#clearly I just want to destroy my muse tonight.

[kazvha]

Hope you had a wonderful day! I was so excited for this opportunity. so I have a prompt where the reader and eleceed guys get stuck in a closet or smth and due to the lack of space they cannot move further away from each other. Then as the characters try to figure out how to get out of this place, the reader mentions that they like the cologne of the character which leads both of them to turn red. I think it would be cute! anyways, I won't keep you for long. I hope you have an absolutely amazing day! baiii :33

Summary: Forced proximity with them

Including: Kayden, Kartein, Inhyuk, Muse

Notes: Hi, this is such a cute idea! I chose to write this prompt for these 4 guys, I hope you enjoy my take on this. Have an amazing day as well!!🤍

Kayden was doing pull-ups in his cat form, using the wardrobe rail of the closet. When you came into the closet to ask him something, the doors closed behind you and didn't open again when you attempted to push them. So Kayden changed into his human form to try out his luck too but he failed. The space you two shared became even tinier since he wasn't a cat anymore. With each movement your elbows touched with his.

"We have to wait till Jiwoo comes home. I really don't want to destroy his closet." He said as he looked down at you. You hummed in response and catched a whiff of his fresh cologne. "Wow, you smell really good!" You complimented him right away and felt your face heating up a bit.

Kayden's eyes widened in surprise, but his surprise quickly turned into cockiness. "I get that a lot haha. Thank you anyway!" He chuckled as the color of his ears turned red. He was so grateful that the closet is dimly lit.

Kartein and you were on a trip together and you just found out that there was only one bed in your hotel room. Asking the manager didn't help because every other room was already booked. So you proposed that you both should sleep on the bed, on separate sides of course. You knew how much Kartein valued his sleep and you also didn't want to miss out the comfort of the bed. Kartein agreed to share it since you weren't a stranger to him.

You snuggled up under your blanket on your side of the bed as Kartein's pleasant floral scent engulfed you.

"You smell amazing. How do you manage to smell that good even after going to sleep?" You were honestly curious.

Kartein turned towards you, with a red face and frowning expression. "Were you sniffing me?"

"What? No!" You cried out completely flustered.

Now you were frowning yourself and your cheeks burned in embarrassment. There was a painfully awkward silence between you two until you heard a barely audible "Thank you." five minutes later.

Inhyuk is building his new closet and you decided to help him. After successfully mounting the closet doors, he tries them out, only for them to not open up again.

"Well, this is weird..." He strokes his chin as he searches for the problem and finally sighs, "I think we used the wrong screws? Let's take the doors down."

You sit down in silence, unscrewing the screws as you both become extremely aware of each other's presence every time your knees touch. Sitting so close to him also makes you notice the pine fragrance he applied on himself earlier today.

"I love that scent on you Inhyuk, it really suits you.", you shyly tell him what you think. Inhyuk slightly blushes and his gaze softens.

"You really think that? Thanks, I appreciate it!"

Muse and you got stuck in the tiny pantry of the cafeteria. You were looking for a midnight snack when you spotted the janitor who did his nightly patrol, so you quickly hid in that little room.

"It's a door that can only be opened from outside. Whose dumb idea was it to put such a door here?" Muse was clearly irritated. And you also whined. "I didn't plan on sleeping on the floor tonight. All I wanted was a snack!"

"Let's just hope whoever finds us here tomorrow morning doesn't like to gossip."

"Great."

You two sat there in silence, back to back. The only thing you could hear were Muse's long fingers tapping against the cold floor. Then you heard his voice say, "You smell nice."

"What?"

Muse cleared his throat as his cheeks got a shade darker. "You heard it, don't let me repeat it..."

"Thanks you I guess." You laughed and felt an unexpected warmth flood your body. It was a good thing you couldn't see each other's face you thought.

[deepspacedukat]

Pampered

So @bigblissandlove1 and I were chatting, and the idea of S'Talon allowing his lover to explore him and do whatever she wants with him came up...I died and was reincarnated with a draft already open for fic purposes. Convenient...

S’Talon is a Romulan OC created by @bigblissandlove1. This story was written/posted with their permission. Go check out their story, “The Raptor’s Descent” if you haven’t already! That’s where S’Talon came from! ✨

Cross-posted to AO3 here.

~*~

S'Talon (OC) x Reader

[A/N: This is smut, so 18+ ONLY, MINORS DNI!!!]

Warnings: Interspecies sex, Human/Romulan sex, handcuffs, oral sex (male receiving), kissing (copious amounts), fondling, teasing, masturbation, begging, woman on top, unprotected sex, creampie, well-discussed restraint usage, lok worship, body worship, S'Talon=strong, handcuffs=flimsy, d/s dynamics, sub!S'Talon...for now.

~*~

A firm, metallic click issued somewhere above S'Talon's head, and he felt a heady rush of anticipation about what was to come.

"Comfy, darling?" His lover hovered over him to the left side of the bed, skimming the tips of her fingertips down the Riov's forearm toward his torso. Licking his lips and taking a steadying breath, he nodded his head. "I need your words, handsome."

Brave girl. She knew that he could destroy the cuffs holding him to the bed in an instant should the whim take him. He could put an end to this little charade at any point if he decided he wanted to be back in control.

But no. No, S'Talon would control himself. He would allow her these little liberties. Tonight, after all, was for her. She'd been tentative enough when she asked whether he'd be willing to be the one in the cuffs for an evening. How could he refuse her when she asked so politely?

Elements, he knew he couldn't refuse her anything, much less an exploration of pleasure from another angle. That was why he was currently lying in bed, his head propped up by a plush pillow and his wrists restrained near the headboard while his lover drank in every inch of his nude body.

"I'm quite comfortable, thank you, e'lev," he murmured, and she gave him a brief kiss as a reward. The Riov hummed against her mouth, but, all too soon, she pulled away.

Since it was all he could do in his current position, he drank in the sight of her in the new lingerie set she'd bought especially for tonight. Lace and sheer fabric caressed her every curve, showing just enough to make S'Talon seriously consider purchasing an entire shop full of these garments just so he could tear them all off of her.

Her hand traveled down his bicep, squeezing his muscles lightly before withdrawing.

"I can't imagine what I might have done to deserve you," she mused in such a low voice that he almost missed the statement entirely as she climbed onto the bed and straddled his hips. "Look at you. My very own Adonis..."

S'Talon preened silently at her praise. The warmth of her skin against his as she settled onto him forced him to take a deep, slow breath. He could do this for her. He was a patient man.

Small, gentle hands met his ribcage, pausing to feel the slow rise and fall of his respiration. Vaguely, he wondered if she could feel the steady rhythm of his heart in his side as clearly as he could. Before he got the chance to ask, though, she kissed him slowly, languidly, as if they had all the time in the world. For now, for this brief break from reality, they did.

Time always behaved strangely when the pair were enjoying themselves like this. Seconds turned into hours, hours became minutes, and by the time all was said and done, the pair were usually both very wrong when they guessed the time as they lay basking in the afterglow of their orgasms.

Tonight, though, they had nowhere to be. There were no appointments to keep or missions to complete. This time, there was only the sound of their increasingly heavy breathing.

S'Talon was hazily aware of hums and other small noises escaping his lips as his lover's mouth trailed over his chin and down his jaw, but he couldn't seem to stop them. Hell, he didn't want to stop them. She deserved to know exactly what she did to him.

Delicately, she dragged her tongue from the hollow of his throat up to swirl around his Adam's apple, tugging a gasp from the prone Riov. His lok throbbed dangerously beneath the heat of his lover. He'd been explored by partners in the past, but never by one who knew his body quite as well as she did. Judging by the giggle that she let out, she knew damn well what she was doing to him.

"Something on your mind, Riov?" She asked as she trailed her lips across his collarbones. The sparkle of mischief in her eyes didn't bode well for the fate of the flimsy little handcuffs holding S'Talon in place.

"Yes, actually. Your tongue would, perhaps, be better applied a bit lower on my anatomy," he suggested, and she nipped gently at one of his pecs.

"What do we say, handsome?" Oh, she was setting herself up for a long night once he had regained his full range of motion.

"Please, touch me, lhhei." S'Talon's voice was much breathier than even he'd anticipated.

"Ah, but I am touching you," she teased as she kissed down his abdomen. "You'll have to be more specific if you want my help."

Elements, was he this frustrating when their roles were reversed? Surely not.

"I need your mouth on my lok, lhhei. I'm hard and ready for you...please." His cheeks burned as the words tumbled out, but he wasn't embarrassed.

Watching his lover's progress down his body, he noted the hunger and reverence in her every movement. Her tongue skimmed, wet and warm, over his Adonis belt, savoring the rise and dip of his defined muscles. His stiff lok dripped precome onto his overheated skin, begging for the attention that mouth was currently paying the peaks of his hips.

Her tongue glided back the way it had traveled previously. Almost there...just a little closer–

But when she was barely a hair's breadth from his length, she changed direction, placing sloppy, open-mouthed kissed in a leisurely path toward his upper thighs. S'Talon couldn't help it, he let out a growl of frustration.

"You are utterly maddening, sahe'lagge."

"Yes, and that's just the way you like me," she retorted entirely without remorse. She knew. She had to know that she was sealing her fate once he was free? Perhaps that was her motivation for teasing him so cruelly.

The sound of familiar wetness snapped him out of his musing, and he saw that while she was nibbling and kissing her way from one thigh to the other, one of her hands had dipped beneath her lacy panties.

She was touching herself. S'Talon's nostrils flared as he drew in a hungry breath. If she sat back, he might just be able to tell whether she was flicking her clit or fucking herself with her small, beautiful fingers.

The Riov nearly shouted in pleasure when the tip of his lok was engulfed quite suddenly in her plush lips. He'd been so focused on what she was doing to herself that he'd lost track of her mouth. He was acutely aware of it now, though. Every millimeter of his length that she sucked into his mouth felt as though it was on fire in the best possible way.

His lover's eyes flicked up to his face to watch his reactions, and S'Talon recognized the same ravenous lust that usually filled his own eyes when he was between her legs. In that moment, he understood exactly why she always seemed incapable of looking away when he was devouring her.

In such a vulnerable position - one he would only allow himself to be in with her - he felt as though he was about to be sacrificed to a goddess. The thought alone made him moan. He would gladly give himself to her any day. Bringing her pleasure stoked the flames of his own desire, and seeing her enjoying his body this much was effecting him just as a potent aphrodisiac injected directly into his bloodstream would have done.

The Riov's hips bucked shallowly before he could force his control back in place, but instead of chastising him for making her choke around his lok, his lover moaned and took him deeper of her own volition. His eyes rolled briefly back in his head when her nose eventually brushed against his pelvis.

She'd built him up so skillfully that he was dangerously close to erupting in her throat. Before he could, though, she released him from her mouth with an obscenely slick sound.

Clenching his fists tightly as he controlled his breathing, S'Talon watched as she crawled farther up his body. The soaked lace of her panties settled over his erection, and he let out a quiet grunt. He needed to be inside her!

"Be merciful, lhhei," he implored as he watched her hands cup and squeeze her own breasts. "Please, fuck me. Use me for your own pleasure."

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." She smirked down at him as she trailed off. Reaching between her legs and tugging the gusset of her panties to the side, she dragged her soaked center over his lok. She paused just long enough to align his tip with her fluttering pussy before sinking down onto him with a sinful moan.

Despite his labored breathing and his lack of power in this situation, he felt complete. This was where S'Talon was meant to be. Buried inside his lover, stretching her, and pleasing her with his body - this was one of life's most sumptuous delights!

Watching her take every bit of him and moan in ecstasy had to be the most beautiful sight in the galaxy. She braced her hands on his chest, gaining leverage for herself as she rolled her hips with growing abandon and desperation.

"S'Talon...oh, fuck, Tal!" She called as her rhythm grew increasingly more erratic. She was close, and so was he. He held out as long as he could, but eventually, his restraint snapped.

With a sharp tug, the chain connecting the two handcuffs snapped, and in barely a breath, his arms were around her waist holding her tight against his chest. She clutched at his torso as the two of them fell apart, moaning and shouting their combined release into each other's skin.

The slow ooze of their combined fluids dripped from between her legs, wetting the sheets beneath them. S'Talon let out a hungry sigh at the sensation.

But he wasn't done yet. Scraping his teeth lovingly over her shoulder as her fingers buried themselves in his mussed hair, the Riov smirked. His hands glided down her back until he was able to take hold of her hips. With a quiet, raspy, damning whisper, S'Talon felt her grip him tighter.

"My turn, beautiful."

~*~*~

Taglist:

@akamitrani @android-boyfriends @attention-bajoranworkers @bigblissandlove1 @darkmattervibes @emilie786 @horta-in-charge @live-logs-and-proper @slutty-slutty-vulcans @starrynightgardens @toebeans-mcgee

[chronicparagon]

[ I think I'll take tonight off. It's been a long week and I want some space from all the messages. This is the last time I will mention this. I'm moving on after this. I will answer the other messages on the wall of text later and get rid of the ugly ones.]

I'm just...shocked. I never, ever had to deal with anything like what happened with my wall of text before. The past walls were just IC fun with a bit of angst.

The IC ones were never a problem. Some people hate Harmony and that's okay. I rather muses were honest in how they feel about her. They can hurt her, destroy her, whatever they want since muse =/= mun. But some things that came up were clearly OOC. I get anon hate occasionally but I just delete them and never talk about them. I believed it was best that I faced them alone to help keep things positive. But lately, it's been more frequent and I don't understand why.

Yeah, they hurt and I don't like the death threats or pushing me to do something that involves unaliving. Those trigger me pretty bad. But I never talk about it with anyone because it is negative. I don't want to be more exhausting than I already am.

I'm going to be honest, it hurts. I tried to remove them but more kept coming. I feel like I messed up somewhere or I failed. I've been called a burden to rpcs, that I'm better off gone, and other ugly things. Being told I'm not worth anything, a failure, and I never belonged and deserve to be alone or dead can mess anyone up. I don't plan to talk about these events after this post, but I wish people talked to me if there was a problem. I try very hard to be accommodating. I try to be positive and supportive. But I keep thinking I failed and better off gone or as one person said, dead.

Not everyone likes Harmony and that is never a problem. Not everyone likes me and that's okay. It's just I wish they wouldn't fill my inbox or wall with OOC spite. They can just leave me alone since I try to stay in my lane and write with people who want to rp with me. Just talk to me about the problem privately or leave me be. If you can’t stand me, then please hard block. The nasty OOC messages and asks will continue to be unanswered.

I don't know. I always saw myself as unlikable and don't deserve good things. I hated myself for a very long time and never shook off the belief that I deserve hatred. I get anxious because I want to be enough to someone. I want to be liked. I want to be wanted. I want to be loved. I don't know why I feel I don't deserve any of it. I feel terrible for wanting to be accepted and loved because no one owes me anything. I don’t want to force that on anyone either.

I feel selfish for wanting to be special to someone or be a friend. I know pouring out my heart is selfish too. It's just I am struggling with bottling everything up and I cracked a few times with the pressure from IRL. I need to be stronger and keep the pain hidden. There are times when I wonder if people would be happier if I wasn't around. There are times when I thought if I never woke up, then the world would be better. I know it's not true. At least, I want to believe it's not true but I don’t want to live in a lie. I'm just so tired and I don't know how much more I can take.

I keep thinking I am a bad person and maybe I shouldn’t exist after all. The pain is too much. I don’t want to wake up.

[unapologeticallyresilient]

👐

@xnoblewarriorherosx  :

He could feel the blood seeping from the gash in his uniform, his hand applying pressure to his wound knowing if he didn’t get medical treatment, the commander was going to die there. Feeling hands, his yellow eyes met someone- vers, or carol as she claimed herself to be

She had covered his hand with one of her hands, helping add pressure across the wound. There was nothing for miles even if she could move him. She carefully lifted his shoulders, trying to hold him more upright against her. “Just... keep pressure on it, you’re... you’re going to be fine.”

[aurumacadicus]

can i ask for stuckony mob au?

Tony: Any mob that wants my weapons will be destroyed. Steve & Bucky: What if we just want you for sex? Tony: Yeah that's fine.

--

Steve ground his teeth together so hard he was surprised that none of them cracked under the pressure. "Tony."

"Beloved," Tony simpered, as if he was not handcuffed to the table between them. As if his left eye wasn't swollen shut. As if Bruce hadn't just finished stitching up the gash on his arm fifteen minutes ago. As if his lip wasn't cut right down the middle.

"I don't think a simple 'beloved' is going to fix this, Tony," Bucky said. He was obviously trying very hard not to sound amused. It didn't really work.

"Why is it that every time we come home from a mission that you're in trouble?" Steve asked, ignoring him.

Tony blinked at him slowly. "I didn't even do anything this time."

"You ducked your protective detail, got into a fight with an AIM agent, and basically told AIM that we were coming for them," Steve said, voice flat.

Tony didn't look concerned. "All I said was that you and Bucky wouldn't be happy when you saw they'd bruised me up." His lips spread into a wide grin that broke the scab, blood trickling down his chin as he added, "That's your job, after all."

"It is," Bucky said, amused, before Steve could launch into a self-righteous tirade because he was scared. He stepped closer to the table, raising his eyebrows. "Why did Natasha and Sam cuff you to the table?"

Tony shrugged. "Probably so I couldn't go to the bedroom and get myself all dolled up for you. You always fold like a bad hand when I'm wearing lace and nothing else."

"Sounds like you really scared them this time," Bucky mused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Almost couldn't understand what Sam was saying when he called."

At that, Tony began to look a smidgen guilty, because Sam and Natasha had been in charge of his safety and he'd ducked their team without a second thought. "Oh. I guess... maybe..."

