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advernia · 5 years

Text

push me off a bridge (to catch me as i fall)

a separate post for my ramblings for this fic!! it’s actually the longest thing i’ve written in a while, so i have a lot to ramble about haha;;

prelude

oh man... this started when two of my friends decided to go through edgar’s route at the same time AND also decided to go reacting to every single part of the route through burst texting AT THE SAME TIME, effectively flooding my inbox.... they were fully aware that i was at a seminar and unable to reply... now my inbox is filled with so much edgar screaming i cannot... (゜▽゜;)

screaming aside they were also very willing to read whatever drafts of edgar/mc i had available and this was their favorite!! thanks to them, i decided to finish this omfg... i’m actually so proud that i got this done but tbh it was getting so long that i had half a mind to let go of it already halfway through scene three haha... (;*△*;)

this has uh... some fighting scenes and tbh the first draft had absolutely none of it... this is my first time actually writing long(?) scenes and while i found thinking about them to be fun, putting them into words was some struggle??? like... i've been told that it looks okay but idk it feels clunky to me. oh well ＼| ￣ヘ￣|／

general stuff + war phase, baby!

initially this was only meant to be 3 parts + primarily focused on edgar/mc + with an unnamed mc as usual! but then since it’s an au of kyle’s route, i found myself wanting to flesh out the relationship of edgar & mc when set in a different angle + circumstances rather than just automatically implying attraction...

plus their relationship canonically starts off on the wrong foot in that route & edgar’s fully aware that mc isn’t exactly comfortable around him, so it really doesn’t sit well if i just... put them together, lol. so thus we have five scenes of them getting(?) closer!(???)

in short its a hella slow burn and not gonna lie, when i was writing their scenes i was like f i n a l l y... bless... ಠ ּ͜೦

one of the reasons i like kyle’s route is bc i actually got some feel of an actual war??? idk i think there’s so much plot that u can fill in with it, so i decided going for alternating scenes of the battlefield + med tent. while there's glimpses of the action going on, there’s also the sort of complimenting(???) or offsetting more emotional perspective of what goes on with the medics.

tbh i stared long and hard at the cradle map when formulating some tactics and i gotta say i had a hard time calming myself down bc...

in kyle’s route, the red army has the advantage and have pushed the black army as far back as to their bridge, which means that more or less they’ve occupied central quarter... but what dawned on me was... where the hell did the red army position their encampment from there???

was an encampment even necessary given that they’re like, in a really convenient area????? they probably could’ve settled themselves in some houses but tbh okay maybe it isn’t so noble of the reds to do (imposing themselves n’ stuff) + they have larger numbers so accommodating all of them is a problem but still... where’d they set up camp??? u see, when kyle + mc step out of the med tent it shows the forest bg, so... where??? on the edges of the central quarter area are where u can see them trees??? on the civic center roof?!?!

well... a decent answer is that they could’ve set up several encampments around the area to ensure their hold on the central quarter... it still raises some questions but honestly it makes a lot more sense... but if not and they really decided to camp out like one big happy family all together, then don’t even get me started on the possibility that the camp was stationed somewhere around here:

because doing that doesn’t have a single lick of sense omfg especially tactics-wise haha... that’s like... why would you do that... you’re wasting all your advantages... o h b o y... so you bet when i remembered that mc + loki had to pass by a forest to get back to the encampment + encountered ray & some disciples i was like... u m m... why???? if technically the reds took hold of the whole central quarter area then it actually isn’t necessary to skulk around in the forest?????? yes yes i know safety precautions + avoiding detection but... dood... it’s safer to walk in claimed territory rather than the unstable one ahaha...

plus the thing about the black bridge... uh... it's just said in the route that lancelot handles it through magic and that's all. but when i thought back on it oh my god... what did he do??????? how is he still standing??? how much of his lifespan did he shave off just to salvage that situation??????????? how is the poor boi alive?????????? the whole fucking bridge literally falls apart and that's a whole lot of chaos and people and AHHHHH!?!?!¿¿¿¿ if ur gonna make the bridge collapse (good thing they didn't think of disintegrate) it probably cost the magic tower a hefty amount but get rekt lancelot still saves the fucking day, what a king - he's practically got one foot in the grave already... this dood, seriously ಥ_ಥ

there were other things i noticed in the process of writing this based on the route events but i was like fuck it, let’s think on that another day and leave it as it is (┛ಠДಠ)┛彡┻━┻ ily kyle but oh no my brain started reprocessing the other details of ur route

thinking about all that also made me think of other more stuff, like cradle economy + livelihood haha;; it’s stated in edgar’s route (well... it’s actually pretty obvious in other routes too) that the reds are richer than the blacks, so i went ahead and assumed that the former engages in something more lucrative like mining -> jewerly / raw material / mineral trade, while for the latter something more wholesome like agriculture. idk, it works. even moreso that the reds give off the whole nobility vibe while the blacks are simple and casual. even the bg screens of the red & black streets are polarizing.

then i also went over the rest of the chosen thirteen... while the reds show no obvious weapon variety (see: swords), i’d like to believe that they’re taught to be versatile enough no matter what the situation. plus, since they have the funding, i'd like to think they're skilled in magic manipulation, too. meanwhile the black army shows weapon variety, and i’d like to think that it’s because most of their recruits aren’t soldiers in the first place: they’re farmhands / hunters / village people turned soldiers, and it’s actually easier to let them go with what they know first before encouraging them or asking them to learn something new. thus axes and spears and possible unconventional stuff like caltrops.

crimson glory

one of the things i realized was in kyle’s route, mc isn’t exactly so buddy-buddy with the red crew in comparison to other routes. she gets minimal interactions with the four, and zero aside her relationships with the top three are rather... tense.

zero was the other red officer i was initially going to add aside from edgar & kyle, but i added all of them anyway. while they don't appear all together, all of them have scenes together with edgar.

the first edgar & jonah scene shows an obvious contrast - while he's being incredibly critical about it, jonah shows actual concern for the living situations in black army territory. on the other hand, edgar chooses to tease him about it, his joking more or less implying that he isn't that concerned / bothered about it at all. the game touches up on this sometimes, often with edgar commenting on how noble jonah is while jonah shows obvious distaste for edgar's callousness.

still, they work well together. personally i'm amused with a hc of mine that looking at how edgar fights / acts only spurs jonah to act more honorably while for edgar, being exposed to jonah's noble-ness more or less makes him curious to try being honorable from time to time lol. that still doesn't stop anyone from calling him the gentle demon tho ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

tbh since edgar is obviously sneaky on other routes i wouldn't put it past him to casually pressure lancelot to tell him wtf's going on with this war when he gets the inkling that something's wrong. edgar goes about this subtly not-so-subtly and in the most polite manner possible. lancelot knows him far too well to take bait tho - he makes sure to speak carefully since he's probably knows that edgar's going to pick apart at his words for meanings + implications, so it more or less leaves edgar a bit frustrated since it's clear that lancelot won't tell him much. still, edgar knows when not to cross the line - even he's not so keen on getting on lancelot's bad side.

that aside, i'd like to think that edgar respects lancelot a lot as a person + commander enough that he'd truly risk his life for him on instinct like a true soldier would. while i think i could've done more on writing the gravity of the collapsing bridge scene, i liked the last bit where edgar + zero immediately worried for lancelot.

let's be honest here tho in some way or another all of the reds chosen worry about their king bc bruh... let us in bruh...

the scenes of zero & edgar in the end are also my favorite! it isn’t much, but enjoyed writing their relationship briefly. tbh i think edgar is one of those people under the sleep = most vulnerable = death thinking (no thanks to claudius), so the fact that he allows himself to drift to sleep twice in zero's company is a definite sign of trust. then again, he's injured but still ( ᐛ )و

edgar, idike, kyle

y’know even if this is an edgar/mc thing, i found fleshing out the kyle/mc relationship equally important which i presented in scene three. personally speaking, i’d like to think that if ever kyle didn’t fall in love with mc (on his own route???) he’d still be watching over her anyway since her struggle in the medical field + war reminds him a bit of his younger self after his brother's death.

which is why he doesn't intervene with that one soldier scene - he doesn't coddle her either when she goes into a brief shock. perhaps it's bc he knows so well what she's going through, he decides to let her handle it on her own. this was her experience, not his. and to be fair, she asked to go to the front lines determined but wholly unprepared emotionally. he tried warning her, she wouldn’t listen. now she faces the consequences - how would she go about it?

i decided to slap a name into mc this time to highlight the trust plot: idk if i got it clearly across in the fic, but in times of war + for someone who’s been trained to be suspicious / cautious of everyone like edgar; secrets are a surefire way to catch attention + breed distrust.

tbh he's hella aware that the secret around her name is most likely personal and nothing dangerous, but it's better safe than sorry - by making sure she understands that keeping secrets wouldn't be of any good to her + situation, he gets reassurance that she really is harmless. how bad + seriously she takes it honestly surprises him tho, but then again she's been going through other stuff too so it all piled up.

idike isn’t my in-game name, but it’s the given name i spoke of in this ask, haha! initially scene five has her saying her full name (with surname), but i thought it would be more fitting if i didn’t lol ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

i tried to incorporate a mix of the personalities of edgar’s!mc + kyle’s!mc onto idike, tho at first i was only shooting for the latter - i think it kinda works??? while somewhat composed and determined (kyle’s), she still shows some naivete in her (edgar’s), especially concerning the ways of war + how secrecy & trust work in times of war.

i found emphasizing on her emotional struggle important, since it should be a big blow for her who’s never known the terror of war. the game touches upon on it a bit (tho it's post-med tent scenes) and i wanted to expand on it further since there are so many possible angles to go about it.

the i can’t heal you if you’re dead line sounds like something like shiro emiya might say but lol no i just remembered this p3 manga panel (pg 24) - its been years since i read it and i still love that line and i integrated it here... i was trying to expand that one scene for a while but then i just left it as it is.

in the catharsis scene where idike airs out everything, the fact that edgar fails to empathize with her + focuses more on her emotional state rather than offering actual help (advice maybe, but i honestly doubt he’d do that) reflects that he's still looking at her as an interesting creature and not her as a person. part 5 hints that this may be slowly changing, seeing as he called for her all of a sudden.

... idike probably keeps edgar’s glove as a token of friendship or smth haha ooPSSS i forgot to bring that back ahahaha..... ヘ（。□°）ヘ

ooofff i guess that’s all i have??? a big thank you to whoever read both hot messes™ and by that the fic + commentary itself!!! do feel free to hit the inbox for any comments + questions + more brainstorming + general screaming haha! ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

#rundown.txt #the last long fic i wrote was a 6k+ fe:if thing #that was 3 years ago whoooaaaa #apparently i went the extra mile for this one omfg

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warmau · 6 years

Text

shinee x mermaid!au

to celebrate the 6th album! and to thank shawols for staying strong! tw: water imagery, implied drowning

Onew

pearl farming mermaid

his clan of mermaids is known for being keepers of the shells - which refers to oysters, clams, conchs, etc.

his tail is the color of seaweed, a shiny dark green and his scales create a pretty curve up to his hips

he has rather large gills compared to other mermaids because he goes extremely deep to search for pearls

his family is said to be the “glowing eyes” mermaids for if you find them at that deep their eyes give off a yellow gleam

but he is such a sweetheart of a mermaid,,,,,like he isn’t some greedy hoarding pearl farmer

he actually really enjoys making jewelry for other mermaids to wear with pearls

he has his own, the pink conch pearl his mother made him and that he’s worn since he was young

and when mermaids come asking for something pretty - he’s more than happy to make it

younger mermaids sometimes think his tail is a long eel and get scared of it and he’s like TT why do kids not like me and taemin is like because you look like a big water snake im sorry but its true jkjkjk

and u sometimes take your boat out near this place that has a lot of oysters there,,,but when you dive to go look at them

ur not like,,,,,,trying to harvest them or whatever - you just like looking at them because they’re pretty

tbh you just like the animals and plants of the ocean ur just there to see them

and onew has noticed you,,,,,he’s had to hide a couple of times when you come around to just roam

and ur the first no-tail (what they call humans) that like,,,,,doesnt come here to take his oysters

which is like,,,,,,,confusing because you just seem to enjoy swimming around

and after a while he decides he’d like to try something

so he makes you a bracelet of pearls and leaves it in a spot he knows u like to see if ull be tempted

but,,,,,as usual you come by - pick it up - but then leave it there,,,,

even though onew is sure something like that must be a lot of money in the no-tail world above

and he keeps planting all these pretty pearls and whatnot but you never take anything from the ocean and one day

as you’re swimming back up to your boat

and getting in and taking your diving gear off

you feel your boat rock and all of a sudden you see a person, their arms resting on the side of your boat

and ur like ?? hello are you ok are you stuck in the water do you need help ??

