#Danny started his business almost for free and in a short time he felt better

[nelkcats]

Help is just a click away

Danny was bored, it's not something new, the Infinite Realms were not the epitome of fun and the portals had been closed after the fight he had with his parents. It was safer that way, no one could get hurt, humans or ghosts.

That didn't mean the halfa couldn't miss them: his family, his friends, or the life he had before. All he had left were the ghosts, which was fine, but it wasn't enough. He felt unbalanced, unwell.

Clockwork told him it was because of his obsession, his obsession to help and protect was being fulfilled but only halfway. He had enough ectoplasm to last a lifetime but Danny was a human too, he needed to see the stars, to help people. He needed it desperately.

Clockwork noticed this and seeing that the boy could not return to his original dimension, he gave him permission to travel to the DC universe as long as he was careful. It was unlikely that they would attack the halfa there, they were all "special" and Danny would go unnoticed. But the boy still wanted to help.

So he formed a small business. He created a simple app and granted help to anyone who made a request. From saving a kitten from the trees to transporting very heavy packages.

It worked wonders and lowered his stress levels greatly. Danny thought he could get used to it, until people started making stranger requests and before he knew it, the so-called "Justice League" was at his door. Of course, he escaped, although that probably didn't help sell his innocence.

[ohmy-kiszka]

The Piano

Sam Kiszka x reader

The song Tiny Dancer plays a big role in this fic :))

This is nothing but completely sickening and nauseating fluff

2.1k words

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You sit smooshed close to Sammy on the piano stool as you watch his beautiful hands fall over different keys. You told him how much you loved the song Tiny Dancer when you first started dating. Now it’s been three months with him and he plays it on his beautiful white piano for you any time he gets the chance, loving the feeling of you holding his waist, listening intently, while he plays. It warms every ounce of him when he hears you hum along to the song as he plays.

“Over already?” You pout at him when his playing came to a halt. “I know babe, as much as I’d like to sit here and play for you all night, my fingers are kind of tired of these keys.” He responds holding his right hand up to your face with a giggle. “I think I know where your hands can work, instead of the piano.” Giving him a smirk as you gently massage his hand. “I think I like the sound of that.” He smirks, standing up from the bench, still holding onto your hand as you follow him to his room. “Good, let’s put those hands to better use!” You quip up at your lover, in so much awe of this talented being you called yours.

——————————————————————

“I’m just afraid, you know, that she’ll think it’s stupid.” You hear Sammy admit to Danny on the phone. You have no idea what the conversation was about, but you felt almost certain you weren’t supposed to hear it.

“Hey look I gotta go, but I’ll see you there right?” He says to Danny on the other side of the phone, sensing your presence. What could that possibly mean? You’re shaken out of your thoughts as you hear his footsteps approach. “You weren’t eavesdropping again were you?” He quips out at you trying to act less nervous than he actually was. “Again?!” You gasp at him in a joking manner. “Yeah, again, goof.” He shakes his head at you. “You love listening to business that has nothing to do with you.” He smirks at you, crossing his arms. “I’m gonna get you for that one Kiszka, you just wait.” You grumble out in phony anger.

What you hadn’t had time to process though, is that Sammy was going to propose to you in a few short days. He’d asked Danny, and his brother’s to help him move his beautiful white piano to a special spot where you and him would frequent, just to get away from the hustle of both your lives and take time to breathe in each other’s company. It was a cute public garden, you say public, but truly no one was ever there, which made it perfect for the two of you. It was so cozy and intimate. When you guys had the time, you’d spend it there.

He had a date planned for the two of you. All you knew was that it was in the garden you’d spent so much time in, together. He squeezed your hand tight, seemingly nervous, as he guides you down the path to the garden.

You let out a gasp at the sight. It was much prettier than you’d ever seen it. Breathtaking fairy lights paint the entirety of the garden, giving it such a gorgeous glow. A table was set up in the middle for the two of you to share whatever dinner he had planned. However what really caught your eye was the beautiful white piano, sitting in the spot where you two would normally lay for hours in each other’s company. It was truly a fairytale.

After the two of you were done eating, you followed him to where the piano was perched. You both sit as you normally would together on the bench. He starts playing the familiar tune, Tiny Dancer, that song taking on a whole new life since you’d started dating him.

After his playing ceased, he stood up, walking over to you stopping when he was just in front of you, grabbing your hand. What in the world could he be doing? You quickly realize what he’s doing as soon as he brings himself down on one knee. Your free hand slapping across your mouth in shock, tears began to well in your eyes as soon as he spoke.

“Y/N,” he starts, tears already beginning to fall from your eyes. “These past few years with you have been the best I’ve ever had, I just, I love you so much. There’s so much I could say about the time I’ve been blessed to have with you. But if I said everything, we’d be here until pop music actually sounded good..” you both giggle at his joke, though it wasn’t much of a joke from him, he’d always hated the genre. “Anyway what I’m trying to say is, again, I love you so much and I’d be so honored to call you my wife.. til’ death do us part or whatever they say.” He chokes back a few tears that had revealed themselves in his eyes. “yes. Yeah. Duh. YES” is all you were able to choke out. He pulls you into the most passionate kiss he’s ever laid on your lips, simultaneously placing the gorgeous ring on your finger. The kiss is smooth, not rushed, after all, you had the rest of your life to feel each other’s lips.

You both snap out of the kiss as three boys come around the corner. Josh popping the loudest bottle of champagne you’d ever heard. All three gave their loud, excited, congratulations. Jake gave his “condolences” joking that it was a shame you’d waste your time on the baby Kiszka, earning a stern slap from Sam. You were just so simply in love and happy.

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You wake up, around two in the morning, to a sound of Sammy playing piano in the room adjacent to your shared bedroom. You figured Sam was awake playing because both of your sleep schedules were messed up from recent sleepless nights with your son. Neither of you were able to get much sleep since you’d brought him home from the hospital, but it was just something new to get used to.

As you enter you hear a “just like that, you try.” Coming from Sam cooing down at your newborn, that he was holding in one hand while the other pressed the keys in front of him. You couldn’t help but smile at his gesture. Your son wasn’t more than two weeks old and his father was already trying to teach him to play an instrument. It was precious.

“You know, maybe you should hold off teaching him to play until he can actually use his hands.” You joke out, walking up behind Sammy, wrapping your arms around his shoulders, looking down at your baby boy, sound asleep. “Or at least wait until he’s awake.” You say poking fun at Sam’s teaching techniques. “Hey I’m just trying to start him young babe, it’s all about persistence.” He points out, moving his free hand to hold yours that was wrapped around his shoulders.

“Why are you up with him anyway?” You question Sam. “Well I heard him crying and I didn’t wanna wake you, so I started playing for him. I think he really likes it, he fell right back to sleep as soon as I started. But I guess it didn’t keep us from waking you up, seeing as you’re standing wide awake in front of me.” Sam admits to you. Your heart was so warm from seeing him be such a good father, you couldn’t imagine your little family as anything else. You were so lucky.

——————————————————————

You sat with Sammy in your bed, sharing small talk over your morning coffee. Soon you hear small feet patter down the hall and into your bedroom. “It’s lesson time daddy!” Your six year old shouts up at Sam.

Every morning Sammy had entertained your son with a few minutes of piano. You were honestly so proud of your son. For just being six, he was extremely accomplished on the piano, he was at least able to do way more than you were ever able to. He was always so focused when his dad taught him too. He’d always ask such grown up questions for his age. The thought of your little prodigy made your heart swarm with warmth.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” Sam excitedly yells to your son, who’s already down the hall and sitting on the bench before Sam could even finish his sentence. Sam turns to you “I have some business to attend to.” He jokingly points out to you. “I’ll be back in no time.” He explains to you, pulling you into a kiss. You both shared an “I love you” as he excitedly jumps to follow behind your son down the hall. What really made your heart swell was knowing Sammy enjoyed his lessons with your son as much as your son’s little mind enjoyed it. Pure joy exudes both of them as they sit together on the bench, focused on their lesson.

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You loved her, this was you and Sam’s first time meeting her but you both already adored her. The four of you sat around the family table enjoying a meal. Since your son met her, he hadn’t stopped talking about her, you loved seeing him so excited about sharing a part of his life. This was your 16 year olds first official girlfriend, so of course it was exciting for all of you.

The whole day leading up to her visit, your son constantly reminded you and Sam to not “be embarrassing.” Or “Don’t say anything embarrassing.” And your personal favorite, “don’t say anything gross to each other.” You and Sam didn’t have to pry to understand what he meant by the word “gross” you guys just nodded your heads trying to not burst out laughing, as this was actually a serious request from your son.

“Did he tell you he plays piano?” Sam questions the girl. She shook her head replying “no he didn’t.” She seemed surprised as she turned to look at your son who’s cheeks had turned tomato red at his father’s comment. “He’s awesome at it.” You say trying to help your son not be so embarrassed by what Sam had brought up. “Um I, yeah, I do play.” He says looking at her trying to redeem himself from the embarrassment. He was only embarrassed because he never really played for anyone other than you or Sam. He was amazing, and the two of you always tried to push him to play for more people, but you respected his boundaries as you knew he was just way too shy, and he only wanted to share with you guys. You two knew he’d play for more people someday, but you knew you couldn’t force it and that day would just have to come on it’s own. “Can I hear you play?” She squeaks out excitement in her voice. “Um I guess.” He scratches his head, and looks down in his lap. “Don’t expect anything too good though.” He says trying to lower her expectations. “He’s amazing.” You and Sam state at the same time, giggling at the synchronicity.

Later in the evening, you and Sam were cuddled up on the couch, and the other pair were upstairs, doing what? You weren’t sure. You and Sam just bask in the quiet moment the two of you found yourselves in. Stealing kisses and small talk here and there. Suddenly, you both hear music coming from upstairs, but it wasn’t music coming from speakers, no, it was your son, playing on the piano. You both look at each other giddy from the sound. “We should go check in on them.” Sam says to you with a smirk, you both knew you just wanted to hear the music up close. You obliged Sammy’s comment, stealthy climbing the stairs so as to not signal to your son you’re coming.

You both listen in through the door, trying to hear as best as you can. “This next song is the first one my dad ever taught me. I’ve always loved it so much, apparently my mom loved it too, that’s the reason my dad learned it in the first place.” Your son says recalling the stories Sam has told him through all the years. All you feel is deep adoration and pride for your son and your husband as you listen in on this intimate moment. You soon hear the sweet sound of your son playing Tiny Dancer through the door, on the beautiful white piano.

A/N: this was a request from @bellavirando4 I hope you love it 🫶

[lifebeginsbyleaving]

Welcome To The Jungle

Stiles nearly fell out of his chair laughing. He shoved Danny's shoulder hard enough to make both of their computer chairs spin.

"It's true!"

Stiles wiped tears and replied, "Oh my god I cannot believe that!"

Danny held up a hand. "On my mother's butter mochi recipe, Coach and Greenburg walking out of the cinema hand in hand."

Stiles let out another disbelieving bark of laughter. "How the times have changed- Unless..." Stiles squinted at Danny. "You don't think they- while school- you know back then?"

Danny shook his head. "Dude, Coach is so against that. He would never. I called Jackson immediately and apparently Greenburg started one of Coach's courses he does at the college. I don't know man, love must've blossomed."

Stiles still looked bewildered. "Yeah, but Greenberg? I always though the Coach hated him."

Danny shrugged. "Maybe it was in a 'You're so hot, but you're my student so I'm going to hate you.' kind of way." He instantly wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Although, I have a hard time seeing anyone think of Greenburg as hot."

Stiles thought for a moment. "Well-"

Danny swiveled his chair. "Oh no. No! Stiles, I know we haven't always been the closest, but now I consider you a friend. If you have been so deprived of dick lately that you are thinking of Greenburg as cute, in any way, I have failed."

Stiles put his hands up. "I'm just saying th-"

"No! You stop that immediately! That's it. I'm taking you to the jungle next Thursday night. No more lame excuses or pack emergencies that Lydia says didn't actually happen. Next Thursday. Nine o'clock, don't be late. And I swear to God if you don't wear those tight black pants I will force you into an outfit of my choosing."

"Danny you know I-"

"No. Lydia tells me all about how you won't let her set you up on dates, because dating isn't your thing. Which I know is a lie. So casual sex it is. I know you like sex, good God you won't shut up about it, so stop. I can barely stand your sexual frustration anymore. We have to work on patching the bestiary mainframe for at least two more weeks, so I'm not dealing with your huffing and short fuse every five seconds for that much longer. You're so god damn snippy. We're going to the jungle unless you can detail your last sexual encounter well enough for me to believe it wasn't months ago." Danny crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.

Stiles shifted in his seat. He couldn't go into great detail about his last sexual encounter to Danny, so instead he let out a sigh. "Fine, but I'm going just to appease you, and under no circumstances do I have to leave with someone."

Danny raised his hands, but he had a triumphant grin. "Hey that is entirely up to you. We'll go and see how the night takes us, or who takes us."

Stiles rolled his eyes. "There will be no taking. I'm going out to appease you. That's it."

Stiles' nerves went up seeing Danny's devilish grin. He knew that grin, that grin meant he would definitely try to set him up. It wasn't that he wasn't excited to go out, it was just Stiles hadn't been to a club since he got back to Beacon Hills after college. He'd been back for eight months and he'd rejected all attempts by the pack to set him up. If he left the jungle without someone on his arm Danny would know something was up, and it wasn't just him wanting to settle back in anymore.

Stiles was saddened when he found out no one from the pack was going to college near him. When Danny accepted Berkeley's offer he felt slightly better. Even if they weren't really close and not exactly pack it was good to have someone he knew going with him. The first year they barely talked at all. But right before the start of second year the nemeton started a shit fest and Danny needed a ride back. It was easier to go together, despite the painfully awkward first hour of the trip. Somewhere around hour three they found a groove and many things they had in common.

Stiles expected for things to go back to the way they were before once they got back, but Danny texted him with a time and the address of a club they had talked about. After that they went out to parties, studied, and were unexpected friends. Their third year they moved in together. Danny had been there through all his college relationships and hook ups, and for most of the best ones he had been the one to introduce them. Danny was good at knowing what people liked and how they would be together. He was the main reason Stiles got so many experiences, and mistakes, out of college. Stiles liked being around him. He made you feel like you were better than you actually were, that you could be more if you tried. Stiles could tell why him and Jackson had been such good friends. At first Jackson tried to insist Stiles kept his nerd cooties away from his best friend, but they could tell he was glad two of his pack members were taking care of each other.

At one point Stiles even confessed his high school crush to Danny. The asshole just said he knew and that every questioning boy had a crush on him. When Stiles asked him if he thought they would be good together Danny just shook his head. He told him he would date him, but he knew Stiles was the type you marry and he wasn't ready for that. Stiles had been awed and flattered by that and as soon as he asked, he knew they wouldn't ever go there. They were just friends. Some how that didn't bother him, it made him feel settled in the relationship they already had. Because it was good enough.

Stiles snapped back to attention looking at a talking Danny with a fond smile. "What?"

"You did that freaky zone out thing, didn't you? I swear one of these days you're going to walk in front of a bus. I said look hot and wear the cologne too."

Stiles gave a lazy salute and started to pack up. "Alright, I should head home soon. Dad will order pizza if I don't get there in time, and I don't want to have to wrestle a meat lovers out of his hands again. It was messy."

Danny nodded with a smile. "I'm busy tomorrow, but I'll see you Wednesday, and then Thursday."

"You got it."

---

"Dad I'm home." He rounded the corner to see his dad frozen with the phone in his hand.

"God damn it, I almost got it ordered in time. Tell Danny he needs to work you harder." He set the phone back down with a harsh look.

Stiles rolled his eyes as he set down his things. "We're just patching the bestiary, I don't actually work for him. I do have an actual job you know."

"So you're paying him for his help?"

Stiles shook his head. "He's helping out the pack. He said he would do it on his free time." He walked to the kitchen to start supper.

His dad leaned against the counter. "So is he in the pack? I thought you said he wasn't."

Stiles turned to look at his father after grabbing the chicken and veggies from the fridge. "Yes and no. Most of us consider him pack because he is to Jackson, but Danny hasn't accepted yet. He says he doesn't want the responsibility of it. He always shows up and helps when we need though." Stiles set up his knife and cutting board in silence.

"And what do you think?" The rhythmic sound of a sharp knife hitting a cutting board filled the kitchen until he was finished speaking.

Stiles looked down and started to move the board around. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you said, 'He says,' instead of saying something like he doesn't because of whatever. You think he says something, but what do you think he means? And why won't you look at me when you talk about it? Son, did something happen between you and Danny?" His dad had been really nosey and pushy lately. He supposed it was because he could tell Stiles was hiding something, but it was still annoying.

Stiles popped a slice of green pepper in his mouth and turned to his father with a contemplative look. He looked in his father's eyes for a moment.

He sighed after making up his mind. "Nothing happened between us. Danny doesn't join the pack because it's a commitment. It's basically a family. He doesn't want the weight of that. He also thinks the only ones that want him there are Jackson and I, which isn't true. He just gets freaked out by people being there all the time, always knowing everything about him. He feels like he might lose them at anytime. The more you love something the more it hurts once it's gone, you know?"

His father looked at him with sad eyes. "I know."

Stiles nodded. He bit his lip to hold in the question begging to slip out.

"Why wouldn't you look at me before? I know it wasn't just because of something with Danny. There's something going on with you lately."

Stiles couldn't hold it in any longer. "Do you ever regret loving mom?"

"Never." It was immediate and without hesitation.

Stiles fidgeted. "Yeah, but what if you knew you would find another wife and son you would love just as much as you love us. Would you want to save yourself the heartbreak of loving someone you lost?"

His father's eyes were glistening as he walked up to Stiles and pulled him into a hug. "I wouldn't trade you both for anything. That I promise you kid. Never." He kissed the top of Stiles' head. "Never, ever. You're my boy, and she was the love of my life."

Stiles nodded into his chest and gripped his shirt.

His father pulled back and looked at him assessing his face. "Why do you think you're loving someone you're going to lose Stiles?"

Stiles closed his eyes, but his tears fell anyway. "There's something I haven't told the pack, and I can't tell you yet either. And I need you to be okay with that. I shouldn't have even started to talk about it. You can't push okay?" He opened his eyes to look at his father pleadingly.

His father gripped his shoulders and looked at him sternly. "This is serious Stiles. The last time you didn't tell the pack or me about something, you had been assaulted on campus. You have to be straight with me here, no lying. Is this like that? Should we know?"

Stiles once again felt the guilt of keeping him getting beat up on campus from his family, but he knew they would've gone ballistic. Besides, he could and did handle a cocky omega. The only reason they knew now was because Danny let it slip to Jackson on break and Jackson came to him spitting mad in front of everyone. Jackson got in touch with some of his families friends within two hours. It was dealt with soon enough, but they still were angry at him for keeping it from them. Scott and Lydia felt betrayed and the rest of them seemed hurt, but Derek just stood there with his arms crossed looking like he was ready to murder Stiles.

But this wasn't like that. This wasn't him keeping something from them, this was him waiting to tell them. "I do plan on telling them, I just have to see how somethings work out first."

"Do you think they could work out in a way that hurts you?"

Stiles hesitated. "Yes. But if they do it would be better for everyone if they didn't know." He saw his father's confused face. "It would be easier for me to heal without them poking."

His dad sighed. "Kiddo I hope you know what you're getting into. Hell, I hope I'm doing the right thing by listening to you."

"It's always the right idea to listen to me pops." Stiles smiled and winked.

"I take it all back. Tell Scott right now. God, what was I thinking."

"Har har. And to think I was going to let you have full fat cheese with your rice tonight."

---

Stiles tried to stuff his hands into his jeans, but they were so tight his fingers barely went down. He pulled them out and stuck his arms out before letting them slap against his legs. He huffed and checked the door for him again. Danny was always either way early or a half hour late. Stiles decided to get a booth to wait out the next twenty minutes.

Stiles was sipping his half empty drink when someone slid into his booth and stole his attention. "Um sorry, this booth is taken."

The unfamiliar man gave him a charming smile. "Right, okay. I'll only be a minute." The man ducked his head and Stiles looked behind their booth to see who he was hiding from.

There was a loud redhead at the bar that immediately stuck out. She had a small gathering of laughing men around her.

Stiles turned back and the man was staring and smiling at him in a way he supposed was to be disarming. "So, did you run into an ex?"

The man scoffed. "Not on your life. It was that woman." He laughed and made a face like Stiles should immediately understand.

Stiles narrowed his eyes. "Was she rude?"

The man looked flabbergasted. "She's a woman, hitting on men." Stiles raised an eyebrow. "In here! In a gay bar! I went up to her to give her a piece of my mind, but those jerks stood up for the bitch."

Stiles got the full picture now and started to get angry, but kept his cool. "She could be bi. Also you know friends can come here too right? Like sometimes people just come here to have a good time."

He looked at Stiles like he was the one not understanding yet. "Yes, but she was flirting. With a guy."

Stiles took a breath in. "The guy could also be bi. Or it could've been her boyfriend. Or he is gay and as long as she backed off, big whoop."

The man scoffed. "If they are straight they shouldn't be here. And if they're bi, I don't see why they would be here looking for a hetero relationship. They can find that anywhere. I mean, you come to a gay bar for one thing."

Stiles couldn't take it any more. "Yeah. Acceptance. So if you're going to be an exclusionist asshole or a biphobe troll I think it's you who should leave. Anyone that respects other people has a right to be here without fear of rejection or judgement. Maybe they're bi, maybe they're straight, maybe one of them is trans or non-binary, maybe one of them is asexual. Maybe that or a ton of other things, but one thing they sure as hell are is none of your damn business! This is a safe place, and you can fuck right off if you're going to threaten that!"

The man got up, but still tried one final attempt. "Look, I just mean if there's so many of them invading our space, soon enough there won't be enough room for us." He spoke with stress on certain words.

Stiles gave him a sweet smile with murderous eyes. "There's always room for love. This isn't the Titanic jackass. And if you're referring to me in that, 'our' I'll have you know- I like tits too. And I'm too proud of it to allow a self centered prick like you to bully me into feeling bad about it. Have a nice day up on that high horse trampling all over the people that helped build this safe space you think is just yours. Yee-haw, ride your intersectional bigot ass right out of here!" Stiles was two seconds away from throwing his drink, but he thought that might be a bit much. He thought he got his point across well enough.

The man opened his mouth.

Stiles rolled his eyes. It appeared not.

Stiles tossed his drink right in his face as Danny came into view.

The man instantly began making a commotion.

Danny looked shocked. "Dude what the hell? Who is he?"

Stiles saw a bouncer looking inquisitively at them as he drew closer. The jungle had a strict no drink throwing and no bitch slapping policy. It upset the vibe and sales. Stiles apologized as loudly as he could, so he was heard by many people over the music. "Sorry. Biphobe. Thems the breaks. Sometimes you gotta toss a drink in an asshole's face for saying you don't belong here." The people around them instantly gave the soaked man dirty looks.

The tall bulky black man gripped the asshole's arm and started to pull him towards the door. He had an intimidating aura, but Stiles could tell there was kindness and understanding behind those completely unnecessary glasses for the dark club.

Stiles noticed a magenta, blue, and purple pin on the bouncers jacket. He gave a thumbs up. "I like your pin."

The bouncer just gave him a private smile. "I like your eyes."

Stiles gaped and looked to Danny. When he looked back the bouncer was gone as was the man.

Danny looked at him shocked. "Dude, Bubbles from Lilo and Stitch just flirted with you! No fair!"

Stiles calmed and fell into the conversation. "What do you mean no fair?"

Danny scoffed. "I do not, and do not picture myself having a daddy kink, but if I did it would be for one man, and Bubbles from Lilo and Stitch only."

Stiles tilted his head back and forth in tentative agreement. "I guess he does exude a vibe of protection."

---

They were enough drinks in that he was still in control, but his vigorous nodding made the room shift slightly. "His hands! You're absolutely right! I've been a fool!"

Danny laughed and pushed away his face. "You're loud."

Stiles stuck out his tongue.

Danny pushed his empty drink to the edge of the table. "Why aren't you trying to find someone to hook up with?"

Stiles was taken off guard more that he would've been sober. "What? What do you mean, I'm enjoying a night out with my boy."

Danny looked sympathetic. "Did ending that thing with Jason when we left college hurt you more than you thought it would?"

Stiles had to wrack his brain for a moment to think of who Jason was. "What? No. He was just a booty call. No feelings there."

Danny looked puzzled. "Then why?"

"Maybe I've had enough dating in college."

Danny scoffed and shook his head. "I introduced you to my friend Marcus who loves comics and puppies and is so your type. I pointed out a great fuck that you turned down, and we both know from college we don't mind sharing. I told you about a guy I've seen around a few nights that only talks to guys that look like you. You've shot them all down. You, Stiles Stilinski, who loves to date, to have sex, and just generally get to know new people. I've been keeping Lydia off your back, but now I want to know. What happened?"

Stiles started to sweat and he tried to come up with a lie that normally would already be off his lips. He tried to think of a way out, but couldn't find one.

The song switched right as he opened his mouth and Stiles thanked the gods. "This is our song! We haven't danced all night!"

Danny looked firm, but he cast a glance to the moving bodies. "Explanation after?" Danny was terrible at interrogation, he usually didn't care unless someone wanted to tell him.

Stiles nodded knowing full well Danny wouldn't leave the dance floor, without finding someone to leave with. "Let's dance."

In college Stiles had managed to figure out that songs had rhythms and had become quite the dancer. His hips moved sinfully and he knew where to put his hands now, but every once and awhile he would throw in a move that reminded Danny of just how far he had come.

They had separated several songs ago and found new partners. Stiles had danced with a lot of people, but never the same person twice and if they got too handsy he moved on. He was just there with his friend to have a good time. He was actually starting to have fun and enjoy the night without worrying.

He had pushed away some rather insistent wandering hands when Danny came up behind him to whisper into his ear, "There's this really creepy guy watching you."

"What?" Stiles' mind instantly raced. Was it a werewolf from a rival pack? Kanima? Witch? He pissed of an incubus one time. Scratch that, he's pissed of pretty much every supernatural being he's ever met at one point or another. He couldn't see through the moving crowd enough to catch any faces.

Danny leaned in and grabbed Stiles' hip so they didn't get separated on the dance floor. He repeated a little louder, but if he wasn't so close it would be lost to the loud music, "There's a creepy guy watching you. I think he'll go away if he thinks we're together."

Stiles heart had picked up and he leaned back into Danny's comforting embrace. "Okay." Stiles wondered if he should call someone, just in case it was a supernatural issue.

Danny turned him around, but kept glancing over Stiles' shoulder out of the crowd to look for the creep. "He's still staring. Grind on me."

They had done this so much in college to lure cute boys Stiles didn't even think twice. He tried to seem like Danny and him were together. They danced for a few verses.

Danny shook his head with worry. "Okay, he's clenching his fists now. I don't think it's working Stiles. I'm going to kiss you."

Stiles' eyes went wide. "Wait Danny I have a-"

Danny kissed him.

It was chaste, but still made his stomach roll. "Well, did it work?"

Danny was squinting his eyes, but they went wide with shock and something like fear. "Shit, no. He looks like he's going to murder me! Fuck, he just slammed his drink and is coming over here."

"What! Oh my God we have to call someone!" Stiles' voice was panicked. He could fight, but he was slightly tipsy and if Danny was worried, Stiles was. Besides, if he was supernatural Stiles didn't have a chance without something to defend himself with.

"Take my hand. We have to go closer to the bar." Danny laced their fingers together.

Stiles had just hit dial as a firm hand grabbed his arm not currently being dragged by Danny. Stiles let out a shriek. Before he could turn around to face the attacker he was pulled out of his grip by Danny and was now behind him.

"Leave him alone asshole!"

A phone started ringing.

The guy looked absolutely murderous. "I want to talk to Stiles."

"How do you know his name creep?!" Danny spat at him.

Stiles peered around Danny, "Wait... Derek?"

"Stiles do you know him?" Danny asked unsure, he looked at the semi familiar man and tried to place him.

"Yes he does." The man stated gruffly.

Stiles flushed with embarrassment. "He's my boyfriend."

Danny's face lit with recognition, then confusion again. "Cousin Miguel?"

"Derek." He spoke with that same cold, flat tone. Derek still looked terrifying as he reached into his pocket and answered his phone staring at Stiles.

Stiles lifted his own phone and spoke, "Um, hello?"

"You better have a really good explanation that takes less than five minutes, or I'm dumping you."

Danny looked at him with a shocked look. "I didn't buy that Miguel story for a second, but you're dating him? Wait Derek as in, alpha hottie Hale, Derek? You're dating the pack alpha?! Does the pack know? Well, that explains why Lydia couldn't set you up. Huh, I guess Issac wins the pot. He was the only one who thought you had someone else. Wait till Jackson hears he was wrong about you getting a girl pregnant."

Stiles' eyes went wide. "You can't tell them!"

Derek interjected with a blank face. "Yeah, especially since in about four and a half minutes he won't actually be dating me anymore."

Stiles turned to him frazzled. "Can you just stop for a moment!"

Danny had his phone out and went to unlock it, but Stiles batted his hands down.

Stiles huffed. "Look, everyone stop! I need to explain to both of you." He turned to Derek with a pleading look. "I have to talk to Danny real quick, but I promise you." Stiles' voice was filled with emotion and dripped with sincerity, "I promise you, nothing is going on with me and Danny and I can explain everything, but if I don't talk to him first, he will text Lydia while we're talking and you and I agreed we don't want that. He has had too much liquor to not know it is a bad idea, and not enough to be incoherent enough for Lydia to not believe him."

