#how are you five inches taller than me and only that much heavier than me. how are you five inches taller than me and THAT MUCH LIGHTER THAN

[many-gay-magpies]

sometimes i look at the weights of idols on kprofiles and think "what the fuck"

[angstyaches]

Ooooh you have a delicious writing style- it's so descriptive! I'm afraid I'm quite new so don't know your characters much yet, but if this scenario could fit I bet you'd write it amazingly! Perhaps Character A is down on their luck, longterm or short-term wise, and is walking through town, having not eaten since the morning prior. Suddenly a store window catches their eye, displaying all sorts of amazing baked goods or meat cuts, and they can't help but stare while their hunger pains have them wincing openly. Character B notices them staring before Character A even realises what they're doing.

Agh, what a beautiful prompt. I think this is actually the first hunger fic I've written on request, so thank you, anon! I hope it’s okay that I used fancy pizza; I really wanted to use Payton for this and pizza is one of the few foods they would genuinely go weak over.

Pre-Payton and Autumn Getting Together

CW: hunger, hunger pangs, stomach noises, mentions of character unable to afford (decent) food, stress, overwork (it's Payton, what did we expect?), food mention

___

Payton sighed as they felt the drizzle start to fall around them. They stepped under a deserted bus shelter and stared out, wondering if the rain was going to get worse before it cleared up.

It was a fitting end to the day – or rather, the week – they’d been having. They couldn’t wait to get home and take off the stifling shirt they’d worn to a job interview that morning and then worn all the way through their shift at the café. They just wanted soft clothes and their bed and maybe a podcast to fall asleep to.

It all seemed so far away still, their energy sapping by the second and leaving them stranded five minutes away from the tram stop. Their feet stopped moving, rooting them to the pale grey concrete.

A gorgeous smell turned their head. Frantic interview prep, snooty employers, and stuffy clothes all faded from Payton’s mind. They were stopped across the street from the city’s most expensive food store. Built into a complex from the late 1800s, it was the kind of place where a sandwich cost €12. The kind of place that sold imported goods and “foodstuffs”.

An elaborate window was positioned behind the delicatessen section of the shop, where a chef was artfully piecing together a pizza on top of a copper paddle while another sat in a brick oven. The smell of the crisping dough must have been piped out deliberately onto the street, to entice those with money to burn, and to tease those without.

Payton fell into the latter category lately. With all the time they’d been spending on interview prep and assignments, they’d been taking shorter shifts at the café. Rent was going to clean them out this month. Today’s shift hadn’t even been long enough to warrant a full lunch break; they’d only taken fifteen minutes, and had spent thirteen of them taking a nap at the break room table.

Only now did they feel the twists of hunger in their stomach, the shakiness in their legs. Payton didn’t even realise that they had edged closer to the bus stop so they could sit down on the bench, one hand resting on their belly. Their stomach hurt, and it really was no wonder when they thought about it.

The last thing they’d eaten had been a bowl of cereal at seven a.m., the same cereal they were planning to have for dinner when they got home.

Payton’s stomach groaned unhappily at the prospect, and Payton groaned too; I’m right there with you, they thought miserably, rubbing at their stomach and continuing to watch the pizza chef through the window.

They didn’t know how long they grimaced and gazed across the street before they were interrupted.

“Payton? Hi!”

Payton jumped, head snapping up to see who’d said their name, and their heart skipped a beat.

A navy polka-dot umbrella sat over her shoulder. She was wearing tight leggings and an oversized sweater, her shoulder-length hair thrown into a lazy side-bun. She was wearing no makeup and looked a little sweaty, like she was heading home from the gym or dance practice.

She was a sight to behold, as always, even as she fumbled with her umbrella.

“H-hey,” Payton stammered, stumbling to their feet and trying to appear as though they weren’t so light-headed they were seeing stars.

Autumn glanced across the street, her eyes lingering there for a moment. “Uh, you don’t take this bus, do you?”

“I – no,” Payton admitted, glancing at the timetable and list of stops. “I was just sitting. Long day. Spaced out a bit.”

“Yeah, I could see that,” Autumn said, glancing across the street again. She let out a little laugh, though she seemed to consider holding it in for a moment. “I thought you were going to start drooling.”

“What?”

“The fancy pizzas.”

Payton’s heart dropped. Their face was feeling hot under their bangs. “Oh, I, uh, I didn’t even realise I was… staring.”

“Don’t be embarrassed! I watch them all the time when I’m waiting for the bus,” Autumn laughed.

Payton still blushed deeply, since they’d had no reason to sit down at the bus stop except to stare through the shop window. They were suddenly hyper-aware of their hand resting on their belly. They felt their stomach quiver under their palm, a low growl working its way through.

“You doing okay?” Autumn sat down on the bench, nodding for Payton to join her. She didn’t seem to hear the complaint from Payton’s belly. “Feels like forever since we last talked.”

“Y-yeah, sure does,” Payton half-laughed. Their shaky legs and dizzy head were thankful for the relief as they sank back down, leaving what they hoped was a healthy number of inches between the two of them. “I’ve been, um… I’m okay? I think. And – and you?”

“I’m actually… I’m great,” Autumn grinned, tucking some hair behind her ear. “I, um, I just found out today that I’m going to be Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors.”

“Are you serious?” Payton smiled, their mood genuinely lifting a bit at the sight of Autumn’s proud, shy little smile.

They often envied her for her absolute passion for musicals and acting, since they were failing so spectacularly at finding their place in the film world, but right then Payton was happy just knowing she was happy.

“Yeah! I still can’t really believe it.”

“I can.” Payton extended a long arm to pull Autumn towards them. “You’re brilliant.”

“Agh – ew, P, you don’t want to hug me!” she laughed, pulling her shoulders up tightly. “I’m all sweaty and damp!”

“I don’t care!” Payton wrapped their arms around her and pulled her close, so that their cheeks were just inches apart. “Your news deserves a hug.”

Autumn gave a deep, happy sigh as she leaned into the hug, probably unaware of the fact that the contact was setting Payton’s heart racing. It almost felt selfish, holding her like this when they were clearly getting more out of it than she was. They went to remove their arms from her, their chest fluttering as she buried her face deeper in their shoulder and kept her arms firmly around their waist.

It was lovely.

And yet, for the first time in a while, Payton felt a pang of loneliness, their core aching with the knowledge that they couldn’t hold her like this all the time. Deep in their bones, Payton wanted to kiss her hair, tickle her sides, and whisper happy little declarations of affection in her ear.

They didn’t whisper anything to her, though. They didn’t say anything as they held her. But their empty stomach was still twisting itself into shapes, and it clearly didn’t get the memo on holding Autumn quietly. A sharp growl had Payton wincing and trying to clear their throat (to cover up the noise) all in the same breath.

“Whoa, is that your stomach?” Autumn asked, lifting her head from Payton’s shoulder.

Payton’s body stiffened. “It… might be.”

“Are you okay? You must be starving.”

“I’m… Yeah.” Payton swallowed hard, letting a hand rest on their belly again.

Autumn moved back to give them some space. She was staring like she expected an explanation, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed. Payton’s stomach rumbled under their hand again, bringing a twist of pain, and they didn’t know if they wanted to laugh or to cry.

“I guess I haven’t been taking care of myself too well.” They flinched again at the crack in their own voice.

Lifting her umbrella from where it had been resting against her leg, Autumn got to her feet. “Come on.”

Payton looked up at her, blinking behind their bangs. Exhaustion weighted them to the bench. “Come on where?”

A little hum escaped Autumn’s throat as she jerked her head. Her umbrella popped open and she stepped out of the bus shelter. The rain pattered against the fabric, a little heavier than it had been before.

“We’re gonna go eat pizza. Not – not there,” she clarified, gesturing towards the expensive deli. “I was thinking top floor of the Greene Centre. They sell by the slice and it’s super cheap.”

Payton swallowed again, guilt piling itself on top of the embarrassment. They felt as though they’d somehow coerced Autumn into offering to buy dinner, and the thought made them physically shudder. They got to their feet and moved a little closer to Autumn so she could hear them.

“I probably still can’t afford it,” they mumbled, staring at the ground.

“It’ll be my treat today, okay? You can pay me back by letting me ramble about my show.”

Payton gave her a shaky smile. “Are you sure?”

“Hundred percent.” That shy smile crossed Autumn’s face again. “It’s gonna sound weird, but when I found out I got the part… You were the first person I wanted to tell, Payton.”

“I... Really?” As they chewed their lip, a deep rumble came from Payton’s tummy. They frowned and folded their arms around it, noticing how Autumn's gaze drifted towards it too.

"Come on, I can't listen to your poor belly complain anymore." She lifted her umbrella a little higher with one hand – Payton was a few inches taller than her – and stuck out her elbow for Payton to link their arm through hers. “Shall we go?”

[longitudinalwaveme]

Giant Robots Vs Scale

I am well aware that scale does not exist in this franchise, and that my research was cursory at best, so take all of the following with a grain of salt.

So, the Dinobots. In terms of alt modes, we have:

Grimlock: Tyrannosaurus rex (40 feet long, 13 feet tall at the hips, 14 metric tons)

Snarl: Stegosaurus stenops (30 feet long, about 3 tons)

Slag: Triceratops horridus (26-30 feet long, 6.1-12.0 metric tons)

Sludge: Brontosaurus excelsus (72 feet long; 15 tons).

Swoop: Pteranadon longiceps (6 feet tall, 20-23 foot maximum wingspan, possibly around 35 pounds)

With the exception of Swoop, who's roughly human-sized in alt mode, discounting the wings, they're all pretty large, but not exceptionally so, especially compared to the alternate modes of most Decepticons. (Brawl, a Leopard A1 main battle tank, is 31 feet long; Vortex, a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite, is 44 feet long; the Seekers, who are all F-15 Eagles, are about 64 feet long, etc.)

This gave me the idea of scaling the Dinobots' alternate modes so that they're the same size proportionately to an Autobot car (usually around 13-15 feet tall) that the dinosaur off of which their alternate mode is based would be to a human. While this is absolutely not necessary for the fiction (especially since, as noted above, scale does not exist in this franchise), I thought it would be interesting to see the results. Assuming that we're measuring dinosaurs against a six-foot human male, this means that we're working with a size increase of (very roughly) X 2.5, which gives us the following results:

Grimlock: 100 feet long, 32.5 feet tall at the hips (note that Grimlock would probably be considerably taller at the head since he's an anatomically inaccurate Tyrannosaurus who stands upright), approximately 35 metric tons.

Snarl: 75 feet long, approximately 15 tons.

Slag: 65-75 feet long, approximately 15.25-30 metric tons.

Sludge: 180 feet long, 37.5 tons.

Swoop: 15 feet tall/long, 50 foot wingspan. He'd definitely be more than 87.5 pounds, since he's made of metal and doesn't need to be lightweight in order to fly like a real Pteranadon would, but that is what a 2.5 increase in weight would be compared to the original weight.

So if you want your Dinobots to be really big...there you go. (Well, except Swoop. Even X 2.5 his dimensions are only about equal to those of the Autobot cars...though he does have a longer wingspan than the F-16, the F-4, the Harrier II Jump Jet, and even the F-15).

Other useless (but funny) scale information:

Groove, the Honda Goldwing GL 1200 Police Motorcycle, is only about eight feet long. If we're nice to him and multiply his stats by 2.5 like we did with the Dinobots, that increases to 20 feet and actually makes him a bit larger than his generally 13-15 foot long car teammates. His weight would also increase from 875.5 pounds to 2,188.75 pounds. This would, however, make his motorcycle mode completely worthless as a disguise. (The Dinobots don't have this problem. Since they transform into metal versions of extinct animals, they're not fooling anyone regardless of how close they are to the size of the actual animals.)

Blades, his teammate, is a Bell UH-1V Iroquois Helicopter, and as such, is about 57 feet long and weights about 5,125 pounds (I'm presuming this is empty). If we decrease his size in the same way that we increased Groove's, this would make him 22.8 feet long and 2,050 pounds. He'd still be a little big, but he's scale much better with his teammates than he would at full size.

Streetwise is pretty simple. He's a Nissan 300ZX Turbo police car. He's 14.2 feet long and weighs in at 2,888-3,280 pounds, so pretty standard for a car.

First Aid is a Datsun Vanette C120 ambulance, and he's....surprisingly short. A Datsun Vanette C120 is only about 14 feet long. He's also about five and half feet wide, and weighs in at a surprisingly light 1,907-2,315 pounds. Have I been overestimating ambulance size this whole time, or is he just at tiny ambulance? Note that Ratchet and Ironhide are very similar in size to First Aid, as they are also Datsun Vanettes.

Hot Spot is a Mitsubishi Fuso Great Fire Engine, which was surprisingly difficult to find stats for. Based on the information I could find, he's nearly 25 feet long (24.93 feet) and weighs in at 16,931.5 pounds, making him the heaviest member of the team even if Blades is at full size. So, if we increase Groove's size by X 2 (X 2.5 seems a bit large) and decrease Blades by the same amount as we originally increased Groove, we'd actually have a kind-of sort-of reasonably scaled Protectobot team! As it stands, though, Groove and Blades are throwing everything off to a hilarious extent.

The Combaticons are a nightmarish mess. Since Swindle has become very strongly tied to a jeep alternate mode even though his original toy did not transform into a jeep, and his alternate mode animation model looks a LOT like Hound's, I'll be working off the assumption that Swindle is, in fact, a J59 Jeep, just like Hound. This would make him about 11.5 feet long and 2,665 pounds. This is small. If we multiply these stats by 2.5, this gets us 28.75 feet and 6,662.5 pounds. This would be a huge jeep, but he'd still be smaller (or at the very least, lighter) than all of his teammates.

Brawl is a Leopard A1 Main Battle Tank. (His animation model doesn't LOOK like one, but neither is it incredibly obviously something else, as is the case with Swindle.) Counting the fully extended turret, he's 9.54 meters, or 31.3 feet, long. (The main body of the tank is somewhere around 27 feet long.) He weighs in at 46.5 tons (that's 93,000 pounds!) However, as far as length is concerned, he scales reasonably well with a x2.5 Swindle.

Vortex is a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopter. He's 38 feet, 4 inches long and weighs 7,040 pounds empty. This means he's about 7 feet longer than Brawl (including the turret), and about 10 feet longer than Swindle x2.5. Even at his absolute maximum weight capacity (13,300 pounds) he's still FAR lighter than the tank, however.

Onslaught is a headache, because, while he's obviously an anti-aircraft truck, neither his toy nor his animation model appear to be any particular type of anti-aircraft truck, making it really difficult to guess as to how large he might be.

A YouTube video posted by a user by the name of Nemesis Bloodryche suggests that he looks similar to the Russian BAZ-6909 10x10. It is 11,300 millimetres, or about 37 feet, long, and weighs 48,502 pounds (or about 24 tons). This would scale appropriately with Brawl and reasonably well with Vortex.

Blast Off is a space shuttle orbiter. (If he was the full space shuttle, he'd be even more massive than this!) He's 122 feet long, with a width of 58 feet and 7 inches and a wingspan of 78 feet. This means that he is wider than any of his teammates are long. He weighs in at a 53,930 pounds, which, while impressive, is somehow still less than Brawl (93,000 pounds). He's 3 times longer than Vortex and Onslaught, 4 times longer than Brawl sans turret and Swindle X 2.5, and almost 11 times longer than a properly-scaled J59 Jeep Swindle. Needless to say, he and Swindle are the main reason that Bruticus is such a mess, scale-wise. Believe it or not, though, Blast Off still isn't the worst in terms of scale. Also, if we kept Swindle's increased size and decreased Blast Off's size by the same factor, things would at least become slightly more reasonable, as this would give us a 48.8 foot long Blast Off, which, while still big, is not as ridiculously so.

Most of the Aerialbots, being fighter jets, are at least somewhat reasonably scaled. Slingshot, the Harrier II, is 46 feet long and 12,500 pound empty; Skydive, the F-16, is 49 feet, 5 inches long and 18,900 pounds empty; Fireflight, the F-4 Phantom II, is 63 feet long and 30,328 pounds empty; Air Raid, the F-15 is nearly 64 feet long and weighs 28,500 pounds empty. It's not perfect by a long shot, but it works if you squint, especially since Slingshot is usually depicted as smaller than the others. And then Silverbolt ruins everything. Silverbolt is a Concorde SST, 202 feet long and 173,504 pounds empty. He's longer and heavier than Blast Off, the space shuttle orbiter! Sure, the torso should logically be a bit larger than the combiner limbs, but this is just ridiculous. He's 3.2 times longer than Air Raid, his longest teammate, and 5.7 times heavier than Fireflight, his heaviest teammate! He's even 1.86 times heavier than the 46-ton tank and 1.65 times the length of the space shuttle orbiter! If we reduce his size by a factor of 2.5, Silverbolt would be 80.8 feet long and weigh 69,401.6, which, while not perfect, would be a lot more manageable than a full-sized Concorde SST.

The Stunticons have a similar problem. The four small cars actually scale even better than the Aerialbots. Drag Strip, the Tyrell P34, is 13.58 feet long and weighs 1,370 pounds. Breakdown, the Lamborghini Countach, is also 13.58 feet long, and weighs 2,978 pounds. Wildrider, the Ferrari 308 GTB, is 13.87 feet long and weighs 2,784 pounds. And Dead End, the Porsche 928, is 14.8 feet long and weighs between 1,450 and 1,620 pounds. They're not perfect, but they're all within less than three feet of one another! That's considerably better than the differences between the smaller Aerialbots, and MUCH better than the scale difference between, say, Blades and Groove. But then there's Motormaster. He is a truck and trailer. The "truck" part is the Kenworth K100 Aerodyne sleeper truck, which is about 20 feet long. The problems come in with the "trailer" part. A box trailer is about 48 feet long, and, since Motormaster's robot mode is composed of both truck and trailer, this makes him around 68 feet long, with a rough weight estimate of somewhere between 10,000 and 25,000 pounds. While he's not as huge as Silverbolt, he is just as large, if not larger, compared to his largest teammates, being 4.6 times longer than Dead End and 3.35-8.37 times heavier than Breakdown. Again, thanks to the YouTube video mentioned above for the length of the trailer. That being said, if we did what we did with Blades and Silverbolt and reduced his size by a factor of 2.5, Motormaster would be 27.2 feet long and between 4,000 and 10,000 pounds, and things would actually scale rather well. (This would also help to mitigate the scale discrepancy between Motormaster and Optimus Prime.)

Astrotrain, like Blast Off, is a space shuttle orbiter, 122 feet long and 53,930 pounds. However, unlike Blast Off, he is also a train: the JNR Class D51, which is 64 feet long. (There is a weight listed for the train, 76.8 tons, but I'm not sure if this weight refers only to the engine. Astrotrain's body is composed only of the engine, not the entire train.) This means that, when transforming from a train into a space shuttle, Astrotrain almost doubles in length!

Broadside transforms into some sort of fighter jet (neither the G1 toy nor the animation model resemble any known jet enough to tell for sure). For the sake of argument, we'll say he's an F-15. The F-15 is almost 64 feet long. His other alternate mode is an aircraft carrier. A Nimitz class aircraft carrier is 1,092 feet long. Broadside's aircraft carrier alternate mode would be 16 times longer than his airplane mode! Even Silverbolt, who is massive, would be 5.4 times shorter than Broadside's aircraft carrier mode! As insane as Astrotrain's doubling in length is, Broadside increasing his size by a factor of 16 is much, much more so.

Metroplex transforms into....a city? (Okay, so he really looks like he transforms into a fort, but it's more fun to imagine the scale of a true city-sized robot.) The largest city by land mass in the US, Oklahoma City, is 621 miles squared. While square miles can't really be used to measure distance, it is very, very roughly 16-ish miles in diameter. If Metroplex is the size of Oklahoma City (unlikely), this would make him around 84,480 feet tall. Mt. Everest is 29,032 feet tall. Metroplex would be nearly 3 times the height of Mt. Everest!

When it comes to determining Unicron's scale, the answer depends on whether we go with the roughly moon-sized Cybertron seen in the cartoon or the apparently Saturn-sized Cybertron of the comics. Please note that these estimates are VERY rough. The diameter of the Moon is 2,158.8 miles. If we assume, as seems probable, that Unicron at least doubles in length when he transforms, this would make him at least 4,317.6 miles tall. That's 22,796,928 feet tall! His gravitational force would be about 1.6 meters per second squared, and would have a mass of 7.342×10 to the 22nd power kg. (Mathematical expressions don't seem to work properly on this site.) If Unicron is instead the size of Saturn, he would have a diameter of 72,376 miles. If we double this, we get 144,752 miles tall or 373,460,160 feet! He would have a mass of at least 5.683 X 10 to the 26th power kilograms, and a gravitational force of at least 10.44 meters/second squared. I'm also pretty sure that it would be next to impossible to get a solid planet at this size. Saturn, unlike Unicron, is made of gas, enabling it to be much larger than a metal planet could logically grow.

[tiny-maus-boots]

Queen of Hearts pt 11

A/N: sorry it took so long. my world crumbled and well...it’s been a hard ass pandemic.

--

“So, this is how mobsters live…”

Aubrey flicked her gaze over the interior of the entry way, noting the mix of Corinthian columns and Romanesque sculpture with a splash of modern 80s interior decoration. It was a little over the top and gaudy but her Aunt Rosemarie thought it was the height of tasteful and luxurious décor. It wasn’t how Aubrey would ever decorate but if she were being honest with herself, she kind of liked it. It was familiar and comforting.

Aubrey ran a hand down a heavy marble column and chuckled. “Only the ones with style.”

Stacie’s laugh was sweet and light and soothed the nerves she didn’t even know she had. Aubrey took her fiancée’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Once they crossed the threshold into the living room there would be no turning back. Once you were in the family, you were IN the family, and no one leaves the family. Almost as if sensing what she was about to say, Stacie turned to bring their foreheads together, her smile wide and warm and just for Aubrey.

“You and me, right Bree?”

The blonde matched Stacie’s smile and nodded. “You and me.”

“And me. Don’t forget about me. Which I think you do forget about me because you never call me. You don’t write. No one knows nothing until you text that you’re bringing over the love of your life. You must be love of her life by the way. Hi. I’m Jesse, the smarter, more attractive, and talented, not to mention younger, cousin. Sorry dollface, you got stuck with this sad sack instead. It’s not too late to change your mind though. Just saying.”

A laugh bubbled out of her and Aubrey turned her head to face the annoyingly eager figure hovering just over her shoulder. His giddy smile was ridiculous and she knew she might have to threaten to shoot him to get him to stop being…well himself. Jesse put an arm around each of them, pushing himself further into their personal space and if he were someone other than family Aubrey would definitely shoot him.

“You’re really annoying.”

“Your face is really anno….” It was all the taunt he managed to get out before a black lace folding fan smacked noisily off the back of his head. Aubrey chuckled as Jesse winced and reached up to rub his head. “Ma! It’s said in love!”

“Basta! Get out! Go…”

Jesse wasn’t the biggest guy in the world but he still almost a foot taller than the woman he was cowering away from. Her severe dark brows rose as she hissed out a warning when he didn’t move fast enough down the hall. She watched until she was sure Jesse was actually going before turning to Aubrey, her hard stare going soft as she took in the blonde and pulled her into a tight hug.

“You don’t call except for business; I never see you anymore. Who’s feeding you? You’re wasting away!” Aubrey bore the clucking and poking and prodding because arguing with her Aunt Rosie was like trying to fist fight the tide. She might be a big boss at the table but she was still and would always be Rosie’s little duckling. The small woman finally stopped her scolding tirade turned to take in Stacie in one long look from feet to face. “And who is this?”

“Zia Rosie, this is my girl. Stacie…this is my Aunt Rosemarie.”

“It’s really nice to meet you.” If Stacie was nervous meeting Aubrey’s aunt, she didn’t show it, which was smart. Any hint of fear shown now would last forever in Rosie’s mind. She might never mention it but it would be a mark against Stacie that would never go away in her aunt’s eyes. “Your cooking has been all Bree can talk about.”

“Hmmm.” Rosemarie tapped her hand fan lightly against her palm as she considered the brunette towering over her. “You cook? You don’t look like you eat much.”

Aubrey held her breath, unwilling to break into tension of the moment. On the surface it seemed like such a simple if slightly rude question but it wasn’t. Acceptance in the family only came through Rosemarie. If she didn’t like you, no one would trust you. No one.

“Not as well as I’d like to. Yet. But I’m getting there.”

“No one taught you? You have no mother?” The idea of a grown woman not being able to cook wounded something in Rosie’s spirit and Aubrey could feel the smaller woman gather herself to her full tiny tower of 4 feet, 11 inches of righteous indignation. “Who feeds you??”

“My mother is more proficient at ordering food rather than making it.” Stacie’s smile didn’t slip but somehow dimmed in its intensity making the air around them seem somehow heavier. “To be honest with you I didn’t realize how important cooking for your family was until I had one to feed. I could definitely improve…and I will. For my family.”

Rosie gave a slight nod and slid her arm through Stacie’s completely shutting Aubrey out of the conversation. Her aunt gave Stacie one more intense gaze, reading all her flaws and weighing them against whatever ideal she saw in her head.

“You like gnocchi?”

“I love gnocchi.”

“Good. Tomorrow we make. Come early.” Aubrey felt a huge weight slide off her shoulders as she watched her aunt give Stacie’s arm a squeeze. The small woman disengaged their linked arms and whirled on Aubrey with a sharp smack of her fan to the blonde’s shoulder. “And you! You wait so long to bring a good girl home, what’s wrong with you??”

“Sorry Zia…took me awhile to find her.” Stacie gave her a wink over her aunt’s head and Aubrey could feel herself smile in response, almost forgetting her aunt was standing between them. “But I promise I’m not going to let her go now that I have her.”

“Hm, finally something smart. Go…today you work. Tomorrow we eat, hm?”

Aubrey gave an obedient nod of her head and smiled when she was pulled into the softness of her aunt’s chest for a strong rose water scented hug. It reminded her of her childhood and her aunt comforting her through the upheaval of her mother leaving and her father going to prison. It had been a lonely five years for Aubrey but Zia Rosie had always been there waiting, just as ready and eager to give hugs as she did swats of her fan.

Her aunt pulled back and gave her a gentle shove towards the dining room to send them on their way. “Vai mia piccola anatroccolo.”

