#danny: I will explain nothing but this is all your fault | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

five-rivers · 1 year

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Waking the Woods

AO3

Sequel to Rumors of the Woods of the Kingdom of Amity.

For @summerssixecho and @modordracena

Danny was sorting through the pantry, hoping to get all the misplaced poisons put back in the red cabinet before his parents came home the day after next. More inedible substances would inevitably be stored in the pantry once they came back, but Danny would do just about anything to avoid eating another bezoar for just a little bit longer.

Also, getting poisoned sucked, but that went without saying.

His sister, Jazz, was gone, too, but that wasn’t unusual. She’d gotten an invitation to study at the College of Elmerton, and of course she had to go, even if it was in another country.

Which meant that he was the only one home when he heard the knock. It also meant that he was so startled by it that he propelled his head into the underside of one of the pantry shelves at speed.

No one knocked on their door. Ever. Even the paying customers were more of the ‘let ourselves in’ type.

Danny staggered out of the pantry, head spinning slightly. Ow.

The knock came again, this time taking on a decidedly frantic character. Danny shook himself, and patted his head down. No blood. Great! He walked to the door, half convinced that he’d find someone who was both out of town and very lost, but determined to be polite. Show people it was possible for a Fenton to have manners! Not their fault he smacked his head into the shelf.

He slid open the door and immediately got punched in the face.

“Oh, gods, I’m so sorry– Where did the door go?”

“It slides,” explained Danny, clutching his face. “Sideways. Ow.”

“I’m really sorry, I was just knocking. I didn’t realize–”

“I know, I know.” Probably, the whole ‘nobody knocks’ thing was the only thing keeping this from happening much more often. He peeled his hands away from his face and took in his visitor as well as he could, given his temporarily blurry vision.

Dark skin, yellow cloak, vividly red hat that had to be violating at least a dozen sumptuary laws… There was only one person Danny had ever met that dressed like that.

“Tucker?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Tucker, sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “Surprise?”

“In more ways than one.” Danny touched his face tenderly. “Ow.”

“I am sorry.”

“It’s fine,” said Danny, deciding not to mention that he’d done much worse to himself not five minutes ago. “Come on in. What are you doing here, anyway? I haven’t seen you since, uh…” When had it been, anyway?

“Since I got apprenticed, I know.”

“Yeah!” Tucker hadn’t been happy about it, but as his parents had said, felting was good, steady work. People always needed cloth. “Don’t tell me you’ve already finished your apprenticeship.”

“Uh, no. It is sort of about that, though.”

Danny paused, halfway to the living room. “You’re not running away, are you?” Tucker had never seen the type, but it had been years.

“No,” said Tucker. “But, uh. It’s sort of complicated. It’ll take a little bit to explain.”

“Alright,” said Danny, continuing into the room until he could perch on the edge of his mother’s rocker. “Go ahead.”

“Right. So. Every ten years or so, the weavers’ and felters’ guilds get together to negotiate with the shepherds about prices. Tanner’s guild, too, sometimes, but not this year. This year, my master got chosen to go. Which meant I was at loose ends."

"So you came to visit me?" asked Danny, touched.

"Um. No. Maybe I would've, but at the same time, the pages at the castle all came down with carbuncle pox–"

"Oh, yeah, I heard about that."

"So, the pagemaster asked the guilds to send apprentices to fill in for them."

"And you were sent because you were at loose ends."

"Right."

They stared silently at each other. Just when Danny was about to prompt Tucker to continue, because that had explained nothing, the other boy exploded.

"I was sent to give a message to the princess and she had a book out about Rangers, like the one your mom always had, and I asked her why she was looking up Rangers and she said it was for a personal project and she asked me why I could read - because apparently royalty think guild apprentices can’t read, go figure, she sounded impressed, though - and I told her that I’d always wanted to join the monastery, but money, and then, you know, she was surprised I could read, I wanted to say something impressive, not be written off, and I said I knew a Ranger family, and then she said that if I could get a Ranger to help with her project, she’d pay off my apprenticeship and recommend me to the head monk, and I said I could definitely, one hundred percent do that and you’d be happy to help. So, uh. Yeah. Yeah, then I came here. What’ve you been up to?”

Danny's jaw had dropped at some point during Tucker’s ‘explanation,’ but he gathered himself. "The attic, I guess. Tucker… I'm not a Ranger."

"But your parents were."

"Not… not really." Jazz, at least, had thought they were doing the whole Ranger thing to embarrass her. The Fentons were alchemists by trade, if not temperament. Rangers didn't really exist any more.

"Grandparents?"

Danny shrugged.

"Come on, Danny, you're literally my only hope."

"Why do you even want to join a monastery anyway?"

"Because that's where all the books are."

Danny rubbed his head, winced, and thought about it some more. "This project isn't some creepy rich person thing, is it?"

"What? No. The princess is our age!"

"So? I'm self‐aware enough to realize that I can be creepy about…" he trailed off, blushing furiously. "Things."

"She's a girl!"

Danny blinked. “So?”

Tucker stared at him. He stared at Tucker.

“She legitimately needs a Ranger.”

“What for? It isn’t like there’s any magic in the woods anymore. They’ve been mapped.”

“Apparently not,” said Tucker. “Look, I know you haven’t seen me in a long time, and we’re not close friends anymore, but you have to at least be curious. And you’d get to meet the princess.”

Danny sighed. “Alright, alright. I am curious.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked all those questions. “Where am I supposed to go and when am I supposed to be there?”

“The princess wants us to meet her at the castle at noon.”

“Tucker,” said Danny.

“Yes?”

“You want me to go to the castle. At noon. Today. Looking like I just got beaten up. And convince the princess, who has apparently done a lot of research, that I’m, what, an apprentice Ranger? Is that even a thing?”

“An experienced Ranger. I, uh, might have played you up a bit.”

“Tucker,” said Danny. “You were wrong.”

Tucker hunched his shoulders. “About?”

“Us not being close friends anymore. You see, if we weren’t, I would be kicking you out right about now.”

“Noted.”

Danny did not run around like his hair was on fire for the next hour, although at one point he came perilously close to actually setting his hair on fire.

An hour was not long enough to prepare for this. For that matter, days wouldn’t be long enough to prepare for this. He was an apprentice alchemist, barely, not a monster-hunter, not a warrior of any stripe, not a mage, not even a historian.

But on the off chance that there was magic… or a creature or some sort…

He packed his travel kit with a few randomly chosen vials of caustics and poisons, making sure they were carefully separated from the vials and flasks carrying more benign brews. Glues, solvents, and cleaners went in another compartment, salves and topicals in yet another, and things you were actually supposed to eat or drink in a fourth.

He felt woefully underprepared.

Tucker was really lucky he didn’t have any other friends, darn it.

His eyes strayed back to the lockbox in the back of the storeroom. He shouldn’t… But odds were, the princess was delusional or just getting scammed. He could put everything back before his parents got home. And if the princess had found something magical, wouldn’t it be better to have something that could affect it? Even if it was old and super questionable?

With a skill born from his parents always losing their keys, Danny picked the lock on the lockbox. Within were two vials. One was pale green, with a dark, glittery red mixture inside. The other was coated with crackling, peeling red and contained a liquid that glowed green through the cracks. The reason for these color choices was, Danny assumed, because one of his ancestors was a sadist of some variety.

He checked the labels to make sure they were what he remembered. Tincture of Sanguiflora magicidium in the green vial and mana pondalorum physick in the red vial. He triple checked his memory of their effects against the booklet in the lockbox. Only then did he put them in their own, separate, compartments.

He was ready to go, and absolutely sure he was going to regret this in at least some way.

Welp! At least it’d be interesting.

Danny had never actually been to the castle before. His parents were… Well, even if they were the absolute best alchemists in the kingdom (a disputed title) they weren’t exactly welcome around anyone who might not want their clothes ruined. Or their houses. Or their health. Even beyond the Ranger thing, they were pretty eccentric.

The castle was impressive, he supposed. But it was just a large building. He wouldn’t want to be a guy attacking it, he was sure. But looking at it from the outside got old, fast.

“So,” he said to Tucker, “noon, huh?”

“You know that’s just an estimate. Not everyone has clocks.”

“I am absolutely convinced that the royal family has at least one clock.”

“Yeah, but do they know that you have a clock? That’s the question. And is your clock even right?”

Danny shrugged.

One of the guards whistled at them, and for the first time, Danny saw his face.

“Huh,” he said, “is that Dash?”

“Might be,” said Tucker.

“You! Boy!” snapped Dash, who was only a little older than they were. “Are you Tucker Foley?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“And the-” Dash sneered, “-Ranger?”

“It’s not my day job.” Or any kind of job. Actually, was he getting paid for this? As much as he’d like to live off air and pleasant thoughts, he did have other needs. At this point, though, it seemed too late to ask.

“You’re expected. Follow me.”

Wow. Danny didn’t know that Dash knew any words as long as ‘expected.’ Shocking. Maybe being around all these high-class people was starting to rub off on him.

Not far inside the gates was a… Alright, Danny didn’t know what was going on, but it had the energy of people preparing to go somewhere, so. Yeah.

“Your majesty, I’ve brought the felter boy and his… friend.”

“I’m sure they have names,” said a girl who was wearing a surprisingly practical riding dress, “and I know you know at least Tucker’s.” She turned slightly towards Danny. “And you are?”

“This is, uh, Danny, Princess Samantha,” said Tucker, bobbing bow and elbowing Danny in the side until he got a clue and did the same.

“I’ve told you, you can call me Sam.”

“R-right.�� Sam.”

Everyone in the vicinity except the princess shot them a glare so venomous Danny was tempted to get out a bezoar (ick). The princess didn’t notice. She was too busy examining Danny. He straightened under her sweeping gaze.

“You don’t look like a Ranger.”

“My parents have more experience.” Or so they claimed, anyway. “There’s not a lot of call for Rangers these days.”

“Well, you’re the first one to come to me with even a lick of authenticity, so I suppose you’ll do,” she said, finally. “The Fenton line, correct? Branch of House Nightingale?”

“Um,” said Danny. “I suppose?” He’d heard some things like that, but if he had any Nightingale ancestors, they were buried beneath far more common people.

“I think you might actually be the last survivors of that house. Do either of you ride?”

Danny and Tucker shook their heads.

“More’s the pity, although we won’t be moving at much more than a walk with all the people who insist on coming with us despite their lack of interest in our nation’s heritage.” She sniffed. “You will be coming of course, Tucker?”

“‘Course he will,” said Danny, looping an arm around his shoulder. “We used to be a team when we were kids.”

“Oh? Goodness, that almost makes me reluctant to send you off to a monastery. There are so few people with any Ranger training left.”

She turned away, back to her preparations, and Tucker threw Danny’s arm off and glared at him. Danny grinned lazily back. Served him right. Danny could spread the misery around a little bit.

It was true that the princess’s retinue did not move at a rate faster than a walk. This was, however, at least partially because the princess kept stopping to give alms on her way out of the city. It seemed the city’s population of beggars had learned her preferred routes.

“Hey,” said Danny, “this was a one day sort of thing, right? It’s okay that I didn’t pack stuff for overnight?”

“No, it should be fine, I think,” said Tucker. “But there’s like a hundred people here. Someone will have spare stuff. Besides, if it goes much longer than that, we can just leave.”

Danny nodded. “That’s true.”

When they finally reached the forest, they walked for another hour and a half, this time stopping so that the princess and her ladies could coo at the half-feral forest cats that sometimes watched their progress.

Alright, Danny cooed at them, too, and since he and Tucker were on foot, they had a much better chance of petting them, something he felt just a little smug about.

The first hour of that was on a well maintained road, the last was on a path that looked to be newly cut through tangled underbrush and fallen trees. Much to the displeasure of the princess’s guards, she decided to dismount and walk next to Danny and Tucker for this part of the journey. She called it ‘bracing.’

“We only found this because of the late storm during the drought last year,” she said. “Father sent the fire watch to make sure there hadn’t been any bad lightning strikes close to the city, and one of them found it. I spent months convincing Father to let me investigate. I’m hoping that soon it will be something I can share with everyone.”

Danny cleared his throat. “With this all being so last minute, Tucker didn’t actually get a chance to tell me what ‘it’ was. Um, Princess Samantha.” He had no idea how often you were supposed to address royalty by title. It didn’t come up all that often in his life.

Samantha’s smile faltered, slightly. “It’s Sam. And we’re not sure, actually. That’s one of the reasons we wanted a Ranger. I thought that you might recognize it from your training.”

“I don’t know how likely that is,” cautioned Danny.

Samantha shrugged. “It is only one of the reasons. But you don’t have to be pessimistic. I’m well aware that this endeavor might come to nothing. It is one thing to hope to reclaim a country’s magical heritage. It is another thing entirely to actually do it.”

“So… you don’t believe magic is getting used up?”

“I’m not sure. I think it might have been… But I have hope that magic is something that can be restored, renewed, and used more wisely. Other places seem to have managed that, at least a little. It would be a shame to give up on it entirely, wouldn’t it? It was a wondrous thing.”

“Sure,” said Danny, “but there were also the monsters. That’s what the Rangers were for, a lot of the time.”

“Even so.” She fell silent for a while. “Have you ever heard of the trap-rabbit?”

“No. Tuck?”

Tucker shook his head.

“They used to be quite common here, is my understanding. The walls of my nursery are painted with them. They don’t exist anymore. It’s a sad thing, I think, for that to happen. I would not wish it to happen even to monsters.”

Tucker made a face. The princess saw it.

“I have read the stories,” she said. “In them, we strike first as often as they.”

“But those are stories,” protested Tucker.

The princess shrugged. “As is any history you did not witness personally. But even we can’t return things to what they were, don’t you think learning what was is still a worthy goal?”

“It sounds like one, anyway,” said Danny. “I’ve never really thought about it.”

They emerged into a clearing around a large pond. On the other side of the pond was a huge tree with great, drooping branches. The branches swayed in the wind, momentarily revealing something made of stone.

“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” asked the princess, stepping onto a path that led around the side of the pond. It was made of uneven pavers and looked ancient.

“Yeah,” said Danny. “I didn’t know trees like that got that tall.”

“Neither did I,” muttered Tucker. “What’s under there, though.”

“You’ll have to see,” said Samantha- Sam, skipping down the path.

Danny started after her, and immediately tripped. He just barely caught himself before face planting and possibly having a very expensive and dangerous accident with his travel kit.

He maybe wasn’t as recovered from his head injuries as he’d thought. And, yes, he was counting Tucker’s accidental punch.

It was fine.

The stone beneath the tree was part of a structure, obviously made by intelligent hands and at least as old as the paved path. There didn’t seem to be any way into the small building, just some words carved into the side.

“Do you recognize it?”

Danny shook his head. “But there’s always been lots of different kinds of ruins.” He walked around the structure, going slowly. “Reminds me a little of shrines in old temples. Those are open-sided, though.”

“I know,” said Sam. “The tree doesn’t mean anything to you, either?”

“Should it?”

Sam shrugged. Away from the shadow of the tree, her retinue was setting up camp. They seemed more than happy to let the three of them investigate the maybe-shrine on their own. Well. Mostly. A couple very formidable looking ladies were watching them like hawks, and a bald man had taken out a stool and a thick, dusty book to read in the shade.

“I don’t think so… It’s kind of similar to that one story, though, isn’t it? The one about the tree of life and a sacred pool.”

“It is. The water seems to be just water, though, and the fruit is just fruit.”

“Might be where the story came from, though.”

“Maybe,” agreed Sam. “What do you think of the writing?”

Gods, that was not his area of expertise. Still, he stepped closer. “Hm,” he said. “It’s very writing-like.”

Sam looked at him, concern on her face. “You can read, yes?”

“What? Yeah. Just give me a second. This isn’t regular writing.”

“I’m aware.”

“You’ve gotten someone else to translate this already, right?”

“My tutor, William Lancer." She gestured at the bald man, who briefly glanced up from his book. "It’s good to have a second opinion.”

Danny nodded and called up his admittedly meager knowledge of this sort of thing. He knew some, because a lot of alchemical texts were written in the old language, but he wasn’t exactly spending his days practicing it.

“Um,” he said, intelligently. He was starting to see what Tucker meant about wanting to impress her. “The first binding, valued more than coin, valued more than land, but spent on it nonetheless, by those who do not own it. When it is gone, dust is left. Heart of the land, spend yours before your people. We shall… wake?” Danny paused. “Is that ‘wake?’”

“‘Open,’” said Sam. “We think answering the riddle might open up the… shrine, for lack of a better word.”

“Mm,” said Danny, who had usually seen it in the context of sleeping medicines. “Is it the same on all sides?”

“As far as we can tell.”

“Dust is, um. Huh.” He rubbed the back of his neck, wincing when he jostled his head. “I think this dust might be the same dust as grave dust. Does that help?”

“This isn’t one of those animal sacrifice things, is it?” asked Tucker. “Or, uh, human sacrifice?”

“We thought of that,” said Sam.

Tucker moved away from her.

“But, ah. Blood magic tends to be… unpleasant. We thought we’d avoid that.”

“Might still be blood magic,” said Danny. “I mean, blood fits, doesn’t it? Blood relations are the first tie you have, it’s more valuable than money or land, but people still fight wars for those things, they just try to spill other people’s blood. When it’s gone, you’re left with grave dust.”

“I would prefer not to get sacrificed,” said Tucker. “If it’s all the same to you, your highness.”

“Tucker, if I was that desperate to get in, I’d just hire people to pull it down, or get a battering ram. I’m not going to sacrifice anyone. But… heart of the land? We thought perhaps wood doves, because of the crest…”

Danny shrugged. “At that point, it might as well be talking about your blood.”

“Mine?” asked Sam, scandalized but intrigued.

“Sure. You’re popular, right? Or at least, you’re royalty. That’s sort of like being the heart of a country.”

“Couldn't it just be talking about the word, too?" asked Tucker, looking faintly ill. "Couldn't it be that you just have to say the word blood?"

"I don't know, we've said blood a lot just now."

"But not in the old language," pointed out Sam.

"Sure," said Danny. "Sang."

Nothing happened. He shrugged.

"Maybe you need to say it," Tucker said to Sam.

"Sang."

Still nothing.

"Bleeding it is, then." Sam pulled an unreasonably large knife from the vicinity of her corset.

Tucker jumped away, and even Danny took two hurried steps back, ready to throw himself behind the corner of the building. The ‘supervising’ adults were unalarmed.

But the princess just pressed the blade to her thumb and held it out to the structure.

Nothing happened.

“Maybe you need to bleed on it?” suggested Danny.

“You don’t want to get an infection, your highness,” said William Lancer, not looking up from his book.

“I know,” said Sam. She pressed her thumb against the wall, just under the carved riddle.

For a long moment… nothing happened.

But then the walls shuddered and began to drop into the ground, leaving only the pillars at the corners to support the roof.

“Yes!” Sam pumped her fist and ran in as soon as the walls got low enough.

This, finally, stirred the watchers to action.

Danny and Tucker exchanged a glance. It'd be bad if the princess were cursed, wouldn't it?

Danny hopped over the wall next. The interior was… Not much of one. He didn't know what he expected of a ten foot by ten foot building with no walls.

"Look," said Sam, pointing up.

"Oh, wow," said Danny, all awareness of what the princess’s minders were doing falling away from him. The pillars might not be much to look at, but the ceiling… Danny had just enough experience at art to understand what had gone into carving and painting it. It was the night sky, as viewed from below trees. Each leaf and needle was picked out in exquisite detail, perspective perfect. And the stars… as an alchemist, even an apprentice one, Danny had to know when the stars were right. These stars were accurate. They were even accurate to this time of year. Even the moon was right, its face a careful reproduction of what was really there.

“The floor, too!” said Sam, bringing Danny’s attention to the stone tiles and the small flowers and leaves painted on them as well as… were those map lines? Danny wasn’t sure. “This is marvelous. Do you suppose the pillars are meant to resemble tree trunks? I didn’t see it before, but now-! Even if this was it, it’s worth it!”

“It is pretty,” said Tucker, finally following them in. “Wonder what it was for.”

“It hardly even matters. That is, it matters, of course, but look at it!”

They looked.

And while they were looking, the walls shot back up, leaving them in pitch blackness.

“Ah,” said Danny. “Somehow, I feel like we should have expected this.”

“Bleed on the walls again!” suggested Tucker in a not at all panicked voice.

There was some shuffling as everyone ran into one another.

“It’s not working,” said Sam.

“Well,” said Danny, “at least there’s still the battering ram option?”

“That only works if there’s nothing inside the thing you care about breaking. Do you– No, I suppose you wouldn’t. What was the point of this, anyway? To trap princes and princesses?”

Danny shrugged, even though no one could see him.

“I don’t suppose any of you have flint or matches?” asked Sam. “Candles?”

“Some,” admitted Danny. “But you don’t really want to light a fire in a closed space like this. Oh! Wait! I do have something.” He opened the top of his travel kit. The glowing mana pondalorum physick was immediately visible. The red coating of the vial blocked most of the green light, but in the otherwise absolute darkness, it seemed to burn.

“What is that?”

“Mana,” said Danny. “Or water with mana in it. Some of the old books aren’t super clear. My parents saved it from way back.”

“Did they save anything else?” asked Sam, her eyes wide. She reached for it.

Danny pulled it back, towards his chest. He had not anticipated curious royalty as a threat to his ‘not getting in trouble with my parents’ plan, but in retrospect he could see that was as obvious a risk as getting stuck in a weird possibly magical ruin.

“Yeah,” he said, “there’s also the magicidium mix. It’s, um, emergency magic antidote. Magic killer. So, if one of us gets cursed, you want to grab the green vial with the red stuff in it.”

“And, what, drink it?” asked Tucker.

“Or dump it on them. Drinking it is better, but, you know, curses…”

“Right,” said Tucker, nodding, “I absolutely know curses.”

Danny had doubts. But he also had better things to do, like examining the inside of the walls. He raised the vial, glancing up as the green light was reflected off the painted stars. For a moment, he thought he might have caught a glimpse of something else, then the moment was gone.

“Hey, why don’t we just dump the magic killing stuff on the walls or something?” asked Tucker.

“Because it’s probably magic that makes them move,” said Sam. “Not magic that keeps them in place.”

The walls had writing on them. He turned to the nearest one, and brought the vial closer. “That’s different from the outside, I think?”

“What does it say?” asked Sam.

“Give me a minute,” said Danny. “It’s really hard to see.” He squinted at the writing. “This is a lot longer,” he said with some dismay.

“You can read it, though, can’t you?”

“Just… don’t rush me.” Danny chewed his lip, then read slowly. “Beat true, oh heart, with wisdom and wit, for without these passion lies silent. Um… Those who would be woken, must be named. Those who would be named, must be woken… No. Those who are named will be woken. Speak, therefore, the names of…”

“What names? Ours? Mine?”

“Give me a second. The names of… Okay, I’m not sure if this is just a poetic way to say sleep or not. The names of those beneath the stars, for you must know them whether it is day or night. Say them, wake them, walk into the light.”

“You think beneath the stars means sleep? Those are completely different!”

“And beating around the bush is completely different from avoiding a topic,” said Sam. “But they mean the same thing.”

“Yeah,” said Danny. “The stuff I learned from is big on metaphor, but it was, you know, formal.”

“We’re going to die,” said Tucker.

“We’re not going to die. Let’s start with our names. I’m Sam.”

“Danny.”

“Tucker.” Tucker looked around, nervous. “Do you think it wants our full names?”

“Yeah…” said Danny, also apprehensive. “Magic usually does.” Not that he really knew, but that was the way it was in stories. So. “Daniel Vladimir Fenton.”

“Oh, gods, that’s your middle name?”

“Shut up. I know yours is Meredith.”

Sam rolled her eyes with her entire body. “Princess Samantha Annamarie Laurel Caspera Manson of Amity, Duchess of Beau. Your turn.”

“Tucker,” he sighed, “Meredith Foley.”

“Alright,” said Danny, “maybe it means something else when it says all.”

“Like what? We’re the only ones here.”

Sam had started picking at her lip. “We are,” she agreed. “But… The floor, it was a map, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Danny. “I really hope you’re good at geography. I’m not.”

“You’re a Ranger.”

“That has nothing to do with geography.”

Sam turned, surveying the room. “What if it’s not the map, but the trees?”

“The… sculptures?”

“They’re under the stars, too aren’t they?”

The next half an hour or so was spent desperately trying to name… everything. Danny and Tucker just recited every tree name and plant name they could remember - and some animal names just in case - while Sam was a bit more methodical. Danny and Tucker’s frenzy was only occasionally interrupted by Sam saying something like Elmerton, Casper, Axion, Floode or Eerie.

As a result, they had no idea who it was that finally triggered the walls to slide down again. Danny, for one, didn’t really care. He threw himself out as soon as he was able, and the others seemed to have the same opinion.

He knelt on the grass and tilted his head up to catch the sparse sunlight filtering through the branches above him. In doing so, he saw that everyone who had been there before was gone.

“We weren’t gone long enough for everyone to have left, right?” asked Danny.

“No,” said Sam, “not at all.” She climbed to her feet and walked past him, examining the ground. “It’s like they were never here at all…”

Tucker gasped and pointed up. “Look at the tree!”

Fruit hung from its branches, heavy, round, and red.

“What is that?” asked Danny.

“You don’t know?”

“No. I’ve never seen a tree like that.”

The walls of the small building grated as they started rising again. Danny, Sam, and Tucker turned back to it, slowly. Dread bubbled up in Danny’s stomach, creeping along his spine.

“Maybe we should just go back to the city,” said Danny.

Sam shook her head. “There’s no guarantee the city will even be there.”

“There’s no guarantee it won’t be.”

“And there’s no guarantee that stupid thing won’t disappear one of us if we look at it funny,” argued Tucker. “Let’s cut our losses.”

“There must be a reason for this,” insisted Sam, crossing her arms. “They wouldn’t just make all this happen for no reason.”

Danny eyed her suspiciously. “There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you know about this.”

Sam tapped her foot. “Maybe,” she allowed. “Nothing solid, mind you, but one Ranger journal I found suggested that this place was used by the old kings to petition the woods, and that they needed both royalty and Ranger to do it. That’s… one of the reasons I wanted someone like you to come.”

“Petition it for what?”

“I don’t know. It didn’t say. It was one sentence in thousands. It could have been anything. Good harvests, few wolves, killing the Pariah King, whatever. It might not have even been talking about here at all. I just thought… If there was anything left…”

“Clearly,” said Tucker, “there was something left.”

“Right,” said Sam. “But it didn’t say anything about making people disappear.”

“It didn’t say anything about anything, is what it sounds like,” said Tucker.

“Yes, but…” She trailed off. “Don’t you think it’s more likely that we were moved? Considering.” She gestured at the peaceful and undisturbed clearing. “Even the path we came in on is gone.”

Danny hadn’t noticed that, but it was true. The border of the clearing was entirely overgrown, with no sign that people had broken through the shrubs and small trees there.

“I think,” she said, “that to get back, we have to keep going.” She looked between the two of them, then at the building, squaring her shoulders. “I am sorry I brought you into this, but it’s done. Let’s at least work together to get out of it.”

There wasn’t much choice, was there? “Alright,” said Danny. “Let’s go.”