"Natasha couldn't even speak, she was so ashamed of not being able to protect you," Steve added, clearly picking up on the track Bucky was using--and that it was by far more effective than trying to scare Tony, because Tony feared very little, and he especially didn't fear them. "All she could say was she was sorry for failing us."

"Oh, well," Tony began, voice fading. "Um. I'll apologize to them both."

"Sam had to talk Natasha down from thinking we'd kill her for not keeping you safe," Bucky cut in, going for the jugular, because Tony liked Natasha, and from what they could tell, Natasha was fond of him too.

Tony sagged in his seat like a puppet whose strings had been cut. "Oh," he repeated, voice cracking, because Natasha had come from a gang where that absolutely would have been the case.

"Sweetheart, we know it chafes that you have to have protection even when you just want to go out for a cup of coffee," Steve cooed, reaching out to take one of his hands. "But we just don't want anything to happen to you. Things with AIM could have gone so much worse if Sam and Natasha hadn't been able to track you down. We have so many enemies, Tony, that simply killing you once they had you would be a mercy."

"I know," Tony mumbled, ducking his head. "I... I'll tell Sam and Natasha I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

"Thanks, doll," Bucky drawled, walking around the table to press a kiss to the top of his head. "Why don't you go tell them how sorry you are, and we'll go talk to that AIM agent they hauled in with you."

"Okay," Tony said, and Steve unlocked the cuffs so that he could scurry out like a dog with his tail between his legs.

Steve and Bucky watched him go, silent. Finally, though, Bucky said, "You're gonna spank him within an inch of his life tonight, aren't you?"

Steve leaned back in his seat, shrugging. "If my beau is going to deliberately disobey me and endanger himself, he better be ready to face the consequences." He tilted his head a little, frowning. "Why do you think AIM tried to take him alive?"

"Same reason Hydra, Stone, and Baine want him," Bucky said, frowning, as he pulled Tony's vacated seat out so he could sit. "A mind like that could easily tip the scale in their favor."

Steve hummed in agreement. Truly, Tony's mind was something to behold. "A boon and a curse," he murmured, because Tony was more likely to use that incredible mind to burn any other mob that threatened the Avengers to the ground. "At least we know they're more likely to take him alive now. We can plan around that."

"Yeah," Bucky said, reaching down onto the floor where a bloody bandage had fallen loose. They'd have to look Tony over carefully to check out the extent of his injuries. He held it up, examining the amount of blood on it. "Maybe just a little spanking," he offered.

Steve frowned at the bandage, which looked quite a bit bloodier than Tony had let on. "Just a few swats," he finally sighed. "But I'm pressing on that cut on his lip until he apologizes properly."

"By all means," Bucky agreed, smirking.

[redridinnghood]

Kookie🌻

Rafe Cameron x Maybank!Reader.

You and Rafe have a Love / Hate Relationship always getting on each others nerves. Teasing each other. Until you pour a pot of Barbecue sauce on him and you learn something new about rafe.

So I Kinda got attached to the Charakter of JJ's big sister what do you think of her? Should I write more about them? What do you think of a submissive Rafe?

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

Relaxed I sit on the beach slightly sipping on a Beer. Kegger as Usual. But I didn´t like getting Drunk, reminded me just too much of my Dad. Yeah being a Maybank could suck but on the other Hand I got the sweetest little Brother. No I don´t argue on that. Named Brother was smiling brightly telling a cute Girl a story when the Kooks arrived.

Fucking Kooks

Stuck up rich people who thought they owned everything.

 

I don´t like them clear to see. But I have to admit that the Boy Rafe was kind of attractive, for a Kook. They haven´t even arrived probably as I heard the bickering starts. Topper says something to Kie about being a bitch, and JJ raises his voice telling him to back off. When Rafe shoves JJ I get up standing in Front of the Kook. “The Fuck are you thinking you are doing? Don´t touch my little Brother.” Rafe was a lot taller than me. But I didn´t mind, the people from the Cut new I got my temperament from my Dad and a bit of his aggression Problem. “And what you plan on doing if I didn´t stop?” His voice was mocking me. Okay (Y/N) chill out. “Listen here Princess if you touch him again I will destroy your pretty Face until even your sister can´t recognize you.” My Voice is Low imitating a growling sound. Slowly I touch his chest I can feel the muscles even through his Shirt. I feel like my Fingertips are on Fire, I can feel how his Breathing Quickens. “Do you understand me Princess?” I step into his personal Space making my presence more threatening. He slightly Backs away. “Fucking Pogue! Come on Boys let´s go” and with that they make their Way back to the other side of the Party. I watch him how he still walks like he owns this place, how he holds his broad shoulders up. Not showing that I just scratched his ego. “That was Amazing!” laughed JJ. “ Yeah I never saw Rafe so intimidated. It was fun to watch.” Kie exclaimed. A big Smile spread across my Face. “ Couldn´t let that Dipshit touch my little Brother” I ruffle JJ Hair and sit back down. The Conversation drifts from laughing about the Kooks to surfing to shit that is not really important. Throughout the night my gaze finds Rafe more than once. Sometimes I catch him staring at me. And I wonder what this feeling deep down is.

This continues for the next few weeks whenever we cross paths, we bicker and we tease each other. Luckily for him it never ended in a Fight. But there was clearly a Tension between us.

Being a Maybank could really suck, mostly at times like this. JJ and Pope drowned the fancy little Boat from Topper. Fucking Idiots. JJ the good soul he is took the Fall for pope not considering we would have to pay for all costs. I mean I´m still proud he did that for his Friend but our Dad wasn´t that amused. My sweet little Brother was covered in bruises and had a split lip thanks to the old Man. Just One year and I could legally adopt him and we can leave that fucking place.

Then he grabbed my wrist and I spun around dumping the whole pot down the front of his shirt. Ready to start a fight, adrenaline was pumping through may Body I was on fire. But in the next seconds it was over it was just Rafe who was staring at me in shock. Nothing that meant great harm for me. Ups. I didn´t wanted that to happen. Angry he stormed of.

Now I´m working at the Country Club, trying to pay off some of the Money. Handing out food on the Midsummer Party casually serving Drinks. The Job was paid good and the work wasn´t hard.

Well except for all the fucking kooks.

Shallow people who try to impress each other who richer is.

Right as I was helping mister Heyward hand out some Food the Cameron’s entered the Party. “They act like they are some Fucking kind of royalty.” I mumbled under my Breath as Pope laughed. “I mean they can, they are the richest in Figure eight.” Mister Heyward spoke softly. He was a good Man sometimes I wished I had a Father like him. Yeah Live is not some shitty Soap. I keep handing out Food when Rafe approaches me. “Well if it isn´t the little Maybank Bitch” he laughed. Just rolling my Eyes I kept working. “You know I saw your little Brother your daddy got him good.” I stopped dead in my tracks and stared at him. “But if you need Money that bad you could work for me, being a Housemaid.” He muses as I stare at him. What the actual Fuck? “ I mean you would look got in a dress like this.” He said coming closer, so close I could feel his breath on my cheeks. “Oh dream on little princess” I said trying to occupied myself again with work. Taking a big pot of Barbecue Sauce to bring it mister Heyward. ”Hey don´t you dare just walk away!”

“You should go and apologize to him. Before they throw you out” I heard mister Heyward’s voice. I grumbled a “yes sir” and went after Rafe. Fucking Kooks with their little egos. Softly I knocked at the Door where rafe just disappeared. Nothing. I knocked again as I got again no answer I just stormed in. The Door fell shut behind me.  

“ Listen I…” I wanted to say something but I was met with a shirtless Rafe. Oh he was defiantly one of the hottest guys that existed. “Like what you see Pogue?” He smirked and I came back to my senses. “ Oh I defiantly enjoy this view of you Kookie.” Carful I made my way over to him looking up at him. He stared back at me as I gently lifted my hand and run it from his neck down to his chest. A soft groan escaped him. “Tell me Kookie do you want me to touch you?” I smirked at him. “Yes” he groaned. “You should ask nicely.” I said a devilish grin on my lips. “ Please touch me” he offered. Nice enough so I leaned up kissing him and running my hands over his torso. Sweet panting noises were coming from his mouth. Softly I bit onto his lower lip and he opened his mouth allowing my tongue to slip in. The Kiss started do get a little rougher. I shoved him Back until he fell with an strangled “uff” on one of the couches. His Pupils were blown and his lips a little red from the kiss. I make my way to him straddling him as I start to leave kisses along his Neck turning into little love Bites. By now he is a moaning mess his hands on my sides while mine travel his body scratching at a view points. “Am I allowed to touch you?” his voice unsteady and submissive. “yes my kookie you are allowed to touch me know.” I kiss him again and feel his giant hands touching me, groping me but they are still gentle. I break the kiss to bite down again on his Neck sucking and leaving a Mark, on Hand slipping under the hem of his Boxers teasing him a little more. He groans and right as I plan to attack his Mouth Again. “(Y/N) where are you?” it was JJ voice. “ Coming in a second.” I yell back to late he just storms in.

His mouth opens in shook but there is no sound. “I.. I will just wait outside. Bye” he mutters  a “What the Fuck was that” under his Breath. He leaves closing the door with a loud bang. I stand up from Rafes Lap and hear a soft whine. “What’s the Matter Kookie?” he doesn´t need to answer I can see the tightness in his Pant. As I thought he couldn´t look any better he sits in front of me like that, disheveled hair, his lustful gaze and the Bruise on his Neck. My Mark.

“ I would love to continue this.” He says quietly. “I can´t hear you kookie.” Grinning at how red his cheeks turn. “ I would like to continue this.” His says a little Louder. “ Alright Kookie leave your window open tonight, I will stop bye.” Then I kiss him Goodbye an leave.

[nevertheless-moving]

Star Wars Time Travel AU #27 Part Two - Suicidal Misunderstanding AU

Continuation of this 

By the time the hovercar finally pulled into the temple, Obi-Wan’s tremors had mostly quieted. Cody awkwardly manhandled him out the vehicle door. Obi-Wan didn’t resist; he mostly seemed to be dealing with the overwhelming situation by refusing to open his eyes. 

“Master?” Cody absently noticed that Anakin’s robe was tied modestly, with no other layers peaking out underneath; wherever he was before Cody called, he had left half-dressed and in a hurry.

Obi-Wan started shaking again, burying his face into Cody’s pauldron.

“Yeesh- you’re really a wreck,” Anakin observed bluntly but not without sympathy. “Honestly, you’re taking all the fun out of the situation. What’s the point of getting drunk if you act so pathetic that your smug padawan can’t even mock you afterwards?” Anakin hesitantly laid a hand on his master’s shoulder.

It was uncertain whether it was the words or the touch that succeeding in garnering a positive response, but finally Kenobi seemed to pull himself together. With a deep breath, the high general straightened up, opening his eyes to look Skywalker square in the face. He continued to hold eye-contact, expression gradually shifting from steely resolve to open faced delight.

“ANAKIN!” Obi-Wan flung himself at his former padawan with obvious joy. “OH ANAKIN! IT’S YOU! IT’S REALLY YOU!” They staggered with the force of Obi-Wan’s enthusiastic bear hug.

“Were you expecting someone else?” Anakin managed to get out, shocked by his Master’s uncharacteristically loud and emotional greeting, as well as slightly breathless from the intense grip. Obi-Wan didn’t answer; he just held Anakin tighter. 

“Man, what did you drink?” he tried to ask instead, deciding to return the hug fully and deal with any later consequences later.

Obi-Wan shifted back enough to make eye-contact again. His brow furrowed in thought. “Just some Jawa beer to wash down the spice doses.”

“SPICE DOSES?!?” Cody and Anakin both shouted in alarm. Anakin grabbed at Obi-Wan’s face, examining the man’s pupils before pulling back his lip to look at his gums. “You don’t look like you’re dosed up. And the only thing you smell like is middling quality alcohol.” he concluded doubtfully. “Are you sure that’s what you took?”

Obi-Wan stopped to think again “The Jawas that sold it seemed pretty confident. I would be more likely to entertain the possibility that I was ripped off were you not standing here with me.”

“I- Wwhere- When would you have even bought spice from Jawas?” Anakin asked, exchanging bewildered looks with Commander Cody. 

“They seem to like stopping by my hut, even when I don’t have anything to steal or buy. I suppose there’s not many opportunities for sentient contact out on in the wastes,” He mused.

Anakin only looked more confused, reasonably confident that he would have known if Obi-Wan owed a home on Tatooine. 

“Heart rate was slightly elevated to normal on the ride over, sir.” Cody added dutifully. “Well within average human normal, and not consistent with spice use or alcohol poisoning.”

“His presence in the force is... strange,” Anakin said while patting Obi-Wan soothingly on the back. “I’d have to take him to the healers to confirm, but my best guess is he's having a bad reaction to something he drank. There are certain alcohols that can cause side-effects and unexpected reactions in force-sensitives. Though I can’t believe that after all the lectures he’s given me, he would be stupid enough to drink one.”

“He...did have an unknown mixed drink a bartender gave him on the house,” Cody said with a sinking sense of failure. “Could this have been a targeted attack?”

Skywalker clearly looked pissed at the idea “If it was, then that bartender committed an act of treason.” Only the fact that he was still supporting Ob-Wan’s weight (in what was rapidly approaching the second-longest hug they had ever shared) kept him from taking command of the troopers to interrogate a bartender. 

“Sir, do you want me to accompany you to medical and make a report?” Cody asked.

Anakin hesitated, thinking while Obi-Wan rested his chin on his former padawan’s shoulder. As amusing as the idea was in theory, he didn’t really want to humiliate a vulnerable, emotional Obi-Wan by dragging him through the heart of the temple to be gawked at and judged.

“No.” He finally decided, “Even if he somehow managed to miss the fact that he was being poisoned in a civilian bar, he’s more than capable of processing toxins on his own, and I’m more than capable of monitoring him overnight. We’ve got a full field med-kit in our quarters- I can take a blood sample tonight, and ask him what he wants to do with it once he sobers up in the morning.”

Obi-Wan readjusted slightly as Anakin shrugged, “It’s also possible that he just, you know, overdid it drinking, which isn’t anyone’s business but his own. I mean, he hasn’t exactly had the opportunity to cut loose when he’s a High General all the time; his tolerance might not have been where he was expecting.”

Cody saluted in acknowledgement of the command decision. He ruthlessly quashed any doubts, reminding himself that General Kenobi had, in fact, asked for General Skywalker by name, and Skywalker was likely to better informed on Jedi responses to alcohol. 

“Master, let’s get you to our quarters so you can sleep this off,” Anakin reluctantly pulled back from was now officially the longest hug Obi-Wan had ever given him. “Can you walk by yourself, or do you want me to help?”

The unusually peaceful smile Obi-Wan was wearing started to slide away. “Our quarters? Our quarters were destroyed. There’s nothing to find there now but ash,” he stated, as if gently reminding Anakin of a known tragedy.

Cody, still standing by, sucked in a breath.

“Besides,” he continued mater of factly, “You were barely ever in them at this point anyway. Even for a dream, it would be a lot more realistic for me to go to my quarters and sit in the dark trying to memorize casualty lists, while you’re out somewhere unknown, carousing with Padme presumably.”

“Carousing with Padme?! I - why would you- Master!” Anakin fumbled out, addressing the last point first before processing the rest.

“And is that seriously what you do when you have time off? Just sit and memorize the names of everyone who died during the war? That’s - that’s seriously sad Obi-Wan, we are talking about that when you sober up.” Not giving Obi-Wan the chance to defend his extremely sad hobby, Anakin plowed on. 

“And our quarters are fine, I know that- uh- I know I haven’t been around a lot, but I was just in there earlier today, they look practically the same as they did when I was a padawan. Whatever you saw, here and now - I promise you - here and now the temple is fine. We’ll talk about your vision or your hallucination once you sober up, I promise.” Anakin ended emphatically, gripping Obi-Wans shoulders and staring directly into his eyes.

The miniature rant seemed to work. 

“That sounds nice,” Obi-Wan said smiling, “I would love to see our old rooms- I know it didn’t really matter either way to you, but I always took comfort in the fact that you never bothered with requesting a new room after you were knighted. I know, I know that between how rarely we were temple based and Padme, it probably just didn’t cross your mind, but it was nice to have some tangible reminder of our connection, even as the war and the growing darkness stole everything else.”

Anakin truly didn’t know how to respond, the raw emotional honesty somehow even more painful than the crushing hug. Obi-Wan reached up to smooth back his hair like he was still a child. He then walked a few steps to face the extremely out-of-depth Commander Cody.

Not hesitating, Obi-Wan pulled Cody into a tender hug which he couldn’t help but lean into. The commander brought his arms up and around but hesitated to actually make contact, instead ghosting his hands along the general’s back.

“I always wanted to do that,” Obi-Wan whispers into Cody’s ear. “I can never thank you enough for all you’ve done; I never would have gotten through the war without you. I wish...I wish I could tell you that I consider you one of the best of men, and one of the best of friends. But... I can’t. Even if I abandoned my last mission to search you out, even if I succeeded in finding you, you would never allow me close enough to do this.”

Cody’s heart is racing, trying to decode the General’s words over the ringing white noise in his ears. He stops breathing entirely as Obi-Wan shifts to press their foreheads together, allowing him to focus entirely on the feel of the general’s breath, the sight of tears trickling again from red-rimmed eyes. “Goodbye, Cody.” he finally exhales.

And with that he turned and walked away, not looking back.

Next (Part Three)

[tsarisfanfiction]

Libel (Part 2)

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Family Characters: John, Scott, Grandma, Tracy Family

Day 6 “touch and go” for @whumptober-archive and for the prompt bruises my muses decided to add on to my day 3 chapter, so have a rather displeased John.  I’m not expecting this one to go any further, but then again I wasn’t expecting to add onto it at all, so who knows what’ll happen the rest of this month.