Derek looked deeply into his eyes and sighed. "You're lucky I know when you're lying."

Stiles let out a relieved breath and rested their foreheads together. "Thank God for heartbeats."

In the next second he was snatching Danny's phone and dragging him off to another side of the club.

Derek uselessly whispered after him, "I don't need your heartbeat to know."

Stiles pulled Danny to a quiet and private enough corner.

Stiles was breathless and spoke in a rush, "Look, you can't tell the pack. Now before you get snippy about them needing to know, just listen. Derek and I started to text a lot our second to last year. We got close, but decided not to date until I was done with college. We both didn't wait for each other, but we never got into something too serious. We've been taking it slow ever since I got back. And we don't want the pack to know yet."

Danny gave him a speculative look. "How slow?"

Stiles rolled his eyes. "We've had sex. Lots. The whole me being frustrated thing? Different type of frustration. Definitely not from lack of sex."

Danny put his hands up with an easy grin. "I just wanted to make sure you weren't squandering all of that. Like hot damn Stilinski. You got a good one."

Stiles' face went soft. "Yeah I do."

"Then why don't you want the pack to know?"

Stiles looked over to where Derek was standing. He was far enough back to not be able to hear them, but close enough for Stiles to be able to signal if he needed help. He had a beer and one of Stiles' favorite drinks in the table beside him. He had found Stiles' hoodie and draped it over the chair so they wouldn't forget it. He knew Stiles always forgot his coat when he was drunk. Stiles smiled at him, even though he wasn't looking before turning back to Danny. "Because he's the type you marry."

Stiles scratched the back of his head and continued, "And I don't want to mess that up, but if I do, the pack knowing would make it a thousand times worse. They would be all sad and comforting and they would look at us if we're ever in a room together. And I don't want that. Even if things go wrong, I don't want us to feel weird. We're pack. And if we did split I don't want everyone thinking they had to pick sides or that we can't be friends anymore. I guess that's what I've been worrying about so much lately, if we are right for each other. I just want to know that this is right, that we are sure before we involve the pack or my dad. I just, I've been worried about losing him and how much it would hurt. God I've always worried about losing people since my mom, but I don't think I could lose him. Especially not if we tell everyone. If we tell them it makes it real, it means it will hurt more if we don't work out or if something happens. The pack means everything to us and if they know it means it has to work." Stiles looked down.

Danny nodded. "I get that, but when are you going to tell them? When will you know? Because it sounds like you already know Derek is the type you marry. Stiles, you don't actually have to marry him to be sure. You just have to see it. When you think of your future, is he in it? You talk like you're sure, just scared."

Stiles instantly pictured a big restored house and family enjoying themselves in the yard. He looked over and Derek was smiling at him with the smile he had only seen when they weren't with other people. He reached out to Stiles with a hand that had a silver band.

Stiles looked up to meet Danny's eyes and then he found Derek's across the room. Despite the weird circumstances Derek still smiled at him. Not like he was doing it as a courtesy. Like he loved him so much and he couldn't help it. "He isn't in it. He is it." Stiles turned back with a wide smile and tears in his eyes. "He's my future Danny."

Danny smiled back. "I won't tell the pack, but I think you should."

Stiles nodded as a giggle bubbled out of his throat. He started to back away as he spoke, "Do you need a ride?"

Danny smirked. "I think I might go home with tall, dark, and into me, but if not I'll use my app to call a ride. Go get your boy."

Stiles nodded and turned with a grin.

He found him where he knew he would be. Derek was a pensive drinker so his beer was almost gone. When he got to the table Stiles chugged his drink and Derek raised an eyebrow. "I have to tell you something, so I need the liquid courage."

Derek set his jaw. "I don't want to do this here. It's too loud. Let's go to my car."

Stiles was practically bursting with nerves by the time they got in the car.

They sat in silence for a few moments while Derek brooded and Stiles chewed his lip. When Derek reached to turn on the car Stiles stopped him and grabbed his hand. He smiled at it before pulling it close enough to push his lips softly against his knuckles.

Derek looked pained. "Stiles-"

"I love your hands." He snorted. "Even more than Bubble's"

Derek looked at him with raised eyebrows. "How much have you had?"

"Too much so I want to be as close to you for as long as I can, but sadly not enough to not know I can't cuddle you every second of every day."

Derek considered it for a moment. Fuck it, if this was going to be the last time he was close, he was going to be so close it hurt. Derek reached between his legs to the lever and slid back his seat. He tilted it to the perfect angle they had found and Stiles brightened. He climbed over the console and straddled his lap. Stiles settled in on top of him and tucked his head into his neck. Derek tried to not lose it as he felt the emotions welling up. He held onto Stiles' legs to ground himself.

Stiles kissed his neck softly. "I kissed Danny because he said some creep was staring at me." Derek could feel his smile pressed to his neck, then Stiles poked his side. "That's you. He thought you would go away if I was spoken for."

Derek gripped his legs harder.

"But if I would've known it was you, I could've told him that wouldn't work at all. Because, you see, I am spoken for. By you. Only by you. I only belong with you Derek."

Derek's grip relaxed, but he still asked, "Why were you there with him? I went out to pick up food and when I saw your Jeep here I was so confused."

Stiles didn't know where to start with that one. "Because he told me I'm the type you marry. And be-"

Derek grabbed him by the shoulders enough to pull him back. Derek looked positively sick to his stomach. "He wants to marry you?!"

Stiles tried to figure out where the conversation had been and where he meant it to be, all the while trying to figure out how the hell it got were it was. "What?"

"What did you say?"

"Nothing! He doesn't want to marry me, that's why he said he wouldn't date me!"

Derek looked no less hurt or shocked, but somehow more confused. "You asked him to date you?!"

"What? No! In college I asked him why he wouldn't date me. That was his answer, because I'm the type you marry."

Derek took a deep breath. "You're so confusing when you're drunk." Derek laughed lightly. "You're so confusing when you're sober."

Stiles looked petulant. "Can't you focus please?"

"Can't you make a point please?" Derek snarked.

"I'm the type you marry, and you're also the type you marry. Well not you, me."

Derek's eyebrows furrowed. "Stiles if you're suggesting we get drunk married in Vegas, you do realize I have to be drunk too? So that way I can't be the voice of reason."

Stiles sighed. "Ughhh you're not listening!" Stiles put both hands on each side of Derek's face with a bit too much force. "Danny tried to take me out to set me up, but he just made me realize something. I want to marry you. Not yet, but I do. Sometime. I don't want to be engaged yet either, but I wouldn't be opposed to that happening. Then we could get married. Maybe in the fall. Not the next next fall, that's too soon. Maybe summer though, because the next next next fall is too far away. I want to be married to you." Stiles looked into his eyes with tears brimming. "I want to love you every day of my life."

Derek just sat there with an open mouth and raised eyebrows. "I don't even know what to say to that."

Stiles smiled, but fidgeted. "Do you want that too?"

Derek spoke immediately, slightly breathlessly, "Yes."

"Then I think you could say, I love you too Stiles."

Derek pulled him by his neck down to kiss him. He leaned back and looked into Stiles' eyes with shining ones. "I love you too, Stiles. I want to love you for the rest of our lives."

Stiles smiled and kissed him again before leaning his forehead against Derek's.

"God I hope you're not too drunk to remember this. Or regret it in the morning."

Stiles smiled at him. "Take me home and fall asleep with me. Let's find out in the morning, lover."

Derek hugged Stiles to his chest with a crushing grip. "I will kill you if you forget this."

Stiles nodded into his neck. "Noted." He pulled back and climbed back to his seat.

"Please tell me Danny doesn't need a ride."

"He's fine. I checked before I left. He's more sober than me, and hard pressed I could probably fool my father in all except the breathalyzer."

"I don't think you'd pass any test. You got drunk enough to say you'd marry me."

Stiles looked over to him and shook his head. "I didn't get drunk enough to say it, stupid. I got drunk enough to finally realize it."

Derek pulled out of the parking lot and Stiles jolted. "Oh and I think we should tell the pack now!"

Derek smiled. "Yeah? Because of the proposal?"

Stiles rolled his eyes. "I did not propose. I just said that I would eventually be open to asking or saying yes."

Derek reached over and placed his hand on Stiles' thigh and swept his thumb in soothing motions. "I think we should too, darling."

Stiles laced their fingers together and smiled at the road ahead of them.

---

Stiles had a wide grin as he looked at the green lawn around him and the pack that filled it. It was a perfect summer day for the party. There was a game of frisbee and gossip circles his dad was even milling about close to the congrats cake hand in hand with Melissa.

Stiles looked down to the cool metal he was still getting used to. He smiled at it resting against the picnic table. The day had been filled with many congratulations and more than enough tears. Most from his father. Who joked he'd never thought he'd met someone stupid enough to propose to Stiles, but when he met Derek he knew. They both had been offended by that, but quickly forgave him when he said he had to give his two boys grief. Scotty had just beamed at Stiles and said he was happy he found his Allison. Jackson even showed up with his husband and smiled at them.

He was brought out of his thoughts by Danny sitting down on the side opposite of him.

After Derek knew he wasn't trying to steal his man, and was the reason they finally pulled their heads out of their asses about telling the pack, he took a liking to him. Stiles was awed by how well he fit in with everyone and some how he hadn't been there before. Eventually the pack wore him down enough that he joined. Erica was a menace and the best recruitment agent.

"So I guess no matter how awesome I was in college, I didn't get this one right. Some matchmaker I am."

"Actually..." Stiles smiled and went to his pocket for the piece of paper he had brought for this moment. It was crinkled from when he crumpled it to throw away, but saved last minute to show Scott.

He slid the smoothed out post-it note over to Danny and he read it out loud, "Stiles, marry 'cousin Miguel' He's hot and so not your cousin."

Danny let out a bark of laughter. "I forgot I wrote this."

Stiles shrugged. "So you were right."

He looked up when he heard someone clear their throat. Derek held out a hand and Stiles' eyes were drawn to that silver band. "I think it's time for cake, before your dad eats it all with his eyes. Come along beloved."

Stiles rolled his eyes, but took his hand as he got up. "You can't call me that if you don't call me that when we're all old and wrinkled."

Derek used their entwined hands to yank him closer to his chest. "If I don't call you pet names when we are old and wrinkled, it is because I have forgotten every word that compares to how much I love you."

"Sap."

Derek grinned. "You love it."

Stiles rolled his eyes and looked into Derek's. "I love you."

Derek beamed and held up his hand proudly. "Yeah you do! You're gonna be stuck with me."

Stiles replied with adoration in his eyes, "I already am."

"Guuuys! Cake."

Their eyes didn't move from each other as they spoke in unison.

"Shut up Cora."

"Cora fuck off."

Stiles dropped his voice lower, "I think we should stay here and make them wait. Or we could excuse ourselves for a moment and have sex upstairs."

"You're terrible. Utterly deviant. That's such a good idea." Derek rested their noses together.

"I know."

Derek smiled. "But cake. You love cake."

Stiles grinned lecherously. "I also love other things I can put in my mouth."

"Dude, gross!"

"Eavesdrop on the newly engaged couple and you deserve what you hear Scott!" Stiles shouted.

Derek was beaming and Stiles looked at him confused. "You hate when I embarrass you. Wha-"

"You're engaged to me. I'm engaged to you. We're engaged. It sounds so..."

Stiles finished for him, "Weird. But good."

Derek had a momentary flash of doubt. "You feel like this is right too, right?"

Stiles nodded. "The kind of right that makes you sure nothing but this was ever supposed to happen. I'm meant to marry you Derek Hale, and you're meant to marry me. Come witches, werewolves, Jackson being a lovable asshole, or fighting over what colors to paint the house I'm going to be with you through it all. Our lives were meant to be given to each other. Why else do you think I keep saving your sourwolf ass?" Stiles' emotional face faded to a smirk.

Derek looked contemplative for a second before he looked certain. "Were you exaggerating when you said you didn't want to plan a wedding and have a big fancy party?"

Stiles looked suspicious. "I don't need any of that. What are you talking about Derek?"

Derek looked excited. "Look me in the eyes and tell me everything you need for your future isn't in this yard. Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want to start that life."

Stiles still looked confused.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't want it today. Just say it and I'll wait. I'll wait for you to decide which flowers you like best. I'll wait to think over who's side Erica is on. I'll wait to let you pick out a tux. I'll wait for you to go back and forth on a venue until you realize that under the tree right next to our house is perfect. I'll wait for the day saying things like our house doesn't make me feel impatient. I'll wait for that God awfully long walk down the aisle. Tell me right now and I swear to God Stiles I'll wait for it all. But if you want it today as bad as I do, I'll carry you to the courthouse."

Stiles grinned at him. "I'm the type you marry, Derek Hale. So what are you waiting for?"

They met in the middle and there was so much love in that kiss it almost ached.

Erica smirked and shouted as everyone handed her and Melissa dollar bills. "Everyone get your ass in a vehicle. It doesn't matter which one. We have a wedding to attend."

Derek and his father both signed the papers with shaky hands and teared eyes.

When they were declared the Stilinski-Hales Stiles let out a punched breath. He looked over at Derek through the tears left over from their vows and he smiled.

Derek beamed wide and bright as Stiles thought to himself. This, this is what my future looks like.

This is for @sterek-bingo

[anotherbeingsworld]

The Last Seconds of Fate

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x F!MC (Casey Valentine) 

Summary: This is my attempt on a rewrite for the diamond scene in chapter 11 with Bryce , but.. I kinda put it in my own twist. 

Inspo: Before You Go - Lewis Capaldi

Warnings: mentions of dying. Besides that, none.

A/N: It’s back to back fics for now, I just hand in my first ever assignment and why not a celebratory fic djdkdkdk! I may be busy in days to come, but.. I will try my very best to write more! Writing has been an outlet for me this year, and it definitely made me very happy! I hope all of you are enjoying it so far, thank you for all the sweet comments on my past fics! It has been an honour, and I really hope you enjoyed this one too! Special thanks to @fantasyoverreality98​ , @mvalentine​ and @bratzlahela​ for assuring me about this fic! I wasnt feeling much confident about it, but.. I feel proud of it! It doesn’t follow the scene from the book, it is somehow... my own way of writing it! I am very terrified about this, since I don’t want to mess it up. JSDHSJD, enough babbling! Enjoy!! 

Tags:  @bitchloveskcbaseball​​​ , @storyofmychoices​​​ @jaxsmutsuo​​​ , @mvalentine​​​ , @princess-geek​ , @lahellacute​​​ , @kacie-0156-deactivated20200905​​ , @this-person-is-busy​​​ , @annekebbphotography​​​ , @brycelahel​​​, @mrsbhandari​​​ , @dcbbw​​​ , @choicessa​​​ , @choices-confessions , @aylamwrites​​​ , @fantasyoverreality98​​​ , @drakewalker04​​​ , @baltersome​​​ , @thecordoniandiaries​​​ , @thundergom​​​  @starrystarrytrouble​​​, @ohramsey​​​ , @kelseaaa​​​  , @rookie-ramsey​​​ , @bratzlahela​​​ , @ohvamsey​​ , @choicesficwriterscreations​ , @soft-for-drake​ , @lalizah​

LINK TO MY MASTERLIST 

The room was quiet, as it was only Casey and Bryce. Both of them are laying down on the hospital bed, which is too small for their liking. But, nothing ever stop them before. The way his arms were wrapped around her waist. Beneath the suit, as it gave her a sense of comfort and homey feeling inside of her. Somehow, being in his arms felt like being back at home, where she felt safe from the monsters and stories that can be seen on the other side of it all.

It was them against the world, time, and all the forces in between. The day went by as a traumatic experience for both of them, a day they never expected to see. It felt as if the universe is giving them a sign, somehow that life can be very short for both of them. Tomorrow will never be guaranteed, as long as we learn how to enjoy the present.

‘If it was my last night, do you have anything you want to tell me?’ Casey started, earning a look of sadness in his face. An expression that wasn’t well known to the scalpel jockey. It was new, every day she realizes, there was always something new about one Bryce Lahela. The tricks he had on his sleeve that manage to blow her mind, he never failed to be the reason she was smiling every day.

‘Casey…’ The softness in his voice made her heart soothe, as the longing to be with him after all this time.

‘Answer me, please…’ She took his hands in hers, as she lets out a squeeze. His eyes soften, a sad expression was plastered on his face followed by a long silence. Somehow, he was constructing an answer in his mind, and honestly. He can’t think of anything, not even an answer crosses his mind, until he suddenly blurts it out.

‘I love you.’

The words left his mouth, a spontaneous act that he never saw it coming. Bryce felt a pang of nervousness, as the 8 letters left his mouth in a sudden manner. Casey was speechless, as they never made it official, but… deep down, she knows every interaction they had, every kiss, hug, moments they had together was better than anything in this world. It felt like a rare presence that she never expected, but didn’t know she needed it.

Love. It is subjective, as everyone will fall in love, out of love, and maybe not at all. The feeling of comfort of love plays a huge role in everyone’s life. Some say it can be a motivator, and maybe a goal to foreseen at the end of the road; marriage. Or, maybe it's just the feeling of being free with that certain someone, who can lift your spirits up with a snap of a finger. But, being there with Bryce. It wasn’t any of those, it was the feeling of being where we were supposed to be.

She always counted on the odds, reeling on the what if’s as medicine was never about the odds. It was a balance of everything as their goal at the end was to find a cure, in order to make life happier at the end of the day. The love of it all made her realize that this field of career, was what she always wanted. And, everything in her life had to happen which leads her to this moment, where she almost died. Or, maybe she will.

‘What about you?’ He brings up a similar question, as the last three words from his mouth are playing like a broken record in her mind.

‘Me?”

He nods slowly, as he was somewhat curious as they were wrapped around each other’s arms with their own companion, the dark night sky as the time was somehow counting down slowly, as maybe it was her final time being in his arms.

‘I am happy to spend the last night of my entire life with you.’ The words felt like vomit coming from her mouth, a truth that she didn’t know she needed.

‘…It’s not your last night Casey, you’ll be here tomorrow. Waking up happily here, as we presume our life forward with each other.’ Bryce’s voice started to broke slowly, an act that she didn’t see coming.

‘Bryce…’ She gazes into his eyes, somewhat it looked different than the ones she used to see at their early walks to the hospital, or when he scores a surgery. It looked somber, somehow the hopefulness in his eyes was absent leaving a sense of fear and dread that was clouding it all.

He strokes her cheeks, somehow examining it after all this time. The way he looked at you, with a sense of fear in him, as your tragedy cast a storm above his head. Despite being in the hazmat suit, it didn’t stop him from leaving warmth on your cold fingers, stroking it slowly and gently with the similar feeling that he always leave you. A breeze of intensity, and the calmness of the ocean.

In a matter of seconds, the tears in your eyes fall. A sudden reaction that is never expected, it felt like a chemical reaction at that moment as the moments in the past circulates with her.

‘It will never be the last night, this is… you are gonna be alright. You will be alright.’ He strokes her hair, as he somehow is memorizing the felt of her smooth hair, it was a little habit of his. It was a sudden reaction, a way of affection.

‘...how do you know that? I don’t feel like it, it felt like the end; I didn’t get to do anything as this is the final place I am gonna be before I died.’ Casey keeps on talking, as Bryce couldn’t hold it in anymore.

‘No, you are not dying tonight or any night. This world is not ready to say goodbye to you, hell… I don’t think I will ever see the world without you in it. You are staying here, and I-..’ He stops himself, taking a deep breath as she sat on the hospital bed. A discourage look on her face says it all, somehow he has a way of looking past her façade, and the way her eyes cast the sense of worry, he knew something was wrong. He stood up from the bed, making his way around towards her.

He is standing in front of her, as Casey’s head is down. He took her hands in his, and squeeze it lightly capturing her attention once more.

It was silence in the room, the sounds of machines were slowly heard in the background as she started to humming. She loved to sing, but it was always just a hobby; since she had become one of the usual for karaoke night at Donahue’s with Bryce which is one of her favorite memories with him.

So, before you go,

Her voice bounces through the walls, as the sealed room made it much louder. The tears started to fall in between, as the news of Danny and Bobby made her heart cry in despair. They don’t deserve this, they don’t deserve to be the one who had to say goodbye.

Was there something I could've said to make your heartbeat better?

Her eyes gaze into his, a strong inferior behind those emeralds, as an attempt to kept herself together.

If only I'd have known you had a storm to weather

She knew she could do better, she knew she can stop them all by pushing them all away. Giving her a chance to do something once, as Rafael’s state floats in her mind, torturing her. Seeing him that way, as the storm hits her once more, where she stood there hoping that it was going to be her.

Her voice was cut off with a sob, as Bryce leans forward. Their foreheads meet through the glass of the hazmat suit, she wanted to give up. He doesn’t want to let her go, as time is the only essence they had left.

The silence of the night, made his heart leap in nervousness, her heartbeat was still there as she finally falls herself into a deep slumber. The quiet killed him, as he doesn’t want to close his eyes. The fear of her being taken away from him very soon made him wept in silence. She looked peaceful, as the day finally gets slower, where it felt like time was never moving at all. Right now, there was nothing he could do. A soft hummed was heard during the early hours of the day, as it was almost time.

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

‘I will always, honestly, truly, completely love you.’ Was one of her favorite quotes from a movie called; Love, Rosie. She told him about her love for it, as they were having a sleepover of their own, a classic tale of second chances and fate.

Fate was sensitive subject, as he always lived his life in a flow. A path that leads him to the unknown, but when it comes to Casey. Someone who waltzed into his life, as a colleague turns to be more, the flow seems to be a back-up plan instead. Seeing herself in that position, made him wonder if fate would ever turn around for her, or for them.

The lights brought him back to life, as the diagnostics team along with the doctors from Mass Kenmore made their way into the room. A pleasant look on their faces gave him a beacon of hope, a small chance for her to fight.

Ethan walks toward him, a small nod was given in his way. Bryce glances at Casey’s figure who looks peacefully asleep, as a brink of tears falls once more. She is going to make it.

‘We will save her Bryce.’ His voice is slow, not wanting to wake her up. Bryce nods with a head full of thoughts and happiness, that he suddenly pulled Dr. Ramsey into an engulfed hug. A sense of adrenaline was splashed out, as he felt himself smiling all the way through it all.

‘Thank you.’

Ethan just nods, a small smile was hinted on his face. Knowing that he would lose a friend as well, during it all. Both of them stayed that way before it was time to test it out. The moment where all of their lives gonna change once again.

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

The smile on her face, as the doors were opened to them. The gratefulness on her face, as she ran into his arms. His arms securely around her waist, as she survived. She did it.

She survived, and she is not going to wait anymore.

‘I love you too.’

THE END.

A/N: Heyyy, so I hope all of you enjoyed it! I am very terrified but, hey... i am very proud of it aswell! Thank you so much for reading, and I will see ya soon!! <3 

[spicycreativity]

Fear in Friendship (is an ugly trait)

Heehoo, this oneshot is short enough to crosspost on Tumblr instead of just linking to my AO3

Length: ~5k Premise: Percy Jackson AU/Fusion Characters: Roman, Remus, Janus ships: N/A Content Warnings: PJO-typical violence & injury, potential very very light ableism vibes (more info in the beginning notes on AO3)

Read on AO3

"Janice?" Roman asked, tilting his head at the new student Remus had brought to meet him. He was about to be late for after-school rehearsal, but Remus had come trotting up dragging the newcomer by the hand, and he'd looked so excited that Roman just couldn't bring himself to blow his brother off.

The new student glared. "Jan-US," he said, with an incredulous look at Remus, as if to say 'this idiot is your brother?' "Like the Roman god." He said it like it was obvious, like Roman was some kind of moron for not knowing. The sneering tone made Roman's blood run hot with anger and shame.

"I don't know all about that nerdy shit," Roman said, waving a hand dismissively.

Janus rolled his eyes. "Really? I would never have guessed; you seem so smart."

He was almost handsome, Roman thought, trying to study Janus' face without giving away that he was staring. He really might have been good-looking if it wasn't for the look of irritation that had been glued to his face ever since he'd entered Roman's field of vision.

A field of scarring spanned the left side of his face and traveled down his neck until the painful-looking swirl of pink and white disappeared under his high-collared shirt. The scarring itself was not necessarily unusual, just standard burn scars. What caught Roman's attention was how they just stopped, all in a straight, uniform line directly down the center of Janus' face. Almost like… Roman tried not to shudder as the thought came to him. Almost like someone had done it on purpose.

He swallowed hard and tried to get himself back on track. "Least I don't share a name with our librarian, Miss Janice."

"God, you're such a dick." Remus ran a hand through his unruly hair, shooting Roman a dark look. Roman stuck out his tongue. "Forget it." He took Janus by the wrist again and turned away. "Come on, let's go see if we can hack the vending machine."

"Oh, no you don't." Roman lunged forward, irritation coursing through him, and grabbed the top of Remus' backpack. "You're coming with me so I can keep an eye on you."

"No way!" Remus squirmed, but Roman kept his grip tight. "I don't wanna go to your stupid rehearsal."

To Roman's surprise, Janus chimed in with a keen and interested, "Rehearsal?"

"He thinks he's hot shit because he's playing Danny Zuko." Remus rolled his eyes, still trying to wiggle free of Roman's grip. "News flash, anyone can memorize lines and prance around in a leather jacket."

"So why don't you try out?" Roman asked rhetorically, starting to pull Remus down the hall.

Remus went along with it, though Roman knew full-well that he could have slipped out of his backpack and made a run for it at any time. "'Cause I'm too busy bangin'! Ba dum ch!"

As they made their way down the hall, Janus walked beside them in silence. Roman watched him out of the corner of his eye, frowning at the way he continually glanced over his shoulder like he was expecting to get in some sort of trouble. It was a look Roman was well familiar with. He had seen it on Remus and he had worn it himself far more times than he was comfortable with. Roman and his brother seemed to attract danger wherever they went, from stalkers to muggers to one stranger's memorable attempt at running them over in the crosswalk. It was never the same person twice, and each isolated incident could be chalked up to an accident. Roman didn't like to think about it for too long and worked hard to keep Remus from talking about it. After the first mugging, Remus had sworn for weeks that their assailant had had a tail. Roman had denied it out loud, but he couldn't lie to himself. Something wasn't right.

If Janus was equally as twitchy… Was he part of it? Did he know something?

"I understand the compulsion, since I am quite good-looking," Janus said, in a tone so dry it could have drained an Olympic swimming pool, "but you'd better quit staring at me before you walk into a door."

"I spaced out," Roman said, unable to think of a snappier retort. He couldn't help but shoot Janus suspicious looks out of the corner of his eye as they continued toward the Main building. "Where'd you transfer from, anyway? How old are you?"

Janus put his hands up like a cornered criminal. "You caught me," he said, affecting regret. "I'm a 43 year-old police officer trying to track down a drug ring. Promise me you won't tell?"

"Little does he know, I'm the distributor," Remus said, finally yanking free from Roman's hold. Roman let him go, knowing that if he had stayed this long, he probably wasn't going to run off.

Roman rolled his eyes. "Very funny, J Jonah Hill. But seriously."

"I'm 16," Janus said. "I transferred from a school in New York."

"All the way from New York? How'd you end up in Florida?" Roman yanked open the door to Main and held it for Remus and Janus. He was tempted to let it drop on Remus just to watch him stumble, but found himself distracted by a gold keychain on Janus' backpack. It was nothing special, just a shiny metal Gemini symbol, but the way it caught the light made Roman pause.

"Teleported," Janus said.

"Are you allergic to straight answers, or what?" Roman asked, unamused. Janus' mocking demeanor didn't sit well with him, and something about Janus' face didn't make sense. The scars seemed almost superficial, and didn't always move in conjunction with his mouth. Roman felt stupid just thinking it, but it was almost like they were masking something.

"What crawled up your ass?" Remus demanded. He turned to Janus. "Sorry, he's not usually such an asshole. He's probably just nervous about hitting all those high notes. I heard him practicing in the shower last night and it was like someone was skinning a cat."

"I sounded awesome," Roman said, blushing furiously. He paused before the theater doors, turning his back to them so he could directly address Remus. "Go find a seat. And I swear to God, if you cause any disruptions, I'll shave your drumsticks down into toothpicks."

"Not the Vic Firths!" Remus said, gasping in faux-horror. He dismissed Roman with a wave of his hand and motioned for Janus to follow him. "C'mon, let's go see if we can catch a cockroach."

Roman just shook his head and hurried backstage.

He had a hard time focusing during rehearsal, missing cues and tripping over himself on lines he had memorized days ago. But he was too distracted to even be bothered, subtly trying to keep an eye on Remus-- okay, on Janus from his vantage point on the stage.

Roman couldn't help it. He didn't trust Janus. The haunted look in his eyes, the way he was always looking over his shoulder… Something was off.

No matter how hard he tried, Roman couldn't force himself to focus. His thoughts kept whirling until they transformed into an overwhelming sense of dread that demanded all his attention. He barely even noticed when rehearsal ended, hurrying into the seating area to try to find Remus.

He wasn't there. Of course he wasn't there. Roman shouldered his backpack and strode off toward the bathrooms, trying hard not to panic. What if Janus was bad news? What if he had hurt Remus? What if Remus was lying bloody in a back corner somewhere because Roman wasn't there to protect him?

"Remus?" Roman called, checking both bathrooms. Nothing. "Shit." Where else did Remus like to go? Maybe the band room? Roman set off for it at a jog, his backpack bouncing against his back.

