#anyway: I love my weird demon boy who's so scared and anxious it turns him cruel

[hallowxiu]

A Twist on Bloody Mary

pairing: mammon & gn!mc

word count: 3k

summary: You, Mammon, Satan, Levi, and Asmodeus decide to play Bloody Mary. What could go wrong? Everything.

a/n: this is in no way meant to offend anyone; just a fun little thing i thought of!

“Are you actually scared?” You asked the white haired demon incredulously. You could hear the snickering from Levi behind you, the purple haired brother absolutely loving how mortified his older brother had become in the last couple of minutes.

“W-What?” He looked at you with wide eyes, a brief expression of panic on his face before he stomped it out. “Of course not! The Great Mammon isn’t scared of nothin’!” His confidence was false and you knew it. You almost felt bad for him. Keyword being almost.

“Well, there’s nothing to be scared over, Mammon. I’ve done this dozens of times when I was a kid. Easy peasy; you’re in and then right out.” You gestured over to the closed bathroom door. You could hear Asmodeus complaining from the other side about what good it was being in front of a mirror when the light was off. “Bloody Mary isn’t real.”

“Well, she is.” Satan interjected from where he stood in the hall, the book in his hands now closed.

“Well yes, historically she was real, depending on which version people believe.” You scratched at the back of your neck as Mammon crammed his hands into his pockets. “But I mean, she’s not going to actually pop out of the mirror and rip your face off.” You paused again. “Well, she didn’t in the human realm. I guess anything is fair game in the Devildom.” Mammon looked like he was about to faint.

Currently, you, Mammon, Levi, Satan, and Asmodeus were hanging out in the hallway by the main bathroom. You couldn’t remember how it started, but the topic of Bloody Mary came up and the brothers wanted to try it out. You knew Mammon didn’t actually want to, but he felt pressured to once he realized he was the only one who didn’t want to play. To top it off, once he learned that you had played this so called game as a child, he felt even more compelled to force himself to play. You had tried to reassure him that plenty of people were too nervous to participate in such a game, but that seemed to only make things worse.

“Bloody Mary is just something the humans made up when they got bored.” Levi poked Mammon’s cheek as he spoke. “Are you really scared of some ghost story from the human realm?” Mammon’s face reddened from embarrassment and you were ready to step in and salvage the little pride he had left before the bathroom door swung open. A timid and pale Asmodeus shuffled out, eyes wide and hands pulling at the bottom of his shirt.

“What’s wrong?” Satan asked with a raised eyebrow. You weren’t surprised that Asmodeus was spooked. Like Mammon, he also didn’t handle scary things well. You were pretty convinced that if he had denied playing the game earlier, that Mammon would have joined him and stayed by his side the entire time. You do a double take when noticing the tears that clung to his lashes. A small frown formed on your lips as you stepped toward the blond and ran a hand through his hair.

“Are you alright?” Maybe you shouldn’t have informed the brothers of such a thing. He leaned into your touch before he suddenly cried out and buried his face in the crook of your neck. “Oh, it was awful!” He sobbed out your name, clinging to you tightly. “I was so convinced that something was going to pop out! I couldn’t wait to leave, it was too creepy!” You pat him on the back a few times as Satan looked between the two of you.

“Well, the hard part is over.” Satan reassured the distraught blond. “And nothing ate you, so you can relax now.” Now that Asmodeus was done, that only left… Mammon. A quick glance back at the second oldest brother and you decided maybe you should call the entire thing off. He was paler than Asmodeus and he hadn’t even gone into the bathroom yet. You could see a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. When you opened your mouth to reassure the brother, Asmodeus only started crying louder. That’s right, you nearly forgot that you were still being clung to by the demon.

“Maybe we should stop for the day. I think we should let Asmo rest, and I’m actually feeling a little tired as well.” You tried to subtly end the game by pushing the focus on yourself and Asmodeus instead of on Mammon.

“What?” Levi looked at you with a raised eyebrow. “Mammon hasn’t gone yet. Wouldn’t it be unfair to have everyone else go but him?” You sighed inwardly while throwing a pointed look at the purple haired boy. You should’ve known that Levi would be the one to make sure Mammon went through with it. The second oldest awkwardly shifted next to you, hands curled up into fists. You try to wiggle out of Asmodeus’ grip so you could comfort the anxious demon.

“Ah, Asmodeus, you need to let go--”

“Fine! I don’t care anyway! It’s not like I’m scared or nothin’, because I’m not. The Great Mammon never gets scared. Ever.” Your eyes narrowed as you accepted your fate of being glued to Asmodeus’ side for the rest of your days.

“I know!” You snapped your fingers at the sudden thought. “I haven’t gone yet either, why don’t I go with you, Mammon?” You’ve done this so many times that you could probably do it in your sleep. It was nothing but a story meant to scare children; it’s nothing you haven’t done before anyway. Besides, you figured by being there that Mammon might calm down. You knew he’d never ask you himself, that’s why you had to be the one to do it. “I’m getting a little jealous that everyone is having so much fun. I want to do it again! It’ll be so nostalgic for me.”

“That’s a weird version of nostalgia ya have.” Mammon muttered under his breath with a red tint to his cheeks. “It’s not like I need ya to join me or anythin’. I didn’t ask for this.”

“Of course not.” If you weren’t too busy trying to save Mammon’s pride and paid more attention to your surroundings, you might have caught the panicked looks on the others’ faces. “Never thought you would anyway. But I figured that we don’t have much longer before Lucifer gets suspicious of us and chews us out for goofing around in the hallway. We probably only have this last round left anyway. So we can do it together! Two birds with one stone.” You gave him a cheeky wink.

“Ah, w-wait!” Levi grasped your sleeve as the two of you started to head to the bathroom. “Uh, t-that’s not fair! We didn’t get to have you with us for our turn!”

“Hey! Hands off my human!” Mammon swats Levi’s hand away before you can respond and tugs you toward him. It was then, right as Mammon closed and locked the door, that you caught the panicked look on everyone’s face. Your eyes squinted as an odd feeling washed over you. Somehow you felt like you just walked into something that wasn’t meant for you. “So how do we do this?”

Snapping out of your thoughts and bringing your attention back to Mammon, you suddenly feel a cold sweat break out over you. “R-Right.”

“Huh? Don’t tell me you’re gettin’ all scared now!”

“Of course I’m not! I’ve told you that I’ve done this a million times! Nothing happens!” You couldn’t shake the feeling off, however. You rubbed your now sweaty palms over the front of your pants. Why were you so nervous? You glanced over at the half melted candle that sat on the counter (and it reeked strongly of roses; apparently the House of Lamentation lacked scentless candles and Asmodeus was the only one to go to) before flipping the light switch. It took a moment for your eyes to adjust, but you could still make out Mammon’s tense figure.

“Now what?” His voice was quiet and you could just barely make out a tremble.

“You just repeat the phrase “Bloody Mary” thirteen times.” You rocked on the backs of your heels, hands tucked behind your back as you watched on keenly. “Technically you’re supposed to do it alone, but I don’t think it’ll change anything.” You stayed close to the door, trying to see if you could hear anything from the other side, something that could explain the odd behavior of the brothers, but you couldn’t hear anything.

“I did it. Now what?”

“Huh?” You turned your attention back to Mammon. “You said it thirteen times already? How fast did you go?” An eyebrow quirked up and a grin appeared on your face. He really was adorable when he was nervous about something. “Well, I suppose if you really did do it thirteen times, now you just have to stare into the mirror.” You come up behind Mammon, tilting your head to the side as you watch him. He stared into the mirror with narrowed eyes, cautiously taking a step back after a few passing seconds. “Just make sure you stand out of arms’ reach.” He turned around with a quizzical look. “So she can’t reach out and grab you.”

“I regret wanting to know.”

“It doesn’t matter; nothing appears in the mirror anyway.” You brushed him off with a pat on his back. “Congratulations, you did it. Now you can tell your brothers you’re as brave as them.” You wrapped your hand around his wrist with the intention of pulling him out of the bathroom, however, he refused to move from the spot he stood. “What? Do you want to do it again that badly? Or are you looking for a dramatic exit?” Your grip on him tightened in an attempt to pull him out of the bathroom. As it would turn out, trying to force a demon to move was a lot harder than you thought. “Mammon, seriously--”

“It moved.” Your eyes traveled up to his face, moving to his side so you could look at him properly. “My reflection. It moved.” He repeated again, though this time his voice was a bit louder and his eyes were blown wide open. Suddenly, a cold weight settled in your stomach and you found yourself too scared to look at the mirror.

“That wasn’t funny.”

“Good, because I ain’t jokin’!”

“What do you mean it moved?”

“I mean my reflection moved; it moved! I turned to look at ya and my reflection was still starin’ at me!” With the clear panic in Mammon’s voice, you decided to suck it up and look at the mirror. With your eyebrows furrowed, you glanced between Mammon and his reflection. It appeared to be the same; nothing about the situation sticking out or appearing to be odd. Could it have been that he had become paranoid due to the dark?

“I’ll turn the light back on.” But you couldn’t move. Mammon had your wrist in an iron grip and you wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon. “Mammon, I need you to let go of me so I can turn the light back on. And then I can unlock the door and we can leave…” Your voice trailed off when you caught a glimpse of movement out of the side of your eye. Your attention shot to the mirror, eyes widened when seeing Mammon’s reflection smiling at the two of you. “U-Uh…” You’d never had this happen before; as far as you were aware, this game was completely made up. You were frozen in place as you continued to gaze at Mammon’s eerie reflection. This was fine; this was completely fine. At least, that’s what you were telling yourself until the bathroom lights started to flicker.

“No.”

Mammon turned to look at you with a bewildered face. “No?”

“Hell no. We are not doing this today or ever.” You had been struggling to get out of Mammon’s grip, but you eventually freed yourself. You lunged for the lightswitch but came to a sudden halt when you saw Mammon’s reflection attempting to grab him through the mirror. “Back up, Mammon! You can’t stand at arms’ length or she can grab you and pull you in; that’s what the rules of the game always said.” At this point, you weren’t sure if she even needed you at arms’ length, but you figured you’d warn him anyway.

“Do ya know how to make her go away?” Mammon’s voice was full of panic as he spoke, eyes anxiously darting around the bathroom. You clumsily flipped on the switch, only to feel your stomach drop when the lights didn’t turn on. You go for the doorknob, only to realize that it’s locked.

“No clue.” None of your friends ever thought you’d actually encounter her, so no one ever explained to you how to make her go away. You were feeling like the world’s biggest idiot right about now. “J-Just stay by my side and avoid her!” You quickly made your way back to the demon’s side, gripping onto his sleeve as you forced him a few steps back. “We should cover the mirror with something, right?” It was more of a question you were asking yourself, but Mammon went ahead with looking for something anyway.

“Just make sure ya don’t leave my side. Lucifer would kill me if he found out I let some demon eat ya.” Not that you would be leaving his side anyway. You couldn’t keep your eyes off Mammon’s reflection, watching anxiously as it kept its gaze on your figures.

“C-Can you just kick the door down?” You asked timidly. Sure, Lucifer would probably be seething when stumbling upon the busted bathroom door, but you thought you could justify it if needed. You watched as Mammon prepared to kick down the door when you caught something out of the side of your eye. “M-Mammon!” You watched in absolute horror as his reflection began to climb out of the mirror, its hands gripping onto the framing. “Mammon!” You were certain you’d never heard your voice raise so high before, but you’d also never been in this situation before. You could feel your eyes start to sting as warm tears blurred your vision; you had never been so scared. Was this seriously how you were going to die?

