#besides his two dumbass ray children that he loves

[feelin-lo]

Guardians of Dreams part 6.

Y/N's troubles.

Previous chapter

Please enjoy and consider liking or re-blogging, it really helps 😃

Y/N looked around, the atmosphere was a little more positive than Nightmare town, balloons of red, yellow and blue flew in the sky, children flying kites of various colours as a big top in the center played a gentle music tune. The floor below them was grassy, few clouds were in the sky and the sun shined brightly on the horizon of mountains and pine trees.

Eclipse knelt down "I need you to wake up, little one." He said, a gentle tone of voice. Y/N looked up to him and tilted their head "what do you mean?" They asked "you need to wake up. You've experienced something very stressful and you need to see natural light for a while" he explained. Morning knelt beside Eclipse "He's right. Too much exposure to nightmares for a prolonged period can effect the psyche. Please, take a moment" He said, caressing Y/N's cheek softly. The touch of the two were soft, like a blanket as they looked into the smaller's eyes.

"but I don't know how to go.." Y/N said, leaning to the comforting touch of the deities. "I'll take you to the gate" Logan smiled, offering his pale hands to Y/N. They took it and stood up, following the blue haired boy to the magnificent gate that they had walked through hours earlier.

Stormy opened the gates for them and greeted Logan warmly, but seemed rather hostile towards Y/N. Logan placed his chin on Y/N's head, caressing their back gently and sighing "Sadly, I must stay here for the moment. I cannot go to your world for a prolonged period of time. I'll see you when you sleep" he said, looking Y/N in the eyes, a tear of stardust falling down his cheek.

Y/N lifted their hand and dried the tear, surprised at the heat of the star that fell "Where am I gonna wake up?" they asked "You were moved in your sleep" a voice said from behind them, Stormy walked over, raindrops jingling with each movement "what..?" Y/N said, confused.

"didn't you hear me dumbass? You were moved in your sleep." He said, annoyed at the presence of the smaller. Logan sighed and rubbed his eyes. Y/N's vision turned blurry and soon to black.

Once vision returned to Y/N's eyes, they were at home, their mother sleeping at the foot of their bed. "Mama?" Y/n said, voice a little raspy as they tapped their sleeping mother. She woke up slowly "oh, thank the gods! You're ok!" She said happily, cuddling Y/N closely. "Carol found you in the woods, we called a doctor and they said you were in a coma! I said it was all lies and took you home, and I waited for you to wake up!" She explained.

"how long was I out..?" Y/N asked "3 days, I expected the worse. You're not going to school this week!" She said. Y/N was confused. They had been sleeping for 3 hours.. how were they sleeping for 3 days? They didn't know.

Their mother smiled "I'll get you something to eat!" She smiled as she left. "Well, how are you feeling?" A voice asked. Y/N looked at the voice and saw the jester from a few days ago, sun rays spinning as he smiled, he had a gap in his teeth that made him look a little childish. "Oh! Sorry, I'm sun! Or sunny, or sundrop or- ACTUALLY, you can call me what you'd like" he giggled, walking over to Y/N.

"Sun... alright.... Why... no.. how are you here?" Y/N asked. "I can only be seen to humans during the day! They have to be dreamers too. So not everyone can see me!" Sun explained. "I'm the King of Daydreams!" He smiled brightly... just like the sun.

Y/N nodded, leaning forward. Sun hopped onto Y/N's bed and placed his head into their lap "I love it when Logan brings new Dreamers!" Sun giggled. "Why am I a dreamer though? I'm not special.." Y/N said, looking into the eyes of the sunny jester.

"everyone's special!" Sunny giggled, looking up and cupping Y/N's cheeks. "Logan has his reasons, did you ask him?" He added and received a no in response.

"well, he'll tell you when you need to know, I know he will!" Sunny smiled. Y/N nodded and laid back down, Sun got up and snuggled next to Y/N in the bed "What're you doing Sunny?" A confused Y/n asked.

"Work gets really hard sometimes... and besides, Me and Moon can't work with the same Dreamer at one time so I get lonely! Please oh, please can I stay here beside you?" He asked, giving puppy dog eyes to Y/N "Alright, as long as you don't bother me too much" Y/N smiled.

then Y/N noticed something. Black oozing from under their bed, from their window, from the edges in the ceiling and from under their door. Sun sat up and looked around "what's wrong?" Sun asked. "You cant see that?!" Y/N said, quite panicked. Sun shook his head.

A voice echoed, "I always come back".

[starylust]

❝our journey❞

masterlist ∤ prev ∤ next

➙ pairings - tsukishima x fem!reader ; suna x fem!reader

➙ genre - heavy angst, fluff, slice of life

➙ warnings - depression, verbal arguments, mentions of smut, suicide, death, mentions of self harm (i hope i didn’t forget any)

➙ word count - 1753

taglist - open

a/n - sorry for starting a new story but i got like really inspired for this one. i also like REALLY needed an angst story in my life right now:)

The first couple days of getting to know each other were a little awkward between the two of you. You found out he’s not much of a talker in the beginning.

-

The two of you were now sitting at a café with your drinks in front of you. The silence that filled the table was incredibly loud. Although you guys could hear the conversations or others around you, your table was quiet.

“So um, how was your day at school today?” You asked, trying to break the silence.

“Good.” He asked.

You silently cursed at him in your head. How were you supposed to get to know each other if he wasn’t willing to carry the conversation on?

He stared down at his coffee while you just stared at him kind of annoyed. You wanted to get to know him, you really did. He did seem like a good guy. His cold expressions and mean comments to his teammate really never bothered you. That’s what you liked about him.

Tsukishima on the other hand was getting tired. Why had he agreed to this? This honestly just seemed like a waste of time to him. He moved his eyes from his cup up to you. He saw you just looking at him.

After being caught you started looking around the café like you weren’t just caught staring at him. He chuckled a little forcing your eyes to shift back to him. You looked at him with a confused look hoping he would explain.

“I saw you staring at me you know,” he chuckled out.

You widen your eyes as you felt a wave of heat hit your face.

“Oh um uh sorry about that?” you said confusingly.

You had not expected him to be so straightforward so quick. ‘Was he always like this?’ Now the two of you were like staring at each other, no words were thrown out. You giggled a bit from the table being so silent once more.

“Why are you laughing?” Tsukishima asked.

“Sorry it’s just so quiet it’s funny now,” you said calming yourself down a bit.

“It’s fine. Do you wanna leave now? We can go on a walk or something.” Tsukishima offered.

“Yeah, that’d be nice.”

The two of you headed out of the café after cleaning up your table. The sun was just about to set as you guys walked out. There was a light breeze and not many people outside.

You guys headed to a park nearby to just sit down and enjoy the weather. You sat down on the bench beside Tsukishima but made sure you weren’t too close.

The scene in front of you was beautiful. The golden rays shined into the field of grass that sat in front of you. You started playing with your fingers because you were nervous and didn’t know how to start another conversation.

Tsukishima placed his hand on top of yours to calm you down. As he did that he also scooted closer to you.

Your breath hitched as you felt his hand on top of yours. You could feel the heat from his body as you saw he moved closer. ‘Why was he so close now.’

“Hey,” he started. His voice sounded a lot softer now that the two of you were alone.

“You don’t have to be nervous, you know? We’re supposed to get to know each other.”

You looked up at him to see his gaze soften. ‘Did he really want to get to know you too?’ You nodded your head as he kept his hand on top of yours.

Today was really beautiful, you thought.

-

As time went on, Tsukishima and you began feeling more comfortable with each other. You learned many things about him as he learned many things about you.

You’ll never forget the day he asked you out, it was the spark that started your happiness. Your journey to happiness.

-

Tsukishima and you had planned to go on a date today. You had gotten ready and put yourself together nicely. You were so excited today and the excitement was bubbling in you.

The weather was just perfect today. Everything seemed to finally be in place. You finally felt kind of happy. It felt nice to have something to look forward to. It was sort of a new feeling, a feeling you hadn’t felt in a very long time.

The walk to the park you guys were supposed to meet at was nice and short. The gentle breeze sung through the air while the sun shined brightly. You took a deep breathe in and smelt the fresh air around you. 

You took a look around really noticing how beautiful the scenery was. The color that blossomed throughout the world right now, this was a feeling you could get used to. 

You stood by a tree near the bench. Your fingers playing with each other while holding down your flowy dress a bit making sure it wouldn’t blow upwards. All the children laughing and the families together made you smile to yourself. ‘They all looked so happy’ you thought.

As a few minutes passed you heard footsteps coming closer to you. Your gaze fixated upwards to meet the eyes of Tsukishima. ‘Wow he looks really good right now.’

Tsukishima was wearing a pair of light washed jeans and a white tee shirt. He had a red flannel that went on top of the street. The strands of his hair flew with the direction of the breeze. His glasses were slightly down from their usual spot but you didn’t think he could look any better.

A chuckle escaped from his lips bringing you back to reality. You realized as you did this often; you would always get lost in your thoughts staring at him and then get caught after. He always left out a soft laugh when this happened, always bringing you out of your thoughts.

You looked down into his hands to see him carrying a bouquet of flowers. ‘They were beautiful’ you thought. Your eyes focused back up to his to see his mouth open and say something.

“Hey,” he said, smiling a bit.

“Hi,” you giggled out.

As he pushed the flowers towards you he said “these are for you.” You swore you would have melted there on the spot. He really got these for you? The gaze in your eyes softened a lot as you saw how beautiful the flowers really were.

This felt different, having someone do something so small yet it meant so much to you. Tsukishima bent down as he brought his hand up to the side of your face. He tucked a piece of hair that was blowing with the wind behind your hair.

He brought his head over to the right side of your ear and whispered something into it.

“Will you be my girlfriend?” 

-

The memories that you have of you and Tsukishima were precious to you. Although he knew many things about you, you didn’t know if he really knew the importance he had in your life. The positive impact no one else could create.

The happiness that he gave you. You had never believed in ‘the one for you’ or things like ‘soulmates’ but you swore that all changed when he has walked into your life. The first year of being together was a dream come true. This was a day you truly could never forget.

-

This was a nice and calming night. Today was your one year anniversary and boy were you excited. Although the two of you weren’t able to spend the day together the night was plenty of time for the two of you.

The sight before you was unbelievable. The candle lit dinner and the homemade food you guys made together. What could possibly be better than this? 

The dinner was nice and calming, something you both needed. College was really getting between the two of you. The amount of work you guys had was unbelievable. Although it was a lot you both still helped each other when in need of it.

After dinner the two of you cleaned up together and got ready for bed. Tsukishima was sleeping over for tonight since you guys couldn’t spend the day together.

As you got comfy under the covers Tsukishima slid in next to you. You felt his chest touch your back as his arms wrapped around you. He nuzzled his nose into the top of your head, inhaling the scent of your hair.

You guys stayed like this for a couple of minutes before Tsukishima tapped on your shoulder asking if you could turn around to face him. You did as he asked and just stared at him.

‘The moonlight really made him look more handsome than he is’ you thought. He stared at you and thought the exact same thing. ‘She looks so beautiful under the moonlight.’ Tsukishima scooted down from the pillow to make sure you were at the same level.

He then scooted a little closer to the point where your noses were almost touching. 

“I love you,” he whispered.

Your breath hitched as your heart rate sped up. ‘Did he really just say that? He loves me? I didn’t think he would feel the same back.’

“Hey dumbass, are you going to say it back or not?”

You gave him the biggest smile you could possibly form. Your heart felt like it was going to explode.

“I love you too,” you whispered back.

Tsukishima moved in closer and closed the space in between the two of you. You felt a soft pair of lips pressing against yours. The kiss felt soft but passionate and full of love at the same time.

The two of you pulled back and rested his forehead on yours. Your eyes were both closed and you just enjoyed the moment the two of you shared. You felt the weight of his head pull away before placing another kiss on your forehead.

Tsukishima scooted up once and put his chin on top of your head. His arms wrapped around you and yours wrapped around him. You snuggled into the crook of his neck and got comfy. 

Not only was this your one year anniversary but it’s also the first time you guys said ‘I love you.’ All the pain you felt in the past, all the bad memories, this made it feel like it was all worth it. This was a day you definitely weren’t forgetting.

next part :)

[unmaskedagain]

Wolves don’t Party with Sheep

I got this request last week, and I thought it was a neat idea. Thanks @etsuko-99​ for sending me the ask.

When the Akuma alert sounded, most of the class had been at the end of year party at the park. They had been planning it for weeks and had been careful not to reveal its existence to the class problems aka Marinette, Chloe, and Nathaniel. The three had been has exiled from the rest of the call all year for their bullying of Lila and mean accusations that the girl was lying.

Class president? They voted to replace Marinette the first day of school.

Class picnics; the three weren’t invited.

Field trips; they got Bustier to exclude the three in the beginning of the year. Not that it mattered anyway; all the wonderful trips they had wanted to take had fallen through. They never had enough money to take it. And they never did the required paperwork.

Birthday parties; they weren’t invited to anyone’s in the class. No one went to Nathanial’s birthday party. Or Chloe’s. No one even bother to accept Marinette’s birthday party invitations, she mailed out a month ago. They even missed the required RSVP date on the front on purpose. The invitation was clear, if you don’t confirm your planned attendance, you can’t come. Then they told Marinette they were going to a party for Lila instead.

No one wanted the drama. No one wanted Lila to feel like she wasn’t welcome. And if the three found out, then maybe they should’ve been nicer.

Again, everyone from the class who was invited showed up apart from Adrien to Lila’s dismay. Alya assured the tearful girl that Adrien was probably just busy at a photoshoot, he’d be there if he could.

Lila had just stepped away from for a moment to take a call from Prince Ali when the Akuma alert sounded.

           It was a socialite hurt by the malicious lies her so-called friends said about each other by each other’s back decided that everyone should be forced to reveal what they really think. The Akuma was called Two-faced (As soon as Two-face from Gotham heard about the new villain, he contacted his lawyer; someone was getting sued.) Every time someone talked; the world would hear their inner voice say what they really thought about you.

“We should wait for Ladybug,” Alya said. “She’ll be here soon. Nino, turned down the music we don’t want to attract the Akuma’s attention.”

“You don’t kiss me enough,” Alya’s voice was suddenly heard throughout the party, though the girl’s mouth was shut. “You’re amazing. I love how much you dream. You’re a little naïve. We’re perfect for each other. But what’s a girl got to do to get to third base?”

           Nino blushed a scarlet red. There were snickers from the fellow students.

“Babe, a little awkward; maybe no one should talk.” Nino said. But as soon as his mouth closed. “I’ve already named all of our children.”

           The laughter that resulted from this laughter the couple paralyzed.

“This is so amazing,” Rose burst out. As soon as she stopped talking. “Juleka? Look at me! I have been flirting with you for three years. You know what I got for it? Nothing. Do you like me or not? You think you got it bad, Alya. I once showed up at her house drenched in rain, in a t-shirt, and Juleka didn’t bat an eye.  Stop complaining. At you got a boyfriend who wants to kiss you. All I got from Juleka was insecurities.”

           Juleka looked torn between wanted to die from embarrassment and looking utterly pleased with the situation.

           Alix snorted, “Still think it’s amazing.” She mocked. Her eyes widened when she realized she spoke. “Rose, you’re the definition of a ditzy of blond. I can’t believe we’re friends.” There were gasps. Rose looked at Alix with hurt eyes. “Honestly, I can’t believe your friends with me. You’re nice, girly, and super sweet. A freaking ray of sunshine. Everything I’m not. I love you for it. I kind of hate you too. You’re the daughter my wishes she had. I can’t stand you sometimes.”

“Ouch!” Kim said and gasped. His inner voice added. “This is way too serious for me. I should’ve just hung out with Ondine. And how is no one talking about how killer Max’s ass looks in those jeans?”

           The questions was met with blinks.

“Damn, I owe Luka ten bucks,” Juleka slipped out. She quickly covered her mouth but she couldn’t stop what came next. “Luka dislikes all of you. It’s why he left Kitty section. He’s thinks you’re all gullible idiots. He always told me to watch my back around you. After what happened with Marinette, I see why.”

           Mylene frowned. She thought Luka left the band because he didn’t have time for it anymore. “That’s really mean.”

“Truthfully, I saw it coming,” Mylene’s inner voice said. “What’s a guy like that doing in a band called Kitty Section? I mean really. But yeah, I totally called in it Kim being a little into Max. Like back in third grade. The Chloe thing was a massive attempt to hide his crush. I get it. Max can do better than a Neanderthal.”

“Hey!” Max glared. “Like you’re one to talk!”