Nothing in the band room. Roman tried the handle anyway, just to confirm that it was locked.

"I'm going to kill him," Roman muttered, stalking off toward the football field. He swung by the vending machines on the way just in case, and came up empty. It had to be the football field, then. Remus had been talking about playing with the tackle dummies for weeks. That had to be it.

Roman forced himself to slow down as he approached the football field, not wanting Remus to know how badly he'd been freaking out. Of course Remus was there, doing cartwheels on the turf while Janus sat and watched.

"I told you not to leave!" Roman said, marching up to the pair of them.

"You didn't," Janus said, smirking. Roman glared at him. In the sun, his scars seemed to fade for a moment, revealing only the slightest hint of… green? Roman shook his head. It must have been the light reflecting off the turf. Janus continued, "You only said to find a seat and not cause any disruptions."

"I was gonna release a cockroach onto the stage and see if I could get it to go up your pants leg," Remus said, falling out of a cartwheel and landing on his back. "But Janus convinced me not to."

"You're welcome," Janus said.

Roman couldn't help but stare at him. His scars flickered in and out in the sunlight, the dark brown of his left eye flashing yellow. "Remus, get behind me," Roman said, deadly serious.

"What?" Remus lifted his head. "Why?"

Roman didn't answer, stepping between his brother and Janus. "What are you?" he demanded.

Janus' eyes widened before a look of realization crossed his face. "I'm a friend," he said in a silky, almost crooning tone. "You can trust me."

"He's a friend," Remus repeated. "Why are you being so weird?"

A sense of calm slid over Roman for half a second before he snapped out of it. "What are you?" he repeated, stepping forward into Janus' personal space. Now that he was looking for it, he could see it clear as day: Janus was half-snake. His entire left half was covered in dull green scales, and a slit pupil neatly bisected the sickly yellow of his left eye.

Janus put up his hands. "You're stronger than Remus," he said, almost to himself.

Roman grabbed him by the collar. "You have 30 seconds to explain what's going on."

"Look," Janus said. "You know you're not normal, right?"

"Bad start," Roman said, making a show of cocking his fist back. He'd never hit anyone in his life, save the occasional thrown elbow in wrestling matches with Remus. Should he go for the jaw? The eye?

"You have an absent parent, you get in trouble a lot, you've been in a lot of one-off dangerous situations that you can't really explain," Janus rattled off like he was reciting from a memorized list. "You're dyslexic, you make things happen like magic. Stop me when this sounds familiar."

"Some of those things, maybe," Roman said. Remus was dyslexic and they'd both had their fair share of dangerous run-ins. Distantly, he thought he heard the overlapping thumps of several car doors shutting. "What does that have to do with you?"

"You aren't human," Janus said.

"You aren't human," Roman shot back.

Janus rubbed his forehead and sighed. "Okay, look. You're the only one who can see my real face, right? Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know!" Roman said. Distracted, he let go of Janus' shirt. "What are you saying?"

"I'm trying to say that-- Okay, you know what? Let's just rip the blindfold off like a Band-Aid, sure!" Janus gave a hysterical-sounding laugh. "You're a demigod. You're both demigods."

Roman scoffed, unsure of exactly what else to say. A million questions raced through his mind, punctuated by that slamming car door sound again. What was that, anyway? He backed away from Janus and nearly stepped on Remus, who grabbed him by the ankle and bit. "You can stop harassing my friend now, you neurotic weirdo."

"Look at him!" Roman said. He bent down and hauled Remus to his feet, and was immediately distracted by a mechanical-sounding hissing and creaking. "I'm sorry, does anyone else hear a broken washing machine?"

"Whoa!" said Remus. "You're a snake!”

"I am not," Janus said.

Roman spun around, still searching for the source of the noise. It came into view a moment later and he froze for half a second, eyes widening. "Uhh, guys?" he said, backing up despite himself. He kept his gaze locked onto the massive copper bull that was striding directly at the fencing surrounding the football field, radiating heat that warped the air around it.

"What the heck is that?" Remus asked in obvious fascination.

"Listen," Janus said, his voice strangely calm. In the corner of his eye, Roman could just make out Janus as he removed his backpack and yanked the gold Gemini keychain off the zipper. "You need to get to my car. It's the blue Kia Soul parked by the main entrance."

In the distance, the bull backed up and smashed its way through the fence with a horrible clanging sound.

"Is that thing gonna try to kill us?" Remus asked.

The bull meandered closer, looking as nonchalant as a massive metal bull could. Roman fought the urge to back up, to grab Remus by the hand and get the hell out of dodge. "Why isn't it attacking?"

"It probably hasn't seen us yet," Janus said. He sounded as calm as ever, but Roman didn't miss the frantic rise and fall of his chest. "Walk off," he said. "Slowly."

"What about you?" Roman demanded.

Janus spun the keychain around his finger. The metal gleamed in the sun and lengthened into something Roman didn't recognize: a long metal pole with a half-moon blade at the end. "I'll hold it off."

"You can't seriously think--" Roman started, but the bull looked up and started to charge and the words died on his lip as raw panic choked out his rational thought

"Run!" Janus ordered. "Blue Kia Soul. Meet me there!"

Roman shrugged out of his backpack, grabbed Remus by the wrist and sprinted.

"Are you crazy?" Remus shouted. "We can't just leave him!"

"No shit!" Roman shouted back, still dragging Remus along. "We need weapons or something!"

"Hurdles," Remus said, veering off to the side.

Roman nearly tripped and was forced to let go of Remus’ hand. He wanted to argue, but there was very little of potential use on the field. The tackle dummies and tires left out by the football team were far too heavy for them to move. The track hurdles were the only things even remotely useful. Remus grabbed one and started hauling it back toward the fray, and Roman was quick to follow suit. He didn't want Remus going in first if he could help it.

The hurdle was unwieldy and made his hands ache, but he barely noticed, too wrapped in not tripping while he watched Janus in a state of adrenaline-riddled horror.

By some miracle, Janus wasn't dead. In fact, to Roman's puzzlement, he sort of looked like he knew what he was doing. More or less. He held his weapon with confidence and kept his center of gravity low. The bull seemed to have no other strategy than to aim itself at a target and charge, allowing Janus to dodge every time. Unfortunately, it seemed he could only dodge, as the long handle of his weapon, whatever it was, didn't allow for quick maneuvers.

They were locked in a stalemate, and it was pretty much a guarantee that Janus was going to tire out. He was already breathing heavily, keeping his moments sparing and conservative.

Then Remus came flying in and Roman could only watch as his brother flung the track hurdle with wild abandon. "Die!"

"I told you to run!" Janus shouted, barely audible over the clanging of the bull kicking furiously to try to dislodge its back legs from the hurdle

"We'll run after we finish saving your ass," Roman said. The bull's head swiveled between the two of them, as Remus was still behind it, and Roman swore he saw a spark of intelligence in its molten-metal eyes. Without any sort of warning, it kicked Remus in the chest and took off at a dead sprint for Janus again.

For a split second, Roman was paralyzed. Remus hit the ground hard and rolled and lay still; Janus stood frozen with guilt written all over his face.

"Move!" Roman shouted, already formulating a plan. If he could get the hurdle underfoot while the bull was charging, it might trip, allowing Janus enough time to… stab it or slash it or whatever his weapon was supposed to be good for.

Janas sidestepped again and dashed forward. He glared at Roman, too winded to speak.

"I need you to draw its attention again," Roman said, glancing at the bull. It left deep gouges in the artificial grass where it stopped, and the rubber smoked from the sheer heat it put out. It turned and pawed the ground. "And I swear to God, if you let it get to Remus again, I will end you."

"Like it was my fault," Janus panted, already in motion. He backed up, careful to step away from Remus. Lacking any spare fabric to wave, he threw his free arm out and shouted, "It's me that you want."

He used the same silken, commanding tone he'd tried on Roman earlier. Roman made a mental note to ask him about that when they weren't in the middle of a death match.

The bull charged. Roman threw the hurdle. Then everything went to Hell.

The bull did trip as Roman had intended, but it had so much momentum that it kept thundering toward Janus as it stumbled and scrabbled for balance on the melting rubber chips. A wayward hoof caught Janus in the ankle and knocked him flat, practically right underneath its massive chest. He gave a shout and dropped his weapon, and Roman realized with a feeling of sinking dread that it must have been too hot to touch.

Well, there went that.

He needed a new plan and he needed it now. Already the bull was finding its footing and turning its fiery glare on Roman.

Roman charged it, feeling more like Remus' brother than he had ever had before. "Die!" He rolled forward and grabbed Janus' weapon, barely noticing the heat that seared into his palms-- He didn't have time for pain or panic. Spotting a crack in the metal plating on the bull's back, Roman aimed the blade and shoved. The bull shuddered and Janus shouted something, but Roman had no room for thoughts more complex than kill, protect, kill, protect. He shoved and shoved until the bull gave a final hiss and went still, until sweat poured into his eyes and he could no longer keep them open, until the metal shaft of Janus' weapon snapped under his hand.

"Remus!" Janus shouted.

That got Roman's attention. He left Janus half-pinned under the steaming body of the bull and dashed for Remus' prone form.

He was already starting to sit up and self-assess, touching the back of his head and studying his bloodied fingers with an unsettling blank expression.

"Are you okay?" Roman asked.

Remus blinked hard, stared at him. "Is it dead?"

"Yeah, it's dead."

"Where's Janus?"

Roman frowned and looked behind him. Janus had extracted himself from the wreckage of the bull and was kneeling and wiping the sweat off his face. "Remus is asking for you," Roman said, trying not to let his bitterness show in his voice.

"You broke my scythe," Janus said, not moving.

"You could thank me for saving your life," Roman shot back, half-forgetting Remus.

"That was my best weapon! Now all I have is this stupid knife."

"Are you coming over or not?"

"I can't." Janus glared at Roman. "Somebody dropped a two-ton Colchis bull on me and shattered my ankle in the process."

"But did you die?"

"Can you stop yelling?" Remus murmured, burying his face in his hands.

Roman stared at him, heart hammering with renewed fear. "Are you okay?"

"I just want to go home."

"You can't," Janus said. Roman glared at him, but he continued without acknowledging it, "It's not safe. The monsters know about you now. You have to come with me."

"And why the Hell would we do that?" Roman demanded. "You almost got us killed!"

Remus peeked over the tops of his fingers. "I don't think it was his fault, Roman."

"Thanks for the backup, bro." Roman rolled his eyes and turned to address Janus again. "Why should we trust you?"

The look Janus gave him could have burned a hole in titanium. "Hm, let's see. Who has all the answers? Who just tried to save your ungrateful ass? Think hard now, Roman, don't be afraid to phone a friend."

"I get it, I get it." Roman got to his feet, surprised at how stiff and sore he already felt. He extended a hand to Remus only to yelp in sudden agony when Remus tried to grab on. He turned his hands over and found both palms bright red and shiny with small blisters on the centers. He offered Renus his forearm instead, and steadied him as he swayed. "You okay?"

"Super," Remus wheezed. "Fucking peachy. I got kicked right in the tit by a steampunk rodeo bull and busted my head open on the single rock in this entire field of soft-ass rubber chips. Can't wait to tell Mom."

"Shit!" Roman said. "Mom!" Realization hit a moment later-- she was out of town for a few days at some big-shot surfing exposition, no kids allowed.

"She's in for a nasty surprise."

"Very nasty," Janus said, "unless your godly parent warned her ahead of time. Is anyone going to help me up?" Roman forced himself to compartmentalize. One thing at a time. Remus seemed steady enough on his feet, so Roman stepped over to help Janus up. He couldn't seem to put any weight on his right ankle and clamped onto Roman's shoulder when he tried to step away. "You have two options," Janus said, "help me walk, or grab my keys and bring the car around-- Oh." He looked away, horror dawning in his face, and Roman followed his gaze to see what he was staring at.

"Let me guess," he said, examining the still-smoking remains of Janus' backpack. "They keys were in there?"

"The keys, my wallet, miscellaneous demigod survival crap. You know, nothing too important."

"I'll go see what I can find." Roman let Janus drop, privately amused by the undignified cry he gave out upon hitting the ground.

Janus' black Nike backpack had melted and fused with the rubber chips on the turf. Roman poked the mess with the tip of his toe and found it cool enough to touch for short periods, so he knelt and did his best to sort through what was left.

The Kia keys had miraculously survived, although the remote was unusable and the lanyard was nothing more than a pile of ash and melted orange polyester fibers. It sent flames of agony all across his palms, but Roman managed to extricate the car key and a few strange golden coins. He ignored the remains of a few Ziploc bags, but examined the orange Hydroflask with a critical eye. It had a hole in it, but whatever it had once held had a peculiar smell that cut through the stench of burning rubber and made Roman feel strangely at ease. It smelled like fresh-squeezed orange juice, and he could have sworn he caught a hint of guava and vanilla, like the nonalcoholic punch his mom made for the kids when she was hosting parties.

"Take your time," Janus called, pulling Roman back to reality.

Roman flipped him off, and it hurt like his hand was on fire, but it was worth it. Now that the adrenaline was well and truly gone, he just felt sick and wrung-out, and not at all in the mood to deal with Janus' ill temper.

"Got the keys," Roman said, turning around. "And these weird arcade tokens."

"Those are drachma."

"That's funny," Remus said, in a voice that was still much too quiet and calm for Roman's liking, "I thought they were ligma."

"Oh my God," Roman muttered.

"What?" said Janus, eyeing Remus with concern.

"Ligma nuts!" Remus said.

After a long silence, that Roman supposed was meant to restore some sense of dignity, Janus said, "Good to know you're not dying."

"So are we leaving or what?" Roman asked, jangling the keys.

Janus nodded, and gestured for Roman to help him up.

Roman was sure they looked ridiculous as they hobbled across the football field. Roman, who was the least injured, had to support half of Janus' weight as he limped along, and Remus kept getting lightheaded and grabbing Roman's other shoulder for balance. At least Remus was able to carry his and Roman's backpacks, though it slowed him down considerably.

Roman was winded when they finally reached the parking lot, his shoulders and obliques screaming in protest at the awkward position he'd held for so long.

"Can you drive?" Janus asked when they'd reached the Kia and he could finally let go of Roman.

"Uh, I have my learner's permit."

Janus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Let me rephrase that: You're going to have to drive."

"Where to?"

"New York."

"New York?" Roman repeated. "Are you crazy? Why New York?"

"I'll explain on the way," Janus said, "but we really need to get out of here."

"Fine." Roman helped Janus into the passenger seat and then lifted Remus into the back so he could sprawl across the seats. His head had stopped bleeding on its own, but since they hadn't paused to apply any pressure, blood had dripped down his neck and dried on the collar of his shirt. "I don't suppose you have any first aid stuff?"

Janus yanked open the glove compartment and rattled off the contents. "Manual, registration, Taco Bell napkins, tire pressure gauge, plastic baggie full of mystery pills, novelty Medusa PEZ dispenser, Mapquest directions to the Lotus Hotel, titanium spork."

"Those are Aleve," Remus said, poking his head between the seats. "Can I have about 20?"

"You can have two," Roman said, snatching the bag of Janus' hands. His own fingers were stiff and clumsy and flared up with pain every time he tried to use them, but he couldn't deny the increasing compulsion to be in charge. He had to fix it for Remus, he had to make it better, he had to keep them safe--

"Like, now, or…?" Remus said.

"Sorry." Roman distributed the pills, then passed around his water bottle. "Okay," he said, struggling with the cap while Janus watched with a cool eye. "So, uh. Now I just have to drive to New York. With messed up hands."

"It helps if you get in the car," Janus drawled.

Roman said nothing, but as he walked around to the driver's side, he made a silent vow to hit as many potholes as he could.

"Road trip!" Remus crowed once Roman was seated. "Hey, Roman, how much money do you have?"

"I dunno," Roman said, trying to focus on backing out while only holding the wheel with his fingertips. "Like 20 bucks. You're the one with the backpacks, why don't you count?"

"I get to go through your stuff?" Remus asked, clapping his hands in delight.

"Just don't steal my good pens or I'll kill you." Roman put the car in drive and lurched forward.

"Accelerate with your toes," Janus said.

"No backseat driving."

"I'm not in the backseat."

"Keep running your mouth and I'll strap you to the roof." Roman turned up the radio before Janus could reply. He'd had enough; his hands hurt, his body ached, he was terrified. He couldn't deal with any more snark and attitude.

He took the on-ramp for I-75 North and started to sing, first to himself and then louder as traffic increased and he got nervous. In the corner of his eye, he could see Janus double-checking all their blind spots, peering in the rear view mirror, fidgeting with his seat belt.

It didn't help Roman's nerves any. He kept singing with the radio, privately grateful that it was already set to a pop station. He noticed two things at once as he switched lanes to let a bright red Maserati blow past him: First, a bone-deep exhaustion that left him so dizzy he nearly swerved onto the shoulder. Second, his hands no longer hurt.

He took one off the wheel and glanced at it, shocked to find the skin as smooth as if it had never been damaged at all.

"Did you do that?" Roman demanded, sparing a glance at Janus.

"What, make you hit the rumble strip? No, that was all you."

"My hands," Roman said impatiently. "They're better. Look!" He showed his palm to Janus, then to Remus.

"Lucky," Remus said. "I feel like somebody pushed me off a 69-story building."

"Nice," said Roman, unable to help himself.

Janus just rolled his eyes and turned back to face the road.

"So how about those answers now?" Roman asked, stifling a yawn behind his hand.

Janus nodded. "But no interrupting. If you don't believe me after everything you've seen, that's on you for being an idiot."

"Who said I was going to interrupt?" Roman said.

Janus looked at him out of the corners of his eyes. "Oh, I just have a feeling."

"We can be quiet," Roman said. He turned the radio off and sat back as much as he could without losing his grip on the wheel.

"Super quiet," Remus agreed. "Silent but deadly."

"Alright," said Janus. "The Greek gods are real. You're the children of one of them."

Roman pressed his lips together, determined not to make a sound. He kept silent as they continued to crawl down I-75 in rush hour traffic and Janus elaborated about gods and monsters and mythology.

It wasn't until the sun was well and truly down, until Janus had gone silent, until it was too late for it to matter, that Roman even realized he had been the victim of reverse psychology.

He scowled and doubled down on his vow to hit as many potholes as possible. Whether Janus was telling the truth or not, Roman didn't like him.

[camistired]

the peculiar one

chp. 1 // an emotional beginning

not edited

december 31, 2018

word count: 2671

song: alice by avril lavigne

—

On this particular humid summer day, I find myself asking the same question I always ask myself when I know it's not going to go anywhere good.

‘Why am I here?’

Four simple words that I usually used as an excuse to not move from under my comforter. Four simple words that I used to stay in room and read a couple of my mom's old journal entries. Four simple words that don't mean anything simple.

But today, they weren't going to do much and change my plans.

For the entire summer after I learned that I was able to attend public school again, I've been trying to work on getting a better habit of actually doing things and not being locked in my room. And today was no exception.

I lazily raise my head from the pillow and begrudgingly climb out of bed. I grab my towel off of my chair before trudging into my bathroom. I quickly strip from my sweats, baggy shirt, and undergarments before hopping into the warm water of the shower.

I don't know what I was going to do today. I knew that both Lila and Mar were going to be busy at work and the only person home was going to be Dannie, who usually minded his own business.

With a silent, frustrated sigh I began wash myself with body wash that was scented to smell like cherry blossoms. I don't know how or why I was attracted to the smell but I didn't do much questioning of it.

I stuck my head under the water, letting my purplish tinted silver hair get drenched with the pellets of the warm water. I wipe the water from my eyes, contemplating on whether to wash my hair or not. Deciding against it, I turned the water off and climb out into the bathroom. I wrap myself in my towel before walking back into the main part of my room.

I walk over to my dresser before pulling out a thin black and white plaid shirt, black jean shorts, and a grayish blue t-shirt. I started getting dress as I hum softly under my breath. I was slipping on my plaid shirt as three quick raps were heard at the door. I move to open the door to see Daniel, his face pale from the blood that drained his face.

“What's wrong, Danny?” I ask, slightly concerned for my brother. He quickly hands me his phone before running into his room, probably to get something.

I look down at the phone in my hands and look at the messages between him and Lila;

From Lila: hey, is Alex up? I've been texting but I'm not getting anything.

From Daniel: she's in the shower, why?

From Lila: it's about dad. his brain activity is working alarmingly unusual

they don't know if something is seriously wrong or if he's waking up

From Lila: hold on, let me call you

My breath hitches as I read the conversation. I quickly slip on a pair of high tops and practically ran down the stairs. Daniel was waiting patiently by the door ready to go.

I handed him back his phone as I turn to open the door only to be greeted with the face that I feel like is always judging me.

“Alice..! What a surprise... What're you doing here?” I force out in a cheerful tone. I never had much family that was around, and I should be greatful for Alice being here, but I feel like the person I read about and the person I see almost everyday is two different people.

“Lillian called and told me about Michael, so I'm here to take you guys to the hospital.” Her tone was strict and left no room to say no, but there was a certain tenderness behind it that would be hard to notice if you were anyone else.

I sigh, knowing I couldn't argue much with the woman in front of me, “Alright, come on let's go.”

She has a small victorious smile on her face as she moves towards the car.

I sigh and look at Daniel who just shrugs and skips towards the car. I roll my eyes and close the door behind me and locking it before getting into the back of Alice's car, seeing as Betty was sitting patiently and bored in the front seat. The engine roared as she switched the gearshift to drive and pulled out the driveway.

As we drew closer to the hospital the knot in my stomach tightened and my breathing sped up into quiet tiny pants. I look out the window to, hopefully, calm my nerves. And, unfortunately, the silence in the car isn't helping one bit. I silently prayed for someone to say something before we get there, but something tells me it isn't going to happen anytime soon.

I felt a small pat on my leg and I look up to see Daniel looking at me with some sort of assurance. I smile softly at him and I rub his shoulder to try and reassure him that I'm okay, but I can tell it does little to nothing to comfort him.

I felt my phone vibrated in my pocket and I pull it out to see it was from Jughead. My nerves calm down a little, but not much. I open the text from my best friend;

From Juggy: hey are you not at home?

no one's opening the door and it's

locked

From Lexi: wowow you show up my

house without notice? and think

you can casually waltz into it like

you own the place?

From Juggy: yea, cause i know you

don't care

From Lexi: what if i was in the shower, eh?

From Juggy: didn't your mom used to make us take baths together when we younger?

From Lexi: we were two and we dragged mud throughout the house. she didn't care at that point

From Lexi: plus we're OLDER now. we might as well be dating if you walked in on me showering

From Juggy: uh-huh

From Juggy: you know you love me

From Lexi: sure

From Lexi: omg, im going to die

From Juggy: im missing the picture here, you're going to die from what?

From Lexi: i can't tell. it's either this thick awkward tension or my anxiety

From Juggy: im still very confused

From Lexi: im on my way to the hospital but im stuck in a car with Danny, Betty, and Alice

From Juggy: alright, i'll meet you there

From Lexi: huh?

From Juggy: idk why you're heading to the hospital, but your stuck in a car with two people you don't know if they hate you or not, so that tells me that it is important

by itself alone

From Juggy: so, i'll meet you at the

hospital

From Juggy: don't know when i'll get there, so good luck until then

The car takes a sharp turn into a free parking spot and before the car jerks to a complete stop, I already had my seat belt off and was sprinting out of car and into the building. I stop myself from going into the room and stop at the receptionist.

“Hi, I'm just double checking, but Michael Nelson is still in room 22-C, correct?” I ask as she checked on her computer for the correct room number.

She nods and looks at me, “Yes he is, miss. Go right ahead.”

“Thank you so much, have a good day.” I rush out before heading down the corridor to the right room that I've been in so many times. I stop at the door and I contemplate going inside for a moment. My hand subconsciously raises up and grasp the door knob before I can even think about what was happening. It was at that moment, I knew I didn't need to think much longer.

I twisted my wrist until I hear the door make a soft 'click'. I pushed the door open and took in the sight in front of me. Lila was sitting at the end of the bed uncomfortable looking bed, her words falling silent in my ears as she talks to the man laying down, who was being covered by a curtain in the room.

I walk in the bland room, the door closing softly behind me. I stalk towards the bed to be greeted with a pair of pale eyes that I'm so used to be closed. My breath gets caught in the back my throat as a small gasp echos through the seemingly empty room. His eyes lock with mine and in a blur of a second, my arms are wrapped around the males neck and quiet whimpers fall from my lips as small tears fall from my eyes.

The feeling of his arms wrapping around my waist to return the embrace made me completely lose it; crocodile tears, full on sobbing, and clinging on to him tighter - scared that the moment I loosen the hold I have on him, he'll leave me again.

I hear the sound of swift footsteps entering the room through my crying as I let out all of my emotions on this one man that I thought I had lost for the rest of my life. The feel the bed shift and more footsteps before the door closes. I'm suddenly pulled closer and I'm, now, laying on the fragile man you seems to not even give a care in the world that I'm laying on him.

For a moment, I felt like the little girl who laid on her dad all those years ago;

“Daddy..?” I coughed out as the toxic smoke filed out of the exploded glass from our previously beloved family home. A younger Daniel laid on the grass, silently asleep and unhurt. My dad had a cut on his temple and was breathing heavily yet very, very slowly.

I laid my had on his chest hearing his faint heartbeat. I prayed silently that he'd wrap his arms around me. Even with his skin basically burned from the fire, he seemed cold as ice. And I did the only thing I knew to do at the time.

I screamed for my dad. But he was to far gone to reply.

I don't even know how long even been laying there, but I've eventually stopped crying and he started running his fingers through my hair. I felt comfortable when I heard the door open and close. I realized that I was probably being selfish and slowly got off of him, wiping my eyes. I look up to see that Daniel and Lila had walked in.

They look at me and smile genuinely at me. Lila looks down over Daniel and ushers him towards dad. He walks over to him and hugs his torso. I stare at the fourteen year old as the tension slowly eases from his shoulders. I didn't even realize that my sister was standing next to me until she wrapped her arm around my shoulders, making me jump a little.

She chuckles softly and looks at me, “Jughead is waiting out in the hall with the Cooper girls. Want me to let him in?”

I stifle my laugh at the thought of poor Jughead standing in the hall with Alice and Betty. Okay maybe being with Betty, not so bad, but Alice is pretty bad. I nod at her as she let's her arm fall and goes to get Jug.

I shrug my bag off my shoulders and open it and see the worn journal sitting in there from the last time I went out to Sweetwater River. I pull it out and examine the torn leather. I look up and to see Daniel talking to dad about whatever, but the look on both of their faces made me smile softly. I see a mop of midnight hair under a familiar beanie in my peripheral vision, making me smile a little.

I turn towards him and I feel a bit more relaxed, especially knowing that he's here to help even when I don't need to ask. A part of me even felt giddy that he decided to come here instead of go to Pop's or something. Maybe it's just the relief that he came here without me even saying anything or even asking.

Maybe.

He wraps an arm around me in a side hug, which threw me off slightly but I returned the hug regardless. It was comforting to know that he was still by my side especially since we've known each other's practically since birth and he hasn't gotten sick of me yet.

Dad looked up and greeted Jug with a smile. My best friend returned the gesture before sitting in a chair on the side of the room were on. Soon we caught him up on everything.

His face fell solemn after we've informed him that mom was still missing and that the sheriff's office said they needed to step away from the case. It was still open – barely – and if they found new information, it would be added to it. However, they said that years ago. If they, or anyone, doesn't find anything soon, I'm sure they are going to close the case and it'll be an unsolved mystery.

Suddenly Lila's phone started ringing. She looked at the screen and smiled softly before answering it, bringing the speaker to her ear.

“Hey, babe. How's everything at the shop go-? What?” I watch her movements as she went from happy and calm to concerned and frigid, “Mar-Marlene! Slow down, I can't understand you.”

She turned towards me and Jug before turning forward again, “Okay, okay... I don't think I can go down there right now, I'm here with dad. How about I send Jughead and Alexandria there instead, will that be okay? .....Alright. I love you. Bye.”

I look at Jug and he shrugs, just as confused as I was. Lila hung up and turned towards us, “Something happened down at Sweetwater River. I hate asking you two to go, but I have to finish up here, then help Danny to get back home and go back to the shop– it's just a mess right now and I need someone down there with Mar.”

She ran her hand through her dark colored hair as she avoided looking at the males behind her. The worried line creased in her face made me sigh softly before nodding to ease her mind a little.

“Yeah we can go.” I can see the relief wash ovee her as I stand up and shrug my bag back over my shoulder as Juggy does the same. She engulfs me in a tight hug, mumbling ‘thank you’ to me before letting me go.

I walk out of the room with the raven haired boy after saying ‘bye’ to dad and Dan. Not realizing that after I left the room that mom's journal fell out of my bag onto the floor of dad's hospital room.

As we trudged towards Sweetwater River, the sound of sirens in the distance made me start to worry with each step we took towards the river I've began to love to find quiet. As we approach, we scan over the people which seemed to be the whole town.

I find Marlene, who is hyperventilating away from the crowd. I tighten my grip on my bag and jog towards her, not really caring if Jug followed me or not. I place my hand on her shoulder and she flinches, whipping her head towards me before she physically relaxes.

“Mar, what is going on?” I ask softly, removing my hand from her shoulder as the runs her hand through her hair.

“It's the Blossom's. Something's happened to Jason.”

And it was at this moment, that I swore that history may have just repeated itself.

