#Danny: Okay but how can I make this the most entertaining for me

[sebscore]

please write about the gzd doing twitch streams! she would have the most entertaining ones i think. she react to different grill the grid videos and funny f1 videos too.

GLASS HALF FULL KINDA GAL

pairings: f1 grid x driver!reader 

warnings: swearing. drunk reader. 

author's note: someone asked for gzd to do some streaming! I know it's not twitch, but i'm quite happy with the way this turned out! X 

masterlist

• • • • • • •

''Hello, everyone! I am here again, gracing you with my presence!'' Y/N greeted the thousands of people tuning into her Instagram live. 

She waved at the camera. ''I hope everyone had a great day or is about to have a great day, depends on where you live,'' she grinned, ''I'm here to live out my influencer life and unbox a package that has been delivered to me.'' 

Y/N grabbed the box from next to her so it was more visible on the screen. ''My good friend, Daniel Ricciardo sent me a box of his new wine collection,'' she showed the large logo to everyone, holding the box close to the camera, ''and I'm gonna try it out now.'' 

The young driver opens the package and picks out one of the three identical wine bottles. ''So this is called 'DR3 the Third Cabernet Sauvignon' and it was made in the South of Australia.'' She read the label out loud, an impressed look on her face. 

Y/N held the wine bottle up in front of her phone as if she were a Youtuber showing their viewers the make-up product they were using. ''Very, very pretty.'' 

She took the corkscrew that she had quickly grasped before starting the live and easily opened the bottle. ''This isn't my first time at the rodeo, guys.'' Y/N chuckled as she saw fans commenting about how she opened the bottle with ease. 

''Okay, let's taste this baby!'' Filling her glass with wine, she was excited to try Daniel's new wine. 

The young woman made several comedic attempts at seeming like a professional wine expert; smelling the drink and spinning her glass around. 

''Cheers, everyone!'' She tapped her glass against the screen of her phone. 

Y/N took a big sip from the wine, letting out a big ''Ah'' at the end. ''I love this! Holy Moly, Danny Ric!'' She drank from her glass again, immediately filling it up again. ''I'm a fan!'' 

She glanced at the comments, seeing a certain Australian man camping in there. ''Danny! You're here! I just drank it, it's amazing!'' 

| danielricciardo that's some fine wine

| danielricciardo happy you like it 💙

| danielricciardo say hi to me, pls

| danielricciardo HI Y/N!!

''Hi, Daniel! I miss you, haven't seen you in a while.'' Y/N pouted, waving to the camera. ''You better be there in Melbourne! It won't be the same otherwise.'' She said, trying to come across as threatening. 

| danielricciardo will be there 😎

| danielricciardo miss you too 

| landonorris you're drinking again? 

Y/N rolled her eyes at the entrance of the Brit. ''Fuck off, Lando. People who have won a Grand Prix get to drink on a livestream.'' She teased him, a smirk on her face. 

| landonorris okay, that is mean 

| landonorris drink then i guess 

Before she knew it, her once full glass was empty again. ''Let's fill you up, eh?'' She cringed as the words left her mouth. ''Ew- that sounds disgusting. Forget I said that.'' 

''Dan, good thing you put three bottles in here- I'm really enjoying myself and these babies.'' The 'babies' being the wine bottles. 

| alex_albon a Y/N drunk live? don't want to miss that 

''Albono!'' She greeted Alex, excitedly. ''Where is Lily, though? I want her here.'' 

| alex_albon my presence isn't good enough for you? 😒

''No, your presence is not good enough.'' Y/N bluntly answered, grinning from ear to ear. 

She scratched her voice. ''Am I drinking this too fast? My glass is almost done and I refilled it like 2 minutes ago.'' The driver observed her glass, frowning when she saw it was almost empty again. 

| danielricciardo yes, you are drinking too fast

| landonorris no, you're not

| landonorris drink faster 

| landonorris I can drink way faster 😌

''Norris, are you challenging me?'' She raised her eyebrow at the camera as if she was looking at Lando in real life. ''Accepted, Rumple.'' 

| alex_albon this is a disaster waiting to happen

| lilymhe you look lonely, Y/N 😏💋

''Lily! My wife is here, guys!'' Y/N yells as soon as she saw Lily's comment. ''I do look lonely,'' she smirked, ''I bet you can fix that.'' 

| alex_albon STOP IT 

| alex_albon ENOUGH 

| lilymhe wait for me ❤️❤️❤️

''Alex, you stop it with the jealousy! Never let someone's boyfriend stop you from finding your wife, guys!'' She told the viewers as if she was a teacher telling her students about an important subject. 

Y/N took another big gulp from her wine, leaving it empty. ''Should I just drink from the bottle, cause I don't plan on stopping soon.'' She showed said bottle to the viewers as if they could talk back to her. 

''Oh, fuck it.'' She put her glass away and started drinking from the bottle itself. 

| danielricciardo CALM DOWN

| georgerussell63 You worry me sometimes. 

''Go away, Russell George!'' Y/N exclaimed, waving her hand at the camera. ''You only drink tea, you're not allowed to judge me.'' 

''I'm just joking, you can stay.'' The pretend annoyed look on her face was replaced for a genuine smile. ''As long as you don't judge me, you British tall glass of water.'' The driver quickly added with a teasing grin. 

| georgerussell63 I have to go.

| georgerussell63 I have to make tea 😉

| landonorris BYE GEORGE 👋👋👋👋

''Anyway,'' Y/N gave the camera a sassy look, ''we should turn this into a Q&A! If you have questions for me- please leave them in the comments!'' She loudly clapped her hands together, scaring herself at the loud sound. 

| user1 Y/N, are you drunk yet? 

''No, I'm not drunk,'' the woman answered, ''I have a very high alcohol tolerance!'' 

| landonorris she doesn't

| danielricciardo No, you really don't 

| pierregasly you were on the floor after one pastis 😅

''Shut up and when did Pierre get here?'' Y/N shook her head at her colleagues' comments. ''Gasly, you don't know what you're talking about.'' She dismissed his reply, despite knowing he's telling the truth. 

| user2 there's something behind you

Y/N's eyes widened at the comment, slowly looking behind her. ''Dude- fuck off! Don't say stuff like that! I don't have a ghost in my house!'' She put her hand on her heart, feeling the rapid beating underneath her palm. 

''It would be cool to have one, though.'' She thought deeply. ''Like, I would be less lonely and we could keep each other company… I hope they're like, cool, like not a serial killer, you know? Or a child- UGH! Please, don't let it be a child! I like kids, but I don't want to have one and especially not a ghost one.'' 

| landonorris who is youre favourite driver? 🤭

| georgerussell63 It is 'your', Lando. 

| alex_albon your* 

| landonorris don't you have drivers to hit? 

''My favourite driver? Well, Lando, that's an excellent question! My answer is Lewis Hamilton! My favourite McLaren driver of all time.'' She smiled evilly. 

| landonorris 😑

| danielricciardo excuse me

| danielricciardo that's my wine you are drinking 😤

''Danny, you're my second favourite! And my bottle is almost done so you can see that I'm really appreciating the wine.'' Y/N defended her answer, once again showing the bottle to the camera. 

| user3 How old are you? 

''I'm 23!'' She replied, excitedly. ''That's also the amount of brain cells Lando has, funny enough.'' 

| landonorris meanie 

| landonorris I don't want to be your friend anymore 😢

''Wait- we were friends to begin with? Oh, Lando…'' Y/N dramatically shook her head, sighing in feigned disappointment as if she were a teacher upset with her student. ''You have so much to learn about the real world.'' 

''Also, now that we're on the topic of the real world,'' she started off speaking about the new thought that had somehow found its way into her head, ''Pluto.'' 

''Like, I feel so bad for them. They were just chilling, you know? And then on one tragic day, they were just kicked out - as if they were nothing. I wonder how they're doing these days. I was heartbroken when I received the news. The solar system hasn't been the same without them.'' She bumped her fist on her chest and pointed at the sky, shouting Pluto out. 

| danielricciardo pls stop drinking

| danielricciardo you're doing it again

| user4 WHY IS SHE TALKING ABOUT PLUTO BEING KICKED OUT OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM HELP 

| user5 SHES SO DRUNK OMFG 

''That second bottle is looking very sexy right now, I can't lie.'' Y/N eyed the second bottle in the wine box, pursing her lips. 

| alex_albon Y/N NO! 

| pierregasly dude, you're on live 😂😂😂

| user6 DONT DRINK MORE 

''You know when you tell a child that they shouldn't do something, but it makes them want to do it even more? Yeah, that is what's happening right now.'' The driver chuckled, grabbing the bottle out of the box and opening it with the corkscrew. 

''I already know I'm going to regret this, but frankly, I don't give a shit.'' And with that she took a large gulp of the wine. 

| user7 do you want to become world champion this year? 

Y/N gave the camera a side-eye as she read the question out loud. ''I mean… isn't that kinda the point? HA! No, I'm just doing all of this for funsies.'' 

''But Max will probably win this year again… I'm gonna try to not let that happen, but that Red Bull… it's too good.'' She sighed, getting more real thinking about the season. 

''You know… maybe the real World Championship is the friends we made along the way.'' 

| charles_leclerc oh, you are really drunk 😂

| pierregasly I told you, charlito 

| zhouguanyu24 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

| landonorris someone needs to hack her account and stop this 

''Please, don't hack my account.'' Y/N said in a monotone voice. ''Am I acting bad or something? I'm just answering questions, Lando.'' 

| nicorosberg Hello, Y/N! 👋

''BRITNEY!'' The young woman exclaimed as she noticed the former driver's comment. ''You know how this shit works? Damn, what can't Nico Rosberg do?'' 

''You're still my favourite Monaco-based Youtuber, by the way.'' She winked at the camera, pretending it is the German she's winking at. ''I can't believe I have a World Champion watching my Instagram live.'' 

''You really are a legend for 2016, Brit.'' 

| nicorosberg Thank you! 

| danielricciardo I think it's time to log off, Y/N… 

| user8 NOT HER TALKING TO NICO LIKE THAT 😭😭

| user9 Y/N PLS TALK ABOUT BROCEDES WE KNOW YOU GOT THE TEA ☕️☕️

| user10 lewis and seb watching this : 👁👄👁

''Gentlemen, a short view back to the past-''

THE LIVE HAS ENDED

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[starry-bi-sky]

I am absolutely loving your Danyal Al Ghul au. While I have a soft spot for the whole plotline of Danny becoming his canon personality almost right after breaking away from the LOA all because of Jazz, I'm just as much for your take in which he goes through the same character development as Damian.

Now I'm curious. You already tackled his relationship with Dani, will you eventually take a stab at when he, Sam, and Tucker meet Gregor? Given that it's one of my hated episodes as I couldn't stand Sam's infuriatingly hypocritical attitude to Danny's suspicions of him, I'd kill to see your spin on it.

Aw, thank you! Danyal Al Ghul aus are what got me into DPDC first, so I have a major soft spot for them. That being said, uh, its exactly that soft spot that causes me to have Many Opinions about the trope you just mentioned. Like the trope is all fine and dandy, i don't blindly hate it, my main issue with it is that most aus i've seen treat his backstory as an ex-assassin more like a pretty cosmetic accessory rather than something that actually should have had an impact on him. Especially if he remembers being in the league.

Like i cannot stress enough the fact that being in an ecofascist assassin cult (regardless of his standing in it) should've left him, in some way or another, screwed up morally and psychologically because that's just how development works. Nature vs. Nurture is like a game of tug-o-war that never ends, where they are constantly fighting against each other and one side usually has the upper hand or greater influence. Children model the behaviors of the adults around them (ex: bobo the clown doll experiment), and what impacts them in childhood can stick with them permanently.

Like how my psychology professor put it: a baby's brain is like wet cement; if you slap your hand on it, it leaves an imprint, and the cement dries that way. The same rings true for small children.

I could go on, but I frankly have so many thoughts on that alone that I would end up completely derailing from the second half of your ask, and I don't want to be more critical than I already have. Especially since you just mentioned you have a soft spot for the trope.

[Okay, hold onto your hats because this is long. Naturally lmao.]

Gregor! Man, I'll admit I last watched the show back in middle school on a dodgy illegal website (it had surprisingly good audio and visual graphics, and full episodes. But really annoying porn ads.) but I only made it to like season 1 before my hyperfixation faded and I lost interest. So I never actually saw the Gregor episode.

But... it is relatively easy to find free websites that stream Danny Phantom :), so finding the episode took me like. Thirty seconds. Plus the Tv.Tropes recap page because my damn earbuds just died and im out in public as of rn.

I'm not sure if I'll write something for the gregor episode like I did with Dani, since Dani's a bit of a special case in that she's a clone and tends to be a reoccurring presence in DPDC, and I thought the new dynamic with Danyal would be interesting.

Plus, I'm not a big amethyst ocean shipper for the pure reason of I'm just not all that interested in it; its kinda bland to me. I'll admit I've entertained the thought in this au due to the whole balcony scene i wrote, but I would've entertained the thought anyways if it was Tucker in that position instead. Big multishipper, me.

But, if I had to make it official? Danyal is not interested romantically in Sam when the Gregor episode happens, regardless of his relationship with Valerie. Who, speaking of I'm trying to think about how that would go, and I'm torn between including him almost-dating Valerie or not.

Because on one hand it helps point out Sam's hypocrisy (and i love her but i am always happy to point out her flaws and address them in au) in this episode in terms of Danny spying on them, but on the other hand I'll want to include a lot of set up in order to make Gray Ghost work in this au and wow will that take a while.

Especially with the Flirting with Disaster episode because it happens due to Technus' meddling, and Danny is, well, the son of the Batman? A trained assassin? An ex-assassin nonetheless, but still an assassin? A prodigy child in this au? He might not have needed to use most of his skills in the last few years, but like... there's just a bunch of 'what if' and 'well technically...' and 'would he? he could, but would he?' things that is getting in the way of my thought process and making my head spin.

.

Mmm. Okay. Flirting with Disaster occurs relatively the same as canon with a few exceptions; like Danyal noticing the strange coincidences, and he might take the idea into proper consideration because Sam has a point it is strange, especially out of nowhere.

However,,, he really enjoys Valerie's company, and he does really like her. He's been adjusting to civilian life for the last four years and while he's made a lot of progress, he's still. an ex-assassin child living like a wolf amongst sheep. This is normal, typical teenager stuff, and usually his friends like to encourage him doing normal teenager stuff.

So he's stubbornly holding out on the thought that this is normal, that ghost stuff isn't interfering here. He's a little hurt that his friends are discouraging this, he's not bothered by the fact that Valerie is a ghost hunter and he a ghost -- his mother is an assassin, and his father is Batman, and they still had a relationship. (Granted, he's not gonna tell them that)

If anything, being diametrically opposed to each other but still being in love is part of the family! Granted, usually both parties are aware of said opposition to each other, but he'll make a special exception this time around.

(And man now that i'm thinking about gray ghost, im now thinking about various like. scenes i could write between the two of them. maybe in a reblog.)

Anyways uhhh things relatively go the same as canon. Yeah. I think Sam still has a crush on Danny and still spies out of jealousy with Tucker.

.

Now, the Gregor episode! With that out of the way; the TVTropes recap for this episode isn't the best because it doesn't go into detail about the entire episode like it does with Flirting With Disaster and Shades of Gray.

(which i looked at earlier because I made a section of this post talking briefly about what changes I'd make to the Shades of Gray episode to help set up Gray Ghost, but ended up deleting because it was kinda irrelevant for the matter at hand.)

So I'm taking in bits of the episode clips at a time, I'll try not to get too nitpicky about how each scene goes because then it's gonna take me a longer time to write this.

But! First thing's first; since Danny is not romantically interested in Sam, he is also not jealous of Gregor. He is however, a bit eyebrow-raisey at him in their first introduction, but that's because Gregor is coming off as obnoxious.

Danny thinks he's kinda annoying, and it doesn't take a genius to see that Gregor is trying to impress Sam. But since they've only known him for five minutes he takes the good faith assumption and assumes that Gregor is genuinely trying to show interest in Sam's interests too because he likes her, so he keeps mum. The fake hungarian accent is weird, but it's overall harmless, so he doesn't point it out.

He does do the spying thing when he starts suspecting that Gregor might be working for the GIW. The episode only has this happen twice, but for the au this happens a handful of more times over the course of the week, with Danyal's suspicion steadily rising more and more each time.

Hah, when he brings up wanting to spy on Sam and Gregor because of this reason, Tucker still does his "woah! you wanna spy on Sam?" thing.

Danny immediately turns to him, completely unimpressed, and crosses his arms. "Tucker," he says, deadpan, "you and Sam spied on me and Valerie."

He uses a combination of his ghost powers and his regular stealth ability to spy on them. He's hiding in a tree when they're skipping rocks, close enough that he can use his powers to hear them talk but far enough away that he has a good view of their surroundings.

He's invisible in the cinema, but doesn't accidentally get in front of the projector. He checks the inside of the room for the GIW, and then waits outside the actual room itself, keeping an eye on the area and occasionally flying in to watch the movie out of boredom. It reminds him of being back on a recon mission with the League, but it doesn't end with him orchestrating someone's death.

Then when they're at the mall he stays in human form, blending in with the crowd. He runs into the GIW there, but realizes that they're not there because of Gregor; they're just shopping. They didn't show up at either of the last two locations, and he follows them to make sure they're not also trying to blend in. But they're literally just there for shopping.

Danny is rather pleased with this turnout; so far Gregor isn't a spy, he's just annoying. The next day at lunch he asks Sam how her date with Gregor went, and that's how she figures out he spied on them, because well, she didn't tell him that.

"Have you been spying on me?"

Danny messes with his food a little bit, and Tucker is sinking into his seat with embarrassment. He frowns, "Only last night. Those incompetent government dodos--"

His lip curls up; he gets all 'Shakespeare-y' (as Sam and Tucker put it) when he's insulting someone, "--kept appearing whenever Gregor did. I followed you and him last night to make sure he wasn't a spy."

A roundabout way of saying, "I was worried".

Sam is, as canon, furious. Danny understands why, he knows generally speaking that people don't like being spied on. But he's confused on just how angry she is, and is a little irritated by it.

"Why would you do that!" She exclaims, "That's way out of line, Danny."

"How? You spied on me when I was going on dates with Valerie." He narrows his eyes, and points his fork at her, "I'm not blind, I noticed."

"That's different, we told you why we were suspicious. And we don't have ghost powers like you do."

"I don't need ghost powers to sneak around, Sam, you've seen this firsthand. And I just told you why I followed you, I thought he was working with the guys in white--"

"So you think someone can only be interested in me if they're after you?" (this is a paraphrased quote, folks ;D)

"No! If that was the case I would have voiced my concern the moment I thought it. I don't get why you're so angry, you spied too."

Iiits.... a mess. Sam storms off with Gregor, Tucker tags along because okay, yeah, maybe Gregor isn't with the GIW, or maybe last night was a fluke. Either way he ends up tagging along. Danny overhears that conversation between the GIW and Mr. Lancer, and maybe he's right, maybe he's wrong; but something is up.

I've gotten to that scene in the locker room where Gregor tells Danny that he knows he doesn't like him, and I've paused at Danny's reply to say this: Danyal doesn't even bother trying to deny it.

"I know you do not like me."

"You're right; I don't."

"Ah, let me finish. I know you do not like me because you want to protect your friend, Sam, and I respect that."

"...That's correct."

"Good! Because I am going to ask her out."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he stands up, claps his hand tight on Gregor's shoulder, and leans close to him with a threatening smile, "so you understand me when i say; if you break my best friend's heart, you're as good as dead, right?"

"Ah,, yes. I am so glad we got that cleared out of the way, and now I hope after we can.. how you Americans put it, hang out?"