“Have you seen Ivan,” Max’s inner voice hissed. “He’s a future UFC champion. You’re a future kindergarten teacher. Mylene, beauty, Ivan, beast. It only works out in Disney movies, honey. Besides at least Kim’s funny, and cool, and nice, and hot. Wow, I can’t believe he likes me. I’m a geek.”

           Kim grinned, “I like that you’re a geek.” His inner voice, “He’s thinks I’m hot. He think I’m hot. He thinks I’m hot. …I wonder if Nino would be cool with a joint wedding.”

“NO!” Nino and Alya yelled together. Their inner voice, “NO!”

           After that everyone was too scared to speak; scared of what they really thought be heard.

           That when Lila came back to the party. A happy grin on her face. “Sorry everyone, Prince Ali was insisting I attend his ball. I hope he’s isn’t going to purpose again.”

“You’re all a bunch morons,” Lila’s inner voice echoed through the park. “But useful ones. I’ve never even met Prince Ali.”

           Lila paled, “I didn’t say that!”

“Crap,” Her inner voice cried. “What the hell is going on? Do you know how hard it is to keep my stories straight? How hard I work to get these sheep to believe me? Well, not that hard. They’re idiots. I few grand tales and practically believe I shit gold.”

           The class stared at her horrified.

“It’s not me!” Lila stomped her foot.

Her inner voice cried out, “Don’t look at me like that. You’re the dumbasses who believed me. It’s your own fault. I only told you what you wanted to hear. Add a few tears and you did whatever I wanted.”

           Alya gasped, “Marinette was right.” Her inner voice, “What have I done. My blog is ruined. I’ll lose all my fans.”

           Lila fought not to glare, “Marinette’s a mean bully,” She whined. “Remember? She’s been so awful to me since I got here.”

“She called me out on my lies,” Lila’s inner voice snickered. “I warned her I’d get her back. I told her I’d take all her friends away. She should’ve believed me. You guys are idiots who believe everything I saw. Oh, Marinette picking on! Why doesn’t Marinette like me? Did I do something wrong? Waa! Waa! Now I’m here and she’s not. So there! I won!”

           Lila finally picked up one what was going on and covered her mouth. The class remained silent torn between wanting to scream at the girl and keep what they really thought secret.

           At that moment, Marinette, Nathaniel, Luka, Adrien, and Chloe strolled to through the park with ice cream cones in their hands and big smiles on their faces. They talked pleasantly with each other, stopping when they saw the party streamers and the class.

           Marinette didn’t blink twice, “Another class party?” She said sweetly. “Our invitations must have been lost.”

           Her inner voice was cold, “Doesn’t matter. I wouldn’t have come to your party if you paid me. Why do you think I put the deadline on the invites? I knew you’d pretend to forget to RSVP. I only invited you to my birthday party because my mom made me. Something about being nice or whatever.”

           The students of Bustier’s class reared back as if struck.

“It really pity you can’t come,” Chloe drawled. Her inner voice, “In addition to forgetting to RSVP, you must have forgotten that Marinette’s knows Jagged Stone and Clara Nightingale and a bunch of other celebrities; all of which are going to be at the party.”

“They’re having loads of fun here,” Adrien said brightly. “The party looks great.”

           His inner voice was a lot colder, “I told them! I told Marinette, Chloe, and Nathaniel every time you had this party, and every other party, a picnic, a guy’s night, a girl’s night, anything. I told them Alya was the one who got Bustier to not let them on the class trips. Why did you think I never showed up to any events? They’re my friend I showed them the group texts where you all did nothing but insult Marinette. You were bad friends. You trusted a perfect stranger over freaking Mariette Dupain-Cheng. That’s why I stopped returning your texts, Nino! Why I stopped returning all of your texts! We’re not friends anymore.”

           Mouths dropped. To his credit, Adrien let his ground and just sent a cold glare to his classmates.

“Mom saw the texts, Juleka,” Luka shook his head. “She’s disappointed in you.” His inner voice, “So am I. I couldn’t believe it at first. How could my own sister be so cruel? So vile. I know Lila didn’t get into your head. But I think feared did. You were scared these idiots in your class would turn on you too. You knew it was wrong treating Marinette the way you did but you did it anyway. I don’t recognize you anymore. I don’t even want to look at you right now.”

           Silent tears slipped down Juleka’s cheeks. Rose did her best to comfort the other girl.

“We should go,” Nathaniel told his friends. “There’s nothing for us here.” His inner voice, “Honestly you guys ditching us was the best thing that could ever happen. I have best friends now. Chloe, Adrien, and Marinette are literally the freaking best. I told them how much I liked Marc, and they listened. Chloe actually ended up locking in a supply closest but it all worked out. We’re dating now! I only got a little claustrophobic too.”

“You locked them in a closest?” Marinette pinched her nose. “That wasn’t the plan. It’s kidnapping.”

           Marinette’s inner monologue, “I’m not going to jail for you! Oh who am I kidding? Of course I’d go to jail for you. Better be for something cool.”

“It will be,” Chloe preened. Her inner voice, “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I’d pick you over all high-end couture in the world.”

“I’m not bailing you out for less than a felony,” Adrien chimed in with a smile. His inner voice, “Chances are I’m going to be right next to you.”

           Marinette rolled her eyes, “Nathaniel’s right. We have to get ready for our trip. And my party.” She said. Her inner voice. “Thank you Alya for getting pushover Bustier to remove us from the class trip. Now while you guys are headed to the amusement park. We’re going to Metropolis, and Gotham, and New York City. We’re going on the best trip of our entire life while you guys watch Kim puke up fifty chili dogs… Again.”

           Still the class was too scared to speak. Apart from Lila who glared angrily, “Oh please, like your birthday party will be any good?”

           The five looked at her and the class with smirks.

“Oh course not,” They chimed together. “It’ll be a small get together.”

“If you call a thousand people small,” Adrien’s inner voice said. “I still can’t believe Marinette has so many friends. People are coming from all over the world for her birthday. Prince Ali’s going. My dad’s going! And he barely remembered my birthday this year. Like what the fuck! How did Marinette become the favorite child? Fine, though, I stole her parents. Also her room.”

           Marinette side-eyed him. She knew had been finding more and more of Adrien’s stuff in her room. But she thought she was imagining things. Chloe did the same. Then the top bunk was always made. Again, she let it go. He slept over a lot. Chloe did too. Then he took over a drawer or two for some of this things. Again, not surprising. Chloe did the same; except she took over half of Marinette’s closet. Sometimes she’d come home and he’d be hanging out in her room playing video games. It was fine. Chloe tended to do the same; except for it was laying on Marinette’s bed on her phone.

           …Wait, what?

“Jagged Stone performing for his favorite niece Marinette,” Chloe inner voice sang. “Clara Nightingale’s performing. Luka’s singing. They both invited all the celebrities they knew. MDC’s party. Did you hear about that?” The class gasped in shock. “It’s trending literally everywhere. Marinette Dupain Cheng’s party. It’s practically a red carpet event now. By the way Adrien, Sabine and Tom like me best.”

           Again, Marinette had to side-eye her friends. Did they move in when she wasn’t looking? How did they move in? When did they move in? For god’s sake’ yesterday, she caught Chloe working behind the register while Marinette’s parents worked in back. She caught her dad teaching Adrien how to bake cookies and croissants.

“Peter Parker’s going,” Luka’s inner voice added on. “Marinette and him met each other at camp. And where Peter Parker goes, his parents follow. His parents: Tony Stark and Steve Roger ring any bells. And if Iron Man and Captain America’s going, the rest of the Avengers follow. They all RSVP’d.”

“Harry Styles,” Nathaniel’s inner voice repeated like six times. “If I wasn’t dating Marc, I’d go for it. Like, you have no idea; how much I’d go for it. Marc’s concerned. …He should be.”

           Marinette smiled as her inner voice spoke what she was always too nice to say, “You were terrible friends. You turned against me for basically no reason. You threw me away. You followed Lila Rossi, the world’s biggest liar, because she told you grand stories and promised you things and opportunities. I’m happy you’re not going to my birthday party. Because you’re going to miss the chance to meet all those celebrities Lila lied about knowing. The chance to talk shop and create connections with the rich and the famous and be famous yourselves; the real reasons you ditched me. Most of the guests don’t know. But that’s fine because I’ll have real friends at the party; and you won’t be among them. Because you’re not real friend. You’re mindless, gullible sheep. …And Adrien, Chloe, I swear to the all gods, if you think you can just take over my room, you got another thing coming!!”

           Both blonds didn’t bother to even pretend to look remotely shamed or scared. They just smirked.

           It was at that moment, the Akuma two-faced came crashing into the party. All the documents, those in the class and not, scattered off screaming. The five took that opportunity to transform.

           Ladybug, Chat Noir, Queen Bee, Viperion, and Renard Rouge came swinging to the scene.

           Alya couldn’t believe her eyes. She had been replaced. How could Ladybug just replace her? She didn’t even have the guts to tell Alya!

           Fury overcame her, “Ladybug!” The glasses-wearing screamed. Her inner voice, “Look at me. How could you do this? Why?”

           Ladybug looked at her teammates. They nodded her a: Go for it. Ladybug swung over the the reporter. “What, Alya?” Her inner voice, “Why are you bothering me now?”

“You replaced me,” Alya stomped her foot. “I’m the fox hero. Not that poser.” Her inner voice, “I’m a much better hero than he’ll ever be. I should’ve been made permanent. I should’ve been made an official partner of you and Chat Noir.”

           Ladybug glared, “You posted lies on your blog. You never fact checked. And my sources told me you frequently took part in bullying of three students.” Her inner voice, “You’re a bad journalist. Why did you think I stopped giving you interviews? All those lies you post from Lila Rossi about her, about me. You never even bothered to research anything. Then you ice’d out Marinette; the sole reason I even bothered to give you a chance. You and your classmates really hurt her and the other students. You were mean bullies. And you’re unworthy of being a hero.”

           Alya froze. “But, I, it’s not fair!” She cried. “I didn’t know Lila wasn’t telling the truth.” Her inner voice “Crap! I forgot you knew Marinette. She probably told you everything. Ugh, why does she always have to be right all the time? It’s so annoying. At least Lila was fun. Besides, Marinette never even bothered to offer let me meet any of her celebrity friends. Or even mentioned she knew them And that’s so not cool. What kind of girl does that to her bestie? If Marinette had just told me she knew them, I’d have never believed Lila.”            

           Ladybug just stared at Alya in disgust, “We’re done Miss Césaire.” Her inner voice, “Forever.” Then she was gone.

           When the Akuma was defeated, and Ladybug put everything back to the way it was. The students didn’t know what to say or do. Lila had taken the time to vanish form the party. The five continued they stroll through the park. Unfortunately, they had to walk past the class party again.

“Hey!” Nino called. “You guys can come join us if you want.”

“We’re really sorry,” Rose yelled.

           Juleka didn’t say anything just looked at her older brother with pitiful eyes.

           Alya rushed over, followed by the other students. “Girl, you were so right about Lila. She’s such a liar.” The classmates nodded. “I’m your bestie. I should’ve never forgot to RSVP for your party. If it’s not too late, I’d love to go. Maybe we can even join you on your trip overseas. I’d love to go the Daily Planet.”

“Yeah, me too!” Nino grinned.

“Count me,” Alix cheered and high-fived Kim.

           Marinette looked them up and down, “It’s too late. Far too late,” She told them. “To go to my party, to go on the trip, to get back into my good graces, to be friends again. We’re not friends. And we never will be again. None of you be celebrating my birthday with me.” She gave them a cold smirk. “Wolves don’t party with sheep.”

[cablesscutie]

ZKDD Day 9: Lock and Key

One thing Zuko realizes soon after he and Katara have truly become friends is that she keeps most of herself so contained.  It doesn’t really make sense to him when Toph says, “She’s so bossy all the time,” or when Sokka warns him, “I love her, but my sister can be a bit much sometimes.”  Even Aang, who seems to look at Katara as though she is part mother, part goddess, and the answer to all life’s problems seems to believe these things too.  At the very least, when these things come up, he does not point out to the others that Katara is generally made responsible for the care and keeping of the entire group.  Zuko thinks that if they want her to be less bossy, they should be dumbasses less, and he tells them so.

“She’d also probably be less...whatever ‘too much’ means, if she actually got to relax sometimes.  If she’s not training Aang or cooking us all dinner, she’s washing your socks,” he points to Sokka, “or keeping you from getting arrested again.”

“You know I can’t see you pointing at me, right?”  

Zuko opens his mouth, realizes that whatever he’s about to say at the moment is something he’ll probably feel guilty about saying to a child later, and forces his jaw shut.  Turning on his heel, he stalks off down the beach in the direction Katara had departed in a similar huff not long ago.

“Great, now there’s two of them,” he hears Toph mutter behind him.

He finds her throwing shards of ice against a rocky cliff face at the nearby bay.  They look deadly sharp, glinting in the sun, only to shatter so finely it’s almost snow upon impact.  At the center of her imaginary target, he sees several pock marks surrounding a small gouge in the stone and flinches reflexively at the thought of how hard she must be throwing.  As the ice fragments spray outward, she reaches out to call it back to her as water, her other hand reared back with a water whip, frozen point at the ready.  She flings it, other hand already summoning a new whip, stance shifting fluidly.  

“So this is how you put up with those guys?” he asks.  Katara botches her next throw, and shard pitches into the sand where it buries itself deep.  She whirls to face him, already scowling.

“If you need something from me right now,” she says, and it is not lost on him that she is maintaining a grip on her remaining water whip.  “I suggest you don’t.”  Zuko holds up his hands in surrender.

“I’m good, you have more than enough on your plate.  As I just finished trying to explain to them, but clearly they don’t wanna listen to reason.”

“Got that right,” she mutters, dropping the water.  He sits down on a flat rock, and faces the waves, patting the space beside him.  After a moment’s hesitation, she joins him.  For a long moment, they sit in silence, just listening to the rhythm of waves crashing on sand and smelling the salt on the air.  Under the sun’s rays, Zuko can feel himself centering again, and he hopes the tides are having a similar effect on her.  

At long last, she breaches the quiet to say, “Sorry I kind of lost it earlier.”

“I’m not,” he says immediately.  “And you shouldn’t be either.”

“Hm?” She turns to him, surprised.

“If they don’t want to be treated like children, they shouldn’t act like it.”

“Someone has to do it.”

“Not you.  Not all of it. You should be mad.  I’d be mad if I was you - I’m mad for you.”

She sighs.  “I feel like I’m beyond anger now.  Like I’ve just reached this point where I’m so tired, and I wish I could stop, but I don’t know what happens if I do.”  Her voice has gone a little rough at the end, like she might cry.  “Sorry,” she says again, wiping her eyes quickly.

“You don’t have to hide that from me, Katara,” he tells her.  Zuko doesn’t want her to feel like she needs to start coddling him as well.  “You don’t have to keep everything you feel under lock and key; I want to know you.”  She bites her lip.

“I want to know you too.”  They both look out to sea again, watching where the setting sun has just started to touch the ocean, each of them unsure of how to actually go about knowing anyone.  Zuko is the one to break the silence this time.  “You know, there’s some stalls that sell food a little ways up the beach.  Want to go get dinner?” he asks, standing up.

“But what about-”  Zuko shrugs.

“There’s food at the house.  They’ll figure it out or they won’t. Not your problem today.”  He holds out a hand to pull her up, and she lets him.  

She lets him lead her to the little marketplace, and explain what all the dishes are.  She lets him order for her when she can’t make up her mind about what to try first.  She lets him buy her a bag of candies, given with the condition that she won’t share a single one of them, not even with him.

When they get back to the house, he cuts through the garden to the side entrance, and soundlessly lets them in.  She understands the implicit instruction not to speak as she follows him to her room.  He opens her door, again mysteriously silent, and she steps inside.

Thank you, she mouths.  His lips quirk up in a tiny smile, the last thing she sees of him as the door slides shut.

@zkdrabbledecember

[watching-pictures-move]

Viddying the Nasties #37 | Possession (Zulawski, 1981)

This review contains spoilers.