and it’s onew he just drops the chain of pearls into your boat and nudges them toward you and you’re like ???

and he’s like “gift,,,,,,,” and you’re like for me???? why??? have we met??? i dont know any other divers around here

and onew is like “do you like it?” and ur like well pearls are pretty sure but who are you -

and onew is just like,,,,, “they’re yours”

and with that he falls back into the water and you’re about to panic

but then you see his tail raise up out of the water and you’re left SPEECHLESS

because was that handsome mermaid the one,,,,leaving pretty pearls for you?????

onew returns to his people and everyone is like ,,,,,,, this is impossible but why is his face so red

Minho

shark mermaid

his clan of mermaids is supposedly the rowdy bunch,,,,,,the bad boys of the sea if you will

because unlike usual mermaids,,,,their teeth are super sharp and their tails are coarse like shark skin

they also can hunt bigger prey than normal mermaids and are always said to be making a mess of their food everywhere

lots of mermaids don’t like them,,,,,,which makes lovable and personable minho really sad

because he just wants to help and use his shark-strength for good,,,,,,but no one wants him around

and smiling with those huge teeth,,,,,,not a good way to impress people apparently

except you,,,,,,,who happens to be the only person in the world who’d meet a shark-merman and be completely and utterly in love

it happens when you’re fishing and you put wAY too much bait onto your tiny little hook

and instead of pulling up a fish,,,,you pull up minho

which almost makes you pass out until you realize what he is (not a person whose body you just discovered - but a poor merman who now has a hook caught in his mouth)

and youre like oh no open up so i can get it out

and he does and you’re like OH TEETH

and hes like “sowry,,,theywe,,,,scawy” (the hooks making him speak al funky)

and you’re like no no no they’re cool just open up and please promise not to chomp my hand off

and he’s like nodding and you get in there and get the hook out and you’re like all good

and he’s blushing because ofc he got,,,,,,,caught on a FISHING line of all things

but you’re just like wow wow so many questions are you like actually part shark wow wow what kind of shark can i see your teeth again

and poor minho is all flustered,,,,no one has ever showed so much interest in him

and you’re just buzzing with this cute sparkle in your eye

like do mermaids brush their teeth???? is that thing for you guys??? omg

and he’s like huh whats that

and ur like O M G and you show him your toothbrush on your boat and he’s like huh do i eat it

and ur like no no no u clean ur teeth with it

and he’s like how and ur trying to explain it and minho’s like OH to get those parts of the fish out of your back teeth that get stuck there right

and ur like what but ur like yES

and it’s cute you teaching shark man minho how to brush his teeth

and promising you’ll come visit him with more funky human products

and minho is like cant believe,,,,,,the person who isnt scared of me is tiny adorable human,,,,,,,

Key

pirate mermaid

used to be part of a clan of mermaids who harvested coral and seaweed but that sort of life got boring so one day he just decided to swim to another part of the ocean

and,,,,kind of began a life of thievery

which he did at first to like survive but now he just sees ships passing by that have cargo and treasure and he’s like

might as well use the whole “mermaids are scary creatures” myth to my advantage

he also,,,,,might have learned a thing or two from siren mermaids - because as vicious as he can come off with ringed red eyes and sharp mermaid teeth

he can also make himself QUITE appealing to sailors ,,,,,,, with his pretty orange scales and golden hued gills

but yeah no he’s only after their goods

especially enjoys finding gems and jewels and anything he can adorn himself with

wears cuffed golden earrings and has some scarring from fights he’s gotten into (which he’s won)

you’re a cabin hand on this ship that’s supposed to be transporting all this art and stuff to europe for a show

and to be honest you hate your job - because most of the sailors are always rowdy and rude to you

and you’re the one left cleaning up their messes

so when they dock for the night on this tiny little island, you’re the one left with clean up duty

and you’re sweeping around the edge of the boat when you hear a soft voice

and you turn around to see someone’s grabbed a hold of the boat

and at first you think it’s some drunk person swimming at night and ur like uhhhhhhh hello do u need a hand

and they just pop their head out and smile

and ,,,,,,, woah theyre cute but uh,,,,,,,,,,,what are they doing in the dark water

and he’s just like “oh i dont need help, but this is the ship that’s got,,,,,all that fancy art on it right?”

and you’re like .,,,,,,,,,yeah?

and he’s like mind if,,,,,,,,,,i look at some of it

and ur like i dont think im allowed to do that and he lifts his body up a little and you catch a glimpse of his waist

which is,,,,,,naked,,,,,,,and not connected to a pair of legs

but a big, glimmering tail

and ur like hold up wait wait wait ur a mermaid

and the boy is like oh silly me i guess i let the human see my tail!!!! but yes im a mermaid and im scary so move aside or ill um eat you

and ur like,,,,,,,,,,,,mermaids dont eat people

and key is like furrowing his eyebrows like u dont know that how many mermaids have you met in ur life

and ur just like i dont think u could eat me ur kinda skinny

and key is like HEY .,,,,,,,,,true but still give me some of the stuff on this boat or ill just have to take it from you by forc-

and ur like ok i hate my job anyway wait here

and u go into the back pick some random stuff and just throw it overboard like here ya go

and key just blinks like,,,,,,,,um this is now how it usually works

and ur like its fine. itll be fun watching some of the idiots get in trouble when we get to europe

and instead of swimming off with the goods, key rests his hands on the edge of ur boat and hes like hey,,,,,,if u hate your job just runaway

and ur like and what become a pirate

and key grins like i did it. its worked out nice for me

and ur like yeah but ur ,,,,uve got the looks and the cool mermaid powers

key laughs at that, but reaches out to take your hand and ur like /??? and he slips one of the gold bracelets he has on to your wrist and hes like

it should be worth a lot of human money. go. run off and start a better life

and ur like w,,,,what i mean,,,,,,thanks i mean,,,,

and you look down and key is like well i have to go,,,,rob some more people and stuff but i hope we can meet again

and ur like wait wait,,,,,,,,,can i come with you

and he’s like ur not a mermaid- and ur like no no i mean ,,,,, what if we just take this whole boat right now. its full of precious art. why not

and key grins and lifts himself up a little to be at eye level with u

and suddenly ur a little nervous,,,,but also embarrassed

and he’s like human,,,,i like the way you think

scavenging fierce pirates,,,,,but also cute human and mermaid who fall in love hehe

Taemin

seahorse mermaid

a super rare type of mermaid whose lower body resembles that of a leafy sea dragon

his coloration is yellow with small spots of brown and green

and from his hair grown the similar long leaf like skin that make it look like he’s wearing these long beautiful earrings

his gills are small and crescent shape on his neck and they illuminate a little when he swims

is very very playful and curious but can also just lazily float when he’s not feeling it

unfortunately, he was captured by scientists at a young age and has spent the better part of his life being experimented on

you’re one of the new lab techs whose assigned to a project on taemin and you,,,,,,hate seeming him all cooped up in that tiny tank

all alone

so every now and then when someone isnt looking you give him a little wave or do something silly to entertain him

recently you’ve started also listening to music when the other scientists and techs arent around

and sometimes ull do a little dance

and taemin,,,,,,,,,starts copying you

but when he does it it’s like ten million times more beautiful because he has that unique tail

and you cant really talk through the glass so you start using hand signals

like a thumbs up and making hearts

and you see how happy it makes him because he’ll do this little turn inside the tank

and swim up real close and smile against the glass

and ,,,,,, at one point you even get close and taemin and you just spend a good two minutes staring at each others faces

till taemin taps on the glass where your lips are and you dont know what he means

but you hear the door open and you have to step back

but anyway,,,,,everything is going fine - the project that taemin is involved in doesnt hurt him in any sort of way it just has some small samples that need to be taken and observation of his behavior

but you can tell that he’s old enough now that this little space is stressing him out

and one day when you’re alone in the lab with him

you try to figure out how to sign to him that you want to help him get out of the tank

and you pull up a photo of the ocean on your phone and point to him and then to it

and taemin watches intently until he presses close to the glass and taps again on your reflection,,,,on the place where your lips are

and you tap back to him

and then,,,,,,

you watch as he presses his lips to the glass, eyes fluttering a bit and you,,,,,,,,you can’t believe it but you think

that the mermaid is asking for a kiss

and you’re embarrassed to death but ,,,, you do it because,,,,,how can you say no to taemins face

and when you pull back he does another happy twirl and puts his hand to the glass

so you can put yours over it

and now more than ever,,,,,more than anything else you want to make sure to get him back out into the ocean,,,,,,

even if your heart is going a little crazy inside your chest at this moment hehe

#this is LATE #shinee scenarios #shinee imagines #shinee au #mermaid! au #onew scenarios #key scenarios #minho scenarios #taemin scenarios #onew imagines #key imagines #minho imagines #taemin imagines #jonghyun is the beautiful angelic mermaid who is patron of the sea bye

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homebody-nobody · 3 years

Text

I posted 1,689 times in 2021

82 posts created (5%)

1607 posts reblogged (95%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 19.6 posts.

I added 599 tags in 2021

#obx - 122 posts

#jiara - 117 posts

#obx2 - 113 posts

#jj maybank - 66 posts

#answered - 45 posts

#anon - 41 posts

#kiara carrera - 28 posts

#shadow and bone - 28 posts

#video - 20 posts

#spoilers - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 136 characters

#and then tosses it for some other cocked up way harder thing that's infinitely more challenging and therefore a bigger dopamine producer

My Top Posts in 2021

CALLING SHADOW AND BONE FANS

Hey hi hello!! I've created a discord server for fans of the new netflix original Shadow and Bone and it's source material. It's called 'the Goat Club', after the crow club, of course, but referencing Milo, the bait/emotional support we all adore. If you would like to join, please fill out the following google form so the admin (me) can get to know you!!

https://forms.gle/795rLMyXYu7Vjx717

25 notes • Posted 2021-04-24 18:28:20 GMT

Omg I wanna hear ur theories!! Also I would so read any fics u wrote for shoni ur writing is so good I just know they would be amazing

Okay well theory one: Gretchen does not have any children, and meeting Nora at the prison was by design. Whoever Devon Klein is, he’s not Gretchen’s son. I think this because Gretchen kept comparing things to being ‘like having kids’ that were... nothing like having kids. Every time she said that, I was like ‘I fully believe this women has no kids.’ Also, she put herself in positions to “conveniently” meet a few others, so I would not put it past her to lie about having a son in order to get Nora to trust her. Also, her entire pitch at the diner is focused around the experiment, even though it’s like, their first conversation. Gretchen met Nora with a purpose, and that was *not* just chance.

Theory two: Leah was not the first one they had interviewed, and they have been telling all of the girls they are “the first one” in order to get as much information out of them as possible In conjunction with theory two, Shelby has been able to communicate with the others, and she came to Leah last because she knew Leah would have both the initiative and sense of immediacy to do something about it right away, and the anaphylactic thing was an intentional distraction to give Leah a chance to do something.

That’s about all I have that’s original, most of the other stuff I’m thinking I’ve seen around.

Also, I will write for shoni eventually, for sure, but I have some jiara fics in the pipeline that demand immediate attention. I may or may not be planning a multichap AU, tho... so stay tuned !!

28 notes • Posted 2021-01-05 13:52:05 GMT

54 and 62 Jiara

hello I got ~carried away~ who is shocked not me

Rating: T (for language) Word Count: 1653 (oops)

54) Why is there a pregnancy test in the trash? 62) I warned you. He warned you. Your fucking mom warned you.

Dating Daniel Ryder was a bad idea. Kiara knew that. But he was tall, blond, blue-eyed, and deeply emotionally unavailable, and Kie is, unfortunately, the kind of girl with a type. Pope had already confronted her about the similarities between Danny and a certain friend of theirs, so when she misses her period, she knows she can’t call the boys.

After the summer of gold, Sarah became somewhat of a permanent fixture in their little crew, and, reluctantly, old grudges were forgiven, and a new, better friendship formed. Kiara wasn’t sure how to approach that relationship, at first. Being friends with girls was so much different than what she had grown up with, gotten so used to over the years. It’s a different kind of bond. All the same, she doesn’t want to go to Walgreens by herself.

While they wait for the results, sitting on Kiara’s bathroom floor, Sarah knocks her foot against Kiara’s.

“It’s gonna be okay,” she says, and Kiara just shrugs, too disconnected from reality to really get any thought past the swirling storm of panic that predominates her thoughts.

Another minute passes, and the timer rings on Sarah’s phone. Kiara lunges toward the counter.

The test is negative.

Both girls let out a collective sigh of relief.

“Oh thank fuck,” Kiara lets out, dropping back to the floor, her back sliding down the wall. Sarah leans over and drops her forehead against her friend’s knee, laughing, because she doesn’t really know what else to do. She wouldn’t have known what to say, if something else had happened. “I’m not telling Danny.”

