#drinking fine ferret-safe coffee

[tinyantennas]

coffee ferret, posca & nail polish accents (detail shot)

[writeblrfantasy]

as promised, here is some snowbaz fanfic (k words) this was a birthday gift for my best friend last year, who has a ferret which i became intimately familiar with over phone calls. this actually holds up, or so I think? anyway, enjoy!

snow's new ferret

This was all Baz’s bloody fault.

“Let’s go walking round London,” Baz had said, because it was Saturday, and neither of them had homework, and he was trying to be romantic and spend some quality time with Snow for once. “We might even find a place with sour cherry scones."

“None as good as Watford's,” Snow had said, but grinned and hurried to pull his shoes on, tripping over his own feet.

Look where romance got him, because now Baz was hovering behind Simon in a pet store of all places while he excitedly chatted on the phone to Bunce. Both of them were squeaking and squealing over the small brown ferret in Snow’s hand. Bunce sounded like she’d have given anything to see it.

“Ooh, Penny, can we keep him?” Snow asked for the millionth time. Baz rolled his eyes.

“Yes, yes, of course! I’ll…” Bunce’s voice faded out as Baz stared the ferret down. Its beady little black eyes, eyes of a demon. It was creepy, but also strangely cute.

Baz glared at it, but its gaze never wavered.

Before he knew it, Snow was off the phone and smiling at him. “We’re getting it,” he said stupidly.

“Yes, I have ears, Snow,” Baz retorted, but Snow was already wandering off to the pet shop owner.

***

“Cherry Scone?” Baz demanded. “You named it Cherry Scone?”

“She, not it, Baz,” Snow said instinctually. He was too distracted by the ferret cradled in his hands. It already had a full cage set up in Simon’s room, decorated with stickers and beads. It was gaudy, in Baz’s opinion, and entirely unnecessary.

But Simon grinned and lit up looking at it, so Baz was okay with it, he supposed.

That was until the fateful Wednesday evening.

Baz had just gotten through a tiring day of classes, and all he wanted was a drink, some food, and to kiss his boyfriend.

A blood bag and leftover pizza was guaranteed to be in Simon’s fridge, but he didn’t get his usual hello kiss by the door. Instead, the Simon opening the door was distracted and fretting.

He was moving away before Baz could even lean in. “What’s wrong?” Baz asked, setting his bag down on the couch.

“Cherry Scone’s disappeared,” Snow said, looking under the blanket on the couch, carelessly moving Baz’s bag away to look there. “Can’t find her anywhere.”

“Don’t you and Bunce have schedules for watching it?”

“Her, not it, Baz,” Simon muttered, shaking his curls out of his eyes to search under the couch. “And yes, but Penny’s out tonight.”

“Out? Where?”

“New bloke she met on flinder.” Snow checked under the tv stand, behind the tv itself, then disappeared into Bunce’s room.

“I sincerely hope you mean Tinder.” Baz went into the kitchen to get said blood bag and pizza. After a drink and a bite, Snow still wasn’t out, so Baz followed to check. He found Simon on her bed, head in his hands.

“Snow? What’s wrong?”

“I can’t find her anywhere.” Snow’s voice wavered, like he was actually crying. Baz’s heart ached. “She was just running around in my room, and me and Penny let her run round the flat after always checking the doors and windows are closed… I don’t know where she’s gone, Baz, she’s supposed to be in her cage by now, what if she-”

“Hey, hey, don’t go there. We’ll find her. We will. Come here.” Baz went to hold Simon close, and though he felt shame at feeling this way, there was nothing quite like the warmth of holding Simon in his arms.

Simon relaxed for a moment before tensing up again. “Can you help look? I know you’re not the most fond of her, but…” With the way Simon was looking at him, blue eyes wide and sad, how could Baz ever say no?

“Of course, Simon, of course.” Baz reluctantly let go and got up, leading the way into Simon’s room. He made a beeline for the cage, where, just like he’d guessed, Cherry Scone was safely sitting, the door still open. She stared up at him with those beady black eyes. Baz stared back, hesitantly lifting her out, at a distance in case she’d bite. She didn’t, but she did stare at him while he carried her to Simon.

“Was in her cage,” Baz said, handing her to him. Simon’s eyes lit up like it was Christmas.

“Oh, Baz, thank you!” He leaned forward and gave Baz the heated but chaste kiss he’d first wanted. Baz’s lips tingled, and he hoped for another one, he hoped Snow would put the ferret back in her cage and leave her there. Baz allowed himself to dream about a good snogging session on the couch, maybe with the pizza box open on the coffee table and the tv playing something insignificant in the background…

But Snow was already taking the damn thing to the living room, talking sweetly to her, promising some treats.

Over Snow’s shoulder, she watched Baz until Snow disappeared around the corner.

***

Normally, walks to the park were just that. Walks to the park.

They were often romantic. Baz and Snow had had more than one picnic date there, even with all the ants and bees. To see Snow, disaster that he was, get biscuit crumbs all over himself and still grin about it was more than enough.

Besides, there were a fair amount of plump birds in the park for Baz.

But of course, Baz should’ve known better than to think this park date would be like every other.

“I still can’t believe they make bloody leashes for those things.” Baz shook his head. Snow grinned, eyes sparkling as he looked down at the ferret, scuttling along on the ground.

You used to look at me that way, Baz thought, then berated himself for being so pathetic. At least Snow was still holding his hand and brushing shoulders with him, walking slowly and leisurely like they used to, and maybe if Baz turned his head he could steal a-

“Hey!” The warmth of Snow’s hand left his, and Baz opened his eyes from his daydream to watch Snow running after the ferret. She’d escaped his hold on the leash. Of course. It was bound to happen.

“Baz, c’mon, help!”

With a sigh of resignation, Baz jogged after him.

***

Baz should’ve known the words, “Love, could you watch Cherry Scone for the day? Penny’s visiting family and I have class, and you don’t, so…” would never end well.

But Simon had called him love, and he’d been looking at Baz with love in his eyes as he said it, and however could Baz resist that?

Now, he realized he probably should’ve tried much, much harder. He should’ve floundered up an excuse or something, “Oh, I need to go get kidnapped by numpties again, be back tomorrow, don’t forget to tell Fiona,” because this was utterly ridiculous.

How could Snow ever love something so determined to make life miserable? Baz’s mind helpfully placed himself in that spot, but he shoved the thought away, because Simon’s beloved ferret was currently terrorizing the kitchen.

“If you wind up in the actual cherry scones, I don’t think even Snow would forgive you,” Baz told it, reaching out and unsuccessfully grabbing it. It scrambled along the kitchen counter, jumping, looking like it was trying to climb the fridge. Baz cupped his hands and tried again, but it jumped, scratching him in the process. Baz swore.

“You really are a devil, aren’t you?” Baz snapped, running his finger under the tap. Where had the bloody thing gone?

A mighty clatter rang through the kitchen. Baz slowly turned around, dreading what he’d find.

The ferret had gotten into the jam jar. No, more like it had knocked the jam jar off the top of the fridge and landed next to the remains.

Baz swore again and bent to check it. It was fine, just covered in red, and the broken glass was far away. Thank god Simon wasn’t here; Baz shuddered at the thought of all that worrying. Though if it meant pulling Simon into his arms to console him…

“I have half a mind to just leave you here,” Baz said to it, grumbling as he picked it up. He took it to the bathroom, because Simon had told him it needed a bath sometime that day, so he wouldn’t question it. “But I love him too much for that.” He placed it in the bath, turning on the water. “If you make him happy, so be it. I can live with you.”

***

Yeah, that wasn’t going to last.

Baz was simply sick of it. The bloody ferret had all of Simon’s attention, and nearly all of his heart. At least, Baz hoped there was still space there reserved for him.

Either way, she was putting Baz out of a job. Whenever Simon got anxious or sad now, he’d hug the ferret instead of reaching out to Baz. She was always in his lap, always being fed treats while he stroked her fur, always looking up at Baz with those evil eyes.

Baz was tired of it all. He was practically invisible to Simon now, and Simon would just nod and make noises whenever Baz talked, told him about his day. As if he didn’t think Baz would notice.

Bunce found it all hilarious. Simon was oblivious as usual.

As annoying and humorous as it was that Simon had chosen a bloody ferret over Baz, in some ways it did genuinely hurt. He hated to feel that way, but he hated more that the only kisses he got from Simon these days were when he did something for the ferret.

It was all building up to one fateful evening at Snow’s flat. Penny was on another date with that bloke from Tinder--Baz couldn’t even remember his name, but Bunce seemed to like him well enough, and Simon apparently approved. Baz would still need to meet him, give him an effective talk, before he had his approval as well. Bunce deserved only the best.

It was the same old situation. Baz had memorized this dance they did. Knock, Snow opens the door, distractedly says hi, because the ferret is in his arms, wriggling to get away. He puts it over his shoulder with one hand on its back, Baz comes in, Snow shuts the door. Snow walks over to the couch with the ferret, Baz goes to the kitchen--except tonight he doesn’t.

Baz instead followed Snow to the couch, ignoring the surprised eyebrow raise Simon gives him. They were going to have this conversation like mature, civilized adults. Baz would explain what was bothering him, hope Simon would make a change, and that would be that.

“Baz? What’s wrong?” Simon asked, and it hurt that that was more attention than Simon usually paid him these days.

“Nothing, I--”

Damn his default deflections. “Actually, something. I- ever since you got the- the ferret, I can’t but feel like, I, uh…”

After a pause that was definitely too long, Simon gently prodded, “What?”

It didn’t help that he was still absently stroking its back. “That you pay more attention to it than me,” Baz blurted. His cheeks immediately bloomed red. “I--just--you don’t smile at me as much as you used to, you’re always tending to it--her, you only kiss me when I feed it or watch it for you or find it when it gets lost--”

“Baz--”

“You know what, it’s fine, forget I said anything, Snow, I--”

“Baz--”

“Really, I’m good--”

“Baz!”

Baz finally dared to look up. Simon's face was pinched. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. Penny did warn me, but I didn’t think it would…I don’t want to choose between the two of you,” Simon said softly, his eyes gentle and caring when he looked at Baz and goddammit Baz do not cry--

“Well you have been,” Baz snapped, because if he can’t cry, he’ll be angry. He felt himself go red, angry and defensive and hurt, and he cursed himself for drinking before this.

“I’m sorry,” Simon said again, shifting the ferret on his lap, and even that hurt Baz a little bit. “What would you like me to do?”

Baz floundered. He hadn’t honestly, expected to get this far. “Uh, make some time, like when I’m over, where you put the ferret away? It has to sleep sometime, surely.”

“Yeah, at night.”

“Well…can you put it in its cage when I’m here?”

After a breathless second, Simon smiled- at him this time, not the ferret- and said, “Yes.” He looked down at his lap one more time, smiling, and this time it didn’t hurt at all. Simon loved them both, and Baz knew that now for sure, even if he had always known it.

“Would you like to pet her before I put her away?” Simon asked, and Baz realized that he’d never really felt it. Yes, he’d picked it up to give it a bath and help it out of the jam mess--something he had still not told Simon about--but he hadn’t taken notice of the texture of its fur. He was usually too annoyed at it for that.

“Yeah, fine.” Baz scooted closer to Simon on the couch, feeling heat radiate off him, and as much as he wanted to just forget about the ferret and be close to his boyfriend, this would make Simon happy.

So he pet it. It looked up at him, quite distrusting, but slowly warming to him. At least tolerating him. “It’s--it’s quite soft.”

“She is.” Simon grinned, then finally, bless, got up to put her away.

The minute waiting for Simon to come back was the most agonizing of Baz’s life, like this was their first kiss and not their 1000th. Finally Simon sat back down, smiling, and leaned over, taking Baz’s hot cheeks in his hands to give him a long, sweet kiss. It left Baz’s insides warm, his lips burning, and all he wanted was more, more, more--

And Simon let him have more, he gave as good as he got, pushing closer to Baz, letting Baz lick into his mouth, giving one last long kiss before pulling away.

Baz was breathless. Simon was golden.

“Thank you,” Baz said, surprised to hear his own voice so low, panting the way he was. Simon smiled, his sun, his golden boy, and kissed Baz again.

Forget about bloody ferrets for now.

[alessafalling]

A pre blight/post mold get together ft @thisdaringdanny

[ TEXT ]: Steve and I are missing you and Finn. [ IMG ] [ TEXT ]: Look at our pouts. Spend my last day off work with us?

[ TEXT ]: How could we say no to those faces?

[ TEXT ]: Do you want me to bring anything, need food?

-3 minute pause-

[ TEXT ]: So you know my dust is all good now. It’s back to normal. If that eases your mind x

[ TEXT ]: Steve’s back, love. I just needed to be sure I could get him back. [ TEXT ]: Food’s good. [ TEXT ]: We got a tonne of snacks, Finn’ll go mad for it.

[ TEXT ]: I know, I get it. I just wanted to be sure [ TEXT ]: Good as in bring it or good as in you have some? [ TEXT ]: I refuse to accept you think snacks are real food! [ TEXT ]: Finn is getting chunky

[ TEXT ]: You’re good, Ess. [ TEXT ]: Food is delicious and we would love as much as you want to bring. [ TEXT ]: They’re quite literally real food. [ TEXT ]: A gorgeous chunky sure to entice any other familiar ferret’s he may come across.

[ TEXT ]: Okay [ TEXT ]: Alright! Clear some space in the fridge!

[ TEXT ]: Fake food. FAKE food!

[ TEXT ]: Are you trying to get Finn laid? I…...don’t even know what to do with that.

[ TEXT ]: I’ll be there in ten?

[ TEXT ]: It’s pretty empty, you’re safe. [ TEXT ]: It’s unhealthy sure, but quite real. Touch it, you’ll get sugar on your fingers. [ TEXT ]: I am always trying to look out for the familiars of the land, if I could get Steve laid I’d work there but I’ve never met a wallaby familiar other than him. He’s a lonely fellow. [ TEXT ]: Long as you need, Ess.

Instead of texting back she decided to just head over. Finn on her shoulder like some sort of parrot she walks across town. It doesn’t take her very long to get there, she’s highly motivated to see her boyfriend and not to mention her eager attitude to seeing Steve home safely. 

She runs up the stairs two at a time coming to his door fast. Essie knocks and waits, a bright smile crossing her face once she sees the door handle move.

“Hi.”

         The home is a mess to say the least, he and Steve had spent time there quite consistently over the past two days to the point that food wrappers and half finished cans of drink were all over the coffee table, blankets and pillows were scattered over the floor and the television had been angled so they could watch it from where the laid. Even the kitchen was rather a pigsty with cups and bowls and plates all over the counter with various greases and sugar stains on them.           When finally Danny heard a knock at the door he bound up from the blanket he had wrapped himself in, wearing only some old sweatpants that smelled from his two days in them, and opened it. “Hey,” Danny beamed back upon seeing her, Steve rushing over as well and wrapping tiny arms around Essie’s legs as Danny wrapped his own around her middle. “God, you smell so clean,” Danny said, burying his face in her hair.

       Her nose wrinkles at him. Seems two days of the silent treatment was the fate of his shower as well. Essie doesn’t stop that from giving him a short cuddle back before pushing his arms off her. “You’re a second thought right now babe, I have real people to cuddle.” and as she says this she stoops, she’d been worried about Steve. Maybe she’d relished in the extra attention in his absence but she wasn’t an idiot. Him being missing had frightened them all, and she was incredibly glad to see him back.

       Giving the wallaby a good squeeze she smiles at him. “It’s good to see you.” she hums before straightening back to her full -if insignificant, in comparison to Danny at least- height. “You sir need a shower.” she says prodding his chest. “Or at least a change of blankets.” she teases hoisting her bag further onto her shoulder. 

             Steve laughed but, as usual, it sounded strange, like a cross between a sigh and a hiss, his vocal cords just not able to make the same laughing sound that Danny and Essie’s could. He cuddled Essie, poking a tongue out at Danny in the process as attention was lavished on him instead. Danny didn’t really mind and when Essie stood Danny just nodded. 

            “I’ve been telling him for days he needs a shower, he’s a very dirty wallaby,” Danny said, knowing Essie had actually meant him. The priority of cleaning himself just hadn’t come about yet, he figured he would that night, since he had work the next day. 

           “I don’t got a washing machine in here and I didn’t want to walk all the way down to the laundry. Just enjoy the musk of us,” Danny chuckled, waiting for both Finn and Essie to object as Danny and Steve stepped back into the apartment, dancing with a silly smoothness.

       Essie levels Danny with a pointed look. “Uh huh sure, musk is exactly how I would describe it too.” it’s got a hint of sarcasm but she didn’t want to fight him on it. It’s not too bad, she’ll manage, it’s a small price to pay to finally get some time in with him again. 

       “Maybe just open a window at least.” she suggests as they come inside. She sees the mess they’ve made and can’t help but roll her eyes. Like kids at a sleepover they’d wrecked the place. It wasn’t like she was going to go to cleaning up after them though, they were adults and she could clear her own space to sit if she wanted to. “I brought toad in the hole, and pasta and things” she tells them, ignoring the mess that also spanned the small kitchen as she opened the fridge to put the containers in there. “Toad in the hole is not for Steves, but the rest is.”

           Danny walked over to the glass door that lead out onto a tiny balcony where Danny had put up a fold out clothes hanger where he would usually dry his clothing, currently only his work uniform was there. “I can shower if it’s really that bad,” he offered, he figured it was not the best but he hadn’t been to the gym or anything.             “What is Toad in the Hole?” Danny questioned as he watched Essie move into the kitchen. Immediately he began to clean up after himself and Steve, rising some of the dishes off and loading them into the dishwasher. “Does it have toad in it? Is that why Steve can’t eat it?” Danny asked as she loaded up the fridge.

              “I kind of thought you meant food for eating now, and together, I don’t expect you to keep me eating the whole week, Ess,” Danny said, stopping her motions. It was a bad sort of impression to imagine that because she had kept him stocked while he was emotionally incapable of caring for himself that she felt it was her duty now. “Come on, you’re not my Mum, love. If you’re bringing food I want to share it with you.”

      “It’s not. I’m just whinging.” she lets him know. Truly, it was just a little stuffy, it was mainly food smells a little sweat never hurt anyone. But she does glance at him with a wink, “But maybe a little deodorant?” she teases. 