Andrzej Zulawski's Possession is a movie I'd somewhat been dreading revisiting. When I'd seen it all those years back (on YouTube, split into two parts if I recall correctly, as the DVD had been hard to come by in those days), despite being greatly moved by the experience, I'd also found it an extremely exhausting film to sit through. It's a tortured divorce melodrama (among other things) that starts at 11 and only goes up from there. Lots of shouting and screaming, physical abuse, kicking around chairs and tables. The movie is not what I'd call an overtly pleasant experience. Watching it now (on a Blu-ray from Mondo Vision, a substantial upgrade from my original format), while I won't characterize my previous impressions as inaccurate, I was able to better appreciate how the movie modulates this tone, acclimatizing us to its fraught emotional space. The movie starts off in the realm of a normal, bitter breakup, with the husband having returned from a work trip only to learn that his wife is leaving him and struggling to make sense of it, his frustration and anger stemming as much from the fact of her dissolving their relationship as his inability to comprehend her motivations. It isn't really until the half hour mark that it asks us to dive off the deep end with it. The husband hits his wife in the middle of a fight, follows her onto the street as she tries to halfheartedly throw herself onto the path of a truck, which then drops its baggage in an almost comical bit of stuntwork, their squabble ended when the husband becomes surrounded by children playing soccer and joins in. Any one of these by itself is nothing out of the ordinary, but Zulawski assembles them into an off-kilter crescendo, and does away with any sense of normalcy for the rest of the runtime.

That this approach works as well as it does is largely thanks to Isabelle Adjani as Anna, the wife, who spends the aforementioned scene looking like a vampire in cat eye sunglasses and blood streaming down her grimacing mouth. She delivers perhaps the most bracingly physical performance I've seen in a movie, but again this is something I'd maybe underappreciated initially in terms of how finely tuned her choices are. An early scene where she fights with her husband has her manically cutting raw meat and shoving it into a grinder, as if to channel her frustrations into acceptable form of violence for women. When she takes an electric knife to her throat, she begins to spasm about like a farm animal during a botched slaughter, providing a further comment on her domestic situation. The film's most famous scene has her freak out in a subway tunnel, thrashing her limbs about chaotically but almost rhythmically, maybe like the contractions when goes into labour. Her character later describes this as a miscarriage, ejecting the side of her which is neat and orderly and "good". Adjani plays this other half as well, with a much more old fashioned hairdo (braided conservatively like a stereotypical schoolmarm), one which provides a much more tender maternal figure to the couple's son. Adjani is also well cast because of her emotive, saucer-like eyes, which she isn't afraid to point at the camera repeatedly, providing a genuine emotional grounding during both the quieter and more hysterical sections of the movie.

Her husband, Mark, is played by Sam Neill, who had been cast after the filmmakers had seen him in Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career. To understand why Neill works so well, it helps to know that Sam Waterston had previously expressed interest in the role. Waterston, while a good actor, would have come off too fogeyish as the husband. Neill brings the appropriate edge and even sex appeal necessary for the material. And like in Jurassic Park, his best known role, he brings an inquisitive quality that keeps him close enough to our vantage point to give the narrative arc some grounding. The other major human character here is Heinz Bennent as Heinrich, a new age guru who happens to be having an affair with the wife. One on hand, this character represents the counterculture from Zulawski's homeland, which he had left after trouble from the authorities when making his last movie. On the other hand, Zulawski was drawing heavily from the bitter divorce he had just gone through, and directs a sizable fraction of the movie's contempt at this character, leading me to believe that his wife in fact left him for some new age buffoon. In one of the movie's funnier scenes, he has Heinrich confront Mark over Anna's disappearance and then go into a dumbassed trance while spouting new age nonsense and basically calling Mark a Nazi. This is the guy his wife left him for? This jackass? Mark sets him up by sending him to Anna, knowing full well he could be killed, but the potency of Mark's rage (and Zulawski's, by extension), as well as the ludicrousness of the Heinrich character, keep us from sympathizing with the latter too much. Zulawski has Heinrich die with his head in a toilet, a final flush by Mark serving as one last hilariously mean-spirited gesture of contempt.

Zulawski originally conceived the movie as having another major character, Anna's ex-husband, to be played by veteran actor and director Bernard Wicki, but after the first day of shooting with Wicki, he decided to drop the character entirely. (I suppose it depends on the personalities, but I wonder how actors react to being let go early from a project. Is it worse if it's on the first day? How about if you lead the filmmakers to realize they should do away with the character altogether? I only hope Wicki got paid.) It's not hard to see what purpose this character would have served, particularly in the way that Anna "upgrades" her lovers, having traded a much older man for the younger, sexier Mark, and then trying to replace him with an evolving monstrous fuck-squid (more on this later) that she was trying to nurture and reshape into the ideal partner. The only remnants of this character in the finished film is his young wife, who appears in the climax and his goaded by the "new" Mark (the final form of the fuck-squid) to shoot into the corpses of the real Mark and Anna. The character's proposed thematic purpose might have spelled out this moment's significance more clearly, but I'm not always convinced thematic clarity is preferable to how things move and feel, and the end product does not feel incomplete or incoherent, or at least not detrimentally so. The emotions make sense, even if the events onscreen are outside the norm. (My condolences to those of you who've been dumped for a monstrous fuck-squid.)

Having been conceived after his last project was quashed by authorities in Poland, there's undeniably a political element here, enhanced by the noticeable presence of the Berlin Wall, near which much of the film is situated. (At one point the camera looks out the window and sees the police from East Berlin staring back.) The realities of the Cold War figure heavily in the characters' lives, as it's suggested that Helen (the other Adjani) is from behind the Iron Curtain (she speak of readily identifiable evil, which could be interpreted as the visible presence of an authoritarian regime) and that Mark's work is in the field of intelligence, maybe even espionage. But the movie is less interested in pointing out political specifics than in the accompanying sense of repression and division, which plays heavily into the visual style. The movie often divides its frames to separate the characters, but rarely with any sense of symmetry, suggesting a sense of emotional chaos enhanced by the bruising mixture of wide angle lenses and handheld camerawork. When we're with Mark, the movie looks overcast, bluish grey, appropriately repressed at first, although Anna's presence throws his neat, fluorescently-lit apartment into disarray. Anna's love nest, situated in the Turkish district right beside the Wall is dilapidated and unkempt, which may have reflected the squalid realities of a hastily rented apartment in what I assume is a poorer part of town, but after having excised the orderly part of herself, it seems like an accurately messy reflection of her headspace.

Now back to the fuck-squid. It's hard to go into Possession this day and age completely blind, and even back when I first saw it, it came on my radar as the movie where "Isabelle Adjani fucks a squid". I have a lot of respect for Zulawski for delivering the goods on this front and for Adjani for throwing herself into this material, not because I'm some kind of sexual deviant who gets off on this stuff (although if you are, I'm not here to judge, it's a free country, just clear your browsing history after), but because modern arthouse cinema often defaults to a mode of cold, downplayed and too afraid to raise the audience's pulse (because apparently it's undignified to force a reaction out of the audience) and it's nice to see a movie serve what it says on the tin (this is one I'd have loved to see with an unsuspecting audience back in the day). Producer Marie Laure-Reyre notes that Zulawski was very hands on with the conception of the monster, drawing inspiration from gargoyles in Polish architecture, as if to further imbue political context into the proceedings. When seeing the end product, I can only assume Zulawski broke up with his wife at a seafood restaurant (I would hope he didn't react like Mark and throw around all the tables and chairs). Of course, the design of the monster means that the movie leans heavily into body horror, and its inclusion on the Video Nasty list in the UK and its release in the US in a heavily-trimmed 81-minute version emphasizing these elements likely contributed to its psychotronic reputation early on. (I am still interested in seeking out this cut, as I can't imagine the loss of 40 whole minutes wouldn't substantially alter the film's character.) It flirts with other genres as well. Certain scenes have a clear slapstick quality. Some of these involve Heinrich, the ever-reliable target of the film's ridicule, but there is also Margit Cartensen, playing Anna's friend and Mark-hater Marge, falling on her ass like a Three Stooges bit. And there's the climax, parodying action movies with its woozy cocktail of car chase, shootout and explosions, which leads a headlong rush into the film's apocalyptic final moments.

[maria-scribbles]

glitter + crimson (let’s start a riot)//part four

summary: carmen actually steps foot inside her own house after discovering her daughter isn’t the only teenager living there. the hurricane hurtling toward the island matches the tempest in sailor’s heart as she finally gets some long-overdue words off her chest that her mom isn’t very happy to hear and two friends inch closer and closer to crossing that metaphorical line.

word count: 6.6k+ (oops, i did it again 😅)

ship: jj maybank x oc (sailor flynn)

warnings n stuff: mentions of abuse/neglect, gambling addiction, child abandonment, being kicked out of home, fluff, swearing, underage drinking, flirting, having shitty dads, mentions of weed, star wars, and sailor’s unhealthy addiction to nutella, mention and direct quote of the percy jackson and the olympians series (again), subtle nod to new girl (i love seeing how many references i can make lmao)

a/n: first off, i just want to thank each and every one of you for your likes, reblogs, and especially your wonderful comments! they mean to world to me, seriously ❤ now, here comes the dramaaaaa! we get to dive into sailor’s complicated, turbulent relationship with her mother (sailor, like john b, has a very big, very real fear of being abandoned by people she loves because of her dad) before heading toward the canon timeline of the show. the quote about the sea near the beginning is from jaques cousteau, legendary french naval officer, marine explorer and filmmaker who co-created the aqua-lung and paved the way for modern scuba diving. he also pioneered marine conservation and discovered the wreck of the hmhs britannic, sister ship of the rms titanic! so overall, he was a pretty cool dude and i feel that he’d be a personal hero to ocean-loving sailor (maybe even kiara as well, considering her love of the environment/conservation).

unbetaed as usual so all mistakes are my b.

gif credit to @toesure (who has the most beautiful gifs, ngl)

~Masterlist~

part four: high tide

The sun’s just peeking its rays over the horizon, painting the deep blue sky the softest shades of pink and orange. Calm, steady waves lap against the shore and over Sailor’s bare feet as she stands alone on an empty and desolate beach, the only signs of life coming from the seagulls squawking overhead. The air is thick and sticky with early morning humidity, the type that makes it hard to breathe and frizzes the hell out of her wavy hair, and she can already feel moisture starting to collect on her skin.

Why’s she here again? She can’t remember a reason and come to think of it, she can’t remember exactly how she got here, either. Did she drive? She turns her back to the ocean and its entrancing pull to look for her truck but finds the surf shop is the only thing she can see clearly, the world surrounding it blurred in an incomprehensible mess of color; the sight should’ve caused anxiety to take root in her chest but somehow she finds herself unbothered, relaxed. Somehow, she feels at home.

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”

Sailor’s head snaps to the left at the sound of a painfully familiar voice. A tall, redheaded man now stands in what was only a few seconds ago an empty space, smiling out over the water with the brilliant colors of the sky reflecting in his green eyes.

“Dad?”

Ryan doesn’t seem to hear the incredulous tone in her voice or even the fact that she spoke at all as he turns to face her and asks a question of his own, “It’s true, don’t you think?”

Of course she does. The sea has had her under its captivating, magnetic spell ever since she first laid eyes on it when she was a toddler, a baby, even. Her parents always said she wanted to spend every waking moment at the beach, combing the sand for shells and staring out at the water, imagining what new discoveries were waiting for her in its depths. Her mouth moves on it’s own as she replies, “You know I do.”

It’s not what she wants to say at all. She wants so badly to yell at him, let out her frustrations and hurt and pain ‘how dare you leave us’ ‘what did I do wrong’ ‘why haven’t you come back yet’ but finds that she can’t form the words. It’s like she’s watching a video, or maybe reliving a memory -oh. It feels like a memory because it is one, she recognizes with a start, of the week before he took off and abandoned them for the very first time, leaving behind a gaping, bleeding wound that neither Sailor nor her mother ever managed to properly stitch back together.

Ryan’s smile widens. “Always got your eyes on the horizon, Starfish. Just like your old man.”

Her heart clenches at the old, familiar nickname that she hasn’t heard in years, like she’s looking at a favorite pair of childhood shoes or an old t-shirt from a family vacation long past and realizing she doesn’t fit in them anymore, that she’s moved on, and surprisingly, it doesn’t sting as much as she thought it would.

“Come on,” Her father says and when he reaches out to her, Sailor finds herself reaching back with a much smaller, eight-year old sized hand that’s swallowed by Ryan’s larger, calloused palm. “Think you can go fifteen feet today?”

“Fifteen? I’m gonna go twenty!” She declares confidently in her most grown-up voice, giggling when her dad beams and hoists her little body up into his arms, the stubble on his face tickling her skin as he plants a kiss on her cheek.

“That’s my girl.”

He runs into the surf, tossing a laughing Sailor into the ocean when it’s waist deep before they wade out, further and further until the sandy floor drops away from their feet and they’re left treading water.

“Ready, Starfish?”

“Ready!”

The sun breaks over the horizon and casts its golden light on the pair, turning their hair an identical shade of fiery red just as they dive below. She has to work harder to keep up with her father’s longer strokes but she does it and reaches the bottom the same time he does; he smiles widely and reaches out to quickly cup her cheek, pride shining clearly in his eyes and she beams back before turning away to scan the floor for any worthy shells. Finding a knobbed whelk a few feet away, she swims over to grab it before pushing off toward the surface, Ryan following close behind. The sun becomes brighter and brighter the closer she gets and just when her head breaks through the waves-

Sailor wakes.

The early morning sun shines across her eyes through the curtains as she stares up at the surfboard above her bed, the very shelf were the whelk from that day still sits, proudly displayed with her other finds. Yawning, she runs her hands over her face and blinks away the last threads of sleep still clinging to her lashes, along with the memory of her dream. Moments like that with her father were rare. Ryan was a blast to be around when he was happy doing something he wanted to do, like diving for shells, hitting up the bowling alley for a few games, or taking his old, beat up boat out into the marsh to fish for hours on end (never something mundane as doing the dishes or folding the laundry, no, those were children’s jobs and being an only kid, those responsibilities fell to Sailor.). Moments like that were when she felt that -naively, foolishly- her dad was actually proud of her, that he wasn’t horribly inconvenienced by her having the audacity to be his daughter, to be born, that maybe he loved her as much as she loved him.

Cold from a sudden shiver that runs through her body, she rolls onto her side to seek out the best human space heater she knows but her arm only finds empty sheets lacking warmth, her hand reaching for someone who’s no longer there. She frowns and sits up, fingers automatically running through her sleep mussed waves in a semi-futile attempt to fix them into something less resembling a bird’s nest. A quick check of the phone she doesn’t remember plugging in to charge reveals its just before 7 in the morning and her confusion over her missing bedmate only grows; JJ’s rarely ever conscious before 9 AM at the absolute earliest and almost never by his own volition unless surfing’s involved. Even Binx is gone from his usual spot at the end of the bed, leaving her truly alone in the tiny room.

On the floor alongside his boots, the backpack she never noticed him having yesterday is still where he dropped it with its zipper open wide, while his phone rests next to hers on the bedside table and Sailor feels an almost embarrassing wave of relief wash over her knowing he’s still here, that he didn’t just up and disappear in the middle of the night, that he stayed (of all the times he’s come to her before, only once did he leave before dawn and, after she’d frantically tracked him down at John B’s place, tears in her eyes and streaming down her face at the thought of him returning to the lion’s den that he called home, he held her close and promised to never do it again.). She pulls herself out of bed and crosses the room to pull on a random hoodie from the closet before pocketing her phone and padding into the hall, the wooden floor cool under her bare feet.

A demanding meow comes from the kitchen followed immediately by a vexed, “Binx, my dude. For the last time, you can’t have this.” JJ’s bright laugh echoes throughout the room when Binx meows again, this one more insistent than the last and the redhead smiles, quietly shuffling forward to lean against the wall. He doesn’t notice, instead holding a finger to his lips as he shushes the cat sitting on the counter beside him, then turns back to whatever he’s doing. “Be quiet, dumbass! You don’t wanna wake your mom up, do you?”

“I don’t know, sounds to me like he might need my help.”

He startles at her teasing voice, nearly dropping the butter knife in his hand as she steps forward and scoops Binx into her arms, pressing a kiss to his fuzzy cheek. “Is mean old J not feeding you, Binxy? That just won’t do!”

He rolls his eyes but the grin tugging the corners of his mouth upward betrays his amusement as he says sarcastically, “Yeah, I’m the bad guy for not giving the brat Nutella. Great.”

With a laugh, Sailor gives the cat another loving scratch behind the ears before gently setting him on the floor and hoisting herself onto the counter beside JJ, her legs swinging back and forth and lightly brushing against his side. “So...you’re up early.” She says, watching him scrape the last bit of Nutella out of the jar and smear it on some toast, another piece already made on the plate at his elbow.

“Yeah, I woke up and couldn’t go back to bed.” He shrugs, tossing the knife in the sink and the empty container into the trash; her stomach does a little flip when he brings his hand to his mouth and licks away the chocolate left behind on his thumb, then continues, “Sorry if I woke you up. I tried to be quiet but that shithead over there wouldn’t shut up.”