In the episode he hugs Danny and gives him a la bise (which is that french greeting where you kiss someone on the cheek two or more times) after they end their conversation. But here, when he goes to do that to Danyal, Danny leans away, points an accusatory finger at him, and says; "Absolutely not; we are not close."

The next scene after that is like, end of day. Sam, Tucker, and Gregor walking away. Sam looks over her shoulder to glare at Danny, then gets forlorn. Tucker looks back and just looks forlorn.

(When did I start narrating each scene?? Eh, I'm writing this in brief spurts of time throughout the day. Don't fix what's not broke)

After that there's this whole scene with the two GIW agents that have been chasing Phantom all episode. They're there because they have Tucker's PDA that Skulker took, and it's got the information of their purple backed gorilla assignment on it. They've been going around seeing who Tucker associates with in hopes of catching Phantom.

Uhh ahaha and that is where this gets a little interesting imo, and also allows me to mention that im retconning Danyal's (already) redesigned ghost form. Which I've wanted to retcon even before this moment bc it was just too busy. I'll get to that in a moment.

The GIW suspect Gregor for being the Phantom because of his white hair and green eyes, which is all fine and dandy until you remember: Danyal (and by extension Phantom) has that very noticeable, rather identifiable facial scar that goes across the middle of his fucking face. The GIW could easily suspect that Phantom hides his scar with makeup if he's in disguise, but if they meet a kid with a seemingly identical facial scar and similar disposition? Hoo boy.

Solution? I've got two: Gregor is canonically a kid from Michigan who faked everything to impress Sam. Considering he knows she's gothic and knows that she's ultra-recyclo vegetarian? He probably watched her from afar or got information on her somehow. His hair is dyed, his eyes might just naturally be green, but if he notices that she's got a crush on either Danyal or Phantom? A little sfx makeup could help him recreate a similar looking scar.

My second solution that's gonna happen anyways bc its that suit redesign; Danyal does hide his face as Phantom. Ghosts are emotional creatures and its a popular headcanon that their interests, ambitions, etc, influence the way they look as a ghost, not just their death. A big reoccurring theme of my au is that Danyal did not leave the League unscathed, and that being an assassin is an important part of his identity.

So i'm discarding the hazmat suit look entirely and leaning into the 'assassin' thing. But the general (stylized) feel is like, white ribbon/cloth vambraces that he has used as a garrote at some point, a hood, a gaiter scarf-type thing. I'm keeping the cape. I did a doodle a few days back that's not the official redesign, but a redesign for Phantom. I may reblog this post with that attached because it's got the general feel down. There's very little white involved, but the inside of his cape flares out and looks like the night sky.

Now, the hood and gaiter scarf gets rid of most of the problem, but Danny's hood doesn't stay on all the time, so the GIW have likely seen the upper half of the scar. :] Gregor's own drawn-on scar doesn't have to be 1:1, but it looks close enough, right? A small scar cutting through the edge of his brow and ends right below the corner of his eye. A 'cool, badass' one opposed to Danny's 'garish' scar.

But! Back to the episode scene. Canon Danny gets written off as being 'too prepubescent' to be Phantom, and honestly it'd be hilarious if Danyal was written off for the same reason (he's calling them idiots in his head if they do). But instead -- leaning into the GIW's incompetence here -- he gets written off as being too mature or too talkative. Or something equally as absurd.

Sam breaks up with Gregor for canon reasons, but when Gregor does his "i really like you, but, come on-!" and gestures to tucker, he adds on "and that scary friend of yours too, seriously!"

Things go relatively the same as canon after that. Danny does end up apologizing for spying, however. Sam does it first. Sorrows, prayers, all that.

.

Things usually end up changed or different when I actually write it down, so I'd likely add more or adjust different scenes according to the flow of the oneshot. This is just like, a general vibe of how things would go, and where some of the more obvious changes would be if I did write this oneshot.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the ask :]

[petra608]

I noticed that my Robocar Poli content has been the most popular on Tumblr so I wanted to share my own as human/origin au. I wrote this quite a bit ago on Wattpad and just reposted it on ao3 so forgive me for any bad writing or mistakes. Thank You!

~Trigger Warning~

~Death, suicide, illness, sensitive topics-

January 26

New York

General Hospital

In the Children's Ward of General Hospital there was a 6 year old boy named Danny. He was lying in his bed with a nasogastric tube in his nose. Danny has been in and out of the hospital for about 4 months suffering from a cancerous brain tumor.  Even after the surgery, even after traveling across the country to get the proper help, even after the radiation therapy, even after they had to shave his long hair off, he still seemed like the happiest kid in the world or at least he pretends to be to make everyone feel better.

His mother, Valerie Cooper, was reading him stories and entertaining him.  His father, David Cooper, has just gotten back from getting him ice chips.  As broken-hearted as they were, they were still determined to make everyday a good day for Danny since they didn't know which one would be his last. But before all hope was lost, the doctor came in with the biggest smile.

"Good news Danny! We got your blood results,  the cancer is officially gone.  You can go home!" The doctor said with glee. 

A wave of relief has washed over Val and David.  He's going to be okay.  There baby boy, is going to be ok!  He can go back to school, and hang out with his friends again, he can live his life the way he deserved to.  They could barely hold back their happy tears.  Danny was happy about being able to go home he couldn't contain the excitement. 

"So, when can we take him home?" Valerie asked

"That's the thing, you can take him home today!" The doctor answered

And that's what they did.  They quickly got there stuff together and Danny got to ring the bell saying he completed his treatment.  The hospital staff all clapped for him and on their way out one staff member gave Danny a high five. 

On their drive home, they were so happy that all of this was behind them and they can look forward to the future.  Danny was bouncing and being a little goofball in the back.  His mother was in the front seat and playing with him and the dad, the dad just looked at him through the rear view mirror.  He was just so relieved that everything was going to be ok.  That he wasn't going to lose his son.  He just thought about how Danny was going to be able to live a full, long, life.  He didn't need to worry about not waking up the next morning.  He was going to be ok. 

Everything was going to be ok. 

...or so he thought. 

That's when the truck came.  It all happened so fast, nobody had time to react.  The truck hit their car on the side where Danny and David were.  Both cars stopped moving shortly after the collision but it was still really bad, and messy.  Nobody in the car was moving, the driver of the truck called the police and help arrived 5 minutes later. 

The ambulance rushed to the hospital.  The same hospital Danny was just discharged from.  As the family was rushed inside the staff saw them and were just, heartbroken.  It's truly heartbreaking seeing an innocent kid, that was just discharged, back in the hospital, the same day! 

All the Doctors and Nurses did everything they could to save them, to keep them alive.  But it was all for nothing.  Danny didn't make it.  Neither did David.  But Valerie did, however she still lost her husband and her own son.  And she'd have to live with that. 

——————————————————

One Week Later

BroomsTown

"Come on sweetie, would you please come out?"

Valerie's father, Mr Musty, had come to visit her after the accident,  with Valerie so distraught, she couldn't take care of her daughter, Who was with her grandfather the day of the accident. 

Maggie was her name, but everyone called her Mini.  She was barely 5 and just lost her father and her only brother.  She, surprisingly, took it a lot better than Valerie did, but she's probably still to young to fully understand what has happened.

"Can you at least let me in" Musty has been trying to talk to Valerie for over an hour. It's been days since she last stepped foot outside of the master bedroom

Valerie hasn't said a thing. Normally, Musty would just let her be since she is still grieving but something didn't feel right. He decided to open the door himself and check on her. He checked the bedroom but she was nowhere to be seen. So he went to check the master bathroom. As he got closer to the bathroom he could see the door was slightly open. When he pushed it open he saw his daughter. On the floor. With an empty pill bottle next to her.

With panic in his eyes, he knelt down to check her pulse. He needed to call for help. He also needed to keep Mini from seeing this. Mini already lost so much she didn't need to lose anyone else.

So, help arrived and rushed her to the hospital. Musty had to stay behind to take care of Mini. He didn't know how he was going to tell what was happening. And if they aren't able to save Val, how is he going to tell Mini she has lost her mother too? Even if she does make it, she is probably gonna have to go to a Mental Hospital to get better so this doesn't happen again. Either way, Mini is going to suffer from this.

Thankfully, she was ok. Bad news is she does have to go to a Mental Hospital. And the closes one is a few towns over.

That means Mr. Musty has been left with Mini. Besides her mom, she has no other family that's able to take care of her. Musty lives in the city, that's where his business is, that's where Mini would be safest because the city he's from has a far better first-responders than BroomsTown does. But if he moves Mini, then she would be losing her friends and have to start a new school and all of this is just to much for her after everything that has happened. So, he ignored all his doubts, and decided to move to BroomsTown with Mini. That seems like the bast decision.

——————————————————

2 Months Later

BroomsTown

Mr. Musty has been Taking care of Mini ever since the incident with Valerie and it has been getting difficult. In BroomsTown it is very common for kids to be running around town without adults. Mini is always run around with her friends and Musty has some trouble keeping an eye on her. He couldn't always keep up with her since he has to use a cane whenever he has to walk any long distances.  This has caused Musty to worry about her safety a little to often. 

As a distraction, Mr. Musty went out to lunch, he is currently waiting at the park for some old friends of his. 

"Hey, Old Guy!" Mr. Musty had heard from someone behind him.  When Musty turned to see who it was, he saw his friend, Hudson. Hudson and Mr. Musty had been friends since freshman year of college and were currently business partners for an insurance company back in the city.

"Hudson!  How have you been old friend?" Musty say as he goes to shake Hudson's hand.

"Why I'm doing well friend," Hudson replied

M "That's good to hear, and the business?"

H "The business is fine. Don't you trust me?"

M "of course I do, I didn't mean anything by it-"

H "Relax Musty, I was only kidding...are you alright?"

M "Yes, it's just that a lot has happened this past year and it's just hard to process.."

A moment of silence between the two before another man had broke said silence.

"Sorry I'm late you two, their was a problem at the store."

M "Mr. Wheeler! It's no problem, it's just good to see you."

W "..and it's good to see you out and about, how are you and Mini holding up?"

M "I'm fine and Mini is taking everything a lot better than I thought."

H "where is the little pipsqueak anyway?"

M "oh Mini is running around town with her friends... which, Mr. Wheeler I must ask, is it safe for kids to be running around town unsupervised like that?"

W "oh of course! It happens all the time.  I kids are almost always safe running around town by themselves."

M "almost?"

W "Well.. Due to the recent budget cuts to the towns first responders, accidents are becoming more..frequent."

With that there was another pause washed over the group as worry had start to overcome Musty once again.

"I'm sure Mini is fine." Hudson says in a reassuring tone

M "I know, I need to get my mind of this. Hudson, how is your granddaughter doing?"

H "Jin? She's doing well, she has gotten a new job in the city."

W "A job? I swear it was just yesterday that Jin had you running around town playing 'rescue',"

M "rescue?"

H "do you not remember?  Jin and I would make some sort of rescue team and 'save people'. I think she got you involved as a 'medic' one time."

W "kids grow up so fast don't they?"

Hudson and Wheeler had continued their small talk while Musty had gotten lost in thought. 'A Rescue Team?'

——————————————————

A Couple Days Later

Its been a couple days since the three men had lunch. Musty had went MIA and Hudson thought it would be best to check up on him.  That's how he found himself knocking on Mr. Musty's  door.  When nobody answered the door, Hudson had tried opening the door and was successful. 

"Musty?" Hudson yells out as he walks into the house.  "I find it funny how you complain about Mini's safety but still left your door unlocked."

"Hudson!" Mini yells out as she runs up and hugs the old man. 

H "It's good to see you munchkin.  How have you been?"

Mi "I've been great! I've made a new friend!  And I saw a grasshopper!  It had lost it legs.  My friend stepped on it.  Then a cat came and ate it- speaking of which,  why don't you come over anymore?"

H "Oh my god.  Your right.  I have betrayed you by not coming over more.  Please forgive me your majesty..".

Mi "....your a drama Queen."

H "I'm a drama Queen!?  Your one to talk little lady."

Mi "well I get away with it because I'm cute!"

H "...Touché"

H "where is your grandpa anyway?"

Mi "he's in his office,  he has been in his office a lot recently."

H "Has he been ignoring you?"

"no, he comes out when he needs to.  Besides I get to eat all the cookies I want when he's busy."  Mini say as she runs off to Musty's office.

"That's my girl." Hudson say with a chuckle as he follows her. 

——————————————————

A couple seconds later Hudson is walking into Musty's office, looking for the old man.  The office has a warm and cozy feeling when you enter.  A fireplace sits on the back wall with bookshelves on either side of it.  The Office also has a big desk, the top covered in papers. Musty is currently sat at the behind the desk looking down at the papers.  "Musty?", he calls out, closing the door behind him. 

The sound of his name caused Musty to look up for his current work and stand.  "Hudson? What are you doing here?" Musty had said as he made us way around the desk and towards Hudson. 

"I haven't heard from you, I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"Oh.  I'm sorry I've been busy."  Musty says as he walks back to the desk and starts gathering some papers. 

"What are you doing?" Hudson asked taking a few steps towards him. 

"..When we were at lunch the other day you mentioned that game you and Jin use to play, and it gave me an idea.  I thought of a way for the town to get the first responders it needs, but in a more affordable way."  Musty says grabbing some folders and starts walking back towards Hudson again.  "I have already thought of a few that are perfect for the job."

"Roy Williams,  he is a firefighter in a nearby town.  I'm friends with his family, I've seen how he works and I'd say he is the best at that station." Musty says handing Hudson a folder with 'Roy Williams' on the tab. 

The Musty hands Hudson the other file he is holding and starts to speak again.  "Amber Smith, she is a doctor in New York.  She helped treat my grandson before he passed.  She's great at her job and kids love her."

"And with you consent, I'd like to get Jin involved with this too."  Musty says walking back to his desk. "Her skills with tech could really help this team." 

"I still need to find a few more people but I have everything planned out." Musty takes a pause "..so what do you think?"

Hudson glances at the folders he was handed and takes a second to process what was just said.  "Are you sure about this? I mean, what if one of these people aren't good enough for the job? Or what if this whole project blows up in your face and you have wasted your money and time?  I'm not saying it's a bad idea I'm just asking if your sure about this?" 

Musty takes a second to answer, looking over the papers on his desk.  "I'm confident that this will work." 

Hudson let's put a sigh.  "...your a crazy old man.  But I support you."

——————————————————

Next Day

Mayor's Office

Mayor Renolds was the Mayor of BroomsTown.  He was currently in his office checking over records.  The office was basic and cold, no personality could be seen in this office.  As he was was going through the records he heard a knock on his offices door.

"Come in"

Mr. Musty had walked into the office and was now walking to the desk the mayor was sitting at. Causing Mayor Renolds to look up.

"Musty. Back so soon. Should've known you'd be back to complain about something." Mayor Renolds says coldly, putting his work away. "What can I do for you this time?"

"I heard you cut back on the town first responders, is that true?"

"Yes. Mr. Musty it is true. The town's funds are getting low and we couldn't afford it."

"Are you sure that was wise? The town needs their first responders."

"What do you expect me to do? Unless you have a better idea, this visit was pointless."

"That's why I'm here, I have a proposition for you."

"What are you going on about Musty?"

"I came up with a way for the town to get the first responders and the protection it need, but more affordable for a town of our size."

Mayor Renolds lays out a sigh and adjusts his glasses. "Alright. I'll humor you"

"what was this idea of yours?"

[gretavanfleetposts]

Valence: Chapter One

Author's Note: Okay this one is a lil different from my usual flavor so I hope it entertains. Thank you all for putting up with me 🖤 Summary: The daughter of a drug lord, you're ready to take over the family business. Your father's only stipulation? You must marry the man he has picked out for you instead of the man you love in order to claim your kingdom.

TW: themes of death and dying, mild sexual content, talk of drugs, swearing

Word Count: 6.5k

Chapter Two Valence Masterlist

There’s something to be said about power, the way it makes you do things you never thought yourself capable of doing. The way it coaxes you into decisions you never thought yourself capable of making. In your family, it was seen as the only guiding force, the only true matter of consequence.

It’s funny how quickly consequence can turn into regret.

For as long as you could remember, the defining families were your own, the Antony’s, and the Kiszka’s. Families at the forefront of drug production in the small country that had reached ever beyond its confines. That was where your family had made their home. That was the soil you had fought for.

Your father? The head of them all. The king of a drug empire. A drug lord, they called him, although he had always hated the name. Probably because your mother had first resented it. He was like her, in his old age, after all, taking on every piece he could remember of her since her death five years prior. They had been inseparable.

You were the youngest of two, your sister Lily having no interest in the family business. She was much too frivolous, much too naïve for power. That much had always been clear. In fact, since the day you were born, your mother and father had cooed thoughts of accession in your ear. And when you were old enough, you reiterated those thoughts of your own accord.

It was only a matter of time before your father allowed you to marry in preparation to take over the business, an ancient ritual that you didn’t necessarily believe should be a stipulation to your succession. But your father was a stubborn man. And you? Well, you took after him, prepared to do whatever you needed to take your place.

Someone from a normal family might have asked why you wanted it, why you wanted to follow in your father’s footsteps. Maybe it was because it was all you had ever known. Maybe it was because too many of your loved ones had died for the business. Or maybe it was simply because everything else sounded boring in comparison.

The good thing about Danny? He didn’t judge you for your career choice. He had grown up around it, grown used to it, and vowed to help you run it when you were married.

Danny was tall and tan with a mess of curls springing from his head that he had only recently managed to wrangle thanks to your endless efforts researching how to best care for it. He was lean but muscular and had a smile that could light up a room. But most importantly, he was your best friend, standing beside you through thick and thin, until one day he had worked up the courage to kiss you. And you had kissed him back.

“Let’s just stay here all day. Do that over and over again,” Danny panted, exhaustion tinging the sharp breaths he took as his lungs searched for what they had been deprived of while his mouth had been busy occupying yours.

You had known Danny since you were a child and the two of you had been practically inseparable since. Lily often teased you for having no other friends while she was out gallivanting with a party much too large for someone in her position. But the truth was, Danny really was your only friend. You had never connected with anyone else the way you connected with Danny. And your relationship had been a natural progression as the two of you grew into early adulthood.

You breathed out a sound of amusement as you rolled back into the body next to you, hot to the touch and covered in a slick sheen of sweat that did nothing to discourage your advances.

“I wish we could but it seems my father has big plans for us today,” you sighed as you situated yourself into the crook of his arm, your hand resting on his chest now rising and falling at a steadier pace.

Danny’s disapproval vibrated through him with a groan.

“What are these plans?”

"He's called a family meeting later today. He won't tell anyone what it's about but it feels important."

"Do you think he's finally letting you take over the business?"

You hummed in satisfaction at the thought.

“It seems that way,” you answered with a smile, your eyes drifting shut with the promise that you would soon be Danny’s for good if the family meeting meant what you suspected it meant.

You could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke.

"That means marriage will be on his mind."

You didn’t even remember when exactly you and Danny had first discussed marriage. You had always known it would be a requirement for you to stake your claim to power. And Danny had always seemed more than willing to rule by your side.

"Seems like it’s on your mind, too,” you smiled as your fingers swirled patterns into his chest. “Did you have someone in mind for me, Daniel Wagner?"

He flipped you over then, using your hold on him to easily overtake you and move into a hover above you, his eyes bright with excitement despite the energy the two of you had just dispelled together.

"I could think of someone," he smiled widely before dipping down to let his lips move against yours.

His lips, warm and soft, took you back to the day he first said he loved you, not long after your mother had died. He had found you sitting in a wicker chair on the terrace, holding back tears despite the fact that you had been totally alone. You were terrible at showing your emotions, at opening up. But then he had found you there, fighting your emotions. And he had shown you his own in an effort to console you.

"Mine forever, I like the sound of that," he breathed against your lips, his smile preceding him as he pulled away.

