#he likes to sneak up on Danny just to make him jump through the ceiling

[spacedace]

Something I've seen in fics a few times but not for comedic effect is the idea that Constantine selling his soul so many times makes him look/feel Wrong to ghosts.

Like I love various Danny ghost shenanigans giving Constantine a heart attack in stories but just imagine that Constantine is like deeply, deeply unsettling for Ghosts & Liminals to be around.

To the point of whenever he and Danny meet for the first time at the Watchtower after Danny's joined the League, Constantine just walks in and upon turning to look at who just walked in Danny just shrieks like a small child and throws a chair at him out of reflex, diving behind Captain Marvel to use him as a magical human meat shield while screeching "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT???! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" At the top of his lungs and doesn't stop until Batman makes Constantine leave.

Even after Zantanna explains Constantine's whole deal and Danny explains to the Justice League how totally fucked up that looks/feels like to him ("Dude, Ghosts are their core, for us you see that before you see the shape of whoever you're talking to. Like, imagine someone walks up to you with a face that looks like it's made out of a shattered plate and the pieces are bleeding"

Or like, imagine instead it's a thing were Jason and Jazz are dating and Jazz, Danny & Elle are invited over for a nice meet the family brunch - "Brunch is fun and casual!" Dick insisted, "Way less intimidating than if we had them over for dinner!") and Constantine pops in to talk to Bruce about a case.

And the second he walks into the room all three just shriek like they're from an episode of Scooby Doo.

Elle takes one look at Constantine and just nopes out of there so hard she doesn't even gk intangible as she throws herself out the window and starts flying for the hills. Danny screeches like a cat whose tail has been stepped on and jumps onto the ceiling and scrambles away. Jazz screams like a house wife from an old Looney Tunes cartoon and starts climbing Jason like a tree - which is a bit of a problem since she's half a foot taller than Jay and throwing his center of balance off a bit and now half of the plates are smashed on the floor.

Jason doesn't even notice though because he also is losing his shit over what the fuck that thing is and unlike Elle is far more interested in Fight rather than Flight and pulls out a gun - "Why'd you bring a gun to brunch?! Guns aren't fun or casual!" - and just starts unloading on Constantine (who is very lucky Jason has switched to non lethal rounds and that he's quick enough with his spells to largely keep most of the rubber bullets from hitting him) also while screaming at the top of his lungs.

And well, turns out Jason's new girlfriend is the older sister of that ghost hero the League's been looking to recruit and Bruce is gonna take advantage of that - Phantom has been hard to pin down, which is fair, bad history with government agencies trying to kill him and all - to talk to him about a place with JL, though first he's going to have to get him down from the ceiling and that'd be a lot easier if Constantine would just leave already, they are supposed to be having a family brunch this is his one day off!

(Elle screams her all the way to Metropolis and doesn't stop until she nearly knocks Superman out of the sky. He isn’t really sure what's going on, but he does manage to calm her down and takes her to go get some ice cream. When he pitches joining JL she tells him that she thinks he's kinda lame but that Superboy is cool so she's down. It's...honestly kinda devastating but Clark manages to get through it.

A note gets made when the two ghost heroes officially join the League that partnerships with Constantine should be kept at an absolute minimum.)

And lol yeah, just, Constantine being utterly terrifying to Danny and the Pham

[basiccortez]

Insomnia word count: 790 masterlist

Jake loved from the moment he met Sage how much she was like him. From physical features down to her soul. Sage was like another twin flame for him. They were the same person, just years apart. There were also some things that Jake didn’t like that Sage adapted from him, one of those was his insomnia. 

Jake had always been a night owl, even when he was in utero, he was always the twin that was active at night. Karen had a hard time getting him to sleep at night, being up all hours of the night with him as a baby. She could remember walking down the stairs in the morning to see him passed out on the couch, some cooking show playing in the background. 

Sage was the same, keeping Jake up all hours of the night as a baby. Jake could remember the first time she had climbed out of her crib and found her way into his bed. Jake was absolutely terrified that she climbed out, worried that she had hurt herself, but he also found it very comical that she had climbed out and found her way into Jake’s bed. Everytime she ended up in Jake’s bed, he’d carry her back to her own, tucking her in and kissing her goodnight. 

Sage couldn’t sleep. She had spent hours tossing and turning, and was currently staring at the ceiling. She was bored of staring into the darkness, but she also didn’t want to wake up her dad. Sage sighed, and pushed back her blankets, and very quietly put her feet on the wooden floor and walked over to her bedroom door. She opened the door slowly, looking down the hall to see if her Uncle Josh or Dad had heard her wake up. Sage giggled as she ran on her tiptoes past Jake’s room and down the stairs to the living room. 

She climbed up on the couch, grabbing the remote and flicking on the TV. Her eyes were wide as the TV illuminated her face as she flipped through the channels landing on a rerun of Rachel Ray. She smiled as she sat back on the couch, watching Rachel explain how to make some sort of omelet. Every small sound the house made, had her looking up at the stairs, trying to see if it was Uncle Josh or her dad that had woken up. When she determined it was just the house making noise, she turned back to the TV. 

“What are you doing?” A voice sounded, making her jump. She snapped her head over to her Uncles Sam and Danny who were standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She completely forgot about them, thinking they were going to be out for the night. 

“I can’t sleep,” Sage pouted. Sam and Danny looked at each other before walking over and joining her on the couch. Danny picked her up and placed her in his lap and tickled her, “Uncle Danny!” She squealed. Danny shushed her and then placed a kiss on her forehead. 

“Move over bug,” Sam said as he grabbed a blanket and threw it over the three of them as they settled in to watch the show with the little girl. 

– – – 

Jake was a little confused when he didn’t wake up to little cold feet on his bare skin. Usually Sage found her way back into his bed even after he tucked her back into hers. He looked around his room, seeing if maybe she fell asleep on the floor again, knowing that sometimes she does that when she doesn’t want to get caught for sneaking out of her room. All he found though was Rosie, and he was even more confused. 

Jake tied his hair in a bun and then walked down the hallway, seeing that Danny and Sam’s bedroom doors were still open, signaling that neither one had come home last night. He then checked Sage’s room, seeing that her covers were thrown back and the little girl was not in her bed. Jake’s heart rate sped up a little bit, as he quickly walked down the hall to check Josh’s room, which the only occupant was the sleeping older twin. He looked around the second floor, before his eyes landed on the staircase. 

He jogged down the stairs quickly, but stopped short of the bottom. Jake let out a sigh of relief, seeing his younger brother and best friend snuggled on both sides of his sleeping little girl. He shook his head as he walked over to the couch, grabbing the remote and turning off the cooking show. He leaned down and kissed his daughter’s forehead before going into the kitchen to make breakfast for the whole crew.

[celestialvoid-fanfiction]

Couples Costume

Sheriff Stilinski has the job of chaperoning the school dance when he realises his son is wearing one half of a couple’s costume and he wants to know who has the other half.

[AO3]

 “Jackson,” Sheriff Stilinski said warningly.

The young man jumped, snatching his arm back from the punch bowls and quickly hiding the silver flask behind his back as he turned to face the Sheriff.

“Hello, sir,” Jackson said, feigning innocence.

He flashed a charming smile, but it had no affect on John.

John levelled him with an unwavering look and he held out his hand, motioning for Jackson to hand the flask over.

Jackson bowed his head, looking guilty as he moved his hand from behind his back and handed over the flask.

“You can pick it up from the station tomorrow,” John said.

“What?” Jackson objected.

“I’m not going to let you spike the punch and I’m not going to give you back a flask of alcohol before you drive home?” John asked.

Jackson tensed. “Are you going to tell my parents?”

“Not if you don’t try this again,” John promised.

Jackson nodded.

“Now, go on,” John said, nodding towards the crowd.

Jackson hurried back over to his group of friends.

John shook his head, sliding the flask into the inside pocket of his windcheater.

He looked around the large space of the school gym. The large room had been decorated for the Halloween dance; with a canopy of white fabric and orange, purple and black streamers strung from the ceiling to make it look like a tent, strings of lights followed the curves of the fabric and trailed down the walls, and stacks of jack-o-lanterns that the students had carved.

There were a few tables set up around the corners of the room with orange table cloths draped over them and fake candles sitting in the middle of the table to light them.

Students moved around the space, dressed in costumes; standing in small groups around the edges of the hall, talking, or joining the crowd in the middle of the hall, dancing.

A familiar face emerged from the crowd, making his way over to John.

Stiles’ hair had been coloured with pink on one side and blue on the other, matching the eye shadow that Lydia had put on him. He had tattooed painted on him with eyeliner. He had a thick choker with silver letters spelling out PUDDIN around his neck.

He wore a pair of tight red pleather pants with a studded belt, a jacket that was split in half – one side red and the other blue – and a slightly torn tee-shirt with curved black lettering that read ‘Daddy’s Lil Monster’. The shirt was cropped short and slightly torn at the bottom, revealing a glimpse of Stiles’ toned abs and slender waist. To complete the look, he carried around a foam replica of the baseball bat from Suicide Squad.

“Hey, kiddo,” John greeted.

“I thought chaperones had to dress up too?” Stiles asked, looking his dad up and down.

“I did dress up,” John replied. “I’m a Sheriff.”

Stiles levelled him with an exasperated look.

“Forget about me,” John said, changing the subject. He pointed at Stiles’ costume. “Harley Quinn, right?”

“Yeah,” Stiles said, looking down at himself. “I wanted the more classic red and black look, but this was all they had available.”

“Now, if I remember rightly, that costume was marketed as a couples costume,” John said, looking his son up and down. “So, where’s your Joker?”

“Poison Ivy, actually,” Stiles replied.

“Let me guess… Lydia,” John guessed.

“No,” Stiles answered. “She’s Daphne.”

“Daphne?” John repeated, confused.

“From Scooby Doo,” Stiles explained.

“Allison?”

“She’s Velma,” Stiles answered. “Lydia’s Daphne, Isaac’s Fred, Allison’s Velma, and Scott’s Shaggy—he’s even carrying around a Scooby Doo plushie.”

“Okay, so who’s your Ivy?” John asked. He waved dismissively. “It doesn’t matter—I want a photo of you two, so take me to them.”

“John,” Coach Finstock called out, making his way over to the Sheriff’s side.

Stiles swallowed hard. He turned to Lydia as she stepped up beside him, leaning in close and whispering, “Can you find Derek and give him the heads up; I’m being forced to out him?”

“On it,” Lydia said quietly, turning and disappearing into the crowd.

Stiles felt his chest tighten, his heart hammering against his ribs. He felt the lump in his throat swell. His heart beat faster as tears began to prick at his eyes.

He looked over his shoulder to see Lydia enter the gym again with Derek by her side.

Derek was dressed in a pair or red pleather pants and a corset-like deep green vest that was embroidered with light green thread in the pattern of ivy leaves with fake leaves of ivy sewn onto it to make it 3D. A vine of fake ivy was coiled around each of his arms, accentuating the curves of his firm biceps.

His sharp cheek bones were highlighted by a soft shade of green that matched the colour of his eye shadow. Lydia had used eyelash glue to stick fake ivy leaves to Derek’s eyebrows and red hair spray to colour his hair.

His face lit up with sweet smile when he saw Stiles.

“I’m so sorry,” Stiles whispered under his breath when Derek reached him.

“It’s okay,” Derek replied, keeping his voice low. “No matter what happens, you’ve still got me.”

Derek looked at him lovingly, his pale aventurine eyes sparkling in the glow of the string lights.

Stiles returned his smile, swallowing hard against the lump in his throat.

Derek took Stiles’ trembling hand in his own, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

Stiles drew in a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart. He turned back towards his dad just as Coach said goodbye and chased off after a student causing trouble.

“Dad,” Stiles started slowly, his voice tense and anxious. “This is Derek… My boyfriend.”

A look of surprise passed over John’s face as he looked from Stiles to Derek.

Derek offered his a smile, tightening his hold on Stiles’ shaking hand.

John smiled in return.

“You look great, Derek,” he said. “Do you mind if I get a picture of you two?”

“Sure,” Derek said, stepping closer to Stiles’ side.

He saw Stiles’ shoulders drop as he let out a sigh of relief. His hand was still shaking as he held on to Derek.

John dug his phone out of his pocket and quickly took a photo of the two of them. He smiled at them as he lowered his phone. “Thank you.”

“Do you want a drink?” Derek asked them both.

“I’m alright, thank you,” John replied.

“I’d like one please,” Stiles answered.

Derek nodded, giving Stiles’ hand a gentle squeeze before letting go and making his way over to the drinks table.

Stiles felt he sense of dread return, his chest tightening.

“I wanted to tell you…” Stiles said, looking down at his feet. “I was just… I was scared that you’d hate me.”

“Stiles,” John said softly, setting his hand on his son’s shoulder and craning his neck to look Stiles in the eye. “You are my son and I love you, no matter what.”

Glistening tears welled in Stiles’ eyes, lit by the surrounding lights. A weak smile turned up the corner of his mouth.

“How long have you two been together?” John asked.

“About eight months,” Stiles admitted.

“You managed to keep this from me for eight months?” John asked, stunned.

Stiles shrugged.

“I’m happy for you,” John said, smiling as he gently tousled his son’s hair.

“Thanks, dad.”

“Now, go have fun.”

 -------------------------

 A while later, John stepped out of the gym to patrol the halls and the outside of the building to make sure no students were sneaking off to cause trouble. He made his way around the side of the old red brick building and slowed when he saw Stiles sitting outside on a step.

He went to walk forward when he heard the door open and a familiar voice said, “Hey, you okay?”

Stiles turned slightly, smiling as he looked up at Derek.

“Yeah,” he answered. “I just needed a break from the crowd and the music.”

“Do you want some company?” Derek asked hesitantly.

“I’d love some.”

Derek stepped forward, sitting down on the step beside Stiles.

“Sorry I’m not more fun.”

“I’m having plenty of fun just spending time with you,” Derek said. He paused, thinking for a moment. “Do you want to dance?”

“I want to dance, but I just feel so overwhelmed in there,” Stiles admitted.

“Okay,” Derek said, digging into his pocket and fishing out his phone. He scrolled through his music library before picking a song and turning up the volume just a little. It was a slow song with a soft melody.

Derek rose to his feet and held a hand out to Stiles.

Stiles smiled as he took Derek’s hand, letting him pull Stiles to his feet. He pulled him closer, holding Stiles’ hand in his as he set his other hand on Stiles’ hip and began to sway.

Stiles let out a quiet chuckle as he rested his head against Derek’s shoulder, wrapping his arm around Derek’s shoulder as he swayed back and forth, following the sweet melody of the song.

Derek rested his cheek atop Stiles’ head as they danced slowly beneath the light of the back door and the streetlights along the car park.

John couldn’t help but smile as he watched them, a sense of relief filling his chest when he saw the smile on his son’s face.

  -------------------------

 “It’s time to announce the winners of the costume contest,” Natalie Martin announced as Stiles and Derek made their way back into the gym.

The crowd gathered around the small stage that had been set up at the far end of the gym.

“First up; the award for best dressed girl.” Natalie opened the envelope and read the name, “Supergirl; Erica Reyes.”

The crowd applauded as Erica made her way up onto the stage.

Natalie handed her a bouquet of flowers and a certificate.

Erica thanked her before making her way off stage.

“Next up, the award for best dressed boy goes to…” Natalie opened the next envelope. “The gladiator; Danny Mahealani.”

The crowd cheered again as Danny – shirtless and dressed as a gladiator – stepped up onto the stage to receive his certificate and flowers.

“And now for the best dressed group,” Natalie continued once Danny had joined the crowd again. “The best dressed group goes to—” She opened the envelope. “—the Scooby Doo gang; Isaac Lahey, Lydia Martin, Allison Argent, and Scott McCall.”

The crowd cheered loudly as they made their way up onto the stage to receive their certificates and flowers.

They made their way down off the stage and Natalie picked up another envelope.

A buzz of confused chatter filled the room.

“And a last minute addition,” Natalie said. “The award for the best couples costume goes to—” She opened the envelope. “—Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy; Stiles Stilinski and Derek Hale.”

The crowd roared with applause. A few people let out sharp wolf whistles.

Stiles bowed his head, trying to hide his blush.

Derek reached out and took his hand, leading the way through the crowd and up to the stage.

They made their way up the small flight of stairs and across the stage, accepting the certificates that read ‘Best Dressed Couple’ with their names written beneath the elegantly typed title and a bouquet of brightly coloured flowers.

Stiles smiled sweetly, sticking close to Derek as the crowd’s applause grew louder.

They made their way off stage and over to where Lydia, Isaac, Allison and Isaac stood.

Lydia bounded over to Stiles’ side, wrapping her arms around him as she congratulated him. Scott gave Derek a half-hug before hugging Stiles.

Stiles’ face was lit with a bright smile. He turned to face Derek, stepping closer to him and leaning against his side.

John couldn’t help but smile as he watched them—watched how happy his son was, watched the way his eyes lit up as he looked at Derek lovingly. He couldn’t help but feel happy for his son.

[five-rivers]

Interview With a Ghost (part 3: Break)

(PART 1) (PART 2)

.

.

.

The call came shortly after Danny had informed Tucker of his (disastrous) interview with the police and had left to go fight a giant bird ghost that had made its way to Elmerton. That bird wouldn't know what hit it. Well, it would know that Danny hit it, presumably, but not that Danny was hitting it so hard due to repressed anxiety regarding his body and the fact the police had it.

Tucker had been, as it so happened, waiting for the call.

"Hey, Sam," he said, not bothering to so much as look at the caller ID.

"So, Danny's gotten himself into a mess."

"Yep," said Tucker. "A pretty big one. Not all his fault, though."

"He did make it worse."

"Yeah. What are we going to do about it?"

"How do you feel about breaking and entering?"

"You're going to have to be more specific," said Tucker. He rolled over on his bed to stare at the ceiling. "We do that pretty frequently."

"The city morgue. ME's office, specifically."

"There'll be guards," said Tucker, "what with the rumors and all."

"I've got the Box Ghost in my thermos. He's a good distraction."

"Transport?"

"Working on it. You'll take care of the security cameras and locks?"

"As long as they're digital," said Tucker, pulling up his data on the city cameras as they spoke. "The outside ones are, but I don't know about the insides. There might be analog machines in there. Tapes. Can't do anything to anything not on a network."

"I know, I know. Hey, maybe you could send a text to whoever's supposed to be guarding it tonight? Get them to leave?"

"Mmm. Maybe. If I could figure out who that would be."

"That could backfire, though," said Sam. "If they don't send messages like that. Sorry, I'm just thinking out loud."

Tucker pulled up a building map in another window. "I think we'll probably need more than just us, though. Remember the first time we had to move... it?"

"Yeah, but who else are we going to get to do this?"

"Jazz, maybe? She has a car, too. She can be transportation."

"Tucker, we're not looping Danny in on this. Do you really think that Jazz is going to be any more cool with this than Danny?"

"I don't know, Jazz can be pretty savage when it comes to protecting Danny."

The phone made Sam's considering hum crackle with static. "We do need transport," said Sam.

"Yeah. What were you looking into for that, anyway?"

"Ugh. Cult connections."

"Dude. Danny would not be happy if we gave his you know to a cult."

"Yeah, but he can steal it back from the cult with no guilt, unlike with the police."

"But what if he just gave it back to the police?" asked Tucker, looking up the city's purchasing records, trying to determine if they had any cameras that used tapes or that weren't internet connected in or near the morgue.

"Come on, he wouldn't do that."

"Probably not, but he does do weird stuff, sometimes. Like agree to an interview with the police and almost give away his secret identity."

"Yeah," said Sam. "You keep checking how feasible this is, and I'll call Jazz, okay?"

"Sure," said Tucker. "Talk to you later."

.

Jazz eased her car into the alley behind the building that housed the city morgue and ME's office.

"Stop here," said Tucker. "I can see their network."

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Jazz whispered, putting the car into park.

"You don't have to whisper," said Tucker, sitting in the passenger's seat and typing away at his mobile workstation (he insisted that it wasn't a laptop). "No one is going to hear you. Okay, yeah, I'm on their wifi. Give me a minute."

"Take your time," said Sam, who was lying down in the back seat, dressed in blacks and grays, thin gloves over her hands. "Were you guys able to sneak out okay without Danny?"

"Yeah," said Tucker.

"It was a bit trickier without him," said Jazz. She was lucky that her parents wore earplugs to sleep, and she was fairly certain Danny was out of the house entirely. Fighting a ghost, probably. She always told him to wake her up before he left, so at least one person knew where he was and could help him, but he never did.

"Okay, Jazz, you can get closer, now, then Sam can hop out and Box 'em."

"That was fast," said Jazz, starting the car forward again.

"What can I say?" said Tucker. "Pure talen-"

Something in the car started shrieking. Jazz jumped, momentarily pressing too hard on the gas, and the car lurched forward. Sam swore.

"What is that?" asked Tucker, hands over his ears.

"Who care?" shouted Sam, over the noise. "Turn it off, turn it off!"

"It's the- It's the anti-ecto alarm! I told them not to put it on my car!" She leaned across Tucker and opened the glove box. Sure enough, a sleek chrome-and-green monstrosity sat in her poor, innocent glove box, flashing screens, dials, and indicator lights at them. The car cabin lit up like a disco.

Jazz and Tucker jabbed at buttons until the thing shut up.

"Okay," said Tucker. "I think we're going to have to abort. I'm gonna bet my aunt in Chicago heard that."

Jazz blushed. "Sorry guys," she said. She was going to have words with her parents after this. What if she'd been on the highway when that thing went off? They really didn't think these things through.