He nods his chin in the direction of a lounging Binx, stretched out on the back of the couch in the sun and she shakes her head. “Don’t worry, you didn’t. I-” She shrugs, too, and meets his blue-eyed gaze. “I guess I couldn’t sleep, either.”

“Bad dream?” JJ asks, holding the plate of toast out to her and she takes a piece with a grateful smile as she replies, “I’d call it more of a bittersweet memory.”

They both fall into a comfortable silence while they eat until he suddenly asks another question around a mouthful of breakfast, “About your dad?”

Sailor freezes mid-chew, her father’s green eyes flicking away from her best friend’s face toward the floor as she swallows thickly, her free hand anxiously clenching the fabric of her shorts. After a long, pregnant pause in which they finish their food and he puts the dirty plate in the sink, she finally says softly, “I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

She apologizes again, staring down at the floor and swinging her legs back and forth, her bare feet hitting the cabinet with dull thuds.

“For what?” His brow furrows in confusion while he takes a step forward to stand between her legs, one hand reaching to hook a finger under her chin and lift her head so he can look her in the eye, the other resting on her knee. “Seriously, help me out here ‘cause I’m confused as fuck.”

“Because I feel guilty, okay?” She starts, eyelids briefly closing as she takes a deep breath before snapping open again and continuing before he can interrupt, “Here I am, getting upset over a stupid dream I had about my gambling addict dad that ditched me when your dad does that,” -she points to his bruised ribs- “and this,” -her palm rests on his cheek, thumb skimming over his scabbed lip- “and God, I just-”

“Whoa, hold up there, Sail.” JJ cuts her off, his free hand joining the other in cupping her face, “Just because your dad never hit you doesn’t mean you don’t have something to be pissed about. He abandoned you, stole your mom’s money, and made you feel like shit! You have a right to be mad as fuck about it.”

“But-”

“But nothing! We’re not having a fucking competition about who has the shittiest dad,” -He smirks devilishly, brushing a wayward red curl off her forehead- “because they both suck major dick. End of story.”

In spite of herself, Sailor snickers as she winds her arms around his neck and pulls him close, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder while his own arms slide around her waist. “We should start a club.” She jokes lightly and feels his snort of laughter against her ear in response.

“‘Shitty Dad Society,’” He declares proudly, “I call being president.”

“Well, I’m your VP! Binx’s our secretary- shit, I’ll be treasurer, too ‘cause I don’t trust you with any type of financial situation at all.”

He laughs again, hand tightening its grip on her waist and she smiles into his neck as he says, “That’s fair. We should make shirts.”

They settle into another comfortable silence after that, both more than happy to relax in the other’s arms and just be. It’s one of her favorite things about..whatever they are, the ease, the contentment, the familiarity felt when they’re together are sentiments she never, ever wants to lose and a thought, an exciting, dangerous thought pops into her head: what if he never has to leave?

“Come live with me.”

“...what?”

Oh, fuck, she just said that out loud, didn’t she? Brain, enter panic mode. The redhead abruptly pulls out of his embrace and buries her already blushing face into shaking hands, closing her eyes tight for good measure, stammering between her fingers, “Nothing, nothing! I said nothing!”

“Pretty sure you said something,” His hands encircle her wrists and gently pull them down to her lap. “And it wasn’t ‘nothing.’”

She stares down at their entwined fingers resting on her thighs, the backs of his hands deliriously warm against her exposed skin and grounding her to this (scary, exciting, vulnerable) moment, and blurts out in a rush, “I said, come live here. With me.”

JJ doesn’t speak, but the way his hands almost imperceptibly tighten their hold on hers -she would’ve missed it if she hadn’t already been looking- compels her to raise her head and meet his eyes; the indescribable depth of the ocean is behind his gaze, as well as the barest hint of pure, brazen hope, and it says everything his mouth won’t.

“Remember yesterday, when you said you don’t know how much more you can take?” She asks. At his tight nod, she weaves her fingers even more intricately with his and admits softly, “Well, I’m not sure how much more I can take, either.”

Sailor’s eyes sweep over the cuts on his face with all the gentleness of a lover, his lip first, followed by the one on his cheekbone before meeting his again. “I can’t...I can’t see you hurt like this anymore.”

Blue stares into green for an insurmountable stretch of time, long enough that she starts to think that she should’ve just kept her big mouth shut, until he finally whispers, “Seriously?”

“J, I’ve never been more serious about something in my entire life. I can’t let him do this to you anymore.” She finishes with a shrug, “My mom’s never here, anyway. It’d be, uh, really nice to not be alone all the time ‘cause as much as I love him, Binx doesn’t count.”

His eyes become stormy at that casual admission of loneliness for just a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment before brightening into their natural blue, the same color of the sky on a clear day as he says simply, “Okay.”

“Seriously?” It’s her turn to ask it now and the smile that breaks over her face when he nods is one of unabashed relief; without thinking, she leans closer and presses her forehead to his. “Good.”

He smiles, too, and briefly lets his eyes fall shut at the contact as he jokes, “Just so you know, Flynn, I’m probably not gonna be the best roommate.”

“Please,” She giggles, freeing one of her hands to playfully push at his shoulder, “I live with the most spoiled, demanding cat in the world. I think I can handle you, Maybank.”

The teasing smirk on his face makes her heart beat a little faster. “We’ll see about that.”

Sailor decides to pretend she didn’t hear his loaded comment (she’s not quite ready to open up that particular can of worms just yet), instead pulling her phone from her hoodie pocket to check the time. “Alright, here’s the deal: in one,” -she glances at the time again because holy shit does she have the short-term memory of a fucking chimp- “two hours, we’re going shopping and, hey, don’t give me that look!” She laughs at the pained expression that crosses his face, “If you’re gonna live here, get ready to put in the work.”

JJ offers her a lazy salute with his free hand and she rolls her eyes, trying her best to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as he says coyly (again, damn him!), “Yes, ma’am.”

“Until then, though,” The redhead continues, hopping off the counter to grab his hand and starts pulling him toward the hall to her room, “We have a book to read and you have some Greek to mispronounce.”

“Fuck, you’re bossy.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t like it.”

-

It goes like this: for nearly three weeks, life for the pair is pretty damn good. The summer days pass the same as they had been, either spent lazing around with the rest of the pogues or working their variety of jobs -Sailor at the ice cream parlor, along with her weekly shell dives and the beginner surf classes she teaches for The Sandbar, JJ at the country club and doing whatever odd jobs he can find around the island- as June slowly bleeds into July. They find themselves doing everything together: shopping, cooking dinner, sharing her tiny room, and it’s so painfully domestic, so natural and so right that it hurts to wrap her head around it.

If their friends notice, none of them comment on it, even though she sees the looks sent their way whenever they both hop out of Sailor’s truck together (most are curtesy of eagle-eyed Kiara, but Pope and even the ever oblivious John B raise their eyebrows a few times). At night they continue to read through the Percy Jackson series, taking turns reading aloud each evening and for a short, blissful time, they let go of the burdens weighing heavy on their shoulders. For a while, everything is close to perfect.

Typically, predictably, it doesn’t last and when shit finally hits the fan, it happens in epic fashion because nothing is ever easy when they’re involved.

It happens a few days after the Fourth of July. It’s late-afternoon, Hurricane Agatha brewing off the coast causing the clouds to streak faster through the sky and, with the rest of their friends working or otherwise occupied, the two teenagers decide to spend a day lounging at home, getting in a few more chapters of The Battle of the Labyrinth and drinking the beer left over from a night of partying at John B’s house.

“’Jumping out a window five hundred feet above ground is not usually my idea of fun,’“ Sailor reads as she relaxes on the couch, book in one hand and can of PBR in the other, the wind blowing in through the open window ruffling her hair, “‘Especially when I’m wearing bronze wings and flapping my arms like a duck.’“

“I’ll drink to that,” JJ says, briefly lifting his head from her lap to chug the rest of his beer before settling back down, feet propped up on the couch’s arm. They’re both a little buzzed, having lost count of how many drinks they’ve downed but she’s had enough to make her start giggling at his comment as she struggles to keep reading while Binx, fed up with the noise, jumps down from his spot behind her and slinks down the hall to find some peace and quiet.

“Damn you, stop it!” She laughs harder as he pulls a ridiculous face at her pronunciation of Daedalus, then shoots her an impish grin and she responds by ‘accidentally’ dropping the paperback on his face. Both are so caught up in hysterics that they don’t notice the sound of a car pulling into the driveway or a key unlocking the front door.

“Sailor!”

The girl freezes at her name, green eyes widening at the sharp tone of her mother’s voice. Slowly, she turns her head to look over her shoulder where she stands, arms crossed, and she’s so shocked Carmen’s actually looking her in the eye that nothing comes out of her open mouth but an oh so eloquent “huh?”

“What the hell is going on here?” The older woman demands, moving around the couch before either teenager can react, and her eyes narrow when she catches sight of JJ’s head on her daughter’s thigh and the empty beer cans on the end table. “Are you two drunk? Get up, now.”

He hastily does as she asks, eyes downcast to the floor and shaking hands clenched at his sides; ignoring her mother’s glare, Sailor deliberately reaches over and rests one palm on top of his as she says tightly, “Nice to see you home for once, I’m surprised you remembered where it is.”

It’s a low blow and she knows it but she can’t find it in her fuzzy, alcohol-numbed brain to care when Carmen reels back like she’s been slapped before she seems to compose herself, mouth pressing into a thin line. “Sailor Giselle, don’t you dare talk to your mother like that!”

The redhead feels something inside her snap and she glares up at the only parent she has left, all but spitting her next words, “Then start acting like my mother! This is the first time I’ve seen you here in four months!”

“I had to come home after Rachel told me you were shacking up with some boy! Do you have any idea-”

“Rachel?!” Sailor explodes at the mention of their obnoxiously invasive old biddy of a neighbor whose sole mission in life is knowing everyone’s business, “God, that hag just can’t keep her nose out of anything can she?”

Carmen crosses her arms once again and glowers at her daughter. “You know how hard it is for me to be in here, Sailor. I asked her to keep an eye on you for me and I’m glad I did.”

The teenager stares at her in disbelief before barking a loud, humorless laugh. “Let me get this straight: you asked our neighbor to spy on me so you didn’t have to come home...so you didn’t have to actually put in some effort?” Carmen opens her mouth to defend herself but before any words can come out, Sailor continues, throwing her free hand in the air, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

“This is my house!” Her mother thunders, not noticing the way the silent blond boy flinches at her yell and how her daughter tightens her grip on his hand. “This is my house and I can do whatever I damn well please, including having someone look out for you when I can’t.”

“When you won’t, you mean.” She scoffs, shaking her head in thinly-veiled disgust, “I’m doing just fine on my own, no thanks to you, Mom.”

“Does ‘doing just fine’ mean living alone with this kid?” Carmen spits and when she glances at JJ like he’s gum on the bottom of her shoe, Sailor’s finally had enough and takes a step toward the older woman with a furious glare.

“Will you just let that go? God! He’s my best friend and he needed somewhere to stay, that’s it!”

“I don’t care.” Turning to JJ, she demands coldly, “Go pack your shit and get out.”

“No.” Green eyes hardening into chips of emerald, the redhead grabs his other hand as he goes to leave the room and steps in front of him protectively. “He’s not going anywhere.”

Carmen pinches the bridge of her nose, her voice low as she threatens, “I swear to God, Sailor, either he leaves or I’ll make him leave.”

When she feels his whole body go rigid behind her, she knows her mom’s won this particular battle and before she can even turn to face him he’s disappeared down the hall to her room without a word. Sailor whirls to face her like the wind outside, red hair flying over her shoulder like a whip as she seethes, “How dare you.”

The older woman sighs like she’s the one hurting and crosses to the window before closing it with a firm hand. “Drop it, I’m done arguing.”

“I care about him, Mom, you can’t just kick him out!”

“I said drop it! I don’t give a shit how you feel about him, I’m not having your homeless boyfriend mooching-”

“Jesus Christ -his dad beats the shit out of him!”

The words ring out like a bell, loud and clear and impossible to ignore. Carmen freezes in the middle of picking up a discarded can, tan skin turning pale as she stares, mouth slightly agape, at her daughter; the girl stares back unflinching, and despite her heart’s rapid staccato in her chest, her next words cut like a knife.

“He’s not homeless, okay? But his dad hits him, all the damn time. You’re not gonna stand by and let that happen, are you?”

Her mother’s eyes soften -for a fleeting moment, she looks like her old, caring self again- before they harden to steel, the open expression on her face slamming closed with all the force of a screen door in a hurricane.

“I’m sorry -really, I am- but that’s not my problem.”

Sailor flinches at the icy edge in her voice and looks down at the floor, jaw clenched tight as she tries to blink away the sudden burning behind her eyes. “I...I don’t know you anymore. My mother would never say that.”

She hears Carmen heave another deep sigh as her footsteps slowly head toward the front entry, “You and I have a lot to talk about when I get back from work, Sailor.” She says, followed by the snatching of keys and the door handle turning. “And that boy had better be gone when I do.”

The redhead looks up from her feet, watching the door slam behind her mother’s retreating form before hastily making her way down the hall to her room and like that morning, the wave of relief that she feels when she sees JJ still sitting on her bed, realizing he’s still here, is downright embarrassing but she’s well past the point of caring. In a flash, Sailor’s in his arms, face pressed against his neck as she cries, “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.”

“Sail, you’ve gotta stop apologizing for things you can’t control.” He whispers when she eventually falls silent and she can’t stop the rough laughter bubbling in her chest, even as her whole world feels like it’s falling apart around her.

“Sorry.”

His own laugh is short and low in her ear, and then he’s pulling her closer as his hand draws soothing circles on her back. She lets herself relax for a brief moment, eyelids fluttering closed at his touch, before she takes a deep breath and pulls back to look him in the eye, hands carelessly wiping away the tears on her cheeks, “Help me pack.”

“...what?”

“When she kicked you out, she kicked me out, too.” She says matter-of-factly at JJ’s confused look while she abruptly kneels, pulling her old suitcase from under the bed and heaving it up onto the mattress.

“Okay, so she didn’t actually kick me out but she might as well have!” The redhead strides to her closet and starts picking out her favorite clothes, tossing them haphazardly onto the bed as she fumes, “God, I even told her about your dad -I’m sorry, shit I did it again- and she said she didn’t care! Not to mention she had our neighbor spy-”

“Sail!” She’s so caught up in her rant that she doesn’t notice when JJ moves to stand beside her, and only when he puts his hands on her shoulders does she stop short, a Kildare County High School sweatshirt dangling from her fingers; she can feel him watching her and when she flicks her gaze up to meet his, she’s not at all prepared for the tempest of emotions -admiration, pride, empathy, something else she can’t name- all crashing like the surf behind his eyes.

Blue. Oh so blue. It’s been her favorite color ever since she knew what colors were and she thinks her favorite shade has to be the one she finds in his eyes: bright, clear, and ever easy to drown in if she’s not careful.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” He says it in such a casual way that it’s impossible to think it’s not as intentional as the fingers that slowly tuck a stray curl behind her ear and the thumb that brushes along her flushed cheek.

She just shakes her head with a tiny, bashful smile and her words are an echo of a quiet, rainy night all those weeks ago, “I’m just doing what feels right.”

They fall into an easy rhythm after that, one that helps them both sober up as they fill her suitcase to the brim with everything Sailor thinks she’ll need for a long stay, wherever she ends up. The Chateau makes the most sense of course, but with the DCS breathing down John B’s neck recently, she’s not sure how viable of an option that is but there’s one thing she knows for sure: there’s no way in hell she’s coming back here any time soon. It hurts to leave her shell collection behind -for a brief, dark moment she toys with the idea of tearing the shelf down and smashing them all until they’re turned to dust but she pushes that thought away- so she takes her favorite, the lightning whelk that reminds her of JJ and that day on the beach, and gently tucks it away in her backpack to ease the sting, as a promise to one day return for the rest.

“Jackpot!” JJ exclaims and she looks up to find him on the floor by her chair, pulling up the loose wood board that hides her secret stash of booze and money and reaching in to snag a nearly full bottle of Jack Daniels, holding it above his head with a triumphant smile.

“Shit, I forgot that was even in there,” She replies as she kneels beside him and snatches the whiskey from his hand before he can take a swig, slipping it into her backpack, “Not yet.”

“Oh, come on,” He laughs when she rolls her eyes at his pout and reaches into the dark space to pull out an old plastic lunchbox, along with a small flask that gets thrown in her bag without a second glance. “Boooo.”

“Patience,” She teases, opening the cracked lid to take all of the cash inside and stuffs it into the ziploc bag that doubles as a purse (“it’s cheap and waterproof, what more do I need?” was her argument when Kiara asked her why she didn’t have an actual handbag), which she then stuffs in her backpack. “We can get drunk after we get out of here.”

