#and we joked so much about it i just sorta gave up on the serious pic

[hughiecampbelle]

Succession Preference: Their Marriage Proposal

Requested: hey!! i looove your succession preferences!! can you please do some about the roy siblings asking/reacting to a marriage proposal, moving in with reader, something like that? thanks :) - anon

A/N: Hi my love!! Thank you so much!!! You're a sweetheart!!! I picked proposal, I just couldn't resist!!! It's just too cute of an idea!!! I hope you like it!!! Feedback is always appreciated 💜💜💜

Succession Masterlist

Connor has been planning this forever. From the moment he met you he knew you were the one. He fills the house with roses of every color and hires and band to play. He gets the biggest diamond he can get and your favorite wine. When you walk in the house after a long day, you're sorta bombarded by classical music. Connor's down on one knee, telling you all the reasons why he loves you, why he fell for you. You're not expecting it at all. He would have asked on a beach in Italy or Spain, but that would have taken longer and he just couldn't wait. He's got a photographer taking pictures, too. Of course you say yes, yes, a thousand times yes! He hugs you so tight you can barely breathe. Connor never thought he'd feel as loved as you make him feel. No one in his life ever gave him the thought or time or anything. You proved him wrong: that he is a loveable person. Now you'll get to spend the rest of your lives together.

Kendall, why isn't babygirl allowed to be this happy all the time he asks you to marry him when you're both in bed after a long night of drinking and partying. You're covered in glitter, too tipsy to get out of your party clothes. He's all smiles and giggles. When he asks you, you pinch him lightly. Don't joke like that, you say. You've been dating forever, it feels like. You'd love to marry him. He knows how you feel. Suddenly, he gets this very serious look about him, almost sober. I'm not joking, I mean it. Marry me. You look at him, the room spinning. You laugh, trying to figure out if this is real or not. He would never joke about anything like this. He's serious. Of course, you answer. He doesn't have a ring or anything, but he kisses you anyway, hard, tasting of booze. When you wake up in the morning, wondering if it was even real, he can't stop referring to himself as your husband. He gets a ring and asks again properly, but only you two are aware of the first time he actually asks you to marry him.

Shiv asks you not-so-romantically over the phone. She's weighed the pros and cons. You're already living together, you share everything. Why not? You don't love how analytically she's looked at this, at your love, but you say yes regardless. When you hang up you can't stop smiling. You and your Shivy, forever? It didn't seem real. When you get home from work she's got a bottle of wine and a little black box waiting for you. She admits maybe that wasn't the best way to go about it, that she'd like a redo. Will you marry her? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Shiv can't believe it. She thought Tom would be it. That she'd be stuck in that loveless entrapment for the rest of her life. But then she found you, the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with. You call everyone you know, wanting to brag that you're going to be a Roy, that you're lucky enough to call Shiv your wife. She knows what her family will say of course, that only Connor will the excited, so she makes a note to tell everyone tomorrow. For now, it stays between you and the people who will be excited for you.

Roman doesn't ask you, he more tells you he thinks you should get married. One night when you're both getting ready for a party. You're fixing his cufflinks when he says it like it's no big deal. We should get married. You look at him, wondering where all of this is coming from. I, I don't- it's not- if you don't want to. . . Rome, of course I do, I just didn't think you wanted to. From under the sink he pulls out a little box. Here, it's fuckin- if you want it- I don't know. You cup his face, making sure he's looking at you and really listening. Roman Roy, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. He gets quiet after that, like he can't believe it. Really, he can't. He's not sure why he asked now, when you're already running late and needed to be at Shiv's by ten, it just came out. He's had the ring for weeks, checking on it every so often just to make sure it's real, that it's still there. He's not very romantic or affectionate, it just sort of happens.

[gothlute]

Since you said it was okay to send you asks about Lute (and I really wanna talk about her ajshgs): do you have any headcanons for her as a character, fallenwings and/or guitarspear? :)

Also, as a doodle idea: fallen angel Lute!

I love this so much!!!!

Okay so the fallen angel Lute doodle will be done a bit later since I ordered a graphic tablet and I wanna draw it on it. I'll tag you!

Ive already made a post about Guitarspear headcanons too :D I might post more if I get ideas!

___________________________________________

Lute headcanons.

• Metalhead & likes goth music

• Had an emo phase, obviously, tho she won't admit it

• She's REALLY into music, either listening to it or making it. Adam and her make music together! She can sing and kinda play drums (tho she's a begginer)

• Her favorite bands is Type O negative

•Her favorite colors are black and red

• Super picky eater, and so is Adam

• High IQ, and possibly autistic, she gets told to get tested a LOT but she doesnt want to

• Is SUPER good at make up, she does her eyeliner super fast

• Very very good at strategy games. She's overall very smart and learns fast. The kind of kid to learn how to read super early and then get pissed at other kids because they can't do it

• Super serious most of the time, but the most unhinged mf with Adam because she trusts him deeply. She actually makes almost as much dirty jokes as him when it's just the two of them

• Both bi and homophobic : she was raised in a SUPER religious family and feels attraction to girls but is deeply ashamed of it.

• Had a situationship with Vaggie, but had too much internalized homophobia for it to work. She's SUPER bitter about it

• Pretty interested in mythology

-She's pretty muscular and very strong, she works out a LOT and pretty much all gay exorcists have/had some sort of crush on her (and everyone's aware of it except for herself)

• Wears a band shirt and black sweatpants like 50% of the time when out of uniform

• She would LOVE the Saw movies. They have gore, interesting lore and she'd love to learn about all the traps (she would wanna try them on demons LMAO)

___________________________________________

Now let's dive deeper into the Lute and Vaggie part.

Fallenwings headcanons (sorta)

!!CW interalized homophobia

I don't believe Vaggie and Lute dated. I do think they had something going on though.

To begin with, I think Lute is bisexual, with INSANE. amounts of internalized homophobia and religious guilt. She's plain homophobic, and thinks it's a sin, while ignoring the part of her that likes it. It has been easy at first because she wasn't into ONE specific girl.

But when she started liking Vaggie, everything was way harder. Her feelings were too hard to ignore. She felt genuine physical attraction, to the point where training with her was getting hard. Everything was complicated.

And Vaggie felt this way too. She started flirting with Lute, and even though she felt painfully guilty about it, she gave in.

They kissed a copious amount of times (never in public), slept together almost as much, and genuine feelings were developping for both of them.

But Lute's self hatred was only getting worse, and it was getting in the way. She would rather die than make their relationship official (though let's be honest you'd have to be blind to miss the sexual tension during training), and Vaggie had to constantly remind Lute that it was okay, that it didn't make her a sinner.

She didn't believe it.

She sometimes pushed Vaggie away when she initiated any contact, even chaste and friendly, and got very cold and disgusted to talk to her. Because after all, she's gay.

Vaggie tried to be as understanding as possible, but it was getting too far.

Her and Lute got into an argument.

Vaggie was like "this is stupid, you insist that we hide when we see eachother, you seem uncomfortable and it's clear that you don't really like me SO we should probably just stop". She wasnt that mad just a bit annoyed and sad

Except Lute took it very badly, and got VERY defensive and mad, because Vaggie was right. She got mean and lashed out on her, Vaggie left and they just...stopped talking

Basically, Vaggie thinks Lute used her to "try it with a girl" while Lute had actual feelings, and she HATES Vaggie because she let her see her weaknesses and thinks she's disgusting for making her fall for her!! She was a lesbian after all.

+ She betrayed heaven and it was OVER. It was the proof Lute was waiting for, proof that Vaggie was just a filthy sinner, disgusting, that she deserved to rot in hell, and that Lute's little phase was over, probably a test from God she passed.

Sometimes, Lute still dreams of the filthy sinner, of her sweet words and the warmth of her embrace. She still feels all warm when seeing two girls kiss, she still gets jealous. But she knows better than to indulge in those feelings now, she's a warrior.

[666herescared]

Imaginary Shadow Dad)Ch.6: Denial

—☆—

  Notes: The first stage of grief for the PBS Era. I’m splitting the chapters of this era into a bunch of sorta mini stories. Kinda as a way of making this feel like a more accurate amount of time per stage and kinda because I have a lot I need to shove into this era.

—☆—

Little Monkey

  Pigsy and Tang woke up to their alarm early in the morning. The demon sat up and turned off the alarm while his husband covered his ears and hid his face. The pig shook the human the rest of the way awake and muttered, "Tang. Tangy, wake up. We gotta get to work."

  His husband moaned and mumbled, "Can you do it?"

  Pigsy quirked his brow and responded, "You have a job too, hun."

  Tang turned around with an upset face and said, "Get my robes and help me change, then. I'm far too weak in the mornings to do it alone!" dramatically. 

  The chef knew what his husband was doing. Tang was always lazy. Luckily for his lover, he was in a good mood after they finally finished the adoption process the day before, so he got up and walked to their closet with little more than a sigh. “Y’know, Tang; You’re not getting any- *REEEEE!*” He opened the door and almost fell on his ass. His squeal caused his husband to jerk up in concern, and when he put on his glasses he saw why!

  Xiaotian was hanging upside down by his legs from the bar in their closet with a bag of rice crackers and a single one in his mouth. He finished the one hanging from his lips before giggling at the pig noise. “Hi, Pigsy!” 

  The demon regained composure and asked the boy, “Wh-What are you doing upside down, kid!?” Yes. That was him with composure.

  The Little Sky looked at him with confusion and replied, fully deadpan and serious, “Eating. What does it look like?” as he put another cracker in his mouth.

  Tang stood up and walked over with a chuckle at the absurd statement. He wrapped one arm around his partner’s shoulders and joked, “You’re just a little monkey, aren’t ya?” He held his other arm out to help Xiaotian down, the boy recognizing the signal and climbing down.

  “Yeah!” The child exclaimed with a giggle. “Like Monkey King!” 

  The scholar’s eyes lit up for a moment before the boy started hanging on him and Pigsy had to catch him. The demon held both of them in his arms to keep his husband from tipping though the child seemed to recognize this as a pass and turned around to hold Pigsy the same way he was holding Tang. His eyes lit up when he noticed the grip being almost exactly like how baby monkeys hold their parents. 

  His partner giggled as he saw Pigsy hold the boy back and give a goofy smile. “Well, Pigsy; Looks like “Monkey Kid” here likes you. I’ll go turn on the kettle, so you don’t have to go right now.” Tang offered, leaning in and giving his husband a kiss.

  Despite the love in his eyes, the demon was rather obvious with his worry. “You sure you can handle that?” Xiaotian laughed at the genuine concern in the pig’s voice. “Don’t doubt my judgment too much, kid. He burned the water when I asked him to turn the kettle on a few weeks ago.” Tang sputtered with embarrassment, hiding his face in his robe when the child cackled at the thought.

  “How do you burn water?” The boy asked incredulously, laughing heartily.

  Pigsy laughed along with their adopted boy, and explained, “Oh yeah! I wondered that too. Turns out, it’s possible to light water on fire. I had to grab the fire extinguisher and put it out while Tang over here ran around like a chicken with its head cut off!” Xiaotian burst into cackles at the mental image again, causing the chef to cackle along with him. The boy’s joy was contagious! He couldn’t help it!

  The human gave a bashful slap to his husband’s head, saying, “Okay! How about you go turn on the kettle then?!” in a huff and turning his head away.

  The pig chuckled at his partner’s embarrassed annoyance, shaking his head lightly, before giving the scholar a quick peck on the cheek. He muttered, “Alright. See you upstairs, Tangy.” as he walked out of the room and up to the restaurant.

  Tang dropped the act after his lover had given him a kiss, smiling goofily as Pigsy walked out to go make breakfast. He got changed, grabbing his husband’s uniform to bring up with him. He laughed at the fact that his no nonsense partner forgot his outfit. They were gonna do this right. They were gonna protect that smile on their son’s face no matter what!

——000000——

Misconceptions

  Xiaotian woke up in his room (The upstairs office space that they renovated into a kid’s room) to the sound of Mr.Tang’s voice calling him downstairs. “Xiaotian! Come down! It’s a school day!” He rubbed his eyes and jumped out of bed, grabbing his headband and slipping it on, before running over to his closet and pulling out one of the outfits his dads had bought him for school.

  He pulled it on as quickly as he could and then sprinted down the stairs, taking a sharp turn to jump onto an empty stool. “Hi, dads!” He exclaimed in greeting, being handed a plate of pork buns a moment later. “Pork buns?”

  Pigsy handed a plate to his husband a moment later, questioning, “What? Do you not like them?” Tang snickered, already knowing what the kid was gonna ask.

  “No. I like pork buns. It’s just.. You’re a pig! Isn’t that cannibalism?” The cringe the pig gave did not go unnoticed as the scholar cackled at the question.

  “Kid, did you go to one of those prejudiced schools? If you knew any demon animals or really anything about demon animals, you’d know that we’re a lot more demons and a lot less animals.” He tried his best to not make the kid feel bad while also dispelling the misconception.

  The light faded from Xiaotian’s eyes for a moment but it came back just as fast. “So I don’t have to be vegan now!” The boy exclaimed excitedly, causing both of his dads to start laughing loudly as he started eating the pork buns with a smile. 

  Once he calmed down, Pigsy muttered, “That’s one thing to be excited about.” and walked around the counter to eat with his family. He sat next to his son with his own plate of pork buns, not missing the snickers from the humans. 

  After swallowing his mouthful, Xiaotian said, “Hey, Dadsy?” and made the pig smile slightly as he hummed questioningly. “Shadow Dad has been my only reference to demon culture before, so I gotta know. He told me that pig demons do a thing called court-napping when they like someone. Is that true?” The boy asked, noticing how Pigsy turned his head and stared into nothing with a lovestruck expression for a moment, causing the child to feel somewhat concerned and look towards Tang, who was staring at a golden bracelet on his wrist.

  He looked nearly wistful as he stared at the ruby in the center and began to describe, “It was a nice week. Court-napping was a lot more problematic back in the day, but the basic premise is still the same.” Xiaotian listened intently, wanting to understand better. “Court-napping is about showing you can be a provider by taking in and lavishing your partner with gifts, favors, and food. It used to be the full courting process, but nowadays pig demons just do it for their marriage proposals.”

  Pigsy chuckled and remarked that, “You always have been a bit of a pillow prince. No wonder you fell in love with a pig demon like me.” before taking another bite of his last pork bun. 

  The Little Sky looked amazed before grinning and saying, “That’s a lot nicer than I thought it was!” The bus pulled up a few moments after they finished eating, and so Xiaotian pulled on his backpack and made to run out the door when the pig grabbed his bag to put his lunch in it. After that, the boy ran out to the bus and got on. 

  It had been a month since his adoption at this point and his birthday was coming up. It was fine. Shadow Dad would come back soon. Maybe he was just having trouble finding him! He didn’t have his lantern, after all, and that was always how he found him. 

  He just had to keep on waiting.

——000000——

Deny, Deny, Deny

  Why wouldn’t anyone believe him? It had been three months since he was adopted, and everyone kept telling him Shadow Dad and the Shadow Twins were fake. The kids in his class said it was babyish to have an “imaginary friend”, but his family wasn’t imaginary! It seemed like the more he talked about his family, the more people didn’t believe him!

  Everything was so bright every day.

  It hurt. His dads were the only ones who believed him when he talked about it. The school sucked. He hated that no one believed him. At least he knew that the Monkey King was real. Why was the sun so bright?

  “Xiao Huozi*! It’s dinner time!” Mr.Tang called, causing Xiaotian to snap out of his thoughts. Bah! What’s he thinking?! Shadow Dad won’t take too much longer! After all, tomorrow’s his birthday! His dad wouldn’t miss that!

  The Little Sky hopped out of bed and dashed down the stairs, holding his headband for the absent reminder. It was still too bright. He was tempted to pull the fabric over his own eyes.. He hopped into one of the booths like they always did for dinner on a school night. Pigsy brought over three bowls, Mr.Tang bringing over the tea set at the same time. As usual, no fruit teas. He missed his Shadow Dad’s fruit teas. They were always good and just the right amount of flavor. The ones his dads bought were always either too flavorful or too bland.

  Snapping brought him back to the present. “Kid, are you okay? You've been staring off into space more and more often.” Pigsy questioned as Tang slid in to sit next to Xiaotian.

  Not wanting to worry his Dadsy, the little monkey forced a smile and nodded, telling a half truth. “Oh. Yeah! It's just that tomorrow is my birthday and I’m hoping that Shadow Dad will make it!” He then stopped with the fake smile slipping slightly before he started eating. He could tell it didn’t work on either of them, so he hurried his eating along. His hair had been feeling dirtier, no matter how hard he scrubbed. He always felt itchy, no matter how much he scratched.

  His dads were trying their best, but they could never be anything like Shadow Dad. After all, neither of them were monkeys. He finished his noodles without processing the flavor, which he regretted because Pigsy’s noodles really were delicious, and then walked back up to his room. He needed to shower. Again.

  After his shower he hopped into bed, ready to call it an early night, until- “*Knock knock knock!* Xiaotian? May I come in?” Mr.Tang asked from the other side of his door. 

  He put on the best brave face he could and called back, “It’s unlocked!” The scholar opened his door and walked in, holding book one of, “The Journey to the West” in his arms. 

  The adult sat down next to him and opened the book, asking softly, “Do you wanna pick back up where we left off?”

  It brought a real smile to the little boy’s face as he nodded enthusiastically. They had started reading a chapter of “JTTW” each day right before bed. As he had for a few days, Xiao-Xiao slipped into his slumber with thoughts of the Monkey King on his mind. 

  He missed family grooming sessions.

*”Xiao Huozi” means, “Little Monkey” according to google translate and I thought it’d be cute:3

——000000——

Monkeys are Social Creatures

  Six months. He hadn’t seen Shadow Dad in six. Months. By extension, he hadn’t seen Rumble or Savage in six. Months. He hadn’t even seen the dojo in six. Flipping. Months. He was fine. He was definitely not going crazy. This was all very normal! Sure, no one at school really paid attention to him, but he was fine. Sure, kids made fun of him for having two parents of separate species but he was fine. Sure, he was struggling to tell what was real and what was fake but he. Was. Fine. 

