#embarrassed already but since we’re talking about ghosts

[lesbenson]

uh here’s the kathy stabler rafael barba good place style purgatory thing that i’ve been plagued by for months. formatted terribly because notes app. pls enjoy or don’t.

the real spiritual plane was the enemies we made along the way ❤️

the last thing rafael remembers is the familiar burn of whiskey and something that resembled falling asleep - emphasis on the falling. endless, endless falling.

he knows forlini’s had been dark and a little gloomy with its remaining patrons, and now he has several questions about this warmly lit but empty room. he looks across the bar to the mirror and realizes he can’t see himself in it, his head spinning. he stares at the glass until he can’t register anything in it, his mind racing but his body oddly calm.

“they kind of cosmically sedate you, at first.” a pleasant voice calls out, and barba realizes with a startle that he’s not alone, not having seen an approaching figure in this mirror-that-doesn’t-mirror.

he turns in his seat, taking her in. straight hair somewhere between blonde and brown, long limbs, a warm smile, a plain blue dress that looks soft. she’s pretty. she seems kind, familiar. she watches it hit him.

“oh no.”

“oh yes.” kathy stabler grins at him, one eyebrow raised in amusement at the sheer horror in his voice. “boo.” she laughs to herself, gracefully hopping onto the barstool next to him. he realizes it’s the only other stool here.

“but you’re- oh hell.” his hands are flattened out against the top of the bar, his body about to launch up and out. dead is the word, but it doesn’t reach his lips.

“yeah yeah, but you don’t have anything to worry about, i don’t think.” she waves barba off easily.

“other than the fact that i’m dead? where the hell even are we?”

she honest to god shushes him.

“we’re here.” she says it like it should answer all of his questions, shrugging easily.

“here? are we- i mean i must be in hell. i have to be.” barba looks around as if there’ll be a sign somewhere, reading they told you not to become a lawyer.

kathy rolls her eyes, reaching up over the bar to pinch two glasses between her fingers and grab the neck of a dark, heavy whiskey bottle. she drops back down onto her stool, clattering the glassware onto the bartop.

“we’re just here. no up or down, gates and flames, from what i can tell, and we can probably debate the fairness of that at another time, but i’ve honestly let it go. don’t ask me about rules or souls or damnation. we’re just out here in the middle of nowhere, looking in. cursed with knowledge and sight. good?” she pulls her lips into a tight line, eyebrows raised in an expression that screams indifference, to barba and to their surroundings.

he silently tilts his head to the side, lips pursed, and breaks his silence to grab one of the tumblers and mutter “yeah, great.”

kathy laughs dryly, “that’s the spirit!”

he glares at her over his arm and she laughs again, twists the lid off the bottle, and uses both her hands to pick it up and pour barba a drink that would probably kill him in literally any other context. he raises an eyebrow and nods in silent thanks, waiting for her to pour her own drink.

kathy raises her glass, “to elliot and olivia,” tapping rafael’s glass before he can respond. he scoffs, taking a long swig of the suspiciously smooth liquor, gulping hard.

“about that… about them, i need to tell you i’m sorry for defending the man that-“ kathy cuts him off with a warning look.

“don’t. i get it. i know you thought you were protecting olivia from elliot’s mess. it’s … i’m used to that sort of thing.” her eyes are dark, her smile sad.

“it was wheatley’s fault you died, i should’ve steered clear of the whole thing but i just couldn’t, i hated to think of liv having stabler thrown in her face like that, after everything she’s done for him and everything he’s- i’m sorry, sorry.”

kathy looks like she pities him. and it would actually be offensive if he wasn’t the one who got her car bomber out of jail. he doesn’t really deserve her respect.

“i’m used to men making the least rational choice in defense of olivia benson. which is funny because, codependent or not, she actually is quite capable of handling herself. it’s everyone else who needs her. but elliot could never help himself. this insane need to protect her, support her, at everyone’s expense, including theirs.”

barba stares at her for a long time, reading the resignation and the understanding in her features. she turns to him.

“i see how much he loves her, now that i’m not there.”

he smiles, “you don’t have to die to see that.”

she laughs. “no, but you see things differently out here. clearer. i see what he does but i also see how he feels. and really, what he feels is love. deep, pure love. for her.” she looks down at the wooden grain of the bartop “and guilt. lots of it.”

barba nods “once a catholic boy…”

kathy raises her eyebrows in silent agreement. “i’m willing to be flattered that he bothered to feel guilty about loving her at all. i always sort of figured he’d run into her arms the first chance he got - sans actual adultery. isn’t that awful?” she laughs but it’s humorless. “we loved each other, but i was waiting for him to cheat on me while he was waiting for me to leave him, i mean really cut him loose.” she shakes herself out of the train of thought. “to his credit, he only realized how complicated his feelings for olivia were after he lost me. not sure how he made it as far as he did, but it was a little nice to know he wasn’t consciously in love with another woman for over twenty years of our marriage.”

she shrugs. he thinks she’s strangely pragmatic about the ongoing emotional affair between her husband and his partner. and then he wants to laugh. now who’s too invested?

“he was never the sharpest tack.” it’s out before he can think better of it, but he figures there’s nothing counting for or against him out here. kathy glares at him, a playful smile on her face.

“he is in every other department. but women, love … not his strongest conversational subjects.”

“they’re olivia’s.” his smile holds so much pain. “she draws it out of everyone, that raw emotion-“ he bites his tongue, tilting his head apologetically, “maybe you don’t want me to talk about her like that, right now.”

she grins “oh, no, let’s make a nice list of all the ways olivia benson is my husband’s perfect cosmic match-“

“she’s not!” barba exclaims, surprising them both with his burst of frustration. “i don’t- i just don’t think she is. but she clearly wants to be.”

“no, she doesn’t. and that’s how i know she really does love him unconditionally - just like you said - because it’s completely beyond reason. she can’t talk herself out of loving him. he was married, she didn’t want to love him. he was divorced and she didn’t want to pursue him. he stomped on her heart and she still could not stop loving him. and when he came back i know he turned her whole life upside down but she took it all in stride.”

she sighs, throwing back more whiskey and he finds himself leaning in, almost conspiratorial.

“so you can see… how she feels, here?” he tries to keep the desperation out of his voice. he fails. it doesn’t matter. if there’s one person who won’t begrudge him his nosiness and insecurity here, it’s stabler’s wife.

but she hesitates. “it’s not- a button i can press, or a list i can- i just know, now, she was so constantly torn between her love for him and her guilt for being so close to a married man that she did everything to keep our marriage intact. and it helped, and it mattered, but it didn’t change the fact that they were madly in love with each other, and it didn’t help the problems elliot and i already had. there would be years at a time where we couldn’t communicate at all. and now she’s- they’re both- they think acknowledging that they love each other now means acknowledging that they always did. and they won’t be able to forgive themselves for that.”

“but they have always loved each other.” he wants it to be a question. a leading question, but a question. but there’s no denying what they both know.

she casts a sideways glance at him, then nods, facing the non-reflective mirror. “they just need to admit it to themselves. save everyone else a lot of headaches.” kathy pulls a little half smile.

barba thinks he sees how stabler ended up with this woman. she’s funny, emotionally intelligent, and tough in the way liv is- in the way someone whose had to protect their heart becomes. but he can see she’s given up in the places liv would double down. he thinks that’s what it takes to spend your entire life with elliot stabler. a level of release that olivia can’t achieve. he also finds her hard to actively dislike and it makes liv’s guilt that much more understandable. this woman whose death could have, in a twisted way, been prevented if her proximity to elliot had just been severed, is also willing to rationalize what anyone else would think of as total betrayal.

he starts to understand what kathy means about seeing things more clearly, with a little distance.

barba clears his throat “well i’ve gathered that they’re both too headstrong for that.”

she nods, finishes her drink, and loudly places the empty glass back on the bar. “yeah. but anyway, you should get back. while you still can, and all.”

kathy claps him on the back like a fucking baseball coach and his vision starts to blur.

“olivia will come around, eventually. she just likes to give up on people so they can’t give up on her. just keep telling her you’re sorry and don’t bring her dad into it next time.” her nails are digging into his shoulder when she smiles warmly and whispers “good luck, mr. barba.”

-

he comes to with a hard jolt like the snap of a thick rubber band. his pounding forehead is resting on the cool metal of the bar. the bartender cuts him off.

[dragonnarrative-writes]

Transferrable Skills Part 4

Transferrable Skills Masterlist

CW: POV depiction of anxiety and dissociation, How It's Made, reader character wearing a wig (positive, protective style), Soap (nosy), mention of sex toys, Simon Riley Is Honesty Just A Big Guy (TM),

Simon and Price are gone for less than a minute before you feel awkward. You’re almost done with the water, so you look around for the TV remote. It’s Gaz, absurdly pretty for some kind of international British SWAT team, who hands it to you with a half smile before wandering off, you assume to the bathroom.

That leaves you clicking through the TV while Soap does something on his phone. All of the local channels are in German, you know, so you look for something to stream. You chance a sidelong glance at Soap, but he’s already looking at you. He grins when you make eye contact.

“So yer LT’s girl, then?”

Fuck, that’s not a question you know how to answer. “Um.”

“Leave it, Soap,” Gaz says, returning from the bathroom. He smiles at you as he pockets his phone. “You don’t have to tell us anything you’re not comfortable with. Lieutenant Riley’s a private person, we understand.”

“That’s… it’s okay.” You tap into the PictureTime channel, since it’s not one you usually have access to. As you browse through the educational options - ooh, How It’s Built! - you say, “I think we’re both… a bit surprised to see each other here.”

“I can’t imagine,” Gaz says, sitting down at the other end of the couch. “Oh, I’ve not seen this one on puzzles and cheesecake.”

You tap into it, because you like puzzles, cheesecake, candles, and paintbrushes. Just in time to finish your water bottle. The armchair is a bit narrow and awkward, so you wiggle the cushion from behind your back so you can plop it, and yourself, onto the ground. You shuffle your legs to start your warm up as the theme song plays.

“How'd'ye come to answerin’ LT like yer military?” Soap asks. “’Acknowledge’, ‘acknowledged’, all o’ that?”

“Oh,” you answer, without thinking about it. “That’s just our protocol, to make sure I understand his directions.”

“’E’s givin’ you enough directions to need protocols?” He gives you a considering once-over. “Interestin’. Impressive that it held up in an emergency. That takes practice.”

Shit. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“’S he your, what’er they called? Dominant partner, then?”

God, Simon, why didn’t you take this one with you? “I’m… not at liberty to say?”

“Leave her alone, Soap,” Gaz says, exasperated. He tosses a throw pillow at Soap’s head. “She’s in shock, Simon’s trying to keep her calm and comfortable.”

“Ghostie adopts a civilian an’ ah’m supposed to have nae questions?” Soap grins at you. “She’s got a signal if she dinnae want to talk. Four fingers, right?”

“Bother Ghost about it, later,” Gaz says. He turns to you. “Do you know what you want to eat? There’s a few places open.”

Soap doesn’t pester you, after that. The three of you settle on Mediterranean food, and then they summarily leave you alone. Gaz seems content to watch the show, though Soap watches you do your floor stretches curiously.

You could probably have moved to another stretch a while ago, but you’re still in your work slacks and blouse. You think longingly of the yoga pants you laid out on your bed before leaving for meetings. And then you cringe to think of Simon coming in to sweep through the room and pack up all of your things. You hadn’t packed a lot, but you’d unpacked into the space to make yourself comfortable.

You realize that your sex toy is charging in the bedside table and cringe. You hope he doesn’t notice it. It’s good quality, but you can always buy another one.

And then you start to worry about your phone. You’d left your personal in the room because of the time zone change slowing down all of your personal messages. You’d lost your work phone and computer today with… everything that happened. Were people trying to get a hold of you? Had news of the incident made it to the US? Would Simon see your embarrassing phone background?

You resist the urge to get up and pace. Instead, you settle into butterflying your legs.

“You need more water?” Gaz’s voice startles you, but you nod and he passes a bottle to you on the floor. “Cap says that they’re done with the official stuff, he’s grabbing food while Ghost grabs your things. Probably less than an hour before they get back.”

Your anxiety shouts that that isn’t enough time. But since you can’t definitively answer the question For what?, you take a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay.”

Maybe it’s because your heart is beating a little faster, muscles a bit warmer, but you have trouble settling Into the show. Your mind races. You have to remind yourself to relax, then have to clamber to your feet and shuffle off to the bathroom because you relaxed your pelvic floor a little too much.

Your eyes in the mirror are a little too wide. The wig - every time you wear a good one, you almost forget you’re wearing it - is holding up admirably, at least. It feathers around your face, a bit squished where you slept on it. But with the smudged eyeliner and mascara you can kind of pretend you’re in an action movie.

Thank goodness agent Ghost rescued me and the other hostages, you think to yourself, pouting your lips dramatically as you wash your hands.

The last time you washed your hands there was a dead body on the floor.

“Nope,” you say aloud, practically flinging yourself into the bedroom. “Nope. Nope.”

You pace in a tight circle, kicking the door closed when you catch Gaz and Soap looking at you with concerned eyes. Two circuits later, the room is too small, so you open the door again and shuffle out to sit in the armchair again, one leg pulled up for you to wrap your arms around.

Throwing your mind into action shots of specialty machinery, you try to force yourself to settle. Your whole body feels like it will shake apart if you pay too much attention to it, so you don’t pay it any attention at all. The episode ends and rolls into the next one, so you learn about bird cages and automated pharmacy drones. You hear Gaz say something soft, and Soap answers, the burr of his voice just as quiet, mixing pleasantly with the murmur of the narrator.

You must lose time, again, because the next thing you know, Simon is crouching in front of you again. Big hands smooth over your arms, and he shushes you as you jump.

“Got y’r stuff,” he says. “Where’s your head at?”

You open your mouth, close it. Hold up four fingers.

“Mm, day’s catchin’ up, again. Go into the bedroom, get changed. No zippers or clasps. Buttons okay. Acknowledge.”

“Bedroom, change clothes,” you confirm, heaving a big sigh. “Comfy. Acknowledged.”

He helps you stand, and you can’t help but tip forward to put your face into his chest. He smells a little. Like stale sweat and gunpowder. His arms stop yours when they come up for an automatic hug.

“Go change,” he whispers into the top of your head, “An’ I’ll get rid of the rest of ‘em, eh?”

The haze around you pops. That’s the only way to describe it. One minute, everything is distantly fuzzy, and the next thing you know you can feel the circulation of the air in the room and his heartbeat against your forehead. The TV is quieter, and you can hear Price and Gaz and Soap talking between themselves.

“Acknowledged,” you say into his sternum. “Gotta go change.”

He has to gently guide you around his bulk. But eventually you shuffle back into the bedroom. Your suitcase is waiting for you in the far corner, and it doesn’t take you long to dig out your lounge wear. Soft, thin pants with cartoon dogs on them and an oversized tee you got from a fundraiser. And then you take both off because that’s not sexy.

Why didn’t I pack nicer stuff? Can I play off these lacy panties as sleep wear? He saw it all and packed it, he probably clocked those as the only sexy thing I have. You shake your head at yourself. He said to wear something comfortable. He knows what you have. This is fine.

Your friend’s son’s basketball mascot grins up at you. You decide to compromise and switch the shirt for a black cami you usually wear under a nice blouse.

When you peek out of the room, Simon’s in the middle of the couch, and he’s blocked one end by dragging the table closer to where he’s sitting. His jeans have been traded for black sweats, but you can’t tell if his black shirt is new or not. Somehow, he looks bigger, but in a nice way. Softer. If a brick shit-house could look soft. A brick book nook.

“’Ey, pretty girl,” he says, leaning enough to put an arm across the back of the couch. “Come sit, we’re gonna eat and then we’re gonna talk.”

When you get close, you realize that there’s not enough room for both of you to sit unless you’re half on top of him.

You want to throw yourself entirely into his lap. But you can smell the food now, and you’re so hungry. So you perch as much of your ass on the couch as you can and swing your legs over one of his. You meet his eyes just as his arm comes down across your thighs. His hand cups the outside of your leg in a way that makes you remember what he said.

He’s not letting you go, now.

[zorobraun]

ex husband ghost at your kiddo’s football game part two

“dad, what does ‘sex’ means?” theo asks, looking at simon while they’re playing video games. his father freezes. “what did you just say?” simon stares at his son in disbelief, instantly crashing the car in the game. “sex.” theo says again, his bright soft eyes full of innocence. simon swallows hard, frowning his nose. “first of all, how did you discover the existence of this word?” simon raises an eyebrow at the kid, laughing quietly. “mommy’s friend.” theo replies in a worried tone, his cheeks getting red from both regret and embarrassment.