Sarah lifts her head, her chin resting on Kiara’s knee instead. “Why not?” she asks.

Kiara shrugs again. “He’ll freak and run.” She shakes her head. “I should have listened to JJ.” He hadn’t liked Danny from the jump.

Sarah scrunches up her nose and wraps her arms around Kie’s leg. “I mean, he warned you,” she admits, and then; “I also warned you. I mean hell, your fucking mom warned you.” She laughs a little bit, and Kiara picks up the leg she’s leaning on and nudges her in the stomach with her foot.

“You’re not helping,” she points out.

Sarah’s head falls to the side, watching her friend’s face, studying the gears turning behind deep, intelligent brown eyes.

“Are you gonna tell JJ?” she asks.

Kiara lands squarely back in reality with a jerk. “Why the fuck would I do that?” she asks, and Sarah almost laughs. She knows how JJ feels about Kiara. Everyone does, except for Kiara.

Sarah shrugs, delighting just the smallest bit in the way the machine in Kie’s head seems to be spitting smoke trying to understand what Sarah has just said. There’s no more argument, though, because the door to Kiara’s room bursts open, announcing the arrival of John B and JJ, who, of course, neglected to text about coming over to pick the both of them up. AFter everything, Kie’s parents have been infinitely kinder to all of the boys, and the Carrera house has started to feel like communal territory, equitable to the Heywards but not quite on par with the Chateau. Although, nowhere will ever feel like home to any of them quite like the Chateau does.

Sarah scrambles up from the floor, and goes back into Kie’s room to stall. Kiara stands and sweeps the pregnancy test in the trash, washing her hands before following Sarah into the bedroom.

“What were you both doing in the bathroom?” John B asks, plastered to Sarah’s back, his arms around her shoulders. Kiara looks, wild-eyed, to her friend, and Sarah makes up a lie about makeup. John B looks satisfied, but JJ doesn’t.

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Kie asks, “I thought it was common practice to call before you start bursting into people’s houses.”

JJ pokes her in the side with a good-natured grin, and masks his confusion poorly when she swats at his hand. “There was no bursting,” he protests, “your mom let us in.” She still doesn’t smile or laugh, and he relents, eyeing her all the same. She’s still upset and a little shaken, and Kiara has never been very good at covering up her feelings. He wants to ask her wha’ts up, but he knows that won’t yield anything, not with John B and Sarah there, too. Kiara already isn’t good at vulnerability, much less in group settings. It takes one-on-one time and usually a good deal of alcohol before she lets anything remotely private slip.

John B saves the day. “We came to get you guys,” he explains, “There’s a killer swell at Rixon’s right now.”

Kiara lights up, delighted by the idea of a long afternoon of surfing to get her mind off the close call and the conversation she’s goind to have to have with Danny, and ducks into her walk-in closet to change. Dimly, she hears JJ say something about needing the bathroom through the door, and her heart climbs up into her throat as she ties the halter of her bikini behind her neck, dizzy and praying to whatever might be up there that he doesn’t look in the trash.

They aren’t listening.

They both come back into the room at the same time, JJ drying his hands on his t-shirt (heathen), and Kiara pulling on a loose button-up to serve as a cover-up. JJ, bless him, never does know how or when to keep his mouth shut.

“Why is there a pregnancy test in the trash?” he asks.

Kiara freezes, and Sarah takes a deep, sharp inhale. Still holding her, John B goes ghost-white, his entire body going stiff. JJ realizes his mistake almost immediately.

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#my 2021 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #what the fuck is that longest tag #what post did I put that on #idk im sick

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camachameleon · 7 years

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Cam’s Voltron Fic Rec 3/∞

VLD Rec Lists: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms. ( ** = favorites )

**Recoil/Release by Cheshyr

Word count: 22,387 (13/13)

Summary: When Keith is bitten by an alien creature with venom that causes your dominant emotions to be amplified, the team is ready for a day of dealing with an incredibly angry paladin.

Which means they’re not ready at all for what actually happens.

Comments: The almost stream-of-consciousness writing of Keith’s parts are really gut-wrenching because it’s as if you are experiencing it with him. (Warning for panic attacks- if you are triggered at all by that sort of thing you may want to sit this one out, it gets pretty graphic). A couple good song pairings for this fic to set the tone are Broken Crown and World Gone Mad.

**Synergy by Kokochan & Spanch

Word count: 74,064 (10/10)

Summary: The vines were large, stiff, gnarly, and thick-stemmed, with blue leaves as big and round as dinner plates, but Shiro’s battle-arm was able to sever several long straggles with ease. The vines draped easily enough over the shuttle and hid it quite handily from view. “Good enough, I suppose,” Shiro said, glaring at the empty greenish-blue sky. “Come on, let’s… Hunk? What’s the matter?”

Hunk was staring at something behind him. “Shiro, don’t make any sudden moves just now, but there’s a really big lizard thing standing right behind you. Um. Two of them.”

Surprised, Shiro turned, albeit carefully. He’d never even heard them approach. That was rather impressive, considering the size of the beasts. It was as though someone had taken a pair of Arizonan horned lizards and rebuilt them more on the lines of a tiger without leaving out any of the spikes, then expanded them to about the size of an Indian elephant and added six large, intelligent blue eyes. Understandably, Shiro froze in place.

Comments: OH. MY. GOSH. OK. SO. This bad boy is Part 1 of 3, so far, with a total series word count of 241,404 at the moment. This beautiful titan of a series is named Of The Pack, and it updates with great speed, considering it has two top tier authors working on it. The several OCs in this story are so lifelike and realistic and fit so well into the universe that I forget that they aren’t actually canon and I kind of miss them when I’m reading other Voltron fics. My favorite part is the world-building it does. Everything about this fic is so dynamic and multi-dimensional, from it’s characters to the epic plot - this is the exact opposite of lazy writing. I am so here for badass Pidge, and the matriarchal Galra culture and the dragons. I👏LOVE👏THIS👏FIC👏

Also there’s magic! (with a scientific explanation, of course)

A cool song that I think goes nice with this fic is Heroes by Måns Zelmerlöw.

The Kids Are Alright by pugglemuggle

Word count: 10,430 (3/3)

Summary: Three Garrison Cadets Missing After Freak Satellite Crash

By Mara Garrett, News Editor | The Guardian | Monday, June 13, 2103 7:40 A.M. ET

Two seventeen-year-olds and a fifteen-year-old went missing Friday night after a rogue satellite crashed into the desert a few miles away from the Galaxy Garrison Training Facility, reports say. Garrison officials were quick to cordon off the area, claiming many of the remaining satellite fragments were dangerous and unstable. Government search parties have been sent out into the surrounding desert areas. Details are forthcoming.

—

Her brother is missing. Lance’s sister isn’t about to sit quietly while the Garrison keeps lying to the press. No—she’s going to get to the bottom of this.

(Or: The paladins’ families team up to find their kids and overthrow the corrupt Garrison regime. Told through news articles, prose, the internet, and art.)

Comments: The format of this is very intriguing and fresh. We get to see scenes of our favorite paladins through the eyes of their friends and families, from before they disappeared and the aftermath. The open ending is still satisfying and leaves you with a sense of determination and hope for these characters that you just couldn’t help but get attached to. If you’re big on government conspiracies then this is the fic for you!

**Patty Cake by Froldgapp

Word count: 7,829 (6/6)

Summary: Quiet, aloof, and alone, Keith is distant from the rest of the team. Hunk begins to suspect why, and it’s only when the red paladin pushes himself too far, the Voltron gang realise he’s just as vulnerable as the rest of them.

Comments: Aaaaahhh this fic. Something about this one has me coming back to reread it all the time even though I always cry. It is just so angsty but in a more poignant, sharp, breathless kind of way. Some of the things the characters say send painful stinging jolts into your chest and you can feel your heart cracking and then you get angry because how dare (I mean ch4 tho holy sh*t). I just want to hug Keith so much ugh. Hunk’s protectiveness of Keith gives me the strength to finish this masterpiece every time. Also, this can kind of be Sheith if you squint (or not, if you don’t).

The Message by Shipstiel

Word count: 132,787 (45/45)

Summary: (4:07) okay, but considr this, and hear me out here (4:08) so like, a photobooth u can do with ur pets like there’ll be lil costumes that u can dress them up in, and u can do liek, period costumes and shit with them (4:09) omg, can u imagine, u and ur cat/dog, and theyre in a lil 1800s dress and one of those lace umbrella things omg so cute

(4:15) Why the FUCK are you texting me at four in the morning with this

—

Keith is texted by accident by some idiot one day, and honestly he’s not even sure why he responds. Or why he keeps responding. Yet somehow he finds himself drawn in, and okay, so maybe this fool is mildly entertaining after all. Who would’ve thought.

Comments: Slowburn Klance Wrong Number AU. These two are so cute I just can’t. This is the perfect story if you are looking for something effortless and relaxing to read. Even though this contains some softcore Langst, it is still a very cute and heartwarming story about two dorks slowly falling in love. It features Lance’s mother who I fell in love with here, and the kind of supportive nosy best friends that everyone wants in real life (i.e. Hunk, Pidge, and Allura).

**The Quiet by MilkTeaMiku

Word count: 66,700 (32/32)

Summary: Does he not realize he’s dead?

Keith can see ghosts. As a part of his Garrison training, he’s sent to a hospital to do one year of medical clerkship - it’s there that he meets a charmingly irritating chose who definitely needs to learn what boundaries are.

Comments: Modern Ghost AU with eventual Klance. This fic is the most suspenseful story I have ever read in my life. Idk if it’s just me, but I just have this feeling building up paragraph by paragraph of an impending… something. And it has my heart racing which is crazy because it isn’t even particularly fast-paced. There’s just a heaviness to the words that have the hairs on the back of your neck prickling. I literally have to take a breather from reading sometimes to calm down.

A couple cool songs I think set the mood for this fic is Smother and Mirror.

Finding Home by spacegaykogane

Word count: 26,966 (6/6)

Summary: After the wormhole collapses, Keith finds himself stranded on a strange planet. Alone. Until Lance comes along. With their lions dead and resources limited, Keith and Lance need to put aside their differences and work together to get home. Wherever that may be, now.

Comments: Klance. I love Stranded fics where they have to work together to survive and bond over that. So yeah this one has some whump obviously, bc you know, crash landings aren’t very fun. This one is angsty but its balanced out by the fluffiness in the end.

Cuddle Puddle by nothingwrongwiththerain

Word count: 46,782 (6/6)

Summary: Unexpectedly, Shiro’s hand landed on the top of his head. Apparently with Lance and Hunk taking up all the shoulder real estate, Shiro would settle for ruffling Keith’s hair.

Keith was fairly certain his soul was about to detach and abandon his shaking body on the couch. He was surrounded, in the complete and total sense of the word, by other people. Not once before, not in his whole life, had he dealt with a situation like this one.

Or, five times Keith found himself too close for comfort and one time he couldn't get close enough.

Comments: Klance featuring ace!Keith. Don’t be fooled by the fluffy summary, this is a very angsty fic with lots of Keith whump. Basically, as stated by the author, this story is about ‘Keith struggling with physical contact and learning to accept people care about him’. I love touch-starved Keith stories, like this one. I love the scenes with Kidge bros, featuring a super supportive Pidge.

At the Beginning by Sakuraiai

Word count: 64,203 (12/12)

Summary: Inspired by Anastasia

King Zarkon of the Galra empire lost his only way in to the Kingdom of Altea. In his anger, he put a curse on the royal family. The young, adopted half Galran prince Keith disappeared when the palace was overrun, never to be seen again -- or so it seemed. The only surviving princess, Allura, grieving for her child, offers a reward for Keith's safe return.

Con artists, Lance and his best friend, Hunk plan to pawn off a phony to the princess, hoping to reap the rewards. They hold auditions and choose an orphan man who has a remarkable resemblance to the missing prince -- all the way down to his fluffy Galran ears.

Comments: Can anyone say Anastasia AU?! I waited with baited breath for each chapter to come out and I was not once disappointed. I love the integration of the different alien races in this timeless story, it all works out so well. Keith just wants to find his mommy and I just want to cry. Also Kidge bros are still my fav as always.

out of orbit by rbillustration

Word count: 78,135 (19/19)

Summary: Dragged apart by Haggar’s attack on the wormhole, the paladins and Alteans struggle to survive and find one another again. Luck has placed them all within the same galaxy… but their fortune ends there. Lance is stranded with a badly-injured Shiro and his relief at finding their leader still accompanying him soon turns to terror. Keith may be the only who can rectify the situation - but the Galra have him in their grasp, and they don’t want to kill him. They want him as one of their own.

