#i already have a fic started and several pieces of art this is definitely gonna consume some creative energy lol

[bambiraptorx]

i seem to have gotten invested in another au. whoops

[ladyartemesia]

Fic recs for taehyung? I love your stuff btw I’ve read them all uwu

As a beacon of extra-ness in an already extra world, I am entirely incapable of just recommending fics like a normal blog. No. I’ve got to wax on like a bloomin connoisseur. I have compiled some (but not all) of my favorite works in several different categories and sorted them accordingly. This crazy list is so long I had to add a “keep reading”... but I simply couldn’t bear to leave any of these off the list. They are all so good!

Fics have been divided into 8 categories. Some are under the cut. 

 ▨ FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and FRIENDS TO LOVERS ▨  ▨ ARRANGED MARRIAGE ▨ ▨ FANTASY ▨ ▨ ANGST WITH A HAPPY ENDING ▨ ▨ HYBRID and ABO (alpha/omega) ▨ ▨ MULTIPLE PARTNERS ▨ ▨ NEIGHBORS AND ROOMMATES ▨ ▨ TABOO THEMES and DARK FIC (Sex Work/Power Imbalance/Very Unsafe Sex) ▨ ▨

▨ FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS and FRIENDS TO LOVERS ▨

Insomnia by @hobiwonder

This is one of those fics I read and literally could not stop thinking about. It is wildly hot and honestly hilarious. Poor reader cannot sleep and the beautiful bro she’s tutoring offers a rather unconventional solution.

(Ego) Hoe Chronicles: KTH by @suga-kookiemonster

Listen. If you find a niche fan blog devoted entirely to Ego Tae... I’m not gonna say it’s mine. But it’s probably mine. I once told suga-kookiemonster that I would literally read a story about Ego Tae going grocery shopping on a Wednesday night and I stand by that. In this lurid romp, the reader falls into the clutches of everyone’s favorite bohemian sex lord and he rails her into another dimension.

Falling, Falling, Gone by @johobi

Pining (mutual or otherwise) is not really my thing, but I would straight up read Jo’s laundry list if she posted it. As usual I was blown away by how everything she does seems somehow better than any other version of it. This reader is really unique as well, and her relationship with the wildly popular soccer star Tae comes to a sexy and hilarious head at a sort of bachelor auction. With sharp dialogue, delightful subtext, and fantastic side characters, you really shouldn’t miss it. It’s pretty much perfect.

A Friendly Favor by @baeseoul

This is the classic “teach me some sex for another woman” trope and it is done so well. Sweet best friend Tae is looking to benefit from your experience, but his is not the only world about to be thouroughly rocked.

Officer Kim and the Criminal Crush by @ddaengyoonmin

This is one of the best twists on childhood friends to lovers I have ever seen. Tae grows up to become a cop and reader grows up to be a societal menace. I won’t spoil it, but it’s the perfect blend of nostalgia, tenderness, and smut. This fic technically doesn’t have a name so I had to give it one to link it. It’s part of an AMAZING series Zoe did that I also highly recommend.

Out of the Blue by @jimlingss

This is one of those stories that blooms throughout the narrative until you are left with this gorgeous flower at the end. I loved the journey of these two characters. It was real and it perfectly captures the experience of finding your soulmate in the person you least expect.

Sin Pijama by @brilliantlybasicb

This fic is a switch culture fic. It is wild wicked hot and this Tae is unreal. I love the way he lets the reader think she is in control just long enough. It is a wild romp with an adorable sequel and honestly you should read it.

Girls Like You by @jjiminah

I was in jjiminah’s asks IMMEDIATELY about this fic because I had FEELINGS. The reader begins wordlessly teasing and tempting Tae on their morning bus ride every day until he is literally losing his mind. Everything that follows is fire. Jjiminah has hinted she will wrote more for these two and I NEED IT.

Sighs and Sonnets by @btsaudge

This fic is beautiful. Like it’s basically art. This is a bad boy who is bad for you. But he has the soul of a poet and the stroke game of a renaissance master. Bittersweet and seductive, this fic is a full experience.

The Text by @taetaesbaebaepsae

Tae is your friend with benefits but it looks like feeling may have been caught by one or more parties. When you attempt to soothe your aching heart with another pretty boy, Tae decides to stake his claim. This was very sexy. The whole fic was sexy.

▨ ARRANGED MARRIAGE ▨

Monster by @neonlights92

Monster and all of its companion series about each of the boys is one of those fics that I reread constantly and also just think about constantly. This is one of the best mafia AUs out there and it’s characters are vivid and unforgettable. Tae’s stubborn resistance to his lovely new wife in contrast with her quiet, clever strength really brings this story to life. A word of warning. The masterlist links are a bit messed up. To read part two you must click on part three. And to read part three must click on part four. The link to part four is at the bottom of part three (or you can just search it on her site. It is definitely all there though).

Dichotomy by @kpopfanfictrash

There is a reason the incomparable Shanna is on this list three times. She is truly incomparable. This is childhood friends-to enemies-to spouses and it is wonderful. I adore this Tae. He is sharp and vulnerable and occasionally heavy handed, but truly a gem. This fic also features one of the best angry sex scenes I’ve ever run my eyeballs across.

▨ FANTASY ▨

Chism by @kpopfanfictrash

The world-building in this story is genuinely awe inspiring. You could write series upon series within this vivid universe. The god of Winter is missing and Summer’s heat burns unchecked for many years. The reader is a warrior with a unique ability tasked with guarding a very interesting prisoner. This story is so good. I mean it is really bloomin incredible. It’s hard to say what I liked best about it, because it was stellar across the board.

Obsidian by @kpopfanfictrash

In the pantheon of delicious Tae incarnations, Obsidian Taehyung is essentially unrivaled as a grey witch who moonlights as a sexy rock star. His extremely erotic clash with a white witch detective plays out as the two of them track down a sinister killer (with the help of some truly memorable side characters).

Out of this World by @ddaengyoonmin

This one is really unique. Tae is a merman scientist on the water planet of Neptune and when the reader and her misguided crew crash into his sea, he takes it upon himself to improve inter-species relations. This fic features excellent world building alongside several twists and surprises. Clever scientist Tae is downright irresistible.

▨ ANGST WITH A HAPPY ENDING ▨

Picking Flowers by @jamaisjoons

So this story is a journey - truly a beautiful one and it’s a gorgeous addition to the hanahaki genre. There is real pain and I cried real tears, but gosh it was so sexy and so worth it. I was surprised by how truly immersed I ended up in this piece. I lost track of everything else. The end is insanely satisfying, but the journey is really what makes this fic unmissable.

Until Yesterday by @jimlingss

This fic destroyed me slowly then slowly put me together again piece by piece. When I say I went through it - I WENT THROUGH IT. The story is loosely based on the movie “The Vow” and it is just fantastic. Beautiful and tender till the last word.

The Foolish Muse by @bibbykins

This is the story of someone who is deeply in love, but knows they deserve better. It is a sexy and evocative work with allusions to mythology that fit seamlessly into the narrative. I think my favorite part is Tae discovering how much the reader meant to him and what choices ultimately lead them to a really delicious conclusion.

Back to You by @ladyartemesia

The last time I did a fic rec list, it got like 700 notes. Ya girl is not makin the same mistake again. I spent hours on this list. My work is comin along for the ride. Kim Taehyung is the love of your life, until one day he disappears without a trace.

Vacancy by @ppersonna

This one is the only idol AU on the list and I normally don’t read those, but Lindy’s work is too good to miss in any setting. I am thrilled I took a look because what I found was a glimpse into a beautiful relationship that weathers and eventually overcomes the challenges of loving in the limelight. There is a LOT of emotional depth and symbolism which really elevates everything about this lovely story. The reader’s internal struggles in the face of her lover’s fame are extremely well done.

▨ HYBRID and ABO ▨ (alpha/omega)

Eye of the Tiger by @opaljm

I am beyond hype about this story which is (very) loosely inspired by Zootopia and features a cocky tiger Taehyung and a fiesty prey hybrid he needs to fake date in order to keep panther Jimin from murdering him. (Tiger Tae got a tad too frisky around Jimin’s mate and now things are dangerously awkward.) This story is already so freakin good. I cannot wait for the rest.

Silver and Blue by @taetaewonderland

What happens when you get on the wrong side of the right werewolf? Very sexy - very crazy times. Chronologically this is the first of the Silver and Blue series which follows barely civilized were-Tae through his courtship and eventually his relationship with the spunky reader. Holla to all my impreg kink homies. This is the fic for you.

Heat Run by @ladyartemesia

As I said before, the last time I did a fic rec list, it got like 700 notes. Ya girl is not makin the same mistake twice. I spent hours on this list. My work is comin along for the ride. Alpha lawyer V is a man of many secrets, but his well ordered reality spirals wildly out of control when he crosses paths with a fiery omega set on saving the world from his wicked ways.

Beautiful Stranger by @interludemoonchild

This was a wild ride from start to finish. Taehyung is a tiger hybrid shifter who escapes from the circus to be close to a veterinary student he bonded with. There is a lot of interesting twists and surprises in this one. I was definitely screaming at the end.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by @jingabitch

A very young wolf hybrid Taehyung adopts you as his pet human when you are just a kid. After Tae leaves to serve in the military he returns to an adult version of his sweet little princess and chaos ensues. Mind the tags for this one folks. It’s excellent, but there are very triggering themes throughout.

▨ MULTIPLE PARTNERS ▨

Level of Restraint by @lemonjoonah

This is not strictly a Tae fic in that he is only one of three major players in this twisted masterpiece. Lemon is the undisputed queen of the surprise twist and this one is truly brilliant. People dropped this fic in the discord calling it the best fan fiction they had ever read and I am not here to argue with them at all. Fair warning, every word - every inch of this fic is sexy and it’s delicious brand of titillation is wrapped around your psyche good and tight by the end.

Four by @luxekook

The quadruplets next door are fueling your very lurid fantasies. It turns out they have some fantasies of their own... You will need water if you read this fic. This is the original patented Kim Taehyung Horny Hive Mind 4D Experience™

▨ NEIGHBORS AND ROOMMATES ▨

The Heat Wave Series by @curly-bangtan

The original story (chapter 1) in this series is definitely famous, but I don’t know how many people have read all 9 chapters and if you haven’t, you are really missing the incredible journey of two very horny idiots stumbling recklessly towards real and amazing love. Everything is set off when the air conditioner breaks and a pair of wild roommates shed their inhibitions along with their clothes.

Flicker by @chimoona

So this fic started out with adorable neighbor dynamics and ended with erotic rope tying. Baby I was ABOUT IT. This was so bloomin hot and also like sweet and tender. Really a sexy and sentimental treasure.

Not Your Typical Flower Shop Story by @jungtaeyoongles

This story goes from “aww” to “WHAT THE-” real quick. Fast paced plot and twist after twist turn the whole flower shop au upside down and then inside out. I can’t say more because spoilers but like - WOW.

▨ TABOO THEMES and DARK FIC ▨ (Sex Work/Power Imbalance/Very Unsafe Sex)

Extracurricular by @ppersonna

One of my favorite professor-student AUs. The reader writes her gorgeous professor a borderline erotic analysis of several major works of art and he feels compelled to discuss it with her privately. Lindy really outdid herself on this one. It is scorchin. Professor Tae is actually really sweet and somehow that just makes the whole thing hotter.

Akrasia by @nitaescence

This is insanely hot. Emphasis on the insane because it’s basically a super erotic romp where you have sex with a man you don’t know (Taehyung) on a crowded public bus. I literally felt my blood pressure going up the longer I read. Whew.

The Client by @jungkookiebus

This one hit me right in the feels. Taehyung is a sweet and lonely man who has a standing Wednesday appointment with an upscale sex worker. As the story progresses, feelings become involved on both sides. When I say I am checking her page thrice daily for part three... This is so engrossing. And this Tae. I just want to hold him.

Daffodil Dreams by @sombreboy

Tread carefully ladies and gents. This story is excellent, but it is easily the darkest fic on the list and, if you choose to read it, please read the trigger warnings carefully. The reader is a psychologist called in to analyze a very dangerous criminal. As their sessions progress, however, several boundaries are crossed.

Obey by @jjkfire

Taehyung is the most feared and ruthless member of the local mafia and you are the world’s most inept escort. You needed a job, but had no real interest in sex work and you’ve managed to fly under the radar as a glorified waitress until Kim Taehyung himself walks into your agency and decides that you’re the only girl he wants. Oh my gosh I loved this story so much. It was downright amazing and there is a surprise at the end that makes everything even sweeter.

[wild-aloof-rebel]

Some Favorite Fics from 2020

Like last year, I want to end 2020 by highlighting some fics that have become favorites over the last twelve months. Before I dive into it though, I just want to take a minute to send some love to all of the authors writing in this fandom.

As of the end of 2019, there were about 8.8 million words of fic on AO3 for this fandom. This year, more than 450 authors have added another 15 million more. That’s so incredibly impressive, especially in a year this difficult. Thank you, thank you, thank you to every single person who contributed to that, whether you wrote one fic or a hundred, a drabble or a novel. Thank you for giving this fandom the gift of your creativity and voice. Your work is so, so appreciated, and you’ve helped to create joy in a year where it was often in short supply. 💗💗💗

*

Okay, on to the fics. I’ve limited myself to no more than one work for any individual author to spread the love around as much as possible, and I’ve bumped up the number to 25 this time around because there was just too much fic this year for me to cut it down any further. 

So here we go. These are 25 fics I loved this year, and what I love about them...

Your heart is keeping time with me by yourbuttervoicedbeau • rated E • 33k+ confession before i start: i’ve never actually seen 50 first dates. but i thought this AU based on it was delightful. patrick’s love for david is so big, right from the start, and i love seeing david lean into trusting himself (and patrick) over and over again

will this ever get old? by startswithhope • rated T • <1k i just like seeing them domestic and soft and happy, okay? and while most of dee’s fics are like that, this particular one is a fave because of them thinking about their future and how they’ll change over the years but love each other right on through

Just to Hold the Hands I Love by DesignatedGrape • rated T • 20k+ it’s like a warm christmas hug, full of musical trolling, gentle pining, domestic nights in, and careful attention to fashion details, which are all absolutely the kinds of things i appreciate

A Case of You by DoubleL27 • rated T • 6k+ patrick is an absolute menace in exactly the way you would expect every valentine’s day. it’s funny and sweet and ends with them in exactly the kind of future we all want for them

Dulce by another_Hero • rated T • 1k+ original characters can be hard to do right. they have to be compelling enough to fit in with these characters we already know so well, and dulce is the kind of character who grabs you from the start. the whole series is lovely, but this first interaction with ronnie is my favorite of them

Tea-Kettle Love by ArabellaStrange • rated G • 5k+ even though this coda to “the pitch” isn’t technically canon compliant now, it still feels a lot like it is. it’s about the sacrifices we are and aren’t willing to make for the people we love, taking the new york discussion into more depth than we get in the show and still arriving in largely the same place

Vanquished by Codswallop • rated G • 3k+ if you’re looking for soft, fluffy sickfic, this is not it, lol. patrick is sick here but won’t let anyone take care of him. he’s stubborn and basically minor chaos ensues. it’s funny and sweet but not schmaltzy. the characterization is 👌, and it feels like the kind of thing that fits perfectly into the world of the show

To Come Out the Other Side by unfolded73 • rated T • 4k+ • warning for major character death i don’t want to read sad things about david and patrick very often, but sometimes the mood strikes. this one is definitely sad right from the start, but there’s hope and resilience through grief, and i think this year especially, there’s something to be said for stories that can make you feel like there is still good to be found after the bad

Hold Me Like You’ll Never Let Me Go by moodlighting • rated T • 21k+ i never would have thought that a fic would make me WANT to be trapped in an airport, but it’s 2020 and anything is possible, lol. this is what meet cute dreams are made of

Your mother keeps a spreadsheet by upbeat • rated G • 3k+ obviously i love a good spreadsheet, so this one was up my alley from the start, lol. but really it’s moira and patrick bonding through the cataloguing of her wigs (and all the stories that go with them) that makes this one an easy favorite

keep me in the pulses, keep me in the sound by dinnfameron • rated G • 2k+ this sweet little slice of a summer vacation made me ache to be with friends. plus, sometimes you just need some overwhelmingly happy david rose. he deserves it, and so do we

eggs and the flour, no higher power by withkissesfour • rated T • 1k+ i’m pretty sure this fic is the definition of sweet, in more ways than one. it’s a short piece, but the writing is lush and indulgent in all the right places, just like the cakes being described

sustineo by rockinhamburger • rated E • 10k+ before i was even done reading this fic, i wanted another 50k words set in this universe. the conversation between david and patrick is sharp in all the right ways, and because this david has such a hard shell to crack after being hurt in such a horrible and heartbreaking way, it’s that much more satisfying watching patrick break through it

All-Natural Care, Locally Sourced by Siria • rated T • 2k+ siria’s fics are always funny, with banter that’s so perfectly on point, and that’s certainly true here. but there are also care packages and photos and just so much love. it’s a perfect balance, just like the show

hold on to me as you go by helvetica_upstart • rated T • 3k+ i love a good look at just how long patrick has been head over heels in love with david and how much he was in this for life all along. this fic does just that through the framework of times that they saw their new house before they bought it, and it’s everything that you would want that concept to be and more

Exposed Brick by swat117 • rated M • 9k+ this is such a lovely look at david and patrick a few years into their marriage, steady in all the right ways, even when old fears try to rise up between them. it gives david a chance to be the solid and supportive one in the relationship, something i never get tired of reading

We Could Turn the World to Gold by middyblue • rated T • 27k+ as someone who also did c25k at one point, i def empathize with david’s plight in this fic, lol. as much fun as that part of the story is, it’s really the house and everything related to that part of the story that makes this a favorite in my book. this was posted very early in s6, so it’s not the house from canon, but it’s beautiful either way to see them so excited about building their future together there

Waiting on the Day by High-Seas-Swan • rated E • 22k+ this is another fic that makes me absolutely ache for things i couldn’t have this year, namely my favorite local brewery and all the nights spent there with friends. beyond that, it’s just a very sweet AU, and the scene with their first kiss and the rest of that night live in my head rent free

Pot o’ Gold by ahurston • rated E • 22k+ where is the leprechaun/love of my life who’s gonna take me out to eat all of the best foods that my city has to offer? this one is a slow burn but their relationship is so much fun to read right from the start that you definitely don’t mind taking your time getting there. also, the palm reading scene. good grief.

there is no design by the_hodag • rated T • 12k+ this fic gives us a look at some of david’s art, and all the loneliness and love that inspires it. it’s poignant and painful and hopeful and sweet in turn, and i think it does a marvelous job of capturing so many of the facets of david’s past that have made him who he is

A Little Broken, A Little New by nameless_bliss • rated G • 3k+ i’ve read this fic several times now, and david and johnny having a conversation about their own relationship through the guise of talking about patrick and his parents never fails to make me cry

Une très bonne table dans sa catégorie by cromarty • rated T • 23k+ just the concept of this one alone would have sold me on it—like, hello? michelin reviewer and chef? sign me the fuck up—but it’s written with the kind of attention to detail i always expect from claire’s writing, and the fact that it practically starts with a first kiss but then pulls back makes for a delicious dynamic as they build a friendship over that foundational attraction, both tempering and intensifying the wait for them to find their way back into each others’ arms

happy golden days of yore by blueink3 • rated E • 17k+ i literally stopped in the middle of this fic, sat down on my kitchen floor, and had a good cry. i hate thinking about them ending up divorced in the first place, but even as exes, they’re so careful and gentle with one another and so, so clearly still in a forever kind of love. that makes it bearable to see them apart because even if it weren’t tagged for a happy ending, there’s such a feeling of inevitability to it, you know exactly how it’s going to end and just get to enjoy the devastating ride it takes to get there

Fifteen Hundred Miles by MoreHuman • rated M • 30k+ this is one of those fics where everything comes together just right and achieves a perfect balance of introspection and action, courage and fear, despair and hope, forthright honesty and cautious reservation... MoreHuman makes it all look easy, which says so much about all the care that had to have gone into the planning and writing. this fic does everything well, and it’s an absolute pleasure to read from start to end

840 Havenwood Road E by Distractivate • rated E • 10k+ we barely see david and patrick’s new house in the show, so it shouldn’t be possible for me to be as emotional about it as this fic makes me, every single time i read it. but it’s the home they chose, the place they decided to build a life together, and getting to see flashes of that life through the years and how much love they clearly had for each other within those four walls just makes me cry again and again

[bean-pole-art]

Ed’s Borderlands Fics Masterpost

well finally

here is the masterpost of all of my Borderlands fics posted. most of them are Rhysothy focused to various AUs. I’m gonna update it as I post more but here it is, along with some of my commentary

right from the start big big BIG shoutout to @spoks-illogical-art​, my partner in crime, my biggest inspo, without them honestly most of these fics wouldn’t exist, please check out their amazing art <3

(latest edit - 21/02/2021)

Atlas AU - our main timeline, follows events of Moxxi’s Heist. lots of different concepts and ideas but the core really is Tim moving to Promethea to get help from Rhys. gonna sort em here with posting date, check the ao3 series for the “timeline”

Hypothetically - 2240 words summary: Rhys talks a lot, but usually thinks about it too little.

coffee, cats & monographs - 2880 words summary: “Hey hey, easy. You don’t want to repeat the accident from last week, do you?” Rhys cooed towards the cat and picked her up, just as Timothy instructed him to. Hearing these words, Felicity meowed. “Oh, don’t say that. This is my office and I have the power here,” he answered, carrying her back to his personal space.

Or Timothy's cat pays a visit to Rhys' office in the morning. note: I am a stupid mofo and at this point Tim would also have Loader Bot fkjbfd just imagine hes not mentioned cause hes wandering off, typical LB

Have Faith - 1470 words summary: During the 7 year lockdown at the Handsome Jackpot, Timothy couldn't really have any hope for himself. But maybe on Promethea it could be different. note: sudden feelings while watching JoltzDude139′s stream

Warm Cheeks, Cold Hands - 1170 words summary: Rhys comes home early and wants to say hi to his husband. With no ulterior motive. None at all. note: first fic Ive ever posted where characters are married, actually. fuck it, Rhysothy Real, his name is Rhys Lawrence

the battle (and the aftermath) of the ages - 2970 words summary: In a situation like this everything was possible, they could pull any punches they could think of. Four beasts playing against each other, every single one of them thinking of striking the winning blow.

Or Promethea Squad plays UNO. And then watches a movie. note: I love Promethea Squad with my whole heart

okurimono (贈り物) - 4/4, 17170 words summary: “Not a bomb. Just a device with a message for Rhys. Trust me on that,” this time an emoji of both winking and showing off a tongue [;P] appeared on the surface of Zer0’s helmet. Ah. So they were definitely trying to mess him up. In a way. Unfortunately, he really didn’t have any other options. Almost with a defeat, Timothy took the ECHOrecorder right from their hands and looked around it again. Or Zer0 gives Timothy a peculiar mission. note: my first ever multichapter fic. took me legit abt 8 months to finish but I am absolutely satisfied with this. also the bonus ending. yes

(there is) something I see in you - 8690 words summary: How one Rhys Strongfork met one Timothy Lawrence and how they fell for each other. More or less. note: best to go into this one blind, I swear. dumbest fic Ive ever written and please take this as a recommendation

this world is gonna pull through - 14380 words summary: Timothy really hoped it wasn’t anything important. He had that tendency to forget things easily, even if he tried to fight it. But Rhys kept on smiling and went by his side. So it couldn’t have been that bad. Still dumbfounded, he felt Rhys leaving a kiss right on his cheek.“November 11th? 

That- That seriously doesn’t ring any bells?” Rhys continued, brushing his hands against his shoulders. Or how Timothy spent one of his birthdays. note: also a love letter for Tim but a nicer one I guess kdjfnb dont ask how old is he i have no gdamn idea man

Strawberry Sweet - 3560 words summary: Rhys surprises Timothy with a gift for their date night in.

Happy Mercenary Day, Mr. Lawrence - 4670 words summary: How Timothy spent his first Mercenary Day on Promethea. note: I swear this is the best writer night Ive ever had. Ive written this whole thing in one night on Christmas day, solely on the inspo of that song I linked

Don’t Go Wasting Your Emotion - 4/4, 17080 words summary:  Afterwards, he went around with his usual duties. Getting a quick roundabout from his PA, checking several sectors himself and looking through the thousands of messages already sent to him via ECHOs. Rhys was ready to finally take on the day, yet when he made his way to the office, he saw the unusual envelope right by the edge of his desk. “For Rhys” was written on it. Straightforward enough. Or Rhys gets a letter from a secret admirer. note: another multichapter fic!! this one also took some time and well. its inspired by ABBA songs. cause only I would write a Rhysothy fic inspired by ABBA

Ratchet Effect - 7130 words summary: Knowing just how much overworked Rhys has been, Timothy wants to let them have a nice getaway in Lazy River Land. There's only one problem to overcome - ratch infestation. note: first fic of 2021!! Ive been playing a lot of bl3 suring the writing of it so it has a lot of stuff I had observed both on Promethea and on Jackpot

Reflections - 2250 words summary: Sometimes, Timothy needs a reminder.

Tales AU - second most important timeline. it’s Tales but Tim is a part of the group. sorted chronologically

A Story For Another Day - ongoing, for now -  2/25, 15280 words Tales AU main fic. it’s gonna be a big one

Connection Interrupted - 3240 words summary: With his driving shift finished, Timothy checks up on Rhys and Vaughn's plans.

Completely Hopeless - 1040 words summary: In which Fiona notices that Rhys behaves differently in front of a certain doppelganger.

infinity times infinity times infinity - 3460 words summary: Rhys and Timothy share some dreams and secrets underneath the stars. note: the beautiful combination of Sleeping At Last and Minecraft parodies. I promise it makes sense

reality can be whatever I want - 11420 words summary: “Hey, Tim?” Timothy didn’t even spare him a look, “Are we alone, or is he there with you?” Oh, this definitely won’t be pretty.