[commorsicoclub]

The Commorisco Club (6)

No actual Vore occurs in this chapter, but a lot mentioning of it, some light teasing, and a good amount of flushing out of characters’ personalities. 

Chapter Six: The Songbirds.

“I don’t understand why I can’t just walk...” Erin mumbled from Magnus’s arms. “Or are you gonna say food doesn’t walk itself back to the pantry?”  

There came a light chuckle from the demon who was carrying her. “I wasn’t going to say that, but you do make an astute observation,” Magnus replied in an easy going manner. “No, I was going to say that if I let you walk back yourself and one of the others were to happen upon you that...well. I don’t think that sentence needs expounding. That and do you even know they way?”

“No, but I mean...Well, walk me back, fine,” she retorted. “But let me do it under my own power. This is...kind of humiliating. On top of a lot of other humiliating junk I already have to deal with.”

She had not been looking at his face as she spoke, but rather she watched the giant hallway as they made their way back to the velvet room. Or rather the larder, as she had learned it was called. The scale of them made her acutely aware of just how small she was in this world. And the over the top ornate furnishings continued beyond Magnus’s office. Who they were trying to impress, she was not sure. Or perhaps they were just that wealthy. If Magnus’s word on the price he paid to have a “sample” of her were to believed, these Demons who kept her and her friends were, for a lack of a better term, loaded. Which would begin to explain the ostentatious wardrobe and jewelery. How did economics work in the Netherworld? Did they pay taxes? And they called themselves a club. So was their reservation at the Black Hole where they first met technically a business expense?

These were the thoughts that bounced around in her head, so that when Magnus arms pressed her upwards and she heard a suspiciously smug hum from him, she looked up.

“Oh,” he purred. Magnus’s face was very close to her and his eyes flashed violet as his tongue slipped out between his smirking lips to lick at her. “Are you referring to this?”

“DON’T!” She yelled, falling back to sink further into the crook of his arm and swinging out her leg as though to kick him and his tongue away. He tipped his head back with a highly amused chuckle just as her foot swung, missing him by only a foot or so. Erin was left red faced as she squawked indignantly at him. “You said you wouldn’t do that again!”

“Oh no, no, no,” Magnus replied matter-of-factually and held a finger up as he elaborated. “I think you’ll find I did not agree to that demand and informed you of such at the time. You can’t blame me if you only hearing what you want to hear, Erin.” She huffed through her nose, glowering at him all the while, to which he returned with a grin and a wink.

“You’re lucky they took my shoes,” she informed him as she righted herself. “If I had my cleats with me...”

Magnus made a face of disgust and shook his head. “Ugh, shoes. No thank you. They give me horrible indigestion.”

She furrowed her brows, confused. “But you said you’d never eaten a human before...well, before me.”

“What? You don’t think Demons wear shoes?” he asked bewildered and then for emphasis, jumped up with a quick motion with his feet and jostling Erin badly as she desperatlt clung to the fabric of his sleeve. There came a rhythmic clacking by the distinct tapping of his hard sole loafers onto the hard floor. “I realize your observational skills are wanting, but I am in fact wearing shoes. Very nice shoes, I might add.”

“Okay, fine,” she replied, trying to settle her racing heart. “Now how about the part where you let me walk?”

“While I do have much in the way of movement when it comes to my schedule,” Magnus replied. “I do have some business that need to be tended to and indulging your bruised pride would only delay that. I would take a mere two steps and have to wait for you to catch up.”

“I could run,” Erin offered. “I am a fast runner, you know. I was on the track team in high school.”

“Track team?” he asked, his interest clearly piqued. “What did you track?”

“Huh? No, not like that kind of tracking,” Erin laughed for what may have been the first time in several days. “We competed to see who could run the fastest or jump the highest.”

“You just ran?” Magnus asked. “Like in a circle?”

“No! We…well, the track was a big circle, but we did other stuff….”

She was interrupted but Magnus’s laughter and sheepishly, she began to try and think of a response when he shifted his grip on her from cradling her in the crook of his arm to holder her securely about the middle.

“Very well,” he said with a breathy chuckle as he bent down to place her feet first on the floor. “Let’s see these incredible speeds of yours.”

She looked down the hall; its long and seemingly endless length stretching out before her. She turned to look back at Magnus who just stared back with an open expression. Curious and expectant. Experimentally, she splayed her toes and felt them grip onto the hard surface. She was not sure if it was tile or stone or porcelain, but she could tell her shoe less feet would have excellent purchase. Almost giddy, she turned and within three steps, she was flying down the corridor. She felt the air trail over her shoulders and neck and brush her short hair back. The rush of wind in her ears was freeing and intoxicating…

“Erin!” Magnus’s call shook her from the grip of her momentary glee and she slowed and stopped, turning around to see the Demon standing only twenty or so feet from where she had first started running. He gestured to the very blank wall beside him. “You ran right past it, Pet.”

“What?” she asked, slightly winded. “But there’s no door.”

“Oh?” he asked in mocking bewilderment. With his pinky, he drew a circle onto the wall beside him and then a single line straight through it and the shape took form as a glowing rune. The wallpaper split and began to peel away in long gangling strips and as they fell to the floor, they evaporated like water droplets on a searing hot skillet until finally there was a door where one had not been before. A distinctive teal door. Finished with his machinations, Magnus turned a single eye to the human girl, the corners of his mouth curled in an indulgent smile. “Come now. In you go, Pet.”  

She made it two steps back towards him when she stopped, a sudden thought striking her like lightning. She could just turn and run. Run as fast as her feet had ever carried her.

“Erin.”

He would probably catch her, but she would give him a run for it and the idea tickled her brain in a very pleasant, almost vindictive way. She could take back a small bit of freedom, even if only a moment, have command over herself for a while until they forced her to comply to the role they forced her into.

“Erin.”

The idea of it had her heart ache with want.

“Erin.”

She jumped as the shadow fell over her and looking into Magnus’s face, she found the confidant smirk gone and replaced with suspicion and accusations all in one. The dull color of his irises pulsed a bright violet and she instinctively took a step back as he issues a single command, “Enough.”

She nodded in hasty agreement and knew she had made a mistake.

“I won’t have you making a fool of me, child.” She shook her head and braced herself when his hands descended with alarming speed to pluck her up and the sensation caused her head to swim with virtigo. In a few short strides, he was at the teal door and with his free hand, he reached out to grab the door handle, but paused. He shifted her so he held her aloft and in front of his face and he eyed her. Erin squirmed with unease, worried that she had crossed some line and was genuinely sorry for it.

“I’m sorry...” her words were barely above a whisper.        

“Where would you have even gone?”

“Nowhere, I just…I just wanted to run for a little bit.”

“There isn’t anywhere for you to run,” he told her. “Except right into someone’s gullet.”

“Please, I’m sorry,” she said. “Don’t be angry, I’m sorry.”

A frustrated sigh.

“I understand that you deeply dislike this,” he said to her, his voice serious and stern, but the steel had softened into something more admonishing. “But this is the safest place for you when you are not with me. Do you understand, Erin?”

She nodded.

“I need to hear you say the words.”

“I-I….understand.”

His eyes continued to stare into her for several long moments before he closed them with a sigh. “You’re a terrible liar,” he told her. “But it will do for now.” And he placed her back down on her own feet. She looked to him for explanation, her brow furrowing in confusion as he turned the brass handle and pushed the door open. He regarded her expectantly and gestured to the open doorway. “Well? If being able to walk under your own power is what you wish for, go on. I can allow you this small measure of indulgence. It isn’t much, but for now it is what I can offer.”

The tight wad of worry that had twisted up inside her when she thought she had angered him eased and she gratefully took his offer and scurried through the entrance, under her own power, and into the familiar velvet walls of the larder. She heard the clacking of his shoes follow her inside and the sound of the door softly closing.

Suddenly, Danny was beside her, gripping her arms and looking into her face with anguish. “Oh my god, Erin! Are you alright? You were gone for so long we started to think maybe they’d...”

It was then that Danny noticed Magnus and his grip on her arms turned fervent as he began to hastily pull her away from the towering demon and closer to the cloister of cushions and humans. Erin did not resist, clear headed enough to understand that Danny was simply panicking. He did not know what kind of a demon Magnus was, only that bad things happened when one was inside the larder with them. In a strange way, she thought it was very sweet of him to try and protect her.  

Mangus observed the boy’s reaction with a sort of amused befuddlement. “Curious. Tell me, if I had wanted to take her back, what would you have done to stop me?”

Danny pushed Erin behind her and it was then she noticed the way his whole body was shaking, but not from fear. Not entirely anyway. He was drained and weak and yet was still trying to keep himself between her and Magnus. Misguided, but sweet.  

“Probably couldn’t do anything,” Danny admitted behind gritted teeth. “But I know you won’t hurt me, either.”

“Oh?” Magnus asked, the sound of his voice like velvet. His eyes pulsed and he let himself slip into the look of a true predator with a hungry gleam and licking lips. “You do, do you?”

“Yeah,” Danny almost laughed. He looked delirious with fatigue and fear. “Because I know Archeon would kick your ass for it.”

“Ah. So you’re Archeon’s little treat,” Magnus mused aloud. The teasing predator act dropped and he was once more easy going and curious. “That explains it then. Well, have no fear. Erin is free of my malicious clutches for this evening.”

“Danny,” she said, grabbing his shoulder. “It’s alright. He didn’t hurt me.”

“He ate you,” Danny snarled. “That’s more than enough...”

“Erin, my pet, it looks as though I owe you an apology for my earlier remarks,” Magnus said amused. “Perhaps you have the normal amount of feelings for a human after all. Especially in comparison to this one.” He pointed to Danny. “Sit yourself down, child. You’ve barely enough energy to stand let alone defend her from me. And as I have already said: she is free of me for this evening.”

Danny’s legs answered for him and he collapsed hard on the floor with a curse. Erin grabbed onto him to try and help him up and back onto his cushion, but Magnus’s shadow fell over them and his hands were suddenly there, scooping the drained boy into his clutches. Danny cursed and kicked weakly at the fingers.

“You human never turn off, do you?”

“Put me down goddammit!”

“I am,” Magnus snapped back. “So stop wiggling so much or I might actually drop you.”

He sat Danny down onto a vacant cushion and let the little human huff and glare at him, clearly expecting something more to happen. Erin went to his side to try and explain, but Magnus spoke before she could.

“Has Gobbler been here to refilled your food stores?” he asked, looking around the room and spotting the munitions crate abandoned off the far corner.

“No,” James said tiredly from his own cushion. “We still have some left over from yesterday.”

“But they’re all the weird ones nobody wants to eat.” Michael added.

“And we have no water.”

“And no where to piss.”

Magnus rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Archeon was supposed to have all this handled. I told Rolland he would forget the details, but no...” He sighed. “Fine. I’ll have Gobbler come and drop off your rations. As for water and somewhere to relieve yourselves, I can solve that just fine.”

He went to the back of the room and pushed his hands around the fabric, seeming to be searching for something on the other side and he made a sound of triumph and pulled the curtains back to reveal a wide round hole in the wall made of opalescent teal tiles and beyond it, Erin could hear running water.

“Will that suffice?” Magnus asked, clearly pleased with himself. But when none of the humans save for Erin expressed anything close to grateful, or even acknowledged him, he frowned pensively. “Hm. I will speak to the others in regards to their feeding habits. It’s been many hours since they fed on you all and you’re still weak as wet sand.”

“Why would you care?” James asked, not even looking at Magnus and just stared blankly up at the ceiling. “What does it matter?”

“It does matter, little humans. It matter a great deal,” Magnus told them, his face brooding. “The chief reason being how irate Rolland would be to find our investments being neglected right under his nose.”

At the mentioning of Rolland’s name, Erin suddenly remembered Valarie and she searched the room for her. Her cushion had been pushed under the gold metal awning and she lay there with her back to all of them, curled in on herself and unmoving. Erin frowned, her heart breaking for her.  

“Heh. Investments.” Danny was saying lethargically. “Oh no! Better not let the food get too sad, fellas. Might makes them taste bad.”

James answered Danny’s morbid statement with a dark laugh. “Don’t want the meat to spoil.”

Erin remained quiet as she watched the exchange and she was very surprised to see concern on Magnus’s face. She wondered if it he felt concern for them as pure ‘investments’ or as people.

“I have work that I need to see to, but I’ll send for Gobbler,” he said, tuning his gaze to her. “Erin.”

“Uh, oh. Yeah?”

“Take care of them,” he said turning towards the door. “I’ll see what improvements I can make.”

“Magnus,” she called just as he would have slipped through the door. He paused to look at her. “Thank you.”

He smiled and inclined his head to her. “Until then.”

The last she saw of him was a pulse of his eyes, a teasing warning that he would be back. And probably very hungry.

……………………………..

It was less then five minutes later that Gobbler arrived, looking displeased as he waddled into the room and was mumbling to himself.

“Gobbler knows Gobbler’s works,” he grumbled. “Knows all ups and overs fer it. Gobbler ain’t be fergettin no meats needin’ feedin’. Too soon fer meat feedin’ anyhow. Meats just be sleep. Meats complain too much.”

The shorter demon hunkered down, opening his horrible mouth wide and another munitions box hurled out from somewhere deep inside the toad. It landed and rolled and stopped a few feet from Erin. Thick veins of mucus and drool pooling on the floor under it and she backed away from his in revulsion.

“Thanks, Gobbler,” Danny said in mock appreciation and gave a lazy salute. “You’re a gentlemen and a scholar.”

Gobbler paused when he would have turned and left. He stared at Danny, the folds of his face moving oddly and they pulled back into a...smile? It was a hideous and terrifying display of teeth, but he looked very much as though he were trying to smile.

“Meat say good ‘bout Gobbler,” he said in awe. “Gobbler bein’ happy meat say good about Gobbler. Master say to Gobbler that Gobbler take care of meat. So Gobbler take cares ‘a meat.”

“Oh...yeah. Cool. So, I don’t suppose you have anything else in there?” Danny asked idly, pointing to Gobbler’s rotund belly that made up most of his bulk.

“What meat be wishin’?”

Danny laughed sardonically. “ Oooh, so many thing. But...uh, how about a guitar?”

Erin could tell Danny was just messing around with Gobbler, but the odd expression on the little demon’s face gave her pause.

“Gee-tar?”

“Yeah, an instrument. It’s got strings and looks likes this,” Danny ran his fingers into the air in a vague shape of a guitar body.

“Meat wants a diddly-winkle?”

Danny suppressed a grin and nodded. “Sure, dude. I’d love one.”

Gobbler put his hands to his belly and began to poke and prod and his flesh as though searching through the contents of his guts to find a “diddly-winkle”. Then, he hunkered down just as before, opening his great maw and something that was decidedly not a munitions box flew from his throat. It sailed over their heads and Erin bristled as she saw it coming at her. She ran to meet it as it fell and reached out to catch it just before it smashed upon the floor.

It was a guitar.

She looked to Danny who sat there staring, wide eyed in disbelief. Erin winced when she felt the warm globules of Gobbler mucus slime up her hands and she shuddered. Oh this was a thousand times worse than Magnus’s drool. The guitar was intact and no worse for wear other than being completely drenched in the toad demon’s mouth excretions.

“Erin, let me see it!” Danny said, waving her over excitedly. She handed it over and grinned when the eager light in Danny’s eyes faded for a brief moment as his hands met the sticky drool. “Ugh.” He shirked off his hoodie and began to wipe away the wet from the instrument. Once he seemed happy with it, he sat it in his lap and his fingers went to the string, strumming. It made a clear and clean sound and Danny looked as though he were about to cry.

“Meat likes diddly-wickles?” Gobbler asked.

“Gobbler,” Danny said, looking to the toad, his eyes sparkling with pure joy. “You’re the best and anyone who says different is an idiot.”

  Gobbler’s yellow eyes opened a little wider in clear bliss. Erin supposed he had never received such a compliment before.

“Gobbler happy meats is happy,” he answered. “Gobbler come more to see meats is happy.”

“Oh, yeah. Meats is happy,” Danny said replied, his fingers incrementally making their way down the neck of the guitar as he listened and adjusted with each pluck of a note. “Meats is definitely happy.”

“Hey, Gobbler,” James called out, sitting up. “You wouldn’t happen to have like, I dunno. A portal back to the human world in there do you?”

Gobbler looked at James oddly and then grinned again in his odd and kind of terrifying way. “Ah. Meats got funny libbers. Meats is funny.”

“It was worth a shot...” James sighed as he eased himself to sit on the edge of the cushioned.

Gobbler left with a little more pep in his waddle and with a promise to come and see if they needed anything else later. Erin and James opened the munitions box using Danny’s hoodie to clean it up and they had expected for it to be filled with sandwiches again, but this time they were filled with boxes covered in delicate and beautiful paper like origami. Erin pulled a box out and unwrapped it. More asian characters she could not read stared up at her. Inside the plastic, she could see white rice, slices of some sort of vibrant neon yellow vegetable, and what looked like a small roasted fish.

“Oh shit,” James said, looking at the foods inside. “These are like those...those japanese lunch box things.”

“Bento?” Michael asked, sitting up abruptly from his bed like a daisy popping up from the weakened grasp of winter. His eyes were wide and hopeful. “Really?”

James looked over his shoulder at him. “How do you know what bento’s are, meat head?”

“My grandmother is half Japanese, fuck-wit,” he said, slowly making his way over to the food stuff. “She use to pack me a bento everyday for school till I was in 7th grade.”

“So can you tell us what theses are and which ones are gross?”

“They’re all fine! Most of it’s rice and meat or fish or...oh, wait. Not that one. That one’s nasty.”

James obediently slipped it into the reject pile. “What is it?”

“Stinky fermemnted soy beans.”

“Yeah, that’s a hard pass for me.”

“Save it,” Erin suggested, grabbing a bento and walking off to where Valarie was laying down. “Maybe Gobbler would like it.”

Valarie had yet to move or speak since Erin had returned and when she approached her, she could see that she was awake. Her eyes were listless and red. She looked utterly broken and she could hardly blame her. “Valarie? I have some food if you’re hungry.”

She didn’t acknowledge Erin at all and after several moments of silence, Erin placed the box near here Valarie could easily grab it. “It’s just here if you’re hungry.”

As they began sorting the boxes with Michael doing his best to tell them what everything was, Danny was happily plucking away at his new toy. He wasn’t playing much of anything close to a song, but contented himself with doodling about and warming up his fingers. Erin grabbed one of the bentos and walked over to him.

“Here,” she said. “It’s fried chicken.”

Danny blinked at her and then looked down. “Oh! Yeah, food. Cool.”

She sat next to him with her own box, rice with egg and some sort of seaweed salad that tasted mostly of sesame oil. They didn’t have any utensils so they ate with their hands.

“So,” Danny asked, mouth full of chicken. “Why were you gone so long? Did that guy like...keep you in his stomach longer than normal?”

“No actually,” she replied. “He barely drained me at all. I was in his office mostly.”

Danny stopped mid-chew to look at her. “Huh?”

“He said he wanted to find some kind of center to it. That he could drain me enough for him to be happy without leaving me sick for days after.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “Doesn’t that mean he’ll just come back sooner to gobble you up?”

“I...I don’t know. He said he ate before he came to get me. So he could try it and see if it made any difference. I don’t feel very tired at all.”

“Luck you,” Danny replied, taking another bite. He grinned suddenly, and said, “Hey, I’ll trade you for Archeon.”

“No freaking way,” Erin said. “That guy is your problem.”

Danny nodded with a sigh of resignation. “Yeah. So why’s he doing it? Your demon dude. Why not just do what they’re all doing, drain you till their full, and leave you alone for a while? Why worry about how badly you feel?”

“He wanted to talk.”

“...talk?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “He wants to know more about us. He’s curious.”

“So he’s a weirdo?” Erin snorted, covering her mouth and trying not to spit rice all over herself.

“Hey music man,” Michael called from his seat. “You gonna play us something or what?”

Danny stuffed the last piece of chicken into his mouth and chewed as he started playing some random bit of songs. Some she recognized, but mostly not, but it felt wonderful to hear the sound of the string. Once he has finished his food, Danny looked around to his audience and grinned. “Alright, do we have any requests?”

“Wonderwall,” James called.

“My Heart Will Go On!” Michael added.

“Okay, those are terrible ideas,” Danny replied and started into a rhythmic plucking in a very familiar way that then fell into a series of easy chords just as he opened his mouth and began to sing.

“Every time when I look in the mirror All these lines on my face getting clearer The past is gone It went by, like dusk to dawn Isn't that the way Everybody's got the dues in life to pay”

Danny closed his eyes as his hands began to strum harder at the strings, his knee jerking in time to the rhythm. He appeared as though he was gone from the world and the only thing to exist for him was the weight of the guitar in his hands and feel of the strings as his fingers slide down the frets.

“I know nobody knows Where it comes and where it goes I know it's everybody sin You got to lose to know how to win

Half my life

Is books, written pages

Lived and learned from fools and

From sages

You know its true

Oh!

All these feelings come back to you...”

As the chorus came in, James started to sing along and Michael quickly joined in. Erin mouthed the words, but the sound of all their voices practically screaming the lyrics made her smile wide enough to make her face ache until she didn’t care anymore and started belting along with them.

“Sing with me, sing for the years Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears Sing with me, just for today Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away...”

There was a cathartic release as the song continued, each of them not caring how off key or pitchy they were and as the song fell into the last verse of repeated “dream on, dream on, dream on” their volume grew to a fever pitch that Danny matched with each hard thrum of the chords.

“Dream on Dream on Dream on Dream until your dreams come true!”

Erin started laughing as the echoes of the last note hung in the hair and she could hear Michael and James and Danny all doing the same.

“Woo!” Michael hooted. “Damn that was good.”

Erin opened her mouth to agree and then stopped. Valarie was sitting up and eating slowly and with not a lot of enthusiasm, but she was eating. Danny noticed as well and suddenly was on his feet walking over to her. As he eased down to sit on the edge of the cushion, he looked at Valarie.

“Hey,” he said gently. “How you feeling?” She didn’t answer him and just put another small bit of food into her mouth, chewing methodically. Danny looked crestfallen by her lack of acknowledgment. He glanced at her and then put his hands to the guitar again. “Got any requests? If I know it, I’ll play it. No matter how bad the song. Whatever you want.”

Valarie paused and carefully placed the bit of food back onto her plate. Her mouth moved, but it was too quiet for Erin to hear, but Danny was smiling and nodding.

“Alright. G major okay?”

She nodded, never averting her eyes from her lap. The sounds of the guitar filled the room again, but instead of the energetic thrumming of a rock ballad, the notes he played were slower. Sadder. He looked at Valarie as he opened his mouth and sang to her.  

“Tell me somethin', girl Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more? Is there somethin' else you're searchin' for? I'm falling In all the good times I find myself longin' for change And in the bad times I fear myself...”

Danny looked at Valarie expectantly and when she made no move or sound to pick up the next verse, he sighed. But as he took a breath to start it himself, Valarie began to sing in a small voice. Unsure and unused.

“Tell me something boy Aren't you tired tryin' to fill that void? Or do you need more? Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore? I'm falling In all the good times I find myself longin' for change And in the bad times I fear myself...”

Her voice grew stronger as she sung and Valarie stared of into space as though singing to someone far away. She took a deep breath and with a voice of a trained soprano sang out the next verses, heavy with emotion and power.

“I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in I'll never meet the ground Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us We're far from the shallow now...”

Erin’s jaw dropped and Danny was grinning madly. Valarie had an amazing voice and in the back of her mind she remembered Danny say something about her possibly being a vocal major, but he hadn’t been sure. She left no one in doubt as she and Danny’s mismatched voices found a kind of harmony as they finished the last portions of the song in duet.

“We’re far from the shallows now...” Valarie’s voice drifted away and the room was silent until Danny made a noise of delight.

“OOOOOOh!” he laid the guitar down and put his hand on her shoulder. “Valarie, you are so freaking GOOD!”

She gave him a small smile, her pale face a little flusher as she blushed. “Thank you.”

“Why are you slumming it out in our freaking school? Why aren’t you at Juliard or something?”

“I’m still doing my prerequisite work before I go to an audition,” she said and then paused. All the joy in her face drained away and she sank back into herself. “Or rather...I was.”

Danny’s face fell and he nodded in grim understanding.

“I wanted to be an opera singer,” she said. “Ever since my parents took me to see Carmen when I was little. I wanted to be able to sing like that.”

“Carmen?” Danny asked. “Isn’t that about a prostitute or something?”

“Something like that.”

“Well,” he said. “For what it’s worth, I think you would have nailed that audition.”

She turned to him and gave him a grateful, if not forced, smile. “Thank you.”

The rest of the day Danny fiddled on the guitar and spent hours trying to keep it in tune. “I mean, for being in Gobbler’s guts for as long as it must have, it still plays great!”

They were able to coax Valarie out of her hole and eat with them and they spent their dinner trying the bizarre and unfamiliar foods inside the bento boxes. James even tried the fermented soybeans, but regretted it immediately as he began to spit it out and gagging on the lingering taste, which Michael found to be highly hilarious.

Erin took a moment to explore the tiled hole in the wall that Magnus had shown them. It took them a while for her to find it again as she pushed and pulled against the fabric, but once the blue tiled room opened to her, she slipped inside. It was colder than the velvet room with teal tiles covering every surface. There was a fountain at it’s center, a round pool with a small obelisk at it’s center made of white marble. Water poured from slits at the top that flowed down the sides of the obelisk and filled the  pool beneath. She went to it and drank deeply. The water tasted fresher than the tap water at home and she had not realized just how parched she was. She cupped some water in her hands and splashed it against her face, relishing in the cool sensation of water droplets on her face and clinging to her hair.

At least three days, she mused. Perhaps even four. They must have been there at least three days. And she was aware of how the clothes on her back itched. She’d been wearing the same pair of jean shorts and t-shirt the entire time and after two trips to a demon’s belly, she was suddenly desperate for a wash. Further into the room she saw another water feature of a long cascading wall of water that flowed from the ceiling and into another pool, this one much deeper. She stuck her foot inside and shivered. It was ice cold. But she was desperate. So she quickly stripped and jumped into the pool.

Every muscle tensed and she gasped as the frigid waters sucked the heat from her. She began to furiously scrub at herself and her hair, trying to clean herself as fast as possible. When she could not stand the cold water anymore, she hobbled out and with some difficulty, put her clothes back on. She stayed there, shivering, for a while and letting her mind go numb along with her extremities.

When Magnus has come to eat her, she had been so terrified. And though the knowledge that he would come again to once more feed upon her did stills scare her...he no longer did. Not in the same way. He had wanted to talk to her. Ask her things. He was curious and for a man eating demon, he was awfully kind. Much kinder than any of his fellows were. She felt bad for Valarie who had to give herself over to the worse of them. Rolland. He had tortured her before eating her, dragging it out, and demeaning her once he had her in his belly. And Valarie was so sweet and nice. She had feared for Danny in the same way, but seeing his eyes light up as he played his guitar, she had less fear for him now.

But Valarie…

…………………………………...

He lazily swirled his goblet, letting the last few sips spin around inside as he stared at his fellow Demon across the table, eyeing him with thinly veiled annoyance. “You want us to what?”

Magnus returned Rolland’s cool stare. “We should not be draining the humans to the degree that we have.”

Rolland scowled.

“We’ve already had this discussion,” Rolland informed him, his annoyance slipping into anger. “After the first feeding. And we have adjusted accordingly.”

“It’s not enough,” Magnus replied and Rolland balled his fist up. “They’re still far too ill and for too long after.”

“So tell me, Magnus,” Rolland said. “Why do I care how my food feels well after I have eaten it?”

The members of the Commorisco club were all seated in their places at the meeting table. The decanter of wine had made its rounds and was near empty next to Egan who was draining the last drops from his goblet and eyeing the remainder. Beside him Lyrna was nursing her own cup, eyes distant and unfocused.  

“That’s not the point I am trying to make,” Magnus replied, waving Rolland’s words off like a buzzing gnat. “We already knew these creatures were fragile. However, I am starting to sense something about our plans that may go awry. If we are not mindful of their delicate spirits, they may die. Far earlier than we could replace them.”

Rolland saw the looks on the others’ faces and saw concern. He growled, angry at their weakness, and drank heavily form his goblet till it was empty.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Rolland demanded of Magnus. “Of course I mean to break their spirits. That is what I do. They will submit as it is their place. If I demand this from my subordinates, why would I not demand it of my food?”

Rolland did not know if it was Magnus’s insistence that irked him more or if it was simply his face. Magnus was intelligent and ruthless in his other dealings, so why show such unnecessary compassion to these small, insignificant creatures. Their worth was their taste and as far as Rolland was concerned, it stopped there.

“If you play too roughly with your toys, Rolland,” Magnus said to him in a firm warning. “You are going to break them. Your little human, Valarie. She’s cracking already after only having to endure two feedings from you. She doesn’t sleep. She’s not eating. Kept up for a little while longer and you’ll no long have a human at all to keep your belly company.”

Rolland glowered at his friend. “Do not presume to tell me how to arrange and manage my human, Magnus. I don’t care that you coddle and spoil your own as you do, but I hold no such desires for mine.”

“It’s poor investment, Rolland. You must take into consideration these mechanisms that we did not foresee when we set this plan into motion. If we do not adapt, all that work and waiting will be lost and this little experiment of ours will be in ruined. And Archeon,” he said, turning his attention to the taller Demon sitting near the window. “You’re little Danny is showing cracks as well.”