      “No toads, it’s just got sausage.” Essie replies. “It’s like a giant yorkshire pudding? Do you have those with sunday roast? And then baked into the pudding is a few sausages, it’s good with gravy. Not healthy per say but tastes really good.”

       An embarrassed flush crosses her cheeks. “I know I’m not your mother.” she says frowning at his fridge. “You said your fridge was empty so I took some things over….” she pauses a moment and adds “Overboard?” looking back at him biting her lip. “Just figured you’d be doing more important stuff than cooking now you have Steve back.” In a moment of uncertainty she takes the box back out of the fridge just to put it right back in again. “Well you’re keeping it now. I ain’t carrying it home.” she says shaking her head “Don’t eat it if you don’t want it.” 

         “Oh yes, Sunday Roast,” Danny said, immediately making his tone more elegant and refined, his posture straightening. “What a fine Sunday did we have Steve, church and then a wonderful Sunday Roast with pudding and Hole of Toad.” His sarcasm was as thick as his accent. Danny’s family was large and while they ate meals together, roasts and the like were reserved for Christmas and celebrations like graduation. “Roasts weren’t much our thing,” he said as his tone softened back to it’s usual state. “Whenever it was our birthday we got to pick whatever we wanted to eat, I usually went with a chicken and gravy sandwich but we’d just pick up a roast chicken or two from Coles and Mum would make the gravy from a tin of powder. Was roast like a typical Sunday meal in Scotland?” he asked.

         “Now that Steve’s back I got nothing to worry about cooking wise, if anyone is the homemaker of us it’s him. Best soup you’ll ever have, he’s a talent,” Danny announced. Honestly more so than how he felt he just hadn’t cooked because he would be waiting for Steve to bring him dinner and when he didn’t he’d get sad again. “I appreciate it though, we’ll definitely eat it over the next few days, but we should probably have some now, yeah, what is not Toad in a Hole, but also not any of those British things you just said, pudding is not the same for the both of us,” he teased. Pudding was chocolatey and delicious, not filled with weird veggies and meat. But Danny was heavily biased and a terrible sort of eater.

        Steve came into the kitchen, opening the fridge and observing. “You pick some stuff, I’ll spray some deodorant,” Danny said, running off as Steve pulled open one of the containers to look inside.

       Essie narrows her eyes at him when he starts to talk differently. “Sunday roast isn’t a posh thing.” she argues lightly, if anything it’s a cheap family meal. You can buy it frozen and stick it in the oven after all.” she points out to her obviously uncouth boyfriend. “But my mum loves roast dinner, so we were all forced to endure it. Eventually we started making our own meals instead of waiting to be fed and the tradition died. Even if we ate roast dinner on a tuesday we called it Sunday roast.”

       “Well, I’ve given Steve a few days off at least then. Let him have a little bit of respite before he’s back to whipping up the soup of the gods.” she winks at the familiar when he makes his way over to look through the small selection, she’d only brought three dishes, it wasn’t a very wide spread. 

       When Danny heads off to find some deodorant she addresses the wallaby. “I realize I didn’t ask you what kinds of foods you even liked to eat. There’s a black bean, avocado burrito bowl type thing in there.” she suggests “I eat that all the time and it’s vegan?” Finn off to the side with his commentary that it smelled awful to him. But then again the little carnivore was likely to say that about any vegetables presented to him.

             “Forced? Damn, Ess,” he laughed a little. It was very different back home. Roasts were expensive and while his family was by no means bad off there was just a lot of them. Enough roasts for eight people was just a bit much, especially because Turkey wasn’t a thing that was sold in stores back in Australia. “Well it sounds very posh, I’ll have to ask your sisters to be sure, see your home,” Danny insisted.

              Danny chuckled at her notion, glad that she was looking out for Steve a little and was in a good mood. He’d worried she might be upset with him about leaving when her dust was bad off. He knew he wouldn’t have if not for Steve, but it also likely didn’t feel very good to her.

               Steve looked up to Essie as Danny returned, grabbing some candy off the table, smelling of Axe body spray. At the suggestion of the vegan burrito bowl Steve went searching for it in the fridge practically climbing inside while Danny held candy out for Finn. “So what are we eating, Ess?”

       “Well when you’re a kid you don’t want turkey, and vegetables, and mash. You want Pizza, and chicken nuggets, and dessert for dinner. So I’d say forced is a pretty solid response.” She crosses her arms with a playful pout. This pout quickly dies as he speaks about meeting her sisters and a smile takes over, she doesn’t even try to hide it. “Believe me when I say if my mum gets to feed you we’ll be having a roast.”

       She had things to say about the last time they’d seen each other in person, but she didn’t feel it was right to ruin Steves return with such things. They should be happy, they should celebrate that he was home and all was well -or as well as it could be amongst the town chaos. She’d keep her comments in for later, not wanting to spoil the mood. Secretly a little hurt by the action still, but pushing through telling herself that it wasn’t logical.

       “What do you want to eat? We can share with Steve or you can try not many toads in a hole.” Essie lays out his options with a shrug. Watching Finn snaffle the treat away as if Essie hadn’t seen the action. “Your choice.”

        “True, but I always want pizza and chicken nuggets so I’m a bad example,” Danny grinned as he watched her pout, coming in close to kiss her cheek gently to get back on her good side despite all of his teasing. “If your Mum gets to feed me I’ll have my own roast and you lot will need a second one, it’ll be all mine,” he grinned, wrapping arms around her middle.

         Danny scrunched up his face gently, this was why he didn’t eat sushi, why he didn’t eat caviar and why he couldn’t handle patté. It sounded gross to him, he was infantile. “I will attempt to eat this dish,” he agreed, fingers clear of the snack he’d had for Finn. “Is it meant to be heated or is it a cold strange sausage sort of thing?” Danny asked as Steve was happily able to avoid it with the vegan burrito bowl she had brought.

      “I mean pizza and chicken nuggets are still good I’ll give you that.” she allows as he leans down to press a kiss to her cheek, her smile indulgent as he does this. “Well good luck with that, my dad will have your guts deep fried if he thinks you got a bigger portion than him, he’s a really gentle man, but boy is he not a sharing kind of bloke.”

       “Heated up. Cold sausages are not my cup of tea.” she makes a face pulling it out so he could look at it. It was already cooked, it just needed heated up in the oven for ten minutes or so. “It’s nothing nasty you big baby.” she laughs showing him. “It’s just pork sausage in batter, and the batter is crispy around the edges anyway.”

         Weirdly Danny had assumed Essie’s Dad wasn’t around, she hadn’t mentioned him many times, mostly her sisters and her mother, and in Danny’s experience it was strange for someone’s parents to be together, he was one of the only friends he had who regularly saw his father. Besides, Essie seemed like someone who had been rather surrounded by her mother for her short tales of her time back home, though he did recall her sharing that her father had taken her to jump for the first time. “Guess he’ll need his own roast too then, lot of posh-ness for whenever I meet them, so many roasts, your neighbours will be jealous,” Danny continued to play, squeezing her middle.

          Danny turned on the oven then, moving from Essie flicking it to a reasonable reheating temperature and leaning against the counter next to it. “It sounds nasty, why would you have toad in the title of anything delicious?” Danny asked her with a raised brow, it would be a minute or two before it was warm enough for them to put food in.

          “So your dust,” he began, still leaning as he did. “How did you fix it?”

      “I can’t believe you think you have any chance eating a whole chicken to yourself. Do you even know Finn? Have you met this little thief? There’s no chance you’re making it off with an entire bird no chance at all.” Essie laughs shaking her head. “Not to mention my mothers familiar is known for eating half of every meal prepared, whether my mum cooks it herself or my dad takes over.” 

      “If you don’t want it, we don’t have to have it.” she rolls her eyes leaning back against the fridge now that everything they needed was out of it, and Steve was off side with his own meal to be eaten cold. 

      Essies expression falls a little. Her fingers lifting to fiddle with the edge of her skirt idly. “It wasn’t a conscious thing it just sort of happened. I guess I used so much that it ran out? I ‘cleaned the pipes’ as my dad would say.”

        “A chance? I can eat a whole chicken easy,” Danny insisted. He ate more than a chicken in a day when he was in his final year of high school, becoming quite obsessed with his size and trying to bulk up he ate only chicken and rice for a few months before his parents were finally able to convince him that because he was fae it was all rather irrelevant, and the look him showed as much. “I will bring my own bird if it’s about sharing, everyone can have a bird. What familiars do they have?”

        Danny shook his head, “I want it, I’m just making a point,” he insisted. Besides once she had pulled it out of the fridge it looked fine enough, strange but fine.

        “Ran out? Hmm, that’s strange, can you feel any of it in you still?” Danny asked, wondering how on Earth it could have just...vanished from her. He hadn’t been affected by it, so he couldn’t know, and the mold was still definitely strange but he supposed nothing disastrous had happened to the town yet, perhaps it was all going to just fade away, her dust the start of it.

        “Oh I know you could but honestly Danny, unless you’re in the kitchen waiting for the very second it’s done you don’t have a shot in hell. It’s not sharing, it’s that it’s a game.” she explains further. “My mother has a fox, her name is Helen. Always so good to play with us when we were little. My dad has a robin, her name is Elise.”

       “It’s just got a weird name, if it was called something bring like sausage in batter kids would get bored of it too quick. Plus, even as an adult I think it’s more fun to say toad in the hole, than yorkshire pudding and sausages.” 

      “More like forced out maybe? I wasn’t having a very good day, I uh ...threw a bit of a childish tantrum.” she admits, colour in her cheeks and shame on her face. It was uncomfortable for her to talk about but she was honest as ever and didn’t want to hide from the truth. “I was hurting.” she adds on softer. “But I’m confident it’s gone. I got a blood test and everything, it’s definitely gone I feel much better.”

          “Well I’ll run home to my Mum and she’ll give me a whole chicken because she loves me,” Danny pouted. Honestly, it was kind of convenient for them that their families did live so far apart because it meant they didn’t have the pressure of either being around. Soapberry paid fine enough too that if they did want to go home for a spell they reasonably could. “Curious to me your father and you have familiars of the opposite gender, I’d never heard of that before. Are your sisters the same?”

          “That or you’re trying to trick me, trying to convince me it’s called something it isn’t ‘cause I’m a silly boy, I see your game, Essie,” Danny pretended, the oven beeping as it had heated up correctly and the fae opening the door so Essie could put the food in to be reheated.

          “A tantrum?” he chuckled, crossing arms over his chest. “What were you having a tantrum about. Damn, blood test? Didn’t you say they couldn’t tell anything was wrong while it was there though?”

       “I don’t even know if it’d be more or less of a journey if you wanted to go home from here or from Scotland. Would it take less time from here? Or more time from here?” she wonders idly. She then blinks at him, she’d never considered her and her dads familiars as odd. “No...my sisters all have female familiars.” she tells him. “I suppose it was never highlighted as odd, I guess because my dad has the same? I don’t know anyone other than us who have a non gender match, but… it’s never been a big deal, figured it was a thing that had to be around other places, not just us.”

       Sliding the dish into place she snorts. “You caught me, it’s toad sausage not pork. And that’s how it got its name. Us british people are real boring for naming things so it wasn’t hard to catch.” she jokes.

       Essie makes a face and half shrugs “I just...got mad about it all. I wasn’t having a very good week and Avi went and made it worse and then he was gone I just...I couldn't take it all at once so I had a meltdown.” She shakes her head “They couldn’t tell I just...it was comforting to know that blood tests came back negative you know?”

         “About the same, the difficulty with here is you have to land in one of three locations and then take another plane, where as Scotland it’d be like one plane and rent a car probably,” he reasoned. America was just so big. “Not a big deal no, but curious, I always wonder why our familiars are as they are. I feel like Steve is all the parts of me I don’t have enough of, like I need his boost of them to survive. How health conscious he is, how serious he is, that sort of thing. I just wonder what made Finn male, when did you get him?” Danny asked since he knew that was also different for everyone.

          “I mean, I can imagine all you British people eating things like toad and fish eggs and that kind of stuff, very off putting. The best thing that ever came out of Britain is pies and you don’t even eat them right half the time, don’t a bunch of you eat cold pies and sausage rolls?” he enjoyed playing, waiting for her to put the food in so he could close the oven.

          “Avi made it worse? How?” Danny asked, partially wondering if this was Essie reacting as she did to Ephram, and to himself when he’d observed something about Essie she hadn’t liked. Danny was quite protective of Avi, though with Steve missing he’d rather forgotten to get in contact with him. “Wait, he’s gone?” he pressed, voice growing louder.

       Essie nods along to his explanation. She’d never personally considered going to Australia so the distance was a mystery to her. “Finn and I are certainly different enough, I just feel like we used to be the same. He’s a part of me that I don’t get to be very often maybe, he shows it so I can still feel it time to time through him. You have to be more grown up as you get older, but not if you’re a ferret. Or a Danny I suppose.” she throws in to tease. “I’ve had him since I was seven? Can’t pinpoint a date, but we’ve been together since around then.”

       “Uhm, excuse you. Since they came from us, we can’t be doing them wrong.” she argues. “And pork pies are the best and you can’t tell me otherwise, there’s nothing better than a pork pie right from the fridge.” 

       “He scared me, and he lied to me, and then he just vanished.” and these were the emotions she’d been trying to get rid of when she’d run out of mold infected dust. She’d been angry at him, and hurt, and worried, and all these things show so clearly on her face never having mastered schooling her expression. “He jumped into the cellar I fell into and I went running for him, and he was just gone.”

            “I’m grown enough, I pay my bills, I go to work, I don’t suppose I need to be grown up in many other areas, but maybe that’s just my silly thinking,” he shrugged slightly. He was growing up, more and more lately, but it was hard for him to completely let go of his sometimes dismissive but mostly jovial sort of personality. Things were harder to share in an adult way and sometimes didn’t get you anywhere better, sometimes they made you feel worse.

           “Seven?” he asked with both brows raising. That was so late. He knew Freddie hadn’t had his familiar since birth but assumed it was more about how Freddie was raised, he didn’t have two fae parents to understand. “I’ve had Steve since I was a baby, Steve was just as little, Mum named him, said she and Dad always had a feeling as to what they were meant to be called, just like they did us kids.”             “You can invent something and have it be invented better by someone else, like the iPhone, it’s just better,” Danny teased, poking his tongue out. “Ew, no, fridge? The best pie is a curry steak pie on the train, hot as hell. You tear the lid off, eat it, then you put some delicious ketchup in there and eat the rest. So good.”

            “Avi ain’t no liar,” Danny insisted, disliking that his friend was being spoken of so poorly. “Did you report it to someone?” he asked, knowing he hadn’t been at the station it was likely Essie had reported it and Danny was none the wiser because he wasn’t around to have heard about it.

       “I like it, it wasn’t a criticism.” she says tilting her head to the side at him and flicking her eyebrows with an encouraging lift to her lips. “Being too worked up over trying to be more of an adult or more grown up or more fit for a role you don’t want isn’t you. And I like that about you. You’re fun, you’re an adult and you look after yourself and Steve and the town, but you still laugh and joke. I like it.”

        “It took a little longer for the second part of my soul to find me is all. He found me and that’s what matters right?” she looks lovingly at her familiar, she calls him a terror and a thief and maybe he is, but she loves and cherishes all he is to her all the same. “Everyone has a different story, maybe mine is just a little more odd than what you deem the usual.” 

       “Train food? No way NO way did you just tell me train food is good. I don’t know where your trains were going but train food is sucky and awful, and anyway if you’re on a train that sells pie, that’s bougie as hell.”

       Essie purses her lips “He broke a promise to me Danny, he lied.” she’s certainly losing her good mood now, all the emotions swirling back to the surface. “Of course I did Danny.” she says looking away from him. “I’m not an idiot. I was scared as hell when he vanished, I ran all the way to the station myself to take someone back with me to find him.” her arms cross in a motion of self soothing, one hand running up and down the opposite arm. 

          It actually rather was him, but he didn’t really show it to people. He figured Freddie was the only one to fully observe it and Ephram assumed but was never one to push someone to speak when he wasn’t exactly invested, he was Danny’s boss rather than his friend after all. “Guess that’s a way to look at it,” he smiled, because he didn’t want to get into his self doubt then, he wanted to focus on Steve being back, on having fun. Which was his whole issue, not that he wanted to have fun persay, but that he would rather ignore things that needed dealt with.

          “He found you,” Danny nodded, a curious thing. Freddie’s had been given to him, Danny suspected manifesting in some manner, whether inside the Chin given to him, or for the woman bringing him to Freddie, while Steve seemed to manifest too, just more literally. Finn searching for her was interesting. “Not odd, everyone’s seem different, I’m really just curious, I figure most of it has to do with lineage. Just different lines of fae.”

          “Train food is great, you’re off it if you don’t think train food is perfect. Not like the food they bring you if the trip is long but the cheap heated stuff you buy in the food carriage,” he insisted of his food. He’d only been on a train a few times, mostly for school but it was definitely good.

          “What promise did he make? Maybe he didn’t mean to break it,” Danny insisted, growing very defensive of the man who had lost so much. Avi was here to find his family, it was all the man cared about, and maybe that’s why he needed to break the promise. Would Essie not do the same for her kin? He was getting ahead of himself. “I should have kept in contact,” Danny sighed, feeling partially at fault for the man’s disappearance. 

       “I suppose maybe my dad and I are just a different breed.” she shrugs. Both her and her father had opposite gender familiars, and as far as she’d heard both their familiars had come to them late. She’d never been one to put it down to genetics or anything like that but perhaps that was indeed the case. If she had any real interest in her own familly history she’d look into something like this in her fathers family tree, but truthfully she was content just being as they were. Why look into why when it didn’t make a difference either way?

       “Scottish trains are not the same, nowhere near the same. Scotrail is so shit it’s unbelievable sometimes.” she complains lightly. This just being another cultural difference she supposed. 

       Essie just looked back at him, she had no words and she didn’t want to argue, lest she get mad at him again. “Your focus is on the wrong things.” she says bluntly however. She was all for defending a friend, hell she’d been defending him to Bella not a week prior despite it being through tears, but it was in the timing and there were bigger things afoot. “He’s missing Danny, I watched him vanish after Tommy. Just gone into the mold like he’d never been there.” it was still a chilling image and it made her shiver to know she’d fallen into the same patch before. 