The words on the walls were, predictably, different than they had been before. Danny was getting used to this already, somehow. “This is the wisdom of the land, that when the land drinks, the people shall drink, and when the people drink, so shall the land drink, and that when the land is fed, so shall the people be fed, and when the people are fed, so shall the land be fed. For water to be received, it must be given. Should salt be given, then salt shall be received. The land that is fed on blood shall also bleed. The seed that is planted will grow. That which wakes will be woken. The…” Danny paused.

“And you were doing so well, too.”

“Listen.”

“Sorry, it’s only… at least the last one had a clear instruction. This sounds like some kind of philosophical statement. Not that there’s anything wrong with those.”

“I’m not done yet,” said Danny, plaintively. “I haven’t seen this word before. I think it’s a person? And they’re getting whatever they’re doing done to them? It goes on like that for a while longer.” He ran his finger down the line. And then it says, because the people and the land are one, only about a dozen times.”

“Why would it say it a dozen times?” asked Tucker.

“It uses a different word for land each time.”

Sam frowned at him. He wasn’t looking at her, but he could feel it. “What?”

“Like, mostly it uses the word for land that has trees on it, but–”

“You mean a forest? Or wood?”

“No, there’s a different word for a forest. Actually, there’s specifically a word for land that has a forest on it, as opposed to just trees.” Which Danny only knew because a lot of alchemical potions had dirt as an ingredient. Incredibly specific dirt. “And there’s a different word for soil. Or for unoccupied land. It’s… the old language is weird.” There was a reason it wasn’t spoken anymore.

“And that’s it?”

“No, there’s one more line. Show your intentions: to eat, and to be eaten. No, wait, that doesn’t make sense. That must be feed.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” said Tucker.

“At least it’s an instruction.”

“Maybe we’re supposed to eat the fruit. I might do that anyway, actually,” said Danny. “What? I’m hungry. I didn’t eat anything at midday.”

“But what if you eat it, and then it eats you?”

“At least I won’t be hungry?”

“I think the bigger problem here is what if it’s poisonous,” said Sam.

“Is that really the bigger problem? Really?” He gestured around himself. “I’m going to eat one of those fruits and, uh. Water the tree.”

“You can say you’re going to pee on it,” said Sam. “I have bodily functions, too.”

“Whatever. If that doesn’t work, we can try something else.”

Sam squinted at him. He got the impression it wasn’t an expression she wore often, but it suited her face very well. “You know, I expected a Ranger to know more about all of this.”

Tucker made flailing motions behind her.

“That’s– In the spirit of honesty, no one in my family has done real Ranger-ing since my grandfather disappeared when my mom was a little girl.”

“The woods do disappear people, oh my gods–”

“My parents just like camping and pretending there are still monsters, and Tucker said you needed someone, so…”

Sam’s whole face twitched. “I see. I suppose we can’t say we aren’t similar, then, with respect to false pretenses. But… let’s not do that anymore. For the sake of not dying.” She paused. “Is the red–”

“It’s really anti-magic.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. “At least there’s that. If the fruit starts turning you into, I don’t know…”

“A wolf,” suggested Tucker.

“Why not? A wolf, I’ll make sure to pour it down your throat.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “And if it’s poisonous, I’ll eat a bezoar.”

“What’s that?” asked Sam.

“Thing that helps with poison. It’s gross, you don’t want to know where they come from.”

“I thought we were being honest–”

“It’s a stone formed in a someone’s stomach or gut,” said Danny. “Like a gallstone.”

Sam looked fascinated, if disgusted. “Does… does that actually work?”

“I’m… not actually sure. But it can’t hurt.”

“I don’t know, it kind of sounds like it could be poisonous on it’s own.”

That was what Danny said to his parents, but did they listen? No.

He shrugged at Sam walked away from the building and towards the shore of the pond, where the branches trailed in the water and the fruit was easier to reach. He pulled one off and rolled it in his hand. It felt like a plum, even if the size and color was off.

“Danny, are you sure,” started Tucker.

"Am I sure what?" asked Danny, opening his kit.

"What are you doing?"

Danny looked down at the beaker in his hand, then back up at Tucker. "Testing for common poisons?"

"Oh. I thought you were just going to eat it."

"No, that's weird." He set up his materials and poked a hole in the fruit with his knife to get some juice. He let it drip into the containers, then stood up to throw the punctured fruit into the pond.

"Maybe we shouldn't throw things into the potentially magic pond," suggested Sam in a way that wasn't very suggestion-like.

Danny shrugged at her, wondering vaguely if shrugging at royalty was a punishable offense. Something caught his eye.

“Hey, there’s a bucket here,” said Danny. “Do you think we’re supposed to do something with the bucket?” He walked over and picked it up.

"Maybe it's to actually water the tree," said Tucker.

"That makes sense," said Danny. He tossed the bucket at Tucker. Tucker fumbled it.

“Why me?”

“I’ve got to watch this,” said Danny, pointing at where the fruit was reacting or not reacting to the chemicals in the beakers. “And, well…”

“Dear gods,” said Sam. “You had better not be about to say that I’m somehow unable to fill and carry a bucket because I’m a girl.”

“No. I just thought you wouldn’t want to.” And she could probably make life very hard for them if they annoyed her too much.

Sam scoffed and took the bucket from Tucker. “I’ve got it.”

“Alright,” said Tucker. “She’s got it.”

The tests for poison came back negative, so…

Danny bit into a fruit he’d just picked and blinked. “Oh, these are actually really good.”

“We’ll take your word for it.”

“Look,” said Tucker, “That thing’s not doing anything, so I’m going to see if I can find the main road. I’d prefer it if you came with me, but…”

“Might as well,” said Danny.

“Fine,” said Sam. “But we’re going to take precautions to make sure we can get back here.”

“Like what?” asked Danny.

Sam pulled out a clue of string from… somewhere.

“Do you just carry that around?”

“Of course. String is useful.”

It turned out it didn’t matter. No matter how they left the clearing, they wound up back in it.

"It's been a couple hours," said Danny as they laid on the ground under the tree. "I probably would have died by now if there was actually poison in those fruits."

"Mhm," said Sam, contemplatively.

"Just a question, but, speaking of which, have either of you noticed the sun getting lower?"

"No," said Sam.

"Nope," said Tucker.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." He looked up at the still-blue sky. “You guys are going to have to eat or drink something eventually.”

“Yeah,” said Tucker. “But I’ve been thinking, and… what if it takes us someplace worse?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny.

“Staying isn’t an option.”

“It could be. Maybe the fruit grows back, or there’s fish in the pond.”

“Have you seen any fish?” asked Danny.

“No. Why?”

“Sometimes people use fish as fertilizer.”

“We don’t have anything to catch fish with.”

“We’ve got string and the fruit. Maybe we can find some worms, too?”

“Might as well,” said Sam.

None of them were particularly skilled at fishing. No fish were caught.

Sam chewed on the fruit. “You know,” she said, “if it weren’t for the mortal peril and all, I’d say this was pretty good.”

“It is tasty,” allowed Tucker, who was pausing to glare at the fruit between every bite.

“No, I mean all this.” Sam waved at nothing in particular. “It’s nice. Fun.”

At least someone was having a good day. He’d been trying to ignore the swollen lump on the back of his head and his black eye, but it hadn’t really been working.

Under other circumstances, though… He could see hanging out with Sam and Tucker being fun. The odds of that happening if Sam went on with princess-ing and Tucker became a monk were pretty low, though.

“I don’t think I’ve done anything without being watched by half a dozen people since I was eight.”

“Anything?” repeated Danny.

“Anything.”

Danny didn’t want to ask, but the question was there, in his head.

“Yes, in the bath, too.” She sighed and held up the fruit pit. “I suppose we should bury these? Over there, maybe?”

“Can’t hurt,” said Danny. “Anyone have a shovel? And– Oh!” He opened up his kit. “We can use this!” He held up a vial of white powder.

“What’s that?”

“Niter!”

“... Doesn’t that explode?” asked Tucker.

“Sometimes.”

“Why do we want to explode anything?” asked Sam.

“We don’t. It’s fertilizer.”

“But it’s white.”

“So?”

Tucker sighed heavily. “Maybe we can use the bucket as a shovel?”

Sam patted down the last bucket-scrape of dirt with a gleeful expression. They were all pretty grimy at this point, but it looked like she was enjoying it.

The scraping sound wasn’t exactly music to Danny’s ears, but it was still something. They ran to the building. Three of the walls had dropped. The one nearest to the pond had remained standing.

Danny swallowed. Something felt… Not wrong, exactly, but there was a strong sense of meaning.

“Hey,” he said, before Sam and Tucker could step in, “wait. Maybe only one of us should go in. Just in case.”

“In case what? We’re already in a bad way,” said Sam. “We might as well face this together.”

Danny nodded. “Yeah, but this feels… Different. If everything’s fine, you can come in, too.”

“Different how?”

“I don’t know,” said Danny, “but you wanted a Ranger for a reason.”

“Yes, but we’ve established you aren’t one.”

“I’m enough of one for us to get here, right? If I get stuck in there, you can always plant more pits and open it back up.”

“And who knows if we’ll be in the same place?” asked Sam.

“Just… humor me on this,” said Danny. “And remember, if I do get cursed, we have the magicidium.”

“There has to be an easier name for that,” muttered Tucker.

“Sure. Blood blossoms. They’re called that because they’re red.”

Tucker spread his hands. “Then why–”

“I like saying it. It makes it sound cooler.”

Sam raised her hand, stopping them. “You know you’re the only one who can read the old language, right? You’d be the one going in to look at what’s written there.”

“I know. I’m the one who suggested it.”

Sam groaned, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her wrists. “I should have learned the old language instead of Elmerian.”

Danny shrugged. “There’s always the future?”

Both of… oh, he might as well call them his friends, at this point… glared at him.

“Fine,” said Sam, “but if you do get cursed, I’m going to say I told you so.”

With trepidation, Danny crossed into the building. The floor and ceiling hadn’t changed, but the only upright wall was now packed with writing. He craned his neck back to see what was on top. The words almost seemed to glitter.

“This is a lot,” he said.

“Can we come in now?” asked Sam.

“Not yet,” said Danny. “Let me translate this first. Children of the land, know this, we, your forefathers, and we of the land have built this path to see the… obscured?” A shadow fell across Danny’s view of the carving, making the words seem to flash. He stood on his tip-toes and leaned closer, squinting. “To understand the world… beyond? Within. The world within the woods, and you have come because they have failed and you wish to repair.” He put his hand on the stone as he leaned still closer, nose almost pressed against the stone in an effort to see just a little better. It slid into a comfortable depression and he continued to read. “Let the bright magic– mana– let mana alter–”

Light flared across his vision, then everything went dark. He yelped.

“Danny?!”

“I’m– Hells and heavens–” He rubbed his eyes. “The sun didn’t suddenly disappear after that flash, did it?”

“No.”

“What flash?”

He’d been afraid of that. “I’ve been cursed.” His heart did a funny twist at the admission.

If his parents were here, they’d be thrilled.

Actually, probably not. If they’d been cursed, they’d be thrilled. They’d still be upset about him getting cursed.

“What?”

“I can’t see anything. I must have triggered it somehow–” He shook his head, as if that would throw off his blindness. “The word obscured. I thought it was just the lighting, but maybe it really flashed? Um.” He turned around, carefully. “I think it was just the words that triggered it, but I’m going to walk in your direction…”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Tucker, “you’re going the right way.”

“Just stay straight,” encouraged Sam.

The building was barely three strides across, but at the same time it was the longest walk he’d ever taken. He was relieved when Sam and Tucker grabbed him.

“Alright, so, if you guys can open my kit and get out the magicidium–”

“Blood blossoms. Let’s call it blood blossoms.”

“Whatever you want,” said Danny.

“They’re red, right?” asked Sam.

“Yeah, and sparkly.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Good,” said Danny, holding out his hand. “Can you– The cap?”

Sam pressed the vial into his hand, her fingers lingering around his as she made sure he had a grip on it.

“I should just need, like, a sip,” he told himself. He raised it to his lips, drank, and immediately knew that what he had in his hand wasn’t the blood blossom mixture.

With a calm he didn’t feel, he lowered the vial.

“Can you see, now?” asked Sam.

“No,” said Danny. “I can’t. What color is this?” He held up the vial.

“Red,” said Sam.

“The vial is red,” clarified Danny.

“Yes, that’s what you said, isn’t it?”

“No,” said Danny, closing his eyes. “That’s- The blood blossoms are red. But the vial they’re in is green. This is the mana, isn’t it?”

“Uh,” said Tucker.

“Kinda crackly glaze, glowing green on the inside?”

“Yeah,” said Tucker, weakly. “It looked different in the dark.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, voice cracking. “The dark does that.”

“I thought you said the red vial,” said Sam, very quietly. “Oh, no, I thought you said the red vial.” She sounded like she might be about to cry.

“Hey, it’s hard to tell the difference between red and green,” said Tucker, clearly intending to comfort her.

“Genuinely, it is not.”

Someone, probably Tucker, swallowed audibly. “You can still take the blood blossoms, though, right?”

“No! No. They don’t react well with concentrated mana.”

“By not reacting well, do you mean–”

“Niter isn’t the only thing in my kit that can make explosions.” He swallowed and opened his eyes. He still couldn’t see anything but this still felt more like facing things. “This is fine. I’m just blind, not dying.” Probably. “We’ll just be relying on more guesswork than before. Or I can try to figure out what it’s saying by touch?”

“No,” said Sam, grabbing his wrist, “do you want to get more cursed?”

“Carefull,” he hissed. “We don’t want to spill this here. Where’s the stopper?”

“Here,” said Tucker, taking the vial of mana from him.

“What else do you remember from what you were reading? Before you were cursed?”

“I don’t know. Something about letting magic change you to be… Something. And then something about guarding both sides on the next line down. Or fighting. Maybe something about waking up. I don’t remember.”

“Danny,” said Tucker, “your eyes are glowing.”

“They’re not, like, melting or anything, are they?”

“Just glowing. The same color as the, uh, stuff. The mana.”

“And your hair is turning white,” added Sam.

“Oh, that’s great. Maybe I am dying.”

“Don’t say that,” said Sam. “Maybe- Maybe this is magic changing you, and we just have to let it run its course.”

“I don’t like that.”

“Neither do I, but it’s that or you explode, so forgive me for a little optimism!” She’d never dropped his wrist, and now she trapped his hands between hers. “I don’t want you to die.”

“Neither do I,” said Tucker. “You’re my best friend.”

“We haven’t seen each other for years,” said Danny, trying not to sound choked. “Come on.”

“Hey, some friendships are timeless, right?”

Sam sniffled. “Even short ones.”

Gods, he really might be dying.

“Does that mean I can tell people I’m friends with a princess?”

“Only if you want my mother trying to get you executed.”

“That’s not a n–”

The sound of the wall behind him dropping made Danny jump. But what made him spin was that he could see light coming from behind him.

Footprints made of flowers glowed on the ground. A rectangle in the dimensions of the far wall was cut out of the darkness surrounding him. Beyond it…

“Oh,” said Danny. “Do you guys see that?”

“Do you?” asked Sam, suddenly sharp.

“Maybe.” He took a deep shuddering breath. “Were there steps leading down to the pond before? And was the pond glowing?”

“No,” said Tucker. “But we don’t see that.”

“We see everyone,” said Sam. “The way out. The knights are there, someone must have sent for them.” She laughed. “We can get out. They must not be able to see us, though.”

“I don’t think I can go that way,” said Danny. “I don’t see it.”

He could only see the ancient and watchful trees that surrounded the clearing, the faintly luminous waters of the pond and the steps that led down to them. Images of trees, not quite reflections, swayed on the pond’s glowing surface, seeming to extend into the depths.

“You should go,” he said, faintly. “Now. You don’t know if you’ll get another chance.”

If his heart had been twisting before, it was shuddering now.

“No,” said Sam. “No. I started this. None of this would have happened if I didn’t bring you here. I’m not going to leave you. We’ll go down to the pond with you. Or at least I will.” The last was said with an edge of challenge.

“Me, too,” said Tucker, though he seemed far less certain. “I got you into this mess, Danny.”

“I don’t know that I’m going down to the pond,” said Danny, both touched and annoyed. “And you don’t know if you can, if you can’t see it.”

“It’s where the path leads,” said Sam, stubbornly. “Didn’t you read that that’s why this place was built.”

The footprints. Danny closed his eyes briefly, and nodded. “Walk where I walk,” he said, putting his foot squarely on the first print.

He wasn’t sure if it was just the magic doing weird things to his vision, but as he got closer to the opening, the prints seemed to shift when he wasn’t looking straight at them, taking shapes other than a human sole. He tried not to think about what that might mean.

He stepped out of the building. Sam and Tucker walked out after him.

“Wow,” said Sam, looking around. “That’s… definitely different.” She waved her hand in front of her. “It’s like the air is glowing.”

A breeze stirred the waters of the pond to lap at the lowest step. It felt like they were beckoning him down into that even stranger forest beneath its waters.

He pulled the strap of his travel kit off over his head. “Here,” he said, handing it to Tucker. “Just in case.”

“We’re going to be with you,” said Tucker, trying to push it back to him.

“Yeah, but… Let me go first, alright?”

He stepped down and forward, once, twice, and his foot broke the surface of the water–

A forest is not a single thing. It is a vast and sprawling ecosystem, containing within itself multitudes. Creatures, plants, and even decay. Life, limited and not. Water, from beneath the earth, from the sky, from the rivers and streams, from the lakes and the ponds. Air and soil and stone. Death that becomes life and life that becomes death. The trees stretch upwards.

Yet, it is a single thing.

Truthfully, sometimes it is even a single life. A thousand trees with a single root.

And, here, there was magic.

The woods woke, stirred from slumber by the ripples of a stone thrown into still water.

A stone is changed by water. A stone is changed, also, by the root of a tree piercing through it, dividing it, scattering it. A stone may be shaped. A stone may be changed. But this stone was clay. This stone was flesh. This stone was a seed that might yet grow. This seed was a star that might yet shine.

They were awake.

They were awake, and, so, they would wake.

But the people were the land and the land was the woods, and the heart of the land had long ago promised a champion to the people, a guardian at both sides of the gate. A contract that was wisdom.

The seed was well rooted, but the star was of the air, and there was accord between heaven and earth. This satisfied. But the price of knowledge was always the destruction of ignorance.

This was the past: The sword, the spear, the fire, for evil is the reward of evil, and sown salt shall reap no harvest but salt. Monsters met with monstrous ends, even the monsters who called themselves men.

“I don’t want to be a killer,” whispered Danny, “I don’t want to kill people.”

Then he would not be, and the gifts of killers would not be his.

This, too, was the past: The wall. The tower. The rope. The net. The maze. The binding word. The sacrifice. The promise.

It shall be kept.

“It shall be kept.”

And this was the past: The house that was built under ax and saw, a home for a gardener. The books that became forests of their own. Long memories and longer stories, passed on forever. The campfire and the meal shared. The trees tended, and new growth rising from ashes.

“I can do that,” said Danny. “I can be that.”

The heart of the land sent forth a gift, with passion, wisdom, and wit, and it was received. That which gives is also given, and that which is gifted may also receive. There were gifts. There were expectations. A gift must be given in turn.

And the fruit of the trees shall sustain. And the branches of the trees shall shelter. And that which is protected shall protect.

And this was the future.

Danny crawled out of the pond, gasping. Hands - familiar, now - pulled him up and out.

“Oh, gods, Danny–”

“What?” he managed, spitting up water.

“There’s stuff growing on you–”

“Your ears–”

“Princess Samantha!”

Something heavy and hard jostled into their little group, knocking Danny back to the ground. He could feel it. The ground. All those little lives and deaths. The things growing, hungry, wanting, needing– All the things he could give them–

“Stop this at once!” demanded Sam, bringing him out of… whatever that was. He looked up and around, and was impressed by how many sharp, shiny, pointy things were pointed in his direction.

He tried to scramble to his feet, but was thwarted by his body deciding it just wasn’t going to do that. His whole body felt like it had been taken apart and put back together with new parts.

… Which might actually be what happened. The… presence in the woods within the pond had been… It had been an experience. One he wasn’t keen on repeating in the near future but nevertheless ached for.

His head didn’t hurt anymore, at least.

“Back foul beast!” shouted one of the knights with a spear, his voice reverberating within his helmet. “You will not lay your hand on the princess–”

“I was the one touching him! He’s not a beast– Let me go! Tucker, say something!”

“Please don’t kill us! Danny’s just cursed!”

“What manner of curses have you wrought upon the princess! Release her from your geas, monster!”

If Danny wasn’t so scared right now, he’d be laughing. Who talked like that?

But he was scared. He needed to get away. He needed speed, swiftness, and the agility, or at least the size, to avoid all these spears and swords.

Which was a ridiculous thought to cross his mind, because it wasn’t like he was going to pull any of those things from thin air.

Except he did. Change rippled over his body, throwing off white sparks like from fireworks. Fingernails to claws, hands to paws, ears sharp, tail - He ran, four-footed, between the feet of the nearest knight, body stretching and contracting in his flat-out sprint as if he knew what he was doing.

He had no idea what he was doing.

A spear impacted the ground in front of him, and he startled sideways into a horse’s path. Everything was so much larger than him, now. He lashed out, claws raking across the horse’s nose, and the horse reared back, dumping its rider.

It occurred to Danny, then, in a sort of vague, panicked sense, that whatever he’d turned into, he could cause a lot of chaos.

The next horse he saw, he went for the eyes.

He neglected to realize that, as small as he was, chaos might affect him more than it usually did.

Still, he made it to the brushy edge of the clearing in what he hoped was one piece. He crawled underneath it, hopping through thin spots whenever he was able. A tree rose up out of the shrubby mess like a godsent miracle, and he climbed up it, sinking his sharp claws into the bark, until he got to a branch that could support his weight. His real weight, not whatever he weighed now.

He huddled down, trying to remember what the change felt like, trying to will it to reverse, to make him himself again–

Slowly, his body returned to normal, fur fading back into skin, claws becoming nails once again. His clothing, sans shoes, rematerialized from somewhere. But… This wasn’t what his body had been like when he’d crawled out of the pond. It had been different, then. He could feel it. He knew it.

The tree he was perched in was not the presence below the pond, but that was a matter of degree, not kind. The roots of the woods were tangled and reached as far down as the branches reached up. To stone. To star.

It was quiet. Steady. Already established. It didn’t need things from him, not like the ground. Not right now, anyway.

But still, it whispered to him, and he knew. This was no more him than the forest cat's body he'd worn moments ago.

He curled in on himself and cried.

Tucker found him first, over a week later.

Although, it might have been better to say that Danny let himself be found. Shapeshifting into a cat or squirrel helped with hiding, funnily enough.

Shapeshifting was fun, even if it wasn't worth… everything else. At least, so long as he was in the trees. With his feet on the ground, listening to everything beneath them, without the lightning focus of fear, he couldn't direct it. What he was fell apart into… this.

Not the same as he'd been as Sam and Tucker dragged him from the pond, but more like it. A shape closer to what he was wanted to be rather than what he wanted to be.

But he'd seen Tucker coming, and he didn't want to talk to him while hiding in the trees. That would be wrong, he felt.

So, he walked into the middle of the road in front of Tucker, moss and grass curling up around toes that weren’t shaped right. His fingers were long and sharp and so were his teeth. He had no idea what his face looked like right now. He hadn’t been brave enough to check… assuming, of course, that he could even tell by touch. He could have stripes right now and not know it.

He hoped he was, at least, recognizable.

“Danny, gods. We thought you were dead.”

Oh, good. At least that fear was unfounded.

“Hi, Tucker,” said Danny. After not talking much for a week, his voice was scratchy.

… Or maybe that was the crying. Who knew?

“Oh my gods.” Tucker drew his hands down his face. “I can understand why you didn’t come back to the city with…” He gestured at Danny’s entire body.

“That’s not why,” said Danny, before he could continue. “I can’t leave the woods.”

“You what? What do you mean, you can’t leave?”

“I just can’t.” He’d tried to leave, at the beginning, but it didn’t work. He could walk to the border of the woods, where they opened up into the fields immediately around the city. He was quite comfortable there, even, standing under those branches, looking out. But he couldn’t go any further.

“Because of the curse?”

“I guess,” said Danny. “There’s not really anything else, is there? There’s not something that just makes people stop for no good reason.”

“Can you– I brought the blood blossom stuff, can you take it? Maybe–”

“No,” said Danny, firmly.

“But–” said Tucker, pulling the green vial out of his pocket.

Danny wanted to cringe away from it. “Just. No. Tucker… I’m not sure how much…” He wasn’t sure how much of him was left that wasn’t magic. “Sometimes, when curses really take hold, it doesn’t–” He sucked his lips in and regretted it as his long teeth scrapped at them. “What do you think happens when that stuff is put on something that is magic?” Danny tilted his head to the side and tried to smile again. “It’s been over a week.”

He watched Tucker’s face shift as he realized what that might mean, and his smile fell as well.

"I've seen my parents come through a few times," he said, just to say something different.

"Did you talk to them?"

"No." He grimaced. "Apparently, I'm a creature now.” He ignored that he’d said as much to Tucker just moments ago. “It didn't seem… smart."

"That must be…" Tucker paused to search for an appropriate adjective. "Hard."

"Yeah." He'd been wondering if Jazz had come home. If she was looking for him, too, or if she was still in Elmerton. If she knew. But he didn’t want to ask.

"Sam will want to see you." Tucker bit his lower lip. "She kind of… asked if I would look. I was going to anyway! But… I can tell her I couldn't find you, if you don't."

“No, I think I’d like that, actually. She was right. It was fun, before.” He sniffled. “Maybe we can even try to find what she was actually looking for.”

“Why would you do that?” asked Tucker, aghast. “Messing around with all of this cursed you to have weird ears and be stuck in the woods for who knows how long. Let’s just forget– Well, I mean, avoid anything else like this as much as we can.”

The woods leaned in around them. “I don’t think it works like that,” said Danny. “Things are waking up. And I think… I think the only reason Sam was able to find the- the path was because the woods were already waking up. And some of the things… I don’t think they’re good, Tuck.”

“That’s not ominous at all,” squeaked Tucker. “You know your eyes are glowing again, right?”

“Are they?” He blinked and shook his head. “Have you been looking for me the whole time?”

Tucker laughed nervously. “No. There’s, uh. Turns out that if you disappear with the princess there are questions. Lots and lots of questions. So many questions.” He shuddered. “And my master is angry at me. And the guild is angry with me. But I’m fine! What- What have you been up to? What else have you been up to? I, uh. Ha. Ha?"

A wry smile twitched the corner of Danny's lips. "The tops of the trees, I guess."

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2023

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ourtearsofrain · 7 months

Text

Ride a Cowboy- Save a Horse pt. 2 (D.R.W/S.F.K)

Summary: Danny and Sam tell Jake and Josh they’re dating. Their reactions? That they need to see the line dancing bar where they finally confessed to each other. Lucky for them, there’s a partners night coming up where the newbies dance with local drag queens. What neither expected was to leave the bar with a man on each of their arms.

Pairings: Danny Wagner x Sam Kiszka, Josh Kiszka x male OC, Jake Kiszka x male OC

Genre: fluff (aftercare and everyone being cute and in love), angst and a little bit of hurt/comfort, smut (minors DNI)

Word Count: 15.5 k

Warnings: they’re all gay and have stupid little gay crushes on oc’s but are all too shy to act on their crushes for a fat minute, Dallas is back, smut, anal sex (fingering and penetration), Sam’s not a bottom this time????