His smile was one you’d never get over, the way it scrunched up his nose and lit up his eyes. And he had grown into himself those last few years, not that he hadn’t always been beautiful. But even now as you watched him hold himself up above you, watched his eyes follow the lines of your face, watched his tongue dart between his panting lips to wet them, looking still like he wanted to devour you even though he practically already had, he took your breath away.

"We could run away together,” you spoke in a soft whisper. “Go somewhere far away where they won’t bother us."

He let his fingertips find your collarbone as his eyes dropped to study your skin there, like he was searching for something. Or maybe just trying to memorize it.

“You would give all of this up?” he asked without lifting his gaze, tracing lines with his eyes rather studiously for how you knew him to be.

You reached your hand up to stop the movements of his fingers, garnering his attention with your touch and bringing his focus back up to your face as you spoke even softer than you had before, a quiet sound against the backdrop of a foggy morning in a barely awoken house.

“If you asked me to, I would give up everything.”

He wouldn’t ask. But if he did, you would, despite how badly you wanted it all, despite how disappointed your father would be in you if you walked away from it. Although you were no stranger to disobeying your father, dangerous as it sounded. You would brave your father for Danny.

Another breathtaking smile from the boy above you and you were suddenly tumbling out of your thoughts and getting lost in him instead, a hint of mischief in his eyes as he dipped his head lower, letting his lips hover close to yours but not quite letting them touch despite how desperate you were for him to close the space altogether.

“Okay now you’re really not leaving this bed,” he whispered, finally letting his lips meet yours in a deep kiss followed by a barrage of light pecks across your nose and cheeks and eyelids, earning a giggle from you as you accepted the attack.

But there was always a moment when you had to leave Danny, when you had to drag yourself from his warmth and brace for the cold of the day ahead of you. And that day was no different.

He had clung to you for as long as he possibly could before finally letting you untangle yourself so you could get dressed. He watched from the comfort of your linen-covered queen bed as you flit about the room looking to make yourself presentable. He looked enticing, as he always did, but you had a job to do. Shadow your father and learn as much as you could.

You’d been doing it practically since birth, which was apparently the same time your parents had decided they wouldn’t be handing things to their eldest daughter, Lily, but rather you instead. And for all of her less-than positive qualities, she had never shown an ounce of resentment to you over it.

There had been plenty of arguments between the two of you over the years. But they had never been about that decision.

It was the fact that you yourself felt ready to take over for your father that had had you waking that morning with the feeling that your father’s cryptic call for a family meeting was just that, your coronation of sorts. And if that were truly the case, that meant your marriage to Danny would be following soon after. And you were ready for that too.

It was the prospect of finally having both that filled you with excitement as your heels clicked against the ceramic tile floors of the prodigious home you had grown up in.

Your mother’s family had had it built in the late 20th century, remodeled some decades later, a beautiful home that you had spent most of your childhood in, running around the grounds in search of lightning bugs when you were a small child. When you were older, you recalled sneaking around the tile floors with Danny, persuading him out the window as a teenager who didn’t want to get caught. Now as an adult, you saw the house for what it was, an ordinate structure within which rules were followed. The last piece of your mother’s family that served as a ruling ground, the place where you would eventually claim what was once hers. Even the arches and the tiles and the greenery and raw-edged wood couldn’t stave off the inevitable, that which was your mother’s death. The only thing that kept you going some days was feeling her presence in the warm cream walls, feeling her in the warm walnut accents surrounding you, in the pottery hand made by the village nearby where her family had gained loyalty. 

This would be where you would rule, in the comfort of your mother’s home. It was exactly what you wanted it to be.

You marched on from the confines of the office overlooking the terrace far below where you did most of your work, reading accounting ledgers and analyzing profit margins, to the large room where your father often did his portion of the business. And where you used to eat meals as a family, while your mother had still had the strength.

“There’s something intimate to be said about having a meal with someone,” she had always said. “A meal with one’s loved ones in a place dedicated to just that action is something to behold. It unveils a person.”

A warm walnut table sat in the middle of the room surrounded by light cream walls and spanish arches, and at the head of the room, standing tall behind the ornately-carved wooden chair that your father did all of his planning in, a wall covered in mosaic tiles of varying shades of blue. It always made your father look like he was swimming in an ocean when he sat before it. Soon it would be your place at the table and you would sit with your back to the sea of blue tile.

But for now, your father sat where he normally did, commanding the room as he normally did too. Lily sat in her usual place as well, two seats down from your father, leaving a place for you in between. And then there were the numerous guards that lined the walls surrounding the table, dressed in all black as they usually were. The only thing out of place as you clicked your way over to your seat was the boy that now sat in the typically empty seat across from your own. Well, not so much a boy as it was the grown version of a boy you had seen only once when you yourself were a child.

The Kiszka family had long been one of the larger producers in the region ever since the family had started buying up the actual farms. Owning the supply chain came with its risks but it was a decision your father had esteemed. But since their father’s untimely death not long ago, they had skyrocketed to first place. You knew it was only a matter of time before your father made a deal with them, although you recalled there being two other sons in addition to the one that sat across from you now. 

He looked much different now than the boy you remembered. You could admit that time had been good to him. His hair was long now, draping over his shoulders, over the dark black cotton shirt he wore with hardly any buttons fastened, showing an absurd amount of chest and a glint of silver in the large expanse of smooth skin. His eyes were like you remembered though, warm and steady. Although now they looked a bit darker and there was an intensity behind them that you didn't quite understand. Maybe that was just him now, aware, observing, interested. The pieces of his appearance all came together well though and if you had let yourself think it, you might have even found him beautiful.

Even so, your heart sank at the thought of the family meeting being about something else entirely, something far removed from what you had prepared yourself for. Just another deal.

Still, the way his eyes searched you for something immeasurable, it made you take your seat uneasily.

“I thank you all for being here today,” your father began, standing from his seat almost immediately and letting his hands clasp together behind his back as he began to pace about the room.

He had a powerful presence, that much had always been true, able to assert his dominance in any room that he was in. You had only seen him cry once, when your mother died. But even then he was composed. What was stoic and icy and dangerous to others was strong and familial to you. 

“You are all the future of this family, the future of this business,” he continued, coming to a stop behind your chair and setting his hands firmly on your shoulders as the boy who sat across from you opted to keep his eyes on you rather than on your father, his expression unreadable and now, combined with your father’s words, setting you rigid with anticipation.

Your father lifted a hand to pat your shoulder, punctuating it with a heavy sigh before he paced back to the head of the table to address you all.

“I am growing old. But I have faith that my youngest daughter is prepared to soon take my place.”

You felt your sister reach under the table to squeeze your knee, no doubt silencing a squeal that likely would have been shrilled out if your father weren’t talking.

“And I am confident that with the right person by her side, she will be as successful as I was with her mother.”

It was with that that the eyes holding your gaze from across the table dropped to the wooden surface beneath him, as if he suddenly couldn’t look you in the eyes. This wasn’t the announcement you thought it was when you walked into the room, you knew that now. But it also didn’t feel like the announcement that you had been hoping for when you had rolled out of Danny’s warm embrace several hours prior. No, now you felt your breathing quicken ever so slightly, felt your heart begin to thump a bit heavier, felt your pulse throbbing in the palms of your hands.

Something was wrong and you could feel it, even before your father finally voiced what he had been leading up to with his eyes finally landing on you now that you had turned your gaze from the boy across from you up to your father in apprehension.

“This is no responsibility for just anyone. You will need the right person by your side, my daughter. That’s why I have chosen Jacob for you. He will stand next to you as you take over this business and he alone will help you expand this empire bigger than your mother or her father or his father could have ever imagined.”

He straightened as he waited for you to break the silence that now clung heavy to the air, as if his stance somehow defended his position, made him a more formidable opponent to whatever fury you were about to give him.

In all your years of existence, your father could count on one hand the number of times you had been rendered speechless by a decision you didn’t care for. It certainly wasn’t many as you preferred outward disapproval, never one to not allow your tongue to speak the thoughts in your mind. It was something you and Lily had in common, if not the only thing. And even she sat silently, likely holding her breath in fear of making a noise loud enough to awaken your anger.

Actually, the quiet was almost comical. Not since your mother had died had your sister, your father, and yourself sat in a room together and made such little noise. Your sister wasn’t capable of not filling the silence, you weren’t capable of not giving her a hard time, and your father wasn’t capable of not voicing his disapproval for all of it. And here was this boy that you had seen only once before, the beautiful boy sitting across from you who might as well have been threatening your life if he didn’t look so innocent in all of this, afraid to meet your eyes as his own flickered about the room trying to judge the quickest exit should your outburst be violent. You couldn’t hear his breathing either although you watched his chest rise and fall, artificially slowly as he did his best to stand against this decision.

Comedic, that’s what it was. So incredulous it might have even been downright laughable. Although you weren’t exactly laughing when you finally broke the silence with a small voice as you turned back to your father, disbelief in your eyes. Maybe you were hearing wrong, that was the feeling laced in your voice when you merely responded with a one word question, head cocked to the side and brows furrowed.

"What?"

He inhaled deeply, shuffling his feet a moment before tightening his hands behind his back and straightening yet again, a sign of composure. More than you had, anyway, as you felt your own begin to slip like the sweat now pooling in your palms and at your neck.

“It has been decided. You will take over the business alongside your husband, when you are ready."

The ocean of blue tile still at his back, suddenly you had no oar to navigate to your rightful place, no ability to even tread water. Maybe you couldn’t even swim that far.

You were standing before your body even registered the movements, before your ears even registered the scraping of the wooden chair legs across the smooth tile beneath your feet. But suddenly you were there, at almost eye level with your father. And in your voice was an anger that hadn’t been tangible before, despite the slowness of your words that almost made it seem out of place.

"Alongside a man…you've plucked…out of thin air,” you practically whispered, placing emphasis on the ridiculousness of it all. “Without even asking me?"

Your father breathed in deeply again, exhaling loudly as if he were preparing for battle. It was always battle with one’s youngest daughter, to be fair. Well, maybe any daughter.

It wasn’t the job that had put the gray hairs on his head.

"Lily, please leave us," he asked without his eyes ever gracing your sister. He didn’t have to command her in any specific way. She listened. She was always better at that than you were.

She stood silently, a handful of security guards leaving with her as she all but fled from the room. The guards that accompanied her looked as if they were fleeing too, your eyes catching a few on their way past you, judging them, perhaps a bit unfairly. They knew you. Didn’t they want to see this?

Was your heart pounding? You had no idea. If it was, you couldn’t hear it, couldn’t even feel it above the wrath that was now flowing freely within your body. As far as you were concerned, you had no pulse, no beating piece of you that was thinking clearly or acting clearly. There was only hurt and betrayal, meant specifically for your father.

"You will do your duty to this family regardless of your wishes,” he continued, his hands moving to rest on the back of the chair he had hardly sat in since you entered the room.

“Did you really think I would let you marry him?” His tone became just as incredulous as yours. “You will be one of the most powerful people in the world by the time you take over."

You weren’t typically one to shed tears in the company of others, family or otherwise. Anger, however, was something your father had taught you well and before the tears even began prickling at the corners of your eyes, the heat of rage boiled inside your throat, coating your words as you spewed them with little regard for the fact that Jake was still in the room.

"Then why condemn me to marry a man I don't even know? Danny makes me happy; doesn’t that matter to you?"

He was doing his best to control his temper, evident by the way his jaw flexed and clenched before he spoke, finally addressing Jake, the elephant in the room, as it were.

"Jacob will learn to make you happy too. And he is better suited to sit by your side."

You turned your attention to Jake then, a likely target amidst the red hot rage heating between you and your father, and he practically sank further and further in his chair, trying not to be noticed, avoiding your gaze as long as humanly possible.

At least he had some sense of self-preservation.

"Don't you have anything to say about this or are you perfectly happy marrying a stranger?" you seethed, practically spitting the question in his direction.

If you looked closely, you swore you could see him try and dodge it before he pursed his lips reluctantly, speaking the first and only words he would in the presence of both you and your father.

"I've been promised to you and I will do my duty."

"Promised," you guffawed, a mean laugh dripping from your lips as you faced your father again.

Your father wasn’t amused, using his finger now to prod disrespectfully into the table his point, nearly leaving a dent in the wood with his anger.

"I don't expect you to like it but make no mistake, I do expect you to do it. You will do your duty to this family."

You let a curt smile touch your lips as you took all of your rage and showed it to your father.

"I will do nothing of the sort."

Your rage carried you out of the room without another word.

In the corridor, your eyes met Danny’s where he had been waiting for the good news, now standing in silence and stoicism with Lily as he waited in denial for proof that what she had already told him was true. Surely your eyes had confirmed it, glassy as you walked passed headed for your room, for solitude that hopefully held some type of understanding.

Your hands slammed the door behind you as soon as they found it, but the sound that followed wasn’t a loud thud like you had been expecting, prompting you to turn in confusion back toward the door you had just assaulted. And there was Jake, standing in the doorway with his hand on the edge of the door, holding it open for himself, the likely hindrance for its journey into the frame with a slam.

His presence alone would have infuriated you if you hadn’t already been beside yourself with anger, blurring your vision.

"Why are you following me? Didn't you hear anything I said to my father?" you glowered, doing nothing to hide the animosity you felt for the boy you hardly even knew. “I'm not marrying you.”

Although he didn’t look particularly conniving. He didn’t have the face of someone who was keen on ruining the future you had planned for yourself. Actually, as incensed as it made you, he almost looked sorry.

He stood silently a moment longer in the doorway, dropping his eyes to his hands that he was now fiddling with in front of him, nodding his head at your words like he had some semblance of understanding of why you couldn’t marry him. And when he lifted his head back up to face you, his features were softer still than before, his lips pressing into a thin line before he finally spoke again.

“You aren’t really going to give up your place at the head of this family just to avoid marrying me,” he shook his head, almost in a pleading gesture, like maybe he was trying to talk some sense into you.

Your refusal didn’t just have consequences for you, you knew that. Though you didn’t much care at the moment.

"You don't even know me," you whispered, anger tinging the sound even as it hardly carried across the room to him.

But that soft look never vacated his face as he took a step forward.

"I could get to know you," he responded, his voice just as soft as the look on his face.

As perplexing as it was, it almost took the fight out of you, the way the words fell from his lips like a promise, assuring you he would do his best to make you happy, just like your father had tasked him to. It might have knocked the energy out of you entirely if you hadn’t the image of Danny with glassy eyes as you fled your father’s presence in the forefront of your mind, the image of the man you loved, the one you wanted, watching some other man follow you to console you.

"I want you to leave," you requested, none too nicely as tears began to work their way into your eyes more prominently despite your best intentions to hide the weakness from Jake.

But he didn’t leave. In fact, he took another weary step forward as you recoiled a step.

"Your father expects me to help you…calm down," he confessed, regret behind his eyes.

"Calm down," you laughed dryly, "calm down." You shook your head, tears flowing more freely as you felt yourself recoiling more obviously while Jake took yet another step toward you.

"I know this isn't what you wanted,” he pushed on, sympathy in his voice and glinting behind his eyes. “I know you're in love with someone else."

You said nothing as tears rolled down your face, leaving streaks of dejection burning lines down your cheeks. And for a brief moment, you imagined a future where Danny moved on to someone else while you played house with a stranger. You imagined Danny waking up with another woman, entangled in sheets of passion for someone else. Someone who wasn’t you. You imagined his smile, wide and bright, the product of another woman. All of the things that were yours, that he gave you, you imagined him giving to someone else. The feeling sat like a rock in your chest, sinking lower and lower until it burrowed deep in your feet, dragging your heart down with it. You might have doubled over at the sensation if Jake hadn’t been there, taking another step toward you and looking ready to catch you, should you need it. You might have needed it. You certainly didn’t want it.

"I'm not asking you to love me,” he continued, almost close enough to touch you now although he didn’t reach for you with his hands. “I'm not even asking you to stop seeing Danny. I'm just asking you to go through with this and put on the best show you can. For our families sake."

"For our families," you repeated in a small voice. "Just give my life away to someone I don’t even know. What a small price to pay."

"You see him in secret, you pretend to love me in front of your father. And then when he gives you the keys to the kingdom, then you can do whatever you want with whomever you want and I won’t stop you."

You drew back, brows knitting together as you tried to understand what he was telling you, tried to find a flaw in his logic, your eyes and cheeks stiff and tear-stained. He wasn’t entirely wrong. It didn’t feel that way at least. Maybe that was your out, your way back to Danny in the end. But what did he have to gain from it? It would look like a failure on his part.

“Please just think about it,” he all but pleaded, his eyes searching your face for some indication of agreement or even just begrudging acceptance. Likely so he didn’t have to admit to your father that you weren’t interested. That he hadn’t been able to “help you calm down”.

“Get out,” you sniffled, voice threatening to break even as you whispered the words.

But Jake was stubborn, clearly. Maybe you had met your match.

He shook his head. "Your father won't change his mind," he cautioned.

You knew that, certainly. Right? You knew your father, he didn’t change his mind. He didn’t go back on his decisions. But would he if he saw how his decision hurt you? Would he reconsider for the sake of his daughter’s happiness? Would he let you step down if you refused his demands?

And what of Jake? You thought of him for perhaps the first moment, of the implications it had for him, your refusal. Would your father take pity on him? He wasn’t known for his pity. But surely he would not start a war over Jake’s inability to convince you to do the right thing. Would he blame him? Did he even want this?

Why had he said yes? Did he have a choice?

Your thoughts all but choked you, like barbed wire wrapped around your throat as the promise of your fate closed in around you. Suffocating. You were suffocating in a room full of air.

“If you have any sense of self-preservation, you’ll get out,” you choked, dry but venomous. “And I won’t ask so nicely again.”

You couldn’t even remember watching him retreat as suddenly your hands were up against the closed door, leaving you alone as you sank down against the cool wood, your body sizzling against it as it zapped the heat from your anger, anger which had since turned into desolation. And you let yourself cry in a way you hadn’t allowed yourself to since your mother.

You stayed that way, crumpled over like a discarded piece of paper against the door for an unknown amount of time that could have been seconds or an eternity, only awoken from your grief by a gentle knock against the door that had acted as your crutch while you felt the weight of sorrow heavy in your chest.

Drying your eyes after a moment of collecting yourself, you slowly moved to your feet with a deep breath, facing the door as if it were a foe and praying silently that it wasn't your father on the other side knocking.

But it wasn't. It was Danny on the other side, eyes rimmed with red and looking mostly frantic and harried as he pushed you backward quickly and shut your bedroom door behind him, twisting the lock just as swiftly behind his body. You hardly had even a moment to sigh out a sound of relief before your arms were wrapped tightly around the boy’s strong shoulders, your face burying into his neck, taking in the smell of his skin, trying to memorize the way his curls fell loosely against the side of your face.

He hugged you back in a tight silence, burying his face likewise in the mess of hair at your neck, no doubt trying to commit you to memory as well.

“I won’t let this happen,” he mumbled, his breath hot against your skin and muffled by his unwillingness to pull his face even an inch away from your body. “I won’t let go of you."

It was exactly where you wanted to be and yet you felt yourself pulling out of his grasp, Jake’s proposition not exactly as far back in your mind as you would have hoped. You swiped tears from your eyes and found yourself gathering yourself for the second time that day as you turned to move toward your bed, unable to look Danny in the eye as Jake’s proposition pushed past your throat and graced your lips. It was physical distance, to be sure, and you knew once you said it, it would be emotional distance as well.

“I don’t know what choice we have, Danny,” you said softly, slowly.

There was panic in his voice almost instantly, more than had been there when he had first entered the room.

“No, don’t say that,” he pleaded, following you across the room and taking your shoulders in his large hands. “We have a choice. We can run away from here.”

Turning to face him, you saw the same panic that plagued his tone prevalent in his eyes, a look that was pleading with you to let him take you away. It brought tears to your own eyes, the thought of not being able to give him what he wanted. The thought of having to walk away from him, even just to pretend you loved another man. And then suddenly that choking feeling was back as he took your face in his hands, shaky as they were.