Aubrey glanced back from the doorway to the dinning room at her aunt still standing there watching her with a soft smile. Her own mother had left her but Aubrey had never lacked the love and caring a mother gave a child. She’d had Zia Rosie to hold her and comfort her through all her childhood hurts and fears, to teach her to cook, and raise a family, to grow from a girl to a woman. No, she hadn’t had the woman that gave birth to her in her life, but she wasn’t without a mother. Rosie turned away toward the kitchen and Aubrey squared her shoulders as she faced the dining room.

She could feel the slight current of nervousness energy from Stacie and gave her a reassuring smile and a wink before leading her into the big room filled with old men with loud voices. There was a chorus of greetings and a few claps from her suit clad uncles sitting around the table. A few of her cousins smirked and teased playfully about being whipped into bringing her girlfriend to the table which Stacie chuckled through. But one man was quiet, his arms folded over his chest, his dark suit pressed perfectly with sharp lines. Franco raised one hand and the boisterous greetings tapered away to silence.

“Hey Uncle Frank.”

He stood slowly from the head of the table and opened his arms. Aubrey didn’t hesitate, she let go of Stacie’s hand so she could go to her uncle and sink into his embrace. He was in his seventies now but the arms enfolding her had the same strength and warmth they had when she was a child. He kissed her head tenderly and held her out at arm’s length to look at her fully.

“Look at you hm? California is good for you; you have a tan and a smile. Who is this bella you bring? Are you why my girl here looks so happy?”

Stacie gave a soft chuckle, her eyes all for Aubrey. “I certainly hope so.”

“Uncle Frank this is Stacie. My fiancée.”

He gave her an approving nod and gathered Stacie in for a tight welcoming hug, kissing her on each cheek before placing her hand back in Aubrey’s. It was enough for him to know that Aubrey was happy and his acceptance was unconditional.

“Jesse…bring an extra chair for Bella.”

“It took me six years to earn a chair and she gets one on the first day? Wow Pops.”

Paolo, her cousin swatted Jesse in the back of head making all of them laugh. Her Uncle Pete leaned back in his chair and shrugged. “Hey kid, if you had looked like her, you’d have been in on the first day too.”

Jesse held out his hands in mock offense. “Whoa….hey not for nothing but I AM the only one in this family with the looks, okay? Look at this face. It’s gorgeous. This suit? This suit cost more than your third wedding.”

They all laughed at that as he set the chair next to Aubrey’s at Franco’s right hand and settled Stacie into it. Aubrey gave him a nod of thanks and slid into her seat with ease. She had missed this, being around her family, The Family. Not all of her uncles and cousins were related by shared blood, some of them were bound by the blood they had spilled. Sometimes that was as strong if not stronger than sharing similar DNA.

Stacie gave Jesse a mild smirk and tossed her dark hair over her shoulder so she could take in all of blonde woman at her side. “And for all that you still don’t look as good as Aubrey.”

Her uncles crowed with delight, teasing their sons and nephews with the statement until Uncle Frank cleared his throat and patted the tabletop to get everyone’s attention. He wasn’t a loud man and he didn’t have to be. A respectful silence fell heavily over the table.

“Now we’re all here, we’ve had some laughs, now we get to business, yes?” He gestured to Jesse and settled into his chair while a box was passed around the table. Each of them divesting themselves of their phones before the meeting started. Franco waited for his son to get back from locking the box away in the office before he started speaking to the group. “We all know why we’re here at this emergency meeting. When the Feds start looking at one of us their looking at us all.”

No one said anything but all their attention had gone to Aubrey. She was the reason they were having to close ranks and the weight of their judgement was resting heavily on her shoulders. Her fingers drummed on the table for a moment before she spoke.

“They’ve got nothing. Everything looks legit, runs legit, and is legit as far as the books go.” She ran her business carefully, making sure that she paid her taxes, and kept all the right paperwork to back herself up. The problem wasn’t how she managed the businesses she used as fronts for other lines of work. The problem was she’d gotten sloppy with something personal and that wedge was just enough opening to look deeper at her and anyone that did business with her. “But they do have pictures of me getting on to a boat that was later found on fire with its owner dead.”

“Jesus, kid…”

There were grumbles and a few headshakes but no one dared to confront her directly about it. One of her uncles leaned forward to rest his elbows on the table. His deep voice was slow as he weighed all of his words carefully.

“This have anything to do with what you did to Nicky?”

Aubrey let her eyes reflect the cold empty place inside of her that felt nothing for the people she had to hurt. Guilt could eat you whole if you let it and she wasn’t going to feel guilty about other people making bad choices.

“Nicky was into bad shit that was going to get us all noticed. I did you a favor.”

“Nicky was a good earner! You took away nearly 25 percent of my bottom line when you had your little tantrum.”

Stacie was listening intently to every word and if she was surprised at any of it, she was careful not to let it show on her face. Aubrey’s fist tightened at the word tantrum and Stacie’s hand covered hers with a squeeze, letting her know she had something to say. Aubrey’s gaze flicked to her and she nodded for Stacie to speak her mind.

“The main benefit of having your pal Nicky around wasn’t the money he brought from the women he supplied to rich influential men. It was the leverage he bought with his knowledge of his client base. And while that leverage was a powerful tool it only got you to gate of the manor, it could never get you inside. You can only push the buttons you know about.”

Franco laced his fingers together and leaned back slightly in his chair. The sharpness of his gaze measuring Stacie with vivid intensity. “I’m listening.”

Stacie pressed on at his slight nod. “I was born into politics, you could pay off a dozen interns in twice as many offices and you’ll still never have as much control as you would if you knew their secrets, their agendas, their entire family history. I know what these people are and how they think because I am one of them.”

“And so that fixes the little problem Big Mike has with Nicky. You want bigger prey, get a better hunter. Bene. Now what do we do about these Feds?” Her uncle, the one that earned some of his money from Nicky, grunted and nodded still unhappy with the situation but unwilling to go against Franco once he’d made up his mind about something. As far as Nicky the pimp was concerned that was just a loose end that got tied up. “Who is running this investigation?”

Aubrey gave a soft huff. “Alice Esposito.”

Franco gave her a disappointed shake of his head and Aubrey felt her cheeks flame. “Her?”

She could feel the tremor of a laugh being tightly held in by Stacie and threw her hand up in frustration. “I know! She just showed up again like a bad penny.” Aubrey was acutely aware of the fact that it was her actions that had made Alice so hellbent on taking her down. “My guy says she’s running loose with this. But I don’t have my own source in the Bureau to confirm that.”

“Quincy, talk to our man in Virginia. I want to know everything on Esposito. Where she eats, who she talks to, who she sleeps with, when she last shit. EVERY SINGLE THING. I want to know who is pulling her strings and I want them cut. You understand me?”

Quincy gave a nod and Franco made a gesture of dismissal. “Everybody else you move quiet. No changes. It’s business as usual until we find out where we are. Now go, I have to think.”

It hadn’t gone great but it could have gone a lot worse. Aubrey let out a breath as she watched everyone file out of the dining room to retrieve their phones and leave. She turned to give her uncle a look but he jerked his chin at the door.

“You too. Go show your girl around…go shopping. Something huh?”

She gave a nod at that and bent to kiss him on the cheek before she led Stacie out too. They might not all agree with the way things had happened but at least they were all on board with the direction things were going to go from here on. If they could figure out where this attack was really coming from, they could resolve it before it became a threat to the Family business. If not…Aubrey was going to have to find a way to make Alice and her evidence disappear for good.

[metalheadcowboy]

stommy hc for u! their argument over nancy was not their first, so they both sort of expect the other to apologize so they can go back to being pals. they’re both too headstrong to be the one to do it but they miss each other a lot. Steve ends up the first one to crack when he gets wasted at a party and drunkenly tells Tom that he wants to be friends again. Tom takes Steve home because he’s so so drunk, and sleeps on his fancy couch and they talk it out in the morning ft a love confession

YES WFBHVQPI

Steve and Tommy were both the most stubborn people they knew, Tommy more so that Steve, but still. After fights it took days for one of them to finally give in and apologize, usually Steve, but when it came down to it they always came back together.

But then Nancy happened and one thing lead to another, Tommy was shoving Steve up against his car, then he was driving off.

They didn’t talk for five months and even then it was only in passing. They didn’t really mend their friendship until the following year, the winter after Steve broke up with Nancy- or rather Nancy broke up with Steve, when one fateful night at a party a drunk Steve Harrington fell into Tommy’s arms with an erratic laugh.

“Tommy, missed you man... where ya been?” he slurred with a lazy smile tugging at his lips, chin tilted up, pressed against Tommy’s chest, big brown eyes trying their best to focus on his face.

“Uh, right here,” Tommy answered awkwardly, struggling to hold nearly all of Steve’s dead weight against him while Carol just looked on in amusement, no matter how many times he looked over at her with pleading eyes.

“Mhm, yeah, but like...” Steve’s head lulled over to the side, cheek pressed between Tommy’s pecs, “Your warm.” He hummed contently and just when Tommy didn’t think the lanky boy could get any heavier he did.

“Alright,” Tommy huffed decidedly, “How would you like to go home?” And maybe they weren’t friends anymore, or so they each thought, but Tommy wasn’t going to leave Steve like this in the middle of a party. He knew the girls in Hawkins, and he wasn’t going to say that they would take advantage of a loose Steve Harrington who’d had a few too many, but... they would.

“Will you be there?” Steve looked up at Tommy with hopeful eyes while Tommy’s own just went wide. He didn’t understand where this was all coming from, as far as he knew Steve still hated his guts and now he was hanging all over him. It didn’t make sense and yet part of him was kind of glad that it was happening, glad that Steve didn’t seem to hate him anymore.

“Sure,” he agreed, “But only if you stop hanging on me like a jungle gym, you’re heavy man.” And he swore he’d never seen Steve stand up quicker for anything in his life. He had almost forgotten how much taller Steve was than him. 3 1/2 inches, they measured once, but it felt more now with Steve oddly straight posture looking ready to leave.

Tommy gave a quick look over to Carol and she quickly picked up on the situation, catching the keys as they were tossed to her. He figured they’d take Steve’s car for convenience.

“I’ll drive,” Steve commented surely, stuffing his whole hand into his back pocket before pulling out the keys to his BMW, Tommy quickly swooping in and taking them.

“Oh no you won’t,” he replied with a soft laugh, finding amusement in Steve’s crazy drunken judgement, “The only place we’re going if you drive is el cielo.”

“Always loved it when you talked Mexican to me,” Steve admired.

“Spanish, Stevie, it’s Spanish,” he informed, giving Steve a soft pat on the shoulder before grabbing his wrist beginning to pull him through the crowd.

“Eh, potato potatoe, tomato spaghetti,” Steve mumbled through loose lips, pulling a laugh out of Tommy.

“I- okay,” he just agreed, deciding not to fight the mush that was Steve’s brain at the moment.

The drive home was quiet- well, on Tommy’s end, the same couldn’t be said about Steve. The guy didn’t shut up when he was sober, when he was drunk it was constant. Always talking to himself, rambling on to nobody about whatever came to mind. The last thing Tommy heard was something about one of Nancy’s boobs being bigger than the other before he started tuning him out.

After what felt like an eternity of Steve talking his ear off they were at his house. it didn’t hit him how long it had been until he spotted the new paint job on the wood and a new car in the drive way, presumably one of the many his father didn’t drive.

“Well, here we are, la casa del Harrington,” Tommy spoke, rolling his eyes at the giggling Steve next to him apparently once again amused by him speaking Spanish to him, or as Steve liked to call it, ‘Mexican’.

Tommy walked Steve to the foot of the stairs before his body went loose again like a fucking limp noodle.

“Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass,” he groaned, grabbing Steve by the wrists, beginning to pull him up the stairs while he just laughed up a storm.

“Oh, don’t act like you don’t love me, Tom,” Tommy just looked at him like he was crazy.

“Who ever said anything about be loving you?” he questioned, eyebrows furrowed as he pushed through the pain in his biceps to get Steve to the top of the stairs.

“Me, silly,” Steve broke out into laughter again and Tommy had about had it with him.  Maybe he wasn’t too far off though, deep inside there was a part of him that loved Steve, as a friend, as more. But he buried that away a long time ago, with it memories of hurt and pain that he didn’t care so much to bring back.

“Okay,” Tommy breathed out having finally gotten to the top of the stairs, “Now it’d really help if you got your ass up and walked.”

“Can’t...” Steve replied, head falling to the side, “Can’t feel my legs.” He started laughing again and Tommy had had about enough, but Steve was lucky he was patient.

“Fine, but you owe me big time,” he sighed, ever weak to his best friends demands. He ended up having to haul Steve into his bed and tucking him in too. Fuckin’ needy.

Just as he was about to leave, lights already off, only the hallway light seeping in from outside illuminating the dark room, Steve spoke again.

“Stay.” he whispered, it would have been inaudible if the room wasn’t dead silent.

“Steve I can’t,” he turned around to look at Steve all snug in his bed with a small pout on his face, the same one he would give his mom when they were kids and he didn’t get his way.

“But you’re warm, and I’ll get lonely, and, please?” Steve ranted, trying so hard to get him to stay.

“You’re drunk,” Tommy said sternly.

“I love you.”

“Steven,” he quickly followed up with disapprovingly, not wanting to get into it right now.

“Tomás,” Steve challenged, full names coming out.

“Goodnight,” Tommy finished, leaving the room to the sound of Steve’s whines and complaints and maybe even the sound of him falling out of bed trying to chase him, but he wasn’t sure because he didn’t look back. He couldn’t handle this right now, couldn’t handle Steve and all his sappy ‘I love you’s’, couldn’t handle being back in this house.

He ended up sleeping on the couch. He told himself it was only to make sure that Steve didn’t wake up in the middle of the night, try to go for a swim, and drown. But part of him did kind of miss the expensive couch, the one they always sat on in rebellion of Steve’s mothers rules. He missed their sleepovers, playing video games on the TV that was much bigger than Tommy’s own, missed their blanket forts.

But more than that he missed Steve, missed his stupid big hair and his stupid pretty face. He missed his smile and his laugh as much as it annoyed him only minutes before. He missed the way he would always listen, missed the way he hummed when cooking or made his cute little confused face while doing his homework- he needed to stop.

He didn’t even realize he fell asleep until he was being awoken by the annoyingly bright sun shinning in his face. He tried to pull the blanket up over his face, only to realize that he didn’t have one. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he smelled fresh coffee wafting in from the kitchen.

Intrigued, he pushed himself up off the couch, stretching out his sore limbs from last night before walking to the kitchen, socks sliding along the hardwood of the entryway as his feet drug.

At first he was confused when he didn’t spot anyone, rubbing his eyes and blinking them into focus, but then a shirtless Steve in nothing but his jeans from last night unbuttoned and unzipped appeared from inside the pantry. Jesus.

“Mornin’,” Steve greeted, voice husky and deep from sleep.

“Hey,” Tommy replied, walking over to the counter space next to the coffee pot, jumping up to sit there like old times, but not before grabbing a mug to pour himself a cup of coffee, “How’re you feeling.”

“Like shit,” Steve answered, “Head hurts like a bitch, but I’m craving pancakes, so. Here we are.” Tommy just nodded, blowing on his coffee. He wondered if Steve remembered anything from the night before or if it was all one big blur.

“You like blueberry’s, right?” Steve questioned, pointing a batter-coated spoon in his direction.

“You should know I do,” he answered, eyes looking up at him only for a moment before focusing back in on the dark abyss of his black coffee.

“I know it’s just- it’s been a while, alright? Cut me some slack.” Steve really didn’t sound in the mood to start any sort of confrontation so Tommy just shut his mouth, behaving for once in his life.

Breakfast was good, Steve was a pretty good chef when it came down too and, and who could fuck up pancakes? The worst you could do was burn them and even then they tasted fine. after breakfast Tommy decided he didn’t want to over stay his welcome and should be going, giving Steve his time to recover from the night before.

they made it to the door, Steve opening to let him out when he finally got the courage to speak up and ask.

“Did you mean it.” Steve looked confused, brows knitted together as he looked at Tommy like he was crazy.

“Mean... what?” he asked, scratching at his belly.

“What you said last night, that you... that you love me.” and Steve’s face turned redder than a tomato, cheeks flushing like Tommy had never seen before.

“No- no, I just, I was drunk, y’know? Things slip out, and, no, I didn’t mean it. Like, you’re a good friend but, no.” Tommy could feel his heart slowly cracking with each new form of ‘no I don’t love you’ being spoken to him. He didn’t know what he was expecting, knew this wasn’t a fairy tale, knew he wouldn't’ get his happy ending.

“I wouldn’t mind if you did,” Tommy countered, feeling bold, looking at Steve with every ounce of hope left in his body.

“Oh, that’s cool, I-” Steve’s words died int he back of his throat when Tommy’s lips came crashing into his, hand holding either side of his face. But, before he could even react they were gone.

“Shit, I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t have fucking-” Steve grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him back int o finish what Tommy started. He could feel fireworks setting off inside his stomach as Steve’s fingers twined into his hair, lips just as soft as they looked moving skillfully against his own. And maybe they didn’t end up in heaven because Steve wrapped his BMW around a tree, but he sure felt like he was in it right now.

Send me Stommy/Kegboys asks!! 💛🌻✨

[xiaoderys]

❝ Saturated Sunrise ❞ (l.dh, n.jm) I

DISCONTINUED

pairing: haechan x reader, jaemin x reader

genre: crack, fluff, angst, possible smut soulmate!au, college!au, social media!au mixed WITH narrative

warnings: swearing, slightly suggestive with possible smut in future chapters

word count: 2.5K

parts: prologue , character-profile, I

synopsis: you gradually lose your ability to see colors as you fall out of love with donghyuck

you were red and you liked me because I was blue. but you touched me and suddenly was a lilac sky. then you decided purple just wasn't for you.

You’ve always loved the rain, unlike your boyfriend who would squirm whenever a single drop touches his golden skin, but then again, who could blame him? he was like the sun; a ball of roaring fire that could never learn to love its polar opposite. But you on the other hand, could never hate it even if you tried, there was just something about it, maybe it’s the tranquility of it, the smell, the aesthetic or the fact that it brings you back to the very night you met Hyuck.

It’s quite funny really, you’d think these only happened in movies and tv shows yet there you were, soaking wet and walking side by side with a boy you barely knew under an umbrella that barely covered you both.

You sighed deeply while looking through the glass windows of the convenience store and up at the dark sky, the rain was pouring and you figured it won’t be stopping any time soon.

You didn’t have your umbrella with you but it was already past 10pm so after a few minutes of internally arguing with yourself, you got out of your seat, walked out and pulled your bag above your head to somehow shield yourself from the rain.

new instagram post from Donghyuck, 1 new text from mom, 6 new notifications from bible study

open? Yes / No

As you took your first few steps outside, you heard the bell ring from behind you, signaling that there was someone going in/out of the store.

You didn’t mind it at first but you heard someone yell “Hey, wait up!” no one else was around so you assumed the person was calling out for you and stopped in your tracks.

You turned around to look and just as you do, a car sped right in front of you which caused the rain water from the ground to be splashed all over you.

“Well, fuck” you exhale.

You lowered the bag covering your head as you were already soaking wet from head to toe and wiped your dripping face swearing to yourself that the universe hated you.

As soon as the car passed, the person on the other side of the road, jogged towards you and adjusted his umbrella over your head “What the hell were you thinking?”

You were quite confused as to why this person was suddenly scolding you so you just furrowed your brows at him.

“Walking home without an umbrella in this weather? Are you stupid?”

“Well what do you want me to do? spend the night at 7-eleven?” you didn’t mean to respond with sarcasm but you just got soaked with rain water and this guy who was nagging you while talking just called you stupid which did not help you and your anger issues.

“Better than ending up looking like a wet dog that just played in the mud but I think it’s a little too late for that” he said as he looked you up and down.

“Hey, it’s not my fault! that guy was driving like he’s in grand theft auto!”

“Well if you just stayed back in the store and waited for the storm to at least calm down a little bit then you wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place and I wouldn’t have had to leave my delicious cup of ramen in there all alone” he raised his brow acting as if he made a point.

“No one asked you to do that”

“No one asked me to be so unbelievably hot either but here I am”, you scoffed at his sudden cockiness but you’d rather eat your own arm than feed a man’s ego so you looked at him with a distasteful expression “Just go back to your ramen, I can handle myself”

“Lies. You’ll freeze to death before you could even get half-way home. Here, take this” he took off his jacket and handed it to you.

The cold wind mixed with rain and your wet clothes hit you like a truck bigger than your ego but your stubbornness still got the better of you “I-I don’t need it”

“you’re literally shivering like a little puppy”, he was right but are you going to admit to that? No.

“I bite into my ice cream without feeling a thing and sleep right in front of the air conditioner, I think I’ll be fine”

He poked his tongue in his cheek, showing his annoyance “Why do you have to be so difficult? you’d rather walk home freezing than put your pride aside for a second?” the angrier he got while scolding you, the more he talked in a pout so instead of scaring you into listening, you actually found it a little cute—

“Hey, are you listening?!” thunder struck all of a sudden which made you flinch and Donghyuck swore right then and there that you were the most adorable thing in existence.

After seeing you jump from the thunder, his expression softened and suddenly the rain was pouring heavier than before and you were shivering like crazy. He sighed, and put his jacket over your shoulders himself.

You were gonna take it off and give it back to him but he stopped you “if you take that off, I’ll kiss you” normally, you would love to challenge a bluff but you couldn’t take it anymore, it was so cold and you had no other choice, so you mumbled a quick “fine” and although it didn’t help much, you did feel a lot warmer.

He smiled at you, satisfied with your decision “Great, so where are we headed?”

“We?” you looked up at him confused

“mhmm, were you just expecting me to give you my umbrella and let you go home with my adidas track top?” he said with a ridiculing expression

“pretty much, yeah”

“This is my only umbrella and that jacket costs over a $60, I’m not letting you walk away with it just like that and besides, there are loads of creeps out here”

“$60 for a jacket this thin?” you held up the sides of the jacket wondering how a jacket so thin could cost more than your weeks worth of allowance.

“Yeah, it’s a bit off a rip-off, but that’s not the point, dummy. I’m your only option of getting home safe wether you like it or not”

“You don’t even know me, why do you care so much if something happens?“

“My gentleman nature is truly my biggest flaw-“ you rolled your eyes and turned around, ready to walk away but he held your shoulders back “ah ah, hold on! My mom would never forgive me if she found out I left a girl all alone to walk home in the rain”

You sighed “Fine but no talking, I’ve already used up all my social juice for the day” he nodded cutely and snuggled beside you.

You didn’t get the chance to think about it but he looked around your age and appeared to be a student as well, considering the fact that he wore a tracksuit and was carrying a backpack.

You tried to catch a glimpse of his face every now and then and you weren’t gonna lie, he definitely wasn’t bad looking.

Being a little shorter than him, it gave you the opportunity to study his side-profile; his jaw was quite defined and his features were really soft and he had these insanely fluffy cheeks oh- and you also noticed his plump lips that made it look like he was always pouting.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer” he said with a straight face, not even bothering to look in your direction.

“What?” you widened your eyes, blood rushing to your cheeks due to embarrassment.

“What? you think I haven’t noticed you staring at me for the past five minutes? you’re practically undressing me with your eyes” he playfully rolled his eyes.

You slapped his arm “No, I wasn’t! what’s wrong with you!”

He let out a chuckle, finding your annoyance and the way you turn red when embarrassed very amusing but you on the other hand just stayed with a pout and furrowed brows.

Donghyuck soon realized that you haven’t caught each other’s name yet “so what’s your name?”

“I thought I said no talking”

“Come on, small talk won’t hurt you”

I guess it’s better than walking in awkward silence “I’m y/n”

“Cute. I’m Donghyuck“ he smiled.

Since you were making small talk, you decided to ask about him more “if you don’t mind me asking, are you still a student?”

“A high school junior, yes, you?”

“Oh my god! same!” Donghyuck noticed how you got a little too excited over something so little but little did he know, that your childlike nature was just a sample of your many unforgettable qualities.

“Really? your height is making me think otherwise”

“Hey! My height is average!” you stopped and started to get defensive.

“And it’s not like you could talk, you’re not even that much taller!” that was a lie, he stood a good 7 inches taller than you making him the perfect height to give you forehead kisses.

“Okay mike wazowski, let’s keep it moving”

“Are you really trying to get me mad?!”

You looked so cute with your brows knit together and mouth forming a thin line that Donghyuck just couldn’t help but laugh “No offense but I literally feel like I’m being threatened by a cupcake”

“Do you want to fight?!” and just like that, Donghyuck found his new favorite hobby: annoying the living hell out of you.

“Pftt, what are you gonna do? eat my kneecaps?” he rolled his eyes.

“You know what, take your umbrella, I’m going home on my own!” You were ready to leave and he chuckled “Come onnnnn, I’m just kidding, it’s already-“ he checked his phone for the time “10:57 and I have to be home by midnight”

“Who are you? Cinderella?”

“Yeah but I’m much prettier and charming plus I have a mom who will eat me alive if I stay out too late so let’s get going”

“okay but you have to promise to stop teasing me”

“Alright. I’ll try” and with that you huffed continued with your walk home

You didn’t want to admit it but you really enjoyed Donghyuck’s company, there was just a natural sense of familiarity with him which made you feel at ease.

He would talk about the most random things but no matter what they were, he always found a way to put a smile on your face.

He even talked about his little puppy at home who probably misses him which made you feel bad because the puppy must be so sad right now and here you are, taking up too much of Donghyuck’s time.

You were both so into these conspiracy theories that you didn’t even notice that thirty minutes have passed and you were right in front of you house.

“Well, uhm, this is me” you smiled softly.

“Oh then I guess I’ll get going now” he responded, getting ready to go home.

“Wait uh- thanks for you know, walking me home and stuff.. I’m really sorry for being rude earlier” you looked at the ground, feeling ashamed of how you acted earlier when he was only trying to help.

He chuckled, ruffling your hair “It’s fine, I won’t exactly be very happy either if I got ground water splashed all over me while it’s 10 degrees outside, but you do owe me a cup of ramen”

“Oh come on, that probably only costed like a dollar or something” you whined

“3$ actually and it was a really delicious cup of ramen so I’m gonna have to get your number because I’m not letting this one slide” if Donghyuck was being honest, he couldn’t give two fucks about the ramen; normally, he’d be really mad about it but the fact that he can use it as an excuse to get your number, made up for it.

“fine” and that was how it all started.

Now, you could’ve called a cab that night or asked someone to come pick you up but you didn’t. Call it fate or your brain just wasn’t working at the time but you sure as hell know it happened for a reason because that’s what brought Hyuck to you.