A/N: I would like to thank my friends that read pt. 1 and kept (lovingly) pushing me to write a pt. 2, couldn’t have done it without your input. Also, if you’re new here, this is the second part to a series, so I recommend reading Save a Horse first if you haven’t already as topics, people, and events from that fic are mentioned here and slightly crucial to parts of the plot. Thank you for reading!

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“What if they have a problem with it? With us? What if telling them ruins our relationships with them?” Sam says anxiously, pacing across his kitchen as Danny watches him, perched at the edge of his bar stool.

“Love, Josh is queer, it would be extremely hypocritical if he had an issue with it. And you know how Jake reacted when Josh came out, he’ll be fine too.” Danny calmly explains, “They’re your brothers, I’m certain you’ll get nothing but support from them.”

Sam ceases his movements, fully turning towards Danny before he counters, “Yeah I know, that’s not the problem. The problem is that I know they see you as a brother, they have for as long as you’ve known them. I just don’t want them to, I don’t know, feel weird about us being together because of that. I don’t want it to affect how we are, as a group.” He lets out a defeated sigh and runs a hand roughly through his hair, already laying haphazardly and tangled from the anxieties plaguing his mind.

“You three are my best friends, and if I ruin that, I-“ he pauses, tears brimming in his eyes, “-I don’t know how I would be able to live with myself.”

Danny gets off his chair, moving around the counter and quickly closing the space between them. He cups Sams face in his hands tenderly, looking down at the other boy.

“Sammy baby, please. It’s gonna be ok. I promise. And even if it does change anything between all of us, which it won’t, it wouldn’t be your fault love.” He wipes a stray tear away with his thumb and presses a light kiss to Sam’s forehead. “Everything is going to be alright, ok?”

“Yeah… ok. Everything’s gonna be alright.” Danny smiles and Sam manages to offer a weak one back, thoughts still running wild in his mind.

“That’s my boy. We got this.” He brings his hands down to Sams biceps, offering a gentle squeeze. “You got this.”

Sam smiles fully at this, appreciative of his boyfriends’ calm words of reassurance. He pulls him into a tight hug, grateful for the claw clip keeping his mane of hair up and out of the way, allowing him to nestle his face against the soft, warm skin of his neck.

“Have I ever told you how much I love you?” He mumbles.

Danny laughs lightly, knowing Sam had told him he loved him every day since after the night they got together. He runs his hands up and down Sams back in soothing motions. “Yeah, couple times.”

Sam pulls away to look up at the other boy, still close enough to stay in his warm embrace. “Well I think I’ll say it a few more times anyway. I love you, Danny. Thanks for keeping me sane.”

“Of course, Sammy.” He briefly kisses the other boy, before pulling away to check the notifications he just realized were blowing up his phone where it sat forgotten on the counter.

“Hey when did you say they were getting here again? Oh- never mind.” He begins to clear the texts from both Jake and Josh as he continues, “They texted me. So, so many times. Most of them are ‘Hey’ or ‘You dumbasses really need to check your phones’. Looks like they tried calling you,” he raises his eyebrows as he scrolls through the seemingly endless string of messages, “A lot apparently. They’re on their way. At least they were about five minutes ago, so they should be here soon.”

“Shit, my phone is in my room, I completely forgot about it. I told them to be here at 4:30 and, knowing they’re always late, I said to get here at 4:30 or I’d leave them locked outside.”

Danny checks the time, “Well, it’s now five soooo…”

“Guess they’re staying outside then.”

“As funny as that would be, we do really need to talk to them, love.”

Sam fakes an annoyed sigh, rolling his eyes as he shuffles over to Danny, stopping beside him and leaning his forehead against his shoulder. “God it’s so annoying when you’re right.”

As if summoned, the sound of two fists banging violently against the front door startles them.

Josh’s voice can be heard clearly through the door, loud enough to piss off the neighbors. “HEY FUCKERS YOU BETTER LET US IN.”

Jake’s shout comes next, “I KNOW WE’RE LATE BUT I SWEAR TO GOD SAM IF YOU DON’T OPEN THIS DOOR, I’M GONNA TELL MOM ABOUT THE TIME YOU GOT ARRESTED WHEN YOU WERE 18 FOR GETTING PULLED OVER AND HAVING A HALF EMPTY BOTTLE OF FUCKING FIREBALL ON YOUR PASSENGER SEAT!”

“Jesus fucking christ, ok ok. I’M COMING, NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Sam yells as he makes his way to the door, unlocking it when he gets there.

The twins saunter in as Sam holds the door open for them, both already starting to speak at the same time.

“That’s what Daniel’s mother said to me last night, what a lovely woman she is-” Jake starts in a gravelly British accent.

“Why thank you Samuel, wow even holding the door open for us like a true gentleman.” Josh jokes, fluttering his eyelashes at Sam and placing a hand over his heart.

“Both of you, shut the fuck up. You guys are lucky I even let you in, Danny convinced me to.”

“Awwww thanks Danny, I knew you loved us more than Sam does.” Josh says to Danny, still standing by the counter in Sams kitchen.

The twins make their way past him and into Sams living room, unceremoniously throwing themselves down onto the couches and making themselves comfortable as Sam and Danny stand together in mildly tense silence. While the twins are distracted, Danny grabs Sams hand and gives it a light squeeze, giving him a small smile of encouragement before the pair make their way towards the others.

“Hey when is food getting here? What did you order? And what movie are we watching?” Jake says the second he spots Sam and Danny.

Sam wipes his palms on his pants, taking a seat on the unoccupied couch next to the one the twins were taking up all the space on. Danny sits next to him, close enough for suspicion to begin to arise in the twins.

“Uh, we actually wanted to talk. Before getting food or deciding on a movie. I mean we’re still doing that but that was kind of an excuse to get you here.” Sam rambles, causing Jake and Josh to sit up straight in their seats and give him their full attention.

“Talk about what? Is everything ok, Sam?” Josh asks, concern painted across his face at his younger brother’s demeanor.

Sam takes in a shaky breath, looking at Danny before he continues in a rush, “Well, ok, so, uh, there’s really only one way to say this but, Danny and I are dating. We’ve, I’ve waited so long to tell you guys because I was worried it would negatively affect the group dynamic, I didn’t want it to get weird between all of us because of it and I know you guys see him as a brother so I didn’t know if that would be weird for you guys that we were dating. But anyways, yeah that’s kind of all I wanted to say so, uh… now you know.”

A moment of silence passes over the group before Josh breaks it. “Fucking finally, I’ve been waiting for you guys to get together since you guys were Juniors in High School. Jake, you owe me $20, cough it up I know you have the money on you.”

Sam snaps to full attention, looking between the pair as Jake begins to pull his wallet out defeatedly. “You fucking bet on us??” Sam half-yells.

Jake hands Josh a $20 bill, which he snatches from his hand with a grin. “Thank you.” He gestures to Sam and Danny. “And thanks to you too, I was rooting for you. And yeah, we made a bet years ago. Jake thought you guys would never confess. Actually, he thought there was nothing between you two.”

“Shut up, Josh.” Jake retorts, rolling his eyes.

“Anyways, bet aside, we’re happy for you guys. Thank you for telling us. And don’t worry, I promise nothing will change between all of us. Like I said, I’ve been waiting for this for years. We love you guys.”

“We’re proud of you for telling us, Sam. I’m sorry if any worries about how we might react prevented you from telling us sooner.” Jake pauses, “Not to ruin this beautiful tender moment, but I have to ask, how long have you guys been together?”

Danny looks at Sam, giving him a questioning look before answering. “Uh about three months I think? That sounds about right?”

The twins’ eyebrows shoot up. “Three fucking months?? How the hell did you guys act so normal around us? I don’t know about Jake, but I had no new suspicions.”

“Yeah I didn’t think anything was different. You guys did a great job at hiding it. I mean, not that you guys should have felt the need, but.” Jake says.

“Remember that night I went out with Danny and refused to tell you guys where I was going?” Sam asks.

Both boys nod in unison, waiting for him to continue.

“Well, don’t laugh, but I went to a line dancing bar with Danny. And it turned out to be a gay bar. Whole lot of shit happened with this one douchbag, which we don’t need to get in to, and that all led to Danny and I finally confessing.” Sam finishes.

Theres a pause before both boys break out into laughter, Josh hiding it better than Jake. He clears his throat, attempting to speak through his broken chuckles, “Ok, you guys have to take us there some time. I need to see this place.”

“I mean, we can arrange that.” Danny starts. “My friend who told me about the place, I think you guys have met him before? His name is Austin. Anyways, he told me there’s a partner dance night coming up where the local Drag Queens offer to partner with the newer people to teach them how to line dance. The three of us were already planning on going, you guys are invited if you want to go with us.”

Josh snaps to attention, a blush spreading across his cheeks. “Wait, Austin? He’s going?”

“Uh yeah, why?” Danny asks, brows furrowed.

“Oh, just because Josh has a massive fucking crush on him.” Jake teases.

“I DON’T, JAKE.”

“Oh yeah, right. Not like you’ve been debating on asking Danny for his number since the day you met him.”

“Jake I swear to god-“

Sam cuts him off, “Awwww that’s so cute. Josh, I bet you could ask him to show you the moves, instead of partnering up with a Drag Queen.”

Josh’s face turns an even darker shade of pink. “Shut up, all of you.”

Danny comes to his aid, “C’mon guys leave him alone. So, are you guys coming or not?”

“I’m down if Josh is. I plan on getting drunk though, so one of you is going to be the designated driver.”

All eyes turn to Josh, hands on his cheeks to hide his vivid blush. “Yeah, ok whatever, I’m down. As long as no one gives me shit about Austin.”

“Great! I’ll let him know we have two more people coming!” Danny says with a smile.

Josh gets up, talking as he makes his way across the living room. “Well since you guys haven’t ordered food, I’m going to go raid Sam’s pantry.” He stops behind the couch Sam and Danny are seated on and bends down to give Danny a hug from behind. “Hey, I’m proud of you guys. Again, I love you two.” He straightens and reaches over to ruffle Sam’s hair. “Maybe Danny a little more than you, Sam, but.”

“Hey! Knock it off! And why is Danny the favorite now?” Sam snaps.

Josh calls over his shoulder, already walking away in the direction of the kitchen, “Because he’s the only one that didn’t give me shit about Austin.”

Jake chuckles, “It’s just too easy to fluster him about that, he’s so in loooooove.” he finishes in a sing-songy voice.

“I FUCKING HEARD THAT, JAKE!”

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Five days later, Danny and Sam find themselves pulling into the driveway of the twins’ house, ready to return to Bradley’s Honky Tonk once more. Danny fiddles with the top buttons of his dark brown suede shirt, undoing a couple before his hands begin to fidget with the bottom of the shirt tucked into his black jeans. Deciding it would look better untucked, he pulls the fabric out and moves on to fuss over how each necklace and bracelet was laying on him.

“I still can’t believe you decided to wear my cowboy boots.” Danny sighs, checking the time on his phone as he speaks. As usual, they were late and knowing the twins, Danny guessed they would be sitting in the driveway for at least 15 minutes as they finished getting ready at the very last minute.

“Hey, can’t have me tripping all over the place like last time. I’m practically a pro now, gotta dress and act like it.”

Danny shoots a glance towards Sam casually draped across the passenger seat of Danny’s car. His gaze goes from his cowboy boots, up his long legs clad in tight blue jeans, to his teal flannel tucked into the waistband of his pants with all but the bottom two buttons undone in true Sammy fashion, and finally lands on the tigers eye pendant resting at the base of his throat.

Danny cocks an eyebrow at the other man, “Oh, so you’re a pro now?”

“Yessir I am.” Sam smiles and begins reaching back to retrieve something from behind Danny’s seat. “And the boots aren’t the only thing I stole from your closet.”

Sam straightens, and in his hand is Danny’s black cowboy hat. Danny watches as he places it on his head, his long, wavy hair down, cascading down his shoulders from under Danny’s hat.

“Don’t think I forgot about that little comment you made about you doing the riding the next time we went back to Bradley’s.” Sam grins widely at Danny, shooting him a wink before both back doors of the car suddenly swing open.

The twins fling the doors open and practically throw themselves into the back seat, their trip from the front door to the car having gone unnoticed by both Sam and Danny, too distracted by their conversation to notice the other boys. Jake puts his seat belt on and settles into the seat behind Danny, with Josh doing the same behind Sam.

“Yes, I know we’re late. If you want someone to blame, blame Josh. He changed like five times I swear to god.”

Josh lets out a frustrated huff, rolling his eyes at his twin. “Shut up Jake I did not.”

“No? Oh ok, let’s see then,” he begins counting the different outfits Josh went through on his fingers as he explains, “There was the short sleeve brown striped jumpsuit, then the black muscle tee and your khaki pants, then there was the long sleeve white shirt with those pants, after that there was the long sleeve button up with leaves on it and your khaki shorts, only for you to finally decide on a short sleeve white shirt, your khaki shorts, and a brown bandana around your neck. So yeah, five different outfits.”

Jake continues despite Josh’s obvious annoyance with his brother’s rant. “Wanna know how many times I changed? None. I put this on, and I didn’t change it.”

Sam exaggerates looking Jake up and down, from the brown suede Chelsea boots he almost never took off, up to his hard-loved ripped jeans, and finally landing on the light blue button up he wore, all buttons undone except for the bottom two, just like Sam. “Maybe you should have.” Sam teases.

“Shut the fuck up dipshit. I’m not taking any outfit advice from someone wearing a cowboy hat.”

“Alright children, settle down.” Danny says as he backs out of the driveway. “Austin said his brother has his car, so we’re gonna pick him up before we head to the bar.”

Josh’s face pinkens at the mention of his name and immediately pretends not to care, turning his face towards the window to prevent the others from seeing the violent blush spreading across his cheeks.

As if practiced, Jake and Sam set in on teasing Josh, speaking at the same time, “OOOOOO Austinnnnn.”

“C’mon leave him alone guys.” Danny starts, stealing a glance back at Josh through the rear-view mirror. “I will warn you though, Josh, Sam refuses to give up his spot as passenger princess so he’ll have to sit in the back with you guys.”

Josh looks down at his lap, still attempting to pretend he was indifferent about Austin’s presence. “That’s fine, why would I care.”

Sensing his genuine shift in attitude, Sam and Jake quickly reassure their older brother.

“Hey, we’re just joking around. Promise we won’t say anything in front of Austin.” Sam starts.

Jake continues with the same sentiment, “Yeah, promise. We’re sorry if we went too far.”

Josh looks up and glances between his brothers, offering them a small smile. “It’s alright, you didn’t. Sorry if I’m sensitive about this, God it’s so stupid.” He laughs dryly, bringing his hands up to his face before continuing, “I haven’t had a dumb crush like this since like high school, I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Josh.” He drops his hands and makes eye contact with Danny through the rear-view mirror before Danny continues, “Do you know how many times I got so embarrassingly easily flustered or nervous around Sammy before we got together? It’s normal, don’t worry.”

Josh smiles at his brother, “Thanks Danny.”

Danny returns the smile before shifting his focus to the numbers on each apartment building they passed. “Anytime, Josh. Uh speaking of, I’m pretty sure this is where he lives so one of you is gonna need to scoot to the middle.” He puts his car into park and reaches for his phone, sending a quick text to Austin letting him know they were there.

“I’m not moving my ass out of this seat.” Jake says pointedly.

Josh groans, letting his annoyance be known to his brothers as he unbuckles and shifts to the middle seat. “You are fucking insufferable.”

“You know it.” Jake responds cooly, casually putting his sunglasses on and leaning into the corner before manspreading, causing Josh’s body to be pushed into the space Austin would soon occupy.

“Seriously?? You’re fucking doing this on purpose. Move over.” He argues, beginning to shove at Jake and reclaim some of his lost space.

“No actually, my knee isn’t feeling too good right now, must have smacked it on something. Anyways, it’s uncomfortable bent so,” he spreads his knees wider, straightening his right leg out and further encroaching on Josh’s space. “I need to straighten it out.”

Josh knows that he’s lying but still gives up trying to fight Jake, looking at his twin defeatedly. “I wish I had eaten you in the womb.”

Sam snorts from the passenger seat as Jake responds sweetly, “Mmmmm you know you love me.”.

The car goes silent as a man approaches the car; he notices Danny and smiles at him warmly, dimples creasing his cheeks as he makes his way towards the passenger side of the car.

He opens the rear door and pauses, slightly confused at the palpable silence that had come between the boys. Danny is the first to break this silence, attempting to make casual conversation to ease the tension. “Hey Austin! How ya doin?”

Austin gets in the car and tries to put his seatbelt on, the latch blocked by Josh as Jake silently shoves his brother closer and closer to Austin. Having given up on trying to push Jake back, Josh grabs the back of each front seat, and pulls himself up long enough for Austin to buckle his seatbelt.

“Sorry, my brother is being a dick and taking up a shit ton of space next to me.” Josh says timidly, too nervous to look him in the eye.

“I told you, bad knee right now Joshy.” He responds, prodding Josh in his ribs for good measure.

“Don’t worry about it, darlin’. And I’m good Danny, thanks for askin’.” The surprise as the casual pet name causes Josh to meet his eyes, hazel and bright. He smiles wide and Josh returns it, despite the action sending a swarm of butterflies straight to Josh’s stomach. Austins cool leather jacket presses against Josh’s bare arm, and the rough denim of Austins black jeans rub against Josh’s thigh with each slight movement of either boy. With Jake subtly shoving Josh towards Austin, the points of contact between them causes a warm blush to settle on Josh’s cheeks.

Danny interrupts their moment, “Anyways, guys this is Austin. Austin, you obviously know Sam.” Danny gestures to his boyfriend in the passenger seat, who raises his hand in a brief wave and answers with a quiet “Hey” in recognition. “Behind me is Jake and next to him is Josh, I think you’ve met him a few times?”

Austin turns slightly in his seat to look at Josh as Danny shifts the car into drive and makes his way towards Bradley’s. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure we have! I remember that I really liked the hoop you have in your conch ear piercin’! I meant to tell you but didn’t get the chance the last time we were around each other.”

Josh’s face lights up at Austin’s compliment, and at the fact he even remembered him in the first place. “Thanks! I really like your septum piercing!”

“Thank you, darlin’.” The two gaze at each other, smiling for a couple seconds before a look passes onto Austins face as if he remembered something unpleasant. His attention turns towards Danny once again. “Oh uh, Dan, I just remembered. My asshole brother has my truck because he totaled his about three months ago, we got in a fight today because he’s a dick, and I finally snapped and told him he wasn’t allowed to use it anymore. Which worked out perfectly because the repair shop is right down the street from Bradley’s, and he said the work on his truck just got finished. He’s droppin’ it by the bar tonight, so I won’t need a ride home.”

Keeping his eyes on the road, Danny responds, “Sounds good, thanks for the heads up. Sorry you had a fight with your brother, I know you don’t mention him much but from what I’ve heard, he sounds like he sucks.”

Austin lets out a heavy sigh. “Yeah, uh, I don’t like talkin’ ‘bout him much, he’s a dick. He’s been stayin’ with me while his trucks in the shop and it has been livin’ hell being around him this much; I’m glad he’s goin’ back to the family farm now that he’s gettin’ his truck back.”

Jake lets his curiosity get the best of him, “So you and your brother, you aren’t close? You guys don’t get along?”

“Not anymore. We were fine as kids on the farm, we’re Irish twins, he was born in January and I was born November that same year, so we were real close growin’ up but,” he shrugs defeatedly, “As we got older he became more and more of an asshole. Anyways, he’s ruined enough of my nights these last couple months so since he ain’t gonna be my problem anymore I ain’t gonna think about him too much tonight.”

“I’m sorry your brother’s an asshole, Austin.” Josh says sympathetically.

Austin forces a smile onto his face, and looks at Josh. “It’s alright, darlin’. Not your fault. Besides, we’re goin’ out to have a good time tonight, we don’t needa think about him. Speakin’ of, it looks like we’re here.”

Sure enough, the boys look outside to see the passing neon lights of Bradley’s Honky Tonk. Just as it had been the first night Sam and Danny had gone, the parking along the road was completely full and people were milling around the entrance smoking or talking. Danny drives down to the same small mom and pop shop, already closed for the night again, and parks in an empty spot.

“Are y’all ready to party?!” Austin whoops, already unbuckling his seatbelt and opening the door.

The others follow suit, all of them piling out of the car before Danny locks it.

“Hell yeah!” Sam shouts, “I can’t wait to see my brothers eat shit trying to dance.”

Danny takes Sams hand as the group begins to walk towards the bright lights of the bar. “Love, you almost ate shit the first time we danced.”

“Shhhh they don’t need to know that, Daniel.” Sam jokingly whispers back.

“Correction, Sam. It’ll be fun to watch Josh eat shit trying to dance. There’s nothing you could do to get me on that dance floor.” Jake responds.

“Why the fuck did you even come then?”

Jake dons a gravelly British accent, “Because, Joshua, I fully intend on drinking so much that the horrid sound of country music no longer irritates me.” He pauses and loops his arm over Josh’s shoulders, continuing in the same accent, “And I truly wish to see you eat shit trying to dance.”

Josh shrugs his arm off and puts a few feet of distance between him and Jake as they walked. “Fuck off, Jake.”

Austin strolls up alongside Josh, putting his arm around his shoulder just as Jake had done. “Aw, it’s alright, darlin’. You can dance with me if you’d like to. I ain’t got a partner tonight and sure as hell know my way around on the dance floor so wouldn’t wanna steal a queen from any newbies in need.”

Josh blushes bright red and leans into Austin’s side without thinking. “Yeah, uh, that’d be great.”

The group make their way past small congregations of people, mostly drag queens taking a break from the crowded bar to have a cigarette or two before they hit the dance floor. As they pass a group of three standing near the door, one of the queens notices Jake walking alone behind the other two pairs, the only one in the group without a “partner”, and reaches out to lightly touch Jake’s shoulder.

She speaks in a voice as smooth and sweet as honey, “Hey mon beau, find me later if you ain’t got a dancing partner.” She winks as they continue past her group, and Jake lets himself stare as he takes in every aspect of each of them.

To her right stood a drag queen with a cigarette hanging off her bottom lip. Her long black hair laid in messy waves down her back, cascading over the silky green fabric of her dress. Jake lets his eyes travel downwards as he notices the slits on both sides of her dress, exposing her legs all the way up to the thigh. He brings his eyes upwards, finally noticing a name tag pinned to her chest reading “Faebelle” and the bright red of her colored contacts contrasting perfectly with her tan skin.

To the left of the queen who had spoken to him stood a shorter drag queen with tight, bright pink coils of curls framing her face. She wore a multicolored pastel tulle A-Line dress that showed off her legs clad in fishnet tights with small hearts here and there and pastel pink platform heels. As Jake had done with Faebelle, the last things he noticed was her name tag reading “Shimmer”, and the stark white of her contacts.

Finally, Jake allows his gaze to settle on the queen in the middle, the one that had initially spoken to him. He takes in her neat, black locks held back by a thin scrap of maroon fabric as if it were a headband, before his eyes travel to her white button up shirt, the top couple of buttons undone with a tight black corset overtop. Her legs are covered with tight leather pants, tucked into brown suede knee-high heels. On top of it all, she wore a green coat, the bottom of it coming to an end just above her ankles. He tears his gaze upwards, catching a glimpse of her name tag momentarily. “Sirena”. When his eyes finally find her face, he is met with her staring right back at him, a fake scar painted vertically on to her face above and below her left eye, the color of it standing out against her warm brown skin.

“Hey! Jake! You coming or what?” Sam calls at him from the entrance to the bar. Jake suddenly realizes that he had stopped to gawk at the three drag queens, leaving him behind with them as the others made their way into the building.

Jake rapidly looks from the queens still staring at him, to his brother calling out to him 20 feet away. “Yeah, uh, coming.” He takes one final look at Sirena before turning and walking towards Sam, cheeks warm and tinged pink from the interaction.

He gets past the bouncer quickly and joins Sam as he pulls him further into the bar. “Hey, I think Josh grabbed a table for us over there.” He shouts over the blaring music.

They weave their way through the groups of people occupying the bar space, finally spotting Josh across the room at the only “empty” table and Jake comes to a stop next to him, Sam weaving around the table and taking a seat on the other side.

Josh only needs to take one look at his twin to know that something had happened. “Hey, Jakey. You good? You look a little flushed. Do you need water or anything?”

He sits down next to Josh, thoughts racing in his mind as he tries to sort through his feelings. “Uh yeah, I’m fine. You know that group of three drag queens we passed right by the door?”

Sam inserts himself into the conversation. “Do you mean the ones you were ogling?”

“Shut up, Sam. I wasn’t “ogling” them. I think one of them was flirting with me? They were-“ he sucks a sharp breath in through his teeth. “Very very attractive. And, I’m realizing that I don’t really care that they’re a drag queen. I mean, I don’t know what they look like out of drag or what pronouns they use but, I don’t think I would care.” He looks between his brothers, expecting to see even the slightest look of surprise on their face. Instead, Jake is met with deadpanned looks, their eyebrows only slightly raised.

“Well,” Josh starts, “I mean I would say I’m surprised but, surprisingly, I’m not. Listen, I understand the feeling and I know this really isn’t the best place to have this realization. All I can say is, thank you for sharing this with us and try not to let it weigh on you too much tonight. Just follow your initial feelings and see where it leads you, Jake.”

“I agree. And hey, maybe following those feelings will lead you to their place tonight.” Sam teases lightly, winking at him.

“Again, shut up Sam. And yeah… yeah ok. Thank you, Josh.” He says quietly, already losing himself in his thoughts.

“Anytime, Jakey. And hey, now you can’t give me any more shit about Austin, cause if you do I have this to fire back at you.” He jokes lightly.

This jest pulls Jake back into the moment, chuckling at his brother’s retort. “Yeah, yeah, ok. I’ll try and lay off the jokes.”

Just as their conversation ends, the other two boys find their way to the table, drinks in hand.

“Alright Jake, I got you a tequila on the rocks.” Danny tells him as he hands him a glass.

As they set the rest of the drinks on the table, Danny continues listing off their various orders. “Rum and coke for me, Dirty Shirley for Sam, with four maraschino cherries of course.”

Sam smiles at his boyfriend, “Thank you, Daniel.”

Danny returns the smile. “Of course, love. Anyways, a salty dog for Josh, and last but not least, a Screwdriver for Austin.”

Austin takes the seat on the other side of Josh, slightly leaning into him as the rest of the group situates themselves on the bar stools, quickly losing themselves in conversation amongst each other, giving Austin and Josh a small amount of privacy.

“Oooo a Screwdriver,” Josh starts, “Haven’t had one of those in so long.”

“You can try mine if you’d like, darlin’. It’s one of my favorite drinks. Although in return, I might need to have a taste of that, what did Dan say it was? Salty Dog, right? Don’t reckon I’ve ever tried one.”

“Of course, go ahead.” Josh replies smiling, sliding his glass towards Austin as an invitation. They exchange drinks, each taking a sip at the same time.

“Hoowee that is bitter!” Austin exclaims.

Josh laughs, “Yeah that’s the grapefruit juice. Your Screwdriver has a little too much orange juice for my liking but, not the worst I’ve ever had.”

