#(on the not talking part. the fumble was real and painful and im getting a new identity and bone structure reconstruction is tomorrow)

[rotruff]

night so long you start thinking of your f/o taking care of you so you can just lay down . night so long you start thinking abt them taking off coats and unzipping dresses or unbuttoning shirts and being careful when they take off any makeup or glasses and giving gentle little reminders when they hand over any medications or even just a glass of water to make sure you've had some.

[singswan-springswan]

ficlet under the cut

The crate tipped with a sudden lurch and broke open on the ground. Zuko spilled unceremoniously with the motion. Inelegant. Graceless. Normally his movements held much more regality, but he'd been kidnapped and stuffed in a scratchy box and out of the water for some indeterminable length of days, so cutting himself some slack here felt appropriate.

It wasn't much brighter outside the stupid box. His scales were dry, his head was killing him, and the floor held a pleasant cool against his mounting fever. He really needed water soon. Every part of his body felt... scratchy. Discomfort would escalate into pain, and then asphyxiation. He would suffocate if he dried out. Idly, he wondered how long it would take. The humans seemed to know. They hadn't acted worried yet.

"Our latest bounty." The voice looming over Zuko was muffled in weird places. "I thought it might spark an interest. You collect fire fish, isn't that right?"

Zuko bit down a hazy groan and fumbled to prop himself up. The loss of the tile's cool against his cheek was one he mourned, but there would be time for relaxing when he found a way out of this mess. He could barely think straight. The humans—the pirates who'd ransomed him from the girl in blue—were standing guard around him now. He could see their boots. They were facing all the same direction, same way the voice was talking towards, and Zuko turned to observe.

The surrounding space was large, a room, and very dimly lit. This wouldn't normally be an issue, being that he was a mer, but his headache made his eyes lazy and bad at adjusting to the dark. If he squinted, he could see the ripple of light along the walls. Blue. Weird. In the direction of the pirates' attention, something like the outline of a table was visible—as large and imposing as the room itself. A single shadowy figure occupied a seat on the far side. He looked weird with the backlight. Zuko's vision was getting spotty.

He didn't get much chance to scan the rest of the surrounding space, because the pirate captain decided to be a jerk and grab his hair. It'd long since escaped its neat topknot, now bunching and sliding strangely in dry heat. The pain and the change in angle made Zuko rapidly lose sight of the shadow man.

"This one's quite a specimen." The pirate tilted Zuko's head back, baring his throat—maybe as a joke; it was always hard to tell if humans knew the significance of such a display—and lifted him enough to catch the light. So their potential buyer could get a better view.

Zuko would like to rip the pirate's skin off and feed it to him, but he was weak with dehydration, and his previous struggles against the man's crew had left him exhausted. All he managed was a low hiss. If humans could understand mer speech, he’d be cursing them as soundly as possible. Someone was standing on his tail. Not that it made much difference. He doubted he could have swung it if it wasn't pinned.

"I've seen a lot of the fire mer in my day, but this one's real pretty. Don't feel bad turning the offer down. We'll keep 'im if you won't." His crew laughed. Bastards. Zuko could hear the leer in the pirate's voice. It made him dizzy with anger.

Then a low grind echoed softly, and the humans cut their chatter short. Zuko distantly registered the shadow at the table moving. What made that noise? Was it his chair? He stood, rounded the massive table, and drew closer. All Zuko could see was a dark, unfocused blob. Vaguely humanoid.

"Yeah, don't be shy! Come get a closer look!"

The fist in his hair tightened. His scalp burned. The fins all down his back shuttered, and a stinging ache began to form in his gills. He needed water. He needed to get out of here. He shouldn't have wandered so close to the shore, even if that pretty girl in blue seemed so friendly at first glance. She did sell him out to these pirate scum. He should have known way better.

Even standing an arm's length away, the lighting continued to cast shadow on the pirate's potential client. It could be reasoned, then, that Zuko and the humans around him were washed in the room's best luminance. Certainly his scar could be seen clear as day. Maybe his tail was pretty, but there were parts of him imperfect. Maybe the stranger wouldn't want to buy him for that. Maybe Zuko would be stuck with these idiot pirates forever.

A smooth voice came from the stranger. "Release him."

"Sure, sure."

The pressure on Zuko's scalp vanished. He collapsed to the cool tile with no more grace than before, even further disoriented, and with a worse headache. He grit his teeth in frustration. That bastard was still on his tail.

Cool fingers tilted his chin up before he could lift his head on his own again; he hadn't seen the shadow man crouch down. Startled, Zuko yanked back and hissed a second time. He made sure to reveal far more fang and fan far wider with his fins; he just wanted these stupid humans to stop poking and grabbing him however often they pleased. Was that too much to ask? He wasn't an ornament. And he sure as heck had no intention of being a pet.

The stranger's face was close, and shadowy, and out of focus. Zuko's head was killing him. The room spun.

"The shape of the fins—” The stranger’s voice began.

“Really something, isn’t it? Never seen a mer so fancy before.”

There was a beat of silence, then the cool fingers returned to Zuko’s jaw and held him firmly in place. He growled. It didn’t make a difference. He was exhausted and hot and vulnerable, and everyone could tell. There was no way to stop them from doing as they pleased. 

“There’s a scar.”

“Wasn’t us, mate. Looks like the beast’s had it for a while. I think it adds to the aesthetic, don’t you agree?”

Zuko glared. It was the sort of one-sided remark he’d only accept from Uncle Iroh, though Azula had made attempts to express similar sentiments in that weird way of hers. He’d always hated the scar. At least the monster who put it there was dead now.

The stranger gave no comment. He reached another hand out and pushed Zuko’s hair aside, away from his eyes. Zuko did his best to meet the unfamiliar gaze as steadily as possible, despite the awkward backlight. He was being stared at. He refused to show how unnerved it made him. His trembling and fever didn’t help much in that regard.

Finally, after a dreadful length of scrutiny, the shadow man spoke. “How much do you want for him?”

Zuko could hear teeth in the pirate’s smile. “How much are you willing to pay?”

“Ten-thousand.”

Zuko didn’t know how humans calculated their currency. He’d assumed mer in general to be expensive, but they called him a stupid something fire fish, and it sounded like exotic. Even so, the pirate captain seemed shocked. He let out a high chuckle.

“Well! Show me the gold and you’ve got yourself a deal!”

The stranger waved an uninterested hand over his shoulder, and another grinding sound reverberated through the floor. Zuko couldn’t see the source of the sound with multiple different shadows clouding his vision. Judging by the pirates’ hushed tithering, their payment had been offered.

“Excellent! Pleasure doing business with you, as always.”

“Zaheera will see you out.”

The group broke formation around Zuko and floated away, whispering excitedly. Though they’d been awful to him, he couldn’t help a flicker of fear at their absence. At least with the pirates, he knew they’d avoid causing permanent damage. He knew they’d want to sell him for the highest price possible. Now, he had no idea what to expect. This stranger could have any number of sinister plans in mind; Zuko had certainly heard the horror stories. All young mer were warned about the brutality of humans, and now he was at the mercy of someone who really wanted him. This was bad.

The stranger let him go, and the world tilted as Zuko crumpled. He was very dizzy. And angry. And he really wanted to sink his fangs into human flesh.

But when he turned (against his better judgment) to snap at his new captor, a firm hand was already pushing down the back of his neck. The same way one might handle an unruly pup. Zuko was too tired to be insulted by the gesture. He wasn’t a pup anymore, but a move like that with the human’s advantage was enough to subdue even a full-grown mer.

“Watch out with that one!” The pirate’s faint voice called back. “Quite a monster at full strength. He killed two of my men when we—”

“Get out.”

The heavy thud of the door confirmed their absence, though the human didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. He ducked another snap of Zuko’s teeth, and ignored his crackly snarl, and slid his arms beneath scratchy scales. The world tilted again. Zuko would consider puking if he wasn’t so close to blacking out. The human was carrying him. Impressive. Zuko was heavy outside the water. His fins trailed the floor as they moved, but he was very much in the air, solidly in the man’s grip. Almost cradled, even if he was too big for the pup-hold to have effect a second time. The use of such familiar techniques should have rung a bell in his mind. Zuko’s headache and exhaustion wouldn’t let him dwell on it.

After a dizzying stretch, something wonderful happened. Zuko heard water. The noise was still muffled, and it faltered clarity with every stray tilt of his head, but Zuko knew what water sounded like. He’d been fantasizing about it for the past few days.

There was a splash, and with distant elation, he felt his fins trail. He wasn’t lucid enough to hold back the happy trill.

“I know.” The man huffed, and it rumbled through his chest. “I know—those bastards.”

The water rushed up around him, deliciously cool, salty, clean. It took Zuko up to his gills to realize he’d been lowered into a pool of some kind. It was shallow, but not cramped. He drew a deep breath. That felt very nice. The hands were gone. 

He didn’t bother confirming he was alone before passing out soundly.

<~><><~>

Zuko was alone when he came to, and his headache had finally retreated to the realm of faint discomfort. Incredible what a good long sleep in water could do for one’s health. The pirates hadn’t put him in a tank. They were mad about what a fuss he caused the first time they brought him aboard, and they’d rightly concluded he’d be easier to handle if he was dehydrated and exhausted and dizzy. They’d doused him with lukewarm buckets every few hours, just to keep him from dying. Zuko was relieved to be back in water now. Even if trepidation about the uncertainty of his new circumstances wouldn’t let him relax.

The pool he’d been placed in was shallow; he couldn’t move without some part of his tail skimming the surface. It was still comfortable in spite of that. The edges spanned a decent length, so he could turn with ease, and the basin interior was cut from smooth, white stone. His fins shone stark against it. The pool itself seemed to be laid into the ground, flush.

Zuko scanned his surroundings while he waited for something to happen. He still seemed to be indoors. The walls here weren’t as high as the one from before—from the sale pitch—and most of them were made of a clear material. It shone with sunlight from outside. The rest of the space was occupied by greenery. The taller ones reaching the ceiling had been planted in beds in the ground, surrounded at the base with bushy, leafy shrubs, and brilliant flowers, and crawling vines. The faint sound of water also trickled through the maze, but Zuko couldn’t see the source of it from where he was. It was peaceful. Uncle would love this place.

But Zuko hadn’t forgotten how he ended up here, and he had no illusions about being treated fairly, even if he’d been left undisturbed in such a pleasant area. He had to keep his guard up. He was being held against his will. He was trapped on land with no way to escape or get home. He didn’t have much experience with humans, but so far they’d only beaten him, used him, or treated him like a pretty ornamental object, and he had no reason to believe this behavior would change soon. He had to be prepared for the worst.

In truth, he really wanted to murder someone. The urge had become so intense during his captivity with the pirates, and he hadn’t had a real outlet, being close to dying of dehydration. Now that he was rested, his jaw nearly ached to bite through bone.

He spent the time waiting for an opportunity by pacing around the pool. The space didn’t allow for much more than tight circles. Still, it was better than sitting around stewing in all his problems. 

Mother was probably worried by now. Him being an adult with a life of his own didn’t stop her from worrying that he wasn’t home every day. Azula didn’t feel the same. Azula would kill for him though; she’d done it before.

Eventually, after what seemed like an hour of thinking to himself and going crazy for it, the faintest vibrations thrummed through the water, and Zuko froze. Footsteps. Someone was approaching. 

He lifted his head above the surface. The sound drew closer, brushing through the plants with a practiced gait. Zuko coiled his body. There was deliberation in the person’s movement. They knew he was here. They were coming to see him. The likelihood that he’d be attacking an innocent servant or something alike was low, and that brought him a hint of reassurance.

When the human came into view, bathed in green filtered sunlight, stepping out to the pool’s edge, Zuko took an entire second to appraise the figure. Tall. Male. Dark hair, luxurious silk robes in green and pale yellow. When he spoke, it was the same smooth voice from the shadowy stranger that paid for him.

“Hello.”

Zuko didn’t wait any longer. He launched himself at the human with a vicious snarl. His vision was red. His heart was pounding. How dare they treat him with such contempt? He wasn’t some prized bounty. He wasn’t an ornament for some rich knave’s garden. He wouldn’t take this insult and abuse lying down, and if these humans continued to assume so, they were in for a shock.

To some degree of satisfaction, the man did seem shocked to be bowled over. The air left his lungs in a massive wheeze, and his eyes went very wide. He was also—however—quick. He reflexively shoved Zuko’s head away when Zuko tried to bite, and he managed to lurch free enough to dodge an elbow to the face. 

“Wait!” The man yelped.

But Zuko had a size advantage, and the man was on his back, and Zuko really wanted him dead. He slammed his shoulders into the grass, pinned his legs with his tail, made another attempt to remove the throat with his teeth. This time, the man brought his arm up in a hasty block. Zuko was too busy biting down to be upset he’d missed his target. Blood and the creak of bone filled his mouth.

There was a shout of pain. “Wait wait—Zuko, stop!”

The words pierced his hazy red anger like ice through fresh snow. Zuko froze. Even being slightly feral at the taste of blood and festered indignation, he rapidly came to his senses and dropped the arm. His mind spun. 

How did this man know his name? The pirates didn’t know. The pretty girl in blue didn’t know. And he wouldn’t be able to tell them if he wanted to (which he very much had not). It wasn’t a lucky guess. No one shared his name that he’d ever met. So why—how could a random human—

“Get off!” The human fumbled to shove Zuko’s face away. His sleeve was ruined, and rapidly turning red.

Zuko slowly obliged. The man didn’t seem angry. He only seemed annoyed, even as he bled profusely from an arm that might be broken. There was something unnervingly familiar about the twist of his scowl. He shuffled sideways and sat up.

“Spirits, kid, you’ve got a strong jaw.”

“I’m not—” Zuko cut himself off before he could complete the retort. The human wouldn’t understand him. The human knew he wasn’t a kid. Zuko was very obviously a full grown mer. 

“You could have let me explain myself before trying to kill me.” Why did his scowl look so familiar? The man untied a sash of his fancy outfit and wrapped his arm with clinical efficiency. Then he looked up to meet Zuko’s eye, and his scowl faltered. “Are you okay?”

What.

Zuko stared. Was he seriously… asking if Zuko was okay? There was blood in the grass and in his robes and he might have a concussion and his ribs might be bruised and Zuko would at worst have a sore jaw. He shifted back warily. In his experience, crazy men often did cruel things. 

When he made no move to respond, the man sighed roughly and looked away. “Guess I should have waited on that tea. Zaheera will be by with some shortly.”

“What?”

What on earth was he talking about? Tea? Of all things? How did he know Zuko’s name and why was he so relaxed about the bite on his arm and why did the slope of his nose look so familiar and why was he talking about tea in the blood and the grass?

“You were always more civil with it around.”

Okay, now Zuko was thoroughly weirded out. He wished he had an exit. An escape route. He was stuck on land in an unfamiliar house and the closest thing he had to sanctuary was a fake pool of water barely deep enough to sleep in. This was freaking him out just the slightest.

“You’re nuts.” He said. Just to say it. The man wouldn’t understand the words or the insult in them, but Zuko was sick of just sitting around not saying anything, waiting for stupid humans to come to the right conclusions.

For his effort, he was rewarded with the faintest thaw of the man’s grumpy expression. It looked amused somehow. “And why is that?” He asked.

What.

A trace of alarm made Zuko flinch. “...Because you’re… talking to me.” He probed. Just to see. Humans weren’t supposed to understand.

“Why would that make me crazy? You’re real, aren’t you?” He glanced at his sleeve, now mostly red. “I’m pretty sure you are.”

Zuko blanched. He considered backing away, back into the pool. The safety it offered was purely psychological, but it would be something at least. It’d be better than lying vulnerable on the ground next to a crazy person. His fins twitched.

“What—but—you understand me?”

“Of course.”

“But humans aren’t supposed to understand.” From what he’d heard, humans interpreted mer speech as primitive and animalistic: nothing more than a series of harsh vocalizations strung together. Zuko had demanded an explanation for the phenomenon when he was younger. After all, mer understood human speech just fine. No one was able to give him a satisfactory answer.

“Well, I’m not human.” The human said. “Technically.”

“Then what are you?” Possibly a witch? Zuko had heard of their strange abilities. Or maybe he was a spirit. In which case Zuko was screwed. He probably couldn’t get away with attempted murder on a spirit; he’d totally be cursed or something. It could also be a shapeshifter of sorts, from the myths.

But the man quickly dispelled any outlandish theories. For the first time that Zuko had seen, a flicker of hurt crossed his features. It made him look older than he likely was. Haunted.

“Wow Zuzu, you don’t remember your favorite cousin?”

No.

No, he definitely didn’t mean that. Zuko didn’t have any cousins. Not for eleven years. And there’d only been—one. Just one. Now there weren’t any.

But looking closer, Zuko could see why the scowl looked so familiar. He saw the same face in the mirror. And this man wasn’t human, clearly, even if he had legs in place of a red streaming tail. In place of the gold ribbon fins their family shared—that he must have recognized when he first saw Zuko. 

He knew Zuko’s name. Zuzu. Azula tried to call him that—maybe out of nostalgia—but it belonged to them both, and Zuko hated to hear her say it because there was only one person who tried to bring them together like that, and hearing her say it reminded him of… of… a dead man.

Except he couldn’t be dead. He was right here. His blood tasted very real.

“Lu Ten?”

He looked so much like his father when he smiled. “Yeah.”

Zuko gaped. That felt like the only appropriate thing to do. Maybe the dehydration actually got to him, and this whole series of events was an elaborate hallucination. Maybe Azula spiked his tea with a psychedelic for her weird sense of humor, and he was hallucinating. It was too strange. This didn’t make any sense. Zuko’s cousin was dead, and if he wasn’t, wouldn’t Uncle know? Would Uncle have cried so hard so many private times if this was real? It felt so real.

“How did you get that scar?”

“How are you not dead?” Zuko’s head was spinning, though thankfully not from dehydration. He wasn’t sure if this was worse, actually. “Uncle thinks you’re dead.”

The comment earned him a flinch. “There’s actually a good explanation for that.”

“Which is?”

“I’m cursed.” Lu Ten squinted into the middle distance, looking uncomfortably close to being emotional. “To live as a human. And I can’t… go near the sea. I tried. It almost turned me into sea foam.”

Zuko dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

[v1x3n]

R I P P E D A P A R T

john price x reader x 141 ⸝⸝ navigation part one part two part three

୨୧ 𝘴𝘺𝘯𝘰𝘱𝘴𝘪𝘴 : tortured for information by your family and the person you loved, john price. you were harmed for something you hadn't even done, you were framed as the traitor and soon they would find out.

୨୧ 𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘴 : angst - torture, mockery, threats, drunk creeps, harassing, tension, blood.

A quick yet cold splash to the face awoke you, you cough as your face splattered with freezing water, you jolt up and choke. “Mornin” a rough voice sounds from beside you. You peer over and see Johnny McTavish, “how’d you sleep, bonnie?” he mockingly sneers. “Fuck you” you spit at him, look down at the floor you had passed out on, the dried blood and the water spilled all over below you, you grip onto the floor and slowly look up, meeting your eyes with the door in the corner, you could see prices beefy build standing there on the other side of the bars that held you in this room. The gaps through the metal you could make out a stern yet upset face , one that you gotten used to when you had helped him ease his worries after a harsh mission, or when you had gotten hurt and he was dreadfully worried for you. You sometimes thought that maybe he was nicer and cared more about you than others but you know now that wasn't true - it couldn't be fucking true if this is how he treated you when one fucking person accused you of being the traitor.

Johnny glances over at price then his gaze arrives back at you, “divnt look at ‘im, look at me.” your eyes move down to the floor as you choke once more, a string of saliva drips from your mouth and platters onto the floor, your breath smelt like vomit, you scowl at the memories of last night. Prices fist clenches at the look of you, so so scared. Johnny's hand is brought to your jaw as he bends down, forcing you to look up at him, “are ye gunna talk?” Your continued silence was enough to make him wince. His fingers dug into your jaw, you whine at him and continue looking at him. Trying to make yourself seem the tiniest bit strong - even for one moment, but you knew he saw the nervous, scared look you had in your eyes. “It's not me!” you shout out, your eyes moving back to the spot where price has stood just moments before but he had vanished. You felt like you were almost hallucinating, between this and your dreams - your fucking stupid dreams - you felt like you were going insane. The only thing keeping you sane right now was the pure pain, it kept you realize that you were alive. Still fucking alive, living through all of this shit they are putting you through. 

You spit on his face, the small collection of saliva in your mouth manages to spew out onto him, he scoffs at you before swiping it off. “Fucken hell, lass.” that mocking glare peers into you, a sense of danger swells into your heart. “Let.” you shout, “me.” your voice gets louder after each work, “out!” you scream, trying to push him away from you, his breath hot on your face while he forces you closer, almost cheek to cheek. “Keep fucken shoutin’ nd yer gunna lose yer tongue.” the man sighs onto your cheeks. 

You shut up real fast, lips sealed and you glare at him, he steps up whilst realizing your jaw from his tight grip. Johnny stands above you and peers down at you. “Sit up” demanding whilst grabbing some pliers from his left pocket, he bends down - waiting for you to obey his command. 

Your knees are weak as you fumble, trying your hardest to get up but as you see the pliers you instantly freeze, “wait wait wait!” you panic, trying to back up. Your mutilated hand gripping onto behind you to scoot away. “Awh bonnie, don't be scared” he chuckles, grabbing onto your hair once more, forcing you closer, shards of hair ripping out as he pulls you by the scalp. He drags your hair back so you're looking up into his eyes, one of his rough hands on your head whilst the other holds onto the tool. “Open up, lassy” Johnny's harsh smile pulls a deep concern deep into your heart.

If you felt like you were in danger before who knows what the fuck you were feeling now.

His soul scarring smirk as he tortures one of his best friend is un-fucking-godly. “I said open up.” his eyes crinkle when he smiles at you, the pliers spin around and he brings the handle to your lips, forcing them apart. Your jaw opened by force by the tool, johnny eyes meet with yours as your stomach sinks. “Keep it open, jus’ like tha’” you decide to comply - too scared for what he would do if you wouldn't, you held your mouth wide open, eyes squeezed closed to prepare yourself for what johnny was about to do. The tool brings close towards your mouth and it chips at your front teeth, a spark of your tooth hits the ground. 

Your knees scrape against the floor as you unconsciously squirm away, he grips onto your scalp further, pulling your hair so you were kneeled in the position you were earlier. The pliers hit your tooth and create a clinking sound, the tool pulls onto it. Eyes squeezing together as the tooth pulls out and blood pools from the gum, “Aye” the man in front of you grunts and holds onto the tooth with his gimmick. Johnny's expression did not change as he ripped out your tooth, his smile plastered onto his face with a concentrated expression - simply watching his friend and past coworker pull teeth from the person he cared about. A trail of garnet lingering through your saliva and you spit out onto the floor - well, you try too but with Johnny holding your head back. The wetness trails down to your chin and down your neck, the blood mixing with your spit. You stayed silent as the pliers held up with your torn tooth. “Atta girl” he sneers once more and his hand detaches from your hair as his posture straightens up. 

That night had started off easy but soon it turned into hours on torture, the one memory replayed in your mind as johnny harmed you, over and over. Trying so desperately to get information out of you but you obviously wouldn't - and couldn't - say anything. The memory you kept repeating was after a long mission. You and the rest of the taskforce decided to go out for a few drinks at the closest bar. Long story short - all of yous were pissed. 

That night yous laughed around a small table and passed banter along to one another. You fumble over to the bar and bend over the counter, almost yelling over your thoughts running through your head. Then some fucking creep comes over and starts talking to you. 

God, you felt his eyes trail your body as his hand moved down your arm, you flinch back and politely mutter, “oh uhm s-sorry but i have a..boyfriend.” you lie but he ignores your almost plea and he gets closer towards you, “c’monn… he doesn't haf t’ know” he slurs - clearly tipsy. You gulp and back up, looking over at your table to say if anyone was looking. But the table had one person missing, john. Eyebrows furrow and you back up slightly, only to be stopped by a large frame, before you could turn around you heard his booming voice, “he bothering you, sweeth’art?” the gross man in front of you eyes widens, he steps away from you. “N-no he's okay,” you mumble, looking up at the man behind you. His furious face was kinda hot, but you were too focused on how his rough hand moves to your waist. “No need f’ a fight, hm? Leave the bar and get yourself home,” John smiles.

Before the man could speak, John growls, “if I see you talking t’ my girl again, you'll get your tiny cock cut off.” a dangerous smile plastered on his face as the tipsy man trembles away from both of yous and eventually out the bar doors.

“You seriously okay?” he peers down at you, his hands still lingering on your skin. “Oh yeah!” you smile, turning around to look up at him, “thanks, you uhm- you didn't need t’” a layer of blush covers your cheeks and your eyelashes flutter as you look up at him. “Couldn't let that disgusting bastard touch you up like tha’” a distant shout from the table you were sitting at earlier interprets you and john's conversation, a scottish voice, “oi! Yous two quit flirtin’! Ye’are two drinks behind!!” another swarm of blush fills your cheeks and you two move back over to the table. 

You wish time travel was invented, maybe you would travel to that bar on that night, or maybe you would travel to before you met them - start it all over or change choices in your life. Ones that wouldn't end in betrayal and your heart broken. The things you would give to rewind this all. 

You gasp and reach out as John holds a dagger to your throat, “last chance” he dares - holding onto your jaw to hold you up whilst he knees behind you. His breath was hot on the back of your neck which in any other situation but this time it scared you. But after all he needed you to fear him. “We both know it's easier if you start talking, told you before. Last chance.” spitting at you and the dagger gently digs into your skin, creating a small slit. Your head leans back to try to get away from the pain but his strong grip on your jaw keeps you steady. The blade digging into you, almost too deep, “you have five seconds or i'm done with you.” after a few weeks you had finally given up. 

“Five” 

Your heart thumps, was he really going to do this?

“Four” 

Trying to squirm away from him yet once more his grip grew stronger. 

“Three” 

John's hand tightened on the weapon he had in front of your throat.

“Two” 

His voice grew deeper as the blade stings, drops of blood trails down your neck and onto your bare chest.

“One” 

Two hearts beat in that room as you were about to have your throat slit but John hesitates. 

Just as he went too, Kyle stomps into the room, “w-wait no stop!” the blade backs from your throat and the man backs up, “she-” Kyle breathes heavily - obviously trying to catch his breath. It was very clear he had just ran here. “She's not the traitor- w- was framed” Kyle's hands go down to his knees as his breathing slows down. You cough and hands fall to the floor as blood drops from the cut on your neck. Your face looks down at the floor and your hand reaches to your neck to stop the blood. John backs up and straightens himself out, staring down at the body before him trying to stop the blood. 

“Oh.”

[gasmeros]

Can I get a bit of Step 1: die Step 2: Blue Spirit and the Time Travel Gaang sans Zuko for the ask game pretty please

yippee attention!!! this is my favorite activity

ok forst one, that's basically zuko dies saving aang from pohuai stronghold and turns into the blue spirit for real because of it. basically the spirit world was like "oh we were uh. we were using that." as this whole thing where the gaang is destined to restore balance, and that includes zuko. so when he dies, the spirits fumble for a plan B and go "let's curse him with immortality"

this one is currently 2,779 words. warnings: on screen major character death and graphic depictions of violence

Something in his chest shifts. The Avatar's jostled the arrow in him, desperately trying to hold the blood inside his body with too small hands.

"It's not stopping." He's practically wailing the words. "I— I can't— I need to get help!"

"But why are you here?"

The Avatar pulls back, and Zuko feels panic flare in his gut. A strangled cry escapes him, not from the pain of the arrow. Desperate and uncoordinated, he clutches the Avatar's sleeve.

"Pl—se, please," he begs, voice cracking into a broken whisper. "Not alone."

He's crying, ragged sobs pulled from his torn chest. The Avatar echoes him with his own hitching breaths. He doesn't try to pull back again, but instead leans forward, pressing their foreheads together.

"Thank you," the Avatar whispers, words wet and clinging to his tongue. "I'm so sorry."

This wasn't the plan. He wasn't supposed to die saving the Avatar from Zhao. Damn it, he has a whole destiny in front of him. This can't be it.

"I should take him."

The world erupts into sound, and Zuko drops into nothingness.

it's kind of all over the place cuz the original vibe was meant to be kinda spooky and unexplained, but then i started writing and it got a lot less spooky. like, the original pitch was to lean into the weirdness of spirits and their motivations and personalities, how they just dont align with humans, but i ended up writing the spirits as super human and Knowable, plus let zuko keep his human personality instead of pulling one of those "when they die, part of who you knew died too" thing, and then i was torn on how to continue. so i didn't

and then time travel one!! i actually talked a bit about that one here:

basically long story short, everyone gets flung back in time during the final battle for a do over but zuko is the only one who doesn't go back. so s3 gaang with s1 zuko shenanigans!

here is another snippet! it's uh. less shenanigans and more serious stuff ahsjhfd. content warning for major character death (sorta. debatable. and debated.)

Aang reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing gently. "We have a second chance. That's what this is."

Sokka and Suki nodded, expressions somber, but Toph just scowled.

"But we don't," she bit out. "This Zuko isn't the same person. He doesn't have the memories that made our Zuko. And now that we've messed things up, he never will."

Suki gave a low sigh. "Toph, even if you're right, we can befriend this Zuko, too."

"And what if I don't want to?"

"Toph," Aang begged.

Toph just surged to her feet, stamping a foot on the ground. "I don't know this Zuko! He's not our Zuko!"

"He could be—"

"No, he can't! Our Zuko's dead!"

this one ran outta steam it's not really a set up im used to, and while i have ideas, i feel like it needs a bigger plot than im prepared tonwrite in order to pay off well

[baroquebucky]

one and only

a/n: hi guys !! this one shot is inspired by this song by cuco ! I hope u all enjoy,, I went overboard again,, pls tell me what u think :] lyrics are in bold !

in which bucky slowly but surely falls for you

word count: 1.9k

masterlist

I hope that you wanna get to know me

Bucky smiled at you from across the coffee shop, both of you stealing glances at each other for the past hour. Finally mustering up some courage and walking to your booth.

"hi" he had breathed out, a smile on his face as you looked at him with wide eyes, a smile quickly breaking across your face.

"hi" you smiled, extending your hand out for him to shake, "y/n."

Bucky shook your hand quickly, pink dusting his cheeks, "I'm bucky."

"do you wanna sit? I can move some stuff so you have some room" you spoke quickly, fumbling as you moved all your homework and notebooks to the side, stacking them on top of each other.

Bucky slid into the booth with a soft smile, quickly striking up a conversation, flirting with you the whole time.

"I have to go soon" you frowned, putting all your stuff away as bucky got up from the booth. He held a hand out, helping you up and paying for both of your drinks and snacks.

"I had a really nice time" bucky flashed you a smile, your ears heating up.

"I- uh yeah I did too" you replied, looking at your feet as the two of you walked out of the coffee shop.

The two of you exchanged numbers, a bashful grin on both of your faces as you parted ways.

"text me when you get home" you had told him out of habit, blushing when you realized you had only met him today.

"I mean you don't have to" you added, fumbling with the string on your backpack.

"only if you do the same" he replied, a smirk on his face as your mouth formed an 'o' shape.

Bucky had texted you first, making your heart flutter. exchanging a few texts that night, bucky decided to get real brave.

I hope we can hang out again soon :)

And sure enough you did, meeting up at his favorite coffee shop only three days later. Getting to know each others interests.

As time passed you and bucky became closer, getting lunch together, texting each other often, having late phone calls almost everyday.

baby hit me up if you get lonely

You and bucky never really opened up to each other, even after one month of your little coffee and lunch dates. And so there you were, staring at your bedroom ceiling with an empty heart, dried tears on your face.

Your phone vibrated next to you, lighting up the room. You let it ring, not having enough energy to pick it up.