  Xiaotian had gotten a Monkey King plush for his birthday that year. He had started grooming it to make up for the loss of his siblings. He had started monkey piling Pigsy with Mr.Tang to make up for the loss of his Shadow Dad. Of course, Pigsy insisted it was called pig piling and, lo and behold, the internet agreed. He had been climbing trees every chance he got because he wasn’t allowed to climb the furniture back home. His Dadsy was a lot more strict about breakables.

  His dreams had slipped to Shadow Dad every night, no matter if they were good or bad. The good ones had him coming back to sit with his cub and reminded the child of how good things once were. The bad ones taunted him with his family’s visage and had them disappear when he tried to hug them or even grab their hand.

  Something had shifted in the little boy’s mind while he knew his Shadow Dad. Before they met, darkness meant fear, pain, and a lack of sight and light meant joy, safety, and comfort. Ever since they met, though, it was the opposite. The light was blinding and meant it was harder to hide while darkness meant family and he associated it with his ability to protect and defend. 

  He was scared and felt so, so, alone. He was a monkey who had lost his entire troop when he was still young. It wasn’t a very big one to begin with. He missed his family! The monkeys loved to shower him with physical affection and love, but his new dads (Nothing against them) only gave him big hugs on occasion, and even when he tried to groom either of them they moved away. He could only pig pile Dadsy when he needed a hug, and even then, it wasn’t the same when he didn’t have a nest. They didn’t have nearly enough pillows or blankets to make one.

  He needed friends. He needed someone- ANYONE who wasn’t just his dads. Monkeys are social creatures after all. Oh well.. *Knock knock knock!* He lit up and ran to his door, opening it and exclaiming, “Mr.Tang!”

  “Hello, Monkey Kid! Ready for the binge?” The scholar asked, dressed in his night wear and holding a massive blanket, as well as a bowl of popcorn.

  “You know it!” It’ll be fine.

  They sat back down on his bed, Tang giving a monologue about something or other as Xiaotian set up the TV. Everything’s fine.

  Shadow Dad was right there  would be back soon! He’s sure of it. Oh, wait- Mr.Tang was talking. Gotta focus.

——000000——

Breaking Point

  Xiao-Xiao was done with this shit. His adopt-iversary was coming up now. He had kept on trying to be positive. To be as bright as the skies he was named after, and yet, the sun will always set, and eventually, the moon will always dim. The light he used to chase hurt to touch, and the thought of humanity was awful. Denial is a weak shield against the blade of loss, and anger will always urge you to grab your sword and fight once it’s gone. 

  The darkness seemed to call out to him no matter how long it had been, and it wasn’t comforting anymore. It had been a year. As of next week it would be a full year of nightmares, and tantalizing dreams of a family long gone. It was terrifying to even consider how dark the sky could grow, and how hard it would be for a single star to light up the night on its own.

  Even the comfort of the Sun would burn out one day.

  “Mk? Are you okay?” Pigsy asked, noticing how quiet his son was being as he drove him home. “Mk” was what Pigsy had shortened the nickname of “Monkey Kid” to. 

  “Hm?” He mumbled, before processing the question and snapping out of his misty eyed daze. “Oh- Yeah. I’m fine.” He brushed off, though his emotional energy was at an all time low. He could barely force a small smile for a few seconds.

  “Don’t lie to me.” The demon stated, pulling in to park at a nearby store. He turned as much as he could, asking, “What’s wrong?” rather sternly and startling the pre-teen.

  Mk fidgeted with his seat belt, chewing on his cheek as he tried to get out of the conversation. “I just.. C-can we not talk about this? Please?” He couldn’t come up with an excuse, so he just asked to avoid it, eyes desperate to escape the confrontation.

  Pigsy sighed sympathetically, reminding the kid, “If we don’t talk about it now, you know Tang is gonna make ya.” 

  The reminder was not appreciated as Xiaotian grit his teeth. “Could you just leave it? I can’t handle this right now.” His eyes filled with the glowing purple color of his irises, small zaps slipping out and hitting the palms of his hands. The pig was spooked by the sight of magic coming from his son’s eyes, causing the boy to force his rage down. “I-.. I’m sorry.. Dadsy. I just-.. I don’t wanna talk about it.” The child’s eyes returned to normal as he curled up and dug his face into his legs.

  Pigsy decided it was best not to push, and returned to silently driving his son home. He could tell with his enhanced hearing that his son was crying, but he couldn’t focus on that. The Little Monkey was clearly scared, and he knew it was best to get him home. The moment he pulled the car into park, the boy opened the door and stormed over to the shop. Anyone could feel the tension radiating from the boy’s f-... What the fuck was that? 

  Little wisps of purplish black slipped off of his son’s body and seemed to drill themselves into the dirt, setting off the alarm bells in the demon’s mind. Mk was a human. At least, they thought he was! Humans don’t have magic unless they train for it, and even then, they usually have to focus to use it. Pigsy went after him and made it just in time to see Tang grab the kid’s shoulder. “Xiao Houzi-” Xiaotian grabbed the scholar’s wrist so tightly it hurt and made him yelp.

  The pig stormed over to help his husband, tearing Mk’s hand from his wrist. “Alright, kid. What’s gotten into ya?! You don’t normally get this angry! You’re a good kid-” 

  He was interrupted by his son wrenching his hand away from him, shoving him away. His eyes were glowing again. “Just stop, okay?! I get it. I’m crazy! I’m a bad kid. I hear it often enough. Can’t you leave me alone about it?!” he yelled, pulling his arm back, about to punch his Dadsy, when he realized what he was doing and lunged backwards. His eyes returned to their normal appearance again, even more wisps trailing off of him as he glanced around. Pigsy looked stunned by the rage fueled behavior, and Mr.Tang was inspecting his wrist and holding back tears. “I-.. I’m a… bad… kid.” 

  He gripped his arms until they hurt as he began to cry, enraged with himself for lashing out. The demon processed what had happened and reached towards him, trying to comfort his son. “Kid-” Yet the little boy stepped away and stopped him in his tracks. 

  “..I’m a bad kid.” The trails slowed and slipped down his body, unnoticed by the very boy who caused them. His tears picked up pace again, causing him to return to his senses. His dads didn’t need to see him cry. Xiaotian He brought this on himself. Xiao-Xiao.. It was his fault. It's not.

  He ran up the stairs, fleeing the crime like a coward. He hid in his room and locked the door. He didn’t deserve their sympathy. They were trying to comfort him and he hurt them. He was a monster. He punched his wall to release the pain, accidentally breaking right through. He didn’t deserve to be called their son. ‘No wonder Shadow Dad left..’

  What he didn’t see was the two adults rushing after him to try and comfort him again, and he didn’t know that Pigsy made a Jujube cake until the next day. Mk was selfish. He had such a wonderful family already and yet he still missed the one he lost. How greedy..

  He didn't actually know the truth though. No one blamed him, and if he had the choice, Shadow Dad never would have left.

—☆—

I’m so sorry for making you cry:< I’m trying my best to represent grief well, but the only person I’ve known personally who died was my cat. I had to rely on other things that caused me grief for reference and my own experience as an autistic person handling grief. 

Also, Mk finally got his name! That’s exciting! Anyways;

Have fun, and happy scrolling!

(Edit: Added the picture!)

Prev- Chapter 5 and Next- Chapter 7

[multishipper33]

Hi we could be like best friends or something because I also am queer, autistic and a girl who likes mcyt, rarepairs, multishipping, (poly shipping), and music (I love music).

Also I voted flower ranchers in that one poll you really wanted to win, didn’t even see your begging for it until after I’d voted I just prefer flower ranchers. You can write me a Drabble if you want I don’t mind, maybe some hurt/comfort 👀

Haha you seem awesome, I’m happy to befriend you- it;s nice to meet you, Pear!! I hope we become better friends over the course of time :]]]

Thanks for the prompt dude- I tried, angst isn’t my strong suit

This won;t be that good if you’re looking for some quality hurt/comfort just go to ao3 or something

I made this while listening to Joel’s neck kisses playlist you’re welcome

CW: SWEARING, TERRIBLE JOKES, SH!TTY FORMATTING

—

Against his communicator, a small ‘ding!’ sound alerted him to the session’s end.

He cheered near valiantly as his timer was put on pause again, as his sword became unusable for combat, and as the anxiety was lifted from his shoulders at once.

Just as he was about to collapse on his bed and sleep for a solid thirteen hours, there was a knock at the door.

He grumbled to himself as he got up, opening the door to-

A very injured Etho, is what.

Etho opened his mouth to speak.

“…nope.” Joel mumbled, closing the door. Not today, fate!!

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait-" Etho shouted, pushing the door with what seemed to be a more than slightly injured arm.

He sighed. “Just… just this once. I didn’t know where else to go.”

Joel opens his mouth to say something, hesitates, then closes it again.

“…fine, just get in before you catch a cold or something.”

He practically pulled Etho inside then, grumbling to himself about it being the end of session or something.

Joel led Etho to a small side room, one of those that used to be inhabited by pillagers, probably.

“Sit.” He said, “I’ll be back with some bandages and stuff. Don’t burn this place down or whatever.”

So he walks downstairs, grabs a first aid kit (the kinda thing the Watchers gave them for post-session), and walks back up the stairs.

Etho is in more or less the same position as he was before. Joel tosses the first aid kit in his general direction, missing completely.

As per usual.

He sighs and walks over to it, grabbing things like gauze and bandages.

“You do what you can reach yourself, I’ll do your back.”

Etho nods, yet he didn’t move an inch.

“…I can’t reach your back unless I have access to it, Eefo. You don’t need to take your shirt off or anything, but at least unzip the vest.”

He hesitates, before unzipping it and pulling his sweater down enough where Joel could see some sorta nasty burn.

Ouch, probably lava. Brutal.

“Have you put it under cold water yet?” Joel asked, voice barely a whisper.

Etho nods, wordless yet again.

Joel bites his lip. Cold water, next to clean it… who knows what was in that lava?

“Okay, just… hold still, I’m gonna clean it and it’s gonna hurt like a bitch.” He said, grabbing one of those alcohol wipes. That’s how you clean burns, right?

He sure fucking hoped so.

He watched as Etho’s face contorted in pain, watched as he fisted a hand into the sheets he was under, and wanted to make it to he’d never have to see that again.

“Okay, just- I think that’s clean, it looks fairly good to me…” Joel mumbles, rummaging around in the bag once again for some of that…

What was it called again? Polyamory???

Yeah, probably.

“I’m just gonna rub some of this… poly-something on the thing. Apparently that does something? I dunno, but it won’t sting as much.” He rambled, putting it on in the process.

Joel looked down at the first aid kit once again. Gauze or bandage?

Bandage, right?

He put it on the burn, and as he looked up at Etho, Joel felt a surge of something pained and familiar and all-wrong.

“Well. There you go. I don’t think there’s anything all too serious anywhere else, and now you have a slightly more functioning shoulder to do everything else with. You’re welcome.”

“…thanks.” Etho muttered, pulling his shirt collar back up and zipping his vest back up.

And wordlessly, with a piece of Joel’s heart in his hands, Etho left.

—

I love what tumblr did to the formatting it’s all wrong

[ratboyrecall]

Tenth Post - After putting this off a bunch of times, having a dilemma as to how the make this, and then going completely oblivious to the fact I did not post this, I am finally giving you a story. Now then. Without further ado, I present to you chapter 3!

Worlds Apart Will Soon Collide: Part 3

We had finished the milkshakes, a couple other people showing up after.

One of them came up to me, introducing himself as Sodapop. Sodapop seemed like an enjoyable person, cracking jokes alongside Two-Bit.

To be honest, both had rather curious names so of course, I had to ask.

Sodapop was easily up for it, as he said it was his real name. His ease soon grew into embarrassment as the others started to tease him for it. Eventually, Ponyboy got the other two to calm down.

Two-Bit on the other hand wasn't so keen on sharing whether or not it was his real name; therefore, I just gave up.

Eventually, the other introduced himself, his gruff voice seeming to echo in my mind as if he were some wise elder figure from a movie. This man introduced himself as Darry, Soda and Pony's older brother.

The joy that came from the group messing around with each other was indescribable. Mainly because it was one I had forgotten even existed amongst people. Honestly, the feeling was refreshing.

Later on, the Curtis brothers left, leaving me with Dally and Two-Bit. There was a bit of a light atmosphere as well as a discussion but eventually, the latter left.

So there sat me and the most stubborn man out of this group I've met so far. The only noise present was the voices of others and a clinking that came from Dally tapping his milkshake. We stayed silent until finally, I couldn't take enough of the awkward stress running through my blood.

"So... Is there anything you want to say?"

Dally looked up from his shake, a look of confusion on his face.

"Are you talking to me?..."

With a sigh, I nodded.

"No one else I know is here anymore..."

A grin suddenly made an appearance on his face as he took his thumb and ran it across his lips.

"Huh... The more I think about it, you're more feisty than any of the girls I've tried picking up. Got an attitude to ya. It's sorta funny you have more sass to ya than an eighth year old spoiled girl. Anyway, if yer askin' about our sleepover and if it has any rules, there ain't nothin' to worry about. You just... gotta keep yourself though."

I could help but raise an eyebrow at this peculiar set of words.

"So first, there were no rules. But you then give one?... That was like adding a "but" to that sentence. Just practically cancels out the part before that."

There came a scoff from Dally as he murdered the words smart-ass under his breath. The comment got me to smile, even if it bugged me a little.

"Look, when I tell you not to go snoopin' round, I mean it. My type ain't exactly forgiving when it comes to getting in somethin' yer not 'pose to, you got that?"

There was no chance I could hold off my sudden fit of giggling with what just went on. Dally looking all serious with his choppy grammar was simply making me weak.

"My god- You sure are hilarious... That accent... And who even is your type anyways? Not only that but are you talking about groups you hang out with or the females you choose when you say "your type"? If it's the first one, know I can take on a few females. Besides, it's rude to just keep me awake listening to something like that. I'd rather sleep in a box if you're gonna bring girls over tonight."

Dally growled, looking around before grabbing me by the collar.

"How 'bout you shut your mouth, wise guy. I wasn't talking about girls, I was talkin' about the people I crash with. And unless you want your brains blown out on their pavement, shut your yap- I'm just trying to keep ya from trouble."

As much fun as it would've been provoking Dallas, I decided to give it up, tired of his snappy attitude. Taking a glance at my empty milkshake cup, I shrugged.

"Fine. If you're trying to do something nice, I won't bug you about it. All I want to know is what I shouldn't do so neither of us get in trouble. I don't want to be kicked out of another house by someone's folks."

Dally raised a brow, looking at me funny.

"I thought I told you. Or at least one of the others did."

"Told what?"

"I don't live with my folks. I share a place with one of my buds. Well, more like acquaintance or whatever the word that Ponyboy kid uses to describe people you talk to. I don't really like him because he's annoying at time and doesn't know when he should keep his ass out conversations or such but he is decent company. That and he has a place to crash at so I stay with him. For now, at least."

My mind traveled, sending it's many cars down the paths of thought. On one hand, it was a place to sleep until things rolled over. Sleeping was all that needed to be done there because it was somewhat easy to continue living outside of someplace, especially with school. But on the other, there were still chances that could let me run into the other occupant, something I didn't want. Now I see what Dally didn't want happening.

What if that other man was some pervert or criminal? At any point in time, he could stab me or walk in on me in the shower. That's a thought I couldn't help but shiver at.

Dally seemed to take notice as he gave me a glance of confusion.

"Well, it's sounds okay but before we go, could we get some fries? They're something no one can mess up and I'm feeling a little bit hungry."

With a sigh, he looked around the diner.

"That'd just take up more money from me..."

I couldn't help but snicker while questioning him.

"You act like I'm a black hole sucking up your money and yet you're still getting those fries? I'm starting to believe what you say is the opposite of what you mean."

I only got a groan in response as he flagged down a waitress.

Once we received the "meal," we got up and started the journey to his place.

[dear-ex-person]

Dear ex-best friend,

Do you remember how we met? It was a bus in 8th grade, and we sorta knew each other but not really, and you were showing me pictures on your phone and there was an aroace flag in there and I went, “Me too!”

And from then on we were close! You introduced me to fandoms, and we texted so so much, and I think you smiled and laughed so much (but what if I’m making that up?). I practically had a crush on you! It was something I’ve only felt for a few people, and it was so strong, this queerplatonic or alterous or whatever attraction . There was a time in 9th grade when one of our friends saw us laughing over some fandom thing and told me we had incredible chemistry, and I just giggled and informed that other friends that we were both aroace.

So yeah, we were close. I loved you more than I loved anyone, probably. You laughed so much. We talked every day, we made silly joking threats, it was fun.

What happened?

We’re still friends, but I don’t know how much either of us want to be. I don’t know what changed! What happened, what happened?

You never smile around me, you don’t laugh, you take all my jokes like they’re serious statements in this way you never did before. I’m trying, I swear, I’m trying so hard, but you never seem happy with what I’m saying! I try to be funnier than usual, even, but you don’t laugh. You laugh with everyone else! You share fandom things with everyone else! But when I start reading a whole four volume translation of an ancient book because it relates to your main fandom that I like too, you seem annoyed. Do you think I’m trying to one-up you? To take over your thing? Or do you just… hate me, for some reason I can’t imagine?

Last year we sat next to each other in class and elbowed each other until one of us gave up, and we laughed about it. This year I tap you on the head and you ask me to stop, please don’t do that again, you’re not mad I just should know. And that’s ok, but what changed? Is everything ok? Did I do something wrong?

I hate hate hate how I fucking feel around you. I just want to know what I did wrong! I have to have, right? Did I say something wrong? Is there some belief of mine that you hate, but you’re too polite to say it? Is it something about me as a person? Did I fuck up and say something insensitive on accident one too many times?

I miss being able to make you laugh. Now I could say anything and you’d just stare, or act like I said something FUCKING WRONG, something strange and horrible, WHAT DID I DO WRONG? I can’t TALK TO YOU! I can’t bring this up to anyone, because we’re all one friend group and you laugh with all of them.

