#I was gonna throw my phone off a cliff I was so frustrated

[stratuscloudsurfer]

Champion Stadium Hard Level 1 Strategy Guide

Ok, since I had fits with the champion stadium (especially round 3), and I’m hard pressed to find any strategy for it yet, I’m going to share the exact teams and order I used to finally attain victory, in hopes of helping someone else do the same.

WARNING LONG POST UNDER THE CUT

Round 1: (Parameter: Use status conditions and other conditions against all opponents!) Lorelei

So, Leaf was basically tailor made for this battle against Lorelei. Use razor leaf turn 1, and all three opponents will most likely get badly poised. From there, I set up Mega Healing and used Dawn to buff defense, freeing Brendan up to do his thing. Lorelei’s team went down pretty quickly, mostly thanks to the massive amount of poison damage. 

I think other sync pairs that would work well during Round 1 are Koga, Lyra, or Rosa. In hindsight, I wish I had used Lyra or Rosa in lieu of Dawn, as the extra healing she provided was altogether unnecessary due to how fast my opponents went down to poison damage and Sceptile’s leaf storm. 

Also, I know that the game recommends you take out the two pokemon on the sides first, but I went into this round without reading the tips, and took out Lapras first. I’m not sure how much of a difference it would make to take out the other two first, but taking out the center mon first worked out for me in this round. 

Round 2: (Parameter: Use sync moves quickly against all opponents!) Bruno

Sygna suit Blue came in SUPER clutch this battle. His move “To the Top!” was super useful in accelerating the move gauge for Kris’s Mega Kick. I used one at the beginning, and the second one when the first one ran out. Hilbert, of course, is an ideal support for Kris. His attack and speed boosts get rid of the need for Kris to waste any turns using her attack boosts, freeing her up to straight up attack right off the bat. 

As for strategy, mine was basically to spam Mega Kick over and over again. Again, I focused on taking down the center mon first. One recommendation I have is to use Blue’s sync move on your first opportunity. This activates Force Field 4, which will give your team a Sp. Def buff, as well as the Safety Net. The fact that Blue and Hilbert could survive one more attack meant that the opponent’s pokemon had other targets to get through before they could take out Kris. I truly believe this ability got me the W in the end. 

I think other sync pairs that would work well for this parameter might be Siebold and Clawitzer paired with Winona and any other support that could boost special attack. If you don’t have Hilbert but do have Kris, Maylene would be a great support for her, as well. 

Round 3: (Make use of special damage reductions to battle opponents with high Sp. Atk!) Lance

Round three was, hands down, the hardest one for me. I spent AGES trying to take down Lance with all kinds of different combinations of sync pairs. It was especially frustrating because the opposing Lance’s Dragonite was practically indestructible with its Clearheaded ability, which prevented the confusion it otherwise would have hit itself in probably a thousand times due to spamming Outrage over and over. 

I tried for a long time to use Lyra in lieu of MC and Torchic, as I wanted to save her for Blue, but I had no other choice. MC’s “Blazing Hope!” was absolutely necessary to boost the power of Lance’s Hyper Beam. My strategy was to use both “Blazing Hope”s and Drake’s Special Defense boosts at the very beginning of the battle as quickly as possible, then fire off Hyper Beams at the pokemon on either sides. I at first tried to take out the center mon first like in the previous battles, but this time, it was impossible to win any other way than to take out the side mons first. 

I burned up MC’s two attack boosts to get down to my Lance’s first sync move, and used Drake’s “Hard to Starboard!” just before the opposing Lance could use his sync move, which is helpful because it had the additional effect of charging up the move gauge and allowing my Lance to fire off more Hyper Beams. I used Lance’s potions to heal up MC’s Torchic and keep it alive as long as possible. I saved both “Now or Never!”s until the very end of the battle, then used them both in between two Hyper Beams that delivered the final blow to the opposing Lance’s extremely infuriating Dragonite. 

All this being said, I think I probably battled Lance a good 50 times before I got the W. Other combinations I tried was swapping Zinnia for Lance and Maylene for MC, but neither of those worked very well, I think due to the lack of healing capability. I think Zinnia could be useful in this battle if you had the Clearheaded ability unlocked as a lucky skill and a support sync pair that had healing capability, such as Dawn or Skyla. Additionally, I had to fully unlock Drake’s type skills, and my MC’s potential was boosted up to 4 1/2 stars. 

Round 4: (Parameter: Use sync moves as much as possible against all opponents!) Agatha

I actually tried versing Agatha in Round 3 Acerola, Fantina, and Pheobe, but found it to be even more impossible than Lance on the 3rd round, which is why I decided to save her for last. 

Elesa was definitely the MVP of this battle. I took a look at her sync grid and unlocked it to the point that I could get the MP refresh for “Breathtaking!” and it was a game changer. I used up both of her Special Attack boosts and Acerola’s Defense boosts the beginning of the battle, then targeted the side mons first with Fantina’s Shadow Ball. I used up Acerola’s “Over Here!” right before Agatha’s Gengar could use it’s sync move, which would allow Elesa’s Rotom to stay alive and continue using “Breathtaking!” to get down to Fantina’s sync move continuously. I waited until Gengar was the only pokemon left to use Fantina’s two “Dance with Me!”s so that I could fire off the two Shadow Balls that delivered the death blow. 

If you don’t have Fantina, I think that Shauntal would be an excellent swap in for her. In place of Elesa, Rosa or Cheren would probably be good support mons, especially with Cheren’s full heal to get rid of the self-inflicted burn that would probably take Shauntal out fairly quickly otherwise. I’m sure Morty would be good as well, but I can’t speak for him because I don’t have him. I highly recommend Acerola as at least one of your allies for this team, though, as her type skills were super helpful fully unlocked. 

Round 5: (Parameters: Use physical attacks against opponents with low defense! / Use status conditions and other conditions against all opponents!) Blue

I hated to be so cliche as to use Red against Blue, but... well, he’s obscenely strong, so I had to do it to him. This was the exact team I used. I chose the status effects condition with Flannery in mind, and let me tell you, it was the right decision. I actually intended to level all of these guys up to max before I challenged Blue, but I ran completely out of level up materials, and so decided just to go ahead and challenge him to get a feel for how the battle would be. I didn’t expect to win on the first try, but this team brought me to a solid and swift victory. 

Skyla is an ideal partner for Red because her “Take Flight!”s negate the massive drop in both defenses that Charizard incurs after using “My Destiny!” My strategy in this battle was to use both “My Destiny!”s and “Take Flight!”s at the very beginning of the battle, then to burn Blue’s Exeggutor with Will-O-Wisp immediately after the status boosts. I unlocked Skyla’s sync grid enough to get the MP refresh for Potion, which was super duper helpful. I think it refreshed a good 5 times, allowing me to heal her up to survive all the attacks directed at her, as well as her two allies after Blue’s sync move had been used. With Red, I spammed Heat Wave before and after his sync move until both side mons went down, then used a couple of Blast Burns to take down Blue’s Exeggutor. 

Other sync pairs that I think have potential for this battle are Flint in lieu of Red and Blaine in lieu of Flannery. Of course, MC and Torchic would be a great support for this battle, as well. 

And there you have it! Now of course, I’m not a Pokemon Masters expert, or am in any way claiming to be. I just hoped that my struggle could perhaps help someone else out with this challenge. Also, if anyone else has beat the Champion Stadium with other sync pairs, I would love to hear what you used! 

[wildernessuntothemselves]

I'm Yours, You're Mine | 5

Word Count: 4.1k

Genre: Smut, angst

Warnings: Cheating, yandere!felix, sub!felix, mention of blackmail, public sex, pussy eating, guided masturbation?, fingering, hella jealousy, assault mention, jisung inclusion lmao

A/N: link to the gorgeous dress the OC wears made a super lovely anon thank you babe

GIF CREDIT

“What is taking you so long?” You grunt, walking into the kitchen to find the freckled boy pulling a tray out of the oven. At the sound of your voice, he springs up and flashes you a brilliant smile that explains just why he’s nicknamed the sunshine boy. You smile bitterly at the reminder. Oh, how you used to believe that.

“I just finished the brownies for the picnic, noona.” He chirps happily, looking so angelic, like a bad thought never crossed his mind ever.

Felix wants to take you on a romantic picnic date beside the river. He volunteered to do everything, making you both the food and drinks you’ll need so all you’ll have to do is sit there and enjoy the pleasant early summer weather.

Taking a deep breath, you steal yourself, preparing for the transformation you’ve come to expect from him. “Oh, we’re not going on a picnic. I changed my mind. I wanna go to the mall instead.”

You know the commercial, impersonal place would upset the sentimental boy, and that’s why you do it. The sharp fall of his smile makes your heart stop for a second and your body stiffen, preparing for an attack.

“What?” He asks gruffly.

“I need new summer clothes.” You try to appear nonchalantly.

“Can’t you do that any other time?”

“I want to do it today.” You shrug, stopping yourself from flinching as you see his jaw clench. “You promised you’d take care of me. You promised you’d do what I want.” You remind him of the promises he made after attacking you last time. The promises he made to make you give him another chance. You didn’t believe in any of his promises, and you were provoking him on purpose to prove that he can’t himself in check so you’d have a reason to call this whole thing off.

And it seems he’s getting there. “But we agreed on this date. I prepared a lot for this. I made you fucking brownies.”

“You promised you wouldn’t hurt me.” You accuse, and he flinches, his body immediately deflating as the anger rushes out of him. “No, I won’t. It’s okay. We can go wherever you want, noona. You just took me by surprise, that’s all.”

You didn’t expect this reaction from him. You thought he’d lash out again. Maybe it really was a mistake like he said, and you should give him another chance. You’re lost in contemplation when his soft, low voice breaks through to you.

“Would you at least try the brownies?” He pleads, his pretty eyes sparkling, making you believe that the universe truly is a cruel, uncaring place if the stars would agree to light up the eyes of someone like him. Still, you can’t resist the constellations reflected in his eyes and onto his cheeks, finding yourself compelled to lean down and press a kiss to his pouty lips.

You suck in a sharp breath at the exploding light that brightens his face at such a small action, like a supernova, blazing your cold heart.

“Okay.” You breathe, and he, giddy with excitement, cuts off a piece for you. You reach out for it but he swings his hand out of the way, wanting to feed it to you himself. You open your mouth and accept the food, biting a piece of it off and chewing it.

Felix watches you with bated breath, as if your opinion would win him a national baking competition. You’re scared by how much you’re enjoying his attention, and it scares you. It’s too easy to get addicted to him.

“How do you like it, noona?”

“It’s sublime.” You smile, the divine taste of the dessert and his angelic features could fool you into thinking you’re in heaven. How can one person give you such radically conflicting feelings? You feel like you’re teetering on the edge of a cliff, not knowing if at the end of fall you’ll be greeted by the refreshing ocean water or the jagged, deadly rocks.

Felix’s smile gets impossibly wider as he giggles. “I knew you’d like it, baby.” He leans in to give you a peck that’s sweeter than the food you just had.

______________________________

You can’t find anything you like. Nothing at all.

Frustrated, you turn to Felix who had been following you obediently like a little puppy through the countless stores.

“I don’t know. Do you see anything good?” You huff, and he seems surprised by your question, not having expected you to actually take his opinion, albeit how last choice it is. You feel bad. He not only didn’t complain like he promised, even though you cancelled the picnic he wanted, but he actually hyped you up and showered you with compliments every time you’d try on something new.

“What do you like your girl to wear?” You tease him, knowing your words will bring a pretty blush to his face.

“I--I like dresses.” He replies sheepishly.

“Yeah? Like what? Show me.”

It’s your turn to follow him around as he bashfully picks out a few dresses for you. You notice they're all so girly and pretty with bows and frills and lace. Seems like he has a type.

“Do you want me to try them on, baby?” You ask when he hands them to you.

“Please.” He breathes, impatient to see them on you and you think it's adorable how excited he is. You don’t wear dresses, and you know you won’t wear these, but you try them on just for him, not expecting how much his reaction will affect you.

"Wow." He sucks in a breath, his widened eyes taking in every inch of you. Smirking, you ask, "You like it that much?"

He nods vigorously, looking at you with adoration and want you’ve never had directed at you before. It takes your breath away, how genuine it looks, compelling you to do everything in your power to earn it.

The dress is made of a pretty pink Chiffon material, with a pink bow circling under the chest and a sweetheart neckline that exposes your collarbones and dips down to show quite a bit of cleavage, serving to emphasize your breasts that Felix can’t take his eyes off of. The contrast between the light and princessy look of the flowy skirt, and the seductive neckline hints at a certain corruption of innocence begging to be undertaken.

But just as you prepare to be engulfed in the sparkly blue-green of the ocean water, you find yourself crumpling over the rocks as Felix pulls out his phone to take a picture of you.

“You and your pictures.” You comment bitterly, happiness gone. “Gonna blackmail me over this too?”

He gasps, and the hand holding his phone immediately drops down, as if he couldn’t believe you’d say that.

“What, did you forget that you forced me into this?” You mock, “I bet you’re loving this. Making me do this. Dressing me up like I’m your doll? I bet your little dick is hard right now.”

He shakes his head, and you’re not sure if he’s trying to deny your words or just defend his actions. Pulling him close by his jeans, you press your thigh between his legs and laugh when it’s met by his hard-on. “See? I know everything that goes on in your sick brain.”

“Just wanna be good for you.” He whimpers, but even as he says that, his eyes fall to your breasts and his hand reaches out to run over the neckline of the dress you have on.

“Of course you do.” You snarl, and he cowers under your harsh tone. But like a kid at a candy store, he can’t stop his hand from straying, his fingers trailing down to circle around your nipples pushing through the soft material of the dress.

Grabbing his wrist, you bring his hand to your mouth and take his middle finger into your mouth, sucking on it lightly, grinning as his knees buckling and a small whimper leaves his lips. He tries to push you back into the fitting room but you don’t budge, taking his finger out of your mouth and humming. "I suddenly want something to suck on. Why don't you buy me a popsicle baby? I'm feeling hot."

He gulps harshly, "Yes, noona."

________

Felix buys all the dresses for you and you keep wearing the pink one, wanting to make him suffer more through the trip.

You strut to the ice cream store, feeling unstoppable in your flowy dress with your lovestruck lover in toe, hand on your waist and eyes glaring at everyone, trying to fend off anyone who would try to approach you.

Felix sits you down in a booth at the far end of the store, hiding you from view as he goes to get what you want. You sigh, playing the skirt of your new dress, lost in thought about Felix and how you feel about him. He’s sweet, addictively so, but he’s volatile and that scares you. Would you pick him over Chan? What if he just wants you because Chan has you? Maybe this is some kind of sick competition for him. Or maybe it’s the contrast with Chan that makes you like him at all. Maybe you’re just upset with Chan.

Your thoughts are interrupted by a loud, cheery voice. “Noona, how are you?”

Coming out your daze, you blink, taking in the new figure. “Oh, hey, Jisung.”

“What are you doing here?” He asks giddily, eyes raking over your body, stopping over your breasts the same way Felix did, and lingers on them too long. You clear your throat, smirking as his eyes snap back up to your face as he flushes.

You’re quite aware of the crush he has on you. So better get rid of him before Felix comes and throws a tantrum. Unless…

This could be your chance to get back at Felix for what he did to you and for forcing you to go on this date. He can threaten to tell Chan on you but what is he gonna do to Jisung? Nothing.

“I’m just hanging with a friend.” You smile broadly, “Why don’t you join us?”

“Wouldn’t your friend mind?” He asks, already moving to sit down. You grin wickedly, “No, he’ll love it."

“Okay.” He sits down opposite you, unsuspecting of the storm about to come over. Right on time, Felix comes back with your popsicle.

“Oh, hey Lixie! This is Jisung. We work together.” You pull him down, ignoring the sour look on his face.

“Hey!” Jisung pipes up with a friendly wave that Felix doesn’t return. Felix pins the other boy down with a glare that makes Jisung shrink back.

“He’s just a little shy.” You reach over the table and place your hand over his to comfort him, a gesture that only makes Felix angrier and he in turn grabs your thigh under the table and squeezes it in warning. Turning to him, you pluck the popsicle out of his hand and take a big lick. “Hmm, this is tasty.”

You take the part of the popsicle into your mouth, giving Felix a wink before you turn to the other boy. “So, how have you been, Sungie?”

“Um… good.” He fidgets as you swirl your tongue around the popsicle in an obviously suggestive way.

“How's your girlfriend?” You ask, knowing full well that they broke up. His eyes follow your tongue for a second before he clears his throat and answers. “We’re not together anymore.”

“Oh, no!” You pout, lips cherry colored and glistening with melted ice cream. “That must be very hard for you, baby.”

You feel Felix’s hand clench around your thigh, but you don’t spare him a glance as you continue, “How have you been handling that?”

You place the popsicle back in your mouth, sucking on it enticingly as you eye Jisung up and down and wait for him to answer, but the poor boy can barely string his words together. “It’s--I’m...o-okay.”

Pulling the popsicle out of your mouth with a wet slurp, you smile while licking the tip of the treat. “I’m so glad. Hmm, this is so good.” You moan out, and extend the popsicle towards him. “Wanna try it?”

Jisung chokes on his own spit, and you can tell that a handprint will remain on your upper thigh from how hard Felix’s fingers were digging into your skin.

"No that's okay, noona." Jisung fidgets, and you know he’s rubbing his thighs together under the table. You ignore his refusal, pushing the popsicle towards his mouth. "Come on baby, open up for me."

He obediently opens his mouth despite his refusal, but before he can close his lips around the ice cream, you pull it away with a laugh. "Why don't you stick out your tongue for me?"

He sucks in a sharp breath and his eyes snap to Felix. You can only see the other boy from the corner of your eye, but the rage rolling off of him in waves more than explains the terrified look on your coworker's face. No, that wouldn't do.

Leaning over the table, your ass in Felix’s face barely covered by the short dress, you curl a finger under Jisung’s chin and turn his attention towards you. "Don't look at him baby. Keep your eyes on me."

He nods weakly and you smile, moving to sit back down when Felix grabs your hips and pulls you down onto his lap, a small gasp escaping from your lips as you feel his hard-on against your thin underwear.

Your grin grows bigger, and you grind down on Felix’s dick as you tell Jisung, "Now show me your tongue, baby."

The sight of Jisung’s glazed eyes and pretty tongue out like a cute puppy makes you moan a little, something only Felix can hear. You feel his hand move from your hip to your pussy, fingers rubbing over you now soaked panties. With a shuddering breath, you move the popsicle over Jisung’s tongue, delighted by how he doesn’t pull it back into his mouth until you tell him to.

"Such a good boy." You coo, and you feel Felix’s fingers slip under your panties to rub harshly at your bare pussy. Shuddering, you open your legs wider for him. "He's such a good boy, isn't he, Felix? I bet he'd never act out or disobey me."

Felix grabs your clit between his thumb and index finger and pinches lightly, making you jump in his lap and bounce on his cock, the two of you groaning out in pleasure and making poor Jisung whimper as he clutches hard onto the table to keep from touching himself.

Opening your legs wide, you order Felix, "Put your fingers in me. Wanna show you what you're not getting by being a brat."

His hand leaves the tight circles he’s drawing over you clit and dip down to your hole, plunging a finger right in. “Oh, fuck.” You shudder at the delicious intrusion and the thrust of Felix’s dick against your pussy, the both of you clearly wishing that was his dick instead of his finger.

“Feels good, baby?” You whisper back to Felix and he nods sharply, finger pushing in and out of you incessantly as if you’ll tell him to stop at any moment. "Yeah? Tell Jisung how it feels."

Felix growls against your skin, sinking his teeth into your shoulder angrily, not wanting to think about the other guy with you right now. But you don’t back down. "Tell him or I'll have him find out himself."

He stuffs another finger inside you, and obeys, voice grave and hostile. “Noona’s pussy is tight around my fingers. So soft and wet for me. Only me.”

You laugh breathlessly, bucking your hips against Felix’s hand so that your clit can rub against his palm. Poor Jisung’s hands were white from how tightly he was gripping onto the table, and you’re worried he would either break it or hurt himself.

“You getting turned on watching us, baby?” You drawl, getting his attention. “It’s okay. You can touch yourself.”

As if he was waiting for your permission, Jisung instantly sticks his hand between his legs, and humps against it to relieve some of the pressure.

“Good boy.” You murmur, and Felix abuses the spot he bit in your shoulder again, deeping the mark forming there and making his feelings clear about you praising another guy while he’s fingering you. "Did you fantasize about my pussy, baby?"

“Yes.” Both of them answer, and you laugh.

"Hmm, seems like you've got competition, kitty. Maybe I chose the wrong boy to play with."

Felix stops abruptly, pulling his fingers out of you and pushing you onto the seat next to him. Your heart beats rapidly against your chest, thinking that he’s about to make a scene. Instead, he slips under the table and pulls on your hips so your ass is at the edge of the seat. Yanking your panties off, he spreads your legs wide.

"Gonna prove to you that I'm the one for you." He buries his face in your pussy, angrily licking every little inch of it and sucking harshly on your clit.

“Oh, fuck---Felix!” You moan, grabbing onto his hair as he devours your pussy. “Good boy. This is exactly where you belong.”

From the barely open slit of your eyes you see Jisung frustrated and on the verge of crying as he’s not getting as much stimulation as he needs.

"Pull your pretty cock out for me baby.” You drawl, trying to entice him so he’d forget about being in a public place and give in to you. “Don't be scared. Noona wants you to be dirty."

He discards his fears, pulling his dick out and yanking on it fast.

“Good boy. Such a good boy.” You effuse, and under the table, Felix pulls back to slap your pussy in punishment, furious that you’re still giving Jisung attention even though he’s on his knees under the table eating your pussy out.

“Brat.” You hiss, tugging on his hair and pushing his head back between your legs, grinding your pussy against his face.

"Wanna cum, please." Jisung begs, and you tear your eyes away from Felix’s shiny and livid ones to look over at him. He doesn’t look pretty or angelic as Felix looks even under the cramped table and surrounded by the pink Chiffon as he ignores his need to breathe in favor of pleasing you. Instead, Jisung he looks sweaty and fucked dumb, his eyes barely focused and his jaw hanging open.

"Wait for noona." You gruffly answer, squeaking in surprise as you feel Felix’s tongue push inside your pussy, a growly moan ripping out of him as he feels your tight walls around his tongue.

"You are doing such a good job, kitten.” You purr down to your lover, fucking his pretty face.

“No, I can’t, n-noona… please.” He cries, and you glare at him. “I said wait.”

“Can’t….ahh...noona, I’m sorry….fuck, fuck!” He squeaks, body convulsing as little ropes of white stain his shirt.

Seeing the mess he makes, you’re tipped over the edge yourself, cumming on Felix’s tongue and closing your thighs around his head, trapping him there. Obediently, he stays still as your hips buck a few more times against his face before your body relaxes and your legs fall open.

Felix gives your pussy a couple of soothing licks before he pulls your dress down and emerges from under the table, his face glistening with your cum. Yet somehow, he still looks as delicate and beautiful as ever as leans into your hand cupping his cheek.

“Good boy.” You murmur, your other hand reaching out to palm his crotch when a wet spot surprises you. You raise an eyebrow "oh?"

"I'm sorry. I know you didn’t say I could cum. I just wanted this for so long. Wanted to make you feel as good as you make me feel." He sobs, thinking you'll laugh at him. But you find it so incredibly sexy and flattering. You never thought you'd meet a guy who enjoyed pleasing you that much.

"You did good, baby." You beam, patting his cheek. ”Sitting there while I flirt with another boy? Maybe next I just make you watch while I fuck him. How does that sound? I bet it will make your little cock so hard, you little pervert."

He shakes his head violently, getting upset. "No, please don't. It would kill me. I love you so much." He breaks down and starts babbling about how he never wanted it to be this way. How sorry he is, begging you to not do this again.

"Hush, my dumb kitty." You press your finger against his lips to stop him from talking. “It’s okay. How about we go home and get cleaned up then have some coffee and brownies?"

He nods gratefully, and you’re about to get up when you hear someone cough. You look in front of you and remember that you had a guest.

“Oh, Jisung. Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?” You say, pulling Felix up and ignoring Jisung’s protests, and walking to the door.

However, Jisung isn’t the only one with something to say. As you’re about to leave the shop, an employee intercepts you. You can immediately tell what he’s going to say from the severe look on his face.

“Please, don’t try to come back to our shop or we’ll have to call the police.”

You nod, cheeks burning in humiliation as you run out and drag a smiling Felix behind you to the car.

__________________

When you head off to work a few days later, you wonder what you’re going to say to Jisung. You had set off to work with a promise to Felix that you’re not gonna pursue anything with the brunette, but he weirdly didn’t seem particularly concerned about the matter, despite how upset he was that day.

Yes, you’d been extra nice to him these past few days, acting much more receptive to his affectionate ways and responding in kind, but you still didn’t expect that much change.

Your brain is buzzing with all the possibilities about how Jisung will react and your lover’s one-hundred-eighty flip in attitude as you step into your office, but then you realize that Jisung isn’t there at all. Asking around, you find out that he’s at the hospital. Apparently he’d injured himself while playing with a knife. You roll your eyes. That boy is a danger to himself.

Still, you decide to go check up on him at the hospital.

You expect him to act awkward around you, to blush and stutter and look away. What you don’t expect is the sheer horror on his face upon seeing you.

“Wow, did I scar you that bad?” Is the first thing you say to him once you’re inside his hospital room.

“Why are you here?” He asks shakily, staring behind you as if he’s expecting someone to pop out from there.

You frown, “I realize I may have crossed the line yesterday but I just wanted to make sure you’re alright."

“I’m fine. Now please leave.”

“Thanks, I’m so reassured right now.” You roll your eyes, moving closer to him. ”How did this even happen? How does one stab their own leg?”

But as you reach out to touch his shoulder, he screams. "Don't touch me! You can't touch me!"

"What's going on? You're freaking me out." You jump back, and once again, he looks behind you. "Does he know you're here?"

"Who?"

"Your boyfriend."

"Chan?” You ask, confused. What does Chan have to do with this? “He doesn't even know you."

"No, Felix. The one that was with you yesterday."

"Felix? He's not my---" Your face suddenly falls as a horrible thought crosses your mind. No. It can’t be. "Did he do this to you?"

Jisung pales and shakes his head violently "No. I told you it was an accident. Now please leave."

He seems to be on the verge of breakdown, and maybe you should try to calm him down, but your mind is in an upheaval right now, and all you could think of is running to Felix to prove to yourself that you’re just being crazy. He would never do something like this, would he? It can’t be. It’s simply outrageous. But then again his weird change in behavior, his volatile attitude that always keeps you on edge… No, that’s crazy talk.

Numbly you go out of the room and make your way to your car to head back home. You’ll talk to Felix and he’ll tell you how stupid you’re being, and it’s all gonna be alright.

__________

A/N: this chapter was written so quickly because of all the lovely feedback you guys gave me so yeah feedback feeds me

[aftermathfanfic]

Part 2, Chapter 2

“…Tremble before us, mankind! For we are the giants of Vesuvius, the tamers of the infernal mountain!”

“When is it?” Dewey asked.

“Shh, just wait for it.” Louie replied with an eager grin.

The triplets were sitting at the bus stop, Louie in the middle with the other two to either side of him. Louie was showing them a video on his phone, which displayed a pig-man with short, fiery red hair wearing a suit of charcoal black plate armour. In the background behind the pig were Webby and Dewey, scaling a rocky cliff face, looking quite diminutive next to the enormous fire giant.