“There is no power in this world that could stop me from taking you away from here,” he whispered, his words a plea. “All you have to do is say yes.”

When you were young, you had often laid in the grassy lawn of your Spanish mansion, looking up at the stars in wonder, curious as to their reaches, as to who else was looking up at those same stars. Sometimes Danny would be by your side, wondering along with you as the two of you giggled out theories. But one night, only one that you could recall, it was your mother next to you rather than Danny. She had gotten out of bed and braved the night air despite her illness. She had laid in the grass next to you and gazed up at the stars alongside you.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” she had asked.

And you had nodded.

“Where do they come from?” you had asked.

“They came from a place in the great beyond. They have always been and they always will be,” she had answered.

“Will their light ever go out?” you had asked.

“Not in your lifetime. Not in your children’s lifetime, even. After I’m gone, they will still shine brightly, for you and your sister and your father,”  she had answered.

“I’ll be scared when you’re gone,” you had said.

“Loss isn’t something to fear, my beautiful girl,” she had said. “We lose things so we can gain things. And after I’m long gone, you will inherit the stars. Everything you see around you will be yours, just as it was mine before I handed it to your father. Just as it was my father’s. You will gain more than you could ever imagine. And I’ll be up there, shining down on you when the time comes.”

An entire kingdom at your fingertips, what was once your mother’s handed to your father after she got sick. What would soon be yours, if you could manage. The last dwindling piece of her.

You couldn’t leave. You knew that. You could never leave, not even for the man you loved. It would mean leaving her.

You began with a deep inhale, the inside of your cheek sucked into your teeth as you stood wringing your wrists. “Jake…suggested that…maybe…you and I see each other in secret. Until it’s all mine.” You raised your eyes to meet his finally, anticipating the damage you would see there before you continued. “Then I can decide who will sit beside me. I can choose you the right way.”

He dropped his hands in confusion, taking a step back as if in disbelief.

“You really think he won’t sell us out? You think he won’t tell your father the moment it becomes convenient for him?”

You sighed heavily, your eyes screwing shut as you shook your head.

“I don’t know,” you muttered, an admission that scarcely felt right on your lips.

“I’ll do whatever you think is best,” he sighed, letting his hands find your face again. “But I won’t let him have you.”

You felt it again, those damn tears welling in the corners of your eyes. How could you live without Danny? How could you be apart from him? How could you even pretend to be devoted to anyone else?

You placed your hands over his, soaking in his warmth as you struggled to maintain your composure. 

“I belong to you and you only, Danny,” you whispered in a half-broken sob. “Only yours.”

His forehead dropped to yours, moisture dripping from his own eyes as he held you closely.

“I will find a way to fix this,” you whispered as he moved to cradle your face in his arms. “I promise you. We will be together again.”

Your words were mangled through your gentle sobs, the most emotion you had ever shown anybody. But he held you tightly to him, only pulling away to give you a weary nod with a not very convincing smile before connecting his lips, desperate, to yours.

Taglist: @safety-sam @lvnterninthenight

[disneyprincessabby]

Can I please get a small writing prompt of lightning McQueen ( if him and Sally were just friends) is a single bisexual and all the new gen racers try to get him a date lol 😆 or get him to go on a date with them 😉

My favorite part of these next gen asks you send me is that it implies that the next gens actually like Lightning and try to involve him in their shenanigans, and it just makes me really happy okay?!

Not sure if your looking for a fic/ficlet or if you just want some headcanons, so I’m gonna go with headcanons if that’s okay! (I wrote most of this out during my lunch break at work so if it’s not great that’s why)

Here’s how I think the next gens would react to finding out Lightning is bi and single:

Tim: surprised to find out McQueen is single, not surprised at all to know he’s bi. He’s seen the interviews from the WGP and there’s no heterosexual explanation for how him and Francesco interact.

Ryan: tries to set him up on a blind date, but McQueen politely declines the offer; he’s okay being single for now.

Chase and Bubba: are very indifferent to the whole thing. This information changes absolutely nothing about how they perceive Lightning. They have no interest in McQueen’s love life, but are entertained by how much the other racers seem to care.

Danny: Thinks it’s great that McQueen is open about his sexuality and love life. He joins in with the rest in trying to set him up with someone. Starts a betting pool with the other racers to see who’ll get McQueen a date first.

Cruz: immediately half-jokes that McQueen and Jackson should go out on a date (I say half-jokes because she can totally tell they both find each other attractive so she’s really trying to play matchmaker here)

Jackson: acts like he doesn’t give af, but is secretly trying to work up the courage to ask Lightning out. He didn’t even realize Lightning was bi until all the next gens started discussing his love life, and while he won’t admit it to anyone he got a little excited/hopeful that he could have a chance with the racing legend

[tachvintlogic]

DP Biology and Headcanons Masterlist Notes

Masterlist

This is just commentary about the various essays in the masterlist.

(I've had this in drafts for a really long time so I'm just going to publish it.)

So when I started, I basically wanted a way that ghosts and half-ghosts work that is somewhat self consistent, and I think I succeeded in that.

I made it very clear that Danny's halves can't survive without each other. This contradicts certain events in canon but I don't really care. I wanted Danny's status as a half-ghost to not be reversible. His parents "curing" him wasn't a possibility I wanted to entertain.

One thing that's contrarian to a lot of fics is the idea that different ecto-signatures aren't compatible with each other. This means that Danny can't get donated blood from a ghost or another half-ghost. In fact in my system such blood is less compatible for him than regular blood with the right blood type. I find that kind of interesting.

I really loved that the signatured and unsignatured divide led to a really nice solution for why the ecto-dejecto would in theory make ghosts weaker but doesn't, which then led nicely into why Elle/Dani got better using the ecto-dejecto.

Sure, that solution basically threw out the need for mid-morph DNA to be a thing, but to me that's a pro, not a con.

For the ghost zone culture at large, there are a lot of fics where the Ghost King is necessary for the Ghost Zone to exist, or really bad things happen without at least someone in the postiion. And those fics are fine. They're great. It's just for my own worldbuilding, that's not an idea I'm interested in.

I'm more interested in the idea that the universe doesn't revolve around human problems and is far bigger than anyone could ever hope to explore. When the ghost zone is only focused on Earth, and there are only either Earth ghosts or god-like beings it feels smaller. Which is weird, because the afterlife should feel huge. It contains past relics from the last 13.7 billion years. That's a lot of stuff.

So my worldbuilding is very clear that when talking about the ghost zone most things that Danny's going to see are Earth-centric, which is a very tiny part of the entire ghost zone. Even the god-like entities like Clockwork are Earth-centric. Other planet's afterlives have their own god-like entities.

And of course the Yetis are aliens. I will never not believe this headcanon. Danny would be so happy to find that out.

For the Ghost King, I needed to mesh 2 contradictory ideas:

1. The position is important.

2. After the Ghost King was locked in a box, no one bothered to appoint a new one nor felt the need to do so.

Now, if no one's in the rush to fill the position, how can it be important?

Some fics go with the idea that the King filters the ectoplasm of the entire zone. This works because their most important role is passive so it's okay if they can't do any actual ruling.

However, for my worldbuilding, the Ghost King is an Earth-centric position, so it's importance and lack thereof comes from ruling. I think what I came up with something that works.

The Ghost King is important, but if they were replaced with a potted plant, it would take an embarrassingly long time for anyone to notice.

[silentheiss]

This Is How I Disappear

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

TROUBLE TROUBLE MKER YEAH THATS YOUR MIDDLE NAME

I KNOW YOURE NO GOOD BUT YOURE

STUCK IN MY BRAIN!!!

just like this fucking song

save me

I’ve been like that since the early morning

well

since 10.30, when I woke up

which is an early morning, considering I went to bed at four in the morning

i was binge watching shitty horror movies

was fun until it wasn’t

and I had to watch shrek to calm down

Geralt laughs, hard.

Two hours later he almost texts the man back, just to yell at him for putting that stupid song in his head.

***

almost halloween!!

It’s October 20th, so it is definitely not almost halloween, but the man does seem like a type to hype it up.

ive been thinking about a costume

catwoman

danny zuko

princess di

spongebob

daryl dixon

and before you ask, yeah, I can definitely pull these off

except maybe for daryl, I might not have enough of that ruggish charm

and a crossbow

i most definitely don’t have one

you should be daryl, actually

you seem like a quiet type lol

Geralt also owns a pretty cool crossbow. It’s a tempting thought, to send the man a picture of it, but it might look a bit creepy.

***

Geralt is having dinner with his brothers, when he gets a text that makes his heart stop short.

do you want to know where I got your number from?

He’s been receiving texts for two months and for all this time he thought the man just accidentally texted the wrong number and once he realized no one is going to answer decided to keep texting. Like a diary or something.

But now he is confronted with the thought of being known by this stranger.

I wasn’t really planning to tell you this, but I’ve had some excellent wine and I’m feeling quite melodramatic

so, the day I texted you I got in a fight with my dad

i was working a shitty barista job at a time, and was running late

because of a fight, you see

so I got fired

threw a great scene about it, too

and as I was sitting in the parking lot, at 8.15 in the morning, I saw a business card on the ground

it was clearly stepped on maaaaany times, I couldn’t even read what was written on it

entertained myself for good fifteen minutes trying to do so, too

but I could make out a phone number

so I texted

didn’t expect the answer

was right about it at least, huh?

dk why I kept texting

maybe I should stop, actually

“No.” Geralt mutters.

“What?” Eskel looks at him over his beer.

“Nothing.” Geralt quickly puts his phone away.

“You’ve been acting weird lately.” Lambert puts his fork down and exchanges a glance with Eskel.

“Is it a fucking intervention?” His brothers’ curiosity isn’t surprising, and he doesn’t mean to actually snap at them, but the prospect of loosing his mystery texter makes him feel… uneasy.

“Who are you keep texting?” Lambert presses.

“I’m not texting anyone.” Geralt answers.

“But you’re always on your phone.” Eskel’s voice is mild, clearly not wanting to start a fight.

“Are you Vesemir now?” He grumbles. “I’m just reading. A book.”

“Oka-ay.” Lambert drawls, clearly unconvinced. Geralt doesn’t care.

He doesn’t look at his phone, not until his brothers leave later in the evening.

I don’t think I will.

guess you’d tell me if I were annoying

god knows people have no problem doing that.

but you read all my texts, so

maybe you laugh at me

and that’s okay, I guess

good night, parking lot business card person

Geralt lets out a breath he feels he was holding all evening.

“Good night.” He whispers.

[ma-tsu-the-male-goddess]

I posted 8,548 times in 2022

109 posts created (1%)

8,439 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@captain-castaway

@nunnatheinsanegerbil

@liselicanis

@tharkflark1

@theabstruseanon

I tagged 456 of my posts in 2022

#my art - 36 posts

#soundy sounds - 32 posts

#snake - 24 posts

#my writing - 21 posts

#gabi'sart - 21 posts

#ao3 - 21 posts

#snakes - 20 posts

#personal shenanigans - 20 posts

#fnaf - 17 posts

#kh - 16 posts

Longest Tag: 111 characters

#agustín really said: 'i'm going to sit away as far as possible from my wife otherwise i'll tell her everything'

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I love doing puzzles 🤗

See the full post

48 notes - Posted February 2, 2022

#4

Okay look, the next couple people to pick 5-10 things out of this list will get a fic written specifically for them with all of them included. You don’t even have to follow me.

These are mostly guidelines. You can suggest characters or tropes from other things not mentioned here but I may ask for a substitution. (i.e. probably won’t write romance rn)

Honestly weirder combinations are more likely to get you your fic faster, go ham

Send me an ask or message or reply with your name attached.

Okay to choose a limited number of characters (4 or less probably) from any combination these fandoms, though I may ask for substitutes if I don’t know a character super well:

Aldnoah.zero

Astro Boy

Attack on Titan

Avatar

Avatar the last Airbender

Banana Fish

Batman/justice league/young justice

Black Butler

Boku no Hero

Cells at work

Danny Phantom

Durarara

Encanto

Final Fantasy VII

FNAF Security Breach

Fruits Basket

How to Train you Dragon

Given

Kingdom Hearts

Magic Kairo/Detective Conan

Megamind

Miraculous Ladybug

Ouran High School Host Club

Rise of the Guardians

Sanders Sides

See the full post

52 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

#3

Greg Bot FNAF au (Animatronic Gregory)

Fazbear Entertainment decides to create an army of human-looking animatronics called Greg Bots (human children of different genders, personalities, ethnicities, ranging from 11-19)

Read on Ao3 instead: Greg Bot FNAF AU

2 or 3 of them are introduced at the start of each night in the Fazbear Pizzaplex as children being brought into work for the company.

**

“If you are lost or scared or need help, please feel free and welcome to reach out to one of our little helpers in the purple vests. Gregory, say hi!” *wave*

“Hi guys! I’m Gregory Fazbear and I’m one of the free roaming guides tonight. Don’t be afraid to stop me if you have questions!”

**

They are around to help and give subtle assistance to those struggling, make the place seem more lively, and be an example to the kids. Sometimes they help collect kids out of the daycare play structures.

Different ages of kids: Gregory (11) being the youngest. Also have 13 15 17 19 plus a 21 and 24 yo behind service/ticket desks. The only human around is usually just the security guard and a couple people in maintenance and on cameras, maybe a bouncer.

However, in addition to the different models, there are also several copies of each model. So there are ~5 Gregory’s for example. Because the Pizzaplex is so large, and because each model is all on their own network frame, the Greg Bots make sure that no one sees doubles of them.

With this shared mental network, there is no need to give individual copies of the same model different names because they are functionally only one being with multiple bodies around gathering and sharing the same information.

They are seen walking into staff doors only for another one to show up out of a different set a few minutes later, giving the illusion that all the backstage doors are connected and also that the bots are taking time to eat and rest throughout the night.

Greg and co can also knock hands (high fives!) with other Greg Bot models to exchange info, looks like a hand off between shifts to other people. Notifying other bots can be done silently, and sometimes emergencies necessitate broadband communication (which can be picked up by other communication devices) or quick high five chains.

Some additional thoughts:

There is sometimes a slight pause when they are asked a question to let them search the database/web for an answer.

Greg Bots can pretend to eat but must go and incinerate/dispose of it later behind the scenes.

Greg Bots tend to have pretty severe linguistic code switches, depending on who they are talking to (i.e. very professional with the human security guards, super excited or comforting with the kids, very relaxed with the animatronics, etc.)

Regarding the Glamrocks:

Freddie, with his anxieties, actually loves when he gets the chance to talk to the Greg Bots, especially the younger ones. It means he gets to hang out with kids without worrying about being careful with his strength or words. (Angry parents terrify him unless they are actually cruel/bad parents. Then he’s ready to square up.)

Monty tends to use the Greg Bots as a barrier between him and the children as he struggles with interacting with them sometimes. He’s also been known to hang out with some of the older teen models or do little shows for the normal kids watching. He’s one of the more chill animatronics to work with.

Roxy actually really struggles with the existence of the Greg Bots. She already has insecurities about her place in the Glamrocks and a whole new model of very advanced animatronics does not help. She will play nice in front of the kids, but she definitely has some snippy words for them when they all head backstage. The Greg Bots definitely give each other silent looks when they have to work with her.

Chica loves all the Greg Bots, instant friends with each of them. The more enthusiastic Greg Bots would rather work with Chica than anyone else, and they’re often seen hanging out with each other outside of working hours.

Some Fun POVs to explore in this universe:

Animatronics

Gregory himself as he works

Freddie or the other Glamrocks

Human Workers

New security guard

See the full post

56 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

#2

Designing the Central Heart Hotel Station with @tharkflark1

See the full post

64 notes - Posted February 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

In light of the Roe vs Wade overturn, I’m asking all of you to be safe and be careful. I will post some links on ways to keep yourself safe when buying contraceptives or birth control and places that you will be able to receive the life saving care that is absolutely necessary and where to find places that will allow you to get your tubes tied without written consent of a male spouse.

This overturn will end in a lot of women dead. Please help each other to not be one of them.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR14X3MC/?k=1

^^ tips on how to stay off the grid and safe in period, pregnancy, and abortion communications

https://linktr.ee/fran.ish?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=32b968e0-6755-4cd2-88fc-6db491c2454b

^^ lists of who will provide tubal sterilization and vasectomies

292 notes - Posted June 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thejadecount]

Okay so I’m obsessed with Crossover AUs nowadays

Because sure yeah they’ll never happen like you can’t have ghosts AND aliens AND demons in one universe with all those protagonists too much shit would be going on ALONG WITH COLLEGE

BUT IMAGINE THIS—

Hilda, Dipper Pines, Coraline Jones, Norman, Dib, Danny and Wirt

Hilda would be the friend of the group to just go off on adventures and try to befriend every supernatural/paranormal thing they run into and succeed with varying levels of success. She knows EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. You need an in with the local water nymphs? She’s your girl. You need help finding some magical super-important artifact you lost? Don’t worry fam, she’ll call up her friends and you’ll go into another pocket dimension (Hilda fans will recognize). Self preservation? Never met her. Like one day they’ll run into some super violent nature spirit or some shit and they’re like “and now I shall kill you for traspassing into my territory—HILDA?!” And Hilda’s just like “YO WHAT IS GOOD FAM?!”

Dipper is the one that freaks them out the most, even though some of them can see and turn into ghosts. He’s the witch friend of the group. He makes morbid, dark jokes, he knows shit that no one else does, after killing a nature spirit one day or something he’ll be like “don’t worry guys the first one’s always the easiest.” Having said that, he is also a huge paranormal and mystery nerd, and they all know this. They’ve been forced to binge watch Sherlock and Supernatural for what, 3 times now? Don’t let him get into your spices. It just anything, don’t let him touch your stuff. He’s like a toddler who’ll mix shit to make potions in the toilet except THEY’RE ACTUALLY POTIONS. He may or may not know a few demons, personally. It’s not like one possesses him time to time, no. And raising the dead? That was never a one time thing. Oh, and let’s just say law breaking runs in the family.

Coraline is just done with everyone’s shit. When she came to college, she wanted to escape the paranormal trauma and magical shit that went down in her home state of Michigan, and then she had to run into these idiots. However, they haven’t done anything particularly traumatic yet, and they do provide good entertainment value. So she’ll stick around them, she supposes, even if some of them really are just idiots most of the time. And don’t tell anyone this, but Wirt’s her favorite because he’s the only other brain cell in the group.

Norman? He’s just trying to survive the school year. He and Wirt are the only things keeping the other guys from accidentally setting the males dorms on fire. He’s the quiet one of the group, and gets along with everyone pretty well. Occasionally he, Danny and Dipper do go on ghost hunting adventures and let me tell you, what happened in the haunted shack out in the woods stays in the haunted shack in the woods. Even though Coraline and Wirt are usually ones with common sense, he’s the only truly sane one of the group. He’s the glue kinda. He makes dudes everyone gets along with each other. Just whatever you do, do not mention anything zombie related to him. He will not hesitate to start ranting about zombie movies.

And then there’s Dib, the Weird One of the group of weirdos. They all think he’s a little strange, especially with his tendency to get well…over passionate about things. Aliens. Conspiracy theories. Allegorical literary works commenting on society’s flaws like the Joker and the Lord of the Flies. They’re secretly considering to get him a therapist. And possibly a lot of ADHD medicine. But still, knowledge-wise? He’s the most intelligent and resourceful of them. You do not want to see the damage he can do with some tape and a paperclip. He also occasionally just leaves them to hang out with a fucking alien, so cool I guess. He has an obsession with fingerless gloves, black nail polish, bar earrings, literally anything and very thing edgy. He also knows how to do makeup really well for some reason (probably to fit with the aesthetic). Also, never give him sugar or caffeine past 12 unless you don’t fear God. You do not want to see this man caffeinated. Thank god he isn’t jacked or else they would go from seeing him as the weird one to considering sending him to a psych ward for everyone’s physical safety, even his. Also…he might be just a tad depressed? Just a little???? Something between him and his family—he won’t explain. But as previously mentioned, they should get him that therapist.