           “Too unique for the rest of us to handle,” Danny grinned at her. Lately, since Steve’s return, Danny felt his history mattered more to him than he had previously assumed. He thought he was content but in reality he questioned a lot of why he was the way he was. Meeting his Grandfather had confronted a lot of that. His parents lived in such a unique way. Very human, strange for a fae, especially to have a whole family isolated from others. They didn’t have any fairie connections the way Essie’s family seemed to though.

           “I mean, yeah, they’re shit but like great? You know, it’s not like you remember the bad stuff and get mad, you remember the dumb stuff and laugh, right? Can’t be awful if you got some hilarious memories?” he reasoned.

           “What is my focus meant to be on?” he asked her, a sharpness to his words. He didn’t like her descriptor at all and had the immediate urge to go and look for Avi but he knew it was useless. If Avi had gone after his brother he’d have fallen down some rabbit hole. Right now was not the time. He’d need to ask some people at the station, see if they’d heard anything. They’d got out before, maybe Avi would get out again. “He and Tommy are out there, they’re just temporarily missing.”

       She smiles at him. It sweet of him to say, she’s glad he feels he can say those things about her even if she doesn’t feel any more unique than anyone else. She’d never put thought into what made her similar or different to other fae in particular, she’d just done what she’d done and that had been that. 

       “I suppose getting the last train home in glasgow will always stick with me, it’s a riot every time.” she allows with a small laugh.

       He snapped at her and she snaps back before she can keep herself in check. “Not on what I personally think about Avi. What does it matter what I think about Avi? Shouldn’t it just matter what happened to him?” her voice raises a touch and she brings a hand to fiddle with the hair at the nape of her own neck in frustration trying to cool off. She doesn’t like being angry during discussions. “I didn’t say they couldn’t be maybe found, I was just telling you what happened. You asked me.” this sentence comes out defensive and her eyes flicker to Finn who’s trying to ignore the hostility in the room and pester Steve like nothing is wrong. A distraction, always a distraction.

          “Not a literal riot, right?” he asks, checking in about that. It was possible, maybe the wrong soccer team was playing and their fans were mad. What was the team for Glasgow…?

           Danny frowns as she implies he doesn’t care what happened to Avi because he didn’t like her offending him. “Because you really think that talking shit about him is okay? He’s my mate, I don’t talk shit about your friends,” he said, even if he wanted to. He liked some of Essie’s friends, but that didn’t mean he liked them all. The point was it shouldn’t matter, they were her friends, not his, so even if they’d hurt him, that shouldn’t matter, what mattered was how they made Essie feel. “Okay? I was making an observation, not trying to contradict you.” Danny was growing more and more frustrated by Essie’s comments. 

           “Why do you get so upset when I have a different viewpoint? Am I meant to just side with you that Avi is a liar if I don’t feel he was?” Danny asked. They seemed to get into arguments often, like neither of them, not just her, could handle the confrontation of the other. “And I can’t do anything about him being missing right now, can I?”

       “No, like a good time riot, not a riot riot.” she agrees. But that seems to be the last thing they agree on. It gets her to sigh, from frustration mainly.

       “I didn’t shit talk him!” she finally gives in to the argument. “All I said was the truth Danny come on. I said he scared me. That’s true, he did. I said he broke a promise and lied. That’s true, he did that also. Whether he meant to or not isn’t the point to me. I was just telling you how I was feeling about it all.” she explains irate of how she’d felt. Why couldn’t they be more peaceful, it was just so easy to get riled up. “And it doesn’t matter what I feel about him, cool he’s your friend, fine, I liked him too when I met him. That doesn’t change what happened. I’m not trying to change your opinion of him at all. Did it seem like that?”

       She closes her eyes “No. I don’t want you to just throw away your beliefs for me, that’s not right. I just…” she gestures and lets her voice even out into something more normal. “You asked me, and I told you. I wasn’t pushing for you to do something, I was simply telling you what I knew. I was telling you how I felt.”

            “A riot riot sounds very Scottish,” he teased with a grin on his face. “Sounds Aussie too but not on a train, more like a train station waiting for them to start up again.”

            “How did he lie?” he asked since she hadn’t really said that. She’d said him disappearing had scared her, and it was easy to assume the promise he broke was staying with her or something similar when he went after his brother. “It’s not about changing your opinion, it’s about respecting mine. Avi is my friend, he needs to find his brother. That’s important, if I needed to find my sister or Steve I’d break a promise to.”

            “You called him a liar, Ess. Would you like if I said that about one of your friends? I get that you were probably scared, and he probably did break a promise, not because he wanted to be hurtful but because he cares about someone.”

            “It just seems like if he was my friend, and he obviously has something important going on with him, that you’d maybe consider those things before just saying a bunch of awful things about him. Sometimes how you feel isn’t as simple as that moment.” Danny felt pretty fucking shitty interacting with Maya, but whatever had triggered her wasn’t anythng he knew or could understand and she made Essie happy, so who was he to say that she was irrational and someone who sought out victimhood.

            Danny sucked in his cheeks before letting out a soft breath. “Avi isn’t a hurtful person and I don’t like the idea of people thinking he is because he’s trying to do something noble, something for his kin. Have you ever felt like someone in your life was just out of reach?” Danny asked, obviously quite connected to the idea of what Avi was feeling. He’d almost like Steve twice now and he knew that he’d do anything to get him. He didn’t mean to hurt Essie when he’d needed to keep himself safe for Steve, but he did and he couldn’t feel badly for that. Losing Steve was out of the question, Steve was him but better and he came first. Just as Tommy came first for Avi.

       “He promised me multiple times he wouldn’t jump. Multiple times he wouldn’t go into that cellar.” He’d scared her with that, but Avi had also grabbed at her, held her tight and not let her go, to herself thinking back on it it had been rather scary. It wasn’t just the emotional damage of him vanishing, it was the knowledge that she’d been scared of the man himself before he’d done it too even if in reality the fear had washed off her quickly. “I respect your opinion. But this is a two way street. Your pal had me scared of him far before he vanished, and I still did as he asked and took him where he wanted to go, made him promise he’d look after himself too and then he went and jumped anyway. I realize my own mistake, I realize I’m to blame for him vanishing.”

       “I didn’t even say he was a liar, I said he lied. Singular, that doesn’t make someone a pathological liar that means in this one instance he lied. And lie he did. Maybe for good reason but that doesn’t mean he didn’t. If one of my friends broke a promise I’d hope you would tell me and I wouldn’t just argue that they were a good person. Maybe they are maybe they aren’t but I’d let you tell me how you felt.”

       She wasn’t usually a frustrated crier but boy did she feel it. Her eyes close, she doesn’t want to make this about her, it wasn’t. It was about Avi.

       “I’m sorry Danny. I know he’s your friend. But I don’t understand and I don’t get it I’ve never been in that position so I can’t relate. And I don’t want you to stop feeling a way about your friend that you want to feel. But you can’t control how I feel either, I’m sorry he’s missing, and I’m sorry I said he lied. I truly wish he hadn’t, he’d still be around.”

           “If you were scared of him why did you do it?” he asked, it wasn’t like Avi would have made her do it and Danny tried to keep his mouth shut that this was how Essie reacted to people, she was a nervous person. It felt like she wanted to be afraid of people sometimes, because it meant...well, he didn’t know. He couldn’t grasp why Ephram had made her nervous, and why Avi did, and why if they did make her feel that why she stayed around them. “God, don’t do that,” he threw his hands up when she said it. That it was her fault, a pet peeve of his when people did that. Maybe Essie should have done more but it wasn’t her fault, she hadn’t contributed to his actions. Stupidly it annoyed him but he often did it too, perhaps why it did grade on him. “You know it wasn’t your fault.”

            Danny shook his head, because the difference was that when Danny didn’t like someone he didn’t extend his time with them. Essie stayed with Avi, noble in that she wanted to help him pursue his brother, but it wasn’t worth the expense of her own safety. “Ess, I’m not hanging around anyone who makes me feel scared or bad long enough to get to that point. Your girl Maya made me feel like shit so I said she could leave, I’m not going out of my way to spend time with someone like that. So I’m not going to come to you saying this or that about her, because I don’t need that exposure.”

            It was frustrating to stand there as she began to cry, because he didn’t want to concede, he didn’t like the manipulation of tears but he knew he would also be a dick if he didn’t concede to her feelings, if he continued and made them worse. “It’s not about changing how you feel, it’s about respecting your audience. You don’t need to say you think these things about him, especially if you continued to be around him despite it. You could have just said he went missing, that he broke a promise, that makes sense, but that doesn’t mean he lied. He probably believed it. People can believe what they’re saying in the moment and still do something else. Would you want someone to hold you to that standard?”

       “He had a hold of me when he made me say I’d take him. He wouldn’t let me go until I agreed to take him, okay. That’s why I agreed.” And it had shocked her at the time, it had shaken her, the lovely selkie she’d met before had been replaced by a man on a mission or so she’d felt at least in the moment even if reality hadn’t been so tense. She felt he’d take prisoners if that’s what he needed to do at the time. Danny felt it admirable to be so invested in rescuing your kin, and maybe it was, but being the prisoner hadn’t felt very good.

       “I took him there Danny. Of course I’m partially to blame, I’m not stupid. The fucking witness interviews I did once he was gone are proof of that. It’s not a pity party, it’s taking ownership of my part in him being missing. And that was the second time I’d ever met the bloke, how was I to know he’d get all weird with me? I was struggling all on my own already, without his stuff on top. And you asked me you wanted to know about my dust and I told you, and the start to that story is that Avi went missing, it’s not like it was out of nowhere.”

       She kept her eyes firmly shut. She wouldn’t let tears fall. This was not the time nor the place for shit like that. Home later was the time and the place. She felt like Danny was nitpicking. He was picking her apart for one singular word she’d said and that wasn’t fair, she didn’t pick him up on singular words he’d said. They’d had a misunderstanding in the past but this was blowing one little comment so far out of the water the original point was getting lost.

       “You’re holding me to that standard right now. I said one sentence, one truth you didn’t like about your pal and now you’re arguing with me about it. I didn’t say Avi was a bad person, I said he’d scared me and that he’d told me a lie. People lie. It’s not the end of the world. To me, this phrasing isn’t something to argue about. Clearly it is to you, and duly noted. I don’t know what you want me to say? I already apologised for saying he lied. I agree he’s not a terrible person for it.”

           Danny didn’t like the picture of that, far more violent than perhaps Essie had intended to make her experience sound but to say she had been held, forced into agreement, made it seem like she was threatened, like she had no choice in the matter and while Danny had a hard time imagining Avi holding anyone to the point that their no’s were ignored, that they’d been forced into an agreement, but why would Essie imply that if it wasn’t true? She said he wouldn’t let her go until she agreed, that was hard to hear.

            “You said he wouldn’t let you go until you agreed, if you had no choice how is it your fault?” he asked her. “And even if he hadn’t forced you, he made his decision to do what he did, taking someone to some place doesn’t make anything your fault. I could take you to a cliff and if you jumped off that wouldn’t be on me unless I pushed you. If Avi made the choice to go then he made the choice. Don’t be like that, don’t be someone who blames themselves for someone else’s actions. You’re...you’re better than that, Essie. You’re smarter than people who do that.”

            Danny was frowning but tried to lessen the muscle tension in his face. “Essie, you’ve basically said he endangered you multiple times, it’s - he’s - he’s my fucking friend? I don’t want to think my friend hurt my girlfriend, I want to believe he’s better than that. He needs to find his brother…,” Danny sighed, shaking his head. “I just find it hard to imagine he’d do any of that knowing you were scared because I want to hope he’d know better, that if he saw you were scared he’d step back.” Shamefully, he also worried Essie’s nerves had played a part, but he knew better. If Essie felt threatened then she felt threatened and deep down if Avi hadn’t left her be then he’d done something wrong. “But obviously he didn’t. He’s my mate, I just want to protect him.”

       In reality Avi had only held her for a moment or two, he’d been a little unreasonable but it had certainly spooked her. She didn’t realize Danny was imagining a much more violent scene than it had been. Speaking about Avis disappearance in such a disjointed way not to mention being in the middle of an argument was leading to quite a bit of misunderstanding from everyone, not that either of them noticed. “He just held me, he wasn’t rough, but being held against your will is scary when it’s someone so much bigger than you and I made a deal with him so he’d let me go. If I said I’d show him, he’d let go. And he did, so I did. I was wrapped up in it all too you know. Tommy being missing, he said he’d seen black dust figures like mine before I wanted to get some answers too, no one else had seen the same thing.”

       “He got me to take him back. He took me back to the cellar. He frightened me once and then did it again by vanishing. I’m mad at him, but I complied. I didn’t want to go back on my own word. But there were other options, I was just not thinking properly at the time. I should have called someone but I didn’t. It’s not like taking blame is going to undo him vanishing.” She was on a roll explaining herself now, she could only hope Danny would believe her, even if he didn't want to believe his pal as unreasonable as she felt he’d been.

       “He screwed with my emotions more than physically hurting me. And me saying he lied that’s neither here nor there. He was a man on a mission, I was spooked but convinced by the time we got in his car that he’d listen to me and not go too near. I’m not saying you need to have a bad opinion of him. He scared me twice, he broke his word to me once is all. I promise I’m not saying you should feel any which way. That wasn’t my point right from the start, I just don’t really have very good memories of him right now. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to spark an argument, I didn’t mean to badmouth your pal.”

            Maybe Essie was trying to make him feel better about what he was imagining, explain things a little more but honestly he found himself set on the vision in his head, words like ‘frightened’ and ‘against your will’ making Danny feel quite ill, he wanted to throw up. He felt sick to his stomach thinking of Essie in the position that she described. To Danny Avi was small but that didn’t mean he was to Essie. Danny was big, he saw how Essie reacted when he got angry with his sheer size. Even if he didn’t intend to scare her he was.

             He wasn’t really sure what to say, he knew he realistically should be condemning Avi but he wasn’t quite there yet. So he internalized a lot of how he was feeling, inhaling deeply as he couldn’t keep standing there in his kitchen arguing with her. He’d reacted and didn’t know anything and now he felt like he knew even less. 

             Reaching out he took on of Essie’s hands in his and drew her to him slowly so she could resist if she desired. Even when he opened his mouth to say something he couldn’t. Every thought that came to his head was unsure and lacked confidence so his mouth just kind of hung open as he went to hug her.

*i don’t know how to insert a line on the app*

       Essie hadn’t meant to really go into a lot of details about her entire ordeal with Avi, she’d just lost control of her mouth when tempers on both sides had flared. She didn’t expect Danny to blindly take her side, and she hoped he would make his own decision. Just because she wasn’t a fan of the selkie didn’t mean she wouldn’t allow people to think whatever they liked of him.

       He didn’t respond and she wondered if maybe she’d upset him far too much, not her intention, not just after getting Steve back, not ever. 

       It took the woman only a fraction of a second to tuck into his chest when he reached out for her hand. She wanted the comfort as much as he might want the reassurance. She rests her chin on his chest as he struggles for words and gives him a faint apologetic smile.

       “Let’s not talk about it anymore, okay? We’re celebrating Steve being home after all. Rude of us to ignore him ...dinner? We should still have dinner, right?” she adds lightly looking into his eyes in hopes of sparking something other than the confusion that seemed to be swimming in them. 

            Danny felt a bit better when Essie curled up against his chest, the presence of her there always making him feel less like he was drowning in himself. She was a distraction of sorts, even if he justified to himself this was not true because he cared about her it was. He could care and still enjoy the distraction of her closeness from what he was feeling and he desperately needed it in that moment. His feelings always got the better of him.

            “Okay,” was all he really said, because obviously they’d need to talk about it eventually. Not so much what had happened but how he hadn’t believed her. That he’d defend someone who hurt her, that wasn’t right.

            Holding her close he was quite unconcerned with dinner and obviously he’d been celebrating Steve’s return since he had. “I’ve ignored you for a few days, I don’t think he’ll mind if he gets to spend some time with Finn,” Danny whispered, he didn’t mean to but speaking louder when he still felt sick was hard. “We can have your weird dinner though,” he teased, kissing her head as his arms held her close. His arms were loose though, intensely aware of how she might feel when it came to his strength after what they’d just spoken of.

*i can’t make fucking lines*

        She just wanted to forget all about it, she wanted a nice evening with her boyfriend and a lovely welcome home for Steve. Hopefully the familiar could forgive them for arguing within only ten minutes of the visit. 

        Danny agreed to move on from the little spat and she rewards him with a wider smile. Couples argued, couples fought and got past it. She was just glad neither of them burned quite bright enough to be one of those couples who broke up on a whim every other saturday over something dumb. They would be speaking about this again -she had no illusions about that- but in the moment, she was glad it was over. 

        She did notice he wasn’t holding her as close and she snakes her arms around his middle and hums gently “I’m not going to break you know.” but still she moves her chin from his chest and presses her cheek there instead squeezing into him tightly for a moment before moving back completely and reaching for the abandoned tray on the side. Finally slipping the food into the oven to cook. “You’ll like it, kids love this stuff.” she teases back sticking her tongue out at him, anything to draw a playful mood back to the room.

          “You’re basically a twig,” he teases back of her slender frame. “You are a lot tougher than me,” Danny acknowledged though, because she was. Maybe not in terms of fighting but bravery, jumping out of that plane was a one off for him, for Essie it was a fun afternoon. “But still breakable.”

         Danny chuckled when she said kids liked it, his diet basically was that of a ten year old. “It’s not even shaped like dinosaurs though,” he play whined. She’d stepped back to put it inside though and he was not as pleased with that as he was about the idea of food. He wanted food and her.

          Stepping forward now that the oven was closed, they had some time before the food heated up he took her hands again and wrapped them around his neck before wrapping his own around her waist. “I missed you,” he assured, even though Danny already had he needed to say so again. “Steve could feel it even over in that place.”

        “Oh wow excuse you, I have a lot of muscle under all this-” she gestures to herself with one hand up and down scrunching up her nose at him playfully. Her features smooth out into a prideful smile at the compliment “Damn right I am, I don’t even cry over spilt milk that’s how tough I am, I just pour another bowl, like water off a ducks back.” she winks letting out a short huff of breath and a shake of her head at his other comment. “Just because you’re mr strong, doesn’t mean I’m easily crushed.”

        “Focus on the funny name, baby.” she coos at him. “I’ll get you dinosaur nuggets next time.” Then she thinks “Or actually I think it’s very much your turn next time, you can bring me dino nuggets. Only the finest.”