There’s one thing you did that makes me want to break ties, even though we can’t because one big friend group. One of my other friends from another group, someone I love so so so so much, said one tiny insensitive thing in a class the two of you have, and you brought it up. And I know it was a topic extremely personal to you, but when I left the conversation and came back ten minutes later YOU WERE STILL FUCKING TRASH TALKING THEM! For one thing, for one insensitive but fair comment, you acted like they were the world’s largest piece of shit. You said “I think people shouldn’t voice their negative opinions of others” and then talked shit about someone I love and trust for way longer than made sense. Is that why you seem to hate me? Because I’m friends with them?

They’re a better friend than you.

There are times when you don’t seem to hate me, or be annoyed or bored with me, or whatever. Times when you spill your issues, and I pick at leaves and listen and you say you’re so glad we’re friends now and I say I am too and it sounds so toxic when I type it out but it doesn’t feel that way in those moments! I don’t think you’re doing any of this intentionally, I’m just hurt for no reason or something.

I wish we could have back what we had. I miss texting with you. I miss seeing your face light up. I miss loving you.

.

[fanfic-inator795]

Looking back at TGaMM s2, while it’s pre-ending could’ve been stronger and the arc with the Chens could have used a bit more fleshing out, it’s FINAL episode was just about perfect and the stuff I loved from s1 was just as great as ever and as such, if this is the last we see of TGaMM, I’m pretty satisfied.

Anyway, outside of the s2 (series?) finale which I’d call a 10/10 episode and ending, here’s my top 10 in no particular order:

- A Doll to Die For: I’m a sucker for Lord Hater- I mean, Lord Doom. Really funny with good horror-comedy elements and a really sweet ending, has those s1 vibes of helping a character find their happiness and it’s just an easy one to rewatch for me.

- The (After)Life of the Party: Of course I’m gonna love the ep that gave us Jeoff - plus it’s just fun in its own right, and that song’s a bop.

- Faint of Art: VERY relatable as as a fellow creative, another great song, really good jokes and an incredibly sweet ending

- Dance Dad Revolution: Pretty sure I’m the only one who really likes this one, haha. I just found it really amusing, and even when he’s at his ‘worst’, Pete is still just super charming to me. The song in this one is one of my faves (was stuck in my head for the longest time), and I love that it was the Jeoffs and their genuine love for dancing that inadvertently ruined Scratch’s scheme in the end, lol.

- All Shark No Bite: just a fun time, ngl. I love GhostShark and I’m so happy he stuck around

- Davenport’s in Demise: really interesting spotlight for Andrea. Another great song, great lesson, fun jokes- and come on, of course I was gonna put the ep with the “soft rock personality” joke on here, haha

- Kenny’s Falling Star: Idk, I just really like the story in this one. Kenny’s actually a lot more endearing than I thought he would be, and both his songs are great.

- Frightmares on MainStreet: excluding the s2 finale, this was probably the best out of all the Half-Hour eps this season, as it never feels like it’s dragging nor does it ever feel rushed. It’s fun, sweet, exciting - really the only knock against it comes from how it’s ending now feels a bit hollow, given how rushed the rest of the Chens arc ended up being. (Also I’m still a bit annoyed that the Frightmares in the thermos never came back, either as a serious threat or as a solution to defeating another threat. Like- why bother having them in the Chens’ possession in the first place then?)

- Alakasham: a nice and entertaining episode that really highlights just how much Darryl has grown over the season, plus all the stuff with the magic was a ton of fun.

- FONAA: another ep that felt like a classic s1 romp with great jokes, great moments between Molly and Scratch, and a really sweet ending.

Outside of my faves of the season, I’d say pretty much all the other eps were also really good, only ever being just kinda meh at worst.

I’d say the only ones that stood out in a negative way were:

- (I know I’m gonna be in the unpopular minority on this one) Like Father, Like Libby: it just sorta felt like a One-Scene Wonder sort of ep given that you’re just spending the whole time waiting for the other shoe to drop, thus causing the rest of the ep to feel sorta boring and filler-y since it’s not super funny or interesting in the lead up to the Big Scene. I feel like it could've played better if we got more of Libby and Leah bonding instead of just Libby being only focused on her dad and Leah being worried.

Honestly, out of all the “Special Episodes” this season, it’s the one that feels the most like it instead of simply being an enjoyable ep that happens to have a Special Lesson (like Period Piece or 100% Molly McGee)

AND

- The Grand Gesture: not bad by any means, just overstuffed. It sucks that by the time we finally got a Darryl and June ep, it also had to be shared with a b-plot that felt like it took the majority of the ep. It also just wasn’t super funny outside of like two jokes and felt rushed by the end of it.

All in all, for as much as I loved this season for its episodic installments, it’s new characters (namely Jeff, Lord Doom and Ollie) and its songs, the fact that 2/3rds of the serialized stuff didn’t quite lead up to its potential in the end and fell a bit flat - plus a couple of sorta meh episodes - makes me want to say that I do think s1 is better by juuuuuust a little bit.

But hey, s2 is still incredibly solid and enjoyable - and again, DAMN, that was a super satisfying and really great ending both to Scratch’s personal arc and the show itself - which makes TGaMM a really good show overall in spite of some minor flaws and disappointments. Easily the best modern day Disney show imo right up there with Big City Greens.

[llilyrose]

FICTOBER PROMPT 01: "I chose you."

Fandom/Fanfiction (UWO - Underworld Office)

ft. Boss, Eugene, and River

no ships

fighting (sorta) + sentimental talk

plot outline:

-Eugene gets into big trouble while patrolling; He and Boss have a talk about past events.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Underworld Office kept tabs on evil spirits and malicious entities. That was Eugene's job, just as much as it was Joan's or Hayden's or River's; even Boss'. The Underworld Office protected mortals from the door, in exchange for keeping the scale between mortals and the dead balanced. Everybody's tasks were important - big or small. Any mistake could lead to a monumental disaster.

That detail is what plagued the mortal Office worker as he made his round. No matter how many times he was told otherwise, Eugene knew he was very faulty with his work. He hadn't depended on anyone for most of his life, and yet, when he got a glimpse of what it was like working in a team, he felt even less useful on his own. He knows it's not what they meant, but the fact that they assigned Eugene to what's possibly the smallest area to patrol made him feel worthless in comparison. He wanted to do better- really, truly, he did- but it always seemed like he needed help or wasn't improving. The Underworld Office gave him a chance to find himself, and he wanted to reach farther so he deserved it.

Needless to say, when Eugene saw the shadow of an evil spirit, he jumped at the opportunity to prove his own worth. Now, though, as he stare at the meaty hands choking his incorporeal form, he could barely form coherent thoughts.

He reached out meekly, to nobody in particular. Help.

Someone.

...

A tremor.

A ghost paused in his tracks, hesitating. There was an unbearably cold and heavy energy in the air, pulling Boss' body closer to the ground and shaking it to the core. Where's this terrible feeling coming from?

"Heeeey, boooooss?" River asked, following close behind him. She didn't bother to clarify, he already knew what she was getting at.

"Aren't you supposed to be patrolling?"

"Stop dodging questions; You and I both feel that. Do you know where it's coming from?"

Boss folded open his fan, holding it in front of his face as he focused on the pull of energy. You only ever felt this within the range of an evil spirit- the stronger the tug on your body, the stronger the emotions the spirit felt. It didn't take long for him to assess direction; After all, it was a harsh push towards-

He froze.

"Boss-? Wait! What's up?!" River's voice only got farther as he zoomed toward the station, the other ghost presumably following close behind. He did not slow down. Under normal circumstances, his main worry would be of the mortal bystanders getting hurt, but there was something else that quickened his pace.

"Eugene."

That was all he needed to say, as River flew up next to him worriedly. She knew what it was, too. They were only able to hope he was safe. River's voice was the only thing Boss could hear, the soft murmur nearly flying away with the wind:"Is the newbie capable of handling that thing?"

They both knew the answer to that. As they ran down the stairs, noises of struggle and screeching flooding their ears, they knew the answer to that. When they were confronted with the scene of Eugene pinned down by a large, shadowy mass, they knew the answer to that; They knew that he'd stuck his head into something bigger than himself again.

"Operation: Glasses!" River tried at a cheeky joke, grinning in an attempt to lighten up the mood.

"Are we giving names to rescues now?" Boss, if he had one, would have raised his eyebrow. "There are more important things to do. Get Eugene away."

"Is that an order?"

Folding open his fan again, he gave his typical serious expression to the ghost. River got the memo, nodding and headed toward the tangled ghosts without a snide remark. Boss quickly followed, analyzing attack plans in his head.

"Hey!" River's voice boomed, hair slowly lengthening and gathering in a pool below her that suspiciously resembled a hand. It was (luckily) enough to surprise the creature and slacken its grip. In one swift, calculated motion, River's hair wrapped around Eugene's figure, yanking him from the creature and placing him somewhere close (but far enough away). Admittedly? Boss was very impressed. Unfortunately for the pair, though, they still had to take care of the plus-size evil spirit.

"Distract it further," Boss ordered, prepping his fan. "I'll weaken it, then you can cut it."

"I get to do the dicing for once?!"

"Distract."

"Oh, yes, right." River was surprisingly sunny for someone told they were bait, but this was her workflow and Boss learned it's better not to question.

Circling back to reality, his eyes trained onto River in wait of an opening. By now, the ghost was taunting the shadow and racing laps around it. In retaliation, the evil spirit attempted to catch her, but River's speed and maneuvering outmatched it. He felt his arms begin to deform into a whip-like shape, throwing his fan in the air towards River to keep it in play. When she paused, Boss struck the monster, which flinched and withered slightly. He turned to River.

Use the opening.

He needn't speak- River had already overwhelmed the monster with the power of his keepsake, its body exploding and scattering across the city. If not for the fact Boss was a ghost, he would have a major sense of whiplash.

He and River took a few moments to collect themselves (it may not take a physical toll, but it does take a mental toll). River slowly stood up, floating over to Boss and handing him back his fan with a victorious smile.

"Hah... great.... teamwork!"

"You are a ghost. Why are you panting?"

"Take the fan."

Boss studied her hands for a moment, snatching the fan back with a sigh.

"Hypocrite."

Boss rolled his eyes, making his way to Eugene. "Don't lose sight- we still have one loose end," he nodded towards the boy. River, though, was already headed toward the exit. "Where are you going?"

River turned around with a lazy expression. "Patrollllling. Say, while I'm looking for more evil spirits, why don't you look after the newbie? I'll cover your patrol area today, too." Before Boss could get a word in, the ghost left, leaving him and Eugene alone in the subway station. She's an oddity, but River does what River does best.

He stood in a protective position over Eugene's spirit, blocking his blind spots and remaining hypervigilant for any signs of an evil ghost. He wasn't sure why River was so insistent on leaving (he believed she would have been more inclined to stay, really), but Boss knew that she would do whatever she was doing at the moment well. He worried, though; She seemed a little out of it....

...

It wasn't time to dwell on things. Boss glanced at the ghostly apparatus beneath him.

Now all there was to do was to protect and to wait; the same thing he'd always done and the only thing Boss ever knew.

| I don't know how to insert another timeskip in here properly so take this divider as compensation |

Eugene shifted and stirred, wearily opening his eyes. Everything hurt (or, it should hurt), an unfriendly reminder of the situation he had found himself in moments before.

Glancing around, his eyes fell on Boss, standing over him and presumably warding away anything that could harm Eugene. In most cases this was heartwarming, but it only filled him up with remorse. He'd been sitting there while Boss was putting all his energy into protecting him? So much for trying to prove his own worth! Eugene could only hope Boss didn't see him as a leech. Standing up, he seemed to take the ghost by surprise (it didn't stick, though- it never did).

"Eugene."

It was the same indifferent, formal manner that Boss always spoke to him with. Eugene couldn't help but feel like it was laced with a sort of condescending tone, though. It only made him cringe inwardly.

"I'm sorry," Eugene muttered, tugging on his hoodie. It wouldn't make the situation better- Boss'd still think him useless- but he could at least try to explain himself. "I'm sorry, I just--!!"

Boss seemed to wait patiently, urging him to continue. He knows. He knows! He's just waiting until I finish to tell me to go! Why do I always mess things up? Dammit!

"...You can say it."

Boss was silent. He was right, wasn't he? Why else would Boss hesitate? Was he trying to think of ways to lay it easy on Eugene?

"Eugene."

Eugene stood up, taking a few steps toward his body. "It's okay... I already know what you're trying to say. You don't have to."

"Eugene."

That's the third time he's said it. He was in big trouble, Eugene knew it. He just continued towards his body in silence.

"Eugene," He could feel a heavy energy behind him. He didn't want to look back. He wouldn't look back.

"I-I know I'm dead weight, I don't want to hear it." I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to hear it-

But what he didn't expect

was Boss, in a gentle voice,

"Why do you think that way?"

And it was enough to make his brain stutter. Eugene turned back around, eyes wide in surprise, slack-jawed. There was no hidden intent in Boss; He just stood there in confusion. Why was he confused? By all means, he shouldn't be! He should be angry at Eugene, scolding him, forbidding him from entering the Underworld Office again, something!

...

That's no way to think. Old habits die hard. It got Eugene thinking, though, and he did have a question that irked him ever since he and Boss met.

"Why did you keep me around?"

His question was met with only silence. Boss seemed to falter- but only for a moment- before meeting Eugene's eyes again.

"You had a debt to pay -"

"-No, I mean—!!" Boss' response only frustrated Eugene further; He was grateful for Boss' outstanding patience. He should get an award. "You saved me. And I know that's your job, but you saved me. Rather than paying with my life, you let me take a position in the Underworld Office. You knew full well the dangers and the mistakes I could have made as well as did make, and you still let me stay."

"That's how--"

" 'That's how debt works' doesn't explain it. You could have told me off and let me go with a warning about this subway station. When I finished with my debt, despite doing nothing but worry you and give you more work on top of your current responsibilities, you let me stay. Even after meddling in ghost business and being somewhere I shouldn't be, you let me stay. You saw all my flaws, all the damage I've caused. Even just now, you saw how useless I am here. The only thing I'm good for is being someone you guys constantly have to save or rescue! I tried proving my worth by taking on that monster by myself, but I only ended up passing out and making the situation worse. So-- So, why?! Why didn't you just leave me on the curb when I was done?"

Silence filled the room once more, like a noxious gas ringing Eugene's neck. Whether he couldn't breathe because of the tears or the stare Boss was giving him, he didn't know. The atmosphere clung to him like smoke, and he only wanted to run.

"I didn't leave you on the curb because I saw myself in you, Eugene."

Eugene perked up, still shaking slightly. Boss' face, although covered in shadows, only emanated a soft expression. He didn't know whether to feel comforted or shocked- Boss almost never showed this side to him- but, nonetheless, he was compelled.

"There have been... other mortals. They missed their train and reacted much the same way that you had. I turned them all away- Mortals had no need to meddle with ghosts."

Eugene wanted to object, but Boss was much quicker.

"You were different. I saw... something. Potential. Growth. You didn't seem turned away, as if there was no other option for you. On one hand, you could say it was out of pity. On the other hand....

"... I chose you, Eugene. I was patient because I knew that you'd own up to your mistakes and grow. I was worried that bringing you in may have been a mistake at first, but you proved yourself time and time again- even when I didn't believe in you.

"You're a wonder, Eugene. You are not skilled in combat, but you are skilled in words. You have grown significantly and found yourself through our line of work. You've made friends and helped many. Do not discredit yourself, you've done plenty of good."

Eugene didn't know what to say. He felt like all that Boss said were lies, but one glance at his expression told you it was genuine. Eugene hesitated, but only for a moment, pulling the ghost into a hug with him. A grunt of surprise came from the adult, but not much else was said as they sat in each other's embrace.

You chose me, huh? Eugene thought, smiling. Something only Boss could say so genuinely. Okay.

I'll have to make your choice worth it.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Total Word Count: ≈ 2,000

[newbie-whovian]

I have Feelings™ about 4 and Sarah and some song lyrics/parallels

This ended up sorta long so-

So um Out of the Woods by Taylor Swift is giving me such 4 x Sarah vibes I am physically in pain, like maybe they don't actually relate at all and I'm doing another "I've connected the dots" "you haven't connected shit" "I've connected them" but---

Their entire time together honestly feels like they're running from something together. It's not even from something specific, maybe it's just that they don't want to be alone. And at the beginning of series 13 when Harry decides he'll stay behind, 4 asks Sarah if she'll come with him and you can see plain as day that he needs her to say yes. And then she joins him and they go back to running and it genuinely feels like if they had the choice, they would have kept running forever.

I will forever be cringey about associating lyrics with characters and this is absolutely one of those cases. Like you're a better person than I if you can hear "we were built to fall apart" and not go absolutely feral. "We decided to move the furniture so we could dance, like we stood a chance" oh my gooooooooddddd I am such a sucker for the doomed romances/friendships in dw and what makes 4 and Sarah so brutal to me is the fact that it almost tricks you into thinking it'll work.

They're best friends, and they look out for each other and make fun of each other, but at the same time it starts to feel comfortable, you can't help but be reminded that it can't last. Something happens, it always does. Sarah jokes about wanting to go home all the time, but we get to The Hand of Fear and she threatens to leave right as 4 is being called back to Gallifrey. And Sarah says that she didn't mean it and it sounds like she's about to cry and for once 4 looks serious, not necessarily concerned or resolved, but almost scared, and oh my god this show---

Neither of them want her to go and--- "the monsters turned out to be just trees, when the sun came up you were looking at me" I am foaming at the mouth-

While I'm on my Taylor Swift lyrics bullshit, "the worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you" from Betty--- I know the Doctor has done much worse things than accidentally abandoning Sarah but in the context of The Sarah Jane Adventures, when we see her working through her abandonment issues that he unintentionally gave her, it seems so much worse, and I made a post about that and I'm not gonna get on my soapbox again but I love that the show didn't abandon her too.

