#Three Ways to Liven up Any Conversation

[kevrocksicehouse]

Gene Hackman 1930-2025. 

When Gene Hackman played heroes such as his Oscar-winning Popeye Doyle, the detective chasing a shipment of heroin through New York city in the French Connection (1971) or FBI Agent Rupert Anderson trying to find the murder of three Civil Rights workers in Mississippi Burning (1988) he played them as flawed, angry train wrecks with little respect for the laws they enforced. When he played villains like Lex Luthor in the Superman movies or “Little” Bill Dagget, the sadistic sheriff of Big Whiskey, Wyoming he did so with an ironic glee as though nuking California as part of a land grab or graphically beating the crap out of a sick Clint Eastwood, was living the good life. Mostly he played some form of everyman even if everyman was a surveillance expert terrified that someone might out-bug him (1974’s The Conversation, maybe his best performance) or a pharmacy manager cheating on his wife with his son’s mistress in 1981’s All Night Long. He had an underutilized talent for pure comedy as in The Royal Tennenbaums (2001) where his con-man patriarch livened up Wes Anderson’s deadpan, or his uncredited turn as a Blind Hermit breaking bread with a monster in Young Frankenstein (arguably the funniest five minutes Mel Brooks ever shot.) He was a private eye in Arthur Penn’s 1975 Night Moves and a foreign correspondent in Roger Spottiswoode’s underrated 1983 Nicaraguan war film Under Fire but also a mafia lawyer in The Firm and an amoral Secretary of Defense in 1987’s No Way Out. And if this versatility came from an instinctive understanding of human complexity, it was the key to why over a more than 40-year career, even in kitsch like 1975’s Lucky Lady and 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure, I can’t think of any false moment, any false move.  RIP

[cynic-spirit]

Over the comms

series of conversations between batman and alfred over the comms

Batman is perched on a rooftop, overlooking the city, his cape billowing in the wind. The city is quiet tonight, with only the occasional sound of distant traffic or sirens. Through his comms, Alfred’s voice crackles to life, breaking the silence.

Alfred: over comms "All quiet on the Gotham front, sir?"

Batman: scanning the city below "For now. Nothing unusual. Just the typical Gotham night."

Alfred: in a teasing tone "Ah, the typical Gotham night. And by that, I assume you mean watching over the city… and a certain someone?"

Batman: pausing for a moment "I’m just keeping an eye on things, Alfred."

Alfred: chuckling "Is that so? Because it seems to me that your patrol route has become rather… predictable lately. It always seems to pass by where Miss Yn happens to be."

Batman: sighs, knowing he’s been caught "I’m just making sure she’s safe."

Alfred: amused "Of course, sir. Purely for her safety. Though I must say, you’ve become quite the guardian angel, always watching from afar."

Batman: a hint of frustration "She doesn’t know who I am, Alfred. I can’t just… show up. It’s complicated."

Alfred: gently "I understand, sir. But it’s clear that you care deeply for her. Watching her from a distance only confirms that."

Batman: softly "I know it’s not ideal. But it’s all I can do right now. I don’t want to put her in any more danger."

Alfred: playfully "And yet, despite your best efforts to remain stoic, I can’t help but notice that you’re quite taken with her. Almost as if you enjoy watching her… dare I say, from afar?"

Batman: with a hint of a smile in his voice "You’re pushing it, Alfred."

Alfred: smiling through the comms "Forgive me, sir. But it’s not every day I see the Dark Knight so… smitten. It’s rather endearing."

Batman: a touch of vulnerability "She has that effect on me. Even from a distance, she makes me feel… different."

Alfred: softening "It’s understandable, sir. She’s a remarkable woman, and it’s only natural that you’d be drawn to her, even if it means watching over her from the shadows."

Batman: nodding to himself "I just wish I could do more. Be more."

Alfred: reassuringly "In time, sir. For now, perhaps it’s enough to know that she’s safe, and that you’re there, even if she doesn’t realize it."

Batman: determined "I’ll keep watching, Alfred. Until the time is right, I’ll keep her safe."

Alfred: affectionately "Of course, sir. But do remember to take care of yourself as well. Even the Dark Knight needs to rest occasionally."

Batman: a hint of a smile "I’ll keep that in mind. But tonight isn’t over yet."

-----

Alfred: over comms "Good evening, sir. How are things in Gotham tonight?"

Batman: gruffly "Quiet. Almost too quiet."

Alfred: with a teasing tone "No chases, no witty remarks, no late-night library visits… It’s been what, three days now?"

Batman: with a hint of reluctance "Yes, Alfred. Three days."

Alfred: mock sympathy "And I suppose those three days have felt particularly long, haven’t they, sir?"

Batman: a bit defensive "It’s just that… things have been slower. No major threats to handle."

Alfred: chuckling "Or perhaps it’s more that Miss Yn isn’t around to liven up your nights?"

Batman: sighing "She’s at that conference. It’s not like she’ll be gone forever."

Alfred: playfully "Still, I can’t help but notice how… restless you’ve been. No close calls, no banter to keep you on your toes. I daresay Gotham’s criminals might be feeling neglected."

Batman: grumbling "It’s not about the criminals, Alfred."

Alfred: feigning innocence "Oh? Then what could it possibly be about?"

Batman: reluctantly "It’s just… different. She has this way of making things unpredictable. Keeps me sharp."

Alfred: teasing "Ah, I see. So it’s not just the chases and the banter you miss, but perhaps the presence of a certain someone?"

Batman: with a slight smile "Maybe. It’s strange how quiet the nights feel without her around."

Alfred: lightly "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say. Though I must admit, it’s rather endearing to see the Dark Knight so affected by a simple conference absence."

Batman: softly "It’s more than that. She… brings something to this city, to my nights, that I didn’t realize I needed until she wasn’t here."

Alfred: gently "It’s quite clear, sir, that she’s become more than just an intriguing distraction. Perhaps when she returns, you might let her know just how much her presence means to you?"

Batman: thoughtfully "Perhaps. But for now, I’ll just… wait."

Alfred: warmly "Well, I’m sure she’ll be back before you know it. And then, I suspect Gotham will return to its usual state of chaos and charm."

Batman: with a hint of amusement "I’m counting on it, Alfred."

--------

Batman is on his usual patrol, moving silently across Gotham’s rooftops. The night is cool, and the city is bathed in the soft glow of streetlights. As he scans the streets below, Alfred’s voice comes through his comms, carrying a hint of amusement.

Alfred: over comms "Good evening, sir. It seems that Gotham is back to its usual state of affairs."

Batman: focused "Anything I should be aware of?"

Alfred: teasingly "Well, there’s nothing too alarming… except that a certain someone has returned to her usual haunt."

Batman: pausing, a hint of anticipation in his voice "Where?"

Alfred: with a knowing smile "The library, sir. She’s back. I imagine the past few nights have felt rather long without her presence."

Batman: unable to hide a small smile "It’s about time. She must have returned from the conference earlier than expected."

Alfred: lightly "Indeed. I believe she’s settling in quite comfortably, as usual. It’s almost as if she never left."

Batman: with a touch of warmth "Good. Gotham felt… different without her."

Alfred: gently "And you, sir? Do you feel different now that she’s back?"

Batman: softly, almost to himself "Relieved. It’s strange how much I’ve come to rely on her being there."

Alfred: supportively "She has a way of bringing light to the dark corners of the city, doesn’t she? Even for someone as brooding as yourself."

Batman: with a small chuckle "Brooding, huh? She says the same thing."

Alfred: smiling "Well, sir, if I may say so, perhaps a visit to the library might be in order. Just to make sure everything is as it should be."

Batman: determined "I think I will. It’s been too long."

Alfred: fondly "Then I’ll leave you to it, sir. Enjoy your night, and do give Miss Yn my regards."

Batman: with a hint of gratitude "Thank you, Alfred. I will."

--------

Batman is perched on a rooftop, surveying the city below. The night is quiet, unusually so, as if Gotham itself is taking a rare moment of peace. He adjusts the cowl, ready to move on to the next patrol point, when Alfred’s voice crackles through the comms.

Alfred: over comms, with a teasing tone "All seems rather dull tonight, sir. Or is it just that you’re missing the usual… engagements?"

Batman: gruffly, but with a hint of a smirk "Engagements?"

Alfred: playfully "You know, the late-night drives, the cat-and-mouse chases, and the impromptu literary discussions. Things have been awfully quiet these past few days."

Batman: sighs "She’s at that conference. It’s only been three days."

Alfred: chuckling "Yes, three days without a single remark or sighting of her. No library visits, no teasing comments… It’s almost as if Gotham has lost a bit of its charm."

Batman: murmuring, almost to himself "The city feels different without her. Quieter."

Alfred: teasing "Perhaps it’s not the city, but you, sir. I daresay you’ve grown rather accustomed to her presence."

Batman: softly, almost reluctantly "I suppose I have."

Alfred: lightly "No shame in it, Master Wayne. A man can only brood so much without some… lighter distractions."

Batman: with a small, amused sigh "Distractions, is it?"

Alfred: with a grin in his voice "Well, I can’t say I’ve seen you so engaged—both mentally and otherwise—until she started showing up more regularly. One could say you’ve been missing that… stimulation."

Batman: quietly "It's not just the chase. It’s her. She challenges me, keeps me on my toes. Without her around, it’s… different."

Alfred: gentle teasing "You mean it’s boring."

Batman: half-smiling under the cowl "Something like that."

Alfred: softly "She’ll be back soon, sir. I imagine the city—and you—will feel a bit more lively then."

Batman: nods, his voice softer "I know. But these nights are longer without her."

Alfred pauses, sensing the depth of Batman’s words.

Alfred: supportively "She’s become important to you, hasn’t she?"

Batman: after a brief silence "More than I expected."

Alfred: kindly "Then it’s a good thing she’ll be back soon, sir. I’m sure Gotham—and its Dark Knight—will welcome her return."

Batman: with a small, almost invisible smile "Yes. It will."

-----

Bruce Wayne is seated at the Batcomputer, going over recent reports, though his attention isn’t fully on the task. It’s been five days since Yn left for her conference, and while he would never admit it, those days have felt noticeably longer. Alfred approaches with his usual quiet grace, observing Bruce with a knowing look.

Alfred: casually "Sir, if I may interrupt your deep concentration…"

Bruce glances at Alfred, slightly raising an eyebrow.

Bruce: dryly "Yes, Alfred?"

Alfred: with a hint of amusement "It appears that a certain someone has returned to her usual spot at the library tonight."

Bruce’s expression remains composed, but there’s a flicker of something in his eyes—excitement he tries to keep under wraps.

Bruce: calmly "Is that so?"

Alfred: teasingly "Indeed, sir. After five days of being away, I suspect the library must feel rather empty without her."

Bruce: with a slight smirk "Gotham isn’t exactly the same without her presence."

Alfred: with a knowing look "And neither, it seems, are you."

Bruce doesn’t respond immediately, instead turning back to the screen, though he’s clearly distracted.

Alfred: lightly teasing "Perhaps you should, you know, check in. Make sure all is well. Just in case."

Bruce: sighs, unable to resist "It wouldn’t hurt to make sure everything’s fine."

Alfred: with a chuckle "Naturally, sir. Purely out of concern for the city’s safety, I’m sure."

Bruce: with a soft smile "Of course. Can’t be too careful."

A few minutes later, Bruce is suited up as Batman, silently making his way to the library. The streets of Gotham pass by in a blur as he approaches the familiar building. He lands on a nearby rooftop, scanning the area. Through the large windows, he spots Yn in her usual spot, surrounded by books, completely immersed in her work.

For a moment, he just watches her, his usual stoic expression softening slightly. The sight of her brings a sense of calm he hadn’t realized he’d missed so much.

Alfred: over the comms, breaking the silence "Lovely to see everything back in its proper place, isn’t it?"

Batman: softly, almost to himself "Yes. It is."

Alfred: teasingly "I imagine the past few days have been… rather dull without your usual engagements."

Batman: gruffly "Dull isn’t the word I’d use."

Alfred: chuckling "Ah, yes. Restless, perhaps? But now that she’s back, I’m sure the nights will be far more… eventful."

Batman: smirking slightly "Perhaps."

With that, Batman makes his way down, quietly entering the library. Yn is so absorbed in her work that she doesn’t notice him at first.

As he approaches, the familiar sound of his boots on the library floor finally catches her attention. She looks up, surprised but not startled.

Yn: smiling "Well, look who finally decided to drop by."

Batman: quietly "I thought I’d make sure everything was in order."

Yn: with a playful glint in her eye "Just in time, too. I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me."

Batman: softly "Not a chance."

Yn’s smile deepens, and for a moment, they just stand there, the weight of the last few days fading away in the quiet comfort of each other’s presence.

Back at the Batcave, Alfred watches the scene unfold on the monitors with a satisfied smile.

Alfred: murmuring to himself "Good to have you back, Miss Yn."

----------

Batman is perched atop a building, scanning the city as he usually does. The night is quiet—too quiet, perhaps. As he adjusts his position, something catches his eye near Gotham Grounds. He zooms in with his cowl’s lenses and spots Yn running along the dimly lit path, her pace steady and focused.

Batman: into comms, slightly concerned "Alfred, I’ve got eyes on Yn. She’s out running near Gotham Grounds."

Alfred: over comms, with a calm tone "Ah, yes, sir. She’s been training for a marathon. I believe she mentioned it in passing during her last visit to the Manor."

Batman: a bit frustrated "At this hour? It’s unsafe, Alfred. She should be doing this during the day."

Alfred: with a hint of amusement "Well, you see, her mornings are quite occupied with her classes and other work commitments. She has to fit in her training whenever she can. And as it happens, the night seems to be her only free time."

Batman watches her as she runs, her breath visible in the cool night air. He notices how focused she is, but the concern lingers.

Batman: gruffly "It’s Gotham. Anything could happen out here."

Alfred: lightly teasing "True, sir. But she does have the Dark Knight keeping an eye on her, doesn’t she? I daresay there’s no safer place in Gotham for her than right under your watchful gaze."

Batman: with a faint smirk "That doesn’t make it any less risky."

Alfred: chuckling softly "You could always let her know you’re watching over her. I’m sure she’d be quite touched to know Batman himself is her guardian angel on these late-night runs."

Batman: seriously "I’m not sure that would go over well. She’s stubborn, Alfred. She’d likely tell me to mind my own business."

Alfred: with a hint of pride "That she would, sir. A strong, independent woman. But that doesn’t stop you from worrying, does it?"

Batman doesn’t answer immediately, his gaze still following Yn’s path. She takes a turn down a less-lit street, and he silently shifts his position to keep her in view.

Batman: after a moment "No. It doesn’t."

Alfred: gently "Well, perhaps that’s just what happens when you care for someone as deeply as you do, sir."

Batman: sighs, quietly "I suppose."

Yn continues her run, unaware of the watchful eyes following her every move. Despite the dangers lurking in Gotham’s shadows, Batman ensures that none of them will come close to her tonight.

Alfred: breaking the silence "Still, if you feel the need to intervene, I’m sure you’ll find a way to do so without giving yourself away. After all, subtlety has always been one of your strong suits, sir."

Batman: with a slight smirk "I’ll keep that in mind, Alfred."

As Yn finishes her run and heads back toward her apartment, Batman remains on high alert until she’s safely indoors. Only then does he move on to his next task, though thoughts of her safety still linger in the back of his mind.

------

Batman is once again on his patrol, perched high above the city. The night is calm, with only the faint sounds of traffic and distant sirens in the background. As he surveys the area, he spots Yn running her usual route near Gotham Grounds.

Batman: into comms, with a hint of concern "She’s out running again, Alfred."

Alfred: over comms, with a slight tease "Ah, our determined marathoner, back at it, I see. She does have quite the dedication, doesn’t she, sir?"

Batman: sighs "She’s nothing if not stubborn. Same route, same risks."

Alfred: playfully "And yet, I don’t see you stopping her. Just watching from the shadows, as always."

Batman: gruffly "She’s independent. I can’t just step in every time."

Alfred: warmly "True, but it’s clear you care. Perhaps more than you’re willing to admit."

Batman: softly, almost to himself "Yeah... I guess I do."

Alfred: gently "She’s got you wrapped around her finger, sir. Not that it’s a bad thing, mind you."

Batman: with a faint smile "I know. I just wish she’d be a little more careful."

Alfred: with a knowing chuckle "Well, sir, at least she’s got the Dark Knight watching her back. There are far worse fates, I’d say."

Batman watches as Yn continues her run, her pace steady and strong. He lingers a moment longer, ensuring she’s safe, before turning his attention back to his patrol.

Batman: quietly "Yeah... there are."

----

Batman is on his usual rooftop, scanning the city. He spots Yn running her familiar route and initiates a conversation over comms.

Batman: into comms "How many more nights of this, Alfred? When’s the marathon?"

Alfred: over comms, checking "In four days, sir. She’s been training rigorously for it."

Batman: nodding "So, this is the final stretch."

Alfred: teasingly "Indeed. She’s putting in the hard work. Not that you’re surprised."

Batman: softly "No, I’m not. She’s relentless."

Alfred: warmly "A true testament to her character. And your dedication, if I might add."

Batman: gruffly "Just making sure she’s safe."

Alfred: gently "Of course, sir. Just a few more nights and then you might get a break from this nightly vigil."

Batman: with a hint of relief "I’ll be ready for it."

Alfred: playfully "I’m sure you will. Until then, keep an eye on her, as you do."

Batman watches as Yn finishes her run, a determined look on her face. With a final check, he returns to his patrol, reassured that she’s safe for the night.

-----

As Yn finishes her usual running route, she takes a quick glance around, seemingly aware of the familiar shadow following her. A playful smirk crosses her face as she decides to mix things up for her final training session. She veers off her standard route and heads down a darker, more secluded alley, a subtle challenge in her stride.

Batman: over comms, noticing the change "Alfred, she’s taken a different path. It’s riskier."

Alfred: over comms, concerned "Yes, sir. That alley is quite dark and isolated. She’s definitely taking a risk."

Batman: firmly "I’m following her."

Batman silently trails Yn through the dimly lit alley, staying hidden in the shadows. He moves cautiously, his gaze fixed on her. As he approaches, he notices her slowing down, her pace deliberately calculated.

Yn finally stops, turning to face the darkness behind her. Batman emerges from the shadows, his presence unmistakable.

Yn: with a teasing smile "Did you really think I didn’t see you all these days?"

Batman: surprised "You knew?"

Yn: playfully "Of course. I couldn’t help but notice the Batmobile following me. Figured I’d give you a little run for your money on the final night."

Batman: with a hint of amusement "You’ve been teasing me."

Yn: grinning "Maybe just a bit. I thought it’d be fun to see if you’d catch on."

Batman: softly "You’re quite something, you know that?"

Yn: with a wink "And you’re not so bad yourself."

lfred: over comms, with a knowing tone "It appears she’s rather adept at keeping you on your toes, sir."

Batman: with a hint of frustration and affection "She was deliberately trying to get my attention. I should’ve known she’d use this opportunity to tease me."

Alfred: gently "She seems to have quite the effect on you. It’s clear she’s aware of her influence."

Batman: sighing "I’m just not used to being so… exposed."

Alfred: with a warm chuckle "Ah, but that’s what makes it all the more endearing, don’t you think? She’s managed to turn your world upside down in the most unexpected ways."

Batman: thoughtfully "I suppose she has. It’s just... not what I expected."

Alfred: wisely "That’s the beauty of it, sir. She’s brought a light into your life that even the darkest corners of Gotham can’t overshadow. She sees through the darkness, and yet, she’s not afraid to play with it."

Batman: reflectively "Yeah, she’s something else. I’ve never met anyone quite like her."

Alfred: encouragingly "And that’s precisely why you’re so drawn to her. She challenges you, makes you rethink your boundaries, and somehow, she makes everything a little brighter."

Batman: softly "She does. It’s… different. But in a good way."

Alfred: warmly "Indeed, sir. Just remember, she’s not just a source of light; she’s also a partner in your journey. Embrace it."

-----

As Batman maneuvers the Batmobile through the outskirts of Gotham, he hears the faint, upbeat strains of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" playing through the night air. The sound seems to be getting closer.

Alfred: through comms "Master Bruce, it appears Miss Yn is on her usual night drive."

Batman: with a hint of amusement "I can hear her music. She never fails to pick a lively tune."

Alfred: teasingly "Indeed. It seems her taste in music is as distinctive as her choice of driving routes."

Batman: smiling "She has a knack for making even a simple drive feel special. I suppose she’s enjoying the night air."

Alfred: "It would seem so. Shall I remind you, sir, to keep a discreet distance? I’m sure she wouldn’t appreciate a surprise appearance from Batman."

Batman: chuckling softly "Noted. I’ll keep my distance and let her enjoy her drive. But it’s hard not to be tempted to join in the fun."

Alfred: "I’m sure Miss Yn would be thrilled to know you’re keeping an eye on her. Even if she doesn't know it’s you."

Batman: "I’ll stay in the shadows. It’s nice to hear her enjoying herself."

Alfred: "Very well, sir. I’ll be here if you need anything else."

Batman’s smile lingers as he continues to follow the distant sound of ABBA, allowing himself a brief moment of relaxation amid his duties.

[taiyaki-translations]

Happy Charm - Educe 3

Season: Spring Characters: Eichi Translators & Proofreaders: taiyaki-translations, citrinesea, toujokaname

Eichi: (Well, I've managed to assign the job to the right kids for the project...)

Now then, I wonder what I should do on my end.

(Even if I want to take action, there's not much time left before the day of the shoot.)

(I'd like to brush it up into better shape as much as possible, but...)

(Sigh) For now, I should prioritize checking other documents.

...Hm, Anzu-chan? For you to come all the way to the office... Did something happen?

It's about the treasure-hunting show I mentioned earlier? Ahh, right, you're having Subaru-kun appear.

That’s a wise pick. This kind of variety show suits him perfectly.

Since you came all this way, does that mean you have something to discuss about the program?

No? You just wanted to report on the project in person?

Fufu, you're always so conscientious, Anzu-chan. You even attached the documents in a separate email.

To begin with, even I can't completely control Trickstar's activities...

No, it's because they can show their true potential better without being controlled that I deliberately don't interfere... That would be more accurate.

I wouldn't be surprised if Subaru-kun waited until after this program finished to come and report it to me. 

That said, I appreciate you bringing the project proposal, Anzu-chan.

So just as I was told beforehand, it's a show without any staged acts or rigged outcomes.

Though it seems they have some planned events and arrangements to liven up the show.

Hmm... The places where the treasure chests are hidden are known only to a few staff members; that's thorough.

Since it's a variety show that isn't meant for competition or promotion purposes, participants can also enjoy it without feeling pressured.

It says here that each team needs three members, though. Has the third member been decided?

Huh, so Harukawa-kun and Subaru-kun are still in the middle of searching for one.

You've been asking around, but everyone's schedules don't seem to match up?

Mm? You're suggesting I join them in the treasure hunt?

Fufu. It's a lovely idea, but I already have plans for that day. I can't participate.

Besides, fine has a basic policy of not participating in variety shows to begin with.

Of course, it's not absolute. If there's an urgent situation like with Dragon's Head (1), I'll step in.

And if someone expresses a strong desire to participate in something, like Tori with Prison Breakers (2), I won't refuse.

But this time, neither case applies.

There are many others who are more suitable for variety shows like this.

Also, if I were to appear, it might make things difficult for Subaru-kun and the others.

Since Harukawa-kun would be the only one from a different agency, he’d look out of place. It would diminish Subaru-kun’s unique charm as well.

"I don't think that would happen"?

Hm, if you of all people can say that, then it might actually be the case, but...

When it comes to variety shows, prioritize those who have strong conversational skills, and for dramas, choose those who are good at acting.

It’s essential to match idols to the type of work they’re best suited for.

Though, there may be times when the director's wishes and various expectations result in an unfavorable situation...

In general, we should assign each idol a stage where they can make the most of their individuality.

By understanding their individual charms and putting them in positions that highlight those charms, idols can truly shine.

...Not that I need to tell you this, Anzu-chan, since you're a producer.

By this point, you've led us idols to appropriate stages countless times.

…But, there are many times when the stage isn't suitable for the idol in this industry.

"Is that what you were sighing about earlier"?

So you saw it after all. Well, it's not like I had a need to hide it.

It so happens that StarPro received an offer for a town-walking show.

The goal is to showcase the region and use idols to make the program more dazzling.

While there's nothing terribly wrong with the proposal itself, I can't shake off the feeling that it's somewhat generic and lackluster.

...Fufu. Looks like you've got an idea.

Given our positions, you probably run into these situations more often than I do, don't you, Anzu-chan?

Especially since you were running about cleaning up after the P-Association's proposals last year.

Nevertheless, the fact that each of those troublesome projects has achieved great success is entirely thanks to your expertise.

...In fact. Since we’re already here, I'd like to hear your input on it as well.

Fufu, "I'm happy to help if I can," huh? How dependable.

I myself have seen countless proposals that lacked sharp edges, or ones that only had a vague idea of what they wanted to do.

And each time, I had to discuss it with the producers and directors over and over to ensure the best possible outcome for the idols involved.

I planned to approach it in the same way for this too, but... There’s not much time left to take my time coming up with a strategy.

If possible, I'd like to create an instant hook within the project and discuss it with the other party right away...

What's that? ..."Create a surprise element and make the program itself more appealing"?

Yeah, I agree with that opinion. If that’s the case, what matters is the content of the surprise.

We could bring in more guests from StarPro, or maybe look for notable stores near the filming site...

Mm? What is it, Anzu-chan? … Is it something about the date and location of the site?

......!

I see ♪ I completely overlooked it. This would indeed introduce a surprise element and enhance the program.

Of course, I'll need to confirm with the client but... Can I leave that to you?

Fufu, thank you. I'm glad I consulted with you.

Well then, once we've both confirmed everything, let's hold another strategy meeting ♪

Translation Notes: 1. Referring to the story Dragon's Head. 2. Referring to the story Prison Breakers.

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[samritikaurrr]

Blue Bovine Photos in Modern Interior Design

In the world of modern interior and commercial design, bold choices often lead to unforgettable spaces. One unexpected trend gaining traction among art collectors, restaurant owners, and even homeowners is the use of blue bovine photos—striking, surreal images of cows painted or edited in vivid shades of blue.

These images aren’t just whimsical—they’re symbolic, playful, and full of personality. Whether printed large for gallery walls or integrated into restaurant décor, blue bovine art offers a conversation-starting centerpiece that blends rural charm with contemporary flair.

Why Blue Bovine?

Cows have long been a part of pastoral imagery, symbolizing calmness, abundance, and the countryside. But by presenting them in blue—a color often associated with creativity, tranquility, and the unexpected—photographers and digital artists have transformed a traditional subject into a bold visual statement.

The concept of blue bovine photos often begins with fine art photography, where natural images of cows are digitally enhanced, stylized, or edited to highlight blue hues. This surreal twist adds a dreamlike quality, drawing attention not only to the animal but to the surrounding environment, whether that be an open field, a misty barn, or a stark studio backdrop.

A Perfect Fit for Modern Spaces

Art is personal, but trends still emerge, especially when they blend well with interior design movements. Blue bovine imagery resonates particularly well with the growing interest in maximalist and eclectic design styles. These photos add texture, color, and a bit of humor to any room.

One unexpected pairing that’s gaining attention is the combination of bold artwork like blue bovine photography with natural stone surfaces such as marble, quartz, and porcelain. This contrast between playful art and durable, elegant finishes creates a balance that feels fresh and curated.

In Canada, interior designers are noticing how these images can liven up neutral kitchens, add personality to minimalist office spaces, or become signature pieces in boutique restaurants. And with so many customizable print options available, these images can be framed, canvas-mounted, or even printed directly onto wall panels.

Where Art Meets Stone

When choosing a place to showcase blue bovine art, the surrounding design elements matter. Surfaces like stone countertops, accent walls, and flooring help ground the bold color and whimsical style of the art.

In Ontario, many homeowners and commercial designers work with companies like Elite Stone to craft interiors that pair unique aesthetics with lasting materials. Known for their work with natural and engineered stones—like quartz, porcelain, and granite—Elite Stone brings technical expertise to interior design projects across the province.

Designers who incorporate blue bovine photos into their spaces often use complementary stone materials in cool or neutral tones—like soft grey quartz or marble-look porcelain—to let the artwork pop without overwhelming the senses.

A Nod to Farmhouse and Contemporary Styles

Blue bovine photography is a great way to bridge rustic and modern design. For homeowners who love the cozy elements of farmhouse style but want to avoid overly traditional motifs, this type of art provides a refreshing twist. It brings in farmyard references but in a contemporary and unexpected way.

Whether your home features reclaimed wood floors, sleek stone countertops, or open shelving, blue bovine images can complement and elevate the space. They fit just as naturally in country kitchens as they do in high-rise condos.

Final Thoughts

Art has the power to shape mood, spark conversation, and define a space. Blue bovine photos do all three, offering a blend of humor, originality, and charm. As interior design becomes more personalized and eclectic, these surreal images are becoming more than just a quirky trend—they’re part of a broader movement toward bold, expressive living.

For those designing with intention, combining elements like striking photography and custom stonework from experts such as Elite Stone can result in spaces that are both beautiful and uniquely yours.

[headmaestro]

Nandara's Tale: Where Music Begin | Prelude.

As time marches forward, the Maestro conducts a symphony of love, each note serves a testament to the passage of time and the beauty of fleeting moments.

CHAPTER ONE: The First Movement ♪ .. || “Thus now, the orchestra stirs into a new movement—a symphonic rebirth,” whispered, NANDARA J. YESABINE.

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ [ . . . ]

Foresee, crafting a love story as timeless as a classic tune, PARK SUNGHOON for the MAIN COMPOSITION and LEE HEESEUNG, YANG JUNGWOON, YOON JEONGHAN, and NAS his SIDE COMPOSITIONS. Mingled—casting a soft glow that illuminated the stage, where an aura lingered of a LEGAL 20+ took part.

The lead drives the strings of your heart to be plucked, as he strives onto the stage filled with a symphony of emotions, seamlessly transitioning between roles of LOVER, FRIEND, FAMILY, and ANY SITUATIONSHIP. Composed by several sonnets of BXB and GXB connections in his lyrical tone as SUBMISSIVE.

The head maestro remarked, “The audience is buzzing. Let’s give them something to remember, 'shall we?” Just as that, pure confidence showed on the ARIES's bright eyes, resembling his true nature of an INTP.

Merely heard by the crowd—the sound of rustling pages filled the air, a gentle reminder of the music yet to come. He greeted the audience not only in musical gestures, but also through alluring INDONESIA, ENGLISH, and BILINGUAL resonance of pitch.

Dedicated to the echoes filled in the hearts of all who had been fortunate enough to listen as he indicated his care through a gentle touch of QUALITY TIME, ACTS OF SERVICE and WORDS OF AFFIRMATION, harmonizing with the sounds around. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⋆⋆✮♪♫♪✮⋆⋆

CHAPTER TWO: The Entrancing Melodies Unfold ♪ .. || “Remember, every note we play is a part of our story. Let's make the best of our performance,” uttered, The Head Maestro. The notes carry on to every Maestro's AVAILABILITY:

♬ ) All basic services, Couple avatar or display name, PDA (V/VVIP only), Stay up late, Bilingual or Javanese speaking, Fluent in English, Pap activity without face, Deeptalk, Dirty talk, Imagine bracket N/SFW (short to medium), IC character, Music date (Spotify), Movie date (Rave, Loklok), Reading date (AU, Webtoon), Game date (Telegram, Plato, Gartic).

‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ⌞ A charmer so alluring, controlled, yet deeply, unshakably alive.⌝

CHAPTER THREE: Gentle Melodies Savored ♪ .. || “ It was a heartbeat, a breath shared between us all,” remarked, The Head Maestro. Which means, a new INTRODUCTION has finally opened in our shared chapter.

ㅤㅤ

Hello, precious ones! A warm greetings to everyone who read this corner of mine. Allow me to tell you about myself by the name Nandara J. Yesabine. Just simply call me Nanda or Dara, but if you have any cute nicknames I will gladly accept it! Because I also loves to give new nicknames especially for my loved ones. You may not see my cute side here because I keep it for my special person, hehe. Before you dive into me deeper, I'm a bilingual person who fluent in English but can speak Indonesia and Javanese as well. Adek iki wong Jowo asli lohh.

I have INTP as my MBTI, but no worries I can be a bubbly person for you! I will always try to liven up the conversation with my own way. I'm easily getting excited even using capslock when typing. I love to talk about maanyyy things, giving you some TMI(s) or random stories, so don't be afraid to share anything with me. I'll be your ears and give you some advice if necessary. I'll always be your most supportive partner and stick by your side whenever you need me, well except if I asleep hehe. I have Aries as my sign, people said it belongs to one of the flirty zodiac. Well, I'm a flirty person. I'd love to being 'centil' to my lover and tease them in a cute way since I'm a bit mischievous.

But sometimes I can be really clingy to my partner, I love to send my muse's picture and use some cute stickers/gif. Oh! I loveee caatss soooo muuchhh!! Aren't they just the cutest being on earth????!

For my music taste, I mostly listen to any pop songs but I love other genres too. Some of my favorites singers are 1D, EXO, Enhypen, Seventeen, Charlie Puth, Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes, Justin Bieber, and etc. I'm veerryy much open for songs recommendations, so we can try to match our favorite songs together. Next, if we talk about movies I reaallyy love horror and adventures movies. Harry Potter, Maze Runner, Narnia, Percy Jackson, Teen Wolf, The Conjuring, are some of my favorites movies. Do you have any good movies that we should watch together?

CW // NSFW

As for steamy things, I'm the type that loves to tease first by sending some fake pap(s). Prefer to use local p*rn words and having both degrading and praise kink. A naughty slut who's ready to ride you all night or an obedient kitten who willfollowing his master's order.

I may not as cute as other submissive out there but I'll assure you I can still be your favorite one. Whether it'll be your lover, friends, or family. I'll give you tons of warm hugs and bunch of kisses along with a soft pat on your head to give you some comfort after a tough day. Then we can finish it by cuddling up in our bed, lovely isn't it??? So, are you interested to paint a colorful stories with me? I'll be waiting for your arrival, love. See you soon<3

[robotic-rin]

Psychosomatic Freedom (To Your Head)

(Beetlejuice x Reader)

Summary: Renting out the spare bedroom in the Maitland/Deetz mansion was wacky enough when you found out you’d be living with real life ghosts, but things only got more intense when a certain demon was thrown into the mix as well. Not only does he pride himself on annoying you whenever you’re busy, but he chooses to do so in ways that make you regrettably very horny for him. You do well at keeping your flustered reactions under control when you’re around him, but please try to remember that he WILL appear if you say his name three times, no matter the context or intent.

Word Count: 13,840

Rating: Explicit

Warnings/Tags: horny demon escapades, a dash of praise kink, even smaller dash of humiliation kink if you squint, beetlejuice being a bastard but he also whimpers, hurt/comfort, emotionally vulnerable handjobs, afab reader (no gendered terms are used aside from beej referring to reader’s “tits” bc of him being the way that he is), tried to limit my use of (y/n) but it is in there, monster fangs/tongues, overuse of bj’s mood ring hair, beetlejuice is so annoying that he loops back around into being majorly fuckable

Author’s Note: it’s finally happened. i’ve been meaning to write this fic for years, and i finally gathered the willpower to write it all out. i don’t know if i properly followed the post-musical summoning rules but tbh i just wrote this bc i wanna fuck beetlejuice and i didn’t do a lot of lore checking, apologies. i hope y’all enjoy regardless, this demon needs to be dommed so bad and i was more than happy to provide the scenario. anyways, you know the drill: if you’re good with all the tags and are 18+, please enjoy!

You can’t clearly remember the moment you realized that taking up residence in the Maitland/Deetz household was going to be more than you bargained for. The living family was eccentric enough, let alone the fact that they were currently cohabiting with a friendly ghost family. You had to be willing to accept a lot of zany things very quickly when you went in to sign the paperwork to rent out the mansion’s spare bedroom, and you’d say that you’ve taken everything in stride so far, all things considered. Charles and Delia Deetz were nice enough and stayed out of your business just as you did with theirs. They had been a bit strapped for cash after their investment in a gated neighborhood fell through, and it seemed as though they were happy enough to make some money off of renting out their guest bedroom to a sane person who mostly kept to themself. It was a win for everyone, so you got along just fine. Their daughter, Lydia Deetz, was less into staying out of your way, but she wasn’t rude about it by any means. She seemed to just be an eccentric teen who was curious about the person living in her house, and you’d gladly indulge her out-of-the-box conversation topics about the newest death metal bands and join her for an occult ritual or two. Classic teen stuff.

Of course, sharing a house with a living family was one thing, but adding a ghost family to the mix definitely livened things up (ironically). Adam and Barbara Maitland, also known as the previous owners of the house who had suffered a tragic premature death, were not what you expected from real life ghosts. It’s hard to say what you did expect when that bombshell was dropped on you, but it definitely wasn’t two polite suburban Millennials that felt more like a caricature of a couple you’d meet at a vegan farmers’ market than restless spirits haunting their old house. It was a wild day when you met them, assuming that Lydia was having a bit of fun with you when she’d ominously warned you that their house was haunted. But no, she was certainly not, as the couple took your moving-in day as their chance to formally introduce themselves. You didn’t actually believe that they were truly dead until Adam walked through a wall for you days later. Despite being slightly bummed that they didn’t look like the classic ghost with little wispy tails for feet, you were also a bit relieved that, although ghosts definitively exist, they can be just as friendly and unremarkable as any human. Not to say it as a knock against them, you actually found yourself hanging out with the Maitlands more than anyone else in the house. Against all odds, they were the most normal and down-to-earth ones in the whole household, and you were grateful to have them as housemates.

You got to hear all about how they got to the living arrangement they had now, and if you weren’t already rooming with ghosts, you’d have considered it too unbelievable to be true. But you’re glad to hear how well everyone seems to be doing with this new living arrangement, especially Lydia, who it seems had a really rough time of it right after her mom died. All things considered, you were beginning to really enjoy living in such a crazy house with such colorful personalities around you, all unique but living in harmony. Well. At least until he showed up.

You’d been warned that he does this from time to time. Part of their story told how he went from full-on antagonist to the weird uncle of the family, now popping in whenever he felt like it, often unannounced. He always claimed it was just to check in on his favorite mixed-life family, but in reality, it was mostly just to bother everybody.

As long as you live and die, you’ll never forget the first time he’d made one of his surprise visits after you’d moved in. You’d been sitting alone at the long dining room table, minding your own business as you typed away at important work on your laptop, fully lost in your task. Important files for your work lined your screen, all perfectly organized and sorted through after a long day’s work. But then, with no warning, your laptop’s display had changed to a blue screen, causing your eyes to widen in horror as you realized that it had fully died on you and probably lost all of your progress. You felt yourself choke out a horrible sound of despair, before a hand seemingly appeared from nowhere and pulled the blue screen back as though furling up a classroom projector screen, revealing your undisturbed desktop behind it.

“Woah, that was almost a really expensive mistake,” a gruff but playful voice laughed, coming from right next to you. “I forget how touchy technology can be when it comes to spirit energy. My bad, heh.”

You had whipped your head to the side to see a disheveled-looking man with bright green hair dressed in a black-and-white striped suit that looked like it needed to be washed and dry cleaned about 10 years ago. He was grimy, but almost purposefully grimy. Like it was part of his aesthetic. You’d seen some wild happenings in this house, but the sudden materialization of this random weird guy in the dining room was the first to leave you speechless.

“W-what…how…you just….” If first impressions truly were everything, he’d surely always think of you as the pinnacle of eloquence.

The stranger grinned at your reaction, obviously a bit pleased with himself. “No words, huh? Wouldn’t be the first time, I do tend to inspire that reaction in people. My undeniable charms aside, who are you? Some long-lost Deetz cousin visiting from WhoTheFuckKnowsVille or something?”

You finally regained enough of your speech abilities to respond just in time. “Uh, no. Just…renting the spare bedroom. No relation.” There was a moment of silence as he looked at you inquisitively, before you remembered your manners. “Um, I’m (Y/N). Am I right to assume that you’re Beetlejuice?” Hey, why do I need to have manners after he almost just fried my laptop? Your bitter thoughts go unfortunately unanswered.

He looked positively elated at your words, his dark eyes visibly lighting up as he sidled up next to you in your chair, ignoring the fact that it was clearly only made for one person. “Oh, wonderful! I get to skip the charades part with you. You’re already my new favorite person just for that, you don’t know how much I hate playing guessing games when the answer hasn’t changed in hundreds of years. But yes, that’s my name, don’t wear it out. Unless you want to see me. Then all you gotta do is say it three times in a row, and I’m there, baby. Morning or night, rain or shine.” Boy, this guy talks a lot.

You nodded slowly, still bewildered. “Ah, alright. Sounds good. Did you…need anything?” You couldn’t, for the life of you, get an idea of what Beetlejuice would be doing here.

He huffed noncommittally. “Well, usually I come around to see everyone here, since the Netherworld gets reeeaaaalllly boring. But lately, Lydia’s gone so much at school, and my old flames Adam and Barbara don’t always have time for lil ol’ me anymore…” He made a pitiful little face and rested his head on your shoulder, acting like a kicked dog. Despite his bad manners and lack of personal space, you felt a piece of yourself feel bad for the demon. Looking back, that was your first mistake.

“Hey, don’t be upset. I know we just met, but if you come by and nobody’s here, I could always…hang out? For a bit?” And that was mistake number two.

His full demeanor shifted in an instant, as though you’d activated a switch on him that could never be turned off. “Really? You’d spend time? With me?” For a demon, he did have very effective puppy dog eyes. If you weren’t locked in on what you said before, you had to be now, looking him in the eye as he turned his full body towards you, inches from your face.

“Sure, I’m usually just hanging out around the house getting work done anyway. I could use a little company sometimes.” It felt more like you were talking yourself into this decision rather than him.

“Oh friend, you won’t regret it! We’ll have such a nice time together, I can just feel it. Don’t ask where, heh.” He pulled out a small business card from thin air and slid it smoothly between your fingers. “And remember babes, you want me, you just call my name. I wouldn’t keep someone as smokin’ as you waiting. Not like I have a choice.” Snickering to himself, he’d disappeared in a flash, leaving you with your head spinning as you wondered exactly what you’d agreed to.