        Essies’ face goes soft when he says he missed her. Arms get a good place wrapped around his neck and she bumps her nose with his. “I missed you too, I’m sure Finn got sick and tired of me these past few days. Especially after staying over so many nights, no one big enough to steal all the blankets I mean what sort of life is that?” she jokes lightly, laughing gently and giving him a short but sweet kiss.

             Danny continues to chuckle at Essie’s response, silly and ludacris with no sense at all to it. “I feel like it definitely means that. I can crush you, but feel free to pour all the milk you need,” he responded, licking his bottom lip as he tried to regain control of his laughter.

             “I will bring you anything you like,” he stated as he held her. Essie was better than dino nuggets, but Danny also enjoyed when she told him how things were, at least to some degree. Not concerning others, but concerning what she wanted, Danny liked knowing exactly what he could do to make her happy and he’d do whatever it was, within reason. No murder, least without cause. “I will try and learn something delicious to make just for you, maybe Steve can show me.”

             Essie had gone in with a joke, laughing softly and giving him a short kiss, but Danny had missed her. Missed being close with her especially. Like she said they had spent night after night with one another and even if they hadn’t been sleeping together they hadn’t been keeping one another at arm’s length. So when she pulled back Danny merely leaned down further, catching her lips again, deepening the kiss with his scruff against her chin and the small area between her lips and nose.

        “I’ll fight back, I don’t crush easy Danny I’m telling you. I bite.” she clicks her teeth together at him rolling her eyes as he throws her dumb milk talk back at her, she has no comment with a small aborted laugh.

        “Learn to make something easy first, make me tacos or something. Oh no no how about a pasta bake, I love pasta bake. Steve can do pasta right?” she asks growing hungry at all this talk of food, she’d glad he offered them to eat some of the stuff she’d brought she was definitely feeling like she could eat a whole box to herself. Eyes bright at the thought of it. “You’d have to do it proper though, like with crisps to make it crunchy.”

        She’d been missing this kind of attention, the clingy boyfriend she’d had before her whole dust thing had been a little upsetting to think about, but easy to lose herself in. Days without him after that had felt so empty, so now that she was all wrapped up in his arms again she was delighted to comply with his kisses. Pressing her whole body closer to him teeth catching his lip lightly if only to amuse him due to her biting comment before.

          “Steve can do pasta,” he agreed however when she said something about putting chips into pasta he pulled his lips back. That sounded terribly American for a Scotswoman. “We may have to look up how to make pasta in your weird way,” he teased her, he’d do it though. Pasta did seem simple so long as he didn’t have to actually make the pasta part itself. 

            Danny smiled in the grasp of her teeth, lifting her suddenly to shock her out of the act, part of his skin reddened from the hold she’d had on him. “You do bite, should I be scared?” he playfully asked as he held her up and against him, hands at her thighs keeping them around his hips as his lips found her jaw, running down her neck. He’d missed that, the feeling of her response to it. Essie was inexperienced, sure, but she didn’t seem nervous about her reactions, she seemed quite willing to show her enjoyment, or what she didn’t. Danny couldn’t quite place what part of it made her anxious. Perhaps trust, he didn’t know much about ‘almost’ as he’d been thinking of her ex. Maybe he hadn’t been trustworthy, he didn’t know.

             “You smell delicious,” he noted, lips against her neck and nose buried in the spot between it and her soft hair. He’d missed smelling it every night on her pillow, able to keep his nose buried into the back of her neck as he slept. Still pressing kisses to her neck he stepped forward, placing her on his counter so he didn’t have to keep holding her weight.

        “I’m sure I can dig out some sort of recipe, don’t know how vegan it’ll be though.” she says with a slightly apologetic tone towards the familiar if he was even still around, selfishly she only really had eyes for Danny at that very moment. 

        A squeak of surprise leaves her mouth when she’s lifted, her arms tightening and her legs hooking around his hips. “Be very afraid.” Essie huffs a breath at him with a brief look of seriousness before it dissolves into a breathy giggle. She tilts her head back a smile gracing her lips when his start to travel. She certainly enjoys when he lavishes her with attention, even if she’s still a little too nervy to go so far, she’s glad he’s still interested enough to do this and that with her.

        When she’s sat down on the counter, her arms move backwards to steady herself. Her legs don’t move however, if anything they try to draw him even closer now that she’s not in his arms. “I smell delicious? Just how hungry are you?” she wonders with a small laugh, a little impatient she moves a hand to the back of his neck to guide him back up to kiss her properly. “Bet you can’t guess todays lipgloss flavour.” she challenges him lightly, just simply wanting to goad him into more kisses.

           Steve had taken Finn off to his room, intending to show Finn the bed he had bought for the familiar and the blanket that he had knit for him. Steve did not want either of them involved in the arguing. Unlike Danny and Essie, Steve and Finn rarely fought. Steve couldn’t remember ever arguing with Finn beyond trival things like which sweet taste best. Steve was rather proud of his blanket too, wrapping Finn up in it.

            When Essie’s head tilted back, on Danny’s view of things, he compensated for the movement of her and groaned quietly at the gestured, it was far more exciting for Danny to feel this reaction in her than to go further and get none at all. Essie wasn’t resistant to enjoying herself, and even if she made him work for it didn’t enjoy making him feel unable to meet her needs the way previous experiences had.

             Her legs pulled him, calves pulling at him so he stayed close. “Very,” he answered, the softness of her hand at his neck, drawing him back up to her lips. He didn’t need telling twice, his mouth finding hers and making sure his tongue moved over her bottom lip, tasting the shimmering gloss on them that made her sweet lips taste as they were. Danny barely wanted to guess, intensifying his actions as his lips parted further, hoping to get the same reaction from her.

              Still he focused, wanting to be right, though not sure he’d care if he was wrong if it meant having to keep trying. His hands at her thighs moving up to her hips, fingers crazing beneath the hem of her shirt as he pulled back slowly, sucking on her bottom lip. “Watermelon?” he asked when he pulled away, not far though, only an inch or so, some of the shimmer on his lips.

        Finn was overjoyed at the sight of the bed, and incredibly excited and flattered that the other familiar wrapped him in a handmade blanket. Finn always felt it an absolute treat to be around Steve. Maybe the wallaby was odd about sweets -a usually inexcusable offence to the little ferret- but his friendship was becoming irreplaceable in this town. The ferret was also incredibly happy to have Steve back safe and sound.

        Perhaps she’d set him on a task, but Essie truly just wanted the kisses. He parts his lips and she lets herself have a go, her tongue flitting out to battle with his if it’s willing. Her own hands shifting to take a hold of the only article of clothing he actually had on. Her fingers grasp at the hem of his sweatpants at his hips, fabric bunching under her hands a little as they kiss.

        His guess isn’t right and she smugly shakes her head at him. “Uh uh, think smaller and more fruity.” she gives him a hint. Her peach lipgloss a favorite of hers, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t exactly peach flavour. These things tended to be a little bit odd and artificial, so his guess was likely a very fair one.

        She leans forward and presses another few kisses to his lips. “You know this one, you can do it.” she teases.

            Steve happily shared his food with Finn, enjoying that someone else actually fit in his room with him, entirely absorbed by the company he had to really concern himself with the thoughts of his fae. His head had been nothing but Danny for the past few days since he got back, and while he didn’t want to be away from Danny he didn’t want to be clinging to him anymore either. So Steve set up his iPad with a movie for the two of them, curled up in their own blankets.

            The way Essie grasped Danny made him smile as he kissed her, testing what she tasted like. He missed the way she clung to him as strongly as he did her. Essie was nowhere near as obviously clinging but when it showed Danny was gleeful he was not alone. He took her clinging to mean he could cling back and when she shook her head his hands moved beneath the fabric of her skirt to her waist, drawing her close enough that her chest was pressed to his own.

             Essie leaned forward after her hint, pressing some shorter kisses to his lips, leaving more marks of her against him. Maybe he did know, so rather than think on what her lips tasted like he tried to think of what lip glosses she owned, that he’d seen her apply, and he had watched her. It was weirdly beautiful for him to watch, maybe he wasn’t alone in his thinking, but it was strangely appealing to watch her pout her lips slightly, make them look wet. It brought his mind to other things, which was probably why it was so hard to remember what the actual gloss’ container had said.

           His hands at her waist held her still, thumbs running softly over her ribs, as he craved moving up to feel the soft flesh of her - “Peach,” he announced suddenly, licking his lips to be sure. “Peach gloss.” He wasn’t proud as to how he had remembered but he was proud he had. “What’s my prize?” he asked, nuzzling his nose into her cheek, kissing the edge of her mouth.

        Hands moved up under her shirt and she found it odd how little she cared. Thinking back to their first date, how suddenly the reaction and need for him to not get under her clothes had been, it was odd to compare the situations. Yet at the same time it only made sense to her, they’d breached the clothing barrier before, and it had certainly been a little terrifying but oh so worth it. Her mind flitted over this memory and her cheeks grow pink, her stomach fluttering slightly.

        She watches him closely as he licks his lip trying to figure out the flavour, thanking herself for such an incredibly smart move. She shifts her hips side to side a little, shuffling right to the very edge of the counter, her skin moving under his hands as she goes. She encourages him, spurring him on with little nods as he tries to figure out just what the flavour could be. 

        Essie lets out a surprised breath when he finally guesses right. “That was only two guesses? You must really know your fruits.” she jokes prodding him gently in the chest. Looking up into his eyes she pauses and then asks the dangerous questions. “What would you like your prize to be?” maybe she was feeling brave, or maybe she was just feeling all too hot and bothered. Never the less, there’s a tone to her words, a hand resting on his chest, and the other still bunching the hip of his sweat pants. What would he want hm?

            When her hips rocked he felt the movement through the thin fabric of his sweatpants, his length stirring but not quite growing. He was still pretty distracted by the thought of her gloss and going beyond that was going to take a lot of his mind that he just didn’t quite have with the obvious goal in mind. Once he achieved it however that was another story.

            Essie prodded his chest, a slight sway to his shoulders that came back to their initial position immediately after. Her large eyes rose to look up at him, a pause that he didn’t quite know well. Neither did he know the tone that followed with her own question. If she’d used it before he’d forgotten it but that brought his attention, his length pressed to her twitching as his mind wandered, fingers doing much the same, though not quite reaching anything.

            Danny was not quite sure how to reply, he didn’t want to say anything to would make Essie uncomfortable or draw away. He wanted to keep her close, he wanted to not have to part until he had to leave for work the next day. If that meant merely holding her the rest of the evening he would. That didn’t mean he also didn’t potentially want more, just he didn’t want less.

             So he leaned in and kissed her, softer this time, but prolonged, his lips parting partially, his hands large and warm as his thumbs ran just beneath her breasts he could feel pressed to him. They felt so soft, even with the fabric of her shirt separating them he could feel how tender they were, and as his gaze shifted down for a moment when he drew a breath from their kiss he could see how the rose and fell with her own. “I want you to tell me what you did when you missed me,” he whispered at her lips, thumbs rising the caressing the softness of her breasts, still separated by her bra but thumbs latching over the edge of the fabric, waiting to see her reacting before he actually pulled it away.

        She could feel a slight interest from him and lets her reactions do the talking for a moment. She shifts her hips precariously onto the very edge of the counter space, closer to him with absolutely no more space, her legs around his waist so far that her skirt was riding up criminally far on her legs. 

        Essie herself knew her limits, perhaps it would be considered cruel to some to know that she egged him on so much and yet gave away nothing very much in return. But Essie believed all her friends, believed Danny himself. If she was ready she’d go for it, and anything less was absolutely fine, she didn’t have to push herself for something. Danny himself had said it. And it was as if the thought of this spurred her further than she expected every time. She felt like he respected her, and as such she felt like giving him more each time the moment arrived.

        “Well when I missed you during the daylight I made myself busy doing this and that.” she respond, taking a deep breath when she notices him looking down never one to give up an opportunity to tease him any way she could. Her voice grows softer and she carries on. “But when I missed you at night, well I got busy doing other things.” a soft blush rises to her cheeks, she’s never one for words, always feeling at any moment she could say the wrong thing. But she shifts her body, pushes into the fingers hooked on her bra, eyes willing him to take the leap with her.

                 She was blushing, even when she had said very little. Her gestures were enough though, chest lifting so his fingers were already pulling at the fabric of her bra, eyes looking at him with their own sort of intensity. So Danny allowed himself to continued, fingers pulling the fabric down, straps falling off her shoulders in the process, her shirt still covered her breasts but Danny’s hands were able to pull the bra low enough that he could run his thumbs over her nipples as his fingers and palms cupped her breasts.

                He groaned like it was caught in his throat, hips rocking as he pressed his lips to hers. Immediately his hands stopped their movements, like he’d forgotten they wouldn’t just continue without thought. Danny became focused once more on her lips, kissing her tenderly. Her answer was not what he expected but her encouragement was something wonderful…

                 Until the timer on the oven beeped and the scent of food hit him, reminding him there was more than just the sweet fruit scent of Essie but other things in the room. Danny partially wanted to ignore it, kissing still, but the beeping felt like it was growing louder and he reminded himself that if Essie was egging him on, then he wanted it to be done well. Not when he hadn’t showered in a few days. “This food is going to be delicious enough I don’t regret not letting it burn, right?” he asked, still close to her, forehead pressed to Essie’s own.

        She loved it when he made noise, her eyes usually closed for focus, or simply because they were kissing, so sight was usually ruled out but it was oh so hard to miss sound. She couldn’t being herself to care as he brushed over her exposed skin. Enjoying the kiss much too much.

        So intent to hear him, even just slightly laboured breathing had her jump a little when the timer started to go off so suddenly. Essie almost drew back, but Danny was still sweetly kissing her she wondered if they’d just let it burn. The idea of that sending another round of fluttering in her stomach.

        Her nose scrunches up and a disappointed expression takes over her face when he pulls away from her however, still absolutely terrible at hiding how she’s feeling. “Oh I don’t know.” she says with a small sigh tilting her head to press a quick final kiss to his lips before she shuffles her hips back onto the counter properly, letting go of his pants the flush on her cheeks increasing in the knowledge that she was doing horribly hiding her disappointment. 

        “Depends if you have gravy or not.” she adds tucking some of her hair behind one ear and shrugging a shoulder slipping the bra straps back up into place.

          Danny could practically feel the disappointment in her aura, her scrunched up nose and the sigh that escaped when she answered was more than enough to let him go. She scuffled off still, leaving him to step back and open the oven, grabbing some mits and pulling the food from it. The baking tray’s contents looked very foreign to him but that was rather the point. “I do have gravy, we’ll just have to heat it up in the microwave,” he answered, pointing to the fridge as he placed the hot tray down on the top of the stove.

             Throwing the mits down he closed the oven and stepped over to Essie, pushing back some of her hair. “We can eat, and then we can make-out in bed until our lips are dry,” he insisted, wrapping his arms around her middle from behind. He still wanted to be close and hoped the reminder of the food wouldn’t get rid of that.

             “Besides, I think I need to like man up my bedroom, get rid of some posters, hell, maybe get some real side tables for the lounge,” he said, as currently they were milk crates. Danny did not want Essie telling her friends things had gone far in a room where he had half naked women on the walls, or where upside down storage crates had been tables, she deserved something more befitting a girlfriend, not just a hook-up.

              Squeezing her he released and went to find plates. “Plus I want to try your toad food, if I like it then maybe your parents’ll like me and I’ll get to keep you around, yeah?”

        Shifting off the counter she moves over to look for the gravy, there was no way they’d manage without some sort of sauce, and yorkshire pudding almost demanded gravy. She tugs her skirt down and fixes her shirt as she makes her way over before setting about the task, still feeling a little put out, an odd feeling for her considering she was usually the cock block in situations like these. 

        Essie wanted to make a comment that they could just share her lip gloss some more but felt a little lacklustre about it, it was so odd for her to feel this way she presses back into his chest with a small frown, willing the feeling to be gone. “Sounds good.” she hums instead trying to sound more upbeat than before.

        Unsure of what ‘manning up’ his apartment had anything to do with anything she glances at him over her shoulder, finally locating the gravy and reaching for it a moment later. “Uh, alright. If you want. If this is your way of getting me to assemble furniture we both know I’m not the one to go to, I still have four screws missing from my bed, who knows where they’re supposed to go.” 

        “Toad food.” she repeats quietly to herself, a small laugh escaping her lips and lifting her mood. “Honestly my Dad already likes you enough from what he’s heard. So it’s parent singular. My mum never trusts my account of people, she needs to see you with her own eyes. But it’s not like they have any say though, they can get teh hell if they think they have a say.”

               “I’m not going to make you do anything,” he said in response, shaking his head gently. He’d have happily helped with her furniture if she had wanted it, they’d have got to spend time together they otherwise wouldn’t have. “I just know you were kind of sad when I bailed, I don’t want that to be a regular thing. For me to just bail on doing right by you, if it wasn’t about Steve I’d hope maybe I wouldn’t have, can’t say for sure, but I know it’s ridiculous I’m older than you and my place looks like I’m in college.” Danny shrugged, taking the gravy off her and putting it in the fridge. “Manning up is probably a bad way to put it, just need to grow up a bit.”

             For all the inexperience Essie had sexually Danny had when it came to life. He was doing good at the station, he was doing good in lots of areas, his place needed to reflect that and it wasn’t like it couldn’t, he just hadn’t card up until Essie. He cared, he wanted her to not feel like she was entering a smelly dorm whenever she came over.

             “Your Dad likes me? Isn’t it like a parents job to dislike their child’s partner?” he teased, definitely shocked. “What could he even like about me? Telling him lies?” Danny nudged her as the microwave counted down. “If your parents genuinely hated me you wouldn’t consider why?” he asked more genuinely, because if they were then she should. Maybe not actually break up with him but consider it. They were older, they knew things. Depending on their reasoning maybe they’d have a point. “If you Mum hates me you should consider what she says, I’ll fight tooth and nail but she’s your Mum.”

        Thoughts of a few days ago weren't her favourite. She’d thought about it a lot, she had things she wanted to say but she also knew from his words that he likely already knew what she’d be thinking. “I understood you had Steve as top priority. I don’t blame you for that, if it were Finn I don’t know if I’d be consolable at all. I don’t know I just...like to at least feel considered,” she shrugs again, she’s not really in the mood to discuss that too far. If he could just acknowledge that much she’d be happy. 