"We can't abort!" protested Sam. "We need to get the thing! Before they start running tests on it!"

Jazz started backing up the car.

"Yeah, I know, but we needed stealth. We don't have that anymore. Hold up, Jazz, I need to erase my presence from their system."

Sam grumbled. "What set it off, anyway. Boxy?"

"No, it looks like this was calibrated to only go off for a class seven or above," said Tucker, peering at the alarm.

"Class seven?" repeated Jazz. "But... You don't think Danny-"

"No, he's in the suburbs, dealing with Skulker." Jazz looked over at Tucker's computer to see the Ghost Watch app icon blinking in the corner of his screen. "This is Vlad. Crap."

The door made a thunk when Sam swung it too far out and it hit a wall. Jazz winced, but rolled down her window. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"We can't let Vlad get away with it!"

"And what are you going to do? Sam!"

"Getting back into the cameras," muttered Tucker, typing furiously.

"I'm calling Danny," said Jazz.

"Won't answer, he's fighting Skulker."

"Well, maybe he's finished!" said Jazz, dialing.

There was a flare of blue white light from up ahead and an angry shout. A glowing silhouette joined Sam's dark one. She had released the Box Ghost.

Jazz groaned. "Why did she do that now?"

"Shhh!" said Tucker. Something began to make little beeping noises. "Oh, jeez."

"What's that?"

"My ghost detector. It's tuned to Vlad." He opened his door half way. "Sam!" he shouted. "Incoming!"

She pressed herself to the side of the alley just in time to avoid a dark, horned figure swooping down on her from above. The Box Ghost was not so lucky.

"... and it's got a lower range," said Tucker, faintly.

Vlad Plasmius, rimmed in fuchsia light, floated twenty feet in the air. He had one hand around the Box Ghost's neck, the other full of neon pink fire. "Oh," he said, his voice echoing clearly in the alleyway. "It's you. What are you doing here, pest?"

"Uhhhhh," said the Box Ghost as Sam tried to make her way back to the car.

"And with Daniel's little friends no less?"

Sam broke into a run, slammed Tucker's door shut, yanked open the passenger door behind him, and slid in. Jazz wasted no time in slamming on the gas. If her car got a few scrapes, so be it.

There was a second Vlad behind them. She dropped her phone and slammed on the brakes. It was still ringing.

Smiling like a villain from a slasher movie, this second Vlad stepped intangibly into the car.

"Well, now," he said, smoothly. "What's this? Daniel's friends, but no Daniel? Whatever are the three of you doing here of all places? And at this hour?"

"What are you doing here?" asked Sam.

"No need to be rude, Samantha, dear," said Vlad. "Daniel doesn't know about your little excursion, does he? He's still across town, occupied with Skulker. You can tell him he won't have to worry anymore. I'll take good care of his body."

"Dude," said Tucker, "do you have any idea how gross that sounds?"

Vlad scowled and flicked his fingers. A ray of pink burned a quarter sized hole in the back of Tucker's headrest.

"If he had a problem with me taking it, he should have hidden it better," said Vlad. "I have no desire to have the existence of half ghosts revealed simply because Daniel hid his corpse in same park the police have their annual picnic!"

"Actually," said Tucker, "they usually have it in Marley Park. Aren't you the mayor? Shouldn't you know this?"

Vlad's scowl deepened further. "Drive safely, Jasmine." The duplicate dissolved into magenta and pink mist.

Sam sneezed. "Gross, I think I got him in my nose."

"Guys," said Tucker. "I've got alerts on the police lines, someone reported a disturbance. We really need to go."

.

"Vlad stole my," Danny waved his hands in the air in place of the word. "Are you serious? And you guys know, because you were going to try to steal it, and you didn't tell me?" His friends and sister looked sheepishly at the ground. "Why did you wait 'til now to tell me? I've been having anxiety attacks about it all night. I thought that the stupid ME had, I don't know, insomnia or something! It was Vlad?"

"Yeah," said Sam.

"Argh!" said Danny, starting to pace. Thank goodness his room was large enough to have a good pace in, even with three other teens in it. "I don't even want to think what he could be doing with it, but I am! What if- What if he goes full-bore Frankenstein and freaking reanimates it? What am I supposed to do then? And the police! They're going to think I did it, and there goes my credibility with the police!"

"You were on Ghost Watch fighting Skulker when it happened," offered Tucker.

"Ghosts can be in two places at once! The police know that! That's not a good enough alibi!" He put his hands on his face and groaned. "Am I going to have to break into Vlad's house? Again? He has to have a ghost shield up around it by now. And a human shield. And a ghost-human shield. I'm dead."

"You're not dead, Danny," said Jazz.

"I am dead. In ever sense of the word. Dead, I tell you, dead."

"Deep breaths," said Jazz. "You're hyperventilating."

It was true. He sat down on his bed and buried his face in his hands. "I don't even know what secret lair he's brought it to."

"Wait, you mean, you can't tell where it is?" asked Sam.

"No," said Danny. "If I could, I would have known when Vlad took it."

There was a howl from downstairs as someone rang the doorbell. Danny jumped up. "I'll get it," he said. The group bundled down the stairs, trying to keep up with him.

Before opening the door, Danny glanced out the window.

"Oh, heck, it's them."

"Them who?" asked Jazz.

"Them. The detectives!"

.

"Alright," said Jones, looking at the place where Phantom's body should have been but wasn't. "This is officially too big for just one team. Paterson, Collins, what were you going to do today?"

"Interview high school kids," said Collins.

"Right. You're still going to do that. I'm going to get Murphy and Madison on the break-in, talking to witnesses, but first, your opinions."

"It wasn't Phantom," said Collins. "He could have just come in and taken it, at any time, not just the middle of the night."

"And he wouldn't have needed to take out the cameras and security system," said Paterson, looking over her shoulder at the tech people set up in one corner.

"It was a human. Or a ghost who didn't want us to know who they are," finished Collins.

"Great," said Jones. "That's what I thought, too. I was hoping you'd tell me I was wrong."

"Sorry, cap," said Collins.

"Go on, get out of here," said Jones, making a shooing motion.

.

"Still can't believe that his name is Wesley Weston," said Collins. "Or that he has a record for trespassing and stalking a classmate and claiming that he's a ghost."

"Want to bet that the classmate in question is Fenton?" asked Paterson.

"No thanks," said Collins. "It would have been better if the victim's name hadn't been withheld." He avoided the word 'wish.'

"Yeah, yeah," said Paterson. She knocked on the door.

A balding red haired man with thick glasses opened the door. "Oh," he said. "Please tell me this isn't about Wesley again. Do I need a lawyer?"

"He didn't do anything," said Collins, quickly. "We just want to ask him a few questions."

"It's unrelated to the stalking charges, which were dropped," added Paterson.

"Great," grumbled the man. He turned. "Wesley! The police want to talk to you!"

.

"Well," said Collins, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. "That was enlightening."

"His room belongs on a movie set," said Paterson. "Jeez Louise, we're going to have to keep an eye on that kid. He has a freaking conspiracy theory board."

"It was pretty convincing, though. The kid can talk."

"We need to confirm his data, though."

"Yeah. Talk to more witnesses. See if Fenton really does run off whenever Phantom shows up."

.

"Fenton?" asked Paulina Sanchez, wrinkling her nose so prettily that Paterson suspected she practiced the expression in the mirror. "What about him? I thought we were talking about Phantom. Mi amor." She leaned a little farther into the doorway. She had not let the detectives inside. "Not Fenton."

"We're investigating a number of different angles, Miss," said Collins. "Now, if you could tell us, does he seem to leave class before ghost fights break out."

"Yeah," said Paulina. "He's got some kind of sixth sense thing going on, but he's such a coward. He only ever uses it to run away. Doesn't even try to warn anyone else! I don't know how his friends stand him."

.

"You're talking about Phantom?" asked Sophia LaMar. "You'll want my parents. I'm only an initiate. I'll go get them." She closed the door.

"Do we run away from the cult house?" asked Paterson.

"No, it'll make us look bad."

.

"You know," said Paterson, "if I'd wanted a lecture on how time doesn't exist, I'd drive over to the university and sit in on a class on relativity. Not whatever that was."

"At least now we know that ghosts can time travel?" asked Collins, weakly.

"Let's hurry up and get to Fenton's house," said Paterson. "Do you think he'll even talk to us?"

"Who knows?" asked Collins.

[ladylynse]

Chapter 14 [FF | AO3] of Whirlwind (SQ fic): Jake should be used to ominous predictions by now. Randy should know better than to blindly follow McFist. Adrien should think twice before sneaking away. And Danny should’ve expected something like this when he got that phone call.

Previous | Timeline post

-|-

7:54 PM

Adrien raced for the rooftop door that would lead back into the hotel, knowing that’s where Hawk Moth would have gone. He should have risked taking Hawk Moth’s Miraculous while he’d been frozen, despite not knowing what that would have done to Danny or the imprisoned kwami. He should have known what Hawk Moth would do once free, attacking not him but the more vulnerable Susan to distract them. He should have realized that Hawk Moth would know of Randy’s smoke bombs from his earlier appearances and would use that to his advantage.

He should have anticipated all of that, and he hadn’t.

Of course, until Danny had reached up and pulled him out of Dracona’s talons and through the rooftop, he’d been contemplating the best use of his Cataclysm. Collapsing the roof below him wouldn’t have guaranteed escape, not when Dracona would fly, and he hadn’t been sure he wouldn’t accidentally touch something organic if he’d tried to strike anything else. Activating Cataclysm when Hawk Moth came to take his ring would have bought him five minutes, and his plan had come to rest on hoping for rescue within those five minutes (and subsequently asking Randy for a weapon he could safely destroy).

But even though his partners had come through for him, none of this had ended well.

When Hawk Moth had tackled Randy and slipped a smoke bomb from one of his pockets (and who knew what else; Randy hadn’t exactly gone through his pockets that Adrien had noticed), Adrien had still been moving towards Susan. He hadn’t acted fast enough to stop her from being attacked, even when he knew how quick Hawk Moth could be. It would be different if Ladybug were here, but she wasn’t, and he knew how important it was to get Susan medical attention when all the damage done couldn’t be reversed.

He hadn’t reached Susan before Jake. He hadn’t even made it to her side before Randy had been back on his feet, grabbing his arm and saying he’d take care of this, that Adrien—Nino, because he hadn’t trusted them with his name—should go after Hawk Moth. Danny had said he and Jake would find the akuma and bring it back to him, but Adrien had been willing to let the akuma go, let Hawk Moth go, to try to save Susan, even when he wasn’t the best equipped to do that.

First aid training would have gotten him only so far.

Hawk Moth was out of sight by the time Adrien flung open the door and bolted into the stairwell. He took the stairs two at a time, but the only footsteps he could hear was his own, and he didn’t catch any fleeting glimpses of anyone else.

That meant Hawk Moth would have transformed, and Adrien had no idea who he was beneath the mask. Adrien could hope to get lucky and catch someone with his build in one of the hallways, but he wouldn’t know for sure, and even if Hawk Moth had exited the stairwell on the top floor, he could easily have gone for the elevator or another staircase if not back to his room.

He’d hesitated, and now Hawk Moth was gone.

Adrien stopped, scanned for hidden cameras on the off chance that he’d be lucky and Hawk Moth hadn’t seen one, but of course there was nothing, at least not where he stood right now, and any blind spot would have been noted by Hawk Moth. He’d likely scouted out the entire building before using it. But if he’d deemed it safe to transform, then it was safe to Adrien to do the same, even if that meant he couldn’t take a look at security tapes to figure this out.

Adrien sat down on the stairs, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. “Claws in, Plagg.”

“Did you want me to stick close to the ceilings and zip through the rooms?”

Adrien’s lips twitched into a smile and he looked up. Plagg didn’t often to volunteer to help like that without saying he’d do it in exchange for camembert. “He won’t still be Hawk Moth.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“What I mentioned to Danny before he took me back up to the roof,” Adrien said quietly. “Get a copy of the hotel registry. It might not lead to anything—this still might not be his hotel—but I can’t think of anything else. Danny said he was happy to go to the surrounding hotels, too, and get copies of their registries, but I just don’t…. What if it doesn’t help? Is it worth stealing that information, compromising all those people’s privacy, if it doesn’t help us? He might not have used his real name.”

Plagg snorted. “Why would he be that careful right now? He didn’t know you were here.”

“But he had to know that others would be. He was trying to draw people out. I’m sure he was looking for something to use against us, maybe even another Miraculous.” Adrien groaned and buried his head again. “I was so close. I should have just risked it and taken his Miraculous. At least then I’d know his face. I don’t know how I’d find him from that, but it would’ve been better than nothing. I could’ve talked to Nathaniel and commissioned a drawing to give to Ladybug, and—”

“You and the others still stopped him from getting what he came for,” Plagg interrupted. “You know he’s here. You know he’s close. Do you really think he’s going try something a third time? No. That’s too risky for him. He’ll lay low. So, if you get a list of names and room numbers, I can look for Nooroo and report back.”

It was enough to coax a brief chuckle out of Adrien; trust Plagg to completely ignore legality and the questionable morality of this idea.

“It’s like knowing you can buy cheese somewhere on the block, or somewhere in the store, and not knowing precisely where to find it. You don’t need to unmask Hawk Moth right now to get closer to the truth.”

“What if Ladybug thinks I wasted this opportunity?”

“She’s not that sort of person.” When Adrien raised his head, Plagg continued, “You’re doing her a disservice if you think she’ll jump to blaming you for not doing on your own what you haven’t managed to do together.”

“But this is the closest we’ve ever been to getting his Miraculous.”

“And it’s the closest he’s been to getting yours. You’ve been close to Hawk Moth before. You’ll get close to him again. Ladybug will be happy that you made it out of this with your identity intact.”

Adrien smiled; it really was nice to hear that. “Thanks.” Plagg opened his mouth, maybe to demand his camembert, but Adrien added, “I’m not going to make it out of this with my identity intact, though. Not completely. I want to tell the others who I am. They deserve to know.”

Plagg, who hadn’t closed his mouth, just said, “Having allies isn’t a bad thing. If you and Ladybug ever work with more Miraculous users, at least one of you will know who they are.”

“So you don’t think telling these guys is a bad idea?”

Plagg shrugged, as best he could ever shrug, and flicked his tail. “They know about the magical world, are already keeping secret identities, and have done their best to help you. You could make a worse choice than them.” He paused, then added, “Besides, it’s not like they don’t know what you look like without a mask on. If they hang around here and look at any of the signs, they won’t need to be geniuses to figure out your real name.”

Adrien winced. “Good point.”

“Can I get some cheese before we go back up? Since I make such good points and all?”

Adrien glanced towards the roof. “Do you think Susan will, um, need help we can’t give her? Should I have called an ambulance the moment I realized I wasn’t going to catch Hawk Moth?”

“They would’ve done that already if they figured they needed to.”

“Randy doesn’t have a phone right now. Remember what he was saying to Jake before?”

“Remember when I told you the Ninja had magic? Or at least magical artefacts helping him to use magic? Some ninjas know the art of healing. It’s a handy thing to have in the field. Even if this one doesn’t, the others had phones they could’ve given him, and Susan might’ve had a phone with her, too.” Plagg zipped closer. “You’ve decided to trust them. You can trust them. The fact that Hawk Moth escaped doesn’t mean they can’t trust you, and Susan will recover even without Tikki’s—Ladybug’s—magic. We have enough time for you to give me some cheese.”

Adrien wasn’t about to argue that, so he pulled out some cheese for Plagg as his way of saying thank you and then got to his feet and started climbing the stairs. He’d transform again before going back out; he was sure Susan would keep his secret since she was Jake’s mother, but he hadn’t exactly scouted the area for cameras. Once he’d assured himself that Susan was all right and he helped her get oriented again, they could fill her in on in what had happened. It was kinder for someone to do that rather than to leave them to find out themselves on the news, though he and Ladybug usually passed the task off to friends or family or a helpful bystander because they didn’t have the time to stick around.

If Jake and Danny were successful in finding the akuma, he’d have to figure out a way to contain it until Ladybug could purify it. He’d never heard if the others had found anything suitable. There hadn’t been time to ask. If only Hawk Moth had recalled the akuma—

But he hadn’t, which meant this problem remained.

One thing at a time.

One step at a time.

“Plagg, claws out!”

7:58 PM

There were noticeably fewer people out on the streets as they got nearer to the gala, but Haley still hadn’t expected to run into a blockade when access hadn’t been restricted earlier. Rotwood split off—she saw him heading for a cluster of people, no doubt to start spreading rumours that were too close to the truth to be of any comfort—and McFist engaged the security officer in conversation. She dawdled nearby, and when he pulled out his wallet, she ducked into the forbidden area and sprinted for that initial patch of ice.

Just because she usually didn’t break the rules, didn’t mean she couldn’t.

Besides, this wasn’t nearly as bad as setting a building on fire.

Haley didn’t wait long before she started lobbing Ninja Cold Balls. Most of them were aimed behind her because she had been followed, but as the balls burst apart and spread ice, it grew into a meandering pathway that followed her zigzagging run. It didn’t make a particular pattern and certainly wasn’t the giant rink that McFist and Rotwood had been envisioning, but the result was a ribbon-like trail that stretched from one side of the cordoned-off area to the other. She hurled the last Ninja Cold Ball at someone who’d tried approaching her from the side and slipped away, running for cover.

The fact that the ice was incredibly slippery and that made following her more difficult was a bonus.

She kept running until she was far enough ahead to take a corner and lose everyone behind her. An alley wasn’t a dead end when you were a dragon, at least not when it was somewhere without cameras, so she was on the rooftops by the time someone ran by below.

Haley took a moment to catch her breath, dismissing her wings so she could lie flat on the roof and stare up at the sky. She had no idea if Rotwood and McFist would be able to do anything to hold up their end of this plan. She had no idea how Jake and the others were faring. She had no idea if Gramps and Fu and Sun—

Haley wrinkled her nose. Something smelled like stale gasoline and…. Ethanol? No, that wasn’t right. She wasn’t sure what it actually was, but whatever it was, it was foul. She sat up, scanning the streets below before she realized the thrumming she could hear wasn’t coming there. Haley looked to the skies.

The dragon that glided towards the site of the gala wasn’t terribly big. It was smaller than Jake, maybe half his size. It tilted, circled the building, and then settled on the roof with something that would more appropriately be called a crash.

One wing never folded, and after about ten seconds, the other wing creaked out to join the first. The dragon perched there like a gargoyle, although the image was completed when it spouted a brief flash of fire instead of water.

Haley barely took the time to make sure the coast was clear before she jumped off the roof, calling out her wings as she fell to soften her landing. They disappeared as her feet touched the ground, and she kept running. She wasn’t the only person heading back to the scene, even if the crowd was thinner than it had been earlier, so her haste didn’t make her stand out. Ahead of her, people were already starting to gather and point upwards….

This couldn’t be McFist; there was no way he’d be able to act this quickly, even with his resources, and this was beyond Rotwood. It had to be—

“There you are, kiddo!” McFist said, catching her arm and jerking her back painfully as she ran past him. He didn’t seem to notice her whimper, instead pointing up at the building and the dragon that loomed over them all. “Look what Viceroy made! A Robo-Dragon! I’ve already called him and informed him he’s getting a bonus. He was too startled for words. It was great. He’s never speechless. I had to reward it, though. This is quick work, even for him, and sending it here to test it out on the NYC Ninja was a stroke of genius—mine, of course, but I didn’t think he’d manage it.”

Viceroy.

The person who helped him with the Sorcerer.

“I can’t get him anything,” Haley said in case McFist decided to ask.

He glanced down, realized that he was still holding her, and let her go. She prodded at her arm and winced. She didn’t think he’d done this intentionally, but bruises were going to be the least of her worries for a while. She was lucky he hadn’t dislocated it.

“Sorry,” he said, and he sounded like he meant it. “I was just excited. Couldn’t find Rotwood, and you’re the only other one who knows the plan.”

This hadn’t been the plan, though. Had it? She didn’t really count this as false advertising, but—

“I’ve paid them all off if you’re worried,” he added, nodding at the security officers. “Money doesn’t just talk. Works great for this kind of thing, too.”

Haley nodded absently, scanning the crowd. “Rotwood’s over there,” she said, following a glint to his monocle and raising her hand to point him out to McFist. “He’s getting blustery. I guess a robotic dragon is an effective way to shut down his claims about a real one.”

“Nice work. Come on.”

Haley held her ground. “Can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone. I’ll give it back, I promise.”

She wasn’t sure if it was a sign of trust or the foolishness of the rich that McFist dug it out of his pocket and handed it to her without asking any questions—or without sticking around to listen in, as he started walking off to give her some privacy. She walked in the other direction, keeping an eye on the crowd and her surroundings while she waited for Fu to pick up.

When he did answer, he didn’t say hello or the usual Fu here. He didn’t say anything at all, and she realized it must be because he didn’t know the number. “It’s Haley,” she said, and then the rest of the story spilled out of her in a torrent. The bare bones of the plan Nino had sketched out before they’d split up. How she’d gone from distracting two people to making promises in return for their help. Gramps hadn’t been entirely happy to hear that (Fu’d put her on speakerphone once she’d started talking), since he still wasn’t thrilled Jake had taken Rotwood to the Magus Bazaar in the first place, but he agreed that taking Rotwood back was a fair price for his silence.

He was even less happy about what she’d promised McFist, him being even more of an outsider than Rotwood, but Fu assured her he had something that would do the trick in reserve—he had a stock in case things ever went south and they couldn’t wait three weeks for him to brew something—and they both agreed that it was better than what McFist had initially asked for.