They swap glasses again and take a sip of their respective drinks.

Josh makes a face, half wincing at the tartness of his drink. “Ah- yeah that does have a bit more grapefruit juice in it than what I make at home but, hey, still good.”

“I guess I’ll just have to come over and have you make one for me then.” Austin says quietly, shooting Josh a small smile. “Just for, y’know, fairness. Can’t judge you too hard on your drink order until I taste one made to your liking.”

Josh’s face pinkens and he looks down at his drink, fidgeting with his glass as he summons the courage in him. “If I didn’t know any better Austin, then I’d think you were flirting with me.”

“Maybe I am, darlin’. Is that a problem?” The comment catches Josh off guard, his eyes darting back up to Austin only to find him calmly staring back, paused with his glass raised to his lips before he takes a slow sip. He sets the glass down, a sheepish smile playing on his lips as he waits for Josh to respond.

Josh stutters, trying to find the words as his mind reels at this confession. “Uh, yeah, WAIT, no, I mean no. That’s uh, not a problem.”

Austin smiles wide at how flustered Josh had gotten over one sentence and chuckles lightly. “I’m not tryin’ to be rude by laughin’, darlin’. You’re cute, is all.”

Josh grins at the other boy. “Thanks. Uh, I think you’re cute too.” He takes a sip of his drink to cool down, sure that his face is bright burning red.

Both boys suddenly realize that the rest of the table had grown quiet, now staring at the interaction between them with bated breath.

Jake is the first to break the silence, “Fucking finally.” He takes a swig of his drink, noticing the ice had begun to melt as it sat untouched, his mind still too focused on Sirena.

The topic is changed suddenly when Austins phone screen lights up with a text from “Asshat”. He checks the message, sighing deeply as he puts his phone in his pocket, taking a long drink from his glass before speaking. “My brother just got here, I gotta go grab my keys from him. I’ll be back in a second.”

“Want someone to come with you?” Danny asks, concern for his friend apparent in his tone.

“Na, I’ll be alright. Thank you though, Dan.” With that, he makes his way through the people and out the door.

The group goes silent, each turning to their drinks, finishing or close to finishing them.

“So, uh.” Danny starts, looking at Josh. “Not to be nosy but, you and Austin?”

Josh smiles softly, once again fidgeting with his glass. “Yeah, uh, I guess the feeling was mutual after all. I mean, it’s not like we’ve had a conversation about our feelings or anything but, it’s looking good? I think.”

“Looking better than just good, Joshy. I’d bet you could be getting lucky tonight.” Sam says with a wink.

“Shhh, love. Leave him alone.” Danny says with a smile, silently agreeing with his boyfriend but wanting to keep the others from teasing Josh about it too much.

Dannys phone buzzes and he checks the notification, frowning as he reads the message out loud to the others. “It’s from Austin. He says, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry Dan, my brother is insistent on meeting y’all, I can’t convince him otherwise. I’ll try to make it quick, just wanted to give y’all a warning that we’ll be in in a minute.’”

Danny sighs, looking around at the others before speaking. “No matter how much of a douche this guy is, please just grin and bear it. The sooner he leaves, the better. And I have a feeling he’ll start shit if he feels any “threat”.”

The boys grumble their agreements, promising to try and play nice.

“Oh shit, don’t look but here they come.” Josh says to Danny and Sam, their backs to the entrance of the building. “God, he even looks like an asshole.”

A figure appears by Sam’s side, sandwiching him between Danny and this newcomer. Sam feels him before he hears him, an all too familiar arm snaking around his back and grabbing his side.

“Well I’ll be damned. I’ve been hopin’ I’d run into you again, sugar.”

Dallas.

Sam jumps out of his seat away from Dallas, putting space between them as he takes a few steps back. Danny stiffens and turns in his seat towards Dallas, subconsciously putting his arm in front of Sam and pushing him behind him. His response comes fast. “Didn’t I tell you we’d have more of a fucking problem if you came near us again?” Danny spews, anger instantly taking him over as he tries to stay collected.

“I see you’re still hangin’ round with this overprotective bastard, sugar. He finally man up and make it official or are y’all still ‘just friends’?” Dallas sneers.

“Woah, woah, you know each other?” Austin asks, confusion clear on his face.

Dallas winks at Sam, still held behind Danny. “I sure as hell know Sammy boy, very well might I add-“

Danny cuts him off. “Unfortunately. He wouldn’t leave Sam alone the last time we were here, he fucking sexually harassed him and wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He tried to fight me and got himself kicked out.”

Everyone at the table’s jaw drops and Austin turns to Dallas, enraged. “Oh my god was that the fuckin’ night you totaled your truck? You told me that you had a little too much to drink and was distracted at your anger from unfairly gettin’ kicked outta a bar. If what Danny said you did is true, that don’t sound unfair to me, Dallas.”

Dallas turns on Austin, his voice rising as he grows angrier and angrier. “Pretty boy over there is a fuckin’ liar. That ain’t what happened. He’s just upset someone else showed interest in his friend, he was too chicken to make a fuckin’ move so I did. Who are you gonna believe, Austin? Some random friend who has jealousy issues, or your own fuckin’ brother?”

“Dan.” Austin says in a calm and collected tone. “I believe Daniel.”

Dallas makes a noise of indignation, furious at his brother for not taking his side. “You gotta be fuckin’ jokin’ me, Austin! Seriously? You’re takin’ his side over mine?”

“You’re a piece of shit, Dallas. I don’t care if you’re my brother. I know you, and I know Dan. I know that he’s tellin’ the truth. You’re so fulla shit that your eyes are brown. Now get the fuck out before I make you.” Austin replies through bared teeth.

Dallas laughs, loud and self-righteous. “What’re you gonna do little brother? I would like to see you try.”

Austin takes a threatening step towards his brother, using the extra inch of height he had on him to his advantage. He jabs his finger into his chest, using all the anger he felt to convey how serious he was about making Dallas leave. “I’ll only say it one more time, Dallas. Get the fuck outta here before I make you. I put up with you this long because I had to, and I didn’t have the nerve to say it sooner. This is the final fuckin’ straw, I don’t wanna see your pathetic fuckin’ face again. Now run back home to the farm with Ma and do the only thing you’re good at. Shovelin’ shit.”

Dallas sputters, looking to the others at the table for any backup. Finding none, his attention turns towards Austin once more. He mutters a livid “Fuck y’all.” before turning on his heel and marching out the door red faced.

Austin watches him leave and takes a deep breath before turning to Sam and Danny, guilt and apology written across his face. “I am, so fuckin’ sorry. I would never have let him come in with me if I knew the shit he did to you, Sam. Hell, I would’ve kicked him out onto my doormat the second he came callin’ askin’ for my help.”

With Dallas gone, Sam takes his seat again, now between Danny and Austin. “It’s alright, really. You didn’t know. And it was fucking incredible to see him get put in his place.” Sam offers a slight smile to Austin, “Thank you for backing us up.”

Understanding that he wasn’t upset with him, Austin returns the smile. It slowly turns into a grimace as he thinks about his brother’s actions. “Of course. It’s… it wouldn’t be the first time he’s had issues with takin’ ‘no’ for an answer. Over the last few years I’ve, unfortunately, had to drag him out of multiple bars before he got us kicked out for tryin’ to start shit with people who called him out on it.”

Prompted by various questions from Jake and Josh, Austin begins telling them stories of the trouble Dallas almost got him in to. With the others focused on Austin, Danny silently tugs on the elbow of Sam’s shirt, getting his attention without the others noticing.

“You ok, love?” Danny questions his boyfriend quietly. “We can leave if you want.”

“No, no, I want to stay. Just like last time, I don’t want a few moments with him to ruin the entire night.” He reassures, placing his hand on Danny’s thigh and giving it a gentle comforting squeeze. “I’m ok, really.”

Austin finishes summarizing some of the things Dallas had done, and the attention of the three other boys is drawn to Sam. “Listen, Sam, we-“ Jake starts, “We had no idea that happened, that he did… that to you.”

Josh continues, “Yeah, that’s some serious shit. Are you ok?”

Sam looks between his two older brothers, grateful for their genuine concern. “Yeah, I’m ok. He didn’t… he didn’t go “too far”. Just a few less than pleasant comments and he wouldn’t let go of me while dancing after he stole me from Danny.” He looks over at his boyfriend, “Danny swooped in and saved the day though. I swear he looked like he was about to take and/or throw a punch for me.”

“Not that we didn’t approve of him as your boyfriend before but,” Jake laughs, “We definitely approve of him now.”

Josh cuts in, “Not that you need our approval of course.” He pauses for a moment, turning his attention to his twin for backup. “Right Jake?”

When he doesn’t get a reply, he looks over at him only to see his focus had suddenly shifted to across the room, his eyes fixed intently on the drag queen that had spoken to him before they entered the bar stepping up onto a small stage.

Josh elbows him in the ribs. “I said, right Jake?”

He whips his head towards the rest of the group again. “Oh uh, yeah? I’m sorry, what did you say?”

Josh chuckles. “Distracted? Are we?”

Jake’s cheeks redden, and he looks down at his glass, embarrassed. “Shut up.”

Before Josh can retort, the drag queen in question taps a microphone, getting everyone in the bar’s attention. “Hey y’all! How we doin’ out there tonight?”

She’s met with a cacophony of whoops and hollers from the patrons. She lets everyone quiet down before continuing with a grin, “Fantastic, just what I like to hear! For those of you who don’t know, my name’s Sirena de Lune,” she searches through the sea of people before her eyes land on Jake, winking at him as he stares, awestruck. “But y’all can call me Sirena. Now, before me and my drag sisters, and a few of my drag brothers, hit the dance floor to welcome all you newcomers tonight, we have a little performance for y’all!”

The crowd cheers once more, causing her to almost need to shout to be heard, even with the mic. “So I better see some tips in the air for my sisters!” Met with another roar from the crowd, she hands the mic off and is joined by the two other drag queens Jake had seen her with outside the bar. They take their places, and the twangy guitar intro to their song begins blaring over the speakers.

“I remember it all very well, lookin’ back

It was the summer I turned eighteen.

We lived in a one room, rundown shack

On the outskirts of New Orleans”

The three of them light up the stage with their personas, lip-syncing to the song in practiced perfection before quickly splitting off into the crowd. They weave through the crowd, continuing their performance as they pluck the tips from the fingertips held high in their directions.

“Shit, I only have fives and tens, any of you have any ones?” Josh shouts at the others at the table. All except Jake shake their heads, not having expected the performance and need for dollar bills. He turns to his twin, noticing he hadn’t responded. “Jake? Hey, what about you?”

Jake is too enthralled to hear the question, blindly shifting through the bills in his wallet as he keeps his eyes on Sirena, who was slowly but surely making her way towards their table. Her eyes seem to skirt over Jake, teasing him with her avoidance.

Her eyes finally lock on him, and his breath catches in his throat as she begins to make her way directly towards them.

“It sounded like somebody else, that was talkin’

Askin’, “mama, what do I do?”

She said, “just be nice to the gentlemen, Fancy

They’ll be nice to you.””

She reaches their table, taking the tips from the other boys before finally reaching Jake.

“She said, “here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down.

Here’s your one chance, Fancy, don’t let me down.

Lord, forgive me what I do,

But if you want out-”

Her hand that wasn’t clutching her tips traces Jake’s hairline and slowly lowers to his jaw, tilting his chin up to her, just inches from her face as she sings along to,

“well, it’s up to you.

Now don’t let me down now

Your mama’s gonna move you uptown.”

Her hand runs down his arm holding the tip he had for her, slipping it out of his grip before she winks, breaking their contact by taking two steps back and turning away from him.

“HOLY SHIT JAKE?” Sam shouts over the music, “I DON’T CARE IF YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T DANCING TONIGHT, YOU HAVE TO DANCE WITH HER!”

Josh physically shakes him out of his daze roughly, snapping him back to reality. “YOU KNOW YOU JUST GAVE HER A TWENTY, RIGHT? SHE’S DEFINITELY GONNA ASK TO DANCE WITH YOU NOW, THAT’S A HELL OF A FUCKING TIP!”

With his mind still occupied with the interaction, Jake doesn’t care that he gave her the largest bill in his wallet. His eyes follow her as she zig-zags back through the crowd towards the stage, still collecting tips.

The three queens arrive at the stage and throw their tips in the air, causing them to flutter down on them as the song comes to a close and they stand, catching their breath. Without the music to drown the crowd out, their volume is deafening as people stand to applaud them as they re-collect their tips from where they had fallen.

Sirena is once again handed the mic, straightening as she continues to catch her breath. “Whoo, I don’t know about my sisters but y’all, I am winded!” She jokes as the other two laugh and nod in agreement. “We’re headin’ straight to Shake Shack later so, thank y’all for the tips. Looks like got a whole round of shakes on y’all!”

Her laugh sends a thrill through Jake, her personality and stage presence electrifying him from within.

“Now, me and my sisters need a few minutes to catch our breaths, but we got a whole crew of queens and a few kings that will be hittin’ the floor momentarily. I’ll turn the mic over to my baby brother,” she points to a drag king in the crowd with the same eye and jaw shape as her, clad in tight leather pants a white fishnet shirt, tattoo patterned chest tape visible through the mesh. “He’s gonna help all you new folks warm up for some dancin’!”

The crowd cheers as he makes his way towards the stage, taking the mic from Sirena and turning to face the crowd.

“Hey y’all! Let’s give another round of applause for my big sister and our lovely drag sisters!” He pauses, letting the crowd cheer one final time for the queens as they exit the stage. “My name is Sparrow de Lune, and for all of y’all wondering, yes, Sirena is my biological sibling. She gives me shit for “stealing” the de Lune part of the name but, hey, guess you could say it’s a family name now.” He laughs, watching Sirena as she shakes her head at him smiling, before heading backstage.

“Anyways, before we officially kick off the line dancin’ tonight, we’re gonna warm y’all up. Anyone here know the Cotton Eyed Joe?”

The crowd erupts once more, a few stray wolf whistles joining in with the cheers.

“Fantastic! So I need everyone to hit the dance floor, nice and orderly like please, and for those of y’all who aren’t familiar with the dance, I’ll be up here on stage doin’ it too so y’all can watch me and follow along!”

The statement is followed by the sound of chairs skidding across the floor as people get up and make their way to the dance floor, organizing themselves so no one bumps into each other when the dance starts.

Josh looks over at Austin, raising his eyebrows as he asks timidly, “You wanna-?”

Austin smiles broadly at him, already hopping off his stool and making his way around the table towards him. “Hell yes, lets go.” He looks at the others at the table, “Y’all comin’?”

Danny’s already getting up, his hand on Sam’s arm to pull him with him. “Of course!” When Sam doesn’t move, Danny uses the same tactics he had to get Sam to come with him the first night they came to dance, batting puppy dog eyes at him. “C’mon loveeee, you wouldn’t make me dance alone, would you?”

Sam rolls his eyes, pretending to be annoyed as he tries to hide the slight smile on his lips. “You won’t be alone, you’ve got Josh and Austin.”

Danny rolls his eyes back, “You know what I mean. C’mon it’s way easier than any of the dancing we’ve done before. Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder and carry you to the dance floor.” He jokes, both men knowing he wouldn’t if Sam really didn’t want to dance.

“Yeah, I’d like to see you try.” Sam replies as he slides off his barstool, willingly being pulled by Danny. Before the group leaves Josh looks at Jake, who still sat unmoving on his stool.

“Hey, you coming with us?”

“Na, I’m good. I’d rather not be a fifth wheel, you guys have fun though.”

“Loserrrrrrr.” Sam calls as he walks away from the table, Dannys hand in his own.

Jake rolls his eyes, flipping him off before he gets lost in the sea of people.

“You sure, Jakey? It could still be fun.” Josh tries one more time.

He smiles at his twin, “Yeah, go have fun. I’ll be here when you’re done.”

With that, Josh shrugs and turns towards Austin, grabbing his hand in a bold move as they follow Sam and Danny to the dance floor.

The intro blasts over the speakers as the four boys find a spot on the dance floor.

“If it hadn’t been for Cotton-Eye Joe

I’d been married long time ago

Where did you come from, where did you go?

Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?”

Danny immediately jumps into the motions perfectly, with Sam struggling beside him, his motions delayed as he tries not to trip over his own feet.

“Jesus fuck, Daniel. How the hell are you so good at this?” Sam yells, still struggling to time his movements with the song.

Danny looks down at Sams attempts at the dance, lightheartedly laughing. “You’d think for a bass player, you’d have better rhythm.”

Sam swats his arm lightly, still too focused on the dance to do anything more. “Yeah, yeah, leave me alone I’m still learning how to play. I’m not good enough yet to play at Madison Square Garden or anything.”

He looks over towards Josh and Austin, hoping that at least one of them would be struggling as much as he was. To his dismay, both men are laughing and hitting each beat flawlessly.

“Fuck me.” Sam grumbles to himself under his breath.

“Mmmm maybe later, kinda busy right now.” Danny replies with a smile.

Blood rushes to Sams face as he literally trips over his own feet, Danny coming to the rescue and helping to steady him, somehow not skipping even a beat as he does it.

“Woah there, steady partner.” Danny laughs.

“Shut up.”

A few people in the crowd over, Josh and Austin dance, oblivious to the events that just unfolded between the other two.

“Wait wait wait, Austin. Why the hell are you adding that spin?” Josh shouts with a wide grin on his face.

“Why the hell are you not? This is how you do the dance!” He replies, grinning back at Josh.

“I’ve never seen anyone in my life do it like that!”

“Then I guess you’ve never seen anyone do it right, darlin’”

Jake watches from the table and laughs as he sees Sam almost fall (again), only to be righted by Danny beside him. He spots Josh and Austin, caught in what seemed to be a playful argument, both men beaming at the other as they danced.

A familiar voice beside him distracts him from his observations.

“You not into dancin’, mon beau?”

Sirena. Jake turns slightly to face her, towering over him.

She gestures to the stool next to him that was previously occupied by Josh. “Mind if I sit?”

“Oh, uh, no, go ahead. And uh, not really? I hadn’t planned on dancing, just came as support for my brothers. I mean I know this dance but didn’t want to be a fifth wheel.” Jake wipes his palms on his pants, already flustered from the brief interaction with her.

“That’s understandable, mon beau. It’s nice you came for your brothers though. You said “support”, mind if I ask what you mean by that?”

He points at Josh, “You see the short one with curly hair? That’s my twin, Josh. And the two over there are Sam and Danny. Danny’s not my biological brother, but he’s been best friends with Sam for so long he’s like a brother to Josh and I.” He glances at Sirena, who sat intently focused on his story. “They’ve been into each other for years, but just now got together a couple months ago. They came out to Josh and I last week and told us how they finally admitted their feelings to each other dancing here, so they invited us tonight cause we wanted to see the place.”

She smiles at him. “That’s sweet of you and Josh, mon beau. I bet Sam and Danny are grateful for y’alls support.”

Jakes cheeks pinken at the comment and he smiles, “Yeah… it’s kind of funny, with them coming out, I’m the only,” he brings his hands up, motioning air quotes as he says, “”Straight” brother left. But anyways, if I may ask; what do you keep calling me? “Mon beau”? What does that mean?”

“It means “my beautiful” in French. If that ain’t too forward of me.”

His face lights on fire, and he knows he must be red as a tomato. “Oh- uh. Yeah. Ok. That isn’t… that isn’t too forward of you. Thank you?” He clears his throat, finally getting the courage to look at Sirena again. “Uhm, you know French?”

“Yeah, my dad’s from France, so Sparrow and I are fluent. That’s why part of our drag names are “de Lune”.” She smiles at him again. “It means “moon”.”

He smiles “Oh shit- that’s really cool, I love the moon. I see you’re a man of many talents then.” He pauses, thinking about what he said. “Or- shit, I mean woman?” Smiling timidly, he continues. “I’m sorry, I’m kind of new to this.”

This brings a laugh as smooth as her voice from Sirena. “Don’t worry about it, mon beau. You were right the first time, I’m a man who’s comfortable in his gender identity enough to do drag sometimes. Well, a lot of the time to be honest. Pretty fun “side gig”, if you will.”

“Ah, ok. That’s cool.” Still nervous, Jake rethinks his response once again. “I mean it, I don’t know if I don’t sound genuine. I really do mean it.” He tries for a smile. “I’m just digging myself into a deeper hole at this point, I’m sorry.”

She touches his arm lightly, reassuring him. “Don’t worry about it, mon beau. Like you said, you’re new to this.”

The Cotton-Eye Joe ends, and Sparrow grabs the mic again before Jake can get any more flustered by Sirena’s pet names.

“That was great y’all! Are we all warmed up now and ready for some more dancin’?”

The crowd cheers, and he continues over the remaining few whoops here and there. “Fantastic! Now tonight is a partners night, but if you’re new here or don’t have one, find one of our lovely drag queens or kings out there and ask ‘em to dance! Thanks for comin’ out tonight!”

With that, patrons bustle around the dance floor, exiting it or finding their partner for the night as a song starts loudly.

“I don’t care if it rains or freezes long as I got my plastic Jesus

Sittin’ on the dashboard of my car.

Going down there, it ain’t scary ‘cause I’ve got the virgin Mary

Sittin’ on the dashboard of my car.”

Jake spots the others leaving the dance floor and making their way back towards their table.

“You guys have fun?” Jake asks, attempting to divert any conversation away from him and Sirena as he sees Sam’s “told you so” smirk creeping onto his face.

“Yeah, I had a lot of fun tripping over my feet the entire time.”

Danny tries to lift his spirits. “Awww, c’mon baby you weren’t that bad.”

Sam looks at him doubtfully. “Uh huh, right.”

“Y’all ain’t dancin’ to this song? Don’t like it or just don’t wanna dance?” Sirena questions.

Josh answers, “I don’t know about them, but I am fucking winded holy shit. I need a breather. Everyone makes it look so easy to just dance song after song.”

Noticing the others taking their seats, leaving Josh standing, Sirena realizes that she must have taken his. “Oh shit, hun. I stole your spot, didn’t I?”

She makes a move to get up before he interjects, “Don’t worry about it! I’m fine standing, really.” He moves to the other side of the table, standing close next to Austin.

“So, Jakey,” Sam starts with a mischievous smile. “You gonna introduce us to your new friend?”

“Oh, shit yeah, my bad.” He blushes, already knowing how much Sam and Josh will tease him later for it. “This is Sirena.”

She smiles at the group, “Nice to meet y’all.”

“Nice to meet you too. So, you single?”

Danny swats his boyfriend. “Sam!”

He puts on a show of innocence, “What?”

“Yeah, I am, hun. Why do you ask?”

He smirks at Jake, “Mmmm no reason. Just curious is all.”

Their conversation is interrupted by a man with curly, sandy colored hair tapping on Sirena’s shoulder.

“Excuse me ma’am, I was wondering if you had a dance partner tonight.”

“Oh I’m sorry, hun. I do.” She gestures to Jake. “However, over there’s Faebelle, I don’t think she’s got a dance partner yet.”

He smiles kindly at her and Jake, “No worries! Thank you, ma’am.” and turns, walking towards Faebelle across the room.

Stepping fully into his annoying younger sibling role, Sam butts in. “So, you’ve decided to dance tonight? What happened to getting drunk and not dancing?”

“Change of heart, I guess.” Jake half-grumbles, knowing exactly what game Sam was trying to play with him.

“Well, darlin’, I’m glad you did. I reckon it would’ve been awkward as hell if I had turned down that gentleman just to not have a partner after all.”

The rest of the table quietly observes the interaction, Sam just waiting for another chance to butt-in and tease Jake.

“You ever line danced with a partner before, mon beau?”

Surprisingly, it’s Austin that interrupts their conversation. “Oh, tu parles français aussi?” [Oh, you speak French too?]

She beams at him, “Oui, je parle assez couramment.” [Yes, I’m quite fluent.]

The rest of the table watches, jaws dropped, as they casually continue their conversation in French.

“C’est génial! As-tu étudié le français à l’école?” [That’s cool! Did you study French at school?]

“Non, mon pére est français, donc j’ai grandi en parlant français.” [No, my dad is French, so I grew up speaking French.]

“Encore une fois, c’est genial. J’ai appris à l’école, donc tu en sais problement beaucoup plus que moi.” [Again, that’s cool. I learned at school, so you probably know a lot more than I do.]

Sam and Josh speak at the same time.

“I’m sorry, what?” Sam asks in awe.

Josh comes next, “Jake, did you understand any of that?”

“Only about half. I mean I remember enough from High School to get the gist of it but definitely not enough to carry or join in on a conversation.”

It’s Danny’s turn next to ask a question, “Austin where did you learn French and how the fuck did I not know you were fluent?”

Austin laughs, “Hold your horses there, Dan. I wouldn’t say I’m fluent. Took it in High School, somehow ended up in AP French so it’s kind of just stuck in my head. Never have a need to use it ‘round here so I guess that’s why you’ve never heard me speak it.”

Josh looks at Austin as if he’d just hung the stars in the sky.

“That’s fucking incredible. I don’t know about Danny, but all I remember from High School German is ��Krankenwagen”.”

“Yeah no, all German is gone from my mind. Blocked that shit OUT. I fucking hated Frau Werner, and she hated me too.”

Sam joins in on the conversation again, “All I remember from Spanish is “¿Puedo ir al baño?” because my teacher wouldn’t let us go to the bathroom if we asked in English.”

“¿Recuerdas algo mas?” [Remember anything else?]

“YOU KNOW SPANISH TOO?” Sam exclaims, drawing a laugh from Sirena.

“Yeah, and Latin, hun. I’m learnin’ Portuguese and Italian but I ain’t good enough to carry a conversation in ‘em.”

Jake stares at her in wonder. “You’re fucking incredible.”

She grows bashful from the compliment and eyes on her, chuckling before she responds. “I don’t know if I’d call myself that, mon beau. I guess y’all could say one of my hobbies is learnin’ languages. Anyways, back to you, you ever line dance with a partner?”

“Uh, no. This isn’t exactly my regular scene.”

“Don’t worry about that, mon beau. I got you.”

“Yeah, it’s so easy even I can do it, so if you’re shit at it just keep that in mind.”

“Shut up, Sam.” Jake says for the third time that night.

Before Sam can make a quip back, a new song starts playing, drawing a dramatic gasp from Josh.

Everyone’s heads snap towards him, trying to figure out the cause of the gasp. He grabs Austin’s arm, already trying to pull him towards the dance floor. “Oh my fucking god I love this song. Can we dance?”

“Jesus fuck, Josh, I thought someone died. You scared the shit out of me.” Sam says as he rubs his forehead like an exasperated parent.

Austin only laughs, sliding off his barstool to join him. “Of course we can, darlin’.”

They leave without another word with Josh practically running towards the floor, dragging Austin behind him.

Sam turns towards Danny, smiling at him. “You love this song too, don’t you?”

Danny grins at the fact that Sam had remembered, only having mentioned it once or twice over the many years they’d known each other. “Yeah, I do. Wanna dance?”

“Lead the way partner.”

The pair split off into the crowd together, once again leaving Jake and Sirena alone. The second verse starts as Sirena begins to speak.

“I, I, got a new girlfriend here

Feels like he’s on top.

And I don’t feel no remorse.

And you can’t see past my blindness.”

“Well, mon beau. This is sort of a slower song to dance to but, you down to start learnin’ how?”