Comments: ANGST. SO MUCH ANGST. A brainwashed Galra!Keith plus a Possessed!Shiro. This is the perfect recipe for disaster if I ever saw one. If lots of blood bothers you proceed with caution. I love stranded fics.

A good song rec for this one is Darkside.

VLD Rec Lists: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] Here’s a Fic Masterlist for my other fandoms.

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writings-andstuff · 7 years

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Coincidences Part II (Bucky x Reader)

You guys have waited way too long for this and for that I’m sorry. But here it is, so I won’t start it with my usual long-winded preamble.

Happy Reading!

Pairing: Bucky x Reader (Modern AU thingy)

Words: 5046 (yikes, that’s the longest fic I’ve ever written)

Warnings: The usual tiny bit of swearing

Excerpt: For a moment, you wonder how this became your life. Yesterday, you were just another girl worrying about everything except her lack of a love life. Now that’s all you can think about because you’re flirting with a complete stranger. How insanely insane is that? For all you know, he could be a forty-something year old dude with three ex-wives and a beer-belly that could carry triplets. Somehow, though, you don’t think that’s likely.

Series Tags: @melanie451 @sebstanwassup @colagirl5 @winenighthoe @lovemarvelousfics @gotnotfeature @sebastianst-n @alwayshave-faith @hollycornish @iggytheboywonder

Tags: @langinator @fairchild21

Your name: submit What is this?

New Message from Mr. Catarcs

3:42 a.m u up?

You blink your eyes blearily and shift in bed. The sheet is wrapped around your legs like sweaty vines, constricting your movement. You growl angrily and throw them off, sitting up and relishing in the cool air of your apartment. Despite the frigid cold outside, you somehow still manage to wake up sweating. Maybe you’re a mutant.

Glancing over at your phone, it dings again to impatiently let you know that you still haven’t opened the text that woke you up. Usually your phone is switched to silent because of your job at the diner. There are always so many phones going off that it’s almost impossible to tell which is which. It’s just easier having your phone on silent because then you’re never worried about whether your phone is ringing or if it’s someone else’s. It saves you a lot of unnecessary anxiety.

But ever since last night’s conversation with James, you decided that you wanted to hear your phone ring with a text. It’s the first time in your life that you don’t want to miss a text.

You pick up the offending piece technology and swipe it open. Sure enough, the text is from James and you grin despite the fact that this message is the same one that woke you at—you squint at your alarm clock—3:49 a.m.

Deciding you are both thirsty and in need of some time in the open air of your apartment and not under the suffocating sheets, you get up and stretch. The floors are cold as you pad to the kitchen and fill a glass with water, shooting a text back to James.

3:51 a.m I am now

You wait for an answer while downing your glass of water and putting the empty glass in the sink again. Maybe he fell back asleep when you didn’t answer right away.

For a moment, you wonder how this became your life. Yesterday, you were just another girl worrying about everything except her lack of a love life. Now that’s all you can think about because you’re flirting with a complete stranger. How insanely insane is that? For all you know, he could be a forty-something year old dude with three ex-wives and a beer-belly that could carry triplets. Somehow, though, you don’t think that’s likely.

You have no proof of this, and absolutely no reason to believe he isn’t a creep except for a gut feeling. You resolve to ask his age whenever he decides to answer you.

You think about that. He could lie to you and tell you that he’s 20 when he’s really a lot older than that. The only way you’d truly know is if you meet him in person.

Suddenly you’re a little dizzy. This is just way too much to worry about at four a.m. You decide to just talk to him. You genuinely like his personality, and you don’t have to worry about all that other stuff until you actually meet him. If you actually meet him. That’s a big, neon-colored, flashing sign in the middle of absolute nowhere if.

Your phone dings and you look over from where you’re clutching the counter. You don’t notice how hard you were gripping the counter until you pull your palms away and it stings, lines etching themselves across your palm.

4:03 a.m srry didnt mean to wake u

Before you can even formulate a response, he’s texting you again. A double text. Gasp.

4:04 a.m just couldnt sleep. i was wondring if u wanted to talk

You tilt your head at your screen. He’s up in the middle of the night, and the first thing he does is text you? Why? Does he not have other people he can talk to? A stupid part of you, the same part that wants to meet him in person, thinks that maybe it’s because he wants to talk to you.

Maybe he does. Probably not. It’s too much to hope for. All his other friends are probably asleep. Regardless, not answering is not an option. Well, it is, but it’s not one you’re likely to explore, not when your chest has those freaky bubbles in it and your stomach is doing that stupid flippy-thingy. Nope. This, you decide, feels like High School when a cute boy texted you first and the instinct to giggle shot up to level 12.

4:06 a.m alright. what about?

Capitals, Y/N. What the hell happened to capitals?

You take your phone and pad back into your room, perching yourself up against the headboard with your knees drawn up to your chest and your phone in your hands as you wait for a response. Worrying your bottom lip, your mind drifts to work. You’ll have to get up in about three hours to be at work on time. Man, you’re going to be tired.

It’s then that your phone dings. You decide then that talking to him makes it worth the fatigue.

4:11 a.m twenty questions?

4:11 a.m Fine, but since you woke me up you have to go first.

The three dots that mean he’s typing pop up three different times before the response finally comes through.

4:15 a.m whatd u go to school 4?

You laugh.

4:15 a.m getting down to the nitty gritty personal stuff I see

You think for a moment. Telling him what you do isn’t divulging too much about yourself, so you decide it’s okay.

4:16 a.m lol yup thats me. i want the deep personal stuff. might just ask what ur fav color is nxt

4:16 a.m 1. editing; 2. sorry, that’s sacred info

4:17 a.m 1 ah i understand y ur a grammar nazi now…2 obviously

Thinking for a moment, you decide that favorites are just too cliche. Any conversation anyone has with some new friend ends in questions that start with “What’s your favorite…” You really want to know how old he is, but you figure you need an ice breaker before you get to the actual nitty gritty.

First, though, you must take the bait to piss him off:

4:19 a.m What would you have done if I hadn’t gone to college?

With a yawn, you lie back down and curl on your side, sitting your phone on the nightstand in front of you with your eyes glued to it. Once you realize that staring at it isn’t going to make him type faster, you turn over.

You’re totally not too eager. There’s no—

Ding!

You flip over so fast that you rip the sheet from the other side of the bed and end up with half of it between your stomach and the bed. It pulls from the bottom corner of the bed and is slightly uncomfortable, but you don’t care.

4:22 a.m high school?

4:23 a.m I didn’t go to high school FOR anything

You’re not sure if the use of caps-lock is weird, but you send it off anyways, deciding that emphasis on that one word is crucial to your meaning. He replies within seconds.

4:23 a.m i mean dunno bout u but i went to learn

You laugh, probably louder than is necessary.

4:24 a.m Touche. What’d you go to school for?

4:26 a.m repeating questions isnt alowed

Frowning, you wonder if he actually didn’t go to college. Should you push it? Maybe you should just change the question. There’s a part of you, the curious part that wanted to be a reporter when you were young, that really wants to know.

There isn’t too much time for you to think all of that before he’s texting you again. Usually, you’re the one to mercilessly double-text. James, it would seem, has you beat in this department. Also, you didn’t want to double-text a complete stranger.

Before you even look at the text, it hits you again: this is a complete stranger. The thought of not answering enters your mind again, but you push it down. No harm in just talking if neither of you meet, right? Right?

Right.

4:27 a.m i joined the military right out of HS

It’s a real Oh moment, and you find yourself staring at your screen as if it’s a real person. The military? What are you supposed to say to that? What’s the protocol for a text that you’re not sure how to answer? Should you just leave it alone? No; if you leave it alone then he’ll think he freaked you out. He hasn’t. Your brain is just short-circuiting on an answer.

Should you think him for his service? No. Not yet. You don’t want to call too much attention to it in case he doesn’t want to talk about it or he’s had bad experiences, but you’re still not sure how to respond. Have you taken too long already?

You summon up some courage and type out a message.

4:31 a.m Oh wow. Well, what would you have studied if you had gone?

You cringe, totally not meaning for that to sound like you were completely skipping over the issue altogether. James doesn’t seem to mind though, if his response is any indication.

4:32 a.m hmm history i think. ive always liked ww2 4 some reason

4:33 a.m well you’ve got AP european history girl right here. 1 of only 11 in the whole senior class to take it.

4:34 a.m well, smartypants i get 2 q’s bc u asked 2

You feel that you handled that effectively, and you were already beginning to formulate a plan in your head while he thought about his questions.

See, you know next to nothing about the military or what it’s all about except that it is for valiant people who want to serve their country. You can respect that, but you want—nay, need—to learn more. Convincing yourself that it’s purely for research purposes and not for anything else.

Regardless, you need to know more. It’s probably better to get it from someone who has been through it rather than from some cold, impersonal online source. And besides, you just so happen to know someone who was in the military. Someone who, in fact, lost a limb in the line of duty: Bucky Barnes.

As far as you know, Bucky lost his left arm in the military. You’d asked him before how he lost it and he hadn’t answered you, opting instead to change the subject to Steve and his new (at the time) art studio. It had been suspicious, but you understand that it must not be easy to speak about something like that.

You’ll have to go talk to Steve tomorrow morning to get Bucky’s number, but you think that maybe you’ll treat him to lunch in exchange for him giving you some details about the whole military thing. At the company, you get an hour off for lunch, which is just enough time to go out, interrogate a friend (respectfully, of course), and head back before the hour is up.

The plan was formed and you had your head already set on it. By the time James’ reply comes in, you’ve tuckered yourself out thinking that whole plan out. It is really late—er, early—after all.

4:41 a.m 1 how was ur day 2 how r u likely to spend a friday night

4:43 a.m I feel like I’m taking a Buzzfeed quiz

You yawn again and type out your answers.

4:44 a.m my day’s just begun. it’s four a.m. And probably reading or something

You put your phone down, thinking that you’ll just leave it there and wait for his reply, but you end up turning over and falling asleep.

In the morning, you turn your phone on silent again while you get ready for work, playing some music while you apply some light make-up.

It turned out that James hadn’t answered you anyway, so you would have been up waiting for a text that wasn’t going to come. Good thing you passed out.

Glancing at the clock, you notice that it’s 7:02 a.m and that Steve should be up. You don’t have to be at work until 8 and it’s not a long bus ride to get to work so you figure you can spare half an hour to haggle your best friend into giving up Bucky’s phone number. You wonder why you haven’t thought to get it sooner, figuring that you just never needed it.

You and Bucky only ever hung out with Steve or the rest of the gang. He was a friend of yours, but the two of you had never been too close in the two years of knowing each other. That said, you had heard a lot about each other even before meeting from Steve, and Bucky had expressed in the past how annoying he found it when Steve was constantly mentioning you in casual conversation.

It was the same with Bucky for you. Steve had been talking about his best friend Bucky ever since you had met him. It was in that way that you and Bucky had gotten to know each other sort of inadvertently.

Heading out the door and across the hall, you knock on Steve’s door lightly a few times. He’s a light sleeper anyways, and you don’t want to wake the whole hall with loud knocking. You only opt for knocking this time in case he’s not decent or something. Otherwise, you would have used your key.

Sure enough, Steve answers the door within a few minutes, clad in flannel pajama pants, a white V-neck, and holding a steaming cup of coffee. It smells amazing, and you realize then that in your rush you’d forgotten to make yourself some.

“Got another one of those and half an hour?”

Steve raises an eyebrow but steps aside to let you in. He’s a morning person, so you were sure on your way over here that you wouldn’t receive any resistance.

“What do you need?” he asks you, pouring you a cup of coffee not unlike how he’d done it the night before. He pours in a generous amount of milk and some sugar before stirring it and handing it to you, just the way you like it.

Blow, sip—“Mm,” you hum. “I need Bucky’s phone number.” You say it as nonchalantly as you can manage so as not to raise any flags to Steve, but by his surprised expression you can tell that you’ve raised them all.

“Bucky? Why?”

You shrug like it’s no big deal. “He has some info that I need.” It sounds so covert and cheesy that you almost giggle, but you manage to keep your composure while sipping your coffee again.

Steve tilts his head to the side almost imperceptibly, leaning his back against the counter across from you as you sit at a stool by his island. Said island juts out from a wall to half-enclose the kitchen area like a wrap-around ‘J’ with the island as the tail.

After a few moments of silence, it becomes clear that Steve is waiting for you to elaborate, and when you don’t indulge, he sighs, setting his cup down and crossing his arms.

“Okay, but don’t call him now,” Steve says, already ruffling in a drawer for a pen and paper. “He—he has trouble sleeping, and he needs as much of it as he can get before he has to work. And he’s taking Friday off so he has to log in more hours to make up the difference.” Steve hands you a piece of paper with numbers scribbled on it.

