#docjemsimmons

The Radcliffe Siblings + Platonic Soulmate AU

Everyone has a soulmate.

That’s what they always said when Leo Fitz was growing up, when he skipped grades and moved to a different country and found his best friend and still had no sign of a soul mark. He thought it was silly, falling in love with Jemma when he was used to the same narrative all his life - just wait, be patient, your soulmate is out there. But he had no mark, and she made him happy, and there was nothing wrong with that while he waited, was there?

Things were going so good, after Hive, with Holden Radcliffe living nearby and doing consulting work for SHIELD. Fitz felt like his entire life was finally lining up and falling into place. He even got the time off to go home and visit his mother - and then he made a mistake. He’d mentioned the name of the scientist he spent most of his weekends with, and the truth was dropped on him only hours before he had to pull himself together and fly back to work.

Aida Radcliffe was just fine not having a soulmate. She could focus on her work, and help her father with his, and they’d probably find a cure faster, that way. Things only got sidetracked when she went to Spain for a week, just long enough to visit and get updates on her mother’s health, and the parent she’d left unattended got abducted by aliens.

It was only by some miracle that she even got him back, so of course she agreed to help clear their old home and move into the bigger, nicer house closer to the people who made that possible. And of course she agreed to meet one of the agents who helped the most. She wasn’t rude, even if her sense of humor could occasionally make it seem that way.

Everyone has a soulmate.

Maybe so, but that didn’t mean they’d been at all prepared for their marks to show up when they met their half-sibling for the first time. They just have to figure out how to navigate that while everything starts to fall apart around them again.

7. I told you not to look!

Maybe it was a little out of the ordinary to pay for the space so the boutique could stay closed to the public for the day, but it was a special occasion. Dipping into his inheritance was justifiable when it meant spending an afternoon spoiling his girls.

Leopold smiled politely and took the offered glass when the attendant came around with another round of champagne, only sipping at it. He'd already had two glasses, and while it wasn't strong, he didn't want to push his luck when they were in public and he was still in charge of getting them home. If they wanted to get tipsy and have fun shopping, he'd let them, but his plans for the day involved spoiling them, not indulging himself.

"Don't look!" Jemma's voice came from behind one of the curtains that led to a dressing room, and he didn't hesitate before dutifully closing his eyes. It wasn't the first time one of them had run over to get the other's opinion before showing off what they'd found to him, and he didn't see a reason to stop that habit. If they only wanted him to see the best of what they found, then he'd only look at the best - and then buy it for them, like the good, rich boyfriend he was.

The sound of laughter made him smile, keeping his eyes closed while he sipped at the wine again. It was the most peaceful afternoon he'd had in months, at least since the funeral, and that was all he wanted. Peace.

When the change in his expression made a few drops of champagne slide from the corner of his mouth down to his chin, Leopold pulled the glass away and opened his eyes on instinct. He only meant to do so long enough to wipe the mess away, but his timing was poor, and the curtain to the dressing room had only just slid open again to...

"Leopold!"

"I told you not to look!"

He felt heat flood his cheeks in the moments before he could shake himself into responding, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He thought he felt drops of his drink sliding down the side of his glass and onto his fingers, but he couldn't be sure, not without opening his eyes again. That was the last thing he wanted to do when they were already less than pleased with his first infraction. But, that didn't mean some part of him didn't want to look again.

The things they'd been picking out were predictable for them - Ophelia found a new jacket and heels, Jemma had picked out a couple sweaters and comfortable boots to replace the ones that were wearing down - and that's what he'd expected to see again. What he didn't expect was something out of character for both of them. Dresses. The colors were predictable, of course, an emerald green for Madame Hydra herself and his favorite scientist in gray and blue, but dresses were something saved for fundraisers and parties, not for afternoons in boutiques.

Then again, he did say he was willing to spoil them, and that meant buying them everything they wanted, even expensive sparkly dresses.