“In three days’ time, we shall emerge from this place and conquer the world! Tremble at our might, for the age of man is about to come to an end!” The giant roared, holding a massive two-handed axe up high, his voice clipping the phone’s microphone a bit. Then, he looked at the camera expectantly. “How was that?”

“Eh… it was better.” Louie’s voice said from off-screen. “I’m thinking that you don’t want to say ‘tremble before us’ two times in a row, though. You gotta mix it up, or people won’t take you seriously.”

“Right, right.” The giant muttered in a deep rumble, resting the axe on the ground. Behind him, Webby and Dewey had jumped up onto the top of the cliff, silently advancing towards a giant boulder that stood on the very edge – directly above the giant.

“I’m thinking that you keep the first ‘tremble’, but turn the second one can be… ‘kneel before us’, or something like that?” Louie suggested in the video.

“Kneel… oh!” The giant grinned. “How about, ‘grovel at our feet’?”

“Oh, that’s perfect! Yeah, use that.”

“Okay, okay…” The giant rubbed his enormous hands together eagerly. “From the top, one last-”

Before the giant could finish, Webby and Dewey pushed the unstable rock from its perch, where it struck the on top of the giant’s head with a resounding crack.

The triplets immediately burst into laughter.

“Oh my God, you were right!” Dewey chortled. “He totally went bug-eyed on that hit!”

“Dude, I know!” Louie laughed. “I could barely keep a straight face during that whole thing!”

“How- how did he not notice you guys?” Huey said in between snickering.

“Uh, cause Webby and I are awesomely stealthy?” Dewey suggested. Then he shrugged. “I mean, we probably wouldn’t have been able to do it if Louie hadn’t convinced the giants to do that whole ‘invasion speech’ thing.”

“Ah, I was only doing that to buy time for Huey and Uncle Scrooge to re-forge that ring.” Louie shrugged. “They’re the real reason we got out of that alive.”

“Oh no, that was the easy part.” Huey said, shaking his head. “Remember the boulders they were throwing as we were leaving? If it hadn’t been for mom’s piloting, we never would’ve made it out of there.”

Louie’s phone suddenly buzzed with a notification, interrupting their reminiscence. He drew it back towards him to read it, while the other two went back to their own business. Huey pulled out a book from his backpack, while Dewey stood up and leaned against the wall of the bus shelter.

“I’d forgotten how good we were at this.” Louie chuckled as he dismissed the message. “Like, we got back into this stuff so quickly.”

“Yeah… we’re pretty great.” Dewey said confidently, his hands behind his head.

“…Where’s Webby?” Huey asked after a while, frowning and looking back toward the school. “She’s usually here by now.”

“Oh, yeah, I got a text from her a couple of minutes ago.” Dewey replied. “Apparently she’s hanging out with Lena and she won’t be home ‘til, like, night or something.” He winced. “Which kinda sucks, ‘cause I needed her help with maths homework…”

“I could help.” Huey offered.

“Oh, God no.” Dewey balked.

“What?”

“Dude, you’re a terrible teacher. Like, Uncle Donald terrible.”

“Wh- how am I as bad as Uncle Donald?” Huey demanded indignantly.

“You always get frustrated when I ask you stuff, or when I do something wrong!”

“That’s because you don’t listen to what I tell you! Not because I’m bad at teaching!”

“I’m also not gonna join you guys.” Louie spoke up, interrupting the argument. “I’m taking the bus to Wildwood.”

“Really? How come?” Dewey asked.

“Eh. Figured I’d go work on some stuff at a café.” Louie replied, still looking at his phone. “I’m thinkin’ Cappuccino Corner. Haven’t been there yet.”

Huey frowned. “You’ve been eating at a lot of cafés recently.”

Louie raised an eyebrow at him. “So?”

“Nothing, just… it’s expensive food to have all the time, that’s all.” Huey replied, going back to his book.

“Hey, I might as well enjoy the funds while I have them.” Louie replied.

“…Funds?” Huey blinked in confusion and turned to him. “What funds?”

Louie smirked. “Oh, just a few small donations from good old Uncle Glomgold.”

Huey’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Uncle who?” Dewey demanded.

Louie put his phone back in his pocket. “Oh man, how do I explain this…?” He leant back on the seat. “See, it came to me a couple of weeks ago when I saw this little article in the newspaper.”

“You read the newspaper?” Dewey asked, surprised.

“Over Scrooge’s shoulder, yeah. So, according to this article, old Glomgold apparently fell for one of those email scams last year. You know, those emails that go, ‘hey, you’re a descendant of a Nigerian prince, you have an inheritance, send us money’.”

Dewey nodded. “Yeah, that tracks.”

“Right. So, when his board of directors found out, they did everything they could to cover it up, and it just now reached the public ear. And after I read about it, I had this little idea…”

“…Oh no.” Huey said in realisation.

“What if I tried to do that?” Louie said with a sly grin.

“You’re scamming Glomgold?” Huey groaned.

“It is so easy, dude.” Louie told him emphatically. “You have no idea how easy it is. He doesn’t understand how finances, or… how anything works. I don’t know how he held on to his company for so long.”

“What did you do?” Dewey asked curiously.

“Well, first, I tested out the waters.” Louie explained. “I sent a letter to his house, ‘cause apparently he has this… gaudy-ass mansion in the northern suburbs-”

“Language.” Huey scolded.

Ignoring him, Louie continued. “-telling him that I was some collector called ‘Phooey Luck’, interested in selling some priceless artifacts to him. And… apparently he thought that was legit.” He remarked with a shrug. “Because he sent a letter back, telling me that he was interested.

“What… ‘artifacts’ did you sell him?” Huey asked worriedly.

“Well, I had a plan. I had to sell him something that looked like it was worth something but wasn’t so valuable that it’d actually cost me anything. You guys have been in Mr Baxter’s office?”

Huey shuddered. “Once. Why?”

“You remember how there was this like, golden cat statuette on his desk? Claimed that he’d gotten it hand-made on a trip to Japan like, twenty years ago?”

“Yeah, I think so… wait, was?”

“Yep. I took that to Glomgold, and I spun some bullcrap that it was part of this set of fifty special figurines that were crafted during the 1850s, each crafted with a specific flaw that made them super-rare.” Louie grinned. “I sold it so well, that Glomgold gave me five-hundred bucks for it.”

“No way.” Dewey said incredulously.

“Yes way. And the only reason he didn’t give me more was-”

“You stole from a teacher?” Huey interrupted, horrified.

“…Well, technically, it was someone else.” Louie said evasively. “Point is, he contacted me again on-”

Huey’s hands flew to each side of his head. “You stole from a teacher!” He shrieked, appalled.

“It was Mr Baxter, who cares?” Louie snapped frustratedly. “I feel like you’re overlooking the fact that I got five hundred bucks for a desk toy!”

“Louie, do you have any idea how much trouble you could be in if you were found out?” Huey cried. “You could be suspended!”

“Oh no, I could get suspended.” Louie said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “Lah-di-dah. Anyway,” He turned back towards Dewey. “He contacted me again, told me that he wanted me to get more shiny things for him so that he’d look more impressive than Uncle Scrooge or something, and so now, I have a source of pocket money that exceeds five bucks a week!”

“Wait, did you give him the cat statue in person?” Dewey asked, frowning. “How come he didn’t recognise you?”

“I wore a different shirt and a beanie.” Louie said flatly.

“That was it?”

“That was it.”

“Wow…” Dewey chuckled. “So… what, you’re gonna sell him junk and pretend it’s treasure?”

“That was my first idea, yeah, but it’s not exactly…” Louie hesitated as he searched for the right word. “…sustainable. ‘Cause the stuff I give him has to look valuable, right? If I keep doing that, then eventually I’d be resorting to, like, giving him arts-and-crafts projects with gold paint, and that is a dangerous fucking game. So, I did some thinking…” He grinned evilly. “And I figured that we grab a lot of treasure on our adventures, right? What if I grabbed a piece or two for him?”

“Oh my God!” Huey cried, leaning back even further than he already was.

“…And give it to… Glomgold?” Dewey asked uncertainly.

“Yep. For, like, five times what it’s actually worth, of course.”

“…I dunno man.” Dewey chuckled nervously. “I feel like Uncle Scrooge would be kinda mad if you did that.”

“Yeah, that’s the roadblock I hit into as well.” Louie replied, frowning and folding his arms. “I’d have to somehow nab it without Scrooge noticing, and that’s… gonna be difficult. I mean, I have ideas,” He insisted. “Just… having trouble figuring out how to implement them.”

He was quiet for a moment as he contemplating.

Then, realising he was supposed to be selling the idea to them, he asked with a smile, “Anyway, you guys in?”

“No.” Dewey retorted emphatically.

“Every word you’ve said in the past minute has filled me with horror and anxiety.” Huey murmured faintly.

“Look, I get it, alright?” Louie told him reassuringly. “It’ll just be something small. Scrooge won’t even realise it was there in the first place.”

“It’s not… that.” Huey rubbed his eyes and looked at his brother worriedly. “Louie, have you given any thought to what could happen if Glomgold found you out?”

“I know exactly what will happen.” Louie replied. “He’ll probably lure me into a trap and kidnap me. Then, he’ll send a ransom note to Uncle Scrooge, saying something like, ‘come to this undisclosed location or the kid gets it’. Then, you guys show up, beat whatever henchmen and haphazard trap he put up for it, and then you rescue me, and I learn a lesson about… honesty, or whatever.” Louie finished, twirling his hand dismissively.

“You shouldn’t be so flippant about this!” Huey protested. “Glomgold may not be Magica de Spell, but he’s one of Scrooge’s enemies for a reason!”

“He’s a moron!” Louie argued. “Aside from our first run-in with him, when have you ever felt intimidated by Flintheart Glomgold?”

“He forged a lifelong vendetta with our uncle over a dime.” Huey said insistently. “That is a level of psychological instability that you do not want to play with.”

“Yeah, I’m more in the ‘I-don’t-wanna-be-grounded’ boat.” Dewey said apologetically, scratching his head. “I mean, I’m still getting lectures about stealing Scrooge’s gun. Sorry, Lou.”

Louie glared at both of them, annoyed. “Suit yourselves.” He muttered, leaning back and shoving his hands in his pockets. “You guys better not snitch me out.” He added quickly.

“Oh, yeah. ‘Course not.” Dewey replied immediately.

“Seriously, don’t tell anyone. I do not need a lecture from Scrooge.”

Huey clapped his hands together and took a deep breath. “…I can only promise to try.” He said relentingly.

“…Alright.” Louie crossed his arms with a sigh, opting to wait quietly for the bus to arrive.

[sofreddie]

What Went Wrong?

Summary: Dean tries to propose but a misunderstanding ruins everything.

Characters: Dean x Reader, Sam

Warnings: Angst, Drinking, Fluff

Word Count: 1,680

A/N: This sat in my WIPs forever until I finally found inspiration to complete it.

Sam followed the sounds of the loud blues music bouncing off the walls of the Bunker. His ears carried him to Dean’s room. He opened the door, the music hitting him full on like a gust of wind to the face. Sam blinked rapidly from the sound, cringing slightly at the overwhelming scent of liquor and body odor.

Dean was stood in his room between the dresser and bed, a crystal glass in one hand, as he danced and sang along. Sam walked into the room, looking around. The room was trashed. There were several empty bottles lying around on the dresser and nightstand, a half-full bottle uncapped on the dresser.

“Dean!” Sam shouted, tapping his brother on the shoulder. Dean jumped and turned, smiling when he saw Sam. He turned down the music and spun animatedly to face Sam once more, laughing to himself.

“Sssaaammm!” Dean slurred in excitement. He finished the last swig of his glass, letting out a loud exhale.

“Are you drunk?” Sam asked concerned. Dean rarely drank anymore, not since he and Y/N got together a year before.

“Pretty much.” Dean agreed, nodding his head with a pout as he focused on refilling his glass. “Hey, you -you wanna join me?” Dean’s face perked up with excitement as he began stumbling in circles, looking for another glass. Sam flashed an unseen bitch face as he reached for the bottle. Dean stopped, putting his hands out to steady himself, clearly dizzy.

“Dean, what happened?” Sam was deeply worried.

“Nothing!” Dean laughed. “Can’t a guy just have a drink?”

“Dean,” Sam let out a sigh, trying to choose his words carefully. “I thought you and Y/N had plans tonight?”

“Oh,” Dean said as if he were surprised at the chosen topic. “Oh, that!” He said, nodding and pursing his lips. “It didn’t really go…as planned,” Dean muttered, downing the contents of his glass. He examined the glass in his hand before pointing it towards Sam. “I fucked it up. Like I fuck everything up.” He calmly stated, nodding emphatically to himself as he placed his glass on the dresser. He leaned against its edge, taking some of the weight off his feet.

“How is that even possible?” Sam whimpered, his heartbreaking for his brother. He was sure, whatever happened, Dean was just being hard on himself. He wanted this so much for him, for them. “Where is Y/N?”

Dean shook his head, wiping a tear, as he shook several bottles, looking for liquid relief. He looked at Sam, still holding the bottle and reached out to him.

“Gimme the bottle.” Dean wiggled his fingers, clearly drunk and exhausted, barely on his feet.

“No, Dean.” Sam stood his ground. “What happened?”

Dean turned towards Sam, offended, and reached for the bottle. Sam pulled it away, holding it back and high in the air.

“Give me the damn bottle, Sam!” Dean growled, growing angry.

“No, Dean, no.” Sam struggled as Dean was trying to grab and pull at his arm to reach the bottle. Sam quickly grew tired of the game, throwing the bottle over Dean’s head, where it met the wall and shattered, it’s contents dripping down the wall and to the floor. Dean watched as the puddle grew on the floor. He growled, turning on Sam once more.

“What did you do that for?!” Dean roared, advancing towards Sam. Sam put his hands in front of him defensively, taking a few steps back from his looming brother.

“Dean, what happened? Dean-” Sam was cut off as Dean shoved him, Sam stumbling back a step. Sam growled, gaining his footing and squaring his shoulders, glaring at Dean.

“It’s none of your business what happened,” Dean screamed. “I fucked up, she left, and I’m just gonna sit here and drink.” He threw his arms up in the air and let them fall dramatically to his sides. ���I’m gonna go pass out.” He said, suddenly lightheaded.

Sam rushed down the hall, pulling out his cell phone to call Y/N. He tried calling several times and sent a few texts, but she didn’t respond. He opened the tracking app on his phone and looked up her GPS, quickly finding her coordinates. He ran to the kitchen, grabbing Dean’s keys from the table and taking off to her location.

Y/N eyed the bus station in the distance, only another block and she’d be there. Her feet were sore, she was exhausted, and her face stung with dried tears and dirt. She adjusted the strap of her duffel over her chest as she forced her legs to carry her forward.

Her heart leaped into her chest at the all too familiar sound of the Impala’s engine approaching. She stopped and turned to see the car approaching, the headlights blaring in the night.

The car pulled up, parking right next to her, the driver’s door opening as soon as it was in park. Y/N’s sudden elation dropped like a stone off a cliff when she saw Sam.

As he rounded the hood of the car, he could see the fallen look cross over her. She looked as bad as Dean, her eyes red, tear tracks stained on her face with dust from the road.

“Y/N?” Sam asked, approaching her and checking her over. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m ok.” She whispered, looking to the ground. “Where’s Dean?” She asked, tears brimming in her eyes once more. Her lip quivered and Sam’s heart shattered. He reached for her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight. He rested his cheek firmly against the top of her head. As her sobs poured forth, soaking his shirt, he held her tighter, worried she might crumble if he didn’t hold her together.

“He’s at home. He’s drunk.” Sam gave her a final squeeze before pulling back and looking at her, his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “He won’t tell me what happened.”

“I fucked up.” She choked out. “I fucked it all up.”

Sam was growing increasingly frustrated. Dean had a perfect night planned. Sam had helped him plan it for over a month.

What went wrong?

“He says he fucked it up,” Sam smirked at her, trying to lighten the mood. She rolled her eyes, wiping her face and leaning against the Impala.

“No, he didn’t.” She sighed. “I just…I don’t know…”

“Tell me what happened.” Sam pleaded, leaning against the impala beside her, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We had a great night and we were both a little drunk. Then out of nowhere he proposes. That would've been enough to catch me off guard, you know? Dean…marriage?"

"He's been thinking about it a long time, Y/N."

"He was so formal and traditional. He got down on one knee. It was so romantic, truly!" she insisted, "But I was prone to giggles that night and I just bust out laughing," she sighed with a hand over her eyes as she relived the experience.

"I wasn't laughing at him, but he thought I was. Then it just blew up into this huge fight of him insisting I could've just said 'no' and me insisting I didn't mean it the way he took it, but he wouldn't let me talk."

She started sobbing again and Sam held her close. These two. He rolled his eyes, unseen by her as she was tucked under his chin.

"You're both blaming yourselves. I think maybe it was a really emotional moment and you both sort of fumbled through it," he chuckled.

"The whole thing was so romantic and sweet," she sniffled into Sam's chest, "I ruined everything."

"Hey, Y/N?" he asked, pulling away from her to look her in the eye, "What would your answer have been?"

She stared at him in silence for what seemed like forever before smirking and wiping at her face, "Take me home, Sam."

Y/N slowly opened their bedroom door. The room was dark and she could hear Dean's drunken snores as he slept. She smiled but stifled a giggle.

'Cause that's what's started this whole fucking thing, she chastised herself.

She crept into the room, closing the door behind her. She was familiar with the layout and made her way to the desk, flicking on the lamp and providing dim illumination.

She turned towards the bed and covered her mouth with a hand when she looked at Dean. He melted her heart. He was face down on the bed, on top of the covers, one arm slung uncomfortably backwards across his back.

"De-" she lightly spoke, still several feet from him.

She had learned long ago to be careful when waking Dean. Sometimes it could take him a while to realize where he was and what was going on. She hated the guilt he would assign himself if he did something to her while in that disoriented state.

"De-" she spoke a little louder, "Baby, wake up."

Dean snorted awake, rubbing at his eyes and groaning at his head. He focused towards Y/N and it took him a minute to realize it was her.

"Y/N?" he sat up straighter, "You came back?"

"Sam got me," she explained, stepping closer to him now that he was alert. She slowly sat on the bed next to him. His lack of any movement or reaction told her how guarded he was at that moment.

"I am so sorry for everything that happened," she said, starting to tear up, "I just wanted you to know that I wanted to say yes. Want." she corrected with a shake of her head.

Dean's walls crumbled down as his bright smile broke through.

"Really?" he breathed out, bringing her closer to him.

"I would be honored to be your wife. Yours forever, De."

He captured her lips with his, laying back on the bed and tugging her on top of him. She giggled into the kiss and he smiled back.

"Yours forever," he agreed, rolling her onto her back, so glad to have her back in her rightful place -at his side and in his arms.

Forevers:

@sis-tafics

@lyarr24

@calaofnoldor

@hobby27

@spnbaby-67

Dean Winchester:

@akshi8278

@jerkbitchidjitassbutt

[chunhua-s]

Tendou in an enemies to lovers situation 🥺

wew chile, eye— this was longer than i originally planned and that’s due in part to me switching from writing on mobile and my bad word vomit tendencies said ✨start the cameras✨ i originally had a bit of trouble coming up with the solid plot itself while i was losing myself on concepts (nothing new :D just my regular clown shit y’know?) and my sweet goddess @bootylikepeachy was there to tickle my braincells with this “got paired together with your enemy for a class assignment” idea!! bb thank you for brainrotting with me on this, honestly 🥺💖 i dunno if i could have made a final decision if it weren’t for you and your sexy ass brain. i decided leave the ending a bit open?? one to prevent myself from going over 5k words (cause wow, i really hit the slow burn on this one) and two because i kinda like the ambiguity of their relationship after the reader comes to her turning point. since it’s an enemies to lovers type of scenario, i figured it would be better to let things kind of trickle off instead of having it all happen on the same day?? or so it doesn’t feel too rushed or force and i really hope i was successful in doing it justice. i hope you guys will have as much fun reading this as i did writing it!! let me know your thoughts, okay? and as always, thank you for reading!!

SUNSET AND MIDNIGNT ➽ SATORI TENDOU x READER

genre: fluff, slowburn

au: enemies to lovers

warnings: uhhh slowburn? word vomit, ramblings..... that’s about it

tendou is the fall from an ocean cliff. he’s the feeling of the wind sweeping past your body, of your breath disappearing from your lungs and vanishing on the whisps of a blue sky. he’s the dread that wraps around your heart like a vine, the heavy rock that drags you closer and closer to a dive you can’t remember taking. and you, with your heart racing against your ribs so hard that it scars itself with blue and purple bruises, you’re terrified. you’re terrified of heights, of blue waters that run to the deepest parts of the earth and what they don’t show to you. you’re afraid of the heat that comes from a blazing fire and the embers that fly from it on red hazes. it’s the fear of that unpredictability that keeps you away, the fear of being burned and left for dead that leaves you feeling as if you’re walking on egg shells around him.

to you, he’s a variable that you can’t ever be prepared for. a step added to a dance you’d already learned by heart, he messes up your rhythm and throws off your tempo until the melody becomes something you can’t recognize anymore. he leaves you guessing about what comes next — it’s like a game of roulette that he’d dragged you into by a thin chord, wrapped so tightly around your throat that it makes it hard for you to breathe. you hate the feeling of it, hate the way he so easily turned your world on its head and cast the familiarity of monochrome into a scenery of blinding colour. 

you’re pouting, a frown etched across your lips as you methodically stir over your pot, head cocked to the side and one hand resting akimbo on your hip. it’d been well over 30 minutes since you’d started boiling the ingredients over a low flame, and you were beginning to tire from stirring constantly; your arm ached and your shoulders were beginning to feel stiff as you tried rolling them to relieve some of the tension. frustration makes a loud groan slip from your lips as you throw your head back. normally, you’d consider yourself a patient person, yet that very same patience was beginning to run as thin as the liquid that should have been thickening by now. you couldn’t understand why it was taking so long, however. you’d done everything by the book! mixed each ingredient in the order that it’d said to, set the flame on the right level, measured everything correctly, so what was wrong?

you hear a snort come from somewhere behind you, but you don’t turn yourself to look at the red-headed male who sits comfortably atop the other side of your counter, well intent to ignoring him. you had neither the time nor the energy to entertain him right now, but your companion didn’t seem to understand that from the cold shoulder you’d been giving him ever since you two began working on your project together.

“you know you don’t have to keep stirring it, right?” tendou hums between bites of chocolate that slightly muffle his words. you don’t see the way his eyes close and his smile widens on delight for the sweet flavour that melts on his tongue. “you can leave it for about a minute before you have to check up on it again.”

you stubbornly roll your eyes, a huff coming from under your breath that disturbs the strand of hair dangling in front of your face. “that’s not what the book says.” your voice comes out evenly, though there’s nothing you do to cut the edge from your tone as you sigh immediately after. the frown on your lips only deepens with the next few seconds that pass you by.

“and that book was released in 2015.”

it’s invasive in its arrival, the question of why that spits on bitterness and undiluted anger. why were you so unlucky to have been paired up with the one person you couldn’t bear to be around? he was everything that dug under your skin, the symbol of chaos in a place where you’d rather solace and routine. he stands on the opposite end of the colour spectrum; where your life molds with deep purples and blues of a dark midnight, he’s the flaming oranges and reds of a burning sunset. your worlds meet on a collision, a burst of light that would consume entire dimensions and leave nothing but bones and ashes in its wake. 

there’s a pettiness in your hatred for him, a one-sided scorn that bears its fangs on dark poisons that trip like ink. it tells its tale of irrationality in your law of reason, and, you consider, perhaps that was why you hated tendou. perhaps it was the way his voice could so easily insight the burning taste of anger and annoyance on the back of your tongue, where it forms on a large ball that stops inside your throat and makes it hard to breathe without feeling as if you would implode. it’s something you can’t understand, but you despise the feeling it leaves you with when your eyes meet his.

hot, as if you’d been cast into the open arms of hell. 

“well,” you force behind gritted teeth, hearing the noise of them grinding in the back of your head. “i’m gonna stick to what the book says until it gets revised.” 

there’s absolutely no reason for you to be so insistent on something that’s clearly not working, you know that. you’re sure tendou is thinking the same, if the long, drawn out sigh he lets out is anything to go by. it isn’t difficult to imagine his expression, lips pursed together, brows furrowed as his narrowed eyes burn holes into your skin. you’re not sure what exactly is pushing you to be so stubborn, but you blindly let it control your thoughts; you run on impulse and immature decisions that have no place in your life. 

a silence blends with the sounds of your bubbling pot when he doesn’t respond, insighting an urge to glance around and see why he’d suddenly stopped talking that you force away from your mind. the quiet would give you some semblance of peace, you consider decisively: if he’s decided he would no longer disturb you with pointless musings, then what reason would you have to complain?

there’s a touch on your shoulder that causes your heart to latch inside your throat and rushes on uneven beats of a two-second fright that has you freezing on yourself. on instinct, your body turns to meet red eyes and a bemused grin as tendou’s fingers wrap around your wrist, catching the hand that held the mixing spatula you’d been using in your pot. “relax, will you?” he murmurs, a chuckle on his breath — the taste of his mint breath clouds your mind like a ghostly fragrance — as he pries the instrument from between your clenched fist. with narrowed eyes and your guard put up on a weak barrier, you watch closely as he gently sets the spatula against the counter before he finally releases your arm; it falls lifelessly to your side while the feeling of being burned slowly spreads across your skin. “just trust me on this.” 

there’s a hidden promise on his voice, a teasing grin that pulls at his lips and leaves your curiosity ignited on hesitance and uncertainty. you glance at your still bubbling pot, though your gaze isn’t allowed to linger for long as tendou shoves his face into your line of sight with a light chime of “ah-ah-ah.” it was as if he was scolding a child, the thought quickly comes and goes before you can dwell on it — there’s not much chance for you to think about it when tendou’s steering you to your island counter by your shoulders. “sit down for a sec, alright?”

a scowl forms on your lips as he shoves you down into a seat, and you open your mouth to protest when you’re suddenly pacified by the sweet taste on your tongue. slowly, you begin chewing, letting the confusion you feel be washed away by the quickly melting chocolate that fills you with a sense of appreciation. 

“better?”

it’s reluctant, but you give the red haired boy a nod and a small smile, all which he returns with his familiar grin. “i set a timer for one minute,” he informs you, lifting his phone screen to show the seconds counting down from 50. his actions are carefree and relaxed, with his arm resting on the edge of the chair and one of his legs folded beneath him, red hair tousled and flopping over his forehead just like he wears it on campus. he’s attractive, you won’t deny, though you wouldn’t let yourself ever say it out loud. helplessly, you sigh, your shoulders dropping to release the tension from standing for so long and you lift a hand to sheepishly run over your neck as you avoid his gaze.

“fine…”

tendou’s smile widens as soon as you relent, a pleased hum leaves him as he further leans back into the chair. “so,” he begins on a cheerful tone, and your eyes curiously watch him as he opens conversation. “what’re your plans after you finish the course?”

a short moment passes you by where you glance away from him, eyes drifting to the pot on your worry. was it really okay to leave it alone? “uh,” you mutter out on your distracted tone before you center yourself. you take a deep breath and let it out on a soft puff that has your cheeks pushing out slightly before you give your answer. “i wanna open up a coffeeshop.” 