“Got it,” you said, taking the paper and sticking it in your bag. “Thanks, Steve.”

“Yeah,” he smiles at you. “No problem.”

You stand and head to the door, plan in motion and feeling good about it. Then you remember something and turn as you’re walking toward the door.

“Steve?”

He lifts his head from where he’s still standing in the kitchen sipping his coffee. You realize you’ve left yours there, but decide that it’s okay. You’ll survive. Somehow.

“Yeah?”

“Mom is bringing over pasta around two, but I won’t be home,” you can already see his eyes lighting up. “I told her to make extra and that you should be back by then. Can you—”

“—keep it here until you get home?” He knows you so well, it’s scary. “Yeah, but don’t expect me not to try some of it first.”

You fix him with a warning finger. “I’ll be over at seven and I will expect there to be enough for dinner and lunch tomorrow.”

He holds his hands up. “Hey, we all know my metabolism requires a lot of calories per day, and two is just in time for a late lunch.”

“Steve,” you warn.

“Alright,” he laughs. “I’ll leave some of your mother’s pasta for you for dinner.”

“That’s all I ask.”

You walk back over, kiss his cheek, take one more sip of your coffee, and then leave.

You tap your foot on the ground impatiently as you wait at your desk for the clock to turn from 11:29 to 11:30 so you can head for a bathroom break to call Bucky and find out if he’s busy for lunch.

James hadn’t texted you all day, but you figure that’s okay. He doesn’t always have to text you. He has a life. You push him mostly out of your head, or you try to. You fail miserably.

He’s the reason you’re meeting with Bucky anyways. As much as you don’t want to admit it, that’s the truth. Of course, you can’t tell Bucky that. You’ll just sound stupid. And then Bucky will tell Steve and Steve will have some sort of “talking to strangers is bad” intervention with you. You definitely don’t want to endure that.

11:30 hits and it’s officially been half an hour since your actual bathroom break. You don’t want to call attention to yourself in the office that you share with a whole bunch of other people in too-tightly-packed cubicles. You grab the slip of paper Steve had given you and head to the elevator.

By the time you make it to the downstairs bathroom, you realize that you forgot your phone upstairs on your desk. Great. Now what are you going to do? If you go back up to get it, you’ll look suspicious. Of course, you shouldn’t really care what your coworkers think of you, but you do. Everybody says they don’t care about peer acceptance but most actually do.

It’s human nature.

You sigh angrily and look around. The lobby is all marble floors and a little shop where they sell overpriced snacks and drinks. There’s a desk to the left of the elevator bank with one woman sitting in a black wheelie chair making and taking phone calls.

Can you just ask her to borrow one of her phones? There’s an empty seat next to her. Maybe you can explain your situation and just ask this woman if you can borrow the phone.

The only thing is that you don’t know this woman. Your supers rented the office space with the endless rows of cubicles from the people who owned the building. This woman obviously works for the building management, and not for anyone you know.

You decide it’s better that she doesn’t know you. It’s less personal. You can call Bucky, discuss details, and be done with it.

You sidle over and lean on the high desk. Its polished marble top is so high that you have to lean over it a little to see the woman. She’s plump, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a squished face. She looks the opposite of friendly. She’s wearing a black headset that you realize is some sort of Bluetooth.

You wait until she is done speaking to talk to her.

“Um, hello?”

She doesn’t look at you for a moment, reaching up instinctively as if she thinks you’re in her headset before she realizes she’s speaking to a real person. She eyes you.

“What?”

You were right to guess she wasn’t very friendly.

“I was wondering if I could borrow your phone,” you say kindly. “I have to call someone and I accidentally left my phone upstairs.”

She looks bored and eyes you for another second before looking back at her computer screen. “Just go up and get it.”

“It’s urgent,” you lie. Man, this is going to be awkward after you make the call right in front of her and she finds out its personal.

She eyes you again. “You have five minutes.”

You smile at her. “I’ll only need three.”

You wait as she plops one of the black phones on top of the counter, and it’s so high that you have to go up on your tiptoes to see the number pad.

“Type extension 382 first, then the number.”

With that, she gets back to her work and you pull the phone from the receiver. You flatten the paper on the desk and do as she instructed.

You wonder if he’ll even pick up. This will be an unknown number to him, and you know that if it were you, you wouldn’t answer.

It rings three times before a familiar, gruff voice answers.

“Hello?”

“Bucky? It’s Y/N.”

He sounds surprised. “Y/N?” There’s a pause, a honking noise, and then he sounds as if he’s realized something. “Steve gave you my number.”

“Yeah,” you say. “I had to call you from a work phone, though.”

You catch the woman looking up at you briefly and can tell she’s annoyed that this is a personal call. You’re sure this call needs to be as short as you can possibly make it or else you’re afraid she’ll just cut it herself.

“Oh.”

“Listen, are you busy for lunch in, like, half an hour?”

Bucky thinks for a moment on the other line and the lady looks at you again, her gaze becoming more venomous. You’re pretty sure that once she looks at you a third time she’s going to end your call for you.

Just as you’re about to scold him for an answer, Bucky speaks up.

“Yeah, I’m—”

You feel bad, but you have to cut him off.

“Okay, great. Meet me at the Deli down the street from Steve’s studio at 12 sharp. My treat.”

Bucky chuckled on the other end. “Your treat? What do you need from me?”

You smile despite the situation. “Just your brain.”

“Sure you don’t want Banner or Stark for that one?”

“I’m sure,” the woman was giving you her last angry glare. You had to go. “See you then, Buck.”

“Looking forward to having my brain probed. Bye, Y/N.”

You hang up, thank the lady, and make your way back upstairs as fast as you can. 12:00 can’t come quick enough.

Bucky wonders what you want to talk to him about as he drives a company truck to the deli and parallel parks a couple blocks down. The flatbed of the truck is filled with mismatched pieces of junk, from broken computers to the plastic from the top of a printer. It’s all stuff that can be broken down and reprocessed at a plant.

The city is taking down an old building and putting a new office building up in its place. It’s Bucky’s job as the assistant to take all the not-so-useless junk and dispose of it somewhere where it can be reused.

He doesn’t have to be at the plant until two, and he finished loading everything up early, so he has about two hours or so to spare.

Walking into the Deli, he’s hit with a wave of merciful heat and he immediately pulls his coat off. The deli is small with few patrons a small line for take-out. One woman is sipping an iced coffee through a straw while she types madly on a computer. Two men are sitting at a table wearing yellow vests and eating huge subs. Bucky wonders if he would have ended up as one of them, working for the DPW if he hadn’t begun working with the demolition company.

It takes him barely a moment of looking around to find Y/N sitting in a corner flanked by two windows with an empty seat across from her. There’s a wrapped sandwich and a water sitting on the table in front of the other seat.

She’s smoothing out the wrapper of her own sandwich as if the creases in the paper wrapping are offending and should not be allowed to exist.

“Hey,” he says, walking over and taking a seat in front of her.

She looks up at him and smiles. “Hey,” she shoots back, and then nods to the sandwich. “Got you a BLT.”

Bucky’s suspicions are steadily growing. He pulls the paper from around the sandwich and lays it on the table as Y/N had done, though he couldn’t care less about the creases. He looks between the sandwich and the girl, eyeing both with the suspicion of someone who thinks he’s being played.

“What’s this about?” he asks.

She swallows and puts her sandwich down, looking like she’s about to ask him a ground-breaking, life-changing question. Her eyes quickly flick over to his arm and he’s suddenly very sure he knows what this is about.

But that’s strange. Yesterday—or really early this morning—he was talking to Y/M/N about him having been in the military. Now Y/N is eyeing his arm like she really wants to ask what happened but she doesn’t want to sound impolite.

Then there’s the fact that they’re both editors. That’s weird. And how Y/N reminds him of Y/M/N.

He’s an apopheniac, he has to be. He’s seeing coincidences where there really aren’t any. It’s his brain playing tricks on him. In truth, maybe he just wants this strange girl to be Y/N. Though, probably not. Then again, maybe this whole time he thought he was jealous of Y/N for being so close to Steve, he was really jealous of Steve for being so close to Y/N.

That thought derails him so fast that he doesn’t hear it when Y/N actually asks her question.

She lets out a breath as if it’s a load-off to finally ask him, and he’s struck with the realization that if he says he didn’t hear her, she probably won’t take it well. He waits for her to say something else, but when she doesn’t he takes a leap of faith based on her glance at his arm.

“You want to know how I lost my arm,” he says, rather than asks. If her expression of shock and discomfort is any indication, he’s screwed up.

Big time.

Shit.

“I mean,” she straightens in her chair. “I guess—it’s sorta part of it? Yeah.”

She sounds so lost and he feels so bad.

He still has no idea what her original question was though. ‘Part of it.’ His thoughts drift back to his earlier conversation with the girl he’s been talking to over text. The military. Could that be what Y/N wants to know about?

No, it’s just too weird. There’s no way. But he has to know.

“The military? You want to know about the military?”

She nods, looking slightly guilty. “Yeah,” he tries not to let his breath of relief show, “I—uh, fact-checking. I’m fact-checking an article.”

Bucky nods slowly, sandwich forgotten. She’s a terribly liar. “You’re a terrible liar.”

Sitting back as if she’s been punched in the gut, she blinks once, twice, three times—“I’m not lying.”

“Your body language gives you away.”

“Is that something you learned in the military?”

Bucky chuckles. “That’s something I learned from a whole lot of spy movies. Seriously, why do you want to know?”

She takes a bite of her sandwich and speaks around it. Altogether, not the most sexy, but that’s okay.

“Research,” she says slowly.

Bucky creases his eyebrows. “For?”

“For a project?”

“If you’re going to lie, at least lie with conviction,” Bucky says. “One of these days, I’m going to teach you how to lie the right way.”

Laughing, she pulls her chair in a little more and sits forward. The picture of seriousness, she says, “Alright, if I tell you, you need to promise me you won’t tell Steve.” She sounds reluctant to tell him at all. This must not have been her plan.

Bucky draws a cross over his heart with his index finger. “Cross my heart or hope to die.”

She shakes her head. “Gotta be stronger than that. You have to pinkie promise.”

He gasps dramatically. “Not a pinkie promise. This must really be serious.”

Reaching over, she swats his arm. “Buck, I’m serious.”

“Okay, okay,” he surrenders, holding up his pinkie. She links hers with his and he’s momentarily struck by how soft her skin is. Then it’s over. “Tell me.”

She steels herself, he can see it. Jeez, it must really be something serious or she wouldn’t be swearing him to secrecy using childish, yet efficient tactics. It strikes him that she tells Steve everything, same as him, so for her to say she doesn’t want him to know must mean it’s not necessarily something good.

He lets himself think for a moment that she might be about to confess that she’s the mystery girl he’s been texting. It’s much more likely, though, that she’s about to tell him she’s got feelings for Steve or something.

Steeling himself as well, he waits as she takes a deep breath.

“I may or may not—”

“You may,” he corrects. She glares at him.

“—have answered a text from a guy who was trying to text someone else—”

This is where Bucky stops listening and his internal monologue becomes one word:

Fuck.

111 notes · View notes

estuarries · 7 years

Text

baby’s first liveshow commentary

hello lads i have decided to attempt doing @nihilist-toothpaste inspired video commentary/write up/review thingies!!!! welcome to ramble-y fun time

phil’s liveshow on august 10, 2017

his smile in the first minute makes my heart so happy i love him so much

i love the eye-tongue-eye emoji stop being mean to it

he’s a bit late bc he just finished filming a new ap vid!!! it took him longer than he thought it would to finish filming bc he was rambling. this is a #relatable brain thing

“i just said goodbye and now i’m saying hello again!” wrt filing and then doing a liveshow makes me rly happy bc i wouldn’t have thought abt it that way. i love phil’s brain

new vid clues: paper bag(?) and bubble wrap. amazingphil asmr part ii??

dan’s not joining the liveshow bc he has a headache but phil’s gonna hop into dan’s next one

closed eyes and happy gesticulation whilst telling sleepy-morning “unexpected window cleaning man frightened me” story

phil’s fight/flight/freeze response is freeze

“imagine if i had decided to make breakfast naked! ...if i was that kind of person…” its okay m8 we know u like to make nakey bro brunches w danyul

are the emoji pants the only pair of graphic pj pants he has now ??? why are they being featured so prominently lately ???? phil IS an emoji is the only phnnie conspiracy i can support now

in the ap vid phil did SCIENCE and REACTED TO THINGS (chemistry . reaction . hehe :3)

he’s out of tv shows to watch ….he and dan have watched so many series together over the years ..... i am emotional

phil hasnt watched in a heartbeat EITHER !! BLASPHEMOUS BOYES!!!

re: rick and morty. i strongly agree and it makes me so nervous that rick burps all the time i cannot focus on whats happening in the show bc rick gives me so much anxiety

he misses the cherry blossom tree in thehowlter’s front yard and they are hopefully going to put it in when they have money

“you’re all like dan! not everything has to be symmetrical!” thank u for these affirmations that not everything has to be perfect thank u for being chill. a chill phil.

