#kddvl

Zach woke groggily, his whole body aching from the overuse of magic yesterday. Needless to say returning from their impromptu engagement holiday to the devastation of Joker’s latest assault had been shocking. Of course he’d wanted to help so he’d immediately hightailed it down to the bridge and with several spells had it good as new, though that’s put one heck of a strain on the ol’physical container. He suspected Eddie might be as bad, with all the teleporting he’d done, getting people stranded outside back into the city, but then his demonic body seemed to snap back much quicker than Zach’s did. He heaved a sigh and reached over, the bed was still warm where Eddie had been but being as hot as he was that could mean he’d been gone a while.

He rolled out of bed and padded into the kitchen wearing only his boxers to see Eddie standing at the kitchen island. He smiled softly and walked over, wrapping his arms around the others bare torso and sighed into his shoulder, placing a gentle kiss there. “Mornin,” he mumbled against Eddie’s warm skin, “How’s my fiancé after a day spent saving the citizens of the city?” 

Chuck was actually doing okay money-wise for a change. The huge lump Mr. Joker had given him for that truck thing he’d needed should keep him going for more than a few months! But he wasn’t gonna start buying expensive stuff for the sake of it. More than half the time everything he needed for his inventions could be sourced at 2nd hand or junk shops. So they were always the best place to start.

He already had a basket about half full of various bits but as he reached for a slightly battered looking hard drive another hand did the same thing. “Whoops!” Chuck chuckled, pulling his hand back a little, “Sorry bout that, you go for it kiddo.” he grinned. 

@kddvl​

Zach never seemed to be the one to talk about his personal business. Being as he was an adult now, Zatanna never expected him to come to her with anything that was bothering. Regardless, he was still family and she wanted to at least check on him every once in a while. 

“ecalp s'hcaZ.” A door-shaped opening appeared in front of her, stepping inside to reveal what appeared to be Zach’s living quarters. Almost immediately, she felt an unfamiliar presence within its confides. Perhaps she had the wrong address but that would seem impossible, knowing she had uttered the magic without hesitation. 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, not yet making out who else was present, “Are you Zach’s roommate? I was just checking up on him to make sure he’s okay. I’m his cousin.” 

Two weeks into the new job, M’gann asked the head librarian for a little extra responsibility. It wasn’t that she was bored at the circulation desk. For the most part she enjoyed checking out books and restocking the shelves, holding short conversations with the library patrons and reading through anything interesting that happened to catch her eye.

After library hours were over, at 5:30 on the dot, she had a much harder time keeping busy. By 6:15, the static would creep back in. It was driving her up the wall. So, she’d volunteered to host a cooking class on a Wednesday evening. The head librarian had been very enthusiastic. The library had a kitchen in the basement for events, but there hadn’t been many events to speak of in the past few years.

M’gann drew up a nice flyer and made sure everything was in order in the kitchen. The library paid for her to buy materials for twenty students. Fettuccine for twenty, M’gann thought excitedly. Twenty new friends. Twenty new pasta inductees to go out and make the world a better place with delicious carbs.

But, by the 6:30 start time, only one pasta inductee had shown up. Well, to be fair two had shown, but one of them had left. She figured she’d better get started before the one remaining student got the same idea. Reaching out a hand, M’gann introduced herself. “I’m M’gann M’orzz and tonight I’ll be teaching you to make fettuccine Alfredo from scratch.”

An evening walk along the docks, moonlight glittering off the sea, the sound of lapping water... Zach had eventually given in to Eddie’s pleas for them to spend a little time together outside of the apartment and he had to admit, it was nice. There weren’t loads of people around and he’d (somewhat shyly) reached down to take Eddie’s hand in his as they walked. It was all pretty romantic.

Until an almighty crash rang out and it seemed a damn shipping container full of guns was tipped over and over a dozen gang members scrambled to get them, gunshots ringing into the air.

While everything else had been utterly monotone since his coming back there was one thing that kindled something closer to his usual feelings in him: thoughts of Eddie. He’d been the first to cross his mind when he’d awoke and after June had spirited him away back to her and Harvey’s home, and they’d agreed time was needed to think how to best break this to the city, he opened a portal to his old apartment and stepped out. 

It had been a month... a month, since he’d last been here. The place was messy, still his dove was sat on her perch and sung at the sight of him before flying over. A small smile was all Zach mustered as he pet and cooed quietly to her before returning her to her perch. Just then he heard the door open and he turned to see a familiar red silhouette in the doorway. He inhaled, a surge of familiarity coming through his chest- there, something akin to feeling. It had to be him.

“Hello Eddie.” he said softly, turning to fully face him.

Zach shot inside and shut and locked the door behind him. Thank fuck. He’d made it back to his place in one piece, now he just needed to find that damn spell book! Without pause, he started searching though and eventually found the innocent looking volume that he started frantically rifling through. He’d only read a few paragraphs when he heard a now familiar sound and felt a familiar magical presence...

He looked up to see red skin and a less then pleased expression, oh shit.. “E-Eddie,” Zach said cautiously, “Are you okay?” He didn’t know if the spell would work on other magical beings...