smiles, just a little bit, a surprised fondness spreading over her face. “I don’t think Marco’s gonna be like, real illuminating. He barely ever actually watches the shit he rents.” She shakes her head a little bit, but then pushes away from the counter. “I’ll just be a minute, I guess.” 

“Take your time.” Liv says, turning to look at Harlow when the girl moves in to the back.

“What do you think, hotshot?” He asks, arching an eyebrow at them, slipping back into that teasing smile. “Next steps? Check out the tape or check out Chen?”

They nod their head in thanks to the clerk as she goes to retrieve the addresses. They didn’t particularly like her for this, but they also weren’t sure just how truthful she was being. If this tape did in fact have a curse on it, then it stood to reason there would be other tapes that were cursed too. It could very well be the chance that other tapes had come up, and perhaps the young girl wasn’t being honest, in order to preserve that particular store’s reputation with corporate. 

“We can check out Chen and Evangalista,” they reply, looking to see what Liv’s thoughts were on all of this. “We can get a better idea from Chen just what all she experienced while watching the tape, then see if Marco has had any similar experiences, if not with this tape then any others?” It’s just as they voice their question when the front door of the store swings open and in comes in two no-majs, both talking very loudly about what sounds to be- actually they have no clue just what any of them are talking about. 

“No no no, bro, The Rock can take on Stone Cold any day- ANY DAY,” one of the no-majs practically shouts, “I mean, ‘Can you smell what the Rock is cookin’? Cause like I definitely do, bro, and it’s like his enemies for breakfast.” 

“Bro, you’re high- well really high, have you seen the Stone Cold Stunner? Ain’t nobody’s got moves like Stone Cold Austin.” The second no-maj retorts. 

“Yeah well... bro, we’ll see this Saturday night,” the first replies, clearly at a loss at what else to say next. “I got the pay-per-view already bought, and pre-ordered one of those like ten foot subs from Subway. It’s gonna be so tight!” 

“Bro that does sound tight, fuck!” The second no-maj shouts back, somehow even louder than they had before. 

“Bro, right?!” The other responds. 

In all the commotion Harlow feels like they’ve lost about half their brain cells, and didn’t even notice Clara had returned to the counter. 

It might say a lot about Nomi that they’re already relaxing a little bit, just sitting here next to Harlow, just feelin their warmth. Harlow is strong, and dependable, intense in so many ways. Nomi always thought of them kind of like a force of nature, but they were so damn kind as well that sometimes it blew Nomi’s mind. They didn’t have to be so kind, people would let them get away with it if they weren’t. But they are. But they bring Nomi pie, and take them back after even the worst things, even after they got mauled by a werewolf.

They trust Harlow, when they say that they know they’ll get through this. It’s Nomi and Harlow, and nothing has killed them yet. If anything, the pain they’ve been through will only make them more careful, will only make it so that they work harder to fix whatever’s going on here, to find out exactly what happened to this missing werewolves and make sure that nothing like it happens again. Nomi so badly wants to help them, to find justice for all those people who have disappeared after all those years. They nod their head, listening along, taking every word that Harlow says and making sure that they wrap it up nicely in their mind, a certainty that they can call on later when they need it. “We can do it.” They agree, softly.

Nomi follows Harlow into the auror department, taking a curious look around when they step inside. Nomi was always interested in what other divisions’ headquarters looked like, they always wanted to see what was going on. But there was no time to wander off and explore here. They had someone to meet. Harlow’s uncle, which was a weird and wonderful thought. His voice rings down from the balcony, and Harlow rushes up the stairs to meet him. Nomi follows, a fond smile slipping in to place when the witness it, watching Manny and Harlow hug with such warmth. 

The grin widens when Harlow introduces them, and Nomi almost feels shy for a second. But Nomi is never shy. So they beam instead, and take Manny’s hand without even a split second of hesitation. 

“It’s nice to meet you too. I mean really, so nice to meet you. I’m hoping you have a whole bunch of truly embarrassing stories about Harlow to spoil me with, at some point.” They say, letting some of their usual cheer slip back into their voice. 