“i dont mind a little bit of wonkiness!” “i’m at a bit of a wonk!” “is the entire house wonky?” the only real phil branding is ~WOnKy~

phils hands are so beautiful???? i love them?????? @ 8:50ish

him trying to figure out his best side and saying “one? or two?” as options like at the optometrist when ur getting ur eyes checked.

someone in the chat: “both!” phil’s cheeky grin/”don’t flatter me!!!” response

someone in the chat: “side three!” i snort laughed along w phil this is truly Good Content. dark!phil RISE

phil doesn’t think he really has a bad side and his easy neutrality wrt his physical appearance is dreamy. i love him and i love that he’s comfy w himself like this

phil had an eye infection and this is the first day he’s been without glasses…… why does he glasses-bait us like this …..

it’s really hard for him to concentrate with dilated pupils so that’s why he was being a wee bit wonky in the last liveshow

his eye is no longer infected and is “white and ready to see!”. the tone of his voice, his accent, and the phrasingof that reminded me so much of my british grandma who i havent seen in a few years and now i want to call her i miss her

wicked was “as the kids say...Wicked.” I SNORTED AKLHFAEIHKF

also i cannot believe that he and dan used the same silly phrasewhen talking about their opinions of wicked. is it still #copyrightinfringement if its your bf blatantly enterprising ur intellectual property?

phil was feeling a bit meh going into wicked but now he’s converted and a fan

he loved defying gravity :(

phil: every audience is important! me: crying

phil loves coming-of-age/college/highschool aus … Me Too

phil remix: the top fans to the tune of mad world “all around me are familiar faces...lillyphanstuff, joteleena…”

he’s had “mad world” and also that fuckin. ditty song stuck in his head

“...is one thicc bih - NO!” is the best thing ive ever heard

im so sad that phil hasnt experienced the joys of ditty. apparently he doesn’t have it downloaded and doesn’t really know what it is

14:07 is my new ringtone (he sang the ditty tune in “doot doot doot”s)

“bandicussy” IM DEAD

phil thought it was a good family activity to see dunkirk but it made his parents very emotional bc his maternal grandad was in the war

making your entire family cry is apparently the phil way to entertain

neither he nor dan understood the timelines of dunkirk upon first watch

after filming his ap vid he sanitized using vanilla cupcake hand sanitizer

he watches zoe’s bath and bodyworks candle/lotion hauls??????? ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

apparently b&bw has some ~priiiicey~ candles. phil is the coupon clipping, consumer reports reading dad

he said that livestreaming games on dapg would be “dope”. i am reminded for the millionth time that he is a 30 year old white man. i am moderately uncomfortable.

jk it was someone in the chat who said it he was just reading the comment

“hi to the ‘phan’s moving boxes’ group chat”

facterino according to the nature man on tv: in england nature has decided that it’s autumn already. this is evidenced by blackberries coming out in august. because fall isstartingso early they’re expected to have a harsh winter but its fine bc he is excited for snow!

some climate change discourse

he’s not a big doctor who fan but his fav doctor is david tennant

he’s excited for the “lady doctor” and i’m uh. not a huge fan of that wording

23:02 pre-sneeze noises and hand motions are Delightful

apparently it’s southern england peeps who pronounce scone with a hard o (scOHne) and northerners pronounce it with a soft o (scAWn). phillu doesn’t know which pronunciation he uses

my mom grew up in cornwall (and moved to america when she was a teen. i’m american btw!) and pronounces it the northern way. we’ve had the scohne vs scawn debate!! lots of #britishfamilythings in this liveshow

philly homework motivation song @ 24:52

his first response to ppl being sad about school starting in a week is to calculate how many seconds are in a week so they can re-frame their time left in a way that feels more plentiful. i love this ???

i also really love how he tries to read premium messages from different people every time. idk that’s just really thoughtful and as a fan i really appreciate it

he knows that black makes him look good …. GOodBYe

today is world lion day!

phil is the one who puts the funny/random holidays on the dnp calendars. of course it was but im still so happily surprised

doinganap’s sicth/sixth discourse

he’s reading people from the chat’s bdays and telling them what funny holidays are on their birthdays! i love how he finds different ways to get ppl in the chat involved every liveshow. i appreciate him so much !like yeah i know its a marketing thing but let me pretend its solely phil’s care for us

he wants to go back to japan

he can’t read or edit and listen to music at the same time! me neither

someone asked what a good pet would be and phil went on a lil tangent about how it’s important to have enough time to take care of the pet you choose!! dont get an exotic pet or a breed of non-exotict pet that requires a lot of time, money, or energy to care for it if you’re not at a point in your life where u can take care of it to the best of your ability! <3

hedgehogs are one of the most common animals in the uk??? what the heck?

he can’t remember whether or not he’s seen a hedgehog irl so he texts mum lester to ask <3 why is this the sweetest thing in the world . like seeing a hedgehog irl would be an experience that his family facilitated or even if he was moved out when it happened it would have been so exciting that he def would have told kath about it. so any way it happened she would know about it. my heart is Warm.

he’s not a huge summer candle burner but as soon as it’s september he’ll be on the pumpkin spice train

mum lester texted back and apparently his grandparents had a family of hedgehogs in their garage and his granddad built them a little hedgehog house to hibernate in :( wow!

phil might play shelter 2 … with dan. No Thank You. let us have some phil-only time plz

shelter 2 is more of an autumnal game so he might do it later when he can cozy up with some cocoa and herd the badger babies

he feels a coffee buzz after five (5) chocolate-covered coffee beans. r u sure u even drink coffee phil????

rye bread is worse (in phil’s opinion) than regular bread and is ”claggy”. i busted out laughing and texted my mom IMMEDIATELY bca LOOOONG time ago we were at a family christmas party with my dad’s extended family and all of the Adults were playing scrabble. my mom ended up spelling claggy and everyone else was like THATS A MADE UP WORD WHAT THE FUCK!!!! and my mom was like ???? no its not? my dad’s family is from the eastern us and had never heard the word claggy before and i remember my dad giving my mom shit about it for YEARS afterward because she caused such an uproar. idk if it was a regional thing or if americans just don’t say claggy but REGARDLESS. my mom and i had a good laugh over this description of rye bread and we both love phil

he’s nervous abt what dalien is going to look like and become as he grows up. phil’s general reaction to dalien has been one of caution and nervousness and idk ?? someone more thoughtful analyze that please

his advice for making the most of the last bits of summer: do something you haven’t done before! immediately after bestowing upon us this Wise Advice he giggles and becomes self aware of his parental tone. Our Dad Is Becoming Self Aware

he doesnt swear around his parents?????? my mom says fuck all the time :0

2018 calendar and season two pastel plushies are in the works!

he’s singing another song to list the top fans. suggestions include toxic, the ditty tune, and the tetris theme. he goes with the ditty song and starts laughing in the middle of it so makes a seamless musical transition to toxic

if everything recorded properly with his new vid we should see it in the next few days!

he hopes that we have a lovely weekend and that whatever we end up doing brings us a bit of happiness :( i love him thank u phil

tiny little bonus song after he covers up the camera. schrodingers phil.

all in all i love phil’s liveshows and this has been the highlight of my day. thank u for reading!

#mine #commentary #amazingphil #phil lester

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actual-cryptid-leshy · 7 years

Text

They is my Family

Most who look at Jeremy see a timid boy. They see his hunched shoulders, his fidgeting hands, his nervous smiles, and listen to the stutter in his voice. And they draw their conclusions. To some degree they are true, but Jeremy is so much beyond that. He is surrounded by strong people, friends who are strong in all the ways that count. But he’s strong too.

AKA the Hunters AU I wrote instead of writing all the other things I'm supposed to be writing

Title is from the song They is my family by mother mother (t's a good song)

Word count: 5.7k

Read on AO3

‘’Run!’’ Rich yells, and Jake doesn’t see a point in not obeying that particular command. The two boys set off at a breakneck pace, dodging branches and roots alike as they barrel trough the dark forest. The only thing lighting their way is the full moon, unfortunately that’s also part of the reason why they have to run in the first place. ‘’Fucking werewolves!’’ Jake screams, listening to the large creature bounding after them, snarling and snapping its huge jaw. It’s fast. They’re always so fucking fast. ‘’Shouldn’t have loaded up with iron bullets!’’ Rich hollers back, too much glee in his voice, but Jake has known him long enough to know that the glee is a side effect of the adrenaline and the building panic. And so is the manic laughter and whooping as Rich deftly weaves between obstacles. There’s a clearing up ahead, seemingly empty, awash in silvery moonlight. ‘’Almost there almost there almost there.’’ Jake chants under his breath, panting and praying, feeling his heart beat in his throat and in his ears alike. The two of the burst trough the bushes surrounding the perimeter of the clearing, not even two seconds later the hulking beast comes crashing trough after them. It’s larger than it had looked amongst the trees. Dwarfed by the thick trunks and the heavy canopy, out in the open it could rival a moose. Jake has seen a moose up close. Never again. The werewolf is hot on their heels when a voice rings out across the clearing. ‘’Dive!’’ The boys do just that. Throwing themselves out of the concealed ring of mountain ash, a pervasively unnoticed figure quickly seals it, and the werewolf is trapped. ‘’Holy fuck.’’ Rich wheezes out, visibly deflating as he tried to catch his breath. The adrenaline is quickly having his system, same goes for Jake. ‘’You said it. I hate being bait.’’ he voices his complain, glancing at the hooded figure as she gets to her feet. ‘’That’s what you get for being the fastest people in the group.’’ Christine says with far too much cheer in her voice. ‘’That’s easy for you to say, you’re not werewolf chow on the reg.’’ Rich says as he gets to his feet. ‘’Stop your whining, you know we have back up plans.’’ Chloe says, stepping out of the forest, Brooke hot on her heels. ‘’Yeah, it’s not like we’d actually let it come near you.’’ she says from behind Chloes shoulder. Jake heaves a sigh as he struggles to his feet as well. His legs feel like jelly. ‘’Let’s just fix this mess and bounce already.’’ he pleads, examining a scrape on his arm. It’s not terribly deep, but it’s bleeding a little. Christine opens her book, stepping closer to the circle. ‘’ULFR, BROTT. GUMI, SITJA.’’ her voice echoes across the clearing, her outstretched hand radiates a light so bright it could rival the sun. The ring of mountain ash flares, a barrier rising and rising until it’s formed a dome around the wolf inside. The werewolf who is currently circling the perimeter, looking for any possible way out. Then the dome starts to shrink. The werewolf backs away, or tries to, it’s not a terribly large dome to begin with. The glowing forcefield shrinks and shrinks and shrinks until it fits itself snugly around the form of the creature. And then it keeps going, sinking beneath the surface. The hair starts receding, bones crack and reform as the human shape takes over from the wolf. Soon there is only a man laying prone in the clearing. A small glowing orb rises from his chest, a swirling black void inside, it floats gently as if on a breeze to the outstretched hand of Christine. She grabs it, the light dims. ‘’Let’s get out of here.’’ she says, and they’re all quick to comply.

The walk trough the forest is a quiet affair, aside from the odd twig snapping under a boot here and there. And the occasional rustle. It’s a forest at the dead of night during a full moon, it’s kinda creepy. Also they’ve far overstated their welcome. They make it to the road where the van is waiting, the side door sliding open to reveal Michael. ‘’I’m assuming it all went well, seeing as you’re all in one piece and not in a hurry.’’ he says, clambering back to sit shot gun as they all pile aboard. ‘’Shut your smart ass mouth.’’ Rich says. ‘’You sound tired.’’ Michael replies. ‘’It’s like 3am, what did you expect?’’ Jake argues, settling into his seat and fighting the siren call of sleep himself, now that he’s not on his feet, on something soft, and in a relatively warm car. ‘’Nothing less to be honest.’’ Michael says, glancing in the rear view mirror to make sure they’ve all put their seat belts on. ‘’Seatbelt, Christine.’’ he reminds her. ‘’Oh yeah, sorry.’’ She says quickly, buckling in with the hand not holding the orb of lycanthropy. ‘’We’re good to go.’’ Michael says, turning to his left, reaching out a hand and shaking Jeremy awake. Jeremy stretches in his seat, blinking his eyes against the light of the car interior. ‘’Everyone aboard?’’ he asks. ‘’Yes.’’ a chorus of six voices fill his ears. He yawns once, rubs his eyes and places his hands on the wheel. ‘’Let’s go.’’ he says, turning the key. As soon as the car roars to life the speakers begin emitting a soft melody. Michael hums along from his seat, laptop open and lighting up his face. The blue reflecting on his glasses. ‘’Could you text Jenna and tell her we’re on our way?’’ Jeremy asks him, and Michael nods, pulling out his phone.