You felt yourself getting lifted off the ground, Mammon’s grip on you strong as he held you against himself. “I told ya I’d never let anythin’ happen to ya, didn’t I?” You didn’t answer him, only burying your face in the safety of his chest as hot tears streamed down your cheeks. Just as he lifted his leg to kick the door down, it swung open.

“We’re sorry, we didn’t think-- oof!”

You slowly moved your face away from Mammon’s chest to see Levi lying on the floor, clutching his stomach in his hands. Mammon blinked several times as he stared down at his younger brother. “What are ya doin’ on the floor?”

“What am I doing? You kicked me!”

“Why were ya in the way?”

“I was opening the door for you!”

“I didn’t ask ya to!”

“Is that how you thank me?”

Satan and Asmodeus were at your side within seconds, apologies spilling from their lips as Asmodeus delicately wiped your tears away with his thumbs. “We only meant to prank Mammon; you weren’t supposed to go in there with him!” The fifth oldest explained while Mammon and Levi continued to bicker in the background. Realizing you were still being held by the demon, you awkwardly shifted in his hold.

“So it wasn’t real?” You’re too scared to look behind you, so you clung to Mammon tighter.

“Of course not.” This time it’s Satan who was speaking. “If it had been real, we all would have been in there within seconds. We really didn’t think you’d offer to go in with him. We were trying to warn you but Mammon threw you into the bathroom before we could say anything.”

“So ya decided it would be funny to prank me, is that it?” Mammon’s back in the conversation as he carefully puts you down. “Normally that wouldn’t piss me off too much, but ya had to drag my human into your stupid mess? Ya made them cry! I would never make them cry!” Mammon pulls you away from the three brothers, keeping an arm around your waist as he pulls you closer to his side.

“Mammon, it’s not a big deal. They already apologized--”

“Who made you cry?” A silence swept over the hallway, everyone turning to see where the new voice came from.

“L-Lucifer!” Levi’s already hiding behind Satan as he addresses the eldest brother. “Crazy seeing you here.”

“I live here.” Lucifer was not in the mood for nonsense today, you could sense it. You could also tell he wouldn’t let you get out of this so easily. “I will not ask again after this. Who made you cry?”

“Satan, Asmodeus, and Levi.” Mammon answered for you. “They made them cry! Who pulls a prank like that, huh? That’s just mean!” You try to hide your snort from how bitter Mammon was from all of this. A devilish grin forms on Lucifer’s lips as he looks over the three brothers.

“I’ll be seeing you three in my room later then, won’t I?” The three awkwardly looked between each other before sighing and giving in.

“Yes, Lucifer.” They say in unison.

“As for you,” his eyes were on you now, “no more of these nonsense games, understood?”

“Yes, Lucifer.”

He seemed content with that, taking his gaze off you and placing it on the brothers again. “Now then, you three with me.” You and Mammon let out a breath you didn’t realize the two of you were holding when Lucifer turned away and left, the three brothers trailing after him. While you were relieved to find out that it had been an elaborate prank set up by Satan and the others, you were pretty confident that you would never be playing that game again. So no, you didn’t need to be told that twice.

[jasthelazyelf]

The beginning of a long friendship

Word count: roughly 2100

Jas awakens in the Devildom. Gets introduced to the program. Decides to murder a certain demon with words. That's how you make a good first impression, right?

Jas‘ day started like any other, there was nothing particularly strange or odd about it. After waking up snuggled up to her favourite seal plush Chonk, she got up and headed straight to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Thinking if she should eat something other than her regular breakfast, she opened the fridge and looked inside. Her still tired mind refused the idea, though, so she grabbed the carton of milk from the fridge and cereal from the pantry.

After eating her breakfast, she decided to change into her comfortable daily clothes consisting of sweatpants and a doge tshirt. She loved it, she loved making her brother groan and then laugh when he saw her in it. Not having much to do that day, she decided to grab the book she’s been reading and sit on the couch. However, she found it rather difficult to concentrate on the words, she was feeling rather tired even though she’s been awake only for about an hour now. She marked where she stopped, closed the book and not even putting it on the table, she fell asleep again.

After a short dream she immediately forgot about, she woke up in a completely different room from the one she remembered falling asleep in. She blinked a few times and realized there were several men standing right in front of her, all dressed in black uniforms, one in a red one. The room looked like a court room.

„Where am I…?“ she thought to herself. The man sitting on the seat that would be that of the chief judge opened his mouth.

„Welcome to the Devildom, Jas,“ he was smiling brightly as he spoke and his eyes sparkled with happiness. Once he saw the confused look on her face, he made an apologetic puppy eyes. „… Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we? Well, that’s understandable. You’ve only just arrived, after all. As a human, it will probably take a little while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom.“ Devildom? She has never heard of such a place. Not that she was the best at Geography, anyway. But she had a feeling if she ever heard about such a place, she’d remember it. She realized that when she went to sleep on the couch, it was morning. It seemed impossible for it to be that dark outside now, since she never slept that long.

„Is this a dream…?“ she asked the red haired man. A dream sounded like the only logical solution to her at this point.

„Hmmm… what a very human thing to say. Outstanding. I have a feeling you might be just the sort of person we’re looking for.“ A human, huh? Well… it wasn’t actually a lie… but also not a complete truth. Not anymore. But since the difference wasn’t visible on her now, she decided to play along. „I suppose I should introduce myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me. And someday soon, I will be crowned a king.“

Jas slightly raised one of her eye brows. So, she was in literal hell? Was that it?! Rather than being scared, she now started to wonder who the other people in the room were. Did she hear about them? Maybe she did. She decided to keep her curiosity to herself for now and just rolled with the given situation. Diavolo stood up and showed Jas the view from the nearest window. As he gently guided her with his hand on her back, she realized she was still clutching her book. And that she was still wearing her day clothes. She felt a bit embarrassed being dressed like that here.

„This is the Royal Academy of Diavolo… though we just call it RAD.“ Once he showed her the campus from the window, he turned them both around again. „You’re standing inside the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business. I’m the president of said council.“

Jas smiled a little. Of course he would be the president. She kept that one thought to herself, though. „Why am I here?“ she asked instead.

Another man stood up, this time the one with jet black hair with light ends and piercing red eyes. Jas had to admit, he looked a bit scary. „I will explain everything to you.“

„Jas, this is Lucifer. He is a demon and The Avatar of Pride. He’s also the vice president of the student council and my right-hand man… and not just in title, I assure you. Beyond that, he’s also my most trusted friend.“ Diavolo’s eyes were sparkling again as he was talking about Lucifer.

„Flatery will get you nowhere, Diavolo.“ Lucifer furrowed his eye brows a bit. Then he looked at Jas again and smiled. Jas still found his smile creepy. „Speaking on behalf of the entire student body at this great and storied school of ours… I offer you a most heartfelt welcome, Jas.“

„On behalf of the students?“ Did… did demons really go to school? She found it a bit funny. No one is saved from school.

„Diavolo believes that we demons should start strengthening our relationship with both the human world and the Celestial Realm. As a first step toward this goal, we’ve decided to institute an exchange program. We’ve sent two of our students to the human world and two to the Celestial Realm. And we’re welcoming four students to our school: two from your world and two from the Celestial Realm. So, I take it you probably put two and two together at this point, right?“ he stopped for a few seconds to give time for the new info to set in. It was quite a lot for such a short period of time. „You’ve been chosen from among the people of the human world to participate in this program of ours. You are our newest exchange student. Your period of stay is one year. You will have to work on the tasks that you will receive from RAD. After one year, you will write a paper about your exchange here in the Devildom.“ Wow, out of seven billion people on Earth, these demons picked a human… who isn’t actually a full human. It’s not like it was Jas's problem, though, she was willing to pretend. She wasn’t so happy about the final paper though.

„Write a paper?“

„I am not telling you to write a doctoral thesis. You can take it easy.“ Well, that was at least SOME good news. „Don’t glare at me like that. It’s not like I will abandon you all by yourself here in the Devildom.“ Well, he better not. „You need someone to look after you, and I think that someone should be my brother Mammon. He’s The Avatar of Greed and… how should I put it…? Oh well, you’ll understand soon enough.“ WHAT WAS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?! Was this Mammon weird? Evil? Would he kill Jas on the spot? Before she could get properly nervous, Lucifer took out something that looked like a phone. „Here, take this device. It’s called a D.D.D. It’s a lot like the cell phones of your world. This will be yours to use as long as you’re here. Now, go ahead and try calling Mammon with it.“

Jas did as she was told. The voice of the man on the other side was… loud, to say the least. But otherwise he sounded… okay? She would judge his personality later when she actually met him.

„Sounds like you had a nice chat,“ Lucifer brought her from her thoughts again.

„He seems reliable,“ she shrugged as she answered him.

He furrowed his brows again. „… You really think so?“

Before he could say anything more, the red haired prince took the word again. „Well, if you were suddenly brought to a strange place and then get told that an unfamiliar face will now také care of you, you’d certainly feel anxious. However, Mammon isn’t the only one to help you out. Now then… we still need to introduce our new friend to your brothers, Lucifer. And, it’s probably better that you do that instead of me, wouldn’t you say?“

Lucifer looked down for a bit, a bit anxious. „Yes… As much as I dread the idea of doing so,you’re right.“

One of the guys who was still sitting looked up. Wow, he looked so adorable. „Oh, come now, really? You should be honored that you get to introduce such a sweet and charming little brother like me!“ and certainly confident. Jas had to giggle at that.

„This one here is Asmodeus. He’s the fifth eldest. He’s The Avatar of Lust.“

„Wh… I can’t believe you just totally ignored what I said! And not only that, you referred to me as THIS ONE. How rude!“ Fiesty man! He looked like fun! The last man in the room lazily raised an eyebrow, pouting a little bit in the process. Jas saw that he had been eyeing her for some time, he especially looked interested in the booked Jas still held in her hands. Was he trying to discover what she was holding of was he judging her taste? She couldn’t tell at that moment. Now he was looking at Asmodeus, though.

„Hmph, at least he didn’t ignore you altogether. How do you think I feel?“

„And this one is Satan, the fourth eldest of us. At first glance, he may seem like a responsible demon with a good head on his shoulders, but looks can be deceiving.

„Aha, so I’m THAT one, am I? Nice to meet you, Jas. I am Satan, The Avatar of Wrath.“ OH. Now it finally fully dawned on her. Yep, so these were the big scary demons everyone who believed in them feared so much? Come on, they looked pretty nice. Then she remembered something. Even though she wasn’t religious, she knew quite a lot of mythological stuff. She knew that Lucifer was one of the fallen angels. She knew what was being said about Lucifer’s look. She inhaled and opened her mouth. Everyone in the room was paying attention to her.

This question.

„Wait… Isn’t Lucifer supposed to be super hot even after the fall?“

This one single question.

Oh boy. It struck everyone like a lightning. Diavolo blinked a few times in sheer surprise. Asmodeus widened his eyes, opened his mouth and was at loss for words. Satan laughed out loud, oh, this he did not think would happen. Oh, he likes this girl. He quickly put himself more or less together and looked at Lucifer. And oh boy was Lucifer not happy. Nope, the nice and friendly face was gone and he looked utterly pissed. Before he knew it, Lucifer turned into his demon form, a coat themed after peacocks, two sets of wings and black horns coming out the top of his head. Jas started to take steps back, startled by the sudden change.