“oh?” when you meet tendou’s gaze, there’s a spark of interest in them, a sheen of gold that lights vermillion red on the afternoon sun. it causes you to become self-conscious suddenly, your hands tangle together in your lap as you avert your eyes almost as quickly as they’d met his. 

“yeah,” you affirm softly. “i’ve always thought that it’d be nice, you know? and i’d be able to relax in a place like that.” 

another hum comes from the man next to you, a low sound that dwells on pondering as he takes in your response. “you do seem like the kind of person who would work in a coffeeshop.” he muses, and his word leaves your mind on pause as the alarm goes off, the soft ringing of a song you don’t know disrupting your thoughts and prompting you to stand up. however, there’s a hand on your shoulder that hurriedly pushes you down before you’re at your full height. “no,no—” tendou urges you, “i’ll do it, you just sit there and rest.” 

you’re not given the chance to argue as he breezily saunters over to your stove, reaching for the spatula while humming that same song from his alarm. it’s not one you’ve heard before, and it’s another thing that leaves you curious as you watch him stir over the bubbling liquid. you notice the way he holds his hand at a weird angle that leaves his elbow jutting out, the way his tall frame has to hunch as if to see the contents better. doesn’t he wear glasses? you’re lost on the thought as you try and recall whether or not you’d seen him wear a pair before. when he turns back to you, his smile is wide and triumphant, a show of all teeth as he moves himself to the side and just barely tilts the pot with his free hand. “would’ja look at that?” he sings, a telling smugness to his tone as he looks at you. you have to lean over the island counter to see the white liquid has thickened considerably more than when you’d been stirring it. “told you to just let it sit for a while and it’d do it’s own thing!”

unable to help the smile that spreads across your lips, you huff and wave a hand across your face in dismissal, harmlessly rolling your eyes at him. “alright, no need to rub it in now,” you chide as he replaces the pot and skips over to your side, large steps that have him swinging his arms back and forth like an excited child. there’s no hiding the glee in his expression when he sits down again and immediately turns to face you, as if he was waiting for you to admit something. and maybe that’s what he was waiting for, but you’re still stubborn when it comes to him, so you only turn your eyes away from him and cross your arms with a false pout. “just set the timer again, will you?” you grumble, and you’re rewarded with laughter that rang as pure and innocent as the sound of trickling water. it leaves you stunned for a moment, echoes in your mind and finds a home inside your chest so that it plays back for you to hear. it’s a beautiful sound, you think; there’s a part of you that wants to hear more. it horrifies you. 

“what about you?” you shake your head as you lean your elbows on top of the counter top, eyes focused on your fingers wrapping around one another rather than to meet vermillion red. the cool feeling of the marble does very little to ease the warmth coursing beneath your skin. “what’re your plans after finishing the course?”

tendou’s laughter dies down like the wind comes to a pause, where the leaves stop rustling on an easy rest as he sighs long and full, his chest rising with the action as he leans backward ever so slightly. “i was thinking of making chocolate,” he tells, tilting his head and lending his gaze to the scenery outside your window. it gives you the courage to look back at him, at the sight of his figure bathed in sunlight where the gold bounces off his skin like a gem. with his expression set on pensive and his eyes bearing a wandering glint, he looks nearly ethereal inside your kitchen, a picture of immortality that you’ve never bothered to look at before now. he glows under a melting light, the picture of him robs you of air and leaves you gasping, desperate for your blood to start flowing the way it had before. 

it’s when his eyes find yours that you relearn how to breathe.

his gaze is half-lidded, touched by a visual of content that makes him look at peace, nearly drowsy as his hand supports the weight of his head. the smile on his lips is slight, the kind that quirks the corners of your lips and tells you a story of effortless charm. 

“is there any particular reason?” you hate that your voice comes out weak, that it breaks on it’s departure and tumbles out of your lips like white feathers flutter from the sky. the onslaught of emotion leaves you reeling, your center of gravity cast from your body and you struggle to find your footing over uneven ground, all while he watches you, red eyes picking you apart and leaving bear to him the parts of yourself you’ve never seen. a boyish smile settles over his lips as he turns his head to fully face you, leaning forward ever so slightly, but it’s enough so that you’re once again able to taste peppermint on his breath. it washes over your skin like an autumn wind, leaves a chill that reminds you of the first signs of snow on the throws of a mid-summer’s heat.

“not really,” he confesses with a shrug, carefree and unbothered while he leaves you as the perfect image of flustered. his voice is low, like a whisper. it’s hushed, and you’re able to hear something of a sigh on his words that leaves you to wonder about the way the sunlight reflects off of pools of red, how the golden hue makes them appear like the butterscotch candies you’d snack on between classes. “i just… like sweet things.”

“oh.” 

you’re reminded of the taste of caramel when you think of tendou. it comes as a surprise when you take the first bite into a chocolate bar, an unexpected drop of golden sweetness that makes you pause for, if only, just a second to properly let its flavour spread across your tongue. he’s the warmth of sunset that embraces your body, the feeling of the waves that brush against your toes, the sand that fills with water and wraps around your feet. you’re left on the shoreline to watch in awe as flames of orange and red dance on the ocean’s surface, where the blazes and embers of a passion unimaginable to your midnight moon leave traces of ethereal gold in its wake. 

there’s a sudden thought that invades your mind, slow like molasses and just as bittersweet; you want to sink beneath those burning waters, to let them cover you from head to toe and consume all that you are. until your heart learns his melody and your body falls to his tune.

there’s a part of you that yearns after satori tendou, and the realization if it scares you. 

you’re the first to look away when the timer sounds once more, your face burns and you purse your lips together while your hands tangle together on your lap. beside you, tendou arises wordlessly to saunter over to the pot, humming once more to the tune that continues to play from his phone. it doesn’t sound like a typical alarm, and it leaves you intrigued by it’s upbeat melody.  “what song is that?” you curse the way your voice breaks, clearing your throat and hoping that he didn’t pick up on it. why were you suddenly becoming such a mess? 

tendou answers you a bit distractedly while he tilts the pot from side to side, his head cocked in contemplation and his expression pensive. “it’s called circus,” he glances at you from over his shoulder and uses his free hand to gesture you forward before reaching for the pair of yellow, sunflower-themed muffins you left to sit close-by. “bring the chocolate for me, would’ja?” you meet him just as he’s moving your pot to sit on your counter, the plate of chopped up chocolate bits in your hand while he moves to the side to let you dump them into the mixture. “i found it on this playlist from youtube and i kinda got obsessed with it.” 

you take in his words over the light-hearted melody that plays from his phone, enjoying the sound of it before it cuts off and sets to snooze since tendou hadn’t turned it off. it leaves you wanting to hear more, and you wish it would have played on for a little bit longer as you set the plate to the side. “can i look it up?” you ask; the thought that it was silly to ask for his permission rings in your head before you can stop it, and you feel your face heating up when he looks up from mixing the chocolate to you, his eyes alight with amusement and his smile teasing. 

“go ahead,” he chuckles, giving his attention back to the pot after casually waving a hand in the air. “mind bringing me the setting tray?”

it doesn’t take you too long to open up the youtube app, your fingers typing in the name of the song before you pause and glance over to your partner. “is it the one by showmore?”

“yup!”

soon, the familiar intro bleeds into your kitchen space, filling up the absence of conversation between you and tendou as he bobs his head along to its sound. you’re left to lean against the counter, your hands folded beneath you while he pours out your chocolate mixture into the little cube shapes in the tray. what you feel is a comfort, a type of quiet happiness that calms your breath on the sound of drums and the piano that blends with the singer’s voice. “it sounds nice,” you mutter quietly, unable to help the way your head nods in time to the melody. 

tendou shoots you an excited smile. “it does, right?? i’ve been listening to it nonstop ever since i found it.” his enthusiasm draws a laugh from you, a grin stretches across your face as you watch him sway side to side. it’s an adorable picture of him dancing and smiling so brightly, and when he looks up at you with excitement in his eyes, you feel your heart skip a beat. 

“wanna dance?”

“huh?”

the question catches you off guard, leaves you to stare wide-eyed at his back as he pops the tray into the freezer before turning back to face you. his grin widens and becomes almost teasing when he sees your stunned expression. “c’mere!” he urges you with an eagerness, his hand waving you over.

“tendou, i—” you avert your gaze, feeling your skin warm up once more as you murmur your answer. “i can’t dance…” 

he makes his way over to you in a sequence of movements you can’t hope to describe — it’s almost like a prance, where his steps are exaggerated and his shoulders lift up in a kind of rocking motion while he’s snapping his fingers to the beat. “that’s fine!” he grins at you just as he reaches out for your hand, pulls you to your feet and coaxes you from behind your island counter. “i can’t either!” 

for a moment, you’re caught between amused and hopelessly confused while the man before you lifts your arms like wet spaghetti, letting him swing them between your bodies as if you were a puppet, and he the puppeteer. he’s beaming at you so widely that it’s almost ridiculous, but he seems so vivid and joyous while he maneuvers your limbs, and it causes broad laughter to bubble up from your chest as your body doubles over. it’s a pure, weightless type of laughter that leaves you, like the chiming of bells on the summer wind. it echoes over the music, and when tendou joins in with you, there arises between you both a new kind of song, whose story is found at the evening time when the world holds her breath. it’s a harmony that’s carefree, like the fall from an ocean cliff, like the breath that vanishes from your lungs and cries on laughter beneath the blue sky. it’s the feeling of your fears melting, and when your body finally plunges between those fireset waves, you’re wondering why you were scared in the first place. 

“that’s it!!” the excitement in tendou’s voice is infectious, his smile as bright as the sun itself when your fingers intertwine with his and your body finally moves on its own. here begins a dance between you two where he pulls you in closer, and when you pull away, your hands remain intertwined. an irresistible force that you can’t help being drawn to, that spins you around his fingers and wraps you in his arms, all while eyes of the sweetest sunset promise you gold on your midnight sky. the feeling inside your chest is warm, sets through your body like a quiet buzz and it leaves you wanting more, so that the yearning you feel would only ever be satisfied by him.

your hand in his feels like a slow burning flame, and as the both of you are laughing with a song you create with each other, you realize that you’re no longer afraid of its heat.

taglist: @aiiishiiiteru @bootylikepeachy @tsumue @waitforitillwritemywayout @mixxfi @shnnn

send an ask to be added or removed!! (also pls lemme know if i’m forgetting anyone? i think i got you all but just in case)

[kareniliana]

Enzo: “A werewolf in state penitentiary”

A//N: Okay so I decided to get high and just write. After having an almost 2 hour long ft call w my sister who literally is down the hall from my room 😂

So.. okay I know I sound lame, but I need some new friends. Idk, I just feel like recently my friend circle is limited to my sister and my sisters two friends. Like they’re not actually my friends, but pity friends.

yeah I'm lame I know.

hope you are able to forget what I just wrote and enjoy this Enzo imagine. Fair warning, it’s gonna get real sad and messed up. I hope you can keep up..

xx Karebear 💛🧸

You met Enzo a few years after he escaped from the school with a torture chamber, by the time he met you he had wanted nothing with romance or love. He wanted to just live free. But then he met you, and it was like a new book to be written. 

And a love story was written indeed. He had fallen for you almost too quick. As for you, you were reluctant to even be friends with him. You were a werewolf, sure you haven't triggered your curse yet but you still have the gene. You had to be wary about who you make friends with, a few wrong words and you’ll go full wolf. But with Enzo, he was basically unbreakable. Aside from the fact that he can't step in the sun with the daylight ring, or he can’t touch the vervain flower, or go into houses without permission, oh and a werewolf bite will kill him a painful and slow death.

So yeah, there's that. 

However, he was always there to justify your anger and help you release it without murdering anyone. He became your rock, then you graduated college and was going off to live in New York and be a publisher. 

But that plan became the back burner. You put pause on your life, because you did in fact trigger your curse. In the most shameful way possible. You got into a fight with someone at a party, with Enzo not there to calm you down you  into your car and angrily driving back to the shared house with your friends. 

You weren’t thinking straight, your were drunk and angry. 

You never made it home, wondering into the other lane, the other car swerved and slammed on the breaks. You jerked the wheel, drifting your car to face the opposite way. Their car didn’t even scratch yours, but it drifted into a tree. The car was totaled. 

Instantly sobering up, your panting was the only thing you heard. The music was background noise, you barely even noticed it. Quickly you undid your seatbelt, instantly calling Enzo as you ran to the car.

The windows were shattered, the car had shrunk in size. Most of the hood was in the tree. The man in the drivers seat was basically choking on his own blood. His seat trapped him against the steering wheel, it dug deep into the man chest. The glass had cut his face and arms, blood seeped his wardrobe.

You tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. You screamed into the air out of frustration.

Enzo answered your call happily, he was in route to your house.“Y/n, I’m coming by to pick you up- Enzo!” You interrupted him.

“Enzo! I messed up, hurry! He’s hurt. He- he needs your blood! Hurry!” You screamed into your phone, almost wanting to touch him to help, but there isn’t anything you can actually do.

“Where are you! What happened?” 

“About a mile from the cliffs! IS THAT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!”

You hung up, not wanting to get more stressed than you already are. You checked to see if the man was still breathing, but it was more like shallow breaths. The fear in his eyes made you cry, tears starting to stream down your face. 

“I’m so sorry. I’m so incredibly sorry. Oh please please forgive me. I’m sorry sir.” You sobbed, holding his bloody and cut up hand. He calmed down, he stopped shaking. He wasn't scared anymore.

He tried to talk, but blood was coming out of his mouth. “Shh, shh. Oh...” You whispered, hoping he would hold on a bit longer.

“Where is he?” You whimpered, quickly looking around not seeing a single soul anywhere.

Then you heard it, his last gasp. You watched as his eyes go dull, losing any spark of life. His hands go limp, his head fell to the side. His eyes frozen open, you sobbed as you reach over to close them shut.

He was gone.

You cried silently, time stopped. Even as Enzos car screeched to a halt, you stood there crying.

He vamp-sped to you, noticing the dead guy and totaled car. He took a glimpse to your car a few feet away, not a dent or scratch. Not a single piece of evidence that links your car to the dead mans car. 

“I- I killed him.” You whimpered, you never go of his hand. Squeezing it tighter, in hopes that he would just jump back into his body. But nothing happened.

“I’m sorry, Love.” He tried to comfort you, soothing your back. “I will take care of it.”

You dropped the mans hand, “We- we can’t cover this up! He's got a family! He’s got loved ones! They have to know!” You shoved him away, yelling at him.

“Love, I know. But we can’t have this coming back to you.” He said reasonably, but you weren’t having it.

You laughed sarcastically, “Yeah okay, so what, I'm suppose to go on with my life. Knowing I got away with murder! Oh and let’s not forget to mention I triggered my curse! Whoopty-doo!” You yelled more, Enzo just stood there, accepting it.

“You wanna go to prison? A werewolf in state penitentiary, yeah that’d be great!” Enzo brought back some sense back to you. 

You took a step away from the car, sighing “Okay, so what’s first?”

“Wash you hands in that little pond creak thing over there, I’ll take care of this.”

You nodded, following his instructions. There was a little creek that followed the edge of the trees. Quickly rinsing the blood from your hands you held back any tears, you wanted to be done crying. You got bigger things to worry about. Like how you're gonna hide transitioning from your housemates. They were all perfectly human, knowing nothing of the supernatural.

Meanwhile, Enzo siphoned out some gas and pours it over the mans body and the inside of the car. He flicked the light on, about to drop the lighter in the car, when you walked behind him.

“Wait, what’s his name?” You got his attention, hoping he would have looked at his ID.

“You sure you want to know?” He asked, turning the light off.

You nodded your head, he quickly reached inside, grabbing something. You were looking out to the road, mainly to check your surroundings but also because you couldn't look into the car without the feeling to hurl.

“His name was Maxwell Hues, by the looks of the wallet he sure does love his dog.” He showed you his wallet, it displayed three mini pictures of his poodle.

You nodded your head, “Okay, we’re done here then.” You grabbed the lighter from Enzo’s grasp, flicking it on and throwing it into the car.

You got into your car, you left it on. With the music blaring, you reached for the knob to turn it off. Complete silence, you finally let it sink in. 

Looking into your reflection, “Well, you’re officially a werewolf and a murderer. Yay.” You said sarcastically.

Driving off behind Enzo, you never looked back. Not even when the flames reached the tank of gas and exploded the vehicle.

[ravenadottir]

I don't know if you've answered something like this, but how do you think the LIs handle getting out of a long-term relationship? How do they get along with their ex afterwards?

oof...

i’ve answered this before, but i can’t find it, so i’ll just do a new one! pretty sure there will be some stuff in common with the old post, like breakup beards and haircuts/dying.

alright, let’s explore this pain a little bit!

💔 bobby. he cannot, for the life of him, manage a friendship after they break up. he wants to! he really thinks he’s capable of it, but the minute he sees them with someone else, or even the possibility or the mentioning, he crumbles like a sand castle being kicked. his mates will try to take him out, but all he wants to do is stay home and marinate in his pain. clean shave, always, but i reckon bobby is the type to eat his frustrations.

💔 carl will absolutely dive deep into his work. even more than before. he can’t stand the idea of an empty house/flat again, especially after she brought some color to the place. the more he codes/programs, the better, since he won’t have time to think about her. he’s definitely finishing off the night with a couple of drinks, and will spend some time sleeping on the couch, afraid of how hard it will be once he tries to sleep alone after so long. breakup scruff, possibly not caring for how his hair looks.

💔 chelsea. shopping spree, especially decor items and shoes. but i’m telling you... chelsea has a gigantic heart, and she’s not capable of ignoring it for too long. it speaks volumes when she say “i think i need some time for myself.” that’s when her closest mates should really stay aware. she won’t take so long to realize it, but the problem with her is that she’s a cryer. the type that has hiccups because of it. so when she allows herself to feel that pain, that void, she’ll isolate herself for a good while. let her. lots of gin and wine before bed, and she might cut bangs. (i do think she can pull them off, but still. she’s one of those).

💔 gary. his remedy is the pub, going out and meaningless sex. until he truly faces his pain and stops everything else, in order to deal with the breakup. gary is the type of lad that doesn’t want people to think he’s suffering, because he despises pity. he has a huge problem with it, and doesn’t let the pain show through his actions. beer and darts, my guy! at least until he finally builds up some courage to face the fact that the relationship ended. thick breakup beard, possibly skipping the barbershop for a while. and definitely self loathing because he’ll blame himself before he faces the facts. no dice on being friends with an ex. if he got to introduce someone to his nan, he knows they might have a relationship for life, and that’s painful for him, but he won’t contact with them again.

💔 henrik. he’s not the type to avoid his feelings, and he wants to heal as soon as possible. a long trip somewhere tranquil and quiet is perfect for him. he’ll connect to nature through climbing and hiking, mostly. definitely some cliff diving, and driving back and forth. he isolates himself, and turns his phone off to not be bothered. he really appreciates solitude while dealing with a breakup. breakup scruff, and after a while, he migh try to stay friends. i don’t see it happening, given the intimacy they shared was deep.

💔 kassam. tries his best not to show emotion, pretends everything is fine and that he wasn’t hit by it. dives into his music, but all he can think of, or produce, sounds sad. it drives him crazy that he’s spending hours and hours trying to forget the fact that it’s over, and his music can only reflect exactly that. he might take some time from touring after a while, not committing to anything until further notice. breakup stubble, skipping the barber, and most definitely avoiding his ex.

💔 lottie. focusing on her occupation, trying her best to fill her head with useful thoughts instead of that spiral of paranoia she’ll fall into, right after the relationship ends. depending on the reason why it ends, i can even see lottie tossing their things in the garbage, or even making a bonfire. but mostly, she’ll be sad for a while, trying to put a brave face on, until she admits to herself she needs some time to heal. her home is her safe place, so that’s where she’ll spend most of her days. she might change the color of her hair more frequently, and definitely will stay away from the ex.

💔 lucas. goodbye, see you next year, because that boy is gone with his bike, going somewhere that doesn’t remind him of them. absolutely nowhere they’ve been to together. breakup beard, scotch and bars. alone, i must emphasize. and definitely will go back to be a regular to the gentlemen's club. cigars, poker and scotch. scotch will be very frequent. time from work, probably gonna volunteer to something in a different country. everything goes to hep forgetting about her, and avoid the empty space he now has to live in. “i know it won’t erase what we had, but i need to this” while holding his passport.

💔 marisol. definitely focusing on studying/working on extreme cases. she needs to distract herself and the only way she knows how is diving in the books. she’ll take more than usual to get used to things because getting used to a new routine is hard, and it’s the small things that will make her break into tears. when she realizes there’s no little notes on the fridge, or that she hasn’t programmed the usual alarms/reminders. she’ll try to rearrange her place to a different setting. just to change everything back once she feels better about the breakup. definitely is the type to cut bangs.

💔 noah. almost nothing changes in noah’s routine. the problem lives in the fact that he “wants to try new things”. he might travel somewhere sunny, to have an adventure, and while he’s there, everything is fine. but when he comes back, his sanity goes to hell immediately. he might sleep on the couch because the bed reminds him of her, and he can’t cook anymore. there’s multiple places they spent so much time together in his house, he might avoid them for a while. noah is probably the type to rearrange the furniture while listening to upbeat songs, only to realize what he really needs is to feel that absence and that pain. “ain’t no sunshine” is playing on repeat, my guy.

💔 priya. coping by partying. partying by going out every weekend day. meaningless sex, drinking, not going home before she’s absolutely wasted. priya can’t look at the empty spot beside her, on the bed. it’s the most painful image she wants to avoid. takeouts, shopping online every time it hurts, and sometimes staying late at work. not working. just being there, preventing herself from having a meltdown because once again, she blames herself on a breakup.

💔 tai. he’s the type to isolate himself, staying in every night, trying to distract himself from her absence. things they used to do together will bring a bitterness out of nowhere, and he might even throw things around, mostly out of anger at himself, for allowing himself to think of her. it’s mostly frustration and gloominess before he can go back to his routine. he might focus on exercising, and i can see him exaggerating it, enough to get hurt. it’s not pretty. usually the boy is perky and happily taking things with a grain of salt, but a breakup with someone that he truly loves really takes a toll on him.

[365days365movies]

April 9, 2021: Some Like It Hot (1959) (Recap: Part Two)

I’m considering a historical post for Marilyn Monroe...

After all, the life and tragic death of Norma Jean Baker is interesting, and I enjoy educating myself about film history and its greatest figures and stars...but I dunno. This isn’t really a starring vehicle for her, and I’d be better off doing a Tony Curtis or Jack Lemmon retrospective. But...I’ll make that decision by the time I get to the Review. We’ll see, is what I’m saying. If anybody actually specifically wants me to make that as a post, let me know! Maybe I’ll do it regardless.

But OK, let’s get into the movie once more! I’m enjoying the shenanigans in this picture, so let’s see more of them! First part is right here!

Recap (2/2)

On the beach, the girls are all having a good time, “Daphne” included, when Sugar suddenly runs into a mysterious man wearing a stereotypical rich person sailing outfit. This is, of course, Joe, but he introduces himself as “Junior”, the heir to the Shell Oil company, and owner of a yacht. And yeah...Sugar’s fooled and Sugar’s hooked. She invites him to come to his show that night, and he says that he’ll try to come.

This is to Jerry’s frustration, as he immediately recognizes Joe (obviously), and tries to expose his trickery to Sugar by going back to their room to tell “Josephine” about the whole thing. But SOMEHOW, Joe’s able to sneak back in and jump into the bath, suit and tie on. Dude’s slick. Sugar leaves, and an irritated Joe gets ready to fight Jerry. But just then, the phone rings, and it’s that naughty boy Osgood (HIS WORDS NOT MINE), who invites “Daphne” onto his yacht after the show that night. Opportunity.

Joe hatches a plan, with the reluctant help of Jerry, who’ll keep Osgood occupied as Daphne. Meanwhile, he’ll sneak onto the yacht as Junior, and pass it off as his own yacht for Sugar’s benefit (and his own, obviously). With the plan in place, the performance goes on that night. And that GIF of Marilyn doing a shrug that I keep using? It comes from this song right here, which serves as Sugar’s leitmotif throughout the film. And...it’s Marilyn Monroe, and it’s also that DRESS, and it’s my teenage crush on Monroe coming back WITH A FUCKING VENGEANCE, and...it’s also a catchy song, not gonna lie. 

Using flowers given to “Daphne” by King Simp Osgood, and a pre-written note, he tells Sugar to meet him that night on the yacht. After the performance, both Sugar and Joe make their way to the docks, and Joe commanders Osgood’s motorboat to get to the yacht, posing with his fake-ass accent all the while. Seriously, either she’s rolling rocks on her Sense Motive checks, or he’s just throwing away natural 20s on Bluff checks. It’s ridiculous.

On the yacht, Joe bluffs some more (equally terribly), and notes that they’re alone on the boat. However, he claims that he’s both impotent and unable to fall in love, emotionally and physically. This is a result of psychological trauma from his Princeton girlfriend falling off of a cliff in the Grand Canyon, just as they were about to kiss for the first time. Jesus Christ, the fact that this is working so well is astonishing. Sugar tries to cure him through multiple kisses, and he responds with very little reaction, the clever devil. Which is particularly difficult as she basically attempts to seduce him. And it’s Marilyn Monroe, so...I mean come on.

Meanwhile, poor, POOR Jerry is forced to dance at a local Cuba dance hall with Osgood, who’s frustrated by “Daphne’s” constant attempts to lead. Nice touch there! The humorous interludes of their dancing interject Sugar and Junior’s make out sessions, which are VERY against the goddamn Hays Code. And eventually, Jerry actually seems to start enjoying his dance with Osgood, and they actually close the place down until morning! Huh. That leaves Osgood none the wiser, as they leave the yacht just as he’s arriving.

Joe goes back to their room, where Jerry’s still dancing the tango, and he has an announcement: he’s engaged! To Osgood! What? I mean, that’s a set-up for some SERIOUS trust issues down the line, but...huh! For 1959, that’s surprisingly progressive...sort of. Jerry’s SPECIFICALLY in this to marry a millionaire and get a quick divorce and alimony payments every month. Huh. I mean, it’s slimy, but at least he’s open-minded. Osgood even gave him a bracelet absolutely covered in diamonds.

Sugar comes in to tell “Josephine” and “Daphne” about her night with “Junior”, and everybody’s happy (I mean, not Jerry, but he’s OK). Shame if something happened, like the arrival of the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry.

So, the mobsters trying to kill Joe and Jerry arrive, under the pretenses of being “Friends of Italian Opera”, and are in search of the two witnesses of the garage massacre. Detective Mulligan is also in search of them, and is in Florida alongside Spats and his men. The two narrowly escape them in an elevator, then immediately go to pack their shit and GO!

But Jerry doesn’t want to leave Osgood so unceremoniously, and Joe feels the same way about Sugar. Over the phone, he manages to get ahold of Sugar as “Junior”, and tells her that he must leave unexpectedly, and that he’s to marry an oil heiress in Venezuela. This crushes Sugar, understandably, but he also gives her Osgood’s diamond bracelet! Aw, poor Jerry.

Poor Sugar, too. As said previously, she’s crushed, and she goes to Josephine and Daphne’s room to get some bourbon. “Josephine” tells her that she’ll move on in time, but she replies that that’s impossible, given that there’s a Shell gas station on every corner. Fuckin’ OUCH. 