Jake flushes, his stomach alight with butterflies. “Yeah, that’d be great.”

She offers him her hand as they get off their stools, “Don’t worry about it, mon beau. Follow my lead, promise I’ll do all the heavy liftin’.”

They follow the path the others had taken through the crowd, finding a spot on the dance floor. Sirena places her hands on Jake’s shoulders before she brings them down his arms, taking his hands in her own.

“Loosen up, mon beau. I gotchu.”

She slowly pushes him away, still holding his hands in her own before bringing him back towards her, steadily spinning him behind her with one hand. He ends up pressed flush against her, face to face, as they slowly sway to the music.

“See, that wasn’t too bad?”

He laughs lightly, his breath shallow from the proximity. “Yeah guess not.”

A few pairs over, Sam and Danny dance together, more slow dancing to the song than line dancing. Danny twirls Sam around a few times out of the blue, causing him to laugh and press close to him as they continue swaying to the music.

“Having fun, baby?”

“Yeah, Daniel, I’m really glad we came.”

Dannys eyes sparkle as he gazes down at his boyfriend, still shorter than him despite the small heels on his (Danny’s) boots. Danny sings along to the song, quietly enough for Sam to be the only one that hears it.

“”Honey, I love you.”

That’s all she wrote.

Oh, Ophelia

You’ve been on my mind, girl, like a drug.

Oh, Ophelia

Heaven help the fool who falls in love.”

Sam beams at Danny, pressing a light kiss to his lips as they keep dancing. “I love you too, honey.”

The song comes to a close and another starts, the upbeat twangy guitar intro a complete 180 from the song before it. Sam laughs as he sees Austin immediately switch the pace of Josh and his dance, catching Josh by surprise and almost falling, steadying himself against the other man’s chest.

“Shit, darlin’, didn’t mean to catch you off guard there.”

Josh laughs, blushing as Austin keeps him pressed close to his chest. “Don’t worry about it, I need to learn how to line dance for real anyways.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” he whoops. “C’mon darlin’ I gotchu.” He says before spinning Josh behind him and carrying on with the faster pace.

Jake’s attention is caught by this exclamation, looking over to see his brother grinning ear to ear as he got spun around again by Austin. Sirena gently grabs his jaw, turning his head to face her once more.

“Eyes on me, mon beau. This song is more upbeat, you think you can handle it?”

Probably not, he thinks, instead responding, “Yeah, sure!”

She smiles broadly, giving, “Hold on tight!” as the only warning before she suddenly spins him behind her, keeping the swift pace as she takes the lead in their dance.

“When I get the money, we can run away.

Sing a little song ‘bout yesterday.

They’re never gonna catch me, long as I’m alive.

You and me together, we’ll survive.”

Her smile widens when Jake doesn’t trip, and instead matches the time of her movements. “Hey, you ain’t too bad at this, mon beau. You’re keepin’ up mighty fine.”

“Have a great partner. One who’s not just great at dancing but also gorgeous as hell.”

It’s Sirena’s turn to be flustered by the others comment, “You flirtin’ with me?”

Jake’s doesn’t hesitate with his response, “Maybe I am, Captain.”

She raises her eyebrows in question. “Captain?”

“Yeah uh…” Jake blushes, the confidence he had suddenly gained slowly draining from him. “I was just thinking, Sirena, Siren, Piratey, y’know? Sorry, that came out of nowhere.” He looks down, too embarrassed to make eye contact.

Sirena brings her hand to his chin, bringing his gaze back to her as she tilts his head up. “Don’t apologize, mon beau. I like it.” She laughs, warm and bright, “If you couldn’t tell based on my outfit, I love piratey shit.”

His mood is restored with her affirmations, and from now knowing they shared an interest. “No way! Me too! I have a Johnson Mercator Projection map copy and a collection of old pirate coins at home, unfortunately they’re expensive as hell since I try to get authentic ones, so my collection is smaller than I would like it to be.”

“That’s so cool, mon beau! I’d love to see them sometime. Again, if that ain’t too forward of me. I have model ships of the Royal Fortune and Queen Anne’s Revenge, those thing’sre my babies, my prized possessions.” She laughs, remembering something, “And a Lego Pirate Ship that Sparrow got me for my birthday a couple years ago as a joke. Took me a hell of a long time to finish that.”

Jake smiles earnestly, “That isn’t too forward of you, I’d love to show you. On one condition of course.”

She cocks one eyebrow up at him, “And that is?”

“You have to show me your model ships some time.”

“Looks like we got a deal there, mon beau.”

The song changes to something with a strong fiddle intro, Jake thinks he recognizes but can’t quite place it; but Sirena’s eyes light up at the song, a wide grin spreading across her face.

“Oh HELL YEAH! They finally fuckin’ took my song suggestions! Took them long enough”

“I was ridin’ shotgun with my hair undone

In the front seat of his car.

He’s got a one-hand feel on the steering wheel

The other on my heart.”

“What song is this?”

“You don’t know, mon beau? It’s classic Taylor Swift, baby. This is my SHIT!”

Jake smiles wide, “You’re a, what do they call them? Swiftie?”

“Hell yeah, mon beau. Momma loves her some classic Taylor.” She laughs at his expression, “Hey now, don’tcha go judgin’ me.”

He chuckles, “I’m not, I swear. Just didn’t expect that from you.”

“Our song is the way he laughs

The first date, “Man, I didn’t kiss her, and I should have.””

At these words, Jake’s eyes flit down to Sirena’s lips, and he subconsciously starts leaning towards her.

“Wait.”

With these words, he stops, cheeks burning bright red as he stops dancing. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, without asking, I’m sorry.”

Sirena ceases her movements with him, holding onto his arm as he tries to back away out of reach. “No, Jake, please don’t leave.” He stops pulling away from her but is still unable to look her in the face.

“Jake, please look at me.”

He forces himself to look at her, her sympathetic and caring gaze bringing tears to his eyes.

“I didn’t stop you because I don’t wanna kiss you, Jake.”

The lack of her pet name for him causes a tear to escape, slowly rolling down his cheek. He can’t bring himself to wipe it away.

“Oh Jakey, don’t cry.” She brushes her thumbs across his cheeks, wiping away the tears that had started falling for him. “I stopped you because I cannot, in good consciousness, kiss you before I say this. Earlier, you said you were “the only straight brother left”. I’m not a woman, Jake. I need you to recognize that by kissin’ me, and doing whatever happens between us, makes you not straight. I know I’m drop dead gorgeous right now, in drag,” Jake lets out a quiet, wet laugh at this and Sirena is glad her comment got the reaction she had hoped for. “But I don’t look like this all the time, Jake. Now I know we’ve been flirtin’ back and forth all evenin’, but I need to hear it from your mouth. I need to know that you understand the weight of your actions.”

Jake sniffles, roughly wiping away the last of his tears with the back of his hand. “Yeah, I know. I… I’ll be honest with you, I thought I was straight at the beginning of this night but, then I saw you and…” he makes eye contact with her as she patiently listens to his explanation, “…and I thought you were attractive and then we started talking and it just grew from there. I’m having a whole sexuality crisis right now but honestly, I don’t care. All I know is I really like you, and if that makes me queer, then I don’t care.” He pauses, once again overthinking his words. “Not that I don’t care! I care! I just mean it’s not important to me that you’re a man and I’m attracted to you. I… I know what I’m doing, what my actions mean.”

She smiles wide at him, “Don’t worry, mon beau, I know what you mean. Thank you for communicating with me, Jake.”

Her smile lifts a weight off Jake’s shoulders, and he takes a deep breath to calm his still racing mind. “Of course, thank you for stopping me to have this conversation, Sirena.”

“Sebastian.”

“What?”

“My name is Sebastian.”

“Oh,” Jake thinks for a moment, “Sebastian. Well in that case, thank you, Sebastian.”

“Of course, mon beau.”

Jake becomes anxious again as he tries to find the courage to ask what he wanted. “So, uh, Sebastian. Now that we have that cleared up, can I kiss you?”

“Thought you’d never ask, mon beau.”

With that, their lips come together in a slow and gentle kiss. Jake slightly stands on his toes, leaning into Sebastian’s touch, so he doesn’t have to lean down too much to reach him.

Danny and Sam dance a few groups over as the song nears its end. Sam is the first to notice his brother, “Oh shit.”

Danny whips around, his mind immediately thinking that Sam had seen Dallas. “What???”

When he instead sees Jake and Sirena still kissing, his eyebrows shoot up in pleasant surprise. “Oh- You scared me for a minute there, love. I’ve been waiting for them to do that since Jake introduced us to her, it was so clear they were into each other.”

Sam laughs, “Me too honestly. Hey, do you see Josh and Austin anywhere?”

Danny uses his height as an advantage, looking over the crowd to try and see Josh and Austin. He smiles at the sight of his friends with their foreheads pressed together and small smiles on their lips as they sway slowly to the end of the song across the room.

“Yeah, they’re over there, they look like they’re having a good time.”

The intro to a very familiar song starts playing over the speakers, interrupting what Sam was about to say.

“DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DE-DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DAA-DAAAAA

DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DE-DUM-DE-DE-DUM, DE-DAA-DAA-DAA-DAA-DAAAA!

Well, I walk into the room

Passing out hundred dollar bills.

And it kills and it thrills like the horns on my Silverado grill.”

Both boys’ eyes go wide as they stare at the other. “Oh we gotta-“ Sam starts, before being cut off by Danny already flinging them into the flow of the dance.

“Hey, Sammy, you’re better at this than last time! You’re doing great!” Danny says after dancing for about two minutes.

“That was my plan all along, Daniel. Impress you with how good I am at dancing. Is it working?”

Danny snorts, “Yeah, baby, it’s working don’t worry.”

“Perfect.” He makes sure Danny is looking directly at him before continuing, “And don’t think I forgot about your comment you made that night we came here for the first time, Daniel.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t. I’m a man of my word, Sammy.”

“And the girls say

Save a horse, ride a cowboy.

Everybody says

Save a horse, ride a cowboy.”

Danny dips Sam before taking his (Danny’s) cowboy hat off Sams head and placing it onto his own with a wink.

Sam’s lips part in anticipation from the sudden shift in energy between them.

“Can we go?”

Danny’s brow furrows, worried that he did something wrong. “Right now? Are you ok?”

Sam blushes, “Yeah I just uh, am about to have a problem in my pants that is going to start being… really noticeable if we stay much longer.”

A smirk dances on Danny’s lips as he realizes what Sam meant by that. “Oh- yeah of course. I’ll let the others know that if they need a ride home, they better leave now. My place or yours?”

“Yours. Closer.”

“I see someone’s a bit impatient. Can’t handle the anticipation, can you, Sammy?”

“Shut up or I’m having you take me to my place, you can go back to yours, and I can fix the problem myself.”

“Hmmmmm you wouldn’t. Anyways,” Danny says as he begins making his way towards Josh and Austin, pulling Sam behind him. “C’mon.”

They reach Josh and Austin and Danny taps on his brother’s shoulder to pull his attention away from his partner. He has to almost yell over the music, “Hey, Sam and I are heading out right now, so if you want to stay, you’ll need another ride.”

Josh’s face is immediately painted with concern, “Alright, you guys ok?” His eyes sweep over Sam, noticing the way he was beginning to uncomfortably adjust his jeans. “Oh- never mind I see you guys are more than ok.” He says with a smirk.

Austin inserts himself into the conversation, “I can take Josh home if y’all are needin’ to split.”

“Sounds good, thanks. I’m gonna go let Jake know too.”

“You two have fun.” Josh says with a wink, before Danny turns and pulls Sam towards Jake and Sirena.

Once again, he taps his brother on the shoulder to get his attention. “Hey Jake, Sam and I are heading out. Josh is getting a ride with Austin, so either catch a ride with him or leave now with us.”

Just as his twin had done, he asks “Are you guys ok?”

“Yep, just tired.”

Jake looks towards Sam, also immediately knowing what was going on. “Uh huh, well, get some rest guys.”

“I can give you a ride home if you’d like, mon beau.”

Jake and Danny both smile at Sirena as Sam is too busy staring at his boyfriend in the cowboy hat to respond to her offer to Jake.

“Thanks, Sebastian.” Jake turns to Danny and Sam once more, “See you guys later, have fun and get some rest.”

“Thanks Jake, see ya.” Danny says before turning away, finally pulling Sam towards the exit. Once out the door, its Sam who’s now leading them, pulling Danny along so quickly that he has to speed walk to keep up.

“You’re very eager to get back to my place, I see.”

“Daniel. Shut the fuck up and unlock your car.”

He does so, and Sam practically flings the door open, throwing himself in the passenger seat before Danny can even fully open his door. He gets in and starts his car, turning the radio on to fill the silence in hopes that it would help ease Sam’s clear rush to get back to his place. Unfortunately, Danny’s phone automatically Bluetooth connects, and the song that had been up next in his queue starts playing loudly. The electronic intro snaps Sam out of his focused daze as Danny scrambles for his phone.

“I like the girls that do drugs (Drugs).

Girls with cigarettes in the back of the club (Club).

Girls that hate cops and buy guns (Guns).

Girls with no buns, girls that’s mean just for fun.

I like girls who make love, but I love girls who like to fuck.”

“SHIT- sorry uh that just automatically started-“ Danny stammers as he pauses the song.

“No, no, no. I’d like to hear the rest of this song, Daniel.” Sam says as he snatches Danny’s phone away from him. Danny lets out a defeated sigh, accepting the fact that he would never be able to wrestle it back from him, before putting the car in reverse to pull out of his parking space and start the short drive to his house. Sam hits play and a shit eating grin graces his face as he listens to the lyrics as the song continues.

“I like tall girls, small girls,

Girls with dicks,

Call girls.

Girls who get naked on the ‘Gram.

They say I’m too fuckin’ horny,

Wanna put me in a cage.

I’d probably fuck the hole in the wall

The guy before made.”

“Y’know, I have been mistaken for a tall girl a few times with my hair being as long as it is. And I do have a di-“

Danny cuts him off, “Shut up, shut up, I don’t wanna hear it.”

“I’m not judging you Daniel, it’s a good song. Just, not what I would expect you to listen to.” Sam finishes with a smirk.

Danny rolls his eyes at the other man playfully, attempting to keep an identical smirk off his face. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, Sammy.”

The chorus starts again, and Sam thinks for a moment before asking, “Daniel, have you ever done molly?” out of nowhere.

This causes a sudden laugh to escape Danny, who turns towards his boyfriend while questioning through giggles, “What?”

Sam shrugs in a show of innocence, “Just a question.”

“Uh huh,” Danny turns his attention back to the road, “You know I haven’t.”

“I like the girls who like to lie that they came,

Girls who fuck on the train.

Girls who got so much hair on they ass, it clogs the drain.”

Sam snorts, unable to contain his laughter as Danny begins shaking his head. “Whatever you’re about to say, I don’t wanna hear it.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything!” Sam replies through broken laughs.

Danny raises his eyebrows, glad that Sam was too distracted by the song to notice how red his face was, both from embarrassment that the song started playing, and from the anticipation of what would happen when they got back to his place. “Uh huh, right.”

The song ends, leaving them in brief silence before another song starts, a complete 180 from the previous one. Sam notices, the gradual guitar intro twisting his face into amused confusion.

“This is… different than the last one. It sounds familiar.”

Danny chuckles, “Uh yeah, I think this is my “Whiplash” playlist. And it’s the same artist and album as the first song we danced to.”

They sit in comfortable silence listening to the song as Danny quietly hums along. He reaches over and grabs Sam’s hand, interlocking his fingers with his own. He keeps his eyes on the road as he begins to sing along;

“But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant.

Damn your wife, I’d be your mistress just to have you around.”

Danny takes his eyes off the road to momentarily glance at Sam, only to be met with his lovesick gaze as he offers a slight squeeze to his hand. Danny returns it, smiling at him before looking back to the road as they turn into his neighborhood. Sam snaps back into his previous mindset, having been too distracted by the tender moment and lyrics Danny had sung to him, as he realizes they had arrived at Danny’s house. The charged energy that had been between them as they left the bar and during the first half of the drive returns suddenly, and both boys quickly get out of the car and make a beeline for the front door.

Once again, as soon as the door is closed and locked behind them, Danny’s hands immediately find their place on Sam’s sides, pulling him into a deep kiss. Danny makes a move to take his hat off before Sam breaks their kiss to stop him.

“Wait. Keep it on. Or at least- wear it while you ride.”

Danny raises his eyebrows, smiling wolfishly. “Whatever you want, baby.”

He takes it off momentarily to take his shirt off, replacing it on his head and reconnecting their lips. They make their way towards Danny’s room as they had many times before, having stripped most of their clothes by the time they reached his bed. Danny breaks away to grab the things they needed for prep in practiced motions, coming back to see that Sam had taken off the rest of his clothes and was waiting in already breathless anticipation while he was away. He pulls his briefs off swiftly and sets the Cowboy hat on the bedside table, quickly joining Sam on the bed, wasting no time as he begins to immediately bite and suck marks into his neck.

“So… I know… I know I’m always… oh fuck, baby-” Sam pants as Danny grinds down onto the other man, nipping at a part of his neck he knew was the most sensitive. He collects himself for a moment before continuing, his words broken from his huffs and heavy breaths. “I know I’m always the one that’s receiving... but oh my god- but I think we’ve done this… enough times that I think- I think I know what I’m doing.” Danny hums an agreement, his lips still attached to Sam’s neck. “But if I do anything… anything wrong or uncomfortable, please- please tell me.”

Danny kisses his way up to Sam’s face, giving him one final kiss on his lips before responding. “I will, I promise love.”

With this having eased all of Sam’s worries and concerns, he grins up at Danny before flipping their positions and finding a spot between his legs as he reaches for the lube. As he had seen Danny do many times before, he coats his fingers liberally before ducking his head down to the inside of his thighs, teasing him with nips and kisses as his middle finger circles Danny’s entrance.

He looks up at Danny through his lashes, making eye contact with him before asking, “Ready baby?”

He offers an eager “Mhm.” as his hips involuntarily grind down on Sam’s fingertip in anticipation.

Sam needs no other confirmation, before he presses his finger into Danny fully, relishing in the way his eyes screw shut in pleasure and his head falls back onto the pillow. He begins pumping his finger in and out in a steady pace, his lips finding the insides of Dannys thighs once more, both actions drawing a whine from him. Sam picks his pace up his pace causing Danny to groan, his hands fisting the sheets at his side.

“You ready for another, love?”

“Fuck- please yes, Sammy.”

Sam’s ring finger joins his middle on the next thrust in, the action followed by a breathy moan as Danny’s back arches off the bed. Sam savors each sound he makes and expression that passes across his face as he pumps and scissors his fingers in and out of the other man. Sam brings his lips to Danny’s stomach, peppering kisses across it as he brings his fingers together, curling them at the knuckles in hopes of finding the spot that Danny was so good at finding in Sam. After a few seconds, his attempts are fruitful as he feels Danny’s abdominal muscles flex as a string of curses and praise flood from his lips.

“OH SHIT- Fuck, Sammy baby, right there, keep going, FUCK, oh shit-“ Sam smiles against Danny’s stomach, continuing his movements inside Danny.

“Fuck- baby I’m so close- shit- I don’t- I don’t know how much longer I can last, love.” Danny groans.

“Want another or are you prepped enough?” Sam says against his stomach, his breath sending a shiver down Danny’s spine.

“I’m ready- I’m ready, baby.” Danny repeats. Sam removes his fingers, allowing Danny a second to catch his breath as he cleans off his hands and rips the condom wrapper open. As soon as he finishes putting it on, Danny pushes Sam down onto the bed, having grabbed the cowboy hat while Sam was distracted and replacing it on his head as he straddles him. Sam sits up, running his hands up Danny’s thighs, coming to a stop on his sides as he gazes up at the other man.

Sam checks in with Danny, “Still doing ok, love?”

Danny grins down at him, replying, “Couldn’t be more ok, Sammy.” before lining Sam up at his entrance and sinking down on his cock in one swift motion.

Both boys moan, their foreheads coming together as they pant, adjusting to the feeling of each other. Danny’s the first to move, bringing his hands to Sam’s shoulders as he lifts himself almost completely off of Sam, before bringing his body back down again. He continues his motions, quickening his pace as their breaths become erratic once more, interrupted by various moans and whines. Danny’s lips find Sam’s as he continues to ride him, their kisses messy and eager as they both head towards their climaxes. Sam’s right hand, still slightly slick with left over lube, moves to wrap around Danny’s cock, sliding up and down when he finds it. Danny moans into Sam’s mouth, biting down on his lower lip from the sudden added pleasure.

Despite the pain from the bite deliciously mixing with his pleasure, Sam tears his mouth away from Danny to gasp, “Fuck, baby I’m so close-“

Danny thrusts into Sam’s hand, changing his motions on Sam’s dick to grind against him, taking him deeper. “Cum for me baby. Fill me up.”

His words send Sam over the edge, his head falling forward as he moans, his left-hand gripping Danny’s hip with the other slightly squeezing Danny’s dick as he fills the condom inside him.

“Ah- shit-“ The added pressure sends Danny over the edge with him, his release coating Sam’s stomach as his nails dig into his shoulders.

They both ride their climaxes out, breathless as they come down from it. Danny lifts himself off of Sam, collapsing on his side next to the other man, his hat falling off his head and rolling onto the ground. Sam removes his condom, throwing it into the trash next to the bed and cleans his hand and stomach off with the still wet washcloth. He turns to Danny, still catching his breath as he lay on the bed and wipes the small amount of cum left leaking from the head of Danny’s dick off with the other side of the washcloth. Danny sucks in a sharp breath at the contact, overstimulated from his orgasm.

“Sorry love.” Sam says as he tosses the washcloth across the room in the direction of Danny’s laundry hamper before helping him under the covers, following suit soon after.

“S’ok. Thanks for handling the aftercare.”

Sam turns the bedside light off and leans down, kissing Danny’s forehead before pulling him close, wrapping his arms around his abdomen and tangling his legs with his own. “Of course, baby. You always take such good care of me after, it’s time I return that favor.”

Danny laughs lightly against Sam’s chest, already falling asleep from exhaustion as he nestles his face into the crook of Sam’s neck.

“Maybe I should do the riding more often.” He mumbles into Sam’s skin.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to that, Daniel.” Sam replies, quickly realizing his comment had fallen on deaf ears as Danny lightly snores, already asleep.

Sam buries his face in Danny’s hair, giving him one final gentle squeeze as he holds him, before joining his boyfriend in a deep, calm slumber.

————————————————————————

A/N: The bar that Bradley’s Honky Tonk is based off of is an actual bar in Nashville called Layla’s Honky Tonk, which I realized while writing this part that it is right across from Bridgestone Arena where Greta performed their first show of Starcatcher at.

All the songs mentioned, in chronological order:

Fancy- Reba McEntire

Cotton-Eye Joe- Rednex

Plastic Jesus- Tia Blake

Ophelia- The Lumineers

A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme- Goodnight, Texas

Our Song- Taylor Swift

Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)- Big & Rich

Girls- The Dare

Cleopatra- The Lumineers

Thanks again for reading :)

#fic #greta van fleet #greta van fleet fan fiction #gvf fic #greta van fluff #daniel gvf #greta van smut #gvf smut #sammy gvf #sanny gvf #cowboy sanny #cowboy danny #josh kiszka x oc #jake kiszka x oc

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jaytoons7 · 6 months

Text

Interrogation Rescue

Hehe finally wrote another fic based on a Discord convo I had with friends. This one has Scottie going through it for the millionth time.

Warnings: Implied torture, Implied abuse, Violence

Notes: The government are assholes in this (Except Charles, He's a real one), Scottie's found family is here to kick ass, Scottie has PTSD, I'm so sorry if I wrote anybody's OC ooc

Accordion and Violin belong to @bluetorchsky

Brutus Dan Gerbreaker and Gayle Fiesta belong to @smoresthehalloweenqueen

Danny Felizima belongs to @capturecharlesau

Nearby footsteps were moving…

That was the only sound Scottie could hear… Their arms were tied tightly behind a chair as they sat in a very dimly lit room. Or was it a tent? It didn’t matter. They knew that they were in the grasps of Galceforce’s wing of the government.

It all happened so fast. Scottie was dragged last minute into a raid, Much to their initial annoyance. Things quickly went downhill when they fought a bunch of government soldiers and quickly felt a sharp pain on the back of their head before things went black.

Everything after that was a blur to them. There were only flashes of pain as they were demanded to answer questions. Scottie doesn’t know how long it’s been since this started, But it felt like an eternity. Or maybe that was because they shut down during these interrogation sessions. Apparently the interrogators were on a lunch break right now, Which is why they weren’t here now.

It didn’t matter… After all, It wasn’t anything they weren’t used to. None of these scars and injuries are new. They spent the first 16 years of their life enduring this type of pain, They could do it again.

But then why did they feel so helpless…?

CRASH

“They’re here! I know they are!”

“Toppats! Don’t let them get to that tent!”

“So you DO have them! You won’t get away with this! NONE of you will!”

Outside of the tent Scottie was in, A group of Toppats were fighting the government soldiers. Jay meanwhile was looking desperately for Scottie. He soon saw someone with red headphones and launched themselves at him.

“W-Whoa!”

“Where’s Scottie!?”

“Scottie?” Charles thought for a second before realizing what Jay meant. “Oh! That Toppat chef?” He looked back and forth before pointing at a tent “They’re in that tent over there.”

Jay obviously had some suspicion. “Is this a trick?”

“No! No!” Charles put his hands up defensively. “Look, I had nothing to do with this! Apparently the general ordered to have any Toppat brought back interrogated! He didn’t even run this plan by me…”

Jay’s expression calmed down a bit before facing away for a second. “Accordion! Come here!” Charles' eyes widened as he saw the towering Toppat walk over. “O-Oh…”

“This guy says he knows where Scottie is.” Jay explained. “Can you stay close so he won’t pull anything tricky on us?” Accordion looked at Charles with a slight glare before nodding at Jay. “Of course Jay. He’s unfortunately the only lead we have right now it seems…”

Jay sighed before facing Charles again with fiery eyes. “Take us there, And don’t try anything!” Charles quickly nodded. “A-Alright sirs! J-Just follow me hehe!”

Charles made sure nobody else was watching before leading Jay and Accordion to the tent Scottie was being kept in. Scottie flinched a bit at the sudden light from the tent entrance opening.

“Scot!” Jay quickly ran over to the brutally injured Scottie. They quickly used his powers to burn the ropes. Unfortunately, Scottie was too weak to stand up and fell forward from the chair onto the floor.

Accordion quickly picked up Scottie and cradled them close. “J-Jay… O-Oliver…” Scottie managed to breathe out, Vision blurred at this point. “I-I’m s-sorry-” “No, Don’t apologize for this.” Accordion spoke up. “This wasn’t your fault, None of this was…” He hummed deeply, Causing them to calm down a bit.

Jay faced Charles with a confused look. “W-Why did you help us..?” “Like I said, The general never ran this plan by me.” Charles explained before looking down. “He can be harsh but this..? What was he hoping to gain..? It didn’t even work, They never gave us any information…”

There was an awkward silence for a second before Charles faced the two Toppats again. “You two need to leave. You got what you needed, And if you don’t you’ll be outnumbered.” “U-Understood.” Jay nodded before going to the front of the tent. “And thank you…” Charles only stayed silent as Jay and Accordion left the tent with Scottie in tow.

