#multimagic

15.

"Lost it? Lost it?!" Rex all but yelled, staring at his brother in sheer incredulity. "Ian, you ate someone!"

Ian scoffed. "Okay. That's a bit of an exaggeration, Rex."

"No, it's fucking not! You literally just tore someone to shreds and ate them!"

Kate spoke up next. "Seriously though, what the fuck was that, Ian?! That was terrifying!"

Ian looked around himself. He was actually drenched in blood that he didn't recognise, blood that didn't smell... human. "Wait, was this a Viltrumite?"

"Wha... uh, yeah! More specifically, an evil version of my boyfriend!" Rex spluttered, trying to avoid looking at the scene in front of him. "Oh god! Did you have to do that, Ian? I'm traumatized enough already!"

Paul just stood there, unmoving as he watched the aftermath of his boyfriend's brief lapse in humanity.

"And now look! You've traumatized my brother, too! He's still shocked from having to see that!" Kate exclaimed, shaking him by the shoulders.

Paul's cheeks tinted pink.

"See, this is what- oh my god. You- Paul, you-?" Kate asked incredulously, shocked by his blushing. "You're into that?!"

Paul coughed. "Um... no?"

"Jesus Christ, you know what? I'm going home. You two deserve each other!" The other Cha twin relented, turning away and beginning to walk away from the scene. "Had to be twins with a monsterfucker, didn't I?"

"I'm done. I'm gonna need to wash my eyes with bleach after that shit!" Rex declared, following her out.

"Ok... I need a shower." Ian thought out loud, looking himself over.

"Yeah." Paul agreed. "You wanna get something to eat afterwards?"

@multimagic liked for muse roulette and got Lily Evans-Potter

okie dokie!

28 + 13.

“Yeah, yeah, in a minute, love,” Ian said, not even looking back as he sat hunched over, scribbling ink onto the old yellowing pages of the spell book. “Just gotta make sure this is right before I put it away...!”

“Ian...” Paul called. 

“Yeah, I know, just lemme-!”

“Ian.”

Ian stopped at the word. He slowly turned his head to look behind the collar of his cloak, spying the less than pleased look on his boyfriend’s face. “Ah... you planned something, didn’t you?”

“That I did.” Paul confirmed, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow as he tapped his foot on the floor. “So, d’you wanna stay in here and keep scribbling who-knows-what in that book while you reek like a dead cat,” He asked, “Or do you wanna shower for probably the first time this week, and join me on the couch in clothes that are actually clean?”

Ian blinked. His gaze flitted between his partner and the book. “Well... now that I think about it, the book can wait a day or two?”

“If you think so, honey.”

---

Ian scratched his neck, pulling at the hem of his beaten green tee. The Séance Dog logo had largely faded off the front of it from being washed so many times, only a few flecks of paint left. His lounge pants were partially eaten by moths, littered with holes around the waist and ankles that often joined together to expose the clothes’ insides or, more commonly, his bare legs. Most of these clothes had been around for at least three or four years, fished out of a clothing bin in Singapore or stolen from someone’s washing lines.  

“You ready, Ian?” He heard from downstairs. He checked his hair (not quite as messy as it usually was) before trudging down the polished spruce steps, his slippers making muffled padding noises. 

Paul was currently draped across one half of the red leather couch, sitting in a pair of grey sweatpants and his old Sacramento Kings jersey. His fingers drummed on the top of the TV remote as he eyed his boyfriend’s entry into the room. “Have I ever told you how well you clean up?”

Ian scoffed. “Alright, I get it! I’ll try and shower more!” He replied, rubbing at his eyes as he sat down. “Spirits, how long have I been up?!”

“About three... no, four days straight.” Paul told him. He shifted, now draping himself over the wizard. “You might be the only magic-user who does what you do, but that doesn’t mean you have to work yourself to death trying to fix every problem that comes your way! You’re only human, Ian.”

“Well, half human.”

Paul’s frown made Ian realise that his joke could’ve had better timing. 

“...I know what you mean, love. It’s just that I... I’m still new at this, y’know? I’ve gotta show everyone that I can pull my weight!” Ian confessed, blinking through bloodshot eyes at the ceiling as his head lolled back. “This whole ‘mystic defender of Earth’ schtick is the first thing I’ve had that could actually be long-term for me. I wanna be, well, worthy of it!”

“Worthy?” Paul asked, surprised by his choice of words. “Ian, you’re already worthy of it about a hundred times over! Hell, you’ve been at this less than a year and you’ve already saved the world about half a dozen times at the very least! And if that doesn’t convince you, then...,” He got closer, his mouth close to Ian’s ear, “then know that you’re worthy to me!”

Ian paused. Then, a smile worked its way across his face. “Are you still wearing that old thing? Not complaining though, ‘specially with the view I get when you do!”

Paul looked confused for a moment, before he realised what the wizard was talking about. His basketball jersey had always been about three sizes too large for his torso, showing off his lean yet somewhat muscled body and arms. “Okay, you raging horndog, simmer down!” He ordered, lightly batting his boyfriend’s arm. “Besides, how am I gonna throw this away? An authentic Kings jersey signed by my first male crush, Darren Collinson? What are you, crazy?”

“Pfft, Darren Collinson, what’s so special about him?” Ian grumbled. “So what, he plays for the NBA? I could play for the NBA if I wanted!”

74.

"Huh? What's special about the rain?" Paul, pulling the hood of his coat down to cover more of his face.

Ian reached out to gather the rainfall in his palm, drawing it back after a few drops were collected. Without missing a beat, he put his hand to his lips and tipped the rainwater into his mouth. "It's sugary. The clouds on this planet are partially comprised of a sweet-tasting particulate native to this solar system. Makes the air taste like soda water.”