Before Lucifer could actually attack her, Satan stood between the two them and glared at Lucifer. At that point Lucifer realized what he was just about to do and turned back to his human form and promptly left the room. Diavolo recovered fast and went after his friend to see if he’s all right. Once the door fully closed, Satan turned towards Jas. She was shaking a bit, but otherwise looked fine.

„Are you all right? That was a quite impressive move you pulled there. Good job,“ he laughed as he was making sure the human was truly unharmed.

Jas recovered shortly after and looked at Satan. She was still shocked, but managed to answer Satan. „I thought you were The Avatar of Wrath, not him?“ Satan laughed again.

„Oh gosh, what foolish bravery! To go into enemy territory like that and say such things! You were lucky Satan reacted so quickly, or you would have been a goner by now!“ Asmo chimed in. He got up from his seat, came closer to the two of them and moved his arms up to offer a hug. Jas approved and hugged the lean handsome demon and finally stopped shaking. „Now, now, it’s okay, but don’t ever do that again, okay?“

Jas let go of him and nodded. Satan pat her gently on her hair. „Enough about that butthurt prick, what do you have there?“ he asked excitedly. So he hasn’t been able to identify the book after all. She showed him the book. It was The Sword of Shannara. Oh, he has heard about this saga, but never actually got around to read them. He heard that the books were pretty good, though. Looks like this exchange won’t be so bad after all.

Satan smiled. He knew this was the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship between him and this human. He couldn’t wait what they’d be up to in the near future.

A/N: Apologies to the Lucifer stams. :'D that really was my first reaction to him over a year and a half ago when I started playing. He's still not hot hot me :'D

[jonahlovescoffee]

Night Changes | J.M.

a/n this fanfic is inspired by one direction’s hit song with the same title. u can also listen to jonah’s cover of the same song here.This is the first complete fanfic I’ve ever written in my entire pathetic life and it has been rotting away in my files app for a while now lol u can see how insecure i was (and am) to put this out here but here it is anyways :’) any constructive criticism is appreciated <3 happy reading!!

summary: the death of his friend’s girlfriend made Jonah realize that nothing in life is permanent, including you.

warnings: mentions of death

word count: 2136

“We're only getting older, baby; And I've been thinking about it lately; Does it ever drive you crazy; Just how fast the night changes?”

It was yet another ordinary weekend night where Jonah and his band were gathered in the little studio of Daniel’s home, busy composing new music for their upcoming album without a care in the world when Corbyn’s phone rang all of a sudden.

Corbyn’s eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw the caller ID on the screen before sliding the answer button to the right and excusing himself from the small room to take the call. No one thought much about it and proceeded with their songwriting process. However, when half an hour passed with Corbyn’s absence, that was when Jonah’s gut feeling told him that something wasn’t right. He brushed that thought off as quick as it entered his mind, trying his best to ignore the fact that he caught a glimpse of the caller ID and it was his girlfriend’s mother calling him, which was undeniably weird. As his roommate and best friend, Jonah could confirm that she had never called Corbyn unless there was an emergency. Heck, the last time she called him was when her car broke down somewhere in downtown LA and Corbyn was the only one she knew who lived close enough to pick her up.

His suspicion was soon proven right when Corbyn barged into the room seconds later with tears running down his cheeks nonstop like a river. Daniel, who was seated the closest to the door jumped up in shock just as Corbyn fell into his arms and started sobbing. The other boys made their ways to them as Daniel patted Corbyn’s back in attempt to calm him down.

“What’s wrong?” Zach asked curiously and Jack elbowed him on the arm. “Ow, what was that for?” Zach exclaimed, earning a glare from the other male that clearly said, “Can’t you wait until he stops crying to pry for answers?”

“She killed herself,” Corbyn managed to say between sobs.

“Who?” Daniel asked softly.

“My girlfriend,” the 4 boys’ breaths hitched in utter shock. None of them were expecting this news in forever. Madeline was the most cheerful and optimistic girl Jonah had ever met. She brought sunlight and joy into every room she entered. Were those traits of hers merely a mask to hide all the despair and anxiety underneath? It didn’t make any sense whatsoever.

“My sweetheart killed herself,” Corbyn repeated, mostly to himself with a hint of disbelief in his tone. It was evident that he was still having a hard time letting the fact sink in. “We just went out for dinner last night and now she’s gone. Forever. She didn’t even say goodbye. What should I do? How can I live without her?”

“She should’ve said something. I could’ve done so much to help her instead of letting her die just like that. I saw the scars on her hand last night but I assumed it was nothing serious. It’s my fault. I could’ve stepped in and save her but I didn’t. Why? Why?!” Corbyn screamed and tugged at his hair frustratedly.

Silence ensued, the only sound being Corbyn’s uncontrollable sobs. No one said anything because they knew that no words were powerful enough to comfort him for the time being. The most they could do was be there for him.

#

Jonah pulled up in your driveway in the middle of the night. He left his house right away after ensuring that Corbyn was sound asleep in his room in fear of his best friend trying anything stupid under the influence of tremendous grief. He knew that you were probably asleep at this hour and he should’ve waited until the morning to pay you a visit but he couldn’t wait any longer. Madeline’s death had made him realise that nothing in life lasts forever and he wanted—no, needed—to be by your side tonight to make up for the past few days of neglecting you because of work.

After some debating in his head whether to wake you up from your deep slumber like an ignorant boyfriend or just turn around and go home, he turned off the engine and rushed out of his car and onto your doorstep before he could change his mind. He used the same key you gave him months ago to unlock the front door and was then greeted by a silent pitch black, empty living room. He locked the door with a soft click behind him before tiptoeing up the stairs and entering your room. He made sure to keep his movements as silent as possible as he knew better than anyone that you were a terribly light sleeper and could be awoken easily by the softest sounds. He took off his shoes and joined you on the king-sized bed, wrapping his arms around your sleeping figure gently to pull you closer to him. He contentedly nuzzled your hair, inhaling the sweet scent of your shampoo that smelled like cherry blossoms and spring air. It was only then he felt truly at ease, with you perfectly safe and sound in his arms.

As he half expected, you stirred from your sleep, wiggling your body slightly before turning towards him, your arms habitually made their way around his neck even in your half-awake state. You couldnt help but smile when you felt him tightening his arms around you like he was holding onto you for dear life. “Hey, love,” you mumbled groggily, staring up at him with droopy eyelids in your pyjamas that had bunny patterns all over them that you were more than embarrassed to be seen in by anyone but you could care less since Jonah had been your boyfriend long enough to know about your preference for childish pyjamas over mature flimsy nightgowns. “What brings you here?”

“Just wanna see you,” he replied with a smile. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind your ear and took a moment to drink in your beauty—the crinkle by your eyes when you smile, you supple lips and the freckles on your cheeks that were illuminated by the soft moonlight that shone through the windows—all ordinary features of yours that you had never been particularly fond of but were all made perfect in his eyes. He was lucky to have the chance of calling you his, but Madeline’s unexpected death that night made him wonder how long this could last? Without realising, he let his mind drift further into the sea of uncertainties of the future, getting more anxious by the second, especially when he was met with the thought of ever losing you one day.

“Jo, are you okay?” You asked worriedly when you noticed his tense expression. He offered you a meek smile in return. “Yeah, everything’s fine,” he replied, but his furrowed brows claimed otherwise.

“You’re not fooling anyone with that face, dear. What’s wrong?” You watched him stay silent for a while as if he was trying to come up with a suitable answer to your question.

”I just...can I stay over tonight with you?” He asked and you let out a hum in agreement, your hands rubbing soothing patterns down his back. Even after all this time, he still hadn’t managed to get rid of the old habit of asking for your permission to spend the night at your place although he knew that you would agree without hesitation every single time he did so. You wanted nothing more than to find out what was going on in his head at that moment but he didn’t look like he was in the mood to talk, so you pushed your questions aside for later.

Both of you stayed like that for who knew how long, unmoving, limbs tangled with each other’s as the cool night breeze wafted into the room through the opened windows. “Madeline died,” he said out of the blue, breaking the silence. Shock was an understatement to what you felt. You couldn’t believe your ears. You weren’t exactly best friends with Madeline but still close enough to hang out together occasionally when both of you were free from your hectic schedules, mainly because Jonah and her used to have a thing for each other back in high school before she got with Corbyn so there had always been a tinge of awkwardness between you two. Yet this news hit you hard all the same.

Tears welled up in your eyes before you knew it. “When?”

“Few hours ago,” Jonah answered, his hand stroking your hair with the utmost gentleness, which prompted your tears to resume falling. He let you cry it all out without a single complaint about your tears staining his shirt. “She took her own life.”

“Why?” You sniffled and he shook his head. “No one knows; I guess even the most optimistic person on earth has her invisible demons too,” he said with a sigh.

“Is that the reason why you came here tonight?” You wiped your tears away with the long sleeves of your shirt as you took several deep breaths to recompose yourself, bracing yourself for his answer. Old feelings die hard, that was what you always hear people said, especially your first love. Part of you were scared that Jonah still harboured feelings for her even after all this years and you were nothing but an emotional support rebound tonight.

“Yes and no. I came here after hearing about the news, yes, but I’m not here to mourn about her, for now,” he added the last two words hastily in case you get the wrong idea and thought that he was being rude. You were ashamed for feeling extremely relieved that his answer wasn’t what you expected. “I came here to make up for the past few days of absence and make sure that you’re alright. Have you ever, you know, done that?”

It took you few seconds to get what he meant. “Of course not, Jo. I promise you, I never tried self-harm before, and I never will,” you replied truthfully.

“Thank god,” he sighed with relief and planted a tender kiss on your forehead, “I don’t know what I’d do if you said yes.”

“You know that you’ll be the first one I talk to if I have anything bothering me, right?” You took his hand in yours while staring at him expectantly for an answer but none came. “Jonah, please don’t tell me that you seriously think that I’m someone who resorts to harming myself when the going gets tough?”

“I...I don’t know,” he admitted sheepishly which earned a sigh from you, a small smile tugging at your lips. You still couldn’t believe how this man in front of you—a confident rising boyband star—could get so worked up over a plain girl like you. He swallowed thickly before continuing, “Today made me question everything I know like how long this relationship can last—how long we’ll get to stay us until the world decides to tear us apart. We always said we’ll be together until the end of times but so did Corbyn and Madeline and look at them now. Madeline just....left without a word to anyone. I know it’s stupid but I just couldn’t bear the thought of losing you and now I’m being such a sap and you probably are disgusted —”

“Jonah, stop. You’re over-thinking everything. I’m not disgusted at you, not even one bit,” you raised a hand to his cheek and traced a thumb over it tenderly, knowing that this simple gesture never failed to soothe his raging emotions. “It’s normal to feel this way, love. But whenever you do, please remember this: there’s nothing to be afraid of because I love you so much, Jonah Marais Roth Frantzich, that I can never ever think of hurting myself because I know that that’ll hurt you; I love you so much that I started crying a little less, smiling a little more because I know that no matter how hard my day is, I’ll always have you to come home to.”

You watched as a tear escaped from him. “I don’t know what the future holds but I can promise you this,” you locked your eyes with his, your gaze filled with the utmost love and adoration in contrast with his worried one. “No matter how fast the night changes, it’ll never change me and you.”

“You promise?” His lips curled upwards into a small smile as he leaned in, leaving only an inch between your lips, your breaths mingling with each other’s. As always, butterflies erupted in your stomach at the close proximity as you mirrored his expression with a sweet smile of your own.

“Forever and always,” you breathed and he closed the distance between your lips, sealing the promise.