“You had me at ‘drunk,’“ He slides the floorboard back into place after Sailor tosses the empty lunchbox inside and then stands, pulling her up alongside him with his hand in hers, the other reaching out to grab the handle of her suitcase. “Ready when you are.”

The redhead takes one last look around her room, from the assortment of shells and pictures on one wall to her poster of Bethany Hamilton on the other and everything in between -her sanctuary for the longest time- before turning away from the familiar comfort of the old to face the enticing uncertainty of the new. “Let’s go.”

After a quick stop in the bathroom to grab her shampoo, conditioner, and toothbrush -no way in hell is she gonna share any of those with the boys- then the kitchen to grab some food for Binx and the cat himself from the back of the couch (surprisingly, he doesn’t put up much of a fight), they head outside and throw her suitcase and their backpacks in the bed of the truck along with her surfboard.

“John B’s probably gonna be pissed about the cat,” JJ says, leaning against the passenger door with his arms crossed, smirking as she gives him a flat look and unceremoniously dumps Binx onto the bench seat through the driver’s side window.

“Well, John B’s just gonna -stay, Binxy!- have to get used to it. I’m not leaving him behind.”

Across the street, Rachel perches on her porch as she watches the two teenagers with her beady little eyes and Sailor, feeling particularly defiant, grins wickedly. “J, watch this.” Waving to the woman to catch her attention she calls over the wind, “Hey, Rachel!” before slowly extending both middle fingers toward her, one at a time. “That one’s for my mom and this one’s for you, you nosy bitch!”

He instantly joins in and both hold their hands high, cackling with laughter, until the old crone scowls and slithers back into her house like the snake she is. “Good riddance,” the redhead says, opening the truck’s door and sliding behind the wheel, “Let’s blow this joint.”

“Joint?” JJ asks, climbing into the passenger seat and slamming the door behind him, Binx instantly curling up on his lap, “Did you say joint?”

“You and weed, I swear...” She laughs and goes to start the engine before she realizes she’s grasping at an empty ignition and lets her head fall against the steering wheel with a thunk, “Son of a bitch, I forgot my keys. I’ll be right back.”

Going back inside isn’t as hard as Sailor thought it would be, but leaving is a whole other ball game. She snatches her keys from the bathroom sink where she left them and heads back toward the front door; she’s just passing by their family portrait when it hits her: this is it, the last time in who knows how long she’ll be here. It’s now or never. She thinks of it as a weight on her shoulders, one that’s been dragging her down for far too long, like Atlas holding up the sky, but unlike him, she’s going to break the chains and set herself free.

In one final, sudden burst of years of anger and hurt and frustration, she rips the picture from the hook and smashes it to the floor, sending pieces of glass and wood skittering down the hall before striding from the house and all its memories without a backwards glance, slamming the door behind her with a resolute bang.

-

Surprisingly, John B doesn’t give a shit about the cat when they show up at the Chateau but he does give a shit about Sailor and her well-being after they give him a quick rundown of the afternoon’s happenings.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Sail?” He asks as he and JJ carry her bags into the house and deposit them in the spare room, the redhead trailing behind with Binx in her arms.

“That’s the age old question, bro,” She deflects with a shrug, taking a seat on the bed and setting the cat down beside her; he instantly takes off to explore his new home as she continues, “Who actually knows if they’re okay? What’s okay to one person can be completely different to another-”

“Sailor, seriously.”

She glances back and forth between the two boys -two sweet, caring boys- watching her with twin looks of understanding and relents. “Look, I’m still kind of...processing everything, alright? I’m not exactly sure what I’m feeling and I don’t know how long it’s gonna take for me to find out but I promise you,” She says softly, looking them both in the eye, “I’ll let you know if I’m not okay. Deal?”

JJ shoots her an enthusiastic thumbs up while John B opts for a simple nod and she grins before pulling the bottle of Jack Daniels from her backpack with a flourish. “Good. Now, I think we could all use a drink.”

The trio (and Binx, house thoroughly explored) bums around the living room while the afternoon slowly turns to evening, the wind outside getting worse with each passing hour the storm moves closer, passing the bottle back and forth until none of them are anywhere close to sober. What started as a game of truth or dare quickly dissolves into straight up truth as they get remarkably philosophical about what animal they’d want to be (an eagle for John B, a wolf for JJ, and to absolutely no one’s surprise, a dolphin for Sailor) and then have a deep, animated discussion about the best Star Wars movie and why it’s The Empire Strikes Back. Later, when the whiskey’s down to a few sips left and their collective demons have retreated to the very back of their minds, JJ drunkenly suggests playing strip poker and both Sailor and John B have to remind him that none of them a.) know how to play poker or b.) even own a deck of cards.

“Damn it!” The sly grin falls from his face when he realizes they’re right and he dejectedly sinks back into the couch, head coming to rest on the redhead’s shoulder. “I wanna see you take your clothes off, Flynn.”

She laughs loudly and grabs the bottle from his hand before taking a big sip and passing it to John B. “You’re gonna have to try harder than that, Maybank.” Whiskey, she found out few months ago, hits her hard: her filter? Gone. Blushing? Aside from the flush in her cheeks from the alcohol, gone. Self-consciousness? As long gone as her father. She’ll flirt her heart out without giving a single shit and it’s both a blessing and a curse, as well as an endless source of secondhand embarrassment in the morning.

“That’s okay, you know I like a challenge.” He declares with a wink, cracking up when she plants her hand directly on his face and pushes him off her shoulder as John B snorts and downs the last of the liquor without either of them noticing.

“Jesus, get a room,” He uses the empty bottle to point down the hall, then sets it on the side table with a hollow thunk as he leans back and stretches his arms above his head. “There’s one right there.”

Sailor gives him a swift kick in the shin with her bare foot for that, plus the shit-eating grin on his face. The trio lounges around for a little while longer, relaxing in a whiskey-induced haze; the redhead finds herself nodding off every so often, slipping back further and further until her head finds a place to rest on JJ’s lap and her legs end up on John B’s. The feel of fingers running through her hair is so feather light that she can barely keep her eyes open and before she knows it, she’s down for the count.

When she wakes some indefinite amount of time later the room is dark, the only light coming from the moon shining through the windows and John B’s gone from his spot by her feet, Binx curled up in a ball on the cushion instead. JJ��s dead asleep, hand stalled in her curls and the sight of his head tipped back against the couch with his mouth slightly open is so damn endearing that she can’t help but smile, even as she reaches a hand up to gently shake his shoulder.

“J, wake up.”

“Five more minutes.” He groans, free hand sluggishly pushing her arm away. Sailor sits up and swivels to face him before shaking him again, giggling quietly at the way his head lolls from side to side.

“Come on, the bed’s way comfier than this.”

Sleepy blue eyes open to give her a heavy look that screams both gratification and longing and so much hope as he quips, “You just want me in your bed again, don’t you?”

She reverently rolls her eyes but reaches to grab his hands anyway and pulls him to his feet, both swaying in place before they find their balance. “And if I do?”

The corner of his mouth rises in a small, adorable smile as his fingers entwine with hers. “I’d say that’s right where I want to be.”

“Well, you’re in luck ‘cause that’s where I want you to be, too.” Still a little bit tipsy, her words are honest, sincere, and as she leads him down the hall, she realizes that old saying is true: drunk words are sober thoughts. After three weeks sharing a home, a room, a bed, she just doesn’t think she can sleep without him anymore and that belief doesn’t quite scare her as much as she thought it would.

Lying wrapped up in his arms in the dark, Sailor finds herself dreaming of a future -as much of a future an impoverished, quasi-homeless, not-quite alright, not-quite-seventeen year old can dream of- with the damaged boy that holds oceans in his eyes.

-

A few miles away, Carmen Flynn sits on her daughter’s bed with a broken picture frame in her hands as she cries, all alone in an empty house with no idea how to make things okay again.

-

let me know what you think! also, fun fact: sailor compares her short-term memory to a chimp because studies have shown that chimpanzees are the absolute worst at remembering things, not goldfish as we previously thought (they can remember things for at least five months, compared to chimps who, despite their similarities to humans, forget things in about twenty seconds). sailor, being a zoology nerd, would definitely find that fascinating and make it her mission to educate the masses that goldfish aren’t that stupid jj finds it both adorable and kind of hot

taglist ❤: @sinkbeneathwaves​ @jiaraendgame​ @hmsjiara​ @obxsummer​ @maysbanks​ @alexa-playafricabytoto​ @sunflowerbecca​ @obxlife​ @obx-adventures​ @sexualparkour​ @coltonparayyko​ @miawantsapuppy​ @jjmaybanky​ @ethereallust​

[garbage-tozier]

honorary loser (fictober!)

prompt number: 12 - “what if i don’t see it?”

fandom: it (losers club x reader)

rating: e for everyone

warnings: bowers almost cuts you, so just the usual

word count: 1.2k

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

"you're a fuck up!" bowers spat in your face. "no wonder your mommy didn't stick around," he had you pinned to the wall behind the school, his face a mere two inches from yours. "gimme my knife,"

"but-"

"give me the fucking knife!" he turned away from you briefly to glare at his friends, and you took your chance, kneeing him in the crotch as quickly as possible.

as soon as he released your wrists, you bolted for your bike, fumbling it at first, but eventually getting it off the ground.

"get her, dumbasses!" bowers cried from the floor- but he was too late. you were already a couple of yards away on your bike, and as soon as you got going fast enough, there was no way anyone on foot was gonna catch you.

that was a week ago. now, bowers had you, once again, pinned down- but this time was different. this time, bowers had you on the floor, and was sitting on you. this time, there was no way you were getting out of this one.

"where should i write my name, boys?" he laughed, looking to his friends. "on her face, i'm thinking,"

he traced your cheekbone lightly with the knife as you whimpered. as scared as you were, you were determined not to cry.

just as bowers began to go in for the first letter, a sound that was not unlike a war cry came from somewhere behind the two of you. he looked up and locked eyes with a bespectacled boy in an obnoxious hawaiian shirt. behind the boy were six other children, all of them around your age.

the boy looked down at you, winking through his chunky glasses. "hey, bowers," he turned his attention back on your assailant.

"richie-" there was only one girl in the group. she stepped forward, pulling her friend back. he yanked his arm from her.

"stop it, bevvy, i know what i'm doing."

you stared at bowers, watching as the scowl on his face grew larger the longer he looked at this group of children.

"so, bowers," said richie, taking the smallest step closer. "i was talking to your boyfriend a minute ago- patrick, is it? he said he'd like you a lot better if you cut that fucking mul-"

in an instant, bowers was off of you, and getting to his feet to charge the kid. the boy had a plan though, apparently. "bikes!" he yelled, ducking down to the ground.

you stood hastily and ran for your bike, not looking back until after you'd mounted. richie was pelting bowers with rocks, while his friends got onto their bikes like you had.

"richie!" the shortest of the seven yelled. you steered your bike over to where the other children were, waiting for their friend.

richie threw the last of his rocks at bowers before dashing to his bike and getting on as quickly as possible.

it was a miracle the bowers gang hadn't caught you all. you followed the kids on your bike, and now the eight of you were sitting in some nearby field you'd found.

"what's your name?" one boy asked you. "i'm mike. hanlon."

"y/n y/l/n," you said, smiling at him. you squinted under the sun's harsh rays, trying to look at the people who'd saved you.

"i'm beverly marsh," the girl said to you. “these guys call me bev though,” you nodded, turning your eyes to the curly haired boy who was seated next to her.

"stan uris." he said quickly. "and this is richie tozier," he pointed to the boy next to him, the boy with the glasses.

"hey! i can introduce myself,"

"no you can't," stan retorted, rolling his eyes. richie shrugged, turning his attention to the boy beside him, waiting with an excited look in his eyes.

"eddie-"

"spaghetti!" richie cut him off, grinning widely. he draped his arm dramatically around the other boy's shoulder, drawing him in closer. eddie rolled his eyes, shrugging richie's arm off of him.

"kaspbrak," he finished. though he was glaring at richie, a small smile still danced on his lips.

"i'm b-b-bill," the boy beside eddie said. "bill denb-brough. sorry about m-my stutter, i-"

"it's fine," you waved your hand dismissively. "i barely even noticed it, dude, you're totally fine,"

he smiled at you. "thanks," you nodded eagerly, returning the smile. you saw richie and stan exchange looks.

"i'm ben hanscom," the boy next to you said quietly, smiling at you slightly. "bowers cut me too,"

"twinsies!" you exclaimed, grinning and holding your fist out to him. he laughed, giving you the fist bump.

"have you seen it yet?" richie said quickly, interrupting your interaction with ben. you looked at him, tilting your head slightly as you allowed a look of confusion to wash over your face. "the clown, i mean,"

"the circus clown? that's not really my kind of thi-"

"no, he m-means pennywise," bill chimed in, cutting your sentence short. "p-pennywise the d-dancing clown,"

you shook your head. "i don't know what you mean," you said, your eyes darting from one face to another. "i haven't seen any-"

"we think it's what's killing kids," mike said, interrupting you yet again.. "has anything scary happened to you lately?"

you shook your head again. if it weren't for the serious looks on everyone's faces, you would've thought they were playing a joke on you.

"well, if you hang around us long enough, you'll see it eventually," richie told you. "all you have to do is join the losers club. i mean, only if you want to, obvi-"

bev reached over stan and took his hand. "rich, it's okay," she smiled at him. "no one here thinks you're clingy,"

"but-"

"we l-love you, rich," said bill, smiling too. richie nodded, pushing his glasses up with his finger.

"okay," he said, smiling at the ground. he looked back up at you. "so do you want to join the losers club?"

"what if i don't see it?" you said. "what if i say yes, and we become friends, and then i'm the only one who hasn't seen it?"

"don't worry," ben said. you looked over at him, aware of the deep worry that trained your features. "like richie said, if you're around us, you'll see it soon enough."

"and until then, you can be an honorary loser," stan added, smiling at you.

"you're lucky, honestly. i bet all of us wish we hadn't seen it," said ben. "but you'll be the special one!" 

"besides richie, of course," stan remarked, earning a laugh from the others. richie rolled his eyes, grinning too.

"touche, touche," he laughed.

"oh, shit, it's about to be seven," eddie said loudly, bring the laughter to a halt as he stared down at his watch.

"yeah, eds, because we follow the curfew," bev smiled, leaning over to poke him in the side.

"no, no! what i'm saying is that it's gonna take us a long time to get back home, so we'd better start now so we aren't even later,"

"he's g-got a point," bill said, joining eddie in standing. "plus, if we start now, we might have enough t-time for ice cream,"

the rest of you stood too, and you all walked over to your bikes. "wait 'til you see our hang out," ben grinned at you.

"i'd love to," you said, mounting your bike. 

"who knows," you thought to yourself. "i might kind of like being an honorary loser,"

[sapphalon]

Operation: Much Needed Break

“This story exists very close to us in both time and space - AND IN MY HEART - it tells of an operator who took a day off to spend with the people of Cetus. Seeing the sights, relaxing and - BEING VERY GAY - interacting with the locals”

Get ready to meet my Warframe OCs. They’re my little girls and I love them very much

“Are you sure about this, Operator?” Ordis asked, as his process continued to calculate everything wrong with this plan.

“Relax, Ordis, everything is gonna turn out fine” Operator Vayah answered casually as she made minor adjustments to her outfit. Everything had to be perfect if she was gonna pull this off, but she couldn’t let Ordis know how nervous she really was. She wasn’t gonna let that over protective cube know he was right “Besides. If everything goes wrong Umbra can still come help me”

The warframe just shook his head in clear disapproval, but Vayah knew he would help her anyway. He was even more protective than Ordis and he wasn’t gonna let his operator do anything silly.

Satisfied with her new look - more of a interplanetary hitchhiker and less of her usual “golden warrior” look - Vayah went over the plan again “If this is to work I need no distractions. Ordis, you should block all incoming communications. If it isn’t an alert I don’t wanna know. Umbra, you should divert attention away from me should anything happen and keep any Tenno from giving away my identity. Understood?” They both looked at her disapprovingly one more time - which was a feat considering neither of them had faces - but nodded in agreement. Vayah just smiled and prepared for her mission. Operation: Much needed break

She stepped out from the rocks she was hiding behind and begun her walk towards the Cetus open market. Those first moments were the most intense as she feared recognition, but all her worries melted away at the first “Lok heb, Offworlder” the absence of ‘Surah’ made it clear that no one recognized her.