<<< Part 1

Grandma was waiting for them when they got home, the smell of something heavenly and clearly take-out wafting through the front door as it opened, and John felt a flash of guilt for forgetting to warn her about Scott’s physical condition when her mouth parted slightly in clear shock.

Scott’s weight had increased against him slowly but steadily as they’d finished the trek home, until his head was resting against John’s and his arm hung awkwardly around his shoulder. His eyes were rimmed with an angry red, and salted tear tracks cut down across the blossoming bruises.  One eye, in addition to the tell-tale sign of crying, was swelling shut with a purple-black mark blooming around it, but while that was the worst mark on his face, there was barely any untouched skin. The exposed arms were also littered with colour, including vibrant handprints that told a story all of their own.

John was certain that Scott’s t-shirt was concealing more.

“What happened?” Grandma demanded after a moment, swooping in and gingerly cupping Scott’s face in her hands.  His brother’s messenger bag dropped to the floor, and John let his own do the same without ever relinquishing his grip around Scott’s waist.  Scott was clearly feeling the emotional damage more than the physical, but that didn’t mean that the physical didn’t promise pain in his brother’s future.

The weight against him increased again as Scott sagged at the question.  John couldn’t see his face very well from his angle, but considering how wrecked his big brother was about the whole thing – and understandably so, in John’s furious opinion – he couldn’t envisage him repeating the tale again.

“Bullies,” he said shortly, enough to give an answer without tormenting Scott further by retelling the whole thing in his earshot.  At some point the rest of the family needed to know that Scott and Christie were no longer together – preferably before one of them made an innocent comment – but he wasn’t going to dredge that up in Scott’s vicinity.

In his pocket, Scott’s phone hadn’t stopped vibrating with incoming messages.  If they were all along the same vein as the ones John had seen initially, he was very glad he’d decided to, for all intents and purposes, confiscate his big brother’s phone.  He’d probably need to change his number before it was safe to give it back.

“Terrible children,” Grandma muttered beneath her breath, before slowly stepping back and letting her hands reluctantly part with Scott’s face.  “Your dinner’s in the kitchen and your brothers are upstairs in bed.”  Had they stayed out that late?  “Alan’s sharing with Virgil and Gordon tonight so you two don’t need to worry about him.”  That was a relief – John loved Alan, and neither he nor Scott minded sharing a bedroom with the youngest, but tonight the last thing Scott needed was Alan’s innocent blue eyes forcing him to struggle to hold himself together.

Dinner sounded – and smelled – inviting.  Grandma had taken his warning text seriously and gone straight for Scott’s favourites, from the smell of it.  It was definitely a pleasant surprise in John’s book, and he hoped that Scott was up for trying to stomach at least some of the comfort food.  If nothing else, the apple pie, whose cinnamon-tinted scent was wafting through invitingly, should entice his brother in.

Scott hadn’t said a word since choking out what had to be an extremely brief summary of events, and his silence continued as he kicked off his sneakers – still not separating from John for a single moment.

It was familiar behaviour;going to a brother for comfort when the world went mad was a common tactic, but the brother they all went to was Scott.  He was never the one seeking comfort – that is, until now, and John couldn’t blame him in the slightest, so he stayed close and kept one arm around his brother without saying anything, hoping that it would help Scott as much as Scott’s presence always helped him.

“Get some food in your stomachs,” Grandma instructed.  “Scott, have you taken any painkillers?”

Hair rustled in John’s ear as Scott shook his head.  He still didn’t say a word and John rubbed his back gently.

“I’ll get you some,” she said, ushering them through the kitchen door.  “Once you’ve eaten, Scott, I want you to take a hot bath.”  She didn’t wait for a response before disappearing, leaving John to guide his brother over to the table, where Scott’s favourite burger waited.

To his relief, Scott didn’t need any convincing to eat, although the way he mechanically took each bite told John that he wasn’t really tasting it.  The apple pie went down a little better – while Scott still didn’t speak, or smile, his mouthfuls seemed to be a little more organic, and irregularly frequent.  John ate his own in equal silence, aware of the still-vibrating phone in his pocket but refusing to check the messages while Scott was next to him.

Grandma reappeared with Tylenol and a cold compress as Scott sipped at the soda, both of which were gratefully received, even if Scott’s reaction remained unusually muted.  Still, he finished his meal, accepted the painkillers without a fuss, and let Grandma press the compress gently over his swollen-shut eye, which was as much as John could ask, given the situation.

All the while, Scott stayed in physical contact with him, leaning in and seemingly trusting John to hold him up so he didn’t fall to the floor.  It felt rather like a metaphor, so when Grandma eased the compress back again several minutes later and nudged Scott towards the bathroom where she promised a nice, warm bath was waiting for him he didn’t hesitate to escort him.

The door clicked shut behind them and Scott sank onto the tiled floor, wrapping his arms around his knees. John settled down beside him and put his arm around him again, letting his brother lean in to the touch.  Silence continued to reign.

Outside the room, he could hear the running feet of several brothers – probably all of them – and the subsequent scolding for running in the house, followed by a reminder that they should be in bed and that they’d see their eldest brothers in the morning. John would be very surprised if no black or blond heads poked into his and Scott’s room during the night.  Dad was moving around, apparently finally appearing from his office for food, and John heard the outraged outburst as Grandma no doubt told him about Scott.

At least John could be confident that Scott wouldn’t be allowed into school tomorrow – with both Grandma and Dad on the warpath, his brother would be kept safely at home, likely not doing any work at all, although he might poke at some of his preferred subjects.

Speaking of his brother, Scott was showing no signs of getting in the water.  John nudged him gently.  “It’s going to get cold,” he prompted.  “Do you want me to leave?”

His brother groaned lightly, but straightened enough to yank at his top.  John shifted out of the way as the fabric came off over messy brown hair, and did his best not to let his reaction show on his face.

As suspected, Scott’s torso was awful.  Bruises littered the skin, the fabric doing almost nothing to protect it from the blows it had taken, leaving it a rainbow of red hues.  One in particular caught John’s attention – a large, darker area that sprawled across one side as though it’d been hit multiple times in quick succession. It took him a moment to yank his eyes away, shifting his entire body until Scott was out of view, and not turning back until water splashed and then stilled again.

Only his brother’s head and shoulders were visible over the edge of the bath, complete with one arm hanging over the side, fingertips just brushing the cool tiles of the floor. The heat of the water was rapidly adding even more pink to Scott’s skin, as though it needed it when there were enough broken blood vessels below his brother’s skin to change the hue all by themselves.  Even with the painkillers Grandma had bestowed, John knew Scott was in for a sleepless night.

Then again, the heartbreak probably hurt more than everything else put together.

“Do you want me to leave?” he asked again, already gathering his legs underneath himself in preparation.

“No,” Scott rasped, the first word he’d spoken since returning home.  His voice sounded scraped raw and weak, and John obediently settled back down again.  “Please.”

John was going to destroy everyone who had a hand in reducing his big brother to this.  There would be no mercy, and a large number of them were obligingly making his life much easier by blowing up Scott’s phone with messages his brother would never see hide nor hair of.

“Okay,” he agreed, settling his back against the toilet and shifting around until it was halfway comfortable. From that angle, Scott couldn’t see anything that might be on a phone screen, so while his big brother soaked in an attempt to ease the bruising, John got to work.

First was a message to Grandma from his own phone, giving her the basic rundown of events.  She didn’t reply, but she did leave him on read, so he knew she had seen it.

There was no doubt in John’s mind that she would do everything in her considerable influence and power to make sure Scott didn’t have to go in to school again, or at least until it all blew over.  His big brother was in good hands.

Still, John was not about to let things lie himself, either.  Scott’s phone was a veritable goldmine of information, and while there was little John could do without his laptop, he could at least take note of the names sending threats and begin to scheme how he was going to get revenge.

No one hurt his brother and got away with it.

Quiet sobs that started up after a while, muffled in a way that sounded like Scott had a hand or arm over his mouth.  John reached out for the dangling arm and tangled his fingers lightly with Scott’s even as he scoured his way through the social media of Christie’s two brothers, looking for the most damaging place to hit them back.  If he played it right, he could ruin their football aspirations with a neat black mark on their record.

Oh, he understood why they’d reacted the way they had – if he’d gone to Scott and said someone had hurt him, there was no way Scott wouldn’t have launched himself straight into the situation entirely on his side.  That didn’t mean John was going to spare them from retribution; he wasn’t that benevolent.

Christie herself he left for the moment.  If he was going to hurt everyone who had hurt Scott, he was going to destroy the girl behind it all in the first place, and that would require his full attention. It would be most efficient to eliminate everyone else involved first.

From the state of Scott’s phone, it was a long list of targets, but John was nothing if not thorough as he sifted through the hateful messages.

Some of them were truly vile, and there were threats in there that made John feel sick just thinking about them.  He set those aside to show Grandma; some things needed an adult’s intervention to handle effectively, and he was certain that some of the threats were jail-worthy if acted upon.

Scott had barely moved since getting into the bath, and John wondered if he was falling asleep in the pleasant warmth.  Part of him hoped so; it was much better than wallowing in negative thoughts, especially ones he didn’t deserve.  He squeezed his brother’s fingers lightly and was rewarded with a twitch in return.

His brother still didn’t talk.  Not when he stopped crying again, wiping away tears with a wet arm.  Not when Grandma lightly knocked on the door to suggest that they get ready for bed.  Not when he got out of the bath, either, skin pruned and wrinkly, and John averted his gaze so he didn’t see anything he didn’t want to as Scott slowly dried off.

Dad was waiting when they left the bathroom, Scott wrapped up snugly in his favourite pyjamas, and wordlessly folded Scott into a big, warm hug which his big brother sank into bonelessly.  John took the chance to slip away, finding Grandma downstairs and slipping her Scott’s phone.

She took one look at the first message on the screen and her face turned to granite.

“Neither of you are going to school tomorrow,” she told him.  John hadn’t expected to be included in that, but it was clear there was no arguing.  It worked in his favour anyway; vengeance would be easier to enact using his laptop without the prying eyes of hovering classmates.  “And whatever you’re planning, John, don’t get caught.”

She followed him back up the stairs.  Dad and Scott had migrated into their bedroom and John took the chance to get into his own pyjamas – although sleep wasn’t on his agenda just yet – before going to join them.

A door creeping open as he passed caught his attention and he paused to see three pairs of worried eyes peering out.

“Is Scott okay?”  Alan was the one that spoke, not yet aware of the nuances of the indoor voice, but making a good go at whispering regardless.  John could see the question reflected in two pairs of brown eyes as well and sighed, shoulders slumping.

“He broke up with Christie,” he explained, keeping his own voice low enough that there was no way the brother in question would be able to hear from down the hall.  It was Virgil’s eyes he met, knowing that he was the only one old enough to comprehend what his next words would mean.  “It was a bad breakup.”  Sure enough, chestnut brown eyes widened.

“But is he okay?” Gordon asked, frowning, and John swallowed, not wanting to lie, but not wanting them to worry, either.

He settled on shrugging.  “He will be.”  I hope.

They surged forwards, apparently taking that as an invitation to go see him, and John had to plant himself firmly in the doorway to stop them. There was no way Scott would want them to see him in his current state.

“Tomorrow,” he said, somewhat sharply.  “He needs space right now.”

They grumbled malcontentedly, but he stood firm, pulling upon his rarely used big brother clout to get them to obey until the door closed again.

In all likelihood, they’d be sneaking in later, but hopefully Scott would be less visibly distraught by then.

John padded into his bedroom and headed straight for his bed.  Dad was sitting with Scott on his brother’s bed, arms firmly around him and one hand running through his hair as he sobbed. From the way he was slumped, and the weakness of the sobs, Scott was on the cusp of sleep.  John wasn’t naïve enough to think that he’d sleep all through the night, not with all those bruises, but he’d gladly support any sleep Scott could get.

For his part, he pulled up his phone and continued scrolling through the names of Scott’s year mates.  Most of them had left a message on his phone.

“Don’t stay up too late,” Dad cautioned suddenly and he jumped, checking the time to see it was much later than he’d realised.  Scott was neatly tucked into bed, the vision of a perfect slumber ruined by the tear tracks down his face.

“I won’t,” he shrugged, an acknowledgement but not a promise.  “Night, Dad.”

“Goodnight, John.”  He was pulled into a brief hug, kiss pressed against his brow, before Dad slipped out of the room, leaving him with his sleeping brother.

Armed with his laptop, phone, and the simmering fury kept at a boil by the sight of his battered brother, John got to work.

[hale-13]

Strangulated

By Hale13

For the Summer of Whump Day 26 Prompt - Asphyxiation

“That’s pretty new,” Peter muttered aloud, perched on the side of a building in Midtown and staring intently at the man in a full on metal rhino costume destroying the front of a Well’s Fargo. The police that had responded to the call had drawn their weapons and were perched behind their cars, clearly just as baffled and making no attempts to stop or prevent the crime.

Words: 1754, Chapters: 1/1 (Complete), Language: English

Fandoms: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)

Rating: Gen

Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark

Characters: Peter Parker, Tony Stark, Rhino

TW: Strangulation

Read on AO3 or below the line break.

“That’s pretty new,” Peter muttered aloud, perched on the side of a building in Midtown and staring intently at the man in a full on metal rhino costume destroying the front of a Well’s Fargo. The police that had responded to the call had drawn their weapons and were perched behind their cars, clearly just as baffled and making no attempts to stop or prevent the crime.

“It is new Peter,” Karen’s voice chirped happily from his mask. “You have not faced this criminal before. Would you like me to activate instant kill?” She sounded far too hopeful for Peter’s liking and he sighed, dodging the small chunk of concrete that flew his way.

“Karen, darling, love of my life. We’ve talked about this,” he told her gently, swinging closer and dropping down behind the line of cop cars. “Instant kill is not the answer to all lives problems.”

“If you say so,” and she sounded so disappointed. Peter would have to have a conversation with Mr. Stark – he had no idea how he made his AI’s so lifelike but he really wanted to know.

“Ugh,” one of the cops said, rolling his eyes as he noticed Peter. “Scram Spider-Guy, this ain’t any of your business.”

Peter fought an eye roll of his own. “Real nice pal,” he said sarcastically, stepping forward anyway. The guys partner nudged him pointedly in the side.

“Just send in the freak. Might save us the effort.” Peter fought the urge to cringe at the sneer directed at him. He had a pretty thick skin but he wasn’t the biggest fan of being called a ‘freak’. Especially by the people he was trying to help.

“Happy to be of service,” Peter grunted with a two finger salute. “Just stay back and let the professional work.” He fired a web and took off in the direction of the rhino guy before either of the police had the chance to respond. He purposely used their car as a jumping off point just to really rub it in and smirked a little at their grunts of irritation. “Hey big guy!” He called as he landed in the pock-marked and cracked street. Rhino-guy turned around and charged with a roar. “Whoa there!” Peter called as he jumped over his head. “You haven’t even introduced yourself yet!”

“I will squash you like bug!” The man said in a thick Russian accent, scraping one of his feet against the ground like a bull and charging Peter head first again. Peter nimbly dodged again and dangled with one hand from a nearby streetlight.

“You know spiders are arachnids right? Not bugs?” Peter bantered, swinging around the pole and releasing at just the right moment to launch himself across the street the nail Rhino in the face, sending him stumbling back before he corrected himself with a roar. Peter somersaulted out of the way of another charge.

“Stay still so I can kill you,” he roared.

“Tempting,” Peter mused, webbing Rhino’s arms to his sides. “But I’ll pass.”

Rhino roared again in obvious frustration and ripped through Peter’s webs with great effort. “That’s not ideal,” Peter said as he fired more webs in an attempt to slow down Rhino to no avail. Freed once more, Rhino changed forward. This time, however, Peter took a step back into one of the holes in the asphalt and tripped; he was able to right himself quickly but not fast enough to dodge out of the way of Rhino’s hands.

“Oof,” Peter gasped, hands flying up to his throat where Rhino had wrapped his mechanized hands around Peter’s throat, holding him a couple feet above the ground and leaving Peter to flail his legs in an attempt to escape. “Not cool bro,” Peter breathed out with his limited air supply as the Rhino squeezed tighter and backed him up to slam Peter into a nearby brick wall.

“You talk too much,” Rhino grumbled, redoubling his hold on Peter and making him grunt with effort and scrambled to pull the hands from around his throat.

“Peter your pulse ox is dropping rapidly,” Karen said, displaying the number on his HUD and Peter squeezed his eyes shut as it ticked from ninety-three percent to ninety-two. “Calling Mr. Stark.”

“No don’t,” Peter wheezed out a little desperately, his throat feeling raw and swollen and his lungs beginning to burn.

“On my way kid,” Tony’s voice said through his comm as Karen connected his mentor to Peter’s HUD. “Any chance you can break out before you pass out.” Peter just let out a frustrated puff of air and, with intense effort, lifted his legs to press his feet against Rhino’s chest to begin pushing. His vision was tunneling and pulsing around the edges and Peter knew it was only his stubborn pig-headedness and sheer force of will that was keeping him conscious at this point. The pulse ox reading in the corner ticked down to eighty-seven and, with Herculean strength, Peter finally knocked the Rhino away from him and collapsed to the ground.

“‘M good,” Peter croaked tightly, letting his head rest back against the road as he recovered his breath. He didn’t have long through as his Spidey sense tingled violently and he threw himself to the side of the road to dodge out of Rhino’s path. His vision was still a little spotty and he stumbled like he was drunk but Peter was able to pull himself back to his feet and stand without assistance. “Not cool dude,” he said, his throat burning and his words coming out like he had been gargling gravel.

He needed to end this quick. He couldn’t afford to get caught again. With effort, Peter jumped back into the air, firing webs at rapid speed as he did so – attaching Rhino to the ground in a veritable cocoon. Rhino screamed in anger and struggled but Peter’s webs held this time much to his relief. “He’s all yours boys,” he said in the direction of the police, his voice thready and painful and he swallowed down a cough.