After the confession of Handsome Jack's AI in his head and his plan to infiltrate Helios, Rhys needs to set things right with Timothy. Somehow. note: thanosdancing.gif to Backstreet Boys’ “I Want It That Way” 80′s remix and a guest appearance from Ferocity but I cant legally say her name here

still here - 2820 words summary: It all had to go down, after Helios crashed. note: I have...a love/hate relationship with this one kjdfbfg I like it but it’s honestly an alternate ending and doesnt fit within our usual bad ending, so take it with a grain of salt. i ten jebany błąd językowy w summary, kiedy ja go poprawię

together at last - 5590 words summary: It all struck him down in an instant, in this one minute. They were all safe. And they were all alive. Nothing was threatening neither him, nor Timothy, nor Fiona. He could finally breathe out.

They all found each other again. note: I am multitasking most time of my life but I dont relate any other fic to multitasking more than this one. I was honestly doing 10 things at once while writing this dfkjbndf

David AU - this one is a sub AU to Tales AU and the plot is kind of complicated dfjkbfb please check the fic for further explanation

building in curved lines - 22490 words summary: “To be fair, you look terrible. You’re barely standing in one piece and none of your coffees will hold you together for that long,” Lilith paused, seemingly weighing the correct words in her head. “You haven’t really been holding on since… We rescued The Double.” Rhys sighed heavily. Why did she have to be so right about everything. Or how Rhys and Timothy adjust to the reality after the Handsome Jack AI. note: bday gift for Spok, EASILY one of my absolute faves and the longest fic Ive written thus far

outside of AUs - some concepts I play with that are honestly outside any of our concrete timelines/concepts + fics not focused on Rhysothy

Real - 770 words summary: Reconciling with your past is a little easier, when you have someone you love right in your arms. note: first blands fic I’ve ever written. the characterization isn’t really there yet but as a first shot at the game and my kind of “introduction”, I am still satisfied of it

(Un)Familiar Faces - 9620 words summary: Timothy pursed his lips and leaned over the wall a little. He’s had enough of this solitude of closed doppelganger cabinet. Today wasn’t the day for another self-loathing session. Today, he should go off on Helios and do something for himself.

Or Timothy spends the night at a Helios bar. But not as Handsome Jack. And not as Timothy Lawrence either. note: personal favorite of mine, tough love letter to Timothy Lawrence. I have so many fond memories of writing this, including getting drunk out of my mind just like Tim and Rhys here

basics of survival - 2010 words summary: Athena taught Timothy everything he needed to know about survival. Now, it was time to put these skills into use. note: wrote this right before rona outbreak on last day in my dorms. thats all

[lady-wallace]

No Deals (Febuwhump alt 5.: “Hostage Situation”)

For the @febuwhump​ alternate prompt #5: “Hostage Situation”

Fandom: JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind

Synopsis: Giorno and Narancia are taken as hostages. But Bucciarati doesn't deal with anyone who threatens his famiglia.

This is my last Febuwhump story for the month, thanks to everyone who has read and commented and liked/reblogged and stuff! I had a lot of fun doing these ^_^

If you enjoyed the stories, please consider checking out my ko-fi! I do art and fic commissions or if you just want to buy me a coffee, you can request a doodle :)

~~~~~~~

Read on Ao3

Read on FF.net

~~~~~~~

Giorno tested the ropes for the hundredth time, but they were still not moving. And thanks to the dampening power of the stand their captive had, he could not simply use Gold Experience to change the ropes into vines and escape.

Narancia grunted, tied to a chair behind him so that they were back to back. He shifted, hitting Giorno's chair with his own. He didn't seem to be having any better luck.

"I can't believe we let this happen!" Narancia moaned. "Bucciarati's going to kill us for this! It was supposed to just be a simple reconnaissance mission!"

Giorno sighed. Narancia was right, this was definitely not one of their better moments. Though with their enemy's Stand ability, he supposed they couldn't entirely be blamed either. Narancia would have seen them approaching if Aerosmith's radar hadn't suddenly cut out. And by then it was too late for Giorno to realize that he couldn't use his ability either.

The door to the room they had been put in creaked open and in strode the Stand user and two of his men. Narancia wrenched himself around to see, and Giorno straightened up, glaring defiantly. The Stand user met his gaze, nonplussed.

"So, Don Giovanna," he said mockingly, striding up to the teen and making a point to get into his personal space. "When do you think Bucciarati will be here?"

Giorno continued to glare, not giving an answer.

The Stand user reached out and grabbed his collar, wrenching him forward until his bound arms began to sing with pain. "You do realize what will happen to you if he doesn't return my man to me, right?"

Giorno pressed his lips together into a thin line. They'd taken one of this man's operation captive to grill for information on a new, reportedly very dangerous, drug ring that had cropped up. They had gotten the information they had needed. At least some of it. After finding out the location of their base of operations, Giorno and Narancia had gone on a reconnaissance mission, but now they were captured and the ringleader they were going after thought he could hold them for ransom until Bucciarati returned his own captive.

Giorno didn't know what conversation had already happened, but he met the man's eyes firmly. "We don't make deals with drug peddlers."

The man slapped him across the face.

"You asshole!" Narancia snapped.

"You think Bucciarati has a choice? You're the Don of Passione now, Giorno Giovanna. He's not going to give you up." Giorno looked up, licking his split lip and feeling the sting spreading across his cheek. "You're actually worth something."

"And your man is compromised, therefor worth nothing," Giorno informed him. "How do you think we found you? Why do you want him back?"

The man seethed before he bit back his anger. "That's none of your business."

"Because he's the only one who can manufacture the drugs, correct?" Giorno continued. "He's told us that already." The man's eyes blew wide and he seethed even more. "If you think for a second that Bucciarati and I don't have an agreement that keeping him away from you isn't more important than saving my life you're wrong."

The hand grabbed his collar again and the man got into his face, spit flying and hitting Giorno's cheek. "You insolent little upstart! I'll send you back to Bucciarati in pieces!"

"Eat shit!" Narancia snapped. "You don't know anything about our team!"

"Give me the phone," the ringleader snapped, holding out his hand as one of his men handed him a mobile phone. He dialed a number and after a few seconds snapped, "Bucciarati? Yeah, it's me again. I'm done waiting. I'll give you one hour before I start cutting bits off Giovanna and the mop-haired kid. If you want there to be anything left of them, you'll follow my instructions." He ended the call before giving Bruno a chance to speak and handed the phone back to his man before he reached into his coat, pulling out a small case.

"Just to make sure you two don't make any trouble while I'm gone I'm going to let you sample a little of the goods."

He opened the case and revealed several small bottles and syringes. He handed one of each to one of his men who went over to a table to fill it. Giorno swallowed hard.

"What is it?" he demanded.

The ringleader grinned. "Something real nice. Our own special recipe. Good and strong. Knock you right off your feet. You might just decide you like it."

"How much, boss?"

"Not enough to kill them," the ringleader said dismissively.

"Hey, get away from me, you asshole!" Narancia snarled, tugging at his ropes again. Giorno craned his head to watch helplessly over his shoulder as the goon grabbed Narancia by the chin and wrenched his head to one side, jabbing the needle into his neck.

"Narancia!" Giorno shouted as the other young man cried out, jerking in the chair.

It was then he realized the ringleader also had a syringe ready, and the man's hand gripped Giorno's hair, wrenching his head back to bare his throat. Giorno struggled as he heard Narancia groan and slump heavily against the back of the chair, head resting against Giorno.

"You'll regret this," Giorno told the ringleader firmly.

"You're the one who's going to regret this, Giovanna. You and that insufferable do-gooder, Bucciarati." He stuck the syringe into Giorno's neck and Giorno was unable to help a gasp as he felt the drug ejected into his veins, cold and unwelcome. He shuddered, trying to fight the sudden nausea and drowsiness that overcame him. He blinked heavily, trying to curl his lip at the sneering man hovering over him, but then everything just got too blurry and he was forced to close his eyes and drift into the unwanted darkness.

~~~~~~~

Bucciarati slammed the phone down with a curse. He glanced over at Abbacchio and Mista who were standing guard over their captive, Mista's gun under his throat so he wouldn't try to say anything.

"We need to go," Bucciarati said firmly. "We're running out of time."

Abbacchio cursed as well, grabbing a cloth to clean off bloody hands.

"And what are we doing with this bastard?" Mista asked, jabbing his gun harder into the man's chin.

"We'll deal with him later," Bucciarati said darkly.

"W-wait! You're not exchanging me for the brats?" the man started. "You know what my boss is gonna do right? He's gonna kill them!"

Abbacchio slammed a fist into his nose and the man's head snapped back as he cried out, blood streaming down his lip to join what was already there.

"Shut your damn mouth," Abbacchio snarled. "I'll tell Fugo to go get the car."

Bucciarati nodded to Mista and they made sure their prisoner was secure before they left and locked the room.

"Hey Bruno, what about that guy's Stand? Doesn't it knock out other Stand abilities?" Mista asked.

Bucciarati gave him a look that was actually genuinely scary. "I think all of us were perfectly capable even before we got Stands, don't you, Mista?"

Mista gave him a lopsided grin. "Hell yeah. Let's go save Giorno and Narancia."

They made quick work of the details. Mista and Fugo went to cause a distraction and Bucciarati and Abbacchio rushed in the back using Sticky Fingers. They must still be out of range, but Bucciarati didn't think that would last long.

As they started to hear Mista firing off shots, Abbacchio glanced over at him, checking his own gun hidden under the tail of his coat. "Ready?"

Bruno nodded, taking his from the holster inside his coat under his arm. "Let's go."

They hurried on until they found one wayward goon, who Abbacchio nabbed instantly, slamming into the wall.

"Where are they?" he demanded, gun jabbed under his chin.

The man whimpered and pointed shakily down the hall, not even bothering to ask. "L-last door."

Bucciarati nodded and used Sticky Fingers to punch the man, unzipping him into pieces.

They hurried down the hall, listening to the chaos ensuing outside and when they got to the last door, Bucciarati stepped aside to let Abbacchio kick it in.

They came to a stop when they saw the ringleader standing inside the room beside a bound Giorno, holding his head up and pressing a gun to the boy's temple. Another man was likewise threatening Narancia. Both boys looked unconscious or nearly so, eyes rolled up in their heads, bodies limp.

Bucciarati swallowed down his fury, knowing that keeping his head here was the only thing that was going to save them all.

"Ah, Bucciarati," the ringleader said. "I see you failed to do as I asked. I don't see my man."

"No, you don't," Bucciarati said firmly. "But you might see him soon. In hell."

The ringleader smirked. "What are you going to do? Try me, your Stands won't work here. But feel free to wrestle me for the gun if you want to see your precious golden boy with his brains splattered on the floor."

Bucciarati and Abbacchio didn't waste time with banter. They both whipped out their guns, taking everyone in the room by surprise. Bucciarati's bullet found the ringleader's skull and Abbacchio's took out the goon holding Narancia, they then both ducked the other goon's bullet before taking him out simultaneously.

"Smug bastard," Abbacchio snarled, kicking the ringleader's body before kicking his gun away from the dead hand.

Bruno was already putting his gun away and heading to Giorno whose chair had toppled during the chaos.

"Giorno," he called worriedly, pulling out his knife to start cutting through the ropes tying the boy to the chair.

"They gave them something," Abbacchio grunted, untying Narancia as well and pulling him up. The boy moaned, blinking woozily, head lolling.

"A-Abba," he murmured.

"Hey, kid," Abbacchio said kindly with a small smile as he pulled Narancia into his arms and simply picked him up. Narancia wearily wrapped his arms around Abbacchio's neck, burying his face in his shoulder.

Bucciarati finally got Giorno untied and reached down to cup the boy's cheek as his eyes twitched.

"Giorno?"

"Mm, Buccia-rati?" Giorno murmured, blinking once before he winced and squeezed his eyes shut again.

"Shh, you're safe now."

"Naran—"

"He's fine, Abbacchio has him. It's all over."

"Got him?" Abbacchio asked as Bucciarati wrapped one of Giorno's arms over his shoulders and got an arm under his knees.

"Yes," Bucciarati replied, standing up with his precious burden. "Let's go."

They hurried out, meeting Mista half way. He came to a stop, holding his gun up, eyes widening as he saw Giorno and Narancia.

"They all right?"

"Drugged," Bruno said darkly. "Go get the car."

"Fugo's already on it."

They hurried out and Bucciarati and Abbacchio carefully settled Giorno and Narancia into the back before they got out of there.

Bruno glanced back at the boys, again trying to quell his fury. They were all right. But the idea of what had happened to them, or nearly so still made him mad. One day, one day their city would be free of people like this.

~~~~~~~

Giorno peeled his eyes open; everything felt so uncomfortable. He was hot and cold at the same time and his head really hurt. Everything seemed really bright too, stabbing his eyes. He tried to roll over with a groan, but his stomach twisted and he suddenly felt an overwhelming bout of nausea wash over him.

He whimpered sickly, wrapping his arms around his middle.

"Easy, just stay still," a firm but soft voice commanded, taking hold of his shoulder and pressing him back. Something cool wiped across his forehead and Giorno sighed and leaned into it. Fingers slid his hair away from his eyes.

"Bucciarati?" Giorno mumbled.

"I'm here," the voice said again.

Giorno relaxed slightly. "Wha' happened?"

"You and Narancia were drugged by the dealers. You'll probably feel bad for a little while, but you should be able to sleep it off. Do you think you can manage something to drink before you go back to sleep? You need to stay hydrated."

Giorno groaned, not making any motion to move. "Stomach." He didn't think he could even put water in there right now.

Bruno hummed in understanding. "Well, maybe we'll hold off for a couple more hours until your stomach settles."

Giorno murmured in agreement and buried his face in the pillow again. "It's over?" he asked.

"Yes. Another drug ring taken off the streets. I'm just sorry this happened to you and Narancia in the process."

"Still got them," Giorno said blearily with a small smile.

Bucciarati chuckled. "Yes, we did." He pulled the blankets up further around Giorno's shoulders, using them to shield his eyes a bit as well. "Rest now."

Giorno murmured and curled up, his exhaustion winning out over the stomach cramps and the ache in his head. Someday, they wouldn't have to worry about any more drug dealers in Napoli, but today, Don of Passione or not, he just really needed to sleep.

[recurring-polynya]

I got really interested in what is up, exactly with Rukia’s scarf in the TYBWA, so I decided to do a Rukia scarf deepdive and I know y’all enjoy going on these little journeys with me.

As a baseline, at the beginning of the TYBWA, and in fact, as far back as the Fullbringer Arc, Rukia is not wearing a scarf. Byakuya also seems to have stopped wearing his to work, probably a good decision. There are plenty of visual references of both of them going scarf-free, so I’m gonna leave that as an exercise to the reader (or you can just take my word for it), but let’s establish a baseline that when the fighting starts, no one is wearing any scarves.

Bleach 496. Renji and Byakuya confront As Nodt. No Byakuya scarf.

Bleach 502, same battle, no Rukia scarf.

Bleach 545. Everyone gets their asses kicked, goes to the hot springs, is naked, let’s skip to the next time we see Rukia clothed. We’re at Ichibei’s now. Still no scarf, and Rukia’s shihakushou looks wrapped really funny here. It looks like this in several consecutive panels and Renji’s looks kinda ripped up, too. I think that they are either a) wearing the old, shitty clothes from their last fight, b) Rukia may still have chest wounds/bandages, or c) Rukia may be wearing loaner clothes. They talk about getting measured for new clothes, but I think they either don’t have them or just haven’t put them on yet. This doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, I’m just really intrigued with Rukia’s weird clothes and I think I’m leaning towards them being loaners, but she’s so small that Kirinji or Shutara or whoever didn’t have her size.

Bleach 559. THESE STREET KIDS AND THEIR DRAMATIC ENTRANCES. This is the first look we get at Rukia’s Royal Realm gear, and to be honest, it looks a little different here than it will later. For one thing, I think this is the only shot where it has sleeves, and it has a wrap closure. Note that it seems to feature both a scarf and some big loopy things, which may or may not all be part of the same piece of material. This will be important later.

Bleach 562. Here it is again. Note that the cloak looks like it’s got kinda of a lot going on here, lots of overlapping pieces of material. I’ve highlighted some parts I find interesting. Note that there is a piece very close to her face that looks to be nested inside a larger scarfy part.

Rukia takes Rose and Kensei off to get medical attention while Renji fights Mask de Masculine. Here we see Rukia wrapping Rose up in something. It might be his own haori, but I actually think it is part of her own cloak, which has overlapping layers.

Bleach 566. Rukia is running around after dropping off Rose and Kensei. (We were absolutely robbed of seeing Rukia schlep two large men around the Seireitei, imo) In about half the panels, she still has these little loopy things, and in about half of them, she doesn’t. They are looking less like parts of a scarf and more just...loops What are these for? Maybe they’re so she can tighten the cloak around her, like compression straps on a camping backpack? By the time she starts fighting As Nodt in earnest, they are definitely gone. Kubo is the sort of artist that will simplify details for bold effect, so I am going to be generous and say he did that instead of maybe he got tired of drawing them or possibly forgot.

Bleach 569. Rukia and Byakuya confront As Nodt. They are both wearing their Royal Realm outfits now. Rukia’s cloak (which looks a lot like her Hueco Mundo cloak, tbh) looks more simplified now-- it looks like it has a main part, and then a separate piece that covers her neck and shoulders, with the loops attaching somewhere in between. There no longer seem to be multiple swathes of fabric around her neck, just sort of a funnel neck.

Byakuya is also not wearing a scarf. He even makes a point of opening the high neck of his cloak and it’s very clear he has no hidden scarves.

Bleach 570. Rukia goes to bankai. Presumably her Royal Realm clothes are destroyed here? We do not see them again later. I am hot mad about this-- aren’t they supposed to be made of the blood and bones of soul reapers or some nonsense like that? Maybe they were already in pretty bad shape from the trip down from the Royal Realm, since, allegedly, that’s why they had them in the first place. Renji lost his going to bankai, too, for the record.

Byakuya mansplains Rukia’s powers to her as she comes out of bankai. In my mind, it would be really cute if he pulled out the scarf and draped it around her neck to help her warm up, which could presumably happen off panel, except that...

Bleach 581. The next time we see Rukia, still no scarf!

Bleach 585. Renji arrives with Dependable Backup. The scarf is here!!!

Going into this analysis, I had two possibilities in mind for the scarf:

1) It was Byakuya’s actual scarf, which he gave to her after she comes out of bankai, which, as I noted, doesn’t seem to be true.

2) Shutara made her a scarf that was part of her Royal Realm gear. I was kinda charmed by the idea that she had her very own super-special scarf from the Royal Realm, but like I said, it looks like she lost the Royal Realm gear when she went to bankai, and she is seen without it the scarf afterwards.

What is the only thing that happened between the time we see her without it and the time we see it with her?

She meets up with Renji again.

Here is my theory: I think the Royal Realm gear starts out as a cloak plus a number of extra pieces of fabric that are sort of draped around her, like a rain fly. I think she uses these as slings to carry Rose and Kensei to the Fourth, but I think there was a scarf part that maybe she dropped by accident.

After Renji finishes his fight, he sees that she lost a scarf, picks it up and carries it around with him until he meets up with her again. I can definitely envision a real soft scene where he puts it around her neck and says, “Hey, you dropped this,” and then the she’s all soft back, like, “thanks for holding onto it for me.” My heeeeaaaaaarrrrtttttt. I need to mention it is draped real shitty in this entire scene, there are multiple pictures of it, and this tracks, Renji does not know how to drape a damn scarf.

This is absolutely going in my eventual TYBWA RenRuki Good Parts Only Edition fanfic, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s basically canon, so feel free to use it in your own art or fic, as you see fit. (just let me knoooooooooow)

Oh, also, I think it’s super cool that Byakuya has this trademark scarf that is associated with luxury and conspicuous wealth and social standing and was it handed down to him by his Kuchiki ancestors, and then Rukia has a scarf that looks functionally identical, except that it’s tactical and was custom made for her in the Royal Realm and it can withstand re-entry heats and it probably has Rose and Kensei’s blood on it, and it’s a symbol of what a fucking badass she is. And they both count on Renji to carry their scarves around for them when they don’t feel like wearing them.

[purplekiwis]

“From the Dining Table” - Chapter I

Hello everyone, I’ve been enjoying reading your fics a lot, especially now with the whole quarentine thing, they never fail to bring me joy. I thought it would be fun to start writing some myself and that’s why I created this blog. I haven’t written a fic in over 10 years ( I promise I’m not that old, I was just a very imaginative child.) Anyway, I wrote this one based of a dream I had and then I realized it reminded me a lot of Harry’s song, so I just kept on going with the theme. This is a pretty long one, it’s going to be 3 Chapters. Today I’m gonna post the first one, I hope you (whoever you are that’s reading this) enjoy it and I would be super happy to get any feedback from you.❤️

You can read Chapter II here You can read Chapter III here Word Count: 8k Warnings: Angst, Cursing, Sexual References

Summary: Friends to Lovers; Y/N is a graphic designer working at a small studio in London. She lives a pretty ordinary life, considering she also happens to be friends with an internationally known musician. Which is fine... Until she finds herself having to face the feelings she developed for her friend, who's the last person she expected to fall in love with.

Chapter I - The House Party

Today was just another typical Saturday for you. You had just got out of the shower and dressed in your “sleeping clothes” - an old t-Shirt and a pair of incredibly worn out leggings, and cooked something quick for dinner, since all the plans you had for the evening, and for the rest of the weekend were to lay around the house watching movies from your watch-list and trying to keep up with the episodes of your favorite series you had missed out during the week.              

However, as you were browsing through your computer, trying to figure out what Riverdale episode you hadn’t watched yet, your phone vibrated on the bedside table. You let your head fall in your hands with a weary expression, fearing that it might be one of your clients asking for changes in the work you had just delivered 2 hours ago.     You tried your hardest to ignore it, for you had already decided that you were going to save the rest of the afternoon for taking care of yourself... which was a great accomplishment since you gradually and accidentally had become a bit of a workaholic.  

It wasn’t something you were proud of... but you were a proper adult now and that’s just how adultwood is. Suddenly all your friends were busy with their families (can’t relate), their partners (no, can’t relate either) and their jobs (yes, you had one of those now) and you didn’t have much else to keep you entertained, so at least you tried to do something productive with your time.            

Okay, maybe it was possible that you were focusing on work to try not to think about how lonely you actually felt... Especially when you found yourself rubbing your own aching back after spending the whole afternoon sitting at your desk immersed in your work. Secretly wishing somebody else was there with you besides the faces painted in the unfinished artworks laying around your flat... that were yet to be amazing pieces of art one day, according to you.

The only problem was that you couldn’t manage to get yourself to actually finish them, or even to work on them for a couple of hours. Why? You didn’t really know.  

All you knew was that there was no motivaton within you to focus on the things you had once really enjoyed doing. Maybe you were too tired to have a hobby, maybe you were already over those artworks, perhaps you didn’t even like painting anymore...          

The only thing that you knew for sure of was that you had became exactly who you said you would never: A young adult working for a small company with barely any social life, let alone a stable relationship, sharing a tiny apartment with her cat and the ghosts of her past dreams and aspirations.      So I guess by now it’s safe to say that you were definitely focusing on your work to forget about how boring your life had become in the last few months...      Even thought you really didn’t want to look at your phone, your curiosity got a hold of you and you checked it… Only to find a text from your friend Harry. Seeing his name on your phone made your heart skip a beat, as you rolled around in bed so that you could take a better look at it. It had been a while since you spoke to Harry... mostly because he had been busy, and you had been trying to avoid bothering him. Knowing damn well he would probably much rather spend his free time doing something better with his free time, since he was always busy as a bee, jumping between countries and cities whilst working on several projects simultaneously.      

You considered Harry a close friend of yours... even if you didn’t talk all the time and even ghosted each other for months on occasion, until one of you broke the silence with a text or a phone call. This time, it was Harry that texted you first...      

HS: What are you up to?            

You: I was just about to watch Riverdale...          

H.S:  What is that?   

You couldn’t help but to let out a little smile. Sometimes he could still surprise you with how alienated he could be from mundane stuff. You didn’t hold it against him, you knew he had a preference for oldies when it came to the movies and music he actually payed attention to.          

You decided not to bug him about it, since you were far more interested in figuring out why he was randomly texting you at 9PM on a Saturday.          

You : It’s just a gross teen show. What about you?          

H.S: Aren’t you a bit too old for teen shows? I’m home. Been here for a couple of days, actually.

You felt a little hurt knowing that he had been home for a while and was only letting you know now, since you were usually one of the first people he wanted to see after spending long periods of time away, even if it was just to come watch the telly and catch up over bags of take-away food. You shook off the uneasy feeling. After all it wasn’t like he owed you his free time... For all you knew, he could’ve been catching up with his other friends or even have someone far more entertaining over his house.  

You : Aren’t you a bit too young to be such a grandpa?

H.S : Good news is that grandpa might actually have better plans for your night.            

You felt your cheeks warm as a fuzzy feeling started in your stomach. You noticed you had been smiling at your phone whilst thinking of what his plans could be, and when you finally got back to reality your cat was blankely staring at you, making you feel aware of how stupid you must have been looking. “What? You know it’s not like that!” You exclaimed to your cat, getting a little embarassed by your own mushy thoughts.            

Before you could answer his text he sent you another one.        

H.S: Would you like to accompany me to this thing i have?        You sat straight in your bed, but almost immidiately got up to check yourself in the mirror. Yikes, you thought. There’s no way i’m going anywhere with a face like this... In the deepest, darkest part of your brain, you added: Especially not with him.             You: What thing?

H.S: It’s just a boring house party. Please come!!! I need someone to talk to.   

You: If you want to convince me, maybe you should consider rethinking your use of adjectives. I’m sure you do... just like all the other parties, right? 🙄         

H.S: Sorry, I meant AMAZING party!!! 😊  Also, it’s not my fault everyone likes to talk to me.     You : It is. You’re too nice to them.                     

H.S: That’s why i need you to scare them away with your moody face! Are you coming? I already asked Claire to save you seat in the car.          

