Title: Cat’s Cradle Summary: Liam casts a spell to protect you all in a place that encourages magic to backfire. Warnings: Major character injury, hyperventilation Notes: It’s been a minute since I’ve done a BTHB piece, and this one is going to be much shorter than some of the old ones, but I really like this idea. (If you sent me a BTHB prompt a long time ago, I will fill it, don’t worry!  I just have some late gift pieces to finish first.)  I’m sorry that this ended up being a little more gen than you probably intended, but I just needed to give Li some comfort after all of the things @speakergame‘s author dropped on us in the Discord.  I hope you like it.

Also here on AO3.

Lily version.

Your first thought is that you should have known.  Somehow.  It’s not like the clues weren’t there, but you all came here to solve a completely different mystery, and so they might as well have been whispers in a hurricane.  Your sister’s headache, Rory complaining of the dark being harder to see though, Kana being even less willing to use their voice than usual... it wouldn’t surprise you, now, to hear that Sebastian or Azalea had been feeling the strain, too.  You’re glad that neither one of them had tried to use their respective powers down here.

But Li--

Li.

Neither Rory nor Speaker’s gender is specified.  How did I go over a page without using third person pronouns?  Very careful epithets, I guess.  I hope you enjoy!

43. a kiss on the stomach [dealer’s choice] + Rory

At some point during this whole mess, you’ve migrated from perching vaguely in the general vicinity of the couch (Bas had been the one to point out helpfully that what you were doing could not technically be qualified as sitting, and Li backed him up, the little shit, as if Li ever sat properly on any flat surface, either—), to reclining against the couch from the floor, to lounging with your back on the couch cushions while your legs are slung over one arm of it, kicking idly in the air every so often.

The book you’re flipping through, searching for information without reading too deep into any one part, is thick enough that holding it over your face probably should have been making your arms hurt after this long.  But a combination of the endurance your lifestyle forced on you and the weird trance that came with having a goal means that you really don’t notice.  You also don’t notice that the room has grown dark enough that you’re now holding the book a little too close to your face in order to see.

And you definitely don’t notice anyone approaching you until something warm and solid clamps around your ankle.

Title: Wide Open Summary: Sometimes, fighting is a very serious business, and sometimes...this. Warnings: None. Notes: This is just a short piece for some specific trope-loving friends on the @speakergame Discord server, which you can find in the pinned post on that blog.  This story assumes nothing about either Speaker or Rory’s gender, only that Speaker is shorter than Rory.

Also here on AO3.

It wasn’t like there was a whole lot else you could do.  Yeah, maybe it wasn’t the smartest decision in the world, but Rory was protecting your sister, and that meant your instincts said to protect Rory, who was now wide open.  It was just that simple.  Never mind the fact that Rory was both taller and stronger than you, especially now, after everything.  And never mind the fact that you didn’t have a weapon at this point.

You just needed a little more time for the others, and whether you had to buy it with your fists or your words wasn’t nearly as important as making sure you all got out safely.

“Hey, no,” you heard from behind you, just at the same second that you felt two warm hands circle your waist and lift.  A clumsy imitation of a dance move you were pretty sure you’d seen done before, except this was both exasperated and a little more desperate.  You turned around as soon as you could, looking up into Rory’s eyes (and definitely not getting lost in those freckles, not in a situation like this, no matter how cute the blush growing behind them was).  “My turn to be your knight in shining armor, highness.”

The playfulness in Rory’s voice, the little joke you’d had since that first meeting, struck you with something that felt a little like an adrenaline jolt and a little bit like seeing Rory for the first time all over again.  It was simultaneously invigorating and disorienting, especially with the way the alley backlit those honey-brown curls.

And then, the whole moment shattered, as Rory smirked and added, “Also, you’re too short for anyone to take seriously as a human shield.”

“What--” you started to say, only to realize abruptly that despite Rory’s back being between the two of you and your foe, absolutely nothing had happened.  Except that you could hear your sister, behind you, laughing, as what sounded like badly-repressed giggling quickly escalated into a full cackle, if only for a moment.