Bucky grew worried, you never just left him hanging like that, you always replied with why you didnt pick up within minutes. It had been an hour already.

everything okay ?

your phone buzzed and you looked over, seeing his missed call and texts. Sighing you replied, not wanting to bother him.

yea, just tired

Bucky frowned, his stomach twisting as he read your reply. Thinking for a moment before he texted you once again.

im here if you need me or need anything

Your bottom lip quivered, fresh tears streaming down your face.

do you think you can come over

your heart was heavy, you were stressed, tired and you wanted someone to tell you it was gonna be okay, instead you were alone in the dark, in an empty apartment with only the sounds of the city keeping you company.

on my way

Bucky was sweet. Bucky was caring and he was everything good in the world. Listening to you as you cried, dumping all your worries out into the air, rubbing your back and handing you tissues, getting you water.

He listened, he reassured you and he helped you through it, never being pushy and always reminding you that you were strong enough to get through it.

"and if im not?" you had whispered, looking at the floor with teary eyes.

"then im here to fight for you."

I know im not confused, my feelings here are true

Bucky opened up to you a few nights later, after ignoring your texts all day you showed up at his apartment, snacks in one hand and coffee in the other.

You listened to him vent, letting out all he had bottled up, all his guilt, his regret, his pain, everything.

You didnt judge him, you just got up, sat closer to him and hugged him, holding him tightly. Bucky relaxed in your arms, burying his face in your shoulder and letting himself cry, allowing himself to be vulnerable for once.

You woke up in each others arms the next morning, blushing when you both realized.

Bucky was red, you were about to start sweating, telling him you were gonna head home and would text him when you arrived.

After that he found himself more nervous around you, butterflies when he saw you. For the first time in decades he found himself styling his hair more and putting effort into his outfits.

on gloomy days like these wishing you were next to me

You sat on your couch alone, rain hitting your window steadily. You sent a text to bucky, asking him when he would be back from a mission he got dragged along. He replied quicker than you expected, your heart beating a little faster.

just a couple more days :)

okay hurry back safe I miss u :/

Bucky choked on his own spit at your text, Sam looking at him as if he was insane. Bucky ignored him, replying to your message

I miss you too dollface

You read the text over, squealing and jumping around at the pet name, face hot and stomach fluttering.

when im feeling puzzled, you put me back together

Bucky frowned, barely listening to you explaining a documentary you watched the other day.

"buck?" you asked, setting down your phone and looking at the super soldier, worry in your eyes.

"sorry I- what about the jungle?" he questioned, trying to push away his thoughts.

"talk to me James" you pleaded, hands moving to hold his own.

A few moments passed, quiet as bucky gathered his thoughts, tears welling in his eyes before he blinked them away and began talking.

"what if a part of him is still there? what if im not who Steve thought I was? what if im not what people want me to be?" bucky looked at you, teary eyed and broken.

"you're free bucky" you told him, scooting closer to him and he nodded.

"Steve would be proud of you, I mean look at you, you have a furnished apartment, you have friends, you're working with sam, you're building your life" you spoke, smiling at him.

"you shouldn't care what others want you to be, be who you want to be. Be who you are now" you squeezed his hands, letting him gather his thought as you stopped talking.

"am I good?" he mumbled, a small frown on his face.

"you are" you replied without hesitation.

"you like me as who I am now?" you nodded.

"me too" he smiled, leaning his head on your shoulder, your fingers brushing through his hair.

I wanna be your one and only

Bucky finally introduced you to sam, you were excited, having heard so much about him.

"what if he hates me" you worried, stopping in your tracks as you paced buckys living room.

"he'll love you doll" bucky reassured you, a knock at the door making your heart thump in your ribcage as you waited for bucky to open it.

And love you Sam did, talking your ear off and chatting with you all night. You struggled to catch your breath between his jokes, stomach hurting as he continued.

bucky hated it. only he had made you laugh that hard, the crinkles by your eyes were reserved for him and his bad jokes. bucky got up quietly and went to grab a cup of water, sam quickly excusing himself and following him into his kitchen.

"you are down bad" sam laughed and bucky rolled his eyes at him, gulping down his water, setting the cup down, eyes softening as he saw you on his couch, replying to some texts.

"you should ask her out soon, or else I will" sam teased, knowing it would push the super soldiers button.

"sam is actually leaving right now!" bucky smiled, sam rolled his eyes before playing along.

"aw, it was just getting good" you smiled, getting up and going to give sam a hug, wishing him a good night before he left.

You and bucky sat on the couch, the sounds from the movie filling the room.

"green isn't your color" you smirked, bucks eyes went wide.

"what?" he questioned, heart racing.

"cmon im not stupid, you were cranky the whole time sam was cracking jokes" you shrugged your shoulders, eyeing bucky.

Bucky was quiet, Sams words ringing in his ears.

"I like you y/n and I've liked you for a while and I-" he stopped himself, not wanting to say something he would regret. You let him think, heartbeat ringing in your ears as his confession rattled around in your brain.

"I want to be the one making you laugh, I want to spend rainy days with you and I want to go to the park with you on sunny days" bucky spoke, looking at you.

"I wanna be your one and only" bucky ended, eyes searching your face as he finished, worried about what you were thinking.

You had the biggest smile on your face, fidgeting with your fingers. Looking up your eyes met his blue ones, stomach in knots and heart skipping a beat.

"ask me then" you stated, never breaking eye contact.

"will you be mine y/n?" he spoke, voice trembling, he fidgeted with his fingers.

"of course" you replied, crashing your lips onto his, smiling into the kiss, breaking out into giggles when he pulled away and peppered kisses all over your face.

and if never is forever, then lets always be together

Sam pat bucky on the back, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Steve would be so happy for you" he whispered to him, a smile breaking onto his face, nodding to sam and looking up.

The whole team was there, sam standing behind him as his best man, your family with bright faces as the music began and everyone looked back.

The doors opened and it felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. His mouth fell open at the sight of you. His cheeks hurt from smiling so hard but he didn't care, tears falling from his face as you smiled brightly at him.

You spent the whole ceremony the same way you had met. Stealing glances at each other and blushing deeply when you caught each other, holding back giggles and brushing it off as clearing your throat.

You were marrying the light of your life, the person who was there for you when you couldn't see the light, the one who always supported you and fought for you when you couldn't. Helping you grow into the person you wanted to become.

He was marrying the light of his life, the person who was his sun during his worst times, shining brightly for him and picking him up when he was upset. Helping him become the person he was meant to be.

[obsessive-ego]

Late night chats

Musical beetlejuice x reader

Beej chats with you when he knows you're not listening

Fluff, pining

It was a long rough week, you were absolutely exhausted, you could barely stand, your knees wobbled as you finally arrived home, everyday this week has been hell between work using you to cover everyone and do everything, and personal family drama you had to attend too, you were glad to finally be home, safe, quiet, where nothing was expected of you, you could finally recharge.

Kicking your shoes off and tossing your bag and jacket aside to deal with later.

As you shamble to your bedroom, eager to swap your work clothes to something less constricting, you tap away on your phone, ordering dinner, you were too tired to cook anyway.

In your bedroom, you were quick to ditch your uniform in replacement for an over sized shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

Removing your bra felt like a weight has been lifted, as you slip on your pajamas you felt 100 pounds lighter, you flop down on your bed, barely clinging to being awake, as you were about to doze off, your phone blares to life with its loud ringtone, you groan in frustration, you force your body to get up and dig for your phone in your pants pocket, you miss the call by a second, before you could check who it was it buzzes again, you nearly drop the phone, startled, you fumble with the gadget, quickly answering the call, assuming it was your incompetent coworkers needing a question asked.

"What are you wearing?~"

You frown, knowing that voice anywhere

"Beetlejuice-"

"Oh baby, you will be wearing me by the time I'm done with you~" he moans

You scowl at this joke, too tired to really deal with his sense of humor, yes the ghoul could easily make you laugh with their lewd jokes, but honestly you were so tired nothing else really mattered.

"What-"

"So we gonna hook up? Or are you standing me up?"

"What?"

"Y/n what day is it?"

You're silent for longer then youd like to admit, beetlejuice starts before you could respond

"Friday, movie night, so, let's hear that magic b word sweetheart~" he chimes in a sing song tone.

As tired as you were, I guess a chill movie night would be fine, if you doze off during you could survive the teasing, wouldnt be the first time.

"Hello? Sugar? I'm not hearing my name come from that pretty little mouth of yours~"

You snap back, guess you zoned out longer then you thought, you utter a quick sorry, and shuffle to the living room.

"Beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice"

Your apartment goes dark, you sigh, the ghoul had a thing for making an entrance

"HONEY IM HOME" the ghoul shouts, within seconds you are hoisted up from behind in a tight bear hug, Beetlejuice's head resting on you shoulder "babes I missed ya, you're such a mean little thing forgetting about our movie night, or were you just playing hard to get~" he purrs that last part.

Clearly embarrassed you try your best to squirm out of your predicament, the demon only cackles at your actions

"Keep wiggling like that sugar and your gonna give me a-"

The ghoul was interrupted by a knocking at your door, his eyes light up, before you could get a word in, you are dragged along to the front door

"Its showtime"

...

It was amazing how you were still able to order take out with all the nonsense beetlejuice did to the delivery guys, but it just goes to show that it's all about money, and let's be honest, nobody is gonna believe them, yeah sure, a zombie looking guy took the pizza and then turned into a pile of snakes.

...

Movie night was the same as always, Beej successfully snuggling up close with an arm around your shoulder, ever since the change of seasons he found you no longer took the lead on getting up close and personal, meaning he had to take initiative, not that he minded, since regardless of the temperature, you didnt mind him cuddling up, which was nice, you were so warm to the touch, he adored it.

Movie night was always a blast with the demon, yes you've seen this horror films 100 times, but watching them with Beej always made them more lively, his enthusiasm was so contagious. But as much fun as the evening together was you were officially out of energy, you tired in vain to keep awake, last movie night you dozed off midway through you delt with merciless teasing for a week, but all your effort was for not as you felt yourself slip into dreamland.

"Alright Doll what's up next in our-" the demon finally noticed you were out, he frowns, yeah it was cute, and sexy when you fell asleep on him, but it was really becoming kind of a pain on how hard you worked and how much it drained you, breathers are delicate, and besides he wanted to spend some real legit alone time with you.

The demon snaps his fingers and the two of you reappear in your bedroom, you being tucked into your bed, beej floats up beside you in a lounging position.

The ghoul stares at you, watching you naturally settle into a deep sleep, once a few moments have past and beetlejuice was sure you were out cold, he leans back placing his hands behind his head and let's out a deep sigh.

"Ya know doll, the other week I was in the netherworld for business, bumped into an old pal, buddy was going on and on about this demon he was banging, and boy, the look on his face when I told him I was banging a hot little breather, man, fucker was jealous, I mean we arent technically banging, yet." He whispered

This was a habit of Bj's chatting to you when you were asleep, he didnt need to sleep, so this was a nice way to pass the time.

"I showed him that photo of us lyds took, ya know the one, you were sitting on the couch playing with you phone and I had my head on your lap? Yeah, I keep it in my wallet, hell, it's the only thing in there" he snickers

You mumble something unintelligible, Beej hums in response

"Of course not sugar, I dont keep condoms in there, i prefer to go raw, demons cant get breathers pregnant anyways, wink wink"

The ghoul sighs reclining back and putting his hands behind his head

"Ya know, while I was down there, I had to file some paperwork with my Mom, the bitch she is, was going on and on about how I need to stop screwing around with breathers, she just doesnt get me, you know how it is"

You grumble in response

"Oh, yeah I know I told ya a sandworm ate her, shes back, it's a long story" he huffs with a scowl.

"Yeah she was saying how theres no point of me tricking another breather for a green card to live again, and I should leave you alone, fuck her, ya know, I dont need to trick ya for a green card, i know you're head over heels for me babes, and once you finally admit you love me and we fuck around for a bit, then I'll pop the question." He trails off looking in your direction, your were laying on your side facing the demon, as if you were awake listening to his every word, the demon sighs, staring at you sleeping form, god slash satan  he had no idea what he did to deserve you, his sweet caring breather. He could always come back to you, you were all his, you just didnt know it yet, and that was fine, for now, soon he'll get you to confess your undying love.

"What would I do without our little chats" he sighs, his eyes fixated on you, a purple hue begins to creep into his hair, he sighs again

"The only time I can be honest with ya huh babes?"

You mumble in response

"Its not like I dont WANT to be honest with ya, its just, come on, you gonna believe me? A demon from hell falling head over heels for a sweet little breather? I can barely believe it" he stares at you, his hair now completely purple.

"You know I love ya right?" The confidence in his voice fading, the question sounding more desperate then anything, as if the ghoul needed you to know or hed die again.

"...beee" you sigh

Beetlejuice perks up at the sound of your voice "bee?" Were you dreaming of him? The ghoul could just melt at the thought

"...beetlejuice"

You were

The purple in the demon's hair began to mix with hints of pink, his little breather was dreaming of him, the ghoul leans into you, his face inches from yours, studying your face in hopes to crack the mystery of what kind of dream you were having

"...beetlejuice" Again you mumble his name in your sleep

"Do you dream about me often babes? Ya know I dream of you~" he chuckles

"Beetle-"

Before you could finish the b word the demon shakes you awake

"Fuck" you say with a start "beetlejuice what are you doing" you grumble less then thrilled to be woken like this

"You were about to say the b word 3 times babes, had to put a stop to it" he chuckles sheepishly "you were babbling my name away in your sleep, guess you missed me huh?" His nervousness turned into a more confident jab

"I was? I-" you babble

"If you REALLY miss me baby cakes I could slip into bed with ya? Keep ya company" he leans in inches from your face, a moment passes and beetlejuice can see the hesitation in your face, yes he's snuck into bed with you multiple times, but he always left before you noticed.

"I wont do anything creepy" he begs grasping your hand as if to reassure you

"....okay" you whisper

The ghoul's eyes light up at your response in a flash he sheds his suit, leaving only a pair of boxers and slides under the covers next to you, the ghoul is over come by the warmth beneath the covers, and quickly latches on to your even warmer body.

"Good night Bee" you sigh "I'll try not to say your name 3 times"

"Night sugar♡" he cuddles into your chest making you the bigger spoon, though you were the smaller out of the two of you.

As you drift back into a deep sleep beetlejuice begins talking to you again

"You really know how to spoil a guy huh sugar, I guess I can wait a little longer till you say the 3 little words, as long as ya keep treating me like this♡ good night y/n, I love you"

[late-to-the-party-81]

Live your life, be free

A/N: Now that kinktober is out of the way, it is time to update my various other fics.

Here is part 4 of a Place on Earth. Checkout the series master list to read the previous three instalments.

Summary: Peter makes a decision about what he wants from Tony and decides to tell him. Will Tony want the same thing?

Wordcount: 2.8k

Pairing: Tony Stark/Peter Parker

CW: Angst; Pining; Getting drunk; Hand job; Tony calling Peter 'bambino' (cos that's a warning!)

As soon as the elevator reached the ground floor, Peter was running across the lobby and out of the doors of the tower as fast as his legs could carry him. He didn’t stop running until he reached Central Park and sought refuge in a secluded area by a large tree.

He collapsed against it gulping in air, his eyes stinging as he tried to hold back tears.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

He squeezed his eyes shut as he rested his head against the rough trunk, feeling his hair snag, the slight pain grounding him.

He was such an idiot. How could he have done that? Ignored the number one rule; Don’t fall in love with a married man!

But……., whispered the devil on his shoulder, Tony obviously feels something for you……

If the man were happy in his marriage, would he have reacted as he had? Kissed him and held him. Said that Peter was his and that it was all real? God, and now that Peter had had a taste, could he walk away?

He liked Pepper, he really did, but could he let this moment slip away? Could he fight for what he wanted? Could he be ‘the other woman?’

There was only one thing he could do now. Find MJ and get black out drunk.

---------------------------------

He wasn’t sure how many beers in he was when his phone rang. He picked it up and panicked.

“MJ! It’s Tony. What do I do?”

His friend, who somehow wasn’t as affected by the beer as he was, plucked the phone out of his hand, lowered the volume then flipped it face down on the bed.

“Let him stew, Parker. You’ve laid your cards out on the table. Let him work out how he wants to lay his. But you make him choose! Don’t let him have his cake and eat it.”

Peter flopped back onto the mattress.

“Oh god, MJ, I just….just love him so much. And when he kissed me…ow!”

She dropped down next to him, punching him on the arm.

“Less talk, more beer, before I puke all over you, nerd.” But Peter wasn’t listening.

“I just want him to know that I’m right here. You know, when he’s ready. I know I can make him happy. Just thinking of him makes me happy.”

“Shut up Parker.” And she passed him another bottle.

---------------------------------

This is what death felt like. It had to be. His head felt as though someone was drilling into it and his tongue felt like carpet. Peter hated being hungover.

His hand fumbled around his bed until his fingers curled around his phone. Opening one eye he tried to focus on the screen. Two missed calls from Tony and a multitude of texts. Also a text from MJ letting him know she’d got home okay. He didn’t even remember her leaving, although did have a vague memory of her shoving him under his bed covers and calling him a moon-faced dweeb.

Gingerly opening his other eye, and wincing as the light caused another flash of pain, he opened the text conversation from Tony.

TONY: Please let me know ur ok

TONY: Pls answer. Im worried

TONY: If u don’t want to talk to me pls have KAREN call FRIDAY

TONY: Im sorry

TONY: I meant what I said Bambino. Pls talk to me

TONY: R u coming to the gala?

TONY: Pls come to the gala Petey. I need to talk to you.

Peter’s heart soared. Would Tony talk this way if he wasn’t really interested? If he didn’t want to be with Peter? Last night he had dismissed the idea of attending the gala, too embarrassed and ashamed. But was this his chance to actually lay it all out and tell Tony why he should be with him?

Could he be brave enough and try and seduce him? Peter wasn’t a total novice, he’d dated a few girls and had sex with Liz a few times when they were together (although the first time could probably be classed as a total disaster with him lasting approximately 30 seconds). He’d also kissed a few boys when he had been trying to distract himself from Tony and even jerked one of them off, but he’d never gone any further than that with a guy. Maybe Tony would want to bottom? Although even if he did, Peter wasn’t really sure enough of his skills to be able to make it good for the older man. And if he were being honest, he saw himself more in that role, having fantasied about it, practised opening himself up and bought himself a few toys.

Get it together Parker, don’t get ahead of yourself….

If he was going to do this, the first thing he needed was a suit. No, actually, the first thing he needed was a big glass of water and some Tylenol……

---------------------------------

A few hours later he was feeling better, one of the advantages of his enhanced body. That and a greasy breakfast at the local diner, before he and Ned went shopping. Okay, there was no way he could afford a suit that would be on par with any of the ones that Tony had bought him and were currently housed in the spare room at the tower, but it wasn’t as though he had the option of one of those at this moment in time. He didn’t want to risk Tony seeing him just yet; he needed to do this on his own terms.

“Erm, Peter, are you sure you want me to help you? Don’t you think MJ might be better at this?”

“Of course I want you here with me Ned, you’re my wing-man, right? It’s your job to make sure I’m properly dressed to make an impression……and to be honest MJ would either take the piss or moan, or both.”

Ned grinned, not in the least offended at Peter’s remark, punching him lightly in the arm.

“I got you man. Mr Stark isn’t going to be able to resist you.”

“Am I doing the right thing Ned? Throwing myself at a married man?”

“Well, to be honest, it’s not something I’d do. It’s a choice only you can make. But you already threw yourself at him and he reciprocated, so something’s there. You’re just, you know, making sure you’re both on the same page, understanding wise. He’s the one who has to decide whether he want Ms Potts or you. And if he doesn’t, me and MJ will be here for you.”

Peter threw his arm over his friend’s shoulder.

“Thanks Ned, you really are the best friend I could have.”

“You know it. And if you and Mr Stark get together, do you think you could get him to buy me the Lego Deathstar?” The two friends broke into laughter as they walked down the street.

----------------------------------------

Peter didn’t think that he’d ever spent this much time and effort getting ready for a party. He showered, he shaved, he….trimmed….he even moisturised. He got his new suit down from where he had hung it up in the bathroom so the small creases from getting it home would fall out (thanks to Aunt May for that tip!). He slid on the crisp shirt, and rifled through his drawer for the only pair of cufflinks he owned, the pair that Uncle Ben had worn on his and Aunt May’s wedding day. His tie was thin and black, his jacket and trousers a dark charcoal. Luckily he wasn’t required to wear a full tuxedo. He didn’t think he would be able to tie a bow-tie and there was no way he would wear a clip-on to a Tony Stark party, he’d never live it down!

He’d taken down robbers and hoodlums, fought Captain America in Berlin, fought Thanos, why was he so nervous now? This would be the chance for him and Tony to be happy, for them to be free and live their lives together. He knew with every fibre of his being that Tony should be with him.

He got a cab over to the tower, his foot tapping and his fingers drumming. Security waved him through and he made his way to the ballroom. Tony and Pepper hadn’t yet arrived, but he said hi to Rhodey and to Happy. Availing himself of a glass of champagne he took up a place near the wall opposite the elevator that lead to and from the private floors. Which meant he saw Tony the minute he appeared.

He was arm in arm with Pepper, and they both smiled and waved, but Peter knew them both too well. He noticed the awkwardness of their body language, and saw their smiles didn’t reach their eyes. It was another five minutes before Pepper saw him. Her smile didn’t falter but she tensed slightly, a movement that made Peter feel guilty. But it was her reaction that drew Tony’s notice to Peter. Their eyes locked and for a moment the older man froze, before he bent to whisper something to Pepper, handed her off to Rhodey, who was stood near them, and stalked over in Peter’s direction.

Tony’s hand landed on Peter’s shoulder, and wordlessly steered him towards a side-room. The door shut with an audible click and then Tony was pulling Peter into a tight embrace.

“You came. Oh, you don’t know how glad I am to see you.” Tony moved to cup Peter’s cheek, his rough thumb brushing over the bone. Peter looked into Tony’s eyes, unable to draw his gaze away.

“Mr Stark….I…”

“It’s Tony, bambino…” Then Tony was kissing him, turning them so Peter was pressed against the door and holding him close with an arm around his waist. The kiss was soft, full of longing and banked desire, and Peter couldn’t repress a moan when he felt Tony’s tongue snake into his mouth. But it was over too soon, Tony pulling his lips away, and Peter chasing them for a moment until he felt Tony press their foreheads together.

“Petey….”

“Tony...I…I have to tell you….you should choose me…I know you might feel like you have an obligation to Pepper, but if you were truly happy, this wouldn’t have happened. But, I’ll wait if I have to, I’ll be waiting for you, when you need me. You deserve to be happy…and…”

Tony pressed a finger over Peter’s lips, silencing his ramble.

“Baby, Pepper and I are separated. Have been for months. Tonight is our last engagement together as a couple and next week we’re sorting the divorce papers. We love each other, but we’re no longer in love with each other. And besides, she’s in love with Rhodey.”

Peter pulled back, searching Tony’s face, trying to make sense of all of this information. He was rewarded by that smile that made Tony’s eyes crinkle in the corners.

“So, what I’m saying Peter, is that I’m yours, if you’ll have me.”

Words failed him, and his heart was in his mouth, so Peter did the only thing he could think off. He fisted his hands into Tony’s jackets and pulled him back in for another kiss, and he decided he was never going to let go.

He was the aggressor this time, not wanting Tony to have any chance to change his mind. His hips were jerking, grinding himself against Tony’s thigh, has he devoured Tony’s mouth, and then started to trail his lips around the older man’s jaw and down his throat.

“Bambino,” Tony’s voice interrupted him, all breathy and dazed. “Slow down.” He stepped back slightly, trying to put some space between them. “I’m not going anywhere. Except, back out there.” He gesticulated at the door behind Peter, which brought the young man back to reality.

“Shit, yeah…um…right. We…err… ought to go.”

“But before we do, do you need to sort that out?” Peter followed Tony’s gaze to his own crotch, which was obscenely tented. Peter gulped, and could feel that his cheeks were on fire. “You have four options here as I see it. One, I leave you here, you and your libido calm down and you follow me out in a bit, two, I leave you here and you sort yourself out. Three, I stay, and watch you sort yourself out. Or four, I stay, and I help you.” Tony’s voice had deepened, and he was running the fingers of one hand through Peter’s hair. “Your choice, sweet boy, there’s no wrong answer here, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

Peter would have liked to have claimed that he ran through all the options thoroughly, and weighed all the pros and cons, but no.

“Four!” The word tumbled out of his mouth of its own volition. The idea of Tony finally getting a hand on him, made him strain even more against the front of his pants. The older man’s smile was soft as he stepped forward again. He dropped his hand from Peter’s hair and nuzzled into the smooth skin of his neck.

“You can tell me to stop any time, okay?” All Peter could do was nod, his arms snaking up around Tony’s neck, afraid he was going to sink into a puddle on the floor. He felt the pressure on his cock decrease with the snick of his zip being lowered. He expelled a gasp as Tony large, warm hand cupped him through his boxers, then rocked back on his heels as Tony gave him a gentle squeeze.

“Tell me baby, has anyone else ever touched you like this?” Peter squeaked and nodded.

“L..Liz, once.”

“Hhhmmmm, and how was that?” Tony’s fingers played along the edge of his boxers before sliding underneath.

“It…was….oh god!..okay….” How was his brain supposed to form words when Tony had just wrapped his hand around Peter’s rigid cock!

“Well, I’m aiming for better than okay. But I’d like to see you baby boy. Can I?” Again, all Peter could do was nod. His head was leaning back on the door, his eyes closed. But he felt Tony tug down his suit trousers and boxers, as he himself pulled his shirt up and out of the way, clutching the fabric to his chest with one hand.

“Well, fuck, Petey. I think that’s the prettiest cock I’ve ever seen. Looks so delicious.”

Peter’s eyes shot open as Tony’s thumb rubbed across his slit, covering the roughened pad with the younger man’s arousal. Then, locking his gaze on Peter’s, Tony lifted his hand up to his mouth, and sucked his thumb in between his lips, moaning at the salty, musky flavour.

“You’re killing me already bambino. I can’t wait to get that in my mouth. I wish we had the time now.” And whilst that sounded like absolute heaven to Peter, he almost lost it then and there when Tony spat into his own hand before taking hold of his cock again, and jerking him with the right mix of speed and pressure.

He couldn’t hold back the sounds coming from his mouth, and was thankful for Tony pushing two fingers of his left hand in between his lips.

“Ssshh sweetheart, don’t want anyone else hearing your noises.” Tony’s hand slid down with a slight twist, and then gave a gentle squeeze on the upstroke, causing more and more pre-come to leak out and ease the glide.

And all the while, Tony’s lips tickled his ear, dripping honeyed words.

“Can’t wait to have you all to myself baby boy. Want to explore every part of you, find out what you like.”

Peter sucked harder on Tony’s fingers, all the sensations overwhelming. Tony’s touch was nothing like his own, and nothing like the tentative explorations of Liz.

“That’s it Petey, just feel it, so good for me.” He whined and his hips started to buck up into Tony’s grip.

“There we go, come for me sweet boy.” Peter felt himself spilling into Tony’s hand as he moaned and writhed. Tony removed his fingers from Peter’s mouth, retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket and started to clean his hand, whilst Peter slumped against the door, breathing heavily. Then, shoving the soiled fabric in his pocket, Tony set about tidying Peter up.

“You okay, sweetheart?” He cupped Peter’s cheek in his palm. “I wish we didn’t have to go back out there. I mean, I have to, but you can go if you want, or go up to your guest suite, or whatever you want.”

Peter wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist and pulled the older man close.

“I’ve got you in my arms now Tony, I’m not letting you go. I’ll head back out with you, and me and Mr Rhodes can both go pine from a respectful distance. And, I’d like to stay here tonight, if that’s okay.”

“It’s more than okay, Peter. Not to sound ominous, but we do need to have a grown up conversation about us. I don’t want to assume on your experience, but I think we can confidently say that I have more than you. So we need to discuss how we move forward and what you’re comfortable with, yeah?”

“Yeah. I love you Tony.”

“I love you too bambino. But, please, never wear this suit in my presence again, it’s horrible.”

[lovieebby]

White Winged Girl (part three)

Part One | Part Two

Sugar Daddy!Henry Cavill x F!Reader (she/her)

Summary: Its not easy to cover up when she’s filled to the brim with anxiety, though Henry could care less. This isn’t a game to him and he’s not letting this little minx slip through his fingers.

WC: 1.2k (whoops)

Warnings: 18+!!!, SMUT SMUT SMUT, rough sex, dubcon if you squint (thats a damn LIE) d/s dynamic, daddy kink, oral (m receiving), cum eatting ?? degradation, spanking & spitting

Note: yall idk what happened, my fingers let loose and im not sorry. & PLEASE can someone talk to me like this??

Also! I know on my mood boards theres ladies that are white and I don’t see the reader as white— she is you and I’m trying to find more plussized women and women that are poc so i can meet all your needs! But rlly lovelies, the reader is you and you are perfect and beautiful all on your own way! I just wanted to clarify that real fast bc I don’t want ppl feeling excluded from my works. I love each and everyone of you and if theres anything more I can do to help please please just say so, don’t be shy I promise I’m nice!! & all the pics were found on Pinterest so the credit goes to all the owners of the photos!!

When the door started to open, it gave her enough time to shuffle back while Henry collected his thoughts and calculated his approach. Her knees shook as a muffled sob rolled its way into her mouth, she tried to cover it but was met with Henry’s steely look. A look he only gave if she was going to be punished or put back into her place.

“I don’t—“ He stuttered, his lips pinching shut as his eyes glared into her disapprovingly. “You think it’s funny to say shit like that?”

He still looked dashing as ever, even if it was him in sweats and a jersey tee. His nostrils flared as he bounced his keys in his hand, chest rising and falling before he reverted his eyes away from her and onto the soft rug she stood on. She forgot he asked a question and dumbly fumbled with her fingers.

Again she looked like a little girl lost in the big blue world ready to cry over the stupidest things, and Henry drank it up. He quickly shoved his keys in his deep pocket and took long strides to her, she froze still.

“Did I fucking studder?” He growled, gripping her chin as he backed her into the green velvet couch.

Such a spoiled thing, he thought, how ungrateful.

She sat with a gasp, chest rising fast with her heartbeat thrumming in her suddenly tight ribcage. She shook her head, a small hiccup bubbling up her throat. Henry moved so quick she swore she would have gotten whiplash as her back hit the seat of the couch. Her legs rose to his chest and her ass was met with harsh slaps.

“No please! I’m sorry!” She cried, trying so hard to cover her cheeks. With fruitless attempts of waving her hands to stop him, Henry’s bigger hand trapped her wrists in his grasp and continued his assault.

Her skin prickled with pain, her frails ending and she took his rough punishment with silent cries and mewls mixed with Henry’s heavy breathing. His curls bounced on his clammy forehead, and with a curt huff he was satisfied with the lesson. But knowing himself, he knew this was just the beginning.

“Who pays for your things, hmm? —Your stupid pretty little things?” He grumbled, pinning her ankles in his armpit, “No, I’m bloody serious! Who?”

His shout made her pant a dry sob, “You d-do.” She whispered weakly.

Henry moved his hands to the seam of her black leggings and ripped roughly at the crotch, exposing her whole self to him and the open air. He didn’t bother to correct her, the answer was good enough and with another slap to her heated cheeks caused her to squeal her answer louder. It was perfect for him.

She tilted her head to look at the older mans face, she’s never gotten punished by him like this and it killed her. It ate at her fragile heart and made her feel terrible for causing his frustration. She desperately wanted to be on his good side; yearned for it like a baby fawn searching out its mother.