It took all the energy he had left to swing away, alighting on a nearby apartment roof and dropping first to his knees and then back to sit cross-legged. His neck hurt and he could feel the swelling starting to constrict his trachea and vocal chords. Tony landed in front of him a few seconds later, stepping out of his suit and squatting down in front of Peter with several cracks and pops of his knees.

“Try not to talk buddy,” Tony told him, lifting his mask up to his nose and pulling the neck down carefully, wincing at whatever he saw and making Peter hunch his shoulders and pull away, fixing his mask back to its usual position. “Helen’s waiting for us back in the MedBay. I’m going to carry you and your not going to bitch about it capiche?” Peter rolled his eyes knowing it would translate to the large white lenses on his mask but didn’t protest when Tony stepped back into the Iron Man armor and picked him up.

The flight back to the Tower was quick since Peter had ventured into Manhattan to patrol today and they were soon landing on the small balcony outside the MedBay doors. Peter still felt a little light-headed and dizzy and swayed a little in place when Tony lowered him back to the ground to stand on his own while the suited disassembled around him and flew off to the armory. “Steady there,” the man said gently, slinging Peter’s arm across his shoulders and helping him walk into the building.

“Hey Peter,” Helen Cho said as she approached them from the nurses station down the hall and ushered them into an open exam room. “Karen sent me your stats so let’s just see the damage yeah?” She said as Peter settled on the exam bed.

Peter smacked his hand into the spider emblem on his chest, letting the suit fall down to rest around his hips, pulling his mask off and tossing it next to him on the bed. Dr. Cho wrinkled her nose and softly palpated Peter’s neck making him grunt and grimace, manfully resisting the urge to pull away from her. “Well you’ve already got some pretty severe swelling,” she said, clipping a pulse oximeter onto his finger and frowning at the result. “And you’re still not oxygenating as well as I’d like.”

“So what’s the plan then,” Tony said, slapping a hand over Peter’s mouth when he opened it to speak and ignoring the glare Peter sent him and the spiteful lick Peter gave his hand in the hopes that Tony would remove his hand.

“Well I’m going to start supplemental oxygen first,” Dr. Cho said, unwinding an oxygen mask from the wall and pushing Peter back until he was reclined on the bed and slipped the mask over his mouth and nose. “I’ll have a nurse come in with something for you to change into and then I want to start IV steroids and pain relief to get the swelling down. With you’re healing,” she said addressing Peter, “you should only be here overnight. I just want to make sure that your airway doesn’t swell closed. You’ll also need to rest your voice since you probably have some damage to your vocal chords.”

Disappointed, Peter nodded. This was not in his plan for the day and he was really looking forward to playing Beast Slayers with Ned tonight but, if he was confined to a MedBay bed and doped up on his pain meds he doubted he would be worth much of anything. Well at least he’d probably catch up on some of his sleep.

A few hours later, floating due to his super strength meds and curled up under a pre-warmed blanket, Peter squeaked out a hoarse ‘thanks’ making Tony, sat beside him and tapping away at a tablet with his feet propped up on the end of Peter’s bed, fix him with a glare. “Aren’t you supposed to be resting your voice?” Peter just gave him a dopey smile and burrowed deeper into the blanket, adjusting the melting ice pack that was wrapped around his still tender throat.

He’d have to do some research of mechanized rhinos in the morning. He had already come up with some fun tweaks for his web fluid that might be beneficial going forward. With chemical equations dancing around in his brain, Peter fell into an deep, easy sleep.

[brooke0297]

Electric Hammer to the Heart (A Julie and The Phantoms Fic)

Masterlist

First work for JATP and inspired partially by how I go absolutely rabid when I hear "Now or Never". Also inspired by how I just wanted a little fluff with Julie being a sixteen year old girl listening to good music. Hope you like it!

Julie had basically forgotten about the CD.

In the grand scheme of things, it was an easy detail to fall through the cracks when one accidentally summoned three ghosts, started a band, then saved said ghosts from being destroyed by another villainous ghost. All in the span of about a month.

Needless to say, she’d had a lot on her mind since then.

But now, she held the case in her hands and examined it. It felt like a lifetime ago that she had first put the disc in her mom’s stereo and pressed play.

Carlos had inconspicuously placed it on her dresser at some point. He had told her that it was the key to solving the mystery of the Molina’s ghost problem and how he had discovered her “holograms” were just the ghosts of three seventeen year old band members from 1995. Now it seemed he was done with it and had given it back to Julie.

There was a lot of weight to the disc in her hand, she realized. It was what brought her “phantoms” and three new best friends into her life. It was how she finally found her way back to music after losing her mom. And it was the last connection the guys had to their lives before the unfortunate street dogs incident.

Knowing Luke, Reggie, and Alex; this was the culmination of years and years of hard work. This, as well as the Orpheum gig, would have launched Sunset Curve into stardom. 

She suddenly realized she hadn’t even listened to the first song all the way through.

Well she had been thinking about putting on some new music to study to. And the guys were God knows where. They had been relishing in their newfound freedom after the Caleb incident, staying out all hours to visit clubs and music venues. She wouldn’t have to worry about playing their old stuff and embarrassing them.

She gently pulled the CD out of the case and popped it into the disc drive on her laptop. As she pulled up her music player, she could hear the whiring of the drive as it prepared to read the disc. By the time her music theory review had been pulled up, the disc had loaded and was ready to play.

The familiar sound of Luke’s guitar erupted from her speakers in the intro and she heard Owen count them in. There was a small moment of anticipation before the music began and Luke’s voice filled the room.

Take off, last stop

Countdown till we blast open the top.

Face first, full charge

Electric hammer to the heart.

Julie realized in all the time she’d heard Luke sing, she had never really heard his voice this gritty and breathless. It was a classic rock sound and Julie could feel her head begin bobbing as the others joined in.

Clocks move forward

But we don't get older, no

Kept on climbing

Till our stars collided

And all the times we fell behind

Were just the keys to paradise

Don't look down

'Cause we're still rising up right now.

And even if we hit the ground

We'll still fly

Keep dreaming like we'll live forever

But live it like it's now or never.

Julie was smiling in spite of herself. The lyrics just screamed Luke. There was so much passion and excitement in each lyric. She’d written with him enough to know that Luke’s words were never frivolous. He poured his heart into each one.

Hear the noise, in my head

It's calling out like a voice I can't forget

One life, no regrets

Catch up, got no time to catch my breath

Clocks move faster

Cause it's all we're after now, oh

Won't stop climbing

Cause this is our time, yeah

When all the days felt black and white

Those were the best shades of my life

Julie had stopped paying attention to her homework and was instead listening carefully to Alex’s drum beat. She could distinguish Reggie’s bass line out of Luke’s furious shredding and she felt herself grinning with pride. These were her amazingly talented band mates. Despite not knowing the words well, she began mouthing along to the chorus.

Don't look down

'Cause we're still rising up right now

And even if we hit the ground

We'll still fly

Keep dreaming like we'll live forever

But live it like it's now or never

We ain't searching for tomorrow (Tomorrow)

'Cause we got all we need today (Today)

There was Alex’s solo and Reggie’s response. She grinned. Julie decided she needed to speak to Luke as soon as she could about giving the guys more lines.

Living on a feeling that's been running through our veins.

We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain.

As the clapping kicked in, Julie was dancing in her seat.

Don't look down

'Cause we're still rising up right now

And even if we hit the ground

We'll still fly

Keep dreaming like we'll live forever

But live it like it's now or never

It's now or never (Now or never).

Luke’s guitar and the guy’s voices drifted out as the song ended and Julie realized she was breathless. As the next demo began (“Late Last Night”, according to the jacket), Julie sat back in her chair.

She knew Luke was an incredible songwriter and all three of the guys were amazing musicians. But hearing how much passion and joy they put into their first song made her appreciate her boys even more. She remembered what Luke had once said about the connection between musician and audience and how it was his dream to form that bond with everyone who listened to Sunset Curve. He had lived for music. He still did.

Julie was hit with a wave of appreciation for her band. They had definitely saved her when she had felt like she was drowning. It had been Luke’s words that had coaxed her into entering the studio and given her the courage to play again. The three of them had jumped up on the stage at her school to have her back the day she reentered the music program. And they had chosen possible destruction over abandoning the Phantoms and playing for Caleb at his Ghost club. Luke’s words from the night of the Orpheum came back to her.

“No music is worth making, Julie, if we’re not making it with you. No regrets.” 

Man, she really wanted a group hug right about now.

She snapped back to reality as the song changed a second time. “Lakeside Reflection”, which she thought she remembered Luke saying was inspired by Alex and his journey with coming out to his friends and family, began. She shook herself out of her musings and tried to focus on music theory.

She was able to finish the worksheet as the final demo (“In Your Starlight”) faded out. The songs were phenomenal and, instead of ejecting the disc, she clicked play on “Now or Never” again. Her room filled once again with the sounds of Luke’s guitar and she began to bob her head along. 

I didn’t realize how catchy this song is. Julie thought to herself as she sang under her breath.

When the song finished, Julie didn’t hesitate to hit the repeat button. Over and over she found herself listening to the song until eventually she was dancing around her room and jumping on her bed, holding her phone like a mic and singing at the top of her lungs.

“Don't look down! 'Cause we're still rising up right now!” She strummed her imaginary guitar like she imagined Luke would and laughed. It had been a while since she had jammed out by herself.

*****

“Boys, we are rocking it!” Luke exclaimed. He and the boys had poofed into the studio from the last club they had been at and Alex could see the familiar glint in his friend’s eyes. It usually signaled a breathless speech full of highlighting their potential and how important it was to strike while the iron was hot. He and Reggie agreed 100%, but sometimes (most of the time) Luke got carried away and one of them would have to try and bring him back to Earth.

“I mean, we were ten times better than those guys on that stage. We need to seize the moment and book some more gigs. Hey maybe Julie-”

“Where is Julie?” Reggie interrupted. Alex sighed, grateful for his friend and his usual lack of tact.

Luke seemed to snap out of his tirade when he realized their frontwoman was missing.

“She must be in the house. C’mon let’s tell her about that Foxes band we heard tonight.”

The boys poofed into the living room of the Molina house and glanced around, No sign of Julie.

“She’s probably in her room-wait a second.” Reggie cocked his head and listened. Luke and Alex glanced at each other before doing the same. Alex could hear the music coming from the direction of Julie’s room. But there was something familiar about the beat he could barely make out. 

“Hang on,” Luke said, “Is that…?”

“I can’t tell.” Reggie said. The three boys bounded up the stairs and huddled together around the door to Julie’s room, listening.

“Clocks move faster cause it's all we're after now, oh!”

“That’s us! That’s our song!” Reggie exclaimed. 

Luke was astonished. Julie was clearly listening to their demo CD. The one they’d been handing out for weeks to every music executive and promoter they could hassle before booking the Orpheum. He remembered that one producer had a DO NOT ALLOW poster with his picture on it after he and Bobby had hounded the guy for a month straight. He’d forgotten that Now or Never had been on this demo. It had once been one of his favorite Sunset Curve songs. The energy was a great encore song and it had gained a huge following amongst their fans. The last time he had played that song was…

“Should we go in there?” Alex asked. When Luke didn’t answer, the drummer hesitantly knocked. 

No answer.

“Maybe we should just go in? I mean, she probably didn’t hear us.” Reggie reasoned.

“You remember what happened the last time we barged into her room without permission.” Alex retorted. Before Reggie could reply, Luke had phased through the door and into the room. Alex and Reggie followed and the three of them paused at the scene that awaited them.

Julie was jumping around on her bed and singing the lyrics at the top of her lungs into her phone. Her hair was wild around her face and her eyes were shut as she belted the chorus.

“But LIVE IT LIKE IT'S NOW OR NEVER!”

“Julie!” Alex called over the music. When their singer didn’t respond, the boys glanced at each other.

“JULIE!” they hollered together.

Julie’s eyes snapped open and she shrieked when she realized the guys were standing in her room staring at her. The surprise was enough to throw her off her balance and she tumbled onto her stomach on her bed. When she regained her bearings, the guys were still staring at her but Alex and Reggie had lunged out to try and catch her. The music was still blaring and she scrambled to press pause.

Silence filled the room.

“Uh..hey guys! How was the club? Anyone good play tonight?” she asked nervously.

“Was that our demo?” Reggie asked. Julie fumbled.

“Uh..well I mean...ugh yeah it was. But I wasn’t intentionally keeping it from you I swear! I just didn’t want to make you sad or anything. And the last time I tried to listen was when three ghosts dropped into my garage so I didn’t really get to actually listen and--”

“Did you like it?”

The question came from Luke. He was looking at Julie with thinly veiled vulnerability in his eyes. It had always felt like sharing a piece of his soul when he gave out their demo. The boys had worked day and night, scrounging money from odds and end jobs, birthday money, and selling Bobby’s dad’s old furniture from the garage in order to afford the studio time. But it had paid off. Having a demo had set them up for booking more higher paying gigs until they’d finally booked the Orpheum. Luke had a lot of pride when it came to that demo. And Julie’s opinion was important to him. 

“Hmm?” she asked, not sure if she’d heard right.

“Did you like it? The song?” Luke clarified. The boys turned their gaze back to Julie.

“Well, yeah of course I did.” Julie answered, “I mean you did just see me bust a move on my bed, right?”

And there it was. Luke’s 1000 watt smile lit up his face and Julie mirrored it.

“We didn’t know you were a Sunset Curve fan!” Reggie bellowed in delight. Alex found himself grinning as well.

“Well duh! I mean, I wouldn't say they’re as good as Julie and the Phantoms but...” she jokingly trailed off and Reggie laughed.

“You really like the songs?” Alex asked.

“You guys, they were incredible! I mean Luke; the lyrics are insanely good and holy moly Alex we need to hear you sing more! And Reggie too!” Julie gushed. She was still riding the adrenaline from her scare, but she wanted to make sure the boys knew how much she loved their songs.

Reggie and Alex moved to clamor onto her bed to hear more and she turned to Luke.

“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to them with you guys though. I didn’t want to bring up any bad memories for you.”

Luke shook his head.

“No it’s… I’m just really happy you liked them. It’s been a long time since we heard those songs. Especially since Bobby didn’t steal them.”

Julie exhaled in relief.

“Okay but now I want to talk about maybe sampling some of your other demos. The bass line from “Lakeside Reflection” would be really cool…”

Luke laughed and joined his bandmates on her bed as Julie began to dissect the demo. There was a warm feeling in his chest that wasn’t going away anytime soon.

******

Thanks for reading everyone! Let me know what you think!

[has-gilgamesh-doneanythingwrong]

SLEEPOVER☆CHAOS

In which my mastersona, Seihai-kun; joins Gudako and Mash for one heck of a fun sleepover!!!

Secrets and hidden emotions are finally exposed! ;)

(naw i just like sleepovers)

Cold, billowing gusts of snow rattled against the glistening window panes; as the mundane, clinically white halls of Chaldea sparkled like brand-new.

Yes.

For the first time in ages, Seihai had volunteered to assist with the cleaning!!

'Well, it was either to help with clean-up or join the servants for a session of group counselling with Kiara...' The mere idea of pouring their heart out to their fellow allies made a cold shiver run down Seihai's spine.

No way in hell did they want to let others know about their inner demons; especially not when he was also attending today's session. To Seihai, that was akin to a recipe for disaster.

And in addition to that, Kiara was eerily perceptive as a counsellor. It'd be IMPOSSIBLE to hide anything from her. Seihai had seen how even Gudako's cheery outer self faltered before Kiara's intelligent wiles.

'It's much more relaxing to clean the place instead.' Resting their vibrant red cornrows onto one of the latest prototype model of the Chaldea Speedmop 2000 (nightingale had an entire stock of them in order to keep chaldea as clean as possible), they sighed.

Life had been a real struggle as of late for Seihai. Lacerating wounds. Ferocious beasts. Storylines bursting at the seams with treachery and Machiavellianism. In other words, the missions were hell. It was tough- unbearable even- to carry on, to keep on pushing forward like Gudako, Mash, the Staff and Servants were; but deep down, Seihai knew that they had no choice but to follow ahead.

However, it grew. A festering, deep pool of regret; self-abasement and shame. Was it really alright for Seihai to be here? Weren't they just a nuisance? Were they even worthy? Did anybody at Chaldea even care about them, anyway? Who could they open up around?

As a horrendous deluge of negative self-talk smashed into Seihai with all the force of a tidal wave; encasing them within a moment of anxiety so painful that they felt as if they were about to drown- a miracle occurred.

'TAP TAP!!!!' Tapping them ferociously on the shoulder, Seihai leapt out of their very skin to face such an intrusive force. "H-HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK- oh, Gudako."

"What do you mean by 'oh Gudako'?!! It's none other than me, Gudako; your beloved homie and most trusted ally!! I was looking for you. Kiara was disappointed that you couldn't make it to counselling today. Told me that she's happy to meet you one-on-one, if you got some extra time." Gudako all but winked, as her golden eyes glimmered mischievously.

'You little shit,' Seihai couldn't help but laugh at that. "Alright, I'll visit her tomorrow. How was the group therapy?"

"Oh, it was awesome! We all had a good laugh, shared our stories and gave each other some support." Gudako was more or less beaming with joy. "It's so nice here, in Chaldea. Everyone's so supportive of one another. There's no shame here, Seihai. I hope you know that."

"Haha, of course I do!" An itchy, aching laugh that was even faker than the fakest of plastics erupted from Seihai's throat. Well fuck, looks like their skills at faking had subsided greatly as of late.

'Oh shit...she's onto me..' Seihai recognized that expression clearly. Gudako's eyes were wide, almost brimming with tears, as her eyebrows arched incredulously.