“After we’re finished here, of course. Lots of work to do before then.” 

Harlow smiles fondly as they watch the small interaction between Nomi and their uncle. They have a feeling the two of them will get along well, even if purely for the reason that they and Nomi get along well with one another. 

“Oh, I have plenty of embarrassing stories, that’ll surely bring a blush to this little one’s cheeks,” Manny chuckles as he reaches over and gives Harlow’s shoulder a quick squeeze. They should probably be blushing at the very thought of any of the stories Manny is sure to have on them getting retold to Nomi, but all they can do is roll their eyes fondly. 

“But yes, lots of work to do first, I’m afraid,” he nods, his face falling slightly, “I’ve been working on this case for two years now, in our division, but I’m afraid it’s so much larger than what falls in our jurisdiction. I’ve got cases popping up all along the Mississippi River spanning decades. But here, we can discuss it in my office.” 

Stepping back from the two, he waves them to follow him, as he makes his way through the floor they were on and into an office in the back. Once they get inside Harlow is pleased to find it looks exactly as they imagined it, his desk is a cluttered mess, but even they know there’s a certain mad genius behind it. On one of the wall there’s a corkboard that’d been taken over entirely by the missing werewolf case, with news-clippings spanning decades, and pictures of the various missing werewolves pinned onto it. 

“If you manage to help me solve this my little alligator, I’ll be taking a month’s vacation, I swear,” he lets out a tired chuckle as he looks their way. 

“We’re going to try our best,” they assure him with a small nod, “do you think you could start by going over everything you’ve found in your own investigation?” 

Liv lets out a laugh, a bright and bubbly thing, sounding alien in this new voice of his. Alien but not bad, nicer than his usual laugh, if he had to say it himself. Everything about this body sounded nicer. And it was still damn hilarious that it was affecting Harlow at all. It was nice that they could make light of it all, the vast expanse of their relationship, the fact that they’re only friends now because Harlow never wanted to have sex with him, because he was never their type. He still isn’t their type, he’s sure, body be damned. Though the jury is out on that, because Nomi Everhart is at least as much of a chaotic mess as Liv is. 

He lets Harlow shove him, moving with it at ease, finding comfort in the familiar words and the familiar push. He rolls his eyes, lets himself get it all out of his system before nodding his head. “Yeah, yeah. Spooky VHS tapes. A time sensitive matter, I’m betting.”

He follows Harlow into the store, and watches their face for a moment as they take it all in. The bright lights, the very aura of the place. It feels like a purgatory, but Liv kind of loves it in some strange way. Its so normal. Its completely and utterly mundane, completely no-maj in ways that he can appreciate. There’s technology and culture here that wixen kind are still catching up with, finding ways to integrate into their own worlds. But this is the world that Liv grew up in, and something about it will always feel more normal, righter than anything else that could have been offered to him in Port Steward.

Harlow takes the lead, talking to the girl that had welcomed them from behind the counter. He watches as Clara’s eyes grow confused as Harlow mentions something being wrong with a tape of theirs. It looks almost as if she’s scared that she’s gong to get in trouble, which makes sense he supposes, in the grand scheme of things. She was just a teenager working a job, she probably didn’t want to get stuck dealing with two pissed of people from corporate. 

“We haven’t had any complaints that I’m aware of.” She says, a little bit uncertain as she looks them over. “But maybe I can tell ya a little bit more if you fill me in on what they sent you.” She clearly wants to be helpful, to not be seen as a nuisance. 

“The tape was Men In Black.” Liv says, smooth and almost disinterested. “Rented by a Katie Chen. She said that she thought the tape had been… tampered with, somehow. Like maybe someone filmed over part of it. From our records, you were the person who checked that tape in and put it back on the shelf last time it was rented.”

Her eyes widen a little bit again. “I don’t remember, exactly…” She starts, brow wrinkling slightly. “But if anything had looked funky about the box, I like, wouldn’t have put it out?”

It’s difficult to determine whether the young clerk was telling the truth, and just anxious about having two people from corporate in, or she was hiding something. She seemed nervous that was for sure, and a little bit cagey when she answers their questions, like she was trying to figure out where they were going with all of this. 