There are forces in the universe that we don’t understand, measurable forces that can’t be explained but also can’t be denied and nobody gets it but maybe that’s what it was because right here, right now you’re with a distressed Donghyuck because you both forgot your umbrellas and have to take shade under an oak tree.

He hated the rain, he would squirm every time it hit his skin yet he still gave up his jacket to cover you. He continued to scold you because quite frankly, you stopping to pet every single stray animal you saw was the reason why you got caught in the middle of the rain anyway.

“You know, one of these days, one of those strays will bite or scratch you and you’re gonna get rabies” there he was again with his lips in a pout, annoyed by the continuous droplets of rain meeting his golden skin.

“Hmm maybe, but until then, I’m gonna stop to pet every single one I see because all of them deserve love and attention. You know, if it were up to me-“ he cut you off “You’re gonna adopt all the stray animals in the world and take care of them, I know. You literally never fail to mention that” you smiled at how he always seems to never listen to you yet he remembers the little things. But then you noticed that he was shivering “are you cold? do you want your jacket back?”

“no, I’m fine” he exhales.

You furrowed your brows and looked at him with worry and of course he noticed.

“Baby, I’m fine, I swear, all this sexual tension between us from being so close together is enough to keep me warm”

You playfully hit his arm and he chuckled “No, seriously, keep it, you need it more than me” oh, he hated it, he hated it so so much. He wanted to be anywhere with you but there but he wasn’t gonna admit to that and he didn’t want you to worry.

Youu started to talk in a pout, a habit you unconsciously picked up from your boyfriend whenever you were worried “but you’re shivering, can we at least share it?”

Donghyuck knows the jacket would never fit the both of you but he also knows that you’re not one to give up easily, it’s one of his most favorite things about you, except when you’re arguing or playing games because you’re both egotistical assholes yet you’re the only one who can put him in his place and the only one he sets his pride aside for.

You looked at him snuggled right beside you, trying his best to not let the rain touch you and despite the situation being unfavorable, right at this exact moment, everything just felt right and you know you were supposed to be here.

[hubbytaeil]

hello! i've been into taeil lately, so i was thinking about requesting him with prompts 46, 55, and 93, if possible. thank you in advance! 🌝💛

Taeil + #46 What’s this between us?, #55 Ruin me, #93 Don’t tell your parents

genre: angst, friends to lovers to strangers(?)

word count: 1k7 (this is taeil’s fault I swear)

warnings: smoking, slightly suggestive

a/n: now im s a d lol, this is what happens after bing watching sex and the city

-ˏˋ⋆ ̥  prompts ( send in your requests if you want <3)

This could be a dream, and yet it feels more like a nightmare. When you walked into your go-to bar, like you always do every other Friday, Taeil was the last person on Earth you thought you’d run into. The place is packed and certainly there isn’t enough space for you to run away and hide so you decide to just stand next to the counter with your friends, hoping he doesn’t come up to you.  

“Well, look who it is.” your blood freezes in your veins. You turn around in your heels slowly, preparing yourself for what you should say. “Hi, it’s been a long time.” You had broken up with him years ago and you hadn’t seen him after that. You knew that he was working for some corporate in the city but that was it. You had never run into him, not even once. To be fair, you had pictured how your eventual meeting would’ve turned out many times before, however all your fantasies can’t exceed this exact moment. Talking to him feels unreal, like being teleported back in time, a time before responsibilities, anxieties and fears. “You’ve grown taller, I see.” Taeil looks up at you pointing at your shoes. You hear your friends giggling behind you. “And you haven’t lost your sense of humour.” “That’s my only charm, you know that.” He swings his gin tonic in a circle before taking a sip. “C’mon, we both know that’s not true.” You reply gently tapping your fingers on your glass of Chardonnay. It’s definitely hard to keep eye contact, something is keeping your eyes glued to the counter. Taeil can feel it too, as he adjusts his tie.  

Fifteen years ago

“What do you mean you broke my mother’s favourite vase?!” “Exactly what it means, y/n. Oh God, please don’t tell your parents.” “Well, I’m not taking the blame again! Why the hell did you bring your football inside the house?!” “I’m sorry-” “That’s it, I’m never inviting you to my birthday party ever again.”

Those were the kind of fights you would have; you were only thirteen, life had only just begun.  

The days were filled with stupid notes passed during Math class, making fun of each other at lunchtime, eating ice scream at the park. If anyone could’ve ever been your first love, it would’ve been Taeil. You joined the music club just to spend more time with him, but you never said a word on the matter. You have such a clear memory of sitting through hours of rehearsals just to hear him play the piano. It was just a mere crush, you thought, it would fade away eventually. Yet, even now, every time you hear someone playing the piano you are taken back to that sweaty auditorium, you are taken back to the first time ever you had ever felt anything for someone. You are taken back to him.

“Do you still play?” you ask after letting your friends exchange pleasantries with Taeil, introducing him as an ‘old friend’. Inevitably, when one of the tables was cleared, they asked him to join in along with his friends.  

“Sometimes, not as much as I used to. Do you still sing?” Taeil mocks you and you cover your eyes in embarrassment. “Oh God, no.” Your conversation reaches the ears of everyone at the table. “Y/n, you didn’t tell you could sing!” “It was a school thing, I was awful.” An echo of disapproval invades your ears. “Don’t believe her!” Taeil shouts slapping a hand on the hard wood as if to prove his point. You go on saying how Taeil plays the piano magnificently to shift the centre of attention.  

The night goes on between a few drinking games and ridiculous anecdotes about college. Suddenly you ask Taeil if he’d like to accompany you outside to smoke a cigarette. “Since when do you smoke?” he questions, his tone is not judgmental in any way. “I don’t really smoke...” you begin to answer as you try to light up the cigarette. A gentle wind is blowing so Taeil helps by cupping the lighter, you thank him with a nod. “...only when I drink.” you finish after inhaling. Taeil raises an eyebrow in disbelief before pulling out a pack from his pocket. “I guess that makes two of us.” You start to grin and you find yourself unable to stop. “What it is?” “Nothing.” you respond as your grin transform into a full-on laughter. Taeil glances at you and finally gets on the same track as you and joins you. “Man, we’re old.” he exclaims taking a deep draw. “I guess.” “But you haven’t changed much since I last saw you.” You mean when I dumped you. You shut down the little voice of guilt. “Really? I don’t think so...” “You’re still gorgeous.” all of a sudden, the atmosphere is heavier.  

Ten years ago

“I think I’m love with you, y/n.” Taeil told you after making love for the first time. You stared at him in disbelief, unable to wrap your head around the concept of someone loving you back, more than anything your middle school friend who you had known for so long. Even after confessing to him your feelings, him saying he felt the same, all your friends congratulating you because they knew you two would’ve ended up together, you still couldn't believe you were holding the boy of your dreams right in your arms. But when you’re eighteen it’s hard to accept love, even if we long for it with such ache. For a while, you two had your share of fairy tale. For instance, when he kissed you on the first New Year’s Eve you spent as a couple in a square full of people. The fireworks reflected in his eyes but you ardently affirmed how those were in fact stars.  

So where did you go wrong? Why did what you had grow cold one day? During college you realised something was off. You thought the distance between you and your boyfriend Taeil couldn't jeopardise your relationship. However, as time went by, the physical distance slowly became emotional as well, you two being so invested in your lives.There lied the problem, you were starting to lead different lives. The few times you two could meet it didn’t feel genuine, you were trying to act like the people you once were. But those two were mere ghosts at that point.  

“Taeil, what’s this between us? "During the Christmas break of your senior year, you finally sat down with him to have the so dreaded discussion. It went on for hours, but Taeil wouldn't hear any of that. “No, I don’t believe this.” “Taeil, we’ve changed. Everything’s changed and I don’t know if we can go on like this. I don’t want to ruin your life by chaining you up to me.” “Ruin me, I don’t care.” It was like running in circles. The fight burned out eventually, leaving you two exhausted. You both looked up and you knew. “So, it’s over?” you nodded, unable to come up with an answer. He asked you if he could walk you up to your car one last time and you let him. “You know I’m going to win you back one day, right?” Taeil had tears in his eyes but he managed to smile at you. “We’ll see.”

It’s getting late and the bar is slowly emptying. Your friends begin to take off as well, leaving you and Taeil alone. “Do you want to share a cab, y/n?” “Oh, no thanks. I live just five minutes away.” “Oh.” Taeil hesitates before speaking out again. “If you want, I can walk with you. Only if you want.” “That would be nice.” your answer is sincere, not only because you’re kind of scared of walking alone at night, but because you want to keep talking to Taeil. You want to hear about everything you’ve missed, anything at all.  

You start walking side by side into the night, two pair of hands in your respective pockets. Taeil makes fun of the weird noise your heels make when hitting the sidewalk. “Oh, shut up! You’re just jealous!” “Yeah, you’re right. Do you have an extra pair? I could use the few inches.” It definitely doesn’t feel like chasing ghosts anymore. No, you’re just two childhood friends picking up where you’ve left off.

“Okay, I’m going to pop out the big question.” “Shoot.” “Are you seeing anyone?” you knew it was coming, sooner or later. You run through your possible answers and decide that there’s no point in lying. “Absolutely not.” Taeil assumes a shocked expression. “Why so categorical?” he chuckles. “It’s just... I haven’t had much luck.” You go on, counting down mentally how much time you have before you reach your door. “Good.” Taeil says point-blank. You glare at him not expecting him to call you out like that. “Excuse me?” “That means karma is real.” You both burst out laughing yet again. “What about you, mister Karma? Are you dating anyone?” Taeil stays silence for a bit before looking at you dead in the eye. “Absolutely fucking not.”  

“Well, this is it.” You point at your door with you finger. Now you’re both facing each other in front of the stairs. You’ve reached the endgame, and you’re dying to see how all of this will end. “This was nice, y/n.” “It really was.” another break of silence and you feel your heart giving in. You know you both want to say something, yet it feels impossible to make the first step. “Is it okay if-” Taeil stops mid-sentence which sticks a dagger in your chest. “Yes?” you barely whisper, anticipating whatever he’s going to say. “Is it okay if we see each other again? I mean, not as... but as friends. Is that alright?” Those words bring you a kind of happiness you never thought could be felt again. You take a good look at your old friend. His eyes still sparkle and you thank whoever it is that brought him back to you. “I think we can arrange that.” You don’t what’ll happen next, but it doesn’t scare you. In the air there’s a feeling of expectation which you breath in as you walk up the stairs to your door. “Y/n!” you turn around immediately, Taeil is about to get inside a cab. “Remember what I told you!” and just like that you watch him disappear into the night. This scene somehow looks familiar.

Can it be that It was all so simple then? Or has time re-written every line? If we had the chance to do it all again Tell me, would we? Could we?

[deniigi]

will we be getting anyting spooky for this year? "ain't afraid of no ghost!" fed my halloween loving soul.

hi!!

I’m a little burnt out with writing right now, BUT I do have a piece from the Selkie Verse that’s a little bit ghostly/scary. I can’t remember if I posted it here already or not, but I’ll give it to you (again?)

It’s like 8k so be prepared!

Title: ember ghosts

Summary: Flash forces Peter, Ned, and MJ to go ghost hunting in a local cemetery. Peter decides to add a little pizzazz to this trip in the form of Resident Dead Hero Jack Murdock to get back at Flash. Things, as they are wont, go terribly wrong.

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

Matt’s new coat was white and incredibly heavy; Peter learned that last part upon dragging MJ and Ned over to catch Matt in the act of grooming it.

He barked at them and the volume of the sound locked Peter into place for a minute before he came back to himself and hustled in to go flop down next to Matt and ask him if he needed help first, and then secondly, if his dad was busy.

Matt felt for his chin and then jerked his face close.

“What business do you have with him?” he asked.

Stories about baby seals, obviously.

Matt tossed him away.

“You’re not borrowing my father’s spirit to scare Flash,” he said.

MJ and Ned came over to join the pleading session.

“But Mr. Murdock’s the biggest ghost ever,” Peter lamented.

“He’s a normal sized spirit, not a ghost,” Matt sniffed at him as he gathered up his fur rug from the floor and started picking through it in his lap.

The gesture he used was mesmerizing. He dragged the fur back the wrong way until he found something he didn’t like, then used the last three fingers on his hand to scrape at it until it was vanquished. He pulled his whole hand over the place again and carried on down the stripe he was making until he found another knot or bit of dirt or something to scratch at.

“Can I try?” Ned asked.

Matt’s face jerked his way and he dragged even more of the coat into his lap.

“No touching,” he said.

“I thought Foggy’s coat was the white one?” MJ asked.

Matt gathered his coat even further in offense.

“It will shed,” he said. “It is a new coat.”

“It’s baby fur,” Peter told the others. “Foggy said—”

He got a face full of baby fur and could now confirm that it was soft and fluffy and amazing. He could sleep in this.

“It’s a new coat,” Matt emphasized. “Annoying me will not unlock access to my old man.”

Boo on you, sealman.

“I’m gonna ask your mom then,” Peter declared.

He got yanked down before he was even all the way up.

Matt held his chin again.

“He’s a spirit,” he said. “And a hero. Say it with me.”

“He’s a spirit and a hero,” Peter repeated.

Matt shoved him away.

“If you ask him very nicely, he might be interested in having some time away from the church. But not too long. He can’t be away from Mum for too long, you hear?”

That was permission.

“We hear,” Peter promised. “Should we bring Sister Maggie an offering?”

Matt huffed and stood up. He left his pile of coat behind him and the urge to pet it behind his back was insurmountable. Peter met Ned and MJ’s eyes and bounced his brows. MJ shook her head.

Matt returned from the table and held something out towards the coat. MJ leaned forward and plucked it out of his hand.

“A comb?” she asked.

“Tell her its teeth are too wide,” Matt said. “Go get a bouquet of flowers—no roses, Peter. Go for hyssop if you can find it.”

Copy that.

“Be gone with you.”

“You’re my favorite teammate,” Peter said.

“I said begone,” Matt sniffed.

---

--

-

 “You think he should have just kept it anyways?” MJ asked on the way to May’s friend Tonya’s place.

Ned took the comb from her and held it up to the sun.

“What do you think it’s made out of?” he asked.

Knowing the selkies? Probably teeth.

The other two stared at Peter.

He shrugged.

“Johnny says selkies are obsessed with guarding their teeth,” he said. “So maybe it’s whale bone or something.”

Ned huffed.

“Maybe it’s turtle shell,” he said.

Maybe.

“Why not roses?” MJ asked Peter.

Oh, well that was easy enough.

“There’s not really a kind of rose that isn’t a curse for Mr. Murdock,” he said. “It’s all friendship this, scorned lover that. And from the sounds of it, he doesn’t like them. Hyssop is a sacrifice flower, so you know. It’s an offering for both him and Sister Maggie.”

MJ tapped at her lip.

“Do you think we should cover our basis with a can of sardines, too?” she asked.

Well, it couldn’t hurt.

 ---

--

-

 Tonya, upon learning that the flowers Peter was seeking were to be given to a ‘selkie and her young man’ (in her words) went a little overboard.

She stuffed the hyssop in as an afterthought among a tryptic of sunflowers in a bed of bursting blue cornflowers. She mused on a pink rose or two to top the whole thing off, until Peter informed her that the son of the recipients had warned against it.

She said hollyhock would have to do, and then she gave Peter a basket of herbs for drying back home. She said to leave them outside when he went in to talk to the selkie.

Tonya’s apprentice said nothing the whole time and stared at Peter like he was scum while she snipped the low leaves off the stems of black-eyed susans. Peter resolutely didn’t look at her or her fancy, pale-eyed familiar.

She was a poser, anyways.

“Tell me how it goes,” Tonya hummed, draping herself across the desk and humming. “I wish I could bag a selkie. Imagine it, Missy. Strong handsome man comes up from the banks and—”

“The banks of the Hudson, Ms. Rice?” Missy said scathingly.

Tonya considered this then shrugged.

“He’s shower first,” she said.

Peter and the others said bye.

 ---

--

-

 Sister Maggie was suspicious of the flowers. But to be fair, she was suspicious of pretty much everything. She accepted the comb back much more comfortably.

“You want Jackie?” she asked once that was done.

“Yes, ma’am,” Peter said.

“What for?”

A reckoning.

“One of our classmates is a jerk,” MJ said. “He’s forcing everyone in our club to go ghost-hunting with him even though no one wants to. So we thought we’d give him a run for his money, but we didn’t want to like, disturb anyone or raise the dead or whatever.”

Sister Maggie’s eyebrow arched and Peter swore that she was going to start in for a lecture. He braced himself.

It did not come.

“That’s considerate of you,” she said instead. “How long do you need him for?”

“Like, just a few hours? Fourish?” MJ said.

“Let me ask him,” Sister Maggie said. “I think he’ll be interested, he’s been rolling balls back to the wains all day. It’s only fun for the first five times.”

 ---

--

-

 Mr. Murdock was a good four inches taller than Matt and around forty or fifty pounds heavier. He looked like he could carry all the babies at St. Agnes’s all at the same time if he wanted to. But, having seen the guy in action (i.e. hopelessly lost in the tunnels of the great seanchaidh), Peter now knew that he was kind of a St. Bernard burdened with a troublesome wife and son.

“Have fun,” Sister Maggie said.

Mr. Murdock huffed at her and said that he ‘shan’t’ and it made her laugh as she closed the door behind them all.

“I’m not a ghost,” he told Peter, ignoring the other two’s shock and awe.

“A spirit,” Peter said. “Yeah, I know. But Flash is a dick and you don’t like bullies, right?”

Mr. Murdock’s jaw worked.

“What kind of bully, now?” he asked.

“He calls us names and talks shit behind our backs and runs into me on purpose in the hall during passing period,” Peter said.

“Easy fix for that,” Matt’s dad said with a hand wave.

“Mr. Murdock, I can’t fight him. I’ll break him in half,” Peter said. “Fighting is only for spiders.”

Mr. Murdock did not understand. That was okay, he and Matt only understood the language of hitting people. It was genetic.

“If you can just like, do the glowy thing right behind him tonight when we go to this crypt, that would be super helpful,” Peter said.

“You glow?” Ned asked Mr. Murdock.

Mr. Murdock was not convinced.

“How will me standing over a guy get him to stop bullying you?” he asked.

That…was maybe a fair point.

“It’ll scare him,” Ned said. “And it’ll be all his fault and everyone will blame him and he’ll feel stupid for having made everyone go along with his dumb idea.”

Mr. Murdock considered him and then looked back to Peter.

“Just go with it,” Peter said. “It’s a teenager thing. It’s how we keep each other humble.”

 ---

--

-

 Mr. Murdock didn’t want to wait with them until nightfall. He wanted to be with Matt. That was his second favorite place to be, apparently, after hanging around Sister Maggie, but Peter got the feeling that Matt would talk Mr. Murdock out of some good, honest revenge and into some Catholic guilt if they were stuck together. So he gave him the next best thing.

Foggy was basically a vengeful spirit.

He laughed really hard at the idea of Mr. Murdock going around scaring kids in a cemetery.

“No, no,” he said. “Here, you must—Jack, can you hold things?”

Peter snapped his head back to Mr. Murdock.

“Some,” Mr. Murdock said.

“How much can you lift?” Foggy asked.

Mr. Murdock squinted at him.

“I don’t like the question,” he said.

Foggy abandoned them all to go dig through one of his kitchen drawers. He came back with tiny bottle and held it out to Peter.

“Mix it with some lamp oil,” he said.

Peter took the bottle.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Ask not what you don’t want the answer to,” Foggy said. “Just mixy-mix, boyo. Here, I’ve even got a lantern around here somewhere. Jack, we need to dress you for the part.”

Peter paused and turned to look up at Mr. Murdock’s dark eyes and thick hair.

Dress? Him?

You could dress a spirit?

“Why not?” Foggy said. “You, my dear sir, need a coat and a flatcap.”

Mr. Murdock’s whole expression dropped.

“I’m not playing some ghostly lighthouse man in the middle of New York City,” he said.

“You are,” Foggy said seriously. “For your people, Jack. Think about your people. And fix that accent, I know you’ve got a brogue in you.”

 Peter took Mr. Murdock home with him when he and the others split off to reconvene at the cemetery at 8 o’clock. Mr. Murdock rode the train like a champ. It was cramped from the rush hour traffic and Peter entertained himself by watching Mr. Murdock lay his hands tenderly on top of those belonging to douchebags who were plenty tall enough to hold onto the upper bar but who couldn’t be assed to look away from their phones to realize this.

One guy yelped at Mr. Murdock’s touch on his knuckles and ripped his hand off, only to see nothing there. Everyone around him stared at him.

He coughed and reached up for the overhead rail.

Mr. Murdock abandoned him to squeeze through the carriage to the back. He found a pregnant woman standing beside a group of teenagers all listening to music. Peter watched as he inspected the lady’s phone in her hand and then her face. He tapped on the top of the phone so it fell right out of her loose grip, and the woman jumped. The kids all startled at the sound of the phone hitting the ground and two jumped up to pick it up for her. One offered her his seat.

She thanked them and carefully, carefully sat down.

Mr. Murdock watched this with no expression.

Peter swallowed a giggle.

Jonathan ‘Jack’ Murdock. Lighthouse Ghost Impersonator and Subway Manners Enforcer.

 ---

--

-

 “Oh, hey there, long time no see,” May said to Mr. Murdock when Peter got home. “You’re going with Pete and the others tonight?”

Mr. Murdock said nothing.

Peter recounted his poltergeist from earlier for him. May thought it was just delightful.

“I told him to take Johnny,” she said. “But you might be even better.”

“They should just fight it out,” Mr. Murdock said.

“Mm. School authorities won’t go for it,” May said. “So I’m afraid we must stoop to witchcraft.”

 ---

--

-

 Mr. Murdock didn’t know the full glory of Youtube, so Peter spent the next few hours snacking and showing him clips of old vines. Then, when it was time to go, he turned to google how to use an oil lamp. Mr. Murdock watched him struggle for a good five minutes before reaching over him and showing him how.

“Did you and Matt not have electricity in Ireland?” Peter asked him.

Mr. Murdock huffed.

“No, I just uh. I guess I had an interest in maritime shit since I was a kid.”

Ohhh.

“Is that how you met Sister Maggie?” Peter asked.

Mr. Murdock’s lip quirked up a little.

“No,” he said. “But we got there anyways, didn’t we?”

 ---

--

-

 “Do you not like roses?” Peter asked him on the way to the train station.

“They all smell like soap,” Mr. Murdock said as he followed Peter down the steps to the station. He was wearing the hat that Foggy had impressed on him. It was a strange thing; Foggy had marked it with a piece of chalk under the brim before handing it over and it seemed to have made it ghost-apparel. He didn’t have a big scary coat, but he did have a scarf and between that and the hat and the lantern, Mr. Murdock was plenty old-timey lighthouse man.

“Not all of them,” Peter said. “Some smell like lemon.”

“That’s what they want you to think,” Mr. Murdock said over the heads of folks by the train. “S’all soap.”

 ---

--

-

 “Did you every hunt for ghosts when you were a kid?” Peter asked when they were approaching the gates of the meeting place. May had given him a bag full of offerings to place on graves when people he was with weren’t looking. Some mandarin oranges and little bouquets of lavender and zinnias with sprigs of baby’s breath. They were pretty. Peter had something like twenty in among the fruit.

“No, the dead never bothered me half as much as the living,” Mr. Murdock said.

That sounded kind of angsty.

“How did you become a hero?” Peter asked.

“Kind of a long, boring story,” Mr. Murdock said. “The short of it, I guess, is that I did a lot of shit for the fae and they appreciated it.”

“Johnny’s starstruck of you,” Peter pointed out. “He thinks you’re like, super cool. He told me you smell really good.”

Mr. Murdock glanced down at him.

“It’s a sign of status for the fae to be attached to a hero,” he said.

Oh???

“Am I a hero? Does Johnny get a boost from being with me?” Peter asked.

Mr. Murdock shrugged.

“You’re both pretty young to be able to know or tell,” he said. “And you’re a witch. So unless you’re a hero-witch, I got nothin’ for you.”

Ah, well. It was worth a shot.

“There’s Ned, that’s our cue. Here, you can take the lantern. I’ll point Flash out to you,” Peter said.

Mr. Murdock took the lantern Peter held out to him without complaint while Peter fumbled through his pockets for a lighter.

He held it out.

“Do you want me to light it or are you okay?” he asked.

“You light it,” Mr. Murdock said. “This is heavy for me in this shape.”

 ---

--

-

 Mr. Murdock took the lantern and left Peter to go meet MJ and Ned. The light had vanished by the time Peter looked back.

“I think Mr. Murdock’s a little sad,” he told the others.

“Ghost separation anxiety?” MJ offered.

“Maybe it’s harder for him to be with people who aren’t his family. Maybe he’s tired,” Ned said.

Yeah, maybe.

“Or maybe he’s a softie who doesn’t like scaring people,” MJ said. “But that means that Matt got his nonsense gene from the nun side.”

It wasn’t implausible.

“Hey, are you guys coming?” Abe tossed back at them. He was prepared with two flashlights and a backpack with a bulky mobile charger in his pocket. He’d said that he wasn’t falling for ‘any ghost shit’ that night and no one was making any ‘dumbass mistakes’ on his watch.

Peter thought that Abe might try to punch Mr. Murdock in the gut. He and MJ agreed to separate him from Flash as soon as possible.

 ---

--

-

 Flash insisted on leading the charge—of course he did. Peter hung back a ways so that he could set offerings on graves. Ned told kept reminding him that he didn’t have to do it for every single one, and obviously Peter knew that. But some of the graves deserved stones on them and a quick prayer. That was just being polite.

Flash caught him at it and asked him if he was scared. Peter told him to mind his own business.

“We’re here to find ghosts, not feed them,” Flash volleyed back.

Peter pointed at him in a way that he hoped was dramatic enough for Mr. Murdock to catch sight of it from wherever he was.

“If they’re eatin’ these, they aren’t eatin’ me,” he said. He offered Flash an orange. “You want one?”

Ned snickered.

“You’re not funny, Parker,” Flash sighed. His breath clouded around him. “Come on, it’s not too much further.”

 ---

--

-

 The ‘crypt’ was actually a mausoleum, as Peter had expected. It was tall and made of stone and Peter could tell immediately that it was of no one of import to the local necromancers.

Even the vultures had declared the folks in this one too boring for their rituals. It was probably a family thing. A bunch of folks who were ordinary but devout. Maybe they had a little money and chose to spend it in death.

Everyone had their own thing.

Peter had oranges and flowers, for example. He snuck around the corner to set one onto the ground by the stone.

His breath puffed out around it and misted away and Peter paused before standing up out of his stoop. He could feel a breeze on his cheeks. He looked up and around.