That only meant one thing- she was finally onto Seihai's bullshit.

"Hey, Seihai. If something's up, tell me! You always listen to me ramble on and on about all of my feelings too. Let it out!" Gudako gives Seihai a friendly shake of the shoulders. "AH!!!!"

"Oh lord, Gudako. What's happened now?" Seihai guffawed softly at Gudako's vibrant pose. "You got a new idea? C'mon let it out!"

"Oi, you're the one who needs to let things out more!!! I am doing perfectly fine, thank you. Well anyway. Seihai?"

"Come with us. Join us on our sleepover tonight. Let's chat, just like old times. You, Mash and I. How does that sound?" Gudako's expression was apprehensive, linking her palms together. "I want to help. If that's okay with you..."

'SHIT, I'M WEAK TO SLEEPOVERS!!! DAMNIT!!' There was something so precious, so special about being privy to the personal thoughts and opinions of others; that Seihai was infinitely weak towards. And a sleepover with Mash and Gudako? Lucky!

Seihai instantly looped their ebony hands with Gudako's scarred palms. "Look, I'm going. You better bring some popcorn and snacks, or I'll drain your room of food, Gudako!" Seihai's joke brought a smile to Gudako's face immediately.

"Hell yeah! I'll see you at 10. You better not flake on me!"

Gudako was most certainly one of the most beloved homies around.

SLEEPOVER TIME!!! (yeet)

Decked in the most casual pyjamas and a pale gray dressing gown, Seihai trooped into Gudako's room with all the force of a warrior. It was time to commence battle!

'ONWARDS I GO!!! YOU'VE GOT THIS ME!!!' Seihai slammed into the door as bravely as they possibly could. 'YEAH BOI! I AM NOT NERVOUS, I AM WORTHY AND AWESOME! I am valid, I've got this!' With an entire array of self-affirmations tucked under their sleeves, they boldly seized their targets.

"Yahoo, beautiful ladies. It's me." Seihai posed languidly, as an excited Mash and ridiculously energetic Gudako ran up to her. "Wow, this is my first time here...nice room you've got, Gudako."

Gudako's room was filled with an array of posters, dvds, cds and technological gear; however neon lights also paraded the walls, giving it a very 'cyber beach party' feel.

"Oh damn, the finest one of them all has arrived." Gudako smirked, swaying from side to side. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too...Senpai was yammering on and on about how she wants you to join in with us more often," Mashu beamed softly, tucking her hands politely behind her back. "Thank you for making it here. Truly. I am very grateful for this."

At this, Seihai's eyes widened with shock. They were so used to being alone; and dealing with everything on their lonesome. So to see these two seem so joyful by their mere arrival came as a deep surprise to Seihai. 'Y-yo...I can't handle this...Shit.' It was time to clam up.

Awkwardly ruffling ruby red locks of hair, Seihai turned to the side. "Don't worry about it, I think you two are great people. So...what have you both got planned for today?"

"Well, senpai and I usually tend to enjoy a good romance movie..." Mash began.

"...And imagine ourselves in their situation as well." Gudako's grin was enormous, as Mash's cheeks flushed ever so slightly. "It's so much fun when we do that. Mash and I have very interesting viewpoints on romance. Hehe." Gudako's expression was wistful and warm, her eyes filled with affection.

'Damn, they've got it bad for one another...' Seihai blankly mused. 'Are they just close friends? Are they in love? Hell if I know,' They wondered.

"B-but, as you're here, we wanted to make things much more simulating for you as well. So we decided to choose a legendary movie..."

"... that's named SHREK." Gudako's face was extremely serious. "The movie that fucking destroys all other movies, because it is just that darn good. What do you say? Want some SHREK TIME??"

"Of course, Shrek is love AND life, after all." Grabbing a huge bowl of popcorn, Seihai sits to the right of Mash and Gudako. "How may times have you watched it?"

"I've genuinely lost count..." Gudako sighed. "How about you, Mash?"

"Only twice...I don't really understand the jokes and references made..." Mash hung her head dejectedly. "Sometimes I wonder if these movies are wasted on me."

"That's not true at all, Mash. I have all the time in the world to explain them to you. You won't be left out, alright?" Ruffling Mash's hair softly, Gudako smiled blissfully.

"Senpai...Thank you. In return, I shall explain all sorts of magecraft theories to you so that you can rise above all of the clock tower mages. I'll be cheering you on!"

"Aah, Mash; what have I done to deserve someone as good as you? C'mere." They were now snuggling closely together.

"Yep, Mash! You heard Gudako. This movie isn't wasted on you at all! All knowledge has to start from somewhere. You may be lost now, but you'll eventually possess enough referential knowledge to enjoy this soon. Be nicer to yourself, okay?" Ah, there it was. Seihai couldn't help but throw out some positive vibes. Worried that they had gone too far, they cringed- only to be met with wide smiles.

"You're so right, Seihai!" Gudako was now caressing Mash's hair. "Hehe, you always give such wise advice."

"Seihai, you're so kind...Thanks." Mash grinned.

"Ah, no problemo! Just didn't want to see you hurt yourself."

As Seihai quietly watched over the two's warm cuddling session, a slight pain twanged at their heartstrings.

In Chaldea, they had no connections as close as that. There was nobody like that for them, whose arms they could be held in; who they could bond with so closely. Nobody who they could cry with in the worst of times; nobody who they could while away the darkest phases of night with...nobody at all.

It had always been them, and them alone.

No matter how many people they connected to on a surface level; how many people they met and spoke to; who they relied upon and trusted within their lifetime- Seihai had never experienced a close bond with anyone.

For the first time in a while, the arid, bitter taste of jealousy clawed across their throat.

'Ah man, they're so cute. Kinda wish I could love and be loved like that too.' Seihai silently watched the movie besides them, as blue rays of light danced upon their face. 'Damn, now I'm mixed between feeling both happy and jealous for them. GUHHHH!!!'

Sometimes... being emotionally distant from others sucked.

But they couldn't let desperation consume them. Whenever they were desperate for friendship and love, they'd let the wrong people in, and would end up even more battered and bruised than before...

'I just gotta keep on being my own pillar of emotional support, no matter how desperate I am for some hugs.' Seihai sighed.

'If this is the price I have to pay to live honorably to my true self, than so be it.'

"So...Mash, Seihai. Let's share some secrets. Have any of you got somebody who you like? Fess up to your dear Gudako!!!"

What was once an extremely loud and rancorous viewing of Shrek (Seihai laughed throughout the entire thing, as Gudako cracked an inane amount of jokes) had now become none other than a GOSSIP SESSION.

'FUCK...' Seihai's face paled at this. Of all the topics to discuss, why did it have to be this??? Whilst Seihai's face was creased up with pure pain and terror, Mash was blushing like a cute tomato.

"W-well senpai, I...You see, I..." Gudako was leaning in so closely towards Mash that she was bordering on pinning her to the wall.

"Hmm, what? What is it, Mash?" Her voice was a husky whisper. "C'mon, tell me who..."

'Bruh. GUDAKO!!! That's not helping at all.' Seihai wanted to facepalm at their antics. 'They really are this dense to each other's feelings, huh.' It was adorable, yet somewhat amusing to watch as well.

"A-AH! I GIVE, I GIVE!!" Pushing Gudako to the side, Mash panted in agony. "S-SEIHAI! WHO DO YOU LIKE??"

"OI, DON'T THROW ME UNDER THE BUS LIKE THAT! WHAT THE HELL!!!" Seihai couldn't help but yell, as a dastardly cold wind dashed through their spinal cord. "Fuck, well okay, there is somebody I like, but..."

"Spear."

'Shit...' Seihai's eyes were as large as saucers, as they spun in Gudako's direction; her smirk pernicious.

Did Gudako KNOW?!

"Looks like Seihai's in a spear of trouble." Gudako winked proudly at them. "Mash, save Seihai the embarrassment. We all know who they like already!"

"T-that's true..." Mash had finally calmed down, much to Seihai's own chagrin. "Yes, we do know."

"How? I mean, should I be worried by this??? How many of you know??" Seihai's arms pooled with cold sweat. "Damn you!"

"More or less the entirety of Chaldea?" Gudako admitted, chowing nonchalantly on a massive pocky stick. "You're not very good at hiding your emotions, you know. Seihai, we in Chaldea understand you much more than you may realize. You can open up a little more, you know?"

Overwhelmed by this, Seihai snaps for the very first time- their hazel eyes burning with repressed rage. "How can you say that, damnit?! How can you understand me, when I mainly hang out alone; when I can barely connect with anybody in Chaldea; when I don't even fucking belong in this damned place??? How can you say that, when I have a fucking useless one sided affection that I've been trying to hide, but everybody now knows of??? How can you say that Gudako??? You don't know shit about me, nor my feelings!!"

At this outburst, both Gudako and Mash's faces soured. Roughly gripping Seihai with her war-torn hands, Gudako shakes them by the shoulders, her golden eyes burning with passion.

"You don't think I see it, Seihai? How you fucking pour out all of your feelings by accident, only to withdraw back into yourself again? How you look longingly over at Mash and I, craving a bond of your own? How you reluctantly look over towards staff and servants, aching to talk to them but not knowing what to do? You don't think I see you crying, see your eyes fill with affection for a certain someone every now and then; that I don't pay attention to your feelings?!! I CARE FOR YOU, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!!! WE'RE FRIENDS, AREN'T WE?!!!"

"S-senpai, stop! Seihai, I'm so sorry, Gudako just gets a bit...well, passionate sometimes." Mash manages to successfully pull Gudako back. "Err, Seihai?"

Tears. A flowing river of tears dropped from Seihai's eyes as they sobbed quietly into their palms.

Gudako cared?

Somebody actually did acknowledge their emotions, and actually looked out for them?

'What, what...It can't be...But I thought that only I could care for myself and understand my emotions that well...How could she?' Before Seihai could even look up, Gudako had wrapped them within a fierce hug.

"Seihai. Look, I don't know what's happened in your past, or what's convinced you to be your sole caretaker and self-support system without letting anybody else in." Gudako ruffles their hair. "But I want you to know, that you're NOT alone. Yeah, maybe you've not found your close homies yet. But Mash and I are happy to hear you out, we all are!! Even the person you like sees you as a friend, hehe. You don't have to worry about hiding yourself behind a mask of peerless positivity and self confidence anymore."

"Gudako..."

"You know, you were there for me when I was crying about having to be strong. And you know, I struggled to open up as well. But yeah, Mash...well she came along, and now I feel so much better! Look, I just want you to not beat yourself up for this. It's okay."

"Gudako, you're gonna make me cry. Damn, you're really hitting me in the feels today. I got a real case of the 'crying in the club at 3am vibes' right now."

"Oi, no making shitty jokes to cope. Here, we show our vulnerability like real warriors!" Gudako declared triumphantly, as Mash laughs.

"Gudako, I swear...you really are a wonderful homie. I'm sorry that I tried to hide away from you...I am so grateful that you care enough to seek me out like this. Thank you."

"H-HOLY SHIT, WE CRACKED OPEN THE COLD ONE. MASH TAKE A PHOTO!"

"Senpai, please stop the joking."

"S-sorry..."

"I'm glad," Mash also sat by Seihai's side. "I just want all of us to be happy. And Seihai, I am sure there are many wonderful beings out there that you may eventually grow close to! You already believe in yourself, which is a great start! I know you won't have to be so lonely anymore!" Lacing her palms together, Mash spoke a prayer. "I wish that someday, you will meet people too. And that you'll stop fighting alone."

"Mash, you're gonna make me explode with tears. You're being so nice right now that I'm going to cry." Seihai blushed.

"You heard her, Mash! Why are you so damn cute, I'm falling in love!!" Gudako was clutching her heart dramatically. "Ahhh....Mash is such a beauty!!! Thank you, for blessing me with such a wonderful person!"

"S-SENPAI!!! STOP!!!" As the two began to pillow fight, laughing all the while; Seihai smiled softly at them both.

'So I'm not fighting alone after all...I'm not the only person who values myself in this world anymore...' Seihai could finally put down the weapons that they had grown so used to aggressively defending themselves with.

From now on, they'd do their best to trust in Chaldea more. And maybe attend group therapy from now on, as well.

'So this is how it feels to open up to people.'

It was an unforgettable sensation.

THE END

holy smokes this is so fucking LONG

[goldeneyedgirl]

TwiFicMas20 Day 10: Shadow to Light Missing Scene #1

Hello everyone! Tonight’s post is a Shadow to Light Missing Scene feature Rosalie because I like a curve ball every now and then, and I love writing Rose - and she has some many feelings in STL, I needed to share.

This takes place just after Mary Alice has left the Cullen house, but before Emmett corners Jasper in his study. 

Thank you for reading!

--

I would strongly advise you not to advise me.

“She cannot stay here.”

Those are the first words out of Rosalie’s mouth when Jasper leaves to find the tiny demon he’s brought into the house.

“Rosalie,” Carlisle begins, but she’s in no mood to listen to vague platitudes and just gets up and leaves the room. She ignores Esme’s half-hearted attempt to call her back, and goes straight out to the garage. Her bedroom is too close to Bella, and she is not in the mood to force herself to ignore Bella’s presence at the end of the hall.

She kicks out as she walks in, and one of her tool trolleys crumples like paper, sending her tools spilling all over the place. Somehow it doesn’t make her feel better.

“Rose?”

She looks up to see Emmett standing in the doorway, looking at her with… well, she thinks of it as her look, that is somehow affectionate and knowing and patient (and maybe just a little bit amused, but if she acknowledges that, she’ll have to call him out on it).

“You want to talk about it?”

She grunts, neither confirming or denying. She’s pacing the length of the garage with her arms crossed over her chest, and she’s having a hard time working out how to put it into words.

She hates how Jasper looked at that little monster, like he’s discovered religion. How she can fucking see the tenderness in the way he moves around her, how his gaze never left her. That he pulled his damn punches when he fought her, even though this Alice held nothing back, even after he cussed them out for holding back against their own spouses.

She hates Alice’s murderous red eyes, and that stupid hoodie that clearly belonged to a child. The way that the girl lets nothing show; no smiles, no social niceties, nothing but a hard stare. She doesn’t look at Jasper the way he looks at her - she looks at him like he’s a pane of glass; insignificant and utterly transparent. She calls him the Major, like he’s still one of Maria’s little minions.

She hates that that girl snapped at Emmett, and was so cruel to Esme and didn’t acknowledge her nastiness, let alone apologise or even care that what she did was so terrible.

She looks like a child too, tiny and breakable, and those words of Maria’s - “That girl you were always fondling” - sound so much worse now that they’ve seen her, all five-foot nothing and bony knees. That’s not her brother, that’s not Jasper. She knows that he was different back then, that things in the Southern Wars are so much different to the after-life she’s lives, but no. She cannot accept that. She will not accept that. After everything she - and Esme - have been through at the hands of men stronger and more powerful than them, her best brother, her favourite brother to have… no.

“She’s a monster!” Rosalie finally explodes, throwing her hands in the air.

“She’s from the South, Rosie,” Emmett says kindly - he doesn’t disagree, but he’s also not willing to commit to condemning the girl quite as thoroughly yet; they’ve been married for over seventy years, she knows what his silences are saying.

“That was a child’s sweater,” she hissed.

“She could have stolen it.”

Rose shot him a look - neither of them believed that - and stared up at the ceiling.

“Keep going,” he nodded.

“Jasper,” she grits her teeth. “The way he watches her…”

“He’s missed her,” Emmett mused, looking thoughtful. “Always said he had a type.”

She wants to punch him, that he isn’t seeing what she is. That she’s not convinced he can fight and not try to protect the girl, that he won’t let her go hunting in Forks and then help her cover up the evidence.

That he won’t follow her when it’s time for her to leave.

“She’s trouble, she’s dangerous,” she says instead. “And there is no damn way that Jasper can be trusted to take care of things if she decides…”

“To have a snack?” Emmett finally moves to her side, and snags her hand, bringing it to his lips. “Nothing bad’s gonna happen, Rosie. Jasper’s not going anywhere; he’s our brother - a Cullen. We’re going to take down Victoria and her army, and Bells is going to be fine. Jasper and Alice will make sure everyone walks away from the fight.”

“How do you know?” she asks, still agitated.

“Total conviction that I married into a family of badasses who would do anything to protect the people they - we - love,” Emmett grinned before giving her a look. “A family that has always had room for another seat at the table.”

Rosalie scowled. “I’ve made peace with Miss Bella,” she says dismissively. “I’m fighting her battles, aren’t I?”

“I wasn’t talking about Bella.” Emmett looks at his feet. “I know you know - Jasper’s been mourning Alice for more than fifty years, and now she’s here and alive and came here just to help him protect us, Rosie. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but you need to prepare yourself that he doesn’t want to let her go again.”

Rose’s rage bubbled up again, and Emmett backed off again. “She is not taking my brother away,” she hissed. “I’ll destroy her myself.”

Emmett sighs and nods. “Well, she’s not in the house now - Jasper’s making sure we haven’t upset her or anything. Come back in when you’re ready.” He kisses her forehead, like he’s done thousands of times since their very first wedding; the kiss that means he might not agree or ‘get’ her frustration and anger or fear, but he understands she’s hurting and he loves her and there won’t ever be a time when he won’t listen to her, and hear her thoughts, and help her work through them, and do his best to protect her. The same way she’s there for him, listening when he has thoughts, worries, observations. They are each other’s balance, steadiness, and Emmett hopes that Rosalie holds that feeling - that easiness between them - in her mind and realise that Jasper has never had that. He’s their brother, yes, but he deserves more. So much more.

Rosalie nodded once, and turned back to the tumble of tools and her broken trolley. “Tell Jasper if he can’t keep her in line, I will,” she says finally, and begins to clean up the mess.