Hesitantly, he opened one eye to look over at them, not missing how neither of them had moved to go back into either dressing room. If anything, they were actually farther out in the lounge area, and they'd retrieved the fresh glasses of champagne for themselves. It only added to the appeal of their fancy clothes, showing off exactly how they would look at a party or fundraiser or public function. Or, just alone, back at the penthouse, where they had plenty of choices for drinks and his new record player and where he could pick out a tie that actually matched what they'd put on instead of the red one that he wore.

Leopold shook his head and set his own glass aside before sitting up straighter to look at them properly. He wasn't being scolded anymore, that was good, at least. And he could feel the emotion settling in his chest while a softer smile pulled the corners of his mouth upward - warmth, and love, and peace.

thank you for giving me a reason to actually write these boys. i’m so very sad because i know how this ends but also because oh my god leonard peabody made me cry not clickbait?

When his contract expired, Leopold never thought he'd see anyone from the Commission again.

That had been the deal, the rule, the terms of the agreement, so to speak. He gave ten years of his life, followed their orders, completed their missions, and now he was retired. He picked his anywhere, he picked his anywhen, and he had to learn to live with it. Which was rather hard when someone from that era of his life had turned up at his door, talking about one last mission, and begging him to return to the world of danger and death that they'd lived in together.

At first, before the discussion of missions and risking their lives, he'd actually been happy to see a familiar face. In the year since he'd been back, Leopold had been cleaning up the mess he'd left behind - he was juggling how to handle the ex he'd abandoned when he left in the first place, his father's frustration at him going missing for a few weeks, and the workload that he forgot about. It was supposed to be his retirement, running away was supposed to fix everything, but that was hard to accomplish when he was right back where he started.

But, as soon as none other than Leonard Peabody sauntered into his home and found a spot on the couch, relaxing and looking as if he belonged there, all of the stress from his day to day life completely disappeared. For the first time in far too long, it was just the two of them, and it was like no time had passed at all. His partner in crime was in front of him, the same smirk he always wore so familiar and real that it almost felt like an illusion. 

"If I'd known you were rich, I would have come to visit sooner. Don't tell me, you have silk sheets, don't you? Fancy."

With a faint smile of his own, Leopold shook his head and poured himself a glass of scotch. Raising the bottle to offer some to his guest was a gesture, but an unnecessary one, and he knew it even before he asked the question. "Do you want any, or are you still avoiding alcohol like it'll kill you?"

"I'm still very sober, but thank you for offering, Mr. Manners." The teasing tone was something he was all too familiar with, one he heard plenty of over the decade they worked together. Between missions and the time they spent together between them, he'd grown all too familiar with every one of Leonard's tones, the good and the bad. "I'm surprised you haven't gone the same way. I assume, based on the year and the location you settled on, that father dearest is nearby?"

"You knew when I would choose before my contract was up. Yes, he lives in town, too, but not in this building, and not on this street. If you want private time with me, this is the best place to get it."

He shouldn't have said that. The private time together was what led to the discussion of one last mission, which led to an argument, which led to the bed with the silk sheets. They always did that. They yelled until their throats were sore, and then kissed and... made up. It was routine, even after all their time apart, and he didn't want to trade any of that for the world. 

( it was later that night, when they were still in bed and tangled up in each other, that the topic of one last mission came up again. it wasn't a pleasant topic, and Leopold would have put a stop to it if he'd had the chance before more details of the arrangement were whispered into the dim quiet around them.

"I arranged a new contract, if you come back for this. for both of us. one more mission, and we're both done. we get to retire together. anywhere, anywhen. I'll leave the commission for good, too, and you won't have to deal with your dad anymore and we can have the life we talked about."

"Lenny..."

"don't. you don't have to make a decision right now. time travel, remember? I can stick around as long as you want me to, as long as it takes for me to convince you."

"you didn't want to leave. you didn't want to come when I offered you an out, and there didn't have to be one more mission. we could have our life right now, but you wanted to stay and work for them. I won't take you away from the place you've made your home."

"but they're not my home, Leo, they never were. you are. you're my home. I'm not dragging you back in to try to convince you to stay forever, I couldn't do that if I tried, but... what I'm getting from this new contract, it's worth so much more than just some retirement package."

taking a deep breath, Leopold slowly shook his head in the darkness, the light of the moon through the window barely enough to illuminate any part of his bed. but he could see the expression of the man next to him, the set of his jaw, his unkempt hair from how they'd spent their afternoon, the faint glimmer of something like pleading in his eyes.

