#i had a vision for this piece which im not sure i fully realized

[glasswingowl]

Bury all my skeletons and let 'em stay dead Exorcise the demons makin' homes in my head And wash away my dirt and wash away this hurt And lay me down to rest

i'm pretty sure these are accurate, not that it really matters but i like doing it anyway

Black rose- mourning loss, rebirth, courage Purple Hyacinth- sorrow, regret, love Sunflowers- happiness, loyalty, also a reference to this Yellow Tulip- positivity and joy, also death and mourning in some cultures Purple anemone- connecting with inner self, healing Purple Carnation- friends/loved ones black pansy- mischief, courage and strength

[wileys-russo]

childhood sweethearts (10) II a.russo x reader

playlist one two three four five six seven eight nine

childhood sweethearts (10) II a.russo x reader

"jesus." you mumbled to yourself, wincing at the bright beam of sunlight which blinded you as you cracked an eye open, rolling onto your stomach and exhaling deeply.

thats when you realised, these weren't the same bedsheets you'd changed over yesterday, the rattan bedhead behind you also wasn't yours, in fact this bed was not yours. given you knew your best friends house almost as well as your own you also knew this was not her spare bedroom either.

"oh christ." you hissed clutching your pounding head as you shot up in the unfamiiar bed, entirely too fast for the lack of water and abundance of alcohol still left in your bloodstream.

taking a moment and a deep breath you opened your eyes a little slower this time, looking around the unfamiliar room as your eyebrows knitted into a hopelessly confused frown.

lifting up the crisp white duvet you sighed a little in relief seeing you were fully clothed, though just exactly whose clothes these were that you were currently wearing was still a mystery to you. fumbling around to grab your phone you noticed a glass of water and two small white pills beside it on the bedside table.

having no clue where you were you were hardly about to ingest anything left wordlessly for you, for all you knew the water could be tampered with or the pills could be any assortment of drugs.

your confusion deepened though seeing your phone was fully charged, realizing whoever's house you were currently in had not only brought you home, changed you and neatly hung up your dress from last night on the back of the door but also made sure your phone had been on charge all night.

your vision adjusting to the sunlight streaming in through the open window meant you started to actually take in your settings, frown returning at the assortment of trophies and medals littering the walls and shelves in the corner.

hoping they might help you to put together the pieces of the puzzle you were currently living in you swung yourself out of bed, shivering a little as a crisp breeze whipped in through the open window and you made your way over.

but before you could even inspect the silverware your eyes were drawn to a large frame hanging on the other wall that you'd somehow missed in your hungover state, and there was no mistaking that infamous number and five letter word among the grass stains littering the england jersey.

23, russo.

you weren't sure if it was panic or relief which flooded your body now you'd finally cracked the mystery of just who it was who'd brought you home last night, which admittedly you were struggling to remember much of.

you jumped in surprise as your phone buzzed repeatedly on the bed, screen lighting up with a flood of notifications.

iMessages from; alessia r

10:04am - hey, i'm sure you have a lot of questions and are probably not feeling the greatest this morning. i'd totally understand if you left but i'm in the kitchen cooking if you wanted breakfast and a chat before you go :)

10:04am - sorry i don't know why the ':)' felt passive aggressive? lol

10:05am - maybe i'm overthinking this

10:05am - no im definitely overthinking this sorry

10:05am - sorry i'll stop messaging you now

10:06am - oh there's advil on the table too

10:07am - i am in the kitchen cooking though so i really could have just come and said this in person but i don't even know if you're awake or still here or anything

10:08am - also didn't want to freak you out

10:10am - sorry i promise im not usually such a spam texter lol

despite your mixture of both panic and relief at the fact you were in alessia's home and had spent the night you couldn't help but let out a small smile at the influx of messages, imagining the way she'd nervously ramble through the same sentences would she have come and spoke to you in person.

though the blonde wasn't wrong, you were far from feeling the greatest and you did have questions, the main one being why the hell you ended up in her spare bed and not at home in your own.

placing down your phone you rubbed your face tiredly, and now knowing where you were you were quick to down the pills and glass of water, not realizing just how dry your mouth felt until you had.

you spent a few more minutes ticking over in your head everything that you could remember, trying desperately to piece together the night from start to finish, but there was still a significant amount of gaps and right now there was only one person who could help you to fill them.

so with a deep breath and a long exhale your hand fell to the doorknob, tugging it open and being immediately hit with the smell of bacon and coffee.

alessia heard you before she saw you, the slight squeak of the door all she needed for her entire body to snap to attention, and with a glance up her eyes met yours, relieved to see no signs of distress or anger in your features at what was likely an uncomfortable situation to be waking up to.

"hi." you sent her a small smile which the blonde returned, and when she noticed it didn't seem you were in a rush to leave gesturing for you to take a seat at the bench. "coffee?" alessia offered as you shook your head declining politely, the thought of that already setting your stomach into a churn.

"water then?" the striker smiled as you accepted a bottle from the fridge gratefully, taking a large mouthful before pressing it to your forehead. "did you sleep alright?" alessia asked, slight concern present in her gaze which flickered between you and the food cooking on the stovetop.

"i think so? i don't really remember going to sleep if i'm honest."

~

"-then i got you out of the taxi and helped you inside and into bed." alessia finished recounting her recollection of events, shoveling another mouthful of breakfast into her mouth as you nodded along.

"i'm sorry you didn't really get a say in any of it. i was just worried about you hitting your head or falling over and having no one there to check up on you." alessia admitted softly, refusing to meet your eye line as she stared down at her plate of food as if it was the most interesting one she'd ever seen.

"hey less." you noticed her internal battle right away as her eyebrows knit into a frown, tapping your fork lightly against your plate to catch her attention.

"i appreciate that you were just looking out for me, thats what friends do right?" you smiled trying to be reassuring as alessia nodded, seemingly a little more settled. though unbeknownst to you that singular word was like a fork to her heart, friends. that's all the two of you were, friends.

and alessia needed to get out of her own head and realise that, or she risked losing you for good again and that wasn't worth the extra heartbreak it would cause her.

if it was a friend you needed then alessia would be the best one to you she possibly could be, because if thats what it took for you to stay in her life then thats all that mattered.

or at least, thats what she was telling herself.

"i can't believe that girl turned out to be such a creep. i dread to think what would have happened if you weren't there looking out for me less, thank you." your words felt heavy but you spoke gently, doing your best not to think about what might have happened had the blonde not stepped in.

"hey i'd have never let anything bad happen, i promise." alessia spoke a little more firmly, being sure to catch your eyes as a strange feeling settled in your stomach at the display of protection, nodding gratefully and putting the weird churning of your insides down to your hangover which was slowly starting to bleed away.

the two of you ate the rest of your meal in a comfortable silence, both admittedly a little lost in your own thoughts. you refused to listen to alessia's demands that you not help her wash up, the two of you also doing that task with minimal chatter between you.

"would you want to stay and watch some movies or something?" alessia blurted out suddenly, glancing to you briefly but unable to read your face her attention shifted back to the sink full of soapy water.

she had already prepared for the no from the moment that she'd asked the question, already kicking herself for being bold enough to ask after the weird situation already brewing after last night and the fact the two of you were still rebuilding things with one another.

but much to her shock, that no never came.

"yeah sure, that sounds nice."

"wait, really?" alessia asked, unsure if she'd heard you correctly as you gave her an odd look. "yeah...unless you don't want me to?" you clarified slowly, a little perplexed by her surprise as she was quick to assure you not.

"did you want a shower? i'll grab you a towel!" you bit your lip to stifle your laughter as the taller girl hurried away, tripping over her own feet in her haste and tumbling to the floor. "still don't know the size of your own legs then less?" you smiled in amusement as she stood, rubbing her tailbone with a wince.

"nah, ground just looked lonely."

~

"-i still say i could pull this off, easy." you shrugged, shoveling a handful of popcorn in your mouth. "no way! you'd be caught before you even assembled a team." alessia scoffed, doing the same.

"no! i'm a criminal mastermind." you disagreed. "you couldn't even steal a pack of gum for a dare." alessia grinned at the memory. "thats not fair! i was a dead nervous wreck and you're a terrible influence." you shook your head at her.

"terrible influence, excellent thief." alessia beamed wiggling her eyebrows. "can't wait till i leak that to the daily mail. i can see the headlines now; russo goes rough, opens up about grim life of childhood theft!" you mocked in your best newsreader voice, the older girl shoving your shoulder playfully.

again it was all too easy to fall back into your usual playful banter as if no time had passed, the two of you bickered back and forth for a moment before you shushed the blonde. "i love this scene." the two of you fell into a comfortable silence, both sat watching oceans eight.

"okay shoot, shag, marry. sandra bullock, anne hathaway, rihanna." alessia challenged, shifting her body to look at you as you let out a troubled sigh. "you can't expect me to shoot one of them!" you groaned with a shake of your head.

"i'd just shoot the guy she frames who got her arrested, marry any of them because they're all rich now and also shag, any of them!" you answered honestly, alessia laughing and accepting your answer.

"bet you i can catch more of these in my mouth in a row than you can." you challenged now, tapping the bowl of popcorn between you as alessia scoffed.

"please. you're on!"

it was a few hours later that you realized you'd fallen asleep, your eyes fluttering open feeling a little dazed and confused. the sun now having set alessia's living room was only lit up by the tv and you blinked a few times as your eyes adjusted.

it was then that you realised a warmth was enveloping you that you didn't remember being there when you were awake, and you quickly realised it was alessia's hoodie clad arm wrapped around your shoulders, your cheek pressed into her chest as the two of you were squished together on one end of her lounge.

your body tensing up at the new position you spared a glance upwards to see her eyes closed, feeling her chest moving up and down beneath you, the striker seemingly also dead asleep.

you carefully unwound her arm, hearing her stir as you sat up and shuffled a little bit further away from her, stretching out and rubbing your face tiredly.

"you alright?" you heard her ask, voice thick with sleep as she sat up with a small grunt, turning her head and cracking her neck. "i should get going, its almost dark and i have to prep for my class tomorrow." you smiled, trying to ignore the strange feelings arising in your stomach.

"course, i'll drive you." alessia exhaled deeply, clearly still tired as you hurried to shake your head. "it's literally a ten minute walk less. i'll be fine!" you smiled reassuringly, standing up and moving to grab your clothes from last night off the counter.

"you can't walk home in a dress and heels, it's freezing outside." alessia frowned, peering at you in concern over the top of the lounge. "i was fine last night!" you argued stubbornly. "you aren't drunk right now, there isn't alcohol to warm your blood stream up." alessia shot back as you struggled to come up with a response.

"i don't think that's how it works."

"just stay in my clothes, i'll get them off you another day." alessia heaved as she stood and stretched her arms up, your eyes wandering to the sliver of her toned stomach which flashed out as her hoodie rose up.

you quickly looked away feeling your cheeks warm a little. "i'll grab you some trainers." before you could even speak she'd darted off to her room, returning with a pair of brown dunks.

"might be a bit big but just do them up tight." she placed them on the table, excusing herself to use the toilet as you sat down at the table to put them on.

"ready?" alessia returned, grabbing her keys off the hook and waiting by the door. "i told you! i'll walk. driving literally five minutes away is a waste of petrol, think of the environment." you teased, bundling your belongings as she opened the front door.

"alright fair, i'll walk you then." she grabbed a puffer jacket which hung by the door, flicking her hood up and settling into it. "you're not going to take no for an answer are you?" you questioned, the blonde shaking her head firmly.

"of course not." you sighed knowingly, dumping your clothes and heels into a tote bag she offered you. "always trying to force the football on me aren't you." you tutted noticing the bright red arsenal crest donning the front of the bag and the pocket of her puffer jacket.

she shoved you with a smile grabbing her house keys and closing the door after herself, the two of you downing her front steps and starting to walk. "do you just wear this around sometimes so you get free coffees?" you smiled, tugging on her jacket.

"oh yeah absolutely. free coffees, free ice cream, free trainers and clothes, free social media abuse." alessia shot back, and though she said it jokingly you knew the element of truth which lay behind her words.

"i always knew you'd end up here anyway." you shrugged, not meeting her eyes which looked at you curiously. "where? london?" the blonde questioned with a frown.

"no you idiot. like a pro footballer, a proper one." you chuckled with a small shake of your head. "hello testing testing anyone home?" you teased, knocking on her forehead. "hey!" alessia laughed, grabbing your hands in hers as the two of you arrived out the front of your own place.

"you are still annoying as ever." the taller girl sighed, shaking her own head, your hands still clasped in hers. "i seem to remember i was always labelled the sensible, responsible friend, and you were the-" you paused to think.

"-i believe our teachers used to say you were distracting, loud mouthed, immature-" you recounted, only cut off by the blonde pulling you into a headlock not unlike she used to often when the two of you were younger.

"alessia!" you laughed, struggling to pull away. "i seem to remember this was one of the only ways to shut you up!" the striker teased, dragging you along with her to your front door.

"so immature." you mocked as she finally let you up, punching her lightly as your hand easily bounced off the thick puffer jacket covering her. "thank you. for a nice day and for last night." you smiled once the two of you had calmed down from your laughter.

"course. think that makes us even now!" alessia joked lightly, rocking back and forth on the heels of her feet.

"yeah i guess it does, maybe next time we go out for a drink we agree to be the same amount of tipsy. no need for any rescuing then!" you smiled, alessia having to control the immense happiness which flooded her entire body hearing you speak so loosely about the two of you spending time together.

"like i said, i'd never let anything bad happen to you." the taller girl smiling down at you sincerely as once again the strange twinge settled in your stomach, the two of you locking eyes for just a few seconds too long as you cleared your throat.

"let me know once you get home yeah?" you raised an eyebrow, one hand hovering on your door knob as alessia nodded. the two of you stood in silence for a moment, both clearly debating the same thing as the seconds ticked by and time seemed to stall.

then like magnets, you drew toward one another.

you couldn't ever deny that a hug from her felt good, beyond good. the way her taller body encased yours, your head falling to her chest as one hand always rubbed your back and the other grazed your sides she held you with just the right amount of pressure.

but it felt familiar, too familiar.

"night less." you forced a smile as you suddenly pulled away, and then within seconds you were back inside and exhaling a breath you didn't realise you'd been holding in.

that strange feeling in your stomach not ceasing, that very same night was the first in a long time that you slept in her hoodie.

~

the rest of your week passed by in a blur. the stomach flu gracing the walls of your school had meant that your class was half its normal size with a lot of the kids out sick, which was bitter sweet.

you could no longer fend off your mothers insistence you come over for dinner so thats how your wednesday night was spent, admittedly quite enjoying a home cooked meal that you didn't have to make. it was also the night you found out your sister was pregnant with twins, a surprise for the whole family, her poor husband included.

by the time friday rolled around you were in disbelief at just how quickly the days had passed, and maybe now you could truly get behind that a four day work week was more efficient.

most of your students back and in full force from an unusual but gloriously sunny day, you'd struggled all day to keep their focus. so when it came time to take them all to the football clinic, you couldn't have been more relieved.

you gave alessia a small wave and a smile as she spotted you, falling back into conversation with your coworkers as she zoned back into the games she was running with her group.

the two of you had started to message more, the communication not constant but it was consistent. it helped ease your worries a little more that things would fall apart again right as they started to feel just slightly normal with the two of you trying to build up your friendship.

which is why you weren't surprised to find the tall blonde making her way over to you once you'd made sure your class all got off school grounds safely, and she'd assisted with the pack up of all the equipment.

wishing your fellow grade two teachers a good weekend and promising to organise drinks and dinner soon you'd turned and suddenly she was there. "hi." you smiled, pulling her into a hug much to both alessia's surprise and delight.

"hey." she murmured back, squeezing you for a second before letting go. "hope they behaved for you. god knows they were doing my head in today, bouncing off the walls!" you chuckled, alessia grinning at your words.

"definitely full of beans but a lovely bunch of kids, and they adore you. wouldn't shut up about you actually!" the striker revealed, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms, forcing you to notice just how in shape she really was as your eyes glanced over her biceps.

"fishing for information about me from my students? new low for you russo." you tutted, lips tugging into a smile as she reached out and pushed you with a roll of her eyes.

"very funny. they were actually telling me all about their excursion on monday, and how it wasn't the best one because you weren't there." she smiled softly, your heart melting a little.

"can see how much you love this, and how much it suits you. your eyes light up anytime you talk about it, you're clearly very passionate, the kids adore you and you just seem...well happy." alessia complimented as you blushed a little at her words.

"thank you lessi." you mumbled, turning to pack up your bags as she chuckled. "never could take a compliment, always so shy!" the older girl teased as you now shoved her. "i was only the shy one as a kid because you did all the talking for the pair of us, big mouth!" you hit back, alessia scoffing and holding her hand on her chest in mock offence.

"oi less!" she glanced over her shoulder, seeing leah gesture wildly at her and giving her a small thumbs up.

"i won't hold you up, enjoy your weekend less." you smiled sincerely, slinging your bag over your shoulder and going to leave but her hand shot out to gently grab your wrist.

"no no its not like that. leah just, well she wanted me to invite you round for a pizza night tonight at her place." alessia spoke, the invitation admittedly catching you quite off guard. "me?" you asked with a confused frown.

"yeah you. think you really got her on side the other night with those tequila shots." alessia chuckled, awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck as she let go of your arm.

"look thats really lovely of her but fridays are sort of...my night. got a bottle of wine and some trashy reality shows calling my name." you declined as politely as you could but it seemed to fall on deaf ears.

"look i said invite. but with leah really its more of a courtesy to ask, if you say no she would just come over here herself and somehow either charm you into saying yes or coerce you into giving her your address so she can come and pick you up herself." alessia smiled knowingly making you laugh.

"i'm serious! she's nothing if not efficient, and very hard headed."

"lovely way to talk about the captain of england there." you teased, sparing a glance over her shoulder to see the older girl you were discussing staring at the two of you, hands planted firmly on her hips.

"well if i've not got a choice then i guess that sounds nice." you laughed giving in, getting the sense alessia was not joking about her friends insistence.

"really? great. i can take you if you like? since we're not far from each other and i know the address." alessia offered as you agreed gratefully, also knowing you'd be far less nervous walking in with her than arriving by yourself.

"i'll come and get you around like six?" she checked her watch and raised an eyebrow as you nodded, that gave you around two hours to get ready and psych yourself up.

"yeah that sounds good, i'll see you at six."

~

"hello! you came, lovely." you were pulled right into a warm hug by leah the moment she'd opened the door, alessia smiling at the sight as she and leah hugged before she lead you both inside.

"i'll give you the grand tour later but i'll introduce you to the girls. don't believe a word they say unless it's about less and a story about her falling over something at training." leah sent alessia a wolfish grin over her shoulder.

"oh i can promise i've got more." you smiled, alessia huffing and poking you in the back with a glare only making leah chuckle. "i'll be holding you to that later mate. but this is laura, lia, beth, viv and kim." leah introduced you pointing to each girl who smiled, introducing you back to them as alessia moved to greet them all.

"i would like to formally apologise that the last time you saw me i couldn't keep my head up." you joked awkwardly toward beth, remembering her from the group alessia was with on the weekend.

"ah don't worry about it. who hasn't had a big night with some regrets!" the girl waved off your worries, hugging you and pulling you down to talk with her and her girlfriend viv.

~

"so have they only left you in charge because you're italian?" you teased, moving away from the small group in the living room and joining alessia in the kitchen where she was busy kneading the pizza dough.

you'd been here an hour now and felt much more at ease than you'd spent the entire afternoon worrying about, all of alessia's friends and team mates nothing but welcoming and kind.

you were however grateful it wasn't the entire team, just a small handful of them with nothing much better to do, and based on your conversations with them this seemed to be the norm most nights that someone would be round since leah couldn't and didn't cook for herself.

"laura and leah are supposed to be helping me but laura just keeps eating everything she chops up and leah keeps getting fomo about what the girls are talking about and what she's missing out on." alessia chuckled with a playful roll of her eyes.

you offered to help her out, laura and lia joining the two of you after a while, your combined hands making quick work of the prep as lia called the other girls over to start assembling their pizza's.

"pineapple! honestly and you call yourself an italian." you tutted with a disgusted wince at alessia's choice of toppings. "hey! pineapple belongs on pizza thanks." she bumped her shoulder gently into yours as a debate quickly broke out among the group over the seemingly hot topic.

"yeah sorry, half italian." you smirked, laura laughing at the comment. "doesn't even speak the language!" you teased further. "do too! well, a little bit." alessia frowned making you smile.

"oi! hands to yourself thanks." you bumped into her as she stole a piece of pepperoni off your pizza with a grin. "hey listen to your own words!" the taller girl mocked as you dropped a handful of spinach onto hers.

"you wanted it anyway!" you laughed as she spread it out. "not with your grubby little hands all over it." she shot back. "less!" you pushed her away with her hip as she in retaliation dropped a few cut up tomatoes onto your perfectly curated pizza.

"no! stop it." you laughed as she grabbed a piece and tried to force it into your mouth as you pushed her away and attempted to hide behind laura.

"and they are just friends?" lia murmered quietly to leah who stood beside her, watching the two of you. leah only gave her a look in return which said something alone the lines of 'i'll explain more later' as lia smiled in silent understanding, the two heading outside to put their pizzas in to cook.

"right! you three, stop messing about. you two are on pizza supervision duty, and laur is on clean up!" leah clapped to gain your attentions as laura groaned loudly, her protests falling on deaf ears as viv stepped in to help.

"now you wouldn't happen to be meddling, would you williamson?" beth accused, nodding to you and alessia stood alone outside with a raised eyebrow, also having been watching how the pair of you were so comfortable in your interactions.

"who me? why bethany i would never." leah grinned holding a hand to her chest. "less is different round her though, not in a bad way. just-" the blonde struggled to think of the right word.

"more playful, outgoing, and also very clearly pining over her?" "yeah you know what that just about sums it up."

~

"since when are you so into country music?" you laughed as alessia drove the two of you home, the last three songs in her playlist all of that genre you'd not ever known her to be so passionate about.

"cause it's great! i hate that it gets so much shit." she rolled her eyes, only turning it up louder and to your amusement starting to sing along, turning to grin at you every now and then, the melodic chime of your laughter echoing around her car only spurring her on further.

"well i actually had a really nice night less, thank you." you smiled sincerely as alessia parked out the front of your place, turning her music right down and putting her mercedes into park.

"even if i've learnt that you now like country music and pineapple on pizza." you grimaced in disgust, gagging as you unbuckled yourself. "least i didn't drop my pizza!" alessia quipped back with a smirk as your cheeks flushed bright red.

"that was laura's fault, she tripped me!" you defended with a huff, the memory of how embarrassed you'd been flooding your body, though despite a few light hearted jokes her friends hadn't made you feel that way.

"mhm i'm sure." alessia hummed with a grin and a nod as you playfully shoved her forehead. "i've been hanging around you too much, your clumsiness is starting to infect me like a rash." you scratched at your arms before slipping out of the car.

though as you walked around her car to the curb and alessia sent you a knee buckling smile through the window, you had a sudden realization that you didn't want to say goodbye just yet. and so before you could overthink and spiral over what that meant, you acted on impulse.

"it's not super late. would you want to come in and maybe watch a film or something?" you offered with a shy smile, alessia perking up in surprise as she nodded eagerly, internally berating herself for not trying to be a bit more subtle about it.

though it seemed her body betrayed her as well as she hastily opened her door, trying to step out and catching her foot on the curb, sending her hurtling to the ground with a thump.

"oh my god are you alright?" you hurried to help her out as she nodded with a wince, closing her door and locking her car.

"yeah yeah fine, ground just looked a bit lonely again."

~

"oh i love this!" alessia grinned as she returned from the toilet to see which movie you'd chosen, insisting that she didn't mind what you watched and hurrying off for a wee.

"still one of your favourites then?" you asked as she collapsed into your sofa nodding eagerly, the princess diaries loaded and ready to go.

"you remembered." she sent you a soft smile before you clicked play, both your hands wrapped around warm mugs of hot chocolate.

"how do you prefer him over michael?" alessia scoffed in disbelief, sprawled across your couch as you laughed. "i said i preferred his looks, not his personality! i like his blonde shaggy hair." you defended yourself as alessia gagged and you smacked her leg.

"you look like that when you dance." you teased her, pointing to the young security guard trying desperately to buck and shimmy his way across the dance floor.

"i do not!" she gasped, kicking you with her leg as you smacked her again, maybe a little harder than you intended. the two of you shared a look as if waiting for someone to say something, then within seconds she'd lunged at you.

your laughters floated around your living room, movie long forgotten as alessia desperately tried to grapple with you, the two of you rolling around and hitting and pinching one another just like you had when you were much younger.

"wait lessi watch the-" you started to warn but it was too late as she slipped off the edge of the sofa, hands curled tightly into your jumper she'd taken you down with her as she smacked her head on the coffee table and you landed on top of her with a grunt.

"fuck ow!" she groaned loudly clutching her throbbing head, both of you still laughing furiously as your face smushed into her shoulder, both your bodies vibrating with amusement against one anothers.

eventually after you'd confirmed she was okay your laughter died down into small giggles and you took a moment to catch your breath, glancing down and into her bright blue eyes.

your chests still heaving lightly trying to recover, a thick silence enveloped the room, neither of you paying attention to anything than one another when you suddenly found yourself admiring and studying over ever little feature of her face.

you couldn't explain where it came from or which cruel individual was responsible, but once more like magnets the two of you found yourself drawn together.

the longer you maintained eye contact the smaller and smaller the room seemed to become, alessia's eyes flickering down to your lips just for a fleeting second but it didn't go unnoticed.

thats when the alarm bells sounded in your head, loud and obnoxious and clearly trying to warn you of how terribly dangerous an idea this was.

but suddenly they weren't important and instead you could only focus on the small voice at the very back of your mind which egged you on to continue.

curiosity took hold of your mind, causing you to wonder how she tasted, how her lips would feel on yours again and in turn the effect it would have on your entire body, this time not fueled on by emotion or sadness or rage.

unable to lay there in limbo anymore, debating over and over all the possible pros and cons of the next ten seconds you once more let your impulses take over.

your hand moved to brush a few strands of her golden blonde hair out of her face, having fallen out of the bun which sat on top of her head, leaning in ever so slowly.

in turn alessia's own hand came to rest on the side of your face, thumb tracing a soft circle on your cheek, ever so gently guiding your mouth within millimeters of her own.

then before either of you could object the small gap was diminished, and your lips pressed together in an ever so tender kiss.

your stomach lurched at the feeling, alessias hand moving to softly rest on the back of your neck as yours tangled in her hair, your lips moving together in perfect unison, repeating a routine that despite the time that had passed was still burned into both your minds.

like clockwork alessia knew exactly how to kiss you to send your head spinning into oblivion like a top. ever so hesitantly her tongue swiped across your bottom lip, hand squeezing the back of your neck just a little bit as your mouth parted for her on instinct, her tongue roaming your mouth as the kiss deepened.

her hand let go of your neck, slowly slipping down to the small of your back as she tapped twice lightly, and without breaking contact for even a moment you both sat up.

alessias hands warm and familiar, gripped your hips to pull you to sit on her lap, her own legs stretched out straight as her hand returned to the back of your neck.

your own clasped her cheeks in your palms, pulling her even closer into you if that was even possible, your bodies flushed together tightly, blood racing red hot at the resuming of what once upon a time was both of your favorite past times.

but then still in a pleasure drunken haze, did reality actually kick in for the pair of you, both detaching and jumping away from one another as if you'd been electrically shocked.

you hastily sat back on the edge of the sofa as alessia scrambled to her feet, mumbling something incoherent and racing out the front door before you could even say another word, your head in the clouds and only yanked out at the sound of it slamming after her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

eleven

[luminetti]

Dressed to Kill

༘⋆ Summary: In which, you, a professional cosplayer, mistake Bakugou’s hero outfit for a really good Halloween costume. ༘⋆ Pairing: bakugou katsuki x fem!reader ༘⋆Warnings: n/a, reader is just the biggest dumbass (lovingly) also, i cannot stress this enough. they are NOT CHILDREN in this. they’re both at least the age of college seniors  ༘⋆Notes: huge thanks to one of my biggest inspirations for writing in general: @andypantsx3 ! this fic is lightly inspired by—and lowkey a lovechild of—her pieces, baby are you playing tricks and unconventional, so if you somehow haven’t read those yet, i strongly recommend doing so!  also now that i actually have more than one piece of writing, id love for some writer/fandom moots! im very new to tumblr and would love friends :’)  ao3 release

Halloween was by far your favorite holiday. 

As a child, you were always drawn to Halloween, not just for the candy, but for the extravagant costumes and house decorations. Nearly every year, you stayed up late with your father, hand-sewing various details onto your costume. Finally, for your eighteenth birthday, you were gifted your very own sewing machine which officially kickstarted your interest in cosplay.

Throughout your first couple years of college, you worked on your Twitter account, posting quick mirror selfies of your various cosplay projects. Only during senior year did you finally feel comfortable enough to go out in public for your first official photoshoot.

‘Comfortable’ was a bit of a stretch. Very seldom does one feel truly comfortable when posing in front of a grandiose fountain in the middle of a public garden, fully clad in foam armor. What made it significantly worse was when the aforementioned armor looked more like a metal bikini than an actual chest plate worn into battle.

Poor character design choices aside, you loved Halloween for that very reason. With everyone dressed up–or down, for some–there was no reason to feel self-conscious during your monthly photoshoots. Sure, there was the occasional snide remark, but the number of supportive comments from passersby was enough to quiet your uncertainty.

This year you had stayed up late for the past month putting the final touches on your purple staff, even attempting an LED system that allowed parts of it to glow. It had taken two weeks to get the prototype of the dress situated since you weren’t used to sewing such a large amount of detail into your fabrics. Unfortunately, this also meant it took significantly longer to finish the outfit than expected, leaving almost no time to do your wig. But, in true cosplayer fashion, you managed to whip something together with an older purple wig, just in time for tonight.

You did, however, only realize the character also had a sword occasionally, but there was no way you were going to make that in time so the staff would have to suffice.

The night had already been proving to be one of the best so far. Starting around eight in the evening, you and some of your closest friends had gotten together for a costume party, a series of shitty horror movies, and a plethora of even shittier cheap cocktails. Despite not being much of a drinker yourself, you always participated in the annual spooky-themed cocktail charcuterie. This year you weren’t holding back. Your pride and joy charcuterie consisted of nine drinks including, but not limited to ghost-themed Aperol Spiritz–nicknamed Spirit Spiritz, Bloody Marys, and your personal favorite, Bonejitos. They even had little skeleton dudes sitting on the rim of the glass.

Unfortunately, your friends weren’t very amused by your festive drinks, even going as far to say your ingenious Bonejitos were a stretch. So, clearly they didn’t see the vision. Eventually, the party events died down as the guests began to go home, allowing the night to evolve into just drinking.

“Did you get a photo of your costume yet?” Himari, your friend from freshman year, questioned.

You shook your head, absently watching as the rest of your friends downed your masterly made Bonejitos. Liars, all of them. “‘A stretch’ my ass,” you scoffed.

Himari dug around in her bag, retrieving her camera. “Halloween photoshoot? Your fit is cute and I’m getting bored here.”

You did like the idea of photography-major level photos with none of the price involved. “I love you, Mari.”

She stuffed your spear under her arm and with that, the two of you stepped out into the cold and crisp autumn air, the breeze running over your bare shoulders and thighs. You shivered lightly, pulling up your thigh-highs and hugging the excess fabric close to your body.

Himari glanced at you in concern. “Does the Raiden Shogun not wear a jacket?”

“Unfortunately, she doesn’t.” You chuckled, rubbing your arms. “You can’t be sexy and wear a jacket,” you joked.

She hummed in sympathy, looking around for a good place to set up. The park was a particularly popular spot during Halloween, specifically known for its comforting lighting and ambience.

 “What about there?” Himari pointed to a small gazebo surrounded by violets, lit up by a string of fairy lights. There were a couple groups nearby, but otherwise it was pretty much empty.

You nodded, excited. “Good eye as always, Mari.”

She handed over your spear and offered an arm,helping you step up onto the platform and underneath the gazebo. While she adjusted the lights to her liking, you took a moment to adjust your skirt and sleeves.

“Do you think it’s too short?” you asked, tugging on the cloth. Thankfully the character wore a pair of shorts underneath, but the dress was barely miniskirt length.

Himari looked over briefly before turning back to the lights. “No, not really. Why? Are you uncomfortable?”

Before you could answer, a group of college-aged girls passed by the gazebo, clearly a bit drunk. As they left, one of the girls that was hanging onto her friend’s arm looked over. “Don’t be, girlie! You look hot as fuck!” she shouted out, words slightly slurred.

You flustered, blabbering out a quick thanks in surprise. There’s nothing like a friendly drunk girl to get your confidence up.

From behind the camera, Himari gave you a thumbs up. “Give me one of these.” She mimed leaning against the wooden banister. “Yeah like that, but with your leg more out.”

The shutter clicked several times as you did your best to recreate her gestures.

Himari proceeded to guide you through a series of poses, occasionally having you incorporate your staff or the gazebo. Eventually you got used to the flashing camera and allowed yourself to melt into the character, embodying her essence as best as you could.

Time flew and before you knew it, Himari was calling you down from the gazebo to look over the photos. You hovered over her shoulder as she flipped through each one, pausing at her favorites.

“I’ll import these onto my laptop and send them back edited sometime this week,” she told you, removing her glasses and wiping them off with her sleeve.

You nodded. “Thanks for doing this, you really didn’t have to.” You rummaged through your bag, hoping to find at least a little money for her efforts. Feeling a couple bills between your fingers, you held them out to her.

Himari’s eyes squinted and you realized she was staring over your shoulder. “I think that guy in costume was looking at you,” she said, still cleaning off the lenses.

You turned to see a tall man across the park, large grenade shaped gauntlets resting on both his arms. He quickly looked away once he saw your head turn. Looking closer, you realized he was dressed in a dark black sleeveless jumpsuit with orange and green straps along his body.

He was clearly a Dynamight cosplayer. And by the looks of it, a really talented one at that.

You were almost convinced that he had real hero equipment on. His armor pieces were strikingly accurate, and you made a mental note to look for more realistic prop materials.

“He probably spent a lot of time on that,” you mused to Himari, who had already gone back to inspecting the photos.

“You should go ask him about it.” she suggested, collecting the rest of her things and zipping her bag. “I’ve gotta catch an Uber soon.”

Maybe it was the lingering confidence gifted by the girl from earlier, but you managed to muster up enough self-assurance to wave goodbye to Himari and stride right up to the cosplayer.