[only-here-for-jatp]

The Secret Chord pt 3

I am very thrilled with my poetic serious title and my chaotic mess of chapter titles that don’t do the title justice.

Anyway this entire chapter is Nick-centric and contains some negative self-talk so if you have difficulty with that (like I do) proceed with caution and stay safe and okay pretty please.

Also, we stan Carrie in this house thanks.

Read it on Ao3 here

And also below! ~2100 words

Nick was pretty sure this was a terrible idea.

It’d seemed like a great idea last night when he was watching Julie and the Phantoms at the Orpheum. The music was loud, and the crowd was electric. The bass kept up a steady rhythm pounding in sync with his heartbeat and it joined the audience into one body perfectly in sync. He’d felt so alive as if all of his nerve endings were firing at once. His joy came out as an endless ache while he watched Julie perform her heart out, her own enthusiasm evident in every note and movement.

She shone so bright on that stage, more so than anyone he’d ever seen. He’d long since known of her grit and determination, the perks of being in school together since elementary school. Over the years he watched as the little girl with the big voice and no fear stood up to bullies, teachers, and during what came to be known as Fallout 2016 her (ex)friend Carrie.

Julie held her head up so high as she walked through the hallways and he was in awe of her even then. There were still some things he was still working out about himself and she was so unapologetically herself. He’d often wished for her bravery to be that strong.

At the same time, he watched Carrie struggle to keep her head above water. Her dad loved her, but he was absentminded and often off on the road or some tour or party or something, leaving Carrie alone in that big empty house. Before there’d been the joy and laughter of Julie and Flynn echoing in the hallways, but now she sat alone in her thoughts.

It was almost imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know Carrie, after all she’d always been a little rough around the edges, but Nick watched her harsh mask develop. He watched her use deflection and bravado to hide her fraying internal state. Nobody seemed to notice her growing intensity and focus on Dirty Candi, but it seemed like someone needed to do something.

Admittedly his feelings crept up on him. At first, he’d started small interactions as a friendly gesture. Little things like a smile or a wave so he could try to communicate somebody saw her. While she seemed a little confused at first, she soon started flashing him a smirk and a friendly sarcastic comment. Rather quickly their friendship grew, it turned into long conversations at lunch or studying together in the library. What started out as concern turned to pride and warmth as he watched this girl who hurt so much use her unwavering force of will (and a little pink glitter) to get up and meet each day with a take no prisoners attitude.

Once he saw her perform for the first time, he was a goner. That little smirk just did something to his insides. He asked her out and he was happy. They were happy.

Until Julie’s mom died. Whatever fallout might have happened between her and Julie, Carrie loved Rose. She’d been the closest thing Carrie ever had to a mother, and the loss hit her hard. Nick knew Julie would’ve granted her a temporary truce and welcomed Carrie with open arms to grieve. He was even pretty sure Carrie knew deep inside herself somewhere too, but the walls she’d built were too high and too wide to bring them down.

Nick did his best to be there for Carrie, but he knew he wasn’t what she needed. She needed Julie and the Molinas, but it wasn’t going to happen. Not yet. Instead her unresolved feelings ate at her morphing into jealousy and anger and acid. He watched this beautiful typhoon of a girl let the acid and anger consume her. Defenses and walls started going up against him too, until she treated him as little more than an accessory or a chess piece in her one-sided match against Julie Molina.

Beautiful burning Julie Molina who after a year of retreating into a cocoon, hiding from the world and her pain burst onto the stage like a firework. She maintained her grace and inner fortitude whatever the world, or Carrie, threw her way. Above all else though, she was kind. After months of being treated like a doormat, he craved the kindness and gentle protective ferocity that was Julie Molina.

He knew he followed her around like a lost puppy, but even if he couldn’t be with her just being around her made him feel like he could do anything. Be anything, even himself. Her music lived and breathed inside him, the words filling him up and offering him a lifeline when he didn’t even know how close he was to drowning.

He ached to return the favor of her steady reassurance and unconditional acceptance and support. She was incredible and she deserved to know. If he could emulate her even just a little bit, he wanted to try, wanted to practice being like Julie Molina.

Of course, this was how he found himself pacing the sidewalk for twenty minutes, gathering the courage to bring her these flowers. It shouldn’t be this hard. Flowers were a regular post-performance kind of gift. I mean, he did have a crush on her, but she seemed to be into her guitarist? Would she think he was creepy or weird or persistent? He didn’t want to scare her off. Maybe this was a bad idea. He probably didn’t have a shot with someone as incredible as her anyway. He’d like to think he stood a chance since her guitarist was a hologram, but the way they looked at each other….

What did it matter? These flowers were not crush flowers. He would’ve gotten her Dahlias for that. These were simply good job flowers. They’d performed at the Orpheum! That was a big deal. This is fine. This is normal.

A small burst of confidence propelled him forward while he gave himself a mental pep talk in his head. Later he would kick himself for not being more aware of his surroundings, but to be fair no one really expects a tall, mysterious demon man to sneak up behind them.

Yet here he was staring at this man in some steam punk adjacent costume, a smug plastic grin on his face and a mildly threatening atmosphere. He’d rang the doorbell, but he hoped Julie didn’t walk out here while this creep was still around.

“How sweet. The brokenhearted teenager fighting for his girl.”

Nick was taken aback. For one thing, brokenhearted was not the right word. He was hopeful. For another- “Do I know you?”

“No, but you will.”

Nick didn’t even have a chance to react before Caleb’s hands were around his neck. It felt like fire was racing through his veins, consuming him. He couldn’t move, his arms spread wide, but his insides struggled against the invasion. Thrashing and shrieking he screamed inside his mind.

It started in his fingertips and toes, his body feeling like it was too crowded. Like something was growing and pushing him out. He fought so hard trying to stretch and stand up to the purple smoke that was blinding and dividing him. Yet he was losing the battle with every moment. Feeling himself getting shoved and squeezed until he couldn’t feel his arms or his legs or the breaths he took or the beating of his own heart. Until he couldn’t feel the weight of his own tongue.

The world went quiet first. Then it went dark.

Nick came to in a room of boundless dark. He thought about being afraid, but it wasn’t a place where things lurked. He could tell it was just empty. A brief glance showed that he could see himself, slightly translucent maybe, but still there. The space seemed to go on forever and the longer he looked the more anxious he became. His eyes darted from space to space, but it was a never-ending sea of nothingness.

A voice echoed around him, making the world rumble and shake. “Now now, Nicholas. My name is Caleb and it’s nice to meet you.”

“Who are you!? What do you want!? Where am I!?” Nick shouted at the disembodied voice, hearing the fear and trembling in his tone and wishing desperately for the confidence and bravado typically attributed to jocks. What he wasn’t prepared for was the jolt that through him.

The pain stabbed in his gut and it felt like it was ripping him open, piece by piece. He fell to his knees with a scream, doing his best not to sob as the feeling lingered. Caleb laughed before continuing. “tsk tsk tsk. I am speaking, you just need to listen. I am… borrowing your body for the time being. This little lifer girl and her trio of ghostly boy band made a fool of me. And NOBODY defies my will and gets away with it.”

“What does that have to do with- aghhhh” Nick couldn’t hide the sobs as another jolt shot through him.

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to be a fast learner Nicky-poo. I’m in charge and there’s literally nothing you can do about it. Just sit there and be quiet and maybe I’ll return your body back in one piece. Besides you may not know what I’m talking about, but you’re close with that lifer brat Julie. Her ghosties would never let me get close, you on the other hand, well they can’t stop you.”

Nick felt icy terror roll through him. Julie? This madman demon was after Julie? “No” he wheezed. He kept repeating the word as if it would give him power as he progressively got louder until he was standing and screaming it into the void, damn the consequences. “NO. I won’t let you hurt her.”

Another jolt ripped through him as an invisible force knocked him back. The laughter seemed to echo around the space reverberating into an endless mocking loop. “You? You won’t let me? What exactly are you going to do Nicholas? After all, you couldn’t even defend yourself against me. What makes you think you’re capable of doing anything at this point to stop my plans?”

Nick sagged against the ground. There wasn’t anything he could do. His insides felt hollowed out as hopelessness descended upon him. Useless. He was absolutely useless.

“There you go! Now you’re getting it. Anyway, this is the inside of your head and it can be manipulated into whatever I want. Behave and I’ll make sure it’s somewhat comfortable, continue to fight and defy me and I’ll make sure you relive your worst nightmares. Got it?”

Nick nodded, curling up on himself in defeat. If only he’d stayed home today.

“Good, now I just need to borrow your memories real quick and we can get this show on the road. After all, I have a fight too.”

It felt like someone was slicing his brain into pages and flipping through it like you would a book or a deck of cards. He’d grabbed his head at the pain and briefly resisted before giving into the feeling. It was almost like he could feel the fingers turning through the pages. Flipping through his life as if it were nothing. As if he were nothing. He hoped Caleb got a cosmic papercut.

And then for a brief shining moment there was nothing. No Caleb, no jolts, no rummaging through his psyche, no noise. No world. Unfortunately, what looked like a big screen popped up in front of him. Was that the Molina’s house? Were these his eyes? He almost couldn’t watch as Julie opened the door. Then there he was again. Alone in the dark vastness of nothing. He let out an empty laugh. Of course, he was. That was him, always alone. Always hiding. Unable to make any true impact on the lives of the people around him. He’d failed to help Carrie battle her darkness and Julie certainly never needed him.

He wondered briefly if anyone would even notice if he was gone. If anyone would even realize this thing that occupied his body was using him like a puppet. He doubted it. No one ever managed to make it past his walls. No one ever viewed him as more than as that blonde lacrosse player, or Carrie’s boyfriend.

He was as unseen and unheard in here as he was for every other moment of his life.

The disembodied voice never said anything, but Nick was sure he could feel Caleb roll his eyes and mutter “teenagers”. Suddenly a couch poofed into existence and Nick settled into it, finding it oddly comforting. He curled himself around a pillow that he’d dragged into his lap, ready to watch his life spin out of his control.

[if-you-built-yourself-a-myth]

As the World Falls Down

Robbe sat in the hospital waiting room all night, even slept in one of those uncomfortable plastic chairs near the front entrance. He couldn’t bring himself to return to the flat—how could he meet Milan and Zoë and tell them what happened, especially since they would beg to know the surprise as soon as he pushed through the front door? He left his backpack at the hotel suite. It didn’t matter. The cleaning staff could pawn off all his belongings to the highest bidder, so long as he could see those bleach-blond waves and look into a pair of brown eyes. He needed to know how Sander was doing.

Around four in the morning, Britt went home. She didn’t see Robbe sitting only a few feet away as she exited. He wanted to hate her for everything she’d said to him hours earlier, but she looked so tired and sad that he couldn’t conjure the emotion. Maybe he would be able to later. He couldn’t picture her getting any sort of retribution for her actions, just the tears streaming down her cheeks and the hopeless air that followed her into the city as she retreated. He pitied her.

The woman Robbe had seen in the ambulance—Mrs. Driesen, he guessed—gathered her own belongings to leave a few minutes later. Robbe was surprised to see her with her purse, jacket, hat, and scarf, heading towards the double doors. He expected she would spend the night with her son as he rested on medications in a hospital room. He jumped from his chair to stop her.

“Is Sander okay?” he asked. He hoped his hair wasn’t too messy. This was not how he envisioned meeting Sander’s mother, not even in his wildest nightmares. She looked like Sander might look, minus the bleached hair and snarky smile. 

She blinked at him. “Who are you?”

