Jack tries to make Robby talk.

It was hard, damn near impossible, for a man like Robby to make himself small. Tall, broad-shouldered, wingspan of Michael Phelps, hands like bear paws. Robby didn’t shrink, didn’t hide, not usually.

What Robby wants and what Jack wants are two different things.

It had been one of those days - the kind that scraped you down to the cartilage and called it a good save. He’d woken up with the ghost of a dream under his skin, hours before his shift even started; one of those ones where he had to just lie there to remind himself the world was still spinning. Part of him had been tempted to call Jack. He would have picked up. Taken his shift - or better, offered to come over. Then they’d do that thing where Jack would put on some shitty Spaghetti Western and keep running commentary going until Robby felt like a person again.

Instead, he’d gotten up, gone through the motions, and into work.

---

Robby doesn’t know how to keep going - he knows it’s more than just exhaustion. He also doesn’t know how to let himself love Jack. Lucky for him, Jack knows how to do both.

Soft fabric brushed Jack’s arm as Robby shifted next to him. “How long’s this rain supposed to go on for?” | It’s 7:01AM the day after PittFest, and Robby’s run of bad luck continues… to a point.

Dana came sidling up alongside him, her head on a swivel as she said, “Have you seen Robby?” | It’s 8:01PM when Jack goes looking for Robby, and winds up in a situation that calls for an unconventional approach.

Historical AU set during the Fall of Carthage (2nd century BCE). When Carthaginian merchant Yusuf first met Nicolò in Rome, he thought him simply a pleasant night’s distraction from the looming threat of war between their respective homelands. He did not expect to meet him again in battle outside the walls of Carthage—or, well…anything else that followed, really.

“…co-captains?” Stede asked, a little tentative and a little enthusiastic. He scrunched his nose as he smiled. The dim light in the cabin made his eyes look so deep. The candlelight gilded the waves in his hair. And, and –

And fuck.

In the sniper’s nest, Nicky is both the priest and the executioner. Even immortals need a confessional.

(Or, how Andy dies.)

It’s perfect, textbook. Terror, distraction, and a body crushed to an unrecognizable, bloody pulp. If Edward wasn’t entirely livid with Stede at this moment, he might be very fucking impressed.

“Shit, man. That’s no accident,” he says into the darkness. “That’s a fuckery.”

Sailors call them watermarks. A gift from the sea, a name or symbol written on your chest, meant to guide you to your own true love.

But Stede Bonnet’s mark doesn’t look like anything at all. Not really. And it certainly doesn’t look like ‘Edward’ or ‘Teach’ or ‘Blackbeard’ or a black beard and that’s fine. Completely fine.

Ed’s absolutely fine with it.

Stede had once nurtured fantasies, not then fully understood, of dressing Ed again in his clothes.

There are three things everybody knows about their favourite history teacher: One – get him on the right tangent and he’ll forget about assigning homework; Two – nobody’s correctly guessed what his sordid past was yet; and Three – he is recently widowed.

After a mission, Nile brings Nicky home to his family.

“Death always matters. It is not a game, it is not casual, it is real and it is painful and it is not a thing to be chased, not ever!”

After Merrick, Nicky can’t stand seeing any of them die. It takes Joe a while to put it together.

This time, the vampires wake up.

Beacon Hills. Two lost souls. A homeless boy, a lone wolf, and people who will stop at nothing to destroy them both.

Jack looks at her and then puts her luggage down and leans in, grabs her into a full-body hug, right there on the sidewalk, holding her so close. She can’t remember when he last hugged her this hard. “He told his parents. About being gay. About us,” he says into her shoulder. “They were awful.”

A house, a family, countless regrets. Steve has always had holes to fill.

Tag to Iron Man 3: spoilers throughout. Warning for description of anxiety attacks and discussion of PTSD.