But then I go back and watch series 12 and 13, and it's so easy to forget all of that and pretend that they keep running away together and this show will be the death of me I stg

Guys one day I will be ok about 4 and Sarah but today is not that day.

[alongtidesoflight]

total devastation captured live on camera, armax arena closed down for maintenance

[twisted-wonderland-shenanigans]

NRC’s Bestiary Survival Guide--Heartslabyul Version

It would have barely been a month into the school year before it became clear that Yuu didn’t know a single thing about the type of monsters they were dealing with amongst their fellow students. So what better way to ensure their survival than through creating their own bestiary? With some help from Ace, Deuce, and Grim, this guidebook will serve as a record and journal for each new discovery!

Or perhaps it’ll wind up a creative jumbled mess of notes and scribbled sketches. In a school full of chaotic students, chaos and mischief are to be expected! Let’s see how Yuu’s bestiary turns out, shall we~?

A/N: This is just a general guideline explaining the characters and their species in a fun way, sorta like those omnibus guidebooks where characters make random commentary on someone’s journal entry when they’re trying to be serious and explain things. Hope you guys enjoy! 😂

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

Hello. I don’t know if there are any other humans out there or if any others might appear, but to whoever reads this I hope it will help you as much as it helped me…or at least, I hope it helps me. Professor Trein gave me this book and suggested I keep a record of everything—something about dual research or something since those institutions are studying me too? Anyway, I am writing this journal in an attempt to keep track of the different species I’ve seen so far at this school, as well as certain “weak points”. Ace and Deuce have volunteered to help with gathering notes, though I don’t quite trust them to not make notes or comments without me knowing.

You forgot to hide the pens from us, Prefect~!

Don’t worry, my minion! The Great Grim will add his knowledge to this little book of yours!

I’m sorry, I tried to stop them…also, what do you mean by “weak points”?

[There are multiple scribbles scrawled across the wrinkled and tattered page, as though it had gone through a tug-of-war and the words were scratched out. It isn’t hard to imagine what happened as evidenced by the burnt corners before turning to the next page.]

To start things off, we’ll go with each dorm in this order: Heartslabyul, Savanaclaw, Octavinelle, Scarabia, Pomefiore, Ignihyde, and Diasomnia. First is Heartslabyul:

 Heartslabyul is a chaotic and confusing dorm to be in, with rules that don’t make sense and hallways that may lead to topsy-turvy rooms halfway across the dorm. Much like the dorm itself, the dorm members can be a mix of different monsters, including hybrid species who don’t necessarily fit into one species or another. The members so far are—

Riddle Rosehearts: Faun species. Very strict and stern, though he’s improved from when the school year first started. Fauns are monsters of nature with a human torso and the legs of a goat or a deer, known as benevolent nature spirits and cousins to the satyr monster species (which apparently is comparable to dogs and wolves, though I hadn’t figured out how aside from a size difference). As such, Riddle is very skilled with plant magic and healing magic. If he allows you to get close enough to touch, it turns out he likes the base of his horns scratched and massaged and the back of his ears are a particularly good spot to scratch…though he might bleat in protest if anyone else is around.

Bwahahah!!! He bleats like a goat?! Oh I have got to try this, even if I get collared!

Trey Clover: Satyr/Naga hybrid species. Calm and big brother vibes, Trey seems to always know what to say and do to calm down everyone—including Riddle. Unsure if it’s part of the satyr aspect of his species or part of the naga species, but he’s still cunning and told a joke about using oyster sauce for baking. He looks similar to Riddle in terms of the goat legs, though his horns are much bigger and his tail…well, that was a surprise to see it turn from a small goat’s tail to a long snake tail—an even bigger surprise was to see the snake fangs! I thought he was gonna eat us!! Apparently, he doesn’t like having it show all the time, though he’s not hiding it as often as he used to. If you can reach them, the base of his horns are a good spot to scratch, though by far compared to other monsters he’s the more docile of the school.

Cater Diamond: Hippogriff species. Energetic and quick as lightning, Cater’s wings can carry him through the air faster than any broom. With powerful horse legs and eagle-like claw hands, it’s easy to imagine him being dangerous and deadly—but in truth he’s quite affectionate and curious and more likely to try and get a selfie with you. Hippogriffs are considered a loyal species and will defend their nests and family to the death. The feathery ears and the top of his head are the best places to scritch on a hippogriff, though wings are off limits unless given express permission to touch—such as scratching an itch he can’t reach.

Wait, is this what you meant by “weak points”?...oh god, what are you going to write about me?!

Ace Trappola: Skvader species. A winged rabbit, you would think he’d be able to fly like Cater, but his wings are only big enough to glide or hover—though he says his wings are still growing. With long ears and long (dangerous) looking rabbit legs, Ace’s speed is faster than any human or dog for short distances and he can jump great heights…especially when scared by the Roomba vacuum someone snuck into Ramshackle. Ace: You swore you’d never talk about that!! Rubbing his cheeks and long ears are safe bets to make him melt like putty, and he does like chin scratches—though he may bite if you do it for too long. Nose boops will cause him to freeze for a moment so might be a good reaction or a weird reaction. Need to study this more…

Gah! Blab it to the whole school why don’t you?!

Well you did prank Yuu with that air horn/glitter explosion last week…

Nyahaha! Serves you right for messing with my minion!

Deuce Spade: Centaur species. Half man, half horse with long ears, Deuce could run circles around anyone at the school—and in the track and field club, he likely already has! Much like a horse, it is possible to ride on his back, though be warned that riding on a centaur’s back is considered rude if you’re not friends with one or not given permission, so you might find yourself in an impromptu rodeo if one decides you’re not welcome or that you’ve overstayed your welcome. Much like normal horses, Deuce (and apparently other centaurs at the school) seem to like when you pet their shoulders on their lower half and enjoy a good scritch on the back, though Deuce seems to not mind having his head and ears rubbed. Caution is advised to not stand behind one if they happen to get spooked and kick.

I’m so sorry about that day! Let me make it up to you-!

What were you saying about my prank being bad?

[The rest of the page—though filled with mentions of other monsters in the dorm like wolpertingers and other mix-matched creatures—is a battlefield of multi-colored ink lines and splatters, including one that suspiciously looks like a pawprint. It would seem that—as monsters—the students have a tendency to be more physically aggressive and likely to get into scuffles even against more dangerous species than themselves. Though their bones and skin heal fast, it’s a grim reminder that humans in this world are far more fragile and need to take care not to aggravate any of the more “temperamental” of the students.

It is safe to say that this journal’s documentation shall continue at a later time…and when the pens are better hidden.]

[babygirlwolverine]

The 5 Senses of Longing

This fic is a gift for @stanforderadean as part of my gift exchange celebration!

Also posted on ao3.

Word Count: 7,463 (Continued under the Read More)

Dean rapped his knuckles on the wood door, pausing for a second before nudging it open with his shoulder. Cas was lying on the bed in his room, propped up against the headboard with a book in his lap, and Dean was once again hit with the startling recollection that Cas actually needed to sleep now that he didn’t have his Grace. Somehow it was endearing to see Cas this way; curled up under the covers and rubbing sleep from his eyes.

But wasn't that the point of this? The whole reason Dean had come knocking on Cas' door in the first place. Because Cas had been without his powers for months now, and also because they were in a lull with finding Metatron and killing Abbadon. What they needed was a little break. And even though they were dealing with more shit than ever before, Dean yearned to slow things down around them for just a couple of days to show Cas some of the good things about being human.

Dean had been the one to suggest the idea casually to Sam, and with Ezekiel healing him slowly, it was best for Sam to stay at the Bunker and rest. Which gave Dean the perfect opportunity. Now the only thing to do was to bring the idea to Cas.

“Hey, buddy,” Dean said, hovering in the doorway. “Mind if I come in?”

Cas smiled, lowering his book and closing it with a quiet thump. “Not at all,” he said, gesturing for Dean to enter the room. “Did something happen?” he asked, smile shifting into something more alert as he pushed himself further up in the bed.

“No, no, nothing happened,” Dean quickly reassured, taking a couple steps closer before hesitating at the foot of the bed. Should he sit on the bed? Should he pull up a chair? Should he just stand there? Why was he overthinking this? God, he really needed to get these bubbling feelings under control before he opened his mouth and said something he shouldn’t. “I was uh. Actually wondering if you were busy?”

Cas blinked a couple times, tilting his head and squinting up at Dean in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I thought we could go on a little road trip. Just you and me for a couple of days. Wanted to show you a few things now that you’re sorta human,” Dean said.

“A road trip? Don’t we do that all the time?” Cas asked.

Dean grinned, nudging Cas’ leg with his knee as he plopped himself down on the edge of the bed. “Well, yeah. But this isn’t gonna be a road trip for a case. There’s a couple of spots around here that you’ve got to experience. Sights and smells you haven’t seen yet. Oh, and the best stack of pancakes you’ll ever eat. You’ve just gotta trust me.”

Something soft and affectionate sparked through Cas’ eyes before he nodded. “Best pancakes I’ll ever eat? Is that so?” he teased.

All the nerves that had been lurching in Dean’s stomach settled all at once, and he shoved at Cas’ leg again. Yeah. This he could do. Their usual playful antics that he enjoyed so much. He didn’t need to think about that little spark that was twining around his heart at the way Cas had just smiled at him.

“Just you wait. Now that you’ve got taste buds, I’m gonna make you try every single food I can get my hands on. I will find every single thing you enjoy eating, mark my words,” Dean said lightly, hauling himself up from the bed. “Twenty minutes. Get your ass moving and meet me at the car.”

Cas laughed, free and happy, and Dean’s heart lurched in his chest. Oh, he was going to do everything he could over the next two days just to hear that sound again.

Dean had just reached the door when Cas called out to him.

“Hey, Dean?”

Dean turned, hand on the doorknob as he looked back at Cas. “Yeah?”

“Thank you,” Cas said, smiling so warmly that it made Dean feel momentarily weak in the knees. Oh God. If Cas kept smiling at him like that, Dean was going to do something he regretted, like kiss Cas stupid until he could feel that smile against his own lips.

“Yeah, of course. Twenty minutes. Don’t be late,” Dean said, flashing Cas a quick smile before bolting from the room; the door snapping shut behind him as he escaped to the safety of his own room.

Pressing his back into his bedroom door, Dean heaved in a deep breath; closing his eyes and scrubbing his hands over his face. This idea was either the best thing he’d ever come up with... or it was going to be the death of him. Maybe he’d be able to get over this stupid fluttering feeling in his chest. Or maybe, just maybe, that feeling was going to explode until it consumed him whole.

~

"Where are we going first?" Cas asked, sliding into the passenger seat exactly nineteen minutes later.

A minute early, Dean noted. Was that deliberate? Was it accidental? Dean couldn't possibly be overthinking one teeny tiny little minute, could he?

"Pancakes, obviously. Unless you're suddenly going to turn your nose up at chocolate," Dean said, darting his eyes over to Cas as they pulled out of the Bunker onto the main dirt road winding through the woods.

"Chocolate?" Cas repeated, turning in his seat until he'd angled his body towards Dean. The smile that crept across his lips was so dazzling that Dean had to suck in a sharp breath and force his eyes on the road. "I love chocolate."

Huffing out a laugh, Dean clicked on the music and Zeppelin softly filled the air. "Oh really? I never would've known." Shifting onto the main road, Dean grinned at Cas. "I definitely didn't see you eat 3 chocolate bars yesterday."

Cas pretended to be shocked, gasping at Dean even though his eyes were sparkling with laughter. "That certainly wasn't me. Sam framed me."

The laughter bubbled up from Dean’s chest, and he couldn't stop himself from knocking his hand against Cas' knee. "You're a menace. You and your sudden sweet tooth."

"I don't see you complaining that hard. Considering now you have someone to eat chocolate pancakes with."

The breath caught in Dean's throat; such simple words hitting like a wave against his chest. Keeping his focus on the road, he quickly darted his gaze over at Cas from the corner of his eye. Cas had tucked himself against the door, with his body still tilted towards Dean. There was a soft expression on his face; a smile that lit up his eyes with his nose crinkled adorably.

Oh God, this feeling really was going to consume Dean.

Shifting the conversation towards topics that wouldn’t make Dean’s heart ache in his chest, the hour-long drive slipped by in a blur. The diner soon loomed on the horizon, and it was so easy to keep talking about blueberries vs bananas as Dean guided the Impala into a parking spot.

“Doesn’t it depend on what you’re putting the fruit with?” Dean asked, holding the diner door open for Cas to walk through. “Besides, bananas can be baked into far more things than blueberries.”

Cas scrunched up his face, giving Dean a look that bordered on a pout. “You’re just saying that because you prefer bananas over blueberries.”

"I would never," Dean teased, before stepping up to the counter. "Table for two, please."

"Right this way," the hostess said, guiding them to a booth in the back of the diner.

As soon as they sat down, Cas moved to pick up a menu from the table, but Dean reached out from the other side of the booth and plucked it from Cas' hands. "Nope. No looking. You just gotta trust me on this one, yeah?"

"What if I don't like it?" Cas asked, raising an eyebrow even though he leaned back in his seat, conceding to Dean's statement of trust.

Tapping his fingers against the table, Dean tried not to linger on the way their fingertips had just barely brushed when he'd pulled the menu from Cas' grasp. "You will. Don't overthink it and have a little faith in me."

"I do. Trust you," Cas said, something in his tone slipping from playful to serious.

Dean shook his head, dispelling the heavier tone. He didn't want to think about Cas' unwavering trust and how most days he felt like he didn't deserve it. Right now, this moment was about showing Cas something more.

"Good. Because if you don't like it, I'm never speaking to you again," Dean joked, lightening the mood again.

"Never again? That's a long time to not talk to me because of some pancakes, Dean,” Cas laughed.

Just as Dean was about to throw another tease at Cas, a waiter appeared at their table with a smile and a notepad in his hand.

“Hi there, welcome to Mel’s. My name’s Hunter. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Actually, Hunter, we’re ready to order. Two coffees, one with cream and sugar and one with cream. And two short stacks of the rocky road pancakes, please.”

Hunter smiled, jotting down the order. “Well that was easy. I’ll get those coffees out to you both in just a few moments.”

“Thank you,” Cas said, as Hunter collected their menus and disappeared towards the kitchen. “You know how I like my coffee?”

Dean ducked his head, a sudden tinge burning his cheeks as he cleared his throat. “Cream and two sugars. Like I said, you like things on the sweeter side,” Dean said, avoiding Cas’ gaze from the other side of the table.

“You’re very observant,” Cas pointed out.

Dean bit down on his tongue, forcing himself to swallow the words ‘I’m only observant when it comes to you.’ Instead, he threw on a cocky smirk and said, “That’s because I’m an excellent hunter.”

Rolling his eyes, Cas kicked Dean lightly under the table. “You’re not that good.”

Dean pretended to be offended, scrunching up one of the spare napkins and throwing it at Cas’ face. Cas laughed, bright and giddy, and Dean felt a weightless feeling in his chest. He spent the next 15 minutes doing anything and everything he could just to hear Cas laugh again and again.

By the time their pancakes and coffee arrived at the table, Cas’ cheeks were pink from laughter and Dean had never been more smitten. Cas made a little sound of shock as the pancakes were put in front of him; his eyes widening as he looked up at Dean in surprise.

Three massive chocolate pancakes covered the entire size of the plate. Topped with handfuls of marshmallows and almonds, along with a drizzle of chocolate syrup and cocoa powder, it was a chocolate overload.

“What do you think? Does it look sweet enough for you, angel?” Dean said, with a grin.

“Looks like Heaven,” Cas muttered, picking up his fork and taking a bite. Cas instantly groaned in pleasure, eyes fluttering shut as he hummed happily. “Tastes like it, too.”

Dean wasn’t sure whether to laugh at Cas’ words or to dwell on the sound Cas had made when he tasted the pancakes, and it was all too much and not enough.

“You like it?” Dean asked, swallowing a mouthful of his own pancake and washing it down with a sip of coffee just so he could distract himself from the look of sheer bliss that was on Cas’ face.

“It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” Cas said, dipping one of the mini marshmallows into the chocolate syrup with a grin.

This time Dean did laugh, nudging Cas’ leg under the table with his foot. “Don’t eat it too fast or you’ll give yourself hiccups.”

“That’s not a thing,” Cas said, chewing on another mouthful of pancake.

“Yeah, Cas, it is,” Dean said, huffing out a breath and rolling his eyes fondly.

As if to prove his point, Cas started hiccuping a minute later. Dean raised an eyebrow, as if to say, ‘see, I told you,’ and Cas pouted.

“But it’s so-” he broke off to hiccup, “Good.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Dean said warmly. “Hold your breath for twenty seconds, and then eat a little slower. The pancake isn’t going anywhere.”

Cas gave Dean a sharp look. “Unless you-” he hiccuped again, “steal it from my plate before I can eat it.”

Okay, that was a fair point. Dean definitely had eaten from Cas’ plate before. But this time, he placed his hand on his heart as he said, “I won’t touch your pancakes, you have my word.”

Shoulders bouncing as Cas hiccuped again, Dean watched as Cas took in a deep breath and then held it. He internally counted as well, watching as Cas let the breath out twenty seconds later.

They both waited a beat, then two, and when no more hiccups came, Cas beamed at Dean. “It worked,” he said before moving to take another bite of chocolatey goodness.

They lapsed into comfortable silence as they ate, both of them enjoying their breakfast. Cas broke the moment a few minutes later to say, "I want to eat these pancakes every day for the rest of my life."

Taking a sip of his coffee, Dean grinned across the table at Cas. "I'm not sure if we can get out here every day. But we can make it a thing, if you want? Every Sunday that we're at home, you and I can drive down here for breakfast," Dean offered.

Cas nodded eagerly, a genuine smile lighting up his face. "I'd love that."

Something warm settled in Dean's veins; seeing Cas so happy and content over something as simple as a stack of pancakes. It was all Dean had wanted. To see Cas smile and to see him enjoy something Dean also liked.

