Jayce And Zaun Vik

22 from the prompt list? if you want to, of course.

Thanks for the prompt, anon! <3

22. “They won’t take you away from me ever again.”

Jaytim; established relationship; warning for brief description of eye trauma (not serious)

--

The first thing Jason does is check his pulse.

When he feels fluttering life under his fingertips and marks the shallow rise and fall of his chest, some of the anger collapses into jittery relief.

Some.

Tim's face is bloody and bruised, his cheek swelling purple under his mask. There are electrical burns on his uniform— they must have gotten creative when they couldn't get him fully out of the costume. He's trussed up, his bare hands bound and hanging from a meat hook in the center of the dank, round cell. Seeing it, Jason would like to return to the floor above them and cash in every cent of good will he's earned with the bats.

But the toes of Tim's boots barely brush the floor, and instead of giving in to murderous impulse, the second thing Jason does is hoist an arm around his waist to take the weight off of his shoulders.

When he does, Tim gasps, a wounded sound that nearly sends Jason right over the edge.

"You know," Jason says through gritted teeth as he saws through the ropes, his jovial tone sounding strained even to himself. "This is a pretty needlessly convoluted way to get out of doing dishes. Do we need to rethink the chore wheel?"

The last of the straps around Tim's wrists give way with a snap. Tim's strangled cry is loud in his ear, and Jason grunts as he bears Tim down to the floor.

"Because you can just ask if you want to rethink the chore wheel."

He runs through the checklist— spine: intact; head injury: negative. Unless you count the black eye and the split lip and—

Baby blues peer out at him from narrow slits. His pupils are mismatched; possible concussion but a drug is also likely, and the white of one eye is nearly consumed by bloody red. They're the prettiest thing Jason's seen all night.

"...H'd?"

"Yeah," he says roughly. "I've got you, babybird. I'm here."

"Tal'ns. Mayor's off'ce. Midnight."

God. Even beaten half to death and drugged out of his mind, Tim still has the wherewithal to deliver cryptic warnings. Jason might swoon. And they say romance is dead.

"I hear ya. Don't worry— it's taken care of."

It was the last transmission they received from Red Robin, before he cut out. There had been arguing in his comm for all of five seconds before the roar of Jason's bike drowned it out.

"Mm. 'kay." Tim blinks, and flops a hand to Jason's wrist. Aside from some scratches and chipped nails, his fingers are miraculously intact. He clasps their hands together.

"C'n we go home?"

Jason's chest clenches.

“Yeah. Yeah we can."

He pulls Tim to his feet, then into his arms when he can't stand. He walks them out the way he came.

Ten steps down the corridor, Tim jerks in his hold.

"Talons— the mayor—"

Jason shushes him.

"Hey, hey. You already told me. We've got it."

"But—"

"It's being dealt with. We'll get them. And they won’t take you away from me. Ever again.”

The last part slips out without Jason's permission, tight from his throat. Tim only sighs and turns his face into Jason's neck. Jason takes them home.

It's an empty promise. Not because he won't try to keep it, but because there's no way to guarantee it and they both know it. The Court has its scrawny little claws in every crack and crevice of Gotham, and there's no telling who's behind every mask.

The streets would run red and he'd lose Tim anyway.

Oh jayce

A young, horny Lambert sets his sights on an older hunk of Witcher beef. CW: age gap, flirtation.

"I'm going for it."

"Lambert, don't be a fucking idiot. They'll laugh at you."

"They might, but he won't. You miss all the chances you don't take, right?"

"Your funeral."

Lambert licked his lips and smoothed his hair back as he stood. He hadn't torn his eyes away from his mark for a single second since said man had swaggered into the hall a few hours before. This was the winter he'd do it. He was a man himself now, which meant he had every chance of bagging himself the hunk of good-lookin' he'd been coveting from the moment his dick had started getting hard at night and hair had appeared on his jaw.

Eskel.

It wasn't just that Eskel had two decades on Lambert or that he was becoming a seasoned witcher. No other Witcher in the keep compared. Sure, some tried. They might step toe to toe during drills or try to outflame Eskel's igni, but they never could. The only one that outmatched Eskel was his pale shadow, Geralt. They even looked a little similar. But cream puff was a fucking bean pole of a man, and that shitty headband...

N'aw, Lambert wanted big. He wanted heat, and honey eyes, and that thatch of dark hair he'd seen on Eskel's barrelled chest in the baths, and that huge fucking d--

"You lost, Lambert?"