        “You think your apartment needs growing up a little?” she echoes looking around the place. The appearance of it had never bothered her and she didn’t imagine it would spring to mind at all if ever brought up. It was admittedly a little grimmy at the moment but she once again gave reprieve for Steve being missing. They’d done nothing but hang out from what she could gather so truthfully why bother cleaning if you weren’t doing anything other than creating more of the same?

        “I don’t think so, I’d like to think my parents wouldn't just dislike someone on principle but then again maybe that is a little bit of wishful thinking. I tell him stories, he likes stories, so I tell him about this and that about my day, dates you know, things.” she shrugs, it’s not odd to her to share much with her dad they just always had. “I’d want to hear why and decide from whatever extra information they’d gathered but...well honestly my mum has been wrong about people before so I take things with her with a pinch of salt.”

         Danny could sense Essie didn’t really want to talk about it, perhaps because she worried they would fight again. He needed to get better at that, grow up in more ways than just his apartment. Fighting wasn’t just on him, sure, but he contributed, he egged it on by being unable to handle his feelings. “I should have considered you, reacted more appropriately,” he acknowledged.

          “Maybe it and me, guess only time will tell,” he answered, looking about the place as the microwave beeped. “Show me what I need to do now?” Danny requested, holding the gravy out to her.

          “Not on principle but maybe they sense something,” he shrugged. “I’m not trying to encourage you to dump me, just like trust your Mother if she hates me for a second, maybe.” Danny laughed, running a hand over his face as he knew he couldn’t explain what he meant well. “You tell your dad about our dads? Your parent? He probably wants to deck me.” Probably her Mother too if her Dad passed on the message. “Who was she wrong about?”

        She wanted to say more but felt it’d be rude. Danny had agreed with her that perhaps things could have gone down better, that should be enough. To say any more would be cruel, they couldn’t change what had happened so why waffle on and on about it? Honestly the situation had made her appreciate Bellamy all the more for her part in comforting Essie, she could have done without it but she was glad she had the chance to appreciate a friend even more -even if at the time all she’d really wanted was Danny to come back and tell her it was alright.

        Essie lifts the gravy from his hands and moves over to find some plates, she’s been in his place enough to know vaguely where things are. Sliding the toad in the hole gently onto a plate she hums in thought, usually when eating one of this size you’d cut it in half and put half and half on a plate each but she couldn’t help but feel the makeshift bowl was meant to hold the gravy. Pouring it in she rifles around in search of some cutlery. “You don’t mind sharing sharing do you?”

        “Oh I don’t know Danny you sound convinced she won’t like you, whatcha gonna do to achieve that huh?” she teases before turning around with the meal in her hand, cutlery grasped in the other. “I do tell my dad about our dates, should I not? He really doesn’t want to deck you I promise, we were both charmed by 3am beer and waffles.” Whether her father had ended up telling her mum didn’t even cross Essies mind. “One of my oldest sisters boyfriends, a kid in school with Sunny, Craig. You know, she’s just not always got the best eye for these things.” 

            “What is ‘sharing sharing’? Is it not actually sharing?” he didn’t quite understand what she was implying as he watched her handle the food, he wasn’t really sure what she was doing but kind of laugh at the idea of a sausage going in a bowl. He was juvenile and it was only funny to him because it wasn’t common.

            “Keep you here forever,” he grinned back in response. He had never considered whether or not Essie might want to go home, or intended to. The woman had only just moved to the states, every chance she had only intended to stay the year. “I’ll never give you back to her and she will loathe me forever.”

            He still couldn’t understand how she could tell either of her parents about their dates, especially the dates that involved him trying to get beneath her clothes, which admittedly he attempted more frequently than he didn’t. “They weren’t like ‘he tried to grab your what on a cliff? Should have pushed him off?’” Danny asked her, shaking his head. “Maybe she was right about Craig,” he muttered to himself.

        “There’s sharing, where you both get some of the food. And then there’s sharing sharing, where it’s not really sharing and is more a fight to eat more than the other person from the same plate.” she explains with a laugh wiggling the plate with the yorkshire pudding bowl full of sausages. 

        “Oh kidnapping, what a choice.” she jokes. “But hey, I don’t find that too big of an offence, so even if that is her reason I’d say she’s not going to sway me at all with that kind of argument. I did move here myself after all, animal magnetism or none drawing me to you.” With that she moves around him and heads for the couch, she’d rather sit up properly than dirty his and Steves nest with gravy by accident.

        Cheeks pink she looks at him. “I might share things with my dad but I don’t share everything with my dad. I’m not that crazy Danny honestly.” she giggles awkwardly “There are some things left unsaid, he could read between the lines but I hardly give him the chance.” Settling onto the cushions she adds “No no, she was wrong. She liked him...honestly far far too much.”

           “I have five siblings, you think you can beat me at a fight for food?” he asked, but she probably could. Danny’s sisters were pretty polite and when they did buffet style, serve yourself eating it was when they were out at all you can eat, otherwise it was what their mother dished up and they got what was given to them and if they wanted more it was fruit or get a job to buy it yourself. Reasonable enough...Danny had got a job, he needed to be able to buy as many zappos as his heart could want. “Let’s see who ends up full,” Danny tried to playfully threaten, opening his mouth as wide as he could to show how well he could do.

           “All the animal magnatism,” he joked, following her into the lounge area, taking a seat next to her, very closely so he could get to the food and remain near her.

           Danny squinted, like he was playfully testing the truth of that statement, he’d spoken to his Dad. Not intriquises but generally, to ask his advice. His parents were both smart but his Mother would no doubt worry about him, she was always worrying about him. None of her other children, and it wasn’t a gender thing, it had never happened until he’d got sick. She worried because she knew Danny was the most emotionally weak of her children, he couldn’t handle much thrown at him and if she knew he was internally concerned about something she’d want to fly over here, it had only been the immediacy of helping Steve that she hadn’t come because of that. His Dad knew even though Danny was weak, not letting him try on his own was worse.

            “Well then I hope she does hate me, if she liked him, I want to be the most hated of all your exes,” Danny declared, intending to sound playful but his tone too thick for that. He might not have wanted her mother to hate him but it was hard to hide that he didn’t like Craig, mostly because he knew nothing at all about him. Essie had been so vague, and they’d fought over it. Danny didn’t want to fight again but he wanted to know why she wouldn’t tell him more, what had happened that she would only shrug and say it was on and off and nothing went very far?

        Essie wished she’d had a piece of the dinner already cut off so that she could have popped it into his open mouth but alas, they hadn’t even sat down yet. “Well you’re a lot bigger than me, but I bet I can eat faster if not more.” she challenges, always one to playfully escalate.

        She shuffles right into his side, offering up a fork and a knife as she settles the place on her lap. “If you get gravy on me it’s over.” she jokes playfully pointing the fork in her own fingers at him. “I’ll demand something cute from you and you’ll never get it back.” she warns before lowering her threatening fork and starting to cut some of the pudding into pieces. 

        It’s a bit of a sore spot. It might be her own fault for mentioning his name but she didn’t like putzing around a topic very much, it was Craig that stuck in her mind over all the other folk her mother had made mistakes about so why not mention him? 

        “She loved my last girlfriend and Claire was indeed a gem.” Essie points out to him. “Just because she made a mistake about one doesn’t mean you need to go so far in the other direction. I’d really rather not have you try to be hated, could you please promise me you won’t make an attempt at that?” she requests of him looking up after taking her first bite of food. Chewing at him as if waiting for him to object.

           “I will happily give you anything cute I own if it means seeing you in it, gravy or not,” he said, quickly kissing her cheek. He liked seeing her in them more than he needed them, Freddie would happily take him shopping again if required. He did miss Miles being around to go with because Miles understood why he liked op shops, Freddie didn’t even like standing in them, but it was what it was, bloke had kids. “Besides, if I’m getting anything on you it’s going to be something sweet that I’ll have other ways to take off,” he taunted, nuzzling into her cheek. Of course, all of this had given her the chance to get further ahead of him when it came to actually eating any of it.

           He took the knife and fork, unsure how to actually eat the food that she had put before them but figuring so long as he could get it on his fork he figured that would work. So Danny began to scoop it up as she moved on from Craig - of course, he thought - and speak on one of her girlfriends. She didn’t talk so much about them and he was kind of amazed that, having had girlfriends, that her first experience with some things had been with him, surely they’d have known more? Maybe because they were younger not but Danny tended to assume he could never quite know as much as he needed to, Essie would always know more about her body than he would.

           “I’m not going to make your Mum hate me,” he assured with a mouthful of food, unlike Essie not waiting until he was done speaking. “I just don’t want to be akin to Craig,” Danny shrugged his shoulders as he continued to chew. “If I’m liked I’ll be the most liked, obviously.”

        “I’d offer to trade clothes with you, but I don’t know how far you’d actually manage to get into anything of mine.” she jokes, patting his knee. “I doubt you’d even get half of my dresses over your thighs.” she grins. “Plus, I don’t know if sundresses are your style, maybe off the shoulder something, but not much more than that.” The quip about something sweeter draws a laugh from her, soft and sweet was her style. “We’ll see, we’ll see if I let you.” she jokes, though knowing if he was serious about it she was likely going to be willing to try not too far in the future.

        “Good. Please don’t. I’d rather you just acted all normal, no need to try and sway her either way I doubt she’ll be any trouble at all honestly.” she informs him. Danny always seemed to swing back around to Craig and her smile fades a little. Eating another piece she lets that comment sit for a moment, she didn’t understand why he was so focused on her only boyfriend other than him. Was it a rivalry thing or was it simply a topic he was interested in. She didn’t know and she found herself sighing and trying not to care.

        “You’re nothing like Craig. Literally nothing like him. It’s not a competition, and no one is comparing you. It doesn’t even matter about him anymore.” she draws in a short breath. “He’s still dead.” and it hurt, no matter how good or bad he’d been for her, death was never fun nor easy.

          “I do have tree trunk like thighs, anything too slender might not go over them,” he agreed, looking down at his legs as he took another forkful of food. “I would rock an off the shoulder look, show off my beautiful chest hair. Everyone would be envious of the way it flowed in the wind in time with my dress.” Danny chuckled. He’d worn skirts before, mostly to sports carnivals at school and various silly things for the houses they were in. Paint on the face, tutus and glitter on their shirts with whatever house they were in. It had been fun, until he realised those kinds of guys could turn on you in a moment.

           “Definitely wouldn’t be fun if you didn’t want to do it,” he assured her, especially after all she had said of Avi. “I’m thinking peaches though,” Danny stated, tasting his bottom lip. It was all gravy and pastry and sausage at this point.

           Danny didn’t want to agree or disagree with that, he didn’t know Essie’s mother but mostly when Essie reminded him that Craig was dead Danny felt a little poorly for his behaviour. He didn’t like the idea of Essie having this person in her life she wouldn’t talk to him about but the guy was dead, to be so crude about him was hurtful. “Well I’ll just have to compare myself to your ex girlfriends,” he teased, trying to keep her happy. “I have far softer skin, yeah?” he joked since his was all rough and calloused from the gym and from driving a carriage.

        “Something not demin then maybe.” she suggests lightly looking down at his legs. “So it’ll have enough give to get over them. I think I might have something bodycon that we might manage over your chest.” she was kidding, she highly doubted anything she owned wouldn’t rip in an attempt to get it on his body, but it was fun to talk about. “Oh definitely, something floral or more simple? I feel like I have an off the shoulder something that sort of looks like one of your button down shirts.” she hums chewing away.

        A softer expression crosses her face. “Well we don’t know unless we try right?” it was a positive reinforcement thing. She wanted to speak about things like they were reachable, and given how much she’d been wanting more in his kitchen things were finally starting to feel within her grasp. “And anything peach is my all time favourite. Until then we can keep sharing my lipgloss how about that?” she offers with a wink.

        “You want to be compared to Claire?” she laughs, the idea certainly increasing her mood. Any topic but Craig, any person but him. “Oh you definitely have much softer skin.” she indulges him with a beaming smile at the silliness of this turn in conversation. “Though I think she might have been taller than you.” Essie throws in turning her head to give him a once over, eyes sweeping up and down his body. “I don’t know if you could beat her impressive 5’7 height.”

          “I have worn a floral suit or two that has done me justice, but I like florals when they’re clinging to me, my muscles show off the flowers so well,” he proudly proclaimed. “Sundresses are too flowy, the flowers wouldn’t capture how wonderfully strong I am, plus they’re very Ruby,” he shrugged. Danny didn’t much like thinking about Ruby, which was why he was always taking Essie’s jackets off her at work or putting her in his. Her work clothes were how Ruby used to dress to work and Essie had her own cute style he wished she showed more when she was there. He liked her high waisted shorts and cropped shirts - clearly ridiculous enough to imagine this was appropriate for work. They would disappear when summer ended and winter came though, Danny would be counting down the days until summer returned. “I need something floral but definitely bodycon,” he concurred of what he should wear.

            “R-Right,” he kind of jumped over his words. Essie had been so forward that evening, with her actions and with her words and Danny was kind of shocked by it still. He didn’t want to press if she was just being flirty but he definitely needed to make that trip to IKEA soon. “Yeah? I didn’t know that, peach,” he nodded, trying to commit that to memory. Her birthday was in the new year, sooner than his, so he definitely needed to start preparing.

            “Depends, is Claire better than me? Because if she is cuter I think I may cry,” he dramatized. “Taller? Who is taller than me?” Lots of men, Ruby in certain heels, Faye in certain heels, there was a weird amount of very tall women in town. “I’m 6’2”!” he objected, standing, fortunately the bowl of food on Essie’s lap and not his. “How is she taller than me? Maybe, in heels but not regular flat feet.” 

        “I don’t think I have floral and bodycon you might have to end u shopping for yourself anyway.” she points out. Any mention of Ruby was no fun to her, but she was slowly letting it slide by her without having a bigger impact. The woman worked at the station, they were friends, it only made sense that Danny would speak about her -history or not. “Hey I wear floral! I’m not Ruby.” she points out with a playful pout, trying to mask her discomfort with humour. Throwing in the womans name herself just to prove to herself that she could and it wasn’t a big deal.

        Essie bites her lip when his word fumbles. Was she being too much? She couldn’t tell for sure but she hoped it was a positive fumble rather than a negative one. Danny worked hard to try and stay in her comfort zones, but she was also very conscious he might have them too. She just hadn’t made it far enough to really hit any thus far. “Peach is a great flavour, I wear peach lipgloss as much as I can. I have peach body scrub even. The smell is just too good. I’m obsessed.” the fairy confirms.

        “Oh god no, you’re the cutest man in all the land baby.” her voice light and teasing “No need to cry, she’ll never be on your level.” The clear outrage about his height had her dropping her cutlery on the plate and covering her mouth with both hands to stifle the bubbling laughter. She hadn’t realized it was such a serious topic. “Oh I don’t know Danny, are you really 6’2?” she squints at him as thought sizing him up, although completely unable to hide her grin, she was playing with him. She takes another bite of food to try and stifle herself. 

          “Yeah, but Ruby wears like sundresses when she’s not at work, you wear like cute little flowy crop tops, I like the ones with the big arms,” he grined, letting one of his arms move out to like act like it had extra fabric to sway in the wind. “It’s hard to explain the difference, I like your floral dresses and your outfits. I like when your shirts match your tiny tops too,” he grinned. There was no way for him to explain it because he didn’t know any of the names for the things.

          Danny hadn’t given much thought to what her scent was made of, he mostly just liked it. She smelled delicious, he knew that, so he had known it was a food, just hadn’t thought too much beyond him enjoying it. “But you like to smell that way, so if I bought peach shampoo you wouldn’t want me to smell that way? Or would you?” he asked, trying to find out what might work, especially since he smelt badly right now.

         Unable to help it a large grin appeared across his face, even if he was outraged that she felt he was shorter than he was, chest puffing up as he straightened his back. “I am, if I’m any shorter it’s only because I’ve been to the gym and I’m pulled down by how heavy everything is,” he too was teasing now, himself partially. A humble teasing brag. “You’re cute too though, definitely the cutest, especially with your nose,” she had the most fae nose of all. He loved how adorably like their kind she was, without really meaning to be.

        Danny describing what he liked on her was something she’d never considered before. She dressed for herself mostly, that’s why she’d had to put so much thought and effort into getting help when she was dressing to tease him. But apparently it didn’t matter, he liked how she dressed anyway, and she fully took a moment to appreciate that he did. Sitting back on the couch with a small smile on her face. “Big sleeves huh? I like those too.” she comments lightly. 

        “You want to smell like me?” Essie wondered. “If we both smell the same we won’t be able to smell it after a while you know. I swap to mango for one week a month just to make the peach smell that much sweeter when I get to switch back, my nose gets too used to it. But if you want to smell like peaches too you should. It’d be a nice change to have it on someone else for a change. I’d be able to actually get my nose right in your hair since I can’t do that to my own.” it was up to him, it might make the scent dull more quickly, but she just couldn’t get enough as it was. “We can match.”

        She lets her laughter burst forth when he puffs up. Brining one of her legs to tuck her her holding onto it as she laughed. “I know how tall you are Danny I’m just playing.” she admits finally. “I took all your measurements for our skydive remember? Even if you are lifting as heavy as you are.” Her eyes widen a little and her laughter halts “MY NOSE?” she’s almost as outraged as he was, though she’s definitely tipping more towards amused than offended then he had been. “Of all the things and you like my nose the best?”

          Danny liked when Essie dressed to tease him but she would have been equally as capable in her regular clothing, probably not her usual work attire, but what she was wearing now? He was quite capable of being taunted with because he didn’t really concern himself with what women wore, so much as they felt and looked pretty in what they wore. Essie always seemed like she felt pretty, it was merely when she teased him she felt like doing that and if it worked for her he was quite willing to be teased. “Swoosh them all around,” he chuckled, sitting back down to eat some more of the food, it wasn’t great but it was good. He wouldn’t exactly seek it out but he was enjoying eating it.

           “I want to smell a way that would make you like smelling me, I know I either smell like my deodorant or sweaty,” he explained of his question. He was content to keep smelling as he did but he wanted Essie to be happy more, it would add all of two seconds to a routine that was lazily done as it was. “If you want to match we can, if you like another smell then I can smell like that too,” Danny shrugged.