As time passed, you found that you didn’t even need to call his name for Beetlejuice to show up in the middle of your day and start pestering you. Eventually, it got to a point where, even when the other members of the family were around, he’d still choose to hang around you over them at times. After a good while, you got to a point where you nearly forgot that calling his name three times would summon him due to how often he popped in of his own volition with no warning at all. And somehow, he only ever seemed to do this on days where you had something that really needed to get done, never just on a day where you were already lazing about on the couch and eating snacks. No, instead, he acted like a bored cat with no sense of responsibility whose only goal was to distract you, and it’s a goal that he prided himself in succeeding at through various methods. Turning your pencil into a baby sandworm, making the keys on your laptop keyboard detach and float away, grabbing whatever you’re working on and zipping it up in a pocket dimension for a few minutes. One time, he straight up ate an important stack of papers from your desk whole because you weren’t looking when he told you he was about to do a cool trick. Anything to rile you up and steal your attention for a bit.

You find yourself in another situation like that on today of all days, when you’re swamped in assignments and don’t have a moment to spare. You can already feel his unseen eyes watching you as you sit hunched over your large desk-vanity, checking out what you’re up to before he acts. You’ve developed almost a sixth sense for detecting him when he’s invisible at this point, but somehow knowing that he’s secretly here just makes your heart race faster. There’s no feeling quite like trying to predict the first move of a master scarer while he’s in the room, but you quickly decide to put a stop to it today.

“I know you’re there, Beetlejuice,” you say, clear and stern. It would really emphasize how serious and non-playful you’re feeling today, if not for the way the corners of your mouth turn upwards of their own accord. Fight though you might, your body always gives away how much you enjoy the little games you two play. You allow your eyes to slowly wander away from your glowing laptop screen to stare at the large mirror in front of you, hoping to catch a glimpse of his figure lurking behind you and catch him before he can put whatever plan he has into action. Just as you’re scanning the reflection for anything that seems off, your vision is engulfed by a sharp toothy grin manifesting in front of you from within the mirror.

“Boo.”

He can barely get the first syllable out uninterrupted before you’re screaming and jumping back so far that you nearly fall backwards out of your chair, only catching your balance at the last moment. You turn your fiery gaze up to his smug face, still sticking halfway out of your mirror.

“You rat bastard!” You’re panting so hard that you can’t even think of a clever insult for him outside of playground swears, which only seem to egg him on.

He flutters his eyelashes innocently. “Aww, you liked it that much? Well, I hope it was as good for you as it was for me. There’s plenty more where that came from, heh.” He sticks a long, snake-like striped tongue out of his mouth as if to cheekily punctuate his statement.

Despite yourself, you feel your face beginning to flush at his suggestive behavior and turn your back on the mirror to conceal your expression. You don’t want to admit it, but over the past few months, you had developed an issue even bigger than the simple annoyance of a demon constantly pestering you: you found yourself feeling really attracted to Beetlejuice’s stupid face and mannerisms. Even though he was insufferable, he was also undeniably cute and charismatic in a strange way, and he always managed to get you riled up in more ways than one through his teasing. This would only make you all the more bothered by his antics, which in turn would make him want to press your buttons even more. It was a vicious cycle that only ever ended up in you feeling a unique mix of irritated and hot under the collar after he left. Why, why was I cursed with attraction to this rude little gremlin man? He’s gross, and crude, and annoying…and yet.

You wrinkle your nose to dismiss your thoughts, still looking away from Beetlejuice. “So did you come just to make sure I don’t get these assignments turned in on time, or what?”

“Or…what.” Out of the corner of your eye, you see him slide out of the mirror like a long snake, coming back up to full height standing next to your chair. “You know how lonely I get in the stupid Netherworld, so checking up on my faaaavorite little breather is a great way to fill my social meter.” He gets a little too close to your ear, stretching out that “favorite” into almost a growl, and you practically stop breathing trying to minimize the shiver that overtakes your body. Fuck this guy’s stupid sexy voice.

Hoping he didn’t notice your reaction, you turn your body to face him and stand up from your chair defiantly, face to face with his usual shit-eating grin. “What, you just don’t talk to anybody else in this house anymore? It feels like you only ever visit me nowadays, and I really have no idea what I’ve done to be cursed with the privilege of being your favorite human.”

Beetlejuice looks up thoughtfully, as though truly trying to figure out how this relationship came to be, bringing his face closer still to yours. “Well, you are the only person who’s ever voluntarily offered to spend quality time with me.” The answer is so earnest and straightforward, it steals the next witty retort from your lips and you just gawk at him, inches away. His eyes quickly dart down. “Hm, plus, you do have the best tits I’ve seen in a few centuries.” There it is.

You roll your eyes and groan, gently pushing his face away from you with your entire hand, only for him to lick a long stripe down your palm with his tongue. “Ugh, you are so gross!” You relent and move to wipe your hand on your shirt instead.

“Only for you, babes,” he coos with half-lidded eyes.

“That is demonstrably false.”

“Ok fine, how about: especially for you?”

“Well, it’s closer to the truth at least.” You fold your arms and cock your head. “What did you wanna do, then?”

“Oh, you should know better than to give me so much control here, (Y/N). There’s a lotta things I’d like to do with you.” He runs his tongue over fanged teeth teasingly, causing your heart to race once again. Beetlejuice really is a demon without a doubt, because he’s perfectly created my own personal hell. He must be some kind of divine punishment for my wrongdoings. A sexy demon who flirts with me endlessly, and I have to just be normal about it because there’s no way he’s serious. Maybe I burned down orphanages in a past life to deserve this.

“Yeah, you’re right. You’d probably turn me inside out or something fucked up if you got the freedom of choice. I’ll pick, then.” You quickly scan your brain for the quickest, most painless way to get him out of your hair. “How about a game?”

His face lights up with mischief. “Twister?”

“No,” you respond flatly.

“Spin the bottle?”

“No.”

“Hungry Hungry Hippos?”

“N-what? How is that even-“

“Oh, it’s not a euphemism, I just genuinely like that one.”

You sigh in defeat. “Ok, no to all of those. I was thinking more along the lines of The Quiet Game. You sit over there and be quiet, and I sit over here and get my work done, and if you stay quiet the whole time, we can watch a movie or something afterwards.” You say all of this knowing very well that it’s a pipe dream. Even if he were to be totally silent, Beetlejuice would have no problem finding new and inventive ways to torment you. He’s quite talented at that, as both of you are keenly aware.

Upon hearing your proposal, Beetlejuice furrows his brow and wrinkles his nose in a way similar to a petulant child about to throw a tantrum. “The Quiet Game? Are you serious, I-hmph, well, I can tell when I’m not wanted! I don’t need your pity games, I have plenty of exciting and important work things to do myself, like…um. Well, I’d have to check my dossier, but I’m sure there’s plenty of ‘em!” He spins away from you dramatically, drooping his shoulders to appear more pathetic. It works, unfortunately.

Your gaze softens slightly as you take a step towards him. “Beej, c’mon, it’s not that I don’t wanna hang out, I just really need to finish-“

“Yeah, yeah, human work, I know it.” He whirls around to poke at your chest accusingly. “Well, don’t let me be a roadblock to you, Professor Workaholic. I’ll remove myself from your esteemed presence. Just don’t come crawling back to me when you’ve worked yourself to death! I’ll be too busy. Filing shit. Or whatever.” His voice warbles at the end, and you’re not entirely sure if he’s doing it on purpose or not. He’s not the easiest guy to read, though you do think you catch a flash of purple streaking its way through his otherwise green hair. Without giving you time to respond, Beetlejuice pulls out a pair of scissors and snips a long hole in reality, stepping through it with one last pitiful look at you before flipping you off and stitching it up behind him, causing it to blip out of existence.

Just like that, he’s gone, and you quickly realize that you may not have wanted this outcome as much as you’d thought. He’s a bit abrasive, but he’s not wrong. A break would’ve been good for me, and spending time with him is always…a lot, but never boring. We always have fun together. You groan to yourself, frustrated that your brain has decided to come around only after Beetlejuice had already dipped. Damn, I shouldn’t have let him leave.

Seeing no point in taking a break on your own, you sigh, sit back down, and attempt to keep trucking through your work. It’s mind-numbingly dull, and you keep finding your brain wandering off to thoughts of Beetlejuice. His poor little demon schtick really does work, I can’t stand to think about how sad he looked as he was leaving. His big, expressive eyes…how cute and proud of himself he looked after successfully scaring me earlier…his pointy tongue running across those sharp fangs. Fuck… You find yourself blushing at the mere memory of that last one, your conscious mind pleading that you stop finding it as sexy as you do. But try as you may, there’s no changing the fact that Beetlejuice’s playful antics paired with his handsome face have spelled your doom. You’re down bad, worked up, and all alone. Well, looks like this work won’t be getting done because of Beetlejuice even without him here. Fuck it.

Giving in to your body’s demands, you stand up from the desk chair and head over to your bed, taking your pants off on the way and tossing them haphazardly into a corner to start gathering wrinkles. You have bigger things on your mind at the moment; specifically, imagining what Beetlejuice’s long tongue might feel like dragging across your skin. Feeling goosebumps beginning to rise already, you recline onto the bed and slip your hand into your underwear, wasting no time as you begin rubbing slow circles into your clit. You’re almost embarrassed at the fact that you’re already fairly wet just from thinking about him, but then again, it’s not really that surprising. Ok, yeah, this is exactly what I needed. Well, maybe not exactly. If it was perfect, he’d really be here fucking me. The mere idea of that causes your fingers to speed up their ministrations, attempting to replicate the pleasure your mind is imagining in real time. You’ve been here before, touching yourself at the thought of having sex with that demon, but it’s starting to happen more often than you’d care to admit.

Ignoring your inner voice of shame, you focus your whole energy on getting yourself off, your hips twitching involuntarily as you continue. You’re audibly panting at this point, chasing your release at a fast pace. No need for slow pleasantries, this is just about me relieving some tension. Once I’m done, maybe I’ll actually be able to focus on something besides him. Maybe.

After a short while, you can quickly feel your release approaching as you continue to think of him. You’re so close, you can tell that you’re starting to lose yourself. You imagine his big brown eyes looking up at you, expression clouded with lust. “Mm, Beetlejuice…” His pointed fangs scraping your inner thighs… “Beetlejuice…” His lewd face as you suck his cock... “Beetlejuice!”

“Well, well, well, look who decided to come crawling ba-“

Pulled from the brink, you practically jump straight up in the air from where you lay in bed as you hear a familiar voice, too authentic to be fantasy. You snap your head up to see Beetlejuice standing at the foot of your bed, eyes wider than you’ve ever seen them and streaks of hot pink just starting to tint his hair.

You quickly regain your senses and pull up the covers. “B-BEETLEJUICE?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”

Beetlejuice, however, is not as fast on the recovery. “I…you…” Slack-jawed and speechless, he stutters out a few syllables that somewhat resemble words before shaking his head as if to clear his brain. “H-hang on, you’re the one who summoned me!”

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, I…” Your world suddenly comes crashing down on you with the weight of a thousand bricks. “…did. Oh, God, I did…” Your face begins to turn red hot, the obvious implications of this scenario making you want to pass away on the spot. Nope, not even death would help me get out of this one.

You can practically see the gears in Beetlejuice’s head turning, albeit slowly. “You…you summoned me? You called out my name three times. While…” The sudden lightbulb moment is very visible as his hand moves to cover his mouth and dozens more streaks of neon pink suddenly overtake his hair, his face darkening to match. For a moment, you worry that you’ve broken him, only for the demon to finally meet your gaze with a goofy grin that only spreads wider by the moment. “You like me, don’t you?”

“Obviously, dipshit!” You grab a decorative pillow from next to you and toss it at his head, which he easily dodges. You can only think to react with righteous indignation, despite the fact that this situation really is entirely your fault. Probably a defense mechanism to shield yourself from the fact that you’d really love to melt into a puddle on the floor right now.

Beetlejuice, on the other hand, seems far more elated about this than you’d ever expected, practically jumping around for joy. “You do! You really do like me! And it’s gotta be a lot, considering the fact that you like me enough to call out my name when you masturbate, heh. Do you do that often, or did I just do really well at seducing you today?” He strikes a mock sexy pose as if to prove his point.

Despite the added embarrassment of him calling you out so easily, you sit up straighter and raise an eyebrow inquisitively. “You’re…not mad?”

Beetlejuice looks practically bewildered at the very notion. “Me? Mad? Why would I be mad? I’ve been flirting with you so hard that I was offering to drop your panties since the day we met, and you think I’d be mad to see that you wanted it to happen just as bad as I did? Wow, you humans really are funny sometimes.”

“Wait, you were being serious? I thought you acted like that with everyone.”

He opens his mouth to defend himself, closes it after a moment of silence, and then moves to coyly rub his neck instead. “Ok, yeah, when you put it like that, I can see where the confusion comes in here. But yes, I meant everything I said! And I mean everything, babes.” He waggles his eyebrows for ridiculous punctuation.

You blink up at him in shock. No fucking way this is happening. No way is this demon freely admitting that he wants to have sex with me right back, no jokes anywhere to be seen. This must be a dream.

But Beetlejuice is still standing at the end of your bed, real as ever, and beginning to look more than a little bit antsy. “So, um…you gonna invite me to join you, or just make me watch? ‘Cuz to be honest, I, uh, wouldn’t hate either outcome here, so long as I can stay.”

You have a decision to make. You could say his name three times right now to banish him and never speak of this incident again as long as you both shall live and die, or you could finally get to live out the fantasies that have been plaguing you ceaselessly as of late. In the end, it isn’t even really a choice when the best answer is so easily clear.

Your eyes flick up to meet his. “Come here. On your knees.”

Beetlejuice’s face lights up at this command. “Oho, you don’t have to ask me twice!” With that, he practically dives to the floor at your bedside, looking up at you expectantly.

You smile slightly, turning to face Beetlejuice and slide your lower torso out from under the sheets to hang your legs off the side of the bed. Before he can say something lewd, you move to cup his face with your hands. Immediately, he seems taken aback at your gentle action from the stunned, blinking look on his face. Smiling softly, you begin rubbing his beard with your thumbs in a way that makes his eyes roll back into his head a bit. Boy, is he touch-starved. Let’s fix that.

Without another word, you lean in and bring your lips to his, giving him a fairly sweet kiss that he absolutely melts into. You never would’ve expected it of a demon, but Beetlejuice really does have the softest lips you’ve ever kissed, and returns the energy you give him tenfold. It’s pretty cute how much a simple kiss seems to affect him, and you aren’t complaining as you feel his sharp teeth scrape your lips, either. You part your lips a bit to allow his tongue entrance, and he accepts the invitation immediately. His inhumanly long tongue slips in your mouth, wrapping around and rubbing against your tongue almost like a tentacle or other complex appendage. You scrunch up your face at the intrusion, not bad, but strange how it feels as though it’s investigating your mouth of its own accord, prodding and rubbing at you. It’s definitely different from kissing a regular human, but it’s pretty hot, so you’re not complaining by any means. After a few moments, you feel the need to break away and come up for air, panting for breath while Beetlejuice just kneels there in front of you motionless, like he’s just had a particularly amazing out-of-body experience.

After getting a good amount of air into your lungs, you give a small fond smile at his flustered demeanor. “Oh, Beetlejuice, I’m sorry I was so dismissive of you earlier,” you soothe, moving one hand to stroke his neon hair. “You were really just looking out for me, weren’t you?”

He audibly gulps. “Y-yeah…”

“Aw, you really are sweet. I shouldn’t have been so mean to you, baby.”

The more affectionate words you say, the less composed he is as he speaks, made clear by his bright red face and dopey grin. “Heh, s’okay…I kinda like it when you’re mean to me…” Beetlejuice averts his gaze and sinks his face into your hand as he says this. His words are so muffled that they’re almost unintelligible, but you manage to make them out just fine.

“Oh? You do? You really like it when I’m mean to you?” He nods his head quickly, still looking down in embarrassment. Well, this is already going better than I could’ve ever hoped. “Hm, I think I can do that for you. How about you show me how good that tongue really feels, to start off?” You spread your legs suggestively, his head at the perfect level.

Beetlejuice bites his lip in anticipation, his shyness melting away as he’s reminded of getting you off. “Oh yeah, I’ll show you, alright. You have no idea what you’re in for, babes. I’m well-known for my skills in this field, you’ll have the time of y-mmph!” His blathering is interrupted by you grabbing the black tie that hangs around his neck and tugging him closer to you with a swift motion, drawing a whimper from the demon.

“Can’t talk and eat pussy at the same time.”

“Mm, y-you underestimate my abilities…” Beetlejuice always has to have the last word, but he at least doesn’t waste any more time. Tentatively, he slides both of his clawed hands up from your knees to your inner thighs, spreading your legs a bit more to allow more room for his head to fit between them. Your underwear is still on, albeit completely soaked through, which he seems to note with a quiet smug look up at you. In one swift move, he hooks two clawed fingers from each hand around the narrowest strip of the fabric on the sides of your thighs and pulls the garment down slowly, never once breaking eye contact. You’re filled with a nerve-wracking sensation of nakedness as he does this, not just physically, but on a deeper level too. You never realized how deeply revealing it is to have someone watching your expression so shamelessly, gauging your exact reaction as he undresses you. It makes you feel transparent and fully see-through, like a ghost.

Finally, Beetlejuice slips your underwear off of your body fully, twirling it around one of his fingers in pride before pulling back and slingshotting it away with reckless abandon. Returning his head to rest right between your thighs, where there is nothing blocking him from his goal now. You half-expect a stupid remark now that he’s finally right where he’s been aching to be, but he takes you by surprise by just staring at your body in silent reverence for a moment. It’s almost eerie to hear such a long silence from Beetlejuice, who’s made it his full-time career to annoy you up to this point, but it’s kind of flattering at the same time. After a few beats, he seems to shake himself out of his own stupor and looks up at you with a more familiar lopsided smirk.

Before either of you can say anything, he seems to remember that he was given a job to do and begins to unfurl that tongue that you’ve been daydreaming so much about. At full length, it’s about a foot long, forked and striped, always looking like it’s moving of its own accord like a dark slimy tentacle. You’ve seen him loll it out before, so you know good and well what it looks like, but that was always when Beetlejuice was trying to entertain you by acting silly or creepy. In a situation like this, however, it was almost enough to make you feel faint. Consequences be damned, this is the best decision I’ve ever made.

Ever a creature of impatience, Beetlejuice leans down to lick a long, slow stripe starting at the bottom of your pussy and working his way to the top, right up the middle. As soon as he makes contact, you feel as though an electric shock has shot through your lower abdomen. The first thing that your mind registers is how surprisingly cold his tongue is. Sometimes you forget that he’s not a living human and doesn’t have the natural warmth that you’ve come to expect from people. Instead, his body has a natural chilliness to it, and you’ve wondered before if that’s a demon trait or just a Beetlejuice-specific quirk. Either way, the feeling of his long, cold tongue on your pussy is delightfully shocking enough to excite you even more than you could’ve ever expected. He gives another long lick and your hips buck in time without any input from your conscious mind, and you cover your mouth to stifle a moan. Is it just because I was already close, or is Beetlejuice’s tongue actually just the best thing I’ve ever felt in my life?

You don’t get much time to consider this, however, as Beetlejuice notices your full-body reaction, chuckles darkly, and quickly dives back in for more. This time, he’s in it to prove himself, pushing more of his long tongue out to efficiently swirl all around your pussy, going at a speed that would be impossible for a normal human with a normal-length tongue. It’s practically chaotic, but it feels so all-consumingly good that you throw your head back, overwhelmed by the sensation. You reach to grab at his hair, which only seems to spurn him on to move faster, his tongue practically spasming as it writhes against you. It brushes over your inner thighs, your entrance, your clit, practically all of the above at once because of its length, and it’s starting to bring you back to your precipice at an alarming rate.

“F-fuck, Beej…don’t stop, whatever you do, please...” You pull at his hair with more force, putting some power behind your command and drawing a needy whine from the demon. To his credit, he doesn’t stop, and seems to be doing his best to speed up his already-fast work.

If his expression is anything to go by, Beetlejuice seems to take a deep pride in how greatly he’s affecting you in such little time, and he whimpers out little words in between his ministrations. “You-“ He laps at your clit with his pointed tip. “Taste-“ He teases your entrance with the broad side of his tongue. “Delicious…” He draws most of his tongue back into his mouth, only to learn forward to suck on your clit with his whole mouth, his beard tickling your inner thighs as he does.

You’re beyond the point of words, but your thighs tighten around his head to wordlessly show him how close you are. You close your eyes to find a moment’s reprieve from the overstimulation, but when you reopen them, you inadvertently lock eyes with Beetlejuice as he continues to suckle at your clit. You’re blown away by the intense way he looks up at you; his eyelashes are obscuring his eyes in a way that makes him look absolutely beautiful, and weirdly enough, almost sweet and innocent at this angle. This is the moment when you distantly realize you’ve fully lost your mind, but you don’t have long to come to terms with your newfound insanity as your orgasm builds at an exponential rate. Suppressing a lewd sound, you grab fistfuls of his hair, grappling for any sort of leverage as your hips begin to buck against his face and your orgasm is suddenly crashing down on you with the force of a tidal wave. You lean down and wrap your arms around him for fear that you may topple over, still keeping the same tight grip on his hair, which causes his head to pull back forcefully and his face to turn upwards. Your nails dig into his scalp as you ride out the pleasure, eventually releasing his hair when you collapse against his form, your arms draping over his back and chest pressed to his head, feeling boneless and overwhelmingly good. You lean against him for a good few moments, trying to catch your breath and sit back up at the same time.

Beetlejuice stirs slightly beneath you. “No need to rush. I’m doing great right where I am right now. Really, take your time.” You raise an eyebrow, only to quickly realize that your chest is, in fact, pressed directly up against his face. You snort, but remain still for the moment. The only movements in your body are the intense thumps of your heart and the gentle stroking of your hands in Beetlejuice’s hair. After what feels like minutes, you finally pull away from him and prop yourself upright to survey the situation. Specifically, you take in eyefuls of the demon trembling below you, who is looking up at you with a hazy Cheshire grin, licking his lips and very obviously straining against his pants.

You grin salaciously down at where Beetlejuice kneels, reveling in how much you’ve already affected him. “Aw, I bet you’ve been so horny this whole time and still ate me out first without a word. What a good boy.”

His eyes widen. “Fuck, babes…” Beetlejuice openly palms at his clothed dick, making you start to feel warmth between your legs yet again. “S-say that again.”

“That’s not how you ask for something.”

His eyes dart downward as he lets out a shaky sound beneath you, then slowly tilts his head up to meet your gaze. “Please.” The way he whines out the plea is enough to get you a little bit drunk on power. Jesus Christ, this man is gonna be the death of me.

“That’s my good boy.” You hold back a shiver at his immediate and audible reaction. “You really must have wanted this for awhile, the way you’re doing everything I tell you to do so well.”

Beetlejuice moans softly, making no effort to stifle it. “W-well, you did summon me, doll. It’s my job now to make sure you’re totally happy with my work. So, whaddaya say…satisfied with my professional work ethic yet?” He sticks the tip of his tongue out teasingly, eyes lidded.

You giggle at his antics, just as present during sex as they are always. If anything, you’re impressed with his restraint since, so far, he hasn’t pulled any wild reality-bending nonsense to fuck with you while he’s…well, fucking you. “Oh, absolutely. I’d give you a five star review on LinkedIn, no doubt about it.”

He snickers, smiling so wide that his fangs are easily visible. “Hell yeah.”

Looking at him fondly, you move your right hand to untangle itself from his hair and move to scratch at his beard, which Beetlejuice leans into appreciatively. “But y’know, I’m not selfish. You seem a little worked up there, huh? I’d never leave my favorite demon to deal with that all by himself, especially after how good you were to me.” Your hand moves down from his beard, coming to rest on his chest. “How’s about it then, bug boy? You want my hands on your cock?”

Beetlejuice’s big brown eyes are as wide as saucers, and his hair is so vibrantly hot pink that you’re sure it would be blinding in better lighting. “Yes. Please. Oh God, (Y/N), I need you so bad. If you don’t touch me, I’m gonna die and go to whatever’s after the Netherworld, I’m serious.”

“Well, I definitely don’t want that!” You sigh fondly at his dramatics, then pat the space on the bed next to you. “Come on up, I want you right here with me. And lose some of those clothes on the trip up, you’re making me feel underdressed for the occasion.”

“Y-yeah, I can do that.” He wasn’t lying, you really don’t have to ask him twice. He immediately begins shrugging off his iconic striped jacket and slips his suspenders from his shoulders, leaving only his partially-unbuttoned undershirt and tie on below it. He crawls up onto the bed and sits back next to you, mirroring your posture with an air that’s much more shy. Once he’s up, he unbuttons his striped pants and pulls them down enough for his growing erection to be free of their confines, though still trapped in his underwear (also striped, points for staying true to theme). You’d have expected Beetlejuice to be overly confident and full of himself in a situation like this, but now that you’re both in it, this reality-bending, all-powerful demon looks…small. Nervous. Averting your gaze. You feel a need to reassure him overtake you.

“Hey, Beetlejuice? You alright? I know I talk big, but…we don’t have to do anything that you’re not comfortable with.” You rest a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Beetlejuice snaps his head up towards you with a wary expression. “No, it’s not that I…I mean, it’s just that…even though I say it, I’ve never…really…” He pauses his jumbled words to collect his thoughts. “It’s different…to have attention on yourself…I guess.” He sighs in frustration and looks away. “Ugh, this is ridiculous. I do want this, I swear I do. I’m just being…stupid.”

“Hey, this isn’t stupid. I’m serious, don’t say that.” You never would’ve expected this level of self-doubt and anxiety from the demon that literally held everybody else in this house captive during a temper tantrum once, but it just goes to show you can’t judge a book by its war crimes. “What can I do to make it better?”

Beetlejuice looks back to you with a vulnerable expression that you wouldn’t have thought him capable of. “Just…keep doing what you normally do, I guess. Like I said, the problem here is me.” He’s quiet for a contemplative moment. “Ugh, I can’t believe I’m going to say this out loud, so if you ever tell anybody, I’ll feed you alive to a sandworm. For real.”

“I won’t, I promise.” You cross your heart for good measure, making his eyes soften their wary gaze.

“Ok, the thing is, most people have never really…liked me. I know, I couldn’t believe it either, heh. But it’s true, everyone that’s ever summoned me has just used me up for my power and hated me the whole time while doing it. Even if I tried to roll over and do whatever it took to appeal to them, it never worked, so I figured, might as well just do whatever I want if they’ll hate me either way. So that’s what I’ve done, and it made me kinda…not like me, either. I mean, my own mother thought I was a disappointment, so that’s pretty pathetic, right? The closest I got to a friendship was when Lydia summoned me, but I went and messed that up, too. But…” He pushes his forehead against your shoulder so he won’t have to look you in the eye, purple quickly overtaking his hair. “You seemed to like being around me, right? At least a little bit? And I guess I just didn’t want you to see all of me and decide you…didn’t like it, like everyone else. It’s one thing if I do something for you, but I guess it’s…weirdly scarier to let you do things for me. If you do, it’s like I’m not being…useful, or something. See, you can see how ridiculous this sounds, so that’s why it’s just a me being dumb problem.”

You stay quiet for a moment, taking in Beetlejuice’s first words from vulnerable standpoint with you. You don’t want to say the wrong thing and make him regret ever opening up, so you ponder all of the occasions that you’ve spent time with him and bring your hands up to pet his head reassuringly. He can get on my nerves, but for all of his button pushing, I always look forward to his company. He’s silly, and fun, and even unexpectedly sweet at times. “Well…I can agree that it’s a you being wrong problem, at least. Because I do love being around you, Beetlejuice. And I’m sorry that people have made you feel less-than in the past, but I think they’re idiots for missing out on the fun of getting to know you. You don’t need to be “useful” to keep me from leaving, I want to do nice things for you too, no conditions attached. I like you. I want you. You’re perfect as you are.” You press a tender kiss to his forehead.

If Beetlejuice disagrees, he doesn’t say. Instead, he pushes his face into the crook of your neck, trembling enough that you can feel it against your body. “I love you.”

You try to hide how taken aback you are by his words, electing to wrap your arms around him to conceal it. “I love you too.” And the two of you stay just like that for an impossible to determine amount of time, just holding each other gently. You feel wetness against your neck but say nothing and silently hope that you’re doing this right. He loves me. He really said it himself.

After some time, Beetlejuice pulls back and you can finally look at that cute face you’re so fond of again. His expression is sheepish and his hair painted in a gradient of light pink to magenta, tinges of purple confined to the tips of his hair at this point. “Sorry, I ruined the mood there. Not a lotta guys can have a breakdown with their pants down, but as you can see, I am a man of many talents.” His voice is soft, but sounding steadier and more comfortable than it did a few moments before.

You chuckle softly. “Hey, you didn’t ruin anything. I still had no plans of using you for myself only to leave you high and dry.”

“Heh, you mean it?”

“Of course, I mean, as long as you’re up for it.”

“Oh hell yeah, I can bare my soul and still be horny. I can multitask.” A familiar grin lights up his face at the sound of your laughter, his usual personality returning to him bit by bit.

“Good, I still had a lot of things I wanted to do with you. But seriously, if you change your mind at any point, please just tell me. I want you to be comfortable and enjoy yourself, so if you’re not ready, that’s ok.” Part of you realizes that he’s an all-powerful demon who could easily put a stop to anything at a moment’s notice if he felt like it, but another part told you to be extra kind and considerate with him. You want him to know that although he could forcibly end anything he disliked with his powers, he didn’t have to feel the need to use force. You would always respect the power of his words just as much.

He raises his eyebrows. “Heh, look at you, caring about me ‘n’ shit. That works for me, but what, are you plannin’ on tying me up and blindfolding me? Some real kinky shibari shit?”

You pretend to think about it, tapping your chin. “Hm, maybe not this time.” You begin kissing along Beetlejuice’s jawline, stubble scratching at your face as you do. You take the moment to scooch the two of you away from the edge and closer to the center of the bed, with him sitting up against your pillows. Once he’s comfortable, you crawl over to straddle his lap, causing him to groan out a beautiful sound below you. You finally remove your top, ridding yourself of your last piece of clothing before getting to work on him.

“Nice,” Beetlejuice half-whispers, having been watching you slowly peel your shirt off as though he were studying for a test.

“Hey, sounds like I might’ve secured myself that five star review too.”

“Oh fuck yeah, by tits alone. Don’t get me started on everything else, they haven’t even invented a grading scale that goes that high yet.”

You giggle, leaning down to softly kiss his lips and scratch at his beard. Beetlejuice immediately melts to your touch and tilts his head up, giving you easy access to begin trailing downward slowly with your kisses. You move to place kisses along his neck, drinking in the soft sounds that are forming in his throat and causing your lips to vibrate ever so slightly from the rumbles beneath them. Taking your sweet time, you kiss down to just above his collarbone and begin loosening his tie to get at him better. Once it’s wide enough, you slip it overtop his head and let it fall onto the sheets, then you unbutton the last few buttons of his undershirt so that that can slide off of his shoulders as well. Mimicking him from earlier, you chuck the shirt away haphazardly with a satisfied grin.

“Hey, watch the suit, doll,” he quips, with absolutely no bite behind the words. If anything, he just seems a bit breathless. I didn’t think he needed to breathe. Is he just doing that to egg me on?

“I’d rather watch what’s under it, thanks.” You scrunch up your nose playfully and return to your barrage of kisses, happy to now have his bare torso to work with.

“Wow. I’d normally roll my eyes at that, but I’m actually kinda flattered that you’re using lines that are so dumb, they sound like they came from me.”

“Yeah, your Beetlejuice-isms are contagious.” Without his suit, you can better admire that his stomach and arms are a good mix of soft and round and chubby but also pretty strong, giving him a really cute body that you’re getting a bit sick of not having your hands on. Immediately moving to rectify the situation, you pepper kisses and lightly suckle along Beetlejuice’s collarbone. You relish in the heavy rise and fall of his chest under you before moving downward to flick your tongue across his nipple. You’re immediately rewarded with a high-pitched gasp as he arches his back slightly, sending you the cutest pleading look right after. You’re unsure if he’s aware of how strong that kind of positive reinforcement is, but he’ll probably figure it out quickly since you’re already dragging your tongue across his nipple again, bringing one hand up to brace yourself against his bicep and trailing the other down his stomach with one slow, featherlight touch.

Beetlejuice snorts out a giggle between his more lewd sounds and covers his stomach protectively. “H-hey, careful now, I’m ticklish…and add that to the list of things you are not allowed to share with anyone, ever, under any circumstances.”

You chuckle. “I promise.” He looks utterly unconvinced but just pouts his lip wordlessly in embarrassment. I’m really not sure if he knows how cute he is and uses it to his advantage or if this just comes naturally to him. Either option is pretty scary. You move your hand back farther down still to finally graze the top of his clothed dick, fingertips dancing lightly against his strained underwear as you move to fully suck on his other nipple.

“Ughh, you’re such a tease,” he chokes out, moving to cover his face with one hand.

You frown. “Hey, don’t hide from me. It’s not fair if you get to look me in the eye while eating my pussy if I can’t do the same for you when I’m being a cocktease.” Begrudgingly, he grumbles something unintelligible and moves his arm out of his face, looking down at you with faux irritation, causing your smile to only widen. “Wow, your face is almost brighter than your hair right now. Wonder what made that happen.” As you speak, you drag your fingers down his shaft with even more pressure, causing him to make a choked sound. Your hips move to grind down on the thigh that you’re currently sitting astride before you can even think twice about it, the quick friction making you bite your lip to hold in a gasp.

“B-babes, I’m begging ya.” Beetlejuice looks unspeakably horny below you, but you can’t quite resist the thrill of making him work for it.

“Huh, that’s weird, cuz I didn’t hear actually any begging at all, Beetlejuice. But that is a good idea, maybe you should try it.”

“Ohhh, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-”

You bark out a laugh at his immediate and visibly desperate response. If he had any pride before, it seems it had vanished the moment that you first touched him. Taking pity, you finally remove his bottoms completely, feeling quiet satisfaction when his cock is freed and you get to see just how hard he really is. It stands fully erect and leaking precum, matching the color of his flushed face perfectly.

“Y’know, when you actually put in the effort, you’re pretty good at playing nice,” you coo, dragging a single finger up his length from bottom to top.

Beetlejuice represses a shiver and instead lets out a low growl. “Careful, I can still flip you over and rail you into the bed ‘til you can’t speak if I feel like it.”

“Not that a little power struggle with you doesn’t sound awesome, but I have a feeling you won’t do that tonight. Like you said, you want me to be mean to you.” You punctuate your sentence by grabbing his twitching dick and lightly squeezing, enough to make him squirm. “You want to see what I’ll do to you if I have control.” As if challenging him to say otherwise, you begin slowly pumping his cock, looking him directly in the eye as you run your hand up and down his shaft.

Beetlejuice breaks eye contact first, unable to hold your intense gaze as he’s slowly pleasured. “M-maybe, but I still have a good memory. Next time I’m in a more dominating kind of mood, you’ll b-be sorry y-mmph!” Whatever he was about to say is quickly silenced by you running your thumb over the slit of his cock and then immediately picking up the pace of your strokes, causing Beetlejuice to descend into a cacophony of moans that he isn’t even attempting to keep at a reasonable volume level.

You pause your ministrations. “Shh, Beej, other people live here! You want Charles to know you’re getting your shit rocked all the way from his home office? Or the Maitlands in the attic?”

He tilts his head to lean further back into your soft pillows, looking as though he’s truly considering his position on the idea. “Mm, well, my brain is telling me you want to hear a no, but my humiliation kink is just giving me a resounding yes.” This little shit.

You sigh and shake your head, only to catch something you’d forgotten on the bed not long ago out of the corner of your eye. Immediately, you’re struck with a wondrous idea. You grab Beetlejuice’s black tie from where it had been strewn across the bed and ball it up in your hand. Beetlejuice watches you carefully with a confused expression, tilting his head at your handiwork. Once finished, your eyes glisten with a mischief usually more common to his face.

“Open.” With a single word, you cause Beetlejuice’s entire expression to shift into one of shock, but certainly not in a bad way. Surprisingly, he doesn’t say a word, only shoots you what you can only describe as a proud, horny grin and opens his mouth wide, saliva practically dripping from his lips and fangs. This turns you on way more than expected, and you find yourself mentally debating with yourself on whether it’s sexy in a gross way or gross in a sexy way, before ultimately coming back to your senses and stuffing the tie into his mouth as a gag before you could think on this any further.

Beetlejuice adjusts the tie with his tongue to properly fit. He tries to speak, but the only thing that ends up coming out is something like, “Mm fhh dmmm.”

You giggle at his attempt. “Well, if you need to tell me anything important, I think you’ll need to take that out first.” He narrows his eyes in a look that very clearly communicates yeah, no shit. But he doesn’t make any attempt to remove it, so it must not have been very important. Satisfied with your new setup, you return your hand to his cock, pumping as slowly as you had been in the beginning to get him started.

Beetlejuice, however, is not having it. He nearly knocks you off of where you’re straddling him by violently bucking his hips up into your hand. You carefully reposition your naked body as he finds a way to smirk at you through his gag, because of course he can do that. If he can’t make noise, he can easily find another way to make his impatience crystal clear to you.

“I’m sure you think you’re funny, but the more time you spend playing bull-rider, the less likely I am to let you cum anytime soon.” Your words immediately cause his hips to twitch upwards, but he seems to keep himself under better control this time. Of course, knowing Beetlejuice, he’ll probably do it again within the minute if he thinks it’ll push your buttons and/or result in you possibly edging him. You decide to cut him off at the pass by grabbing his dick and vigorously jacking him off without any warning. His eyes practically bug out of his head in surprise before high-pitched moans and squeals start to pour out of him, significantly quieted by the gag in his mouth but still plenty audible enough for you to enjoy. And enjoy you do, keeping up your brutal pace as he squirms deliciously under your touch. Not content to be the only one taken by surprise, he grabs at your chest and begins squeezing with reckless abandon, rolling your nipples under his clawed fingers as he lets out a stifled cry. Between focusing on giving the handjob of your life, drinking in Beej’s reactions, and having your nipples roughly played with, you don’t even realize that you’re rocking your naked pussy against his thigh until you can feel your own arousal rising again.

Though you’re certain you could reach another orgasm if you just keep at it, you decide to slow down so your brain doesn’t fizzle out and forget to focus on making your demon happy. Instead, you lift your body up to bring your face right up to his, slowing your hand motions. Before anything else can happen, you spare yourself a moment to really look at Beetlejuice’s face from slightly below, and what you see in his eyes makes you almost cum untouched. He’s desperately close, almost lost in the sensations you’ve wrapped him in, but still anchored tight to you by gaze alone. If he wasn’t gagged, he would almost certainly be begging again, if he could get any coherent words in between his moans. As it stands, he looks like he’d give you anything in the world right now as long as you keep looking at him and keep touching him. And you’re happy to oblige.

“Gonna cum, Beej? You look preeeetty close.”

He cries out a muffled sound at your words, his hips practically shaking as he wordlessly begs for more, his pleading eyes inches away from your own, scanning your expression for any sign of acquiescence. Fun as it may be to play with him, I shouldn’t toy with him too much for right now. Wouldn’t really be fair after how well he’s treated me.

“Alright.” With a single word, you cease the cruel slow strokes that you’d been teasing him with and swiftly return to the frenzied, messy pumping of his cock that made him arch his back and practically scream beneath his gag. You’re relentless this time, keeping up the sloppy pace while you bring your free hand up to cup his cheek. You would’ve tilted his head to make him look at you, but he’s already been locked onto you since the beginning and you don’t think you’d be able to make him look away now if you tried. You feel dizzy and it’s intoxicating. “Cum for me, Beetlejuice.”

With a moan that almost renders his gag useless and the distant unexplained sound of fabric ripping, Beetlejuice cums hard, coating your hand and belly as you’re leaned over him in a fluid that resembles human semen way more than you actually expected. After fully finishing, he collapses back for a moment, removing the gag from his mouth himself and catching his metaphorical breath. You allow your own worked-up body to lay more comfortably against his chest while he comes down from everything.

“Ok, don’t be mad, I think I may have ripped up your mattress a little bit.” He opens one eye to peek out at you, as though actually expecting you to be angry with him. Sure enough, you look at where his hands were gripping the sheets on either side of him and see distinct, deep claw marks raking down the surface of the bed.

You hum noncommittally to yourself. “Well, I can’t really be mad about something that boosts my ego like that.” Instead you look down at the mess that’s been made of you and consider what to do about it.

Beetlejuice’s eyes follow yours down. “It does glow in the dark, if you were wondering.” His lips twitch upwards, looking quite proud of his fun fact.

“No fuckin’ way.”

“Oh?” Beetlejuice offers a smug smile, then dims the dull lights of your room with his powers until they’ve fully shut off. Sure enough, your entire stomach, hand, and part of your bed is glowing a fluorescent green, his signature shade. He flashes a proud smile at the sight of it. “Told ya so!”

“Ok, color me impressed.” You swipe some of the liquid from your stomach with a finger, studying it inquisitively. “Hey BJ, are you radioactive? If I taste this, will I die?”

Beetlejuice’s face flushes so badly, you can even make it out in this poor lighting. “Uh, no, but I might…”

“Oh, awesome.” You stick the finger of glowing cum in your mouth, relishing the taste of your favorite demon. It’s not too different from a human’s, but it does have a faint taste of sweetness, almost like green apple candy or something. It was certainly fitting for him. “Hey, bring those lights back up, I’m dying to see your mood ring hair unlock new shrimp colors when you see me licking up your cum.”

Wordlessly, Beetlejuice brings back enough light to see each other well in. You’re a bit disappointed to not see any new colors yet undiscovered by man in his hair, but in reality, you may have maxed out the hot pink’s vibrancy today. What you are surprised to see, however, is Beetlejuice’s dick already hardening again as you take another lick of his cum from your palm.