Things get even worse when the two leave their rooms via the window, only to be spotted by Spats and his men, and are this time recognized, due to Jerry leaving his gunshot bass on the porch where they can see it. They attempt once again to escape, changing costume to resemble a bellhop and an old man in a wheelchair, but get recognized and chased, until they wind up under a table in a banquet hall where the “Friends of Italian Opera” are meeting.

Led by Little Bonaparte (Nehemiah Persoff), the members are, of course, all members of the mafia. Bonaparte is greatly angered by the massacre, as Toothpick Charlie was a friend of his. Through a comically over-the-top mobster speech, he basically telegraphs that we wants Spats dead. And when they bring a big cake out to celebrate Spats’ birthday (which isn’t for another four months), a mobster springs out of the cake, and kills the entire Chicago mob assembled, all with Joe and Jerry still under the table in front of them.

After the deaths of the mobsters, Joe and Jerry take their chance to escape, while Mulligan comes in to investigate these deaths. Our musician duo manages once again to escape, performing a quick change act and turning back into Josephine and Daphne. They make a plan to escape via Osgood’s yacht (as the mobsters are watching the roads and airports), and Jerry makes the call. Joe then hears the siren call of Sugar, singing a lamenting song in the lounge with the band.

Watching over this sad song, Joe laments his actions, and makes his way down to the stage, still disguised as Josephine. And he just kisses her, right on stage. Which...fuck me, this movie takes place in 1929? THE SCANDAL!!! But that’s quickly diffused when Sugar AND the mobsters recognize Josephine (and Junior) as Joe, and Joe takes off in hot pursuit.

Both Josephine and Daphne manage to escape yet one more time, and make their way to the docks with Osgood. And chasing after them is Sugar, in love with Joe after all that, and the two come together in a loving embrace. Meanwhile, in the front of the boat, Osgood and Jerry have...well, the only thing I already knew from this movie, and arguably the most famous ending to a comedy film ever made. Go ahead and watch it, because I’d rather not spoil it.

That was...a very funny film! Is it the absolute funniest film ever made? I don’t think it is personally, but it’s definitely in my top 10! I’ll analyze Some Like It Hot more soon enough, in the Review! See you then!

[froggywhumpy]

Road Trip

- - -

Hi!! This chapter is from Drew’s perspective (Though it’s still in 3rd person because it’s just easier for me.) because Tabea said it was a good idea and I had no other ideas so here we are :)!! Its not the best but that’s okay!! I hope u like it!!

- - -

Tagging: @milk-carton-whump @whatwasmyprevioususername @myst-in-the-mirror @happy-whumper @abitefullofwhump @starnight-whump @cowboy-anon @whumpasaurus101

- - -

CW: Intimate whump, Drew being a bad person, fear of heights

- - -

Drew was pissed.

As soon as he hung up, he muttered a string of curses under his breath. He really didn’t expect Jason to be as much of a threat as he was turning out to be.

“What did he say?” Drew’s older brother asked. Damion’s car was still stopped, and without the hum of the engine to fill the silence, Ezra’s quiet whimpers from the backseat were now audible.

Drew sighed. “They’ve identified his blood from my living room.”

“Really?” Damion looked surprised.

“Yeah. Once we get back onto a main road, we should get rid of our phones.”

“Good idea.” Drew’s brother sighed loudly. “Is that all?”

“Yeah, we can’t really do anything right now.” Drew rubbed his temples. This was starting to give him a headache.

“Alright.” Damion started driving again. As the car ran over a large bump again almost immediately, there was a muffled sound of pain from the backseat. Drew turned around to face Ezra.

“Do you feel any better, baby?” Drew’s frustrated expression quickly morphed into one of concern and empathy. A part of Drew actually did feel bad for Ez; he was sensitive; he barely had any tolerance to pain, and this was all new to him.

Ezra didn’t answer. Instead, he just stared back at Drew with his big brown pathetic eyes, wordlessly begging to be let go. Drew sighed.

“Don’t look at me like that. Want me to take off the ropes?”

Ezra nodded, and Drew smiled kindly at him. “Come closer, baby.”

Ezra obliged, inching closer to Drew. Drew grabbed Ezra’s wrists, undoing the ropes. After a moment of seeing Ezra’s relief, he carefully pulled the duct tape away from his mouth.

“What do you say?” Drew taunted, teasing.

Ezra didn’t want to say it, Drew could tell from the way he glared at the floor of the car. Yet he still spoke the words Drew was looking to hear; “Thank you.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” Drew didn’t know why Ezra could be so stubborn at times. Unfastening his seatbelt, he climbed out of the passenger seat and into the backseat, next to where Ez was lying down. “Hi.” Drew smiled at Ezra. Just like he would when everything was normal.

There was a long pause before Ezra spoke again, but when he did, it was barely audible and his voice was tight from trying not to cry.

“I wanna go home, Drew.”

The sentence momentarily caught Drew off-guard. Drew thought Ezra would’ve been smarter and that he would have known that letting him go was out of the question.

“I know, love.” Drew sighed heavily. “You’ll be okay. I got you.”

The only response Drew got back was the sound of Ezra crying softly.

- - -

Half an hour later, Damion had lead them back to a main roadway, slowing down enough for Drew to toss his phone into the grass on the side of the road. Damion waited until they were driving through a town about 30 miles away before he too, tossed his phone out onto the vacant sidewalk.

“There, all done.” Damion grinned at Drew in the rear view mirror.

“We’ll have to get rid of your laptop once we get home too,” Drew mused. “How much longer, anyways?”

“Two hours and forty five minutes.” Damion sighed loudly. “Might wanna make yourself comfortable.”

“Great.” Drew sighed himself. Ezra had begun to cry again for what was probably the millionth time that day. Not wanting to listen to that, Drew climbed back into the front seat, turning the volume up on the music.

- - -

Three hours later, Damion pulled into the driveway of his house. Drew had taken great pleasure in watching the anxious expression on Ezra’s face as Damion drove higher and higher up the steep and rocky path to his house.

Damion’s house was located near a small town in Colorado, right near the Rocky Mountains. Distanced from the rest of the town, the house was nestled up in the mountains, just a few hundred feet from the edge of a cliff.

The altitude created cold temperatures; even though it was sunny and perfectly warm right now, Drew knew that as soon as the sun set, the temperature consistently dropped below freezing.

While the path to Damion’s house was mostly wooded, there were places where the forest simply stopped, revealing the sheer cliff edge. Whenever the car drove past one of these places, Ezra’s expression went from anxious to full-out terror, literally shaking with fear. Drew laughed whenever this happened.

Eventually, Damion pulled into the driveway. “Finally.” Drew sighed, the seatbelt unbuckling with a click. He opened the door, walking over to the backseat door of the car.

As soon Drew opened the car door, Ezra backed up to the other side, as far away from Drew as he could. “I’m not- don’t- I’m not going closer to that cliff!!” He cried, pressing his back against the other, still closed, car door.

“Oh, please. It’s not like I’m gonna throw you off of it.” Drew huffed.

“Yet.” Damion snickered, opening the other door to the backseat. 

Ezra, who was leaning on the door that Damion just opened, tumbled out of car and fell onto the harsh, gravel driveway. Drew watched as Damion picked Ezra up over his shoulder, carrying towards the house; Ezra screaming and fighting and begging for Drew to stop him.

It was all Drew could do to keep a straight face. Oh, this was gonna be fun.

[masonscig]

holiday

pairing | mason x aimee lin

word count | 2.5k

warnings | cursing, innuendos [it’s mason and aimee u know what to expect]

author’s note | so our friend group decided to do a little secret santa type gift exchange and i got the lovely @masonsfangs – i couldn’t NOT write maimee !!! not gonna get super sappy on main but i’m so grateful for your friendship, becky and i love you so so so much!

•─────────────────•

Out of all the fucking times he has to run out of cigarettes, it’s the moment he needs them the most.

His hands were quivering ever so slightly in his pockets, but no one would be able to tell unless they were looking for it. And even then, he was hidden by the shade of the door frame – not dark enough, but it’d do.

Why the fuck did he agree to a holiday party? In what world was he the type to go to parties, much less celebrate anything?

The laughter of the surrounding agents, mingling in clusters around the room, pounded at his eardrums like a mallet to its surface. The music flooding through the speakers was even worse, grating at him so intensely that he could feel the individual droplets of sweat start to bead across his palms.

A century’s worth of annual holiday festivities at the agency, and he chooses to attend when there’s ample sound technology to add to the already irritating sound of each voice – he could normally block them out if he needed to, but in a crowd this size? He was lucky if he could manage a couple of seconds where he could hear himself think.

He wasn’t looking for her, no matter how many times Farah tried pestering him about it.

“You got here pretty early, Mason,” Farah started, a teasing smile tugging at her lips. “It’s almost like you’re… waiting for somebody –”

“I’m not,” he snapped – two words were an effort to say.

He was straining himself trying to adjust to his surroundings, but it was like no matter how hard he focused, the noise was still deafening, still restricting.

“Well, tough luck. You know she’s fashionably late to everything,” she said. “Said so herself.”

Farah waggled her arm in front of Mason’s eyes, flashing the bright screen of her phone, the string of charms nearly striking his face.

“Yeah, I get it.” He’d been at the party for nearly a fucking hour and she hadn’t shown. He was growing more and more frustrated with each minute.

By the time a few agents had loaded up the table with platters of both human and… not so human foods, he was ready to bolt. The smell of the sweets mixed with the eggnog was overwhelming.

He’d barely been able to manage a couple minutes at Haley’s Bakery each time he went before he dipped out because he craved fresh air.

“Mason,” Nat called from a couple feet away, approaching him with furrowed brows. “You look pale. Are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine. I’ll manage.” Two word sentences were all he could handle – he hoped Nate wouldn’t notice the slight waver in his voice. He did.

“This isn’t an obligation, by any means. You’re free to leave at any time –”

The side door burst open, and she strode through, her heartbeat faster than normal. A soft flush painted her cheeks, likely from the frigid December winds.

Mason pushed away from the wall, leaving his shaded door frame for the first time that night, completely ignoring Nat’s vocal realization as she figured out why he was there in the first place.

Aimee approached him, still panting from the effort. “Thank god. I thought I ran here for nothing.”

Something about her was different – a good different.

His eyes raked over every inch of her, his nausea fading away as he settled on each change.

Wild curls free from their normal elastic constraint, cheap stud earrings traded for tasteful emeralds, lashes thinly coated and curled, lips a soft rouge – even the flannel was traded for a tinsel lined sweater.

“What’re you looking at?” She asked, lip raised in annoyance.

“Who do you think, sweetheart?” Quick flirtatious retorts were the fastest way to get him feeling like himself again.

She rolled her eyes, trying to hold back a smile. “Oh, shut up.”

His stomach churned as he watched her take a few steps toward the main area. She stopped when he didn’t follow, sneakers squeaking against the linoleum as she swiveled around to throw a look his way.

“You coming?”

He shrugged, hands still trembling in his pockets. “I’m good here.”

Her brows pushed together, brown eyes (almost black as the night sky) flitting across his face.

He should’ve fucking lied better. He didn’t need her worrying and bitching at him because he was a little uncomfortable.

She closed the gap between them, sliding an arm around his waist. “Let’s go.”

“Damn, you really wanna do it outside? You’re adventurous today,” he teased, shoulders instantly relaxing as soon as he felt her hand slip underneath the hem of his henley, cool fingertips grazing the small of his back.

“Maybe,” she grinned, tugging on his torso, leading him to the back doors.

“You haven’t said a word to anyone else here,” he said, planting his feet.

“Since when do you care?” She laughed, flicking a thick curl off her shoulders, clearly not used to the feeling of it on her neck. “You don’t want to be here anyways.”

“Fuck off. I’m just trying to save you from some weird tension with Rebecca.”

She huffed. “Fine. I’m saying hey to Farah, Nat, and… Rebecca, and we’re dipping. Meet me outside.”

He shot her a look, and she shot one right back, challenging him. “Sure,” Mason said finally, shrugging, then strode towards the door with a second glance.

The feeling of the freezing air against his exposed skin was painful to say the least, but holy shit did the knot in his chest vanish the second the night sky was in view.

Within minutes, Aimee pushed through the doors, keys in hand.

“Seems like you were looking for a way out,” he said, trailing behind her.

“Don’t flatter yourself, sunshine. I can think of quite a few places I’d rather be than here,” she winked, unlocking her car and slipping in.

He perched against the side of her hood, feeling the rumble of the engine beneath his hip. Normally he’d be fumbling for a cigarette right about then, but Aimee’s pulse in his ears was the perfect comedown.

The window squeaked as it rolled down, her lips just barely visible over its edge. “Dude, get in. It’s freezing.”

He took a step towards her, pressing his forearm on the top of the door, using it as leverage to lazily bend down. “Where are you taking me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” she teased, her breath curling and twisting in translucent streams around them, their faces close enough that he felt the warmth of it. “It’s a surprise, dummy.”

He pushed away from the window, making no hurry to walk around the front of her car. Through the windshield, he could see her reel her arm back and motion like she was going to lay on the horn, but the sound never came – a muffled cackle met his ears instead.

He settled into the passenger’s seat, wondering how the fuck it felt colder inside of her car than outside of it. “Jesus Christ it’s freezing.”

He kicked a few wrappers out of his way so he could spread his legs comfortably.

“Once we start moving it should warm up.”

“Or we could heat it up on our own,” he said, head lolling to the side, a lazy grin slowly spreading.

“Oh, keep it in your pants,” she laughed, tossing him a glance over her shoulder as she backed out of the parking spot.

The ride there was calm. The stuttering purr of her engine, the soft gusts of warm air, the faint sweet smell of her gloss – sensations he could handle. Hell, sensations he’d come to tolerate.

Aimee’s quiet hum was the loudest of them all, but he didn’t mind it, oddly enough. He found himself timing her soft intakes of breath between hums with the hypnotising cadence of her heartbeat.

Aimee was a symphony without even realizing it.

“Hey, I’ve got a pack of cigarettes in the glove box and a lighter in my cup holder. Knock yourself out,” she said, breaking him out of his train of thought.

“Thanks,” he murmured, reaching for the lighter and the handle of the compartment.

He placed it between his lips, flicked the lighter, and inhaled, but… he didn’t need to. Force of habit, he guessed.

She pulled into a gravelly patch on the outskirts of Wayhaven. He was familiar with the quieter parts of town, but even this terrain was new to him.

“It’s just down this path,” she said, tossing a blanket over her shoulder while walking away.

He flicked the cigarette onto the ground, grinding his heel into the bud without a second thought. With a few brisk strides, he caught up to her, slinging his arm around her neck over her thick mass of hair.

“You look good with your hair down.”

She tried holding back a smile. “I didn’t do it for you, but I’m glad I have your stamp of approval.”

“I know you didn’t do it for me. I’m enjoying it, though.”

She laughed, her free hand raising to grip his forearm. “I’m happy to distract.”

“Distract me from what, sweetheart? You haven’t even kissed me yet,” he teased, leaning in to speak into her ear.

A slight shiver made its way up her back, but she quickly masked it. “You were uncomfortable.”

They reached the clearing, the edge of the cliff open, overlooking Wayhaven. Aimee laid the blanket down and plopped down wordlessly, patting the seat next to her.

She still hadn’t explained what she meant, and he was too prideful to ask.

He sunk down onto the cold blanket, dangling his legs over the edge alongside hers. They weren’t up too high – far enough that most of the stars were visible, but close enough that the carolers strolling downtown were mere background noise.

The wind whipped at Aimee’s curls, strands tossed around her face like a halo of coils, the scent of her shampoo filling the space between them.

“Your face was contorted when I walked in. Like you’d sucked a lemon or something,” she said, kicking her feet.

“I was fine.”

“You were not.”

“Yeah, I was.”

“You know I’m right.”

He scoffed, leaning back onto his elbows. “No.”

“Whatever you say, honey,” she teased, leaning over, shoving her arm against his, but he didn’t budge.

He eased back onto his elbows, nonchalant. “I didn’t really care to be there. You’re right about that much, detective.”

“Ouch. That almost hurt,” Aimee laughed, pulling her legs up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “‘Thank you, Aimee’,” she said in a voice like she’d swallowed jagged rocks – her worst impression of him yet.

He grumbled in response, settling into his propped up position as the crowds thinned downtown. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before she spoke again.

“They’re gonna be turning on the lights, soon,” she said offhandedly, voice barely above a whisper. Like she didn’t want to interrupt whatever was about to happen.

The lights caught his attention before he could think of a quip. Line after line of Christmas lights lit up, a net of stars hovering above the businesses below. The wind must’ve shaken some of the wires – the breeze made them nearly shimmer.

Nothing was said for a while – the hum of the occasional car passing and the rustling of the tree branches was comforting enough.

Mason caught himself stealing a couple glances her way. Something was still a little different about her. Something he couldn’t put a finger on, but it was undoubtedly there.

“They’re like stars,” he murmured, feeling a little different himself as he watched a shit-eating grin stretch across her face.

He was more surprised with his own reaction than Aimee’s childlike expression at the lights.

“Is that holiday cheer I’m detecting?” She said, whipping around, shifting her weight to her hands so she could lean closer to him.

He shifted, reaching out to her, wrapping a curl around his knuckle. He tugged just hard enough to elicit a soft gasp, followed by her smirk, one that was becoming so familiar to him that he wondered for a split second if to others they looked like mirror images of each other.

“I don’t know, are you gonna show me the true meaning of Christmas or what?” He asked, pulling her even closer – so close that their cold puffs of breath intermingled.

“I would, but I don’t feel like getting arrested for public indecency tonight,” she laughed, her breath a soft gust against his face.

“Then why’d you bring me out here?” He asked, dropping his hand, shifting back to lean on both of his elbows.

She shrugged and turned back to face the town. “Thought I’d show you this place in case you wanted to come back. The warehouse rooftop might get old someday.”

His brows furrowed. She’d never gone out of her way to do something like this for him. She just wasn’t the type.

It’s what he liked about her.

Shit was simple. No complications. Just good, casual sex.

But this was… different. She was different.

And then it dawned on him

That’s what was different about her – holiday cheer? Whatever the fuck she wanted to call it, Aimee had a lot of it.

She didn’t have to say it out loud. Her expression was enough proof.

“Rooftop works fine.”

He didn’t know why he said it. He wasn’t upset with her for bringing him there. He was just… taken by surprise.

Not a bad surprise at all. Just unexpected. Kind of… nice.

She’d brought him somewhere that meant a lot to her, completely unprompted, and didn’t try to jump his bones. 

She rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. “This is the thanks I get for trying to get you to branch out.”

He sensed a shift in her demeanor – she was definitely a little upset with him. He hated damage control in most situations, but with her he’d rather do it before it blew into a bigger fucking mess he wouldn’t be able to clean up.

“Aimee,” he said, waiting for her to turn back and look at him. “Thank you.”

He held her gaze, knowing good and well it was hard for him to convey sincerity, but he’d be damned if he didn’t try.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position, their faces close.

A genuine smile stretched her lips thin in a wide grin, eyes crinkling at the corners. Aimee traced the pad of her thumb over the stubble on his chin. “Don’t mention it.”

She tugged his chin forward, lips meeting his in an enveloping kiss, Mason’s experience at the party long forgotten, cigarettes a distant thought.

He’d humor her by indulging in at least the reflective aspect of the holidays.

The shittiest parts of Wayhaven couldn’t touch his best moments with Aimee.

––––

[jamie-leah]

War of Wolves (12)

Season 1 

Episode 12 - Leave No Witnesses 

Bucky x Reader 

Summary: You have been on the streets for the past two years, ever since your accident that left you with the ability to tell if someone is lying. You work as an informant for the white wolf and his mob but you had never met him…until you overhear a phone call that leads you to saving his life. Now he wants you to work for him. Its an offer you couldn’t refuse…right?

Word Count: 3251

Warnings: Smut 18+ Only, Blood, Torture, Death, Swearing 

A/N: Sorry this part took so long, its longer than the others to make up for it! Enjoy Lovelies (btw, my bf says hi!). 

<---Previous Episode   Next Episode--->

War of Wolves Masterlist  Series Masterlist  Oneshot Masterlist 

You rush down the steps and towards the van. You see Sam get out of the back and into the driver’s side and start the van. You get inside and close the door as Sam drives off. 

Bucky lays a hand on your arm, “are you okay?”. 

You nod as Sam calls back, “did you get anything useful?”. 

That’s when you realise that they don’t know about whether that guy lied or not. You nod, “pass me the pictures you showed me. I think he was in there, but that guy told me he did the hit and he was telling the truth. Said that he got paid by someone else, but he wasn’t going to tell me who”. 

Bucky hands you the photos. You flick through them until you pass him the one you’re looking for. He studies it, “Gabriel Reynolds. He’s a pretty low-level mob. Deals at small levels and usually needs help from other small mobs to do it”. 

Bucky frowns at the picture a bit longer before looking at you, “it’s a lead though and its more than what we would have had if you hadn’t gone in there, so thank you”. 

You take the rest of the ride back home to yourself as Bucky and Steve talk about taking Gabriel out and finding out who paid him to do the hit.

Throughout the ride and all up until the moment you opened your mouth in Bucky’s room, Bucky was tense. When you did get up to his room you mention it, “you know the mission is over right? I’m safe and it all went okay”. 

He shakes his head like that’s not the point, so you ask him, “what is it Buck?”. 

You make your way over to him, “I had to watch and hear other guys flirt with you. They got to touch you. They got to enjoy you in that dress…I just don’t like sharing”. 

You hide your smile at the fact that Bucky is jealous, because in all fairness you wouldn’t like watching other girls flirt with him either. 

You lay your hands on his chest and wait for him to look at you, “now why would you want to enjoy me in my dress when you’re the only one that gets to enjoy me out of it?”. 

You watch his lips part slightly as he searches your face. You turn around and move your hair out of the way. Bucky pulls the zip of your dress down slowly. You let the fabric slip off your body and fall to the floor. 

You turn around again to face Bucky in your underwear. As soon as you’ve turned to face him, his hands find their way onto your body. He pulls you in for a kiss, but you pull back at the last second with a small smile. You whisper against his lips, “I’m yours, and you’re mine”. 

You kiss him then, your tongues meeting in the same dance as his hands travel all over your body. When you finally break you gracefully fall to your knees as you undo Bucky’s trousers. He steps out of his trousers and boxers as he takes off his shirt too. 

You stroke him slowly, watching his tongue dart across his lips and his Adam’s apple bob. You can see pre-cum start to leak out, so you lick just the tip, collecting it on your tongue. Bucky moans low in his throat. 

As you slip your mouth around him, Bucky collects your hair in one hand. You suck slowly, bringing your hand up and down with your mouth. You feel his hand tighten in your hair in frustration of how slow you’re going. 

You take your mouth off with a pop as you continued to stroke him with your hand. He looks down at you, “stop teasing me baby girl”. 

You give him a small smirk, “never”. 

He tips his head back with a groan that turns into a loud moan as you start to suck him again. You suck him harder as you start to gain speed. You swirl your tongue around on his tip every time you come back to it. 

His moans and pants fill the room like music to your ears as you feel wetness pool between your legs. You keep sucking harder as you hear his breathing hitch. It wasn’t long before he says, “if you keep going like that I’m gonna cum”. 

You keep going until you feel him right on the edge and then you stop. You give him a smirk. He growls as he picks you up and throws you in the bed. He doesn’t skip a beat as he rips your panties and bra off with his metal hand. 

His cool metal fingers find your clit and is relentless as pleasure builds hard and fast in your body. Before you know it, he lines himself up and sheaths himself inside you. Your hands grasp the sheets as your body arches up to meet his. 

He’s ruthless in his pace as he continues to play with your clit. You can feel your orgasm on the edge already as he pounds into you. Teetering on the edge, Bucky whispers, “cum for me baby”. It was all it took to push you off the cliff of pleasure as you squeeze his cock. 

As you orgasm around him you feel hot spurts of his cum coat your walls. He leans his body on yours as you both regain your breath. You kiss his jaw, “mine”, is all you said. And he twists his head to kiss you deep before saying, “mine”.  

You wake up the next morning with a note scrawled on the pillow next to you: Doll, had business that couldn’t wait, but I’ll send for you soon. Sincerely yours. 

While Bucky was away you decided to go and visit Winter. You open the door slowly and peek your head in. He looks up and then gets up to go and greet you. You come in fully and wait for him to come over to you. 

He rubs his body into your legs as you scratch his head and stroke his ears. You speak to him softly, “hey boy, I’ve been thinking about you”. He licks at your fingers before gently taking your shirt between his teeth. 

He pulls, and you follow as he brings you to the pile of blankets he was laying on earlier. You get the hint and slowly lower yourself on the blankets. You sit against the wall and put your legs out in front of you. 

He walks around in a circle for a few seconds before lowering himself, so his body was flush against your thigh. He then rests his head on your leg and you stroke him as you watch his eyes droop. 

You speak to him softly as he sleeps, “you remind me so much of Bucky. A dangerous animal with a kind heart. And despite the fact that you’re meant to be a dangerous animal I couldn’t feel safer”. 

You’re not sure how long you stay with him like that, but it relaxes you. You felt like nothing was beyond the walls you were in and that you had all the time in the world to think things over. 

Your thoughts were interrupted when you saw the door open slightly. Bucky walks in and smiles at you, “I thought you might be in here when no one could find you. No one else wanted to come in here and get you”. 

You laugh softly, “I don’t blame them really, even though Winter seems too tired to attack anyone”. 

Bucky watches you for a few moments, before speaking again, “we’ve got a plan to pick up Gabriel. We’ll take out any men he’s with and then we’ll take him back to the warehouse. Where you can come and help”. 

You stare at Winter, “I want to kill him Buck. Gabriel and whoever hired him. They didn’t have to kill your men. Our men…I don’t know, maybe it’s stupid but I feel like apart of this family-“. 

Bucky is quick to interrupt, “it’s not stupid. You are apart of this family”. 

You give him a small smile before asking, “did they have other family?”. 

Bucky looks away, “Alex hadn’t long been married. Charlie had a girlfriend with a five-year-old girl. Brian has a mum in a care home and Josh had a younger sister”. 

You’re quiet for a moment, “you know it wasn’t your fault Bucky”. 

He just shakes his head, “then why does it feel like it is?”. 

His voice breaks at the end and with it your heart. You get up gently from the floor and from under Winter. You make your way over to Bucky pulling his head down to your shoulder as your arms wrap around him. 

You murmur, “it feels like it is because you’re a good man. But listen to me, no one could have known that was going to happen. Not even you”. 

His arms come around you, pulling your body closer to his as you hear him take a deep breath of you. You pull back slightly, “what we can do now is get the son of a bitch that did it”. 

He gives a slight nod and kisses your forehead, “right, well we’re not gonna waste any more time so we’re moving tonight. As soon as we get him at the warehouse I’ll send for you-“. 

“I want to come”, you cut him off. You speak again as you see doubt fill his eyes, “I’ll stay in the car, I won’t get in the way, but I want to be there”. 

Bucky nods as he pulls away but laces his fingers with yours. He starts to pull you towards the door, but you also feel a tugging on your other side. You look around to find that Winter has your shirt in his mouth again. 

You let go of Bucky’s hand for a minute as you crouch down, “I’ll be back soon okay?”, you stroke his head until he lets go, “good boy. I’ll have a treat next time I see you”. You give him a few more scratches before taking Bucky’s hand again and walking out.

You were in the car with Steve, Bucky and Sam. There were two vans following behind you. You were all dressed in black. It felt more like a funeral than a hit. 