That handled the Ostron, but the Tenno wouldn’t be so easy. A massive, hot pink Rhino made its way towards her and extend his hand for a handshake. Some of the locals gave her curious looks as she tried to get out of the Warframe’s way and pretend she had no idea who the bright pink dumbass was. She couldn’t be any more grateful for her Excalibur when he quickly stepped between the two of them and shake the Rhino’s hand for her.

With that scare out of the way and Umbra walking away with that flamboyant Rhino, Vayah was finally free to do as she wanted. She bought masks and decorations for her ship from Nakak, she shared fishing stories with Hai-Luk, she played pretend with the local kids - She couldn’t play the Tenno, but she had fun playing THE Kela De Thayn - and she heard crazy stories from Konzu. By the end of the day it felt like she had met all her Ostron friends for the first time once again. Without the burden of heroism she could finally get to really know them and as the sun set there was only one thing left in her to do list.

She sat down by the pier and watched as the last rays of sunlight reflecting off the golden particles that slowly drifted down from the great Orokin tower. For a brief moment she felt like the whole world was enveloped by this cloud of pure golden beauty. She spun around and giggled, her happiness barely contained as she watched the beautiful city framed in even more beautiful light and right in the middle of all of this she caught the most breathtaking of all sights.

A simple Ostron girl, in simple clothes and a chef’s apron, walking towards the many workers, carrying a basket with her. She looked tired, but carried herself with determination and a smile that could push away the darkest clouds. It was only the shouts of the nearby children that broke her from this trance “The Offworlder has a crush on Ora-ka” She cringed so hard she almost returned to her warframe on reflex. “Please, Void, don’t let the cute girl hear this” she prayed quietly.

Vayah carefully approached the girl as she offered the contents of her basket to the tired dock workers, every time Ora-ka looked her way Vayah had to resist her urge to step into the void and return to her ship. “Come on. You’ve fought Sentients 10 times your size. You can talk to girl” Oh who was she kidding? The way of the mountain didn’t teach anything about how to interact with normal people. She wondered if any of the schools taught you how to be normal.

She was once again snapped back to reality, but this time by shouts of warning. The world seemed to slow down as years of training kicked into gear. Find the treat and stand against it. The treat in this case was a piece of Unum flesh falling off from one of the balloons flying around the tower and threatening to land right on top of Ora-ka.

Flesh turned into thought and bone intro dream. Her body left the reality of absolutes and plunged into the abstract void. There she took a single step forward, but that step covered more ground that any leap she could’ve taken and in a single second she was right besides Ora-ka. Her body became flesh and bone once again and she tackled the girl out from under the falling pile of tower-meet.

“Ai yo” the girl said, looking up to her “You saved my life” Vayah just nodded. Now that they were no longer in danger her brain turned into mush at her closeness to the Ostron girl. Ora-ka giggled before adding “You can get off me now” 

Oh void. If the Stalker could show up and just finish her off right now she would just embrace her fate. Vayah quickly stood up and avoided eye contact at all cost, but still extended a hand to help Ora-ka up “M-my bad”

Ora-ka giggled once again “I saw you playing with the kids earlier. I knew you’d fit the role of a hero much better than whoever they had you playing” Ora-ka rummaged through her basket and handed Vayah one of her sweets “Here. For saving me” Vayah could only mumble her thanks as she watched Ora-ka walk off.

As night fell she returned to her base of operations - also known as a big rock by the docks - to find Umbra already waiting for her. He was now adorned by several bright pink glyphs - Gifts from that Rhino no doubt - and gave a curious look towards the sweet in her hand

“I got it from an Ostron girl. Her name is Ora-ka” Vayah's voice carried far more excitement than she was planning to share and she hoped that Ordis wasn’t listening in or she wouldn’t hear the end of it.

“An Ostron girl you say?” The appearance of Ordis’ holographic cube shattered all of her hopes “I did not know you were planning on - GETTING BUSY - socializing, Operator, but it is clear that you did not need my help. You’ve even acquired her contact frequency after all”

“What?” she shouted as she turned around the wrapping on her hand. Holy crap, she got her contact frequency. Her joy at that discovery could only be matched by her shame as Excalibur Umbra gave her a thumbs up. Vayah had the worst dads.

[moviesmakethegirl]

IT (2017)

Directed by Andy Muchietti, this movie is my favorite movie of 2017. I'm a huge horror nerd, as of lately, and this movie really hit a nerve within me that made each viewing of this movie brand new. Stephen King is a mastermind, and this is probably his most thought out and imaginative of his works that I'm familiar with. I've never read the behemoth of a novel that is IT, but my boyfriend has listened to it and has told me all the difference between the book and the movie and honestly, this remake is pretty true to the book. I love that. So without further ado, let's get started.

This story starts out on a rainy day with the most melancholic piano medley I could possibly imagine. Like, the mom couldn't have picked a more upbeat song to play? It's raining, you have two sons, it's the 80s, play some fucking Ray Charles or something. Bill and Georgie are upstairs making a paper boat. It's adorable because Georgie keeps calling the boat a "him" and Bill keeps correcting him. In my mind, Bill is such a feminist. Bill is sick and doesn't want to go out into the rain to play with Georgie so he takes a literal rain check and sends his little tiny brother out into the world to play all by himself while his mom is still playing that scary ass song on the piano and basically doesn't notice that her son is out in the rain all by himself. DISCLAIMER: FUCK THE PARENTS IN DERRY. So of course like any young lad would, he loses control of his boat and surprise it goes into a storm drain. Unlike every other kid in the goddamn world, Georgie looks into the drain to try and save the boat. Now, who shows up out of thin air? IT aka Pennywise the DANCING clown ahahahahah. Look, yes it's terrifying that a clown just appeared in a storm drain but this clown is played by the not so surprisingly talented Bill Skarsgard. Now, if you're like me, you spend the majority of your adolescence being obsessed with Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman in True Blood. So, when I found out his little brother was gonna play one of the most iconic roles in horror history, I was stoked. Talent runs in the veins of all the Skarsgard's who have turned into this generations Barrymore's. SOOOO now Pennywise has been introduced and he's scary as hell. He's drooling, he's smiling all sinister like, and asking Georgie if he can smell the popcorn. I feel like that is strike number 2 on Georgie's part cause even as a kid, you know that popcorn doesn't belong in a fucking storm drain. So, Pennywise is all I HAVE YOUR BOAT and Georgie is all YEAAHH GIVE IT TO ME and Pennywise is like TAKE. IT. (honestly a great line I repeat all the time) an so little naive baby Georgie reaches in and gets his goddamn arm bitten off by an inter-dimensional being dressed as a clown. But see, my biggest issue with this scene isn't Georgie's complete lack of stranger danger that was pounded into my being as a kid, but it's this goddamn old bitch lady who is outside the ENTIRE TIME Georgie is talking to a clown in a storm drain. This bitch sees a young boy talking to a storm drain and shrugs it off. And it's raining, so apparently the sound of the pouring rain is supposed to drown out the noise of Georgie screaming while crawling in the street without an arm? BULLSHIT. This bitch and her dumbass cat do NOTHING and I blame her for every missing kid in Derry. (If some of you reading this have read the book, you completely understand why the elders of Derry are such assholes, but that doesn't make me any less pissed off that all of them are fucking idiots.)

Ok, so now it's the end of the school year. Bill and his bffs Richie, Eddie, and Stanley have officially left their last class of the day and are excited to start summer vacation before the 8th grade. This is my favorite cause these children actors are the best part of this movie. Bill is played by Jaeden Lieberher who is so convincing as Bill that I legit thought he stuttered in real life. Eddie is played by the charismatic and humorous as fuck Jack Dylan Grazer. Stanley is played Wyatt Oleff, who is a very good voice of reason for dumb teenage boys. But the best character and best actor in this movie is Finn Wolfhard who plays Richie. And maybe I'm biased because I'm a die hard Stranger Things fan, but seriously, Richie is a scene stealing character who can only be played by someone as engaging as Finn. Literally, couldn't love a group of actors more than the ones who play the kids in this movie. All of them, pure perfection, nailed their performances, and were the light in such a dark story. So moving on, while the boys are being boys and talking about their private parts and the other missing children of Derry cause yeah, it's totally normal for a town to always have missing kids. So the other main antagonist besides all the adults in this town and Pennywise, is this bully named Henry Bowers and his goons. Now, bear with me here, but this movie would be nothing without Henry. He's your typical small town bully who just pulls backpacks and bless his heart, gave Bill the year off of being bullied since he lost his little brother. But now that the school year is over, Bill is fair game again. Henry's father is the town's sheriff, so there's a sense of "my father is an asshole and all hyper masculine and I have big shoes to fill" blah blah blah bully shit. So after we see the losers get picked on we are then introduced to the CUTE AS FUCK Ben. Ben is played by a boy named Jeremy Ray Taylor and this kid has got such a bright future. I wanna hug and mentor and hang out with this kid so bad. So Ben is the New Kid on the Block who you guessed it, listens to New Kids on the Block. He is approached by Beverly Marsh, who earlier was being bullied herself by the female version of Henry Bowers who honestly isn't super important and I'm not gonna waste any more time writing about her right now. Beverly puts her charm on 10 here and signs Ben's yearbook after finding out no one else did. She gives him shit for listening to NKOTB, which HEY NKOTB is a national treasure and how dare anyone make fun of anyone for listening to them. Ben then walks home with his headphones dragging behind his bike cause he's so enamored by Beverly and it's just CUTE.

Then we meet Mike Hanlon, who we actually probably meet before the last of school. He works on a farm with his grandpa and theres a scene where he has to kill a sheep but can't do it, cause he has HUMANITY! Mike makes deliveries into town and that's where we see him next. He goes into an alley behind the butcher, only for Pennywise to get his kicks. It starts with Mike seeing smoke come out from the door and then burned hands start trying to open the door fully but can't. Then the door is thrown open and there's a silhouette of a clown in chains trying to escape only to STAND THE FUCK UP AND STARE AT MIKE WHILE HIS EYES GLOW. Mike just fucking stands there staring back like RUNNNNN MIKE!!!!!! Thankfully, maybe not, but Henry Bowers and friends pull up and scream at Mike to leave their town and throw their cigarettes at him, but when Mike looks back into the door only the butcher is there asking if he is alright. It's a short scene but by god if I don't scream my little heart out for Mike every single time I watch it.

So now the kiddos, Stanley, Bill, Eddie, and Richie, are all down at the Barren's to try to find where Georgie went missing. Eddie, the hypochondriac, is complaining about the piss water that they are standing in and refuses to go in. Richie makes fun of him and it's honestly, hilarious. I'm gonna use that word a lot. Even though this is a horror movie, it's actually one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. And not in a it's funny because it's so cheesy, it's funny because it's young teenage kids being scared and dealing with that fear by undercutting it with humor. GOD I JUST LOVE IT! Anyways, during this time, Ben is in the library being a little bookworm. The librarian kind of gives him shit for not having friends and he should be playing outside which is bullshit since basically every older woman I've ever met as a kid was always like "you kids need to calm down" and "you should read more" blah blah blah. It just seems like every generation has a problem with a younger generation and honestly, fuck that but that's a conversation for another time. So, Ben starts reading about the history of Derry which is HORRIBLE! There was a huge fire on Easter which killed a bunch of children and he sees pictures of children's heads in trees like, fucked up shit. AND while he is reading all of this, there's another old bitch standing behind him, almost off screen, STARING AT HIM THE WHOLE TIME. The first time we saw this in theaters, David pointed this out to me and I was like "that's creepy" and the more I see this scene, the more it freaks me out. Some people overlooked this part, but it's probably the scariest part of the movie. So now that Ben has unlocked the town's secrets, he is lured to the basement by Easter eggs that are smoking. Down in the archives, he sees someone walking down the stairs and guess what it is? A HEADLESS CHILD cause if children weren't already scary enough, let's just not give them heads, right??? This headless bitch chases him through the archives and then you hear my second favorite line of the entire movie. Whispered is, "HEY EGGBOY." And Ben turns around to find Pennywise chasing him. Ben runs into the old librarian, and then runs away crying and of course, she doesn't ask what is wrong. Poor Ben just can't catch a break cause once he gets outside the library, Henry is waiting for him. The boy band take the sad, scared Ben out to a bridge where Henry says he's gonna carve his name into Ben's stomach, which is so fucked up, but so totally Stephen King, I get it. Of course, adults drive by while Ben is screaming for help and they don't do anything and it makes me want to cut their break lines but whatever. Ben totally escapes though, but not before having an H carved into his little squishy belly, and follows the creek to the Barrens where he finds the other boys. The boys being perfect take Ben back into town to try to clean him up. While they are doing that, Henry and his back up singers are searching for Ben in the Barrens. One of the goons, Patrick, goes into the sewers with a lighter and hairspray, only to find all the dead kids that Pennywise has eaten and then died himself which thank fuck. One down, three more to go.

While Ben is bleeding in an alley, Eddie is complaining about medical questions while Richie won't stop talking about penis'. They run into a pharmacy to get stuff for Ben only to realize they don't have enough money so in walks sweet Beverly who is scared to buy tampons for the first time. She flirts with the old gross man behind the counter and knocks over a tray of something so the boys can run out of the store with their shit. She also grabs a pack of cigarettes for herself cause she's amazing and should be my best friend. The boys thank her, and she becomes "one of the boys." Her home life though, guys. It's horrible. Her father is grade A creep status and is all mad that she is buying tampons cause he wants her to stay his little girl forever and she gets all emotional and cuts off all her hair in retaliation. So, the next day, all the boys are at some cliff about to jump off it into the lake below but are all being chicken about. Beverly comes through in new hair do and jumps off the cliff, showing all the boys up, while Richie yells "FUCKING HELL" and it's comical and amazing and you're lying if you don't think Beverly Marsh is the coolest girl you've ever seen. She also looks EXACTLY like Amy Adams, if Amy was 13. The kids have a fun day in the lake, playing chicken, being young teenagers. Ben then brings up the history of Derry and brings the kids back to his rooms which is covered in old pages of books with old pictures and maps about Derry. There's also a huge NKOTB poster on the back of his door that only Beverly notices. Ben describes the history of Derry to the kids, which is every 27 years a bunch of random kids go missing and no one does anything about it!

Now, each kid has a run in with Pennywise in their own way. And I'm totally going out of order with this movie cause I'm writing this just based off my memory, but somewhere in the beginning we see Stanley trying to memorize stuff in Hebrew. He isn't doing too well so his dad makes him put the book back in his office and go home. In his father's office there’s a scary painting of a woman with a weird shaped head. Stanley doesn't like it, and it falls off the wall. When he puts it back on the wall, the woman is gone. He turns around the woman is standing like 10 feet taller than him and starts to chase him. So, we know that Stanley's fear is definitely this strange painting woman. Ben's is headless kids. Mike's is people burning in a fire, cause we do learn at some point that his parents died in a fire and he tried to save them but he couldn't and that plagues him. Beverly's scene is when she is in the bathroom by herself and she hears voices coming from her sink drain so instead of running the fuck out of the bathroom she grabs her dad's tape measure and pushes it down the drain only for it to come up with blood and hair that then wraps itself around her and sprays blood all over her and the bathroom. When her screams lure her dad into the room, he doesn't see the blood and she's freaking out. I'm assuming that means her fear is blood...but maybe it's just voices of dead kids. So then Eddie is walking home by himself one afternoon and it's his pill time, cause his mom is an overbearing homebody who makes him take pills for everything. He drops his pills because he is walking past a house that is run down and looks scary but has really cute sunflowers in the front yard that make it look kinda kitschy. When he is picking up his pills, he notices a hand helping him and looks up to find basically a zombie leper staring at him. He runs into the front yard of the scary house and is about to leave through a hole in the fence when he notices that a clown is standing with a bunch of balloons by the house. Pennywise shows his face and asks Eddie to play with him, saying the infamous "We all float down here!" Eddie is beyond traumatized and runs screaming through the fence. Eddie's fear being germs and being sick.