You blink in surprise. “Woah, how are you already getting horny again that fast? Do you have some kind of penis-based superpower that you’ve somehow never mentioned despite you being yourself?”

Beetlejuice lowly chuckles to himself, making shivers run down your back at the tone. “Eh, sort of? See, demons aren’t like humans in that we can all go multiple rounds, regardless of equipment, no problemo. We very often have enormously high libidos that a delicate little breather like you could never hope to keep up with, but hey, you’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.” He raises and lowers his eyebrows like a suggestive idiot.

You absentmindedly play with the tufts of hair behind his ears. “Well, you got me there. I’m down for another round if you are. I’ve wanted to ride you for months now, so the spirit is certainly willing.”

“Fuck yeah I am! I’m beyond willing! As long you know that I’ve got the stamina of a cheetah and can totally outlast you on this.”

“I’m pretty sure cheetahs are known for their great speed but awful stamina.”

“I’m pretty sure I don’t give a shit.”

You give an involuntary snort-laugh at his quick retort, causing the demon to beam at you with unmistakable adoration, gently pushing some loose hair out of your face. It’s almost off-putting to see such an unashamedly wholesome expression plastered across the face of a supernatural being that has spent his existence being feared by so many, but you’d be lying if you said it didn’t also bring you joy unlike any other to be lucky enough to see him like this. So many people didn’t deserve to, and you aren’t exactly sure what you did to become worthy of the privilege, but you won’t question it.

“Here, allow me to level the playing field,” Beetlejuice says, snapping his fingers. You whip your head around the room, but nothing appears to have changed.

“Uh, what exactly did you do?”

“Oh, nothing. I just soundproofed the room for a little bit. I wanna hear you scream, babes.” His eyes narrow at you as his arms engulf you in a light embrace, pulling you closer. His claws come up to rest on your shoulders, the pinpricks pressing against your skin and threatening to break it.

You raise a teasing eyebrow. “You…couldn’t have done that from the beginning?”

“I like the thrill of possibly getting caught, sue me! But hey, if this is what it takes to get you loud, well, I’ll make the sacrifices that I gotta.”

“You really wanna hear me that bad, huh?” Beetlejuice shakes his head so hard it looks as though it should be making a cartoonish sound effect. “Well, I’d honestly love to hear you without that gag too, so I guess we’re in the same boat.” You lift yourself back up to better straddle his naked body again, hovering just above his erect cock and flashing him a sly smile. “Now fuck me, demon boy.”

Beetlejuice’s eyes widen. “Oho, with pleasure.” More than happy to comply, he grabs onto your hips with his clawed hands and gently but firmly maneuvers you down to line up with the head of his dick.

Slowly, you sink down onto him, causing the demon to whine softly below you. After a moment, you’ve fully lowered yourself down and sheathed him inside of you, a full but not at all uncomfortable fit. You give it a moment of stillness to adjust before rocking your hips a bit, feeling his dick twitch inside of your cunt as you do. He immediately reacts by moaning loudly and snapping his hips up against you like a man possessed.

“Fuck, Beej…” You groan at almost a growl pitch, the feeling of him moving inside you almost too much at once.

“Mm…could do better…that sound was only maybe a three outta ten. I’ll have to-mmph-up my game.” God, it is just like this guy to make pleasuring me into a game. I guess I’m not complaining, though. As if on cue with your thoughts, Beetlejuice grabs your back just below the shoulder blades to quickly pull you in close to his chest, his claws applying enough force to definitely leave some red marks in their wake but not enough to hurt badly. The sudden dig of his claws only causes you to start rocking your hips at a faster pace, making it plainly obvious how much you enjoy him handling you so roughly.

“Y-you can try, but I doubt you’ll be able to hear me over yourself soon.”

Beetlejuice responds with silence, which you’ve learned usually means he’s planning to do something that he doesn’t want you to know about. From where you’re pressed against his upper chest, you can’t quite see his face either unless you craned your neck to look up towards him. You don’t slow down your speed, but do feel a sense of horny dread wash over you at his continued silence. Suddenly and without warning, you feel sharp fangs sink into the vulnerable back of your neck where your shoulder connects. It’s so unexpected and hurts so good that you erupt into a chorus of shuddering gasps, unable to even form sentences as Beetlejuice keeps biting and sucking at your neck. His claws keep your squirming body in place as he continues his barrage, and you feel him smiling wider and wider into your skin the more noisy that you get. It’s so good, so overwhelmingly good, having him inside of you while also using those fangs that you love so much on you at the same time. You’re struck with the realization that you can’t let him play you like a fiddle so well without fighting back. Before you can think twice, you turn your face into the crook of his neck right above his collarbone and bite down on the skin even harder than he’s biting at you. You may not have fangs, but you are determined nonetheless.

“Jesus FUCK, (Y/N)!” Beetlejuice is forced to pause his bites to yelp a few similar exclamations. “Ohoho, you’re lucky I’m a demon freak who doesn’t mind being ripped a new collarbone, cuz wow.”

An apology half-forms in your mouth before you realize that that was probably his weird way of complimenting you rather than sarcasm. “Well, m-maybe now, after this, you’ll get to go through what I went through every time you flashed your stupid teeth in public.”

Beetlejuice pulls his head back so his face is in your view again, and you slow your rocking against him just a bit out of curiosity. He’s sporting a growing smile that looks practically delighted.

“Hold up, were you really that into my fangs from all the way back when? You had it that bad?”

You flush at his wording of a situation that you, personally, do not find as humorous as he seems to. “Hey, it’s not like it was just that. It was…all of you, I guess. Every little thing you did turned me on basically all the time, and, as you can imagine, it was a living nightmare.” You realize that that doesn’t exactly make you sound less like a pervert, but it also doesn’t help that his cock is still twitching inside of you and you can’t exactly think straight at the moment.

“Wow, so every time I was around you, you were just being a grade A horndog!” Beetlejuice cackles at his own joke. He is the only one laughing. “Aww, looks like we’re more alike than we thought! Cuz, I mean, you were doing the exact same thing to me all the time, so. Fair’s fair.”

You groan. “Oh my God, you were literally going through the exact same thing? We could’ve fucked ages ago and put ourselves out of that misery!”

He snorts. “Hey, it’s fine. Y’know what? I’m glad it turned out just how it did. Honest.” Your starry-eyed demon lifts a claw to gently cup your jawline.

You put your own hand on top of his. “Yeah, same here.”

Beetlejuice grins, then his face immediately shifts. “All right, I’ve done a lot of talking and now I’m gonna make you cum so hard that you have visions of the Netherworld. Boobs in my mouth, please.”

“HA!” You practically double over at his sudden mood shift, wiping a tear from your eye. “I’ll hold you to that, big guy.”

Before you can even start rocking, Beetlejuice takes things into his own hands and starts thrusting up into you at a fairly speedy pace. He’s holding your hips to keep you balanced, as well as maneuvering them to drive himself into you better. The angle that he’s hitting you at is already starting to make you see stars, and you roll your hips to meet him in time. Apparently, he was not kidding about the boobs in his mouth request, as he leans his head forward to latch onto your left nipple, sucking and ever-so-slightly grazing it with his sharp teeth. To make matters worse, he grabs the other with his claw and begins rolling his thumb over it, all while keeping his eyes locked onto yours, just as he did the last time his mouth was on you. It’s all so good, you can already feel your orgasm building again.

“Oh, don’t stop, Beej, that’s so good…” You’re nearly at the precipice again, focusing your energy on getting up and over. The image in front of you is certainly helping get you there, as Beetlejuice is truly giving it all he has at the moment. His expression shows that he’s right on the edge as well, as you focus on his beautiful brown eyes looking up at you with unmistakable love and lust. “Mm, Beetlejuice…” His long tongue wrapping itself around your nipple… “Beetlejuice…” His cock hitting that perfect spot inside of you... “B-!”

Suddenly, you find two hands clamped over your mouth with surprising force. “Don’t.” The word comes out as a snarl next to your ear, taking you by surprise and sending a shiver down your whole frame. Before you can recover, an erratic snap of his hips sends you hurtling over the edge, an orgasm so intense that it makes your ears ring and your other senses dull for the duration. You moan loudly against his hand, which hasn’t yet moved and doesn’t do much to muffle your sounds of pleasure. Moments later, Beetlejuice moves to grab onto your hips and presses deep into you, holding you in place above him and filling you up with more of his otherworldly cum, all the while letting out gasping moans of his own like a man drowning. After filling you to his satisfaction, his arms fall limply to his side and you slump against him, both dazed and overstimulated. You catch your breath while Beetlejuice seems to be going through a factory reset, his eyes wide open and blinking harshly.

After gathering himself, he finally speaks. “Babes, I love you, but you really gotta get this name thing down if you don’t want me to suddenly poof away when I’m balls-deep inside of ya.”

You look at him sheepishly. “Heh, yeah, sorry. Good save though!” You finally lift yourself off of his dick, rolling your body haphazardly off of him to lay down at his side more comfortably.

He snorts. “Yeah, I bet you enjoyed me putting a stop to that. I’m thinking next time, I act like that from the start and we’ll see whose better at bossing who around.”

You begin lightly tracing patterns on his chest, resting your head on his bicep. “Oh yeah? And what if I wasn’t finished bossing you around yet?”

“Well, then you can peg me about it the next time!”

You giggle at his response while simultaneously filing it away for another day. Smiling into his bare skin, you feel your heartbeat begin to stabilize after quite a long period of elevation. Beetlejuice is still chilly to the touch, but in a way that unexpectedly comforts you, like a soft pillow after being flipped over in the middle of the night.

“Can we flip?” The demon’s sudden request paired with his big eyes meeting yours takes you out of your musings.

“You want to lay on me? Sure, c’mere.” You move to your back, patting your chest for him to lay on. He doesn’t hesitate, snuggling his head into a cozy position on your chest, his left cheek pressing up against your collarbone and his tussled pastel pink hair barely reaching up to tickle your neck. He’s in the perfect spot for you to drape your arms across his frame protectively, your hands coming up to gently rest on his shoulder and the side of his face. Your hands are tired and still, but even in a passive state, you find them needing to touch Beetlejuice without asking for your input. Even if it’s just the comforting brush of your fingers against his jawline, you can’t resist the ache to be close to him.

Beetlejuice leans into your touch. “Mm…you feel so nice…” He tilts his head so that his ear is pressed against your chest and practically melts against you. “Heh, I’ll never get used to that sound. Never thought I’d get to hear it so close, but it’s even better like this.” Your heartbeat instinctively quickens just a bit at his comment, and you feel Beetlejuice’s lips curl up in a smile. “Cute how I can change the tempo at will like that. Like the best radio in the world, babes.”

You blow air from your nose and kiss his head from above, mostly just getting his hair in the kiss from the angle you’re at. “I like your chilliness, you like my heartbeat…I’m starting to think this may work out for us after all!”

The demon snorts, repositioning his head to your shoulder so he can look you in the eye better. “Y’know, I really thought my awesome cock and subsequent use of it would be the thing that made you think that, but whatever seals the deal for ya, doll!”

“That too.” You sigh and close your eyes. “So, what are we gonna tell the others?”

“Uh, you got so horny after I annoyed you one day that you fucked me about it?”

“Beetlejuice, we are not telling people that.”

“Sorry, that you fucked me and you fucked me good. Better?” Your raised eyebrow is enough of an answer on its own. “Hm, and I thought you were a fan of honesty. Well, suit yourself. We can think of something more PG later, it’s not like we have to tell anyone tonight.”

“Well, I guess you are right on that front. I’ll think of a nice and polite way to bring it up at the family dinner table later.”

“Yeah, plus it’ll be a shitshow either way. They’re all gonna say that you’re too good for me, which yeah, fair.”

You brush some loose hairs out of his face reassuringly. “They can think whatever they wanna think. Doesn’t make ‘em right.” You kiss his lips gently, with the soft whisper of a promise at the edge of your own lips guiding your touch. “I love you, Beetlejuice.”

Beetlejuice looks so utterly overwhelmed by emotion after you speak that he can only think to immediately bury his face against you silently. He’s holding so tight to you, as though you could disappear at any moment if his grip slackens. Like you’re his lifeline. After multiple moments of heavy breathing directly against your skin, he manages to barely choke out a response. “Ditto.”

You can’t help but chuckle at the demon, rubbing circles into his back as a comfort. “Just rest now, baby. You did great.”

Beetlejuice looks up at you in relief. “Oh God, thanks for saying that. I’ve been drowsy since we stopped, I just didn’t wanna leave you alone.” Never would’ve guessed him as the most considerate type, but he sure loves to prove me wrong.

“No worries Beej, I’ll be right here next to you. I’m not going anywhere. You can sleep.”

With those last affirmations, Beetlejuice’s eyes almost immediately droop shut as he begins snoring lightly, asleep at an impressive speed for a demon or human. It’s pretty cute how tired he must’ve been before you told him to rest, you didn’t even know for sure if demons wanted and/or needed sleep til now. Yet here he is, making deep contented rumblings from the back of his throat, his head and torso acting like a soft weighted blanket on top of you. The presence of him sleeping soundly on you is deeply comforting, both physically and emotionally. This demon, who’s lived a million lifetimes and dealt with more shit than I could imagine in both the world of the living and dead, trusts me enough to fall asleep on me. He trusted me enough to talk to me about his feelings during sex. Beetlejuice, of all people. Even if I told someone as understanding as one of the Maitlands about that, I don’t think they’d really believe me. Or even really get it.

You reach one arm down to pull a sheet up over the both of you sloppily, just to have something covering you both. Human instincts for avoiding being preyed on by demons in the night always persist, despite your unique situation. As you adjust you pillow to make yourself comfortable for the night, you run your fingers through Beetlejuice’s hair, which is now settling back into its default green without any more external stimuli. You wonder bemusedly if it ever changes color in his sleep, then feel a peaceful rush of happiness when you realize that you’ll have ample time and opportunity to find out the answer. Overtaken by a quiet joy, you quickly lean your head over to kiss him goodnight on the forehead, trying everything in your power to somehow physically materialize this feeling of affection for Beetlejuice that is so strong and all-consuming, just so you could hold it so close that nothing bad would ever happen to it. In lieu of that impossibility, you hold Beetlejuice tighter in your arms instead, with the same goal in your mind.

Author’s Note: this took me an indefensible amount of time to write and if i look at it for another second i’ll go crazy so please take it and look at it with your own eyeballs so that mine can rest. on the fun side, can you tell that characters who always flirt with others by making bold sexual references but end up actually being really flustered and submissive when the other person finally reciprocates are my favorites? anyways i wanna pick this guy up by the scruff of his neck like a kitten, he is so special to me. originally this fic was supposed to be way less emotional but sometimes you’re writing and a character decides to have a breakdown halfway through a scene and you just gotta deal with that curveball when it’s coming at you. but i’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and i hope you guys enjoyed it too. thanks for reading! edit: hey you, want some more? i finally made a sequel lol (x)

[killjoygod]

Hi hope it’s not to late to request ! Is it ok to request Yandere rise Leo HCs please 💕 romance 💕

yandere!rottmnt!leo headcanons

sorry this is so late! and long as hell- hope you enjoy!

¤- leo, despite swearing to himself that he wouldn’t fall in love easily, had swooned as soon as his eyes landed on you. 

¤- you were beautiful in every way possible. it made his heart pound with anticipation on what your next move might be. he couldn’t help it, even his pupils reflected the shapes of hearts whenever you were in his line of sight, which to be honest, was a lot more than he’d admit verbally. 

¤- it first happened when he and his brothers were out on patrol, looking for something to liven up the night. unable to find much, they just settled on getting some pizza.

¤- the original plan was for them to order online, drop in through the backdoor, grab the pizza without being spotted, and book it out.

¤- it would’ve gone smoothly if not for a certain someone who caught leo’s attention from the front counter. you were just ordering and having a nice conversation with the cashier. from your body language and attractive face to your mannerisms and voice, the blue turtle loved it all.

¤- he dropped the box of pizza he was holding, eliciting three sharp hisses from his brothers. the four of them looked frightened as they felt someone’s eyes on them. well, one of them didn’t mind who it was- they turned to look at you, and were pleasantly surprised when there was no fear lacing your gaze on them.

¤- instead, you just looked concerned as to why they were ‘stealing’ pizza. they really weren’t, they had ordered it beforehand anyways. the cashier was about to turn and look at what you were staring at, but you quickly grabbed their attention again and started up the conversation as a distraction while the turtles escaped. 

¤- leo was astounded. just how kind could someone be, even for people they didn’t know?

¤- you were perfect.

[ e n d  o f  b a c k s t o r y ]

[ actual hc time lmao ]

¤- after that first meeting, leo starts begging [more like threatening] donnie to find information on you. donnie refuses, as it goes against most of what they stand for despite the morally grey facade he puts up.

¤- although donnie had refused, leo just began to sneak past his security systems and into the lab at ungodly hours of the night, memorizing as much info he can dig up on you.

¤- it’s unsettling for his brothers. in the span of only maybe a week, leo had gone from their flamboyant sibling to holed up in his room all day or busy going out.

¤- of course, he stalks you. he commits the layout of your home to his memory, determined to be able to say he knew you the best. you were his prized possession, even if you weren’t fully in his grasp yet.

¤- everything you do, he’s obsessed with you. seeing you so oblivious to him right outside your window, it sends him into such immense bliss, it’s like he’s seeing stars.

¤- then, like any pride-filled limerence, leo got bolder.

¤- he began to ‘bump into’ you in alleyways, and try sparking conversation. you kindly went along with it, mentioning how you remembered him from the night at the pizzeria. it made him giddy that you had actually thought him important enough to remember, but his pride also made him delusional.

¤- he’s so sure you love him back. why shouldn’t you? you seem just as into him as he is in you. you seem like you like talking to him, and like you look forward to the ‘accidental’ meetups in the alleyways.

¤- sometimes you won’t even be in the alleyway, he’ll just pull you in kind of roughly, especially if he saw you talking to someone else earlier. you play it off as just him having a bad day or something along the lines of an accident.

¤- the meetups go on for a while, until one fateful night. 

¤- you had been doing your usual night routine for bed, unseeing of the figure outside you window once again. you were also excited and slightly nervous because earlier and kind of out of the blue, leo had invited you to meet his brothers at their home the next day.

¤- after your routine, you settled into bed and fell asleep pretty quickly. it wasn’t until at least 2 or 3 AM that you stirred in your sleep at the strange sensation of touch grazing your skin. it dragged along your face, before cupping your cheek while another touch began to play with your hair.

¤- your eyes fluttered open to be met with a certain blue turtle’s hues. perhaps the scariest thing was the fact that he hadn’t backed away or ceased his actions despite you being awake. you were paralyzed with fear, staring up at the mutant with pure terror lacing your gaze.

¤- he could only grin lazily, holding a finger to his lips now as if to keep you quiet. it wasn’t that that kept you silent though. it was actually the piece of cloth on your mouth. 

¤- you immediately knew what it probably was, so you shot up and out of bed, struggling against his strong grip now on your shoulders. he pinned you against the bed, hardly using any of his strength to do so. you helplessly tried to kick and punch at his lean frame, but it amounted to nothing.

¤- an accidental breath, and you felt your body relax. eyes fluttering shut, you fell unconscious.

¤- he had won.

¤- the following days with him would be hell for you.

¤- he threatened almost everything you loved so you wouldn’t rat him out to his brothers while he forced you to be his lover. he convinces his siblings that you were his significant other easily, because why would they listen to some stranger they saw once over their precious brother? 

¤- leo is nothing short of touchy and clingy, always needing a hand around you whether it be your shoulders, waist, etc. he just wanted to always be touching you somehow.

¤- he doesn’t let his brothers talk to you for too long before getting jealous, pulling you away and using the same threats, yet they work all the same. 

¤- if you had fucked up real bad, let’s just say…things get messy. 

¤- leo would have you knocked out and tied up, then abruptly woken and kept awake while he carved his name into different places on your body. you can kick and scream all you want, but it won’t get you out of this situation. he finds pleasure in every reaction you offer, though he also spends most of the time mocking you and belittling you for being so weak.

¤- even after the whole ordeal, he doesn’t immediately go into cuddling you or whatever. nono, he’ll make sure he got his point across with some good ol’ manipulation. once you swear you’ll never try and escape or do anything against him in general, he unties the ropes. 

¤- he smothers you with affection and slips a few compliments about how well you took the carving, but all you could offer back were sniffles and empty stares.

¤- you weren’t broken, but you were emotionally and physically drained.

¤- overall, leo is a very flirty, possessive, manipulative, and delusional yandere. he doesn’t hesitate to let the whole world know how much he loves you, and if you don’t love him back?

¤- well…not like you’ll have much of a choice :)

[manonblaqkbeak]

Friendship Rekindled

Hello, back for Day 10--single parents. This is the second part of a mini series during canon week. this is continuing off from Day 1--desperately in love. there’s going to be two more parts and i cant wait to get them out there!

i think this could be considered a little angsty, given some of the conversation topics that happen.

cw: brief mention of death and blood loss. mention of an abusive parent. (if i miss any, pls dont hesitate to let me know!)

enjoy! :)

2.9k words (my longest fic yet i believe)

It was nice to be finally out of the house, Aelin decided as she walked up to the nursery, her five month old daughter, Olive, strapped to her chest. After being cooped up for what felt like the last five months, Aelin had decided to liven up her apartment with some plants.

Hardy, un-killable plants, that is. Being a single mother didn't leave her much time to look after other things, so she needed some plants that required minimal water, but also had to be pretty to look at.

It was also a plus that there was a cafe attached to the nursery, and she heard that they served the best scones with homemade strawberry jam and cream in Orynth. All her life she had never come here, but she needed somewhere new to visit. And to reacquaint herself with her home town. Not long after Rowan and Lyria's wedding, Aelin had transferred to Rifthold for work, and had used the miles apart to quietly disappear from their lives.

That was four years ago now, and come back home to be closer to her parents. Aelin had never known her grandparents, and Aelin didn't want to deny her parents the privilege of knowing Olive, so she had transferred back just before she went on maternity leave. Aelin was happy to be back, especially since she hadn't seen Rowan or Lyria. The last she heard was from Elide, who got it from Lorcan, that a year after marriage, they were expecting. She was happy for them, she truly was, but that didn't stop the stab of pain she felt when she heard the news. She had dreamt of her being in Lyria's position for a few weeks after she heard the news, but forced herself to stop. To move on.

Aelin had, in a way. She would always love Rowan, but she needed to move on. It was wrong to consider her daughter a distraction, but she did provide the perfect one. Aelin briefly removed her lemon printed bucket-hat (Aelin wore a matching one) to kiss her head, her golden hair sparse, laughing her perfect baby laugh.

Aelin finally entered the nursery, tugging her nappy bag higher on her shoulder as she took in the hundreds of plants. She had no idea where to start, but started her browse. She slowly walked through the fern section, stopping every now and then to let Olive touch one, making the cute hand grabbing motion when she saw one she liked.

Aelin heard the laughter of a young child behind her, and then a deep and familiar one accompany it.

Aelin froze. It couldn't be. Surely the Gods weren't that cruel. Months she had been here, for the first time in ages she had decided to do something for herself, only to be met by that damned laughter.

Slowly she turned, her sandals making the gravel underneath crunch. She saw a flash of silver and a broad body.

Turning around had been a mistake, because when she did, so did the silver-haired man.

And for the first time in four years, turquoise eyes landed on pine-green ones.

Rowan blinked, and then blinked again as he took her in. His eyes widened as he noticed Olive strapped to her body, her face on display as she took in her surroundings. Her baby had the chocolate brown eyes of her father, but it was clear to anyone that knew Aelin that Olive was hers. Her daughter had Aelin's nose and hair colour, and would likely grow to have more of Aelin's features as the years went by.

Behind Rowan, his cousin Enda was holding the hand of a brown-haired boy. It was difficult to tell his exact age, but he looked to be about three. If Rowan was here with his son, then it was a good chance that Lyria would be here, too. The woman was a flower enthusiast, and was practically a walking encyclopedia when it came to flowers. Any questions anyone had, they went to Lyria.

Aelin really did not want to be here. Did not want to have that conversation of why the hell she had left and dropped all communication with them after the wedding.

Aelin hated it, but she adverted her gaze and started to leave. She would have to come here another day—maybe after she called the office to make sure that there was no silver-haired man in attendance.

“Aelin,” Rowan said, his voice raspy from surprise. Gods, she missed his deep voice and the rolling purr of his accent.

Aelin pretended that she didn't hear and made a beeline for the exit. Rowan called her again, and then a third time. Just as she reached the gate, his warm hand landed on her shoulder gently. His hands were still calloused, his hands always doing some type of manual labour work. She wondered briefly if he was still an auto mechanic.

Turning around, Aelin noted the shock in his dark eyes. She gave him a weak smile, not sure what to say.

“What are you—I mean, how are you? Where have you been?”

“I'm good,” Aelin answered after a moment, not really sure how else to respond. “I've been around. What about you?” Somehow, these questions didn't feel like the right ones to ask. Before Rowan could say anything, Olive made herself known, making grunting sounds that meant she wanted attention, so Aelin kissed her hand and said to Rowan, “This is Olive.”

Rowan's eyes dropped down to Olive. “Is she yours?”

Aelin snorted, a sound she hadn't made in so long. It was something she often did around Rowan—or used to, that is. “No, I bought her from the store. Yes, she's mine.”

Rowan's eyes dropped lower, to her ring finger—her empty ring finger. There had never been a ring there. Aelin's traitorous eyes drifted to Rowan's and her heart stopped when she noticed that his ring finger was bare as well—that there was no tan line to suggest that he had only recently removed it.

“I'm doing this on my own,” Aelin found herself saying after a moment.

“As am I,” Rowan said. Aelin cocked her head to the side, annoyed at herself for being curious. “Lyria...Lyria passed away three years ago.”

Aelin's heart shot up to her throat, choking her. Years ago, Aelin had horribly wished that the ring Rowan had purchased was secretly for her and was heartbroken when it wasn't.  In her loneliest moments, she had wished that Rowan and Lyria would break up and somehow find his way to her in Rifthold; but never, never-ever in a million years would she ever have wanted this to happen.

Why the hell hadn't Elide told her? Or anyone else for that matter?

Aelin found her voice after long minutes of just staring at him, processing his words. “Rowan, I am so rutting sorry. I had no idea. Are you...are you okay?”

“I have my good and bad days”. He pointed to the brown-haired boy with Enda, who were both busy inspecting each leaf and flower petal in front of them. “That's Egan, he's a plant lover like his mother.”

Aelin couldn't really see him, but she still said, “He's adorable.”

“He is, and a little terror,” Rowan said, a small smile on his tanned face. After a moment, he turned back to her, and asked, “Are you...doing anything? I'd like to talk, it's been a long time since we have.”

She should say no, but she ended up saying yes.

Taking a deep breath, she followed Rowan back inside the nursery and to the cafe.

X X X X X X

It was turning out to be an ordinary Saturday when Rowan had needed to get out of the house, so he asked Egan if he wanted to go to the nursery and his son had enthusiastically agreed, asking if Uncle Enda could join them. Thankfully, his cousin was free and more than happy to spend time with his nephew.

Never in a million years did he think he would run into Aelin. He had heard the rumours that she transferred back to the publishing house and that was it; there was no mention of her being pregnant. But when Rowan looked up and spotted Aelin, and his eyes immediately dropped to the baby strapped to her chest, his heart had stopped.

He had once wished to have that life with Aelin, exploring the world with their child, one that had Aelin's hair and his eyes; but Rowan never told Aelin how he felt because he knew how badly her last relationship ended, and he didn't want to put any unnecessary stress on her if she didn't feel the same way. Didn't want there to be any chance to ruin their friendship.

And so, he had moved on. Had started dating Lyria and came to love her, but not the same way as he loved Aelin. And when Rowan proposed, he had only done it because his parents were getting older and wanted him to get married, wanted him to have a grandchild.

It was cruel irony that they had both died before Lyria had even given birth.

He was bastard, and he hated himself. Lyria was kind, sweet and gentle—and deserved someone better than him, should have been with a man that truly wanted to marry her for her and not because of family pressures. But he never stopped himself from their relationship moving forward.

But he was doing better, thanks to therapy, because while he may have been a bastard, he didn't want his son to know that. Maybe it made him a bastard to hide this part of himself to his son, but his son was gentle like his mother and Rowan loathed the idea of Egan growing up to hate him.

And as Rowan asked Enda to take Egan home, Rowan could see that Enda thought that this lunch was a bad idea—Rowan had confessed his secrets to his cousin long ago, how he loved Aelin even when he was married to Lyria. How he had wanted that life with her instead.

Rowan knew that he was going to be on the end of a scolding conversation when he got back to his house, but he told Enda that it was going to be okay and that he was fine and could handle this.

Enda sighed heavily through his nose and muttered a 'good luck' under his breath. Rowan planted a kiss of Egan's head and told him that he would be home soon. His son was too excited to spend time with his Uncle to really notice.

When Rowan returned to Aelin's side, they soon found a nice spot in the cafe that was away from others.

It was...painfully awkward for a good while. They only spoke to order their food—scones with jam and cream with a side dish of seasonal fruits for Aelin, and a steak sandwich with fries for Rowan—and then lapsed back into silence.

They ate in silence, too, and Rowan wondered if maybe this was a tremendously bad idea when Aelin said, softly but not weakly, “What happened to Lyria?”

Taking a deep breath, Rowan swirled his fries in the mustard on his plate. He hated this part. “She passed away not long after giving birth. She hemorrhaged and bleed out too quickly for anything to be done. Egan never really got to meet her.”

“I'm sorry,” Aelin said, doing her best to speak over the lump in her throat, “that's horrible. I'm so sorry.”

Years later and Rowan still never really knew what to say to that. Needing to distract himself, he asked, “So, what's your story?”

Before she could say anything, Olive started crying, and without a seconds hesitation, Aelin started feeding her. Some people stared in disapproval and Aelin stared right back, unflinching. He knew that if someone said something, she would spit back. It never made sense to Rowan how people frowned upon breastfeeding. A small smile made its way to Rowan's mouth at the steely look in her stunning eyes. That was the Aelin he knew and loved.

When the strangers turned back around, Aelin looked back at him, the steel in her eyes softening. “I briefly dated my high school boyfriend, Sam, for a while back in Rifthold, and well...the condom broke and Olive made her appearance.” Not the most elegant way to describe the situation, but Aelin figured she had years to think of a better way to explain Olive's appearance if her daughter ever asked.

“And he wants no part of it?” He had no right to ask, but the question left his mouth before he could stop it.

Aelin sighed, and finished feeding Olive and cleaning themselves up before responding. “It's complicated...Sam's father, Arobynn, is a cruel man. He's manipulative and sadistic, but knows how to turn on the charm when it suits him. Sam has been scared of him his entire life, and didn't want Olive to know the fear that he did. So, every month Sam sends money, but he's not on the birth certificate—he doesn't want there to be any paper trails leading to Olive's existence. I had to convince him that it was safer to transfer me the money than to send it through the mail. I send him pictures from time to time, but whether he saves them, I have no idea.” Not to mention the miserable length of the conversation of sending money electronically. Sam was so damned paranoid that Arobynn checked his accounts that Aelin had almost told him not to bother to send anything when he relented. Aelin could provide Olive well enough on her own, but it was helpful to have that extra bit of cash—baby things were expensive as hell.

Aelin bit her lip. She hadn't meant to divulge that much, no one knew that, not even her best friends,  but she didn't regret it. It felt...like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“That's awful, Aelin, I'm sorry to hear that.”

“I just...” She probably shouldn't ask, but out of everyone she knew, none of them were single parents. “Has Egan ever asked about his mother? What do you say to that?”

“He's asked a few times, and I've told him that she passed away when he was little, but I don't think he fully understands what I'm talking about.” Those conversations were the hardest that he ever had to go through, and he knew it would be worst when Egan grew and fully understood what death meant.

“I have no idea what I'll tell Olive when she's older and asks about her dad,” Aelin admitted. “It's not like he's gone, but he is absent and I just...what if she grows up to think he hates her? I think that would kill me if she ever thought that.”

Without thinking, Rowan reached over and too her hand in his. Her hand was soft in his, and he swiped his thumb against her knuckles. “You have a good few years to worry about that. Who knows,” he added, “maybe Sam will be able to get out from his father's shadows and you three can be a family.”

A small smile made its way to Aelin's face. She was more beautiful then he remembered, and he wasn't sure if he should feel guilty for thinking that.

“I like the sound of that, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. I'd like to think that I can do this on my own.”

“You can, but if you'd like...if you ever need help with something, if you need someone to look after Olive, I could do that for you.”

Silver lined Aelin's eyes as she watched him. “Are you sure? I wouldn't want to intrude.”

“That's what friends are for, aren't they? To help?” And as a single parent himself, he knew how hard it could be raising a child in this hectic world.

Aelin's smile grew. “Okay, I'll keep that in mind. And if we're friends, could you help me find some plants? I'm sick of looking at my boring walls.”

“Okay, I know the perfect ones for you to get—ones that are practically impossible to kill.”

“I'm going to ignore that implication that I can't look after a plant.” Although it was true.

Rowan snorted. “Because you can't. I remember that poor aloe Vera plant that you slaughtered.”

Aelin narrowed her eyes, but he could see just a hint of mirth behind the glare. “I did not slaughter that plant, it just didn't like me!”

Rowan laughed and it was the most freeing sound he made in a long time. After he calmed down, he said, “Come on, let's finish here and I'll help you to liven up your place.”

“Fine, but I better not hear anything about my poor gardening skills or I'll let down your tires.” And she would, he knew, but Rowan just smiled even more.

“It's a deal.”

The conversation moved much more smoothly and Rowan realised how much he missed her. And Aelin realised how much she missed him, too.

Maybe things wouldn't be too bad after-all. It would be nice to have Rowan in her life again, even as a friend, even if she still loved him and knew it could never be, not after everything.

[locahaz]

shoot your shot - a one shot

a/n: hiiii this is my first posted fic on my refurbished account soon if you see this and you like it, lemme know!! Request some things, I would love to go back into writing. Enjoy x ..................................................................................................................................................................... harry plays on the football team where you are the medic helping out and things get quite interesting when he invites you to his party

warnings: mature content

word count: 11,1k

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I felt it from the moment I had walked on the field with the others. 

Someone was staring at me. Or everyone was. I didn’t look behind me to see if it was true, but I could feel their eyes staring straight at my ass. They asked me to wear athletic clothing for this, so I just chose the first thing in my dresser that I saw, picking out some black yoga pants. The material clung to my butt and I regretted I had put them on the moment I had arrived here. My oversized sweater I chose to wear over it luckily covered my upper half, a decision I did appreciate I made now.

Walking onto the sports centre was nerve-wracking in itself. I liked sports, I liked watching it, but having the possibility of someone else watching you do something was disturbing. I couldn’t find the way I was supposed to go. I didn’t bring my hair tie so I was forced to keep my hair floating around my face and this place was huge. There were several buildings and a squala of fields for specific sports. Indoors, outdoors, you name it. The college was probably sponsored by some wealthy upper class fathers who wanted their sons to be on the radar for new opportunities.

Luckily, I was led right to the canteen which was easily locatable since it had a terrace. A terrace! Lord, I feel like I should’ve worn other clothing for this. 

I approached a team player who had blond hair, feeling the nerves floating around in my stomach, “Uhh… Hi.” 

The boy who was filling up his water bottle turned around, raising his eyebrows, “Hi there.” 

Shit, he was nice. I inhaled, “I was looking for uhh, the football team…” He gave me the same look, “I was asked to help.., or I need to help with their inju-”

“Ahh!” He exclaimed, disregarding his bottle and he turned to fully face me, “You’re the one!”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess I am?”

“My name’s Niall.” He held out his hand, “I’m the star player of the time you’ve been assigned to!” 

I shook his hand, smiling a little. “Hi,” We still held hands, “Do you know where I’m supposed to go?” 

Still holding my hand, he began shaking it up and down. “I’m glad we finally have someone.”

“You are?”

“Yeh, we desperately need new people to liven things up a little.” 

I pried my hands from his grip, which wasn’t that strong. But I was already sweating, I didn’t need more reasons to be nervous. “Alright, that sounds good.” 

The pregnant pause that followed made him inhale and pack his bottle in his bag, “You are probably wanted by the football field, which is right there.” 

He pointed out somewhere behind me, making me turn my head. I already saw some players dribbling with the ball, so that was easily recognisable. “Go to the coach, he’s the tallest and biggest one. Has a loud voice too, probably won’t miss him.” He grinned, making me smile up at him. 

“I’ll meet you there in a second, we’re starting in like two minutes.” 

I nodded, “Alright, thanks…”

“Niall.” He answered for me, giving me a wink. “But you can call me anytime.” 

I rolled my eyes at his remark, but by the look on his face and the laugh that followed his statement, I knew it was to lighten my mood and assure me. 

I walked towards the field with a small smile on my face and with a lot less nerves. The players were now assembling and putting their heads together so I walked towards the dug-out and waited for them. There weren’t a lot of spectators or bystanders standing around the field, since it was a friendly game. I inhaled again. This should be fine. I recognized some of the players. They were all from the same college after all. Why did I sign up for this? I’m such an idiot.

When the team was done with sharing strategy and doing their, what appeared to be a yell, the trainer walked towards me. I was nervous when he approached me, he towered over everyone. 

“Hi Mattie,” he said, “You ready?”

I stood there, with my own little bag of supplies in my hand. I nodded. Luckily he spoke to me when I got drafted for this, so I already knew him. What if it was someone else who ended up being the coach? Since our conversation was very brief, you’re a nurse, I’m in need of a carer for the team, the deal was easily made. I didn’t know exactly what to take with me for this, but it was a college football team anyways, so nothing was really high-class. I had put some aspirin, plasters, scissors, antiseptic wipes, bandages and tweezers in my supply bag. That should be enough for a college team right? Surely they wouldn’t crash and fall every single game. He saw me fiddling with the bag, and smiled at me, “Good luck.” 

I nodded at him in gratitude and looked around the field. Gosh, couldn’t I talk? I was punching myself in my head. The trainer, whose name I seemed to have forgotten the second after the interview, sat down on his seat. 

Right now, all the players on the field were starting to go to their positions, other members of staff, the referee, seconds officials and the trainers and staff of the opposing team, all seemed ready to go. It wasn't hot or cold, but the slight breeze that blew over the field chilled me just slightly, making the tip of my nose go red. My job was already halfway done, which is just waiting for something to happen and providing the supplies they needed. If something did happen, I was the chosen person to help the players and fix their injuries. I didn't expect that these games would be very intense anyways. The players often knew each other since the teams were always against other colleges. Today it was just a practise match to start off the season, so I should be fine. 

The minute everyone started and the whistle blew, I wondered where Niall even was. Wasn’t he one of the players? As everyone was running and shouting on the field, I felt like he fit right in. I let my eyes wander. I didn’t know that much about football. I rarely watched the Champions League, I could just about name all the rules. The players, however, were something that did interested me. Especially the ones I already knew.

As I was sitting there, everyone seemed to be in the right place and doing exactly what everyone expected of them. The coach shouted an obnoxious loud praise towards his team, making me jump in my seat. The referee whistled at what suggestiably were the right times. No-one seemed to be getting angry at him. They were getting into it already. It'll probably go fine tonight, and my nerves I had bubbling in my stomach would probably be for nothing. At least, I was hoping for that. I watched the players going for the ball intensely, running after it and passing each other the ball. 

Right as the spirits of the team heightened and they almost scored, Niall crept up from behind me. “You didn’t even give me your name.” 

I shrieked, startling even the trainer who was deep into the game, “Jesus, Niall. Don’t scare me like that.” 

He sat down next to me, “Sorry, babe.” 

“My name’s Mattie.” I said, looking at him briefly. He nodded his head, “Like that.” 

I smiled, turning my head towards the field. “Aren’t you playing?”

He pointed towards his knee, that was covered by his track pants, “This annoying thing won’t let me.” 

“Ahh, that’s too bad.” I grimaced. 

“It’s alright,” he shrugged, “get to sit next to you.” 

I rolled my eyes again. “You’re not getting any.” 

He burst out laughing, “What! How could you resist me?” 

I playfully smiled at him. I was glad he was here to ease my nerves, “Dunno,” I glanced at the field, “quite like the others.” 

“You already know them?” He asked. 

“Yeah,” I nodded, “same college.”

Liam was the goalie. He was broad, quick and could move fast so he was the one that suited that job the most. He was also rough, and shouted really loudly which was a benefit when he would have to coach the team from the goal. He scared opponents off easily, grabbing the ball before they could shoot to keep the score at zero. Liam shared a house with Zayn, Louis and Brad, who were also playing tonight. Zayn was a little bit more of an introvert, and I didn’t really speak to him much. He did show he was a good midfielder though. He was quick and could pass the ball to his teammates effortlessly. When he did score though, he wouldn’t hesitate to cheer loudly and scare everyone with his intensity. 

Brad was a little bit older than the rest, but he was great nonetheless. He was very broad in the shoulders and had legs every gym boy would be jealous of. He was the ex-boyfriend of my sister’s, who also attended this college a few years ago. But to me, he still felt more like an older brother than someone who had been in my sister’s life for years. 

Louis was very serious. He was known for only having one thing on his mind, and that was to score goals. He was quick, could dribble fast and made the stronger players against him look back at him in surprise. Others called him Suarez because he was just that good, and his name was close to Luiz’, which made it easier for his teammates to choose a name. He was actually the only one, alongside Harry, to maybe get upgraded to a higher team. From what I heard of some girls on campus, was that he was a bit snarky. He had some quick-witted comebacks, and he didn’t care if he would hurt your feelings.

The house right next to their one, was filled with other boys from the team. This one was occupied with Josh, Ben and Harry. They had been friends since they were around sixteen, and now had the best bond you could have as college brothers. The three boys were always seen with each other, going out together and even doing groceries together. It wouldn’t surprise me if they also fucked the same girls. 

I actually didn’t know them that well, they were just known around campus. That house was classed as the party house and had a reputation of being used to shag a new girl every week. Don’t get me wrong, they were also good at their sport, but the girls they pulled mostly went for their looks rather than for their skills. 