“When tapes get checked in, do you guys do anything to make sure they’re still in proper working order?” They ask, and they can see their question has done little else but make the clerk more nervous. 

“I mean, we honor the company’s policy like we should.” She responds. “So if someone brings a tape in and says it isn’t working, we’ll rent them out a new copy free of charge. Then before tossing the tape, one of the shift managers will usually bring it home and watch it to double check it doesn’t work before junking the thing.” 

“And if I remember right, that Katie girl bought the tape. Like when it was due to be turned in she said she didn’t have it anymore, so we charged her for it,” she adds quickly.  Which makes sense, the tape had since been handed over to MACUSA, which unfortunately left Katie Chen the rental fee to deal with as well as paying for the tape. When they meet her they have half a mind to help her cover the cost, just out of feeling bad about leaving her with the bill. 

“Yes, Ms. Chen mentioned that in her complaint she filed,” they reply, trying to figure out the ‘corporate’ way to respond to the no-maj. “You don’t happen to know if the store has received any other complaints of a similar nature? We’ve only received just the one ourselves.” 

It’s fucking delightful to see Harlow’s face when they turn around. It isn’t their normal face, and obviously its strange to see them wearing someone elses skin in a certain sense. It isn’t their normal face, but Liv can still read Harlow pritty damn well when he needs to. They’re a relatively open book when it comes to him.

They look at him in his concealment, and they think that its hot. Of course they do. This face is so entirely Harlow’ type, and its almost funny. It’s as if Rory designed this one just to fuck with Harlow in some kind of way. And Liv has never really understood what Rory had going on, so in all actuality, that could be true. Maybe Rory sat there all day wondering what they could throw together to make cases a little bit more interesting for the many aurors that stepped out onto the field every day. 

Liv finds himself grinning, wide and pleased with this turn of events. This is going to be a fun case, he thinks, if only because he gets to fuck with Harlow a little bit while they work it. He’s going to tease them so much for being into this, and he doesn’t plan on going easy on them for any of it. 

“I’m the kind of Blockbuster employee who’s greatest pleasure in life is bossing around teenagers who work at Blockbuster.” He drawls, with a roll of his eyes. A little teasingly, he cocks their head to the side and gives Harlow a once over. Their own concealment is pretty cute as well, he guesses. Not exactly Liv’s type, but somehing that would probably get the job done in the right situation. “You want a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor before we head inside?” 

They were never going to live this down, they can quickly see that by the all too pleased smirk Liv is shooting them in that moment. As much as they needed a fun case though, they know Liv needed it especially more. So they let the other wix soak it in, and milk it for every bit it was worth and then some. Liv may have currently had all the right curves in the right places, but they had no mind to act on it- check it out, for sure, but definitely not make a move. 

“I fuckin’ hate you,” they say with a grin, as they lightly shove Liv’s shoulder while they walk past them and towards the store just ahead. “Come on, we actually have a job to do.” 

Leading Liv through the video store’s front door, they grimace as they look around the place. They’d been to Okorie’s Video Rental in Port Steward before, so they felt like they knew what to expect going in. Okorie’s though, was a family run store, kind of campy and kind of eclectic, the kind of shit they liked going to with Nomi. This though, was far from that. The fluorescent lights above them were about three times brighter than they would have preferred, and the whole place had the faint smell of body odor and cheap carpet cleaner. They’re glad that this was the only stop on their list that had them actually going to the store, otherwise they’re not so sure how else they were going to put up with it while they had to. 

“Do you guys like need help with anything?” A voice asks from behind a nearby counter. Looking over, Harlow is quickly met with who they recognize to be Clara Larsen from the case file, the no-maj who’d rented the victim the VHS tape. 

“Actually you can,” Harlow replies as they lead Liv over towards the girl. “We’re actually with corporate. We had this weird complaint sent in about a tape that was rented from here. We were asked to look into things, make sure there wasn’t an issue in the store or anything.” 