“Daddy I—“

“No, nothing from you.” He snapped, his bright eyes nearly eaten by his darkened pupils, making her own eyes clamp shut to let herself believe he couldn’t see her.

She heard his keys jingle before she could open her eyes again, but when she did, they shot open to the rushed and forced entrance of her daddy’s swollen and blunt tip of his cock at her quivering cunt. She gasped loudly at his thrusts, mouth falling open in a broken scream.

“You don’t-“ He panted loudly, her pussy clamping tight around his length, “bite the hand that fucking feeds you!”

His heavy balls smacked against her warmed cheeks, creating a beautiful sound to Henry’s hungry ears. And when he felt the wind from the open door, he made for damn sure it continued to get louder and louder.

“Tell me you don’t want this. Go ahead, tell me you stupid little girl.” He taunted, his cock sliding easily into her drenched canal that made room for Henry to call home.

When she didn’t answer clearly, only in broken moans and garbled whimpers, Henry breathlessly laughed. Her sweet eyes hooded over in a fucked out gleam, her body limp as Henry thrusted deep and rough. All she knew was Henry’s large hands and the way his cock slid so easily into her. The only thing she could do was chant “Daddy, daddy, daddy!” And Henry loved every minute of her broken voice.

He was overly ecstatic of her being broken, watching her look at him like he hung the moon and stars. It was all he craved and he’d do this again and again just so he could see her fucked out face watch him dumbly like a whore. His heavy hand rested on her cheeks, squeezing her them together as he watched her pussy become swollen and red with his undying thrusts.

“You belong to me, got that?” He groaned, tightening his grip on her face, darting his gaze away from the lewd and intoxicating sight of them being connected in such a sinful way.

Her lips trembled as she nodded, at least tried to nod in agreement. He could feel his release approaching fast, the loud slapping matched with the absurdity wet smacks of his balls hitting her. With a loud roar, he tore away from her like she had burnt him, shoving her legs down onto the ground and stepped closer to her.

With his angry cock in hand, glistening beautifully in her honey like juices, he surged himself roughly into her mouth. “Eat it baby, ta-take it all and lemme- see it.”

His voice broke in a rough whine of its own, not being able to hold on for much longer. Though she eagerly took his beaten head into her warm mouth, it was her soft and shaking hands gripping tight around his shaft that sent him over. Henry moaned loudly, growling almost with praise as he emptied everything he had to give into her sweet mouth.

Her jaw let loose in perfect timing, letting him see his cum paint her tongue while his jaw clenched as he let out a snarled pant, approving her obedience. “Good girl. Very good.”

She didn’t know what was up, down, left or right. Her mind went into autopilot as she widened her mouth to show her daddy all she caught. The once mean and rough hand, now softly closed her mouth as his breath evened out and watched her soft throat swallow all his seed. His brows rose in a knowing look, waiting for her to stick her tongue out to show him she took it all. And when she did, like always, he spat down her pink throat.

If you want to be added/removed lemme know! Feedback is always welcomed, love you lots and be nice to yourself my bbies ;))

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[ethanharli]

Parings: Tanjiro Kamado x Top Male Reader

Warnings: Cursing

DNI; if you use she/her pronouns.

[A/n]- I took this from my Seme Male Reader book on Wattpad so um- yeah! Hope y'all like it.

____________

"For fucks sake Tanjiro!" I grumbled, pulling the stubborn male down into my lap, not caring for the yelp that ripped through his throat as I did so. "Watch your language [Y/n]!" Tanjiros mother scolded, pointing a spatula at me with a scary gaze that I swear only mothers can manage. "Yes ma'am! I'm sorry" I smiled a bit before turning my gaze back to the tired red head resting against my chest, practically dozing off in my lap. I sighed through my nose, pushing the male up in order to brush my fingers through his long hair, earning a sigh of content from him, "You need to stop over working yourself Tanjiro, its not good for your health" I whispered just loud enough for him to hear while I fixed up his hair, pulling it into a small ponytail.

"And don't tell me none of that 'I'm the oldest' crap it doesn't matter, you shouldn't just put all these responsibilities on yourself like this" My eyes narrowed a bit, feeling a dull ache pull at my heart but quickly pushed it away, finishing up the ponytail in a quick motion. I've been around for a long time, just being a year or so older then the red head that I've known since he was born, after their fathers death Tanjiro made it his job to do whatever he could to help out, even if that meant he'd stumble through my doors at ungodly hours of the night because for once he knew he couldn't do something on his own. My attention was brought back when I heard soft snores and more weight applied on my body, realizing he had fell asleep against me as I was thinking.

"I'm glad he has you around" My gaze shifted towards Tanjiro's mother, who watched us with a loving gaze in her eye's, "He's such a stubborn boy, but he listens to you more than anyone" Her words caused me to pout when a blush crept up my cheeks, grumbling a bit under my breath I wrapped my arm securely around Tanjiro's waist while slipping my other one under his legs, lifting him and myself off the ground with ease. "He talks about you a lot y'know? He admires you, looks up to you, so truly [Y/n] thank you" My grip tighten a bit, not realizing until Tanjiro shifted in my arms, but I couldn't help the harsh pain that spread through my chest, gripping at my core with guilt weighing down on me.

You shouldn't be.

I bit back the words, and showed a fake smile before going to set Tanjiro on his bed. Gently brushing a few stands of hair out of his face before hesitantly leaning down, pressing a soft kiss to the scar on his forehead, "I'm sorry, but this needs to be done.." Was all I could utter out before leaving the house, feeling the first flakes of snow land on my [S/t] skin, looking back at the house I smiled softly, taking in all the memories I've had here, before finally walking into the woods. Letting a green glow coat my figure as I dragged my claws against a frail tree trunk, disappearing into the snow.

------

Blood seeped into the snow as a foot pressed firmly into my chest, slowly breaking the bone beneath it. "You really thought you could protect them? You're weak, and never stood a chance so just lay here and die" The breath was knocked out of me when I was kicked into a tree, forcing a searing pain to spread throughout my back as my canines pierced my tongue in order to hold back my scream, not wanting to give the male any satisfaction. "You're no guardian, so give up the act already" The words weighed down on me along with the previous scenes that passed through my mind, the screams from the kids I've grown to adore, the silent pleas of a mother begging for her childrens lives to be spared, he was right, I am no guardian, not anymore.

I don't remember how long I laid in the snow before I finally crawled my way over to Nezuko, after noticing she still had a faint pulse. My wounds took much longer to heal since I haven't eaten in years, and I've been fighting off sleep for as long as I could remember, my body felt as if it was giving out but I simply wouldn't allow it, not after failing to save the only people who took care of me, who gave me a home. Pulling Nezuko into my arms I felt tears slowly slide down my bloodied and bruised cheeks, "I'm so sorry Nezuko" I coughed out, not paying attention to the sound of footsteps approaching, nor the sound of something hitting the ground. "[Y/n]? Nezuko?" The broken whisper caused my eyes to widen in panic, looking over to see Tanjiro standing before me with broken, disbelieving eye's.

He quickly ran over to us, dropping to his knees frantically. "Wh-what- are you-" He fumbled, not forming any real words until I brushed my fingers against his cheek in a soft, soothing motion that always seemed to calm him down. Tears slowly spilled from those beautiful dark red eyes, "I'm sorry Tanjiro.." I held but an ironic laugh, knowing that the only thing I can and have done is apologize, but I slowly guided his face towards mine, resting his forehead against mine that formed a familiar green glow, "Please forget" I laughed out a saddened cry, shifting around so that I could settle Nezuko in his arms, "Please forget I was here."

------

"[Y/n]..?" A groan ripped past my aching throat, the feeling of webs tightening around my body restricting me from any movement becoming known once again as I attempted to open my eyes, feeling to weak to do so as I listened to the shed doors slide open, expecting Rui to enter and use me once again. "Get on with it Rui.. There's nothing you can do, That you haven't already done.." My voice came barely above a whisper flexing my hands a bit, causing my claws to sharpen by the slightest as a familiar warm feeling spread across my cheek, finally forcing my eyes to open, only to be meet with a beautiful dark red. "Oh, hi.." Was the only thing I could mutter out when Tanjiro looked at me through that familiar concerned glare of his, it was only a split second until the webbing broke, and the sudden weight of gravity pulled me down, causing me to land against Tanjiro's toned chest.

Sobs echoed through the rotted shed, feeling the warmth of Tanjiros body against mine sending me into a peaceful state as he cried into my shoulder, gripping tightly onto my bare bleeding torso. "I-I missed you so much!" The sudden cry made my ears ring, hissing a bit at the action, earning a string of apologizes from the red head when he placed both hands against my cheeks, resting his forehead against my own, just like I had done last time we saw each other. We sat there for a moment, breaths mingling along with the soft noise of sniffles coming from Tanjiro, tears still slowly falling from his eyes. Gently I took his wrists in my hands, watching as his eyes fluttered open, catching my gaze with his own.

"I missed you too.." My words fell on deaf ears when I leaned in, capturing his lips with my own in a slow, desperate motion. Feeling my heart slam against my ribcage when he kissed back, tilting his head to deepen the kiss while my hand moved to his cheek, being careful so I wouldn't accidentally cut him with my claws. Pulling away in order to fall against his chest, laying my head on his shoulder, slowly falling back into the comforting darkness.

------

A gasp ripped past my throat as I sprung forward, reaching out for the figure that still lingered in my distant memory, "Tanjiro.." His name rolled of my tongue with such longing that my chest ached at the thought of not being near him. Only for my eyes to widen when a calloused hand took mine in there's, seeing the male I had just called out for standing besides me with a worried yet relieved gaze. Turning towards him I watched as he sat down on the chair besides the bed I was in, keeping my hand in his as he did so, "I thought I'd never see you again" He whimpered out, tears slowly gathering in his eyes while his grip on my hand tightened. "And when I opened that shed I thought.. I thought you were-" With saddened eyes I quickly pulled the male into my lap, like I used to do all those years ago.

My arms tightened around his waist, desperate to finally have him back in my arms again, "Im still here though aren't I? I promise I won't leave your side again, not until you want me too" I uttered out, slowly remembering that he must know what I am by now, but here he is, not struggling nor screaming while in my grasp. "Then stay by my side forever! I can't.. I can't bare to see you leave again" The words weighed down on me, causing my shoulders to sag as I let out pathetic sigh until Tanjiro turned my gaze back towards him. His arms wrapped around my neck while his fingers laced through my hair, dark red eyes staring into my [E/c] ones with a deep wanting lingering within them.

His breath hitched when my eyes fluttered closed, taking his lips with mine in attempt to feel that warm loving feeling again, that only he could give me. He moved his lips with mine in a slow motion as his fingers tightened their grip on my hair, while I pressed him closer against me craving for more of the warmth he provided, along with the taste of his lips. Tanjiro gave me a look of confusion when I parted or lips, scrunching my nose up in slight disgust, "You taste like medicine" Was all I could speak before he erupted into a fit of laughter that sounded like music to my ears.

My eyes softened as I watched the male seeing his usual wide smile when I rested my hand on his cheek, gently running my thumb over the dark bag under his eye, "I love you Tanjiro, I always have.." I admitted, with a small grin.

"I love you too [Y/n].."

[cheesydoesitstevie]

The one that got away.

Got the idea from the new series TFATWS so if you haven’t seen it, DO NOT READ please! Spoilers ahead!

Also I do not own any of the characters, the one phrase I used from TFATWS all is credited to Disney and Marvel. I am just writing fanfics. 

Warnings: Bucky is Full on winter soldier mode. Not nice, Violence and mentions of death. weapons... kind of fluff at the end. 

The door slammed behind you, it seemed to verberate in the silence. Every little sound had seemed to amplify in dead of the night. The dull ache in your ankle had graduated to a constant stinging. The roof top stairs seemed to wind endlessly and the way the man moved you were somewhat shocked he hadn’t gotten you the several times you had fallen down the stairs.

There was no time to cry over the fact that you had watched him throw your best friend and her boyfriend off the roof as if they were a couple of ragdolls. With quivering lips you attempted to keep the whimpers at bay. Blood rushed like a wild river rapids inside your head. You strained to listen for his footsteps. Pulling your body backwards into the bedroom where your boyfriend had kept his gun.

The front door was locked, it provided no safety or reassurance and you had seen what that man was capable of. If he was a man.

Thud. Thud.

It was slow agonizing two soft steps at a time. The echo of the heavy boots made it hard to really guess how far he was. With trembling hands your fingers fumbled the bullets noisily dropping most of them. They fell banging on the floor louder than they would have sounded under normal circumstances. Tears escaped your eyes and streaked your cheeks. You knew he had heard and was most likely sneaking closer if he wasn’t already outside your door.

You managed to clumsily load four bullets into the gun. Looking inside the chamber, you dropped the fifth bullet watching as it rolled across the floor. Your back against the night stand, knees pressed into your chest. Labored breaths seeped from your lips as you tried to silence yourself to steady your body.

The creak slowed down time or so it seemed. You waited for what felt like hours softly clicking the the bullets into the gun. It had probably only been a few minutes if that. You prayed he would move on and cut his loss with you, making you the one that got away.

Screams tore from your lips as the door exploded inwards with shards of wood scattering all over the place. If someone was standing there he may have killed them with the shrapnel alone. He walked in scanning the room, he flexed his metal fist as he turned towards the kitchen momentarily. Slowly you laid down, sliding yourself under the bed. Luckily the comforter covered the bed to the floor.

You could no longer see him, clutching the gun to your chest as you tried to stay quiet. It wasn’t an easy task with the hitched breaths. He searched the whole apartment trashing it as he went. Things clinking and thudding, familiar sound of glass shattering and even a knife tearing through some kind of fabric. Sent chills down your spine. The pain in your ankle throbbed. It was most likely bruised and swollen.

Crunching boots stomped back towards the doorway. It sounded like he walked through. You waited on bated breath as silence swallowed everything once more. Too scared to risk it you stayed under the bed. The shock and emotional fear had left you exhausted. Some how you slowly began to drift to sleep, holding the gun close to you.

Pain shot through your ankle and into your leg. You violently jerked awake as you slid harshly across the floor. A scream tore from your lips as the man in the black mask drug you from underneath the bed. He purposefully gripped your injured ankle with his metal hand. Just when you thought he’d stop he kept dragging you. Your eyes filled with tears blurring your vision. It was unclear whether or not it was from fear or the shear pain radiating out of your leg or the glass and wood cutting into your back you were dragged out of the apartment. You fired the gun at him it whizzed through the air barely knocking his shoulder.

Annoyed he stopped and used his boot to step on your wrist. The pain forced you to drop the gun as he pinned you to the harsh tile.

“HEEELP! SOMEONE HELP ME!!” You screamed and sobbed as you passed your neighbors doors banging on one or two of them as your body swung from side to side.

No one came to rescue you, you swore two doors back a door had cracked open before swiftly closing again. Most likely in fear of not wanting to get involved with whatever this was. At the end of the hallway he stopped and turned around. The moon light hit his face just right illuminating his crystal blue eyes. They seemed to look right through you.

“Please, p-please, I won’t tell anyone! Please, let me go!” He watched you cry and shake beneath him as he straddled your body. It made you wonder if he might let you go after all.

“M-my names. Y/N. Im too young to die, please!” You pleaded for your life only to be met with his metal fingers seductively clasping around your throat.

It was done so gently and carefully that at first it almost felt intimate. The sheer force from his fingers left you squirming and thrashing beneath him as he slowly choked you, your vision was murky with black spots that danced around before everything eventually faded.

“NO!”

Bucky sat up gasping for air. The feathers bursted from the obliterated pillow. Falling around the room like the first snow on Christmas eve. There were many voices and faces that plagued Bucky’s mind over the years. A few screamed to him in the night much louder than the rest. Y/N, was one of the loudest that shook him to his core. He knew deep down she never would have told anyone but Hydra demanded that there were to be no loose ends left.

Bucky looked up from his spot on the floor. Nat looked down at him with patience and concern from the doorway.

“Want to talk about it?” Nat asked sitting down on the few sheets on the floor that Bucky used for a bed just three feet away from a real bed.

“No.” Bucky said looking straight forward into the darkness. Sweat covered his body, while he saw Y/N’s panicked face in the darkness as she clung to his arms for release.

Nat stayed with him until the morning, her and Steve often took turns checking in on Bucky. He had therapy but things still seemed to be catching up with him no matter how hard he tried to fix it.

Bucky watched you take a sip of the foamy latte in the large circular mug in front of you. You only came out one day a week to do errands and to enjoy a coffee at this over populated cafe in the middle of downtown New York. You often wore turtlenecks or hoodies to cover up the scars from that night you had somehow managed to survive. Bucky knew without a doubt he had killed you that night. Now you sit here alone barely living because of him. The trauma was evident in your eyes and body language.

Every little sound within the noisy streets of New York had you shrinking down and looking for that danger that stalked you years ago. Bucky wondered if you too were going to therapy, and who was there for you when the nightmares came clawing at your door again.

“I am no longer the Winter Soldier. I am James “Bucky,” Buchanan Barnes. You’re a part of my effort to make amends.” Bucky mumbled the words to himself as he walked away from you.

Unsure how he’d ever scratch you off his list. There was no way to really make amends with you. Not after what he put you through. For now he’d keep checking in on you from a distance until the day he knew how to mark you off his list.

[pokeexehasstoppedworking]

Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch8 Battle Gym Leader Milo

(I have read somewhere sheep love dandelions so Im applying that fact to wooloos. I would also like to note that all side quests shall also be considered a part of the story.)

It would be nice to wake up without pain in your neck, sides, or back wouldn't it? That's what you wished you could do as you were shaken yet again the very next morning by someone. The four of you had decided to set up camp in the nearby camping grounds near the stadium since the day was starting to come too a close and you still weren't used to not sleeping on anything between you and the ground besides the thin floor of the tent and had fallen asleep feeling the hard ground beneath you and it must've taken you at least a good three hours before you had fallen asleep that night. Your sobble softly snoring sleeping on your head. And this morning was just like the rest when you woke up with a slight pain in your neck and back, popping them as you stretched. And with what happened yesterday you must've looked a sight-

"You look like you haven't slept in a month." Yep. It was Gloria decked out in her white gym uniform again ready to take on the day and battle ....or so it seemed.

You yawned and rubbed at your neck. Giving a groan as you already felt your sobble climbing on your back to reach it favorite riding spot and you gave him a look when he flopped half of himself over your shoulder. You were starting to see a pattern with this little guy liking to hitch a ride instead of walking himself.....Hm. Well if he was gonna stick with you for a while maybe you should give him a name? But right now you were more concerned with how much you were yawning. "Haha. I wonder why."

"Is she up?" Victor's head appeared in the opening of the tent next to his twin's and rose a brow at you blinking at the sunlight. "Oh...Wow you weren't wrong? Real case of bed head there, Y/n."

"Glad to know I can scare off Prince Charming," you sarcastically stated, "Although I wasn't expecting any kissing from any royalty anyhow."

Gloria snorted and Victor quickly held up his hands. "WHA- I-I didn't mean to be rude I swear it's just-"

"Ah. It's fine." You cut him off moving to grab your lumpy backpack/pillow at this point and made to crawl out of the tent. "Im always like this in the morning anyways. All I need is a quick hair brush and Im fine. ...What time is it?"

"Pretty early in the morning. We can all head on over to the stadium if you want but we'll still have to wait. Milo's still battling someone at the moment."

It must've been one of the trainers from before you guessed as you completely crawled out reaching up to straighten your hair out in an attempt to look presentable from a night of little sleep. "I guess he's still busy today. Kinda makes me wanna rethink my whole business liscence schtick if this means I'm gonna run a business like that."

"Business stick?"

"...Nevermind. Help me put away the tents then we can head on over to the gym ok?"

The four of you scrambled to put the tents away as you fumbled to get yourself looking half way decent. You doubted anyone would pay too much attention to you being only one random person sitting in the crowd of possibly hundreds of more people...That reminds you. You looked over your shoulder at Gloria who was currently in a pretty deep conversation with her twin whil Hop (tried to-) wrestle the tent down into it's more compact form. Victor mentioned she had stage fright. Not as bad as before stage fright, but still stage fright. He mentioned she had gotten A lot better but it seemed there was still some left since you could still remember her stiff smile and the way Hop had assurringly held his friend's hand out on the field there, which was real sweet of him. You could definately tell he was related to Leon. But it won't be the same here. It's not like you or anyone else would be there to encourage her while on field. The best any of you could do was cheer her on from the stage. Guess the two of you would have to roll with the punches as they were about to hit you. It didn't take too long to pack everything away, and you had helped Hop with his struggling battle to put the tent away. As soon as it was tightly packed away and placed onto Hop's back, you turned ready to journey to the stadium-

"Hey." Gloria's voice stopped you mid step as she pointed back up the way from the stadium. "Before we head on out I need to buy me some dandelions."

You gave her a look like she was crazy. "Dandelions? What would you buy dandelions right now for?"

"Milo's still busy right? Then we have time to get some before we go!"

You had zero idea what in the world Gloria would want with dandelions especially before her first gym battle, but you agreed since it meant you'd have some more time to straighten your hair out. So you agreed and she proceeded to buy dandelions at the florist shope. Stuffing them into her white uniform's pants pocket. She had bought a good amount and you wondered what in the world they were for. A gift for Milo perhaps? By the time the four of you made it back down to the GIGANTIC stadium. Her brother turning to her as you three stopped by to part ways. From here you could hear the cheering from the hundreds of people within and briefly wondered for a moment exactly where all these people came from. Certainly not this small town unless they traveled to see the matches. Which seemed more likely.

"Don't forget to show them your League Card to get in," Victor reminded her.

"I know."

"And stay calm."

"I know."

"Have a clear head and think things through alright."

"I KNOW!! Vic I'll be fine! You guys should get seats and watch me kick some butt!"

You heard him groan and shake his head. "Just....Don't forget what we talked about earlier alright?"

She nodded her head before giving him a smile and turned on her heel to trot on over to the front doors, which was guarded by more of those security people from the first stadium. Hop caught your attention when he nodded his head towards the stadium and you agreed following him as he turned to walk towards around the far side of the stadium with Victor hurrying to following behind. The three of you walked around until you came to two large double doors with stairs leading up and up into the stadium and you followed them screams and cheers becoming more and more promanant until you exited through the top and found yourselves high up and in side the stands....Huh. There wasn't as many people as you thought there would be. There was still a lot of people filling the seats around you but there was considerably less than at he opening Ceremony. There was still a good chunk of empty seats scattered about even with the large crowds. Surrounding the field was hundreds of seats with spectators cheering loudly and chattering likely excited for the next battle with Milo but said Gym Leader was no where to be seen on the field. Your guess was that he was taking a small break before the next battle to be had. You still followed behind them as they walked down the steps(thank GOODNESS that it wasn't as loud as the other stadium. You didn't think you could take that loud of a racket again.) and the lot of you were able to be seated a lot closer to the field this time thanks to the variety of open seats. As the three of you sat down the cheers of the crowd soon turned into loud but managable to your ears murmurs. Your sobble had taken to pushing itself up half on your head to look around interested but you reached up to take him into your lap instead. Neck still stiff from your awkward sleeping position.

It was then you noticed there was no one on the grassy fields below. "Hey. Where is everyone?"

"Gloria must be going through the challenge right now," Victor said it was easier to talk to him now than at the Opening Ceremony. "It took Hop about twenty five minutes to make it through so we'll have to wait and see what happens."

"It wasn't too hard," Hop commented crossing his arms, "In Postwick it's practically a need to know skill how to herd wooloo. A right of passage if you will. That challenge was practically begging me to solve it!"

That's right. Hop and the twins were born and raised amongst these pokemon. This should be fairly easy for them you thought. Or more likely hoped.

"Is this being broadcasted on TV as well?"

"No. Only the Entrance Ceremony and the Champion Matches at the end of the year will be. All the battles at the stadiums are recorded though, but they're uploaded to the Gym Challenge League's official Poketube website. So Mom would still be able to watch us if she wanted too. It helps with the pacing of TV channels and networks and makes it more convienet for anyone watching."

Ah. That makes sense. Guess you just had to wai- ....You blinked and squinted your eyes towards the field and pointed. "Hey. Who's that?"

Both boys looked towards the stadium's giant TV and Hop answered. "Oh. That's Dan. He's the gym's referee here, but he doesn't usually step out on field unless the battle's about to begin."

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! THE BATTLE BETWEEN GYM LEADER MILO AND GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA SHALL BEGIN!!"

All three of you looked rather surprised at what was just said by the blonde man before Hop said what the three of you were thinking. "WHAT?! Already?! How could she have finished the challenge that fast!? It's barely been ten minutes."

You weren't sure yourself but were distracted by the sudden amount of cheers from the crowd as two more figures stepped onto the field. From the far left came Milo, the same man who worriedly apologised for letting his wooloo knock you over and from the right came Gloria..but she looked a bit different. Unlike last time, instead of stiff her movements were fast, jogging her way to the middle keeping her eyes slightly downward as the cameras caught her image and placed them on the screen for everyone to see. The two of them met somewhere in the middle of the field by Dan and although you could see their lips moving as they exchanged a few words you couldn't hear anything. You had guessed you wouldn't unless they had microphones to speak into. Before long the two bowed to each other before turning on their heels and walking away from one another. The flash of Victor's camera making you blink as he proceeded to capture his sister's first real battle of the league. Hop watching with a set determined face. The referee taking a few steps back himself, most likely not wanting to get caught in the crossfires.

"Here we go."

In one fluid motion with a cheer from the crowd, Milo threw a ball out and in a flash of light out came a gossifluer. Gloria mimicked the motion with her own pokeball and to your light surprise it wasn't a scorbunny. It was a corvisquire. The crow bird like pokemon gave a loud caw as it fluttered there awaiting orders. You didn't remember her catching that pokemon. Must've been one of the new ones she managed to capture back before you left Motostoke.

"BATTLE BEGIN!!"

Immediately Milo pointed and his lips moved in yelling in order. Immediately his gossifluer responded by a wind blowing around itself and suddenly leaves danced around it it a tiny tornado before being flung forward towards the bird pokemon. Razor Leaf move perhaps? Gloria's small form (or big form on the giant tv depending on which one you were watching) pointed back and barked something and like a blurred shadow the bird thing shot forward, dodging the leaves thrown at it, and like a seagal plucking a fish from the sea, the tiny gossifluer was quickly snatched up into the claws of the crow thing. You could only watch in worry for the poor thing as the corvisquire flew up, up, up until it would've been considered out of bounds of the gym. Before plummeting like a rock down below. THEY'RE GONNA crash!! Was the first thing in your mind as they went and just at the right moment the pokemon snapped it's wings back up and easily managed to fly away unhurt. A sigh of relief escaped you. Thank goodness....Only...it no longer had the gossifluer in it's claws. Your hold on your sobble increased making it give you a confused chirp, as your f/c eyes instantly went to the part of the field it would've crashed into. Only to catch the part glimpse of a light going back into the pokeball in Milo's hand. That could've only meant that Gloria managed to one hit K.O. the poor pokemon. That didn't sound right, unless the corvisquire she caught was pretty strong or-...Oh no. It couldn't be that- No time to wonder on that now as Milo sent out another pokemon who looked like a walking puffy dandelion. Eldegoss if you remembered right. While Gloria kept her corvisquire....before returning it. Guess she was changing it after all.

"ALL RIGHT!! DYNAMAX TIME!!"

You didn't have time to ask Hop what he meant. A bright red glow oozed out of the band Gloria wore upon her arm as she held her pokeball, it quickly was surrounded by the glowing energy before becoming bigger in her hands. She stumbled a bit seeming to have trouble with the added weight where you for sure thought she'd fall, before uprighting her self and turning around. With her teeth grit, Gloria raised the gigantic red pokeball above her head and tossed it. Your eyes followed it as it sored as high and far as she could- CRAP!! Your hands came up as an explosion of red appeared out of no where like multiply giant fireworks, followed by a whoosh of wind strong enough to push your body back and an UNGODLY giant cry in such high volume you could've sworn your ear drums could burst. There was a very loud chirp of panic and your eyes opened in a panic down to your shirt just as your sobble dove under it to escape the now......FREAKING. GIANT. BIRD THING!!! THAT THING WAS MASSIVE AS YOU STARED AT IT FLYING!! Thank god the stadium was built big enough for that thing to flap it's wings!! Speaking of which every flap sent a gust of wind flying from it, making Victor have to hold hit hat with one hand as he continued taking photos! Good gosh! No wonder your sobble was shaking against you! That'd thing give would give you nightmares too! A red circle of dynama clouds hung over the Corvisquire and it's black body now had a red shine to it. Looks as if Milo had decided to do it as well, because he did the same process of returning his own pokemon and adding the same red energy from his dynamax band. Giving the precious red pokeball a few pats with a smile before turning around and with one arm chucked it into the air behind him. Once again you had to shield your eyes from the bright explosion of red as the giant eldegoss made it's appearance with a slam down on the field that disleveled the ground and shook the stadium from under you. In an instant Gloria pointed towards the dynamaxed grass pokemon and must've given some kind of order you couldn't hear. Because it was at that very moment what you could only describe as a giant whirlwind of a tornado whipped from the corvisquire and straight for the eldegoss in a dead hit. That's right. Dynamaxing was a cool thing, but neither pokemon could dodge each other's attacks they were too big. Dynamaxing was a test of brute will to see how much you could hold out. And you were pretty sure Gloria had the upper hand but not because you thought she was super strong. The high winds made the three of you clutch your seats as it hit the eldegoss head on. If your hair wasnt a mess before it was now. Once the winds (other than the powerful breezes from the bird's wings) died down, you nearly choked seeing Gloria's form on her hands and knees clutching the grass to not be blown from the dirt. HOW WAS MILO STILL STANDING!? With a shriek of it's own the eldegoss leaned it's large head forward and you were surprised when three large green seeds fired off from it's head and landed with giant thuds under the bird's feet. Thank goodness Gloria was already ducking. What sprouted forth was GIGANTIC green mushrooms and grass surrounding it, then it exploded in a giant flash of green light. Giant glowing petals made of energy shooting everywhere before disintergrating into thin air. Green waves of energy washing over the crowds as the bird gave off a giant eagle cry of it's own but still flying in tack. ...That was one tough chicken!

"Eldegoss's Dynamax Move!! Awesome isn't it!?"

You couldn't answer. Another giant eagle cry pierced the air making your ear hurt and two black jet streams poured from it's wings. You watched in horror and shock as the dark jetstreams encircled the poor grass pokemon. Encasing it with a dome of black before exploding in a blast of black. The eldegoss crying out in pain as is tilted towards the ground- OMG! That thing was gonna crush Milo!! The eldegoss went out in an explosion that sent dirt clouds flying up everywhere as it timbered glowing brightly through the dust clouds as it magically shrank down winthin it's own mess. You all watched with baited breath as the clouds spread out and covered the famous gym leader as well, Gloria's bird pokemon glowing a bright reddish color before beginning to shrink down until it was back to it's normal size. It's normal size being about as big as Gloria herself (which was still pretty big but when again you remembered how big corviknight are supposed to get), and perched back onto the ground right next to it's trainer who was staring from her kneeled position as the dust literally settled. At least the giant gusts of wind weren't pushing you against the seats anymore. Maybe you should suggest to Leon to install seat belts on these stands. As the dust finally settled with great relief you saw Milo, unhurt and waving his big sunhat to shoo the dust away. Behind him was a giant crater in the ground and disheveled land. All that was left behind from the battle that had taken place.

"THE BATTLE IS OVER!! VICTORY GOES TO GYM CHALLENGER GLORIA!!"