You looked at yourself in the mirror, kinda wishing you had known earlier because you really looked and felt too tired (and ugly, might you add) to get out of the house. Especially to go to a party where you probably knew like, 3 people in real life besides Harry. Besides, you already knew that you would feel a bit out of place there...   Because no matter how hard Harry and his friends tried to make you feel included, there was always this feeling you felt... Like everyone else was judging every single thing you did. The clothes you were wearing, the way you acted with your friends, how much booze you drinked, how many crab cakes you ate, and even how much you talked, or didn’t talk... Going to these parties had undoubtedly showed you how cold and indifferent people could be about other people’s complete existence as soon as they realized they didn’t come from the entertainment industry...           Harry had tried to explain to you that they didn’t flat out dislike you... It was just that they liked to test the waters before jumping into a friendship with someone from outside the industry, since most of them had already been through bad experiences when it came to that topic.

Y/N had never really ate that one up, but she decided it wasn’t worth the fuss of sharing her opinion out loud. She still remebered the first event she attended to with Harry, and how he and his friends had tried to give her advise on what she should and shouldn’t do... Something she hadn’t taken very well at the time, because it wasn’t like she didn’t know how to behave herself at a party just for being considered an “outsider”. She had been to lots of parties. Smaller ones, yes. With cheaper beverage options and far unhealthier selections of finger foods she could nibble guiltlessly on, but they were still parties nonetheless...          

Luckily for you, people were starting to get used to your occasional presence at their informal house events, and you managed to get along with the majority of Harry’s mates as well, what made you feel a little more confortable... However you still always got a bit nervous before going, especially when you hadn’t seen everyone in a while, which was the case that time around...

You : I feel like i could fall asleep at any given moment, so i think i’ll have to pass this one out 😔 but maybe tomorrow we could do something?      

He took a while to reply, making you wonder if he got upset at you for not wanting to go, or if he was already asking another one of his friends if they would like to go in your place... You didn’t know what option you liked the best.    Eventually, you got tired of holding your phone so you put it down, a little too harshly, what made your cat tremble with the noise. “Sorry Tilly.” You whispered, as your pet got up and curled up in your lap, while you petted her gently behind her ears. “Maybe it’s better this way… right?” You asked, mostly to yourself.         

Suddently you heard your phone ringing. Harry was calling you. You got up in a jump and grabbed the phone, what led to an unpleasant scratch from Tilly in your thigh. Before picking up, you stared at the screen for a few seconds, just so he didn’t think you were impatiently waiting for his reply. Yes, you were petty like that sometimes.              

“Hey!”               

“Hello loser!” The raspyness of his voice caught you by surprise, making you shiver. You’d almost forgot how good it sounded.      

“No one uses that word anymore.”      

“Who cares?” “Good point. Hm, listen… I hope you’re not mad at me for not going...”       “What? You really thought I was gonna give up on you that easily?”     “Oh, stop it! I’m not going! Besides, even if I wanted to go, what would I wear? I literally have like ze-” You stopped your rambling, realizing he was singing something to you over the phone, you didn’t recognize it at first, but then you realized where it was from.     

“You're a mean one Mr. Grinch.               You really are a heeeel…               You're as cuddly as a cactus!       You're as charming as an eel! Mr. Griiiinch… You're a bad banana with a… Greasy black peeeeel!”      

It was a song from the last movie you had seen together when he had came home for the holidays. How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He was singing it to mock you by your choice of words, that reminded him of a particular scene of the movie. The way he was messing up the song with his gibberish made you laugh. Eventually both your laughs and his singing faded, leaving you with a huge smile on your face. “You’re an idiot, you know that?” You asked.           

“Well, thank you. Now... As a way of thanking me for my… astonishing performace, you must come party with us.”        

“You’ve got some nerve coming at me with that crap after you’ve abandoned me for... how long was it again? two months?”

“Hey... I’m trying to redeem myself here!”             “Good! As you should.”            

“Is that a yes? Please...? You’re not going to say no to me, are you?”   

“It’s a maybe... a highy dependant on me finding something to wear type of maybe. First of all, is it like…fancy?”      

“Hmm, not really… I think!? You never really know with these parties.”              

“Trust me, I’m aware.” There was a brief silent pause on Harry’s side of the phone, as you as you rummaged through your clothes. “What are you going to wear anyway?”  

“Don’t know yet. Probably like, some pants… boots… and a shirt?”         Harry’s vague description didn't help whatsoever, but you were far too busy trying to disenchant a decent outfit to make light of his words. “Okay!” There was a lot of shuffling from your side, making his eyebrows furrow on the other side the line, despite your lack of knowledge. “I think I may have just found my nice pants, but I don’t know if I have a nice blouse that goes with them... or one that is fitted for the occasion. Why am I so boring with my clothes? I need to invest in a better wardrobe asap…” “You can always come by mine and borrow a shirt… Ya know, If you don’t want to stand out too much.”

“Not standing out by wearing your clothes? Now that’s funny!”               “I’m sure you’ll find something wearable...”      

“Are you serious? You would let me borrow your clothes?”        

“Sure. If you want to.”  

“I don’t know… I’m scared I’ll rip them or something.”                       

“I mean, I like my clothes... but it’s not like I would kill you or myself if something bad happened to them.” “You’re so humble and reasonable Mr. Styles… How did you stay like that?” You could hear him briefelly laugh at your provocation. “I’m serious! besides, I secretly always want to know how my clothes fit on different people.”

“I’m not trying to spoil it for you but probably not that good... Mostly because I’m female shaped so they won’t fit me properly… Also, I’m not sure if you’re aware but you have this gift-”     “Oh, shut up! You can pull anything off.” He cut you off before you could either compliment him or put yourself down. “As long as you love it.” “We’ll see about that.” You challenged, noticeably way less hopeful than he was. “I’ll see you in… an hour and half? Is that a good time?”             

“Do you want me to ask someone to pick you up?”               “I’m good, thank you...” You answered, wasting little time mulling over your friend’s proposal. “But I would happily accept a parking spot in your garage…” You added suggestively, knowing he wouldn’t say no. “Sure! Anything for you.”           “Thank you!”   “You’re very welcome.”               “Okay, well... I better go and get ready now or I’m going to show up late.”   “Alright, I need to go get ready as well. See you soon. Drive safe!”           “Always do.” It took you a bit more than na hour to get ready, what meant you were already running a little late, since Harry’s house was more than half an hour drive away.  

You were wearing one of your favorite “going out” pants, they were black, high-waisted, carrot fitted and overwhelmingly confortable. You went for other one of your favorite pieces - a yellow silk blouse, just in case you ended up not fitting properly in any of Harry’s shirts.

You paired your outfit with oval style ankle boots you’d just recently acquired. I already know I’m going to regret this decision, you thought whilst putting them on.            

You had also decided to change into a matching set of lingerie just because you never know what can happen, right? and also partially because you knew you’d be changing at Harry’s, and god forbid he actually saw anything but if he did, at least it wouldn’t be your granny underwear. You put on a neutral makeup look, throwing a couple of lipsticks into your purse, just so you could decide which one to wear depending on the color of the shirt.             Finally, you put on a bit of perfume and grabbed your jacket, taking a final look in the mirror, staring at yourself from different angles. “I guess that’s about as good as it’s gonna get.” You mumbled to your reflection.           

Before leaving the house, you kissed and petted your cat goodbye, however she didn’t respond to your affection since she was already asleep on top of the clothes you had just carelessly thrown on top of the bed.      

You got in your car and drove off, thirty four minutes later you were turning into Harry’s street and stopping the car in front of the condominium’s gate.You took your phone out of your purse and rang him, he picked up almost immediately.

“You’re here?” “Yeah, I’m already at the gate.”               “Okay, let me open it for you and I’ll be down in a second.”         “Okay, thank you.” The call dropped and the large metal gate started to move, you slowly drove your way into the condo, trying to remember where the entrance to his garage was.          

You didn’t have to think too hard, because a few seconds later one of the garage doors started to open and you could see a pair of impecable black leather boots that merged with the bottom of burgundy flares. Yup, no need for more searching, You thought.          

You stopped the car, waiting for the gate to fully open for what seemed like an eternity, but it gave you time to fully appreciate the man that was slowly revealing himself in front of you.

You could start to see his top half now, he was wearing a simple white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, uncovering his tattooed arms. The top buttons were undone, exposing the cross necklace he always wore, he was also wearing another necklace you hadn’t seen before, his hands were hidden in his pockets, but you already knew that they would be adorned with multiple rings of all shapes and sizes. What a show off, was the tought that came to mind once his whole outfit was revealed, but you had to admit that you wouldn’t have him any other way...   

Finally his head showed up, and he was wearing a big smile on his face.

“Hey you! Better hurry up before this thing closes on you.” You were so lost in his smile that you accidentally let your car die, but you were quick to start it again and as he walked aside you pulled into the garage.           

When you finished parking, you got out of the car, being immediately greeted by Harry’s arms that wrapped you in a tight hug. You couldn’t help but to close your eyes to fully enjoy the moment. He smelled like his characteristic cologne, but since your head was pressed against his shoulder, you could also smell the fabric softner on his shirt and his deodorant.  

“You smell nice.” You mumbled under your breath.   “So do you.” He replied swiftly, resting his chin on the top of your head.          He walked you to the elevator and you went up to his apartment. After many minutes of catching up in the living room he led you to his bedroom, where his closet was. “It’s a bit messy in here, I’ve been meaning to organize it, but I haven’t really had the time.” The boy said before opening its door.

You tried not to look mesmerized by the amount of clothing in front of you, because you knew that one of the things Harry hated the most was when people perceived him as shallow or vain. Luckily, most people could tell straight away that his love for fashion had a greater meaning for him than to just look nice... And even when they didn’t, it only took them about seconds of conversation with him to realize how much of a ducky and kind person he truly was. Also, fairly recently he had been getting a lot of praise for his bold fashion choices, what led to a bit of over enthusiasm from his main stylists’s part and himself when it came to investing in it.  

“I promise I actually wear most of these...” He justified himself, noticing the enthralled expression you genuinely believed you were managing to disguise.

“Oh, don’t mind me!” You giggled. “I’m just slightly overwhelmed by the number of choices before me.”         “Well, take all the time you need.” Harry smiled, sitting over the edge of his bed and unlocking his phone to check the time. It was already past midnight.  As you finally gained courage to start going through his clothes, he let his back fall on the bedspread with a sigh and stared at the ceiling, and that’s when you decided you couldn’t possibly not try to mess with him a little bit. “Stupid… Ugly… Out of date…” (Reference (01:20-01:24)              

“Hey! Stop it, will you?!” He sat up again, supporting his upper body with his elbows that rested firmly on his lap. “Have you found my dress yet?” 

You peeked through the open closet to with a curious expression on your face. “No… Where is it?” you asked, disappearing behind the door and enthusiastically searching his closet for the item, suddently grabbing something that kinda looked like a dress, yet kinda looked like a curtain.           “Is this it?” You asked, stepping out of the closet, holding the hanger in front of you.               

“It’s not a dress, it’s a kilt... Sicko!”  (Reference (01:13-01:18)          

“Really? You had that one coming for a long time didn’t you?” You disdainfully smiled, shaking your head in disapproval. You could tell from his little smirk that he was proud of successfully tricking you into his joke. “Yeah, I was hoping you would find it and ask about it, but you didn’t so I had to find a way to deliver the line anyway.”            

“Okay, but for real why do you have a wedding dress in your closet?” You turned the hanger to see the strange garment from the front.            

“Cause I’m cool like that.”        

“You know what? It’s actually not as ugly as it seemed at first sight...”    

“Well, I would hope so ‘cause it was bloody expensive.” At the sound of his words you were quick to carefully hang it back in it’s place, gently rubbing the fabric to avoid any crinkles.

You kept looking through his clothes and ended up finding a almost sheer shirt that you liked. It was rusty orange with a psychadelic flower pattern that looked quite unique. Taking advantage of the fact that Harry was laying down and distracted on his phone and freed yourself of your blouse in a swift motion, trying on his shirt on as fast as you could. It fitted you quite nicely to your surprise.               “So, have you found anything you like yet?” Your friend asked, with his eyes still stuck on his phone.

“Actually yes, but I could use your help… How would you style this?”  He sat up again and focused his attention on you. “How come you end up finding the one shirt I don’t actually remember owning?” 

He admired you from the bed, letting is head fall to the side a bit, you could feel his eyes stuck on your figure, what made you feel a bit unconfortable and insecure about your body. His expression changed as he got up and walked towards you, making a little circle around you and finally stopping right in front of you. “May I?” He asked, reaching for the shirt.        

“Yeah, go ahead.” You lifted your arms slightly so they wouldn’t get on his way. Carefully, he started adjusting the shirt, slipping it inside your pants and gently pulling it out, until it fell down in a natural way.      

You could feel the warmth of his hands on your skin through the fabric, what caused your breathing to get a little heavy and out of your throat came a peculiar husky sound. Luckily, he was so focused on what he was doing that he didn’t even acknowledged it.    

Feeling a bit flustered due to his proximity, you decided to break the silence.     “You look so different now that you cut your hair…”      

“Well, isn’t that kind of the point of changing your hair? Why are you complaining? Do you not find me cute anymore?”  “Who lied to you and told you I ever thought you were cute?” Harry looked up at you with disdainful expression once his green eyes met yours. You could feel your cheeks getting warmer by the second. “Well you’re wrong because I am, in fact, very attractive.” He looked down again and undid one of the buttons of the shirt, what left a bit of the black lace of your bra showing. “What are you doing?” You asked in a startled tone. “Just trust me.”               “Umm… Fine, I guess.” You shrugged as he stepped back to admire his work. His focused expression broke into a proud smile as he moved to the side, uncovering the mirror just so you could see yourself. You looked hot, there’s no other way to put it. The color of the shirt complimented your skin tone beautifully, as well as the golden necklace that fell over your chest in a sensual way, capturing attention to your stripped neckline. “You look cuter than me, I can't have that... Come on, we’re switching. Take it off, now.”  Your handsome friend complained in a frisky tone, grabbing at the hem of his shirt as if he was about to pull it off. “I could never…” You challenged, feeling quite shy after his compliment. “Well, apparently you can.” “You look amazing though...” You complimented back. “Love the pants.” “Really? I think they make my ass look weird sometimes.” The boy confessed, turning around so you could check his bottoms. “I think your ass’s great.” You kind of regretted the conviction you uttered that sentence with. “I mean… in those pants.”

Harry sighed playfully. “I was enjoying the compliment, why did you have to ruin it?” 

“Fine, you can take the compliment then.” You granted easily. “Shouldn’t we get going? I’m sure it’s pretty late already…” “Ready?”           “Yes, let me just…” You ran to your purse, picking one of the lipsticks you had brought with you, applying it in front of the mirror while the charming man shoved his essential belongings into the pockets of his matching blazer and put it on, completing the look.       You noticed he was observing you with curiosity as you tinted your lips in a dark shade of brick orange. “Let’s go missy.” The boy rushed as you locked eyes with him through the mirror.   **

Even though you offered to drive to Claire’s house, he insisted on taking his car because he hadn’t driven in a while and wanted to before he got “rusty”.  As he was driving, you inquired him about who was hosting the party you were going to, since all he’d told you was that you were meeting your friends at Clare’s house and from there you would share a car, so that the whole group would get there together.          

To your surprise, when faced with your question he got quiet and you noticed his expression changing, he briefely took his eyes off the road to look at you and you could practically see the guilt in this face. “What is it?” You asked, wondering what he could be acting so weird about.  

“Hum yeah, about that…” He began to stammer, keeping his eyes stuck to the road.          

“Just tell me it’s not what I think it is.”    “Before you say anything, I know you’ll probably want to kill me right now…”   “Harry!”         “I knew you wouldn’t have come if I told you... It’s going to be fun, I promise! She’s not as bad as you think she is.”         “No Harry!” You fretted. “You know what? Just stop the car, I want to go home.”         

“Well, I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.”  

“I’m not kidding Harry.”               “I’m not dropping you off in the middle of the fucking freeway.”              

“Yes you are!” “No, I’m not.”   He kept driving and you let your body slip through the seat, crossing your arms in silence, resenting him for almost five minutes while he tried to convince you of how Alexa was way nicer than you thought and that she wasn’t really a bitch, it was just that her sense of humor could be a little off-putting sometimes. The way he was defending her made you feel even angrier, even though you weren’t really listening.               

In your head all you could think about was all the times you had the unpleasant surprise of bumping into Alexa. She was such a bitch! Always finding a way to put you down and make you feel embarassed. She even came up with a stupid nickname for you at Harry’s birthday party that she always made sure to use, even though she must’ve known you hated it.       “Just so you know, when we get to Claire’s I’m getting a cab and going home.” 

“Fine.” He jerked his shoulders dismissively. “If you want to miss out on a great time with our friends, it’s up to you.”             “When she’s there it’s never really a good time for me so I guess I’m good.”       “Come on…” Harry huffed, shifting his gaze off to road for a moment to check on his muddled friend. “Everyone was so excited to see you...”             You were mad that he lied to you, but you were madder that you had gotten all dressed up and now you weren’t going. You also missed your mutual friends and hanging out with them. You kept weighting the pros and the cons throughout the rest of the drive, and when you got to Claire’s house, after a little convincing from the group, you decided you were not going to let the fact that it was Alexa’s party ruin the night for you.        

You were still mad at Harry though. And having to go on another car trip with him, feeling his body pressing up against yours whenever there was a turnabout, wasn’t making it easy for you to keep your cool.              

As you finally got to Alexa’s house you could tell the house was packed by the number of cars parked outside, making you feel relieved you had a driver, because if you had to find a place to park it would’ve been a nightmare.        

There was a group of people lining up, and as you got closer you noticed two men by the door checking for the guests names on a list. You started to get worried that your friends might have omitted to Alexa that you were going, since you were almost certain that your presence wouldn’t please her any better than it did to you. You eyed their faces, looking for any sign of concern, however they seemed calm.

As you walked the line, you started to get more and more nervous, ending up momentarily swallowing your pride and pulling at Harry’s sleeve, in hopes of getting his attention without the rest of the group noticing. “Does Alexa know I’m coming to her party?” You asked as quietly as you could.    

“Of course she does! I told her myself.”

“What did she say?”    

He didn’t get to answer your question because he was approached by the doorkeeper, that asked him for his name. Harry politely greeted him before answering his question and being such a gentleman, he provided the names of the other members of the group.

The doorkeeper checked the names on the list and to your surprise your name was actually there. He allowed the group to get inside. All of you murmuring a brief “thank you” as you walked past the big guy.              

The door led to a giant lounge style living room, that seemed to be where the focus of the party was. To your right, there were three big windows, each with it’s own balcony, where small groups of people gathered to enjoy a smoke and the beautiful view of the city. In the middle of the room there was an open dance space, demarked by an enormous persian carpet, that was still pretty empty despite the fact the DJ was already playing.        

Behind the dance area there were two long tables, practically stuffed with different types of alcoholic beverages. It had to be one of the most diverse open bars you had ever seen at a house party.          From the ceiling fell party ribbons and lights, and the walls were adorned with baloons and paper decorations. You tried to decipher the color of the objects around you, but it was almost impossible due to the color changing lights that provided an hallucinogenic athmosphere to the space.

You looked around, trying to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. As your eyes scanned the place, they found couple of familiar faces, but they froze at a well-known face in the kitchen.        

There was Alexa… She was sitting over the counter, scrolling on her phone. Her glossy lips rested on the edge of the paper cup she was holding. The light from the screen illuminated her face, making her glittery eyeshadow pop behind the thick lashes that she was wearing. She was dressed in a two-toned metallic mini dress and knee-high platform boots. You could tell from her expression that she was distressed about something. Her stillness gave you the opportunity to study her face. Her features were quite angelical, something you had never noticed before.

The sound of something scattering on the kitchen floor woke her up from her daydream as she turned around to curse at whoever opened the kitchen cabinet. Yup, there’s the bitch, You mused to yourself.            

She jumped off the counter and walked out of the kitchen, making her way around the groups of people that were chattering by the door. She walked around the living room, trying to greet the people she hadn’t seen yet.

Your eyes briefly met hers before she approached your friends. They went for a group hug, in which you didn’t participate. Instead, you awkwardly stared at them while they hugged and chatted. Harry looked back at you, encouraging you to join them with an eye motion, you let out a sigh and moved closer to the group, what caught Alexa’s attention. “Hi Nutmeg! I haven’t seen you in a hot minute…” She greeted you by kissing the air next to your cheek, before looking you up and down. “I see you’ve upgraded your closet... It was about time.” The beautiful girl remarked, focusing her attention on the shirt you were wearing.        

You found yourself side-eyeing Harry, trying your hardest to ignore her taunting words. “I swear I’ve seen that somewhere... what brand is it?” Her question startled you. Prompting your head to tilt towards Harry, realizing he had mirrored the gesture to stare at you. You stood there staring at each other, both of you wishing you could read his mind. “Is there something I’m missing?” Alexa questioned, suspicious of your odd behaviour.          

“No, not at all!” Harry was quick to intervene. “I’m gonna go for a drink, anyone wants to join me?” He suggested, clearly attempting to brush off the topic.        

“I’ll go get the drinks.” You volunteered, taking the chance to escape and ditch Alexa’s question.

“Will you get me some jack and coke?” The girl requested, handing you her freshly empty cup. “Thanks.” She added when you grabbed it from her hand. It was probably the only time you actually felt pleased to fix Alexa a drink. “Harry, what do you want?” You called his attention back to you, upon realizing he was already engaged into conversation with someone you didn’t know.            

“Double Tequila, please.” You raised your brows at his choice of beverage. Already knowing that when he started the night with Tequila he would, most likely, end up drunk out of his mind. But you didn’t bother to try to coarce him into switching to something else. “Do you need an extra hand?” He offered out of politeness.        

“It’s fine, I’m sure I can handle it.” You spat as you left, not wanting to interrupt his conversation again.   

As the night went on, people started to gather mainly around the dance space, that was proving itself to be a little too small for the large amount of people using it. You were having a good time, but you were definitely not enjoying the feeling of getting rubbed all over by everyone around you. Harry, on the other hand, didn’t seem bothered whatsoever. And as you predicted, he was already pretty out of it, prancing around the place and carelessly engaging into conversation with everyone who approached him, including people you knew he shit talked behind their back... The fake little bitch...       

You tried not to care, but you couldn’t keep yourself from constantly checking on him to see what he was up to. You weren’t the only one who couldn’t keep your eyes away from him.. What wasn’t unnusual, since he was such a natural attention-grabber. Howbeit, there were several girls and boys that were practically drooling at the sight of him. That wasn’t new either, but it didn’t make it any less annoying...        

When the boy finally made his way back to the group, he tried to convince you to dance with him by grabbing your hand and making you spin for him. You graciously brushed him off. Mostly out of shyness, persuading him into asking your friend John instead. He agreed on the spot... And once he finally managed to get his friend to bend at his will, they got everyone laughing and cheering, encouraging them to keep up with the tango dance moves. But it wasn’t long until the two boys had enough of the attention, laughing it off and joining the group again.          

Then a figure rose above the crowd. It was Alexa, who has just stood up on a table holding a microphone in her hand that she was slowly tapping on, attempting to grab everyone’s attention. “Hello, hello, hello my magnificent friends. How is everyone feeling tonight?” She asked, earning a loud cheer from the crowd, that she encouraged by clapping silently before speaking again. “Alright, alright... can y’all can shut the fuck up now? …I just wanted to say that I hope everyone is getting drunk and having a great time. You know me, I gotta be real with you… There are some people here I’d much rather had stayed home, but you know what? You don’t really bother me.” The girl shrugged haughtily. “With that said, I’d like to propose a toast to every single one of you motherfuckers that came to my party. Cheers, bitches!” She yelled the last two words, emptying her cup in a single swig while the crowd cheered and downed their own cups along with the host.

The fact that Alexa let you in had given you the impression that maybe Harry was right about her, but her speech left a bad taste in your mouth and made you wonder if you were one of the people she was talking about, you were almost certain you were. “What did you say earlier about her being a nice person?” You ironically asked Harry, that was standing right beside you.        

Your eyes were still stuck on her as you wondered if she would manage to get down from the table without falling. You secretly hoped she wouldn’t.            

He failed to answer your question, so you turned to him. Only to realize that he wasn’t there anymore. Your eyes quickly danced around the room, searching for your missing friend, and unfortunatly it wasn’t long until they found him...  

Your whole body went cold, feeling your heart sink in your chest. Your vision felt blurry, and there was a complicated knot forming at the tip of your stomach. There he was. Barely six feet away from you. With his back flush against a wall and his lips pressed harshly on somebody else’s. His hands gently caressed up the other boy’s back, that had his hands firmly clutched onto your friend’s hair and the back of his neck.            

You felt like your whole world was crashing down in front of you.            

Whilst everyone around you was enjoying themselves, all you wanted to do was collapse to your knees and scream your confusing pain away, but you couldn’t. There was nothing you could do and it just fucking hurt.            

You’d always known it would eventually happen... But nothing could ever prepare you for the feeling of watching the person you love fondling somebody else.    

In the middle of your agony, you noticed a pair of hazel eyes staring right at you from distance, breaking your attention from the heartbreaking scene. “Yo... What the fuck?!” You couldn’t hear her words, but you could read them clearly through the motion of her lips. She looked completely baffled by the state of you.

You stepped back, attempting your best to muffle into the crowd, but it was too late... You were certain she’d saw the devastated look on your face, and the glistening tear that rolled down your cheek afterwards.

You turned your back on the scene and pushed through the crowd, hidding your face as you stumbled upon almost everyone on your way to the bathroom. You locked yourself inside and leaned against the door, finally letting it all out as you sobbed uncontrollably and allowed for your body to slide down the surface, until your knees met the cold marble floor.    

A unexpected loud banging on the door startled you. “It’s occupied.” Y/N shouted, in the most composed voice she could fabricate.  

“It’s Alexa... open the door.” The girl shouted back impatiently.    

“Fuck off Alexa!” You could feel your blood boil and your hands trembling at the mere sound of her voice. “Just leave me alone, will you?”

There was silence for a moment, before she banged on the door harder. You tried to ignore it because considering your state, at the slighest provocation you’d probably lose it and punch her in the face. “Don’t be a fucking bitch, I’m here to help.” Alexa shouted again, but it was pointless. “Okay, fine. I guess I’ll have to ask someone to kick the door down...”

“Don’t you fucking dare.”          