           “Oh, yeah,” he laughed, totally forgetting she had taken his height for that. He still had his wings hidden most of the time around Essie, not on purpose, more out of habit. Danny needed to remind himself to take them out and half of the time they saw each other when they just suddenly became free, rather than with any sort of preparation. “Yeah? Is that weird? Should I have just said your eyes, because they are pretty too, they’re real doe like, but I don’t know, you have a cute little up turn to your nose and when you smile it makes you look adorable. I like your wings too but I figured my obsession with your wings was pretty obvious.”

         She wouldn’t be angry if he didn’t like the food, she knew it was just bland. She’d had a craving for yorkshire pudding is all and didn’t want to do all the fixings for a full roast dinner, so toad in the hole it’d been. She was glad he liked it enough to keep eating it however, she had brought one other thing for the two of them to eat, but she was glad they could save that for the next night instead. Would be a waste to try and eat the entire thing herself, as much as she’d talked the talk she’d have never managed.

       “Is this you giving me free reign to buy you new deodorant?” she asks him. “Because I will. I’ll find something really nice. Maybe you should smell like pears, I’ll smell like peaches and we can be some sort of weird fruit salad.” she offers the idea with a shrug and a small exhale of amusement at the idea.

       “I mean I guess you can like anything you want about me, but I didn’t expect the nose to be so high on the list. No one has ever commented on my nose, I didn’t think it looked any which way.” Already getting full -yorkshire pudding being a pretty thick batter on the bottom of the makeshift bowl and all- she hands Danny the plate as he sits down. “Yeah, the wing thing is definitely very clear.” she hums to show she didn’t mind little bit. She wished he was confident enough to have his own showing more often, but wouldn’t ever push, personal preference was something she respected about wings. Some fae liked to flaunt what they had, and others were more reserved, given Dannys story she didn’t for a moment want to make him feel oddly about his choice.

             “If there is anything you want me to buy then I’ll buy it,” he shrugged, quite content for whatever would make her happy, not to any kind of ridiculous degree but he could look nice in any shirt. Sure, he’d prefer his bland ones to have football players on them, and his fancy ones to be brightly coloured with a ridiculous pattern, but if Essie wanted him in a black button down he’d wear that, he’d look just as good either way. “Point to whatever you like and I’ll buy it,” he stated. He knew her money situation was good now that she’d settled but no point spending it when Danny had a good amount of savings. 

              “I like the idea of smelling like a pear, pears are kind of musky still but definitely very complimentary to peaches, feel free to pear me up with a nice deodorant,” he grinned at his ridiculous joke.

               Danny kissed the tip of her nose. “What do they usually compliment?” he asked, curious as to what they enjoyed, perhaps it was similar to him. If it was he might need to deck a few people. “I am creepily into your wings, I’m amazed you didn’t tell Ephram in your interview that I’m a weirdo and he needed to fire me.”

       “No no I’ll get it, I’ll get you a nice brand and you can decide if you want to keep buying it or not.” she insists. She had no idea his offer was stretching to clothing as well. Honestly she was already absolutely  happy with how he dressed, just because she liked to dress a specific way didn’t mean he had to make changes about his own choices to match. The way he’d changed to match her for their first date was evidence to her that he had good taste, and she trusted that enough to not want to meddle.

       An unladylike snort leaves Essies nose at the joke a hand coming up to smack his shoulder gently. “Oh wow that’s a joke and a half.” she comments shaking her head. “But I will, I’ll find something good, something mild so you’re not attracting all sorts of attention.” something hopefully only she would selfishly get to enjoy. 

       It’s incredibly sweet to her when he kisses her nose, although she can’t help the involuntary reflex to scrunch it up a little at the contact. A shoulder lifts in response to his question, she didn’t really tally up compliments she was paid, she relished in them until her mind flitted to other things and promptly forgot. “I guess like...my hair, outfits sometimes, sometimes my legs, my ‘curves’ one time whatever he meant by that.” Essie smiles at him and shakes her head. “I was so new to town I didn’t realize it was an odd request, it made sense to me at the time, that people in a magical town like this would be so open about such things. Turns out it’s just you.” she teases. 

         “Curves?” he asked with raised brows. Essie was definitely beautiful but cruvy she was not. There was nothing lacking, she just was very up and down. If someone was commenting on her curves then that is by no means what they were actually talking about. “They definitely meant they were staring at your chest and that’s my job,” he teased, kissing her quickly.

          “Everyone loves wings, just no one else would make you take them out to look at them, but not everyone have complied, I got lucky,” he assured Essie.

 ~Fin~

[takigawachrxsyuu]

Daiya no Ace characters with non-baseball jobs (pt. 1)

Eijun as a barista:

- he is That Barista that smiles at you, and your day instantly becomes 100 times better

- he’s always super friendly at work and will go out of his way to be nice to customers

- “here’s your dark roast, i love your shirt!” “one caramel frappuccino? nice hair!”

- writes nice messages on people’s cups, or will just draw a smiley face if it’s too crowded

- tries his hardest to remember his regulars’ orders, and is immensely pleased when he does

- he gives free refills to students around exam times because they always look so stressed

- he once took, like, three days off and half the customers stopped coming to the cafe. the management freaked out

Miyuki as a model:

- seriously, he’s so pretty. there was virtually no other option

- he does high fashion shoots for, like, the biggest brands

- definitely one of those models that becomes the face of a brand two months into the job. everyone else hates him for it

- old friends think about him like “oh, remember kazuya from school? i wonder what happened to-” *sees a big billboard with his face on it* “oh”

- someone tell him life is not a photoshoot

- despite being a model, he will probably still wear the same shirt/sweater every single day

- it’s impossible to make him look bad in a photo. he looks good in every photo, without exception

- one of the models that unnecessarily flirts with the photographer while working

Haruichi as a florist:

- his flower shop is the most aesthetic place on this planet

- he’s very well-versed in flower meanings and will lowkey throw shade 

- “oh, you’re buying striped carnations for your daughter’s graduation?” (after customers leave) “i hope their daughter knows that those flowers mean disappointment” *sips tea*

- gets the weirdest customers and always has the funniest stories to tell

- somehow convinces his customers that yes, they need all twenty of these roses and all ten of those daisies and exactly six daffodils

- you truly don’t know what you need in life until you enter haruichi’s flower shop

Kuramochi as a cop:

- will chase you the fuck down, don’t even try it

- does NOT fuck with his job. if you do anything even remotely illegal near him, he will stop and call you out on it

- that said, he will 100% use his siren to speed down to a restaurant to pick up his takeout before the place closes

- he will also 100% change his cop car license plate to ‘OMW2FYB’

- “the donut cop stereotype is so fucking stupid, like, where did it even start?” “Officer u are literally eating a donut RIGHT NOW”

- looks like a SNACK in his uniform

- is the baddest bitch on the block

- he would honestly rather die than do any sort of paperwork. he always puts it off or gives it to someone else

- he is the absolute MASTER at interrogations

Chris as a psychiatrist:

- so soothing. so kind. so soft. so nice.

- he will cure all your depresso

- he has the nicest office. it has a comfy sofa, stuff to fiddle with, a great view, lots of tissues

- always has water, tea, and coffee, and will offer it to all of his patients

- he’s so gentle with his patients, he never pushes them, he always lets them take their time to say stuff

- he LOVES hearing about people’s days, and will ask for any details

- “how many dogs did you see today?” “how many streets did you cross? did you cross safely?”

- he has the best advice ever

- whenever his patients are done, he gives them a big, warm hug

- he will talk to his patient’s parents if they are too afraid to

Ryousuke as a food critic:

- HE’S AS FEARED AS THAT MEAN GUY FROM RATATOUILLE SEND TWEET

- he has like 20 shows on tv, and he literally rips people to shreds in every single one of them

- like, for real, people leave with their hopes and dreams crushed

- “you tried to feed me this? bitch, please” “did you sprinkle salt on these fries or did you sprinkle fries in this salt?” “it looks like you tried really hard this time. well, try harder”

- he looks like he’ll be nice but no, no he is not

- haruichi has a tv in his shop that only ever plays ryousuke’s shows and he always proudly tells his customers “that’s my brother!”

- the only person whose food ryousuke will eat without completely roasting them is haruichi’s

- has never complimented anyone’s cooking, ever

Tetsu as an IKEA assembler:

- he pulls up at your house looking like an absolute SNACK and says “i’m here to build your Nordli” with a completely straight face

- always insists on saying those weird names for the furniture

- The Furniture Whisperer TM 

- he doesn’t even need the building plans unless the furniture is somehow customized. he’s memorized how to build every single piece of IKEA furniture

- he once built a closet on his own in, like, thirty minutes

- works in absolute silence

- “do you have the right screws for this Kopardal?” “I’m sorry for the what” “Kopardal”

- you scroll down, like, ten posts on Instagram and BOOM, he’s done building your bed

- if you have a pet he will stop and play with it before he leaves

Nori as a pet store owner

- he’s mildly allergic to all the animals in his store but it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s absolutely fine (it’s really not)

- dogs absolutely love him

- cats also love him

- ALL ANIMALS LOVE HIM OK

- is super quiet and won’t bother you when you’re shopping unless you ask him a question first

- his store is always really clean and organized, it’s super easy to find anything you need

- invites kids to volunteer to play with the animals and teaches them how to wash them, groom them, teach them tricks, etc.

- likes it when people come in to hang out with the animals

Shirasu as a vet:

- his office is right above Nori’s pet shop, it’s very convenient for both of them

- is super gentle with all the animals that he takes care of

- even animals that are shy or unfriendly like him

- very skilled at calming animals down, especially if they’re afraid or overexcited

- always gives his customers coupons to Nori’s store, and Nori gives his customers a discount for Shirasu’s office

- he deals with literally any animals: dogs, cats, snakes, birds, ferrets, guinea pigs, hamsters, fish, etc.

- doesn’t really have fixed hours so if a customer needs to come in at, like, 11pm, he can schedule for that

- has a bunch of candy that he gives people when they’re scared about their pet’s health

- also always has something to drink, whether it’s water, tea, coffee, or juice

Daiya shiposts here

[believerindaydreams]

Anyway! I wanted to have a sequel for the TTW polycule and by gum I'm gonna write it.

Not again. Not again.

His name's Craig Boone and he's from the NCR and nothing is going to persuade him that he's a prewar suburbia dweller with a pet robot. This isn't who he is.

"Mr Craig, sir! I've made your morning coffee!"

He doesn't even drink coffee. Arcade drinks coffee.

"Where's the others? How do I get out of this simulation?"

"Simulation?" The robot chirps, gears whirring. "Ah- perhaps talking to your wife will settle your mind. She's in the bathroom, preparing for tonight-"

Boone doesn't bother sticking around for the rest, opens the door with so much force it almost comes off the hinges. If Carla- if he's lost Carla again-

but he hasn't. She sees him in the mirror and knocks him down with enthusiasm, soft dark hair falling over his cheek and

"Oh my god- Boone- you're here. You're here."

He cradles her, aware he's shaking just as badly as she is. "Yeah. I promise, it's me."

That makes her draw back slightly, if not by much. "Tell me your passcode, then."

"8-10-10-12-11-10." The number of letters in Nuka Cola and all their names. "You next."

"5-7-3-3-6."

What that refers to he has no idea, but it's checks out. "Yeah. That's right."

"I don't know how to get out of here," Carla says, pulling herself to a sitting position: a crouch, rather, ready for combat. "Everything is glued down, you can't pick any of it up. No weapons. Empty boxes in the fridge."

"I don't think it's real." His tailbone's sore from taking the brunt of the impact. That clean water from the sink makes him feel better is not at all reassuring; he remembers talking to the Lone Wanderer about Tranquility Lane, looking at the water tube to keep a pod's inhabitant hydrated.

The thought of that nightmare makes his skin crawl.

"Where's the others?"

"Don't know..."

The wavering cry of a baby draws them both to the nursery with frantic haste.

Daisy's there, apparently unharmed, her small feet kicking in the air. Carla grabs her up, soothes their daughter with gentle rocking.

"Shhh...shhh...Mother's here. You'll be all right, we'll take care of you."

Right thing to say to a kid, but- huh.

He's not sure if that makes it better or worse.

***

"You'll have to excuse my husband," Carla says to the salesman. "The fighting, you know..."

Boone clutches Daisy to him, feeling his pulse judder and race. It's wrong, or he's wrong, or...something. Who knows what. But fighting's the last thing he can do right now.

This close to Carla, it shouldn't have been any trouble to use his blood-sight. It's second nature- even if this is a sim, his fists are as good as anybody else's. Spotting should be fine.

Only it won't come to him. Gone as if it never was.

Carla shoves a clipboard back at the salesman. "There. Good? Good. Go away."

This time the door gets slammed. Goddamn simulated houses will look after themselves.

"Can't feel it...it doesn't make sense. Carla- maybe I'm dying, I don't know."

"Fuck that," she says. "It's a sim. They're suppressing you somehow, but that's not half enough to do us in. We'll face it together and get out, you've done this before."

With the Lone Wanderer's help, he wants to say; but doesn't. Time enough for Carla to worry about him.

He can't think straight without his spotting. It's as much part of who he is as his arms or legs, he feels like he's fallen down a flight of stairs and broken some small, intricate bone that'll paralyze him forever.

"Carla. You try it."

She screws up her face. "On the baby? Well- no. No good."

There isn't time for anything else, because that's when the sirens start.

***

Maybe someone else would have stopped to worry about the neighbours.

Maybe someone else would have believed in the existence of the neighbours; but there's no one else in the crowds who they know, no familiar faces; so they run, and make it to the Vault elevator just in time to see the rising mushroom clouds.

"Funny how this goes," Carla says, looking fondly around. "I always missed this more than I wanted to admit."

"Decontamination pods this way," a labcoat-clad doctor says; and Boone forces the thought of Arcade out of his mind.

"Will it be safe for Daisy?" Carla demands.

"Of course! You can even hold her while you do it."

Her eyes flash; and it almost gives him a chuckle, to see the way his wife can ferret out a problem. She wasn't raised in Vault 21 for nothing.

Fuck. Presumably even his computer-generated beret is half a mile off.

"...uh-uh, don't fob me off with fast talk..."

He keeps quiet, looks around for a weapon or anything. No luck.

"Fine! Fine. It's a cryogenic chamber," the scientist says, clearly exasperated. "You go in, you fall asleep, you wake up in 2078. Happy?"

"No," Carla says.

"2078?" Just great. Another prewar sim.

On the other hand, these things look curiously like simulator pods themselves.

He pulls Carla to the side and points this out; she furrows her brow. "You think it's the exit?"

"Dunno. Maybe. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Oh, believe me," the scientist says in a tired voice. "You do not want to know what's the worst that Vault-Tec can be like."

Carla hugs the baby closer. The terror spreading across her face is a fair match for his own.

"...okay," she says in a small voice. "We'll go in."

If it's a mistake, it's one they can't help making.

[rrrawrf-writes]

elevator aftermath

this is prolly gonna segue into another story arc but i guess i’ll link y’all to the elevator stuff at least

pt. 1 | pt. 2 | pt. 3 | pt. 4 | pt. 5

tw cutting, self harm, alcoholism

“It’s open.”

At Javier’s answer to her knocking, Holly pushed the hotel door open, bottom lip firmly between her teeth.

“Hey,” she greeted, “I brought a friend.”

Javier was in the hotel kitchenette, the only illumination coming from the shuttered windows of the cramped hotel suite.

“Hey, there, coyote boy.” Milt sauntered in after Holly, bumping her with his shoulder on his blind side. She sighed a little, but she could hardly hold his inattention against him. Milt Parker was a lot better about noticing her than most people.

“Milt.” A rare smile crossed Javier’s face as the one-eyed soldier crossed the room.

Javier asked, “How’s your daughter?” He was washing something in the sink; Holly skirted around the kitchen counter and froze when she saw Javier’s pocket knife under the running water.

She threw Milt a worried look, tugging at his attention. His eye flicked towards her, with the slightest frown, and she rubbed her fingers across her wrist in a subtle motion. Javier didn’t notice; he slipped his glasses on, then reached over to turn on the kitchen lights.

Milt offered his hand to Javier. “I can’t tell you, or else you’d have to arrest her. How’d it go the other night?”

“Fine.” Javier dried his hand off on a towel, before shaking Milt’s. The soldier tightened his grip, then reached out with his left hand to push up Javier’s right sleeve. He twisted Javier’s hand until the wrist faced upwards.

Three new bandaids marched up Javier’s wrist. One wasn’t quite big enough to hide the end of a fresh cut that must have gone awry. Holly closed her eyes in a wince.

“Miss Black told me you cut your left hand last night, Javi,” Milt said, frowning. Javier took his hand back, mouth tight.

“I did,” he said, the two words clipped short.

“Let me see.” Milt’s voice was much more demanding than Holly would ever have dared to use with her senior partner.

He sighed, but obeyed, rolling up the sleeves on both arms with a finicky precision. Milt hissed. “That’s a deep one, Javi.”

Holly hadn’t seen the stitches. She’d been - rightfully, she thought - more focused on the bullet wound in her side. It was probably for the best that she was still fat, no matter what exercise regimen the DSA put her through. The gunshot hadn’t hit anything important.

But Javier had been the one to nearly bleed out. The jagged cut he’d inflicted on himself started halfway up his forearm and straggled crookedly down into his palm. Black stitches cross-crossed his brown skin - which, in turn, was criss-crossed with even more scars.

A long, thin line traced down the inside of both Javier’s forearms, perpendicular to smaller, neat cuts that clustered near his wrists with surgical precision. Pockmarks from needles clustered around the insides of both his elbows.

Holly had seen them before, and she’d known where the scars had initially come from - but she hadn’t realized until recently that Javier had been adding to them.

Milt, grim-faced, picked the pocketknife up off the counter.

“Tucker’s knife, Javi,” Milt said. A sullen expression Holly had never seen settled onto Javier’s face. “You really think he’d like you using it for that?”

The question had the cadence of an old argument. “Tucker’s dead,” Javier said flatly. He glanced at Holly, and so did Milt.

Her face reddened. “Oh,” she said softly. “I’ll, um - I’m going back to my room, then.”

“I’m sorry, Holly,” Javier said, but so quietly that she felt safe ignoring him.