In turn, they filled her in on what Sun had been up to. She hadn’t just been seeding her own rumours; she’d been trying to get people away from the scene, efforts that had been stymied repeatedly until an order came from up top that cleared everyone out more effectively than she could’ve hoped. The official reason given for leaving had absolutely nothing to do with the dragon sighting, which had worked in her favour, but it clearly pointed to someone at the top stalling earlier, and she’d sneaked back to try to find out what she could.

Fu’s poker contacts had come up dry in terms of a decent magical containment device, since they couldn’t afford to bet on rumours right now. He hadn’t had any luck with any of the strings he’d pulled through his contacts at the Magus Bazaar, either, but at least Marty reported the coast had been clear at the shop since Trixie and Spud had left. Whoever had gotten to Susan didn’t have friends in the city, or at least not friends that could be spared to find and hit up anywhere of magical value.

Gramps, while he hadn’t found Susan, had made a list of ways they could tell Jonathan.

Haley nearly dropped the phone upon hearing that. “Really?” she whispered. She’d been thinking they’d never be allowed to tell him everything, that she’d always have to keep secrets from him. To think that maybe she wouldn’t have to….

“I have not always approved of your mother’s choice,” Gramps said quietly, “but there is no mistaking Jonathan’s love for all of you. Jake’s position as the American Dragon makes his path increasingly dangerous, and today has shown me that yours is little better. If my little lotus flower is not safe from the perils of this life, then your father must have a chance to choose it for himself.”

“He will. I know he will. Jake told all of us about the time he fought the Strigoi and didn’t even realize it. And the Jersey Devil.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face. “When do you think we can tell him?”

“Once we have Susan with us again.”

The words spread cold across her lungs. “Jake’s working on it,” she breathed. “He’ll do this, with his friends. Kara said he could.”

“I hate a wet blanket as much as the next person, but she said he’d have help, kid. Not that it would be enough.”

“It’ll be enough. He’ll make sure of it.” She finally caught sight of waving in the crowd, and she raised her own hand in recognition. “I have to go. Someone will call you soon. With good news.”

“Hope so. Good luck.”

“Yo, Haley,” Trixie said as she got closer. “Where’s Jake? I found that thermos of Spud’s he wanted, and he’s not answering his phone.”

“I’m not sure,” Haley admitted. She glanced over her shoulder to the dragon. “That was Spud, right?”

“Got it in one. He’d been working on something for the family restaurant and then decided to repurpose it.” Lowering her voice and leaning closer, she added, “Keep this on the down low, but we had to break into the school to steal some stuff to finish it up, so if anyone asks, that’s on Rotwood.”

“Rotwood might actually cover for you guys if you make a deal with him, you know.”

Trixie snorted. “Oh, I am not going there. If Jakey wants to take a trip to crazy town, he can go without me.”

“Rotwood’s helping me now.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow. “Girl, Spud and I caught him yelling about a dragon and a ninja when we got here. That is not helping in my book.”

“It’s, um, not as straightforward as it sounds.” Desperate to change the subject because she was feeling like a fool, Haley asked, “Where is Spud, anyway?”

Trixie pointed across the street to one of the buildings Haley had flown past earlier. “He needed the height for sight lines. Should be coming to join me now that the dragon’s grounded. We can take over Rotwood duty if you wanna get this to Jake?” She held out the thermos.

Haley took it. “Yeah, I’ll find him. Thanks.” She passed Trixie McFist’s cell phone and added, “This belongs to McFist. The rich white guy with the prosthetic arm. Loud. Probably accusing Rotwood of making everything up and claiming this is all a publicity stunt. You can’t miss him. I made a deal with him, too. Pass that back to him for me?”

Trixie whistled. “What exactly did we miss?”

Haley shrugged. “That’s what I want to know, too.”

7:59 PM

Susan used the damp scarf to wash away some of the blood (Randy had helpfully wet part of it for her with a well-placed Ninja Hydro Hand), but she didn’t dare try standing yet. The Ninja—Randy Cunningham, as he’d promptly introduced himself—had been kind enough to not only heal her wounds but to help her clean up, and she didn’t want to worry him by admitting that she wasn’t feeling quite as well as he seemed to think.

She was tired. Her head ached. Her memories were fuzzy, blending together like someone had given her a botched memory potion, and it was difficult to sort through them. She knew the important things, though. She knew she’d become a danger to everyone, flaunted the existence of the magical world, and been saved by her son and his new friends. She remembered the feeling of the wind beneath her wings, the heat of fire warming her from within, vividly enough that the memory warmed her now—or would, if the rest didn’t sicken her. She remembered anger and had a vague sense of struggling for control that left her with an impression of pride and foolishness—her own, not Jake’s.

“…shoob who totally owes me a new phone and magical air purifier. Since you’re his mom, can you nag him for me? I have a feeling that he’ll forget.”

Susan was saved from answering when the rooftop access door opened and Chat Noir emerged.

He was empty-handed. More to the point, he wasn’t smiling.

She didn’t need to remember the details to know he’d gone after the person who had done this to her. She’d suspected he wouldn’t be successful, not between what she recalled about Hawk Moth’s character and what she’d learned from Randy’s grumblings. From the way Randy’s shoulders suddenly slumped as he noticed Chat Noir’s expression, however, he’d held out hope. “Adrien, isn’t it?” she asked quietly as the boy reached them. “Thank you for your help.”

He froze. Apparently oblivious, Randy corrected her. “That’s Nino, actually. Well, we call him that. Didn’t I tell you? Anyway, the last guy is Danny.”

Nino. So he hadn’t wanted to tell them he was supposed to be one of the stars of the show? She could respect that, though she knew she wasn’t mistaken; he hardly looked different from his posters to her, though seeing through a subtly woven glamour was something she’d always been able to do. That was the reason she’d found most of her staff. “My apologies,” she said as he sat cross-legged on the roof, not looking at either of them.

“No,” he said. “No need to apologize.” He raised his head, meeting her eyes and then looking to Randy. “My name is Adrien. I was going to tell you all now anyway. I…. I’m sorry about not saying anything earlier.”

“What for?”

“For…for not trusting you. And—”

“No, I mean, you don’t need to apologize. There’s nothing to apologize for. And I dunno if I’d trust those guys either if they tried to drown me, so I don’t think they’re going to blame you.” Perhaps reading—or misreading—Adrien’s expression, Randy added, “I got the story earlier.”

Adrien opened his mouth, hesitated, and then said, “Thanks.” Turning to Susan, he asked, “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better, but I’ll be all right.”

“I know you must have a lot of questions,” Adrien said, “even if Randy’s already filled you in. The memory loss is normal, and you need to understand that everything you did was under Hawk Moth’s influence and that you weren’t thinking clearly. He knows how to twist people’s emotions to manipulate them into doing what he wants.”

“No. I’m still partially at fault. There were times when I could almost block him out of my head, and I was aware of what I was doing. If I had been thinking more clearly, I hope I would have known that using you as bait to draw him out of hiding carried too much risk, but I still made that decision.”

Adrien blinked. “What?”

“I thought there was a way to defeat him and keep what I’d gained, and I risked all of your lives because of that. Perhaps I wasn’t thinking clearly, but Jake was right; some part of me should have known better, and for that, I apologize. To all of you.” She raised her head to speak her last words louder as Jake and Danny came back. Jake transformed and ran to her immediately, wrapping her in a hug that made her wonder how she could have been so angry with him before when she’d known he’d acted out of worry and fear for her.

“If this was anyone’s fault, I vote we blame Hawk Moth,” Randy said.

“Randy’s got a point,” Danny said. “People make mistakes all the time, but he’s deliberately trying to hurt people. You guys need to stop blaming yourselves for everything.” Turning to Adrien and holding out his hands, which were cupped together, he said, “We’ve got the akuma. We just, uh, don’t have anywhere to put it.”

“You won’t need to put it anywhere,” Susan said, speaking before Adrien had a chance. She might not know how Adrien usually addressed the problem, but she knew the type. A corruption of magic was hardly anything new, and neither was pouring it into a vessel, even if that vessel wasn’t typically alive. “You should just need to purify it and release it.”

“That’s the problem,” Adrien said. “I don’t have that ability, or at least I don’t think I do. My partner in Paris looks after that.”

“Jake can do it.”

Jake pulled back from the hug to gape at her. “What?”

“If you stopped listening to music during your training sessions,” she chided gently, “or at least kept it low enough that you could still hear what you were being told, then you would know already. Dragon fire is purifying.”

“That’s why it changed colour!” Danny exclaimed. “I knew that had to mean something.” He opened his hands, releasing a white butterfly.

Adrien grinned, straightening as he shed the weight of worry, and raised his hand. “Bye, bye, little butterfly.”

(see more fics | next)  

[mr-lancers-english-class]

The Rescue

Vengeful Babes, Dissection, & Identity Reveal

AO3

Word Count: 3753

Dani wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this to Valerie. She was flying as fast as she could and it wasn’t fast enough but she also needed to think but she needed to focus to be able to think and couldn’t focus on that right now, no, because she didn’t need to crash into another jet and so she had to fly first and brainstorm second but there wouldn’t be time to brainstorm later so she needed to think now!

A bird squawked angrily off to her right, shocking Dani out of her thoughts and forcing her to slam to a halt. She glared at the bird as it gave her the stink eye before flying off. 

“I’m stopped anyway. I need to catch my breath. I’ll think of something right now,” she muttered to herself. “Alright. What do I know? Danny’s been caught. Danny needs my help. Sam and Tucker are out of town. Jazz is at college. None of the three of them know. Vlad’s minion contacted me to tell me. Because Vlad was caught too. The Fenton’s managed to catch them both. ” Dani took a moment to scream internally. She had thought she’d been free of Vlad, that he couldn’t ever find her. Danny had said he’d changed, that he was becoming more of a crazy uncle figure than a fruitloopy asshole, but Dani was loathe to trust the man. “Vlad knows how to find me. No, if he actually has changed, maybe he doesn’t but his minions do. Skulker definitely does. That’s probably it. Skulker’s always been able to find me, and now maybe this time it’s because Danny and Vlad need help and not because he wants to hunt me for sport.” She barked out a sharp laugh. “Why is my life so weird?”

With a quick inhale, Dani took off flying as hard as she could towards Amity Park. It was only a few more minutes away. She could feel the ectoplasm in the air grow thicker, and her speed increased accordingly.

“Danny and Vlad are caught by the Fenton’s and everyone who knows their secrets are out of town except Valerie. And Valerie doesn’t really like either of them, though maybe not as much.” Dani thought back to the last phone call she’d had with her girlfriend. Valerie had mentioned that she and Phantom had a truce, that they had started to work together more to stop the ghosts, and that, for the first time in the three years she had been the Red Huntress, she was getting enough sleep and finishing most of her homework. Though she hadn’t talked to Danny in a while, Dani was pretty sure the same could be said of him. It had taken too long for both of them to be willing to work with the other.

“But Valerie doesn’t know. She knows about me, but she doesn’t know about Danny or Vlad.” Dani slowed down as she entered the Amity Park airspace. The air was practically glowing with latent ectoplasm. “The less she knows about halfas the better, but also Danny should have told her forever ago and it would have made life so much easier for both of them. Agh! Why is he such an idiot?!” She veered off to the north and turned invisible. After a minute of scanning the identical apartments, she was pretty sure she had found Valerie’s. Lowering herself to the window, Dani knocked four times, paused, and knocked twice more.

The door inside slammed open. Valerie dashed across the floor, dove over her bed, and crashed into the wall with enough force to shake the ceiling lights. Throwing open the window, she whisper-shouted “Dannielle!”

Dani took that as her cue to re-enter the visible spectrum and slide through the open window. “Valerie! It’s so good to see-” She was cut off as Valerie smothered her in a hug. Dani melted in to Valerie’s arms and was very disappointed when the other girl pulled away. Disappointment was immediately replaced with a warm kiss. Valerie held Dani’s face, while Dani brought her hands up into Valerie’s hair and kissed back. It had been months since they’d seen each other in person and Dani never wanted this kiss to end.

And then she remember why she was back in Amity Park.

Dani pulled away from Valerie with a sharp inhale. Valerie tilted her head and gave her an odd look.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Valerie let go of Dani’s face and found her hands instead. “Something tells me you’re not back just to visit.” Dani shook her head miserably. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she forced herself to hold them in, at least until she could explain what was going on. Crying was so messy. It made life difficult when you had to worry about leaking eyes and hitching breaths, Dani decided.

“I need your help,” Dani whispered.

“Of course, Dani. You know I’m always here for you,” Valerie whispered back.

“It’s a, uh, it’s a ghost thing.”

Valerie’s eyes hardened into something dangerous. “Who’s ass do I need to kick?” Dani giggled once through the slow tears that were now streaking down her face.

“The Fentons’?” She tried to smile, but it was difficult.

“The Fentons? What did they do?”

“They got Phantom.” Dani could practically see the gears turning in Valerie’s head as she mouthed ‘The Fentons have Phantom’ a few times. “And, and Plasmius, but he’s not really my priority.”

“They have Plasmius too? The Fentons caught Vlad and Phantom?” Valerie quickly maneuvered to the other side of the room to close her door. It wouldn’t do well for her dad to get home and see her plotting with Phantom’s identical clone.

“Yeah, a few hours ago. Skulker found me to tell me and- wait, I never said Vlad. I said Plasmius,” she said slowly. Valerie knew Dani wasn’t exactly a full ghost or a full human, and also that Dani was literally a clone of another being who happened to have a hodge-podge mix of memories from said being. Valerie did not know that Danny and Vlad were halfas, or really even about the existence of halfas. Unless-

“No, I know that’s what you said, baby. But, well, Vlad Masters is Plasmius and oh you already knew-” Valerie saw the look in Dani’s eyes and put it together faster than Dani would have expected. “He’s like you, isn’t he? Plasmius?”

“Sort of. He’s more human, and he’s not a clone. We’re called halfas, but Vlad is mostly just a human infected with ghostliness and I’m technically a clone of a halfa and not a full halfa.” Dani paused. This was getting closer to Danny’s secret than she would like. Unfortunately, Valerie was smart, and Dani knew she already had theories.

“I take it Phantom is a halfa?” Dani nodded. “And the Fenton’s have caught him. And they’re probably going to experiment on him.” Dani nodded, smaller this time. “So we need to rescue him. And Vlad,” Valerie added as an afterthought. “Do you have a plan?”

Dani took a deep breath before speaking. “Sort of. Maybe. I sneak into FentonWorks while you cause a big distraction somewhere, something that looks really dangerous. The problem is that, according to Skulker, there’s a ghost shield around the house that basically puts a full stop to anything ghostly inside. No powers.”

“Then I should be the one to sneak in to FentonWorks. It’ll be easier for me to escape, and I don’t want you to get caught too,” Valerie suggested. Dani shook her head.

“You’d be just as powerless as me. Your suit is powered by ectoplasmic energy, and is possibly psychically linked to you, though I’m mostly guessing on that one. You would be weaponless, and also, if they saw you, the Fenton’s would definitely recognize you. I at least have some anonymity. Plus, I can escape into the Ghost Zone easier. You’ve got a big target on your back in there.”

“Makes sense. So I need to make a distraction” Dani nodded. “Okay. I have an idea.”

Exactly six minutes later, Dani was crouched on a roof opposite FentonWorks in her human form. Valerie had split off towards the park with a quick kiss three blocks back to enact her part of the plan. Right now, she would be off launching flash grenades in the middle of the park, making a big light show with some loud noises, but little property damage. Dani was waiting for the Fenton’s to notice and leave. It was taking too long and it was stressing her out and they needed to go because her cousin was in there and she needed to get to Danny and-

“Let’s go Maddie! There’s a powerful ghost in the park! Phantom will be here when we get back, and we can get a third strong ghost.” Jack Fenton had slammed the front door open with enough force to crack the wood. Maddie Fenton was right behind him carrying three thermoses, a vacuum, and at least seven ectoguns ranging in size from finger-gun to military-grade rocket launchers.

“To the RV!” Maddie shouted with easily as much enthusiasm though likely twice as loud. Dani winced at the volume. The neighbors might wake up, which would cause problems. As it was, she appeared to be okay for now. 

Dani watched as the RV screeched down the street and turned the corner towards the park. She fired off a quick text to Valerie, JF and MF are on their way, be safe <3, before jumping down from the roof to land lightly on the empty street. It was almost two in the morning, so every other streetlight was off. She would have to make sure to thank Vlad for that later. It made it significantly easier to see the Fenton’s shield.

“And now I just walk through, make sure I’m not using any powers, no powers, all good…” She scrunched up her shoulders in anticipation of the sting that came with crossing a shield, and was through in half a second. “Alright, the door. Is it unlocked? Nope! Okay, so, um,” She didn’t bother searching for a key, preferring to aim the Fenton Wrist Ray Valerie made her wear at the look. It melted to nothing in a single shot and the door swung open. “Right then, now down to the lab!” She whispered with mock excitement.

Every single light on the first floor was turned on. Dani imagined that the Fenton’s hadn’t left the basement since they captured Danny, and so probably had no idea it had gotten so late. Danny would occasionally tell her about his parents, how obsessive they could be. 

She found the door to the basement laboratory easily. It was right next to the kitchen, which seemed like a potentially very dangerous idea, and was covered in bright yellow warnings about ectoplasm, radiation, and general danger. She quickly snuck down the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible despite knowing she was alone in the house. If she got caught, well, from a purely selfish note, that would be very bad.

The stairs led into a large cluttered room that was surprisingly open. On the far wall, the closed portal sat menacingly. In the middle was a table. Lying on the table, limbs and head strapped down with glowing leather, was Phantom. His black suit with trademark logo was missing from the waist up, where a gaping hole showing his innards was instead. Thankfully, he appeared to be asleep. Dani almost threw up then and there. She settled for light gagging instead.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out to see Valerie’s reply.

The Fenton’s haven’t figured out it’s me yet. They’re still running around the park.

It buzzed again with a follow up.

You be safe too babe.

Dani almost smiled before remembering where she was and who else was in the room. She glanced up to find Danny staring at her over his open stomach and yelped, dropping her phone. It clattered to the floor with a distressing sound.

“Danny?”

“Hey cuz!” He was way too enthusiastic, Dani thought, given that he should be even more dead. “How are you?”

“Are- are you okay?” she whispered.

“Oh yeah, no I’m fine, I think. I mean, there’s this,” He glanced down at the dissection. “And whatever they strapped me down with is biting and I can’t phase through it, but other than that, I think I’m okay.” Dani bent over to pick up her phone. The screen wasn’t cracked, thankfully, but the case had a sizable dent in one corner.

“So, um, how do I get you out?” She looked back at Danny, pointedly ignoring the gaping wound.

“There’s a button on the side of the table. It’ll turn off the phase-proofing part, and I can get out from there.” Dani found the aforementioned button, and was distressed that it required a DNA sample.

“It, well, it needs DNA. I guess so other ghosts don’t come and break their cousins out.”

Danny laughed incredulously. His intestines jiggled. Dani swallowed bile.

“Everything in here is DNA coded to my parents, Jazz, and I. You’re the same DNA as me, so it should work.” Dani tried the button, and with a sharp prick of her finger to draw blood, it depressed. There was a generic powering down sound, and suddenly the leather stopped glowing.

Danny sat up as he phased his head and arms through their straps. After taking a second to rub his wrists and try and get the blood flowing, he reached into his chest and removed a few metal devices. He then took the clamps holding his skin open and released them, folding his chest back into shape. Once everything was starting to heal correctly, he hopped down off the table.

It had been at least six months since Dani had seen her “cousin” in person, and she was a bit shocked to see that he was now at least an inch and a half taller than her. She was tall by human standards, almost six feet, but Danny had shot up. He was going to be close to his dad’s height, she thought numbly, trying to ignore the green stains on Danny’s chest.

“...back soon, so we need to go,” Danny finished saying. Dani blinked as she realized he’d been talking. “Dani? Dannielle?”

“I’m here. I’m good. Um, can you repeat what you were saying?”

“We need to dash. My parents will be back soon. At least something we just did will have triggered an alarm. “

“Oh, yeah, that. Um, we could go out the front, but I don’t have my powers right now so that’s riskier. The best option is the portal.”

“Seeing as I’m a bit stuck as Phantom right now, you need to open the portal. Same DNA lock, that sort of thing. Shouldn’t be any harder than the Fenton Ghost Straps.”

“You’re stuck as Phantom?” Dani asked, maneuvering around the vast piles of who-knew-whats to get to the portal.

“Well, not really, but I heal a lot faster as Phantom and ectoplasm stains are significantly easier to get out of clothing. Also, if it comes up, I don’t want to have to explain blood stains. My parents ask more questions when it’s blood,” Danny said. He was poking at the Y-shaped incision on his chest that was now at least no longer flapping with each step. Dani looked away.

“How come you have your powers at all right now? The ghost shield is shutting me down pretty heavily.” Dani asked, keeping her back to her cousin, because god that was a disgusting sound and would he please just stop?

“Weird thing I discovered about shields. The more time you spend around them, the less the affect you. And it’s not just me. Dora, Johnny, Kitty, and Amorpho are all significantly less affected by shields now that I’ve been inviting them into town sometimes.”

“Huh. Weird,” Dani said. “So, which button is it?”

Danny came up next to her at a large control panel. “It’s this one here. Same thing as before, it’ll need a small blood sample, but you’re blood is identical to mine, so my parents won’t know.”

Dani pressed the button, and the portal slid open. Green energy shot out with a quiet roar as the basement turned the same shade as Danny’s organs. Dani was saved from this thought by her phone buzzing again, this time insistently.