Nodding firmly, decision made, Dean nudged Cas with his foot again. “Finish your pancakes. We’ve got more things to explore today.”

“Like what?” Cas asked, freezing with his fork inches from his lips. Dean had to force himself to look away before he stared at the way Cas’ lips wrapped around the fork.

“You’ll see. I’ll give you a couple options in the car and you can pick whichever one you want,” Dean said, biting down on his own fork just a little too roughly; the tang of metal vibrating along his tooth.

Cas pouted, pointing at Dean with the handle of his fork. “What if I want to know the options now?”

Miming zipping his lips closed, Dean smiled at the fond exasperation that Cas shot his way. The expression instantly melted into a smile again as Cas scooped more marshmallows onto his chocolate pancake.

“A new tradition,” Cas murmured, more to himself than Dean, but Dean heard the fondness in the words and his heart kicked up again in his chest.

God, Dean was happy. Happier than he’d been in a long time. He genuinely cared about Cas enjoying things, and knowing he’d been able to make Cas smile was a damn good feeling.

By the time they made their way back to the Impala twenty minutes later, both full of chocolatey sweetness, Cas immediately tapped his fingers on Dean’s knee. “What are the options?”

Rolling his eyes, Dean nudged Baby into gear and pulled back out onto the road. “So impatient.”

“Shut up,” Cas huffed, his tone sharply contrasting the happy look on his face.

“Alright. Simple question. Don’t think too hard about it. Ready?”

Cas nodded.

“Aquarium or the zoo?”

Cas’ eyes sparkled bright blue in the late morning sunlight as he made his choice. “Aquarium.”

~

The afternoon sun crept through the Impala windows as they arrived at the aquarium in Kansas City a couple of hours later. Cas had spent the entire drive talking about the evolution of fish and their importance to the earth from creation until now.

It was entirely endearing, hearing Cas talk so animatedly. It made Dean want to pull over; to watch Cas talk as he hung on every word that slipped past Cas’ lips. Instead, he darted his eyes over to the passenger seat as often as he could, watching as Cas occasionally emphasized his point by gesturing with his hands.

Too cute.

Dean turned his eyes back to the road again.

As soon as they’d parked, Cas was out of the car and gravitating towards the entrance before Dean could even open his door. There was an excited gleam in Cas’ eyes, and Dean felt the electric pull as he allowed Cas to lead the way to the ticket booth.

“I wonder if they’ll have any seahorses. Did you know they’re the only animals where the male carries the eggs and undergoes the birthing process?” Cas asked as Dean purchased the tickets.

Dean hummed vaguely in answer, not wanting to take away from Cas’ enthusiasm by admitting he already knew that. “I’m sure they’ll have plenty of seahorses,” he said instead, watching Cas from the corner of his eye as the former angel beamed.

Stepping into the cool air conditioned building, Dean’s eyes caught the entrance sign that indicated which direction each exhibit was located and he nudged Cas towards it. “What do you want to see first?”

Cas’ gaze caught the very first line on the sign and he grinned. “There are sea turtles, Dean. A whole rescue center for them.” Something in Cas’ expression shifted from excited to fond in the blink of an eye; leaving Dean reeling at how expressive Cas was. “It’s nice. That there are people who try to conserve endangered species.”

Dean bumped his shoulder into Cas’, gently directing him towards the sea turtle exhibit. “See? Not all humans are terrible,” he joked.

“No. They’re not,” Cas said, the fondness morphing into something tender as his gaze locked with Dean’s. The moment felt blinding, and Dean had to tear his eyes away before he did something stupid like lean in and kiss Cas right in front of the exhibit.

Instead, Dean shifted the conversation into something lighter. Putting his hand out, he caught Cas’ shoulder and held him back mere feet from the turtles. When Cas gave him a questioning look, Dean moved to tap his nose with his finger. “Take a second. What do you smell?”

Cas tilted his head, sucking in a deep breath before raising an eyebrow at Dean. “Salt water.”

Dean nodded. “Part of the experience is the smell; the salt lingering in the air from the exhibits. Almost makes you feel like you’re right there by the ocean.”

Dean watched as Cas’ eyes fluttered shut as he took another long, slow breath. A little smile graced his lips, and the sight was so simplistic and yet so beautiful Dean momentarily lost his breath. Quickly sneaking out his phone, Dean took a picture; with the turtles in the background and Cas with his eyes closed in a peaceful bliss.

“I like it,” Cas said a moment later, eyes fluttering open as he looked over at Dean. “The atmosphere is peaceful.”

Nodding, Dean nudged Cas to start moving again. “I’m glad. Now let’s go see the turtles.”

Entering into the turtles rescue center, they walked up to one of the large tanks where several turtles gracefully swam by. Cas moved forward, gently pressing his palm to the glass. “They’re beautiful,” he murmured.

“Do you want to sit and watch them? It looks like there might be someone coming to feed them if you want to stay for that?” Dean asked.

“I’d love to,” Cas said, letting Dean lead him to a bench just a couple of feet away.

They sat down together, watching as the turtles elegantly moved through the water. It was captivating and mesmerizing; both watching the turtles glide through the water, but also watching Cas watching the turtles.

“Tell me something. About turtles, I mean,” Dean said, bumping Cas’ knee with his own.

“Their species is 110 million years old,” Cas said wistfully, as if he were picturing the moment when sea turtles first came into existence. “They don’t have any teeth,” he said, nodding his head to the tank where several jellyfish and crabs were being fed to the turtles. “Their mouth is made of keratin, like your fingernails, which helps to break down the plants and small animals that they eat.”

“They really are elegant,” Dean said, pressing his shoe up against Cas’ and offering him a smile.

Cas nodded, his eyes darting back and forth between the turtles and Dean. “They were some of my favorite creatures made for the ocean.” Cas lapsed into silence for a few moments, his gaze caught on a cluster of turtles that swam up to the surface to take a breath.

Dean let the pause linger, but instead of watching the turtles, he spent his time watching Cas. He cataloged the serene expression on Cas’ face and committed it to memory. It was a pleased contentment that Dean wanted to see Cas experience over and over again.

After several minutes of watching the turtles swim around and waddle their way up onto a sandy ledge, Cas bumped their knees together. “What’s next?”

“You tell me,” Dean said. “What do you want to see?”

“Fish. Any fish,” he paused, “The fish from that movie you’ve talked about before.”

Dean laughed, tipping his head back and letting a bubbling feeling of happiness wrap around his heart. “You mean Finding Nemo?”

“That’s it. Show me fish from Finding Nemo,” Cas said, getting up from the bench and offering his hand to Dean.

Dean let his fingers wrap around Cas’ wrist as Cas pulled him to his feet, and a spark of longing cascaded down his spine. Before he could linger on the feeling for too long, Cas had let go and was moving towards the nearest sign with arrows to the major exhibits.

“It says fish exhibits are this way,” Cas said, already moving towards the tunnel he’d indicated. Except it wasn’t just a tunnel. A large tank wrapped around the walkway, giving a massive overhead view of several sharks and fishes as they stepped into the passage.

“Wow,” Cas breathed out, tilting his head back so he could watch as a blacktip shark swam over their heads. They paused in the corridor, watching as a school of fish darted overhead just seconds after the shark had passed. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Cas whispered.

There was something about Cas’ earnest awe that made Dean want to surprise him over and over again. “Do you like it?” Dean asked, stepping to the side as a family moved past them.

“I do,” Cas replied, happy and carefree.

And then they were moving again; past the sharks and into several rooms filled with tanks of colorful fish. From sea bass to minnows, and rockfish to flounders; they spent a vast amount of time looking at each exhibit of fish. Dean specifically found tanks filled with clownfish and blue tangs, explaining the plot of Finding Nemo even though he knew Cas already knew the movie.

The exhibits transitioned from fish into invertebrates and other sea creatures; crabs and lobsters, jellyfish and urchins, eels to octopi. Cas was fascinated by every animal they saw.

But Dean’s favorite part was the knowledge Cas shared. At every single exhibit, Dean pointed at a fish and asked, “Tell me something about this one.” And, without fail, Cas instantly told Dean a unique fact or detail about whichever animal Dean had pointed at. Dean stopped looking at the signs next to each tank, instead turning and asking Cas what each species was. No matter how many times Dean asked, Cas gave him the same beautifully fond smile as he detailed every fish they saw.

By the time they’d made their way through all of the tanks, Dean swore he could write and direct his own nature series on sea creatures with all the information Cas had shared.

“Alright, now we’ve seen the fish, are you ready for the best part of any aquarium trip?” Dean asked as they stepped back out into the main entryway of the building.

“There’s something better than seeing the fish?” Cas asked, tilting his head questioningly.

Dean chuckled, nudging Cas towards another corridor while deliberately blocking the signpost from view so that he could surprise Cas. “Oh, trust me, you’re gonna enjoy this.”

Guiding Cas past tanks of coral and kelp, they walked out into a large enclosure. People lingered around a massive pool in the center of the room; children screaming and giggling and the sounds of splashing water echoing around the walls.

“Welcome,” Dean said, gesturing widely with his arms, “To the interactive touchpool.”

“The what?” Cas asked, squinting at Dean in shock.

“Touchpool, Cas. It’s where you can actually put your hand in the water and touch the creatures. I thought you’d like to physically interact with some of the animals. If you want?”

Cas pulled in a sharp breath, his eyes flitting to the large pool before darting back to Dean in awe. “What animals are there?”

“Why don’t we go find out?” Dean said, guiding Cas to the sink area so they could both wash their hands before directing them to an open spot along the wall of the exhibit. Rolling his sleeve up, Dean motioned for Cas to do the same. Then he dipped his fingertips into the water, and watched as Cas copied his motions.

Reaching out, Dean’s fingers brushed over a sea star and he chuckled quietly. “C’mere,” he said, moving his hand through the water until he bumped against Cas. Linking their fingers together, Dean guided their joined hands down until Cas’ palm was pressed against the sea star.

“Oh.” Cas’ surprise hung in the air between them as he leaned his weight into Dean’s side. Pressed together against the rocky edge of the exhibit, Dean swore he never wanted to let go. But Cas deserved to experience what it felt like to touch these creatures. Loosening his hold on Cas’ wrist until he was just barely brushing their hands together, Dean felt Cas’ hand move slowly over the top of the sea star, as if he were memorizing every hard bump of the spines along its body. “It’s not what I expected, even though I know every molecule they’re made of. It feels… leathery,” Cas said, tilting his head carefully as he gently traced his fingers over the starfish for a second time.

Dean gave Cas another minute to interact with the sea star before he slipped his fingers across the back of Cas’ hand and carefully guided him again. “How does this feel?” he asked as he lowered Cas’ hand down gently towards an anemone.

Cas let out another little gasp, hand jerking back slightly at the texture before he touched it again. “Gelatinous. Like jello,” Cas said with a laugh, fingers tracing over the flower-like structure.

Shifting away slightly to put some space between them, Dean moved to pull his hand away, but Cas instantly followed him until he pressed their hands together again. Their fingers interlocked under the rippling water, and Dean felt his breath stutter out of his lungs.

“Show me something else,” Cas said, voice almost drowned out by the loud sounds all around them.

Pulling in a sharp breath, Dean kept their hands linked together as he took a step to the side; waiting for Cas to follow him. He watched carefully as the stingray moved along the floor of the exhibit, and as it approached them, he directed Cas’ hand down until his palm slid down the stingray's back.

“What does the stingray feel like?” Dean asked, words sticking in his throat as the overwhelming sensations sparked between them.

“Smooth. Almost sleek and silky,” Cas said, voice dropping into something breathy in awe. Cas’ hand lingered against the stingray, fingertips stroking over it’s skin before Dean shifted their joined hands down onto the bottom of the tank.

“Let it move over your hand,” Dean said, shifting his hold on Cas until he was gripping around Cas’ wrist.

The stingray rippled over Cas’ hand as it swam along the floor, and Cas let out a startled laugh. “It tickles,” he said, leaning his weight back into Dean again until his hip bumped against Dean’s. They remained that way for several long seconds as the stingray moved over Cas’ hand and continued on its way down the length of the pool.

Dean cast his eyes from the water up to Cas, and their gazes locked for a heart-pounding moment. An unspoken thing passed between them, and Cas momentarily flipped his hand until his palm brushed against Dean’s palm. There was a rush of water that moved around their hands at the motion, but Dean swore he could feel the heat from Cas’ hand radiating up into his.

Movement from a large gray fish broke Dean from the trace and he tipped Cas’ hand palm down again as the fish swam past.

“Fish,” Dean said.

“Sturgeon,” Cas clarified as his fingers grazed along the bony spines of its back until it’s whiskers tickled over the pads of his fingers. “It’s smooth because it doesn't have any scales, but also bony where the cartilage creates these projections.”

Nodding, Dean glided their hands through the water again until they brushed against the sharp roughness of coral.

“It’s different, right? Focusing all your senses on the way something feels,” Dean said quietly.

Cas nodded, letting Deans’ fingers slide into the gaps between his own again. “I’ve never experienced anything quite like it,” Cas said, words whispered reverently between them. And then, said even more quietly, “I remember watching the evolution of these creatures; watching one of the fish climb onto the shore and another angel telling me not to step on that fish because there were big plans for it. I wish I’d known then.”

“Known what?” Dean asked, a sudden lump forming in his throat.

“How beautiful fish could be, and what it was truly like to see them and touch them,” Cas responded, letting Dean maneuver them as another stingray floated through the water right underneath their hands.

Dean tilted his head, watching the way Cas’ expressions shifted from amazement to surprise and delight.

“Do you want to stay here for a little while? We can see if there’s any other creatures on the other side of the pool that you can interact with?”

The smile that Cas gave him was so bright Dean swore it rivaled the sun. “I’d like that very much.”

Letting go of Cas’ hand and stepping away from the water felt like Dean had left a part of himself behind on the edge of the pool. But when they’d found a new spot on the opposite end of the exhibit, Cas’ hand instantly found Dean’s underwater.

They spent an hour at the touchpool interacting with the creatures, but Dean wasn’t paying attention to the animals anymore. All he could focus on was the way Cas’ hand fit perfectly with his own, and how Cas kept their fingers intertwined the entire time. Dean never wanted the moment to end; Cas pressed against him, babbling excitedly about how everything felt, as if they had all the time in the world to linger right there at the edge of the glistening water.

~

Dusk had fallen by the time they left the aquarium. Walking back to the car, Dean felt drunk on happiness with the tingling sensation of Cas’ fingers still lingering against his hand. Part of him wanted to reach out and grasp Cas’ hand again, but without the pretense of the water, Dean hesitated and the moment slipped by.

But the day had been good; better than anything Dean could’ve hoped for. In all the time he’d known Cas, Dean swore he’d never seen Cas laugh and smile so much.

By the time they climbed back into the Impala, Cas was hiding a yawn behind his hand, automatically dropping his head to rest against the door.

“I think that’s enough excitement for one day. Ready to find a motel and get some sleep?” Dean asked.

Cas’ tired eyes found Dean’s in the muted light from the streetlight above them, and he gave Dean a soft nod. Despite the exhaustion, Dean could still see the etches of happiness lingering in Cas’ expression. Something churned in Dean’s stomach at the sight and he reached out, resting his hand briefly on Cas’ knee with a gentle squeeze.

“Dean,” Cas said, voice infused with affection.

The tenderness was almost too much to bear, and Dean cast his eyes out to the road as they pulled out of the parking lot. “Sap,” he muttered back to Cas, catching the little fond smile on Cas’ face at the light teasing.

Once they were back on the road, Cas closed his eyes and tipped his head back against the door again. Dean noticed, and quickly he fumbled one handed to grab one of his spare jackets from the backseat. He nudged it into Cas’ lap, nodding his head towards the door. “Better to use a jacket as a pillow.”

“Thank you, Dean,” Cas murmured thickly, scrunching the jacket up and nestling it between his head and the door. Another surge of fondness surged up to wrap around Dean’s lungs, and he forced himself to focus on driving instead of watching Cas drift off to sleep with his head pillowed on his jacket.

It took almost half an hour of driving to find a motel that had any vacancy- why the last 3 were all full was a surprising feat that Dean had rarely encountered- and Dean was tempted to let Cas sleep the rest of the night tucked up in the passenger seat, but he knew from experience that it was more comfortable to drag his exhausted ass into a motel room than to get neck ache from sleeping against the car door. As softly as he could, Dean nudged Cas’ shoulder.

Cas’ eyes immediately fluttered open, Dean’s name on his lips as he catalogued their surroundings with sleepy blinks.

“Hey buddy. Are you ready to get out of the car and get some sleep in a bed?” Dean prompted, keeping his tone gentle in the peaceful darkness of the car.

“Yeah, okay,” Cas said, scrubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

God. The sight was ridiculously cute. Dean’s heart kicked up against his chest, and he forced himself to open the door and step out into the cool night air before he reached out and brushed his hand through Cas’ messy hair. “I’ll go get us checked in.”

He waited until he saw Cas nod before he made his way to the front desk.

A young man looked up as the bell above the door dinged, and the smell of musty haze hit Dean as he stepped into the building.

“Single room with two queens, please,” Dean said, stepping up to the counter.

The man made a face, shaking his head as he dropped a key in front of Dean. “Sorry, dude. I’ve got one room left with one bed. There’s a convention in town and everywhere is booked for miles.”

Well shit. Dean cast his eyes outside to Cas, who was leaning against the hood of the Impala with his shoulders hunched as if he were barely keeping himself standing upright. They were both tired, and searching for another motel when there was a room here felt unnecessarily complicated. They could share a bed, right? It was just for one night. Cas wouldn’t mind, would he?

“Yeah, alright, we’ll take it,” Dean said, lungs suddenly constricting in his chest at the thought of lying inches away from Cas. “Thanks.” Picking up the key, Dean made his way back out to the Impala where Cas had stacked their bags on the curb by his feet.

“Hope you don’t mind sharing,” he said, bending down to grab his overnight bag. “They only had one room left with just one bed.”

“Okay,” Cas said, simple and easy. But was that… was that a smile? Why was Cas smiling about sharing a bed? Surely he wouldn’t want to be crammed up next to Dean after they’d spent all day in each other’s pockets. “I’m following you.”