“Little Fox! A!” Ulle was in her dragon form flying above some unconscious soldiers. “Did you find them!?” “Yeah!” Jay nodded. “But they’re injured real bad! They did a real number on them…”

“Oh Shortcake…” Ulle looked at the barely conscious Scottie with worry. “I’ll get V to open us a Music Path! Meet us at the other side of the base! These soldiers are gonna get more intense when they realize you guys got their prisoner!” “Understood.” Accordion nodded. “I’ll keep Jay and Scottie safe. Please be careful Dazzling Fire…”

Ulle flew over to the other side of the base, Where some other Toppats were, Including Violin. “V! We found Scottie!” She landed next to him. “Them, As well as Jay and Accordion are on the other side of the base! It’s time to create a Music Path!”

“Are you sure they’ll make it Dragon Girl?” Brutus asked. “They’ll have to cross the whole base to make it!”

“I’m positive! Jay and Accordion know what they’re doing, And it’s too dangerous for us all to go across the base or for me to carry all three of them here! You’ll have to trust me!”

“I believe in you and them.” Violin gave Ulle a reassuring smile as he pulled out this instrument. “What I want you to do is make sure none of the soldiers can swarm them while I play. Can you do that, Pretty Comet?” Ulle nodded with determination. “You know it! I promise to make sure they’ll make it here safe!”

With that, Violin started playing.

On the other side of the base, Accordion and Jay heard the sound of a song played on a violin. “We need to move.” Accordion spoke. “A Music Path will be open soon.” “Don’t need to tell me twice!” Jay grinned. “Stay behind me, I’ll keep both you and Scottie safe so you can focus on protecting them!”

Jay ran forward and attacked any soldiers trying to come after them. Accordion followed close behind, Holding Scottie close.

Once they were halfway across the base, The song ended. A path was created and a portal with a metronome opened. “The portal!” Jay gasped. “We don’t have much time!” Accordion pointed out. “We need to move!”

Unfortunately, A bunch of government soldiers showed up. “They have the prisoner! Don’t let them escape!” Jay growled. With no choice, His eyes changed color as blue flames escaped them. The Blue Fox formed and picked up Accordion and Scottie. “Jay!” Accordion shouted in surprise.

“Go!” Jay’s voice echoed. “The portal will close any second!” The Blue Fox ran swiftly towards the portal. While Jay was focused on the fox, A soldier tried to attack them from behind.

Suddenly, Golden music notes suddenly attacked the soldier causing them to run off. Jay looked and saw Ulle landing closeby, Brutus and Gayle. “You scared the shit outta us Firefox!” Brutus half shouted. “We saw your fox thing zooming forward out of nowhere!” “Sorry.” Jay’s voice still echoed. “It has a mind of it’s own sometimes.”

“Alright gamers, Accordion and Scottie are about a quarter of the way there!” Gayle explained. “We should probably be joining them!” “We’ll get there! Just hold on, I see a LOT of soldiers ahead!” Ulle growled.

She took a deep breath before singing out and sending flaming meteorites flying towards the soldiers. The group used this opportunity to make it to the portal.

The Blue Fox zoomed into the portal while holding Accordion and Scottie. “We made it!” Ulle and Jay ran over. “The Music Portal’s about to close!” Violin stepped through. “Let’s leave!”

Jay’s eyes went back to normal. “F-Finally! Let’s go!” The rest of the Toppats went into the portal right as it closed.

Scottie’s eyes slowly opened, Flinching at the light above them. They noticed the bandages on them before wincing in pain. “Ugh…”

“You’re awake!” Scottie looked over and saw Jay and Ulle, Who both had tears in their eyes. “G-Guys..?” “You scared all of us!” Ulle sobbed. “We thought we lost you!” Scottie winced again as they sat up. “W-Where..?”

“You’re in the medbay.” Accordion finally spoke. “The government, They really showed you no mercy…” “O-Oh…” Scottie looked down at their hand. “I-I didn’t tell em anythin’... I-I zoned out through most of it…” Accordion looked at them concerned. “Zoned out?”

“I-It’s nothin’...” Scottie huffed. “Whatever they did to me, I’m used to it… I could go through it again if I had to…”

“No Scottie…” Accordion looked down. “You don’t ever have to go throught that again… You shouldn’t have to go through that again…” “He’s right!” Jay held Scottie’s hand. “You deserve better than that! You don’t deserve to be hurt like that!”

Tears formed in Scottie’s eyes. “I-I… I’m sorry… I-I never meant…” “D-Don’t apologize!” Jay shook his head. “Like Accordion said, None of this was your fault!” “H-How… How long did was I g-gone..?”

“Three days…” Ulle reluctantly answered. Scottie sat there quietly. Three days. Those were three whole painful days they would never get back. “I-I fuckin’ hate those assholes…” They noticed someone at the door. “Danny..?”

The Italian waiter flinched. “S-Scottie! I-I wasn’t eavesdropping I swear-” “I-It’s fine…” Scottie sighed. “I-I’m guessin’ I ain’t goin’ back to the kitchen for a while…”

“I-I’m afraid not. Reginald ordered that you stay rested until your injuries recover.”

“A-Ah… A-Are you sure you and Calypso can handle that..?”

“W-We’ll manage. Look, Whatever happened to you, You need to get your rest.”

“Exactly!” Ulle nodded. “But don’t worry! We’ll make sure to visit you the entire time!” “Yeah, And you’ll get to try out some delicious pastry recipes I wanna make!” Jay smiled. “Give em the Scottie taste test!”

Scottie sat quietly before more tears fell. “I… I love ye guys… Ya actually came to help me… A-And you still wanna help me… I-I don’t know what I’d do without ye guys…” “Of course.” Accordion gently placed a hand on their shoulder. “You’re family. Nobody hurts you and gets away with it.”

Scottie gave a small smile. They were part of a family that actually cared about them. A family that would risk so much to help them. And it was all they could ever hope for.

#the henry stickmin collection #thsc #thsc au #thsc oc #scottie anderson #jay benson #ulle meadows #thsc accordion #thsc violin #oliver arc #trent coil #brutus dan gerbreaker #gayle fiesta #danny felizima #charles calvin #jay writes

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risingwiththeheatabove · 1 year

Text

A Little Honey - Chapter 8 - Baby I’m Your’s

Pairing: Josh X Reader

Series list

Warnings for series: 18+, Alcoholism, toxic parents, domestic abuse, drug use, alcohol use, coarse language, angst, fluff, explicit sexual content, NSFW, smut, unprotected sex, fingering, oral, blood kink, praise kink, daddy kink, and probably so much more that I am forgetting.

Word Count 7K

A/N I apologize for this chapter taking so long. Life has been crazy, but I am so excited to finally get it out! I know I left y’all with a bit of a cliff hanger but I hope this chapter makes it up to you. She is a spicy one! As I have mentioned before I am doing a tag list for this series so comment below or send me a message if you would like to be included. Peace and love.

“Fuck, I am so sorry Honey. This was supposed to be our day. None of this should have happened.” He said unable to mask his own sadness. You had nothing left to say. Sitting there silently you decided to take Sam’s advice and just listen.

“Before I explain I need you to know none of this is your fault. Sam had no clue what he was fucking talking about. He caused this disaster not you!”

You were confused as to how any of this was Sam’s fault, but you remained listening. Hoping that somewhere in his explanation things would start to make sense.

“I was with Nora last night, but it is not at all what you think.” He paused taking your chin into his hand meeting his eyes with yours. “This is not how I wanted to do this. I wanted it to be romantic.” You looked at him completely disoriented by what he was saying. “Nora was helping me plan a surprise for you. I needed your work schedule and a few other things I couldn’t have asked you for with out tipping you off. I wanted to plan something special for you at the Vegas show.” He said with a nervous smile on his face.

You were frozen trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. “Why would Jake tell Sam you have been dating Nora?” You ask searching his eyes desperately for answers.

“That is a bit more complicated..”

February 14th - Valentines Day at the Studio

The boys had spent the first half of the day preparing set-lists and coordinating lighting and effects. Josh had been nervous all day thinking about what he was planning for you. The guys had picked up on his jitters. Josh admitted to having an important dinner planned with Nora, so the boys insisted they could finish the rest of the days tasks with out him. He jumped at the opportunity to leave.

Danny had similar nerves as he hadn’t planned anything for Valentines Day. He and Nora had been secretly dating over the past month and he was unsure as to how she would feel spending the holiday together. Airing on the side of caution he treated the day like any other. Throughout the day he feared he had made the wrong decision. Jake picked up on the unusually unsettled state of his brother from another mother.

“Are you doing okay dude?” Jake asked Danny.

“Yeah, just distracted I guess.” Danny responded shaking his head.

“Care to talk about it?” Jake offered as he took a set across from Danny.

“If I tell you, you have to keep in on the down low. Nobody knows yet, not even Y/N.”

“This has to do with Nora?” Jake quickly picked up on where the conversation was going.

“We have been… seeing each other. For about a month now.”

“Congrats man!”

“Thanks! Yeah I am pretty stoked! I just… I didn’t plan anything for Valentines Day. It felt too soon, but now I am second guessing myself.”

“Nora is a cool chick. I am sure she doesn’t mind. Plus it sounds like she is busy tonight helping Josh.”

“You are probably right… So he is really going to do it?” Danny asked in reference to Josh’s upcoming surprise Nora had informed him of.

“I think so! I have never seen him so in love. They deserve to be happy.” Jake said through a big grin, excited for his twin.

Jake and Danny meet up with Sam as they signed off on their individual documents approving tour details. Danny finished up first heading out for the night. Leaving Jake and Sam to close up the studio.

“What was up with him today?” Sam asked referring to Josh.

Jake mistook Sam’s question assuming he had been referring to Danny. “If I tell you, you have to keep it a secret!” Jake said shooting Sam a quizzical expression.

“Hey if there is one thing I can do, its keep a secret!” Sam said all too confidently.

“Him and Nora have been secretly dating for the past month.” Jake explained not knowing Sam would confuse the situation.

“No shit! How does Y/N feel about that?” Sam asked shocked by his brothers admission.

“She doesn’t know yet. No body does. They want to keep it a secret until they are ready.” Jake replayed.

“I didn’t see that one coming!” Sam exclaimed.

Jake confused by his brothers bewilderment shrugged him off and said his goodbyes for the evening.

February 15th 2022

Josh relays the conversations at the studio to you.

“Oh my god.” You say mortified by your contribution to the mess of the evening. “I am going to kill Sam!” You scream into the couch pillow.

Josh laughs at you, pulling the pillow down from your face. “Not before I do!” His fingers brush your hair off your skin and neatly tuck it behind your ear. Your face red with embarrassment about how far this misunderstanding escalated. “Can we kill him tomorrow? I think we have had enough fighting for one day.” He says followed by a lingering kiss on your forehead.

“Josh, I am so sorry…”

“Shhh it’s all okay.” He hums softly as he pulls your head to his chest. You release your weight on to him as his arms wrap around you.

“When Sam told me…” You paused trying to collect your thoughts. “I wasn’t thinking straight. I thought I was losing you.” Tears began to creep through your closed lids.

“Honey, I am yours… and if you ever want that to change you will have to pry me off with a crowbar.” He jokes as his hands begin to run through your hair.

“Things have just been so different lately. Nora has been distant and I thought I pushed her away. I felt like I was losing you both.” You nuzzle into his chest with your tears slowly finding his shirt. “You have been so busy, don’t get me wrong I am so happy for your success. I have just missed you. I have missed how things were.”

“I have missed you Honey, more than you know. This tour is going to be hard, but we will make it through. There is no doubt in my mind. All the prep is done so for the next month I am entirely yours.”

You wrap your arms around him holding on tightly as if he was going to disappear.

“I love you.” He offers as he places another kiss on top of your head.

Removing your head from his chest you look up to meet his gaze. Your swollen, and red eyes meet his. “I love you so much.” You say as he places his hand on your cheek wiping away tears with his thumb.

Just then you hear the front door open. Turning your head you look towards the entry way to see Nora come around the corner.

“I am going to kill Sam!” She says as she finds you on the couch, wrapping her arms around you as well.

“Get in line!” You chuckle as her apologetic eyes meet yours.

“Y/N I should never have kept things from you. I just didn’t want to shove my uncomplicated relationship in your face while… while you two figure out your relationship.” She said removing her arms from the group hug. Josh did the same as he shifted to get up.

“I will let you guys talk.” He said as he stood up, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I will pick you up in the morning and we can try again with our valentines festivities?” He asks as he walks towards the door.

“Third times the charm.” You say playfully. He blows you a kiss before walking out, closing it behind him.

Nora gets up to grab a glass of water for each of you. You join her at the table.

“Did you really think I would do that to you Y/N? Date Josh?” She asked with a furrowed brow.

“I wasn’t thinking. Nothing made sense and things have been so weird between us lately.” You say offering out a hand for her to hold. She apprehensively takes it into her own. “I am sorry if I have pushed you away. I should have made more time for you.”

“After you left me at the bar, I felt I don’t know… like you replaced me. I was having a hard time with the idea of you having a new partner in crime. I see how happy Josh makes you and I want you to be happy. You deserve to be happy! I just miss my big sister.” She said looking down at the table as if she was embarrassed to admit her feelings.

You place your other hand on top of hers and offer a light squeeze. “No one could ever replace you Nora. You are my ride or die! I am so sorry I made you feel that way.”

“I am sorry I didn’t tell you about Danny.” She said keeping her gaze downward.

“I would have been happy for you! I am happy for you.You could have told me you know?”

“The last month went by so fast. I didn’t know how to casually slip that into conversation. Especially when I was seeing you so infrequently.”

“Well I guess Sam took care of that one for ya!” You said as you both laughed at the events of the day. “I have missed you Nora.”

“I have missed you.” She said offering another squeeze to your hand. “Also I would never date Josh. I would never do that to you! Plus I don’t date short guys!” She said laughing at her own joke. You couldn’t help but giggle.

You continue to catch up with her. Grabbing the remaining bottle of wine from the fridge you settle in on the couch and discuss Nora’s new relationship. She explains that Danny asked her out on a date while they were at his birthday Dinner. Since then they had gone on several dates. Nothing was official just yet, but it may as well have been. You both finished off the bottle and joked about all of the ways you could get back at Sam for causing this shit show. Eventually growing tried you parted ways to go to bed.

“Come here!” You held out grabby hands as you motioned for her to hug you as both stood from the couch. She accepted swallowing you in to her tall frame.

“When ever you get done playing house with Josh we should plan a camping trip. We haven’t done one in a while.”

“I’d love that. When the boys are off on tour it will be like old times around here!” You said looking forward to spending more time with her.

“Has your big surprise been ruined?” She asked with a quizzical look on her face.

“Not entirely! All I know is it has to do with the Vegas show. Thank you for helping him with that by the way.” You say as you walk towards your room.

“It’s my pleasure! That boy sure loves you.” She says before closing the door to hers.

You smile as you slide into bed thinking about your lover boy and what surprises he has in store for you.

The next morning you wake up to the smell of bacon, eggs and coffee drifting in from the kitchen. Slowly peeling yourself from your bed you make your way to the kitchen grabbing a blanket to wrap up in.

“Need any help?” You ask rubbing the sleep from your eyes.

“Are you awake enough to be on toast duty?” Nora pokes. She was already dressed and ready for the day. Unlike yourself who hadn’t even put pants on yet.

“I think I can manage!” You jest back in a sassy tone, pouring yourself a cup of coffee. Placing a few slices of bread in the toaster you walk over to the table to sit down.

“When is Josh supposed to be here?” She asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” You shrug your shoulders as you take a sip from your warm mug.

Before she could respond the front door opened. Josh stepped through the threshold with a tray of coffee in one hand and a bag of food in the other. Kicking the door shut behind him with his foot, he walked toward the kitchen. He had on his usual white tee with mala bead, his light washed jeans and white vans. I sight to behold no matter how many times you had seen it.

“Speak of the devil!” Nora said lightheartedly.

“Love you too Nora.” Josh popped back. “Well shit! I thought I would treat you ladies to breakfast.” He say defeated placing the food on the counter. “Is something burning?”

“SHIT, the toast!” You run over to the toaster to find a plume of smoke pouring out of the top. Quickly turning it off you find 3 black pieces of what was once bread. Josh and Nora laugh as you show them the damage.

“You had one job!” Nora teased. “You didn’t happen to bring toast?” She asked Josh.

“The French kind!” He said pointing a finger into the air all to excited to unpack the goodies from the brown bag. French toast with berries and fresh whipped cream.

You help him place the food and coffee on the table while Nora brings over the bacon and eggs. He pulls you in to his arms still wrapped in your blanket. Your arms snake around his waist as your face meets his for a kiss. His velvet lips taste of coffee and sugar. He pinches at your sides attempting to tickle you. You squirm away and find your seat at the table with Nora, he follows joining you.

“This looks absolutely divine! Thank you both!” You say as you dig in.

“Josh saved the day!” Nora exclaimed.

Josh gasped. “A compliment from Nora?! Do my ears deceive me?” He said as he leaned back in playful shock.

“Don’t get used to it!” She popped back. “I don’t know how you tolerate him sometimes!” She said directed towards you.

“Will you two stop it! You are the two people I love the most in this world. Would it kill you to get along?” You ask.

“YES!” They say in unison. You all break out into laughter.

After you all finish eating Nora insists on cleaning up so you and Josh could leave before traffic picks up. Your bags were still sitting in the hallway packed up so you slip on a pair of denim shorts and brush your hair before getting in the Jeep. Josh climbs in the drivers side placing a hand on your bare thigh as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Jake is out of town until Sunday so the house is ours for the next four days.” He said with a devious smirk on his face.

“Whatever will we do with all of that time?” You tease reaching over to run your fingers through is curls. Finding a spot on the back of his head near his neck. You offer a playful tug causing him to bite his bottom lip.

“Mama...” He say through a little moan.

“Sugar you know what that does to me.” You said referring to the nickname he reserves for intimate moments.

“Trust me Mama, I know.” He says all to pleased with himself. His hand travels higher up your thigh gripping tighter around your flesh. “I would hate to ruin those panties, they are my favorite.”

“We can buy more.” You hum climbing over the console to place soft kisses along his neck.

His hand moves from your thigh to your cheek. His thumb brushing your lips. He presses in slightly as you suck his thumb into your mouth.

“I need you to be a good girl for me until we get home. Can you do that?” He says looking at you with nothing but lust as his thumb sits in your mouth. You nod your head yes as he pulls his thumb out. “That’s my girl.” He says placing a kiss on your hand.

You sit back in your seat letting out a small huff and crossing your arms. Josh chuckled at your theatrics. You continued your flirtatious tantrum until you pulled into the drive way. As Josh unbuckled you grabbed his arm before he could open the door.

“Leave the bags.” You said as you hopped out and ran towards the door with a frisky pep in your step. He also ran following you through the door. Throwing off your shirt as you fast step towards the bedroom. He trails close behind until he catches up pushing you against the wall his lips meet yours.

“I said be good.” He teased in-between kisses. His tone drunk with desire.

“You said be good until we get home…” You say before his lips meet your again. “We are home now and I can be as bad as I want to.” He quickly removes his shirt and you pull on the button of his jeans.

“Shower. Now.” He says leaning over you with his hand pointing towards the bathroom.

“Yes sir.” You bite flirtatiously as you skip off to the bathroom. His hand meeting your ass with a quick swat.

You undress and turn on the water waiting for him to join you. Music fills the air as Josh puts on your favorite record before returning to the bathroom in just his jeans. With the water now warm you step under and watch him undress.

“Enjoying the show?” He ask cocking an eyebrow at you.

“Very much so!” You chirp back opening the curtain further for him to join you.

He gets in and pulling you into a tight hug and dragging you under the water with him. You both laugh as the water sprays you in the face. With your eyes closed you find his lips again welcoming in his warm tongue. Still tasting just as sweet as it did earlier in that morning. His hands travel down exploring your breasts, and passing over your curves before he moves one down to your core. Your breath catches as he works his fingers between your folds.

“Such a good girl, so wet for me.” He says before moving his lips to your neck. His forefinger finds your swollen bud circling it slowly he teases you.

“Josh..” You moan.

“Yes Mama?” He hums into your neck. With out having to respond he new what you wanted. He tapped your thigh signaling he was going to pick you up. With one smooth motion he had your thighs in his hands and your back pushed against the shower wall. His tongue finding your nipple he bites at it lightly sending electricity through your core. His pulsating cock was pressed against you teasing you with every small movement. You reached down directing it into your entrance. Josh threw his head back as he bottomed out inside of you. “Fuck..” Slipped past his lips as his gaze returned to you. “You feel so good Mama, whose perfect pussy is that?”

“It’s your Josh.” You say through your moans.

“That’s right, its all mine.” He begins to thrust into you faster. Your back lightly smacking the wet tile with each motion. A string of moans and cursing escape your lips as you grow closer to your climax. Josh pulls out lowering you to your feet. “Not yet Mama, I wanna taste it. I want you to cum on my face.” You brace yourself as he pulls your thighs apart with his hands and buries his face in your center. His tongue making quick work on your clit as his fingers enter you curling just right. Your hands fly down to his hair desperately looking for something to hold on to as your orgasm washes over you. His tongue laps up your slick slowly as you come down from you high. Pulling him back up to you by his hair, he meets you with a devilish smirk. Spinning him around quickly you push his back against the wall. Lowering to your knees you look up at him. His hand finding your chin, he lightly strokes your cheek with his thumb. You place sloppy kisses on his lower abdomen causing him to twitch under your touch.

“Honey.” He moans as your tongue meets the head of his cock. Teasing the tip you lick down to the base taking his balls in your hand. His hands find the back of your head begging for me. “I need it Mama.”

“I love it when you beg baby.” You hum as you take him into your mouth.

“Fuck Mama I don’t know what’s better, your mouth or your pussy.” He says biting his lower lip. His eyes threatening to close as his head falls back once more.

“Look at me while I swallow you down. Who is your good girl?” You say through little licks to his shaft.

“You are Mama. Taking in every inch and begging for more. You are such a good girl for me. So pretty with my cock in your mouth.” He watches as you take him back in. Feeling him beginning to reach his climax, you pick us the pace as you work him through.

“Y/N…” He moans as his warm cum pours down your throat. Swallowing each drop as if it were honey. Releasing him from your mouth you pepper kisses up his body before meeting his lips once more. The water had since turned cold both of you too busy to notice. Josh turned off the water and reached out grabbing a towel off of the rack. He wrapped it around you before grabbing one for himself. Draping it low on his hips he steps out offering you a hand behind him. You accept as you walk toward the sink. He picks you up causing you to giggle before setting you down on the counter. He bites at your neck playfully as you swing your legs around him. “I love you.” He says kissing your cheek.

“I know.” You tease as he threatens to pick you up again. “Okay okay I love you too.” You say through laughter.

“What do you want to do today?” He asks as he slips back into his clothes.

“I was pretty happy with what we were doing.” You say in a flirty tone.

“We will have plenty of time for that Honey.” He responded offering you another kiss before walking into the bedroom to find his shirt.

Defeated you hop down and join him in the bedroom. Searching through his things for something to wear. Finding your shorts and a one of his shirts. to throw on.

“How does some lunch and a movie sound?” He asks grabbing your hand and leading you toward the kitchen. “I have this new India dish I have been wanting to try.”

“Ohh I love it when my man cooks for me.” You say taking a seat at the counter.

Josh prepared lunch while you picked out a movie. The record he put on earlier had ended so you put on some Elvis hits to dance to with him. You helped chop, but mainly distracted him as you danced around the kitchen in circles. Occasionally he offered a few of his own moves resembling the ones he used on stage. Somehow he finished the meal despite your wonderfully distracting performance. Hungry from your earlier activities you both inhaled the deliciousness in front of you. Josh cleaned up while you brought in your bags from the car. Taking the record off as you returned inside. Then finding a spot to cuddle up on the couch. After finishing in the kitchen he joined you snuggling into the space between your legs resting his head on your stomach.

“What did you pick?” He asked.

“It felt like a Star Wars Day!” You said pressing play.

“Ohhh A New Hope good choice.” He said cheerfully.

You hummed pleased with yourself. Settling in you began to softly play with his hair. About half way through you heard soft snoring coming from Josh. You laughed as you closed your own eyes to join him for a nap. A few hours or so must have pasted before you were woken up by a frantic Josh looking for his phone. “Honey get up! We are running late!” He said looking up from his phone screen.

“Since when did you care about being late?” You laugh as you sit up. “What are we even late for?”

“I made dinner reservations for 6 and its 5:30!” He said rushing into the bedroom. You follow him still laughing at his nervous behavior. You find him in the closet pulling a dress from the rack. It was a little black dress, satin with a plunging neck line and silver rhinestone embellishments. He hands it to you with a pair of black strappy heels.

“Josh…” Slips through your lips in a whisper as you look at him in elated shock. “It’s beautiful!” You said in a whispered yell. “Is this for tonight? Where are we going?” You ask as you strip off your outfit from earlier.

“You will see just get ready!” He laughs at your eager excitement. “Quickly!”

You slip the dress on as he watches longingly. He offers a hand in zipping up the back before you run into the bathroom to do your hair and make up. He changes into a pair of khakis and loafers, replacing his long sleeve shirt with a form fitting charcoal turtle neck. The most dressed up you had ever seen him. You style your hair down and quickly apply some minimal make up. Adding a red lip to spice it up a bit. Strapping up your heels you step out of the bathroom to find Josh stroking his chin hairs in anticipation. The dress was pretty short showing off your legs. You place a foot on the bed next you Josh. He places a soft kiss on the inside of your thigh before his eyes catch on your center.

“I am surprised you didn’t ruin them earlier.” He says referring to your satin underwear he deemed his favorite. “You look absolutely stunning Mama.” He said standing up placing kisses up your arm.

“I thought we were in a hurry?” You tease.

“There is always enough time to admire my Honey.” He says as he pecks your cheek. “But we are really fucking late so we should probably go!”

You rush to the Jeep and He drives you too a 5-star restaurant on the lakeside.

“Josh this seems really expensive.” You said feeling uncomfortable with how much money he was about to spend on you.

“You deserve it.” He said offering you hand to slide out of the Jeep. His other hand meeting the small of your back and leading you in through the entrance. The restaurant was dimly lit with warm candle lighting at each table. It was private and quiet despite all of the tables being full. Josh checks in at the front desk and the hostess guided you to a table next to a large window looking out over the water. The lights and the stars reflected off of its surface, dancing in the waves. He pulled out your chair as you took in the view. Sitting down he pushed you in before taking his seat across the table. “Do you like it?” He said nervously.

“This is amazing. You are amazing.” You said taking his hand in yours.

Your touch helping him to relax some. “Hopefully this makes up for the last two days?” He asked scratching his head.

“And then some!” You say as the waiter comes over to take your drink order. Josh orders a glass of wine for each of you.

“So as you know we have our show in Vegas next week opening for Metallica.”

You nod as a smile creeps up on your face.

“I have already ran it by Debbie and she covered all of your shifts. That is if you want to join us for the weekend.”

“No I think I will stay in Nashville and work instead.” You say sarcastically. “Are you fucking kidding me?! Of course I want to go to Vegas with my best friends, sister and lover boy!” He laughs at your excitement.