Archeon just grinned, unconcerned and smug. “Then you haven’t been paying attention, Magnus. That tasty little ball of spite’s too stubborn to break. Which is why I like him. That and he wiggles going down.”

“I don’t want to hurt my little Michael,” Lyra pouted, seeming genuinely distressed at the idea. “He’s just so adorable and delicious. I did drain him maybe a little too much. I’m sure I could have done with less. I’ll try you suggestion, Magnus.”

“Magnus may have a point, Rolland,” Egan said, surprising both Rolland and Magnus as Egan and Magnus rarely agreed on anything. “They’ve got a spirit to ‘em. But they’re still only human. They’re gonna break under the pressure if we’re not careful. We can’t be going on treatin’ ‘em like reusable ghouls.”

“I’m not suggesting anything drastic,” Magnus told them all. “For the next few times you feed, see how little you can take and if it wasn’t enough, substitute a ghoul or two until you know where the line is drawn.”

Rolland stood up, angry now. “The humans are here so we do not have to survive off such vermin. After all that time and money, you tell me you want us to go back to eating floor scum? There is a larder filled with humans just beyond that wall. A literal treasure trove of culinary delight. Do what you wish with your humans, my friends. But you’re all fools.”

As Rolland swept though the door, Archeon called after him. “Where are you going?”

“All of a sudden,” he said, eyes narrow and glowing. “I’m feeling awfully peckish.”

.................................................

Author’s notes: Now, if you actually made it though this chapter, I bet you’re thinking “Why the hell did you do that cringy thing and put music into your story like that?” Well, because it was important to the story and to the character growth of both Danny and Valarie. I tried to make it feel organic and not feel like I just shoved it in. I’ll let you ll tell me if I succeeded or not.  

[darks-ink]

Absurdism Chapter 3

Danny and Jazz begin their exciting game of “share the POV”. Much like the braincell, it is almost always Jazz’.

Rating: Teen/K+ (a lil swearing, because teenagers, man) Warnings: - Genre: Family, Hurt/Comfort Additional Tags: Sibling Bonding, Family Bonding, Alternate Universe - Halfa Jazz AU, Jazz makes friends

[AO3] [FFN] [more Absurdism on Tumblr] First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

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Chapter 3: Two of a Kind

Danny stretched out, releasing a huge yawn, then bonelessly flopped back onto the roof he was lying on. Staring unseeingly up at the sky, he contemplated how he’d gotten here. Man, he really should’ve realized sooner that this wasn’t his Amity Park. Maybe if he had, he could’ve gone back through the Portal.

Despite his bluster towards Jazz—this Jazz—he really was concerned about how things were, back home. He was sure that Valerie could handle the ghosts, especially if Dani dropped by, but he hadn’t seen his cousin in forever. And Sam, Tucker, and Jazz might’ve been pretty good ghost hunters, perfectly capable of helping Val, but…

But they would be far too busy looking for him to be any help.

There was nothing he could do about it, though. He knew how rare natural portals were, and how unpredictable. It was nigh impossible for him to find his way back on his own, and convincing Frostbite to give him the Infi-map would be… well, pretty difficult, he supposed. He didn’t have any “Conqueror of Pariah Dark” titles to show off, not here.

What he’d told had been the truth, to some extent. If he was stuck here, he might as well make himself useful. Give her the guidance she would need; the guidance he wished he’d had, when he first started.

Of course he’d forgotten about all the potential downtime. Jazz had school, and even if Danny took care of most of the minor ghosts, that still left… a surprising amount of time. With how busy his life felt, he really would’ve guessed that ghost-hunting took up more time than it did.

Maybe the downtime just felt really long. It wasn’t like there was much he could do, after all. He couldn’t go anywhere in human form, because people might confuse him for this universe’s Danny Fenton. And he couldn’t go anywhere as a ghost, because people weren’t familiar with those. Not yet, at least.

That, and even if they were, it would probably involve his parents hunting him. And, uh, he wasn’t exactly jumping with excitement to get back to that. Hell, he hadn’t even gotten his real parents to quit hunting him.

His core stirred to life, and cold air wisped out of his mouth.

“Well, here we go again,” he grumbled to himself, pushing himself off of the ground. He glanced over at FentonWorks, but Jazz didn’t stir. Wherever the ghost was, it was outside her range. Well, whatever. He could handle it on his own.

He would almost be tempted to let it run a little loose, just to stifle the boredom, but it was too risky. That, and he and Jazz were trying to keep the existence of ghosts a secret for as long as possible. Letting some random animalistic ghost run wild wasn’t good for public morale.

A glint of light in the distance caught his attention, and he zoned in on it immediately. Metal, maybe? Not a lot of ghosts brought ectoplasmic metal with them, and surely it was too early for Cujo…

The connections clicked in Danny’s mind, and he hesitated. Skulker, of course. Maybe he should get Jazz. Skulker tended to be a pretty tough fight, always upgrading his gear.

But, oh.

Skulker upgraded his gear, from the moment they first fought. This Skulker wouldn’t have any of those upgrades. He would be 2.5 years behind the curve; he’d be a wimp compared to the Skulker Danny usually fought.

Danny tapped into his invisibility, then started a large arc, only vaguely in Skulker’s direction. He was pretty sure the ghost was employed by Vlad right now, assuming that the other half-ghost was Vlad in this universe. But Vlad wouldn’t know about Jazz—or Specter—just yet. Skulker was just following rumors, hoping to snatch a half-ghost as prey before his employer could find out. Danny just needed to show him how hopelessly outmatched he was, and make sure Skulker wouldn’t tell Vlad.

The hulking metallic ghost was crouched on a rooftop, his mohawk flickering in the wind. Danny hovered behind him, dropping his invisibility, but the hunter didn’t even notice him. Ha! Too focused on Jazz, it seemed.

Danny cleared his throat.

Skulker whipped around, the panels on one arm shifting to reveal an ecto-gun. Danny eyed the gun aimed at his chest with half-lidded eyes. He’d seen more impressive weaponry wielded by literal high-schoolers. And that wasn’t even counting Valerie or the members of Team Phantom.

“Sup,” he said instead, nodding at Skulker. “Having fun?”

The ghost seemed thrown off by Danny’s casual attitude, his gun faltering slightly and his brows drawing together. “Um. Yes?”

“Well, see, I don’t appreciate that much.” He crossed his arms, maintaining his hover so he was taller than Skulker. “She’s under my protection, you see.”

Skulker snorted dismissively. More panels opened up to reveal weaponry. Weak, outdated weaponry. That’s right! This Skulker hadn’t even upgraded his basic body with Tucker’s PDA yet. Oh, what a joke!

“Yeah?” the ghost challenged. The gun came back up, aimed at Danny’s chest—his core. “And what are you going to do about it, whelp?”

“See, I was hoping you would ask that.” Danny smirked at Skulker, releasing the tight grasp he’d had on his core. Volatile ectoplasm, as green as his eyes, started curling around his hands. Gathered in thick glowing balls of pure energy in his palms. His glow flickered brighter as more and more energy released from his core.

Maybe this was a little overkill, all things considered. But Skulker had been a pain in his ass plenty of times. Besides, better to release some of that pent-up energy on a target like Skulker, who could take it a lot more easily than the animal ghosts Danny usually fought.

“Oh, I see.” Skulker’s eyes narrowed as energy started building in his ecto-weaponry. “It’s a fight you want.”

Meeting Skulker’s eye, Danny grinned even wider. “What I really want is for you to leave this city alone, and refrain from telling your employer about the existence of another half-ghost, but sure, for now I’ll settle for a fight.”

Finishing his sentence, he formed a reflective shield in front of him, intercepting Skulker’s shot the moment it was fired. The ghost thus momentarily disarmed, Danny flung the ecto-glass at him.

Skulker spluttered, swatting the shattering glass away, and was thus distracted enough for Danny to grab onto him. His white gloves dug for purchase, before one hand closed around the strap of his shirt, and the other caught onto the edge of his pauldron. Eh, good enough.

Satisfied that he had a decent enough grip, Danny shot up into the sky, Skulker dragged along. The ghost struggled underneath his hands, but couldn’t get enough leverage to get free. Not until they reached a satisfactory level of height, and Danny let go of the ghost entirely.

“Whelp!” the ghost barked at him, jet-pack wings unfolding from the panels on his back. “What do you think you are doing?!”

“Getting you out of the public eye.” Danny shifted, new energy forming in his palms as easily as breathing. “Amity doesn’t know about ghosts yet, and I don’t want their first impression to be this ass-kicking.”

“You expect me to be fear you, just because of that little shield?” Skulker laughed, sharp and metallic, before raising his gun again. “Ha! As if.”

“Nah. But I’ve fought ghosts far stronger than you, man.” Danny raised one hand as well, focusing his energy into the single ecto-blast. “And certainly scarier, too.”

He fired. Skulker, unable to respond so quickly, took the blast straight on the arm. The gun was blown off entirely, the metal on Skulker’s arm blackened and smoking.

Before Skulker could pull out another gun, Danny followed it up with a few more shots for emphasis. Blew off the remaining guns, then froze up most of the wings holding Skulker up for good measure.

The ghost faltered in mid-air, his engines cutting out for a short moment. He glanced at his wings, then at Danny, who had barely even moved.

“I… see.” His voice was low, and he was clearly unhappy to be so clearly outmatched. “What… did you say you wanted, again?”

Danny snorted. “Convinced already? You didn’t even make me show off any of the really impressive stuff.”

He shrugged, ignoring the way Skulker’s eyes widened in surprise. “I want you to leave this city alone, and all of its citizens. If you must, you can come hunt ghosts here, but only after checking in with me, and if I agree with your prey. And you can’t tell your employer about the half-ghost you were hunting.”

Skulker remained silent for a moment, eyeing up Danny. Finally, he grunted, “You know of my employer?”

“Some,” Danny said dismissively. “I want to keep this city safe. And I’ve got the stinking feeling that if they knew about the existence of this half-ghost, trouble would come.”

“A fair assessment.” The metallic ghost thought it over for moment longer, angling his head. “And what if I do not follow these rules?”

“Besides the fact that I can clearly kick your ass in a fight?” Danny raised a challenging brow. “I can destroy your reputation in the Ghost Zone just as easily. You’re the greatest hunter around, sure, until everyone knows you’re barely more than a blob ghost. Small, soft-shelled ghost that needs a robot suit to hunt? Not exactly a huge threat.”

“I—” Skulker blew out a noisy breath—somewhat surprising to Danny, since he hadn’t realized Skulker could even do that—and shook his head. “How do you even know that? Fine, whelp. I will leave, and if I ever chase prey into this upside-down world, I will inform you of my presence. Good enough?”

“And you won’t tell your employer?” Danny pressed. “Or anybody else, really. Nobody who doesn’t already know.”

“Yes, sure, fine,” Skulker snapped back. “Her existence will remain a secret, or at the very least, I will have no role in revealing it.”

“Good enough.” Danny released the gathering energy, softening the glow of his body, and stuck out an arm in Skulker’s direction. “Pleasure doing business with you, Skulker.”

“Wish I could say the same,” the ghost grumbled, but he took Danny’s hand and shook it nonetheless. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”

“Sure, sure, of course.” Danny waved his hands at Skulker. “Go have fun upgrading your suit. But don’t break our deal, or I will know, and you will regret it. Gotcha?”

“Yes, I understood your threat already.” Skulker shook his head, flying off in the direction of FentonWorks—and the Portal. Danny watched him leave, then shrugged to himself, tapped into his invisibility, and followed Skulker.

You know, just to be safe.

---

“I feel like this is going to be come very confusing, very quickly,” Jazz admitted as she landed in the open space in the woods. Danny—alternative universe Danny—was already there, in his ghost form.

“Huh?” He blinked, clearly confused, and stuffed a phone into one of the pockets on his belt. “What do you mean? What’ll get confusing?”

“Just— this!” She threw out her hands for emphasis, trying to gesture at, well, everything. “I really appreciate your help, but, y’know. You’re Danny, but not my Danny, but that sounds so rude!”

He blinked at her once more, then snorted loudly. “Yeah, no, I get it. I’m having the same with… well, basically everything. Jazz, and your parents, and everything else. You can call me Phantom if it helps, though.”

“I don’t know…” She grimaced, shifting her feet uneasily. “That just feels… rude, I guess? It’s basically your last name, isn’t it? Phantom?”

“It’s my ghost name. Sam and Tucker use it all the time as well, when I’m in my ghost form.” He floated a little closer, then shrugged almost dismissively. “Plus, you’ll have to get used to it anyway. When we start making our public appearances, we’ll have to call each other Specter and Phantom anyway.”

Right. She supposed he had a point there. “I guess so. Will you start calling me Specter, then?”

“If you want me to.” Danny landed as well, his boots touching down on the grassy soil. “I don’t mind either way. I’ve gotten used to switching between that kinda stuff really quickly, with Red and all that.”

“Uh huh…” There was the mysterious ‘Red’ again. “Speaking of this mysterious Red, you mind telling me a little something about them? And Danielle, as well, since you apparently trust those two to help keep your Amity safe? Could they help here, too?”

He made a face. Guess not. “Eh, I don’t know, Jazz. Not now, that’s for sure. It would be better to focus on training your own powers for now, and I’ll keep an eye on those two just in case. Okay?”

“Sure, sounds good.” She shrugged, but made sure to remember that. Whoever they were, they must’ve gotten into the ghost hunting business after Danny. Strange, though. Were they half-ghosts as well, or regular ghost hunters? Maybe one of each? Red could be a ghost name, since most ghost hunters seemed content with using their own. Danielle… Ignoring the close resemblance to Danny’s name, she could be a regular ghost hunter.

But, if Danny wasn’t interested in following up on their existence, she was willing to drop it as well. For now. Her own powers still needed plenty of work, although she’d be perfectly happy just to get these few under control.

“How about we start with some basic control?” Danny asked, suddenly, snapping her out of thoughts. “I remember that that was one of the things I struggled with most, after the accident.”

“Yeah, uh.” She laughed, a little embarrassed. “That would be nice.”

“Thought as much. Do you have any preferences?”

Reliable flight was nice, of course, for travel. Invisibility was mostly annoying when it activated when she didn’t want to; she couldn’t think of any situations where she might normally use it. Most problematic of all, though…

“Intangibility, for sure.” It was not only the most annoying, it also activated most of the three basic powers, and it could be really tough to cover for. “I’m so done with dropping things.”

This startled a laugh out of Danny. He lifted off of the ground again, floating in closer. “Oh, yeah, I know your struggles. Have you gotten in trouble with school yet, for dropping so much glassware?”

“No?” She frowned, mentally prodding her core a little. Were warm-ups a thing for ghost cores? Did shifting into ghost form count as warming it up? “I try not to handle the glassware too much, just in case. Why, is that a thing I need to be cautious of?”

“Nah, sounds like you’ve got it handled already.” He flapped a dismissive hand. “I dropped so much glass during my first month that the school banned me from handling it anymore, but it sounds like you were smarter about it. Still, intangibility first?”

“Uh. Yeah, please.” She clenched and unclenched her fists a little, unsure of how to proceed. “And, um. Dan— Phantom. Do we need to do some kind of… warming up, or something?”

“What, like when you’re going sporting?” He frowned, then dropped the face and shrugged. “Not really? Using your powers is easier while in ghost form, but your core is active all the time. You don’t need to warm-up your brain when you’re gonna start thinking, right? It’s always doing its thing.”

“But aren’t powers more like muscles? Aren’t we training them?”

Almost immediately, he shook his head. “Nah. I mean, a little, but not really. We’re gonna work on your connection with your core, mostly, since that’s where your power malfunctions are coming from. Your core has the powers ready, but you’re not used to using it.”

She narrowed her eyes, but he seemed certain of his answers, and, well. She had no way to disprove him, did she? “And new powers? Building stamina?”

“Both will come with time. Your core is still new, and young. It needs time to grow and stabilize. Using your powers will guide it in a certain direction, which is why training will help you develop new powers sooner. And using them more will help you build stamina faster, since your core will focus more on developing it.”

“I… see.” She prodded the core again, mentally. It stirred, easily. Was that just the trick to controlling her powers? Getting better at communicating with this new part of herself? “So how are we gonna train that?”

Danny’s expression grew sheepish. “Well, mostly I figured you could just work on your powers here, where no one would notice. Like I said, control comes from practice, and I can’t really help much with that.” He shrugged. “Besides the assurance that you won’t get hurt, of course.”

Jazz shot him an unamused look, but he ignored it completely.

“So, anyway, wanna start with intangibility? I’ll be here to make sure you don’t get stuck phasing through something.”

“That’s a possibility?” She blanched, throwing a quick look downward at the ground. She hadn’t even known that it was possible for her to get stuck!

“Well, it’s never happened to me, since I’m pretty sure you retain intangibility by reflex if you’re partially phased into something…” Danny shrugged. “But now you can be sure that it won’t happen to you!”

“You’re a terrible teacher! Now you’ve gone and made me scared of something I didn’t even know I could be scared about!” She combed a hand through her hair, aggravatedly. “Honestly, Danny!”

“Uh, whoops.” He shot her a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was pretty scared of accidentally getting myself stuck, so I figured the same would go for you. Sorry.”

“Honestly,” she grumbled, half to herself. “So far the only useful thing you’ve done to help is deal with all those other ghosts.”

Danny laughed, clearly still a little unsure of himself. “That’s fair. This basic stuff, I can’t help with, not much. But once you’ve gotten better at it, I’ll be able to teach you all kinds of stuff. Like this!”

His fists lit up, suddenly, bright energized ectoplasm balling around his hands. Like the blasts from an ecto-gun, except that he was forming it himself.

“Pretty cool, huh? But if you’re not too big on fighting, you can use it defensively as well.” He swept his hands out, and the ectoplasm following, forming a hollowed-out ball around him. “See? We’ll spend a lesson or two on control, but after all, I’ll help you with new stuff.”

Well, she wasn’t above admitting that she’d been convinced. “What if I work on control at home, and we start on that stuff next time? Shields could be really useful.”

“Hah, uh, I guess?” The shield broke apart again, and Danny shrugged. “I mean, I usually dodge hits instead, since that costs less energy. But ecto-blasts are a pretty basic technique, so we can start on that next time, if you really want to. But! You’ll need to have a good amount of control already. Your core is essential for that.”

“Isn’t my core always essential?” she asked dryly. “Since it’s, you know, the center of my ghost powers?”

“You know what I mean.” He stuck out his tongue, and she stamped down her reflex to do it back. No matter how much like Danny he was, this wasn’t her brother. It was unfair to all of them to pretend otherwise.

Besides, if she was going to protect this town, she had to be a hero. No, not just a hero. The hero. Mature and an icon for the town to look up to. Not just a kid.

“But you want to get going, then?” Danny said, snapping her out of her thoughts again. “Since you said you wanted to work on your control at home?”

“Uh, yeah. If that’s… okay with you?” She twirled a strand of her vividly purple hair, still unused to its color—and the way it wisped. “Plus I kind of… need to clean the lab?”

“I’m not gonna force you to keep my company if you can’t or don’t want to, Jazz.” Danny met her eyes, the bright green barely hiding the sadness in them. “Go, then. I’ll be around when you’ve ready for the next lesson.”

“Right…” She scuffed one boot on the ground, but, well. She had committed, now, no matter how distressed Danny seemed. Besides, there was nothing she could do for him. “Well, thanks, anyway. For this, and for helping me with the ghosts.”

“Of course.” He cocked his head at her. “You’re my sister, Jazz, even if this is a different universe. Stay safe, okay? Cleaning the lab is always a nasty chore for a half-ghost.”

“I’ll be careful,” she assured him, before turning around, ready to fly back home. Then she paused, glancing back over her shoulder at him. “You be careful too, alright? Just because you’re not my Danny doesn’t mean that I want you to get hurt, either.”

“I promise.” He smiled at her, and she could almost pretend not to see the sadness in it.

She nodded to herself, finally pushing herself off and into the air. He’d be fine. Danny—Phantom—had been half-ghost for over two years. He could take care of himself.

But he just looked so lonely, here.

---

“What is this even supposed to be?” Jazz wondered out-loud, carefully lifting one of the half-assembled inventions in the lab. She was just about done cleaning the lab, anyway. She could afford the distraction. “Some kind of vacuum?”

Her core pulsed in her chest, and for a brief moment, she worried that she had somehow turned the invention on. But then cold air wisped from her mouth. Heaving a sigh, she turned around, towards the Portal.

Its green surface was flat, undisturbed. Ectoplasm swirled, like it was held back by an invisible barrier.

Suddenly it parted, a single humanoid ghost coming through. Green skin and oversized green gloves, a white coat with a humongous collar, and some of the wildest hair she had ever seen. Square glasses blocked the ghost’s eyes, so she couldn’t tell the color. Not that it was a big deal, but still.

“Uh, hey,” she greeted the ghost, putting down the ghost-vacuum-thing. “You’re not here to cause trouble, are you?”

“I am Technus!” the ghost retorted, pressing one hand to his puffed-up chest, “And I’m the master of all technology!”

“Okay, cool. Good for you.” She narrowed her eyes at him, nudging the vacuum-invention behind herself. “That didn’t answer my question.”

Technus narrowed his glasses—or glass-like eyes, she supposed—at her. “What does it matter to you? All technology is mine, anyway!”

“No it’s not! I won’t let you steal in this city!” She stood up, puffing herself up as well. “Either you go back into the Zone, or I’ll make you!”

“Hah! You’ve got nothing on me! Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping! And you! You are just a puny human!”

Jazz growled, her core eagerly stirring to life. Energy crackled over her skin as she shifted into her ghost form, casual clothes replaced by her purple jumpsuit.

“Ah, well—” Technus shifted, clearly thrown off. “No matter! Adios!”

And before she could stop him, he darted upwards, phasing through the ceiling of the lab.

“Hey, hold up!” She shot after him, phasing through the house. For a moment she was afraid that she had lost him, but then she caught sight of him again. Speeding towards the city, faster than she thought she could fly. Dammit!

Pushing herself to her max speed, she raced after him. He wasn’t all that fast, sure, but neither was she!

Technus slowed down soon enough, apparently distracted by an electronics store. Jazz finally caught up with him when her ghost sense went off again. She cursed, already turning to look for the other ghost, when Danny came to a halt next to her.

“Sorry, I was still in the woods. What’s up?”

“Some ghost named Technus.” She gestured over at the ghost, reaching for the Thermos on her belt. Yes, it was there, thank goodness. “He got away from me before I could shove him back through the Portal.”

“I’ll deal with him, he can be a bit of a pain in the ass.” Danny’s expression was serious for once, clearly focused on their strategy. “I want you to make sure he doesn’t get access to any of the tech around here. He’ll be able to possess it, and that’ll make him way stronger.”

“And we don’t want that. Got it.” She nodded, then dove down. It wouldn’t be a particularly hard thing, she figured, since Danny would be fighting Technus and thus distracting him. And it would give her a perfect opportunity to watch Phantom use his powers to their full extend, to watch him fight for real. Snapping up the occasional animal ghost didn’t count.

She had just lowered herself between Technus and the store when Danny followed her lead. Except, unlike her, he just straight-up tackled Technus.

Danny hit the full ghost like a meteor strike, hitting him at speeds she didn’t realize he could fly at. Somehow her not-quite brother stopped before either of them hit the ground, halting so suddenly that she was amazed he didn’t snap his neck.

Suddenly electricity lanced through the two brawling ghosts, crackling over Technus’ body, forcing Danny—Phantom—to distance himself again.

“I am Technus! Master of all things electric and zappy!”

“Oh, shut up, will you?” Phantom snapped back, a green ecto-blast forming in his fist. “I’ve heard it before!”

Technus opened his mouth, but before he could reply, the blast hit him. The ghost went flying down, crumpling onto the asphalt road. Not hard enough to cause serious damage, though, she was surprised to note.

Phantom shot down after him. Landed on Technus and pressed him back down when the ghost tried to get up.

“No, you stay down and listen,” he growled, aura flaring bright. “Here’s what we’re gonna do, okay? You go back to the Zone, and you’re gonna cool off. If you ever decide you can come here without stealing anything, or causing any other sort of trouble, you can come talk to me. Understood?”

“And if I don’t?” Technus narrowed his eyes, spectral tail lashing. “What if I leave, and come back unnoticed?”

“I’ll know.” Phantom leaned in close, eyes glowing brighter. “Trust me, you don’t want to find out. Leave, Technus, or I won’t ask so nicely.”

Then he let go, floating away from the previously pinned ghost. Technus looked between him, then her.

“Fine,” the ghost finally said, clearly begrudgingly. “Even I, Technus, know when I am outmatched.”

“Just go already,” Phantom snapped at him, and Technus flinched away, closer to her. “Specter, mind escorting him back, so we’re sure he’s not getting away?”

“Yeah, sure.” She waved a hand in the direction of home. “Come on, get going. We don’t have all day.”

[justallamaimaginingthings]

Hey I was wonder if you could write something about being Robert Baratheons daughter (not wanting the throne) and falling in love with Jorah? I love you and your writing btw

A/n: Thank you so very much!! Hope you like it! Please feel free to request anything else and/or leave a comment

Words: 1760 (I’m a hoe for Jorah fluff eheheheh)

Jorah had heard of the Princess who fled. She was Robert Baratheon’s only daughter from his first marriage to Mariah Martell, who disappeared shortly after Robert sat on the Iron throne and married Cercei Lannister. No one had seen her or heard from her ever again and most people assumed she was dead, Jorah being one of them. After all what else would they think? She was just a young girl when she run away, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

You were Y/n Baratheon and you were very much alive despite the rumors. You loved your father more than anything, him being the only family you had as your mother had died in childbirth. Things started to go wrong when he became king. No matter how much you loved him, there was no denying he’d make a terrible King. You tried to talk some sense into him but he wouldn’t listen to you. His soon-to-be wife knew you would get in her way of controlling Robert, so she formed some ridiculous charges against you which people didn’t have a choice but to believe. That’s when you knew you have had and enough, so you ran away and never looked back.

Thirteen years later, you had earned your place in the khalasaar as a valued and respected warrior. Over the years you had become friends with Khal Drogo, considering you were around the same age when his father took you in.

Being one of his closest friends and almost family, there was no way you’d miss his wedding day. Finally the ceremony was over and the gifts were presented to the couple. You saw a man with dirty blonde hair giving his present to Drogo’s wife, Daenerys, and smirked at his boldness. Drogo glared at him but he didn’t seem to care. He bowed and turned around to take a seat next to Daenerys’ brother. After they were done talking you decided to try and strike a conversation with him.

“That was a bold move, you know” you said startling him

“My gift was meant for a Targaryen” the mysterious man replied, not taken aback by your observation.

“Try explaining that to the Khal. He didn’t look very pleased” you continued causing him to let out a light chuckle

“It’s rare to meet a Dothraki who speaks the common tongue” he noted

“Actually, I’m not from here, same as you, may I guess”

“Jorah Mormont” he introduced himself

“Keira Rivers, but the Dothraki call me Eyelli” you said smiling at him. For some reason you felt bad lying to him, but you knew you couldn’t tell him your real name. Only two people knew your true identity and one of them was dead. You spent the entire night talking and sharing your adventures. By the end of the night you were sure you had made a new friend and you had a good feeling about him. Who knew, maybe one day you could tell him the truth.

As time passed you got to know Jorah and soon you became close friends. He told you about his adventures after he was forced to leave Westeros. You told him as much about yourself as you could without revealing your identity. At first you did it because you weren’t sure if you could trust him but after a while you were certain he could keep your secret if you asked him to.

Meanwhile you had been assigned as Daenerys’ personal guard which only resulted in getting closer to her. Your friendship bloomed fast and she was the first to know your real name. You expected her to get angry or see you as her enemy but she didn’t.

After two weeks of riding you finally made camp and you were talking with Daenerys in her tent.

“You know at some point he will figure it out. It’s better to hear it from you than find out himself” Daenerys had been trying to convince you to tell Jorah the truth for a while now, but you always managed to cut the conversation short.

“He’s probably going to hate me, Danny. I’ve been practically lying to him since day one. He doesn’t even know my real name” you exclaimed trying to underline the seriousness of the situation.

“Just talk to him, Y/n. He’ll understand” you opened your mouth to say something when you heard someone clearing their throat. You turned around only to see Jorah staring at you. He had been looking for Daenerys in order to update her of the khalasaar’s situation but had unintentionally ended up listening part of your conversation.

“I’ll leave you to talk” Danny excused herself and got out of the tent. At that moment you wished you could disappear. A feeling of pure dread and panic was flooding your senses and it took every inch of determination in you not to run away. You looked everywhere but at him, when you heard him approaching.

“How much did you hear?” You asked even though you were afraid of the answer.

“Enough” he answered and took another step closer to you.

“I know I should have told you, I’m sorry-”

“Why didn’t you?” He asked. You were afraid he’d be mad, but his voice was completely void of any emotion and that was even worse.

“I was scared. I know you pretty much hate my family and I didn’t want you to hate me too” For a moment Jorah looked at you confused. You had never mentioned your family, how could you know that he hated them? That’s when it clicked. Daenerys had called you Y/n. Y/n Baratheon, the princess who fled. Everything made sense to him then, your knowledge of Westeros, the ladylike manners you were trying so hard to conceal and most of all your secrecy. “Please say something” you said in the verge of tears. You had become so attached to the exiled Knight that the thought of him hating you seemed unbearable.

Even at that moment, you couldn’t help admiring his features. His eyes were a mesmerizing shade of blue. He may have a few lines in his face but he was definitely one of the most handsome men you had ever met. You scolded yourself for thinking like that in such a moment. He was your best friend after all, right? Your thoughts were interrupted by Jorah’s voice.