The absolute UPROAR of the crowd's cheers along with Hop standing up to shout his own cheers to his rival/friend and another flash from Victor's camera signaled him capturing the shocked look on his sister's face just standing there looking around herself....Before you saw the brightest smile Gloria's ever given on her face and hugged her corvisquire making the poor pokemon wobble on it's feet as Milo placed the hat back on his head. The gym leader took a moment to look behind him at the disheveled field and big crater in the ground before looking back to the teenager and approuching her. Gloria seemed to notice because she stopped hugging her pokemon to face Milo with wide eyes as he approuched her. The two exchanged words for a moment before Milo held out his hand in a fist with a smile. Wide eyed she took a moment to stare at it before slowly holding out her own hands and he dropped something into the palm of her hands. Wide eyed and staring straight at it, it only took her a few moment for her to hop about excitedly and hold up the small thing in her hands. The cameras zoomed in enough for you to see that she was holding the same badge Hop had showed you the other day on the TV. She did it!? Her first badge! One more step on your way home! ...At Least you hoped. In the end the two of them shook hands and soon after excited the field as the three of you exited the stands, you taking your sobble and putting him on your shoulder again. The poor shaking pokemon calming quickly noticing there wasn't anymore giant pokemon. Hm. You might have to put him in your backpack from now on if he was gonna react all scared and hide like this. By the time the three of you excited the stands Gloria was already waiting outside the doors she went in. Smiling and bounding over towards you waving the badge around in her hand.

"LOOK AT THIS!!," she yelled excitedly shoving the badge in your faces the bronze-gold shining in the sunlight. "On my first try too! I told you I could do it!"

"You must've took my advice then."

You gave Victor a curious look. "Advice?"

He nodded. "Yeah. We used to play VR battles when we were younger as practice since we didn't have any pokemon. I suggested she pretended it was like the game and try her best."

Oh. Well that worked out pretty well for her anyways. Hopefully it'll work for the next battle as well, but you were a bit concerned that Gloria(and Hop-) only won because Milo and his pokemon was overwhelmed and tired by the onslot of trainers coming so early. But you were reluctant to say so. Not only because you didn't want to disturb the progress of the game's story more than you might have already did just by being here, and because you didn't want to hurt either of their feelings. Weighing your options, you decided that not mentioning it was the better choice for now.

"Congrats! I knew you could do it!," you complimented as she smiled wider.

"Thanks! I guess Hop and I must be on the same battling skill level then!"

"HECK YEAH! Wouldn't expect anything less from the greatest trainers to come out of Postwick!" You chuckled at him. "Oh by the way. What'd you do with all those dandelions you bought? Did you give 'em to Milo or something?"

A sly smile spread across her face. "Nope! I'm surprised you didn't remember."

He rose a brow. "Remember what?"

"Expert on wooloo huh?" She shook her head. "Wooloo love eating dandelions! That's why you barely find any of those flowers where wooloo graze or on farms in general. The objective was to get the wooloo to knock over the hay bails right? What better way than to get them to chase after you with their favorite food?"

Wow. That was actually a really smart idea you had to admit. Growing up in a farming community must really pay off. Hop's jaw practically fell open with this new revolution and his hands hands came up to grip his head. "AW MAN!! Why didn't I think of that!? I got my own wooloo for crying out loud!"

"Hey. It's ok. You're still smarter than me when it comes to science and research. You'd be a pretty good scientist too!"

"Science? Really?"

Hop nodded with a sigh. "Yeah. But it's more of a hobby, I just find learning stuff interesting y'know. But my main goal is to become the next Galar Champion!!"

"Not if I beat you to it!"

"Bring it on, Glory!

"Speaking of becoming champion," you interrupted the two, "Have you guys figured out which person you're gonna battle next?"

Both of them paused before looking at each other and Hop shrugged. "Well, there's really no particular order you have to have to battle in so I can pick anyone I want to battle next. It really doesn't matter as long as you get the eight badges for your Badge Circle...." She looked at you. "But Mr. Milo suggested I should go battle Nessa instead. He said she might be a good challenge for me."

"Nessa? Isn't she that model lady you showed me before?" She nodded.

"No way! That's where we were headed too!" Hop smiled. "This is a great chance to do a bit of traveling together!"

"Hey that sounds like a great idea! But first I want to check out this Turrfield treasure."

You all looked at her confused. "Turrfield treasure?"

She nodded. "I heard from a kid that there's supposed to be some kind 'o treasure around here. I think I figured out the riddle since then and I wanna go check it out before we leave."

"What kind of riddle?"

She made a thinking face. "Uh...Hang on a sec. What did she say how'd it go again? Some treasure lies in Turffield and the way to find it is with the standing stones and a riddle."

"Standing stones?"

"She means the ruins around Turffield," Victor answered you seeing the confusion on your face. "Some people call them 'Standing Stones' since most of them stand upright with their strange carvings."

"Seek the standing stones with Grass before the other ones," Gloria recited, "Use well that strength and find then the strength of it's strength in the end. Dally not if you've a mind to find what time has left behind...I don't know what it means tho."

"I do! It's about Pokemon types duh."

The three of you looked at Hop. "How did you solve that mystery?"

His answer was to point upwards towards the small florist and gift shop. "You remember the gift shop up there we were in?" You nodded confused. "They have this brochure in there with info on the Geoglyph and Standing Stones. I got curious after what Glory said about the thing and had a lil peek. It turns out one of the older standing stones has symbols that spell the word 'Grass' on it. And then there's two other's with 'Water' and 'Fire' cut into 'em too. It's like the three pokemon types. Grass types are usually stronger than water types but water types are usually stronger than fire types. And Fire Types are usually stronger than Grass types. It's a whole cycle of advantage type strengths."

You all were completely floored with such a logical and smart answer to come out of the teen but Gloria seemed the most impressed when she suddenly grabbed onto his hands making the poor boy freeze. "NO! WAY!! Oh my eevee! That makes so much sense! Hop you're a genius!!"

....He blinked a pink hue coming to his cheeks. "I-...I-I am?"

"YES!," she insisted eyes wide, "Who else would've been smart enough to figure out that riddle in one day!? And make the connection with pokemon advantages!" She gave him a tug and he stumbled a bit as she pulled his hands. "C'mon! We gotta go check 'em out! You know where they are right?"

"Wha- GLORIA!! What about our travel plans!?," Victor shouted after her gesturing towards a road that if you looked, was the way out of town.

She waved him off tugging Hop quickly down a different path back towards the Geoglyph. "It's just a quick look see! We'll meet you guys at the Pokemon Nusery on Route Five!!"

"GLORIA WAIT!!.....UGH!!" Victor facepalmed himself with a groan as he stood there and you blinked. "This is why I'm glad she has a traveling buddy." He looked back up at their disappearing forms with a scowl. "She gets one idea in her head there's nothing stopping her from getting it! Then she just rushes off into it without a second thought."

"Then I take it she didn't tell you about tresspassing on the Chairman's mine shafts."

"She did WHAT?!"

"Uh...Nevermind," you deflected pointing down the road. "Should we uh...Go wait for them?" In the end Victor huffed, shook his head, and turned on his heel to begin walking down the road. So you took that as a yes and made to follow him. "So....Where's the way to this Nessa person?"

Victor took a minute to respond with a sigh. "I'm not too sure. I know it's all the way on the other side of Galar in a coastal town called Hulbary. So it's safe to say it'll take some time if they insists on battling her gym next. Let me check my map." You watched and walked beside him patiently as Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Turning on to where the screen lit up and then spoke. "Hey Rotom. How long would it take to travel from the town of Turffield to the town of Halbury?"

Now you know you shouldn't have been surprised considering all phones had a rotom pokemon in it acting as this world's version of 'Hey Google' but you still blinked at the almost robotic voice answering him back. "ZZZZT. Follow on Route 5 to your destination. By Flying Taxi it would take approximately a week. By foot near a month."

"A WHAT!?"

He gave you a look. "Flying is a lot faster than walking, and Halbury's all the way across Galar from here. Of course it would take that long to travel by foot." Oh...right. Not a game. R.I.P your poor feet and the many night of awkward sleeping positions to come. He looked back to his phone messing with something on the screen a few times. "...According to this, Route Five starts once we pass the Pokemon Center and cross Turrfield Bridge. From there it's a straight course right across country to the east coast. It might take a while but it's the most convenient one for all of us."

"Isn't there a train or those taxi things?" Even if you REALY didn't want to try using those birdbrain powered taxi's you didn't like the sound of you walking across country for about a month either.

"Even if we got a taxi you heard Rotom. It'd take like a whole week of flying. And the corviknights need time to rest and eat and sleep too. They're living things just like us. Even cars, trains, and planes need to stop and need time to tune up and refill on gas don't they? And besides there's no train stations or Flying Stations set up in Turffield. If you want a train you'd have to travel back to Motostoke which is half a week, or you'd have to call a taxi from there to pick you up. Besides Gloria has a whole year to complete this task. One month out of eleven more isn't going to hurt anyone."

Except your feet and sleeping abilities but you couldn't argue. He was right. You traveled for four days and waited five for Gloria to get her first badge. You could do it again but longer. As the two of you walked down the road, the town began to fade away a bit behind you as you two traveled down the road. You both were just crossing over a small hill when you noticed a small cabin like building with a sign above his door reading: Turffield Pokemon Nursery. That must've been it! It looked as cozy as it did cute. And a little bit a ways from it was a bridge. That must've been the Turffield Bridge Victor spoke of earlier. Maybe you two should wait for the other two inside? It was pretty sunny out and you've been in the sunlight for a while. As you two walked towards the building, some movement near the bridge caught your eye and your eyes turned towards said movement. And your vision was filled with blurs of black and red and your hearing clogged with yelling. Your hand instinctively coming out to grab Victor's shoulder. The teen stopped from the tug on his shoulder a few yards away from the Pokemon Nursery before giving you a confused look as you stared. He followed your gaze just as what was happening finally registered in your head. It was those goons again! The weird ones that looked like they just stepped out of some kind of rock concert! The same ones from the hotel back in Motostoke! Why were they here tho? Two men who looked about your height a bit taller, were standing there on the bridge just as it connected with the road and backed against a part of the bridge was another man who looked all dressed up to be a doctor. Blue jumpsuit and a mask over half his face as he held up his hands to the men. Now yelling could be heard.

"OI! Just hand over that bike already!," One of them shouted pushing the smaller man's shoulder once, "We need it to cross this long bridge!"

"N-N-No!" The doctor man stammered out backing further against the wall of the bridge. "I-I bought this with my own hard earned money f-f-fair and square! What would two blokes like you even do with it!?"

"We're gonna use that bike ta chase around Gym Challengers! It'll be a scream!," the other said before cackling out with laughter.

"WHAT!? N-NO WAY!! I-Im not letting you two meatheads use my bike to chase around innocent children!"

"...Victor?"

"Yeah I see it." He peered around you brow raised looking at the scene before you two. ''Who the heck are those guys?"

You didn't answer, just stared as the two brutes jabbed the man again demanding his bike (or lack there of as you couldn't see one-) be handed over to them. How mean! But what really caught your attention was mentioning chasing around gym challengers. Now you couldn't remember if anything like this had happened in game but chasing around innocent kids for whatever reason just didn't settle right on your gut. There was two kids with you that were challengers and one could easily mistake Victor for one if you weren't careful.

"....You stay here." To reiterate your point you pulled Victor to the side of the road and firmly planted him there. He blinked and opened his mouth- !? He blinked again once you shoved your backpack into his arms and began walking. Your sobble giving a small chirp of surprise with the sudden movements. "Hold this."

"Wha- H-HEY! Y/N! What're ya doin'!?"

"C'mon old man! Give us the darn bike and we'll leave ya alone! You can get another one!"

The man scowled up at them. "T-Then why dont the two of you BUY one!?"

"Money's tight man! Just give it to us!"

"HEY UGLY!!" Dust sprayed everywhere or at least over one of them. As the three men turned to the sound of a woman's voice only for one of the weird rockstar wannabes to receive a splat of dirt picked up from the road to hit him square in the face and have the rest of it cover his front body. The man sputter/screamed out and hands immediately went to wipe at his face. Luckily none got in his eyes so no pain, but that didn't stop the annoyance. Especially since when he looked back up there was a girl standing there hands on her hips and sobble half hiding behind her head as she point. You gave them the angriest scowl you could muster. "You two KISS lookin' airheads leave that poor man alone! He already said no so beat it before I make you!!"

Behind you Victor's jaw dropped and the two goons seemed to be at a loss for words for a moment. Looking between the two of them confused before scowling and looking back to you. Crap. These two were both at least a good foot or two taller than you were. You hadn't really thought ahead but no turning back now.

"Oi! Girly, why don't ya mind your own business?"

"Yeah! This doesn't concern you!" They said leaning over you. Unknownt to anyone your sobble was starting to get a bit teary eyed at the two above him.

"It IS my concern if you're going around hassling innocent people! What'd the guy do to you two?! Back off and leave him alone before I call Officer Jenny on your arses!" Really you didn't know if this region had an Officer Jenny, but it seemed to work as their scowled wavered a bit.

"Whatcha gonna have us arrested for!? We haven't done any crimes yet!"

"Yeah yet! And what about you two planning on scaring everyone you see?"

"Last chance Girly!" One poked your shoulder as if to intimidate you. "Mind your own busines-"

"WWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

The three of you were interrupted by a loud almost baby like wail as you immediately cringed from it being from directly next to your head. You hissed hands coming to cover your eyes in a panic feeling tears start to sting from them. Was the pain of the yelling so loud you started crying?! If you could've seen past your furious wiping and tears you would've noticed the other men starting to cry as well, face paint starting to run down their faces.

"AAA!! M-Man what's goin' on!?", one shouted to his companion.

"I-...I D-DONT KNOW!! LET'S JUST GET OUT OF HERE OK!?"

They fled. Bumping into you and knocking you over in the process. You yelped as you fell to your butt on the dirt road and your sobble let out a choked hiccup as it was jostled from your head and onto the grassy ground in the men's haste to escape. Well...the baby cry was gone at least, but there was still a few hiccups from behind you as you hissed and used your sleeve to furiously wipe at your stinging eyes. WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT ALL ABOUT!?

"OMG! Y/N! ARE YOU ALRIGHT!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?"

"Here young lady. Turn your head up." You blinked crying to see past the stinging of your tear soaked eyes and someone gently grabbed your jaw. A Second later a wet cloth was wiping at your eyes. Almost instant relief came from your sore red eyes as someone wiped at them. "There we go. Lucky for you I always have a Sobble Tear Cloth handy on me due to how sensitive the little ones can be." Once you got enough clear vision you could see the faces of Victor and the doctor man who were both kneeled next to your fallen body. "There now. How do you feel?"

".....Peachy,'' you mumbled shaking your head from his grip. "What was that?"

"Your sobble crying. When sobbles cry it's like someone chops a hundred onions near you. It's a defense mechanism that's highly affective as you can see. The effects take a while to wear off but luckily for you I happen to be an expert on these kids of things." Grabbing your arm the man carefully helped you on your feet and smiled behind the mask. "Thank you kindly for the help. But you didn't have to, Im sure they would've left sooner or later."

You waved a hand sniffing as said sobble began to immediately start climbing up your pants leg again. Combined with your wooloo bowling trip, you must've really looked a sight. "It's fine. Can't be worse than being knocked over by a wooloo. Are you alright, Mister?"

He nodded. "Yes. Thanks to you. Here. Let's get you to the Nursery. There's some eye drops in my office that might help you further. I work there as one of the nurses with the caretaker and her assistant."

You nodded and with the urge to wipe at your eyes the Docter and Victor helped you stumble walked your way towards the Nursery, your sobble continuing to climb up your body with little difficulty as it reached your shoulder. You felt it touch your cheek and give a small chirp but at the moment you paid it no mind trying not to fall over.

"Hey, Vick-...Oh wow. What happened? Was Y/n crying or something?"

Oh great. Well at least they finally showed up.

"Ill tell you later. Opening the door over there and let's get her inside."

The next thing you knew you were inside a cozy looking house and was given eye drops. It took a few minutes for you to go back to normal and the redness around your eyes to subside. But by the time it did you were feeling way better and sitting on a green couch. One hand petting your sobble who happily accepted the affection with a smile. Hop and Gloria had returned from their small search a little bit after you had managed to chase those men off, and they happily explained their trip from standing stone to standing stone...But unfortunately didn't find anything other than an old ten dollar bill that someone most likely accidentally dropped while visiting them. And Victor got to scold you about just walking up to strangers like that. Weren't you the grown up here? Glad to know everyone was ok tho. The elderly lady at the center had offered the four of you tea as thanks for helping to rescue their nurse and Gloria excused herself to check out the Center's Free Pokeboxes in their own rotomi stations. When you asked about it Hop was happy to explain.

"Oh. Free Pokeboxes are basically boxes from people's rotomi boxes. Usually Nurseries and Centers get a whole lot of them if a pokemon's trainer passes away, or if they were donated or abandoned to the system. From there they're sorta put up for adoption or released back into the wild if no one claims them within a year or so.....Y'know I think Ill take a look too. I might just find a neat new partner." He got up to go join Gloria currently flipping through options on the rotomi leaving you with Victor sitting on the couch.

You sighed. "Man. Some day it's been huh? A riddle solved. A gym battle won. And now a nurse was saved."

"All thanks to you. But please maybe don't be so reckless next time. I was afraid something bad might've happened to you by what those brutes yelled running off."

"Oh? What'd they say?"

He hummed. "Um....I think....'You're too strong!" He tried to repeat in a failed attempt at a deep man voice. "If you stay in the Gym Challenge you're gonna cause problems for our lady! You haven't seen the last of us! We're gonna make sure you stay out of our lady's way!'..Or something like that."

Well that perked your interest. You stared at him. "Our lady?...Does that mean someone ordered them to go after Gym Challengers?"

He hummed a more worried look coming over him. "Could be. But I wouldn't know who or why. Who'd want to go after the Gym Challengers?"

That was a very good question. You wracked your brain for a moment. Was there any person in the game with a pack of goons? And was there any lady out to stop the gym challengers? Your memory turned up nothing as you sighed and sunk back into your seat on the couch as you did. Those goons were at the hotel and now here as well. That couldn't just be a coincidence could it? No...You had a feeling there was something linking those guys to whatever's about to happen to you. Too bad you didn't know. As you both silently sat there, another person walked in through the door and up to the counter but you paid them no mind even as Gloria approuched them.

Eventually you sighed. "I wouldn't know either it seems, but just in case I think we should all be keeping a really close eye out for anymore of those guys and let Leon know the first chance we get. As the saying goes better be safe than sorry."

"Couldn't agree more. Especially since this is concerning my friend and sister."

"What's concerning us?"

Oh that was Hop. You turned. "We wanted to tell you about-" You blinked coming face to face with a grumpy purple face in the arms of Gloria as she held the tiny pokemon clinging to her like a baby. ...You pointed. "Where did you get that?"

"My Toxel? The lady that just came in wanted to drop it off. Somethin' bout hatching it and not being the pokemon she wanted or some speel. I couldn't just let a cutie like this go into adoption or tossed out in the cruel wild after just being hatched." She held it up to her face as she smiled. "Look at how cute you are! Who'd wouldn't want acutie pie like you?" The baby toxel in her arms responded by reaching an arm out and grabbing her nose. Aw! Cute.

You shook you head with a smile before standing. Lifting an arm up with your sobble clinging to it to allow it to freely crawl back onto your shoulder before you stood up slinging your pack over your shoulders. "C'mon. I'll tell you as we walk. The sooner we start the sooner we can reach Halbury and our next step of this little adventure."

[sukirichi]

hello! um

i just wanted to pass around to say that i cant stop thinking about your mitsuya fic (yea the one that fucked us all up)

it has literally lingered in my mind since i finished it, sounds really weird but it just got like... plastered in me. i dont know how to explain it. cause when im doing my everyday shit, it suddenly overcomes me, this random ass sad feeling that started since the moment i read it. and its just so weird.

even the song that you attached, that accompanied me while i was reading, has stayed with me ever since. and the freakiest thing is that i actually dont understand a single word from it because i dont speak that language at all, but i still felt it in the deepest part of my being. everything felt real, raw. the pain crossed my phone screen and went direct to my fucking heart but it was just..so..beautiful..

the draken appereance and dialogue caused irreparable damage (the entire thing did but i needed to remark this) and i wanted to point this out honestly cause damn, the writing was immaculate. there were TEARS and im not even an draken x emma shipper cause im a selfish mf

quitting the crap, im being honest when i ask you to embrace the talent you have with words and dont ever let it go, cause it will take you places, its gift, for real.

so thank you so much for sharing it with us and also, thank you for all the feelings you awakened with your writing. excitement, despair, shyness, pure love but also pure sadness, they were all overwhelming; but that was the best part of the fic, cause all those emotions make us humans, we feel, and thats fine. right suki? you fucking nailed this.

i will never forget this story and it will take some time for me to get over it (cause for now im pretty much fucked), but i will be around reading more of your stuff cause its incredible.

good luck! take care and have a nice one, much love to you <3

*sends virtual hugs*

okay uhm, i received this the other day when i was crying a lot bcos i had a bad day and anon i was just like. speechless. left to ponder for a moment because wow like genuinely i am taken aback with your kind words. i think you dk how much this message means to me but yeah it really does mean a lot, i remember reading this for the first time and crying harder bcos i was like,,,ah life is not that bad yknow? there are good people out there who take their time sending me sweet messages and idk im sorry im just so emotional rn thank you very much 😭

is it weird that i am actually quite warmed by the thought people have lingering feelings and still think about my stories even after reading it? bcos as an avid reader, i feel that a lot. i read a piece and it hits me hard that i just carry it with me and for me, i think its a very beautiful thing that we somehow leave little pieces of ourselves to others and just...i just find it very nice and heartwarming. so yeah this ask really got me bawling BAKSKWKW. that mitsuya angst meant a lot to me 😭 oftentimes its up to my dedication to finish a fic, but that mitsuya fic was one of those fics that i wrote bcos the idea just sat heavily to me and the words were flowing, the emotions were felt and i was like. lost in that zone. so yeah i perfectly pictured them and i was extremely passionate about that certain story so knowing that people connected to something i poured my heart on - and that you really took the time to let me know your thoughts - it reallt does make me happy and just so ?? IDK THE WORD IM AWKWARD UH WHAT ARE WORDS BUT BASICALLY it just,,,hits me deep in the heart, in a very good way !! and i could be wrong but the song i attached was talking about how two people wished that when they confess, they would be received or met halfway. ofc there’s also this HUGE fear of confessing your feelings which i am an expert of bcos i like to keep things to myself 😎 but yeah idk the fic just hits diff to me.

“everything felt real, raw.” ANOM I CANT EVEN LITERALLY EVERYTHING YOU SAID I JUST WANNA REPEAT IT OVER N OVER AGAIN IM SO GRATEFUL AAAHH PLSSS TAKE MY HEART RN 😭😭😭 and omg yes the draken appearance, i feel like he just HAD to show up again bcos someone needed to bear witness of someone’s love at least yknow ?? i feel like...silent lovers are underrated. and i just really wanted draken to carry on the precious memories of mitsuya and y/n’s gifts and feelings shown and accepted in its own way. ALSO YEAH I AGREE lmfao in fanfics i am totally draken x y/n all the way i am so sorry 😭 but when we’re talking about canon, draken x emma just hits diff lemme cry again 😭

ANON UHM TBH you literally left me speechless im kinda just sat here bumbling and fumbling and i really wish i could thank you more properly bcos uhm this message cracked my heart from the overwhelming emotions but then patched it up again and yes i love you thank you sm 😭😭😭 wish you could just read my mind so you’d know how happy i am to hear this but lemme say this again anon THANK YOU VERY MUCH 😭💕 have an even nicer day and i send all my love to you anon !!

[you-did-well-moon]

The Warmth Provided (1)

Type: fluff, angst, crack, college au, friends to lovers au

Word Count: 7,784

A/N: This was obviously just supposed to be a little imagine not more than 5k words, but it turned out to be three times as big. I really need to control myself as a writer from now on, and if you request anything from me don't expect it to be as big as this lol. This simply happened because I got the inspiration for it. Also im sorry but y/n real booboo the fool with this one. With that please enjoy and don't be afraid to talk to me. 

TW: mentions of mental illness, mentions of infidelity, awkward situations, toxicity from Sungjin, footsie

Part 1| Part 2| Part 3

You groaned whining at Sungjin and tugging at the very warm looking hoodie he wore. He gave an exasperated sigh not daring to even look at you knowing he would give in to your stupid puppy eyes. He put his face in his hands letting out a grunt that could only mean he was giving in to your temptations. You persisted, now putting both hands on his hoodie clad arm and leaning your head on his shoulder. You really could be evil sometimes.

“Y/n please-”

“Come on Sungjinie i’ll give it back by the end of class”

“You said the same thing last time, and you ran out of class WITH my hoodie peaches”

“It was buy one taco get another one free day at the cafeteria…”

You innocently smiled at him as he whipped his head to look at you with furrowed eyebrows and his facial features scrunched up. “Free tacos are on fridays. It was monday” he scoffed, shaking his head as if not being able to believe the audacity you had asking for his hoodie. You slowly blinked your eyes at him. “Sungjin I don’t even remember what month it is, and you want me to know what day it is! Am i a joke to you? You know what, don’t answer that asshole”

You sucked in air through your teeth and leaned back in your seat not being able to believe you and one of your best friends were arguing right before class was going to start because he wouldn’t give you his dumb hoodie. You had forgotten your own because you had spent around half an hour trying to pick what cereal you wanted to eat, and by the time you put the last darn Cheerio in your mouth you had five minutes to run to the opposite side of campus.

You really didn’t get why the human resources building was on the opposite side of campus from your apartment. It was only a matter of time before you actually woke up in time for the class. It didn’t matter because upon arrival to your seat in one of the middle rows in between Sungjin and Dowoon, you found out the professor was late to his own class. Probably still trying to convince his wife to stay with him. Poor man really couldn’t catch a break with that witch.

Mornings were always cold, and the building was also freezing. That brought you here, begging your best friend to let you borrow his hoodie which had cheese stains around the edges of the sleeves and smelled like ramen.

You were desperate.

You grimaced, turning your head to look at the sleeping Dowoon. There was no way you were waking him up to ask for his hoodie. Last time you did that he swung at you with his backpack -which had at least five books the size of your arm in it. Sungjin banned him from playing games for a month as punishment, but it didn’t stop the pain you felt when doing literally any kind of movement. From that moment onwards, you swore never to even look at Dowoon when he was sleeping. You liked your ribs just how they were.

In tact, and not broken.

You shivered, hugging yourself and grimacing at the thousands of goosebumps littering the bare skin of your arms. The feeling from the cold metal of the chair through your thin shirt making you all the more uncomfortable.

You inhaled sharply as you shifted and cold air blew against the exposed parts of your body. “Sungjin please, i’ll make it up to you just please give me your hoodie” you pleaded exposing yourself more to the cold by taking your hands from your body and bringing them together in a begging motion.

Sungjin looked at your shaking figure, worry in his eyes upon noticing your lips turning a paler color than the normal rosy tint they usually had. He threw his head back before giving you a sharp look and smacking his lips.

“Last time you wore my hoodie, you almost got me in trouble, peaches. Everyone thought-” he cut off not being able to make eye contact with you. Your head tilted and you pursed your lips blankly staring at your best friend. You repeated the unfinished thought pushing him to continue while he shook his head pinching the bridge of his nose.

He didn’t even look at you, his tone on the borderline of hopelessness and defeat when he asked you “Y/n, do you know what it means when a person wears someone else’s hoodie or jacket?”

You looked around af if you could find the answer in the tired faces of the students surrounding you before looking back at his hunched over figure and slowly blinking before adamantly answering, “They’re cold”

At your answer, the sleeping figure of Dowoon slightly shifted as he snorted muttering something about how dumb you were before moving in search of a more comfortable sleeping position. You were just about to raise your hand to retaliate with a slap to his back, but Sungjin caught your attention by belting out a disbelieving laugh now looking at you with wide eyes and an unamused smile.

“They thought we were dating, as in romantically involved, as in an intimate relationship, as in doing more than ki-” Sungjin was now rambling voice getting higher with each word before you cut him off with a light hit to his arm feeling your body grow hot in embarrassment.

“I-I know what dating is Sungjin” You hissed hands clenching around the arms of your chair and feeling your chest cave in as you gasped laughing it off awkwardly. “Come on Sungjin, let’s act like the adults that we are. We know we aren’t dating, and since when have you cared about what people think?” you searched his face looking for the answer in the hesitant shadows of his face.

“I don't,” he answered bitterly.

“Then what’s your problem?” You leaned in left speechless at the unexpected behavior of your friend. You felt like the whole situation was getting too serious over a stupid hoodie, so you tried easing the tension by joking around. “Would I be that bad to date?”

You immediately shrunk back giggling when Sungjin lifted his head from his hands for a little bit to glare at you nostrils flaring before shoving his face back into his hands.

“That’s not it and you know it,” he gritted out. Sungjin truly didn’t mean to get grumpy with you, he was having an internal conflict. Whether to tell you his friend’s secret, or to keep it to himself and not interfere. You were left to stare at him wondering if you should leave him alone for the rest of class while Sungjin went through a flashback that had put him on edge around you.

-2 days ago-

Sungjin groaned, shoving his face deeper into the soft fabric of his pillow and stretching his arm out to the nightstand next to his bed, hand fumbling around for the blaring alarm clock. He grumbled, lifting his head to groggily glare at the numbers displayed on the clock.

7:26

He had 34 minutes to get to his 8 am psychology class. He tiredly exhaled sitting up in his bed and rubbing his bleary eyes. He took a quick shower hoping it would wake him up, but the haziness of sleep still drifted around the corners of his mind. He could barely keep his eyes open as he brushed his teeth.

He threw the first thing he could find from his dresser figuring he could come back to change if he had any change to plans which right now was absolutely nothing. Sometimes he wondered why he had decided to be in a frat, he wasn’t the most social or the most popular, and he didn’t particularly like going to parties- but, he had met some people he could never dream of living without.

Like Dowoon, who he had to push off the bed with a promise that he could sleep in class later. He sighed watching the poor boy stumble as he tugged on a pair of jeans letting out a sigh of relief when he fell back on the bed.

Sungjin couldn’t help but smile. Even with all the people he had met because of the frat, Dowoom and you would be the closest friends he had in this stressful place. You guys were the foundation of everything he had ever found important. The people who guided him when he was lost, and he would be damned if he ever let his friendship with the both of you go.

He mindlessly grabbed his ramen smelling hoodie thinking you could use it if you forgot your own like you did every other day, or Dowoon could use it as a pillow if he was particularly tired like he was...every other day. Sungjin swore that kid had to stop taking the bus to random places late at night. It was a wonder how he hadn’t accidentally ended up in another city with his nightly escapades.

He was thinking about whether he would risk eating or not as he jogged down the stairs to get to the kitchen when he heard your name. He narrowed his eyes stopping right at the last step of the stairs thinking he was mishearing things. Wait- there it was again. Your name. His precious friend’s name.

Sungjin shrugged it off thinking they meant another Y/n, but he was quickly corrected when he heard your last name too.

His jaw ticked and his mouth suddenly felt dry as he wondered what you could have possibly done to have frat boys talking about you. He paused just right outside the kitchen wanting to hear just what they could have been talking about to be bringing you into the conversation.

“How would I know if the girl is single? I didn’t even know she existed before Jae mentioned her”

He heard the person scoff as confusion made Sungjin’s eyebrows tug together. You? In a relationship? You hadn’t had a boyfriend since high school, who he had to stop himself from pummeling into the ground when he cheated on you and had continuously tried getting you back. Sungjin swore you had the worst luck when it came to relationships.

Not only had you had a bad experience with one, but you were too naive when it came to people actually liking you. He had lost count of all the disappointed faces he had seen of people who had asked you out only for you to respond with one of your bright smiles along with something along the lines of “Sure, I would love to be your friend”.