“Robbe.” Robbe extended his hand for a handshake. “Sander was with me when…” His voice caught. “I just want to know if he’s okay.” He paused. “Can you let me see him?”

Mrs. Driesen moved her mouth helplessly for a second, looking for something to say. She finally settled on a clipped sentence. “You should ask his mother, when she gets here.”

“She’s not here now?” So the woman was not Mrs. Driesen. It must be Mrs. Ingelbrecht.

“No, I gave her a call. He had Britt listed as his emergency contact.”

“Oh, thanks.”

He took a step back and watched her leave. That meant Sander was all alone, in a gigantic hospital, right after one of the most traumatic experiences of his life.

No way in hell was Robbe letting it stay that way.

His mother took a turn for the worse a year ago. He watched her lay in bed day after day. He knew she was scared to be by herself in the room, frightened that everyone she loved would abandon her and the world would continue without her in it. He did not want to imagine Sander feeling the same way. Robbe knew his life was better with Sander, just as it was better with his mother as a part of the story.

He headed straight to the nurse’s station in the center of the waiting room. “I’m sorry, what room is Sander Driesen in?”

The nurse looked him up and down. “Relationship to the patient?”

“Boyfriend.”

She made a weird face, something that told him Britt had described herself as Sander’s girlfriend. Sander might look like a cheating, two-timing bitch now, but Robbe found the expression funny. He needed something like that. A reason to smile.

“The girl in here earlier,” he said, “was his ex. It’s complicated. I just have to see him.”

The nurse stuttered a little before she replied, “Visiting hours begin at eleven. You can wait in the waiting room—”

No. Robbe had to see Sander now. He couldn’t go back to the flat to face Milan, Zoë, and Senne knowing that Sander was all by himself, even if he knew that Sander’s mother was on her way. He felt tears pricking at his eyes.

“Can I please see him now?”

“If you were family, I’d say yes.” She continued to type on her computer. The click-clack of the keys made Robbe feel even more anxious than before. 

“I have to see him, okay?” he pleaded. Now there were full tears bubbling beneath his eyelids. He swiped the back of his hand across his face to keep his composure. “I was with him. He was with me when everything…” He felt helpless. He had to be with Sander, he just had to. 

He didn’t need to finish his sentence. The nurse looked around at the nurses’ station, then pointed down the hallway. “Room 24,” she said. 

-~-

Sander looked smaller than ever curled up in the hospital bed. While his eyes were closed in the guise of sleep, he scratched at an exposed section of his neck with reckless abandon. The walls of the bedroom were painted a calming shade of blue, not unlike the walls of his mother’s room in the institution. Robbe approached as quietly as he could and placed a kiss on Sander’s forehead. He sat down in the bedside chair.

“Sorry,” Sander mumbled without opening his eyes. How he knew it was Robbe, Robbe didn’t know.

“No need to be,” Robbe replied. He tried to slide his hand into Sander’s, but Sander pulled away and rolled over so that Robbe couldn’t see his face.

“I was trying to stop it, I am trying, I can’t get out of my skin…” Sander’s voice trailed off. Robbe didn’t know what kind of medication they put him on, but he was surprised that Sander spoke to him at all. 

Robbe’s mother did the same thing when he went to wake her in the mornings. She would roll over. She would look away. She would stare right through Robbe as if he were made of glass, his father too, and nothing they did could help her. They cared for her until it was no longer within their control. Fuck, Robbe wasn’t sure if he was ready for that. He’d watched as it stretched their family to its breaking point.

This was not something to take lightly. He couldn’t assure Sander that he would always be able to handle his illness with grace and perfection. 

“It’s hot in here.” Sander pushed off the blankets. “It’s so hot everywhere. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s not, I’m not.” Sander began to clench and unclench his fists. Robbe wondered if he should call a doctor into the room to give Sander something more, maybe to calm him down. The movement wasn’t violent, though, so he let it be. “Not.”

Britt’s words came to the forefront of Robbe’s mind again. Sander was asleep before he came in here. Maybe everything was his fault. 

Then again, if it was, there wasn’t much he could do about it now but stay.

He decided to  channel and old memory. He had been sitting on the edge of his mother’s bed, stroking a hand through her hair. It was something consistent he could do for her to show her he was beside her, without making her look at him or speak with him. That day was not the worst of days. If anything, it was one of the better ones. He learned how to braid on YouTube that morning and decided to weave her hair into millions of tiny ones. She told him once that she liked to have him near her. She liked to feel that he still cared.

As he made his way to the fifteenth braid, she cleared her throat.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No, I’m alright.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“No, I…” 

Robbe got up from the one side of the bed and made his way around to other. He sat in the indent his father used to leave behind when he woke up for work. “What is it?” He looked around. “Do you want me not to touch you? I can stop.”

“No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

She stifled a sob. He hated hearing her cry, especially since it had become the soundtrack to his life. He wanted to make things better for her—at the very least, act as a painkiller for whatever horrible things were happening in her mind. Illness didn’t disappear by the power of love. He knew that, too.

“I—” she began.

“Yes?”

“I don’t want you to feel like, like any of this is your respo—” 

Robbe sighed. She had said this to him before in passing, on the better days when she felt good enough to make French Toast on the stovetop and hummed along to the radio. “Mom, I know—”

“No, listen.” She took his hand, one of the largest movements from the past few days, and placed something in his palm: a necklace, the one she used to wear to church, with a picture of a cherub beveled on the side. She used to say it protected her from demons. Her voice was delicate as eggshells. “You have to understand. None of this is... you didn’t cause this.”

“I know I didn’t, it’s fi—”

“—and nothing, I mean nothing, in my head can change my love for you. Nothing.”

He tried not to get choked up. He wanted to be strong for them both. “I know.”

“I love you.”

After that, she’d gone back to sleep. It was the last time he watched her pull her face under the covers before she left the house completely to go into treatment. He knew, as he watched Sander’s form in the hospital bed, that this wasn’t his fault either. Britt was wrong. It wasn’t fake and it wasn’t caused by him.

Robbe found himself speaking. “I don’t know what Britt told you, just what she told me.” He kept his voice low and soothing. “I want you to know that I don’t care.” Sander shifted in the bed. Scooting further away from Robbe in the chair at his bedside. Robbe continued anyway. “I know stuff is fucked up right now and nothing makes sense to me, but it’s not going to change how I feel about you.” He inhaled. “I thought you might like to know that. Tonight does nothing to change my feelings for you.”

It wasn’t much, and it didn’t make Sander face him again. 

“You’re always going to leave me,” he heard the other boy whisper. “They’re always going to leave me.”

“I’m going to stay here until your mom arrives, okay?”

Sander nodded, more to himself.

Robbe placed his hand on the bed, within Sander’s reach should he choose to grab it. “I love you the same.” He hoped this would be enough to make Sander understand.

[bakusoftie]

I was just listening to creepypasta and got an idea. Could you do hcs for Bakugo and Kirishima’s reactions to seeing a scary fucking demon/ghost or whatever while they’re hanging out with their crush in some creepy place? Or really, just any situation where they’re hanging with their crush and some scary paranormal shit starts happening. I’m in a big mood for some horror. This would make my LIFE thank you 🙌🏻

I’m such a huge horror fan so this made me uwu so hard (also i hope you don’t mind but I made separate scenarios for them but if you wanted poly I could do that 🥺👉👈)

Warnings: Gory Descriptions!!! + Ouija Boards + Kaminari being a dumbass

Kiricutie + Bakubabe experiencing some scary shit with their s/o

🦈 kiricutie 🦈

It was all Denki’s fault

That living enbodiment of a phone charger was the one who dared the entirety of the bakusquad to go to this “haunted” house

Bakugou, of course, said he had better things to do but,,,

Kirishima (being the manliest man he is) just had to be there to protect his s/o from all the bad spirits and creatures of the night

But the thing is- Kirishima is fucking terrified.

You, on the other hand, are so excited maybe a bit nervous and he wants to be one to protect you and be your man

Kaminari, Mina and Sero get too far ahead of themselves and rush off into different parts of the attraction so it's just you and the sharp-toothed cutie,,,all alone,,,in a dark, supposedly haunted house. Oof.

At first,It isn’t as bad as Kirishima thought. Plus, he gets to spend time with you and whenever you’d hear a scream you would unconsciously brush your hand against his and suddenly he doesn’t even realize that he was anxious in the first place. That is until you get to this bloody door that explicitly says ‘Do Not Enter’.

“Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to move on then, s/o”

Being the dumbass you are,,,You grabbed Kirishima’s hand and busted through the door (all that you could think of was ‘I need to see some ghost cheeks 👻’)

The room was dark and had a overwhelming stench to it. So, you ran your hand over the wall to find a light switch

all the while, kiri is begging that you two meet up with everyone else but 👏them👏ghost👏 cheeks👏

when you did find the strangely wet lightswitch, you turned it on to discover the fresh blood dripping down your hands and wondering why kirishima was so silent, you turned around.

He was in some state of shock, his once bright and tanned skin is now a sickly pale. He moves in front of you when you tried to follow his eyesight, desperately trying to protect you from the horrendous sight but you managed to take a look from over his shoulder

The entire room had dark crimson sludge splattered on the walls and the ground they currently stood on.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it.

It was the various amounts of flesh and guts scattered over a steel, rusted autopsy table where a body laid still as a rock. The body was mutilated and had several markings on it

The two of you weren't sure if it was real or just very detailed decorations but you both shared a look that told each other that they needed to leave and get help.

You moved quickly through the house to find your friends, still joining hands with Kirishima.

When you found Kaminari, Mina and Sero roasting a Pennywise cosplayer, you and Eijirou let out a breath of relief and pleaded them to come with you so you could show them the fucking mess y'all witnessed but when you got to the cursed hallway that you swore had a row of doors along it-

The door was fucking gone?!?

Everyone except you and Eijirou, who were both shocked and sick to their stomachs, was laughing and playing it off as a joke but

Whatever the fuck you both experienced together sure as hell bonded you for life.

💥bakubaby💥

Bakugou doesn't scare easy. This bitch used to watch horror movies when he was 3 years old and had hardcore death metal as his lullaby.

He a tough boi

But when it comes to you, he's so fucking soft and full of warmth 🥰

He fucking loves you even tho you can be kinda stupid sometimes all the time

Like right now, You and Bakubae were at a party that Hagakure was throwing and normally Bakugou would be like ‘fuck no I rather stick a cactus up my ass than hang out with a bunch of extras’ but when you looked so sad that he didn’t want to come with you and said ‘oh,,,that’s fine I guess,,,I’ll just ask Todoroki to come with me’

YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS BITCH DID NOT HESITATE TO LET YOU KNOW YOUR ASS IS HIS

and vice versa (“that bakubooty is MINE NOW,THOTS” - S/O declares from the roof of U.A)

The party was lame and the only thing interesting so far was seeing Iida get drunk and dance to Old Time Road.

Until you ask Momo to whip out an Ouija board from her titties.

Now, Bakugou doesn't really believe in ghosts or shit like that but for some reason, he just has this weird feeling about all of this

But he doesn't want to be seen as a weakling because of a stupid board with the alphabet on it.

You call over Deku and Icy-hot to join you in conjuring some motherfucking ghOSTs

You deadass had to pick all the people he absolutely hates, didn’t you?