As you got closer, you realized just how much work must have gone into all the details. The gauntlets–a very convincing metal–had several dents and scratches, giving it a worn down look, as if it had been used frequently.

His hair looked far too real to be a wig, likely just being his natural hair with lots of product in it. The most impressive detail by far was his physique. Had he trained specifically for this? The closer you got the more you noticed. If you were lucky, maybe he’d give you the name of his supplier.

“I love your outfit!” You smiled cheerily at him.

He turned to look at you, slightly taken aback. “Thanks?” he replied, folding his arms as he looked you over, eyes lingering on your cosplay.

You felt a twinge of anxiety as he inspected your outfit. He probably just didn’t recognize the character, you convinced yourself.

“I’m a cosplayer too,” you clarified, gesturing to your dress. “But clearly not as dedicated as you.”

You watched as his chest puffed lightly at the compliment, though he titled his head, a bit puzzled.

Clearing your throat awkwardly, you tried a different method. “How long did it take to make?”

He blinked at you and shrugged. “Dunno. Maybe a couple of months? I just told them what I wanted.”

Oh, you got it now. He’s just a model. It wasn’t uncommon for people to collaborate on cosplays, especially ones where one person either commissions or buys a cosplay from an artist, and then models it themself. Either way, he was still one of the best you’ve seen.

You nodded in understanding. “Do you have social media? I’d love to see what else you’ve done.” Pulling out your phone, you loaded up your Twitter, preparing to enter his tag.

“Dynamight Official. All one word,” he replied hesitantly, looking you up and down as if he was scanning for signs of sickness.

You chuckled faintly. He was really dedicated to his role. “Well, what's your name? I follow a lot of cosplayers already. Maybe I’ve seen you?” You pulled up your profile and turned the screen around to show him in case he recognized your tag.

His arms unfolded and his face slowly morphed from confused to exceptionally amused. “Bakugou Katsuki. I am Dynamight.”

Waving him off absently, you nodded as you scrolled through your followed accounts. You swear you’ve seen him online before. “Sorry, I’m not really good at roleplay. But you’re pretty convincing.”

He leaned against the cold metal lamppost, watching you sift through various Twitter accounts. You sneaked a glance to check his facial features again, but he was already staring straight back at you.

In such close capacity, his striking crimson eyes stood out to you. Even his contacts were high quality… Fighting back the warmth that threatened your cheeks and ears, you averted your gaze downwards.

Your eyes flicked to his waist. You hadn’t noticed it before, but a thick black bomber jacket was tied tightly around his torso, unlike the real hero’s costume. Well, you stand corrected. You certainly can be sexy with a jacket.

Speaking of jackets, you had been so caught up in conversation you hadn’t realized how cold it had gotten. The soft breeze from earlier had picked up into chilly wind, rustling the fabric of your dress as it blew by.

Bakufaux–haha–seemed to notice your interest in his jacket, untying it and tossing it over your shoulders. “Bit cold for you, Princess?” he drawled. “D’nno how you’ve managed in that outfit.” He gestured to your short dress and tall socks.

You couldn’t help but notice how his gaze lingered on you for a half second longer than normal. Not that you would’ve said anything. Thanks to his jacket, you were enveloped with warm and musky scents of charcoal and sandalwood. Though, being honest with yourself, you’ve been distracted ever since you walked over.

You snapped out of your trance when he pushed himself off the lamppost and leaned over you. It could’ve been twenty degrees out and you’d still swear you were overheating.

“Ever considered cosplaying in my costume?” He asked, watching your darkening cheeks closely.

Maybe it was the shit eating grin he wore proudly on his face, or the sneaking suspicion in your gut, but you had an inkling of a feeling he knew something you didn’t. In a surge of confidence and curiosity, or perhaps just pure adrenaline, you took a step forward.

“And if I have?”

Something snapped behind his eyes and you could’ve sworn his gaze dropped to your lips. He might’ve actually kissed you if you weren’t interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and the screams of customers inside a late night coffee shop.

You felt your heart rate increase as he swore under his breath, whatever smug expression he previously had was replaced by something far more intense and serious.

‘“I’m not leaving you out here alone, stay close to me,” he urged, taking one last look at you before turning and running towards the sound.

It took you a second to realize you were running behind him as fast as possible.

As the two of you neared the coffee shop, you noticed numerous shards of glass laid out on the concrete. On a second glance, you noticed some of the smaller shards were beginning to melt, turning the ground slightly slick.

You halted to a stop, almost crashing into your new friend. You felt a warm hand snake around your waist, lifting your body off the ground and onto a nearby bench.

“Don’t touch the ground, and stay right here,” he told you sternly, before turning and rushing straight into the cafe.

You watched, frozen in astonishment, only able to hear the horrific sounds of glass and… explosions? Occasionally you caught a glimpse of blonde hair, dropping off a poor customer caught in the crossfire, before dashing straight back inside. In what felt like seconds, he had already retrieved nearly every patron from the cafe, all while the villain was still inside.

Quickening footsteps approached from behind your place on the bench. You barely had a chance to comprehend the noises when a flash of red zipped past you, making a beeline straight for the cafe. Only after several trips in and out of the building did you finally recognize the eccentric costume of Pro-Hero Red Riot as he gathered the remainder of the victims outside.

Through the ringing in your ears you could only vaguely make out shouting between Red Riot and someone else still inside the building. It was all intelligible until he turned to you and the victims. The last words you heard was look away, or at least you assumed.

You weren’t interested in waiting around to find out so you shut your eyes tight and turned away from the scene as best as you could.

At first nothing happened. But after a beat, you felt your eyes burn behind your eyelids as a blistering wave of heat surrounded you. You think you screamed, but you weren’t entirely sure. Every muscle in your body tensed as the bench shook underneath you, threatening to break.

But as quickly as it came, it passed. You couldn’t tell how long you had been trapped in that position, clutching your knees to your chest with your eyes sealed shut. A warm hand shook you out of position, jostling your eyes open.

When your eyes finally adjusted, blocking your vision of the cafe was none other than a tall silhouette, and familiar red eyes.

“Hey, stay with me, Princess. You hurt?”

You felt calloused hands hastily press against your body, examining you for injury. He took a hold of your ankle, easing you into extending. “Anything?”

Shaking your head, you gripped onto him as he lifted you from the bench to your feet, steadying you with strong arms.

“Happy Halloween,” you managed to mutter meekly into his chest.

You felt him shudder beneath your head as he laughed, surprisingly heartily.

“Certainly one you’ll remember.” His low voice resonated in your brain, calming whatever nerves were remaining. “Let’s get you home, m’kay?”

You let him navigate you back to your apartment surprisingly deftly given your shaky directions, until finally you found yourself thanking him at your doorstep and shutting the door behind you.

Now that you were home and given a chance to breathe, you weren’t sure what was real. Everything mixed together in a blur and you couldn’t tell if it was all a dream or not.

As you groggily slumped against your bed, you felt something soft bundle against your back. Sitting up, you reached behind your back to feel the cool fabric of the black jacket you had been holding tightly against yourself. Embroidered on the sleeve were a pair of initials you hadn’t noticed before.

B.K.

With a strange pounding in your chest, you pulled out your phone.

Sure enough, you had one new notification.

@DynamightOfficial followed you back

The device buzzed in your hand with a second notification. A direct message request alongside an image. Swiping to your messages, you opened the text from your new follower.

Front and center was a quick photo of Bakugou’s hero costume, laid out neatly on his bed. Directly underneath the image were two small text bubbles.

u take commissions?

ive got something in mind for ya

[primalsouls]

checkup

albedo x m! reader

⚠️ : none but let me know!

theme: general

note: albedo albedo albedo albedo. i just love albedo and want to write something more general because usually the fics i read tend to be too fluff or too angst and sometimes other fics tend to feel like a super slow. like, im not trying to read an eassy. 💀 jkjk lol anyway, enjoy, hope you like it! and thank you for reading! let me know what you think. :)

⊱ ──────ஓ๑♡๑ஓ ────── ⊰

Dragonspine was never in their bucket list of places to visit. It was deadly cold. Monsters roamed around. Even the Fatui were presented. [Y/N] was surprised how he managed to reached the campus set out by the Chief Alchemist further up the mountain. One would think he would camp out with the group based at the bottom of the mountain. He was a skilled swordman and his vision kept him warm throughout the difficult journey as best as it could. He did broke a sweat when fighting a few monsters but all that was important was his destination. Thus meeting Albedo, the genius Kreideprinz. [Y/N] was new to the Knight of Favonius, started back a few weeks ago. Today he was ordered by the Acting Grand Master to assist the Captain of the Investigation Team in one of his experiments. Or alternatively, Jean worried about the alchemist not taking care of himself and potentially risking failed experiments turn to unwanted results in Dragonspine and Mondstadt.

It was his order to check on the man. But, by the Archons, does he had to camp this far up. [Y/N] groaned when he reached a broken bridge. How was he going to get to the other side? Ah, right. Gliding. With a good running start, he could jump just high enough and glide his way to the other half of the fallen bridge with no added injuries. A flawless plan.

Not.

A scream left his lips when he jumped as best as he could after his run. No wonder he did terrible at mathematics. His calculations were off. And now, he was going to pump down to his end. Just to check on some big-time, smart guy. [Y/N] should had decline. But he wanted to prove himself. For what now? Prove he can see the light firsthand? What a joke. He reached out, his hand inches away from the other broken part of the bridge. He was so focus on reaching something to grab on he didn't hear his own scream leave his mouth nor the abrupted tug on his hand held by another. He came to his senses when he smacked against the wall under the brigde harshly, letting out a groan. [Y/N] looked up. [E/C] eyes met bright teal eyes. Such beautiful eyes. It felt like he was staring into emerald instead. They outshined the blues around Dragonspine. Like sun if the clouds ever go away.

"Are you only going to keep staring or help me pull you up?" He heard, the soothe voice snapping [Y/N] out of their thoughts. A blush bloomed on his face as he cleared his throat, using his other hand to keep himself firm in their hold.

"S-Sorry..." [Y/N] mumbled as he was pulled up. Solid, cold ground was what he felt right away. He looked over his shoulder, grimacing at the sight of the long fall he could had experienced first and last. Cursing the fall away, the knight turned back to his savior, about to thank them until he stopped himself. Upon closer look, his savior was... handsome. Their ashy light blonde hair reached below their shoulders, pulled back in a braided ponytail. It lookes adorable. Soft, even. It makes him want to run his fingers through it. Realizing he was staring again, [Y/N] cleared his throat as he shook his head, his blush increasing in color. Eyes darted to stare at the ground instead. "Uh, thank yo-you... Thank you for saving me back there." The knight said with a small smile, looking back his savior only to see them walk away already. "What?" [Y/N] sat there forzen, not believing what happened. He chuckled weakly, now pissed for the rude manner. "Hey, wait up!" He stood up from the ground, dusting himself off from any snow as he ran up to catch up to the mystery person. "You know, it's really rude to jusf walk away like that!" [Y/N] complained, slowing down as he came up to a campsite. His eyes widen a bit. There were bookshelves lined up again the walls of the cavern. Tables filled with written pages and materials. A small set of art supplies in one area and an crafting table by his side. Did his savior lived here? Wait, was this...?

"Are you the Captain of the Investigation Team, Albedo?" The knight said, walking up to the alchemist who simply nodded with no reply. He was focused on his work, [Y/N] could see that. "Oh okay..." He muttered underneath his breath, raising a brow. Well, here he was. The alchemist looked alright. There was no sight of any failed experiments. Mondstadt was good to stay for another day. But [Y/N] wasn't leaving yet. "My name is [F/N]. I was ordered by the Acting Grand Master to check on you... Which is why I'm here..." Albedo only gave a faint hum. What a conversationalist. "Okaaay..." The young man looked around. He couldn't just leave after what he just experienced. He was still shaky.

"Where are you from?" [Y/N] asked, attempting to make a conversation.

"Here and there." Albedo replied bluntly.

"What do you do?"

"This and that."

"You ever-"

"Now and then."

"Gosh, you're just full of information." [Y/N] grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And you're just full of interruptions." Albedo fired back, finally looking away from his work and turned to the knight. His expression was stoic but his beautiful emerald eyes held a hint of annoyance. His comment made the other man pouted and rolled his eyes. "You done your quest. Now, you may leave."

"What the-? Huh?" He couldn't believe it. He was being kicked out? Reasonable, actually. But still. What a rude alchemist. "Okay, look, I have to actually make sure you're okay and Jean said to stay for a few days before I return, anyway." [Y/N] explained. Albedo sighed softly, disinterested from the interaction. The knight clicked his tongue. "So, no, I'm not leaving." The knight huffed, head held high. Albedo hummed again, already looking back at his work. "Oh my- really?" [Y/N] shook his head, running a hand through his hair. He kept studying the area they were in, trying to locate any sort of self-care going on. There was a cook pot but the burned woods look as if it had went out hours ago. "How long had you been working?"

Albedo shrugged, papers being moved around in his area. [Y/N] sighed. He went to stand beside the table, inches away from him to not disturb his work. With the closeup, [Y/N] saw fainted dark circles under his eyes. He looked a little pale, too.

"Have you eaten at all? Rest?" He asked softly, a frown on his face. His gloved hands rest on his waist. [Y/N] looked like a parent scolding their child. Albedo shrugged again. The knight groaned, head tilted back. The lack of responses were starting to pissed him off. "I'll make you something." He grumbled, looking into his traveling bag as he walked over to the pot. Using his Pryo vision, he watched the flames come to alive once more. He pulled out pre-packaged ingredients he made himself before he set off.

Albedo's concentration was fully on his project but the smell of a delicious meal wandered around his nose. It pulled him out of his priority. The scent made his stomach growled. The Geo user stopped what he was doing and turned around. His eyes spotted the knight crouched down beside the pot, stirring around the contents it cooked. The flames illuminated the small cave, the knight's face glowed from it. Hair swayed back, half-lidded eyes stared boredly at the pot. Soft lips pressed into a thin line. It was a pretty sight. A perfect picture. A gorgeous paint on a canvas. His canvas. The scenery needed to be painted in his canvas.

[Y/N] heard movements behind him but he didn't bother to look up. He figured the alchemist was still all over his experiments. Behind his back, Albedo set up his easel, an 18x24 canvas rest nicely on it. His paints, brushes, and palette laid beside him on a stool with a cup of water on it as well. He began to sketch out the sight, a concentrated frown on his face.

"Hmm... I think it's done." [Y/N] muttered to himself, smiling a bit at the cooked stew he made. He was about to get up but a shout stopped him.

"Don't move! I'm not done yet." He heard the alchemist. The Pyro user blinked, confusion written over his face. "Not done..." Albedo continued, his hand moving a brush around. [Y/N] swallowed, wondering what he was doing.

"Why can't I move?" He asked, still in the position.

"Because I'm not finish."

"Finish with what?"

"The painting... It's not finished..." Albedo trailed off, focusing more on the canvas. [Y/N] was dumbfounded. Ah, right. The alchemist had a set of art supplies. But why could he be painting? Was he painting him? He was just sitting around the cook pot, nothing else. What did he capture in his mind to had the urge to paint? So much questions ran through his head and his face rest back to how it was when the knight stared at the pot. Just what Albedo needed to complete his new piece.

Half an hour passed and the flames were small. the pot was sat beside it. No need to have burnt food. [Y/N]'s legs were starting to cramp.

"Are you do-"

"Done." Albedo finished for him, stepping back from his canvas. [Y/N] sighed in relief as he stood up and stretched his limps out, hearing a few joints popped. Surely didn't sounded good but felt good. He walked over to Albedo.

"Can I see, please?" He asked, tilting his head. Albedo stared at the canvas before shifting his eyes over to the knight. He suddenly felt flustered. What a foreign feeling. It was he was embarrassed. He was not embarrassed. His face felt warmed. Was he blushing? What was going on? [Y/N] waited for an answer, raising a brow as he sent a charming smile his way. Why did such a gesture made his chest tightened but in a good way? Like something fluttered inside him. Was his heart beat increasing? Impossible. Feelings were unfamiliar to him. So, why was he experiencing them right now? "Albedo..." His name rolled out of his mouth. It sounded perfect. Did he just noticed it?

"It's not finished..." Albedo replied quickly, throwing [Y/N] off guard.

"But you said-"

"It's not finished." Albedo repeated, clearing his throat. The knight nodded slowly.

"Okaay..." [Y/N] mumbled, looking back at the pot. "Ah, well, dinner is ready. C'mon, let's eat." He said, walking back at the pot to begin serving the meal for both. Albedo watched him, lips parted slightly. His teal eyes moved back to the canvas. Finished. It was finished. He just... didn't want to show the knight but why? It was beautifully painted. A pretty piece. The look he captured from the knight painted there. Admirable.

"Are you coming or what?" [Y/N] called out, already setting the other table for them to eat at. Albedo blinked and nodded a second later. He placed his brush and palette down, taking his gloves off as he made his way over. There they sat. In complete silence. It wasn't awkward, fortunately. It was comfortable atmosphere. No need to exchange words. Albedo seem to like that. Perhaps Jean did a good thing to sent someone out. It felt nice to have company over for once.

[myhaikyuuthings]

Soulmates

where the first words your soulmate says to you are tattooed on your body w/ Bokuto, Asahi and Tanaka (note the words have to be spoken directly to you)

Bokuto: 

‘Fuck watch out’ your soulmate was either a total dick, or a hero

you weren’t sure which and honestly, that being tattooed on your body forever didn’t make either option okay

it was right above your bathing  suit line so you always wore a shirt/one piece at the beach just so you didn’t have to get stares

which isn’t a big deal but you liked bikinis

today your team was going to the annual training camp and for the first time, you got to tag along 

being a manager for Nekoma was hectic to put it simply but you loved them and loved being around them

when you all arrived Kuroo said he wanted to show your tattoo to his friend, thinking he’d get a kick out of it

you’d always had trouble saying no to the taller male so you reluctantly agreed

he lead you to one of the gyms and you could tell people were already practicing

you noticed a loud boy with two toned hair, who Kuroo helpfully identified as Bokuto, glancing at you

he messed up his spike

you watched as the ball flew at you, too stunned by the speed to react 

“FUCK WATCH OUT” before you could see Who said your words, you caught the ball with your face

you blinked as your vision came back into focus as Kuroo yelled at Bokuto while trying to check on you and Bokuto just sobbed over your body while apologizing

you sat up, doing a quick headcount of how many people were in the gym

“which one of you assholes is my soulmate?” you asked, cradling your nose as it bled

silence

“OH MY GOD I SPIKED A BALL INTO MY SOULMATES FACE IM A HORRIBLE PERSON” 

ah

not a dick. but damn if he can’t hit a ball hard

“i’ve had ‘fuck watch out’ on my body my whole life.. and i hated it.. and i just called my soulmate an asshole.. as my first words” you tried to process through the throbbing

Kuroo lost it, laughing his classic hyena laugh, earning a punch to the arm from you

“i deserved it, I am so sorry,” bokuto said through tears, trying to hold them back

you sighed, opening you free arm for a hug but he only looked confused

‘damn i really do have to do it all myself’ you thought, grabbing his arm and pulling him into a one armed hug

“sorry if i get blood on your shirt,” you mumbled, petting his head with your free hand as he laid his head in the crook of your neck

“it’s okay, it’s just a shirt,” he sniffed, “i hope i didn’t break your nose” 

you removed your hand, trying to twitch your nose

“it seems to move fine, i think it’s gonna bruise though”

aaaaand theres a new round of tears

by the time you had been checked out and he had calmed down, the two of you sat outside to talk

“Y/N Y/L/N, nice to meet you,”

“Kotaro Bokuto, nice to meet you too, I am  really sorry about your face” 

“stop apologizing, you were so stunned by my beauty you couldn’t focus on the  ball” you teased

“yeah you’re right,” he admitted, causing you to choke on your rice ball

in one day you had met your soulmate, almost broke your nose, and learned your soulmate is indeed a Sweetheart and one of the best in the country (which explains the power behind that hit) now it was just trying to survive the rest of camp

Asahi: 

‘i’m not a threat!’ 

did your soulmate break in?? try to rob you?? what kind of mark is That

your family moved from Tokyo to the Miyagi prefecture during your third year, so now you were spending your last year of highschool surrounded by people you didn’t know

you decided to sit outside for lunch, not wanting to look like the odd one out, plus it is nice outside

before you could even take a bite, you noticed someone looking at you

you turned to fully look at him, your jaw dropping a bit at how tall he was

‘i think that’s the guy someone said was in his 20′s and still a student’ 

while you were trying  to figure out if he was actually 20 or not, you didn’t realize how long you had been staring, or that you had dropped your food

“i’m not  a threat!” he tried to assure you, walking closer with his hands up, “everyone’s kind of scared of me because of the rumors but they’re not true”

he was pouting. cute

“yknow, if you weren’t my soulmate i might not believe that” 

his jaw dropped, his cheeks a bright pink

his friend with silver hair came walking up

“Hi, you must be Asahi heres soulmate, yknow That’s a rather long sentence to have tattooed on your leg forever” he smiled

this seemed to break Asahi out of his stupour

“No it’s okay! You had to walk around with That on your body, this is fair,” he assured, lifting his pants leg to show your words wrapped like an anklet

you smiled up at him, pulling your uniform collar to the side a bit to show your tattoo under your collar bone

“they picked a bad place for yours, wow im sorry” he apologized, sitting down in the grass with you. “Asahi Azumane, it’s great to finally meet you”

“Y/N Y/L/N, the pleasure’s all mine, call me Y/N.”

you sat talking for the rest of the lunch period, not realizing his friend has disappeared sometime during your conversation

“You should come to volleyball practice, I can introduce you to Kiyoko, I think you two share some classes she can help show you around” he offered

“why can’t you help show me around?” you asked, smiling softly as he blushed again

“ i mean like, i am your soulmate but I get it if I make you uncomfortable or scare you or anything, so I don’t want to just assume-”

“Azumane, it’s okay. you don’t scare nor make me uncomfortable. I’ll come, it’d be great to meet her and your team, but I would really like it if you were the one to show me around” 

“yeah okay, I can do that” 

it seems your tattoo was right, he’s definitely not a threat

Tanaka: TW SLIGHT HARASSMENT MENTION

“I’ll beat them up” 

in one way, the placement was easy to hide (upper inner thigh)

but it was concerning nonetheless 

why did your soulmate offer to beat someone up for you? this question had bugged you for years

now you’re in your second year of high school and decided to go to the Miyagi Prefectures volleyball qualifiers

well your friend dragged you along to watch his soulmate play, claiming he’s the best setter in the prefecture and you Have to see him at work

he had left you alone in the hall to go see his soulmate in the locker rooms before the game so you were just standing around minding your own business

you watched the crowd slowly thin out, assuming a game was starting soon

‘nows a good time to get snacks, no line!’ you thought, starting your look for a food stand

you ended up just a little bit lost when two boys approached you

“hi there, what’re you doing out here alone?” one asked, smiling politely at you

“my friend’s soulmate is playing today, he’s just wishing him good luck” you explain, making a move to walk past them

“what’s the rush?” the other asks, placing a hand on the wall beside you effectively blocking your  way

you sigh, turning fully to face him

“neither of those phrases is my soulmate mark, and I’m actively staying single until i meet them okay? so can you just let me move?”

they exchanged a look, irritation obvious on their faces

“well show us your mark then, because I don’t believe you” 

“idiot, you don’t have to see My mark to know those aren’t Your words” you scoff, trying to walk around them the other way

you end up caged against the wall, putting your fists up ready to defend yourself

“hey, i think they said to leave them alone,” a new guy spoke from somewhere behind them, but you were unable to see him due to the two infront of you

“yeah, what he said” you snap, raising your fists a little higher

when the two turn around to face the new boy, you take that chance to dash out from behind them

you stand beside the new guy, glaring sharply 

“didn’t your mother ever teach you what ‘no’ means or did she fail every other human being out there to spare your feelings?” you growl, subconsciously standing behind your saviour 

“you’re lucky i don’t beat you up,” the man growls as well before turning to you, “I’ll beat them up.”

“I’ll help,” you snort, cracking your knuckles before realizing the words he said, “I’m sorry did you say ‘I’ll beat them up’”

He smiles broadly at you, holding his hand out, “Ryuunosuke Tanaka, and who might you be dear soulmate?”

“Y/N Y/L/N, thanks for stepping in soulmate,” you grin back

the two men had tried to step away as you and Tanaka made your introductions but Tanaka threw his arm out, catching their sleeves

“No no you’re not getting off that easy, not only were you Harassing a person, you were harassing my soulmate, lets get you to your coach why don’t we.” 

“Y/N I’ll find you after my match, make sure to cheer for me! Karasuno!! See you soon” he smiled, dragging the two men behind him 

[stargirlrchive]

Hi! Can I ask for angsty Specer Reid with reader working as a medic? They dont see each other lately, mostly because his gf avoiding him, because they are both stressed of work so every discussion end with fight so in the end reader is insecure of herself and not sure if she is good enough for him. She starts overwork herself more to improve her skills and satisfaction,forgetting about proper sleep and meals. And during their next fight she just pass out in front of him making him extremaly 1/2

“2/2 extremaly guilty and frustrated because being occupied by his own work and life he doesnt even notice struggles of someone who he dearly love and care for. Sorry for such long and detailed request! I hope it doesnt bother you! Thank you so much nad have a great day!”

Busy Schedules - Spencer Reid

masterlist ; request are open

author’s note: hi omg this request came really easy! i really hope this lived up to your expectations @ anon <3 and i hope you all enjoy it! im already working on another request so yay ❤️ i had said 3 fics this summer and this is my fourth one <3 cute!

disclaimer: a bit angsty!! and also talking about like reader not taking care of themselves all that great, like forgetting to eat && reader passes out so if that’s something that upsets you, please do not read it!! GIF NOT MINE

pairing: spencer reid x reader

wordcount: 1,976

You weren’t sure how long it had been since you had last seen your boyfriend, but before the argument that had transpired a few hours ago, you knew that it had been several days since the two of you last spoke. Both of your work schedules took up a large portion of your life and during the beginning of knowing Spencer that was a huge wedge in the two of you actually starting a relationship. But you two later on found out that it didn’t matter how long it took for you two to have time together, because when you did it was like magnets linking together. There was a domestic routine to your very busy lives when you were alone, like adding the final puzzle piece, everything just clicked.

Or it had been, the last few months having a decrease in employees and you having to pick up extra shifts at the hospital, had left you next to no time for yourself. And the time you did have off, Spencer was always away on a case. The last couple of times you were irritable from work, and just missing your boyfriend and it ended with the two of you arguing, it never failed.

You’d end up crying from frustration and exhaustion and Spencer would find himself nursing a bottle of beer with Morgan. Something he never did before, and it was quickly becoming a bit of a habit for him.

Your head was pounding as you woke up, it was eleven pm and your throat felt insanely dry. You looked for a cup of water, but of course there was none. You were never good at looking after yourself. Spencer always told you that and you felt tears well up in your eyes, you missed him so much. The crying mixed with the headache worsened everything you were feeling and you began to feel dizzy. If you were being honest you couldn’t remember the last time you had a proper meal, you had been surviving off granola bars and black coffee. That with working nearly 100 hours a week, it was definitely starting to take a toll on you.

You sat up and realized what had woken you up, there was knocking on your main door. You trudged slowly to your front door, still feeling dizzy as you tried to focus on the figure through the peephole. Even with your vision being blurry you could tell it was Spencer.

You quickly opened the door, which you shouldn’t have feeling the way you were. You felt all your blood rush down and felt a cold shiver run down you. You really needed to get something solid into your system. But with Spencer’s demeanor you could tell you wouldn’t be eating anything for some time, he was tense, eyes burning and you wanted to scream at him. It wasn’t even your fault the two of you were angry.

But you couldn’t even bring yourself to do it, you were so exhausted. You let him in and he brushed past you, pacing through your living room. “Spencer I’m really tired, can we just do this tomorrow? I don’t feel good.”

You knew he didn’t even hear you, he was in his head and from the smell of beer on him you could tell he had been drinking. He wasn’t drunk, but you knew he was a lightweight, so anything he drank would have him more there than here.

You walked towards him, mainly to get him to stop because his pacing was making you feel that the room you were in was spinning. But he moved from you just before you reached him and it caused you to stumble forward, barely catching yourself against the rest of the couch. You had to close your eyes to try and stabilize yourself. “Can you stop trying to push me away?”

“Well you do it, why can’t I?”

He was being childish, you both knew it. “Spencer I’m not doing that, if you feel that way trust me when I say it’s not intentional.”

You muttered something under your breath, you probably shouldn’t have but it slipped from your lips before you could stop yourself. “That’s not fair! I deserve days off with my friends as well!”

“I never said you didn’t, Reid.”

He knew you were angry, you only ever used his last name when you were, but he was angry too and he was glaring at you. “Well then it’s not fair for you to say that I decided to hang out with my friend over you.”

“Did you not? I think it’s been over a month since we’ve seen each other, you see them everyday and we both finally had a night off together and you decided to go out with them, people you see everyday! I feel like I’m not even part of your life anymore.”

Your breathing was labored and rough, you could feel yourself coming in and out of consciousness and could barely focus on the words leaving Spencer’s mouth before everything went black.

~

Spencer himself did not register what was leaving his mouth as he saw your body going limp, any bit of anger or alcohol leaving his system that very second. He instinctively caught you before your head hit the floor and he was frantically calling out your name. He hated how pale your skin went and how your lips weren’t as red as they normally were. You looked frail and he laid your head on the floor to go look for a cotton ball and rubbing alcohol, when he was looking around your apartment he noticed that the only dirty dishes in your dishwasher were coffee cups and there were scattered granola bar wrappers and nothing else. He sighed through his nose as he realized that’s all you’ve been eating. Much like him, people always said he never took care of himself but he was so good at taking care of you. And he knew you weren’t. He was frustrated at the thought of you two arguing during the little time you had for each other so he decided to go out with Derek and Emily instead. But he quickly realized he shouldn’t have, he really hadn’t seen you in a month, two days, thirteen hours and 54 minutes. And that turned into an argument. He wanted to slip into your apartment while you were asleep, lay down with you and cook you breakfast and have the two of you slip back into your routine. He knew all the frustration and anger was from not seeing each other and now you were passed out on your living room floor and he felt so guilty.

Guilty for not going over after a case, when he really could’ve, guilty for not checking in more. He was your boyfriend and he could’ve been doing more. You were still laying on the floor and he lifted your head onto his lap, brushing the alcohol filled cotton ball under your nose and letting a watery laugh leave his chest as he saw the color come back to you. He was so relieved he was able to wake you up, and since you didn’t hit your head he knew you didn’t need more medical attention. Plus he knew you’d hate it. “Honey, c’mon let me help you into bed.”

“My head feels so heavy.” It was a tiny whimper and Spencer felt his heart ache at how confused your voice was. His hand brushed softly against your cheek, you were colder than he liked for you to be, you sent him a smile, your eyes still closed.

You began to get up and Spencer helped you towards your bedroom, bringing you a cup full of water after he had laid you in bed. He let you slip back into bed as you sunk into the comforters around you. His fingers were lightly brushing through your hair, your face was scrunched up in discomfort and he knew if you didn’t get anything into your system, you’d wake up feeling worse.

He slipped out of your bedroom and walked into your kitchen, he found eggs and bread and decided that this would do. Toasting the bread and spreading butter on it as he waited for the egg to finish cooking. His thoughts causing him to spiral, he still felt so guilty.

As quickly as he could he had everything cooked and was once again walking back towards your bedroom. Your arms were spread out and your hair was in your face, your color fully restored. He left the food on the cabinet by your bed and slipped into bed with you once more, pulling you onto him. Your arms instinctively wrapped themselves around his chest and your face tucked into neck. You stilled in his arms and then quickly pushed yourself away, “Spencer?”

“Who else?” He laughed quietly, but the worry began to set in him to see your confused expression. “Are you okay? Do you remember anything?”

You looked sad and just slumped back into bed, staying close to him but not wrapping yourself around him, “Yes, but I thought it was just a bad dream.”

He took your arms and wrapped them around himself, bringing you in as close as he could as he pressed kisses to your forehead, which you had only just noticed was pounding. “You scared me out there.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Spencer laughed and began to rub small circles on your back, “What have I told you about making sure you eat breakfast and lunch? What if I wasn’t around and you would’ve hit your head, or you would’ve passed out while driving?”

Spencer’s chest had begun to rise and fall heavily with the prospect of something far worse happening to you if he hadn’t been around, the guilt eating him up.

You grumbled out quietly, “I was going to eat something after letting you in, but you looked upset and I knew we needed to talk.”

You both stayed silent and when you looked up at him, his eyes were already trained on you, he let you speak first. “I am really sorry, I know you deserve to go out with your friends and I obviously know spending time with them outside of work is different than when you’re at work. I was just really tired, the shift was long and I missed you. And I took it out on you and I’m sorry.”

There were tears streaming down your eyes and you wiped them away quickly, “It’s hard having the jobs that we do.”

“I’m sorry too, I think I was still upset about what happened a few days ago and I didn’t want to spend the time that we did have arguing and I opted for going out instead of being here. But I’m still mad at you.”

You laid your head on his chest so you were no longer looking at each other, “You can’t be living off granola bars and coffee.”

“I just forget! I don’t do it on purpose.”

“I know, but for both of our sakes, I need you to sit up and eat.”

You perked you at his words and sat up quickly, causing the room to start spinning again. “Take it easy.”

Before he could reach for the plate you pulled him to you, pressing a few kisses to his lips, “You know I love you right?”

He mumbled quietly against your lips before pressing a kiss to your nose, “I love you too.” He continued to cover your face in soft kisses, only stopping to rub his nose against yours gently, “I missed you.”

