Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The moon shines clearly in this silent summer night, illuminating the small pathway the three girls are walking along.

"Are you sure going to that club is a good idea?" Night asks disquieted as she’s scrolling through some online reviews for a popular club called Hydron.

Mirage just laughs quietly, "Relax Night, this club is fiiiiine~, I always go there to let out some steam, y'know what I mean?" She answers calmly and pokes the others side. "Besides, I know the bouncer, so there is no problem in getting in~", she adds with a smile.

"Well, this ain't the only thing she's blowing" Saryn chimes in, earning herself a chuckle from Night and an annoyed eye roll from Mirage. She checks her phone concerning the time, 10 pm, "But blowing off some steam does sound nice after an exhausting day" she inquires as she pulls a little hand mirror out of her purse, examining her make-up again.

"You've checked your make-up for the thousandth time now!" Mirage remarks
"You look sexy enough to get yourself a one-night-stand. Maybe you can blow them something~" she teases and giggles into her hand.

"You know what? Maybe I will get myself a mans for tonight and I will proceed to tell him what a bitch you are" she shoots back without missing a beat.

"Yeah, yeah, love you too bestie~" she muses and blows her a kiss, winking at the same time.

"I wonder what the others are doing now" Night asks out of the blue. She puts her phone back into her pocket after reading enough reviews, now more scared than before.

"Please, they're guys. They're probably arguing about some random ass topic, while Oberon and Nekros are all over themselves and Ember tries to seduce Frost but fails, like always." Saryn says dryly as they keep walking, while a tall building is slowly becoming visible in the distance.

"Yeah, sounds like them" Night and Mirage answer at the same time "Poor Ember," Night adds "I bet she'll get him someday."
"As if, Frost would be more interested in his book than in Ember, even if she would be naked." Mirage retorts.

Chapter Text

The tension in the small lounge area of the house was astronomical. The only sounds that can be heard are the random ads of the TV and sometimes the quiet chuckle of Nekros, who was situated on Oberon’s lap.

Besides the couple, Volt is sitting on the couch. His eyebrows furrowed and his expression resembles an annoyed one "For the last time, Day, a taco is a fucking SALAD!" He finally speaks with a voice mixed with anger and annoyance.

"I hate to break it to you lightbulb but Tacos are clearly a sandwich, you imbecile" Day argues back. He pinched the bridge of his nose lightly "Like, the whole thing is packaged in bread. Therefore, it's a sandwich."

"I mean, he ain't wrong" Chroma chimes in from where he was sitting. His attention shifted from his little pet dragon that was sitting on his shoulder. "Volt, imagine this: you go into the kitchen to make yourself a sandwich, yes?. So you take out all the stuff and start preparing the first slice of bread but then you realize that you don't have any bread left. So there you are, with a half-made sandwich. Do you throw it away? No, instead you just fold it in half and that is, in a theoretical way, a taco" he tries to explain to the other man.

"Okay, I see where you're coming from but that doesn't make any sense whatsoever" Volt answers and lets out a sigh "Yo, Oberon, what's your opinion on this?" He asks the older man.

Oberon on the other hand wasn't even acknowledging Volt talking to him. Instead, he was too focused on his boyfriend that was sitting on his lap. He whispered sweet nothings into Nekros' ear which are occasionally followed up by quick pecks on his cheek.

"For fucks sake, Oberon! Stop being all over Nekros for one second and answer the damn question." Volt almost yells. Clearly ticked off by how ignorant Day is.

Oberon sighs and stops being all amorous with Nekros and turns his head to face the other men. "Yeah Volt is right, a taco is a salad. The definition of a salad is very loose, so you could take everything and put some greens in it and call it a salad. A taco is no different. It's literally just some random ingredients tossed together in a tortilla" he answers annoyed and turns to Volt "satisfied?" He asks before immediately shifting his attention back to Nekros.