Anyway, Bakugou couldn’t let these weak extras show him up so he grabs the planchette and asks you how the fuck this shitty toy works.

when you put your hand on his, he uwus so hard omg

but then dEKU and pRinCe zUkO had to ruin everything by putting their hands on the piece of wood too.

bruh shouto better watch tf out because if he sees y’alls pinkies brush against each other one more fucking time he’s going to go FERAL

The shitty wood chip started to pull their hands toward the ‘HELLO’ side of the board and bakugou went *surprised pikachu face*

HE WASNT SCARED HES JUST TAKEN ABACK FUCKING STUPID DEKU I BET HIS WEAK ASS MOVED IT

“Now we’re supposed to ask it questions.”

”U-um are you here to hurt us?”

”SHUT IT ICYHOT AND STUPID DEKU!,,,I got shit to ask this little dead bitch!!”

Bakudumbass, you should never insult a spirit wtf.

After his rude remark, the candles that you had lit around the four of you suddenly went out. I mean it wasn’t a big deal because shouto could easily light them back up but it definitely shook the lot of you to your core.

When the candles were relit, you couldn’t but help to notice that Izuku was missing from the circle

Oh shit

Bakugou thinks that this is all some stupid fucking scheme to get back at him and he swears when he finds Deku, he will break his bones worse than one for all ever could.

But he shuts that thought down the moment that he senses the burning feeling of eyes staring right into his soul. He looks behind him at the dark shadowy figure that seems to be using the freckled, green-haired hero as it's vessel.

Izuku’s once emerald-green eyes are now a shade of glowing crimson and his once warm, friendly smile now a gruesomely wide smirk as his body now dangles from the air.

Ŷ̵̝̌̂o̴̳͖̼̐͜͝u̷̧̠͙̫̭͖͍͋̍͠ ̵͉̮̲̌̓ň̶͔͊̎͘͝͝ĕ̸̬̜͔̑e̶̤̞̹̜̮̗͂̈́͂͜d̷̡̨̙͎̩̭̭̱̜̟̎̒ ̴̧̬̯̠̼͈̹̽̋͒t̵͓̖͙͍̯̜̣̲̅̀o̸̪͈͓̤͍̖̘͔͎͓͋̂̑ ̴̢̢͙̙͎̠̘̳̳̄̈̉̋ͅl̶̗̭̮͑̃̃͌é̷̜͓̫͚́̐͗̅̃̑á̶̜̲̪̟͙͕͍̹̀̓͋͆͐̉̔ř̴͓͈̥̜̜͆̌̑̓̊͝͠ṋ̷̜͍̲̈͘ ̸̞̘̱̥̞̬̣̫̾h̵͎̻͔̼̻̜̓́͋͘͘o̵̳̭̬͙̠̹̪͇̮͊̈̏̊̕͜w̷̭̟͙̱͔͕̃͋̈́̇̕̚͘͘ ̵̦͎̳͋̀͝͝t̵̢̨̗͖͖͇̺͔͖̾̄͌͗̓̾̀ö̴̲́̀ ̸͇͔̱̟̹̫͓̙̀̏̐̌̆͛̋͑͊ṯ̴̡̭͕̮̯̭̘̌̇̽̉͂̾̓̚͜r̷̪͙͎̱̩͚̻͛̾̓̉̉̓̐̿̀͘ȩ̴̧̣͈͚̗͓̯͚͂̀̈̽̚a̷̛̛̠͙̬͖̾͂t̶̡́̕ ̴̨̡̠̰̮͕͍̘̩͎͌ò̸͖̈̏͜t̶͎̼̑͒̿̔̓̈̕͝͠h̷̨͎̲͔̭̖̗̼̘̅̂͂͗͐̍è̷̝̥̠̬̮͈̮̟̔r̸͍͔̳͕̼͛s̷̨̫̼̙̠͉͓̰̽̊̊̔̀͊̃ ̷̛̰̞̳̖̻͕͕̘̝̹̀̎̕k̷͍̳̥̊̋̂̎͒͑̉̽̈́͌ͅḯ̴̩̹̥̤͉̭̘ņ̸̟͎͕̜̞̥̩̬̝͑̋̊̈́̑̏̀̆͐͘ď̸̜̬͇̙̫͉̬̔̏̀̓͊͋l̸̺̲̤̦̼̓̐̀͒̆ẏ̸̖̟͕̣͔̦̳͜,̶̥͇̝͙͔͎̬͌͐̌” ̵̡̻̺̟̻͓͊B̶͖͇̣̲̙͛̊̆̃͑̈́̾̃̕a̶̧͂̍̐̌ķ̶̨̬͇͙̦͓̝̰̩͗͐̿̈͊̏̀̏̕u̴̢̨͕͍͆̆́̏̓͒̉̂̇͝ģ̷̗̱̟̼͉̱̣̐̌̉̒̓́͆͑͒͠ô̵̡͚̻̬̓͒̀͋̔u̵̡̗̻̝̙̓̿͒͆͐̕͝ͅ ̷͖͖̥̭̳͈̑͐̎̐͒K̴̡̡̯͖̹͍̺̟͉̰̆a̴̡̠̘̫̰̖͚͈̲͘t̷͎͈͉͓̩̋̽̿͌ş̷̙͔͎̰̪̜̫̾̌͜͝u̷͉̝̠͚̣͖̿̈́̀͂k̸̜͎̍͠i̴̬̯͇̻̼̹̦̱̋́”

(”you need to learn how to treat others kindly, bakugou katsuki”)

Bakugou is ready for this weird ass shadow man to attack him, he’s got his palms already sparking for the opportunity to blow his ass away back to whatever hell it came from

That doesn’t exactly go as planned

The monster doesn’t come at him but instead, he uses his black matter tendrils to pin you and shouto to the floor as the vine-like shadows slither around your body and constricts your lungs from breathing properly.

It isn’t long until you and todoroki pass out from the lack of air flow and

Bakugou goes into a rage as he sees your unmoving body displayed across the floor as he was too slow to protect you from this fate

The monster discards Deku’s body across the room like a ragdoll and slides its venom-looking ass next to Bakugou’s face and as soon as his crimson eyes meet then eyeless sockets of complete void, Katsuki’s head is smashed into the floorboard as the demonic energy escapes through the window to wreak havoc on the world.

Kaminari decides to check up on the four that ventured off by themselves and when he enter the room and saw them all laying on the floor huddled together, surrounded by candles all he could think to say was...

”🥺 they didn't invite me to the orgy”

[pandylovepost]

what are your headcanons for andy and panchos relationships with the other characters in the kingdom? ❤❤❤ I love your blog!!

ohhh i love this question & tysm!! 🧡

it ended up being rlly long so here’s the cut ;)

Pancho

•Julien; Julien is like a brother or cousin to Pancho! He trusts the king more than anything after Julien basically saved .. well himself, but also him. any scheme Julien comes up with that he knows Maurice wouldnt approve of, he’ll go to pancho

•Maurice; maurice has a kind of wary vibe around Pancho ever since Pancho suggested eating him on the sub in exiled. he’s suspicious of him mainly because he wants to protect Julien tho, & he cant shake that Pancho is (or was) a sleeper agent programmed with the sole purpose of killing his best friend so

•Clover: Pancho is kinda cautious around clover since she’s always round the corner ready to bust him & Andy’s schemes. when it comes down to it they DO work together as they aknowledge each others skillsets. literally pancho is the only lemur (from the kingdom) who’s beaten Clover in combat. just once though.

•Mort; Pancho just......aknowlegdes his existance. he’s there i guess. doesn’t find mort as terrifying & creepy as the average citizen but Panch has probably seen worse. or he just doesn’t care. mort also does crimes so theyre just aware of each other.

•Becca & Abner; he’s kinda friends with them cus Andy’s friends with them. he goes round to deliver them stuff sometimes like moonshine or weapons from Andy. He probably shouldn’t pay too much attention to their government conspiracy theories though, they tend to really freak his paranoid ass out

•Timo; Timo is scared of Pancho or at least wary. He admittadly would like to study him tho & Panch is often a great help to him doing manual labour for any of Timo’s big projects

•Masikura; she mindmelded with him once & swore never again. she just doesn’t wanna know.

•Ted; Ted has a lil crush on Pancho (he’s one of Ted’s many crushes) & Panch will lightly flirt with him sometimes when he’s in the mood to. Pancho will bicker & grouch with him but they are really tight friends especially after their time together during exiled.

•Dorothy; at first she saw Pancho as this ideal bad boy type, but then realised how bad he smells cus he hates bathing. She’ll offer him tea like she does with everyone & (begrudingly often) lets him crash with her & Ted when they all stumble back drunk after a night out. Literally her & Ted both just have a mutual crush on Pancho is that not canon though

•Willie; despite being mean to Willie like EVERYONE ELSE IS Pancho and Willie are quite good friends. He’ll go stay with him whenever he’s worried about something cus he knows Willie will understand. sometime’s he’s too panicky for Pancho to be around though cus it sets him off

•Hector; I WANT THEM TO BOND OVER MILITARY HARDSHIPS & EXPERIENCE I THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL & HEALING FOR THE BOTH OF THEM! I should write about this sometime..........

•Horst; the DJ friend who he can always have a crazy sesh with; they actually get along pretty good. except when Pancho’s out here stealing his bolos. Like with everyone, Horst just rambles to Pancho when he’s drunk.

•Tammy, Butterfish & Todd; no real connection to them besides that him & Butterfish will often do the same jobs. They usually just make casual work chat. Tammy thinks Pancho is posessed by demons but he doesn’t let that phase him.

•Karl: he’s not rlly a “kingdom citizen” but he’s about there enough so. anyway Pancho just doesn’t treat Karl like the evil genius villain he portrays at all, since Pancho’s own morality is in the grey area, which kinda infuriates Karl that Pancho just talks to him like hes a normal person. he wants Julien’s people to FEAR HIM!!

•Dr. S; Absolutely not. they don’t even really have a friendship of any kind & Pancho is terrified of going to see the doctor as Dr. S literally experiments on lemurs...he’s not about that after what happened with the previous king.......Andy often has to drag him to the hospital kicking & biting to get him to go to checkups

•Nurse Phantom; u know what they’ve never interacted in canon but I think Nurse Phantom senses how troubled & anxious he is & takes a lot of time to talk to Pancho like if ever Andy or anyone else manages to drag him to the hospital, Rob will hold his hand if it comes to it; he goes into major helpful mode like offering him fruit & telling him he’s gonna be alright. He’ll also scold him for getting into so many dangerous scrapes & tells him he’s gotta look after himself!

Andy

•Julien; for some reason Julien just refuses to exile him even after all the bad shit he’s done BUT i think that’s because Andy is overall helpful to him like he ignores all the weirdness for example when they walked in on him & that rat holding a body wrapped in leaves because hey! we need tropheys Andy fast! thats the issue here!! perhaps its Julien’s awful adhd memory though & he just genuinely forgets. Julien is close with Pancho of course so Andy’s been round to the plane for parties & dinner as Pancho’s +1 of sorts— heck even he can be “polite” when he has to be.

•Maurice; Momo hates him. hates him hates him theres no turning back. i mean its hard not to when most of the citizens suffer from rediculous lemur stupidity & ur the only one who can see through this bat when he’s just standing there chatting shit. Very suspicious of Andy— plus he just thinks he’s creepy

•clover; LMAO bUT .....like obviously she hates him for good reason. but i do have this hc that’s way too long to write out that after Julien, Maurice & Mort literally fucked off to go with the zoosters in madagascar 2 Clover was literally responsible for two kingdoms cus she couldnt just leave them with a gecko in charge. I just want some situation where theres a proper twist & Andy ends up mellowing the hell out & actually being useful to her & the kingdom...he has skills but he uses them for nefarious reasons. She’d probably save his life somehow in the post-Julien chaos & he’d b like....”why would YOU of all people save ME?” n she’d b like... “well you are technically a citizen of this kingdom and ....i’ve gotta make sure you’re ALL safe for when ..... if King Julien ever gets back.....”