“Give me a sec. Gotta take this,” she said over her shoulder. Danny nodded. She answered it.

“Dannielle? Are you there? Get out now!” Valerie’s voice was almost drowned out by the sounds of high winds. “The Fenton’s are coming back quickly. They’re like, two blocks out.”

Dani was proud that she didn’t panic. High stress situations were far too common in her young life, which, as disappointed as she was by this, helped in future high stress situations.

“On our way out. Phantom’s fine. We’re going through the portal. See you in a few minutes.”

“Sounds good. Love you.”

“Love you.” Dani smiled as she hung up. She turned back to Danny and was greeted with pleasant surprise. “I’ll tell you once we’re safe in the Ghost Zone.” Danny laughed.

“The Ghost Zone is never safe.” And he dove headfirst into the open portal. Dani heard the door upstairs slam open with no lock to impede the Fenton adults. Oh well. That’s what they get for kidnapping her cousin. She followed Danny through the portal without a glance back.

Immediately, she could feel her powers flow through her. She transformed giddily into her own ghost self and did a few loop-de-loops. Danny was waiting for her with a smile.

“So… you’re dating someone?” Dani groaned.

“Yeah, I am. We’ve been dating for almost a year now.”

“Do I get the honor of knowing how this person is?” The two halfas flew deeper into the Zone. 

“We’re about to meet up with her.” 

“Is she a ghost?” Danny did a barrel roll over top of Dani so he could fly sideways, on his stomach with his legs crossed in the air behind him and his chin resting on his hands. Dani rolled her eyes.

“No, she’s human.”

“So I take it she knows? About you? Does she know about me?” Danny rolled onto his back so he was looking at Dany upside down.

“Yes she knows about me. No she doesn’t know about you, but I think she suspects something.” Dani stopped and watched as her cousin went speeding by.

“And where exactly is she?” Danny asked, making his way back to Dani.

“In the human realm.” Dani reached her hands out into the air infront of her, and with less concentration needed than the last time she tried this, opened a rent in the fabric of reality.

The small portal, no larger than a bean bag, was swirling green and purple and smelled vaguely of cinnamon and apples. Danny whistled.

“You’ve gotten strong. I haven’t been able to do portals at all.”

“Well, I can’t hold them for long, so please do enter.” Danny flew through the hole in the fabric of the Ghost Zone. Dani took a deep breath and followed suit.

They emerged above Valerie’s apartment. Dani alighted on the gravel roof, and detransformed. Danny stayed hovering at her shoulder height. Within a minute, Dani could hear the whine of Valerie’s hover board, and soon spotted her girlfriend flying high above the city.

The Red Huntress circled the apartment once, before slowly lowering and retracting her hoverboard. She landed on both feet, and Dani lept forward to hug her. After far too short, Dani pulled away, because her cousin was spluttering behind her. She turned back to look at him, and was very releived to see that his jumpsuit had reformed. That’s good, she thought, because that was disgusting and I almost lost my lunch, and that would have gone badly for both of us.

“You’re dating Valerie?!” Danny practically shouted. Both Dani and Valerie shushed him equally as loudly. “Why didn’t you tell me? What? You’re dating Valerie?”

“Yes I am,” said Dani, at the same time that Valerie said “And just how do you know who I am?” They looked at each other and had a quick wordless conversation. It ended with Valerie retracting her full suit. Dani leaned in to kiss her cheek.

“You know who I am, Phantom.” It almost sounded like a question, but Danny had spent too much time around Valerie in the last four years of high school to mistake it as such. “You’ve known for a while now. And I suppose, I know who you are too.” Danny remained silent, so she continued. “I’ve known for a while, I just didn’t want to think about it.” Dani reached for Valerie’s hand and gave a light squeeze.

“I should have told you a while ago, Val. Sorry about that,” Danny muttered, landing lightly on the roof. “If I may ask, what gave it away?”

“You mean besides the name?” Danny nodded with a laugh. “How much Dani looks like you. Both sides of you. You guys do mention clone a fair amount, and even I’m not that blind.”

Danny let his transformation rings wash over him, and although she knew, Valerie was still a bit surprised to see Danny Fenton standing on her roof.

“So, then, now that all this is in the open, does anyone want food?” Danny asked, changing the subject. He stretched his arms up over his head. “Being dissected takes a lot of energy, and I am starving!” Dani smiled at her cousin. Valerie barked out a laugh.

“I guess, yeah.”

“Well then, to the Nasty Burger! Dinner is on me!” Danny transformed back and began to fly off. Dani and Valerie followed close behind.

“It’s four in the morning, Danny,” Dani yelled into the wind. “I think this counts as breakfast.”

“Time is irrelevant. Burgers normally means dinner, so dinner it shall be.” All three teenagers laughed.

“Are you guys just going to go in like this?” Valerie shouted.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Val. Minimum wage workers tend not to ask too many questions about ghosts at ungodly hours.” 

They flew for a minute, trading light banter, before Valerie came to a screeching halt. Dani and Danny circled back around and hovered with her.

“Um, guys, did anyone get Vlad?”

[spooky-the-owl]

Full ghost Danny au

Danny's always been a ghost. He just appeared in the Ghost Zone and that's where he lived all his 'life'. Then there was suddenly a new door in the ghost zone.

The ghosts want to know for sure that it's safe so they throw Danny in because he's an outcast.

Danny lands between the two Fentons and is scared out of his mind.

He backs away and tries to escape by phazing through the ceiling but he ends up in the living room face to face with Jazz who screams. He screams back. Finally he sees another door, which he tries, but instead of the Ghost Zone he finds himself in a whole new world that he doesn't recognize.

He quickly shuts the door and is panicking so much he curls up on the ground.

Fentons don't know what to do until Jazz recognizes a panic attack and calms him down.

Danny doesn't speak a language. He speaks in emotions and detects emotions in other people's tones of voice. Not the words. (I like to make ghosts as different from humans as I can.)

The Fentons decide to help him get accustomed to this new world so they can, at the same time, find out about this species.

He learns a bit of their language and they find a way to communicate. They only go out to the roof at night, so there's less of a chance of others seeing him. They don't want people finding out about their accomplishment just yet. Danny is mesmerized by the stars.

"What" is his favorite word.

He somehow meets Tucker, maybe he is tutored by jazz and his tech goes whacko when he's in the haunted house so he's suspicious.

He goes to the only other person who wouldn't laugh at him. Sam. And they go out to investigate.

They find Danny and freak out. The Fentons let them in on their secret and the three teens become besties.

Danny gets really hungry because human food doesn't have the nutrients he needs so he sneaks out into the ghost zone for a snack but he runs into the ghosts that threw him in. They find out the portal is safe to go through and leads to earth so they take the jump too.

Danny feels guilty and obligated to help the Fentons in catching the spooks.

The Fentons train him. He gets karate lessons from Maddie and a run through of the weapons from Jack.

Ghost busters ensues.

[writehardwhumpharder]

Fluffy OC drabble Carson gets a concussion and Daniel takes care of him.

Carson laid across the armchair sideways so his legs dangled off one end and his head leaned against the other armrest. Most adults wouldn't attempt such a position but Carson was pretty good at fitting in small spaces. He stared at the ceiling, seemingly entranced by it.

"Wow." He muttered, reaching one arm up to swipe at the empty air.

"Carson, buddy, stop staring at the magic before you hurt yourself." Danny warned. It was never good to use his senses like this for so long. Technically magic was always visible to him but he was blind to it unless he really tried to see it, sort of like an extra sense, or another layer over the world.

Carson's eyes tracked the little beads of light floating through the air like dust. Trace energies swirled around in faded colors, just echoes of their original source. Normally he wouldn't do this recreationally but right now he was just too out of it to care. Whatever walls in his brain that kept him from seeing the energy all the time had crumbled away along with most of his brain function.

Danny grabbed his hand out of the air and put it back down in his lap. "Stop that." He instructed, sounding like he was talking to a small child.

"But it's so pretty." Carson whined, reaching his arm back up to touch the energy as soon as Danny stepped away from him. His fingertips tingled faintly and his head started to spin. He slouched deeper into the chair suddenly, trying to ground himself. Curling inward, Carson tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling radiating from his head.

"Don't you dare throw up on my chair," Danny warned, reading the look on Carson's face. He'd seen him piss drunk plenty of times and this wasn't all that different.

"What do you take me for? An amateur?" Carson slurred slightly, sounding genuinely offended, "I'll throw up on the floor where it's easier to clean up and as long as I'm conscious, I can take care of it myself," Carson said, which was probably true.

Daniel rolled his eyes and settled down on the couch across from him. He pretended to be annoyed that he was stuck babysitting Carson after he went and got himself majorly concussed but let's be honest, he'd do anything for him. With everything that had been going on in his life lately you'd think he got hit in some epic battle, but no. Carson hit his head when he tripped walking up the stairs to the apartment building. Daniel knew because he had the pleasure of witnessing the whole thing. Five steps, there are only five steps up to the main door and he still somehow managed to fuck that up. Though to be fair, it was very early in the season for ice to be a problem and he hadn't expected it. Carson probably would have gotten off with only a scraped hand or knee but he had been holding his phone at the time and apparently keeping the screen from shattering was more important than protecting his own skull.

What had humanity come to? Daniel wondered as he kept an eye on Carson, who seemed to be asking existential questions of his own.

"Don't my abilities kinda prove that fate doesn't exist? I mean if illness and death can be avoided with a little soul rearranging then destiny can't be very strong... or, or maybe fate is a thing and I'm just pissing it off. Oh my god, Danny, what if the universe is mad at me?" He asked, turning his head to face him without actually lifting it off the armrest. To be honest, Carson wasn't sure he even could. His head might as well have weighed 50 lbs at that point.

"Ugh, I don't know man. I don't think you'd be given the chance to heal people if the universe considered it cheating," Danny sighed, "Aren't you supposed to be tired or something?"

This time Carson did manage to lift his head. His uneven pupils gave him a sort of crazed look.

"Nah, I am wide awake," Carson said as he slid out of the chair and onto the floor, "so awake."

"Mhmm right, well I'm getting tired so how about you drink some of that water and try not to kill yourself." Danny said as he got up from the couch to go get ready for bed. Carson gave a lazy thumbs up from where he sat on the floor next to the coffee table. Daniel came back a minute later and started to move it out of his way so he could pull out the couch for Carson to sleep on since he still didn't feel confident letting him go back to his own apartment.

"Noooooo, not the pullout couch. Anything but the pullout couch." Carson whined. Daniel rubbed at his forehead with frustration.

"Well it's either this or you gotta bunk with me, I'm not letting you go home yet, you can barely stand." Danny explained, only Carson had no intention of walking all the way downstairs anyway. He seemed to think about it for second then shrugged.

"Okay," Carson said, attempting to stand. He wobbled and had to lean on the chair to fully get on his feet but he managed. Surprise flashed across Danny's face leaving a pink tint to his cheeks which thankfully Carson didn't notice.

"What? That wasn't an offer," he stammered.

"Too late. It's decided," Carson said weakly, he closed his eyes and swayed slightly. Daniel dropped the decorative pillow he was holding and leaned awkwardly across the coffee table to grab Carson's elbow.

"Easy there Car," Danny said urgently, lunging to keep Carson from falling over.

"m fine" Carson slurred right before his legs folded under him. Luckily he didn't actually pass out because then they'd have to go back to the hospital. They'd been told that general weakness and disorientation was normal. Danny stared down at him sharply, his hold on him the only thing keeping Carson up. "I didn't fall, I just forgot where the floor was."

"Sure ya did," Danny hoisted him up and lead him the short distance to the bed. His apartment wasn't split into two rooms so he had more space for an actual bed, you know, the kind adults have.

Carson fell face down on top of it with a groan. Daniel took a deep breath to steady his nerves and sat down on the other side. He looked over to see that Carson was already asleep, probably passed out the second his head hit the pillow. Slipping into his pajamas Daniel turned off the lights, plugged in their phones, wrestled the blankets out from under Carson who fell asleep on top of the covers, and when he couldn't stall any longer he got into bed next to him. They were friends, best friends, so why did this feel so weird? Daniel turned over, sneaking a look at Carson. God he looked so cute when he was sleeping.

"Stop. Stop thinking about it." He scolded himself, turning over again to face the wall. Only because he really was tired did he manage to fall asleep thirty minutes later.

***

Daniel wasn't sure exactly what woke him up. No screaming so it wasn't Carson, or... He suddenly remembered that Carson was sleeping in his apartment tonight and looked over to find that Carson was still there but he was sitting up, awake.

"You okay, Car?" He asked groggily. Carson made some kind of non-commital sound which only added to Daniel's concern. He sat up and flicked the lamp on, immediately noticing how pale he looked. "Carson?" He asked again, setting a hand on his shoulder, finding that his skin was also oddly clammy.

"I don't know... I just feel kinda weird..."

"Weird how?" He asked. Carson leaned forward suddenly and gagged, hurriedly getting off the bed to get to the trash can. As soon as his feet hit the floor he staggered and fell hard on his knees. The trash can was still full but it was better than nothing as he pulled it toward him, barely making it in time before he started coughing up water and bile. Daniel was up in seconds rushing around the bed.

"Sorry," Carson croaked between heaves.

"Don't worry about it, the doctor said this might happen, it's fine." Daniel assured him, placing a tentative hand on his back.

"Doesn't... feel... fine," Carson breathed, slumping against the wall. His eyes fluttered closed and gravity pulled his limbs down into a graceless heap. Daniel's eyes widened in fear and he patted Carson's face desperately.

"Carson? Carson wake up!" He continued, shaking his shoulder as well. "Shit, shit shit!" He looked wildly around the room for his pants and phone. He called a cab and got dressed as quickly as possible before he returned to Carson to get him ready. Luckily he was already wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants so it was only a matter of sliding his boots on his feet and draping his coat over him. Carson didn't so much as stir as Daniel threw on his own coat and lifted him into his arms. It was a bit of a challenge opening the door without dropping him but he managed. Even as a dead weight in his grip Carson was shockingly light.

The cab rolled up outside a few minutes later and the driver got out to open the door for them. Daniel put Carson in first then got in after him, guiding his head into his lap. He kept track of every minute he was unconscious.

"Hospital, please." Daniel said urgently.

"Is your boyfriend okay?" The cabbie asked. Daniel's heart literally sputtered to a stop at that.

"He's just a friend, and he should be alright. Just a concussion, I hope..." he said a little too quickly. He guessed it was good to know that his driver had such an open mind to even make that assumption. Daniel looked down at Carson's pale form resting in his lap. His body jostled as the car went over a few bumps but he showed no signs of waking. Daniel told himself that he was doing the right thing taking him to the hospital straight away, that nothing bad would happen. The cab driver drove as fast as he deemed safe, and with the roads pretty much deserted that time of night, ended up being 20mph over the speed limit. They got to the hospital in no time and Daniel struggled to get out of the car, pulling Carsom out under his arms.

"Hold on, I'll help you." The driver said, throwing the car in park and jumping out. He grabbed Carson's legs and eased them out of the car. Settling Carson's coat back around his shoulders Daniel adjusted his grip and lifted Carson again, pulling him close to his chest.

"Um, can you... left pocket." Daniel asked, trying to figure out a way to pay to the man without setting down Carson.

"Oh, no that's not necessary it was only a few blocks." The man smiled, getting back in the car before Daniel could argue with him. Carson's breath was warm against Daniel's neck, his head lolled against his chest and it was somehow comforting, knowing he was still breathing steadily. The doors to the ER opened automatically and he headed straight for the front desk.

"Hi, we were here earlier today. The doctor said to come back if he lost consciousness. He's got a pretty bad concussion." Daniel explained.

"What's the patient's name?" The nurse asked, already clicking away at her computer.

"Carson Hall."

"I see, someone will be right with you if you want to go sit down." She said nicely.

Daniel turned to go sit in the waiting room, trying to think of some way to prop Carson up in the meantime. There were only two other people there, a mom and a baby, so hopefully they would get called soon. Gently lowering Carson down onto one of the longer benches, Daniel stripped off his own coat to lay over him. Suddenly Carson's face scrunched up in confusion.

"What's... where are we?" He asked, finally starting to come to.

"We're at the hospital." Carson's eyes snapped open and he made a feeble attempt sit up.

"Why?" He asked.

"Do you not remember waking up, throwing up in my trash can, then promptly passing out? Any of that ring a bell?" Daniel laughed.

"Uhhhh," Carson's face grew pink with embarrassment, "sorry about that."

"It's fine. I'm just glad you're awake now, you were completely out for closing in on 30 minutes." Daniel said, glancing up at one of the many wall clocks. It was almost 1am now. Carson groaned and slowly sat up on the bench, resting his arms on his knees.

"Is this really necessary? I'm tired, my head hurts." Carson complained, running a hand through his messy dark brown hair.

"You just have to get checked by a doctor then we can go home." Daniel rationed. He didn't like hanging around the ER in the middle of the night either but it was pretty scary when Carson just collapsed like that. He might as well get some peace of mind since they were already there.

"Can't I just, you know, fix myself?" He asked, just now remembering that he was a soul magician.

Daniel gave him a pointed look, "You're too concussed to be doing any kind of magic right now."

He was probably right. Carson sighed. The woman sitting near them in the waiting room seemed to perk up at the word magic and she glared at them as she moved to the farthest seat away from them, clutching her baby to her chest protectively.

"Bitch," Carson thought to himself. In a better state he probably would have offered to heal the baby of what was likely to be a minor ear infection so the two could go home and get some sleep.

"Carson Hall," a young male nurse called out, looking at his clipboard. Carson lumbered to his feet and walked over to him shakily. Daniel hovered close next to him just in case he slipped. Within the next hour Carson was looked over and cleared to go home. He fell asleep as soon as they got in the cab Danny had called. Only this time he rested his head on Danny's shoulder instead of his lap. Needless to say, he didn't complain.

[littlewalken]

Dec 1

rant first, post after pic

So it only took about 5 years for someone else to realize how toxic the Life Ruiner is being and how she is just draining us of our life, period. We can lock the fridge to keep her from drinking all the milk. Can we stop blaming me for not wanting to have any form of relationship with her toxic ass? 

It is not my fault I have to get the fuck out of this place for the sake of my own sanity? 

I just have to get through this year/month because as always the services I need are taxed and I can hang on where there could be someone who can’t. 

But I won’t be ignoring myself. I can just afford to finish out this year where I am.

This is the fun of mutts. Littlest sister on top is a delicate flower, biggest brother on the bottom is a tank. 

My #6 Fashionista Ken Color Block Cool came in. I bought him used and redressed in a Ken sleeveless tuxedo jumpsuit, never have enough of those, and a NKOTB shiny jacket. He’s working as a valet and his name is Tony Dinetti. 

A couple of y’all know a certain Puerto Rican-Irish American boy who for some strange reason let a manager market him as Tony Dinetti (maybe a different spelling) and the rest can abort your baby in large doses. 

I just know that #6 Fashionista has the vibe of someone who’s always cast as Danny when they do Grease and ended up as Johnny in the Grease 2 movie. 

Dance Fever was one of the few non cartoon TV shows I was allowed to watch growing up.  I also got to watch Heavy Metal because it’s a cartoon and the TV was a great babysitter. 

Mkay, I have a new project of sorts. I feel the need to rework the boy band story, it is much shorter than I thought it would be, and it just needs it. I thought I had a hard copy but it turns out I don’t. I also don’t have one of the Hollywood story but that’s in too much flux. 

So what I’m going to end up doing is going over the file and taking detailed enough to do a rewrite notes. There’s a couple segments of good prose but it’s not like a couple other stories where the exact wording is super important. 

I’d love to be able to nest and write but my nest is currently that of the noise so I don’t know how it’s going to come out. 

My last trip to the junk store with the good books had one child jumping on beds like a trampoline and the other in the brood screaming bloody murder after literally tearing through the toys and throwing every ball they could reach. You can imagine what the little shits were doing to drive the staff of a Mormon thrift store to make unhappy faces.

I won’t even say demon spawn because there are demon spawn who have indoor voices and respect for other peoples’ things. The Bad Seed has always been polite. 

Let the dough rise in a warm place. 

I am quite sure I am ready to get back in to my stories and stuff because I had a dream last night where one room of interesting things only lead to another and another. 

One of the bigger locations I often find myself in is a theme park and I always want to go to what I consider the Haunted Mansion (it never looks like the Disney one) and I always feel better when I’m there. I know the whole thing is a stand in for myself and my body because it’s always inside somewhere or the sky has a heavy cloud layer like a ceiling. 

The only clear thing I remember being said to me is along the lines of “no picture taking”, I had a smart phone camera thing in my hand, although I had in the beginning of my time there and was personally debating if I wanted to sneak some. I also somehow knew someone else was filming this place with camera glasses and I’d be able to see it later on the internet. 

I was also very aware of trying to savor the moment and everything I was seeing and wanting to see it all and knowing that no matter where I’d turn I’d see something interesting. Time wasn’t pressing but I knew it was somewhat limited for the place to be as it was, like when they do a holiday overlay or something. 

What ever it all means I want to try and get my stories and stuff together.

I wish it was easier to find someone to help me with the Hollywood story. It might even end up being a cowriter thing. I just want this story to be told. It’s the kind of thing where I know other people will want to write for and I need them to. It’s too much of a story world to handle on my own.