You looked over Rory’s shoulder--rather, around Rory’s shoulder--to see the others nearby, as well as what you were fighting, now wrapped up neatly in some actually pretty sick violet chains.  The moment you made eye contact with Li, all you got was a shrug.

“We didn’t want to interrupt,” was the reply.

“It was cute!” said Azalea, seeming for all intents and purposes completely genuine, which only made it worse because you knew the other three were not.

“Ugh,” you groaned without heat, flopping forward dramatically so that your forehead fell on Rory’s chest before waving a hand vaguely in your friends’ direction.  “You’re welcome.”

At the first words from this person’s mouth, the first words that come to your mind are, cheap, followed immediately by, worry.  You’ve been approached by random strangers with weird pickup lines at questionable-quality motels more times in your life than you care to admit, and this is a little too close to that for comfort.

But the person keeps talking, and then all you can see is tousled, almost-gold-when-backlit hair and eyes that you’re not sure if they’re green or brown or something in between, but you know that they are unbearably earnest.  Maybe letting your guard down here is a stupid decision, but it’s hard to hear the warning sirens over the sound of that smile.

EDIT: aha, I finally realized which person in my notes this fic was requested by, and it’s the lovely @starkhavn!  This is for you.

At the first words out of this person’s mouth, the first words that pop into your mind are, cheap, followed by, danger.  There have been far too many weirdos at motels in the middle of nowhere like this who use stale lines like that to try and get your attention--and never for a reason you’re exactly okay with--for you not to be a little on edge.

But it doesn’t stop there, and the more you listen to this person stumble their way through what you think is supposed to eventually be a regular greeting, the harder it is not to notice how earnest the eyes that go with it are.  How their color is warm, not sharp and predatory, though you can’t tell exactly what it is with the lobby’s backlighting through the doorway.

Rory had been unsure of a lot of things lately.  Ever since what happened, since going on the run, it hadn’t been easy to accept help because the wall of fear in their mind was too high to reach across, and honestly, Rory had kind of assumed that it was just going to be a case of running and scraping by until...

Well, that sure hadn’t happened exactly right, not with this Speaker and Seer showing up.  They were strange, and they weren’t alone, and they had gotten to Rory at a moment when the wall had already been broken through.  It was all too perfect, too good to be true, for a savior to just appear like this.

Thank you for asking!  This turned out a little short, but it was just so sweet that I didn’t want to drag it out.  I hope you enjoy it~

Speaker here uses they/them.

15. a kiss on the jawline + Aurora

Okay, so, it wasn’t like Aurora meant for this crush on the literal person of her dreams to go from 0 to 60 in a single conversation, but in her defense, what else was she supposed to do with that? Being literally pulled from what felt like the brink of death (and, to this day, Aurora still wasn’t a hundred percent sure what would have happened otherwise because Li was pretty vague about it—would she have still Changed, or would she just have bled out?) might’ve given her a little rose-colored tint when it came to the Speaker, sure.  But then there was the fact that the Speaker was charming in just the right way, too, and relentlessly good.

So, again, she asked herself with a giddy sort of helplessness: what was she supposed to do with that except fall head over heels?

The answer was nothing, thanks very much, and Aurora wouldn’t change it even if she could.

The luckiest part for her, she thought, was being loved back.  Never mind that Aurora had never dreamed of settling down, that she didn’t have much in the way of a home besides this cobbled-together family, that she was Changed and struggling with it, or that meeting her might have been the beginning of the darkest chapter in their lives—the Speaker loved her back.

It was something Aurora would never take for granted.

This did not, of course, exempt her from being impulsive about showing it.  Putting up with the inevitable gagging noises from Li, cooing from Azalea, and fond eye rolls from Sebastian and Kana (not to mention the teasing from Speaker’s own twin) was a completely fair and valid price to pay for kissing her Speaker just because.  It wasn’t even a messy kiss, really, so the others didn’t have any room to really complain. Just Aurora leaning over and smiling into their hair, and then when they inevitably turned to ask what Aurora was doing, pressing that smile into the skin under their ear.