So the kids are riding their bikes through the town and notice an abandoned bike off the side of the road next to Henry Bowers' car. They recognize it as Mike's bike and go down to the quarry to find him. Henry and the remaining living boy banders are beating up Mike when Henry gets hit in the head with a rock that we see is thrown by none other than the Queen herself, Beverly fucking Marsh. Richie screams "ROCK WAR" and it starts a very comedic scene of all the youngsters throwing rocks at each other while saving Mike in the process. This then completes the Losers Club: Bill, Richie, Eddie, Stanley, Beverly, Ben, and Mike. MY DREAM TEAM HONESTLY! The most badass group of kids ever besides the Hawkins kids in Stranger Things. They go to Bill's garage where he has slides of the maps of the sewer systems of Derry. The kids are sitting in the dark looking at maps when all of a sudden, the slides start moving on their own and of course Pennywise pops out and terrorizes the kids and audience members by being 17 feet tall. The kids scream and cry until Mike opens the garage door and instead of fleeing for their lives and never talking to each other again like I would have done as a scared teenager, they fucking go to the old abandoned house where the well that connects all the sewers is located. Once there, Bill, Eddie, and Richie go inside the house after Bill gives a huge speech about not being afraid of monsters cause real life is more terrifying than any of that which he didn't stutter at all during and I'm such a proud older sister to all these kids, but especially Bill in that moment. Richie finds a missing kid poster that has his face on it and freaks out, rightfully so. The other boys calm him down and they move on. Eddie gets separated, Bill and Richie are locked in a room with black goop coming out from an old mattress and then Richie gets locked in a room full of clown statues only to have Pennywise jump out and scare him but Bill saves him in time. Pennywise then goes to scare Eddie who passed out from fear and fell through  hole in the ground and landed on a table and broke his arm. He comes out of a fridge and rubs Eddie's face in the style of Heath Ledger's Joker. He's then distracted by Bill and Richie who has escaped their room full of fears above and are screaming for Eddie. They find Eddie underneath Pennywise and of course, freak out. But then, here comes my true savior, Beverly takes an old pipe and enters through the back door and stabs Pennywise in the fucking FACE! GIRL YAAAASSSSS!!!! She's terrified but she saves the day. Richie then tries to pop Eddie's arm back into place which then breaks it even more than it already is and it's a very comical part of such a scary scene. Of course Eddie's mom flips a tit and doesn't let Eddie hang out with the crew anymore. The Losers Club kind of disbands for a bit after Bill and Richie get into a fight about how dangerous all this is. Bill wants to keep going cause the closer he gets to figuring all this out, the closer her gets to finding out what happened to Georgie. Everyone ends up leaving Bill, except Beverly but even then they part ways for a little bit.

When Bill has his Pennywise encounter which is totally before all of the stuff I just wrote, he sees a ghost of Georgie running through his house and then into the basement. He follows him down there only for Pennywise to come out of the water and try to grab him which he gets really close to doing but Bill is fast. NOW, while everyone is doing their own shit, Bill goes over to Beverly's house only to find out that she has been taken by Pennywise. Now, before she was kidnapped, her father was being a real fucking douche bag. He was mad at her for hanging out with boys and was chasing her though their house. She hid behind the shower curtain with the top of a toilet and smacked him over the head and killed him. My angel. Immediately after that, Pennywise took her. So, Bill has to save her. He calls everyone to tell them watch happened and they all meet back at the weird house to go down the well. So, during this time Eddie has realized that his mom was giving him placebo pills. He calls her out on him but he says, and I fucking quote this straight from the movie guys, "They're GAZEBOS. They're BULLSHIT!" And if you have a heart, Eddie becomes the world's best character right in that moment. He also had the bully bitch who was bulling Beverly in the beginning sign his cast and she wrote LOSER in big ass black letters. He then wrote over the S and put a big V on it so it would say LOVER instead. So cute. So pure. Eddie forever.

Now, we're at the climax. (I've skipped a lot of little details because if I didn't this post would be too long.) The boys all get into hero mode while going down this sketchy ass well. Mike is the last one to go down but is stopped by Henry fucking Bowers, who previously to this was targeted by Pennywise but not in a scare to death kind of way, in a recruitment way. Pennywise gave Henry his father's knife to kill his father and then brainwashed him into killing everyone else. He even kills his friends in a deleted scene, fun fact. So Henry, all jacked up on killer clown rage, is trying to kill Mike with a gun that's used to killing sheep by shooting a really big like screw-like bolt into their head. Mike, being the hero we all know he can be, throws Henry off of him and pushes him down the well! YAYAYAYAYAYAY! All while the boys are stuck in the well screaming for Mike. But, good prevails and they all go into the sewers only to lose Stanley who has wandered off cause he hears a woman's voice and thinks it's Beverly but alas it's not! It's that skewed bitch from the painting who wraps her whole mouth around his face and starts to suck. Mike shoots something at the creature and it slinks away into the tunnels as Pennywise. Stanley throws a fit cause his friend's ditched him which they DID NOT HE LEFT THEM but still, he was just getting his face sucked by a monster so he is totally ok to have a meltdown. Bill then sees Georgie in the tunnels and goes running after him who then leads him to where Beverly is. Beverly is where all the dead floating kids are. The boys pull her down before she can truly float and they don't know how to wake her up but Ben steps in and kisses her and IT WORKS! So now all the kids are confronted by Pennywise, who takes Bill and says they can all escape if they leave Bill. Bill begs them to leave but Richie refuses and says "...now I have to kill this fucking clown." So all the kids grab blunt objects and start beating the FUUUUCK out of Pennywise. Pennywise then turns into Georgie and Bill takes that bolt gun thing and shoots him in the fucking forehead, which causes Pennywise to change back into clown form and slink even further into the abyss. THE KIDS PREVAILED! SUCH STRONG ROLEMODLES!!!!!

The end of the movie is the entire Losers Club standing in a field promising each other that if IT ever comes back, they will fight it and kill it for good. They take a blood oath and one by one they all start to leave. Beverly and Bill are the last two and they share a cute, albeit gross as fucking moment by sharing a kiss. It's gross to me cause Beverly has blood all over her hand and she grabs Bill's face and her blood is all over his face it's fucking nasty. But everything is ok at the end, but you know that's only CHAPTER 1!

So, as far as IT goes, it's my favorite because I love the kids in it. The kids are incredible actors. They have the perfect balance of humor and horror and it's not over the top for either of them. The director really let the kids bond before filming and it shows. They are real friends so that friendship perfectly crosses over to the screen. I remember being 12-13, friendship was the most important thing to me. I would have done anything to save my friends from a monster. This story gives life to characters who are damaged and real. Stephen King hit it on the fucking nail with these characters. I'm so happy this movie this exists because it's just the beginning. Chapter 2 is about how IT comes back when these characters are adults, and I can't wait until that movie. If I could cast the adult versions, Patrick Wilson would be Bill, Chris Pratt would be Ben, Amy Adams would be Beverly, Bill Hader would be Richie, and I honestly don't know who would play Eddie or Stanley, but I think that Chadwick Boseman should play Mike. That would be the dream. If you also enjoyed this movie, I'd love to hear who you would like to see cast in Chapter 2 and also hear your opinions on it as well!

AGAIN NONE OF THESE PICTURES ARE MINE. I DO NOT CLAIM CREDIT FOR THEM.

[charis-chan]

“Alex, no!” “Alex, YES!”

Beta love to @reinakonanofate for making this readable. 

And, we gotta love Lucy :D

Read on AO3

“Come help us deal with your stupid sister.”

Alex’s girlfriend hangs up on you before you can even say “hi” and you sigh.

“Sorry, Lee,” you say to your companion of the night. “I’m needed elsewhere.”

Lena nods and she signals for the check to arrive. “Super problems?” She asks low, too low to be heard by other than you.

You groan. “More like sister problems.”

The way your almost girlfriend's eyes widen at that warms your heart. “Is she alright? Was she hurt?”

You smile. “No. I don’t think so at least… they were going to try a new prototype tonight and I think Alex is poking her nose around… that was Luce. She is pissed.”

Lena’s brows furrow. “… Wait a moment… Alex is trying a new prototype and she didn’t tell me?!”

The indignation in her voice is cute, but it would be cuter if Lena and Alex weren’t such a volatile duo with explicit orders to never be on their own within the DEO. The order was given by both Directors, Lane and J’onzz, and you think wiser order hadn’t ever been given.

Lena and Alex, together, alone… not a good combo, no sir.

“More like Vasquez and Lucy are trying a new prototype and Alex got word about it at last minute.”

The vibrant excitement in your date sits ill with you. “Oh! What are they testing?”

“I don’t know.” And if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you, you think. You really don’t need Lena getting the idea she can come al-

“I’m coming with you,” Lena declares as she passes her card to the waiter.

“No.”

The raised eyebrow sent your way looks eerily like Alex’s. “I’m not asking you. I’m informing you.”

You stand up then. “I’m leaving now. I’m not taking you.” You turn and head to the door, not looking back.

You can almost hear the shrug on her voice, still low but so easily heard by you. “By all means, go. I’ll drive there on my own and you won’t be invited to the gala. Neither of your alter egos will be.”

That stops you short, just a foot from exiting the restaurant. L-Corp is housing a gala to raise donations towards several orphanages and this year promises to be amazing. Not only did Lena invite several of the major players in the philanthropy scene, she also invited all the kids the donations are going to help. The event is planned not so much like a gala, but a fair for kids and adults alike and the goal is to bring the money in while having fun.

Kara Danvers needs to be there to report on it, Snapper made sure to tell you that just today and Supergirl was promised her weight in potstickers and wants to play with all the children.

“This is so not fair,” you inform Lena as she comes stand next to you once the bill is settled.

“All is fair in love and science.”

“Don’t you mean all is fair in love and war?”

You have reached an alley and you super-speed into your uniform. Lena comes close to you and lets herself be picked up bridal style.

“Oh, no… Didn’t you hear I only make love and never war?” The purring words in your ear makes your face boil in embarrassment and not a little desire.

Rao, with any luck you will stop resembling a tomato by the time you arrive at the Desert Base.

XxXxX

“Alex!”

Hearing your sister’s name being yelled with such anger and exasperation shouldn’t be such a surprise. Lucy called you beyond mad, after all.

You and Lena enter the hangar and you can see Lucy in the middle of the open space, staring upwards and with her hands on her hips. She’s so tiny and yet she can fill up the space with that commanding air that makes you want to obey no matter what and you wonder how is it that Alex can date her.

Sure, your sister has so much fun most of the time pushing her buttons, but you’d get scared with a partner like Lucy. Once you raised your concerns to Lena about how Alex loves making Lucy angry and your friend got so flustered and you were left so confused.

Lucy gets really upset and Alex loves it… but well, the bruises you have seen on Alex’s wrists and back bothers you and it’s just because both Alex and Lena have told you on numerous occasions that they mean nothing bad that you haven’t acted against Lucy.

Also, you like Lucy. And you like that Lucy has mellowed Alex’s most reckless tendencies. She no longer charges on into battle without regard for her own safety, she no longer drinks herself to the point her liver and kidneys are gross (yes, you have checked with your x-ray vision) and she is no longer sad all the time.

Lucy is good for your sister… even if you don’t understand how Lucy interacts with her.

“I’m almost there! I need ten more minutes!” You can’t see where Alex is, yet, but she sounds like she’s having a little too much fun.

“If you do don’t come down right now, you will be tied up for the whole weekend!”

You frown at that and when you turn to Lena to help you understand, you can’t find her.

You sigh. Of course, she is gone who knows where now that you are here.

“Hey, Luce!” you call to your friend. “What’s the emergency?”

Lucy turns and the scowl on her face lessens a little. “Your dumbass sister,” she informs you plainly. She points up and you follow her finger.

The hangar’s ceiling is high, really high. This is the hangar you use to train flying maneuvers and the one where J’onn and you have aerial fights. It’s also the one where agents learn to use the diverse flying machines the DEO have at its disposal, such as small rockets, gliders, and small aircraft. You don’t know how they managed to build such a high and resistant thing, but you at least now know why Lucy is so pissed.

Alex is sitting in the catwalk that runs across the hangar with her legs dangling down, a catwalk so high that it almost touches the ceiling and you know from experience that you need to walk hunched to not hit your head. She is in what you think is her issued underwear, a tank top and boy briefs, her legs are kicking the air happily and she is… tinkering with something that has… wings?

“She’s been up there for two hours now. She refuses to come down.”

You are still looking up. And… damn it, even with your eyesight you can’t really say what your sister is really doing. She has a toolkit besides her and she has a smudge of oil on her cheek and a smile so big on her face that you don’t want to know but you have to ask.

“What is she doing?”

“Our prototype had some serious issues… she’s fixing it, she says, but she won’t come down to let the rest of us see what the hell she’s doing.”

Oh. Understanding downs to you. “She wants to be the one testing it.”

“… yes.”

You look then at Lucy, frowning. “And why aren’t you up there with her?” You don’t think it would be a problem to drag her down.

“She locked herself up there,” Vasquez comes behind you. They are holding a tablet and the frown on their face concerns you a little. “She also bit Agent Kelly before doing so.”

You blink at Vasquez. “She bit Michael? She likes Michael!”

Vasquez shrugs. “She likes the prototype better?”

“And J’onn? Haven’t you call J’onn?”

Lucy massages her temples and Vasquez shakes their head. “He’s our last resort.”

Oh. “He threatened you.” It’s not a question but it would be nice to have it confirmed.

Lucy nods.

“He said if she lets her do something  this stupid again, he will suspend her for a week,” Vasquez informs you.

You frown. “But… it’s not your fault Alex is… well, Alex.”

“Space Dad swears she started acting up when I joined the DEO,” Lucy mutters. “That’s bullshit, though.”

“Well…” you drawl. “He’s not wrong. She was the perfect agent before she started dating you.”

Lucy’s glare on you, makes you flinch and you fly to Alex in part to escape Lucy and in part to bring Alex down.

“Hey, sis!” Alex chirps the moment you are floating by her side.

“Alex…” you wave her, grabbing a wrench that threatens to fall off the catwalk and kill someone below. “So… how about we if go down for a little bit?”

“Nope,” she says happily. “I’m almost done.”

“Alex… Lucy is gonna be suspended if you don’t come down.”

That makes her pause and look up from whatever she is oiling. “What?”

“J’onn said she would be suspended if you pull a crazy stunt again.”

She blinks once, twice, before looking down to what you think looks like a mechanical skull. “Weren’t you on a date with Lena?” she asks you.

The topic change makes your head swirl. “Uh?”

“Weren’t you with Lee?”

“… Yes?”

She looks up again and turns her head left and then right. Her face brightens and you don’t need to look to know what has her so happy. “Lee!”

“Al!” Lena’s cheerful voice ricochets around your brain, making you wince. You love Lena, you love Alex, but the level of silliness and stupidity they reach when together makes you have honest to Rao migraines.

Lena comes to sit next to your sister and you see she has changed clothes. She is no longer wearing her red power-suit, but one of… yes, you can see the tag on her chest, one of Alex’s day-to-day uniforms. “What do I do?” She asks, eagerly.

Alex points to the backpack-like chunk of metal to the side. “I can’t make it ignite without it bursting into flames.”

“Alex!” You scold her because she knows, she knows, she can’t play with fire.

Your sister rolls her eyes. “Lena is here,” she tells you dismissively. “She’ll fix it.”  

Lena nods once, sharply. “No problem.”

You groan. “C’mon, Alex! Lena! You need to come down, you can’t try this if it can explode!”

“Relax, we know what we are doing,” Alex says, twisting something in her hands and crying happily in success. “Yes! This will fly now!”

You shake your head. “Guys, please.”

“Don’t you have a tiny Director to calm down?” Lena asks you and you groan again.

You can try getting physical with them. You can try grabbing them and forcing them down… but these two are so in sync and they think so alike they will escape you one way or another.

They have done it before.

If you go for Alex, Lena in all her graceful glory will jump down, forcing you to catch her and letting Alex escape with their toy. If you go for Lena, Alex will still have the time to escape with their toy.

If you try going for both they will make it so that none of you three make it down unharmed and… Alex will still escape with their toy.

The only way you can really win this is talking about their sense of responsibility and adulting… not that either act like adults when they are together.

“… What will it cost me to have you both down and complaint?”

Lena and Alex look from their respective tasks and look at each other. Lena raises an eyebrow and Alex’s lip twitches. Lena dips her head to you and Alex’s shakes a little. Lena’s eyes widen and Alex’s brow furrow. Alex’s nose wrinkles and Lena smirks.

As one, they turn to you.

“We are not going down,” they announce solemnly.

“Oh! Come on!”

“Bye, Kara.” With that, Alex pushes the tool kit out the catwalk and to your horror, it splits open as it starts going down.

“You, asshole!” You yell at her as you use your speed to catch every single tool and nail and screw and tidbit before they reach the ground and really kill someone.

The worst thing is, no matter how fast you do it, by the time you go back to them they would be finished with their tasks and they would still not come down.

“Nice catch, Supergirl,” Vasquez says with a smirk.

“I hate them both.”

Lucy sighs. “That makes three of us.”

Vasquez laughs. “I don’t hate them. I find them hilarious.”

Lucy’s murderous eyes are turned to her second-in-command before focusing on the crazy duo above. “Get ready to phone J’onn.”

You gasp. “You will be suspended!”

“I don’t care. I’ll make sure he suspends Alex too and I’ll make her pay for this.”