[ciestessde]

Phantasma Magica Ch. 7

STORY SUMMARY

Clockwork and the Observants send Danny to Hogwarts on a special mission. But, cryptic as ever, that Old Stopwatch never actually told him what would happen on it!!! “All you need to do right now, Daniel, is stay focused on your mission. And remember, the-” “‘The Lions with the time-turner, lightning-bolt scar, and hair like fire are friends; watch out for the rat; and the black dog is not a threat.’ Yeah, you’ve only repeated that a few dozen times today.”

Next → ← Previous (First)

‘... I…’ ‘-I need to find him.’

Tracking a normal living soul was hard enough -- let alone one hidden within the form of an animal. But thankfully, Sirius hadn’t gone far. Danny found him, still in dog form, a little ways inside the Forbidden Forest. It looked like he’d been living there… He made sure Black saw him -- hands up and feet firmly on the ground, trying to be as non-threatening as he could -- before he spoke. Black growled at him.

“I- … I’m sorry. -Look, I’m not going to hurt you…” Sirius’ ears perked up. He transformed back, but stayed ready to run in an instant. His sunken eyes stared into Danny’s glowing ones. “... What are you?” His voice was hoarse, showing how little he had talked during his years in prison. “-Uh…” Danny stuttered nervously, ‘He’s gonna run again…’ “I’m a, uh… I’m a phantasm.” Black’s eyes narrowed, “What’s a ‘phantasm’?” “It’s a … type of ghost.” “Oh yeah? Never seen a ghost control fire.” “...”

“Why are you following me?” Danny swallowed. ‘Moment of truth…’ “I’m friends with Harry Potter.” Sirius’ eyes widened. “You know Hh-arry?” His voice cracked. Hope had returned to it. “How is he? Is he doing alright?” “Uh, yeah. He’s… He’s doing okay.” Sirius relaxed slightly, his eyes drifting out of focus. Danny could see, now, just how tired he was. His prison uniform was worn and dirty, and it hung off him like he was a walking skeleton. His face was more wrinkled than it should’ve been. “Can I…?” Danny asked, and Sirius looked back at him. “... Why did you come here?”

He hesitated. “You said you’re a friend of Harry Potter.” He didn’t continue. “... Yeah?” “Why aren’t you turning me in? You must know who I am. I wouldn’t have even blamed you if you had tried to kill me back there. So why aren’t you attacking me now?” “Ah! Well, um… That’s a bit- complicated. Uh…” Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “See I, um, was sent here by… my boss! To collect these…” He could feel his face burning. He sighed. This was going to take too long. “I’ll explain, just…” Danny looked around, “Not so close to the dementors.”

Black flinched, quickly agreeing. “Yes, we can talk back inside the shack.” He began to transform. Before he could, though, Danny grabbed him and phased them both back through the ground and into the bedroom he’d found him in. Black was, understandably… not comfortable with this. He tore out of Danny’s grip as soon as they were tangible again. “MERLIN’S BEARD!!!” He looked down at his body, the floor they’d just come out of, and at Danny. ‘Really? For all the weird things wizards are used to, I didn’t think THAT would freak him out!’ “... Ok. How about you start by explaining -- in more detail -- what the bloody hell a ‘phantasm’ is?!”

Danny gave him as much information about his phantasmal nature as he had given to the Trio by that point (which was less than he’d given to Lupin), then began asking his own questions. Starting with why Black had come there. Sirius looked pained. “How much do you know about why I got arrested?” Danny hesitated only a second, “You betrayed Harry’s parents by revealing their location to Voldemort-” Black looked impressed. ‘What is it about this guy’s name? How bad was this guy for people to be afraid of his name?!’ “- and you blew up your other friend, Peter Pettigrew.” Rage flashed across Sirius’ face at the second name. “Well first of all, I wasn’t the traitor! Pettigrew was.” He pulled a newspaper clipping out of his clothes. It was a photograph of Ron’s family; they had won some trip to Egypt or something that summer. Sirius pointed to the rat Scabbers on Ron’s shoulder. “This is why I’m here. I’d recognize him anywhere. Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail. Our so-called ‘friend.’”

And he explained: how he, Harry’s father “James,” Peter Pettigrew, and Remus Lupin were close friends while at Hogwarts; how Remus was secretly a werewolf; how they had secretly (illegally) learned to transform into animals so they could keep Remus company when he turned each full moon. … And how he, Sirius, had convinced Harry’s parents to switch to using Peter Pettigrew as their Secret Keeper at the last moment, believing the secret would be safer with Peter, who was the less-obvious choice. “Did you hear… about the part where the largest thing they could find of Pettigrew was his finger?” Danny nodded. Black sneered, “The rat cut it off before transforming and hiding in the sewers! And look here.” He held out the photo. “See its paw?” Scabbers was missing a toe.

He muttered under his breath, “‘Watch out for the rat…’” “Hm?” “Nothing- So what are you planning to do? How are you going to clear your name?” “If I can get that traitor to turn human in front of witnesses, it should be enough.” His face twisted into a snarl, “But even if not -- I can be satisfied just killing him.” “How, though? How are you going to get him to change?” “It’s a simple spell, I just need a wand. If I can get Remus to listen to me…” Sirius leaned back against the wall, “That’s why I came here- to the Shack. I’ve been staying in the forest for the most part, as a dog. But a full moon is coming in a day of two. If he doesn’t come down here like he used to, I’ll sneak into Hogwarts--” “No need.” Danny stood up. “I’ll help you. Harry’s my friend, and I can’t just let an innocent person -- Harry’s godfather… I’ll convince Lupin.” “You’d really do that?” Sirius looked surprised, but then smiled and shook his head. “No. Look, I don’t know what your relationship is with Remus, but-” his eyes hardened, “I need to be there.” “But what if he-” “He won’t turn me in.” He grinned, and some light returned to his eyes. “We’ve gotten in too much trouble together over the years. He’ll at least hear what I have to say first.” “... Fine. But I can back you up, at least. For whatever that’s worth.” “It’s enough just knowing there’s one person who believes I’m innocent.”

So it was set: Sirius would talk to Lupin just before or after he turned, and if that didn’t work, Danny would step in. Until then, Danny would keep Scabber’s/Pettigrew’s identity -- and Black’s innocence -- a secret. They couldn’t afford to spook him and risk losing their only solid piece of evidence. Danny also decided to start sneaking Sirius food from the Hogwarts kitchens. There was no reason for him to keep living off of wild animals and trash when there was more than enough to eat inside!

But with nothing else left to do, no leads left to follow, Danny decided to enjoy the holiday. Harry wasn’t in danger after all, so there was no more reason to stress out. Well… For him to stress out. When he found out about Harry’s broom being destroyed, Sirius decided that he was going to make up for missing all of Harry’s Birthdays and Christmases by buying the boy the absolute best flying broom available. Which was a fantastic Christmas present… If Hermione hadn’t convinced the teachers to be suspicious of the anonymous, overly-expensive gift, and if the teachers hadn’t then decided to strip it down and tear it apart in search of any hexes, curses, etc. that might have been put on it. Harry was upset, sure, but Ron… It wasn’t even his broom, but he acted like Hermione had become the worst person in the world when he found out. If there was anything their interactions had convinced Danny of, it was one thing: ‘They really need to start dating already.’

Drama aside, Danny was in awe of the decorations in the castle. ENORMOUS, REAL trees were lugged inside by Hagrid, and covered in everything from some sort of golden bubbles, to frost (inside the warm castle). And the Great Hall! It was where announcements were made and food was served (which Danny could guarantee was delicious, even if he wasn’t interested in most of it), but it now had thick streamers of holly and mistletoe criss-crossing the ceiling -- and even warm, dry snow falling inside of it! And during lunch on Christmas day (which was very small. Only some of the teachers, the Trio, and three other students were there) Danny was introduced to “crackers” -- these noisemakers you pulled apart, revealing a prize inside. Hermione assured him the magical-variety were much more exciting than their non-magical counterparts. The best part was when Dumbledore decided to wear this stuffed-vulture-hat he got from one! He definitely did NOT seem so scary wearing that and grinning like a goofball!

A couple days after Christmas, before classes started again and the students who had left returned, Sirius informed Danny that Lupin was still unconvinced -- that he needed more proof before he’d help them. So Danny asked Lupin if he’d be interested in another “interview.” He said yes, they’d have one right after Harry’s promised anti-dementor lesson.

Danny arrived right as they were finishing up. Harry stood trembling from exertion in front of… what appeared to be a dementor, but felt far too weak to actually be one. More interesting was the wispy, silvery shape coming out of Harry’s wand. It smelled… pretty good. Danny drooled a little. Before too long, Lupin jumped in front of Harry and yelled, “Riddikulus!” and the ‘dementor’ disappeared with a loud crack, the silvery shadow fading soon after. Lupin forced what looked like… a tiny moon?… into a case, then came back to where Harry had collapsed into a chair.

“Excellent! Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!” “Can we have another go? Just one more go?” “Not now,” said Lupin firmly. “You’ve had enough for one night. Here-” He handed the boy a large bar of chocolate. “Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?” “Okay.” Lupin started extinguishing the lamps around the room. Something seemed to occur to Harry. “Professor Lupin? If you knew my dad, you must’ve known Sirius Black as well.” Lupin turned quickly to look at him, asking sharply, “What gives you that idea?” “Nothing -- I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too…” Lupin relaxed. “Yes, I knew him. Or I thought I did. You’d better be off, Harry, it’s getting late.”

Once Harry had left, Lupin addressed Danny, “Was there something in particular you wanted to talk about? You seemed very interested in having this conversation in private…” “Yeah. What kind of evidence would you need to believe Sirius is innocent?” Lupin dropped his briefcase and turned to stare at the phantasm floating and illuminating the otherwise dark room. “How do you… You’re in league with Black?” All of the color seemed to have drained from Lupin’s face. “I should’ve -- you’re how he got out of Azkab- no.” He took a moment to breath, the color returning to his face, “No, no you couldn’t have. The dementors would’ve… But then…” He looked up at Danny, his eyes hard. “... How did you get into the Hogwarts’ Grounds? How do you know Black?” And so, finally knowing he could trust the teacher, Danny let a fifth person into his circle of trust.

With one difference: “But before sending me here, Clockwork made me memorize these three phrases: ‘The Lions with the time-turner, lightning-bolt scar, and hair like fire are friends; watch out for the rat; and the black dog is not a threat.’ At first I thought it meant to protect Scabbers -- Hermione’s cat seemed to have it in for the poor thing, but now...” Lupin lowered himself into a nearby chair. “I’m sorry. I’m still a bit… uncertain about all of this.” “I’d be surprised if you weren’t. I mean, ‘The Keeper of Time sent me here on a quest’ isn’t exactly-” “Actually, that part I completely believe. Oh, don’t look so surprised -- you’re a terrible liar. There’s no way you could’ve come up with all that. And really, I’d have a harder time believing any wizard could’ve set all of this up. Not only is it far beyond most people’s capabilities to begin with, but even if someone could have done it, nothing adds up to a believable goal.” “Ok… So, uh, what proof do you need?” “I suppose…” Lupin looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded, his jaw set. “If you can capture the rat, I’m willing to perform the spell that will change him back to human form -- if he is, in fact, a human.”

And that’s exactly what Danny tried to do that very night. After all, why wait? Invisible, Danny snatched Scabbers and phased them both right out of the building and into the freezing air -- hundreds of meters above the ground. Lupin was waiting with Black inside his office, but Danny didn’t dare risk the rat’s squeaks waking any of the students. He phased back inside almost immediately. But Scabbers was flailing and squeaking madly in his hand. He’d just about made it three fourths of the way to the office when- The rat seemed to grow and shrink suddenly, loosening Danny’s grip just long enough to escape.