•mort; ??? sometimes theyre legit business partners. Mort can get in on a good scam. that second rub’s gonna cost ya. theyve probably been in the same prison before at one point. Mort’s so old.

•Becca & Abner; his fellow anti-establishment pals!! he doesn’t fully believe all of their ideas & theories but he loves em cus they’ll always buy self defence scorps off him. They get along & they drink a lot together by the stagnant watering hole. they’ve seen Andy in horrible states; all 3 of them are an idiot squad when theyre together. Becca & Andy argue a lot cus even she thinks some of the things he says are wack sometimes

•Timo; i have this hc that Timo, Andy & Karl knew each other when they were kids they kinda bonded together during school cus they were three non-lemur losers who got bullied for their eccentricity & varying levels of intelligence. Timo will sometimes go to Andy for stuff but he is his last resort really

•Masikura; probably mindmelded with him once & just saw a vision of him daydreaming about being kissed by Pancho & since then she was like. “Im not scared of the bird demon he’s just a big softie. where is my shipment of “ect” for my tea, that bird demon’s late again—“

•Ted; Ted is such an easy mark he can sell almost anything to him if he’s cheery enough. Helps that Ted thinks he’s really cute so Andy can just easily sweet talk him into buying whatever dodgy product he’s got at the moment. he knows & interacts with Ted mainly through Pancho being his friend!

•Dorothy; rlly wild hc actually that Dorothy used to be a propper crime don before she settled down with Ted— or when Ted was shifting into Snake more frequently back in the day for whatever reason—so Andy knows her from the criminal underworld. Cus of this he’s very respectful towards her... he’s seen what she’s capable of

•Willie; Andy could walk round the corner with his wings outstretched & say “boo” & Willie would pass out from shock. He’s also very easy for Andy to sell to- his fearmongering really works on Willie he’s very suseptable to it

•Hector; Hector doesn’t take any of Andy’s crap he’d probably just hit him with a broom if he came round his hut to sell him dodgy hand cream honestly

•Horst; Andy keeps him topped up with a steady supply of beverages...........Horst will actually sometimes ask him & Pancho for help with importing various new vinyl records

•Tammy, Butterfish & Todd; that family buys a LOT of product off him since they’re just typical americans basically he finds it rlly easy & reliable to sell stuff like drinks & toys to them. Tammy kinda hates Andy though & like Pancho, thinks he’s a demon. Doesn’t help that Mort nicknamed him “bird demon”.

•Karl; like with Timo i hc he knew him when they were in highschool—! Karl found Andy infuriating & so annoying though & didn’t consider him a friend at all. a lot of his early lazer guns were born from Karl’s growing need to shoot Andy out of the sky cus he’d fly up to get out of reach of his claws when he’d annoyed him.

•Dr. S; i hc that Andy and Dr.S are business or trading partners of sorts but they keep it very lowkey. Andy probably handles hits and the crazy snake doctor requires bodies and “test subjects” for his manic experiments. Andy is the perfect guy for the job! When Nurse Phantom is unable, Andy will hide the evidence of Dr.S’ malpractice for a reasonable fee, of course. He dislikes going to checkups himself though— he doesn’t like people knowing too much about him! Plus Dr.S always “””jokes””” about “””studying””” him because he finds the fact Andy is a flying mammal facinating & talks about using Andy’s wings to create a frankenstein flying lemur.

•Nurse Phantom; Rob just lectures him about being reckless & getting into fights everytime he sees him. Kinda the same as Dr. S really, but he does tell him like.. Hey I used to be pretty mean & put people in danger too. And that there’s always time to turn another leaf. Andy usually just scoffs, collects his paycheck, & leaves.

[paladinpeterparker]

The Horror Movie Marathon

[Here’s the ~spoopy~ tyrus fanfic that y’all wanted! I hope it’s okay, but I haven’t published tyrus fic yet so we’ll see! Of course, all comments/reblogs/likes are appreciated (unless the comments are negative. then they are not appreciated). anyways, hope this fic gets all of you in a spooky mood.]

AO3

Usually, Cyrus loved Halloween. He loved dressing up and getting free candy and cute, glowing jack-o-lanterns. What Cyrus didn’t like was the scary part of Halloween. The after-dark spooks that jumped out at him from behind buildings and in bushes. The horror movies that he bailed out of after the first minute. He didn’t like that part.

And that’s why he didn’t love this Halloween.

The usual Halloween get-together at the Mack house had turned into a horror movie marathon. Jonah and Buffy had decided that, since it was their first year of high school, they were all going to “grow up” and watch horror movies. Andi and Cyrus were not so keen on this plan but were dragged along by the promise of milkshakes and baby taters picked up from The Spoon by Bex. And, of course, Cyrus’s final condition for a horror movie marathon: TJ.

Honestly, Cyrus had thought it was going to be much more difficult to get TJ invited to the Halloween party. Instead, it went something like this:

“Andi, Buffy,” Cyrus said, leaning on the table at their booth in The Spoon. “I would like to invite TJ to the Halloween party.”

Buffy, of course, frowned. “Why?”

Cyrus sighed. “Because, Buffy. He’s my friend.”

Buffy raised an eyebrow. “Just your friend?”

Andi elbowed Buffy in the side, and the two exchanged a look. “Of course you can invite TJ, Cyrus,” Andi said, smiling.

So, now, Cyrus was anxiously sitting in the living room, waiting for TJ to arrive. He didn’t know why he was anxious -- after all, it was just TJ. It’s not like Cyrus had a crush on him or anything.

“Cyrus,” Buffy said, looking over at him from the other side of the couch. “What’s up? You look nervous.”

Andi shifted on the couch next to Buffy, turning to look at Cyrus. Jonah did the same.

“Are you nervous about watching the horror movies?” Andi asked, frowning. “I’ll admit, I’m not too excited about them, either.” She shot Buffy a look, but Buffy just grinned.

“The horror movies won’t even be that bad, honestly.” Buffy rolled her eyes. “And, besides, I doubt that’s why Cyrus is nervous.”

“I’m not nervous,” Cyrus said. “Not about anything. Not at all. Besides, if I was nervous, what would I even be nervous about?”

Buffy gave Cyrus a devilish smile. “I bet you’re nervous about--”

She was cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Cyrus’s head whipped around to look at the door. “Who’s gonna get that?” Cyrus asked.

Andi stood up. “I’ll get it. I bet it’s just some trick-or-treaters.”

She crossed the living room and walked to the front door. Cyrus watched as the opened the door and grinned at the person outside. “TJ! Come in!”

At the mention of TJ’s name, Cyrus’s heart did a little flip. He ignored it. He was not going to make a fool out of himself. Not today.

TJ came into the living room, Andi walking behind him. He looked at the group, giving them a half smile. “Buffy, Jonah. Hi.”

Then, he looked at Cyrus, and his face broke into a grin. “Underdog. Hey!”

The group all waved to TJ, Cyrus more than the others. He gave an enthusiastic, “TJ!” However, his nerves made the enthusiastic comment more of a squeak, and he immediately cringed at himself.

TJ walked over to the couch and gestured to the empty seat next to Cyrus. “Mind if I sit?”

Cyrus shook his head. “Not at all.”

Andi rejoined the group on the couch, and they all turned to look at the television.

“Well,” Buffy said. “It’s time to start our horror movie marathon.” She clapped her hands together and grinned manically at the group. “Where should we start?”

--

By the time they began the second movie, Cyrus knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep for weeks. Outside, it had begun to rain, which only made the whole experience creepier. They had turned off the lights in the living room in order to see the television better, and now Cyrus couldn’t tell if the dark shapes in the corner were furniture, or if they were crawling demons waiting to come to kill him.

He shifted in his seat and realized that he had been leaning against TJ. Not just slightly leaning against him, but full-on, TJ-should-have-noticed-this-by-now leaning. Cyrus quickly sat up, then focused on the movie playing on the television. He would not look over at TJ. He would just watch the movie.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw TJ looking at him. Now, he figured that TJ had known Cyrus was leaning against him. He was probably too polite to have said anything to Cyrus.

Cyrus was freaking out.

In his head, Cyrus was chanting Don’t make eye contact. Don’t make eye contact. Don’t make--

He glanced over at TJ, and their eyes met.

Cyrus turned back to the television so quickly he thought he would snap his neck, and he saw TJ do the same.

This was bound to be a long night.

Outside, a bolt of lightning flashed, illuminating the room for a brief second. Cyrus saw Andi jump in her seat. “I think the power’s going to go out,” she remarked.

Buffy looked over at Andi and made a face. “It’s not going to go out. You’re just trying to get out of watching this movie.”

“I’m with Andi,” Cyrus said. “I think we should turn off the movie and go find some flashlights, y’know, just in case the power does go out.”

Buffy turned and glared at Cyrus. “Now I know that you’re just trying to get out of the movie.”

Cyrus shrugged. “Can you really blame me?”

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned back to the television. “Whatever. The power isn’t going to go out.”

Just then, a clap of thunder shook the house, and the television turned off. Cyrus turned around and saw that the lights in the kitchen had gone out.

“Buffy,” TJ said, grinning at Buffy. “What were you just saying?”

Everyone laughed except Buffy, who just scoffed.

The room around them was even darker than it had been before. If any demon was going to try to kill them, now would be its chance. Cyrus pulled his feet up onto the couch, not wanting to get dragged across the floor by some paranormal being.

“We should go try to find some flashlights. We don’t know how long the power will be out for,” Andi said.

“Okay,” Buffy said, standing up. “Where are the flashlights?”

Andi paused for a moment, thinking. “Well, we have some in a box upstairs. We also have a few big flashlights down in the basement.”

“Wait,” Jonah interjected. “You have a basement?”

Andi made a face. “Yeah. Didn’t you know that?”

Jonah shook his head, then realized Andi probably couldn’t see it. “Nope.”

“Well, then,” Buffy spoke up. “I think Cyrus should go down to the basement and get the flashlights. The rest of us can look around up here for flashlights.”

“What?” Cyrus asked. “Why me?”

Buffy shrugged. “You were the first person that came to mind.”

“That’s not fair!” Cyrus said indignantly. “I don’t want to get killed in Andi’s basement. I’m not going down there!”

“I’ll go with you, Cyrus,” TJ said from beside him.

Cyrus paused, contemplating, then spoke, “Alright. I’ll go.”

Buffy clasped her hands together. “Perfect! Now, Andi, you should probably tell them where the basement is so they don’t get lost.”

Cyrus tried to focus as Andi gave him the directions to get down to the basement, but he was torn between not wanting to be murdered in the basement and being happy that TJ volunteered to go with him.

Apparently, as Cyrus was thinking, Andi had finished talking. Now, Buffy was shooing them off the couch, and they were headed to the basement. TJ was muttering Andi’s directions out loud as they walked, which Cyrus couldn’t help but find adorable.

“Okay, we turn left here, and there should be a door leading down to the basement.” TJ reached out and felt for a door. “I think there’s a door here.” He fumbled for the doorknob, and Cyrus heard the door swing open with a creak.

“There’s a staircase leading down to the basement,” TJ said, stepping forward. “Don’t fall down the stairs, okay? I wouldn’t want to be alone in the basement.”

“I’ll try my best,” Cyrus said, and, though he couldn’t see it, TJ smiled at him.

