#i heard litter flying everywhere

[actual-corpse]

Being a sexy beast who tries their best to spoil his cats is an awful lot of work for such a small woman.

[pascal-princess]

[ playing dangerous ]

a/n: this is my first ever fic so pls be kind!! also not proofread so any mistakes i apologise.

— warnings : dark fic (18+), joel isn’t what you think in this, domestic abuse! (not joel), drugging, dom!joel, big!joel/small!reader, age gap (not mentioned but it’s there, around 26 years), kidnap if you squint ig. + plus tommy.

“Joel it’s all kickin’ off next door man”

Tommy’s voice filled his ears through the phone as he sighed… not again… surely.

“What this time?”

“It’s that dude, I ain’t gotta clue what his problem is but she’s gettin’ the brunt of it yet again” Tommy’s eyes scanned through the blinds that were peeled apart by his fingers, peering into your window trying to get a good visual of what was going on.

This had been going on for the past few months, your boyfriend Rick had a bad gambling addiction… and based on his results you’d either get pounded brutally into the bed as his victory celebration, despite your cries. Or… like today; a hissy fit which every time without fail, resulted in bruises and tears, as his anger at his loss seemed to be all your fault.

This time; tommy could hear the heavy thuds of furniture being thrown across rooms, and twinkles of glass that smashed beneath your feet. He could hear the soft whimpers and sobs that left your body as Rick practically screamed at you.

“it’s all your fault you fuckin’ bitch, you make me do this”

“Joel what do i do, man? I can’t jus’ leave er’”

“Stay where you are, I’m comin’ home”

Joel hung up the phone and got into his pick-up truck and began the short drive home; he knew you were a sweetheart, a soft innocent angel who wouldn’t hurt a fly. You always smiled at him and even once baked him cookies, which he admired for a good few days before throwing his diet out the window, consuming the gooey chocolate chip delights you made. He couldn’t understand why you stayed, why you let Rick treat you the way he did. He also couldn’t understand how Rick could treat you such a way.

Maybe you were secretly an awful person, he thought… or hoped. Because the thought of someone as kind and caring as you receiving the exact opposite just because of the fact that you won’t fight back killed him inside. He refused to admit the feeling of jealousy that ached inside of him; but he often thought of what it’d be like to hold you at night, to be the man to make you smile, to wipe away your tears instead of being the dick that caused them.

His anger grew more and more as he approached his driveway, speeding up a bit as he swerved in and pulled to a halt, the tires screeching against the concrete. He threw open his door and made the short walk to your front porch, knuckles thumping against the wood as he waited for a response… that was when he realised… silence.

He banged again and called your name this time, willing you for a response. You could’ve heard a pin drop, and it was scaring him.

He was just about to kick the door down when he heard the lock of the door flick, and watched as it slowly peeled open, too slow.

“Joel?” your cracking voice called his name and he could’ve burst into tears himself.

“Sweetheart, ya’ alright?” he pushed open the door a little more to get a view of your face, and god he wished he hadn’t.

“Honey” He sighed, eyeing the swelling bruise that imprinted itself onto your cheek, the redness of your face from crying just intensifying it.

“Joel, please just go” you kept yourself hidden, yes, Rick was gone. He walked out as soon as he was finished releasing his stress, with the words “i’ll be back later” but you still felt the quivers of fear make their way through your body.

“I can’t do that, you know i can’t” His hands were placed on his hips as he scanned everywhere he could for more marks, and all he could see was bruises, old and new, littered across your arms. Even the softness of your feet covered in dried blood from stepping on the glass.

When that caught his eye he knew you needed attention.

“Right, you’re comin’ over so i can get ya cleaned up” He reached for your hand but you pulled back abruptly.

“I can’t, Joel. I can’t leave”

“Then i’ll carry you”

“You don’t get it!” you raised your voice a little louder to get the message across.

“You’re right, I don’t get it. But I ain’t gonna leave you alone right now so you either move, or I move ya myself”

You sighed, knowing he wasn’t gonna let up, so you made the brave decision to step outside… wincing as your feet made contact with the hard stone below you. Joel was there right away, scooping you up into his arms and hoisting you on one side of his hip as his other hand closed your front door. He eyed you for a moment, making sure he wasn’t hurting you before making his way over to his house.

All the fear coursing through your veins dulled as you felt joel’s touch, he was much bigger than you which at the start intimidated you, but now all you wanted to do was crawl into his embrace and let him take care of your problems.

Joel was one of your favourite people; when you moved in you two immediately hit it off, becoming very quick friends. From what you heard from Tommy, Joel wasn’t the type of person to be overly nice to everyone he meets, but you were different. He would always help you out when you had issues with the plumbing or gas, as Rick was never interested in doing any of that. He would bring over leftovers for you as he knew you struggled to eat after a particularly bad fight. Basically anytime Rick wasn’t there, Joel was. Insisting on taking care of you when things went wrong. Helping you get out of bed, and brushing your hair for you on the worst days.

Tommy was already waiting with the front door open, allowing Joel inside as he carried you through the threshold.

“She alright?” Tommy asked and Joel nodded slightly, taking you through to the kitchen and perching you up on the counter, picking up your leg and inspecting your foot for the first time.

“You gotta’ start wearing shoes, sweetheart”

You gave a slightly amused breath at his words but he wasn’t laughing in the slightest. He was angry.

Angry at me? you thought

He moved to one of the cupboards, pulling out a first aid kit and making his way back to you, pulling a stool over and sitting in front of your legs, pulling your feet into his lap and getting to work with the antiseptic.

“ouch!” you winced as the stinging made its way through your body.

“I know babygirl, m’sorry. i’ll just be a little minute more and then you’re done, m’kay?”

That was another thing that was unusual with Joel, his affection towards you. It was clear that he cared about your feelings, maybe it was just because he knew that you didn’t get much at home… or maybe… just maybe…

“All done, sweet girl” you were pulled from your thoughts as he placed the bloodied cotton pads onto the counter beside you and you winced internally at how much blood there actually was. He picked up a thin bandage and began to wrap each of your feet. making sure the cuts were covered.

“Thank you” you spoke quietly, even when he was finished he still held your feet in his lap, the warmness and softness of his jeans bringing you comfort. It made you yawn and made your limbs stretch slightly.

“You tired?” he asked. You shook your head, you knew he’d have you sleep here if you asked but you didn’t want an excuse to stay any longer, on the off chance that Rick was already on his way home.

“I better get going” Joel’s hands held onto your hips as you slid down off the counter, your feet feeling way better touching the floor than before.

“She ain’t leavin’” Tommy’s voice interrupted the both of you, you turned to face the younger brother who was standing in the door way, essentially blocking your exit.

“I-I have to”

“No frickin’ way!” Tommy protested, raising his voice a bit.

“Tommy” Joel warned.

“No, absolutely not! You think we’re gonna let you go back there after everything that sick son of a bitch has done? You’re fuckin’ crazy”

“You don’t understand” You spoke softly, a whimper caught in the back of your throat.

“No you don’t understand! You wanna fuckin’ die huh? You got some sorta death wish?” Tommy was stepping closer to you, not with the intention of intimidating you but out of pure frustration with you.

“Tommy! Back the fuck off” Joel stepped forward now too, both brothers exchanging looks that told you this had been more than a one time conversation. You couldn’t help the tears that burned your eyes, begging to be released, your lip wobbling with every breath.

Tommy was an incredible friend to you, but he was the harsher one out of the two brothers when it came down to you. Joel was better at hiding his true feelings but Tommy, wouldn’t let you hear the end of it.

“What if one day we ain’t there huh? what’s she gonna do? who’s she gonna run to? If she ain’t already dead by that point” his words were harsh and brought all your emotions to light.

“Stop it! please!” you burst into tears, chest tightening as your sobs began to wrack your body.

Joel was immediately at your side pulling you into his embrace tightly and running his hand through your hair, whispering sweet words.

“M’sorry, honey. But you ain’t leaving tonight and that’s final” Tommy spoke before disappearing into the hallway.

“He ain’t tryna be mean sweetheart” Joel whispered as you clung to him.

“I-I know” you spoke hiccuping through your words.

“He’s just worried about you, and so am I”

You pulled away from Joel’s embrace, wiping your eyes. Of course you knew it was wrong, Of course you knew you could get seriously hurt or end up dead. But if it was that straightforward you would’ve been gone a long time ago.

“Can you at least stay until i get some painkillers in ya’?” Joel asked, and it wasn’t a big ask at all… but to you it felt like a hefty question. But it wouldn’t hurt right? You could take the painkillers then head straight back home as if nothing happened.

You nodded and Joel gave a soft smile, and took your hand, leading you through the house and up the stairs.

“I keep everythin’ in my bathroom cabinet, jus’ better that way” he seemingly answered every question you had without you even having to ask.

He led you to sit on his bed as he went into the bathroom, rummaging for a few moments before returning with little white capsules in his hand, he reached into his night stand and grabbed an unopened bottle of water, twisting the cap and handing you both items.

He watched you carefully as you took the pills, swallowing them with water and taking a few more chugs of the water as you didn’t realise how thirsty you were. You handed the bottle back to him and he placed it back on his nightstand.

His room was so cozy, you had never been up here before. Shades of grey and black accented the room, lights dim and sheets soft, his bed big enough for 4 people never mind just him. You could tell this room probably wasn’t his idea as Joel wasn’t one to prioritise his own comfort. It was so cozy that your eyes began to droop, and your head began to sway.

“Lay down, babygirl” Joel instructed and even came to your side to aid you but you pushed him off.

“Nuh-uh I can’t, have to go home”

“Just lay down for 5 minutes, c’mon i don’t want you passing out” he insisted.

“M’kay, 5 minutes” He helped you lay down as you got comfortable on his plushy sheets, it was almost unusual how sleepy you were. You felt your eyes begin to shut against your will and felt your breathing begin to slow. You were falling asleep, but no matter what you did you couldn’t stop it from overcoming you. Your body drifting into a deep slumber before Joel’s eyes.

If only you’d of seen the bottle of sleeping pills sat out on his bathroom counter.

-

When you woke, it was way darker outside, an ambient light flashing through, you squinted for a minute until you realised it was police lights. You searched your surroundings realising you were wearing a t-shirt and bottoms that did not belong to you, and you were also laying on joel’s pillows, the covers atop of you. You threw the covers off and began to stand up, your sleepiness still coursing through your body. how long did i sleep?

You padded towards the window, looking out and gasping at the sight of Rick being pushed into the back of a police car, his protests actively ignored by the officers, you began to start panicking but something caught your eye, or someone.

Tommy stood on the front porch, a cigarette hanging from his lips as he watched the car drive down the street, the officer driving giving him a wave as they passed… they know each other?

“You’re awake” your body jolted as you spun round to face Joel, who stood in the middle of the room holding a mug of what looked and smelled like tea. He motioned for you to take the mug but you ignored him, eyeing him with a look of betrayal.

“I know you didn’t want this sweet girl but i-”

“Didn’t want this? Joel do you have any fucking idea what you’ve just done? He’s gonna get out and he’s gonna come straight for me, do you understand that?” you ran your hands through your hair, pacing back and forth and contemplating all of your options.

“Hey, hey, hey” Joel sat the mug down and walked over grabbing a hold of your shoulders and pulling you to him. “He ain’t gonna hurt you no more, understand”

You looked into his eyes and saw nothing but pure sureness in his eyes.

“He comes anywhere near ya i’ll kill m’ myself”… again, the sureness… but something else lurked in his irises, something dark.

“You’re not killing anyone Joel” you pulled out of his grip and began to walk away, searching for your lost clothes, rummaging through his wardrobe and under his bed.

“Where’s all my stuff?”

Joel sighed and walked over to you again.

“It’s in the laundry, why are you so desperate to leave? He’s not here anymore” You heard the frustration in his voice but why was he angry at you, it meant you could go home peacefully.

“Because it’s my home, Joel”

“This is your home” He said plainly, which in any other circumstance would’ve been sweet but you couldn’t shake the feeling of something being wrong.

“That’s kind Joel but I really gotta-”

“You think now that i’ve got you i’m just gonna let you go?” He chuckled.

The air shifted as you looked into Joel’s eyes that seemed to have nothing but pure lust for you, he had been drinking.

But it wasn’t until your eyes caught the little orange pill bottle sat open on the counter that it finally clicked. And he noticed when it clicked. His eyes followed yours and he sighed at his mistake, before giving a slight scoff.

“Sorry, probably shoulda’ put that away before”

“Joel?” You grew more and more frightened as the seconds grew by, this wasn’t your Joel. This Joel had something dark and malicious about him.

“Hey, it’s alright sweetheart” he came up and held your face in his hands…

“I’m gonna take care of you now”

-

a/n: please let me know if you want a part two i’d be happy to write one! any comments and reblogs are so greatly appreciated thank you so much for reading.

love, mila🎀

[the-traveling-poet]

Soft Touch

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Just another average day in the Scouts, or so you thought. When messes are created, you try your best to clean them before your Captain sees and loses his shit. Again.

Little did you know, a broken plate in the mess hall would bring you and Levi closer together.

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Pairing: Levi Ackerman x Reader (using Y/N-L/N)

Warnings: None, just slow burn fluff for our lonely Cap’n. Mild language use.

(SFW)

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A/N: First writing post, not sure how this will go over but we’re giving it a shot nonetheless (:

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Great, something else to piss him off further.

Despite the soft glow of midday sunlight filtering in through the windows of HQ lighting up the halls with soothing golden light, and the clear blue skies outside base that promised yet another warm and relaxing beautiful summer day for those in the Survey Corps to enjoy, you were worried.

Everyone had woken up that morning to an average day in the Corps. Everything was as it had always been, and always should be.

Early morning training, a quick breakfast, running errands for the higher ups, sparring practice before lunch time rolled around....Everything was peaceful since no expeditions outside the walls had been planned anytime soon, and everyone adorned a smile on their face and let lose a laugh or two.

But only when he wasn't around.

And that's what had gotten you into this current situation.

You stood before a mess on the dining hall's floor. Plates, bowls, and a couple mugs had been hazardously tossed off a table after lunch and onto the stone floor below, shattering them and scattering food everywhere. You sighed, then nealt down to begin clearing the shards of ceramics before wiping and mopping away the food stains.

Please don't come in here....Please don't come in here....

Ever since their early morning training, everyone had taken note of Captain Levi's foul mood. It seems he had woken up on the wrong side of his bed and was taking it out on the world. Curses would fly, extra work loads would be handed out as punishments for those who had slacked off to enjoy the weather or joke with their peers, and many scoffs and defeated sighs were heard leaving his mouth as he took over the sparring courses for the day.