Paul hesitated at first, but eventually reached his hand out as well, sipping the rain. The sweetness was sharp, with an aftertaste that reminded Paul of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “Huh... cool rain.”

“I know, right?” Ian laughed. He paused for a moment or two, before he turned to his husband. “Okay then Birthday Boy? Anywhere you’ve ever wanted to go, I can do!”

“Anywhere?”

“Anywhere in the known universe! It’s not every day that you turn thirty, after all!” Ian affirmed, bumping shoulders with his husband. 

“Hmm... take me somewhere busy.” Paul answered. “Like, really busy. City-planet levels of busy!”

Ian raised a brow, seemingly surprised at the request, but nodded regardless. “Alright, my dear. In that case, I know just the place to go!” He said, and waved a hand that burned with bright yellow light. In just a few seconds, they went from the rain-soaked sands of one planet to the bustling metallic skyline of another. “This is Talescria, one of the biggest cultural hubs this side of the galaxy with over twelve billion inhabitants, and the former capital of the Coalition of Planets, when they were still a thing!”

“It’s beautiful.” Paul thought out loud, marvelling at how vast the strange steel-grey tops of the buildings stretched into the blue-green sky. “It’s like something out of Batman Beyond, but bright!”

Ian snorted at the comment. “That’s the first place your mind went to? A kid’s show?”

“What would you have likened it to? Cowboy Bebop?” Paul shot back, looking confident in his assertion. 

“Well, I... y-yeah I would’ve. But regardless,” Ian conceded, “that’s another planet off the list. Anywhere else you wanna go? The universe is quite literally your oyster!”

For those of you that don’t already know, my main OC Ian and his canon character boyfriend Paul live in San Diego, California. This means that they’d also take part in the many celebrations specific to the city. Ian’s favourite is Restaurant Week, because it’s the only time of the year he can get away with ordering takeout for five days in a row (Paul’s okay with it as long as they get one of their meals from Madame Feng’s). Paul’s favourite is the Gaslamp Quarter Mardi Gras, mainly because it’s the liveliest the place actually gets all year.

Adding on to this, Paul, and by extension Kate, are themselves from California, more specifically from Sacramento in the northern end of the state. Paul has an old Kings basketball jersey he wears to bed, Kate’s slang was so frequent when she was younger she basically sounded like a surfer, and they both still home ‘Old Sac’.

Keeping to the theme of the Cha twins, in canon their shared curse ends up driving their father Tsing insane (which definitely messed them up, but that’s for another time), and their background gets a bit vague from there. However, I would like to instead offer that the two were instead raised by their grandparents for most of their childhood until the twins split. 

Paul stirred. He stretched out, every muscle shivering with the exertion. The calm morning sun filtered in through the gap in the blinds, exposing the small gathering motes of dust on the bedroom floor. The rest of the room was coated in shadow, the only indication of another soul being the dip in the bed frame to his right, as well as the gentle warmth that wafted under the sheets.

“You up?” A voice asked, and a desk lamp clicked on, briefly blinding the martial artist’s vision and causing him to squint. When he adjusted, the sight of Ian greeted him, dressed in a green shirt and reading through some old and beaten novel. He closed the book, thumb working as a makeshift bookmark while he added “You know what today is, don’t you?”

Paul groaned, trying his hardest to remember. “The… 22nd?”

“Hahaha!” Ian laughed, a deep hearty noise. “Yes, and what month is it, love?”

“Sep… oh. Our anniversary!” He realised, jolting up into a sitting position with a concerned look on his face. “Shit, I didn’t-!”

“Neither did I, so don’t worry, love” the wizard reassured. “Luckily for us, we’ve both got the day off. And I don’t know about you,” he added, drawing closer and cupping the martial artist’s cheek, “but I have a lot of ideas, starting with…”

Before he could hear any of Ian’s plans, a shrill beeping rang out. It drew a groan from the both of them, and the wizard withdrew to pick a small black object off his bedside table, green light flashing from a small screen in the middle. His GDA-issued pager. Trust Cecil to kill the mood.

“Who is it now?” Paul let out in exasperation, flopping back down onto his pillow.

“Magmaniac. Apparently, he’s decided to go on a less than legal shopping spree” Ian answered. He looked as if he was considering something, before shaking his head, deciding “Ah, what the hell”. No sooner had he said that than crushed the pager, a small burst of sparks flying from between his fingers. He let the broken pager fall to the ground, climbing back into bed with his partner. “Cecil can shout at me tomorrow. He’ll have to survive without me today, because today is all about us, and I’m not letting some surly old bastard ruin it” he told Paul, who snuggled up to the larger man’s side.

“Speaking of us, what was that thing you were talking about before?” the martial artist asked, pressing his face against Ian’s large deltoid. 

“Oh yeah” the wizard said, and the arm that Paul had made his personal anchor was removed. he began to grumble, but soon stopped when he looked up to spy the wizard removing his shirt and tossing it aside, exposing the network of scarred muscle and skin that spanned the length and breadth of his torso. His partner waggled his eyebrows, the suggestive intent clear. 

“Daring today, aren’t we?” he teased, pulling his own purple shirt off in the process. His skin was much smoother and with less muscle behind it, but he was by no means skinny. Of course, even with all the work he had put in, he was still dwarfed by the wizard’s frame, something he was thankfully into. He moved first, pushing Ian down before hooking a leg over his waist, ending up in a straddling position akin to a cowboy atop a horse. He leaned in, warmly telling his boyfriend “Happy anniversary” before lightly pecking him on the cheek.