“We have tickets to fly out Wednesday night the show is on Friday so we have sometime to find trouble in sin city.” He said regaining his confidence shooting you a wink.

Your wine is served and you both order your meals. While you wait Josh takes it upon himself to show you the empty patio area. He leads you out onto the wooden walkway. Holding tightly around your waist you find a spot on the railing to look out over the water. He tells you about the plans for the big weekend in Vegas as you run little circles over his hand with your finger. The soft lights glow off of his rosy cheeks and his eyes look almost black as they stare back at you. You can see through the window that the food is being placed at the table. He leads you back inside still wrapped snuggly around you.

“Jake and Jita recommended this place so if the food sucks we can blame them.” He joked as you both dug into your entrees.

“Mmmmm.” You cooed as you took your first bite.

“You are too cute Honey.” He chuckled, causing you to blush.

“Ooo that’s not what you called me earlier.” You jested with a suggestive smirk on your face.

“Dirty talk, in public Mama?” He said with lust filling his voice.

You brush your leg against his. “What are you going to do about it Sugar?”

“Does Mama want it a little rough tonight?” He purred just above a whisper. You rubbed your thighs together looking for friction as you bit your bottom lip. “At this rate you will definitely have those panties ruined before we even have dessert.”

“I’ve got your dessert and you can take it to go.” You flash him a wink.

He chuckles at your cheesy line but loves every second of it. Reaching a hand under the table to brush your knee.

“I have a surprise for you when we get home.” He said squeezing your thigh before returning his hand to the table. You wiggle in your seat at the loss of contact. “You are acting like you didn’t just cum on my face hours ago.” He continued to laugh at your antics.

“Excuse me?” You hear an unfamiliar apprehensive voice behind you. Josh’s face grew beet red as as he saw the young woman approach the table. You couldn’t help but laugh at his flustered appearance. “Are you Josh? From Greta Van Fleet?”

“Why yes, yes he is!” You answer attempting to hold back your laughter. He kicked you lightly under the table.

“Hi! Dear what is your name?” He said trying his best to compose himself.

“Ashley!” She squealed as he got out her phone. “I am sorry to bug you while you are at dinner but do you mind taking a picture with me?”

“Of course not, Honey will you be our photographer?”

“Always Sugar.” You say taking the phone from the young woman. You stand up from your seat to take the photo.

“You are gorgeous!” She says nervously referring to you.

“Isn’t she?” Josh agreed enthusiastically as he posed for the picture. You snap a few before handing the phone back for her to review.

“These are perfect! Thank you so much!” She said hugging her phone tightly to her chest.

“Thank you! It was lovely to meet you Ashley!” He said as he retook his seat. Still blushing from the embarrassment of what the poor fan may have heard come from his mouth as she approached. As Ashley walked back to her own table you broke out in laughter. “It is not funny!” Josh said laughing through his scolding tone. “Do you think she heard me?” He asked slightly mortified.

“Definitely.” You snort you laugh so hard. Causing him to let out a belly roll of a laughter. “That will be on twitter later.” You add.

“Shit.” He said throwing his face into his hands. “Do you want to just leave?”

“Oh no you were insistent that we stay for dessert!” You teased as you both finished your meals.

Your server returned. “Would you like to see the dessert menu?” He asked.

“No.” Josh said but you interrupted him

“We would love to.” You said with a playful smirk. He handed you the menu as you read it painfully slow. “Mmmm chocolate lava cake, crème brûlée… raspberry gelato.” You read off as your hand snakes under the table brushing his thigh. “What sounds good to you Sugar?”

He bites his lip and smiles, shaking his head at your teasing. “Whatever you want Mama.” He coos back.

“I think one of each… to go.” You smack his thigh before returning the menu to the waiter and placing your order.

Josh’s leg begins to bounce out of impatience as you wait for the bill. It only takes a few minutes for them to bring over the wrapped up desserts and check. Josh throws down a lump of cash with out even looking at the ticket. Grabbing the bag of goodies with one hand his other hand finds your waist once more as you exit the restaurant. Once through the doors he places a hand firmly on your ass, squeezing with a frisky force. You both practically run to the car, giggling with anticipation. As soon as he climbs in the drivers seat he meets you for a heated kiss. You crawl in to the back seat and he looks at you inquisitively.

“Here?” He asks turned on by your boldness.

“Get back here before I change my mind.”

He makes quick work of joining you as you shimmy off your satin panties. Now completely soaked through with your slick. Josh grabs them shoving them in his pocket.

“These are mine now. A memento for lonely tour nights.” He says with a grin, undoing his khaki pants.

You push his chest back until he is seated in front of you. You climb into his lap, straddling his legs with yours. He works his pants down just far enough to get the job done. He collects your arousal with his fingers and coats his shaft with it before lining up with your entrance. His eyes meet your for consent. You nod as you lower your hips down onto him. You feel him filling you up to the brim. He places messy kisses along your chest as you begin riding him. He pulls your dress up over your ass fully exposing it. His hands each grabbing at your cheeks, he helps conduct the rhythm. Soft moans fill up the small space as the windows fogged over.

“Fuck Mama I am not going to last long.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Cum for me Baby. Show me how good I make you feel.” You say tugging lightly at his hair. Causing a louder moan to escape his lips. You pick up speed as you ride him.

“Y/N…” He said as you felt his warmth fill you. He always said your name when he came, never a nickname.

You sat there leaning your forehead against his as you both caught your breath.

“Are you going to be able to drive home?” You teased as you climb off of him and back into the passenger seat. He followed behind still catching his breath.

“It’s a shame I am going to have to take that dress off of you when we get home.”

“Mmmm I’ll remember what it does to you, I can capitalize on that in the future.” You flirtatiously jest back.

His tongue sneaks out passed his lips as he grins deviously.

The drive home was fortunately very short. Josh fumbled with the keys as he attempted to unlock the door. Eventually getting it open you ran inside to secure the desserts in the kitchen. Just as you closed the fridge for Josh had your wrist in his hand guiding you to the bedroom.

“Leave it on for just a bit longer.” He said referring to your dress. Sitting you down on the bed he walked over to the dresser, grabbing a few things out of the top drawer. “Close your eyes.” He instructed. You did as he asked. You felt a silk fabric cover your eyelids and that he knotted at the back of your head. “Do you trust me Honey?”

“I trust you Josh.” You say as you feel his soft lips meet yours for a sweet kiss.

“Lay back with your hands over your head Mama.” You do as he says. You feel similar silk ties wrap your wrists together. “You are such a good girl.” He offered praises as he secured them. “Honey, if at any point you want me to stop just say so. Green, yellow, red, got it?”

“Green Baby. Very green.”

His hands trail down from your thighs to your ankles. Delicately undoing each of your heels and removing them. His touch disappears for a minute and you wiggle with a need for it to return. Just as you are about to speak you feel a cool silicon object touch your skin.

“Joshie you bought me a toy?” You tease all too excited.

“Just a little something to have while I am away.” You feel his weight crawl onto the bed next to you. His lips dance along your neck as he turns the vibrator on moving it closer to your center. “I want to watch you play with yourself in that dress, but right now its my turn.” He says as the toy finds your swollen clit. He flicks it on for just a second warming you up. Your legs squirm longing for more. He doesn’t make you wait any longer. Turning it back on he runs the toy along your sensitive bud. You find yourself holding you breath chasing your release. His other hand comes up to your throat.

“Green!” You say so quickly you were almost embarrassed. He hums at your eager excitement as his hands wrap around applying pressure to just the sides. “Baby don’t stop… I am going to…” Just as your orgasms threatens to slip over he shuts the vibrator off.

“Does my good girl want to cum?” He teased.

“Please Sugar, please I need it. I was so good earlier.” You beg in a helpless tone.

“Let me watch you Mama.” He says as he unties your hands, and the blindfold. He gives you the vibrator as he walks over to a chair that is in the corner of the room. He pulls it closer to the bed before taking a seat. You inch up the bed toward the headboard, pulling the bottom of your dress up slightly for better access. You spread your legs in front of him, planting your feet on the mattress with your knees bent. You grab the toy and run it through your arousal. Teasing yourself you bite your lip, locking eyes with him as you turn on the vibrator. He leans over the edge, placing his elbow on the bed and his chin in his hand. A lust filled grin grows across his face as he watches you bring your self to orgasm. It doesn’t take long, with in a few minutes your legs are shaking and the air is catching in your chest as you let go. Leaving the vibrating silicone pressed against your clit you feel a second wave of electricity pass over your body. Your toes curl as you throw your head back involuntarily. A large volume of wetness is felt between your legs as you come back to the moment. Turning off the device and setting it to the side your eyes meet his once more. Josh’s facial expression is one of pure astonishment. “That was fucking hot.” He says pulling off his turtle neck and crawling on top of you. “I will replay that in my head every night that I am away from you.” He says placing love bites down your neck and chest.

“I am not going to be able to walk by the end of the weekend, am I?” You tease.

“That’s the plan.” He hums seductively into your neck. His arms reach under you undoing the zipper of your dress. He takes his time pulling it off of you. Exposing inch by inch as he follows behind the dress with wet kisses and licks. Starting at your breasts, passing over your stomach, your hips, thighs, calves and even placing a gentle kiss on the top of your foot as he finishes pull the dress off. “I will never get tired of seeing you naked.” He said standing at the edge of the bed pausing for a few moments to take you in. You crawl over to the edge of the bed, popping onto your knees you wrap your arms around his neck as you lean in for a kiss. His hands find your ass once more.

“Ready for round three?” You whisper into his ear followed by a nip to his pierced ear lobe.

“Have mercy, Mama.” He chaffed in his desire filled tone.

Tag list: @jessicafg03 @gretnavannfleet @dammittjanet @shesawomaninadream

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samgirl98 · 1 year

Text

Cain and Abel Wept 12/?

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Kudos to everyone who guessed right on who had gone to, ahem, visit the Fentons. Enjoy!

Dick never saw the attack coming, but he sure felt it. He didn’t even have time to get his escrima sticks when he felt a staff hitting his knees and sweeping him off his feet. He fell from the roof, and only years of experience had him rolling and landing on his feet instead of his face.

Dick got up into a defensive position only to come face-to-face with Jazz Fenton twirling a white staff with green accents. He didn’t even have a chance to blink before she attacked again. Only his well-honed instincts had him drawing his escrima sticks and stopping the staff.

“Wait, it’s me, Nightwing. I’m here to make sure everything is fine.”

A chill ran down Dick’s spine at Jazz’s cold stare, “Funny; I don’t remember any of us calling you for help or asking you to come over.”

Dick blinked, and the next thing he knew, he was staring at the night sky. Jazz’s face soon replaced it.

“Ever heard of boundaries, Nightwing? I understand you feel a need to take care of your family but focus on your family if you want to fulfill your elder daughter syndrome and leave me and my family alone.”

“What,” he asked, confused.

Jazz looked at him thoughtfully while twirling her staff.

“Does Batman know you’re here? Does Damian? Or did you decide to make an executive decision to come spy on us by yourself?”

“I’m not spying,” he said defensively.

“Lurking, then,” Jazz replied impatiently.

Dick felt angry, “I’m not lurking, either.”

“Touched a nerve, did we? Well, I’m just calling it how I see it, dick.”

“No names on the field,” he said automatically. Jazz raised an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry I gave you the impression I was saying your name, dick.”

This time, the emphasis on the word told him precisely what she meant. Jazz put the end of her staff under Dick’s chin before he could move.

“I’ll ask you one more time, what are you doing here?”

“I already told you; I wanted to make sure you guys were all right. It’s not my fault you decided to attack without provocation.”

Dick flinched as the staff hit the ground right by his face; the bits of rocks left a little cut on his cheek.

“Stop lying. Did Damian send you?”

“What? No,” Dick didn’t want the progress Damian had made with Danny to go down the drain just because Dick couldn’t contain his curiosity.

Jazz let Dick get up, but before he could put the escrima sticks away (which were only still in his hands due to experience and nothing else), she attacked.

“Where I come from,” she said casually, “we tend to greet each other through sparring. So then, Nightwing, show me what you got.”

“Wait, I don’t want to fight!”

“Really, well, you said you were here to make sure we were fine. If you can’t beat me, then there was no point in you coming here, now, is there?”

Dick dodged a hit to the face just to get hit on his right shoulder. Even though he didn’t want to fight, he knew Jazz would keep attacking, so he went on the offensive. He feinted with a hit to her stomach with his left escrima stick but then went to hit her arm with the right one; she saw right through it.

They went apart, circling each other, looking for an opening. Jazz’s eyes seemed to glow in the dark.

She attacked again, but without the staff. She threw a punch at his face, but he saw that she was going for his leg. He backflipped away. Somehow, Jazz knew what he would do because just as he landed on his feet, she was behind him, getting him by the shoulder she had hit him on earlier, and judo flipped him onto his back.

“How are you so fast,” he asked breathlessly as he got up again. She didn’t answer and continued the attack, not letting him catch his breath.

“Ghosts don’t need to breathe. They’re faster than humans, and if you stop to think and don’t react, you can end up being thrown through a wall,” Jazz explained calmly before attacking again.

This time she went for a kick to his gut which he could stop; he couldn’t stop the staff from hitting his leg. Then it hit his inner thigh (a little too close to the groin area for comfort.) He was able to punch her on her shoulder and then sweep her off her feet, but as she went down, she hooked her leg around his and brought him down with her.

He didn’t have time to process what had happened before she was back on her feet and ready to strike him. Dick got her staff and threw it away, leaving her weaponless. Jazz punched his nose and then his solar plexus. He coughed hard but could once again sweep her off her feet before putting his left foot on her stomach. Jazz didn’t seem to think but got his foot and twisted it hard.

“Aww,” he got his foot off her, and she got up. She still wasn’t breathing hard. What was she made of?

“Still think we need protection? Just so you know, of the four of us, I’m the least skilled. My mom is a ninth-degree black belt that can kick any human’s or ghost’s ass. My dad is a tank that can literally Kool-Aid man his way through any wall, and Danny is the literal Ghost King, almost a god.”

“So, don’t insult my intelligence and tell me why you’re really here, or there’s gonna be a round two. And unlike you, I have no problem hurting you.”

Dick thought about it for a second; he had been holding back, and he doubted he’d be able to go all out on her for fear of hurting her. Jazz didn’t have the same reservations.

“I suggest you do what she wants, dude, before she comes out with her Xena impression and takes out the nine-of-tail whip,” a voice said out of nowhere.

Jazz scowled, “Danny, don’t use your powers unless you have to.”

Danny appeared in front of the two of them, eating popcorn, of all things.

“You should be asleep.”

“Come on, Jazz; it’s not every day I get to see you beat the crap out of a hero.”

“She didn’t beat the crap out of me,” Dick defended himself.

Danny turned to him, “It was close. Besides, you’re the one with a bleeding nose, busted lip, and limping while she seems fine.”

Dick frowned as he wiped his face. It was sticky. Okay, so she had gotten a few lucky shots, but still, she didn’t beat the crap out of him.

“So, then, why are you here? And I suggest you answer, or I call Dami right now.”

Dick’s eyes widened a bit before he began talking, “I wanted to meet you, one on one, but had no idea how to. Damian seemed a bit out of it when he returned home today. He didn’t even want to patrol. I wanted to know what you told him.”

Danny raised an eyebrow, “If Dami wanted you to know what we talked about, he would’ve told you. I suggest you take your cue from him and don’t disturb us again. You’re already on the short end of the list with me. I don’t appreciate people who don’t respect my boundaries.”

Danny turned around and walked back into the house.

“Oh, and I suggest you tell Damian you came here without telling him before I do. I’ll give you until tomorrow.”

He disappeared into the house.

Jazz put away her staff (somehow shrinking it) before walking away from him.

“If you ever want a rematch, call me before you come here,” she walked toward the door before turning back, “Oh, and tell, Tim, was it? Tell Tim to stop trying to spy on us with his bugs. We know how to find them and destroy them. You guys really need to learn how to respect other people’s decisions.”

She followed Danny into the house, leaving Dick alone.

Fuck, Damian was going to kill him.

____

Tim finally had time to go through the security footage from the bugs he had planted in the safe house. It’s not that he didn’t trust Bruce’s judgment. It’s just that Tim liked to do his own research.

As his laptop was booting up, he thought back to Damian.

The demon brat had been strangely quiet and solemn when he had returned. He was cranky, as usual, but his insults lacked their usual bite. Tim wanted to know what Danny had told him.

Damian may be a demon in a kid’s clothing, but he was still his younger brother, and Tim had no idea how to help his emotionally constipated sibling. (Tim was unaware he was also in the same boat as Damian regarding emotions.)

What worried Tim the most was when Damian refused to go on patrol with them, leaving Red Robin with an unusually high-energized Red Hood.

(Jason also refused to tell him what had happened during the two siblings' meetings.)

And dammit, Tim was curious. He wanted, no, needed to know what had happened.

(He was about to regret it.)

When his laptop was fully booted up, he opened the first file.

(Mistake.)

Tim could’ve done it on the Bat Computer, but Bruce had forbidden them from spying monitoring on the Fentons.

When the first file opened up, an error message popped up.

“What the hell?”

Tim used a code he had invented to get over the error message and tried to get to the juicy bits.

(His second mistake.)

Suddenly flashing lights and loud noises started sounding through the earphones. He took them off quickly but could hear a loud voice saying: ‘Error, error, too fine Pharoah says turn back, error, error.’

Instead of listening to the warning, Tim decided to push through it. He needed those files. What were the Fentons hiding?

Tim used a virus of his own meant to destroy other viruses when another warning flashed through.

‘Error, error, too fine Pharoah virus has been activated. T-minus ten seconds remain before the computer self-destructs. Nine, eight, seven…’

Tim tried to turn off the laptop to save it, but it was useless. The laptop’s screen went blank before it made a mini-explosion.

Fuck, how was he going to explain this?

____

Danny texted Bruce. He had told Dick he would give him a chance to tell Damian the truth but never said he wouldn’t tell their Batdad. It wasn’t fair, and they deserved their privacy.

He got a message right away:

BRUCE: Thank you for letting me know, Danny. I will fix this right away.

ME: Thank you. I hope this gets resolved soon. I don’t like having my haunt disrespected, even if it is a temporary one.

BRUCE: No, I understand. I will talk to the boys and the rest of the family. I will make sure this doesn’t happen again. Please don’t hold this against Damian.

ME: I don’t. I’ll talk to you both soon.

Danny put away his phone and grinned. He kinda wished he could be there to see the fallout of Dick’s and Tim’s invasion of privacy.

Danny’s grin grew a bit inhuman at the thought, and he went to sleep with it decorating his face.

So fun fact, I was going to put the Tim part next chapter, but it fits so well here that I just had to. Now up to you lovelies; should I write Bruce scolding the kids, or should that just be implied. I ask because this was absolutely indulgent on my part and I don't want to deviate too much from the plot. However, I think it would be funny. Let me know

@spectralstardustandphantomnights @avelnfear @idfk-man10 @blackroserelina @candeartist422 @luer-mirin @mur-ururu @insufferablecrab @skulld3mort-1fan @meira-3919 @aethernorwood @mimilikey @marshmelloe @latheevening226 @ahyesanerd @lexdamo @chrysanthemum9484 @spooky-fm @gmkelz11 @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair @supershot73199 @starscreamlover @booberrylizard

#cain and abel wept #dc x dp #dp x dc #dc x dp fic

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twoidiotwriters1 · 3 months

Text

The Curse of Oenone (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: Love is real I invented it -Danny Words: 2,241 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter // Next Chapter Listen to: 'Crumbs' -by Belaganas

VIII: Somebody Sedate Me!

Ara is looking at her reflection in the mirror with tension. What was that outburst she had with Percy? It's like he and Lily pull a trigger in her that she's yet to find.

She wants them to be proud of what she's accomplished, so why can't they be glad for once? Having a child of Olympus on their side during the war with Kronos would've made all the difference, why are they so pressed about it now?

Learn the difference between concern and distrust, says Lily's voice in her head.

Though they're not that different from each other. Both come from the same thought: This prophecy is beyond Ara's skills.

She brushes her damp hair (she took a shower to cool off), and puts on a camp half-blood shirt, then she grabs her cosmetic set and stares at it, she wears makeup when she needs to feel better. Now is one of those days.

When she arrives at the meeting, she's the only one who made an effort to look more than just well-rested and that cheers her up, Generals should look neater than their army.

It's the first time the seven gather with no one else around, except Ara and Coach Hedge. She makes her way to the head of the table and pulls back a chair at the same time Percy reaches for it. She looks at him thinking Are you kidding me?, but a second later her brother mumbles an apology and sits next to Annabeth.

Ara looks at the group trying to gather her thoughts. They do seem intimidating, but Ara's interacted with them in such domestic settings that to her they just look like kids. "Anything we should know about the expeditions?"

"Well, maybe the part where we ran into Nemesis," Hazel suggests.

Ara's got so many things in her mind she'd forgotten about Nemesis, but now that Hazel brought it up, she can feel the piece of paper the goddess handed to her burning through her pocket.

Leo and Hazel share their adventure, and Ara uttered no word. What she got out of that encounter is of no use to the others—and then Annabeth, Frank, and Percy talk about their quest, but nothing worth remembering comes out of it.

"So where to now?" Leo takes a bite of his pizza. "Ara and I did a quick repair job to get us out of the lake, but there's still a lot of damage. We should really put down again and fix things right before we head across the Atlantic."

"We need to put some distance between us and Camp Jupiter," Percy replies. "Frank spotted some eagles over Salt Lake City. We figure the Romans aren't far behind us."

"I don't suppose we should go back and try to reason with the Romans?" Piper offers. "Maybe—maybe I didn't try hard enough with the charmspeak."

"That won't cut it," Ara replies, perhaps too harshly. "For charmspeak to work, they have to find you appealing. I don't think they feel like cuddling us at the moment."

Jason tries to lift his girlfriend's spirits. "It wasn't your fault, Pipes. Or Leo's. Whatever happened, it was Gaea's doing, to drive the two camps apart."

"Maybe if we could explain that, though—"

"With no proof?" Annabeth raises a brow. "And no idea what really happened? I appreciate what you're saying, Piper. I don't want the Romans on our bad side, but until we understand what Gaea's up to, going back is suicide."

"She's right," Hazel speaks hoarsely. She's having the worst seasick case ever but tries hard to keep it together. "Reyna might listen, but Octavian won't. The Romans have honor to think about. They've been attacked. They'll shoot first and ask questions post-hac."

Ara plays with the last pieces of veggies on her plate. "Then we stick to our original plan, and we look for Nico."

Hazel's anxiety causes precious stones to gather around her plate. "Nemesis said we have only six days until Nico dies and Rome is destroyed."

"You mean Rome Rome, not New Rome?" Jason asks.

"I think, but if so, that's not much time."

"Why six days?" Percy questions. "And how are they going to destroy Rome?"

"July first," Ara comments like it's obvious.

"What?" Her brother stares at her blankly.

Ara rolls her eyes. "All the stuff that's happened, Gaea's done them on important dates of our calendars. The winter solstice, the feast of fortune... the Kalends of July is a special occasion because," she pushes a piece of broccoli forward. "In Rome, that day's dedicated to Juno. Which is weird, 'cause I feel like that should be during the Kalends of June, but whatever—"

"How do you know all this?" Percy frowns.

Ara eats the piece of broccoli and points at Jason with her fork. "He's been teaching me Roman history for the past six months."

"Okay... so that connects to Nico... in what way?"

"We are six days away from July first," she frowns. "Nico's literal deadline lands on a big day for annoying people—the Romans—and Gaea likes to taint our big celebrations, so maybe she's using him as bait."

"I've been seeing some things in my knife," Piper blurts out of nowhere.

Frank gulps down his food with difficulty. "Things such as..?"

"They don't really make sense, just garbled images, but I saw two giants, dressed alike. Maybe twins."

"Twins, like in Ella's prophecy," Annabeth points out. "If we could figure out those lines, it might help."

"Wisdom's daughter walks alone," Percy recites. "The Mark of Athena burns through Rome. Annabeth, that's got to mean you. Juno told me... well, she said you had a hard task ahead of you in Rome. She said she doubted you could do it. But I know she's wrong."

"Reyna was about to tell me something right before the ship fired on us. She said there was an old legend among the Roman praetors—something that had to do with Athena. She said it might be the reason Greeks and Romans could never get along."

"Nemesis mentioned something similar," Leo says. "She talked about an old score that had to be settled—"

"The one thing that might bring the gods' two natures into harmony," Hazel quotes. "'An old wrong finally avenged.'"

"I was only a praetor for about two hours," Percy sighs, playing with his food like Ara does. "Jason, you ever heard a legend like that?"

"I... uh, I'm not sure," he says. "I'll give it some thought."

Percy and Ara both look at him with the same scowl. "You're not sure?" Percy repeats.

Ara could've pressured Jason into talking, but before she can, Hazel intervenes. "What about the other lines? Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death."

"Giants' bane stands gold and pale," Frank continues, "Won through pain from a woven jail."

"Giants' bane," Leo hums. "Anything that's a giants' bane is good for us, right? That's probably what we need to find. If it can help the gods get their schizophrenic act together, that's good."

"We can't kill the giants without the help of the gods," Percy muses.

"I thought you guys killed that one giant in Alaska without a god's help, just the two of you," Jason points to Frank and Hazel.

"Alcyoneus was a special case. He was only immortal in the territory where he was reborn—Alaska. But not in Canada. I wish I could kill all the giants by dragging them across the border from Alaska into Canada, but..." Frank sighs. "Percy's right, we'll need the gods."

"Oh!" Ara snaps her fingers, putting two and two together. "They took him!"

Frank frowns. "Come again?"

"Twins snuff out the angel's breath, Who holds the key to endless death," Ara recites again, looking at her sister. "In your vision, were the twins guarding something?"

Piper tries to remember. "I think they were... pulling up a large vase from a pit?"

"Was it large enough to fit a thin person in it?"

"You're not saying..." Hazel starts fearfully.

Ara's gaze darkens. "Your brother was looking for the doors of death, maybe he found them and knows how to close them, but they caught him before he could tell us."

"Di Angelo," Percy groans in realization, running a hand over his face. "Twins snuff out the angel's breath..."

Ara nods. "If Nico's been captured because he found the doors, rescuing him has to be our priority."

"Which is going to take us straight to those twins," Annabeth points out.

"Whom we can't defeat unless we get the giant's bane beforehand," Percy adds. "Whatever that is."

"And we must get all that before the Kalends of July, or everything will go wrong," Ara concludes with a sigh. "I'm not loving the tight scheduling..."

They stay quiet for a moment, trying to think of a different meaning to those lines, but nothing comes to them. In any case, going to Rome is what they were supposed to do since the start.

"So..." Leo drags his chair back once he finishes his food. "First things first, I guess. We'll have to put down in the morning to finish repairs."

"Someplace close to a city," Annabeth says, "in case we need supplies. But somewhere out of the way, so the Romans will have trouble finding us. Any ideas?"

"Well," Piper leans on the table. "How do you guys feel about Kansas?"

"Lights out! Settle down! Try to sneak out, and I'll smack you back to Long Island!"

Ara opens her cabin door angrily. "Coach! If you don't stop yelling you'll finish the quest as a potted plant!"

"Who're you calling a potted plant, Jackson? I'm a carnivorous one!"