Everyone knew on days like this, it was best to just do as he said quickly and without question or complaint, less you risk making the situation worse.

You wondered what it was this time, that had gotten him so worked up. The last you’d seen of him was at the beginning of lunch in the dinning hall. Instead of taking a seat and eating a meal with his co-captains, he stomped into the kitchen, grabbed a fresh mug of tea, and stomped back out. Most likely, you assumed, to return to his office.

Perhaps I should go check on him? Is that appropriate of a cadet?

You had cleared the ceramic shards and placed them in a small bin you retrieved from the kitchens, and set to work on the leftover scraps that now littered the table's bench and the floor below.

Just then, the large wooden doors leading into the dining hall opened, and you stiffened. The footsteps at the door paused for a second, then a tired sigh echoed the otherwise empty room from the person who entered. Immediately, you were on your feet and spun to face them, trying your best to hide the disaster behind your frame.

Captain Levi stood at the door, one hand on the brass handle he still held while the other came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. His sharp eyes snapped up to your face and narrowed. You were quick to salute him.

"Captain! Can I help you?"

He took a moment to answer, his eyes wandering over the mess you were so poorly hiding with your body.

"Was this you?"

You winced and turned your eyes back to the food on the floor, feeling guilty despite this mess not being your fault.

"No, sir. But I'm taking care of it as quickly and efficiently as I can, sir."

Levi seemed to ponder a moment before signing once more. He rolled up his sleeves as he made his way over to you, eyes trained on the mess.

"Go fetch some gloves from the storage room. You'll either cut yourself on those shards, or dirty your hands in that shit." He said absentmindedly.

Now that he was closer to you, you could clearly make out the dark circles forming under his eyes, and red veins webbing across the sclera of his eyes. His hair wasn't neatly combed as it always seemed to be, and his clothes were slightly wrinkled.

He didn't wake up on the wrong side of the bed; he never went to bed...

"Yes, sir," You saluted and hurried out of the room. Once you returned as quickly as you could, Levi was already near the table with another scrap bucket and white cloths covering his head to protect his hair, and over the lower section of his face to shield his nose and mouth. Shaking your head at the undeniably adorable sight, you briskly walked over to him and handed him his gloves.

"Thanks, L/N," he mumbled as he slipped them on.

"Of course, Captain," you nodded.

Suddenly, he sighed deeply once more.

"Captain this, Captain that. It's all I've heard for three straight days. Just Levi, please," he groaned.

You paused as you reached for some bread crusts to throw into the bin. You was at a loss for words and just stared blankly at him.

"Don't make me repeat myself brat, I hate repeating myself."

"Uh, yes sir! Levi, sir." You managed to stutter out a responce.

"Now, let's get this shit cleaned up before another brat decides to come in here and trip over this or make it worse." Levi grumbled as he tossed scraps into the scrap bin.

You hummed in agreement, too lost in your own thoughts to respond.

He seems a bit more approachable right now...Perhaps now would be a good time to offer him some help?

"Cap- Levi, sir?" You began slowly.

"What." He barely spared you his attention, but you could see he was listening.

"Well...I wondered if you were alright?"

His eyes snapped up to yours in an instant, a slight indent in his brow.

"What do you mean, L/N?"

"I just mean that, you seem on edge today? And I wondered if there was something wrong." You rephrased yourself quickly, fearing his reaction.

Levi thought for a moment, studying your face intently. "I'm fine, Y/N. Get back to cleaning."

Just as Levi's hand reached for a half eaten bagel on the floor, you blurted out; "You haven't slept for awhile, have you?"

The look on his face made you immediately regret you boldness.

But instead of saying anything, he just sighed and turned his gaze away.

"Can't seem to. Too much work, too many troubling thoughts."

He went to lower his facial cloth, but forgot his gloved hand had recently been picking through discarded food scraps on the floor. A dark stain was left on his cheek from where the glove had made contact with his face.

"Son of a bitch!" He ripped the cloth off his face and the glove off his hand as he let curses fly. It seems he had finally reached his limits, and his frustrations were now being taken out verbally to the food on the floor, as if it was the cause of all his pains and misfortunes. If he wasn't so down, and you didn't care for him so much, you might have laughed. But instead, you thought of something else.

Impulsively, you took your own gloves off and grabbed a handkerchief from your uniform coat pocket and reached out to wipe the stain away.

When your hand came into contact with his face, Levi flinched, and then stiffened. His mouth hung half open in surprise and his eyes widened almost comically. Taking this opportunity of silence from him, you gently wiped away the gunk before discarding the handkerchief into the scrap bin.

For a moment though, you let your now bare hand trail across his cheek and was amused to see the rising color in his face.

"Levi?" you asked softly.

"Uh-I...What?" Levi stammered, trying to compose himself. He was obviously caught off guard.

"Let me help, okay? You're not completely alone here in HQ." You smiled bashfully.

Levi was silent a moment longer, then nodded with yet another tired sigh. But this time, you could have sworn it sounded more like a quiet sigh of relief.

"I....I'd like that, Y/N. Thank you."

And for the first time, you saw Levi crack a small, brief smile of gratitude. The corner of his lips lifted ever so slightly, but his eyes showed the emotion behind his minute smile.

Perhaps you’d get to see his smiles more often now that he was allowing himself to warm up to his cadet a little more.

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[avatar-anna]

I swear I could read prof y/n content all day longgg!

Could we get an angst moment? Love a bit of drama hahahaha 🤪😂

prof and h angstttt plsssss

enjoy! xx

The Professor Series

Harry knew Y/n. He knew her favorite authors and composers; he knew her favorite constellations, how she liked to sleep curled up into a ball when she had stomach cramps, and how she took her tea; he knew she wore mismatched socks, that her Southern accent returned when she was tired or tipsy, and that she had a little freckle on her hip; he knew she worked really hard but wanted to try to take herself less seriously sometimes; he knew the things that made her laugh and what she got excited about; he knew what places to kiss to make her blush and that she appreciated when he listened to her lectures before she gave them, even if he didn't quite understand.

It was safe to say Harry knew his love, inside and out.

But the person he was faced with now he almost didn't recognize.

It wasn't uncommon for Y/n to be asked to consult on particularly difficult cases that local police departments were struggling with. Y/n often looked over the case files and any other bits of information as it came in, gave her profile, and that was that. Each case lasted about a week, maybe more, but they always had successful outcomes.

Harry had been away on tour while Y/n was teaching in Cambridge. They missed each other obviously, but Harry started to worry when he didn't hear from her for almost two weeks. A few days wasn't out of the ordinary, mostly because Y/n forgot to respond to texts or answer a phone call, but she usually got back to him within a day or two; if she was working on a particularly difficult case, maybe more.

But this was a whole two weeks. They’d never gone that long without talking to each other. There had been no fights or disagreements that would warrant a silent treatment from Y/n, so it couldn���t have been on purpose. But Harry couldn’t come up with a reason that was good enough for Y/n to not speak to him.

So, despite the pushback from his management team, Harry rescheduled a couple shows so he could fly home and see what was going on. They didn't want him to leave, but Harry couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.

Harry arrived at Y/n’s townhouse late at night. The door was unlocked, which was almost as unusual as the mess he found in the front room when he came inside.

He'd never seen Y/n's home in such disarray before. Books were scattered everywhere, takeaway cartons and half finished mugs of tea and coffee littered every surface in her kitchen and living room, and all the curtains were drawn closed, casting the whole space in a stuffy gloom. Harry almost couldn't believe his eyes. Y/n scolded him when he didn't use a coaster, and now there was week-old food sitting on her coffee table.

Y/n was nowhere to be found, though, which meant she was in her bedroom. Harry worried about what he would find on the other side, but whatever was going on with her, she needed him.

She was sitting at her desk, her back to him as she bent over it and read something. She didn't even flinch or turn around when the door opened, like she hadn’t even heard Harry come in.

“Y/n, darling,” he said.

She turned, tired and unfocused eyes landing on Harry without much emotion. “Oh. You’re here. Did you call?”

Harry had never seen her so out of it before. He suddenly realized that Y/n wouldn’t have known what day it was let alone the last time they’d spoken. He felt completely out of his depth, but he tried his best to tread lightly.

“No. No, I wanted to surprise you. How—How are you?”

“Busy,” Y/n said immediately. “I have this really difficult case, so I can’t talk right now.”

He guessed as much, but even difficult cases Y/n had worked on in the past never reduced her to this. Her hair was a tangled mess at the nape of her neck, she only had one sock on, and he was pretty sure she hadn’t changed her clothes in days. Harry was suddenly glad he listened to his instincts and came here.

“I know it's important, love, but so is taking care of yourself,” he said. “Why don’t you take a break and clear your head? We can eat and watch a documentary or something.”

Harry rested his hand on her arm, but he quickly realized that was the wrong move. Y/n wrenched her arm away from him, her eyes lit with irritation.

“Take a break? I can’t take a break! There is no time for breaks,” she yelled. Harry was immediately stunned. Y/n had never raised her voice at him, or anyone else for that matter. “Young women, someone's wife or daughter or sister is dying, and they will continue to die if I can't figure this out, don't you understand that?”

“I know, that, Y/n. Of course I understand, but you’ll have a clearer head if you—”

“Don't baby me! I didn't ask you to be here, so just leave me alone. I need to work, I need to figure this out, I need...”

She ignored him after that, and Harry could tell that he'd been dismissed. He also knew there was no use reasoning with Y/n when she was this upset, so he left her to her own devices and left her alone like she'd asked.

Going back into the living room, Harry began to clean. He picked up and straightened stray books, folded blankets, threw out old food. He found comfort in doing something rather than just twiddling his thumbs while he thought of some way to reach Y/n like this.

Because the truth was as well as he knew her, he'd never seen her like this before, and he didn't know how to be there for her, or how to bring her out of this darkness she seemed to be in. He knew how much these cases meant to her, how much she valued helping people, but this was different. It seemed almost personal.

By the time Harry had swept the floors and washed all the dishes and fed the Emperor and Faye Winter, who had been lounging on their cat tree—they at least seemed unaffected by Y/n’s unusual behavior—Y/n still had yet to come out of her room. Harry knew then that she wouldn't be coming out at all, and that he should probably get comfortable on the couch.

All night he worried about her. Every couple hours or so, Harry would hear Y/n pacing her room or cursing quietly or throwing what sounded like sheets of paper around after crumpling them up. She was frustrated, that much was clear, but all Harry could do was lay on the couch and listen. In the morning, Harry decided to keep giving Y/n space and went about his day like he normally would when he stayed at the townhouse. He sat and read some emails while the cats cuddled him on either side, he went into town to restock Y/n’s fridge, and he kept cleaning up.

And nothing. Y/n didn’t make an appearance the whole day. Not to eat or acknowledge that he was there or say hello to the Emperor and Faye Winter. Harry could hear her shuffling around in her bedroom like she'd done all night, but she never came out. By the time the sun was going down, he started to worry more than he already had been.

The problem was he didn't know what to do. Harry had never dealt with anything like this before. He thought he had a grasp on reaching Y/n and understanding what she needed and how, but she shut him out so fast and lashed out so intensely. This obviously wasn't a typical case, something must've happened to make her react this way, but Y/n wasn't going to tell him anytime soon.

And there was no one who could give Harry insight either. For all intents and purposes, he was Y/n's family. She didn't have relatives she spoke to regularly, not many close friends, no one who might have ever seen her act like this way before. And her mother certainly wasn't an option; Harry didn't want to give her the satisfaction of having to call her at all, and he didn't think she would know anything about this anyway.

All night Harry stayed up brainstorming. He wracked his brain for someone who might know Y/n and how to help. And when he did, he went to work on tracking them down. Harry had decided on contacting one of her old professors after recalling Y/n speaking fondly of one a couple times. It took time figuring out where he was and how to get a hold of him, but he eventually did. Harry called every ten minutes and left message after message with some secretary until he eventually got through.

“This is Dr. Moore.”

He sounded old, but Harry didn’t take the time to wonder what this person looked like. “Hello. My name is Harry, and I believe you know a close friend of mine. Y/n L/n.”

“Ah yes,” Dr. Moore said. “I haven’t heard from Y/n since she only had one PhD. How is she?”

“N—Not great,” Harry said. He proceeded to word-vomit the whole situation, his stress and anxiety about his love's well-being pouring out of him over the phone. “I—I've never seen her like this before and I'm not really sure what to do. She won't talk to me or leave her room. I was just hoping you might know something or had seen her...behave like this before.”

The professor didn't say anything for a while, hopefully gathering his thoughts. “She's rather well-adjusted for someone who has seen and experienced so much,” he finally said. “But you have to understand that she's...different from the rest of us. She has a gift that no one else has or can really make sense of.”

“She’s more than her intelligence, Doctor—”

“I don’t mean it like that, Harry,” Dr. Moore said softly. “She's a genius, she's brilliant, but that doesn't come without its faults. Many brilliant minds suffer from a little madness, Y/n is no different.”

It was like Harry could hear what Dr. Moore was saying, but he didn't want to believe him. “Y/n isn't crazy.”

“I didn’t say she was. But she has a tendency to be obsessive, loses track of time, hyperfocuses on a singular subject. Surely you've noticed that.”

“Yeah, but...It’s never been this bad, I mean, this is extreme.”

Harry didn't like the professor's insinuations, or how helpless he was making him feel. Harry knew Y/n, he knew her. She wasn't mad, she wasn't sick, she just needed a little help.

“I realized quite early on that Y/n never took failure...lightly. For someone like her, being wrong is a tough pill to swallow. Perhaps start there?”

“Right, thanks,” Harry muttered. This phone call was a bust. All it gave him was more stress.

He was about to hang up the phone when Dr. Moore spoke again. “Harry, Y/n is exceptional, and that doesn't come without its own bevy of...adversities. But Y/n is strong, and she has a good head on her shoulders, even after everything she's been through. I imagine just showing that you're there for her will be enough. Don't crowd her, but be close enough to catch her when she falls, as you've already done. Her family was never patient enough to love her the way she needed, I hope you can be that for her.”

Harry hung up after that, not having anything to say to the professor. A glance at his phone told him it was three in the morning, but he got up from the couch and chanced going into Y/n's room anyway.

She was pacing and muttering to herself incoherently, but Harry didn't let that bother him. Y/n noticed him but said nothing, and neither did he. He just got into bed, picked up a book off her nightstand, and began to read.

Y/n was quiet for a moment, and Harry could feel her gaze on him, but he kept quiet, and she eventually went back to pacing. It wasn't easy, but Harry did his best to just ignore her, have his presence known without talking to her directly like Dr. Moore suggested. He hoped that Y/n would come to him in her own time.