“It’s my house. What are you going to do about it?” She challenged, knowing you couldn’t fight her on that. “You have three seconds… one...two…” You flang the door open before she could finish her countdown, causing her to tremble ever so slightly. “Quite the charm, aren’t you?” She sighed satirically, making her way inside the bathroom while fixing her dress. You noticed she was holding a bottle of Bacardi rum, that she promptly opened and handed to you. You stood there perplexedly looking at her, trying to figure out what her intentions were. “Are you going to take it or not?” At that, you abruptly grabbed the bottle from her hand and took it to your lips, taking a big chug and giving it back with a disgusted expression caused by the intense alcohol sting. Alexa took the bottle to her lips as well, but unlike you, her face didn’t even flinch. “What did you come here for?” The sharpness of your tone led her into giving you a dirty look “What do you think? That I came in here to make fun of you?”            

“I wouldn’t be surprised if you did.”     “Just thought you could use a friend...” She explained, jumping on her bum to sit on the countertop. “And luckily for you, so do I.”  

“Judging by the number of people outside, I’m sure you have plenty of friends.”  

She let out a silent wheeze at your guess. “Everything isn’t always what it seems, Nutmeg… I have people that keep me company, but when it comes down to the real shit, I have no one I can count with really…”        

“I’m finding that quite hard to believe if I’m honest…”               “I know you are. So is everyone else. They all assume my life is just perfect. After all, I have everything, don’t I? I don’t blame them... I know I can be cruel and bitter sometimes, but I’m not the cold-hearted, super confident bitch everyone thinks that I am.”   “Why are you telling me all that?”          

“I don’t know… Maybe ‘cause I’m drunk and lonely and you’re one of the few people here that I actually like…” You couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. “You’re messing with me, right?”  She, on the other hand, seemed rather confused by your apprehensiveness. “I appreciate people like you... Who manage to stay true to themselves despite hanging out with these people. It’s so easy to lose yourself in this environment... But I don’t think you did, and I can appreciate that.”  

“I’m just lucky to have good friends... If they were different, I don’t know if I’d stayed so nice and humble.”      

As the silence settled, you took the chance to sit down on the edge of her expensive looking bathtub. “So… changing the subject. You and Harry, what’s the deal?”  

“What do you mean?” You pretended you didn’t know what she was implying, hoping she would let go of the topic.

“I’m not stupid. I saw the way you looked when he was all over that guy… I confess I had no idea that you were into him. I thought you liked girls, I could almost swear he had told me that.” Her words made your stomach twist, and Alexa didn’t miss your distressed expression. “Sorry... I’m not very good with words. I didn’t mean to make it worse.” The girl added, trying to make up for her cold stance. “Here...” She handed you back the bottle, and you agreeably to a swig from it. “Does he know?”

“I don’t think so...”   “I don’t mean to be unpleasant but I think he thinks you’re a lesbian.”   “Yeah, I know…  he’s not completely wrong, I guess.”     “So, you’re bi?”               “I don’t really know what I am.”               “Oh, it’s okay. You don’t have to be anything, you can just be… yourself!” You locked eyes with her, briefely smiling at her motivational words “How long have you fancied him for?”

“I don’t know...” You stared down at your own feet. “Thinking back, I guess I always kind of have... but it’s complicated. So I just hoped it would go away with time... Besides, you’ve seen the people he gets with. They’re all gorgeous, and I... I mean, I don’t really meet the standards, do I?”         “And how’s that working out for you?” You went quiet, since you didn’t really have a good answer to give. “Okay, here’s what I think you should do. First of all, you gotta stop with the self loathing. It’s depressing and outdated. You’re just as valid as everyone else.”

“It’s not self loathing. You don’t understand… What if he pushes me away? I really care for our friendship and I don’t want to throw it all away because of a stupid crush.”     “A stupid crush? Didn’t you just say you’ve always liked him? How long have you known eachother for? Three years?”   “Well… Two and half, but it’s not like I’ve been waiting for him… I’ve had my fair share of relationships and so did he, I never did anything to change that. Why would I start now?”       “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’re at a party, locked inside a bathroom, crying over him, while he’s out there screwing somebody else.”           “God, you’re certainly are awful with words aren’t you?”             “I take pride in my honesty.” She stated. “Look, all I can say is that I think this whole “crush” situation is, obviously, far more than a crush... And you know I’m right so don’t even bother to deny it. Therefore, I think it’s long overdue that you do something about how you feel, otherwise you’re just gonna be stuck wondering on the what ifs forever, watching him live his life while you’re unable to move on with your yours, and you deserve better than that. Anyone deserves better than that.”       “It’s just… scary.”   “Isn’t everything worth trying always somewhat scary at first?”   You ended up spending the rest of the night with Alexa. Sitting inside her large empty bathtub, sharing your shittiest life experiences and drowning your sorrows with the bottle of rum. She told you about her crazy ex-boyfriend, and how he had been making her life a living hell since their break up. Showing up uninvited at her work, her parties, and practically everywhere she went, despite her telling him time and time again to stop and leave her alone. You advised her the best you could, but as you expected, she was pretty stubborn and acted as if she had everything under control, even though she clearly did not. The night had taken a unexpected turn for you, however, at least there was something positive you could also take from it, that being the friendship that was beggining to fluorish between you and Alexa. 

You were so deep in conversation that you completely lost track of time, so much that you finally felt tired and decided to check you phone for the time, it was already 6AM.

You had seven missed calls and fifteen text messages from your friends asking where you were, if you were okay and if you were still leaving with them. You realized they had probably already left, so you just apologized for leaving early and informed them that you were fine. When you and Alexa got out of the bathroom, there were still a couple of people hanging around, but as expected, the vast majority had already left.         

The light coming from the windows hurt your tired eyes and your bottom half was hurting from spending so many hours sitting inside a bathtub. By that time, all you wanted to do was go home, take a shower and take a nap to make up for the all nighter you pulled, but then you remembered…      

“Shit!”

“What?”

“I left my car at Harry’s house.”              

I hope you’re enjoying it so far! Chapter II is hereeee!

[the-sweetest-dragon]

Things Can Only Get Better - Chapter One

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Pairing: Stiles Stilinksi x OC (Evangeline Monroe)

Word Count: 11k

Warnings: allusions to trauma, me explaining things, anxiety, an extremely slow burn

AN: Hi... I am alive, barely.  I honestly don’t know if anyone really wants this, but I’m posting it because @nerdsarebetter​ told me to <3.  This is purely self indulgent but I’m actually kinda proud of it so uh..... yeah.  Sorry this isn’t my IT fic but this has been making me really happy so you’re just gonna have to deal with it.  Oh, the dots symbolize a change in point of view, just so everyone is aware 

__________________________________________

“The wolves in the woods have sharp teeth and long claws, but it’s the wolf inside that will tear you apart.” -Jennifer Donnelly

Mom and I drove through many different states during our drive from Kansas to California.  We watched the sun set in New Mexico and the sun rise in Arizona.  None of them compared to Kansas, but we’d learn to deal. Mom and I paused to rest when we reached California, since we had been driving for what felt like forever.  

The move was necessary; we all needed a bit of a fresh start.  We were returning to Mom’s old home, Beacon Hills, where my aunt and cousin still lived.  Now, you may be wondering why we were living in Kansas when we could have been living in California the entire time.  My parents met at the University of Kansas; she was an art history major and he was a law student.  It was instant chemistry and after they were married, they just never saw a reason to leave Kansas.  Until Dad got this job offer and decided that we all needed a change of scenery. 

Was that partially my fault? Yeah, kinda.  Last winter was rough for all of us, and I knew it was one of the reasons Dad accepted this new position.  I also knew he wouldn’t ever insinuate that it was fully my fault, even though it definitely was.  Mom assured me that Dad wanted this job anyways, and I tried to believe her.  

We settled down for the night in a cheap motel just inside the California border.  I took the time to relax and update my cousin and Dad about our travels.  Dad sent me a picture of the new house, with him smiling in front of it.  I couldn’t help but smile; he looked so happy already.  Lydia, my cousin, gave me details about the high school that would be starting the day after we arrived.  She told me about her life, the classes and teachers we would have, how excited she was to see us.  

I knew having Lydia Martin as a cousin would help me find friends, but she was insistent that I would have to have a boyfriend.  Now, I wasn’t going to think too hard on that one, especially since I knew that with Lydia around, finding a boyfriend or even a guy that was interested in me would be practically impossible.  

Lydia looked a lot like me, in a lot of ways.  We shared the same red hair and our faces were very similar.  When we were little, people would confuse us for sisters when we would visit her and her parents.  The small differences between us weren’t necessarily in looks, but in our personalities.  Lydia had always been bossy and confident, and remained that way.  I have always been more of a classical bookworm; I would sit alone and read during recess, I never had many friends, and I wasn’t the prettiest.  Despite sharing similar faces, Lydia didn’t have to struggle with her weight.  I had… issues, that came to a head last winter.  

We started the drive back up again early this morning.  It was only another two hours in the car and then we were in Beacon Hills.  I watched in awe as the city sprawled out in front of us.  We drove down several streets, Mom exploring her old home that she would be able to share fully with her family.  Soon we were turning onto the street to our house.  

As we pull into the driveway for our new house, I can’t help but admire it.  Dad had found probably the prettiest house I could have ever imagined.  It’s painted a deep blue color, with ivy crawling up the sides.  The front porch held an old picnic table and a few boxes from Dad moving a few things in.  It’s pushed up against the woods, the tall trees embracing the back half of it.  

I pull myself from the leather seats and stretch before getting out of the car.  Mom smiles over at me before doing the same.  I can see her mind working on how to improve the house, where she can plant her garden and let it blossom.  Distracted by the house, I don’t hear another car pull up behind our own.

“Evie!”

At the sound of my name I quickly turn to find Lydia standing near the parked U-HAUL Dad drove up here a day before.  I let out an ungodly squeal and run towards her, catching her in a hug before she can tell me to stop.  She let out a soft sound of discomfort before I let her go.  

“Sorry,” I say with a smile.  “Wasn’t expecting you to be here already.”  I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear and readjust my glasses to sit more comfortably on my nose.  “Are you here to help me or…?” 

Lydia laughs softly and shakes her head, strawberry curls bouncing slightly at the movement.  The light caught her green eyes, making them sparkle like emeralds.  Not for the first time, I wish I had inherited green eyes instead of my father’s dark brown ones.  

“I’m here to tell you about my party that you’re the guest of honor this Friday.”  I let out a soft groan; parties were one of my least favorite activities.  “No, I will not hear any of that.  You are my cousin, you have to be introduced to the public in the grandest way possible.  I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, ok?”  I nod, agreeing silently.  Arguing with Lydia was not something I wanted to do, ever.  She would win and it’s much easier to just agree with her.

Lydia left with a pat on my arm, leaving us to move in on our own.  She stopped to hug my parents before getting into her car and driving back to her own house, in a much more expensive part of town.  

Moving all my boxes into the house took longer than I originally expected.  By the time I had gotten everything into my new room it was dark outside.  Instead of unpacking, I decided to take a short walk into the woods, just to explore a little.  The air had turned chilly, so I grabbed a hoodie and changed into more comfortable shoes.  

“Don’t forget a flashlight!” Dad says before I head out into the dark.  He hands me one with a smile.  He was used to me sitting at the edge of the woods at our old house, reading a book against a tree.  

As I enter the dark of the woods, I can immediately sense something off.  The woods in Kansas never felt like this, never felt so… sinister, like something was watching me.  I shake the feeling off, knowing I only felt this way because it was new.  

I walk for maybe twenty minutes before I trip on a tree trunk.  I wince, hands and knees scraped and bloody from the fall.  I wipe the blood from my hands off on my jeans when I hear a howl in the distance.  I fix my glasses and tilt my head, making sure I heard it correctly before continuing.  The sounds of animals were familiar and not threatening, but it was still spooky.  I make it another few feet when I get the sense that something is following me.  I check over both shoulders and see nothing but the feeling doesn’t go away.  I turn back towards the house and quicken my step, refusing to run quite yet.  

The feeling continues and I’m so distracted by it that I trip again.  I land hard on my already cut knees, my flashlight disappearing into the brush.  Biting my lip so hard, I taste blood, but refusing to let out a sound of pain to alert whatever was following me that I was injured.  I fumble, trying to pick it back up when I feel something close around my ankle.  

Before I can scream, I’m being dragged backwards, farther into the woods.  I try to kick at whatever is holding me, when I feel wickedly sharp teeth latch into the fleshy part of my calf.  I scream, both in frustration and pain as I double my efforts to get free.  Nothing I do seems to make it let me go.  The pain becomes secondary to the panic that fills me.  What happens if I can’t get free?  Will anyone come to find me?  What will be left of me to find?  I feel immense anger take over me; I did not come all this way just to be taken out by some anonymous thing.  Letting the rage fuel me, I kick my attacker so hard that I hear a bark of pain and the teeth let go.  The moment I feel it release my leg I’m up and sprinting back to the house.  

I run until I can see the light of the house and I’m out of the woods.  I check over my shoulder to see if anything follows me but the only thing I see is darkness.  Collapsing on the front porch, the pain finally hits me.  The reek of my blood fills the air and the sight of my own blood leaking out of me makes me want to vomit.  I press a hand to my calf to check the damage, feeling the bite marks that it left there.  A sob escapes me and that's the moment Mom decides to open the door.

“Honey!  What’s wrong?  Where’d all this blood come from?  Are you hurt?” she questions in rapid fire succession.  Instead of answering, I break down in tears.  Mom pulls me inside where Dad is waiting with a first aid kit.  He calmly applies pressure to the bite mark, asking quiet questions about what happened.  I give a  quick version of the story, including my thought that it was a wolf that bit me.  Dad nods but Mom looks like she may argue with me.  Thankfully, she doesn’t.

Dad cleans out my various wounds with alcohol and I wince softly.  He apologizes and puts bandages on my hands and knees, then wraps my calf in gauze and tapes the edges with medical tape.  The wound still bled a little.

“Can you stand?” Dad asks gently.  I nod and he pulls me up carefully.  

“We should take her to the hospital Danny!  She could be seriously injured!” Mom exclaims, her panic evident in her voice.  Dad turns a level look at her, one hand resting on her shoulder.

“The marks aren’t deep enough for stitches, Mandy,” he says calmly.  “We cleaned them out really well, so there shouldn’t be any infection.  We’ll keep an eye on it, okay?”  Mom nods, wiping at a tear that had fallen.  Dad helps me up the stairs to my bedroom.  

After he deposits me into bed, Mom sits down beside me with a glass of water and a few painkillers.  She runs a hand over my uninjured leg and smiles at me.  

“I remember when I was little, your grandma always warned me to stay out of the woods.  She said bad things lingered there.”  She sighs, a frown forming on her face.  “I never understood the warning, but I do now.  Please, don’t go back into those woods.  I know you like to read in secluded spots but from now on, the woods are off limits, especially at night.  Do you understand Evie?”

“Yes, Mom.  I understand.”  She nods, a sigh coming from deep within her.  “I think it’s for the best anyways.  They kind of freak me out.  It’s nothing like the woods in Kansas.”  Mom laughs softly, shaking her head.

“You got that right kiddo.”  She sighs.  “Well, try to get some rest babe.  Lydia will be here bright and early I’m sure.”  

I nod and she gets up off my bed, walking to the door and leaving my room.  I drift off sometime around one in the morning, Persephone, my cat, curled up next to me.  I, surprisingly, have no dreams, not even with the horrific events of the night plaguing my waking thoughts.  

My alarm goes off at six and I groan before getting up.  My hands and knees still ache from my falls in the woods, but the bite had stopped bleeding sometime in the night.  I would have to get Dad to replace the bandages anyways, just to be safe.  I carefully remove the gauze from my calf, checking it out in the mirror before turning on the hot water.  The marks themselves weren’t big but they went deep into the muscle of my calf.  I take a quick shower and sit patiently on the toilet seat for Dad to rebandage my leg.  He does it without complaint, even giving me a smile before patting my thigh and returning to his own morning routine. 

I dress quickly, in an outfit I had planned on the drive here.  The loose fitting plain pants paired with a white button down, the shirt half tucked in and I unbutton a few buttons then roll up my sleeves past my elbows.  I put on a gold locket I got as a present from Nana before leaving Kansas and admire the way in glints in the light.  I finish the outfit off with a thick black belt before rushing to do my hair and makeup.  I keep my makeup light and pull my short hair into a half ponytail, letting my bangs fall slightly in my eyes before putting my glasses back on.  A honk from outside makes me rush to put in earrings and I grab my shoes and bag before rushing out the door to Lydia’s waiting car. I wince as I get into the car, my wounds still aching.  Lydia lets out a wolf whistle, admiring my outfit.  She’s dressed rather nicely too, though that is her default.  Dressing nicely gives her confidence, and Lydia has always had a great sense of style.  I smile, showing off my outfit for her, her expert eye noting all the little details and gives me a nod of approval.  

“Great first day outfit Evie.  It’s almost perfect.”  I laugh as I buckle my seat belt, leaning down to roll the cuffs of my pants a few times and slipping on my boots, accidentally flashing my bandage at her.  “Woah what happened to your leg?”

I retell my story to her, leaving out some of the scarier details to not freak her out as badly.  As I tell her, Lydia’s eyebrows retreat further and further into her hair, her eyes going wide at the mention of feeling like I was being stalked.  I show her the bandages on my hands as well, laughing about how clumsy I was right before I was bit.  

“That’s so weird.  We’ve never had animal attacks before,” she says.  After a pause, she continues.  “Well, just stay out of the woods, Evie, and we won’t have an issue.”  I laugh softly as she turns the ignition and we drive in comfortable silence to school.  Once there, she turns to me, her curls moving with her.  “So, I’ll introduce you to Jackson when we get inside.  I’m sure he’ll love you.”  She smiles, giving me confidence.  Having Lydia’s vote of confidence meant the world to me.  

“I’ll do my best to make a good impression.”  I shoot her a lopsided grin, my glasses perched precariously on my nose.  Lydia gently pushes them back up and boops my nose before getting out of the car, making me laugh.  I unbuckle my seat and grab my bag before doing the same.  

I follow her through the main doors of the school, ignoring two boys talking on the sidewalk.  One was taller than the other, with fluffy hair and an uneven jaw; I vaguely recognized him.  Maybe I had seen him on the street yesterday?  The other had a buzzcut and whiskey brown eyes.  They’re discussing some body the police found in the woods last night and I feel a surge of panic fill me.  My stomach turned sour and I’m suddenly glad I hadn’t eaten yet.  That body could have easily been me.  It had been found ripped in half, by an animal they thought.  Their conversation stops as we walk by.

“Hey Lydia!  You look… like you’re going to ignore me,” the buzzcut one says.  I turn and shoot him a soft smile in apology and hurry along with Lydia.  Poor boy is probably in love with her, like most boys are.  Jackson is a real lucky guy if Lydia chose him out of the millions of guys prancing around trying to impress her.  

The feeling of panic settles in my gut, and I suddenly remember that I hadn’t stopped to take my medication before leaving the house.  All eyes fall on us, making Lydia smile as she struts down the hallway to her locker, but I frown pausing slightly.  She definitely didn’t prepare me for this.  A boy quickly joins her side and I hurry to catch up, trying to forget about the panic lacing my body.  I check my bag for my antidepressants, but realize they aren’t there quickly.  I quietly curse, hoping no one heard me as I race to catch up to Lydia before the bell rings.  

I bounce on the balls on my feet, a smile flashing across my face at the boy, who I assume is Jackson.  His face is handsome but seems to be set in a permanent scowl.  He gives me a quick nod and turns back to Lydia.  They have a soft conversation right before the bell rings.  I wince, the sound too loud in my ears.  Lydia gives you a worried look before taking me to the principal's office for a tour.  

She leaves me with a smile and a promise to meet me at lunch.  I walk in and have a short conversation with the secretary, giving her the files from my old school that I had put in my bag, the one important thing I had remembered to take with me today.  The tour is short, mostly going through where my classes were going to be before she drops me off at my English class, where another new girl is being introduced.  

“Class, these are our new students Allison Argent and Evangeline Monroe. Please do your best to make them feel welcome.”  The other new girl is pretty, with dark curls and pretty dark eyes.  I shoot her a smile before heading towards one of the only open seats, coincidentally near the boys from earlier.  Allison does the same, sitting behind the one with fluffy hair.  I watch as he turns to hand her a pen, a grin plastered on his face.  The other one turns to look at me and I catch a whiff of his cologne, which is far too strong for a Wednesday morning.  

I gag slightly at the smell and he makes a face at me before turning his attention back to the teacher.  God, I had never had such a strong sense of smell before.  Maybe I’m coming down with something?  Trying to quell the panic before it sets in, I push my glasses back up onto my nose to distract me, and try to concentrate on the lesson and not the awful smell radiating from the boy next to me. 

He smelled of the woods and death on top of his strong cologne.  Now that I thought about it, so did the other boy.  He had the reek of blood lingering on him as well.  I’m so focused on the smell that I drop my pen.  As I reach for it, so does buzzcut and we hit our heads on each other.

“Ow,” he says rather loudly.  I mouth sorry and he hands me my pen, grimacing slightly.  

“Stiles, if you have something to share with the class, maybe you should stand up.”  The boy, Stiles, shakes his head and the teacher continues with his lesson.  I readjust my pony tail and continue to take notes quietly.

The next half of the day passes quickly and soon it’s lunch time.  I search for Lydia in the cafeteria and spot her sitting with Jackson, having a heated conversation about something.  I pause after getting my food and feel the ache in my leg start to lessen.  I smile to myself, happy that it’s started to hurt less.  Lydia spots me and waves me over to her table, where the other new girl, Allison, is also sitting.  I walk over quickly and sit down next to Lydia.  

“Evie, please help me convince Allison that she has to come to our party.”  I make eye contact with Allison, who shakes her head slightly, making me laugh slightly.  “She says she has a family thing but we all know that’s a load of bull.”  

“If she doesn’t want to come, that’s her business Lydia.”  I smile and extend my hand to Allison.  “I’m Evie by the way, Lydia’s cousin.  You just moved here right?”  She nods and the conversation flows easily after that.  We compare schedules and find out that we share three classes with each other in the afternoon: PE, chemistry, and math.  

Apparently, PE is used as an extra practice for the lacrosse team, which I won’t complain about.  I hate mandatory physical exertion.  However, as Lydia explains the game to Allison and I, I’m lost within five minutes and Allison seems just as confused as I am.  Lydia gives us all the details on the guys on the team, mostly in relation to which ones she thinks we should date.  She completely skips over 24 and 11, deeming them undateable by not mentioning them.  Allison and I share a look, already wondering who the two could be.  

“Who’s number eleven?” Allison asks.  I raise an eyebrow, turning to Lydia to hear her answer.  Lydia purses her lips, an unreadable expression on her face.  

“I’m not sure,” she says after a slight pause.  “A freshman maybe?”  I laugh softly, shaking my head.  It’s just like my cousin to not know the boys that don’t catch her eye.  We watch both boys take off their helmets to get a drink and their identities are revealed quickly.

“Oh, it’s those boys from English class,” I say with a flick of my hand.  Lydia laughs, Allison joining in soon after but quieter.  I lean forward, balancing my chin on my hand.  “They’re kinda cute, in a nerdy kind of way.”  Allison nods and Lydia’s face pulls into a frown.  

“Out of all the guys, you think they’re cute?  Them? Seriously?”  The confusion on her face makes me want to laugh, though I refrain from doing so.  “Evie, I can understand.  The boys at your old school were atrocious to look at, all weak jawlines and colorless eyes.  Not sure about you Allison, but you have to have better taste than that.  You’ve been all around, surely there’s better guys than those two?”  I shrug, turning my attention back to the boys running on the field.  

“It’s not just about looks Lydia, it's about personality.  I much prefer someone with a sense of humor over someone with perfect cheekbones,” Allison says with a smile.  I nod, agreeing.  I notice how she watches McCall and already I know she’s interested in him.

“Personally, I don’t really care about gender either.  If they have a good personality, what should it matter what they look like?” I say.  Lydia just shakes her head and turns her attention back to the field to watch Jackson practice.  I nudge Allison and lean in close to whisper in her ear.  “That got her to shut up, huh?”

Allison laughs and bumps me with her shoulder.  The rest of the period passes in relative silence.  At one point, I pull out a book and start reading, the pages fluttering in the slight breeze.  McCall apparently has improved immensely over the summer according to Coach.  However, every time the ball was caught a shiver ran up my spine at the sound.  It hurt my ears to hear, like nails on a chalkboard but not nearly as bad.  It got to the point that the sound was making my head throb in pain.  I rub my temple and dig through my bag until I find the bottle of ibuprofen I had stashed in there.  I take three and take a swig of water out of Lydia’s bottle.  I pat her leg before going inside at the sound of the bell.

“See you after school?”

She nods, dismissing me with a wave of her hand.  I grab my bag and hurry to my next class.  The rest of the day passes quickly and I meet Lydia back at her car.  Jackson and her are making out quite ferociously on her side of the car, making me roll my eyes.  I sigh and go to find another ride.  Maybe Allison could give me a ride.  

As I walk back towards the school, I get body slammed by some guy, sending me tumbling to the ground.  My books fly everywhere and the other person makes a loud sound of pain.  

“I am so sor- oh it’s you.”  The guy sighs, and overs a hand to help me up.  “You really need to learn to watch where you’re going.”  It’s the guy from English, Stiles I believe, that I had bonked heads with earlier.  He hauls me up to my feet and picks up my sprawled books while I dust myself off.  The cuts on my knees are screaming, but the pain is quick to fade after a few seconds.  

“Thanks,” I say with a smile, happy to reconcile.  I hold out a hand.  “I’m Evie, by the way.  Stiles, right?  I’m really sorry about earlier.”  The boy blinks in surprise, not used to female attention.  He takes my hand and shakes it.  I tuck a stray piece of hair behind my ear, taking my bag back from him.  Stiles looks over my shoulder, realizing without me saying anything why I was walking away from Lydia’s car.  “Would you mind giving me a lift home?  My ride’s kinda busy.”  He gets a funny grin on his face before nodding.

I follow him back to his car, an older Jeep that I instantly fall in love with. Jeeps have always been my favorite car, and I was saving up for one before… well, before last winter.  I can feel my face breaking trying to contain my smile.  Stiles raises an eyebrow and opens my door for me.  The inside of the Jeep is messy, as if he kind of lives in it.  