It wasn’t a surprise that two of the boys that I knew, Louis and Harry, played as strikers, in the centre forward position. Harry was the only one that I had never actually spoken to before but knew from the parties. He was in the team because he was good, but also because he could easily show off to the ladies that way. He was popular amongst the college, mainly because he offered up his house to all the party-goers that wanted to celebrate a win that he created. No-one complained about that, seeing as he was gifted with the most attractive face on the campus. He could dribble the ball, yes, and he had the skill of a young Neymar when it came to approaching the goal. But with those eyes and smile with dimples, and his full head of curls that were covered in a backwards snap-back most of the time, I couldn’t help but check him out instead of his moves on the field. He was the captain of the team, living up to his name. He was also a leader of the group outside of football, which made all the girls like him even more.

“Ahh,” Niall exhaled, “shame I don’t know you.” 

This time, I shoved him, making him laugh. He was already a pain in my arse. “Fuck off.”

The boys were playing for around fifteen minutes now, without something happening that would probably make me do some work. The coach was getting into it, standing up every so often and giving the players some tips. He had really created a team, I felt like. You could feel the bond and fondness between them. When a player fell down, another player helped him up and patted him to ask if he was okay. When it almost went wrong and the opposing team had a shot at the goal, everyone from the team would shout positives to each other. It felt like a real team. This team wasn’t only together while playing, though. I had seen them all at parties together and they also liked to play outside of the games they already had. 

I was really into it the first fifteen minutes, but now I was growing kind of bored. Sure, watching boys play was fun, but with no work or particular action, it was kind of boring. Especially since it was a friendly match. The one form of entertainment I got, however, was Niall, who was really into the game.

“Fuck’s sake, Leon! You’re a defender! You should play in the back!” He shouted profanities to his team mates, cheering them on. 

When Niall saw that Leon didn’t comply, he nudged another player next to him and said something in his ear with a scowl on his face. It made me grin lightly in my seat, him being so serious. I liked watching them already. 

“Come on!” He yelled again, standing up in his seat, “Run Louis! Go after…” 

I was looking at Niall with a smile on my face. I also saw how his face turned into a grimace and his hands went to cover his mouth. “Oooh,” 

I looked at the field, panicked. Niall nudged me, tapping his hands on my arm. I saw that Louis had fallen to the ground, his arms holding his leg up now, groaning in pain. It was probably his ankle. I didn’t know what to do at first, shocked that something had actually happened. I looked at Niall, who was already looking at me, nudging his head towards the field. “Go!”

I jumped from my seat, wanting to run straight to the victim. I saw the referee signing for me, which made me run onto the field even more desperately. After a couple of seconds of running, I realised I had forgotten my bag. Fuck. Seriously? Groaning to myself in embarrassment, I quickly grabbed my supplies and ran a little quicker to the boy who was lying on the field in pain. 

“Hey,” I said as I approached him, a little out of breath from running so quickly. 

He didn’t look at me, just kept touching his ankle. It made me frown, it was probably really bad. He was crying out in pain, and some teammates and opponents had gathered around him to see what happened. In the meantime I had wet the sponge in the bag that the coach had brought with him, stretching Louis’ leg. He didn’t really want to, resisting to want to move it. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.” 

As I was wetting his ankle to cool it down over his shoes, I tried to look if it was bruised or if it had swollen up. None so far that I could see, so that was a good sign. I stretched his leg a bit to keep it moving, but with his socks on, I couldn’t see if there were any wounds or cuts. I tried to sit him upright, but he wasn’t having it. “Calm down,” He hissed, still holding his ankle. He sat upright now, finally looking who was taking care of him. When he saw it was me, he raised his eyebrows. 

“What’re ye doing here?”

I looked at him in shock, already not wanting to help him anymore. So much for running hurriedly over to him. I tried to not react to his degrading question, although it was hard. I continued to check out his foot, trying to place it straight down on the field. He placed his other food next to the injured one, and leaned on his knees with his elbows. The trainer gave Louis a bottle with water, which he gladly took. He took a large gulp, sitting there for a while. Was I overreacting or something? He seemed to be in a lot of pain, why was he now so calm and chilling?

I started grabbing my things, giving Louis one last look to see if he was okay. He seemed to be fine, being helped up by another team mate and testing to stand on it. 

I couldn’t believe this, he was groaning about his ankle no less than one minute ago! What an idiot. Letting me come all the way over here for nothing. As I was walking away frowned my eyebrows in confusion. If it was going to be like this the whole time, I was gone. Not gonna happen. I was here for a reason and the team mates should take that seriously. 

I looked back one last time to Louis who was now laughing with Brad, which resulted in me bumping into someone. His back was hard. He had drawn his head back so he could fill his mouth with water, causing me to also run into the back of this someone’s arms. 

“Fuck, sorry.” I exclaimed, “I shouldn’t..”

When he turned his head around and I saw who it was, I immediately shut my mouth and stared at him. I was frozen into my place for a moment, not knowing what to say. He turned around completely, a dimple showing on his face. I blushed. He was even more attractive up close.

“Don’t worry about it, babe.” He didn’t look angry or anything at all, he actually smiled, which made me feel a little bit better. I wanted to keep on walking to let me soak in my distress towards the situation that just occured, when Louis spoke up again from behind us, “So who’s the pretty girl who wears tight ass clothes to her job?” 

I heard him laugh quietly at his own remark, and he said it loud enough to let his mates in on it too. Instead of just ignoring him and walking on, I decided to turn around and shout after him, 

“Someone who can actually pull it off.”

His team mates ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at my quick remark. I sighed. Harry was still looking at me. I saw his face turn into a frown, silently apologizing to me with his gaze. I shrugged at him. My comeback towards Louis made me feel good again. He’s the idiot.

When I turned around again, and actually began walking, I smiled quietly to myself, forgetting the situation. This was going to be an interesting job.

--

The whistle blew, announcing the end of the game. For a practice match, the game went surprisingly well. There weren't any more instances or fake ankle injuries, what I was glad about. Harry had scored the one and only goal, which made the team go home with a win. Even though the game was for practice, they were pretty happy about it.

"Okay boys! Bundle up," the coach announced as everyone was walking off the field. I was still standing by the dug-out, not really knowing if I had to say goodbye or when the next game was. I saw everyone rounding around the coach, listening in, just like I did.

"Great game, happy about this one. Leon, next time: please bring your shin pads, so you could actually play and I could see what condition you're in. I have made notes and I will be announcing who's playing this Saturday, before the real game." The team looked around at each other, gauging who played good tonight and who didn't. 

Apparently they used this match as a mock try-out, so the trainer and coach could see who were in shape and who weren't for the first big game on Saturday.

"Before you all go, I would like to introduce you to our new on scene doctor, who will be helping you if there's anything actually wrong." He glared at Louis when he said that last part, making him scowl.

I took a step forward, looking around the group. I saw that everyone was intensely looking at me, so I spoke up quickly, "Hi everyone, my name's Mattie and just like Patrick said, I'll be helping you guys out during the games."

"You'll help me out outside of the game, too?"

I ignored him, saw that Niall was once again encouraging me and disregarding his team mate who shouted that from the group, nodding his head for me to continue. I smiled a bit, and went on, "I'm studying to be a doctor, and I'm currently doing the bachelors for it, so yeah.."

Patrick, the coach, nodded at me and returned to the group, "For now, keep in shape boys and help each other out. I haven't decided anything yet so miracles can happen!"

The team shuffled away quietly, talking to each other. I tapped Patrick on his shoulder, "Sorry, coach, is there some place where I can put my bag so I don't have to bring it with me every time?" 

He nodded, gazing above me to where the boys were walking, "Of course Mattie, just a moment,” He took two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, making me try to cover my ears, “Captain!" he shouted, "Harry come here!" 

I turned around and saw that Harry was saying goodbye to his teammates, as he already heard his couch, before jogging over to us. He nodded at me, looking me up and down and placed his arms in his sides as a greeting and turned to Patrick, "What's up coach?" 

Patrick cleared his throat and looked at me, "Mattie here would like to put her bag in the dressing room so she won't have to take it with her," he started grabbing his keys from his pocket, "you can show her, yes?" 

Harry nodded, taking the keys from him. "No worries coach, I'll help her." 

The coach patted Harry in his shoulder, "Thank you, bring the keys to my office tomorrow. And work on your left foot!" 

Niall was waving goodbyes at me, so I quickly waved back, “Bye!” and turned towards Harry. 

With the team and Niall gone, it was just Harry and I. It was still dark, with only the lights from the field still on. Harry jiggled the keys in front of us, and winked at me, "I'll show ya," 

It wasn't that I was nervous or anything, but I hesitated for two seconds before strolling behind him. He was so cocky, with his kit still on and smirking all the time. I couldn't help but watch him while he was playing. He had a certain glow around him, an aura that just radiated confidence. He could probably pull everything off and he certainly could wrap everyone around his finger. 

"So you enjoyed the game, doc?" 

I cringed at the nickname, but decided to let it go this time, "I enjoyed watching it yeah," 

Nodding, he faced me, "You liked my goal?" 

He said it with a smirk and as if he knew I was watching him the whole time, which was true, but he didn't need to know that. 

"Actually, I really liked how Leon could outrun everyone on the field.." 

He stopped abruptly and turned around, in the middle of the path. Once he was fully in front of me, he leaned in, “I saw you watching me, you know.”

Because he stopped suddenly and leaned in immediately, I accidently took a step too much, almost bumping into him again. “Maybe I was watching Louis.”

He laughed, showing me his dimple as he looked to the side. “I know you weren’t, that douchebag really doesn’t know how to play it.”

I nodded my head, and rolled my eyes as if he was stating the obvious. “That’s right.” 

I began walking again, not really knowing where to, but at least in the same direction we were already going. Harry followed me soon after, jumping into step with me. I already saw the building coming closer, which made me think of something. “Why aren’t you all showering in the dressing room after a game?”

He bumped his shoulder with mine, which made me notice the height difference we had. He was a lot taller than me, my eyes looking straight at his collarbones when I turned to look at him. 

I looked up at him, raising my eyebrows in question. 

“You would like to see that, huh?” He stated, smiling shyly at me.

I groaned, “Harryy..”

“Already moaning my name, I see.” 

This time it was me that bumped my shoulder with him, making him laugh in response. “I was just joking, love.” 

When we fell into step once more, he looked ahead and started explaining my question to me, “No we’re not there because it was a practise game and obviously we want to go home fast so we can go to the party later, so we just decided to shower at home.”

I nodded my head, kneading my eyebrows in confusion. There was a party tonight? I haven’t heard anything about that. I quite liked going to parties. Normally my friend Niamh made sure we could get invites so we could go together, but not tonight apparently. It was a Wednesday after all, so maybe she just wanted to stay in tonight. “A party?” I asked Harry. 

He nodded, “Yeah it’s like a frat party only, I would have gotten you an invite but I didn’t really know you before this, soo..”

I laughed, grinning to myself. Harry was really nice. At least, nothing like I had pictured him to be in my head. I didn’t like to judge people before I knew them, but with Harry that was kind of inevitable. Also, I couldn’t exactly invite myself now since he said he didn’t know me but I already knew him. I was not going to make a fool of myself, obviously. So I just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it.”

We had reached the building where the shower rooms were. We walked quite slow, and it was already quite late so it was kind of eerie here. No lights, the doors were all left open and there were no people to be seen. 

“So these are our shower rooms,” Harry started as we walked into the building after he unlocked it, “We normally take the first one, so you can just put your stuff in there.”

The dressing room was big and spacious. Everyone had a seat, there was a whiteboard in there and the showers were in a separate room. The closet that stood against the wall next to the showers, held all the equipment. “There,” Harry said, as he took my bag and placed my stuff in, “A special place for you.”

As he placed my stuff in the closet, I could finally see how he’d looked up close. He still had his short sleeved football shirt on, revealing his tattoos on his arms. For a guy that was still in college, he sure had a lot of them. Not that I minded. 

“Thank you Harry,” I smiled at him, at which he winked in return when he faced me again. Gosh, I could almost feel myself getting red. I was acting like a schoolgirl, I needed to step up my game. “I’ll remember this place,” I said, as I looked at the showers. I could almost imagine all the naked boys right here. 

I smirked, glancing at the shower himself, “I’m sure you will.”

After making sure everything was locked and closed, we started to walk back to the parking lot.  I was sure Harry was also with his car, considering campus was at least a twenty minute walk. Right as we reached our cars and I wanted to say goodbye, he faced me again and leaned on his already open door, “You know what, Mattie?”

I looked up from the inside of my car towards him, giving him a questioning look. “What?”

“You free Saturday?”

He said it so casually that I wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t asking me out on a date was he? I mean, I was attracted to the guy but I barely knew him! And it wasn’t like I wanted to go out with him, really. But I did want to see him. With hesitation evident in my voice, I answered him, “Yeah, why?”

He saw my facial expression and laughed a bit, “To take you up on my offer. We’re having a party again at our house, so if you’d like to come?”

I almost sighed in relief, “Yeah, I’d like that, thank you Harry.” 

He shot a quick wink at me as he started to climb in his car, “No worries!” As a last afterthought, right as I wanted to shut my door, I heard him shout, “And bring your friends!”

--

My friend Niamh was present at the game this time, too. We were here a little early, so we could catch up on our week and talk about everything that had happened to us. She was a friend from years ago, almost from when we were kids, so she knew everything about me. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to be a doctor and had chosen to go pursue her dancing career. She was really good at it, too. She was asked to dance in videoclips and she often performed on stage with singers or bands. It was her job now, one she always wanted. It made me proud of her, because she actually went for it, and ignored her parent’s complaints about it. She had proved them and their comments about how she was never going to make it, wrong. 

We sat in the canteen, which was still fairly quiet. The game would start at two, and it was now one thirty. I had only been to a professional game once, and then I arrived at two on the dot and I didn’t even look if there were many people there. The only time I’d been here was when I met up with the trainer to see if this was the right place for me to take my extra credits. I could choose to work in an elderly home, or at the swimming pool, but I had decided that this would be more fun for me. I didn’t mind watching 22 boys running after a ball for two hours back to back, particularly. 

Niamh had ordered a coffee whereas I preferred cold drinks over hot drinks, so I just stuck with some soda. “So how has your week been, Matts?” She said as she took a sip of her drink. 

I smiled at her, excited to tell her she would be having something to do tonight, “Actually, I need to invite you to something.”

Her eyebrows perked up, and she placed the drink on the table, “To where?”

I grinned, “Harry Styles asked me if I wanted to come to this party at his house tonight, and said I could bring some friends.” 

“No way!” She exclaimed gasping, “Harry Styles from the team?” 

I nodded happily back at her, “That’s the one.”

She already started to grab her phone, so she could text our friends, I presumed. “When did he ask you this? I didn’t even know you talked to him!”

After I placed my drink down from taking a sip of it myself, I shrugged casually at her. “Well, I had to help at that game you know,” I said as she nodded at me, “And right after he had to show me where I could put my stuff and started talking about this party he had this Wednesday----”

“Oh yes!” She interrupted me with wide eyes, “So that’s the party Emily talked about! She said she had fucked the captain of the team, and that he was quite good. That’s Harry right?” 

I paused, opening my mouth in surprise. “What? Yeah he is the captain.” 

“That’s so sick! I have to text Emily about this party tonight then,” She said, grinning excitedly at me and putting her phone down to look at me again. “Anyway, go on, I’m listening.”

I coughed, choosing to ignore this disappointing bit of information, “Yeah so he told me about that party and that he couldn’t invite me then, which is a bit weird if I think about it now, but anyways, he invited me for tonight and said I could bring some friends.” I forced a smile on my face as I finished my story and looked at her. 

She copied my smile, “That’s great! Maybe I can finally meet Niall and get to know him better, if you know what I mean,” She said as she wiggled her eyebrows. 

I laughed, genuinely excited for her. “I hope you will!” 

After I had finished my drink, I announced to Niamh that I had to leave if I wanted to be at the dug-outs on time. She wished me well, and said that she would see me tonight. After I hugged her and said goodbye to her and the bartender who had served us, I walked out of the canteen towards the shower rooms. 

I needed to grab my bag if I wanted to be helping players today. Today they had to play against a popular college not far away from where we’re from, so it was kind of exciting to be able to see that. The coach had probably announced who would be playing and who wouldn’t for today, which made the pressure on the players to play well a tad bit higher. I knew that obviously Harry and Louis would be playing, along with our goalie Liam, but the rest of the team was still unsure. For me it would be kind of fun if Niall was still benched, just for entertainment, but he would rather be on the field, I’m sure. Hopefully his knee was doing better.

I had reached the shower rooms and discovered that the door was still open, allowing me to walk right in the building. I knew Harry said it was the first one when we dropped my bag off, so without hesitation I whipped open the door. Right as I did that, I heard commotion and deep yelling from from the inside, causing me to rapidly close the door again. Shit. How the fuck was I supposed to know they were still here, they were just warming up outside!

Bowing my head in embarrassment, I quickly walked out of the building. I would just grab my bag when they were out so I didn’t have to walk in with all of them staring at me. I waited outside, leaning against the wall and just staring ahead at the field they would be playing on. They were taking their sweet time. Probably just discussing the match quickly just before the game started, but to me it felt like ages.  

The other team was walking towards the field in a pack, and the referee started to walk towards this building, probably to let our team know the game was about to start. I actually felt nerves bubbling in my stomach, with everything being so serious in comparison to the last game. There were a lot of supporters walking towards the bleachers, too. 

I was just staring at the field again when the door opened and everyone on the team started to walk out. First it was the coach and trainer, who nodded in greeting. The coach was needed here too, apparently. I saw that Niall walked in the front with his jacket still on, so that meant he was benched again. When he walked by me, he ruffled my hair. “Hey Matts!” 

“Hey!” I shouted after him, “I’m here to help you, you know!”

He turned around and laughed loudly, pointing at his knee, “Not me!’

At that, I didn’t have anything back to say knowing he was benched again, so I just shook my head. 

“Is he messing with you?” 

I heard Harry’s voice before I saw him, making me look up towards him. He was walking at the back of the team’s row to get out of the building with a smile on his face, standing out from everyone else walking before him.  

When he reached me, he stopped and raised his eyebrows, awaiting my answer. “No it’s just Niall,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders indifferently. 

“Right,” He smirked, “Well, I figured ‘t was you that tried to come in during our important speech, so I decided to grab your bag for you.” 

My heart swelled just a little bit at his kind gesture, having not expected this at all from him. Shit, you should never listen to rumours, huh? He proved once again that he could actually be kind.

“Wow, Harry! Thank you so much. That’s so kind of you to do that!” I grabbed the bag from him and in a split second decided I wanted to hug him. I threw myself in his arms, catching him off guard for a second. My bag that I now carried in my hand whipped him in his back, causing him to groan in my shoulder. Hugging me back, he draped his arms slowly around me, positioning them right above my ass. 

When I loosened my arms around him, I nodded my head towards the field, “You should probably go,”

He nodded in confirmation, still standing in close proximity to me. “I do.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder blades, and wished him luck for the game, “Break a leg Harry, or don’t actually.”

He laughed at my comment, showing me his dimples. Before he walked away towards the field, he winked at me, “I’ll try not to.”

When I saw him run on the field and give his teammates one last cheer for good luck, I smirked to myself watching him. It was a good choice to wear my tight yoga pants again, at least. 

--

The game was very intense. Not like practise-match intense, but full on competition match intense. Louis luckily hadn’t faked any injuries yet, so that was a good sign. However, I had to run on the field in the first half for Liam, who had taken a good shot right in his eye. He fell to the ground, making me run on the field for him. When I got there, he was already sitting up and not at all groaning in pain like Louis had, making me smile a bit. At least Liam could handle something. I also discovered his injury wasn’t fake, because I could see a bruise forming immediately. I cooled it a little, but told him it would be better if he took some rest. He said that he’d be fine and would just tell me and the coach if he wanted to switch between the other goalkeeper and him. I was still a bit concerned, but he insisted. So I walked back with my supplies and some worries, hoping that it was really just a shot with the ball, and it wouldn’t turn out to be something worse. 

The score was 2-1 for our team, with just ten minutes to go when I came back from grabbing some more water. It was so tense, all the players were proper going for it. The bleachers were filled with supporters, all reacting to the match as if their life depended on it. When the opponents came near our goal, they would stand up and shout at our defenders. And when our team was striking and near the opponents goal, they would yell and scream for us to score. I was nervous too. I was on the edge of my seat, hoping that the score would stay the same. I was fiddling with the hem of my shirt to stop myself from standing up and screaming towards the players. 

We did have a good few people that came out to support us, yes. But our biggest supporter sat on the bench. He was biting his nails, screaming in frustration and cursing loudly whenever we missed a goal. 

“Fuck! Who in their goddamn mind would even pass like that!”, or “Holy shit! That was fucking close!” and my favourite: “Son of a… get that fucking ball in the goal you arseholes!”

Least to say, I was entertained for the match.  

Currently we had the ball on our side, passing each other the ball and walking forwards towards the goal. Once we had crossed the midfielders of the opponents, Zayn passed the ball towards Brad who then passed it on to Ben. Ben had a good shot, and could easily get the ball miles away. So when Louis sprinted towards the goal, Ben saw an opportunity to pass the ball onto him. He put the ball in front of him and shot the ball, right into Louis’ feet. I could see that Louis was looking for someone to help him out, because there were two defenders near the goal and he couldn’t pass them himself. Luckily Harry had seen it, and sprinted with him on the other side. He made sure he ran close to the goal but not to close, so he had the space to shoot the ball right in if he got it. He shouted for Louis to pass the ball onto him, and Louis immediately did. The ball was flying over the defenders, in a straight line towards Harry. Harry prepared for it, taking his foot back so he could place it right on it. He jumped, the ball almost near him, and kicked the ball--- 

Right before he could kick it, a defender sprung onto him making Harry fall right to the ground. “Nooooo!” Niall yelled loudly from beside me, “For fuck’s sake no!”

I heard everyone gasp from the audience, immediately voicing their worries from behind me. I panicked for a second, freezing in my spot. Shit! Harry just fell to the ground. He was laying there, in pain. I heard the coach shout my name, making me snap back to reality. Immediately I grabbed my bag, and ran towards him in a hurry. Shiiit. Why Harry? Others had gathered around him, so I couldn’t see how Harry was doing. Right as I arrived near him, I shouted for them to walk away. 

“Everyone! Leave!” 

My voice must have sounded really angry or intimidating, because everyone hurried away quickly. This way, I could finally see Harry. He was laying on the ground, on his back. He had his hands on his forehead, making me think there was something wrong with his head. Hopefully he didn’t have a concussion or something. The defender that had pushed him to the ground, was still looking at Harry. He was probably worried about what he’d done, but I didn’t care. 

“What are you doing? Leave!” 

He started saying that he was sorry, and that he could help, but I wasn’t having it. “I don’t care, leave before I force you.” 

He nodded, worry evident on his face. For a second I felt bad, but then I saw that Harry was still laying here, and then those thoughts escaped my mind right away. The defender walked away eventually, leaving me alone with Harry. I looked at him, seeing how he had one hand over his head, feeling for bruising. The moment I sat down next to him, he turned his head towards me. He opened his eyes, and smiled.

“Am I dreaming?” 

Relief washed over me immediately. At least he could still make jokes. I began sitting next to his head, wetting my sponge once again and placing it over his head. “You okay, Harry?” 

He nodded, his head in front of my knees on the ground. I looked at him from above, so that I could see how his body reacted when I would do certain things to see if he was okay. Right now I had my hands on his forehead with the sponge in between, “I’m fine actually, Mattie. I just wanted you to come save me.”

I rolled my eyes, not believing him. “No you didn’t.” 

He laughed, causing his chest to go up and down, “I did,” He smirked, his eyes shining as he looked at me. 

I shook my head in disbelief, staring at him smiling at me for a second. But then I remembered I could take revenge. He saw that I was wetting the sponge again, and began to sit up straight. “No you won’t!’

I began splashing him with water in revenge, making him soaking wet. I was laughing my ass off, seeing him so flustered and shocked at what I was doing. “Mattie! Shit, stop!”

I was aware that the rest of the team and the coach were still watching us, so I stopped splashing him, throwing the sponge in the water bag. I took a step towards his soaked body, pressing my lips together and looking him in the eye mischievously. “Next time you’ll play a joke on me like that, I’ll take you to the hospital so you’ll have to sit next to Niall for a month.”

He laughed loudly, throwing his head back. “Noted, doc, noted.” 

As I walked away smiling and the referee began gathering everyone together again, I heard him shout one more thing after me, “I’ll pay you back tonight Mattie! Watch out!”

I just shot my middle finger in the air, hearing him bark out another laugh in response. 

--

The party was in full swing when Niamh, Emily, Joey and I arrived. It was in Harry’s and his roommates’ house, one that I had never been in before, let alone seen how packed it could be. Everyone that was just a little bit known around campus, was there. I recognized some people from my class, and others I knew because they were popular around campus. 

When we arrived, the door was unlocked and you could just walk right in. That wasn’t unusual with the parties I went to, if we ever went to house parties. There was a pile of jackets formed, so we just threw ours over it. Joey and Emily claimed they knew some people and went off to speak to them, leaving me and Niamh alone at the party. 

“Let’s have a drink,” Niamh said to me over the loud music, “We need to get drunk to process this!”

I nodded in agreement, already taking her arm towards the kitchen. It was already quite busy, but we had come a little late. We didn’t want to be the first ones to arrive, as we didn’t know a lot of people here. All the drinks were placed on a table, leaving us with a lot of choice of what we wanted to drink tonight. I hadn’t realised before this that these college boys actually spend a lot of time planning these things. They had a lot to think about. And to be fair, they had done a good job at it.

We had appropriately dressed ourselves, luckily. Since we didn’t really know what to expect, we just went for black: Niamh wearing a tight dress with spaghetti straps and me wearing a skirt with a t-shirt. It was something you could never go wrong with.

I poured myself some alcohol, waiting for Niamh to do the same. Once we both had our drinks, we leaned against the table and started looking at people. This was our favourite activity to do. You saw some crazy people at parties, so we had a lot to think about. 

“Oh wow, there’s already people on the edge of drunkenness.” Niamh laughed, raising her eyebrows at a boy who had run straight towards the loo. “Jesus wept.”

“Shit,” I exclaimed, looking at a girl who had just came in with a gift in her hand, “It’s someone’s birthday? Did we need to bring a gift?”

She just shrugged her shoulders at me. “No fucking clue.” And resumed to look around the room. We had been sipping on our drinks lightly, just enjoying the music that was blasting loudly and how everyone was dancing and talking with each other.

“Look at that girl, she's going for it!” Niamh pointed out at me, looking at a girl that was standing in the middle of the room, dancing her ass off. I followed her gaze, seeing how the girl was dancing to the music, not caring about anyone it seemed like. I wish I could be like her. “She’s really good!”

Right as I wanted to respond to Niamh, I saw that Louis had walked in the door she was close to. I rolled my eyes and turned around, looking at the sink. 

“What’re you doing?” Niamh asked me incredulously, looking at me over her shoulder. 

“I don’t know,” I answered her, “He just annoys me.”

She came to stand beside me, searching for my eyes. “How? Last time we talked about him you said he was hot!”

I shrugged my shoulders again, “He’s just annoying.”

“Right.” She answered, turning around again and taking a sip of her drink. “If you want to fuck him just tell me. I could be your wing woman.”

I bumped my hips with hers, and turned around to look at the crowd again, “Never.” 

She laughed, standing up straight and finishing up her drink. “Okay then, just tell me why another time. I just saw Harry come in and you need to talk with him.” 

Immediately I felt my stomach go wild. Shit. My eyes began to search around the room, looking for his head of curls amongst the crowd. I found him talking with a friend of his from his team, who’s name I couldn’t remember. Harry looked extremely attractive tonight. Instead of the usual kit I saw him in, he wore all black. His black vans stood out with the other clothing he wore, black skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Even with such a simple look, he made it seem like he wore a million dollars. As he was talking, his jawline moved with his mouth and it made me just weak in the knees. He was actually so hot, how hadn’t I fully appreciated this man before? 

It seemed like he was asking if his friend wanted a drink, because he leaned into him with his ear, nodded and started walking away towards the kitchen. Oh no, why had I been sitting in the kitchen, so obviously out in the open? He strode confidently towards the drinks, when in mid-walk he saw me sitting there. Niamh also recognised him and saw he was walking over here, so she made up an excuse to leave. “Just need the loo for a moment,” 

I couldn’t answer her, because Harry interrupted my thoughts. He was also smirking at me as he arrived right in front of me, only leaving a few inches in between us. I crossed my arms, looking up at him challengingly. 

“Hey doc,” he greeted, speaking in a raspy voice. He began to smile mischievously, making me wonder what he was going to say, “Or should I say, hero?”

I groaned out loud, hitting him in the chest with one hand, and shaking my head. It made him laugh, making his chest vibrate. I could almost feel the vibrations with how close we were. “Shut up,”

He was still chuckling a bit as if he were still thinking about it. Suddenly he stopped, and looked me right in the eyes. “Really though, that was really hot with how you fought everyone out of your way for me.”

I felt my face go warm and I tried to not to smile too much. “Thank you,” I said, straightening up a bit and raising my chin up at him, “But like hell that I fought everyone away.” 

He gasped, nudging me with his arms “Heyy, you did!” he said with a fake offense, frowning his eyebrows, “You were basically performing CPR on me with the way you acted!”

I laughed, making me lean into him a little bit and hide in his shoulder. When I brought myself back in front of him, I raised my eyebrows at him, “You would like me to give you a mouth to mouth performance, wouldn’t you?” 

My heart skipped a bit when he got all serious and looked me straight in the eye. “I would,” 

Our eye contact was intense, I could feel it in my stomach. He was so close to me, I could feel his breath on my face. I was almost certain that he could feel my heartbeat against his chest. We weren’t even touching completely, but it was beating so hard that I wouldn’t doubt it. I looked at his green eyes, to his plump and pink lips. They were a nice shape, and I felt the urge to just kiss them. I didn’t though, maybe he did this with every other girl he tried to get in his bed. 

I was proven right when he took my hand, “Come with me,” 

I tried to act confused, furrowing my eyebrows, “Where to?” 

He didn’t respond, just tugged on my hand and began leading the way. People weren’t even looking at us, they were dancing or drinking and talking. And even though I liked doing those things at parties, this thing that I thought Harry was planning to do with me, seemed much more fun. 

He made his way towards the door to go upstairs, avoiding bumping in with people or getting splashed by someone’s drink. Once we were on the way up he let go of my hand so we could walk better. There were only one or two people upstairs, making out with each other or searching for someone. Two doors were open out of the four, and Harry went into a closed one with me. 

He revealed his bedroom to me, which was completely dark apart from the moon that lit up the room a little bit. His room was mostly a dark blue, with a grey colour covering the one wall that wasn’t blue. His bed stood in the middle of the room with two bedside tables next to it. He had a desk and his sports bag that he had used still stood in his room, untouched. He didn’t have a desk, but a dresser was shoved against the wall. Once I did my onceover, I saw Harry standing in front of his bed, looking at me. 

He smiled, and began to walk over to me again, making me back into the door once he reached me completely. He stood closer than he did when we were in the kitchen, his pelvis against mine and his chest leaning against my body. “Hey,” He said again, even raspier this time. 

I looked up at him, examining his face, “Hey.”

He cleared his throat, and hesitated a bit, “Can I kiss you?”

I hesitated, “One thing.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Tell me you don’t fuck girls every week, otherwise I won’t be able to handle this.”

He took a step back, frowning, “Who told you that?”

Looking up at him, I felt myself growing more nervous, “Just hear that about you.”

He looked up at the ceiling, then back at me. “I promise you Mattie. I didn’t bring you here or invite you just to fuck you. I’d happily talk with you all night. You seem fun.”

I smiled, “And,” he continued, “my roommates are the ones who get laid every party. I do have sex yeah, but I promise you, I haven’t had sex since the first week of this semester.”

With the sincerity in his eyes, I believed him, “Okay, you can kiss me now.”

“Only if you want to.”

I looked into his eyes, “I really do.”

With one nod and another reassuring glance he was in the clear and we were done with being slow. He smacked his lips against mine, moving his arms from against the door to my body. Roaming his hand around my hips to my ass as he hungrily kissed me. I kissed him back, recuperating his movements. He squeezed my ass, making me gasp a little bit, giving him access to use his tongue in the kiss as well. I moved my arms from his shoulders to his neck, pushing him closer to me with my fingertips in his hair. Our tongues were wet and desperate, making the kiss hot and heavy. Once he had enough of just making out, he grabbed me by my thighs and lifted me up, turning me around towards the bed. 

I fell backwards onto his soft mattress, with Harry on top of me. My legs were around him in an instant, crossing my feet on his back. I still had my sneakers on and all my clothes, but not for long. Harry’s hand went from my ass to the hem of my shirt. I lifted my back for him, pausing in the kiss, to let him take my top off in one swift movement, leaving me in my bra. I didn’t wear my sexiest bra, but he didn’t seem to mind. His mouth went from the sweet spots on my neck towards my cleavage, leaving wet kisses on my body. He was already working on getting my bra off, pushing the straps off my shoulders. I sat upright for him, making him readjust his position to get closer to me. He was struggling with the clasp, so I unclasped my bra for him and threw it on the ground. He didn’t waste any time cupping my breasts, feeling them and leaning in my neck to leave some more spots, but I wasn’t having it. I pushed him away on his chest, making him stand on the ground again. He looked at me in confusion for a moment, until I stood up and pushed him on the bed. I bent my knees so I could reach his t-shirt, and he got the idea. Moving his arms up to let me take his shirt off, he gladly let me do it. 

His chest was revealed to me, just like mine was to him. This wasn’t enough, though. I crouched on my knees completely so I was level with his belly button, and began to unbutton his jeans. His bulge was evident in the tight material, so when I moved the zipper down I cupped him over his jeans and pants, making him groan in response. 

“Fuck, Mattie.” 

I just smiled at him, moving to tug at his jeans. He got the hint and thrust his hips up, so I could take his jeans off. Once they were off, he was just left in his boxers. I moved a little closer to him, so I was level with his bulge, making me look up at him with wide eyes. “Impressive,” I smirked. 

He wasn’t having it, and took his boxers off immediately, revealing his dick to me that sprung to his stomach. He must be proper into it, because I had never had a man be this turned on from just kissing. He threw his boxers onto the pile we had already made, and leaned on his arms so he could look at me properly. I took him in my hands, gliding my thumb over his tip. I looked at him for his consent, and he nodded at me eagerly. That was all I needed before I licked him on the tip. He responded loudly, groaning and moaning through the room. I never knew he was so loud in the bedroom. 

I licked him from his balls to the tip, and let him slip in my mouth to take all of him. He moved his hand in my hair, not pushing me, but finally having something he could do with his hands. 

I started bobbing my head up and down, all the while looking at him how he responded to me. His eyes were closed and his pink lips were voluminous and opened just slightly. 

I enjoyed giving blowjobs, especially if it was someone as responsive as Harry. He was groaning and moaning for me, letting me know how much he enjoyed it. “A-ah,” He cried once I hit him in the back of my throat. “Fuck,”

Kissing his tip, feeling his balls and sliding my tongue over his dick was making me wet as well. He still had one hand in my hair, the other going from my arms that were drawn over his upper thighs. My naked boobs rested on his naked legs, and my still clothed butt was stuck in the air. 

He slid his hand over my arm and went to my back, leaning over my head that was still bobbing over his cock. Once he could reach the hem of my skirt, he started moving the zipper. At least, trying to. 

I stopped sucking him off and let my mouth pop when his dick was out of my mouth, making him moan in annoyance. I quickly took my skirt and panties off and went back on my knees in front of him, when he was the one that stopped me this time. He grabbed my arms and basically threw me on the bed, covering my body immediately. Fuck, he was good. 

He started kissing me again, while I searched for his dick and began giving him a handjob. He cupped my breasts and squeezed them. I started leading his dick towards my entrance, giving him a hint of what I wanted. He backed away to look at me with wide eyes, paused for a bit and went to his dresser to get a condom. I watched him as he slid it on, and grabbed his shoulders as he started to position himself in front of me. Before he did, he looked at me once more. I nodded in approval, and he slid himself in me slowly. I could feel him filling me up immediately, making me throw my head back in bliss. “Fuck, Harry..”

“You like my dick, don’t you?” He said as he began thrusting into me. 

I could only nod in response, gasping as he looked at me, “Tell me,” he said as he thrusted into me hard once, “Tell me how you feel.”

His trust were getting harder with each second I wasn’t responding, because I could only moan in pleasure, “Fuck Harry,” I moaned, “I feel so good..”

He reacted with his hips. Thrusting into me rapidly, making my breasts go up and down and the bed creak against the wall. “I know, baby, I know.” 

“Holy shit, I do.” 

He started to kiss my neck, hungrily going for it as my legs crossed at his back once again. I was certain that the guests that were still here could hear us, but I didn’t give a shit. I wanted to everyone to know that he was fucking me, and not some other girl. 

“You’re so good baby, I knew it,” 

I started to roam his back with my arms, feeling his muscles move each time he thrusted. His dick was so long and hard that he hit the right spots inside of me each time. I could feel my head getting a little lighter, and my stomach filled with warmth. “I’m gonna cum, Harry, please,”

“Begging for it, see?” He cockily stated once he moved to look at me again, he even had a smirk on his face when he was fucking me. “Knew you would do me good,”

“Mhh, Harry, almost there,” 

“Me too, baby, me too.” 

He thrusted a couple more times before I could really feel it, my pleasure taking over me completely. I came hard, my legs trembling around him and my head thrown back. My orgasm made me cry out loud, and he was still going at it. 

He was coming too, I knew it. His thrust became harder before they slowed down, squeezing his eyes shut in pleasure. He groaned loudly when he came, looking beautiful while he did. His cheeks had gone slightly pink, making his lips stand out even more, and his hair was all dishevelled and damp with sweat. Once I felt that he filled the condom inside of me, he opened up his eyes and slid out of me. 

We both smiled at each other and started catching our breaths from out intensive activities, “Fuck, Mattie.” He laughed, pulling out of me completely and leaned on his arms to stand up. Once he cleaned up the condom, throwing it in the bin, he started walking back to the bed. He plopped on it, almost on top of me. “That was good.” 

I nodded in response, “Almost as good as Louis’ goals.” I smirked, hoping to get a reaction out of him with bullshit. 

He laughed, letting his head fall on the pillow, “Shut up.”

There we lay, both naked over the covers with our chest moving as we breathed, still hearing the thumping music from downstairs where the party was still going in full swing. 

“I told you,” He started, looking at me playfully, “I would get you wet later.” 

I groaned, but couldn’t help to let a laugh escape. I grabbed my pillow from underneath my head, saw how he was smiling to himself, and smacked him in the head with it. 

Payback, my arse.

I felt it from the moment I had walked on the field with the others. 

Someone was staring at me. Or everyone was. I didn’t look behind me to see if it was true, but I could feel their eyes staring straight at my ass. They asked me to wear athletic clothing for this, so I just chose the first thing in my dresser that I saw, picking out some black yoga pants. The material clung to my butt and I regretted I had put them on the moment I had arrived here. My oversized sweater I chose to wear over it luckily covered my upper half, a decision I did appreciate I made now.

Walking onto the sports centre was nerve-wracking in itself. I liked sports, I liked watching it, but having the possibility of someone else watching you do something was disturbing. I couldn’t find the way I was supposed to go. I didn’t bring my hair tie so I was forced to keep my hair floating around my face and this place was huge. There were several buildings and a squala of fields for specific sports. Indoors, outdoors, you name it. The college was probably sponsored by some wealthy upper class fathers who wanted their sons to be on the radar for new opportunities.

Luckily, I was led right to the canteen which was easily locatable since it had a terrace. A terrace! Lord, I feel like I should’ve worn other clothing for this. 

I approached a team player who had blond hair, feeling the nerves floating around in my stomach, “Uhh… Hi.” 

The boy who was filling up his water bottle turned around, raising his eyebrows, “Hi there.” 

Shit, he was nice. I inhaled, “I was looking for uhh, the football team…” He gave me the same look, “I was asked to help.., or I need to help with their inju-”

“Ahh!” He exclaimed, disregarding his bottle and he turned to fully face me, “You’re the one!”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I guess I am?”

“My name’s Niall.” He held out his hand, “I’m the star player of the time you’ve been assigned to!” 

I shook his hand, smiling a little. “Hi,” We still held hands, “Do you know where I’m supposed to go?” 

Still holding my hand, he began shaking it up and down. “I’m glad we finally have someone.”

“You are?”

“Yeh, we desperately need new people to liven things up a little.” 

I pried my hands from his grip, which wasn’t that strong. But I was already sweating, I didn’t need more reasons to be nervous. “Alright, that sounds good.” 

The pregnant pause that followed made him inhale and pack his bottle in his bag, “You are probably wanted by the football field, which is right there.” 

He pointed out somewhere behind me, making me turn my head. I already saw some players dribbling with the ball, so that was easily recognisable. “Go to the coach, he’s the tallest and biggest one. Has a loud voice too, probably won’t miss him.” He grinned, making me smile up at him. 

“I’ll meet you there in a second, we’re starting in like two minutes.” 

I nodded, “Alright, thanks…”

“Niall.” He answered for me, giving me a wink. “But you can call me anytime.” 

I rolled my eyes at his remark, but by the look on his face and the laugh that followed his statement, I knew it was to lighten my mood and assure me. 

I walked towards the field with a small smile on my face and with a lot less nerves. The players were now assembling and putting their heads together so I walked towards the dug-out and waited for them. There weren’t a lot of spectators or bystanders standing around the field, since it was a friendly game. I inhaled again. This should be fine. I recognized some of the players. They were all from the same college after all. Why did I sign up for this? I’m such an idiot.

When the team was done with sharing strategy and doing their, what appeared to be a yell, the trainer walked towards me. I was nervous when he approached me, he towered over everyone. 

“Hi Mattie,” he said, “You ready?”