Hades feels some kind of sorrow thick in the air. He can understand the way that Pinn is feeling, the grief of losing someone so close to him, the grief of not being able to stop the inevitable outcome of an illness, even when the wife in question had so much magic at her fingertips. It was unfair that magic couldn’t solve every people, that some people had to suffer through so much pain and grief, that they coud still be killed by the fact that their bodies were rebelling against them in some complex and uncurable way. She’d known that she was going to die, so she had tried to draw her life out as best she could, so she had tried to find a way to extend her own existence and the life that she was living wih her dearly beloved husband. 

He can understand why Pinn would have wanted to try it himself. Why not, when the charms were already in place and all he had to do was finish it, set it in motion. But he didn’t have the magic, but he didn’t really understand how it all worked, and he clearly hadn’t done it right. 

It was sad. It was a sadder story that Hades wanted it to be. 

He lets out a soft sigh, gentle in the air surrounding all of them here in the little antique shop. He should have felt more triumphant, he should have felt a victory in the fact that they had found the sourse of the anomoly, that they knew now what was causing the odd time loop in this little town. They could set everything right again, they could send Shelby home to her partner once they fixed it. And maybe it was Pinns sadness, the emotions he could feel, that put a dampner on it. He just wishes it wasn’t such a sad story.

“Why didn’t you undo it?” He asks, soft, “When you realised it had gone wrong?”

And something shameful crosses the mans face, something that makes it clear how upset and distressed he must have been about it all “I’ve been trying, but I couldn’t figure out how it worked. My wife had books on the subject, but I can’t seem to get it right, not before everything resets again, at the very least.” 

Hades shakes his head, a little sad, and looks at Harlow. He isn’t sure that he really knows how to fix it either, so he can’t actually blame Pinn for that much. With another glance at the clock and its workings, he considers it again. “We can try fix it. Set everything right again. Can’t we, Harlow?” 

Harlow stares quizzically at the clock as Hades speaks to Mr. Pinn. They feel awful for the man, not only for the loss he suffered, but also how his attempts to take back that loss have gone. After the last few months they feel like they know so much more about loss than they ever did before, but they were one of the lucky ones, Willow and Nomi weren’t lost permanently, not like Mr. Pinn’s wife. 

“Maria Kotsakis should be able to fix this,” they reply, looking over to HQ than to Mr. Pinn, who was quite understandably perplexed given he didn’t know the wix. 

“She’s a chronomancer, she helped us figure out how to safely enter the time loop without being pulled in ourselves,” they answer Pinn’s unspoken question. If there was any witch that could fix this, they’re certain it’s her. 

“Good, what a relief,” Pinns lets out a sigh. “After it’s fixed will you two be... um taking me in?” The grief is still heavy on his features, so much so Harlow wonders if he even truly cares if he will be or not. But he doesn’t deserve to, and they’re sure HQ thinks so as well. 

“Creating unregistered time-turners is illegal in our laws, but you’re not the one who made this,” they reply with a solemn shake of their head. “Once Maria fixes the loop we’ll have to take the clock back with us, but you won’t be in trouble, no.” 

Looking back to the clock they run their hand through their hair, trying to figure out just where to go from there. Someone was going to have to get Maria, but they should also get Shelby too, they think. She didn’t even belong in this town, she deserved to be one of the first ones out of it once she was able. 

“HQ,” they speak up as they look over to him, “I can go to Maria’s shop and collect her. Maybe you should hunt down Shelby, bring her back here and fill her in?” 

“Would you like me to do anything? I’d like to help.” Pinn speaks up. 

“If you got a coffee pot and some mugs laying around we could all probably use some,” they reply with a small smile. Looking back over to HQ they look to see if he’s in on the plan. “You ready then?” 

The look on Harlow’s face when they take the drink offered to them is frankly hilarious, as far as Nomi is concerned. They fucking love that shit, the incredulous way that Harlow can look at them when they make these decisions, and the fondness they know lingers underneith it despite every other indication to the contrary sometimes. The look on their face makes them laugh as well, when they take a sip of the drink and taste it. 