“I did too.” He pressed one more kiss to your lips before grabbing the plate, he didn’t let you move from your place until you finished everything.

taglist: @swellwriting @carolinesbookworld @theboywhocriedlupin @awfulmoons @lumos-barnes @fortisfiliae @finnofamerica @beskarjedi @aperrywilliams @ta-ka-shi-ma @spenceluvbot @la-vie-en-amour1 (let me know if you’d like to be added <3)

[amazingphilza]

DSMP!OC HEADCANNONS

i dunno if ppl on here make dsmp!ocs for themselves outside art but here’s my long list of headcannons?? idk what to call this, but assume all names have c! before it ofc :]

,, this is kinda messy & probably has a lot of plot holes but i just needed a space to write out all my thoughts LOL

also cw / ment of manipulation & ib: dsmp wiki <3

character origin :

previous life was the l’mantree :D

allegedly planted by schlatt, we will never know who’s my canonical parent(s)

reborn as a dryad after niki burns the l’mantree

i think being a dryad would fit especially since they’re typically nymphs of oak trees :]

appearance :

my character’s mc skin has long light brown hair & is seen wearing a flower crown with petals that are around the color of a pale violet and navy blue

clothing would consist of black shoes & a long light grey sweater that falls down to the legs and covers most of the hands which adorned with 2 black stripes on the upper arms

lore / history :

since my past life was the l’mantree, i would’ve known the ins and outs of the history when l’manburg was still standing, up until niki burned the tree

after witnessing everything, i’d hold a grudge on niki (+ allies?) and loyal to wilbur since he’s the whole person that made a meaning of the land of l’manburg

however i’d still be on edge w any side because i could sympathize with everyone to some extent after seeing some sort of distress from everyone at some point

i think seeing both sides of the spectrum when l’manburg/manburg still stood could change my perspective of some other characters

but at the same time, not everything was completely centered in l’manburg so i wouldn’t know the whole story of everyone’s character

i’m currently writing this just after tommy has left the prison & mostly everyone is treating him differently, so i’d try to befriend him by not showing that i dont care about his past & trauma but also not being fully faithful about our friendship ahaha,,,

he seems like the type that needs someone to see through his past history but tommy would definitely disapprove of my character visiting dream at the prison (i would do it anyway :))

vowing my current life to wilbur, i would help dream escape to revive wilbur & follow along with their plans of chaos

i don’t fully support dream but he is the only way to wilbur, making me comply with dream’s decisions

“growing up” in my past life and witnessing endless conflict, it is the only thing i know and understand; chaos

but i think during the process of helping dream & wilbur i’d keep my connection with them secret, being the person to obtain all the inside information they need

i could see myself as a type of equilibrium like ranboo but in a bad way, i don’t know how to explain it

but i would try befriending ranboo since he seems like he is involved in many things and would know a lot, despite his short term memory

unfortunately i’m not sure how much his character actually knows since i haven’t been able to watch his pov that much but i’m sure there’s a lot in his memory book...

to blend in as a normal person within the rest of the characters, i’d surround myself with connor a lot

not only because he needs more lore, connor is one of the “normal” citizens of the smp so i believe being with him doesn’t bring as much attention to myself, unlike people that’s related to the egg and their noticeable features after associating themselves with the egg

he is currently only on bad terms with techno which is rly good when comparing that to other characters and their relationships with other people

connor could probably sense my real intentions eventually & tell everyone else that i’m not who i say i am but if that’s my flaw & my downfall is caused by connor, so be it! sorry dream & wilbur

i feel like for being a young dryad, i’d still fool around with dream/wilbur & help give tommy an small “advantage” to defeating the two ?

like yes i’m supposed to be on your side but where’s the fun if tommy can’t do anything to begin with?

i honestly don’t know if wilbur was revived he’d actually be his vassal but let’s assume that happens, but either way i’m with wilbur on his decisions

but ya dream seems like the type to punish me for helping tommy and send me to the afterlife to learn & become smarter like wilbur had done or smth

in the end, i just want to give tommy bits and pieces that tease him from ending all the wars and problems he has been faced with

like here’s some info about dream and wilbur but it won’t be no where close to enough

but who knows, ghostbur said ‘villains are just heroes that aren’t convinced yet’ & maybe tommy could eventually grow on me & change my ways,,

maybe me fooling around & teasing tommy with answers he’s been searching for is a way to mask that i want to be a good person

ok but imagine after knowing so much about dream/wilbur, the revive book, & the afterlife & then i switch sides,,,

surely if tommy can’t put and end to them, dream would make sure i’m gone for good instead

but also if me & connor are in good terms & he’s canonically a necromancer & can bring ppl back to life,,,,

personality :

to all besides dream & wilbur, i’d try to act passive and friendly on the outside to get on everyone’s good side

however under the mask i am more mischievous & strive to cause more problems for everyone on the server from the inside out

in a way, i’ve taken up some of dream’s manipulative personality but still very understanding

i’d like to think of my character as a good listener,, trying to do less talking than others so i do not open up about my true self and intentions

i’ve seen rumors about schlatt & mexican dream also being revived along with wilbur & i feel like i’d have some soft spot for schlatt & pick up a few things from his own character, not sure what though

schlatt planted l’mantree theory, dad!schlatt au part 2 !! /j

because of my character’s closed off and quiet personality, i feel like i’d be pretty analytical

i would know how to slip between the cracks with some characters & notice the smallest things to make them question themselves

maybe my character is good at holding their composure, and not that susceptible to being “emotional” in a way so it’s easier to face people

like i understand when a situation is sad, etc but i can’t show emotion towards how i feel about it (i don’t know if that makes sense but ya!)

i wanna try to elaborate more,, like imagine my character before tommy visits the prison, i would be unfazed from when i found out he died to the point he’s released and we find out he’s been revived

everything is a constant blur hehe

i just can’t fully process everything i guess? i dunno if that’s helpful but yeah!

in the end though, my moral compass has been very tainted; despite wanting to show my loyalty, it can be slightly easy to sway me, making me internally feel guilty to other people

but me trying to get on everyone’s good side to impress wilbur/dream to seem useful to them would ruin me before i would even realize that i’m another “pawn”

we know damn well dream is faking it till he “makes it” but yk,,

but i’d be stuck in this kind of dilemma of not knowing what thoughts are my own or just something trickled down from wilbur or dream

there’s like maybe something that clicks in my head like “maybe i wanna think for myself for once” or smth

like who am i really?

powers , bonuses , etc :

since dryads can technically manipulate plants in some ways, theoretically i could control the blood vines to some extent ???

i’m pretty sure dryads can communicate with plants so i could understand what the blood vines are saying as well

maybe i could get a good sense of what the egg is all about and stuff

assuming that i understood anything that was happening with the egg in the first place but anyway—

i guess similar to ranboo like how he can’t really be around water without some type of amour or something, it would make sense for me to primarily reside in a type a forest or be near one ?? who knows

seems a bit morbid in a way because of the whole history but if i can somehow easily get rid of the blood vines without it affecting me (if there is still some there) i think it would be kinda pretty to build a tree base in the middle of the l’manburg crator (iskall tease)

like it can show a sign of some rebirth, not the same government repeated once again but a new era in general

you know how you see like destruction years after it the disaster or smth happened and it gets all overgrown with plants and stuff? ya that’s what i’m going for in my head (mumbo jumbo s7 tease)

i know it’s covered in glass already but i dunno, some broken glass and a giant tree emerging from the whole thing and all the rubble seems cool

i’m not a good builder but i have the vision LMAO

omg puffy is like a sheep human hybrid im pretty sure & like there’s a specific type of dryad that are a protector of sheep & other animals?? i’m not exactly sure but that seems like an interesting element to incorporate somehow

also glatt randomly planting a oak sapling in quackity’s lore stream yes pls feed my nonexistent dsmp character lore /j

i honestly dunno how to incorporate the fact dryads can turn shapeshift into trees when trying to escape something but i read something that if a dryad stays in a tree form for too long they’ll forget who they are and stay stuck as a tree?? which like woah that’s cool & some material but at the same time what—

since everyone’s backstory is kinda a mess, mr beast parent tease bc he planted a bunch of trees /hj

i have realized wilbur saying like “the whole reason i built this nation is gone” & blowing up everything or whatever is kinda a plot hole in like ‘why would i follow wilbur if/when he’s revived when he said this?’ but i’d like to think he was the one that made some meaning of the area lmanburg was on, which includes the lmantree

like he was the one that started everything and created that sentiment of that land, and however he views it now is how i would see it now

he gave meaning to my past life and now in my current life, i feel this obligation to repay him for it

not really lore bc i think it was cc!tommy talking to cc!ranboo about his height & age when he first joined but yk it would funny to make my dsmp character than his just to slightly spite him anyway

canonically 6’4 dryad yes . /hj

also i have no idea anything about hannah and her lore but we do be flower buddies :D

also omg like this isn’t at all important but the way ranboo can pick up grass blocks will just have me at awe, i dunno seems in theme with the forest/plant stuff

and i remember reading like there was something about dryads and apples but i can’t remember but i’d give tommy a bunch of apples /hj

apples am i right chat,,,,,

i’ll just have infinite apples in my inventory, like kill me in game, not like losing lives kinda deal but just in general and boom stacks of apples

“bee i get you’re half tree but do you just poop apples out like they’re nothing??” “girls don’t poop” /j

ok but like no matter how many streams i watch i cant grasp where everything is but omg but no if i was new to the server & stuff, canonically & not, i would feel my character to be the curious kind to explore everywhere

like besides a mini tour from some other person in the server, since my character only knows things in the bounds of lmanburg, i’d go off exploring different places like pogtopia, the sewers, showchester, etc

i feel like my character would be really into history, like they would have questions about what happened to lmanburg after the last war? what was life like before wilbur? what was the whole history about the antarctic empire? i dunno but reading a bunch of books from a library seems really interesting

oh but in theory, me and tubbo are loosely related if you wanna count schlatt as my “dad” because he supposedly planted the lmantree ???

i mean could make sense but it seems like a stretch

also if my character ever got close to schlatt, i’m not sure if this is canon, but i swear one time he mentioned how the whole dsmp sever is just a game/server in a game & he’s the only one that knows that ??? but like imagine if i found that out canonically,,,,,

big existential crisis pls

and i’m not 100% sure how dryad shifting works with like going from female to tree form and stuff but if i’m able to morph into different girls on the server & act as them,,,, the about of problems that can cause in the lore omg

lemme frame niki real quick and get inside information /j

oh ya and like hey bee do you support the government then? yes but no. whatever my “fav” person is canonically (assuming this is based in the beginning of this whole hc) whatever wilbur thinks, i think. head empty. but subject to change as the dsmp storyline progresses and stuff :]

ngl i wanna throw in some like random lore that doesn’t make sense to throw people off but i can’t think of anything

not actually really lore related but my choice of stream music like how ranboo has his undertale stuff that makes everyone cry, i will have in love with a ghost

yup i like in love with a ghost sm & i’m pretty sure their music is like not dmca too which yay but yk theoretically never gonna stream on the dsmp but still a fun aspect to think of bc i love listening to music & it’s very impactful to a story & associating something to it makes it more meaningful :D

like i could imagine the chill pop lofi piano stuff fits witha few lore streams of like exploring the whole smp before my character would really go out with being this lost villain in a way?

tubbo’s gangnam style who?

like i feel like i made my character bad/evil so they could have potential to get better in the future

on one hand, i’ll end up w dream and/or wilbur for the rest of my life, which is okay but i could also switch to be with tommy or even disregard all of them and be with techno/phil or quackity & potentially schlatt even who knows

also i cant wait for more connor lore tho, like as much as i tried to make my character give him more content i wanna see how everything goes with him having connections to schlatt & stuff

anyway i would’ve made concept art for my character but i honestly don’t rly like my art currently but who knows LMAO

and lastly if u read all of this ily /p

i might update this later when there’s more lore but ya

[justalitlecreacher]

Ok as much as I hate the events of the Rako Hardeen arc in Clone Wars and deeply wish that the council/Obi-Wan had at the very least told Anakin and Ahsoka what they were planning, I feel like the arc represents a very important turning point in Anakin’s fall and actually shows an important bit of character growth from Attack of the Clones.

Tl;Dr: The Rako Hardeen arc is my favorite and least favorite arc in all of Clone Wars because while it puts Anakin through unnecessary pain it also gives a lot of insight into why he may have fallen in Revenge of the Sith and shows some important character growth

Ok; the most important part of this post/analysis (I think) is to remember how close Anakin and Obi-Wan are. Anakin was placed in Obi-Wan’s care at the age of 9 and from then on Obi-Wan practically raised him. In Attack of the Clones we see Anakin refer to Obi-Wan as the closest thing he has to a father not once, but twice, and one of those two times was directly to Obi-Wan.”OBI-WAN:  Why do I think you are going to be the death of me?! ANAKIN:  Don't say that Master... You're the closest thing I have to a father... I love you. I don't want to cause you pain.”(Attack of the Clones) and later to Padmé “...He's [Obi-Wan] like my father,...”. This is especially important because when Anakin leaves his mother to become a Jedi in The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan is literally the only friendly/familiar face in the Temple. Plus in the comics (disclaimer: I have not read all the comics just bits and pieces) we get a glimpse of Anakin training with the other padawans and it’s made clear that at least some of them don’t like Anakin at all. One padawan even refers to him as “just a slave” when shit talking him during training.(which like super fucked up; they def should’ve gotten in trouble cause that don’t seem very Jedi of them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Anyway; we’ve established Anakin and Obi-Wan’s bond. So let’s turn our attention towards someone who deserved so much better; Shmi Skywalker. Her death in Attack of the Clones was the first major turning point in Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side. There is really no excuse for Anakin’s actions after Shmi’s death; he goes to a very dark place, and likely taps into the dark side of the force during the massacre of the Tusken Raiders. But that’s not what we’re talking about rn so back on track.

I bring Shmi’s death up to say that while Anakin was tracking down Obi-Wan’s “murderer” I didn’t fully realize that Obi-Wan had disguised himself as Hardeen and I was genuinely worried that Anakin was about to unalive an innocent man. I really believe that the only thing that stopped Anakin from trying (and maybe succeeding) to kill Obi/Rako was like he said: he knew that Obi-Wan wouldn’t have wanted him to. This is important because the last time Anakin lost a family member he brutally murdered an entire village of Tusken Raiders, children included, and I think it’s safe to say that Shmi “the biggest problem in the universe is nobody helps each other” Skywalker would not have wanted that. I’ve finally arrived at one of my main points; this arc shows a crucial bit of character growth by showing an Anakin that is capable of thinking his actions through and not just reacting out of anger even after the loss of one of the most important people in his life; something he was previously shown incapable of when his anger and grief blind him. This turns this arc into an sort of midway point on Anakin’s fall; he’s clearly tempted to give into his anger and pain again, but he is able to resist this time. A younger Anakin may have killed “Hardeen” then and there. 

This scene really contrasts with Anakin’s actions in Revenge of the Sith in a way im not sure how i feel about yet. On one hand it has potential to make Anakin’s actions in Revenge of the Sith feel too out of character. We just saw Anakin able to see past his own emotions in the wake of the death of a loved one so what makes this different? On the other hand this arc can be used to show just how desperate Anakin is to not have to feel that way ever again. It’s also good for showing how much influence Palpatine has had on Anakin in the space between this arc and Revenge of the Sith. As for why Anakin may be unable to think past his own feelings in Revenge of the Sith when he appeared perfectly capable in the arc, a likely reason is that there really wasn't anything Anakin thought he could do for Obi-Wan anymore because he believed him to be dead, but with Padmé, Anakin knew she could be saved if he could just get her the proper care. But his fear of being exiled from the Jedi Order, and his increasing lack of faith in the council led him to believe that he had no choice other than to trust in Palpatine. And no hate to Yoda but im sure when Anakin did try to reach out (even as vaguely as he did) Yoda’s response of “Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.” didn't appear to be very helpful (especially considering that he is well aware that listening to Ahsoka’s visions and responding appropriately saved Padmé’s life (not sure if Anakin knows about that though)). These three episodes show pretty well how/why Anakin may have felt that he had nowhere to turn but Palpatine.

These groups of episodes actually show negative character growth (is that the right term?) in Anakin. He goes from commiting mass murder rated E for everyone to understanding that his loved ones would not want him to seek revenge in this way, but then he backslides into this lightsaber is rated E for everyone by Revenge of the Sith. Logically he should know that Padmé would never have wanted him to do what he did; he has to know what he’s doing is wrong, but he’s incapable of seeing another way out because he cannot handle even the thought of losing Padmé. He’s too desperate to not lose her, and so sure that there’s no other option that he manages to convince himself that he needs to do this for her. I find this entire arc really interesting but unless i want to be here all day the most i can do here is point out that it exists and that it peaks in the Rako Hardeen arc. Surprisingly i do have a life outside of writing long posts, and i lack the time and energy to analyze all of Clone Wars and write about every event that led to Darth Vader (there are so many). On top of that i actually haven’t seen all of Clone Wars; just the episodes most important to understanding Anakin’s fall.

Onto my next point, we just talked about the growth Anakin showed in this episode; now onto why i believe that this arc was instrumental in Anakin’s fall. (Disclaimer: I do not think that removing this arc alone could have saved Anakin, but i do believe it would have helped a good bit). I’ve already touched on Anakin and Obi-Wan’s bond so im not gonna do that again. 

Ive said it before and i will say it again; it was super fucked up of Obi-Wan and everyone else on the Council to use Anakin’s (and Ahsoka’s) reactions Obi-Wan’s “death” for their own gain. It was super manipulative and they absolutely knew what they were doing.  Obi-Wan even explicitly says, “Keeping Anakin on the outside was critical. Everyone knows how close we are. It was his reaction that sold the sniper. I'm sure of it.”(Deception season 2 episode 15). He knows just how devastated Anakin would be by his death, and he uses like Anakin and his mental and emotional well-being mean nothing to him (I know this isn’t true but its probably not hard to believe that someone doesn't care about your feelings when they’ve just tricked you into thinking they’ve died for their own gain). The Council really proves time and time again that they do not care about Anakin’s (or maybe anyone’s; Anakin was far from the only one close to Obi-Wan left unaware of his deception) mental or emotional wellbeing, but tbh i think this is the worst example of how callous the Council can be. And on top of all of that it was Obi-Wan who decided to keep Anakin in the dark Obi-Wan who should have known better; if we assume that Anakin is at least 20 in Clone Wars; Obi-Wan has known Anakin for at least 10 years, and has practically raised him from the age of 9, and yet somehow, somehow he had this idea and didn't see a single thing wrong with it. (And they really picked the worst possible person for this; like yea let’s trick the most unstable Jedi we have into thinking his closest friend/ father figure was murdered)

This arc’s main purpose (IMO) is to really show the beginnings of Anakin losing faith in the Jedi and putting more and more faith in Palpatine. Anakin trusted Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan betrayed that trust. Beyond that Palpatine is able to make Anakin begin to doubt how much the Council is telling him if they didnt tell him something as crucial as this. We even see Anakin parroting Palpatine’s “concerns” of the council not telling Anakin the full truth the Obi-Wan and the end of the arc. This arc is instrumental is establishing Anakin’s loss of faith in the council and shows how much he trusts Palpatine and sees him as a real friend.

Anyway I’m sure I had more I wanted to touch onand if I remember I will definitely edit this post but for the now I just wanna say. A) I love Obi-Wan a lot; this arc just really was not it. I do not understand how he thought this was in any way acceptable but I do still really like him. B) i fully understand that Anakin’s actions are his own and he does take a share of the blame for his own fall.

[lawrising-a]

( continued from here! // @pseudoneiric )

there's a sore sensation nestling against the sensitive skin of his wrist -- not rubbed raw, exactly, considering his tie is too silky to achieve such a feat ( and he, desperately, tried to move as little as possible ) but it still stings. a chiding reminder of what he allowed to happen not even minutes ago. yellow wrapped around him, completely bound and helpless ... it was something he can't say he's done before, not like that. he thinks the correct term would be bondage, but was it? gloved hands sinking beneath layers of flesh to expose the fluttering organs beneath, and expose her own in turn. call him crazy, but that's not what he thought bondage was about. but when was anything with lilian it's textbook definition? he can't blame anyone for his display of vulnerability except himself, completely ensnared with the girl the moment they crossed paths. there were times he watered down his attraction, for both their sakes, blaming her allure for his enchantment. yet lies come clean eventually and here he now perches. the edge of his mused bed, chest rising and falling more then it should as he burns with the black markings drifted upon his ivory skin. lipstick marks painting him in a light he's not used to. he's been stripped of all his warm tones and fake boy scout personas ; left in cool colors. green pants and black marks.

‘and what are you ... the sun?’ whispered a voice earlier, like every hushed word was a secret reserved between the two of them. mat rolls his shoulders, because he doesn't feel that way anymore. never has, honestly. he wants to be beaming lights with a killer gravitational pull, but he ... isn't. the colors on him now is a striking reminder of that : yet he replays lilian's maddening words and fools himself briefly. it's okay to believe lies when she's the one feeding them! as long as she believes it, why can't he humor it? everything she said had been a warped view, a funhouse mirror at those shifty carnivals -- but it was raw honesty from lilian, and he can't turn away the swell of attention. even if he should, even if mat should waltz into the bathroom where she's currently shrouding herself away and spill out the truth. let her know he isn't some angelic force but rather a mockery of one. how matthew naively hopes he can be hers regardless of his lack of good ... it's dizzying, causing his vision to blur, because it's been a while since he's confronted this about himself. the student doesn't like it. but oh, he loves her -- a burning sensation that lights his veins aflame and races his heart.

distractingly, he presses the pad of his rough thumb against the mark on the corner of his lips. a replica of a kiss she once bestowed upon him like salvation itself ( hm, what's with the spur of religious imagery today? hah ). trying to prod away the disappointment that rises every time he feels the wishful want of her actual lips there instead. she has to -- she has to feel something for him at this point, right? that can't be an assumption anymore, can it? questions whirl around as his fingers ghost down his ruined skin, tracing over the words left with his own hands like confirmation. like he's silently saying 'yes, property of lilian eyler.' like he's finally allowing himself a love he thought he wouldn't ever have when he traces, ‘mine. mine. mine-’ that ends with him working his way back up, away from the bulge of his stomach and trembling arms -- away from 'poetry, life, religion' and back to his lips. where he's reminded, with a fuzzy feeling balling up in his chest, 'mine.' almost pushing hard enough to slip a finger through his pink lips, plush and ready for ... mat isn't sure. he just wants her to kiss him there. though he knows she won't, least not today. and even if there's this sickening greed that controls him with a talent, he lets her have that. lets her take all her time in the bathroom and tries not to beg for more. how did she elegantly put in, in all her poetic prose that he's seen briefly in the club? a loyal dog? just for you now, only ever for you, lili--

a shiver rocks his form, startling his hands to the edge of the bed to tear into as he digs his heels into the carpet ( like he once had in the bed, to ground himself, to not buck ). was his pulse racing with the life she declared to adore so much? the man sinks canines into his cheek to hold back from beckoning her out to check. no, no ; he said he'd leave her be. it's a good thing for them both right now. if she had stayed and let the fabric obscuring his view fall from his eyes, he would've reached for her. try to pull them close and he'd ramble like a mad man ... wouldn't he have scared her? some part of him thinks he still has. which wobbles his posture in order to keep his head bowed, like awaiting punishment. almost waiting for pain building in his scalp, because surely she'd card her delicate laced fingers through his hair with a bit more force if she came back out. or was that his gentle throb of arousal wanting that? she got him worked up so easily ; ah, well, at least it's a good exercise for his thinning self control ...

a sigh, shaky and human, whistles out of parted lips. dry due to the fact he can't lick them thanks to the lipstick, though he can't help but wonder if he did -- would he be licking lilian's lips that way? the material touched them ... realizing how wild he is, a thoroughly teased animal, matthew laughs nervously. jesus christ, there's parts of him strewn all around his bedroom, because there's no way mat is fully put together. his brain feels like soupy liquid dripping from his ears and hissing into his scarlet skin. a puzzle of a man that lilian expertly took apart and left half completed. no matter how hard he tries to reel himself in, chase away all the sweetened morbidness delivered, he can't find all the pieces. surely, the clever girl took some with her to the bathroom. she was ... possessive. mat learned that just now. possessive over him, envious of basic things that matthew almost couldn't believe. she'll never know how comforting it was to see. a feeling now nestled happily within because nobody's been possessive of him before! she mustn't of gotten the memo from former friends, didn't hear how expendable he was to everyone who's known him. people don't get jealous for matthew, they don't care how much he sleeps, they don't care if he isolates away -- and they certainly don't care if his eyes linger on a girl with purple hair.

because who would find him special? he's an emotional wreck everyone stays weary of, a boy to eye with skepticism. his jealousy, his rawness, his obsessive love and need is wrong and ugly. you're shunned for those things by society. to the world, mat is anything but special, he's wrong ; so wrong and he's relentlessly tried to change that. but lilian ... she thinks otherwise. feels like he feels. sensitive and lovesick. and while he's always tried to hide before, if the girl with inky hair thinks it's beautiful and radiant ... everyone else must be wrong, because lilian eyler never is! as clever as the devil and twice as pretty, so the saying goes. with a rueful smile, too boyish and gentle for his own sharp face, he thinks it's an accurate fit for his favorite person ever. his throbbing molten core of earth, the darkened reflective surface of his beloved moon.

“im excited about lunch tomorrow, you know?” calls mat, voice as rough as ever ; like he uses it too much. but during this whole date, he fears he hasn't used it enough. “i haven't eaten with another person in a while. i usually just grab an apple and loiter around the library.” did you think i ate with yuri? though the fawn haired male doesn't ask, he quickly kills that assumption if it festered in lilian's mind. “if it goes well, we could ... ah, why don't we eat together from then on? maybe everyday? maybe forever! i think it'd be ... nice.”

the last part is so quiet he's not sure she hears it, but maybe she hears it die off. senses his shyness that bares him like it's her own. matthew doesn't want to dwell in it, so he tries to push forward. telling himself to keep tearing down the walls until there's nothing left ( the bathroom walls or his own? ). she deserves to hear more then his sputters from their little session, brought on by gutting arousal and his own jittery sparks : she deserves the world on an obsidian platter. to know he does want to be owned by her, to understand he'd be so comfortable displaying that label for all to see. and for lilian to be told, sternly, that he'd choose her out of a line up with certainty most would be scared of. love isn't half way for him, ever, and lilian needs to know that. even if his heart thunders and he wants to hear more of her disarming voice instead.

“and i want to be yours ; your idea with the whole 'blindly leading me around' wasn't half bad!” heartfelt chuckling makes him feel like he's vibrating out of his skin, her skin now, isn't it? “i'd let you blind me, i'd let you led me even if i was deaf and mute. you could be all my senses, because maybe then i'd trust them more. you don't know how much i wish these words on me were permanent, lilian --” mat twists his mouth, ruins his hair more. “darling, you just ... i've tried so hard to be normal this year, more then any other, yet you make me so helpless! it's ... how do you do that? do you know how special you are, how beautiful? perfect ... well, perhaps not that ; because you're stupid for worrying about not owning me. isn't it obvious you already do? were these reminders for me, or wishes for you?"

( eyes flutter to words he can barely read on his bared parts, words overlapping due to frenzy. all true. all true )

with a tightening throat, emotions rising like waves and god he could just drown, matthew lays back on the mattress. meekly pulling the tie out from under him, only to drag it over his used wrists. picturing only her. wondering if this sight would entice her to keep going when she comes out. and he wants to say lilian, you've won! congratulations on having a lover for life! or, something like : yuri couldn't pry me from your cold dead fingers! but what stumbles out is something foolish that he immediately grimaces over. hopefully she's too shaken to judge him too much.

“i think you're my soulmate, lilian. i .. really do.” so why would i ever let you go? or deem you unworthy? it's me, im unworthy. not you, never never -- his lashes tickle his skin when he shuts his eyes. breath hitching before evening out. reminding himself to calm down because matthew thinks he'll actually explode otherwise. a bundle of nerves, of her love, is all he really is.

[sadsapphicslut]

chapter one - original story (i havent come up with a title yet lol)

okay so here it is!! if anyone actually reads this i love u :) please leave feedback if u have any!! 

TWs:

death, drugs, medication, mental illness, references to sex, swearing, alcohol

wordcount: 8.2k

(also i dont think anyone will but im paranoid of people stealing my writing so obligatory dont copy/post to another site or steal my work in any other ways etc)

There were five of us; 4 boys and me. In hindsight I realize from the outside our group probably seemed a little predatory, but it was never really like that. For the most part they were like brothers to me. Of course, being the only girl in a small and isolated club of mainly older boys, things were bound to happen. We were in high school and it was summer, can you blame me? Regardless, however much I loved them, it was not quite in the way my father always assumed or my mother always warned (during our uncomfortable monthly visitations before I managed to get rid of her for good).

The months everything went down, which I often referred to only as ‘The Worst Summer of My Life’, (quite melodramatically but not without reason) were somehow still full of the best moments of my life. Moments I often find myself wishing I could repeat, as nothing has or will ever come close to the way I felt, sitting amongst my boys day after day, somehow light as the warm July breeze that blew past us. My entire body weightless, as non-existent as the time that passed us by. Despite the depression I’d found myself plunged into during the days after my only brother’s death, I truly believe I will never again be as happy as I was then. Laughter seemed to flow freely from our mouths, smiles plastered onto our faces no matter the circumstances, content to just exist. I don’t think I can ever forget the day it was raining so hard the entire city was flooded, but we walked around uptown well past the point of being absolutely drenched, our clothes dripping so heavily the security guard denied us entry into the public library. Something about that day made me feel so free, like we were invisible. Completely apathetic to the whims of the real world, somehow existing only in our twisted minds and intertwined fantasies.

Maybe if I’d had my head screwed on a little tighter, or if we’d met under different circumstances, it wouldn’t have ended the way it did. I used to go down that line of thought every night before succumbing to a fitful but heavy sleep (under the direct affect of 25mg of Quetiapine, working to counteract my Concerta and Lexapro). Those types of irrational thoughts were ones my therapist deemed as my habit for rumination. In regard to the death of my brother she called it ‘bargaining’, one of the stages of grief. I never liked it when she spoke about those stages as I’ve always felt them to be wrong. Maybe because I never quite moved on to the final one, no matter how many years pass. ‘Acceptance’, coined as the “Re-entrance to reality”. Maybe it’s different since I was never really grounded to reality in the first place. I still wake up some mornings, thinking I’ve heard his voice in the other room, ready to beguile me with tales from his day of retail work. Other times I swear I’ve walked past him on the street. Some people may relate to my experiences, with reasonings of ghosts, angels, apparitions, or insanity, among many other causes for the apparent viewing of a loved one long gone to the other side. I never shared these beliefs, but I am not one to deny. Rather, I always take these instances as an omen. A warning. I have come to this conclusion not without evidence, at least circumstantial, given the many occasions over the years – and especially that summer – where I found my hypothesis to be true. All I can say is that I am glad I’ve never been met with the same chimerical visions of my mother; one can only hope that is because she ended up where she belonged. Maybe I’ll see her there, though I hope at the very least they could keep us in separate rooms of Hell if the situation does arise.

From what I know of the others now, which is admittedly not much – majorly due to my own neglect, as opposed to theirs – they share the same prescription for rose-coloured glasses as I. We always were too engrossed with our own romanticization of nostalgia and sentiment that it clouded our view. I often think this was one of the reasons we seemed to fit so well together. Not quite like puzzle pieces, too self-absorbed to hold a candle to that analogy, more like complimentary colours. I wish it could’ve stayed the way it was. We did try, and I never found myself able to fully disentangle myself from James, nor he could to I, but for most of us we could recognize an ending when one arises. I used to find myself using the word tragedy a lot while reminiscing, but I no longer think that word is appropriate. Fate is a more fitting term in my opinion, regardless of if one believes in it or not. “(A)n inevitable and often adverse outcome, condition, or end,” as reported by Merriam Webster. I don’t think there’s a word in the entire English language more accurate in describing how everything ended up; and if there is, I am yet to find it.

  Chapter One

A Dead Brother

          I have tried to erase the day my brother died from my memory so many times I lost count decades ago. I still find the image seeping into my unconsciousness quite dreadfully on the nights I neglect to take my pills and catch myself waking up with a steady flow of tears that dampen my pillow along with the drool that always seems to pour from my sleeping mouth. The dread that pools in my stomach sometimes being heavy enough for me to lose my lunch. I frequently wonder how people managed to reassure me that it wasn’t my fault; the most painful lie I’ve ever been told and one that seemed to stream from people’s mouths as easily as the mini sandwiches laid in the living room of my brother’s wake were stuffed in. The worst part about being told it wasn’t my fault was how obviously one could tell they didn’t believe what they were saying either. His death was my fault; a fact so uncontestable I wanted to kill myself every time I was reminded of it.

           My therapist often tried to remind me that even if his death was “partially” (she always used the word partially, refusing to acknowledge the truth that his death was entirely my fault) my fault, there was nothing I could’ve done to prevent it. This was another lie I despised being told. There were a million ways I could have prevented his death or saved his life and yet, here we are, with him dead and me wishing everyday that I won’t wake up tomorrow. “Begonia,” she’d tell me – she was the only person who called me by my full name, I usually went by Nia, but a nickname felt too personal and I didn’t like her very much – “You mustn’t keep torturing yourself with these scenarios. He’s dead, and there is nothing you can do to change that. I am starting to wonder if you are going to let yourself move on. This isn’t healthy.” That was a line she liked to use a lot, “this isn’t healthy”. As if anything I do is.

           Barb, my therapist that is, liked to go over the details of my brother’s death a lot. She often called it a ‘trigger’, which is why she always seemed to want me to talk about it. “Trauma is a horrible thing, Begonia, and you must learn to move past it, process it. I can see you still haven’t managed to do that on your own, and that’s what I’m here for, to help you move on.” Barb was big on the idea of  “moving past trauma” and “learning to cope”, she often sounded like a broken record of a motivational speech. I found myself comparing her to school guidance councillors without realizing it, they were about equally as helpful (read: not helpful) in my opinion.

           Sometimes I blame my inability to forget and “move past” my brother’s death on the way Barb constantly brought it up and made me go through it. I never quite understood how that part of my therapy was supposed to help me. I asked her once, what good was it doing rehashing the worst day of my life?

           “Well, Begonia,” I hated the way she said my name, always so condescending and sour, like even the idea of me questioning her in any way was as impolite as shitting on her desk.

“You have to understand that I only want to help you. You seem to be unable to process your traumas on your own, which is why we need to go through these things. As you are aware, this PTSD,” she always left strange pauses after each letter, her slow tone grinding on my ears, “you have acquired has left you unable to function normally in daily life. I want you to get to a place where you can have a normal life (Ha!) and cope without these meetings. It’s what your brother would’ve wanted.” Barb liked to tell me what my brother would have wanted at least once every session. Putting aside the fact she knew next to nothing about him aside from the intimate details on how he died, I always thought it was an inappropriate thing to say as a psychologist specializing in grief counselling. It never particularly bothered me, I was reasonable enough to realize she was just trying to comfort me, but I never liked the phrase. “What your brother would’ve wanted.” What he would’ve wanted was to not die but we’re past that, aren’t we Barb, as you so often enjoyed telling me.  

I have always been quite averse to my diagnoses, ADHD at 14, Persistent Depressive Disorder at 15, PTSD at 16, issues with alcohol and drugs that landed me in rehab more than once. I’ve been on a concoction of different medications since I was 13, even before I was diagnosed with anything officially. Sertraline, Lexapro, Prozac, Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, Quetiapine, Ambien, Zopiclone, a healthy mix of off brand and branded medications. Sleeping pills, antidepressants, stimulants. I can’t remember a time before monthly trips to the drug store and side effect surveys that I’m not sure if I ever told the truth on. It’s a wonder that people didn’t see a slew of addiction issues coming from a mile away.