“Mr. Murdock?” he breathed.

Nothing.

No lantern light.

“You’re not my ghost,” Peter whispered. “I’m just leavin’ a snack, okay?”

The breeze seemed to vanish.

Cool.

“Don’t mind my spirit friend. He’s big and kinda glowy, but he’s not one of you,” Peter said.

“Peter?”

He glanced over his shoulder.

“I’ve gotta go,” he said. “But this other idiot is gonna try to climb onto your grave. Sorry about him. Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it.”

The leaves at his feet blew up and scattered around the orange.

“No problem.” Peter said. “Bye now.”

He hurried back to the others.

 ---

--

-

 The main problem was that none of them knew how roman numerals worked and, surrounded by ghosts, looking it up on the internet was kind of challenging.

MJ and Ned gave Peter pointed looks when he came back to join them.

They knew Peter could read roman numerals. He was assigned the task of keeping his mouth shut without anyone having to tell him.

“Maybe they don’t want to be read,” Felicia said.

“Correct,” Abe agreed. “No reading. I can’t read. None of us can read. This is a blessing of ignorance, given to us by the Lord.”

Flash stared at them.

“X is ten,” he deadpanned.

“Damnit, Flash,” Abe said.

“What’s L?” Flash said. “And M?”

“Code,” Ned chimed in.

He got flat eyebrows all around.

“We live in the twenty-first century,” Flash told the stone. “Just use normal numbers like everyone else.”

The wind kicked up a bit in offense.

“Alright, well, now what?” Abe said. “Not a single ghost so far. Only a creepy stone in a creepy yard with a creepy—oh shit. Turn off the light.”

Say what now?

“Keeper,” Abe snapped over his shoulder, pointing away from them towards a floating light. “Turn ‘em off or we’ll get kicked out.”

Oh.

The lantern.

Peter joined the others in turning off their lights and hiding on the other side of the mausoleum.

“You’d have thought it would be too late for working,” Felicia whispered.

“It’s a graveyard,” MJ whispered back. “The time you need the most coverage is night.”

“Are they still there?” Abe asked.

Flash peeked out from around the stone.

“No,” he said.

Peter untensed his shoulders and stepped out.

“What if it’s not a keeper?” he asked. “What if it’s a—”

“Huh-uh. No,” Abe snapped. “We’re not asking stupid questions tonight, remember, Parker? I specifically said this not 10 minutes ago. No stupid questions.”

Abe had seen a few horror movies, it would seem.

“Alright, alright. No stupid questions,” Peter said. “It’s just—that doesn’t look like a flashlight to me.”

Ned made a show of looking around.

“It’s gone, it doesn’t look like anything to anyone,” he said.

“This is exciting,” Felicia anxiety-giggled.

“It’s not,” MJ sighed. “Well, we’re already here. Might as well keep going.”

The others all turned towards her.

“Wait, you mean, go further?” Flash asked.

MJ shrugged.

“We’re only like, part of the way in,” she said.

Peter surveyed the space beyond their current alley of monuments. The light from the two floodlights at the gated entrance was already weak. Further out, there wouldn’t be light until they hit the war memorial way, way in the back.

That was a plenty big enough stretch.

“Guys? Did it get foggy?” Felicia asked.

Peter shivered.

He had about ten oranges left and an equal number of flower packets.

Welp.

“Let’s go,” he said. “Before it rolls in thicker.”

 ---

--

-

 The grass seemed to get wetter and wetter with every yard and Peter had started to see things out of the corners of his eyes. Shadows. Little flickers of light.

He felt MJ’s fingers sink into his jacket sleeve as he watched an extra set of legs follow behind them in the jerky shadows jostled around by the flashlights.

Abe froze twice, each time to take a deep steady breath and to remind himself that he was not asking stupid questions.

Flash laughed at him, but the sound was strained and a little hysterical. Felicia had grabbed ahold of one of each of their arms up ahead. Ned touched Peter’s shoulder.

“Where is he?” he whispered.

Peter shrugged.

“He’s lantern man,” he said. “We’ll see him.”

“In the mist?”

Mmmm. Okay maybe they should have brought Johnny after all.

 ---

--

-

 They were halfway to the war memorial when the lights above it suddenly went out. MJ’s fingers dug deep into Peter’s sleeve. Ned gasped.

“Dude,” Flash’s voice said in the dark. “That’s not cool. Don’t do that.”

“Don’t you talk to it,” Abe snapped. “Don’t you dare talk to it. Just walk. Don’t ask questions. Just walk.”

Peter felt wind against his cheeks. He shivered.

Mr. Murdock wouldn’t fuck with the lights, would he? Was he that strong?

Peter thought he was supposed to be a spirit, not a ghost. And he’d seemed kind of tired earlier. Surely he hadn’t fallen asleep or something, right?

There was a loud rustle to the right of their group and Peter jumped, which made MJ jump, which made Felicia yelp.

The rustle carried on. It was punctuated with a horrible, wet-sounding slap all of the sudden.

“Wh—what was that?” Flash asked.

Another slap rang out, then another. Followed by the sound of something dropping into leaves. Something…heavy.

“Nice try, slugger,” Mr. Murdock growled.

Actually growled. Like an angry tiger or something.

Peter shivered hard.

This guy hadn’t been scared at all. He’d been preparing himself.

To fight.

Fuck.  

Abort mission. Abort, abort, abort.

“We need to leave,” Peter said sharply.

“Agreed,” MJ said.

“Yep,” Ned said.

“You speak my language finally,” Abe said. “About-face and—”

“Don’t move,” Mr. Murdock said dangerously.

Peter felt his body turn to ice.

“Who’s there?” Flash asked.

“They’re mine,” Mr. Murdock rumbled. “Hands off, ya fuckin’ lowlife. Yeah, get back to your hole. Go on.”

Oh, okay.

Fun times with the undead. Peter should have brought holy water.

“Wh—who’s there?” Flash asked again in a cracking voice.

The sound of metal clanking met them and then an orange flash crackled into sight. And there was Mr. Murdock. Six foot two and missing his hat. He looked huge and solid and his shoulders glowed ever so slightly.

Flash and Felicia and Abe gasped.

“Y’all better be moving along,” Mr. Murdock said, meeting Peter’s eyes seriously.

“Are—are you a ghost?” Felicia whispered.

Mr. Murdock flicked his eyes down at her and they didn’t reflect the light from the lantern.

“Folks call me ‘Jack,’” he said, holding out the lantern. “Or they used to. Nowadays, the little ones call me ‘John.’ This is a ritual grounds tonight, kids. Bad night for a hunt for the living. Go on, I’ll see you out. Take this; your lights won’t work.”

MJ took out her flashlight and it clicked as she turned it on and then off.

“What kind of ritual?” Peter asked.

Mr. Murdock’s lips thinned.

“Go,” he said.

Peter’s chest expanded.

“Where are they?” he asked.

Mr. Murdock shook his head.

“Go,” he said again. “This isn’t for you, little witch.”

Peter heard the others’ shape intakes of air, but he held firm.

“You’re a spirit,” he said. “You can’t stop them.”

Mr. Murdock sighed and his shoulders fell slowly.

“I’m not just a spirit,” he said. “I’m a hero. I’ll see you out. Tell my son the name of this place. He’ll come in the morning.”

Wh—

No, wait.

“Don’t go,” Peter said.

But he was already gone. Felicia was left holding the lantern.

 ---

--

-

 They ran-slipped-fell all the way back the way they’d come. This time, Peter held his breath at the sound of too many feet hitting the wet pockets of mud around them. He heard Felicia sobbing and the lantern clanking dangerously ahead of them.

The floodlights at the entrance had gone out.

They had to carefully climb the fence and pass off the lantern one at a time until they were on the other said, panting.

Peter realized belatedly that he’d dropped the bag of grave offerings.

He dipped his head and clenched his fists.

He’d have to go back for it in the morning.

“You’re a witch,” Flash suddenly snapped at him.

“Lay off,” MJ said immediately.

“You’re a witch and you brought that—that guy with us?” Flash asked.

“It was supposed to be a joke,” Peter said.

“A joke?” Abe said. “You—Peter, witches aren’t real. Ghosts aren’t real. Who was that?”

“No, you, a witch, thought it would be funny to bring some kind of spirit with us to a graveyard?” Flash demanded.

Peter huffed.

“Hey, you were a dick about this first,” Ned said. “The ghost dude is harmless.”

“Harmless?” Flash said. “Harmless? Yeah, fuckin’ streetfighter ghost is harmless.”

“He’s not a ghost,” Abe said, “He’s an actor. Peter that’s not cool, man. That’s not cool.”

“He’s not an actor,” Felicia said quietly.

The rest of them turned to see her holding the still-burning lantern. She was staring into it.

“His hands were so cold,” she whispered.

Abe executed a full-body shiver.

“Well, now what?” he asked. “We’ve trespassed, found a ghost, and nearly got ritualed to death. What else do we need to do to learn that this was a bad idea all along?”

Peter looked up at the gate.

“Dark magic,” he said.

MJ and Ned turned towards him.

“Peter, you’re not going back in there,” Ned said.

“I took charge of the spirit,” Peter said, setting his jaw. “I’m not going back on my word to a selkie.” He jerked back. “I need my familiar,” he said. “You guys can go.”

“Your…familiar?” Abe said slowly. “Peter. Peter, you are not a witch.”

“He’s not a familiar like others are, maybe, but he’s mine,” Peter said. “And he’ll know how to help the spirit.”

Ned and MJ exchanged glances.

“Okay?” Ned said. “Well, where is he?”

 ---

--

-

 Johnny answered his phone and said he’d been 20 minutes. They were the longest 20 minutes of Peter’s life and were spent primarily being interrogated by Abe, Flash, and Felicia.

They were understandably upset by the set-up, and then understandably upset by the fact that they were, in fact, living in ignorance of a whole multi-dimensional plane.

Abe demanded to know if genies were real, and Peter could only say that they probably were.

“Just so I’m clear here,” Flash said. “You went and borrowed your local seal-person’s husband for a jump-scare for us and now we are waiting on a fire demon to help us rescue the seal-person’s undead husband from some evil witches trying to raise the dead?”

Peter chewed a few fingers.

“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” he said.

“PARKER.”

“PETER. OH MY GOD.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” Abe sobbed.

“I was appeasing the spirits,” Peter snapped at them. “Why do you think I brought all those oranges? Do I look like I’m vitamin C deficient?”

“You’re a witch,” Felicia said. “You’re a witch. That’s insane. How do you—”

“I’m not a witch,” Peter sighed. “I’m—I’m a—I’m almost a witch.”

“Clearly,” Abe said.

“Hey, leave him alone,” Ned jumped in. “It’s no one’s fault this happened. We all thought we were walking into a totally different situation.”

“Yeah, except Mr. Ghost Man,” Flash said. “He knew what was up. Why didn’t you listen to him? Or, I dunno, read the undead-people signs?”

“Because he’s not my family spirit,” Peter snapped at him. “And he’s not a ghost. He’s a spirit, and not like a spirit, even. He’s a—it’s hard to explain. I don’t even know what he is. He’s just different. He’s like an inbetween kind of—”

“He’s a hero.”

They all looked up to see Johnny standing there in blue with a black knitted scarf wrapped triple around his neck. His eyes flashed orange and red and gold. The ground swayed around him, light up by his internal lantern.

Everyone around Peter recoiled.

“What does that mean, Johnny?” Peter asked quietly. “I don’t understand.”

“It means that the spirits of the sea granted him another life in exchange for the protection he offered their people during his human one,” Johnny said. “You should know by now, Peter; the fae work in exchanges.”

“He already made his deal,” Peter said. “I don’t understand.”

“His deal as a human was fulfilled. His soul is safe with his selkie, only she can shepherd it. It will go to the Otherworld, where he will stay in comfort. But he’s chosen to stay here--as a hero. In this world. And as long as he is here and not in the Otherworld, his purpose is to protect humans and fae, to protect them from each other if he must, as he stands now with a foot on both sides of the line.”

Peter felt his breath coming slowly again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

“Because,” Johnny said with a sudden smile. “Your soul is already mine—we share a heart remember? I don’t need you getting stupid ideas—imagine if you decided to become a hero, then died and decided to stick around these parts instead of letting me take you to the Otherworld. You’d drive yourself mad, Peter. You’d never sleep ever again.”

Peter blinked.

“You lied to me?” he asked.

“I’m a fire demon,” Johnny said. “We listen to truths. We don’t have to tell them.”

Wow.

“Know that I’m really upset with you right now,” Peter said.

Johnny bobbed his head.

“But you’re more upset about the hero,” he said. “No need for that. He didn’t become a hero by dumb luck, and anyways, look at his kid. He’ll be fine; he’s the original material. A little dark magic isn’t gonna tear him up. He’s probably just gonna—”

There was a flash like miniature lightening through the bars of the gate.

“I take it back,” Johnny said. “Whoopsy-daisy. Come on, now, heart-boy. Up and over.”

 ---

--

-

 Peter landed on the other side of the gate right into mud that hadn’t been there a moment earlier.

“What’s going on?” he asked as Johnny hopped down with him.

“Big, wet,” Johnny said. “Dark, dark magic. Gross. Sticky. Here, we need more light.”

Little embers glittered in the throw of fire that expanded Johnny’s lantern lights. It brightened the space substantially and when Peter looked down, the ground was dry.

“Dude,” Flash said. “You know what? I’m convinced.”

“Johnny Storm is a fire demon,” Abe wept into his hands.

“Stay here,” Peter told Ned and MJ, we’ll be—”

“BACK. BACK. BACK.”

Johnny slammed Peter against the fence and let out a hiss that sounded like water hitting a scalding piece of metal. Peter’s heart throbbed. Johnny slowly released the pressure on him and made a clicking noise.

“I think,” he said after a moment. “That perhaps I am not a big enough fire.”

Dude, what?

Johnny turned to him.

“Sorry,” he said sadly. “More and more are waking up every second. They’re heavy.”

Dude, what?

“I’m really sorry,” Johnny said. “But uh. I think I need to, uh—”

“Need to what, Johnny?” MJ demanded on the other side of the fence.

Johnny looked like he was going to cry.

 ---

--

-

 “JONATHAN STORM.”

Scary, scary, scary, scary, scary.

“Sue,” Johnny pleaded. “Not here. Not now. There’s hero in the—”

“Oh, I see him,” Sue Storm said, looming. “He’s doing just fine. He’ll hold on for long enough for me to—”

“It’s my fault,” Peter blurted out. “I called him here.”

Sue Storm’s blue eyes seemed to blaze in the dark.

“Don’t blame him,” Johnny said. “I’ll take it. He’s my human. I’ll take it.”

“This is dark magic,” Sue said. “None of you should be here. This earth will turn sodden under the spell of these monsters. The hero will return it to balance. You two, in the meantime, are no heroes. Not even halves of one.”

Peter felt his face burning.

“He’s the selkie’s, Sue,” Johnny said quietly. “He’s not long a hero. Please help him?”

Sue Storm chewed her tongue, gazing holes into Johnny’s face. Johnny looked away first.

“Which selkie?” she demanded.

“Her name is Margaret,” Peter said.

Sue’s face jerked his way. Her eyes widened and she turned back out towards the cemetery.

“Oh,” she said softly. “That selkie. She’s more like us.”

Peter frowned.

“I don’t—” he started.

“She honors the earth and its fae even though she’s sea folk,” she said. She sighed heavily. “Alright, fine. I’ll help. But for the hero, not either of you, you hear? Johnny, you’ll need to make things right with the selkie. She’ll be furious. She’s been nothing but kind to our people. We can’t repay her like this.”

“Will do,” Johnny said.

“Stay here,” Sue said. “All of you. The curse has got into you. We’ll break it all at once.”

Oh shit.

MJ and Ned turned slowly towards Peter.

“Curse?” Ned asked.

Peter groaned.

---

--

-

 “It’s a friendship circle,” Johnny bubbled as Peter shoved him, once again, into the sigil he was trying to draw in the dirt at the cemetery entrance.

“I’m gonna salt you in and I will not regret it,” Peter threatened him.

“Johnny, come sit,” Ned said, patting the place between him and Felicia.

“Never,” Johnny hissed at him. “My heart is right—”

Peter left him to finish the circle. Johnny hurried to keep up with him.

Flash watched after him with furrowed eyebrows and a fist pressed to his mouth.

“This is not how this night was supposed to go,” he said.

“We didn’t even ask any stupid questions,” Abe sighed.

“What’s she doing out there?” Felicia asked.

Peter shoved Johnny’s flailing body towards her and finally finished the circle. He’d never made one this big. He started in on the protective signs around the interior.

“She’s a boggart!” Johnny chirped. “She’s boggart-ing!”

Peter felt the pause of the others more than he heard it.

“What does that mean?” Felicia asked.

“Oh. She’s a faerie of darkness,” Johnny said. “So she’s probably winding her way through all the posers and chasing them back to their hovels so that she can go chase the witches away from the hero and let him rest for a bit. She’ll guide him back if he’ll let her—which he might not. You never know with heroes. He might not want her smell on him.”

Peter had the feeling that Mr. Murdock was made of more sense than pride.

“How long will that take?” Abe asked.

Johnny made happy crackling sounds.

“Who knows! Depends on the witches,” he said. “Depends on how many people she needs to terrify. Boggarts get power through fear. The more spirits she scares, the faster she’ll be.”

Peter moved Ned’s backpack out of the way and carried on.

There was a lull.

“Peter, what are you doing?” Felicia asked.

“Protection circle,” MJ said for him.

“Oh.”

There was another silence.

“Where did you learn that?” Abe asked.

“His aunt’s a full witch. She does business in herbs, potions, and materials for their part of Forest hills,” Ned said.

“Oh.”

Flash and Abe scooted forward to let Peter in behind him. They watched him.

“That’s pretty cool, actually,” Felicia said. “Thanks for that.”

A mumbled thanks went around the whole group. Peter finished the final marks and stepped carefully over them into the circle.

“It’s nothing,” he sighed, flopping down and dragging Johnny away from Ned. “I should have known better. I think the ghosts were trying to warn me from the start. I should have listened better.”

More awkward silence.

“Well, it sounds like the fighting’s calmed down,” MJ said. “Mr. Murdock should be okay.”

Yeah.

“Wait,” Abe said. “Isn’t that your boss, MJ?”

Welp.

“Ghost man is my boss’s dad,” MJ sighed.

“Oh my god,” Felicia giggled. “You guys roped your boss’s dad into a practical joke?”

“He didn’t even want to scare you guys,” Peter groaned. “Man, I gotta learn how to read spirits. Johnny, how do I read spirits?”

“No idea. Spirits don’t like me. I’m too bright and obnoxious,” Johnny said.

“I’m un-bonding us,” Peter said. “You have nothing but bad advice and secrets.”

Johnny made kissy noises at him then scrambled up straight.

“Sue’s got the hero,” he said. “She’s arguing with him. Ahahaha.”

Peter cleared his throat. Johnny startled.

“Right, sorry,” he said. “She’s uh. Trying to convince him to come with her, but he’s refusing to look at her. Smart guy, you know that? Name a boggart and they’ll go off on you. He doesn’t want to chance it. Sue’s telling him that she’ll do the invisible thing so he doesn’t see her and he’s not into it, guys.”

Peter took it back. Maybe Mr. Murdock had too much sense for his own good.

“Can you talk to him?” Felicia asked.

“Who? Hero-man? Nah. I can just feel Sue’s frustration,” Johnny said. “Sibling bond, forever. You know?”

No, Johnny. No one knew. The only people with siblings in the circle were MJ and Abe.

“You’re so annoying,” MJ said.

“Aw, I like you too,” Johnny tittered.

Peter yanked him back and prayed that Mr. Murdock would give into the inevitable soon.

 ---

--

-

 “Look? See? No trouble. Not even a little trouble. Did I lie to you?”

Peter snapped awake and shook himself. He blinked into the dark until the shapes of bodies appeared before him as the other woke up too. They all turned around to see the dark outline of Sue standing on the other side of the fence.

Mr. Murdock’s tall shape was there too.

They looked…uh.

Kinda scuffed up, actually, hair-wise and scratches and bruises--the whole thing.

“Lord, she’s still talking to me,” Mr. Murdock said, facing away from Sue, now that Peter could see better.

“God is smart enough to see through you talking to him to talk to me,” She pointed out.

“Lord, you are so unknowable,” Mr. Murdock said pointedly.

“You know, for a fae hero, you’re sure religious.”

“Please see me through this period of suffering,” Mr. Murdock carried on. “And safely away from this hostile body and place.”

Johnny leapt up.

“You found him!” he cheered.

“Yes, of course I did,” Sue said. “He was fine, by the way. Meat-head here has anvils for hands.”

“I keep hearing voices, Lord,” Mr. Murdock said miserably. “Whatever sin it is I’ve committed, I’m willing to repent. But you’ve gotta help me out, man; the priest is convinced I’m a demon in his confession box.”

“Move,” Sue told Johnny. “Come one, Hero-man. We’re going through a fence. I dunno if you’ll fit with all those muscles.”

They all watched as Sue got a handful of the back of Mr. Murdock’s shirt and dragged him through the largest part of the gate uncomfortably.

“You did it!” she cheered. “Successful hero. Another quest fulfilled. Look at all these living children. And you even picked up a rock! That’s good for a young guy like—”

“I’m going back to the church and I’m never leaving,” Mr. Murdock finally told her directly.

“Oh,” Sue said. “You’re a church hero. That’s new.”

“I’m done. No more seals. No more mountains. No more lakes. No more cemeteries,” Mr. Murdock said, shaking himself and dragging his hands through his hair to smooth it out.

“Oh, wow, you’ve really been through it, huh?” Sue asked his back as he left them all in place.

“No more superpowers either,” Mr. Murdock said over his shoulder at her. He moved on ahead purposefully.

“I want him,” Sue told Johnny forcefully.

“He’s taken,” Johnny reminded her.

“He’s sturdy is what he is,” Sue said.

“Reed is sturdy,” Johnny pointed out.

Sue contemplated this.

“But he’s not fae,” she said.

Johnny rolled his eyes.

“Sue, we can throw your boyfriend into a graveyard of dark magic and let him fight his way home,” he said. “That’s something we can do. We can even time him.”

Sue drummed fingers across her face and slowly wrapped an arm around Johnny’s shoulders until his cheek was smushed up against hers against his will.

“You are so smart, little brother, sometimes I forget how smart you are,” she said.

She threw him away and straightened herself out.

“We’re hours from dawn,” she said. “We’re going home. Baby witch, you and my brother will apologize to the selkie tomorrow. I don’t think the hero wants to stay with you until then. I’m 90% sure, actually, the hero is already catching a train without you. The rest of you--”

She rounded on all of them.

“Do not play with ghosts, witches, spirits or any receptacle of them, do I make myself clear?”

Peter shrunk under her finger.

“Yes, ma’am,” they all mumbled.

She sniffed.

“Good,” she said. “Now we all need to go talk to baby’s witch’s mom. You have one hell of a curse hanging over you.”

---

--

-

 May was not pleased.

May doused them all in six different herb waters and made them eat something foul that tasted like charcoal and rubbing alcohol.

Then they had to get sprayed off with the hose in the backyard until all the cemetery mud came off and only then did May send everyone home.

---

--

-

 “Hey Peter?”

Peter looked up from his grinding in the doorframe the next morning—it as far as he was allowed at the present moment—and jumped at the whole group from the night before staring down at him.

He scrambled up.

“Uh, hi,” he said.

“Did you say sorry to the selkie yet?” Felicia asked him.

He almost wanted to shush her and check for passersby. May swore at something in the kitchen behind him. He edged forward and closed the door as far as he could without closing it all the way.

“No, not yet. What are you all doing here?” he asked.

He got a wave of eyebrows all around.

“We wanted to go with you and to say thanks. To the hero guy. You know. For uh, saving us from certain and horrible death,” Abe said.

Oh.

Oh.

“Let me, uh--give me just a second,” Peter said.

 ---

--

-

 Matt was at his apartment and he opened the door at the third knock. He heard MJ clear her throat and started cackling immediately.

“Don’t be a dick,” MJ said. “Let us say thank you.”

Matt remained inarticulate.

“Oh my god,” he finally choked. “Do you know—I haven’t—He hasn’t been this mad since I ate fries off the street—hold oh. Oh my god.”

Ew, man. That’s disgusting.

“Pops, come on out,” Matt coaxed, wiping tears from his eyes and skirting fingers across his kitchen counter until he got to cupboard under the sink. “They just wanna say sorry, Dad. It’s okay. There’s no secret second quest.”

Mr. Murdock refused to exit his newfound home.

Matt snickered so hard his shoulders shook. He stood up and found his counter to lean his elbows against.

“No harm, no foul to us,” he said amiably. “Mum’s been trying to keep a straight face in Mass. He came here for sympathy that I’m afraid I don’t have.”

Man. It was a wonder that Mr. Murdock stuck around at all.

Peter puffed himself up anyways.

“Mr. Murdock,” he said. “I know you can hear me. And I wanted to say that I’m sorry for roping you into the whole thing yesterday, but I’m also super glad you were there. ‘Cause we would’ve been screwed otherwise. So thank you.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Felicia said. “You’re really nice, and I’m glad you were there, too.”

The others added their thanks to the pile and Matt grinned in the direction of the cupboard.

“Come onnn,” he drawled. “I can feel you giving in, in there.”

Nothing.

Matt muffled a round of giggles in his sleeve.

“He accepts your thanks,” he said. “He’s just allergic to sunlight and gratitude.”

The cupboard door rattled violently. Matt shoved a foot against it.

“Mum isn’t mad either, she thinks it’s healthy for him to do quests without her,” he said. “So you’re all good with the three of us.”

Peter wasn’t positive that they were actually. But okay, sure?

“I guess we’ll leave you guys to uh, brood? Baseball? Whatever it is you do together?” He said.

Matt hummed and nodded and waved them out. Peter shut the door behind them.

“That was easy,” Flash said.

“Man, I hope my dad just dies the once,” Abe said.

“My dad isn’t cool enough to fight zombies in a graveyard,” Felicia said.

MJ considered this.

“My mom could do it,” she said.

Ned snorted. Peter swallowed a laugh.

---

--

-

 “So,” Flash said as they passed by the church that Mr. Murdock usually called home. “I know it was all kind of an actual nightmare, but like. I dunno.”

Peter stopped.

“You want more fae bullshit?” he asked in shock.

Flash rubbed at the back of his neck and even Abe and Felicia refused to make eye contact. Ned and MJ stared at them, then Peter in shock.