Your stomach clenches in worry at her words. “You won’t hurt her, will you?”

You are no stranger to Lucy’s moods and you have seen her hit the punching bag heavily when she is too angry. You have seen her lay it on the shooting range when she is frustrated and you have seen her scream and yell until she is blue in the face when things don’t go her way…

… And you have seen her manhandle Alex in several occasions, not that they know you have seen them.

You haven’t acted nor will you act because Alex, Lena, and even J’onn have told you Alex is in no danger repeatedly and emphatically.

You still worry, though.

And apparently, Lucy can hear that worry in your voice because her eyes shift from Alex and Lena and settle on you. They are warm and open and so understanding that you know why Alex is dating this madwoman. “Kara, I promise I won’t harm her.”

You nod and you are about to tell her how grateful you are your sister found in their relationship such comfort that she started being so bratty when Lee’s overjoyed squeal reaches your ears.

“Kara!”

You look up just in time to see Lena jumping down from the catwalk… if you didn’t know that Lena actually enjoys jumping off buildings, you would be so freaked out. But, right now, you were kind of expecting her to do this.

You meet her halfway on her descend, letting her enjoy the free fall for a couple of seconds. “One of these days I won’t catch you,” you growl at her with no real heat as you lower her easily to the ground. Her arms are around your neck and she is looking up with a big smile.

“No biggie,” she says with a shrug, letting go. “Alex will catch me.”

Once your feet touch down, you look up too.

Alex is holding the ends of what you see are mechanical wings and the reason that she is in her underwear is now evident: her arms and legs are encased in soft leather with more metal feathers and over her head, she is wearing that strange skull you saw before. The wings are designed so the movements of her arms make the metal wings move, almost as if she was a little kid playing being a bird… even her feet are in what looks like clawed shoes.

“Don’t you dare jump!” Lucy calls her.

“It’s gonna work!” Alex yells back.

“If you jump; your ass is mine!”

“My ass is already yours, dimwit!”

“You know what I fucking mean!”

“I can’t hear you!”

“Alex, NO!”

You can almost hear your sister think the “Alex, YES!” as she leaps.

Lena is jumping in joy besides you and you start hovering in preparation to catch your stupid sister.

But, just a second after jumping, Alex’s pushes a button on each hand and the machine comes to life.

It’s clumsy, it’s noisy and it’s so stiff, but your sister starts flapping and she manages to hold on the air for a really long second. Her tongue is poking out between her lips and you see her brow wrinkled in concentration. There is no air within the hangar, but after flapping hard, she somehow manages to find a way to glide down a little and it is then when her fun starts.

“See?!” She yells as she starts gliding in wide circles. “I’m flying!”

“No, you’re not!” Lucy yells. “You’re simply putting off your death!”

“This won’t kill me!”

“But I will! Come down here!”

You shake your head and hover up to fly alongside Alex. “She is spitting mad,” you tell her quietly.

Alex is finally close enough to the ground that she can easily see Lucy’s red, annoyed, face. Your sister winces and you refuse to feel any empathy towards her. “Fuck… I thought she was bluffing. She’s really pissed.”

You stare at her, shocked. “She called me in, Alex. She passed pissed an hour ago.”

Alex turns watery eyes to you and the pout on her face shouldn’t be that pitiful. “No, nuh-uh. Nope. Don’t look at me like that. You made her mad, you face her.”

“Kara…” she whines.

“Damn it, Alex, she is your girlfriend! You shouldn’t like making her mad!”

Alex’s pout is replaced by a smug smirk. “I like her mad.”

“Alex!”

Her smirk softens at your exasperation. “Really Kar, she doesn’t get mad-mad… Rao, I hate making her mad-mad… but, like… I enjoy pushing her and she enjoys it too.” She fumbles a bit with her wings, making a wide turn so you can keep gliding easily. “She likes it when I don’t listen… I mean, she could override my commands at any time and she could really force me to come down with one word… but she let me do this… so.” She almost shrugs before remembering that could possibly be a bad choice when she is using wings so high from the ground.

You frown, confused. “Then why she would call me?”

“She is a drama queen.”

You snort. “So, you are indeed made for each other.”

“Hey! I’m not a drama queen!”

“No, you are just dramatic.”

The lazy circles around the hangar bring you closer and closer to the ground and closer and closer to a tiny angry Director.

Alex is all smiles when her feet touch the ground and she makes a stupid flourish to Lena’s clapping, bowing reverently to an imaginary crowd. Her bowing is interrupted, though, when a loud smack is heard and Alex jumps a foot forward mid reverence.

“Damn it, Alex!” Lucy snarls. “That was stupid and reckless!”

Alex turns to face her girlfriend, a pout back in her face. She is rubbing her left butt cheek where Lucy just slapped her. “I didn’t die…”

“But you will wish you did the moment I’m done with you.” Lucy grabs Alex’s forearm and she starts marching her to the exit.

“But the prototype worked!”

“You weren’t authorized to use it or even fix it!”

“But-”

They are no longer within sight, but you can almost see how Lucy spanks Alex again. You can hear it clearly and you know that Alex’s complains will be shut down now.

“So…” Vasquez says. “I don’t call Director J’onzz?”

You shake your head. “I don’t think so, no. Let Lucy deal with her.”

Lena snorts. “She won’t be able to sit for a week.”

“Try a month,” Vasquez mutters

Lena nods with a grin on her face.

You look at them and sigh. You don’t get it. You don’t.

But, you also don’t want to get it.

So, you don’t ask.

“Alex!”

You sigh and turn to Lena. “Want to get out of here?” You ask her, pleading her with your eyes. You don’t want to be around for Alex’s next round of stupid.

Lena smiles. “Sure.” She wraps her arms around your neck again and lets you take her weight. “Take me home, Supergirl.”

“Alexandra!”

Alex’s delighted laughter is the last thing you hear before you flee with Lena in your arms.

And you smile. Maybe Alex changed after started dating Lucy, but she changed for good.

She is happier, more relaxed and overall at ease.

Yeah, it’s good she is dating Lucy.

Even if you don’t get how their relationship really works.

[otterthewriter]

javid summercamp au (modern)

“Attention campers!” Jack boomed. He easily commanded the amphitheater stage and his young, excited audience. “Welcome to Camp Kelly!” He gestured to his crowd and they at once erupted into deafening cheers. From the back of the audience, Katherine’s eyes nearly rolled out of her head.

“I am Jack, and I’m the king of this camp. You can call me Your Majesty,” Jack gloated, grinning widely.

“Get off the stage!” Race shouted, standing up and throwing a handful of trail mix from the back of the arena.

“That is the Royal Jester. You can ignore everything he says,” Jack taunted, and was then interrupted by Medda’s vehement shouts of protest.

“JACK KELLY!” she bellowed, climbing down the center aisle of the seats.

“And now, I would like to hear a thundering round of applause for the Queen of my kingdom, the lovely and wonderful, Medda!”

The children burst into applause even more boisterous than the last as Medda entered the stage. She exchanged a deadly look with Jack, who smirked and dashed to the back of the audience, collecting high fives and fist bumps all the way.

“I apologize for my employee,” Medda said to the audience, emphasizing the word “employee”.

“I am Medda. You can call me Medda.” The kids giggled. The kids always loved Medda. She was bubbly and generous, and welcomed the children to her camp with open and loving arms.

While Medda was launching into her “welcome” spiel, Jack was taking a seat with the other counselors.

“You’re a real dumbass, Jack,” Sarah chided, as he sat down at the end of their row.

“Love ya too, Sarah,” he replied, letting his gaze pass briefly over David, who sat two seats down from Jack. Jack was hopelessly enamored with David, though he would never admit it. He couldn’t get enough of his loose brown curls resting on his forehead, or his electric blue eyes that pulled Jack in headfirst over and over again.

“Besides, the kids just eat that stuff up. They love me,” Jack continued. “David knows”, he added. “They can’t resist my undeniable charm.”

David’s freckled cheeks reddened and he smiled awkwardly. He noticed Jack too, and Jack knew. Just like he knew--or thought he knew--that David could never love him. Jack Kelly, with all his flair and confidence, was certain beyond doubt that David would never really love him. Not David. Not shy, sweet David. Not David who cried after every group of campers left, and who spent his free time braiding the girl campers’ hair and making friendship bracelets with them. That David could never love an arrogant, cocky asshole like Jack. David deserved better.

Medda was wrapping up her welcome speech, so the counselors started to stand up. The kids were split up into groups based on their skills and interests. Kath did photography and film, Sarah did hiking and outdoor activities, Crutchie did theater, Race did water activities, Jack did arts and crafts, and David did botany. The seven counselors spread out and held up signs corresponding to wristbands that the children had received on arrival. As kids gathered around their new camp leaders, the counselors greeted and got to know them.

Once the kids were organized, the counselors marched them off to their respective activities, just like every camp, just like every year. But somehow Jack knew something about this camp would be different.

The counselors sat around a campfire that night, laughing and singing together after another successful first day of camp. Jack played his guitar and Crutchie led the group in bad renditions of classics and pop hits alike. The teenagers were comfortable with one another and thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company. It was as if they had grown up together, and they regarded each other as family. The joy was apparent on each one’s face when the fire’s glow would briefly light up their tired grins.

One by one the counselors would announce that they were turning in, and depart to their small dormitories, until there was just Jack, Crutchie, and David left.

Crutchie, sensing the tension in the air, stood up and said, “I’m gonna head in. Good night.”

David seemed to bolt to his feet. “Me too,” he sputtered.

“Stay, David,” Jack suggested, sitting back. “It’s only ten.” He was guessing.

David hesitated, exchanging a desperate glance with Crutchie, then slowly sat back down as Crutchie headed toward the dorms.

Jack knew he shouldn’t tease the boy like this. He knew he should just leave him alone, let him move on, find someone better. But that crooked smile… and those perfect lips…

“How’s your group?” David asked, yanking Jack out of a trance. Jack shifted his eyes up, not having realized he was staring at David’s mouth.

“Huh?” Jack asked, blinking.

“Your kids? What are they like?” David repeated.

“Oh, they’re good. Yeah. I’ve got one boy, Xavier. He loves Harry Potter. Talks about it non-stop. Made me think of you.”

“Oh,” David replied sheepishly. Jack scolded himself for flirting with the innocent boy.

Jack could occasionally catch a glimpse of David’s flushed pink face in the darkness. It brought him back to a night about three years earlier. David was new that year, and he fit in perfectly, despite his shyness. Jack immediately noticed David, but stopped himself from getting too close.

It was a Tuesday night when David came to him. Jack was up late painting, as always. It was a rainy summer, and it had been showering that night. David was in Jack’s doorway. His curls were wet from the rain and lay heavy over his eyes. His cheeks were pink from the cold. Jack’s heart was pounding hard as he helped the boy dry off. They sat close to each other on Jack’s bed while David weeped and admitted to Jack that he liked boys. Fingers intertwined, foreheads pressed together, lips brushing. Jack let David sleep in his bed that night. Jack stayed up all night and sketched images of a small, unharmed boy lying in his bed. He dotted every freckled and drew the curve of his hips under the covers. In the morning Jack was gone from his dorm. He was sitting on the roof, watching the sunrise.

“Jack, I want to tell you something,” David said, breaking a lengthy silence. Jack’s heart raced. “I think you’re a really good person, Jack. Most people aren’t like you. You have a good heart.”

Jack was taken aback by his words. A good person? Jack grew up in foster care, surrounded by dirt-poor scumbags who would do anything for a dollar. Most people thought Jack was no different from them. Jack thought he was no different from them.

“I’m no good for you, David Jacobs,” Jack nearly whispered. “You don’t want this. You don’t want me.”

The fire crackled loudly into their silence. David hurt for Jack. He knew what Jack thought of himself, and longed to convince him otherwise.

David moved toward Jack, who became stiff.

“I need you.” The words tumbled out of David’s mouth. Messy and unintentional; unplanned and unrehearsed. The spontaneity made David nervous, but it thrilled Jack. It revealed a side of David that Jack had never seen. David was messy sometimes too. Just like Jack.

Jack grabbed David’s perfect jaw and pressed hard into his perfect lips. David inhaled sharply, but then gave in and kissed Jack back. Jack ran his fingers through David’s curls, and David carefully felt up and down Jack’s chest. Jack kissed David like he was cold water in the desert--thirstily, hastily, and desperately.

Then, as quickly as it began, Jack pulled back.

“I’m sorry,” he muttered, then hurried away, leaving David confused, hurt and alone.

Jack was up early again the next morning. He went out to David’s garden and sat near a bushel of snapdragons. Snapdragons were Jack’s favorites, and David always made sure to keep an area for them every year. Jack knew they were for him but pretended that they weren’t.

The air was calm and sweet before the sunrise. Jack’s thoughts were slow and steady for once. He found that David slowed his thoughts down. Something about the boy helped him focus.

A voice from behind startled Jack. It was Sarah, David’s sister.

“You’re up early,” she noted, sitting down next to him on the bench. The two had dated for about a month a few years ago. They had fun together, but Sarah was never really attracted to him, and Jack really had eyes for David. The two were strikingly similar however--messy, passionate, and headstrong. After they broke up, they developed a surprisingly strong and meaningful friendship.

“Couldn’t sleep,” he answered.

“You and David were out late together last night,” she pointed out. “Anything juicy?”

“I kissed him. I shouldn’t have,” Jack admitted.

“He has such a thing for you Jack. Let him in,” she urged. Jack was quiet.

“I can’t. He’s so… sweet and undamaged. He doesn’t deserve this.”

Sarah sighed. She knew his feelings too well. She knew that by “this” Jack meant his chaos, his sadness, his fears, his fury. Everything that he felt was a liability. Everything that made him who he was.

Sarah clasped his hand tightly.

“Let him decide if he deserves it or not. Give him a chance,” Sarah said, meeting Jack’s intense gaze.

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the sun’s rays start to spill into the sky from behind the mountains.

“What are you thinking?” Sarah asked, still holding Jack’s hand.

“I’m thinking that David won’t love me when he sees the real me. The anxious me, or the sad me. The ugly me.”

“I’m thinking that you should let him try.”

That afternoon, during free time Jack took his kids to the main plaza, where he knew David would be. They were working on quick sketches that day, so Jack told the kids to sketch every other camper before free time ended. They relished the assignment, and spent all their time chasing kids around with a pen and a pad of paper. David made flower crowns with his kids, and taught them about maintaining gardens. Jack would occasionally glance at the boy, who always hopefully smiled back. Jack’s heart skipped a beat every time David laughed, his whole face lighting up.

“Jack,” said a young voice from next to his chair. The voice belonged to Brie, a quiet little girl who liked drawing faces with no bodies and signing her art with a puzzle piece.

“Why do you keep looking at David?” she inquired.

Jack laughed, then met her eyes, large and curious.

“Are you in love with him?” she asked. Jack said nothing. He looked again at David, with a strand of flowers in his hair, blushing from heat and delight.

“Yeah. I am,” Jack finally answered, looking back at the girl.

“Then here,” she announced, handing Jack a piece of paper and walking away. Jack unfolded the paper and saw a drawing of David. His unabashed grin and gleaming eyes floated in the center of the page. Jack smiled to himself and put the drawing in his pocket.

I’m in love with David Jacobs.

That night during dinner David didn’t eat. He stared at his parmesan chicken, a usual favorite, and thought only of Jack’s calloused hand on his jaw, and his fingers through his hair.

“David what’s wrong?” one of his kids asked.

“I’m about to do something really really stupid,” David responded, climbing on top of his chair.

“Everybody listen!” David shouted. He felt his knees weaken as all eyes in the cafeteria were fixed on him. Jack’s stomach dropped. He had never seen David so exposed, so spontaneous, so… much like Jack.

“I have something I need to say, that I should have said a long time ago,” he continued, ignoring his trembling hands. “Jack Kelly, I want you. I need you. And I know you don’t think you’re good enough, but you’re good enough for me.”

Jack stared admiringly at the boy, heart beating in his ears. I’m in love with David Jacobs.

Jack stood and maneuvered toward David’s table. He climbed on top of a spare chair and stood beside David.

“David, you gotta understand-- I’m a mess. My baggage is… a lot. It’s not pretty. You’ve gotta promise me that you’re in for the long haul,” Jack told him. David gripped Jack’s hands and looked hard into the deep blue of his eyes.

“Through thick and thin,” David answered, cracking a grin. Jack couldn’t help but beam back.

“Come here,” Jack whispered and pulled David’s head close to his. Their lips met and the children collectively groaned. The other counselors cheered. Jack pulled back to look at David’s face, flushed and exhilarated. Their lips met again, hot and cold, coming together to form a perfect warmth.