“Princess” he said bowing.

“Jorah, please. I’m the same person you know. I don’t want anything to change between us” you pleaded placing your hand on his cheek.

“You are a member of the royal family, your grace” he stated. That was one of the reasons you had left in the first place, so people would treat you normally and not like you were different than them. You flinched at the title and backed away.

“Fuck the royal family. We’re not in Westeros anymore. Nobody cares about my last name here. Hells, that’s why I left in first place, I can’t let my fucking name take the best thing that’s happened to me since I left. I can’t lose you” by the end your voice was less than a whisper. Jorah looked at you taken aback by your sudden outburst. He wrapped his arms around you pulling you into a hug. You rested your head on his chest and sighted.

“You won’t lose me” he said kissing the top of your head. At that moment you felt happy for the first time since you arrived in Essos. You knew there was no point denying it, you were in love with your best friend.

Extra

After finding out the truth about your identity, his attitude towards you didn’t change one bit, except from the fact that he started to call you “Princess” which you hated and loved at the same time. The title had shifted from a formal address to a friendly nickname and you were more than thankful for that.

As time went by he found himself more and more attached to you. Usually he was very reserved and closed to new people but you had earned your place in his heart with your witty and kind personality. The place of a friend, or at least that’s what he told himself. Back in Westeros Jorah had been married twice, but never been in love. Both marriages had been arranged and broke off rather quickly. That was one reason why he was having a hard time figuring out what he felt about you.

You made him happy, that was certain. However he knew a woman like you would never consider him anything more than a friend. Deep down he knew he was afraid. Afraid of letting you get close to him and then hurting you, afraid that he wasn’t good enough for you.

So, he called you his friend even though you acted like husband and wife. You’d spend most of your free time together and when one of you were busy the other would always help, you always rode side by side while traveling, when the khalassar made camp temporarily you’d share a tent or sleep next to each other and when it got cold at night he’d offer you his cape. Winter was coming and a light change in the weather was obvious. That night happened to be extremely cold making you shiver in your sleep. Jorah being the gentleman he is, took off his cape and covered you with it.

“Jorah is that you?” You mumbled in your sleep

“Just go back to sleep princess” he replied. You didn’t know if it was the cold or the mindlessness of being half asleep but you scooted over to him. He froze when he felt how close you actually were.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s cold” you replied before falling asleep. He didn’t want to move in fear of waking you up again but at some point he had to. His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest only for it to melt when he felt you snuggling up to him and resting your head in his chest.

“What am I going to do with you?” He whispered at he placed an arm on your waist. Jorah didn’t sleep much that night. He was preoccupied with thoughts of you, from the day he met you, when he found out who you were and how things were after that. The sun had almost risen when his eyes closed and he finally fell asleep. He couldn’t deny it anymore, he was in love.

[blueboxesandtrafficcones]

The Drunken Lie

Hello!  By popular demand, this is a sequel to ‘The Sober Truth’.  T rating.

Thank you for reading!

--

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ellie rolled her eyes, following Hardy up the path to his front door as they bickered.  She’d entirely lost the thread of the ‘discussion’, more focused on disagreeing with him for the sake of riling him up.  While once it would have been for the enjoyment she got from listening to him rant and rave in that Scottish accent, now it served a...  better purpose.

She licked her lips.

“All I’m saying is,” he snarled, yanking open his sliding door, “don’t make promises I have no intention or interest in keeping!  Just because you’ve got a bleeding heart-”

Hardy cut himself off, staring inside the door at his house, and she frowned.  Leaning to the side she peeked around him, smiling even as her heart fell, their plans evaporating into smoke.  “Daisy!  What’re you doing here?”

Nudging her stunned partner out of the way she bustled inside, greeting the girl with a well-received warm hug.  The teenager had cut and dyed her hair since the last time she’d been back to Broadchurch, and Ellie admired the short, straight, fluorescent pink hair.  “This looks lovely!”

“Thanks, Ellie,” Daisy grinned, raising a curious eyebrow at her father.  “I’m trying not to be insulted by how disappointed you are to see me, Dad.”

“Of course I’m happy to see you,” he recovered, hugging her close and shooting Ellie an apologetic look when his daughter couldn’t see.  “But, erm, why are you here?”

He led her to the couch, Ellie dithering in the doorway, unwilling to interrupt but sorry to lose, among other things, her dinner date.

“I… needed a favor.  From both of you,” Daisy added, when Ellie moved to leave.

“Anything,” she promised, perching on the arm of the chair while Hardy settled next to his daughter.

Hardy shot her an exasperated look of warning, before turning his gaze on the teenager.  “Are you in trouble?  Or… trouble?”

“What?  No!  And, no!  Dad!  Jeez,” Daisy complained, crossing her arms and glaring at him.  “Come on!”

“I just… wasn’t expecting you.  What’s going on?”

The teenager took a deep breath, tucking her hair behind her ears.  “Um, remember how Mum’s getting married?”

“Yes,” he said shortly, and Ellie nodded in agreement, biting her lip to hide a smile.  She honestly couldn’t care less about Tess’s impending wedding, but the initial news had been what had pushed her and Hardy together – for that, she’d like to thank her.  Maybe.

Well, probably not.

“So, I’m supposed to be in the wedding, give her away, whatever.”

“Okay?”

Daisy fidgeted with a ring on her middle finger, turning the band and sliding it off and on.  “Well, I just found out why they’re getting married.”  She gave them both a significant look, one Ellie caught and understood immediately, shaking her head with a soft sigh.  She could hardly judge though; it was the same reason her own marriage had come to be.

“Why’s that?”

Poor, clueless bloke, Ellie snorted, and he glanced between the women, confused, while they shared an eye-roll.

“She’s pregnant.”  Daisy broke it gently, and Ellie watched his expression carefully only to see the confusion clear, with no hint of longing or regret.

“That’s nice,” he said neutrally.

His daughter shook her head, pink hair bouncing with the movement.  “Not really – I sort of flipped out on her.  Turns out it’s made her introspective, wants to ‘heal the wounds of the past’, so this new kid can… I dunno, have a place in my life or something.  That’s what she wants at least.”

A gnawing feeling started low in Ellie’s gut as she realized what the favor was likely to be, and already wondering how she would keep Hardy from losing his mind.

“What d’you need with us, then?  An excuse not to go?”  He didn’t seem to have gotten it yet.

Daisy shook her head slowly.  “I, uh, told her I refused to go if you weren’t there.”

There it is.

“And?”  Hardy’s expression turned thunderous, steam practically coming out of his ears and making Ellie wince.

“She called my bluff,” she said miserably.  “Said ‘fine, whatever, he can come – though he’ll be at the farthest table.’  And I said… well, I told her that you wouldn’t come without your fiancée,” Daisy’s voice trailed off, and she offered her father a tentative smile.

“My fiancée?”

Ellie groaned, burying her face in her hands.

Daisy had the good sense to look ashamed.  “I didn’t think she’d go for it, I was trying to be unreasonable!”

“Well, tell her you’ve thought about it and you’re a big girl, you don’t need Dad there with you.”  Hardy was unsympathetic, though Ellie noticed he steadfastly refused to look at her, focusing on his daughter a bit too intently to be genuine.

“I can’t do that!  Dad, please?”

“Is that how I’m involved?” Ellie asked, trying to divert Daisy’s attention away from her father for a moment so he could rein in his anger.  “You said that I was…”

Daisy nodded.  “Sorry, I know it’s not like that between you, but… it would really mean a lot.  If nothing else, it’s a free night away, and they’re doing it all posh.  You won’t know anyone but us, and you’ll never see any of them again.”

“I know them all!”

She waved dismissively, not even glancing back at him.  “This isn’t about you.  Chloe’ll be there too, but she already knows about the ruse so that’s not a problem.  Please?  Don’t make me go alone.”

Ellie sighed, but was unable to deny pleading eyes.  “All right.  When is it?”

Daisy winced.  “This Saturday.”

It was Thursday evening.  Hardy looked ready to have a stroke.

“Daisy!”

-

In the end, it was easier to sneak away than they'd first feared.  They already had the weekend off, and if her vague explanation led her father to assume it was a work trip, so much the better.

They left the office at three on Friday, Ellie behind the wheel as they headed northeast.  Despite the last time having been a good five years earlier, the drive to Sandbrook was almost like muscle memory.  Of course, she thought, checking on Daisy in the backseat via the rearview mirror, this is a much different trip.

It was funny, how much had changed.  Then, Hardy had been terribly ill and downtrodden, borderline hopeless, and Ellie's rage had been about the only thing she could feel.

Now Hardy was healthy, his daughter's love doing as much for his heart as the pacemaker.  Ellie… she had found peace, had moved on.  Joe rarely plagued her dreams, and she looked forward now, not back.  The man beside her had quite a bit to do with that, even before they had started their relationship a few weeks earlier.

"I know you're not thrilled about this," Ellie said quietly, double checking the mirror to make sure Daisy was distracted with her earbuds and smartphone, "but consider how this is good."

"What good could possibly come from this?" her partner grumbled from the passenger seat, turning his head to do his own check on his daughter.  It hadn’t been discussed, but Ellie was a detective – it was clear enough that he hadn’t shared his new relationship status with the teenager, one who was already upset enough about her mother’s remarriage.

She hummed.  "For one, we actually get to spend the entire night together.  And not just 'cause we're stuck at work.  In a bed and everything."

Hardy's eyebrows rose as he considered that.  "True.  First time."  He swept his eyes over her, sparking a low burn of desire to flood her belly.

"Free cake.  I looked the place they're having it up - easily £150 a plate."

His expression fell to a scowl and he went back to staring out the window.  After a minute he said softly, "You realize basically everyone at this wedding will know who I am, right?"

She did, but tried for levity anyway.  "Someone certainly thinks a lot of himself."

"They'll all know about the case, and the affair, and how clueless I was about both," he ignored her.  "How my incompetence let not one, but two child-killers escape justice."

"We got the Ashworths, and Ricky Gillespie.  They'll all rot in prison for decades."

He smiled sardonically.  "Most of the guests will be friends and co-workers.  They'll all know about- Danny."

Ellie's breath caught - she hadn't even considered that possibility.  Then she rallied. "Well, if they're gossiping about me then they're too busy to talk about you," she shrugged, knowing her would-be casual air wasn't fooling him.

"Miller-"

“We’re a team,” she cut him off firmly.  “Who cares what people you haven’t seen in seven years think of you.  And remember, we’re here for Daisy, to make this easier on her.  So no matter what happens, we will focus on her.  Hang the rest of them.”

When he didn’t answer she glanced in his direction, wondering if she’d somehow over stepped, only to find him gazing lovingly at her.

“What?”

“Sometimes you know exactly the right thing to say,” Hardy murmured, reaching out to brush his fingertips against her cheek and over her ear.  “You’re right – this is for her.”

“And the free hotel room.”

“Aye, and that.”  His expression lightened, turning teasing and a bit naughty.  “You, me, two nights alone… anything can happen.”

Ellie laughed softly.  “I hope you know I have high expectations.”

“Me too.”

They shared a promising grin, and despite his daughter in the backseat not knowing about their deepening relationship she felt free.  Free to be coy and flirty, to bask in her new relationship.  To feel like a woman, instead of just the exhausted mother/daughter/employee rut she’d been in.  To wear a pretty dress, and touch her lover boyfriend significant other in public, be seen together.

She pressed a little heavier on the gas pedal, pushing the car forward.  She couldn’t wait.

-

“Really, Daisy, it’s fine,” Ellie promised, as they stood in the doorway to Ellie and Hardy’s room.  “You should be in your room closer to the rest of the wedding party.  We’ll be fine.”

“But won’t it be awkward sharing a room?” Daisy hissed, keeping her voice low as she looked around for other potential guests.

Hardy let out an annoyed sigh.  “Daiz, we’re adults.  It’s fine.  You have stuff to do with the wedding.  We will see you in the morning, yeah?”

The girl nodded slowly, biting her lip.  “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” they said in chorus, Ellie trying to rein in her delight at being so close to being alone with her boyfriend in a room with a bed.  And a lock.  “I promise,” she said more moderately, hoping she didn’t look at happy as she felt.  “Now, run along.  Your mum’s waiting.”

“Breakfast is until ten.  See you then,” Daisy said reluctantly, trudging back towards the lift.  Her room was a floor up and farther down the hall, near the rest of the wedding party, while Ellie and Hardy’s was as far from Tess and Daisy’s as they could discreetly manage.

They waited until the doors closed on her to enter the room, setting their bags down by the wall and surveying the single king bed.

“Such a shame they couldn’t get us those double beds,” she smirked, crossing her arms and turning to him.  “However will we cope?”

“We’re adults, I’m sure we can share it in an adult manner,” Hardy’s eyes twinkled, and he pulled her close, their arms wrapping around each other.  “Hi.”

“Hello.”

He kissed her leisurely, the promise of the night to come making her blood sing.  “We’re finally alone,” he husked out, hands smoothing along her side.  “What do you want to do?  Dinner?  We could get a drink?”

Ellie was hardly a passive participant, and she hummed, starting on the buttons of his shirt.  “I could use a nap.”

“Oh?”  He moved backwards towards the bed, working on the buttons of her own blouse.  “I could… cuddle you to sleep, if you like.”

She laughed, letting his shirt hang open in favor of opening his belt.  “You can something me to sleep, all right.”

It was a long time before they made it out of the room in search of dinner.

-

Ellie’s eyes snapped open, and she inhaled sharply to find a nose a hair’s breadth away from her own.

“Sorry,” Hardy whispered, thumb drawing soothing arcs on her skin when she automatically tensed.  “Did I wake you?”

She carefully shrugged one shoulder, relaxing into the mattress.  Daylight was starting to peek through gaps in the curtains, offering just enough light to see his face.  He looked peaceful, and happy, and Ellie let a shy smile grow across her face. She was happy too, was happy to wake up next to him, and couldn’t help herself.

“I love you.”

It took a moment for his expression to brighten further, a beaming smile spreading across his face.  “Aye?”

Ellie nodded, chuckling softly.  “Yes.”

Hardy leaned forward, kissing her, and she rolled quite willingly to her back, tugging him atop her.  Though he’d already said the words the day they became a couple, she’d held back, pretended not to be sure.

Of course, it wasn’t so much a pretension as a protection, but when she allowed the walls around her heart to crumble, she had to quietly admit to herself that she did, in fact, love him.

She’d spent the last fortnight trying to figure out how to say it, when to say it.  This hadn’t been what she’d envisioned, had hoped they’d both be dressed at a minimum, but lying there, with him, waking up in his arms…

She couldn’t wait any longer.

“I love you too,” he whispered joyfully, peppering kisses across her face.  “Truly.”

“I love you,” Ellie repeated for the simple pleasure of doing so, running her hands over his back and sides, reveling in the feel of him against her.  “So much.”

They missed breakfast.

-

Ellie nodded, working hard to keep her polite smile as the woman she was talking to wittered on about her children, or her dog, or something – she’d long since tuned her out.  Hardy had left her alone at the table twenty minutes before to fetch drinks from the bar, and within a minute this woman had claimed his seat and started talking her ear off.

“Sorry, how do you know the couple?” she interrupted, mentally willing Hardy to return as quickly as possible.

“Oh, I work with them,” the woman tucked away an errant curl, grinning widely.  “Known them for years. Knew her ex-husband, too, he was our DI.”

“Ah.”  That caught Ellie’s attention, and she narrowed her eyes.  She was certainly used to people insulting Hardy, had said her fair share behind his back during the first investigation, but felt a stronger-than-normal need to defend him.  “Is that so?”

The woman nodded sagely.  “Bit of a wanker.  Well, more than a bit.  Dave’s a much nicer bloke, if you ask me.”

Ellie pursed her lips, trying to choose her words carefully.  “He had an affair with a married woman, while married himself.  Not sure he’d top my list.”  Quite the opposite.

“Well, apparently Hardy’s got quite the type.”  She leaned closer before looking around quite obviously, lowering her voice to whisper, “I heard he moved to a little village on the coast and had an affair with a married DS down there.  From what I’ve heard, he’s even marrying her.  Can you imagine?”

“I’m certain you don’t have all the facts,” Ellie said coolly, reminding herself sternly Don’t embarrass Daisy and Hardy.  Don’t ruin this.

“Apparently he framed the woman’s husband for murder!  I always knew he was an arse, but that’s a bit extreme, don’tcha think?”

Ellie had enough, rising abruptly to her feet and snatching her purse.  “For your information,” she started quietly, meeting the woman’s gaze head on, “Alec Hardy is easily the most noble, caring, principled man I’ve ever met.  He is an excellent detective, entirely dedicated to bringing about justice through the courts.  I am very proud to call myself his partner, and am very much looking forward to the day I call him husband.  Now piss off.”

Spinning around with the intent of stalking away from the table, she walked right into Hardy’s chest.

“Oh, fuck,” she muttered as he steadied her, glancing up at him with wide eyes.  “How much of that did you hear?”

“Eh, basically none of it,” Hardy shrugged, eyes twinkling madly.

“None?”

“Maybe just a bit,” he whispered, one hand settling on her hip as the other cradled her head, mindful of her fancy hairdo she’d spent a solid twenty minutes lecturing him on not messing up.

A small smile spread across her face, as the memory of the woman’s cattiness melted away and she focus on him.  “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He kissed her then, the kind of kiss that leaves no room for interpretation, dipping her slightly.  If she had been capable of thinking in the moment, she’d have thought something along the lines of the newlyweds didn’t kiss like this earlier.

They broke apart, panting slightly, and without another word Hardy took her hand and led her towards the exit.

Daisy stood between them and the doors, eyes so wide she must have seen the kiss, and Ellie flushed.

Hardy, however, barely blinked, just flashing his daughter a smile on the way past.  “See you in the morning.”

They pushed through the doors into the hallway, eyes meeting before they immediately burst into laughter.  Wrapping their arms around each other they headed for the lift, still chuckling.

“So…” he started pseudo-casually as the doors opened, “‘looking forward to the day I call him husband’?  Mrs. Miller I’m positively scandalized.”

Ellie hit the button for their floor, before turning to grin up at him.

“If that scandalizes you, you’re not ready for our wedding night.”

[jonwongton]

KCON LA 2019 Recap

Wow what an insane three days. My expectations were pretty low from KCON NY but I was really impressed by some of the events they had at the convention.

I'm just gonna use everyone's real names in this because it's too hard to remember everyone's handles.

Thursday, August 15th

After work, I went home, made dinner, packed up, and then went straight to the airport. The flight from San Jose to Burbank is literally an hour gate to gate (45 minutes of flight time lol) so it was a super short flight. The only pressing thing was that some of my discord buddies were doing karaoke in ktown so I really didn't want to miss out on that. My mvp sister came to the airport to pick up all my stuff and I ubered straight to the karaoke place to see everyone (I forgot to take pictures though :(). Jordan started me off with Rough and after they sang a ton of other girl group songs, I did Red Flavor and Energetic. We didn't want to go too hard before the convention even started so we all decided to meet at the convention before noon. The izone fanclub meeting was at noon and the fromis_9 fanclub meeting was at three, so I definitely wanted to go to both (all six moderators for the two fanclub meets are in the group I went with).

Friday, August 16th

I woke up at like 9 and I went with Cyn to go get Trieu Chau noodles, which tasted even better than I remember.

Everyone wanted to get lunch in between the fanclub meetings but I don't trust eating in big groups and I'm pretty good at not eating for long periods of time in case anything happens.

I got to the convention at around noon, but it took me around half an hour to check-in because my dumb ass was so lost. I'm super glad the lady that gave me my wristband let me tighten it myself just so I could take it off freely between the three days. I also went to the merchandise pick-up and got my two fromis_9 slogans and a loona slogan. I ran over to the izone fanclub meeting right after.

There were a ton wizones there and they played three rounds of games through kahoot guessing these random ass facts I don't even think a hardcore wizone would know. We then did the Violetta and La Via En Rose fanchants and it ended there. After that I walked out with Nick and Danny and we went to the mob so they could try buying their izone and itzy hi-touches.

So the mob in LA was batshit insane and the hi-touches were marked up SOOO much higher than I ever would have guessed. An A1 pack is $170 and it comes with one hi-touch, two audiences, and a red carpet pass (ignore the red carpet pass I don't think anyone cares about that). Stray Kids/Ateez hi-touches were easily going for $300, and I heard someone got really desperate and dropped $700 for her Ateez hi-touch. Out of the nine hi-touches that happened (should have been ten but rip Chung Ha) my feel for the prices went something along the lines of (+ their average price from what I saw)

Stray Kids ($350) > Ateez ($300) >> Izone ($200) >>> Itzy ($150) >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> SF9/Mamamoo ($100) >>>>>>>> Momoland ($75) >>>>> N.Flying ($50) >>>>>>>>>>> Verivery ($40)

Yeah people are insane. And with the audiences I'm pretty sure you have a solid 7/9 chance to make a huge profit. If you posted in the Facebook group and did the "dm me your best offer" I'm pretty sure you'd be able to sell your Stray Kids hi-touch for $600+. People were even buying Stray kids audiences for $100 like are you serious...

The supply and demand was also super polarized. We waited for almost an hour and not even a single person had an itzy/izone hi-touch for sale, yet there were probably at least 10 people willing to drop a nontrivial amount of money for anyone that came up. If you're willing to pay this much money to touch a few groups, diamond doesn't sound that bad anymore (all-access hi-touch, plat only gets 2).

I stood around and talked until like 2:30 until making my way to the fromis_9 fanclub meet. I think loona was at star square at the time so the turn out was even smaller than New York imo.

(decorating the stage with my signs)

We played two kahoot games and I actually won the guess the song after only hearing one second of it. There were nine questions and I legitimately knew seven of them, but they used the same questions in New York so I knew the last two were Youth (Hayoung's cover)/From Now (Jiwon's and Nakyung's OST song). That won me a medium size KCON LA 2019 shirt, but that was just a consolation prize. fromis_9 hadn't even left Korea yet so there's no way we could get signed merch. We then did the Love Bomb/Fun/Love Rum Pum Pum fanchants. I didn't go that hard on Love Bomb, but MVP Danny helped me hold my phone so I went full blast on Fun and Love RumPumPum. Ngl the Love RumPumPum fanchant was literally impossible unless you already knew it because the timings are so strange and no one can actually read romanized Korean fast enough (the subs didn't have the hangul). I'm kinda the fanchant guy so I really wanted to drop all that Korean practice at this opportunity.

After the fanclub meet, I finally got a chance to walk around the convention. This was my first KCON LA, but I heard in previous rooms they only got half the expo hall but this year they got the whole thing. Everything was spaced out pretty well and there was a ton more to do than in NY.

I walked around for a bit, took some pictures, and then sat on a bench to hang out with Danny for like an hour since all the others went to go line up for KCON Rookies (there had to have been at least 1.5k people waiting).

(that’s half the line)

All memes aside, it's nice to actually get to know some of the back stories behind some other friends. Danny and I realized we both ulted GFriend and fromis_9 and how willing we are to just throw money at both groups lol. I gave the extra fromis_9 slogan towel I ordered to my new friend and he left for Rookies since he was plat and had priority entrance. I made one more lap around the convention, said hi to an old friend, and then called an Uber to get dinner with my sister and two college friends.

It was a pretty fancy Japanese dinner that was definitely not worth it, but we got Salt and Straw after and that was awesome.

We walked back to the apartment of two other people that joined us, and I left for Dan Sung Sa to meet up with the rest of the group after Rookies. I finally got to see my buddy Alex (he got diamond so he was busy milking the perks the whole day), ate some good food, and I drank a bit more than I should have.

After dinner #2, I ubered back to Cyn's and planned to wake up fairly early to go to LAX.

Saturday August 17th

fromis_9 took off on their flight from Incheon at around 8pm our time, so they would be landing at around 10am PDT. The izone artist engagement happened to be at around the same time (11am, a ton of people in the group at hard core wizones), so only a few of us decided to go to LAX. I took an Uber to the airbnb and then we all went to LAX together. We also heard Stray Kids, Mamamoo, and Verivery were on the same flight, so we'd coincidentally get to see a ton of idols. At the airport, I met some fans from other discord servers and we just sat around waiting for them to come out of the special exit.

A lot of the group went on Thursday to greet loona/izone at the airport, but a ton of them didn't even get to see them because they were waiting at the wrong exit. I kinda piggy-backed off their experience and made sure I was sitting at the right one.

After standing around for quite a bit, everyone formed two huge lines waiting to greet them. I wanted to stick out my hand for them to touch, hold up my Jiheon sign, and try recording it at the same time, but I only have two hands. I ended up placing my phone in front of the Jiheon sign and keeping my right hand free. They walked out super fast, but Jiheon pointed at me and laughed at my sign. It really only lasted 10 seconds, and I felt pretty mission-accomplished knowing Jiheon saw my sign at least once. Jiwon lead the line and I keep forgetting how smol she is. (I’ll post the video I got eventually).

The next artist that came out was Stray Kids, and they were super nice and waved at us. All hell broke loose When Mamamoo came out like I'm genuinely surprised the fans there were that crazy. First of all, they are SOOOOOOOOOOO short. I've seen pictures of Mamamoo standing next to GFriend and while they all tease Eunha for being 5'4", she's still taller then Solar/Moonbyul/Hwasa. The fans chased after the van and started screaming Mamamoo for a few minutes before dispersing. At this point, most people left, but out of no where, N.Flying also exited the airport. Ngl, I thought it was gonna be Verivery but when I only saw four members I made the connection. I was looking at the footage I recorded of fromis_9 that I couldn't record N.Flying coming out fast enough. There was nothing left to do so my group just ubered back to the LA Convention Center. Tbh at this point, this trip was already better than all of KCON NY minus what happened at Washington Square Park because I already got to see fromis_9 in person. They made 0 appearances at the NY convention and the day I went to the airport, they weren't even flying out so at this point, the trip was already worth it.

It was around 12:30pm when we got to the convention, and I was with all three fromis_9 fanclub moderators, so they got to go through the staff entrance while I wanted in the pleb line. Once I made it into the convention center, I rushed over to the KCON beauty station where loona was having a meet and greet (started at 12:40pm). There were SO many people and even on my tiptoes I could only catch the top half of the screen, though if I held my phone up I could record what was happening.

A few people moved out of the way and I could kinda see Haseul's and Choerry's faces but there were so many orbits. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, but every time Chuu said something, the orbits there were roaring (she is undisputedly the most popular member among the crowd). They ended up just talking about some beauty tips and how they do their makeup, so I kinda knew what to expect when fromis_9 were coming tomorrow.

The meet and greet ended on time around 1:10pm, and at this point, I was starving since I hadn't eaten the whole day. We were gonna go to the food trucks to get food but we got the inside scoop that izone was going to be making an appearance at the Olive Young booth. A huge wall of people were already forming, but I decided to wait on the left wing where there were still cameras but much fewer people. I ended up recording the entire segment. We were trying to not be obnoxious yelling their names when they were doing something, but the entire crowd would call a member in unison until they did a little dance for us. Chaeyeon really won my heart with her fan service and Yujin gave us a ton of attention too. The cameraman there actually told us to cheer for them louder so he could record us LOL.

It was around 2pm now, so we waited around for more people to gather and we all headed to the food trucks. The street food they had was obviously overpriced but pretty good compared to the normal food they'd have in the convention center.

There was nothing interesting left on the schedule for me, so I just walked around the convention center looking for something to do. I heard some screaming around the KCON stage, so I sprinted over and caught N.Flying's appearance. They were presenting the winner of some Cover Star K award, but the more interesting part is that they sang a snippet of Rooftop for us.

Kyla tweeted that she'd be at the convention center, so a group of us walked around to places we thought she'd be at, but we didn't end up finding her. I walked back into the convention center and saw another mob at the Star Square, and it turns out N.Flying was reading off horoscopes and taking pictures with the fans that won their meet and greet.

After that, I stood with James in the middle of the convention, and literally just so happened to bump into a group of maybe 30 people trying to meet up with Kyla (they nominated one person to DM Kyla on twitter). I followed this group around and we ended up moving to three different places until we found a spot that was fairly empty. I had a feeling Kyla was coming soon, and I made sure James and I were standing closest to the entrance. Kyla appeared with some other friends and when we formed a line get a picture with her, James and I were in front lol (I went second). She recorded a video message to a fan's friend that couldn't be there, and I told her she was amazing and such an inspirational figure in the kpop community. I got a hug and a picture with her.

It was like 5pm now, so I broke off from everyone and sat at a table to drink some water, recharge, and plan out my schedule for the rest of the day and for tomorrow. At around 6pm, I walked over to my friend's hotel a block away from the Staples Center, and we sat around just hanging out before the concert. Nick showed me his izone lightsticks (yes multiple, apparently wizones customize a lightstick for each member) and Brian showed me his entire kpop photocard set (there were so many holy shit). Since we were all seated tonight, we just left the hotel at around 7:15pm and got in around 7:30pm for the preshow. The free ticket I got was part of a set of three, so the two people I was sitting with were also friends of the person I knew.

The view I got was also amazing, I'm surprised at how good P2 was (I would have taken this over P1 because P1 is kinda lower than I'd like). I'm not really invested into AB6IX, Ateez, or SF9, but when Loona came out I lost my shit oh my god they were amazing. AND I FINALLY GOT TO SEE LOVE PAINT LIVE. One of my favorite songs of all time performed by OT5. I was kinda sad Nu'est did real love true love instead of look because look is my #2 song by them, but I guess they couldn't repeat the set list from NY.