The hit was hard and fast as Bucky had gotten wind of a deal Gabriel was going to. We had caught them on the way back. Bucky blocked the road in front as a van blocked them from behind. Bucky and the men gave Gabriel and his no time to react as they all exited the car. 

Gunshots ring out into the empty night and you watch it all without flinching. You think about the men they killed and the people they’ve left behind, and you struggle not to go out there and shoot Gabriel yourself. 

You watch Sam and Steve hold Gabriel back as Bucky kills the few men that are left. Once he’s done Bucky turns and punches Gabriel in the face. He punches him again as Gabriel falls unconscious. 

Steve and Sam hand him off to some other men as they carry him and throw him into the back of the van. The boys make it back to the car and get in without a word. You hand each of them a tissue to wipe the blood they have on them. 

You also lay a hand on Bucky’s shoulder as you’re sitting behind him while he’s driving. It doesn’t take long for his hand to cover yours briefly as the warehouse comes into focus. 

When Bucky parks the car outside, you follow the boys into the warehouse. A few other guys follow in with Gabriel still unconscious. They set him up in the chair that Bucky uses for interrogations like this. 

The men leave, just you, Steve, Sam, and Bucky left. It doesn’t take long for Gabriel to wake up, only about twenty minutes. 

He groans and lifts his head and you swear it looks just like a movie. You stay back a bit, while the boys take a step forward. Gabriel takes a look around and looks at the boys in turn, his eyes then remaining on Bucky. 

He smirks despite the situation and the cut and bruise on his cheek, “you’re not gonna get me to talk. You should have killed me back there with my men”. 

Bucky nods, “there is a strong possibility that you may not talk, but I don’t particularly care. The only person that affects is you because I’ll make you a deal. Either you tell me and then I’ll kill you quick or you don’t tell me, and we’ll keep going until you give out”. 

Bucky grabs one of Gabriel’s fingers in his metal hand and snaps it back with a crunch. Gabriel screams despite his efforts not to. Bucky talks over his screaming, “either way, I get what I want”. 

Gabriel is panting from the pain as Bucky grabs another finger. Bucky speaks calmly, “tell me who paid you to take my drugs and kill my men”. 

“Fuck you”, is all Gabriel manages through heaving breathing. Bucky doesn’t hesitate to snap his other finger back. Gabriel screams again, louder this time. 

Bucky holds his hand out to Sam who gives him a pair of pliers, “let’s switch it up a bit”. Steve holds Gabriel’s head from moving while Bucky uses his metal hand to pry his mouth open. You can just about make out Gabriel’s muffled, “no”, as Bucky put the pliers in his mouth. 

Bucky twists and then pulls as a crack can be heard. Gabriel screams again as you watch blood pour out of his mouth. Bucky holds up the pliers which holds a tooth with the root. 

Steve lets him go as he steps back. Bucky speaks as Gabriel tries to get a hold of himself, “just tell me who paid you and I’ll give you a bullet, quick and painless”. 

Gabriel speaks through clenched teeth, “I don’t know who he is”. 

That’s when you speak, “he’s lying”. 

Gabriel looks over to you sharply. You watch his eyes narrow as he tries to place why he knows you. You speak to him, “picture me in a red dress and you might get there faster”. You give him a smirk as you see realisation dawn on his face. 

His face practically twists into a snarl, “you fucking bitch! I should have taken you when I had the chance. You wouldn’t be smiling then, you worthless cunt”. He finishes his verbal assault with a spit of saliva and blood that just about misses you. 

Before you can even react Bucky strikes. He delivers blow after blow to Gabriel’s face as the sounds fill the warehouse. You and the boys watch for a while before Steve cuts in, “Bucky”.

But still Bucky won’t stop until Steve raises his voice, “Bucky!”. 

Bucky only stops to grab Gabriel by the throat as he says with venom, “if you ever talk to her like that again I’ll make sure you see your intestines before I shove them down your fucking throat”. 

Bucky lets him go harshly as he walks away a bit to calm down. Gabriel is left moaning as bruises already form on his face and his nose drips blood. 

It takes a few minutes before Bucky walks back, but he just seems to be a quiet angry instead of calm. He walks over to a small table behind Gabriel. It takes you a few seconds to register what he walks back with.

As he approaches Gabriel he grabs a finger in his metal hand, “I’m done playing games with you”. Bucky holds a thin needle in the other hand and places it under Gabriel’s fingernail before pushing it underneath it. 

The most piercing scream rips from Gabriel’s throat as he tries jerking in the chair. Bucky keeps his hand still with his metal hand as he continues to push the needle slowly. It doesn’t take long for Gabriel to yell, “stop! Please…Stop!”. 

Bucky lets his hand go with the needle still under his fingernail, “are you gonna fucking talk now or not?”. 

“Yes! Just please take it out”, Gabriel shouts. 

Bucky pulls the needle out and puts it back on the table, giving Gabriel time to collect himself. When Bucky comes back he just stares until Gabriel starts to talk, “I don’t know the guy well. I wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t paid me the money”. 

Bucky was growing impatient, “I just need a name”. 

You watch Gabriel fight with himself about telling them the truth. But when Bucky starts forward Gabriel lets out the words, “his name was Isaac. I don’t remember his last name”. 

You speak this time, shocked, “Williams? Isaac Williams?”. 

Gabriel looks over at you, fury still evident in his eyes, “yeah, that’s the name”. 

Steve speaks next, “but why?”. 

Gabriel gives him a look, “I don’t know. He wanted the drugs. I didn’t ask questions, I just wanted the money”.

Bucky’s voice rings out across the warehouse, “if it was just the drugs he wanted then why the fuck did you kill-“. 

“He was very specific about causing the most damage we could. He paid me more for it. Plus, I didn’t want to leave witnesses”, Gabriel cuts him off. 

You can feel the rage in the room as Bucky pulls a gun from behind him. Bucky doesn’t give Gabriel a chance to react as he pulls the trigger. You watch the blood spray as Gabriel’s head lolls downwards. 

The room is quiet for a moment, everyone lost in their own thoughts. Bucky is the one to break the silence first, “I’m gonna kill him”. 

Sam pipes up, ever the sarcastic one, “you just did”. 

Bucky gives him a sharp look, “Isaac. I’m gonna kill him”. 

Bucky starts to walk out the room like he’s about to do it now, but Steve blocks his path, “you need to stop Buck. We need to think about this and plan it properly. Isaac is a much bigger boss than Gabriel was. It’ll be harder”. 

Bucky goes to step around him, “I don’t care. You heard what Gabriel said”. 

Steve nods, blocking him again, “yes, we all did, and I’m just as angry as you are-“. 

You can see Bucky about to cut Steve off, but you beat him to it, “Bucky”. The boys look at you, but you keep your eyes on Bucky, “Steve is right. We need to think about this more rationally and plan. We keep underestimating Isaac. We didn’t think he would be at Darren’s party and we weren’t expecting him in Frank Black’s gallery opening. And now we find out that he was the one that ordered the hit on the drugs and our men. He’s more than just some weird guy that we all thought he was. So, we need to try and find out who the real Isaac is first before we go in all guns blazing and lose”. 

Bucky studies you for a few minutes before putting the gun away and nodding his agreement. He gives a look to Steve that seemed like his way of apologising before speaking to everyone, “let’s go. Get some sleep and we’ll talk about what we’re gonna do tomorrow”. 

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[feverinfeveroutfic]

chapter seven: crash and burn

“we can destroy what we have written but we cannot unwrite it.” -a clockwork orange

She knocked on the door panel. She had no idea as to what time it was, but he did tell her to visit him whenever she could during their stay there in Germany. Sam awaited there in the hallway in her pajamas and she wondered if he even heard her knuckle on the wooden panel. Her body felt as though it was about to weaken and wither away even more from her being wide awake at the dead of night: indeed, a slight chill settled over her shoulders even with it being not too cold there in the hallway.

She knocked again.

“I'm comin', I'm comin',” he called out from the inside the room. A soft click on the other side caught her attention and Scott stepped out of the room with his hair disheveled and his eyes squinted a bit. He tugged his Sam Kinison shirt down his body to maintain modesty, and then he bowed his head and rubbed his eyes.

“Scott?” she asked him in a gentle voice.

“Oh, hey, Sam,” he greeted her as he rubbed his eyes again. “What's going on?”

“I need someone to talk to,” she confessed.

“Um—okay. Come on in.”

He stepped out of the way for her and she made her way into his bright lit room, a small space with merely one queen sized bed right in the middle of the floor: the bed spread had been bunched upon the floor right under the foot of the mattress. His suitcase stood upright against the dresser on the right side of the room. A small white bucket stood upon the table next to that, as did a crumpled up piece of tissue paper.

“Did you just wake up?” she asked him as he stepped around her and took his seat on the edge of the bed.

“I did, yeah,” he replied. “It only feels like I just fell asleep, too.” He cleared his throat and he ran his fingers through his thinning dark hair. “So what's going on?”

“Mind if I sit here next to you?” She gestured to the bed's edge right next to him.

“Not at all. Please do.”

She took her seat right there next to him.

“I spent the day with Alex—and I more or less left him behind at the train station close to the East German border.” Given it was so late, she drew a blank on the actual name of the place.

“What—What do you mean you left him?” Scott gaped at her. Even though he had just woken up, once the words left her lips he was wide awake and in total shock.

“Joey led me away from there because the train was leaving.”

“Did you tell him that Alex was there with you?”

“No, I—I couldn't,” she explained. “It's okay, though, Alex is back with us now. He's safe in the bed right now. But he was—he was pretty upset.”

“Yeah, I would be, too.” He looked on at her, horrified.

“I stood at the door of the train car and I called him when I saw him. He couldn't make it time, though.”

“Oh, I see. The train was aboutta leave and you were calling to him. The fact you didn't tell Joey about it, though.”

“Like I said—I couldn't. It was impossible.”

“Not if he was right there with you.”

“He was kind of away from me.”

“You still could've told him. Seriously, Sam—being on the outside of Anthrax has taught me that Joey's a good listener.”

“Well, it's just—” She cleared her throat. “—they don't really like each other much.”

“So?” Scott shrugged his shoulders.

“So what?”

“So what if they don't like each other? It's imperative that you could've told Joey. Or at least you could've stayed behind.”

“Thing is Joey dragged me onto the train at that point. But—like I said, Alex is back with us so it's neither here nor there at this point. I want to know how I can rectify things between me and him.”

“Well—did you apologize once you saw him again?”

“Yeah, that was the first thing I did.”

“And how'd he react to it?”

“He shouted at me and then he cried and ran back to the room. I stayed behind with Joey—”

“Good idea. You inadvertently gave him space.”

“And then I went to bed early because I felt bad about it. I get in the room and I changed my clothes, and—since it's me, him, Greg, Chuck, and Tiffany, and there's only two beds—I got in bed right next to him and I tried to console him about it right there. I could tell he was awake all the while, too. Oh! I forgot to say that he likened me to Aurora, too. He said that I became the very thing I'm up against and that's what Aurora became.”

“Wow.” Scott raised his dark eyebrows in surprise at her. “How are things with Aurora?”

“Ever since she got married, she's been on such an ego trip. Spends all her time at home with Emile and—they had twins a few weeks ago, too. I mean, you were at Alex's birthday party last year and she announced she was pregnant.”

“Oh, yeah, I was standing right there next to her. I didn't see anything wrong with it, though.”

“But you know, she made his day all about her. And the last time I spoke to her was on the phone over New Year's and—I didn't even recognize her, even over the phone.”

“Wow! So she got married and became a mother. She became a completely different person overnight it seems like.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, when Marge and I got married, I started to feel like a completely different person myself. It's a rite of passage if you will. It's like walking through a hallway but you become a different person at the very end of it. I'm sure you feel like a different person now than you did three years. I'm sure you feel like a different person now than you did on the twenty fifth of September two years ago.”

“I do,” she said in a soft voice as Cliff entered her mind.

“But he likened you to her, though,” Scott recalled what she said right before then.

“Yeah. He said I became the very thing I'm against. I just keep assuming he means the way Aurora's been behaving lately because I went with Joey—” She stopped right in her tracks. “He saw Joey on the train!”

“He probably did,” Scott said.

“He told me he doesn't know what I see in him. But Joey's my boyfriend—I had to go with my boyfriend.”

“There you go then. You answered your own question.”

“There what I go?”

“You chose your spouse instead of your friend. You were all about standing up for him in the face of Aurora choosing her romance instead of her friendship. You wanted her to think of her friend instead. It was something you were advocating up until that point. They have a word for that, Sam. It's called 'hypocrisy.' From what I've seen with him—with Alex, I mean—he absolutely despises that. That's his biggest pet peeve.”

“Is there a way to make it up to him, though? Is what I'm asking.”

“Well, you have to show him that you mean business. That you mean what you say and that you say what you mean. Really show it to him, too. Spend another day with him and show him something that you genuinely feel solid about. Another thing that can help with this is something intense. Show him that you care about him by grabbing his hand and yanking him out of danger rather than merely saying it. At least that's how it works with marriage—I'm sure the same thing can apply to straight up friendship, too. In fact, that also applies to a work relationship, too. One of the last things I told Joey before I left was you better start throwing your weight around here more or I'm out.”

“And he—didn't do it?” Sam was taken aback by that. Joey's playing his guitar felt like something that had been buried for so long and it took Scott's departure for him to realize that. It seemed uncanny in hindsight, that Scott had to leave in order for Joey to blossom as both a lead singer and a guitarist.

“Well, I mean, he kind of did. But I wanted him to be away from the hard drugs and the nonsense that comes with being a rock star. You know, when we were recording Among the Living, our producer kept wanting us to sound like Def Leppard?”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. The original playback was terrible, Sam. Charlie's drums were washed out, you could barely hear Frankie, and Joey's vocals bled out all over the place and it kept pissing me off all the while, too. Charlie was all like 'there's no way we can pull this off, Scott', like he was genuinely worried the record was fucked and we had to scrap it.” He knitted those thick eyebrows at her. “Have you spoken to Danny—Danny Lilker—lately at all?”

“No! Why? What's going on with him?”

“He actually had to scrap Nuclear Assault's second record because the production sounded like total shit.”

“Oh, no!”

“Yeah! When he told me that, I was like 'oh god.' So when Charlie and I were in the studio—all the way down in the Bahamas, no less—I was like 'oh, fuck, don't tell me we're gonna do the same thing Danny did with his record.'”

“So what'd you do?” Sam shuffled her feet underneath her and gave her hair a little toss.

“Turned off one of the microphones and turned up the distortion so there was more of a crunch to it. I told the producer about it and he goes 'okay', really slowly like that. Charlie was extra frustrated so he pounded on his drums extra hard. We were all pissed upon recording and it shows all throughout that record, too. But we saved our asses, though.”

“You still wound up leaving, though,” she recalled.

“Yeah—I was getting married soon and I needed to get away from the lifestyle Joey was living because he took it with him whenever we all got together.”

“I tried to get him out of it, though.”

“Keep getting him out of it,” he advised her. “He doesn't need to be around that shit, and neither do you or I or anyone. I've tried playing guitar while drunk and it's just—it just doesn't work out.”

“So you think maybe I should reach out to Alex in some way.”

“Yeah, actually show him something. He won't believe it otherwise. That kid is smart, Sam—his bullshit detector is more astute than that of most older adults.”

“Do you have any ideas?” she asked him, to which Scott shook his head.

“I'm afraid I don't,” he confessed. “I've crossed paths with him a few times in the past and even though it's enough for me to come to a conclusion with him that he's perceptive, it's not enough for me to tell you that.”

Sam sighed through her nose, and then she turned her attention to the dresser before them.

“You said you share a bed with them down the hall?” he asked her.

“Yeah. Me and him, and also Greg. I'm like nestled in between the two of them. I had to slide out from underneath the covers just to get out bed. You know, so I wouldn't to wake either of them up.”

Scott snickered at that.

“What?” she demanded, and he snickered some more.

“What!” she scoffed.

“Nestled in between two boys,” he chuckled.

“You know, Chuck and Tiffany made that exact same joke,” she pointed out. “How I'm in between two boys.”

“Kissin' all over ya and messin' around.”

“Scott!”

“You know, more often than not threesomes consist of two girls and one guy. But that's—that's kind of hot, though. Blowing two dicks at the same time—or blowing one of 'em and have the other lick you up. Or handling one of them while one of them is kissing you.”

Sam rolled her eyes at that.

“C'mon,” he teased her, “—I'm just tryin' to cheer ya up! I know Joey would do the same for you.”

“Yeah—you know, he would.”

Scott gazed on at her with a thoughtful look on his face once more.

“I haven't even told Marge this,” he began again, “but sometimes I think of going back to Anthrax. Like I think of calling Charlie and talking to him about it.”

“What's stopping you?” she asked him and he raised his left hand to her. “Oh, right, right... you can still do it, though. Don't make the same mistake Aurora made, Scott.”

He sighed through his nose at that.

“Hey—I have an idea. Seeing as it's hard for you to get back into that bed—would you like to sleep here for the rest of the night? It's late right now, too.”

“I don't really wanna bore you being here, though,” she pointed out.

“Why would it bore me?” he asked her.

“Well, because I'm just gonna go right back to sleep, though.”

“You know, being bored to tears is worse than being baffled to tears.” He patted on the bed behind him. “Come on. Come to bed.”

She sighed through her nose and then gingerly, she crawled back to the headboard and she lay down close to the edge of the mattress. Scott crawled back towards her as well and he lay down next to her with about six inches between them.

“I'm not gonna bite, you know,” he promised her.

She then remembered that he was married, and she was by legality herself. There was no way they would touch each other, or at least that was her assumption. She looked over at Scott and those thick dark eyebrows raised up a little bit to her. She sighed through her nose again and she inched closer to him. Still with a few inches between them, she lay there on her back.

“Besides, you looked like you were about to roll right off of the edge of the bed, too,” he noted as he sat up and made his way across the room. He switched off the light and he hesitated for a few seconds so his eyes could adjust to the darkness. Soon, she caught the sound of the covers next to her rustling. She helped him pull them up to her neck and shoulders.

Even though she was legally married at that point, she realized that she never once climbed in bed next to Bill. She had a room all of her own, but she wasn't any part of his family however. He just had there because he needed someone else there with him.

And she left him there. She left him there at the house.

But she couldn't afford to care however, especially after how he sealed up the whole entire house the couple of days before. He had to be left to his own helm and if that meant burning his own house down just to get inside, then he would do it. She felt more at home in New York, anyway, especially since Marla still kept her couch.

Within time, she fell asleep, and she soon awoke to Scott laughing at something.

Sam rolled her head over the plush pillow to find him seated cross legged right next to her.

“What's going on?” she asked him in a broken voice.

“God, this daytime German TV is hilarious,” he told her. “Can't understand a single word, but it's funny nonetheless, though. We even get channels from across the border, too, which is interesting.”

And she couldn't help but think of Alex right then, there in the bed down the hall with his socks and his little shorts.

“Did you eat breakfast yet?” she asked Scott.

“Me? No, not yet. Why?”

Sam nibbled on her bottom lip and then she peeled back the covers. She climbed off the bed and almost fell face first on the carpet.

“Bring back some streusel, please?” he called after her.

“Sure—” she called back as she hurried out the door and into the hallway. She returned to the room down the hall where Chuck and Tiffany were just coming right out the door themselves.

“There she is,” she said to Chuck.

“Hey, where've you been?” Chuck asked Sam as part of his good morning to her.

“I was just hanging out with Scott,” she promptly replied, “do you know where Alex is?”

“He's in the lobby getting breakfast—we were just going there ourselves,” Tiffany replied as she tucked a lock of golden blonde hair behind her ear.

Sam then doubled back to the lobby, and there by the window, all by himself, was Alex, with nothing more than a cup of coffee in hand. He flashed her a cold glare but he never moved from his spot as she came closer to him.

He held the cup down in front of him, with his hands wrapped around the base.

“Alex, listen to me,” she started, out of breath. Fuming, he took another sip of coffee but the fact that he glanced off to the side meant that he wasn't in fact listening to her. Indeed, as she cleared her throat to say something more to him, he downed the rest of it and stood up.

“Alex—Alex—listen to me. Listen to me, please.”

“Hey, Sam!”

She turned her head the other way and Frank and Joey waved at her from the lobby's entrance. But the boy who walked away from her was more important at that moment.

“Alex!” she called after him, and he kept on walking out of there through the other way. “Alex, wait—”

She chased after him even as he picked up the pace. But before he reached the door, she reached out to him and gently touched his arm. He tore around and glared at her, furious.

“Alex, please listen to me,” she begged him.

“I'm listening,” he snapped, disgusted.

She thought about what Scott had told her in those early hours. Her bottom lip trembled at the sight of him before her, so cold and hard. Colder than she had ever seen him before then.

“For crying out loud, speak, woman!” he barked.

“I wish there was something I could do to fix things,” she blurted out.

“Like what?” he demanded as he folded his arms across his chest.

“I—I don't know,” she stammered, and yet she couldn't cry. He closed his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. He then shook his head and turned away from her.

He kept on walking to the glass front doors of the lobby, still with his arms folded across his chest. Sam's eyes were as dry as bone even as she watched him go onward to the curb. She stood there with her arms down by her side.

A pair of hands covered her eyes from behind her right then.

“Hi, Zelda,” she said.

“What the fuck! How'd you know it was me?”

She lowered her hands and set them on Sam's shoulders. Zelda peered into her face with a big beaming smile.

“How'd you know that was me?” she asked her again.

“I had a hunch of sorts,” Sam replied with a shrug and Zelda burst out laughing at that. “Are you ladies playing at Monsters of Rock?”

“Nah—I wish, though! We're just passing through here—playing in Dusseldorf tonight and tomorrow! And then we're gonna be in Amsterdam on Friday.”

“Aw, cool!” Sam stepped out from the doorway and she faced Zelda straight on.

“And then there's going to be a big air show not too far from here. Min and Rose both wanna go to that, but we're happy to treat all of youses to it.”

“An air show? Like, at a military base?”

“Yeah! Joey actually suggested it to us but the two of them were like, 'yeah, let's do it!'”

“When is it?” Sam asked her.

“Um, Sunday, I think? It's the morning before Anthrax and Testament have to take the stage but I think they can make it, though. Even though we're not playing at Monsters, we'll try and catch those two shows, though.” Zelda winked at her.

If nothing else, Sam could be treated rather well by everyone else there in Germany.

In fact, Chuck, Tiffany, and Eric all treated her to a road trip up to Dusseldorf to see the Cherry Suicides as they opened for that one band out of Seattle that Alex had spoken about that night in Providence: Soundgarden.

It was the first trip over to Europe for both bands nonetheless, and while the Cherry Suicides were as tight and big as ever, the second band was just as interesting. The bassist, an Asian man with long fine black hair past his shoulders, and the lead guitarist, a brown skinned man with a long dark beard upon his face, stood in mirrored positions from each other on the stage. The lead singer, meanwhile, had long luxurious jet black curls sprawled over his chest and shoulders, such that the mere sight of him made Sam think of Joey: the big soaring voice only added to the feeling as well. And all the while, she could hardly see the blond drummer in the back: but every so often, she caught a glimpse of that rich blonde wave back there.

Where the Cherry Suicides were powerful, fast, and toeing the line of thrash, they seemed to bounce and meander around, much like the riff that Alex had played for Greg and Eric in the hallway.

And also where the Cherry Suicides were obviously girly and feminine in their prowess, Sam almost expected these four men to have big thick muscles on their bodies. These four strong men with stoic expressions plastered on their faces.

“These guys are loud,” Tiffany shouted over the wall of noise they were making; they stood at the back of the room and they still had to yell at one another.

“Good loud, though,” Eric shouted back, “you know, there's good loud and shit loud.”

“The girls are good loud!” Sam joined in.

“Yeah, and Testament is, too!” he laughed at that.

Something about them baffled her as well. They were called Soundgarden, and yet the name didn't seem to fit them. They were different and yet they could fit a bill with Metallica, Anthrax, and Testament. Given both bands were playing for two nights, Zelda offered to let the four of them stay in their van with them overnight but Chuck talked her out of it.

“We'll see you ladies in a couple of days, though,” he assured her with an embrace. If Sam had to fall asleep in the back of the van, she would, just so she wouldn't have to see Alex in bed next to her that night.

A six hour van ride back down to Munich and she indeed fell asleep next to Eric there in the back seat. If nothing else, she would spend the whole day with Joey instead, and she knew she would have to as well given their lack of a date following her return from Schweinfurt.

She lifted her head and she peered out the van window at the royal violet early morning sky over the top of Munich. She turned to Eric, who had leaned his back against the wall of the van and folded his arms across his chest. He was another one whom she never got to hang out with all that much, and yet she still managed to fall asleep right next to him in the back space there.

She knew Joey wasn't awake yet and thus she stayed back there for a little while longer with her eyes closed and the back of her head pressed flat against the van wall. Soon, the first rays of fresh sunlight shone into the windshield and Eric groaned inside of his throat.

Chuck and Tiffany had gone off somewhere from there; but she finally opened her eyes and she gazed on at the column of amber sunlight as it shone through the glass before her. She thought of that morning back in New York when Cliff was alive and they enjoyed a fresh cup of Mexican hot chocolate together. She thought back to Joey's birthday whereby they stayed in that cabin together.

If only there was a way. If only there was a simple way she could make it up to Alex and tell him that she never meant to upset him or leave him there close to the border. A simple way in which she could snap her fingers and bury the hatchet between the two of them. She sighed through her nose and she looked over at Eric and his slumbering face.

For all she knew right at that very moment, it was close to being hopeless. She need not get worked up about a lost cause such as him. She could just go back to Joey from that point onward.

Careful not to wake him, she opened the side door of the van and she climbed out to the pavement. She left it slightly ajar so Eric could get out himself by the time he woke up.

Even though she spent the morning with Joey and they took a walk about the streets of Munich together, she still had Alex in her mind. All alone there in the hotel room and with no one to talk to given Greg always left the room and Chuck and Tiffany were doing as many couple things as her and Joey. Even though she crawled into bed next to Joey back in his hotel room, she still wished for a way on the other side of that wall, just so she could speak to Alex.

Show him. Give him her word, just like how Scott had told her.

She put her arms around Joey's slender waist and she lay her head against his chest. She took in the smell of his cologne and the soft soap that riddled his rich, sunbathed skin. She kissed the side of his neck before she tucked her head right underneath his chin. She slid her hands down his back and onto the backs of his thighs to feel his softness.

There had to be a way. There had to be a way as she fell asleep in Joey's lanky arms.

And for all she knew, the show the next day could be one to remember.

Indeed, when she and Joey awoke the next morning, and he was all eager smiles, she had to force herself to smile back at him. If only she could tell Joey what she was feeling right at that moment, about him and about her friendship with Alex, that is if she had a friendship with him anymore.

Joey told her something about the new album being dedicated to her and Marla for being such good friends to them, but she never properly paid attention aside from the mere nod of her head and a void smile. She stood there off to the side of the stage as Anthrax performed another brand new song for the German crowd before the large dark castle. They called it “Now It's Dark” and it felt so appropriate once the sun had set over them.

Within a few miles of the East German border and she knew the darkness had settled all around her. If only she had her journal there with her so she could craft out a piece of art so as to demonstrate her feelings at that moment. All the black ink and the cold swirls in the wake of Anthrax's darkness. In the wake of the psychedelic darkness that Soundgarden had bestowed onto her.

So much great art she wanted to make right then and yet all she could do was stand there and watch the four of them perform all of those German people.