He shivered wincing at the sole memory of some of them. He had never said anything because you had never mentioned liking them, and you told him everything. He really wished he could forget about the fact you sold Dowoon’s game controller in order to buy a Cheeto the shape of a heart which you then proceeded to eat without any regrets.

“Well then what are we supposed to do? Go up to the girl  and say “Hey, you don’t know who the hell we are, but we would like to know about your relationship status because you don’t have a Facebook we can stalk to see whether your love life is existent or not”, Sungjin peeked around the edge of the doorway seeing two figures sitting at the kitchen island having breakfast, and the person talking was animatedly waving his hands around.

“We desperately need to know because our friend Jae is about to be strangled since he won’t stop writing stupid sappy love songs about you” Younghyung do you even know how crazy we seem right now. We are quite possibly the worst wingmen in the history of wingmen” He now recognized the voice as Kim Wonpil’s voice, and at the same time Sungjin felt his heart claw up his throat as he slightly stumbled back in surprise.

Jae Park. One of the other members of the frat. And the boy you had been crushing on for two years. Also one of his closest friends not including you and Dowoon. Sungjin suddenly wished he had just stayed in bed today. Jae was one of the most popular guys on campus. Not because he slept around or anything, but because he was actually a friendly person. He got along with everyone, and he was basically friends with everyone.

Jae had helped Sungjin out of some tough spots before, even invited him out to hang out when you and Dowoon were busy doing who knows what. Jae’s closest friends were Kim Wonpil and Kang Younghyun. Sungjin had talked to those two before, but not enough to go up to them and randomly start up conversations with them.

He still remembered the day you had excitedly come up to him squealing about how the Jae Park was in your sociology class. Eyes shining and giggles erupting out of your mouth every five seconds. He really couldn’t stand you that day. Sungjin felt something stir in his chest, but he couldn't really tell what it was. He shook it off stiffly walking into the kitchen with his heart pounding in his ears.

Sungjin had felt awkward almost all his life, but he was sure nothing could top the sudden tension he felt in his body when the boy’s conversation came to a sudden halt at his appearance. He kept his back to them rolling his shoulders and trying to distract himself from the eyes boring into his back. He grabbed the cereal box turning around to get a bowl catching the two boys wildy gesturing at each other with wide eyes before immediately stopping once they noticed he could see them.

He kept his gaze directly directed at his cereal hoping whoever was listening they wouldn’t talk to him.

“Hey, Sungjin?’

He always thought there’d be a day where he’d drown in his cereal. Maybe today was that day. He paused a bit before grunting in reply looking up to see it had been Younghyun who had spoken and Wonpil who was darting his gaze everywhere but Sungjin’s eyes.

“You know Y/n L/n?” Younghyun again spoke leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

Sungjin knew he was playing dumb. Everybody knew you and Sungjin were practically glued at the hip. Wherever one of you was, the other could probably be found close by.

He put down the cereal with a sigh, tilting his head at them as he braced himself against the kitchen island with both arms.

“I would hope so. I’ve known her since I was seven years old, and I see her almost everyday” He smiled at them mirthfully feeling an inkling of possessiveness sprout in the confines of his chest. Once again, Sungjin shook it off as protectiveness he felt for you as a little sister.

Younghyun opened and closed his mouth as if not knowing how to respond to Sungjin’s answer. He finally cleared his throat seemingly still finding his voice until Wonpil’s panicked and rushed voice cut him off.

“Are you and Y/n seeing each other?” Wompil immediately clasped his hand to his mouth shaking his head wildy and mumbling warbled apologies while Younghyun slapped the loud mouth upside the head.

Sungjin took a shaky breath in suddenly feeling dizzy as he swayed lightly. His voice was disbelieving when he was able to sputter out his reply.

“W-what makes you think Y/n and I are anything more than friends” his eyes flitted between Wonpil and Younghyun left at a loss for words.

Sure, he and you were inseparable, always going everywhere and anywhere together, but not once had you ever shown signs of being more than friends. Never looking longingly or lovingly at each other, never kissing, never holding hands for more than a minute (in his defense he didn’t want to lose you in the crowd), never proclaiming your love for one another. You guys had never done anything that would suggest anything more than a friendly relationship.

The two boys in front of you looked at each other then at the speechless figure of Sungjin harshly whispering before Wonpil finally made eye contact with Sungjin nervously tapping his finger on the kitchen islan. Pursing his lips he seemed to be choosing his words carefully.

“It’s just that, Jinyoung said he saw Y/n wearing your hoodie. The one you have right now, and you know um people wear each other’s clothes when they’re together, so we just assumed there was something between you guys. We’re sorry Sungjin, we really didn’t mean to jump to conclusions bud”

Sungjin’s eyes drifted down to the hoodie in his hands. The very one he always let you borrow simply because you got cold, and he bought it to class for that exact reason. He was just trying to take care of you, and somehow that had gotten mistaken as anything but friendly intentions. He knew you really liked Jae, but at the same time Sungjin was scared.

He was scared you would leave him behind once you began dating Jae. You almost did when your dumb high school boyfriend told you he didn’t like you being so close to a boy, and he threatened to break up with you if you didn’t distance yourself from Sungjin, your bestfriend. He was terrified of it happening for real this time.

You would have no time for him because you were too busy with Jae, and he would be forgotten by the one person he could always count on. He would lose the smile and laughter of the one person who had always been there for him, but who was he to cling on to you when you could be happier without him. Sungjin felt like he was going to throw up. He was so sure you would leave him behind to rot, you wouldn’t need him anymore.

You wouldn’t need someone to bring a hoodie for you in case you forgot. You wouldn’t need someone to help you fix your bike after you crashed it from getting distracted while riding it. You wouldn’t need someone to patch you up and take away the pain after said bike crash. You wouldn’t need anyone to wipe away your tears when the demons in your head got particularly demanding. You wouldn’t need sungjin anymore because you would have Jae. Sungjin felt like he was getting strangled. He couldn’t breathe past the lump of dread that had formed in his drying throat.

He could not bear to lose the one person that had been by his side through the brightest and cloudiest days. He could not possibly lose the one person that had been by his side through all the ups and downs of life. He could not lose you. Not his peaches with your soft exterior but strong interior.

He felt his body go numb with the immense sadness that tore through his chest, and he began feeling his eyes tear up.

Would he be selfish at the expense of your happiness?

He felt his chest heave as he let out a heavy exhale closing his eyes at the ache beginning to probe at his temples. He shook his head once looking back at the pair who were staring at him with hunched shoulders, both regretting the fact they had even bought it up to him seeing his inner turmoil.

“Does Jae think so too?” his voice was as monotone as he’d ever heard it. Wonpil simply nodded chewing at his lips nervously.

Sungjin shoved the cereal box back into the cupboard not bothering to look at the boys mumbling a low “I need to get to class” as he walked away shaking hands clutching the hoodie to his chest not seeing the worried look the boys gave each other.

-Back to present-

Sungjin groaned feeling like he was about to pass out with all the mixed emotions coursing through his body right now. He decided for now, he would not tell you of Jae’s returned feelings towards you ignoring the guilt clenching around his heart by deciding it was not his place to say what Jae felt.

He quickly slipped his body out the hoodie throwing it at you and grumbling that you better return it to by the end of class. You laughed happily snuggling into the warmth of the hoodie but looking skeptically at Sungjin who had decided to distract himself by scrolling through his phone. You knew when your best friend was hiding something, and right now your best friend was certainly not telling you something.

You felt a bit hurt that even after all these years of building each other up, he couldn’t confide in you when there was something that was bothering him, but you shrugged it off figuring he would tell you when he was ready and you didn’t want to push him. You wondered why he was asking for it by the end of class since he always let you keep it until the end of the day. You once again shook it off figuring he probably got cold too.

You did not give it back by the end of class. You ran out of class. With the hoodie.

By the time Sungjin noticed you were gone with the hoodie still on your body, you were out the human resources building on your way to the student common area where the cafeteria was. Sungjin cursed your black hole of a stomach while Dowoon cackled claiming he deserved it for letting you sell his game controller.

You excitedly ran into the cafeteria stomach growling because let’s be real, cereal was not enough to sustain a growing girl such as yourself. You were instantly met with the smell of different kinds of foods from the variety of restaurants your university cafeteria had. Your eyes hungrily scanned the restaurants lining the room before deciding you could really go for a Subway right now. You were walking out of the little restaurant with the sandwich in your hands when you heard a voice call your name.

You let out a small confused “Huh” in response to the calling of your name spinning around searching the faces of the students peacefully eating and laughing together not being able to find the caller of your name.

Your vision went black as hands suddenly covered your eyes and a chest pressed up against your back. You jumped scared by the sudden greeting gasping in surprise.

“Hey!”, you yelped out.

Your own hands went up to the culprit’s wrists gently moving them down. You tilted your head back being met with a bright smile and a soft laugh that rang in your ears and made your chest fill with warmth. You instantly spun around face to face with your crush of two years.

He was your crush, but he had also become a close friend since the day you had coincidentally sat next to him on the first day of your sociology class not paying attention to who you were sitting next to and just walking to one of the front rows, sure you wouldn’t know anyone in the class.

He whispered your name asking to borrow a pencil and you spent around one minute staring at him like an idiot before fumbling inside your bag for a pencil and giving it to him clumsily. He had chuckled lowly muttering a “cute” under his breath which you were sure you weren’t meant to hear but you had become very attentive to him now knowing he was the one you were sitting next to and stunned by the fact he even knew your name.

You tried ignoring he was sitting next to you, but he moved around so much you wondered if he had to go to the restroom. He eventually noticed your staring simply telling you he had become restless since he had gotten sudden motivation for a song. You were impressed and intrigued by the prospect of him being a songwriter wondering what kind of words he brought to life with different melodies and harmonies.

You sneakily smiled at him, eyes flickering to the professor not far from where you were sitting before sliding your books in front of the notes he had put no effort into and giving him a sly wink giggling.

“I’ll cover for you”, you whispered.

He gave you a look that made a warm tingle run all over your body, eyes softening at you and cheekily winking back.

“I won’t forget your noble sacrifice” he immediately flipped to a new page of his notebook borrowed pencil quickly scribbling across the page.

You had to stop yourself from squealing as you subtly sank in your chair, the corner of your lips twitching as you tried to stop yourself from smiling at seemingly nothing. Sticking your nose into your own notebook and actually writing notes in order to distract yourself from looking at Jae who was now in his own world. Not failing the class was a bonus.

You were so into forcing yourself to pay attention to the monotone professor you didn’t notice Jae’s gaze coming back to your figure every so often taking note of all your features that made his heart beat faster and his head spin.

Ever since that day, you two became close, occasionally getting together outside of class when one of you finally mustered up the courage to plan said get together. It was usually to see a movie where you guys occasionally brushed each other’s hands while trying to get one of the snacks you had bought.

After the movie, it was tradition to go to the noodle place next to the bookstore at the end of the street where you laughed and joked around together. You had never told anyone of these times holding the memories as too precious and personal to share, scared that if you spoke of them they would disappear.  You had even refused to hang out with Sungjin telling him you had to study which you felt a little guilty about, but spending a little less time with him wouldn’t hurt right?

Your eyes widened as you pouted at him. “Jae, you can’t just do that to a person, I almost dropped my lunch and I would have made you pay for another one you ingrate” You were once again met with the same laugh as before, except louder this time. The one that instantly made you smile back at him, heart skipping beats periodically. The laugh that made the colors around you suddenly dance with a vibrancy that beautifully spun and twirled making you so wonderfully dizzy.

“I’m a college student Y/n I can barely afford my own food. Do you want me to starve?”  His eyes crinkled behind the glasses sitting on his narrow nose making your world spin just a bit faster on the axis of what could only be his smile. “Evil, pure evil.” he shook his head scrunching up his nose as if disappointed in you.

You put your hands on your hips  looking offended and tutting. “You’re the one that wants to make me starve. I haven’t eaten in one hour. That’s too long Jae!” he chuckled playfully, narrowing his eyes at you.

“Stop being dramatic and come eat with me loser. I mean uh, if you want to of course. Do you?” he gave you a nervous smile lightly tugging at a strand of your chair before shifting his feet and tugging at his jacket.

You tilted your head as if seriously thinking, looking at his smile slowly falling making your own heart sink being the cause of making something so lovely die. You teasingly reached up to push his glasses back up his nose, finger accidentally gracing the corner of his mouth. Softly laughing you walked by him and gently bumped his shoulder with yours.

“Maybe another day,” you snickered.    He instantly played into your joke once again laughing. He did a lot of that. Laugh. Never ashamed to show how happy he was. You on the other hand, had to hide how happy his own happiness made you.

“Walk away from me young lady and I will never let you eat my Starbursts again nerd” he threatened with a small smile playing on his lips. You couldn’t the light laugh that bubbled up from your chest turning around and putting your hands up in mock surrender. Jae’s chest filled with warm tingles like it did every time he made you laugh.

“You monster. You can’t just deprive me of Starbursts. They get me through the horror movies you always pick! I’ll sit with you, for the Starbursts.” Your determined tone and furrowed eyebrows made Jae breathlessly laugh as he walked closer to you hand reaching out towards your frozen figure.

Your heart palpitated as you tried to calm your breathing, but one of his hands took a hold of your hand running up your arm until it located itself on your shoulder, tugging you into his body and making him able to throw an arm around your shoulder.

Your skin burned wherever his warm touch lingered, and your face felt hot. You once again had to take a deep breath to calm yourself from the wondrous euphoria you felt just by being by Jae. He began walking bringing your flustered self along with him. You were so caught up in trying to make sure you didn’t trip, you didn’t notice Jae’s own cheeks tinting with pink or his shaking hand hanging off your shoulder.

He led you over to a table near the windows where two figures were hunched over and inhaling their food, talking to each other every few seconds. You recognized them as Jae’s two closest friends, Wonpil and Younghyun. You had never met them which caused you to dig your heels into the ground effectively stopping both you and Jae.

“Don’t worry they’re nice. As long as i'm here, they won’t do anything. I won’t let them” he had ducked down too whisper into your ear  warm breath hitting the shell of your ear. You hesitantly nodded continuing to walk while Jae tightened his arm around your shoulders and brought you closer into his left side making the whole right side of your body burn at the wake of his touch.

Different from his earlier tone he cheerfully called out for the two who didn;t look up from their food.

“Jae you’re usually the first one at the table what took you so long. Wait don’t tell me, busy staring at-'' Younghyun had begun speaking taunting Jae and still not looking up until he was cut off by a shove from Wonpil who had raised his gaze to greet Jae only to be surprised with you basically tucked into his friend’s body. You curiously looked up at Jae wondering what so often caught his attention so much his friends teased him who only shrugged mouthing a “he’s crazy” and looking in Younghyun’s direction.

Jae cleared his voice but you poked him purposefully looking at him and muttering, “I can speak for myself” You turned to the pair who were both kindly smiling at you waving awkwardly at them. “Uh hi, my name is Y/n”

Wonpil smiled sweetly at you putting his chin on his hand and glancing at Jae. “We know”. You stared at him, mouth falling open and uttering a confused “Huh?” You were so focused on staring questionly at Wonpil to notice Jae mouthing threatening words at his friends. Younghyun cut him with a stiff laugh “Sungjin talks about you a lot”.

You instantly bought it smiling at the thought of your friend. You had forgotten these boys were a part of the frat he had recently joined. Wonpil seemed to fall out of whatever stupor he had fallen in stupidly smiling in Jae’s direction jumping up to offer you a handshake and introducing himself which you instantly took hoping your palms weren’t sweaty from nervousness. Younghyun followed in Wonpil’s lead, just a little more relaxed and laid back than the jumpy and energetic Wonpil.

Jae’s hands ushered you to sit down while he sat opposite the seat he had pushed you into next to his friends, making Wonpil’s small form get squished between Jae and Younghyun. You smiled softly at the sight getting reminded by your own little trio of you, Sungjin, and Dowoon. You started unwrapping your sandwich as you answered basic questions from Jae’s friends like what your major was and what flavor of ice cream you preferred.

You found yourself being able to fall into a steady rhythm of laughing and talking with the three boys in front of you getting comfortable enough to relax and talk with ease growing confident with the little group. You were answering Wonpil’s question about the tattoo just behind your right ear when you saw his gaze fall to your clothes, his mouth fell open a little as he struggled to focus on your answer too focused on the hoodie enveloping your form.

His shoulders slightly slumped as he nudged Younghyun muttering to him that you had the hoodie on. You were completely enraptured in the conversation Jae had pulled you into, so Younghyun had to clear his throat to catch your attention. His mouth was tugged into a calm smile, but his gaze was sharp making your stomach quiver with a sudden bundle of nerves.

“The hoodie is nice” he gestured cooly to the hoodie keeping you warm “Where did you get it from” the question seemed to carry double meaning. You saw Jae eyes widen, filling with an emotion you couldn’t quite place, body stiffening in his seat. You suddenly remembered what the one rule Sungjin had given you when throwing the clothing at you, and you had run right out of class breaking the one damn rule he had given you.

You groaned burying your head in your arms while tugging at the fabric that was Sungjin’s hoodie as if it would magically disappear from your body into Sungjin’s hands. You chewed at your lip looking at the boys in front of you, bitten lips now formed into a pout.

“I’m not even supposed to have this. I should have given it to him by the end of class, but it was so cold and Sungjin always gives me his hoodie when I forget mine.” You ran your hands through your hair already practicing what you’d say to him, but you knew the outcome was all the same. He was probably going to give you the scolding of your life. You really didn’t understand why he cared if other people thought you were dating. He had never cared about it before.

People had even confused you as a couple before, and he had always shrugged it off forgetting about it as soon as it happened. “Ugh, he’s going to kill me. If you don’t see me tomorrow Sungjin did it” i said sadly.

Jae wasn’t saying anything finding more interest in the table than the conversation you were currently having with his friends. You wondered what was up with him since he was always more than eager to join in on the conversation, but you coined it off as him being lost in thought.

The sharp look in Younghyun’s eyes remained and he didn’t laugh like most people would at the relationship between you and the other male. Wonpil simply sank in his seat leaning a little closer to Jae. You were beginning to feel anxious left foot tapping across the floor getting ready to bolt any second. Your mouth felt dry and it hurt to swallow the bite of sandwich you had just put in your mouth.

Younghyun finally looked away from you staring out the window next to the table and fiddling with the spoon on his table. “You and Sungjin seem close” his jaw was tight and tone uninterested but you felt like your answer held the weight of the world in it. You chose to stay calm ignoring the voices in your head telling you to run away as fast as you could. The food in your stomach felt heavy and you fought the urge to throw up.

You smiled softly at them. “Of course we are, he’s one of the most important people in my life'' You saw Jae close his eyes as if he had just been punched in the gut, and you saw Younghyun’s hand clenched into a fist knuckles turning white but you kept going, keeping your voice light and soft. “He’s been my best friend since I can remember” you added on taking the hoodie off and instantly wincing and getting attacked by the cold air circulating the cafeteria.

You shivered really hating yourself for forgetting your jacket. Everybody seemed to ease up, so you figured your answer had been the right one. What exactly deemed it as right you still weren’t sure. Younghyun leaned back in his seat, his sharp gaze gone, and the humorous glint in his eyes back. Wonpil put his elbows on the table leaning closer to you and once again asking you another question while Jae seemed to spring back to life also joining in on the conversation with the bright smile back on his face and his eyes getting their shine back.

You couldn’t help but feel a light tingle prick at the back of your neck at seeing Jae happy and himself again. Your lips tugged into a small satisfied smile, and while talking with them you would continuously look at Jae who you caught staring every time then bashfully look back at Wonpil not being able to bear the thought of Jae looking at you and only you.

Jae never looked away from you. Not even when you caught him in the act simply chuckling when you smiled nervously and looked at his friend. You were both so caught up in each other you didn’t see Wonpil wiggling his eyebrows at Younghyun who rolled his eyes but smiled happily nonetheless.

A little tension left your body because the air around the four of you had immensely calmed down, but the cold was now once again seeping into your skin, chilling you to the bones.You gave the boys an uncomfortable smile as you began to shiver. Wonpil and Younghyun smiled at you sympathetically while Jae got an unsure look on his face, lips pursing and eyebrows furrowing. He looked worriedly at you, a silent question in his eyes.

“You okay?”  You beamed at him assuring him, but your body was still shaking. He set his shoulders back keeping eye contact with you while getting up and pulling his jacket off his body. He shook his head “Tsk tsk Y/n, what would you possibly do without me?” You felt your face grow hot trying your hardest to ignore the sliver of skin exposed by his shirt riding up when he took off the article of clothing.

His hair was ruffled and his glasses were askew and barely held up by the bridge of his nose, but the only thing you could focus on was the arm extended towards you holding the blue jean jacket being offered to you. Your breath was caught in your throat, and you stood there frozen staring at the jean jacket. You couldn’t even feel the chilly air of the cafeteria anymore. Not when the warmth caused by Jae’s offer was enough to sink into the deepest confines of your chest, settling there giving you an odd sense of comfort making your heart hum happily.

Both you and Jae did not see Wonpil and Younghyun looking at each other with goofy grins before leaving both of you heading towards their next classes.

The hand holding the sweater shook once. “We don’t have all day here loser. My noodle arm really can’t hold this jacket forever. I skipped arm day last week” you held your hand out placing it on the jacket, but you still didn’t take the jacket swallowing harshly and clearing your throat. You looked at Jae beneath your eyelashes blinking slowly at him ,heart pounding against your rib cage. At that moment, nobody but you and Jae existed.

“Are you sure?” your unsure question made Jae roll his eyes, his next actions happening so fast you had no time to properly react. He grasped your wrist from the hand placed on his jacket still in his hand drawing your body towards his with so much force your hips briefly bumped against his. He let go of your wrist instead grabbing his jacket with both hands, and you were forced to put your hand on his shoulder to stop yourself from actually crashing into him.

His arms went around you putting his jacket around your head in order to hang the jacket on your shoulders making sure it covered you enough so the cold wouldn’t bother you anymore. You were pretty sure the whole cafeteria could hear how loud and fast your heart was beating. You couldn’t think straight. The only thing you could even process was Jae’s hands still on the lapel of the jacket, barely brushing the part of your stomach above your belly button.

You seemed to get a control of your body as you looked up at him with wide eyes getting met with his face closer than it had ever been, the lightest flush on his cheek bones and lips slightly parted. You could see your hand trembling with pure adrenaline as the hand that wasn’t on his shoulder reached up to fix his tilted glasses and messy hair. The hand on his shoulder was close enough to his chest to feel the slight drum of his heart unusually fast for someone who was basically standing still.

You really weren’t sure why you were surprised. Jae had always gone out of his for you. Always done little things to take care of you in his own little way. Holding your hand when the professor handed back assignments rubbing your knuckles with his thumb reassuringly, playing his guitar when you were in a sad mood at the park you sometimes visited after coming back from the noodle place, gently brushing your hair away from your face when it fell on your face while writing notes, or crushing you in a hug when you didn’t get the grade you wanted hand gently holding you against him.

He always joined in on your childish behavior by pushing you on the swing or going down the slide with you at the park, always bringing you your favorite snacks from the convenience store he walked by on the way to class knowing fully well you sometimes forgot to eat, or even letting you spill your tears to him on days you just didn’t feel good.

He had always stuck by your side. During both good days and bad days even managing to make the bad days good days just by being there with you making it his mission to make you smile. All this made you come to a realization. Sure, maybe what you had for him before was nothing but a silly crush, but now as you got to know him more and become someone he confided in, the feelings you got around him were crystal clear.

You were in love with Jaehyung Park, and now that you knew what you were feeling, you wanted to scream it to the whole world. What you were feeling was something so beautiful and precious that people only dreamed to experience. You weren’t sure if the vile world would ever allow you to feel this ethereal emotion ever again, and as you looked up at the man your heart had so harshly and deeply fallen for, you were terrified. You didn’t want to ruin what you had.

You wanted to stay like this, blissfully unaware of each other's true feelings for one another. Even if your body and heart longed to be close to him, to touch him, feel him, and know every crevice and inch of him, you counted yourself lucky to be able to be close to him like this, where your probably unreturned feelings didn’t make anything awkward or burdensome for anyone.

You felt a little prick at your eye cursing yourself for wanting to cry, but you managed a small smile in Jae’s direction taking a step away from him and suggesting you sit back down since you both still had time before you had to go to class. He sat on the opposite side of the table as you, gaze not straying away from you.

You took a deep breath feeling tingles running along your spine since the air between you both had become tense filled with something you couldn’t identify. You both remained silent sitting there. You became fidgety, stretching your legs in front of you only for your right leg to gently bump against what you assumed to be the pole supporting and holding the table up. You were staring outside watching all the students pass by happily ignorant to the slight change in relationship between the two friends sitting across each other sitting in silence.

You absentmindedly started running your leg up and down the pole under the table when you heard a weird sputtering sound much alike to choking from a foot away from you. You turned away from the window looking at the man across from you only to flinch back in surprise with the sight you were met with.

Jae was staring at you with wide panicked eyes, and his shaking arm held up to his face, but even with the arm you could see the red tinting his chest, neck, face, and ears. His chest was heaving and you could see his whole body trembling. You instantly grew worried all focus going to Jae assuming there was something seriously wrong with him. The table wasn’t that wide which allowed you to lean closer to his body holding your palm to his forehead feeling it was abnormally hot. You anxiously tapped your foot against the pole supporting the table. “Jae are you okay?” you heard him gasp out an answer not being able to understand at all when you felt the pole under the table slightly move against your leg.

Wait, poles can’t move.

[moonlightkitkat]

Caught in a Trap

words: 2920

Marinette had no idea why she'd been summoned to Mr. Damocles’s room. When Lila hadn't shown up that day, she’d hoped that she’d have a day of peace, a day where she wouldn't have to deal with her lies and her bullying. Apparently she'd been wrong.

Her fears were proven correct when she opened the door to the principal's office, seeing the owlish Principle and a pitiful looking Lila waiting for her. For a moment, she thought that Lila had been found out, that she hadn't been careful enough, and hope surged through her.

“Marinette! How could you cheat off of my test!” Lila wailed, a fresh flood of crocodile tears spilling out onto her cheeks. That hope quickly faded as she realized the real reason why she was here. Suddenly she felt very tired, and she slumped into the seat next to Lila. 

“Monsieur Damocles. I didn't copy her test,” she said tiredly. “Besides, Lila sits on the other side of the classroom, three rows behind me. I couldn’t have copied her if i tried.”

The Man’s bushy eyebrows rose at that, and he looked from the sniffling brunette to herself. “I was told that Miss. Rossi was moved to take the test, she said it was too distracting where she sat..”

“Who told you that?”

“Why, Miss Rossi herself!”

Lila looked at her with a pout and nodded. “I can't believe you don't remember that I sat next to you! Alya wasn't there yesterday so I moved seats!”

Marinette’s brow furrowed. While it was true that Alya wasn't at school yesterday-she hadn't studied all week and spent the day cramming for the test-, Lila had stayed in her seat. “Why would it be distracting though? She sits in the very back and doesn't have a desk partner. There's no reason why she should have moved. In fact, she didn't move seats at all, i sat alone during the test.”

Realizing she was caught, Lila quickly stuttered to come up with an excuse. “I asked to be moved because I didn't want to accidentally cheat by seeing Max’s paper! He's super smart, and I was worried that I might accidentally see his answers!”

Smirking, Marinette crossed her arms and leaned back in her seat. “Oh? Are you saying you weren't worried that Nino would get as many answers right then? After all, if you're saying you asked to be moved because you were worried you’d cheat, then you're saying you weren't worried about copying Nino’s answers.”

Sputtering, Lila quickly shook her head. “No! O-Of course not! Nino’s… very smart..”

The Principle nodded, shuffling through some papers on his desk. “Indeed. He did well on his test, scoring an 87%, while the two of you only had a 72.”

Marinette winced as she heard her score. She hadn't had any time to study, there's been several Akuma attacks, two from Lila herself, and she'd been so tired she wasn't able to stay up at all to study. Maybe she could talk to the Master about making some new permanent heroes to help her out.

Sighing heavily, the principle looked up at the two of them. “Now, two of you getting the same score is one thing. However, you two answered the test exactly the same, word for word, and that’s something I cannot ignore. We take cheating and plagiarism very seriously at Francois Dupont, and one of you must be punished. Now, if the person who cheated comes out and says it right now, i will lighten the punishment and let your teacher decide what punishment to give you in reward for your honesty. If not, then both of you will be given detention for the rest of the week, as well as getting extra work from your teacher.

Marinette’s eyes widened in horror, and she felt a pit in her stomach drop. 

Detention? Extra work? She barely had enough time to do her homework as it was! There was no way she could do that! Part of her wondered whether or not she should just give up and lie, saying that it was her that cheated. At least then, she wouldn't have as bad of a sentence, and Ms Bustier would vouch for her… right? After all, Lila would rather be punished alongside her rather than admit that she lied and cheated.

She took a deep breath, and was about to admit to something she didn't do, until a frustrated noise came from Lila, catching her attention.

“Marinette why don't you confess already! Do you really hate me so much that you'd force me to take a punishment I don't deserve just to spite me?”

If only Lila knew how close she was to giving in, just how close shed been to winning, she’d surely regret opening up her big mouth. Her resolve was steadied, her heart hardened, and her mind set. Lifting her chin, she looked at her principle, her eyes not leaving his.

“Monsieur, I did not cheat. Lila is lying. She did not sit next to me, and she sat in the back. I don't know how we have the same answers, but I can promise you that my answers are my own. I even turned my paper in before Lila did.If you want to check before punishing us, please check with Miss. Bustier. Then you’ll know which one of us is really lying.

Lila froze at her words. It was obvious that she hadn't expected Marinette to ask him to check with their teacher. She thought she broke Marinette’s will, that the fight in her died. Only now did she realize that Marinette had not backed down, not by a long shot.

The principle seemed to consider her words, and nodded in agreement. 

“Excellent idea Marinette, i’ll go check right now.” picking up their test papers, he stood up,accidentally knocking over the loudspeaker, fumbling with it before accidentally knocking it on the ground. A high pitched shrill filled the air, and Marinette and Lila both covered their ears immediately, squeezing their eyes shut at the painful noise. In her bag, tikki did the same. 

Quick to click a button that would turn off the noise, the principle laughed and cleared his throat. “Sorry girls, accidentally turned it on. I'll be back after talking to your teacher. Now stay here, ill be right back.” 

Both girls were quiet as he left, and it wasn't until his footsteps could not be heard that Lila turned on her, her eyes burning with fury.

“You couldn't just give up could you? You know, it’d be a lot easier if you just gave in and played along. If you let me win id stop targeting you so much, it's your fault all of this is happening!”

Marinette’s cheeks reddened as she was blamed for her bullying, and she stood up, glaring down at her. “Me? I’m not the one who cornered me in the bathroom and threatened to take all of my friends away if i didn't obey! I didn't force you to lie or bully me! You did that all on your own, and I’m sick of it!”

“Youre ‘sick of it’ hm?” Standing up, Lila snickered and shoved Marinette back into her seat. “If you're sick of it, then why don't you stand up to me? Why don't you tell all of your little friends and take them back? Oh that's right. They like me better than they like you! In fact, they hate you all now! Alya and Nino? They believed me so quickly, and now they're my best friends. Not. yours. The class? Honestly im shocked, I didn't expect them to like a new kid over their own “Everyday Ladybug,” she sneered.

“The only people I can't convince are Chloe, Sabrina, and Adrien. I don't care about the first two, nobody likes them anyway. Adrien though? Oh if only Ladybug hadn't shown up and humiliated me. Then i'd be the one he believes. I'd be his everyday ladybug! No, i'd be better than that. I’m his everyday Volpina.”

Marinette tried sitting up, but only resulted in getting shoved again, grunting as her shoulder hit the back of the chair.