And in the maze that was Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry -- a maze Peter Pettigrew knew far better than just about anyone… Danny cursed. He’d lost him.

~~~~~

As always, if you like this, please REBLOG!

(Updates every Wednesday until completion.)

Other places you can find this fic: Fanfiction.net/~ciestess ArchiveOfOurOwn.org/users/Ciestess/profile Deviantart.com/Ciestess

Next → ← Previous (First)

[danyka-fendyr]

As the Raven Flies: Part 1

Did I edit? No. Is this probably terrible? Yes. Did I at least crank out approximately 2500 words of my brainchild in like, 3 hours? Yes. So we’re calling it a day. Please forgive me. (And yes, the series title is a reference to one of Frank’s many, many different alias’s/codenames/nicknames. Full disclaimer, I have yet to actually see the Punisher since I’m still working my way through Daredevil S2, so some of this might be a little (or a lot) OOC. Just think of it like an AU.) Big thanks to @dreamwritesimagines for letting me ramble out the entire concept of this to her through a series of anonymous asks because unfortunately this is just my side blog and my main blog is completely unrelated to any of this. Also thanks to @rhabakoli for laughing at my preview and appreciating my lame sense of humor.

“Matthew Murdock, if you drink milk straight out of the jug one more time, I’m telling your priest.”

Matt slammed the jug down on the counter, barely avoiding milk sloshing over the top. 

“I’m blind. How am I supposed to know where the glass is to pour it in?”

“You and I both know that excuse won’t work on me, Mr. World-On-Fire.”

Matt raised an eyebrow. “I let you live in my house. Shouldn’t you be...I don’t know, grateful?”

“You’ve got me there.”  There was a pause, and Vivien leaned up against Matt’s counter, perched on the edge of her seat while Matt put the milk back in the fridge.

“So...how have you been doing?”

She didn’t answer.

“Vivien...please? Talk to me,” he said, turning and setting his palms firmly on the counter across from her.

“I’m fine. School is good. Spanish class is interesting.”

“Well, that’s good. Maybe you can teach Foggy something.”

“Yeah. Maybe.”

He asked that question every day. How was she? How was someone supposed to answer that? Vivene didn’t know. So, she deflected, and Matt let her. She guessed he must have some idea how it felt. After all, the man didn’t have any family of his own either.

She leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. Matt’s apartment had character, she’d give it that. If you ignored the bloodstains Matt smeared all over the place, and the ironically blindingly bright lights just outside his fricking huge windows, it was almost nice. In a grungy, trash sort of way. And it had been very poorly lit before Matt found her on the streets and took her in. Bleeding heart never could resist a pretty face, even if he couldn’t see them.

“Bought more cereal.”

“Aw, for me Matty?”

“For us,” he corrected.

“Mmhhmm,” she said, reaching over his arm to grab at the newspaper and scan the front page. “Hey look! It’s you again. Awww, and all your little friends. I love to see you playing nice Matt.”

“Ha, yeah. I guess you could call it that.”

“When are you having them over for dinner?” she asked sarcastically.

“I think Jessica would come to a formal dinner-or, any kind of dinner with all of us-over her dead body, Luke would eat me out of house and home, and I’m afraid Danny would try to do some kind of Feng Shui on my house but like...Tibetan monk style.”

“K’un Lun.”

“Isn’t that the same place?”

“Geography is important to me Murdock.”

“Uh huh.”

“You didn’t mention The Punisher.” 

Vivien had never actually met the guy. Her stay with the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen was...a recent development in a long series of twists that had turned her life into something she was no longer sure she could recognize.

“I think Frank would come to anything Karen asked him to, and be grouchy the whole time.”

“So it’s true then? He really does have a thing for her?” Vivien leaned forward, slipping her lower lip between her teeth.

“Not that he would ever admit it, but yeah. I’m blind and even I can see it.”

She laughed. “Well, now she has to invite him. I have to see this with my own eyes since I can’t trust yours.”

“Good luck getting Karen to invite him just so you can prove he likes her.” Matt came around the counter, flopping onto the couch in that perpetually exhausted way of his.

“Well, I won’t say it like that, moron.”

“I’ll have you know I graduated from Columbia.”

“All on looks, I’m telling you. It’s a good thing you’re pretty, Murdock.” Very pretty.

Vivien hopped down from her stool, picking up the leftover takeout containers from last night that they may or may not have been too lazy to throw away then.

“So, are you going to let me patrol with you tonight?” she asked, throwing the takeout containers in the garbage and picking back up her newspaper before joining him on the couch.

Matt frowned. She knew he didn’t like the idea of her patrolling at all. Had fought her on it for the first few months of their...whatever this thing was. Arrangement would be the legal term, she guessed. It sounded legal, anyway. Eventually, though, she started sneaking out while he was out patrolling, and then he had to give in. And thus, she had started patrolling with Matt since he figured it was better she go out with someone than alone.

“I don’t think so. Frank is in town right now and I think it’s better if you don’t cross paths with him in uniform just yet. He can be a little...intense.”

“I can handle it. It’s not like I haven’t had worse. Remember, my-Oh my gosh Matt look at page six!”

“What? What? I’m still blind, Vivien!”

“They gave me a name!” she squealed, slamming the newspaper down on the counter.

“Oh, is that all? I thought something terrible happened.” Matt relaxed back into the couch, the cushions practically swallowing him whole in the spot he had sat in so many times there was a Matt-shaped indent.

“Matt you don’t understand, they gave me a name.”

He smiled, looking at her with those glassy eyes. “Well? What is it?”

“It’s just a temporary one for now. Since I’m seen with you so often, they’re calling me Hell’s Flames.” She frowned. “And then they talk about how small I am and call me Hell’s Sparks. I’m average height!”

“For an 18 year old girl? Maybe. For a vigilante? I hate to be the one to tell you this, but we tend to be a tall crowd. Especially the ones that aren’t superpowered.”

“That feels pretty heightist to me. You realize you’re average height, right Matt?”

“Superpowers. I’m an exception to the rule.”

“Well, maybe I have powers you just don’t know about.” Vivien flexed her fingers.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Take me out on patrol tonight. I want to give them a real name to call me.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it a lot, but nothing’s come to me.”

“Well, I can’t really help. I didn’t get to decide my name.”

“Yeah, I’m not letting that happen to me. We can’t all be pushovers, Murdock. And before you can argue with me, I have to meet Frank at some point. Why not now?”

Matt deliberated, picking up his cane from the coffee table to fiddle with it. After a long moment, he spoke.

“Fine. But stay by my side, and follow my orders.”

“Ay, ay, captain!” Vivien saluted cheerfully.

“And just so you know, I’m only allowing this because it’s a weekend!”

“Buzzkill.”

Speaking of buzzing, that was a good word for what Vivien was doing right now. She was going out to meet The Punisher. Potentially.

She knew Matt would try to steer her away from him, but honestly, Matt had never been that great at keeping her in check. She was a little too wild for him. She smirked, pulling her fingerless black gloves over her hands. She had been begging Matt for a real costume, not this, “I am the night” all black ensemble, but he insisted that all she was getting was a whole lot of matte bulletproof.

At least the gloves were leather. That was cool. And the boots. The boots were awesome. They were some weird cross between regular boots, combat boots, and hiking boots. Vivien wasn’t sure that there was really a word for them, but she liked them.

Finally, last but not least, there was the whole name issue. She didn’t really know what she wanted. She had thought about Beacon, like a beacon of hope, but that didn’t feel right. To close a connection to yellow. She was not ending up with a yellow costume. Firebrand had been an idea until Matt informed her it was taken. So in the end, it all circled back to one question.

Who was she? What was this city to her? Those felt like the kinds of mumbo jumbo questions Matt would ask her, but the problem was she wasn’t sure she knew. After everything that had happened lately, she had no idea what she stood for or what would make her fall.

Maybe it was time to figure it out.

“You ready kiddo?”

Vivien blinked. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good to go. Born ready.”

“Trust me, nobody is born ready for anything.”

“Well, I was. Now let’s get a move on Murdock, while the night is still younger than you. Not that that’s saying much.”

“Hey! I resent that,” Matt propped the window open, holding it so she could climb out onto the fire escape.

“Resent it all you want. You can’t change the truth.” Vivien felt the millionth lightbulb of the night ping in her head.

Truth. That was something she seemed to struggle with. Telling other people the truth. She had an uncanny ability to get it out of criminals though. Better even than Matt, who could hear their heartbeats, smell the sweat dripping off their skin. Maybe that was who she was. Someone who found the truth. But how did that translate into a superhero name? That, she would have to sleep on. Or fight on, tonight.

Matt hopped out the window behind her, and sooner rather than later, they were off, jumping across the rooftops. This had to be Vivien’s favorite part of her life right now. The carefree feeling of running, running as fast as she could from every last one of her problems and right into a set of brand new ones that would be much easier to solve. Feeling like no one could catch her. It was...exhilarating.

Plus she just really liked punching people in the face.

“Hey Daredevil?” she asked, slowing down to walk backward across the roof, hands clasped behind her back.

“Yeah?” It always took him a minute to respond to that name.

“What do you call people who find the truth?”

“I don’t know. Journalists?”

“In theory,” Vivien replied wryly. “But seriously. Like, someone without finding the truth as their profession.”

“I don’t know. There’s not really a title for people who just divine the truth like that.”

Divine. Divine…..”Diviner!”

“What? Gosh, could you please stop yelling all the time? Sensitive ears.”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry. But Ma-Daredevil, I’ve got it!”

“You’ve got what exactly?” They had come to a complete standstill now, on a rooftop about a 5 minute run from Josie’s.

Someone’s car alarm went off in the not so distant distance, and Vivien waited for Matt to deem it a carjacking or not. Was someone fumbling for their keys, or was someone fumbling to hotwire the thing? Matt waved it off, and she continued.

“Diviner. That can be my hero name.”

“Huh...well….I don’t think it’s taken. And you are good at finding the truth.”

He didn’t mention the very prominent case in which she had failed to find the truth. Failed to foresee an outcome that was inevitable, if she was honest with herself for 5 minutes. Vivien started running again.

“So, where are we headed?” she asked.

“Honestly? Away from Frank Castle.”

She stopped dead. “What? Are you being serious with me right now?”

“Yes. He’s on the other side of town right now.”

“Aaaaannd we’re turning around.” She pivoted on her heel as she spoke, ready to go find some trouble.

“Vivien, please?” Matt grabbed her wrist, gentle. “Please, for once, just listen to me when I tell you that you meeting Frank Castle right now would be a bad idea?”

She turned back to face him again, yanking her hand out of his grasp. “Why? Because he’s a big bad scary vigilante? Well, newsflash, so are you, Matt.”

Matt sighed. “I just...I don’t think it would be a good idea yet. And not because he’s a vigilante, or because you’re just a baby vigilante.”

“I am not a baby.”

“That sounds exactly like something a baby would say.”

“Babies can’t talk.”

Matt paused a moment.“Okay fine, but the point is that you’re not ready yet.”

“Please, Matt? Please? I’m ready for this. I promise. I’ve seen enough crap to handle this. And from what you’ve said, he’s just a big cranky teddy bear anyway.”

“Yeah, a teddy bear who murders people.”

“Which is exactly my kind of teddy bear. Would have come in handy.”

Matt sighed again. She seemed to have that effect on him. “Fine.”

“Thank you. You won’t regret this Matt. I promise.”

“The last time you promised me something, it was not something that bears repeating, and you did not follow through.”

“In my defense, it was 3 in the morning and I had recently been stabbed.”

“I told you to be more careful.”

“I know. I know. Enough small talk though. I’ve got a Punisher to meet.”

She ran faster now, Matt barely keeping up. She was laughing, excited. She had a name, and she was officially meeting other heroes. She was The Diviner. She felt more purpose-driven than she had in a long time.

She heard Frank Castle before she saw him. The gunfire was unmistakable. Unmistakable, and short-lived. She had heard the stories. It didn’t take Frank Castle long to kill someone. Or take them out Matt’s way.

“Wait here.”

“But-”

“Wait. Just a minute.”

Vivien rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as Matt jumped off the rooftop. She could faintly hear them fighting, itching to jump down and join them. Eventually, one of Matt’s batons landed on the rooftop next to her, and she took that as her signal. She picked it up, jumping down to the ground and right into the middle of a fight.

Immediately, she was ducking a punch. Looked like gang members. A whole crew of them. Frank Castle really knew how to piss a guy off. Or a few dozen guys, for that matter.

“Gosh I love this city,” Vivien mumbled under her breath.

Faster than you could say “Devil of Hell’s Kitchen”, Vivien was in the thick of it, using everything Matt had taught her and a few things she’d picked up for herself. Duck, block, swing, get sliced into like a turkey on Thanksgiving. Okay, so that last maneuver might not have been part of the plan.

She swore, dodging another blow and sweeping the guy's legs out from under him all in one only half-way clumsy move.

“Hey Red! Did now seem like the time for fresh meat to you?”

“Later. We can have this argument later.”

“That’s what he always says,” Vivien joked.

Frank didn’t laugh though, just kept blazing through these guys. He was so fast, and so efficient, that they were done in minutes. They probably would have been done faster if not for Matt’s insistence that no one died. It probably would have been funny to watch how worked up he got if Vivien didn’t agree with him. No more death. She had seen enough of that.

She took a deep breath, hands on her knees as she tried to calm down and slow her heart rate. Blood slicked the alley walls, mixing with dirt and the old, dried, crusty stuff that was so worked in it was impossible to tell it from the dirt. The only reason she knew there was an abnormal amount of blood on the alley walls of Hell’s Kitchen was because Matt had once told her he could smell it. Speaking of smells, this particular alleyway, like many others in this city, smelled like the inside of a urinal. Gross.

“How’s your arm?” Matt asked, immediately coming over to poke at it.

Vivien hissed, pulling away from him and narrowly sidestepping some unconscious thug’s arm. “Not in need of further manhandling, thanks.”

“It won’t scar,” Matt decided.

“Is that...who are you?” Frank demanded.

“The Diviner.” Vivien announced it with pride, the pain in her arm nearly forgotten.

“No, who are you? Red, did you bring a kid out here?” He turned on Matt, absolutely livid.

“I-”

“I’ll have you know I’m a legal adult. And technically, he said I couldn’t come. I have a problem with authority figures though.”

“How old are you?” Frank asked.

“18.”

“She’s still in high school, Red!”

Vivien had a bad feeling Matt was going to be next on Castle’s hit list. She should probably interfere with that.

“Listen, it was either going to be me going out with him, or me going out alone. Take your pick, Castle.”

Frank looked at her, almost seeming surprised as blood dripped down his mouth from a cut on his lip. He got over her defiance quickly though. “Or, not at all.”

“Are you going to be the one to babysit me then?”

He scowled, which couldn’t have been good for that cut. Then again, maybe he was used to it. She got the impression he did that a lot.

“How on God’s good green earth did you end up here?”

“I simply followed the sounds of angry gang members meeting their fate.” Vivien shrugged, refusing to take a step back when The Punisher glared.

“I mean, how did you get into this life. I swear Red, if you in any way encouraged this-”

“He didn’t. I just went through some crap, that’s all.”

“What kind of crap leads you to be a vigilante when you ain’t even out of school.”

“Frank-” Matt warned.

“It’s okay,” Vivien said.

She took a deep breath, squaring her shoulders and saying it for what felt like the millionth time and also the very, very first. “My entire family is dead.”

[ibelieveinahappilyeverafter]

From the Beginning Exclusive!

This is an exclusive for the rewritten and soon to be posted Danny Phantom story “From the Beginning.” This is a sneak peak as to what FtB is going to be all about. You can even think of it like a trailer. Not everything is chronological and these paragraphs might not make it into the final copy, but it tells the heart of the story!

From the Beginning’s first chapter will be released on July 6th! Pledge to me on Patreon Buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi

—

Summary:  Danny Fenton was a simple, sixteen-year-old teenager who loved fast food, video games, and getting a B on surprise pop quizzes. He’s also the half-ghost teenage hero Danny Phantom who defends Amity Park from ghost attacks on a daily basis. Somehow, the ghost attacks make a lot more sense than crushes, friendships, and falling in love with someone he is definitely not supposed to be falling in love with. It was a lot easier to separate Phantom and Fenton before, but now it’s getting a harder the more he learns about himself. Just who was he? The dorky son of scientists who loved the stars or the hero that protected the town. He’s starting to feel like he won’t like the answer. (Iambic Prose) (Prequel to Guardians and Partial Show Rewrite)

—

“Hello? Anyone here?” Danny shifted outside the massive library, hesitantly knocking on the doors and oh. Okay. That happened, then. Right. Doors swinging open without anyone there. That was his life, wasn’t it? “Great. I’m trapped in a horror movie and it’s not even a good one.”

Pushing his way in, Danny swallowed at the silence and the thousands of books that he could see even from the front doors. “Hey, uh, Ghostwriter dude? Your doors kind of opened and I came here to, um, visit?”

~

“Huh.” Danny crouched down, tilting his head at one of the broken murals. While the other murals at Pariah’s Keep had been beautifully painted across the walls and held strong even now, this one was shattered on the floor. “I wonder what you meant.”

There had been one with ten cloaked figures crowning Pariah as king, but then the next few had shown Pariah’s fall and his subsequent imprisonment. Danny half wondered who had drawn the murals, but he was willing to chalk it up to it being a ghost thing. Reaching a hand out, Danny brushed his fingers against the mural he was currently inspecting.

While there were ten figures, they weren’t the shapeless cloaked figures from the other murals. These ten all had varying sizes and heights, but it was broken in the way that only one figure was separated from the rest. Danny wondered if these were the original Ancients. He never heard much about them, and he was pretty sure ‘the Ancients’ was just the Observants in disguise, but these ghosts definitely didn’t look like Observants.

Shifting his balance, Danny almost tumbled forward before he caught himself, both hands now braced against the cracked mural-

Golden eyes that shone like molten gold and death and hate and loss and pain and how dare they how dare they how dare they when it had been him to bring them all together and if they wanted to suffer than he would show them and he would make them see him he would make sure they never forgot again-

Grunting as he hit the floor on his back, Danny stared up at the ceiling and only absently realized he was gasping for breath and what… What had that been?

~

“Recent? Recent- It’s always been like this! You’ve always been so damn prideful and full of yourself and it’s gotten worse ever since you became ‘Phantom.’ You think you’re above everything!”

“Above- You have no idea what I go through! I’m trying to be ‘in charge’ because I, at least, know about all these damn ghost things-”

“And I don’t?! I’ve been right here this entire time and learning it all the same time as you! I’ve been here the whole time and you don’t even see me! I’m nothing but the tech guy to you!”

“At least you know what you are! I don’t even know if I’m alive anymore some days-!” Danny’s voice died in his throat as he saw the shot that was speeding towards them and while it might  hurt ghosts, this was a shot that could kill humans and no-

~

“The blame seems to lie in both parties this time around, so why not agree to forgive and forget on both sides?”

“Jeez, does everything you say sound like it’s from some kind of Hallmark card?” Laughter bubbling out at the annoyed look he was given, Danny shook his head and forgive and forget, huh? Not bad, but… “Hey, Ghostwriter, what about something else, instead?”

“Oh, please. ‘Something else’ typically means a battle royale and I’m uncertain about you, but I prefer to solve disputes these days by-” Ghostwriter’s mouth closed with a snap, Danny’s grin growing wider as he continued to hold out his hand.

“Hi, there. My name is Danny and I’m a half-ghost idiot with a saving people thing. I hate Christmas, I love my friends, and it’s nice to meet you.” The long silence was worth it when the ghost finally clasped his hand, genuine smile on his face.

“Hello, Danny. My name is Ghostwriter and I’m obsessive over my books and tend to talk to myself outloud. It’s nice to meet you, as well.”

~

“You don’t understand- I wasn’t even a ghost.” Danielle, the little girl that had pretended to be his cousin the last week, looked up at him as if begging him to understand. Danny found it hard to when he was strapped in some machine and doing his best to not panic. “If it wasn’t for Daddy- If it wasn’t for Vlad, then I would still just be a half-formed spirit thing floating around the Ghost Zone. He gave me my life back.”

“That doesn’t mean- That doesn’t mean you just go and do everything he says! You’re your own person, aren’t you?” Please- Please see that this was wrong. “Do you really think this is the right thing to do?”

“No, but… Danny, please. He’s hurting. Daddy loves me, but he’s hurting and I ran away to see if he would care enough to come get me and he did! I didn’t think he’d hurt you, too, but please, you have to help him.”

~

“So, yeah.” Danny took a breath after a rambling apology that had went on for far too long, a little of the weight falling off his shoulders when he saw Elliot’s smile. “I’m… I’m sorry that we got off on the wrong foot. I can kind of jump to conclusions, sometimes, and I didn’t mean to make you feel like you didn’t belong. Trust me. I know how it feels.”

“You could have just said sorry,” Elliot laughed, stepping forward and resting a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “It’s alright. I did kind of push my way between all of you.”

“It’s hard to be a new kid,” Danny shrugged, and, okay… Maybe Elliot could be okay. Maybe everyone was right and he had just been a jealous brat. “Right, so, um, yeah. It’ll- It’ll be nice to have another friend around here.”

“That’s sweet.” Elliot laughed again, grip tightening on Danny’s shoulder for a moment. “I never would have thought that ghosts could pretend to be so kind.”

“Gh… Ghosts.” Danny watched as Elliot’s glasses slipped down and no… No, there was nothing warm in those eyes. “I don’t-”

“It’s okay.” It was the same feeling as when he had stepped into the portal and felt his palm press against a button. A missed step. A wrong move. An unseen threat. A mistake. “The Guys-in-White have been very eager to meet you, Danny Phantom.”

~

“Give her back!” Ice crawled through his veins and Danny knew that each breath he breathed out was filled with crystals of ice and snow. “She’s not yours.”

“Meddlesome child.” Plants with thorns and toxins deadly even to ghosts rose up, Undergrowth at the center of it all with Sam sitting under him. “She will be Queen. This child will carry on the work that has been left unfinished for far too long! After her death is complete, she shall be the one to heal the world.”

“Maybe, but she doesn’t need to die to change things. She never has.” Energy colder than anything he had ever felt poured into his hands, and this. This was why he had first started fighting back. Someone needed to stop the ghosts.

~

“I always wondered, but why do you risk so much to protect your town? Surely you’ve read enough comics to know how poorly life is for a ‘hero.’” Ghostwriter stared at him steadily, curiously, and Danny felt all his lies die in his throat.

“I…” He told everyone it was because he had always dreamed of being a hero. He agreed that he had a ‘saving people’ thing. He swore up and down that if he didn’t do it, then he’d regret that he never got the chance to do something so amazing. None of it… Not all of them were lies, but they weren’t the truth.

“You risk everyone and you don’t have to. I’ve known you for months, almost, but I just can’t understand it.” Ghostwriter was honestly confused and Danny couldn’t help but laugh. Really. Shouldn’t a writer have known before anyone else? “Wha- Danny?”

“No, no, it’s just… It’s simple, isn’t it?” At the look, Danny shook his head. “Bad things… Bad things happen sometimes, right? A lot of times, you can’t do anything about it, and you just help where you can and keep on going. The thing is, though…” Danny swallowed, looking up at Ghostwriter and taking a steady breath.

“When bad things happen and you have the power to stop it and you don’t? Then the bad things happen because of you. If I have these powers and someone gets hurt and I can do something? I’m going to do it. It’s not because I’m playing at being hero, but because I’m doing whatever everyone else has always done. I’m protecting my home.

~

“Danny-” If this Reality Gauntlet thing really worked, which he had just proved it did, then they would never remember this, and that? That was perfect.

“I love your stupid poetry, I love how you mutter under your breath when you have a new idea you want to write about, I love your stupid hair and how you can never completely get it to lay flat you hypocrite, I love how you sometimes go hours without realizing that your coat that you’ve been looking for is on the back of the only couch you ever sit at, I love how you can’t see without those stupid glasses, I love how you have to always have your tea in just the right way or you won’t drink it, and I love, more than anything else, that you saw me.”

Andrew seemed struck completely speechless, Danny giving a hopeless smile. “I always thought it’d be Sam, you know? Maybe Paulina or someone else from school, but then I met you, and… God. It’s like I met you, and I knew- I wasn’t looking to ever fall in love like I did, but then I met you, and oh, man. I lost so bad, Andrew. So I’m going to say it now, just this once.

“I’m in love with you, Andrew Riter. I love you. You’re never going to remember this, but I thought you deserved to know at least just once.”

~

“Oh, I see.” Still crouched and ready for danger, Danny eyed the ghost that was in front of him in the dream he had found himself in now. He didn’t know where Nocturne was, but he was going to be ready for anything. “She must be dreaming…”

“Right, yeah, okay, dream that knows it’s a dream. Great. Is there where the walls start oozing blood?” A laugh escaped the ghost in front of him. It was definitely a ghost Danny had never seen before. The hairstyle alone was something he definitely would have remembered considering it was dreads tied up with beads and chains and, yeah, definitely not something from today’s style. “You should know that I don’t go down without a fight and-”

“Hush, young one.” The ghost walked forward and before Danny could fly away, he was taking a necklace off and pressing it into Danny’s hands. It looked like a dreamcatcher or whatever, only… It was glowing and the thread seemed like ghostly energy rather than thread. It reminded him of Clockwork’s staff, weirdly enough. “When you see Nocturne, gift this to him. He will know what it is.”

“I, uh, yeah. Okay?” This was a very weird dream, but if Danny didn’t have to fight, then, yeah, hey, great. “Do you know where to find him, right now? I’m kind of trying to stop the entire world from entering into a sleep coma.”