That’s how Nomi likes their drinks. Violently pink. Damn strong. The kind of thing that’ll get you fucked up before you even know whats happening. They grin at Harlow, sharp and a little vicious, nodding along. 

“Damn, you got me.” They sigh, light and breezy, the sound of the laugh lingering in their voice, with every word that escapes. “You may be the only person with the brains to unearth my dastardly plan. 

“I would have gotten away with it, too…” They nudge Harlow, feeling soft and happy and settled here, excited to spend the night with everyone. “I bet I can get John to help me convince you. I saved his life, you know? He owes me one.” 

They settle in a little more closely against Nomi’s side, enjoying the moment, and begrudgingly enjoying the drink the other wix had given to them moments before. For a moment everything almost feels like it was a year ago, before Scotland, before the Jacobi case. They wonder where the two of them would be now if it weren’t for that case and Nomi’s attack. If Nomi hadn’t gone to Montana, they would have been around right when Harlow discovered Willow had gone missing, would have been right there that whole time. They’re glad though at the very least they got Nomi back right near the end, just before Scotland.They’re not sure if they would have been able to do it without them. 

They’d never been terribly big on dating, or at least ‘serious’ dating. They’d thought about changing that all before the Jacobi case, and even now as they stare back at Nomi more fondly than they normally did in public. 

“And what will you have him do?” They chuckle, “pick me up like a rag doll and carry me out onto the dance floor for you?” They’d certainly like to see him try, the guy may have been a damn giant, even compared to the likes of Montero, but they doubted he could handle their scrappy ass. 

Nomi is aprehensive about this case, they can’t deny that. They may always try to feel confident and self-assured when they’re heading out to work, but something about this gets to them more than they’d like it to. Well, they guess it isn’t a mystery why. The last time they went out on a werewolf case with Harlow, everything had gone to shit. They’d been ambushed, they’d been turned, they’d both gotten hurt. It was a day that had changed their life forever, that had filled them full of so many complex and warring emotions. They stil felt violated sometimes, they still felt so angry that they could scream about everything that had happened that day. 

And it had almost broken them and Harlow. It had put a rift between them that they were only recently really recovering from. The very concept of it all just brought up so many bad memories, and it left Nomi feeling a little shaken. 

But they always worked the cases they were given, and they always worked them well. Nothing bad was going to happen this time. They were going to go out there with Harlow and make some kind of plan, and they were going to stick to it. They would have each others backs this time around, they wouldn’t let anything go bad. With that plan in mind, they take a deep breath and apparate to the Tennessee Division. They only have to look around for the briefest of moments before they spot Harlow waiting for them. 

They break into a smile, only half forced as they approach the other auror, collapsing on to the bench beside them and looking at their offering. Their heart swells a little bit, their smile widens. They take both of the offered gifts and let out a soft laugh. “You spoil me too much and I’m gonna get used to it, buddy. This is exactly what I needed today.” 

They open the container of pie, finding the plastic fork that came with it and digging in. Sugar helped everything, no matter how stressful a situation they were walking into. And Nomi knows the value of being honest now, so they turn to look at Harlow while they eat. “So I’m kinda freaking out about this case. Like, determined as all hell, but nervous too. Which I’m told is natural, but…” They shrug a shoulder. “Figured you should know.” 

They smile when they see how delighted Nomi seems at the little offering. As nervous as they were about all of this, they know it had to be even worse for Nomi. There was no telling just what they’d run into on this case, with still so much unknown, but for once they’re feeling actually a little optimistic with all of this. If anyone was going to find out what had happened to all these missing werewolves, they know it’d be them and Nomi, especially with their uncle’s help. 

Leaning back against the park bench, they drape their arm over Nomi’s shoulders as the other auror digs into the dessert they’d brought. They can see how troubled Nomi still is by all of it, and when they eventually voice their concerns, Harlow is glad that this was how they were going to start out. If they talked this stuff out before hand, it would only help them further own the line, when the danger of it all became that much more real. 