"Leonard, I don't-"

"please...? all I want... I just want to go home..." )

The Radcliffe Siblings + growing up together

a moodboard (kind of) for @docjemsimmons who wanted flying pigs the kids to have some soft happy things

something something modern AU where the boys can be happy and not *gestures to canon*

42. distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop the other person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead

Trying to stay focused on the laptop perched on his knees, Chase frowned and bit his lip. He'd taken all of the pictures he needed almost a whole week and a half before, and the hard part of his job was done. All he had to do, now, was make sure the lighting wasn't horrible and pick which ones to send to his editor, who would fix things up and decide on the layout for the article. It was the same thing he did with every project, the same routine that was so easy to fall into.

Except, in this particular instance, his ability to focus on his work was directly competing with the humming from the other end of the couch. It wasn't a bad sound, just distracting, like everything else that had to do with the man who was making the noise.

For almost a year, James Tibbet had been staying at his apartment while he got his feet under him. Moving all the way across the country wasn't easy, after all, and it certainly wasn't cheap. Staying with a friend had been a logical choice, and Chase was the only friend he had who actually had a place of his own - he had a job, and an apartment, and a savings account, and all those things stable adults had, things that James himself had no hope of seeing any time soon. After ten months, he was still working his same restaurant job, waiting tables and coming home smelling like burnt coffee, and he was still crashing on his friend's couch.

Actually, it had been a while since he'd slept on the couch, and even longer since Chase had been just his friend, but that wasn't really the point.

look.......... for you, i’ll do something not fitzdaisy, for a little variety (💜)

Ever since the serum was pushed through his veins, Chase’s life has been very different. He was lucky enough to be reassigned with the rest of the unit from that mission in Ciel Blanc, but that doesn’t make anything easy - he still needs to manage his new urges, keep their new team members from getting suspicious, and then things going wrong leads to him being separated from almost everyone who would know how to help.

The only familiar face is the annoying and rude man from Brooklyn who only seems to hate him more with each passing day, the one he once wanted to consider a friend.

Tibbet isn’t afraid. He’s been through worse than a little frontline gunfire, he’s seen real action. He’s not afraid, but he is ashamed. He had the opportunity to kill the man who had killed one of the only friends he had, but he couldn’t make himself pull the trigger. Now, he has his friend back, but there’s still that nagging voice in the back of his mind - is that thing even still Morton Chase?

Kitscliffe + adventurers

a moodboard requested by the amazing @docjemsimmons (with Mummy Era John for funsies)

I feel........... emotions? this got sadder than I thought it would.

17. I swear if they don’t relax, they’re going to snap in half

Leopold didn't like hanging around headquarters between missions. It was mundane, and the structure reminded him of being back home - a set schedule to adhere to, a limited variety of food in the cafeteria, his own room... It was fine, in theory, but when he spent months at a time sharing a space with his partner, going back to sleeping in his own bed was overwhelming. The mattress was too big, and too cold, and his pillows weren't firm enough because he was used to falling asleep with his head on a warm chest that held a beating heart, not a pile of feathers. It was miserable, only seeing his closest friend at meal times when they had to be elsewhere the rest of the day.

Paperwork doesn't do itself, Doctor, was the single worst sentence he'd ever heard in his life. Maybe it didn't do itself, but they had plenty of people around whose job was paperwork, and it seemed ridiculous for him to spend hours at a desk reviewing facts that the people in the building already knew. Because he wasn't filling out paperwork, he was fact checking. He was making sure the record of their mission was accurate, and in the nine years he'd been working for the Commission, there hadn't been a single incorrect detail in all the pages he'd read.

Well, the reports never touched on the physical relationship that had started between himself and his partner, but it was probably best to keep that to themselves. His contract was up in less than a year, and if he wanted to savor the time they still had together, he didn't want to risk them being split up because they violated some obscure Commission policy.