Lambert blinked. Gweld, the ginger prick, was frowning at him, ale tankard halfway up to his mouth. The others had paused their card game; Clovis looked drunk, Geralt was slouched back trying to see Clovis' hand and Eskel was watching Lambert speculatively.

Watching, with those honey-coloured eyes that turned Lambert inside out. The words caught in Lambert's throat; shit, fuck, why was he so fuckin' stupid the moment Eskel looked at him?

He took a breath, conscious of Clovis elbowing Gweld with a chuckle, while Geralt looked over with a smirk.

Lambert found his words. He folded his arms, thrust his chest out, widened his stance and put on his best cocky smirk. "Was just wonderin' whether Eskel wanted some better company. You losers can't handle your beer at the best of times."

They laughed. Gweld elbowed Eskel who cocked a half smile, eyes rolling not at Lambert, but his friends, proving Lambert's point. Obviously.

"Is that right?" Geralt asked, amusement turning his narrow face bright with a toothy grin. Lambert had been told that as witchers matured they honed their sense of smell, could identify a man's emotions from his body language, the flush in his skin. Lambert knew Geralt had him sussed. "And what kinda company are you offering?"

"Geralt..." Eskel growled in warning, and it went straight to Lambert's groin. Fucking hells.

"Whatever he wants. I'm a man of many talents."

More laughter--"little man has game, shit; fuck, I'm chokin, too funny"--but Lambert wasn't put off. Eskel's eyes were on him, warming him like the sun. The lines around those eyes were wrinkled with mirth, and damn if that smile wasn't snatching the breath right out of Lambert's chest.

"Does your master know you're out?" Eskel asked, placing his cards face down. He leaned back in his chair and slung his elbow onto the back of it, knee turned out while a hand tapped at his drink.

Lambert tried to keep his eyes level and resist the urge to... look. Eskel's codpiece put on an absolutely fucking heroic effort, but it could only hide so much and that was when Eskel was soft. "What he don't know can't hurt him. No business of his who else is in my bed as long as I am."

Eskel pressed his lips together to smother his smile while the others guffawed. More was said but Lambert didn't really hear; he was too focused on keeping his heart from beating out his chest and appearing suave.

Eskel hummed. "Aren't you a little young to be lookin' for that kinda fun?"

"Worried you won't be able to keep up, old man?" Lambert felt momentum. He could do snark, he could meet Eskel on this well worn ground, toe to toe, and the way Eskel's head tilted to the side and his eyebrow rose. It wasn't a no, right? He looked interested. Amused, but he didn't dismiss Lambert outright.

Gweld slapped Eskel on the shoulder with a bark. "Eskel here's got stories that'd make your balls shrivel up into yer belly, lad. I don't think he's a good choice for yer first ride, best drop your ambitions."

"Fuck off, Gweld," Eskel said, but there was no heat to his words. Just wry amusement.

Geralt snorted into his drink and Clovis made a vulgar gesture with his hand, but before Lambert could respond a familiar voice barked through the hall and sucked all the building sexual tension into a vacuum. "Lambert, get your arse to bed, you missed roll call!"

Lambert clenched his teeth, shoulders lifting towards his ears. For fuck's sake...

Three of the witchers in front of him groaned in mock empathy. "Oof, tough break, Lambino. Cock blocked by Vesemir," Gweld said, shaking his head while Geralt and Clovis snickered. "Don't worry, we've all been there. Ain't that right, Gerbear?"

Geralt guffawed in protest and smacked Gweld on the shoulder. It quickly devolved into a wrestling match on the floor, one which Gweld was definitely going to lose. Eskel watched them briefly before he looked back at Lambert. "Another time perhaps," he said, toasting Lambert with his ale. "G'wan, before he decides the target dummies are a little light on straw."

Lambert grunted, frustrated, but stalked away. He'd made inroads, and the way Eskel's eyes had shone, and that crooked grin. Eskel hadn't outright rejected him, hells, he'd--well, that smile... Eskel didn't smile at everyone like that.

Lambert laid in bed with that smile behind his eyes and a hand under the sheets, determined that it would be Eskel's instead of his own by winter's end.

More content brought to you courtesy of chronic insomnia: lately I have been banging the drum that actually I think Wei Wuxian needs to know about “take care”. It would be good for him, once he stopping having an epic meltdown about it and what it signified for his relationship with Jiang Cheng, The One Whom Must Be Protected Always, and it’s critical to the evolution of said relationship. The big problem here is that do we think Jiang Cheng is likely to bring up this incredibly pertinent fact now? After sixteen years of never feeling that it was worth mentioning that he let himself be captured by his family’s murderers specifically to distract them from Wei Wuxian? Do we think he’s going to bring this up now, when he knows that the golden core that replaced the one he lost to the Wens came from Wei Wuxian, who suffered immense harm from it, thus rendering Jiang Cheng’s own sacrifice meaningless (he probably feels)? Besties, we do not.