“Me too,” they nod, as they look over to Nomi, shooting them a small soft smile. “I know we got this though. I mean, first it is us,” they smirk as they lightly tug one of Nomi’s pigtails, “and we have my uncle. Which you’ve met Imelda, you’ve seen how great she is. And she and my uncle are just alike, both really dedicated and been in the magical species business for decades.” It was rare for them to be the more optimistic one between the two of them, but they just couldn’t let themself think about the negatives here, not when they were still fresh off their high from Scotland. 

Once Nomi is wrapped up, they give the other auror a quick squeeze of their hand, before they lead the two of them into the auror division’s headquarters. When they flash their badge to the front desk, it’s clear on the receptionist’s face the impact of Eden and Hadrian’s previous case was still weighing heavy on the division, as she solemnly nods before directing the two of them to their uncle’s office. They barely make a step in the direction of the stairs though before an all too familiar voice rings out from a small balcony above them. 

“I thought I heard trouble was coming through the door,” looking up they see their uncle’s face smiling warmly down at them over the balcony’s railing.

Looking over towards Nomi, they grin before heading up the stairs, racing a little bit on the last couple steps before their uncle brings them in for a hug. 

“Manny, this is Nomi, my partner,” they smile as they pull back from him, and look over at Nomi. The word ‘partner’ feels a little more weighted than usual, considering who they were referring to, and Manny seems to pick up on that at he smiles over at Nomi and extends his hand for them to shake. 

morgana’s cellar nightclub, early in the night / @aurorbishop​

No matter what else is going on in the world, Nomi can always be depended upon to have a good time. The moment they had heard about this little trip to Morgana’s Cellar, they had been particularly invested in joining in and having a little fun. They all deserved it, as far as Nomi could see. A night to cut loose, spend a bunch of someone elses money, and do some good old fashioned inter-team bonding. All the better that they get a night to follow Harlow around in a club, when they’re fully allowed to pull them in and kiss them, to sit with an arm around their shoulders and enjoy the feel of them beside each other. 

That’s what they intend to do now, as they slip in to sit next to Harlow, passing off a drink to them with easy grace. Something bright and pink and delicious, which was basically all that Nomi liked to drink in places like this. They weren’t sure exactly how Harlow would feel about it, but they were excited to see the reaction. 

So they level Harlow with a grin, tuck themself close beside them, and relax. “For you, my treat. Careful though, the sugar crash can be worse than a hangover.” A little nudge, a beaming smile. Nomi is happy, happy that they can be here. Happy that they’re together in this, surrounded by other people that they love. 

It wasn’t very often they went to a night club, and when they did it was almost always at the insistence of another, sometimes it was Hades, other times Nomi, but the result was always the same. Generally Harlow would gripe and complain about going until finally they were broken down- that didn’t happen this time though. Instead it was Harlow who first brought up the idea of going. Loud music and a packed club wasn’t exactly their idea of a good night, but with Willow and everyone else there, they just couldn’t resist going. 

Taking the drink Nomi offers them, they stare down at it incredulously, unsure if it was a joke, and the other wix was hiding a whiskey behind their back, or they were in fact expected to drink it. “You’re paying my dentist bill, if I get a cavity over this thing,” they reply before taking a drink, and man.... There was definitely a good kick of sugar in there, but the sheer amount of alcohol in it, is what really hits them.

“If I have more than two of these I’m going to passed out on the floor before John and Willow even get here,” they laugh, before taking another sip, because shit it was actually good. 

Harlow’s smile is a wonderful thing. Nomi has always thought that, has always tried so hard to win the sight of it, the special way it seems to look when its directed at Nomi. It makes them feel special, it makes them feel far too good. And they count themselves lucky every time that they inspire it, every time it blooms across Harlow’s face as they watch and wait for it. It’s a victory, every damn time, and Nomi loves to win. 