“Nothing,” Aurora said as she pulled away, feeling warmth bloom across her face as she caught sight of the Speaker’s smile.

This was lots of fun to write, honestly!  Thank you for the request, and I hope I got Ellie’s characterization pretty close.

In case the kiss location doesn’t give it away, this gets a little steamy, but nothing warranting an E rating on AO3 actually happens.  I’m just being suggestive, though honestly, I could probably be persuaded to continue this at some point if that’s something people are into.

49. a kiss on the inner thigh + Ellie/Aurora

“Are you…” Rory said, voice still a little fuzzy with sleep as she shifted to look at Ellie over her shoulder, “…Are you just drawing constellations on my freckles?  Seriously?”  A grin broke over her face despite the blush that followed it only a second later (and that was how Ellie knew she was really awake).  “Pretty cliché, ain’t it?  Not that I’m complain’, ‘f course…”

“I don’t know…  That sounded like complaining,” Ellie answered, voice rising a little as she teased.  She pushed herself up on one arm, which was also the exact moment she remembered why they were in bed together and that it had something to do with her sister and Li teaming up…

Ellie’s heart kickstarted like someone had jumped it, and all of a sudden, she could feel herself blushing just as hot as Rory seemed to whenever they were close, except this was probably way more noticeable than usual because it wasn’t like she slept in her makeup.  Internally, she swore at herself, because really? She and Rory were together now, technically, and they’d kissed and everything, and yet, somehow, just waking up together in a bed (where nothing else had happened!) was making her light up like a paper lantern?

“See something you like?” Rory asked, and Ellie groaned.

You’re making it worse, she didn’t say.  “Yeah, these sheets.  Bland, low-threadcount off-white is my favorite.”  She couldn’t get through the sentence without laughing, though, and when she dipped her head, it nearly brushed Rory’s collarbones. So she’d just be blushing forever or until she combusted, whichever came first.  Fine, I guess.

Luckily, Rory was laughing, too, arms coming up to bracket Ellie into a hug.  The mortification of being such a (self-proclaimed) disaster didn’t leave, but it was easier when they were both pink and breathless with laughter, feet tangled in the stupid sheets.  Rory had shifted so that Ellie was lying between her legs and half on her torso, and Ellie could feel the shifter’s heart under her own.  It was beating just as fast.  So, when they finally settled down and Rory said brightly, “Seriously, though, you didn’ hafta stop,” Ellie couldn’t help the little rush of courage it gave her.

“Well,” she said, shifting lower on the bed as she went, “if you’re sure…?”

“I’m game if you are, Ellie,” Rory said, equal parts teasing and serious as she pushed herself up on her elbows to follow Ellie as she ducked out of sight.

Li had mentioned at one point that Rory’s freckles were, in fact, everywhere that Li had reached in a medical examination, but it was one thing to know that and another thing to be literally faced with the map of them across Rory’s skin, like flower petals in a wind storm or (it was cliché, but) stars in the sky.  Ellie traced her fingers in a whimsical swirl up the front of one thigh.  From the knee to the hem of her sleep shorts and then back down on the other leg, pillowing her cheek on the one she had just touched.  Her fingers passed over Rory’s scars, too, and maybe there would be another time to explore those, but for now…

Before she could think better of it, Ellie turned her head and softly kissed a cluster of dark freckles.

It was only when the muscle under her lips twitched and she heard Rory’s breath catch in her throat that Ellie remembered to be embarrassed about being that forward.  Then again, it wasn’t like Rory had been resistant at all to having Ellie between her legs, so despite her blush returning with a vengeance, she just looked up through her lashes and sparked a smirk.  “This okay?”

“Yes,” Rory said quickly.  Quick enough that the smirk on Ellie’s face only burned brighter because making Rory sound like that was well worth pretending like she wasn’t dying inside from how attractive this woman was.