I think I’ve always had the most contention with my PTSD diagnosis though, I hate it because I know it’s undeniably true. I wish it wasn’t because maybe that’d mean my brother was still alive, but he isn’t. And I’m left traumatized and bereaved. Sometimes it feels like it hurt me more than it ever did my mother or father. Maybe it did. I should feel selfish for saying that, but I can’t, because they didn’t have to look at him while the life left his body, praying to God for the ability to turn back time. See the moment his eyes glazed over, knowing I’d never get to hear his obnoxious laugh, or make fun of his dumb face ever again.

  ❈

             “Ray, hey listen I need you to come pick me up.”

It was a cool evening in May, the end of spring brought with it the promise of summer and the air had the familiar aroma of daffodils and petrichor. I had decided to go to a party with my friend Faun, my dad having been out at his girlfriend’s place for the weekend and me having nothing better to do. I wasn’t one for partying, but I did like to get high, so I usually just hung around with the rest of the potheads and pill junkies until someone dragged me home or I fell asleep. That night Don, a friend of a friend of a friend, had brought coke and E and we were all determined to get as fucked up as possible. Faun only ended up doing one line before running into a bedroom with some guy whose name started with an M – was it Martin or Marvin? Maybe it was Mickey – and left me sitting on the couch beside a girl who was about 1 more shot of vodka away from passing out.

I had fully intended on doing some coke, but the E seemed to be hitting harder than I was used to. I was sure my Ritalin had worn off by then but maybe I was wrong. As I stood up to get a glass of water I nearly fell over and decided to sit back down. Turning to face Don, I tapped him on the shoulder trying to get his attention.

“What was in that molly?” I was vaguely aware of the way my words were slurring, but I felt weirdly energized. I was aware my heart was beating a little too fast, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything. I knew what ecstasy felt like, this was not nearly my first time doing it, but I felt really wrong.

           “Don!” He turned to look at me and I felt uneasy. His eyes looked a little crazed – not that out of the ordinary but given the circumstances I was worried – “What the fuck did you give me?” It felt like I’d done 5 lines of coke in the last 2 minutes and I knew that E had been spiked.

           Don’s face had an unmistakable expression of guilt written on it as he leaned down and whispered in my ear, his voice shaking, “I think it was cut with meth.” Fuck. My stomach dropped. I have to get out of here. I quickly shot up from the musty couch I was sat on, carefully holding onto Don’s shoulder so I didn’t fall, my legs still feeling unsteady. I opened my phone; the screen was too bright, and I had a hard time maneuvering it as I attempted to exit the house. Clicking the green Messages icon, I sent a text to Faun – e ws cut w meth im lesving – with shaky hands and burst out the door into the fresh air. I clicked my brother’s contact and pressed call.

           It rang four times before he picked up.

           “Nia? Why are you calling me it’s like 1am?” I could tell from the smooth tone of his voice he’d been drinking. He didn’t very often but he had an appreciation for cocktails and enjoyed getting buzzed now and then. He still was a year from being legal to drink but his friends we’re all 19 and 20 and bought alcohol for him. I found him fun when he got drunk, becoming talkative and giggly, but right now I wished so badly for him to be sober.

           “Ray, hey listen I need you to come pick me up.” I was slurring, my voice a bit too pitchy to pass as anything but high. I knew he didn’t like it when I did this, but he never ratted me out. Sometimes I wish he did, maybe I never would’ve been able to go to that party in the first place.

           I could hear a door shutting on his end, I assumed he was going into a different room. “What’s wrong?” My skin was bubbling with anxiety at the prospect of having to tell him what I did.

           “Fuck, uh… I did something stupid. I’m at Emily Goguen’s, y’know up in Champlain Heights. Please pick me up.” I rarely used the word please.

“Nia, what the fuck did you do?” I almost started crying but I found my eyes to be bone dry.

“Please don’t yell.”

“Okay, really, tell me what is going on or I won’t come get you.”

“I accidentally took meth.”

“You what? What the fuck, Nia! Fuck this I’m on my way and I’m fucking telling Dad.” I cringed but I knew he was going to before I even called. The pit in my stomach grew deeper as the buzzing of my skin grew stronger. I could feel myself getting higher, everything was so clear and standing around was making me grow restless. Ray huffed on the phone and I heard him entering his car.

His tone was softer the next time he spoke. “I’ll be there in 5, just stay put, please. Do you want me to stay on the call or can I hang up?”

I felt like a child, which I was really, only 16 at the time, a whole life ahead of me. Still, I was grateful for the way he spoke to me, reminiscent of being 6 and getting a scrapped knee after falling off my pink Razor scooter. The high made me edgy, and my voice was sharp to my ears, “No, you can hang up.” I heard the click to indicate he’d done just that, and started pushing my cuticles as I waited, the task somehow greatly interesting me, and I did not realize until later I had managed to pick off all of the skin around my pointer and middle fingernails during the five-minute wait.

 Ray pulled up exactly five minutes later in his ugly, blue 2011 Ford Fiesta he’d gotten the year prior after passing his driving test. What I wouldn’t do now to smell the inside of that car once again, a distinct attar of pineapple car freshener and Old Spice deodorant mixed with stale black tea, faintly present due to his ever-growing collection of empty paper cups from various different fast foods and coffee shops.

I stumbled into the car, feeling the strong impulse to clean the space, but attempting to push it down. From the passenger side overhead mirror I could see my blown pupils and sweaty forehead, pieces of my copper red hair sticking to my face. My freckles were showing through my concealer that had mostly worn off and I wanted to cover them back up. My skin was pale from winter (and probably the drugs in my system) but my cheeks were flushed like I was drunk. My high cheekbones made my face look gaunt in the lighting, but my face was wide which balanced it out, so I didn’t look completely skeletal. Ray was looking at me, the worry apparent in his eyes, but his face was flushed as well, and I could tell he’d been drinking a bit too much to drive. I had my license as well, but it was clear I was in no condition to take over on that front, so I didn’t bother saying anything. I wish I had. There’s a lot of things I wish. I wish I hadn’t gone to that party; I wish I hadn’t taken that E; I wish I called someone else; I wish I waited it out at Emily’s; I wish I walked home; I wish I took a cab; I wish I waited for Faun; I wish I wish I wish I wish I wish.

“Are you okay?” He didn’t take his eyes off me as I shut the mirror in front of me.

“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine. Please just take me home.”

“Is Dad there?”

“No.”

“Maybe I should take you to Mom’s.”

“No!” I’d moved out of my mom’s completely just over 6 months ago, barely seeing her once a month. It was one of the best decisions I’d ever made. She never liked me much anyways, the feeling was entirely mutual. Ray seemed to have a close bond with her for some reason despite how she treated him like shit. I never called him out though, he no longer lived with her, so I didn’t really care what their relationship was as long as she wasn’t hurting him. She did treat him significantly better than me, however, so I figured maybe he managed to forgive her the way I never could.

“Okay, but I’m staying with you until Dad gets home. I’m not gonna lie to him about this shit. Fucking meth, Nia? Seriously?”

“It was in the molly.” He sighed and started driving.

 My brain felt like it was filled with butterflies, or ants, some kind of movement that was itching at my skull. The paper cups scattered around were making me anxious and I needed to clean his car. I began picking at my nails again, but I needed to pick up those cups, you see. I turned around and started gathering the ones Ray had discarded in the back, filling up an empty plastic bag from Best Buy. I was fully switched around in my seat, nearly crawling into the backseat to reach the trash my brother had left. I felt him tap my side, I looked over at him and he started to scold me.

“Nia, stop that will you, you’re distracting me.” But I needed to finish gathering the cups. The car was dirty, and my skin was itching, the traffic lights burning my skin. I was elated and I didn’t want to listen to him, he was just trying to get in my way. I continued to lean over, not registering the swerve of the car as he looked over at me.

“Nia – ”

He turned over to push me back into my seat, his eyes leaving the road for no more than a few seconds. This time I felt the swerve as we broke into the next lane.

 This is where I have a hard time piecing together what happened. From what I was told, we ended up running directly into a 2015 Dodge Ram 2500. In case you understandably have a lack of knowledge when it comes to cars, that is a very large, sturdy, and expensive pickup truck which I would probably consider the last vehicle you’d want to charge headfirst into while going 70km per hour. I don’t recall the actual incident of hitting the truck, whether that be from the drugs, the position I was in, or hitting my head on the roof of the car, I don’t know. What I do know is that when I woke up, we were in a ditch on the side of the road, with the car flipped upside down, and my entire body was screaming at me to Get Out!

I felt blood oozing sluggishly from my head and noted some indistinct pain in my right wrist where it had scraped something pretty badly and gotten twisted, but I otherwise felt alright. I couldn’t tell if the cloudiness in my head was from a concussion or the earlier events of the night, but I figured it was probably good I was awake, regardless of how dazed I seemed.

I turned my head to the left and was greeted by a view I will never be able to forget, it having been branded to the insides of my eyelids, scorched in my mind. Ray, with his left arm twisted in spectacular fashion, reminding me of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, after Lockhart spells away Harry’s bones. My brother had always been squeamish with broken bones and I hoped he wasn’t aware of how his limb looked at the moment. His head was bleeding quite profusely, and I was alarmed despite how many times I’d heard in movies that headwounds bleed a lot. His eyelids were fluttering, irises appearing glassy and unfocussed. And then I saw it. A piece of glass was stuck in the left side of his neck. The windshield apparently had broken with the impact and my brother was lucky enough to get a piece lodged right in his trachea. It was thick, bright red blood –  that I could’ve sworn was sparkling in my current inebriated perspective – was gushing out the side, so heavy I could smell it, taste it, in the air. I was frozen once I realized.

Do something, do something! Put pressure on it! Call 9-1-1! My mind was screaming at me, but it was all I could do to sit and watch the blood stain his clothes. He was wearing the corduroy jacket I’d gotten him for his birthday and a white button up, the red seeped into them until it was as if they’d always been that colour. My voice was caught in my throat, but I managed to push some sound past.

“Ray?” It was weaker than a whisper but in the silence that seemed to envelope us in that car, completely independent of the outside world and sirens that could surely be heard from blocks away, I knew he would be able to hear me.

He looked up, eyes focussing slightly on me, and a tear slipped down his face, only it went the wrong way since we were still upside down. He mouthed the words “I love you”. We never said that to each other. As close as we were, our relationship had always been more comparable to that of a best friend than sibling. We weren’t overly affectionate, never hugged or said I love you, hung out for enjoyment rather than as a punishment. Most people didn’t know we were brother and sister until we pointed it out, we never really looked alike and were absent of the traditional distaste and rivalry usually present between siblings. I knew, as he looked me in the eyes and said those words, this would be the last time I’d ever see him outside of a morgue.

I sat in my seat next to him with dry eyes, wishing desperately I could cry, needing to express the feeling of utter horror and despondency that completely overtook my body and mind, but I couldn’t. Barb told me time and time again that I was in shock, there was nothing I could’ve done, but I will never be able to believe that. I still remember the moment the final tear slipped down his face. He smiled at me, pain evident in his eyes. His entire body was covered in the metallic smelling red, and I wanted to vomit. I wish I could say the crash had sobered me, but it didn’t, not really. I was still entirely in a daze as I saw his muscles relax, smiling falling from his face, eyes not quite rolling back all the way but enough to give me nightmares for the next 20 years. The life had been absorbed from his body, leaving a heavy shell. I was told afterwards this all happened within the span of 10 minutes, but it felt like years. By the time the first responders had appeared I was an old woman. Grayed hair, and arthritic bones. Mourning for the brother I’d lost oh so many years ago, when I was just a girl. I think in a way I died in that car with him, I never was really the same. But who would be? Best friend and confidant, older brother, idol, dying in front of your eyes as you do nothing, knowing for the rest of your life that his death is – was – your fault. Knowing you could’ve done something, anything really, to prevent his untimely loss of life before the paramedics arrived. If I’d been the same after that night I would have to be much more disturbed than I ever thought.

I sat in that car beside Ray’s corpse for 3 more minutes before I heard the sirens closing in around us – me. I thought I might pass out, either from the toll of what I’d just witnessed or from my concussion, but I remained upright, probably from the adrenaline. I couldn’t move so I just waited, and hoped I’d die too before anyone reached the scene. It would be much preferrable to any other outcome I could think of at the time. I could vaguely register the pain in my wrist, but I felt so numb I’m sure you could’ve shot me in the foot and I wouldn’t have blinked.

A young fireman named Walter ended up getting me out of the car. The door was smashed and stuck which meant I’d been trapped in there either way. I was happy I hadn’t bothered trying to escape as I'm terribly claustrophobic and finding out I couldn’t would have thrown me into a proper panic attack. The fireman was incredibly nice, saying reassuring things the entire time they were opening the door with the “Jaws of Life”. I ended up seeing him again in the hospital actually, or at least that’s what my father told me. He wanted to check in on me and left me some hydrangeas in a vase. I always preferred chrysanthemums but I'm not that picky when it comes to a floral arrangement.

After the door was busted open I was carried out by Walter. I was shaking and apparently babbling nonsense but in my head I was trying to tell them to save Ray. I wasn’t really aware of all that much, completely blind to the crowd of spectators that had rudely gathered to witness the violence – wasn’t it supposed to be taboo to stop at a car crash? Wondering vaguely about what happened and wishing you could get a better look as you drive past the scene.  My head wound had made me a bit incompetent and the meth in my system was really not helping the entire situation.

I was laid on a gurney and rolled onto an ambulance. I don’t remember much about the ride; the sirens, the bright lights, a paramedic named Alice who spoke softly, smoothing out my hair while the other put an oxygen mask on my face (which I wasn’t entirely cognizant enough to question though now I'm not really sure why they did it) and splinted my wrist. Alice asked me if I was on drugs and I nodded but was unable to speak when she asked me what ( I would find this a common occurrence after the accident, my voice seemingly stolen alongside Ray’s). She just nodded and said something to the other ME that I didn’t quite pick up. She asked if I could tell her my name and I shook my head. She must’ve noticed the iPhone in my pocket and grabbed it, turning to the medical ID page.

“Is your name Begonia?” I nodded, though the name sounded foreign on my ears. I liked the way Alice said it though, she had a light Spanish accent and a matronly tone that made me feel safe. I wondered if she had kids of her own; she looked young, but my own mother had me at 19 so who could say? She told me her name after complimenting mine. “Begonia is a beautiful name; I love the flowers. I’m Alice, okay? We’re gonna make sure you’re alright and take you to the hospital.” Her voice was sweet like syrup and I became sleepy as she spoke.

“No honey, you can’t fall asleep yet. Just stay awake a little bit longer and I promise you they’ll let you sleep at the hospital.”

  I don’t remember anything of the rest of the ride to the hospital. I was dropped off at the Emergency Room at the Regional, head still too foggy to allow me to recall anything before I was sitting in a white bed, in a white room, with white sheets and a light blue hospital gown on. It was morning and my father was sitting at the end of my bed in an uncomfortable plastic chair, his eyes bloodshot and moist. He’d very obviously been crying for a long time and my chest panged with guilt. I reached up to feel my head and realized there was a cast on my wrist. With my other hand I touched the cotton that covered my forehead, wincing when I felt the sting of what had to be stitches in a nasty gash. I would spend the next 5 years of my life with a variety of diverse haircuts that attempted to hide the ugly scar that served as a reminder of the worst night of my life. Even now it is still extremely obvious, but I can’t be bothered to try and hide it, I so rarely look in the mirror that it wouldn’t matter if my skin turned blue.

My dad hadn’t looked up, so I attempted to gain his attention but once again found my voice failing me. I tapped on the bed a few times before he seemed to realize and face me.

“Nia… how are you feeling?” His voice was raspy and thin. He reeked of cigarettes and stale coffee, though this wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I remained silent as he looked at me, searching my face for something I'm not sure he found.

“Nia, I, I'm not sure how to say this to you.” Here it comes. Almost worse than watching my brother die, the confirmation. “Ray, he’s, well dead.” I saw my father’s eyes begin to tear up again as I stared straight ahead. I couldn’t feel the sobs that racked my body, nor the hot tears streaming from my eyes. I saw my dad start to move closer but sit back down when I flinched. Of course, I knew my brother was dead; I had front row seats to watching the event happen, but somehow I still didn’t believe it until the words left my father’s mouth. According to my dad, who many years later described to me how eery the whole event was, my sobs were completely silent, and I was entirely unaware of everything happening around me. This dissociation lasted the first few days after the accident, and the entirety of my hospital stay. Leaving the blissful gap in my memory I have now.

Barb told me this was my mind’s way of coping with the tragedy and stress of what happened. I was honestly just happy I had an excuse to skip some of the dreadful retelling she forced upon me.

 ❈

             The funeral was of course a depressing and solemn event. I was still yet to speak and found myself thankful for the way people gave up on trying to get me to communicate. I dressed in a black skirt with a black short sleeved button up. A dark coat thrown around my shoulders as the cast on my right hand was too big to fit through the sleeve. I looked terrible, barely a week out of hospital before I watched Ray sink into the ground. The wound on my forehead was still quite nasty, though it looked better than it did before. I tried to cover it up with my hair but was unsuccessful. I got bangs soon after.

           The matter was very traditional, taking place in a church even though none of our family was really religious. It was only the second time I'd ever been in a church, the first having been for my cousin Julie’s wedding when I was four years old. I don’t remember anything of it aside from the material of my dress itching at my neck and making me rather miserable. Of course, not nearly as miserable as I was the day of the funeral, sitting in a pew at the front of the church, listening to a priest claiming Ray would’ve wanted us to celebrate his life. I knew this not to be true; Ray was extremely dramatic and would’ve cherished the thought of everyone he’d ever spoken to moping around for weeks after his death, beside themselves with grief. He sometimes referred to himself as “Romeo” after having been broken up with by another girl he was supposedly in love with, stating he better just stab himself in the heart now if he couldn’t have her. On the rare occasion he broke up with a girlfriend, he’d lounge around, eating ice cream, pretending to not be upset and comparing his cold heart to that of Richard VIII. The concept of him being any different over his death was almost comical; Ray was nothing if not predictable.

           I sat beside my father, who sat beside my mother (it was an extremely awkward arrangement that neither I nor my father cared for) and seemed to have the idea that I could evaporate if I thought hard enough about it. Unfortunately, I did not evaporate, or even come close to it, instead finding myself exactly where I'd been the whole time. I mostly tuned out the service, only really paying attention when my father and Ray’s best friend, Jake spoke. I managed to escape the duty of having to speak that day thanks to my fragile mental state and mutism. Though I'm sure I would’ve been forced all the same if I had been able to talk in any capacity, regardless of where my head was at.

           Faun was sitting in the pew behind me, feeling quite guilty about the whole ordeal. Or friendship dissolved soon after, I think she blamed herself for taking me to the party. It didn’t bother me too much though; we were never the closest and I sometimes thought her to be extremely annoying. An endless stream of shitty boyfriends that she only acquired so she could further repress her sexuality. When we were 14 we kissed at a sleepover and she admitted she was in love with me. I felt bad for not returning the feeling and our relationship had been on rocky territory ever since. I don’t understand how she thought she was in love with me since she barely knew anything about me, but either way she never brought it up again and soon after the monsoon of boytoys had begun.

           My brother’s friends and ex-girlfriends also attended the event. I didn’t approach any of them, far too scared they’d blame me for the death of their friend. One of them, Alex, went up to me to say how sorry he was about everything that happened. He was crying quite heavily (I later found out he was the friend Ray had been drinking with and the second last person to see him alive) and I could smell alcohol on his breath. I stood there while he spoke, telling me about how great my brother was as if I was wholly unaware. Body waving side to side as he stood with his hand on the wall beside me. He offered me some bronze liquid in a flask, and I obliged, savouring the burning sensation that followed in my throat. Alex’s voice was steady and deep, reminding me of my father’s. I’m not sure how long we stood there, him spinning a fantastic web of anecdotes and stories about my brother, some entirely new to my ears. We passed the beverage back and fourth until it was empty. My head felt lighter and heavier somehow simultaneously, and I found it much easier to listen to Alex talk. Later he tried to kiss me in my bedroom during the wake. His mouth was sour, and his tongue seemed too big for his mouth. I wondered how he was able to talk so much without it getting in the way.

             We moved in procession to the cemetery after the service. The grass was a vibrant green colour, and I didn’t understand how the world kept turning after Ray’s death, for mine stopped the moment his heart failed to beat. The sky was a lovely shade of cyan-blue, with clouds so perfect they seemed animated. Pink carnations were planted near the outskirts of the yard and I could smell spring in the air; a heavy, floral aroma that never failed to comfort me. I thought it should be raining, it felt inappropriate that the weather refused to match my despair. My mind wandered as we approached the empty grave and I considered what it would be like if Ray was here beside me. He’d probably be making jokes, telling me to lighten up for a minute or my face would get stuck that way. He’d mock my silence, saying how I never managed to shut up for a minute before but suddenly I'm as proper as a nun. I'd smile, ruffling his hair to piss him off and try to refrain from laughing aloud. The absence of him only felt stronger as I imagined this scenario, so I shoved it out of my head.

           The casket was lowered into the ground, my father was a pallbearer and I often think about how he must’ve felt carrying his son’s body before watching him being buried. My mother sobbed loudly which annoyed me, it felt a bit exaggerated. I had a few tears falling from my eyes but mostly, I just felt numb. Incredibly and absolutely empty inside. To onlookers it may have seemed as though we weren’t very close, my reaction being similar to that of his ex-girlfriends’. However, this didn’t account for the loss of my voice, or the broken state I was in mentally. Maybe it was better that my reaction was rather dulled. It meant people didn’t feel the need to approach me as they did my mother. Less concerned given she was the one playing up her emotions to the point of embarrassment. My father cried, more than I but far less than my mother. He didn’t cry very often – I'd actually only seen it once prior to the whole event – and I figured he probably needed it. At this point I felt as though I'd shed enough tears to last a lifetime so Ray wouldn’t mind if I was a bit subdued in comparison. He never was a crier anyways.

           As I sprinkled soil onto his casket I imagined he was right beside me, watching, ready to criticize as usual. The dirt stained my hand, clutching the sweat and turning my skin a muddy brown colour. As I wiped the dirt on my jacket I could hear him nagging about how I better go wash my hands, what was I, a six-year-old? He was in denial about me growing up and took every chance to remind me I was still just a kid. Not that he had much on me, but I enjoyed it. I never was one to shy away from attention; at least not before. Little quirks and inside jokes between us were always some of my favourite things, the type of humour you could only get from living with someone your whole life. No matter how much his memory will fade there are some things I can’t let myself forget. His mocking tone when he’d make fun of me is one of those things. If I ever managed to let go of that sound then I must be dead as well.

           The sun beat down on my back, my skin burning in my black clothes. I wasn’t sweating yet, but most of the men around were – suit jackets aren’t exactly known for their breathability. My nose was dry and aching red, sore from how much I'd been wiping it the last couple days. Still the sweet seeping tinge of flowers and spring managed to crawl into my nose, settling underneath my skin, the buzzing from before had returned, I could feel my heartbeat loudly in my throat and had the desperate urge to just run. Instead, I just followed the rest of the party, sitting down in the passenger seat of my dad’s car. The silence that settled over us was uncomfortable and stale. He turned on the radio, Led Zeppelin filled the air around us, thankfully relieving some of the tension. I felt in my left pocket for one of the carnations I’d picked from a nearby grave earlier. The flower had begun to wilt, heat taking effect on its delicate composition. When I got home I put it in between the pages of my oldest copy of Romeo and Juliet. Ray would have found it funny if he was around to see.

The drive to my mother’s house was short and minimally awkward. We sat in silence – aside from the music – only because there was no alternative. My hand remained clutched around the dying flower in my pocket as we left the car and entered the home. Other people had already arrived, clustered in the living room, picking at tiny ham sandwiches and various desserts my mother had undoubtedly stress-baked the day before. I wasn’t hungry so I sat as far away from the food and people as humanely possible while staying in the living room, not wishing to hear my mother’s scolding about how I need to socialize more. Eventually I managed to slip away into my old bedroom, where Alex was sitting on my bed drinking a mickey of Smirnoff I assumed he swiped from my mother’s freezer. He offered it to me, and I accepted, the weird repetitive déjà vu like act, mirroring earlier and making the whole day feel like somewhat of a dream.

When I went over this part with Barb she always felt the need to emphasize that it wasn’t a dream. I knew this, obviously, which I told her every time, but she was inclined to disbelief when it came to my denial over my brother’s death. “Begonia, you must realize he’s gone. Dwelling is helping nobody, especially not you. This isn’t a healthy mindset for you to have. Always comparing living to your dreams. I want you to tell me you understand this isn’t just some dream you can wake up from.” The first time she said that to me I was thrust into a bout of wordlessness, as it struck a bit too close to home. The next time she brought it up I just told her of course, though even now I still cannot say I fully understand. How can I when all of my assumptions have been constantly disproven time and time again. How can I ever say this isn’t a dream when I'm not even sure I'm real? James always tries to reassure me, “Bee, I'm telling you, if you can feel this beat, the pulse in your wrist, your neck, your chest, you are alive,” he’ll say while pressing my hand to my wrist, but we both know it isn’t that simple.

Me and Alex made out for a few minutes until I managed to excuse myself. He was a bad kisser and tasted disgusting. I left him sitting on my old bed while I went downstairs to find my dad. He was sitting at the counter with a can of root beer, blank expression sat upon his face. When his eyes met mine he sighed, grabbing his keys out of his pocket. It was obvious neither of us wanted to be here, for numerous reasons, so we left. And if the radio stayed off as we drove home we didn’t acknowledge the silence that time. In my hand was the crumpled carnation, and for some reason it made my chest hurt. A deep ache of dread. I could feel my heartbeat, hear it over the drum of the car engine, and I crushed the flower further. I was careful not to rip it though, as if that was crossing some kind of invisible line my mind had set for me. My fingers felt waxy when I finally let go.

Back home, I opened the copy of Romeo and Juliet. I retrieved the deteriorating plant from my pocket and placed it in the center. Closing the book, I stacked it under a few dictionaries, a magazine under it so it was trapped on either side. I sat down in front of it and cried. Not the huge gasping sobs my mother seemed to fancy, nor the quiet weeping of my father. No, I cried the tears of a child who just found out their grandparents died, the soft uncomprehending grief that overcame them as they first learned what death really meant. How long forever was. My legs pulled up to my chest, hands loosely hung around knees, unable to clasp together because of my cast. I closed my eyes and I swear I could hear the sound of Ray sighing behind me, but when I opened my eyes I was alone. I went to bed, earlier than I ever had in my life, still believing it was a dream and I'd wake up like Alice after her adventures in Wonderland. But when I awoke, I was met with the slow, oozing perdure of my reality. The one which I could not wake up from, and the one where my brother was dead.

[thethrillof]

sephiroth + pats on the head

as much as im getting into ff7, i’m def missing a lot of pieces to fully do stuff in canon. so! fucking around in something that barely has a canon! aka ~super smash bros.~

warning for alcohol. and some silliness.

Sephiroth is staring at a ceiling.

Light wood grain. Well put-together. Nothing at all like a medical bay.

Which is a ridiculous thought. He was nearly a God, alongside Mother, who already is. He has no need for medical assistance, and nothing could keep him down even before.

His heart is thundering. Each beat pushes blood through his veins more quickly than the last. It’s too loud, and leaves the ceiling under his watch wobbling uncomfortably.

He refocuses to a noise beneath his pulse. No. Above.

Literally above, there are voices chattering above where he’s lying flat on his back, words dropping from where the others are standing to thunk heavily against his ears.

“—-just tipped over, oh my gosh!”

“Damn, ‘Belle, you weren’t kidding.”

Too close.

He rolls to his feet.

The room doesn’t cooperate. Neither does his wing, which slams roughly against something else. His eyes slide from the wiggling room to track the thing, belatedly leaping out of its reach.

It wouldn’t have hit him. For one, he knocked it away from him too quickly for a reaction.

Also, it is a stool. Stools are rarely known for their attack prowess.

He looks back up, meeting the gazes of several.

A dog in a smart outfit: Isabelle. Foolishly kind, refused to stop talking to him despite Cloud’s request. Not a threat outside of battle. A princess in pink: Peach. Rarely a threat outside of battle. Also foolishly kind, offering him tea, also refused to stop speaking to him despite Cloud’s increasing distress. A SOLIDER--no, soldier--in a bandanna: Snake. Distrustful, but attempted to speak with him as an equal. Somewhat dangerous, equipped with many weapons he does not use in tournament battles.

No. Not at all dangerous. When was the last time he found anyone but

None can strike him down but Cloud Strife.

Another being swims to life in front of his eyes, behind the bar the others are resting their elbows on. A…giant bird, adorned with glasses and feathers like a mustache. Shot glasses are under his feathery hands.

Glasses to wear, and glasses to prepare. Sephiroth bites off a chuckle too late. What is wrong with him?

The bird delicately coughs. “…Perhaps you would like to try…my coffee to drink, instead, coo…”

Sephiroth aims the Masamune towards his beak. The wooden bar is sliced awkwardly through instead, rattling up his arm.

“You might want to sit back down,” Peach suggests sweetly. The bird keeps cleaning the held glass. “You’ve had quite a bit to drink, dear.”

Drink?

He doesn’t stop laughing, this time. Alcohol had affected him less than drugs, even before he embraced what he truly is.

Though those drugs that he had been given were specially-made. Nothing used on normal humans worked, blasting through his system within an hour.

Everything about this World is specially-made, or altered to fit. Even he himself has had to accept handicap to truly to descend to battle. The Hands were stoppable as anything, but fighting them was enough of a distraction to keep Cloud away from him, and Sephiroth would not be stopped. Not by distraction, not by artificially-induced limitation in battle, not by…the stack of glasses against where he was, maybe, just seated.

If the Hands could limit his ability to fight…

No. Alcohol had never affected him so. SOLIDERS could not become drunk past their first dose of Mako, and Sephiroth had never drank before his own dozen. He could never see the point of inviting such weakness, physical and mental. Genesis had said too many biting things before his true self was brought to light, and too many kind ones. Angeal’s puppy…Zack…had always laughed, more and more, and offered a bottle he promised would take the edge off, but…

Why is he thinking about this.

“You’re suuuper drunk, sorry!” says a bright voice.

“I am not,” Sephiroth replies flatly.

He’s sitting on the floor, however, without quite remembering when he decided to do that. Nor when he’d chosen to set the Masamune down across his lap, with his hands steadying him instead of resting on his sword’s hilt.

“You are,” the dog says, and her repetition of “Sorry!” is sharply undercut by giggles.

“Really,��� Snake says from the edge of his vision. He should be looking at him. No, he’s not dangerous, he already told himself that, but then he’s looking still.

“Isabelle is…a lot more tolerant than you thought,” Snake tells him, swirling his own half-empty glass and smirking over it. “Than I did, either, I’ll admit it. But I’m not the jacka—uh, not the one who decided to challenge her head-on.”

Impossible. Sephiroth is above such things.

Though muddled memories suggest that is exactly how this happened. Peach leading her merry group in the direction of Smashville, telling him, who should not have been listening, that the dog could drink anyone under the table. Anyone. Everyone. Even Gods.

(That may have meant Palutena. This may not have been a challenge. He’ll consider these options later.)

“I am not drunk,” Sephiroth insists.

He may be more affected than he thought, however. The voice that burst from his throat was his own, but there should be no tone, let alone the tone of someone so petulant.

He sees Isabelle, who was seated next to him, reach out to do…something. He is too—impaired—to do anything but brace when he realizes where she’s aiming.

Her paw settles on his head.

A bloom of warmth spreads from the touch. Through his scalp, down his face, suffusing him in the chest and stomach where the…alcohol…had just barely touched.

“Don’t worry about--oh!”

Sephiroth curls his wing around himself, stopping the…touch.

He peers over the edge of his feathers suspiciously. Isabelle’s expression morphs from shock to more giggling. “Really, really really! Don’t worry about it. N-nobody’s going to drink and tell! E-even if you do look silly! We’re all silly here!”

And to his bewilderment, all of them raise their glasses when she does. Even the bird, with his empty one.

“It’s just for fun! We’re all adults. All the f-fighting is fun, but it’s--it can be a little stressful, too, right? So we just come here and party after, sometimes. It’s all good! It’s all great!”

“Even if Brewster’s usually better at cutting us off,” Peach teases to the bird across the bar.

“Don’t blame the guy. We all wanted to know who’d win.” Snake waves lazily from his side.

He still braces when Isabelle reaches out again. This time, she pats a short pattern along his wing before settling back on his head, and he watches the feathers intently to make certain she didn’t put something on them, to make the warmth spill down.

Maybe he is drunk. At least he’s…comfortable. He is not in danger. He can’t be. He’s the most dangerous being in this room, in this World.

But somehow this doesn’t steady him as it often does. In fact, a stab of cold crawls from his chest, so abrupt that he looks down to make sure metal or ice hasn’t pierced it. Yet, it looks entirely normal.

He can bear the most terrible agony. A chill is mere discomfort, and that is nothing at all. He can tolerate discomfort without thought, most times, but now he…doesn’t want to.

He doesn’t want to be cold. He didn’t even notice how cold he was.

He doesn’t want to. 

Something is telling him he has to be.

But why? Why does he have to be? 

He can stop it. He just was warm.

Sephiroth leans over until his head presses back against Isabelle’s paw--and then softly thumps on the edge of her stool when he overbalances. She just laughs more, gently scooting him until his head is loosely resting against her side.

And he’s proven swiftly correct. This will work to keep the warmth in.

[chaoartwork]

Multivoid: Chapter 1

A fanfiction revolving around 2K, Palindrome and the alternate Zims in the aftermath of the Battlevoid arc.

Based on Invader Zim comic issues 46-49.

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

“Hey. Um. Brother?”

“Sure! What is it, brother?”

“Uh...do you...um. Do you ever worry?”

“Worry about what?”

“Well heheh! Ofcourse it’s a dumb question. But um. Do you ever worry that maybe this won’t last forever?”

“Whaaat?! Come on! Ofcourse it will last forever! We can make it last as long as you want it to!”

“But wouldn’t you want to too?”

“....Hm. You know, that’s a good question. I always pondered about that. Im guessing you might wonder about that too.”

“Wonder about what?”

“Wonder which one you really are. Which one is the real you....Hey! I got a question for you brother! Let’s say we use to be someone. But an event occurred that made you become someone else. Someone grants you the second chance to be that person again. Will you take it?”