“Follow this path until it ends.” Great. Cryptic. Just what he needed. “Young one…” The ghost bit his lip, Danny near jerking back in surprise when his cheek was cupped. “Oh, such young ones. I’m sorry for what you will face.”

~

“That’s that, then, huh?” Danny rubbed at his eyes before looking back to the results of three night’s research. It all said the same thing no matter how many times he reworked the problem. “I’m dying.”

He felt like the words should have torn something apart in him, but all they did was make him tired. He supposed, somehow, that made even more sense.

~

“You know, GW, I have a feeling that we’re going to be great friends.”

“I find that I rather agree with you on that.”

[winchesterandpie]

Evermore (Dean Winchester x Reader)

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader

Word Count: 2810

Warnings: Character death, aaaangst, behold the angst

A/N: So… I saw Beauty and the Beast a few months ago and was instantly obsessed with this song, so I decided to try to write something with it. Plus, I felt like writing some sad stuff, so… sorry about that guys. Anyways, I know I haven’t posted anything in forever - my beta and I have had busy schedules, but this is finally going up! Thanks for sticking with me, y’all! As always, feedback is appreciated, GIF is not mine.   (Bold italics are a memory)

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dean placated the witch that stood before them. She had a shotgun levelled at his chest, so naturally he was a little tense. Y/N, on his right, was equally wary, her Glock up and primed. They’d snuck into the house one way, Sam going through the back door. What none of them had been expecting was for the witch to be prepared for their arrival. The three hunters had charged into the final room of the house when Sam, who had been in the lead, was tossed unceremoniously away from the other two. He’d quickly picked himself up afterward, but was still on the other side of the room.

Suddenly, a single shot rang out, breaking the wary stalemate. Y/N was the first to react. Time seemed to slow as she moved with lightning speed to shove Dean out of the way, with full force of her body. Her form recoiled slightly when the bullet made solid contact. Sam’s shot was only a second behind the witch’s, catching her squarely as she cackled with fiendish glee.

Dean moved to catch the hunter as she fell. He held her to him as he shouted for Sammy to get something, anything to help her with. Dean’s hand pressed over the wound, trying desperately to stem the tide of blood.

“Hey. Dean.” Her voice was raspy, barely audible, but the Winchester heard it.

“It’s gonna be alright, sweetheart.” He wasn’t sure if the word were for his reassurance or hers. “We’re going to take care of you, don’t you worry.”

“Dean!” He finally met her eyes as his shoulders slumped. His gaze was met with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “It’s alright. Hunters rarely live that long anyways.” Her chuckle brought one out of Dean as he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you,” Dean whispered, squeezing his eyes shut momentarily. They blinked open again when her hand came to rest on his cheek.

“Five minutes.”

“What?” His brow furrowed in confusion, wondering what she could possibly be talking about. Why were five minutes important? She was dying in his arms and she was worrying about five minutes for some reason?

“You can miss me for five minutes a day. And you’d better do it properly. You’d better be sad - I expect my five. But all the rest of the time, Dean, all the rest of the time, every single second, you just get the hell on with it. Clear?” The words got fainter the longer she spoke.

“Did you really just Danny Pink me?” She snorted at that, drawing some blood up into her throat and mouth and starting a brief coughing fit.

“Well you Han Solo me all the time, so you don’t really have any room to talk there, hot shot,” Y/N finally said when the coughing subsided. “I swear on your Baby that I will haunt you if blame yourself for this. It was my choice. Don’t you dare beat yourself up about it.”

“Understood, ma’am.” Dean’s smile faltered as the blood kept spilling from her. Somehow she still had her thumb tracing lightly over his cheek, though she could barely hold her arm up. When it gave out, he caught her arm, gently lowering it as his jaw clenched. He pulled back just enough to kiss her forehead for a long moment before pressing his lips to hers gently, the taste of blood sharp and metallic.

“I love you,” she murmured when they parted, barely audible but he still heard her.

“I love you too.” He couldn’t Han Solo her this time. He needed her to hear him say it one more time, make sure she knew. Her eyes were on his as her body went limp in his arms and the light dimmed to nonexistence. The last echoes of tension faded from her face, leaving the barest hint of a smile. A choked sob came from the broken man as he buried his face in her hair for the last time.

 I was the one who had it all

I was the master of my fate

I never needed anybody in my life

I learned the truth too late

 Dean Winchester was stretched out on his bed in the bunker, the smell of smoke from her pyre clinging to him. No matter how hard he’d tried to scrub the reminders of her death from his skin, all he’d ended up with was raw skin and a piercing emptiness. Staring at the ceiling wasn’t doing him any good, so he allowed his eyes to slide shut.

Total mistake.

The instant his eyes were closed, Dean saw her as plainly as if she was leaning over him, a playful smile on her lips. It felt so real that he could almost smell the conditioner she always used, feel her fingers carding through his hair, her lips pressed against his.

With a huff, he forced them back open, unable to bear the tearing at the still-raw wound. How did this happen to him? There’d been a time when Dean Winchester refused to let anyone new into his heart. His brother was allowed there, of course Sammy was, but no new people, or at least very rarely. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, believing that to show emotion was to demonstrate weakness.

All that had gone flying out the window with her. She was a raging forest fire and a calm lake at the same time. An icy winter storm and a warm summer shower. She was rough and soft, strong and vulnerable, and above all brave. She was all of these things and more when she needed to be. She had taught him that emotion was not a weakness, nor was asking for help.

And slowly, he had opened up to her. He had learned to ask for help, to not bottle up his feelings until he exploded. Was he always good at it? No. But she knew him like the back of her hand and knew exactly when he needed to be left alone and when he was bluffing. She’d been there for him and he’d been there for her. That’s just how it worked with them. Both had helped the other heal, even when neither was sure if they themself could be fixed. Sure, they had their fights - everyone does. What really mattered was that, at the end of the day, they were there for each other no matter what.

I’ll never shake away the pain

I close my eyes but she’s still there

I let her steal into my melancholy heart

It’s more than I can bear

  This time, for the first time in a long time, she wasn’t there. Not there to wrap her arms around him like she always did after a rough hunt. Not there to hold him as he fell apart. Not there to put him back together. Not there. Not there. Not there.

Dean Winchester was alone.

And yet, he wasn’t.

She was there, with him. He could hear her laugh in his ears, the one that always bubbled up even as she tried to pretend she was mad at him. A whisper of her seemed to come on a warm breeze that swirled around him, despite being in the heart of the bunker.

Dean stood from the bed, moving to the desk. Picking up the framed photo, the fingers of his free hand traced the lines of her face. Almost immediately, it was again as though she was there. He felt her warmth enveloping him, hugging him from behind as she was wont to do. She’d always been proud when she could surprise him. The thought brought a pained smile as a memory rose, unbidden, to the front of his mind.

“I have defeated the mighty Dean Winchester!” She crowed after he nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Sweetheart, all you did was sneak up on me. I wouldn’t count that as defeat.”

“Ah, but you claim to always be on your guard. I caught you off it, and therefore,” she paused, resting her forehead against his back, “I win.” In a heartbeat, Dean twisted in her arms, popping free only to come back and wrestle her down to the ground.

“Mmmhmm. If it helps you sleep at night. But from where I’m sitting, I think I’ve beaten you.” No sooner had he said this than she had caught his leg with hers, pinning it in place as she flipped him over, reversing their positions.

“Not so fast there, hot shot. You might find those words catching up to you.” He tried the trick going limp to fool your opponent, but she knew him and held him down even tighter, not even shifting a full inch when he tried to rocket up. A smirk stretched across her face as she leaned closer to him before continuing. “And do you know what winners get?”

Dean couldn’t get a coherent answer out. She was so close, taunting him, and all he could think was how beautiful she was in that light, how much he wanted to her to lean just a little closer so he could kiss her.

“Winners. Get. A. Prize.” The words were breathed out against his mouth. Tilting his chin up ever so slightly, he managed to kiss her lightly, but not for long. Soon, she was pulling back, just barely out of reach once more.

“So. What’ll you be wanting?” Dean finally managed to clear his head enough to speak, though still a little short-circuited at her teasing.

“I want…” She leaned closer again, and he instinctively lifted his head minutely off the floor. “a piece of pie. My favorite if they’ve got it, you know the place.” Y/N was up and off him, turning as if to leave, as if nothing had just happened.

“That was just plain cruel, babe.” His voice instantly gave away that he was wearing the puppy dog eyes that could bring her to her knees. Which, to be fair, were the reason she wasn’t looking at him.

“What can I say? I wanted pie, and you never share.” She shrugged, a full laugh shaking her frame. “I won fair and square, Winchester. Bring me the pie and nobody gets hurt.”

“You know I can’t resist beautiful women.”

The picture in his hands was from that same day, when he’d come back with a whole pie and surprised her with it in the library. Her delighted smile was forever burned into Dean’s memory. Sinking back down to sit on the bed, he could have sworn he smelled her vanilla and cinnamon scent in the air around him. The scent of her tore at his heart while somehow warming and comforting him at the same time.

 Now I know she’ll never leave me

Even as she runs away

She will still torment me, calm me, hurt me

Move me, come what may

  “Hey. You doin’ alright, Dean?” Words she’d always spoken when she could tell something was wrong. Words he’d never hear again. Words he could almost hear now, if he just strained his ears.

Even in the beginning, before Dean had warmed up to her, she had hesitantly come and asked what he needed. She hadn’t been particularly affectionate at the time - growing up in the hunter life isn’t exactly conducive to that sort of thing. Yet she’d crossed her own barriers to help him, albeit hesitantly. They’d become more carefree with each other - more how they should have been without all the things they’d seen.

Hesitantly, she edged past the door and into the room. Finding him lying on the bed, facing away from the door, she was quick to sit beside him, the mattress dipping slightly under her weight. When he hadn’t responded to her question, she’d figured something was wrong, but his demeanor confirmed it.

Experience taught her that he didn’t need more words - he’d talk when he was ready. Accordingly, she shuffled up next to him, wrapping an arm around him and curling around his body. What he needed was for her to be there, and that’s exactly what she intended to do.

Now, of course, she could no longer be there.

It still wasn’t real to Dean. The idea that this woman - this woman who had crept in and seen the heart of him - was actually gone just didn’t seem like it could possibly be true. Any minute now, she’d be walking through that door, asking if he was alright. She was alive. She had to be.

 Wasting in my lonely tower

Waiting by an open door

I’ll fool myself she’ll walk right in

And be with me for evermore

 She hadn’t come through the door. For the first time in a long time, she wouldn’t be walking through that door. They’d fought before - of course they had - but every time, they would seek each other out. One way or another, she’d come back through that door, whether it be her coming to apologize or returning with Dean after he’d apologized.

Their relationship had been one of giving and taking. Both had times when they thought the other was overreacting, and both had been the one overreacting. Sometimes the fights had spanned days and had only been reconciled after Sam smacked some sense into them or a monster had forced them to realize that the fight hadn’t lessened their love for each other at all. For all the hardships they’d faced, they’d done it together and come out stronger on the other side.

She had always come back through that door. And now she couldn’t.

Despite her assurances that she didn’t blame Dean at all, he couldn’t stop seeing her face. Couldn’t stop seeing her last moments playing out before him. Couldn’t stop seeing the light fading from her eyes - eyes that had been so full of life mere minutes earlier - as she died in his arms. She was gone. Well and truly gone, this time.

 I rage against the trials of love

I curse the fading of the light

Though she’s already flown so far beyond my reach

She’s never out of sight

 Dean found himself waking up with a start, not even remembering falling asleep. Instinctively, his arms reached for the side of his bed that she always slept on. As the last remnants of sleep and dreams faded, so did she. In his dreams, she’d been beside him, curled into him as though she’d never left.

He knew that she didn’t blame what happened on him for a single moment. She’d seen him as a good man, as a hero, even when he could only see the killer in himself. Five minutes. Ha. He’d remember her for much longer than five minutes a day. Yes, that’s it. He’d become the man she’d seen in him. The man she knew he could be, if he would only see it. The hero with the heart of a lion, the goofball of a puppy, the incredibly brave man with all the gentleness a life of hunting had beaten from many.

With the memory of her as his guide, he’d learn and get better. Who knew, maybe Dean would even learn to see that hero inside himself. As long as he kept her with him, he’d be alright.

She might have been physically gone, but Dean would never forget her. She’d always be there with him, in his heart, no matter how cheesy it sounded.

“No chick flick moments,” he’d say if she mentioned it.

“You love chick flicks,” she’d reply.

“Only for you, darlin’. Only for you.”

 Now I know she’ll never leave me

Even as she fades from view

She will still inspire me, be a part of

Everything I do

  A hesitant knock snapped Dean out of his thoughts. The only person who’d ever been that quiet when asking permission to enter his room was her. Maybe this had all just been some sick joke or a terrible nightmare. The knock is her tapping my shoulder to try and wake me up. If we open the door, it’ll be her. It’ll be her… It has to be her.

“Hey, you doin’ alright?” Four little words. That’s all it took to break him again. The words were right, but the voice was wrong. It wasn’t her. No, it was Sammy.

Suddenly it was all real. The past couple of days came crashing down around him with a final realization ringing through his ears and his mind. She really was gone.

Wasting in my lonely tower

Waiting by an open door

I’ll fool myself she’ll walk right in

And as the long, long nights begin

I’ll think of all that might have been

Waiting here for evermore!

Forever Tags: @riddikulus-obsessions

(Tag list is open. If you want to be on it, just let me know)

[dragon-temeraire]

The Real You

Summary: Danny doesn’t have a crush on Stiles. No way.

Notes: Another one for @inell, who wanted Stiles/Danny and “be nice to your seat partner, they might just be your future spouse!” This is an AU where nothing supernatural happened in Beacon Hills. (On AO3)

Danny always hates the start of every school year. There’s a new schedule to learn, a new locker to find, and an influx of baby-faced freshman wandering around. There are also new teachers, new classes, and most importantly, new seating assignments.

He has to stifle a groan when he discovers that his desk-mate for English is none other than Stilinski. He’s weird and awkward, and only ever seems to hang out with his one dorky friend. Danny does not need him bringing down his reputation.

He also, Danny can’t help noticing, has long, long legs. He’s a little ashamed, but sometimes imagining those legs wrapped around his waist is the only thing that gets him through boring lacrosse practices.

Stiles might be undateable, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any positive attributes. Admittedly, his mouth is another key player in some of Danny’s daydreams.

He slides into his seat, and he’s just about to say something to Stiles, who’s sprawled out in his own chair, when the teacher begins to speak.

“Okay, everybody. I hope you’re in the right place. And be sure to be nice to your seat partner—they might just be your future spouse,” she says cheerfully.

Danny is just thinking about what an incredibly small-town outlook that is, when Stiles turns and actually winks at him.

Who the hell does he think he is?

 *

 Their English teacher, Ms. Morton, has them free-write in their notebooks every day, to get them “warmed up.” Danny thinks it’s kind of pointless, but it’s ten minutes of peace and quiet, so he goes with it.

He’s feeling a little low on inspiration, though, so he sneaks a peek over at what Stiles is writing. And he gets a bit distracted, because Stiles really does have nice hands. One of which is resting against his mouth as he scribbles in his journal.

His perfect, pink mouth, that he leaves hanging open so often.

Sometimes, Danny really regrets his keen observational skills.

He drags his gaze away, starts writing a story about meeting a handsome guy in a coffee shop, who has an intriguing line of freckles across one cheek.

 *

 He expected Lydia to be all over the new girl. What he didn’t expect was for Stiles’ goofy-puppy friend to be all over her, too.

Which means they all end up eating lunch together.

Awkwardly.

Somehow, when he’s trying not to watch Stiles drink his water obscenely, he gets roped into going bowling with everyone. It’s some kind of group date, and since they’re all paired up already, that leaves him with Stiles.

Great.

He’s about to say no, and bow out, but then he catches a glimpse of Stiles’ excited expression, and well. Danny’s not as nice as everyone thinks—it’s just that he usually keeps his thoughts to himself. And also, having an asshole friend like Jackson makes him look really great by comparison.

But he’s not a monster.

“Sure, I’ll be there,” he says. He pretends not to notice Stiles’ enthusiastic fist pump.

 *

 Jackson is, of course, taking the bowling way too seriously. Everything’s a competition with him, as Danny knows too well.

It is pretty entertaining, though. Because Scott is spending most of his time looking shyly at Allison, sending her these dopey little smiles, while Jackson just gets increasingly more aggressive.

And Lydia looks increasingly more put-upon.

What makes it even better, though, is Stiles. He keeps leaning in and making these snide little comments about how much sex Lydia is going to withhold, and for once he doesn’t sound like he’s in love with her.

Danny thought he had a good grasp of the nuance of sarcasm, having been friends with Jackson for so long.

But it turns out he was wrong.

Because Stiles—Stiles on another level.

He’s snappy and sharp and quick-witted, and god help him, he’s funny. Sometimes, Danny actually has to walk away, because he’s laughing so hard.

He always knew that Stiles was that weird kind of smart, with immaculate (if eclectic) book knowledge, and just enough street smarts to let him read people really well, sometimes nearly instantaneously.

And it’s actually pretty interesting, seeing the places Stiles’ mind will jump to, all the ideas he’ll connect, all the tangents he’ll go on. He finds himself listening intently, and realizes that, to his surprise, he’s actually enjoying himself.

 *

 Stiles might be fascinating, but he’s still a dork, Danny thinks consolingly to himself. There’s absolutely no reason for his tiny crush on Stiles to get any bigger. Not when he’s seen Stiles trip over his own feet three times today.

Except that Danny’s beginning to wonder if Stiles can read his mind. Because somehow he seems to have a direct line to exactly what Danny is into.

Stiles comes to school wearing a tight, short sleeve shirt, which reveals surprisingly muscular arms. Then, the next day, he shows up in a dark Henley that emphasizes the lean lines of his torso, and rides up enough for Danny to see a thin sliver of his hips.

He catches himself staring more than once.  

And he keeps touching his face really often, dragging those long, beautiful fingers across his lips. It’s really distracting.

Danny thinks he’s doing okay, though, until the day Stiles wears jeans so form-fitted, they almost look painted on. They give him a perfect view of Stiles’ (rather nice) ass, and his muscular thighs. It kind of makes Danny want to put his hands all over Stiles, makes him wonder what it would be like to have Stiles pressed up against him, to be kissing him—

Yeah, Danny totally has this crush under control.

Totally.

 *

 The worst part is, Danny can’t stop thinking about Stiles. And not even in his usual, mildly judgmental way. No, he’s thinking about what Stiles would look like if he smiled. Not a smirk or a grin—a real, genuine smile. He finds himself wondering what Stiles is thinking, what Stiles is doing.

And he knows it’s bad, because even Jackson, who’s dealing with relationship issues with Lydia, has noticed how distracted he is. It’s awful.

He knows Stiles is only in the popular group by virtue of his best friend, who finally got brave enough to ask out Allison, but still… Stiles is looking less and less undateable these days.

Danny is finding that he actually wants to spend more time with Stiles. They only have one class and lacrosse practice together, and he’s really starting to regret that.

So when Stiles says, “Hey, we’re all going to the diner after school, you want to come?” Danny barely hesitates.

He begins to second-guess himself, though, when he shows up and Stiles is the only one there. Was this just one of his schemes?

But as he approaches the table, Stiles says, “Allison and Scott are running late, they’re busy. But they’ll be here soon.”

Danny raises his eyebrows, sits down across from Stiles. “Oh? And are Jackson and Lydia busy too?”

“I don’t want to know,” Stiles says, making a dramatically disgusted face. “I don’t think Jackson would eat diner food anyway, but Lydia said she’d be here.”

“All right,” Danny says, nodding. If their friends are having sex in the backseats of their cars, that’s not Stiles’ fault. “You know, it’s not that Jackson hates diners. It’s just that he can’t eat very much fried food—it hurts his stomach.”

“Really?” Stiles says, looking like he’s been given a gift. “Good to know,” he adds in a low mutter, and Danny has to work hard to keep the smile off his face.

They end up trying little ice cream samplers while they wait for the others, and Danny has a lot of fun. Stiles sends him a few lingering looks throughout the night, but he doesn’t do anything else. Doesn’t even hint that he’s interested.

Danny pretends that he’s not disappointed.

 *

 “Stiles, what the fuck,” Jackson says irritably, as Stiles parades past him eating French fries for the third time that day.

Danny just laughs.

 *

 Ms. Morton tells them they have to write a creative story, at least three pages long, with their desk partner. It’s due next week.

“Writing buddies!” Stiles says excitedly, raising his fist. Danny doesn’t even hesitate to bump it with his own.

Stiles invites him over to his house to work on the story. He sprawls across this bed, scribbling determinedly in a notebook as they discuss ideas.

Danny sits in Stiles’ desk chair, and spins himself idly when he can’t think of anything for the plot. He tips his head back, and stares up at the Stormtrooper poster on Stiles’ ceiling as he takes another turn.

“I think they should kiss now,” Stiles says abruptly.

“You said that three paragraphs ago,” Danny says, looking over. “What is up with you and kissing?”

“It’s just nice,” Stiles says dreamily. “And I think there should be more of it in our story.”

Danny doesn’t respond right away, too busy wondering who exactly Stiles has been kissing. “Fine,” he says eventually. “They can kiss.”

Stiles looks up then, and Danny kind of expects some line about how they should be kissing, too. But he just says, “Awesome,” and “Don’t worry, I’ll make it good.”

Danny nods, feeling strange. The Sheriff isn’t home, likely won’t be for hours, but Stiles hasn’t made any mention of it. Hasn’t invited Danny to sit on the bed next to him, hasn’t suggested doing something fun, instead of homework.

Nothing.

He’s not used to being alone with someone, not without there being any innuendo, or any implications of what’s going to happen. Hell, even Jackson has propositioned him for sex before. So it’s weird that Stiles hasn’t made a single move at all.

He’d never admit it, but he’d actually gone to Lydia, and asked her if Stiles might be into him.

“Stiles has a crush on half the school,” Lydia had said, not looking up from her essay. “But yes, I’m quite sure he’s interested in you.”

Danny hadn’t bothered to ask how she knew. There was no point.

And Stiles was not exactly known for subtlety, so the fact that he hasn’t made his interest obvious is freaking Danny out.

So is the realization that, if Stiles did ask him out, Danny might not say no.

 *

 Stiles isn’t making any moves, but other people definitely are.

The winter dance is in two weeks, and Danny has already witnessed three people ask Stiles to go with them. He’s turned each of them down, but that’s not the point.

Stiles has been sitting at the popular table for months, has been a lot less impulsive and reckless, has been letting his buzz cut grow out, and has actually been getting to play first line during lacrosse games.

He isn’t undateable anymore, and it’s obvious that more than just Danny have noticed.

It’s making him a little nervous.

Danny had honestly expected Stiles to be mildly shunned, as usual, from all social events. He’d been expecting to have time to decide if he wanted to take Stiles to the dance, and then scoop him up at the last minute, if needed.

But now…

Stiles could say yes to someone at any moment. Danny is out of time to decide—and honestly, he already has.

He wants to go with Stiles. He really, really does.

He watches Stiles stroll across the classroom to their shared desk, and decides he’s going to do something.

Soon.

 *

 Danny’s not a smooth as people think—usually he’s the one being asked out, so he doesn’t have a lot of experience with doing the asking himself.

Still, he tries to play it cool.

“Hey, Stiles,” he says, after lingering in the locker room until almost everyone is gone. Stiles is somehow still not fully dressed, and staring at the muscles of his bare back throws Danny off a little.

“Danny!” Stiles says brightly, turning around. “What’s up?”

He has his shirt in his hands, Danny notices, but he still hasn’t put it on. And his athletic shorts are sitting rather low on his hips, so he has to work to keep his gaze fixed on Stiles’ face.

He considers asking something low-risk, like Are you going to the dance? or Have you said yes to anyone yet? Instead he comes right out and says, “Do you want to go to the dance with me?” It ends up sounding confident, and Danny breathes a little sigh of relief.

Stiles’ eyes narrow slightly, like he’s suspicious, but he just says, “Yeah, I do. You can pick me up at six.”

Danny quirks an eyebrow. “But the dance doesn’t start until seven-thirty.”

“I know,” Stiles says easily. “I figured we could go for burgers or something first.”

“Oh,” Danny says, and thinks like a date. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

And Stiles gives him a smile, just a little bit smug, like he knew exactly what Danny was thinking.

 *

 It doesn’t go like the movie cliché—Stiles answers the door instead of his dad, so he doesn’t get to come dramatically down the stairs.

Danny feels a little breathless anyway.

He keeps sneaking peeks on the drive to the diner, because Stiles looks better in a suit than he would have ever imagined. And when Stiles reaches over and fixes his tie, fingers gently brushing his neck, it sends a pleasant shiver through Danny.

He’s always liked the novelty of being incredibly overdressed in a casual place, and it’s amusing to think about how absurd they must look, ordering burgers and fries in their fancy clothes.