His eyes burned, begging him to finally go to sleep, the words on the book in front of him blurred. He was exhausted, but he was determined not to lie down. Not until Y/n was in bed next to him.

“You know, sometimes I find it helpful if I talk about things out loud.”

An invitation to open up, a small one after about an hour of silence. He didn't really expect Y/n to take the bait, but she did, kind of.

“What do you mean?”

Setting his book down, he said, “Well, all your thoughts are swirling around in your head. It might be helpful to just say them out loud, like bouncing a ball against a wall.”

“O—Okay.”

She began to explain in loose terms what she was working on and what her thoughts were about the case. And once she started, it all came pouring out of her. “I—I failed. I gave a profile, they arrested someone, but it was the wrong person. I’m—I’m never wrong.”

“It’s not your job to make the arrests,” Harry said gently.

“People are relying on me! Women are continuing to die at the hands of some monster because I can’t—because I couldn’t—”

Y/n shook her head and went back to her desk, shuffling pages around. Harry sighed. He knew what the problem was, but now he knew for certain that Y/n wasn't going to rest until she fixed her mistake. He didn’t bother trying to convince her that this wasn’t her fault, that would be useless right now. But he had to do something.

Getting up from the bed, Harry trudged over to the desk. He rested his hands on either side of her and rested his cheek on top of her head. “Are you so sure that you were wrong and the police weren’t?” he asked.

“They would’ve found the right person if I was right. I must’ve missed something,” she said, shaking her head.

“More than one person can fit a profile, can’t they?”

Y/n exhaled harshly through her nose. “That’s what I tried to tell local police, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m—I’m missing something.”

Harry kissed the top of her head and began to knead the tension out of her shoulders. “Did you think you were right before?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Give me a percentage.”

“Ninety four.”

Whistling, he said, “I’d take those odds.”

“These are people’s lives, Harry, not a craps table. Lives are being lost because—”

“Because terrible people exist,” Harry interrupted. “You didn’t kill those people, Y/n.”

She wiped at her eye harshly. “I can’t help but feel responsible,” she sniffled.

“I know,” he said. “But I believe in you. I believe you can figure this out. But not by running yourself ragged. You can’t work like this.”

“I can’t sleep,” she said, voice trembling. “I won’t. Not until—”

“Okay,” Harry said.

Harry made himself comfortable on the floor beside Y/n’s desk. He was exhausted, his back hurt from his night on the couch, but he couldn’t go to sleep. Not until she did.

“What are you doing?” Y/n asked him, brows furrowed curiously.

He tilted his head back and gave her a sleepy smile. “You stay up, I stay up.”

Y/n looked like she wanted to say more, but her focus was quickly pulled back to the papers on her desk.

Harry didn’t remember falling sleep, but one minute he was watching Y/n work at her desk and providing noncommittal hums as she bounced ideas off him, and the next he was blinking his eyes open, his body stretched out on the floor. There was a pillow under his head and a blanket strewn across his body, an extra pillow beside him. Y/n was sitting in front of him with her legs crossed, a mug in her hands as she watched Harry sleep.

“Wha—What happened—”

“You fell asleep around 5:15,” she said, taking a sip while Harry sat up. His back popped and strained, clearly not a fan of another sleep on something that wasn’t a bed. “I would’ve carried you to the bed, but you’re a bit heavy for me.”

As his head cleared, Harry noticed that Y/n’s hair was wet and her eyes were clearer. She was in a fresh set of clothes and her desk seemed relatively put together.

“Did you figure it out?” he asked, his voice still scratchy with sleep.

Y/n nodded. “A little while after you fell asleep. I got an email about an hour ago. They arrested the right person.”

“That’s good,” Harry said, squeezing her knee. “That’s good, right?”

“Yeah, I just, um, I just got a different email. From an old professor.”

“Oh.” Well, that didn’t take long. “What did he say?”

“That he had the most interesting conversation with a close friend of mine,” Y/n said. Setting her mug down, she tugged her knees to her chest. “I know what you’re thinking.”

Harry could barely focus on anything but his stiff neck, but he tried to shake his head. “I’m almost positive you don’t.”

“There’s nothing wrong with me,” she said. “I—I don’t need to be fixed.”

“That—That’s not what I’m thinking,” Harry said frowning. “I don’t think that at all, Y/n.”

“Then why did you call him?”

Harry rubbed at his face tiredly. “I wanted to help you. I didn’t know how, so I asked for some help of my own.”

“I don’t need to be handled like some child.”

“Two weeks, Y/n,” Harry said, voice sharpening the slightest bit. Because for a moment, Y/n had frightened him. Not because he thought she was crazy or mentally unwell, but because he didn’t know how to reach her, and he always knew how to get through to her. “I didn’t hear from you for two weeks, and I come back here and the house is a mess, you’re not eating, you’re driving yourself—”

“Don’t say it!” she blurted. “Don’t say that I’m crazy, Harry. I’m not. I just...get a little sidetracked. I’m not—I’m not crazy.”

Harry could see it in Y/n’s face, then. The fear. She didn’t want him believing what she already believed about herself to some degree. He wondered how many times someone had told her that she was, or implied it. Harry had a feeling no one had ever taught her how to fail, or accept failure. Y/n was exceptional, but she wasn’t perfect, no one was, but she’d been brought up believing her knowledge had no bounds. She was taught how to fly, but no one taught her how to fall, and when she did, they blamed her for not figuring it out herself.

“I don’t think you’re crazy, because you’re not,” he said. “But I do worry when I you don’t come out of your room for a few days. I’m allowed to worry.”

Y/n had been looking down at her lap, but when she finally looked at him, there were tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Harry let the corner of his mouth curve into a smile. “For making me sleep on the couch yesterday? Water under the bridge.”

Y/n’s responding grin was small, but it was there, and Harry found himself wanting to make it bigger.

Joining him on the floor, they both laid back down. Y/n rested her head on Harry’s chest while he wrapped his arms around her. For a few minutes, they didn’t say anything, but before he fell back asleep, he found himself saying, “You know, I know I’m not as smart as you or anything, but I do know a thing or two about work ethic. I can help you find a balance.”

Y/n gave no indication that she agreed or disagreed. For a moment, Harry thought she’d already fallen asleep when he felt her nod. “I’d like that. But I think...I think I need to take some time off. Maybe just focus on teaching for now.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I want to,” Y/n yawned. “I want to scale back. Just teach, travel, maybe get a Master’s degree.”

Harry laughed. Only Y/n would think going back to school for another degree would be considered “scaling back.” But he couldn’t be prouder that she was taking the right steps to treat herself better.

“I think that’s a good idea,” he said. He kissed the top of her head as he waited for her to respond, but she didn’t. Y/n kept quiet, her breaths keeping time with his until he realized she was asleep. Breathing a sigh through his nose, Harry stared up at the ceiling and hoped she had a dreamless sleep.

[curiositymemes]

STICK SEASON: WE'LL ALL BE HERE FOREVER.

taken from the 2023 album by noah kahan. trigger warnings for mental illness, trauma, medication, references to suicide, and the exquisite agony of life in rural new england. feel free to change wording and pronouns and provide context as necessary. do not add to this list.

northern attitude.

how you been? 

you settled down?

you feelin’ right? 

you feelin’ proud?

you settle in to routine.

what does it mean? 

i’m not how you hoped.

you’re gettin’ lost.

scared to live, scared to die. 

you’re feelin’ lost.

stick season.

you must’ve had yourself a change of heart.

now i am stuck between my anger and the blame that i can’t face.

it’s half my fault, but i just like to play the victim. 

i’ll dream each night of some version of you that i might not have but i did not lose. 

i thought that if i piled something good on all my bad i could cancel out the darkness i inherited from dad. 

i miss the way you laugh.

you once called me forever now you still can’t call me back.

that’ll have to do.

my other half was you.

i hope this pain’s just passin’ through, but i doubt it. 

all my love.

how have things been?

well, love, now that you mention it.

i’m sayin’ too much, but you know how it gets out here.

now i know your name, but not who you are.

it’s all okay, there ain’t a drop of bad blood.

you got all my love.

if you need me, dear, i’m the same as i was.

what i’d give to have you out of me.

i still recall how the leather in your car feels.

and at the end of it all, i just hope that your scars heal.

i swear i was scared to death.

i smiled stupid the whole way home.

you said, ‘i’ll never let you go.’

she calls me back.

there was heaven in your eyes. 

everything’s alright.

look at me and don’t you lie.

don’t you hold your head up high.

for bullshit, i do not have time.

do you lie awake restless?

why am i so obsessive?

this town’s the same as you left it.

the radio is taunting me.

i don’t get much sleep most nights.

i’m seeing you in every dream.

if only i could fall asleep. 

i’ll love you when the oceans dry. 

i was too afraid of living life in your footsteps.

come over.

it was there when we got here, will be there when we leave.

you won’t have to guess who they’re speakin’ about.

i’m in the process of clearin’ out cobwebs. 

i was takin’ the wrong meds; feels good to be sad.

my house is just barely big enough for my family.

my mouth was designed for my foot to fit in it.

i promise you, darlin’.

you won’t ever go back.

i know that it ain’t much.

i know that it ain’t cool.

you don’t have to tell the other kids at school.

someday i’m gonna be somebody people want.

new perspective.

makin’ me nostalgic.

we were kids; but that don’t make this less hard.

if i could fly i doubt i’d even do it. 

i’d probably get high and crash or somethin’ stupid.

gave me your word.

i can’t pronounce it.

no thing so sure that i can’t learn to doubt it.

everywhere, everything.

would we survive in a horror movie?

we trust everyone we meet.

we’re littered with scars from our preteens.

i wanna love you ‘til we’re food for the worms to eat.

‘til our fingers decompose, keep my hand in yours. 

i know every route in this county.

maybe that ain’t such a bad thing.

i’ll tell you where not to speed.

it’s been a long year.

orange juice.

honey, come over.

it’s yours if you want it.

we’re just glad you could visit. 

feels like i’ve been ready for you to come home for so long.

i didn’t think to ask you where you’d gone. 

why’d you go?

my heart has changed and my soul has changed.

you just asked me to hold you.

it made you a stranger and it filled you with anger.

my life has changed.

the world has changed.

don’t you find it strange that you just went ahead and carried on?

are we all just pullin’ you down?

strawberry wine.

darling, speak to me.

don’t you say a word.

you thought you were cursed?

i’m in love with every song you’ve ever heard.

if i could lose you, i would.

all the time we used to have.

the things i miss but know are never coming back. 

no thing defines a man like love that makes him soft.

growing sideways.

finally found some middle ground.

i said, ‘i’m cured.’

i divvied up my anger into thirty separate parts.

i’m still angry at my parents for what their parents did to them.

it’s a start.

but i ignore things and i move sideways ‘til i forget what i felt in the first place.

i know there are worse ways to stay alive.

everyone’s growing and everyone’s healthy.

if my engine works perfect on empty, i guess i’ll drive. 

i forgot my medication, fell into a manic high.

now i’m sufferin’ in style.

why is pain so damn impatient? ain’t like it’s got a place to be.

if all my time was wasted, i don’t mind. 

i’ll watch it go.

it’s better to die numb than feel it all.

halloween.

the dawn isn’t here, the sun hasn’t rose.

they got money to make and children back home.

i worry for you, you worry for me.

the bridges have long since been burnt. 

i’m leavin’ this town and i’m changin’ my address.

i know that you’ll come if you want.

i’m losin’ myself.

i’m seein’ my life on a screen.

i know that you fear that i’m wicked and weary.

i know that you’re fearin’ the end. 

i only tell the truth when i’m sure that i’m lyin’. 

homesick.

are you bored yet?

the weather ain’t been bad if you’re into masochistic bullshit.

this place is such great motivation for anyone tryna move the fuck away from hibernation. 

time moves so damn slow i swear i feel my organs failing.

i stopped caring ‘bout a month ago, since then it’s been smooth sailing. 

i would leave if only i could find a reason. 

i got dreams, but i cant make myself believe them. 

i’ll spend the rest of my life with what could have been. 

i will die in the house that i grew up in.

i’m homesick. 

still.

i don’t wanna say goodbye.

it only falls into place when you’re fallin’ to pieces.

you miss something that you can’t place but you can’t deny it. 

you can’t stay here.

it’s hard to face and it feels too ugly.

it’s like i’m still here with you. 

can i fix what is broken?

the view between villages (extended). 

for a minute, the world seems so simple.

i am not scared of death.

i’ve got dreams again.

there is meanin’ on earth. 

i feel so far from it.

it’s all washin’ over me. 

i’m angry again. 

the things that i lost here, the people i knew.

they got me surrounded for a mile or two. 

i found a town big enough for anything i want.

i’m not a city girl, by any means.

it still has a lot of meaning to me.

i grew up there. 

your needs, my needs.

you ain’t gotta tell me what it means.

i promise to be there this time. alright? 

you were a work of art.

that’s the hardest part.

i’m naming the stars in the sky after you.

dial drunk.

i promised to forget you.

i ain’t takin’ any fault.

am i half the man i used to be? i doubt it.

forget about it, whatever.

it’s all the same anyways.

i ain’t proud of all the punches that i’ve thrown. 

for the shame of being young, drunk, and alone.

i gave your name as my emergency phone call.

i’d die for you.

from charmin’ to alarmin’ in seconds.

i’ll let the pain metastasize.

i beg you, sir, just let me call.

let’s wait, i swear she’ll call me back.

son, are you a danger to yourself?

fuck that, sir.

son, why do you do this to yourself?

paul revere.

this place had a heartbeat in its day.

nothin’ was the same.

it just ain’t that simple, it never was.

one day i’m gonna cut it clear.

i’m not from around here.

i’ll leave before the road crew’s out. 

i’ll turn up the music and i’ll forget.

i’m not ready to let go yet.

i’ll just pretend i didn’t hear.

it’s typical, i fear.

folks just disappear.

if i could leave, i would’ve already left.

no complaints.

i thought i had something and that’s the same as having something.

i get mad at nothing.

i pull no punches, then feel bad for months.

thought i was raised better, tried to fake better.

now the weight of the world ain’t so bad.

i saw the end, it looks just like the middle.

i filled the hole in my head with prescription medication.

who am i to complain?

now the pain’s different. It still exists, it just escapes different.

yes, i’m young and living dreams.

i’m in love with being noticed and afraid of being seen.

call your mom.

oh, you’re spiralin’ again.

don’t you cancel any plans.

stayed on the line with you the entire night ‘til you let it out and let it in.

don’t let this darkness fool you.

i’ll drive all night.

i’ll call your mom.

oh, dear, don’t be discouraged.

i’ve been exactly where you are.

if you could see yourself like this.

you’dve never tried it.

stayed on the line with you the entire night ‘til you told me that you had to go.

throw a punch, fall in love, give yourself a reason.

don’t wanna drive another mile wonderin’ if you’re breathin’.

won’t you stay with me?

you’re gonna go far. 

this is good land, or at least it was.

it takes a strong hand and a sound mind.

it makes me smile to know when things get hard, you’ll be far from here.

pack up your car.

put a hand to your heart.

say whatever you feel.

be wherever you are.

we ain’t angry at you, love. 

you’re the greatest thing we’ve lost.

the birds will still sing.

we’ll be waiting for you, love.

we’ll all be here forever.

we spent so long just getting by.

that’s the thing about survival; who the hell likes livin’ just to die?

you told me you would make a difference.

it won’t be by your own volition if you step foot outside this town.

it’s all we’ve had for always.

you’re gonna go far.

if you wanna go far, then you gotta go far.

forever.

let’s drive for no reason.

you look fine in the evening.

honey, it’s starting to storm.

used to wish i meant anything to anywhere, to anyone.

i’m glad i get forever to see where you end.

i won’t be alone for the rest of my life.

i’ll meet a girl in the heat of july.

i’ll tell her so she knows.

i’m broke, but i’m real rich in my head.

when i hold her close, i might loosen my grip, but i won’t ever let her go.