“is that so?” simon’s tone is a bit angry now. “i’ll have a word with your mom, then.” he adds with a sigh, looking at his son. “don’t, please. it’s not her fault… she was very uncomfortable.” theo’s eyes are desperate and worried. “don’t worry, buddy. i’ll just talk to her… nicely.” simon reassures him with a soft smile, caressing theo’s head. he nods with a half hearted smile. “her friend was saying something about… mom missing the sex she had with you. i wasn’t supposed to hear that, but she’s too loud.” theo swallows hard, looking away.

simon is in shock. he holds back a laugh. “and mom said that… she can’t help but miss having sex with you, that you’re the best she ever had.” theo completes with hesitation in his tone. “oh my god, really?” simon asks with a fake surprise, laughing out loud. he’s not cocky, but he obviously knew that already, you used to tell him all the time. “yes, dad…” theo mutters with a light chuckle, still confused about the meaning of his mom’s statement.

simon shakes his head, still laughing in disbelief. “your mom is crazy, huh?” he says in a playful tone, wrapping his big arms around theo. “sometimes.” the kid replies, laughing too. “so… what’s ‘sex’, anyway?” theo raises an eyebrow, curious and confused. simon takes a deep breath, staring at his son in a serious, calm way. “sex is… an intimate moment that you share with someone you trust.” he explains in a non explicit way, smiling softly. “really? so you and mom… you trusted each other.” theo smiles sadly. “actually, it was more than trust. we… we loved each other, which makes the experience even better.” simon adds in a calm tone.

“do you miss having… that… with mom?” theo raises an eyebrow, innocent and naive as always. simon suddenly sighs quietly, the memories eating him alive. “i can’t believe we’re talking about this, buddy.” he lets out an embarrassed chuckle. “but yeah, i miss it.” he pauses. “i miss everything.” a sad smile appears on simon’s lips. theo stares into his father’s eyes. he knows that simon is not okay, but he decides to ignore that and give him a tight hug. “let’s get you back to mommy’s house.” simon breaks the silence, kissing theo’s temple.

a few minutes later, simon and theo are standing in your doorstep. you quickly open the door with a smile, since you were already expecting them. you crouch when you see theo, hugging him while you kiss his soft cheeks. “i’ve missed you!” you chuckle quietly, kissing all over his face. “mom, stop, it tickles!” he chuckles, pulling away from you. simon smiles softly in silence. the loud thunder makes the three of you look at the sky. the rain is just getting worse.

you look at simon. his eyes look like coming home. like listening to an old good song after months without listening to it. “hi.” you greet him, smiling. “hey.” simon smiles back, his fingers interlocking with your strands, caressing your head gently. “he already had dinner. and he also showered.” simon tells you, just like always. most of your conversations with him are like this. you nod with a smile. “um, you should come in. it’s raining too much.” you look at simon with a an awkward smile, making him chuckle quietly as he shakes his head. “it’s fine, but thanks.” he says, looking at you. “seriously, don’t drive right now. don’t make me worried.” you reply, touching his arm in a friendly way. simon seems to be hesitant.

“please, dad. stay a little longer.” theo grabs simon’s hand, pulling him inside. simon could never deny his son, so he gives in, clearing his throat before looking around your cozy living room. the living room that was once his, too. it’s a bit awkward to realize that he let you stay without even thinking twice, while he had to buy another place to live. “make yourself at home.” you say the magic words and simon feels that pain in his heart. this is his home. or used to be…

“can i get you something to drink?” you ask with a weak smile. “i’m fine, thanks.” he smiles back and you nod. simon takes a seat on the couch, theo throws himself beside his father. before you could sit next to theo, he leaves the couch to give attention to the puzzle on the ground. you and simon look at each other with a soft smile. you sit next to simon on the couch, making sure to keep a certain distance. “so, did you guys have fun?” you ask with a playfulness in your tone. “of course, mom.” theo chuckles, focused on the puzzle. simon chuckles too, his gaze shifting from theo to you.

“hey, can i talk to you about something?” simon asks, laying his arm lazily on the couch, his body turned towards you. you swallow hard, nodding. “sure. what is it?” you smile nervously. “tell claire to stop talking about sex in front of my son, for fuck’s sake.” simon laughs quietly, touching your hand and squeezing it in a playful manner. your cheeks get instantly red. “w-what? i mean, how… how do you know it’s claire?” you seem embarrassed at first but you end up laughing, slapping simon’s thigh.

“i know all of your friends, idiot. only claire would talk about such things in front of theo.” simon laughs again, making you laugh even more. “i already told her, alright? she’s impossible, i swear…” you smile playfully as you shake your head. “oh, i can tell.” simon mutters in a joking tone. you raise an eyebrow at him, mockingly. “she’s so blunt, it’s funny.” he adds, chuckling.

“she really is. remember that time when you first saw her? it was right in the beginning of our relationship, we had just started dating…” you say with a nostalgic smile. simon’s attention is fixed on you, a laugh wanting to leave his throat because he knows exactly what you’re talking about. “fuck yeah… she said: oh, honey. this isn’t your boyfriend anymore, it’s ours. i couldn’t believe my ears when she said that.” simon completes, laughing out loud, just like you.

“oh my god… i was so embarrassed. i felt so bad for you.” you mumble between chuckles, grabbing simon’s arm in a playful manner. “i was willing to break up with you, she almost scared me off.” simon jokes in a teasing tone, chuckling. you roll your eyes with a laugh, pushing him away. he laughs, adjusting himself on the couch. you stare at his lap for some reason, maybe because you just had flashbacks of the two of you having some late night fun on this couch. simon raises an eyebrow at you, clearly judging your malicious stare. you shy away.

the tension is too heavy when simon sighs quietly, staring into your eyes with so much longing that it almost hurts. he misses you like crazy… but then his brain reminds him that your boyfriend is probably upstairs, waiting for you, as he lays down on the bed that you used to share with simon. suddenly, he gets mad. he gets mad because that stupid boyfriend of yours doesn’t deserve you. he can’t even handle being with a woman like you. simon clears his throat uncomfortably, trying his best to ignore his intrusive thoughts.

“mom, did you tell dad about your wedding?” theo breaks the silence while focused on his puzzle and the world stops. simon holds his breath for a while, staring into your eyes as if he’s pleading to hear that this wedding thing is a joke. he feels like theo’s words opened an unhealed wound. he sighs quietly, looking away. the realization hits him. so you weren’t bluffing when you said that you were actually willing to marry your boyfriend. your eyes are filled with despair as you notice simon’s reaction, you can almost hear his heart shattering. “i’m so happy for you.” he finally says something, but his words are meaningless, shallow. he leaves the couch so he doesn’t have to be near you.

“w-wait, where are you going?” you stand up too, grabbing his arm. “i’m going home.” simon replies with a fake soft smile. you can see in his eyes that he’s devastated. “simon, just… stay. let’s talk.” you swallow hard as your touch stays on him. “i think we’re both done talking.” he replies in an annoyed, upset tone, still faking a small smile. “no, simon. i know you…” you insist in a frustrated frown. “don’t leave me in the dark, alright? please. your opinion matters to me.” your voice breaks a little, already fighting the urge to cry. simon has that pain hidden in his face, that you only saw when he was right on the edge.

“what do you want me to say, y/n? do you need my approval, is that it? don’t you think i’ve had enough of your bullshit already?” simon asks with an extreme frustration in his tone, a hint of betrayal. you hold eye contact with him in silence. a silence that’s too loud. you lick your lips nervously, swallowing hard. “i need… i need you to be okay with this. i need to hear you say that i won’t hurt you if i marry him.” you say in a whisper, your eyes tearing up.

simon sighs heavily, looking away in disbelief. he takes a step back. “oh, you want me to be okay with this? you must be out of your goddamn mind.” simon says with a hint of sarcasm. “i can’t keep doing this, y/n. i can’t keep getting in the way of your new love life, just because you want me to. stop relying on me to make decisions that i don’t have the power to make. i’m so fucking tired of having to watch you give all of your love to another man, right in front of my eyes.” simon stares at you with a certain anger as he comes closer again, grabbing the back of your neck with both hands. he’s tearing up. “can’t you see that?” he whispers, almost begging.

“you ended me the night you asked for a divorce instead of trying to make things right again, because you know damn well that i was more than happy to fight for you. for our marriage.” simon’s tired eyes are still on yours, just like his hands on the back of your neck. “so yes, you will hurt me if you marry him. after all we’ve been through… you betrayed me. i spent years loving you, treating you right, taking care of you, helping you through tough times… just so you could change your mind about us and fall in love with someone new in less than a year.” his chest tightens with his own words, pure betrayal consuming his veins.

“all i ever wanted was you, with all of your qualities and flaws. i wanted my son to have both of his parents living under the same roof. but maybe i asked for too much.” he says, a hint of disappointment in his low voice. tears start running down your cheeks and he sighs tiredly, wiping your tears away, again. “you see? you break me in half but i’m always the one to put you back together somehow, when your boyfriend should be doing it. so look me in the eyes and say that he deserves to be with you. say it. you can’t. because it’s my hand you reach for when you’re falling apart.” simon adds, kissing your tears away. it catches you off guard.

you can’t seem to have the strength to answer, so you just stay silent, feeling the safe warm feeling of his touch on you. simon stares into your eyes, waiting for a response. “y-you don’t understand, simon…” you mutter in a shaky voice. his hands are shaky too. he closes his eyes for a second, feeling even more frustrated and desperate with your words. his pleading gaze fixed on you, his chest rising up and down.

“you don’t seem to understand how this breaks my heart, love. you haunt me. i search for you in anyone, anywhere. i search for you in my empty bed, in the passenger’s seat of my car. in the grocery store, by my side, reading our grocery list out loud. i search for you when i’m out with our friends, when i’m at my mom’s and she asks how have you been, when i’m watching our favorite movie with theo for the thousandth time.” he swallows the lump in his throat. you close your eyes, you can’t handle it anymore. “god knows i even miss your toothbrush next to mine.” he chuckles quietly and sadly, making your heart break.

theo stares at his parents with sad, guilty eyes. but he knows that this seems to be a conversation for adults, only. so he stays quiet, turning his attention back to the puzzle. “you said you wanted my opinion, so i’ll give you just that. i want you to be happy, with or without me. if you’re sure that he’s the one for you, marry him. don’t let me hold you back.” simon’s voice is trembling, he keeps holding back his tears, he needs to sound firm and reassuring. “i’ve got you, always.” he adds and you sob uncontrollably, wrapping your arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

you hide your face in the crook of his neck while he strokes your waist gently. “i… i can’t live without you.” you whisper against his skin, almost begging for him to keep getting in the way of your new love life. simon sighs heavily. “you don’t mean that, love. you were the one who decided to live without me in the first place.” he places a bitter kiss on the top of your head. simon hates the fact that you make him weak to the point where he doesn’t even mind being raw and vulnerable. you know all sides of him, anyway. just like he knows all of yours.

“dad, please…” theo mutters, making the two of you stare at him with surprised eyes. “just tell her.” he turns his gaze towards his parents, holding back a cry. simon immediately walks towards him, crouching in front of the kid. he feels terrible for having that type of conversation with you in front of his son. theo starts crying quietly, making simon widen his eyes with a certain despair. “h-hey, kiddo, it’s okay…” simon picks him up, hugging him tightly. “i’m so, so sorry. i shouldn’t have said all of that in front of you, i’m sorry, buddy.” simon strokes theo’s back, kissing the top of his head.

you take a deep breath to calm yourself down, trying your best to stop crying. you have to be strong for your son. you walk towards them. “you always make her cry, dad…” theo mutters with a sob and simon’s heart and breathing stop for a moment. “theo, baby, no… it’s not like this at all.” you stand up for simon, caressing your son’s wet cheeks. “your dad is… the most caring, lovable person in this whole world, okay? don’t ever say that again.” you plead him, kissing his forehead. simon feels like shit.

“he’s a liar… he said that you’re still his love… that he misses everything.” theo says in a low tone, touching your face. simon sighs heavily with a defeated frown. you look at simon in silence, speechless. “enough, theo.” simon says in a more firm tone. he puts his son back on the ground, crouching in front of him. simon looks theo in the eyes, grabbing his shoulders gently. “sometimes love is not enough, but you’re too young to understand that.” simon completes, caressing his son’s cheeks.

theo stares at you with hopeful eyes, waiting for your response to his father’s statement. but you never open your mouth. “i already told you, mommy’s in love with someone else and that’s okay. that’s life. people come and go, right? just like waves. you know when we’re at the beach, swimming in the sea? the waves, they come and go.” simon smiles softly at him, kissing the top of his head before standing up. theo looks at you, disappointed.

“i-i do love you, simon.” you grab his arm, getting a little mad at his statement. “don’t say that in front of our son.” you scold him with red, puffy eyes. “you know exactly what i meant.” simon bites back, almost in an angry whisper, touching your arm briefly. “just be happy, alright? but don’t you dare be happier than you were with me. do this one thing for me, love.” he adds as a single sour tear runs down his cheek. he can’t hold back anymore. simon runs his fingers through your hair gently, while more tears start filling up his eyes. he breathes out, placing his hand on the back of your neck.

you’re staring at him as if you’re screaming i’m sorry, i’m sorry, i’m sorry. i’m sorry for punishing you for things you never did. he pulls your face closer to his, leaning his forehead against yours, his eyes closed, so you can’t see how betrayed he feels in the corner of his eyes. “you broke me like your promises, but just between us… you’ll never be unloved by me. you’re too well tangled in my soul.” he whispers, being completely honest. you sob, speechless. then he kisses you. it’s not a passionate kiss. it’s a sad, tender, salty kiss. it’s the last kiss. it’s the closure kiss, for him.

this is the night in which simon finally sets himself free from the bitter embrace of your ghost. he officially gave up on you, for good. and you can feel it too — in the way he breaks the kiss without even looking at your face. he even seems a bit disgusted. simon pulls away from you, walking towards the door without looking back. now you feel cold without his body to make you warm. “i’ll pick you up at school tomorrow, kid.” simon mutters to theo in a defeated cold tone before leaving your house.

your love maimed him so excruciatingly well that suddenly he feels like a soldier who’s returning half his weight, waiting for his lover’s deadly kiss to put him in a never ending sleep.

[lanaswritingbook]

Not like others

Dave Lizewski x fem!Reader

Warning: implied sex, fluff

First time writing in a while hope you like! (The summary is kinda ass sorry. Trying to get back into writing 😭)

Summary- After you and Dave finished having sex you thought you had to leave right after due to never having aftercare. But he made sure you got what you needed.

After a while I finally slid off of Dave breathless at the activities we’ve just done. This wasn’t my first time doing the deed but it was my second.

And the first time was terrible it was honestly a mistake. The guy left in the same ten minutes after we finished and ghosted me ever since.

So that’s why I was scared for this to be over. Dave and I weren’t established as a couple but we knew we weren’t friends and only talked to each other romantically. I think it’s just fear for both of us to take that next big step.

But would Dave be that guy to just tell me I should go and never speak to me again?

We laid in his bed both staring up at the ceiling both trying to catch our breath in silence.

Slightly looking over his eyes were closed with his hand over his chiseled stomach. God what workouts did he do?

Thinking he was a sleep or trying to ignore this embarrassing moment I stood up quietly putting my clothes on.

The bed creaked lightly making him open his eyes. “Hey where you going” he asked sitting up deciding to put his boxers back on.

“Oh I was just gonna head out…” a tiny smile appeared on my face putting my hoodie over my head.

“Oh… why?” his face had saddened making me feel worse then I already did about having to leave.

“I just thought you had wanted me to leave…” we stared at each other for a couple seconds.

“I don’t want you to leave, this is the time where we talk and you know…” he wanted me to finish his sentence but I had no clue where it was going

“We cuddle! It’s like a rule after sex we both have to make sure we’re okay. I mean this only like my third time doing it but that’s how we end it.” I looked at him confused.

“I’ve never done that before… sorry” I sat back on his bed crisscrossed as he took my hand in his.

“You’ve never had aftercare? God i’m sorry Yn.” he pulled me into a tight hug.

It was nice feeling him against me and not just in a sexual way. It was reassuring.

When he pulled away he motioned me to lay my head on his chest as he laid back.

“Can I ask who never gave you aftercare?” he whispered slightly smoothing his hand down my hair not wanting to mess up my curls.

“Uh I’ve only done it once before with a football player from school. Worse mistake of my life.” I laugh trying to lift the mood.

“He had came over and I thought we were gonna watch a movie then he just got right to it and left. What a way to lose your virginity am I right?” a tear fell down my cheek.

When he noticed quiet sniffles he looked down wiping my cheek.

“Hey don’t cry, I won’t ever do that to you never” he promised leaning down to kiss my lips.

“We’re gonna do this again?” my eyes widen “I mean if you want… but I was hoping we could do it as boyfriend and girlfriend” he shly whispered.

“You wanna be my boyfriend?” I tried keeping a smile off my face

“Of course”.

[lipglossanon]

You’re All I’ve Got Tonight

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎... ⋙ ███████▒▒▒ 70%

part i

office exec!Leon S. Kennedy x personal assistant fem!reader

Warnings: 18+ minors DNI, dirty talk, kissing, nipple/breast play, grinding, unprotected sex, creampie

Actually looked over with a second pair of eyes by the ever lovely @rex122303 ✌️ you have my unwavering devotion 🙇‍♀️

title from You're All I’ve Got Tonight by The Cars

⋘ 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠…⋙ ████████ 100%

You’ve been giving Leon the cold shoulder since that scandalous night in his office. You know it’s not his fault he was suddenly called up by the CEO to handle some business altercation out of state. 

But he could have called you or left a message or, hell, he could have emailed you. So when he shows up a week later, you’re short and to the point, never staying late and always disappearing if it looks like you’ll be alone with him. 

If he’s frustrated with you, you don’t really care (you do, but you’ll never admit it). He’s still cordial, still touchy feely when he can get away with it, like when brushing past you in the boardroom, but you stay firmly polite even if his touch makes you press your thighs together. 