“So, Evie.  How’re you related to Lydia?” he asks as I climb into the car.  I throw my bag in the back and buckle my seat belt.  

“She’s my cousin, our mothers are sisters.  I just moved here from Kansas.”  Stiles frowns, as if Kansas is an insult to him personally.  He turns the ignition and we drive silently after I give him my address.  I wince only once, when we hit a pothole in the road that reminds me that my calf is not ok.  I lean down to check the bandage, but there’s no new blood.  Stiles looks over at me at that moment.

“What happened there?” he asks.

“Oh, I got bit by some animal last night in the woods,” I say with a wave of my hand, like it’s no big deal that I probably should have gotten a rabies shot.  He slams the brakes, shooting me forwards in my seat and hitting my head on his dash.  “Ow!”  I rub my forehead, with an indignant look on my face.  “What is your obsession with hurting me today?”  He turns towards me quickly, one arm flinging itself over the back of my seat.  

“You got bit in the woods last night?” he asks.

“Yes, what part of that did you not understand?”

“My friend Scott was bit last night too!  Why were you in the woods?  Did you hear about the body that was found?” he says in rapid fire.  “I wonder if it was the same animal… Can I see the bite?”  My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion but show him the wound only to discover that it has fully healed.  His eyes go wide and I hear him mutter, “oh fuck.”

“I - I don’t understand.  It was bloody this morning…”  Stiles looks panicked, and honestly I’m on the precipice of a panic attack myself.  “I promise!  I had to change the bandage this morning because it had bled through the first one.  I have no reason to lie to you.”

“I don’t understand then.  You don’t even have a scar.”  I sigh and lean my head onto the dash.  Could this day get any weirder?  Stiles sits up straighter in his seat, as if an idea came over him.  “Have you been having hearing and light sensitivity?  Scott said earlier that the lights were hurting his eyes and that he had heard someone’s phone call from outside.”  I nod, narrowing my eyes at him.  

“I’ve also had a sensitivity to certain smells.  Like earlier, you smelled awful.”  A hurt look crosses his face, and I try to quickly amend.  “You smell fine now, but earlier you reeked of death…” I pause.  “Maybe that was Scott.  I apologize for saying you smelled bad.”  He shakes his head, a small smile on his face.

“You’re forgiven.”  The smile falls when he realizes how close the symptoms were to each other.  To be honest, it was kind of freaking me out as well.  Before I know it, the Jeep is in motion again but the opposite way from my house.  

“Where are we going?”

“My house, we need to do some research.”  At the word research, a smile floods my face, despite the panic still racing through me.  I adore research.  Stiles turns to me, a frown on his face.  “We have to figure this out.  You and Scott could be in serious trouble if we don’t find out what the hell is going on.”

……………………………………………………………………………………..

We researched for hours, her chair pulled directly next to mine as we poured over any information on werewolves and the supernatural that we could find.  Every once in a while I would look over at her, still astounded by how much she looked like Lydia.  They could almost be twins, if you didn’t look too long at them.  Evie must have gotten her dad’s eyes because they were a deep brown, darker than even Scott’s eyes, while Lydia had green eyes that reminded me of spring grass.  

Everytime Evie scooted her chair closer to mine, I moved away slightly.  Not because I didn’t like her, but because she kind of scared me, and not in a fun way.  If she and Scott are what I think they are, they could be really dangerous.  As we collected evidence, the more worried Evie became.  I watched as her eyebrows scrunched together with every new piece of information.  

“So, if I am a werewolf, when’s the next full moon?” she asks suddenly.  I do a quick search and look back at her, finding that her eyes had gone wide, the pupil completely taking over the brown in her eyes.  The next full moon was this Friday, coincidentally the same night as Lydia’s party.  “Oh this is bad… this is very, very bad.”

“Why?  It won’t be that hard to just not go.”  She shakes her head, running her fingers through her already messed up hair.  It had come down from her small ponytail about an hour into our research.  

“The whole reason she’s even having a party is because of me.  It’s my introduction into Beacon Hills.”  Evie sighs, tugging on her hair once more, as if it was a nervous tick that she couldn’t control.  “She’ll be pissed if I don’t show up.”  She turns to me, worry shining in her eyes.  “I’m a pretty calm person.  Do you think I’d be ok?”

I pondered the question.  Evie did seem pretty laid back and generally pretty calm.  I didn’t know her that well, but if the hours we had spent pouring over information wasn’t an indicator of how calm she was, I didn’t know what would be.  But with all the information we had found, I wasn’t sure she’d be able to stay calm, especially in a party setting.  The lights, the music, the drinking.  It was a lot to handle, even for a normal person.   

“I have more confidence in you than I do Scott, but I still don’t think it would be a good idea.”  She nods, a sad look crossing her face and I instantly feel bad.  I lay a hand on her shoulder and squeeze gently.  Then, an idea pops into my head.  “What if I went with you to the party?”  She raised an eyebrow.

“As what, my date?”  I blink a few times, not having considered the possibility that people would think we could be dating.  

“I mean, it would be easier to explain than the actual reason.  And, I don’t think I’d be invited unless you personally invited me anyways,” I say.  Evie considers it for a moment, thinking through all the possible scenarios and how it could go wrong if she didn’t have someone with her to calm her down if the change was too powerful.  “Before you decide, I really should call Scott and tell him about what we’ve found.  I don’t think he’ll be as accepting of this fate as you are.”  She nods.

“Do I need to find a ride home or do I need to be a part of this?  What would you like me to do?” she asks and I balk at the question.  I had just assumed she’d stay, not really understanding that she may need to go home to her family.  It was weird how comfortable I was around her already, despite our rocky start.  I consider her question for a moment, before deciding Scott would probably be more willing to hear it from a stranger than me.  

“I think you staying would be a good idea.  Scott isn’t the most perceptive guy, usually needs a helping hand to understand things.  Maybe if you’re here to help me explain, he’ll be more apt to not do something stupid.”  She laughs, a bright happy sound.  I notice that we haven’t eaten yet, and it’s getting to be kinda late.  “Hey, I’m going to go call Scott and then order a pizza, anything in particular you want?” I ask, hoping she doesn’t say something dumb like pineapple.  She taps her chin, considering all the options.  

“Do they have meat lovers?” she asks.  I nod and go off to take care of my calls, leaving her in my room alone.  The one to Scott goes immediately to voicemail, as usual.  Placing the order to the pizza parlor was a lot easier and quicker than I thought it would be, considering the time.  I walk back into my room, only to find that Evie has made herself comfortable on my bed and is doing homework.  She looks up and says, “What?  I have math homework.”  I just shake my head, a small smile on my face.

We work on our homework in relative silence, Evie only talking when she has a question about a math problem.  The pizza arrives and I finally get a hold of Scott, who’s at my house in less than ten minutes.  The call was filled with him gushing about asking Allison to the party on Friday, though I’m not sure how he pulled that off.  He’s at my house in less than ten minutes, a knock at the door announcing his presence.  

I watch Evie shake out her shoulders, as if preparing herself for battle.  She’s not entirely wrong.  Opening the door for Scott and ushering him in takes all of five seconds and he’s heading up to my room before the door is even shut.  I hurry after him, only for me to run into his back.  Hard.  He had paused in the doorway, blocking me from entering.  

“OW! Dude you can’t just stop in the middle of a doorway!”  Scott turns to look at me, a confused look on his face.

“Sorry, wasn’t expecting you to have a girl in your room!”  I snort, a bit impressed with myself at the realization that I did have a girl in my room, and push past him into my room, where Evie is sitting cross legged on my bed.  She waves, a piece of pizza in hand.  Scott looks back at me with a gleam of mischief in his eyes.  I huff out a sigh, already knowing what he’s thinking.  

“It’s not what it looks like… I mean, it may look like what it looks like, depending on what you think it looks like but it’s not…” I drift off, earning a snort from Evie.  I glare at her, but she just shrugs and nervously starts picking at her eyebrows.  “Not helping.”

“So what’s she doing here then?  Is this a date? Am I interrupting or…?” Scott asks.  Evie just laughs, shaking her head.  I glare at her again, she’s really not helping my case at all.

“No, you’re not interrupting, but we do have some things to share with you,” she says.  She meets Scott’s eyes, not an ounce of fear in her body.  “We have the same problem.  Both of us were bit by an animal last night in the woods that half a dead body was found in.  I can’t be sure that it was the same animal, but my bite has disappeared, and I’m assuming yours has as well.”  Scott looks at me, confusion written plainly on his face. 

Evie just sighs, already distraught.  “We’re werewolves.  The light and sound sensitivity, the heightened smell, the quick healing.  All signs point to lycanthropy.”  Her eyes drop to her hands, which had moved from messing with her eyebrow to messing with the ends of her pant leg.  With a sigh, she pulls the pant leg up, showing Scott where her bite mark had been.  Evie runs a finger over it, as if checking to see if there was anything left of the wound.  “This morning I was bleeding and now there isn’t even a scar.  I know it’s a lot to take in but we have to be careful from now on.  We’re dangerous,” she says, her voice dropping to a whisper.

Scott looks at me, and I nod, confirming what she had said.  He shakes his head, either not believing it or not wanting to believe it.  I open my mouth to explain more, but he’s out the door before the time the words can form.  I exchange a look with Evie and hurry after him, hoping to catch him before he goes completely loco.  I catch up, winded and with a racing heart.

“Dude, you have to believe us.  This isn’t some prank.  You have to be careful, especially on Friday.”  Scott turns quickly to look at me, making me backpedal a few feet so I don’t get run over, again.  Confusion is written plainly on his face.  I mentally kick myself; of course Scott wouldn’t know what Friday meant in werewolf terms. 

“Why?  What happens Friday?” he asks.

“Friday’s the full moon, man.  That’s when your bloodlust will be at its strongest.  You won’t be able to control yourself, especially around Allison.”  His eyes flash yellow, something I hadn’t seen Evie’s do yet.  I don’t back down, even though I really should have.  Anger radiates from him, and I put my hands up in surrender.  “I know it’s a lot to take in, but you gotta believe me.  I’ve seen the way Allison affects you, it’ll be easy to lose control, especially at the party.  You have to cancel.”

“I can’t do that!  This may be my one shot with her!  Nothing will get in the way of that!” he yells.  I stop, not used to being yelled at by Scott.  He turns away from me, returning to his fast pace and I let him leave.  Knowing he won’t come back, I turn back towards my house

Once inside, I raced up the stairs to see that Evie was packing up her homework, her back turned towards me.  She turns when she hears me at the door, a sad smile on her face.  Evie tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear and pushes her glasses up her nose before speaking.

“So, he took that rather well huh?”  I let out a strangled laugh and collapsed on my bed. I feel, rather than see, her sit down beside me.  “Hey, if nothing else we’ll know where he’ll be Friday.  We can keep an eye on him.”  She smiles down at me and I smile back, before a thought hits me.

“We should have told Scott that we were dating.  Would have made Friday so much easier.”  She snorts, flopping back on the bed.  

“May have made it easier, but I have a feeling he’s going to ignore us like the plague.”  She sits back up with a huff.  “Well, I guess you better get me home.  I had told my parents that I was studying with a friend but after last night it wouldn’t surprise me if they gave me a tighter curfew.”  With a groan, I sit up as well.  It was well past ten, we had been here for at least seven hours.  

The drive to her house was quick and mostly silent.  I could tell that all of this weighed heavily on Evie; her shoulders had drooped and her eyes were dull.  As I pull into her driveway, she turns towards me, putting a hand on my arm and squeezing lightly.  

“My dad is standing outside.  He’s going to say some really dumb things,” she says.  I nod, not fully understanding but agreeing nonetheless.  “Pick me up tomorrow morning?  I don’t know if Lydia planned to pick me up or not and I’m not allowed to drive.”  I scrunch my eyebrows together, confused.  Evie just shrugs.  “I’m not… a safe driver.”  

I hop out to help her out, still pretending her leg hurt even though it had healed over.  I grab her bag for her, a tight smile pulling across her face.  Handing it to her, I look towards where her father lingered on the porch.  I wave and he starts coming closer to say hi, I guess.  Evie stands there nervously, unsure to how her father will react.  He meets us at the Jeep and we shake hands.  I make sure to keep a smile on my face, though his grip feels like he’s going to break my knuckles.  

“Thanks for bringin’ her home, it’s much appreciated.”  I nod, trying to seem as non threatening as possible.  He claps me on the back.  “Now then, was this a date or just studying?”

“Dad!” Evie exclaims.  Her dad just holds his hands up in surrender and smiles at his daughter.  “No, it wasn’t a date.  Stiles was helping me with math, right Stiles?”  I gulp and force a smile.  

“Yes sir, just math.”  Evie smiles at me before pushing her dads towards the house.

“See you tomorrow!” she calls over her shoulder, her dad’s laugher catching on the wind.  I smile as I get back into the Jeep.  Maybe, just maybe, this will all work out okay. 

………………………………………………………………………………………

My sleep that night was less than restful.  I had dreams where I had claws and fangs and I ran through the woods naked.  I woke up to my mom yelling my name from downstairs.  I groan, dragging myself out of bed to get dressed quickly.  I pull on a patterned green sweater with a black skirt and grab my boots from downstairs, not bothering with makeup or trying to make my hair look better.  I ran my fingers through it and called it a day.  Grabbing a granola bar and my bag, I was out the door and hurtling for my ride within ten minutes.  I skid to a stop when I see not only Lydia’s car, but also Stiles’ Jeep waiting for me.  

“Well this won’t end well,” I say under my breath.  Lydia gets out of her car and reaches me first, a confused look on her face.  I smile at her, hoping that she won’t be angry.

“What is he doing here?  I thought I was your ride to school!” she says with a stomp of her foot.  I look over her shoulder and make eye contact with Stiles, hoping he understands that he needs to get his ass out of the car now.

“He gave me a lift yesterday,,” I say as Stiles hops out of the Jeep and rushes towards us.  “Stiles offered to pick me up today, since I hadn’t heard from you.”  I smile apologetically at my cousin, watching her eyes narrow at the two of us.  Stiles throws an arm over my shoulders, giving me a small smile.  Something must click for Lydia because her face quickly changes.  

“I said to get a guy on the lacrosse team!” she exclaims, surprising me slightly.  

“You play lacrosse right?” I ask, actually unsure if I had dreamed that part of the day or not. He looks back and forth from Lydia to me before nodding.  I turn back to Lydia, a smile on my face.  “You never said that he had to play, just that he had to be on the lacrosse team.”  

“Be careful with my cousin,” she says before getting into her car and speeding off. 

“Let’s get going.”  Stiles opens my door for me, yet again.  “Thanks, but you really don’t have to do that.”  He just shrugs and I get into the car with a sigh.  The ride to school was relatively quiet, mostly filled with our combined anxious sounds.  Stiles wouldn’t stop drumming his fingers on the steering wheel and my leg wouldn’t stop bouncing.  

“So, how are we planning to make people think we’re going out?” he asks.  I sigh, a headache already forming.  

“Lydia already assumes we either hooked up or something.  She’ll spread that like wildfire.  We won’t have to do anything,” I say softly, pulling at my eyebrows in nervousness.  Stiles just nods and opens my door for me, yet again.  We walk into school together and immediately people start staring.  Stiles and I hurry towards English, with moments to spare.  

The stares don’t stop there.  I’m not sure if it’s out of confusion or jealousy, but either way I’m not a fan.  It follows me the entire day, only stopping when I get to lunch and a different scandal has happened, taking the heat from Stiles and I.  

After grabbing my tray, I search for his shaved head, already deciding that I would rather sit with him and Scott than deal with Lydia’s angry eyes that had been following me all day.  Unfortunately, that didn’t last long.  Almost instantly, Lydia is there, Jackson and Allison in tow.  Jackson plops down, a scowl on his face.  I really don’t get a good vibe from him, but that’s a conversation for another day.  

“We are going shopping after school today,” Lydia states.  I make eye contact with Allison, who was sitting very closely to Scott.  I raise an eyebrow at her, somehow already knowing that she won’t want to go.

“Is there a reason why?” I ask.  Lydia flips her hair over one shoulder, hitting Stiles in the face.  I hold in a laugh, knowing that would set her off.  Allison shakes her head at me, desperate to get out of this endeavor.  I turn towards Lydia, a frown settling on my face.

“You both need new outfits for the party,” she states matter of factly.  I sigh, already knowing we won’t win this argument.  “Evie’s closet is totally void of any party clothes and I know Allison’s is pretty much the same.”  Lydia pointedly looks at both Scott and Stiles.  “Since my friends refuse to find acceptable dates, everyone’s outfits will have to be perfect.  Especially you, Biles.”

“It’s actually…” he starts, then Lydia glares at him.  “You know what, Biles is fine.”  I laugh softly, gaining a frown from Stiles.  

“If I agree, do I get to pick out my own dress?” Allison asks.  I shake my head, already knowing the answer.  Lydia would not relinquish that particular thing.  If she couldn’t pick our dates, she sure as hell would pick what we wore.  

“Of course not, I already have them picked out.  We just have to go pick them up.”  Allison and I make eye contact, shrugging.  What could go wrong?  It was just shopping.  

The shopping actually didn’t take too long.  She really had picked the outfits out already.  Lydia refused to let us see them, but insisted they would fit perfectly.  I hated to doubt her, but I was pretty sure she didn’t quite understand I wasn’t a size four.  So, I made sure to check at least the size of the dress was correct.  Shockingly, it was and I was insanely grateful that she hadn’t tried to stuff me into something too small.  

We dropped Allison off first, her house not too far from my own but much larger.  Her family must have money out the ass to afford it.  After exchanging goodbyes (and numbers since I had basically no one's information), Allison hops out and leaves Lydia and I alone in the car.  I decide to take the plunge and apologize for this morning.

“I didn’t mean to upset you this morning.  I didn’t know you’d show up to give me a ride,” I say softly.  Lydia shakes her head, waving a hand to dispel any hard feelings.

“I was more confused than upset.  I wasn’t expecting you to get a guy so fast.”  She nudges me with her shoulder, getting me to laugh.  “While I still don’t get why him, I won’t question your choice too much, as long as he keeps you happy.  You deserve to be happy after everything.”  I smile sadly and she grabs my hand, squeezing twice.  I grab all my stuff from the backseat and head inside.

I work on homework for a few hours and take a break to answer texts and eat dinner.  Around ten, I hear my phone ring and Stiles' name pops up on my phone.  I answer, a smile on my face.

“Hey, what’s up?” I ask quietly, fully aware of my parents sleeping in the room over from my own.  I close my door, hoping that keeps the noise to a minimum. 

“I have a lot to talk about, are you home?”  I furrow my brows.  His voice is echoey and filled with anxiety, making me wonder what he’s found.  

“Yeah…” I say cautiously. 

“Okay, great!  I’ll be there in a few.”  

I wait for a few minutes and then I hear rocks hitting my window.  I open it, seeing Stiles standing not too far away with a handful of pebbles.  Racing downstairs, I let him in and hold a finger to my mouth to signal that he would have to be quiet.  We’re up the stairs in record time and I softly shut my bedroom door behind us.  I watch Stiles take in the mess that is my room, and I rush around to pick it up a little to make it look less like I just moved in, even though I had.  Stiles watches me with a grin on his face, all anxiety from the call dissipating from his face.  

“So, what happened?” I ask, keeping my voice low.  He takes a deep breath, readying himself before launching into his story.

“Me and Scott were in the woods, trying to find the other half of the body that was found because he said he saw it before he got bit.  We didn’t find the body, but we did see Derek Hale, who was being extra spooky in the woods for apparently no reason and-” I hold my hand up for him to pause and he stops mid sentence.

“Hold up.  Who’s Derek Hale?” I ask.

“Oh, I totally forgot you just moved here. Of course you don’t know. Duh Stiles.”  He hits himself on the head, making me laugh a little.  “Six years ago there was a fire at the Hale house, and lots of the family died.  Only a few survived, one of which being Derek.  Everyone thought he left after the fire, but apparently he’s come back.”  I nod, now somewhat caught up.  “Anyways, he was in the woods being creepy and threw Scott’s inhaler back to him.  We think he may be behind the murder and you guys being bitten but we aren’t sure and have no definite proof.”  At the mention of the bite, I start to pace.  Stiles sits on my bed, picking at my bed spread.  

“So, if he’s the one that bit both me and Scott, what does that mean?  Is he the alpha?” I ask.  Stiles shrugs, unsure.  He seems to be more occupied with looking around my room.  I sigh, deciding to sit down next to him, forgetting that I was already in my pajamas.  With a boy in my room.  The urge to pull the blanket over my head was getting stronger by the minute.  Lydia would skin me alive when she found out that I had Stiles in my room and didn’t make out with him.  I laugh softly and turn myself towards him.  

“What?” he asks, his whiskey brown eyes searching my face.  I just smile, knowing he may not like my answer.

“Lydia will be so disappointed in me,” I say with a sigh.  His eyebrows furrowed together, making me laugh again.  “I have a boy in my room, with no intentions to make out with him.”  He laughs, shaking his head.  I pat his knee.  “Well, anything else you need to tell me?” I ask.

“How’re you doing, with all of this?” he asks.  I sigh, running my fingers through my hair, contemplating how much to share.  This was just one more problem in my life that couldn’t be fixed, and I had a lot of practice with such things so I wasn’t nearly as freaked out as someone else would be.  I settle for a nicer version of the truth, knowing that while I felt comfortable around Stiles, he didn’t need to know all the dirty details of my life right now.  

“To be honest, not well.  Every little sound is amplified tenfold and certain smells make me want to vomit.  Heightened senses are not the superpower I wanted,” I say with a slight smile.  

“You’re handling it all really well, a lot better than Scott is.  You just seem so…” he pauses, searching for the right word.  I raise an eyebrow as he settles on the word that everyone uses to describe me.  “Calm.  If I were you, I’d be freaking out.” I shrug, stretching my legs out on my bed.

“My constant state is freaking out.  I was diagnosed with anxiety in middle school and I take antidepressants that even me out a lot.  I haven’t had an attack since last year,” I say, hoping he won’t ask me to elaborate.  Thankfully, he does not.  Stiles just nods, as if understanding without me having to say anything.  “This whole werewolf thing may be good for me, maybe the healing factor will seep into my brain and repair the pathways that make me anxious.”  He laughs.

“Well, it did fix Scott’s asthma.”  He pauses, pondering something.  “Have you tested the extent of your reflexes?  Scott got weirdly good at lacrosse right after he got bit, catching every ball that was thrown at him.  I wonder if yours have gotten better too.”  I shrug, unsure if I really wanted to know or not.  I was never good at sports before, what would be the point in trying out for them now?

“I’m not really an athletic person,” I say, gesturing towards my body.  Stiles rolls his eyes, a funny look on his face.

“Oh please.  Every time I turned around today some new guy was staring at you.  Every guy on the team thinks you’re an absolute babe,” he states.  The compliment catches me off guard, though not totally unwelcome.  It had been a long time since someone noticed the way I looked, without being creepy about it.  Stiles pats my bare thigh, not noticing the way I tense up as he does so, and stands up.  “Well, I’d better get going before your dad threatens to kill me.”  I laugh, shaking my head.  “See you bright and early tomorrow morning?”

“Sure thing,” I say with a smile.  He starts to walk out, but pauses in the doorway.  Stiles turns to look at me, a weird glint in his eyes.

“Oh, and by the way.  I meant what I said.  You’re a total knockout.”  He leaves with a smirk, my mouth hanging open like a fish.  I stay like that for a good amount of time, trying to decipher if he was flirting or just being nice.

It takes a while, but I finally settle myself down enough to sleep and for once, I don’t have any nightmares or dreams.

I woke up on time for a change and took time to look nice.  I showered, removing the bandage and deciding that I wouldn’t put another on.  The people who knew wouldn’t notice and it was a waste of gauze.  I select a cream colored button down sweater, a pair of brown trousers, and a pair of ballet flats.  I curl my hair a little and add minimal makeup along with my necklace and a few rings.  Shockingly, I even have time to eat an actual breakfast before I hear the Jeep pull into the drive.

I kiss my mom’s cheek on the way out, grabbing my bag and heading out. Stiles opens my door for me and I smile up at him.  We chat on the way to school about nothing in particular and our day goes much the same way as yesterday.  We eat lunch together, Allison and Lydia joining us once again.  Jackson is there too, but he doesn’t talk much; he mostly just glares and looks moody.  I sincerely don’t know what Lydia sees in him, I can’t detect any sort of a personality coming from him.

Lydia drives me home after school, our conversation filled with talk of the party.  She seemed confident in my abilities to get there myself, not offering me a ride or anything.  Getting ready by myself feels like a monumental task, especially since tonight was not only the party but also the full moon.  My first full moon as a werewolf, and I was going to a party.  Honestly, how dumb am I?

I pick nervously at my cuticles as I pull the outfit we decided on out of it’s bag. I let out a soft gasp; Lydia had picked out a deep green dress with a corset-esque bodice and long lace sleeves.  It was short and made of a satin material, which would hug my curves nicely without feeling clingy.  If I was being honest, the dress kind of scared me.  I’m not used to showing so much skin, especially since I would be in front of so many people.  

I slip the dress on, skipping looking in the mirror just yet and heading towards the bathroom to do a more dramatic makeup look.  My version of dramatic is just a heavier blush and a slight winged liner.  I refresh my curls from this morning, making a few frame my face.  I also make sure I put in contacts, though I have noticed my eyesight getting better.  I slap on a little lip gloss and hurry to put on the heels that Lydia had chosen.  

Remembering that tonight may not go so well, I pack a small bag with extra comfortable clothes, just in case I wolf out and end up naked somewhere.  I pat Persephone on the head as I grab a pair of sneakers to throw into my bag when I hear Stiles’ Jeep pull up to the house.  

He gets out to help me get myself out to the car, somehow knowing I’m worthless at walking in heels.  I notice that he’s gotten very dressed up for a party.  He’s paired a light pink dress shirt with a black tie and grey suit jacket with skinny jeans.  I raise an eyebrow, wondering if he got dressed in the dark but not really caring too much.  I have come to appreciate his weird sense of style, with his many layers of shirts and odd pairings of colors.