Next is Danny, the dude that can turn into a ghost. He’s the most popular out of them. He also is the only one who isn’t single. He’s the most chill one of them all, except when they go on their adventures—the action and fighting he gets into when he ‘goes ghost’. The rest of the group thinks he’s cool with his powers and stuff. Although one time he did accidentally get stuck in a door and they did in fact leave him there and laugh about it as they watched him struggle before finally helping him (and sending a pic of it to his gf of course). He and Dipper constantly get into mischievous, pranking shit with the other students and teachers. He’s also trying to push Wirt and Dipper into confessing their obvious feelings for each other because holy shit someone help those poor flustered men.

Finally there’s Wirt, the mom friend of the group. He’s constantly watching over the other guys and making sure they don’t kill themselves on the daily. He’s also the only one who knows how to cook good food instead of instant ramen and Mac n cheese. God give him patience, because how the hell have these guys not died without him? He also helps them with their English and History homework (usually just with the essays), because according to them he ‘has a way with words’. They all know his obsession with poetry, and they usually only mildly tease him for it. Although they all did get him collections of poems from his favorite poets several times as thank-you gifts so he’s not complaining. And even though he’s probably one of the more socially awkward ones of them (it’s either him or Dib they can’t tell) he’s usually being asked for advice with stuff, even Danny asked him romantic advice for his girlfriend. He’s also the only one who dresses decent compared to the e others when they aren’t doing anything important. With the rest of them it’s just jeans, leggings and sweatpants and lose baggy t-shirts. He’s the only one who wears sweater vests as well, bless his nerdy, inner-English poet soul. He’s also a bit sap for romance movies and novels. He also gay panics from Dipper. A lot. And vice versa. But these two will practically be ignorant to the end of time, God help them.

I really want to write a multiple one shot series (because I have very much learned the hard way that consistent multi-chapter plot and buildup is not my style) but I’m not even sure if I would be able to continue it still, because I’ve noticed a lot of oneshots series actually only have one or two entries in them.

What gave me the idea for these guys were two fanfics I’ve read on AO3, Dipper, Dib and Wirt are Roommates by nschimm (skullsulker) and Us College Kids by sirina77

Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. Who knows. At least if I decide to do a one shot series like this I won’t have to have a consistent plot with boring filler and constantly antagonize myself for not uploading.

I might just even post parts of it that don’t make sense without context and are out of order and leave y’all confused.

Who knows!

I just really like crossovers.

[age-of-flower-power]

Give Love a Chance (J.T.K)- Chapter 11

Pairing: Jake Kizska x f!Reader

Summary: rom-com inspired au, quirky girl who has given up on love meets boy in a band who might or might-not-be head over heels for her… if she can realize that.

Word Count: 4k

Warnings: partying, mentions of 18+, and alcohol 

A/N: I was so busy this week, but here is chapter 11! I’d say our story is about 2/3rds of the way completed! Enjoy

Just a reminder: my ask box is open and I am taking requests!

Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, okay. Don’t come for me.

chapter 6 chapter 7 chapter 8 chapter 9 chapter 10

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With the seasons changing Halloween was a weekend away, leaving you to decide if it was actually worth it to go out this year or stay inside and binge horror movies. Instead of actually deciding on a plan or idea you conferred internally to text the one person who you suspected would have some semblance of an actual plan for the season. 

Grabbing your phone off the desk in your room, you shut the lid of your laptop and leaned back. Your thumbs typed out a response before you almost chickened out. 

        You:

        Any plans for all-hallows-eve?

        Sent, 11:39am

You clicked your tongue in wait of a response, finding entertainment in scrolling aimlessly through some social media app. Soon enough however (you knew you could either wait forever for a response or have one immediately from him) your phone chimed and the notification popped up on the top half of your screen. Immediately your thumb swiped over it so you could read the reply. 

       Joshie K:

        Oh, miss me that much? You’ve come to the right place. I have a buddy who’s throwing a “bash”. Sammy and Danny are coming too :)

        Sent, 11:43am

Honestly you were surprised he’d responded fast and without sending a paragraph to do it. Josh had a habit of texting you at odd hours of the day, he was honestly who you talked with most besides Jake… 

        Joshie K:

        Wait, have you texted Jakey today? I think he just woke up. Looks sad lol.

        Sent, 11:43am

The second text caught you off guard a little but you rolled your eyes lovingly at Josh’s subtle hint to send Jake a good morning text. 

        You:

        I have no plans for Halloween, that’s why I asked… and ok i'm on it! Jakey cheer-up, here I go!

        Sent, 11:45am

You sent that text back and now considered asking Jake if maybe he wanted to go to a party with you this year. You could always invite Annie along too. You’d taken notice of the fact that she was hanging around the actual apartment a lot more. You didn’t mind, but it would occasionally cut into your Jakey-time when she would watch movies with you both. That meant minimal time to make-out with him if she was always around. 

You pushed the thought of asking her if something was up to the back of your mind when you pulled up Jake’s contact information and sent off a good morning text. 

        You:

        Hi lovie, hope you slept well! Do you want to attend a party this weekend with me?

        Sent, 11:47am

You didn’t wait long for a response from him, both of you equally whipped for each other. 

        Jake (from the bar):

        Hey baby, good morning to you too ;) 

        Party sounds good 2 me

        Sent, 11:48am

Now that you were reading his contact name you figured you should definitely change it. You kept it that way mainly for nostalgia sake because meeting him that night would forever replay in your mind, but now it was just a running joke for you and you only. That was okay, you weren’t sure Jake knew- your contact name in his phone was literally your name with a red love heart.

Anyway, you sighed and held the phone to your chest after reading his little response. Even over text you could hear the crisp tone of his voice in your head and it made you feel content all over. 

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

Later in the week you managed to ask Annie if she wanted to attend the Halloween party with the boy and you. At first she seemed pretty skeptical, mainly because she didn’t want to be a third wheel all night but after you scolded her about how you had done just that and met Jake on the same night she seemed to not be so fussy about it. 

The boys would pick the both of you up at 9pm, claiming there was “enough room” in Danny’s van and that if there wasn’t then you could suffer by taking Jake’s lap. (You had replied that out of anyone, Sammy should be the one to sit in a lap but he had whined about long legs). Either way, you and Annie got ready in the bathroom together. She settled on a cute red-riding hood costume, her long dark curls and tan skin accentuating the contrast of the red and black color palette of the costume. 

You had tried to work up the courage all week to ask Jake what he might’ve worn to maybe subtly ask him to match with you but since the two of you weren’t really a couple officially you decided to go with your gut and ended up wearing a simple pirate-captain costume. It was cute, the hat dipped off to the side of your head and your voluminous hair filled it well. The boots you’d borrowed from Annie and your shirt was a worn and old white blouse. All together with the jewelry you thought it was hot enough for one night. 

All together you and Annie made your way to the kitchen and took a round of shots together for confidence and soon your phone chimed from your little clutch alerting you that the boys were outside and ready to go. 

On the way out of the apartment you did one last little tussle of hair, making sure to ask Annie if you looked alright. 

Annie just rolled her eyes, stepping out of the apartment with you and taking your hand to lead you both down to where Danny was parked. “Babe, you’re stunning as always- now c’mon let's go! I need to get laid.” She smirked at you, squeezing your hand. 

You laughed along with her up until your brain clicked a moment later and suddenly you halted right before the final steps of the complex, turning your face towards her. “Wait- laid? What happened to your boyfriend?” 

Annie simply tossed you a little forced smile and stepped out into the cold October air with you. She didn’t give you time to ask any lingering questions because Jake and Sam were outside the van sharing a cigarette when the two of you walked over. 

Jake did a low whistle when you stepped closer, dropping the last little bud of the cigarette and squishing it under his boot. You looked him up and down from head to toe to take in his costume, quite surprised when you found he too was dressed like a pirate. Huh, maybe you both had similar tastes, or maybe you’d gotten very lucky. Either way, it was an unintentional couples costume and you were living for it. 

Sam ushered the ladies inside the van, holding the door open and letting you and Jake sneak past first to sit in the back so everyone else could find their rightful places up ahead. Sam obviously popped in the passenger’s seat to keep Danny company while Annie was left to slide in next to Josh. 

You’d almost forgotten she hadn’t actually formally met any of the guys before, seeing that she was mostly at work when they were over- or that she’d seen them perform at least once all the way from a table in the back of the bar. You figured you’d make it easy and introduce the little group to her while Danny drove off and to the address of the party. 

You leaned forward in your seat from the back, pointing towards Danny and Sam in the front seat jamming out to the radio. “That’s Danny and Sammy, they’re the youngest here so feel free to pick on them for us.” You joked with Annie. 

Sam turned his head from the passenger’s seat and stuck his tongue out at you. You just laughed along with the twins, directing your hand to Josh next. “Joshua, you can introduce yourself.” You granted, sharing a smile with him. 

Josh turned to Annie but when he did and they made eye contact you watched him fumble his words strangely. “Yup. That’s me. Frontman, ya know?” He said in a hurry, quickly averting his gaze from Annie. You shared a deep look with Jake who raised a questioning brow but shrugged it off anyway. 

Annie seemed charmed, snorting behind her hand and then finally turning to Jake. You rolled your eyes at her, gesturing to him. “You already know Jake, but he’s here too.” You said through a smile. Jake slung his arm around your shoulders as you leaned back into him. 

The rest of the car ride consisted of Sam and Danny’s terrible singing, Josh’s awkward attempt at conversation with Annie for some reason, and you and Jake leaning on each other and watching it all unfold. 

Right before they pulled up to the house Jake leaned his lips close to your ear and whispered, “you look good.”

From the smell of his breath you knew he’d taken fireball shots with the boys before picking you up, but you didn’t mind one bit. You knew what cinnamon alcohol did for him and it had you biting your lip. Tonight would be fun; you were more than ready to get loose. 

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

The party was a little out of hand by the time all of you walked in. Apparently some of Josh’s buddies were supposedly the hosts but you hadn’t seen them anywhere so it was a mystery to your little group. Josh made himself busy  by leaving to find the mountain of alcohol but apparently Annie had the same idea because when you turned to speak into her ear over the loud music, she was nowhere to be seen. Huh.

You whipped your head around to gaze through the living room and maybe locate anyone else you might know but everyone was dressed up and the music was so loud that you didn’t think at this rate you’d even be able to tell anyway. No matter, Jake had a firm grip on your hip, pulling you closer into his side as the four in your little ensemble sauntered deeper into the house. 

You hadn’t been to a social event even close to a party in months- maybe even since college. Well, any party you went to certainly wasn’t outrageous like this and that was saying something since Annie could be a bit of a social butterfly. You remember inquiring about her boyfriend tagging along earlier in the week and she’d outright dismissed you, but now she was nowhere to be seen and Jake didn’t even seem worried about Josh. 

Eventually you found the kitchen, seeing a few people scattered around the various cups and bottles. A few girls were by the fridge talking and some other people were sitting along the counter but there were no issues for Jake to simply saunter over to the breakfast island and pour both of you two shots of more fireball. 

Now that you thought about it, Danny and Sam were nowhere to be seen too! You slightly remembered them veering off in the direction of the back patio but you could never be too sure with them. 

As Jake handed you a shot he smirked, “Baby, it’s just us. Live a little.” He told you, downing his shot in one go. You gave a sheepish smile at his words but downed your own shot anyway, feeling the sting in alcohol in your throat as you swallowed.

“Lovie, I plan to live as much as I can while I'm still here. Another one?” You held your shot glass out to him again, Jake pouring you one without any fuss and another for himself. 

This time, before you could bring the glass to your lips, Jake intertwined your arms. “We’ll take this one together- liquid courage to loosen you up for a dance.” Before you could inquire further Jake lifted his arm which caused you to follow through- both of you downing your shots. 

Now you were for sure ready to go dance, your body a lot more heavy but also free enough that the nagging eyes of anyone around you simply wouldn’t notice. Jake seemed to be on the level of sobriety as you because he led you to the living room which had become a somewhat dance floor for everyone involved. Together you danced in tandem to some shitty pop music that filled your senses with a loud beat. You giggled as Jake and you let loose, making eye contact occasionally and watching the way his gaze raked up and down your frame every so often. 

You figured out early on that Jake was the type of person to really wear his emotions on his sleeve. When he was angry his eyebrows would knit, or when he was sad his eyes would drop ever so slightly- even when he was happy his smile gave it all away. However now, you watched the way his face contorted into something else entirely. It was like every time Jake watched you move or shake he looked hungry- ready to pounce on you. 

You weren’t sure whether you were scared or flattered by this new expression, but it was fulfilling in a way. You felt like he wanted you in a way that your body understood but your mind couldn’t… you bit your lip and the song changed. 

Jake leaned into you now, both of his hands splayed against your hips and gripping possessively. Jake whispered your name as his nose found purchase against the shell of your ear, you found it hard not to stutter as he placed a gentle kiss there. 

“I’m glad you came, have I already said that?” Jake asked you, his voice an octave lower than you’d ever heard. 

Somehow the feeling between your legs was tight- warm. Jake understood, sliding one leg between your own to part them and rest right under where you needed pressure the most. You tried not to squeeze your thighs together, just so you wouldn’t give away fully his effect on you. 

“You haven’t…” you replied back, pulling your head away so you could look up at him and in the face. His eyes were so deep and easy to get lost in, it was ridiculous and you felt like an idiot as you realized the only thing in life you wanted to see forever was this- him- his eyes- Jake. “You’re so glad I came, but would you be mad if I said I want to leave?” 

Jake’s eyes flicked down to your lips, watched the way you took the plump skin on your bottom lip and wet it with your tongue. Jake mimicked your action, eyes flashing back up to your own once more. Your innuendo was like a shot to his heart, one that he was fully prepared to indulge in.

“Oh hell no, let’s get out of here-” But before Jake pulled away he stopped and squeezed your hips once more. “Only if you’re sure, that is?” 

It warmed you in the best possible way to watch him stop and ask if you were sure. Even if both of you were a little tipsy you knew that there was no one you’d rather be with (or doing) than Jake, and watching him fumble his cool-guy exterior for a moment to make sure you were okay with it maybe got you even a little more flustered. 

“Take me home Jake.” Was your response, followed by a kiss to his cheek. You nipped his skin just lightly enough and telling by the way his eyes rolled back he was now dead-set on his mission to get you both home safely. 

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

You remembered waiting out on the front porch with Jake as he pulled up an uber on his phone, muttering to himself about the time it was taking and what-not. You both had shared a cigarette while you stood in the October chill, staring at the road as you tapped your foot and Jake chewed his cheek. It wasn’t an unwelcome restlessness- but it was definitely new for you. 

Never in your life had you felt like this with anyone else, but maybe it was the shots of whiskey or the way Jake looked ridiculously good as a pirate. You weren’t sure, but you knew you were suffering with keeping your social space. 

“Are your brothers going to mind us just taking off?” You asked Jake, staring out and looking at the shitty Halloween decorations that lined the house you both were marooned at. Jake shrugged from beside you, dropping the butt of his cig and stamping it out on the chipped wood underneath his boot just like he’d done earlier in the night.

“I honestly don’t think they’d notice- but I'm sure if they did they wouldn’t care. What about Annie?” Jake nudged his elbow into you lightly and you giggled as it made contact with your rib. 

“She’ll live.” Well she better anyway, you could count on one hand how many times she’d left you at parties to go make out with a cute boy. Now it was your turn to be a big girl and step up your game. 

Jake simply chuckled, watching from beside you as the uber driver pulled up to the curb. He led you down and opened the door for you like a gentleman, sliding in after you. As you both fit into the space Jake’s palm found a home on your upper thigh, just resting there. 

Some formalities with the uber driver were shared but nothing major. You listened to the music that played through the car speakers, busying yourself with trying to ignore the throb between your legs as Jake’s hand slid higher the closer you got to his place. 

Now that you thought about it, you’d never actually been to his place before. At least, you’d never been invited. It wasn’t like Jake didn’t want you there, but one time he had explained it could get a little messy and he didn’t want to make you uncomfortable with its condition. Now though, Jake seemed to understand that this was the only place you’d have privacy tonight- whatever that meant. 

Right before you pulled up to the desired location the driver hit a small pothole in the road while tousling the car ever so slightly- Jake’s hand squeezed down on your thigh. You weren’t sure how much longer you could wait, especially not when you looked up from the hand on your inner thigh and noticed Jake strained against his pants. 

Finally the driver arrived and you thanked him quietly. Jake slid out of the car, offering his hand to you, and you slid out right after. Jake pulled you into his side gently, leading you up the steps and to the door of his shared living space. Right as he put the keys into the door and pushed it open with a ‘click’ he was on you. 

You didn’t even register dropping your purse or Jake’s keys falling to the floor because the next few minutes were just two bodies clawing and gripping each other for purchase to be closer and closer. 

One moment Jake’s hands were in your hair and his lips were on yours in a feverish kiss and the next your body was laid out on a couch beneath you and your hands were feeling up and under Jake’s white blouse. 

Needless to say, Jake was an amazing kisser. You knew that, you practically melted every time his lips found your own but this was different now. He was devouring your love and being so greedy with everything you were letting him have. You were no different, every kiss and every breath shared edged you more to wanting that final goal. 

Both of you pulled away to pant as things began to slow down. You looked up from your spot beneath Jake, hair splayed out around you in knots. One of his hands rested right next to your ear, the other held the back of the couch to keep him hovering above you. The way he panted dangerously offset his now open blouse, the necklaces he wore dangling down as he looked at you. 

You almost felt self conscious with the way his beauty could’ve remarked on your own. His messy brown locks, his blissful lips, the sheen of sweat over his forehead. You reached a hand up gently and pulled him back down to lock lips once more, moaning into the feeling of his affections. 

“Jake…” you whined against his lips. 

“I know.” He groaned back into your own. Jake knew what you wanted. 

Jake always knew. 

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

You were sure that waking up beside Jake was a feeling you longed for but also that when you did wake beside him you treasured it so much. Now, as you opened your eyes to the sight of him asleep and laid out against the soft sheets of the bed… you knew you were in love. There was no possible way to escape that feeling- not when his eyelashes fluttered with every other breath and his tangled locks framed the rose tint on his cheeks so adorably. 

You were glad you’d woken before him because now you got to lie back and admire him in such a natural state of existence. Jake probably would complain to you later about you not getting enough rest- the hypocrite that he was- but you just couldn’t care at all. 

Your hand gently pushed his hair out of his sleepy face and behind his ear, stroking his soft waves. Suddenly you scrambled and remembered just hours before. Just how raw and passionate it had been, every minute of it. 

You remembered the way Jake whispered praises against the mounds of your chest and how you cried out against the first feeling of him inside- or even the final kiss when you both climaxed and fell into each other's arms. It was so sensual, you felt exposed now even just thinking about it. 

Jake stirred at your ministrations, eye peeking open to study you before he let out a groan and buried his face into the fabric of his pillow. You giggled, tugging his body closer so he could rest against your chest instead- which he did. Jake kissed your collar bone gently and didn’t speak for another moment, trying to wake himself up. 

That was fine. You had something you wanted to say to him anyway. 

“Jake.” You started. He didn’t look up from the sanctuary of your chest, instead he simply hummed to let you know he was listening. “Will you be my boyfriend?” You blurted. 

Maybe it was the soft light of the November morning, or the tangled knots of Jake’s hair that were perfect to you, or maybe it was just how beautiful the night you shared had been… but you felt ready now, more than ever. 

Jake sat up on his elbows then, his back muscles popping slightly as he held himself above you. The stupid boyish grin on his face gave his exact thoughts away as he answered back. 