“It’s just really cool,” Flash admitted. “Like, there’s all this stuff that I thought was fake. But it’s all happening here, all at once—you know. Heroes and zombies and fire demons and witches.”

“This isn’t a tv show,” Peter said. “You know that right? Like, we don’t always win? Yeah, there are heroes and witches, but there’s also really bad magic. Dangerous fae. There are turf wars and tricksters and everything you do is a deal and you always owe someone something. It’s not always fun.”

“Okay, but isn’t it better to know?” Flash asked.

Peter closed his lips.

He didn’t have an argument for that.

“I’m not teaching you,” he sniffed. “I’m already apprenticed. If you want a mentor, it can’t be me—and you can’t have my demon.”

“But he’s Johnny Storm,” Abe blurted out. “Johnny. Storm. Peter, how did you even swing that? And why does he listen to you.”

“He doesn’t,” MJ butted in.

“He does,” Peter corrected.

“He really doesn’t,” Ned said. “Peter’s an amateur witch at best who bound himself to a fire demon with impulse control issues.”

Wow. Betrayed by his own family.

“I’m leaving, I’m grounded, you guy go get a grimoire or something and learn your magic bullshit yourselves,” he said.

“Aww, come on.”

“They were just joking, Peter.”

“Come backkkkk.”

Mr. Murdock had the right idea. Peter had a cupboard to find.

------

 Hope this hits the spot, boo!! And Happy Halloween, y’all!

[gobbluthbutagirl]

ok so. here is an incomplete selection of events that occurred at my job between the hours of 2:30pm and 11pm local time on 11/01/2021 and/or 8:00am and 4:30pm local time on 11/02/2021 that i personally witnessed:

-2 separate incidences of a customer leaving their phone on the counter & the next customer having to point it out

-a self-proclaimed ‘ugly man’ telling me i look just like his favorite cashier back in florida

-customers back at it again leaving rocks from the ground outside at the self checkout. 2 rocks this time

-customer ordered a like $50 bottle of whiskey for pickup. coworker grabbed one off the shelf and asked me to remove the alarm for her. turns out whoever had put the alarm on it had used a size too small & it was literally impossible to get off without removing the cork as well. the 2 others on the shelf had this exact same problem. $150 worth of whiskey down the drain. and to top it all off just when my coworker finally got the order prepped the customer decided to cancel it

-coworker had me put 2 items on hold behind the counter for a guy named seamus. subsequently(and in the midst of the whiskey shenanigans) seamus became the first customer in the history of ever to actually show up to purchase items being held

-guy asked me where the condoms were. i told him the exact location. watched him walk right past them looking all confused. comes back to the register. “hey i couldn’t find the condoms.” i lead him to them. “oh, shit! my bad.” he spends five minutes staring at them then eventually opts to purchase exactly none

-this one’s the kicker. and while hilarious in hindsight it was not at all enjoyable while it was happening. drunkest man in the history of earth comes in. buying a single beer. no mask. ask how he is. “well not great. your security guy out there just pepper sprayed me.” i’m pretty sure the target security guys do not carry pepper spray but i did not tell him this. “should i press charges?” sir i don’t know. i’m not a lawyer i’m a target cashier. wrong answer apparently! “well it was YOUR security guy who spray-painted me.” i am questioning my decision at this point to allow this man to purchase more alcohol however he is already mad as hell and i don’t want to provoke him further. ask if i can see his id. “why do you need my id?” well sir it’s alcohol. “alright fine i’ve shown you my id now give me my change.” well sir you did not pay yet. “alright fine how much do i owe you.” it’s $3.38. he gives me a 20. blows his nose directly into his hand. spitting and shooting snot all over the ground. i set his $16.62 on the counter bc i do not want to touch his snot hand. he goes to grab it. whacks the counter. change flies up in the air. “you just threw my change at me!” no sir i did not. i set it down on the counter with your receipt. “i need to see your manager!” well gladly. i use my walkie to call for both a manager and security. he keeps stepping closer. leaning over the counter. i keep stepping back. i am the only target employee around for miles it feels like. this man is probably 6-8 inches taller than me and 100 pounds heavier. i move over to the other register to help the guy in line behind him. manager arrives. “she forgot to give me my change!” manager asks if i gave him his change. i say yes. she asks him to leave. he does not want to leave. security escorts him out onto the street where he immediately causes a massive commotion. outside security guys and/or the cops show up. guy gets tased. at this point i am back to ringing up customers. my hands are shaking. life goes on. welcome to hollywood!

[miastideclock]

Yang Jeongin Drabble, “Inside Beauty.”

@jhopesdimples​ hello! im a new skz and bts blog and i found yours and have been reading all ur skz stuff at the moment. can i request a jeongin drabble where the reader is insecure about being older and slightly bigger than him? preferably filled with angst but a happy ending? it’s okay if not! keep writing it’s so good! 💖

-

Word Count: 1790 Warnings: Eating disorder, but not really??? I don’t know, but just in case it might be triggering, sorry

-

It had been a long day, and you were happy that you could spend the rest of the day hanging out with your boyfriend and your friends. More often than not you found yourself at the Stray Kids dorm, hanging out with the boys and having fun. That was how you ended up falling for Jeongin, and luckily- he returned the favor. 

After months of begging to management, they finally lifted the dating ban for the group, making all of them go over the moon. That included you, as that meant you could go public with Jeongin, the love of your life. 

You knew you weren’t perfect, but Jeongin loved you despite that, and that made you fall for him even more. 

It was no secret that you were on the heavier side, and it probably didn’t help that you were also taller than him. But when you were with Jeongin, you instantly forgot all of that. Or at least until Jeongin’s leader, Chan, got a girlfriend for himself.

She was two years younger than him, about five inches shorter than him, and easing in on the skinny side. She was super nice, and never did you any harm, but she made you think. 

“Would Jeongin prefer it if I was like her? Younger, shorter and all around smaller?” But everytime the thought crossed your mind, you forced it out. He loved you like you were, and nothing could change that. But still, you found yourself thinking whenever you were at the dorm.

“Come sit on my lap.” “Let me give you a piggyback ride!” “You’re so tiny and cute!”

Things you heard on a daily basis, but they were never to you. It was Chan talking to his girlfriend, Lacey. They were super cute together, you had to admit- but it got a bit frustrating at times, always comparing yourself to her. 

After a while, you found yourself skipping meals, and walking the long way to work. You would suggest going for walks rather than watching movies like you always did. Jeongin didn’t notice it at first, and much like a puppy-dog was just excited to spend time with you, whether it was on the couch or going for a walk. He did however, notice when your mood had dropped over the last few weeks. At first he connected it to stress at work, and figured you would talk to him if you needed to- that much he trusted you on. But when you never spoke about it, and you never got any happier, he got concerned. 

You were on a walk the first time Jeongin asked. 

“Y/N, are you okay?” 

It had caught you off guard as he had cut himself off to ask you. You had originally talked about his upcoming schedule, but he figured work talk could wait until later. 

“Yeah, I’m good! Why’re you asking?” You lied through your teeth. You weren’t okay, but you couldn’t tell him. He wouldn’t understand. He had hundred of thousands of girl confessing their undying love for him every single day. They praised him like a god, kept telling him he was perfect just the way he was and that he should never change. He could never understand the feeling of not being good enough.

“Just wondering. Maybe my Spidey-senses are off.” He chuckled and continued to swing your hand back and forth as you walked through the park. 

Another week passed before the topic came up again. You were sleeping over at the dorm as they had nothing scheduled for the next morning, however, you found yourself wide awake at two am. You had tried to force your eyes shut for the past three hours, but to no avail. You eventually gave up and made your way to the kitchen, careful not to wake up your boyfriend, who was sleeping soundly next to you. 

You wanted to make yourself a cup of hot tea to maybe soothe you into sleep, but you forgot where they kept the kettle. After looking through about seventy-five percent of the cupboards, you heard footsteps creep up behind you. You turned around and met the face of a might confused and sleepy Lacey. Chan’s girlfriend.

“Hey, sorry. Did I wake you?” You asked in a whisper, her quickly shaking her head. 

“Oh don’t worry! I was looking to make myself some tea. I assume that’s what you’re doing as well?” She spoke, a smile prominent on her lips.

Lacey was one of the sweetest girls you had ever met, which made the situation even more annoying- because god knows you wanted to dislike her. Dislike her for making you doubt yourself, and even worse- making you doubt Jeongin.

“Yeah, but I forgot where they keep the kettle.” You smiled sheepishly. Lacey chuckled and opened one of the cupboards you had already looked through. “I don’t know why they feel the need to hide it, like if they’re getting robbed, I hardly think this will be the first thing they’d steal.” She snickered and pulled the kettle out from the very back. 

Silence overcame you as she filled it with water and plugged it into the wall. The soft sound of silence blended well with the heating water, it eventually coming to a boil. 

“Would you like milk or sugar?” You asked as you prepared two cups, each with a teabag. You had silently assigned each task, as Lacey watched the kettle and you grabbed the tea.

“I actually have it with a teaspoon of honey! You have to try it, it’s so yummy.” She beamed, grabbing the honey that was sat on the counter. You nodded and let her put the honey in each of the cups before pouring in the boiling water. 

After you had cleared away the equipment and the things you had used, you both grabbed your respected cups and headed to the living room, sitting down on the couch before kick-starting another conversation.

“I know we don’t know each other all that well, but maybe it even helps that we’re borderline strangers. Are you alright these days? I’m so sorry if I come off as intrusive, it’s just that the boys have talked about you acting a bit off lately, and they don’t really know how to go about it.” Lacey spoke in her soft voice, a bit of an accent shining though, but you couldn’t place it. 

Her words hit you harder than you had originally anticipated, making tears burn at the brim of your eyes. 

“I don’t know, Lacey.” Your voice broke and you quickly shifted your gaze from her down to your cup of steaming tea. You weren’t okay, and you knew that. You hadn’t been okay for a while. At first, you thought your insecurities had just been an inconvenience, and nothing more. But as time went by, you found it eating you up from the inside. No matter what it was, you always thought about how you looked, especially compared to Jeongin, and how you were scared to talk to him about it. 

So that was exactly what you told Lacey. And before you knew it, you were crying, as was she when she confessed her own insecurities and issues. It ended up with both of you having to put down your cups on the table, because you were both crying and shaking. 

“I know exactly what you’re feeling, babe. Every single day, we have to look at all of those beautiful fans and its only natural for us to compare ourselves! But I do know one thing. Jeongin loves you just as much as you love him, maybe even more. And yes those fans are beautiful- but as are you. So talk to him, maybe he’ll understand.” Lacey finally spoke after you both had controlled your breathing.

You gave her a hug, and decided it was better to do it now, despite the fact that it was almost four am. If you didn’t do it now, who knows when you’d muster up the courage to do it.

Sneaking back into his room, you closed the door carefully behind you, then made your way over to the bed. Sitting down on the edge you carefully shook his body. “Babe, Jeongin? I need to talk to you.” 

He quickly stirred awake, confused and tired. “What’s going on? Y/N, are you okay?” He suddenly came to it, scared for your wellbeing. 

“Actually, I’m not, and that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I know you asked me a few times last week if I was doing okay, and I lied. I haven’t been doing good for a while. It was like everything hit me all at once, and I don’t know what to say. It’s no secret I’m bigger than you, and that’s never bothered me until recently. I keep seeing all of your beautiful fans, and I keep thinking ‘wow, he has a lot of options. I wonder how long it’ll take before he find someone prettier and better than me. I feel like just a detail in your picture, you know?” You were crying again at this point, and Jeongin looked at you with all the sorrow in the world as he held your hand and listened to you. 

He would never have guessed that was why you had been upset. You always carried yourself with such grace and confidence, it made him swoon. 

“Y/N, baby. Why didn’t you tell me earlier? You know something like that will never happen. Sure, we have pretty fans, but they are nothing compared to you. You are my everything, and even though you are the most breathtaking person I have ever seen, it’s not that that made me fall in love with you. It’s your inside beauty. Your inside beauty shines through your whole self, making you stand out. Not like the flower-crown in a boy’s hair, or the diamonds around a woman’s neck. You are stunning, and so much more than just a detail, you are the picture. You are the view. You can easily be compared to a sunset, or the starry sky a late night, but you are so much more than that too. Both outside and inside beauty like yours is so much rarer than that. You are the northern lights people travel long and far to see. You Y/N, you are unique in the best possible way.” 

You were sobbing, to say the least. Jeongin had even shed a few tears, heartbroken that his baby was hurting. He then quickly pulled you into a hug, holding you tight as you both cried, no longer sad tears, but happy ones.

You couldn’t believe how insanely lucky you were to have someone like him in your life, and that you could call him yours.

“I love you.”

I really hope you like it! 

Feel free to request more!!

-bentley

[chickensarentcheap]

Never Gonna Be Alone- Chapter 5

Title: Neighbours

Warnings: none

Tagging: @c-a-v-a-l-r-y, @alievans007, @innerpaperexpertcloud, @tragiclyhip

The ‘to do list’ is long and lengthy but not unmanageable.

Inside and outside decorations, picking out a tree and having it dropped off the next day, last minute presents and stocking stuffers to grab, a massive grocery list that includes the usual staples and the ‘extras’ that always make their appearance at Christmas time. The convenience of a big city is one thing she’s always missed; malls with everything you need under one roof, strips of your favorite, eclectic little shops, delivery for everything under the sun. Never having to own a car; Uber and taxis summoned with just one phone call, the subway just a block away. The younger Esme...the one fresh off a shitty first marriage...had loved every second in New York City. That spacious loft -with its exposed brick walls and industrial lighting and Juliet balcony- in Brooklyn, the Broadway shows she’d attend, the high end shops like Tiffany’s, Chanel, and Prada that she’d do little more than browse in; dreaming about all the things she would buy if she was ever fortunate enough to have money to burn. Trips to Central Park; reading a book or sipping a latte while sitting on the edge of the fountain or treating herself to lunch at Tavern on the Green. She’d never been bored; filling every minute of her free time with something new to experience. Taking the subway into different ethnic areas; trying new foods and drink and buying newly discovered -to her- spices and intriguing ingredients to try out at home. And while she’d been alone, she’d never been lonely; always finding ways to keep herself busy.

While it’s nice to come back and spend time in the BIg Apple, she no longer misses it with such intensity. THAT Esme..the one who’d lived in that loft apartment and who’d window shop at the high end retailers...no longer exists. She died almost thirteen years ago; her life coming to end on the Sultana Kamal Bridge. It had been time; out with the old, in with the new. And there’d been something so incredibly empowering about it; never returning to either the city or Colorado and having her step father pack up the necessities and ship them to her. Many people would consider it foolish; throwing a somewhat stable and comfortable life away for something so different. A country on the other side of the world, a man she barely knew yet her heart was certain she was in love with, a tiny and cramped apartment outside of Sydney with barely any clothes in the closet and only second hand, mismatched furniture to decorate the place. But it had turned out to be everything she’d wanted; a change in pace and scenery and a life she never knew she was missing out on. That man she barely knew outside of sex quickly proving to be the love of her life; not just a lover, eventual spouse and baby daddy, but her best friend. The one and only person she truly trusted; who’d been so willing to give up his life to save hers and made her feel safe and protected...and LOVED...in ways she’d never experienced before.

Australia quickly became home. Despite the lingering issues from Dhaka -the slow healing process and the financial issues and the worry of retaliation IF word ever got out that he had survived- they’d been happy. Not needing much; enjoying those evenings on the couch, watching television and eating ice cream right out of the container, those trips -as a couple and then newlyweds and eventually with a tiny Millie in her daddy’s arms, the long and quiet -and often post coital- conversations that had become their norm. They’d gone through a hell of an ordeal together; forming a bond that other people simply couldn’t understand. Both of them could have easily died that day; Tyler from his injuries, her due to the decision she’d made to stick around in an effort to keep him alive. After that, they’d sworn to never take a single second for granted; enjoying the ‘getting to know you’ process even as a newly married couple and her with a baby growing in her belly. It hadn’t been a conventional start to things; those five days in that cramped and dirty hotel room in Dhaka followed by an unexpected little bundle and her decision to give up her old life. But it had worked. THEY had worked. Despite all the odds stacked against them and everything that said they shouldn’t. The ordeal they’d survived giving them an appreciation of each other; putting down that foundation of respect and mutual awe that everything else could -and would- be built upon.

As amazing as it all sounds -finding the love of your life, discovering your own slice of paradise, starting a family- it’s work. Love and everything that comes with it is a lot of work, in fact. It’s arguments over both stupid shit and important issues; it’s hurt and anger and bitterness due to miscommunication or simply not taking the others feelings into considering. It’s learning how the other works and functions so you can be the one to provide comfort, stability, and aid; patience and deep rooted concern and the desire to keep them safe and healthy driving you.

Lust is one thing; immense physical attraction extremely important and definitely an added bonus. But at the end of the day, it’s other forms of intimacy that keep things alive and well; the simple act of holding hands while sitting on the couch or even driving in the car, the unexpected hugs and kisses, the little things you do for one another without even thinking, the teasing and the laughter and the conversations. It’s one thing to love someone and physically WANT them, it’s another to actually ENJOY them; their company and their smile and the sound of their voice and the way they cheer you up even on the worst days. How they talk you through hard times and how quick they are to dry your tears and want to make things right; willing to do anything and everything within their power to make you happy and to feel wanted and appreciated. It’s all those things that keep things going even when they feel like they’re falling apart.

******

“Mum!” TJ calls, as he bounds down the stairs and through the immense space that make up the living and dining areas; an easy and clean flow directly into the counter. “Check it out! You gotta see my outfit?”

With a mug of tea pressed to her lips, she glances up from the spiral notebook in front of her. It’s one of many that usually take up residence in one of the kitchen drawers; a different colour cover indicating which kid it is assigned to, two for things that are needed when it comes to household items and repairs, another for things like groceries and personal products. She’s always been organized, but something ‘snapped’ over the course of the last five years; an obsessive of sorts when it comes to keeping affairs in order.

“What the heck are you wearing?” she inquires, as her oldest son sprints through the living and dining area and then uses his socks to allow him to slide the rest of the way. An almost victorious and proud grin on his face when he comes to a stop against the island. His outfit of choice is an eyebrow raiser; jogging pants enormous and incredibly baggy, a hoodie at least four sizes too big, a black knit beanie on his head.

“It’s my New York City look. For the mean streets. You like it?”

She grins and sips her tea. “The mean streets, huh? There’s nothing quite as dark and dangerous as the vicious and cold, dark alleys of Gramercy Park.”

“It’s bad ass. New York City. Maybe not exactly where we live, but…”

“You’re pretty far removed from the bad assery of The Big Apple, but I admire your spirit. If I ever find myself getting mugged or having to walk down a dark street at two in the morning, I know who to call.”

“I’d protect you, mum. I don’t care how big and bad someone is. I’d kick their ass for you. Or at least try to.”

“And THAT is why you’re my favorite. Although don’t tell your brothers and sisters; that’ll cause too much drama.”

“Your secret is safe with me. OUR secret.” He slings an arm around her shoulder and presses a kiss to her cheek. “What’cha doing?”

“Lists. One of many. Things we need in the house and things we need to do.” She eyes him from head to toe, mug against her lips. "Is that your dad’s hoodie? AND his pants?”

“He let me have them. I asked if he had anything old I could wear; that he wasn’t going to use anymore. This is what he gave me.”

“You do realize he’s more than a foot taller than you and about...I don’t know...a hundred pounds heavier.”

“I weigh a hundred pounds now. Dad’s like one eighty.”

“He was one eighty five when he got out of the hospital. Five years ago. He’s two ten now. Soaking wet. And you’re five feet? Since when?”

“Since yesterday. I had Tanner measure me.”

“You have a lot of damn nerve, kid. Being only half an inch shorter than me. At TEN.”

“I share DNA with a giant. Dad’s six three. I’ve got more of his genes than yours.”

“Yes, I know. I see more and more of those genes every day. You’re looking more like him all the time. And don’t get me wrong, that’s a good thing. A VERY good thing. But five feet? Already? What the hell?”

“I can’t help it. Blame genetics.”

“You’re going to be massive. You’re probably going to be taller than your dad. And if you keep lifting weights like you do and you start going heavier as you get older, you’ll be huge by sixteen. A good huge. It’s depressing. You’re depressing me.”

“Sorry, mummy.” He kisses her cheek once more, then joking places his forearm on the top of her head. “You’re going to make a good arm rest. Thanks for being absurdly short.”

“Don’t be a smart ass. I brought you into this world, I can take you out.”

“Dad says the tiniest ones are always the most feisty. I think that’s why he fell in love with you; you’re little but you don’t take any shit. Even from him.”

“He likes a challenge, that’s for sure.”

Sipping her tea, she watches him as he heads for the fridge; rummaging through it before coming up with a container of some of the baked goods Tanner had already blessed the family with, and a bottle of Gatorade. He even walks like his father; those gigantic feet and that long, slightly bow legged gait. TJ is more awkward; stuck at the stage between still being a child, yet quickly nearing his teenage years. And he’s become far more mature since hitting double digits; still possessing that extremely active and almost hyper personality, but prone to more serious and thoughtful moments. And at times he looks years older; when his eyes darken and his lips set into a thin, serious line and his brow furrows. So much of his dad exists in him. Both inside AND out. And that smile; the one that crinkles the corners of his eyes and slightly wrinkles the bridge of his nose. It’s on his face now; as he opens the lid on the container of treats and sets it -and his drink- on the counter top before fetching the pot of tea from the stove and warming up the contents of her mug.

“You certainly are my best son,” she chides. It’s only PARTLY a joke. Although at times he can be quite the handful and his ability to regulate his emotions and temper can cause issues both at home and at school, he’s a wonderful kid; loving so deeply and profoundly.

“Tanner wanted me to give you this,” he reaches into the pocket of the hoodie and pulls out a folded sheet of printer paper. “Things he needs. For his baking. He’s really good, huh? At the whole baking and cooking thing? Like, INSANELY good.”

“He’s quite the talent,” Esme agrees. “But so are YOU. You’ve got your own things you’re amazing at.”

“But not like him. He’s crazy smart and he can play the guitar and sing and all this baking and making dinner and stuff. He’s like a dude Martha Stewart! You know what he should do? Start a Youtube channel. People would LOVE him. People are suckers for a cute kid.”

“Well, you know Tanner; how nervous and anxious and shy he gets. You should bring it up to him. If anyone can talk him into something, it’s his big brother. He idolizes you.”

“I don’t know why. I’m not THAT great.”

“I don’t know. You’re pretty damn awesome in my books. And you’re a really good big brother. You should talk to him. He’d be willing to try, I bet. Maybe it’s something you could do together. He’d love that. He loves spending time with you. And I know it’s been hard; him going to a different school.”

“Yeah, it hasn’t been the best thing that’s ever happened,” TJ laments, and helps himself to one of the peanut butter and chocolate squares in the container. “It’s been four years and I STILL miss him. I loved having him in my class. And I loved hanging out with him at lunch and at recess. And sitting with him on the bus.”

“It was a hard decision to make. But it was the best decision. For him.”

“Yeah, my school isn’t exactly an intellectual wonderland. He’s better off where he is. With other brainiacs like him. But still, I do miss him.”

“I’m sure he misses you too. But you get a lot of time together. At home and stuff. And I always love Fridays; the bus dropping him off at your school and you guys coming to see me at the store. Hanging out until I close. Hands down my favorite day of the week.”

TJ smiles. “Mine too.”

“And I thought I was organized,” she comments, as she studies Tanner’s very neat and tidy list.

“He’s kinda anal, huh? About some things? I don’t mean that in a bad way. Just that he’s very…”

“Particular?”

TJ nods. “You know, I wish he’d see himself the way I see him. He’s always worried that he’s weird and that people don’t like him because of it. He always talks about how his brain isn’t like everyone else’s and that he wishes it was. You know what I wish? That more people were like Tanner. Because he’s talented and he’s unique and he sees the world so differently than everyone else. I know he struggles with some stuff, but it’s not a bad thing; him being the way he is. Sometime I think he’s better off than all of us.”

“Unfortunately, self hate seems to be a genetic trait as well. Who does that remind you of? Who else sees themselves in a bad light?”

“Yeah, dad is pretty good at that. Not liking who he is. I don’t why; I think he can be kinda awesome.”

“I think he can too. He’s just had a rough time. For a LONG time. He’s working on it. On a lot of things. But you know what’s really amazing at? Being a dad. I’m pretty lucky. I landed myself a pretty incredible guy. He’s not perfect, but he’s perfect for me. And as for Tanner, maybe you should tell him what you just told me. Because I guarantee you, if he heard that from his big brother? It would mean the world to him. He needs to hear stuff like that. Tell him, okay?” She rubs her palm in slow circles in the middle of his back. “It would make his day. Probably his whole year.”

“I will. I’ll tell him. Do you think he’ll live alone? Away from you and dad?”

“I don’t know,” Esme admits, and cupping her mug in both hands, turns around and leans back against the countertop. “Your dad and I talk about it from time to time. If Tanner will ever get to that stage. If he doesn’t…” she shrugs. “...he doesn’t. I mean, he could live in the pool house. He’d be close enough to home so if he did need help, we’d be right there.”

“What if he lived with me? If we got a place together? When we’re old enough, of course. Say when we’re nineteen. And I’ve got a good job. Like in the military or something.”

“That’s a lot to take on, Teej. A career like that and your brother. Would you want to do that?”

“Why wouldn’t I? He’s Tanner. He’s my baby brother. And not just any baby brother. We were made at the same time. We came out only a few minutes apart. I spent nine months with him; inside of you. Why wouldn’t I want to be with him?”

“A lot will change over the next nine, ten years. You might get tired of him by then.”

“I am NEVER getting tired of him. He’s my brother. I love him. And if it gives you and dad a break after taking care of him for so long, that’s good enough for me.”

“You are something else, Baby-Man. You really are. And I mean that in the best way possible.”

“I know you do. And I like that you still call me that. Even if I AM almost taller than you.”

“You know, you’ve been so cute and helpful these last few days, that I will ignore your cheap shot. You really ARE your dad. Head to toe. Inside and out. Facial expressions and everything. It’s freaky.” She turns and helps herself to one of the treats; a chocolate concoction with marshmallows and coconut inside and a coating made from crushed up Frosted Flakes. “You know, I craved these for my entire pregnancy with you and Tanner. Your dad used to make them for me. Dozens at a time. He’d even get up at three am to do it. Or to go get tacos. That’s probably why you like Mexican food so much.”

TJ’s eyes widen. “Dad used to bake? At three am?”