I stood there, with my own little bag of supplies in my hand. I nodded. Luckily he spoke to me when I got drafted for this, so I already knew him. What if it was someone else who ended up being the coach? Since our conversation was very brief, you’re a nurse, I’m in need of a carer for the team, the deal was easily made. I didn’t know exactly what to take with me for this, but it was a college football team anyways, so nothing was really high-class. I had put some aspirin, plasters, scissors, antiseptic wipes, bandages and tweezers in my supply bag. That should be enough for a college team right? Surely they wouldn’t crash and fall every single game. He saw me fiddling with the bag, and smiled at me, “Good luck.” 

I nodded at him in gratitude and looked around the field. Gosh, couldn’t I talk? I was punching myself in my head. The trainer, whose name I seemed to have forgotten the second after the interview, sat down on his seat. 

Right now, all the players on the field were starting to go to their positions, other members of staff, the referee, seconds officials and the trainers and staff of the opposing team, all seemed ready to go. It wasn't hot or cold, but the slight breeze that blew over the field chilled me just slightly, making the tip of my nose go red. My job was already halfway done, which is just waiting for something to happen and providing the supplies they needed. If something did happen, I was the chosen person to help the players and fix their injuries. I didn't expect that these games would be very intense anyways. The players often knew each other since the teams were always against other colleges. Today it was just a practise match to start off the season, so I should be fine. 

The minute everyone started and the whistle blew, I wondered where Niall even was. Wasn’t he one of the players? As everyone was running and shouting on the field, I felt like he fit right in. I let my eyes wander. I didn’t know that much about football. I rarely watched the Champions League, I could just about name all the rules. The players, however, were something that did interested me. Especially the ones I already knew.

As I was sitting there, everyone seemed to be in the right place and doing exactly what everyone expected of them. The coach shouted an obnoxious loud praise towards his team, making me jump in my seat. The referee whistled at what suggestiably were the right times. No-one seemed to be getting angry at him. They were getting into it already. It'll probably go fine tonight, and my nerves I had bubbling in my stomach would probably be for nothing. At least, I was hoping for that. I watched the players going for the ball intensely, running after it and passing each other the ball. 

Right as the spirits of the team heightened and they almost scored, Niall crept up from behind me. “You didn’t even give me your name.” 

I shrieked, startling even the trainer who was deep into the game, “Jesus, Niall. Don’t scare me like that.” 

He sat down next to me, “Sorry, babe.” 

“My name’s Mattie.” I said, looking at him briefly. He nodded his head, “Like that.” 

I smiled, turning my head towards the field. “Aren’t you playing?”

He pointed towards his knee, that was covered by his track pants, “This annoying thing won’t let me.” 

“Ahh, that’s too bad.” I grimaced. 

“It’s alright,” he shrugged, “get to sit next to you.” 

I rolled my eyes again. “You’re not getting any.” 

He burst out laughing, “What! How could you resist me?” 

I playfully smiled at him. I was glad he was here to ease my nerves, “Dunno,” I glanced at the field, “quite like the others.” 

“You already know them?” He asked. 

“Yeah,” I nodded, “same college.”

Liam was the goalie. He was broad, quick and could move fast so he was the one that suited that job the most. He was also rough, and shouted really loudly which was a benefit when he would have to coach the team from the goal. He scared opponents off easily, grabbing the ball before they could shoot to keep the score at zero. Liam shared a house with Zayn, Louis and Brad, who were also playing tonight. Zayn was a little bit more of an introvert, and I didn’t really speak to him much. He did show he was a good midfielder though. He was quick and could pass the ball to his teammates effortlessly. When he did score though, he wouldn’t hesitate to cheer loudly and scare everyone with his intensity. 

Brad was a little bit older than the rest, but he was great nonetheless. He was very broad in the shoulders and had legs every gym boy would be jealous of. He was the ex-boyfriend of my sister’s, who also attended this college a few years ago. But to me, he still felt more like an older brother than someone who had been in my sister’s life for years. 

Louis was very serious. He was known for only having one thing on his mind, and that was to score goals. He was quick, could dribble fast and made the stronger players against him look back at him in surprise. Others called him Suarez because he was just that good, and his name was close to Luiz’, which made it easier for his teammates to choose a name. He was actually the only one, alongside Harry, to maybe get upgraded to a higher team. From what I heard of some girls on campus, was that he was a bit snarky. He had some quick-witted comebacks, and he didn’t care if he would hurt your feelings.

The house right next to their one, was filled with other boys from the team. This one was occupied with Josh, Ben and Harry. They had been friends since they were around sixteen, and now had the best bond you could have as college brothers. The three boys were always seen with each other, going out together and even doing groceries together. It wouldn’t surprise me if they also fucked the same girls. 

I actually didn’t know them that well, they were just known around campus. That house was classed as the party house and had a reputation of being used to shag a new girl every week. Don’t get me wrong, they were also good at their sport, but the girls they pulled mostly went for their looks rather than for their skills. 

It wasn’t a surprise that two of the boys that I knew, Louis and Harry, played as strikers, in the centre forward position. Harry was the only one that I had never actually spoken to before but knew from the parties. He was in the team because he was good, but also because he could easily show off to the ladies that way. He was popular amongst the college, mainly because he offered up his house to all the party-goers that wanted to celebrate a win that he created. No-one complained about that, seeing as he was gifted with the most attractive face on the campus. He could dribble the ball, yes, and he had the skill of a young Neymar when it came to approaching the goal. But with those eyes and smile with dimples, and his full head of curls that were covered in a backwards snap-back most of the time, I couldn’t help but check him out instead of his moves on the field. He was the captain of the team, living up to his name. He was also a leader of the group outside of football, which made all the girls like him even more.

“Ahh,” Niall exhaled, “shame I don’t know you.” 

This time, I shoved him, making him laugh. He was already a pain in my arse. “Fuck off.”

The boys were playing for around fifteen minutes now, without something happening that would probably make me do some work. The coach was getting into it, standing up every so often and giving the players some tips. He had really created a team, I felt like. You could feel the bond and fondness between them. When a player fell down, another player helped him up and patted him to ask if he was okay. When it almost went wrong and the opposing team had a shot at the goal, everyone from the team would shout positives to each other. It felt like a real team. This team wasn’t only together while playing, though. I had seen them all at parties together and they also liked to play outside of the games they already had. 

I was really into it the first fifteen minutes, but now I was growing kind of bored. Sure, watching boys play was fun, but with no work or particular action, it was kind of boring. Especially since it was a friendly match. The one form of entertainment I got, however, was Niall, who was really into the game.

“Fuck’s sake, Leon! You’re a defender! You should play in the back!” He shouted profanities to his team mates, cheering them on. 

When Niall saw that Leon didn’t comply, he nudged another player next to him and said something in his ear with a scowl on his face. It made me grin lightly in my seat, him being so serious. I liked watching them already. 

“Come on!” He yelled again, standing up in his seat, “Run Louis! Go after…” 

I was looking at Niall with a smile on my face. I also saw how his face turned into a grimace and his hands went to cover his mouth. “Oooh,” 

I looked at the field, panicked. Niall nudged me, tapping his hands on my arm. I saw that Louis had fallen to the ground, his arms holding his leg up now, groaning in pain. It was probably his ankle. I didn’t know what to do at first, shocked that something had actually happened. I looked at Niall, who was already looking at me, nudging his head towards the field. “Go!”

I jumped from my seat, wanting to run straight to the victim. I saw the referee signing for me, which made me run onto the field even more desperately. After a couple of seconds of running, I realised I had forgotten my bag. Fuck. Seriously? Groaning to myself in embarrassment, I quickly grabbed my supplies and ran a little quicker to the boy who was lying on the field in pain. 

“Hey,” I said as I approached him, a little out of breath from running so quickly. 

He didn’t look at me, just kept touching his ankle. It made me frown, it was probably really bad. He was crying out in pain, and some teammates and opponents had gathered around him to see what happened. In the meantime I had wet the sponge in the bag that the coach had brought with him, stretching Louis’ leg. He didn’t really want to, resisting to want to move it. 

“Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.” 

As I was wetting his ankle to cool it down over his shoes, I tried to look if it was bruised or if it had swollen up. None so far that I could see, so that was a good sign. I stretched his leg a bit to keep it moving, but with his socks on, I couldn’t see if there were any wounds or cuts. I tried to sit him upright, but he wasn’t having it. “Calm down,” He hissed, still holding his ankle. He sat upright now, finally looking who was taking care of him. When he saw it was me, he raised his eyebrows. 

“What’re ye doing here?”

I looked at him in shock, already not wanting to help him anymore. So much for running hurriedly over to him. I tried to not react to his degrading question, although it was hard. I continued to check out his foot, trying to place it straight down on the field. He placed his other food next to the injured one, and leaned on his knees with his elbows. The trainer gave Louis a bottle with water, which he gladly took. He took a large gulp, sitting there for a while. Was I overreacting or something? He seemed to be in a lot of pain, why was he now so calm and chilling?

I started grabbing my things, giving Louis one last look to see if he was okay. He seemed to be fine, being helped up by another team mate and testing to stand on it. 

I couldn’t believe this, he was groaning about his ankle no less than one minute ago! What an idiot. Letting me come all the way over here for nothing. As I was walking away frowned my eyebrows in confusion. If it was going to be like this the whole time, I was gone. Not gonna happen. I was here for a reason and the team mates should take that seriously. 

I looked back one last time to Louis who was now laughing with Brad, which resulted in me bumping into someone. His back was hard. He had drawn his head back so he could fill his mouth with water, causing me to also run into the back of this someone’s arms. 

“Fuck, sorry.” I exclaimed, “I shouldn’t..”

When he turned his head around and I saw who it was, I immediately shut my mouth and stared at him. I was frozen into my place for a moment, not knowing what to say. He turned around completely, a dimple showing on his face. I blushed. He was even more attractive up close.

“Don’t worry about it, babe.” He didn’t look angry or anything at all, he actually smiled, which made me feel a little bit better. I wanted to keep on walking to let me soak in my distress towards the situation that just occured, when Louis spoke up again from behind us, “So who’s the pretty girl who wears tight ass clothes to her job?” 

I heard him laugh quietly at his own remark, and he said it loud enough to let his mates in on it too. Instead of just ignoring him and walking on, I decided to turn around and shout after him, 

“Someone who can actually pull it off.”

His team mates ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ at my quick remark. I sighed. Harry was still looking at me. I saw his face turn into a frown, silently apologizing to me with his gaze. I shrugged at him. My comeback towards Louis made me feel good again. He’s the idiot.

When I turned around again, and actually began walking, I smiled quietly to myself, forgetting the situation. This was going to be an interesting job.

--

The whistle blew, announcing the end of the game. For a practice match, the game went surprisingly well. There weren't any more instances or fake ankle injuries, what I was glad about. Harry had scored the one and only goal, which made the team go home with a win. Even though the game was for practice, they were pretty happy about it.

"Okay boys! Bundle up," the coach announced as everyone was walking off the field. I was still standing by the dug-out, not really knowing if I had to say goodbye or when the next game was. I saw everyone rounding around the coach, listening in, just like I did.

"Great game, happy about this one. Leon, next time: please bring your shin pads, so you could actually play and I could see what condition you're in. I have made notes and I will be announcing who's playing this Saturday, before the real game." The team looked around at each other, gauging who played good tonight and who didn't. 

Apparently they used this match as a mock try-out, so the trainer and coach could see who were in shape and who weren't for the first big game on Saturday.

"Before you all go, I would like to introduce you to our new on scene doctor, who will be helping you if there's anything actually wrong." He glared at Louis when he said that last part, making him scowl.

I took a step forward, looking around the group. I saw that everyone was intensely looking at me, so I spoke up quickly, "Hi everyone, my name's Mattie and just like Patrick said, I'll be helping you guys out during the games."

"You'll help me out outside of the game, too?"

I ignored him, saw that Niall was once again encouraging me and disregarding his team mate who shouted that from the group, nodding his head for me to continue. I smiled a bit, and went on, "I'm studying to be a doctor, and I'm currently doing the bachelors for it, so yeah.."

Patrick, the coach, nodded at me and returned to the group, "For now, keep in shape boys and help each other out. I haven't decided anything yet so miracles can happen!"

The team shuffled away quietly, talking to each other. I tapped Patrick on his shoulder, "Sorry, coach, is there some place where I can put my bag so I don't have to bring it with me every time?" 

He nodded, gazing above me to where the boys were walking, "Of course Mattie, just a moment,” He took two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, making me try to cover my ears, “Captain!" he shouted, "Harry come here!" 

I turned around and saw that Harry was saying goodbye to his teammates, as he already heard his couch, before jogging over to us. He nodded at me, looking me up and down and placed his arms in his sides as a greeting and turned to Patrick, "What's up coach?" 

Patrick cleared his throat and looked at me, "Mattie here would like to put her bag in the dressing room so she won't have to take it with her," he started grabbing his keys from his pocket, "you can show her, yes?" 

Harry nodded, taking the keys from him. "No worries coach, I'll help her." 

The coach patted Harry in his shoulder, "Thank you, bring the keys to my office tomorrow. And work on your left foot!" 

Niall was waving goodbyes at me, so I quickly waved back, “Bye!” and turned towards Harry. 

With the team and Niall gone, it was just Harry and I. It was still dark, with only the lights from the field still on. Harry jiggled the keys in front of us, and winked at me, "I'll show ya," 

It wasn't that I was nervous or anything, but I hesitated for two seconds before strolling behind him. He was so cocky, with his kit still on and smirking all the time. I couldn't help but watch him while he was playing. He had a certain glow around him, an aura that just radiated confidence. He could probably pull everything off and he certainly could wrap everyone around his finger. 

"So you enjoyed the game, doc?" 

I cringed at the nickname, but decided to let it go this time, "I enjoyed watching it yeah," 

Nodding, he faced me, "You liked my goal?" 

He said it with a smirk and as if he knew I was watching him the whole time, which was true, but he didn't need to know that. 

"Actually, I really liked how Leon could outrun everyone on the field.." 

He stopped abruptly and turned around, in the middle of the path. Once he was fully in front of me, he leaned in, “I saw you watching me, you know.”

Because he stopped suddenly and leaned in immediately, I accidently took a step too much, almost bumping into him again. “Maybe I was watching Louis.”

He laughed, showing me his dimple as he looked to the side. “I know you weren’t, that douchebag really doesn’t know how to play it.”

I nodded my head, and rolled my eyes as if he was stating the obvious. “That’s right.” 

I began walking again, not really knowing where to, but at least in the same direction we were already going. Harry followed me soon after, jumping into step with me. I already saw the building coming closer, which made me think of something. “Why aren’t you all showering in the dressing room after a game?”

He bumped his shoulder with mine, which made me notice the height difference we had. He was a lot taller than me, my eyes looking straight at his collarbones when I turned to look at him. 

I looked up at him, raising my eyebrows in question. 

“You would like to see that, huh?” He stated, smiling shyly at me.

I groaned, “Harryy..”

“Already moaning my name, I see.” 

This time it was me that bumped my shoulder with him, making him laugh in response. “I was just joking, love.” 

When we fell into step once more, he looked ahead and started explaining my question to me, “No we’re not there because it was a practise game and obviously we want to go home fast so we can go to the party later, so we just decided to shower at home.”

I nodded my head, kneading my eyebrows in confusion. There was a party tonight? I haven’t heard anything about that. I quite liked going to parties. Normally my friend Niamh made sure we could get invites so we could go together, but not tonight apparently. It was a Wednesday after all, so maybe she just wanted to stay in tonight. “A party?” I asked Harry. 

He nodded, “Yeah it’s like a frat party only, I would have gotten you an invite but I didn’t really know you before this, soo..”

I laughed, grinning to myself. Harry was really nice. At least, nothing like I had pictured him to be in my head. I didn’t like to judge people before I knew them, but with Harry that was kind of inevitable. Also, I couldn’t exactly invite myself now since he said he didn’t know me but I already knew him. I was not going to make a fool of myself, obviously. So I just shrugged.

“Don’t worry about it.”

We had reached the building where the shower rooms were. We walked quite slow, and it was already quite late so it was kind of eerie here. No lights, the doors were all left open and there were no people to be seen. 

“So these are our shower rooms,” Harry started as we walked into the building after he unlocked it, “We normally take the first one, so you can just put your stuff in there.”

The dressing room was big and spacious. Everyone had a seat, there was a whiteboard in there and the showers were in a separate room. The closet that stood against the wall next to the showers, held all the equipment. “There,” Harry said, as he took my bag and placed my stuff in, “A special place for you.”

As he placed my stuff in the closet, I could finally see how he’d looked up close. He still had his short sleeved football shirt on, revealing his tattoos on his arms. For a guy that was still in college, he sure had a lot of them. Not that I minded. 

“Thank you Harry,” I smiled at him, at which he winked in return when he faced me again. Gosh, I could almost feel myself getting red. I was acting like a schoolgirl, I needed to step up my game. “I’ll remember this place,” I said, as I looked at the showers. I could almost imagine all the naked boys right here. 

I smirked, glancing at the shower himself, “I’m sure you will.”

After making sure everything was locked and closed, we started to walk back to the parking lot.  I was sure Harry was also with his car, considering campus was at least a twenty minute walk. Right as we reached our cars and I wanted to say goodbye, he faced me again and leaned on his already open door, “You know what, Mattie?”

I looked up from the inside of my car towards him, giving him a questioning look. “What?”

“You free Saturday?”

He said it so casually that I wasn’t sure how to respond. He wasn’t asking me out on a date was he? I mean, I was attracted to the guy but I barely knew him! And it wasn’t like I wanted to go out with him, really. But I did want to see him. With hesitation evident in my voice, I answered him, “Yeah, why?”

He saw my facial expression and laughed a bit, “To take you up on my offer. We’re having a party again at our house, so if you’d like to come?”

I almost sighed in relief, “Yeah, I’d like that, thank you Harry.” 

He shot a quick wink at me as he started to climb in his car, “No worries!” As a last afterthought, right as I wanted to shut my door, I heard him shout, “And bring your friends!”

--

My friend Niamh was present at the game this time, too. We were here a little early, so we could catch up on our week and talk about everything that had happened to us. She was a friend from years ago, almost from when we were kids, so she knew everything about me. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to be a doctor and had chosen to go pursue her dancing career. She was really good at it, too. She was asked to dance in videoclips and she often performed on stage with singers or bands. It was her job now, one she always wanted. It made me proud of her, because she actually went for it, and ignored her parent’s complaints about it. She had proved them and their comments about how she was never going to make it, wrong. 

We sat in the canteen, which was still fairly quiet. The game would start at two, and it was now one thirty. I had only been to a professional game once, and then I arrived at two on the dot and I didn’t even look if there were many people there. The only time I’d been here was when I met up with the trainer to see if this was the right place for me to take my extra credits. I could choose to work in an elderly home, or at the swimming pool, but I had decided that this would be more fun for me. I didn’t mind watching 22 boys running after a ball for two hours back to back, particularly. 

Niamh had ordered a coffee whereas I preferred cold drinks over hot drinks, so I just stuck with some soda. “So how has your week been, Matts?” She said as she took a sip of her drink. 

I smiled at her, excited to tell her she would be having something to do tonight, “Actually, I need to invite you to something.”

Her eyebrows perked up, and she placed the drink on the table, “To where?”

I grinned, “Harry Styles asked me if I wanted to come to this party at his house tonight, and said I could bring some friends.” 

“No way!” She exclaimed gasping, “Harry Styles from the team?” 

I nodded happily back at her, “That’s the one.”

She already started to grab her phone, so she could text our friends, I presumed. “When did he ask you this? I didn’t even know you talked to him!”

After I placed my drink down from taking a sip of it myself, I shrugged casually at her. “Well, I had to help at that game you know,” I said as she nodded at me, “And right after he had to show me where I could put my stuff and started talking about this party he had this Wednesday----”

“Oh yes!” She interrupted me with wide eyes, “So that’s the party Emily talked about! She said she had fucked the captain of the team, and that he was quite good. That’s Harry right?” 

I paused, opening my mouth in surprise. “What? Yeah he is the captain.” 

“That’s so sick! I have to text Emily about this party tonight then,” She said, grinning excitedly at me and putting her phone down to look at me again. “Anyway, go on, I’m listening.”

I coughed, choosing to ignore this disappointing bit of information, “Yeah so he told me about that party and that he couldn’t invite me then, which is a bit weird if I think about it now, but anyways, he invited me for tonight and said I could bring some friends.” I forced a smile on my face as I finished my story and looked at her. 

She copied my smile, “That’s great! Maybe I can finally meet Niall and get to know him better, if you know what I mean,” She said as she wiggled her eyebrows. 

I laughed, genuinely excited for her. “I hope you will!” 

After I had finished my drink, I announced to Niamh that I had to leave if I wanted to be at the dug-outs on time. She wished me well, and said that she would see me tonight. After I hugged her and said goodbye to her and the bartender who had served us, I walked out of the canteen towards the shower rooms. 

I needed to grab my bag if I wanted to be helping players today. Today they had to play against a popular college not far away from where we’re from, so it was kind of exciting to be able to see that. The coach had probably announced who would be playing and who wouldn’t for today, which made the pressure on the players to play well a tad bit higher. I knew that obviously Harry and Louis would be playing, along with our goalie Liam, but the rest of the team was still unsure. For me it would be kind of fun if Niall was still benched, just for entertainment, but he would rather be on the field, I’m sure. Hopefully his knee was doing better.

I had reached the shower rooms and discovered that the door was still open, allowing me to walk right in the building. I knew Harry said it was the first one when we dropped my bag off, so without hesitation I whipped open the door. Right as I did that, I heard commotion and deep yelling from from the inside, causing me to rapidly close the door again. Shit. How the fuck was I supposed to know they were still here, they were just warming up outside!

Bowing my head in embarrassment, I quickly walked out of the building. I would just grab my bag when they were out so I didn’t have to walk in with all of them staring at me. I waited outside, leaning against the wall and just staring ahead at the field they would be playing on. They were taking their sweet time. Probably just discussing the match quickly just before the game started, but to me it felt like ages.  

The other team was walking towards the field in a pack, and the referee started to walk towards this building, probably to let our team know the game was about to start. I actually felt nerves bubbling in my stomach, with everything being so serious in comparison to the last game. There were a lot of supporters walking towards the bleachers, too. 

I was just staring at the field again when the door opened and everyone on the team started to walk out. First it was the coach and trainer, who nodded in greeting. The coach was needed here too, apparently. I saw that Niall walked in the front with his jacket still on, so that meant he was benched again. When he walked by me, he ruffled my hair. “Hey Matts!” 

“Hey!” I shouted after him, “I’m here to help you, you know!”

He turned around and laughed loudly, pointing at his knee, “Not me!’

At that, I didn’t have anything back to say knowing he was benched again, so I just shook my head. 

“Is he messing with you?” 

I heard Harry’s voice before I saw him, making me look up towards him. He was walking at the back of the team’s row to get out of the building with a smile on his face, standing out from everyone else walking before him.  

When he reached me, he stopped and raised his eyebrows, awaiting my answer. “No it’s just Niall,” I told him, shrugging my shoulders indifferently. 

“Right,” He smirked, “Well, I figured ‘t was you that tried to come in during our important speech, so I decided to grab your bag for you.” 

My heart swelled just a little bit at his kind gesture, having not expected this at all from him. Shit, you should never listen to rumours, huh? He proved once again that he could actually be kind.

“Wow, Harry! Thank you so much. That’s so kind of you to do that!” I grabbed the bag from him and in a split second decided I wanted to hug him. I threw myself in his arms, catching him off guard for a second. My bag that I now carried in my hand whipped him in his back, causing him to groan in my shoulder. Hugging me back, he draped his arms slowly around me, positioning them right above my ass. 

When I loosened my arms around him, I nodded my head towards the field, “You should probably go,”

He nodded in confirmation, still standing in close proximity to me. “I do.”

I placed my hand on his shoulder blades, and wished him luck for the game, “Break a leg Harry, or don’t actually.”

He laughed at my comment, showing me his dimples. Before he walked away towards the field, he winked at me, “I’ll try not to.”

When I saw him run on the field and give his teammates one last cheer for good luck, I smirked to myself watching him. It was a good choice to wear my tight yoga pants again, at least. 

--

The game was very intense. Not like practise-match intense, but full on competition match intense. Louis luckily hadn’t faked any injuries yet, so that was a good sign. However, I had to run on the field in the first half for Liam, who had taken a good shot right in his eye. He fell to the ground, making me run on the field for him. When I got there, he was already sitting up and not at all groaning in pain like Louis had, making me smile a bit. At least Liam could handle something. I also discovered his injury wasn’t fake, because I could see a bruise forming immediately. I cooled it a little, but told him it would be better if he took some rest. He said that he’d be fine and would just tell me and the coach if he wanted to switch between the other goalkeeper and him. I was still a bit concerned, but he insisted. So I walked back with my supplies and some worries, hoping that it was really just a shot with the ball, and it wouldn’t turn out to be something worse. 

The score was 2-1 for our team, with just ten minutes to go when I came back from grabbing some more water. It was so tense, all the players were proper going for it. The bleachers were filled with supporters, all reacting to the match as if their life depended on it. When the opponents came near our goal, they would stand up and shout at our defenders. And when our team was striking and near the opponents goal, they would yell and scream for us to score. I was nervous too. I was on the edge of my seat, hoping that the score would stay the same. I was fiddling with the hem of my shirt to stop myself from standing up and screaming towards the players. 

We did have a good few people that came out to support us, yes. But our biggest supporter sat on the bench. He was biting his nails, screaming in frustration and cursing loudly whenever we missed a goal. 

“Fuck! Who in their goddamn mind would even pass like that!”, or “Holy shit! That was fucking close!” and my favourite: “Son of a… get that fucking ball in the goal you arseholes!”

Least to say, I was entertained for the match.  

Currently we had the ball on our side, passing each other the ball and walking forwards towards the goal. Once we had crossed the midfielders of the opponents, Zayn passed the ball towards Brad who then passed it on to Ben. Ben had a good shot, and could easily get the ball miles away. So when Louis sprinted towards the goal, Ben saw an opportunity to pass the ball onto him. He put the ball in front of him and shot the ball, right into Louis’ feet. I could see that Louis was looking for someone to help him out, because there were two defenders near the goal and he couldn’t pass them himself. Luckily Harry had seen it, and sprinted with him on the other side. He made sure he ran close to the goal but not to close, so he had the space to shoot the ball right in if he got it. He shouted for Louis to pass the ball onto him, and Louis immediately did. The ball was flying over the defenders, in a straight line towards Harry. Harry prepared for it, taking his foot back so he could place it right on it. He jumped, the ball almost near him, and kicked the ball--- 

Right before he could kick it, a defender sprung onto him making Harry fall right to the ground. “Nooooo!” Niall yelled loudly from beside me, “For fuck’s sake no!”

I heard everyone gasp from the audience, immediately voicing their worries from behind me. I panicked for a second, freezing in my spot. Shit! Harry just fell to the ground. He was laying there, in pain. I heard the coach shout my name, making me snap back to reality. Immediately I grabbed my bag, and ran towards him in a hurry. Shiiit. Why Harry? Others had gathered around him, so I couldn’t see how Harry was doing. Right as I arrived near him, I shouted for them to walk away. 

“Everyone! Leave!” 

My voice must have sounded really angry or intimidating, because everyone hurried away quickly. This way, I could finally see Harry. He was laying on the ground, on his back. He had his hands on his forehead, making me think there was something wrong with his head. Hopefully he didn’t have a concussion or something. The defender that had pushed him to the ground, was still looking at Harry. He was probably worried about what he’d done, but I didn’t care. 

“What are you doing? Leave!” 

He started saying that he was sorry, and that he could help, but I wasn’t having it. “I don’t care, leave before I force you.” 

He nodded, worry evident on his face. For a second I felt bad, but then I saw that Harry was still laying here, and then those thoughts escaped my mind right away. The defender walked away eventually, leaving me alone with Harry. I looked at him, seeing how he had one hand over his head, feeling for bruising. The moment I sat down next to him, he turned his head towards me. He opened his eyes, and smiled.

“Am I dreaming?” 

Relief washed over me immediately. At least he could still make jokes. I began sitting next to his head, wetting my sponge once again and placing it over his head. “You okay, Harry?” 

He nodded, his head in front of my knees on the ground. I looked at him from above, so that I could see how his body reacted when I would do certain things to see if he was okay. Right now I had my hands on his forehead with the sponge in between, “I’m fine actually, Mattie. I just wanted you to come save me.”

I rolled my eyes, not believing him. “No you didn’t.” 

He laughed, causing his chest to go up and down, “I did,” He smirked, his eyes shining as he looked at me. 

I shook my head in disbelief, staring at him smiling at me for a second. But then I remembered I could take revenge. He saw that I was wetting the sponge again, and began to sit up straight. “No you won’t!’

I began splashing him with water in revenge, making him soaking wet. I was laughing my ass off, seeing him so flustered and shocked at what I was doing. “Mattie! Shit, stop!”

I was aware that the rest of the team and the coach were still watching us, so I stopped splashing him, throwing the sponge in the water bag. I took a step towards his soaked body, pressing my lips together and looking him in the eye mischievously. “Next time you’ll play a joke on me like that, I’ll take you to the hospital so you’ll have to sit next to Niall for a month.”

He laughed loudly, throwing his head back. “Noted, doc, noted.” 

As I walked away smiling and the referee began gathering everyone together again, I heard him shout one more thing after me, “I’ll pay you back tonight Mattie! Watch out!”

I just shot my middle finger in the air, hearing him bark out another laugh in response. 

--

The party was in full swing when Niamh, Emily, Joey and I arrived. It was in Harry’s and his roommates’ house, one that I had never been in before, let alone seen how packed it could be. Everyone that was just a little bit known around campus, was there. I recognized some people from my class, and others I knew because they were popular around campus. 

When we arrived, the door was unlocked and you could just walk right in. That wasn’t unusual with the parties I went to, if we ever went to house parties. There was a pile of jackets formed, so we just threw ours over it. Joey and Emily claimed they knew some people and went off to speak to them, leaving me and Niamh alone at the party. 

“Let’s have a drink,” Niamh said to me over the loud music, “We need to get drunk to process this!”

I nodded in agreement, already taking her arm towards the kitchen. It was already quite busy, but we had come a little late. We didn’t want to be the first ones to arrive, as we didn’t know a lot of people here. All the drinks were placed on a table, leaving us with a lot of choice of what we wanted to drink tonight. I hadn’t realised before this that these college boys actually spend a lot of time planning these things. They had a lot to think about. And to be fair, they had done a good job at it.

We had appropriately dressed ourselves, luckily. Since we didn’t really know what to expect, we just went for black: Niamh wearing a tight dress with spaghetti straps and me wearing a skirt with a t-shirt. It was something you could never go wrong with.

I poured myself some alcohol, waiting for Niamh to do the same. Once we both had our drinks, we leaned against the table and started looking at people. This was our favourite activity to do. You saw some crazy people at parties, so we had a lot to think about. 

“Oh wow, there’s already people on the edge of drunkenness.” Niamh laughed, raising her eyebrows at a boy who had run straight towards the loo. “Jesus wept.”

“Shit,” I exclaimed, looking at a girl who had just came in with a gift in her hand, “It’s someone’s birthday? Did we need to bring a gift?”

She just shrugged her shoulders at me. “No fucking clue.” And resumed to look around the room. We had been sipping on our drinks lightly, just enjoying the music that was blasting loudly and how everyone was dancing and talking with each other.

“Look at that girl, she's going for it!” Niamh pointed out at me, looking at a girl that was standing in the middle of the room, dancing her ass off. I followed her gaze, seeing how the girl was dancing to the music, not caring about anyone it seemed like. I wish I could be like her. “She’s really good!”

Right as I wanted to respond to Niamh, I saw that Louis had walked in the door she was close to. I rolled my eyes and turned around, looking at the sink. 

“What’re you doing?” Niamh asked me incredulously, looking at me over her shoulder. 

“I don’t know,” I answered her, “He just annoys me.”

She came to stand beside me, searching for my eyes. “How? Last time we talked about him you said he was hot!”

I shrugged my shoulders again, “He’s just annoying.”

“Right.” She answered, turning around again and taking a sip of her drink. “If you want to fuck him just tell me. I could be your wing woman.”

I bumped my hips with hers, and turned around to look at the crowd again, “Never.” 

She laughed, standing up straight and finishing up her drink. “Okay then, just tell me why another time. I just saw Harry come in and you need to talk with him.” 

Immediately I felt my stomach go wild. Shit. My eyes began to search around the room, looking for his head of curls amongst the crowd. I found him talking with a friend of his from his team, who’s name I couldn’t remember. Harry looked extremely attractive tonight. Instead of the usual kit I saw him in, he wore all black. His black vans stood out with the other clothing he wore, black skinny jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Even with such a simple look, he made it seem like he wore a million dollars. As he was talking, his jawline moved with his mouth and it made me just weak in the knees. He was actually so hot, how hadn’t I fully appreciated this man before? 

It seemed like he was asking if his friend wanted a drink, because he leaned into him with his ear, nodded and started walking away towards the kitchen. Oh no, why had I been sitting in the kitchen, so obviously out in the open? He strode confidently towards the drinks, when in mid-walk he saw me sitting there. Niamh also recognised him and saw he was walking over here, so she made up an excuse to leave. “Just need the loo for a moment,” 

I couldn’t answer her, because Harry interrupted my thoughts. He was also smirking at me as he arrived right in front of me, only leaving a few inches in between us. I crossed my arms, looking up at him challengingly. 

“Hey doc,” he greeted, speaking in a raspy voice. He began to smile mischievously, making me wonder what he was going to say, “Or should I say, hero?”

I groaned out loud, hitting him in the chest with one hand, and shaking my head. It made him laugh, making his chest vibrate. I could almost feel the vibrations with how close we were. “Shut up,”

He was still chuckling a bit as if he were still thinking about it. Suddenly he stopped, and looked me right in the eyes. “Really though, that was really hot with how you fought everyone out of your way for me.”

I felt my face go warm and I tried to not to smile too much. “Thank you,” I said, straightening up a bit and raising my chin up at him, “But like hell that I fought everyone away.” 

He gasped, nudging me with his arms “Heyy, you did!” he said with a fake offense, frowning his eyebrows, “You were basically performing CPR on me with the way you acted!”

I laughed, making me lean into him a little bit and hide in his shoulder. When I brought myself back in front of him, I raised my eyebrows at him, “You would like me to give you a mouth to mouth performance, wouldn’t you?” 

My heart skipped a bit when he got all serious and looked me straight in the eye. “I would,” 

Our eye contact was intense, I could feel it in my stomach. He was so close to me, I could feel his breath on my face. I was almost certain that he could feel my heartbeat against his chest. We weren’t even touching completely, but it was beating so hard that I wouldn’t doubt it. I looked at his green eyes, to his plump and pink lips. They were a nice shape, and I felt the urge to just kiss them. I didn’t though, maybe he did this with every other girl he tried to get in his bed. 

I was proven right when he took my hand, “Come with me,” 

I tried to act confused, furrowing my eyebrows, “Where to?” 

He didn’t respond, just tugged on my hand and began leading the way. People weren’t even looking at us, they were dancing or drinking and talking. And even though I liked doing those things at parties, this thing that I thought Harry was planning to do with me, seemed much more fun. 

He made his way towards the door to go upstairs, avoiding bumping in with people or getting splashed by someone’s drink. Once we were on the way up he let go of my hand so we could walk better. There were only one or two people upstairs, making out with each other or searching for someone. Two doors were open out of the four, and Harry went into a closed one with me. 

He revealed his bedroom to me, which was completely dark apart from the moon that lit up the room a little bit. His room was mostly a dark blue, with a grey colour covering the one wall that wasn’t blue. His bed stood in the middle of the room with two bedside tables next to it. He had a desk and his sports bag that he had used still stood in his room, untouched. He didn’t have a desk, but a dresser was shoved against the wall. Once I did my onceover, I saw Harry standing in front of his bed, looking at me. 

He smiled, and began to walk over to me again, making me back into the door once he reached me completely. He stood closer than he did when we were in the kitchen, his pelvis against mine and his chest leaning against my body. “Hey,” He said again, even raspier this time. 

I looked up at him, examining his face, “Hey.”

He cleared his throat, and hesitated a bit, “Can I kiss you?”

I hesitated, “One thing.”

He raised his eyebrows, “Tell me you don’t fuck girls every week, otherwise I won’t be able to handle this.”

He took a step back, frowning, “Who told you that?”

Looking up at him, I felt myself growing more nervous, “Just hear that about you.”

He looked up at the ceiling, then back at me. “I promise you Mattie. I didn’t bring you here or invite you just to fuck you. I’d happily talk with you all night. You seem fun.”

I smiled, “And,” he continued, “my roommates are the ones who get laid every party. I do have sex yeah, but I promise you, I haven’t had sex since the first week of this semester.”

With the sincerity in his eyes, I believed him, “Okay, you can kiss me now.”

“Only if you want to.”

I looked into his eyes, “I really do.”

With one nod and another reassuring glance he was in the clear and we were done with being slow. He smacked his lips against mine, moving his arms from against the door to my body. Roaming his hand around my hips to my ass as he hungrily kissed me. I kissed him back, recuperating his movements. He squeezed my ass, making me gasp a little bit, giving him access to use his tongue in the kiss as well. I moved my arms from his shoulders to his neck, pushing him closer to me with my fingertips in his hair. Our tongues were wet and desperate, making the kiss hot and heavy. Once he had enough of just making out, he grabbed me by my thighs and lifted me up, turning me around towards the bed. 

I fell backwards onto his soft mattress, with Harry on top of me. My legs were around him in an instant, crossing my feet on his back. I still had my sneakers on and all my clothes, but not for long. Harry’s hand went from my ass to the hem of my shirt. I lifted my back for him, pausing in the kiss, to let him take my top off in one swift movement, leaving me in my bra. I didn’t wear my sexiest bra, but he didn’t seem to mind. His mouth went from the sweet spots on my neck towards my cleavage, leaving wet kisses on my body. He was already working on getting my bra off, pushing the straps off my shoulders. I sat upright for him, making him readjust his position to get closer to me. He was struggling with the clasp, so I unclasped my bra for him and threw it on the ground. He didn’t waste any time cupping my breasts, feeling them and leaning in my neck to leave some more spots, but I wasn’t having it. I pushed him away on his chest, making him stand on the ground again. He looked at me in confusion for a moment, until I stood up and pushed him on the bed. I bent my knees so I could reach his t-shirt, and he got the idea. Moving his arms up to let me take his shirt off, he gladly let me do it. 

His chest was revealed to me, just like mine was to him. This wasn’t enough, though. I crouched on my knees completely so I was level with his belly button, and began to unbutton his jeans. His bulge was evident in the tight material, so when I moved the zipper down I cupped him over his jeans and pants, making him groan in response. 

“Fuck, Mattie.” 

I just smiled at him, moving to tug at his jeans. He got the hint and thrust his hips up, so I could take his jeans off. Once they were off, he was just left in his boxers. I moved a little closer to him, so I was level with his bulge, making me look up at him with wide eyes. “Impressive,” I smirked. 

He wasn’t having it, and took his boxers off immediately, revealing his dick to me that sprung to his stomach. He must be proper into it, because I had never had a man be this turned on from just kissing. He threw his boxers onto the pile we had already made, and leaned on his arms so he could look at me properly. I took him in my hands, gliding my thumb over his tip. I looked at him for his consent, and he nodded at me eagerly. That was all I needed before I licked him on the tip. He responded loudly, groaning and moaning through the room. I never knew he was so loud in the bedroom. 

I licked him from his balls to the tip, and let him slip in my mouth to take all of him. He moved his hand in my hair, not pushing me, but finally having something he could do with his hands. 

I started bobbing my head up and down, all the while looking at him how he responded to me. His eyes were closed and his pink lips were voluminous and opened just slightly. 

I enjoyed giving blowjobs, especially if it was someone as responsive as Harry. He was groaning and moaning for me, letting me know how much he enjoyed it. “A-ah,” He cried once I hit him in the back of my throat. “Fuck,”

Kissing his tip, feeling his balls and sliding my tongue over his dick was making me wet as well. He still had one hand in my hair, the other going from my arms that were drawn over his upper thighs. My naked boobs rested on his naked legs, and my still clothed butt was stuck in the air. 

He slid his hand over my arm and went to my back, leaning over my head that was still bobbing over his cock. Once he could reach the hem of my skirt, he started moving the zipper. At least, trying to. 

I stopped sucking him off and let my mouth pop when his dick was out of my mouth, making him moan in annoyance. I quickly took my skirt and panties off and went back on my knees in front of him, when he was the one that stopped me this time. He grabbed my arms and basically threw me on the bed, covering my body immediately. Fuck, he was good. 

He started kissing me again, while I searched for his dick and began giving him a handjob. He cupped my breasts and squeezed them. I started leading his dick towards my entrance, giving him a hint of what I wanted. He backed away to look at me with wide eyes, paused for a bit and went to his dresser to get a condom. I watched him as he slid it on, and grabbed his shoulders as he started to position himself in front of me. Before he did, he looked at me once more. I nodded in approval, and he slid himself in me slowly. I could feel him filling me up immediately, making me throw my head back in bliss. “Fuck, Harry..”

“You like my dick, don’t you?” He said as he began thrusting into me. 

I could only nod in response, gasping as he looked at me, “Tell me,” he said as he thrusted into me hard once, “Tell me how you feel.”

His trust were getting harder with each second I wasn’t responding, because I could only moan in pleasure, “Fuck Harry,” I moaned, “I feel so good..”

He reacted with his hips. Thrusting into me rapidly, making my breasts go up and down and the bed creak against the wall. “I know, baby, I know.” 

“Holy shit, I do.” 

He started to kiss my neck, hungrily going for it as my legs crossed at his back once again. I was certain that the guests that were still here could hear us, but I didn’t give a shit. I wanted to everyone to know that he was fucking me, and not some other girl. 

“You’re so good baby, I knew it,” 

I started to roam his back with my arms, feeling his muscles move each time he thrusted. His dick was so long and hard that he hit the right spots inside of me each time. I could feel my head getting a little lighter, and my stomach filled with warmth. “I’m gonna cum, Harry, please,”

“Begging for it, see?” He cockily stated once he moved to look at me again, he even had a smirk on his face when he was fucking me. “Knew you would do me good,”

“Mhh, Harry, almost there,” 

“Me too, baby, me too.” 