“But just like ladybug, you keep getting in my way! Now stay down, and shut up. Otherwise next time, it wont simply be a cheating test.”

“W-what do you mean?” Marinette asked, scared of what she might suggest.

A wicked smirk slid onto her face, quickly replaced by an innocent pout as she tapped her chin. “Oh, I don't know. Maybe ill say that you've been threatening me, or I’ll manage to get Miss. Bustier to get you moved out of the class because you make me uncomfortable. Oh! Or I could get out my special effects makeup and make it look like you beat me up, I'm sure that would get you expelled for sure.”

Marinette’s eyes filled with tears at the threats. There’s no way she could prove any of that didn't happen. No one believes her anyway, why would they believe her now? The fight in her died out, realizing she'd lost.

“How did you cheat?” she asked softly, her voice a hushed whisper.

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Lila asked innocently, cupping her ear. “I can't hear you, tinnitus and all.”

Gritting her teeth, Marinette growled “how did you cheat?”

Laughing, Lila sat down on top of principal Damocles’ desk, crossing her legs and leaning forward, her chin resting in the palm of her hand. “Oh that? That was easy,” she grinned.

“All I did was to be the last one to turn in my test. Then after class was out, I offered to help grade papers, put mine in the trash, grabbed a blank one and copied every answer word for word. Did you know you had eight grammar mistakes?” she clicked her tongue in disappointment. “It’s a good thing you have good handwriting, it's about the only good thing about you. I thought about copying Max’s test, and then getting a few answers wrong on purpose, or saying things in a different way so I could get an A, but I thought this would be so much better. Any other questions?”

Matinette thought for a moment, looking up at her. “Are you really willing to get detention and extra work just to get me in trouble?”

“Of course!” Lila laughed with no hesitation. 

“After all, all I have to do is bat my pretty eyes and shed a few tears about how you lied and I was wrongfully punished, and i'll have everyone willing to help me do my work! And by “help”, i mean “do”. I have that class wrapped around my finger. For such smart students, they really are dumb, but i wont complain. After all, the only one they can blame is themselves for believing me.”

The door slammed open behind them, and both girls shrieked at the sudden bang the door made as it hit the wall. Turning around, Marinette saw a red faced Damocles, horrified Miss. Bustier, as well as a furious Alya, Nino, Adrien, and the rest of what looked like the whole school behind them.

“Off my desk.” The principle snarled, his eyes narrow.

Like a frightened kitten, Lila hopped off of the desk and was immediately in her seat, her demeanor completely different. Her confidence from before was gone, filled with fear and confusion. Clearing her throat, she looked at her friends and offered a small smile.

“Its okay everyone, you don't have to be so angry with Marinette. She confessed and admitted that she che-

“Oh it isn't Marinette we’re angry with,” Alya growled, her fist clenching her phone at her side.

Lila blinked in surprise, leaning back at the girl’s hostility. “Alya? What’s wrong?

“What's wrong is that you've been lying to me! You've been lying to all of us! You made me believe that you were my friend when all you've done is use me against Marinette!”

Lila froze, slowly looking at Marinette. 

“M-Marinette, w-why would you lie-

“She didn't lie!” Alya roared, stomping forward, only to be held back by an equally angry looking Nino. “You cant lie anymore Lila! We heart it! All of it!”

Confusion covered Lila’s face, her nose wrinkling in confusion. “Heard it? What do you-

It was at that moment both girls noticed it. An echo. Looking at the loudspeaker, Marinette realized it wasn't off. Mr Damocles never turned it off. It had been recording them the whole time. The whole school heard what Lila had said to Marinette, the whole school now knew Lila had been lying to them, that Lila had turned them against their close friend, their friend who helped them so much and cared for them so much. The whole school was furious at this intruder who sought to hurt their Everyday Ladybug.

What no one realized was that Chat Noir was standing among them, his ring in his pocket to resist the urge to transform and destroy the girl who’d tormented his friend, a friend he cared about.

Alya held up her phone, showing that it was still recording. “You can stop lying now Lila, just like a fox, you've been caught in a trap you were unaware was even there.”

Marinette felt like she was going to cry. They knew, they knew she wasn't lying. They realized that Lila had hurt her, that shed lied to them, that she’d threatened her, that she had tried to ruin her life. She wasn't alone anymore.

Alya’s eyes went to Marinette, and they softened. “Marinette.. I’m so sorry.. I never should've stopped listening.. I'm so so sorry…”

Marinette’s eyes filled with tears, and she stood up, rushing to her friend’s open arms. Or the first time for as long as she could remember, she cried. Alya’s arms tightened around her, ending the footage with a simple click. Some moments were too private to be recorded, she learned her lesson after Oblivio.

“I tried so hard to tell you!” She wept. “I thought I lost you!”

Alya’s own eyes began to water, and she buried her face into her friend’s hair, rubbing her back softly. “No girl.. I’m the one who lost you.. I never should have listened to Lila. I was a terrible reporter, I’m a terrible friend. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness, but i'm so so so sorry.”

Another pair of arms wrapped around her, and she felt the brim of Nino’s hat poked her head. “Marinette, you and I have been friends since kindergarten, but I got… I got too excited about Lila. I got too excited thinking about how she'd get me discovered, how she knew so many people, but I forgot that I have my own little celebrity right here. Two if you count Adrien.”

She giggled at that, sniffling as her tears began to slow.

A fourth pair of arms surrounded her, and she looked up to see Adrien’s guilt ridden face. “Marinette… I'm sorry.. I didn't keep my promise.. I promised we'd be in this together.. But I left you.. I was scared, i didn't know things were that bad, i..” he chewed his lip, and Marinette frowned, looking up at him and leaning back from the embrace of her friends.

“Adrien, you abandoned me. You never once spoke up about her lies, and you told me to keep quiet about it because you were worried about Lila being akumatized. I listened to you, I figured if I wasn't alone it would all be okay, but it wasn't. I was alone, everyone hated me, and you sit there and watched. You’re only apologizing now because there's nothing for you to lose here. Well I’m sorry, but i can't be friends with someone who leaves their friends when you know they need you. I don't accept your apology, and I’m afraid I can't forgive you.”

The whole class was silent at her speech, shocked that Marinette could speak like that to her crush. Only he wasn't her crush anymore, he'd stopped being that a long time ago. He'd stopped being her friend too, only she had lied to herself to believe that he still was. Funny, it seemed she was a liar too.

Adrien was stunned, staring at her in shock before laughing nervously. “Marinette you don't mean that..”

“Actually, I do. Maybe later ill forgive you and i'll apologize, but right now this is my truth. I'm not hiding the truth any longer.” turning to Alya and Nino, she offered a sad smile the tension leaving her.

“I want to forgive you both, but it'll take some time. I'm Still hurt by this all.. But I do still want to be your friend, if you’ll still have me that is.”

Nodding her head, Alya offered a warm smile. “Of course we want you girl. We’ll make it up to you, i promise.”

“Excuse me?” a bored and annoyed voice called from behind her. Turning around, Marnette saw Lila, staring at the whole group of them, irritation evident on her face now that she wasn't pretending. “So.. what happens to me now?”

Five words that Marinette never thought she'd hear were spoken, and time seemed to slow. Lila’s face paled, and her eyes widened in shock and horror. Alya and the others cheered and rushed to hug Marinette. Marinette herself was in a state of shock, relief, and bliss all at once. It was over, it was finally over.

“You Miss. Rossi, are expelled.”

[solynaceawrites]

SMEARED LIPSTICK

Fandom: Devil May Cry Characters: Dante, Lirael Thorne (OC) Rating: Explicit A/N: The one-shot is set sometime during my upcoming fic, Memory of the Waters, and features my OC, Lirael Thorne, who some of you might recognize from the AU story Promise Me Forever. @lickitysplitfic​ and I were talking about how she tries to get under Dante's skin and knows that he's got a thing for messy blowjobs featuring smeared lipstick, and this one-shot was born. It's 6k words of pure smut with just enough plot to justify it, and we hope you have as much fun reading it as we did writing it!

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Lir knows exactly what she's doing when she takes a photograph of herself with artfully smeared lipstick and sends it to Dante.

Two weeks ago, and at Nico's urging, she'd bought her second ever tube of lipstick, a dark, sinful red named Lust, and she'd worn it while going to help Dante at his branch of the Devil May Cry. He'd gotten a strange look on his face when he'd seen her, and it hadn't taken much prodding on her part for him to say that he really, really wanted her to give him a blowjob while wearing it because the idea of making a mess of her mouth was incredibly hot.

Of course, she hadn't agreed right away. While Dante is, perhaps, the most considerate lover she's had in terms of her always having the reins, so to speak, she'd never seen him that desperate, and aren't all good things worth waiting for? So, she'd continued to wear the lipstick around him, and sent him selfies of her wearing it and not much else, and, given the fact that she hasn't really seen him in a week due to the sudden influx of jobs on both ends, she knows that what she's done is just adding fuel to the fire.

Doesn't stop her from grinning as she carefully wipes the smudge away and reapplies, though.

Behind her, Nero taps his foot impatiently. "You ready or what?"

"You driving?" she asks, stowing the tube in her shoulder bag.

"Yeah. Let's go."

They head to the job site with little conversation. The portals around Fortuna had been getting little rips despite having been sealed four years ago, probably someone messing around with some unaccounted-for Order stuff. That's why Lir had been sticking around the city and helping Nero out rather than working with Dante: until they figured out why the rips kept happening, it was way safer.

Her phone buzzes and she swipes the screen, adjusting the brightness now that the sun had gone down. Lir snorts when she reads: Where are u?

Working, she replies.

A moment later: Are you coming here tonight?

No, don't know when we'll be done. Fortuna’s still crazy.

Lir smiles to herself knowing why he is asking. Truthfully, she's itching to get her hands on him too, it being days since she got her fill of Dante. What had started out as a bit of fun had turned into a full addiction, but one she didn't mind too much.

I need to see u babe!

"What are you laughing at?" Nero asks from the driver's seat.

"Dante's whining about the workload," she replies, and he snorts and drapes an arm out of the open window.

"Tell 'im he shouldn't have let a bunch of wackos open gates, then," he says, but there's no real bite to his tone. "Speaking of, can you ask him if he's plannin' on comin' out anytime soon? I wanted to ask him about this new demon we've been seeing."

"Sure." Unlocking her phone, she types: Nero wants to see you about a demon. After a moment's debate, she adds: Do you think it'll dye your skin if I go down on you?

His response is immediate. Don't care, that mouth is going around my cock.

"He said he'll swing by when he can."

Nero nods, then jerks his chin towards the radio. "See if that thing's workin', will ya? I want some music before we kill these fuckers."

She sends off a kiss emoji before stashing her phone, deciding if he answers she should leave him on read. Lir is glad they are headed for a fight, because her heart is racing now at his last text, and she is definitely going to need to work out some of this adrenaline.

The demons are easy enough, not powerful at all but so many that it keeps them busy enough. Nero gets more kills than she does, which kind of bothers Lir, even though she was busy finding the tear and sealing it up. Her knack for opening doors that was unlocked during the Order incident has extended to closing things up as well, so once she figures out where they are slipping in it's easy work.

Once the demons are gone and the hole plugged up, they are sweaty and dirty and trudge back to the van. It's coming up on 11 already, and as Lir flips down the visor to look at her smudged hair and the smeared red on her lips, Nero asks, "Want to get a drink?"

"No, I want a shower," she sighs. "Drop me home?"

"Sure." They pass the rest of the ride in their usual post-fight silence, which is comfortable and much needed for the both of them. It's not until the van is idling outside of the garage she shares with Nico that he says, "Kyrie's making meatloaf tomorrow and wants you to come."

"Tell her if she puts that special sauce of hers in, I'll eat the whole thing."

"Not if I eat it first," he fires back.

With a grin, she leans over to punch him lightly on the shoulder. "See ya tomorrow, loverboy. Give Kyrie some kisses from me."

He waves her off, though he's smiling too, and she climbs the steps to the second floor, fumbling for her keys. To her surprise, the door is open a crack; with a frown, she carefully draws her revolver from it's holster and clicks the safety off, gently nudging the door open with her shoulder. The sight of Dante sitting at her small kitchen table is almost comical since he's so damn large next to it, but the humor dies when she catches sight of the positively ravenous expression he's wearing.

"Good way to get yourself shot," she greets as she flicks on the light and leans White Queen next to the door. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Came to see you." He nods to the revolver in her hand. "You had any trouble?"

"Nope." Lir slips the gun into its spot before unhooking the holster and hanging it up.

"Good. Where's Nico?"

Lir chuckles to herself. "She's gone until Thursday. Went to see a vendor about some material."

"Good." There is movement behind her, and when Lir whips around Dante is right there. She sucks in a breath as he crowds her, stepping forward until she steps back and presses on the door. "You ready?"

"Ready for what?" she asks innocently, smiling up at him.

"For me to fuck that pretty little mouth of yours."

She blinks, then stifles a chuckle. "Sorry to disappoint, but you're gonna have to wait. I'm sweaty and covered in demon blood, so I'm gonna shower. You can sit on your hands if you're worried about keeping them to yourself."

"Nope." He leans down, one arm braced on the wall beside her head while he cups her chin with the other hand. "You can shower after. You know I can't stand being teased."

Lir grins and gives him a little shove, not at all surprised when he doesn't move an inch. "Poor thing. Leftie not cutting it for you anymore?"

"Leftie and rightie have retired," he murmurs. This is his thing: flirting, jokes, a sweet bit of self-deprecation . . . but tonight it's different. It's like there's no humor in his tone, and when Lir swallows, his eyes go to her throat.

"Like I said, I need to shower," she replies, her mouth dry.

"Ain't got nothing to do with your mouth, babe." His thumb smooths over her bottom lip, dragging hard across her flesh. Then he holds up his hand and glances at the light red streak on the pad of his thumb. "You still got that lipstick?"

She nods, fishing the tube out of her pocket, and he studies it for a second, his lips curling up in something that's not quite a smile. "Put it on."

Without hesitation, she pops the top off and runs the cream over her lips, rubbing them together to make sure it's applied as evenly as it can be without using a mirror, and then she closes it and deposits it back in her pocket. "You're a fiend," she tells him, only partially teasing.

Dante doesn't reply to that. Nor does he step back. His hands settle firmly on her shoulders, and Lir lets him guide her to her knees, her heart thrumming in her chest at this new display of dominance from him. Can't handle being teased, sure, but that usually ends with him beneath her, growling her name as she rides him. It's never caused this sort of reaction, and she'd rub her thighs together if she weren't kneeling with them apart, because there's an ache that's quicker and fiercer than the ones she's had before.

She runs her hands up his thighs, looking up as he unbuckles his belt. "I haven't stopped thinking about you," he growls as he yanks his jeans open.

Lir smiles and scratches the denim. "Must have been hard."

Dante laughs as he pulls out his cock. It is fully erect, and he pumps his hand a few times as he adjusts the waistband around his hips. "It's hard alright."

He aims the length towards her, and Lir opens her mouth and runs her tongue over her lips. Then she carefully licks the tip, playing with it gently, softly pressing kisses to the head. She slurps a bit around the opening, playing up her lips around his flesh, her eyes steady on his. He tastes like sex, plain and simple, and her body clenches when he rubs his thumb to the tip and reveals that it is already dripping.

Dante winds a chunk of her hair around his fist, using the strands to pull her forward, his cock sliding slowly over her tongue until it nudges the back of her throat. There's already a strain from his girth, and having his eyes focused on her mouth makes her feel a bit awkward, and the tug on her roots is just shy of painful, but all of that is worth it when he rumbles deep in his chest before drawing back. The first few passes are almost gentle, and she appreciates the fact that he's trying to let her adjust. After his behavior, though, the sweetness is almost a letdown, so she reaches behind him and digs her fingers into his backside through his jeans.

Dante huffs a laugh as he cups both sides of her face, his fingers curling under her chin. Then he begins to move in earnest, fucking into her mouth, the sharp jerks of his hips giving her just enough time to draw in short breaths. It's hot as hell, and already she can feel arousal slipping from her to soak her underwear.

He fills her mouth until it almost chokes her, the head pressing into her throat. Lir swallows around him, taking a deep breath as best as she can, tears pricking at her eyes. "Feels so good," Dante groans, his thrusts shallow enough to keep him buried.

This isn't what she normally likes; Lir likes to be on top, in control, but Dante is still somehow as gentle as he is demanding, and it makes her want to please him all the more. She had started out wanting to drive him wild enough to fuck her, but now she only wants to make him come. Lir closes her eyes and sucks his length repeatedly, shivering when he lets go another deep groan.

She drops her hands to brace them on his thighs, trying to ground herself in the solid feel of the muscles beneath his jeans. The sensation of his thumb swiping a line of spit and fluid from her chin makes her moan, the sound muffled to a whine around his flesh, and he curses as he pauses with his cock buried in her throat. "Should've put you on my face," he groans. "Nearly forgot how good it feels when ya do that."

Lir's breath stutters, and she tries to pull back to speak, but the hand in her hair tenses. "Nuh uh, babe. You gonna finish what you started."

Her eyes flash when they meet his, and she moves on her own, her head bobbing up and down with renewed effort. Lir adds a hand, grabbing the base and moving with her mouth, twisting a bit as she works him. 

Needing a quick rest, she slowly pulls her mouth off. Dante frowns, but she smiles at him flirtatiously, dragging her tongue along the underside. "You have something on your cock," she says; Lir tries to sound sexy, but her voice is as raw as her throat.

Dante grins. He tugs her hand away and grabs his length, stroking himself quickly. The other hand in her hair tilts her head back, and he presses the head to her lips. "Open up," he says, his tone a clear order. "I want to give you something."

She parts her lips obediently, and the warm rush of his seed coating her tongue has her insides clenching deliciously, as does the guttural moan that tears from him. Lir does her best to swallow every drop, but with her mouth open and how much of it there is, some of it spills over her chin, dripping along her throat. His knuckles brush her face as he milks his cock; by the time he's done, she's certain of two things: one, she probably looks utterly debauched.

Two, if he doesn't fuck her soon, she's gonna wind up begging for it.

Dante strokes her face with one hand, continuing to pump his cock with the other and, while he's moving leisurely, she's startled by the fact that he's still hard. They've gone more than one round before, but there's also been a bit of rest period between, and her mouth waters as he pulls her to her feet. "That's one," he says, his eyes alight with a dark mirth. "Now, when I'm all riled up, I've usually got about six shots in the chamber, so to speak, and I think you've earned some payback for winding me up like this."

He gathers some of his come from her chin, pressing his fingers between her lips until she sucks them clean. "So, what we're gonna do is get in the shower, and I'm gonna fuck you there. Then I'm gonna eat your cunt until you forget everything but my name before fuckin' you until you can't walk straight."

His words are crude and his voice is rough, and Lir can't stand the effect he has on her. Her mouth hangs open as he tugs her to stand, but before she can move to obey he presses her back against the door and kisses her. She grabs his shirt but he pulls her hands away, trapping her wrists over her head against the wood with one hand; the other drags down her front, massaging one breast, then the other, as his tongue fills her mouth.

Lir's jaw is aching still from taking his cock, but she responds when he tilts his head to force the kiss deeper. Their lips slide together as she whimpers, completely under his spell. Where was her sweet, funny Dante? He really is a demon tonight, she thinks, and when he finally lets her go she is panting and looking at him in a daze.

Dante smirks at her, and she sees the lipstick now smeared around his own mouth. She licks her lips, making his eyes narrow. He jerks his chin towards the bathroom, and Lir leads the way, feeling his presence behind her like a great cat on the prowl.

The click of the latch as he closes the door behind them has her swallowing thickly, and she doesn't have to turn to see the way he's watching her; she can feel it, as absurd as that is, as heavy on her skin as his hands had been moments ago. She leans into the stall to turn on the water, setting it scalding like she prefers, then begins to undress, keeping her back to him. There's a low, satisfied hum from Dante when she pulls her shirt over her head, before she hears rustling that means he's taking his own clothes off.

He comes up behind her, his chest pressed to her back as he herds her into the shower, and she's barely got time to say anything before he has her pinned to the wall, the cool tile sending goosebumps up her arms. "I want to actually bathe," she complains, and he laughs as he kisses just below her ear.

"Don't worry, I'll get ya nice and clean," he teases.

Lir bites her lip, loving and hating how much he's affecting her now, and the faint pop of a bottle being opened nearly makes her jump. The scent of her body wash fills the air as his soapy hands land on her shoulders, massaging the knots out. She relaxes with a moan, and he answers with a chuckle as he shifts to cup her breasts, his palms and fingers slippery and wonderful.

"You always feel so good," he murmurs. She feels his cock nudging her backside, the soap that streams down her body now making it slick as he grinds against her. Lir presses her palms flat on the tile to keep herself steady, her eyes closing as his cock pushes against her seam as his hand drags through the hair on her pubis.

Lir gasps when his touch presses to her hood. Her body is soaked in more ways than one and the glide of his fingertips against the sensitive bud as her legs shaking. "Yeah," he groans, thrusting up against her, and Lir gives a choking cry when his cock pumps against her hole.

Dante laughs and turns her around, pushing her back against the wall. "Maybe I'll take you there later," he murmurs, his voice dark and dangerous as he covers her. "Right now I need to be inside your pussy, so open up babe."

She spreads her legs and he grabs the backs of her thighs, hoisting her up with ease and pulling her down to impale her on his cock, smothering her cry with a kiss. They've barely gotten started, and already there's the familiar tightening in her core that leaves her breathless; when he grinds against her, her head spins, her fingers scrabbling against his shoulders for something to grip onto. Has it ever been this quick, this raw? She can't remember and, as he starts to thrust in earnest, she doesn't care.

"Baby, you're so tight," Dante pants. 

She turns her head to capture his mouth, groaning around the kiss as his cock batters in and out of her. The orgasm builds faster than she can keep up, and after another minute she pulls back with a gasp, gripping his shoulders and dropping her head back.

Her mouth drops open as the pulsing starts, sharp and intense. "You coming already?" he growls.

He leans in as if to bite her neck, his teeth gripping her skin but not closing. Then he sweeps his tongue across her skin, sending another shudder through her, the contractions continuing on. "Dante!" Lir yelps, yanking on his hair.

He groans in answer, his hands sliding up to knead her backside. "God, I love it when you say my name like that."

His hips slow, and she moans helplessly as he rubs leisurely over her walls; because he doesn't stop, neither does her orgasm, and soon the overstimulation draws a whine from her throat every time he thrusts into her. It's tender, and sweet, and entirely too much, a pleasant sort of torture that drags on and on and on until, with a hoarse whisper of her name, the first waves of his release turn the friction of his cock silky.

Lir is trembling when he finally slips out of her body and sets her down. Her grip on him stays tight to keep herself standing, and Dante presses his forehead to hers, leaving dotted kisses on her lips. "Fuck you are so hot."

She smiles and huffs a laugh, dragging her palms down his chest. "You got me dirty again."

"Easy fix." He eases back, the spray of the water aiming between them. Through lidded eyes she watches him soap her sponge and then gently he washes her body. It's almost charming as he lifts one arm, then the other, then draws large circles around her breasts, before finally dragging the sponge in a long stripe from her chest downwards.

"Don't forget your dick," Lir jokes as he washes her thighs.

Dante looks up with a wink. "If I wash that lipstick off you're gonna have to replace it."

"Don't tempt me," she warns. "Now that I know you've got a fetish, I'm gonna wear it every day."

He grins, a little sharp. "I'm not gonna complain about fuckin' you every day."

Lir snorts and relaxes as he continues to scrub her before turning the sponge to himself. As he soaps up, she sets about washing her hair, sighing as the grime rinses down the drain, her scalp feeling much lighter once she's done. Dante nudges her, and she lets him rinse off, wondering if he's planning to stay. Threats about fucking her until she can't walk are all well and good, but she knows they'll either just go to bed or, if he's got somewhere to be in the morning, he'll head home, and she's almost sad to think about it.

Which is ridiculous.

He turns off the water and steps out, looking around for a moment before he spies the shelf with the towels. He grabs one and she leans against the tile to enjoy the sight of him drying off, his muscles covered in droplets of water that flex as he works. "You like something, sweetheart?" he jokes, peeking through his bangs.

"Fuck yes." Dante tosses a towel to her, then holds out a hand to help her from the shower. They crowd together on the bathmat, and after a quick sweep over her body, Lir winds the towel on her head to squeeze the water from her hair.

"Sexy," he teases, tugging at the end of the towel, and she swats at him with a laugh. "Hope you enjoy the break, darlin', 'cause there's a lot more to come."

She peers up at him. "Thought you were just talking big."

"Now, you know I never make a promise to a lady I can't keep." His arm snakes around her waist to pull her flush to his body, and he grins at her as he carefully pulls the towel from her hair and runs his fingers through the damp strands. "You got somewhere to be tomorrow?"

"Dinner with Kyrie."

"Guess I better get started, then."The kiss this time is more playful, but just as forceful. It does give Lir's head time to clear a bit, though, and by the time he is walking her back to the bedroom, his hands roam her body and his lips and teeth tease her mouth. This is a Dante that is more familiar, and she reaches around to squeeze his backside before snaking her hand over his hip. "Let's get you ready."

"Not yet," he replies.

Lir frowns, but he lifts her easily, half-carrying and half-dragging her to the bed. He flops on top, pulling her easily and lifting her by the hips until she is over his face. Lir leans forward to brace herself on his stomach as she feels his lips graze her slit. In the corner of her eye his cock twitches, and she gasps when his tongue nudges her clit.

Normally, he takes his time, making sure to kiss every inch of her sex until she's a writhing mess. This time, his attention stays focused on her clit, his tongue rubbing over it firmly, and she scratches over his stomach when her hands curl into fists, her head dropped as she pants raggedly. He's relentless, his thumbs keeping her folds parted to expose her pearl that throbs; it's not until his own hips roll the tiniest bit that she realizes that his cock is stiff and weeping, and Lir leans forward to lap at the fluid dripping from the tip.

Dante gives a deep groan. She feels his lips slide along her sex and then his tongue enters her, pressing deep inside. Lir pants as she rocks her hips, her movements restricted by his grip on her waist, but she manages to ride his tongue slightly, forcing the tip to press against the front wall.

She mouths at his cock, not taking it into her mouth, but tracing her lips with the tip and flickering her tongue on the opening. Too distracted by the thrust of his tongue inside her body, Lir opens her mouth to let the head sit on her tongue. Dante pumps his hips to fuck in and out of her mouth as he laps at her until his lips return to her hood and wrap around her swollen clit.

Her back bows with a keen that's choked by his length as her orgasm snaps along her spine, sharp enough that her toes curl. Dante yanks her back so she's seated firmly on his face, his tongue flicking harshly over her clit, keeping her pinned by his hands and his hips so that all she can do is endure, even when the pleasure gains a thin edge of pain.

Finally, he stops, and she slumps against the blankets when he carefully slides her off of him. "Damn," he sighs. His hands smooth over her backside, his fingers teasing along the seam of her body. "You got a choice now, doll, though it ain't much of one."

She turns her head to stare at him. "What?"

"Where I'm gonna fuck you." Dante nudges her legs apart and settles between them, leaning over her. "See, I figure I've had your mouth and I've had your cunt, but this?" He squeezes her rear. "Haven't fucked this yet. But I know it ain't really your favorite, so it's your call."

Lir peeks over her shoulder. "How do you know what is my favorite?"

He laughs and presses a kiss to her shoulder. "I can't stand how goddamn sexy you are."

His mouth moves across her back, pressing kisses against her shoulder blades before trailing down her spine. She sighs and settles into the mattress, her limbs heavy and her body relaxed from the orgasm. When Dante reaches the small of her back, he squeezes her backside again, and pushes so her hips tilt up. She feels him shift on the bed as he nibbles over her flesh until reaching the back of her thigh.

Lir gasps when she feels his tongue at her sex again. Dante pushes her up on her knees, her ass in the air as he licks her slowly. She grips the bedsheet with a groan, unable to help herself as she tilts back to open herself for more. "Greedy girl," he admonishes.

"You can't keep your hands off, and I'm the greedy one?" she mutters. He bites her thigh, drawing a yelp, before returning to her slit, where he laps at her lazily. "You're an ass."

She feels him shrug before he says, "Might wanna choose before I do it for ya."

Her lips press into a thin line as she presses her face to the quilt, thinking. Or trying to between the little jolts every time his tongue nudges beneath her hood or dips playfully into her opening; if she uses his metaphor from earlier, she's got about three rounds, and two have been used, leaving her with one to his three. She's already sensitive enough as it is, so, with a huff, she mumbles, "Next time."

"Next time?"

He moves again, and Lir feels him tug on her arms until she is kneeling, his broad chest against her back. His hands grip her hips and maneuver her to sink down on his cock, her body so wet now he glides inside with ease. Lir sighs and rolls her head back to his shoulder, and when her backside goes flush with his thighs he holds her there for a long moment.

One hand moves to her neck, cradling her chin so her head stays tilted back on his shoulder. The other moves between her legs and strokes her clit, but gentle, feather-light touches that barely register. Dante teases her as he starts to fuck her deeply, his lips dancing on her exposed neck and pressing to the juncture of her shoulder. "Next time? You realize I'm going to fill you again and again tonight?"

"Dante . . ." she groans.

He uses two fingers to open her lips, exposing her clit as his cock drags in and out of her. Then another finger begins to tease it, flicking and pressing in unguessable patterns that have her jolting. "No coming then, Lir," he warns. "I'm nowhere near done with you."

That's easier said than done. At this angle, his cock hits all the right spots, and the haphazard little shocks from her clit every time he touches it already have her in knots. But she can't find her voice, or enough of it, to do more than moan every time he fills her, so she can't warn him. His mouth trails over her shoulder, his teeth scraping lightly over her skin, and she gasps when they go sharp for a second. "Next time," he rumbles, "we'll see if you can handle all of me."

Her mouth is dry as she tries to speak, but in truth Lir can't do anything. Her body is one roll of pleasure after another, his cock pushing her closer and closer to her end, so that when she feels it becoming inevitable she lets go a whine. "Dante, please!" she gasps breathlessly.

He lets her go and she slumps forward, but his hands go immediately to her hips and yank her up and back. Dante begins to pound into her, drilling his cock inside her at a hard, fast pace so that moments later she explodes around him. She presses her face to the bed to cover her screams, her body quickly going oversensitive.

When she is sure she can't take anymore, she whimpers, and Dante pulls out. She catches sight of him looming over her as her eyes close, and then a hand covers her sex, massaging her lightly. "I'm not done with you yet," he says again. Lir feels something nudge at her lips, and when she immediately opens his cock slides into her mouth, burying into her throat.

She's too tired to do much, but that doesn't seem to bother him. He pumps his hips, the tip of his cock never leaving her mouth, as his hands roam her body; one stays over her sex, stroking lightly over her slit, while the other cups her breast and rolls her nipple between his fingers. The pleasure now is dull, soothing, and if it weren't for his touch, she'd doze. Just as she starts to, he slips a finger within her core, and her eyes fly open to find him watching her with a grin that's damn near predatory.

"Need to tap out?" he asks, the taunt clear, and she reaches up to grip the back of his thigh, urging him to keep going. He laughs, rolling her breast with his palm. "Didn't think so."

Lir shakes the haze from her mind as she purposefully begins to suck on his length. Her hand slides around his thigh to reach under for the flesh hanging there, and as she stretches to deep throat his length she strokes him gently. "Goddamn," he curses, his finger teasing her opening, and a second later he pushes his cock deep in her throat as he starts to come.

She swallows the seed as best she can, and when he pulls out there is still plenty in her mouth that she gulps down. Her head rolls to the side as she catches her breath as he lowers himself on top of her, settling between her thighs. Dante nuzzles her chest, biting along the curves of her breasts and flicking his tongue against her nipples as she sags limply under him. 