“Hmmmm. Not entirely sure. It really depends if my original self was better than what I am now:”

“Better in what way?”

“I don’t know. Superior? More flawless? I think.”

“You seem unsure, brother.”

“Eh I don’t know. Who knows? Maybe that original me was worse than what I am now?”

“In what way?”

“Mmm not sure. Maybe evil? Careless? Dumb? Pitiful?”

“Do you really think that’s what you were?”

“I guess so. You?”

“Mm. I’m not sure either.”

“I see....”

“....I know! Let’s play! Just like old times!”

“Like old times?”

“Yeah! Like hide-and seek! I hide and you have to look for me!”

“You expect me to look for you in an area this big?”

“Uh-Huh! But it will be different! You need to find someone to convince them to come find me!”

“I don’t think that’s how the game works. Shouldn’t I be the only one to find you.”

“Yeah but it’ll get boring. Besides! It’s nice to get to know someone! Even if there’s a chance they can be sketchy!”

“Brother, I’m not sure if that’s a safe idea.”

“Aw come on, trust me! I know you can do it!”

“Hm. Fine. How do I start?”

“Well...first, you have to wake up!”

———————————————————-

Palindrome gasped a breath of water, his body violently shuddering for a few seconds as if it was springing back to life. Within a second after it happened, the heavy sensation rushed across his body. It felt as though he was about to dissipate again, but felt like his body was holding back from coming apart again. He felt his weak arms wrap around 2K as much as he could to which he timed on when he was going to catch him, making sure never to let him go.

He did not know how long he kept his eyes closed for or whether or not he really did knocked out, but few flashes of traumatic images from the battle swept through his mind for a split seconds, despite it feeling like forever and wanting to cry out on making it stop. He suddenly felt a soft nudge soon after. It felt warm and soft, interrupting the pain enough to relieve himself. Even if it was just a moment. The one who was nudging him felt small and round, having a bit of puffiness to them. He gulped down, hoping to have the strength to speak with his heart fluttering in hope on who it might be. He weakly flicked open his eyes again.

“T....2K....?”

 The blurry vision showed him what seemed like a pale blue figure instead of a light green as he had hoped. The vision slightly cleared up until he realized that the small being was softly hovering above him. The fish looking being had derpy eyes and squared buck tooth. What was that thing? Minimoose? No. That’s not his name. Why did he think that was his name? His name....is....

His breath stiffened from finally recognizing him.

“Mini....Miniwhale...? Is it really...?” He shakily reaches out, “Miniwhale...?”

“Nya,” the figure squeaked in a concerned tone and moved close in order to let him be able to rest his creator’s palm on the side of his body. Palindrome processed to make sure he really wasn’t hallucinating. No, he couldn’t be here. He just can’t. How could he have entered the Zimvoid? There’s just no absolute-

“”Nya?”

The fish Irken blinked.

“Wh...what are you...? What do you mean ‘where have I gone’? Why are you h-?”

He grunt from the unfeeling sensation rushing through his body returning, causing him to squeeze eyes shut and hug himself again.

“Nya?”

He found it impossible to respond to his subject this time, focusing more on fighting it back.

It took several seconds for it to ebb away, letting his body fully relax in exhaustion and breathe heavily.

“Nya!”

Yes I’m fully aware my bowl is very dirty thanks for reminding me at this time.

But he did not say that and instead respond weakly,

“Miniwhale. If it’s really you...please,” his eyes opened and trace back to him, “...help me.”

“Nya?”

He couldn’t tell him exactly what he needs help with. His body felt so useless that even speaking would easily tire him out. He can’t even look around the area because of how blurry his sight really was. There was really no telling when the horrible feelings were going to end. He felt like he could throw up at any moment.

“Nya...”

His heart melted by what the robot responded. He soon after started feeling him float down and nestle against his body. It made the unfeeling sensation grow numb again. He took a moment to process and choked up a bit, realizing how long it has been since he has encountered anyone close to him from his timeline. He gave out the strength to move his arm so he can rest it around him.

“Y-yeah....I missed you too.”

Miniwhale responded by nestling against his body more until he felt cozy against his creator. Palindrome wondered if he was doing this because he was trying to comfort him during the ill feeling or if it’s because he was embracing him after not seeing him for all those few months. It could maybe be both. Nonetheless, he felt his body start to shut down on him again. He wanted to beg his body so much on moving again. There was so much that he needed to know. What happened to the other Zims? What happened to the Elder? The Meat? Where’s that Zib? Where’s that alternate Dib?

2K....2K, are you still here? Did you come back too just like me? Why didn’t Miniwhale mention you or the others? Am I the only one who came back from....?

His eyes grew heavy until they closed shut to give into the unconsciousness.

...Where are you?

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

Zim can be seen laying face plant on a messy table sleeping, his drools having covered half of it. He can be heard softly snoring.

“Sir. Sir.”

There was a moment of no response.

“Hellooooo. Sirrrrr.”

“Huh! Wah!” Zim  jumps awake with pieces of styrofoams stuck on his face and quickly glanced around his lab in wonder.

“Sir. School will be starting soon.”

“Wait.” Zim processed and looked up at the ceiling, “you mean now?”

“Yyyyup.”

“WHAT?!” He exclaimed, “why didn’t you wake me up earlier?!”

The computer sighed,

“Sir, I tried to wake you up for two hours-”

“Urgh! Forget about it,” he rubbed the pieces of styrofoams off his face, “I’ll do this later. Just don’t touch any of them!”

“I am aware of that, sir. You tell me this everyday.”

“Well it’s always good to be reminded,” he hopped off his seat. “Computer! Initiate my brilliant disguise!”

The tube shot down to cover Zim’s body. It then pulled back up to show him in his human disguise. He then walks over to the elevator and goes up to the living room, to which he can see Gir watching his TV as usual.

“Your in charge of the house, Gir. Make sure Minimoose doesn’t eat them again.”

“Okie dokie!” Gir said without even looking at him and changed the channel.

There was a likely chance he didn’t even listen, but not like Zim couldn’t do anything about it. He just continued on and left his home base, walking out to the usual casual days. Basically how it was everything day. Somewhat cloudy skies, some bird flying by with some of them often time hitting a house and getting knocked unconscious. The neighbor next door always screaming in order for their husband to clearly hear them. Boy does he love this planet. But it won’t be any better until he conquers it.

 He walked passed the neighborhood and through the streets until it took him maybe half an hour to get to school, many kids having already gone inside. He walked inside the school, went passed the halls, ignoring some weird kid who was in the locker calling out nonchalantly to let him out, and was able to go inside the classroom just as soon as the school bell rang. Dib can be seen apparently not glaring at him as usual, instead scribbling on a journal.

Zim squinted, wondering what he was up to this time.

“Zim.”

The Irken flinched and turned to see Ms.Bitters behind him.

“Take your seat. Class is about to start.”

“Uh, right! Yes, Ms. Bitters!”

He went and did as she told him. Again, the school seat feeling uncomfortable as always.

“Alright, class. Today, we’re going to-“

She turned to notice Dib scribbling.

“Dib. I really do hope your not trying to write out your plans on how to get to Zim’s ‘secret alien lair’.”

The class giggles by her comment.

“Uh, no Ms. Bitter. It’s actually something different.”

“Oh? Then you might as well either stop scribbling whatever creative fantasy you always have in that big head of yours or would you like to spend more of these dragging moments of class time telling us what it is your scribbling about.”

“It’s just...have anyone noticed the stars looked off today?”

“Stars?” One kid asked in confusion.

“Yeah! For example, last night I was checking my telescope to see if Zim’s kind arrived as usual and the stars looked very different. Like...very different. There seems to be a lot more in the sky and not to mention that most of them look to be bigger than the others. Has anyone noticed that?”

“Dib, none of us aren’t into those stargazing gizmos like you do.”

“Ofcourse there is, ask Zim! He always checks to see what his kinds are up to.”

 “Hey now,” Zim narrowed, “don’t get me into this conversation!”

“Maybe there might be meteor showers tonight?” One kid suddenly guessed.

“Oh I hope so!” One girl said, “I wish for a talking pony!”

“I wish for a kitten!” Another kid said.

“I wish to be singer!”

“I wish for a world’s finest pizza!”

“I wish to be a rock-“

“Well apparently wishing on a star is part of something out of a fairy tale,” the teacher interrupted. “In life, you won’t get anything unless you decide to work hard in getting it. Now that we’re back to reality, can I now continue this section?”

The class stayed quiet.

“Good. Now then, today we’ll be talking about the Schrodinger’s Cat theory. Can anyone guess as to what it is?”

—————————————————

The school bell rings. Kids screams in happiness as they run out of school and jump out of windows as usual. Zim walks out of the door mumbling.

“What kind of dumb question is that? Of course the cat is dead! Or alive. How can a cat be both dead and alive? that’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. Dumb humans with their dumb logical sense-“

“You have something to do with it, don’t you?”

“Huh?” He turned behind him and saw Dib come out of the entrance and walk down the stair to approach him with a look of suspicions. Oh here it goes again.

“You’re plotting something, do you? Why are the night skies different tonight? Is it part of your next scheme?”

“Gee I don’t know Dib human,” Zim in annoyance, “why don’t you next time use that weak telescope of yours to see what these new stars actually are?”

“Because dad called me to go to bed before I could analyze it more. So tell me, Zim! What are they?”

“Ok first off, if they were really part of my next glorious plan, I would not tell you what they are. Second, I have not analyzed the galaxies in a while.”

“Don’t you check the galaxy every night? Like, to check what the invaders are up to and all of that?”

“WHAT?!” He exclaimed, “HOW DO YOU KNOW?!”

 “You one time complained about them doing something that was bugging you.”

“LIES! ZIM WOULD NEVER TALK ABOUT OTHER LESS SKILLED INVADERS!”

“Whatever, man. I guess I tend to forget that you’re not too active with your ambitions as usual.”

“That is also lies! Zim has become more ambitious with his great conquest to conquer your planet more than ever!”

“You mean by studying those things.”

“What things?”

“The packing pea-“

“I knew what you were talking about.”

Dib sighed and facepalmed.

“You spent the whole night studying them again?”

“They’re very important! I must know what their purpose really is!”

“Zim, you told me this for like what? The thirtieth time? And besides, what makes them so important? They’re just packing peanuts.”

YOU ARE WRONG STINK BOY! Those packing peanuts had much more potential than you should EVER know! Especially that one time!”

“One time?” Dib’s eyebrow raised.

“Yeah!” Zim smiled, “that one time when I-“

There were few seconds  of silence. Zim stopped smiling and processed.

“Ok, maybe they haven’t done anything yet, but I’m SURE they have a purpose. I just need to remember what it was!”

 “And how long exactly will that take?” Dib crosses his arms in annoyance, “you’ve been going on about it for a year now. Mostly because of that little ‘incident’. And it’s because of that incident that not only do you focus on them, you have been obsessed about them more and more.”

“And THATS because I am getting closer and closer to uncovering it’s purpose. Watch me, stink human...watch me! When I uncover the power of those styrofoams, you can no longer stop me! I will be able to conquer my planets with my BARE hands! Or feet, any of those can work.”

  Zim lets out a laughter before running off to the street. Midway, his maniacal laughter turns to a yelp of shock as a car can be heard honking in the distance and then crashing sounds are heard, with one woman screaming,

“Hey watch where you’re going, stupid kid!”

Dib stares off at the scene and sigh in annoyance.

“Of all supernatural I could be chasing, why does my main focus have to be him?”

[bakugouscentedcaramel]

Could I request some angst with a happy end? headcannons or scenarios you chose. With baku, todo and if you want (authors choice charater) where their s/o takes a big hit for then during a battle? Like they jump in the way? I hope this is ok.

Hehehehehehehe angst you say? With a happy ending you say? Why this is a recipe for an emotional rollercoaster!

I miiiight've gotten carried away with Bakubabe and Dabman dnsjskjana

WARNINGS: Fighting, blood, broken bones, medical talk, hospitals, cussing, death

Bakugou

You two were only fighting one person, so how hard could it be? Only you two were fighting for two hours straight now and the villain doesn't have a scratch on him. You were fighting some asshole who had a quirk that turned Bakugous explosions against him. Both of you were struggling to make a dent in the villains defenses.

He turned one of Katsuki's explosions against him causing you both to fly into a car.

"You two can't even take me on fully! Man! Where does UA find losers like you?!"

Shit.

If it's one thing Bakugo couldn't handle it was his anger.

"OH REALLY? Let's see how you handle a full blast from my gernades?!"

"Katsuku NO-" you ran to shove your stupid lover as far as you could.

The last thing you remember is the immense heat and the sound of your ribs snapping before you fade into unconsciousness.

Once Bakugo turned to find you his heart sank. You were laying in a puddle of blood mixed with rebar. One of the pieces stabbed your chest, and you weren't moving.

Goddamit why weren't you moving?

"Oh how sad! I didn't realize I could swat heroes like the flies they are!" The villain was reveling in the sight of you, not paying attention to Bakugo.

You opened your eyes much to your body's displeasure to see Katsuki beating the villain into the ground.

"LETS SEE YOU REDIRECT THIS?" His punch laded with a sickening crunch to the man's nose. Even though the man was unconscious he kept beating him.

"Kacchan..." You groaned as blood spilled out of your mouth and nose.

Bakugo froze and glaced back at you, shocked to see you back in the waking world, to see him beating the life out of a villain..

He dropped the man and ran to you, eyes glistening with tears. He kneeled by you scared to move your broken and bloodied body.

"W-we did it Y/N. You're gonna be fucking fine. You aren't allowed to leave me here got it dumbass?!" He reached for his GPS transmitter to get an ambulance out for you.

"H-hey, DONT YOU FUCKING BLACK OUT AGAIN. DONT FUCKING DO THIS TO ME Y/N" His desperate tone broke your heart but your body forced you to pass out again.

-

The beeping of a heart monitor is what finally woke you up. That and the sound of yelling and scuffling.

"GODDAMMIT IM FINE, LET ME SEE THEM!" Your lover burst through the door with two orderlies trying in vain to hold him back.

"Y-y/n.. y-You're finally awake!! Let me go you white coat BASTARDS" he turned to fight them off of him, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

"Kacchan! It's fine! Stay in here with me and let them work on you.." your voice faltered with the morphine coursing through your beaten veins.

-

After the nurses left you two together he was uncharacteristically quiet.

The beeping of your monitor was deafening. The smell of disinfectant sickening. The way your lover refused to look at you, heartbreaking.

"why..." He muttered.

"Katsu, you know I couldn't let you take that full blast. Neither of us could.." you went into a coughing fit causing him to flinch with the wet sound.

"You shouldn't have done that you fucking idiot. I could've done something for you! I SHOULD'VE SAVED YOU Y/N" he cried into your bedsheets, gripping them with white knuckles that were too scared to touch your now frail body.

"Katsu.." you groaned as you moved your hand to comb through his hair which only made him weep harder.

"I'm going to be fine, Katsuki. I only have three broken ribs, a fractured femur, 18 stitches, and a mild concussion. But your crying is hurting more than all of that.. I know you'd do the same for me you idiot. The best thing we can do now is move on." You painfully flashed him that million dollar smile when he finally looked up at you.

"Y/n.. I promise this won't happen again.."

"It better not. That villains quirk relied on yours and you thought it was a good idea to go all in with explosions?" You laughed at his realization of his mega fuck up.

Midoriya

You two were out numbered and cornered. No matter how many you two managed to take down more just kept coming.

You might've misjudged how big this gang really was. They all carried some kind of weapon and of course they all have their own quirks so close combat was a last resort for you and Deku.

You both knew you had to leave and get help, the only problem was you were in a dead end alleyway and the only way out was up.

"Y/N! Be ready to jump to tha-"

It all happened in a blink of an eye. Once Izuku looked to you to tell you his plan a villain saw an opening. He was carrying a machete that seemed to break the sound barrier toward your boyfriend's neck. You grabbed Midoriyas arm with adrenaline powered force and yanked him away but your upper arm caught the blade.

That's deep.. fuck..

Izuku choked back his emotions and just flung you over you over his shoulder and used OFA to run up the wall.

The last thing you remember before succumbing to the shock and blood loss was the panic in his face and the darting of his eyes to presumably find help.

-

You woke up in a hospital bed feeling woozy. You tried to sit up only to have Izuku gently coax you to lay back down.

"Y-y/n you need to lay down, ok? We're both safe. We're in a hospital." He was trying to hold back tears at the sight.

You needed 9 deep tissue stitches and nearly 23 surface stitches and a blood transfusion.

Your arm was wrapped tightly with gauze to halt the bleeding. Now the only big worry was infection.

"Are you ok, Izuku?.." you weakly groaned as you looked for injuries on him.

"I just have some scratches and a few cuts, y-y/n-n..." He couldn't hold it any longer.

He broke down into tears as he held your hand to his cheek.

He apologized between sobs saying how he shouldn't have left himself to be so open and that he blamed himself for getting you hurt.

All you could've done was gently rub his cheek and smile reassuringly.

"Izuku, honey, we were in a rough situation. Things didn't go according to plan and we were flying blind. I wasn't about to let you take that hit." You wiped away some tears that were rolling down his cheek gingerly and pinched his cheek gently.

"Now stop crying, I feel fine."

"Sorry to interrupt, Y/N L/N." A nurse entered and fiddled with your morphine drip.

"Since you're no longer in critical condition we're taking you off morphine and on painkiller pills."

Well, you did feel fine.

Todoroki

Ragged breaths filled the air. The smell and tased of hot copper filled the air. The burning pain in your abdomen hit you suddenly as you buckled over in pain.

You two were just out shopping for the holidays and a mugger thought to hold you two up, but panicked and pulled the trigger.

"I-I didn't mean to shoot her!!" The man backed away frantically looking for an escape route from your bi-colored lover. His flames burned hot into the alleyway openings, swirling with a lively anger. His ice created spike walls who were seemingly unfazed by the inferno surrounding it.

The gunshot wound paired with the temperature change forced your body to shut down and hit the ground.

-

You woke up to Todoroki giving you a piggyback to the nearest hospital. His pace jogging to prevent further injury but still rushing you to help.

"Sh-oto.." you could feel the blood pooling on the back of his shirt.

"Don't say anything Y/N, we're almost to a hospital!"

Bystanders stared at you two causing you to realize the gravity of the situation.

"Are you ok, Shoto..."

"Yes, but we're still going to the ER. Goddamit." He growled at his own panic as the hospital doors slid open.

Nurses and doctors rushed over asking questions to which, Todoroki only gave short chopped answers. When someone tried getting you off his back he couldn't help but squeeze you harder and prevent them from taking you away from him, but his senses came back and helped you on a gurney.

He couldn't even answer the other nurses questions as he watched them rush you to the OR wing.

-

"-sure to make her drink fluids and soft foods for two weeks. Her bandages need to be changed twice daily and her wound needs to be rinsed with hydrogen peroxide for each bandage change." The white robed man lectured Todoroki who was just staring at a jar.

He only noticed you were awake when the doctor left the room and you shifted slightly.

"How are you feeling." He hid the jar on the floor and tried to keep his eyes focused on yours and not the bindings on your stomach.

"I've been better. Although.. I do feel better than that time we had dinner with your father."

He couldn't help but chuckle at your joke. Jokes were a good sign.

"You we're right Y/n, the bullet missed every organ and major artery, but it got stuck in your hip bone."

"I told you Shoto" you grinned at him to try to make him relax a bit more. You could tell he was still tunnel visioned by the way his eyes continuously glanced at the floor.

"Did they let you keep the bullet?" He shot his eyes up at you and debating on answering.

"Well, let's see it!" You were gleaming which finally made his brain relax.

You two were safe.

Dabi

Of course Dabi just had to start a bar fight.

Some lowlife dude was supposedly eyeing you like a piece of meat, according to Dabi. So what did he do? Slammed his head into the mahogany table promptly breaking his nose. Which then made the people who were with him want to fight, which cause other people to get caught in the crossfire, which sparked an all out brawl.

Dabi was never the smartest, but he was the most protective person you've ever seen. And he loved showing you how powerful he was.

But when he threw some poor son of a bitch out of the window, one of his buddies put you in a headlock.

You struggled against his grip but stopped once you saw him holding a chunk of glass to your throat.

"Dabi!" You cried out when he added a bit of pressure to your neck. You could feel your heartbeat push the glass slightly.

His eyes were transfixed on the sight before him.

"Tch, what a pussy move, threatening a man's girl." He sounded calm but you knew he was fuming, hell you could see smoke forming in his palms.

"Stay back or I'll fucking slit her pretty little throat, zombie!" The man was terrified of your boyfriend, you could tell by the way his hands was shaking.

Dabi held his hands to his sides and slowly brought them up to his head.

"Alright, you got me. Though it is pretty pathetic to grab a chick. We we're all just having a nice little bar fight, but, whatever."

Dabi watched your hand slowly reach for your back pocket and smirked.

"All of your friends are either dead, unconscious, or ran away. You're all alone here. If you just let her go I'll let you run too."

"SHUT THE HELL UP, FREAK!" The man tightened his grip and slid the glass slightly against your throat causing blood to trickle down to your collar.

He shuffled you both closer to the exit still holding a firm grip on you.

"If you just let her go you can leave. Don't be stupid." Dabi reached for a cigarette that was on the table causing the man to focus on his hand. Dabi sure was making a fine distraction.

Your lovers blue flames lit the cigarette tip causing the man to start to lose his mind.

"Don't fucking use your quirk or she dies! You hear me fucker?! One wrong move and she's fuckin-"

You finally made your move and shoved your switchblade into his side causing him to drop the glass and stumble backwards. You grabbed him in the same fashion he did to you and placed your blade on his neck.

You and Dabi made eye contact and he smirked at your power play. With one swift motion you slit his throat. He crawled towards the door before he collapsed, gasping through a malfunctioned windpipe.

"It takes about thirty seconds for the human body to bleed out through their jugular. Enjoy the next 23 seconds." You walked towards a table and grabbed a napkin to stop your own bleeding.

Dabi let out a long whistle, "damn babe, what took you so long. You could've gotten real hurt there. I don't think I could live on without your cookin'." He made his way over to you, stepping over bodies and broken glass.

"Let me take a look." He peeled your hand away from your neck and cleaned it up a bit to get a better look. He growled softly and heated his finger up.

"Hold still baby, I promise I'll be gentle." He smirked and started to cauterize the slit. You were in pain sure but his seemingly fire filled eyes kept you entranced.

"Any deeper and you would've had to borrow some of my staples, hot stuff."

Despite his flirty nature he was scared.

When you two got back to your shared apartment he trapped you in your own bed by laying on top of you. He kissed the opposite side of your neck and made his way to your chest.

"Man, I'm the luckiest son of a bitch.."

[trojansblr]

#FightOn! (05) | OT7 Halloween edition!

Summary: The University of Southern California is a prestigious school - only the best or the richest can attend. That means there will be a lot of spoiled brats. Two groups start colliding and the entire college shift alongside them. What will happen when sparks starts to flow between them? Drama will certainly be there.

Pairing: BTS with -eventually- female characters

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut (in the future), College!au, Interactive!au, Halloween!au

Word Count: 20k UNEDITED

A/N: First things first thank you so much to everyone who patiently waited and sent me nice messages. You guys helped my not so confident ass going hehe :’) also, thank you Ali and Lily for being and unconditional support, even if this piece is a mess. You guys make me feel embraced and secure! Like I said, it’s not perfect and it’s more like a comedy based on the sad life of emo Jungkook  or something than a proper halloween/suspense story, but I tried and had fun in the process! That’s what counts to me. I hope you all like it and also, I’ll be waiting for asks and conspiracy theories on the discord chat hehehe Happy -first part of- Halloween, fam! Love you all very very much. 🖤🎃

P/S: It was hard to insert so many people into one chapter but! to the one’s that didn’t show that much, don’t worry, part 2 coming out soon and you will definitely show more there hehehe and I can assure you guys part two will be even more chaotic. 

The Characters • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5

1

USC’s haunting night, which came to an end with a shocking reveal, began with nothing more than an exciting buzz that hovered in the air.

The students were now filling up the campus streets with contagious laughter and thrill. A few lamp poles were shining through this dark afternoon in the fall of 2019, orange pumpkins adorning the entrances of the old buildings, three leaves and skeletons that happened to be hanged around were dancing in the howling wind. It was Halloween night, it was time to trick and be tricked, it was time to pretend to be someone you were not while dancing the night away… you could tell by the way all houses were being left in the dark, that every student residing here waited anxiously for this chance of playing pretend.

A built up silhouette wrapped up in a tight red suit, walked in a fast pace towards the Fluor Tower, nobody to be seen down the gloomy streets since the party was located in the opposite direction. The unforgiving wind made walking a little worse for the boy, his breathing against the mask he was wearing began to feel heavier and warmer but there was no way he would take it off now. His friends needed to see him in full costume, he kept thinking. The boy beneath the mask was Jungkook Jeon. His friends, known to most of the university as the Y Group, were all gathered at Deo and Hyori’s dorm room, waiting for him.

Hyori was the one suggesting the disguise Jungkook was now wearing. A week before this, the boy was still indecisive about what to wear and in one rainy afternoon, while they all ate a cheesy pizza and the rain tumbled endlessly against the window, she suggested him to dress like Spiderman with an obvious glance sent through the other end of the table.

Once he was almost reaching the girls building, he started hearing euphoric chattering close by. Hoseok’s laughter impossible to mistake by somebody else’s.

“I can’t believe he actually did it!” Jungkook heard Hoseok say and immediately the idea of hiding behind a tree and pulling a prank on his friends crossed his mind. That was exactly what he did “That guy is crazy to say at least!” laughter filled the chilly air.

“I never doubted he wasn’t” Hyori added sharply.

“Where’s Jungkook though? Didn’t he say he was like- 5 minutes from here?” The boy’s attention was now fully focused on Deo “I’m going to die if we stay here any longer waiting” the sound of her shoe tapping nervously onto the floor didn’t go unnoticed by the hidden spidey.

“Want my jacket?” Jimin offered “He did say he was a few minutes away? Maybe he met someone?”

“Jungkook is more anti social than I am, I doubt he stopped by with someone-” Hyori started but was quickly interrupted.

“HEY! No I’m not!” he let out by impulse making the group snap their heads towards the direction of the sound. Hoseok’s hands fled to grab Deo’s arm who was near him, his eyes almost popping out. Both girls unable to form a sound, too caught up in the moment.

“Fuck-” Jungkook cursed under his breath once he realized what he did.

“Aaaaish!” Jimin said out loud; adrenaline running through his veins, although he would never admit he got a little scared for a second there.

“Are you serious dude??” Deo said once she saw someone coming from behind a tree, ready to throw some hands at whoever it was. She was dressed like Cher Horowitz from Clueless, the movie, one that Jungkook himself had seen countless times once he was younger. He remember turning on the tv on Sunday afternoons and seeing the actress face over and over again. Deo did a great job, he thought.

“It’s spider man now” he started walking towards his friends, arms coming to the front of him to mimic the superhero spider web shooting action “How do I look?”

“Ya, this guy will never change” Hoseok laughed it out “I was really scared, you- you dumbass” he finished making the younger laugh. Hoseok wasn’t far behind, and the character he had chosen a month before, was on everyone’s opinion, the perfect choice for him. Ace Ventura was spirited and loud in every way Hoseok could be. His clothes were probably arranged by his sister, she loved to dress up her younger brother and Hoseok didn’t mind at all, and his hair… Wow, his hair!

“Imagine if it went like I had planned it to” Jungkook chuckled and reached back to tug into his mask and pull it off. His heavy huff louder now, hair completely messy.

“I could punch you in the face I swear to God!” Deo started but the corners of her mouth were already pulling up.

“Can we go now? After this I feel like somebody else will be lurking in the dark-”

“Eyyyy- It’s halloween but we’re not in a horror movie” Jimin glanced at Hyori feeling creeped out. Of course Jimin wouldn’t waste the opportunity to look cool and laid back this Halloween, and Deo excelled herself making his hair look like Johnny Depp’s in Cry Baby. Hyori on the other hand, decided her costume by fumbling through her whole closet. I’ll go with the easiest but still remarkably costume, she said, and that’s how Ashley Spinelli turned out to be her choice.

“She has a point. Everybody will try to scare us tonight and I’m not ready”

“Let’s just go!” Jimin said pulling Deo and Hyori’s arm at the same time and Jungkook couldn’t help but laugh at how much of scaredy-cats his friends were.

“Wait!!!” Hyori heard Hoseok saying loudly right behind her, and once she turned around to smile at him, vision a little blocked by her mustard beanie, she couldn’t help the goosebumps that went through her body. Something feels eerie, maybe it’s just the fact that we are alone in a dark street, she thought. And shrugging off that feeling, she marched alongside her friends to the party she put most effort so far.

2

Doing his best to keep his posture straight while sitting in bed, Yoongi was feeling rather sleepy having Carolina toy with his hair, the girl trying her best to style it just like Naruto’s. He had been feeling a little lazy the past few weeks but he knew there was zero to no chance of him escaping halloween night, specially because his friends digged the fact they could just dress like some weirdos and pull pranks all night long. If he said he wasn’t going, for sure they would do something stupid and hey, he wasn’t one for refusing free liquor either.

“Why is your hair so damn straight?!” he heard Carolina complain for the thousand time. He said nothing, just kept his eyes closed and opened a cheeky smile. A month before his group started talking about this night - mostly the girl and Taehyung who were already fantasizing about what to wear. Namjoon and Jin quickly followed the lead making jokes on who was similar to what character and what not. Once they inquired him on who would he be for this night he just said the first thing that came to his mind. First because it was an easy costume since it was basically one piece of clothing and also because he wasn’t creative enough to remember anything else, as far as he knew Naruto was the only other guy he would like to be if he had to choose.

“Are you still doing his hair?” Jin came into Carolina’s bedroom with an indignant tone and before she could even answer he was already adding more to his little playful rant “Ya, you need to help me out with the makeup! Namjoon made it look like I had a hole instead of an eye-”

“I’m sorry if I’m no make up artist!!!” they all heard Namjoon say out loud; Yoongi could perfectly picture him sat down on the couch too entertained with his cellphone to even glance up while responding Jin’s comment about his poor artistic abilities.

“Ya” Jin turned around to look at Namjoon; voice deep but in a playful tone “You don’t need to be a makeup artist to know this looks terrible”

“Take those baby wipes over there” Carolina pointed a little package over her desk “And go clean that mess! I’ll do your makeup once I finish Yoongs” she continued spraying hairspray non stop while combing the hair of a now intoxicated boy, who kept coughing like he was really dying.

“I told you not to open your mouth!!” she said more laughing than scolding Yoongi.

“Im- Argh- Impossible!” the taste on his mouth was horrible and for a second he panicked over dying the most ridiculous death. It didn’t help the fact that Jin passed by laughing hysterically only to cough the same way he did once he got closer to the dangerous cloud of spray hovering over Yoongi’s head.

“You should be given permission of the state to use something as toxic as this” Jin said getting out quickly making Carolina laugh and shush him with her famous ‘Go away’. He directed himself to their bathroom to try and remove the damage Namjoon had made on his eye. Jin usually liked a lot what he saw on the mirror, and today wasn’t any different. His hair was combed with gel, he had a nice suit on and personally he thought he did a nice job on gluing Thing - family addams member, or hand, into his suit right shoulder. Gomez Addams was who he chose to be tonight, a classy and fun character, very appropriate for him as Namjoon had pointed out.

“Tcharamm! Howl arrived!”

“Woaah Taehyung, nice job!”

“You like it??”

“What’s going on with that cape?”

“Leave his cape alone, Yoongi, he did good”

“Thank you!”

Jin let out a chuckle, his friends were always nagging one another, not that he wouldn’t do the same with them but normally he would play the mom figure and try do ease the situations.

He looked at himself in the mirror one more time after throwing the used baby wipe in the trash and pushing the bathroom door he made his way to the living room.

“Lady Joker I hope you’re ready for me cause I’m all clean and I’m impatient as well” heads turned to Jin, Taehyung’s previous pout face becoming an excited one now after seeing him.

“Woah!!! Jin! You look just like him!!!”

“You mean handsome?” Jin stated the obvious with his hands on his hips.

“Yes…?” Taehyung replied with a weird confused face making them laugh.

“Lady Joker here is ready, so is everyone else now…” Carolina spared a glance to everyone in the room “… I think. It’s just you now, c’mon” she started pushing Jin back to the bathroom.

“That’s cause he has the easiest character of all” Jin went backwards while Carolina still pushed him; his finger pointed out to Namjoon.

“Being Milo Thatcher requires great effort, like having a brain for example” Namjoon concluded.

“I hope that’s not you calling me dumb” Jin answered back, the sound of it a little muffled since Carolina was closing the bathroom door to avoid any bickering.

“Yeap. He was” Yoongi said quietly; he was sat on the arm of the couch Namjoon was in, his arms crossed and his hair was fully up.

“So! Do you guys think I look good with long hair??” Taehyung said after a minute of entire silence making both boys look at him while he wiggled his head to make his fake hair flow.

After the bathroom door was closed, Jin sat on the faucet while Carolina opened every drawer looking after her black eye shadow and that’s when she heard Jin say “He was calling me dumb wasn’t he? He’ll see. Just- Wow the disrespect” and the way he said it was more than enough for the girl to crack a laughter right on his face.

3

Differently from the chilly outside, the party at Tau Kappa Epsilon was burning hot. The frat committee had pulled a great amount of money and effort this year and everyone that had been to the Halloween party last year could say so the minute they set foot on the entrance. For starters, this year for you to get inside you needed to know the password, which was strategically leaked on the USC gossip blog a week before this.

“Did you find it yet?” Holly asked; she had her arms crossed, the wind too harsh and although she was wearing a red hoodie and a pair of yellow trousers because she was dressed as Winnie the Pooh she couldn’t help but feel cold since she and her group were still outside.

“God, why in all days today had to be this windy?!” Tori said with frustration, tightening her grip on the coat she was wearing “If I hadn’t brought this coat I would be hard as ice right now, I’m telling you” she chuckled, her chin trembling a little since she was feeling cold, the coat doing nothing for her uncovered legs. She had decided with Deo they would go as iconic characters from the 90’s, and of course she chose Vivian Ward from Pretty Woman.  

“Ok I think I got it!”

“You did??” Holly that was a little distracted looking around exclaimed in surprise and quickly scooched up towards Silvia who had been glued on her phone scrolling through USC gossip page to find the code.

“Yeah, I think I did! Look-” Silvia showed them the phone; she was dressed as Simon of Alvin and the chipmunks, her glasses sliding on her nose bridge non-stop while she looked down too focused.

“Nice job, Silvy!”