[rosethebookworm]

Safe?

This is my take on what happened when Logan got yanked out of the episode, I just had to write it.

Aka:

Logan finds himself in the dark side of the Mindscape and isn’t quite sure what to make of what he finds there.

Warnings: Remus being himself, (mentions of bloody things etc), Spoilers for the new episode! Mentions of the other sides I guess? (sorry for the long post, I don’t know how to put things under the cut)

.•°°•..•°°•..•°°•..•°•. .•°°•..•°°•..•°°•..•°•. .•°°•.

When Logan was unceremoniously dumped into the ‘dark side’ of the Mindscape, robbed of his tie, and left in darkness, there were several questions that were prominent in his thoughts. The most bothersome of those, however, was what in the world was he standing in.

Lifting up a shoe, it was slightly unnerving to find that it stuck to the floor ever so slightly, and with a faint grimace Logan forced himself to ignore that sensation and instead continued on. He couldn’t stay here in the ‘dark side’ of the Mindscape, even if the others had not been appreciating his information- no, that was an issue to be dealt with at a later date, not when he was currently walking along ground that was unnervingly sticky.

Eventually Logan began to hear what he believed was loud singing, followed by a similarly unsettling thwack of a weapon against flesh, and reluctantly turned his feet towards that direction. Seeing as he was not well versed in the mental map of the ‘dark side’ of the Mindscape, it would be important to find someone who would be at least somewhat helpful in finding his way back to the others. He was not going to think about whether or not they would want him to return, that was not something he was supposed to worry about.

Luckily, his feet stopped sticking to the ground as he came closer to the sounds, instead his feet sinking into soft mud that Logan would argue was objectively better than whatever that previous substance had been made up of.

“Remus!”, Logan called, now close enough to see the green-clad side smashing through what looked like badly rendered figures that somewhat resembled monsters- badly rendered simply because they were so bloodied. His call had caused Remus to pause mid-swipe, and the song to stop, Remus instead letting out a delighted cry and rushing over to Logan as though about to hug him, Logan reflexively stepping back and holding out a hand- he was not in the mood for hugs, he was simply on a mission.

“Come down for a visit? You even lost your tie! That’s a shame because I’d love to use that tie to-“, Remus began, eyes lighting up as he swung around his morningstar in order to emphasize his sentiment- however he was quickly cut off by Logan beginning to speak. It was a little strange to Logan that that had been enough to gain the others attention and listen, whereas the others sides were known for- no, once again, this was not the time nor place to think about the other sides.

“I did not willingly come down here, Remus. Deceit had ah... taken my place, and seemed to think that bringing me here would keep me out of sight. I am looking to return to them in order to offer more context to their moral argument.”, Logan explained, shifting slightly in order to keep his feet from sinking too deeply in the mud.

“You’re leaving so soon?”, instantly Remus’ shoulders sank and his eyes darkened slightly, a strange reaction, at the realization that Logan was just here to leave again.

“Yes? They are in need of my facts, even if they do not realize their necessity to the conversation at hand.”

“They don’t realize- I’m going to kill them! I’m going to crack open their skulls and use all of their squirmy little brains as spaghetti with their eyes as meatballs!”, Remus screeched, his eyes even wider than before as he swung around his morningstar angrily, turning as though he was about to go and rip the spines out of the other sides, before Logans hand on Remus’ shoulder made him freeze.

“Do not bother with that. It would only serve to make them more terrified of you, which would be overwhelmingly damaging to Thomas’ already fragile mental state, and I have enough trouble getting them to listen to me without you overriding their fears.”, Logan cautioned, trying to speed past the fact that the other sides had a frequent problem of ignoring Logans input.

Remus had stilled, morningstar dragging on the ground as he peered at Logans face. It was slightly unnerving to the other, to be studied so closely by someone who was hardly ever seen to be serious.

“Let’s see what they thought of your disappearance then, they couldn’t forget their dearest little glasses wearing dork! Which means-“, Remus quickly changed his pace, sending Logan an alarmingly sharp grin as he threw an arm over the other sides shoulder and gestured to the ceiling, Logan coughing pointedly in order to cut the others words off, causing a raspberry to be blown at him in retaliation.

But strangely, even with the chaotic sides arm around him, Logan did not feel unsafe, in fact it was oddly comforting, not that he would ever admit that.

Waving a hand, the dark sky slowly shimmered into a view of the others- Patton had become a frog? Was this another one of Remus’ strange fantasy’s? A quick look at Remus’ face proved otherwise as the sides face pulled into a displeased one, once again waving his hand and rewinding the images until it was back to when Logan got pulled off of the screen.

Together they watched as Patton, Roman and Thomas continued to argue past Logans Disappearance, not one of them commenting on Logan getting pulled away. Together they watched as the conversation shifted entirely away as Deceit revealed himself and shifted into himself as they all became a video game. Together, as Logan felt his heart drop lower and lower with each passing second, and Remus’ grip on his shoulders became more and more protective.

“I have seen enough. Thank you, Remus.”, Logan finally managed quietly as the others continued to fight, Remus instantly sprinting up and slashing through the screen with his morningstar which brought to mind Romans similar action with his sword from earlier, though this time the action did not displease Logan.

Remus turned back to Logan, and the other was surprised to find his face shinning with tears. ‘Dark Creativity’ crying? That was peculiar, but Logan did not even feel any ounce of curiosity as to why he was upset, instead Logan simply felt numb.

“You’re not going back to them. If they won’t appreciate you, I will.”, Remus growled, and for a moment Logans mind connected the man before him to some sort of attack dog, ready and able to destroy anyone who stood in his way.

“I must return to him. Thomas’ mental health is more important than I am. Besides, I am very used to them not acknowledging me, Remus, that is nothing new. Their... clear absence of concern is... is something I have not witnessed before.”, he mused softly, eyes glancing upwards towards the darkness where the images had been but now only comforting darkness was surrounding them.

Remus growled, clearly not pleased with Logans insistence that he needed to return but he sighed, defeated again by Logan.

“Will you come back? I created this delightful chess set the other day where the pieces have to fight to the death and smash each other into the ground- pure mindless fighting! But maybe you could order the pieces against me? It’s gets more boring than Roman’s rants about Disney to fight against myself.”, Remus asked, something similar to what Logan would call a “puppy dog” look on his face, and for the first time Logan allowed a look of shock to cross his face.

“You want me to teach you how to play chess? Well, if the pieces destroy themselves then I would assume it would be closer to wizards chess which is still objectively fascinating, but still, you would want me to teach you about a variant of chess?”, he questioned, sounding genuinely shocked, something that made Remus’ expression turn to something mischievous- not malicious, oddly enough.

“Well you are a teacher after all! Unless you don’t think you could teach me, maybe I’m too difficult for the little teacher man to tame.”

“I... I will return then, Remus. It would be... mentally stimulating to teach you how to play wizards chess and... perhaps a needed distraction from the days activities.”, Logan acquiesced, and Remus instantly began to celebrate, rushing forward and kissing Logans cheek before continuing his strange dance into the distance, cheering something about getting the board set up with all sorts of fun obstacles.

“Remus I still need a way out-“, the glasses wearing side called out, sounding amusedly exasperated, which surprised himself. Since when was he amused by the others antics?

“Oh! Be sure to tell SnakeShit that he is not welcome home tonight and he has to sleep in the shed with worms and spiders and snails and-“, Remus’ voice faded out as Logan felt himself begin to disappear, the man suddenly coming to the realization that his tie was missing, before subsequently realizing that Remus has thought of that, and once again he had his signature tie on.

“Not that any of you care, but I am unharmed, and I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just here to deliver one last fact, and then I will do you all a favor and spare you my company.”

After the others had been sufficiently schooled, Logan kept to his word and sunk down, back to his room. He was not expecting Remus to have actually meant it, and he was not entirely sure he would be able to sink to the ‘dark side’ of the Mindscape.

However, Logan was greeted with the sight of a mostly clean Remus perched on his pillows, a disappointed look on his face.

“You said you’d come baaaaaack.”, Remus whined, sending a pout Logans way and fingering his morningstar as though tempted to swing it through a wall.

“I- I had not truly thought you would still want me to come, or that I would be able to find you in the da- other side of the Mindscape.”, Logan explained, looking ever so slightly baffled even as Remus beamed, jumped up from the bed and rushed over to grab Logans arm.

“Well why didn’t you just say so instead of standing there like a corpse stuck in concrete! We are gonna have so much fun- I already have the pointy men all set up and ready for us to destroy!”, Remus cheered as the room slowly started to dissolve around them, something that had often been the cause of concern for Logan, especially when Remus’ twin was involved, but strangely was not concerning at all.

“You mean statues, correct? Wizards chess is played with statues of people, not actual people.”, Logan corrected, sounding vaguely exasperated, glancing over at Remus with a raised eyebrow.

“But humans are so much more satisfying to destroy!”

Came the gleeful response as Remus smirked back at him and laughed as the room fully dissolved. However the cackle did not alarm Logan- for a moment as a room melted in around them, revealing a large chessboard with suspiciously human-like pieces, Logan felt safer and more comfortable than he had in a while. Perhaps he would stay down here for some time, the others clearly did not value his input, and Remus was already waiting for his explanation of the game with a strangely endearing expression of interest.

Maybe someone was willing to listen to Logan after all.

[second-chance-stray]

RP Log: Riylli waits for Cravs.

Cravendy Hound - It had been a couple of bells since Cravs had split off from the group. By the time she found her way back to the village, the sky was pitch black and cold. A couple of night owls were still milling about on the sands, but most of the partygoers had returned home by now.

Riylli Aliapoh sat on her own in the sand, hunched over a pile of leftover lantern materials and doing her best to twist the wires into the proper shapes with no other light to go by than that of the moon above. There were already about a dozen lanterns behind her, some with strange designs and a couple that looked like they had been thrown behind her in frustration. Her ears twitched as she heard footsteps approaching, looking up to see Cravs walking along in the darkness of the night. Riylli quickly hopped to her feet, hesitating for just a moment before speaking. "Uh, Hey! You're back! I was beginning to wonder if you had fallen asleep out there or somethin'"

Cravendy Hound: “Wh-what? Yer still ‘ere?” Cravs steps back in shock, clearly not expecting anyone, least of all a company member, to be hanging around at this hour. As such, she hadn’t bothered to keep up appearances. Her hair looks like it’s been tossed back and forth a hundred times, either by wind or by frustrated hands. All her armor is half-loosened, straps slack or buttons unclasped.

Cravendy Hound is thankful that it’s night and, hopefully, Riylli doesn’t notice too much. “Of course I’m back...I don’t live on the beach. What’re ye up to?” She peers over at the experimental lanterns.

Riylli Aliapoh 's eyes flicked downwards briefly to examine the rough state of the Roegadyn's appearance, her Keeper eyes quite well suited for the dark, but quickly return upwards so as not to be rude. "Oh, I was just working on some lanterns, and... Uh..." Riylli hesitated again, the line she had been practicing for the past bell or so sounding a lot stupider now that she was saying it out loud. She let out a soft sigh before continuing, "...Just... Thought it would be good to wait for you, I guess. See how you're holding up after... that..." She spoke awkwardly, extremely out of her element with this

Cravendy Hound stiffens, mind racing to identify what ‘that’ could refer to. The celebration as a whole? Or, perhaps more likely, her reaction to seeing the lanterns float out to sea bells earlier? Cravs coughs awkwardly, looking away for a second as she feels heat rise into her cheeks. Normally, she’d come up with an excuse to cover it all up. Sand got in her eye, shit like that. But something about tonight pushed Cravs to speak more honestly.

Cravendy Hound: “Oh. Right. Well. Thanks for waitin’.” Cravs takes a seat on the sand next to Riylli. She keeps her eyes forward, pointed towards the water. “Truth is, I’m barely ‘eld together as it is. I guess I was both ‘appy and...sad with ‘ow it all ended.”

Riylli Aliapoh blinked, staring for just a moment before taking a seat again as well. It felt a bit unlike Cravs to be this open, but Riylli thought she might understand, the Miqo'te not exactly feeling like her usual self either. She picked back up the lantern she was working on, turning it over a bit to remember where she had left off. "...I tried to make to make one that would float, but I think the materials are too heavy for that..." She said, trying to make awkward small talk for a moment before giving up, putting the lantern back down and looking up towards the moon with a sigh. "Do you... wanna talk about it? I'm not exactly great with this whole... 'feelings' thing either but... I can listen, if you like?"

Cravendy Hound peeks over at a ‘lantern’ with a particularly unique design. “Well, ye get top marks for creativity. Really pushin’ the envelope for what can be considered a lantern,” Cravs teases, but the edges of her voice are rough with weariness. For the moment after, she watches the tide go in and out as she considers what to say. Maybe it’d help, maybe it wouldn’t.

Cravendy Hound: “I don’t want to talk about it. But...I think I should anyway. Doin’ shit I don’t want to do has worked so far,” Cravs eventually mumbles. She gives Riylli a worried look. “Ye sure ye want to listen? I won’t be mad if ye want to go ‘ome or somethin’.”

Riylli Aliapoh shoots Cravs a glare as she mocked her lantern, though to be fair, Riylli had been going off of a decade old memory for the design. Now was not the time to start arguing though, holding herself back from a surely witty retort and instead nodding to what Cravs said next. "...Ava says it's good to talk about these things." She said, going quiet for a few seconds before remembering Cravs would not know who that is. "Er... Ava is the matron of my clan. A mean old lady, but she cares about us in her own way. And she's a lot better with this stuff than me for sure."

Cravendy Hound smiles slightly, and then lightly bumps Riylli on the shoulder with a closed fist. “If the rest of yer clan is as unruly as ye, then the top lady has got to ‘ave balls of steel to keep ye all in line. And that’s a good thing. I’d like to meet ‘er one day.”

Cravendy Hound grows silent again as she considers where to start. So many memories were still razor sharp, as if one wrong step could send her careening back into outright depression. She takes a sigh and speaks, heart pounding. One has to try. “Do ye know why I’m an officer at ‘eartwood?”

Riylli Aliapoh managed to grin at the playful shoving, "Yeah, some of us definitely deserve a matron like her. Doubt anyone else could manage to keep us together." She said in agreement, though the moment of levity did not last too long as Cravendy continued. She shook her head. "I just assumed it was because you looked big 'n scary." She offered, hoping to add a bit of lightheartedness of her own

Cravendy Hound: “Aw, thanks,” Cravs laughs. It was good to know some things didn’t change.

Cravendy Hound laces her fingers tightly together, arms drawn around her knees against the chilly night. “If only it were that simple. Truth is, it’s because of who came before me. ‘er name was Aiswyda, and she was everything that I’m not. Friendly, warm...good. And all my problems were dumped onto ‘er.”

Riylli Aliapoh looked at Cravs in silence for a moment, not really sure how she was supposed to respond now. "You're... friendly..." She offered, though Riylli clearly had a bit of a warped view on how friends were supposed to act. She hesitated, giving up on that path as she turned her head downwards to focus on her lantern. "...I'm guessing that's who Rising's lantern was for then..?"

Cravendy Hound can’t help but laugh at Riylli’s attempt at lightening the mood. Guess it worked. “Piss n’ wind, don’t lie to me. But yeah. That’s who the lantern was for. I just wish...” Cravs trails off.

Cravendy Hound: “The reason why Dirtpatch was destroyed in the first place. Why so many died. I may ‘ave not known where the ball would roll, but I -was- the one to kick it all off,” Cravs muses. “I don’t know ‘ow to explain all this, but thanks to me, Wyda was given a bad ‘and in life. Took a fall when it was mine to take. But despite everythin’ I did to ‘er, she still chose to save me. I...” Cravs sets her jaw, tight. “...I’m probably not makin’ a lick of sense.”

Riylli Aliapoh smiles again, feeling the tension lifting off her chest for just a moment as she begins to think they might actually make it through this, only for it all to return as Cravs continued her story. Riylli looked to the Roegadyn, then back up to the moon as she tried to take some comfort in it's light. "...S'okay, we got all the time we could need right now..."

Cravendy Hound: “Why I draw breath when others more deservin’ lie six feet under...I never stop wonderin’ why.” She cranks her grip tighter and tighter still, until her knuckles are bone white and shaking. For a moment it feels like she’s falling, but Riylli’s words anchor her back into the present. Cravs sniffs, angry at herself for being like this, but at the same time grateful to share her thoughts.

Cravendy Hound lets out a haggard breath into her knees. “Yeah...but I wish the future would come faster. Ah, fuck.” She pushes her feet into the sand and, surprisingly, it’s warm underneath. “Fuck.”

Riylli Aliapoh goes quiet, her ears flattening and her tail finding its way into her lap. She looks away from the moon, staring into the sand for a moment just feeling... brittle. She's quiet for a long time, even after Cravs finishes speaking, though every second that passes just makes her chest feel tighter and tighter. Riylli finally grits her teeth, turning around and selecting three of the lanterns from her pile that actually looked serviceable. She placed them in front of her and tapped each in order. "Akosha, Kebbe, Mom." She said, her voice sounding rather distance before going quiet again, simply staring at the lanterns in front of her

Cravendy Hound - Cravs feels like a coiled spring, tense to the point of breaking. But this time, when she lets out a breath, her nerves leave with it. For once, she’s loosening, and the space between the ribs and lungs doesn’t feel so tight anymore. Because she clearly sees that she’s not alone. Because Riylli is here to listen.

Cravendy Hound stares hard at the lanterns. “What about ye? Ye want to talk about it?”