When he finally looks at me, his mouth drops, making me laugh loudly.  I can’t say I was expecting that kind of reaction but I won’t say no to it.

“You look… wow!”  I shake my head at him, a smile crossing my face.

“Yeah?”  I do a little spin for him, just to get the full effect.  Stiles laughs and helps me into the Jeep.  I watch him rush to his side and get in the car.

“So, I’ve got some things prepared in case you feel like you may lose control.”  He pulls a duffle bag out of the back seat and hands it to me gently.  “I have rope, cuffs, and if it comes to it, chains.  You said Lydia had a basement, right?”  I nod and he continues.  “If we have to, we can keep you down there away from everyone.”  Something on my face must have betrayed my thoughts of worry, because he quickly adds, “not that I think you’ll have too much of an issue with it.  You seem pretty in control right now.”

I smile, but something must have changed in my face because Stiles’ eyes lock onto my own.  Fear leaks out of him, the smell of it hitting me quickly.

“What?  What’s wrong?” I ask, immediately worried.

“Your eyes were yellow for a second.  I hadn’t seen them do that yet.”  His fingers start drumming on the wheel, an anxious tick of his that I nearly duplicated by bouncing my leg.

“Oh.  Is that bad or…?”  I gnawed on my lip, hoping that my eyes changing color wasn’t a bad omen of what was to come.  

“I don’t think so.  You weren’t doing that on purpose right?”  I shake my head.  “Maybe it was triggered by feeling anxious.  I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”  He smiles, but the reek of fear lingers.  

The party goes off without a hitch.  Lydia really does throw great parties, though I barely see her or Allison the entire time, though I try to periodically check on them, just to make sure.  Allison seems to be having a really good time with Scott, and Lydia is off with Jackson somewhere almost constantly disappearing into dark corners to make out.  

I stick with Stiles most of the time, his hand on my arm a constant comfort.  We drink a little, but I mainly try to stay away from the alcohol.  The lights outside hurt my eyes, so we stayed inside. He barely leaves my side, only leaving for a few minutes to check Lydia’s basement.  Stiles is back within moments, finding me in the same place he had left me. We dance a little, his moves goofy and catching me off guard.  I genuinely started having a good time, the worry that had consumed me for the past few days slowly leaking out of me.  

However, sometime around ten, Stiles rushes out to follow Scott out of the party and leaves me on my own, without much of an explanation.

“I’ll be right back!” he yells before disappearing.  I try to keep to myself after that, not wanting to risk anything.  Not long after he leaves,  I realize that I haven’t seen Allison in a long time and go to find her.

“Hey have you seen Allison?” I yell over the music to Lydia.  She shakes her head, and continues to dance with Jackson.  I sigh, irritation crawling its way up my spine.  It couldn’t be that hard to know where one girl went, right?  I quickly crush the irritation, knowing that won’t help me find anyone.  

I head towards the bathroom, deciding that would be the quietest place to make a call.  I call Stiles, he doesn’t pick up.  Then I try to call Allison, no answer there either.  Frustration and anger fill me, nearly overtaking the anxiety of the situation.  I grip the sink and watch my fingers lengthen and grow sharp claws.  Looking up, I watch my face transform slowly; the space between my brows becomes flatter, my eyes turn a bright shade of yellow, and two pairs of fangs rip through my gums.  I groan, realizing how painful having extra teeth in my mouth was.  

I try to take deep breaths, to find my center but nothing works. God, Lydia will kill me if I mess up this stupid bathroom.  My face stays the same and at that moment I’m glad Stiles left to trail after Scott.  I don’t think I’d want him to see me like this.  Shockingly, at the thought of Stiles my claws slowly start retreating.  I watch as my hands return to normal in a few moments and the pain in my gums recedes slowly.  

Closing my eyes, I try to think more about Stiles and the way he calms me down.  I think about how his hand on my arm kept me stable tonight and my eyes return to their usual dark color.  Focusing on the image of him dancing in my head, I can feel my face settle back into its normal position.  I sigh, letting go of the sink and stare into the mirror to make sure everything is back to normal.  

Once I’ve assured myself I’m back to being myself, I smile at my reflection.  A sense of pride overcomes me, making my smile turn into a grin.  I didn’t hurt anyone.  A weight is slowly taken off my shoulders and I feel as if I can finally breathe again.  I made it through my first full moon without doing anything stupid, I wasn’t naked in the woods, no one was dead.  I could handle this.  I could do this.

[mithranqueersmusings]

Before This Dance Is Through VI

Chapter: 6/16

Rating: M (Smut Warning)

Summary: Ringo's being going through a dry spell for the last year or so and when he regretfully tells his best friend John, he insists on taking them to an all-male strip club for some "fun". Ringo isn't sure whether it's the alcohol, his desperation or a mixture of the two but he thinks he might be falling in love with a stripper.

Tags: AU - Strippers, Modern Setting, Smut, Slow Burn

Pairings: George Harrison/Ringo Starr, John Lennon/Paul McCartney

AO3 link here / Fic masterlist here

Ringo found himself getting excited for the following Tuesday, he'd be sitting at home watching the television and suddenly the image of Spike in a short skirt or wearing makeup would flash into his mind and he'd have to consciously calm himself. John tried to get him to go along to the club in the meantime, but Ringo refused for a multitude of reasons, although he wasn't sure which was the genuine one. Part of him was still a little nervous about facing Spike again, especially after how much alone time he'd been spending with his pictures. Another simply told him that he wanted to wait, it'd be more special that way, and he didn't really have the primal urge that John seemed to have that resulted in him ending up at the club almost every night.

In the days leading up to the event Ringo spent most of his time working. The school year was coming to an end which meant he was being called in for a mass amount of activity days. They weren't Ringo's favourite thing in the world, he much preferred earning his money by teaching students one-on-one but it definitely mixed things up a little. The day would mostly consist of younger children coming into a large hall where Ringo would talk for a little bit about drumming before the students got a chance to try it out themselves. It got a little chaotic at times, and Ringo felt relieved that he didn't have to bring his own kit in because these children were anything but predictable. Sometimes they'd result in one or two students expressing a real interest in drumming and so Ringo would give them one of his business cards to pass along to their parents; more often than not it wouldn't result in anything at all but on occasion he could get several new students from participating in a few of these activity days.

One aspect of these events that Ringo never enjoyed was the attention he got from the teachers. He'd gotten used to it by now: one of the younger female teachers asking to try it out and for Ringo to show them how to play - just an excuse to get him stood over them with a chance of their hands touching - but no matter how often it happened it didn't make it any less aggravating. While the children busied themselves with the array of instruments set out, Ringo often had no choice but to stand at the back and talk to whichever teacher was meant to be supervising them. The smalltalk wasn't the problem, usually it was quite refreshing to talk to someone else who worked with children, it was the awkward flirting that drove him up the wall. The worst was when they'd pretend to have a child interested in learning how to drum, or that they themselves were, but when Ringo would actually press for details it would amount to nothing. It was never the men that flirted with him, Ringo had started to think he was the only gay teacher in the area, and there had certainly been times he'd wished they had.

"You need to look gayer." John had pointed out.

"I'm going into a school, John, I can't rock up in a rainbow tank top covered in glitter." Ringo chuckled.

"Why not? Kids love glitter."

There was one male teacher in particular that Ringo had liked the look of, but he'd only met him the once; he taught English, or had it been art? The problem was that the female teachers would be so desperate to volunteer to stand in for Ringo's lesson with the students, even if they seemed to be aware there was no chance of anything actually happening, that he rarely got to see another man. Every time he went back to that same school he'd hoped to see that particular teacher again, yet he was always disappointed.

He was heading back home after completing a session at the local secondary school, the one he'd actually attended when he was younger, fairly exhausted from the energy of the children and massively exhausted from the persistency of the women. As he sank into the driver's seat of his car with a sigh, he swore he was going to buy a rainbow pin to attach to his jacket to ward off anything in the future. On his way home he stopped off at the record shop, partly to pick up something that'd improve his mood but mostly in the hopes that he'd see Spike again. He'd rather see him in an ordinary setting, without the dynamic that existed in the club, as strange as it had been at first. But luck was apparently not on his side today as there was no sign of Spike anywhere in the shop, he'd even browsed the clothes in the basement, which he'd never done before, just to increase the chances of bumping into him.

When Tuesday finally came around Ringo was in dire need of some intoxication, so much so that he went along with John's idea of beginning the drinking before they'd even sat down to eat dinner. Ringo cooked for the two of them while John sat in the kitchen waffling on about some new idea he was having for a story. It was unusual for them to be eating dinner over at John's place, but it was far closer to the club and Ringo definitely wasn't going to risk driving with how much alcohol he was planning on drinking.

"I'm surprised your oven isn't covered in cobwebs considering how little you use it." Ringo stated as he fried up some bacon.

"Why would I use the oven when I have a perfectly good microwave?" John mumbled in response, he was scrawling down ideas messily in a notebook.

"This is not a perfectly good microwave." Ringo chuckled as he gestured with the spatula.

"Calm down, Gordon Ramsay." John quipped.

"What are you even writing?" Ringo asked as he walked away from the oven.

"My mate's putting together some gay poetry book and asked me to write something for it." John explained without looking up "I should've finished it two days ago but I forgot."

"Maybe tonight will give you some inspiration." Ringo tried to read what John had already scribbled down but his handwriting was fairly intelligible.

"Don't tempt me. Paul's already said he won't accept any more poems as payment." John chuckled to himself.

"Any more?" Ringo raised his eyebrows.

"Long story." John finally looked up then and flashed Ringo a grin.

By the time they'd finished eating they were already quite drunk, John had begun blasting music from one of his many playlists.

"Sooooo." John leaned over the table slightly "How's Spike been treating you these last few days?"

Ringo felt his face reddening and he tried to tell himself it was just the alcohol "No complaints from me."

"Can I have a look?" John tilted his head and smiled.

"Er-" Ringo hesitated "I dunno."

"Oh come on!" John reached his hand forward teasingly "I'll give you the 20p or however much a day costs, if that's what you're so worried about."

Ringo didn't budge "Pay for it yourself if you wanna see."

"I'm the one who bloody told you about it in the first place, you twat." John huffed but he was still smiling "Is there something you're not telling me, Ringo?"

"What do you mean?" Ringo shuffled in his seat.

John's smile widened then he casually picked up his drink to take a sip "Nothing. Don't mind me."

The two of them managed to get over to the club in one piece, although John did stumble into the road a couple of times. It was considerably more busy than a normal Tuesday night, or so John claimed, and there were far more people clamoured outside smoking than there usually was. Ringo felt like he had to brace himself before stepping inside, closing his eyes for a second and taking in a deep breath. The amount of people inside was astounding and Ringo began to worry that this had been a bad idea after all. Music was blaring as loud as always, it was difficult to even think but luckily Ringo didn't really need to think when he had John by his side, pulling him over to the nearest bar. As they moved further into the club Ringo could finally see what all the fuss about, one of the strippers was walking around in tall heels with a transparent platform - the kind Ringo had seen in films - paired with a lilac skirt and a white bra. Ringo recognised the man under the makeup from when he'd been here before, he never found him particularly attractive but the sight of him like this definitely interested him at least a little.

"This is gonna be well confusing for my sexuality." Ringo stated as they moved away from the bar with their drinks in hand.

"Best of both worlds for me." John replied with a grin as he looked out amongst the crowd of people.

"So you're into girls again now, are you?" Ringo nudged John lightly.

John paused for a second then turned his head to face Ringo "What are you drinking?"

"Vodka coke, why?" Ringo furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Well you were drinking beers back at my place. You're into drinking vodka now?" John raised his eyebrows in turn.

"I don- Oh, I see. Point made." Ringo punctuated his sentence with a sip of his drink.

It was difficult to get a decent view of the main stage on which someone dressed as Madonna was doing a very graphic dance to 'Like a Prayer', Ringo had never really thought about the double meaning of that song until this moment, but considering it was neither Paul nor Spike they weren't entirely interested. Both of them were scoping around for any sign of their 'preferred' man but it was almost impossible to pinpoint anyone in such a mass of people, particularly when none of the dancers were particularly looking like themselves. John grabbed Ringo around the wrist and pulled him through the crowds until they were heading down to the back room, Ringo could recognise the rhythm of the distant song as Queen's 'I Want to Break Free'.

"I should've worn my Freddie outfit." John commented as they descended the stairs.

"Someone might've beaten you to it." Ringo chuckled.

"This is a strip club not a drag show, don't get it twisted." John shouted over the music as they walked through the door.

Ringo realised very quickly how very 'twisted' his expectations of tonight really had been when he caught a glimpse of what was happening on the stage. Upon hearing the song, Ringo had expected some crude recreation of the music video complete with fake moustaches and enormously large, and clearly fake, breasts. But no, he couldn't have been more wrong. Ringo stopped in his tracks in the doorway, his eyes widening and his throat feeling suddenly dry; John had to pull him forward with great force just to get them over to what few empty seats were left around the edge of the room.

"I told you this was the more alternative stuff." John said excitedly but it wasn't until he settled down on a stool that he realised "Wait... Is that-"

"Yes." Ringo replied bluntly, his mouth remaining slightly open after he'd finished speaking.

It was Spike. Of course it was Spike. Handcuffs were around his slim wrists, chaining him around the pole in the centre of the stage with his arms raised above his head. He wasn't wearing a wig but his face was painted quite beautifully, purple eye-shadow merged with dark eyeliner and a light peach lipstick, somehow he looked even more breathtaking than usual. The makeup was the least startling aspect of the whole thing, even the outfit wasn't what had stunned Ringo, although it was a definite contender; he wore a black laced-up corset which was pulled tightly around his slim frame connected to which were his stockings, on his feet he wore a velvet heel which buckled over his ankle. The sight was simply diabolical, the way his flat chest was still exposed and the hair of his underarms clearly visible alongside the femininity of his face and body. Even that wasn't the issue. The issue was that he wasn't alone on the stage, someone from the audience had stepped up and was slowly unlacing one of the threads of his corset. Ringo could see that a black skirt, almost a tutu, was lying discarded on the edge of the stage. When the realisation sunk in of exactly what was going on, Ringo wasn't sure he'd be able to get up again.

Spike had his characteristic grin on his painted lips as the man slowly pulled at the fabric keeping his corset in place, they were close enough that they easily could've kissed - and for a long time Ringo feared that they would. The man soon lost interest with the corset, giving Ringo a second to breathe in which he hoped the man was going to turn and leave, then moved his hand to run up Spike's clothed leg. He brushed his fingers over the thin material, gripping the back of Spike's thigh and lifting the leg up to wrap around his own waist. Ringo felt sick. If this had been anyone else, anyone else in the world, he wouldn't have cared, hell he probably would've been aroused by the whole thing. But it wasn't just anyone, it was Spike. The worst part was that he had no reason at all to be getting upset, this was his job and Ringo certainly wouldn't have been complaining had he been in the man's position.

"Is this even legal?" Ringo mumbled to John.

"Fuck knows." John's eyes were wide with excitement "Are you gonna go up there?"

"Me?" Ringo scoffed "Not very likely."

The man had continued running his hands over Spike's body, but as soon as his fingers crept up towards his crotch he was pushed away; it was light, clearly wanting to appear playful, but the man quickly got the message and hurried back to his seat somewhat embarrassed as though he'd fallen into some kind of trance. Now alone on the stage, Spike began scanning the audience - who were watching very intently - for someone else to help him 'break free'. While he waited he made a very enticing show of how bound to the pole he was, sinking down almost to the floor with his hands still raised high as he spread his knees out to draw attention to prominence lying in his tight underwear.

"I like this. Very clever. Why do the stripping when they can do it for you?" John was talking more to himself than to Ringo, who was barely listening.

Spike's eyes moved over to where the two of them were sitting and Ringo thought time must've stopped for at least a second. John took a moment or two to realise the eye contact but as soon as he did he was quick to move, shoving Ringo off of the stool and luckily onto his feet. Ringo was surprised his knees didn't give out immediately, but he was stable enough to turn around to glare at John who looked at him smugly.

"You can thank me later." John winked and then nudged Ringo towards the stage with his foot.

Fuck. Ringo prayed for the floor to swallow him up in that moment, it almost felt like it had when he saw Spike's expectant gaze looking directly at him. He wished he could've just sat back down but not only did he not want to make a fool of himself, but also he knew John wasn't going to allow that. Slowly he made his way over to the stage, fortunately the room was so small so it didn't take him long, meaning he didn't have to be so conscious of not only Spike's but also the whole room's eyes on him. He could hear his heart thumping in his ears, his breath was uneven and he had to consciously stop his hands from shaking. Spike's grin had grown, his eyes slightly squinting as Ringo approached him sheepishly. John had begun whooping from where he sat which spurred on a few others in the audience. The whole thing felt like some strange fever dream, perhaps even a nightmare.

Spike had gotten back up to his full height, usually he was only slightly taller than Ringo but now with the added platform of the heels he practically towered over him. Even in this submissive position, with his arms helplessly chained above him, Spike still oozed dominant energy as he watched Ringo fumble where he stood in front of him. Ringo had no idea what to do, his hands felt heavy and almost impossible to lift; watching someone strip was one thing, but actually stripping someone was something else entirely. Up close he looked even more stunning, a faint blush lying on his cheeks which accentuated his high cheekbones perfectly, his dark eyelashes elongated with mascara and sparse glitter dotted across his fair skin. Ringo never considered himself as someone particularly kinky, but he was feeling a rush he'd never felt before. He had no idea how long he'd been stood there, how long he'd been staring up at Spike who's teeth were beginning to show past his curled lips. It must've been long enough for Spike to worry that it would start getting awkward if he didn't do something, and do something he did.

It all seemed to happen in a heartbeat, Spike turning himself around and bending downwards so that his bare arse - he was wearing yet another thong, which Ringo had quickly noticed - grazed against Ringo's crotch. Ringo let out a small gasp, bordering on a moan, as he watched Spike's tongue dart over his sharp tooth. He hadn't realised that an erection had already been growing since he'd laid eyes on Spike like this, but the sudden contact make him very aware of how hard he was getting. It sent a bolt of adrenaline through Ringo's body and he was sure to make use of it, he didn't want to stand there like an idiot as much as it would've been the easiest thing to do, so began imitating what he'd seen the previous man doing and started unlacing the ribbon of Spike's corset. While he did this, or attempted to at least, Spike continued to move his hips and dip down slightly on the pole but never quite made contact. Both the ribbon and Spike's skin were soft to the touch, the silky feeling of the material put Ringo at ease somewhat. His fingers must've been quite cold because every time they brushed against Spike's skin he let out a quiet noise, Ringo didn't think he was aware he was even doing it. The unravelling had been far easier than Ringo had expected it to be, his desperation in the moment probably helped considerably, and soon the corset fell off of Spike's chest with ease. Ringo held it in his hand for a second and wasn't sure what to do with it: the skirt had clearly been tossed aside without much care but Ringo really didn't want to look inconsiderate like the previous man had. Spike seemed to notice Ringo's momentary dilemma and gestured slightly with his head for Ringo to throw it, which he did quite erratically. John let out a loud cheer at this and Ringo was suddenly very aware of his presence on the stage; had John been silent this entire time or had his brain just blocked it all out? It was enough of a falter in his mindset that Ringo decided it was best he got back to his seat. As much as he'd love to pick off each item of clothing piece by piece until there was nothing left, this alone had almost been overwhelming and he didn't want to risk looking like an idiot.

Ringo flashed a nervous smile to Spike who was still watching him with that same intense gaze, then hurried off the stage to clutch his drink eagerly. For a moment Ringo thought he saw a hint of disappointment in Spike's eyes as he turned away, and that when he got back to his seat Spike had been looking at him while he'd been walking, but he wasn't sure. John gripped Ringo with both hands and shook him excitedly, a massive grin on his face.

"I told you tonight was going to be the one! And it's only just getting started." John giggled as he finally let go of Ringo.

As much as Ringo didn't like to admit when John was right, though it happened far more than anyone would've expected, his words in that moment couldn't have been truer. The night was only getting started, what followed was nothing Ringo could've anticipated.

[sonatanotwo]

Well... I barely slept. 😂 Least I’ve got coffee... Gonna try to fumble out some words... (Spoilers ahoy!)

I didn’t quite expect the emotional roller coaster this has turned into... and not entirely cause of the episode itself. 😂 It’s feeling ever so bitter sweet... mostly in that experiencing something so emotional without a lot of the people that made up this sorta... fandom home? that it was to me. All the friends I love and care about. It’s... been feeling kinda lonely... Even though I’m not alone of course, but... yeah. It’s hard to explain. 😂 And then with this looking like the end (...though I kinda doubt ITV is gonna shelve the franchise for another 10+ years... least I sure hope not. That’d seem VERY dumb to me. But what will they do with it? That’s the real big question, ain’t it? XD I was a bit agape after attaching ‘Season’ to every time they spoke of ending that today they finally changed their tune and was like THE END. What the ever loving heck, ITV. Seriously. 😂 BUT I digress...) ...IDK if any of that feeling will ever come back now. Shit changes... god, do I ever know it does... but I guess... I just wasn’t ready for it yet. ;A;

...And boy is my body telling me that. 😂 Anxiety is such an asshole.

ANYHOO.

SO.

This ep.

As I mentioned when I gif’d it (opening my gif making stuff was first thing I did XD) that HUG man. That old hug art I did, the original version (the one you see commonly around now is the tweaked one) was one of my first finished (ish) TAG piece (only few rough doodles and half coloured things were before that lol) that I posted June 10th 2015.... so long ago. (My first post that was some sketches was June 2nd XD Yeah, I’ve been around a long while now, blimey. Not quite the VERY very start, but nearly!)

BUT YEAH. I was wanting this hug for a VERY, VERY long time. XDDD Just, back then, didn’t think it’d involve their Dad too. lol

And then, gosh... Scott in this ep... Last ep was def more Scott heavy... to balance he was stepped back a bit, but... it did make sense? Scott just seems quietly basking in the feeling of having his Dad back. Him hanging back from the hug for a moment having that exchange with his Dad feels a bit like a... passing back the torch? Here they are Dad. I took good care of them. :Db Does that make sense??? IDK. I’m so tired you guys. 😂 But it didn’t feel like Scott needed to say anything. It was written all over his face. He must have been so happy... and relieved. It’s pretty overwhelming in all the best way to hear from someone you haven’t in awhile... so... in this case, it must be turned up to like... an 11. ^^a

Man, I don’t think I can go through this in order so, bear with me if I bounce around.

There’s been so much wondering what this version of Jeff would be like all these years... and in such a short time, we definitely got a LOT to go off of. He’s a Dad who definitely doesn’t hesitate to hug his sons. :3 Fears Grandma as much as the boys, lolololol HUGS HIS ENGINEER. I actually really just... LOVED that scene with Brains. That casual, ‘Hi Brains.’ And then just calling him PARTNER and going right in for a hug... and lol Brains’ lil happy sound. Jeff and Brains were certainly friends in TOS, but there was still a kinda distance between them in that Brains is working for Jeff, but that was definitely laid out to be much different in TAG. I’m not surprised by it, cause Brains is def part of the family, but it was lovely they took the time to show it.

ALSO just how he picked up Virgil was dwelling on something... we don’t really get a window into what exactly... but after all those years, he just... picks right up on Virgil’s in some turmoil. (As said in a tag... MAYBE MOM RELATED? He seems to think Virgil’s worried if he’ll really be okay, which is why I wonder... GONNA DEF WRITE SOME FIC THOUGH. XDb) Like. GOSH. I’m sad we aren’t likely to see more of this Jeff, cause with this single ep, he was absolutely sold on me. And I love he was a total presence... but he did sit back quietly and other than dealing with ‘Brains’ and largely just *watched*. Scott was still in charge here.

So as for the end and what role Jeff is gonna play... WELL... I mean. To be fair here at the end, John is probably changing and heading to the elevator... and I mean, we’ve seen Grandma fill in several times for John... he can’t be awake CONSTANTLY, so I’d always felt a bit like maybe they’d gradually gel into a team with just... one more member. And that seems more likely now that we’ve seen he didn’t just... jump to take command. He sat back and let them do their thing.  

And now we can see Jeff is def a bit younger... and as kinda already implied, is definitely one to get his hands dirty, so sometimes (once he’s recovered a bunch) maybe he’ll even go out with the boys. That’d be my guess. ^^a I mean, might be a little kinda jostling at first to settle into a new routine... but while he certainly has a strong presence... he’s also did kinda feel... a bit gentle too? He’s not nearly as stern as TOS!Jeff. It felt like a good balance??? IDK. I’m rambling up a storm. XDDD (...and making walls of text... I should... break these up more lol...)

OKAY ALSO...

WAIIIIT wait. WAIT. This looks familiar. V E R Y familiar... Bridge... rockety thing at bottom... explody warning? Two people inside... *squints* DAY OF DISASTER? IS THAT YOU?

I HAVE A FEELING... If so... //CHEF KISS//  VERY NICE. A+ XD

OKAY. WHAT ELSE. Uh. Glad they did end up using Fuse’s (or I guess I could say Clarence’s :D) mixed feelings, which was good and gave Grandma a heck of a moment of awesome. They also served to give some action for Kayo, Penelope and Parker which was good else I suppose they’d have been standing around worriedly. lol Which isn’t really suited to their characters. XD YEAH just lotta nice moments, especially with Kayo and Grandma. ANd just. YEAH. GRANDMA MAN. YOU TELL HIM. and also OMG she was a doctor?! THAT sure explains some things. XD And that’s awesome, gosh.

ALSO the number of HUGS in this ep were A+ Getting a moment with Jeff and Grandma was lovely. :D

LIKE REALLY. LOOK HOW HUG HAPPY THIS DAD IS. I AM PLEASED. A+

And just lol... ‘I don’t even have a car yet.’  ‘You have a rocket.’ ‘...oh yeah. That’s true.’ LOLOL SUCH ALAN. He is too cute.