It all comes to a head a few weeks later when an overnight trip to a business summit’s announced for the small team under Leon’s advisement. This small team also includes you, much to your chagrin. So you prep and plan, making sure all the emails are filled with the correct dossiers and agendas for each individual person and marking off the calendar accordingly. 

Leon tries to corner you time and again as you get everything setup, but you’re able to duck out of it every single time. You know it’s not very mature of you to avoid him, but you still feel embarrassed about the reaction you had when he ghosted you, even if it wasn’t entirely his fault. Your pride took one hit already, so now you’re just trying to avoid another. 

The date for the summit arrives far too quickly and you’re all holed up in the rental van to drive out of the city to the nearby retreat that’s hosting. You make small talk with Ark, a really sweet guy who works in IT. He’s friendly without being overbearing so the drive passes by comfortably although not quickly. 

Arriving at the retreat, everyone piles out of the van, grabs their luggage, and makes their way to the front desk. Bad luck on your part lands you at the end of the line standing next to Leon. Surprisingly, he doesn’t try to chat you up or anything, just scrolling on his phone with a little furrow between his brows. You stare ahead watching as the rest of the team grab their room keys and disappear further into the foyer.  

“Hi there and welcome! Checking in?”

The perky brunette behind the desk smiles at you, making you smile back, but before you open your mouth Leon steps in front of you. 

“Hi! Checking in for Kennedy.”

Your smile tightens as you side step so you’re standing a little behind Leon now. The lady sends you a quick sympathetic look as she types in his name. 

“You’re all set, sir,” she hands him a keycard, “if you need anything whatsoever please don’t hesitate to contact the front desk or the concierge. Please have a wonderful stay!”

She turns to you and repeats the same greeting making you internally wince in sympathy as she types in your information. Her smile falters and eventually drops into a confused frown. 

“I’m terribly sorry, but it seems like your party has all checked in and there are no more rooms available,” she types for a few more seconds before turning back to you with an apologetic smile, “and seeing as we’re fully booked, you can check and see if one of your colleagues—“

“She can room with me,” Leon offers flippantly, giving the brunette another smile, before turning back to his phone, “it’s not a big deal.”

She turns to you, eyebrows raised in question and you sigh, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“It’ll be fine,” you plaster a fake smile on and look over at Leon, “I appreciate it, Mr. Kennedy.”

He gives you a smarmy little grin, “Not a problem, madam secretary.”

You roll your eyes at him and turn back in time to grab the spare keycard. 

The young woman rattles off the same spiel as you grab your luggage, “If you need anything whatsoever please don’t hesitate to contact the front desk or the concierge. Please have a wonderful stay!”

You follow Leon through the foyer and over to the elevators, thanking your lucky stars no one from your office will actually see that you’re bunking with the boss. Butterflies threaten to flutter in your chest but you tamp them down, not letting yourself get swept away like last time. 

Leon lets you stew in your own thoughts as you enter the tenth floor, leading you down the hall to the room you’ll be sharing. He unlocks the door and holds it open, gesturing for you to enter first. You nod and roll your luggage case in behind you only to stop dead in the little hallway into the room. 

“There’s just one bed,” you blurt out, disbelief sweeping over you. 

Leon walks up next to you, letting the door swing shut. 

“Oh wow, that’s really unfortunate,” he shrugs, sounding a little too blasé. 

You squint at his side profile, “I’ll see if they can send in a roller bed—“

Leon scoffs, “Look it’s a king size bed, we can share like civilized adults.”

You purse your lips, “Mmhmm, and it’s not just awfully convenient we ran out of rooms for everyone and now we just happen to have to share a bed?”

Leon grins at you, the one that always makes those damn butterflies flutter.

“Just really weird co-winky-dinks,” his grin widens when you fight the smile wanting to slip out, instead giving him another eye roll. 

“Okay,” you throw your hands up with a sigh, “it’s only a short weekend trip.”

One of the reasons you’ve been avoiding Leon is it’s so easy to slip into the comfortable back and forth you’ve already built up. So it’s next to no time before he’s already weaseled a laugh out of you with his shitty one liner jokes. You’re a little nervous now that you’re kinda back on friendly terms, especially after you explained yourself. 

Now, he’s ordering room service for you both while you jump in the shower, letting yourself spend some extra time on shaving and primping before leaving the bathroom. Not for any ulterior motives or anything you think to yourself as you finish putting on your moisturizer. 

When you come out of the bathroom, Leon slips past you and shuts the door. You see that he hasn’t eaten yet, deciding to wait on you to finish up, which makes you feel warm and fuzzy at the thoughtful gesture. So you wait in turn, drinking some water as you channel surf, settling on a show about an elderly mystery writer who always stumbles upon a murder that needs solving. 

You’re pretty engrossed with J.B. Fletcher’s hunt for the killer, but when Leon steps out of the bathroom he draws all of your attention. His face is obscured as he dries his hair with a towel, leaving you to ogle his bare chest and toned stomach with his low slung sweats sitting on his hips, his happy trail catching your eye last. 

You make sure to be looking away by the time he drops the towel around his shoulders. 

“You should’ve went ahead,” he nudges your side, sitting down next to you on the bed. 

“Eh, just thought I’d wait,” you smile at him, nudging him back as he grabs one of the food containers. 

You grab another container and you both watch the rest of the show as you eat a late dinner. After tossing the trash away, you brush your teeth side by side at the double sinks, and find your way into bed. 

After settling underneath the blankets, Leon rolls over and props his head up on his palm. 

“So no goodnight kiss?” 

You roll over to mirror him, eyes taking in his half smile and damp fringe. 

“What makes you think you should get a goodnight kiss?” 

“Lots of reasons,” his hands shoot out to grab your waist, yanking you into his body. 

“I think you owe me a lot of making up, honey,” he murmurs, dropping a kiss to your cheek. 

One heated kiss leads to another and before you know it—

“Oh god,” you whine, grinding slowly against Leon. 

His cock is trapped in your panties, rubbing all along your dripping slit as he ruts against your cunt. His back rests against the headboard of the hotel room bed with you straddling his lap. 

You’ve been like this for an hour already; his lap and your thighs are soaked in slick and precum. 

“S’good,” he mutters under his breath, dilated eyes watching your tits jiggle, “wanna stay like this for the rest of the weekend.”

Goosebumps trail down your arms as you shiver, body completely bare except for your panties. 

“What about the presentation, sir? The actual summit?”

Leon grins lazily, dragging his eyes up to your face, “What about’em? I’m just trying to hump this little pussy.”

You whimper and rock against him harder.

The grin on his face widens, “Yeah, you like it too, like my fat cock rubbing all over this soaked cunt.”

“Leon,” your nails dig into his shoulders, eyes clenched shut.

“I wanna slide it in, but this feels too good,” he grunts, feeling your clit catch on the tip of his dick, “c’mere and let me suck on those tits, know you like that.”

You rock forward, pressing your chest out as his mouth leans up to suck on your hard nipples. He groans low in his chest as his lips and tongue work one hard bud while his fingers tweak and pinch the other. Your hips give short little thrusts as sharp bolts of arousal buzz in your clit. 

Sloppy sounds of sucking fill the room along with your pants and whines as Leon lathes your breasts with his attention. 

“Leon I want it, want your cock in me, please,” you gasp out as he bites your nipple and runs his tongue across it over and over until you’re squirming against him. 

“Think you deserve it?” he kisses across your breasts, teeth nipping at the skin as he swaps to the other nipple.  

“Please, want it, I’m so empty,” you whine.

“You've been ignoring me, honey,” he mockingly pouts up at you, lips swollen and hair messy, “outright avoiding me, I’d say.”

“You were mean,” you whine and he pinches your nipples hard making you buck against him.

“I’m being sweet now, aren’t I?” he grunts, sliding his fat cock into your pussy making you squeal from the stretch.

He’s so much bigger than you remember, making your back bow, head tipped back and mouth open, panting while he bullies his dick deeper and deeper into your pussy until he’s bottoming out.

He shushes you as you sink down on his dick with a low cry, “Such a good girl for me. Damn, missed this tight little pussy.”

You shove your breasts into his face making him growl, hands tightening on your hips, sinking you fully down on his cock. Leon’s mouth hotly kisses across your tits, sucking bruises into the sensitive skin. Groaning, he suckles your nipples eagerly until you’re bouncing on his dick. 

You let your hands sink into his soft hair, rocking your hips down hard onto his lap. Mewling, you tug on the silky strands as Leon’s tongue laps across your swollen nipples making you squirm. His hands move up to your waist as he humps your hot wet pussy, burying his cock deep in your throbbing cunt.

Feeling over sensitive, you try to pull his head away from your chest but he only groans, suckling your hard bud deeper into his mouth. His cock kicks and throbs as you slump forward, smooshing your tits into his face. 

“Leon, they’re g’nna be so sore,” you gasp as he nips at the swell of your breasts before pulling away. 

“But you like it, squeezing down on me so tight,” he grins, shaking the hair from his face as he tilts his head up, “now kiss me, sweetheart.”

You whine in the back of your throat and drop your mouth down on his. You feel as Leon scrapes his teeth against your bottom lip. He moans, licking into your mouth, tongue running along yours teasingly. 

He tugs you closer and closer, the kisses becoming more sloppy with spit dripping past your swollen lips. He chuckles when your fingers drop from his hair to cup the back of his head, pulling him forward til there’s no space between you. 

Pulling away for a breath, Leon just tugs you back in for another messy kiss, his hot tongue licking into you again and again.

“Been driving me up the wall, wanted to talk to you so bad,” he lets his head fall back to rest against the headboard as you grind dirtily against him, “had the best sex of my life and when I came back you pretended I didn’t even exist, honey.”

“‘m sorry, sir,” you whimper, eyes fluttering as his cock grinds just right against the spongy spot at the front of your pussy, “just got into my own head.”

“S’okay,” he coos up at you, letting one of his hands drop down and tease your swollen clit, “just gonna let this sweet pussy milk a nice thick load outta me.”

“Yeah, yeah, gonna milk your cock so good,” you slur, arching your back so your breasts brush against his mouth. 

He snarls and bites at your soft tits, “That’s it, squeeze my cock.”

You whine, body jerking as he pinches and rubs your pudgy clit, sucking each of your nipples between his teeth to run his tongue across them. The coil in your belly’s winding tighter and tighter as Leon teases your nipples and clit at the same time. 

“Oh,” you gasp out, “g’nna cum, Leon—“

A low cry spills from your mouth as you clamp down on Leon’s dick, pussy walls fluttering and milking his throbbing cock as he fucks you through your orgasm.

“So sexy,” Leon’s hips thrust up into your squelching pussy, “so fucking sexy. Gonna make me cum, baby. Y’ready?”

“Yes, yes, please,” you moan, digging your nails into his chest making him curse under his breath and bury his cock into your sopping wet hole. 

You feel rope after rope of hot, sticky cum spurt inside your cunt, stuffing you so full that it leaks out around his throbbing cock. 

“Beautiful,” he places open mouthed kisses across your clavicle up to your neck, letting his tongue tease across your skin, “such a good girl for me.”

You sigh, feeling blissed out and utterly satisfied. He tugs your head down to kiss you softly at the corner of your mouth.  

“If you want, just relax and I’ll bring a cloth in to clean you up.”

You smile at him sleepily, “Wanna snuggle.”

He returns your sleepy smile with a small one of his own, “You got it, sweetheart.” 

[louff4tw]

Younger Bruce Wayne/Batman Headcannons

- He CAN cook. It’s weird to me people are like “he can burn water” Alfred raised him. I Headcannon he taught him and then when he trained he learned how to cook restaurant quality in case he needs to go undercover. He’s not Alfred level but he can cook

- He was a angry teen. The trauma messed with his head and he fought with Alfred a lot. Alfred thought about leaving a few times at the worst of the fighting but cared to much about the child he’s known since birth.

- Bruce adored him growing up. After he became his caretaker it was never discussed what would happen after Bruce turned 18. And part of what triggered the fights was that he was afraid Alfred was gonna leave when he turned 18.

- He left the day before he turned 18. He may give several excuses of why but it was in case Alfred left. He couldn’t face it if he did. The relief he felt when he realized Alfred was staying made him want to cry.

- Until 13 whenever he had a nightmare he would sit outside the floor next to the door to Alfred’s room. It helped to hear him. If Alfred spotted him he would be incredibly embarrassed. Alfred would let him join him in bed (Not in a weird way. Begone you creepy fucks)

- After 13 he decided he was a big boy and instead would stand at the closed door. Hear him snore and go back to bed. He continues this to his day with everyone who is staying the night.

- Autistic. Also he used to follow Alfred around stating different facts. He loves to stim by using a tire swing his dad put up when he was born. Spinning really helps him. Wasn’t diagnosed till after Tim was diagnosed and Stephanie called them autism twins. He was confused and she had to point out all the things in him she’s seen. Alfred didn’t even think of it. The rich don’t usually get diagnosed. After being diagnosed and with the trauma his kids had a better time understanding his communication or lack there off. Poor Alfred felt so bad when he realized so many issues in Bruce’s childhood would not have been a issue.

- The different issues he had were big crowds being overstimulating. The seams in his sucks. The suits we’re claustrophobic and felt like they were choking him. Plus the texture of the suits were horrendous. So much velvet back then. He hated being touched and people wouldn’t stop it. (Hand in hair. Shoulders or upper back. Or old laddies pinching cheeks). Had trouble talking to his peers. Weirdly the only one he could hold a Conversation with was Lex and sorta Oliver. But he didn’t like Lex and Oliver was annoying. He would talk about his special Interest and others would get annoyed. Sometimes only felt like Alfred and some elderly scholars understood him.

- Massive science nerd and loves Sci Fi’s and mysteries. Loves Star Trek alongside Grey Ghost.

- Is pansexual. But has never officially come out until Tim came out and was nervous

- Would sneak out in disguise. He also knew how to skateboard. Would hang out with a bad group. Drank and did pot when he was 16 but stoped when a friend was killed. This helped push him towards being Batman.

- They didn’t really do holidays after his parents died. The main tree didn’t get put up till Dick came around. Alfred would put up a smaller one in one of the lounges.

- Used to carry around a Sony Walkman and listen to albums. Really big into all kinds of music. Would sometimes stare into the abyss as he listened. He eventually gave the Walkman to one of his kids. They pass it around to whoever wants to use it. Currently with Cass.

- He took Karate for years and already was a black belt by the time he left. He also trained in fencing. He would always do things that tried to push his limits and would frequently hurt himself to the point cps was called. Of course they didn’t do anything but it frightened Alfred as Bruce hid these injuries from him.

- Was not rare for him to fall asleep next to his parents Grave and Alfred had to carry him in. He stopped when he was 15. When Jason died he started it up again. While Jason wasn’t buried on the manor cemetery he had a stone. Alfred had to call Dick to help get him inside. He passed out from exhaustion and wouldn’t wake.

- Following the one comic. He did try to kill himself when he was a preteen with his Fathers razor. Alfred found him and called Leslie. Only time she saw Alfred cry. He begged her “please save my boy! Please” this night haunts them both. He spent a week in Arkham. It didn’t help really. They kept it hush hush and used a fake name. Matches Malone. Bruce Still uses this name for undercover. Alfred wouldn’t leave him alone for months. Made him sleep in his room and Alfred sat outside the open door of the bathroom for showers and baths (facing away you sick fucks)

- After his parents death he never really thought he would ever have a family. Or feel happy again. He was so so wrong.

[beamergirll11]

Relationships And Strangers

Finally you give into your urges but unfortunately someone was watching.

Pairing: You x Ghost

You moaned as the stranger slipped two digits into you. His mouth peppered kisses on your neck as you did your best to conceal what was happening. Bodies smushed together and pressed against the wall with no space between you and him. For a brief moment you thought of everyone inside the bar possibly wondering where you were. It didn’t last because once again lust overtook you.

With your head thrown back your eyes lazily wandered to the side. Your eyes suddenly met familiar ones as a wave of dread rushed through you. There stood Ghost rooted to the ground his posture straightening as his dark eyes stared you down. You went to speak but a moan escaped instead as you threw your head back once more.

Your head snapped back to the side but Ghost was already gone. Within the next few hours you found your way back to your dorm. No one had questioned where you went but Ghost was no longer with them. Waving Soap and Gaz goodnight you entered your bedroom tossing your phone on your desk.

Despite it being almost midnight you had no urge to sleep. Instead embarrassment weighed you down, Ghost had watched and seen you getting fingered by a random stranger. Shame set in, you had never did anything like this ever. Months of loneliness brought you to this point, You needed attention. However you had swore to yourself you would be single because of your line of work.

Maybe you were fooling yourself it wasn’t like you were asexual. You had needs and just like everyone else in the world they needed fulfilled. A hard knock at the door made you shutter, Who could this be at such a late hour. Gaz was your first thought since you both were practically inseparable.

Opening your door you were now looking up at Ghost. Ghost stood there silent staring you down again just like at the bar, “Ghos-?” He didn’t even let you finish.

“Can I come in?” He asked in his normal tone which calmed you slightly. With a nod Ghost was already in your room in fact he seemed rushed. His eyes wandered around your room almost as if he was searching for something or someone…

“So lover boy isn’t here?” He asked facing away.

“Uh…no he’s not…so what do you need?” You asked as you rubbed at your throat feeling your veins standing out on your neck.