“At all hours of the day. He’s actually really good at it. These were my favourite. He made them for me; my first birthday after we got married. We had just had Millie and we didn’t have a lot of money to throw around but he still managed to make it special. Australian wildflowers, a picnic on the beach, and these. It was pretty awesome. One of the best birthdays I’ve ever had. Spent with my favorite human.”

“Dad really DOES have his moments.”

“Yeah, he really does.” Esme smiles, and takes a bite of the square. “You know, your grandma used to make these things.”

“Like mean, awful grandma or grandma Adeline?”

“Grandma Adeline. Your dad’s mom. She was quite the baker. Tanner must have inherited that from her. I know Declan got her red hair.”

“That must have been really hard. On dad. Her dying when he was little.”

“It was.” She sips at her tea and picks up the long discarded pen; absentmindedly doodling in the notebook as she speaks. “ It caused a lot of issues for him. It was pretty painful for him.”

“He still doesn’t like to talk about her.”

“It hurts. Even now. But he’s coming around. It’s not as hard for him anymore.”

“Is it true that grandpa used to beat on him? I heard him and Uncle Koen talking about it. A couple years ago. Dad seemed pretty upset. He normally doesn’t cry in front of anyone BUT you. He was kinda emotional.”

“It is true. Unfortunately. Your grandpa was a drunk and he was a narcissist and he hated his wife for having a child. It took the attention from him. Which I know sounds really weird and twisted. But that’s what happened. And when she was alive, he couldn’t stand her loving on your dad and spending time with him. So he took it out on her; beating her and saying mean things to her. Your dad used to have to listen. Sometimes grandpa would make your dad watch. Said it was to teach him how to ‘treat a woman’ and make them ‘learn their place.”

“I’m glad dad didn’t listen. For your sake. And his. I think you’d beat his ass if he ever did stuff like that to you.”

“I definitely would. And he knows it too. But, your dad isn’t like that. He isn’t the type to treat women like that. I know he has his issues, but THAT? He would never, ever, stoop to that level. It’s just not the kind of person he is.”

“Do you think that’s why dad DOES have the issues he does? The brain stuff? Because of how he got treated as a kid?”

“I don’t think it’s the only reason why, but it definitely added to it. You’ve been asking a lot of questions lately. About mental health stuff. What’s going on? You’re ten. You don’t need to worry about this. Your dad is fine. He’s doing great. A lot better than anyone thought he would. So why…?”

“I gave him shit,” TJ says, then gives an apologetic smile. “Sorry. I mean ‘crap’. I gave him crap.”

“You gave your dad crap about something? That’s pretty bold. What did he do that pissed you off?

“ I told him it was wrong. That he went away. To work. That he shouldn’t have gone.”

“TJ, why would you…?”

“You wouldn’t have done it. Given him crap for it. And I know you wanted to. I know you lied. When you told him you were okay with it. You didn’t tell him the truth, mum. You just told him what he wanted to hear.”

“Sometimes we do that,” Esme reluctantly admits. “When we love someone and we don’t want to ruffle feathers. Your dad’s come a long way. He used to be gone all the time. He was off doing jobs more than he was home with us. And I know you probably don’t remember all of that because you were so young; the missed birthdays and anniversaries. The time he couldn’t get home for Christmas. You were only three, but…”

“I was little but I DO remember. And you always acted like you were okay with it. But then he’d leave and you’d be a wreck. Just like you were this time.”

“I wasn’t a wreck. I was nervous and I was worried and…”

“Mum, you don’t have to lie to me. I heard you crying. When you thought all of us were asleep. I KNOW you were having a bad time. With dad being gone.”

“You know what? You’re right. I was. Normally I’m okay with it; I can handle him going away as long as he stays out of harm's way. But knowing he’d walked into it? It DID bother me. That he’d been so willing to help out Anil. Especially after what happened the last time he went and got his hands dirty.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell him that? That you didn’t want him doing it? That you didn’t want him going away?”

“It’s not that easy, TJ. Sometimes it’s not my place. I can’t actually tell him what he can’t and can’t do. In the same way he can’t do that with me. And when Anil called and said he needed the help…”

“He should have said no. Anil knows tons of people. Why did he need dad? He could have called someone else.”

“Your dad is very good at what he does. Or what he DID do. One of the best. And I know it sounds strange; to be proud of a job like that. To be so willing to put your life on the line for people you don’t even know. But when Anil called and needed his help, your dad couldn’t exactly say no.”

“Yes, he could have,” TJ insists. “He promised. That he’d never go away again. That he’d never go back out there after the bad guys. He promised ALL of us. And totally broke that.”

“Sometimes it happens. Sometimes he can’t help it. Sometimes…”

“Stop making excuses for him. When one of us screws up, you don’t let us give you excuses. So why do you let dad give them? There’s no reason he had to go. At all. He should have told Anil to get someone else.”

“You know, we are going to have to agree to disagree on this. I said it was okay. If he went. There’s nothing more to talk about. So let’s just drop this, okay? You don’t know what’s talked about; between your dad and I. We keep you guys out of it. For reasons exactly like this.”

“You lied to dad. When you told him you were okay with it. You weren’t. You were far from okay. And I told him that. That you had a really hard time. That you didn’t deserve to go through that. It’s not fair, mummy. That he goes and does stuff like that. I don’t care that Anil needed. WE need him. Us kids. He’s our dad. What happens if he gets killed? Then we have no dad.”

“That’s not going to happen. He’s not going to get killed.”

“He will if he keeps doing stupid shit like this. You should just be honest with him. Tell him how you really feel about him going away. ‘Cause if he thinks it’s okay, he’s going to keep doing it more and more. And then something really bad is going to happen. Worse than last time. And I don’t want that. I don’t want him going away and…” TJ’s voice cracks with emotion. “...I don’t want him going away and never coming home.”

“Tyler...hey…” she lays a hand on the side of his face “...it’s okay...just take a breath and…”

“It’s not okay. It’s never been okay. It’s never going to be okay. And if he goes away and something happens to him, I’ll hate him forever. If something bad happens to him and he never comes back, I’ll never forgive him. For doing that to us. For doing that to you.”

“Okay, I know you’re upset. And I love you so much for wanting to protect me. But right now, you just need to calm down and take it easy, alright? I know you’re going through a lot. I know puberty is starting to come and kick your ass and it’s making everything seem so much worse and…”

“Just tell him,” TJ implores, and noisily sniffles before wiping his eyes on the sleeve of his hoodie. “Just tell him you don’t want him to go. Tell him, mummy. So he doesn’t think it’s okay to leave again. Because he’ll go and something horrible will happen. And then we don’t have a dad. And we’ll barely have a mum. ‘Cause it’ll kill you. If something goes wrong and he doesn’t come back.”

“You need to to just breathe, Baby-Man,” she steps in front of him and takes his face in her hands. “ Just breathe. Everything is alright. Daddy’s home and he’s safe and he’s not going anywhere. It was just this one time. He won’t have to do that again.”

“You need to tell him. That you don’t want him going. Please, mummy. Please tell him.”

“Okay,” she promises, and draws him into a hug. Heart aching at the realization that her arms can no longer completely wrap around him; shoulders and back both broad and strong. “Everything’s alright, TJ.” She lays a hand on the back of his head and draws it down to her shoulder, the other rubbing his back comfortingly. “I’ll talk to him. I’ll tell him how I feel; about him going away. About how ALL of us feel. Alright?”

He nods.

“Why don’t you go and get some fresh air,” she suggests. “It will make you feel better.”

“You promise you’ll talk to him?”

“I promise.” She presses a kiss to his cheek, then holds him out at arms length. “Maybe afterwards we can take the littles for a walk? You know how much Takota loves when you pull him in the sled. It’ll be good; to go and get a bit of exercise. Sound like a plan?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“You are getting so big. How do you grow up so fast? I remember finding out about you and your brother. I remember when you were born. All seven pounds of you. Now look. In a month's time, you WILL be taller than me. You’re already wearing mens size nine shoes. You’re TEN.”

“That’s what happens when your dad’s a giant, I guess.”

“You used to always call him that when you were little. You’d tell everyone that your dad was a giant. He probably seemed that way, huh? Probably seemed ten feet tall and bulletproof.”

“He still does. Well, maybe not the bullet proof part. We know THAT’S not true.”

“I know it bothers you. What happened back then. I know it’s not an easy thing to get over. That you came so close to losing him. And I’m sorry. That you had to go through all of that. I really am. If there was any way to go back and time and change it, I would. In a heartbeat. You know that, right?”

“I do, mummy.”

“Your dad loves you so much, TJ. You have no idea HOW much. When you were born and the doctor gave you to him? I’ve never seen him THAT emotional. Not even with Millie and she was his very first. After Austin. And he cried like a baby when he got to hold her. But you? I can’t even begin to describe what that was like for him. A son. After losing his first one. He was so happy and so in love with you. And that’s never changed. It never will.”

“I just don’t want to lose him. I don't know why he even takes the chance. Why does he go knowing that he might not come back? Doesn’t he love us enough to stay home?”

“Of course he does. And I WILL talk to him. Just cut him some slack, okay? The last five years haven’t been easy on him either. And he’s done so well. Better than anyone thought he would. But it’s a process; dealing with everything in his past and letting it go. So just give him a chance, alright? Can you do that? For me?”

“For you, yeah.”

“You’re such a good boy. I love you so much. More than I could ever tell you. And you ARE so much like your dad. And that’s a good thing.” She places one last kiss on his cheek and draws him into another hug. “A very good thing.”

******

The front door clicking open and a familiar Louisiana drawl calling out a greeting sets off a flurry of commotion; a mixture of both heavy and light footsteps pounding down the stairs, dogs scampering and barking, excited giggles and happy shrieks and rambling sentences in tiny voices. The kids have all become quite fond of Desmond (Desi, or Des, as Esme lovingly refers to him as) in their three years of spending time in New York City. A former University of Alabama football star, he’d found himself relocating when he’d met a very wealthy -and very much older- sports agent a decade ago; abandoning his dreams of playing profession in favour of a new existence in a new city. His husband -and admittedly the love of his life- had passed away just over a year ago. Leaving him with the elegantly and fabulously decorated brownstone in Gramercy, a small fleet of high end cars, closets full of designer apparel, and a bank account that will never run dry. He’s an enormous man; six foot seven and weighing close to three hundred pounds, most of solid muscle. Intimidating at first blush, but a complete teddy bear; compassionate and empathetic and possessing a heart even bigger than his body. And he’s hilarious and flamboyant; zero filter, exceptional taste in clothes, a love for expensive cosmetics and considerable talent in applying them, and a penchant for anything sparkly.

“You realize your front door was unlocked, don’t you?” Desi inquires as he journeys into the kitchen; monstrous hands curled around a giggling Takota’s ankles as he dangles him upside down. “Any wackadoodle could just walk in here. I know this is Gramercy Park, but it’s STILL The Big Apple. This isn’t the safe and quiet little sparrow fart town in Australia you call home. Where all you have to worry about is kangaroos and koalas and spiders the size of dinner plates.”

“I’ll have you know that koalas can be very sketchy; we have one in the tree in the front yard that hisses and spits and throws shit at you.”

“Jack!” Takota reminds her in between hiccups. “His name is Jack!”

“Well Jack is an asshole and he needs to relocate,” she says, and pats him on the bum and squeezes the cheeks; fingers moving to his sides and tickling him until both the giggles and the hiccups increase. “And it’s the dingos you have to worry about. They’re mean.”

“Dingos eat bad girls and boys,” Takota says, smoothing down his hair and his shirt when he’s put on his feet. “That’s what daddy said.”

“If that was true, we’d only have two or three kids instead of seven. Go and play. So I can talk to Desi.”

“Talk to him about what?”

“Top secret adult only stuff. Here," She snags one of the sugary goodies from the container on the island and hands it to him. “We’re going to go out soon. For a little walk. Get some fresh air. Make sure you pee BEFORE we leave. I don’t want to get you all bundled up and then have you tell me you gotta go. Hear me?”

“I can’t make any promises mumma,” Takota says, and then pops the treats into his mouth and rushes off.

“That kid is way too cute for his own good,” Desi declares. “Gonna be a heartbreaker, you know. Like his mom.”

“For the record, I’ve never broken any hearts. Well, except for the time in grade two when I didn’t want to be Freddie George’s Valentine. He just wasn’t my type; he smelled like tapioca and desperation.”

“You had a first husband, did you not? Must have broken his heart. Or you wouldn’t be on your second husband.”

“My first husband broke my jaw, my nose, more than one rib, and put me in the ICU. He’s lucky it’s only his heart that got ripped out. And what’s up with that hat?” She gestures towards the fedora atop her friend’s head. “You look like a pimp.”

“If I was a pimp, you, my little ho…” he plucks the hat from his head and places it upon hers. “...would be better dressed.”

“What is wrong with how I’m dressed? I dress like this all the time.”

“And you’re still married? Is he blind or did he hit his head too hard one too many times or…?”

“I’ll have you know, my husband doesn’t care about the packaging. Just what’s underneath. Case in point, I once bought this really nice and quite expensive baby doll nightie; totally vintage and gorgeous and this shimmering black and pink. I don’t think he even noticed. It took him like five seconds to get it off me. IF that. He does not give a shit about the wrapping paper. Just the gift that’s underneath.”

“And you, my cute, teeny little munchkin, are the gift that keeps on giving. And you must give VERY well. Seven kids and all. But baggy sweat pants and a huge tee and a way too big Quicksilver hoodie? Oh honey, no. Just no. No, no, nooo.”

“If it makes you feel any better, these sweats are Fendi.”

“That does NOT change the fact they are joggers and you should NOT be wearing joggers on the streets of New York City. You lived here before; has your little, beautiful brain forgotten what it’s like to dress here? We need to get you some retail therapy with old Desi. He’ll hook you up. A little refinement, a little sophistication, a little bling. I got you, girl.”

“Your idea of a little bling is a ten thousand dollar belt you tried to talk me into buying last year. Where would I wear a ten thousand dollar belt?”

“I don’t care if you use it in the bedroom. If your husband resorts to employing it to trap you to the headboard or if he uses it to tie your hands behind your back. That belt was spectacular and you deserve spectacular. We WILL do this; a shopping trip. Chanel, Gucci, maybe some Ralph Lauren if we feel like slumming.”

“Where am I going to wear that type of stuff? I can’t wear Gucci while I’m cleaning out the goat pen or Chanel when I’m gutting a chicken coup. And I certainly can’t wear it out shopping.”

“Not to your favourite haunt no. Definitely out of place in Target.”

“There is nothing wrong with shopping at Target.”

“There is so much wrong with it. I’ll be here all day if we start.”

“Besides, we don’t have high falutin places like Gucci where I live, remember? You’ve been there.”

“Charming little place. Reminds me of some of the towns down south I used to hit up. But girl, you fill that closet of yours with the finest of apparel. Stick with me, I’ll treat you right. And speaking of being treated right, I got the appointment for you; Christmas Eve Eve, two o’clock Sally Hershberger.”

“You are a knight in shiny, blingy armor. You really DO have strings to pull.”

“I may have had to promise some good times...sexy good times...to the receptionist. But, that’s a small price to pay for you. I’m willing to take one for the team. Or should I say, give one for the team.”

“And as much as it's a dream of mine to go to Sally, and seeing how my hair really DOES need some TLC…”

“Oh no. No. Hell no. There’s a but coming. And Desmond Brownell does not like buts. Unless it’s Idris Elba’s. And your husband’s.”

“I don’t know if I can go through with it. Not the appointment; I can go through with THAT. But cutting my hair? As short as the picture I showed you?”

“Girl, are you crazy. You’d be a knockout with a cute little side swept bob. What drugs are you on? Not that you’re ugly or anything the way you are now. I wouldn’t kick you out of bed for eating crackers or anything like that. But your hair...your whole mom thing with the constant ponytails or messy buns...it needs help. It’s screaming for help. Let me help it. Let me help YOU.”

“Just cutting it? THAT short. That’s not going to go over well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tyler is kind of old fashioned.”

“Old fashioned? You two spent five days banging right after you met. You got knocked up out of wedlock. He proposed in the bathroom. Nothing old fashioned about any of that.”

“When it comes to certain things, he’s very...particular. Especially when it comes to my hair. He likes it long. LOVES it long. I cut it up to my shoulders once and he bitched about it for TWO years. And let’s not get into when I got bangs or when I dyed it blonde.”

“I can’t say I blame him for the bangs thing. You’re way too cute and those big brown eyes do not deserve the attention taken away by fringe. But the bob...girl...that’s fierce. You’d rock it.”

“Maybe just some highlights. Some red ones. He did really like when I colored my hair red. I can get those, a trim, a blow out.”

“You can go to Cheapy Haircuts for Us for that nonsense. This is Sally Hershberger. You are not going to her and getting just a blowout or a trim or highlights. You are going big, or going home. The husband will deal. He’d love you with no hair. It’s no secret he thinks the sun shines out of your ass. Which, I have to admit, looks fabulous in Fendi sweats.”

“Why do you think he bought them? He knows what he’s doing. He bought them for the same reason he buys me yoga pants. And I don’t even do yoga.”

“He’s an ass man. I can appreciate that. And speaking of appreciate. Desmond Brownell would like to do some appreciating right about now. Is he home? The better half? Is he in there working out?” He casts a glance towards the home gym that sits off the kitchen. “More importantly, is he in there working out shirtless? ‘Cause if he is, I’ll gladly take him a glass of water so that fine ass specimen doesn’t get parched or dehydrated. I’ll even rub down those sore, beautiful muscles. I’ve got some very top shelf massage oil at home. Smells like pecan and coconut. Unless he’s more a citrusy type. If so, I can run to the store right quick.”

“First off, you’d traumatize him. He’s as straight as they come. I know that breaks your heart to hear it, but…”

“How does he know he’s straight if he’s never ventured out of straight-hood? Unless he has and didn’t like it….”

“He hasn’t tried it. He likes women. LOVES them actually. Maybe a little too much when he was younger. He is NOT bi. Sorry.”

“But I am. So are you. And you’re damn cute and he’d probably give it a try if you talked him into a threesome.”

“Yeah, right,” Esme laughs. “That would never happen.”

“Do right by your best friend. Or are you worried he’d leave you for me? What’s the old saying? Once you go black you never…”

“My husband is straight. Very straight. And no. He’s not working out. He’s not even home. He’s out with Tanner.”

“The breakfast date, that’s right. Little T couldn’t stop talking about that. Loves his daddy, that’s for sure. You know, that kid is damn talented. Those goodies brought over and that soup? Damnnn. Move over Emeril. Little T gonna set the world on fire.”

“He’s something else that kid. He’s...incredible. There aren’t even words that can properly describe him. But, he IS having issues.”

“Uh oh. I don’t like the sounds of that.”

“He’s bored. At school. And we specifically sent him there to challenge him. It’s been great. He’s been thriving and his grades are amazing and the teachers and the kids love him. But he’s so advanced and so smart that they’re going to run out of ways to teach him. Which means we’re going to run out of options for him. Which also means, I’m going to become a heavy drinker and eat my weight in these!” She nods down at the container of sweets in front of her and pops one into her mouth. “What are we going to do? There’s only so many options where we are.”

“Homeschool? You’ve got a degree. You’re smart. You can do it.”

“No, I can’t. I’ve got a business. Two businesses, actually. And six other kids. Besides, he is way smarter than I was at that age. He’s probably smarter than I am. What am I going to do? For him?”

“You know where there ARE a lot of options…”

“We are NOT moving here. Tyler would never survive. This place? New York City? It’s not him. And I have to think about that too. What’s also best for him. We’re happy where we are. Insanely happy. Moving here is not an option. No matter how much I miss you.”

“Guess you’ve got a lot of thinking and research to do. It’ll work out. Always does.”

“Have I mentioned how much I love your optimism? And how much I’ve missed you? Or how much I love you?"

“You can mention it as many times as you like. My ego likes that shit.” He takes her face in his hands and drops a kiss on the top of her head. “We still on for dinner tonight? I’m still bringing Italian? And the wine?”

“We’re still on. Tanner is going to make the salad and the garlic bread.”

“We gon’ be eating like damn kings.”

“Are we still on for the other thing? You know; the thing we talked about? When Tyler and I take the kids to pick out a tree?”

“I got you, don’t you worry. I will let myself in and grab the stuff from the attic and sneak out. I also got the email; that ‘thing’ for Addie arrived. You know what I’m talking about?”

“The doll? I didn’t think it would arrive in time. How does it look?”

“Exactly like her. Now, you want to get a head start on the wrapping? You know I love me some gift wrapping.”

“You can do whatever your little heart desires.”

A slow grin spreads across his face. “That is what I like to hear. Now, I’m going to the gym. There’s a Latino hottie there I’ve been trying to talk up for weeks. You behave. Stay out of the wine. At least until later.”

“You gonna wear your ‘Bama t-shirt? The one that’s two sizes too small and shows off your muscles?”

“Sweetie pie, you don’ read my mind. But have you been checking out my muscles?”

“I have a ‘thing’ for muscles. And yours are very nice. Besides, I’m married. Not dead. Tyler’s going to be upset. That he’s not the only one you’re crushing on.”

“You just put his little mind at ease. Tell him he gives me the biggest woodie out of them all.”

“That’ll stroke his ego for sure. See you later? Six o’clock?”

“I’ll be here. With bells and bling on.” He presses a kiss to each of her cheeks and pulls her into a hug; tightly squeezing. “You’re just so wee and cute. I could just scoop you up and put you in my pocket. See you later, gator.” He removes the hat from her head, affectionately tousles her hair before heading out of the kitchen. “And do me a favour? Put proper clothes on for dinner. I can’t be dining with someone in sweats. Desmond Brownell has standards to uphold.”

“Desmond Brownwell needs to remember the cherry cheesecake for dessert.”

“Oh bless your heart. Thinking I need to be reminded. See ya, pip squeak.”

“You and you tall people. So cruel to us little folk.”

“Little folk?” He smirks. “You’re like one of those things in Lord of the Rings. A damn hobbit. Matter of fact, I’mma call you Frodo from now on.”

“You do that, I’ll sneak into your house and kill you in your sleep.”

Desmond laughs. “I’d like to see you try, short stuff. Later.”

“Later,” she calls, shaking her head and laughing when he hollers “Spawns of Satan; I be leaving now!” before stepping out the front door.

[weaselle]

Hey, do you think you could do an 'Old World' post, like the one you contributed to before? The one with the huge trees and ground sloths and musk oxen being goats. I ADORE that post, and I'm hoping to see more eventually. Please don't feel like you have to, I would just enjoy it :) hope you have a good one!

do you have any idea how much I appreciate being asked to talk about something I’m interested in!? Thank you, I’d love to

Imagine this: It’s 100 thousand years ago. There are dwarves, trolls, goblins, imps, giants, a couple kinds of elves, the First People (those that came before us all) something that might later be called seraphim, and many strange monsters. 

I’ma talk about monsters in a minute. Let’s talk about those other things, the like, fantasy races. Now, I don’t have time for every one of these, so I’m going to cover one I have the most information on. Dwarves

A sister species of humanity that is short, broad, bearded, some with red hair, lives in caves in the hills and mountains, are superb crafters, making instruments, wearing intricate leather outfits and known for creating large expertly made axes and hammers. Dwarves, right?

Or did I just describe Neanderthal

See, the earliest stories of dwarves from Scandinavia are confusing, because sometimes they talk about them being small or short, but sometimes talk about them being enormous. And that’s actually perfectly explained by Neanderthal

Check it out. Neanderthal, while noticeably shorter on average, were BUILT big. Look, it’s not just the cranial capacity, the eye sockets are larger, the nasal cavity is larger, the mandible is thicker, the teeth are larger, the bone around the ear and eye is  thicker. Looking at these skulls you would assume the person on the left was far bigger than the person on the right, and you would be correct, in every way except height.

So when the earliest stories of dwarves sometimes talk about them being short, and sometimes being massive, this situation matches. Neanderthal were THIC. But they averaged about five foot four at a time when humans in the north were passing 5 foot nine

That’s only averages tho, so sometimes it would be like a 5.1 Neanderthal and a 6.1 Sapiens, but sometimes it would be like, a 5.6 inch Neanderthal and a 5.3 inch Sapiens. Which makes the early myths make even more sense:

me, a 5.5 neolithic farmer, whose community of farmers trend toward the short side, having met my first Neanderthal, a 5.8 man built like a bear twice my weight and three inches taller than me “the Dwarves are massive! giant! huge!”

you, a tall hunter from a community of hunters who tend taller than average, who runs into Neanderthal several times a year and knows they are usually nearly a foot shorter than you are “you mean the little people?”

I’m pretty sure that humans were actually the elves that came in both dark and light varieties in these Scandinavian myths, but that’s a whole topic involving the way that invaders often adopt stories of the people they invade. But there are other species, not just Neanderthal and Sapiens and Denisovans, there was also at LEAST one other sister species we’ve found genetic proof of within our own genome. And who knows what relatives of ours were living only on the exposed continental shelves of the last 100 thousand year ice age? So there are a lot of options for elf.

ANYWAY

I like to think of all these sister species of humanity as being these fantasy races. I know I mentioned goblins and imps, and all I have to say is if you’ve ever seen videos of people dealing with baboons or macaques in some town somewhere, you can appreciate what a population of humans who were much closer to wild themselves might think of similar species.

NOW. Monsters.

Not only are there many strange animals to pick from, but I use a fun thought process to include almost anything I want.

See, when you say a creature lived from X time to Y time, it’s because we have some bones from X year, and we have some bones from the same creature dated to Y year. That’s great for describing what we know for sure.

But for what MIGHT have been, for what’s possible, you can extend the range

It’s pretty safe to assume we didn’t get a fossil of literally the last of them to live. So if I want to think about how a mythical creature sounds just like a real creature, but that real creature was from a time half a million years previous to the culture, well, that could still be a match.

Consider the Siberian Unicorn also known as Elasmotherium sibericum a species of rhino. We thought they went extinct 200 thousand years ago, which would have made them unavailable for the time period we’re talking about. But then we found some bones from between 30 and 40 thousand years ago, which means they might have out survived the Neanderthal!

Now consider the Coelacanth a 4-6 foot fish we were sure went extinct with the dinosaurs. Turns out we were wrong by about 75 million years, because they’re still alive today

So clearly, as long as there is somewhere preserving approximate environmental conditions, any number of things could have far different periods of existence.

