winter where you are

Chapter 11: Immune Response

“Cellular service in the Amazon is spotty at best,” Tim states, feeling somewhat removed from the conversation. “And even if you could get a hold of her, she wouldn’t pay. You won’t reach my father, either. He never picks up numbers he doesn’t know, and you already smashed my phone. You’ll get the secretary, but she’ll tell you that Drake Industries has a strict no-ransom policy.”

The second voice protests, “No, that’s – I mean, you’re their kid.”

A hysterical giggle tries to sneak out of his mouth, but he bites his lip harder, swallows it down and replies, “And you’re about to find out how little that’s worth.”

Chapter 10: Survival Mechanisms

(Tim loves. He loves in a way that he thinks might frighten other people.)

(But he knows better than anyone – his parents have been meticulous in this lesson – loving someone else does not make them yours.)

(Tim knows, okay? He really does. If something is not his, he can’t be upset when he loses it, can he?)

He doesn’t watch as they leave, and he doesn’t let himself hope that they’ll return. His eyes don’t linger as the door swings shut, or seek out the curtains to peek through the window, or follow the car as it drifts down the driveway to the empty road below. He doesn’t run up the stairs to his room or keep an eye on the clock so he can turn his binoculars to the sky when he knows their flights are in the air.

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Harry Potter

Status: Complete

Summary: Snape receives a visit from an recently graduated Harry Potter who has an unexpected request. A tweaked tale of consensual abuse.

Originally published: September 6, 2009. For a little context, the book series hadn’t been completed at the time this was written. Consider this an alternate universe where Snape's father was a dark wizard, there was no such thing as the half-blood prince, and (almost) everyone lives. Even though there are only 4 chapters available on my old account on fanfiction.net, the bulk of this was written almost 20 years ago - just never posted it because I was a weird kid. Popping it up here for archival purposes mostly, or for anyone who might have read it eons ago and actually wanted an emotionally disturbing conclusion.

Primary Pairings: Harry Potter x Severus Snape

Chapter 9: Testing Boundaries

Constantine makes a noise of understanding. “You’ve – six voices, you said?”

“Not counting my mother’s,” Tim replies without thinking. “But she didn’t spawn from a demonic ritual.” He shakes his head to clear it. Pauses. Considers what he knows. “I mean, I’m pretty sure she didn’t.”

The man barks a laugh, but leans back a little when Tim doesn’t join him. “You serious?”

Chapter 8: Growing Pains

As he slips inside, he fumbles blindly in the dark, fingers searching the nearby wall for a light switch. It’s just as he finds it that he hears a quiet clink – the subtle grind of mechanical parts – and the lights flicker to life. Across the room, Tim meets the whites of Z’s wide, brown eyes.

“Jesus fucking Christ, kid,” the assassin wheezes, unrepentant, plastered flat against the wall as he clutches at his chest theatrically with one hand. Tim’s eyes barely track the movement, instead fixated on the other hand – the one that’s covertly tucking the gun back into his holster. “Please don’t do that ever again.”

Tim blinks, glancing behind him. “Don’t – come through the front door?”

“Yeah. That,” Z says, like it’s a totally reasonable request, even as his voice curves up into a tightly controlled crescendo. “Because it’s three in the godda – it’s three. In the morning.”

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Batman

Status: Work in Progress

Summary: In other lives, there are a lot of different paths Tim Drake might have walked, a slew of very different people he could one day become. The problem is, in this life, he’s ten years old and quite literally haunted by his own potential. He’s not being dramatic when he says the only thing he hates more than a poorly performed demonic ritual is himself.

Primary Pairings: None. Tim Drake x Suffering, maybe?

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3

Status: Work in Progress

Summary: Tav has forgotten more lifetimes than he remembers.

OR: The excessively dramatic, self-indulgent semi-meta retelling of BG3, with a half-elf Tav who doesn’t actually know who he is anymore. After centuries of looping, what he does know are the creatures he has loved and those he has destroyed - not always mutually exclusive - and that he's very, very tired.

Primary Pairings: None, but mentions from previous time loops include: Astarion/Tav. Shadowheart/Tav. Gale/Tav. Zevlor/Tav. Wyll/Tav.

Chapter 10: Nishikawa Benjiro

Today is awful. It’s so utterly awful, Benjiro wouldn’t be able to find the right words to explain it, even if he had someone else to explain it to.

Which he doesn’t.

Chapter 9: Akaguro Chizome

The detective meets All-Might’s gaze directly, bolsters himself with all of the inspiration and conviction and greatness he can see there. He finds the strength to nod. This isn’t the time for headaches and fatigue, for ringing ears and upset stomachs. Cagey shadow monsters and lying boogeymen are mentally marked as secondary concerns.

This is where his investigation has led him. He has questions.

Chapter 8: All for One

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Status: 2nd in series, Complete

Series:  A Difference of Perspective

Summary: A single stone is thrown into the middle of a lake, the ripples spread to touch the grassy edges. Fifteen years later, it is safe to say those ripples are history. And yet, as Detective Tsukauchi, All-Might, and Ground Zero overturn the stones at the bottom of the lake, they may learn the truth as they make new waves.

Primary Pairings: No pairing

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia

Status: 1st in series, Complete

Series:  A Difference of Perspective

Summary: Fifteen years ago, a boy disappeared. Ripples in the water, the butterfly flaps its wings, and everything changes.

Primary Pairings: No pairing

Chapter 49

[5 of 6] Episode 10: The Pauper

Author: town without heart

Fandom: Supernatural

Status: Oneshot

... although maybe I might continue this one day? I admit, I have a problem when it comes to writing fix-its.

Summary: Things get way worse before they get better. Actually, you’re going to have to use your imagination for the getting better because one epic fix-it is all I have it in me to write at any given time.

Primary Pairings: None. Maybe Sam Winchester x angst?