“What…what were you thinking just kissing some random civilian?” He scolded.

It felt like a minute before anything else was said, You felt close to hyperventilating. With all the courage you could muster you spoke, “How…how is who I kiss your business or problem?”

A noticeable shift in Ghost occurred as his eyebrows narrowed, “Are you getting smart with me rookie?”

The panic that had once consumed you fades instead you felt irritated, “I guess I am…why are you surprised this isn’t the first time I’ve talked back to you?”

“This is different Y/N!” He spat getting closer.

“No it’s not…Ghost I shouldn’t have to answer to you when it’s about my personal life. We’re not on the field…” when you said this you averted your gaze.

Before anything else could be said your phone went off, it was a message. The glow of your phone brightened the bedroom as you picked it up. Upon clicking you were met with a clear bright photo of the stranger’s dick from earlier. Ghost scoffed loudly from behind you, He had seen the photo.

“You can’t be fucking serious?” Hissed Ghost.

Finally you exploded, “Ghost I’m going to see who I want and fuck who I want!”

Ghost responded quickly now visibly angry, a mask could never hide his anger, “Fine! I just didn’t know you were that kind of girl!”

Your heart sank, “…So I’m a whore?” You asked.

Ghost paused as if he was reconsidering his next sentence, “No…just tell me why…do you even like this guy?”

“It was just a hookup! Ghost I’m lonely! I wanted attention…it’s been awhile okay. I’m a human being…so I’m sorry I’m not some pure princess.” You felt tears well up.

“…You…you shouldn’t just mess with some stranger.”

“Then who?” You asked.

His head tilted as if he was comprehending the fact that you didn’t know the answer, “Me?”

You couldn’t help but laugh and you waited for him to laugh to but he didn’t, “Ha ha ha…” you mocked.

“I’m fucking serious.” Ghost said his body seeming to stiffen as he got closer, to close for comfort.

“Ghost…lieutenant…come on you can’t be serious?”

“I see the way you look at me…I know you see how I look at you. Am I wrong?” His voice almost softened which caused you to swallow hard unsure of how to react.

“Lieutenant sometimes when we train I watch your hands and I want to feel your fingers in ways I shouldn’t. I find myself watching you imagining how full you could make me feel…” you said this feeling your cheeks burn up.

Ghost pulled his mask up so his lips were visible, “Y/N I can give you what you want. I’ve wanted to for so long…”

“But what do you want?”

“You…” almost immediately his lips slammed into yours in a barrage of sloppy kisses. The kisses were rushed but intense causing both of you to almost go feral. He lifted you with ease as you both kissed without pause. A man who was so precise was now fumbling with his belt. Finally his pants dropped, His cock smacking against your thigh with enough force for it to echo in your tiny bedroom.

Suddenly the desperation took over again, “Put it in put it in!” You cried out begging.

With a deep chuckle Ghost reached down and without no effort slid inside you. A scream escaped your saliva ridden mouth, You had never felt so full before, “Fingers could never fill you like my cock can love.”

His hands dipped under your legs, He began to raise you up and down his cock. Wetness from your cunt made it impossible for silence. Each bounce making a squishy sound that grew even wetter, “That’s what you needed…” He moaned, “You just needed my fat cock inside you, eh?”

You nodded as your foreheads melted into one another’s. Gripping his shoulders you started to ride him with as hard as you could. Each bounce felt like he was hitting your very core almost threatening to break it.

“Do you want to cum?” He asked now helping you bounce. Frenzied nods causing Ghost to chuckle almost arrogantly, “No.” He said sternly.

“W-What, Ghost?! Why?!” You asked feeling frustrated.

“You have to ask for it.” He said now pulling you off and on his cock in long slow strides.

“Please…” you begged as your insides milked him.

His eyes almost seemed to grow darker the whites of his eyes being consumed by darkness, “Please what?”

“Please let me fucking cum!” You shouted now feeling close. Ghost reached down playing with your clit as it throbbed. You felt the familiar burning in your stomach, suddenly it hit you started cumming, “Ghost I’m cumming!”

“What are you cumming on?” He teased sending shivers up your spine.

“Your cock I’m cumming all over your cock!” You cried. As you came he shoved your shirt up taking one of your nipples into his mouth.

Ghost’s moans were muffled by your breast as he felt you suffocate his soaked cock with your orgasm. Suddenly he lifted you up, His cock shot long strings of cum on your bottom and on parts of your floor, “Fuck I’m cumming too…”

He collapsed on your bed bringing you down with him. Laughter lazily escaped him as he took long deep breaths. You laid beside watching him, “That was amazing Ghost…”

“Love whenever you want me…you just have to ask.” He smiled at you.

“About…about that…Ghost do you think that’s a good idea?”

Ghost’s eyebrows furrowed, “It’s our life…we can do whatever we want.” He said his tone confused.

“We…” You said almost in a whisper this caused Ghost to sit up.

“Yes…we…what the fuck are you saying?” As usual despite the mask you could tell his confusion was turning into frustration.

“Ghost…you know how I feel about relationships.”

This was true you had confined in him, Gaz and Konig about your fear of relationships, “So you didn’t want me? You wanted sex…you don’t want all of me?”

You remained silent guilt rising as you tried to push away responsibility. Before it happened you were aware of the doubts, the fear. However during it was endless bliss and there was no way you could deny that you were attracted to him. Words wouldn’t come out as Ghost yanked up his pants standing clipping his belt, “ Ghost wait let’s talk.” You managed to get out.

“Y/N I need to go.” He said coldly pulling his mask the whole way down.

Ghost walked to the door grabbing the knob only to freeze, “I wanted you Y/N for so long now you made me feel like a fucking fool.” The door rattled the things on your desk as it slammed.

[samgirl98]

Wail of the Silent 5/?

Prev | Next

TW: Mention of suicide

I would like to state that I know nothing about artificial voice boxes, but I do know the way I'm writing about them isn't accurate so please don't take it that way. Enjoy

Danny ate the best omelet he had ever had with gusto.

“Have you ever considered opening a diner?”

Jason smiled wryly.

You got that idea from an omelet? What if that’s the only thing I know how to make?

Danny read the notepad and laughed.

God, Jason thought, he has a nice laugh.

Danny smiled impishly at him. Fuck, Jason needed to learn how to control this new form of communication.

Amusement. You’re funny, amused. Amused.

Jason gave Danny the bird, trying not to blush.

“It’s okay. I think you’re cute, too.”

Jason’s blush deepened. He didn’t know what to do with Danny’s mild flirting.

Finish your food. I want to talk about this Spectra and how we’re gonna get her.

Danny sighed. Ancients, Jason was stubborn.

“Jason, she’s fed off you and caused you almost to kill yourself. Don’t try to deny it; I felt your emotions. Your core was screaming in pain. I don’t think it’s a good idea, especially since you don’t know how to control your core and emotions.”

Jason snarled silently.

Anger. No, I’m going. You can’t stop me—anger, determination, determination. You can’t stop me.

Calm, calm. I won’t stop you, Danny chirped (it was still weird to think about a human being chirping and Jason understanding.)

It was weirder still that Jason answered back in chirps, have to do it. I have to get my revenge. Please, please. I have TO!

“Ugh, fine. But first things first. I have to be completely honest with you. I accidentally found out you’re the Red Hood when searching for the ghost that was screaming; when searching for you.”

Jason got a fistful of Danny’s embarrassment. He couldn’t help but smile—finally, something to make fun of Danny for.

Danny felt Jason’s amusement. He saw Jason’s chest move as he gave silent laughs. The man signed something, but Danny couldn’t understand him. He sighed.

“I’m glad my suffering gives you pleasure,” Danny said petulantly.

Jason continued signing while he laughed.

“Seriously, dude, I don’t know sign language.”

Jason wiped invisible tears.

Amusement, fun. Happy. Happy.

This was the first time Danny had heard Jason with no negative emotions calling through his core. He was humming his happiness in full volume.

Fine. If Danny had to feel a little embarrassed for Jason to feel even a bit of amusement, well, Danny could (un)live with that.

Ancients, he had just met the other halfa, and Danny already wanted to make Jason happy.

Jason’s smile grew. Fuck, Danny had it bad.

I was trying to say that since you know, I’m gonna bring my helmet. I have an artificial voice box on it. It’ll make it easier to talk to you with it on.

Danny shrugged, “That’s up to you.”

Jason smirked and left Danny alone. Danny took time to look around the small living room. Either than the bookshelf full of well-worn books, the place didn’t look lived in. There was no TV, only a couch and coffee table. No photos, no decorations, no plants. It almost looked like a model for an apartment brochure. The kitchen was a little more well-used with state-of-the-art appliances.

“Okay,” a mechanized voice said behind him, “Let’s talk.”

Danny turned to see Jason in the red helmet he had seen the night before. Danny couldn’t see the other halfa’s expressions, but considering how unused Jason was communicating with his core, Danny knew that wouldn’t be a problem for him.

“What does this Spectra want?”

“In a nutshell? To be young and beautiful forever. The way she achieves that is by feeding off others’ misery. She posed as my school psychiatrist my freshman year and fed off me and my whole school.”

Jason stayed silent, waiting for Danny to continue.

“She’s upped the ante now. Before, she fed off people's misery, but now she’s causing them to kill themselves. I found two of them who hung themselves in Amity Park, where I’m from, and the other died because of the overwhelming sadness. Unfortunately, I couldn’t save them.” Danny clenched his fists.

“When she found out I was after her, she fled Amity Park and came here. It makes sense; even the ghosts and shades here are miserable, let alone those who live here. It’s a buffet for her. I can’t find her, though. I felt her earlier, but it’s so weird because I could tell she wasn’t near; my ghost sense hadn’t gone off.”

 “Okay,” Jason said, “That’s a lot to take in. So, this bitch was feeding off me last night?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t get to her before she left, though.”

“Lucky for you, Batman raised me; I can help you look for her.”

Danny frowned, still not liking that Jason would be close to Spectra.

“Hey, none of that. I deserve to get my revenge.”

“Yeah, I get that. Besides, if you don’t come with me, you might go alone and get in trouble.”

Amusement—yeah, I will—amusement.

Danny rolled his eyes.

“Okay, if we’re gonna do this together, I have to give you a crash course on ghosts. First things first, ghosts are made of ectoplasm,” Danny raised the palm of his hand and called for ectoplasm to form.

The effect was immediate. Jason got off his chair as far as he could from Danny.

Fear, his core yelled out, anger, not right—fear, anger. Evil.

Danny made the ectoball disappear and put his hands up.

“Jason? What’s wrong?”

Jason took a deep breath that the artificial voice box didn’t pick up and said, “Give me a second. I have bad experiences with that color and…” Jason trailed off.

“You’ve seen ectoplasm before, and it wasn’t a good experience, was it?”

Fear, scared, drowning—it will drown me again—fear, get it away from me. Anger. Anger. FURY! Madness. Rage

Danny said nothing, letting Jason deal with his emotions. It’d be good practice for when they deal with Spectra.

Eventually, Jason calmed down, but Danny could still feel the anger simmering under the surface.

Jason didn’t come to sit by Danny again. He was wary of the other man. He crossed his arms and silently let Danny continue.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t think it would affect you.”

Jason waved the apology away.

“Continue,” he said curtly.

“Well, ectoplasm is what every ghost is made of. It is imprinted emotions given form. A core develops deep in the ectoplasm. The core is the brain and heart of a ghost. The only organ a ghost has, the ectoplasm protects the core. That’s how we’re communicating, by the way. Your core processes your feelings into chirps and hums. The hums are raw emotions; the chirps are kind of like human words.”

Jason touched the middle of his chest. It felt warm.

“Yeah, that’s where your core is. It isn’t fully developed. It’s almost as if it has been stunted in its growth. Actually, the ectoplasm in you is…dirty? Corrupted?” Danny shrugged, “It’s probably why you haven’t been able to transform. Have you noticed any powers?”

“No,” Jason answered. Of course, he was dirty. (Only a corrupt person would kill.) Jason felt sadness and rejection settle deep in his bones. He always knew something was wrong with him, but to have it confirmed that it was inside and settled in his body? Well, it certainly hit hard.

Acceptance, calm, calm—I accept you for who you are.

Why?

He looked up and wished his helmet wasn’t in the way so Danny could see his face. Why was he helping Jason?

“When I was looking for you, a bunch of shades and ghosts surrounded your place. They didn’t have much strength to come and help, but they asked me to help you. You want to know what they called you?”

“What,” he asked. His mechanical voice couldn’t pick up the emotions behind his question. Jason knew Danny could tell what he was feeling.

“They called you the avenger of the dead. The protector of the living. I’m more inclined to trust the dead’s judgment than the living’s.”

Jason felt like crying. There was someone who wasn’t condemning him, wasn’t calling him a killer. Not that he wasn’t, but it was nice to be acknowledged that he was doing something good. At least the dead appreciated him.

“You don’t know what I’ve done,” Jason said, “how can you just accept me?”

Jason felt the sting of betrayal from his family, his father. What if Danny did the same thing eventually?

Danny looked at Jason softly. The other halfa had suffered so much. It’s no wonder Spectra had latched on to Jason so quickly.

Danny let his emotions encircle Jason.

Acceptance, acceptance, calm—it’s okay.

“I know I’m a stranger; there’s no reason to trust me, but I want to help you. I promise.

“I believe you,” Jason answered. He took off his helmet so Danny could see Jason’s expression. Jason looked up at Danny’s shockingly blue eyes and saw the same thing that Danny surrounded him with. Acceptance.

Jason didn’t know if he just wanted to believe or why he latched on to Danny so quickly, but he hoped it wasn’t a mistake.

Danny sighed. He so wanted to touch Jason’s (handsome) face, but that would be too fast. Like Jason, Danny was also confused about how he could’ve latched on to a virtual stranger so quickly. Maybe it was because they were both lonely, or being halfas could’ve been something to do with it, but Danny wasn’t complaining.

 “Come on, let’s continue our talk.”

Danny got Jason’s hand and led him to the couch. Jason couldn’t help but blush.

“Anything you want to ask before I continue,” Danny asked as he got the notepad and sat on the couch. He waited for Jason to do the same.

Jason shook his head no. He didn’t feel like putting the helmet on or writing, but he still took the pad and pen.

Jason pointed to himself and then put his finger over his mouth.

Danny smiled; he should learn sign language. Even if he left Gotham, he would like to keep in touch with Jason, and the other man wouldn’t be able to communicate with his core if Danny was far away.

“Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, cores. There are different types of cores. Fire cores, shadow ones, ice ones, like the one I have.”

Jason cocked his head to the side; is that why the apartment was colder?

“I don’t know what type you have, but it seems to depend on how a ghost usually dies. I’m the exception, not the rule.”

Jason wanted to ask how Danny died, but something in him told him it would be wrong to do so.

“I can feel your curiosity. I won’t be able to talk about it. Also, don’t go around asking ghosts how they died; it’s rude.”

Jason was glad he kept his mouth (ha!) shut.

“Next, there are obsessions. An obsession is a ghost's reason for being, the thing that keeps them tethered. Spectra’s obsession is being young and powerful. I know of another ghost that wants to be remembered and hypnotizes people through her music. Another one is obsessed with playing games. They could be deadly sometimes. The point is that obsessions equal staying in the mortal and infinite realms.”

What’s yours?

Danny read it and got pensive. Jason hoped it wasn’t taboo to ask about obsessions.

“Mine are protecting and space.”

There can be more than one?

“Yeah, I mean, Spectra has two, too. Youth, power. The way she obtains it can be deadly, though.”

Jason pondered Danny’s words. He wondered what his obsession was. Should he instinctively know?

“Don’t worry. I’m here to help.”

Jason smiled, grateful.

Thanks, it’s a lot to think about.

“Yeah, you should’ve seen when I first got my powers. I was a mess. Freshman year sucked ass.”

Jason’s brow creased, and then his eyes widened. Freshman year, Danny would’ve been what, fourteen? Did he die at fourteen?

Sadness, anger.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Jason shook his head, not wanting to make Danny feel bad.

Danny sighed and put his hands under his chin, his elbows resting on his knees.

“I came here for Spectra but have no idea how to find her.”

Jason looked at Danny.

I have an idea where she could show up.

____

Lady Gotham felt her favorite knight’s emotions as if they were hers.

She smiled; Jason felt lighter, and it was all thanks to the other halfa. She would make sure that the other halfa was under her protection.

She watched as Bruce Wayne stepped on a puddle she didn’t think to show him.

Now she had to think of ways to help Jason and Danny.

[mikhailwrites]

All fun and games / Ghost x Soap

Kinktober #12 - Costumes

Why the hell did he agree to this? Oh, right, because Soap promised to give him the best head of his life if he joined him for a LARP. The things Ghost would do for good sex, right? Well, it was more about what he’d do to make Johnny grin the same way he did when he watched one of his expertly designed fireworks go off.

“Remember, you’re dark elf going by Ghost, you’re a rogue, so… no stealth, cloak and dagger, maybe a crossbow or something like that. It’s right up your alley!” Soap rambles, clearly excited, while he affixes fake pointy ears on Ghost. Ghost, who looks very unimpressed by the whole getup. The clothes Soap made him wear are vaguely historical but more in that eye-candy pop culture way. There’s a lot of leather, useless trinkets, and gratuitous lace-ups. He looks beyond ridiculous. Especially since the daggers are made of foam, and the crossbow looks like a toy. It probably is.