...AND yeah. IDK. I feel like I’m forgetting things. I’ll ramble them into another post if I think of things. I gotta pop out for a bit. 😂

BUT YEAH. Yeah, there’s few things they didn’t get to addressing, but there were hugs and emotions which was what was really the important thing, right? :Da I don’t really feel like nit picking when had all that. XDDD

(It is kinda interesting how in a way the ending reminded me of Legacy’s a bit with a ...Oh we got an emergency. It’s a good note to leave off of... but goes to show when maybe S1 was written, it was largely on the assumption that it could be the only season... but then were able to hint of S2 in an additional scene. But if S2 hadn’t been commissioned, it was sorta ready to be a finale if it had to. In a way S2 was the same, though with bit more hints of S3 were there so... Just kinda interesting. =Oa But also nice that Rob has left it in a way that NEVER SAY NEVER (to quote Rob) is definitely open. ^^)

ANYHOO. That’s all my rambling for now. ^^

[ladyfl4me]

[ID: the “pretzels is the same” meme, featuring Hannibal Buress on the Eric Andre Show, sitting at a table behind several bowls of pretzels. In the first panel, the bowls of pretzels have been overlaid with the album art for The Adventure Zone: Amnesty and the movie poster for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The second panel has a closeup on Hannibal Buress; the original text reads “Pretzels is the same,” but has been edited to read, “The B plot of saving another world is the same.” End ID.]

Okay, I may have misdefined “B plot,” but the meme’s been made already, don’t sue me. The stories aren’t completely similar, of course. But as @crikadelic and I have recently realized, the elements at its core are super fucking similar. 

We got a world whose people survive off the energy of a crystal, without which they will die. Said crystal (or pieces of it), and the entity within it, has been taken by people from Earth. The citizens of the other world wear shards of the crystal around their necks, and Earth regards them as legends and myths. Ever since the crystal has gone dormant/been hidden/whatever, the world has fallen into disrepair and decay.

And said crystal, in times when the citizens feel threatened and scared, calls on the powers of those of royal blood. The crystal absorbs whichever nearby royal it can find, in order to protect its people, and whoever gets absorbed by it... starts glowing. And hovering. And can cause harm to whoever or whatever attacks it, but only in self defense. Sounds a lot like what happened to Aubrey during the robbery at Aubrey’s house, not gonna lie. 

There’s a lot of cool parallels here to dig up, and a lot of questions that need to be answered as a result. For example, what if the reason why Sylvain is dark all the time - as pointed out in this post by @ohducknewton - because it’s a city hidden underground? And what is the real role of the Interpreter, in this context? In terms of the movie, the people of Atlantis rely on the crystal shards for energy and survival, since the main crystal is hidden underneath the throne (again, another Amnesty parallel). But the king hid it down there because, over the years, he’d been trying to use it as a weapon, and that backfired spectacularly, causing Atlantis to sink. Considering how Alexandra’s father is dead, and given the previous note about how the crystal absorbs people when Atlantis is in danger... not so great.

Honestly, this might be nothing, but it’s too similar to ignore.Knowing what we know of Griffin’s planning process for Balance, he takes a lot of inspiration from the stuff he is a fan of or grew up on - and, since Atlantis came out in 2001, aka when he was about 13 or 14, he definitely would have caught that wave. It most likely doesn’t affect the plot of Amnesty - but it’s definitely affecting my planning process for fics, and I’ve been able to close a massive hole in planning TCOS as a result. Pretty interesting stuff!

[evak-fic-rec-turtleanon]

Evak Fics - Music

Music au:

** Band/Singer/Musician ** Instruments ** Karaoke ** Others

***** Band/Singer/Musician ***** 

Suavis et decorum sicut Jerusalem by champagneleftie (2.6k words) - Pulchra es, amica mea. He can never sing it without thinking of Even. Which is ridiculous, because he doesn’t actually know Even. Has barely spoken more than a handful of words to him. Can hardly even look at him. And still he just won’t leave Isak be. Choir au

Not A Fan by glbertblythes (2.7k words) - Eva drags Isak to a local gig at a bar but Isak isn't all that interested in going nor is he interested in the band - but the lead guitarist pulls some strings for Isak the whole night.

Love Of My Life by catathena (2.8k words) - Set in the late 1970s, "50 Kroner" are trying to make it big in the rock scene. Will the boys make it on their own? Or will a mysterious stranger named Even be their missing piece? Rock band 

DKLA (Don't Keep Love Around) by dobrien (10k words) - Isak is an up and coming artist dating his highschool sweetheart, Chris. Even is a little jealous. Inspired by Troye Sivan songs.

written in the stars by ourlovelybones (17k words) - Isak is very tired, but it’s still not the right word to explain the heavy feeling in his bones and the empty weight in his heart. He should be over the moon right now. He should be dancing with Even to the venue’s after-show playlist and drinking beer to celebrate his best friend agreeing to finish out the rest of his U.S tour with him. It’s more than exhaustion he feels but Isak can’t quite describe exactly what it is - and certainly not to the person who took a whole two weeks off of work to come on this tour. The one where even follows isak around on tour but isak doesn't want to deal with his feelings. Musician Isak  

you're gonna sing the words wrong by strangetowns (31k words) - He looks like someone stuck together a bunch of parts they thought looked good on their own and expected the result to look like a person, with no sense of what an actual person looks like. A marching band AU.

Come On, Set the Tone by boxesofflowers, Eeyoreneedsahug (57k words) - Isak is a recently out popstar who wants to prove that he is not just another pretty face in pop music. Even is a self contained, indie singer songwriter who takes shit from nobody. Shortly after a public feud between the two begins, they’re forced together for a nationwide tour.

Twice by intothewind (101k words) - “I told them we were dating, so they’d let me in their band.” Jonas states, shrugging his shoulders. Isak and Jonas fake date which then makes things complicated between them. And then there's Even, the lead singer, which complicates things even more. Threesome. Angsty. 

(WIP) Wireless by ChrisJordyn (15k words) 5/6 chapters posted - Even leans into Isak’s side. He feels so nice. And warm. His hair against his neck. The sound of his breath. It’s heaven. He hasn’t felt this safe in ages. That’s when The Thought pops back into in his mind. "What if I’m gay?" The church band 5+1 au

(WIP) we are made up of love and hate by everythingislove (straykid), puddingandpie (42k words) - Last update July 2018. The one where Isak joins his best friends on their first North American tour and definitely does not fall for Even Bech Næsheim, their infuriating(ly handsome) opening act.

(WIP) Bassline by riyku (59k words) 12/16 chapters posted - Isak is a Norwegian ex-pat, fresh out of NYU with a journalism internship, who bags an assignment covering a band from his former hometown of Oslo on their first North American tour. It takes him about three seconds to realize he kinda has a thing for the bass player. riyku is brilliant!

***** Instruments ***** 

you can tell everybody (this is your song) by withoutwords (713 words) - Isak’s fumbling at the frets of Even’s guitar, the blunt lines of his fingernails scratching at the wood.

how i'm feeling by boxesofflowers, Eeyoreneedsahug, safficwriter (1.3k words) - A hungover boy squad watches Isak and Even flirt through a guitar lesson.

O Helga Natt by ichliebeskam (1.5k words) - Even gives Isak a guitar lesson but Isak is grumpy because he doesn’t get it. This and a little more

Heart and Soul by wordsarelifealways (1.5k words) - Jonas asks why Isak never plays piano any more. Naturally, it leads to him playing again.

If Not For You by minutebyminute2121 (1.7k words) - Isak walks the same way to work everyday as part of his habitual routine. That is until one day his usual route is obstructed by a closed road and he has to walk a different way and gets distracted by a certain boy playing guitar.

Just B♮ by Jules1398 (2.3k words) - Isak knows nothing about guitars and somehow he finds himself working in a store that sells them. Well, at least there's the hot guy that always comes in and plays while he's on shift.

Someday You Will Find Me Caught Beneath a Landslide by AlasBohn (4.4k words) - Isak's neighbor plays his guitar every night. Isak falls asleep to it every night until he doesn't.

And that's my song, unheard by Anonymous (8.4k words) - Isak is a second year at Nissen, and he's also a violinist at the local music school. The day a new pianist arrives is the day his world is rocked off its axis.

Just two boys and a piano by depressed_mermaid_53 (8.5k words) - Even just started a new art school and there's a beautiful boy that no one talks to. Even is completely enthralled by him the second he sees him. or Isak plays piano and Even suddenly has a love for listening to piano music

Evoke by TheGirlNoOneKnows5 (16k words) - Isak and Even are roommates attending the Norwegian Academy of Music. Isak is an enigma until their sleepless nights are no longer spent alone. Pianist Isak. Guitarist Even.

Play That Song by kapplebougher (41k words) - Every day, Even catches a boy in a snapback who sneaks in to play the piano at the summer camp Even works at. Even's never seen him before. But if the boy's good looks hadn't already captivated him, then his phenomenal piano-playing ability certainly has. Even doesn't know much about love at first sight, but he thinks that this is pretty close.

The boy next door by Zabn (110k words) - Isak looks at Jonas, hoping the blush has already disappeared from his cheeks, he nervously scratches his neck. Fuck, did Jonas notice that he was staring at his new neighbor? Even plays the guitar and sings.

(WIP) tell me what you see by whalefairyfandom12 (8.3k words) - Last update Feb 2019. Isak is a pianist. It's who he is, and sometimes it feels like that's all that's left. At first, Even is nothing more than the asshole who stole his practice room--a film major with a surprising passion for music. There's something undeniable about his charm, though, and the more time they spend together the harder it is to ignore.

***** Karaoke ***** 

Bright Eyes by boxesofflowers, Eeyoreneedsahug (857 words) - Isak is a great singer. Several people are surprised. Happy karaoke where nothing hurts and Isak sings to his boyfriend.

i'll be coming for your love by ihatefindingusernames (1k words) -  Isak and Even meet in a karaoke bar

Ready to Jingle Your Bells by MacksDramaticShenanigans (3.5k words) -  Even did sing him a song, and what kind of a boyfriend would he be if he didn’t serenade Even right back?

***** Others ***** 

(for when they are not musicians or music is not the focus...)

it boy by spoopydumpling (445 words) - Even serenades Isak with a special song

not the kind of fool who's gonna sit and sing to you by hippopotamus (1k words) - Isak doesn't sing, and Even doesn't get surprised by Isak anymore. Actually, neither of those statements is true.

I don't want to miss a thing. by glbertblythes (1.2k words) - Songfic based on i don't want to miss a thing by aerosmith. Very sappy.

Stjerner Lyser Skinnende by MacksDramaticShenanigans (2.4k words) - Their daughter plays the violin for an orchestra.

Who Wore What by wyoheartsmusic (2.9k words) - Even is a fashion blogger that has some things to say about a certain singer's outfit choices

Defying Gravity (Britain's Got Talent) by nessauepa (4.3k words) - Their daughter goes on Britain's Got Talent. It's super sweet.

No Rain, No Roses by Fxckxxp (23k words) - Isak and Even restore a house together and make it a home. Even plays the guitar every now and then (probably not enough as a focus to justify putting it on this list but this fic is so good).

tell him that his lonesome nights are over by fauu_stine (25k words) - After their mother's death, Isak and Lea have to leave Oslo to join their father, who's living with his new girlfriend, Aurora, and her own son, a young man named Even. Singer Even.  

i would like to get to know you baby by ourlovelybones (39k words) - Isak wakes up to ten strange texts from Eskild and three missed calls from his manager. He's almost worried someone has died until the screenshot comes in. Even Bech Næsheim had tweeted about him. AU in which Even is an internationally famous singer and Isak is an up and coming model he finds on twitter, a.k.a based off of the iconic Zara Larsson

[vivacia-18]

May the 4th be with you recs!

Because fanfic is the reason I’m finally getting into Star Wars after all these years XDD

I’m gonna include the fic summaries and my takes, so plopping these under a cut for length. If you haven’t already read these, please go give them some love. And if you have, go give them some more! XD

I’m a fix-it, (at least mostly) everybody lives and (hopefully) nobody dies kinda gal, so while I certainly like something that hits in the feels, I don’t care for angst with no payoff at the end. Many of these are ongoing, but I’m confident enough in the overall feel of them to rec with that in mind. I also like long fics, so most of my recs will reflect that. 

Hunting Towards Heartstill by blackkat

Pairing: Mace Windu/ CC-2224 Cody

Status: Complete, 45 chapters

Summary: Plo has an idea. Mace agrees, and everything snowballs right into hell from there.

(Or: Mace and Cody get married in order to give the clones citizen status. Before they can focus on that, though, they're going to have to deal with ancient Sith artifacts, evil prophets, plots to overthrow the Supreme Chancellor, lost planets, monsters warped by Sith alchemy, inconvenient feelings, and Darth Sidious turning his eye on a potential new apprentice. Just...not in that order.)

Notes: Kat’s going to have her whole section recc’d in a minute, but this one is near and dear to my heart, so it get’s a special spot. This is the one that got me into the Star Wars fandom at all. And by “into the fandom” I mean I have never seen/read a single piece of Star Wars media outside of gifsets and funky graphic t-shirts in my entire life. And now here we are XDD

In short, as with anything kat writes, the characterization is top-notch, the wit even more so, and the feels will leave you broken to pieces only to bring you back together better than when you started at the end of it all. Enjoy <3

All of blackkat’s Star Wars fics, by she who never expected to be a part of this fandom so everyone thank sol for being a bastard and cher for having terrible, amazing, tempting, too-good prompts XD

Notes: As promised, I did indeed just link all of blackkats Star Wars fics XD Most are one shots, with several longer ongoing, and one very special one complete. Pairings and settings will vary, but I can promise you one thing: you can absolutely trust kat with your heart, no matter how angsty it seems (tho take those cliffie warnings seriously!). Enjoy, and may the Force be with you! <3

The Hero With a Thousand Faces by beamirang 

Pairing: Jango/Obi-Wan 

Status: Part 1 is a one-shot prologue, part 2 ongoing

Summary: “We’re going to kidnap a Jedi?” Boba sounds far more excited by the prospect than most twelve-year-olds probably should. And, because he’s Jango’s boy, because he’s too kriffing smart for his own good, he catches on way too quickly. “Wait. Are we kidnapping your Jedi?”

Notes: Fantastic characterization and writing - very witty (as one would expect with Obi and Fett XD) but also excellent on the heavier emotional aspects as well. 

The Desert Storm by Blue_Sunshine

Pairing: None

Status: 17 parts complete, part 18 ongoing

Summary: In Tatooine legend, the sandstorm is Lukka, the Fury, both cleansing and damning. Lukka, the slaves believed, was Justice, was he who remade the world, and remade the soul.The storm screams at him, and Obi-Wan Kenobi screams back.

Notes: It’s a time travel fic! It’s one of my favourite tropes when done correctly, and this one certainly does :) Love the characters, they have so much depth and growth over the series. And while this far it is 100% a “everybody lives nobody dies” kinda story, there is no sacrifice in plot or narrative tension. Wonderful proof that there can be other narrative stakes in a story than just character death. 

Under One Flag by NeurotropicAgentX

Pairing: Padme Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi/Darth Maul

Status: Two single chapter parts. Marked as incomplete with no further updates since 2017, but the chapters stand alone, no cliffhangers. 

Summary: The story of how Padmé Amidala becomes the reluctant Empress of the galaxy and acquires a pair of Force-sensitive bodyguards. Deals with the light and dark side conflict, the politics of an Empire, and Dathomirian Culture.

Notes: A fun little read! The dynamics between the three were interesting, and who doesn’t love the idea of Empress Padme? :D

By A Barista by Tomatosoupful

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin

Status: Complete, 7 chapters

Summary: Obi-Wan/Anakin, Modern Coffee Shop AU unapologetically set in Australia. Some Star Wars story lines and character arcs adapted into modern coffee versions.Anakin doesn't really know why Qui-Gon hired him despite having no experience in coffee making or table service, and he knows this bothers the barista, Obi-Wan, but hey, at least he gets to look at the handsome guy while he complains.

Notes: Another fun little read! I love social disaster Ani in modern settings, ngl XD 

The Snowball Effect by Ghost_Owl

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Anakin

Status: Complete, 2 chapters

Summary: Anakin had not meant to nail the cute guy from his building in the face with a snowball.Obi Wan had absolutely meant to hit him back.

Notes: Another cute read! Once again Ani is a disaster, and Obi-Wan only less so by direct comparison XD I particularly remember this story for the author coining the phrase I now recognize as my favourite paring trope - two halves of a whole idiot XDD

Reprise by Elfpen

Pairing: None

Status: 7 parts, current part ongoing

Summary: Ben Kenobi dies aboard the Death Star in the year 0 BBY. He wakes up shortly thereafter in the Jedi temple in the year 41 BBY. Haunted by memories and regret, Ben must forge a new path for himself in the Jedi Order of his youth while navigating the murky waters of time travel. Crafting a better future from bitter experience is hard, but learning to heal is even harder. Major AU.

Notes: This one I found on the heels of Desert Storm, and while they are initially cut from the same cloth, you’ll find they immediately develop their own unique flavours. If you like time-travel fix-its (which I do ;D) then this is a great read, and has some lovely art to go with it! 

Life and What Comes After by Ibelin

Pairing: None

Status: First part one-shot complete, second part ongoing

Summary: Obi-Wan dies on Jabiim. Anakin blames himself, doesn't know how to go on and yet - he does. Maybe the Force rewards that kind of thing, or maybe he just gets lucky, but when a mission lands Anakin on a vaguely familiar planet, he gets a second chance to do what he knows he should have done in the first place: save his master.(And maybe a chance to save the galaxy, too.)

Notes: *Don’t worry, Obi-Wan does not in fact die!*

Ngl, what attracted me to this fic in the first place was the tag “Unrealistically Well-Adjusted Anakin Skywalker” X’D For all they say that though, his growth as a person is actually written very believably - he’s still Ani, but you see the work he put in. And damn do I love me some real communication between Obi and Ani, and damn do we ever get that here. Obi kinda backtracks that a bit with his own self-esteem issues in part two, but I have no doubt the boys will get through it! 

Definitely recommend, it’s got some really wonderful family feels <3

Witness Me by SLWalker

Pairing: Obi-Wan/Maul

Status: 7 parts, final story part(s) ongoing (part 5 is the main series that’s ongoing, part 6 scattered one-shots, part 7 art for the series)

Summary: Instead of escaping to Lotho Minor, Maul's captured by the Order. Obviously, that changes everything.

Notes: I’m currently reading this one! The first several parts focus on building the relationship between Obi and Maul. Then in part 5 we start to focus more on Maul growing as his own person, though he is absolutely still Obi-Wans other half. Get ready for some clone feels, because I guarantee you will fall hard and fast for the Blackbirds once you meet them <3 <3 <3 I also appreciate that while there is definite censure for the Jedi council as a whole for certain decisions, and Anakin is his canon disaster self, there is no character bashing or throwing under buses, and conversely no hero worship either. Thus far everyone is treated fairly - I really enjoy that we tend to see not only several outside views of characters and situations, but also a lot of introspection as well. 

If you’re in it for the people, this story is very much for you <3

[dr-gloom]

Ssserpentine

A/N: Based on this post by @princeanxious. Dimitri elongates his s’s because the accident left him with some impaired speech that he’s been working to fix. One such method of teaching the ‘s’ sound is to draw it out; unfortunately, many folks tend to normalize this technique so any SLP/SLPA worth their salt tries not to use it if they don’t have to. Virgil’s piercing

Fandom: Sanders’ Sides

Pairing: Platonic Prinxiety, familial/brotherly Moceit, possible/hinted at Anxceit, possible/hinted at Royality

Words: 2,393

Summary: After an accident leaves Dimitri physically scarred and half blind, he decides to take back his confidence and turn his blemish into a statement. And of course his family are going to fully support him.

Tags/Warnings: swearing, blindness, mentions of pain, tattooing, sympathetic deceit

Fics Masterpost

Read it on AO3

Like what I do? Buy me a Ko-Fi or GoFundMe

Dimitri sat in his car, anxiously tapping the steering wheel and staring at the sign of the tattoo parlor he’d meticulously researched for. Out of all the places close to him, this place seemed to have the best reviews and the pricing was decent (from what he could tell). They even were one of the few places who openly stated that they could tattoo over scars, which is apparently harder to do, or something. All things considered, this was like Dimitri’s Eden. His first-pick college. His safe place.

Okay, really? He was being so weird about this. Just get out of the car already, doofus.

Dimitri takes a shaky breath and opens his door, stepping out into the parking lot. He forces himself forward, approaching the tattoo parlor with determined steps. When he’s about ten feet away he suddenly stops and turns around heading back for his car.

“Nope, can’t do thisss. Absssolutely not. Thisss wasss a horrible idea.”

He grips the door handle, staring at his reflection in the window. The mottled skin that makes up about half of the left side of his face glares back at him like a neon sign. He looks at the glass eye; the green iris and reptilian pupil had drawn his interest the moment he laid eyes on it, and Patton, sweet, loving, never-judgmental Patton had told him to go for it. “It’d be so cool!” he said. So Dimitri had done it.

It was largely the inspiration for the tattoo he wanted to get.

The one he was currently stalling on by staring at his reflection in his car window.

Dimitri groans and lets go of the door handle, turning back to the building.

“Jussst do it. Come on. Jussst…. Walk in, tell them what you want, and get it over with.”

He nods to himself and starts walking towards the door. His hand’s nearly on the door handle when he chickens out, turning around. He walks with quick, rushed steps back towards his car, his face burning. He was being an idiot.

“You know, I don’t think we have extension cords long enough to give you a tattoo outside, as fun as that would be.”

Dimitri spins around at the voice, looking over the man standing a few feet away. The man is dressed in torn black skinny jeans, black boots, and an MCR tank that leaves his tattooed arms exposed. His purple dye-dipped hair is sideswept just out of his eyes, as if he brushed it aside so he could see better. Soft brown eyes look at Dimitri with an undercurrent of understanding, a playful smirk on his viper bite-pierced lips. Dimitri’s brain stutters to a stop. “Wh-what?”

The man - more than likely one of the tattoo artists - thumbs over his shoulder at the tattoo parlor. “You gonna come inside or what?”

Dimitri gives a halting nod, shifting from foot to foot. “Oh, yeah, I jussst…”

The man shrugs. “I get it dude; first time jitters. Happens to the best of us. Come on, I’ll help you out.” He starts walking towards the door and Dimitri follows, walking quickly to catch up to him. “Name’s Virgil, I’m one of the tattoo artists.”

“Dimitri.”

Virgil nods and holds open the door for Dimitri. “So what can we do for you today, Dimitri?”

“I want a tattoo.”

Virgil snrks. “Well I figured that, dude. What are you thinking of getting?”

Dimitri walks into the parlor, looking around. There are tattoo designs pinned up to the walls, focused mainly around the work stations. Two other employees are in the parlor; one at the front desk reading, and another at his workstation tattooing a customer. Dimitri glances at Virgil. “....Sssnake ssskin. On my faccce.”

Virgil hums and nods, moving to sit on his stool. “Okay, sounds cool. A few things; one, the face is pretty sensitive, so unless your scarring - I’m assuming this will go over your scar?” At Dimitri’s nod, he continues, “So unless your scarring killed those nerves, it will hurt. Two, we won’t be tatting you up today, because I need to plan this out. I figure it gives you a little time to decide if you really want this anyways, so what’s the harm. Are you thinking something like broken skin, or just scales?”

Dimitri sits on the padded chair, glancing at the designs pinned to the wall behind Virgil. “I don’t even know what broken ssskin meansss.”

Virgil grins and pulls out a binder, opening it and flipping through it. Dimitri catches the occasional glimpse of a drawing; Virgil’s personal portfolio, he’s guessing. Virgil stops and points at a page. “This is broken skin. It’s a design I did for a client a while back.” The design was of tiger print, drawn in such a way that it looked like the paper had been broken almost like an egg shell to expose the print. Dimitri studies the art piece for a moment before he shakes his head. “I think I’ll jussst go with sssnake ssscalesss.”

Virgil nods, closing the binder and putting it back where he got it from. “Sounds good. How about we exchange numbers so I can send you design plans for you to OK. Sound good?” Dimitri nods. “Good. Logan will book you an appointment a couple weeks out so we have time to get it just right. It was nice meeting you, Dimitri.” Virgil gestures to the man reading up front and sticks his fist out. Dimitri eyes the appendage with a look that just says, “Seriously?” before tapping his own fist against Virgil’s and getting up, heading up to the front desk.

Virgil sits with his feet on the cushioned chair, his sketchbook propped up on his thighs. He taps the end of his pencil against his bottom lip as he thinks, staring at the blank page before him.

“You’ve been staring at that thing for an hour. Lose the ability to draw?”

Virgil glared across the room at his coworker. “No, asshole, I’m just thinking. Something you don’t do enough of.”

The man gives an offended gasp, placing a hand to his chest. “Excusez-moi. Rude, much?”

“You started it, Ro.”

Silence for all of thirty seconds, and then, “Seriously, what’s got you so stumped?”

Virgil sighs and lets his feet fall to the floor, tossing the sketchbook onto the padded chair. “New client wants a snakeskin face.”

Roman’s lip curls in thinly-veiled disturbance. “What, like…. His whole face?”

Virgil scoffs. “No, dumbass. He has a really big scar on the left side. Wants to cover it.” Roman hums in understanding. “I’m just kind of… Strapped for ideas right now. Everything I can think of looks too… Stupid.”

Roman props his feet up against the wall. “Well, what’s the scar look like?”

Virgil digs out his phone and pulls up the conversation with Dimitri. After they’d gotten him squared away for an appointment that was now only a week away, Virgil had asked Dimitri to text him a picture of the scar as reference. Virgil tapped the photo to enlarge it, handing the phone to Roman. Roman looked at the picture for a moment, his lips quirked to the side in thought.

“I may have an idea.”

“Dude, they look like freaking… Those gems from Zelda. This sucks.”

“Well I don’t see you coming up with any better ideas!”

“Actually, yeah, I did.”

“But are they good enough?”

“.....”

“That’s what I thought.”

Virgil’s phone going off at 2 am was not how he wanted to be woken up. Especially not on a Saturday. Wasn’t this supposed to be the one day he got to sleep in? Why did the universe hate him?

“H’llo?”

“Virgil! I figured it out! Get down here now, you have to see this!”

“Can’t you just text it to me?”

Cue the offended gasp. “Text it to you? I’m offended you’d even ask!”

Virgil groans, sitting up and grabbing his boots. “I’ll be there in ten.”