They feel horribly soft, listening to Harlow talk, hearing the breath of laughter that escapes them. They sound honest, they sound relieved, and its a good thing. They don’t have to worry anymore,  not about Willow. Their sister is home safe, and in easy reach whenever they need each other. No matter what else may have happened, what might have been wrong and what storms may be rising on the horizon, waiting to strike with lightning and rain. At least they’ll have done that much, at least they’ll have all gotten back here relatively safe and sound. No lives lost, just lives saved. Some of them might have been changed in ways they couldn’t fully understand yet, but on a whole the trip to Scotland had been a win for them. Twelve people were free, and they had gotten through it. It might have been a mess, but Nomi felt safe in the knowledge that they had done the right thing. 

outside a blockbuster video, in the afternoon / @aurorbishop​

When Harlow had suggested that they work some kind of more lighthearted ase together, Liv had been expecting something a little different from this. A beach somewhere, a haunted spa, a haunted bar where they could find ane excuse to drink themselves silly. But no, they got cursed VHS tapes and sweaty teeangers working at Blockbuster video. 

They give the case file a once over, then looks again. It’s kind of cool, actualy. Liv has always liked horror stories, and an experience like the one their victim had was definitely spooky. At the very worst, at least Liv could think about something interesting for a day or two. At the very least, he could spend some time with Harlow, hopefully without getting cornered about something like therapy or their taste in boys. 

They get their concealment on, and looking at the mirror, they wonder how Rory comes up with shit like this. It’s a damn nice face. It’s a damn nice everything. And there’s something about it that makes Liv feel… well. It makes him feel too much to think about, not enough to be concerned about right now when they have better things on their mind. They take a breath and leave, apparating to the Blockbuster in question to meet Harlow.

Their partner for the day is already there waiting when they arrive –– Typical Harlow. Of course they’re already here. LIv gives them a once over, arches an eyebrow. “Looking good, Bishop. You ready to crack a case with your best guy?” 

.

It almost feels like serendipity, when only a few days after they had mentioned to Liv how much they wanted to get back on a case together, does one fall on their desk. The case isn’t exactly the one they’d been hoping for with Liv, tracking down what may have fucked up a VHS tape wasn’t exactly their idea of a “fun and easy” case- easy, sure but necessarily fun. Still though, they weren’t going to pass over an excuse to work with their best friend, and even if it did turn out as one big hoax, at least they could get paid while goofing off with Liv for a few hours. 

After throwing their concealment on in the bathroom, they go ahead and head over to the Blockbuster in question, shooting off Liv a quick telekit message to meet them there once they got into their own concealment. They’re not there much longer before they hear a voice call out to them, far lighter than Liv’s, but they can still recognize it to be the other auror’s. 

Turning around, they immediately take in a sharp breath of air at the sight of the wix in front of them. Because fuck... fuck, fucking, fuck, fuck.

Liv was hot. 

And sure Liv was always hot in a way they could appreciate but not feel an urge to act on, but this particular brand of hot was so up their alley, they’re pretty sure Rory was a legilimens and had somehow made Liv into their dream wix just to fuck with them. 

When the case file hits their desk that morning, they aren’t surprised at all to see what it’s for. Throwing them back on a werewolf case with Nomi again, right when things were getting good between the two of them, sounded exactly what Ben Eames would have done. If there is one saving grace though in all of this, this particular werewolf case is the same one they’ve been hearing their aunt and uncle go on about extensively for the last two years. The missing werewolves that have been popping up all over the midwest had become a bit of an obsession with Imelda and Emmanuel, who would find any time they could, even at the Bishop family Christmas dinner, to talk about the bizarre and largely looked over case. They knew with their aunt’s pull in the department it would only be a matter of time before it finally hit a squad, they just hope that now that the case is finally getting the attention they know it deserves, that they won’t let any of them down. 

When they get to the Tennessee Division, the same division their uncle worked out of, they take a seat on a bench outside as they wait for Nomi. There was no telling just how the other auror was feeling about all of this, so they wanted to check in with them first before they both had to dive deep into whatever their uncle had uncovered in his two years of investigating these disappearances. 

When they hear the pop of someone apparting nearby, they look up to see Nomi, and shoot them a half smile as they extend to them a cup of coffee and a small plastic container containing a piece of cherry pie from the bakery down the street. “It was my turn to feed you this time,” they reply, before nodding over to the empty spot on the bench beside them. “I figured with the full moon getting close anyway I might as well fill you up on carbs and sugar.”