Why the hell did he agree to this? Oh, right, because Soap promised to give him the best head of his life if he joined him for a LARP. The things Ghost would do for good sex, right? Well, it was more about what he’d do to make Johnny grin the same way he did when he watched one of his expertly designed fireworks go off.

The exasperated sigh cannot fully belay the level of Ghost’s embarrassment as Soap clasps a cape on him. Nobody can ever catch a whiff of this, or he would never live it down.

“There you go, fucking brilliant LT!” Soap whistles as he looks Ghost up and down.

“So, if I’m an… elf…,” Ghost says but is interrupted.

“Dark elf! It’s important!” Soap corrects him.

“Whatever. What are you?”

Soap puffs with pride, and Ghost immediately regrets he’s asked. He knows this look. It’s the “prepare for a fucking nerd-out” look.” Soap smiles wide, smoothing his own clothes that look much more normal than Ghost’s. Just a linen shirt with a lace-up, of course, and what looks like some very old-school type of kilt. It’s simple, but it suits him. That’s perhaps the only reason why Ghost didn’t pull off a Houdini already. The sight of Johnny and the prospect of Ghost bending him over by the end of the night, tucking the kilt up and fucking him senseless. He can imagine it so vividly that it takes Soap to jab him in the ribs to get his attention. “Yer not even listenin’!”

“Sorry,” Ghost says, even though he’s not.

“’S fine, just remember, whatever you do, you gotta stay in character.”

“Like undercover?”

“Aye! Exactly! Ye ken… just… let’s say this is a mission. The objective is to find a certain item. We dinnae ken what is it, where it is, or who knows aboot it. The only way to get it is to pretend we’re someone else.”

“I understand,” Ghost nods, suddenly much more at ease with the whole thing.

They walk out of the tent and are greeted by a large group of… individuals. The costumes range from extravagant and colourful to clearly repurposed items from granny’s closet. There are a few people in armour, too. Ghost feels somehow comfortable in his role. It’s not that different to what he usually does for a living, after all, and thankfully, Johnny does most of the talking as a charming charlatan and a gifted alchemist.

Some good negotiation and pointed intimidation later, they’re much closer to their objective. Ghost has to admit that he’s having a bit of fun. Especially once another group of players attempts to steal Soap’s notes containing all the clues they’ve gathered so far. The skirmish ends before it even begins in earnest. Ghost is holding back a lot, obviously, but he still outmanoeuvres and overpowers their opponents easily, while Soap stands back, looking almost bored. He has made Ghost his bodyguard of sorts, not that Ghost really minds.

Once they go through the loot, they’re rewarded with a vital piece of information they’ve been missing. It’s time to get their prize.

The powerful artefact they’re after is well-hidden and well-secured. Which means it’s booby-trapped to high-heaven. Ghost disarms the tripwires and pressure plate, and just as he’s about to make another step, Soap stops him. “Don’t move!”

Ghost freezes instantly; it’s the same deeply ingrained reaction he’d have in the field. Soap comes up to him, inspecting the area just in front of them. Unclasping a pouch with some alchemical ingredients from his belt, he pours a bit of bright orange sand into his palm and throws it into the air, revealing a few laser beams. “Well, looks like a magic trap. Let me deal with that.”

Soap looks right in his element as he takes out various trinkets, including a small mirror. With some clever refraction, they manage to pass, only to be met with another test. They can already see the chest, but there’s a letter lock on it. There’s also a piece of creatively half-burned paper with an overly ornate and somehow ominous message. Johnny reads it out loud: “Only those with the heart of Gold deserve to see the power I hold. Well, that’s a riddle. The key to the lock is a word, five letters.”

Ghost fiddles with the lock. “I could force it open.”

“That would be boring. Give me a second.” Johnny hums, thinking hard. Then… “It can’t be that easy… can it?” With a doubtful look, he slides the dials until it spells “Aurum”—the lock clicks.

As soon as Johnny takes the obscenely large and obviously fake ruby out of the chest, Ghost grabs him from behind and presses him against his chest just as he pretends to stab him in the back with the fake dagger.

“Ghost! What the… oh no…,” Johnny trails off as the realisation dawns on him. “You traitorous shit!” Soap does a bit of a show of going down, slowly bucking his knees and sliding from Ghost’s grasp. Ghost tries for semi-convincing acting, kneeling next to Soap as he gently pries the artefact from his hands.

“I’m sorry, darling, but you know what they say: never turn your back to a dark elf,” Ghost lowers his head and kisses him goodbye.

Once Ghost claims his prize and after a short but grand ceremony of naming him the ruler of the land – until the next year - they return to the small lodge and their rented room. Johnny is silent the whole way back, but once the door closes and they’re alone, he speaks up. “Ye bastard! Ye eejit! I brought ye with me so ye would help me win!”

“What can I say, Johnny? There can only be one,” Simon deadpans as he holds up the sceptre, marking him a king. He will return it to someone from the organisation team tomorrow.

Soap stares at him with a bloody murder in his eyes as he points an accusing finger at him. “Was that… did ye just… did ye quote a bloody Highlander, Ghost? Oh, that is low even for ye.”

Ghost’s smile is disgustingly smug as he sits down on the edge of the bed. “What’re you going to do about it, Johnny?”

He barely finishes the sentence before Soap is on him, straddling his lap, tilting his head and kissing him like a savage. It’s all teeth and tongue. “You’re lucky you look so good in all that leather.”

Ghost smirks, sliding his hands up Johnny’s bare thighs under the kilt. “I was wondering…” his hand slides higher, feeling nothing but warm skin.

“Of course, you were,” Soap chuckles. “Could feel you staring at my arse for the better part of the day. But with the shit you’ve pulled, I think I’ll revoke your rights to it. Your majesty.”

“You know, with all the magical power I now have, I guess I could resurrect you, make you my prince consort or whatever,” Ghost suggests, caressing the soft skin but making no further move.

“Bargaining now, Ghost?” Soap cocks an eyebrow, pretending to think hard about it. “But…” he trails a finger along the laces of Ghost’s trousers, “I’m feeling generous tonight.” It goes without saying that he’s also horny.

Ghost lets himself be pushed down to the mattress, lets Johnny kiss him, and opens up to his tongue. He’s still holding him, kneading the muscles on Soap’s thighs, enjoying the fact that he doesn’t have to hassle with trousers to get what he wants. As an added bonus, his cock twitches every time he reminds himself that Johnny spent the whole day walking around commando.

Johnny’s mouth moves to Ghost’s jawline, to his neck, on which he sucks dutifully. One of the perks of Ghost’s renown is that he can parade around with love bites, and nobody dares say a thing. Soap would never admit to it, but he enjoys the privilege more than he probably should.

Ghost groans and smacks the back of Johnny’s thighs. “Give it a rest, you vampire.”

Johnny laughs, sits back and tucks Ghost’s shirt up, dragging his blunt nails across the scars all the way from his chest to the waistline of his trousers. Soap licks his lips, deliberate with the gesture so Ghost would notice. He does, and he’s had quite enough of the foreplay.

Johnny laughs as Ghost manhandles him to switch their position. Now it’s Johnny’s turn to lay on his back with Ghost looming over him, brown eyes dark and hungry. Soap bends one knee, feeling the thick tartan slide down, revealing a lot of skin. He can also feel the leather, warmed by Ghost’s body heat, and it makes him buckle his hips, seeking at least a little bit of friction. Honestly, he’s so hard it almost hurts.

Simon, to his credit, possibly feels at least a little bit bad about betraying Johnny earlier because he doesn’t tease him like he normally would. Instead, he sneaks a hand under Johnny’s kilt, brushing against his prick.

Simon chuckles at Johnny’s sharp intake of breath. “Well, this is convenient.”

The smugness leaves him as soon as Johnny retaliates; the lace-up is much easier and faster to undo than buttons and a zipper. Simon presses into Johnny’s palm as soon as it slips into his trousers. Soon enough, it’s not enough for either of them. Johnny slides Ghost’s trousers and underwear lower, and Simon lowers himself to slot their cocks together before closing his hand around them. The hold is loose at first but tightens after a few languid thrusts. Soap moans, enjoying the fact that they’re not on the base and he can be louder than usual.

Simon hums appreciatively as he kisses Johnny on the neck, worrying the sensitive skin between his teeth. Soap sighs, holding Simon close and rolling his hips in time with Simon’s lazy strokes. Soap tries to urge Simon on, but the only reaction is a muffled laugh and a thumb flicking over his cock-head, making him gasp.

What started as luxurious soon turned into torturous. The need to move and chase the pleasure is overwhelming, but Simon seems dead-set on making Johnny suffer in the most delicious way possible, ignoring the whimpers and jolts as Johnny squirms, trying to get what he wants. “Come on, Simon!”

“Patience, Johnny,” Simon smiles against his quickened pulse, licking along his ear. “Or do you want us to ruin your kilt?”

Johnny’s breath hitches as he’s momentarily thrown off by Simon’s words. He recovers quickly. “Fuck yes.”

“Alright then,” Simon finally concedes, loosening his grip a fraction to allow Johnny to fuck into his hand and against his prick. The slide is smooth, eased by the pre-cum. Simon raises his head, looking at Johnny, who looks at him in turn. Stormy-blue of his eyes dark, brows knit together, and mouth slightly agape in a mixture of desperation and pleasure. He could see this a thousand times and never tire of it.

A moan escapes Simon, a rare occurrence, but he lets it slide. They’re well away from the base, safe from the regulations. The way Johnny’s cock slides against his own, hard, hot and wet, drives him nuts. Without even realising it, he starts to match Soap’s pace.

Despite the pace, the tension in both of them rises gradually. There’s no stress, unlike their quick shags in the storage rooms around the base. No risk of being discovered and punished. Instead of focusing on keeping quiet and stilling every time there are footsteps approaching, they can focus on each other and the sensations.

Ghost’s hips stutter as he loses himself in the feeling of Johnny under him, the sound of his moans, his heavy breathing, and the feeling of his nails digging into Simon’s back. Ghost tightens his grip around both of them as he comes, powerful pulses wrecking his body, making him skip a breath as he spills over his hand and Soap’s cock and soils the precious kilt in the process.

Johnny is quick to follow, spurred by the feeling of Ghost’s release. He manages a few more thrusts, making Simon gasp as he ruts against his oversensitive cock, before he arches into Simon, generously contributing to the mess between them. He feels light, which is a bit absurd, considering Simon is still lying on top of him like a dead weight. Soap doesn’t mind; somehow, it’s soothing and grounding him in the moment.

“Do you think I could convince Price to let you wear leather while we’re on the base?” Johnny asks after a few minutes of silence.

“No, but I want to see you try,” Ghost smirks. “You know, I might take a look if it’s permitted to wear a kilt while on duty.”

“It is,” Soap replies without hesitation. “Not in the field; not officially, but otherwise, it’s permitted.”

Ghost hums, a clear idea forming in his head.

[altraviolet]

My first actual literature related class involved us reading analysis about red riding hood and it was not really any different from how we were taught to do analysis in early high school. Out of the two analyses we were given for red riding hood, one was “the wolf just wanted to be pregnant so that’s why he did all that”. Wouldn’t have felt strange to read that online, but in a very formal class during my first uni after so long of being told how stiff and pretentious uni was, it blindsided me haha.

I cannot overstate how rudimentary the creative writing classes were. It was beneath even what we were taught at high school, and more along the lines of early primary school. I had hoped that by the time of the final writing unit there would be something more complicated discussed, but they continued as if we were a new breed of cave worm just recently discovered, and had thus never experienced any sort of narrative before. We were continually given the advice of: “your story should have a beginning, middle and end”, “your characters should have motivations” and “your story should have a conflict”. For even just prose writing, the most we got was “don’t write super long sentences.” and the always popular: “show, don’t tell”

There was a bizarre obsession with The Sopranos TV show. Multiple different units brought it up even when the unit didn’t really have anything to do with TV. MQ was obsessed with how the Sopranos was supposedly the first TV show to have a plot that continued from episode to episode. The Sopranos obsession was the first major crack in my respect for MQ.

About four different classes spent several weeks on resume crafting, even in the final year, mandatory units. Not anything particularly geared towards making your resume for the creative industry; just a general resume like we had been taught in mid high school for our first jobs. They always gave the legendary advice of: your resume needs to have your name. This was also particularly embarrassing since at the start of these studies, there was always a question of “show of hands: who here already has a job?” and consistently about 90% of us had a hand up.

One lecturer mentioned offhand she was most known for writing “Algerian ghost erotica.” Never elaborated or brought it up again. Kinda wished she had.

Readings flip flopped between deeply bland domestic life to hair raising grotesque shorts. I write a lot of intense dead dove (hence the anon haha) and horror is my favourite genre, so I’m far from a shrinking violet who squirms at a bit of dark subject matter, but a lot of the more grotesque texts we read were barely disguised fetish pieces that managed to slip under the radar and had won awards. Like I’m talking explicit gore, bestiality, pedophilia and rape. I even shared some of these readings with my girlfriend, who also does a lot of similar fics to me (it’s how we met and bonded <3 we’re each other’s editor haha), to make sure I wasn’t delusional in my disgust, and she was also shocked. It was kind of frustrating at the same time, since whenever we had to break up into groups for the class to discuss the week’s reading, none of my classmates would ever have done the reading, or had only read a summary, so I was alone in trying to articulate my revulsion.

1- LOL that's so funny xD

2- "they continued as if we were a new breed of cave worm just recently discovered, and had thus never experienced any sort of narrative before" bwa, A+ description. the failure of the classes is really a shame, though. jeez. I'll be adding a few of my own experiences in Part 3 but. yeah. damn. what gross negligence on behalf of the university!

3- "MQ was obsessed with how the Sopranos was supposedly the first TV show to have a plot that continued from episode to episode." one, lol. two, this can't be right?? can it?? *does lazy google* kiiind of...

4- 😬 at this point, the university sounds like a scam

5- LOL. that sounds specific enough that one might be able to find it...

6- dead dove writers are a hardy and hardcore people: I can't imagine the contents of those mandatory readings :U also, to be the only person actually doing the reading- how frustrating. uuuuugh jeez what an experience

Part 1 Part 2 (you are here) Part 3

[phantomphangphucker]

Phic Phight - Sing-U-Lator

For: @thefalsefangirl @higgidigs @briarlovesu @bibliophilea @idiot-cheesehead-archenemy

Song inspiration: Addict - Vivziepop and Alastor’s Reprise - Vivziepop Vlad and Danny have a proper talk but it's not really a talk or proper

Danny roughs up his hair, frustrated, why did Lancer always have give such open-ended ‘up to your imagination’ projects? Sure Danny didn't lack creativity but his creativity wasn’t exactly… normal. Plus, how was he supposed to make a song prompt without ripping off Ember? Sometimes being friends with a singer was a major double edge sword.

He’s half tempted to just call Vlad, dude gave some solid advice… even if it sometimes seemed slightly sketchy. What would he know about this though? Maybe he writes poetry in his rich person free time?

Thumping his head on his desk a couple of times, fuck it. Flipping out his phone and leaning back, “hey yo, Vladdie”.

“Daniel? Is there an issue. I am rather… preoccupied at the moment”.

Danny snorts at that, “I’d say with what but you're still all mysterious half the time. Anyways, my homework isn’t home working. Know anything to do with music?”.

“… I’m beginning to believe that you have a very concerning sense of timing, my boy. I’ve rather recently… acquired a seemingly ectoplasm infused music generating bow tie”.

Danny blinks hard at that, not for the first time since meeting the man, Danny’s had the feeling Vlad had sticky fingers or something. Sure, Danny also stole stuff… and maybe did so more now than he used to -which now that he thinks about it, might be ever so slightly due to some Vlad-related encouragement. But that’s a thought for another day- but Vlad was way more sticky fingered. “Why? Though I guess that could just make my music prompt for me”.

Danny jumps at a sudden voice, “that could be quiet a good idea. You are rather bad at this”.

Danny whirls around, “eh yo, what the fuck?!?”.  It’s goddamn GhostWriter… Well at least it’s not Walker, or Boxy, or Skulker.

The GhostWriter seemingly ignores the teen, eyeing the paper instead, “you clearly have no love for the written word, as painful as that is, can’t have you embarrassing ghosts with your lack of lyrical diction”, summoning out his keyboard, fingers flying.

Danny groans loudly, “oh come on! Not this shit again”.

“Language, Daniel”.

The GhostWriter narrows his eyes at the phone, “and I would appreciate my artefact returned”.

And suddenly Danny gets hurtled out his window, half shrieking, “VLAAAAAAAD!”, angrily all the while. Granted… he couldn’t blame his -sometimes sketchy- mentor too much; Danny was usually the one who caused issues and Vlad certainly wasn’t immune to trouble making. Vlad yelping, “butter biscuits!”, on the other side of the line at least means this was probably going to be both of their problem(s).

The two halfas groan and push themselves up from the hard smooth ground.

So they weren’t outside on the dirt/grass. Good to know.

Danny grumbles, “I don’t know whether to blame you, blame GhostWriter, blame you, blame myself, blame you, or blame Lancer”.

Vlad giving a very dry reply, “funny, I was thinking something very similar”, then chuckling faintly, “perhaps halfas merely attract ill luck”, glancing around as he stands and brushes himself off, “we appear to be in some sort of cafe”.

“Ah fuck yes, tell me there’s coffee”.