He thrusted a couple more times before I could really feel it, my pleasure taking over me completely. I came hard, my legs trembling around him and my head thrown back. My orgasm made me cry out loud, and he was still going at it. 

He was coming too, I knew it. His thrust became harder before they slowed down, squeezing his eyes shut in pleasure. He groaned loudly when he came, looking beautiful while he did. His cheeks had gone slightly pink, making his lips stand out even more, and his hair was all dishevelled and damp with sweat. Once I felt that he filled the condom inside of me, he opened up his eyes and slid out of me. 

We both smiled at each other and started catching our breaths from out intensive activities, “Fuck, Mattie.” He laughed, pulling out of me completely and leaned on his arms to stand up. Once he cleaned up the condom, throwing it in the bin, he started walking back to the bed. He plopped on it, almost on top of me. “That was good.” 

I nodded in response, “Almost as good as Louis’ goals.” I smirked, hoping to get a reaction out of him with bullshit. 

He laughed, letting his head fall on the pillow, “Shut up.”

There we lay, both naked over the covers with our chest moving as we breathed, still hearing the thumping music from downstairs where the party was still going in full swing. 

“I told you,” He started, looking at me playfully, “I would get you wet later.” 

I groaned, but couldn’t help to let a laugh escape. I grabbed my pillow from underneath my head, saw how he was smiling to himself, and smacked him in the head with it. 

Payback, my arse.

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

Thank you for reading!! If you want more, let me know. This was my first real one shot and I’m working on other stuff as well. xxxxxxx

[pitch-pearl-void]

Old birthday present for @ectoblood who wanted Phantom and Danny to go to prom together (AU where Danny met Phantom as his own person)

A hand touched Danny’s, but when he turned to look, no one was there. Danny returned his attention to the dance and spread his fingers apart. Invisible fingers slipped into the resulting gap and folded over his hand, squeezing. Danny’s lips twitched into a small smile, relief loosening his tense muscles, excitement quickening his heart.

“I was worried you wouldn’t make it,” he said. The music was loud enough to hide the conversation, and anyway, who would notice?

“I almost didn’t,” Phantom replied. Cool lips pressed a kiss to Danny’s cheek. “Johnny heard it was your prom night, and he insisted on giving me a lecture about human safety measures pertaining to an ‘after party dance’ that I completely blanked on. I think he was just making things up to scare me. It does explain why so many parents volunteered as chaperons this time, though.”

Danny bit his lip and willed his cheeks not to flush. “Speaking of parents, Jazz convinced mine to leave the ghost hunting equipment at home.”

“Oh, good. Perhaps I should stay invisible for now, though.”

Although Danny nodded, he felt something like disappointment sink into his stomach. The hand he held in his own was bare, the touch of Phantom’s skin as always sending little sparks of contact to dance along his nerves. Phantom wasn’t wearing the gloves of his repurposed jumpsuit, which meant he had to be wearing something else. He might have gotten dressed up. He might have borrowed one of Danny’s suits or an outfit more in line with his ghost heritage, but Danny wouldn’t see, couldn’t see, until they left the dance.

Which sort of defeated the purpose.

“Where are Sam and Tucker?”

Danny searched the crowd of dancers until he saw the flash of Sam’s dress pass beneath the shifting-colored lights above the dance floor. He pointed at her as Tucker spun her out, the two of them laughing at the annoyed looks the others were giving them. They were moving too fast for a slow song. They were having fun when they were supposed to stare lovingly into their partner’s eyes.

“Over there,” Danny said. “Sam wanted to ‘liven things up.’ The romance crowd has had a death grip on the DJ all night, and Tucker is helping her protest.”

“Do you think their scheme will work before we have a chance to dance?” Phantom asked, sounding a little worried.

Danny glanced at Phantom, though again he saw nothing. “Do you know how to dance?”

Phantom’s hand squeezed Danny’s, and his voice took on a proud tone. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’ve been practicing.”

“Human dances or ghost dances?”

Cold air gusted into Danny’s face like a reprimand, but the gym was so hot with so many human bodies gathered inside that Danny closed his eyes and welcomed the breeze. “Human,” Phantom said. But then he added in an undertone, “sort of.”

Danny opened his eyes again and gave Phantom an askance look. “Sort of?”

Phantom glided ahead of Danny and tugged gently on his hand. “I’ll show you.”

Danny resisted the pull and swept his eyes left then right. “Phantom, I’ll look like a total idiot dancing by myself, I can’t—” Cold energy rushed over Danny, and his hand disappeared from sight. He lifted his free hand to be sure it too was invisible. “Oh,” he said. “Right. Duh.”

Phantom chuckled. “Duh.”

He tugged on Danny’s hand again, and this time, Danny allowed Phantom to lead him forward. He located his parents for safety’s sake, but once he saw his mom dancing with his dad, her head resting on his chest, he returned his attention to where Phantom was leading him. Toward the dance floor, obviously, but how were they going to dance while invisible? People would be bumping into them from all directions. Even along the way, Phantom had to pause or weave around the partygoers crossing their path.

They reached the edge of the dance floor, and Danny still didn’t understand how they were going to pull it off, not until his invisible arm rose above his head, his feet lifted off the floor, and his tuxedo jacket floated off his back. Danny widened his eyes. Phantom tugged on his arm, pulling him higher and higher until they floated well above the dancers.

A moment later, Danny felt Phantom kiss his hand. “Ghosts float when they dance. Is it too much?”

The lights were brighter so close to the ceiling. The speakers—located beside the DJ’s table—were quieter and Danny could hear the nervous tension in Phantom’s voice. There was a part deep inside Danny that urged him to say yes. Turning invisible was one thing, allowing a ghost to dance with him in midair should have been another. It wasn’t so long ago he was as frightened of ghosts as the rest of the students, perhaps more so because of his parents’ experiments and lectures.

But things had changed, and the love and excitement stirring Danny’s heart into a wild rhythm were louder than the caution his parents had taught him.

“It’s perfect,” he said, trying to match his voice to his grin so Phantom would understand how happy he had just made him. “How long can you keep this up?”

Between the flight and the invisibility…

“Oh, perhaps two or three songs.” Phantom lifted Danny’s hand upward. Another cool hand pressed against Danny’s lower back and pulled him closer. It was a more traditional dance pose than Danny was used to, and he raised his eyebrows even as his stomach fluttered and swooped. “I should take a break afterward to keep from exhausting myself.”

Danny laughed, mostly due to nervous excitement. “Right! Yeah. Don’t want to fall on the others below.”

“That would be bad,” Phantom agreed. “Are you ready?”

Danny searched blindly for Phantom’s shoulder with his free hand, found his chest—it felt like Phantom wore a jacket, same as Danny—and slid his hand up until it could rest on Phantom’s shoulder. His other hand squeezed Phantom’s. “Ready.”

Phantom moved, rotating them slowly around a fixed point in a waltz. Danny moved his feet out of reflex, but it wasn’t like dancing on the floor at all. Phantom controlled the dance. He spun around Danny and pulled Danny along with him, unrestricted by gravity and the slow steps humans had to take. It felt graceful, effortless, like flying. Danny didn’t have to worry about knowing the steps to a waltz, he just had to enjoy the ride. He grinned out of reflex and relaxed into the dance, allowing Phantom to twirl and spin them around each other. The slow song ended and a faster, more upbeat song began. He laughed, and Phantom echoed him. Sam had won her protest.

Phantom spun Danny out and pulled him back in without Danny needing to do anything more than hold onto his hand, but without being able to see Phantom or Phantom him, Danny crashed into Phantom’s chest with a little grunt of surprise. 

“I suppose,” Phantom said, his own voice light with cheer, “we’re high enough no one will notice us if we’re only transparent?”

Given the frequent ghost attacks, Danny doubted they would go unnoticed for long, the humans were too well-trained by this point, but what was life without risks? He wanted to see Phantom, not just feel him.

So even though he knew it was a mistake (and Phantom probably did too), Danny nodded and said, “Yeah, that should work.”

The cold aura of Phantom’s powers still surrounded Danny, but a moment later, Phantom popped into sight. He was transparent, allowing Danny to see the lights and streamers through his head and chest, but there was enough definition there for him to make out his boyfriend’s pleased smile. Phantom’s white hair was messy—his hair was as resistant to being tamed as Danny’s, maybe worse due to the wind he regularly flew through—but he had dressed up in a tux. It wasn’t one Danny recognized, Phantom hadn’t stolen one from his closet, but then where had he gotten it?

It fit him surprisingly well…

Phantom’s smile widened, revealing sharper-than-normal teeth. “Let’s try this again.”

He swung Danny into motion. It was even easier for Danny to lose himself to the aerial dance than the first time. Danny could see Phantom’s expression, the softness in his eyes, the happy smile matching his own. They spun and twirled around each other, sometimes losing sight of one another, but always held together by their clasped hands. Danny laughed freely, unafraid of being heard over the loud, cheerful song.

So high above the other dancers, Danny saw only Phantom and the streamers hanging from the lights. They could have been dancing alone up there, surrounded by music and bright, shifting lights.

“When we can finally dance on the ground together,” Danny said, beaming as Phantom spun them around without any effort on Danny’s part, “I’m going to lead.”

Phantom laughed. “Only fair,” he agreed.

The song ended soon after. Another slow song took its place, and Danny swore he heard Sam cry out “Oh, come on!” but he didn’t mind. Before Phantom could settle them into position for another waltz—seriously, where had he learned to dance? From Dora?—Danny grabbed ahold of Phantom’s shoulder, let go of his hand, and set his other hand on his opposite shoulder. Phantom looked startled.

“You just place your hands on my waist,” Danny explained. “Then we sway to the music.”

Phantom followed his instructions, though his head tilted in confusion. “That simple?”

Danny smiled, feeling soft and warm inside. “Yeah. Most of us don’t know how to do those, uh, traditional dances. We just want to hold each other and let the music set the mood.”

And this song in particular suited Phantom. It was about finding your hero in someone unexpected; an old song, but Danny’s heart swelled as he and Phantom stared at each other. Phantom floated them in a gentle sway, no longer trying to match the beat. He looked as content as Danny felt, but soon his cheeks flushed green, and he looked down at the crowd.

“This song suits you,” he told Danny. “It’s like you’re singing to me.”

Danny widened his smile. He slipped his arm around Phantom’s neck, pulled him closer, and laid his head on his shoulder, his other hand sliding down to rest over his core. Sometimes he thought he could sense emotions from it, though at the moment he only felt it vibrating beneath his hand. Phantom encircled his arms around Danny’s waist and gently rested his cheek on Danny’s head. He continued to rock gently to the music, but it was even slower than before, as though Phantom wasn’t really thinking about the dance anymore.

Inevitably, it had to end.

“Oh my gosh!” someone shouted over the slow song. “Is that—that’s Phantom! Phantom is dancing with someone up there, look!”

Phantom swore and Danny tensed. Before Danny could lift his head from Phantom’s shoulder, Phantom lifted one hand and cupped the back of Danny’s head, pushing Danny’s face against his neck, hiding him.

“Ghost kid!” Jack shouted, sounding both excited and frustrated. After all, Jazz had convinced him and Maddie to leave all their ghost hunting equipment at home for just this reason.

Others began shouting too, disturbing the song to the point the DJ simply stopped playing it. Danny groaned.

“I doubt they will calm down even if I turn us invisible again,” Phantom whispered in Danny’s ear.

“Probably not,” Danny reluctantly agreed.

“Would you like to go somewhere else?”

“Where?”

“The park? I flew past on my way here. Fireflies were lighting up the walkways, but there weren’t very many people around.”

Danny’s breath caught. Leave the dance? Take a romantic walk through the park, just the two of them? That actually sounded so much better than attending prom, though he wouldn’t say no to dancing with Phantom again. “Yeah,” he said, a little breathless. “Yeah, let’s do that. We can walk toward a restaurant. I can buy you dinner, make this a proper date.”

Phantom laughed and then kissed Danny’s ear. “Sounds wonderful.”

[after-witch]

Yandere Ransom Imagine

“That's some heavy-duty conjecture.”

Word Count: 2700ish

notes: unhealthy relationships, emotional and physical abuse, financial abuse, yandere

Imagine being a struggling adult working a full time job plus freelancing gigs just to get by in your one-bedroom apartment where the ceiling always leaks when it rains and you have to perform a complicated maneuver to make sure the door doesn’t jam up on you and you’re constantly worried about your landlord raising the rent.

Maybe a well-meaning friend gets you a gift card to an upscale bookstore because they know you haven’t had a new book on your shelves in years, or maybe you find $20 on the street like a veritable Charlie Bucket but instead of buying a Wonka Bar you head into a this fantastic artisan coffee shop on the rich side of town, a place that everyone always raves about on Instagram, just so you can try an expensive latte with hand-ground beans and flavors you’ve never heard of before--because don’t you deserve a treat, for once?

Whatever it is, wherever it is, Hugh Ransom Drysdale is waiting inside and sees you there.

And oh my God is it obvious that you’re out of place right off the bat. I mean, what the hell is someone like you doing in this part of town?

With your worn out clothes that are worn from necessity and not from being fashionably thrifted and your ratty purse stuffed with papers and candy wrappers that spill out when you dig in for your card or cash and your winter boots that you’ve probably worn 5 years in a row, ripped in the hell and patched with black tape that you hope people don’t notice.

It becomes even more obvious that you’re out of your element when something goes wrong. The gift card isn’t activated. The $20? A fake, probably a movie prop that blew in the wind. Whatever goes wrong, it means that you’re suddenly at the register, impatient people with real money tapping their expensive shoes behind you, unable to pay. You’re left standing there like a deer in headlights, unsure of what to do or say.

Normally he might just roll his eyes and remind himself that people like you ought to stick to your own shops, your own place. But something about the way your eyes go all downcast and you seem to shrink down in embarrassment makes him take pity on you. Like a stray cat in the alley hoping someone will toss it some scraps.

So he strides up and flicks out a card and hands it to the cashier, dropping a friendly greeting to them because he spends like crazy and they probably know him by name at this place, and he’s the one who hands you your coffee or your bag and your hands touch ever so briefly during the exchange.

He leads you away from the register--don’t want to piss off the spoiled debutantes and assistants on lunchtime coffee runs--and you stammer out a thank-you-thank-you and you promise you’ll pay him back as soon as you can and Jesus Christ, isn’t that just adorable? Someone like you, some lost kicked puppy who can’t even afford new boots, promising to pay him back?

He doesn’t care if you pay him back, but he finds that he would like something out of this exchange, so he says that instead of paying him back you can do him the honor of going to lunch with him. His treat. 

He insists. And you can’t really say no, can you? You are hungry and he did just pay for your things and it’s the least you can do to oblige his request.

He’s not stupid. He doesn’t take you to some razzle dazzle fancy restaurant where you’ll feel embarrassed and out of place. Instead he takes you to a quiet diner, classy not greasy, where you can have an easy conversation and tell him all about yourself.

It’s funny. Normally he brings up his family name, his grandfather’s books, to women he picks up, to get them impressed and hooked and pliable. Something about you, though. Something about you is making him want to turn this into more than a lunch date and pressure for a quickie in the car to repay him. 

So he holds back to see what he can do with you on his own. No quickie in the car, but instead before he drops you off--at a bus station, you insisted--he brushes his hand over yours. Can he get your number? He swears he can feel the heat coming off your cheeks as you fumble for your phone and let him put his number in your contacts.

He waits a day, then asks you out again. Dinner, this time. He asks you if you know any good places and you recommend a dive bar that you can go to after work (because 1) schedule and 2) cheap) and shit, he’s all for it. There will be time in the future to impress you with restaurants that have dress codes instead of sticky floors. You sit close on the stools and you buy him a drink (real cute, real real cute) and just for you he keeps the baggie in his pocket there all night instead of heading to the bathroom to liven things up.

Your relationship develops with an almost shocking speed. He knows just how to reel you in. I mean--look at you. Working your ass off at some dead end job, living in an apartment so shitty it takes you almost a month before you reluctantly agree to let him see it.

He can understand, though. Because you’re not that stupid and you know he’s wealthy, even before he casually brings up his family in a “it’s no big deal but I don’t want to keep things from you because we’re getting serious” sort of way. 

You pretend to be casual about it all, but he can tell you’re suddenly wondering: why the hell would someone from this wealthy family want anything to do with me?

It’s a question Ransom asks himself a lot. He asks himself this when he’s snorting coke off another woman’s stomach (hey, you’re dating, but he’s got needs and they aren’t met with hand-holding) or when he’s eating another greasy burger at a shitty bar because you refuse to let him buy you a nice dress to wear so he can take you out somewhere fancy.

You’re not the type of person he normally goes for, not at all. He has strings of girlfriends and flings, but they all tend to fit that same cookie cutter mold: wealthy do-nothings with their parent’s credit card who want someone else to spoil them for a while, without caring who it is or what they’re like. They’re easy pickings that Ransom can burn through and then toss aside when he’s bored of them. Some of them cry but a few days later he’ll see them on someone else’s arm, it’s the circle of life.

With you, though, there’s more. You don’t expect him to pay for dates or anything at all (even when he wants to spoil you a bit) and you have actual conversations and you seem to actually give a shit about what he says and does. You argue with him, too, when he wants you to do something (just let him take you shopping, for Christ’s sake!) or he asks you to move in (again) and you say no (again). I mean, you really fight with him, spitting words and all.

And unlike his previous girlfriends, you don’t come crawling back a few hours later because you want to buy a new purse with his shiny credit card. Instead, you make him apologize first. Fuck, that’s hot. It’s also something he tucks away in the back of his mind to work on later--but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t admit that he sometimes has the overwhelming urge to push you against the wall and fuck you for the first time right after a good argument. 

But he knows that would destroy your image of him entirely, so he holds back. He’s good at crafting a version of himself that appeals to others when he has to, and you’re maybe the first person that’s been worth all the effort he’s put into you so far.

But you need a push, a push that makes it so you can’t go running back to your shithole apartment when you fight or when you question whether or no you two have a future. You do, you’re just too naive--too inexperienced with money, to say it charitably--to realize it.

So he tips off the fire marshal about your apartment building’s shoddy fire escapes and well, damn, in the process of the investigation all the little corners that your landlord has cut come crashing down. At least they were discovered before it was the building that came crashing down.

But the evacuation of the building leaves you--and countless others--high and dry. You don’t have any family in the area, and your only half ass-decent friend in the city lives in the same building but her parent’s aren’t going to let a stranger move in.

When you finally realize you have no options and call him, voice tentative and embarrassed, he knows just what to say to get you to pack your meager belongings and wait for him to pick you up. He’s no-nonsense about it. 

He knows how to avoid deflating your pride, how to keep you from deciding you’d rather stay in a shelter than take his charity. You’ll pay him back, he says, you’ll figure out a rental plan or whatever. He even teases--he’s not the best landlord, but he won’t take 2 weeks to change the toilet if you submit a maintenance request. It makes you crack a smile and bam, just like that, he knows he’s gotten in.

That night, after takeout and wine and a Netflix movie neither of you paid attention to, you fuck for the first time on his expensive sheets on his expensive bed and afterwards, when you’re both sweating and cuddling and reveling in the afterglow, he makes a note to buy you some new lingerie. 

It’s all very homey, for a while. He could do without you leaving for work and working your ass off, with your freelance shit, sometimes staying on the computer until two, three in the morning. But it’s nice to have you close all the time, available to him whenever (almost whenever) he wants. He brings home takeout and you snuggle on the couch and he finally even convinces you to go out with him to a nice restaurant wearing something he’s bought and hot damn, do you look good, head-to-toe in the clothing he’s chosen for you. Especially, later that night, in private, in the lingerie. 

Does he love you? The word hasn’t left his lips yet, hasn’t crossed yours either, but he can feel it underneath the surface. No. It’s more than love. He wants you. He wants to have you. And not just for the afternoon or the summer, but forever. 

He spins daydreams about how he’ll clean you up nice and introduce you to the family. Probably to Harlan, first, because everyone knows that’s whose opinion really matters. Harlan will like you--he would probably like you without any primping or fixing, actually, which is more than he could say for his parents or anyone else in the family. Then once you’re in, you’re in--you’ll come to family dinners and vacation retreats where people always end up in ridiculous arguments, and you two can exchange snarky comments about the family on the ride home.

And yeah, sure. You fight sometimes.

He throws out your old clothes and buys you a wardrobe befitting someone he wants to integrate into his family. You fight about that.

He makes comments about you how you should quit your job or at least try to get a degree--he’ll pay, as long as you agree to go to a university within driving distance--to work somewhere more respectable than a chain restaurant. You fight about that.

He gets pissed when you want to meet some “friends” at a bar without him, because why would you need to go anywhere without your loving boyfriend in tow, unless you were trying to flirt with someone else? You definitely fight about that.

And, okay. Maybe he’s hypocritical.

Maybe he goes out late at night when you’re stuck doing your “freelancing work” and he’s in a rotten mood about it, and he ends up on the floor of a swanky club with drugs in his system and lipstick on his neck. He doesn’t come home until the next morning and you’re pissed and red-eyed and arguing with him, accusing him even, but you have no shitty apartment to stomp back to anymore so you’re stuck. 

Until you’re not stuck. Until he casually snoops through your phone and sees that you’re looking up cheap-ass apartments and hey, you’ve already booked a few interviews already. The thought of you slipping through his fingers makes him more sober than he’s been in a while. He’s got to do something. Not to himself, of course. But to you. To keep you with him.

It’s easy enough to get you fired. He’s a ‘Thrombey’ after all, and some nice crisp bills anonymously sent to the right hands is all it takes for you to come home one night, cheap mascara (he notes: buy you some better quality makeup soon) running down your cheeks. Your freelancing isn’t nearly enough to get you into an apartment.

He assumes that you’ll give up on the idea after losing your job, but you’re nothing if not stubborn (one of the reasons why he likes you) so you start the job hunt the next morning, fresh mascara in place. 

Damn, do you keep him busy. Anonymous calls. Cash in nice white envelopes. Rejection after rejection. You get so sad, so depressed. You don’t even want to go out to restaurants, so he orders in and you snuggle in his lap while he feeds you bites of orange chicken and rubs your back. It almost brings you two closer again, starts to mend the rifts that began when you refused to get over his occasional late night out.

But then you break the uneasy mending by snooping and woah, you don’t like what you find on his phone. 

You fight. 

Damn, do you fight. This time there’s no pretense of potential forgiveness as you begin wildly throwing your clothes into your ratty duffel bag from the back of the closet, telling him to fuck off fuck off fuck off, telling him he’s crazy, telling him that what he’s doing is fucking illegal and--

It’s the shock that hurts you the most.

The shock you feel when he grips your wrist hard and pushes back on your shoulder when you try to yank away, pushing you against the wall with a hard thud. It’s like having a rug pulled out from underneath your feet when you feel a slight ache in your back, on your shoulders, when you tell him to Let go, goddamn it and he only pushes back harder to keep you in place. It’s Ransom. It’s Ransom who’s doing this.

His voice feels unrecognizably cold when he leans in and hisses in your ear.

“You think you can just leave me? After all I’ve done for you? Let me tell you something--you won’t get another job within one hundred miles of here, within one thousand miles of here, unless I say you can. So just put your clothes back in the closet, chill the fuck out, and stop being such an ungrateful bitch.”

It’s the shock that makes you numbly hang your clothes back up in the closet, fold them again with shaking hands, and sit on the bed until the dam breaks and you cry.

And oh fuck, he’s sorry. Really. He wraps his arm around your shoulders and then he’s the one who’s crying and confessing that he didn’t want you leave him because yeah, he knows he’s a fuck up, he knows he’s got a drug problem, but he loves you. 

It’s the first time he’s ever said it out loud. He loves you. “I love you,” he says, again and again, half-laughing.  And he tells you you’re the only person he’s ever dated that made him want to be a better person but he doesn’t know how.

You don’t know what to say because maybe you do love him--but he hurt you and got you fired, but the tears on his face seem so genuine and he tells you he’ll never, ever hurt you like that again and fuck, he says, if you want to go get a job he’ll drive you to the interview right now just-let-him-blow-his-nose-first-please.

You make him sit down and then you’re the one apologizing and the rest of the afternoon is a shaky truce between you two as you drink hot chocolate and order in takeout and watch a movie together.

It’s not until you’re both under the sheets, satisfied and then showered, that you think about what he did to you in a clearer light. The thoughts weigh heavy on your mind, pulling and tugging. You think you might love him. He hurt you. He took care of you when no one else would. He cheated on you. 

I love you, he tells you, when your mind is starting to tug itself into sleep.

He hit you. He said he was sorry.

He hit you.

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden Ever After: Chapter 3

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No one would imagine that a single drop could be the start of something so big. However, it would earn itself great meaning after a while passed. Should it continue pouring, it could also summon boundless blessings and curses.

Love was almost like rain.

   The Journey and the Auto-Memories Doll

   That one was a rain of betrayal.

It started with a calm morning, the sky unfolding without any hints of being enshrouded in dark clouds. Regardless, it did not take too long for the capricious rain brought by the heavens to turn into a downpour rarely seen in recent years.

There was no longer any sign of the rain that had started to fall like gentle kisses from paradise on the black hats of gentlemen walking around town, over the backs of cats dozing under the sun or onto the cheeks of children who opened their mouths and burst into laughter. The current season was the end of summer, and it was raining for the first in a long while in Leidenschaftlich, where the skies were constantly clear in summer, but had the god that controlled weather gone crazy? With time, as if a bucket had turned over, the city was hit by a flood.

This story is about an uneventful day, which did nothing but pass, in the lives of people who worked at a certain postal company.

   The rain and wind struck the entire building as if attacking it. The doorbell rang loudly because of this, a man standing in place and staring at it with unease.

Creak-creak, the door moved. Ring-ring, the bell resounded. Since it was ringing despite there being no customers, he had become concerned and found himself coming down from his residence in the top floor.

In the previous year, the building had been shot with rocket artillery, and not only had it earned an enormous hole but a fire had also occurred – however, thanks to the quick skills of workmen, the hole was now closed and the walls had been neatly rebuilt.

The man was a stylish redhead. He was the president of this company, which he had named after himself.

Claudia Hodgins had been left all alone in the empty postal office. Still, it was normal for him to be there, as it was both his home and workplace. However, since he was by himself at a time that would usually still be within business hours, no matter what, he looked like he had been abandoned.

The postal office had been in great turmoil because of the storm. Surely, so had its peers. With the deliveries stagnated, complaints were coming from the clients. Nevertheless, the transportation was not carried out by machines devoid of feelings. It was something done by humans, who had been given birth to by someone and who had families waiting for them when they returned home. In lieu of the unpreceded disaster, as the president, he had notified all employees that business would be closed for today.

To begin with, the customers had stopped coming in the middle of the day. If he had to say so himself, this might be the expected. Deliberately going outside amidst such strong wind and torrential rain was an act of sheer madness.

Curious about what was going on outside, Hodgins had approached the entrance from the side. He felt like attempting to open the large doors just a little. He wanted to see how inundated the ground was. Just when he slow and carefully reached a hand towards it, the door opened with force despite him not doing anything.

“Ow...!”

“Oh, my bad. More importantly, we’re screwed; it’s just impossible, Old Man!”

Hodgins was teary-eyed as his precious nose took a hit. He was lightheaded for an instant due to the pain, but soon regained consciousness. After all, one of his employees had come back dripping-wet. Hodgins pulled him – whole body wrapped in rain gear – by the arm, bringing him inside and closing the door. Although it was only open for a few seconds, the entrance was already drenched.

The visitor took off the hood over his head, allowing his face to be seen. He was a splendidly handsome and fine man of sky-blue eyes and sandy-blond hair.

“Benedict...!”

Benedict Blue. One of the postal company’s postmen, who had been working in it ever since its founding.

“It’s impossible – actually, it’s absurd! Working under this rain is absurd! I look like I’m in the bath already. I wouldn’t have come here if I weren’t soaked... Making the staff pull out was the right choice,” Benedict said as if angry-yelling, shaking his head in the same way that a dog or cat would and splattering water splashes at Hodgins.

This wetted most of Hodgins’s shirt and face, but he was unable to reprimand his employee, who had been doing strenuous effort. He accepted it in resignation, wiping Benedict’s face with the sleeve of his shirt. “Okay, stay put.”

“Uoh, what’s with you? Stop.”

“Welcome home. I was worried. Good thing you’re all right.”

“O-Oh. What, hum... I’m back... You were worried about me?”

“Of course,” Hodgins said, to which Benedict turned away with an obviously embarrassed attitude after a moment of bewilderment.

Outside, vases and planters that may have been at the eaves of people’s houses, as well as shop signs, had been turning into weapons for a while now, dancing around the city along with the wind. Managing to come back unharmed and safely amidst this weather, where one could not know what would come flying their way, was something to be happy about.

“I’m just fine. This job’s easier than running around shooting guns. Anyway, I was left with the letters and packages of a guy who fell from his motorcycle and came back by myself. Was best to do that, right?”

“Aah, so someone got hurt?”

“That newbie, Clark. But he only scrapped his knees. He fell lots of times when he was learning how to ride, but for real, it’s surprisingly depressing when you fall off other than during practice. He was crying, y’see.”

“Aah~.”

Knowing who the person in question was, Hodgins pitied him. He was the youngest postman to join the company as of late. It was difficult to find human resources for postmen as they were quick to quit.

“He’s young, after all...”

“You call him young but... he’s already a grown man. I wonder if he ain’t lying to us about his age... I thought he was a baby or something.”

“You can’t compare him to a city boy fresh from the battlefield like yourself. I’m gonna get you a towel and a change of clothes now, so don’t move from there.”

“Why?”

“You’d wet the floor. Don’t tell me to go around cleaning up where you walked.”

“Clean it up,” he said while laughing, to which Hodgins’s shoulders slumped. He was a reliable companion, but also a young man who knew not how to show respect for his elders.

——Well, guess I’m a so-called doting parent for thinking that’s cute – no, doting boss.

Anyhow, they needed towels, Hodgins thought as he went back to his room. He grabbed a few large towels and held a pair of trousers and shirt that Benedict would apparently fit into under his arm. Then returned to the ground floor. By the time he did so, the number of people had increased.

“Uwah... Amazing, it’s like squeezing a rag.”

There were three more other than Benedict. If they were to be separated by types, one of them had evacuated after receiving a report of work, one had evacuated after finishing work, and one had been ordered to clock out, but all had come back halfway through, as their bodies were about to be blown off by the overwhelming storm.

“Please stop.” There was Violet Evergarden, whose golden hair was in Benedict’s grasp.

“Why? You said your hair was wet.”

“You just want to touch Violet’s hair, Benedict. Isn’t that right?” Lux Sibyl, who had given up on wiping her glasses and was glaring at the empty space.

“That’s not it. Don’t say weird stuff, Lux.”

“You knooow, my hair’s just as long as Violet’s.” And Cattleya Baudelaire, who scowled at Benedict with her arms crossed.

The members who had been there ever since the founding were Violet, Cattleya and Benedict, but Lux, having joined midway, was now a skillful secretary who covered up the schedule of the employees and president and moved them around like chess pieces. As the four people whose ages were close to each other’s came together, the conversation naturally livened up.

“You—You’re that kinda thing. If I touch you in a place like this, it’d be that kinda thing. This is our workplace, so there’s all that kinda thing. Morally speaking, it’s that kinda thing.”

“What do you mean ‘morally speaking’?!”

“I wish you wouldn’t say those things even if you think about them. Right, Violet?”

“‘Public morals’...? Benedict, what am I from your point of view?”

“V, you’re like a little sister to me... Aah, Old Man, gimme another towel.”

It was a terribly joyful thing that the company’s young aces had returned to it safe and sound.

“Everyone, don’t move from that spot no matter what. Hey, Cattleya! Don’t move!”

However, wiping all the water off the bodies of those four turned out to be a bone-breaking work.

   Out of kindness, Hodgins invited the four people who had gathered up at the postal company to his residence in the top floor.

The whole floor was his apartment, thus it was quite large. A family of five could live comfortably in it. The furnishings were arranged in wooden items and serene shades of dark brown and green. It was a relaxed, adult atmosphere, where was nothing particularly funny. It had a faint scent of the perfume that Hodgins always wore.

The invited four let out sighs of relief. The biggest reason for it, although there was also the fact that this was Hodgins’s apartment, was that they were able to escape the horrible situation outdoors. With the exception of Lux, three of them were tough enough to take part in the act of physically crushing other postal companies, but human beings could not win against natural disasters.

“Hey, what do we do? We can’t go home anymore, can we?”

“There’s nothing we can do. We got no choice but stay in Old Man’s place.”

“First time something like this happens, huh. But we’re all together, so... might be imprudent of me to say this, but... it’s a bit fun. Violet, are you worried about your home?”

“Yes, about the flowerbeds.”

“You should say ‘about the people back home’, V.”

“The two went on a trip, so they are away. I promised that I would take care of the flowers in their absence, which is why... I am worried about the flowerbeds. Besides, if that house were to be destroyed by this storm, this place would meet its end much sooner... We have little time left to live.”

“Don’t go from talking about your family to destroying the company, Little Violet. Hey, hey, everyone, you’ll catch a cold so get changed first. Put the towels in the laundry basket. Benedict, don’t throw the towels wherever!”

As told by Hodgins, the employees firstly decided to change their clothes.

Violet and Cattleya had just returned from a work trip of two days and one night, thus they had a change of nightclothes in their bags, but Benedict and Lux did not. Although there was a height difference between them, Hodgins had no issues with lending clothes to Benedict, who was also a man, but there was a need for careful selection when it came to Lux.

“Shirt... shirt, shirt; all I have is shirts.”

“Hum, President, I’m fine with anything.”

“Eeh... that okay?”

As a result, the boy and girl came into the scene wearing baggy clothes. Benedict looked almost the same as when he and Hodgins first met. When he was left to chance completely naked in a desert, he had borrowed a shirt and trousers just as he was doing now. He seemed pleased with it, however...

“Feels kinda naughty...”

...the problem was Lux.

“Benedict’s fine, but maybe it won’t do for Little Lux? Is this okay?” Hodgins asked everyone with a meek face.

They all had at last settled down, each seated in a place of their preference while sipping tea. The employees were relaxing as if they were in their own homes. Contrary to the peaceful state of the situation inside, there was still a sound of rain hitting the windows and a troubled noise of something colliding against the building outside.

“What is ‘okay’ supposed to mean?” Sitting on the sofa, Violet tilted her head. Being comfortably dressed in a dusty-pink nightwear gave her usually disciplined self a slightly soft and gentle air.

“Little Violet.”

“Yes.”

“Your nightgown is cute, huh.”

“The people from the household bought it for me. Well, what is ‘okay’ supposed to mean? Was there any problem?”

“Little Lux’s clothes.”

For whatever reason, they had the person in question standing in the center of the room. With everyone’s eyes on her, she seemed uneasy.

“Hum... why do I have to stand in the middle?”

“Little Lux, stay like that and don’t move.”

“All right.”

“What is wrong with Lux’s look? You mean to say it lacks adornment?”

“Why would that be the case, Little Violet?”

“You are the one who chooses attires for us Dolls and you have particularities regarding the clothing and accessories, so I concluded that you might deem the plain shirt as not enough.”

“No, no.” Hodgins flailed both hands. The things he was saying had a moral value to them, out of fear that her outfit was perhaps vulgar.

Benedict had dealt with it by securing her trousers with a belt, but as Lux had too thin a waist, the outcome was the belt falling off. In short, she was not wearing pants. Inevitably, she was dressed in nothing but a shirt. However, her short stature fortunately made it look like a shirt-dress.

As Hodgins explained his concern, everyone said, “I see.”

Showered with their stares more and more, Lux began to blush.

“It gives off a dangerous feeling when you think she ain’t wearing any, but on second thought, isn’t that the same for skirts? There’s actually an open hole in them, but it’s not visible, so they’re classified as clothes. No big deal, is it?” Benedict had been standing with his back against the wall just a moment ago, yet had suddenly drawn close to her and started examining her fixatedly.

“Don’t say ‘not wearing any’!”

“Well, I mean, you really ain’t wearing any... but that’s okay. No biggie. You’re probably not an option for Old Man, so no worries. Right?”

“That’s rude!”

“I’m saying you don’t need to worry about that kinda thing... Should I take mine off, then? I see; I’m fine with it. I’ll be the same as you. That all right? I’m gonna take it off.”

“Stop, stop, stop!” As Benedict put a hand to his belt while laughing, Lux repeatedly hit his chest with her fists to stop him. Lux was red up to her ears. “I can’t take this anymore! Violet! Take Benedict to over there!”

“Understood.”

“Owowowow, V, ouch, that’s not it; it was the Old Man who said weird stuff first. We’re friends, so I was showing that she doesn’t have to get hung up over something like...”

Caught in Violet’s arms, Benedict obediently sat on the sofa. Perhaps in order not to allow him to escape, she gripped his hands and sat next to him.

Cattleya cut through the silence, “The tea is delicious.” She was scattered over the bed. She must have been tired from returning from the Doll business trip. Her eyes were downcast. She might be sleepy.

“Cattleya, do you not have any comments to make? I want to hear lots of opinions.”

“Eeeh, me?” Cattleya joined the needless debate as if it were a bother. “Hmmm... if someone were making her wear this because it’s their taste, it’d be gross indeed, but there’s no other clothes for her... It’d also be horrible to leave her with just a towel wrap, so I think it’s valid. Speaking of which, President...”

“Hm?”

“You’re saying that even though you pick open-chested clothes for my Doll outfits? And the times you were choosing Doll attires for me, y’knooow, you were never so considerate to say ‘not this, not this either’ when discussing it with the people from the made-to-order store...”

Her manner of speech was somewhat thorny, but Hodgins did not make much out of it. “That’s because they look good on you.” Rather, he said decisively, with an earnest gaze and excessive confidence, “Because they look good on you. Is my judgement wrong?”

“E-Eh?” Being replied to so unapologetically, Cattleya’s reasoning jumbled up, to the point she found herself wondering if she was the one in the wrong.

The Doll outfit that Cattleya usually wore was composed mainly of a crimson dress-coat, so there was no mistaking that one could not wear it unless the person was remarkably stylish. In addition, there was also no doubt that it was lascivious. Whoever looked at her would find their line of sight momentarily going to her chest. Still, whoever looked at her would remember the woman named Cattleya Baudelaire at once.

“No... it’s not like your choices are wrong... but I only forgive you because you’re the boss. I was shocked when you first showed me that outfit! I didn’t use to wear something like that before.”

“Well, but y’see, an hourglass-shaped person looks more slender when the area around their collarbone is exposed, and it’s pretty.”

An evident question mark floated above Violet’s head at the unfamiliar word. Benedict pointed a finger at the tea set arranged on the nearby table. An hourglass used to measure the time it took to steam the tealeaves was lying there. Perhaps finding the similarity between it and a plump chest and dainty hips, Violet nodded as if convinced.

“You’ve got an hourglass-shaped figure with that slim waist, so I gave you a coat-dress that puts this on display. You can adjust it with the ribbon, so it’s not a pain, right? It has a wonderful line in mathematical terms, y’know? Plus, you also have a cheerful character, so it doesn’t look vulgar. That’s important. It means that outfit takes into consideration even the personality of the one wearing it. And the owner of that made-to-order store is famous not just in this country but abroad. The outfits of our Dolls are on a whole different level in comparison to other companies, aren’t they?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“I don’t want to bring this up, but they’re very expensive.”

“Eh, I’m sorry. S-Should I pay you back? Either that or you can dock my salary...”

“No, you’re my Doll, after all. Nobody waters a flower to get money off it, right? It’s fine, Cattleya. Just stay pretty. It’s exactly because I have obsessions over clothes that I don’t want to make a girl look vulgar. And it’s exactly because I like girls that I want to have them shine wonderfully. That’s also why I have a few complaints about Little Lux’s usual plain clothes, though...”

“I don’t know why you decided to run a mail service, President, but I accept that passion of yours. I’ll wear those clothes with care. But, President, I’m doing my best, so I want a new outfit. A cute one.”

Listening to the conversation of the two in silence, perhaps tired of going along with her superior, Lux looked at Violet and Benedict’s direction with a gaze that quietly asked for help. There was a gap on the sofa that seemed enough for one person to sit. Having locked eyes with her, Violet told Benedict to scoot over after a brief moment and patted the open spot. Lux sat next to them, looking happy.

“Violet, what’re you drinking?” Lux peeked at the teacup that Violet was holding.

“I wonder. I took the tealeaves that were in the kitchen. I do not know what type of tea it is.”

“Darjeeling.”

“Benedict, how did you know?”

“‘Cause that guy likes Darjeeling. All the tea cans he has are nothing but that.”

“Guess I’m gonna drink that too; my body got cold from the long time under the rain.”

“Heeey, the three of you who ended the talk before we noticed! Listen to what I have to say.” Hodgins put his hands on his hips, pretending to be angry.

“We were deviating from the main subject. We deemed that it was not a necessary conversation and took action prioritizing Lux’s rest,” Violet expressed with a clear voice tone.

“Besides, this talk’s about bedroom wear, ain’t it?” Benedict added a two-fold retort. The blond, blue-eyed duo that looked like siblings stared at Hodgins with questioning eyes.

“Ugh, I comply with you two no matter what you say when you both look at me at the same time, so cut it out. But I’m not giving up. I think she needs one more article of clothing.”

“Hum... President, I’m okay with this. I’m already thankful that I could borrow your clothes. Besides, when you make such a big fuss about it, things that weren’t lewd in the first place start to seem lewd, so to say,” Lux said, wanting to end this topic as fast as possible.

“The solution has come to me. Wouldn’t it be best if I took the shirt and trousers and had Lux wear this nightgown?”

However, Violet wound up rewinding it.

——Violet!

Lux hit Violet repeatedly in her mind.

“Ah~, that’s right. If that’s the case, I can do it too. But maybe my nightgown is too big? It’s a negligee just like Violet’s. The shoulder length might be the problem for this one...”