“I’d love nothing more.” Jake told you, leaning down to nudge both of your noses together. You saw the light flash in his eyes at his glee and your own heart palpitated too at just how right it felt being here with Jake. 

Even with the trees dying outside, the weather getting colder day by day, and all the emotional stress of life outside none of it truly mattered the way that being with Jake in that moment did. No matter how bare your bodies were It was safest in bed with Jake, the temperature was warm, and the love was endless.

As you two kissed to seal the deal you realized you hadn’t told your friends where you both went last night… oh well, Josh hadn’t come home to you and Jake’s mess anyway- so who cared. 

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Taglist:  @theweightofstardust @joshkiszkas @kiszkawagnerwhore @oyoke  @mgk777 @carlybubs @myownparadise96 @doodle417 @turtleskane @way-to-go-lad @eeeloraaa @jazzyllemmon​ @baguettejuliette​

Let me know if you’d like to be removed or added! xoxo (or if I missed you on accident!)

[fruggo]

Hi hi can I req Danny, Leon and Steve with a male s/o who's a real goofy guy? Cracks jokes during chases, just can't take things too seriously, laid back and chill guy who prioritizes having fun

absolutely, thanks for requesting!! :D this is cute haha. i hope you like it!

danny, leon, and steve with goofy m!s/o

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐉𝐎𝐇𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍

danny would consider himself a pretty fun guy, though perhaps his idea of fun would not be the same as a normal person's. so i wouldn't take his word for it if i were you.

honestly? he thinks you're the shit. he genuinely likes your bad dad jokes great puns, will banter back and forth with you, and he might even give you the hatch instead of a mori. although he would love to have your picture, it can wait until the next trial. or the next if he still doesn't feel like it. who knows?

he likes that you're not too serious about everything. since danny is the entity's golden boy, he never has to worry about anything! he likes it here! and it's cool that someone else has a similar mindset about things. although he might have misunderstood "making the best of the situation and just being a goofy person" for "liking it here". you never really clarified which one it was, and why should he ask?

when danny finds out that you act basically the same way with all the killers, cracking jokes and laughing things off in chases, he gets all pouty. he thought he was special. well, looks like you're getting that mori now.

he still likes you though, and he gives you even more special attention now in the form of tunneling and camping! he means well <3 (no he doesn't he is a little bitch and a loser)

but then he hears stories from the other killers about you, and is pleased to find that you are significantly more fun with him, and, dare i say, flirty!

but he still wants to tunnel and camp you.

when you realize what he's doing, you don't get mad about it. what's the point? in fact you think it's really funny.

the first time danny proximity-camped you, you found it rewarding to just talk and talk and talk until he finally talked back. it took a while, but he did finally respond.

you would just say dumb shit, and then you would say more dumb shit, and then it got annoying and danny had to tell you to shut up. and then you would just dramatically whisper something like "okay, pissbaby."

and danny thought maybe he should be angry with you, but he just wasn't. he couldn't be mad at you, because even if he was, you wouldn't care. you weren't scared of him.

so when he finally left and you got unhooked, he tunneled you obviously. it makes sense, okay?

"wow, am i that handsome and gorgeous and attractive?" you monologued while smashing a pallet onto danny's head. "i'm really just so irresistible that you want to tunnel me? honestly, danny, i'm flattered. i'm touched."

danny couldn't remember since when you were on a first name basis, but he let it slide. just because maybe he thinks you are that handsome and gorgeous and attractive.

dude danny is kinda fucked up but like. he's funny. and charming. and he also let you take off his mask once, and so now you know he's also hot. he has a few things going for him as long as you ignore the part where he chases you with a knife.

𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍 𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃𝐘

leon, our favorite rookie :D he's so cute!!! sorry im gushing i just cant resist i love him !!

and you love him too, so much. that's why you accidentally distract him during trials by goofing off and almost getting him killed

it's out of love. leon knows that. you don't really mean to.

while leon's doing a generator, you are probably somewhere nearby trying to find something even remotely interesting to do. and that might involve climbing a tree, then falling out of the tree. but it wasnt your fault! you swore the crows were attacking you, they didn't want you up in that tree because they knew you were just so cool up there and the Entity couldn't have somebody being better and hotter and funnier than itself so high in the sky.

leon could only smile and shake his head, inspecting you for the wounds you inevitably had. when you said you were fine, he was very skeptical, because your version of fine was never the same as his.

the killer knew where you were now because of your very loud "FUCK!" as the crows supposedly attacked you and forced you out of the tree, so you immediately put on your game face and got ready to command some attention.

leon said no, you were not in the right headspace to get chased. you only shrugged at him, slapped his ass, and ran towards the killer yelling, "HEY YOU WANNA HEAR AN AGGIE JOKE?"

leon was used to this by now, and he found it rather endearing. you were an enigma to him, really. how you could be so laid back about this whole murder-die-sacrifice thing was beyond him, but it was refreshing. he liked your enthusiasm.

since he had just come from raccoon city, he was still in his "i have to do the right thing and save everybody because it's my duty" kind of mood. you made sure to lighten up that burden and remind him that it's okay to chill sometimes, and he can't save everybody, especially not here. if you were in a particularly bad trial, you always made sure to get him to crack a smile.

likewise, leon wasn't always too jazzed about your "funny guy gets killed so the team can live" complex. he knew you didn't care, or at least you said you didn't, but he still hated that you constantly sacrificed yourself and acted like it was no big deal. to him, it was. he hated going back to the campfire alone and waiting forever for you to show up again; he cared about you and it hurt to see you sacrifice yourself so much even if he knew you would return.

leon didn't have a stick up his ass or anything--he had his fair share of humorous moments (i mean have you seen infinite darkness ashdjshdf that man just wants love and food). he just wants to save everybody, you included. it's frustrating to come to terms with the fact that he can't.

he loves it when he can hear you yelling at the killer mid-chase from afar, be it a pun or a swear or both. you've even influenced him to crack his own jokes while being chased sometimes--it comes out more often if he's being tunneled. if you ever happened to see him do it, you would wipe a fake tear from your face and start clapping. you were very proud of your rookie.

𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐓𝐎𝐍

the killers hated you and steve, and i mean like despised you

you were so chill. and for what???? why do you have chill???? nobody else has chill, what makes you think you deserve to have chill????

they could never make you angry and that made them super angry

you and steve would quip back and forth between chases, sometimes going so far as to pretend the killer is not there and talk about something like what kind of cheese you missed eating the most. let me tell you, that did not make the trickster happy.

he was a star!! a star, and here you two little shits were, ignoring him to talk about cheese. honestly, the audacity.

you and steve ran to the killer shack with the trickster on your heels, still talking about cheese. how the conversation had gone on this long was a mystery, and it continued to be a mystery while the two of you shared a chase in the shack.

steve was very happy to have found someone to share his sentiments with. everybody was so serious all the time, and while he was similar to leon with his altruistic streaks, he was slightly less responsible and occasionally enjoyed doing dumb stunts just for shits and giggles.

you can bet that whenever you are in a trial together, it's a competition to see who can hold the killer's attention longer. your teammates don't mind--all they have to do is complete gens, so their job is fairly easy. and it's always entertaining to catch sight of one of you sprinting with a new flashlight in your hand to go annoy the crap out of the killer.

there's no question that steve would die for you a hundred times over, and you would do the same for him. you didn't see it as a very big deal--you didn't see anything here as a very big deal. steve was the only important thing you had, really, and you cared for him a lot. saving him? kapeesh. no sweat.

scenario: steve is being chased, you throw yourself in front of him, the killer has noed, you are hooked, you give him a thumbs up as you die, he flips you off because why the fuck would you die for him what is wrong with you he's supposed to die for you and you know that?? why would you do that???? great, now steve gets to escape and it's all your fault.

you would simply smile. he was so cute sometimes.

[lexosaurus]

Upload Complete

A late fic for day 3 of dp side hoes week!

Character: Wes Theme: Denial

---

Wes held his breath, watching the upload bar slowly increase.

Uploading 94%

Anxious energy buzzed in his veins, but he was still. Frozen. As if a single muscle twitch would bring this all crashing down.

Uploading 95% 

It wouldn’t have been the first time his plans were thwarted at the last minute. Just last week he had been on his way home, camera in hand, when suddenly he felt the familiar chill of intangibility pass over him and his camera swiped from his clutches. He looked up to see Phantom, in all his egotistical glory, reach inside the camera, grab the memory card, and melt it in his palms.

Uploading 96%

But with each failure, months of countless iterations of the same plan, he had grown. He had learned. He had become more cunning, more discrete.

It really was only a matter of time before this day would come.

Uploading 97%

He was so close.

So close.

Uploading 98%

His mouth was a dessert. His hands clutched the edge of his desk, shaking. He couldn’t remember when the last time he blinked was, but it didn’t matter, nothing else mattered right now except how close he was he was so close. 

Uploading 99%

So close.

Finally.

After all this time.

It was happening.

Upload complete

A breath escaped his lips. And then another. And another. Until the breaths quickened, and sound followed. A laugh. A breathy, weightless laugh.

He leaned back in his chair, allowing hilarity to overtake his body. This was bliss, it was pure bliss. 

Wes stretched his arms out and stared up at the ceiling. 

He had won. 

After months of trying, he finally caught the perfect video showcasing the tail end of Phantom’s fight today with the infamous mecha ghost Skulker. Phantom sucked the ghost into his ghost thermos, flew behind a tree, and glanced around suspiciously for a brief moment before triggering his transformation sequence. Then, like icing on the cake, Foley and Manson appeared and had a conversation with Danny Fenton about the fight that Danny Phantom had just gone through. Fenton displayed the ecto-thermos and uttered the perfect lines about needing to “get him back to the Ghost Zone,” before turning his hand and the thermos intangible and shoving the object into his backpack.

The video was, by all accounts, perfect. Simply perfect. It was the exact undeniable proof that Wes had spent months trying to capture.

Now it was online for the world to see.

All he had to do now was share the link to the popular Phantom fan forum, sit back, and watch the internet work its magic.

If Wes was right, Phantom would be trending in an hour. News sites would be covering him by tonight. By tomorrow, everyone would know who—or what—Fenton really was.

A liar. An abomination. A danger to society. 

All because of Wes.

He was victorious.

This was—

---

—wrong.

Wes pressed a hand against the glass, his eyes wide as he watched as red streaked against the green splatters dotting the panel.

This was all wrong.

“Come to gloat?” an icy voice sounded from beyond the glass wall.

“I never wanted this,” Wes whispered. He couldn’t take his eyes off the green stains on the glass, on the wall, on the floor. It popped against the otherwise barren room, painting the bleached scene with a terrifying story.

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” The voice coughed, and then groaned. “You did this to me, Wes. This is your fault.”

“I didn’t mean—”

“Shut up.”

Wes’s eyes snapped over to the figure beyond the glass. It was sallow, decrepit. Nothing more than a bony mess of black, white, and green in a torn jumpsuit.

And it finally connected in Wes’s brain where he’d seen Phantom’s uniform before. It looked exactly like the suits worn in ecto-science labs.

Because when he saw the ghost now, Phantom looked right at home. He looked like he was made to be a lab rat.

And that made Wes nauseous.

“I didn’t ask to be this way. I didn’t want to be—to be a freak.” Phantom’s head lolled back against the wall. A trickle of ectoplasm dripped from his chin, peppering the floor with even more green, but he made no move to clean his face.

Wes’s hand fell to his side. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t care.”

“I’m gonna get you out of here.” His voice didn’t sound too convincing. It sounded pathetic, weak.

Phantom snorted, but otherwise didn’t respond.

“I will,” Wes reiterated.

“Whatever you say.”

His pulse quickened, and before he could stop himself he choked out, “I just need to know. I need to know. What—what are you?”

Phantom’s eyes narrowed, snapping onto Wes. 

Wes could have forgotten how to breathe. “Please, I need to know. Are you dead?”

“No.”

Wes’s blood ran cold.

“As in no, you don’t get to know what I am.” Phantom said. “You don’t get that privilege. Do you understand, Weston? You posted that video knowing that everyone, everyone, would see it, including the federal organization established to capture me. You knew deep down that this was going to happen. You just didn’t care because the only thing that mattered was that you were right and everyone else was just in too deep denial to see it, am I right?”

It was so hard to breathe. 

Phantom leaned forward, his head drooping down to his chest. “You took away everything. I have nothing left. So now you can just sit there for the rest of your life and think about the fact that you have no idea if the person who you condemned to a lifetime of imprisonment was human, or ghost, or something in between.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s too bad.”

“I’m trying to do the right thing, you know,” Wes said, frustration seeping into his tone. “I just threw away my life too by doing this. I can’t exactly go home either.”

“Oh what, am I supposed to thank you now? For ruining my life but then coming back to ‘save’ me?” Phantom snapped. “Shut the fuck up.”

He could have left. He could have just turned around and left Phantom to rot in this compound for the rest of his afterlife.

But no, he’d come so far. And as today, he was officially a criminal. 

He could never go home now. He couldn’t waste this trip.

And besides, he knew that he needed Phantom’s help in escaping the compound. This plan was a one way trip, put together after months of planning. Months of working with one of the most notorious hackers Wes knew online.

This was the best plan he had. But it wasn’t foolproof. 

“I can get you in,” the hacker said from the other side of the screen. “After that? You’re on your own.”

Wes nodded. “That’s all I need.”

Silas was silent for a moment. “You know, when you reached out to me on Reddit, I thought you were delusional at first. I thought that this plan would never work, that you were out of your mind. But I figured I’d entertain you for a minute. At least hear you out before I wrote you off completely.”

“And I’m grateful.”

“But now, Wes? Now I just think you have a death wish.”

“You don’t understand,” Wes said bitterly. “This is my fault. I need to get Phantom out.”

“You’ll kill yourself before you make it out of there.”

“Please, just tell me what I need to know.”

There was a fingerprint scanner mounted on the wall next to the glass pane. Wes approached it cautiously, trying to ignore Phantom’s eyes that tracked his every move, and stopped before the wall. 

“The hacker I’ve been working with programmed my thumb into this lock,” Wes said. “I’ll unlock it, then we run. Once we clear the door, you phase us out of here. Okay?”

Phantom didn’t say anything, but Wes didn’t need him to. There was no alternative plan, no other way to make it out of here intact. It was either this, or they both die.

Wes lifted his trembling hand, pressing his thumb to the scanner. The scanner came to life, lighting up green as it read his finger print.

For a moment, nothing happened. Deafening silence permeated the room, the mounting pressure slowly suffocating Wes’s lungs. Each millisecond that the scanner spent on his thumb felt like an eternity.

And then, just when he felt like he was about to collapse, the scanner turned red.

Time stopped. Wes’s eyes widened, and he drew in a short, shuddering breath. 

No. 

The blaring started.

NO!

The room filled with red light and high-pitched wailing. Wes’s legs cemented to the ground, and all he could do was turn his head and watch in horror as Phantom’s terrified eyes rolled to the back of his head before the ghost collapsed on the ground.

This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t have been real.

How did their plan fail?

Wes heard the door open, and the sounds of footsteps filled surrounded him. He couldn’t turn around, he couldn’t watch as his worst fears unfolded in front of him.

“So you were the rogue fingerprint,” a deep voice from behind him said. “You know, we thought it was odd when all of the sudden one day, a twenty seventh fingerprint suddenly was logged into the scanner seemingly overnight.”

No…

“Teenager, huh? Always think you’re invincible.”

Wes opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

His body was numb. He couldn’t feel his limbs. His brain was screaming at him to run, get out of here, but he couldn’t move. He was frozen, not because of anything the government had done to him.

No. It was fear.

“Too bad for you, you’re not as invincible as you think you are.”

---

Thanks for reading!

[daisys-gard3n]

My favs but its the cats we adopt:

Bruno - We get a very fancy boy, a Turkish Van with black spots. Very dignified and he is spoiled...We name him Fig (bc buccellati-). He gets a fancy bowtie collar and he is a dignified gentleman. Bruno spoils him too much but doesn't want to admit it. Fig only sits on our faces bc he likes to torture us and we both wear a lot of dark clothes...But it's worth it for he.

Risotto - A Norwegian Forest Cat...Big Girl. Looks like a big ole lion and Risotto loves it. He's always seen petting or brushing her while she does her big stretches and goes crazy for it. We name her Gnocchi. Always seen with Risotto, just a man and his lion cat. She likes me too and likes to sit on my lap at the most inconvenient time. Purrs like a machine. Gnocchi gets a little spiked collar bc she's punk like that. A skilled hunter, catches all the mice and big bugs in the house. Risotto is a proud cat dad and gives Gnocchi treats for it.

Jonathan - I give him puppy dog eyes until he can't say no...We get a brown and white ragamuffin. He's just like Jonathan, big and gentle and friendly. Gets along with Danny so well, they sleep together. We name him Edward, or Eddy for short. He likes to sit on Jonathan's lap while he works at his desk and sits there and purrs. Sometimes, Eddy just claws his way up Jonathan until he's just hanging there by the claws on his massive tiddies. Gives Eddy rich cat foods, like real tuna and salmon bc he's spoiled. A lil bell collar. Likes to come up to me and see what's going on, purring immediately when I pet him.

Wamuu - We get a burmese cat. Wamuu lets me name her bc he doesn't really know any good names for a cat. So I name her Opal. She's a lil hyperactive hunter, she pounces on everything and is on stalking mode constantly. Wamuu just watches like "Yes...I feel the warrior spirit in this one". Opal makes biscuits on him all the time, esp the tiddies, but he can't feel it so it's okay. She plays aggressively and Wamuu likes to entertain her, big man being soft for cat. He's 'training' the cat. A psycho cat, it learned how to turn on the lamp when she's hungry in the middle of the night. But she's also sweet, rubbing on our legs and purring on us in our lap...We melt for her.

Weather Report - He just brought her home one day and asked 'Can we keep her?' and I obviously said yes- tiger striped Exotic Shorthair, he named her Weather Girl. She a very lazy cat, she just sleep and sleep. She even lets you bathe her in peace. She just makes herself comfy on your lap or next to you while you do things and slowly blinks out of affection. Sometimes, Weather has Weather Girl on his chest while he's laying down and affectionately goes: "Why are you so ugly?" but then does the 'kitty kitty' talk...Which puts her to sleep with that asmr voice.

[amatchinwater]

Did a little thing for Day 2 of Stackson Week 2021!

Day 2: Trapped together

Pairing: Stackson

Warnings: underage drinking

Word count: 2709

Rating: teen and up

Ao3 link

Stiles knew it was a bad idea to have a party at Lydia’s lake house in the middle of hurricane lever rain and a goddamn flood warning. What’s even worse is he’s the first person to show up! Lydia herself isn’t even here yet. The banshee was kind enough to tell him where they put the hide-a-key so he could get in and out of the storm. Scott and Isaac aren’t picking up or answering his texts. If they’re not here because they’re too busy fucking and Stiles has to be here soaked and alone, he’s going to kill them.

When Stiles gets in the house, he stomps his shoes on the mat to not track in any mud. Lyds would castrate him for that, so he takes them off just to be safe. Slipping out of his jacket, Stiles hangs it on the hook, careful not to let it drip anywhere other than the little rug underneath it. The house is empty and eerily dark. Then again, why wouldn’t it be? He’s the only fucking one here. Making his way into the kitchen, Stiles’ preturbrance only grows. 

It doesn’t even look like the place is meant to house a party in the next twenty minutes. Nothing is set up. There isn't a single bag of chips or other snacks on the counter. No pizzas and sandwich platters like her birthday. A keg is not beside the island either. Just two bottles of wine with a sticky note that reads-

“Have fun?” 

Oh my god! Stiles jumps and flails, nearly knocking the bottles over on the counter. 

“What kind of fucking game is she playing?” Jackson snatches the note, rereading it before flicking it back towards the island. 