“Language”, Vlad shakes his head, “you consume enough of that stuff to kill you a few times over”.

Danny snorts, “aw, you’d miss me”.

“But of course”. Vlad’s voice is genuinely fond, making Danny mutter, “I know it’s 🎶till death dooooo us part,  but we're already past that phase🎶”.

Both of them stop at that, Danny looks insanely confused and slightly pissed off; Vlad quirks a single eyebrow. Quirking another eyebrow at the bow tie, which is apparently tied around his wrist now, as it starts making music, a electronic piano beat, “I don’t think this is going to end well”.

Danny grumbling, “sounds like the story of my half life. Shit always so seems to be going south since the whole dyin’ while tryin’ to be helpful thing”.

Vlad eyes him, “but 🎶this could be a brand neeeew start🎶”, grimacing a little after because seriously?

Danny huffing, yeah sure the whole dying thing really legit could have effectively given him a new ‘lease on life’ as it were, but instead he’s just spending all of his time fighting and anxiously hiding his shit. Even if he legit honestly likes the way he is now, he had cool powers and stuff. Grumbling, “tell me about it. 🎶I think I deserve some praise for the way that I ammmmmmmm🎶”, gesturing around a bit ridiculously because he might as well just go along with this and no one else was actually here from the looks of It to witness this bullshit. Being a ghost was fucking great okay? Regardless of his parents anti-ghost ectophobia bullshit.

Vlad glances around and shrugs, he’s been involved in stranger, sitting down in a random chair, “🎶despite becoming a ghost, and ending up nearly comatose🎶”; Vlad was still baffled by how severe Danny’s portal-related accident was. The fact that his body survived getting blasted by an entire dimension worth of ectoplasm and being electrocuted by over four lightening bolts worth of electricity was impressive and a bit horrifying.

Danny rolls his eyes at that, flicking his wrist pointedly at Vlad as the bow tie adds in fucking finger snapping to its tune, “🎶I don’t give a daaaaaaaamnnnnnn🎶”, eyeing Vlad with a bit of a smirk, “what about you?”.

Vlad snorts and stands up, “🎶I let my emotions go, and fudge being a sober hoe🎶”. Danny looks a little scandalised by Vlad’s almost swearing but takes the offered flasks because at this point, fuck it.

The GhostWriter is one hundred percent manipulating this into a musical or some shit, and no one wants to deal with that shit fully sober.

The two taking steps, gesturing, and dancing a little while their hands are almost connected due to holding the flask. Singing together, “🎶this is the maaaantra, this is the liiiiife🎶”. Regardless of anything Danny liked the way he was and he damn well knew Vlad did too.

Separating and twirling, still singing together, “🎶we’re playing with our lives noooooow, till the end of every niiiiiiiight 🎶”.

Vlad eyeing his flask, “🎶eventually surrounded by fiiiire🎶”.

Danny laughing, “🎶my fighting passion igniiiights🎶”.

The two eyeing each other and grinning a little, “🎶a hit of the heaven and hell, a helluva hiiiiigh🎶”. At this point they were in this shit together, even if Danny had a feeling that Vlad was a less than stellar influence, and Vlad knew that Danny might one day force him to reconcile with his ‘old friends’.

Vlad turning away, “🎶I’m addddddicted to the madddddness🎶”, he knew damn well all the crime and less than legal stuff he did was something he got a massive rush from, and what did he care if he screwed a few people over for his own personal gain?

Danny turning away as well, “🎶this tooooown is my atlaaaaantis🎶”, this town, Amity Park, was his Everything and he was protective as Hell of it. It was nice that a lot of the town was starting to actually view him as their protector, made him feel like his purpose was actually being seen.

Vlad chuckles, eyeing Danny quickly, “you do a lot of rather illegal things to protect ‘this town’, you know”. Danny chuckling right back, “as if you don’t do the same to satisfy your possessiveness”.

Danny puts up a fist for a fist bump and Vlad rolls his eyes though supplies him with his requested fist bump, the two singing together again, “🎶we’re forever gonna have a fucking/fudging reason to sin🎶”.

Vlad glares at him a little over the swearing but everything help him if he didn't already know that Danny had a bit of a foul mouth and that it was kind of pointless to correct the boy. Besides, Danny’s ‘soul’ or whatever was a lot cleaner than his own, “🎶let me leaaaaaave my soul to burn🎶”,

Danny pointing at him agressively, “🎶I’ll be breathin’ it in🎶”, then making a face, “I mean that your mentorship is actually kinda good, not that I’m going to literally breath in your burnt ashes, what the fuck GhostWriter”, and glares at the ceiling; faint ghostly laughter could be heard.

Vlad can’t help grinning at that a little, “🎶and I’m addiiiicted to that feeeeeeling🎶”.

Danny gesturing up, “🎶then get hiiiiiigher than the ceiiiiiling🎶”.

Vlad nods curtly, because as not harmful as this was, it was still annoying.

The Ghostwriters voice comes down from the ceiling, “🎶and I’m neeeever gonna want this feeling to end, just conceeeeede and give in to you inner demons again🎶”.  Vlad fires a blast at the ceiling while the bow tie adds in a metallic drum beat for a bit before slowing to a more soft sound.

Danny eyes Vlad a little, “you know I know what you ‘inner demons’ are at this point, right? Your thing for mom?”, cringing and rubbing his neck, “and I mean sure,  🎶yeah, you fell in loooove. But-🎶”, gesturing at the flask, “🎶-you fell deeper in a piiit🎶”.

Vlad blinks, sure he knew Daniel would figure that out eventually but this was definitely not how he wanted that to come out. But what were ghosts if not their past regrets and obsessions? He couldn’t give up on her, not yet, maybe not ever. Throwing a hand out to the side and trying to hide that that comment hurt a little, “well 🎶Death didn’t get us aaabooove. So count your blessing because this is it🎶”, that came out more bitter than he really meant it.

Danny quirks an eyebrow at him and moving to get a bit in his face, “🎶sooooo you’re not letting goooOooOOOOoooOoo🎶?”.

Vlad shrugs, taking a swig from his flask and eyeing the musical bow tie with contempt, “🎶so what if I misbehave🎶”.

Danny huffing, crossing his arms, “🎶I guess it’s what everybody craves🎶”, then pointing at Vlad, “but, 🎶look around and you’ll already knooooOoOooOOOoow🎶”, pausing and rubbing his temples, “it ain’t gonna work out for you, you know”.

Vlad shrugs more vulnerably than he really means to, “I know, I really do. You think I can’t tell, Daniel? Meeting you and seeing them again makes that so clear. But-”, eyeing the boy, “-an apprentice changes a mentor as much as a mentor changes their apprentice”, holding out a hand, “🎶so, come if you’re feeling brave, and fancy yourself a mentor🎶”.  Bow tie beat picking back up again.

Danny chuckles, okay Vlad’s thing for mom was weird and would never work out but if Vlad was content to redirect himself towards mentoring Danny himself then who was Danny to argue against that? Heck! It was probably a really good thing, plus Vlad was -maybe? Possibly?- morally questionable enough that he wouldn’t take Danny’s shit but also wouldn’t question him about being socially unacceptable. “🎶you want it, I got it. See what you liiiikeeeeEEEeeEe🎶”.

Vlad nods, when he first met Danny and realised what he was, a fellow halfa, it was just a maze of endless possibilities. When he realised that Daniel not only formed as a ghost at a far higher ectoplasmic level but also had more room for growth, he was amazing. Daniel could beat Pariah some day, if he tried. Having that boy as his was far too tempting and far more enticing than any amount of money or Maddie. Daniel could take the world if he wanted, and Vlad could guide that, could stand beside him, “🎶we could have it allllllllll, by the end of any niiight🎶”. If Daniel tried he could probably take over the entire Infinite Realm today if he so desired.

Danny snorts, waving him off, “I can’t tell if you mean this world or the afterlife. But here it would be, 🎶your money and power🎶 and in the ghost zone it would definitely be, 🎶my sinful deliiiight🎶”, chuckling, “you know how much a lot of ghosts hate me at this point”. Him chuckling again, “🎶I’mma hit of that heaven and hell, a helluva hiiiiiigh🎶”.

Vlad can’t help chuckling himself at that, Daniel had managed to piss of an impressive amount of ghosts in a very short amount of time, “🎶it’s like you’re addiiiiicted to the maaaadeness🎶”.

Danny waving him off, “🎶this tooooown will always be my atlaaaaantis🎶”.

Vlad ruffles up his hair, “🎶we’re forever gonna have a fudging reason to sin🎶”.

Danny collapsing over a table dramatically, “🎶let me leave my soul to burn, I’ll be breathing it in🎶”; which Vlad rolls his eyes at.

Vlad pokes the boys forehead, “🎶you’re addiiiicted to the feeeeeeling🎶”, Daniel was more combative than Vlad would actually like. Obviously he didn’t really have to worry about Daniel getting hurt but it really was like he was addicted to getting into fist fights sometimes.

Danny bats his finger/hand off, “have you seen the amount of ghosts that show up to cause problems? It’s a perfect excuse to 🎶get hiiigheeer than the ceeeiliing, and I’m never gonna want that fucking feeling to end🎶”.

Vlad sticks his hands out to the side, “🎶so you’ll just concede and give into your feelings again🎶?”.

Danny glares at him and pushes himself up from laying down on the table, “oh like you don’t constantly, 🎶concede and give into your inner demons again🎶”.

The two stare at each other for a bit, definitely recognising that they were both a bit fucked up and their mentorship/apprenticeship thing was extremely all kinds of fucked up. But neither of them could deny that it was good, they bounced off of each other and called out each others shit. They were both better for it. Vlad’s Obsession over Maddie had dwindled some and Danny had an actual adult to turn to. It was good, they both needed this more than either one was willing to admit.

Then the GhostWriter decides to be an asshole again, piping up from the ceiling again, “🎶you should never want this feeling to end. Just concede and give into your inner ghosts again🎶”.

Danny and Vlad both glare at the ceiling, Vlad firing off a pink ecto-blast for the point of it, the bow tie giving a more mellow beat in response like it was mad at them.

Danny eyeing Vlad, “you really have a problem with my mom,  huh?”.

Vlad rubbing a hand down his face, “I used to think that if it wasn’t for my accident we would have wound up together but…”.

“Mom and dad love each other?”.

“Indeed. Though well, I am a ghost”, looking at Daniel, “you and I both know how hard letting go can be. It’s like 🎶I’m addiiiicted to the soooorrroooowww🎶”.

Danny nodding, leaning against one of the tables, “you'll get there, I think. But yeah, it’s like with all the fights I pick even, 🎶when the buzz ends by tomorrow🎶 and every fight after that, 🎶is another rush of poison flowing into my veins🎶”.

Vlad sighing, “giving both of us 🎶a dose of pleasure that resides by the pain🎶”, craning his neck, “🎶I’m addiiiicted🎶”.

Danny pushing himself up off the tables and gesturing agressively at the windows leading out to Amity Park, “🎶I’m deeepeendaaaant🎶”.

Vlad runs a hand through his hair, smiling a little, “🎶looking awwwwwwsome🎶”. While Daniel leans against the cafe/club window, “🎶feeling heeeelpleeess🎶”.  Vlad glancing back at the teen and not for the first time realising that Daniel, maybe, wasn’t really okay… and honestly? Neither was he. Vlad sighing and walking over to the boy, “🎶I knooooooow I’m raising cain by every highway in hell🎶”, he was thinking that maybe he could move and become the mayor here, “🎶maybe things won’t be so terrible inside this home town🎶”; it would be good for Daniel and maybe it was a change that Vlad himself needed.

Danny jerks while the bow tie tune picks up again in a more fancy dancing manner, “you’re thinking of moving here?”. Vlad nods, so Danny continues, “I think that would be good, honestly. 🎶’cause we’re both one of a kind🎶”, Danny making a mocking gesture at him, “and I’m sure I can 🎶give a burning fool a place to dwell🎶”.

Vlad grabbing his hand an twirling him around ridiculously, “🎶and your ideals are just laughable, but hey kid what the Hell. We’re both charming ghost beaux🎶”.

Danny laughing and going along with the twirling, “🎶’cause inside of both of us is just a lost cause🎶”.

Vlad chuckling right back, “🎶but we’ll dress us up for now with a smile🎶”.

The GhostWriter adding in, “🎶a wicked smile🎶”, with an eerie laugh.

Vlad nods to himself, officially making his decision. This town could not survive with just Daniel and was definitely going to need someone with deep pockets who could manipulate the government into giving them money for all the insane damages. “🎶I’ll show these simpletons some proper class and styyyyyyleee🎶”.

Danny snorting, “🎶and I’ll chlorinate your closets with some punny flair🎶”. That feels ominous in Vlad’s opinion.

They nod at each other, speaking in unison, “🎶here in this spooooooooky town, we’re sure our plan is sound🎶”, both of them pointing up, “🎶and our little annoyance will be fooooouuuuund🎶”, which promptly results in the GhostWriter falling through the ceiling due to the songs/GhostWriters keyboards manipulation of reality, and the two halfas outright pounce on him.

His shriek is very girly and their maniacal laughs are very… maniacal.

Danny stuffing the ghost in his thermos and ‘Vlad’s’ artefact too for good measure after yanking it off the other man’s wrist. “So you’re really going to just, try to become mayor here and move?”.

“There’s not much else for me to do with my time and someone needs to keep an eye on you”, Vlad sighing, “and maybe being more exposed to the way Maddie really is will help things”.

Danny chuckles, “good vampiric mentor”.

“I will decide you need a lesson in endurance”.

“Oh be still my fucking tits!”.

“Daniel!”.

Danny just pouts exaggeratedly at him as they try to sneak out of the restaurant/cafe/club without being noticed. That predictably doesn’t go as planned, with Valerie poking her head around, “I have a lot of questions about that opera bullshit”. Oh Ancients, she saw that shit.

Vlad puts up his hands, “now Valerie-”. But Danny cuts him off, dramatically putting a hand to his chest, “are you cheating on me”; this situation was beyond un-fucking-salavagable. Making both his mentor and his friend/fellow ghost hunter look at him like they both bit lemons. Danny rolling his eyes, “what? The only reason for Vladdie to not be super freaked out is if Valerie here already knew about him and no way he would tell anyone other than an apprentice or maybe close friend”.

Vlad shrugs very awkwardly, “I’m not one to put all my eggs in one basket”. Both Valerie and Danny glare a bit murderously, before punching him in the face. Vlad just sighs, “I suppose I deserved that”.

Both of them snapping, “you think?!?”.

Valerie looking at Danny, “who did you even think got me into this?”.

Danny shrugs, “I thought you were just following spontaneous murderous desire all on your lonesome”.

“You’re a fucking idiot”.

Vlad sighing, “yes, and a fool that should dispose of a certain someone before he causes us any more issues”. Danny rolls his eyes, “at least I got help with my project out of this… kinda”, then actually moves to meander off like he’s told, shouting behind himself, “still good for training tonight?!”.

Vlad eyes Valerie, who shrugs, so Vlad shouts back, “as always, though you’ll have a sparring partner this time and finish that project first! I don’t want you wasting this evenings absolute mess!”.  Danny holds up double thumbs up before tripping over his own feet and falling to the ground flat on his face.

Valerie facepalms, “what have I gotten myself into?”.

---

Mr. Lancer was later both very confused and impressed with the… odd direction of Daniel’s song prompt project. It was like one part theatrical musical, one part taking out some kind of issue(s) with song, and one part spite? It was creative though, which is what he asked for. Full marks and maybe a side note about seeing the school therapist.

End.

Prompts: Write a fic inspired from any song released in the last six years. and Danny has to go to Vlad for help and Lancer gives the class a project that Danny finds a very ghostly solution to. and Try as he might, Danny can’t think of a prompt for his creative writing homework. So Ghost Writer decides to step in, and do the writing for him. Shenanigans ensue. and AU where Vlad isn't blatantly evil in Bitter Reunions, and Danny initially sees no reason not to accept his mentorship and Vlad was starting to regret stealing his current artifact.

[wormizh]

get in loser we're going ghost hunting | tobias fox

tl;dr: Office AU + Tobias really, really, REALLY thinks the team should try out some ghost hunting for a fall team-building activity. Apparently he’s got some history with some ghosts.

warnings/info: Established Tobias/MC + gender neutral MC (referred to as “MC”) + written for an AU writing challenge in the Velvet Fox discord server! I combined the prompts Office AU & Psychic (Ghost Hunting) AU. Sorry it’s a chatfic I just think text messages are sillay and fun.

Group Chat: The Office (2005) but Cooler

Tobias: sorry Rory but I can’t drop this.

Tobias: What do u mean u dont believe in ghosts

Rory: It has literally been hours since we had that conversation.

Rory: But fine. I mean I don’t believe in ghosts.

Tobias: BUT WHYYYY

Rory: Because theyre not real?

Rory: I'm not having this conversation 

Rory: AGAIN.

Rory: And especially not with you. 

Tobias: WHAT

Tobias: someone back me up T-T

Brooklyn: I am sorry, but I don’t think I could definitely agree they’re real. 

Brooklyn: Though, just in case, I don’t think we should go bother the undead.

Brooklyn: I find them very interesting, though. Ghosts are very prevalent in gothic Victorian literature. The supernatural and spiritual were very popular at the time.