Lir watches as he tastes the pink buds, swallowing thickly when he looks at her again, his expression and his voice back to the predator he has been all night. "I want you again," he growls.

She should tap out. Probably. At least, that's what Nico would say, along with a litany of curses for her being so damn stubborn, but, fuck, he'd challenged her, and she's not going to take that lying down. Or, well, she is, but she's not gonna give in and give him the impression that she can't handle it. "What the hell are you waiting for, then?"

The moment the words leave her lips, he surges forward, and she can't even cry out when he sheathes his cock within her because it knocks the air from her lungs. They've played around with overstimulation before, plenty of times, but it was always playful, while this is rough and, if she didn't know him better, dangerous. His hands clamp around her hips to cant them off the bed, and she sucks in a breath when draws back, only for it to leave her with a groan as he thrusts back in, the pace he sets near brutal.

Lir reaches up and grips the bedsheet, biting her lip as he fucks her. Her toes curl and her knees fall back and open, holding in a scream of pain and pleasure. He is simply so powerful, and it is both frightening and exhilarating to have this man, this demon, holding her and taking her like this. Never once has Lir wanted to be toyed with, to be submissive, to give up control. But with Dante she feels as though she can, she should, and so she arches her back and wraps her legs around his waist.

He groans her name, a hand on her breast, the other on her thigh. Lir is drowning in pleasure, her sex too sensitive for this, feeling every inch that pounds in and out. Dante leans forward to brace one palm on the bed and the new angle scrapes against her clit, swollen and exposed and aching. It is an exquisite sort of torture, being so desired to the point where she may not survive.

Then he drapes over her, his mouth hot and hungry as it seeks her. "Come on my cock," he orders as he kisses her, and Lir knows she has to obey. The new angle puts additional pressure on her mound, his pelvis grinding against her clit, so when her orgasm hits she barely registers except to feel the intensity of the pleasurable contractions sharpen as a fresh wave of arousal covers them both.

Through the haze, she's dimly aware of his grip on her going bruisingly tight and the warmth that fills her, so much of it that it slips out and onto the sheets. Dante pants as he kisses her, his tongue thrusting into her mouth as he fills her, and she forces herself to drape an arm over his shoulders and hold him close until he begins to slow. Even when it's over, he doesn't pull out, instead blanketing her with his body, his cock twitching within her. "Goddamn," he sighs.

Lir makes a noncommittal noise and blinks up at the ceiling. His tone and posture mean he's done, at least for now, and she's got some new things to mull over, namely how insanely fucking hot it was to be dominated by him so completely. Despite the ache already blooming between her thighs, she's thinking over different things to try to get this reaction from again: lingerie, maybe, or, hell, just sprawling naked on his bed with the lipstick on? Him kissing her shoulder draws her back to the present, and she tilts her head to peer at him.

"Where'd you go?" he jokes.

"I'm here," she says weakly.

Dante smiles and moves up, his cock sliding out of her body. Lir stifles a moan as she tries to stretch her limbs, everything feeling sore and overused, like she had spent the whole day climbing. Her eyes open and close as she hears his footsteps on the carpet, and a minute later he returns with a glass of water, nudging her to sit up.

Lir gulps it down gratefully, the water cooling her sore throat. She grabs the bottle of aspirin next to her bed and pops a few before finishing off the water and handing him the glass. "Thanks," she sighs, wiping her mouth with her hand.

Dante studies her face, his brow drawn down. "You want me to go?" he asks.

She considers it. "Nah," she says, after a moment. "Might as well stay. You've still got a toothbrush stashed in the cabinet, right?"

He has the decency to look sheepish. "You know about that?"

"Yeah. And the duffel bag kicked to the back of my closet." With a yawn, she lays back, wrinkling her nose at the wet spot on top of her quilt. "Nico's not due back for a few days, and Nero doesn't come over unannounced. Though if you stay, I'm dragging you to dinner tomorrow."

Dante grins and stands again, heading into the bathroom. Lir takes the moment to admire his backside before he disappears behind the door, and then she stares at the ceiling again, wondering what the hell she is doing. Sleeping with him is one thing; but these overnights are ridiculous. They are gonna get caught, and every time they sleep together Lir promises herself its the last time. It's important to keep the sex just sex before it becomes not just sex.

He returns a few minutes later, turning off the lights before climbing onto the bed. Dante flops in a now-familiar way, using her like a pillow with his head on her stomach. Lir laughs to herself, too tired to protest as her eyes start to close. His fingers trace nonsense patterns on her thigh that lull her into sleep, his strong body solid and sinking against hers.

[whumpschild]

Carson/Tyler series crossover (Part 2)

@writehardwhumpharder

Daniel came home that evening to Tyler and Carson, still sleeping. didn't notice they were there until Tyler let out a cough. There was a pizza sitting on the coffee table. Daniel saw the two lying peacefully on the couch. He found it kinda funny that they were sleeping in almost the exact same position and he decided to take a picture. When he dropped his phone on the floor. It made a loud thud that woke carson up. He groaned as he perked his head up looking at Daniel.

“Well good morning sleeping beauty.” Daniel said sitting at the end of the couch where Carson's feet were. Turning on the TV, it was kinda loud so he was surprised when Tyler still didn't wake up. "Is he even alive? That would have woken up anybody."

"Go poke him." Carson said. He didn't feel like getting off the couch. He looked like bedhead twice over with bits of his dark brown hair sticking straight up and his mood matched his looks. Neither of them knew what kind of person Tyler was after he woke up so they were both hesitant.

"Why me?" Daniel complained. He sighed and walked up to Tyler and shook his shoulder. "Tyler are you alive?" He opened his eyes and turned his head behind him,

"Hn? Dunno, ask mom." He said sleepily shoving his face back into the corner of the couch. His brain was in limbo after that nap and he was super out of it. Daniel and Carson stood in confusion before Daniel started to laugh. Tyler rolled over and looked very confused then sat up, his brown hair had fallen out of the bun it had been put into that morning and his bangs were sticking up weird because he had his face shushed into the corner of the couch exposing the scar on his slightly larger forehead. 

Daniel’s laugh faded after a minute or so, “What kind of party did you have while I was gone?” 

“A sleeping one.” Carson replied.

Daniel opened the pizza box still sitting on the coffee table to see it hadn't been eaten. “Have you two eaten at all today? You bought pizza but didn't touch it.”

“We had about two slices of one.” Tyler responded. "We stepped away for ten seconds ya know, then it was getting eaten by pigeons. Those things are like rats with wings, I swear.”

“Probably.” Carson said, sitting up on the couch. 

“I'm gonna heat this up,” Daniel said grabbing the pizza box and taking it to the kitchen leaving Tyler and Carson in the living room.

They sat there for a minute before Tyler started rummaging through one of his backpacks, Carson didn't know how he didn't notice it there because it was bright yellow. He pulled something the size of a small pillow, it looked like a sturdy plastic. It was light blue with small hoses and an oxygen mask attached to it.

“What is that?” Carson asked, staring curiously at it.

“A nebulizer, It's for when my inhaler isn’t really working.” Tyler didn't want to say anything, but he was slightly worried  about his asthma. It seemed to be getting a little worse since he had been outside running around so he was going to be prepared this time so he wouldn't have to rely on Carson. He still felt guilty about when Carson had to heal him when he had run to Carson and Daniel's hotel room in the cold and rain forgetting his inhaler. “And if that doesn't work, i have this” Tyler pulled to things that looked like epinephrine pens from the little pocket of his backpack.

“Epi pens? Aren't those antihistamines?”

“Close, their bronchodilators, they relax the muscles in my lungs causing them to open, I hate sticking these in my leg. It hurts like hell ya know. It's even worse when somebody does it to you because you don't expect it. Do you have anywhere I can set this?” Tyler said holding up his nebulizer.

“Yeah” Carson got up and went to his room with Tyler. He moved the lamp over  on his dresser so it was closer to the wall and set Tylers nebulizer on the side closer to the bed then plugged it in behind the dresser. 

“Thanks ya know,”

“Sure,” Carson said when he and Tyler went to go and sit back down. They waited about ten more minutes before Daniel came back out with the pizza which was steamy from being heated up. They all ate pizza, watched tv and talked a bit. They eventually got tired around midnight and one by one they went to bed.

--

It was a sensation that was familiar to him slipping into a dream that made no sense. It was a familiar scene to Carson that he couldn't quite place. He was walking by some kind of stadium. It was loud and echoed through the air so he assumed there was a game happening. All of the sudden black. He was in something. He couldn't get out, banging on whatever  was above him when he heard a phone ringing. This was starting to feel more and more familiar and not in a good way. He flipped the phone open but couldn't read who was calling but he answered anyways.  Somebody was talking but he couldn't understand them, nothing was making sense. As it went on he could barely breathe, trying to pull in air but it didn't seem there was enough in the small space he seemed to be in. He slipped away into a familiar space he knew as death. Normally he’d be revived but it wasn't happening. He waited and waited until a tugging sensation came around his ankles and up his legs. He was suddenly being pulled into the black abyss of death. He tried to escape but nothing he struggled and struggled trying to break free but no use he was dying for real this time.

--

He woke up screaming, startling Daniel awake. Carson was hyperventilating and crying grabbing at his hair and face. Daniel was used to this by now seeing as Carson had frequent nightmares. He scooted closer to Carson and pulled him into a hug. Was he shaking?  He normally didn't like being touched but there were a few acceptations. This one really got to him

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Daniel asked softly as he rubbed Carson's shoulder. 

Carson shook his head. Daniel got up and got his laptop to put on cartoons which always seemed to make Carson feel better after horrible nightmares. This is the first one in a while that scared him this bad. He was so scared that he was really going to die. Carson layed down and watched the cartoons on Daniel's laptop, sniffling and rubbing the tears from his eyes. Carson always seemed to be vulnerable in his sleep.

After a while Carson had fallen back to sleep. Daniel hadn't noticed and yet to turn off the cartoons. He thought he heard soft bangs coming from Carson's room so he paused  the video on his laptop. He sat there and listened before he heard  more bangs , then the door opening. He got up after hearing a loud thud and somebody saying something that was hard to make out. He walked out of his room to see what was going on, through dim lights of the lamp in Carson's room he could see Tyler on the ground gasping for air and pulling at the strings of his backpack that was by the couch in front of Carson's bedroom door.

--

     Tyler woke up around 2 am wheezing, he quickly fumbled for his inhaler and took several puffs of it before he realized it wasn't working. He resorted to his nebulizer slowly cranking up the dose. Sometimes it took a minute to work so he sat there before he realized  it wasn't going to work, he didn't think clearly so he started banging on the wall to Daniel's room the only thing was the bathroom was right in between the two rooms so his attempts were futile of banging loud enough for anyone to wake up to it. He tried the nebulizer again but it really wasn't working. Tyler couldn't breathe in deeply enough to get the medicine in his lungs before it was breathed out. He started feeling dizzy and light headed from the lack of oxygen, It was like breathing through a straw that was getting narrower. He fumbled around Carson's room looking for his yellow backpack when he realized he left it in the living room. The dizziness got to the better of him as he started to stumble  for the door. He fell but managed to grab at the door handle and pry it open before falling all the way to the floor. He tried calling for Carson and Daniel but he could barely breathe so he didn't think anyone would hear him.

“Tyler?!” Daniel shouted, rushing over to him after walking out of his room a white cat running out behind him. “Carson! He shouted. Daniel didn't know what to do. He didn't know anybody with  asthma  so he had no idea how to handle him. He rolled Tyler on his back which made it worse but Tyler couldn't say anything. His face paled and you could see his lips and fingertips were ever so slightly blue because he wasn't getting enough air in. Carson came out of the room quickly and hurried over to Where Daniel was kneeled “What do we do Carson?!”

Carson thought for a second he grabbed his arm to get a sense of what was going on inside of him. Reading his energy he turned to Daniel. He suddenly remembered all of the medications he had shown him. Good thing he did or they would have no clue what to do.”Give me the yellow backpack. Daniel did what he asked and fumbled around in Tyler's backpack eventually pulling out one of the pens Tyler had shown him. He pushed out the needle which was easily as long as his thumb. Seeing that  made Carson nervous,”Maybe we should call an ambulance?”

“What do you mean you have the pen!”Danie shouted.

“Im not qualified to use needles!” He said raising his voice.

“Just do it already!”

Carson took the Bronchodilator and shoved it into his thigh. Tyler took a gasp of air as he panted. Carson and Daniel let out a sigh of relief as The sound of Tyler heaving air ment they wouldn't have to call an ambulance.  They sat there for a while Just quietly hovering around Tyler as he enjoyed the air mother nature tried to deprive him of. “ It's gonna be a frequent thing?” Carson asked, letting out a sigh.” Because the last time I met you  this happened.” he said pulling out the pen from Tyler's leg and cringing at the groan of pain he let out as he rubbed where it was sticking into. 

“It was only this bad because  I was outside during a flare up,” Tyler croaked.

--

 A lot of Tyler's plans were ruined as he was forced to stay inside for a few days, Trying to avoid any air pollutants or any contact with allergies until his asthma cooled down a bit. He spent those days studying magic books with him and Daniel. Tyler had a tiny little notepad he was writing things down on. It was hard to keep track of anything Tyler wrote because his handwriting was terrible. There were tons of little scribbles, circles drawings and arrows that Carson swore was code and not writing. Daniel was kinda surprised but not too shocked  to see how much Tyler had dedicated himself to learning magic.  Tyler may have been the only psychic magician That hasn't tried to kill Carson that he's known. It was nice to have a change of pace. 

By all means Tyler liked to hang out with Daniel and Carson, but he was bored as hell staying inside so he decided to play with the keyboard he bought a few days ago. "Do ya mind if I play on this?" Tyler asked Carson and Daniel who were sitting on one of the couches. Go for it, Daniel said looking at Tyler who was holding the keyboard even folded up it was about as tall as his waist, it worried Daniel a little bit that Tyler might barely be able to pick it up. He was proved wrong when he easily moved it and set it up. Tyler played little notes to test how it worked for a little bit.

"Anyone got requests?"

"Not really." Carson said, not bothering to look up from his phone.

"Suit yourself," Tyler said, positioning his fingers on the keyboard and  letting his hands work on their own. Carson and Daniel were surprised when the soft melody he was playing actually sounded decent. It seemed like Tyler was good at several things for all Carson knew he could actually sing

"When did you learn how to play piano?" Daniel asked. "You seem pretty good at it."

Tyler kept playing while talking to Daniel, "Um im not sure, sixth grade maybe. My brothers and sisters took it too but only me and Audrey kept it up."

"How many siblings do you have?" 

"Five, three older sisters and two older brothers. Me, the youngest , maddie, Addie and Audrey they're twins, Sam, and you guys have met Elliot."

"Was he the one that popped into your hospital room for like 10 minutes."

Yeah, what about you Daniel?"

"Three, an older sister and brother and then my younger brother."

"Siblings are nice ya know," Tyler said, continuing to play the keyboard. Carson and Daniel just sat there and listened as Tyler played relaxing melodies which really was the song of healing from Majora's mask that Tyler had learned when he was 12.. He liked piano a lot and he frequently lost himself in it. His fingers Flowing over the keas like water in a river. He didn't know how long he was spaced out for before he felt Daniel poking at his arm from behind. He was set up right behind the couch closer to the laundry room so it didn't take much effort to reach over there. 

“Earth to Tyler, I asked if you were hungry.”

“Oh what, sorry, yeah i could eat. I just kinda slipped away for a bit ya know.”

“Sounds like you actually enjoy it,”

“Yeah,”

That night Tyler woke up to go to the bathroom. He walked in and turned on the light only to see somebody curled up on the bathroom floor on his side. “Carson?!” Tyler gaped and dropped to the floor by Carson trying to wake him up. “Carson? Come on buddy get up,” He studied Carson to make sure he hadn't hurt himself falling or worse he then noticed a bottle of pills that were spilled by Carson's hand along with an empty cup that was knocked over. He rubbed his hands through his long messy hair as he started to panic. Then Carson stirred, opened his light blue eyes and looked up at Tyler.

“C-Carson?” Tyler stuttered “ Are you okay, should I call an ambulance?

“Calm down,” Carson said pinching his eyes closed and rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I was just napping,”

“Just napping? What's this?” Tyler asked, holding up the bottle of spilled pills.

“Wot’s this,” Carson said, mocking Tyler's accent again “ Can’t you read?”

“No, I don't have my glasses.”

“It’s Hydrocodone.”

“Hydrocodone? Migraines? Do you get them often?”

“Yeah,” Carson felt like total shit, his head felt like it was splitting in half with the unbearable pain that was in his head. He had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor trying to get the migraine to go away when Tyler had woken him up and turned the light on. It made the migraine worse. “Could you turn off the light?”

“Uh, sure.” Tyler didn't want to be in total darkness so he decided to do something, his third eye let off a dim pink light so he decided if he opened it and not actually used it then it should be fine.  He turned off the light  and left the bathroom a few minutes later he came back with two pillows, a blanket, a sketchbook and his glasses. His hair had been set into a lazy ponytail at the nape of his neck that had not bothered to have been brushed. Tyler tossed the pillow and blanket at Carson and kept one to himself. He made his way to  the bathtub managing to not step on Carson. He felt around to see if the bathtub was wet then sat down and tucked the pillow behind his back. He concentrated for a bit then let his eye open, a faint light about as bright as a glowstick came from it; it was enough to where Tyler could see the paper in front of him. 

“Thanks,” Carson mumbled as he set his head on the pillow and tossed a blanket over himself. “Shouldn't you go back to bed or something?”

“If you're going to lay on the bathroom floor then i'm going to lay in the bathtub.”

“Whatever,” Carson snugged his face into the pillow and closed his eyes. He sensed a faint energy coming from Tyler as he drifted back to sleep.

--

“What the hell are you two doing?” Daniel understood why Carson was there but not why Tyler was there too sleeping in the bathtub. He didn't have time for this; he had to get ready for work. He grabbed tyler's sketchbook and pencils that laid on his lap and tossed it onto Carson, hoping he would wake up. And of course, he did wake up. Daniel then went to the bathtub and set his hand on the faucet handle.

“If you don't get up in ten seconds I’m turning this water on.” Tyler almost never woke up to noise so Daniel's verbal threats were pointless, after all he had 5 other siblings to drown out. Daniel counted to ten and turned on cold water, Tyler simply scooted down the tub more, groaned and flipped the pillow over his head before his brain felt the sudden rush of cold. Carson was thoroughly annoyed why couldn't Daniel wake him up by shaking his shoulder or something. His head still hurt and he didn't want to exist yet.

“I need a shower, some people have to work for a living,” He more directed it at Carson since he was the only one there who didn't have a job, however he had a lot of money from healing people so he was the one that paid the bills. Carson and Tyler left the bathroom and just stood there quietly before Tyler decided he was cold and went to change his clothes that were now very wet. Carson dragged his pillow and blanket to the couch and laid back down.  His head was still hurting and he wanted to sleep for the rest of his life. 

Tyler came out wearing a plain jacket without a shirt under and pajama bottoms. “Hey Carson? Can I use your washer? I ran out of shirts.”

Carson let out a groan and waved in a shooing motion which Tyler took as the okay. He spent a good two minutes trying to figure out how to use it before dumping his clothes in and sitting on the opposite couch. Eventually Daniel left for work and then began Tyler and Carson’s movie marathon. They watched anything from disney movies to horror movies. The only horror movie that Tyler actually liked was amityville horror. Tyler knew how ghosts really were but that movie always got to him. Tyler started to feel restless around 6 or 7 so he decided to go on a walk. He asked Carson if he wanted to go but he still wasn't feeling good so he went on his own. It was still afternoon sunlight outside because it was summer. Tyler felt hungry so he went to get doughnuts at a mini-mart. He was careful not to wander too far off from the apartments so he wouldn't get lost in the city. He realized that he couldn't eat a ton of doughnuts by himself so he stopped by the police station and said hi to Riley and Morris. They asked him about how his arm and leg were since the last time they saw him,Tyler had his arm crushed by rubble and his leg gashed open by debris. He had scars in both his arm and leg now. He was there for maybe twenty minutes before he decided to wander back since it was almost 8pm and the sun was starting to go down. He didn't know what kind of weirdos were wandering around at night in big cities.

Daniel was off of work and headed home. He tried to get the elevator to work but nothing, it was fine that morning when he left. He was about to head up the stairs when Tyler showed up. 

"Where's your shirt, dude?" Daniel asked, looking him up and down.

"I ran out."

“You could have just taken one of Carson’s you know,” he added. Carson must not have offered, he’d have to ask him about that when he got back to the apartment. 

"Oh you're right, I didn't think of that." 

“By the way, did Carson’s migraine ever go away?” Daniel asked as he opened the door to the stairwell, having given up on the elevator.

"Why are you taking the stairs? And no I don't think so. Either that or he just wanted to sleep all day."

“The lift is broken. You coming or what?” He held the door open for him.

Tyler shook his inhaler to make sure he was ready," Yeah we might have to stop a few times on the way up." Tyler said as he and Daniel started up the stairs. It wasn't too hard at first but by the third flight he had to stop and take a breather.

Daniel sat down on the step next to him. He wasn’t thrilled about this either but he had been gone all day and wanted to get back to the apartment.

"Sorry Daniel," Tyler said breathlessly, a light layer of sweat starting to form on his forehead. "If asthma didn't exist we wouldn't have this problem." 

“I miss living on the second floor,” Daniel sighed, looking up at the many flights of stairs between them and the apartment. Of all days the elevator could stop working it just had to be today.

"Im happy I live on the second floor," Tyler chuckled and stood back up after catching his breath for a minute.

“Three more and we’ll be halfway there,” He said bitterly. Daniel seriously wondered if Tyler would make it.

Tyler sighed, alright he thought to himself. I can make 9 more right? "Alright let's go." He said, continuing up the stairs again. He lasted about one and a half more flights before he was out of breath again, "Daniel just keep going without me, I'll make it up eventually." He said half leaning on the rails.

Daniel shook his head and chuckled. If Carson was there he’d be making some dramatic speech right now about how he had to go on without him like some scene from a movie. A tiny part of him was tempted to just keep going and let Tyler take his time but he couldn’t do that. “Just take another break. We’ll get there, it’s not that far.”

"You sure, you look kind of annoyed I can tell."

Tyler was picking up on something but it wasn’t annoyance. Daniel had been gone for hours and it was starting to get to that point where he’d get anxious if he wasn’t with Carson. Daniel rubbed his hands over his arms as if he was cold despite it being quite hot still. “It’s fine.”

Tyler looked at him like he didn’t believe him but they continued up the stairs anyway. They were getting slower and slower, even with all the breaks. At this pace they would get there some time tomorrow morning.

As they climbed higher up the stairs his senses started to tingle, it felt weird like a thick haze. "The air is pretty thin up here don't ya think?" Tyler said fanning himself with his jacket.

Daniel laughed, “We’re not that high up. Is that inhaler working for you?”

"Yeah, it's fine, something feels off here, I can't tell what it is."

“It’s probably fine. The security is tight in this building,” Daniel dismissed the concern, thinking he had gone paranoid from oxygen deprivation. Everything felt fine to him.

They continued to climb the stairs to the 6th floor. It wasn't just his brain playing tricks on him, something really was weird, he couldn't tell what it was as they reached the landing of the 6th floor Tyler felt so compelled to open the door. Daniel just stared at him.in confusion.

“Uhhh, Tyler? We live on the 12th floor. Sorry to break it to you but we’re only halfway there.”

Tyler glanced at Daniel before his gaze returned to the door of the 6th floor, his eyebrows furrowing. What the hell was it? The thick feeling of haze was really strong there but he decided to open the door anyways before getting hit with a strange wave of negative emotions that had him slamming the door and pressing his back to it. "I don't- I don't feel too good," He said, taking a deep breath trying not to throw up.

Daniel put his arm out behind him so he couldn’t fall down the stairs if he passed out and looked at the door Tyler just slammed shut. “I don’t know what the hell is going on but I think we should get away from this door, yeah? Come on.” He grabbed his arm and urged him forward. He planned to come back later to investigate with Carson.

"Yea-" Tyler covered his mouth suppressing a gag and managing not to throw up in the middle of the stairwell.

Daniel looked at Tyler with caution and worry as he didnt want to be thrown up on but he also wanted to get Tyler out of there quickly. He didn't believe he was about to do this but it was the fastest way he crouched down and urged Tyler to get on his back making Tyler promise Not to throw up on him. He tried to reject Daniels' offer but he didn't give him much choice.  The further up they got the better Tyler seemed to get. On The 10th floor he told  Daniel that he was fine but Daniel didn't believe him and he still looked pale. He let Tyler down on a landing  when his feet hit the floor he stumbled a bit before straightening up and walking up the stairs. Daniel was glad that Tyler could walk on his own because he was exhausted from carrying him 4 flights up and he was tired and sweaty.

“I can buy dinner if you want me to, ya know, for carrying me.”

“Sure, thanks.”There was a little piece of him that wanted something for doing all of that, he was glad Tyler brought it up.

Carson woke up to Daniel and Tyler walking into the apartment. It was pretty noisy because Tyler had tripped over a boot that was laying in front of the door. His head felt a lot better than it did earlier but it still felt like an echo was there. He noticed that Daniel and Tyler both looked pretty worn out.

“What happened to you two?” 

“The elevator broke,” Tyler said, slipping off his converse.

“You actually walked 12 flights of stairs?” Carson asked knowing he would probably just wait until the elevator was fixed.

“Yeah, and lucky for you I'm ordering dinner,” Tyler said, flopping onto the couch opposite of Carson and pulling out his phone. “What do you guys want?” 

Carson didn hesitate when he declared he wanted sushi. Daniel went along with it. He was feeling good enough to  eat now and he was a little hungry anyway cause he hadn't eaten all day. Tyler sighed and fumbled with his phone a bit. They realized the guy delivering their food would have to walk all the way up the stairs. Carson didn't really care though. It was a while before The food got there, when it did they Tyler tipped the guy like ten bucks. They sat at the table and all separated their orders. Carson poked at his wich was normal. What was not normal is that Tyler was barely touching anything he had. The past week he had scarfed down anything he was handed.

“What's wrong?” Daniel asked, noticing Tyler's Lack of enthusiasm to eat anything.

“Dunno,” he sighed, setting down his fork, “I'm just, not hungry.”

“Could it have been from earlier?” 

 Carson was confused. Did something happen that Daniel hadn’t told him? Was that part of the reason they looked particularly tired when they walked in? “Earlier?” he asked, staring at Daniel expectantly.

“I’m not sure what happened exactly,” Daniel started not really knowing how to explain what happened in the stairwell.  

“There's something on the 6th floor,” Tyler stated. “A malevolent spirit most likely,” he pressed his hands into his face, just the feeling of being on the same floor as that thing was panic inducing the very thought of it made him sick to his stomach. “It’s been there for a while the whole floor reeks of it.”

“We need to send it back. It can't just be left there.” Carson stated.

“”Don't you think i know that? We can't just send it as it is we need to purify it.”

“What do you mean purify it?” Carson was genuinely confused. He didn't really know much about ghosts or spirits, only that they existed and they were sent to the other side after they had died.

“Ya know? Cleanse it, rid it of evil and malevolent, uh ness.” Tyler was trying to explain as well as he could but knew no professional terminology.

“That's real? I thought that was something that was in movies.”

“You and me both. I didn't figure things out until I moved into my current apartment.” When Tyler had moved in there was a spirit that was attached to that apartment for years. The first time he did it he woke up on the floor the next day with blood all over his face. It might end up the same way for Carson.

Tyler rushed over  to the bookshelf  gathering magic books and setting them on the table as he pushed his food aside which he probably couldn't stomach at the moment anyways. He grabbed the little notebook he had and started going at it desperately searching for anything that would make it easier to purify this thing. There were several things that related to sealing evil spirits but not purifying things. Eventually Carson joined in on the research too as well as Daniel.

The more Daniel thought about it, the more of a bad idea it seemed. How much energy this would take out of Carson or Tyler not knowing what it would do to them. What if it got one of these guys possessed. There were a lot of worst case scenarios that flooded through his head when something Tyler said confirmed one of his suspicions.

“We’d need some way to keep the spirit from getting to us, it’d want to leave but it needs a physical body to do so.”

Carson started to say something when Daniel snapped a book closed. “I'm not letting you do this,” He said, collecting books from the table attempting to stop them from getting any more ideas. 

“Why what's the harm?” Tyler complained.

“What's the harm?! Do you have any idea what getting possessed might do to you guys?”

Tyler was hovering over a few books protectively looking slightly annoyed “Yes actually, it's not as bad as you think. It only happened because I didn't know how to keep them out.”

“Do you really think Carson knows how to do that?”  Daniel asked like Carson wasnt sitting right next to them.

Carson couldn't blame Daniel for being concerned he could have at least a little faith in him. Daniel reached for the books Tyler was hovering over  before his hand was shooed away  and Tyler pulled the books closer to himself glaring at Daniel with a “don't you dare touch these” look. He couldn't understand why he was being so defensive about it.  “I’m not letting you do it. Not if there's a risk of getting possessed.” They continued to bicker about it before Daniel dropped the conversation and went to bed. Tyler stayed up later than Carson still looking for things that would help him purify this thing until he found something. If Daniel didn't want them to take care of this then he would have to sneak out. He drew the symbol on about 15 pieces of paper so it would be one big circle then taped it all together and folded it and shoved it into the book it came from. He had to wake carson up so he managed to telepathically communicate with him. Something they had learned to do around the time they first met.

“Hey,” He thought into Carson's head while he was sleeping.”Hey wake up, I've got it.”

It took a second for Carson to respond. “Got what? Why are you waking me up?” He thought back

“We can purify it now. Lets go.”

“What? Now?”

“Yes and don't wake up Daniel. He’ll get in the way.” Tyler didn't hear anything from Carson so he thought he might have to do it alone. He suddenly came out of Daniel’s room  wearing sweatpants and a sweater even though it was summer as well as an empty jar that gave off a weird energy.  It made Carson feel a little nostalgic for when he used to sneak out when he was a teenager.

“You’re actually coming?” Tyler whispered as he was slipping on his shoes. He was glad he didn't have to work on his own.

Carson tossed him a bracelet that was made of large wooden beads that each had symbols carved into it. Then he slipped one onto his own wrist. “You said we needed it right?” 

Carson started to slip on his shoes when Daniel came out of the room with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. “If you're going somewhere I'm coming too.”

“Do whatever,” Tyler mumbled angrily which seemed out of character for him “If you get in our way I'll make you wait outside.” 

They left the apartment and tried the elevator again luckily it seemed to be fixed. It would have been very convenient for them earlier. They took it down to the sixth floor Carson noticed how more irritated Tyler seemed as they went down. They arrived on the 6th floor and Carson could feel the energy there even though he was wearing the bracelet it felt heavy. Tyler seemed to be incredibly anxious at this point as he took a deep brethand closed his eyes as he walked forward keeping them closed. Carson was confused as to what he was doing  until he saw him reaching his hands over the doors. He was feeling for what apartment it was in however Daniel didn't seem to catch on.

“What are you doing?” He asked. Tyler snapped his head in their direction with a disturbing look of anger in his face, his purple eyes staring daggers at them before turning his head and continuing what he was doing. It seemed to startle Daniel “What's up with him?” Daniel asked carson with his brow furrowing slightly. Carson was just as confused as Daniel was. He couldn't really think of real reasons Tyler would be angry he didn't even get mad when Carson had Tackled him at one point he just got up and brushed himself off as Carson stormed away.

Tyler suddenly stopped and knocked on the door of 606 several times before a middle aged man with a beer belly and a white Tank Top he seemed to be even taller than Daniel which ment he towerd over Tyler. came out looking angry and very annoyed. Apparently Tyler was even more so because he was having none of this shit. 