[whositmcwhatsit]

AN: I'm so sorry this has taken so long, but it wouldn't have appeared at all without the cheerleading, suggestions, alphaing and nudging of @thatbanditqueen. Basically, it's all her fault, send complaints her way. As always, all feedback is welcome, encouraged and enjoyed. Previous Chapter Chapter 10: All the Silly Girls

Chancy almost immediately regretted refusing Joe’s offer to get her a hotel room, even more so when she got to the desolate airport and found out that she had to wait six hours to get any flight in the general direction of home.

It was very early in the morning and the smattering of people littering the lounge had all had their faces painted with the same expression of watery annoyance. She couldn’t sit, feeling her chest tighten as all the shaken pieces of the night settled down on her, so instead, she walked laps around the airport until the little news kiosk opened and she could distract herself with gossip magazines.

Gradually, life seemed to awaken. She watched work-minded people in suits appear and families with cameras around their necks corralling over-excited kids.

At some point, music started playing over the speakers and she grimaced as she heard the opening notes to “Suspicious Minds.” He was everywhere!

Not long before the flight was due to start boarding, a page came over the loudspeaker, calling her to the information desk. She wasn’t completely surprised, and she steeled herself as she made her way to the desk. A disinterested woman gestured to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey Chancy, that you?” Charlie sounded hungover, his voice hoarse and cracked. She wondered if he had been dragged out of bed to make the call.

“What’s up, Charlie?”

“Aw, nothin’ much, darlin’. I’m gonna go ahead and send someone down to pick you up, alright?”

Chancy pulled the receiver back and looked at it as though it was crazy since she couldn’t do the same to Charlie himself.

“I think that’d make catching my flight a lot more difficult, Charlie.”

“Look now, I know something went down last night and I don’t know what exactly happened, but you know how these things go, Chance. It’ll turn out everything is a big misunderstanding and everyone got all heated for no reason.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so, not this time.”

“Come on back, darlin’ and we’ll sort this out.”

Chancy sighed and ran her fingers through her limp, tangled hair. The idea of grabbing a shower and collapsing into a bed did sound enticing, but all the rest…

“Did he put you up to this?”

“Mmhmm, I guess so,” he answered vaguely.

“And he’s there right now listening?”

“Uh huh. So, I’m gonna send Dick to pick you up-“

“I can’t come back, Charlie,” Chancy interjected. “It’s not that I’m mad. Well… no, I am, but I’ve got to have some pride, you know? The tour’s nearly done anyhow and he can probably fly someone in for the last few dates.” She forced a little laugh. “I heard there’s a tall blonde that’s eager for the job. Look, I gotta go, they’re saying we’re boarding.” She hung up as her voice started to sound strangled, her throat tightened and tears prickled at the back of her eyes.

When would she learn? When would the hurting stop? With any other repetitive injury, callouses formed to protect you, but not when it was the heart. That relied on you being smart enough to not keep making the same mistake over and over.

Standing at the gate, waiting in line to board, she noticed an older lady giving her a curious look that faded into disapproval. She glanced down at herself, still teetering on white chunky heels and wearing her white silk gown. She looked like the personification of the morning after, used and rejected. Her head was pounding, her mouth tasted disgusting, and her insides felt even worse.

After take-off, she asked the stewardess for a blanket and tried to sleep it off, but she couldn’t turn off her brain. It kept returning to the early days, when her relationship with Elvis had still been sweet and tinted by the rosy glow of first love. 

Shivering in her dress under the thin, cheap airplane blanket, Chancy thought about the old days and wondered whether dating Elvis had ever been simple, or if it only seemed that way.

Early Fall 1955

It was just before nine when there was a knock on the door. Alicia was laying prone on the couch, feet wiggling in the air as she read one of Chancy’s magazines, and Chancy cleaned up the mess from girls’ night with Margie and Barb. The girls always came over on Tuesday evenings because Grandma was out late at church with the woman’s club, and this reprieve gave the girls time and space to gossip and make plans without whispering or provoking Grandma’s tutting and lectures on virtue.

Chancy snatched up Margie’s sweater from the table, smiling to herself at her friend’s forgetfulness, and opened the door. Her face dropped in surprise as, instead of Margie, there was a tall, beautiful man in a pink sports jacket leaning against the door jamb.

“Hey baby, you gonna let me in?”

Chancy gasped and snatched his arm, yanking him through the door. Elvis laughed as they stumbled into the hallway and he practically fell against her. They kissed without thinking, like it was the natural next step. Chancy thought her body was just trained that way by now.

“When did you get home?” she asked when they finally broke apart, then smacked his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” He laughed again, impossibly delighted with himself.

“Only got back this morning, we drove all night. Ain’t my baby happy to see her guy?” He buried his face in her neck and inhaled, making her squirm.

“Of course I’m happy to see you!” She grabbed him by the neck and kissed him hungrily, loving the way he turned so pliant as soon as she took charge. When they broke apart, they stood back and just drank in each other with their eyes. Then the forelock of his hair fell down, still slightly curly from that experimental permanent a few weeks ago and his eyes were a little shiny with those little creases on his high cheekbones that betrayed his exhaustion.

“You look tired,” she observed, lifting her hand to meet his as he reached for her.

“You sound like Mama. I slept all day, I’m fine. Came over to see if you wanted to go for a drive?”

“I can’t, Grandma’s out at a church meeting and I gotta watch Alicia.” His eyebrows lifted and his stance changed completely as soon as he realised they were unsupervised.

“Oh, okay.” He tightened his fingers around hers and led her back into her own house. 

In the living room, Alicia was still deeply engrossed in her article on Jimmy Dean. Elvis turned to Chancy and put his finger to his lips and tiptoed over to the sofa like he was a character in a cartoon.

“What are you doing reading that, young lady?!” He snatched the magazine from her, and Alicia shrieked high and loud enough to rouse every dog in the city. This was, of course, hilarious to Elvis, who almost fell down, he was laughing so hard. Every time he managed to straighten himself up, he would look at Alicia’s indignant face and start himself off again.

Chancy snatched the magazine from him and smacked him across the back with it, inviting Alicia to come help her fetch some drinks and offering her a cookie to smooth her ruffled feathers.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Lil’un,” Elvis said, squeezing the nine-year-old into his side with his arm around her shoulders. “You know I was just fooling around. You ain’t sore, are ya? Not with your little old Elvis?” He pouted his luscious lips and Alicia relented, smiling around the cookie. “I knew you couldn’t stand to be mad at me for long, you’re just like your sister.” He winked at Chancy, who tried to roll her eyes but her pink cheeks and growing smile gave her away.

Back on the sofa, Chancy couldn’t help looking at him and grinning. It felt a little like Christmas having him home finally and all to herself. Almost.

“You know, some of the girls were talking about you at school the other day,” Alicia informed Elvis. “They were saying that you were the most and that you were gonna be more famous than Pat Boone. Then Frannie in my gym class said that you were dating her sister, but Kathy Jean said that you were dating her cousin.”

“Heck, no wonder I’m tired,” Elvis remarked. “And what d’you say to all that, honey?”

“Well, Chancy said I’m not allowed to talk about you two being steadies and that you’re gonna get married. She said it’s private.” Alicia pulled a face that showed exactly what she thought about that.

“Naw, you can set ‘em straight, honey, You tell ‘em I only have one sweetheart.” He dipped his head down to kiss Chancy’s cheek, nuzzling down to her neck with the tip of his nose. She could feel his arm tighten around her as he pulled her against him and she had to nudge him in the side with her elbow to get him to pull back. He sighed slightly and turned back at Alicia, who was looking at them with an expression of fascination.

“Are you really gonna be more famous than Pat Boone?”

“Well, I hope to.”

“Are you rich?”

“Hmm, not yet, but hope to be.”

“Will you move to Hollywood and live in a mansion with palm trees and a swimming pool?”

“Well, maybe I’ll get my own swimming pool right here, what d’ya say?” He gave Chancy a soft smile and she rested her arm on his leg, feeling the tense muscle of his thigh against her forearm as he jiggled it constantly. Even worn out he couldn’t stop moving.

“What about tennis courts?” Alicia continued.

“Wait a minute, are you a reporter?” he asked, squinting at her with playful suspicion. “What’s with all the questions?” 

Alicia shrugged and finished her drink, her eyes studying him intently. There was obviously more of an interrogation coming.

“Elvis, can I live with you guys when you marry my sister?”

Elvis grinned, his fingers twitching against Chancy’s shoulder. He adjusted his hand so that they were brushing her neck, his thumb tickling from her ear down to her shoulder and back again.

“Hey, I thought it was you and me getting married, Lil’un?! Wait, is this you breaking up with me? Wow, way to let a guy down easy!” His voice was high and playful as he reached over and tugged one of Alicia’s plaits.

“I’m only nine!” she returned, frowning at him like he was crazy. He tilted his head and nodded at this as though this was a serious consideration, though his eyes were glittering. “You’ll have to wait and I guess I can marry you next.”

Elvis threw his head back and roared with laughter, his breath hitching as he collapsed against Chancy. “Oh Lord, you got it all worked out, don’tcha!”

Chancy rolled her eyes at the two of them and pointedly told Alicia that it was time for bed.

“She’s a gas,” Elvis remarked, already twisting on the sofa and clasping Chancy’s face, kissing her softly and then harder like he was trying to check she was really there. Chancy didn’t answer, sliding her arms underneath his and pulling him in tighter. It was never enough, she could never hold him tight enough to keep him still and keep him with her, but she could also never stop trying.

“You know, I was dreaming about you earlier today, honey.” He pulled back and looked down at her, his eyes dark and heavy-lidded.

“No, you weren’t.” She could feel her cheeks throbbing and she shifted a little closer to him.

“Don’t tell me what I was or weren’t doing,” he retorted. “I’m telling you right now, I dreamed about you. I know it was you, baby.” 

“How?” she countered. “How’d you know it was me and not one of those pretty girls you met on the road?”

“’Cause I don’t dream about no girls on the road,” he muttered scornfully. He tugged her hand, almost pulling her face first into his chest. “Look at this here hand, this itty bitty hand was for sure in my dream.”

He leant down and kissed the first knuckle of her index finger and she inhaled sharply. She caught the sparkle in his eyes as he looked up at her through his brows and felt his lips stretch against her skin into a smirk. He kissed her finger on the next knuckle, his breath tickling her skin. She pressed her thighs together as he leaned in, his other hand gripping her hip through her skirt.

“What else,” she whispered.

“Hmm?”

“What else was in your dream?”

“Oh. Well… I don’t know if I should say.” Chancy blushed as he placed her hand on her lap and stretched his arm out, his calloused fingertips finding her ankle and dragging up her calf.

“You been good while I was gone?” he murmured. His finger slid in a swoop around her calf muscle, which tensed and twitched, and into the dip at the back of her knee. “Ain’t been doing nothing that’ll break my poor ole heart now, have you?” There was a hard backbone to his playful babyish tone that told her he wasn’t fooling around, supported by over a year of hard-won experience.

“Now Elvis you know what category they’re looking to vote me in the yearbook next year, don’t you?” she returned in the same tone. “It’s a new one. ‘Most likely to die an old maid waiting for Elvis Presley to marry her’. But let me tell you, there’s stiff competition.”

He gave a little laugh that sounded slightly sheepish. “Now, you know that ain’t true.”

“It is too true! I see those girls in the papers just like everybody else.”

“You know that’s all for publicity, baby, it’s all made up!” He was playing up his ‘aw shucks shy boy’ act, maybe too tired to remember that Chancy saw through it like a window pane.

“Yeah, I know I know,” she muttered, sounding unconvinced.

Elvis didn’t seem to realise that she was older now, a mature woman of seventeen, and she talked with the girls at school, who were dating boys off doing their duty in the service, or at college. They all talked about how boys were different, weaker and more helpless against their urges. A girl had to accept that a man’s eye may stray when he was away, it was natural, but it was important that he was true in the ways that mattered, in his heart. Her friend Margie had even brought in a dime store book about love gone awry from tawdry affairs.They had to keep it hidden because it had a picture of a woman in just her slip reclining against a desk with her suited boss looking like he was about to make an advance.

But Chancy didn’t need books. As a child, she had witnessed the pain it caused a woman when she had a man that wasn’t true to her. She had seen the bitterness that had sprung from her mother’s humiliation, the poison that fermented and seeped into every aspect of their lives. She had promised herself she would never end up like that.

“Come on now,” Elvis cajoled. He softly sang a few lines of Patti Page’s ‘Why Don’t You Believe Me’: “How else can I tell you, What more can I do, Why don't you believe me, I love only you.”

At the final sweet note, she smacked him in the chest, making him turn it into a wheezy groan.

“That ain’t fair!” she told him, half-seriously. “You know you win every time you do that!”

He laughed in a knowing way, before gritting his teeth and grabbing her by the biceps to give her a quick shake.

“You gotta believe me though, honey” he said in a flat voice, a jarring change of tone to his abrupt ‘attack’. “I ain’t dreaming of no other girls and certainly ain’t loving ‘em, nothing like that.” She felt him slide his fingers between hers and pull her closer for a kiss and she sank willingly. They barely heard the rattling of the door.