Soon, Testament took to the stage. Alex stood on the far end with that little red guitar pressed against his body and those jet black curls sprawled down over his face so she couldn't look into eyes. Chuck's vocals never sounded so strong and it was obvious that Louie and Greg had taken notes of tightness from Rosita and Zelda.

They, too, performed a new song, and one that was new to her given she hadn't listened to The New Order yet, called “Trial By Fire.”

Her mouth dropped open as Alex put his foot up on the amp and appeared to perform black magic upon the red guitar. The disgruntled look on his face and the way in which he tossed his hair back with a flick of his head.

He was giving his all right then and there for them. He was giving his all right then and there for her.

Indeed, he turned towards her side of the stage and walked towards Greg, but her eyes locked onto his for a few seconds. And yet it was more than enough for her to feel his wrath. Those deep eyes as cold as the California mountains in the winter time. Colder than she had ever dreamed of before.

Colder than she had ever imagined and yet burned into her memory even as she made her way back to the room with Joey.

The Cherry Suicides kept their promise and treated them to that air show the morning before Anthrax and Testament took to the stage again later that night. Sam tied her hair up in a tight ponytail and she wore her best low cut white blouse for Joey, who in turn put on a bright yellow Anthrax shirt and a little pendant in the shape of a music note. He held hands with her as they walked right behind Chuck and Tiffany to the air base together: Alex was right in front of them, all by himself still, while Zelda and Rosita were laughing it up with Eric and Greg at the back of the line. They strode past a chain link which closed off the base from the main road; far across the field was a stretch of field where all the spectators gathered around. They were running late, or least that was according to Rosita, but then again, neither of them wanted to turn something like this down, especially since Joey himself recommended it to them.

Despite Joey's soft hand and the memory of holding him whilst they lay in bed together was still fresh in mind, she still kept her eye on that head of jet black curls before them. Once in a while, he turned his head and she spotted that little plume of gray over his brow.

Joey squeezed her hand and then he lifted it up and kissed the back.

“Quite the date, don't ya think, babe?” he asked her with a big beaming smile on his face.

“Yeah, definitely,” she replied; she gazed beyond him to the protective metallic awning across the way and she wondered really how many people were going to be there that day.

At one point, Alex turned his head and he pointed at something.

“Oh, hey, yeah,” Chuck said. Sam looked off in that direction as three planes took off, one right after the other. They had to hustle if they wanted to see the main attraction.

But if only there was a way. If only there was a simple way she could make it up to Alex, even with Joey right next to her. A simple way in which she could snap her fingers and make everything better between the two of them. She sighed through her nose.

For all she knew it was hopeless. She need not get worked up about a lost cause such as him.

She could in fact just go back to Joey from that point onward—

 BOOM.

 The group halted right in their tracks right before the air field.

“What the hell was that?” Tiffany wondered aloud.

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT!” Chuck pointed up to the sky, at the planes as they crashed into each other on the far side of the air field. Shards of metal sailed over the field. The group ducked back from the fence all the while.

Sam felt something hold onto her arm.

Alex yanked her down to the ground to get her out of potentially harms' way. Metal tore and shattered apart behind them, and Alex yanked her away from there. Horrified, Sam covered her eyes. There was another crashing sound and that time Alex yelped out like a frightened dog.

“OH MY GOD!”

He almost stumbled onto the sidewalk. She felt someone grab her arm: she uncovered her eyes to see Eric and Louie guiding them away from the scene of the accident. Sam's ears rang and thus she could hardly hear what Eric was yelling back at her.

They ran away from there and across the street to the awning and the hangar: Sam clutched onto Alex's shirt sleeve and she dragged him further away from the fence.

“Get away from there!” Eric sounded as though he spoke through a metallic tube. “Let's get the hell away from here!”

She peered back in time at the sight of the massive bright fireball as it fell right into the crowd near them, right before their eyes. All those people. Sam turned away from the sight so she wouldn't have to witness it, but it already burnt itself into the backs of her eyelids.

And it was right then she realized what the mysterious man in her dreams meant when he said that the clock was her friend.

That could have been any one of them in the crowd.

That could have been any one of them on the bus.

Their touch before her. The last time she could've have touched them.

Cherish every moment, every touch.

Alex panicked right then and there: his chest heaved from the horror behind them. Sam stood before him with her hands clasped onto his shoulders. The tears in his eyes. The way the color washed out from his face. It was so close to them and yet they were so far away from it, and yet he panicked anyway.

“Oh my god—are you okay?” she asked him. He looked on at her with a look of fear in his eyes. Big like marbles. His brow tightened up with alarm. His face twisted with sheer terror.

“Are you okay?”

She never saw him this vulnerable before.

She put her arms around him and held him close to her. He buried his face in her shoulder like a scared little boy. He wept at the sight: indeed, every time she blinked her eyes, she kept on seeing it there. Even as the fire ball dissipated and vanished into thin air.

“It's okay,” she gently cooed right into his ear. The distant wail of sirens caught her attention. “It's okay—I got you. I got you. You're okay.”

He shuddered and shook in her arms, but she still held his body close to her. She stroked his back and gently rocked him.

“It's gonna be okay,” she assured him in a near whisper. “Everything is gonna be okay. Help is on the way—it's okay.”

Sam held Alex's head close to her chest and he closed his eyes all the while. Eric and Tiffany surrounded them and Chuck stood right before them; the crown of Alex's head smelled clean and soft, as if he had just washed his hair. His hair meanwhile felt as soft as the fur on a teddy bear. Indeed, it was like holding a little teddy bear.

Even though she had no children, she had to hold him as if he really was her own.

The sirens soon approached them to tend to the fire and all those spectators who had been vaporized by it.

Her memory faded a bit from the feeling, and the next thing she knew, she was seated right next to him at the back of the ambulance. The medics had draped blankets over their shoulders and gave them hot cocoa even though it was warm, late August day. Joey took to another ambulance with Chuck and Tiffany while Eric, Zelda, Rosita, Minerva, and Morgan gathered with a few of the medics. Alex sipped on his cup and he sighed through his nose.

He then cleared his throat.

“Thank you for that, by the way,” he told her in a low voice, and she turned her attention to him.

“It was all I could do for you right then,” she confessed with a shrug of her shoulders, “was get you away from the fence and to safety. We were a ways away from it, but—still. We needed to get away from there.”

His fingers quivered a little bit on the side of the cup.

“Hey—” she started again as she realized what she had been given right there. He glanced up at her.

“I really meant it when I apologized to you the other night. I didn't ever mean to leave you behind at the train station.”

He shook his head.

“Nah—the next train was coming in about an hour so I just hung out there until then. The conductors and the workers in there were all real nice to me because, you know—ich bin ein Amerikanischer. Right?” He showed her a little smirk.

She giggled at that and then she gasped in amazement.

“That was good,” she remarked.

“The guy in the ticket booth taught me that one. Anyway, they told me to stay there because those soldiers were literally around the corner there. It was pretty nerve racking, though, to be there near the border of East Germany. But I'll tell you this.”

“What's that?”

“It was... actually kind of cool. I remember thinking, 'holy hell, I am literally a stone's throw from the Soviet Union. Li'l ol' me, of all people.' I never thought I would be that close to it. And like I said, that wall over in Berlin is going to come down some day. When I was talking to one of the conductors—I guess they want nothing more than for Germany to be a single country again. Apparently everyone in East Germany does, too.”

“So it's a matter of 'when',” she followed along.

“Right!” He sipped on his hot cocoa and gazed down at the ground.

“One of the guys in there also taught me a little Russian. You know, just being within range of it.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“'Thank you' is spasibo—'thank you very much' is bol'shoye spasibo. 'Where's the bathroom' is gde vannaya and—I actually just asked him this for the hell of it.”

He turned his attention to her with his eyebrows raised and she stayed still there in anticipation. He cleared his throat.

“Ya khochu—” He lifted his gaze a bit as he recalled it. “—chtoby ty potseloval menya.”

“Come again?” she asked him, and he shrugged his shoulders at that. “Alex, what was that? That sounded dirty. Come on, you are my best kept secret after all.”

“Weird that you assume that,” he teased her as he took another sip of cocoa. “He goes 'little young man from America! We keep you safe from danger down street.'” He imitated a Russian accent at that and Sam giggled some more. They fell back into brief silence until she cleared her throat.

“So—second show tonight?”

To which he nodded.

“Yup, second one and then—we go home. Anthrax keeps on going, but we skedaddle back there.” He paused for a few seconds. “You know, it's funny. I don't really wanna—I don't want to leave.”

“I don't, either,” she admitted. “I kinda like Germany.”

“I do, too.” A little smile crossed his face right then. “I liked England, too.”

“I loved England,” Sam recalled. “Marla and I both loved it.”

“You know what's the one thing you and I still hadn't done yet?” he asked her, complete with a thoughtful expression across his face.

“What's that?”

“Visit Copenhagen.” She paused.

“Oh, damn!” She remembered it, too, and she tilted her head back and groaned in her throat at that.

“I was talking to Lars just yesterday over the phone,” he continued, “and I guess they're up there right now. He told me he'll send us Danish ice cream. Real Danish ice cream, too.”

“I suppose you wanna give me some of that,” she teased him, to which he shrugged.

“If you want. I asked him, 'why can't you just give it to us now?' and he goes 'because I'd have to drive down to Munich from Copenhagen and by then it'll be all melty' and I was like 'alright, alright.'”

She giggled at him again as he took another sip of cocoa. Joey's words from the night of her birthday rang through her mind at that moment. Soon they would have all the ice cream at their helm. She knew Alex would have all the ice cream he could ever ask for, especially if last night's show was anything to go by.

The only thing she could hope for was if everything went well.

Anything could happen. One of them could have a fatal bus crash on a road somewhere. One of them could burn up in a fireball near an air base somewhere. One of them could have no time left.

The clock was her friend, and she hoped to keep it that way, just how she hoped to keep Alex her best kept secret.

[authortango]

“One day, the sun rose in the west and set in the east.” - Prompt #39

This is my first Reedsy Short Story! I’m going to try posting these here semi-regularly until I run out of short stories to post and I have to write new ones. I hope you enjoy them! I would love to hear what others think of my writing in this format!

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal

Word Count: 2,993 words

6:00 am, Lookout Mountain, Golden, Colorado.

One dark, dewy Colorado morning, a group of campers emerged early from their tents for their anticipated sunrise hike, organized by their group leader, Cathy. Cathy inhaled the  cool morning air with tingling satisfaction. To her, there was nothing better than this. The wet morning air was way better than the first cup of coffee. 

As her yawning crew of eight got itself all together, she smiled cheerily and quietly said to them all, 

“Good morning! I hope you all slept well last night. We’re going to hike to this cliff right here,” She pointed, everyone's eyes following to a cliff on the east face of the mountain. “And then we are going to watch the sunrise before we get to breakfast. Everyone ready?”

The group nodded collectively, some more enthusiastically than others, and soon they were on their way. They became more alert as they climbed the side of Lookout Mountain, wide-eyed as they experienced the gentle sounds of nature’s morning song. As they arrived with Cathy on her chosen cliff, she checked her watch and was satisfied to find that they had made it on time, and that the sun would rise in the next five minutes. Turning to her group, she whispered,

“Get comfortable! Sunrise starts in five minutes!” As everyone huddled together to keep warm until the sun arrived, Cathy found a nice spot a little aways from them and eagerly set her eyes on the horizon. She felt these moments to be meditative, and while her companions might prefer to sit together, she felt there was something special about feeling the chilly air turn warm in the rosy glow of Earth’s star. 

Five minutes passed. The area around them seemed to grow lighter, but the sun was not yet visible. Cathy looked up in the sky, a little confused. Could it be too cloudy to spot a sunrise? No, she had checked the weather in the area, and there definitely weren’t any clouds above them. Maybe the sunrise was later than the forecast had anticipated.

Fifteen minutes passed. Cathy felt the air around her start to get warm, and she was grateful for it. But she was a little unsatisfied. She still couldn’t see the sun on the horizon in front of her. Then, she heard a gasp from one of the women behind her.

“Look!” Turning around, she was shocked to see the sun right behind them, continuing to rise into the sky. She took out her phone and rechecked the compass. The cliff they were on was facing east, which meant, somehow, the sun was rising from the west.

9:00 am, Palo Alto, California

Enrique, two states away from Cathy and her hiking crew, did not wake up early enough to see the sunrise. In fact, he barely woke up early enough to be on time for his job. He spent the fifteen minutes he had in his morning trying to find clean clothes in his messy apartment, brushing his teeth, and stuffing a plain untoasted bagel into his mouth before longboarding his way to work. 

At work, his busy morning got busier, as everyone stopped by the barrio coffee shop on their daily commute to work, and it was tough to catch a break when orders needed to be filled. When the workflow finally trickled into a lull, he spent some time chatting with his coworker, Isla. 

Enrique really liked Isla. Mornings with her were more bearable than others, which was why he tried his best to schedule his shifts with her. She was pretty, her bow-and-arrow lips stretching from ear to ear as she excitedly told him about the newest thing she’d learned that day, her large, kitschy earrings flashing like her beautiful brown eyes. Today her earrings were turquoise painted with orange dots. Enrique loved the wrestler mask earrings she would wear during WWE season, or some of the pretty hand-beaded ones she bought at craft stalls. For special occasions, she would wear a pair of cherry earrings, and when Enrique thought about asking her out he would think about those earrings and blush. They were truly his favorite pair, and he often wondered if one day she would wear them for him.

Today, Isla’s face flushed with excitement as she told Enrique her news. 

“Did you hear? The sun rose in the west today! They’ve never seen anything like it!”

“What? No way. The sun’s been doing it’s thing in the east for millennia! It can’t just change it’s habits like that.” Enrique laughed.

“You would think, but NASA even confirmed it on the news! They had satellite footage and everything. They predict it’s only for today, but who knows? The way the world works may change because of this! And it’s only the first day! Isn’t that so special?” Isla exclaimed, beaming at him. Enrique beamed back at her, shrugging. 

“Y’know I guess it is very special. Does that mean it’s setting in the east today instead of rising in it?” He asked. Isla nodded.

“That’s what the weathermen are saying. Hey, a bunch of us are getting together after work to go to the Foothills and watch the sunset. You could join us! It’s gonna be a great big party to celebrate the world possibly changing and all that. You wanna come?” Enrique’s heart beat faster. Pretty Isla was asking him if he wanted to watch the sunset. With her! If the world was changing and Isla was the one asking him out, then today must be really special.

“Absolutely! I get off my shift at five, but I’ll be there! When does the sun set?”

“I think they predicted it to set around 7:30, so we’re gonna be at the park around 7. Don’t be too late!” Isla said before returning to the kitchen.

“I won’t!” Enrique called after her, hoping she didn’t see his ears burning with delight.

3:30 pm, a small adobe house in Palo Alto, California

Being one of the pastry cooks for the coffee shop meant that since Isla got to work early, she also got off of work early. Today, she was off early enough to fret about her party with Enrique that night. In her small childhood bedroom, Isla rummaged through her closet, barely glancing at the outfits as she muttered worriedly to herself.

“What was I thinking? What if he doesn’t like my friends? We don’t really know each other outside of work. What if we get there, and it’s all awkward, and we have nothing to talk about?” 

Her mom, walking past with a laundry basket and, noticing her daughter frantically throwing clothes, stopped, and said,

“Mija, you need me to do some laundry? I’ve got the basket right here.” Isla groaned in frustration.

“No, no laundry. I just can’t figure out what to wear.” 

“To what?”

“I’m going out with a group of friends to watch the sunset. Remember, it sets en el este today? And I invited Enrique, and I can’t figure out what to wear!” 

“Oh chica, you have some nice dresses you could wear! Or you could rummage through my closet if you wanted something más caliente.” her mother said, giving her a little wink.

“Ayy mamí noooooo!”  Isla wailed, flopping on her bed and burying her face in her pillow with embarrassment. Hearing her cry, Isla’s father appeared in the doorway, surveying the mess of outfits.

“What’s all this?”

“Isla’s invited su enamorado to her fiesta tonight, and she can’t figure out what to wear.” 

“Aaaaah. Is this about that Enrique? Kind of a pretty boy, isn’t he?” He asked.

“Very pretty.” Isla’s mom nodded. Isla made another sound of disgust and frustration at her mother. Her father returned his attention to her and smiled.

  “Mijita, su enamorado is going to love whatever you wear. Wear what you feel comfortable in, and don’t do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable.” 

“Also red is a good color for meeting boys. It’s very lucky, and distracting. Especially on the night of your special sunset!” Isla’s mom added. Isla groaned again, and both parents finally left her alone. 

When the coast was clear, Isla lifted her head and stared vacantly at the mess around her room. Maybe her mom was right about the color red, but she didn’t want to wear too much. Then, she spied her yellow dress tossed next to a pair of red flats, and knew immediately what she wanted to do.

She only hoped her date would be as interesting as her look.

5:30 pm, Bodega Square in Palo Alto, California. 

Enrique had just exited a flower shop in a shopping center that Palo Alto called ‘Bodega Square’, with a bouquet of sunflowers, and was now strolling down the street. As he walked past the shops and corner-stalls, he window-shopped for something else Isla might like. Something that showed her that he cared about her, and would like to take their friendship further. 

As he was about to leave, he happened upon a very small shop, run by an ancient looking man. The shop stand was no higher than Enrique’s knee, and he couldn’t help but notice the flash of the gold jewelry, all made with the same enchanting orange stone. Immediately, Enrique knew he had to get something for Isla. 

“Excuse me,” he asked the man, squatting so as not to talk down to him. “What kind of stone is this?”

“Ah! This is called a sunstone! It is a very lucky gem, especially on days like these!” The man cried with enthusiasm, waving his arms to draw attention to the jewelry. His accent was unfamiliar to Enrique, but it all made for a very engaging conversation.

“Is there a piece you would recommend? I’m thinking about getting something for a girl I’m seeing tonight.” Enrique asked

“Ooooooh for a girl! Well you could do a necklace, but honestly, every girl gets a necklace, and eventually it becomes just another trinket. Here is something truly special.” The man said, turning around in his small shop for the item. He then showed Enrique a ring, fashioned to look like a small sun, with a beautifully cut sunstone set in the middle.

“This one is a very special piece, and especially in this, the day of our beautiful sun’s awakening!” Enrique looked thoughtfully at the ring. It was charming to be sure.

“Are you sure this will show her how I feel?” He asked.

“Absolutely! As clear as the sun speaks!” Enrique wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but as the man was so enthusiastic, and it was pretty, so he bought the ring. Once purchased, he strung it on the surfers necklace he wore to match his shark-print Hawaiian shirt. Bidding the man goodbye, he hopped aboard his longboard to make up for lost time, rolling through the busy streets of Palo Alto with ease.

The sun’s orange glow bathed the city in light as he rode along, and suddenly, he started to hear a whispering. The voice was far off, but it sounded like someone was trying to speak with him. He stopped his board for a moment, and listened, but there was not a sound around him. At least, not of talking. There were sounds of traffic, both cars and people walking, but not a voice like the one he had heard. Slowly, he began to board again, wondering if he had imagined it. 

When he emerged from the busy street and turned towards the Foothills park, he heard the voice again, this time a little louder. The sun was in its full glory, the golden hour settling on the town before sunset. Enrique could hear a woman speaking, just enough that he could make out her words, but not enough to make sense of them. Instinctively, he reached for the shark tooth necklace to help him think.

As soon as he touched the ring, he heard the woman’s voice loud and clear. It was as if he had put on noise cancelling headphones, and all he could hear was her. 

“Microorganisms are fascinating. It’s funny to see all the things they do when their routine changes. I mean, it wasn’t so drastic a routine, was it?” 

Immediately Enrique let go of the necklace, shocked and confused. The voice stopped, and he looked down at the ring resting on his chest momentarily, putting the pieces together as the sun glinted off of its likeness.

The man had said, ‘As clear as the sun speaks’. 

Quickly, Enrique fiddled with the clasp on his necklace, slipped the ring off of the string and onto his little finger. The voice came back again, in the same comforting, warm tones of what Enrique assumed had to be the sun. He stood there for a moment, listening to what she had to say.

“Are they ever warm enough? I can never tell. It takes so much energy to send them warmth. It’s why half the year I can only warm one side at a time. Thankfully they figured out fire.

“It seems we have a new listener. It’s so enchanting to know someone else can hear me for a change. Hello microorganism! Can you hear me? How was your day? I’m glad you found a stone to tune in with. Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Enrique, startled, felt as though she was speaking to him directly. And he did have somewhere to be. Cautiously, he started to longboard again, listening to the sun’s idle chatter as he did.

“It’s amazing, these microorganisms cover a planet so small and yet their lives end up being so huge. They’re not huge to everyone, but it’s hard not to become invested when you’ve been looming about ninety-three million miles away from them for so many millennia. I wonder if they feel the same, and that's why they get so excited over a routine change. I should stop startling them so, but it’s so funny to see how they react. I wonder how fast the earth would spin once one of those satellite people got their hands on a sunstone gem.” 

This is crazy! Enrique thought. I wonder if she can see me. How can she observe anything when we’re so small?

“Observance is nothing. It’s not hard when every other life form in space is either non-complex, non-existent, or inhabited by your brothers and sisters. When I observe microorganisms…how do I explain it? When microorganisms use that dish to look at something even smaller than them, the clear one? The one that sometimes sets things on fire? I use something like that, although much bigger. It’s nice to follow your followers. I’d been following the Mayans for centuries because it was so flattering that they noticed me. It’s a shame they died out.”

Enrique, fascinated but overstimulated, blocked the sun’s jabbering out of his mind. It was close to setting, and he had just reached the Foothills. He scanned them briefly, eager to find Isla and her group. He spotted a large group to his left, and, assuming it was them, headed in their direction. He was correct, and when he saw Isla almost stopped in his tracks. The sun crooned ,

“Ooooh, she is very lovely. I can see part of why this one likes her. I hope she likes the ring.” 

Isla caught Enrique’s gaze and smiled bashfully. She wore a yellow sundress that flared out around her knees, and was patterned with little white flowers. She wore a golden headband with little metal rays like the sun, and her red flats matched the cherry earrings that made Enrique blush. If the sun wasn’t setting above them, Enrique would have sworn it felt like high noon without a cloud in the sky. She was stunning to him. She approached him excitedly and exclaimed,

“I’m so glad you made it! And look at those lovely flowers! You really shouldn’t have. Come on, come join the party! I’ll introduce you to my friends.” Enrique remembered himself and smiled enthusiastically back at her. 

“That would be excellent! But first, I got you something else. Hold on.” Enrique pried the ring off his little finger and delicately handed it to her. But Isla did not take it. She blushed so hard, that for a moment he thought he had embarrassed her and that she did not like it.

“Oh Enrique, you didn’t have to get me anything.” She breathed, enchanted by the glint of sunbeams bouncing off the ring.

“Do you like it? I’m sorry if it’s too much. I thought because it was a special day, it might be fitting. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want it.” Enrique explained.

“No no, I love it! I- I just wasn’t expecting a gift, and I don’t have one for you.” Isla stammered. This was so awkward, just like she had feared! She was stumbling for words, flustered, but she did like the ring. Luckily, she didn’t have to think of anything to say..

“Isla, you want to know something special about the ring?”

“What’s that?” She asked. Enrique took a breath, trying to clear his head so the right words would come to him. At that moment, he thought of the old man, and smiled.

“It’s perfect for you, because you both shine as clear as the sun speaks.” Isla smiled, a feeling of relief settling in her chest. There was no awkwardness between them, just easiness. She allowed him to hold her hand, blushing at how gentle his touch was as he slid the sunstone ring on her finger. Then, her eyes widened with wonder as she heard the sun speak. Enrique beamed at her, relieved that they both shared this secret, this new bond between them. And as the sun set over them, Isla heard her say,

“Ah! Lovely. Perhaps I’ll do this again sometime. Goodnight Earth. Enjoy tomorrow.”

[shushushleep]

A Broken Heart And A Spotless Mind (Part 6)

Word Count: 2000

Warnings: Violence

I’m back again lovely people, I just took a break from everything but I’m here now in tip top shape. Hope you like this one. the italics is about B!D”s dreams

Part 1/ Part 2/ Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5

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

A series of slaps and punches from Henshaw is the price you pay for every snarky remark that you retort, bruises form to your face and you can taste the blood dripping from your lips. You never stop, until he punches you at the gut caused you to spit blood, Lillian entered the room and grabbed your face harshly.

"Look at you, how pathetic." —Her hands are digging into your face much deeper—"No one would save you from this one, not even the great Kara Danvers." She releases you from her grip but before you have time to process her statement, He knocks you out.

A white plain door stands in front of you, out of curiosity you opened it and entered the room. Sounds of laughter and music filled the atmosphere, you're at your sister's apartment and its thanksgiving, all of your friends and your mom are present, Lena was at the balcony lost in her thought, you made your way towards her but something catches your attention, something happening in the kitchen, Kara is cooking the turkey with heat-vision, you close for a second to brush it off but then you felt the wind brushing through your face and hair, you open your eyes in shock, you're flying, You and Kara glide through the starry night sky, you blinked, then found yourself sitting at the couch then Supergirl entered the room brushing her suit, you're about to say something but you we're caught off as another you passes you by and greets her in excitement

"Kara, you're back" and hug her."

"Miss me already?" she joked as she returns the hug.

"It can't be." You deny yourself but then outside the window you heard a loud crash, you looked at the window and you saw her badly beaten by Reign.

Every memory of Kara rushes through your very eyes, even the once in Midvale when you're still little. All of it stopped when you closed your eyes once again, the noise around you became silent for a moment but you heard soft sobs as you open your eyes once again you say you, Alex, J'onn and a sobbing Kara.

"The two of you don't have to do this." Kara said while facing you and Alex

You cupped her cheeks and looked at her. "We have to Kar, we can't risk Haley knowing about your secret identity, you've protected us all the time, now it's time for us to return the favor."

You feel a tap on your face, causes you to wince and wake up.

  “(Y/N), wake up.” You know that voice, that all too familiar voice. You shot your eyes wide open and you saw your sister.

“Kara? Kara!” You were so confused and happy, you didn’t know if you’re hallucinating or not.

“Are you real?” You tried touch her hair but she immediately stopped you, she unties you frantically

“We have to move now.” She grabs you by the arm and shot to the door

“Kara, this is dangerous. There could be kryptonite scattered here not to mention Henshaw and Lillian.” She was silent and was occupied in finding your way out and she’s moving in a really fast pace.

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

“Supergirl and Dreamer, what’s the status?” Alex speaks through the intercoms.

They’ve stumbled across a room with a door widely open, both of them enters to examine it, they only see a chair with a loosely rope around it then Kara bends down and looks at the drops of bloodstain on the floor, Nia holds the rope and sees if she can use it to find you, she closes her eyes and saw you being tied up and slapped and punched several times.

She opened her eyes and breathes heavily “This is where they held and beat up (Y/N).”

“We have to find her now.” Kara stood up and exits the room with Nia. Henshaw sees the two of them and blasted them with his heat vision but Dreamer deflects his attack by shielding her and Kara

“J’onn, I’m gonna need some help here.” Says through her earpiece

“I’m on my way there.” J’onn replied

Nia looks at Kara from behind her “Go get (Y/N), we’ll handle this one.”

Kara nods and shoots up to the sky and scans the area.

“Alex, (Y/N)’s gone, she’s not in the room, and we’ve searched the whole building.” She said

“Brainy and I will check the security footage and see what we can find about (Y/N)’s whereabouts.” The director affirms.