Still clutching his wildly beating heart, Stiles gasps, “could you maybe announce yourself next time?” He collects himself- mostly. “Not all of us have your little wolf senses. You almost gave me a heart attack, you fuck.” 

Jackson snorts and almost playfully bumps him with his shoulder. “Not my fault you left the front door unlocked, Stilinski.” 

Fuck this. “I’m leaving.” Stiles stalks back towards the front door, yanking his jacket off the hook and grabbing his shoes. Whipping the open the door, the teen groans loudly, dropping his head back, “you’ve got to be kidding me!” 

“What are you bitching about now?” The wolf steps beside him and looks outside, his eyes widen drastically. “Holy shit!”

The lake has officially overflown since they’ve shown up and the driveway is at least three inches deep with water. Jackson’s care looks like it’s barely  capable of surviving if it gets too high. Stiles almost cares enough to wonder if they should move it. This fucking storm! Now he’s stuck here with nowhere to go. Yes, he has a jeep, but the road out is no doubt a muddy mess that even Roscoe can’t navigate. 

Closing the door and putting his clothes back where they were, Stiles whines, “why would she pick today to do this?” Thinking about the weather his dad forced him to watch this morning. Most cities were calling in downed power lines and massive branches flying through the streets. 

She knew this storm was coming. So much so that Lydia even reminded him to wear his boots rather than his sneakers. “I guess I better call Scott, tell him not to come. No use in him getting stuck in the woods like this.” Sures, having his best friend here would make this exceptionally better. But Stiles doesn’t want to break up any fights between a stir crazy Jackson and Isaac. Fishing in his pocket, Stiles pulls out his phone and smashes the call button in annoyance. 

“Stiles, hey. I’m sorry I did-” Scott answers on the second ring only to be cut off by Stiles.

“I don’t care if you and Isaac were fucking,” Jackson chuckles at his jab. “Don’t come to Lydia’s. The lake flooded and now Jackson and I can’t leave.” 

“Okay,” Scott draws out the word and if Stiles wasn’t mistaken sounds a little confused. Jackson’s brows knit together at the response too. Okay, so it did sound weird then. “I’m sorry you’re stuck there, dude. But maybe this will be a good thing?”

Is he serious? “How the fuck is it supposed to be a good thing to be stuck in a goddamn house with someone who hates my guts?” Stiles’ hand slaps his thigh in exasperation. Not to mention the asshole in question was hotter than hell fire and makes it incredibly hard to be in the same room with him. Not thinking about that when Jackson can smell his chemosignals. 

“Well,” Scott drawls, “you did say you had a crush on him.” Stiles blanches and goes stalk still, forgetting how to fucking breathe. Jackson snorts beside him. Stiles is going to kill Scott. “Oh my god! He’s right next to you, isn’t he?”

“I hate you so much right now.” Stiles makes a point to stare at the floor and not at the shuffling wolf beside him. “Well, thanks for getting me killed. Great best friend job, truly. See ya probably never, Scotty.” He promptly hangs up before Scott can answer. 

“So,” Jackson purrs and Stiles can’t help but turn and face the wolf. His arms are crossed from where he leans against the wall, one foot propped behind him. Jackson’s face holds that stupid, sexy, douchbag smirk, “you like me?”

He’s not even going to entertain that. Stiles squints at him with his mouth slightly parted. It only makes Jackson chuckle. “I need a drink,” Stiles uses every ounce of self control not to literally run away and back into the kitchen. Sifting through the drawers until he finds the corkscrew, Stiles grabs a bottle. Once the cork is out- that actually had already been opened- Stiles could give fuck all about a glass. He takes a sip directly from the bottle, regretting it at the extensive bitter taste of wolfsbane.

Clearly that one’s for Jackson. He’s courteous enough to slide the wine across the island when Jackson is back in the room. The wolf stares at him as his lips wrap around the mouthpiece and drinks from it, not giving a damn to wipe it after Stiles’ drank first. The other boy just watches before his brain recovers and he opens his own bottle. Setting the cork and opener aside, Stiles grabs the wine and leaves the wolf in the kitchen to go sit in the living room where Lydia keeps the playstation. 

Plopping on the couch, Stiles lets himself sink into the cushion and takes several swigs. Actually rather enjoying the slight burn and the warmth that quickly settles in his belly. He can very easily just sit here and watch tv like Jackson doesn’t even exist. Stiles can go to literally anywhere else to be away from the wolf if need be. He cannot believe that Jackson found out he likes him. 

Fucking Scott.

It takes a few minutes for Jackson to join him. Stiles already has Supernatural playing and has killed a good third of his wine before the wolf is sitting next to him. Like right next to him. One nervous leg bounce and their thighs or knees will touch. Seriously? Lydia has two couches, a chaise lounge, and two armchairs in her living room. So why is he so close?

Scratch that initial thought. There’s like six other rooms in this big ass house that Jackson could’ve gone to. Why here? Stiles drinks more. 

Jackson takes another small sip, looking like he’s barely drank anything from his own bottle before saying, “I have a secret to tell you.” 

He fights the eyeroll only just, “what information could you possibly have that I would care about?” Amber eyes stay glued to the flat screen.

“I don’t hate you, Stiles.”

“Oh?” He asks with mock interest. Even though there’s something tickling at his heart that Jackson didn’t call him ‘idiot’ or ‘Stilinski’. He can’t allow himself to fall for the wolf’s tricks. He won’t let the rug get yanked out from under him. 

“Quite the opposite actually.” 

Stiles snorts and turns to make some smart ass retort. But his ‘yeah right’ gets stuck on his tongue finding Jackson’s face mere inches from his own. He gulps. Clearing his throat, Stiles takes a big sip before putting his bottle on the small table beside him. Too fuzzy and warm to process this, Stiles scooches until he’s pressing against the armrest. 

Jackson also places his bottle on the coffee table before sliding closer. Forcing Stiles to half turn into the couch while the wolf puts an arm on either side of him, completely encasing Stiles. “I like you,” he presses further, “a lot.” Jackson leans in until their noses brush, “tell me if you want me to stop.” 

Blame the wine. Blame his hormones for not wanting him to stop. Hell, blame everyone and everything, Stiles included. But he does have a massive crush on Jackson. Even though he knows damn well that he shouldn’t. The guy’s a prick. He has no problem letting people know that he’s better than them. Making damn sure to flaunt his money too. As if that makes him hotter or something. It doesn’t. 

No, it’s the icy blue eyes that make Stiles want to learn their secrets and harvest the knowledge. The wolf’s stupid jaw that’s perfect and Stiles just wants to bite it. He;s seen Jackson naked numerous times- thank you locker room shower’s forgotten concept of privacy. But god damn, when Jackson smiles- not his asshole smirk, but genuine smile- Stiles’ lungs and knees forget how to function. Despite his actions earlier, the teen is actually pretty happy to be stuck here. 

Only acting as though he hates Jackson because he was simply following the wolf’s lead. His eyes flick to Jackson’s bottle of wine- its contents too hard to see in the dark green glass from this distance- and back to hooded baby blues. There’s only two reasons Stiles can believe that this is actually happening right now.

Jackson’s drunk. Because Stiles doesn’t understand the extent in which wolfsbane affects werewolf's tolerance. Which would mean the ex-kanima has no idea what he’s doing and should go sleep it off. Stiles hopes it’s this because the latter is just too painful. 

Jackson’s fucking with him. Surely he doesn’t have actual feelings for Stiles. Maybe the wolf found out he’s bi and wanted to tease him about it. Although, something tells him that Danny would murder Jackson if he ever found out. Still. This is Stiles. Lowest on the lacrosse totem pole and not the wolf’s best friend. Is Jackson that cruel though?

Beautiful, parted pink lips get closer, so Stiles whispers, “you’re just drunk,” and turns his head away, hoping that’s the case here. Waiting for the joke to play out.

“I’m really not.” Jackson reaches over to grab his drink. There’s maybe three sips missing when he dangles the bottle for proof. “See?” The wolf puts it back, returning with a smirk and a cocked brow, “now will you let me kiss you?” Jackson chuckles, it’s a breathy sound, but doesn’t make to move closer. Leaving it to Stiles.

He’s not falling for that trap. The prove-to-me-you-want-it-so-I-can-kick-you-down trap by making Stiles lean in. “So you’re fucking with me then?” He should’ve known better. 

The other boy looks confused and a little offended. Jackson leans back farther, still sitting close, but no longer in Stiles’ personal space. He actually wants him to come back, but how could he ever tell the wolf that when this is just a game? “Why would I fuck with you about this?” Jackson’s voice is soft and full of so much emotion that Stiles almost believes him. 

“Uh, because that’s what you do?” Stiles gestures wildly like it should have been obvious. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that we’re not even friends. You were literally my bully when we were kids. I don’t- and i-it only got worse when I developed a crush on Lydia. Which I get, she was your girlfr-”

“What’s not why I was a dick.” The wolf cuts him off with a shake of his head. Stiles squints an eye at him, mouth still hanging open from the word that didn’t finish. “I was jealous.” 

“Why the fuck would you be jealous of me?” Stiles scoffs and Jackson ducks his head with a chuckle. “Lydia never even looked at me while you were together.” 

Jackson flashes a bemused grin when he looks back, “I was jealous of Lydia, you idiot.” The name usually bitten out comes with a tone that suggests it’s meant to be a term of endearment. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry that I wasn’t fawning over you like your little fan club, okay? My bad. You’re right, you’re incredibly hot and I should’ve stroked your ego by putting you some fucking pedestal-” Jackson swallows whatever other words and the surprised squeak from Stiles’ lips. He stares bug eyed at the wolf’s closed eyes. Jackson presses closer, his hand cupping the other boy’s cheeks while his tongue slides against Stiles’ bottom lip. Entrance isn’t given, he can’t really, Stiles is too shocked to do so. 

The wolf pulls away, still holding Stiles’ face, “I didn’t care that you thought she was attractive.” Jackson drops a hand and lifts his hips, pulling one of Stiles’ legs until the human gets the massage and- for some fucking reason- lays on the couch. The wolf’s hips immediately settle into the space created and Stiles can feel just how much Jackson wants this. Him. “I wanted to be the one you had a crush on because of the massive one I have on you.”

That’s a lot to process. If Jackson liked him then- “why did you make my life hell?” 

Jackson’s free hand falls to Stiles’ hip, rubbing softly and the other props himself on the armrest behind Stiles’ head. “I didn’t know how to handle the fact that I suddenly like guys. Well, a guy.” The wolf sighs, “Lydia knew and agreed to keep my secret as long as I needed her to. I’m sorry I treated you like that.”

Stiles has never seen him act so soft. Having Derek as an Alpha and a proper back must really be working for Jackson. It makes him charming in a way that his jerk persona never could. Being emotionally balanced and all that. 

“I’m going to ask you one more time. And I’ll know if you’re lying. So don’t do me any favors and don’t hide from me either.” The warning is evident. Don’t say it and not mean it. And don’t mean it but not day it. Otherwise he’ll walk. “Will you please, let me fucking kiss you?” 

Stiles fists his fingers in the wolf’s shirt- half expecting Jackson to snap at wrinkling his expensive clothes- to push him away or pull him closer, the other boy really doesn’t know. Until his arm moves of its own volition and Jackson’s mouth gets drawn to him. 

The wolf chuckles against his lips, “finally.” The hand on his hip grips tighter and the other comes back to his jaw. Jackson tilts his head up to deepen the kiss. Jackson kisses like he wants to swallow Stiles whole. Maybe he does. Maybe Stiles would let him. Panting he pulls away again, and the other teen bites back a whine. “I have one more question and then I promise I’ll shut up.”

The human playfully rolls his eyes, “what is it?”

“Be with me.” Jackson states. Stiles cocks his head to the side with a chuckle, that wasn’t really a question. But his heart skips a beat nonetheless at the implication of the wolf’s words. “Will you be my boyfriend?” 

Stiles is nodding before the request is completely out of Jackson’s beautiful face. “Fuck yeah, dude.” The wolf breathes out a laugh at the ridiculousness. “Now just kiss me. Please?” 

“Whatever you want,” Jackson grins and presses his body in further, claiming Stiles’ lips as his own. 

Stiles is now stupidly happy about this storm locking them in Lydia’s lake house. He got a boyfriend out if. 

[alphadaddyderek]

Not all math puns are awful, just sum (sterek fic, high school au)

ao3 link: click if you dare

summary: ’what is the probability that anyone will pass this fucking class? I’m thinking 1 in 100’

Stiles shakes his head because that was such a bad math joke that it was actually kinda funny. And, based on the expressions on people’s faces during class, also very true.

'i think there is statistical data to back up your theory’

AU where Stiles and Derek have to share a textbook and they write terrible math puns back and forth to each other.

Stiles sincerely, genuinely, regrets taking AP classes.

Well, kinda.

They would look great on his resume. Colleges wouldn’t even second guess accepting him and he would receive so many scholarships which would help his dad big time.

AP classes will also raise his GPA crazy high which, again, looks great to colleges.

Sometimes they just suck.

His AP Statistics class is definitely #1 on the ‘classes that suck straight ass list’.

It’s boring and it can be kinda hard. Plus it’s math so it’s automatically gross.

Stiles is good at math, but it’s not his forte, that’s more Lydia Martin’s thing.

Anyway, Beacon Hills High had to have some budget cuts this year, like, serious budget cuts. The sports teams are lucky that people care about people throwing balls all over the place, otherwise they would’ve gotten cut too.

Since the school has had budget cuts, the students don’t get individual textbooks anymore. Meaning, that they can only use it during class and then they have to leave it in the classroom for the next class to use.

So, yeah.

It’s the third week of junior year, AP Stat is as boring as always. He has Lydia to talk to sometimes but she has other friends in the same class, so he's not always entertained.

The teacher didn’t really care about whether or not students did the work, he just played chess on his computer the whole class anyway. He gave the page number that we were supposed to work on and that was that.

Stiles prefers that to lectures, but still. When he’s done the work there’s nothing left for him to do. He could go on his phone, but even that gets boring eventually.

What he’s trying to say is that he’s bored, okay?

Turning to the page that the teacher assigned, Stiles is shocked and wildly amused, to already see writing on the margins of the page. He figured it would take at least half the school year before people started vandalizing the textbooks. Although, it’s written in pencil so it’s easily erasable.

When Stiles actually reads what was written he snorts. Luckily, it’s loud in the class so the most attention he gets is when Lydia shoots him a weird look which he ignores.

'what is the probability that anyone will pass this fucking class? I’m thinking 1 in 100'

Stiles shakes his head because that was such a bad math joke that it was actually kinda funny. And, based on the expressions on people’s faces during class, also very true.

Should he write something back? Stiles doesn’t know if the person who wrote this is hoping for a response, or if they wrote in the book because they’re just as bored as Stiles is.

Eh, fuck it. Why not?

'i think there is statistical data to back up your theory’

Stiles snickers at his equally bad math joke before finally deciding to focus on the actual work. He didn’t want to be one of the ones who didn’t pass the class, because that would suck. So he does the work and for the remainder of the class he lets out a giggle or two every once in a while because even though he’s 16 years old, he apparently still has the sense of humor of a child.

π π π

It’s the next class and honestly, Stiles kind of forgot about the writing in the textbook. After he left that class he went to AP Geography where there was immediately a test, which he nailed by the way. Plus, with all his other classes, he just didn’t think it was important to remember a bad, but still funny, math joke in a textbook.

The teacher assigns them another page number full of questions to work on. And, just like last time, there’s writing in the margins.

‘i’m sorry, that was pretty mean of me to say’

That one has Stiles laughing out loud. Not too loud though, because he doesn’t have that much of a death wish. He just laughs loud enough to make Lydia send him another weird look, except this time Lydia questions him about it.

“What is so funny?” she asks, twirling her hair with her pencil.

Stiles shakes his head. “Nothing really. Just somebody writing lame math jokes on the book pages.”

“Well, you’re laughing at them. So doesn’t that make you lame as well?”

Stiles dramatically gasps.

“Wow, Lydia, that was pretty mean of you to say,” Stiles replies before bursting into more laughter.

At this point, Lydia is looking at him like he has brain damage but he really can’t bring himself to care. It’s hilarious and if she doesn’t think so then oh well. Her loss.

Well, she doesn’t know that that was the joke inside the textbook, but still, whatever.

It’s funny.

π π π

By this point, it’s kind of like Stiles and this unknown jokester are pen pals.

It’s been a week filled with terrible math jokes and Lydia probably losing more and more respect for him as the days pass.

He’s told Scott about his little pen pal and of course, Scott doesn’t really get it, but he’s supportive nonetheless.

It’s a Friday night and Scott is at Stiles’ house. They’re playing video games and eating so much pizza that Stiles will be bloated for an entire week.

Thankfully, his dad is on the night shift, otherwise, he would be heavily judgmental of Stiles’ life choices.

After several rounds of Mario Kart, they take a break to eat said pizza and talk a bit.

“So,” Scott takes a huge bite of his slice. “how are you and your math buddy doing?”

Stiles takes a bite of his own slice. “Why are you asking? Jealous?”

Scott laughs. “Oh yeah, I’m so jealous. Please, Stiles, make terrible math jokes with me.”

Stiles flips Scott off. “You only mock because you really are jealous.”

Scott rolls his eyes and then the topic is dropped.

At least for the next hour or so. Then after that, it gets brought back up.

“Do you think it’s weird to have a crush on someone you’ve never met?” Stiles asks, playing with a loose thread on his jeans.

Scott looks at Stiles, and Stiles does not want to see the weird look Scott has on his face so he continues looking down.

“You have a crush on this person?”

Stiles shrugs. “I don’t know. They’re funny, and obviously, they’re smart if they’re in AP Stat. I would like to meet this person though, maybe. I don’t know.”

Stiles feels his cheeks heating up.

Scott nudges Stiles with his elbow. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s not weird at all. It’s kinda like online dating, but like medieval style.”

Stiles can’t help the laugh that bubbles out of his throat. “What?”

It’s like medieval style! ‘Cause, it’s in a book. Instead of online.”

Scott is always able to make Stiles feel better, no matter the situation. His goofiness especially lightens his mood.

“Okay, Scott. Are we going to go jousting next?”

“I don’t know. What you guys do on your first date is none of my business,” Scott says with a sly smile.

Stiles snorts and grabs a pillow off the couch behind them and smacks Scott in the face with it, resulting in a pillow fight ensuing.

And if anybody asks, Scott did not win. He didn’t!

π π π

2 weeks after he and Scott had that talk, Stiles continues talking with his pen pal. Although, maybe Stiles is looking too deep into this, but it kind of seems like flirting now?

Hear him out.

In the margins, the person started adding smiley faces and winky faces after every message.

Ooh and they actually put their initials! D.H.

Stiles doesn’t think he knows anyone in school with those initials. Granted, Stiles isn’t exactly a social butterfly so he’s not doubting their existence at all.

AP Stat only has 5 minutes left in the class. Stiles has already embarrassed himself in front of Lydia more times than he can count, so he decides to ask Lydia if she knows someone with those initials.

She purses her lips. “Why do you ask?”

Stiles sighs inwardly before answering. “Uh, well. I was just...wondering. Ya know. Trying to expand my friend circle.”

Lydia raises an eyebrow. And Stiles sighs outwardly this time.

“Fine. You know the jokes that were in the book?”

“You mean from like a month ago?”

“Well...we’ve kinda been continuing to exchange jokes and notes and stuff. And then recently they put their initials. Or, at least I think it’s their initials. I don’t know what else it would be. So, yeah.”

Lydia looks at him for a moment before her lips curl up into a smile. “You mean you’ve finally found someone who has a worse sense of humor than you?”

Stiles returns the smile. “I’ll have you know, my sense of humor is advanced. Way too advanced even for you.”

“Uh-huh. Anyway, the only name that comes to mind is Derek Hale.”