Shaking his head, Dean hummed vaguely and followed the signs down to their room. Nudging open the door, Dean dumped his bag on the little table by the window. “You can go ahead and take a shower first if you want?”

Cas smiled, tired yet genuine. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, Dean gestured towards the bathroom. “Go for it. I’m just gonna check in on Sam and see how he’s doing.”

“Thank you, Dean.”

Dean watched Cas disappear into the bathroom, and his chest ached as the yearning wrapped thickly around his lungs. God. Any hopes Dean had of this trip dampening his feelings had quickly flown out the window. The ache was even deeper now, and the thought of sharing a bed with Cas all night was more than Dean could handle.

Stepping back outside, Dean sucked in a sharp lungful of air. He really was in trouble now. Calling Sam didn’t seem to distract Dean at all; especially because Sam had nothing exciting to report other than the fact he’d been doing some inventory work around the bunker.

A cold shower would help to tamper down the yearning… well, it would’ve if Dean hadn’t seen Cas emerge from the bathroom in a soft pair of pajama pants and one of Dean’s old tshirts that he’d given to Cas a couple months ago.

Shit. Dean was well and truly smitten.

Cas tugged the blankets around himself as he curled up on the left side of the bed, and Dean felt his heart lurch in his chest. Soft. That was the best word he could find to describe how Cas looked. Hair still damp and flopped across his forehead with a faded maroon shirt highlighting Cas’ tan. The sleepy look in Cas’ eyes was enough to have Dean melting into the floor.

“I’ll be- uh, be right back,” Dean said, locking himself into the bathroom as his heart thundered against his ribs.

There was no escaping the feeling.

By the time Dean made his way back into the room, he expected Cas to be asleep. But instead he was propped up against the headboard and he smiled at Dean the second he saw him. Dean hesitated for a moment at the edge of the bed, before pulling back the covers and climbing in on the other side.

Cas instantly shifted so he was facing Dean, offering him another tired smile. “Today was good. Really good,” he murmured quietly.

Dean felt himself relax into the mattress; tilting until he was lying face to face with Cas. “Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Cas replied. They lapsed into silence for a few moments before Cas admitted, “I didn’t know it could be like that.”

Dean raised an eyebrow in the faint light coming from the single lamp on Cas’ side of the bed, waiting for Cas to clarify what he meant.

“That the simple things in life could be so beautiful,” Cas said after a moment, as if he’d been looking for the right words to describe what he was feeling. “I don’t know what…” Cas paused, tilting his head until his cheek was pressed into the pillow. “I’ve never really known what happiness is. But I think this is what it looks like; what it feels like.”

The words hovered between them, heavy in their confession and yet light in their tone.

“You’re happy?” Dean whispered, barely able to get his voice to escape past his lips.

Cas smiled, gummy and soft, and it was the most beautiful smile Dean had ever seen. “Really, really happy,” Cas said, fingers tugging lightly at the blanket he’d wrapped himself in.

The words settled like honey in Dean’s veins, and he felt himself smile right back at Cas. God, why was he feeling so sappy and why did he want to do anything to keep that smile on Cas’ face?

“Wanna talk about plans for tomorrow? I’ve got another idea you might enjoy that’s on the way back home,” Dean said. The idea had wiggled its way into his head while he’d been brushing his teeth, and he had a feeling it would make Cas smile even more when he suggested it.

“Yeah?” Cas asked, echoing the same tone Dean had used just a couple minutes ago.

“Botanical garden. There’s one on the other side of Kansas City that’s famous for blooming flowers this time of year. I thought you might like to see some of the beauty of nature,” Dean said.

A smitten look crossed Cas’ face; his eyes softening into something extremely tender and affectionate. And then he was leaning across the pillow into Dean’s space. When their lips met, it was the softest brush Dean had ever felt in his life.

Cas pulled back with a little sigh of an exhale, and then dove back in to press their mouths together again. This kiss was even warmer and slower; Cas pressing his body against Dean and Dean wrapping his arms around Cas’ waist to coax him closer.

They broke the kiss with little gasps before closing the gap to kiss again. Cas’ nose brushed against Dean’s, nuzzling delicately, before his fingertips grazed along Dean’s jaw.

Dean’s heart ached in his chest as Cas peppered several quick butterfly pecks against his lips before lingering on the next kiss. Everything seemed to slow down around them, until all of Dean’s senses were overwhelmed with the touch and taste of Cas.

Somehow, Dean had always pictured that kissing Cas would be like an electrical storm; crackling and fizzling and bursting with desperation to make things deeper. But this… this was the most delicate and romantic kiss Dean had ever experienced in his life. Soft and simple; just gentle caresses of their lips melding together with little happy hums.

Cas tilted his head and Dean followed the movement, sliding his hand under the hem of Cas’ tshirt until he was tracing little patterns along Cas’ hip. Each kiss felt like Dean was going to melt into the mattress as Cas huffed a tiny breath against his cheek before kissing him again.

God.

It was so good Dean just couldn’t get enough.

When Cas pulled back with a stuttering breath, Dean chased him, free hand coming up to cup Cas’ cheek as he brushed their noses together again before seeking out Cas’ lips in another kiss.

Quiet little pleased sounds filled the air with the tickle of lips teasing against each other. Cas’ hands had found their way into Dean’s hair, and Dean had all but tugged Cas forwards until he was lying across Dean’s chest. Fast kisses morphed into slow tangible dances as their mouths learned what it felt like to be slotted together.

By the time Dean finally pulled back, resting his forehead against Cas’, he was absolutely breathless and his heart was milliseconds from catapulting out of his chest with how fast it was beating.

“What was that for?” Dean whispered, tracing his fingertips from Cas’ hip to the small of his back.

“Because you’re absolutely… Dean, you’re just… indescribable,” Cas murmured, lips ghosting over Dean’s cheek. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. You make me happier than I’ve ever been in my entire existence.”

Something in Dean’s chest burned warm and pleasant through his veins, lighting his heart on fire. This whole time, Cas had felt the same way he did. God. He’d have kissed Cas breathless over those chocolate pancakes had he known that Cas wanted it, too.

Cas tucked himself more comfortably against his side, and Dean looped his arms loosely around Cas’ back.

“Dean,” Cas whispered, breath tickling along Dean’s neck.

“Hm?” Dean hummed quietly.

“Kiss me again.”

This time it was just sleepy little brushes; lips ever-so-softly coming together in chaste touches as they kissed. When Cas pulled back, he muttered something about the botanical gardens and how happy he was. The words were muffled into the collar of Dean’s shirt, and Dean felt the shift as Cas drifted off to sleep in his arms.

When sleep finally caught up to Dean after he spent several long minutes committing this perfect day to his memory, it was with the taste of Cas still lingering against his lips and the feel of Cas’ body pressed against his own.

[mydearlybeloathed]

𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞: 𝐒𝐢𝐱

In Which Ondine Sorta Gets Drunk

“That was you?”

“Sorry, Odie.”

“I slept in the living room for a week!”

Word Count: 4k

Pairing: Liam Dunbar x Female OC

Ondine would turn sixteen in two days. The anticipation was close to driving her insane. Olivia said that the change isn’t anything to be scared of, and that she should look forward to it.

“It feels like you’re regaining a part of yourself you never knew you lost,” she’d said wistfully just yesterday. Ondine tried to follow her advice and not worry, but it was futile. What if it didn’t work? And what if she does kill someone?

She hadn’t spoken to Liam or any of the pack since their meeting in Derek’s apartment a few days prior. Ondine no longer sat with Mason and Liam in any of their classes, much to Mason’s confusion. When he asked Liam about it, the boy just shrugged and changed the subject.

Though there seemed to be an unspoken agreement among the siren and the wolves; we are on the same side. It was almost unnoticeable to Ondine aside from the occasional concerned side glances she’d recieve from Scott, Liam, and even Stiles. It would have been weird if she hadn’t been giving them similar glances.

Like now, in the school library, when Ondine was hyper aware of Liam and Mason studying across the room. It wasn’t odd for Ondine to be in the library with her sister during homeroom and lunch. She had nowhere else to be.

“Are you gonna eat that?” Levi’s voice broke through her stupor, and the girl blinked before handing him the apple he’d pointed at. “Thanks, Odie.”

Liam’s head tilted to the side and he looked over, so Ondine assumed he’d been listening in. When he caught her staring, a teasing grin came to his face as he mouthed, ‘Odie?’

Discreetly rolling her eyes, Ondine mouthed back, ‘Shut up. It’s a long story.’

It wasn’t a long story. When she was a baby she couldn't pronounce her name right, so it always came out as “Odie.” The nickname had stuck, as much as she hated it.

Quick as lightning, Ondine averted her gaze back to her lunch before Olivia could see where she was looking. Though soon enough she found herself meeting Liam’s eyes again. And again. And again. It was becoming annoying how magnetic it was, and she was all too glad when the bell rang and she had an excuse to leave.

But then, as she was packing up her bag, Ondine saw Liam standing behind a bookshelf, waving her over with a serious look in his eyes. Conflicted, she shoved the rest of her things into her bag ever so slowly, before finally giving in and telling Olivia and Levi that she wanted to check out a book before class. 

She had a feeling she was going to regret this.

After she was sure the two were far down the hall, Ondine slung her bag on her shoulders and walked down the fiction aisle, finding Liam standing at its shadowy end. He was leaning against the shelf, his hands shoved in his pockets, with a scant smile. “Hey.”

“Hi.” She smiled back at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s up?”

A shrug was his initial answer. “Well, your birthday is in a few days, right?”

“Yep. It’s on Friday.”

“You nervous?”

“Pfft. Me? Nervous? Please, I don’t know the meaning of ‘nervous.’” The joke fell flat when her face softened a bit and she started gnawing on the inside of her cheek. The disbelieving look Liam gave her didn’t help. “Okay, fine. I’m terrified.”

“Don’t worry,” Liam said, placing a hand on her forearm. “If you go on an angry rampage around town, I’ll come stop you.”

Ondine looked at where his hand rested so casually on her arm, a light blush dusting her cheeks. “I’m sure my mom will love that. While you’re at it, tell her how I snuck out of the house to swing by Derek Hale’s place for a midnight chat.”

Liam chuckled, rolling his eyes as he let his hand drop to his side. “Okay, good point… Besides, I’m in no place to go saving anyone.”

The Beck girl tilted her head at the way his smile faltered when he said it. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t have control on full moons yet, and when I get mad I lose control then too,” he said, ruffling his hair. “I guess I know a thing or two about midnight rampages.”

“You said you don’t have control yet. How do werewolves keep their cool?”

“It’s something about a metaphorical anchor; someone special to you that keeps you anchored to your human side.”

“Do you think that could work for me?” She wondered who her anchor would be. Her mind first went to her mother, but although she loved the woman very much, the trust wasn't all there as of late. Giorgia had mentioned that sirens gain control by focusing on their fear, that being afraid keeps you human. Ondine didn’t like being afraid, so she was open to whatever this anchor thing was.

“Maybe. I don't know anything about sirens…” Liam’s voice trailed off, and Ondine was aware that she could hear his heartbeat hammering in his chest without having to focus on it. She searched his face, seeing his now panicked eyes flickering to something behind her.

Furrowing her brows, Ondine peered over her shoulder. There was nothing there, just an empty library and Liam’s beating heart echoing in her head. She blinked, and suddenly one of the beastly men that had attacked the hospital was standing in the corner, staring right at the two of them.

She whipped back around, reaching for Liam’s hand. “Do you see that?” Her whisper was soft, and she was startled when she looked behind her again to see that the beast was gone.

“You can see it too?” Liam asked, squeezing her hand slightly.

Ondine shook her head slowly, pure confusion written on her features. “I did, for a second. But now it's gone.” She raked her other hand through her hair, still holding onto Liam. “Maybe it has to do with my birthday being so soon. I–I can hear how fast your heart is beating. Maybe this is the calm before the storm.”

“The storm being whatever happens on your birthday? That’s comforting.” He looked over her shoulder again, swallowing hard. “So… what? I know that berserker is just my imagination messing with me. Do sirens read minds?”

“Olivia said that's one of our abilities… She mentioned that our mind reading was mostly used to see what our victim’s are afraid of.”

“Oh.” He looked sheepish all of a sudden, and took his hand from Ondine’s to rub at the back of his neck. The girl just gave him a lopsided grin, hoping it was comforting.

“It’s okay to be afraid, Liam. It doesn't make you any less brave.”

It was then that the bell rang, and the teens’ eyes went wide. “Shit,” they said in unison, scrambling out of the library to reach their respective classes.

****

“Hurry up or I’m leaving without you,” Olivia said kindly on the other end of the phone.

Ondine sighed, trying to maneuver unlocking her locker, holding her backpack, and talking on the phone all at once. “Yeah, yeah. I’m goin’ as fast as I can.”

“You’ve been texting me just that for ten minutes.” She hung up after that, leaving Ondine with one less thing to worry about. She hurried to get the rest of her things from her locker, eager to see her sister and ask the question she'd been pondering ever since lunch ended: how did their power over the mind work?

She froze upon hearing a loud voice echoing down the near empty hall, “What the hell is this?!” It sounded like Coach Finstock, loud and angry per usual.

It drew her curiosity a little more than the question of her powers, and Ondine found herself walking toward the origin of the sound. She raised a brow when she turned the corner and saw a hoard of papers flooding out of Coach’s office. The sound of a printer whirred through the air. From around the other corner, Liam and Scott appeared, also drawn to their teacher’s aggravated yelling.

She made it to the office at the same time the boys did, nodding in greeting. Ondine bent down and took one of the sheets off the ground, her throat going a bit dry when she saw what it was: a copy of the Dead Pool.

Waving Scott and Liam over, she showed them the paper and watched as their shoulders tensed almost simultaneously.

“It’s like what happened to my printer,” said Liam as he peeked into Coach’s office. More copies were still being spit out of the machine. Liam tugged them away from the door so they wouldn’t be seen, sighing as he pointed to the paper. “You see the difference?”

Ondine quirked a brow and leaned over to see what he meant. Her eyes found their way to the bottom of the list, where three Beck names were typed. It took her no more than a second to realize that her price had been upped big time.

“Derek’s not on the list anymore,” Scott pointed out hollowly, looking from his beta to the siren standing at his shoulder.

“And I’m not worth three million. It’s eighteen. Eighteen million dollars.” Liam’s voice broke a little, and it caused Ondine to drag her gaze from the paper to the boy. He looked rightfully nervous.

She noticed her own voice had a quake in it as she spoke up. “Um, not to one up you or anything, but I’m worth twenty-three.”

The two wolves could smell the anxiety coming off her in waves. Liam noticed how she was digging her nails into her skin. So he slipped his hand into hers to keep her from hurting herself.

The action surprised Ondine so much that she couldn’t hide her blush in time, much to her embarrassment and Scott’s amusement. The alpha hid his grin behind his hand, saying he had to go do something that Ondine didn't catch.

Her skin felt hot where he touched her, and her face was burning, but she didn’t want to let go. Not yet anyways. She squeezed his hand tenderly, not seeing the way his smile grew.

****

“Finally!”

Ondine hopped into the truck’s driver seat, which Olivia had forced her into for more practice behind the wheel. She turned the key, backing out of the parking lot with shaky breaths. Whether her nervousness was from finding out that she was now worth more than her own house or from driving, she wasn't sure. “Sorry. I lost one of my books so I had to go to the library to find a spare and–”

“I don’t care,” Olivia snapped, rolling her eyes. “Just drive please.”

Her sister’s bad mood was becoming contagious, so with a huff she turned a little too sharply onto the main road. Olivia was quick to criticize her driving, only worsening the younger girl’s mood.

“So,” Ondine said after a few minutes, her voice snippy. “Remember when you said we can read minds? How does that work exactly?”

The previous bitterness was forgotten immediately at the prospect of sharing what she knew. “I’m so glad you asked. When we read minds, it's like… hearing their thoughts. You find out how to get to their hearts, and whether that be through pride or fear depends on the human. But we don’t go around searching for people to lure to watery depths anymore, so I never have any reason to use it a lot of the time.”

“Uh huh,” Ondine nodded, trying to soak all the information in. “And how do we ‘lure’ people?”

“Illusions, remember? Mom told me that it's possible to craft entire realities in human minds, showing them their ideal life and trapping them with it. I’m only able to cast tiny enchantments though, so they’re almost like really realistic shadows that follow you around.”

“... Hey! Last year I kept seeing a monster in my closet! That was you?”

A near evil cackle was her answer. “Sorry, Odie.”

“I slept in the living room for a week!” Ondine was filled with anger at the sound of her sister’s unsympathetic laughter.

The older girl wiped a tear from her eye, a wide smile spread on her face. “I’m sorry, all right? It was a joke. Sigh. I made it go away after a while, didn’t I? … Okay, I wanna tell you something. But don’t tell Mom, because she doesn't like when I mess with people’s minds. Promise you won’t tell?”

Ondine spared a glance at the girl beside her, feeling uneasy about the sinister smirk she saw. “Sure.”

“You know that boy we saved from the well? The werewolf? I noticed how he kept bothering you, so I pried into his mind a little bit and found out what he's afraid of. Turns out he’s scared shitless of those berserker guys. So I formed a little illusion to follow him around everywhere. You should have seen how petrified he was the first time he saw it! Ha! He had his tail between his legs and everything!”

Unbeknownst to Olivia, Ondine was utterly and completely livid. Liam, sweet Liam, did not deserve to be tormented like that. She wanted to scream at her sister, yell curses until her throat was raw.​ There was a compelling temptation to attack her sister until she swore to do away with the mental manipulation she’d done on Liam.

Her hands tightened on the steering wheel, her breath becoming heavy. Right when she had almost made up her mind, Ondine blinked, realizing the thoughts she was having. She hadn’t felt that angry since those men had threatened her father.

“Ondine? You good?”

Sucking in a sharp breath and steeling herself, she grinned tightly. “Yeah, I’m good.”