The question, therefore, is how can someone find out, and pass this information on to Wei Wuxian, ideally in some relatively blithe way that is not remotely going to prepare him for the emotional shock of it. So far I have:

Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji end up on a night hunt together and get idk briefly trapped in a haunted cave that plays out visions of emotionally significant past events. Lan Wangji thinks very little about the revelation that Jiang Cheng once risked his life to save Wei Ying. It’s no less than Wei Ying deserved, after all. If anything, he’s thinking about how embarrassing it is that Jiang Wanyin just saw his teenage library sex fantasies. It takes awhile before the subject of oh, so that’s how Jiang Wanyin lost his core comes up between him and Wei Ying, and he’s confused when WWX hightails it outta the Cloud Recesses on his way to Lotus Pier so fast he leaves one of those little cartoon dust clouds.

Jiang Cheng mumbled something about it to Wen Ning while Wen Ning was rescuing him from Lotus Pier. He has no memory of this. Wen Ning didn’t think it mattered at the time, and never mentioned it. If it’s occurred to him since that actually, this would be a pretty big deal to Wei-gongzi, he’s currently withholding it out of spite because ugh, fuck Jiang Wanyin, actually. He’ll only bring it up if there’s an opportunity to do so in a way that’s insulting to him, and oops, he did know this might bother Wei-gongzi a little bit, but he wasn’t expecting the BSOD—Wei-gongzi, maybe I shouldn’t have said that, Wei-gongzi, are you all right—

Jin Ling weaseled it out of Jiang Cheng years ago, long before Wei Wuxian came back. He gets that Jiujiu doesn’t like to talk about any of this shit, though, so it’s only months or years after Da-jiu comes into Jin Ling’s life that the subject comes up. He’s just matter-of-factly correcting the record, after Wei Wuxian mentions that Jiang Cheng was captured by the Wen trying to retrieve his parent’s bodies from Lotus Pier. (He was just trying to explain what a big deal family is to Jiang Cheng! I mean it was a bad idea, but it was very filial of him.) WWX is like what the fuck who told you that that can’t be right, and Jin Ling says Jiujiu told me, who else? Excuse me, waisheng, I need to go scream at your jiujiu for several hours I can’t believe how stupid he is why would he do that for me oh my god oh my god oh my god, and Jin Ling has to get him a paper bag to breathe into.

Not Eskel and not even Regis but this is truly one of my favourite images ever. It's just so beautiful, I love their pose, how they look and how they are looking at each other.

My personal headcanon is that Aiden is older than Lambert and initially takes him under his wing, only to fall for the fiery young wolf.

I love them so much! (Now I need to go find all the Aiden/Lambert fics, especially the "fix it" ones)

We'll always be together, right? by Sayuri527art

Found on Twitter, originally seen on Patreon. HIGHLY recommend their Patreon.

URGH. Emmerich Holyblade and I just went to The Ceremony to receive our RPG Job Titles, and he OBVIOUSLY got Chosen Hero Sword Saint. So now he's gonna set out to kill the Demon Lord of Darkness.

Me? I just got Dark Mage. Honestly, it's pretty rare, but the job opportunities are also limited. You either get into covert assassination or dungeon raiding.

God, just because we're the only two kids in The Village, Emmerich Holyblade automatically assumes this makes us friends. He doesn't even realize I hate him and his stupid smug swordsman ass.

URGGHHHH he just asked me to join his Grand Hero's Party. fuck. I can't just say no if the Grand Holy King himself is gonna payroll us to do this shit. Whatever man. Let's rock till the Demon Lord of Darkness is dead, and then I can retire and never see Emmerich Holyblade again.

I’d be the voice that urged Orpheus. The dreadful need in the devotee. A sweet release.

☕️ 🪐 🌊

cant stop wont stop ●v●

I just realized that xicheng makes perfect sense if they're lesbians and now I have to sit down. Your ex who is also your other ex's ex blows up your life spectacularly? Fuck her coparent/ex-wife and then uhaul your way into a yearlong lease. not even maliciously, just because at this stage in the ex-chain you're running out of options and keep being emotional in each other's vicinities and want to touch a boob. It's the move! It's the ONLY move.

height differences