Stiles takes off his suit coat to eat, and seeing him there in just a thin dress shirt and tie is strangely appealing. Stiles slides his foot alongside Danny’s, a gentle pressure, but he’s concentrating too much on not getting food on his clothes to do anything else. Watching him lean over and take a careful, tiny bite of his burger is cute and amusing, so Danny doesn’t really mind.

And when he realizes Stiles is doing this because he wants to make sure he looks good for him, it sends a hot flush through Danny.

 *

 Despite his improved lacrosse playing, Stiles is still pretty clumsy. So Danny expected to have to coax him quite a bit, but he agrees to dance readily enough.

It’s a slow song, and Stiles doesn’t hesitate to step into his arms, hands settling warmly on Danny’s shoulders. He’s not trying to pressure Stiles in any way, but Danny finds his gaze continually returning to Stiles’ mouth as they slowly dance together. He just can’t quite help himself.

Stiles is as observant at ever, of course, and he catches Danny at it right away. His lips quirk up, just a little, before he leans in and kisses him, soft and a little shy.

Danny feels himself sway into it as he tugs Stiles closer, pressing them together. Now he understands why Stiles likes kissing so much. One of Stiles’ hands slides over to cradle the back of his neck, thumb stroking the short hairs there. It makes Danny feel warm all over.

Stiles breaks the kiss before it gets too intense, and rests his cheek against Danny’s as they turn.

“I knew I couldn’t ask you out,” he says quietly into Danny’s ear. “I knew that if I tried, you’d shoot me down without even thinking about it.”

“What?” Danny says, pulling back a little so he can see Stiles’ face.

He gives Danny a lopsided smile. “I knew I somehow had to get you to ask me, instead.” He looks down. “I did everything I could think of. I convinced Ms. Morton to make us seat partners. I went to the jungle a lot, trying to figure out how to dress and how to act, so I could catch your attention. I even asked Lydia for advice. And it worked, but now I feel like I tricked you—”

“Stiles,” Danny says firmly, keeping his hold on Stiles when he tries to step back. “That was the real you at the bowling alley that night, wasn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah,” Stiles says, looking amused in spite of himself. “I couldn’t fake that level of sarcasm.”

Danny grins. “Well, that’s the Stiles I had a crush on, even though I wouldn’t admit it. And yeah, you dressing better, and acting calmer, and actually getting off the bench made it easier to ask you out. But I liked you before that, okay?”

Stiles nods, but he still doesn’t look quite convinced.

“I don’t feel tricked,” Danny says. “And honestly, I’m looking forward to getting to know you better. The dorky, awkward you.”

Stiles smiles so bright, Danny is pretty sure his heart skips a beat. And he can’t resist leaning in and kissing Stiles again.

And even when the music changes to a fast, upbeat song, they just stay in each other’s arms, slowly swaying together.

 *

 A few years later, when they’re nearly done with college, Stiles gets down on one knee. “Danny, will you marry me?” he asks, and then he fucking winks.

“Oh my god, Stiles,” Danny says, because he knows exactly what that is in reference to.

Then, of course, he says yes.

[silverwing2522]

Homecoming Reunions

“Are you sure you want to do this” Danny asks me nervously. We’re squat down, huddled behind a snow drift near what looks like to be an abandoned wartime bunker.

I had heard from Omega Red that S.I.C.K.L.E. had intel about illegal experiments going on relating to the Red Room. Victor wanted to bring weapon x in to deal with it, but I told him I’d rather handle it myself. The last thing you’d want is for 6 badass villains crashing into a covert operation, especially one as corrupt as this. No, this was better, the personal route.

My plan was to sneak in and take a look around, take note of key areas and get a layout of the place so that when we return to base camp we can form a proper plan of action.

I mean, sitting here, for all we know, this could just be what it looks like, an old rusty bunker. But I still needed to check. I felt after all that I had been through in the past with this organization, it was my responsibility to keep an eye on them. Also, it was the first mission of my own, normally I’m playing follow the leader with Victor or Danny, but not today. Today I was the leader in charge.

“I’m sure,” I say with determination in my voice. I felt strong and confident in myself. I was going to raise hell!

We slipped from the snow drift and as quietly as we could, we prised open the door with a crowbar. I unfurled my wings but kept them flat to my back, cautious but ready for attack. We clung to the walls as we slowly made our way down the dark corridor. The place was in disrepair, with rust coloured streaks that ran down the walls making it look like blood. Smelled similar to it too, but it was just rust. The floor was covered in dirt and dust, no one had walked down this corridor in a long time. It felt like maybe I had made a mistake coming here, but we were barely inside, I needed to press on.

We weaved through the passageways, keep a keen eye out for surveillance cameras. But there weren't any, just old faded soviet symbols painted on some of the walls.

The curious thing I noted was the power supply, although weak, was still running, and switched on. The further we went, the lights would come on as we walked. When I looked back behind us, the lights were starting to switch off in the distance. This felt like a trap! We were like mice in a maze being led somewhere. Come, follow the leader. Hmm.

“Do you see that?” Danny asked me, nerves notching up in his voice. He was not fond of small, enclosed spaces. The whole place felt odd. Although the lights were odd, the thing that really unsettled me was the eerie quietness. It was so silent in there, you could hear a pin drop, even on this type of floor. It was like being in a sound...proofed...room…

We were in a soundproofed place. I couldn't hear anything outside, even though I knew the wind was howling outside. There was nothing, not even a low whistle.

“Yeah, I see it. Let's carry on.” I say with a steadfast tone. My jaw set into place, my eyes narrowly with concentration. This was turning out not to be a waste after all. There was something here. And it was toying with us.

“I don't know Sessa, I think maybe we should stop, see what happens..” I knew what he was thinking and it was a good plan. Let the fight come to us. We weren't mice after all. But I knew these people better. They wouldn't dare to come closer, they would stay in the shadows, never making a move. It’s why they're so good. They don't make the first move, they use yours instead.

“No,” I say firmly before carrying on walking down the corridor that leads out to a series of interconnecting office spaces, each with their own cubicles, sectioned off from each other. This was the front of the place. The niceties. Please come visit our peaceful home and stay for some tea.

The real show was always underground, in the basement areas. Getting there required specialist knowledge, it wasn't somewhere you would just stumble on. No, that was the bunker part. You would hear something about this place and when you investigate all you would find is this, silence and ghost lights and a creeping feeling at the back of your neck. Which would make people like Danny want to leave as soon as possible. But even that feeling was staged. Soon there would be hallucinations and auditory phenomenon. All orchestrated to make you leave. The most that would happen is that you’d fight your imaginary monsters and leave, happy that you've saved the day. Whereas the real monster still roamed underneath.

I jumped up on top of one of the office desks and smashed the lights. Doing so trips the switch, the ground begins to shake and the dreary decor shifts and changes around us, it was enough to make you dizzy and pass out. You feel like you've been flipped upside down and turned inside out. I feel Danny shift closer to me. Nothing fazed me, but he was freaking out. “Whats going on?!”

“Showtime,” I announced.

Suddenly bold, bright fluorescent lights blaze around us. The area is bleached white in white coloured tiles, the floor, ceiling and walls covered in it. “I thought it was called the ‘red’ room” Danny whispers to me. “You don't need to whisper, they know we’re here,”I tell him before walking along the passageway to a set of glass and metal doors. “Well, that's reassuring! Where are they then?” He enquired. “Around. They won't show themselves to you, they're too clever for that. They will never show their faces. Never get their hands dirty. That's what they use people like me for.” I tell him, opening the door and walking through casually. I felt weird. I should've been terrified, but instead, I felt strangely calm about being there. These people tortured me for a decade, but here I was breezing through like I was coming home. In a peculiar way, I kinda was.

There in the joining room, I see a figure bent over a computer, typing away. I recognise the uniform. It was a black widow. She looked a lot like me, just shorter. I sighed. Here we go!

“Ahem…” I interrupted. The woman swivelled around with her right leg making contact with mine, knocking me to the side. Damnit! I don't get knocked over!!

I quickly got up as Danny flew at her all fists and fury. I roared at the woman and charged at her, wings ablaze. I needed to be careful, I wanted information from her.

She swatted Danny away momentarily and I seized her arm before she could make her next move. Pulling her I sent her flying to the other end of the room, where she landed hard against the floor. She started to struggle to get up, but I was already there before she could find her footing, pinning her to the wall with the tips of my metal wings digging into the ceramic white tiles.

It was then we came face to face, and I had the horrible realization. I was looking into the face of my younger sister. Natalia. Tali.

She was a black widow?!

[artificialqueens]

City of Stars (Pearlet) - Leatwerpenn

A/N - The moment we have all been waiting for. Its spring, and spring is the season for valentines, isn’t it? Once again, if you have missed the previous chapters (Or if you cant find them in the tags) you can find them HERE in the masterpost.  Some minor mentions of Violet/Adore and friendship between Violet/Fame / Pearl/Willam and Pearl/Detox City of stars, are you shining just for me?

Chapter 3

(2011) 5 Years Before. LA. Spring. “Thank you for coming Mr Dardo”. Jason looked up at the casting agent and he could see in their eyes that he wasn’t getting a call back from this audition either. Damn, 5 this week and nothing. Are you serious? -  He thought. Sighing heavily, Jason picked up his bag and left the studio in a rush of tears. _______________________________________ Jason found himself once again, face buried into his pillow of his apartment. Kurtis and Patrick’s relationship seemed to be getting more serious, resulting in the apartment being quiet and lifeless. Jason didn’t mind this, because at least when he was Violet, there was no need to sneak down the fire escape to avoid Kurtis anymore. He lost his steady gig at Roy’s after he decided to do his own thing that night a couple of months back. Jason still worked at the coffee shop though, but his work as Violet was pretty much, non-existent. Jason was still finding it hard to come to terms with himself and who Violet was, or rather, how Jason and Violet fit together. This being the main reason he wasn’t really getting any work as Violet. The idea of being called a Drag Queen didn’t appeal to him. Sometimes, he felt like being Jason and sometimes he felt like being Violet. He was scared that people wouldn’t understand that. Why am I like this? A feeling of desperation began to take over. He could barely understand how he had gotten to this point. So this is what rock bottom feels like.  Jason took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts, stopping once it landed on Boomers number. Am I desperate enough to get money from him? He put his head back into his pillow and cried harder than he felt like he ever had. Jason picked his phone back up and started to scroll through his photos. He stopped when he saw a photo that he had clearly forgotten to delete. It was a photo of his ex, Danny, who was now a really successful musician - who was very comfortable in not only being Danny, but being Adore too. Jason both loved and hated Danny, he had everything Jason desired, well almost everything. Danny liked to perform as himself when it came to music but he was a successful drag artist too. Jason was drawn to him because of his self-confidence. Danny soon realised that Jason was a fucking mess and dumped him not long after they slept together the first time. Is that why you dumped me? Am I that repulsive? He had never told Danny about Violet. He was afraid.  Deleting the picture, he checked his phone for any more signs of Danny. All evidence had been deleted. Thank god. Jason’s mind wondered back to his insecurities as he laid on his bed. He turned and was now laying on his back. He loved the stars; but hated that he couldn’t see them outside much in LA because of the pollution. One night a few months back, when he had drunk more vodka than he cared to admit, he stole some of those glow in the dark stars from the dollar store. Those stars were now super glued to his ceiling. He liked to gaze at them when he felt lost. Tonight, he was lost. Jason got up, closed his curtains, turned the lights off and laid back on his bed, and all he could see were stars. (2003) 8 years before. Atlanta. Spring. Who is this person looking back at me, what is your name. Jason looked at himself in the mirror or, herself? God, who am I. He watched, as the mascara dripped down the side of his face in morbid fascination. Down his cheek… chin… drip. Jason heard his mother clear her throat behind him. He didn’t move to look at her. “Hi honey, what are you doing” His mother quietly approached, and perched next to him at her vanity. She nudged Jason’s shoulder when she didn’t get a response. “Who am I mum?” Jason’s tears fell over the edge and he grabbed his mum in a tight embrace. “What am I going to do when you go?” He could feel his mum stroking the back of his hair to soothe him. “I don’t know angel, but I know that you are an amazing human being. You’ll figure it out. You are only 14 years old, everything isn’t supposed to make sense yet. Hell, I’m dying of cancer and it still doesn’t make sense. You are my child, and I will love you no matter what. You are my star.” Jason looked at his mum through his smudged make-up and gave her a small smile. “Now, if I help you do your face, will you come and sing with me while I play our tune. I know you have that song finished sweetie and I would love to hear it.” Jason gave a small nod and his mom and she started to work on touching up his makeup. When she was finished, he looked into the mirror, and all he could see were stars. (2011) LA. Spring. Jason woke up in pitch darkness. It wasn’t often that he slept in the dark as it frightened him. He was rudely awoke from a dream of his Mother by his phone. It was violently vibrating on his bedside table.

“Hello?” He answered groggily. “Jason, where the fuck are you? You were supposed to be coming with me to that make-up benefit I told you about.” Jason smiled as Kurtis continued to bust his balls about being so miserable all the time. Why can’t I be more positive like Kurtis was? Wait. “Hey, sorry to interrupt but… I do want to come, and I’m actually not working but…” Jason wanted to tell Kurtis so badly about Violet. God, this is so hard. “Okay, I’m going to tell you a secret, and the only other person in the world who knows this about me is dead so… Can you come home?” Jason felt the tears in his eyes but he wanted so badly to tell somebody. “Umm, sure. We have to go in about an hour though, are you good for that?” Jason panicked, he normally spent at least 2 hours becoming Violet. However, he wanted to be challenged. “Just get here ASAP!” Hanging up the phone, he put his favourite instrumental Spotify playlist on and started to become Violet. _______________________________________ Violet sat on the couch opposite the front door to her small two bedroom apartment. She was dressed fairly casual for her. She was afraid she might scare Kurtis too much. She wore a beautiful navy blue dress that was tight around her shapely body, which was cinched at the waist. From there, it fell around her hips and down to her knee’s in a sea of ripples and waves. She had painted her face that night, to appear as feminine and female as she possibly could, put on her favourite curly black wigs, and the only pair of nice earrings she owned. To finish the look she added her signature beauty mark and a pair of nude high heels. Fuck, where is Kurtis? Is my only friend standing me up right now? Impatiently tapping her foot, she took out her compact mirror from her matching nude clutch and checked her makeup. As she opened the mirror, she could swear she could see gold in her eyes. Violet blinked, and it was gone. The front door opened, making her jump and she dropped her compact on the floor. She had been staring at the compact for what seemed like forever. “Umm, emo face, look at me so I can take you in” Violet looked up to be greeted by the biggest smile she had ever seen Kurtis wear. He looked like a child on Christmas morning and was grinning like a moron. “I fucking knew it! I knew you were a drag queen!” Violets heart sunk at hearing those words, but she knew what and who she was and she understood the assumption. “Okay, this is going to sound insane, but please hear me out before you say anything else. When I was little, I always loved women, the beauty of them, the glamour, the makeup. Everything. The only thing I didn’t like, was the fact that I didn’t desire to be romantic with them. Anyway, as I grew older, I guess you could say that I started to cross dress. But, I am not a drag queen. At this moment in time, I am Violet Chachki, my pronouns are she and her. I am not Jason Dardo. Do you get it Kurtis?” Violet was begging him to understand. Please understand. “So at this moment in time you are Violet Chachki, my roommate. Okay, sure. Are you ready to go?” He held his hand out for Violet to take. She was stunned. Wow, that was easy. Taking Violet by the hand, Kurtis could have sworn her eyes were golden. Violet looked at Kurtis in a different light. Finally, someone knew. She let Kurtis drive her, as she had no idea where they were even going, and as she looked out of the window, all she could see were stars. _______________________________________ (2011) LA. Spring. Matt sat in the basement. His hands hovering over the keys like they always seemed to these days. For some reason, playing hadn’t felt right lately. The woman performing at the club was the only thing occupying his thoughts recently. Well, not exactly a woman, a drag queen. Upon leaving the club Matt did some research, he found out her name was Violet Chachki, and she performed every first Saturday of the month. He had revisited the club twice since then and she wasn’t there either time, and that really bothered him. How the fuck did she get a hold of my music? What bothered him more, was that it appeared that a woman was the reason he was happily going into a gay nightclub for the first time. This notion often put a smile on his face. How ironic. After a brief period of Googling, Matt couldn’t locate it anywhere. He even searched his own name on Spotify, which was insane to him, but still nothing came up. He was confused. The confusion haunted him. Matt wasn’t really into any local or new music, unless it was Jazz. This made his search even harder. He even resorted to playing it for Siri, unfortunately she didn’t know what was happening. Stupid Phone! City of Stars… something about shining. Fuck! Why can’t I remember her lyrics? Matt sat at his piano and tried to play the song over and over. He had done this every day since that night at the bar, but now he couldn’t even play his favourite song. Fuck my life. He sat there with his eyes closed and thought about Violet. She was quickly becoming his muse, and even though he had only seen her once, her presence caused him to have a warm feeling in his heart. She was the most radiant woman he had ever laid eyes on. Matt still wasn’t convinced she was even a drag queen, maybe she was transgender? This was becoming an obsession. Before Matt realised, he opened his eyes to see his hands moving gracefully across his keys. He hadn’t heard this sound before. He closed his eyes again and let the music take over him. The melody he was playing sounded painfully sad, but beautiful. It sounded, to him, damaged and like it held secrets that wanted to burst open. Matt’s eyes opened suddenly, and all he could see were stars. (2003) New York. Spring. “Dude, what are you doing?” Matt S, or Detox, as Matt liked to call him, stood over Matt with the biggest frown. Matt called Matt S Detox because they were always together, and calling each other Matt just got confusing. Matt couldn’t even remember how Detox came about but it had stuck. “What do you mean what am I doing? I’m taking a picture to send to someone.” Matt held his phone out in front of himself and took a picture. “Eww I look ugly. Should I take my top off?” He looked at Detox with pleading eyes. “Dude, who are you sending a picture too? And definitely take your top off you idiot! If you’re trying to get into someone’s pants, you need to show off the goodies.” Detox wiggled his brows and Matt laughed. “It’s to Courtney, you know, that hot Australian girl that just started. Fuck, she’s hot. Right?” Matt glanced down for approval, but Detox was frowning again. What the hell is up with him? “Courtney? But she has a vagina, I thought you liked…”Just as Detox went to continue his sentence Matt ran to his bedroom door and closed it shut. “Dude, shut up! My dad is downstairs and you know what he is like…” he said in a hushed tone. “I actually find Courtney attractive, like, I want to fuck her. Is that…weird? Maybe I’m not… Like you?” Matt didn’t know how he expected Detox to react. But Detox just smiled. “Matt, you can like whoever you want. I will take that part of you that we shared all those years ago to the grave. But I will always be your friend no matter who you like, and no matter how much your dad hurts you… Understand?” Detox took the phone from Matt and moved to the other side of the room. “Now let’s take a cute picture before your dad comes up here, see’s you half naked and tries to kill me for corrupting your 16 year old mind?” A goofy smile began spreading across Matt’s face. Detox took a few snaps of him before he chose one to send to Courtney. He pulled his shirt back on and sat in front of the mirror. “Ask me a truth Detox, like we are playing truth or dare” Matt looked serious. Detox decided to play along. “What is your sexual orientation?” Detox looked him dead in the eye. Matt looked back at him in the mirror. “I just like sexy people, male, female, or anything in between. Google might be able to define it but I can’t, yet.” Matt felt like a weight had been lifted as he looked at his friend in the mirror. “Give me a dare bitch.” He grinned. “I dare you to get your septum pierced!” Detox starting laughing, he knew how much Matt wanted him to dare him to get a tattoo. He looked shaken. Detox grabbed Matt and pushed him out of his bedroom door and down the stairs. Matt looked to where his dad was sitting on the sofa, beer in hand. He rolled his eyes, grabbed his keys and his wallet, and left the house. Fucking waster. An hour or so later, he sat in the chair at the piercing parlour in Brooklyn. He had a needle going through his nose, and all he could see were some very blurry stars.

(2011) LA. Spring.

Matt had work tonight. He was playing at some fancy benefit in a more residential area of LA. He still hadn’t ended things with her as she had been filming in Europe for the past two months, and wasn’t due home for a while. He knew that the benefit was for a make-up company, but apart from that he didn’t know much about it. Willam was going, as he had worked with the make-up company before. Matt found it humouring that it was supposed to be a fancy party and Willam had been invited. Willam was anything but fancy. Matt wore a dark grey pinstripe suit, white shirt, his violet pocket square, and matching tie. He had really warmed to these two items over the past couple of months, although he had no idea why. He also kept his glasses on. Pulling up to the house, he got out and gave his keys to the valet for parking. He moved through the house and soon spotted one of the organisers and took the opportunity to ask them where he was to be stationed for the night. The hostess led him over to the most beautiful large white grand piano. Matt sat and took in his surroundings. He was in an expanse of open plan living space. Wow, and I thought Courtney and I had a nice place. Matt had arrived early as he was being paid to be there. As no guests had really arrived yet, he decided to take a walk around to familiarise himself with the place. He noted the location of the toilets, and more importantly, the smoking area. Matt returned and started to play. The hostess came to discuss the kind of music that should be played throughout the night. The hostess was fairly open to what Matt played which he loved. The hostess’ only request was ‘nothing too harsh’ as it would ruin the vibe of the benefit. Some people had started to arrive, so Matt took out his tip beanie and swapped it for the posh looking glass jar that had been placed there. Matt got lost in his own music and all he could see were stars. _______________________________________ Kurtis had his hand at the small of Violets back as he led her through the party. He introduced her as a long-time friend of his and Patricks’. She smiled at Kurtis and silently thanked him for accepting her. Violet mingled at the front of the party, and if anybody suspected anything about her, they didn’t say anything. Soon, Kurtis left Violets side to network, which she completely understood. She conversed with many different people at the party, and loved it, especially when they complimented her on her appearance. She felt stunning and beautiful. Violet was chatting outside near the smoking area when she heard a voice that jolted her. “I can clock a wig from a half mile away that is definitely a pig in a wig.” Her blood ran cold and she turned around to see Willam, a really well known drag queen in Hollywood, and whom she assumed, was Willam’s date or friend, staring straight at her. Violet didn’t quite know what to do, so she excused herself from the people whom she was chatting to and made her way inside to find Kurtis. As she made her way around the side of the building she stopped. A shiver move up her spine. That same shiver she felt a few months back. Breathe in. Breathe out. Am I cold? Shaking it off, she continued to move around the building, but as she moved the shiver grew, intensifying with each step. It was now lingering on her shoulders  all the way down to her fingertips. Then, she heard it. Violet could hear the most beautiful sound coming from a piano just inside the building. It however, wasn’t just any sound. It was her mother’s melody. The music she had randomly found on Spotify a couple of years ago under the name ‘One of 3 A’s’ and could never explain. She had Googled the band and could never find any results. It was saved to her playlist and she just assumed her mum had loved that song and had just told Violet it was her own. Nobody had ever heard of this artist before and now they were possibly playing in the next room, or, at least someone who was a fan of her same weird obscure taste in music. Holy fuck. She braced herself and walked into the room and stood to the side of the pianist. Her entire upper body was burning, so was her throat. And all she could see was one, single, star. _______________________________________ Matt hadn’t been playing long before Willam decided to come over and make a few comments about his mad skills with his fingers. He just smiled politely at his friend and tried to remain as professional and focused as he possibly could. He had a small crowd around the piano, chatting, sipping on wine and conversing about make-up. Matt didn’t really have a clue when it came to make-up, but he was enjoying the tips. He also didn’t really have a clue what he was playing, but the hostess had been eye-fucking him the entire night so it must have been good. Matt didn’t even realise he had started to play his tune until he felt that warmth in his heart again. This was the first time he had been able to play it in months and he smiled to himself. Apparently I have got my mojo back. As he glanced up at the people watching him, he felt like an explosion went off in his brain. His chest had never felt warmer, as he saw none other than the woman who had plagued his fantasies for the past 2 months staring right back at him, mouthing those lyrics that he had tried too hard to remember with those beautiful golden flecks in her eyes. Matt hadn’t smiled like this in years, and all he could see was one, single, star.