To: Jen No missing limbs, headed back now.

From: Jen I’ve got food

To: Jen Ur a real live angel

From: Jen U know damn well i’m not, nerd

To: JenHey! I am a Geek n u kno it

He gets no further response. ‘’Jenna’s got food.’’ he says out loud. Rich lets out a rather impressive snore. ‘’Fucking bless.’’ Jake says, eyes closed and head resting against the window. Brooke is asleep on Chloes shoulder, and Christine is cradling the orb in her hands, focusing on draining it into a more stable container.

It’s closer to 5am as Jeremy pulls the van into the parking lot of the motel they’ve been crashing at for the past week. ‘’We’re here!’’ he says loudly enough to rouse the rest of the passengers from their slumber. All except Rich. Jake shakes his shoulder. ‘’I’m awake, fucking stop.’’ Rich mumbles after the third shake, and Jake chuckles. ‘’Food.’’ he says, and then Rich is up and trying to get out of his seat before he’s removed the seatbelt. Everyone practically falls out of the car. Jeremy is the last one to hop out, locking the car behind him and trying to herd the small group of half dead people into the building. It’s not the first time he’s had to do this, and won’t be the last. Michael is clutching his laptop to his chest, Christine now has a vice grip on a small metal vial. Jeremy snuggles further into the huge hoodie he’s wearing, hunching his shoulders against the morning chill. The person behind the desk doesn’t look surprised to see them stumble in at 5:16 am, but then again this is what they’re been doing for the past four days or so. The novelty probably wore off. He pats himself on the back for getting rooms on the first floor as he pulls out the key card to one, opening the door and finding Jenna sat at the small table by the window, takeout boxes stacked like the most inviting thing he’s ever seen. She looks up form her phone, smiles at them. ‘’Dig in.’’ is all she has to say. They each grab a random container, switching and sampling from each other as the contents of each are revealed. Jeremy has grabbed some sort of fried rice, and tucks in happily. He’s sitting on the floor, back against one of the slightly lumpy beds. Michael sits down next to him. His container is full of noodles and beef. Jeremy fiches out the first piece of carrot he spots, and Michael starts eating the pieces of bell pepper he sees in Jeremys dish. Brooke has taken the only other chair at the table, leaving Christine to also sit on the floor, while Chloe, Jake, and Rich sit on the beds. ‘’If you spill any in my bed I’m skinning you alive.’’ Jenna says to them, not even looking up from her phone as she eats her dumplings. Jake and Rich slow down a little, but what they’re currently doing can still be classified as inhaling their food. ‘’You leave the dude in the forest again?’’ Jenna asks Christine, who swallows her mouthful of soup before answering. ‘’Yeah, he’ll be safe inside the barrier until he wakes up, probably won’t have any memories of what happened either, he was turned recently so it let go of him pretty easily.’’ she says, then takes another huge gulp of soup. ‘’I think they’re headed further north, but I still can’t really pinpoint exactly where they’re going. If they’re going anywhere specific at all.’’ Jenna sighs, putting her phone down. ‘’If we keep following them we’ll catch up eventually, we’ve been getting closer and closer this past month or so.’’ Jeremy reasons, holding his container closer to Michael as he tries to find the rest of the bell pepper slices. ‘’The sooner we catch them the better. They’ve only been trouble from the start.’’ Chloe says from her perch on her bed, irritation clear in her voice. ‘’We still don’t know exactly who is in their group, they could have powerful witches on their side, or worse.’’ Brooke adds, gesturing with the wooden chopsticks. ‘’But we have you three.’’ Rich says, mouth stuffed with rice, gesturing to Brooke, Chloe, and Christine. ‘’We might be witches, and we might be powerful, but sometimes sheer number is enough to get the upper hand.’’ Christine tells him before throwing her head back and downing the rest of her soup. ‘’Still, I think our chances are pretty good, they haven’t been able to expand their group any further since we started following them.’’ Jeremy says, swallowing down the rest of his rice, grabbing his and Michaels empty containers to throw them out. He grabs Christines as he passes her as well. ‘’Not that we know of.’’ Jenna adds, ever the voice of reason. ‘’Yeah yeah, we’re gonna have to fight these guys eventually, and we can’t do that if we’re all sleep deprived. Bed time.’’ Michael says as he struggles to his feet. Jake and Rich get off of the bed they’re sitting on, throwing their containers in the trash as well as the boys head for the door. ‘’It’ll take us about five hours to get to the next town, and they’ve already got a head start, so we should leave not too long after noon.’’ Jenna tells Jeremy, who nods on his way out. ‘’Sleep well.’’ he tells the girls as he closes the door behind them. ‘’Have you got the keycard?’’ Jake asks him, and Jeremy nods, fishing around in the pocket of his hoodie. His hand closes around the smooth plastic surface, and he pulls it out and unlocked the door. ‘’Beeeeeeeed.’’ Rich sighs, pulling off items of clothing and dropping them on the floor as he beelines for his bed, falling face first into it in only his boxers. He shuffles around until he’s under the covers and is out cold before the others can scold him about his bad habits. Jake chuckles, heading for the bathroom himself. Jeremy takes the opportunity to pull off his hoodie and sports bra, slipping on an oversized t-shirt, ‘’I demand cuddles.’’ Michael says from behind him. He’s already gotten rid of his own hoodie and jeans, now wearing pajama pants with stars and a t-shirt with an alien head and the text ‘Humans Aren’t Real’. Jeremy cracks a smile. ‘’Sure.’’ he says. Michael takes off his glasses and climbs into the motel bed, clearly only meant for one person, and lifts the cover to indicate that Jeremy should climb in beside him. Jeremy quickly shucks his jeans, listening to the running water from the bathroom, and gets in. His legs tangle with Michaels immediately. Michaels arms pull him to his chest, and he snuggles in close. Michael kisses the top of his head, and murmurs into his hair, ‘’Love you Miah.’’ his breaths are coming slower, and Jeremy knows he’ll be asleep soon. He can feel that he won’t be awake for much longer himself. He feels warm and safe in Michaels embrace. ‘’Love you too Mikey.’’ he whispers, closes his eyes. The last thing he catches is the bathroom door opening, closing, the lights being turned off.

It’s ten past noon when the buzzing of a phone wakes him again. The sun is high in the sky, casting golden light in trough the grimy window of the motel. Jeremy is warm and cozy, wrapped up in the blanket and with his boyfriends limbs caging him in. The buzzing doesn’t stop. He sits up reluctantly, snatching the phone from the nightstand. Michael groans, burying his face in the pillow to get away from the light. Jeremy smiles down at him fondly.

From: Chrissy WAKEY WAKEY EGGS AND BAKEY

To: Chrissy It’s like noon breakfast time is long gone

From: Chrissy The sentiment still stands. R u guys awake?

To: Chrissy I am, I’ll wake the others Rendezvous in 30?

From: Chrissy Deal

He sighs, lamenting the fact that he won’t get any more sleep until they’re in the next shitty motel, and get out of bed. ‘’Jeremyyyyyyyyy.’’ Michael whines from the bed. ‘’Rise and shine, buttercup.’’ he replies, smirking as Michael just keeps groaning at the stupid nickname. ‘’Don’t wanna.’’ he says, once the groaning has run it’s course. ‘’We’ve got 30 minutes to pack and get to the front desk.’’ Jeremy informs him. That gets a reaction. ‘’Dibs on the shower!’’ Michael yells, already out of bed and running for the bathroom. ‘’Hey!’’ Jeremy yells, trying to beat him to it, but not making it that far. The door slams shut in his face, and he can hear Michael cackling behind the thin door. ‘’You ass.’’ Jeremy says, smiling. He heads back to the bed, lifting his duffle bag up from the floor so he can properly rifle trough it. ‘’Can you lovebirds keep it down?’’ Jake says from his bed, voice raspy from sleep. ‘’Nope.’’ Jeremy replies, with far too much cheer in his voice. Jake only grunts in reply, pulling th blanket over his head. ‘’We’ve gotta be out of here in 30, I suggest you get up.’’ Jeremy tells the Jake shaped lump under the blanket. He gets another groan, but Jake does get out of bed. Kinda. He sits up, puts his feet on the floor. Then just stares out into the empty room trough half lidded eyes. He kicks a leg out, knocking it into the bed next to his, coincidentally containing Rich. ‘’Dude. Wake up.’’ he says, and the Rich formed lump grumbles before lifting itself up. The blanket falls away to reveal a truly awful case of bedhead. Which is usually the case for Rich. ‘’Shower?’’ he asks. ‘’Michaels in the shower, I’ll wake you up once he gets out.’’ Jeremy says, and Rich collapses back down onto the mattress, burying his face as far into the pillow as it will go. He continues to pull out his toiletries and some clean clothes for the day. Jake finally stands up from the bed and starts collecting his own things from around the room. It’s impressively messy for only having been occupied for about 5 days. Jeremy notices the bandage on his arm. ‘’You okay?’’ he asks, and Jake glances down at where Jeremy is looking. ‘’Oh yeah, probably just a branch.’’ he says, shrugging. Jeremy raises an eyebrow at him. ‘’I’m fine! Seriously!’’ Jake insists, and Jeremy lets it go. ‘’Just let Brooke have a look at you later, okay?’’ he asks. Jake nods, lips quirking up into a smile. ‘’You worry too much.’’ Jake tells him. Jeremy scoffs. ‘’You worry too little. I have to balance it out.’’ he shoots back, causing Jake to laugh. ‘’Fair point.’’ he concedes. The sound of the shower stops. Jake heads over to Rich to nudge him awake again. ‘’Shower’s free.’’ he says, and Rich finally manages to drag himself out of bed. The bathroom door opens, revealing Michael in a towel, his pajamas under one arm. ‘’I forgot my glasses.’’ he says, and Jeremy snatches them from the bedside table. ‘’I’m holding them hostage!’’ he exclaims as Michael wanders over. Rich is quick to duck into the now vacant bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Jake goes back to packing his bag, ignoring them. ‘’Oh no, whatever shall I do?’’ Michael says, mock distress in his voice and a smile on his lips. Jeremys own eyes shine with mischief. ‘’Well I guess you’ll have to pay the price.’’ Jeremy says mater of factly, holding the glasses carefully behind his back. ‘’And that would be?’’ Michael asks, dragging the last word out slightly. ‘’Just kiss me already.’’ Jeremy says, laughter in his voice. ‘’I can do that.’’ Michael agrees, leaning in and planting a soft kiss on Jeremys lips. His skin is still slightly damp from the shower, and his hair is kinda wet, and getting Jeremys forehead wet. Not that he minds. Jeremy unfolds the glasses behind his back, and as Michael pulls back he brings them around and plants them gently on his boyfriends face. ‘’I have to admit I prefer seeing your pretty face.’’ Michael says, grinning. Jeremys entire face goes red. ‘’Shut the fuck up.’’ he replies, but can’t fight down his smile. He ruffles Michaels slightly wet hair, sending water droplets everywhere, before starting to pack his own belongings into his duffel bag.