Riylli Aliapoh paused for a long moment, but soon found herself nodding. She had not really realized it until now, but she had not been waiting out here all this time just for Cravs' sake. She had had a feeling the Roegadyn might understand her own story, and her words just now had confirmed it. Still, it took her a while to begin speaking. "Akosha and Kebbe were my sisters... And mom was... well, mom." She hesitated, finally looking back up towards the moon as she tried to figure out where she was supposed to start her story. Another long moment of silence passed, Riylli just staring upwards lost in thought, before she eventually let out a sigh. "If you tell anyone what I'm about to say, I'll kill you. Got it?" She said, shooting a glare over to Cravs preemptively before turning back to the lanterns and continuing. "...When I was a kid, I was pretty much the complete opposite I am now. Dresses, dolls, all that... stupid, flowery shite..." She muttered, giving Cravs a moment to get whatever jokes in she might have ready

Cravendy Hound gives her all the space and time she needs, and simply waits. When Riylli threatens her with death, Cravs raises her hands defensively, though from the tired smile on her face, it’s clear that she’s just trying to lighten the mood. “Oy, I could say the same. But don’t worry, my lips are sealed.”

Cravendy Hound: “I used to think that sort of stuff was stupid too. But not anymore.” Cravs plainly states with a shrug. “Only reason I don’t wear dabble in that kinda stuff is because other people’ll give me ‘ell over it.”

Riylli Aliapoh gave Cravs a hesitant look, still waiting for the jokes to come for a long moment before finally continuing. "..Anyways. I had thought it was all fine at the time. Akosha and Kebbe would go hunting, me and mom would cook what they caught. I never bothered to learn the bow, or the spear, or anything really outside a stupid sewing needle. Just a dumb stupid kid who was only ever worried about her hair." Riylli grit her teeth, clearly angry at the memory. She had to pause to take another deep breath, trying to calm herself down before continuing, needing her composure for the next part. "...And then... The Calamity happened. Fire raining down from the sky, beast and seedkin rampaging, the elementals throwing their stupid temper tantrum... We had to leave our home behind and run for Gridania, but things kept popping out of the trees to attack us like we were the ones at fault for everything going on." She paused, her hand going up to feel the scar on her eye, deciding at this point to just rush through the rest of the story. "A treant got a good swipe at me and my mom, and Akosha and Kebbe stayed behind to give us a chance to run. And that was the last time I ever saw them..."

Cravendy Hound digs deeper into the sand as she listens. Cravs feels mad on Riylli’s behalf - the world was just like this, wasn’t it? Calamities and disasters and suffering that had no end. It made her want to tear something, anything, in half. She lets out a huff, rips her hands from their grip, and plunges them both beneath the sand as if she were holding something hot.

Cravendy Hound: “Ye were just a kid, and no one could’ve stopped the Calamity,” Cravs states. She opens her mouth again and tries to find just the right words to say, but eloquence was never her strong point. So she just lets her heart take the wheel. “That’s terrible. Did ye ever go lookin’ for them?”

Riylli Aliapoh looked down, realizing she was holding her tail in her hands and quickly letting it go. "No, I didn't. I... Don't think I could handle seeing the home I grew up with all charred and destroyed." She paused and took another deep breath, realizing she had been doing that a lot and that it was not really helping. "I know I couldn't have stopped the calamity, but... I can't help but wonder what might have happened if I had stayed behind and fought with them. If I had just practiced the bow instead of the needle. If I had just been a bit stronger... I could've saved them. We all could've made it to Gridania together. If I had just..." She trailed off, feeling a tear roll down her cheek. Riylli grit her teeth brushed it away angrily, not bothering to care about smudging the paint on her cheek. "...Sorry. I was supposed to be listening to you, not dropping all my mistakes on you... Doubt that'll help at all.."

Cravendy Hound - Though the story is different, Cravs is all too familiar with what Riylli’s feeling. It feels like looking into a mirror in some ways...Being caught in what-ifs, the guilt. But seeing it from the other side is eye opening and for a moment, Cravs is stunned. “O-oh...no, listenin’ to ye ‘elped. I know ‘ow ye feel, and it’s ‘onestly, it’s torture.”

Cravendy Hound: “It’s not somethin’ that’ll go away. It just becomes a part of ye, and one day we’ll both be comfortable livin’ with those burdens.” Cravs struggles to hold back her own doubts. So many ‘maybes’ she wants to inject into her sentences because, the truth is, she doesn’t know what’ll happen. But by trying to be strong for Riylli, she finds a confidence she didn’t know she had. And by saying those words, she helps herself in turn.

Riylli Aliapoh glanced to Cravendy, scanning her face in the darkness. She could see the Roegadyn was not as confident in her words as she was trying to be, yet oddly enough Riylli found it comforting. She let out a sigh as she tried to relieve herself of her own tension, picking back up the near-finished lantern she had been working on and beginning to fiddle with it again. "...Do you mind if I ask what happened to Aiswyda? I dumped all my garbage on you, s'only fair you get to do the same"

(Cravendy Hound) ALSO I WILL SAY ;_; pain. wanna toss these two into the dryer and have them come out warm and fluffy )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Sad emotional night rp, but Riylli gets to feel less alone because of it and hopefully Cravs gets to feel the same!

Cravendy Hound tries to think of a way to tell Riylli without sounding insane, cutting corners, or talking her ear off. But it’s a situation where she can only choose two, or maybe even one. Cravs chuckles at what she’s come up with. Well, why not. Time to look like a loony.

Cravendy Hound: “She, er. Was kinda like a ghost walkin’ around in my body, but for over a year. But like a ghost that I unintentionally summoned. And one that didn’t know what she was.” Cravs dances around the word primal with mixed results. “Anyway, eventually she found out what she was, and thought we both couldn’t exist. So she chose what she thought was best for everyone...”

Cravendy Hound shakes her head in frustration - what a pisspoor attempt at explaining that situation. “It didn’t make much sense to me either.”

Riylli Aliapoh stopped working on the lantern, staring at it blankly as she listened to Cravs'... 'interesting' story. There was a long, looong moment of awkward silence, and then Riylli just began working on the lantern again. "Dissociative identity disorder?" She said, an awfully big term for such a dumb Miqo'te. "Or... Do you mean like... Literally..." She also hesitated to use the word 'primal', but it was obvious she was thinking it. "I feel like... That might be a story we might not manage to get through in one night, huh?"

Cravendy Hound: “What’s that mean? Er, or if it means what I think it means then...maybe? I don’t know. She was ‘er own person for sure though. But I agree. Maybe when I tell it a second time, it’ll come out better. One can hope.” Cravs sends Riylli a defeated smile.

Cravendy Hound has been chilled to the bone from being out for so long. She sniffs, followed by a shiver. “Bugger me, what time is it? ‘ow long ‘ave we been out for...Any longer and we’ll catch a cold.” Cravs stumbles up and brushes the sand off of her. “Come on, let’s go.”

(Cravendy Hound) AIGHT I gotta go eat now xD )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Okay! Lemme write up a closer, I'll send it to your discord! (Cravendy Hound) AIGHT I gotta go eat now xD )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Okay! Lemme write up a closer, I'll send it to your discord! (Cravendy Hound) ah cool!! KK, I'm gonna dash off :D )) (Cravendy Hound) ty for the rps! )) (Cravendy Hound) THIS WAS GOOD very blessed )) (Cravendy Hound) they can look out for each other :3 )) (Riylli Aliapoh) (Yeah ^o^ Riylli talked a bit longer than I intended, but it was still nice letting them know they arent alone

"Nooot just yet" The Miqo'te girl said as Cravs, rushing the next few steps of the lantern as quickly as she can without destroying it. Luckily she had gotten enough practice in with the last dozen, and managed to create a serviceable lantern with just a few more twists of wire and plenty of glue. She holds it up into the air, admiring it for a moment before standing and shoving it into the Roegadyn's hands. "Here. I was just gonna make the three at first, but you were takin' so long to get back that I thought... Maybe you'd like to have one as well? Y'know... For Aiswyda." She says, awkwardly rubbing her arm, unsure if she was maybe stepping over the line. "C'mon, we can set them off and then head back to Heartwood." She said, leaning down and wrapping both her arms around the three lanterns she had already made before rushing off towards the waters edge. It was not exactly the same as the festivals Riylli had had when she was a young girl, but in the dark night with the moon reflecting down onto the water, the sight of those lanterns slowly floating away to join the light of the stars felt familiar enough to bring the girl back to a time where everything was simpler. Back when the world made sense, and she didn't have to fight so hard just to feel worth her existence. Riylli would not say anything else as they watched the lanterns drift away and out of sight, feeling like there was nothing more that needed to be said between the two after tonight. They were both messed up, but they were not alone. That was enough for her, and it was time to go home.

[godlydolans]

maybe you could concept the reader finding out about Grays feelings and what comes with that? I think your writing is stellar and don’t want you to feel like you have to- but this could be a different continuation than the Anya confrontation if you’re not feeling inspired for that?

Part 1

It was a beautiful night. Not one cloud could be seen in the sky, it was cristal clear. No moon, but filled with stars. Grayson didn’t remember when he had seen the stars look as clear and shining like diamonds of all colours and sizes, as they did tonight. It was truly magnificent.

She was sitting with her feet in the pool, leaning back on her hands as she watched the sky, smiling softly to herself.

And he watched her. He watched how her eyes, as dark as night, twinkled as she watched the stars above. He noticed how her long hair was flowing gently in the breeze, jet black and wavy, parted slightly to the right but not exactly. It always looked like a centre part, but it was just the tiniest bit to the right. You almost wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t paying attention.

Grayson did. He didn’t even know when exactly he paid so much attention to notice it. It feels like he always knew.

“You know what that is?” She suddenly spoke, her eyes still trained on the sky. Grayson just then realised that, sometime while he was busy looking at her, he had stopped backstroking. Standing in the pool, he looked at the star she was pointing at and frowned.

“Star?” He guessed, knowing his answer was pretty dumb and got his reward when she chuckled, shaking her head as she gazed down at him.

“Yeah, a star.” She was smiling with her teeth now and Grayson felt the thumping of his heart get louder. God, when she trained those midnight eyes on him, he lost the ability to think. “Vega.”

Sporting the golden grin that was notorious for leaving women and some men spellbound, Grayson swam to her. She leaned forward. Placing her elbows on her knees, she rested her chin on her intertwined hands. Grayson folded his own arms on the warm floor beside her.

“Vega?”

“Yes! It’s one of the stars that form the Summer Triangle, see?” Grayson turned and looked up, easily finding the triangle the three stars formed as she traced them with her pointer finger. “Vega is the brightest,” her finger moved down, down, down to the second star of the triangle, “Altair, the second brightest, and the last one, Deneb.”

She gave a sad little smile at the last name and Grayson looked back at the stars to understand why. Where Vega was the brightest, having a blue-ish glimmer to it, Altair was not too bad either with its gleaming white sheen. Deneb, though, not only was it dull in comparison to the other two, it also was smaller and overall, appeared lacklustre in front of Altair and Vega.

“Altair and Vega, those would be really cool baby names, huh?”

She laughed, causing him to smile. “I was just waiting for you to say that!”

Grayson grinned, “I’m too predictable for my own good.”

“I just know you, so I know babies are never far from your thoughts.” She fleshed him an amused grin, “but yeah, they are really cool names. There’s a story about Altair and Vega.”

“What is it.” Grayson pushed himself out of the pool and situated himself beside her, so close, their thighs were touching as his feet dangled in the water like hers did.

“Vega was a celestial princess, goddess of the sky. Because she was immortal, she feared she would whole life alone.” She stopped and gave Grayson a knowing smile. Like you, the words didn’t escape her lips, but he knew she was thinking them. Grayson blushed, looking away with a shy smile on his own lips. He usually didn’t get to spend anytime alone with her, and he didn’t know how to act around her when she smiled at him like that, spoke to his in that soft, intimate voice, sitting right next to him with nothing more than an oversized tee over her bikini. “Altair was a human. He had a great talent for playing the flute. Sure enough, one evening, he was practising an old love melody on his flute and Vega was listening from the sky. The melody was so beautiful that Vega couldn’t stop herself from coming down to Earth and know who was playing it. That is how she met Altair. From that day onwards, he used to play the flute every night and she used to come down for him every night. They would sit together, talk and he would teach her how to play the instrument. Slowly but surely, they fell in love.”

Grayson watched as she started to play with the water under her fingertips. She would gently sway her fingers from left to right, so softly, like the water was too fragile to take her touch. Then she would create tiny ripples in the water with the pads of her fingers before gliding her fingers on the surface of it. Grayson was getting breathless watching the simplest things she did. Her fingers, long and slender, looked so beautiful gleaming under the water, he wanted to take them and kiss every inch.

Jesus, he was so in love, it hurt.

“Vega’s father got wind of the affair and he was furious. He didn’t like the fact that his divine daughter was mingling with a mere mortal. He sent the Lady of the sky, his wife to bring Vega back. She went down to Earth and dragged a screaming and crying Vega back to the sky, away from Altair. Altair couldn’t handle this and he tried to search for a way through which he could see Vega. He had an old bull that used to belong to his late father. The bull had magical abilities and it told Altair to climb on its back and that it would take him to the sky. The lady of the sky noticed Altair coming and before he could reach Vega, she used her magic and created a river of stars in his path to separate them. We call that river of stars the Milky Way Galaxy.”

“Whoa!” Grayson, usually one of the loudest people in the room, murmured slowly, not wanting to disturb the serenity of the magical moment, “I wasn’t expecting that twist. What a fucking bitch? She destroyed her own daughter’s happiness.”

“Well, she didn’t know how serious Vega was about Altair. She just thought it was a fleeting attraction that would go away. But she understood that clearly wasn’t the case when months passed and Vega still didn’t get over Altair. Still heartbroken over being separated from the only man she could and would ever love. Finally, her father took pity on the two lovers and created a wide bridge of magpies across the river, hoping for them to fulfil their love.

“So each year, on the seventh night of the seventh moon, a bridge of magpies forms across the river and Altair dares to travel to his beloved. They wait for that one day out of the whole year where they can be together again, just to be torn apart again for another long and lonely year.”

The story ended and there was a beat of silence between the two. She gathered her hair and put it over one shoulder, looking at the ends like she was looking for damage. She did this often, when she was deep in thought. Grayson wondered how those glossy strands would feel between his fingers, how they would look against his pillow. Black silk shining against the stark white of his pillowcase. The image brought blood rushing to his face, and another area below his waist that he didn’t even want to think about at the moment.

If he got arroused, he’d just jump back into the pool, he decided.

“Why are the most beautiful love stories usually the tragic ones?” Grayson asked the question with no hope of getting an answer. It was a genuine thought, but he also voiced it to divert his mind from images of her in his bed. How could he expect her to give him an answer to that when the man she loved was married to someone else? To her own sister, no less. She didn’t know love, she only knew tragedy.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, giving him a half hearted chuckle that he easily saw past.

“Maybe true love is one that never ends in happiness.” Grayson mused, feeling his heart sink into the pit of his stomach at his own idea.

“Um, that’s a very negative way of looking at it.”

“Reality is usually always harsh.”

This brought a genuine laugh out of her, a head thrown back and eyes closed kind of laugh. Man, it was always a treat to see her laugh, especially when he was the reason behind it.

“Gray, you always sound like a spurned lover! Believe me, you won’t be alone forever.” Hadn’t he heard that a thousand times before? Coming from her mouth, the words did the opposite of making him feel better. The idea of being with anyone other than her brought a sour taste in his mouth. He hated it. She apparently took his less than happy expression for his disbelief at her words. “You don’t believe me now, but you’ll see that I’m right, one day. I mean, look at you! You’re every girl’s dream guy! You’re young, talented, hardworking, wealthy, gorgeous beyond words and one of the purest human beings I know.” Grayson’s heart skipped a few beats as he watched her say such sweet things about him, things that he always wanted her to say to him. But not in the context that she did.

You’re every girl’s dream guy.

Yeah, every girl but one. One that I truly want. One that is my dream girl.

“Look at me,” She lifted his chin to bring his eyes back to her hauntingly beautiful ones and his heart squeezed in his chest. Why couldn’t she have fallen for him instead of his brother? Why couldn’t it be him? Grayson loved his brother more than life itself, but he was cursing him in his mind for being the only man she could and would ever love. “You should have the universe, the sky and every star in it. And you will. One day, you will. You’ll see.”

He saw. He saw her and she was all he saw.

Only she didn’t see that she was the whole universe, the sky and all the stars for him.

Because she was too busy looking at the Summer Triangle and seeing Ethan in Altair and her sister, Anya in Vega. She was too busy seeing herself in Deneb. The star that nobody noticed in front of the other two’s beauty and shine.

The thing is, she had always thought she was the Vega to Ethan’s Altair, and her sister was just in the middle. Now, as she sat there gazing up at the stars while they were probably somewhere in Greece for their honeymoon, it was quite clear that for them, there was no triangle. They only ever saw each other. It was she would had created this triangle in her own mind.

Deneb can never compare to Vega.

It didn’t matter that she’d seen Ethan first, because her sister had seen him next.

[mustangshelby04]

No

Pairings: Chris Evans / Charlotte Mackenzie (O/C)

Summary: Saying no leads Charlotte to a friendship she has never imagined.

A/N: I’m trying to force myself to write. Maybe this will light a fire under my ass.... Or my muse’s. She’s a bit flakey.

Chapter 1

Charlie stood in line with her boyfriend Sam as they waited for their photo-op with Chris Evans.  They were second to last in line for the last day of the Comic Con they were at.  From the excited giggles of the people in front of them, Chris was posing and having some fun.  

Sam was clearly excited.  He was Marvel obsessed and had spent more money than any sane person should to get photo-ops with every Marvel cast member.  Charlie was just along for the ride.  It had been a point of contention with Sam that she refused to dress up with him this weekend.  She wasn’t a big movie or TV lover outside of old school Disney stuff and she didn’t get into all the hype of celebrity gossip.  She was a book lover and you could usually find her curled up with a book in some corner. 