Like, we know of Denisovans, a whole sister species of humanity, from a handful of bone fragments. This is the biggest piece of Denisovan bone we’ve ever found

That’s part of a jaw. And along with a handful of small bone shards, some teeth, and the tip of one pinky finger, it’s the only physical evidence we have for the whole species. Except that we managed to get a whole genome from the miraculously well preserved pinkie tip. This branch of humanity split from us at roughly the same time as Neanderthal, and modern Tibetans owe their genetic adaptation for higher elevations to human interbreeding with the Denisovan people. They existed for about half a million years, and the only hard evidence we have is a handful of bone pieces. From like two locations.

So if something interesting could be explained by a population of Neanderthal or Homo Erectus living outside the age range of the bones we have, that is entirely possible. Depending on how far outside, it even becomes LIKELY, because, again, we’re never going to get the LAST one that lived as a fossil, fossilization is so rare.

WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT THE OLD WORLD REALLY WAS A WORLD OF GIANTS AND ELVES AND DWARVES AND MONSTERS AND MAGIC

wait, did I say magic? Yep. Consider this: there is a magic valley in Africa that kills anything that goes into it at night. lizards, birds, people, they just... die. But not every time - a person can walk through it during the day and be fine, or sometimes at night too. Turns out there’s a large pocket of carbon monoxide underneath that leaks out constantly. In the day, the heavier than air gas creates a layer along the ground and collects in dips and hollows, but in the cooler temperatures of night drifts up six feet or more. So you might walk into the valley and be fine, but it gets a little cooler, or you walk down hill for a bit, and boom, carbon monoxide poisoning. It can take only a couple minutes to kill you.

Viola, one Cursed Valley.

Or! Imagine you are a human from 40 thousand years ago. You find a grave, you dig it up, somebody was buried with something like a wooden axe or sword (these things exist, it’s all about the density of the wood, the wedge shape, and the weight -- a heavy wooden sword can definitely decapitate a person, and we’re taking about a time when metal was rare or non existent). But THIS wooden weapon, while clearly wood, also sparkles like a gem in the light, is hard as stone, doesn’t burn if put in the fire... THAT’S a MAGIC WEAPON.

It’s also petrified wood.

This is the world I’ve been researching for my book Stone Punk, which I’ve only managed to write one chapter of so far

I would be so happy to write so many more posts about this, I’ve been researching the first domestication of wolves, cave art, neanderthal diets, ancient Indian, Russian, and Chinese myths... all kinds of things, but this post is long enough -- hope it was close to what you were looking for Anon!

[hatsukeii]

I’m bored and tired so instead of going to sleep I am going to write headcanons because my brain has no juice left to think of new original never done before scenarios atm smh I need coffee

But Karasuno first years in Attack on Titan universe specifically Survey Corps let’s go

☀️Hinata Shouyou☀️

- Did absolute shit in training.

- Couldn’t use the ODM gear until like five hours after scheduled training.

- Shadis hated him just saying.

- Like he just thought HInata was dumb and reckless.

- BUT he didn eventually master the ODM gear.

- His size and agility really helped him out.

- He’s kinda like a downgrade of Levi when it came to ODM gear.

- Like he’s really quick on his feet and knows how to use it properly but cmon no one can beat Levi.

- Couldn’t use the two swords for shit.

- Like he just couldn’t.

- His little arms didn’t have enough power in them to even cut through an inch of the wood from training.

- So he trained at night when everyone else was sleeping and eventually got better.

- But he doesn’t know how to make tactics.

- He’s a dumb one okay?

- Like he constantly gets the formations wrong and has to improvise with the other soldiers all while running from titans.

- Overly enthusiastic in battle like he sounds like he’s on both steroids and crack.

- Then gets hurt.

- And is scared shitless.

- A lil bit of a coward on the battlefield ngl.

- I mean at least he’s not dead ig.

🥛Kageyama Tobio🥛

- Thinks he’s soooo much better than Hinata in training.

- He’s not.

- The only thing he does better is using the swords.

- Mans got some mad power in his arms fr.

- And maybe he was a liiiil bit quicker with learning the ODM gear.

- His manoeuvring skills are way inferior to Hinata’s though mainly bc he’s so much taller and heavier in general.

- Cuts v deep and accurate when slicing napes of titans.

- It’s almost scary how he never cuts the wrong part of the nape and manages to cut deep and long enough to kill it every single time.

- Shadis was okay with him.

- Like he stood out as an all-rounder but he wasn’t the best at anything.

- Makes fun of Hinata during training.

- But then gets absolutely smoked in hand to hand combat.

- It’s ironic how bad he is at that.

- Hinata managed to throw him.

- HINATA.

- Anyways, he’s usually way more calm and composed in battle.

- He’s smarter than Hinata so he knows how to stick to a plan and modify it to their needs.

- He’s okay with tactics.

- Plays safe on the battlefield.

- But when he sees a clear chance he’s cutting down those titan mfs to kingdom come.

🌙Tsukishima Kei🌙

- Doesn’t do very well in training.

- His height makes it hard to do anything physical tbh.

- No one can even reach his face.

- He’s okay with the swords, but took a while longer to figure out the ODM gear.

- BUT he’s a master tactician.

- Like holy shit he’s so good.

- He’s the type of person to predict every single possible outcome and think of solutions.

- Those solutions save so many lives in battle wow-

- Shadis HATED HIM WITH A BURNING PASSION.

- Like how dare this lil bitch talk back to me-

- He’s probably tried headbutting him but he’s too tall.

- So he just punches his gut.

- Tsukishima ain’t afraid of no bald ass boomer bitch.

- In battle he’s usually riding alongside Erwin I think.

- Constantly discussing what to do next and looking out for smoke signals.

- Him and Hange and besties lolol.

- They’re always on some weird titan anatomy science shit that no one can understand.

- Made fun of everyone during training despite having a hard time with it too.

- Surprisingly good at hand to hand combat.

- Hard to take down bc height.

- Was gonna go to the Military Police Brigade but chose the Survey Corps over them because he wanted to protect Yamaguchi.

- Works alongside Armin too but tbh Tsukishima’s better than Armin fight me.

- Calm during battle but doesn’t like to get hands dirty.

🍃Yamaguchi Tadashi🍃

- The most average out of the bunch.

- Shadis liked him, surprisingly.

- He was a good kid during training, listened to his orders, never messed around, good kid.

- Definitely felt inferior to Tsukishima.

- Think of him as the Marco to his Jean.

- Except Yamaguchi’s Marco and Tsukishima’s Jean.

- No he’s not dead don’t take that the wrong way.

- He’s really just your average soldier man I don’t got muchto say about him.

- Doubts himself way too much like baby don’t worry you’re doing great.

- Tsukishima came to like him as a comrade and as a good friend.

- They’re also secretly gay for each other but won’t admit it.

- Improved A LOT by training in his own time.

- Does good in hand to hand combat.

- The only one that managed to take Tsukishima down.

- Needs to work on coordination though.

- He’s usually just tagging along with Tsukishima because he’s come to be a tiiiny bit dependant on him.

- Ah he’s such a bean why did he choose such a hard life oh god-

- Very, very queasy in battle.

- Always has the worst case scenarios in his mind.

- Constantly thinks he’s gonna die soon.

- But then cuts down titans like no tomorrow mainly out of fear.

- Tsukishima has to comfort him sometimes.

- Everyone in the Corps ships it but they still won’t Marvin Gaye and get it on.

Hope you enjoy reading this crackpot of hcs I wrote at 2am I’m going to sleep now bye:)

[lightspeedrobin]

Dormouse - Sakuma Ritsu X Reader

A/N: Finally back again with a fic on the 1st year anniv of this blog (not that this has been active most of the year lol).

Have some Ritsu fluff and a bit of Sakuma bros bonding!

P.S. This happens after the Scout Story: Tea Party, but you can read this one without reading the scout story.

Title: Dormouse

Characters: Sakuma Ritsu, Sakuma Rei, Reader

Pairing: Sakuma Ritsu/Reader

Genre: Fluff

Word Count: 2512 words

-

“Maa-kun’s busy again today…” You hear Ritsu complain as you two enter town on your way home. With Mao busy with his unit practice and squeezing in the Student Council work that came up today, you two are left to walk home by yourselves.

You cross your arms over your chest and turn to Ritsu, who’s walking listlessly with a faraway look. “Well, we can’t help it if he’s still practicing with Trickstar. I hear they’re getting more jobs lately too since they’re becoming more popular now.”

He lets out a long sigh. “I drank a lot of tea today too during club so I’m beat. I wish Maa-kun would give me a piggyback-ride...”

“Oh, you had club activities today too, huh? No wonder Mao texted me to come pick you up. I had some stuff to do after class too.” You reply, remembering the sudden message you received from Mao at lunch. Sorry, I might stay longer in school today. You and Ritsu should go on ahead without me, it says. 

“Yeah, we got caught up in playing those characters from Alice in Wonderland that I didn’t notice how much tea I had.”

“Oh, which character did you play as?”

“The Cheshire Cat.”

You place a hand under your chin and try to imagine it. Oh, that actually suits him, you think. “Well you do seem like a cat sometimes. Wanting to be spoiled, napping in unusual places and all. Plus you can get a little mischievous sometimes...”

“But if we’re talking about napping, wouldn’t the Dormouse be a better character? I just need to lie down and do nothing else. Easy, easy...” He says, bobbing his head up and down as if to satisfy himself of his own reasoning.

“I guess”, you reply. The two of you make your way through town, occasionally engaging in some small talk. Ritsu talks about his clubmates and unitmates and you talk about a big play your class is preparing for. 

On the way, you see Ritsu yawn for the nth time since you two started walking home and you begin to wonder if he’s been sleeping his usual amount lately. Knights must be slumped with idol work recently, as expected from one of the top idol groups in the school. 

Ritsu has been silent for a while now and you wonder if he’s starting to get sleepy. Just when you are about to ask him, he collapses on your back and his hands fall on your shoulders, half of his weight shifting towards you. He gives a satisfied hum. “Ritsu, come on. You know I can’t carry you all the way home like this.” 

“Nnn...” He only groans in response and nuzzles his head on your shoulder. You put a foot forward to accommodate the sudden weight and to prevent the both of you from tumbling down the sidewalk.

“Is this how Mao carries you home everyday? You’re too heavy, Ritsu!”

“How rude. I’m not even eating too much.”

“Well, you’re taller than me so that’s more body mass!”

“...Nnnn...”

“Ritsuuuu….”

With all the strength you can muster, you manage to drag Ritsu to a nearby bench. He curls up as soon as you lay him down. “Okay now you’re acting like a cat who just found a nice napping spot.”

“...I told you… I’m a mouse… a dormouse...” He mumbles, sleep clearly taking over from his tone. He must’ve been tired from his club activity if he’s being extra sluggish on the way home. But then again, the sun’s already way down the horizon that you assume he should be getting more active by now. Either way, without Mao, you two aren’t going anywhere. 

You turn to him. “Ritsu do you need to rest a little? I really can’t carry you the whole way.”

“Mmhh...” He mumbles something you can’t make out as you sit down on the other end of the bench. The next second, he wiggles over your lap to use as his pillow. “You’re so warm… I think I might stay here foreeeveeeeeer...” 

Seeing a content smile on his face as he once again drifts off to sleep, you lean back on the bench and look up at the sky. As expected from being in the city, there are fewer stars visible and he only bright object you can see is the moon as it begins to rise.

Ritsu shifts a little on your lap and makes a little noise. You can feel his steady breathing, the sight of him sleeping peacefully almost lulls you to sleep but you quickly turn your attention elsewhere so as to not nod off too. 

You don’t know how much time has passed since then when you feel your phone vibrating from your pocket. You quickly fish it out, careful not to move too much to wake Ritsu.

A message from your mom. Saying that she’ll be a little late for dinner. Wait. Dinner?

“Oh no!” You nearly jump in your seat but the sudden cry wakes the sleeping idol on your lap. Ritsu starts to groan. “...You’re too loud… Don’t shout...”

“We need to get home! Now!” you exclaim, hastily tapping his shoulder. 

“Whaaaat? Let me rest a bit more… It’s not like I need to be home early today. ” 

“But I need to be home right away. I need to make dinner!” you spell out. You still need to take out the meat you planned to use from the freezer to defrost it, and the other ingredients would also take time to prepare. You were excited to try out a new recipe today, too.

“You know, it’s not bad to have takeout every once in a while.” Ritsu comments, not moving an inch on your lap. 

“Yes, and we already had that the other day. Now would you please sit up so I can get my stuff?” 

Ritsu doesn’t move. “...Five more minutes.”

“Ritsu...” you call one more time.

“...”

After giving up trying to wake him, you consider carrying him again so you two can get moving, but carrying a sleeping Ritsu would feel much heavier than a half-awake one from a while ago. And you’re already struggling to stand up the first time.

“That’s it. I’m calling him.” Pulling out your phone from your blazer jacket, you easily find the number you’re looking for and tap on the dial button.

Shifting from your lap, you feel Ritsu’s head perk up. “Him. You mean Maa-kun?” You didn’t get to reply though, as you hear the voice from the other line picking up.

“O-Oh, um… sorry for suddenly calling. I was wondering if you’re around the park by the convenience store… Yes, the one on the way home.” Ritsu sits up and leans closer to try and listen. He doesn’t hear much though except for your voice humming in response to whoever’s on the phone. 

“I have Ritsu here with me but he’s too tired to walk and I can’t carry him all the way back and— Oh you’re coming over? That’s a great help, thanks!” Ritsu strains to filter out the noise so he can hear his beloved Maa-kun even for just a few seconds. 

However, to his absolute horror, he hears a familiar giggle, the unmistakable deep voice sending warning signals through his entire system that finally jolted him awake. 

“Just you wait, my adorable Ritsu! Onii-chan’s on the way to get you~.” 

And the call drops.

You return your phone to your pocket as he watches you in shock. “You called my idiot brother?!”

“Well, who else am I supposed to call? Mao’s probably still practicing with Trisckstar.” You retort, expecting that reaction from him. His eyebrows knit together in displeasure.

“No one. We could’ve gone home by ourselves.”

“No, we couldn’t. You’re heavy and we still have halfway to go before we even get to our neighborhood. You didn’t even want to get up.”

“Tell that bug to go back.”

“No can do. And even if I tell him to, there’s no stopping him now from any opportunity to spend time with his cute little brother.”

“Ughhh....” He falls again onto your lap. Happy that he’s finally given up, you exhale a relieved sigh. You don’t notice, though, the sneaky hands crawling to your sides until they began tickling you. 

“As punishment, I’m gonna torture you until you send him away.”

You try to push him off you but you’re too distracted from all the tickling that you can only jolt from side to side. “Ritsu—! Stop!” You try to say in between laughs. 

“No can do.”

You attempt again to swat his hands away and throw him off your lap. You raise your knees alternately to force him to sit up and he does, and you immediately edge yourself away from him on the bench.

Ritsu slides from his seat to follow you, though. “Oh no, you’re not getting away.” He says in a clearly playful tone. 

You reach the end of the bench and almost fall off when your hands landed on nothing beside you, and you know you’re doomed to another tickling. Your reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Ritsu and he lets out a mischievous laugh. 

“Got you~.” 

But just as he got close enough for his hands to reach you again, a sing-song voice grabbed his attention.

“Oi~! Ritsu~!” Ritsu snaps his head at the distant voice approaching. He clicks his tongue in annoyance. “Oh great. He’s here.”

Recovering from the tickling session, you wipe a tear on your eye as you see Rei come into view. You stand up to greet him. “Rei-san. Good evening!”

“Good evening, little lady. Thanks for calling.” Rei flashes you a grateful smile before turning to Ritsu. “Now, is my precious little brother too tired to walk home? Come here to Onii-chan and I’ll carry you~” And, without waiting for a response, Rei easily scoops him up.

Ritsu pushes away as he’s forcefully made to lean against his brother’s chest. “Put me down, stupid brother! I didn’t ask for you to come! Let go of me!” He kicks his legs up and tries to wriggle off him.

Rei pouts at his little brother’s rejection. “Aw, but you used to love me carrying you like this home.” 

“Can you please not talk about that embarrassing past? It’s disgusting!” Ritsu spats, feeling Rei’s hold on him loosening. “How are you here already anyway?”

“Whenever my dear brother’s in need, I’ll always arrive at the speed of light.” Rei proudly says, obviously not the answer anyone is looking for. After seeing the irritated look from Ritsu and the nervous laugh from you, he finally explains. “I just finished a job with Undead in the area and we’re staying at a cafe nearby at Kaoru’s suggestion.”

“Oh, you were with your unit mates, then?” you say, beginning to feel guilty. “Sorry for calling you so suddenly when you had a prior appointment.” 

“Oh so you apologize to him but not me?” Ritsu grumbles, still holding on to the small grudge from earlier. You pretend to not hear him.

Rei adjusts his hands under Ritsu before he replies. “It’s quite alright, little lady. It’s just a detour we made before we part ways and go home.”

You hesitate but with how Rei is close to rubbing his cheek against Ritsu’s, who is still trying to push him away, you think that he was glad he got the call too. You giggle at the rare sight of these two brothers.

“Hey! Don’t just laugh at me, help me get off of this idiot.” Ritsu calls out. 

You try to hold another laughter in but it spills out when Rei starts rocking Ritsu to maybe try and get him to fall asleep. “I’m sorry, Ritsu. It’s impossible to not watch this!” 

Ritsu pouts at you in betrayal. Oh, how you wish to take out your phone and quickly snap a photo of his face.

“Now, now. Come on, Ritsu. Onii-chan will carry you home so you can sleep here in my arms~” Rei smiles wide, another rare sight. Ritsu continues to struggle in his brother’s hold, but then suddenly stops and drops his head down, his bangs covering his eyes.

Rei stops as well. Did Ritsu give up resisting? “Ritsu?” Rei hesitantly tries to meet his eyes, and then you see him flinch.

“Put. Me. Down.” Ritsu shoots Rei with a murderous glare. His tone clearly shows he’s had enough of this. “Or I’ll report you.”

Rei, taken aback by this brother’s warning, frowns but still moves to set him down. Ritsu dusts himself off and glares at Rei.

Seeing the clear rejection from his younger brother, Rei starts to sniffle, rubbing the corners of eyes in fake tears. “Oh Ritsu, you’re so mean to your dear big brother!” 

Almost immediately, Ritsu snaps back. “My only family here is Maa-kun and...” He steps closer to you and, without warning, latches onto your arm. 

You were surprised by the sudden gesture, not sure how to react. You hesitantly call his name but he’s busy sending death glares to his brother, who now wears a distinct pout.

Finally, Rei gives a defeated sigh. “Well, it seems i’ve been rejected yet again today. I’ll head back to the cafe. You two be careful on your way home.” 

You feel bad now for calling him out here. He must’ve been looking forward to spending some time with Ritsu. But Rei must’ve sensed your growing guilt and smiled at you, as if assuring you that it was no problem at all. He did get to carry Ritsu, after all, even if it was for a short time.

You smile back at him. “Thank you and sorry for the trouble! Please be careful as well!” And you give a small bow before he turns and walks back the direction he came. 

“Finally he’s gone.” Ritsu speaks, voice starting to tone down. “Now I can rest in peace.” He lets go of your arm and sits back down on the bench. He pats the spot you were sitting on earlier. “Come on.” 

But you don’t move and as he looks at you in confusion, you smugly grin at him. Calling Rei might’ve been a good move after all. “Oh good, you’re wide awake. Now you can get home by yourself, right?” You say and turn on your heel to start walking.

You hear Ritsu make a surprised noise from behind you. “What? Noooo… don’t leave me heeeeereee...” He quickly rises from his seat and reluctantly trails after you. You can’t see his face but you’re sure he’s sulking right now. Just that image of him in your head is enough to make you giggle. You slow your pace down though so he can catch up, but as soon as he does he hooks an arm around yours.

“Ritsu, if you’re thinking of having me carry you again—”

“This is fine as long as I’m walking, right?” 

You sigh. This one really is a handful, but he can be cute sometimes.

“Okay, fine.”

—

Heya! I’ve also started uploading my fics on AO3. You can follow me @lightspeedrobin​ !

[emybain]

The Start of Something New

so I was going to post this yesterday, but then I got busy and I also didn't want to post until it felt right, so Im posting now! thank you to @danna-bell-is-black for beta reading this for me! I definitely plan on writing more fics about Georgia because I LOVE her

     It was well after three in the morning, and twenty two year old Georgia Rawles was standing outside Hugh Everhart’s apartment, banging on his door. She didn’t know where else to go; definitely not back home, even though she lived with Tamaya and could probably get more help from her. No, right now, she needed her best friend, the person she had grown up with. 

    She knew it wasn’t safe for her to keep standing out on his doorstep, but she also knew that most people stayed back when she entered a room. It was a trait she prided herself on, being intimidating, even though in high school she received the reward for Most Likely to Cry Over Puppies. 

    After three minutes of consistent banging, the door finally swung open, and Georgia came face to face with a yawning Hugh Everhart, who was squinting at her. Before he could ask her why she was there at such an hour, Georgia pushed passed him into the small apartment. 

    “Please, do come in,” Hugh mumbled sarcastically, closing the door behind her. “Georgia, it’s three in the fuc-”

    “I’m pregnant,” Georgia blurted out. She crossed her arms over her chest tightly, swallowing. At Hugh’s blank stare, clearly no longer tired, she continued. “I...I-I-I’m sorry, Hugh. I didn’t know where else to go.” 

    Hugh’s gaze drifted down to her flat stomach. Georgia felt the urge to hide it, despite there being nothing there yet. “Please tell me Evander’s not the father.”

    A laugh escaped Georgia’s throat, though it sounded nervous. It was a running joke between the two of them that she liked Evander; in reality, Evander was closer to Hugh than anyone, and she was fine with keeping it that way. He was a little too full of himself for her taste. “Skies, no. I...It’s that guy I went out with a few times about a month and a half ago, remember? I saved him from that shoe factory?” 

    It took him a moment, but Hugh slowly nodded. He still looked dumbfounded as he suggested they sit down. He faced her. “Does he know?”

    Georgia curled her feet up underneath her legs. “No. I just found out myself. I was headed home when I came across a robbery in a convenience store.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t just let them rob the poor old man, so I knocked them out and tied them up outside. The man was so grateful that he let me take whatever I wanted from the store-”

    “And you took a test?” Hugh leaned back against the couch cushions. 

    She nodded. “I almost took some medicine, just because that’s always good to have around, and it’s so rare, but I was selfish. I remembered that I missed my period, and I acted for myself.” She grabbed one of his throw pillows and hugged it to her chest. “Hugh, what do I do? I can’t bring a kid into this world. Not like this.” 

    Her stomach turned over at the mention of a child. She had regretted hooking up with that guy, whose name she refused to think about, soon after. It was never a good idea to do anything in today’s world without proper protection, and now she was paying for her mistake. 

    Hugh rubbed the stubble on his chin, studying Georgia with sympathy in his eyes. “You’re not messing with me. You’re actually pregnant.”

    Georgia refrained from chucking the pillow at him. She sighed, clutching it tighter. “Yes! I’m pregnant! That’s been established, dumbass!” She jumped when another young man appeared from thin air in the tiny kitchenette, a glass of water in his hand.  

    “You’re pregnant? What the hell, Georgia?” 

    Georgia groaned and actually threw the pillow this time, but only to the spot beside her. She should’ve known he was going to be here; he and Hugh had been together for a while now. Well, it wasn’t like she cared if he knew as well; she had known him almost as long as she had known Hugh. “Hi, Simon.”

    “Is it that handsome man you saved a few weeks ago? You seemed to really like him.” Simon padded over and sat beside her. 

    She nodded, bringing her legs up to her chest to rest her chin on them. “I broke it off, though. He was scared of me, of what I can do.” 

    Hugh made an exasperated noise in the back of his throat. “Wait, you aren’t seeing him anymore?”

    “No. He didn’t like that I’m a prodigy...said it was too much pressure to date a superhero, so I dumped him before he could dump me.” She shrugged weakly. “I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important.” She was sure part of it was also because she was nearly six feet tall and was a couple inches taller than him, even if he never admitted it. Her height couldn’t be helped, though. It ran in the Rawles blood. He was starting to bore her, anyway, the more she got to know him. His personality didn’t match his looks. 

    “Well, it’s important now.” Simon shook his head. “You have to tell him.”

    Georgia froze, blinking at Simon. “What? No, I...I don’t even know where he lives! We only went out a few times. And besides,” she licked her lips, “what if he doesn’t care? Or what if this baby is also a prodigy? He’ll want nothing to do with us.” She surprised herself when she placed a hand over her belly protectively, but let it fall to her side just as quickly. “I don’t think he should know.” 

    “He’s the father, George.” Simon rolled his eyes. “You were both careless, and it’s only right that he knows.”

    “Careless?” Georgia frowned. “Easy for you to say, Mister I’m-gay-and-a-man-and-therefore-don’t-have-to-worry-about-these-things!” 

    Simon raised his hands up in defense and shot a look at Hugh when he laughed. “I still think you should tell him.” 

    “Well, he’s the least of my worries right now.” Georgia grew quiet. “How am I supposed to be a mom? I don’t have time to raise a kid, and this world is too violent for any baby.” 

    Hugh scooted closer and took her hands in his. “We’ll figure it out, okay? You’re not alone in this, Georgia.”

    Tears welled in her eyes, her wall that she had been building since she read that test falling. She thought she was going to be able to get through this calmly and with a clear mind, but the more she thought about being pregnant and motherhood, the more frightened she grew. “You know that I’ve always wanted to be a mom, but not like this, Hugh. I’m broke and unmarried and there’s crime every night down the street from my apartment.”

    She felt the cushion lift up as Simon stood and went back to the kitchenette. Hugh pulled her closer to him until her head was on his lap. A tear trickled down her cheek and landed on his knee. “What am I going to do?” 

    Hugh rubbed her back soothingly. “Well, you can have the baby or not, but there aren’t many doctors around these days, and prodigy healers are rare, so it’s more dangerous to terminate the pregnancy. You could give them up for adoption when they’re born, or you can keep them.” Georgia sniffled, not liking any of those options. “Just know that we’ll be here beside you no matter what, okay? You have five people who care about you, George. We’ll support whatever you do, and you don’t have to decide right now.” It was just like Hugh to give her rational options, even if he wasn’t always the most rational person in the world. But when she needed a pep talk, he always had the right things to say. That was one of the reasons why she became friends with him so many years ago. 

    Simon came back and held out a glass of water. Georgia sat back up and accepted it gratefully, the cool liquid feeling good on her closed throat. “I’m going to be fat.”

    “You’re going to have to rest.” Simon sat back down, narrowing his eyes at her. “At least, as the pregnancy goes on.”