“Old Man, you gonna die if you don’t obsess over the stuff we wear? You ain’t. Give up.”

“No way. Days like this one don’t come by. All five of us are trapped in the company and we can’t get out. You’ve got no choice but stay here in my house, right? We’re having the best of parties, a pajama party. I want it to be a good one. But I can’t enjoy it when I’m worrying over Little Lux’s clothes.”

Benedict contemplated a reply to Hodgins’s words for a few seconds, but soon stopped. He was probably tired. He looked Violet’s way and asked, “Hey, you not hungry? I’m gonna take a look at the kitchen.

“Hey, don’t ignore me.” As Benedict stood up, Hodgins chased after him.

“Benedict’s gonna make something? Yay! You guys probably don’t know this, but he’s good at cooking.” Cattleya lined up behind them.

“I didn’t say I was gonna make anything, though... Well, if you’re hungry, I can do it.”

“I shall assist you.” Violet raised her arms, rolling up her sleeves. Her prosthetics made a creaking noise.

“V, you can cook?”

“To some extent. In the military, I used to make preparations for the cooking. Mrs. Evergarden... Lady Tiffany also trained me on it.

“M-Me too... I can peel the potatoes, and stuff.” Lux hastily went after everyone. In a trail, a big move to the kitchen began to take place.

“Lux. You don’t usually cook, do you? I can already tell by just that statement. I’ll teach you.”

“Most things get solved just by peeling the potatoes... Benedict, you’re making fun of me, aren’t you?”

“Am not, Potato Demigod.”

“Violet, Benedict insulted me!”

“Benedict.”

“Owowow! V—! Don’t poke my sides! A hit from those crazy-ass prosthetics of yours ain’t no cutesy way to poke anyone! It just hurts like it normally would!”

In the end, Hodgins was able to find a light feather-print sweater in his closet and gave it to Lux. As she put it on, with her short stature, its length became the same as that of a long cardigan, which Hodgins was awfully pleased with for how adorable it was.

   The madder-red sky was not visible at dusk, the outside morphing into evening with no changes in the rainy weather.

Benedict made a soup at random with the vegetables available in Hodgins’s kitchen, which had seasonings in abundance, while Violet and Cattleya supplied it with cookies that they had brought back as souvenirs from their ghostwriting business trip. Lux brought over small candy marbles that she kept stored in her desk at the company, and Benedict, instructed by Hodgins, reluctantly took an expensive bottle hidden on the liquor shelf of the latter’s room.

“Hey, let’s rummage through the desks of everyone in the company. There are probably gonna be other ingredients in them.”

“If it’s Mr. Anthony’s desk, I think there’s definitely something in it. Mr. Anthony always gives me sweets... We’re in a state of emergency so I’m sure he’ll forgive us for it.”

“There were sweets in the reception guys’ desks. Would they get mad if we took them?”

“Definitely seem like they would. But this sweet... is one of the tasty ones... I wanna eat it.”

Lux, who was still growing, and Benedict, who had missed lunch and did not have enough with just the vegetable soup, procured more food. The sweets that the hungry thieves sneaked from the company employees’ desks turned out as what could be considered a big catch, and so, the five people trapped inside during a day of usual rain commenced a night party.

The five of different ages, genders and positions were already at a state where they could be deemed as a single family through the many incidents they had overcome and the time they had spent together. They laughed a lot, talked a lot.

“You remember when Violet brought Lux over? She went to negotiate it directly with Old Man with so much might, like, ‘I have picked up a puppy. Please give me permission to raise it here. Now, hurry’. They were holding hands and she wouldn’t let go of Lux, explaining the situation all at length as if to say she wasn’t gonna move until he gave the permission. The way Old Man acted so suspicious back then was a real blast.”

“I remember~! He was like, ‘Eh, “demigod”? Eh, “abduction and confinement”? Have you told the military police about that?’... President was so troubled, walking in circles around the two. It was the funniest thing of that year.”

“Hum... I’m sorry.”

“No, no, don’t apologize, Little Lux. You’re our main player now, so you did what you could to get where you are. You really exerted yourself in this unfamiliar land. Work for us forever, ‘kay? Rather, for me. Little Violet does some unbelievable stuff sometimes, but she generally doesn’t do anything wrong, so back then, her first-time deed shook up even someone like me, with plenty of life experience. Saying no didn’t even cross my mind.”

“I knew that President Hodgins would give you a generous treatment. If I had not concluded so, I would not have done such a thing. Thank you very much for that time, President.”

“Little Violet... Little Violet’s all grown up too, huh; you’ve become a wonderful lady...”

“Well, she’s got you as her example of guardian figure, after all.”

“I was raised by both Benedict and President Hodgins. You are my examples.”

“Eh, so I’m Old Man’s son...? Gimme the whole company.”

“No way! Actually, you’re taking a part of the company in the future, so that much should be fine, right?”

“You were serious about that? If you split the company...”

“Yeah, I’ll be the vice-president. V, call me Vice-President Benedict.”

“Benedict will be... the vice-president?”

“Violet, you haven’t been to the company too often because of work, right? I’ll stay as President Hodgins’s secretary, but some of the employees will go to Benedict’s side. That’s gonna be pretty lonely... Still, the company will be built inside the country, so it’ll be close in terms of distance. But it won’t be the same building anymore.”

“Other people... will also be gone.”

“Did I tell you that my role’s gonna change too?”

“I have not heard about that.”

“I’ll be transferred to training the newcomers. Violet, you’ll stay as you are. Well, between you and me, if we were to debate on which one should be the instructor, it’d have to be me. I’m good at looking after others.”

“Cattleya will be... an instructor...”

“I’ll be here like always. The Doll department that Little Violet and the others are in will stay in the main office and you’re largely in charge of the numbers in our Doll department, so your role won’t change.”

“Sounds like I don’t make money when you put it like that.”

“No, it’s not like that... I’ve been keeping the right people in the right places since long ago, right? I asked you to do this because I thought you could be everyone’s big sis. Besides, wasn’t it you, Cattleya, who immediately replied that you’d to it when I said your pay would increase if you became an instructor?”

“Well, that’s because I don’t know how long I could keep on being a Doll. It’s a job you can do even when you get older, but walking up mountains has been hard lately. Probably because of my high heels.”

They truly laughed a lot and talked a lot.

In their feel-at-home looks, they played card games, discussed memories of their trips and laughed holding their stomachs at silly stories. The night went on and on and the heavy rain outside gradually subsided, but no one said, “Let’s go home, then”. Days like these were a rarity. They all knew this much.

“I’m having lots of fun today. It’d be great if it were always like this.” The words that Cattleya muttered with a big smile spoke for everyone’s feelings.

Whenever a fun feast reached its climax, the loneliness towards the fact that it was going to end would cross the corners of people’s heads. That applied not only to this day that God had granted them but also to matters in the long run.

Perhaps the company named CH Postal Company itself could also be considered a feast to the people gathered in it. “May this dream, this fun time go on forever,” they wished.

The dream had begun with Claudia Hodgins. He then picked up Cattleya Baudelaire, Benedict Blue and Violet Evergarden.

“Make sure to just lick it. So, how’s that?”

They had built the company office building in Leidenschaftlich and started it together. As the postal business was a privatized one and the competitors were many, nobody could predict at first for how long this company would continue to exist.

“This stings.”

A local customer then came, earning them a large-scale contract in the delivery business.

“Eh~, you okay, Violet? You’re better off as someone who can’t drink...”

Their Auto-Memories Doll activities began to stand out.

“But everyone is changing.”

“Doesn’t that have nothing to do with drinking alcohol? I drink ‘cause I like it. If you don’t, then stop.”

“That’s right, Violet.”

“No... Major has a taste for drinking during meals, so I had been thinking of learning to do it one day as well. You are all changing one after another whenever I blink. I have started eating with other people quite often at work as well. I, too, shall adapt...”

Along the way, a girl who would later become a brilliant secretary joined them.

“I see... Then I want to try drinking too. I’m a secretary, after all. I have to eat out with other people. What kind of taste is it, if you had to compare?”

Despite the major changes in the personal life of each, all of them had contributed to the development of the company, to the point that they spent every single day being busy.

“Close to that of a perfume. In that it is hard to swallow.”

There would surely be many, many more changes.

“Hey, I can’t approve that opinion. Big Sis here will introduce you to delicious drinks. Rather than being taught by a man, you should learn from me. Lux, you can’t yet.”

Surely, their fates would twist further.

“Eh~?!”

“Benedict, bring another one. And something to crack it open with.”

For people to gather up, an encounter had to have happened. That was what it meant.

“Aight, aight...” Benedict stood up from the sofa. He had been dragged into Cattleya’s scheme, in which she had planned the conspiracy of attempting to make Violet Evergarden consume alcohol, because he himself had complied with it.

“O-Owah. Old Man. You were here?”

“‘Were here,’ you ask... this is my house.”

As they came across each other in the kitchen, Benedict had let out a brash voice without thinking. The reason might be that he perhaps was seen grinning as he walked in. Despite his nihilistic attitude, he was happy to spend time with his friends.

“I-I know. I was thinking you were taking too long in the toilet...”

“Cigar.”

With the kitchen’s small window open, Hodgins was smoking a cigar. All of the women despised the smell, so he rarely ever let them see him smoking. Just when Benedict was thinking about how he had suddenly stood up and disappeared, there he was, smoking in secret.

——He only smokes when he can’t calm down, though.

There was no better day to relax with their companions, and yet.

“Hey, take a look outside. It’s so quiet after the storm... like the wind. Even though it was so loud before.” Perhaps due to him being a little drunk, Hodgins’s face was red.

“True... Hey, need more booze. Ain’t there anything easier to drink?”

“Eh, why? You can’t give it to Little Lux.”

“Cattleya wants to make V drink some. Well, ain’t it okay? I think it’s about time she learns the ropes. Dunno when we’ll get to drink with her again... and it’s better to have people you get along with teaching you this kinda thing, right?”

“Eeh... it’s still too soon. If you insist, isn’t it enough to drip a drop of rum into her tea?”

“Can you even call that a drink? Make it a degree higher.”

Hodgins gave a strained smile. “Hey, hey, her big brother figure shouldn’t be saying this...”

“I say it because I’m her big brother figure. I mean, we’re getting more rookies. She’s the highlight of our Doll department. Eating with people is part of having a big job. Before she gets involved with someone who wants to make her drink...”

“Does this have anything to do with me telling you to be the branch manager?”

Hearing a slightly icy voice coming from the president, Benedict blinked. “No... sorta.”

“She’s still a child, and I’ll definitely always be with her in those kinds of places, so it’s okay. It’s still early to teach her how to drink. Nope, nope.”

“A ‘child’, you say... well, she’s got a childish side, but she ain’t one anymore.”

“She is – you, Cattleya and Little Lux, too, are all kids to me. Because you’re quick to do this kind of thing if I don’t keep an eye on you... My, my,” Hodgins said, blowing out the tobacco smoke. Mismatched as it was for someone with such a mature appearance, Benedict could get a glimpse of childishness in him.

“You’ll keep trying to do that from now on too? That’s impossible; face the reality,” Benedict bit out incidentally.

Silence.

Benedict’s words were not wrong. The CH Postal Company was growing rapidly as a business. The fact that the postal company led by Salvatore Rinaudo had withdrawn from the postal industry in the previous year had a major influence in this. They now reigned at a pivotal position in Leidenschaftlich’s postal service. The CH Postal Company would soon account for nearly all of the commissions from the people living in Leidenschaftlich. Other than being busy with work affairs, there were even discussions about relocating the head office because of problems with waiting areas and break rooms due to securing new employees.

“Like, you and I are gonna get damn busy. The Auto-Memories Doll department is gonna be the main organ of the head office and my place will be ordinary mail, right? We’ll be teaching people how things go, and I’ll be doing deliveries too. You’re the one with the busiest role. Anything and everything’s gonna be relayed to you. Getting to be close to your employees like until now while doing all that is just...”

It was natural for a company that had become bigger to do a corporative split-off and for one of their employees to manage the branch office. Benedict was still young but had the power to bring people together. The task would not be an impossible one if they put a veteran of the head office in charge of taking over it. They could do this, Hodgins had decided, thus he came up with the proposal.

“The regular meetings and other stuff that I take part in happen in the head office... It’s not like we won’t get to see each other.”

“Everyone will have a different post and position. We won’t get to see each other. Same for you, Old Man.”

“If it’s work, I can adjust it. I’ll do my best to administrate everyone so that the employees can get a time every now and then to relax like this...”

“Old Man, even if you do your best, V’s dating that nasty-ass military officer, so won’t they get married someday? Dunno ‘bout it, but... that’s why it’s impossible to always watch over us in the first place...”

Silence.

“Hey, don’t clam up.”

What was being thrust at Hodgins now was something that he did not want to look straight at, despite thinking about and readying himself for it. That was what he was being told.

“Hodgins – hey, Old Man.”

It was something that Benedict Blue had the right to say, exactly because they had been doing everything together from the start.

“Hey, don’t take it in a weird way. I ain’t saying this to be malicious. You left the Auto-Memories Doll department in the head office ‘cause your wish to watch over V is a big deal, right? I get it. She’s special to you.”

“That’s not it; I—”

“But she won’t be a kid forever. She’s different from back when she started working, with you teaching her everything. She’s someone who’s gonna let go of your hand one day. She ain’t your real daughter or your girlfriend. Then, if you had to say what she is, at the end of the day, she’s your employee. You’ll part ways one day. If you don’t get ready for that now, will you manage to get over it if she marries into that bastard’s family and he makes her leave the company?”

“Will you manage to get over it?” The question ruminated in Hodgins’s heart.

Benedict had shot him where it hurt without mercy. He was a gun expert. His aim was precise and the bleeding made Hodgins want to hold his own chest down.

——Will I recover if I ever have to be separated from Violet Evergarden? Hodgins pondered earnestly over the question. ——I don’t know.

He truly did not know.

Bonds were things that could not easily break off once they had connected, yet reality, time and busyness unpityingly caused the existence of “friends” to grow far apart.

——To the point that I don’t know, I...

Surely, a day like this would not happen five years from now. Their place to return to amidst the rain would be somewhere else.

——It’s not just her, but also you and everyone else.

To begin with, they might not even be working in the company itself anymore until then. More of them would fall for someone, nurture their love and move their places to be in life to their “homes”.

Twenty, thirty years from now, it might be hard for them to even work. Or they would not be alive – there was also that possibility.

The one who was more aware of this than anybody else was Hodgins, the oldest of them all.

——I’m the one who’s farthest apart in age.

That was exactly why he did not know.

“I have no idea.”

He did not want to see it. Did not want to think about it.

“I have too many things that matter to me, so I can’t make a move anymore. Y’know, you... you might aught at this, but... rather than when you’re young, getting hurt becomes scarier when you grow older. You start losing the energy to do your best and heal. It’s tiring. Still...”

Hodgins had thought that the youth in front of him, who referred to him as “Old Man” on a daily basis, was probably going to laugh, yet Benedict was expressionless.

“Still...”

He did nothing but listen. His posture of properly listening at times like these somewhat...

——...looks like Little Violet.

“Still, I know I’m the one who has to get moving the most. I’m getting everyone involved in the things I wanna do. That’s why I do what I have to. I also counted on you, because I trust you. I left it in your care. But... that and my feelings for her and you guys...”

“I get it.”

“...are different things, right? Y’know, you’re... mean. I’m like a foster parent to you, and yet... Even if you understand my loneliness...”

While Hodgins spoke as if bursting out, Benedict put a hand to his mouth as though to stop him. “I get it.”

Time halted completely.

Was he supporting the flustered figure of the one who was like a parent to him?

“My bad.”

Before he had noticed, he was carrying a load of things he must protect. Was he doing this due to realizing that he had left Hodgins to chance, thinking, “That’s because it’s him”?

“My bad. That just now was on me.”

Silence.

“I didn’t have to pick today to say this. Isn’t that right?”

“You think I’m being lame right now, don’t you?”

“Nah, you ain’t all that cool in the first place.”

“That’s a lie; I’m a generally-acknowledged beautiful young man... no, beautiful middle-aged man.”

“You might not be cool, but well, that’s what’s good about you. Right?”

Silence.

“The cool thing about my Claudia Hodgins is his uncool side.”

Since Benedict was speaking as if to comfort a child, Hodgins told him to “shut up”, slightly annoyed, yet burst into laughter nevertheless.

   The rain caused all sorts of things to pour. The way that people were drowned by the drops trickling down from the sky inevitably made them think about something.

As dawn broke, Claudia Hodgins sat up, body heavy from not getting much sleep. When he peeked at his room’s bed, Violet and Cattleya were sleeping wrapped in the same blanket. On the sofa, Benedict was scattered about, snoring in a way that made him want to laugh.

Hodgins looked for where Lux Sibyl might be. He went down from the third to the second floor, and then from the second to the first floor. She was nowhere to be found.

While thinking it could not be possible, Hodgins opened the front door, and sure enough, he could see the figure of a girl walking down the street towards him.

The clothes she had put to dry yesterday were surely half-wet. What was it that she wanted to do outside so badly to the point of going this far? He understood when he saw what she had in her arms.

“Ah, President.”

Lux was holding a paper bag with a lot of bread in it. The amount was enough that the small girl’s face could not be seen.

“Little Lux... could it be you went to buy us breakfast?”

Thinking back, this young woman was the kind of person who was always quick to act when she was trying to do something for someone. That was all it took to be a considerate person, but without kindness in their heart, they would not turn out this way. The reason why Hodgins had nominated her his secretary was not just that she could do any sort of work.

“That’s so nice.”

“Yes, the bakery owner is very nice. I woke up a bit too early, and when I went on a walk to see how things were outside, the bakery was just about to open and they were getting ready... I went to take a look ‘cause it seemed so delicious and they told me to come in.”

“Ah, hm...”

“I was so touched when they said they baked bread for people who were hungry early in the morning, so I told them many thanks for selling them and bought lots of it. It’s the bakery from that street around the corner.”

“As expected of my secretary. Did you properly get the receipt?”

At those words, Lux showed him a smile that resembled a blooming flower. “Huhu, of course.”

For Hodgins, who had spent the night deep in thought about all sorts of things, that smile was a soothing one. It was like the water of a lake for someone who was feeling thirsty.

Hodgins wordlessly took the bag from Lux. “Little Lux, I’m seriously glad you came to us.”

“Only in this kind of situation, right?”

“All the time. Always. Little Lux, you’re still young, will probably keep working with us... and you’re such a good secretary... I’m the happiest CEO in Leidenschaftlich.”

“Are you going to hire me for life?”

“Eh?”

“Is that a no?”

“No, I could. But that’d mean working with me for life, y’know?”

“Is that bad? I have nowhere else to go.”

When asked with such an innocent look, Hodgins faltered.

“I won’t say the stuff Benedict does, like wanting the company for me.”

“Well, I might... end up giving it to you if you say that, so don’t ever. Hahah... Of course, keep working for us forever and always at my place. Huh, this is kinda like a marriage vow... Wanna take this opportunity and marry me in the future? Just kidding...” Upon thinking that the jest that came out incidentally was an unsavory one right after saying it, Hodgins looked at Lux’s reaction, only to find her staring back at him blankly. He had made himself into a caricature of an old man bothering a girl. “No, it was a prank! But hey. Little Lux, you might be the only one who can go along with me, so having this kind of small talk is... I-I’m not looking at you with dirty eyes, really! We’re too far apart in age, after all! We’re c-close enough that we can crack this kind of joke to each other, right?”

Lux pretended to think for just a few seconds. “Huhu, I can tell. That it’s a joke, at least. But not happening. We’re not getting married.”

And then, she flat-out rejected him.

“Ah, yes.” Although Hodgins would have been at loss if she had accepted it, his shoulders dropped somewhat.

“But President, I’m prepared to nurse you if you ever become unable to work.”

“Don’t... suddenly thrust such a cruel reality at me.”

“Eh, is it? From my point of view... this is quite a deep form of love. President, you’re the first decent adult who accepted me. I’ll devote my whole life to you.”

“Little Lux, you sure like me a lot. Gonna marry me after all?”

This time, Lux actually grinned and replied, “I’ll take that one home and consider it.”

“Amazing; that answer’s like the business talk at the company.”

“Because you’re teasing me... even though you’re well-aware that I don’t even know love yet.”

“Don’t know love yet”. The destructive power of those words caused Hodgins to regret his lighthearted proposal a little.

“Then, I’ll ask again in about five years. I should be at a nice middle age by then.”

“You say that, President, but you’re going on a trip with some hottie next week. I know it.”

The duo, who somehow seemed like they would or other be hanging together for a long time, returned to the office with bouncing chatter.

   In order to make breakfast for everyone together, Hodgins and Lux stood in the kitchen by themselves.

Besides the already-baked bread, they would need drinks and vegetables. Those were merely simple preliminary preparations, but Hodgins felt that just this was somehow enjoyable, unlike doing the work on his own.

“President, you have yours with one sugar cube and a slice of lemon, right?”

“And for Little Lux, it’s two sugar cubes with milk, yeah? I know it.”

While arranging the bread on a plate, they also poured water over the tealeaves and left them to steam. Perhaps due to the scenery that could be seen from the kitchen’s small window being a blue sky with not a single cloud in it, it was awfully dazzling.

“Good morning.”

The next person who appeared amidst the morning sunlight was Violet. Her soft golden hair was just a bit disheveled. Hodgins’s hand naturally reached out to it.

“Morning... You’ve got a bedhead, Little Violet.”

“Excuse me...” Violet looked back at Hodgins as he caressed her head, seeming a little embarrassed. Her eyes were just slightly red. She might have not been able to sleep very well.

“Morning, Violet. Are Cattleya and Benedict also up?”

“Benedict was awake until a while ago, but when I got up from the bed, he began sleeping again by Cattleya’s side.”

“Morally speaking, it’s that kinda thing. I’ll go give him a warning.”

Hodgins laughed a little, seeing Lux off as she walked away while rotating her tiny shoulders. He then turned his gaze back to Violet. Her bedhead, which he had supposedly fixed with the caressing, had returned. For some reason, both of them being alone like this in a kitchen bathed in morning sunlight struck him as extremely peculiar.

Just the two of them, having such a tender time. How many more opportunities would they have for that?

They were already at it. He should talk about something. That was what Hodgins thought, but the words did not come out of him. Not because he had no topic to discuss. He could come up with as many things to talk about as he wanted, such wanting flowers to decorate the table or that they would surely have many customers today who were unable to come yesterday.

But he did not want to spoil this morning. He felt that it might crumble if he spoke even one sentence.

Violet was there. She had her blue eyes directed his way, looking at him. It was no longer awkward for the two of them to stay silent. That was their relationship.

Perhaps still sleepy, she was in a haze. He wanted to watch her standing amidst this gentle time for a little longer.

As she would usually always seem wide-awake, Hodgins believed that she was laidback to this extent due to being in the presence of people with whom she could be at ease from the bottom of her heart. That he had played a part in this feeling of security of hers.

——Will you forget one day?

One day, the position that Claudia Hodgins occupied in the life of Violet Evergarden would become smaller.

——She only gets bigger on my end, though.

Going to the hospital numerous times. Pushing her wheelchair. Giving her a notebook and teaching her how to write.

——I for sure can’t forget. These moments, days, everything like this with you.

The fact that he had not stopped her from fighting in the war. That he had thought they could use her.

——I can’t forget.

Delivering to Violet an outfit that could hide her prosthetic arms, yet that would also make her look her most beautiful.

——I’m sure I won’t forget about this morning either.

About that quiet morning, which was much like the one from before everyone was caught in the great storm and barged in.

Hodgins touched Violet’s hair again. Although she had told Benedict not to touch it, with Hodgins, she all but slightly left a strand in his hand’s care and let him take it, almost like how a cat would do.

——Aah, I want to hug you.

He was not in love with her. That would never be the case.

However, if she were his real daughter, on days like these, mornings like these, he would have easily said, “Good morning, precious” and embraced her.

“I had a dream, President Hodgins,” Violet whispered out of the blue with a freshly awake, faintly hoarse voice.

“Dream...?”

The stunning young woman, who was no longer a girl, talked about her dream like a child, “Yes; in the dream... you owned a clothing store.”

“Huhu, that so?”

“I cannot make clothes. You told me that you did not need me, President Hodgins, if I could not make clothes...”

“That’s horrible of me, huh.”

“Even when I said I could polish the shoes, clean up or do anything, you did not listen...”

Unlike the real one, the dream version of Hodgins had apparently chosen to part ways with Violet.

“Little Violet, what did you do about that?”

“I asked countless times. However, you rejected it countless times. I thought about standing in front of the shop until you allowed me in, but it started raining like yesterday.”

“Hm. And then?”

“Major Gilbert came to pick me up and told me to come home with him, but...”

“Hm.”

“I waited for President to come out of the store even as the lights went out.”

“Hm.”

“Despite waiting and waiting, President Hodgins did not come out, and at some point, a passerby told me, ‘This shop has moved’.”

“Even though it was open until just a moment ago?”

“It was a dream, after all... And then – and then, I asked where it was and went after it. Benedict and Cattleya also appeared in-between, but they seemed to have other things to do, saying they would come after me later... As for Lux, she was the only one who had been hired by you from the very beginning, so she also asked you to hire me again, but in the end, you said no could do.”

“Hm...” Suddenly, Hodgins felt so pained about everything that it was hard to breathe. “And then, Little Violet, what did you do...?” His hand reached out to Violet.

“I kept looking at the interior of the store beyond the shop window from outside.”

Not towards her head, but towards her eyes, where her golden lashes fluttered like the wings of a fairy.

“Inside it, many people – people that I know and do not know – came and left... showing how lively the shop was.”

A sea had silently formed in them, which dissolved and disappeared once Hodgins’s index finger touched it.

“Major came to pick me up for the nth time and said you had told him that my standing there was causing him problems. But, for whatever reason, I at the very least knew that if I stepped away from there even for a moment, you would never let me in... therefore, I could not comply. But I did not want to trouble you, President, so I was unable to make a decision... I attempted to ask Major for instructions, but he was also gone before I realized.”

The sea – the teardrop – turned into a pearl and slipped down her cheek.

“I... I... ended up crying.” Violet stared at the sky, the look in her eyes seeming almost as if the scene from her dream was there at this very moment. “To think I would cry like that...”

“Hm.”

“That was why President Hodgins would not hire me, I thought... And also why Major had grown tired and left.”

“Hm.”

“Then, without my notice, you came outside. You looked the same as that post-war day when you went to visit me at the hospital. You were very surprised with my appearance, as I was soaked with mud and rain. And so, you said this: ‘Guess we’ll start with how to hold a needle’. You told me that you had not invited me for the new job because it would surely be difficult with these hands of mine, so I was extremely relieved... Then, then...” Violet’s words cut off at once.

Unable to hold himself back, Hodgins pulled her into an embrace as if shoving her little head into his chest.

While being embraced, Violet said with eyes that looked as though she was still dreaming, “...with some effort, I could still be helpful. I was able to confirm this, after all.”

Hearing her let out a relieved sigh in his arms, Hodgins forgot about both his and Violet’s positions, clasping her to his chest very, very firmly. “You sure are helpful... Was there anything about me that made you feel uncertain?” Upon realizing that his voice sounded tearful, Hodgins allowed the tears to overflow at the truth.

——Aah, I’m such an idiot. Got caught up in it and ended up crying too.

As the girl whom he thought of as his own daughter, despite her being an actual adult, had shed tears, he found himself crying along with her. Almost like a child. Even though he was supposed to conduct himself as an elder in this situation.

“I do not know.”

“But, has anything like that ever happened until now...? You had that dream because you were uneasy.”

“‘Uneasy’... That might have been the case. Yesterday night, I came to know that many things were progressing while I was away, so I have the feeling that I was quite agitated.”

“Sorry; we were doing things on our own accord. Even though we’ve been together since the founding.”

“No, I am often absent, and it is only natural for some things to be decided in the meantime. I am an employee. I feel that your judgement is correct. Employees must correspond to the changes of a company. My surroundings are about to change significantly. I am grateful to you, President, for letting me be here like always. However...”

“‘However’...?”

“However, I do not know if I can cope with it. With the matters regarding Major, the ones regarding the company... with the fact that Benedict will be going to a different office building. When I think about these things...”

“It’s okay.”

“When I think about them, I realize that the number of things I should prioritize has increased too much.”

“Little Violet.”

“The order of priorities...”

“It’s all right.”

“I have to deal with situations of every kind as I live, and yet...”

——Surely, Violet Evergarden wouldn’t be alive if she didn’t do that.

Always, at all times.

She had been living through corresponding to her surroundings despite being at loss regarding its circumstances, putting everything she could do to use while looking for a place to belong and an adult who would take care of her. She was not allowed to waver. For beasts, hesitation was death.

Violet did not know unconditional love. She now had at last earned herself this warm place through her efforts, but it was about to suffer a rapid change with the course of time.

After running, running and running, Violet – previously one such beast – was watching the nest she had finally found crumble down. Even when people knew they had to prepare to start running again, there would come a time when they would be short of breath and unable to move.

Violet had gone from wild animal to person.

Her human parts and animal parts co-existed, occasionally revealing themselves. When she was the animal, she simply did not mind how much a place changed as long as she could live in it. However, it was difficult to live while holding something better, more important.

Now that she had become a person through the increasing of her emotions...

“I shall fight. I can always be of use. President Hodgins, please forget this aspect of me that I just showed you.”

...she had turned into just a girl who was a little bit scared of the future.

“Please... forget about it.”

Who had made her this way? Gilbert was likely the first, but the ones who had done the finishing touches were definitely all the people in this place.

“No way, I’m not forgetting.”

At Hodgins’s words, Violet lowered her eyebrows, looking troubled.

“Don’t make a face like that; I’m not teasing. I meant to say that you don’t need to worry about it. You indeed might’ve gotten weak. But is that a bad thing? You had nothing when you met me for the first time. Not even your brooch, right...? But now you have lots of things. You went on a journey for a long time and got more stuff to shoulder while you were at it, so it’s no wonder that you’d end up in a dilemma.” Albeit knowing that Cattleya, Benedict and Lux were looking at them in shock from the shadows at the doorway, Hodgins went on, “You know... life is a journey. Little Violet, you’ll go on this journey, won’t you?”

He had already forgotten about his anxiety. The feeling of frustration at such things and the overwhelming wish to cling to someone were now gone.

“You started your journey with a little less luggage than other people, so you’re staring at your bag now that it’s gotten a bit heavy, wondering what happened to it. You don’t know what to throw away anymore.”

He was able to think, from the depths of his heart, that he had returned to his usual self. While embracing her, who was indeed still young and confused in the middle of her journey, he was finally able to think so.

“You need clothes and money, of course, and good shoes are vital. Right, and an umbrella too. When you look into your bag and realize that you actually have nothing that you can get rid of, it’s indeed a problem. Even though it’s a hassle because it’s so heavy. What do you think you should do?”

He could still be useful.

“Train... my physical strength... No, calibrate my prosthetics...”

He was still needed.

“You’re such a fool... Either leave it in someone’s care and continue the journey or have someone take half of it.”

Even if it were only for a short while.

“Gilbert will probably take half of the luggage. I can take care of the rest that you can’t carry over here. I’ll be in Leidenschaftlich forever, after all. Little Violet, no matter where you go, I’ll stay here and wait for you to come back, and no matter when you come over, I’ll welcome you. I’ll take care of the contents of your bag with pleasure.”

——Even if you only remember me a few times a year someday...

“Listen up: whenever you’re troubled, remember that I’m here. And then you’ll be able to go on a journey again anytime.”

——...I’ll ready myself to welcome you at any time of the year.

“Am I really supposed to leave my luggage here?”

——I’m the kind of man who can do that, and you need it for sure.

“Hm-hm, that’s not it. Y’see, this is about memories. All you have to do is to know. That I’m here. This is the way to make your luggage lighter. Whenever you’re having problems, bam, remember me. If you do that, the worries you have now will definitely decrease a little. Y’know, at the end of the day... people’s place to come home to aren’t places, they’re ‘somebody’. You should know that much. You’d have gone to any battlefield if Gilbert was there, right? Someday, yes, you might quit being an Auto-Memories Doll. You might not come back to Leidenschaftlich.”

——It’ll be great if this “someday” never comes, though.

“But your current memories are with me. I’ll be a representation of them. So that you, my dear... will be able to open your memories anytime. When this moment right now becomes nostalgic to you, come see me. I’ll always be here. Waiting for you. You’re feeling ‘lonely’ right now. But... Little Violet. You have me. You’re not alone.”

——I want you to remember.

“I do not understand very well... However...”

——I’m always protecting you.

“...you have always guided me.”

——Waiting for your return.

“I never doubt your word.”

——I’ll be waiting here.

“But, President Hodgins, I have only one wish.”

——I want you to show up when your journey ends.

Deciding to deal with the sobbing coming from behind the door later, Hodgins opted for staying like this for just a bit longer. Her lover might get angry if he saw it, but he had the right to do it, at least to some extent. After all, she was Claudia Hodgins’s dear employee.

Hodgins asked with a particularly gentle tone, “What would it be, Little Violet?”

Violet blinked and looked up at Hodgins. The last drop spilled from her eyes.

“If, only if... there comes a time when you will quit the postal company and start doing something else...”

“Hm.”

“...please call me. No matter where you are, I will rush to you.”

“Hm.”

“I will definitely be of help... Even if not, should your luggage become too much, please call me when you need someone to carry it for you. I shall hasten to visit you.”

“For real?”

“Yes. I, too, will carry President’s luggage. You should know it. I am strong.”

“Huhu, yep, definitely. One day, you’ll understand what I mean by ‘luggage’. Hey...”

No one would imagine that a single drop could be the start of something so big. However, it would earn itself great meaning after a while passed. Should it continue pouring, it could also summon boundless blessings and curses.

   “Hiya, I’m Hodgins. What’s your name?”

Silence.

“This kid’s such a taciturn.”

“She... doesn’t have a name yet. She’s an orphan with no education. Can’t talk either.”

“That’s so terrible of you. She’s such a beauty. Just give a name worthy of her.”

   “Little Violet, thanks for meeting me.”

Love was almost like rain.

[theswarmanthology]

Katie Wetzel, 19, Bay Area, CA

"It’s a family truly. I remember being very young when I first began engaging in MCR fan culture. The elders have always been so welcoming. They showed me the ropes and made me feel cared for. Having more fans my age now is wonderful too, I love connecting with such an amazing group of people."

Fast Facts: How long have you been a fan?: 9+ years Did you get to see MCR live before this tour?: No, this tour was my first time seeing MCR How many shows on this tour did you attend in total?: 1 Favorite album: I have more than one favorite album Show experience out of 10: 10 Did you cry at your show?: I'm still crying right now

Which date of the tour did you attend? 10/05/22, Oakland Arena, Oakland

When did you get your tickets for your show? Was it a struggle, or were they easy to grab? I got my tickets in January of 2020, I told my cousin about the tour and she bought them while I was in class.

Did you attend with anyone else? I attended with my younger cousin

What did you wear? I wore jeans (yes, blue, yes, I felt weird wearing blue jeans to an MCR concert) as well as a “The Black Parade” t-shirt (thanks 2010s Hot Topic), and my high-top black Converse.

Where were your seats? Our seats were in section 124 which is slightly angled behind the stage on Ray’s side.

What was your favorite song(s) from the setlist they played at your show? My favorite song they played was Boy Division. It’s not a song I was expecting to hear, and it’s one of my favorites.

What song were you most hoping to hear? Did you get to hear it? I was really hoping to hear Dead! They didn’t play it lol. I was also really hoping for them to play Teenagers. I know they get tired of playing that song, but it introduced me to the band, and I never expected to hear it while I was still a teenager. They played it and it was really special.

What was your favorite moment from the show? My favorite moment from the show was Gerard chasing a crew member off of the stage while mumble yelling the words to I’m Not Okay. Good reminder for everything there of how spooky and creepy he is.

What was the most unexpected moment from the show? The most unexpected moment from the show was Gerard dedicating The World is Ugly to a couple who just lost their dog Walter. RIP Walter.

Did you snag any merch? What pieces? I grabbed a tour shirt (with the the Three Cheers picture on the front) as well as the cheesy, J-14, Tigerbeat style ‘Boy Zone’ shirt (I’m in love with it and wear it all the time).

Many fans describe seeing MCR live as feeling like coming home. Did you experience anything like that at your show? I truly felt like I was home. I felt like I was with my family. Seeing a group of freaks and weirdos gather to be freaks and weirdos at a concert for a band made up of freaks and weirdos was really special. It was very nostalgic but also new and so much fun. Mikey was so sweet during our show, he kept coming to our section to sing to us and it really livened everyone up. Such a happy moment for us all.

If you could change one thing about your show experience, what would it be? I would change the amount of people I talked to. I wish I was more social with the audience. It’s a concert full of people that have connected to this band in a very special way, I’m sure I could’ve made some friends if I had spoken up to the people around me. I’m not a socially awkward person, it just didn’t cross my mind. I wish I had spoken to others more.

Has your perspective or opinion about the band changed since seeing them on this tour? If so, in what way? I have always loved the band and been so appreciative of them. But, it made me more appreciative of not just what they have given us as fans, but appreciative of the fact that they are still around to even do these shows. Knowing that some of them almost didn’t live to see getting married or having children, and now they’re rocking out on stage with their kids drawings tapes to the amps, and their wives taking photos of them on stage, I’m so glad they’re around for it.

What advice would you give to people seeing My Chemical Romance in the future? Go crazy. There was a period of time in which we never thought the band would be getting back together, and now they’re in front of you rocking out to songs that you grew up with. Forget about the people around you, forget about the opinions of others, have fun. Headbang until your neck is sore, jump around until your legs feel weak, sing until you have to stop to catch your breath (all if you are physically able of course). Have your moment. Make that memory.

Anything we didn't ask that you feel obliged to share or talk about? Maybe the fact that the costumes and makeup were INCREDIBLE at the show. So many people dressed up in really dark and off-putting ways. It was so cool.

Thanks, Katie!

[ptergwen]

let’s just pretend

w/c: 3.5k

warnings: rom com references, drinking, and a little bit of angst

summary: you cope with your feelings for peter by getting drunk on halloween

a/n: ok i really really love this and i loved writing it too? it’s the first like original idea i’ve had in a while so maybe that’s why but yeah i hope y’all enjoy and that this puts you in a halloweenish mood :-)

-

there’s something about fall that makes you nostalgic. the same images pop into your head whenever you hear the word october. pumpkin patches, colorful leaves, and hot coffee. it reminds you of being a kid. only when you were a kid, all you could think about this time of year was what you were going to be for halloween.

you’d spend weeks getting your costume together and coordinating with all your friends. trick or treating was literally the only thing that mattered. if you wanted to get good candy, you had to have a good costume.

the high school version of candy is alcohol. everyone just goes to parties so they can drink the whole night. no one even dresses up usually. you personally would rather have chocolate than cheap beer. your whole friend group agrees on that.

that’s why you decided to throw your own party this year. anyone who misses the old halloween can come hang out. so far it’s only peter, mj, ned, betty, and the rest of the decathlon team coming. betty invited everyone for you. she also asked liz, but she’s going to flash’s party. he only gets so many people because his parents are never home and don’t care if he raids the liquor cabinet. whatever.

you’re out finding something to wear with peter and mj a few hours before it starts. ned and betty already picked their costumes. she’s going as an angel, and he’s going as the devil. you think they should switch. they’re out shopping for snacks while the three of you hit up spirit halloween.

mj groans every single second there’s silence, and peter keeps getting scared by the motion sensor decorations. he eventually ends up having to go somewhere in the store that doesn’t have any. so, it’s a lot.

“why don’t you be a vampire?” mj asks in her fake interested voice, taking a pair of fangs off the rack in front of her. you scoff. “i think i did that in sixth grade.” she puts them back with a huff. “witch?” she’s just suggesting every costume she sees so you can get out of here. her lack of enthusiasm makes you want to take longer.

“no.”

“zookeeper?”

“eh.”

“what about cat in the hat?”

“mj, what? no.”

“uh... school girl?”

“ok, that’s just offensive.”

“you’re right. why do they have that?” she eyes the costume suspiciously. you cover it up with a random cloak that fell onto the floor. you’re never going to find anything at this point. maybe it’s a sign you’re too old for this. just when you’re about to lose all hope, peter comes over.

he’s holding up the plaid yellow skirt and blazer cher wears in clueless. it’s one of the most iconic rom com outfits. you grab it with a gasp, peter giving you a knowing smile. “oh my god! wait, where did you find this?” “they have a section with movie stuff.” there’s a han solo costume in his other hand.

you throw an arm around his neck for a quick hug. peter squeezes you and chuckles when he pulls away. it gets a sigh out of mj.

“sure you don’t wanna be the guy she ends up with?” she elbows peter’s arm. the two of you share a disgusted look. “josh? ew, he’s her ex stepbrother,” you dismiss her. “they’re, like, related,” peter adds. mj rolls her eyes almost to the back of her head and starts to walk away. “someone needs to unplug both of your tv’s.” you and peter follow after her.

of course she would suggest a couple’s costume. she was probably trying to make you both get weird. you’re always being teased for spending so much time together. even your parents and may make little comments about it. you can’t help the fact that you have almost everything in common.

peter is the only person your age who doesn’t try so hard to be cool. when you’re with him, you can be the biggest nerd and wear fluffy pajamas and play with legos. it’s a judgement free friendship.

you’ll admit you’ve wanted it to become a judgement free relationship. there’s no way he doesn’t feel your heart beating against him when you cuddle during movie nights. he has to notice your goofy smile whenever he calls you a nickname.

but, it could all be platonic in peter’s mind. maybe he sees you as more of a sister. that would make josh the perfect costume to go with you as cher.

you shutter and try to push the idea out of your mind for the rest of your time at spirit halloween.

it’s almost time for the party to start when you get back to your house. your parents let betty and ned in to start setting up on their way out. they’re going for dinner so they aren’t around to embarrass you. you have until midnight, then there’s nothing you can do. that gives you four hours.

mj is changing into the coraline costume you made her get, which she actually doesn’t hate. betty is helping you do some last minute decorating. peter and ned are putting out snacks. it’s a really good system you have.