“I’m home! Whose car is that out front?”

By the time that Chancy’s grandma had shed her coat and purse and come into the living room, they were both standing up straight in the living room looking incredibly guilty. Chancy could almost feel the pressure of her grandmother’s eyes as she checked their clothes to ensure they didn’t look rumpled or hastily buttoned.

“Elvis, it’s good to see you, son. I didn’t know you were back.”

“It’s good to see you too, Grammy. Well, I- I just got back today, it was supposed to be something of a surprise you see. I didn’t let on to nobody that I was coming.” He awkwardly clasped his hands together at his groin, glanced down at himself and then hastily put them behind his back. 

Chancy bit down on a smile. The man could play to huge crowds but he still got nervous facing a tiny grey-haired lady.

“I bet your mother sure was pleased to see you. Give her my regards, won’t you?” There was a long pause as they registered the polite eviction notice.

“Oh, yes, ma’am.” He nodded with the entire top half of his body and turned to Chancy. “I-I guess I’ll be going then. It was nice to see you, ma’am.”

Chancy started to lead him to the front door, and as soon as they reached the hallway he sped up and pressed himself against her back, his large hand splayed against her belly. Chancy exhaled loudly.

“Is that your car out front, Elvis?” They broke apart as Grandma decided to accompany them to the front door.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s the love of my life right there.” Chancy glanced over her shoulder and shot him a playfully indignant look and he shrugged, his expression seemed to suggest that he had no control over what he was saying. “I mean, yes, it is.”

“Well, it’s very fine.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Both he and Chancy stood awkwardly on the doorstep,it looked as though Grandma was going to play spectator while they said goodbye, but after warning him to drive safely, she went back into the house.

Chancy tilted her head and gave him an apologetic look. “Will I see you tomorrow?”

“Baby, can’t you come for a drive?” he whispered, grabbing her hips and pulling like he was going to bundle her into the car no matter what she said. “It’s still early.”

“You know I want to, honey, but…”

He hurried forward and stepped up onto the doorjamb with her, crushing her mouth and her body against him.

“You’re going to drive me crazy, you know that. Just flat out insane.”

“You’re already certifiable,” she returned, linking her hands behind his neck and rumpling his upturned collar.

“Well, you know what a crazy person’d do?” He scooped her up and turned as if he was about to take off with her. “You’re so little I could hide you in the glove compartment. No one’d know.”

“I think that if you tried that Grandma would make sure you ended up locked in your own trunk.” He sighed, nodding in acknowledgement, and released her so that she was standing on her own two feet.

“One day, Cha Cha, one day…” He squeezed her cheeks, gritting his teeth as he looked at her squashed pout, before kissing it. She could feel the tension thrumming through him.

“I know,” she sighed. She gave him one last, sweet long kiss and fixed his collar. “I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

He climbed into his car, still looking pouty and sad. It made her heart ache. “I love you, love you, love you. Really, I love you, baby.”

Chancy watched the pink and black Cadillac disappear down the street, smoothing the front of her skirt and trying to will down the frustration, hunger and sadness that were coursing through her. She reminded herself that she loved her grandmother and didn’t want to strangle her. Likewise her sister. She could wait until tomorrow. After all, they had forever.

The present

By the time Chancy finally saw her sister and niece at the arrival gate, she had spent the majority of the day on planes, waiting for planes, or getting on and off them. She forced herself to show a little enthusiasm as she came down the tunnel, ignoring the way that her shoes were rubbing the backs of her heels.

Alicia took one look at her and seemed to size up the situation even if she didn’t understand it. She grabbed Chancy’s bag from her and turned to lead her out. Four-year-old Faye was excited to see what present Auntie Chancy had brought back from her vacation and Chancy was quick to pull out the candy and teddy bear she had grabbed from the airport gift shop during her last layover.

In the car, Alicia finally gave in to her curiosity.

“You know, when I couldn’t get a hold of you the past couple of weeks I imagined some pretty wild things, but joining the Rockettes was not one of them.”

“Did it take you all the time from the gate to just now to think of that one?”

“Well, I was gonna go with Vegas showgirl, but I kinda wanted to say ‘Rockettes’.”

Chancy smiled in spite of herself. “Look, I’m sorry about not calling. It just got a little crazy on the road and I lost track of time.”

“Yeah, that’s what Elvis said.”

“What?”

“Elvis. He called me- When was it- the day before yesterday and I was so surprised I thought someone was pulling my leg at first. You know, in all the time I’ve known him I don’t think he’s ever called me personally.”

“What did he want?”

“Well, I’d been calling all over trying to reach you and no goddamn soul at any one of the hotels said they had a record of you having a room. I mean, they wouldn’t even confirm that Elvis was staying there. Lord, Grandma might have had one of her headaches if she’d heard the way I spoke to some of the receptionists on the phone.

“Anyway, out of the blue, Elvis called and he was teasing me like he always does, saying that I’d hassled the front desk so much that they’d told Joe he should call the FBI because I was a crazed stalker. And he knew it must be me because I’d been in love with him since I was seven years old.”

Even in the retelling, Alicia was absently touching her face and had two spots of colour on her cheeks.

“So that’s it, he called you because you upset the hotel?”

“Oh, no, so we caught up. Boy, I always forget how funny he can be. Then he says that Joe will give me the details of how to reach his room whenever I needed to. I said that was sweet of him and I was honoured and all, but I really needed the number of your room because I needed to speak to you.”

Chancy felt her stomach start to sink.

“Well then he couldn’t get me off the phone quick enough. He said he’d get you to call me and he hung up on me!”

So, he had known that she hadn’t told anyone about the two of them. She imagined that had not gone down well. She wondered how much that had fed into what he had done, but the truth was that trying to follow Elvis’ logic was like chasing a raindrop down a window.

“I was kidding about the Rockettes, but you’re okay, right?” Alicia shot her a sideways glance as she negotiated traffic. “You look-“

“Like I’ve been catching planes since the early hours of this morning? Yeah, I know. It was just one of those things, you know how it goes.”

It wasn’t the first time that Chancy and Elvis had fallen out. It was not even the first time that she had argued with him and caught the next flight home, but it felt different this time. It was different. And in the days afterwards, it felt like she was recovering, beaten up and healing, from a terrible accident or an operation.

It must have seemed that way to others too, because Grandma kept making her ambrosia salad and serving up extra portions of food at every meal, and Alicia gave her a free cut and blow dry which was usually reserved for first dates and birthdays. It made Chancy think she must seem really pitiful, but nobody actually said anything or pressed her for details, because that was not how things operated in her family.

“Tell the truth, Grandma, were you surprised?” Chancy asked as Alicia’s new boyfriend Cliff navigated around the potholes marking the unmade road to their house in the failing light. It was a week later, and Chancy had finally begun to feel somewhat normal again. At least physically.

Her grandmother gave a demure smile and replied, “Of course I was, it was a lovely surprise.”

Chancy had been dubious about the idea of a surprise birthday party when Alicia had suggested it. Celebrating someone living all the way to eighty by taking them to a strange place in the dark and yelling ‘Surprise’ at them unexpectedly seemed a recipe for disaster, but she had to concede Alicia’s point, the lady did deserve to be spoiled.

Organising the party had been a decent distraction for Chancy too, though not as taxing as she had hoped. She still had far too much time to think. Little by little, she came to view the time on tour as a strange waking dream, an answer to the ‘what-ifs’ and the daydreams that floated up on random, dreary days. It was proof that you could never go back. She tried to tell herself, as optimistically as she could manage, that it had been a conclusion added fifteen years after the fact. A fitting conclusion that reaffirmed that she had made the right choice leaving for once and for all.

And then she saw the fleet of Cadillacs in the dirt driveway in front of the old ranch house.

Well, shit, her brain supplied helpfully.

“What’s all this?” asked Grandma. “Not another surprise?”

“Uh, not just for you, Grandma,” Alicia replied, glancing curiously at Chancy, who was trying to sink down in her seat.

“There’s gotta be nearly fifty thousand dollars’ worth of cars out there,” Cliff marvelled, peering through his windshield. “Lord almighty, what is that?!”

“That is a Stutz Blackhawk,” Chancy informed him. “And the last thing I wanted to see today.”

“God, it’s a beauty!” Cliff barely put on the parking brake before he was out of the truck and circling the car.

Sonny was leaning against one of the Cadillacs smoking and he nodded at Chancy as she climbed out of the truck and turned to help Grandma down from the step.

“He ain’t gonna shoot me for looking, is he?” Cliff asked, pausing his circling as he noticed the shoulder holsters.

“Probably best not to try and find out,” Chancy replied, ducking her head to hide her smirk as Cliff’s panicked expression.

Opening the front door, they followed the noise to the kitchen where Elvis, his cousin Billy, Charlie and the whole contingent of Stanley boys were sitting at their kitchen table apparently drinking coffee with their housekeeper/tenant Ruth and her husband, Harold.

“Surprise,” Alicia trilled awkwardly under her breath, shrugging in answer to Chancy’s questioning look.

“Hey, there she is!” Elvis observed with playful exasperation like they were late to an appointment. “Happy birthday, Grammy!” He rose from his chair and circled the table to give Grandma a hug.

If Cliff had been astounded by the cash value of the automobiles parked outside, Chancy could only imagine his wonder at the amount of twenty-four karat gold standing in the kitchen.

 Always one to dress for an occasion, Elvis was wearing a cream suit with a blue silk shirt and a gold ring on every single finger, not to mention a twisted gold necklace that looked like a bolero tie and his usual ID bracelet. Just one of the rings on his fingers could have paid the property taxes and resurfaced their driveway with a new kitchen bought with the leftovers.

“Thank you, it’s lovely to see you, Elvis… and friends,” Grandma said pointedly, but Elvis was too busy kissing Alicia’s cheek and meeting little Faye to hear or respond to the polite prompt.

“By God, this family makes pretty girls, don’t it, Charlie?” he marvelled, glancing over his shoulder at Charlie, who was quick to pick up the cue and concur enthusiastically. Chancy was only surprised he didn’t do it in harmony.

She only had a second to panic when Elvis turned to her, wondering if he would skip her altogether or, worse, say something, before he smoothly pecked her cheek with his soft lips and withdrew, leaving her in a mist of confusion and his cologne.

“Now, Grammy, I got you a gift,” Elvis said in his serious ‘about to recite a psalm or overwhelm you with information about his latest fascination’ voice. “But I couldn’t get the guy to deliver it sooner than tomorrow. Something about unions and overtime. So, just so I didn’t show up empty-handed, you see the white Cadillac out front?” He adjusted his sunglasses and hung a keychain from his index finger, gently bringing up Grandma’s hand so that he could drop it into her palm. “It’s yours.”

Grandma put an overwhelmed hand on top of her head like she was actively trying to stop him from blowing her mind.

“Look here, Elvis, you can’t be throwing your money away on an old woman like me…” 

Elvis laughed, his face breaking into that dazzling, irrepressible expression that you couldn’t help but try to mirror, and squeezed her into his side.

“‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God’, you know that one, don’t you?” he murmured down to her ear.

“Matthew 19:24,” Grandma nodded solemnly. “Amen.”

“Besides, pretty lady like you needs a fancy car to go on all her dates in style.”

Chancy beamed as she watched her grandmother flush pink and regress about sixty years as she swatted at his arm.

“C’mon, Grandma, let’s go take a look at your new car,” Alicia suggested, sending Chancy a meaningful look. Though Chancy wasn’t sure what the meaning actually was.

Everyone followed and stood on the porch as the tiny old lady primly perched in the extravagant boat of a car. Somehow, Chancy found herself standing next to Elvis though she had been forcing herself not to look at him except when everyone else was. Which was most of the time, but it felt like a compromise.

“This is really nice of you,” she murmured. He didn’t say anything at first, smiling slightly as Alicia tried to enthusiastically strong-arm Grandma into turning over the engine.

“She deserves it,” he said softly. “And, well, she’s the reason you-“ He couldn’t seem to finish the thought, gesturing to her head to toe with a bejewelled hand.

The pressure grew the longer they stood there and Chancy’s thoughts started yammering louder and louder at the wall of her skull. She wondered if she should say something, try to explain maybe why she never told anyone about the two of them, apologise for running off (no), tell him that she missed him? She could ask him how the rest of the tour went, that seemed relatively innocuous, or was it..

Eventually, he grabbed her hand, shooting her a smile that had her questioning whether they had ever argued at all.

“C’mon, let’s go take the birthday girl for a ride in her new car.”

Not giving anyone the chance to make a choice, Elvis had Chancy and her grandmother crammed into the front seat beside him and Alicia and some of the guys piled in the back before he took off down the uneven drive, laughing uproariously as he turned a ten-thousand dollar car into a pretty effective fairground ride.

As they hit the highway, Chancy fretted over her grandmother’s ability to recover from shock for the second time that evening as Elvis had them going like he was trying to break a record.

“I think Grandma would like to celebrate another birthday next year, Elvis. I’m pretty sure we all would!” Chancy said nervously, watching the speed gauge creeping up relentlessly. He shot her a gleeful grin and lifted his eyebrows behind his sunglasses, making her wonder how much he could actually see out of those at night.

“You don’t trust me, honey?” he asked. He shrugged. “You’re probably right, you should take over…” He lifted his hands off the wheel and there was a chorus of cries and pleas which only tickled him more, but at last he took control of the car again. Chancy closed her eyes and exhaled and she felt his warm hand grip her knee.

“Hey,” he murmured softly. “I got ya. You okay?” She nodded, earning herself a lopsided smile and his fingers rubbing the inside of her knee.

Back at the house, they all tumbled out of the car like sailors returning home after months at sea. The guys played this up a little because they knew that it amused Elvis, but Alicia and Grandma were genuine as they linked arms to walk to the porch.

Chancy watched them through the windshield as Elvis continued to grip her knee; not hard enough to force her to stay, but firm enough that she didn’t feel right pulling away.

“How long are you home?” she asked, watching him fiddling with the radio, catching snatches of songs before dismissing them and moving on.

“Couple of weeks. Then I got rehearsals in LA before Vegas.” He frowned as the airwaves were filled with the sound of electric guitars riffing and abruptly shut off the radio. “Goddamn caterwauling. Who in the hell is that?” She looked up in the direction of his irritated nod to see Cliff peering into the passenger window of the Stutz.

“Oh, that’s Alicia’s boyfriend. Although I think he may be considering leaving her for your car…”

“Boyfriend, but I thought she got married. I mean, the kid and everything.”

“Yeah, it didn’t work out. They got divorced last year.”