"Thank you, Oberon, at least you know what is true and what is a blatant lie"
Volt says in a high and mighty like voice. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and turns to Day. His look and expression clearly conveying a "fuck you, I'm right"

"Nah, you're wrong," Gauss says dryly. He is sitting on top of Grendls belly, the later laying on the couch that's opposite of the couch where Volt is sitting and clearly not minding him sitting there. "I mean, you have the salad, which is basically just some random greens and other ingredients tossed together in a bowl. Then you have the sandwich, which is just some random things in between one or two slices of bread. If we now break down the taco we would get some random ingredients in a type of bread, and according to our two options it's more of a sandwich than a salad" he brings up and taps Grendls belly "your take on this?"

"Food is food" he grumbles "but sandwiches are better than salads, so tacos are sandwiches" he simply answers which earns him a chuckle from Gauss.

On the other side, Excalibur is sitting in an armchair and sharpens his favorite blade. He lays his blade aside and clears his throat, getting him the attention. "First of all: y'all are annoying as heck" he begins his speech "but a taco is a salad and that's a fact. Imagine going into a restaurant and you take a look at the menu. You will always find a taco salad but never taco sandwich" he says with a slight grin "that makes it a salad"

"Wow… how dense must someone be to really think that a taco is a salad? Right Atlas?" Day asks aloud and turns to face Atlas but he isn't in the lounge. "Wait, where is Atlas?"

"You really only now noticed that the hulking 6'something guy is missing, fascinating." Nekros remarks, still sitting in Oberon’s lap and getting kissed by him "He's in the garden with Gara, they have a daaaateee~" he states and goes back to Oberon.

"Oberon make your boyfriend shut up please" he demands, clearly annoyed by Nekros' belittling.

"On it~" he muses and closes the distance between them and tries to kiss Nekros quiet, only for the other to put his hand in between them. "No, fuck you in particular Day~" Nekros answers, only wanting to push Days buttons a tad more.

Chapter Text

Behind the lotus mansion lies a smaller garden area, a wider patch of grass surrounded by colorful plants of all varieties and decorative green shrubbery. The area seems fenced in by a line of trees and high shrubs, some trees looking more alive than others. The garden was also influenced by the different frames, mostly by Oberon, Titania, Zephyr, and Wisp.
On the outer edges of the garden lies the favorite spot of Oberon and Nekros, two trees that intervene with each other, one tree looking alive with white blossoms and the other tree looking very much dead with leafless branches and scratch marks at the trunk, mostly from Venari.
On the other side of the garden is a beautifully decorated pond inhabiting small fishes, which Hydroid loves to watch. Scattered around the pond are small blue flowers that he planted there since he liked the colors so much. The waves formed by the small fish sparkle in the glistening moonlight as the stars shine.
Near the treeline stands a tall greenhouse that belongs to Oberon. Inside of it are growing all kinds of herbs and small green plants, some of them in pots that hang from the ceiling and some of them growing in special shelves, that Nekros built for him. Some of the glass panels are overgrown by branches of a grape plant Harrow gifted him some years ago. It has grown all over the place since then. Next to the greenhouse is an area, that is fenced off with small stepping stones in which grow different kinds of tea leaves, Oberon likes to use for his tea.
At the further end of the garden was a small clearing surrounded by red, blue and green flowers that wisp planted. A grey blanket lays in the middle of the clearing and and top of it Gara and Atlas.

The blanket is almost completely taken up by Atlas' broad frame but Gara found a way to lay next to him anyway. Garas' head is resting on Atlas' broad chest and her petite body snuggled against him.

"You know what I like about stars?" She asks him out of the blue as she looks up to the sky.

"Tell me~" Atlas replies in his rather gruff voice. He usually doesn't talk much or is interested in having a conversation with the other people. Most of them even thought that Atlas was mute for some time.