After the concert, we split up into Ubers and went to BCD, which had a ridiculous wait because we were definitely not the only ones going after the concert. Everyone was starving and tired, but I'm pretty sure izone and loona knocked us all off our feet. 

We planned to line up for P1 GA at around 8am and all parted ways. I was already super tired at this point, but Saturday was supposed to be the easy day compared to Sunday when fromis_9 would be appearing

Saturday August 17th

I got up around 7:30am and ubered back to the convention center, though I was late as hell and had sprint to join my friends standing in line. Actually I was so late that I had to make up some excuse of going to the bathroom and returning to my "spot in line". I got 596, but my friends that did GA yesterday said they had 400 and still got an amazing view.

I wasn't too worried about it since I wasn't going to camp out overnight and I had buddies that knew what they were doing. It was around 9:45am, so David gave me his convention pass so I could get staff entry into the convention (he was going back to his airbnb to grab some stuff).

We had enough passes to go around so I think five of us entered the convention early and went to the KCON message board to write some nice things. I wrote something super similar to what I did in NY, and then wrote something for GFriend somewhere else.

(shoutout to Anh for spelling Gyuri’s name wrong)

While I was finishing up my message for GFriend, I saw people sprinting into the convention center and Jordan started screaming my name to come over. I followed my instinct and sprinted towards him, and we got front row seats at the KCON beauty station. There were around 20 other people sprinting too, and I was actually pushed to the side by two girls that got there first. I had no idea people would come three and a half hours for fromis_9, but I think it's because people figured out how to do it with Loona. I befriended the two girls next to me since we'd be stuck together for a while, and I realized they were angels.

I even got to push down other people's stuff so I could make room for Danny and Alex to sit front row with my group since they were plat/dia but didn't get early convention access. At around 11:30am, I left with Stephen to go get food, and I really got to know his back story too. It was mainly just sitting around until 1:30pm when fromis_9 would make their appearance. During our wait, we all signed Alex's sign which he was going to try and hand off to a member during the concert.

To fromis_9,

Thank you so much for coming to KCON LA 2019. Starting from last year until now, listening to fromis_9′s songs or watching your videos have given me a lot of strength. That motivated me to teach myself a new language and inspired me to always be a better person than I was yesterday. I’ll always cheer you on and love you. Shall we be together until the very end? Fighting!

- American Flover Jonathan

1:30pm eventually came around and fromis_9 made their appearance. I recorded the entire segment here, front row and dead center :). I was shaking before they came out, but if I hadn't seen them as close as I did in Washington Square Park, I think I would have been shaking even more. Saerom walked out and waved at me, Jiheon walked out, saw my sign, gave me the same reaction as she did at the airport (lol), and I was able to get waves from all the other members (Nakyung, Jiwon, Jisun, Gyuri, and Chaeyoung for sure). Throughout their entire appearance, we were calling them by their nicknames during their downtime, flashing hearts at them, smiling, and these nine angels did the same back to us. At the end of the performance, I jumped out of my seat seeing if I could hi-five them, but Nakyung waved at me, Saerom waved at me, I asked Hayoung if she remembered me from New York (she did!), and told Gyuri she was beautiful for Ice (and for me because she's gorgeous). Honestly, the convention could have ended there, but we still had a concert to go afterwards. It was around 2pm and people wanted to go get food, but we heard Mamamoo was going to make an appearance at 2:50pm so we stood around waiting for 50 minutes. They showed up, I once again confirmed they were super short and everyone left to go get something to eat. I already ate earlier and had no plans of eating for the concert, so I actually broke off from the group to go to a panel.

I was definitely chasing idols this weekend but there were some panels I was interested in. The one I wanted to go to at 3:30pm was the "how to study/work in Korea", so I recharged by myself for around 30 minutes and went there.

I asked the presenter a ton of questions (she was super nice), and then left a bit early to join a few others at the Verivery fanclub meeting (we had nothing else to do).

I tried meeting up with the guy which I reserved a banner from, but I couldn't find him around the convention anywhere. It was around 5pm, so I left the convention once and for all and went back to my friend's hotel to wait until the GA concert queue up at 6pm. At this point, I was tired as hell and somewhat scared my phone battery was gonna die because I was at 44% (I used 20% to record the 25 min fromis_9 appearance). Luckily he had a charger so I got up to 55%. We just chatted about how excited for the concert we were and where we were gonna sprint to.

At 5:50pm, we left to the GA entrance and tried cutting in line, but got caught because some girl snitched on us lol. The first security guard told us "we should go to the right place in line" but just left, but then his supervisor was the actual person that kicked us out. We had to go through security and get three additional wristbands before we could actually start sprinting toward the stage. The 10/10 spot we wanted was taken, but I was really happy with the final spot we got because any closer and I wouldn't be able to see over the stage.

The concert was absolutely amazing. I was familiar with every group that was performing so there was almost no song where I wasn't super hype. Miroh lived up to the hype and I think the entire stadium was shaking and yelled stray kids together. I did the entire Fun! and Love RumPumPum fanchants so loud people in the pit pushed my forward to the barricade and the guy next to me offered to hold my camera so I could finish off Love Bomb (my recording). Seventeen was also insane, we got Good To Me (I don't think non carats knew the song that well but I lost my shit because I loved it way more than Home), Adore U, Clap, and the infamous Aju Nice (which was insane). I think the third encore was a little unnecessary, but we were all losing our shit because it was so fun.

During the encore stage, I was waving my Jiheon sign, and Chaeyoung walked over and saw it. She had to tap Megan for a solid 5 seconds before she also noticed but I was already super content because they had seen my signs three times (LAX, at beauty, and at the concert). Once we gathered together, we all jumped on Alex because Jiheon had taken the sign we all wrote messages on and then took a group picture.

We were all super shook outside, and I was kinda ready for my KCON experience to end here so even if they wanted to go out to eat, I was ready to Uber back to Cyn's and call it a night. I said my final good-byes to everyone (everyone got a super tight hug) and headed back.

---

I can’t believe I got to see fromis_9 twice in a year. I’ve been a pretty big fan of kpop since 2015, but I’ve never materialized this hobby until fromis_9 summoned me to KCON NY a month ago, and there was no way I wasn’t going to LA to see them again. I already had some regrets not going to LA last year and seeing how much fun they had in their behind the scenes videos, so I wanted a story of my own. So I guess my identity as a fan is really as a fromis_9/GFriend ult now, but I still refuse to pick a bias (I was probably asked like thirty times who my fromis_9/GFriend biases were this weekend...). They really are angels, and while it wasn’t perfect (no artist engagement, messed up some recording etc.), I’m still so happy I got to meet them.

On a side note, loona is amazing. They were so sweet in person, their performances were incredible, and that’s really a reminder that I need to go through the rest of their pre-debut tracks I haven’t listened to yet.

I also did some math and I’m pretty sure if you like the groups on both days, platinum is definitely worth it (diamond if your thing is touching all the artists, but it’s hard to get your full money’s worth giving how fast everything goes and how bad KCON is at announcing everything).

Platinum was 1121.48, and if the regular GA is 462.98, the convention ticket is 36, KCON rookies is 45, the random swag they give you is 50, and the hi-touches are around 141.50 on average (use the 9 numbers I quoted above with Chung Ha’s being $50), then that only leaves 294.50 on the cost of the ticket. That buys you a dedicated pit so you don’t have to camp out overnight, getting to cut all the AE/entrance lines, and getting into the convention early (probably more worth it for NY since it’s two days and stuff actually happens Saturday, getting in Friday for LA doesn’t matter much, but then you could just have the staff pass). To be honest, the peace of mind that buys already sounds worth it to me, so if the line up is good enough, I’d definitely go for plat if I could get my hands on it.

We also realized we had been spelling 플로버 and 프로버 the entire time (confused the spelling with 프로미 which doesn’t have the extra ㄹ). I realized what I wrote for fromis_9 in NY has a typo and I made the same typo in LA. I fixed it on the sign before Alex handed it off, but I take that as a humble reminder that I’m still a foreigner and need to study a lot harder. :’) All kpop memes aside, some people are here just to chase after idols, but in addition to being a fan, I’ve been trying to embrace a new culture and language along the way. I’m still working really hard on vocabulary right now, and I still have every intention to pass TOPIK 5 by next year.

I’m also so glad I went to KCON LA with a group. Going alone would have been a terrible idea because you’d have no inside scoop on what’s going on, no one to switch off spots with, and no one to hang out with during all the down time. I’m really thankful to how much the discord group helped me out this weekend. I’m sure we’ll meet again.

To close it off, here are some of my favorite pictures with the friends I went with

[kenshi-vakarian7]

MERweek2018 - Day 1 - “Hello & Goodbye” (Fic 3)

For MERweek2018 hosted by @cactuarkitty with fanfic prompts hosted by @vorchagirl

Prompt - The first day seems like a fitting place to focus on beginnings and endings alike, so here you have a chance to tell us how a particular relationship started or how it ended.

The last of three fics for today’s prompt.  This one will focus on an established Shiranda who, well... I’ll let you read it.  Enjoy!

“More Than a Victory”

Long ago, back when he joined the Alliance, (former) Commander Marc Shepard learned that there were many kinds of victory – big and small, short term and long term.  Some bring a brief moment of happiness while others had a way to affect one's life for the better.  Victories sometimes came after a very long road traveled with many bumps, twists, and turns that could potentially make someone feel lost and hopeless along the way.

Shepard and his wife, Miranda Lawson-Shepard, spent their whole lives defying the odds and quietly reveling in even the smallest victories life could afford them.  Some of those odds were carried to their adulthoods from their respective childhoods no thanks to the selfish pricks who made a normal, worry-free childhood/teen years virtually out of reach.

Ever since they first talked about it less a year into their relationship, Shepard and Miranda accepted that they would most likely never have biological children of their own due to Miranda's benign neoplasm.  Shepard was okay with that, especially since he decided years ago – long before he met Miranda – that once his life was less chaotic, he would like to adopt.  He wanted to give a child or two the kind of chance he never had after circumstances in his life – starting with the sudden death of his beloved parents - put him on the streets.  They likely would've adopted a child or sought out additional treatment options some years back, but they were put on hold due Shepard's clinical depression and severe PTSD.  They stemmed from both the Reaper War and being unable to fully shake off the trauma from his childhood no matter how hard he tried to bury the memories and move forward.

Just last year after time in therapy (and while aware that he would struggle with his demons for the rest of his life), Shepard finally reached a point where he was starting to feel at peace with himself and his life and mind were less chaotic than they had been.  He and Miranda, newly married to each other by then, were just starting to discuss the steps they wanted to take in the adoption process.

Then, out of the blue and despite everything, Miranda became pregnant.  Either something gave in one of the treatments she sought, or this was what most would call a miracle.  Their logical minds leaned towards the former, but many of their friends, and Miranda's sister Oriana, wanted to believe it was the latter.

However, the joyful news and the excited anticipation of becoming parents were short-lived when Miranda's doctor made it clear that this journey would be difficult.  The damage left behind by the benign neoplasm not only increased the chances of a miscarriage or premature labor, but this would be the one and only chance they had to have their own child no matter the outcome.  Any more pregnancies after this would likely kill her.  The reality of that possibility made them put almost everything on hold – talks about the future, a baby shower (despite the insistence of their friends), and even finding out the gender.  Not taking these steps right away was a way for them to lessen the pain of losing their child if it came to that.  The only things they went forward with were setting up the nursery (which kept Miranda's mind busy at least) and buying the essentials.  Other than that, all they could do was hold on to the hope that their baby would make it.

Miranda spent most of the pregnancy bed-ridden by doctor’s orders to reduce stress, which ended up being frustrating for her.  She always liked to keep herself busy, so being cooped up in one spot didn't help her much.  To lift her spirits, Shepard would buy her any paper books he could get his hands on for Miranda to read.  Sometimes at night, he would read a book aloud to her and their growing child in her belly.  He even once bought her an alcohol-free version of her favorite wine to lift her spirits... except they ended up tossing it out after sampling its bitter flavor.  Luckily, the pistachio ice-cream they had in the freezer made up for that mistake.

The months stretched on for what seemed like forever.  Finally, just three weeks before the due date, Miranda's water broke and they headed straight to the hospital.

After everything they've faced throughout their lives and the struggles to get to where they were now, the victory that came with the birth of their child felt so much more than that.  And perhaps 'victory' wasn't the right word in such a moment.  In actuality, it was a feeling that neither one of them could put into words.

The only part that was certain – for a brief moment - were the three ways they were saying 'fuck you' to Miranda's long-deceased father, Henry.  First and most important, she was able to have a baby after all despite what doctors told her over the years.  The genetic make-up of her genes that her father created was the likely cause of her condition.  How it exactly came to be didn't matter anymore.  Shepard convinced Miranda a long time ago that being childless was not a failure in any way, but it still felt somewhat good to jump over that high hurdle regardless.

The other two ways they (much more subtly) said 'fuck you' to Henry was in the name they gave their child – Daniel Thane Lawson-Shepard.  

Giving their son the middle name of the drell they both respected and mourned after his death was a genuine tribute, but there was a small wonder over how much the pro-human Henry would froth at the mouth over a non-human name being given to someone from his 'precious' bloodline.  As for his first name Daniel, that was another form of tribute - this one honoring Shepard's father.  Usually called Dan during his life, Shepard’s father was a kind and quiet man who helped anyone who crossed his path and whose selflessness and love was felt even long after his sudden and premature death.  Dan left behind a much sweeter and humble legacy than the twisted, selfish kind Henry was obsessed with.

Shepard could only imagine how ecstatic his parents would be today if they were here and how honored his father would feel having his first grandson be named after him.  That thought, mixed with hearing the first wail from his son as the doctor laid the newborn upon his mother's breasts, quickly brought an overwhelming feeling of both joy and sadness in his heart.  Tears immediately stung his eyes and threatened to spill out quickly, so he shut them tightly before burying his face into the crown of Miranda's head to keep them at bay.

Miranda very rarely cried, but there was no hint of shame as she openly wept upon seeing their son for the first time.  “Hello, Danny,” she murmured with pure bliss in her heart.  Shepard had to smile at the nickname, not realizing until now how right it sounded.

Shepard eventually managed to get control of his emotions, but the nurse was already taking Danny away before he got a good look at him.  He momentarily felt a small surge of panic over that, but he quickly remembered that this was routine.  They would weigh and measure him... and oh, right, it wouldn't be long before he was asked to cut the umbilical cord. He watched intently as the nurse holding Danny carried him over to a small cart with a weight scale on it.

He then felt a hand on his, and he looked down to see Miranda.  She was never one to not smile, especially when it was just the two of them, but the smile she was giving him now was one he knew would never be forgotten from his memory of today.  Shepard knew he was looking at pure elation within that look along with the way her blue eyes sparkled even with the tears that glittered at the edge.  It wasn't hard to reciprocate that feeling as he smiled back at her.

Shepard took a moment to brush the tears from her cheeks with his fingers before he leaned forward to press his lips to hers.  He then gazed into her eyes.  “I love you,” he whispered.

Her smiled widened as her grasp on his hand tightened.  “I love you, too,” she whispered back.  “We did it.”

He leaned his forehead into hers.  “No, you did it,” he reminded her.  “You did so much of the work.”

“But you helped,” she pointed out.  Miranda was quick on her next words.  “And I'm not just talking about the day we conceived either.”

That drew a breathless laugh from him.  He was about respond to that but in that moment, the nurse called Shepard over to cut the cord.  Once it was done, he only wonder how he managed to get it done considering how much his hands were shaking.  As soon as Danny was wearing a small beanie on his head and bundled in a blanket, the nurse lifted him from the cart and, with a smile, passed him over to his father.

Now Shepard was getting a good look at him.  He was much cleaner and less red than he was when he first entered the world.  The newborn wiggled a little bit within the confines of his swaddle but was otherwise content due to the warmth it gave him.  His eyes were currently closed, but he would highly likely keep the blue eyes that all newborns were born with since both his parents had them.  With one arm cradled the baby, Shepard used his free hand to pull back the beanie very slightly and saw the small fuzz of dark hair on his head.  His fingers gently ghosted over his son’s face, his skin softer than he imagined.

Shepard was not one to use the word 'perfect' lightly, not even in the way Miranda usually would.  That term, to him, was usually reserved for the beholder... but it was the only word he could thinking of as he held his son in his arms.

“Hello Danny,” he murmured in greeting, the same way Miranda did moments ago.  He felt the tears in his eyes again, but he did what he could to swallow them back.  Shepard wanted to say his next words aloud, but for now since he didn’t trust his own voice, he just simply thought of them with the promise to say them later.

Your mother and I already love you so much, even before you were born.  There are a lot of other people who already love you too and you'll meet them soon. This galaxy we live in is crazy, but it's also beautiful.  We'll guide you along the way and we'll make sure you're happy and safe. We'll give you the life your mother and I didn't have.  No matter what happens, you'll never be alone.  I promise.

Then, as he placed a gentle kiss on his newborn son's forehead, the tears Shepard tried so hard to keep at bay fell.

[bestfriendforhire]

Entry 352

 “This way.” I stated as I started walking.  Jemal was almost to us.

 “James!  Maple!  Sorry to keep you waiting.” he apologized as he jogged over to us, now wearing nice slacks and a polo.

 “James was just telling me that I might be fired if I ever take so long getting to a job.” replied Maple with a serious tone and impish grin.

 Jemal stared between us, looking shocked, not catching her grin as he walked behind us.  His eyes suddenly locked on me as he said, “You did!?”

 Maple, Mila, and I laughed.

 “You worry too much, my friend.” I assured him.  I gently patted Maple's shoulder and told him “You might have to watch out for this one.”

 “Sorry.  You looked so serious, I just couldn't help myself.” insisted Maple as she looked back at him.  “I really didn't mean anything by it.”

 Jemal brushed away her concern and told her “Don't worry about it.  Nice joke.”  He still looked nervous, fidgeting a little.

 My little fairy friend left her perch on my shoulder and started flying around Jemal's head.  She seem to be trying to comfort him, showing him images of the peaceful forest.

 As we reached the main building, I said, “All of the rooms on the first floor are for employee use.  Feel free to use them as you wish.  Mila can inform you if someone else has already booked one.  The theater isn't easy to find, but we do have one.  The ballroom has become a bit of a hangout area, since it happens to host an elaborate computer system, utilizing the large mirrors of the ballroom as screens for gaming.”

 Nodding, Maple replied “That's where your daughter, Danni, is.”

 “How do you know that?” asked Jemal.  “Oh, right.  You were there when I asked about my sister.  Sorry.  Your umm… ability…  It's a little unnerving to think about.  I've really only seen psychics in horror movies.”

 Maple laughed and asked “Think I'm an omen of death?”

 Cosette, who had been sneaking up behind Jemal, snarled, growing a foot and elongating her fangs.  Jemal jumped into the wall behind him with enough force to crack the wood.  Maple looked behind her, let out a short scream and started to run.  I gently grabbed her before she got too far.

 Cosette, resuming her normal form, laughed and said, “You two should have seen your faces.  Mila, can we get a replay!?”

  “Of course.” replied Mila, showing a recording on the nearest mirror.  She had obviously edited the footage already, zooming in on faces.

 “H-how did you do that!?” exclaimed Maple, still catching her breath.

 Still laughing, Cosette rapidly stepped closer and said, “I'm a vampire!”

 “She's actually not joking this time.” I explained, feeling Maple wasn't likely to believe her.

 Surprisingly, Maple simply nodded.  “I may have seen your kind before.”

 “Neat!  What happened?” inquired Cosette, still grinning.

 “Nothing really.  I touched a railing one night, and I saw someone leap off it impossibly far.” she explained.

 Cosette frowned, looking disappointed.  “That could have been a number of things.  Whatever it was, it shouldn't have done that in front of you.”

 “It didn't.  I was seeing the past.”

 “Really?” asked Cosette.  “I didn't know that was possible.”

 “Maple has uncommon magic, allowing her to see what transpired around anything she touches.” I explained.

 “Even people?” questioned Cosette as she eyed Maple.

 Maple nodded.  “Even people.”

 “Remind me not to hug you after taking a bath.” stated Cosette.

 “I thought vampires didn't like water.” stated Jemal.

 “If one was low enough on energy and tried transforming in turbulent water, the vampire might fall apart.  My father told me to always eat within one hour of swimming, but I enjoy a good swim.” explained Cosette with a smile.

 “As much as your hard work is appreciated, maybe you should spend a little more time.socializing.” I suggested.  Turning to Maple, I said, “If he keeps up as he has been, you'll never know when he's around.”

 Maple frowned and said, “That'd be a shame.  I'd like to get to know everyone.  You all seem so happy and genuine.”

 “Does that mean I can snack on you?” inquired Cosette, looking perfectly serious.

 “Is it dangerous?” asked Maple with a look of concern.

 “Very.” insisted Cosette as she nodded.  “If you taste too good, I might gobble you up.”

 “Portentia provides Cosette with her meals, so you really don't have to worry about Cosette getting hungry.” I informed Maple.

 “James!” complained Cosette, pouting at me.

 “Do you really not need much?  Stories always talk about a vampire draining a person dry.” stated Maple.

 “Portentia’s blood is special, and she never runs out.” replied Cosette with a grin that would leave anyone in doubt.

 Not wanting Maple to feel confused, I quickly said, “She's being serious again.  Portentia is one of the immortals I told you about.  She's been injured in more ways than anyone else I know and still regenerates perfectly.”

 “Do people typically get injured around you often?” asked Maple with a hint of concern.

 “No, but I've been unfortunate enough to see a great number of injuries.” I replied frankly.  Over the course of my honeymoon, I saw far, far too many injuries.  “Just from what I've heard, Portentia has been stabbed, shot, blown up, and poisoned multiple times each.  I once even witnessed her head being blasted away by a spell.  I can't say Portentia even looked annoyed by it.  Her head and hair were back instantaneously.”

 “Okay, I'm really getting the idea why no one is shocked by my ability.” stated Maple.

 “Yeah.  I didn't know about Portentia losing her head.  That's just crazy.” stated Jemal.

 Cosette lifted her head from her body and used her hands to make it nod.  Jemal stared at her wide-eyed.  Maple wasn't faring any better.

 After reattaching her head, Cosette calmly looked at them and asked “What?”  She grinned when she caught my smirk.  “James gets it!  It's funny!”

 “Just don't do that around Kayla.  She'll either freak out or want to try it.” insisted Jemal.

 “Kayla and I get along splendidly!  You're the one who avoids everyone.”

 Jemal nervously replied “I don't avoid anyone.  I just stay busy.”

 “She knows.” I assured him.  “Dejon is the one who often avoids people.  Where is he, by the way?”

 “Two doors down on the left, master.” replied Mila as she started walking that way.

 “Come along.” I ordered.  “Might as well introduce you while he's nearby.”

 The door to the library opened at our approach, and Dejon looked up front his book.  He quickly stood and said, “Hi.  Is something wrong?”

 “No.  I simply wanted to introduce you to Maple.” I assured him.  Then, motioning to Maple, I said, “Maple Apple Wood, this is Dejon Christopher Powers.  He can affect the mind of most anyone who meets his gaze.  Maple here can learn the history of anyone or anything she touches.”

 “Wow.  That'd be useful.” insisted Dejon.

 “So is mental manipulation.” agreed Maple.

 I felt Jemal's magic as he made a book float over to him.

 “My magic isn't bad for day-to-day stuff.” he asserted, flipping through a couple of pages before sending the book back to the shelf.

 Dejon nodded and said, “True.”

 “Glad to see you've been practicing.” I added with a smile.

 “He discourages me from practicing.” flatly announced Dejon.

 Surprisingly, he was making a joke.

 Still, I said, “Well, you affect others a bit much with yours.”

 “Are none of you going to say anything about Maple Apple Wood?  Emma will make a forest out of her!” exclaimed Cosette with a grin.

 “No one made any jokes about a Bourbon with a great thirst when you arrived, so I imagine not.” I teased.

 “That's not bad.” replied Cosette with an amused nod.

 I smiled and winked, glad everyone was getting along.

[placetobenation]

First things first. NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day was an almost perfect PPV! A terrific treat for Valentine’s Day, if you will (thanks Dusty!)

Every match delivered in spades. And yes, Eli Drake has returned as LA Knight! We got two new champs in crowning MSK along with Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez as this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners.

I don’t know how, but Johnny Gargano held on to his NXT Championship in an amazing match over KUSHIDA. Classic, on the edge of your seat stuff here folks!

Io Shirai pinned Mercedes Martinez in the triple threat match that left Toni Storm coming up short in her first title bid and wanting more of Miss Shirai.

Plus, not only did Finn Balor and Pete Dunne put on a masterpiece that celebrated some old school mat skills, but it also saw the return to the evil ways of Adam Cole. Is it truly the end of The Undisputed Era?

Now, one week later, it’s RAW and SmackDown’s chance to shine with the Elimination Chamber PPV and they’ll be hard pressed to put on a show that can equal the passion and back-and-forth action that NXT brought to the table.

Here’s your Elimination Chamber PPV updated card. We’ll have predictions coming up in our parting shots.

• WWE Championship Elimination Chamber – Drew McIntyre vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton vs. Sheamus vs. AJ Styles • Universal Championship Elimination Chamber #1 Contender’s Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. King Corbin vs. Jey Uso vs. Kevin Owens • Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns vs. Elimination Chamber Match Winner • United States Championship Match: Bobby Lashley vs. Keith Lee vs. Riddle • WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler vs. Sasha Banks & Bianca Belair

(As of Saturday morning, Asuka vs. Lacey Evans is still being promoted by WWE on their website, but that one doesn’t appear likely due to Evans’ pregnancy announcement on RAW.)

Star of the Week:

BREAKING: @sanbenito is the NEW @WWE #247Champion on #WWERaw!#AndNew pic.twitter.com/j859CHfxgy

— WWE (@WWE) February 16, 2021

Bad Bunny – 24/7 Champ is taking over the WWE Universe. SNL TONIGHT and then next stop: WrestleMania!

RAW

RESULTS

• Riddle & Lucha House Party defeated The Hurt Business • 24/7 Championship Match: Bad Bunny defeated R-Truth • Charlotte Flair & Asuka defeated Lacey Evans & Peyton Royce by DQ • Kofi Kingston defeated The Miz to earn spot in WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match • Shayna Baszler defeated Lana • Gauntlet Match to earn last entry into WWE Championship Elimination Chamber Match: AJ Styles defeated Kofi Kingston; Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles; Drew McIntyre defeated Jeff Hardy; Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton by countout; Sheamus defeated Drew McIntyre

The Good…

#KofiMania 2?@TrueKofi is on his way to #WWEChamber THIS Sunday!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/xBpI1BInav

— WWE Universe (@WWEUniverse) February 16, 2021

Kofi Kingston – Putting Kofi into the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship makes all the sense in the World. It upgrades the talent for one. Not that The Miz is a slouch, but Kingston if flat out better. Plus, there was no need for The Miz to be in the match when he already has a contract for a championship match anytime he wants. Why fight through five other guys in the chamber to win, right?!

Bad Bunny – With Bad Bunny being the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this week, making him champ to bring the belt to SNL and grab some mainstream media attention is a huge plus. It also takes his tag team with Damian Priest up a notch as they head towards a match with The Miz and John Morrison reportedly set for WrestleMania. He’s been gold for the WWE and now he truly holds the gold!

"In the future……. HE will be reborn." – @AlexaBliss_WWE#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/tWMaPFNiTT

— WWE (@WWE) February 16, 2021

Alexa Bliss – Her short vignette foreshadowing the rebirth of The Fiend was chilling. It’s going to happen of course and I’m mad curious as to how it will happen.

Meh…

"@MsCharlotteWWE… I'M PREGNANT!" – @LaceyEvansWWE#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/9x5Llav9vQ

— WWE (@WWE) February 16, 2021

Baby Mama – Lacey Evans is pregnant huh? Sure, on tv, it’s a twist in the Charlotte Flair-Ric Flair daddy-daughter storyline for sure. But, in reality, it’s reportedly very real that Evans will be having her second child. But does it make any sense the way WWE threw it out there? If she’s truly pregnant, she wouldn’t be wrestling Asuka this Sunday at the Elimination Chamber PPV for the RAW Women’s Championship? When Becky Lynch announced she was going to be a Mom, she left and hasn’t been seen since. The WWE, as of Saturday, still hasn’t let us know if the match was going to happen or not – we’re guessing not but they were still promoting it on the WWE website. So, no clue as to where this leaves Asuka. In the storyline now, is Ric the Dad or just the mentor? We need some details and let’s be honest, how does any of this help put Charlotte over as a babyface? The quick answer is that it doesn’t.

Six entered the #GauntletMatch.@WWESheamus was the one to win it all!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/6syWaC1D7u

— WWE (@WWE) February 16, 2021

Gauntlet Match – To me, if you’re going to have a match take over a third of your show, it has to be dynamic. Unfortunately, the six-man gauntlet match was just ok. Nothing spectacular. We got Kofi and AJ Styles out early which I didn’t like. Randy Orton predictably gets distracted by Alexa Bliss for his countout and of course, Sheamus earned the last spot in the chamber with a win over his former friend Drew McIntyre. It just wasn’t memorable.

Shayna Baszler – A win over Lana. Yawn.

Fun…

Three Amigos – Putting Riddle with the Lucha House Party was an entertaining way to start the night in the ring. Let’s hope that MVP isn’t hurt too badly though.