She looked over at Sam, dressed as the Winter Solider and bouncing on the balls of his feet.  They had been dating a little over six months and this was the first time she had joined him at one of these things.  She wasn’t a fan of crowds and it had been absolute hell for her.  The whole weekend she had been regretting saying yes.  

“Ok, you guys are next.” The attendant said, leading them into the makeshift photo studio.  She was grinning from ear to ear like a creepy Cheshire cat.

Sam rushed in first and started gushing at Chris about how excited he was and how much he loved him as Captain America.  Charlie patiently waited for him to finish and then shook Chris’ hand when he extended it to her. “It’s nice to meet you.” She said politely.

“I really like your shirt.” Chris said.

She looked down at her blue Little Mermaid T-shirt she was wearing with skinny jeans and black Converse sneakers. “Thanks.  It’s one of my favorites.”

“Mine too!”

“So, what are we doing today?” The photographer asked.

“How about this?” Sam asked.  Charlie and Chris both turned to look and Sam was down on one knee with a ring held up at Charlie.

“What the actual fuck?” Charlie gasped.

“Charlotte Grace Mackenzie, will you please marry me?”

“Are you crazy?  No!”

“Charlie….”

“Get up!”

“I love you.”

“Oh my god!” Charlie turned and stormed out of the photobooth, leaving Chris and Sam to stare after her.

Charlie sat in the hallway of her hotel next to the door of her hotel room a little while later staring straight ahead at the horrible wallpaper in front of her.  She couldn’t believe what had just happened.  Sam had rushed after her and the two of them had fought about what he had done.  He had then left her standing there.  When she had finally calmed down, she had gone after him only to find that he had actually taken the car and left her there.

Luckily, they were only three miles from their hotel and she had no problem walking that.  She had busted out her cell phone and turned on her GPS to make her way back.  When she had gotten there, Sam had left her a note on the door.  She looked at the note again, completely flabbergasted that he was such an asshole.

Find your own way home.

They had travelled from Omaha, Nebraska to Chicago, Illinois for this Comic Con in his car.  She was desperately trying to hold herself together and not panic, but she could feel it working hard to burst down her carefully placed walls.  It was why she had curled up in a tight little ball on the floor and hadn’t gone down to see if she could get a key made for her so she could get into the room.  If she spoke to anyone, she was sure she would start bawling her eyes out.

“Is everything ok?” A voice said to her left.  She looked up to see Chris Evans standing there and he clearly recognized her. “Oh!  Hey!”

“Fuck me.” Charlie sighed as the tears started to leak out.  This was so not what she needed.  She had completely forgotten that Sam had chosen this hotel because it was where some of the celebrities were supposedly staying.  Fuck him for being correct.

Chris shifted his weight and glanced around. “Are you ok?”

“Nope.”

“Are you lost?”

“Nope.”

“Can I offer you any help?”

Charlie closed her eyes tightly. “How about a rewind on the last couple of hours of my life?”

Chris chuckled. “Sorry.  That’s a little out of my wheelhouse.”

“Mine too.”

“Seriously, are you ok?”

“Not in the slightest.” Chris sat down next to her on the floor. “He fucking left me here.  I have absolutely no way of getting home now.” Charlie wiped angrily at her wet cheeks.

“Where’s home?” “Omaha, Nebraska.”

“Shit, that’s a bit of a hike.”

“Little bit.” Charlie shoved her messy, curly, dark copper hair back from her face as the dam cracked further. “Fuck!  What the fuck am I going to do now?  I can’t even get into the hotel room because that asshat had the key!”

“Come on.” Chris stood back up and held his hand out to her.

“What?”

“You can use my room to breakdown in and then we can call down to the front desk about that key.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I know I don’t, but I am.  Come on.” Chris reached down again and grabbed her hand this time.  She allowed him to lift her to her feet and then lead her down the hallway.  He opened the door to his suite and Charlie promptly started sobbing.

“I’m sorry.” She wiped at her tears aggressively again with shaking hands as Chris ushered her to the couch and sat down. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Please don’t be embarrassed.  Your boyfriend should be the embarrassed one.”

“Ex-boyfriend!” She dropped her face in her hands and shook her head. “I’m not even sure what it is I’m crying about.  That fuckwad sure doesn’t deserve my tears.” Chris walked over to the minibar and grabbed two beers.  He popped the tops on them and offered her one. “Thank you.”

“Gotta say, I’ve seen a few proposals at those things, but never a reaction like that.”

Charlie looked over and Chris was grinning hopefully at her.  It actually made her laugh. “What is my life right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“My entire quiet little world has been on the precipice of exploding, I just got abandoned in an unfamiliar city by the guy I was seeing, and I’m sitting here being comforted by a celebrity who doesn’t even know my name.”

“Right now, I’m not a celebrity.  Right now, I’m a good Samaritan who stumbled across a person in need.  It would make my mom proud.  Well, except that I haven’t properly introduced myself.” Charlie snorted as he held his hand out to her. “I’m Chris.”

“Clearly.”

“And you are….” He wiggled his hand at her and she relented, shaking it.

“Charlotte.  Everyone calls me Charlie, though.”

“Pretty.  So, Charlie, your life is about to explode?  How so?”

“You’re really asking?  Like, you really wanna know?”

“I really wanna know.”

She started picking at the label on her beer bottle. “I’m leaving everything I’ve ever known behind and moving to the East Coast in a month.  I think that’s why Sam pulled that shit today.  He doesn’t want me to leave.”

“Where are you moving to?”

“Boston.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  I accepted a job at Little Brown up there.”

“What’s that?”

“A publishing company.  It’s been my dream to become a book editor and I’ve been working towards that goal for the last four years.  I finally found a company that’s willing to give me a shot at it, but it’s in Boston.”

“That’s pretty awesome.”

“I didn’t even want to come to this thing with him, but I figured I would give him one last good weekend before I broke up with him.”

“You weren’t even going to attempt a long-distance thing?”

“When do those ever work out?”

“I don’t know.  I’m a hopeless romantic, though.”

“I’m not.” Charlie set her beer down. “I need to get into my room.  See if he left my things or destroyed them.  Knowing my luck, he’s set everything on fire.”

“I don’t think he did that.  The fire alarms haven’t gone off.”

“Good point.” She pointed at the phone on the desk. “May I?”

“Of course.”

Charlie walked over and picked up the phone, dialing the front desk. “Hi, my name is Charlotte Mackenzie.  I got locked out and I need a key to get in.”

“I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t see you registered in our system.”

“No.  My boyfriend…. Ex-boyfriend made the reservation.  It’s under his name.  Sam Cooke.  Room 828.”

“Mr. Cooke checked out.”

“What?”

“Mr. Cooke checked out a little while ago.”

“But my things are in that room.”

“I’m so sorry about that.  Mr. Cooke didn’t mention that there was anything left in the room.  We can send a maintenance man up to let you in to get your things.”

“I kind of need a place to stay tonight.”

“We’re completely booked up, but you’re more than welcome to rent that room for yourself.”

“Ok.  Yeah.  I can do that, I guess.  How much is it?”

“For tonight, the room would be $238 plus tax.”

Charlie choked on air and started hacking.  Chris came over and patted her on the back, taking the phone from her. “Hi, this is Eric Prince in suite…. Yeah.  Look, can you just put that room on my bill?  I’m certain.  I would appreciate that.  Thank you.” He hung up and offered Charlie a bottle of water.

Once her breathing was back to normal, she shot a confused look at Chris. “Eric Prince?”

He shrugged sheepishly. “Prince Eric…. From The Little Mermaid.”

“Oh.” Charlie blinked for a minute. “Did you just pay for my hotel room?”

“I did, yeah.  Was that not ok?”

“I mean…. It’s your money, you can do whatever with it, but you don’t even know me.”

“I’m not someone who can just sit here and listen to someone in distress.  If I can help, I’m going to help.” There was a knock on the door and Chris went over to answer it.  Charlie stayed seated on the couch, sipping at her water.  When he came back, he presented her with a key card. “Your room key.”

“Oh.  Thank you.” Charlie took it. “I can’t thank you enough for this.”

“It’s no problem.  Let me know if you need any more help or someone to hang out with.”

Charlie laughed. “Yeah, like Mr. Big-Shot Needs-A-Fake-Moniker has no one better to hang out with.”

He frowned slightly. “Actually, I don’t have anyone to hang out with.  I ditched my team for a quiet night in.  Being around all those people all day long…. I need a recharge.”

She nodded. “I understand that.  I’m more of an introvert with some extroverted tendencies.  When I’ve reached my limit on people, I just need to stay in and hide.  Especially if there’s a crowd.”

“Same.” He shifted from one foot to the other. “Would you like to hang out with me, Charlie?  We can recharge our batteries, maybe order a pizza, rent a movie….”

“If you’re sure, then ok.  I just want to run and make sure he didn’t destroy my stuff.”

“That makes sense.” Chris followed her down the hallway to her room.  When she opened the door, she let out an angry groan while he let out a shocked whistle.  Her suitcase had been hurled across the room and it’s contents were scattered everywhere.  In the bathroom, he had squirted out all of her toothpaste, broken her toothbrush in half, destroyed most of her makeup, ripped the rows of bristles out of her hairbrush, and dumped her expensive curly hair products down the drain.

“No, no, no, no!” Charlie ran over to the suitcase and lifted it up.  Her laptop made sounds like little metal pieces were moving around inside. “Fuck!”

“Shit!  He actually broke your laptop?”

“What the hell is wrong with that guy?” Charlie started crying again as she held her broken laptop.

“A broken heart is one thing, but this….”

“He can’t have a broken heart.  We weren’t together that long!”

“Wait, how long were you two together?”

“Six months.  Today was the first time he even said he loved me.”

“Had you said it to him?”

“No!” She looked over at him. “What are you doing?” Chris had started to move around the room and picking her clothes up off the floor.

“Helping.” He started to fold the shirt in his hands.

“You really don’t need to do that.”

“I know I don’t.  You really don’t need to be so difficult.”

She sighed. “I’m sorry.  This is just a really fucked up situation and I’m not even sure which emotion it is I’m feeling.  And I really don’t mean to take it out on you.  Thank you for helping me.  It’s very kind of you.”

“You’re welcome.”

They worked together to collect her belongings and pile them on the bed.  Once they finished, the two of them tackled the bathroom.  Chris took pictures of everything and sent them to his assistant with instructions to purchase them and bring them to his room.  Charlie stopped when she got to a beautifully ornate compact mirror.  It was antique silver with filigree designs carved into it and little jewels set to resemble a starry night sky.  A few of the jewels were missing and the glass inside had been broken.  She clutched the compact and started to sob.

“Hey….” Chris gently pulled her into a hug.

“This was my mom’s.  My dad gave it to her as a wedding present when they got married.”

“It’s beautiful.”

“They died when I was eleven.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“I can’t believe he broke this.  He knew it was one of the few things of hers I have left.”

After Charlie had cried herself out, Chris helped her finish cleaning the bathroom and they went back to his room.  She curled up on the couch and he sat down on the opposite end.  They were quiet for a long moment before he finally broke the silence. “I don’t normally do this.”

“What?”

“Invite strange women to hang out with me.”

“I never said you did.”

“I know, but…. I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to get in your pants or anything.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why don’t you want me to think that?”

“I don’t want you to get the wrong impression of me.”

“What do you think my impression of you is?”

“I’m not sure.  You’re not like most women I’ve met.”

“How so?” “Well for starters, you ask a lot of questions.” Charlie chuckled. “You’re also like this open book that I can’t read.”

“That’s the most interesting thing anyone has ever said about me.  What does that mean?”

“I…. Ok, so you drop these seemingly big clues about your life.  You were incredibly vulnerable when you told me that your parents died and you’ve cried in front of me while I get the feeling that you don’t do that in front of people very often if you can help it, but none of those clues lead me any closer to being able to figure you out.”

“Do you want to figure me out?”

“I kind of do.” “Why?”

Chris smirked. “I like to read.”

Charlie and Chris sat on the couch with a half-empty pizza box between them.  A pay-per-view movie was playing on the TV, but they weren’t paying attention to it.  The two of them had been talking for hours.  He found it a welcome relief that she didn’t care about him being a celebrity and that she didn’t know anything about him.  It felt great to actually get to know someone.

“I’m really impressed.” Chris said as he looked at the pictures on her phone. “You made out like a bandit on this.”

“I just hope there aren’t any crazy issues I’ll have to fix.” Charlie was showing him the house she had bought sight-unseen at an auction.  It was a two story Colonial house in Concord.

“You realize we’re practically neighbors?”

“Are we?”

“Yeah.  I just bought a house about two miles away from here.”

“That’s weird.”

“Are you sure you’re not stalking me?”

She laughed. “Trust me, I don’t give two shits about your celebrity status.  Unless you wrote a book.  Then watch out.”

Chris handed her back her phone. “The commute to Boston might be crazy.”

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t mind.  There’s a train station and all the research I’ve done says it’s about an hour commute.”

“It is.  You’re going to love Concord.”

“Where did you say you grew up again?” “Sudbury.”

“Gotcha.”

“So, Mac, what made you want to uproot your life like this?”

Charlie laughed at the nickname he’d chosen.  She usually hated it when people tried to call her that, but for some reason Chris made it sound endearing. “You really want to open that can of worms?”

“I really do.”

“Ok.” She took a deep breath. “So, you know mom and dad died in a car accident when I was eleven.  What you don’t know is that my twin sister was in the car with them.”

“Oh shit!”

“Yeah.  I went from having a full family to being alone.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“My aunt took me in and raised me.  Aunt Millie…. She was living with her second husband in Omaha when she got the call that her brother and sister-in-law had died.  She flew out to Maine and stayed with me.  My parents had just written their wills and hadn’t gotten a chance to tell her that they’d named her guardian of their kids.” “I bet that was a big shock.”

“For everyone.  My mom’s parents thought that they should get custody of me, but aunt Millie wanted to honor my parents’ wishes.  She ended up fighting them in court and the judge ruled in her favor.  When the school year ended, we moved to her house in Omaha.  About a year later, she found out her husband was cheating on her and plotting to take my inheritance.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah.  It was a pretty significant amount.  My mom’s family was pretty well off.  She had a trust fund which became mine when she died and my parents had really good life insurance.  My grandparents added the money to that trust fund that they intended to put into mine and Max’s trust funds…. Max was my twin.  Her name was Maxine.”

“I couldn’t even imagine losing all of that.”

“How many siblings do you have?”

“Three.  One older sister, Carly; my younger brother, Scott; and my youngest sister, Shanna.”

“That’s a lot of siblings.”

“Yeah.” Chris took a sip of his beer. “So, back to you.  I didn’t need to pay for your room, did I?” Chris smirked at her to let her know he was joking.

“You really didn’t.  I just…. I don’t really like to touch that money.  After what happened with aunt Millie’s second husband and then her third and fourth husbands…. I figured money ruined people’s lives.”

“What happened with her husbands?”

“They basically used her to try to get to that money.  After what happened with her second husband, my grandparents made it very hard for her to touch my inheritance.  I didn’t even have access to it until I graduated college.  By then, I had learned the value of a dollar by watching aunt Millie work her ass off to keep me clothed, fed, a roof over my head, and in good schools.  I had part time jobs throughout high school and college to help her.  I used scholarships and grants and a couple of student loans to pay for my college education.  I’ve only used that money for three things.”

“What were they?”

“To take aunt Millie to Europe before she died and to pay for that house in Boston.”

“Your aunt is dead?”

“She died about two years ago.  Pancreatic cancer.  That’s the third thing I used that money on.  I paid for all of her medical bills.”

“I’m so sorry, Mac.  That’s a lot to go through in only thirty-three years of life.”

Charlie shrugged. “It is, but what can I do about it?”

“When was the last time you’ve been to the East Coast?”

“I visited my grandma in Maine last year when she died.”

“Did you have a good relationship with your grandparents?”

“It was ok.  They loved me in their own way.  Mom was an only child and I was their only grandkid.  They sent me money for my birthday and Christmas.  I got Easter baskets from them, too, and I would go out for a week in the summer when I was younger because the court’s said I had to.  Those weeks…. Makes me glad that I ended up with aunt Millie.  My grandparents weren’t home very much.  I hung out with their butler in the summers.  When I turned 18, I stopped going.  I let aunt Millie have the birthday and Christmas money after that.”

“Wow.  You should write a book.”

“Why?”

“Because your life has been…. Eventful and I would even call it inspiring.”

“Maybe one day I will.  For now, I prefer to give other people chances to get their voices heard.”

“Is that what appeals to you about being a book editor?”

“Yes.  I’ve read some amazing books in my life and I used to wonder what it would be like to be the editor that gets the copy across their desk.  To be the first person to read it outside of the author and their family and know that what I have is going to make a lot of other people happy.  Not to mention the author.  Plus, I’ve been known to be a stickler for grammar, so why not put that skill to use.”

Chris chuckled. “You haven’t corrected my grammar once.”

“You’re pretty eloquent, Evans, but I’ve been silently correcting you.”

That made him tip his head back and laugh loudly, his right hand slapping against his chest.  It sucked Charlie in and they both laughed freely.  After a few minutes, they finally calmed down and wiped their eyes. “I’m really glad I asked you to hang out with me, Mac.”

“I’m glad I said yes despite the shit circumstances.  I really wanted to stay in by myself and hide from the world.”

“Why did you say yes, then?”

“You said the right thing.”

He grinned. “Good.  I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

Please let me know if you want to be tagged in this story. The more people that want to read it, the better. I want my muse to feel the pressure!

Forever Taglist

@joannaliceevans-fanficblog​

@jamielea81

@southerngracela​

@shellbilee​

@jtargaryen18​

@lovinevans​

Story Taglist

@sweetlittlegingy​