She wasn’t good. Ondine had to find a way to get rid of Liam’s ‘shadow’ as Olivia had called it. With a grimace, she realized the perfect place to find him would be at the lacrosse team’s annual bonfire to kick off the new season.

****

Ondine couldn’t believe she was doing this. The music was too loud and obnoxious, and the smell of alcohol burned her nostrils, but somewhere in the crowd was Liam Dunbar, and she was determined to find him. Maybe knowing that it wasn’t his own imagination but her sister’s that was making him see that berserker would help him?

Ondine: You at the lacrosse party? I need to find you.

Liam: ...

No reply. Gritting her teeth, Ondine squeezed between two dancing teenagers and tried to find him the old fashioned way. She went up on her tiptoes, trying to see over the many heads. Too bad she was 5’1 and everyone else was a freaking giant.

Someone caught her arm, and she whipped around, hoping it was someone she knew coming to her rescue, only to find a tipsy girl she’d never seen before. “Want a drink?”

“No thanks,” Ondine said, watching the girl shrug and down the drink in her hand. Hastily walking away, Ondine crossed her arms over her chest as she got closer to the bonfire burning brightly at the center of the party.

She wandered around to the other side of the fire, relief washing over her when she caught sight of Malia Tate dancing wildly with a flask to her lips. Ondine hadn’t spoken much with the werecoyote, but she could probably point her in Liam’s direction.

“Malia!” Ondine yelled over the music, catching the girl’s attention immediately. Bless that super canine hearing.

“Hey!” Malia smiled at her, not pausing in her dancing as she took another sip of what was most likely an alcoholic beverage. Her face fell a bit after, and she tossed the flask aside. “Scott said we can’t get drunk. Disappointing, right?”

“Oh yeah,” the Beck girl agreed instantly, wanting to get her question out as fast as possible. The sooner she could leave this party, the better. “Have you–”

“You know, Liam talks about you a lot,” said Malia out of the blue. “He says your smile is nice.”

The bluntness caught Ondine off guard, her jaw falling slack as she took in this unexpected information. Her neck burned red, and she tried to brush it off. “That’s nice. Um, speaking of Liam, where is he?”

She started to point behind her, only to lose her balance and start to fall. Ondine lurched forward and caught her arms before she could hit the ground. Malia’s eyes were slightly out of focus as she stood up straight again. “I thought you can’t get drunk?”

Malia laughed in reply, shrugging like it was no big deal. “I guess Scott was wrong then.”

Ondine latched onto the older girl’s arm, not wanting the drunk coyote to get into trouble. Her eyes scanned the area, and finally she found Liam. He was sitting at a picnic table with Mason and a concerned looking Scott, but something was wrong; Liam was tilting to the side just like Malia had. He was drunk too.

An uncomfortable groan passed Malia’s lips as she leaned onto the siren. “Is this what drunk feels like? It doesn’t feel as good as I hoped.”

“Scott!” The alpha’s attention was caught, his eyes darting to find Ondine dragging a slumped over Malia toward him.

“What’s happening to them?” She sat Malia down gently next to Liam, directing her question at Scott.

All he could do was shrug, panic crossing his face. “I don’t know.”

Ondine met eyes with Mason before kneeling in front of Liam. She snapped in front of his face, seeing his eyes flutter open and closed every few seconds. With pursed lips she asked, “How much has he had to drink?”

“Not enough to get him like this,” Mason replied incredulously, obviously having no explanation either. The three sober ones—Mason, Scott, and Ondine—all shared a perplexed look. And though she knew she hadn’t had a lick of alcohol, Ondine began to feel off.

She reached out for something to support her, leaning onto the table as the world shifted around her. Nausea overwhelmed her senses in an instant, a sharp headache coming on. “What the hell? I never… I never drank anything.” Despite the sureness in her voice, her words slurred together.

“Neither did I,” said Scott, though his voice sounded far away. He was holding his hand in front of his face, almost like he didn’t recognize it.

Wincing, Ondine squeezed herself in between Malia and Liam, her mind getting foggy. “That music is really bad… can’t they play somethin’ like The Beatles?”

Ondine’s rambling gave Scott an idea, and his hazy eyes moved to the DJ. He caught the guy turning up a nob, and as it slid up the sound board the ringing in his ears got worse. “It's not the drinks… it's the music.”

“I have… I have to cut off the music,” he said to Mason. “Don’t let them out of your sight.”

The alpha stumbled away, leaving three seemingly drunk supernaturals with one human who had no idea what was going on.

Ondine rested her head on Liam’s shoulder, having no idea what was going on. Scott said something about the music, though it hadn’t registered in her mind. The ringing in her ears was making her head spin, and she hardly realized it when two security guards started to drag them away from the party. Her hand lazily reached for Liam’s, just barely grazing his skin before she slipped into unconsciousness.

****

When Ondine opened her eyes again, her head felt clear. That awful music from the party was gone, and she was lying on the floor of the school’s hallway. With a groan she sat up, massaging her forehead. “That is the last time I ever go to a party.”

A chuckle to her left drew her attention, and she dragged her dreary eyes over to see Liam sitting beside her. He gave her a lazy grin, and she sent him one back. They helped each other up, standing shoulder to shoulder and slightly leaning onto each other.

Upon seeing Derek Hale, she gave him a tiny wave, to which he grinned in reply.

Scott offered to drive her home, but Ondine didn’t think that would be wise. She’d just ride her bike back home (it was the least noisy option for transport). Right before Liam could leave with his alpha, Ondine caught him by the arm and dragged him a little ways away. She knew every one of them could overhear, but she didn’t really care.

The truth about why he kept ‘imagining’ the berserkers coming after him did seem to put Liam at ease, she could tell by the way his face softened a bit. “Will I keep seeing them until your sister takes the enchantment away?”

“I think so,” Ondine replied, sorry she couldn’t help him. Suddenly lighting up, she had an idea. “Hey, she only created an illusion of the berserkers because you’re afraid of them. So I bet if you get over you fear they’ll go away.”

“Easier said than done,” he murmured, ruffling his hair with his hand. He seemed to do that a lot when he was nervous.

She wasn’t sure why, but his downcast expression made her want to fix it. With a smirk and a brief wave of confidence, she nudged his shoulder. “Malia says you like my smile.”

Liam stumbled over his words, not sure whether to deny it or laugh it off. To his luck, Scott called his name before he could say something that would surely make him even more humiliated.

He looked down at Ondine, taking in her amused grin and mischievous eyes. It wasn’t an expression he saw regularly, and he almost wished he could see it more often. She seemed less cold this way. “I gotta go.”

Ondine flashed him a smile; a full teeth, wide smile that stretched across her face. It nearly took his breath away, before he stuttered a goodbye and raced off so Scott could take him home.

All Ondine could do was laugh at his response, making her way outside and toward her bike that she’d hidden in some bushes. Liam was… something else, that was for sure, and not just because he was a werewolf. The way he made her feel so happy was terrifying, and Ondine wasn’t sure if these feelings were a good thing.

Her mother hated him after all. Besides, she heard from Olivia that crushes come and go all the time. She’d probably wake up in a few days and be weirded out that she ever blushed at the thought of Liam Dunbar liking her smile.

Then again, she’d blushed really hard.

****

Derek furrowed his brows, considering what Scott had just told him. “She was affected by the music the same way you were?”

“Yeah,” Scott said, not sure what his friend was thinking. “What about it?”

“Sirens and werewolves are very different creatures. We aren’t wired the same way. The music shouldn’t have affected her at all if it was meant to disable werewolves.”

A brief silence followed his statement. “What are you saying, Derek?”

The Hale werewolf looked up from the ground, his thoughtful eyes meeting Scott’s. “I think there’s something different about her. She’s not like the other ones.”

“... Is that a bad thing?”

“Not necessarily. Ondine said she wants to trust us. Hopefully, that means she won’t be in the business of attacking us.”

Indeed, attacking them was the last thing Ondine wanted to do. Though she often laid awake thinking about what her mother would do if she found out she’d been speaking to the very people she warned her to stay away from.

[violetlilysunshine]

He’s Not My Harry

Boyfriend Harry Holland x Actress Reader

Summary: You’re presenting at Comic Con and a fan asks you a question about your relationships with Harry and Tom.

WC: 1,550

Warnings: A little angsty maybe??? But nothing really

A/N: I’ve never been to Comic Con so I don’t really know how it works, also written before Tomdaya, so don’t at me.

REQUESTS OPEN - Or just come chat :)

MASTERLIST - JOIN MY TAGLIST

Your new show was invited to present at Comic Con this year and you were over the moon. You were already planning to go to Comic Con, since Harry would be there with Tom, but now you got to be featured as well. You hadn’t seen Harry in way too long. You and Tom had filmed together in Atlanta, becoming fast friends. After he had introduced you to Harry, you guys hit it off immediately, quickly becoming a couple.

The distance had been pretty hard on the both of you, but you were still going strong after two years. You and Harry made your relationship public just a week before Comic Con, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to keep your hands off each other once you reunited. You posted a casual, “Happy two years,” and a cute picture, keeping it short and sweet, mimicking Harrison and Grace. Harry on the other hand seized the opportunity and posted, “Two years. Gotcha beat Haz and Grace,” making sure to tag them both. Luckily, they found it funny and you all laughed it off.

You both had gotten more positive messages than you were expecting, but quite a bit of hate as well. You expected to get some, but didn’t really think people would be sending as much to Harry as they were. You felt really bad about it, but he reassured you over and over that he was fine. The absolute last thing you were prepared for, was how much hate he was getting because the fans were shipping you with Tom instead.

The boys got in last night and Harry called you immediately upon leaving the airport. He texted you again as they were pulling into the hotel and you bolted down the stairs. You found them at the front desk, checking in together and Harry was just taking a room key.

He turned around, spotting you standing by the staircase. His face broke into a giant smile, his eyes lighting up at your presence. You skipped across the room, jumping into his arms immediately as he dropped his bag, his other hand still holding his phone and key as he wrapped it around your waist.

“Hey, Red,” you greeted him quietly in his ear as you snuggled into his neck.

He rubbed his face deeper into your hair, “hi, darling,” he whispered back.

You pulled back slightly, arms still latched around his neck, and pulled him into a deep kiss. You were glad that you’d posted together because you wouldn’t have been able to hold back.

When you pulled away, you saw some fans taking pictures scattered across the lobby, but you weren’t all that worried about it. You’d kind of expected it, and most of their focus was on Tom anyway.

“Alright, you lot, c’mon,” Tom called, picking up his bag and heading towards the elevators.

You unwrapped from Harry, taking his camera bag over your shoulder as he grabbed his larger suitcase.

“Alright, love, so I’m in 615 with Harrison,” he told you as you waited for the elevator, “you can drop by whenever you like, alright?”

“Oh,” you answered in a small voice, smile dropping just slightly.

“What is it?” he asked gently.

“Well, I sorta thought maybe you could stay with me...”

“Oh, well, I didn’t know what you wanted to do, so I just got this one with Harrison. It’s connected to Tom’s too, but uh, I’d rather be with you if that’s what you want,” he said with a smile.

“Hey!” Harrison called turning around.

“Sorry bro, but do you really blame me?” Harry said, smirking.

“Whatever, div,” Harrison turned back around, climbing into the elevator behind Tom.

“Okay, we’re in 710,” you told him, as well as Tom and Harrison, passing Harry your second key.

“Maybe I should write the numbers on them so I don’t get ‘em mixed up,” Harry laughed.

You giggled back, looping your arm around his wrist.

~~~~~

Waking up next to Harry was your favorite thing in the world; you loved feeling his arm carelessly thrown over you and his legs tangled with yours. You loved seeing his sleepy morning smile and crazy bed head curls. You loved hearing his raspy morning voice and his grumbles as he awoke. You’d never get enough of it or him.

You rolled over this morning to find his eyes already on you; you smiled gently, bringing a hand up to push the curls off his forehead.

“Morning, baby,” he said, pulling you closer.

“Mmm, hi,” you whispered.

“Wish we could stay like this forever,” he said, leaning forward to kiss along your jawline.

You giggled as his hair brushed over your face, “unfortunately, we both have things to do.”

“Mmm yeah, stupid work,” he grunted, tucking into your neck, pressing a few kisses to your skin before mumbling, “stupid Tom.”

You laughed loudly at that, knowing he was just joking and he didn’t really think badly of his brother.

You giggled again, pulling his head up to kiss him for real. He held your kiss for a moment, before pulling away. He brushed his fingers against your skin under your shirt, just watching you for a moment. You giggled under his intense gaze.

“What time are your panels, darling?” he questioned gently.

You rattled off what you could remember before asking, “why?”

“Well I wanna come to as many as I can o’course! Maybe bring the guys with me just for fun.”

“Mmkay,” you giggled, before pulling him in for a few more slow kisses.

Before you knew it, your alarm was going off, “have to get up and get ready,” you said sadly.

“Me too. Was supposed to be at Tom’s half an hour ago,” he chuckled.

You slapped his chest lightly before rolling out of bed to get ready for the day.

He chuckled deeply, watching you fiddling around and getting your stuff together for a second before getting out of bed to do the same.

~~~~~

You weren’t really expecting anyone to bring Harry up today in your panel, but of course, three questions in, someone said something.

“Hi, um, my question is for Y/N,” the fan said timidly into the microphone.

“Hey, darling!” you cheered with a big smile, “what’s up?”

“Um, well I saw you posted a happy two years with Harry, and I was wondering why you picked him instead of Tom?”

Your face dropped instantly, lips curling down and eyes losing their sparkle. You stared blankly at the fan before asking, “are you serious?” in a low voice.

The fan just looked back at you, nodding only the slightest bit.

You took a deep breath, glancing at the ceiling before opening your mouth. You opened and closed it a few times, trying to figure out how to handle the situation.

“I know that the smart thing to do here would be to not answer that question, but I’m going to,” you breathed, “I’m going to answer it once and that’s that,” you said finally. “Let me start with this: I hate that question because it sounds like ‘why’d you settle for Harry when you could have had Tom?’” you paused, “it makes it seem like Harry is less than Tom and that is absolutely not true at all,” you took a break there, breathing deeply.

You noticed fans were beginning to chatter in the audience, pointing at the boys sitting in the front row. You noticed the look on Harry’s face and after that, all you could see was red.

“I don’t need you to point at them, guys, I know they’re there,” you spoke tenderly into the mic, chuckling a little bit so as not to scream.

You continued your answer, speaking slowly, “Tom and Harry are not one-in-the-same. They’re not interchangeable. They are two completely different people. Harry offers me things that no one else in the world ever could. He’s kind and smart and beautiful and confident and genuine and hardworking and so, so incredibly talented and one of the absolute greatest people you could ever surround yourself with,” your voice started to falter as you got choked up, almost crying from anger, “and not that Tom isn’t all of those things, but he’s not my Harry. Tom is great and one of my best friends in the world and I’m so grateful for that, but... I love Harry so much that it hurts,”

You took another break, glancing at the ceiling again to try and keep yourself from losing it, “and if anyone puts him down in front of me again, I’m absolutely going to lose my shit. So…” you trailed off, chuckling again, “so, in conclusion, they’re very different and while Tom is great, Harry is the best. Next question, please.”

You turned to face the fan on the other side of the audience, placing your mic in your lap and tossing your hair behind your shoulder. You took a deep breath, shaking off your anger, and looking at Harry in the audience again. His happy expression had returned now, his eyes brightening and a very small smile gracing his features. You gave him a tight lipped smile back mouthing, “I love you,” to him quickly.

He mouthed, “I love you more,” back, making your smile grow even wider.

TAGLIST:  @samhollandscupcake @spider-barnes @hogwartsmarvelmommy @tulipholland @harryhollandsgirlfriend @cupids-crystals @sunwardsss

[boldlyanxious]

Boop

Jasonette July prompt 12: dare

My masterlist

Jasonette July

Marinette, Jon and Damian were happy to be together again even though they had only been apart a couple weeks. Marinette flew back in from France arriving after Jon had stopped back by from Metropolis. She knew they had been together a couple times since she had been home but it still felt great to have them all back together again. It was so weird not seeing them every day. They finally gave up their wonderful New York apartment since they were all graduated from university and getting jobs soon.

It was really weird at first to live with two guys she barely knew but they ended up getting along great and she had been desperate for a place to live when her place flooded. The landlord had offered her another apartment at the same price but it was really gross and too far away. The flooded apartment, she was told would take too long to repair so they could get rid of the lease. She passed it 6 months later and people were living there and it had a fitness center, coffee shop, and a water garden. She looked online and the rent was 3 times what she had been paying. She was pretty angry, but she ended up with 2 besties from the situation that she probably wouldn’t have gotten to know very well otherwise.

Tonight they were celebrating being back together again. Marinette barely had time to look around Damian’s house because he and Jon were rushing her. She was shoved into a room and Damian gave her a dress that his (sorta) sister helped him pick out and they had food ready for them to eat before they rushed out the door. The plan of the evening was to celebrate job offers and all of them being together again. Marinette wasn’t even given a chance to rest so she was reeling a little from the flight still. But she wasn’t going to pass this up. Jon was always willing to go out and have fun, but Damian feeling in a partying mood was rather rare so they were going to enjoy it.

It was loud in the place even though it was not a large New York club. Marinette had loved going to those so much it had probably eaten into her budget far too much. It was always better going with the guys because they wouldn’t let her pay. They knew she had a much tighter budget. Actually it was mostly Damian paying the covers and the tab without ever saying anything. She was pretty sure that he paid more rent than her too but he just told her that there was already an extra room and she more than made up for it with her constant cooking and she did more of the shared chores.

She knew his family had money, but she had a feeling she had no idea how much money until she saw the house. It was massive and the grounds went further than she could see. She never really talked about it because he didn’t. It was so much different from the people she knew growing up. Chloe who talked about the money all the time or Adrien and Kagami who didn’t talk about it but they were kept separate from others by their parents. She had never even met Damian’s family and they didn’t live that far away. She knew they talked but they didn't tell him how to live all the time.