“Now I only need to wait for Esme and Tessa… I’m sure they are almost here, I mean I called them half an hour ago and they were already on their way” Silvia said looking at her phone again, checking if she had any unread messages.

“I’m sure we can go inside and they meet us there? We could send them a text with the-”

“HEY GIRLS!!” the three of them heard and their attention flew to the newcomers.

“Nina!” Holly exclaimed excited.

“You look amazing guys! Oh my God, I’m so excited for tonight!” Nina said making Cecilia laugh besides her; Nina was dressed as Poison Ivy, her new red hair contrasting greatly with her green outfit. She had some ivy plants complementing her costume and it looked absolutely stunning.

“That’s actually right, she came all the way here talking about it” Cecilia joked; she had chosen to dress up like a sexy racer this year, keeping it simple but hot.

“And you look a bomb as well!” Tori said, giving both girls a quick hug. “Now chop chop girls! Otherwise we’ll get all ruined in this bad wind”

“I’ll send Tessa and Esme a text with the code then- Let’s get going, I’m kind of freezing as well and regretting being a chipmunk without proper pants” Silvia said making them laugh.

The decoration this year was incredibly well done, full of big killer statues, things hanged and detailed paintings on the wall, most probably TKE (Tau Kappa Epsilon) had once again contacted the art students to help with that. Hoseok had already jumped out of his feet ten times at least, too scared of the large Pennywise face he had come across a few times and the many spider webs hanging above everyone’s heads.

“I thought it was you!” Amber laughed when she came besides Hoseok and he jumped in fear… Again. “How are you doing Mister…?”

“Ace Ventura! And ooof- Amber!” He gasped first because he had been scared and now because she was looking really good.

“Hey! You came! Are you alright love? You seem a little startled.” Amber was so happy to see the boy that she talked way too fast making him stare at her with endearing eyes “It’s been a while.”

“Of course! I wouldn’t miss this party for the world! But that Pennywise…” he said pointing at the wall painting, a frown crossing his face “Not cool at all.” he chuckled while turning to her again, his glance lowering a bit now to see her costume more attentively. Amber was wearing a playboy bunny costume, a dress like version of it.

“It’s ok, it’s just a painting. Besides if it wasn’t just a painting, I’d always protect you. Well… I would try.” she giggled making him follow “And tonight will be so much fun, I haven’t really celebrated Halloween in years!”

“I see you already have a drink so now just enjoy the night!” Hoseok said cheekly.

“I do!” she stated quickly looking down, where she had a drink in hands “You should grab one soon too.”

“Jimin went to grab some drinks for us. I’m waiting for mine.” he winked “But what are you most afraid of then? If not Pennywise”

“Probably just… Uh… Spirits” she said finally with a tiny shivering “The unknown too. Maybe just being alone. My fears are very strange.”

“Oh spirits are a no for me too! I try not to believe they exist but I have a fertile imagination!” he said with a panicked face and Amber made a quick note on how cute he could be.

“You look really good by the way… Like I know you aren’t in a sexy outfit, but you look happy and just… You know… You just look great.”

“Thanks Amber! I tried hard to find the clothes to match the movie! But you look great too…“ he offered his heart smile, his eyes genuinely matching his soft expressions.

While Hoseok kept talking to Amber, his friends were close by still waiting for Jimin to come back with something to drink. They had arrived for a while now, but since the place wasn’t that crowded yet, Jungkook managed to find a spot for Deo to sit a little. The girl had been complaining about her shoes choice for some time now but he himself felt like sitting, so that’s what he did. He sat and kept fumbling with his phone while Deo rambled with him (things that he was certainly not listening) and Hyori kept scanning the place after Jimin.

“I hope this party doesn’t suck.” Deo commented a little bored while looking the ambience.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s no one here. My feet already hurt. Jungkook took the only seat available and is staring at his phone with a grin on his dumb face.”

“We got here super early, relax! And just take the damn shoes off, you’re going to in a couple of hours so might as well do it now.” Hyori grinned at her “Is Jack coming?”

“I think so? I didn’t talk to him today yet but he should be here. We bought his costume like- last week so…” Deo wondered; she was answering Hyori but her head was turned at Jungkook’s direction, trying to pry on what he was doing.

“The love birds that text all day didn’t talk today?”

“He texted me this morning but we were dealing with the outfits so I… kinda forgot to text him back? He’s probably just making one of his ‘imma take longer to answer’ games” Deo looked back at her again to roll her eyes.

“Don’t sweat it, he’ll be around.” the older girl patted her shoulder with a warm smile to wrap that convo up.

“So… you’re just gonna ignore the fact that JK is laughing at his phone?”

“We teased him enough about him wanting to be spiderman…” Hyori bit down a smile, exchanging her glance to the boy in question, still entertained and completely absented of what was going on around him.

“True…” Deo concluded but then turned around to do exactly the opposite with what she had just agreed with “Hey dork.” she called and poked him, making him lift his head towards them “Yeah you. What are you doing?”

“Texting.” he said simply.

“Who?” Hyori questioned.

“Have you ever heard of neighbor number?”

“No…?”

“You have one?!” Deo asked the boy while coming closer and feeling a lot more excited.

“Everyone has one.” he rolled his eyes.

“What is that?!”

“It’s the person whose phone number is either the before or after yours. Like, your’s 55 and their’s 56.” Jungkook explained to Hyori but he locked his phone trying to hide his previous conversation.

“Oh… and that’s cool because?”

“Because!!!” Deo exclaimed turning around to look at Hyori.

“It’s just like meeting someone online guys.”

“Oh don’t be an old lady. You’re a recess punk tonight!” Deo retorted making Hyori do a funny face as a response while trying to pry at Jungkook’s phone as well.

“You’re not looking at my texts.” he said defensively while hiding the phone against his chest once more.

“Oh c'mon JK.”

“No.”

“I’m not keeping your phone in my bag then. Good luck spidey.” Deo teased.

“Fine!”

A while ago Jimin had departed quickly from his friends to go fetch something to drink, but on his way he stopped by with many people. He got used to being popular in some way, he didn’t mind the attention at all… What he did mind was the constant people who tried to fake being friends with him just to get “famous”. He was now walking furiously towards the bar, the last conversation with some random guy he thought that was being genuinely nice to him stuck on his head. A small bump followed, his mind too distracted to actually pay attention at his surroundings and the frown that was before on his face quickly disappeared.

“Wow Jean! Sick costume!” he said once the girl in question turned around surprised to see the one that bumped on her was actually a familiar face.

“Really Jimin? Thank you” Jean was dressed as Mikasa from Attack on Titan, an anime Jimin had seen and liked a lot. “I think you look handsome in your costume” she finished with a cute smile while blushing a little.

“I tried my best to look like Cry Baby but Johnny Depp will always win.” he showed his cute laughter while saying it and Jean quickly retorted.

“Don’t say things like that. I think you just being yourself is handsome and a win for everyone including you” as soon as she said it and he was about to smile at her again thankful, the bartender came by and Jimin was quick to tell him his orders. He looked back to see if Jean wanted something but he noticed she was already served. The guy that was attending him, poured a glass of whiskey to Jimin and went to fetch some beers. While he went inside to fetch it Jimin turned again to Jean.

"You came with friends?”

“I did! I’m meeting Holly here!”

“Oh~ she’s Deo’s friend! I didn’t know you two knew each other! Small world huh?” he winked and raised his glass to take a sip of it making Jean laugh.

“Yes, we do. We talk time to time whenever I have time. She is really nice.” she said and Jimin hummed in agreement.

"So, who or what scares you most?”

“What scares me most is bugs especially cockroaches… oh yeah also rats. What about you? Are you scared of anyone or something?”

“I’m trying to keep a brave face tonight so I can’t tell you!” he cutely joked putting his finger to his lips and doing a slight ‘shush’ motion “But it was nice seeing you Jean~ I have to bring these drinks to the sober ones before they fall asleep” he said while pointing with his head towards the beer bottles the bartender had just brought.

“Have fun at the party. Don’t be reckless or get yourself in trouble!” she said loudly when Jimin started walking away with all those drinks in hands, trying to make way, only to turn back again and smile foolish at her and then winking again.

On his way towards his group he spotted Hoseok a little closer than the rest and he moved fast to get the help of the older boy. Jimin was hardly managing to hold all those bottles plus his cup.

“So do I! I overthink way too much.” he heard Amber say enthusiastically to Hoseok and for a moment he felt really sorry to be barging into the conversation.

“Hey guys! Sorry! Help me-” he said quickly and Hoseok took two bottles off his hands. “Oof! I thought I was going to let everything fall” he laughed at his own moment of clumsiness.

“It’s alright! I’ll help you take this to them” Hoseok trailed off and then looked at Amber once again, she still had a smile on her face, their talk before being way too cheerful for her to lose it. “It was really good seeing you!”

“It was good seeing you too. I hope we can hang out again soon, I’ve missed seeing you.”

“Keep that beautiful smile on your face Amber~ I’ll see you around tonight yeah?”

“I will! Thank you! You enjoy it too, and keep safe, ok? Don’t drink too much and drink plenty of water. I’ll see you later on in the party. I’ll probably stay until pretty late.”

“Can’t promise I won’t drink much but I’ll try to stay away from the zombies! Be safe sweetheart~” and there he went, him and Jimin towards their group of friends.

4

“Where’s Yoongi?” Carolina questioned while looking over Jin’s shoulders; her voice louder than expected as the raging song played in the party.

“I don’t know?” Jin looked around too trying to spot Yoongi’s hair among all those costumes “He left quite a while ago… And I doubt he will be able to bring us all something to drink”

The five of them had arrived and the party was already hectic. Yoongi had offered to go to the bar fetch something to drink since he was in the need of something to keep him relaxed and more loose in the middle of all those people. The rest of them stayed in a corner next to the entrance, the less crowded space they could find, but now a lot of time had passed and Carolina was starting to feel anxious.

“Ok, you guys stay here and I’ll go help him out”

“You’re going alone in this sea of people??” Taehyung asked her, whom was already ready to walk away.

“I’ll be fine Tae, just stay here with Nam and Jin. If anything happens I have my phone with me and I can call you. Yoongi is the one without his”

“We’ll wait here. Namjoon won’t be leaving anyways since he’s socializing for what it feels like an hour now” Jin joked looking at the other boy talking enthusiastically to some people from his book club. Carolina spared a glance and smiled at him, and then in a blink of an eye she was already being engulfed by the many costumed students.

She tried her best to make space and go towards the bar, where she was hoping to find Yoongi, but the task was getting complicated. It didn’t help that people were already tipsy and some really drunk. Carolina was starting to feel a little claustrophobic and way too pissed at the people who were pushing and also pulling her. When she was about to shout at some random guy that was trying to make her dance with him, she felt her arm being pulled and her head snapped quickly thinking she had finally reached Yoongi, but no. Someone in an all black costume and a weird baby face mask was pulling her out of there.

At first she offered no resistance, glad she was going to get out of that tumultuous crowd. But after a few seconds of the mysterious person pulling her towards what it seemed like the bathroom area, she pulled back her arm making the person look back.

“Who are you?!” She questioned seeing that the person went for her arm again but she was quick to flinch it’s grasp. “This is not funny!” still, no reaction. She analysed the person standing in front of her; someone taller than her, definitely a male but not a short one. “Ben?” she tried “Dude this is getting creepier.” the man did nothing but to offer his hand to her gently. And although Carolina was feeling a little creeped out she was also starting to get curious about who the costumed guy in front of her might be. So she took his hand, and he took her to the bathroom area.

“Ben if this is you I swear-“ she started but the man she thought was Ben just opened the bathroom door and pushed her inside, locking the door quickly. He himself never entering the space with her.

Carolina bumped hard against something “FUCKING ASSHOLE!!” she exclaimed mad.

“I said the same but he didn’t opened the door… Until now that is” Yoongi’s voice now filling her ears and she turned back in a snap. Turns out the thing she went against was Yoongi and not a wall like she was expecting.

“Yoongs? What are you doing here?”

“I myself don’t know…” he answered returning the hug she gave him.

“Ok! I think I have a plan!” someone said making both of them get out of their transe.

“Oh yeah, Carol this is Sarah. She was already here when I got… here” Yoongi explained simply.

“Umm… I would say nice to meet you but due to the circumstances I think-“

“I perfectly understand and share the feeling!” Sarah quickly interrupted the other girl “Also either we wait for him to open the door again and I don’t know put our foot in the middle of the breach or we stay stuck here”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad plan but I won’t volunteer my foot for the cause”

“Why the hell are we even here???” Carolina questioned “Is it the new trend locking people in the bathroom to socialise or something?” and as soon as she finished it a cell phone started ringing. They all exchanged glances.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t even bring my phone” Yoongi said.

“Well it’s not mine!”

“I think…” Sarah trailed off while going towards the faucet, there was something behind it “Oh” and she retrieved a bag. The sound of the ringtone died and she looked at Yoongi and Carolina who were focused on the paper bag. Not even a second passed and the cell phone started to ring again.

“Oh just give me this” Carolina snatched the bag from Sarah’s hands and quickly opened it, a burner phone now visible and she picked it up. “Who’s this? What? Why would I be enjoying being locked inside a bathroom you weirdo??”

“Who is it?!” Sarah questioned and Carolina lifted a hand for her to wait.

“What game? What are you talking about?” Carolina questioned further “A paper?”

“What is this? This is a stupid prank” Yoongi rambled.

“What- Hey!!!” Carolina exclaimed taking the phone out of her ear and looking at it extremely angry “Asshole!!!”

“What happened?”

“This motherfucker said that the rules were on a paper inside this bathroom and then hanged up!”

“Are you serious now? I just wanted a drink” Yoongi sighed and started pacing around.

“What now?”

“Oh! I have my cellphone!!!” Carolina realised quickly reaching for her pocket of her nurse suit “I’ll call Jin and he can come here an- Fuck.”

“What?!” Sarah exclaimed again and Yoongi glanced at them.

“No reception” Carolina said blankly “I fucking hate this party.” she placed her phone inside her pocket once again and crouched down near the bathroom wall, her hand fast to pick up her pen kept inside the same pocket and started doodling on the wall. The neon light in the bathroom making her feel nauseous.

“I’ll start searching then!” Sarah sighed; the girl was dressed as comfortably as she could. Her costume being Violet Beauregard from Charlie and the chocolate fabric and she mentally thanked herself for choosing something so comfy.

“Are you seriously vandalising the bathroom?” Yoongi asked Carolina; he was leaned against the sink, his arms crossed.

“Yeah”

“I don’t think writing on the wall ‘Babyface sucks’ is going to solve the problem”

“Well I’m unsatisfied with Babyface service! He just pushed me and locked me inside the bathroom! Ugh- I bet it was that fucking asshole…” Carolina started doodling near the words she had just written.

“What asshole? Everyone for you is an asshole”

“Well- That’s a good point. But Jimin. I bet it was Jimin. He must be trying to pay me back ever since-“

“You mean Jimin Park?!” Sarah asked while fumbling through the cabinets that the bathroom had.

“Yeah he-“

“I FOUND IT!!!!” Sarah exclaimed excited and showing them the paper.

“Umm… I guess we are a team?” Sarah looked at them expectantly “And I didn’t brought my phone so…”

“I was going to say no but then I saw the 6.000 cash prize so”

“2000 each Yoongi, not 6000!” Sarah corrected him.

“Still. Carolina?” he looked at the girl in question “I could really use the money to-“

“I know.” she said serious “So we better win this. And I guess I’m the only one with a phone which only unlocks with my fingerprint so I guess it’s fine to leave it behind…” she reluctantly put her phone inside the bag “Also Sarah, if we’re doing this-“

“Yeah?” the girl asked.

“Yoongi already knows me but um… I’m kind of extremely competitive so if I happen to loose my shit-“

“Oh it’s ok! Totally get it!”

“She will lose it. Just saying” Yoongi brushed it off.

“I will”

“OK PLAYERS HERE WE COME!” Sarah instantly became another person and both Yoongi and Carolina exchanged glances a little surprised “OPEN THE DOOR!”

5

“I can’t actually believe we got stuck in a tiny broom closet for 15 minutes just to find a damn paper!” Tori let out laughing; her breathing heavy.

“In my defense my moves were restricted to just being able to lift my arms up” Jason retorted, his face a little red from the lack of air in the confinement.

“That’s true! I was feeling trapped between you-“

“Guys shut up!” Jungkook finally said something; the paper with the rules still in his hands “We have to focus now, I ain’t losing this game”

“Jeez! Ok, ok! We’ll focus” Jason put his hands up in defeat.

“I could really use those speakers bro, I want this prize” Jungkook sighed trying to apologise.

Somehow in the middle of the party Jungkook realised he was left behind with Hyori, both of them clueless of where their friends had gone to. So he eased her mind by saying he was going to look after them quickly. Hyori at the time nodded and kept looking around without leaving their previous spot.

Jungkook went to the bar hopping to find Jimin there but his friend was nowhere to be found. He wandered off to the bathrooms but two of them were locked and the other one was empty. He tried to scream Deo and Hoseok names in hopes that one of them were inside but due to the loud music it was useless. Not shortly after a person passed by and seeing he was fumbling with the door lock, that same person approached him and asked what he was doing. “I’m looking for my friends” was what he simply answered so the mysterious being asked what were they dressed like and after a brief description of their costumes Jungkook was pointed towards a long and gloomy corridor. He didn’t hesitate on going and that’s how he ended up opening the dark broom closet and being pushed inside. To his surprise, Tori and Jason were already there, their breathing too heavy and Jungkook kept thinking he had interrupted something else, but his thoughts were quickly brushed away when a cell phone started ringing.

“To get those speakers you first need to win the prize, Kook, and to do that you’ll need to find those damn three hidden bags” Tori pointed out making him come back to the moment; her arms crossed over her chest.

“Things that scare me most…” Jason wondered.

“AH! The decorations!!!” Jungkook’s face lit up “They must be near the decorations!”

-

Most of the teams were already out of their confinements by now. Some a little hazy and confused, some fully determined to win the prize. What student wouldn’t want to win 2.000 dollars in a night just by playing a Halloween game? It was easy money! And that was exactly what Aashna kept thinking.

When she left her dorm to go to the party that night she would have never expected to be going home again with that large amount of money, and there was nothing that she loved more than to play games, in fact she liked to think that she was good at them.

She got a little confused at first, when she lost herself from Sana and Cara, especially because she had left her phone back into the dorms and due to that she had no way to contact the girls. While she kept waiting for Sana to get ready hours ago, she used it so much that it discharged and it was totally useless to take it. But now, here she was, running around with two other girls she had never seen before trying to get to those bags before anyone else would.

“Guys look!” Nina pointed towards three dark things on the floor near a tree in the backyard of TKE. A few people transiting from one house to the other were passing by but none of them were paying attention to the girls.

“Are those the bags??” Esme asked a little behind from the other two. She was dressed like Theodore from Alvin and the chipmunks and although she was looking adorable her legs were freezing.

The backyard was the last place any rational person would want to go. It was windy today, and not the kind that feels like a nice summer breeze, it was the kind that made you feel the presence of a storm coming. The fact that the place wasn’t illuminated properly didn’t help either. Team 6 could barely see if those things on the floor were the bags they needed or not.

“I can’t believe we found them!” Aashna said coming closer and once she grabbed a loop of one of the bags a grotesque nun showed up behind the tree. Slowly it made it’s way towards the girls. “Holy-“ Aashna took a step back startled, the bag she had taken was now dropped onto the grassy floor.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Esme that had just being able to catch up with both of them sprinted back the moment she saw the dark presence, going back to where she had came. She didn’t even took a second glance.

The nun kept slowly walking forward. Aashna at the same time walked back. It’s yellow eyes focused on her and her breathing started to match her heart race. Her chest going up and down really fast.

“Push it, Khaleesi!!!” Nina shouted at her making her snap out of the transe. Both of them could hear a faint scream in the back but it was being blocked by their own heartbeats drumming on their ears. Adrenaline kicking in. Nina kept shouting ‘Khaleesi’ at Aashna, the fearful creature making her forget her teammate’s real name.

On the confusion of it, Aashna did in fact push back the nun, but the result wasn’t the expected. It didn’t move. Not even an inch.

“I GOT IT!! RUN!!!!” Nina passed by her with one bag on her back and two on her hands; her costume making it easier for her to sprint, contrary to Aashna’s.

The girl didn’t think twice. The moment the scary image before her started to lurk forward again, she stumbled two steps back and turned around to run. A hand grabbed her arm making her come to a halt. Aashna screamed and yanked her arm back. Free at last she ran towards Nina and Esme. Her mind not functioning properly. She could see her teammates shouting and making exaggerated moves for her to go to them but she could hear nothing. It was like a slow motion scene of her worst nightmare.

-

Hoseok thought he had been scared enough since he got to the party but now he was more than terrified. He was walking with Cole and Asa, two guys he had just met due to a bad joke and he couldn’t help being alert all the time. Cole was leading both him and Asa and they were looking for the so called bags inside the TKE frat house.

“I’m sure they hid it here, I mean- it’s just the perfect place, not a lot of people will come inside the house when there’s an actual party going on” he heard Cole’s voice more clearly now, the loud music sounded distant; the boy was still facing forward, leading them into a big hallway.

“Yeah but it said it was near what we fear most?” Asa pondered while looking attentive to a photo hanged on the wall “I don’t know about you guys but I’m not afraid of a frat house… As much gross as they can be” he frowned seeing one guy almost naked on that same photo.

The corridor they were now in was narrow so they lined up, Cole going in the front and Asa in the back. The wall on their left had some pictures of the boys of TKE while the wall on their right was mainly filled with big windows. That didn’t mean the place was lighten up, the whole house was dark. Things were visible due to the windows, the boys could see each other’s figures and what surrounded them because of the moonlight, but other than that there was no other form of light.

“Uoooh uoh what was that?!” Hoseok freaked out and fumbled back making Cole giggle.

“It’s just a glimpse of a light dude” Asa calmed him down while catching him and pulling him forward gently.

“I- I think I’m afraid of the dark” Hoseok admitted.

“It’s ok”

“And I’m afraid of being alone” Cole said sarcastically “So that’s why this is the perfect place to hide the bags because it’s both dark and has zero people in it. Genius ain’t I?” and he turned back to face the other two.

Hoseok’s face went pale. Asa’s blue eyes became big. Cole felt a puff of air into his neck and he tensed.

“For the first time in my life I just hope I’m ugly and that’s the reason you guys are doing those faces” he said; his body frozen and his mind in denial, he didn’t want to turn back.

“Boo” something grunted right behind him making his body tremble. Hoseok screamed and fell back into Asa who screamed as well and fumbled backwards, his eyes never leaving the amorphous creature upon them. His big hands clumsily trying to find support on the walls. Hoseok that fell on his butt quickly got up only to turn around just to stumble onto Asa once again.

Cole finally turned back and for a second he wished he didn’t. His voice stuck on his throat, eyes fixed on the sinister scarecrow right in front of him.

“G-Givee meee yourrr heeaaart” the creature grunted once more. Cole finally got a grip of himself and pushed the haunting scarecrow back, running right past him.

“ASA!! THE BAGS!” he screamt after stumbling on something and realising it was what they were looking for.

“FORGET THE BAAAAGS! AAAAH” Asa’s voice was trembling and between trying to help Hoseok who kept falling and running away from the creature who was going after the two he managed to scream back at Cole “FUCK YOU GO AWAY!!!”

“WOOOAHHH!!! WOAA”

“I got this, I got this” Cole kept mumbling to himself while scanning the place. He had very few options. The scarecrow had it’s back turned to him but the corridor was too narrow for him to pass by it without something happening. So he looked at the window right onto his left and let his body take the lead.

Cole’s hands were shaking a bit due to the heat of the moment. He fiddled with the window lock for a little but once he unlocked it a huge smile opened on his face.

“COLEEE?”

“I- Wait a sec! I got this!!!!” he answered while quickly glancing at his teammates and then back at the task in front of him. The window was a little rusty but he managed to open it fully so he threw both bags down. “GUYS! JUST RUN! MEET ME DOWN ON THE LAWN”

“COLE WHAT?!” Asa who was pushing continually the scarecrow back asked. Hoseok was glued to the wall screaming nonstop.

“JUST RUN AWAY! I’LL JUMP” Once he said this the scarecrow turned back. Cole was already sitting in the window. “GO! NOW!” he reassured his teammates again and Asa took the lead grabbing Hoseok by his shirt and running as fast as he could. The dreadful creature fastened it’s pace towards Cole. The boy smiled before jumping.

-

“Did we really need to choose the dark basement as our place to search?” Jin asked while he looked to the stairs that led to the dim place over Sana’s shoulders. His hands were gripping her arms and keeping her in place as a shield. “I feel like there’s definitely something there but it’s not the bags.” he laughed nervously.

“Yeah… I don’t feel like this is a good idea, Jeremy” Sana pondered, her eyes on the same spot Jin’s were.

“Fine then, you two stay here and I’ll go.”

“Great plan!” Jin offered him a quick thumbs up and his hands were back on Sana’s arm making the girl sigh but also let out a small giggle.

“It’s not a great plan” she said making Jeremy retrieve his foot of the first step to look back at her “If something happens to you, it’s only me and Jin”

“Not offended”

“Guys this is a Halloween game” Jeremy said laughing at their faces “The scariest shit that can happen is someone yelling at our ears and that’s it”

“Fine then, go” she brushed off. Jeremy rolled his eyes and turned front again, the darkened stairs making everything creepier. A second passed and he didn’t move. Another one and nothing. “So… Are you going or…?” Sana looked from him to the stairs again.

“I’m going! I’m going! It’s just- dark that’s all. I have no flashlight and I was trying to get my eyes used to it and-”

“You know there’s a light switch right there right?” Jin pointed to the wall next to them.

“Wha- Jin!!!!” Sana turned back giving him a soft slap “You could’ve told us that sooner!”

“Well sorry! I didn’t think he would go into the dark!”

While both of them kept quirreling Jeremy flicked the light switch in a flash tired of losing time, after all he had a game to win. But as soon as the lights were turned on two things came on focus, the bags near the third step and Freddy Krueger right at the bottom starting to climb up to get to them.

“Run-” Jeremy said lowly still paralysed watching the killer move himself “RUN!!!” that’s when Jin and Sana stopped arguing and looked back at him and what was going on. As soon as Freddy entered Jin’s vision, the boy screamt and started running backwards, looking every direction he could too afraid that more frightening creatures would appear. His loud voice echoing without coming to a stop.

Jeremy quickly pulled the bags towards him and turned around to run, passing one bag fast to Sana who was even faster to turn around and run towards the first floor as well but not before taking a box of washing powder left near the washing machine she passed by and throwing it back to hit the burnt face that tormented her so much.

-

Acute clinking sounds filled the air along with tree leaves dancing in the maddening wind. Jungkook and his team were sat on the porch of a neighbour house of TKE, the bags already retrieved and now alight right in front of each of them.

Tori kept trying to align her hair strands that kept swinging in front of her face while Jason kept fumbling with a walkie talkie he had just found on his own backpack. Inside each backpack they found a piece of paper with the same clue written on it, a little flashlight, a map of the campus, a walkie talkie and an almost realistic human finger with a tag on it that said one point for you player!

“This wind is making me stressed!” Tori let out with a sigh. Jason spared her a glance but kept pushing the buttons without really knowing what they did.

“That guy dressed as Chucky was pretty heavy” Jason mused “Don’t you think, bro?” he looked over Jungkook who was really quiet while reading over and over again the clue he found inside the backpack with furrowed eyebrows, deep in thoughts.

“Don’t you think bro??” Jason tried again.

“Uh?”

“Lost much, Kook?” Tori laughed.

“What are we supposed to do with this information?” Jungkook asked frustrated to his team “Wet blue? What is that?? There’s no such color”

“I’m sure we still have time, man, don’t stress it” Jason tried to cheer him up “I’m sure we were the first ones finding the bags plus we each have one point finger” he laughed while holding his gifted finger up.

“Yeah” he sighed “You’re probably right” Jungkook swept his bangs back. By now he was sure his hair was a mess, but he didn’t care much.

“Umm..” Tori began, her eyes following the movement of something way ahead of them “Not trying to break the lovely moment but I guess we are second place”

“We what?” Jungkook lifted his eyes from the paper he wouldn’t stop reading to see where Tori’s eyes were focused at and to his despair Yoongi and Carolina, alongside some blonde girl, were walking in a fast pace towards somewhere. They all had a backpack and the blonde girl was explaining something to them in a enthusiastic way. Jungkook tried his best to overhear what they were talking about, shushing Jason when he tried to say something along the lines of ‘don’t worry bro, we still got this’.

“Are you sure that’s the place?” he heard Yoongi ask lazily “I ain’t walking all the way over there for nothing”

“It’s there Yoongs, just stop being a grandpa, do you want the two thousand or not?” Carolina joked and Jungkook instantly got up.

“HEY!” Jungkook shouted “YOONGI”

“Kook what are you doing?” Tori asked alarmed.

“You heard this?”

“I think it was someone calling your name” the blonde girl said to Yoongi while looking around.

“YOONGI!! HERE!” Jungkook stepped forward.

“Who’s there?” Jungkook saw Yoongi stop and squint his eyes in his direction, he knew the older guy had a bad vision. “Ya, who’s that?” Yoongi asked Carolina who had the same expression on her face.

“It’s spiderman” the blonde one said and Carolina immediately commented “Uh nice butt” since the boy was turned to the side trying to fetch his walkie talkie to talk to Yoongi, and as soon as he heard the comment he turned around and walked forward a little further.

“IT’S JUNGKOOK!! YOONGI, IT’S ME!”

“Nevermind” Carolina said again and crossed her arms “WHAT DO YOU WANT VIRGIN BOY?!”

“It’s Jungkook?”

“Yeah”

“BRO ARE YOU PLAYING THE GAME?” Jungkook shouted trying to ignore Carolina. A hard gust of wind hit them suddenly, the boy’s hands coming up to protect his eyes.

“YES WE ARE”

“DO- DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE PLACE IS?”

“WE DO VIRGIN BOY BUT WE AIN’T TELLING” he saw Carolina shut Yoongi’s mouth without need with one of her hands and answered for him while laughing. Jungkook knew this because although he was trying to ask Yoongi the answer, he lived with the guy and knew him well enough to know that he could be a snake sometimes. “GO FIND YOUR BRAIN QUICKLY BEFORE YOU RUN OUT OF TIME”

“YOU- YOU’RE A BITCH!” Jungkook grunted in frustration.

“AND MUCH MORE!” her laughter echoing in the silent street and she coldly turned around with the blonde girl, both of them walking away. Yoongi did the same but before he shouted an apology “SORRY JUNGKOOKIE, GOOD LUCK!”

“Well that sucks” Jason stated bluntly coming near Jungkook, Tori right behind him.

Jungkook kept staring at their figures slowly disappearing in the distance, and something inside of him started boiling. His body was starting to get cold and his brain was completely blank due to his frustration.

A static noise broke the tension and Jason got startled by his own walkie talkie, Tori came rushed towards him as well as Jungkook - who spared one last glance at the horizon, Yoongi long gone.

“Hello players, this is your game master” a modified voice came out of the piece of machinery Jason was holding.

“Thank God! We need a hint!” Tori exclaimed, her right hand coming to her chest in a sign of relief.

“Beware of who may be watching you…” the voice said and as quick as it came it went away. The three of them still looking at the walkie talkie in hopes to hear anything else but nothing. Nothing came. Just the howling wind that was serving as a background song for their night.

“It’s.. It’s that it?” Jungkook asked indignant.

“It sounded like that guy- What’s the name?” Jason asked Tori rather excited “The Scream dude! The voice was exactly the same”

“TKE is definitely excelling themselves this year”

6

Hours ago Silvia thought she was up for a hell of a good night with her friends, even if the weather wasn’t helping at all, and now here she was, chasing the correct number painted on a tree located on the McCarthy Quad park. At least that was what Hyori and Namjoon had concluded from the clue they had been given to and she didn’t dare to refute.

Silvia was running fast but Hyori was running faster and the wind was pushing them back, difficulting their bodies movements. She heard someone shout a little further and coming to a halt she turned to see Namjoon pointing towards a big sycamore tree.

“Hyori!!!” she looked back to shout at the girl that went ahead “Hyori!!! He found it!” Silvia’s hair was all over her face and for a moment she could hardly see one foot ahead.

Something cold touched her skin while she tried to tame her wild curls, and when she looked up startled she saw Hyori’s smile. Both girls ran towards Namjoon who currently fought a battle with the zipper of his backpack trying to put away the clue inside it.

“What are you doing?” Hyori questioned him chuckling once they approached the spot. The boy glanced at them with a furious expression.

“I broke the zipper of my bag”

“Let me see it” Silvia took the still light bag only to conclude he indeed had broken it. She started then to try and find a solution to his problem.

“Ok so this is it” Hyori said looking around; the lantern she had in her right hand illuminating the red number painted on the tree. “And I’m guessing we’ll have to digg now” she pointed then her flashlight to the shovels pilled next to it.

“I’ll start then” Namjoon took one in his hands and started digging; he had no clue of what he was doing.

“Ok, let’s do this-” Silvia was going to put Namjoon’s backpack on the side but the other girl interrupted her with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Let’s take turns!” Hyori said with a gentle smile; her small voice a little louder now to be heard in such a terrible weather. “Me and Namjoon will digg while you come up with a solution to that” she chuckled.

“Got it!”

The boy wasn’t paying much attention now, his eyes strained onto the ground and he tried his best to not make a mess out of it. He could be clumsy at times - most of the times if he had to be honest, but he was trying his best to do the job properly and not disappoint both of his teammates. Hyori on the other hand got a little distracted once she saw another group of three a little further away from them. They seemed to be looking at a map. The only thing she could see was their flashlight pointed to the piece of paper and their silhouettes.

Hyori normally wasn’t that great at distinguishing people, she was bad with faces and all, but she would be damned if she didn’t recognize her own best friend even if she was from far away.

While her gaze was upon Deo and what her group might be, one of the tall silhouettes turned it’s head to the side, right at her direction. The flashlight wasn’t illuminating properly, but Hyori could see it was two boys that surrounded her friend.

“Are you going to digg too or…?” Namjoon asked huffing.

“Yeah… Just a sec…” she answered still too focused on Deo’s group. When her roommate illuminated the higher corner of a map she had in hands, the ray of light flashed Jack’s face and she could see his squinted eyes trying to look at her as well. “Jack!” Hyori said out loud but the howling wind muffled her voice.

The next thing she saw was Jack pointing towards his back and leading both Deo and the other tall guy further away from her. Is he really that competitive? Hyori thought. She held her glance at them for a few more seconds before Namjoon say something.  