Stiles chokes on his own spit. “Derek Hale? You mean the star of the basketball team? The guy with eyes that are like fifty different colors and bunny teeth that would look ridiculous on anyone else but he somehow looks gorgeous with them? That Derek Hale?”

“Yes. Other than that, I don’t know anyone else with those initials.”

“Does he take AP Stat?”

Lydia shrugs. Stiles takes that as a no.

There’s no way that Derek Hale is the one writing these notes. No way in hell. Stiles isn’t that lucky.

Plus, even if Derek is the one writing these, hypothetically speaking, Derek wouldn’t be interested in him. Don’t get Stiles wrong, he knows he’s a pretty attractive guy. But nobody in this school is as attractive as Derek Hale. Let's be real here.

Okay, maybe Danny. Danny is kinda gorgeous.

But besides Danny, nobody is even on the same level as Derek.

Well, Lydia is too.

Okay, dammit. People are on the same level as Derek Hale. The point is that Stiles isn’t.

Stiles sighs for what seems like the eighth time in. “Okay. Thanks.”

Lydia gives him a scrutinizing look before nodding and getting on her phone.

Stiles sits there and ponders why his life is like this before deciding that he must've done something to piss off fate in a past life. Pleased with his conclusion, Stiles shoves his notebook and pencils into his backpack just in time for the bell to ring.

π π π

Okay, so, Stiles must be going crazy.

When he saw that his pen pal had written his initials he figured, ‘hey, I might as well do the same. It’s only decent right?’ so he had, and ever since then Derek Hale has been shooting him looks in the hallway.

Maybe he’s hallucinating, because Derek Hale is, well, Derek Hale. Out of everyone in the hallway, why would he be looking at Stiles?

Also, Stiles can’t be the only person in the school with the initials S.S. although, he probably is the only S.S. that’s taking AP Stat so there’s that.

Stiles doesn’t know what to do, should he wave? Shoot him a smile?

Actually no, he should do neither of those things because if he does, and Derek actually wasn’t looking at him, that would be so unbelievably embarrassing. So embarrassing that Stiles would have to transfer schools immediately.

Stiles shakes his head and opens up his locker to gather his things for his next class. When he closes the locker Derek is standing right there like they’re in a horror movie and Stiles jumps so hard that he drops his notebook.

“Shit. Sorry,” Derek says and bends down to swipe Stiles’ notebook off the floor.

“No, it’s okay. You’re awfully quiet for an athlete.”

Stiles holds his hand out for his notebook but Derek doesn’t seem all that interested in returning it to him just yet. Derek looks at the front of his notebook.

“Hmm. AP Stat. Interesting.”

Stiles bites his lip and nods. “Yep,” he says popping the ‘p’. “it is interesting. Well, actually it’s not. AP Stat is yuck sometimes and it can get boring but it’ll look great on my resume so.”

Derek nods. He looks at Stiles for a few more seconds before he opens his mouth, and the second he does, Stiles’ stomach fills with butterflies.

“What is the probability that anyone will pass that fucking class? I’m thinking 1 in 100.”

Stiles bites his lip to stifle his smile. He doesn’t want to cheese like an idiot in front of Derek Hale but he thinks that ship has already sailed cause Derek’s lips stretch into a big smile.

Stiles clears his throat. “I think there is statistical data to back up your theory.”

“Oh, is there?” Derek asks, smile turning into a smirk.

Stiles nods then looks at his notebook that is still in Derek’s hand. “Can I have my notebook now? I’m not sure what exactly you’re plotting but I don’t like it.”

Derek scrunches his face up. “Wow, that was bad.”

Stiles’ mouth gapes. “Like yours were any better.”

Derek shrugs, smile returning to his face. “I thought my mean joke was pretty hilarious.”

“Yeah, hilariously bad. I didn’t laugh at all, not one bit.”

Derek looks like he doesn’t believe a word Stiles just said, which is fair, he shouldn’t.

“So,” Derek begins, eyes boring into Stiles’— seriously, what is up with Derek’s eyes? — “what is the probability that you will give me your number?”

Stiles pretends to think about it for a second. “I'm thinking 100 in 100.”

[ectolights]

Haunting Questions

Happy Holiday Truce @rebel-skull! Sorry I’m skating right up against the deadline. This holiday season got busier than I expected.

Thank you for letting me change the prompt a little! This is a DP/Buzzfeed Unsolved crossover fic with a side of Demon Shane. (Read it on AO3 | FFN)

Thanks also to the ever wonderful @oboenotclarinet for your help when I got stuck. I’d be a mess with out you <3

~~~

Maddie attacked the living room with the rare intention of making it look somewhat presentable, for the equally rare occasion of guests coming over. The scorch marks on the wall from the ectopus incident last month she could, unfortunately, do nothing about, but maybe the lime green stains on the couch could still be scrubbed out.

“Danny! Come help me clean up! Our guests will be here soon!”

“Why can’t Jazz do it?” Danny’s automatic response to housework rang out from upstairs, in the direction of his room. Maddie eyed the stain on the couch critically. It’d probably take more than Incredible and elbow grease to get this one out.

“Also, what guests? We literally never have anyone over. Are you actually cleaning?” Danny plodded down the stairs, stopping on the bottom step with his arms draped over the railing. He quirked his eyebrow at his mother in inquiry.

Maddie walked over to the closet with the cleaning supplies, responding over her shoulder, “Jazz is out with her friends, she’ll be back just before the guests arrive—yes, she does have friends, don’t give me that, young man—and I need you to help me tidy up because we were contacted by a team of professional ghost hunters, to be interviewed for their show. Isn’t that exciting! We’ll have the opportunity to share our knowledge about ghosts and ghost hunting with viewers all across the country!” She rifled through the haphazard piles in the closet, searching for the Fenton Foaming Cleaner that would surely (hopefully) remove the sickly splotch on the couch.

Danny moved from the base of the stairs to flop down on the armchair, helpful as ever. The raised eyebrow never faltered as Maddie made her way back to the offending couch, spray bottle prize in hand. “They don’t sound all that professional if they have a tv show. Most of those shows are just a bunch of fancy tricks, you know. Are you sure these guys are for real?”

Maddie spared a glance in her son’s direction, to where he lay sprawled across the chair, one leg carelessly thrown over an arm. She turned back to the stain and spritzed it with the cleaner. “They’re from a company in Los Angeles, called Buzzfeed. They were nothing but professional when I spoke to the representative on the phone.” The stain began to bubble green, an acrid aroma piercing the air. She hummed in concern. It wasn’t supposed to do that. Hopefully that meant it was working.

“Oh wow, that’s a real vote of confidence. Mom, Buzzfeed is like, ‘what pizza you are based on your favorite color,’ or ‘we tried being hipsters for a day,’ they’re an entertainment company. The last thing they are is professional ghost hunters.” Of course, this would probably work in Danny’s favor more than if they were actual ghost hunters, but, well. No one needed to know that.

Maddie paused from her observation of the science experiment that was the couch and met Danny’s raised eyebrow with one of her own. “Even so, sweetie, they’ve offered to pay for this interview and they’re already on their way here. Besides, even if they are a little… new, to the ghost hunting world, then it’s just an even better opportunity to get the word out there! We can outfit them with proper ghost hunting equipment and make sure they’re equipped to handle all the standard ghostly threats. Your father will certainly be excited to show them all his latest inventions!” Her trademark optimism could rival even Pamela Manson’s, and at times Danny questioned how anyone could have that positive of an outlook, even about things like phony ghost hunters coming for a flipping tv show. Still, there was clearly nothing to be done about it now, so Danny figured he might as well brace himself for the inevitable catastrophe.

As Maddie returned her attention to the couch, concerned frown deepening at what she finally decided was a lost cause, she opted to wipe away what was left of the “cleaner” and cover the whole couch with a long, wide throw blanket. That would at least hide the hole that the Fenton Foaming Cleaner had eaten into the cushion. Better than nothing, she supposed. “Now then, Danny, if you’re done griping about people sharing our passion, then you can get your dirty shoes off the arm of the chair and help me dust the living room. They’ll be here soon, and I want the house to be somewhat presentable. Once Jazz comes home we’ll get your father out of the lab and we can all be here for the interview. It’ll be so exciting!”

Danny huffed and reluctantly got to work. “Still think this is a dumb idea,” he mumbled under his breath. His mother rolled her eyes and didn’t comment.

When Jazz came home a little while later she revealed to Danny she had known about this interview for a few days, but after having looked up the show she’d deemed it a non-threat. She explained she was under the assumption Danny knew about the upcoming interview as well, so she didn’t think to tell him. They both supposed their parents had simply had it slip their minds—not an unusual occurrence. Besides, it was a moot point now; the tv people would be here any minute.

“Alright, kids, I’ll make sure your father has kept the lab in one piece and get him to join us before they arrive. Danny, you’re on door duty. Don’t let your father get close enough to threaten them with the Fenton Bazooka. We don’t need a repeat of last time,” this last part was said under Maddie’s breath as she headed to the lab door in the kitchen. Jazz and Danny exchanged a knowing look.

When the doorbell finally did ring, Jazz perched neatly on the chair, Jack and Maddie came running into the room (“Ghost!” “No, Jack, ghosts don’t use the front door, we’ve talked about this Sweetie.”) and Danny opened the front door, pained smile already in place. He was met by two young-ish guys—or, more accurately, a guy and a tree with legs—who both looked very out of place in a town where ghost attacks came on the news as often as the weather. The shorter, more average looking of the two had a bright smile on his face, and the guy with trees for legs (Seriously, how was he so tall?) had his hands in his pockets and a laidback grin.

As soon as Danny laid eyes on the taller one, his smile fell from his face.

There was no way this guy was human.

“Hi! I’m Ryan Bergara, and this is my co-host, Shane Madej. Our cameraman Mark is grabbing the equipment out of the car. We’re the guys from Buzzfeed Unsolved; we’re supposed to interview the local ghost hunters. This is the Fenton residence, correct?” The shorter guy—Ryan, apparently—bounced a little on his toes.

“Well I should hope so Ryan, they have a giant neon sign,” Shane grinned, earning him a lighthearted jab to the ribs from Ryan. Danny narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, of course, welcome!” Maddie came up behind Danny, and he stepped to the side grudgingly as his mother continued, “Please come in and sit down, we’re very excited to have you here. I’m Maddie, and this is my husband Jack and our kids Jazz and Danny. We’ve been looking forward to this ever since you contacted us! It’s a thrilling opportunity.” She led them into the living room, not noticing Danny’s sudden change in attitude. As soon as Shane stepped over the threshold, the electric ice that usually accompanied Danny’s ghost sense washed down his spine—but his ghost sense hadn’t actually gone off. He’d know if it had. This guy was giving him major danger vibes, but he clearly wasn’t a ghost. Danny swallowed the growl that was building in his chest.

Maddie continued welcoming them, unperturbed.

“I always love meeting fellow ghost hunters!” Jack announced in his usual booming fashion. “Always good to see more folks interested in this perilous profession! You can never have too many people fighting back against the threat of those putrid ectoplasmic post-human manifestations.”

Ryan faltered, his smile wavering. “What? I don’t… Fighting? What do you mean, fighting?”

Maddie’s brows creased. “Well, you’re ghost hunters, right? Surely you know that all ghosts are the evil incarnations of human imprints, driven by obsessions to violence and chaos. They have to be dealt with to protect people.”

Based on the gobsmacked expressions on the two purported ghost hunter’s faces, they hadn’t exactly expected this answer.

“So I take it you definitely believe in ghosts, then.”

A brief moment of stunned silence followed Shane’s statement, even Jack temporarily lost for words. “Well of course ghosts are real, that’s ridiculous!” Jack exclaimed once he recovered. “They attack the city practically every week! We Fentons have developed the most advanced ecto-technology capable of harming and containing ghosts. We’ve been studying ghosts for years!”

In what to Danny was a clear effort to ward off one of their father’s ghost rants, Jazz asked, “You’ve been doing this show for a while, correct? You must have fought a ghost before, or at least encountered one?”

“Well, no, we’ve never seen a ghost, or any paranormal creature. We always look for evidence, but we almost never find anything that counts as compelling.”

Ryan, still stunned, held up his hands. “O-okay. Hold on. This is… this is a lot. Why don’t we uh, why don’t we set up for the interview, and then we can continue this conversation while we’re recording, so we don’t have to repeat anything? It’ll be more genuine that way.”

While the Buzzfeed guys, now including their cameraman, set up for the interview, the Fenton parents whispered to each other in heated sounding tones, presumably still baffled by the lack of proper hunting knowledge. Jazz came over to stand by Danny, who (despite the strange turn the afternoon had already taken) hadn’t taken his eyes off Shane. The longer he was in his house the more Danny felt the urge to fight. Jazz didn’t seem to notice her brother’s weird mood, instead commenting, “Well I guess they’re just yet more phonies, huh?”

“No.”

“What?” She sounded taken aback.

“The taller one. Shane. He’s not human. I don’t think he’s a ghost either, he didn’t set my ghost sense of properly, but he’s definitely something. And he’s powerful, too. He gives me a really bad feeling.”

Okay, Jazz was definitely worried now. “Well what are we going to do about it? Is he a threat? Should I call Sam and Tucker?”

“No, I don’t think they’ll be able to help. I don’t think I could take him. I don’t know how to explain it, but I can just sense that he’s too much for me, even with help. I don’t like it.” His hands curled into fists at his sides. “Besides, he hasn’t actively made any threats yet. For now, we just keep an eye out. If it goes bad, I’ll deal with it while you get Mom and Dad out. Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

Jazz glanced between Shane and Danny, pensive. “Okay, but… please be careful.”

Danny spared his sister a brief look. “I’ll try.”

There wasn’t much they could do but act normal and hope for the best, so once everything was set up and the cameras were ready to roll, Shane and Ryan sat on the recently-blanket-covered couch across from Jack and Maddie, who were each in an armchair. Jazz and Danny perched on the loveseat, out of frame and on edge.

Ryan worked quickly through his usual introduction and explanation, eager to get to the meat of the situation.

“So Drs. Fenton, what can you tell us about Amity Park as a haunted location?”

“Well,” Maddie began, “The ghosts started appearing frequently about a year and a half ago, coming from the Ghost Zone into our world and attacking people. They generally cause havoc a couple times a week, destroying property and attempting to injure people. They fight amongst themselves as often as they terrorize average citizens, being the violence-driven creatures they are.”

“Wow, there’s… a lot to unpack there. What is the Ghost Zone?”

“That’s where the ghosts come from!” Jack chimed in. “They need ectoplasm to survive, since that’s what they’re made up of, so they go back to the Ghost Zone when they get weak.”

“So I take it ghosts can be seen to the average eye, then?” Ryan asked.

“Well of course they can! All ghosts can make themselves invisible, but their default state is in the human field of vision. All ghosts are typically tangible, unless actively using their powers of intangibility, and they seem to stay hovering or flying unless deliberately doing otherwise. Most ghosts have offensive powers as well, such as ectoplasmic blasts and elemental attacks, but the weakest ones don’t maintain a consistent form and don’t display anything beyond the basic capabilities,” Maddie explained.

“Wow,” Ryan said, “I had no idea ghosts were so… present. I thought they were, like, barely able to move pencils or turn on flashlights.”

“Nonsense,” Jack declared, “Ghosts are a very serious threat and can cause a lot more harm than turning on the lights!”

Shane leaned forward, hands clasped over his knees. “So ghosts can hurt people? And they do it actively? So much for Casper the Friendly Ghost.”

Maddie waved a hand, nonchalant. “Oh yes, all ghosts are driven by malice; their base instinct is to turn to violence. They’ll just as soon attack each other as they will a human. That’s why it’s crucial to make sure you always have the proper weaponry to defend yourself.”

“What kind of weapons? Like salt and holy water?” Ryan asked, hopeful to at least have gotten one thing right about ghosts.

“Of course not! A little saltwater isn’t going to do anything against a grisly ghoul! That’s why we have these bad boys,” Jack sprung up from his seat, pulling out an ectogun from seemingly nowhere and brandishing it in front of the two guests. They leaned back quickly in response, startled. Mark, from behind the camera, watched nervously, and Jazz put her head in her palm. Danny grimaced.

“This here is a state-of-the-art Fenton brand ectogun, designed and built by yours truly. It uses ecto energy to fight ghost fire with ghost fire. Nothing on Earth is more effective at takin’ down those scary spooks!”

“Alright, Dear, let’s maybe put the gun down; I think it’s making our guests just a little uncomfortable. I’m sure they can admire it just fine from the coffee table.” Maddie stood and placed her hand gently on Jack’s arm, lowering it and deftly taking the gun from his hands. She set it on the table and smiled apologetically at the men on the couch. “I’m sorry, Jack can get a little… enthusiastic. But it’s not to worry, ectoguns can’t hurt humans. They’re designed specifically to target the unique energy that constitutes ghosts; the most even our larger guns would do to humans is knock the wind out briefly.” She encouraged Jack to sit back down, and returned to her own seat.

It may have been Danny’s imagination, but he could have sworn Shane slid further away from where the gun rested innocently between them.

“…Okay, so you use actual weapons to fight ghosts. Cool. Uh… where do you find ghosts? You said something about them going to and from the—Ghost Zone, correct?—so I assume they aren’t bound to one place like in most tales about them,” Ryan said, attempting to brush off any lingering awkwardness from Jack’s well-meaning outburst.

At this, Jack brightened up considerably and said, “We use the Fenton Finder! Ghosts all have an ectosignature, so we use those to detect when they’re nearby, like radar! Even if they’re invisible, this puppy can find a ghost on the other side of the city.” He beamed proudly, and Maddie gave her husband an endearing smile.

Shane perked up once again, absently picking at the threads on the edge of the hole Maddie had attempted to conceal. “So you’re saying this finder-thing makes it impossible for ghosts to hide?”

Danny had a bad feeling about this.

“That’s right! We’d know a ghost was near long before it had the chance to get the drop on us.”

Ryan asked, “Does it work on other creatures, too? Like demons, for instance?”

Maddie laughed, “Don’t be silly! Demons don’t exist. Everything that people think they see is usually some form of ghost. There’s a vast spectrum of forms a ghost can take.”

Shane nudged Ryan. “See Ry, I told you demons weren’t real! You’ve been getting so worked up about nothing. Annabelle’s got nothing on these ghosts we’re learning about.”

Danny tuned out Ryan’s spluttered denials and defenses as he came to a worrying suspicion. Shane wasn’t a ghost—even if he had been a half-ghost, Danny would have been able to tell. But he wasn’t human either; the moment he first saw him he just knew. But if he wasn’t a ghost and he wasn’t human… then he had to be something else entirely. Danny had never encountered anything else, but if his own existence proved anything, it was that he couldn’t jump to conclusions about what did and did not exist.

Shane didn’t seem to believe in any of this stuff, even if he was currently going along with the ghost thing (Danny felt pretty sure that was just out of politeness to his parents, based on the faces Shane had been making and the near-constant laughter he appeared to be fighting). But Danny knew from experience how helpful putting on a persona could be. He couldn’t assume anything about this guy.

(Ryan seemed pretty safe. He didn’t seem to share any hidden glances or take any second meaning from his friend’s actions. He was probably in the dark.)

So if Shane was something else…

Danny was suddenly very worried he perhaps knew what that ‘else’ might truly be.

“…so ghosts have different power levels,” His mother was saying as Danny brought himself back to the events at hand, “and that determines how difficult it is to defeat.”

“So you can’t purposefully antagonize anything while we’re here, Shane,” Ryan said, giving his friend a stern eye. “I am not going to be the one to tell Sara you got yourself murked by the undead.”

“I don’t know,” Shane replied, “Could be fun to fistfight a ghost. A good old-fashioned brawl.” He turned with a Cheshire grin and stared straight at Danny, too-dark eyes glittering.

Yeah, this definitely wasn’t good.