They got drinks as soon as they were in the door and they did not go slow. Marinette was making up for all her time being considered a minor while living in New York when she left France right as she reached the drinking age there. She could finally drink in public here and they kept feeding her fun fruity drinks and laughing at her stumbling on her heels while still loopy from her flight. She didn’t care though. It was pretty standard for them to all pick on each other a bit it was all in good fun.

She pushed Jon towards a girl who had been watching them. He looked terrified and he tried to fight against her pushing him. He managed it but then she stumbled. She knocked into Damian who kept her on her feet but her arms still swung around wildly. Then she knocked over a drink. She looked back at them sheepishly but they were already looking at her grinning. They would not let her out of a dare even after having just gotten off a plane from Paris. They had been doing dares for knocked over drinks for a couple years but she had gotten a lot more of them that they had. She was significantly better about being more careful now, but It only took one little stumble to ruin her good streak.

---

Jason sat in the corner of his favorite bar looking sullenly around at the noisy crowd around him. He saw Damian across the room and wondered if his presence was responsible for some of the overly excited younger crowd. He may not care about his presence in the media, but they certainly cared about him. He was rich and single and a new college graduate, so he must be looking to mingle. Of course the Demon Spawn wasn’t interested in the crowd around him. He was perfectly happy with Jon nearby. Jason didn’t think he would ever want or need any other friends but as he glanced back he notice a girl with them.

Initially he thought that maybe she was trying to get close to one of the boys but not only did neither seem very interested in the beautiful girl but she seemed to be hanging around with them and bantering. He looked back up and saw her trying to encourage Jon to approach a girl at another table who had been looking their way. Jason nearly lost his foul mood when he saw her stumble and flail around being propped up by Damian. He could see their maniachal looks from across the bar and thought she was begging. But she soon squared her shoulders and took Damian’s fresh drink and drank it until it was only ice left.

She looked around and he looked back down at his drink so he wouldn’t be caught watching her. He finished his drink and signaled the bartender to make him another. He didn’t realize she had moved from beside his brother and friend until he glanced that way and saw her walking right his way. She seemed to be focused on a spot behind him as she walked. He looked back away again as he received his drink. When the waitress stepped away the girl was right behind her and looking right at him.

---

Jon and Damian laughed as they watched Marinette walk across the bar to complete her dare. She looked back at them several times hoping they would change their minds but they were more interested in laughing at her than anything else. She didn’t know anything about the angry looking man sitting alone at the end of the bar, but Jon and Damian knew that at least her fears about him lashing out at her were false. She had never met Damian’s brother so it was a bit fun for them to find a way to play a joke on both of them at once.

Marinette froze as she made eye contact with the man in front of her. He would have been very nice looking if her were smiling but he looked like he had had a very long day and just wanted to be left alone. But Marinette didn’t want to face the consequences for not doing the dare. Damian and Jon would never let her live it down. The man watched her standing there but he didn’t say anything and neither did Marinette. That was part of the challenge. She wasn’t allowed to say what was happening. She reached over to him and tapped his nose with her finger.

“Boop,” she said, as she touched his nose.

She almost expected him to yell or be angry. But she figured she could get away from that. But he just let it happen; he had no interest in causing a scene. As if he knew exactly what she would do he reached out and grabbed her arm before she could retract it. The way he held on caused her to lean heavily on the bar next to him. His face didn’t look angry, she almost thought he had a hint of a smirk. He loosened his hold but didn’t release her arm completely.

“Where did Damian and Jon find such a lovely friend to send to poke the bear?”

“Wha--do you know them?” she asked.

“I do. Do you feel like getting them back for tormenting you?”

He let his fingers slide off her arm but he leaned close to her. She leaned in close to him too.

“What did you have in mind?”

---

Jon and Damian watched, laughing as Marinette approached Jason. They expected to have an epic reaction from both of them to leave them with a story to tell in the future. But when Marinette reached out for Jason and didn’t pull away they didn’t know what to think. The two leaned close and seemed to be talking. They couldn’t see Marinette’s face, but Jason looked pretty serious. They hadn’t expected him to be very angry but maybe he was telling her off. Maybe they should have made it a comment to him rather than actually touching him even if it was a rather innocuous action.

They quickly decided he wasn’t angry and was possibly hitting on their friend when he reached over and pulled her close to him. Marinette went willingly and rested her weight against his thigh while he put his arm around her and the other he motioned for a waitress so they could order drinks. Marinette didn’t look back to see them at all. She continued talking close to Jason, and he was just as engaged with what Marinette was saying. They waited around trying to decide whether to go pull her away to hang out with them again but she didn’t use the signal that she wanted a rescue so they didn’t think she would be grateful for the interference.

---

“Are they still watching?” Marinette asked.

“Yeah. But they are trying to not be obvious about it.” He leaned down close to whisper in her ear. “Do you want to give up or do you want to up the ante?”

“I’m having too much fun to give up now.”

“Glad you think I’m such a good time.”

“Very funny. They always get me with dares. Its about time I got them back for it.”

“Well, I’m all for it. Did you want to leave with me?”

“I think you may have the wrong impression about what is going to happen here.”

Marinette pushed back from him slightly.

“I don’t have the impression that anything is happening after. But I would help you give them the impression. I am the delinquent brother after all.”

“So we would just walk out the door together as a joke.”

“Its all up to you. We could give them a show and stumble out together or just exit together and call them to meet you out there.”

Marinette considered carefully for a bit. She still thought it was unfair of them to enforce the challenge when she was fresh off a plane. Both of them had had a relaxing day before going out where as Marinette was still on Paris time and off a 9 hour flight. She made her decision and then moved in on Jason before she could back out. If he was shocked he didn’t show it. She held onto his collar while his hand slid to the back of her head. She was almost sorry that their kiss was far more chaste than it appeared to those around them. It was also far too brief. Jason just waited until her friends watched in shock before they separated and he took her by the hand and they left the bar.

The car he had called was already waiting so they were in it and off before they could be followed out. The other 2 would have to call a car still before following after them. Marinette laughed in the back of the cab and Jason grinned back at her. She recognised Damian’s house when they got there. It made sense that he would know that was where she was staying.

It was barely five minutes after Marinette and Jason arrived before Jon and Damian burst into the room they were in. Marinette had set the scene when she heard them rushing their way so her hair was partially pulled down and she had her legs resting over Jason’s. His arm was around her on the back of the couch and they had a movie started.

“Hey, did you guys want to watch a movie with us?”

They tried to act put out by the turn of events but after a moment they laughed at the turn of events. They joined the other two on the couch, but from that moment on they never made Marinette do another dare.

Taglist

@jasonette-july-event | @theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo | @adrestar | @zynna

[redrobin-detective]

Like You

Trequel to Half Of and The only ghost in Amity Park

“We need to talk, Fenton,” Valerie hissed, slamming Danny’s locker shut in his face. He pursed his lips and lowered his gaze but said nothing. Manson scoffed and stepped right up, putting her finger in Valerie’s face.

“He doesn’t owe you anything, Val so lay off. If he wants to talk to you, he will, not because you demanded it.” Val grabbed Sam’s wrist, strong but still such delicate bones. The goth flinched a bit as Valerie applied pressure.

“Only my friends,” Valerie hissed with a hard look over at Danny, “get to call me Val. But I guess we’re not friends if you kept something like this from me.”

“Val...erie, let her go,” Danny mumbled quietly. “We’ll talk after school, meet me by the equipment shed behind the football field.”

“Alone,” Val said, flicking away Sam’s wrist. “None of your adoring, enabling entourage, new or old.” 

“No way in hell,” Sam said, clearly resisting the urge to hold onto her injured wrist. “Like we’d trust Danny with someone like you.”

“What? Human?” Valerie asked back. Danny stuck his hands between them and forced them apart. Now that Val was looking, the entire hall was watching them. Whatever, they didn’t matter. 

“Cut it out,” Danny frowned, looking over both of them. “Sam, I’ll be fine talking to her alone.” He turned back to her with his blue eyes. As long as she’d known him, Danny’s had a presence about him. She took it as growing up in such a strange house and later her growing crush. But there was no way to explain away the icy, electric feel of his gaze holding her own. “3:30, equipment shed, just talking. Okay?”

“Fine,” Valerie said, turning and stomping down the hall so she had the last word. The rest of the day passed slowly as she gripped the sides of her desk and bounced her leg, thinking about Danny Fenton. How long had Danny been a ghost or half of one, how was that even possible? Had he always been that way and she simply hadn’t noticed? Her? The best ghost hunter in Amity? How much of Danny was real and what was just a cruel ghostly joke? That’s the question that burned the most. Danny seemed to be the only one who liked this new, more grounded Valerie. What would she do if her closest friend was just messing with her?

Finally, school ended and she stalked purposefully towards the equipment shed. Interesting choice of location, it was almost never used since most every day sports gear was stored in the locker rooms. Did he chose it because it was isolated? Danny didn’t seemed worried about confronting her alone, what abilities could he have that he wasn’t scared of her? That made her pause once the shed came into sight. She’d only heard about Danny’s powers, never having ever seen them firsthand. Valerie took an ectogun from her bag and slipped it in back waistband of her skirt. Just in case.

Danny was sitting on the roof of the shed, weirdly enough. It would be next to impossible to climb so he had to have flown. She’d already heard of him floating but the idea of Danny Fenton and superpowers still didn’t add up in her head. He was rubbing at a tear in his jeans when she approached. Danny gave a little awkward half smile that, a few days ago, would have sent her stomach into somersaults. Now seeing it just made her sick.

“Are you gonna hide up there all day?” She asked curtly, hands on her hips. 

“You could always join me up here,” Danny shrugged, getting more comfortable on the roof. Val raised a disbelieving eyebrow, eyeing the lack of handles and the broken splinters on the old shed. “We’re far enough away, no one will see you use your hoverboard.” Just when Valerie thought he was done being surprised. She gaped open mouthed at Danny who got nervous and rubbed his hands anxiously. “You uh you wanted to talk so I thought we ought to lay all our cards on the table.” He took a deep breath, “I know you’re the Red Huntress Val...erie.” 

“How!” She demanded, activating her board without thought to get to the roof. She grabbed Danny by the shirt and hauled him forward until their faces were inches apart. His body radiated a soft chill that brushed against her skin. He held up his hands in surrender.

“Since the start, Sam and I, we saw you in the park, remember? You caught us uhhhh,” Danny trailed off, looking away with a blush. It took Val a minute but she remembered one of her first outings with the suit, she was chasing Phantom and his stupid dog only to find Danny and Sam kissing in the bushes. She hadn’t cared about the love lives of losers at the time. It had only become relevant when she started catching feeling for Danny but he’d assured her multiple times that he and Manson weren’t a couple. “It wasn’t real, the kiss I mean. It was Sam’s idea, you surprised us and we didn’t have time to hide so you didn’t...” he trailed off.

"Didn’t, what?” She demanded. Valerie gasped when Danny simply phased out of her grip and assuming his previous position on the roof. She stared for a moment at her hands before looking up again at Danny who was back to fiddling with his clothes. There it was, irrefutable proof that Danny wasn’t human. It felt like her heart was being chipped away with a hammer. 

“Look, this has been kind of a hard week for me,” Danny groaned, raking his hands forcefully through his hair. “I get my powers outed, I need to convince my parents not to kill me the rest of the way, keep the ghosts off my back for a period, get the government to acknowledge my existence all the while dealing with everyone’s stares and questions at school.” He tucked his knees closer and flopped his face into them. “I said I would be honest with you and I’m trying but I’ve already had to give so much of myself this week and... I don’t know, what do you even want from me?”

“I want answers!” Valerie tried to demand but it came across as more whiney. She pushed back any tears that were threatening to come. “I want to know what was real! Was our friendship real? Our feelings? Are you even real? And if you knew I Huntress all this time then why... why would you even talk to me? Were you just playing with me? Spying on me? What did you want with me?”

“I’m real, Val, I promise,” He held out his hand and she reluctantly took it. His hand was chilly but there always where, it was also solid with knobbing bones and ropy muscles. Beneath it all, there was a sluggish but persistent pulse. She squeezed his hand, it was a human hand and yet it had also passed right through her. How could he be real and not real at once?

“As for what I wanted, just a friend really,” Danny said, keeping his head on his folded knees but turning towards her. She read nothing but sincerity in his eerily blue eyes. “Sam, Tuck and I, we have serious history. We know each other inside and out. But you, you were someone new. I loved hearing about your interests, your dreams, finding out who you were as a person beyond that jerk who made fun of me the second week of Freshman year for wearing my dad’s jumpsuit to school. I liked being able to be a normal person with you, I think I had started to forget with the whole ghost thing going on.”

“What happened?” Valerie couldn’t help but ask.

“Lab accident,” Danny said quietly, “Sam and Tuck were there, wasn’t pretty. Thought I was goner for sure. I survived somehow but I got some freaky powers out of the deal. There’s downsides but some sweet benefits,” he tilted his head back and looked longingly up at the sky. “Flying is the best.”

“Yeah,” Val couldn’t help but sigh in agreement. She could almost the feel the sensation of the wind whipping against her suit. Hear the roar as she soared through the clouds. It was hard to imagine Danny flying but his eyes shined with understanding she usually only saw in the mirror. “So why did you hang out with me knowing I hunted ghosts?”

“It just sorta happened, You obviously sensed that Sam and Tucker weren’t too happy about the risk.” No kidding, Val had gotten warmer welcomes from freezers. “But you were cool, Val. Plus you,” he paused and seemed to consider his words. “I felt like once we got over the hump you would get it in a way the other don’t. You know what it like to balance two lives, to have insane power at your fingertips, to feel like if you take even a second break that the ghosts will overwhelm the town. It’s just... a lot to deal with alone, Sam, Tucker and Jazz, they try to understand but they just don’t.”

He looked over at her, “I guess it was nice to know that there was someone like me out there,” he blushed, “and that someone uh liked me. For being me, y’know?”

“Clearly I didn’t know everything,” she grumbled watching as Danny winced. Val frowned, she probably wasn’t being entirely fair, she hadn’t exactly been honest with Danny either. 

“So you fight ghosts, huh?” Valerie couldn’t help was ask with a little smile. Trying to picture it. The Danny she thought she knew wouldn’t but this Danny... “Is that why you’re always running out of class?”

“Isn’t that why you leave?” He teased back hesitantly. “I’m honestly a little surprised no one figured me out before. I was really bad at hiding at first. Of course it’s only when I get the whole ‘secret identity’ thing down that I get exposed.” He huffed, the ends of his hair lifting out of his eyes. 

“Secret identity, so you can turn into a ghost?” Danny was silent. “Have I seen you out there?” More silence. “Have I... have I shot at you?” Everything seemed quiet save for their asynchronous breathing. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“It stung but not enough to keep me down for long,” Danny said, flexing his arms but his smile was strained. There was something about it that was haunting, familiar. She turned to look at the woods because if she stared any longer she’d realize which ghost Danny turned into and neither of them was ready for that right now. 

“So now what?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Danny sighed. “I’m kind of taking it one day at a time. Mom and Dad are nervous, jumpy, I’m not sure if they’re more scared of me or of themselves and what they did. My sister and friends are being annoyingly overprotective. People who hated me last week are suddenly in my face asking questions and demanding demonstrations. The government wants to kill me but,” he snorted a little, and tilted his head towards her floppily. “I'm also talking to you about this part of my life for the first time. Lying was a necessity I never grew comfortable with, I think I could do with a bit of honesty.”

“Yeah me too,” Valerie said, straightening up and looking Danny in the eye. ��I’m still not sure how I feel about this. I don’t like ghosts and I likely never will. I’m going to continuing being Huntress and keeping the town safe. But I’m willing to give you chance, give you time to open up completely. It’ll give us both times to come to terms with everything, and maybe then we can figure out where we stand.”

“I’ll take it!” Danny beamed, “I was worried you were coming here to off me with that ectogun you have stashed in your skirt so this is much better!”

“How did you-” She gasped.

He winked and tapped his forehead, “I’m pretty sensitive to ectoplasm, especially out here in the real world. Gotta admit sometimes when my energy was low, I sought you out. Did you know your suit radiates a low level ectoplasmic field, even when you’re not wearing it?” He twisted his face in thought. “Now that we’re talking-talking, I should warn you what side effects excess exposure to ectoenergy can cause.” He twisted his hand and a small green ectoblast formed in his palm briefly before dissipating. “If that worries you, my parents can hook you up with some sweet ghost hunting equipment that won’t contaminate you.”

“So I could have powers like you one day?” She asked carefully, looking over her hands thoughtfully.

“Maybe, I don’t know. Mine was a kind of one in a million accident, well, two,” he made a face. “That’s whole other story, don’t ask. But we could maybe find out together, Val,” he winced. “Valerie.”

“Val is fine,” she said quietly, still thinking too many things. “We have a lot of things to figure out but in the meantime, you can keep calling me Val.” 

“I’d like that,” he smiled. “So uh, do you want to come to movie night tomorrow? It’s at my house this week. I uh always wanted to invite you before but Sam, Tuck and I usually end up talking ghost stuff during the movie so we couldn’t before but if you’re interested... could be fun to have you there. We’re watching The Shining.”

“That movie is like a billion years old,” Val laughed with an eyeroll.

“It’s a classic, I was named after the kid in that movie!” Danny defended. “I’ll text you the details but its up to you. Either way, we’ll uh, we’ll keep talking. See you around, Val.” And just like that, he vanished. She swiveled her head around but Danny Fenton was truly gone.

“Jerk,” she grumbled but there was no heat to it. She heard a giggle above her and knew Danny, in his secret ghost form, was probably flying. And it was too nice a day to walk home. She activated her suit and took to the skies herself. Valerie didn’t know if Danny was with her or not, she just turned off her brain and fell into the motion of aggressive loops and high speed dives around her town.

 Everything had turned upside down with the knowledge that Danny wasn’t who she thought he was. But again, things had been crazy since the ghosts first came to town. So she and Danny were at a stand still, not friends and not enemies, not open but not secretive either. It was a weird state to be in but Danny was probably used to being in a state of half life himself. But she’d worry about all that later, for now it just her and sky.