“Hmm, lot of that going around…” He considered his right hand around her knee, before tapping her a few times with his thumb. “Well, guess I better go check him out.”

“Oh no,” Chancy murmured, before hastily following Elvis out of the car. She passed the men as Elvis, backed up by a couple of his guys, approached Cliff, who immediately stumbled back with a look of awe on his face.

“Oh, Elvis, man, it’s an honour to meet you. I’ve been a fan since you started out, man, since I was a little kid!”

Chancy winced at that one and stood at the screen door to watch what happened next. Elvis was speaking too softly to be heard from the porch, but she saw Cliff straighten and look very serious, before nodding emphatically. Elvis nodded too and opened the door to his Stutz. Cliff went to lean forward, but stopped again and looked up at Elvis, who smiled one of his charming smiles and pulled the corners of his jacket back as he hooked his hands somewhere near his hips.

“What’s going on?” Alicia asked, opening the screen door.

“I’m pretty sure Elvis just threatened your boyfriend with his gun,” Chancy answered. “And now he’s letting him sit in his car.”

“Sounds about right,” Alicia nodded. “I should go… chaperone.”

Chancy went back into the house where Charlie and Billy were helping her grandmother uncover platters on the kitchen table and counters. Like a good hostess, she encouraged them to help themselves to the leftovers from the party before declaring that she had had enough excitement for one day and was going to retire to bed.

A few minutes later, Elvis came in and the kitchen suddenly became smaller and more dingy in comparison. At least in Chancy’s eyes; he, however, acted like he had lived there all his life, taking the plate that Billy handed him and eyeing up the food.

“Am I supposed to just serve this up with my hands, man?” he muttered, and Billy and Charlie started rooting through the drawers for cutlery.

“Make yourself at home, boys,” Chancy remarked, leaning against the sink.

“Looks like we have to. Didn’t Grammy teach you nothing about hospitality?” Elvis smirked, examining a mini slider pensively before taking a bite.

Chancy feigned outrage and whipped some dishwater and suds at him. He jumped out of the way, looking momentarily surprised before laughing.

“Careful now, woman,don’t make me shoot you,” he warned, his eyes twinkling as he patted the colt tucked into the front of his waistband.

“Is that how you threatened Cliff? Where is he, anyway?”

“Oh, he’s fine. He’s taking your sister for a drive.” Of course he was. “He’s a nice guy, we just had to discuss some things first.”

Chancy snorted and went to the refrigerator, unconsciously sliding into the role of hostess and passing out drinks to everyone. Elvis gave her a look when some of the boys took up her offer of beer and she was tempted to have one herself, just to remind him that he was in her house. Except she didn’t actually like beer and her petulance had its limits.

By that time, Alicia and Cliff had returned, giddy from their ride in the Stutz. Cliff was excitedly telling Elvis and the guys about the features like he was trying to sell them the car and while Elvis was grinning good naturedly, the boys were shooting each other sneering looks. Alicia caught that too, because she grabbed her boyfriend by the arm and thanked Elvis for letting them take the car for a spin.

Elvis shook his head as she dragged Cliff out of the room while he was still babbling about automatic headlights and gold-plated steering wheels.

“God, Lil'un is all grown up, it’s so weird, man. You remember when she was gaga for me?”

“Yeah, well, lots of us girls used to be silly like that,” Chancy returned, taking a sip of her coke. She watched as the barb landed, and he lowered his head, the muscle in his cheek flickering as he clenched his jaw.

“Yeah, used to be,” he echoed with an empty chuckle, lifting his eyebrows to the floor.

Charlie immediately forced an abrupt laugh and tried to lighten the mood with a joke like a desperate comedian losing his audience.

“No, cool it, man,” Elvis snapped, shooting him a dark look.

Chancy took a deep breath, looked around her poky kitchen, and drew confidence from the fact that she was home.

“Could I talk to you?” she asked, not recognising her own voice. Elvis glanced up like he wasn’t sure she was talking to him, before nodding. “We can go up to my room.”

As they walked to the stairs, she could hear the guys start murmuring and whispering in the kitchen like a sewing circle.

“Mind your step, some of these old boards are pretty creaky. Don’t wanna wake Grandma.”

“Well, if that ain’t a goddamn blast from the past,” he mumbled dryly. She snorted and tried to focus on what she was doing, growing increasingly aware that his eyes were probably on her ass. Not speaking made it worse, increasing the tension so that by the time they reached her bedroom door, her heart was pounding and her hands were sweating.

As soon as she turned on the light, she regretted her choice of venue, hurrying to snatch up discarded outfit choices for the party from her bed and chair.

“Don’t say a word!”

He lifted his hands in submission and just smirked, his apple cheekbones making a full appearance as he took off his sunglasses and looked around.

“You can take a seat,” she said, gesturing to the newly cleared chair as she perched on the edge of her bed. He promptly sat down next to her on the bed. The glint in his eye told her that he knew exactly what he was doing too. She stood up again and stepped across to her dresser, leaning back against it.

“I just wanted to talk to you because I didn’t like how we left it,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself. “And we never talk about it, you know? We never-“

“Aw hell, what’s there to say, honey?” he asked, tapping his glasses against his knee like he was keeping the beat. “We were neither us firing on all cylinders. I weren’t myself, I just… weren’t myself. The goddamn tour, everything going on with Priscilla, every sonofabitch from Alaska to Florida tryin’ to either take me out or shake me down. It’s a goddamn mess.”

“Well, yeah,” she said hesitantly, “but-“

“And that chick… You know she went to the papers? Told ‘em she and I are engaged and that we’re getting married in October. I don’t know why she picked October. I tell ya, everyone’s got an angle.” He sighed, a huge exhale that lifted his shoulders and made him look like a sad little boy facing the music.

“You know the goddamn truth of it? The only girl that’s never run to the papers, never told no one that we were engaged or married or that I knocked her up by having a picture taken with her, was you.” He looked up at her through his brows, his thick lashes and open pouty mouth striking that perfect balance between pitiful and beautiful in a way that had her digging her nails into her arms to stop herself from reaching for him.

“Yeah, well, maybe I should’ve said a lot more to a lot of people,” she murmured.

“No, you know you don’t need to say it out loud for me to hear it, baby. You never have. Just think it real loud and I’ll get it.”

Chancy raised an eyebrow and tried to find some grit within herself as he approached her slowly, pretending to listen to her thoughts.

“Whoa, Cha-Cha, I-I didn’t know you knew those words!” he teased, winking. “Goddamn! Don’t think even I’ve heard some of ‘em before. Lord have mercy!” He took hold of her hands, waggling them loosely, before sliding his fingers between hers. “C’mon, baby, you know you can’t stay mad at me, just like I can’t stay mad at you.”

“I don’t know, I’m still pretty mad.” She would have preferred it if her voice had been a little less breathy.

He ducked down, giving her a full blast of his little boy’s pout, then bit his lip and leaned in. He kissed her, a soft touch of his lips against hers

“How about now?” he asked gently.

“Yes!” she insisted, but wrinkling her nose did nothing to negate the stupid smile on her face. He kissed her again, harder, tilting his head curiously.

“What about now?”

“You’re a jerk.”

“Uh oh, we seem to be going backwards, let me try-“ He scooped her up by the waist and caressed her lips with his, his tongue sliding in to meet hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew up to her tiptoes, pressing in as warmth flushed through her, need driving out anger, determination, and thought. She was just one of those silly girls again. Or always had been.  @ellie-24, @be-my-ally, @vintageshanny, @missmaywemeetagain, @from-memphis-with-love, @richardslady121, @dkayfixates, @c-rosenn, @fallinlovewithurlove, @notstefaniepresley, @heartbrake-hotel, @freudianslumber, @bbrtt777, @18lkpeters, @prompted-wordsmith. @literally-just-elvis-fics, @eliseinmemphis. @lookingforrainbows, @stylespresleyhearted, @amydarcimarie, @returntopresley, @savedrebelcreation, @lettersfromvenus

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

He's a Loser baby, but I Want him to be My Loser, Baby

Tw: Attempted end of life,

Synopsis: After Angel tries to end himself, Husk decides to finally do something...even if that means his loyalty is on the line,

A/N: so I have a theory Husk is going to free Angel, this plays out the Theory,

.

Husk would never forget hearing Charlie scream, which was saying a lot seeing as they were in Hell number one, but knowing it's someone you care for, he and the several occupants of the hotel had been relaxing a relatively calm day. Angel hadn't come down, but he had had a rough night, the former overlord had been wanting to keep a closer eye on the Spider Demon since he was happier, and not in the masking type of way

Husk had seen the signs of being suicidal before, the relaxed nature as they knew that they'd not have to worry soon,

He would blame himself for the rest of his existence for not stopping Angel before he went to his room,

Charlie had offered to go check on him worried something was wrong, (oh was it) Husk literally flying up the steps with Vaggie as Charlie knelt over Angel who was on the floor, one of the angelic blades they had just used on the ground beside him

And the blood, oh sweet lord it was everywhere, but his ears perked up, he heard straggled breathing and produced a mirror holding it in front of the others face he saw it fog and realized the other was still alive,

"Charlie I need you to get him on the bed Vaggie you bandage him, he's just unconscious."

The anger and fury he felt, he knew who this was the marks that littered the others form besides the damage Angel had done, that he'd hidden this was so much worse, he felt something snap,

Marching out of the room he was already formulating a plan, the biggest thing hinged on getting a certain radio demon on board, Alastor made him jolt as he appeared, he hated when the other did so,

"You wish to request something my dear Husker?" He purred, eyebrow raised

"Yeah, I want to challenge Valentino for Angel's contract, but I have ta ask you first. All soulsI get, go to you. Angie, though I want to offer im his freedom if I can"

His smile deepened, and Husk could see the glee in the others' eyes. However, of course, he'd be happy about this

"Gambling for another soul quite entertaining however if you manage to pull this off I think in the case of him rejecting his freedom it would be much more entertaining for me, for you to keep his soul,"

The overlords eyes widened, Alastor would allow that?

"Hopefully you did not fail in your quest Husker,"

The demon disappeared but the former Overlord knew he had permission and with a new fire in his heart he marched out of the hotel in down to the studio

Marching inside he yelled out

"I wanna talk to this asshole Valentino!" Making several gasp but others looked instantly interested

"Your the kitty who plays barkeep," Velvette appeared with a snort,"Whatcha want with Val he's bein a cry baby, Angel fuckin shirked his work,"

"He didn't shirk it he tried ending it!" Husk growled, making the other workers again gasp even Velvette seemed a bit surprised before a nonchalant look replaced it, as the door slammed open revealing a pissed off Valentino

"You you're one of those Hotel people tell Angel to get his fluffy little ass back to work" he snarled getting up in the others face husk shoved the other back

"Angel is currently comatose because he tried ending his life, Valentino which is why I'm fucking here. I want his contract" More gasps came from everybody around them

The Moth Overlord raised an eyebrow slowly slinking around the other, before laughing

"Do you really think I would give up my best workers' contract?

"One Round of Poker All or Nothing, if I lose I work as your mole if you lose I get his contract and soul," he knew he had to play up the other's ego to get him to agree to lure him," think about it Valentino you would have someone actually competent to listen in"

Husk new Alastor would know, but he was counting on that if worst came to worst,

And like he planned his words made the other Overlord pause and think,

" interesting proposition, Fine one game. With Angel not being able to work I'm going to have to struggle to fill in the rest of the schedule anyway you can be assured he will be punished thoroughly for it," he snarled as a table was drug over

Holding a hand out both of their abilities flaring as they shook hands and the deal was set

It was a difficult match purely luck whoever God Favored right now would be shown, Valentino laid down his cards smirking it was a four of a kind, a nice decent hand but Husk started laughing as he laid down a royal flush taking down the other overlord, he had won he didn't believe he still had it after he had lost to Alastor but here he was standing victorious once more showing his luck was still on his side,

"Oh shit," he heard Velvette mutter, a smirk on her face, a hand covering her mouth

Valentino for once looked stunned and for a moment Husk saw himself perhaps the biggest loss in his life, but the moth was forced to produce the contract and hand it over, he shrugged however immediately trying to play it off

" oh well I'll find some new bitch to be my star, and not like anybody will want his leftovers,"

Husk felt rage at the other's words, but with Angie's contract in his hand, he just focused on that the sheer euphoria he had done it, he could feel the others soul and he could not believe how warm it was despite everything the other had been through, it was almost loving and caring, he raced back to the hotel and saw Alastor standing on the balcony leaned on it

"Good show Husker, Angel Dust is awake he awoke when he felt something shift in his very soul." The other purred, with that smug grin the former overlord hated

He only nodded and headed for the other's room, Charlie caught him halfway there

Husk allister said you were going to do something-"

He pulled out the contract and she gasped" I bet it all,"

He let out a small noise as the princess of Hell embraced him tightly, hearing her murmur

"Thank you Husk," nothing more needed to be said he understood what she was saying

"Of course Princess,"

Before she let go and watched as he headed for the bedroom carefully opening the door he saw angel on his side curled up

"Come to stare at the failure?" Came from him,"can't even kill myself properly, now Valentinos gonna-"

" he's going to do nothing Angie, Please look at me,"he interrupted not wanting to use the contract to force the other that would go against what he was trying to do

After a few moments the other slowly turned over his eyes were red and it broke husk see the other so hurt bandages wrapped around him bags under his eyes slowly the other approached and tenderly wiped the tears away,

" how can you promise me he can't do anything he has my soul-"

" Angel he doesn't have it anymore" fear entered the other Demon's eyes and husk sighed and pulled it out that made Angel sit up wincing but the absolute shock written on his face

"Husk... how did you?"

" I saw you on the floor angel and I couldn't take one more minute of seeing you hurt, I blame myself partially for what happened I knew you were suicidal because I've seen it before but I didn't say anything. So I challenged Valentino to a poker game where I would be the mole they were looking for if he won and if I won I got your soul in contract as you can see my luck is still with me,"

Tears entered Angel's eyes, and Husk knew the realization was hitting him that all the years of abuse were behind him because Angie knew Husk would never treat him the same,

" I will free you, but only if that's what you want truly-"

A finger was placed to his lips to silence him, Angel was shaking his head,

" I have been underneath a overlord for as long as I can remember I honestly don't know what I would do but I do know it would be self-destructive I don't know how to behave without well someone to help guide me. If you're willing to take on this loser, I wouldn't mind having you as my Overlord, especially in comparison to that piece of shit,"

Holding up the contract, Angel felt the collar appear, but it disintegrated. To his surprise, the contract also disintegrating however, Husk gently took one of his hands, a ring appearing glowing bright orange it lit up the room, and Angel gasped before it faded and disappeared

" Guess we're both losers under the same umbrella, huh?" The spider demon smirked

Husk smiled placing a kiss to the others hand making the other grin,

"And baby that's fine by me,"

[artdivadej]

Survivors Remorse (XX)

Part one | Part 11+

2 Days Later

Peeta sat on his bunk, twisting the new snell knot Finnick showed him down in the bunkers, when Haymitch came to get him. He needed something to do while the others were on the rescue mission.