“Look, your apartment is haunted. I'll give you two options, One; You let us pass and purify the spirit we will be gone quickly.  Two; we force our way in and if you try to stop us I will knock you out with that lamp shade behind you. So what's it gonna be?” The man chuckled and told Tyler to prove it, big mistake. Tyler stuck his hand up with two fingers in the air and pulled them towards himself as a lamp came flying from behind the guy  knocking him out as Tyler emotionlessly and let the man fall and stepped over him.

They really started to get concerned at Tyler's sudden shift in behavior and decided they should point it out. “Tyler? Ya good there dude?” Carson asked as He and Daniel walked towards the apartment door. 

Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “Yeah fine, lets get it over with.”

He just stared at Tyler as he walked into the apartment somebodys in a bad mood. He thought to himself.

 The feeling of dread when they walked into the apartment was probably the strangest sensation ever. It was messy and gross and it smelled like beer, they had to clear out a space just to sit. How is this something he hadn't noticed for the several  years that he had lived in that building. Tyler walked in setting up the large magic circle sheet and set it up on the floor while sitting next to it. Carson checked to see if it was stable with his vision and it had a pretty strong structure. “How do we do this?” Carson asked, he had no idea how to purify a spirit. 

“I have to pry the dark energy apart from the soul without damaging it, It's kind of like surgery it can take anywhere from a few minutes to six or so hours.” He suddenly jerked forward, setting one hand on the floor and the other on his stomach then moving it to his mouth exhaling from his nose before continuing. “We might be here w while so-” he stood up suddenly and dashed towards the bathroom. The apartment was the same as Carson's but reversed so he knew where everything was more or less. He locked the door behind him leaving Daniel and Carson in an awkward silence and the muffled sound of Tyler hacking up everything he had eaten in the past 20 years.

Carson was also feeling nauseous he wasn't sure if it was because the putrid smell of the apartment or the thick feeling that came along with the spirit but he managed to push it to the back of his mind he was glad that he isn't as sensitive to these things as Tyler was.  Carson continued setting things up looking through bookmarks. Tyler had  book marked and had witten things on sticky notes. Lots of things and symbols related to sealing and removing dark spirits. E came out of the bathroom like nothing happened and got right back to what he was doing. “Carson do you know how to separate things like that?”

Carson had a lot of experience in this field. It can't be any different from separating cancer cells right? “Yeah it takes a while though.”

“Good.” Tyler said “it would shorten the time it takes to do this.” Tyler took the time to put  strange purple flower in the center of the magic circle   and waited. Caron got a strange chill up his spine as well as Tyler then the flower turned red, it had started. Carson looked with his magic  there was a strange dark energy that stained the flower and that same dark energy was swirling around trying to get out of the circle.

 Tyler and Carson set their hands  onto the edge of the circle and began. Bit by bit they began picking off the bad and negative  pieces like picking olives off a pizza. To anyone outside it would look like they were just sitting there with their eyes closed. But to them it was like an operating room one wrong step and they could corrupt the soul or even themselves. Both Tyler and Carson broke into a sweat as they started to struggle, they were at a very delicate spot where they were separating stuff from the core of the soul, “Are we almost there?” Carson groned. They both appeared to be getting exhausted after about an hour. The man that Tyler had hit with the lamp had gotten up and was enraged. How dare some random strangers demand to be let in. Daniel wasn't paying attention when the man got up. He stormed by and grabbed Tyler by the shoulder breaking his concentration. 

“Who the hell do you think you are, you little shit?!” the man screamed, shaking Tylers shoulder causing his hand to slip. He grimiched and yelped in pain.what he had been doing was very delicate so his lack of control was dangerous for him and the soul. His nose let out a small stream of blood as he repositioned himself. Daniel grabbed the man's arm and tried to hold him back then he whipped out his phone. “You all are a buch of fuckin  magic useres the cops can deal with you.” Daniel panicked but  there wasn’t really anything he could do about it. As the police were on their way Carson started shaking, Daniel got closer to check on him only to discover he was starting to shiver. Daniel took off the light jacket he was wearing and threw it over Carson. That would do little to help. There was a knock at the door behind them, it was the police. The busts in the door guns drawn. 

“This is the police! Don't move, any use of magic and we will shoot.” Daniels' heart was beating a million miles a minute as the apartment owner stood there with a snarky grin on his face. The officers looked around and locked eyes on Carson who was facing the door. He lowered his gun as well as the woman with him. “Sir you are not in danger here” the male officer said putting the gun back in its holster. The man had been saved by

“You should just go home sir,”The female officer said.

The man got angry. You could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. “This is MY house!! They're the ones who broke in!”

“Then you should go somewhere else,” she said closing the door and leaving. The man was more angry than he was and glared daggers at Daniel as he was still in between him and the two magicians sitting on the floor. 

The last bit of negative energy had been removed and then they spring into action startling Daniel and the drunk. Carson suddenly Smacked a jar onto the floor and held it with both hands as Tyler jumped up grabbing what seemed to Daniel, thin air and shoved it into the jar. Tyler kneeled in the center of the circle and seemed to concentrate.

Dark energy was swirling around him and he needed to dissolve it. He had little control so what he was going to do was risky, he concentrated as much as he could and destroyed the dark parts, their energy dissolving and lifting the feeling of the room. He and Carson started panting heavily as soon as it was done. Everything suddenly felt hot and cold at the same time. He scooted backwards into the couch still panting and letting out little coughs. “Take- that. You sick son of a bitch.” he let his eyes slip closed as he went limp falling sideways. Carson let out a wispy laugh before laying down on his side and curling up while he shivered. Daniel went straight to Carson as Tyler just seemed worn out so he wasn't too worried about him.  

“Car? Carson can you hear me?” Daniel asked as he repositioned the jacket so it was completely wrapped around Carson like a swaddle. Carson gave a lazy nod, keeping his eyes closed, as Daniel looked around for more things to cover him up with. “I need blankets, please,” He begged the drunk. Luckily he wasn't completely heartless and got about four blankets and gave them to Daniel. He threw them over Carson and wrapped him up. Over the blankets, Daniel wrapped his arms around Carson to provide some warmth, knowing he wouldn’t complain at a time like this. He ran his hands up and down Carson’s arms instinctively as if the friction would help somehow. “I told you it wasn't a good idea didn’t I?” He glanced over at Tyler who was still out cold but he could see that he was breathing steadily so he didn’t seem to be in immediate danger. About ten minutes went by and Carson seemed to be warming up though he was still shivering a bit. “Can you stand? We need to get back to the apartment,” He needed to get Carson and Tyler out of there, mainly to treat them, but he also didn't want to stay in that disgusting apartment anymore it smelled and there were empty beer bottles, clothes, paper and food wrappers all over.

Carson didn't want to move but he reluctantly got up and wrapped himself up in Daniels jacket that was two sizes too big, still shivering. He looked sad as he was forced to leave his pile of blankets behind. Daniel managed to prop Tyler on his back and walk out the apartment and to the elevator. All Carson could do was trail behind him, trying to keep up even though his legs felt stiff and weak. Daniel’s back felt uncomfortably hot, more hot than it should be. It dawned on him that Tyler might have a mild fever and he'd have to check it when he got to the apartment. Carson was still shivering, he looked exhausted, like he was ready to just sleep on the elevator floor. He’d seen that look of exhaustion on Carson before. His eyes were glazed over and Daniel could tell just looking at him that he was counting down the seconds until he could sit down again. Carson kept an eye on Tyler, he seemed okay but he wouldn’t really know without looking at him with his magical senses. When he tried to switch over to his other sight he closed his eyes for a little too long and forgot what he was doing. The ding of the elevator woke him back up suddenly. 

Daniel laid Tyler on the couch and motioned Carson to do the same. He got the thermometer and blankets while pulling out his phone. He was honestly overwhelmed. He could handle just Carson but not both, he couldn't do this on his own and there was only one person he could really call in this situation. Carson's mom, Diana. She was a registered nurse and she might know what to do, at the very least she’d know more than he did. Daniel stuck the thermometer into Tyler's mouth and made sure Carson was fully covered in blankets, then he turned up the heat a bit while he dialed Diana's number. 

‘He-hello Diana?” Daniel stuttered, standing up and running his hand through his hair before going to check the thermometer that just beeped. 101.6*, okay not too bad, now for Carson. 

“Daniel? What's wrong?” she asked, hearing the panic in Daniels' voice. “Is it Carson?”

“Yeah he-”

“I'll be there in twenty minutes.” Diana lived a good two hours away but when it came to Carson she could care less about a speeding ticket.

“Okay, I-I have another person here too, he has a low fever, he should be fine.” 

“Okay,” she responded, Daniel could hear shuffling on the other side of the phone before she hung up. Daniel heard the beep of the thermometer, 94*. Carson was falling asleep so Daniel patted the side of his face to wake him up. “Come on Carson, you can't fall asleep.” he sat Carson up on the couch and kept an eye on him to make sure he wasn't closing his light blue eyes for any reason but blinking. Tyler started to stir as he woke up he let out a coughing fit, lifting his head off the arm of the couch. Daniel knew that wasn't a good sign coming from Tyler but why he was coughing wasn’t from asthma.

“Tyler are you okay?” Daniel asked. But didn't get a response. He still seemed dazed. Daniel paced around until Diana got there. 

He heard knocking at the door and quickly let Diana in. She went straight to Carson.

He's cold, what's his temperature?

“94*, it was 94* last time I checked.” Tyler let out  another coughing fit each one sounding more aggressive. Daniel went for the yellow bag in carson's bedroom and pulled out an inhaler and brought it out. “Tyler, do you need this, be honest with me.” 

“Diana wiped her head around to see Tyler behind her she quickly moved the coffee table so it was perpendicular to the couches and ad the end of the couch were Carson and Tyler's feet were facing and set a bunch of medical supplies she had brought with her including IV bags, a first aid kit, and things you could do surgery with. “Is he an asthmatic?” she asked. 

“Uh- yes.” Daniel stuttered

“Bring any medical supplies he has out here, just in case. And prop pillows under him don't let him lay flat on his back like that especially if he's coughing.” Daniel did as she asked as Diana tended to Carson attempting to warm him up. Dropping one of the blankets over Carson's head  and making sure none of him was exposed to open air accept his face as he just stared at her in a daze as she laid him down.

“Mom? Why are you here?” he asked.

“Because I’m your mom I don't need a reason to visit.

Daniel came out with the nebulizer, yellow backpack and about six pillows. He did as the nurse asked and propped Tyler up as he had his hand around Tyler's head. It felt hot and it was then he noticed he was dripping in sweat. “No no it can't be,” he muttered to himself. He grabbed the thermometer and re-checked Tyler's temperature.* “Uh, diana? Do fevers usually rise this quickly?” Daniel asked with panic in his voice.

“What was it before ?”she asked. Raising an eyebrow.

“101.6,” he stammered.

“What is it now?”

“102.4” Daniel said, hands shaking. He was getting so overwhelmed at this point he felt like he was going to cry.

“Give him the acetaminophen in the IV bag over there.”

“But-” Daniel had hardly any confidence putting a needle in anybody but he was taught how to do it correctly by Diana so he had no choice because she was busy with Carson. 

Tyler was just lying there dazed as he let out small coughs here and there. He just stared into nothing until he saw  the needle above him. Something told him he should be afraid of it. He jerked his arm away  as his breathing became rapid and panicked as he tried to squirm away.  Daniel put his hand over Tylers chest to make sure he stayed down but that just scared him more. He tried to grab at  Daniels arm and push him off but he was a lot stronger than Tyler was. “No, no no no no.” he whined, kicking his legs and making things difficult. Daniel held down Tylers arm as he inserted the IV into Tyler's arm and set the bag on the back of the couch. He dragged a lamp over and hooked the bag on a branch of the lamp.

After Diana finished tending to Carson he went over Tyler and gave him a full blown check up. He could tell he was underweight just by the fact he could see his ribs, he still wasn't wearing a shirt. He seemed to be getting very agitated at people touching him, getting as fidgety as Carson would be. He suddenly got aggressive and went to bite at Diana before Daniel pulled her back letting Tyler scratch his arm. For Diana it was just another day of work but Carson wasn't having it. He sat up and came to attention as a protective instinct  came over him.

“What the hell man?!” Carson shouted still wrapped in several blankets. “Back off, pull yourself together!”

Daniel got in between Diana and Tyler who he noticed was acting very strange and out of character. Tyler let out an aggressive wet cough  that seemed to go on forever. She needed to check his breathing. The aggressive coughing was worrying.

“Is he normally aggressive like this?” She asked, grabbing a syringe and making sure there were no air bubbles.

“No, he's pretty cooperative.” Daniel said. Diana asked him to hold Tyler down  while she sedated him. Tyler slowly stopped fidgeting  until his eyes fluttered closed and he was fully sedated. She put a stethoscope to his chest and back as Daniel held him up. It sounded normal, for an asthmatic anyways. Tyler seemed fine for now despite the fever so she went back to Carson going to recheck his temperature. 96* still a little low but he wasn't hypothermic anymore. They enjoyed the next ten minutes as there wasn't a whole lot of chaos.

“So,” Diana started. “How do you guys know this kid? Tyler was it?”

“Daniel glanced at Tyler who would  be out cold for the next 15 minutes or so, “We met him during the case we did in Oregon. He was a magic consultant.” 

“He’s a magician?” Diana asked kind of surprised she had never met another magician other than Carson so she was kind of intrigued. Tyler wasn't actually a magician, he was a psychic but she really didn't know the difference.

“Yeah, he's pretty inexperienced.” Carson chimed in. “And annoying, I had to stab this guy in the leg with a bronchodilator the other day. At like three o’clock in the morning.”

“How long has he had magic?”

“Two and a half years. At least that's what he said.”

“What about” Diana paused with a sympathetic look in her eyes.”How he’s treated. You know? For having magic.” Carson was treated horribly by peers at school and the people in his little town when he was younger; she felt horrible just at the thought that Tyler might be treated that way too.

“Lets just say they put him in police work to keep an eye on him. Apparently he's powerful enough to have the feds breathing down his neck.”

Diana sighed “I'm glad they don't have you on any kind of list.”

“It doesn't really help that he doesn't have all the control Carson has.” Daniel said snickering trying to bring a good vibe to the conversation. They continued to talk about things Tyler has told them like his five siblings or his girlfriend who Carson thought was way too cheery. They also talked about Daniel's bookstore and just how life was in general. 

“Hn-” They heard a groan from Tyler and looked back at him, he was dripping in sweat as his bangs clinged to his forehead,  uncomfortably shifting around. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes opened. They all tensed up seeing as Tyler was getting aggressive for seemingly no reason. He tried to get up but he couldn't even stand, the fever was making him dizzy. Diana went to help him but he seemed worse than he was half an hour ago. She felt his forehead with caution but lucky he didn't have the strength to fight anymore even though he tried to push her away. He felt too hot for it to be normal. They checked his fever again for the third time. 104.2*.

“This isn't normal, it should have gone down,” she muttered to herself. “What were you guys doing Carson? Before Daniel called me.”

“Purifying a spirit,”

She wanted to ask a million questions, she didn't know what that meant ,how, or why he did it. “What happened while you were doing that? Did anything feel strange about him?”

Carson decided to look at Tyler with his magic. If this problem wasn't physical it was magical and he was right, he could see something with an ugly red tint attached to Tyler. “Something’s there.” he chimed getting up off the couch and wobbling over to his mom and Tyler. “I think it's part of the spirit we purified,” When the man grabbed at Tyler's shoulder causing him to slip, he had messed up the process and a bit of the dark energy slipped passed his defences even though they had been wearing the bracelets. Unfortunately spirits aren't magic.

“So it is magic, how do we get rid of it?” Diana asked hoping it would be simple.

Carson placed his hands on Tylers arm to really read what was going on. “It’s acting like an infection, his system might be trying to fight something that isn’t there.”

“Is that what's causing the fever?” Daniel asked

“Probably,” It was relatively easy to get rid of something that caused so much damage. It was like peeling a band aid except you had to be more delicate. As soon as Carson plucked away the dark energy tyler seemed to relax and went limp on the floor just like that the chaos was over. They were all tired. It was four or five in the morning and Diana decided she would spend the night to keep an eye on Carson and Tyler. She kept Carson awake until the thermometer was above 97* just to be safe. 

Daniel was glad it was one of his days off because if it wasn't he'd be late for work. It was around 2 pm and everyone was sleeping. The IV had been taken out of Tylers arm and he had been covered in a blanket. Carson had kicked off a few of the blankets he had been laid under in his sleep. It was a good sign That meant the blankets were too warm and he was back to normal. Tyler was still coughing but not nearly as violently. He decided to grab the thermometer science Diana was still sleeping on the floor next to the couch Carson was on. He put the thermometer in Tyler's mouth as he went to make something to eat. He came back with some toast and eggs and sat down on the floor by the coffee table which was still pushed to the side. He checked the thermometer 100.2 , the fever probably broke this morning because it was still on the border. He sat there by himself and ate before turning in the TV. He made sure the volume was down this time so he could let everyone sleep. They had a rough night.

Diana woke up and Checked on Carson, accidentally waking him up. "You stayed?" Carson asked. He wasn't sure why he asked, he already knew she would.

"I don't need a reason too, '' she chimed, rubbing his head. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," He really was doing okay he still didn't want to worry his mom anymore.

"That's good," She said smiling.

She checked in with Daniel because he still seemed stressed. She couldn't blame him, if Tyler had not been in bad shape too, Daniel could have handled it on his own. He might have looked strong and tough on the outside but really he was the equivalent to a puppy.  Diana went To check on Tyler who might have been awake for a while because he was lying there spaced out just staring at the light fixture on the ceiling. She was very cautious getting close but any kind of aggressive behavior had dissipated and he was completely calm. He could barely remember what happened. The time he spent just staring at the ceiling was him trying to recall anything past starting the purification. It was only when  He saw Diana's face appear over him that a few gears clicked in his head. He mindlessly grabbed her arms and checked them for scratches and bite marks; she just let him, he looked around for Daniel who he saw behind Diana watching tv. There were several scratches on his forearm and a wave of guilt washed over him. Did he do that?

“S-orry,” Tyler mumbled. “I'm sorry for hurting you guys.” He couldn't look them in the eye they had tried to help but all he did was try to hurt them.

“It's no big deal,” Diana said, sitting him up and checking his lungs. “I deal with difficult patients all the time.” She asked him to take a deep breath and he did so. “Anyways , I'm glad you seem to be doing better.”

Carson eyed Daniel who was rubbing his arm which was covered in scratches. He got up and sat beside Daniel on the floor and brushed his arm against Daniels healing all of the scratches. He couldn't help being upset even though it wasn't entirely Tyler's fault. Whatever had attached to him seemed to be making him aggressive because when Carson had taken it out he went back to normal. He saw Tyler try to get up but he seemed  unsteady on his feet but managed to walk to the bathroom. A second later they hear Tyler scream all of their heads looking in that direction.

“What the hell happened to my hair?!” He swung his head out of the bathroom door. “Why the hell didn't you tell me I looked like a drowned rat?!” He went right back into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Everyone just stood there in confusion. They were surprised how quickly he seemed to bounce back from being sick just the day before.

Daniel and Diana sat on the couch since Nobody was laying on it anymore. They pulled out their phones just appearing to be scrolling through social media but really they were texting back and forth. Diana asked if he was eating well enough because he had a serious problem with that in high school, a mother can't help but check on her child. She recommended fettuccine Alferdo because Carson liked it a lot and sent him the recipe. Carson would once in a while give them a suspicious lance because they would let out a quiet giggle here and there. Carson just decided to read a book, it was one he had read a million times but he still enjoyed.it was called Catching the Rye. The plot really reminded him of himself.

Tyler came out of the bathroom about 15 minutes  after the water had stopped . Carson had wondered what had taken so long but when he came out of the bathroom he knew why. His hair was now short and it looked oddly fluffy because it had been blow dried but you could tell it was a bit choppy. It was a little longer than Carson's now he still had side bangs and still had hair chunks that settled at his sideburns  which were now visible. When Tyler walked passed you could tell that he had missed a few chunks in the back. He looked about five years younger.

“Who are you and what have you done with Tyler?” Carson asked, surprised  and Daniel seemed to be too. You could see little flecks of hair on his neck and shirt. 

“I am a ghost come to haunt you.” Tyler said sarcastically sitting next to Diana on the couch.

“You didn't leave all that hair on the bathroom floor did you?” Carson asked.

“No, What am I, a slob?”

Diana couldn't help but point out the chunks of hair he missed in the back as Tyler went to fumble with it. “Want me to fix it?” she asked. He looked at her questioningly then nodded his head. Diana went to pull a chair for Tyler to sit in while she stood behind him and fixed the things he missed. She started asking him questions about things Daniel and Carson told her.

“Are you really a magician?” Diana asked Tyler pated his fingers on the back of the chair as he was sitting backwards in it before answering.

“I'm a psychic, It's different from magic.”

“How is it?” Diana asked, sniping at Tyler's hair and brushing some of his back. 

“Well, psychics deal with the power of our mind not using the energy around you. If Carson tried he could probably grow a plant but I wouldn't even be able to sprout a seed ya know. I would be able to read anybody's mind with ease, all accept for Carson.”

Diana wasn't so sure about that but she had no reason to to believe him. She wanted to test him.

“Oh really? What am I thinking?”

Tyler tilted his head a bit and closed his eyes. The fact that Diana was touching him made it easy to read her mind like blinking. “ 2,583”

Diana wasn’t surprised she expected the unexpected but still found it intriguing. “Hmm, impressive, what other things can you do?”

“Watch this,” Tyler still didn't feel well enough to do anything too big but he decided to cause Carson some trouble. He pointed two fingers in carsons direction and flipped a blanket over his head  then pulled his phone which was on the coffee table toward him and caught it in his hand. He made a mischievous  snicker as Carson went to glare at Tyler.

Diana smiled, holding back a laugh and finishing up Tyler's hair. “There, done.” she said brushing off his back.

Tyler stood up stretched and scratched his neck then Daniel stood up. "Anyone want something to eat?” He asked. Daniel didn't feel like getting up and making a whole lot of food so he just ordered takeout. They sat there and waited with Carson almost falling back asleep. There was a knock at the door then Daniel grabbed the food and went to separate it in between everyone else. Danie land Diana ate normally while Tyler and Carson hardly touched anything. Any kind of appetite they had for that day was gone. One could hardly blame them. Just the night before they were both in bad condition. Tyler feels bad if he doesn't finish food that is made or bought for him and he tried finishing it with all his might. About halfway through he stopped eating entirely. Carson only took one or two bites before stopping, He felt nauseous. Diana kept prying Tyler about his family and his home life. Eventually She had to leave because she had work the next day. Daniel and Carson (but mainly Daniel) Explained The majority of what happened because Tyler hardly remembered anything other than attacking Daniel.

The next day Carson tip-toed over to the door of his bedroom where Tyler was sleeping before remembering an earthquake couldn’t wake him. He sighed, loosening his shoulders as he walked in heading straight for the closet. If he wanted clothes he could have easily taken some from Daniel’s room but he wasn’t looking for clothes. On the top shelf in plain view was his bong -- a small, glass piece maybe 8 inches tall. Next to it was a bag of supplies. Carson grabbed both and went out to the apartment’s small balcony. It felt weird to smoke weed out there. He always felt like the world was staring back at him. He missed his old back porch, shaded by the tree and hidden by the fence. Here he could look in either direction and see more balconies and if he looked straight ahead, well there it was, New York City. Carson fell back into one of the lawn chairs and got to work setting up his things. He rarely got up this early but it felt right somehow. Finally some peace and quiet. Daniel was at work, Tyler was asleep-

“What are ya doing out here?” Tyler asked suddenly, poking his head through the door. His purple eyes were full of innocence.

Carson looked down at the bong, realizing there was no point lying now. He caught him. “You’re letting out all the AC. Decide, in or out,” he told him. Tyler realized he was in fact, standing in the doorway letting out all the cool air. On a whim, he decided to join him out on the balcony. Tyler slid the door closed and sat sideways on the other chair to face him, “You didn’t answer my question.”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Carson asked rhetorically as he hit the bong. He stared Tyler right in the eyes as he did as if to say “judge me, I dare you”.

“It looks like you're smoking something,” Tyler quipped.

“So you aren’t completely blind after all, good for you.” Carson replied. He settled further into the cushions of the chair, straightening out his legs. This wasn’t exactly how he planned for this to go but he could manage. Tyler would probably get bored in a minute and go back inside anyway.

“I wanna try it.”

Carson coughed on a cloud of smoke, his face momentarily getting red from the strain. ”You what?” He asked in disbelief.

“You deaf? I wanna try it, what exactly is it that you’re smoking?”

“Just how long were you in that coma? It’s weed, obviously.” Carson scoffed. Who didn’t know what weed looked like?

“Three and a half years,” Tyler didn't really know slang for stuff like that so he was genuinely confused. “weed?”

Carson perked up, suddenly turning to look at him, “You’re kidding.”

“Well I don't know what weed is if it's slang for something I wouldn't know, ya know?”

Carson looked like he had a million things he wanted to say about that but he just sighed, shaking his head. “Weed, pot, grass, marijuana, ringing any bells?”

“Oh, you should have said marajuana in the first pace.”

“You know who says the word ‘marijuana’? Narcs, that’s who,” Carson argued.

“I'm used to dealing with the crackheads. I only know professional terminology.” 

The wind suddenly changed directions, blowing some smoke in Tyler’s face. Carson grimaced, “Better go inside before you lose a lung, kid.”

“I can do what I wanna, i'm not a kid ya know,”

There was a spark of mischief in Carson’s eye. “Okay, go ahead then,” He challenged, handing him the bong and a lighter. Carson sat back and watched, expecting him to not know what to do with it. Tyler tried blowing onto the bong failing horribly and spilling ash onto his leg.

If  Carson wasn’t already feeling it a little he’d be twitching with annoyance seeing him waste perfectly good weed like that but in that moment, all he could do was laugh. “I knew it.”

Tyler tilted his head and looked confusingly at Carson. “What?” 

Carson rolled his eyes and thrust his hand out, “Give it back.”

Tyler looked a little bit sad as he glanced at the bong and handed it back to Carson. He wanted to be mischievous.

            Once he had his things back, Carson put a little fresh weed from his bag into it and looked at Tyler purposefully, “Just watch.” He held up his lighter in one hand with the bong in the other then did everything in slow motion. Carson lit the bowl and waited for it to smoke a little then inhaled, causing the glass to fill with smoke. Then he pulled the weed out and inhaled. “You got all that or do you want me to do it again?”

“I think so,”  Tyler said, taking the bong and weed from Carson and copying his actions. He let out a few coughs but strangely, it didn’t trigger his asthma.

Tyler passed it back to Carson and Carson took another hit then set it down on the deck. The city looked so beautiful from up high. There was a slight breeze too which was a miracle for the weather they’d been having. Tyler seemed to enjoy every second of the breeze as he inhaled through his nose.

“It’s nice up here, isn’t it?” Carson asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, you don't see places this high in my town.” Tyler said, gesturing for Carson to give him more with his hand outstretched. He was feeling the effects start to kick in a bit.

“Oh man, you know what we need?” He turned to him, looking suspiciously friendly.

“Hmm?” Tyler said, taking another hit.

A small smile spread across Carson’s face, “Blankets.”

“That same smile spread on Tyler's face. “Fluffy ones?”

Instead of answering Carson just stepped back into the apartment, disappearing inside to go hunt down those blankets. He ended up grabbing two that were already draped over the couches from last night. When he came back and handed one over, Tyler noticed that he seemed a bit different somehow. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Carson got comfortable on his chair again and spread the blanket over himself so that his feet were still poking out. Tyler, instead of copying carson completely wrapped himself up including his head and rubbed his face on the blanket. He really looked like a child.  

Tyler liked the smell of the detergent. It was somehow comforting. “Soft,” he muttered, staring off into space.

It was oddly peaceful to Carson, he usually did this alone  but now there was somebody to do it with at least just this once. “You know, you’re not as much of a nuisance as I thought you were.”

“Really?”Tyler genuinely couldn't ever read Carson. His mind was closed off. It was like a door made of steel shielded with cast iron so reading his mind was impossible. It was nice to know that he wasn’t a total burden.

“Yeah.” Carson said stretching his arms up and setting them behind his head. He might not have admitted that if he was sober.

Speaking of sober Tyler definitely wasn’t. He was happily humming to himself without a care in the world. Seeing him agitated the other night made him curious about what would happen if he really got angry. Seeing him now you would never think he was capable of any kind of rage. Last november he had brutally beaten a man who had hurt his girlfriend. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was like on the receiving end of it. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. He went to reach for the bong but it wasn’t there, Tyler had it. Carson asked for it and Tyler went to hand it to him. Instead of using his left hand which was closer to Carson he used his right. If Carson's hand would have been there it would have broken because it seemed to slip through Tylers fingers. He just went to staring at his hand wiggling his fingers like was making sure they were there and rubbing at a scar that was on the outer part of his forearm.

They heard a door slamming from inside the house. It was probably Daniel coming home for lunch. “Carson? He called. “Tyler? Are you guys here?” he spotted them on the balcony as he got closer to the glass door. He saw a puff of smoke come from one side. Was he really smoking? Daniel poked his head on the balcony but not only was Carson high but Tyler seemed to be too.

“Really, I was gone for a few hours and this is what you do?” Daniel gave Carson a glare then listened to a short cough that Tyler let out. “You let he asthmatic smoke?!” 

“I’m not his babysitter, besides he's the one who wanted to.”

“Y-” Daniel sighed and went back inside to make lunch.  Carson followed him inside with his blanket trailing behind him as well as Tyler.

 Carson caught Tyler staring at him with an unreadable look. “What are you doing?” He asked, kind of feeling weirded out.

“I'm taller.”

Carson stared back at Tyler with a slight look of annoyance. He studied Tyler for a second and he probably was taller maybe an inch or two. They heard Daniel open the fridge in the kitchen and just sat on the couch. Tyler laid down and his eyes looked bloodshot and he seemed ready to go back to sleep. He got up sniffing the air about ten minutes later sniffing the air and going to the kitchen leaving Carson by himself in the living room. Daniel and Tyler came out with a few plates of food with some pasta with white sauce  and some vegetables. He then left for work and Crson and tyler spent the majority of the day being high and watching stupid things that made no scence but was funny to them anyway.

The day came Where Tyler had to leave, Daniel and Carson helped Tyler carry his things to his little Red car. “Ya glad to Have your room back?” Tyler asked, throwing stuff into the hatchback of his car.

“I guess.” To Tyler he sounded a little disappointed.

“What, you’re not actually upset I'm leaving are ya?”

“Not really.” Carson said, pulling out a black leather book that looked kind of fancy. “Here.” he said shoving it into Tyler's hands.

“What's this for?”

“Every magician needs a journal don't you think?”

Tyler managed to conceal his excitement but not the big grin that appeared on his face. Tyler flipped through the first few pages on the first page were Daniel and Carson's numbers. There were several things written in it about controlling magic inside a circle, and the way structure affects how strong the seal was. There was a lot of emphasis on control.

“You're giving me this?” Tyler asked Looking up at Carson. 

Carson clapped his hands  over Tyler's shoulder. "That’ll be 12.95.”

Tyler couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't tell if Carson was serious so  he smacked a 20$ bill into his hand, Carson looking slightly surprised. Tyler put his hand on Carson's shoulder. “Instead of buying Marijuana with that buy yourself a few more books. Getting high all the time isn't super good for you ya know.”

“No promises,” Carson said Turning his head as Tyler started walking to his car.

He got in his car and got in rolling down his window. “Keep the change!” He yelled as he turned out of the parking lot and sped away. Carson felt a twinge of sadness when he sped away and went out of sight.