Missing…

Where was – Keith Lee. Will he still be in the US Championship Match Sunday? Is it COVID-19 related after missing the Royal Rumble? We need answers.

I want in…

Braun Strowman – Please don’t tell me that Strowman’s reaction to being left out of the Elimination Chamber will be to go after Shane McMahon! I have no want to see that match. Is there something I’m missing here?

NXT

RESULTS

• Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart defeated Candice LeRae & Indi Hartwell • Leon Ruff defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott • Kacy Catanzaro & Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah & Jessi Kamea • KUSHIDA defeated Tyler Rust • Zoey Stark defeated Valentina Feroz • Finn Balor, Roderick Strong & Kyle O’Reilly defeated Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch & Pete Dunne

.@EscobarWWE may have avoided a match tonight, but he'll 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 face @WWEKarrionKross next week or he will be stripped of the #WWENXT #Cruiserweight Title AND suspended indefinitely, per @RealKingRegal! pic.twitter.com/oosg5D5Pof

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 18, 2021

Every Wednesday night, it seems like the performances in the ring are what are truly make NXT stand out. This week, I felt like it was the work outside the ring, in the form of the pre-produced pieces that really told the story this week. Eli Drake, as LA Knight and NXT’s newest free agent, really had that Rock feel to him. He’s definitely going to raise the game. Pat McAfee was dead on in his #PatWasRight moment letting everyone know that he was 100% right on just who Adam Cole was. Cameron Grimes gets better and better (and apparently richer and richer) each and every week. He’s comic gold! Toni Storm took out NXT Women’s Champion Io Shirai out at a photo shoot. Each piece had a reason behind it and advanced the storylines without a match. That’s an improvement for NXT and a place they can look to get better at in the future. And how about Santos Escobar and Karrion Kross? Their match was pushed back a week after Escobar went home but now he has to face Kross this week or else William Regal is stripping him of his Cruiserweight title. Tick Tock. The time is now for this reckoning and Kross says Escobar’s destiny has been determined.

#MSK and @TheBethPhoenix have the right idea!!!

@DakotaKai_WWE @RaquelWWE @NiaJaxWWE @QoSBaszler #WWENXT pic.twitter.com/4e5rdjUpPA

— WWE (@WWE) February 18, 2021

In the ring, I loved the pairing of the two Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic champions as MSK joined Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez. Wes Lee and Nash Carter proved they have that New Day feel to entertain, eating popcorn with Beth Phoenix while Kai & Gonzalez threw verbal jabs at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champs, Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler. Gonzalez delivered the KO blow, telling Jax she’s was going to shove the Dusty Cup straight up her hole. Brilliant and I’m glad they’re keeping the Jax line going. March 3rd will be awesome with a pair of tag team championship matches on tap.

"Next week, I will purge YOU."

#WWENXT @XiaWWE @Bigboawwe pic.twitter.com/7y5y5jCq1u

— WWE (@WWE) February 18, 2021

Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart get a nice rematch win over Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell to start the night. Nothing amazing but nothing bad either.

Is Kacy Catanzaro about to become the next victim of Xia Li? It sure looks like after Li marked her hands. Nice little win too for Catanzaro & Kayden Carter.

Should we be excited about Zoey Stark? Not yet for me. But, I’m willing to give it more than one night.

KUSHIDA and Leon Ruff get victories but I’m not sure it did Tyler Rust or Isaiah “Swerve” Scott any favors, even with Scott’s supposed heel turn.

Déjà Vu. #WWENXT @AdamColePro @FinnBalor pic.twitter.com/9kyEl3ODeB

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) February 18, 2021

There was a ton to parse in that six-man tag team match. For one, Pete Dunne gets a pinfall over the NXT Champ Finn Balor. Adam Cole not only takes out Balor, but also Kyle O’Reilly in an attack that some at the Capitol Wrestling Center thought left O’Reilly suffering from a seizure. He didn’t. So, now we’ve got Balor vs. Cole. Balor vs. Dunne continuing. Cole vs. O’Reilly. Where does Roderick Strong fit in after an accidental hit from Balor? It’s undisputed that there’s a new era in NXT with so many possibilities to come! It was a very well-played out follow-up to NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day.

SMACKDOWN

RESULTS

• Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Apollo Crews • Tamina & Natalya defeated The Riott Squad • Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Chad Gable & Otis by DQ • Daniel Bryan, Kevin Owens & Cesaro defeated King Corbin, Sami Zayn & Jey Uso

Hail Hydra. (via @WWE) pic.twitter.com/2FRRiIB6qn

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 20, 2021

Putting Edge and Roman Reigns in the ring together on the mic. Pure poetry. Edge is like Randy Orton, delivering some of the best promos of his career. This time, he’s spot on in that Reigns needs Edge to make it the true main event of WrestleMania. Wouldn’t we all love to hear what Reigns whispered in Edge’s ear? As for the Ultimate Opportunist, Edge is making the rounds with Kevin Owens, King Corbin and Daniel Bryan backstage as he continues to ponder his decision.

"You hear me? It's done." – @WWEBigE to @WWEApollo Narrator: It was not done. #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/cWChNjrv9M

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 20, 2021

Poor Big E! He gets stretchered out by Apollo Crews after Shinsuke Nakamura gets the three count on Crews, frustrating him to the point of nailing the I-C Champ with the ringside steel steps. This one’s far from over! Crews’ heel turn has been in the making for weeks. I wonder if Crews’ appearance on Talking Smack, with a nod and no words to Paul Heyman could mean a new partnership with Reigns and could impact the PPV on Sunday.

50-50 booking give Natalya and Tamina the win this week over Liv Morgan and Ruby Riott. Are either of these teams really headed anywhere or just continuing the dance for another few weeks? I’m guessing just a dance where Billie Kay gets tossed around by both sides as she did Friday night by Tamina & Natalya.

First @LanaWWE finally got her revenge and now @ReginaldWWE pinned her on #SmackDown. It's been a bad month for @NiaJaxWWE. pic.twitter.com/pA7zmsLjnc

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 20, 2021

We love Reggie! It just keeps getting better and better for our favorite Sommelier! This week, he joins forces with Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair to pin Nia Jax, Shayna Baszler and Bayley. My only question is where was Carmella to celebrate with her favorite sidekick? Well, apparently not enjoying the wine she threw in Reginald’s face backstage. For their victory, Banks & Belair got a title match against the champs Sunday at Elimination Chamber.

Seth Rollins with legal notice for the WWE? Really? Cesaro vs. Rollins. Yes, please! Cesaro saying Rollins came back as the same condescending SOB is priceless.

What's wrong with @OtisWWE?!? #SmackDown pic.twitter.com/S8t36xWCAq

— WWE on FOX (@WWEonFOX) February 20, 2021

Is Otis turning a corner here? Has Chad Gable got him seeing things a different way? New tights and you know what that means. No more Mr. Nice Guy as he squashes Rey Mysterio. Having Otis turn to the dark side the same night as Crews though seems like it will get lost in the shuffle without some future legwork.

#WWEChamber can’t come any sooner! #SmackDown @WWEDanielBryan @BaronCorbinWWE @FightOwensFight @SamiZayn @WWECesaro @WWEUsos @EdgeRatedR @WWERomanReigns pic.twitter.com/y1an1FtQ1p

— WWE (@WWE) February 20, 2021

As good as the six-man tag team main event was with all six of the Elimination Chamber match participants was, it was almost overshadowed by Edge and Paul Heyman trading barbs at the announce table. Based on the short sample we got Friday night with Daniel Bryan making Sami Zayn tap out to have the good guys going over, Sunday’s chamber match could be something we’ll remember for quite some time. That closing sequence with King Corbin hitting End of Days on Bryan, Kevin Owens stunning Corbin, Zayn giving the Exploder to KO, Cesaro uppercutting Zayn, Jey Uso super kicking Cesaro, Edge spearing Uso leading to the final Reigns spear of Edge was fantastic. SmackDown set up the PPV very nicely and after all, that’s the point.

Parting Shots:

Elimination Chamber PPV Predictions WWE Championship Elimination Chamber – Drew McIntyre retains title Universal Championship Elimination Chamber #1 Contender’s Match: Sami Zayn wins Universal Championship Match: Roman Reigns retains title United States Championship Match: Riddle wins US Championship WlWE Women’s Tag Team Championship Match: Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler retain titles au Coming up this week: RAW: Elimination Chamber fallout

NXT: Karrion Kross vs. Santos Escobar

SMACKDOWN: Elimination Chamber fallout

Thanks for letting us share our thoughts! Shoot me an email at jcrowe567@gmail.com. We’d love to hear your comments and suggestions! You can also check out my blog, The Crowe’s Nest as we delve into more pro wrestling, sports entertainment and the World of Sports. My apologies ahead of time – I AM a Patriots, Red Sox, Celtics and Bruins fan! If you’re not down with that, I’ve got TWO WORDS for you… NEW ENGLAND

[shankarjaikishanfansassnintl]

RAMESH SIPPY

Courtesy

Hasan Zaheer

WHY DID THE FIRE NOT BURN AS BRIGHT AS IT BURNED THE FIRST TIME?

Some men (and women) are blessed by destiny or call it whatever that unknown power which leads human beings and no power, no force and no fear can change what is destined for them, a man like Ramesh Sippy, for example.

Ramesh was born the son of G.P. Sippy who was into the property business during the immediate post partition days and was the first to start what was called the “pugree” system by which any one could buy a home after paying an advance, pay a monthly rent and get back the advance when the room was vacated. It was a successful system which was followed by many others and did a world of good to those who did not have enough money to buy their own homes in a city like Bombay. Sippy soon started his own film production company because he saw money in it and gave breaks to a number of young directors who later went on to grow into big and powerful men in the world of films. Sippy Films, the banner he founded was an established banner within a very short time and Sippy was a leader of the film industry …

Ramesh, a graduate, was fascinated by the making of films more than the glamour and the money involved in it. He joined H.S. Rawail, a leading filmmaker of the sixties and worked as one of his many assistants during the making of his most ambitious film, “Mere Mehboob” made with Ashok Kumar, Rajendra Kumar and Sadhna. Ramesh did every thing possible to learn all that he could about filmmaking and he was one of Rawail’s favorite assistants because he had no problems in facing any problems in the line of duty and was willing to work very hard and do even the kind of jobs which spot boys did. One of his main jobs was to keep the stars happy which he believed was “better than half the battle won for a director”. He had learned enough about filmmaking during the making of “Mere Mehboob”, a Muslim social which went on to become a very big hit and he still remembers how he was excited when he saw his name in a crowd of the credit titles of the film “which was like finding your name on the list of someone who had passed a very important examination’.

Ramesh then joined his father’s company and worked in the production department and helped his father in solving all the every day problems and his father was so impressed that he gave him the post of a production executive during the making of his film “Brahmachari” directed by Bhappi Sonie, a common friend of Sippy and the leading man of the film, Shammi Kapoor. The film had Rajshri (daughter of V.Shantaram), Mumtaz, who was playing second leads or parallel roles and even the vamp because all she wanted was work to earn enough money to keep her big family going. Pran was the villain of the film. Shammi Kapoor who was a very big star took a liking for Ramesh and tried to teach him as much as he could and even told his father that Ramesh could make a very good director because he knew more than what many established directors in the industry knew. He made his first film with his favorite, Shammi Kapoor, Hema Malini who had still to find her place as a big star and the superstar Rajesh Khanna whose one song, “Zindgi ek safar hai suhana” and his sudden death leaving Hema a widow who later falls in love with Shammi who played a widower was something new for the audience which made the first film of Ramesh Sippy, the director, “Andaaz” a big hit.

Ramesh was not satisfied with all that he had learned and read all kinds of books on the making of films, read the biographies of stars and star directors and observed all the directors who made films for his father’s banner. It was during this learning period that he met a failed actor and struggling poet, Salim and Javed who were a part of what was called the “Sippy Films Story Department”. They grew into great friends and exchanged ideas whenever they were free. It was during one of their meetings that Salim and Javed who had decided to form a team as writers came up with the idea of making a female version of “Ram Aur Shyam” which was made with Dilip Kumar in his first double role and which was a very huge success. Ramesh was taken up by the idea and the only actress he could think of who could play a double role and make an impact was Hema Malini who had proved her mettle with “Andaaz”. He approached Hema with the role and she was petrified. She did not the have the courage to play a role which was played by the greatest actors of the country, Dilip Kumar. But Ramesh and his two young writers who were very good at making an impression while narrating the story of a film with every scene and dialogue finally managed to make Hema agree to play the role. Ramesh had a perfect script which was almost like “Ram Aur Shyam” but with some new changes to suit a woman in a double role. Dharmendra and Sanjeev Kumar were the two heroes of the two Hemas in the film and the film was a bigger hit than “Ram Aur Shyam” and Hema was accepted as the first female superstar.

Ramesh now wanted to try making a different kind of film. He was a very great fan of all the westerns made in Hollywood and wanted to try his hand at an Indian version of the western. He was also inspired by a small film called “Khotte Sikkey”, a film made by one of his father’s directors Narendra Bedi with Feroz Khan as the only known star and Ajit as the villain and a film made on a very low budget, shot in the jungles of Mumbai and was a success. He talked about his idea to Salim -Javed who loved it. They saw all the classic westerns made in Hollywood, they also had a look at “Khotte Sikkey” and decided that they could try and make a modern version of the Indian western and worked on a script which took them several months because they kept finding new ideas. It was finally decided to make a film with Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, an upcoming actor called Amitabh Bachchan, Hema Malini and Jaya Bhaduri. But they had a major problem in finding the right villain. They did not want to have the typical dhoti- clad and turbaned typical dacoit seen in several Hindi films. Their villain would be wearing faded jeans, would have a stubble, and would wear army boots and chew tobacco whenever he had to deliver his most powerful lines. They approached actors like Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and finally Danny Denzongpa and they not only turned down the offer but also scoffed at Ramesh’s idea of changing the image of the Hindi film dacoit. The film was ready to take off on a huge set of an entire village surrounded by mountains on the out skirts of Bangalore, but shooting was held up because of not finding the right villain. Ramesh was in despair when he suddenly thought about his college friend, Amjad Khan who was a theatre actor and the son of Jayant, one of the most handsome sophisticated villains of Hindi films. Amjad had assisted a director like K.Asif and had played a part of a crowd scene in Asif’s film, “Love and God”. Ramesh talked him into playing the role of Gabbar Singh which Amjad accepted as a very big challenge but it was a bigger challenge for Ramesh because the first man to object to his choice was his own father and when he was introduced to the rest of the cast they all felt Ramesh was destroying the film by casting a new actor who they said was too weak to face the challenge of heroes like Sanjeev Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan and above all Dharmendra, but Ramesh stuck to his guns and refused to change his choice of Amjad. The film was made entirely on a set of a village specially built for the film on the outskirts of Bangalore, and called Rampur. Ramesh worked like a general going to war during the making of the film and completed it in a record time in spite of all the hassles he had to face. The film was released on August 15, 1975.

Ramesh held a grand premiere for all the celebrities of the industry and was shocked to see the reaction. It looked as if the industry had decided to take a decision to call the film a flop and that was what it was for the first three days, a very big flop. But as if like a miracle the film picked up on the third day and then did not look back for the next five years. The same people who ran down the film called it a classic and a cult film and all those who laughed at Amjad Khan accepted him as the most successful villain and Gabbar Singh became a house hold name. The film was a bigger hit than “Mother India “ and “Mughal-E-Azam” and Ramesh Sippy the director with the Mida’s touch. ..

It took Ramesh a long time to think about making his next film because he knew how high the expectations had soared. In one of his inspired (?) moments he thought of making a city- based, sophisticated version of “Sholay”. He asked his friends Salim- Javed to write a script and the result was “Shaan”, a film starring Sunil Dutt, Shashi Kapoor, Parveen Babi, Bindiya Goswami and two new actors, Mazhar Khan and Kulbhushan Kharbanda in whom Ramesh saw his greatest villain, even a greater villain than Gabbar Singh. He did not cast any one from the cast of “Sholay” for reasons best known to him. A film made with the same passion bombed at the box -office like very few films have and people wondered if this was the same Ramesh Sippy who had directed “Sholay”. The film did not do any good to any one, especially Mazhar and Kulbhushan who saw dreams of the great time to come for them after the released of the film. ..

A shaken up Ramesh was now in serious trouble as people started suspecting his ability as a director. After several months of thinking he came up with a brand new and fresh idea of making a love story called “Saagar”. He had Rishi Kapoor and Kamal Haasan coming together for the first time and created a casting coup when he brought back the married and separated Dimple Kapadia, looking as young and much more gorgeous. The performances of the three stars, the music and that one scene in which Dimple reveals her bosom in a fleeting scene made the film a very classy film but it failed to draw the masses even though the critics gave it raving reviews..

From “Saagar” onwards, it was only one slip after another for the maker of “Sholay”. He tried making “Akayla” with Amitabh Bachchan and Amitabh himself openly asked if this was the director he had seen as the “supreme commander’ during the making of “Sholay”. He also had the unique opportunity of bringing together two of the greatest actors of Indian cinema, Dilip Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan in “Shakti” in which a young actor called Anil Kapoor played a bit role. It was a film about a major clash between crime and punishment, crime represented by Amitabh and punishment by Dilip Kumar. It was one of the most eagerly awaited films, it had naturally two of the greatest performances but still people who saw the film only concentrated on the performances and neglected the film which resulted in one of the finest chances missed by a director. Ramesh unfortunately could not even save this film. Ramesh showed that he had lost his magic touch. Neither “Akayla” nor “Zamaana Deewana” he made with the new star Shah Rukh Khan failed to bring back any of his lost glory.

The only time he could see a glimmer of hope was when he made a TV serial called “Buniyaad” which is considered a landmark in the history of Indian television. Ramesh has not been able to make another film for the last ten years. He cites several reasons which includes the rising prices of stars and the paucity of subjects, but the bitter fact remains that he has still to find that Ramesh Sippy who had once coloured the pages of Indian film history in blazing letters. Will that Ramesh return or will he always be remembered as the man who made just one great film “Sholay” and then forgot all about making great films?

More on Ramesh Sippy

- He was in love (“before I knew what it was to fall in love”) with Hindi cinema even when he was a student and made it a point to see every film possible and Dilip Kumar and Shammi Kapoor were his favorites and he often dreamt of working with them one day - When he saw “Godfather” he came out saying, “what a script, I can make ten films out of this one script, but I will never do that. If I ever succeed I will make films which will have my own touch. No copying or imitating even the greatest director for me”. - He had the chance to learn thing from some of the greatest directors of the past and also the times he was working in - He never forgot his days when he assisted H.S.Rawail and the kind of jobs he did. He remembers the firings he received from Rajendra Kumar who was the biggest star of those days, the love of Dadamoni (Ashok Kumar) and how one of his duties as an assistant was to carry the chappals of Sadhana, “the heroine who I fell in love with hopelessly” - He remembers his father telling him stories about Dilip Kumar as an actor and a man of great learning. He made those stories the source for inspiration for him and dreamt of the day when he would direct the great actor and that day came when he directed the legend in “Shakti” - He is also a great admirer of Amitabh Bachchan about whom he says, “Anyone who works with Amitabh can make any kind of film and direct the best of actors anywhere in the world”. - Ramesh says he has learned the best under the most trying circumstances when he made the fifty- two episode serial, “Buniyaad” which dealt with the partition. - Ramesh has been on the jury of several National and International Award Festivals, but has found it a very tough task because of politics and manipulation playing a very important role at all awards. - Ramesh married the daughter of Ramesh Patel, the owner of Film Center (now defunct), the leading lab of the film industry for several years. They have two children, Rohan who is a leading director today and Sheena who is an internationally known photographer and has done the stills for several leading films and some even for her father. Ramesh met a young TV actress called Kiran Juneja during the making of “Buniyaad”, fell in love with her, divorced his first wife and now lives with Kiran. The two have no children. - Ramesh broke off all ties with his father and his brother and has nothing to do with Sippy Films because he has started his own banner, R.S.Productions which has still to make a hit during the last twenty- years - He has a very good command over the English language and has his own school of philosophy called the “Ramesh Sippy school of thinking for all occasions” - He is one filmmaker who is concerned about the state of affairs in the country and wants to do something specially now when he says he sees great hope for the country with leaders like Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul and Omar Abdullah - He is seventy-two but is a fitness freak and gives a major share of the credit for his good health to his wife Kiran - Ramesh believes that it is man who can make his own destiny - He loves living a good life and is seen at all the parties in the city, dancing with his wife Kiran, a thing he shares with his father, G.P.Sippy who loved the company of beautiful young women and good Scotch - Ramesh now has only one ambition. He will start four films, one directed by himself, one by his son Rohan and the other two by directors from outside.

R.S.PR

[rememberthattime]

Chapter 51. The Move III. Home

What a month. December 2019 started in Sydney, but in just four weeks, took me through New York (Chels was in Hawaii), Dallas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Seattle, and finally London.

Somehow this was our LEAST busy holiday over the past three years, but it flew by nonetheless.

The month began with an international move... obviously challenging, and further complicated by EY’s mobility team. Movers, cleaners, and interested Gumtree buyers cycled through the house, while Chelsay and I balanced enjoying our final days in Manly with UK visa applications.

Eventually our Aussie apartment was empty. Just four massive bags remained - they held our only belongings until our shipment arrives in London sometime in April. Those four bags would be heading in opposite directions for the next 10 days though: Chelsay’s followed her to Hawaii, while mine were heading to New York.

I’m extremely jealous of Chelsay’s trip to the North Shore. Not only did she get to hang with Sumner, Chris, Miles, and Orly, but she enjoyed a few post-Sydney surfs, Island vibes, and beautiful weather.

Meanwhile, I had intense work meetings in New York, which required staying an extra few days for the biggest presentation I’ve given to-date. I was at least able to stroll around Manhattan between meetings, with highlights including Gramercy Park, East Village, Greenwich Village, and snow in Times Square.

Our Christmas Break really began once Chelsay and I finally made it to Dallas, though we were only home for one day before embarking on a family road trip.

Chelsay and I have traveled to around 50 countries, yet there are so many places we haven’t explored in our own backyard, including the Deep South. With plenty of time in the US this December, we decided to take a short road trip through Louisiana and Mississippi with Jeff, Liv, Matt, and Emily.

Some highlights:

A foggy visit to Evergreen Plantation. Although the plantation was a primary filming site for fictional Django Unchained, its slave past was very real. Despite our tour guide’s best efforts to portray a “different narrative”, the slaves’ conditions were pretty clear... “Remember: snakes, gators, mosquitoes, yellow fever.”

Jambalaya, Beignets, and Hurricanes in New Orleans’ French Quarter, paired with our over-the-top Southern accents (“There’s been a muwduh!”)

Strolling Barataria Preserve, a swampy bayou coated in Spanish moss... but with zero bathrooms along the trail. What happened in the bayou stays in the bayou. 

Touring antebellum homes in charming Natchez, though the biggest highlight was Jeff trying to understand how their 1980′s occupants got cable. 

Friendly and entertaining strangers throughout the entire trip. Zippy the gas station attendant (“Energy drink, for the guy that’s gotta push the car”), our Uber driver Mahogany (“Reroute me”), the Mississippi McDonalds cashier (“Y’all wan’ dat wit pe-can sauce!?”), and a New Orleans man training his pet raccoon.

The road trip was great siblings trip - no doubt one that we’ll laugh about for a long time. But after covering Sydney, New York, Louisiana, and Mississippi in just two weeks, it was time to settle down for a bit.

Luckily we had almost a month to relax: 23 days before our one-way flight to London, split between Dallas and Seattle. I hardly worked and Chelsay was already well into sabbatical-mode, which meant we had zero responsibility while home... It was a return to childhood.

Some highlights:

These aren’t in any order, except for this first one: Matt’s quizzes. It’s become a Kern tradition that Matt puts together ~15 ten question quizzes. They’re all creative categories, with our annual favorite being “Synonym song title & band”. Matt’s past four annual quizzes were all excellent, but this Christmas’ installment, Kern Family Quizzes 5: The Moscow Incident, was by far the most impressive. It included an audio/visual component, and categories ranging from “Name this platinum song being played on recorder” and “Name the two actors’ whose faces I’ve merged into one”. Matt could make millions if he sold these games.

Speaking of games, the Kern’s and Wright’s combined to complete four escape rooms. Perfect 4/4. Grandma Helen calls them “Crazy rooms”, which is absolutely understandable after a T-Rex roared at us for 20 minutes in one of our Seattle escape rooms.

Continuing in the friendly competition category, the Kern’s love bocce... especially bocce with a wrinkle: wild bocc’ (aka free-range bocce). Most bocce is played in a walled rectangular arena. Not for the Kern’s though. We drive to the Trophy Club Park and set up our “course” through trees, along hills, across sidewalks, and between the small children panicking as we hurl 3 lb balls towards them. Like a windmill in putt-putt, these obstacles make the game more challenging, especially the scared children. Plus we all just like getting outside.

One last friendly competition: giant jenga at Jeff & Liv’s new house. Their “starter” home is so big that they have an entire room for giant jenga... and we needed the space. This genuinely could’ve been a Guinness record for longest game. For at least an hour -- every single turn -- we were sure the tower JUST HAD to fall.

The next four bullets are all cowboy related. Chelsay and I have been together for 10 years, and every time we go to Dallas, she insists on visiting a dude ranch. We’ve never had enough time... until this Christmas. Chelsay finally got her wish when we drove an hour outside Fort Worth to Beaumont Ranch. This day trip could’ve had its own post, but I’ll have to summarize in a few short stories.

First, the main event was a cattle drive on horseback. Our instructor, a true Texan cowgirl, led us into the 800-acre plains in search of rogue longhorns. Chelsay was the first to come across wayward cattle and, despite her metropolitan upbringing, instinctively started yelling in an extremely southern accent: “Go on, git! Heeyah!” Our Texan instructor had to be insulted.

Second story: Matt is very good at lassoing. I was not. This video pretty much tells the story.

Last story from our cowboy day. The ranch had its own replica western town, so Chelsay had the idea to make a “duel” video. We talked about the dialogue for under 10 seconds, but the result was pure gold. Oscar worthy (at least better than The Irishman). You might think that we added the music afterwards to sync with our actions... Nope, that was just my mom holding her phone close to Chelsay’s camera. That should at least be up for Best Sound Editing.

My parents, Chelsay, and I fell into a nightly routine of Dark from Netflix Germany. Phenomenal show, despite watching an English-dubbed version. We finished two seasons in under 10 days.

Obviously we hit all the favorite food spots, led by Feedstore, Mi Cocina, Anamias, Christinas, Costa Vida. We also added a new favorite: HG Supply and their tasty impossible whopper bowl with quinoa and chili. 

On the topic of food, I must have eaten 100 cookies while home. We had the traditional Kern Christmas cookie bake-off (A+ humor, but C+ presentation), but Chelsay also picked up a baking addiction. It was 11 pm and we’d all be heading to bed, but Chelsay was still laser focused and meticulously decorating her cookies. Her efforts showed though: A+ flavor, and A+++ presentation. 

Next up was our return to Seattle. On Chelsay and I’s first full day, we decided to go on a long hike. We actually didn’t hike much when lived in Seattle, which we now realize was dumb. I definitely took the Northwest’s landscape for granted — every time we visit, I’m blown away by the sky-scraping evergreens, fresh scent, crisp air, and looming mountain ranges that surround the city. Anyway, we’ve been trying to catch up on our hiking whenever we visit, and the closest trail to the Wright’s house is Mt. Si, a semi-challenging 8-mile hike. It’s the medium-well steak of hikes. Danny, Chelsay, and I endured a sweaty couple hours -- just to give you an idea of the hike’s height, the peak was snow-capped, but the views made the steep ascent worthwhile. 

On the same ‘missed PNW opportunities’ line: when I lived in Seattle, I ever took advantage of the many nearby mountain villages, especially the Bavarian-themed Leavenworth. Tucked in the Cascade Mountains, you would never believe Leavenworth is just two hours from bustling Pike Place. Gothic-lettered storefronts line the half-timbered town’s main street: Munchen Haus, the Sausage Garten, Ludwig’s, and Starbucks (it’s still America after all). Danny, June, Chelsay, and I enjoyed a quiet walk on Blackbird Island, threw snowballs for target practice, and warmed up with hot cider and big (BIG) game of Uno. We also built up our shaka inventory with our Leavenworth friends Alex & Charlie.

It's also worth mentioning that I went to a Hawks game with Hanan. It was a rivalry game and the stakes couldn't be higher: SEA vs SF. Sunday Night Football. Last game of the 2019 regular season, and the winner took the NFC West. The 49ers went up 16-0, but the Hawks stormed back and had the ball with a chance to win on the last play. Russell Wilson hit Jacob Hollister close to the goal line, but a 49er tackled him quickly. Hollister reached for the goal line as he fell, but came up an inch short of a game-winning touchdown. Even though the Hawks lost, it was still a great time.

Speaking of great times, we hosted New Year’s Eve at the Wright’s house in Woodinville. What an incredible night. Midnight seems to get later and later every year, but Chelsay and I stayed up until 3 am catching up with Devon & Babs, Martiin @ Michelle, and Austin & Kels. Danny, June, and Chels were such amazing hosts - I kept telling them my friends didn’t deserve their hospitality.

We may have been in the US for five weeks, but it felt like only five days. Although it fly by, these stories and pictures are proof that our time was well spent. 

And even though we were boarding a one-way flight to London for the next few years, there’s no question where our true home will always be.