"Those can be potted too, you jacka—"

"Someone needs a nap!" Leo comes out of his room, which is right in front of Ara's—definitely on purpose—and stops her before she kills the satyr. "It's alright, Coach, we're all tucked in, stop yelling."

"I don't see you tucked in, Valdez."

"Hedge, I swear," Ara says through gritted teeth, but Leo stands between them.

"I'm wearing my finest PJs, man, c'mon, knock it out," he guides the satyr towards his cabin.

Hedge gives in, though he gives out warnings as he goes. He stops before entering his room and points at them squinting. "You two—straight to bed."

"Unbelievable," Ara mutters, re-entering her room and leaving her door open.

As expected, when Coach Hedge leaves, Leo goes to his door and closes it loudly from the outside, then slips into Ara's room as quietly as possible. Ara crawls under the covers of her bed and Leo sits at the foot of it, his right leg hanging from the side.

He's got his crooked smirk that unsettles adults on his face, but he won't do anything unless Ara lets him, and right now all she wants is sleep. She curls up and buries one hand under her pillow.

"Not bad for our first day, huh?" He says.

Ara chuckles. "Not what I had in mind, to be honest."

Leo squeezes her calf over the covers. "You handled it well. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," she yawns. "You were great too."

"If those lines in Annabeth's prophecy are about Di Angelo..." he starts carefully. "Isn't it a bad idea to play along?"

Ara frowns. "You think we shouldn't save Nico?"

"We don't know for sure he's been taken—"

"Exactly," she interrupts him. "We're going to Kansas first, we could find something there that proves my theory wrong."

Leo nods, he doesn't want to upset her, so he changes the subject. "Well... I don't know about you, but I'm not sleepy yet."

Ara laughs and quickly tries to cover the noise even though it isn't loud. She sits up to face him properly. "Just ask, Leo."

"Can I stay?" He scoots closer. "I'll behave, obviously, I don't want your brother to gut me..."

Ara presses a palm against his chest, and his heart races at her touch. She should tell him about the curse since it concerns him too, but his heartbeat is so fast and he glows golden so brightly... she doesn't want to ruin his happiness, at least not tonight.

"You know, I think I understand Echo," she whispers.

"Hm?" Leo struggles to focus on her words, even though his eyes are on her lips.

"You can love yourself a lot," Ara explains, "but if you're genuinely in love with someone, you'll stay beside them, even if they give you sorrows. Echo sees something worth saving in Narcissus because she loves him, and you can't listen to reason when that happens."

Leo leans his forehead on hers. "But he already died once and it did nothing to make him reconsider."

"He's been cursed," Ara's voice quivers. "He can't change his fate alone. You're right, Echo's very strong and brave for staying by his side, considering she has no powers, no..." she chokes a little. "No answers."

Leo moves to look at her. "You okay?"

Ara wraps her arms around Leo and buries her face on his neck. "I lied. I got scared when you attacked me—and my ribs still hurt, and I don't like Hazel, and Percy's mad at me..."

Leo's guts twist with guilt, and Ara feels it right away. "Crap, I'm so sorry—I should've—"

She pulls the emotion out of him with her empath touch. "I was scared for you, Leo, not me," the girl assures him. "I'm telling you this... because you said we could lean on each other. Please, don't forget it."

"I won't," Leo tilts his head, staring at her with soft, loving eyes. "Wanna lean on me first?"

Her soul-light brightens and she buries her face in his neck again. "Yes."

"Alright," Leo grins and kisses the top of her head. "You know... I wouldn't mind living through a thousand shitty days like this one if it meant I'd hold you like this every night."

Her heart squeezes with unease. "I know."

Next Chapter –>

Taglist.

@siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @asnyox-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris @obxstiles @ellipsisspelled

#twoidiots writing #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #doo

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q-gorgeous · 1 year

Text

Dash Phantom

fanfiction

ao3

word count: 4915

Halfa!Dash AU, where Dash was at Danny's house for a school project, but started screwing around instead of working, resulting in Dash being the one to activate the portal and become a halfa/ghost hero. Being the only person Dash knows with any knowledge of ghosts (who won't try to dissect him), Danny ends up being his human helper who covers for Dash and helps him figure out how to defeat other ghosts. @raaorqtpbpdy

i love dash

Dash groaned as he leaned back in Danny’s desk chair. “You’re so boring! Why don’t you loosen up a bit, do something fun?”

Danny glared at him. “Because we’re supposed to be working on this project for Lancer’s class? I don’t know about you, but my parents actually care about me getting passing grades. I’m not gonna flunk this project just because you think it’s boring.”

Rolling his eyes, Dash stood up and stretched. “Okay, keep working on our project then. I’m gonna go find something to eat.”

Dash walked through Danny’s door and into the hallway. Danny’s voice followed behind him.

“Hey! You can’t just go walking around my house!”

Dash snorted. “Oh yeah? How are you gonna stop me?”

He could see Danny running up beside him, the other boy rolling his eyes at him.

“I can at least come with you and make sure you don’t trash my house while you’re downstairs. I could use a snack too anyways.”

They made their way downstairs to the kitchen and Dash sat at the table and looked around the kitchen. His eyes traced their way across the walls until they finally settled on the door to what Fenton called the lab.

Everyone at school knew the Fenton’s were supposed to be some uber-smart engineers and scientists. They’ve even appeared in classes to give demonstrations about how to build things. Mrs. Fenton even appeared in his biology class a few days ago to explain to them how to dissect their frogs when their teacher had been too chicken to do it.

But for all the smarts they had at their fingertips, they decided to study ghosts. Ectology, they called it. How can they study something that didn’t even exist?

Dash stared at the door to the lab even as Danny placed a plate of apple slices and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on the table in front of him.

Dash had been here before. Fenton’s sister tutored him every Tuesday. Him and Fenton even used to be friends somehow, once upon a time. Every time Dash had been here, the big black and yellow striped door to the lab has taunted him. Teased him. Called him. He’s never been down there though.

“Hey, Fenton. Have you ever been in your parent’s lab before?” Dash asked.

Danny spluttered into his cup of orange juice. A drop rolled down his cheek and he turned his head to face Dash.

“Uh, yeah?” He set his cup down. “It’s nothing super exciting. Just a bunch of machines that don’t do anything because ghosts don’t actually exist.”

“Can we go down there right now?”

Danny vehemently shook his head. “No, nope, not allowed. My parents would kill me.”

“I guess if you came back as a ghost that would prove ghosts are real at least.”

Danny glared at Dash and he groaned.

“Come on, Danny. I’ve never gotten to see it! Sam was just talking about it the other day and you said that her and Tucker would be able to come over and check out your parent’s new invention tomorrow! Why can they go down there but I can’t?”

“Because they’re my friends.” Danny grit out. “You’re only here because you have to be.”

Dash glowered at him, trying to mask the toll that that statement took on him.

“It’s not my fault you’re afraid to go down there.”

“I’m not-!” Danny threw his hands up into the air. “Okay, fine, whatever. Let’s go look down in the lab. It’s gonna be boring, and pointless, and if we get caught I’m telling them you physically dragged me down there.”

Dash shot up and smiled. “Deal.”

He quickly made his way to the basement door and pulled on the handle. Slowly it twisted until Dash could hear the mechanism thunk on the inside. He pulled the door open.

The first thing that Dash noticed was that it was cold on the other side of the door. That and the smell. It smelt like when Dash would walk inside the doctor's office. Sterile and clean.

He took a step down into the darkness. Each step brought him further into the dark and cold. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he took a cautious look around before stepping off the final step. He jumped when the lights flashed on above him.

“Dork.” Danny said behind him. “It’s just a basement.”

Dash gaped at the room before him.

It was not just a basement.

A basement didn’t have a second set of steps going further into the ground to who knows where. A basement didn’t have an array of guns being assembled on a countertop next to a bunch of medical equipment.

Dash’s eyes finally made their way across the room and landed on the far wall.

A basement certainly didn’t have that.

“What is that?” Dash asked before he was suddenly being hit in the face with something.

“It’s supposed to be a ghost portal.” Danny said, muffled through the fabric of whatever was on Dash’s face. “It’s my parents newest, but also oldest invention. It didn’t work. That’s why they took a few days to go to the fudge factory.”

“Ah yes, the fudge factory.” Dash says, pulling the thing off his head. “Everyone’s comfort factory.”

Dash’s eyes found Danny and he tried hard to contain a burst of laughter that tried to spill out of him. When Danny met his eyes he scowled.

“We’re putting these on in case you manage to spill any kind of corrosive or hazardous chemicals. I don’t trust you down here.”

Dash rolled his eyes and unzipped the orange jumpsuit in his hands before sticking one foot inside. “While, yes, I think it’s funny you have matching outfits with your parents, maybe you should take a look at your chest.”

Danny looked down and his cheeks flared red when he made eye contact with the sticker of his dads face on his chest. He ripped it off and crushed it into a ball and dropped it on the floor.

“I told him to stop putting a new one on every time, but does he listen? No!”

A burst of laughter finally made its way past Dash’s lips. He pulled the zipper of his own jumpsuit up to his throat and turned to face Danny.

A certain look of melancholy was in Danny’s eyes for a split second before it hardened into another scowl.

Dash turned away without saying anything. Instead, he walked over to the counters and looked at the different instruments the Fenton parents had laying around.

Dash gingerly picked up a scalpel, eyeing it warily. “Why do your parents have medical equipment laying around down here anyways?”

Danny walked up beside him. “They say that when they catch their first ghost that they’re going to dissect it and tear it apart.”

Dash shivered. “Maybe it would be best if ghosts weren’t real after all then.”

“Yeah.”

The silence weighed heavily between them and Dash searched for another thing to look at. His eyes were dragged back to the giant hole in the wall. The ghost portal.

“Why didn’t this work?” Dash asked, walking over to the giant machine.

Danny shrugged. “They plugged it in and switched a flip but all that happened was a spark of light and then it fizzled out. They spent all night trying to figure it out before they gave up.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does. It was their life’s work. And it didn’t work.”

They stood there and stared at it. Then Dash’s feet started dragging him forward.

“What are you doing?” Danny asked, a hint of anxiety creeping into his voice as Dash’s feet crossed the threshold of the portal.

“You said it yourself, it doesn’t work.” Dash said, looking up at the top of the portal, tracing the pattern of the wires with his eyes. “If it doesn’t work and there’s no danger of it turning on, looking at it can’t hurt, right?”

Danny shook his head. “Just because it didn’t work doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. There could be a wire loose, a bolt that came undone. Maybe the structural integrity isn’t intact and it’s barely standing upright. I don’t actually know if my parents actually unplugged this or not. We really shouldn’t be-”

“Relax, Fenton. I’m standing right here. Nothing’s happening, it’s fine.”

Dash shifted his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. His hip pressed against the wall to his right and his eyes widened when he felt the smallest shift, and heard the quietest click of a button as it was pushed in.

All around him the portal was lighting up. At first it was a bright white but it quickly turned green. He could feel the air around him prickling his skin, and the last thing he saw was Danny’s eyes wide with panic, his arm outstretched towards Dash, his name on his lips.

And then everything went green.

-----

Dash slowly came back to the world. His ears were ringing, his eyes squeezed shut. The only thing he could feel were the hands on his shoulder shaking him. Once the ringing in his ears died down, he could make out his name.

“Dash? Dash, please, wake up.”

Danny stooped over Dash as he laid on his back on the ground. Hands gripped tight to his shoulders. Dash groaned, shifting slightly, and Danny stopped shaking him.

“Dash?” Danny whispered.

“That’s my name.” Dash ground out. “Don’t wear it out.”

Danny took in a shuddering break and he doubled over, resting his head on Dash’s chest.

“I thought you were dead. I don’t know how you aren’t.”

Danny’s shaking voice made Dash’s blood run cold.

“How am I alive?” Dash whispered. The phantom feeling of electricity raced to his fingertips.

“I don’t know.” Danny pulled back and Dash opened his eyes. “When you fell out of the portal, you looked different. Like everything was inverted. Your hair and jumpsuit were blue and your eyes were a bright bright green. After a moment there was a bright flash of light and you were back to normal.”

“Was I dead?”

“I don’t know.”

Dash took a shuddering breath in. “Am I still dead?”

He was starting to hyperventilate, still not completely understanding what was happening. His breaths paused for a moment when Danny pressed his fingertips against the pulse point in his neck, his heart rate speeding up.

“Well, you still have a pulse, so you’re probably not dead.”

“But then what did you see before, after I-”

Dash was startled into silence when a bright ring appeared from nothing around his waist. It separated and spread, traveling up and down his body, passing harmlessly over Danny’s hand where it still rested on one of his shoulders. Nevertheless, Dash craned his head away as it made its way toward his head. Right before it passed his eyes he squeezed them shut and waited for something to happen.

“Dash, it happened again. You’re all blue… and glowy.”

Dash’s eyes snapped open again and he looked at his hand. Where the black glove of his jumpsuit had been before was a white one, the orange replaced with blue. As he looked at his arm, Dash saw a randomly placed mirror on the wall to his right and he shot up, knocking Danny over in the process.

The person that reflected back at him wasn’t him. It couldn’t possibly be. How did he look like that? Why would his colors be able to just change whenever they wanted? It didn’t make any sense.

He turned around and sent a panicked look towards Danny who still sat in shock on the floor. Dash opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by another flash of light. This time when it disappeared and he looked in the mirror, he was himself. He turned to face Danny again.

“What happened to me?” Danny shook his head and swallowed before replying. “I don’t know.”

Dash ran his hands through his hair, gripping the strands harshly. “How do we even fix this? The only people that can help are your parents! They have medical equipment right over there! I can’t be the first ghost they’ll see! You said it yourself! They’ll want to tear me apart!”

Danny finally stood up on shaky legs and walked over to Dash. “We can’t figure this out on our own. They’ll know what to do. Besides, you still had a pulse. You’re not dead. At least not all the way.”

Dash shook his head. “No, we can’t tell them. We’re not even supposed to be down here. I’m lucky that it wasn’t you who died, then your parents would kill me! They might kill me anyway!”

He started hyperventilating again. What were they supposed to do? He was some kind of freak now. He didn’t want to be some kind of test subject, some experiment. Why did he ask to come down here? He should’ve just-

“We won’t tell them.”

Dash’s gaze darted up from where it had drifted to the floor, meeting Danny’s eyes. They held a certain determination to them.

“We won’t?”

Danny shook his head. “You’re right, we don’t know how they’ll handle this. They’ve always been very set in their ways and beliefs.”

“Will you help me?”

Danny’s gaze drifted away from Dash’s. He felt a spike of panic in his stomach.

“Please, you’re the only other person who knows remotely anything about ghosts. How am I supposed to explain this to someone anyways? They wouldn’t believe me. They’d think I'm lying.”

Danny squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay. I’ll help.”

“Thank y-”

“But.” Danny started, looking at him again. “If I’m going to help you, you have to be nice to me and my friends.”

Dash nodded. “Okay.”

Suddenly, Danny looked like he was getting taller. It took Dash a couple of seconds staring at him to realize that, no, Danny wasn’t getting taller. Dash was just sinking through the floor.

“No, no, no, no!” Dash whispered. “Where am I going?”

Danny grabbed Dash’s hands and yanked as hard as he could. He pulled Dash out of the floor and they both nearly toppled to the ground.

“We have a lot to figure out.” Danny looks at Dash.

“Yeah.”

-----

“This is the thermos.” Danny held up a silver and green cylinder. It looked just like a regular soup thermos. Dash barked out a laugh.

“What, are we gonna do, turn these ghosts into soup?”

Danny rolled his eyes. “No. This is supposed to capture ghosts somehow.” He turned it upside down and uncapped the top, staring into the thermos. “I don’t know how it works though.

“Let me see.” Dash snatched the thermos from Danny. He turned it around in his hands and looked into it the same way Danny did. “Where are the ghosts even supposed to go when they’re in here? There’s barely even any room. How is it supposed to-”

Danny heard the click of a button and saw the tiniest spark of light on the thermos and suddenly Dash disappeared, swirling into it in a flash of white light. The thermos landed on top of Danny’s bed and he sat there and stared at it before bursting into laughter.

“Oh my god, Dash.” He wiped a stray tear from his eye. “Well I guess at least we figured it out. Now we just have to get you back out of there.”

-----

“I just don’t get what his deal is. It’s like he wants to kidnap me and my mom. And my dad doesn’t believe me! He hasn’t seen this guy in like twenty years but he believes him over me.”

Dash nodded. “Sounds awful. Can’t relate.”

Danny groaned as they turned a corner into a different hallway in the school. The hallways were starting to empty out. The late bell would be ringing soon.

“Come on, we have to hurry otherwise we’re going to be late.”

“Danny!” Dash shouted.

Danny turned around going into a defensive position expecting to see a ghost down the hallway. But all he saw was Dash sinking into the floor.

“How long is this gonna take to go away?” Danny asked. He walked back over to Dash and grabbed his hands. “It’s starting to get annoying.”

“At least you’re not me!” Dash whined. “I dropped the football four different times during practice yesterday because it wouldn’t stop phasing through my hands!”

Danny rolled his eyes. “I guess it’s good that Kwan enjoys doing science labs. If you had to do the labs you’d have dropped like, 34 beakers by now.”

“Danny!”

“Okay, okay.” Danny pulled Dash as hard as he could. When Dash’s feet came out of the floor Danny lost his balance and they toppled onto the ground together. The breath got knocked out of Danny when Dash landed on top of him.

“We gotta figure out another way to do this.” He shut his eyes.

Danny took a few moments to get his bearings when he could feel a pair of eyes on him. When he opened his eyes he was met with Paulina’s gaze, staring straight at him and Dash laying on the floor. Dash looked up and saw Danny’s embarrassed expression and turned to see what he was looking at. His mouth widened into an O shape.

“Hey, uh, Pauli. What’s up?”

“Nothing much. Heading to class.” She gestured to the door she was in front of. “What about you guys?”

“Oh nothing really. Just, uh, beating up this nerd. And the floor.”

“Right.” She said, “Well, you guys have fun.”

“We will!” Dash shouted after her and Danny groaned.

-----

“Quick! This way! This door’s unlocked!”

Danny pulled open the door to the janitor’s closet. He ran inside with Dash right on his heels. When he heard the door close he spun around and was face to face with Dash. His face heated up and he shook his head.

“Why did it take us so long to find an open closet?” Dash mumbled. His transformation rings appeared and washed over his body.

“I don’t know.” Danny said. “Maybe they’re getting suspicious when two teenagers are always hiding in the janitor's closet together. We can only use the ‘we needed to find a bucket before he threw up’ excuse so many times before they don’t believe us anymore.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “If we were gonna mack on each other we would just do it in the hallways like everyone else. We don’t need to go into the janitor’s closet for that.”

The blush returned to Danny’s cheeks and all he could do was stare at Dash for a couple moments until Dash processed what he just said.

“Aha why would we be macking on each other though? We wouldn’t be, that’d be weird. Okay well I’m gonna go find that ghost okay later bye!”

-----

“Dash!” Danny shouted.

This stupid hunter ghost held Danny up by the back of his shirt. He was shouting something about how he’d be the perfect human to skin and add to his collection. And that he’d also be a good lure to his trap to capture Dash as well.

Dash was flying around above them. Danny wished that this ghost had at least done this closer to the ground. This was a bit of a drop. One he would not make it out of unscathed.

“I will capture both you and your human friend! You’ll be my next project! I’ll use you both to decorate the foyer in my lair!”

“Talk about gross.” Danny said.

The ghost shook him. “Maybe we’ll just have to get started on this project right away.” A knife popped out of the mechanical arm of his suit. The ghost brought it closer to Danny’s neck.

“Shit!”

“Danny, watch out!”

Danny looked up to Dash. He held the thermos in his hands and Danny knew what he was going to do. They were out of options.

Dash pressed the button on the thermos, releasing the beam that shot towards the ghost and started pulling him towards the thermos. After a few seconds the ghost's hand loosened on Danny’s shirt and phased through it and Danny was falling.

He stared up at Dash as he caught the ghost in the thermos and then he was rushing down to him. He dropped the thermos to the ground. A few moments later he caught Danny in the air and pulled him to his chest.

Danny instinctively threw his arms around Dash’s neck. He was breathing heavily and shaking. Danny pushed his head against Dash’s chest and took a deep breath.

“Thanks.” He said.

“Sorry I had to do that.” Dash slowly floated down until they landed on the grass again. “I didn’t want to wait and see if he’d come through on his threats.”

“It’s okay. I didn’t turn into a carpet or a pancake today so I count that as a win.”

Then the bell rang inside the school.

“Shit!” Danny scrambled out of Dash’s arms. “We’re late for school.”

Dash transformed back to his human form. “The consequences of ghost fighting.”

Danny shook his head and started following after Dash towards the school. His foot rolled a bit as he stepped on something. Looking down he saw the thermos.

“Hey, Dash. You forgot the-”

“Race you to class!” Dash said and quickly took off.

“Hey! No fair!” Danny stuffed the thermos into his backpack and took off after Dash. “You cheater!”

-----

“Why’s Dash been so nice to us lately?” Sam asked, stabbing a fork into her salad.

Danny swallowed his drink of milk, trying to act nonchalant. “What do you mean?”

She pointed. “That.”

Danny turned around to see Dash awkwardly waving at them, a smile on his face.

“I don’t know. Maybe he finally realized what a dick he’s been this whole time.”

“You know, we’re not dumb, Danny.” Tucker said as he waved a piece of bacon in his face. “We can hear the whispers you two exchange in class. We don’t sit that far away from you.”

“What are you talking about?” Danny scoffed nervously. “We don’t whisper during class.”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Even Paulina came up to me the other day to ask what’s been going on. Why can’t you just tell us what’s up between you and Dash?”

“Look, it’s not my secret to tell. I don’t know what else to tell you guys without sounding like an asshole.”

“We just wish-“ Sam started but she was cut off by an explosion on the other side of the lunch room.

In the gaping hole that now took up the majority of the opposite wall stood a ghost that was nearly as tall as the cafeteria. It was some kind of bug and it looked around with its beady eyes before it let out an ear splitting screech. He looked at it in horror.

Dash didn't have the thermos. Danny forgot to give it back to him this morning.

He watched as Dash started booking it through the hole in the wall, looking for somewhere to transform. Danny shot up from his seat at the table, getting startled calls from Sam and Tucker as he ran in the direction that Dash headed in.

The ghost saw Danny running towards the hole and made eye contact with him. It approached him but before it could get very close an ectoblast hit it in the back of the head.

“Hey bug brain!”

The ghost turned its head to look at Dash, now floating in the air in his ghost form. It turned around and walked toward him. It spit green looking acid into the air. Dash dodged it and when it hit the ground the grass sizzled and turned black.

Danny cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted up at him. “Dash! I have the-“

Danny watched as Dash got hit by the ghost, sending him flying through the air, hitting the brick wall of the school. Cracks crept out from where his back hit the wall and Dash laid there taking a heaving breath and struggling to get up. His transformation flickered around his waist once or twice before it separated and traveled across his body, leaving his human form lying helplessly on the ground.

Danny felt a spike of anxiety in the bottom of his stomach and ran across the grass and threw himself over one of the picnic tables. He placed himself in between Dash and the ghost, landing on his knees. Right before the ghost slammed into them, Danny opened the thermos and pressed the button on it and sucked the ghost inside the device.

The silence that followed was heavy, unsettling compared to the events that just happened. Danny felt as Dash shifted and leaned forward, resting his forehead on Danny’s shoulder.

“Thanks.” He mumbled.

“What the fuck?”

Danny looked up to see a stunned Sam and Tucker, shock on their faces.

“Wait, it’s not what it looks like. We-“

“You’re the ghost kid?” Tucker exclaimed.

“Uh, no, I’m not-” Danny started.

“Not you, Danny!” Sam shouted, pointing at Dash. “Him! Is this what’s been going on this whole time?”

“Yeah.” Danny said. “Like I said, not my secret to share.”

“This is what the secret has been this whole time?” Sam threw her hands up into the air. “We thought the two of you were dating in secret!”

“It’s true.” Tucker chimed in. “Sam and Paulina sharing their theories over what was happening has been the most I’ve ever seen them bond before.”

“We’re not-”

Danny was cut off by Dash interrupting him.

“Please don’t tell anyone.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at him at that. “Why not? I thought the star football player would jump at any chance for fame and fortune.”

Dash shook his head. “Not when the Fenton’s have dissection equipment in their basement.”

They were silent for a few seconds before Tucker spoke. “Oh. That would make sense why you guys didn’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah.” Danny said. “He was both the first ghost they’ve ever seen and the most prominent one in Amity Park so they’re really set on catching him and ‘tearing him apart, molecule by molecule’.”

“Maybe we can help.” Sam said.

“I can help too!” Paulina shouted from behind a tree.

“Where did you even come from?” Tucker shouted back at her.

She steps out from behind the tree and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “You’re not the only ones who know how to follow people around. I walked out right behind you guys.”

Dash groaned. “Is there anyone else out here?” He stood up and walked towards the bushes and pushed the leaves apart, looking inside. “Kwan are you in there?”

Paulina snorted. “Kwan ran away with the rest of the kids in the lunchroom. What a bunch of wusses.”

Sam rolled her eyes and turned to face Dash again. “Well, what do you say? We won’t tell anyone. And you two don’t look like you’ve been getting any sleep lately. You could use the help.”

Danny and Dash looked at each other. It would be nice to have some sort of support system. They could divide patrols up at night so they could actually get home in time for curfew.

“It can’t hurt.” Dash said, shrugging. “Do you think we’ll be able to stop Manson from doing what she wants anyways?”

“No.” She closed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“It would be nice to have help. And I’d be able to hang out with Sam and Tucker more again.”

“And Paulina.” Paulina chimed in.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Yes, and Paulina.”

-----

Danny and Dash were sitting on Danny’s bed together. Danny sat against the headboard and was scrolling through his phone, reading a new article that Nasa posted. Dash laid on the bed perpendicular to him with his legs hanging off the edge. He was playing a game on his phone.

After he finished his last game Dash looked at the time and sighed. “Well, it’s getting pretty late. I should probably start heading home before my parents start wondering where I am.”

Danny stretched and yawned when Dash sat up. “Yeah. I’m getting pretty tired anyways. I’m still mad at that ghost that woke me up at four in the morning today.”

Dash chuckled. “I would’ve come by to help with it but as you found out this morning I’m a very heavy sleeper.”

“Maybe you should turn your ringer on when you’re sleeping. It’s a lot harder to wake up to seven phone calls when all they do is vibrate.”

“I already said I was sorry!” Dash said but he was laughing.

Danny shook his head and smiled.

Dash looked at him for a few moments, enjoying the warmth Danny’s smile brought him.

He leaned forward, quickly placing a kiss on Danny’s cheek.

Danny’s eyes widened as Dash harshly pulled back.

“Okay well I should get going! I’ll see you tomorrow, okay later bye!”

Dash picked up his backpack and hurried out the bedroom door.

“Baxter, get back here!” Danny shouted, Dash could hear him standing up from his bed and running to his door. “You can’t just kiss me and leave like that!”

“There better not be any kissing happening behind any closed doors in this house!”

“Mom!”

Dash smiled to himself and rushed out the front door before Mrs. Fenton could stop him.

#gorgi writes #danny phantom #phic phight 2023 #danny fenton #dash baxter #swagger bishie #fanfiction

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