They walked down into the basement, carefully making their way down the stairs. There were a few small windows lining the top of the basement’s walls, letting in a faint light from outside. Cyrus stayed behind TJ as they stepped down onto the concrete floor, thinking that TJ could probably fight off a poltergeist better than he could. “Alright,” TJ said, “let’s find the flashlights and get out of here.”

They walked into the middle of the room. Cyrus squinted at the cluttered shelves in front of him, looking for the yellow flashlights that Andi described. TJ searched the shelves next to him.

TJ crouched down slightly to look at one of the bottom shelves, and let out a triumphant “ah-ha!”

“Did you find them?” Cyrus asked, looking down at the shelf.

“I think so,” TJ said.

Just as TJ reached out to grab one of the flashlights, the door to the basement slammed shut. Cyrus jumped backward, knocking into the shelf behind him.

“What was that?” Cyrus asked, only slightly terrified.

TJ let out a chuckle. “It was just the door, Cyrus. It was nothing to be scared of.”

“Sorry,” Cyrus muttered. “I guess those movies made me a little skittish.”

“Do you need to hold my hand?” TJ asked, teasing Cyrus slightly.

Before he realized it was a joke, Cyrus blurted out, “yes.”

The two boys fell quiet, and Cyrus felt himself turning red, which, luckily, TJ couldn’t see. Cyrus knew he had just messed up big time. There was no coming back from this. TJ was probably weirded out now, and would probably never talk to Cyrus again.

Then, Cyrus felt a hand slip into his. Not realizing it was TJ, Cyrus jumped, let out a scream, and jerked his hand away.

TJ just laughed. “Cyrus, calm down. It’s not a demon, I promise.”

Cyrus let out a small laugh. “Oh. Right.”

In the dim light coming in from the basement window, Cyrus saw TJ hold out his hand. “Let’s try that again,” TJ said.

Slowly, Cyrus reached out and placed his hand in TJ’s. He felt the other boy shift his hand slightly, then laced their fingers together.

Cyrus almost passed out.

“Since it seems like we’ve got some time to spare,” TJ said, “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Cyrus felt his heart speed up. “What?”

Just as TJ opened his mouth to talk, the door to the basement swung open with a bang. Cyrus screamed again and practically dove behind TJ for cover. A flashlight beam cut across the basement floor, and footsteps began to descend down the dark staircase.

Buffy wasn’t exactly surprised when she entered the basement and saw TJ and Cyrus standing together. In fact, she almost laughed when she saw Cyrus cowered behind TJ and TJ with a smile on his face and his hand still holding Cyrus’s hand.

“TJ, Cyrus, stop fooling around and get the flashlights. Hurry up. We’ve been waiting for you.” Neither of them could see the knowing smile on Buffy’s face as she spoke.

“Sorry,” TJ said. “We just got a little scared.”

“Right,” Buffy said. “Just...get the flashlights and come upstairs.”

She turned around and walked back out of the basement. The moment she was gone, TJ turned to face Cyrus and let go of his hand. “I guess we need to get the flashlights now.”

Cyrus held up a hand. “Wait, TJ. What were you going to say before?”

TJ paused and looked down at the ground, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I was going to say, uh…” he trailed off, glancing over at Cyrus. “Happy Halloween!”

TJ quickly moved past Cyrus, grabbing the flashlights off the shelf. Cyrus, meanwhile, was giving TJ an incredulous look. “That’s what you were going to tell me? Really?”

TJ made a face. “Yes?”

Cyrus frowned. “I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t?” TJ asked. “I thought I was pretty convincing.”

Cyrus rolled his eyes. “You weren’t.”

The two of them stood there, looking at each other in silence. Before he had the chance to stop himself, Cyrus moved forward and kissed TJ.

In the brief second that their first kiss happened, the power flickered back on. Cyrus could hear the faint sound of his friends cheering upstairs, and as he pulled away from TJ, he started to laugh.

“Guess we didn’t need the flashlights,” he said.

TJ looked down at the flashlights in his hands, then laughed. “Guess we didn’t.”

[stroni-bomb]

Mark - Young Flame - Chapter 2

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

A/N Okay this chapter is left on a cliff hanger, which I’m actually going to try and do for each one. I’m sorry if you hate me for that but it keeps tensions high lmao. I know it’s kinda short compared to the last chapter but it’s just to help the plot move along~

The question hung in your mind, would you like to stay here? You had only been here for a few minutes but it already felt like home. You had only just met these people that were meant to be strangers yet they already felt like close friends in which you could confide in. It scared you a little, how people you had never met before had this sort of effect on you, or maybe it was because you weren’t used to the feeling of welcome.

That was probably it. You were so used to being treated like utter shit and it wasn’t just at school. Having alcoholic parents who were on the brink of divorce and only wanted to stay with each for the money probably wasn’t the best thing to grow up with. Neither was being your older brother’s personal slave and having to do his chores along with all his homework, that was never a home to you and they were never a family to you. The thought of being able to get away from all of that was something that wasn’t hard to resist at all.

‘W-well if you don’t mind then I’d love to!’

You said all too enthusiastically which earned a weird look from Mark but Taeyong nodded understandingly, as if he could see all your troubles and knew of everything you had gone through. 

‘I will show you to your room later but right now...Mark why don’t you take her to the garden? I’m sure Ten will be out there tending to it now, the rest of the younger ones are out there minus Jisung and Jeno, they’re out patrolling.’

Mark nodded and bowed towards Taeyong. Just then Taeyong’s figure was replaced with light and then with nothing, you didn’t know when you would get used to that but you sure hoped it was soon since you saw him doing it a lot around here. You looked over at Mark, he had a serious look on his face and frowned at the floor. He suddenly looked up at you, that stern look still present on his face.

‘Why...Why do you want to stay here? What about your mum and dad? What will they think when they found out you’re gone and won’t ever be coming back? How could you live with yourself knowing that you did that to them?’

You noticed that he wasn’t really aiming his anger at you but more at himself, his eyes shone a light orange and his fists were clenched. You noticed the rise of temperature around you and the small embers that were floating down from Mark’s fists. This must be what he meant, he had no control of his powers at all and unfortunately you were the one about to figure this out. 

You looked around for anywhere to hide but there was nothing, nothing that wasn’t flammable anyway. You were about to call out for help when two figures were seen running towards you, one was wearing a robe and looked like he was holding some sort of twig in his hand. The other was very handsome there was no denying that but as you looked closer you could see the faint outline of a pair of wings starting to appear out of his back.

‘Mark calm down, you’ll burn the whole mansion if you lose it!’

The winged figure said as he started to run at full speed now, having such long corridors really wasn’t practical in situations such as these. It was no use, Mark’s eyes were now a prominent red and flames started to appear from his hand, you lifted your arms up in a useless attempt to protect yourself and anticipated the blast. It never came.You looked up to see Mark in a huge protective bubble, flames no longer present and instead they had been replaced with steam. 

‘Jaehyun calming him down would be a real big help, anytime now please my bubble won’t last forever.’

The twig holder said as he pointed it towards Mark, it seemed as though he was responsible for Mark’s captivity and single handedly saving your life. The one referred as Jaehyun took a step towards the giant bubble and lifted up his hands, light shone from out of them and the atmosphere turned soothing and calm. The bubble faded and Mark stood there with a solemn look on his face, he looked over to you with apologetic eyes.

‘Jaehyun, Doyoung thank you for that and Y/N...I’m so sorry I lost control of myself please forgive me, you’re not hurt are you?’

You shook your head, still too in shock to get yourself to speak. You turned to Jaehyun and Doyoung and bowed in gratitude, if it wasn’t for them who knows what would’ve happened to you and everyone else who lived in this mansion.

‘Don’t worry about it Mark, and is it Y/N? I’m Jaehyun it’s nice to meet you.’

Jaehyun beamed and ruffled your hair, usually you’d get mad if someone else did that but something about him radiated serenity and you couldn’t bring yourself to get even remotely annoyed.

‘Mark please learn to control your power I can’t be making these bubbles all the time it’s really draining. And hello Y/N I’m Doyoung and it’s such a pleasure to meet you.’

Doyoung gave you a smile but also held out his hand for you to shake, he seemed so much older than what he looked though you shook his hand anyway to be polite.

‘Doyoung could you at least try and act your age? And Mark the rest of the boys are waiting for you outside, they’re talking about playing hide and seek again in the woods.’

Jaehyun said with one last smile before turning back around with Doyoung following behind muttering what you could only guess was curse words. Letting out a small laugh you turned back to Mark, he still looked pretty troubled and you heart shattered at how sad he truly looked. You couldn’t even begin to imagine how much he must’ve been through, to not know how to control your own powers and constantly being afraid of hurting, maybe even killing, those in that you love.

You walked over to him and gave him a light pat on the shoulder, he turned his gaze from the floor over to you and smiled weakly.

‘Come on lets go play hide and seek with the others, don’t beat yourself over it Mark, the past is in the past and you just have to focus on the future.’

You said with a smile and skipped off in front.

‘Now come on before I get lost!’

You yelled and began running down the halls, Mark running closely behind.

You sat in the shade and watched the boys argue about who’s the seeker. It was quite amusing really, a group of teenage boys arguing over such a childish game. Even Mark had joined in with the heated discussion since everyone was pointing fingers at him saying that he was the oldest and should, by some form of messed up logic, be the seeker.

‘Don’t worry they’re always like this.’

Someone said beside you, catching you off guard. You looked to the side of you and found a small group of four men standing beside you, one of them seemed to be levitating and you were sure that’s where the voice had come from.

‘Ahh yes, all the time. Are you the new human that Taeyong bought in? Y/N is it?’

Another said, he had the sweetest voice and his hair was permed which actually suited him quite well.

‘Yes I am Y/N! Who are you guys?’

‘Oh right sorry about that how rude of us, I’m Taeil and I know you didn’t ask but to stop you from being curious, I’m a siren.’

‘I’m Winwin! I’m a hybrid, a mix of angel and demon but don’t worry hyungs say I’m more pure than evil!’

‘Yeah unfortunately...I’m Yuta, I am a demon. You’re better off not touching me either it’ll kill you, that’s me being serious not greasy.’

‘He’s right on that one, I’m Ten! I’m a Djinn and this  here is my garden, pretty magnificent isn’t it~’

You looked around at the greenery surrounding you, it truly was magnificent just as Ten had said. Everything looked so beautiful but then you caught the other boys in the corner of your eye. It didn’t look like a small petty argument now instead it looked serious and it looked as though it was only Mark and Haechan who had a problem now.

‘Please excuse me, I’m going to see what’s going on.’

You said and gave them one last smile before running off towards the others. When you arrived Renjun looked at you and he looked very anxious, whatever those two were arguing about it definitely wasn’t about being a seeker.

‘Haechan just shut up, at least I can actually say I know my parents! It’s not like I wanted to lose control is it I never wanted to hurt anybody!’

Mark screamed with pure rage, you had seen that look in his eye not too long before, the pools of brown were soon turning red and you knew if someone didn’t do something soon he was going to lose it.

‘I never meant for them to get like this Y/N, I just asked Mark if he was okay and if you were okay, I heard what was going off up there so I just had to ask. I never meant for Haechan to get so riled up about it and start yelling at Mark, I never meant for it to get this bad.’

Renjun said, he eyes were glossy and a single tear rolled down his cheek. So this is what it was all about, the situation that had just happened minutes ago. For a mansion so big word sure does go around quick.

‘You don’t even know your real parents Mark! For gods sake how can you not realise that you’re adopted!’