“They’re back”

“Is she-?”

“She’s with them. Just waking up. They’d been gassed before pick up so it's wearing off. You can see her now”

Peeta had never moved so fast in his life as he flew towards the hospital wing, fingers clasped tightly around the pearl that he’d had attached to a necklace in his pocket. He felt jealousy whip through him when he heard Annie’s loud, joyous cry.

“Finnick!”

She looked a little smaller than he’d seen her on the tribute selection from the Quarter Quell, but she didn’t look like she’d undergone any kind of physical torture. When his eyes landed on Johanna he could see she’d not been as lucky. They’d shaved her head, not needing to parade her in front of cameras, and she was heavily bruised everywhere the hospital gown didn’t cover. Clearl,y they’d been starving the both of you, but it hadn’t made Johanna lose any of her fire as she tore the needles from her arm and snarled for food. Haymitch pointed the way to the room they had you separated in.

“Hey loverboy, I need to talk to you!”

“Not now” Peeta growled, slipping into the room to see you sitting on the bed, facing away from the door.

Your hair lay against your exposed spinal cord, the hospital gown drowning your tiny body. There were lashes and deep multi-hued bruises littering your back on almost every inch his eyes could take in. As he took in your entire visage, Peeta had to remind himself, this was not one of his nightmares where you’d fade away as soon as he reached out to touch you. No, this time you were really here. The nurse left the room quickly, when seeing Peeta and Haymitch enter the room. When Peeta calls your name, you raise your head quickly in a jerk reaction and slowly turn to look over your shoulder, watching him walk around the bed to stand in front of you.

“Love...it’s really you”, he breathed, reaching out slowly to cup your cheek, wondering why you wouldn’t speak.

Without any warning, you snarl and lunge for Peeta’s throat, blunt nails clawing up his chest as you snap your jaws towards his trachea. Haymitch calls your name again but you don’t listen, continuing to try and rip out Peeta’s throat, nails digging into the sides to try to keep him still. Peeta’s eyes are wide as he struggles to keep your mouth from meeting its goal, his hands on your shoulders keeping you at bay, barely. You’d managed to topple the three of you to the ground as you wrestled to get at his throat. To be so malnourished, you were still strong and he had a feeling, fueled by something other than adrenaline. Your dilated, marble pupils as you snarled and chomped at him, a clear indicator. This was what Johanna was trying to warn him of. They’d done something to your mind and both he and Haymitch were losing the war of pulling you away from his throat.

It wasn’t until Boggs had knocked you upside the head, knocking you unconscious in the process, with a metal pan did you finally loosen your grip on his throat. You slumped against his chest, Peeta wheezing as he looked around at the other two men and the 3 nurses flying into the room now that you were unconscious.

What the hell was happening!?

He didn’t care that you just tried to kill him, he gathered you in his arms and held on tight, despite the nurses attempting to pry you out if his arms. Haymitch huffed irritably, yanking a morphine needle from one and shoving them backwards out the room as he handed it over to Boggs.

“Give the boy a damn minute! She’s asleep, you can poke and prod her later!”, he snarled at them.

Boggs slid the needle into your neck and slid to a corner away from the two of you, allowing Peeta to weep with joy as he rocked you in his arms. He didn’t care what they did to your mind. He would fall for you a million times over and brave any storm to make it back to you. Whatever this was, he would weather the storm with you.

“We protect each other”, he choked through his sore throat, brushing your hair from your face, lying a kiss to your forehead. "I've got you. From now on, let me protect you love"

“Peeta...we’re gonna have to-”

“I know. I know. Just, please.....let me have right now”, he pleaded, arms tightening around you, as he looked up at Haymitch with tears spilling over his cheeks.

Haymitch hadn’t seen Peeta look so much like a child since the day they’d met. He gave a small nod and sank to the floor with him, wrapping his arms around the both of you and squeezing tightly.

“We’ll fix this. I swear”

Excerpt from Chapter 20-Burned Bread available on Wattpad at Maddinkart

[giggly-squiggily]

Hello Squig! (If I can call you that lol)

I have a headcannon that Kyogai (the demon in that mansion) has been tickled by some of the upper or lower ranks after losing his own! I feel like Rui and him may have a rivalry and sometime ago it turned into a full fledged tickle fight? Idk, there's no content about my baby and it saddens me. Regardless, have a wonderful day/night!!

Headcanons To Dabbles: Officially CLOSED!

Heyo friend! :D (And of course you can call me Squig! Squig, Squiggles, Squiggily, Giggles, Giggly, etc- whatever variation of it works for me :3) OO, I haven't written for our Drummer boy yet! This is beyond cute! I've gotcha covered!

Footsteps padded along the wooden floor of his abandoned home. Kyogai would have smacked his drum and sent them flying hadn’t he recognized the smell.

Moss. Tree bark.

Rui.

“Come to mock me, Spider?” He growled, his bloodlust melding into annoyance at the presence of a lower moon in his home. He knew he should show some respect- even before he lost his number, Rui still ranked higher. But he was cranky and shamed and tired and figured Rui was only here to kill him by Muzan’s request, so he might as well go down fighting.

“You left this at the mountain.” White hands came over his shoulder, holding out a paper. Kyogai recognized it immediately, snatching it up and holding it protectively against his chest. One of his failed short stories. “Don’t litter in my territory.”

“...” Kyogai glared at the wall as he heard Rui start to leave. Then the Spider paused.

“I read it.” The drummer stiffened, waiting for judgment. 

“It was rather nice.”

When he was gone, it was only then did Kyogai let his tears fall.

~~~

“Back for another story, Spider?” Kyogai asked many months later, perking up when he saw Rui enter his domain. This was their dynamic now- Rui would come around when the mountain was empty or the demons there grew irritating, and Kyogai would welcome him with stories. He liked the child’s company- it's been far too long since a non-hostile demon showed up at his home.

“No.” Rui told him flatly, eyes glinting. “I’m here for a different thing.”

Okay- maybe he wasn’t completely non-hostile.

“Ah.” Kyogai smirked, putting aside his writings as he stood. “Very good then. You wish to fight.” Another development in their friendship it seemed; they sparred often to test each other's abilities.

Rui spread his hands, a web forming between them. His face was somber but his eyes danced. “Ready?”

Kyogai raised a hand to his drum, grinning.

Then, he tapped.

~~~

“Hooohohld on! Hohoohohold on, tihihihihihme out!” The drummer demon cackled and flailed, trying and failing to reach the drum on his belly. “Ruuhuhuuhuuhhui!”

“You never think about my webbing, do you?” Rui tsked, voice calm as he carried on scribbling along Kyogai’s ribs, sitting on his back so he couldn’t teleport away. “You tried to send me flying out of the room. Forget spider’s tend to stick everywhere?”

“Youohoohoohohu lihihihihilttle infehehehhestahahahhahasion!” Kyogai cried, cackling loudly when Rui dug into his armpits. “I’m shahahahharry! I’m shahahhahrry, I tahahhahake it bahahahhahck!”

“I got a story.” Rui declared suddenly, still tickling as his lips quirked up into a devious grin. “It’s called ‘The Drummer Man and The Pesky Spider.’ Ever heard of it? Apparently it’s a real rib tickler.”

[xanuchi]

So...We have Octavinelle and Pomefiore reaction of the basically: dad sneeze- I think it's time for Heartslabyul to hear the beautiful symphony 💫

So can I request Heartslabyul reacting to the demonic sneeze? 👀

I would sell my soul to see Riddle's reaction-

Anyway, have a great day/night whatever it is where you are 🧚🏼‍♀️💫

JAJWJAJWJAJE HELPP LESSGOO WE GET THE CRACKHEAD BOIS 💪💪‼️✨✨✨(ง'̀-'́)ง✨ HAKSSJSM

I believe Heartslabyul all share one single braincell tbh ANYWHAIEJWODH (☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

riddle rosehearts; 🌹

Carefully sleeping beside Riddle, he focused on doing his work.

This tWink rEFUSEs to allow himself to get any sleep without at least memorising five different words learnt in class and going over every single sH i T T Y ASS SUBJECT—

As the quiet snores gently echoed in the dark room, a dimly lit lamp held barely enough light, because of yo biTCH AsS can't sleep with too much light smh PUSSY 😱😱 /j

(A/N: ily my lil rose-san , *kiss kiss*)

He would quietly watch over you before turning back to his work, and until then, he had finished;

Riddle can't take his eyes off you while sleeping, he utterly adores it.. So he leans in softly, admiring your face

When your humble face, pink lips slightly open apart.. he can't help but see your pretty face shimmer under the moonlight.

Riddle leans in closer.. and closer.. cupping your cheek softly..—

BITCH WAKE THE FUCK UP, YOU FUCKING WOKE UP ACCIDENTALLY INHALING SOME DUST AND HEADBUTTED THE POOR BOY WHILE HE WAS SCREAMING—

ON TOP OF IT UR ATROCIOUS ASS SNEEZE SCARING HIM TO DEATH —

HELDOEJDOWHDJR !/!'‼️‼️ someoNE CALL THE POLICE ;;;; SATAN LITERALLY POSSESSED YOU iN FRONT OF HIM

gOD KnowS HOw rIDDLe wOuLd eXplAIN thaT unhOly aSs nOISE tO TREY AND CaTEr sEnpAi.

Prefect-san. Have you considered ✨therapy.✨

genuinely questions if sOMETHING POSSESSED YOU THEN SUDDENLY YOU GO BACK TO SLEEP LIKE??? EWISKEDHJ?!?!!?!

Needless to say, Riddle wAS dYING whILsT HIDING IN THE CORNER —

shawty bae needing pope francis, he gonna appear for the third time y'all–

Oh fuck you feel another one comING- RIDDLE FUCKIGNGNTJ R U N 🏃‍♀️🏃🏃‍♂️💨💨💨

trey clover ; ♣️

This muscular ass man fLINCHED sO HEAVILY;; Like both of you were just minding your own business in the kitchen.

He was just happily making Riddle new desserts to try with various ingredients scattered and littered throughout the dry desk basked in white flour, drops of water somewhat scattered as he kneaded the dough so pasSIonATElY wekwjejAjejdj

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ (A/N: totally not a trey simp cOUGHSJDJE but fr though have yoU seen hIS ARMS?!!?!)

"Ah, buttercup. Mind passing me the flour? I think the dough is getting sticky again.."

You happily obliged to his request. Your eyes sparkled happily as you hopped off the chair you were sat on and helped him sprinkle some of the flour upon the table.

Before you knew it, yo dumbass fucking snorted soME Of the flour accidentally lIKE IT WAS THE ✨MAGICAL WHITE POWDER✨

damn fr prefect getting high on that guud shit.

THE UNGODLY COLOSSAL SNEEZE HE HEARD WAS SOMETHING THAT REACHED BEYOND ANY UNIVERSE - aNY SINGLE PLANET

IT WAS A MIX BETWEEN AGONY AND PAIN AND SATANS CRIES AND SCREAMS THAT SENT TREY FLYING WITH WAR FLASHBACKS

SHAWTY U GOOD??!! 🧍

anyways your dumdum bubblegum ass not only made his soul evaporate with his glasses cracked;

the flour was sent flying everywhere which caused you to sNeEZE ONCE MORE —

HELSOHDOWJD this was normal to you.

cater diamond ;♦️

Cuddling your gentle boyfriend who cares ever so much, you both sat on your bed, listening to him ramble about all sorts of things that happened to him this afternoon.

Cater was thrilled to show you multiple pictures of him on vacation, birthdays, family pictures before he entered NRC, and his baby pictures of course becauS why nOt :DDDD

Occasionally stumbling across pictures of him and his sisters where he'd be doused in makeup, dresses adorned with candy accessories and lacey ballgowns fit for a typical 5 year old girl. (Mother must've sent him that.)

He hesitantly scrolled past them, holding you closer as he chuckled softly.

hOwEVER—

This scene quickly escalated as the moment Mr Weasley— Yhhhshdjd 😩 Cater, pressed on the fUcking settings oN hiS magicaM accOunt—

Oh my fUCK. The moment you let out a gigantic sneeze bigger than Idia's will to live— His heART DROPPED D E A D.

MANS LET OUT THE MOST GIRLY HIGH PITCHED SCREAM AS HE SEES YOU FULL ON LAUNCH YOUR HEAD BACK AND HEARD THE MOST POWERFUL SNEEZE RIPPED OUT —

NOT ONLY THAT, BUT HE ALSO WAS JUST ABOUT TO PRESS THE "DELETE" BUTTON ON HIS MAGICAM ACCOUNT— bESTIE ISTG IF U EVER- 🏃💨💨💨🔫🔫

He swears he just witnessed Satan secretly possessing you right then and there offering him nO FUCKING MERCY TO HIS EARS—

the boi is crying.

he's crying.

go comfort him now you satanic cute ass gremlin🔫😤😤😤💖

ace trappola ; ♥️

So basically, your unholy ass "sneeze" is the basic equivalent to Fluttershy's "Scream."

sO OF COURSE HEUDHEHDU(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞

Ya gotta take advantage of that, darling.💪✨

Whenever his dumbass decides to tease Deuce and pick a fight with Grim, you're almost essentially sO wrOng for this bUTHAHWJAHS ITS SO UNGODLY FUNNY TO SEE HOW HE JUST SHUTS HIS MOUTH WHENEVER YOU'RE ABOUT TO "SNEEZE" ON COMMAND—

I bless his fucking soul if you can actually sneeze on command because that means you have total control over him 24/7 AND HE WILL SUBMIT TO YOUR WILL —

Let me explain. The first time he'd had heard your sweet, innocent ass sneeze like an elephant that had suffocated satan in its fucking stomach— Let me tell you he was shaking, beGGING CRYING AND SOBBIGNWJJDWIDHSHSHHAH

HE SHUT HIS MOUTH SO SILENTLY AND BEGS YOU DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN KFHSOEJWSKSKDHSH

ELSE, HE'LL ACTUALLY START TEARING UP WHILE SCREAMING HAKSHAKSJWKS

The bitch has to almost cover your fucking mouth and nose whenever you are about to sneeze with or without command. and you swat his hand away and leT SATAN LOOSE—

why do you do this to him HEKSOWHSOWJDJS

deuce spade ; ♠️

Honestly, the same thing goes for Ace except Deuce actually tries to control himself before he ever gets a chance to pick a fight with someone.