Gara takes one of his hands in hers and points it up to the night sky. She is pointing it at a bright shining star. "Look at this star and how it's shining." She starts explaining "The star is millions of miles away but still shines all the way to us"

Atlas nods in affirmation and gives a small grunt as an answer. He moves his hand around so they intertwine together whilst listening intently to his girlfriend.

A small blush appears on her cheeks at the amorous action of Atlas. She stopped for a second before picking up where she left off "But what we see isn't the star shining, it's the star shining from the past. The star could've imploded right now but we wouldn't be able to see it. We could only see the star shining. One could say we see a memory..." She trails off.

Garas' voice is like music to his ears as he listens to her rambling about stars. He wraps his free arm around her body as to pull her closer. His hand resting on her lower waist.

A smile forms in her lips as she feels the warmth radiating from Atlas. "Now look at those ones." She says as she moves their hands and points to a cluster of stars. "They look like tiny shards of glass, reflecting the moon light on to us." A happy sigh escapes her lips as she points at different stars. "Now look at those ones, they kinda remind me of us" she says and takes her eyes off the sky to look up to Atlas.

The stars in question are two stars shining next to each other. One of them is a big star shining in an opaque fashion and the other one is a smaller star shining a bit clearer but not as bright.

Atlas lets out a short chuckle as he slowly sees the resemblance, the sound as rare as to hear him talk. He looks down at her with a soft expression "But you're far more beautiful than some random lights in the sky." He says quietly and pulls her gently up to his level with the help of his arm so her Face is now resting next to his.

"Oh you little romantic~" She muses and lets their intertwined hands fall onto his chest "Who are you to shower me with such compliments?"She asks jokingly as she presses her forehead against his.

"Your boyfriend" Atlas always was a man that let actions speak for themselves, so he closes the distance between them completely and captures her lips in a passionate kiss.

[And then they have a happy happy date]

Chapter Text

The situation has worsened by every minute that passed. Volt and Day are still loudly discussing the gastronomical state of a taco. They are so loud that even Octavia could hear them over her music. Even Vauban and Protea can hear them from the basement, that's their own workshop at the same time.

"Get it through your fucking skull: TACOS. ARE. SALADS!" Volt yelled at Day with an up most angry expression. His hands crossed over his chest.

"THEY ARE SANDWICHES! PERIODT!" Day yells back with the same temper. He slams his hands against the coffee table with the snacks on it.

To Grendles dismay, the shaking of the coffee table made the bowl of chips jump just out of his reach from where he was laying, which makes him furrow his brows.

The other frames stopped discussing this stupid topic and decided to do what they can do best: minding their own businesses while ignoring Volts and Days antics. The two of them have the tendency to both want the last say in this debate. So in conclusion, it's just a back and forth of dumb arguments.

After some more failed attempts of Grendle trying to reach the chips, without bothering Gauss who was still sitting on him, he had enough and slams his fist on the table. "Can you guys shut the fuck up now? You've been discussing this for almost 2 hours now!!" He complains and looks them both up and down "Where is Frost when he's needed? He could talk some sense into you."

Gauss, phased by Grendles actions, just bends down a bit and grabs the chips bowl and sets it down next to Grendle. He damn well knows that he just wanted the chips.

"Thank you~" He answers happily and takes a potato chip…. AND EATS IT.

"I think Frost is up in his room again. Probably reading his books." Chroma spoke while patting his dragon. He then smirks lightly "And where Frost is…"

"...Ember isn't far away~" Nekros finishes and swings his arm around Oberon. "What do you think they're doing?" He faces Oberon and rests his head against his shoulder.

"Oh, Ember and Frost? They are totally having a talk about god and the world while reading the bible together…. And then Ember tries to fuck Frost, like always." He ends with a small laugh.

"As if Frost, our Frost, would ever get his dick wet. Before that, Zyphyr will learn to fly" Excalibur jokes from the corner of the room as he is putting his swords, now sharpened, back into their respective display cases.