She ordered Brainy to hijack the security system and check the footages then she switched the line to Lena

“Lena can you hear me?”

“Alex, what happened?”

“My sister is not in the building, Kara and Nia checked all the rooms and scanned the whole area, (Y/N) isn’t here.” Alex admits to her.

Lena didn’t respond to Alex, instead she rushed to the room where her step mother says where she was and burst at the door and approached Lillian.

“Where did you hide her?” Lena blurted out in frustration, tightening her grip into the suitcase.

Lillian turns around to face her with a smirk all over her face and looked Lena in the eyes

“Lena, so nice to see you.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s somewhere safe. By safe I mean somewhere you and your little super friends won’t find her.”

“WHERE DID YO—“Lena’s sentence was cut off by Eve, who injects a serum in her arm and instantly makes Lena a drossy.

Lillian’s hand is digging into Lena’s face and forces her to look her in the eyes. “You see dear, you’re not the only one with back up.”

--------

“Director Danvers, I’ve found something.” Brainy reported it to her immediately then Alex came rushing to his side as Brainy plays the video from his tablet, revealing you in an unconscious state while Supergirl wakes you up then unties you and leaves the room with you then heads towards the exit, at the different camera, they saw you and ‘Supergirl’ climbs up in a black van. She immediately informs Kara about the footage that they found.

“Kara, we know where (Y/N) is.” —she pauses for a moment—“She’s with Red Daughter, they’re in a black van.”

“I’m on it”

“Kara”

“Yes Alex?”

“Be careful”

“Always.” With that Supergirl flies and sees the black van heading for the mountains and she follows it.

---------

Lena gained her consciousness and squirms but the rope is too tight

Lillian approached her “Oh good, you’re awake.” She walk towards Lena

“Oh please like you didn’t attempt to kill me several times.” She replied

“Nonsense” —Lillian looked at her directly and motions Eve to hand her the suitcase—“Now tell me the code?”

Lena smirks at her “Even if I tell you the code, you can’t open it.”

“We don’t have time for your little games Lena.” Eve is pointing a knife directly on Lena’s throat

“I’m not afraid of a puppet holding a knife.”

“I can rip your throat right now!”

“Oh I dare you Eve”

Lillian cuts off the two and tries to open the briefcase but then a censor pops out at it and scans Lillian

A robotic voice says “Access Denied.”

She faces it to Lena

“Be my guest, mother.”

“Access Denied.” The robot says it again

“Well, you see mother, only (Y/N) can open that briefcase.” Lena stated

Lillian clenched her teeth and balls her fist in anger then she shouted “Eve! Tell Linda that we need (Y/N) back here, right now.”

Eve dials Linda and informed her that the plan has changed that they have to get back right now.

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

After the phone call Linda made a U-turn, Kara alerted Alex immediately about the location and then responded that she and the DEO agents will meet her there.

“Kara? Why are we going back?”

Linda didn’t answer but then suddenly the Supergirl showed up and stopped the van. Linda unbuckles both of your seatbelt and grabs you by the back of your shirt and shot up to the sky then Supergirl followed the two of you..

“Ok, this is pretty high right now, Kar.” You said

“I’m not Kara!” Linda says in a thick accent

“Don’t hurt her; she has nothing to do with this.” Kara pleads

“Drop the suit or I’ll drop her.” Linda demanded

Kara pressed the plate on her chest to retract her suit, hid it away. You look back and forth to the two of them, they look identical. The moment after Linda sets you down to the ground Kara immediately charges her to get Linda away from you. You looked at the two of them flew to the sky. You got to the van and start the engine and drive off to follow the two of them. They ended up flying near the cliff, you stopped the van and search for anything that might be useful then you found something at the glove compartment, a black velvet box, inside of it is an unusual type of gun and a kryptonite bullet. You immediately load the gun and got out of the van and then marches towards then.

“Which one of you is my sister?” You shouted and caught your attention; Linda recognizes the gun that you’re holding.

“She’s Red daughter! She’s the one you need to shoot.”

“What! (Y/N) I’m Kara” The other one says

“No, I’m Kara!” She zaps her with heat-vision

“Alright enough, you two. There’s only one way to settle this, pop quiz about Kara Danvers!”

You cocked the gun ready to fire “The mechanics is one wrong answer, you’re gone.”

You asked a bunch of question but both of them answered correctly at the same time but then you remembered something that only Kara would know. You walked around the two of them so you can be much nearer to the cliff, gun pointing at the two of them. “Last question, Kara how good is your reflexes?” The two of them reacted differently one is completely confused while the other widely opens her eyes, she rushes towards you and you throws the gun at her and shot Red daughter. You face towards the ground, you we’re free falling but then Kara caught you in midair.

“I would never doubt your reflexes again.” You said and smile at her.

Her face has a hint of worry in it but your statement made her chuckle “Please don’t do that again. Alex and Mom will kill me.”

You two snicker and fly back to the cliff and found a DEO agent handcuffing Red Daughter, and a worried Alex pacing around and preoccupied with her phone.

“Alex!” You shouted as soon as you landed on the ground and run towards her and she run towards to you to and hug each other.

“Are you alright? You got a bruise forming on your face little one.” She cups your face

“I’m good, just a few bruises and cuts. Nothing I can’t handle.” You reassured her then you saw Dreamer and J’onn along with a handcuffed Henshaw.

“Nia, J’onn!”

“(Y/N)!” They respond in unison, J’onn gave you a big papa bear hug, and then Nia gave you one of the tightest hug.

“Nia, I can’t breathe.” You squeaked so she loosen it up a little bit

“I just missed you so much you goofball.” She squealed not letting you go

You chuckled at your best friend’s declaration. “I’ve missed you too Nia.”

You looked around and notice that you can’t find a certain someone, you pulled away from Nia

“Where’s Lena?” You asked but all of them stopped from their tracks with the sudden realization, Brainy then came rushing towards Alex showing his tablet and on the screen is another video just sent recently by Eve. A vile, cold voice of Lillian Luthor is the only sound that you all hear.

“(Y/N), if you want Lena back.” —She showed Lena, whose tied up on the chair—“Come and get her.”

[frustrated-writer-skyeknight]

S.q.u.a.d. reacts to the Lion King

Based on this article: I watched The Lion King as a grown-ass man.

"Man, Disney should just stop with the remakes already." Jamie sighed as he took some textbooks from his locker, "I mean, I think the Lion King one was just a CGI version of the original."

Jack frowned, scratching the back of his neck. "There was an original version?"

"What? Dude, of course there is. It's a classic. Everyone's seen it." Jamie snorted, turning towards the approaching brunette trio. "Hey guys, you know about the old Lion King movie, right?"

Dimitri shrugged, "I know there's a new lion movie out." He said. "Looks more like a documentary thing, if you go by the trailer."

"Didn't have cable growing up," Jim replied, "still don't. Plus, Disney is overrated anyway."

Hiccup hummed thoughtfully, "What's lion king?"

Jamie stared at his friends dumbfounded. "Okay, we are so having a movie night now." He said.

Later that Friday evening, Jamie and his friends find themselves in the den of his home, parents out with the younger sister, and three bowls of popcorn with different flavors; cheese, butter, and barbeque. Plus, two boxes of pizza.

"Wow, Jay," Astrid whistled as she settled on a spot next to him, "you sure went all out for this."

Jamie shrugged, "Disney is my childhood." he said.

"I still say they're a gold digging empire," Jim deadpanned, but took a handful of popcorn. "But I never say no to free food."

Dimitri took a slice of pizza as Jack had too, and they 'toasted' to it, "Preach."

"Okay guys," Jamie rolled his eyes as he set Netflix on the television, "at least wait for the movie to start. Since I brought it up earlier, let's start with 'The Lion King.' I've got tissues ready in case you need it."

Jim snorted, rolling his eyes. "It's an Animated kids movie." He said. "Nobody cries over those.

───────────────

🎶On the day we arrive on the planet~🎶

"Well, opening song sounds good." Jack hummed, "wouldn't mind getting it stuck in my head. Unlike that overrated Queen Ella single one."

Dimitri groaned, "Ohmygod, yes." he groused, "People will not shut up about it!"

"Okay boys." Astrid rolled her eyes, "focus."

They did so, but it didn't take long for someone else to speak up. "Whoa, now hold up. So, that monkey dude..." Jim frowned, and Jamie felt the need to pause the movie. "I mean, come on, this monkey chief dude comes hobbling around on a walking stick earlier, and you expect that he can hold a damn newborn over a cliff? That's shady, man."

"Just watch." Jamie rolled his eyes, smirking at his friend's offended expression. "Also, I'm gonna have to preemptively warn you to suspend your disbelief for a lot of these movies." He hits play once more.

And they watched.

"He's as mad as a hippo with a hernia."

"That's some mad alliteration skills," Jack mused, "ugh, alliteration. Still confuse that with assonance."

Hiccup stared at his boyfriend, "The fact that you even bring that up casually..."

"Okay, feeling that Scar's the bad dude here." Astrid interrupted, "but I'm liking the accent."

Rafiki is painting Simba on his tree...

"There's that shady baboon butt again, doing grafitti without his goddamn walking stick." Jim snorted, "I don't trust that punk."

Dimitri chuckled, giving his boyfriend a one-arm hug. "Pup, you have trust issues. It's your thing." He cooed, "it's a cartoon monkey, he can't hurt you."

"But he can hurt his fellow cartoon animal peeps." Jim countered. "Shady bastard."

Dimitri rolled his eyes, "and they say you're a cold, insensitive prick." He snorted.

"Wait, a Lion in a Pride mates with all the lioness..." Hiccup frowned, his eyebrows knitting together. "He's literally sleeping with his wife and the rest of his, uh, concubines in a single..."

Jamie groaned, "You're ruining my childhood here."

"So, this is that famous overmemed scene." Jack snorted, "pretty grand, I'll give it that. Tempted to google what the shadowy place is, though."

Jamie shook his head, taking Jack's phone. "No spoilers." He said. "It's coming up soon anyway."

"Forgive me for not leaping in joy. Bad back, you know."

Hiccup nodded faux sagely, "Scar is me at every social gathering." He said.

"No, no! Don't, you gullible lion cub!" Jim shouted at the TV, much to everyone's amusement. "THAT DARK PLACE IS OBVIOUSLY NOT AN ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD, SIMBA. DON'T DO DUMB SHIT. LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS. GO TO LION CUB SCHOOL!"

Dimitri snickered, gesturing to his soulmark. "He's talking in capslock again." He said.

🎶"I just can't wait to be king~!"🎶

"Okay, I'm so finding a playlist in Spotify now." Jack mused, scrolling at his phone that Jamie returned earlier. "These tunes are gonna be my jam."

Hiccup shrugged, "I still find it funny that the animals are so okay with their predators being their king. No revolution sparked by discontentment at all." He pointed out. "Sounds kinda fishy."

"Okay, anyone else feeling kinda awkward with Simba and Nala's sexual tension?" Jim voiced out, "I mean, they're kids... Or cubs... Whatever. They're young."

Hiccup nodded, "Not to mention, cousins. Being in the same Pride..." He trailed off as Jamie kicks him lightly on the shin.

"Again, ruining childhood for me." Jamie sighed, and Astrid rubs his arm soothingly.

Jim points at the screen accusingly, "Ah! An elephant graveyard!" he gawked. "okay, was wrong on that, but still creepy as hell. Especially now that practically everywhere in the Savannah is an elephant graveyard... Even a rhino graveyard."

Jack shook his head, "Guys, you need to chill."

"Okay, these hyenas reminds me of that old Cartoon Network show, Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy." Hiccup mused, "Especially Ed, who's basically Ed. Can't be a coincidence."

Astrid snickered, "He's also you; laughing or making jokes to laugh about in inappropriate situations." she teased. "Got us in trouble a lot in those 'bring your kid to work' events."

"Aaaand Mufasa comes in to save the day," Jack slow clapped, "knew it. But boy, is Simba grounded. You done fucked up, kid."

"I'm surrounded by idiots..."

Jim huffed, leaning back against the couch and Dimitri's arm. "Mood." He deadpanned. "Also, calling out their cruelty to animated zebras."

"I know right?" Dimitri humored him, "where the fuck is PETA when you need them?"

Jamie snorted, smirking at them, "Uh, I don't know... Reality?"

"Doesn't feel like it either." Astrid quipped, "elephants still dying everywhere."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Fucking chill guys."

"Ah, Hiccup, look. How's that for discontentment?" Astrid pointed at the screen, "Scar's not satisfied with being sass king of the jungle. Wants to run for real king, that can't end well."

Hiccup shrugged, "I'll take it." He said, "and it's not a jungle, actually.

"Dude has mad pipes though." Jack pointed out, "I'd definitely attend the opening night of 'Scar: The Musical.'"

Jamie hummed thoughtfully, "Huh, a lion king remake with his perspective instead would be an improvement." He said.

"Simba, it's to die for!"

"Okay Hiccup, take notes." Astrid quipped, "Scar's pun game is topnotch."

Hiccup snorted, tossing a throw pillow her way. "Must've learned from me." He shot back, "I'm a master."

"Still," Astrid said, laughing as she threw the pillow back, "I have the feeling this is the point of the movie I'm gonna start hating Scar."

Jamie cringed as the stampede started, and he paused the movie much to everyone's frustration. "Okay, guys. Again, maybe you need ti—" he trailed off.

"PLAY THE DAMN MOVIE!"

Jamie did so. And he found it strangely satisfying when everyone cried out a despairing 'NOOOOOOOOOO!' along with Simba as Mufasa fell to his death.

"Mufasa is dead?!?!" Jim gawked, "he died?!!? Just like DUMBLEDORE?!?!?! Just like MY FATHER?!" He whimpered, leaning on Dimitri as his boyfriend reached for the box of Kleenex from Jamie. "Feeling unusually upset right now. It's a damn kid's movie. It has no right to be hitting it home, and right to the feels."

Dimitri sighed, patting his back consolingly. "There, there..."

"Fuck you, Scar. Just..." Jim groused, "Fuck. You."

Astrid sighed, taking a sheet from the Kleenex herself. "Gotta say, though," she started, "for a schemer like Scar, he sure does skimp on the quality of his henchmen. Letting Simba go is gonna bite him in the ass someday. Guaranteed."

"Okay," Jamie paused the movie. "intermission. Who needs a bio-break?"

Jim just stood up and went for the bathroom. The rest finished the pizza and Dimitri made sure to leave some for Jim.

"You good, Jim?

"Shut up and play the movie." The brunette groused, "ugh, I can't believe I cried. Damn you Scar."

Jamie laughed as he plays the movie once more. "Told you you'd need tissues."

"Screw you, man."

───────────────

"Mufasa's death was a terrible loss..."

Jim eats his pizza. He continues to curse Scar as he speaks of Mufasa's death. "Don't fall for his crap, come on!" He scowled. "Zazu, he fucking slammed you to a rock!" He sighed, "Why the hell are you letting him become king? This is why you animals are getting extinct."

"It's.... really not." Hiccup protested.

Dimitri massaged his shoulders, "Jim, you can print out a picture of Scar and dart him, okay pup?" He soothed.

"The hyenas look like they can get shit done, though." Jack mused, "well, except for giving Simba the slip."

Jim hummed, "Oh, baboon guy. Almost forgot about this dude." He said. "Cutting him some slack because I feel he's going to drop some Yoda shit on this bitch."

"You get so feisty when you're irritable." Dimitri mused, "and this is why Scroop secretly has a thing for you."

"WHAT!"

"What?"

"Don't worry," Dimitri shrugged, kissing the tip of his nose. "I don't share."

Jim huffed, "Well, I bloody hope not!"

"You gotta put your behind in your past."

"Gotta get a tattoo of this Pumbaa quote." Jack joked, "words to live by 101."

Hiccup audibly whimpered, taking Jack's hand. "Please don't " he said. "Your skin's perfect. It's bad enough that my choice of words already marred it."

"Aw, babe..." Jack hugged him, "you know I love it."

Astrid blew a raspberry. "Get a room."

"Uh, my house, so no." Jamie protested.

Jim blinked, "Wait, I know this is Timon and Pumbaa because I had them on a pencil case when I was eight or something. Then, I got one of space and that was that." He started. "But damn, I didn't know Hakuna Matata was from here. I have heard this song before, I am not entirely ignorant."

"I'm so hungry, I can eat a whole Zebra."

"I'm condemning this casual Zebra slaughter," Hiccup declared. "Let it be known. You can't just eat a whole Zebra, Simba. Come on."

Astrid gagged, "Insects? Really?" She shakes her head. "Simba's diet is fucked. I'm not a nutritionist or a zoologist, but I really, really, don't think insects are enough to get Simba through all those years in the jungle. I mean, it's like asking humans to survive on dog food alone."

"And yet he has grown into a fine-ass lion over the course of about three bars of song." Jack whistled, "Intriguing. Switching to insect-based diet after the movie."

Hiccup shakes his head, "Snowflake, I rather you go vegan."

Rafiki appears and takes Simba's floating fur with the dandelions...

"There's monkey Yoda again," Jim snorted, "jumping down on trees, not a walking stick in sight. He's on to something though, so I'll let it sli—HOLD THE PHONE!" The brunette balked, "Did baboon man REALLY figure out Simba was still alive from smelling dandelions that floated from miles away?"

Dimitri rubbed his back in circles, "Pup, stop being antagonized by the damn monkey already." he snickered, "it's cute, but I'm worrying over your mental health."

"Don't tell me what to do, dimwit." Jim scoffed, "I mean, really, this insane Yoda monkey with inconsistent usage of walking aids might be the movie's last hope. How to feel about this, I don't know."

"AAAAAAH!"

Hiccup hummed, faux sadly. "We're gonna lose Pumbaa. I can feel it." he said. "Life's just not fair, and warthogs just aren't fast."

"Oh, wait, it's Nala!" Jack cheered, "Yaaay!"

The freckled brunette snorted, crossing his arms. "Nala goes from hunting Pumbaa one minute to having a conversation with him after Simba vouches for him?" he shook his head, "So, tell me how there aren't any riots with the predators being friends with some preys, and others not? Unjustifiable exceptions."

"Guys, suspend your disbelief." Jamie sighed, "I think I gave out that warning earlier."

🎶...You needn't look too far; Stealing through the night's uncertainties, love is where they are~🎶

"Whoa, 'Can you feel the love tonight' was from this movie? Okay, it's official, I'm in love with this soundtrack." Jack made an exaggerated bowing down motion towards the screen, "Hands down one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard."

Dimitri narrowed his eyes at the screen, in scrutiny. "They totally boned at this scene, right?" he deadpanned. "I mean, did you see those bed room sex eyes?"

Jim stuffed him with a pillow, "At least the sexual tension between them doesn't feel as awkward now."

"You said you'd always be there! But you're not... it's because of me..."

Hiccup nodded his head, "Sexual tension replaced with crippling self-loathing, just like real life." he sighed, "feel ya, Simba."

"God, I don't know how many therapists mom made me see until I finally got over blaming myself for my sperm donor leaving us." Jim sighed, shaking his head. "and then guidance counseling when we found out he killed himself a few months before Freshemen year started."

Dimitri stared at his boyfriend worriedly, "Pup, do you need a hug?" he embraced him without waiting for a response.

"It ain't your fault, Jim. Shit happens... Especially stampedes if you're in a forest."

Jamie sighed, "Savannah."

"Real talk, though," Astrid mused, "shit happens when you've got scheming uncles who planned to push their brother off the buffalo freeway."

The brunette stared at his girlfriend before picking up his phone, "I'm tweeting that."

Rafiki appears humming incoherently...

"I swear to god, this monkey is on meth." Jim snorted, shaking his head. "Yeap, he just called Simba a baboon. This primate is trippin'."

Dimitri stared at the rest of his friends, as if he was in 'The Office'. "I'm never gonna hear the end of this, am I?"

"Better not bring him to any Zoos soon," Jack advised. "He might try to throw rocks at the monkey containment."

"Okay, I take it back." Jim raised his arms, "This is going to be some pivotal revelatory shit." he started.

"Correction, I know your father."

Jim glared at the screen, pointing an accusing finger. "Okay, still trippin'" He scowled at the meditation monkey, "I hope this really is Mufasa and not some metaphorical mambo-jumbo. If not, I call subterfuge."

Jamie was starting to wonder if this whole movie marathon was a good idea. They were just starting with the first one, and Jim already seems like a lost cause. Maybe there was a reason innocent children were the target audience.

"CALLED IT," Jim growled at the television, "that's a reflection, you punk-ass monkey. Way to let a brother down." He shook his head, frowning as the screen shows cloud Mufasa. "Aaaaand now he's slipped Simba some acid. Just great."

Definitely a bad idea.

"Wow, it worked." Even Hiccup is surprised. "who'da thunk it. Hm, might wanna check for hidden projectors, though. Monkey might've pulled a Mysterio... Well, for a good cause, but still. Jim's got it right with subterfuge."

Dimitri glared at him, "Dude, spoiler alert."

"Oops." Hiccup blushed, "sorry."

Jack blinked at the screen, "What the fuck," he scowled, "He just left Nala behind and returned home? When it was her idea in the first place? Bro, that's your soulmark. Boy, is he in for some pain."

"I think this came out before the discovery of soulmarks." Hiccup patted his hand soothingly. "there, there.... What we should really be questioning is that desert. I'm still wondering how there's even an oasis in this movie."

Jamie face palmed, "Suspend your disbelief, suspend... Oh, forget it." he groaned.

🎶"He eeee's a big pig (Yup, yup). You could be a big pig too. Oy!"🎶

"In a movie filled with amazing songs," Jack snickered, "Timon's luau song's gonna be my personal favorite. Bonus points for presentation."

Astrid sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "And they fell for it," she tossed her hand in a 'I'm so done' manner. "This is why you hire quality hit man, Scar. You can't half-ass a coup and not expect repercussions."

"Well, if he was Loki-smart," Jamie shrugged, "well, there's no Avengers to beat him up and the heroes don't win."

Jim snorted, "Simplified hero-winning's overdone." he said. "Villain redemption arcs like Zuko's should start catching on."

"So, you have no cable for Disney," Dimitri started, "but you know ATLA?"

Jim shrugged, "A therapist was a fan," he explained, "and she thought it'd help with my father abandonment issues. Confirmed: It did."

"I killed Mufasa..."

Hiccup face palmed, and groaned as if he was in real agony. "Aaaagh, typical villain behavior." he groused, "shut your damn Zebra-holes, and finish the job for once, you idiots never learn."

"Chat shit, get banged, Scar." Dimitri snickered, "Chat shit, get banged."

Jim stuffs a pillow at him once more, "Stop it with the innuendos!" he sighed, as he stared at screen. He raised a brow, "Amidst this all-out melee, meth-monkey is doing some serious damage. How, I do not know."

"Well, guess he's been hiding his pizzaz all along."

Simba and Scar finally battle it out

"NOOOOOOO!"

"YEEEEEEEEES!"

Jack cheered, "SIMBA WINS." he grinned, "And the hyenas have also found a temporary solution to their food shortage. Win-win."

"This was a kid's movie..." Jim narrowed his eyes at the screen, "and they heavily implied Scar getting gang-devoured."

Jamie snorted, and snickered. "You should see the one when the villain got hanged from the treetops."

"WHAT!"

"Remember who you are..."

"Feel like 'The Eye of the Tiger' would be a proper song for this moment," Jack mused, before pausing in thought, "wait, wouldn't that be 'Eye of the Lion', then?"

Hiccup laughed, shaking his head. "And just like that, the land is glorious again. No mention of rehabilitation process with might have included replanting trees, and attracting livestock with lucrative real estate prices." he mused.

"Let's just hope this heralds a decline in the merciless killings of animated Zebras." Jim snorted, "still unsure as to how meth-monkey hasn't managed to drop a cub off the cliff yet."

Jamie shook his head, as he went back to Netflix's home screen, and grinned towards his friends, "Now, as payback for effectively ruining my childhood, here's a little piece of info to mindblow you guys: The Lion King is basically Hamlet but with lions, and a happy ending."

"WHAT!"

"Ohmygod!" Jack balked, "IT IS! IT SO IS!"

Hiccup frowned, shaking his head. "I can't believe I didn't see it," he frowned. "And I fucking love Hamlet. I feel like I've let Shakespeare down."

"Baboon man should've made like Yorick and turned into a skeleton head..." Jim snorted, "Wait, was that why they made Scar hold that skull in a certain way?"

Dimitri rolled his eyes, "And here I thought we moved past the whole Rafiki antagonized drama."

Jamie laughed outloud, clutching his stomach. "Just wait till you see the Romeo and Juliet sequel."

"Can we get a movie with more..." Astrid scrunched up her nose, "... humans please?"

[hoboal87]

Elastic Heart Chapter Fourteen

Title : Elastic Heart - Trials

Characters : Sam Winchester, Dean Winchester, Castiel, Crowley, (background Y/N and Cordelia Y/L/N)

Pairing(s) : Sam x Reader

Summary : Sam and Dean work to complete the final Hell Trial.

Word Count : 6.4k

Warnings : cursing, show-level violence, angst, self-loathing, suicidal ideation, cliff-hanger ending

A/N : Series is mostly canon compliant, taking place during season 8/9. For the purposes of this fic Sam was born in '84 instead of '83.

A/N 2 : This chapter uses dialogue from episode 8x23 "Sacrifice"

beta'd by @deanwinchesterswitch

Elastic Heart Masterlist

Read Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen - Trials

Sam’s POV

Two days later, we meet Crowley in a junkyard; it takes every ounce of my willpower not to beat him to a pulp. I wanted to leave hex bags in Y/N’s apartment, but Dean insisted the anti-possession charms would be enough. We should’ve known that she wasn’t going to be safe, but when Crowley started going after people we saved, Cas had convinced us that Jody was next.

“It’s simple, really,” Crowley says, gesturing to the contract. “You stop the Trials and hand over the Demon tablet. I’ll leave your precious Y/N and Cordelia alone, and you’ll have the Angel tablet.” Dean takes a step closer, grabbing the scroll. “Oh, no, Squirrel, Moose is the one doing the trials; he’s the one who’s going to sign.”

“Not until I read the fine print,” Dean snaps back.

“I’ll sign it,” I mumble as I take a step closer, grabbing the long scroll.

“You wanted me here; I’m here.”

“What’s this, boys? Lovers quarrel?”

“Shut it, Crowley,” Dean barks. “I’m not gonna let him screw us over again.”

“That hurts, Squirrel,” he mocks us. “Now, if you're satisfied with the terms of the contract, let’s have the big galoot sign it, shall we?”

Dean is only inches away from Crowley, and as soon as he thinks I’ve started to sign, the click of the handcuffs wipes the smirk off of Crowley’s face.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Demonic handcuffs, jackass,” Dean gestures down the handcuffs. “These are going to keep you from smoking out, flicking out, teleporting. Oh, and no deal. Basically,” Dean’s fist connects to Crowley’s jaw, “you’re our bitch.”

“Fine,” Crowley throws his own punch, and I can see a faint smile on Dean’s face. “You’ve saddled yourself to the wrong bull, mate.”

“I can go all day, you know why? ‘Cause damn it feels good. Get used to it, douche, cause your demon ass is about to become a mortal ass.”

“What’s he on about?” Crowley’s eyes dart to me, a look of confusion and panic as I take pleasure in telling him what’s about to come.

“It’s you, Crowley. You’re the third Trial.”

Kevin is pacing in the library when we return to the bunker, Crowley blindfolded and gagged. Dean walks him down to 7B, and Kevin is nearly having a panic attack when his eyes land on Crowley.