    “I can still kick ass even if I’m fifty pounds heavier,” Georgia said, curling her lip up at him in mock disgust. 

    Simon smiled. “I’m not saying you can’t.”

    She took in a slow breath, wiping away the last of her tears. “Kasumi is going to be thrilled. Tamaya will be pissed. Evander...hard to say.” 

    Hugh chuckled and patted her knee lightly. “They’ll all support you, don’t worry..”

    But Georgia did worry. Even with his lighthearted tone, she still felt dread at the road she was headed down. Her...a mom. Hugh had said she didn’t have to keep the baby, but Georgia knew deep down that she was going to. Ever since she was little, she had dreamed of being a mom, having always loved kids. Her parents never gave her any siblings to play with, much to her dismay. She always figured it was because of her gift, that they didn’t want to risk having another prodigy in the house. 

    Oh, skies. Georgia could only imagine what she would do if her child was a prodigy as well. Were the children of prodigies also prodigies? Was it something in their blood that was passed down? She had no clue, and as prodigies were still held at a distance in the world, she could only hope that this baby was normal. As much as she enjoyed her gift of flight, she would never want her child to be discriminated against as she had been all her life. 

    Hugh was right, though. She had a support group, which was more than many expecting mothers in her position had. She could do it. 

    After all, she was the inimitable and powerful Lady Indomitable. 

_______

    At three months, Georgia made her decision, surprising herself and the other Renegades with how quick she made up her mind. 

    At five months, she felt her baby kick for the first time, and felt an immediate burst of love for the life growing inside of her. 

    At six months, she rescued a prodigy healer from a burning hospital and found out she was having a boy. 

    At nine months, she was still terrified of her future. 

    It wasn’t until she held her son in her arms for the first time that she finally had a name for him. Adrian. She wasn’t sure where it came from, but it felt right. For a while, she considered naming him after a family member, but this was so much better. It was something of his own, not something he had to share with a passed on relative that he would never get to know. It was so rare in today’s world to have something that belonged only to one person, anyway. 

    “I will always protect you,” twenty three year old Georgia Rawles whispered to her son, who was only a few hours old. He stared up at her, mouth open wide. He had her eyes, much to her delight. “I promise no harm will come to you, my angel.” She brought him up to her face and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead and thought of how tiny and vulnerable he was in her hold. A new fear entered her mind, but she pushed it down, not wanting to worry about it right now. She was happy, truly happy. 

    A knock sounded at the door, and Georgia looked up as the door opened. Hugh entered, smiling with a curious twinkle in his eyes. “Just wanted to check on things in here,” he murmured. 

    Georgia gestured for him to come in, and he came closer, sitting beside her on the edge of her bed. He had helped her give birth to her son in her bedroom, a feat that took almost eight hours. Not as long as some mothers, but still long enough to render Georgia exhausted. She needed a long, long nap, but she also didn’t want to miss any of her son’s new life. 

    Hugh regarded her and Adrian with a look she couldn’t decipher. Adrian was watching this new face intently with his big eyes. He stuck his tongue out at Hugh, as if he were just realizing he had a tongue, and Georgia had to giggle softly. 

    “How would you like to hold your godson?”

[alonely-dreamer]

The Valuable Sun | Chapter 6

Summary: Brooklynne Stackhouse is Sookie and Jason Stackhouse’s little sister. Like her older sibling, she is a telepath, but her powers are far more stronger and far more uncontrollable than her sister’s. After a series of murders in Bon Temps, Sookie takes it upon herself to investigate, taking her younger sister with her in a club called Fangtasia, where they meet vampire and sheriff Eric Northman.

Pairing: Eric x OC

Warnings: 18+ (language, violence, blood)

A/N: Please, note that I am French so there might be some mistakes here and there.

Words: 4860

Schedule: A new chapter will be posted every Monday. Chapter 7 to 10 are available on my Patreon for early and instant access.

Masterlist

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

Brooklynne had never left Louisiana. She thought she’d be happy to visit another state, but it seemed the silence in her head was heavier than she would have imagined. Her lonely voice wasn’t as pleasant as she’d have thought, especially since she was beating herself up for blindly trusting Eric despite her sister’s advice. Sookie hadn’t mentioned it and the two sisters had barely talked as they were getting ready to leave for Dallas.

They left in the late afternoon, the plane having been delayed for a couple of hours. Bill didn’t feel comfortable leaving Jessica alone in Bon Temps and had taken her with them. The two vampires were resting in their travel coffins while Sookie and Brooklynne enjoyed the private plane Bill had booked, with Eric’s credit-car.

‘Enjoyed’ wasn’t a word neither sisters would have used, however, since neither of them talked to the other. Brooklynne was second guessing herself. What if Sookie were right? What if Adele had had a good reason to keep her inside the house? Maybe she was too naïve to be trusted to make decisions for herself, especially if those decisions led her to another state with a psycho vampire like Eric Northman.

“You’ll get used to it,” Sookie said suddenly, and for once, Brooke had no idea what she was talking about. “Being alone in your head,” she clarified once she saw the confused look on her sister’s face.

“It’s weird. Now it requires effort to listen to other people… I don’t know what to do with my thoughts.”

“Do you still get distracted?”

“Sometimes,” she shrugged.

“Everybody gets distracted sometimes,” Sookie said with a smile. “I still can’t believe you finally managed to control it.”

“I don’t think I did… I think I blocked the voices, but I didn’t control it. I don’t.”

“It will take time. You’ll control it eventually.”

“Can you even control it?”

Sookie sighed. “Sometimes.”

When the plane landed, Sookie was half drunk. She took a bottle of whatever alcohol it was every time the flight attendant asked if she wanted one. Brooke watched as she emptied the small bottles one after the other.

Flying wasn’t as scary as the youngest Stackhouse had previously thought, but she was still relieved to be on the ground once again. She straightened her dress, a white lace skater dress her grandmother had gifted her for her birthday but had never had the occasion to wear. She had borrowed pastel pink pumps from her sister, shoes Sookie hated because of their color and the height of their heels. But Brooklynne didn’t mind standing a little taller, even though her 5’4 sister was shorter than her by 2 inches. She was still no match for the intimidating 6’4 vampire though, not even with the five-inch heels.

Sookie was looking as bright as the sun in her yellow dress and white pumps. She almost tripped as she walked down the stairs, though it could have been the alcohol’s fault more than it was the heels’, or maybe it was a combination of both. Their heels clacked on each step of the metal stairs, but their steps became silent as they reached the ground.

A bald man was waiting for them with a ‘Compton Party’ sign in his hands. The black limo contrasted with the bright white of the room but matched its driver who was also wearing an all-black suit. Brooklynne thought he looked nervous, but Sookie was too inebriated to notice.

“Yoohoo,” she said as she waved at him with a big smile, “that’s us!”

Brooklynne watched as the airport employees took Bill and Jessica’s coffins out of the plane. She wondered how they traveled before they came out to the world and all of these services were publicly available.

“You’re two hours late,” the driver told them, and that could have explained his nervousness. “You were supposed to be here before sundown.”

“We got delayed for takeoff,” Sookie explained.

“Why don’t you go in the limo? I got the A.C cranked up.”

“No, thanks, I’m fine. I’m waiting for my boyfriend to wake up,” she said with a smile as she pointed towards the two coffins behind her.

“Well, you can wait inside, there are cokes in there,” he insisted.

Sookie frowned. She now noticed the pearls of sweat sliding down his temple. She looked up at her sister who had no idea what the man was thinking and liked it that way. For once, however, her uncontrollable ability would have been very helpful.

“Get in the limo, you stupid bitch.”

Sookie gasped as the man’s thoughts resonated inside her head. He then seized her, making Brooke jump at the sudden movement.

“Let me go!” Sookie said as she tried to free herself from his hands.

“Stop it!” Brooke ordered, but for the first time in her life, it didn’t work. Confused by her failed attempt at helping her sister, she didn’t have time to see nor avoid the hand that met with her face violently. A cry of pain escaped her.

“Hey! Don’t touch her!” Sookie snarled.

She was about to kick him somewhere he really wouldn’t have liked but Bill, sensing her fear, appeared suddenly, removing the man’s hands from his girlfriend and seizing him by throat.

“Make a noise and it’ll be your last,” the vampire warned, showing his fangs to prove how serious he was.

Both Sookie and Brooke jumped as a loud noise resonated in the airport. They turned around to see the top of Bill’s coffin bounce on the floor.

“Hey! How the hell does this thing open?” Jessica asked from inside her coffin, which fell off the platform and found a place next to Bill’s.

“Are you okay?” Sookie asked her sister who had a hand on her reddened cheek.

Brooke frowned, ignoring the question. “I don’t understand why it didn’t work.”

“It’s gonna leave a nasty bruise,” Sookie said as she inspected her sister’s cheekbone.

“Do you want me to heal her?” Bill asked.

“No,” she grimaced. She probably didn’t want her sister to have odd dreams about her boyfriend, which they both understood.

“I don’t understand why it didn’t work,” Brooke repeated in a whisper and Sookie ignored her again.

Bill glamoured the man to get in the limo in silence before he helped Jessica out of her coffin. Brooklynne and Sookie sat at the opposite of the car, facing their assailant who was sitting wordlessly as Bill had ordered. Jessica joined them in the car, sitting next to the driver/kidnapper. Bill sat in front of him, ready to glamour his answers away.

“Tell me your name.”

“Leon.”

“Alright, Leon. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Brooklynne watched, still upset by the fact that her power hadn’t worked on Leon. She wondered if that wall she had built inside her head was not only blocking the voices from coming in, but also her powers from coming out. She didn’t know how to feel about it.

Bill slowly moved his eyes from Leon to his progeny, asking her if she wanted to try glamouring him. By the surprised look on her face, Brooke deduced she had never even tried it before.

“Lean in close so you can catch his gaze,” Bill told her as she positioned herself in front of Leon. “Then just let everything go. Let yourself be dead. You are empty. A vacuum. Now you can pull his mind into yours.”

It sounded very different from what Brooklynne usually did when she tried to control herself. She couldn’t let herself go or else who knew where she’d ended up. Physically or mentally. Though, now that she was empty, it seemed that she couldn’t pull anybody’s mind into hers anymore. And she didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Bill left Jessica have a little fun with Leon and came to sit beside his girlfriend. Bill always looked worried, but this time he had a good reason to be.

“This man was sent to abduct you,” he told both sisters. “Which means somebody knew you were coming.”

“Who do you think’s behind it? Vampires?” Sookie asked.

He shook his head. “Too sloppy… Maybe that church?”

“Bill, they may be crazy but they’re still a church. They’re not gonna kidnap anybody.”

The vampire chuckled. “Sookie, churches have done much, much worse throughout history.”

“Eric said he thought humans had taken Godric,” Brooke told them. “Maybe it’s the same humans that tried to take us.”

“It’s possible,” Bill nodded. “I’ll glamour Leon to drive us to the hotel. I’ll inform Eric of what happened when we get there.”

Brooke sighed as she leaned against her seat. She didn’t want to see Eric. Now, she had the clarity of mind to be scared of him. As she should be.

***

The hotel was bigger than any other buildings Brooke had ever laid her eyes on. It was a rectangular big old thing that had just been renovated, or maybe it was brand new and it was designed to look that way, Brooke couldn’t tell. The design inside would give anyone a headache, especially because of the lights. Everything was red, black and golden, but the lights, for some reason, were blue. The walls, the floor, the décor, everything was as similar as it was different. It was all very elegant though somewhat ridiculous. Maybe because they tried to make it appealing to both humans and vampires and it ended up being all nonsense.

Everything went well at the reception, putting aside the room with no bed Eric had booked for Bill and Sookie, which they ended up changing. Brooklynne had a room of her own, which surprised all of them, however Sookie was more than happy to have a room alone with her boyfriend and didn’t complain about it. Brooklynne’s room was bigger than her living room and the bed was gigantic. The design was the same in every room, black and red, no windows, a giant TV on the wall and a bathroom big enough for a shower and a bathtub so big it could have been a hot tub.

Leon’s interrogation didn’t answer all of their questions, but at least answered the biggest one. Who was behind the attempted kidnapping. Bill was very angry at Eric for not letting him know the Fellowship of the Sun was involved in Godric’s disappearance, though there was nothing he could really do about it. The vampire had glamoured Leon to forget they ever arrived at the airport before he let him go.

Alone in her quiet hotel room, Brooklynne decided to do some research on the Fellowship of the Sun. They were a church created by Reverend Theodore Newlin which had just died in a car accident with his wife and their baby daughter. His son Steve was convinced vampires were behind their deaths and took over the church, and resumed spreading his father’s message of hate towards the creatures of the night. The church, which was based here, in Dallas, seemed like a cult to Brooklynne, who wished she could remember why that church sounded so familiar.

She fell asleep a little after midnight, the laptop sliding from her lap and onto the red silk sheets. She had changed into comfortable sleepwear, a pair of pastel blue shorts and an old white crop top which was a little too tight for her now. She was woken up less than an hour later by someone entering the room. She jumped awake as she heard footsteps. Her eyes grew big as she saw Eric standing at the end of the bed. She felt her cheeks redden as his gaze traveled from her bare legs to her exposed belly button to her face.

“Well, don’t you look happy to see me,” he chuckled as he saw the fear in her eyes.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asked, enveloping herself in the bedsheets.

“We share a room, didn’t you know?” he said as he took off his black leather jacket, leaving him in his white sleeveless shirt.

“What? Why?”

“It’s cheaper,” he shrugged, though she knew he was lying. He could have booked the entire hotel if he had wanted to, according to Bill. “Besides. You’re in Dallas now. The vampires here are no joke.”

“And you are?” the sassy remark escaped her.

Eric raised an eyebrow, perhaps impressed by her unexpected reply.

“I guess not, or else you wouldn’t be scared of me,” he said with a smile as if he were proud of it.

He threw his jacket on the couch at the corner of the room before he leaned over the bed, placing a knee on the soft mattress, then the other, making his way next to Brooke. He rested his back against the bedframe as he sighed.

“I’ve had a long day. I could use a snack.”

Brooke swallowed as she tried to think of a clever answer, one Sookie would have come up with.

“I am not your dinner,” is all she said.

“No, but you could be my dessert,” he smirked which made her blush again.

She looked away from him, which is when he noticed the bruise on her cheek. He was so fast it made her jump. He seized her chin in his hand, firmly, though not hard enough to hurt her, and made her look at him so he could get a better look.

“What happened?” he asked, the anger in his tone worried her.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly in a whisper. “The man… Leon. He hit me when he tried to take Sookie.”

“And Bill let him go,” he said in disapproval, as if he would have done differently, which she knew he probably would have. “My blood can heal you,” he offered as he released her.

“Your blood can do a lot of things,” she muttered, remembering the side effects Bill’s blood had on Sookie.

“Indeed,” Eric chuckled. “It could lead to a lot of fun.”

“I’m not gonna have sex with you,” she told him, and she expected him to laugh at her, but he merely shrugged.

“Not tonight, maybe not,” he said as he leaned towards her.

She tried to move back as his nose reached her neck, but she was already at the edge of the bed.

“Dangerous walking around vampires not belonging to anyone,” he said with a deep and quiet voice, “my offer still stands.”

“No, thank you,” she told him with a trembling voice.

He chuckled, as if he had expected her to reject him. “Fine, then,” he said, leaning back against the bedframe, “I’ll let you sleep. You’ll need to be well rested tomorrow. We’re meeting with Godric’s people as soon as the sun sets.”

“Why do you care so much about Godric?” she asked, remembering he had once told her vampires only cared about their makers and their progeny.

“I told you, he’s my friend.”

“How long have you known him?”

“A thousand years.”

“A thousand years? Did you make him?”

He chuckled like it was a ridiculous thing to say. “No. He made me.”

Brooklynne wasn’t surprised to hear it. After all it explained a lot. She couldn’t imagine someone who tortured people in his basement would care about others.

“So, he’s your maker. That’s why you care so much about him.”

“Vampires are loyal to their makers. Godric is… the best maker I could’ve asked for.”

She saw he was sincere. It made her wonder. Was Godric as bad as he was? Or was he worse?

“Is he the one who taught you to torture people in your basement?”

He shot her a look and she wondered if she had gone too far.

“You’re still mad about your friend Lafayette?” he asked, like it was something she’d ever get over.

“Of course,” she said as if it was surprising he’d think otherwise.

“Your friend sold and used vampire blood. If I didn’t make an example out of him I would be seen as weak. And I can’t have that.”

“You could have called the police.”

“Yes, I could have,” he nodded. “But I had questions. Questions about Godric.”

“What does Lafayette know about your maker?”

“Nothing, as it turned out. But I still needed to ask.”

“You didn’t need to torture him.”

“No, but it’s always more fun,” he grinned.

Outrage ran through her as she fought back the want to slap him. She clenched her jaw, but then looked away. She slid under the sheets, turned her back towards him and laid down on the bed, indicating the conversation was over.

He chuckled again before he got off the bed. “And a good night to you too, Brooklynne,” he said before he left the room.

***

She woke up around 10AM and was surprised to find Eric sleeping beside her. He had kept his distance and the bed was so big another person could have slept between them without bothering either of them. She didn’t know what to do, she was afraid to move. She didn’t want to wake him up. She wondered how true what Sookie had once told her was. Vampires slept all day, from sunrise to sundown and it took a lot to wake them up. She put that to the test.

She ordered breakfast and Eric slept through it. She took a shower and got dressed and he was still sleeping when she stepped out of the bathroom. Sookie came knocking on her door around noon, to go get lunch downstairs, and he didn’t even move at all. She found it extremely creepy, especially since he looked dead when he was asleep. She didn’t let her sister see the vampire in the room, or else she’ll never hear the end of it, and she didn’t want her to wake him up. She couldn’t get used to the way he was looking at her, like she was his dinner or something he wanted, something he desired to own.

During lunch, Sookie was going and on and on about Barry, a man working in the hotel who happened to be a telepath like them. He seemed to be unable to control his ability, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been for Broolkynne.

“Can he order people around?”

“I asked and he had no idea what I was talking about.”

“I’m worried that… you know… now that I blocked it, I… I just made everything stop.”

“You can’t hear anything at all?”

“No, which is great! But…” she sighed. “I know if I focused I could do it, I just don’t understand why I couldn’t make Leon stop last night!”

“I think you just need to practice. You know, like, before everything was messy inside your head and you had no control over any of it so it kind of just happened, but now that you do, you just need to put more effort into it.”

“Like glamouring… I’ll have to look them in the eyes?”

“Maybe,” Sookie shrugged. “But at least now you can have lunch with me in a restaurant, surrounded by other people,” she smiled as she put her hand over her sister’s.

“I know, it’s weird… I keep forgetting there are other people around us… And then they’ll move, and they’ll scare the hell out of me,” she joked.

“Well, like I said. You’ll get used to it.”

“Maybe I could even get a job. You think Sam needs another waitress?”

“I think you’d be a better bartender.”

They laughed as they talked about the things Brooklynne could do now that she didn’t even dare dream of before. She wondered if the wall would be permanent, if it would stand forever, and what it would take to have it crumble down. She hoped she could at least find herself a job and have a semblance of a normal life.

Eric was still sleeping when she came back into the room. According to Sookie, she could watch TV right next to him and it wouldn’t wake him up. It proved to be true. She was still watching an old soap opera, which she used to watch with her grandmother, when Eric rose from the bed. Like a clock, he opened his eyes when the sun went down. Alerted by the movement behind her, she turned around to see him make his way from the bed to where she was sitting on the couch.

“How do you do that?”

“What?”

“Wake up as soon as it’s dark outside.”

“Habit,” he shrugged. “We can feel it.”

He took a bottle of Tru Blood from the mini fridge before he sat beside her. Brooklynne was surprised he’d drink from a bottle. He saw the look on her face and smirked.

“Unless you want to volunteer?”

“I saw there are people on the menu,” she said, not bothering to hide her disgust.

“Somehow I think you’re not going to appreciate watching me drink from someone.”

She frowned. “That’s very considerate of you.”

“You’re welcome,” he said before he brought the bottle of synthetic blood to his lips. “What are you watching?” he asked, clearly not happy with the program.

“It was Gran’s favorite show,” she explained. “She never missed an episode.”

“You know,” he said, as he put the bottle down on the coffee table before them, “there are more interesting things to watch here.”

“Like what?” she asked, not removing her attention from the nurse crying over her dead boss.

Eric moved closer to her, putting his hand on the arm of the couch, blocking her view to the TV with his face. “I’ll let you take a guess.”

She frowned, thinking about it for a moment before she rolled her eyes. “I’ve been hearing everybody’s dirty thoughts since I was a child. You want to watch porn, there’s a laptop on the nightstand.”

Her surprising response made him laugh. “I forgot how different you are from other humans. Though you do look better than the first time we met. I’ll take credit for that.”

Well, she couldn’t take the credit away. It was him who had taken her to his hellish club and forced her to face the crowd. It was him who had pushed her to try and take control of her powers. Where her entire family had chosen to keep her inside, away from people, he had done the opposite, and it had only taken one night for her to get positive results. Or at least, some results.

“How many vampires will there be at the meeting tonight?”

He looked down at her and saw how worried she was. Well, at least she wasn’t dumb. She was going to have to enter a room filled with vampires and she was right to be nervous. She was smart to be scared.

“Two,” he said, and he saw she was a little reassured.

“And they think the Fellowship of the Sun has Godric too?”

“They suspect, but we have no proof. That’s why you’re here.”

“Do they know… that we’re here to help?”

“Yes. You have nothing to fear from Isabel. I believe she has a human of her own. She is… reasonable.”

“But the other vampire isn’t?”

“You could say that. But if you don’t get in his way, he won’t hurt you. Especially since you’re with me.”

“Doesn’t he want us to help?”

“It would be in his interest if Godric was never found. Stan has ambitions to become a sheriff one day. Besides, he hates humans, and will find the idea to request human help appalling, but he has no power to stop it.”

“So… avoid Stan and trust Isabel, then?”

Eric nodded. “Sounds wise.”

A knock on the door interrupted them. It was time to leave for the meeting and, unsurprisingly, Bill was right on time. The vampire had a lot of qualities and, apparently, punctuality was one of them. When Eric opened the door, he met with a surprised Bill and an angry Sookie. He could already hear her tell him to stay away from her sister.

“Eric,” Bill said. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, it’s my room,” he grinned.

“No. This is Brooke’s room,” Sookie snarled.

“Yes, we’re sharing.”

“And are you sharing the bed too?” Bill asked, knowing it would put Sookie in a rage and already enjoying annoying Eric.

“Don’t worry, it’s a big bed,” Eric winked at the eldest sister.

“You’re getting anoth-“

“We should go,” Brooke interrupted them. It’s not that she wasn’t grateful for her sister’s protection, but she just wished she’d let her take care of herself for once. “We don’t want to be late,” she continued as she appeared next to Eric.

“No. We don’t want to be late,” he said, as he put his hand on her lower back and gently pushed her out of the room.

Sookie gave a “if you hurt her I’m going to kill you and Bill will help” look to Eric which only made the vampire smirk.

“Keep your energy, Sookie. We have a long night and a long day ahead of us.”

And he wasn’t lying.

Stan and Isabel were as different as Eric and Bill. One wanted to shoot first and ask questions later, and the other was smarter. The group from Bon Temps watched as the two underlings argued in Godric’s living room. It was a big house, surprisingly white and bright and with big windows giving a view of the streets. Eric was pacing as he listened to them yell at each other on how to proceed.

“We take them all out at once. Pre-emptive strike,” Stan said with a heavy Texan accent.

“Of course, so the federal government can bomb us back into the Middle Ages!” Isabel replied with a Spanish accent of her own.

Stan scoffed. “Things were better then.”

“Then go to Romania and live in a cave, you ranchero poser!”                      

Eric growled as he picked up a vase from the table beside him and threw it across the room. The sudden burst of anger made Brooke jump. She was standing next to her sister, who was also surprised by the vampire’s reaction.

“Godric has protected you, made you rich, and you stand here spitting and scratching like infants!”

“Don’t any of you care that there’s a traitor in your midst?” Bill asked.

“No,” Stan merely replied like he did, in fact, not care at all, or maybe he just didn’t believe it.

“Impossible,” Isabel rejected the idea.

“Someone tried to kidnap me and my sister from the airport,” Sookie told them.

“You were the only ones that knew they were coming.”

“Explain,” Eric ordered them as he placed himself near Brooklynne.

“Unless it was you,” both Stan and Isabel told each other in unison.

“Look, if y’all argue anymore, I’m either gonna fall asleep or start screaming so this is what we’re gonna do,” Sookie told them, ignoring the look her sister was giving her. Brooke didn’t imagine using that kind of tone was smart, especially if she were going to tell two vampires what to do. “We’ll infiltrate the Fellowship of the Sun.”

A plan both sisters had agreed to at lunch. It seemed like the only way to make themselves useful and to actually get results.

“Absolutely not!”

Sookie obviously hadn’t shared her plans with Bill.

“Let her speak,” Eric said, to Bill and Stan’s dismay.

“Since Bill glamoured the kidnapper, no one there knows who we are. We’ll pretend we want to join the church and check out all their thoughts.”

“No. During the day, none of us can help you,” Bill told her.

“It’ll only take a little while. Really, Bill it’s simple.”

Stan shook his head. “Waste of time,” he growled as he started walking away. “I want no part of this.”

Isabel wasn’t sad to see him go. “There’s no easier way to find out if they’re involved.”

“If it leads us to Godric, we’ll do it,” Eric nodded. “The decision is made.”

Brooklynne already felt a headache coming as Bill and Sookie started to argue. But as the vampire had learnt to know, he couldn’t tell Sookie what to do, and he couldn’t stop Eric from getting what he wanted. Something Sookie was coming to learn as well since no matter what she said and how loud she said it, Eric wouldn’t agree to book himself another room.

“Your sister is quite annoying,” the vampire complained as he closed the door to their room, after Bill had pulled Sookie away into theirs.

“She doesn’t like you,” Brooke replied as she was looking through her luggage for better sleepwear, something less revealing than she was wearing last night. Unfortunately, she had only packed dresses and shorts.

“I’ve noticed.”

Brooke went into the bathroom without saying another word. She took a long shower, hoping that when she’d come out, Eric would be gone. And maybe he had read her mind, or he had important things to take care of, but when she stepped back into the room, he was gone. She slid under the bedsheets, relieved to be alone, and slept the entire night, undisturbed.

**********

Tags: @thepoet1975 @nerdysandwichqueen @catchmeupimgettingoutofhere @raegan-hale @colie87