Holly never slammed doors, but she shut it firmly enough that Javier winced internally. He looked at his arms again, then dropped them to his sides.

“That was rude of you,” Milt pointed out. Javier hmmed and moved into the living room.

“Tucker’s dead, Milt,” he said again, gentler this time. “Please stop trying to guilt trip me with that.”

“It obviously isn’t working,” Milt grumbled. “You’re a grown man, Javi. Why do you keep doing that to yourself?”

Javier threw him a look of disgust and exasperation. “Do you believe I enjoy it?’

“Well, no, but...”

Javier rolled his eyes. “Do you enjoy getting drunk and punching out half a bar every week?”

Milt glared at him. Javier stared back, until both of them relented, their shoulders loosening. Milt threw himself into an armchair, while Javier settled onto the couch.

“I haven’t touched a drink in three days,” Milt said, holding up his last three fingers.

“That’s good.”

Milt snorted. “Not good,” he said scornfully. “Pathetic. I haven’t gone more than a week fully sober in years.”

Javier looked at him sideways. He thought Milt was exaggerating a little, in his self-disgust, but this wasn’t the time or place to argue with him about numbers. “With the hell they put you through, no one can blame you.”

Milt leaned back in his seat. Javier had been sure to place himself on Milt’s right, where he could easily be seen. Now the soldier fixed Javier with a look that suggested Milt knew that what he was going to say would not be exactly sensitive.

“So what’s your excuse?”

Javier stiffened for a second, but then relaxed when he recognized the real question. He looked down at his hands.

“Holly was shot,” he said. “And our - consultant - was trapped by some pendejo who came back and tortured him in a hospital. I was just across the hall with Holly. I should have noticed something. I could have...”

“I see.” Milt rubbed the back of his neck. “You don’t get to punish yourself for something that isn’t your fault.”

Javier gave him a tired look. He thought about answering that, then rubbed his face and said nothing. How many times were they going to have this conversation? It was clear that neither of them were getting any better. Last time, he had been lecturing Milt about drinking and getting into barfights.

They sat in weary silence. Javier smoothed over one of his bandaids, and then Milt said, “Come out with us tonight.”

“I don’t like bars,” Javier said automatically. Milt grinned.

“Neither does Archer. But he’s coming.”

Javier frowned, a question in the tilt of his head. Milt answered it without further prompting.

“I’m not going to drink.” Milt hesitated. “Probably. I - I think I need to go there tonight, so I invited Rhiot so I wouldn’t drink. But soon as he said yes...”

Milt rubbed the back of his neck. “I think something’s going to happen. Whether or not we go. And - And I feel like maybe things will be better if you come.”

“You won’t be able to see much if I do,” Javier reminded him. Milt shrugged.

“Get out of the hotel for once, coyote boy.”

“I just went to a party the other night,” Javier complained, but then he smiled.

“Oh, he’s sleeping.” Rhiannon was surprised, but not particularly quiet. Eli, though, was careful to softly close the door behind him. Gwen and Braith both perked up, the two dogs straining at their leashes in Eli’s hand.

“Should we take them outside?” Eli wondered in a whisper, looking over at Winn curled up on the couch. His face was pushed into the corner of the armrest and the back of the old, secondhand sofa.

Rhiannon agreed, gathering up the leads from Eli. She had to drag the dogs towards the back door - Braith let out a plaintive yip - and sighed as she shut them outside.

“Someone missed their daddy,” she said fondly; Braith had jumped up to push his nose against the glass window of the back door, whining. “You needed to talk to Winn, right? I guess you can wait around.”

“Can’t wake him up?” Eli asked, standing near the door with the awkwardness of being unexpectedly in someone else’s house.

Rhiannon was perfectly at home in Winn’s basement studio, though, kicking some discarded clothes into the corner. She sighed again, shooting her boyfriend a look. Her eyes lingered on his arm, done up in a plaster cast.

“He doesn’t sleep much,” she said. “And if he wasn’t already awake when we came in, he won’t wake up for a while.”

“Deep sleeper?”

“Only when he’s having nightmares.” Rhiannon leaned against the counter in the corner of the apartment. “I tried getting him up once. He punched me in the face and was halfway out the window before he even woke up.” She rubbed her jaw with a crooked, sad smile.

“I know people like that.” Eli joined her at the counter, hands tucked into his back pockets. He gave her a sly look. “Makes having any kinda love life a little difficult.”

“Eli!” Rhiannon backhanded him in the chest. He grinned down at her; she returned the expression after a beat. “Not that it’s any of your business,” she said, faux indignant,“but we haven’t gotten anywhere near that.”

“Yeah, he’s not real fond of the whole touching part, is he.”

“I need you to stop now.”

Eli willingly backed off the subject. “Sorry. Should I, um, go get his ferret out of the car?”

“If you do, I’ll make coffee,” Rhiannon promised, already moving into the kitchen proper. “Maybe it’ll wake Winn up.”

When Eli returned, Volcolm’s pet carrier in hand as the ferret bad-temperedly chewed at the bars, there was a strong smell of coffee in the air. Winn wasn’t awake, but he was restless; he had flopped onto his opposite side, and was muttering in his sleep. Rhiannon hovered over the couch, coffee forgotten, and she sent Eli a helpless look.

Eli set the pet carrier down on a table overflowing with paper and books and video game cases. “He can’t hurt me,” he suggested to Rhiannon. She hesitated, then nodded.

Eli reached over the back of the couch. He nudged Winn’s shoulder, then took and shook it a little harder when the ex-con’s only response was to whimper and curl more tightly into himself.

Winn was off of the couch like a shot, yelling hoarsely. Eli flinched back in spite of himself, even though he barely felt Winn’s elbow connecting with his arm. The younger blond skidded across the apartment before he hit the wall, and stared wildly at Eli and Rhiannon both, without a single hint of recognition.

“Winn,” Rhiannon said, stepping around Eli. “Winn, it’s all right, it’s just us.”

There was another long second, where Winn watched the both of them warily. Eli realized with a start that Winn was crying; his eyes were bloodshot, and a thin line of tears ran down either side of his face. He held his unharmed  hand over his heart, and his broken arm tucked close to his belly.

“...F-,” Winn said hoarsely after a moment, reaching up to scrub at his face. “F-, Rhiannon - s-sorry.”

She moved around the couch, while Eli just stood there feeling uncomfortable. “It’s fine,” she said, “you’re okay. I’m sorry we didn’t get back any sooner - we thought you wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.”

Rhiannon reached out carefully to Winn, and Eli saw a flash of hurt cross her face when he flinched away from her. After a moment, Eli shuffled to the back door and cleared his throat. Winn’s sharp eyes snapped to him, and he said, “What are you doing here?”

“Helping your girlfriend petsit,” Eli said, his hand on the doorknob. “We brought ‘em all back - you wanna see your dogs? They’re going crazy.”

That, at least, lightened the shadows on Winn’s face, if only by a tiny amount. Eli barely twisted the doorknob, before the door was shoved open by a hurricane of fur.

Braith barreled into the room, the brown and black dog barking as he body-slammed Winn onto the couch. Gwen followed, only just behind, and the two dogs swarmed their owner. Rhiannon sent Eli a grateful look, and they both shared an uncertain smile.

“Aw, f---, Braith, get off,” Winn yelped, as the dog, trying to climb into his lap, planted a foot solidly in Winn’s stomach. It took a few moments before the dogs had satisfied themselves that their owner really was home, finally, and by that time, Braith was curled up in Winn’s lap, despite being far too big for it, and Gwen had shoved her face in between the male dog’s back and Winn’s stomach, her fluffy white tail wagging a mile a minute. Winn sniffled a little, rubbing his nose on his wrist before he mumbled, “Hey, Flowers, gimme Volly.”

“That thing bites,” Eli complained, and Winn shot him a wicked grin over his shoulder.

“Volly’s got good taste. Give him here.”

Eli wrinkled his nose with distaste, but he obediently went to open the pet carrier, while Rhiannon drifted into the kitchen. Eli didn’t even try to handle Volcolm nicely this time, but instead immediately turned his hand to metal as he pulled the ferret out. Eli dropped Volcolm over the back of the couch, and the ferret immediately clambered onto Winn’s shoulders, sticking his nose into Winn’s collar.

“Hey, ya little bastard,” Winn said fondly, taking his hand off Gwen’s head to rub the fur on Volcolm’s back. “Thanks for - for watching them all, Rhiannon.”

“Of course.” She smiled as she brought a pair of mugs around the couch. Winn shook his head, so she just handed it off to Eli instead. “How did the, uh, job go?”

Winn’s gaze dropped to the dogs, the same kind of horror he’d showed during his nightmare coming back for just a split second. “All right,” he mumbled, shrugging one shoulder. “Why’s he here?”

Winn jerked his head in Eli’s direction. Rhiannon glanced over to Eli, who decided that he probably ought to explain.

“A friend and I need to find something,” he said. “We think it’s here in Boston, and I thought, maybe you would be willing to help.”

“Hard pass,” Winn said, returning his attention to his dogs. Braith nosed at Volcolm, stretched across the back of Winn’s neck.

“Look, you won’t need to do anything but track it down,” Eli promised. “No heavy work at all, and it shouldn’t take too long, not with how good you are.”

“I’m tired.”

“Winn,” Rhiannon said gently. “Eli didn’t tell me everything but I talked to him and his friend, and it sounded very important. Alexei - Eli’s friend - he told me that people might die if they didn’t find it.”

Winn gave her a hollow look. Eli warmed his hands on the coffee mug, holding his breath. Finally, Winn gave a long, aggravated groan, burying his face in Gwen’s excessively fluffy fur.

“All right,” he mumbled. “But you better f---ing pay me.”

[archangel-loki-67-blog]

Sam lives in a world where most people have an animal tied to their soul. These animals are referred to as Anima. An Anima does not show itself until it's human is five years of age. An Anima has many abilities; shape-shifting and teleportation being two. They have the ability to shape-shift up until their human meets their soul mate, at which time the Anima will permanently shift to resemble their human's mate. Now there are a few unfortunate humans who have no physical soul. These humans are known as Tyrants. Tyrants are few and far between, at most there are about a hundred in the world at a time. Since the Tyrants do not have an Anima, they receive the abilities that their Anima would have had. Although a Tyrant can shape-shift, it is not known if they settle shapes as an Anima does as no Tyrant has even been known to find their mate. Sam woke up early to go for a run before school. After slipping his shoes on he calls to Sebastian who promptly appears on his shoulder in the shape of a ferret. Sam walks out of the house and to the end of the block before slipping in his ear buds and beginning to run towards the lake. It only takes Sam about twenty minutes to jog the three miles to the lake. When he gets to the edge of the water he stops for a few moments to let Sebastian go into the water to cool off. When Sebastian lands back on Sam's shoulder, Sam turns around and begins to run again. Getting lost in the feeling of running, Sam doesn't notice his surroundings, or the man standing along the edge of the road. Sam runs into the man with enough force to knock him down. Surprised, Sam hesitates for a moment trying to figure out what happened before reaching down to help the man up. Pulling out his ear buds Sam says, "I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and didn't see you standing there. Usually there is nobody out this early, much less around here. Are you okay?" He gives the man a concerned look. "Thanks," the man says when Sam helps him up. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little sore. Not your fault, I should have moved when I saw you coming," he answers rubbing his side. "Once again I am so sorry." Sam looks at the man closely for the first time. He has shoulder length golden hair and eyes that could only be described as the color of sunshine through a glass of whiskey. The man is quite a bit shorter than Sam. He is thin but looks very muscular. Realizing he is staring, Sam blushes brightly. He holds out his hand, "My name is Sam." The man takes his hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you Sam, my name is Gabriel," he replies. "Are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you before." "Yeah, my family just moved in last week. Today was the first day I have gotten away from my siblings." Gabriel's face brightens as he talks about his family. Sam smiles. "Do you have many siblings?" he asks. "Yeah. I have two sisters and eight brothers. All of my siblings except two brothers are younger than me. My oldest brother is twenty and my youngest sister is five." His smile widens when he mentions his sister. "Sorry, I'm not sure why I'm telling a stranger all this," he says suddenly. "It's okay, I don't mind. You are lucky to have such a big family. It's only my brother, my father, and me. My mother died in a fire before my first birthday." "I'm sorry to hear that. My mother passed away almost three years ago from cancer." Gabriel looks at the ground, his smile gone. "I'm so sorry." Sam looks down resisting the urge to hug the smaller man. "It's alright, you learn to live with it after a while." Sam opens his mouth to speak when his phone starts buzzing. Confused, Sam pulls it out of his pocket to see why it is going off. When he turns the screen on he sees that it is already 6:30am. "Shit, I gotta go. I still need to get ready for school. Will you be at school today? That is, if you are still in school," Sam asks, trying not to sound too hopeful. "Yeah I will. Maybe I will see you there." He smiles and winks before turning and walking away. Face flaming, Sam smiles before putting his ear buds back in and running back home. Sam is only about a quarter of the way home when he realizes that Sebastian has disappeared. Reaching out with his mind he says to Sebastian, "Where did you disappear to?" "I got bored of you running so I jumped back home," he replies. "Oh okay. Can you let me know if Dean or dad wake up before I get back?" "Of course Sam. Be safe." With that Sebastian severs their link. Sam can sense that he is hiding something but he doesn't push the subject, knowing that Sebastian will tell him when he is ready. Sam arrives home in a record time of twelve minutes. When he walks into the house, a quick check tells him that Dean is still sleeping. Rolling his eyes at his brother's laziness, he walks to Dean's room and knocks on his door. He yells, "Get up!" as loud as he can without disturbing his father. Sam waits until he hears a groan before walking to his room to grab a change of clothes and heads to the shower. When he gets out, Dean is sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. "Mornin' Sammy," he says with a yawn. "Morning Dean. Got football practice after school today?" Sam replies while pouring himself some tea. "Yeah, we don't have practice tomorrow since coach has surgery so it won't be over 'til about seven tonight. You can come watch if you want or make other arrangements to get home." "Okay, I might go to the library after track. I'll text you what I decide later." Finishing his tea he asks, "Ready to go yet?" "Yeah." Dean stands up, grabbing his backpack and keys before walking outside. Ashton flies out after him in his usual shape of a raven. "You coming Seb?" Sam asks mentally. "Nah, I don't feel like sitting through class today. I might come in at lunch." "Okay, stay out of trouble." Sam grabs his backpack and walks outside to find Dean sitting in their father's '67 Chevy Impala. Sliding into the passenger's seat he asks, "Does dad know you are taking the Impala?" "Yeah, he's not going anywhere today so he gave me the keys last night." Dean starts driving towards the school. Only a few minutes later they are pulling into the parking lot reserved for seniors. They both exit the car with their bags. Once they get inside the school they go down their separate hallways. On the way to his locker, Sam scans the faces in the freshman hall looking for Gabriel, as he never asked what grade he is in. Not seeing him anywhere Sam grabs his laptop and books before heading to first period. Seeing Lucifer walking ahead of him Sam calls his name. He turns around and smiles. "Heya Sammy! How was your weekend?" "How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Sam tries to keep a serious expression but ends up smiling at the ridiculous look Lucifer is making. "Weekend was boring as usual. I got to see my uncle finally. How 'bout you?" "Boring, as always. Hung out with Charlie for a couple hours on Sunday. She is still trying to set me up with all kinds of people." "Sounds fun," Sam says sarcastically. A small mouse pokes his head out of Lucifer's sweatshirt. Sam smiles. "Hey Jax." "Hello Samuel," he replies in a bored sounding voice. Lucifer rolls his eyes at his Anima's formal way of speech. While Sam and Lucifer are talking they arrived at their first class. When Sam walks into the classroom behind Lucifer he sees Gabriel sitting in the usually empty seat next to his. He freezes for a fraction of a second before walking to his desk. Lucifer sits down in his seat in the front. "Hiya Sam. I didn't think you would be in any of my classes, you look kinda young," Gabriel says to him as he sits down. "Yeah, I am. I'm only a freshman but I'm in all junior classes," Sam replies quietly. "That's awesome! So you must be really smart, huh?" Gabriel asks enthusiastically. "Yeah, I guess so," Sam says modestly. "Maybe you could help me with my work while I'm still getting used to the city." Gabriel gives Sam a small wink before facing the teacher as she starts speaking. Sam's face flushes as he turns. With a sigh he pulls out his notebook for the class, already knowing he won't be able to focus. As the class continues Sam can't stop his thoughts from drifting to Gabriel. At the end of the period Sam asks Gabriel, "What class do you have next?" Gabriel pulls out his schedule and gives it to Sam to examine. "Let's see. You have Algebra II, then World Lit before lunch. After lunch you have Chemistry, Study Hall, then lastly Personal Fitness." Sam flashes Gabriel a smile, "Well we have the same schedule so I can show you to your classes if you want," he says shyly. Gabriel smiles at him warmly. "That would be great thanks!" "Anytime," Sam says returning the smile. Suddenly Lucifer yells, "Just kiss already!" Sam's face flames as Gabriel laughs then yells back, "Maybe later, I don't want to overwhelm the poor kid!" His face turns even redder at Gabriel's comment. Sam grabs his books and hurries out of class just as the bell rings, vaguely aware of Gabriel right behind him. Right before Sam walks into the Algebra room a small bird materializes in front of him carrying a note. Sam holds out his hand and the bird drops the note into his palm. He reads it as he walks into class. It says: sorry Sammy, Charlie is rubbing off on me. You two would be cute together :D -L Sam rolls his eyes and slips the note into his pocket as he sits down in his usual seat. "You can sit anywhere, we don't have assigned seats in here," Sam say when Gabriel looks around. Charlie and Jo walk in as Gabriel chooses a seat directly behind Sam. Charlie takes her normal seat to the right of Sam and Jo in front. Balthazar walks in a second before the bell rings and claims the seat to the left of Sam. Turning in his seat, Sam makes introductions. To Gabriel he says, "This is Charlie," pointing to the redhead on his right. Charlie smiles and waves. "Hello!" Sam points to the blonde girl in front of him. "This is Joanna, but call her that and she will murder you." She smirks. "I go by Jo." Lastly Sam points to the guy with spiky blonde hair to his left. "And this lovely fellow is Balthazar." Balthazar smiles at him slightly. Gabriel smiles at them all. "Hello. It's nice to meet you all, my name is Gabriel but please call me Gabe." Charlie turns to Sam with a wide smile. "Sam you are finally making friends outside of our group!" she says excitedly. Sam rolls his eyes. "Oh shut it." "You know it's true," Jo says laughing. Sam sticks his tongue out at them and pouts causing the girls to bust out laughing. Gabriel can't help but chuckle at the group. "Oh come on, not you too!" Sam exclaims, pouting even more. "Sorry Samster," Gabriel says with a smirk. Balthazar shushes them once the teacher stops the presentation. "At least look like you were paying attention before she comes over here." Charlie and Jo roll their eyes, clearly used to him acting like this. After that they all stop talking and focus on the lesson. They go through the rest of the period trading only a few comments. Once the bell rings they all head to the World Lit. room with the exception of Balthazar. They all sit in the same position as the previous period. At the beginning of the class the teacher tells them that they are starting the Norse Mythology unit. They don't talk much during class, all absorbed in what they are learning. When the 4th period lunch bell rings Jo and Charlie are the first ones out the door. As Gabriel collects his books Sam says, "Hey Gabriel?" "What's up Sammoose? And please it's just Gabe." "Okay, Gabe. Um... well, would you like to sit with me at lunch? As much as I hate to say it, Charlie was right when she said I don't have many friends. And you seem nice and funny. If not it's okay, I really don't mind..." Sam blushes when he realizes he was rambling. Gabriel chuckles at him. "Yes, I would like to sit with you at lunch. Do you mind if my brother and sister sit with us? They are freshmen this year and they aren't used to this big of a school." "Yeah of course!" Sam replies, wanting to meet some of Gabriel's siblings. When they walk into the cafeteria Sam shows Gabriel where he usually sits before he goes off to find his siblings in the mass of people. Sam sits down and waits for Charlie, Lucifer, and Jo to come in. It's only a few seconds before they walk in. Charlie is talking loudly and waving her arms around, probably talking about some fandom. As they get closer Sam can start to hear their conversation. Charlie is saying, "There is absolutely no way Thor can beat Loki! Thor is just a useless pretty boy without his hammer!" Jo replies with, "Sorry but Thor is way stronger. He could beat Loki's wimpy ass without a problem." Lucifer can't contain his laughter by the time they reach the table. "What do you think Sam? Who would win in a fight, Loki or Thor?" Charlie asks. "Oh, no. Leave me out of this, I'm not picking sides." At that time Gabriel walks up with a boy and girl. "Hey Gabe, these must be your siblings." "Yup. This is Ezekiel and this is Anna," Gabriel replies with a smile. Ezekiel sits down between Jo and Gabriel. "It's nice to meet you," he says somewhat shyly. "He goes by Zeke usually. It's nice to meet you all," Anna says as she sits down next to Charlie. "Nice to meet you both!" Charlie says when Anna sits. "My name is Charlie. That's Jo, Lucifer, and Sam." She points out each person in turn. Turning her attention to Gabriel, Charlie asks, "Who do you think would win in a fight, Thor or Loki? Jo says Thor would win but I say it would have to be Loki!" Gabriel sits next to Sam before replying. "Sorry Jo, Charlie is right. Loki is stronger and he doesn't rely on a hammer for his powers." "HA! I win!" Charlie says enthusiastically. Jo rolls her eyes, "Fine you win." She tries to pout but she can't hide her smile. Towards the end of lunch Charlie says, "So Luce, I heard you have a football game next week." "Yeah, it's our first one of the year." "Is the team good enough to win yet?" Sam asks curious. "Well we have an epic defense this year and if we play the way we do in practice, then we will be unstoppable on offense," Lucifer replies excitedly. "Dean said you guys had a good team this year, I just didn't think it was that good." "Yeah we do!" Sam turns to Gabriel. "Do you play any sports?" he asks. "I was thinking about doing track again. I did it for five years at my old school," Gabriel says after considering for a moment. "Well you are in luck, track sign-up started this week. Our first official practice is next week. What events do you do?" "I started off doing the high jump and throwing discus but I started doing the long jump, and running both the 1500 meter and 3000 meter run." "Wow! That's awesome. I do the long jump and 1500 meter also. Are you any good?" "I'm okay at them. I'm better at the running than I thought I would be." Ezekiel, who had been listening in on the conversation, interrupts. "He is being modest, which is very unlike him. He has never lost at high jump, discus, and long jump. In the 1500 meter and 3000 meter runs he has only ever placed in the top three." Gabriel's face turns red as Ezekiel shares this information. "Really?" Sam questions with an amazed look. "Uhm, yeah," he replies slowly. "Hmm.I'm thinking that Ellen is going to love having you on the team." Sam flashes him a warm smile. A/N: This story is only edited by me so any mistakes are my own. If you notice any mistakes or if something doesn't make sense please let me know and I will go back and change it. I am hoping to update this story much more frequently than my others. Any feedback is welcome, please just don't be too harsh. For now, the second chapter is set to be posted in a week tops.