“I- I think” he gasped “I think we have the wrong spot”

“It’s still shallow Namjoon” Silvia pointed out laughing.

“Oh? Yeah… Sorry. I think I’m not doing a very good job” he said with both hands resting on his shovel, admiring the work he had done so far.

-

“Jack I’m pretty sure is that way” Deo pointed towards her back but her eyes were still trailed on the map she was carrying around. Jack’s hands never leaving her shoulder, pushing her forward. The girl was a little out of focus since her worst fear (clowns or just pennywise) got to chase after her earlier, that resulted on her eye mascara being smudged a little under her eyes due to crying. 

“It’s not baby, look” he pointed with his own flashlight to a trail marked on the map. “We were here and we need to go this way”

“He’s right… I think” Taehyung admitted against his will. From the second he met Jack he hated the guy. He was the typical jock that made stupid jokes and spoke nothing more than about himself. The guy was cocky and basically the complete opposite of Taehyung. And to say it wasn’t being hard to control the facial expressions he felt the need to do every time Jack spoke was a complete lie.

“You can’t even read the GPS on your car and you’re asking me to trust you with a map?” she looked over her boyfriend.

“Hold on a second-”

“Sorry to interrupt the love quarrel but the guy is right” Taehyung interrupted; he was walking behind the couple and that made Deo stop on her tracks to look back at him, Jack being obliged to stop as well. “We passed by those trees back there” Taehyung said carefree while pointing back “and their numbers were 4, 7, 9… If we are assuming this is like a house address numbers thing, then our tree is on that way” he finished his thinking pointing frontwards.

“Thank God someone that backs me up” Jack said with a bright smile and going back to push Deo forward and gently once again.

“Fine then, let’s see” the girl rolled her eyes but offered no resistance at being guided.

Somewhere near, in the chilly park that was already filled with autumn leaves everywhere, you could hear the sound of a shovel insistently hitting the earth while a heated chattering followed. Team 3 was finding hard to reach to an agreement. Emma kept digging by herself, it had been fifteen minutes since they found their tree but Jennifer refused to touch a single nail on a shovel. V alongside Emma had picked a shovel to dig as well but seeing Jennifer did nothing she stopped her work and started arguing with her.

“We are a team Jennifer!” V was now almost yelling; the vein on her neck popping due to such frustration. “You gotta help as well!”

“I’ll help in the next one” Jennifer rolled her eyes and kept playing with her nails. Her expression not even alterated.

“That’s what you said when me and Emma were trying to catch the bags, yours included! And when we were trying to figure out this riddle”  

“Stop being a dramatic bitch” Jennifer retorted now looking at Victoria’s eyes. “I said I will help on the next task”

“Leave her be, Victoria” Emma said with a huff. “I can do it, it’s-” another puff of air leaving her mouth “It’s alright”

Victoria grunted in frustration, her eyes never leaving Jennifer stare. “Forget it” she ended up saying and then went back to help Emma. “How deep do you think we have to dig?” she asked throwing the dirt she had just digged to the side.

“To be honest-” Emma started and stopped to kick her shovel deep into the soil “I hope not much more”

“Well I think you two will have to dig a whole more and faster if you want to finish this game until tonight”

“Shut up!” V snapped at Jennifer “No one asked your opinion, oh my God”

Jennifer just laughed in amusement, scenes like this were a regular thing on the volley practices. Both girls were from the same team although it didn’t look like not even a little not even at all.

“Did you felt that?” Emma asked V, trying to ignore the profound want and need of hitting Jennifer with her own shovel. The girl was just being too much ever since they got trapped together.

“Felt what?”

“That” Emma said again hitting her shovel on something harder than what it felt when digging earth and hearing a clink noise in return.

“Shit- We found it” Victoria exclaimed and quickly let her shovel fall by her side to start brushing the dirt aside with her own hands.

7

“Told ya’” Jack said. They had just found the tree marked as 22, the bright red impossible not to spot from a certain distance. They had been walking for ten minutes non-stop trying to check every tree they found on the way, to make sure they weren’t missing theirs. And turned out Taehyung was right about the whole address thing.

“Told ya” Deo mocked “Just grab the freaking shovel jock. Let’s put those muscles up to good use” she cheekily put her tongue out making Jack blow a kiss with a cocky smile. Taehyung decided not to stand by watching the scene so with a roll of his eyes he grabbed the first shovel he could see and started digging.

-

Dylan was completely stretched on the dirty floor of McCarthy Quad, although he was feeling his clothes getting damped due to the temperature he was just too exhausted to get up.

“So what do we do now?” Lindsay questioned; in one hand she had the little paper with their new clue and the other was resting on her hip. “You guys have any idea of where this might lead us?”

“I have no clue” Ali who was dressed in a renaissance garb sat down next to Dylan; the air she huffed and puffed visible in the air due to the temperature drop. She and Dylan digged until they found a metal box, inside it another finger with the same tag one point for you player! and the clue.

For a few seconds the only thing hearable was the sound of Lindsay wiggling the pearls she was wearing around her neck to complete her flapper costume and the tapping of her impatient foot.

“Ok” Dylan said while shuffling himself to a sitting position. “As soon as we figure the place, cause I’m really assuming that note leads us to another location, I have a plan for us to go faster”

“Please do tell” Ali turned her face gently to the side to see him.

“No, no, first we need to find what is up with that location”

“Isn’t this talking about books though?” Lindsay said, her eyes trailed on the little note and her mind paying no attention to her teammates.

“Books?”

“Let me see it” Dylan asked with an extended hand to her and she handed him the clue. “Umm… You guys know we are right in the middle of two libraries right?” he asked looking from one to another.

Ali immediately looked at Lindsay with huge eyes. “Oh my God we are!”

“So, what was your plan to get us there quickly?” Lindsay asked excited.

“Oh nevermind, the buildings are right here, we don’t need that old bike over there” Dylan shrugged off.

“Were you seriously thinking on riding that thing?” Lindsay laughed. The old bike leant on a bench near where they were was rusty and seemed to be missing some pieces.

“You probably failed calculus because we are three and there’s no way you could ride a bike taken other two people in it”

“I said I had a plan, not that I had a good one!” he said jokingly while getting up and cleaning his hands on the side of his trousers. A static sound interrupted the girls laughter.

“Hey players, if I were you I’d run…”

“Bro the Halloween game this year is getting hella’ artistic” Dylan commented.

“Yeah, tell me about it! That horrendous version of Slash was really artistic”

“I spy with my little eyes…”

Lindsay glanced around a little spooked out, she didn’t know if it was her head painting scenarios over what she had just heard the so called game master saying or if she could really feel someone watching them. “Guys let’s just get out of here”

-

The third challenge was indeed in the libraries that surrounded the park the players had gone to like Dylan suspected. As soon as the teams got to the entrance they could spot the door open and everyone knew that it wasn’t supposed to be open at night. Most of them in fact hesitated to enter the dark place… Hyori for example went over the little clue a few more minutes before coming to terms that she would have really to trespass the property.

Screeching noises could be heard the moment you passed through the door, the aged wooden floor not helping to keep the secrecy of someone being there. The only thing team 10 could see was what their flashlight was illuminating.

“Oh my God what is that?!” Jae whispered alarmed, her body frozed up near a huge shelf full of books.

“Is that another player or…”

“If you say it’s that weirdo dressed as Scream again, Cecilia, I swear to God” Tessa was crouched near them, her hands on her head. When the girls were searching for their bags they encountered Scream. He looked like a statue, one of the many that were decorating the party that night, and they would never think it was actually a real person. Tessa that was in the front got a tremendous jumpscare and ended up falling.

“It doesn’t seem him” Jae that was still looking at the lurking presence a little forward said after looking back at them. “It’s mask is different”

“That one is a…” Cecilia tried to figure out. “A phantom of the opera?”

“Oh then we are ok” Tessa got up and started walking towards the person. “Hey! Psssst”

“Tessa!” both girls whispered in a loud manner.

“Hey you! I’m sorry-“

The costumed guy, dressed as what it seemed like phantom of the opera, said nothing but pointed her towards a door.

“Guys” Tessa called looking back. “I think we have to go that way!”

“Really?” Jae approached her, looking from the clue she had pointed with a flashlight and then the door. “Between poets and suspense…” she looked to the sides of the door. There were a two shelves next to it, one that said poetry and the other said suspense/thriller.

“Yeah, definitely here” she concluded.

“Let’s go then… I guess” Cecilia went to open the door, and once her hand was on the doorknob it opened up without her doing anything. “Jesu-“

“For some people Naruto is indeed Jesus” Yoongi chuckled opening the door fully now and walking past Cecilia and the other girls from team 10.

“TESSA!” Carolina exclaimed once the girl entered her sight. “You’re here too?”

“Just got here!” she went for a hug. “What did you do there?” Tessa pointed the door that was now being closed by a girl dressed as Violet from the charlie and the chocolate fabric.

“Friends are friends, business is business, Tess! Sorry!” Carolina smiled apologetic. “And good luck!!” she wished truly.

“Fiiiine” Tessa sighed. “Happy Halloween!” she smiled to her friend. “Let’s go, girls” and she opened the door again, this time going through it with Cecilia and Jae right behind her.

“I didn’t know you could make friends” Yoongi pointed out in a tone of joke; his arms crossed.

“I befriended you, after that everything else is super duper easy” she sticked her tongue out.

Yoongi laughed and then took out the little card he had hidden inside his pocket. “Tchaa!” he sighed “Another one for you two, I’m tired of thinking”

“That sounds like a fun place to go” Sarah chuckled nervously.

8

Cara, Jimin and Holly had just entered a dark room they had been pointed out inside the library. Jimin mustered the courage he didn’t have and put on a brave face to go first while Cara and Holly followed, both of them tightening the grip on his leather jacket. The room was pitch dark and before going in they saw a sign saying they needed to leave their backpacks behind.

“Just stay close” Jimin whispered without a need while going inside. Not a peep could be heard.

“This room is freezing!” Cara commented while getting even closer to Jimin. “And my outfit isn’t helping”

“It’s ok, girl, I got your back” Holly immediately crouched to grab part of Cara’s dress to help her walk more freely. Her chosen outfit for tonight was Feyre from A court of thorns and roses and although she was looking beautiful until now her dress was making everything seem harder for her, specially running. Before she could thank Holly, the door they had just walked through which was also the only remaining source of light for them was shut close with a loud bang. The three of them jumping with the loud noise and an uncomfortable silence followed.

Jimin’s eyes were trying to adjust to the somber room, he blinked and tried his best to focus on some spot and try to see at least some silhouettes but he failed.

“Hello players, I hope you are up to play a game because I have some questions for you” a grotesque laughter came right after, the voice deep and clearly altered.

“Who’s there??” Jimin asked and chuckled nervously after he did it. He brought Holly and Cara closer to him, his hands firmly placed on the small of their backs.

“Who directed the film Halloween from 1978?” the grotesque voice asked them.

“Eeey- That isn’t fair!” Jimin complained. “How are we even supposed to know that?!” 

“Oh God, I don’t really know that one!” Holly said anxious. Cara just kept holding for dear life onto Jimin. 

A loud error noise was able to be hear making the three of them jump in fear, no one expecting the loud noise so close and loud. 

“Which film has as its main characters, Morticia and Gomez?”

“Oh! Oh! That’s easy!” Holly exclaimed. “It’s The Addams Family!”

“Nice!”

“Thank God we have Holly” Cara said in relief. 

“WOUSH!! What was that?!” Jimin fumbled back taking the girls with him. 

“What?!” 

“There was something touching my feet!”

“What is the word Hallowe’en an abbreviation of?”

“All Hallow’s Eve!!” Jimin and Holly yelled at the same time. Cara unable to form coherent thoughts on her head, the dark room was freaking her out. 

- 

On a blacked out room right next to group 9, three girls were kneeled on the ground together. As soon as group 6 entered the room they started getting uncomfortable with not being able to see things and also about the lack of sound. 

Esme started crouching down, her defense mechanism being turn herself into a little ball, and of course Nina followed. Aashna stood up for a little while, she kept feeling the other two getting closer to her legs, but once a loud bang echoed the room she dropped to her knees in a matter of seconds.

“What was Dr. Frankenstein first name?”

“Victor! It was Victor!!!” Nina yelled, she wasn’t afraid but she would admit the room was getting weirder and weirder. 

“Yes!!” Esme celebrated when a xylophone acute sound soared on the room, they knew the answer was right. 

“Name all the killers that embodied Ghostface from Scream.”

“Oh fuck! That one is hard” Nina said more to herself than anything. 

“You know it?” Esme asked turning to Aashna. 

“Uh… Roman Bridger is one of them…?” Aashna started not feeling very secure of her answer. “Loomis? Ugh I don’t know!!” 

“It’s ok-” 

A loud error sound echoed startling them, that probably meant the answer was wrong, they thought. 

-

“Who were the targets of Jack the Ripper?”

“Prostitutes!” Dylan said. “That’s for sure!”

“You sure?” Ali questioned him, but he didn’t need to answer because the xylophone sound was heard. 

“Thank God! I just want to leave here!!!!” Lindsay was feeling agitated on this room, it was too eerie. 

“It’s ok, Linds! I’m sure it will be over soon” Dylan said softly trying to pull her closer. They had just met but he knew she was having a hard time being scared. 

“For what is Ted Bundy known?”

“Killing over 35 women!” Ali and Dylan said at the same time. 

“It was 35 right?” he questioned.

“Yes, I’m sure!” 

Another xylophone sound was heard. 

“Please tell me this was the last!!” 

“It’s almost babeee” Ali tried to cheer her up, her hand coming to Lindsay’s squeezing it a bit. 

“It’s dare time players” the game master finally said freaking them out. 

9

After answering the last question, there was a loud bang again and Deo immediately held the closest thing she found as some sort of comfort. She knew this was just a game but she couldn’t help feeling scared being in the dark.

“Lights on”

The girl had her eyes closed shut. Jack opened his and rubbed them. When he looked back he saw his girlfriend holding tight Taehyung who was standing still like nothing was happening while scanning the room. That was enough to make Jack insanely mad. 

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!” he exclaimed loudly making Taehyung look at him confused and Deo just opened her eyes surprised. 

“I-I thought it was you!” the girl said after looking at Taehyung’s face and realizing it was not her boyfriend there. Taehyung immediately let out a tsk. 

“ME?! I look nothing like that guy!” Jack pointed at the other boy furious. “Why are you still holding him?!” he asked when his girlfriend did nothing to move away. His anger making him explode and stride quickly until he could reach her arm to pull her away. 

“Hey!” Taehyung exclaimed; his eyebrows furrowed. “You’re going to hurt her” 

“I was not! And how could I see?! It was pitch black!” Deo defended herself. 

“You were with me in the dark before. You should know damn well how I feel to the touch”

A snort sound coming from Taehyung was heard. “Now that’s just pathetic”

“What?! That doesn’t even make sense!”

“You know what?!” Jack exclaimed furious “I don’t want to talk about this shit anymore” he went towards the left wall; hands placed on his hips. An awkward moment of tension followed.

“Oook” Taehyung said breaking the silence. “What’s up with this thing?” he approached a locker standing in the middle of the room. 

“Are you seriously going to be like that? Whatever..” Deo said, Jack having his back to her. And then looking over the locker where Taehyung now was she asked “How many digits?”

“Four” 

“Are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you really pretend nothing happened??” Jack looked back at both at them but his frustration clearly directed at Deo. 

“Jack what the fuck! You said you didn’t want to talk about it, let’s not!” she answered, looking everywhere but him. 

“Not to be indelicate but- 2:31 minutes left according to that timer over there”

“Fuck off dude!!!” Jack yelled at him. 

“Yeah, same” he answered back. 

“Jack!” Deo reprehended him but he did nothing but to ignore her still pacing around the room. "Do you want me to just tell you the words on the walls?“ the girl asked Taehyung. 

“Could we maybe exchange? I’m not very good with this but I have big eyes so I can tell you the words!” Tae smiled cutely to her and she immediately walked over the locker. 

"Yup, sounds good to me." 

“I have big eyes so I can tell you the words” Jack mocked in a stupid tone. “Did I just disappeared is that it??”

"Fucking wish Pennywise was here” Deo said almost in a whisper way. Jack didn’t hear but Taehyung certainly did which made him chuckle loudly. 

“What is so funny, jackass?!”

“You’re the one named Jack not me” Tae scoffed; his eyes briefly on Jack before returning to the written walls again. 

“Guys the time!!!”

“Sorry!” Taehyung apologized and quickly read a few words before finding one with four digits. “Try rack” he said looking back at Deo.

“Oh shit!!”

“What?!” Taehyung asked nervous and Jack just stopped pacing to look at Deo expectant. 

“It’s right!”

“IT IS???!” Taehyung just couldn’t believe he found the word at his first attempt. A huge smile taking over his face. “My eyes worked!!!!”

“What does it has inside?” Jack asked without patience. 

Taking over a piece of paper from inside Deo said “A clue I think”

-

Aashna kept blinking trying to adjust her now recovered vision to the intense light. Nina and Esme seemed more recomposed than her since both of them were standing in the middle of the room inspecting a big and solitair red locker that also stood there. She observed that the walls were full of words and letters painted in red, her hand trailing slowly the gory word that gained her attention the most. Somber.

“I think we need to find the word that opens this” she heard Nina say but her eyes still on the marked walls.

“Yeah and we need to find it fast, look” Esme said and she turned around to see what the girl was talking about. Esme was pointing towards a timer placed on the top of the door they came in by. 2:40 it marked. And after blinking Aashna got to see one number less, the timer was decreasing.

“How are we supposed to know which word is it???” Aashna panicked.

“For starters I think it’s a four letter word since there’s only four spaces here” Nina pointed out going to the nearest wall to try and find something.

“I’ll insert every word I know then!”

“Try dark” Aashna said when she spotted the word right next to where her hand was leaning and then looked expectant at Esme to see the result.

Esme fumbled with the padlock a little and then looked back at Aashna “Nope, not that one”

“Lost!” Nina shouted from across the room.

2:03.

The clicking sound of Esme fumbling with the locker could be heard, nothing else. It was followed by a long sigh. “Still a no!”

“Bone?” Aashna asked.

1:40.

And when the answer was once again a no, Nina shouted again “Shot!”

“I’m starting to get really frustrated at this” Esme grunted. “No, still nothing” she sighed.

“Are we going to stay stuck here?”

“Just keep looking!”

“Ok, what about blue? It’s written there” Nina suggested. “There’s not even a clue or something?”

“I guess not…” Esme answered her while inserting the word on the padlock. “And it’s not blue either.

1:01.

“This sucks!!!”

“I don’t see anymore words here with four letters only” Aashna said while reading everything she could. “Are you sure it’s a four letter word??”

“Pretty sure!” Esme answered leaving the locker and going to check the walls herself. “There’s only four spaces there.”

“I’ll try words I know then” Nina said walking towards the big red locker. “We still have time right?” she looked over the timer to see 0:43 marked on it. “Shit. Ok, what about home?” she said more to herself than anything else fumbling with the lock.

“Ghost”

“That’s a five letter word” Esme chuckled making Aashna chuckle too.

0:27.

“Love isn’t the answer after all…” Nina sighed moving onto the wall on her right. “Let me see if there’s something here”

“And the only door here is locked” Esme said turning the knob of the door and stating it didn’t open. “So yeah, we are probably screwed”

“What happens when the timer reaches zero though?” Nina questioned.

“ZERO! That’s it!” Aashna said excited looking from the timer to Esme who was quick to run towards the center of the room and insert the word on the padlock.

0:09.

“Please, please” Aashna mumbled.

“IS IT?”

And with a heavy sigh Esme said “No”.

A loud and screeching sound of a siren echoed in the entire room making the girls press their hands to their ears to somehow muffle the noise. Nina even crouched on the floor and they got even more horrified when the door finally opened and a tall figure dressed like an intimidating and gory doctor entered with a catering trolly, three cups on top of it.

The siren stopped and the abrupt change made the girls head combust. “I guess it’s going to be trick instead of treat” the guttural voice echoed on the room once again and the girls knew right then they would have to drink from the cups.

“Choose your cup wisely players” a wicked laughter followed along with Aashna, Esme and Nina exchanging glances before picking up their glasses and gulping everything down.

-

On the room next door the timer was running fast but still no sign of the locker opening up.

“I still can’t believe Jungkook managed to open this thing” Jennifer kicked the locker lightly. Group 3 had previously met Group 2 on the entrance of the library, Jungkook, Tori and Jason were just leaving the place when the girls happened to be entering. They exchanged a few words since both V and Jennifer knew Jungkook and Jason from volley, and of course, Jungkook knew Jennifer from much more than volley but it was a brief meeting nonetheless.

“You don’t know if he actually did it” V retorted.

“Try the word host!” Emma said to Jennifer who rolled her eyes and fumbled grudgingly with the padlock.

“I’m guessing he did since he was walking away from here differently from us” Jennifer answered while doing the task she was in charged with.

1:04.

“And it’s not host”

“What about Hope?” V asked.

“I’m sure it’s not going to be a cutesy word, hello? We are in a halloween game!” Jennifer answered without moving to do what V had asked her.

“Girl I swear-”

“Just try it out, Jennifer” Emma let out a long sigh.

“Fine” with another roll of eyes she turned around to fumble once more with the padlock.

0:38.

V and Emma waited expectant. “Not Hope, as I clearly explained before, the answer is clearly nothing like a cute word.”

“Let me see then” Emma said walking slowly around the room again and reading carefully every word she could find.

“Dark?”

“We tried that one already, pay attention bitch” Jennifer chuckled acidly.

“Girl you better watch out your back starting from tomorrow I swear, if I see you on the street-”

“Four? Try four” Emma ignored the heated argument, by now she was more than used to it.

0:17.

“That would be such a stupid passcode” Jennifer said while inserting the word. “I will be so disappointed if that is actually- It isn’t! Thank God” she snorted.

“This bitch is dumb as hell.” V chuckled while nodding her head and turning around to check the walls once again. “She is actually thanking the lord for not being able to get out of here.”

“It’s what they say, aesthetics first” Emma let out almost in a whisper and it was totally unintended but V managed to hear and she cracked hard.

0:02.

“Oh great, the time is up and you two are laughing like best-” Jennifer was saying but the loud siren interrupted her. She instantly fell backwards, bumping into the locker and slowly sliding down with her hands pressed firmly against the sides of her head.

Emma did the same, trying to protect herself from the madding noise while V stayed up trying to open the door by twisting the knob furiously. Until the door opened and she stumbled backwards seeing the eerie doctor coming in with a trolley and the three cups.

10

Carolina could feel her heartbeat drumming in her ears due to such excitement and thrill. Yoongi was the one decoding the clue they managed to get from inside the locker placed in the challenge of the library and they quickly came to the nearest graveyard around USC. Arriving there none of the three could see a single soul walking or completing the next challenge and both Carolina and Yoongi weren’t very keen on risking when they didn’t know the outcome. So thinking fast the girl suggested the other two for them to hide near the graveyard and wait for the next team, that way they could see what were they up to or at least know what they should and should not do.

Sarah was bundled up on her tracksuit just looking out with her lince eyes towards the foggy graveyard. Yoongi was crouched down right next to her looking comfortably, his hands near his mouth for warmth. If there was a thing he really hated was the cold. Carolina on the other hand had no coat, she was wearing only a nurse dress, her arms and legs were so numb that she stopped paying some mind to the harsh and cold wind.

“You look like a lunatic with that makeup” Yoongi whispered to her chuckling softly. His breathing creating a considerable breath vapor every time he talked or chuckled.

“Even when you’re serious you look like you’re laughing wickedly” Sarah whispered too with a satisfacted smile making Carolina open one herself.

“Why so serious?!” she looked at them jokingly with one eyebrow up and a creepy smile.

“Ya” Yoongi pushed her and she stumbled back since she was crouching to stay hidden. “That was creepy as fuck” he finished making Sarah laugh again.

“I almost fell and got dirt and mud on my white nurse… thing. What is this called?”

“It’s just a dress” Sarah laughed even more.

“This way we are going to ruin our plan, everyone can hear us”

“We got here first???” they heard someone exclaim from a distance. The three of them silent now and vigilant.

“Bro what did I tell you??? We didn’t open that stupid locker but we still got here first than anyone else!!”

“Who are those?” Yoongi whispered, his eyes squinted but he couldn’t see anything.

“I think… Jason?” Sarah whispered back.

“Not surprised he didn’t open the locker then” Carolina chuckled lowly.

“What do we do now? There’s nothing here”

“And that’s virgin boy”  Carolina added.

“How do you even know?”

“Confirmed, it’s him” Sarah answered her.

“His voice is annoying”

“Shit there’s more people coming”

“Where?”

As soon as team 8 heard that, they looked towards the direction the girl that was with Jungkook was looking to. Sarah, the only one with falcon eye vision in that group was reporting what she saw. To what she could see, there was not only one other group approaching but two. The first one she described as being three girls and Carolina quickly recognized one of them being Esme, her new front door neighbour. The other group as Sarah described had two girls and a guy. She tried her best to explain who Silvia was, saying she worked on the library and everything but Yoongi and Carolina never really paid much attention to their surroundings. Now, the guy… That one as soon as he came to both friends vision they recognized as their clumsy friend. He approached Jungkook and while doing so he stumbled on a grave and if it weren’t for the spidey senses that Jungkook conveniently had Namjoon would probably be on the floor right now.

The so familiar static sound surprised team 8 that was focused on the other groups interacting. “Should I take someone else to serve as company to your friend, players?” They heard the voice say followed by a muffled scream that left them in shock.

Sarah chuckled nervously. “They- They are really taking this game seriously” she let out a few more spaced laughter, her eyes going from Yoongi to Carolina, hoping that one of them could ease her mind that the pained scream she heard was nothing but a dumb joke of halloween.

Yoongi pressed the button to respond on the walkie talkie and a little beep could be heard. “Is this another riddle or clue? Over” and as soon as he said it he could hear himself faintly, the message being emitted from Carolina’s and Sarah’s walkie talkies still kept inside their own backpacks.

“Why are we receiving the message as well?” Sarah asked.

Another muffled and pained grunt could be heard again and their attention fell over the walkie talkie on Yoongi’s hand “Tik Tok players… Your friend doesn’t have much time, that I can guarantee you” Carolina looked from the piece of machinery in Yoongi’s hand to his eyes “Mhhmmm” someone screamed uncomfortably and visibly gagged. “Tik tok” and the beep sound made them know the message had come to an end.

“What is happening?” Sarah asked visibly disturbed. Carolina didn’t answer but her eyes moved towards the graveyard again, Namjoon was there looking at a map together with his team and her heart tightened. Where is Taehyung and Jin? she thought to herself.

“Yoongi there’s something wrong”

“What do you mean?” both him and Sarah said at the same time, their expressions worried.

“There’s only Namjoon there.” Carolina pointed out. “Where’s the other two?”

“Which two? What are we talking about?”

“I’m sure this is all a prank Carolina” Yoongi tried to ease her mind. “It’s halloween after all”

“I’m telling you-”

“Too slow” there it was the static noise again. “Happy haunting, players”

A loud scream was heard, Yoongi’s head snapped towards the sound and Sarah gasped at the vision. A bunch of grotesque and gross zombies appeared on the graveyard, and if they didn’t know zombies didn’t exist they would definitely think they were just now meeting the creatures.

Tori was being dragged towards a tiny grove behind the graveyard, she screamed and struggled to get away but the fetid creature had a tight grip on her. Jungkook tried to help but two of them came towards him and he had no choice but to run and on it’s way of doing so he took one down that was trying to catch Aashna. He grabbed her arm and forced her to run with him, dodging the grunting beasts but there were many of it. Aashna eventually couldn’t keep up with his pace and was grabbed by the waist being dragged away from the boy.

“I FOUND ONE!” they heard Jason scream, his arm up trying to show Jungkook the finger they had been receiving with every clue so far. “IT’S THE POINTS RIGHT??”

“KEEP LOOKING FOR THEM!!” the boy answered dodging another zombie.

Esme and Nina were running together, they were trying to leave the graveyard when Nina spotted a piece of paper tied to a finger. She swiftly snatched the finger and looked back to check on Esme, they had what they needed, now they just had to run as fast as they could to the front gates, Aashna already had been taken, they couldn’t afford being catched as well.

“Nina run!!!” Esme’s voice could be heard louder now after a little scream. Nina looked back to see the girl being held by two of the ill looking beings. “GO NINA!”

“We have to help” Sarah whispered to her teammates, they were still hiding.

“No no no, let’s wait” Yoongi tried.

“Yoongi something is not right here, why would they take people?”

“And this game master person said our friend needed company and our friend seemed in pain. I don’t think this is a bad joke guys…” Sarah was trembling.

The boy sighed and then looked front, he could see Namjoon hiding with both girls of his team, just like he was. But something definitely felt wrong. “We need to evaluate this better”

“There’s nothing to evaluate Yoongi. We have zero ways of communication right now” Carolina looked at him with pleading eyes. “We don’t have our phones, we only have walkie talkies that don’t let us talk to others apart from this fucking psycho and that was not a sick prank.” she paused offegant. “I know how editing works and so do you. That didn’t sound like a sound effect he browsed online, that sounded like a real fucking person and it’s either Jin or Tae”

“I- I think she’s right… I didn’t come with friends tonight so he was probably talking to you two. And it’s pretty weird that one of your close friends it’s there but the other two aren’t-”

“We don’t even know if they are in the game! As far as we know they can perfectly be partying right now” Yoongi reasoned.

“And why the hell did he choose me and you instead of Jin and Tae? No offense but those two are walking gamers. Me and you are just grandpas that do nothing but complain” she pleaded tugging his arm. “This thing is looking like the fucking Saw movie, Yoongs”

“Carolina-” he was going to say but Namjoon’s voice was heard loud and clear making the three of them look again at the chaotic scenery at their front.

A group of zombies were trying to take Hyori away but Namjoon pushed two of them freeing the girl. She quickly ran to stay behind him and everything seemed ok until the got to the other girl that was with him. He grabbed Silvia’s hand to pull her towards him, but two built up gory zombies dragged her in a flash.

“Silvia!!!” he yelled. Another one was coming towards him and Hyori again, but he took her hand in his and they both sprinted towards the entrance of the graveyard.

“Fuck.” Carolina said and before she could think properly she was getting up. “Stay here and when I say so you two sprint out of here, understood?” she looked back at Yoongi and Sarah.

“Hell no. What are you doing now?”

“I- I can come as well” Sarah offered.

“I said stay put.” she glanced at them with warning eyes and sprinted towards Namjoon.

11

A lot of the dead creatures had been gone by now, there was only ten of them remaining and most were focused on trying to catch both Jungkook and Jason. The fogg was making everything feel creepier and Carolina couldn’t help the goosebumps and bad feeling she was having even if her skin was already burning hot from the sprint she suddenly took.

“Namjoon!!” She screamed over the top of her lungs and her friend came to a halt, he was almost near the gates to leave, Hyori right behind him.

“Carolina?”

“You have the clue right??” she asked still sprinting; she could see three creatures walking fast to approach Namjoon and the girl.

“Yes! Are you alone?? What are you doing here??” he asked in a hurry while looking to his sides to see if there were any threats near.

“I’m with Yoongi!” Carolina was almost reaching him “There’s something wrong-” right at that moment she felt something grabbing her arm and she yanked it back, running faster. “There’s something wrong!!! Namjoon run!! The walkie talkies- We can’t communicate”

Two grunting creatures appeared behind Namjoon and Hyori, the girl screamed and stumbled back. “Hyori run!” he said grabbing the grimy arm of one of them and pushing the other with all his might.

“I won’t leave you!!”

“Mother-” Carolina came fast pushing hard one of the creatures due to the speed she was in. “Go you two! Find Jin and Tae!!!”

“What’s going on Carolina???” he asked in panic.

“Try the walkie talkies, Nam, there’s something wrong!!”

They started to aglomerate near the three of them and Namjoon just nodded and ran, taking Hyori’s hand once again and disappearing into the fog.

“WATCH OUT!” Carolina heard Jungkook’s voice near, he came running and pushing a zombie that was hunting down after her but he tripped and fell, the clue he had just found falling from his grip. The girl saw the opportunity and took it. She quickly grabbed the finger tied up with a clue that Jungkook just lost and started running, the object entering swiftly her pocket.

“HEY! CAROLINA” he yelled after her, still on his knees.

“I’M SORRY!” she shouted back but he was being left behind. “YOU AND JASON CAN MANAGE FINDING ONE MORE!! I’M SORRY”

“AAAAH” she heard his scream and turned back to see two morbid silhouettes dragging him by his arms. “GET OFF OF ME”

“Ah shit” she cursed under her breath and sprinted towards Jungkook.

-

Group 5 had roamed for a while now trying to figure out what the next place could be. Deo kept saying it could only be the graveyard and none of the boys said the contrary, even if Jack kept saying he was convinced it was some place else. 

“Do you think this is the right place?” Deo shrugged, eyes shifting from one boy to the other, their eyes clued to their maps. The graveyard seemed empty. 

“Yup, seems right to me.” Taehyung said, nonchalant.

“And what now?” She asked again, the apprehensiveness tone in her voice visible.

“Nice! Seems like we are the firsts so let’s not waste more time and look for the next clue.”

“This is huge… It’s going to take us forever specially with this fog.” Taehyung sighed, squinting his eyes to try and see over the deep white cloak pairing in the air. Before Deo could open her mouth to complain about how creepy the game had become Jack pulled her to him, grabbing her hand and running backwards. 

“Watch out! Zombie!!”

Taehyung ran right besides them, the wet grass making it slippery for them to keep balance. They heard a scream not so far away and Taehyung’s supersonic ability of recognizing every sound possible made him look attentively towards his right while still running. 

“JIMINAH!!” He yelled; his voice sounding deep and hoarse, the wind carrying it away. 

“TAEHYUNGIE!!!” he heard back but he had no sight on Jimin. More screams could be heard and in one second of distraction Taehyung bumped into one Zombie. He fell back harshly but quickly getting up. That’s when he saw the piece of paper tied onto a finger and he thought no more, he clumsily ran towards it and grabbed it. 

“TAEHYUNGIE! THE ZOMBIES! BE CAREFUL” he heard Jimin’s voice once again and he looked towards the direction of it. 

“JIMINAH! LET’S DO THIS!!!!” 

“Jack!!!!” Deo’s voice sounded close to him. “Get awaaaaay!!” 

Taehyung ran as fast as he could and when he got near the girl she was trying to set herself free from the disgusting creature holding her by her waist. The boy glanced over to see Jack dodging two of them and he wasted no time in pushing the zombie that fought Deo. The creature stumbled back and Taehyung pulled her with him towards the entrance once again. 