“....Huh.”

Roman fidgets with his fingers, studying Virgil’s expression for any hint of disapproval. “So?”

Virgil sets the sketchbook back on the table and pulls out his phone. “Only one way to find out.”

Roman grins as Virgil snaps a photo and sends it to Dimitri.

Dimitri sat once again in his car, staring at the tattoo parlor several yards ahead of him. He tapped on the steering wheel, the tapping of his finger matching the beating of his heart. Did he really want to do this? A tattoo was more or less permanent, and this was… Well, he definitely wouldn’t be able to blend into the crowd once he went through with this.

Patton laid his hand on top of Dimitri’s, effectively stopping his twin’s tapping. “Come on, Di, it’ll be fine! You’ll look so cool, like a… What are they called… Like a Basilisk! Well…. Half of you, anyways.” He laughs lightly.

His twin’s laugh draws a small smile out of Dimitri, and he sighs. “People are going to think I’m a freak.”

“Then I’ll beat them up!”

Dimitri laughs. “You can’t even clap me on the shoulder without worrying you hurt me.”

Patton pouts and crosses his arms. “Yeah, but you’re my twin, of course I don’t wanna hurt you.”

Dimitri doesn’t respond to that, just looking through his windshield at the tattoo parlor. “Well… Don’t want to be late for my appointment.” He steels his nerves and steps out of the car, Patton’s door shutting a moment after his. Patton moves to his side and takes his hand, and even though Dimitri can’t see him he knows his twin is giving him a reassuring smile. He takes a deep breath and starts walking with Patton towards the parlor.

Dimitri grips Patton’s hand tightly as the needle moves over his skin, trying not to squeeze his eyes shut too tightly or he’d risk crinkling his skin and messing Virgil up.

“It’s okay, Di. I gotcha. You’re okay. It’s gonna look great.”

What felt like an eternity later, Virgil set his machine down and sighed. “Alright, we’re done. Let’s talk aftercare.” He turns on his stool and grabs the supplies he’d set aside at the beginning, bandaging up Dimitri’s face. “So you don’t want to take this off for a few hours. At least two, though to be safe leave it on for three or four if you can. You’ll want to have it covered overnight to prevent the sheets sticking to you or getting stained, so you might just wanna leave it on unless it’s rubbing your skin uncomfortably or falling off already. You’re gonna wanna make sure your sheets stay clean for at least the first two weeks; this means you shouldn’t do anything in bed other than sleeping, to avoid crumbs, pencil shavings, whatever. Once you take off the bandages, you need to immediately wash your skin. We typically recommend something gentle and plain like Dial soap, definitely nothing with a fragrance or those little cleansing beads.”

Patton nods, scribbling the instructions into his notepad. Dimitri’s glad not for the first time today that he brought his twin along.

Virgil’s coworker walks over, his hands in his pockets. “So how’d it go?”

Virgil shrugged. “Pretty good. Dude didn’t even cry.”

The other man swore under his breath and handed a smirking Virgil ten dollars. Virgil turns to Dimitri. “This is Roman, he helped me design your tattoo.”

“Helped? I practically did it myself!”

“It was a 50/50 effort and you know it.”

“....Still.”

Patton jumps up, grinning at Roman. “Hi, I’m Patton! Dimitri’s twin.”

Roman grins at Patton and slings an arm over his shoulder. “Well hello, my fair prince.”

Patton giggles. Virgil groans. Dimitri rolls his eyes.

Great, just what he needs. Some guy hitting on his twin.

Thomas grins as he looks over Dimitri’s face, holding his adopted son’s jaw gently to turn his head. “It looks good! It healed well. You look so cool.”

“That’s what I said!”

Dimitri rolls his eyes. “You two are alwaysss ssso posssitive. It’sss naussseating.”

“Awwww, you love us!”

“....Shut up.”

“Di Di Di Di! Look!”

Dimitri spins his chair around to face his twin, who stands in his doorway bouncing on the balls of his feet with a large grin. Dimitri raises an eyebrow. “Yesss?”

Patton runs over to his twin, showing him his bandaged wrists. “I got tattoos! They’re on my ankles too. Roman did them for me!”

Dimitri’s eyes widen and he gently grips Patton’s arms, turning them to get a look at the bandages. “You got tattoosss? Why? What of?”

Patton grins. “They’re snake scales, just like you!”

Dimitri blinks, processing what he just heard. “Pat…”

“You’re so strong, Di, and I’m so proud of you for not letting your scar define you. I love being your twin.”

Dimitri lets go of Patton’s wrists to hug his twin around his waist, pressing his face into Patton’s stomach. Patton giggles and runs his fingers through Dimitri’s wavy hair. “Love you too.”

“Out of the way, old man.” Dimitri jokes, grinning as he lightly shoves Thomas. The soft hiss he gets in reply has his grin turning into a concerned frown. “Dad?”

Thomas waves him off, grinning. “Oh, don’t worry about it Di. I’m fine!”

“Sssomehow I don’t believe you.”

Thomas frowns, then sighs. “Alright, well… I’d wanted to wait until it was healed to show you, but I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” Dimitri is about to ask what he’s talking about when Thomas pulls his shirt up, exposing a bandage taped over the left side of his chest. Dimitri’s eyes widen.

“What happened?”

“I got a tattoo! It’s those scales, like yours and Pat’s. Right over my heart, because I love my boys.”

Dimitri flushes, staring at the bandage. After a moment, he gives Thomas a mischievous grin, poking his chest. “Actually, your heart’sss about… Right here.”

Thomas frowns. “What, really? Aw, man!”

Dimitri laughs. “It’sss fine. I like it. I bet it looksss ‘cool’.”

Dimitri sighs, pressing the phone to his ear and listening to it ring before the person on the other end picks up with a tired sounding, “yo”.

“Are you and Roman coming over for movie night? Dad wantsss to know.”

He can practically hear the grin in Virgil’s voice. “Movie night with the serpent Sanders? Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Taglist:

@hungry-red-panda @neonb-fly @chemically-imbalanced-romance @punsterterry @dead4sevenyears @metaphoricalpluto2 @tanyatoloni1334

[blueyesandleatherjacket]

A Taste Of Christmas, 1/6

Volume: 1.

Number of parts: 1/6.

Pairings: Metacrisis Nine x Rose.

A/N: Sequel for The Summertime Of Our Lives. Written for doctorroseprompts' fall fic bingo and ficmas challenge. Fall fic bingo: Mist, Jumper, Spice, Gold, Paint and Cider. Ficmas challenge: Workshop (D1), Tinsel (D2), Cider (D3), Tree (D4), Ugly Sweater (D8). Tagging @thebookster on her demand.

“Christmas is a time when you get homesick - even when you're home.” - Carol Nelson.

CHAPTER 1:

Rose was an artist. The Doctor had always known it. One day, she had forgotten her sketchbook on the pilot seat and he had flipped through it while she was asleep in her room, somewhere in the TARDIS. There were several drawings inside, drawings of him, drawings of her, drawings of them. She had spent a lot of time studying him, studying his faces, studying his bodies and his every gesture and she had drawn it all in her sketchbook. He had kept a page, had taped it on the wall of his bedroom in the TARDIS. The other hm was probably looking at it every time he was getting in his room. Or had he forgotten about her? Was he refusing to even think about her now that they were forever separated? That was what he would have done. Rose Tyler had brought him back to life when he only aspired to die and fate – with the faces of Daleks and Cybermen and new Doctor – had ripped her away from him. And it had reunited them in the most unexpected way years later. Their story was art too. He was a broken person. He was broken in so many pieces that sticking them back together to recreate the man he had once been before the war was impossible. Yet, the brave and compassionate Rose Tyler had taken the pieces she could find and had assembled them together. Instead of trying to reproduce something she had never known, she created a new version of him and added colours to his dull dark world. She was done just in time for him to regenerate into this pretty boy who forgot how to take care of her or how to cherish her. This time, she had been the one who was shattered beyond repairs and no one was there to help her. Her family had let her down slowly. They had thought that as a responsible adult, she could handle the situation and she had thought so too. Working on finding him – the other version of him – had kept her busy but the many failures had weakened the already fragile shell she had built around herself. She hadn’t given up on art as he found out after his arrival in this universe. Her flat had a couple of frames on the wall from artists that never made it in in their original universe and there was one of hers. An original production called “Night sky from Barcelona”. He had never taken her there with this face. The pretty boy did. Yet, it wasn’t him standing next to her under the starry sky. It was him with his leather jacket and short-cropped hair. It was his back and it was his hand holding hers. All this time she had been wanting him back. The broken, brooding soldier. It had taken him some time to accept this truth but the events of last summer had convinced him of it. It had been a long path. Now they were as happy as they could be. Which wasn’t an easy task when you had Jackie Tyler as stepmother. When she had found out about their matching tattoos and the meaning behind, she had completely lost her mind. He had never been so insulted and slapped in all his life. They had settled down in Broadchurch. After the end of the summer, they had gone back to London and the Doctor had soon dived back into his old quirks: pacing around the house, refusing to eat, depressing, stressing and having troubles to sleep. The town was having a terrible effect on him because of everything that had happened there in their original universe and for Rose, it was obvious that they couldn’t live in London anymore. It hadn’t been long to find a house thanks to their new friends – mostly Ellie Miller – help. Before the end of October, they were settled down in their new and cosy place in the heights of Broadchurch with a nice viewpoint on the cliffs and the sea. That had been an important point for the Doctor: having a viewpoint on the infinity of the world. This was reassuring him. The world was bigger on the outside. During all November, Rose had watched him as he sat in front of the large patio door and observed the waves crashing on the shore. As it was getting deeper into the autumn season, it would get darker earlier and mist would cover the land plunging the land in the creepy atmosphere of horror movies. Rose never got the right to go out when it was dark and misty. At least, she couldn’t go alone. He was insisting on going with her. She had proven her bravery and her fearless attitude by traveling by his side, by working with Torchwood to get back to him but he was firm in his decision to accompany her out whenever the mist was spreading. She had missed this overprotective side of his when he changed and even as a former kid from the Estates who had grown in a strong and independent woman, she liked this particularity of his. She had stopped working for Torchwood shortly after their summer vacations. The Doctor still didn’t what was the reason behind such a mystery around the agency. He wanted to nose around, to find out what was so wrong with them and he actually was doing it behind Rose’s back. The only fact that they had led experiences on her convinced him that they were doing wrong and had to be stopped. Obviously, this wasn’t without danger and it was harder to operate without access, without a TARDIS, without a trustworthy companion. Rose would lecture him if she was told what he was doing and he knew no one else that could travel and work with the way he used to be working with her. He doubted he would have taken any other companion on board if Rose had still been around. She was the best. As were Jack, Martha and Donna. But Rose was Rose. His Rose had given up on her job for him. She was unemployed because of him. Broadchurch was a small town and it was hard to find a proper job. She tried the police, the Broadchurch Echo, the schools – Torchwood had had the advantage to have trained and given her the proper diplomas – and every little job she could find in the classified ads but she never got anything. He had suggested her to try and make a living of her art. From them on, he had sort of lost her. Together, they had sacrificed a large room of their house and turned it into a workshop where she could unleash her creativity. It was already filled with loads of artistic materials he didn’t even know they had. Now, she was spending all her time in this room while he got lost in his thoughts in front of the patio door. Not a normal relationship, but they were far from normal. Today, he wasn’t in the living room. He was in the kitchen. Rose hadn’t checked on him in a while, and neither had he gone to check on her. He was concocting spiced cider from a recipe he had found in a local magazine. From the tiny drops he had licked on his fingers, it didn’t taste bad. It even sounded really good. Why had he never tested the whole cooking world before? Domestics. He was refusing the domestics he was now doing. Also, he had had other preoccupations in mind back then. But the pretty boy’s eccentricity and Donna’s seek for a family were running in his veins now. Admitting his feelings for Rose was an opening on this life and he honestly didn’t regret it. He was living the life he thought he would never have with the woman he thought would never love him and he couldn’t happier than that. The Doctor added the final touch to his drink and poured some in two glasses he took to Rose’s workshop. He knocked on the door. Got no answer. Rose surely was working with her Pods on. In this world, there weren’t such things as headphones. They were selling small round devices you were placing behind your ears. They were analysing your musical tastes from the information given by your brain and creating a whole playlist according to them, to your mood, to your current activity. It was totally obliterating the world around you and you could hear the music straight in your head. Great technology, but it also was increasing the percentage of unsolved crimes. With people being deaf to their surroundings, it was easier to rob, destroy and kill without being heard. It was also easier to get hit by a vehicle in the streets. Thankfully, Rose was using them when she was in her workshop and only when he was home. Opening the door confirmed what he thought: Rose had her back on him and soft green dot was blinking behind her ears. The room was a real mess. There was a tarpaulin covered with paint stains of all colours on the ground; on the wall on his left, there were empty and unused frames, blank and used canvas of all sizes. On the wall facing the door, there was a long table – actually the table was composed of planks on trestles – that was weighting down under the numerous and various art supplies. Boxes with their contents written in large black letters were stacked under the makeshift table. The third wall of the room was taken by easels and other boxes. Rose wasn’t only painting. She was doing all sorts of art including manual works. This explained the different materials lying around the floor, the glue gun in her hand, the brush and pen stuck on her ears. She had an old apron tied around her waist. An apron that had definitely seen better days and many artworks. He put the glass of warm spiced cider on the free and safe area of the table. Rose hadn’t seen or heard him coming. The sudden move beside her and the hand appearing next to her caused her to start and she was gonna attack when she realised it was him. She slapped his shoulder and switched off her Pods. He just smiled at her messy bun, at the paint on her face, at the unfinished work before her. “You scared the shit out of me, you idiot!” “Oi! I have nothing of an idiot!” “My clever idiot.” “Take that back.” “My handsome clever idiot.” “This won’t work.” The Doctor was playing offended but Rose’s messy look and the golden flakes spread all over her hair, cheeks and hands were quite funny. It reminded him of the golden light surrounding her, burning in her eyes, when she came back for him that day. A terrible, terrible day. His fingers brushed over her face, wiping away the flakes stuck on her cheek. He was always having nightmares of that day. He remembered all too ell the molten lava when he absorbed the Vortex that he was killing her, the cells of his body dying one after another, slipping into another skin and losing everything and everyone he loved, watching through new eyes what he could have lived, watch his new self screw up everything with Rose, the rage and pain of losing her and moving on, the joy and fear to be born again, the rejection and terror of a new limited human life, the doubts eating him out and the dread of losing Rose or himself one day. Her hands found his face. She cupped his cheeks, spreading flakes on his skin, rubbed her nose against his softly. She had sensed his change of mood. She had seen it in his eyes. His memories had come to bother him when they were playfully arguing. She didn’t know the cause of this sudden mood swing, and she didn’t care at the moment. She just wanted him back. “The golden flakes suit you well,” she joked. She rubbed her hands on his face and ran her fingers through his hair to share her flakes with him. Of course this wasn’t gonna please him. He was no man to go around with golden flakes everywhere. He had a bit of an ego and was quite a macho man. He did nothing that could make people question his masculinity. Even if the concept of masculinity and femininity were slightly different in this universe. After over 900 years of living by the same rules and concepts, it was hard to let go of them. “You know what would be great?” She let go of him and rummaged through the many boxes stacked under the table. A couple of them had the mention ‘Christmas’ on it and that’s naturally where she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a blue tinsel and wrapped it around his head like a crown. “Oh, what about a jumper too?” “Blue to go with my eyes?” “If you want. As long as it’s one of those ugly Christmas sweaters.” “No way. Don’t wanna be ridiculous, me.” “Though you feel ridiculous already.” “Maybe.” “How do you feel with that tinsel on your head?” “Like your human Christmas tree. And according to this beautiful wooden Advent calendar, I suppose you miss the holiday.” “This is stupid.” Rose humphed and hit the table with her fist. She caught the glass of cider before it spilled on her work. That was the first time she noticed it. The Doctor had one in his hands too. She took a sip. Took another. Licked her lips. That tasted amazing. She had been too young and too busy to have some in her original universe and this one had a very different way to celebrate the cold season…

To be continued...

A Taste Of Christmas © | 2019 | Tous droits réservés.

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English version:

AO3 || TS.

[sssuperbartola]

The “App store”

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I’m pretty much random with this little thing I wrote, but I couldn’t resist after looking at @ jafndaegur’s little comic strip of a funny AU with not so modern Sesshomaru and the battle with the “app store”.

Anyway, I wanna first thank @meggz0rz for having been my proofreader for most of the fic, although I’m gonna post it without too much attention bc meh too lazy sksksks. This is a fic for a ludicrous purpose, I did it because I was really interested in a situation with Sesshomaru being a chill af dude in modern clothes but with the mentality of a dad when it comes to smartphones lmao.

All the credits for this idea go to @mmhinman, who suggested the idea first, and to @jafndaegur, who first came up with this little piece of art. Without further introduction, enjoy the one-shot!

"I was waiting for you two. Please, come in." a towering - and definitely more polite - Sesshomaru greeted from the doorstep of the quarters of a house in central Tokyo. Kagome and Inuyasha first exchanged a brief glance to each other before stepping into the fashionable, yet discrete residence of the Lord of the West. The only difference was that said Lord was not in his usual attire. A simple attire with a light blue button shirt and a pair of blue navy suit trousers were his outfit, whose material, in the eyes of Kagome, could only be described as fancy.

If then, one was to look past the casual look of such latest fashion and moved to the interiors of the house, another considerable surprise would wait: refined marble flooring extending to all the corners of the spacious apartment; a set of leather couches in the very center, together with some simple furniture - black, rigid chairs, a refined low glass coffee table; a kitchen counter with a set of dark stoves and a well-furnished library on the very left of what looked the most redefined apartment Kagome has ever seen.

It didn't surprise her anyway, whose lifestyle in the modern era didn't differ from the daiyouki's - at least, not in the terms of tastes. If anything, what did surprise her the most was the fact that there really was a descendant of the greatest daiyouki currently living in her time, who lived not even that far from her family shrine, on top of that. When she first mentioned Inuyasha’s half-brother during dinner time in her modern home, Mama Higurashi didn’t miss a beat, and told Kagome that what she described as a merciless, powerful demon with long silver hair and a death stare was actually the same person she used to work for some years ago in the fashion industry. When she heard that news, Kagome could barely finish eating before flinging down the bones eaters’ well and rushing to tell her friends her revelation.

“What kinda games are ya playing, you jerk?” he all but blurted when the modern version of his half-brother stepped aside to let them in. Sesshomaru frowned in hearing those harsh words, confused by that sudden question, too.

“Inuyasha! He was just welcoming us inside, he did nothing wrong.” said Kagome, not wanting to start with the wrong foot - only the Kami knows what could go wrong with those two together.

“Keh! If I know anything about this guys, is that kindness is not really his strong point.”, he replied, not too convinced by this whole act. ‘Not only do I have to deal with his asshole version in my time, but I also have this pompous one to deal with!’ he thought, his trademark scowl never leaving his features. He had been the first one to tell Kagome that dealing with another Sesshomaru was not a good idea, the first reason being he already hated the original version with all his might, and so he wasn’t very optimistic with them going to pay a visit. After a heated discussion between him and the young girl, they finally came to a compromise which made the two parts agree to visit Sesshomaru number two: Kagome and Inuyasha would go visit him once to ask if he knew anything about how to defeat Naraku; if the mission failed, they would never ask for him again. With that set, the following day Inuyasha went to Kagome’s era and to her home to pick her up, and, after a robust breakfast and saying goodbye, they went off in search of said daiyouki 2.0. After a whole half day spent looking up on the Internet, they managed to find his location and even made a phone call to check if he was still living there. Surprisingly enough, he was and had no problem with them coming over.

“Well, you can’t know that for sure, he’s not like the Sesshomaru we know.” “How can ya be that sure?! As far as I’m concerned, this is the first time for you too! He couldda been the same as 500 years ago!” he interjected, now even more unsure about the whole situation.

“I am quite surprised as well, Inuyasha” Sesshomaru finally spoke, “it’s not usual to meet your brother from 500 years ago in this timeline. However, I should not be too much shocked, since I knew this day was coming. I know you may have several questions to ask, so let’s not wait time standing here, let’s have a seat”. Once more, he gestured to the couple to come inside and, eventually, Kagome stepped into the apartment, followed by a more reluctant dog boy. Once the door was closet, Sesshomaru walked past them and went straight to the little couch in the middle of the room, not bothering to see if the two other people were following him.

As they stepped into the well-furnished area which was the living room, the pair had then a more clear vision of the place: several tall, narrow windows surrounded the entirety of the room, allowing the exterior light to brighten the apartment. On the left side, Kagome noticed a staircase ascending to what could have been a second floor, and, just below that, an underpass stocked with books, lamps, and some glass boxes with all sorts of objects.

The trio soon reached the couch and immediately sat down, Sesshomaru on the Celestine couch facing Kagome and Inuyasha.

“If I may, could I offer you some refreshments? Some tea, perhaps?” Sesshomaru proposed with all the calm in the world; “Okay, who the hell are you and what happened to that arse of my brother?!” “Inuyasha!” “What?? This is not what I’m used to in my time, I have to literally fight this guy every time I see him, it’s fucking weird to see him so…mellow!” Inuyasha growled back at her, while Sesshomaru heaved an exasperated sigh. This was going to be an intense afternoon.

“We can’t keep this up, Inuyasha, we came here for a reason, so try to behave a little; we need as much information as we can get.”

“Humph! I ain’t got that much of trust in that. What makes you think he will help us anyway?”

“Well, we only have to try!”

“Pardon me,” Sesshomaru eventually intervened into the couple’s bickering “but as a matter of fact, I am here, right in front of you. This is proof that I survived the fight against Naraku centuries ago, isn’t it? Therefore, you can trust me and my pieces of advice, since I already experienced what will happen in the past. Confiding to my words or not is your choice and yours only.” He calmly stated to them, slowly coming forward, his elbows resting atop of his expensive trousers. Kagome and Inuyasha carefully thought over his speech and, after several seconds of silence, the daiyouki spoke again. “I am aware of my position towards you and your group of friends, but you cannot deny the fact we are fighting the same battle, and that our discordances should be kept to ourselves for the greater good. I am simply answering your call of help, nothing more, nothing less” he reasoned “I cannot try any advantage from this; as you can well see, I have my own life right here and I have never bothered interfering with yours. The only ones who will gain something from this are you.”

He finally concluded, leaning back in the small sofa and regarding them both, giving them time to think about what to do.

Visibly amused by this behavior, Kagome didn’t really have anything to argue against his words: they were in need of help, whatever the source would be, and he was not pushing them away like his older- or younger? - version used to do. She glanced over to Inuyasha, the only one who could have to say something about it since she was still determined to keep going with this path. He still kept his arms folded into his haori and never once broke eye contact with his brother. One could say he wanted to see where the other would go with all of his talking, but the truth was, he had nothing to use against him at this moment. The fights against Naraku were getting harder and harder, Kagome’s spiritual powers were barely preventing the most damaging attacks, and, on top of that, his swords skills were still lacking the strength he required. There was not that much to do if not trying any other options, of that he was well aware of, but what really threw him off what the fact they were getting aid from none other than his half-brother. The last person he could think of. Well, there was no turning back now, wasn’t it?

“Alright, I’ll listen to what you have. But I’m doing it because I trust Kagome, not you.” he finally said. The girl in question heaved a sigh of relief, although she couldn’t help the little smile that appeared on her lips at hearing how much the hanyou relied on her.

“Very well, I will try to support you in what I can.” the dog demon replied. “However, I believe it was the Miko who wanted to share an idea of hers.”, his attention now focused on the young girl next to his hanyou brother, who turned his head towards her as well. Kagome suddenly lit up as she remembered the purpose of this visit “Oh, right! I wanted to propose a solution to keep up as much updated as possible with each other, even when far away”.She then took the little purse she usually carries around when going into the city and rummaged inside to look for what then appeared to be three tiny metallic objects, all of the same dimensions. She gave one to both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, each one frowning at the strange article in their hands. Inuyasha, more confused than anyone else, also sniffed the metal piece of futuristic technology and tried poking it to attain any sorts of reaction from it.

“So” Kagome started “I was thinking that regardless of the info Sesshomaru can give us, maybe we could use his help not only to take notes for our journey but also keeping us in constant contact while traveling the Feudal era. This way, even if we’re separated by time, Sesshomaru can still warn us from afar using this!” she explained while gesturing to the tiny piece of metal in her hands. Both demons looked at each other and then at the girl in front of them, but only Inuyasha asked “Uh, that’s really cool, but...what exactly is this thing?” he skeptically asked, looking down at the rectangular thing.

“This is a smartphone.”, she simply stated, but before she could explain further, Sesshomaru held up his hand before his face as a sign to stop Kagome from talking. He then lowered it down and, with what Kagome could describe as a mix of smugness and composure, he went “This Sesshomaru is okay. Just explain to this ignorant who I presume has never seen one before.” That affirmation earned him a bewildered expression from the girl and one of hate from the half-demon. ‘So that’s where he kept his true attitude, uh’ Kagome mustered with herself, while Inuyasha was ready to start a fight again. “Just what the hell do you think-!” “Okay! No bickering you two, let’s just move on!” Kagome interjected before the catastrophe; Inuyasha regarded a hard look to his brother, while Sesshomaru simply focused again to the girl. “Oh God...ok, since you’re already familiar with this gadget, Sesshomaru, I will tell you how I intend to use it.” Sesshomaru nodded slightly, then Kagome proceeded “First: go to the App store”. After she said so, Sesshomaru nodded again.

Then stood up to his feet, took his jacket which rested on the back of the sofa, and started getting dressed as if to go out.

Kagome just looked more confused.“Uh...why are you getting up?”

Sesshomaru looked at her, as if what he was doing wasn’t already obvious enough “Woman, you said to go to the App store. We’re going to the App store.”

As if suddenly called on, Inuyasha stood as well “Yeah, Kagome. If we need to go to this store we better hurry. Let’s go already” Quite pleased to have the support of his half-brother, Sesshomaru then turned again to Kagome “Woman, is this “App store” far away?”.

Kagome’s eyes went wide with surprise. It was a miracle she didn’t fall from off the chair at that statement.

Yep, this is going to be a loooong afternoon...