[archangel-loki-67-blog]

Beyond the Edge: Chapter 1

So this is my first Supernatural fan fiction and the first fix I have posted on here. I hope y'all enjoy. Any feedback is wonderful. * * * * * * Sam lives in a world where most people have an animal tied to their soul. These animals are referred to as Anima. An Anima does not show itself until it's human is five years of age. An Anima has many abilities; shape-shifting and teleportation being two. They have the ability to shape-shift up until their human meets their soul mate, at which time the Anima will permanently shift to resemble their human's mate. Now there are a few unfortunate humans who have no physical soul. These humans are known as Tyrants. Tyrants are few and far between, at most there are about a hundred in the world at a time. Since the Tyrants do not have an Anima, they receive the abilities that their Anima would have had. Although a Tyrant can shape-shift, it is not known if they settle shapes as an Anima does as no Tyrant has even been known to find their mate. Sam woke up early to go for a run before school. After slipping his shoes on he calls to Sebastian who promptly appears on his shoulder in the shape of a ferret. Sam walks out of the house and to the end of the block before slipping in his ear buds and beginning to run towards the lake. It only takes Sam about twenty minutes to jog the three miles to the lake. When he gets to the edge of the water he stops for a few moments to let Sebastian go into the water to cool off. When Sebastian lands back on Sam's shoulder, Sam turns around and begins to run again. Getting lost in the feeling of running, Sam doesn't notice his surroundings, or the man standing along the edge of the road. Sam runs into the man with enough force to knock him down. Surprised, Sam hesitates for a moment trying to figure out what happened before reaching down to help the man up. Pulling out his ear buds Sam says, "I am so sorry. I wasn't paying attention and didn't see you standing there. Usually there is nobody out this early, much less around here. Are you okay?" He gives the man a concerned look. "Thanks," the man says when Sam helps him up. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little sore. Not your fault, I should have moved when I saw you coming," he answers rubbing his side. "Once again I am so sorry." Sam looks at the man closely for the first time. He has shoulder length golden hair and eyes that could only be described as the color of sunshine through a glass of whiskey. The man is quite a bit shorter than Sam. He is thin but looks very muscular. Realizing he is staring, Sam blushes brightly. He holds out his hand, "My name is Sam." The man takes his hand and shakes it. "Nice to meet you Sam, my name is Gabriel," he replies. "Are you new here? I don't think I've ever seen you before." "Yeah, my family just moved in last week. Today was the first day I have gotten away from my siblings." Gabriel's face brightens as he talks about his family. Sam smiles. "Do you have many siblings?" he asks. "Yeah. I have two sisters and eight brothers. All of my siblings except two brothers are younger than me. My oldest brother is twenty and my youngest sister is five." His smile widens when he mentions his sister. "Sorry, I'm not sure why I'm telling a stranger all this," he says suddenly. "It's okay, I don't mind. You are lucky to have such a big family. It's only my brother, my father, and me. My mother died in a fire before my first birthday." "I'm sorry to hear that. My mother passed away almost three years ago from cancer." Gabriel looks at the ground, his smile gone. "I'm so sorry." Sam looks down resisting the urge to hug the smaller man. "It's alright, you learn to live with it after a while." Sam opens his mouth to speak when his phone starts buzzing. Confused, Sam pulls it out of his pocket to see why it is going off. When he turns the screen on he sees that it is already 6:30am. "Shit, I gotta go. I still need to get ready for school. Will you be at school today? That is, if you are still in school," Sam asks, trying not to sound too hopeful. "Yeah I will. Maybe I will see you there." He smiles and winks before turning and walking away. Face flaming, Sam smiles before putting his ear buds back in and running back home. Sam is only about a quarter of the way home when he realizes that Sebastian has disappeared. Reaching out with his mind he says to Sebastian, "Where did you disappear to?" "I got bored of you running so I jumped back home," he replies. "Oh okay. Can you let me know if Dean or dad wake up before I get back?" "Of course Sam. Be safe." With that Sebastian severs their link. Sam can sense that he is hiding something but he doesn't push the subject, knowing that Sebastian will tell him when he is ready. Sam arrives home in a record time of twelve minutes. When he walks into the house, a quick check tells him that Dean is still sleeping. Rolling his eyes at his brother's laziness, he walks to Dean's room and knocks on his door. He yells, "Get up!" as loud as he can without disturbing his father. Sam waits until he hears a groan before walking to his room to grab a change of clothes and heads to the shower. When he gets out, Dean is sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of coffee. "Mornin' Sammy," he says with a yawn. "Morning Dean. Got football practice after school today?" Sam replies while pouring himself some tea. "Yeah, we don't have practice tomorrow since coach has surgery so it won't be over 'til about seven tonight. You can come watch if you want or make other arrangements to get home." "Okay, I might go to the library after track. I'll text you what I decide later." Finishing his tea he asks, "Ready to go yet?" "Yeah." Dean stands up, grabbing his backpack and keys before walking outside. Ashton flies out after him in his usual shape of a raven. "You coming Seb?" Sam asks mentally. "Nah, I don't feel like sitting through class today. I might come in at lunch." "Okay, stay out of trouble." Sam grabs his backpack and walks outside to find Dean sitting in their father's '67 Chevy Impala. Sliding into the passenger's seat he asks, "Does dad know you are taking the Impala?" "Yeah, he's not going anywhere today so he gave me the keys last night." Dean starts driving towards the school. Only a few minutes later they are pulling into the parking lot reserved for seniors. They both exit the car with their bags. Once they get inside the school they go down their separate hallways. On the way to his locker, Sam scans the faces in the freshman hall looking for Gabriel, as he never asked what grade he is in. Not seeing him anywhere Sam grabs his laptop and books before heading to first period. Seeing Lucifer walking ahead of him Sam calls his name. He turns around and smiles. "Heya Sammy! How was your weekend?" "How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Sam tries to keep a serious expression but ends up smiling at the ridiculous look Lucifer is making. "Weekend was boring as usual. I got to see my uncle finally. How 'bout you?" "Boring, as always. Hung out with Charlie for a couple hours on Sunday. She is still trying to set me up with all kinds of people." "Sounds fun," Sam says sarcastically. A small mouse pokes his head out of Lucifer's sweatshirt. Sam smiles. "Hey Jax." "Hello Samuel," he replies in a bored sounding voice. Lucifer rolls his eyes at his Anima's formal way of speech. While Sam and Lucifer are talking they arrived at their first class. When Sam walks into the classroom behind Lucifer he sees Gabriel sitting in the usually empty seat next to his. He freezes for a fraction of a second before walking to his desk. Lucifer sits down in his seat in the front. "Hiya Sam. I didn't think you would be in any of my classes, you look kinda young," Gabriel says to him as he sits down. "Yeah, I am. I'm only a freshman but I'm in all junior classes," Sam replies quietly. "That's awesome! So you must be really smart, huh?" Gabriel asks enthusiastically. "Yeah, I guess so," Sam says modestly. "Maybe you could help me with my work while I'm still getting used to the city." Gabriel gives Sam a small wink before facing the teacher as she starts speaking. Sam's face flushes as he turns. With a sigh he pulls out his notebook for the class, already knowing he won't be able to focus. As the class continues Sam can't stop his thoughts from drifting to Gabriel. At the end of the period Sam asks Gabriel, "What class do you have next?" Gabriel pulls out his schedule and gives it to Sam to examine. "Let's see. You have Algebra II, then World Lit before lunch. After lunch you have Chemistry, Study Hall, then lastly Personal Fitness." Sam flashes Gabriel a smile, "Well we have the same schedule so I can show you to your classes if you want," he says shyly. Gabriel smiles at him warmly. "That would be great thanks!" "Anytime," Sam says returning the smile. Suddenly Lucifer yells, "Just kiss already!" Sam's face flames as Gabriel laughs then yells back, "Maybe later, I don't want to overwhelm the poor kid!" His face turns even redder at Gabriel's comment. Sam grabs his books and hurries out of class just as the bell rings, vaguely aware of Gabriel right behind him. Right before Sam walks into the Algebra room a small bird materializes in front of him carrying a note. Sam holds out his hand and the bird drops the note into his palm. He reads it as he walks into class. It says: sorry Sammy, Charlie is rubbing off on me. You two would be cute together :D -L Sam rolls his eyes and slips the note into his pocket as he sits down in his usual seat. "You can sit anywhere, we don't have assigned seats in here," Sam say when Gabriel looks around. Charlie and Jo walk in as Gabriel chooses a seat directly behind Sam. Charlie takes her normal seat to the right of Sam and Jo in front. Balthazar walks in a second before the bell rings and claims the seat to the left of Sam. Turning in his seat, Sam makes introductions. To Gabriel he says, "This is Charlie," pointing to the redhead on his right. Charlie smiles and waves. "Hello!" Sam points to the blonde girl in front of him. "This is Joanna, but call her that and she will murder you." She smirks. "I go by Jo." Lastly Sam points to the guy with spiky blonde hair to his left. "And this lovely fellow is Balthazar." Balthazar smiles at him slightly. Gabriel smiles at them all. "Hello. It's nice to meet you all, my name is Gabriel but please call me Gabe." Charlie turns to Sam with a wide smile. "Sam you are finally making friends outside of our group!" she says excitedly. Sam rolls his eyes. "Oh shut it." "You know it's true," Jo says laughing. Sam sticks his tongue out at them and pouts causing the girls to bust out laughing. Gabriel can't help but chuckle at the group. "Oh come on, not you too!" Sam exclaims, pouting even more. "Sorry Samster," Gabriel says with a smirk. Balthazar shushes them once the teacher stops the presentation. "At least look like you were paying attention before she comes over here." Charlie and Jo roll their eyes, clearly used to him acting like this. After that they all stop talking and focus on the lesson. They go through the rest of the period trading only a few comments. Once the bell rings they all head to the World Lit. room with the exception of Balthazar. They all sit in the same position as the previous period. At the beginning of the class the teacher tells them that they are starting the Norse Mythology unit. They don't talk much during class, all absorbed in what they are learning. When the 4th period lunch bell rings Jo and Charlie are the first ones out the door. As Gabriel collects his books Sam says, "Hey Gabriel?" "What's up Sammoose? And please it's just Gabe." "Okay, Gabe. Um... well, would you like to sit with me at lunch? As much as I hate to say it, Charlie was right when she said I don't have many friends. And you seem nice and funny. If not it's okay, I really don't mind..." Sam blushes when he realizes he was rambling. Gabriel chuckles at him. "Yes, I would like to sit with you at lunch. Do you mind if my brother and sister sit with us? They are freshmen this year and they aren't used to this big of a school." "Yeah of course!" Sam replies, wanting to meet some of Gabriel's siblings. When they walk into the cafeteria Sam shows Gabriel where he usually sits before he goes off to find his siblings in the mass of people. Sam sits down and waits for Charlie, Lucifer, and Jo to come in. It's only a few seconds before they walk in. Charlie is talking loudly and waving her arms around, probably talking about some fandom. As they get closer Sam can start to hear their conversation. Charlie is saying, "There is absolutely no way Thor can beat Loki! Thor is just a useless pretty boy without his hammer!" Jo replies with, "Sorry but Thor is way stronger. He could beat Loki's wimpy ass without a problem." Lucifer can't contain his laughter by the time they reach the table. "What do you think Sam? Who would win in a fight, Loki or Thor?" Charlie asks. "Oh, no. Leave me out of this, I'm not picking sides." At that time Gabriel walks up with a boy and girl. "Hey Gabe, these must be your siblings." "Yup. This is Ezekiel and this is Anna," Gabriel replies with a smile. Ezekiel sits down between Jo and Gabriel. "It's nice to meet you," he says somewhat shyly. "He goes by Zeke usually. It's nice to meet you all," Anna says as she sits down next to Charlie. "Nice to meet you both!" Charlie says when Anna sits. "My name is Charlie. That's Jo, Lucifer, and Sam." She points out each person in turn. Turning her attention to Gabriel, Charlie asks, "Who do you think would win in a fight, Thor or Loki? Jo says Thor would win but I say it would have to be Loki!" Gabriel sits next to Sam before replying. "Sorry Jo, Charlie is right. Loki is stronger and he doesn't rely on a hammer for his powers." "HA! I win!" Charlie says enthusiastically. Jo rolls her eyes, "Fine you win." She tries to pout but she can't hide her smile. Towards the end of lunch Charlie says, "So Luce, I heard you have a football game next week." "Yeah, it's our first one of the year." "Is the team good enough to win yet?" Sam asks curious. "Well we have an epic defense this year and if we play the way we do in practice, then we will be unstoppable on offense," Lucifer replies excitedly. "Dean said you guys had a good team this year, I just didn't think it was that good." "Yeah we do!" Sam turns to Gabriel. "Do you play any sports?" he asks. "I was thinking about doing track again. I did it for five years at my old school," Gabriel says after considering for a moment. "Well you are in luck, track sign-up started this week. Our first official practice is next week. What events do you do?" "I started off doing the high jump and throwing discus but I started doing the long jump, and running both the 1500 meter and 3000 meter run." "Wow! That's awesome. I do the long jump and 1500 meter also. Are you any good?" "I'm okay at them. I'm better at the running than I thought I would be." Ezekiel, who had been listening in on the conversation, interrupts. "He is being modest, which is very unlike him. He has never lost at high jump, discus, and long jump. In the 1500 meter and 3000 meter runs he has only ever placed in the top three." Gabriel's face turns red as Ezekiel shares this information. "Really?" Sam questions with an amazed look. "Uhm, yeah," he replies slowly. "Hmm.I'm thinking that Ellen is going to love having you on the team." Sam flashes him a warm smile.