“JACK!” she kept screaming back. 

“I GOT THE CLUE!!! RUN FASTER BRO” Taehyung yelled in hope the other guy could hear it. 

“FUCK YOU!!”

-

The desert streets of USC campus that normally had a peacefulness to them were now feeling intimidating. The big and old buildings had a menacing look to them now. Silvia had her arms crossed tight over her chest, the trees making noises that were scaring her and her body was trembling from head to toe. Her Simon glasses were long gone, she lost them while trying to get away from those zombies, her backpack still secure on her back though.

On her hands she had only her walkie talkie that seemed useless since she tried over and over again to talk to someone but obtained no answer in return. She wasn’t liking the feeling of having to wander around USC at night and alone…

Suddenly a screeching sound. “It’s easier to hunt a prey if it is found alone” and a sinister laughter followed. Silvia looked around, the feeling of being watched creeping her out. She fastened her pace and tried again.

Beep. “Hyori? Namjoon? It’s me Silvia! Please Answer! Over” she kept looking around and walking as fast as she could trying her best to stay in the middle of the street where some lamp posts were still on. The leaves being swayed away by the wind.

“Silvia???” she heard Hyori’s voice and quickly brought the walkie talkie towards her mouth.

“YES!!! IT’S ME”

“Where are you right now?? Over” Hyori asked, her voice seemed hurried.

“I’m-” Silvia looked around. “Near Webb Tower! Over”

“Ok, listen to me very carefully” Hyori started, her voice difficult to be heard due to the noises the machinery kept doing. “Me and Namjoon think there’s something wrong. Be careful! We are currently on our way to the cinema department, the next clue sends us there. We’ll wait for you in the entrance ok? Over”

“What do you mean something is wrong? But ok, I’ll be there! Over”

“We’ll explain once you’re with us again.” Hyori said. “But please be careful. Keep talking to us from five to five. Over!”

“Ok! On my way. Over” Silvia answered before tightening her grip on the walkie talkie and running down the street.

12

Holly had been separated from her group quite a while ago. The last thing she remembers being Jimin trying to protect her and Cara from some scary zombies who were trying to catch them. It all felt like a fun game of catch until one of them dragged her away towards the grove and tied her up, her eyesight being compromised since they put a sack on her head. She felt like she was being taken somewhere since she could feel she was inside of a car, she could also feel there were other people inside it with her but she didn’t know who since she had a gag on her mouth keeping her from asking questions.

When the car came to a halt for the third time, she was dragged again, this time they removed the rope she had on her hands and then all she could hear was the sound of the tires burning in the asphalt. She waited for a few seconds and since nothing happened she slowly took off the sack that was still on her head. Holly felt a little scared while doing so, she was afraid of what she might see, but it turned out to be nothing more than an empty and dark street.

Now here she was running towards the cinematic department since she was able to contact Jimin and Cara with the walkie talkie that she kept inside her backpack, and although she was feeling a little dizzy due to the alcoholic beverages she was forced to gulp down on the library (her team didn’t manage to open the locker up) and Jimin kindly offered to go pick her up, she was feeling more alive than ever, a little spooked too, but that was halloween and nothing could stop her now.

“It has been quite a while since she said she was on her way” Jimin said pacing around with his hands in his hips; eyes trailed onto the horizon, hoping Holly would emerge there somehow.

Jimin and Cara had arrived on the cinematic building half an hour ago. A big sign glued on the wall saying for the next challenge they needed all three present, and ever since he saw Holly being taken he started worrying over the girl.

“I’m sure she’ll be here soon, Holly is a brave girl, she’s fine” Cara was sat on the steps of the front stair. The wind softly blowing on her face.

“Yeah but it’s dark and-”

“Are you actually afraid of the dark Jimin Park?” Cara chuckled trying to release the tension the boy was feeling somehow. She knew he was feeling guilty over the fact he let Holly unguarded somehow because a group of people passed by him and he got distracted. And Cara was still curious about why he did such a surprised face but that was a question for another time.

“No but she might be!”

“I think she isn’t” Cara offered a smile. “Once she arrives here we ask her about it and see who wins, what do you think?”

“Yeah sure” he answered but his eyes were still full of worries; his lips caught up by his teeth and his body never facing anything but the horizon.

-

Inside the cinematic department the air was hazy and there was also an unintelligible sound echoing the halls. Group 7 was wandering the halls, Cole once again in the lead since he was a frequent passenger of this department. The lights were out, the three boys were finding their way while following the bloody arrows painted on the floor with their flashlights and as Cole was starting to think it was leading them towards the basement or the archive room as the cinema students would call it.

He wasn’t wrong. He came to a halt right at the door of it, the whole way there Hoseok standing really close to Asa both of them a little spooked out.

“Is this it?” Asa asked. “I was expecting something scarier, I have to be honest”

“I can’t handle anything scarier than this”

“Well, I guess it is a little scarier” Cole pointed the flashlight towards a paper glued on the door. “Look” his flashlight now illuminating the big black letters. “One stays here and the other two go down… in the dark. Wow, what a fun activity!” he looked at his teammates with a sarcastic smile.

“I’m not going down- No oh. Not a chance” Hoseok said, his eyes flickering with fear.

“Then you just have to go there” Cole pointed towards an open space full of small screens twitching and showing different perspectives of a long corridor. Asa kept looking from one to another, he himself wasn’t finding the decision an easy one to make.

“No way I’m staying over there alone! The place looks like a scenery of a horror movie”

“It’s either that or the dark”

“If you stay up you will have to lead us with the walkie talkie, that’s what the rules say… At least it’s a rather backlit place!” Asa presented him the options. “But if you’re scared of staying alone, you can always go down, you’ll be with one of us… but in the dark”

Hoseok’s eyes kept going from the glitching tv screens and the iron made door with the intimidating keep out sign on it.

“Hey guys!!” all of them looked back pointing their flashlights towards the newcomers. Hoseok letting out a few weird sounds, he was definitely the scaredy cat of the group.

“Wow!” Tessa chuckled; her hands serving as shield for her now blinding eyes. “Keep pointing that at me and I might actually become the moon”

“Sorry! We thought it was someone else” Asa clumsily apologised making the girls laugh.

“Ok so I think one of us has to stay outside guiding the other two since down there is basically pitch black and we can’t enter with our flashlights?” Cecilia said, she was reading the rules until now.

“Alone here??” Jae exclaimed. “Not a chance!”

“I’ll do it it’s ok, you guys go” Cecilia reassured them and moved towards the screens. Pressing the button speak of her walkie talkie she tested if it was working. “One, two, one two” beep.

“It’s working!” Tessa gave her a thumbs up.

“Ok, I’ll stay here! It’s ok, I’ll stay with her” Hoseok pointed towards Cecilia.

“Alright! Let’s move then” Cole replied and opened the heavy metal door with a screech.

-

Somewhere in the way team 7 and team 10 went separate ways, both Hoseok and Cecilia guiding their teams to opposite directions. The humid and pitch black corridors giving everyone the chills, and if that wasn’t scary enough the sound of water droplets falling into what seemed like buckets with water inside was the cherry on top of the cake.

Jae and Tessa were holding hands both of them completely blind in the dense and darkened place, they walked slowly, each with a walkie talkie in hands.

Beep. “Guys turn to your right” Cecilia voice was heard through the static noise. “Not now! Walk about four steps straight and then turn”

“Can you see something inside here with us???” Jae asked her; her voice quivering a little.

“I don’t think so. Over”

“Did we take four steps yet?” Tessa asked coming to a stop. Through the little screen upstairs, Cecilia could see them stopping, they were talking but she couldn’t hear them.

“I don’t think so… Did we?”

Beep. “Girls what are you doing? Turn right now” Cecilia ordered.

“Turn left or right? Over” Tessa asked completely lost. Not being able to see was messing with her sense of direction.

Beep. “Left! Over” and they immediately turned left but what came after was chaos.

Tessa screamed once she felt something going against her. And that something screamed even louder. Fearing something was happening Jae crouched on the floor, the only command her mind was able to give her body with the jumpscare.

“It’s us! Calm down, it’s ok!!” the girls heard a deep voice say making them even more scared. A continuous scream still echoing.

“US WHO???” Tessa shouted putting her hands close to her chest as a defense mechanism. “Don’t touch me!!” she let out in surprise when a hand brushed hers.

“It’s Jeremy! Jeremy from the volley team! And Jin!” the owner of the deep voice said trying to calm them down.

Beep. “Girls are you ok?” Cecilia asked worried. She saw the whole scene without a sound.

“YEAH AND JIN!!” Jin shouted; his hands kept wiggling, in his mind if he kept doing that no one would approach him and scare him. “WoOAh”

“Jin? Jin Kim?” Tessa asked, her hand coming to her heart to calm herself down.

“Who’s asking?” Jin answered turning abruptly to his side and then to the other. Eventually Jeremy had to place a hand on his shoulder to make him stop.

“It’s Tessa! From the cinema!”

“Tessa?”

“Who- What is happening?” Jae was still crouched down.

“Carolina’s friend! She was asking for you!!” Tessa answered Jin.

“She was?” Both Jin and Jeremy asked at the same time.

“When we were arriving here she and Yoongi were leaving and she asked me if I saw you! She looked very worried. She asked for Taehyung as well”

“I-I’ll try to catch up with her” Jin said. “Let’s go Jeremy, we already have the thing”

Beep. “Girls?” Cecilia asked again.

“We’re here!” Jae quickly answered. “Everything’s ok, we just bumped on Jeremy”

“Hey! And Jin!!!” Jin scolded.

Beep. “And Jin”

Beep. “You got it?” Sana’s voice was heard and that made Jeremy remember what he had come for.

“Tell her yes!”

Beep. “We got it! On our way. Over” Jeremy said.

Beep. “Let’s go then! We have a game to win people!!” Sana finished the message with a cute chuckle.

“Best of luck, girls” Jeremy said pulling Jin with him.

“The clue is on the floor!” Jin said quickly and winked and then laughed like a mad man over his own stupidity of winking if no one could actually see his face.

Beep. “Keep moving forward now! I see some things on the floor. Over” Cecilia told them and both of them quickly said their goodbyes to the boys and went on walking slowly and tugging at each other’s arms.

Jin and Jeremy kept walking forward this time, the latter on the front since Jin was a total basket case when it came to feeling scared.

“I think we’re almost out” Jeremy said lowly.

“Ya, how do you even know?!” Jin chuckled. “I can’t even see you!”

“I just know man”

“Back there I was so blind and afraid that it felt like I lost you for a second. I was screaming your name but I don’t even know if it was something decipherable”

Jeremy was about to answer, he turned back as if to face Jin to do so but the static noise of the walkie talkie interrupted him. “Boys! To your left now!” Sana said.

Beep. “Right now?”

Beep. “Yes, turn left Jer! Jin, place your hands into his shoulders, like a train that way I will guide him better and you will follow. Over”

“Ya how do I even know where he is…” Jin thought out loud; his hands coming forward to try and find Jeremy.

Beep. “A little forward!” Sana chuckled. “Up! Up! There you go!”

A few minutes had passed, the boys following Sana’s instructions until they reached the metal door once again. She was already there waiting for them but her voice sounded nothing like before.

“G-Guys we need to go” Sana said almost in tears. Jeremy quickly went towards her and gave her a side hug. Jin approaching her too but without knowing what to say or do.

“What happened?”

“The g-game master” she said pointing towards the screen room now completely empty, team 7 and 10 most probably long gone.

“What did he say?” Jeremy asked concerned. Jin’s face going from worried to confused in a small fraction of time.

“I-I” Sana tried but she was really struggling to say out loud what was bothering and disturbing her mind.

“Easy! Is ok” Jin gently rubbed her back. “Just tell us what is happening”

“The game master he- I think he is keeping someone captive” she blurted it out. Jeremy glanced over Jin who chuckled unsure about the whole situation.

“He probably has… It’s supposed to be a fun game after all” he told her gently. “We have a serial killer like Freddy chasing us and then we had the zombies… I mean, it’s scary but it’s the game-”

“No!” Sana interrupted him. “You guys are not understanding!!” she gasped and looked at them a little distressed. “He contacted me saying there was a traitor inside and I thought it was just another riddle but then- then I heard someone screaming for help!”

“Ya… That was just him trying to scary you” Jin shrugged and then looked at Jeremy who was lost in thoughts. “Right Jeremy?” Jin poked him.

“Yeah! Right”

“I’m telling you guys! It wasn’t for pretend, I swear!” Sana pleaded once again.

“Ok let’s do this” Jeremy paused; both Jin and Sana looking at him attentively. “Let’s go to wherever this next clue takes us and try to find other people? Let’s just finish this and see where this whole thing leads us, ok? It’s probably like Jin said, only a prank to scare you.” he finished. Sana wasn’t very convinced, she knew what she had heard, but she nodded and followed the two guys out of the cinematic department.

13

It took a good hour for Cole to find a way of getting out a room where someone trapped him, completely in the dark. Once he managed to break in the door he desperately yelled Asa’s name, his clothes were damped and he had to hold one of his arms (he injured it while trying to break the wooden door trapping him from the outside world). Asa who was almost losing hope, absolutely terrified, was quick to get up on his feet and yell back. It was a trick thing to try and find the other person in the dark, specially inside of what it felt like a cold and infinite labyrinth.

Asa pushed the metal door while offering some support to Cole that was visibly hurt and even the half light hurt their eyes when they passed through the way out.

“Hoseok??” Cole shouted. “Our walkie talkies jammed, man! Someone trapped us inside” they both walked towards the little screen room Hoseok was left in.

“Hobi?” Asa called.

The room was completely empty. No note, no walkie talkie, no backpack, no Hoseok.

“What the fuck?” Cole let out in a breathy way.

“He’s probably outside waiting for us dude, let’s just go there” Asa said and both turned around to get out.

“Oh! Asa!” Hyori’s voice shouted. Namjoon and Silvia right behind her as it seemed they had just arrived to complete the challenge.

“Hyo! Again!” Asa chuckled.

“Where’s Hobi?” she asked glancing over his shoulder.

“He’s probably outside!”

“What…?” Hyori asked weakly.

“What happened dude?” Namjoon pointed Cole’s arm with his chin.

“Me and Asa here were the one’s going down but we got trapped. I had to take a door down to get us out of there…” Cole answered. “Hoseok was supposed to be here but he’s probably outside”

“But there’s no one outside” Silvia stated confused.

“Where’s- Where’s Hobi?” Hyori was starting to panic. The way to the cinematic departement was spent by her and Namjoon talking about Carolina’s weird comments on the graveyard. They got genuinely spooked out and tried the walkie talkies, stating indeed there was something wrong with them. Now she was starting to think that wasn’t the only thing that was wrong.

The static noise that by now freaked everyone out interrupted Asa from saying whatever he was trying to say, his mouth opening and closing at Hyori’s question. “Tik tok players, find the last clue to save your buddy here- MHHnMPHHH HEL-” the beep cut the rest, but by the look on everyone’s faces, they knew it was help.

“Hobi-” Hyori gasped.

To be continued…

[dahniwitchoflight]

Candy 15-17

Alright I know this is supposed to be sad but this feel so ridiculous it’s funny

“He ventures a glance at Dave, who is at the front of the line carrying a smaller casket containing Dirk’s decapitated head. “

why is there a seperate casket for the head, that’s not what funeral homes do xD

“It would be absurd were it not so tragic, and possibly also predictable.” 

“He looks at Dirk’s casket, sitting diagonally in a hole in the floor and popped about 13% of the way open.”

That’s a strangley specific number

Am I to take the imagery of something being diagonal as imagery for a “4″ and then complete it with the 13 to make 413?

Cuz is so, that’s heavy handed and ridiculous probably just as Dirk intended

“ROXY: and give it over to someone whos way more eloquent than me

Dave gets to his feet”

right because Dave is always so eloquent when it comes to delicate emotional matters lol

I don’t know why I’m finding this all so hilarious instead of tragic, maybe because it’s so melodramatic and in a way that feels scripted specifically by Dirk himself

ah, 3 quarters 

3 1/4′s

413 backwards now

“or even worse that he was somehow cosmically fated to become that person no matter what he wanted or did to prevent it “

I’m noticing more and more every time the phrase Cosmically fated is used in some form of Homestuck media its always bringing to mind ideas of Doc Scratch, like he’s the one who said it actually or it’s said in reference to him

so, +1 point to DS = DS again

“Gamzee:  I may not be all up and learned about his life, but I’ve got deep spirital connections to his death.”

yeah you sure do, and we’re not even talking about his decapitation right now aren’t we Gamzee?

This is actually a really solid point that the day “Dirk” died was the day his ultimate self got poisoned through the unholy merger that is Lord English/Caliborn/Gamzee/AR/Equius

So he’s probably been a bastard ever since Lord English started existing, which I mean “I am already here” blahblah means Dirk was very likely like this from the start potentially, but he was probbaly only really a bastard ever since Arquis got sucked into Caliborn/Gamzee

“GAMZEE: ThIs WaS nO cOiNcIdEnCe. It WaS a HiGhEr PoWeR gUiDiNg My PaTh.

GAMZEE: tHeSe PoWeRs MaDe SuRe ThAt I wOuLd Be ThErE, tO rEcEiVe A gReAt WaRrIoR’s FiNaL mEsSaGe, AnD rElAy It To YoU oN tHiS dArK aNd DrEaRy DaY oF dEaTh.

GAMZEE: HoNk!

The clown thrusts his hand somewhere beneath the waistband of his pants and starts obscenely rooting around. He retrieves a piece of paper, crumpled and soaked from the rain outside, and attempts to smooth it out over the lectern. The wet paper breaks apart immediately beneath his oafish clown paws.

GAMZEE: AwWw, ShIzZ. i GuEsS i’Ve GoT tO uP aNd WiNg It!”

yeah that note was probably the last shredded remnants of good dirk since there’s literally no reason to leave a sentimental note like that for his friends, makes sense Gamzee was guided by “a higher power” to grab it and make sure it gets relayed more like ruined to his friends

“KARKAT: THAT WAS HALF A HUNDRED WORDS TO EXPRESS A THREE LETTER SENTIMENT.

KARKAT: I’D SAY HE’S DOING FINE.”

What? How does “I’d say he’s doing fine” translate into “a three letter statement”?

Are they just hamfisting in the threes now or what?

“DAVE: i dunno dude thats

DAVE: a little fucked up actually

JOHN: you think so?

DAVE: yeah

DAVE: dirk was a complicated guy

DAVE: dude obviously had reasons for doing what he did

DAVE: if you go back and just rewrite his decision

DAVE: thats like denying him his personal autonomy

JOHN: huh. i... didn’t think about it that way.“

Yeah if only they’d realize that what Dirk needs is a huge heaping helping of someone pushing back against his dumb decisions for once

Gotta give it to John though, he’s struggling against this drugged up haze so hard, he knows getting married to Roxy isn’t right and tries to think about that

but then he gets caught up in the drugged up candy haze and starts giggling, yeah you guys are gonna be happy alright, happy in a nice little drugged up stupor

lampshaded by John still reaching out to terezi despite being at his human wedding

Aww, trolls don’t have a concept of weddings? well, that makes sense but still

oh man it just keeps happening, this is supposed to be the story where John and Roxy get their love story, but all were actually getting is the faded echoes of what should have been which is apparently John and Terezi

oh god, Jane, jane why did Gamzee have to be your third partner, what the fuck even

I don’t wanna think about Gamzee about in relationships nope this is where I start getting uncomfortable

confirmed jade attempting Blackrom with Karkat, that’s interesting, and she’s bad at it too meaning she must not really have an interest in it

oh wow, she’s really just doing it because she thinks its what Karkat would want isnt she? Girl really is just desperate for love

“Three months later, John is still thinking about his last conversation with Terezi.”

See, this is how you know the JohnRoxy relationship is doomed/not meant to be

John Egbert, lover of Con Air and Nic Cage, has a loving wife and (probably) daughter and NOT ONCE has this narrative shown them OR made the joke, we just absolutely passed over the whole wedding and birth event in one fell swoop of unrequited feelings jam with another woman

Why is Roxy praying? That’s such a weird thing to drop as a small detail, who would she even be praying too?

“What’s bugging him about it is that Roxy didn’t seem to have any suggestions of her own.”

Yeah relationships built on social chameleon-ing aren’t happy for the chameleon either

Yeah John, little bit late to be having this sudden realization that you didn’t actually solve the problem (LE) by running away from it, even if everyone else has accepted that version of events

“ JOHN: you gave me a list of instructions and told me that i had to use my retcon powers to go back to a very specific point in time to defeat lord english when he was still just a kid. “

*THEORY INCOMING KILL BILL SIRENS ACTIVATE*

Wait, is that what Rose said at the beginning? No it isn’t, I remember the bit about John has to go back inside canon and defeat Lord English, I don’t think the method was ever fully explained though, nor the idea that he had to defeat him as a kid, it was never said he had to go back in time, just go back to canon

and that’s not what happened in the Meat timeline either! Nobody went back in time to defeat Caliborn when he was a kid, they just had the big showdown with LE exactly the way Rose is describing that went horribly wrong

this is practically screaming NEITHER Meat or Candy is the true version of events 

Actually yeah, defeating Caliborn really IS the way this should be settled, because it’s also the way that Dirk get saved as well, can’t get his ultimate self tainted if the taint is destroyed before it ever comes into contact with him

also im rereading the prologue now, it’s is NEVER explicitly said that John has to go and defeat lord english’s child form!

She said “you have to go back to canon to defeat LE” NOT go back in time to defeat caliborn

and “you can’t recklessly attack his hulking adult form without the house juju”

not “you can’t attack him as an adult at all” but “you can do that WITHOUT the juju” and describes it being used in the same way that Vriska ended up doing in Meat

yeah, she never mentions any plan to defeat him as a child in the prologue, which probably means Rose only saw a vision of his defeat as an adult as well

It’s gonna be JOHN who gets the idea to go back and kill him as a kid, because that’s how he understood Rose’s instructions!

But this is great, everything is vaguely worded enough that it COULD be applied to a fight against a young caliborn too! but just hasn’t yet!

What if you take the empty cursor and fill it with a young caliborn? instead of unleashing a full one against an adult LE? which proves to be pretty useless in the long run despite Rose’s apparent clouded vision?

Rose even says herself its only purpose is as an empty vessel meant to be filled by something, talk about totally understanding yet missing the point, this is probably what she meant by being unable to see any path beyond the meat or candy routes, she couldnt see the possibility of using the juju on caliborn before everything goes down just like how it was used on John and friends to trap them in there in Meat!

It’s Caliborn’s destined time out spot! Removing him from Canon and from being able to influence it without needing to kill someone who technically hasnt done bad things yet but absolutely will in the future solving the baby adolf problem with Caliborn

Oh man, what if they even trick Caliborn on using it against himself? talk about an earthbound reference, defeat Gigyas (LE) by tricking Pokey (Caliborn)  to trap himself in the "Absolutely Safe Capsule” (House JuJu)

Oh man back on the Candy train though John’s having an absolute breakdown, being infused with that canon retcon power seems to be the only thing preserving his ability to care about stuff beyond this happy drugged up paradise

Earth C has become Homestuck’s Ba Sing Se

“ He braces himself, as if splashing an imaginary glass of cold water in his own face, and reminds himself once again that he has a wonderful life. A perfect life. He’s HAPPY, god damn it.”

You really aren’t John, this is very clear, dousing yourself with some more Void to try and drown that out ain’t helping

[harryandhislips-blog]

art teacher - harry styles

in which, harry is your art teacher.

an uncompleted story.

- MASTERLIST -

CHAPTER ONE

It wasn't until about 7 am after you've jumped out of bed, realizing that you had snoozed your alarm perhaps five times in order to only have ten minutes left to get ready. running to the bathroom to spit out your toothpaste while you buttoned up your shirt was a skill you developed since high school, even though you were quite the organized student, you still slipped off at times.

"emma!" you hear your mom screaming from downstairs, making you speed up and stuff as many textbooks as you can in your bag without even reading the titles- hoping that you magically grabbed the right ones. putting your hair in an awfully made low ponytail, you rushed your body down the stairs, almost tripping twice.

" good god, emma! you stayed up drawing again haven't you?" your mother came closer to you, tugging some hairs behind your ears and propping up the collar of your school uniform. you didn't reply to her and instead, you stayed silent, really not in the mood to argue at this point of time.

your mother was already in the car, honking it as you grabbed your sneakers and ran to the back seat, opening the door and getting in. your mother looked back as she back the car out of the driveway, periodically looking at you with her eyebrows knitted together.

you slightly scuff under your breath as you put on your shoes one by one, making your fingers sting slightly from how fast you did it.

you sighed to yourself as you threw your body back to the car seat, as your mum started rambling about you being late. annoyed, you sat in silence watching out of the car window.

"did you hear what i said young lady??" your mom suddenly said, bringing your attention to her. "you can't keep doing this to yourself, do you hear me?" she said, making eye contact with your threw the car mirror.

" yes mom, i heard you." you quietly mumbled. this wasn't the first neither it was the second time this has happened.

after what seemed like hours, the car finally pulled into the drop off point of the school. it seemed awfully unusual to see the parking lot and the front of the school this empty; there weren't any guys bouncing basketballs, seventh-graders standing in small groups and gossiping, there weren't a wave of flooding cars, and instead, it was quiet and the lot was only filled with a few parked ones.

you sighed, checking your phone for the day, thursday. you mentally cursed as you realized that you were late to your favorite class, art class. now picking up your phase, you run through the halls, almost tripping a couple of times.

you stopped yourself before going into the class to catch your breath, after all, walking into class while you were panting so loudly that it was obvious that you were running would be a bit embarrassing.

finally, taking a deep breath you pushed through the door, walking into the art studio, making the room fill with silence as everyone glanced at the door and to you. trying your hardest not to look at anyone straight in their eyes, you made your way to your normal table

to your relief though, a couple of minutes passed before the room filled with noises again; people talking over each other, paintbrushes tapping against the glass cups, cabinet doors closing with bangs, and chairs scooting roughly against the floor.

you settled your bag down and made your way to the teacher, mr. styles, who was sitting on his chair at his desk comfortably with his arms crossed and his legs spread while he was watching his students doing their tasks. moments later, his gaze fixed onto you as you came closer to his desk.

you still remember the first-ever lesson that he taught to your class. he wasn't dressed fancy, instead he just wore tight, plain black pants with a matching dull belt, a plain dark blue shirt with a black tie. the class was silent as he introduced himself, telling everyone his background. when that was over, he asked everyone to introduce themselves- cracking up jokes there and then that made the class slightly giggle.

both of your eyes still on each other, " why are you late today, emma? " he spoke, not intending to sound harsh in any way. "I woke up late, I'm sorry" you mumbled quickly as you knitted your hands together in front of you out of the nervousness. you hated being late, you were almost always on time except for days like this.

" it's alright by me, but you know I'll have to write it into the records," he said raising his eyebrows a bit for reassurance. he was perhaps the nicest teacher at your school, everyone loved him- he barely gave out any detention unless it was completely necessary and he never shouted at his students, and actually cared for them, unlike other teachers.

" yeah, i know, sorry " you said again, watching him as he was sat in that same exact position from when you first came up to him. " why did you wake up late? " he spoke suddenly, his voice in a slight joking manner as he raised his eyebrows once again, slightly tilting his head as he waited for a response.

you looked up slightly, embarrassed by the real reason you've been up again. by the look of his face though, he knows the right answer, because at this point it has happened over a thousand times. you both are fully aware that he's just teasing you about it, teasing you about drawing till you fall asleep at your desk a couple hours before school starts.

" i was studying.." you reply jokingly back, knowing that he knows you far too much to understand your sarcasm. " you're saying that you weren't drawing till 5 am again? " he says, smiling a little at this point since he is finding this extremely hilarious.

you're not even entirely sure how this became an inside joke between you two, perhaps it was the times you would come into school with the back of your right hand smudged with led marks. or maybe perhaps it was the obvious times you'd come in with your sketchbook filled with new drawings that he eventually saw.

his hands gently run to the keyboard of his computer as he waits for you to answer the question, his eyebrows now knotted together as he inspects whatever the email has said that was on his screen. "perhaps." you mumble, rolling your eyes a bit.

" right, get s'much work done before the bell, but don't worry you can come in at lunch," he mumbles looking at you before once again gazing off to the computer screen, moments later you hear him typing something.

this was your cue to leave, and so you did, turning around you started walking towards your desk. "and, uh, emma?" you turn around to his eyes still on the screen. "yeah?" you reply a bit louder because of the distance you've created between you two. his gaze finally meets yours before he looks a bit lower than your collar, pointing at it briefly "don't forget your tie next time." he simply mumbles, giving you a little nod before going back to typing something. biting the inside of your cheek you nodded, while you finally walked away.

for the rest of the class, you sat silently at your desk, working on your chalk project that was due this week. it had you stressed out to your bones, since of how much you envied chalk because of how hard it was to work with.

groaning in annoyance, you laid your head down onto the desk, closing your eyes deciding to rest for a bit. instead, though, you accidentally drift off and fall asleep; your cheek laid softly on the piece of paper covered with colorful chalk.

10:23

groaning in annoyance, you laid your head down onto the desk, closing your eyes deciding to rest for a bit. instead, though, you accidentally drift off and fall asleep; your cheek laid softly on the piece of paper covered with colorful chalk.

the light nudging on your shoulder slowly wakes you up, you slowly come to your senses to realize whats going on. mr. styles is standing next to your sitting body, his fingertips still lightly attached to your shoulder.

" morning break just ended " he softly mumbles, realizing that you're fully awake now, he walks up to the cabins where he keeps all of his paints and grabs a stack of paper, lightly tapping them against the hard surface, aligning them.

"oh- um, im so sorry- um" you mumbled, your body was still half asleep so you had to think twice as hard in order to cooperate. standing from your chair, you started stuffing your pencil case into your bag. you observed the table as you realized that someone has already put the chalks away, only leaving your artwork behind.

" didn't know emma was such a heavy sleeper " he chuckles as he speaks, walking over to his desk now. you zipped your bag throwing it over your shoulder as you plugged a few strands of hair behind your ear.

"im surprised too, always thought that i was a light sleeper," you say softly, your voice was groggy and your throat was sore- how long did was i asleep for?

 “look, you still have a few days before your chalk project is due, so just concentrate on this one, alright? no one likes working with chalk, except, of course, julian beever." he says, both of you chuckling at the art preference.

" can i come in at lunch? " you ask, your voice so groggy that you have to clear it before it gets worse. " yes, of course, but i wont be here, so you'll be here on your own." he says and he places the pieces of paper that he was straightening earlier into a folder.

" thank you " you say before you see him simply nodding, now putting away the packed folder to one of his shelves. you shoot him a smile that he unfortunately doesn't see, since he has now turned his back to you in order to reach the very top shelf. It puts you in an uncomfortable situation- am i supposed to leave? It felt rude to just leave like this without saying anything so you stood there, watching him and waiting for him to finish.

the hem of his shirts lifts perhaps a little too high, while his pants are down below his torso- for you to see the clear out vision of the grey wristband of the calvin klein briefs. this catches you with sudden shock as you look down quickly, pretending like you did not just see the start of his fucking boxers.

letting out a little sigh, he finally returned to his prior position and turned around giving you a tiny glance before going over and taking another closer to his desk again. " y'know, emma, you have to stop giving your sleep time away to draw, as much as you like it- it's unhealthy " he says bluntly, still not looking at you as he was going to the cabin and grabbing another stack of paper.

you said nothing and instead stayed silent, guilt running over you.  " i know. " you softly mumbled before looking down to the floor again not wanting to accidentally meet his eyes.

" i have history in ten minutes, i have to go, sorry, again." you quietly spoke while you eyed the clock on the opposite wall, from the side of your vision you could still see him walk over to his desk. hearing the familiar thud of paper, you looked to where it came from- immediately meeting your gaze with his. his hands were on his waist now and he looked rather concentrated while looking at you- " perhaps, history with mr. loft?" he asked- moving his hands and crossing them on his chest while he waited for you to answer. you nodded, watching him as he went a little further than his desk into the back room. after a couple of thuds- he came out with a tie in his hand.

" you know how mad it drives him when someone forgets a part of their uniform," he says, reaching out his hand for you to take it. "since when are you a tie dealer?" you say, gently grabbing it from his hand before putting it threw your head, around your neck.

" since high school " he says, raising his eyebrows. both of you chuckled at his statement.

11:30

history class passed in seconds, mainly because your thoughts wandered off- thinking of all of the ideas you could use for your final chalk project. and of course, your art teacher. you didn't let it get to you in any way at all, but you did find him attractive in some point of mind.

you were let out of the class for lunch five minutes early so the halls were still awfully empty which was a big relief to you. after throwing some of your books into your locker, you made your way into the cafeteria.

you sat at your normal table, setting your bag underneath as you pulled out some snacks and your sketchbook. the bell finally rang, making you squint your face from the sudden loud noise filling your ears.

not long later, jaeden joined you. you two were friends since kindergarten, but drifted apart afterwards towards high school. this school year though, you became close again, since you two both had b lunches.

" hey " he said, taking off his bag as he grabbed your attention making you lift your head up from your sketchbook. " hey " you said, chuckling, because of how weird it sounded coming from your mouth full of chips. " you coming to the football game tonight? " he said, wiggling his eyebrows, clearly proud of the fact that he's on the team.

" you know i'm not a fan of sports" you said, closing your sketchbook to pay full attention to him. " yeah, i know, emma. but it's not like im asking you to play" he obnoxiously ran a hand through his hair.

jaeden might seem like the typical dick guy at this point, but he's actually quite not. apart from being on the football team, he was into drama and literature he was nothing like the typical jock-who-only-has-two-braincells-and-screams-in-the-hallway stereotype at all- and that's what you found quite fascinating about him. he wasn't a player either. his whole life he had only had two girlfriends and both of the relationships lasted longer than a year.

" just come for me, yeah? " he says, trying to give you a puppy look. " i might " you say, rolling your eyes as you gave in. his smile faded as you started to pack your stuff back into your bag, after seeing that it was already been ten minutes since lunch started.

" you're going to the art room again, aren't you?" jaeden said, teasing you as he took another bite of his chicken. "kind of have no choice" you said, no swinging the backpack over your shoulder. " have fucking fun" he said, sighing.

you walked into the completely silent and dark room. With your hands in front of you, you somehow found a light switch, quickly turning on the lights before making your way to your usual table.

grabbing everything you need, except aprons. for some reason- they weren't where they usually were (on the small set of racks beneath the sink). so you had no other options but to work without it, and probably  get your uniform dirty.

with a deep sigh, you started working on your piece again, trying your hardest not to make a mess onto your shirt.