It’s 28 minutes later as the guys make their way to the front desk with their luggage. The girls are already waiting for them. ‘’I already paid so we can just go.’’ Chloe informs them, and together they head out to the van. The various bags are thrown into the back, and then they all pile into the seats. Michael takes shot gun as per usual, and Jeremy situates himself behind the wheel. ‘’Can we listen to Les Mis?’’ Christine asks, and Michael is quick to find the album on the iPod permanently plugged into the car. ‘’We’ll listen trough it once, and then someone else gets to pick.’’ Michael decides, selecting ‘Look Down’. The dramatic opening music isn’t really appropriate for the sleepy mood in the car, but by the time ‘Red and Black’ rolls around they’re all singing along. ‘’If I ever get the chance to see it again I’d die of happiness.’’ Christine admits, looking out of the car window at the trees passing by. The road is quiet, surrounded by gorgeous nature. ‘’We should totally do that next time we’re in New York.’’ Jeremy agrees, glancing at Christine in the rearview mirror. ‘’That would be awesome.’’ Brooke chimes in from her seat. Jeremy smiles to himself as he watches the road. It’s nice, talking about doing normal stuff like this. Like they can be normal people in a normal world enjoying normal things. Something huge and dark leaps into the road and Jeremy swerves to the right, missing it by a hairs breadth. ‘’What the fuck was that?’’ he yells, trying to get a look at it in the mirror. Jake and Rich are staring out the back, trying to get a glimpse of it as well. ‘’I don’t know but it’s following us!’’ Jake shouts. Jeremy steps on the gas. The small road is full of curves and uneven terrain, and the van wasn’t exactly built for high speed chases, but he can make due. ‘’It’s a werewolf!’’ Rich shouts next. ‘’Is it an ambush?’’ Christine questions. ‘’It probably is.’’ Jenna answers. ‘’Whatever it is we have to loose this thing somehow.’’ Michael nearly yells, frantic and nearing panic. Jake pulls out his gun, the one loaded with silver bullets laced with wolfsbane. ‘’I’m gonna open the back, hold onto your hats.’’ he warns, and then he throws open the back door. The sonds of heavy paws on asphalt is like thunder. Jake takes aim. ‘’Turn!’’ Jeremy warns as a sharp turn comes up, Jake holds off on the shot until the van is stable again. This time, he aims and fires rapidly. The bullet catches the werewolf in the shoulder, but it doesn’t really slow down. He fires off another, and catches it in the leg. This definitely makes it slow down. But so does the van. He turns around, question on the tip of his tongue, and then he spots the roadblock. ‘’Shit.’’ he says instead. Jeremy stops the car completely. Jake slams the backdoor shut. There are four cars blocking the road, and about ten people standing around, some of them have guns, and they’re all aimed right at the van. One man steps away from the blockade, walking leisurely toward the van and coming to a halt only a couple of meters away. ‘’I just want to talk.’’ he says. His dark hair is slicked back, his smile is sharp like a knife, and his electric blue eyes strike Jeremy as nothing but untrustworthy. ‘’I’ll talk to him.’’ Jenna says, unbuckling her seatbelt. ‘’What? No, don’t go out there! It’s a trap!’’ Christine hisses. ‘’Of course it’s a trap, but what else are we supposed to do?’’ she hisses back. She opens the door, hops out and walks to the front of the van. She keeps a good distance between herself and the strange man. ‘’What do you want?’’ she asks him. He starts shaking his head. ‘’No, no. I fear you’ve misunderstood me. I want all of you out here. I know there are eight of you little menaces. You must be Jenna Roland, correct?’’ he asks her, and Jenna keeps her cool, only nods once, stiffly. Poker face never slipping. Something cols has taken a hold of Jermeys insides, however. He glances to Michael, who nods once. He looks in the rearview mirror and gets the same response from the rest. They unbuckle their seatbelt and get out of the van. Jake and Rich go to the front, flanking Jenna on either side. Christine and Michael stand on the left side not too far behind, and Brooke and Chloe do the same on the right. Jeremy sticks close to the drivers side door, almost hiding behind the side mirror. The man smiles. ‘’You kids have been a thorn in my side for quite some time now.’’ he says. ‘’Oh my god, are you seriously gonna bad guy monologue at us right now?’’ Michael snaps. ‘’Excuse me?’’ the man says, raising one dark eyebrow. ‘’Like, we know we’re annoying you, that’s kinda part of the whole thing, and we know you’re a bad guy and we really don’t care about your motive or whatever. You’re running around turning people against their wills and murdering a lot of innocent people!’’ Chloe says, all the while looking rather unimpressed. The mans face controls into quite the impressive scowl. ‘’Kids nowadays. Can’t appreciate a good motive.’’ he mutters mostly to himself. ‘’Motive means jack shit, you’re an asshole either way.’’ Rich says loudly, arms crossed and stance confident. ‘’Fine, I’ll skip my,’’ his face morphs into a look of disgust, ‘’Bad guy monologue, as you so eloquently put it, and skip right to the part where I order my people to kill you.’’ he smiles, a chill runs down their spines. ‘’Sound good?’’ he asks them, raising one gloved hand into the air and snapping his fingers. The sound is deafening in the quiet that had defended upon the small road. The people scattered around the blockade aim their guns at them, and from behind them they can hear the growl of an injured werewolf. Jake and Rich draw their own guns. The man has turned around and is walking walking back to the relative safety of the roadblock. ‘’SKJALDBORG.’’ Christine commands, arms outstretched and eyes glowing. The guns starts firing as the barrier rises above them. It’s not enough to cover the van, and the tires are quickly pierced from the side. ‘’The forest!’’ Jeremy shouts. Brooke and Chloe start throwing offensive spells, hitting a few people with blasts of ice and fire and other various unpleasant things, Jake and Rich are holding off the werewolf with a shower of silver bullets, but they won’t last forever. The few witches on the other side start throwing their own spells, and while they deflect against the barrier, it does tear away at it. ‘’Hurry!’’ Christine shouts, trying to move them as a group closer to the forests edge. Rich runs out of bullets before Jake, so he pulls out a knife coated in distilled wolfsbane and lunges. ‘’Rich!’’ Jake shouts, diving in after him to fight close range. ‘’Wait-‘’ Jeremy starts to shout but Jake cuts him off, ‘’Keep going!’’ and go they do. They break into a run, Christine, Brooke, and Chloe throwing spells over their shoulders as they sprint for the trees, weaving between trunks in unpredictable patterns. Michael and Jeremy stick close together, and soon the sound of people pursuing them drowns out the sound of spells being cast. ‘’We need to split.’’ Michael yells, trying to not be too loud. Jeremy turns desperate eyes on him. ‘’No.’’ he pleads, and he knows it’s a bad idea to stick together. Knows it’s more likely they’ll be caught, but he can’t bring himself to leave Michael. ‘’You need to get out of here. You know that.’’ Michael says, pulling a couple of throwing knives out of his hoodie. Jeremy can feel his ribs ache, feels the tears threaten to spill over. ‘’Stay safe.’’ Jeremy says, meaning I love you. ‘’You too.’’ Michael says, meaning I love you. Michael takes a sharp left, and Jeremy keep going straight ahead. He lets the first swallow him.

‘’Seven. I have seven annoying little brats. There are supposed to be eight!’’ the man, Sebastian, yells at his underlings. Or, what remains of his underlings, as Michael is happy to notice. They all look rather roughed up, and he’s pretty sure there are fewer than when he last saw them. The guy with a firm hold of the back of his hoodie shoves him to the ground next to Chrisitne, and with his hands tied behind his back he can’t really break the fall. He manages to turn around slightly, landing on his should instead of on his face, which he guesses his glasses appreciate. ‘’Jeremy?’’ Christine asks him in a whisper, and he gives a slight nod, a pleased curve of the lips. her shoulders sink slightly, and she breathes a little easier. ‘’Find the last one or I’ll personally gut you.’’ Sebastian tells the underling in his grasp, before letting him go. The guy stumbles slightly, before scrambling off further into the forest. Sebastian turns to them. ‘’What a pathetic move, trying to save the weakest one. I’ll bring him here and kill him while you all watch, teach you a fucking lesson before you all die.’’ he mutters. Michael has to fight to keep his mouth shut, and pleased to find similar outraged looks on his friends faces. Three goons run off deeper into the forest at the sound of someone yelling. Sebastian rubs his temples. ‘’Im surrounded by incompetence.’’ he grumbles, but his head whips up again as the previous yell is replaced with another. And another. And another. ‘’You.’’ he says, pointing at three other goons. ‘’Go figure out what the fuck is going on.’’ he snaps. They salute him briefly, before jogging iff in the same direction as the previous three. ‘’And will someone find my god damned werewolf!’’ he shouts. Two other goons run off in the direction where Jake and Rich had been hauled in from. The two boys snicker as they watch them go. ‘’And what, exactly, is so fucking funny?’’ Sebastian asks, leaning down slightly to get closer to their faces, most likely as an intimidation tactic. ‘’Oh nothing.’’ Rich says. ‘’It’s just that all they’ll find is a rug that used to be a werewolf.’’ Jake finishes. If his hands were free he would totally high five Rich, but the look that passes between them certainly conveys it enough for Sebastian to let out a shout of outrage. ‘’You fucking-‘’ he cuts himself off. Straightens up and takes a deep breath. ‘’Just you wait.’’ he says menacingly. There are only two other guys left with them now, the forest otherwise eerily quiet. The trees creak and groan, bending to the will of a wind that doesn't exist. The canopies cluster together, blocking out the sun and casting the forest floor into darkness. A twig snaps off in the distance. ‘’Let my friends go.’’ a voice says from the other direction. It’s quiet, and soft, but heard easily in the unnatural stillness. ‘’Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?’’ Sebastian says, aiming for unaffected, but his voice shakes slightly. ‘’Word of advice,’’ the voice answers, from a different direction now, coming from the shadows between the trees. Echoing in a space where there really should be no echo. ‘’Don’t fight a creature on it’s home turf.’’ Jeremy says, standing right behind Sebastian. He whirls around, knife in his hand, but before he even has Jeremy fully in his vision, they boy is gone once again. Someone screams, and then there is only Sebastian and the lone henchman left in the dark forest. ‘’Boss?’’ the lady says, voice shaking. Sebastian makes to turn around to face her, but when he does he finds that he is alone. The forest around him seems endlessly dark, impossibly quiet. The sound of crows overhead sends a jolt trough him. ‘’What kind of fucking parlor trick is this?’’ he asks the trees, not expecting an answer. What he gets instead is a lanky boy, brown curly hair, freckles and blue eyes. Quite ordinary looking. He steps out from between the trees, out from the nothingness. With each step he takes he changes. There are horns growing out of his hair, his eyes glow green. With every step he takes he grows taller, less human shaped. Once he is only a couple of meters away he stops, the green eyes are staring down at Sebastian, piercing trough his soul. He can’t make out any features, only the silhouette of the terrifying creature before him. ‘’You should have left my friends alone.’’ a voice says from all around him, creaking like the trees, cawing like the crows, growling like the wolves, howling like the wind. Sebastian panics. He lunges forward, knife raised. He hits nothing. The silhouette is gone. He looks up, finds the glowing green eyes still staring down at him. ‘’You’re never getting out of here alive.’’ he hears, and then the green eyes close, and he is alone once more, for the final time.

‘’Are you guys okay?’’ Jeremy asks, walking up to his friends where they sit tied up on the forest floor. ‘’Duh.’’ Rich says, smirking. His lip is split and he has the beginnings of a black eye, but he’s still smirking. Jeremy sighs and pulls out his swiss knife to cut them loose. ‘’You went all out on those guys, huh?’’ Christine muses, rubbing her newly freed wrists. Jeremy moves on to Michael. ‘’Well, they hurt you guys.’’ he says simply, and his voice is his own, but carries the undertone of something much more ancient. It’s enough to send a slight chill down her back. Michael flings his arms around Jeremys neck as soon as he’s free. Christine takes it upon herself to free the others. ‘’You’re okay though, right?’’ Michael asks him, head buried in his neck. ‘’Yeah, I am. You?’’ Jeremy asks him back, winding his arms around Michael, kissing the side of his head. ‘’Yeah.’’ Michael says. Christine frees Jake and Rich, and the three of them has Chloe, Brooke, and Jenna untied in no time. Jeremy pulls Michel to his feet. ‘’Any idea where our van is?’’ Jenna asks Jeremy, who points out to their left. The road is visible trough the trees, all the cars and then van still standing right where they left them. ‘’Damn.’’ she whispers. Jeremy leads them out, a clear path from their former place of capture straight to their van. ‘’Can you fix the wheels?’’ Jake asks Brooke. ‘’Well, they’re not organic tissue per se, but I’m pretty sure I can manage.’’ she says, smiling. ‘’I’m gonna move the other cars.’’ Rich says., wandering over. ‘’I’ll help.’’ Jake offers, following after him. Michael watches them go, watches Brooke get into position to close up the gashes in the tires, he grabs Jeremys hand. ‘’Are you sure you’re okay? I know you don’t like being involved with this.’’ he says. Jeremy turns his gaze on Michael. ‘’When you befriended me, you made a pact.’’ he replies, reaching a hand up and touching the gold chain around his neck. Michael follows the movement with his eyes. ‘’If we set you free, would you leave?’’ he asks, still staring at the gold chain. Jeremy smiles. ‘’No, I don’t think I would.’’ he answers, truthfully. ‘’Good.’’ Michael says, leaning down to kiss him. Jeremy lifts himself up n his toes a little to bring him closer. ‘’We’re ready to keep going.’’ Christine says. The others have piled into the van already. Christine climbs in. Michael goes around to the other side and Jeremy hops in on the drivers side. He adjusts the rearview mirror, turning to look back at his friends. ‘’Where to now?’’ he asks. ‘’New York?’’ Brooke suggest. ‘’Broadway!’’ Christine shouts enthusiastically. The others in the back nod, smiling. Jeremy turns to Michael, who smiles and reaches out to grab his hand. ‘’New York it is.’’ Jeremy says, turning the key.

#my fics #bmc #bmc fic #boyf riends #they got my heart they got my soul series

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