Leo: I think ghosts are cool!! :D

Leo: but Brooklyn’s right ^^;

Leo: Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie? Ghost hunting is like step one to death by ghosts lol

Tobias: ugh

Tobias: UGH. again. 

MC: I don’t know why our team bonding experience would HAVE to be ghost hunting

MC: nobody else seemed that into it when you were bringing it up during our break.

MC: and wouldn’t you get freaked out? You can barely sit through horror movies sometimes.

MC: no offense Tobias :)

MC: how would we even know where to find them anyways?

Tobias: Offense taken, actually.

Tobias: BUT FOR THE VIBES?? DUH?

Tobias: It’s literally halloween.

Tobias: And now I’m on a mission. I’ve got to disprove Rory.

Rory: -_- It is September.

Tobias: literally halloween.

Tobias: Plus, I already checked

Tobias: we’re in ghost central, baby B)

Tobias: This city’s soooo haunted. There are tons of ghosts around

Tobias: and look

Tobias: not that it’s my JOB to convince a bunch of NON BELIEVERS

Brooklyn: No, your job is communicating with our clients.

Leo: LOL

Brooklyn: :)

Tobias: …

Tobias: BUT I have had enough ghost experiences to know that you guys are gonna be, like, soooo haunted for being rude about this rn

MC: u have ghost experiences?

MC: What happened?

Tobias: Nope! You guys missed ur chance!! You don't get to hear it >:P 

Leo: !!!

Leo: WAIT

Leo: is this the one u used at the ice breaker

Leo: when we got hired

Leo: hahahahAHAHA

Tobias: NO. 

Tobias: IT IS A DIFFERENT ONE. 

Tobias: OF MY MANY PARANORMAL ENCOUNTERS

MC: oh?

MC: is it embarrassing?

 Tobias: no. I would never do or say anything embarrassing. Ever.

Tobias: B)

Tobias: But how about we stop talking for a little while.

MC: No, let's not.

MC: What happened Leo?

Leo: sooooooooo

Leo: anyways ^^

Tobias: LEOOO D:

Leo: when we were interning together

Leo: we were supposed to share fun anecdotes to get to know the team

Tobias: this is so not cool behavior of you

Leo: and when it got to Tobias…

[Milo has entered the chat]

Tobias: STOP OKAY OKAY ok ok okok ok ok

Tobias: I’ll say it

Tobias: Fine.

Tobias: I said my first kiss was with a ghost.

Rory: WHAT?

Brooklyn: Sorry?

Leo: HAHAHAHA

MC: LOL????

Brooklyn: How does that work? Ghosts aren’t corporeal.

Rory: THAT’S the issue?!?!?

Tobias: LOOK

Tobias: T-T

Tobias: I WAS KIDDING

Tobias: it wasn't REALLY A KISS OK

Tobias: obviously not. That would be stupid. 

Tobias: Because if the ghost was really that close to me it would just possess my body lol

Rory: …

Rory: Right. And you would never say something stupid.

Tobias: DON'T EVEN!!!!!

Tobias: Some friends and I in high school were messing around

Tobias: y’know. Ghost hunting. Like normal people

Tobias: and our emf sensor started going crazy

Tobias: right next to my face

Tobias: Cause it's irresistible

Tobias: Haha.

Tobias: so…

Tobias: AS A JOKE!!!

Tobias: we called it a kiss

Tobias: bc yknow when you’re terrified but also incredibly funny, like me, you make jokes.

Tobias: and then

Tobias: AS A JOKE

Tobias: in the safety

Tobias: OR WHAT I THOUGHT WAS SAFETY!!!

Tobias: of an innocent breakroom icebreaker

Tobias: I bring this up

Tobias: and then my SUPPOSED FRIEND, LEO

Tobias: uses it to stab me in the BACK!!!!!!! YEARS LATER!!!!! D:<

Leo: sorrryyyy :P

Milo: So is this why you were bugging us all about going ghost hunting as our team builder.

Milo: So you could meet up with your ghost ex?

Rory: LMAOOOOOOOO

Tobias: NO?!

Tobias: NO.

Leo: HAHAHAHA

Tobias: T-T T-T T-T

Tobias: I don’t want to do team bonding with any of you guys.

Tobias: This sucks.

Brooklyn: Well we have to pick something by the end of the week.

Brooklyn: Though I don’t think management would approve using our resources for personal interests like this, Tobias. Even if this would make for a wonderful gothic romance.

Tobias: not you too…….

MC: don’t worry, tobias!!

MC: · ୧(๑•̀ㅁ•́๑) i’ll help you reunite with your long dead lost love

MC: for a proper kiss this time!!

Tobias: noooooo

Tobias: T^T

Tobias: if anything you should get freaked out by the ghosts

Tobias: and then WE should kiss~

MC: that’d make your ghost ex a very good wingman

Tobias: baaabeeeee…

MC: but i can just kiss you without all of that :)

Tobias: Oh.

Tobias: :)

Milo: Ugh I know you guys cleared your relationship with HR but do you have to do that in the groupchat

Tobias: BOOOO!!! sorry you hate LOVE

Rory: You would put boo and love in the same sentence wouldn't you. 

Rory: Ghost boy.

Leo: HAHA RORY

Leo: Well.

Leo: now that I know it’s for love, I’m in favor of your plan Tobias :)

Brooklyn: Me as well.

Tobias: GUYS 

[Alexei has entered the chat]

Milo: I don’t care what we do for team bonding

Milo: But 

Milo: I would like to see Tobias find nothing. 

Milo: It would be funny. 

Milo: So sure, let’s go ghost hunting

Tobias: Milooooo c'moonnnn….

Alexei: I wouldn’t mind going.

Alexei: I’m curious about what equipment is used to detect ghosts.

Tobias: Thanks Alexei T-T at least I can count on you

Alexei: And, if you do have a romantic encounter with a ghost, I think this would be interesting to see as well :)

Rory: LMAO

Tobias: MAN!!!!

MC: And i’ll try not to get jealous

MC: promise :)

Tobias: ur all the worst T-T

[jmagnabo92]

It’s A Twin Thing - Ch 3

Trevor and Jeremy bond and tell embarrassing stories of each other to the women ghosts, including the Great Switch Fiasco of ‘97.

AO3

***

Of course Trevor wasn’t going to be the only embarrassed one in the living room, hence the brothers trading their most embarrassing stories and until the last one that Jeremy tells because Trevor just has to interrupt, “Wait a second, that one wasn’t me.  That happened to you!”

Jeremy smirks.  “Well, everyone thought I was you – so I think it counts.”

“It doesn’t count as an embarrassing story for me when it was actually you.”

“I think it does because you got teased about it and never corrected anyone,” Jeremy counters.

“Fair,” Trevor says, laughing.

“Exactly how many times did you two switch places?” Alberta asks.  

“Oh, based on the number of stories that Trevor has told me – all of the time.  I am still certain my theory is true,” Hetty offers, getting confused looks from Alberta and Flower.

“Theory?” Jeremy questions.

Trevor hums.  “She thinks that we switched the day I died.”

Jeremy laughs.  “So, you think he’s really Jeremy, and I’m really Trevor?”

“It is entirely plausible as none of us knew Trevor or you.”

Jeremy smiles.  “I’m impressed that you think I could pull it off for twenty-two years, since I would have the more difficult job if I were actually Trevor pretending to be Jeremy, but I can honestly tell you that we did not switch that day.”

“It’s not like we switched all of the time.”

“Exactly.  We only really switched when we wanted to have some fun – liven things up and believe me, none of those switches happened at Trevor’s office or whenever he had one of his parties with his bros after the Great Switch Fiasco of ’97.”

“That sounds juicy,” Alberta says, eagerly.  “And embarrassing.  You must tell us.”

“Oy vey, please don’t,” Trevor begs.  He did not want them finding out about Ari this way.  

Jeremy gives him a look.  “They don’t know?”

“It wasn’t really something I went around announcing – especially with … everything,” Trevor says, knowing Jeremy would know what he’s referring to.  

Before Jeremy could respond, Flower jumps in with, “Is this about you and Ari?  Because Alberta and I have known about that for years.”

“Wait – what?”

“Why are you surprised – we’ve literally talked about this?” Flower asks, confused.  “We’re best friends – we talk about everything… well, not everything…most things.”

“I’m not surprised about you – I’m surprised about Alberta.”

“Really, Trev?  As your ghosts’ roommates knew – your sexcapades were fun to watch,” Alberta states.  “And I wanted to be entertained.  Besides, I didn’t get to watch the first year because Flower kept it a secret, but after that –”

“Oh my god,” Jeremy says.  “You watched him have sex?”

“Well, yeah, it was entertaining.”

“Well, I guess that makes sense – most ghosts are clearly voyeurs.”

“You say that until you hear about what happened the night before the memorial,” Trevor says, shivering.  “Oy gevalt, now that is in my head.”

Jeremy is giving him a questioning look, when Hetty huffs.  

“I thought you let that go – we were just making sure that all of your efforts to reunite your parents were not for naught.  Particularly since your father had already made a complete dunce of himself by taking that work call and you had to sext him to get things back on track.”

Jeremy nearly chokes on his sip of water.  “Is she saying what I think she’s saying?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“You watched our parents have sex?”

“NO!  I just wanted to get them back together – I got the hell out of there as soon as it seemed possible.”

There’s a lot of overlapping conversation regarding what happened during that visit, which got more and more confusing, so Trevor eventually stopped all talk by telling the whole story of what happened during the memorial weekend, including his and Sam’s plan to get their parents back together and finishing with him realizing that it wasn’t his death that caused the divorce.

“You were always the hopeless romantic – I can’t believe you didn’t notice how awkward they were as we grew up,” Jeremy states.  “It was so obvious that I assumed that they had already gotten divorced, and dad just didn’t want to move.”

“Yeah, well – I didn’t realize it, okay?  They seemed … perfect…”

“It’s not terrible to believe the best in people, and at least it worked on one of us,” Jeremy offers.  “They just didn’t want to upset us – mainly, you, because they knew it would.”

“You weren’t upset?”

“When I first realized it – yeah, but I recovered quickly,” Jeremy offers.  “Although, do you remember the year we decided to throw them a fantastic anniversary party?”

“Yeah, when we were sixteen?  They were celebrating twenty years – that was the year that we convinced Uncle Charlie to send them to Hawaii as a treat …”  it takes a second for him to realize.  “Oy vey.”

“Yeah, that was my attempt at getting them back together – so I am not surprised that you attempted the same thing,” Jeremy states.

“That was way better than my attempt.”

“But it didn’t work.”

“Yeah, but it was still a better attempt.  They did come back a lot happier.”

“To be fair, you were at a disadvantage.  I mean, I spent months planning with you and Uncle Charlie, and you had a day where you couldn’t actually do anything since you’re a ghost and relied entirely on Sam and Jay – and hoping that mom and dad didn’t find things too awkward.”

“Plus, it worked,” Flower says.  “It just got ruined by Tara Reid.”

“Yeah, I heard about that,” Jeremy states with a grimace.  “I didn’t realize that was going to happen, but I figured if you’re here – it could be… nice.”

“It was nice – until the end,” Trevor states.  Then he leans over and whispers, “And someone tried to pretend that she didn’t remember who Tara Reid is when she walked in.”

Hetty huffs.  “I cannot remember everything.”

“Uh-huh, or you just wanted my attention because I was busy with my parents and the memorial.”

“It worked,” Hetty states, smugly.

Jeremy laughs.  “You two are adorable.  I still can’t believe you managed to find a girlfriend in the afterlife.”

As Hetty had moved behind him to sit on the arm part of the couch, she squeezes his shoulder.  “It surprised us both, too.”

“But it’s been a good thing,” Trevor says, leaning his cheek against her hand before turning to kiss it.

“It wasn’t surprising to me – I thought it was only a matter of time,” Flower states, smugly.

“Really?  You seemed pretty surprised when it came out,” Alberta asks.  “I’m still trying to figure out how I didn’t know.”

Flower laughs.  “I was surprised that I didn’t already know.  I feel like I should’ve known.”  Then she looks up at Trevor.  “We’re supposed be best friends, Trev, you’re supposed to tell me everything!”

“And I would have – but considering how everyone reacted, keeping it a secret was probably a good decision while we figured things out.”

Of course, they hadn’t exactly figured things out, but they knew that they were committed to each other, and they want to be together, confiding in each other and supporting one another.   And Trevor had only kept things a secret because he was trying to respect Hetty’s wish for secrecy.  He’d thought about admitting that their fight had been faked to Flower after that chaos but had deciding against it.

“I wouldn’t have judged you,” Flower mutters, obviously upset.

“I know, but it was just… better to figure things out in private.”

“Besides, sneaking around is hot, as Trevor would say,” Hetty offers.  

Jeremy grins.  “Well, he is an expert at it.”

“Ooooh, dish,” Alberta says, quickly.  “Does this have something to do with the Great Switch Fiasco of ’97?”

“It does, actually,” Jeremy says, cheerfully.  “And it’s funny now, but it was not funny then.”

“Please don’t tell the story,” Trevor begs.

“Do tell!” Alberta says with Flower humming in agreement.

Jeremy grins, devilishly at Trevor.  “Hetty can either tie it or break the tie.  What’s your vote, Hetty?”

Hetty looks back and forth between the pleading Trevor and the hopeful Flower and Alberta.  Knowing that Jeremy’s going to tell the story anyway, Trevor gives her a slight smile.

“Out voted again, my dear.”

Alberta and Flower cheer as Jeremy launches into the story.  

Jeremy had been visiting that weekend, and as always when he visits, Trevor tries a little too hard to get him to ‘let loose’ and as a result is always hungover Monday morning while Jeremy laughs at him.  Generally speaking, Trevor asks Jeremy to step in for him before lunch – there were always these awful and useless Monday morning meetings that he just had to be present for and that way he could get better and return to actually working after lunch.  

Usually, Trevor and Ari went out to lunch together (which ‘Jeremy’ would join them for in these switching times) and rewarded themselves for making it through those meetings afterward.  Thus, Trevor had never told Jeremy about this little fact – since he hated the thing Trevor and Ari had going on – and Trevor usually got to the office in time to enjoy the reward and lunch as they would make the switch during lunch without Ari noticing.

Unfortunately, on that particular Monday, the meetings ended early, and Ari had apparently decided the reward should be before lunch.  So, he invited ‘Trevor’ into his office once it ended and had immediately gone for it – kissing and touching Jeremy, who was so surprised that it took him a few minutes before he slid away.  Unfortunately, Ari had thought it was part of one of their games and since Jeremy didn’t know the code word, he had chased after him.  

Well, that was until Jeremy kneed Ari in the crotch and Trevor appeared in the doorway, unfortunately not alone.  Others had heard the chaos and were worried about what was going on.  It didn’t take long before everything was figured out.

All three of them had gotten into serious trouble – Ari for trying to have sex with Jeremy in his office, Jeremy for assaulting Ari (even if he was defending himself), and Trevor for having Jeremy stand-in for him since he technically broke his job contract.  Ari and Trevor had both been lucky to keep their jobs (and were banned from being alone together in the office while their thing was going on – well, at least for a while), and because Ari knew how important Jeremy was to Trevor and that he’d been wrong to chase after him (even if they played those types of games often) hadn’t gotten him into trouble.  Although Jeremy was banned from the office after that – and Trevor had to constantly answer questions that proved his identity whenever he went in for months.  

The Fiasco had taught them to be a bit more careful with switching lives.

“And so, never again – at the office.”

“To be fair, it was hot sneaking around at the office,” Trevor states.  “I just – learned that you have to be careful.”

“If you had told me that you and Ari had decided that Mondays you have sex in his office after those horribly boring meetings, I would’ve never gone in his office!”

“It had been working for years – and I – I wasn’t anticipating that happening, okay?  I was pretty sure he knew when we traded places.  I didn’t think I had to worry that he would – you know.”

“Yeah, well, he did,” Jeremy states, sourly.  “He was a terrible bed buddy, and I can’t believe he couldn’t tell the difference – besides, he should’ve known better since it wasn’t the first time.”

“Ooooh, when was the first time?” Flower asks, excitedly.

Trevor groans.  “We were in college – our first semester at Penn, and we had started fooling around, mainly when we’d been drinking, but hadn’t established anything.  Jeremy had surprised me with a visit and since the door was open to my room, he just entered like he owned the place…”

“…Ari was there, just doing his thing, but got excited to see me.  It was clear that he was already a little tipsy and he had assumed that I was Trevor because somehow, he didn’t realize we were twins.  And I went along with it – until he kissed me.”

“You shouldn’t have answered to my name!”

“We ALWAYS answer to each other’s name!  Besides, you didn’t tell me you were sleeping with your roommate!”

“That’s because we were just fooling around!”

“Yeah, well, you know – if you had told me…”

“Alright!  Alright!  Fair enough,” Trevor states.  “Besides, he certainly became more vigilant after that – man, you realize that’s twice you kneed him?”

“He’s lucky I don’t make it a third time after finding out about the lake.”

“You can’t go and knee him just because he threw my body in the lake – besides, the sort-of blackmail worked in our favor since it helped Sam and Jay keep the house and we got back at him during the watch thing.”

“You’re going to have to explain that.”

“It’s a long story.”

“We’ve got time.”