“What is he doing here?” Kevin screams, “Why? Why did you bring him back?”

“Kevin, listen. Until we can figure out how to cure him, we need to keep him here. We can’t let him go.” I can see the tears brimming in his eyes. “The faster we can figure out the cure, the faster we can make him pay for all the evil shit he's done.”

Kevin and I have our noses buried in books when Dean returns from the dungeon. I can still hear Y/N/N’s voice in my head, screaming out for help, Crowley’s words torturing both of us. Every choice you made drove you further away from Y/N.

“Have you heard from Cas?” Dean asks as he sits down with three beers in his hands.

I pull out my phone, hoping that Y/N/N will return my calls, she’s shutting me out, and I can’t blame her. I should’ve shown her how to protect herself and Corie. All the symbols she needed were on the sheet of paper that Corie had drawn on the day she left the hospital. Any one of those could have protected her from Crowley’s attack. Would she ever forgive me for putting her in that situation, one that could have so easily been prevented? Crowley was going to pay for everything he’d ever done.

“Sam,” Dean’s voice pulls me out of my thoughts, and when I look up, I can see a questioning look etched on his face. “Cas?”

“Uh, no,” I mumble as I put my phone back into my pocket. We needed to find a cure and quick; it was the only way to get back to Y/N/N and Corie.

Hours later, Kevin and I are surrounded by a mountain of books, pouring through the lore looking for anything that may tell us how to cure a demon. Dean’s asleep on the table, softly snoring when Cas enters the bunker. It’s been over a week since we’d seen him, stationing him with Jody after Crowley killed Sarah, Cas insisting that Naomi and the other angels were watching over Y/N/N and Corie.

Dean jolts awake when Kevin drops another large set of books on the library table, grumbling about ‘first decent sleep in days,’ as he makes his way out of the library. I give Cas a tight-lipped smile, and he nods; there is something off about him. Usually, I can’t read his face, but today, he seems to be hiding something. Dean meets Cas in the war room, and I can hear hushed whispering between them. I run my hands through my hair as I pull another book in front of me, but I can’t focus on the text, every line bleeding into the next. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dean’s body stiffen; that can’t be good. I leave Kevin, instructing him to keep searching as I join Dean and Cas.

“What do you mean, ‘she’s done,’ what the hell is that supposed to mean, Cas?” Dean’s fingers are pinched at the bridge of his nose as Cas stands in front of him.

“Y/N feels that she and Cordelia’s safety was put in jeopardy and that we allowed Crowley to attack her in her home.”

“You told her we didn’t know, right?” Dean huffs. “That we wouldn’t’ve let Crowley come anywhere near them if we thought–”

“I told her that we were assured that she was safe. Y/N didn’t care for my answer. I don’t know how Crowley tracked her down.”

“‘Tracked her down?’ Cas, are you saying that Y/N and Corie left Weldon?” I thought Crowley was fucking with me. Y/N wouldn’t have moved without telling us; she promised not to run away.

“I gave Y/N my word that I would not-”

“Cas, if they left Weldon, we need to know. If they’re gone, then that means that they don’t have any type of protection,” I argue. I knew we should have done something more than leaving them the necklaces. “We can’t protect them if we don’t know where they are.”

“Y/N and Cordelia have left Weldon.”

“Fuck, Cas!” I want to hit something, someone. “You weren’t even going to tell us, were you?”

“Sammy-”

“No, tell me. You were going to let Y/N and Corie just drop off the face of the earth and not say anything?” My head is spinning. She’d made good on her threat; she took Corie and ran. “Why?”

“I do not believe Y/N's intent was to hide,” Cas says cautiously. “If Sam had kept in contact-”

“Are you saying that this is my fault?” I roll my shoulders, standing up to my full height. “Crowley’s attack is on me?”

“I am merely suggesting-”

“Y/N wanted space,” Dean clenches his jaw, “so we gave her some fuckin’ space. You had one job, Cas, and that was to keep an eye on her and make sure that she and Cordy were safe.”

“I was watching her, Dean,” Cas sighs. “Ever since the accident-”

“Cas,” Dean snaps. “If you were protecting her like we’d ask you to, then we could’ve stopped Crowley from ever walking into her house, but you insisted that no demon knew about either of them.”

“I have it on good authority that Crowley wasn’t made aware of Cordelia’s existence until recently.” Cas shifts his body towards me. “From best we can tell, he had a spy in that hospital. You don’t think that every demon under Crowley’s command doesn’t know who you are the second they lay eyes on you? Anyone working for him could have connected the dots.”

“So, it is my fault,” I murmur, moving backward before the back of my legs hit the map table, and I slump back against it. “All this, it’s my fault.”

“Sammy, you can’t think like that,” Dean rubs his hand down his face before turning his attention to Cas, his frustration with him becoming more apparent. “What if another demon tries to go after them, Cas? What’ll Y/N do then?”

“I warded her home against everything. She’s safe now.”

“How’s Y/N/N?” I don’t know why it takes me so long to ask such an obvious question, how it wasn’t the first thing out of my mouth when Cas walked through the door. My eyes lock on my hands, picking at a nail, unable to focus on anything else. “Is she okay? What about Corie?”

“Cordelia was not in the house. I offered to heal Y/N, but she refused to let me. She was upset when I left her.”

“What did Crowley do to her?”

“The psychological damage inflicted on her is more my concern,” Cas explains.

Crowley had tortured us all with his words. He twisted everything that had happened over the last ten years, things I hadn’t had the chance to tell her about. I would’ve told her about it all eventually, explained why I didn’t try to come back sooner. I wanted to, desperately, but I felt undeserving of her love. Y/N/N was one of the few good things that I had in my life, and I couldn’t let my uncleanliness taint her innocence. When Kevin first deciphered the Trials, and I accidentally completed the first one, Y/N/N became my light at the end of the tunnel. She and Corie deserve a life of peace. I have to do whatever I can to make the world a safer place for them. Once I finished the trials, I would’ve told her everything, hoping that she would be able to forgive me.

“I wouldn’t have allowed any true harm to come to either of them, Sam.” Cas closes the space between us and rests his hand on my shoulder. “As soon as I was sure Jody was safe, I went to Y/N; she prayed many times.”

“She prayed to you?” I turn slightly to face Cas, unsure if I’m hearing him correctly. I had told both Y/N/N and Corie to call on him if they ever needed anything. When Crowley was with her, I kept hoping that I would hear Cas intervening at some point. When I didn’t, I figured that Y/N/N had forgotten my words, but if she prayed, why didn’t he stop it? “Y/N/N, she prayed, and you still didn’t do anything?” Cas’ eyes dart between Dean and me, and I feel as though I’m about to explode with rage. “You told us that if either one of them prayed, you would go to them. That was your job, Cas, not wait around to see what would happen!”

“If I intervened sooner-” I can’t listen to anything else Cas has to say; I move away from the table and am headed towards 7B before I even realize it.

Crowley is cuffed and chained down in the middle of the devil’s trap; a smug smile creeps over his face when I lock the door behind me.

“I was hoping you’d join me, Moose,” he taunts. “What? No Squirrel? Oh, this will be fun.”

I close the distance in just a few steps, my fist connecting with Crowley’s jaw. He laughs dryly as I pull back and throw another punch, this time to his stomach. I need to do something that’ll make him hurt, make him pay for everything he’s done. Crowley doesn’t flinch, letting me hit him over and over again. I can hear pounding on the door as I swing again, Dean’s voice calling out, but I can’t stop, I won’t stop.

My knuckles are bloody and raw when I feel arms wrap around me, pulling me away from Crowley. I struggle against the powerful grip as Cas drags me back like I am a small child. Dean appears in front of me, yelling at me to calm down, but his voice is a distant echo, as my focus is still on Crowley.

I relax for a moment, and Cas loosens his grip, and I shove him off me. Dean tries to stop me, but I knock him to the floor. A glint of silver catches my eye, and before I can even process a thought, I snatch the weapon from the table. Crowley chuckles as I press the edge of the angel blade against his throat.

“You threaten my daughter? The mother of my daughter? And what? You’re going to sit here and laugh about it?” I growl, slowly raking the blade across his neck, watching as blood seeps out.

“Oh, you have no idea,” Crowley’s lips curl into a grin. “She was ready to do anything to get me to leave her and the little one alone, anything, Moose.”

“Don’t listen to him, Sam,” Dean grunts from behind me.

“And she would’ve done it. She put on a brave face, but she was willing, Sam. She knew you weren’t going to save her. Just another person you’ve let down, eh Sasquatch?”

“Shut up; you’re lying.” I tower over him, putting more pressure on the knife.

“I guess we’ll never know, will we, Samantha? Shall I tell you the things I plan to do to little Cordelia?”

“Sam,” Dean grabs my arm firmly, “he wants you angry; he doesn’t want you to complete the Trial,” he rationalizes. “You kill him now, and everything we’ve been working for the last few months goes down the drain. We’ve come too far to stop now.”

“He deserves to die,” I grunt as Dean pulls me away from Crowley. “For everything, not just Y/N/N and Corie. All the shit he’s done since we’ve known him, Purgatory, Leviathans, Tommy, Sarah, Samuel, holding Bobby’s soul in Hell. He should pay for it. For all of it.”

“He will, Sam. When we’re done, he’ll no longer be the King of Hell; he’ll be a regular person. But you have to finish this last Trial, Sammy. That’s how we make him pay.”

“What do we do?”

It takes several long days of research, but we finally learn how to complete the third trial. Dean, Kevin, and I are stunned into silence as we listen to the recording of Father Thompson and Peter Kent, a man possessed who then killed his children. One dose of purified blood every eight hours, followed by the final exorcism, Peter Kent was no longer a demon; he was human again. I read through Father Thompson’s notes. We could do this; all we need is the consecrated ground.

We find an abandoned church less than an hour away from the Bunker. It’s in the middle of nowhere; it’s the perfect place to complete the Trial. Crowley stays locked inside the trunk of the Impala as we prepare the church. Dean makes a large Devil’s Trap while I read over the Enochian text, committing it to memory. Once we are both satisfied that the church has enough warding, Dean marches Crowley in, tying him tightly in a chair in the center of the room.

Crowley begins to taunt me again, and I leave the church under the guise of gathering supplies out of the Impala.

“I was thinkin’,” Dean says as he walks closer to meet me at the trunk, “maybe you should give Y/N a call.” Dean closes the trunk. “It’s been months, man.”

“No,” it pains me to say it, “I can’t.”

“Just try. Tell her you’re sorry for everything, and when all this is over, you want to be with her.”

“Y/N/N won’t answer,” I sigh. “You heard Cas. She wants nothing to do with me anymore. Whatever chance I still had with her went flying out the window the second Crowley showed up at her house.”

“C’mon, man. You had no way of knowing–”

“That’s the point, Dean!” I shout. “I should’ve known, we both should’ve known! We– I left her, defenseless; didn’t even show her how to make a fuckin’ Devil’s Trap.” I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. “I didn’t show her how to test anyone around her. Wherever she is, she could be surrounded by Crowley’s fuckin’ minions, and she wouldn’t even know it, Y/N/N could still be in danger.”

“Cas warded her house,” Dean offers, “she’s safe.”

“We both know that isn’t true, Dean,” I try and fight back the tears that press at my eyes. “As long as Crowley’s around, Y/N and Corie won’t be safe. He’ll find some way to use them against us.”

“Sammy.”

“Y/N didn’t ask for this life, Dean. She doesn’t want a life full of demons, monsters, angels. She just wants a normal, safe life, and she had it before we took that case. From the second we stepped foot back in Weldon, we put Y/N/N and Corie in danger.”

“You can’t keep blaming yourself, Sam,” Dean argues.

“I’m gonna make sure she gets the life she’s always wanted, even if it doesn’t include me.” Dean’s eyebrows furrow, and his forehead wrinkles. “When we’re done,” I sniff, wiping away the tears that escaped, and clear my throat. “I’m gonna get Cas to erase their memories.”

Dean’s eyes narrow as soon as my words leave me; shock and anger quickly replace his previous confusion. I realize my mistake immediately; Dean would never let me or Cas do such a thing.

“No,” he says firmly. “You’re not going to do that to Y/N and Cordy.”

“So Cas can erase Lisa and Ben’s memories–”

“That was different,” Dean runs his hands over his face, and I know I’ve hit a nerve with him. “Y/N and Cordy, they’re your family, our family. I know you, Sam, better than you know yourself, and it’ll kill you never to see them again. What about what Y/N wants?”

“Did you ask Lisa what she wanted?” Dean opens his mouth to argue, but I don’t back off. Lisa and Ben were the closest things he ever had to a wife and kid. “No, because you knew what she would say. You did the only thing you could to protect them.” Dean grimaces; he knows I’m right. “I have to keep them safe, Dean.”

“You’re not thinking straight,” Dean sighs. “When this is all over, Crowley’ll be human, and all those sons of bitches will be locked away.”

“I’m not going to put them in danger again, Dean.”

“And you won’t. Sammy, let’s just get through this trial. Then, we’ll track down Y/N, find a way to make it work.”

I try to keep myself steady as I lean in to inject Crowley for the second time. As I stick the needle in his neck, he bites me, and I let out an annoyed shout as Dean rushes to my side. “Really, Crowley? Biting?”

Dean walks us out to the Impala and inspects the wound. I look up to see that Dean’s focus is less on the injury and more on my face. I can see him studying it, realizing how much it’s changed over the last few weeks. I’ve lied to Dean and myself about how much the Trials have been taking a toll on me, but looking into his eyes tells me that no matter how much I want to, I can’t hide my pain from him.

“Cas say when he would be back?” I break the growing silence between us.

“No. Maybe once he’s finished doing whatever it is he’s doing, we won’t have to deal with those dicks anymore either,” Dean laughs weakly.

Cas appears outside the church after I finish my confession, asking Dean for his help. He explains that Metatron found a way of putting Heaven back in order, but Cas is the only one who can do it. Dean and I both know that Cas has felt guilty about what has happened over the last two years. Killing Raphael, letting the Leviathan’s out of Purgatory, it was complete anarchy in Heaven from what he had told us.

Dean refuses, insisting on staying with me, ‘if anyone needs a chaperon, it’s Sam’. He didn’t say the words maliciously, but I cringe at the thought of him not being able to trust me to complete this one on my own. Dean is my rock, the only person I’ve ever been able to rely on, he’s the one who’s always been there for me, and I can’t let him or Y/N/N down again.

“You think he can do it, fix heaven, or whatever?”

“If anyone can, it’s Cas.” Dean opens the Impala’s trunk and pulls out a gauze pad and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. “Knock knock,” he smirks, pulling the same move that he did when we were kids. I roll my eyes at him, “C’mon, Sammy, knock knock.”

“Who’s–” I hiss as the alcohol hits the bite marks on my skin. Dean chuckles slightly, clearly proud of himself as he finds a large bandage and wraps it around my wrist.

“Call Y/N, Sammy,” Dean looks up from my wrist and meets my eyes.

“Dean,” I sigh.

“Just try.”

“I did!” I shout, yanking my hand away. “After we left Weldon; I reached out, I told her I was sorry, I told her that I loved her. You know what she said? Take care of yourself. She didn’t tell me that she wanted us to work out, that she wanted me around.”

“Sammy–”

“Y/N/N was pissed, and she had every right to be, you said it yourself, I scared the crap outta her that night. I listened to you and gave her the time and space that she asked for so that she could sort everything out. I left her alone after that.” I take a few steps back. “I tried calling and messaging her every day since Crowley attacked her, she won’t answer. No matter what I say or do, she doesn’t want any part of it. She's choosing to not speak to me, and I can’t blame her. The least I can do now is finish the Trial and let Y/N/N and Corie move on with their lives. She’s better off without me; they both are.”

“Sam,” Dean brings his hand down over his face. “They’re not, you know that. Don’t be like dad, don’t push them away because you’re afraid of losing them. You’ll never forgive yourself if you walk away from Y/N and Cordy again.”

“Fuck you,” I grumble. “I didn’t walk away the first time. I let one of the people I’m supposed to trust more than anyone else in the world manipulate me. You keep taking dad’s side.”

“Sammy, I’m– I’m not, but dad didn’t make you leave.”

“You wanna know what happened that night?” I ask. Dean still doesn’t know the whole story, and he nods slightly. “I came back from Y/N/N’s house, and I told dad about Stanford. He said that I was abandoning you. All I wanted was to go to college and have a couple of years of a normal, safe life. When I told him that Y/N/N was going with me, he said she couldn't, that I would be accused of kidnapping her. I stood my ground and told him that she was coming with me and nobody was going to stop us. I had to tell him first, Dean, about the baby, and when I did, he fuckin' lost it. Said that Y/N/N was trying to trap me, called her a slut, and the baby wasn't mine. When we got back in the morning, he convinced me that Y/N/N had decided to have an abortion and that she didn’t want to see me again.”

“Sam–”

“No,” I shake my head. I know what he’s about to say. “You’re not going to tell me that he was keeping them safe. Not when he kept in contact with them for years– years, Dean. Dad robbed me of the chance to know my daughter and then weaved a story to Y/N/N, making her think he was the good guy, like he hadn’t said those awful things about her. Corie would’ve known him if he hadn’t died; what would’ve he told her about me, about us? If he wanted to shield them from our enemies, he would’ve stayed away, just like he wanted me to. They would’ve been safe with me; I could’ve protected them from everything. The second Crowley started torturing her to get us to play his game, I knew the only way to make sure that it never happened again would be to remove myself from their lives completely. I’m not walking away; I’m keeping them safe the only way I can.”

“I need your help, Dean,” Cas appears suddenly with a rustling.

“Cas, I told you already. I need to be here with Sam.”

“You should go,” I mumble, “seriously.”

“What, and leave you with the King of Hell? No way.”

“Sam must complete this Trial on his own. You cannot assist him.”

“Keep giving the injections,” Dean orders. “If I’m not back in time for the bloody fist, you finish it, you hear me? No questions, no hesitation.”

I nod, and Dean gives me a half-hearted smile. He and Cas disappear before my eyes, and I walk back into the church.

With every injection, Crowley is becoming weaker. It takes five injections for him to start breaking down, admitting his failures; he almost seemed human. The injections aren’t just curing Crowley. They’re doing something to me, too; I can feel my body breaking down. With every passing hour, we’re both growing weaker.

“I didn’t know about the little one, Moose,” Crowley murmurs as I pull the needle out of his neck. “Not at first.”

Crowley is as close to human as he will be before the final injection. It takes me a moment to realize what he’s saying. “What do you mean, ‘not at first’?”

“I knew about the girl; everyone did,” Crowley lifts his head slightly. “She was the one I’d been watching.”

“Why?” How did he know about Y/N/N and not Corie? Cas said the angels knew from the beginning,

“The two of you were always destined to meet. She was always going to be the one to carry your children. Lillith made it all of the Loyalists’ priority to ensure that you would meet. Think about it, Sam, the case that brought you two together all those years ago, you knew that there was something off about it. But once you and Y/N had met, all your reservations went out the window.”

I feel my entire body vibrate with rage. Cas talked about our paths being destined to cross again, but was it all contrived? Did I ever have any free will?

“You weren’t to meet for years, but Lucifer instructed Lillith to speed up the process. Cordelia was under powerful protection. Someone found a witch to cast a spell over her before she was born, and she was made invisible to us. Y/N was protected as well, but we already knew about her, and it was only a matter of time before she left that small town of hers,” Crowley rasps. “It was Naomi, Moose. She was the one who told me about the little one.”

“Naomi, was your informant?” I huff, “why? Cas said that the angels were told to keep her existence a secret. Why would she tell you about them?” I question the weakened demon. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“You said it yourself, Sam. If we’d known, we would’ve used them to our advantage years ago.” Crowley sighs, and I don’t know whether or not to believe him. “I wouldn’t have hurt her, Sam. I would’ve treated her as if she were my own, Cordelia, Princess of Hell.”

“If you weren’t going to hurt her, then why tell us you would?”

“I had to keep your Y/N compliant, and she would’ve done anything to protect Cordelia,” Crowley lifts his head, and I can see how close he is to being human again. “Nothing is more sacred than a mother’s love for her child; there are few bonds greater. The only thing comparable is her soulmate. Like when your mother made a deal with Azazel to save your father and then sacrificed herself for you when Azazel walked into your nursery. Acts of pure love,” he mumbles. “I want that Moose. I deserve love; I deserve to be loved!”

“You deserve nothing, Crowley,” I murmur. “And once we’re done, I’m going to take pleasure in killing you myself. You saw what I did to Brady? That’s nothing compared to what I’m going to do to you. I’m going to enjoy every second of it.”

I expect some witty retort from Crowley, but he doesn’t speak; he only stares at the ground. Watching him break down, so close to being human, knowing that I’ll be able to get my revenge for everything, makes me feel better than I have in months. I have to finish this, for Y/N/N, for Corie, for Dean. I can’t let them down again.

I grab Ruby’s knife, ready to complete the ritual. This is it; closing the gates of Hell that I was responsible for opening all those years ago. No more Crowley, no more demons, and if Cas succeeds, no more angels either.

“Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, hanc animam redintegra, lustra.”

“Sammy, stop!” Dean’s thundering voice causes me to jump. “There’s been a change in plans, Metatron lied. You finish this trial, you’re dead.”

Before Dean ever voiced the words, I knew that there was little chance of me getting out of this alive. If my life is what it takes to close the gates of hell, then I will give it. It's the least I can do to make sure that Y/N/N and Corie can live the rest of their lives in peace. Dean can look after them, show them how to protect themselves from monsters. Bobby and Rufus have safe houses all over the country; I know I can trust Dean to keep the only family we have left safe.

“So?” I mutter, closing the gap between Crowley and me. “Look at him!” I turn around, coming face to face with Crowley again; the King of Hell, now a blubbering mess. Crowley doesn’t look at me but turns his attention to Dean. As if Dean is the one who can save him, but he’s too far away, all I have to do is give him the final dose of blood. “Look how close we are! Other people will die if I don't finish this.” Dean stares at me wide-eyed, stunned, as he takes in my words. The only reason he let me continue with the Trials was that I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. These Trials were supposed to be my way out of hunting. “I have to finish this for them, Dean. I have to keep Y/N/N and Corie safe.”

“Listen to me, Sammy.” Dean raises his hands in surrender. “I know you want to keep them safe, but this isn’t the only way to do it. Y/N and Cordy, they need you, Sam, even if they don’t know it. You finish this trial, and you're taking away Cordy’s chance to know you. You’re making Y/N’s choice for her.”

I pull away from Crowley and mull over what Dean says. I shake my head and weigh my options. Is Dean, right? No, Killing Crowley and closing the Gates of Hell is the only way to keep my family safe. Seeing my momentary hesitation, Dean takes a step closer.

“Sam, think about everything we’ve learned since we started: rescuing a soul from Hell, curing demons, hell, ganking a hellhound. We have a real chance to turn the tide here, but I can't do it without you.”

“You can barely do it with me.” I choke on my words, feeling the tears press against my eyes as I fail to fight them back. “Y/N/N hates me. She won’t ever forgive me for Crowley.”

“You don’t know that, Sam,” Dean argues gently, taking another step forward.

“Y/N/N and Corie, they’re better off without me, all of you are. If it weren’t for me, we wouldn’t even need to close the gates. It’s my fault they were opened in the first place. It’s my fault that Lucifer got outta the cage; thousands of people are dead because of me.”

“Sammy.” Dean shakes his head. “You gotta know that isn’t true.”

“You’re still pissed about Ruby, Dean. About me losing my soul, killing Lilith. You think I’m a screw-up, that I need a chaperon.”

“C'mon, man, that's not what I meant–”

“It's exactly what you meant,” I cut him off. “Do you wanna know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down, Y/N/N down. I can't do that again. You wanna know why I never told you about Y/N/N and the baby?” Dean’s face softens. “I didn’t know how to tell you, of all people, that I was going to leave it all behind. Y/N/N and I, we were going to start over in California. I wanted to marry her, live a safe life, just the three of us. How was I supposed to tell you, the one person I’ve always been able to count on, that I was going to leave the only life I’d ever known?”

“Sammy–”

“I was scared to tell dad because I knew that he’d be pissed, tell me that I was irresponsible, and all that bullshit. But you– you raised me, Dean, you were more my parent than dad ever was. I couldn’t disappoint you again, and I couldn’t risk that you would take dad’s side over mine.”

“Just hold it. Hold on,” Dean bellows. “You seriously think that? Because none of it, none of it, is true.” Dean takes a step forward, and I keep the knife pressed against my palm.

“You just stood there when dad said if I left, I couldn’t come back. You’re my big brother, and I thought if anyone could’ve helped me with Y/N/N and the baby, it would’ve been you. I lost everything that night, not just Y/N/N and the baby, but you too. And I only got some of it back when you turned up in Palo Alto.” Dean frowns. “I didn’t get to say goodbye to her, to either of them. I never got to have a real talk with my daughter. I never got the chance to tell Corie that I thought about her and Y/N/N every day for the last ten years and that leaving was the biggest regret of my entire life.”

“Sammy, all you have to do is stop, and you can tell her. We’ll go there right now.”

“We can’t, Dean.” I let the knife slice through the skin of my palm. The glowing in my arms becomes brighter, and pain radiates through me. “Y/N/N left Weldon and took Corie with her, she ran away from her home town and took my daughter with her. They could be on the other side of the fuckin’ world for all we know.”

“You’re right. But he knows.” Dean gestures at Crowley behind me. “He can tell us where they are.”

“Y/N/N doesn’t want me around, Dean, don’t you get that?” I huff, moving backwards towards Crowley. “She doesn’t trust me to keep her or Corie safe. They deserve better than some fuck-up like me in their lives. I’ve only ever let them down. I’m not going to do it again.”

“We can fix it, Sam. You, Y/N, and Cordy, you belong together. We’ll find her, find Cordy. We’ll teach them everything they need to know about protecting themselves. I’ll get you your apple-pie life, brother, but you gotta trust me, okay? You gotta stop.”

“I do trust you, Dean. I always have,” I mumble. “I’ve always been able to count on you, my whole life, you’ve been the one who’s always been there for me. But what happens when you decide I can’t be trusted again? Will you take Y/N and Cordy away, hide them from me? Who will you turn to? Another angel, another- another vampire?”

“Hold on, hold on!” Dean shouts. “You can’t believe that’s true, any of it! I know that we’ve had some disagreements. Hell, I know I’ve said some things that sent you back on your heels. But Sammy, c’mon, I killed Benny to save you. I’m willing to let this bastard and all the other sons of bitches that killed mom walk because of you.” Dean takes a step closer, and I can see the tears in his eyes. “Don’t you dare think there is anything, past or present, that I would put in front of you. You gotta see that, okay? I need you to see that.”

“What about Y/N/N? Corie?” I sniff.

“I’ll get you back to them, Sammy, I swear to God. I will do everything in my power to keep the three of you together for the rest of your lives.”

I can feel the blood from my palm drip onto the floor as I consider Dean’s words. If I can be back with Y/N/N and Corie, everything will be worth it. But, the overwhelming need to make Crowley human again consumes my thoughts. My instincts as a father are taking over; I have to do everything I can to keep Corie safe.

Dean’s voice sounds muted, strangled; I can barely hear him as he continues to shout at me. I repeat Father Thompson’s exorcism a final time as I move back to Crowley’s side and put my hand over his mouth. ‘I did it,’ I murmur before the darkness consumes me.

Next Chapter

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