“love the the plaid, y/n. you look so fetch!” betty compliments in between throwing fake cobwebs over your couch. you snort and finish stringing up some lights. “wrong movie, but thanks.” “oh. oops,” she shrugs and gets back to cobwebbing. “peter found it for me.” all the lights are up, so you go to plug them in. betty giggles on your way over.

your living room has an orange glow to it now. dusting your hands off, you admire your work. the moment of admiration ends when you notice how betty is looking at you. “what?” “peter found it for you,” she repeats suggestively. “when he was getting his costume, yeah,” you say like it’s nothing because it is nothing.

“so, what i’m hearing is he wanted to see you in a skirt.” you furrow your eyebrows at her. “what? no, he just-“ she wiggles her own eyebrows at you. you’re going to start sweating if you talk about this any longer. too aware of yourself now, you pull down your skirt and trudge over to the stairs. “i’m gonna go check on mj.”

you’re in the middle of convincing her she looks great and to leave your room when everyone calls your name downstairs.

“what?” you shout back from behind the closed door. “you should get down here.” it’s only peter this time. mj widens her eyes at you, but you’re gone before she can say she isn’t wearing this again.

you make your way down the stairs. the three of them are huddled in front of the door. “is someone here?” you mouth, ned looking off to the side awkwardly. they all move out of the way so you can see who it is. it’s flash. you’re obviously surprised to see him at your house, especially since he’s supposed to be having his own party right now.

“um, what are you doing here?” you try not to sound mean. “didn’t you invite the whole decathlon team? i’m on it.” you’d forgotten about that. peter says he’s only an alternate. flash side steps past you to get inside. you didn’t say he could come in. he heads straight to the chip bowl on your living room coffee table. you’re left shaking your head in pure confusion.

“dude, kick him out,” ned whispers to you. you wave your hand dismissively and walk over. he’s kicking his legs up on the table when you get there. “dope outfit. you look good.” he winks and crunches on a tostito. peter is clenching his jaw, but no one sees. “why are you in my house, flash?” you push the bowl away from him. “oh, yeah. my parents came home from vegas early.”

mj finally gets downstairs, squinting at whatever is going on with you while she walks over to everyone else. “i thought we could combine parties.” flash eyes your friends in a way you don’t like. “all your guests are pretty much here, so don’t worry about space.”

you look back at peter to see what he thinks. he shakes his head no. betty is nodding her head so fast you’re pretty sure she’s going to get whiplash. ned agrees with whatever she thinks, and mj doesn’t care. majority rules. plus, you could use one of flash’s playlists to liven things up. how bad could it really be?

“text everyone my address.”

people are flooding your house in the next fifteen minutes. like, your entire grade might be here. flash hooks his phone up to your speakers and blasts his songs. people grab fistfuls of candy and dance around. you’re running low on soda, but one guy brought extra drinks. alcoholic drinks, which you’re uneasy about. that was a big reason why you wanted to have your own party in the first place.

you don’t want to be a lame host, so you let it slide. a girl is sitting on top of your kitchen counter making out with someone. people are yelling so loud you can’t make out a single conversation. this is all going on and yet somehow, the most surprising thing is that they came in costume. some are more casual, like cat ears and lifeguard hoodies. it still counts.

feeling a little bit lost in your own house, you search for peter. he’s sitting on the top stair just watching what’s going on. you get his attention by throwing a mini packet of sour patch kids at him. he catches it, grinning when he realizes you did that. “i love these.” “good. they were the only ones left.” you take a seat next to him and scratch at the material of his vest for emphasis.

“i can’t believe you said yes to him.” peter opens the sour patch kids. the first one is yellow, so he offers it to you. sharing food with him always works because you each seem to like what the other doesn’t. “neither can i, but i think betty would’ve actually hurt me if i didn’t,” you joke while chewing. he rolls his eyes, but he’s still smiling. “please. she’s too nice.”

you lean your head on peter’s shoulder and grab another gummy. he pokes your arm in protest. “this bag is small. get your own.” you’re nuzzling your cheek against him. “i told you they’re gone.” he’s about to put an arm around you when someone screams downstairs. you quickly sit up.

“i’m gonna go see what the hell that was. i’ll find you later?” peter does his best to hide his disappointment. “yeah, of course. good luck.” you clench your teeth and run down the stairs. this is somehow flash’s fault.

it’s been an hour and a half, and peter is nowhere to be seen. the chaos was just that someone really liked the song that was playing. it didn’t take you long to figure that out. when you went to tell peter, he was gone. you’ve looked everywhere for him since, except the backyard.

a pretty big group of people is out here either playing catch or talking. someone also brought a case of beer outside. you spot mj huddled up by the fence with a bottle. it doesn’t necessarily surprise you. it’s weird to see, either way.

“have you seen peter?” you walk up to her. she uses the bottle to gesture somewhere. he’s in the middle of a conversation with liz. your entire body feels like it’s collapsing into itself. it didn’t cross your mind she would be coming even when the party moved to your house.

she’s nice and all. you don’t have any issues with her. not that she knows about, at least. peter had the biggest crush on her for about a month, then it fizzled out. that’s what he told you. unless, he said that to save face.

you’re speechless. mj figured you would be. she gives you a sympathetic smile and holds out her beer. “yep. drink up.” your instincts tell you to take it, so you do. she heads back inside and leaves you alone with your thoughts. that’s not good for you. the only to way to get rid of them is by chugging the rest of this bottle.

you’ve never had your own drink before, and technically you aren’t now. this is still the most alcohol you’ll ever have in your system. before you can change your mind, you take a generous swig. it’s bitter. you don’t hate it as much as you expected to, though.

your eyes land on liz touching peter’s shoulder. that inspires your next big gulp of beer. you finish off the rest, and it hits you fast. you’re understanding why this is such a popular vice. you don’t feel anything but how tipsy you are. light and floaty. you decide to stumble back into the kitchen and find out what other drinks people brought.

the bright color of your costume catches peter’s attention. he was wondering where you were. excusing himself from liz, he follows you in. you bump into betty on your way to the punch bowl someone filled. she’s holding a red solo cup with the mystery liquid. both of you buzzed, you laugh and grab her arm.

“sorry. s- sorry.” you’re squeezing behind her, her angel wings brushing against your face in the process. you have to weave through everyone to make it to the drink table. peter meets you there when you’re getting a cup. he’s shocked.

“y/n?” smiling lazily, you take a sip. “hey, peter. pete.” the sober voice in your head tells you to stop talking. he probably shouldn’t know you’re drunk. then again, your cup gives it away. “y/n, have you been drinking?” he sounds concerned. everything is funny to you right now. you giggle out a “yes.”

peter doesn’t want to be that person, but you’re not acting right. he reaches for your drink. you pull it away too abruptly, and some of it spills onto the floor. “you... you’re so...“ you start losing your balance. “woah.” peter wraps an arm around your waist to steady you. he takes the drink out of your hand and sets it on the table.

frowning, he throws your arm around his shoulders so he can help you get upstairs. “come on, y/n/n.” you don’t argue this time. you’re at the part of being drunk where it doesn’t feel good anymore. peter holds you close to his side and walks you out of the kitchen. he stops to talk to ned for a second.

“hey, man. y/n’s parents are gonna be home soon. could you get everyone out?” he says into his ear. “why can’t she do it?” peter moves out of the way so he’s not blocking you. ned sees. you’re completely faded. “oh, shit. is she okay?” he whisper yells. “i’m gonna take care of her.” “i’ll tell everyone to go.” peter presses his lips into a tight smile, then he’s taking you up to your room.

you flop down onto your bed face first. peter shuts the door behind you. “you okay?” he chuckles, you nodding with your face smushed into the comforter. he’d think it was cute if you weren’t piss drunk. gently nudging you, he moves you so you’re on your back.

“let’s get you out of this.” “ooh, betty was right. you do like me in a skirt,” you giggle and bat your eyelashes at him. he huffs. “no, i mean you have to put on pajamas.” you’re pouting now. “you don’t like me in a skirt?” after going through your drawers, he comes back over with a big t-shirt and fuzzy pants. “i never said that.”

you grin again and grab them from him. “ha.” “do you need help changing?” he sits at the edge of your bed. you’re still laying down. he’s not sure you can handle getting up. “no. don’t be creepy,” you say completely serious. peter has to remind himself you’re drunk. “you were the one who thought i wanted you naked, but ok.”

making peter close his eyes, you peel the costume off your body. you got pretty sweaty. you kick everything onto the floor and start putting on your pajamas. your head gets stuck in an arm hole by accident, so peter has to fix that. the rest is fine. he’s about to bring you into the bathroom to brush your teeth, but you face plant into his lap. you’re out.

the next morning, you wake up feeling like ass. your breath is hot and tastes disgusting. your head is pounding. you could throw up. you’re not even sure how you ended up in your bed. then, you notice peter sitting at your desk. he must have helped you in.

a vague memory of him tucking you under the covers while you whined comes back to you, along with a few others. one of them is of him and liz. the whole reason you did this to yourself.

“hey.” your voice comes out hoarse. “hi.” peter nods and points to your night table. there’s a fresh glass of water. you drink it all down as fast as humanely possible, a hand on your heart. it doesn’t phase him after what you did last night. you set the empty glass down and pat the spot next to you. peter sits by your side.

he’s still dressed as han solo, but his vest and belt are sprawled out on the floor. the boots are under your desk. he actually stayed all night for you.

“i think i’m hungover.” you rest your head against his arm. his body relaxes. “you didn’t drink that much. mj said she gave you half a beer,” he almost laughs, you groaning. “that means i’m a lightweight.” “for now.” your arm wrapping around his, you look up at him.

“sorry you had to deal with me. am i in trouble?” “nah, your parents don’t know. we cleaned everything up before they got home.” he lightly pats the top of your head with two fingers. you squeeze your eyes shut when he does it. “you did? thank you so much, wow.” peter nods and smiles for a second.

he lays his back against the pillow on his side. “let’s just pretend that never happened.” “you’re good at pretending,” you mumble to yourself. you’re not as quiet as you think because peter hears it. “um, what?” you feel too woozy to come up with a cover. letting out a breath, you take your head and hands off of him.

“i saw you talking with liz.” “she wanted to know if i could lead decathlon practice next week. she’s not gonna be in school,” he says slowly, not getting it. “why?” having to spell it out is making you frustrated. “didn’t you say you don’t like her anymore?” “yeah, i don’t.”

“so, why was she being all... touchy?” the jealousy is clear in your voice. peter shrugs. “that’s how liz is. i still don’t get why it matters.” you ease yourself to sit up and turn to face him. those three words you’ve been meaning to tell him are on the absolute tip of your tongue. they’re about to come out.

then...

“i like you, y/n.”

peter says them for you.

you’re so surprised you nearly vomit for real. or, it could be the possible hangover. almost a minute has gone by when you realize you’ve been sitting there with your mouth hanging open. you swallow your spit. “you... you do?” “a lot. i kept trying to tell you, but there was never a good time.” his voice is softer now.

“i realized after homecoming. i wished i went with you instead of...” he doesn’t have to finish the sentence. you nod, a small smile spreading across your face. peter’s eyes are so hopeful. “i like you, too. a lot.” your gaze trails down to his lips.

“i’d kiss you if my breath didn’t stink.” “i’ll let you owe me one.” he’s fully grinning now, and both of you laugh. they’re the kind of laughs you do because you’re so happy you don’t know what to say.

peter presses his lips to your temple, your eyes fluttering closed. “get some more sleep. i’m gonna ask you out when you wake up,” he mumbles against your hair. you grab his hand that’s resting on the comforter. “can you stay with me?” “of course.”

he lays down next to you. you pull back the covers so he can get under them. your head is resting on his chest, an arm around his torso. both of his hug your waist. you’re instantly comfortable cuddled up in his embrace. you drift off to sleep with a smile.

this feels like such a dream. it’s the exact type of situation you’d make up in your head. but, it’s real. peter is still holding you when you wake up. he’s not going anywhere.

[thran-duils]

Total Eclipse (P.2)

Title: Total Eclipse (Part Two) Summary: Fem!Reader x Sherlock Holmes (RDJ). Sherlock had an impression on the reader from a formative age but he was always so busy running with cases. Their moments of passions were coveted between the two but they were few and far between. He left with Watson on a case and in that time, her parents found her a suitable man to give her to. Wealthy and accomplished. Sherlock and her have not been able to let go of each other though. Words: 3,792 Warnings (for the whole fic): Angst, infidelity, smut, swearing, substance abuse, non liner storyline, character death, 18+ as always Author’s Note: There is heavy backstory here in italics! I was reading up on Victorian customs and tbh, I’m not privy to it at all, so I apologize if things are not historically accurate!

Part One || Part Three || Masterpost (mobile) || Fanfic masterpost

You walked away from where your ladies tea was going on, brushing your skirts out. You had begun to become uncomfortable sitting on the blanket and wanted to stretch your legs.

“Do not wander too far,” your mother called out to you.

“Of course not, mother,” you called back over your shoulder.

She would not notice how far you wandered when she was this engrossed in the latest gossip from the castle.

Coming onto the cobblestone, your eyes set on the fountain. There were goldfish inside and you made a point to always come to the fountain when you visited this park. You nodded at a couple as you passed them, exchanging pleasant smiles. They did eye you somewhat curiously at the fact you were walking alone but pleasant, nonetheless. Reaching the edge of the fountain, you leaned over, peering into it.

Just as you were reaching into the fountain, a small gust of wind hit you and you felt your hat fly off the top of your head. You let out a noise of frustration, turning around, eyes searching. It was tumbling away and coming to the feet of a gentleman sitting on a bench. His eyes were on you, and you had a feeling they had been for a bit.

He dipped down, picking your hat up from the cobble stone and stood up from the bench. His hands came up to brush at it as he walked towards you. He was careful with the fabric, his own coat bristling in the small breeze at his sides.

“Your hat, miss,” he said holding it out to you, giving a small bow.

You thanked him and took it.

He was terribly handsome. Dark hair, tousled just so, not to the point that he looked unkempt. His eyes were an alluring shade of chocolate. There was a playfulness in them and they excited you.

“You must keep a good hold on that. It’s woven perfectly,” he continued.

“Perfectly?” you asked, putting the hat back on.

“Yes. It’s immaculate. The stitchwork. Whoever did it took great care. I believe it is the work of the hatter on Bishop’s Gate, east end?” Your mouth fell open in surprise as you pulled the ribbon down beneath your chin and you froze. He gave a light chuckle at your expression, “Sorry, I have a keen eye for detail and a memory to boot. May I?” He asked suddenly, his hands reaching ever so slightly towards your face, eyes on the ribbons for a moment to explain what he was asking.

You stilled, your hands falling to your sides, and he took it as invitation. You breathed easily even though your heart jumped at him being so close. You did not even know this man; he was bold. Coming forward, his hands latched to the ribbons, tying it better than you could. He had a nice smelling aftershave and you locked eyes, your breath hitching. He was suspended in your gaze for a moment before clearing his throat.

He gave a brief smile as he pulled away. “That’s better.”

Something had happened there. And you pressed it.

“Are you sure you would like to tie it that tight? I may want to lose it again if it means you’ll fetch it for me?” you asked.

He actually looked amused, and you were relieved. You were constantly scolded from a young age for being so coquettish. “Bold. Aren’t you?”

“I’ve been told so.”

“Miss….?”

“Miss Y/N L/N. And you?”

“Sherlock.”

“That’s it, then?”

Now he was coy. “For now.”

“So, there’s to be a future, then? Between us?”

He caught your wit, amused even further. Thankfully he did not think you crass and he did not chastise. He was returning your flirtations. “I think so, Miss Y/N.”

“Well, I look forward to the future then. You live in London?” you questioned.

“Yes. Do you?”

“Most of the time.”

“’Most of the time?’” Sherlock repeated and you shrugged.

“Sometimes I dream of escaping. It takes up some of my time, pulling me away from here.”

He smirked at that. “I suppose I should say most of the time too. My mind pulls me to places. As well as my job.”

“Lucky you,” you said sincerely, and his expression was warm. He was interested in you. He was older, not terribly but there was distance. Reaching out, you touched his topcoat. “You are a bit of a pyromaniac it seems. Or just terrible with the cherries of your cigars. Please tell me it’s not the latter.”

“What makes you say that?”

You cocked your head and pulled down his vest and his eyebrows rose at the movement as you exposed some of his chest hair peaking out from beneath his dress shirt. You ignored his stunned look, doing your best to not linger on his exposed chest. Your finger landed on his dress shirt, pointing out the singe. “Do you think I’m blind, Mr. Sherlock?”

He let out a small laugh.. “I thought I hid it well enough beneath the vest.”

“You must not move as quickly as you have been to keep it hidden. Now, tell me. Why would you not just get a new shirt? You surely have the money. I mean, if you know the hatters on Bishop’s. And it’s not just anyone that splurges on a silk tie.”

He cocked his head, eyes running up and down you. You smiled in response, seeing you had impressed him.

“I haven’t gotten around to it,” he shrugged.

“Busy man, then.”

“Quite.”

“Too busy to escort me through the park?” you asked.

He eyed you and asked, “Would that be entirely inappropriate? We did not set this up beforehand.”

You shrugged now and said, “I could tell the gallant story of how you saved my hat from getting dirty in the mud. And I asked for you to walk me back. I did get quite a look for being on my own on the way over here.”

Sherlock’s lips pulled into a smile, and he gestured for you to walk. You were thankful he had initiated it; it was societally appropriate for him to initiate everything. How you wished you could loop arms but that itself would be societally inappropriate considering you had just met. Your mother would simply have a heart attack if she saw that, especially with so many possible suitors in the park.

He came to a stop, and you stopped as well, watching him curiously as he left the path. He reached for the rose bush, and you grimaced as he reached straight into it. He could cut his hands. But he yanked, his fingers moving ever so, pulling a single rose off the bush. His hand was unharmed.

He presented it to you, and you took it gently.

“A token of appreciation of your company, Miss L/N,” he said.

Examining it, you observed, “Pink. Are you of grace and sweetness? Or is that to refer to me?”

“I would have given red would it have been readily available,” he smiled, and you felt heat creep. “Also, pink can symbolize admiration. That is breaching on the red, is it not?”

You shrugged, keeping it close. “Yes, I suppose so. A fine point.”

The two of you walked on and Sherlock asked lightheartedly, “Where is your escort, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I am here with a ladies group. They’re probably sitting at the blankets still, tittering about the gossip,” you responded. “My mother especially. She loves being in the center of all the gossip and drama.”

“My, I must watch my back returning you. Would not want to start any rumors.”

“Would rumors about us be so bad, Mr. Sherlock?”

He was tickled. “You really have no shame, do you?”

“Only in the presence of people I think I can trust. Not all women are complete straight laces. And frankly, most are only that way in public. Have you not spent a lot of time with women in private spaces?”

Sherlock chuckled, “That is a very loaded question, my dear. Where did you ever learn to banter like this?”

“I have an older brother. And your ‘dear’?”

“Have I offended you?”

“Not in the slightest.”

His eyes were alight, sharing a look with you. It was only interrupted as you passed another couple and nodded at them, Sherlock doing the same.

“Ah, like I said,” you said coming back over the bridge. You spotted them still eating their small cakes and sipping on their tea. Sherlock followed your gaze and you leaned in, “Thank you for providing me a walk. My legs had become quite numb sitting on the ground for so long.”

“My pleasure,” Sherlock responded.

You saw that one of the women had noticed you and Sherlock approaching over the bridge and you needed to hurry up the conversation. Pressing your luck, you asked, “Do you happen to have an invite to the Mayberry Ball?”

“Unfortunately,” Sherlock sniffed.

“Would it still be unfortunate if I was there?” you inquired.

Sherlock’s eyes were locked with yours and you came to a stop in the path. You stared at him with sincerity, waiting for his answer.

He cleared his throat, looking away. “It would liven up the event, that is for sure. I am terribly bored at those events, but I am dragged along by my… partner.”

“‘Partner?’” you asked, your fiery hope getting water doused on it.

“Confidant. Flatmate,” Sherlock explained quickly sensing your discomfort, meeting your gaze once more. You visibly relaxed, and he no doubt noticed. He resumed walking with you down the path. “He encourages me to get out. It is why I am at the park today. I had only been out for about a quarter of an hour before you showed up and I had already been considering heading back inside.”

“What a shame, sir. To hide yourself away. Who knows who you’ll meet if you only ventured out?” you stated, shrugging in a lighthearted manner.

“Too true,” Sherlock returned, eyes bright. He shot a look towards where the tea was being held and then cleared his throat, straightening up. “Well, it looks like we have been found out, Miss L/N. I suppose I should let you get back to your lunch. I have taken up too much of your time.”

“The pleasure was mine, Mr. Sherlock,” you assured him as you reached the edge of the grass.

Sherlock gave you a curt bow and turned towards the ladies and gave them a smile and a bow as well in acknowledgment. The ladies bowed their head in return, and you kept yourself from smirking at the fact they all looked like chickens bobbing their heads in unison, eyes fixated on him.

“Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. Make sure to keep that hat tied tightly, Miss L/N,” he told you before turning on his heel and walking off.

You watched him walk off for a few moments before turning back to the tea.

Your mother was on you the second you sat down.

“Who was that man? And where did you get that rose?”

“My hat flew off and he fetched it for me before it went into the mud. I was foolish, I should have tied it before walking off. A gust of wind caught it,” you told her calmly, fixing your skirts around your legs as you relaxed in your sitting position. “And I made a comment about the roses, so he picked one for me. I was afraid the poor man was going to hurt his fingers, but he was careful. Very kind of him to do so, it does smell lovely.”

“And his name?”

“Mr. Sherlock.”

Your mother eyed where he had walked off and she said, “Why does that name not sound familiar?”

The other ladies looked at a loss as well and you merely shrugged in response. “Maybe he is new to the city. I am grateful he walked me back. Are there any cucumber sandwiches left? I am famished.” You acted as if you had little interest in him to get your mother off your back, but you were already thinking of what gown to wear to the Mayberry Ball.

<><><>

You looked down at your gown for the umpteenth time, making sure nothing had spilled on it. You had chosen a deep purple, silk brocade with silver detail. It was one of your finest and your mother encouraged it, considering it was the courting season and especially since it was your fourth season. Your father listened to you when you told him you were uninterested in the men who had tried to court you thus far, but you knew even his patience would wear thin with your pickiness and your hand would be forced.

Eyes wandering, you stood by where your brother was recounting a story to your father and mother. People spun to the dance, others off to the side, exchanging flirtations. You suddenly locked eyes with Sherlock across the room.

He grinned briefly before raising his eyebrows. He turned, disappearing back into the hallway behind him.

Your family was distracted with your older brother, and you easily slipped away through the crowd, following where he had gone. The hallway was empty and there were doors at the end of it. You pushed them open and were expecting him. But you were met with empty air and your brow furrowed.

“Sneaking away, Miss L/N?”

You startled hearing him from behind you. He was sitting on a bench against the wall, nestled between two tall plants.

Stomping over you glowered down at him.

“Did I offend somehow?” he asked as he stood up from the bench.

You scoffed, “You told me to sneak away! And then you startle me!”

“I did nothing of the sort! I merely made a face. And you assumed from there. I don’t argue your detection skills though.”

“Why do I feel as if you are jesting?”

“Never.”

You sighed before saying, “Well, I would accept a dance. But I am sure my mother would be on you in a second. She was already curious about the walk.”

“As you suspected. And she should be. A strange gentleman walking her daughter through the park. Especially during the season. And who said I danced?”

“Is that why you were standing on the outskirts?”

“I could ask you the same thing.”

You cocked an eyebrow and said, “If you haven’t noticed, I am single. I am to be escorted at these types of events. My father and brother were keeping me close until someone approached me to ask for a dance.”

“You’d already danced with three by my count.”

“You were watching me. For how long?”

“The detail on your gown is exquisite.”

“Will you always compliment my clothing? Is there nothing else about me to compliment?”

There was a pause, the two of you staring at the other. Sherlock’s lips twitched and he hid a smile. “It would be inappropriate of a me to engage in other compliments, no matter how much they are warranted.” Well, that answered your question in a sly manner, much to your pleasure. “But, being found outside with a man alone would tarnish your reputation. And yet you followed. Speaking of inappropriate.”

“And you encouraged it. Plus, it is not like I am a lady. I’m simply middle class. It would not affect me as greatly.”

“I would not say ‘simply’ in that regard. It is very respectable to be middle class. Especially since I can deduce your family is further into the elite side of it. And on the contrary, not being upper class, the situation which we are describing would certainly affect you greater considering you are closer to having less equity if a suitable match was not made within your own social class. Middle-middle class is less than lower upper class.”

He noticed your eyes were narrowed and he cleared his throat, stopping in his speech.

“Do you always speak so much?” you asked him.

“Yes.”

You spotted your brother going through the crowd inside in earnest, certainly searching for you.

“Well, do not change, Mr. Sherlock,” you told him, giving him a quick smile. His interest was piqued by the comment, and you added, “I’m quite serious. It amuses me so. You have intellect. But I must take my leave. I spot my brother who is certainly going to talk my ear off in an unpleasant way about wandering off alone. Even if I say I was using the lavatory and did not want to interrupt their conversation.”

“If you find yourself on New Bond Street…” you said in invitation. Sherlock looked taken aback and you quickly said, “I am sorry. I did not mean to be too forward.”

“No,” he recovered quickly. He chuckled, shaking his head. “No, that’s not it. You are just… very close to me. A few blocks actually… fascinating.”

You saw your brother cross again and you hurried, “Oh, well, yes, that is. What a coincidence. Well, good night. I hope to see you again.” You gave him a half curtsy before you turned.

He grabbed your hand and you stopped, facing him again. He brought your gloved hand up to his lips and gave it a kiss, keeping his eyes on you. “And I as well.”

A smile was on your lips as he let your hand go and you hurried back through the doors back to the ballroom.

<><><>

The day after your tryst with Sherlock, you were not surprised you were called on at home. Thankfully, Arthur was not home.

“A gentlemen is here to see you, ma’am. A Mr. John Watson.”

You greeted him in the parlor, the door cracked. You did not want to arouse suspicion about this gentleman visiting you while Arthur was out, no matter if he was known as an acquaintance. Although, he was far closer to you than anyone in the household would ever know. If the maids wanted to eavesdrop, they could do so gladly.

“John,” you greeted him and he took his hat off to greet you in turn.

“Y/N, you look lovely as always,” he complimented as one of your maids brought in a tray of tea.

John waited for you to seat yourself before he sat down as well. You reached forward, preparing two cups of tea for the pair of you.

“Thank you. You look well. Mrs. Hudson must be feeding the two of you well.”

“Quite,” he answered.

“Sugar?”

“Please.”

You handed him his tea and he placed it in front of him.

John asked point blank, “How was he?”

Of course John knew you had seen him. If Sherlock left 221B Baker, you were one of, if not the first, stops he would take on most of the time if John was not with him.

“He was Sherlock.”

John took a drink and you watched him closely. He met your eyes again and sighed, “He’s been manic.”

“Then it’s a good thing he’s coming back out to see us then, correct? He confirmed he would be at the masquerade.”

“It’s gotten worse since—”

“I don’t need to be reminded again,” you told John.

“I think you do. Are you happy here?”

You bristled at the comment. Why did men think they had such a liberty to comment on your choices? Maybe you should have closed the door, but you did not expect something like this from John of all people. Sherlock, certainly. But not him.

John noticed your expression and he opened his mouth, but you cut in testily in quiet tones.

“I wish you wouldn’t speak so loudly about such matters right under my husband’s roof.”

You did get up now and go to the door, closing it. This was turning into something else entirely than what you had expected. John was watching and you hoped he realized he needed to be quick about this to not give too much time for them to speculate what was happening in here. You sat back down.

He matched your quiet tones, thankfully, even with the door closed. “It’s the most sure-fire way to get your attention on the matter.”

Taking a drink of your own tea, you kept your eyes pinned on him. Swallowing, you placed your cup back down delicately. “I cannot leave my husband.”

“I wasn’t asking you to do that.”

Cocking your head, you asked, “Then what are you asking, John?” His lips were pursed and you knew you had caught him. You shrugged, “You’re asking me to leave my husband. Divorce is illegal for me to initiate if you have forgotten.”

“I know that. He’s always better after he sees you.”

“But?” you asked, knowing there was more.

“But he always reverts.”

“Because he’s not with me?”

John gave you a look now and he said, “You know it is true.”

“John, is this for you or for him?”

“Can it not be both?” he asked honestly. “I am concerned for my friend, and I can simultaneously be concerned for my own mental health and anxiety.”

You sighed heavily, looking out the window.

“I know it is near impossible for you to obtain divorce – or even a separation – but… if you simply saw him more.”

“How?”

“Bring him into your circle. Then it would not be suspicious if the two of you were speaking with each other. On the street, in a restaurant, at the park.”

“You know it not just speaking that Sherlock and I engage in,” you whispered.

John rose his brows, looking embarrassed, but said, “I know. But just seeing more often may encourage him to imbibe less and relax.”

“Do you understand how much I wish I could be with him?” you asked seriously. John was quiet and you shrugged. “There will always be a hole, John, for me.”

John leaned forward and said, “Then try what I am suggesting. Please.”

Studying his face, you exhaled, running the risk of the idea through your mind. Sherlock was unorthodox, but perhaps he could put up a front to be around the gentlemen your husband surrounded himself with. It was farfetched but… possibly.

“I’ll consider it. I am going to see him tomorrow night at the ball. I trust you are attending?”

John nodded, “Yes. I am.”

“Good,” you told him, getting up again and going back to open the door a crack. You did not see anyone in the hall but you doubted they had not been there and had only run away when they heard your footfalls coming towards the door. Facing him again, you said in your normal voice, “I am looking forward to the gooseberry pie myself.”

~~~

Fic tags: @undecidedsworld @mcnegan

[itskatastrophe-x]

Far Off Places (CH 2)

Chapter 1 , Chapter 2 , Chapter 3

Word Count : 3,022

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It took a few hours to wake up, but when you did, you sat up in a cold sweat, sharp pains shooting through your ribs, legs, and back. Almost three days of walking and running had taken a huge toll on your body. You scrunched your face in pain and shot a hand to your chest, noticing bandages around your arm and hand. That’s when you were very aware of your surroundings and two other figures in your peripheral. You looked at them in shock, their faces mirroring your same expression. You remembered the one with the wings just as you fell to the ground, but this second person you hadn’t seen. How many people were here, you wondered.

You tried to speak but your throat was raw and all that came out were raspy whispers and coughs. The one with wings looked at the taller one and motioned to a doorway. The taller one nodded and walked away swiftly, coming back seconds later with a bottle of water and another one full of a sparkling pink liquid. He handed you both of them and advised to drink the pink one first and wash it down with the water, explaining it was a health potion. You obliged and gulped it as fast as you could, almost gagging from the taste, and quickly chugged and swished the water after, feeling the effects almost instantly. You thanked them both and handed the bottles back to the boy and he took them back through the doorway, leaving you and the winged man alone. You fiddled with the bandages on your arms for a moment and cleared your throat a couple times before finally speaking.

“Where am I? Who are you? Thank you for the help.” The man lightly chuckled and took off his hat, his hair falling to frame his face. “My name is Philza, but you can call me Phil. The other one is Ranboo, he’s our friend that lives over by the mountain.” His voice had a very thick accent, unlike the boy, Ranboo. You nodded and he continued. “You’re outside of the Dream SMP. I live with Ranboo here with Technoblade. He goes by Techno. He’s currently asleep and we’re not sure when he’ll wake up. You’ve seen our dogs,” he chuckles out, drawing a smile onto your face. You scratch the back of your neck and heat makes its way to your face. “I’m sorry if I woke you. Your dogs made quite the ruckus.” He smiles fondly at you and waves you off. “Oh, don’t worry about it. We’re normally up around that time anyway. Days have been pretty restless lately, what with all the wars and such going on.”

He notices the worry on your face and goes on. “We tend to stay out of things. We’ve been involved too many times and we all like to keep things peaceful. These cabins are essentially a safe place. No one really knows where we live and we’d like to keep it that way. You aren’t here as a spy are you?” You shake your head and look down at your hands, bruises and cuts litter your body, but are slowly fading thanks to the potion from earlier. “No, I uh…” You clear your throat and steel yourself to speak more. “I… I travelled for three days to get here. My homeland was destroyed and I have nowhere to go.”

You look up at the man, the younger boy now standing next to him, staring at you in wonder and concern, the same concern seen in Phil’s eyes. “I’m still not sure how much I can trust anyone so I won’t say much more, but I lost my home and everyone I know. I’ve come a long way and I need somewhere safe. The person that murdered and burned my home could still be out there, and I need help. I know we’re strangers but I hope to trust you two more. You seem like nice people and, if you’re willing, I’d like to find some help some day to go back and figure out what happened.”

They both stare at you for a while until Phil smiles politely and nods. “Of course! Do you have a name you’d like us to call you?” You think for a minute, not being able to come up with a name to go by so as to keep your real name hidden. Ranboo speaks up a minute later. “We could call you Faer, if that’s ok. As a name it means Traveler.” You smile brightly at the small  name and nod. “I guess that fits, seeing as I am technically a traveler now. I didn’t do much of that back home, so sure, let’s go with that.” They both nod in unison. “Faer,” you say to yourself. A fitting name, short and sweet and it rolled off the tongue nicely. Maybe one day when you knew you could trust them you’d tell them your real name, but for now that nickname would do.

They gave you some supplies, a bed, and some armor and better clothes after you got some rest and pointed you to a good spot to set up your own little home. They also gave you a map of the surrounding areas and gave you a rundown of some of the people that lived in the main cities, but there were so many that you forgot half of them. Ranboo followed you out to pick a spot to settle down, idly chatting about how life was in the area, who to stay away from, where all the farms were, and just general stuff to pass the time. Eventually you ran out of wood so you both ventured into the woods to chop some more.

After a couple hours, your small abode was looking good. It wasn’t anything fancy or as big as Techno or Phil’s houses, but it did the job. All you had to do yet was finish putting walls up inside, decorating, and making it pretty outside. You added some fences to give yourself a front yard, placed torches to liven up the place, and also made a small deck out front facing the aforementioned houses. It took a couple more hours of work to get the inside done, but everything was done around sunset and you were ready to pass out. Phil came over close to the end and said Techno was awake and they would be over soon to welcome you in. You were grateful to have such a warm welcome, but you were still on edge. How well could you trust these people? Sure, they gave you plenty of things and were friendly, but it felt like they were hiding something or were keeping information away from you. The way they would shirk off certain questions or avoid subjects completely was weird. You assumed it was because they didn’t trust you either, so you shrugged it off. You were a stranger to them. A person that ended up passing out on their land, giving them no info on who you were or where you came from. You were lucky you ended up here, though. Hearing some of the stories Ranboo told you made you glad this was the closest on your journey.

Ranboo returned, after leaving to clean himself up, with some flowers, a diamond sword, and a couple emeralds to get you started. After chatting with him for a couple minutes you heard a knock on your front door, signaling the return of Phil. You hopped off of your seat and opened the door to greet him. He had a couple dishes of various kinds of foods piled into his arms, so you gladly took some from him. What you were not prepared for was Techno. You didn’t know what to expect, as Phil had given no description, but the tall half pig, half human standing behind the winged man with a disgruntled look on his face, flowing red cape, and glinting golden crown was absolutely something you weren’t expecting. I mean, you weren’t one to judge, you just had no clue what to expect. Phil walked past you and asked Ranboo for help setting everything up, leaving you with the large man. He gave you a huff and walked past you, cape gently hitting you in the shins as the wind from him walking pushed it out behind him. You stood there, slightly in shock with the door open, as he made himself at home in your new living room. You closed the door and turned around to see him with his head hanging off the back of the couch, eyes closed and arms crossed. He did just wake up, maybe he’s still tired.

The night was going well in your eyes. You and Ranboo were getting along well and you could see why he was saying Phil was very much like a powerful father figure. Techno joined in on some conversations occasionally when he thought he had something to say. You asked him some simple questions but he refused to answer anything. You chalked it up to him not trusting you at all so you let it slide and shrugged it off. Phil had nudged him or elbowed him a few times if he thought he was getting out of line, but you waved it off saying you weren’t bothered. Honestly you weren’t bothered. You had heard worse in your courts back at home, so little phased you at this point. Thinking about your home had apparently made you zone out, because you were brought back to real life when you heard your new name being called. Ranboo had shook your shoulder lightly, concern etched onto his and Phil’s faces, amusement and curiosity finally glinting in Techno’s eyes. You laughed lightly and put a hand to your face, feeling wetness on your cheeks. When had you started crying?

“Faer, are you ok? What’s wrong?” Ranboo’s hand retracted and he stared at you with intense focus, very clearly concerned. You looked down at your empty plate, long forgotten from the hours before during your conversations. You contemplated telling them the truth, second guessed yourself, then shook your head and covered your face with both hands, letting out a short sigh. You knew you would have to tell them eventually, and you supposed now was as good a time as any. You started off at your lineage, being born into a royal family, being sheltered since you were young, your training and lessons. Everything shortened into smaller stories to keep things simplified. Everything leading up to your parents inevitable deaths and you becoming the ruler of a whole kingdom.

Techno had perked at the words “royal family”, finally becoming invested in something and listening closely, asking questions every once in a while. Ranboo and Phil sat in shock as Techno had basically taken over the conversation, you pouring out details as he asked. You weren’t sure why exactly you were letting him get so much out of you, but all of them seemed to relax the more you talked about your past, until finally you reached the downfall of your oversized city. Ranboo had gotten more invested in this, and seemed to want to figure out how it happened as well. He said he was a fan of theories and small details that seemed to be hidden, so he agreed to helping you find the arsonist.

They asked for coordinates so you got up, grabbed all the plates to take them to the kitchen, found your journal, and brought it back to where everyone was sitting. Ranboo’s eyes lit up as he watched you flip through the pages and you caught onto his gaze and smiled. He opened his own bag and brought out a journal silently, smiling the whole time, mentioning how he kept his own journals. You made a mental note to try to ask about them at another point as he put his away. You finally flipped to the page holding info about your kingdom and pulled out a map from between the pages as well, flipping them to face Techno and Phil. They looked over everything and you watched intently as they pointed and flipped, exchanging words every few seconds.

“We can just make a portal,” Techno finally grunts out. “Most of our locations we stay in have portals to each and highways connecting to the main portal by the community house. The only thing we would worry about is having you out and about. Some of the people here… Aren’t so trustworthy.” You think back to your conversation with Ranboo and nod. “Yeah, Ranboo said something about an Egg? What’s that all about?” They all go quiet and you feel like you’ve asked the wrong question. “I’m assuming it’s nothing good, so I won’t press anymore, but if it’s unavoidable then you’ll have to tell me eventually.” Phil speaks up from his side of the table. “Well, all we should tell you now is to not touch the vines, and if you hear anything to let us know right away. Don’t trust any bad thoughts.” You were taken back by that but hesitantly croaked out an ‘ok’ and left it there.

You all spent the last hour together coming up with a plan to get you to your kingdom, what you could look for, and who else you might be able to trust. The date was decided to be set for a week from the present day and you would find two more people, Karl and Sapnap. Ranboo said you would get along well with them and they were people they knew could help that had a lot of knowledge. Karl was a master at problem solving and a time traveler (though he still didn’t know exactly how to control it and only used it when he had to), and Sapnap was born in fire so he knew it well, meaning he might be able to know something from the wreckage. After everything was said and done, you were waving goodbye as they all crossed the snow covered field to their separate homes.

You shut the door and sighed, leaning your back against the solid wood plank, your head also falling back to rest on it, eyes closing as you listened to your breathing and heartbeat. The gentle crackling from the fireplace and torches calmed your nerves more as you pushed off the door and made your way to the kitchen to extinguish some of the lights. After cleaning up and tidying everything, you looked over the living room once more and smiled to yourself, finding your way up the stairs and into your bathroom to wash off and get ready to sleep.

All this alone time gave you time to think about the plans, and the more you thought, the more you doubted this person named Sapnap. You were told he had some kind of fire ability, and seeing as most of your kingdom was set on fire, you didn’t think he was very trustworthy. No matter how far away this place was, he was still suspicious to you. I mean, what were you supposed to think when you got to a random location and on the first day upon arrival you were told that there was someone here with a fire ability? Were you just supposed to trust this stranger immediately, just like that? You didn’t like that thought at all, but you trusted Ranboo and Phil enough already that you figured you should give this Sapnap guy a chance.

And with those last few thoughts, you finished settling in to sleep, finally in a proper bed after three long days. The thick blanket and the flickering light of the last embers in the hearth helped you to drift off to sleep. You made a mental note to write in your journal when you wake up, since you were exhausted and could barely keep your eyes open.

Hot. Burning. Loud crashing. Your eyes snapped open and you were finally aware of your surroundings. Your kingdom around you, burning to the ground, craters dotted the ground. You were surrounded by fire. You screamed out in pain and searched for a safe way out. Why was this happening? No. You knew the answer, you just had to remember. Right? Right! Dreams. You could solve things using your dreams, being thrown back into the middle of situations to see what went wrong. To look over missed details. The only downside was the fact that all your senses still worked. It was like time travelling but without all the paradoxical consequences. Essentially just to play detective.

You ran through the blaze, trying to find a safe path while also looking for clues. There was nothing but destruction, burnt remains, and the smell of burning wood. You finally made it to a clearing where the plaza in front of the castle was, and there in the distance between all the red flames and black smoke, there was a flash of color. It was fast, so you almost missed it, but it was there. Who was that? With that thought alone, you were sprinting in the same direction, not caring about the flames that would kiss your skin or the ember covered logs that would catch your legs. You needed this lead, no matter what kind of pain you went through.

You spent what felt like hours running around. Your legs felt like they were being torn apart, your skin was burning and blistered in a lot of spots, and it was getting too hard to breathe. There was no sign of the green that you saw earlier, so you gave into your body and fell to the brick walkway under you, the rough texture stinging your skin. You closed your eyes, breathing heavily, hoping you would wake up soon. Then you heard it. The sound of feet on the pavement ahead of where you laid. Your body hurt as you lifted your head, vision going fuzzy and dark as the person neared. Green.