[unproduciblesmackdown]

nonzero people podcasting about goosebumps the musical & it’s never enough. neither extensive enough nor enthusiastic enough & that’s coming from me which is the entire explanation for the assessment. 

on the same topic but a completely different point, i was just appreciating how extra fun i always find understudy buddy to be. and obviously i would like to think that maybe tina & the unit that is brooke & zeke are like, more neutral to amicable after the show lol. tina is a lot of fun as is, like, automatic shoutout to any character just being like, getting in the way being offputting / a pain and all powered by one’s own intensity, that’s fun & funny & who among us? and like yeah she’s also definitely doing the mean girl thing like, in the song as mentioned lmao like please, rein it in. and maybe she will, but then when other suspects are being kind of crossed off the list just before thee play she manages to just be regular supportive towards brooke, so that’s promising lol. and also just shoutout to the Fun of a lively antagonistic role, great stuff, delightful number for her there, and sure helping ramp things up. and zeke and brooke not just showing up for this one horror musical (also i would love to shoutout zeke’s plight there lmfao like, the experience of original readers of poto where the twist is “nah it’s not a phantom it’s just some wet pathetic guy” like he’s so hyped to be The Ghost Lead and then he’s like oh god i’m a romantic lead in a hole & i’m five & it’s embarrassing & i even know my counterpart irl (the bestie) like i guess technically the role’s a ghost by the end & good for the mystery mask wearing element being exciting still) but that they were unnamed ensemble members in guys & dolls & saw that through, they’re bringing support & appreciation for the theatre, & on the flipside tina might just enjoy the theatricality & attention from it but she was having a great time informing everyone that on top of their haunted school it’s a specifically haunted (cursed) play, so maybe she can also relate to zeke and brooke’s horror genre appreciation. and she might warm up at all to zeke when he’s cleared about the fact he wasn’t trying to prank their efforts into oblivion, at least to the same degree she can manage to provide regular supportiveness to brooke when it comes to it. and on the one hand, despite brooke and zeke sure seeming like that hell of an established unit like probably just have their [socializing at school] foundation covered by hanging out w/each other, they could let brian in on that easily enough for something of a triumvirate, but now not only are they bffs since 5ever who love a genre together, they sure had an Adventure in emile messing up by [you never try to scooby doo villain your way through it] but also doing it all wrong where they think You’re the danger here & that you’re going to murder them, plus it’s scary for real exploring the darkness elevator underground tunnels anytime, but also now they have this off the shits experience with that new guy friend who was a ghost for real. kind of its own bonding element & maybe you wouldn’t exactly let anyone else in on it, much less like, tina lmao. she might be interested in The Legend but she was also super interested in telling everyone all about it, and idk, difficult and weird to explain, thing it’d all be quite the stuff to process for one lol like sure we love drama and ghosts and attention too but it’s A Lot. ghosts are real and i online dated one except across time rather than space and he was just some guy hanging out and i also hung out with him sometimes but then in the end it got weird b/c he was the suspicious understudy all along and this role is really not coming through....but also hey, could talk about it all eventually, and tina’s got plenty of context already. next year’s cast n crew party for the last show, be like hey guess what, b/c we’re solidly amicable now also

plus being extracurricular buddies like, ms. walker head in hands dealing with these three menaces lmao....although zeke wasn’t Really up to that much, tina’s sure committed to the show, etc. and it’s like, being a student or teacher or anyone else at a middle school is just always gonna be like that. could really be worse, she can handle it. and maybe she can know of the lore also, she’s out here engaging in irl drama and lore about like avenging her grandmother’s theatrical aspirations, or none of this would be going on lol. get used to these three and actually they’re reliable really, maybe tina will have learned to better accept not getting the dream role, which will be an easier time for everyone. but it’s just always gonna be a handful lol but all these kids were also all about putting on the play too, actually, yes maybe some problems arose from messing around with the platform but they could’ve been worse problems (queues of ghosts in line for their turn at finally achieving one last goal of performing their part in this one damn play lol) and does seem like it’s engineering issues inherently rather than Just messing around backstage unsupervised which isn’t often otherwise going to be fatally risky, and maybe just give people a rundown about the riskiness of things that Isn’t emile’s botched effort where he mostly just made children afraid of Him. like idk, i did shop class throughout middle school, we avoided injury w/successful cautionary rundowns. brian’s one other last goal could’ve been about safety measures, but whaddaya gonna do. anyways point is, hanging out after school for theatre purposes and having an understanding and bonus patience affordance with the teacher in charge of this and maybe everyone gets to know the Real Ghost Story or maybe it’s zeke & brooke’s personal inside secret, it was already a shared adventure for all involved even if they didn’t get the Full story the way those two did, all of them are up for Drama and for Horror, they’re good to go. and good for them

[moonrisecoeur]

(im on break rn but)

MOOON PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SCREAM AT ME ABOUT MUSIC IM SO NORMAL ABOUT SHARING MUSIC W PPL AND AAHHHHHHH

ive been considering giving u song recs bc IDK i love sharing music theres something so personal and full of love ab it to me

🐕

u do not understand i am so so sure that no one cares but FINE if u so insist please allow me to be annoying

deep breath in… AHHHHHHH

ellise is an artist that i have loved forever and ever and ever and ever which translates to for the past couple years and i LOVE ALL OF HER SONGS RAHHH

i love her lyrics they just connect to me so deeply. here are a collection of my favorite lyrics and songs!! all of these will be spotify links since i work for starbies and they give me spotify for free!! but pls look them up wherever you listen to music !!!

i could tell you i love you… but you wouldn't reply, wouldn't look in my eyes, wouldn't care when i cried

why would i tell you i love you?

RAHHH GHOST IS SO GOOD I LOVE HER VOCALS I LOVE THE SADNESS OF THIS SONG I LOVE HOW

we talked about a future, but now it's in the past

i don't regret the memories, but knew they wouldn't last

i know that it's not easy to give up what we had

i made myself a promise, and i’m not looking back

this song is so. ugh. love her. so sad yet so real. the realization at the end of the song is that she’s not pinky promising her ex that she doesn’t love him, it’s that she’s promising herself that she’ll leave him regardless of if she still does !! love !!

tell me it's a dead-end, you already got your flight booked

tell me over breakfast

'cause it's clear you don't care about me how you used to

this song makes me want to scream it’s so somber and resigned it’s so!! argggghhh i love it!! the way shes like ‘i know we’re done but please… it can wait until breakfast’ THIS SONG WAS ALSO OFF HER FIRST ALBUM WHICH CAME OUT ON MY BIRTHDAY so it was literallly fate.

talk to the moon from my window

she’s so cold, doesn't know

i think i might close my eyes for the last time tonight, i’ll go

look my name being moon is a coincidence BUT this was my favorite song of hers for a long while!! very very good song i love that it doesn’t stay all sad and slow the whole time!!

come wine with me, come dine with me

conspire with me, can't hide from me

kill time with me, like murder in the first degree

NO BC I WAS LISTENING TO SANDMAN AS I WAS WRITING ABOUT IT AND I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHICH SONG OFF OF OVER HER DEAD BODY I WANTED TO TALK ABOUT AND I DECIDED ON APPETITE RIGHT AS SPOTIFY STARTED PLAYING IT !!! rahh this song is hot !!

(okie so i tried to post this twice and it didn’t work LMAO it keeps failing to post and not saving anything i write up until this point so!! i’m just gonna write out everything else!!)

she ruins everything - ellise

she just released this song last night and it’s soooooo good!! pls give it a listen if literally nothing else on this list

arms length - king mala

i am so normal about this song. i am so sane.

… OF COURSE IM LYING THIS SONG MAKES ME SOB I LITERALLY CANNOT CONTROL MY EMOTIONS WHEN I LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING SONG i’m so sad. her lyricism… unmatched i fear…

spinnin - madison beer

mitski - i’m your man

this song is literally my personality my genuine favorite song of 2023 it runs through my veins i eat it for breakfast lunch and dinner

sad songs in a hotel room - joshua bassett

sand - dove cameron

cake and iced coffee - leyla blue

life was so much better back when you were mine.. :(

patient - charlie puth

i am so embarrassed that i like him and his music… but i really do…

[mrpenguinpants]

Xiao: Fainting HCS

FUCK. I FORGOT TO POST THIS EARLIER. AHHHH. I HAVE WORK IN LIKE 2 MINUTES SO I’LL BE BACK TO REPLY TO EVERYONE. 

Hey anon! So sorry it took me forever to finish writing this but good luck if you’re planning on pulling Xiao. I really wanted to finish writing this fic as an offering to the gacha gods that c1 xiao wants to bless me (even tho that’s not gonna happen). But good luck to everyone rolling today^^.

Disclaimer: I have not watch anything about Xiao because my hype can only take so much. This was written before 1.3. So if I get anything wrong or I’m missing something. That’s why.

---

Can I just say how far Xiao has come in my writing since the first part of the semi series? Sniff, feel like we’re making character development for a character that’s not even out yet. I can’t wait for mihoyo to take my HCS and rip them apart.

Xiao Semi Series

[ Friendship ] [ Falling in Love ] [ Cuddles ] [ Protective ] [ Affection ] [ Jealously ] [ Opposites Attract ] [ String Of Fate (Soulmate) ]

[Masterlist]

---

[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

​  @hanniejji​@mikeysbike​​ @unionwitch​ @musekala​ @sunnshiii​ @stanzastic​ @akaasea​ @xoneaboveallx​ @adoring-ghost​ @asheseiler​ @childelover​ @dilucsz​ @dai-tsukki-desu​ @thicmitten​ @nonniechan​​ @snowy224 @mayumintsu​ @tigerpriestess @yuu-yuukurotsuki​ @legionqueensav​ @eva-0403 @youaskedfurret​ 

Xiao: Fainting HCS

Instant panic mode engaged. If you’ve ever doubted his adepti power of swiftness you’re about to be mistaken. He’s noticed that you seem a bit out of it but brushed it off as you being tired from your recent journey. If there was anything bothering you, you would tell him. But as he turned around to greet you back, it seems like time is slowing down for him. He sees how your eyes glazed over and become unfocused. The muscles in your body snap and you drop to the ground. He can feel his blood run cold as past memories that have been waiting to jump at him suddenly claw at him but he doesn’t even register them. He’s already running towards you.

He’s already caught you in his arms before you can even meet the wooden floor. His brain is racing as he quickly checks your pulse to make sure you didn’t suffer from a heart attack or a curse. He makes a quick search over your body to check for any injuries, he can already feel the red hot iron of anger fill his system at the thought of someone trying to take advantage of you or threaten you. He’s usually logical in these types of situations, even the death of Rex Lapis didn’t shock him this much, but he’s been battling his conflicting feelings ever since he met you. But now that he’s finally accepted you and himself, he wouldn’t know what to do if anything happened to you. His mind flashes to Guizhong before he shakes away the thought.

It doesn’t occur to him that you might be sick as he tries to shake you awake. Whatever teachings Guizhong and Morax have taught him fly out the window as he holds you so close to his chest, he’s pretty sure his grip on you is bruising. He knew mortal souls weren’t as strong as adepti and staying around one might cause sickness or even worse- death. Was this his fault? He can feel the drop in his stomach as he tries to reign in his emotions and powers, not here.

Verr almost screams when Xiao breaks the wooden ceilings and lands in front of her. She’s scared that there was a monster outbreak or something was wrong with Xiao before she notices your passed out form in his arms. As much as she likes to joke around and thinks your relationship with Xiao is cute, she knows that if anything came to seriously harm you she wouldn’t able to calm Xiao before he goes on a rampage. You mean so much to him and he hasn’t opened his heart to anyone except you.

She can tell he’s nearly past his breaking point as he looks at her with dilated eyes as he asks, no commands, her to help you. It’s such whiplash to her. Xiao’s always been polite and reserved that she almost forgets he used to be a demon slaying Yaksha, but this isn’t the time for her to worry about that. She quickly leads him to the backroom since there’s no way Xiao wouldn’t bite any hand that comes near you. Bless Verr’s heart since this isn’t the first time she’s had to handle Xiao’s outbreaks that she manages to save face and contact a doctor that was staying at the inn to look at you. She does feel a bit bad for the doctor who looks like he’s about to piss himself in fear as Xiao growls and watches the doctors every move with piercing yellow eyes.

Xiao is still wary when the doctor and Verr try to calm him down and examine you more closely, always flinching back whenever their hands get too close to you, letting out a dangerous hiss whenever there’s the slightest twitch of discomfort in your face when the doctor feels your heated forehead. As soon as the doctor concludes that you’ve been sick for the past few days and your body just needs to heal itself and recharge, the tension on Xiao’s shoulder loosens and the suffocating aura that’s been filling the room slowly filters out. Verr can’t help but sigh in relief but can’t bring herself to scold Xiao for breaking the inns roof as she watches him look over your form with worried eyes as he softly nudges your cheek. He’s still holding you but his grip has loosen slightly as he rests his forehead against yours. He breathes a sigh of relief as he rubs small circles in your hand. Xiao’s never been the most affectionate or shown to be the most caring but you’ve seriously scared him. She quietly leaves him be and closes the door as she begins to prepare to fix the damages.

Xiao never leaves your side as he waits for you to wake up. He can’t help but berate himself for not confronting you. The doctor said you would be fine but he can’t but imagine your body falling in a more violent scene. He quickly shakes those thoughts away as he paces around the room, sits besides you, then goes back to pacing. Usually he would go on a walk or beat his aggression out but he doesn’t want to leave you alone should you awake early.

Xiao doesn’t ramble about his day while you’re asleep, instead he just observes your features and the small movements you make to remind him that you’re okay. How your chest moves up and down as you breath or how your eyes sometimes scrunch in sleep. You’ve made him almost trip when you did it the first time since he thought you were waking up. He can’t help but think back to his fellow Yaksha’s and what they would say if they saw the way he was acting now.

Since his panic attack has mostly subsided he’s found himself growing more curious. He’s still worried about you but he’s managed to reason with himself that you’re okay, just sick which he’s going to scold you a bit for when you awake, so he softly brushes his fingers across your face. Before snatching his hand away in embarrassment. What the hell is he doing? Guizhong would slap him sideways if she saw him now. He huffs at himself as he deflates a little and rests his head on the bed beside your head. He’s patient. He will wait when your ready to wake up.

When you suddenly gain consciousness, it feels as if the entire world is weighing you down. You slowly blink open your eyes to see a worried Xiao hovering over you, his hands awkwardly in the air since he’s not sure if it’s okay to touch you.

“How are you feeling?” Xiao asks as his eyes dart all over the place before resting on your face. You’re still a bit out of it but you can tell he must have been really worried. You try to give him a small smile but with how scuffy you feel you can bet it’s not a pretty picture.

“Like I got slammed with one of Zhongli’s meteors,” you tried to laughed before coughing as Xiao quickly pressed a cup of water to your lips. Slowly letting you drink and calm down. 

“If you have time to make jokes then you’re alright” Xiao sighs before his features change slightly. His eyes glaze over in concern as a small frown appears. He really does look like a kicked kitten as he slumps over as the stress finally lifts as he feels your hand softly run through his hair.

“Sorry,” you say, he must have been so stressed out while you were passed out for him to look so exhausted. He simply nudges into your hand before turning his face to kiss your palm,

“There’s no need for apologies. I’m...just glad you’re okay,” Xiao mumbles before he’s back to pressing his head into your stomach. You can’t help but smile delicately as you reach over and bring Xiao up with you until he’s lying over you as you hug him gently. There’s a bit of shuffling before you’re able to spoon him as he let’s himself relax after the two day panic attack he just went through.

---

When you’ve fully recovered Xiao seems to hover around you a bit more. Well not a bit, a lot more, but no one has the heart to tell him that. It’s actually kind of adorable seeing the aloof and reserved adepti seem to follow you around like a loss duckling. Making sure you’re okay and you’re not overworking yourself. He still keeps his tough demeanor but you seriously gave him a big scare.

When Zhongli and Childe come over for their weekly visits of tea, they were aware that Xiao had locked himself in a room to watch over you and anyone that even stepped near the door would be skewered with a spear - and Verr would make them pay for the damages (Zhongli) and whatever consequences Xiao saw fit (Childe) - but they are happy to see you’re okay. You all fall back into your usual rhythm of conversation or Childe trying to get a rise out of Xiao while you and Zhongli talk about how lovely the weather’s been.

Zhongli let’s you in on some details that Xiao or Verr never mentioned while Childe and Xiao are fighting about who knows what. How Xiao wouldn’t leave your side or that he resembled a kicked kitten as he nudged your hand when he thought no one was looking. He offers you some medicine herbs to help with exhaustion and to take care of yourself. Likewise, to give Xiao some pain medication on his behalf. You’re one of the few good things in Xiao’s life and he doesn’t want anything bad happening to you.

---

Hmm. I didn’t mean to but I totally believe in the dad zhongli train and I think Zhongli basically just gave you his blessing? Maybe I’m thinking too hard on this haha.

Maybe this is better? Trying to figure out writing styles are hard. Either way, I’m never gonna end up kicking my paragraph HCS habit haha. If you couldn’t tell, I really like feral protective but lowkey vulnerable types (coughrazorcough). Xiao is so OOC at this point I don’t even know how to fix it. Please come home Xiao. 

(Edit: FUCK YEAH HE CAME HOME WITH DILUC. WE 90ED THIS BITCH AND IM ABOUT TO MAX HIS TALENTS. ILL SHARE IT WITH YOU ALL (since people have been asking) WHEN I GET BACK FROM WORK)