Deuce knows better than to mess with his S/O, knowing that despite his strength physically, emotionally you're able to silence him if he becomes too rowdy.

BUT OH HEAVENS, WHEN YOU SNEEZE HE ACTUALLY STARTS SCREAMING LIKE CATER AHAKAJEJWJD

HE'S ABSOLUTELY TERRIFIED BUT BY GOD IF AIR RAID SIRENS AND IPHONE EARRAPE ALARMS WERE A PERSON, IT'D BE YOU, PREFECT-SAN.

sobsob why must you damage his ears with the moST SCARIEST Sneeze he had ever heard.

Mans never experienced the dad sneeze before (i felt bad for saying thATHIADHKASHAKDH) BUT PLS 💀💀 AT LEAST HE DOES NOW??? LMFAOOAAOAO

In other occasions when it's just private moments with you and him, he starts to get paranoid whether you'll do it aGAINFHAJSAJS

likE ITS ONE THING TO DO IT IN PUBLIC WHERE OTHER NOISES MAY BLOCK IT aka riddles incoherent chihuahua barking at floyd who merely ✨exists✨.

bUT LIKe?? TO DO IT IN DROP-DEAD SILENCE WHERE ITS JUST THE TWO OF YOU,?

you start to pour and think that he hates spending time with you when in reality he's just terrified if you will sneeze again and it might knock him into a coma HAISJLWSJWLDJEIDJEJ

Send jESUS, HE MIGHT TRY TO COVER YOUR MOUTH IF YOU'RE ABOUT TO SNEEZE AND THE BITCH HAS LIKE uHhHh

SPIDEY SENSES YKYK?? HE'S DEFINITELY GOING TO FEEL YOUR SNEEZE COMING AND IMMEDIATELY COVER YOUR MOUTH WHILE UR THRASHING ABOUT AND SOBBINGWHKDSHKAJSK

Heartslabyul boys are the most chaotic thanks to Spade and Trappola. Have it at that and enjoy torturing them with all your power. HAJAHWKWJD

[hypertextdog]

no, no. i'm a POSTSTER. it's diff. and you would NEVER understand. YOU'RE a poster. at best. and a Poseur at avg. iff we're being real. you die cause of organs and your heirs get material things -- whatever. like that will last. ever heard of "half life" idiot ? no yea no no yea no definitely yea no yea no but like entropy? you know entropyyea. yea,yea thats the idea. yea the thermodynamic kind not the informatic. yea. i mean in some dialectical s they're actually different,manifestations of the same idea. but yea soWHEREAS i die cause of adventurous happy-go-lucky attitude and drafts fly out from in me like confetti -- i die in public, blood and chunks everywhere and outside snd 100, 120 children all frilly and well dressed and bored out of their minds, hip hip hooray and they explode from their picnic blankets and apple orchard Jamborees and dying greatgrandparents hospital embraces, they come to where my corpse is littering out draft after draft into the public water supply drafts like "making a beautiful girl argue for her right to listen to t swift and if she uses even 1 fallacy i hijack the flight we r on", uncaptioned link to decade old mystery ytp "scout [tf2] gets gaylifted" with only a "#real" to its.name, higher level stuff like "me when i see a hottie: hey cream puff, see some thing you like / him: ugh / hot guy but not to me (narrating sultry as he types a tweet super slow with his meatfingers): Never read marx, but I lowkey and sincerely think i got the gist ffom Bluey / hottie: NEED😻 / me: ugh" too and that sort fo thing. and the children catch them -- the posts -- like bubbles or dandelion, they're the talk of the town, they trade them like gogos crazy bones, they all go out to recess and leave notes on my posts, and even after i am gone i am loved. and i have left behind a blogger's legacy. and you leave behind, what?-- years from now. cash? house?. yea. whereas tormented boarding school youth, hampered + still moving on from squilliam in 2023, clambering inside following 1oclock bells? they make frantic desperate deals of my posts like on last 2mins of sharktank, after my late drafts are banned for proving a "distraction in class" -- lie groaning hungry for postmortem notes and faves in the dark bottom drawer of the teachers desk. and the invisible hand of my postster's legacy, my guardian posting angel reaches down and compels a junior boardingschool misbehaveant, blond and bracesed and he doesnt understand what hes getting himself into, to sneak inside with phoneflashlight during lunch or labor day or yes perhaps even schoolclosed for prolonged duetoweatherconditions. and Eric locates these moribund posts while urbexing, and photocopies and uploads them to his living blog on the night and in fact at the very moment of the first ever "poster's eclipse" in lgbt history. such that within days, my dead ass goes viral

[noffy96]

Errink fic: What death takes from us Chapter 3

Here it is, the final chapter of this fic, hope i managed to deliver on the ending!

What death takes from us:

Patience rewarded

Word count: 10359 (this chapter

Chapter (3/3) (Complete)

(first chapter)

Chapter Summary:

Error feels like something is off. And his worries get confirmed when he visits the Doodle Sphere. He has to find a creative solution to help his boyfriend, even if he doesn't enjoy it. But maybe something else was baking up

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He sighed as he closed the portal behind him. Something was off, really off. The feeling only got stronger as he headed towards the house Ink called his home. He had a feeling something had been off this morning. He should have called instead of believing Ink over Tekst. And the loud sounds coming from inside only confirmed his suspicions.

But he had needed a full day of rest. It had been a whole week, of being around way too many people. It was a wonder he hadn't somehow crashed. But he was feeling normal again.

Or as good as the new normal was letting him. Despite being back for six months now It was still not anywhere near how it had been before his little vacation to the afterlife.

He took another deep breath, as he listened to the sounds coming from the house. It could mean one of two things. And he hoped it wasn’t the same as two months back. Ink had been going through enough emotional turmoil lately.

He gave a light shudder as he remembered the normally bright room being covered in coats of thick black ink. The scream of pain he heard as he rushed up the stairs. His boyfriend's face stuck in that jack-o-lantern smile, with black tears streaming down his face.

If he closed his eyes he could still see the way ink collapsed when he came back to himself. He clenched his fist. It had taken everything not to wrap him up in a hug. It would have hurt, and only have made things worse.

He stood in front of the door and debated teleporting in, but decided against it. Didn’t need to get an attack thrown at his face today. He opened the door or tried to at least, but it got stuck. He pushed a bit harder, enough that he could slip through the opening. The door was pushed shut, the second he let go.

He glanced around the room and saw every surface of the room covered with different unfinished works. Canvases with half-finished sketches, different types of yarn work, paper craftworks, plants, sculptures, clay figures, and even more things he couldn’t name.

It was usually a mess, finding materials everywhere. But not covering the ground until there was no place to walk, not this unlivable. He didn’t even see a way for ink to move around by jumping from wall to wall. The sounds he heard from outside seemed to come from the kitchen.

Summoning his strings, he used them to fly over the mess. He grabbed a hold of the doorpost as he looked inside. Loud music was blasting from inside. All the counters were littered with different bowls, glasses, pans, and other appliances. It looked like Ink had started cooking and baking dozen of different recipes and not finished any.

Ink had ever since his death, tried to keep the balance. And lately, he had the feeling Ink was trying to tip it into his favor instead of his own. So the forces that be, were probably trying to make Ink create, no matter how he felt about it.

And right in the middle Ink was working on a cutting board. He managed to find somewhere to stand and checked over his boyfriend. Ink seemed to half throw something on a bit more haphazardly instead of his usual outfit. Some brown shorts and a white T-shirt with different art stains of god knows what. And more worryingly scarf nowhere in sight

Ink's eyes were shifting way too quickly through its symbols. Different spirals kept popping up, as he was mumbling to himself.

But he breathed a small sigh of relief to see that his eyes weren’t very cloudy. So this was most likely not a swallowing too much ink situation. And he had a feeling he knew what it was.

It was one of the worst feelings when the multiverse decided it had enough. And everything becomes so loud, so demanding. The only way for the painfully loud voices to stop, for him, was to destroy. Ink had told him, it was similar for him. Over the years both of them became good at fighting the instinct. But occasionally, it grew stronger and could overwhelm them.

The last time it took hold of him, he was destroying universe after universe, not really realizing which one he did. Popular or not.

Ink in contrast could start making so much, to fill the void up. It often happened when protecting alone wouldn’t be enough. And it could get really bad if all his colors were used up. Ink would forget to eat and drink. And just become a machine that just kept churning out artworks.

When he asked what was wrong with what he had created. Ink had called them ‘soulless’. In the months after, he had been destroying those artworks and universes one by one. Slowly as to not upset the balance and send ink into another spiral. Ink never mentioned it. It had been their little secret

Ink only had one that was so bad in the time they became friends. And to see his then-friend look at all the art he had made with such a sad frown on his face. It had ached something in him.

Ink did like to get feedback on his work. But never seemed to hate or even dislike anything he made. But then, well he never saw ink look so sad.

Now Ink was fighting that instinct, to go out there and make new AU’s. And seemed to be in a creative manic spiral. Listening to the creators to make something, but not being able to finish anything.

He knocked on the wall, Ink didn’t seem to react.

“Ink?”

Still nothing. He huffed, trying not the be insulted at being ignored, He used his strings to clear some space in front of the counter. Then jumped to the now free floor, putting his hands down

“Squid!”

Ink stilled for a second, then slowly looked up. Yellow flooded his eyes and face way too quickly.

“Ruru~! Good to see you! How was your rest?”

Ink's voice was a tad too loud. And he hid a flinch,

“Been fine, you’ve been busy”

Ink nodded happily, but there was a hint of purple in there too. And now that Ink had stopped cutting whatever he was working on. He was swaying lightly, he could also hear bones rattling just below the music.

He frowned and looked to the side,

“You mind if I turn that off?”

Ink turned his head towards the music player, confusingly looking toward it. After a few seconds, he shook himself out of his thoughts

“Oh yeah, that’s fine.”

There was a hidden strain in there, and he had a feeling Ink had put on the music to drown out the noise of the creators. But considering his confusion, it had stopped helping, and he hadn’t realized it was still playing.

Using an attack he quickly turned off the music. Ink"s eyes shifted through more symbols, and he came up with an idea.

“What are you baking?” Ink looked back at him, eyes blinking fast quickly.

“Uhhh..” Ink looked down at his hands.

“...cake?....” Ink started very confused. Eyes cycling a couple more times through his symbols, then looking up happily

“A strawberry chocolate cake! “

He kinda doubted that was what it started as, but he could see a way to quell some of Ink’s restlessness.

“Want me to help finish it?”

The of Ink slammed his hands on the table. Eyes turning to stars.

“You serious?! Yes!, yes, please! Thank you Error!”

Ink’s face flushed a happy bright yellow And despite the circumstances, he couldn’t help but give a small smile himself

Baking meant getting dirty, and if he hated something it was creating. But getting Ink to actually finish something, would probably quiet the voices for a bit. And he was willing to suffer through the unpleasant bits.

Ink’s tired swaying had become happy bouncing, as he took off his jacket and scarf, dumping them through a portal back to his home, not wanting to get them dirty.

“So what can I do for you Squid?”

Ink started looking around the counter space, picking up different bowls and pans. Before suddenly grabbing a box with a cake printed on it from beneath three measuring cans. And handing it to him.

He took it carefully, trying to avoid the sticky fingerprints all over it. But grimacing as the icing coated his fingers as their hands brushed together.

“That’s the one I am making! Can you do the wet ingredients, then I go do the dry ones after I finish with the strawberries “

And Ink beamed, going back to cutting up the fruits in front of him... This time it was a little less frantic, Still a bit too quick for his liking. But he knew he shouldn’t rush this. And with some careful maneuvering, he got around the counter, to grab what he needed.

He gave a nod

“Sure thing Inky”

After staring at the box with a glare for a few minutes, He let out a few curses and grumbles. Pulling out his glasses and putting them on. As he read the instructions he went over to grab everything from Inks fridge. Double checking if things weren’t expired, knowing his scatterbrain of a boyfriend.

When he closed it, he noticed that Ink was staring at him. Focussing on his face. Then he realized he was staring at him because of his glasses, he felt his face flush and quickly took them off.

Ink had seen them before why did he have to act like it was the best thing he had ever seen? He deliberately kept his gaze away as he cleaned off some measuring cups, and started adding the wet ingredients together.

Bringing his attention back to his boyfriend after he started searching for a mixer. Only for Ink to look quite lost.

“What is the last thing you did Kiki?”

Ink looked back surprised, back to the bowl he was holding, then up again.

“Added the flour…but I feel like I am forgetting a step”

He grabbed the box and wandered over to stand next to him. So he grabbed his glasses again. Giving a little warning glare to not say anything.

“So you did the flour and sugar?” Ink nodded

“Added the coca?” Ink shook his head, glancing around the room. Then back in the bowl.

“Got butter in here?...should that be?” He quickly scanned the text.

“Is like two steps down, but don’t think it’s gonna be a huge problem” He muttered, turning the box a bit more so Ink could read it. Who took the box gently and read it over, nodding along as he read it over.

“Okay, glad to not have ruined another batch”

Handing the box back. He got some of the batter that was stuck on Ink's fingers on his own as they lightly brushed. And he flicked it at him. Making Ink laugh and dodge out of the way. And he went to grab the mixer and went back to his own bowl.

He stirred everything together until it was good and ready. As he pushed the bowl next to Ink’s, so they could add them together. As he started to search for some chocolate, and as he was rummaging through the cabinets, he noticed something on his hands. There was still some dry icing on his hands.

From when his hand had brushed Ink’s

….

…

…

Their hands had touched.

…

…

…

And he hadn’t even realized

He turned around quickly staring at his boyfriend's back, who was happily kneading what had at this point become a dough.

He hadn’t helped bake anything since he came back. This should have been similar. He should have flinched away, been struck by pain…he wasn’t. All they had to do…? Was it just waiting? That just didn’t feel right.

He felt his body tremble, as he took a step closer. Because this couldn’t be happening. It wouldn’t have so suddenly just been over. For months they had to be careful with every interaction. Noticing how many of their routines now involved touching. Fuck only after losing it all, had they both noticed how big his progress had actually been.

That when they fell back into their routines, they had to work around the casual touches now.

And maybe he did glitch? Maybe he had just brushed the icing. He really shouldn’t be getting his hopes up. But he hadn’t felt that pushing sensation that had accompanied their interactions ever since that miserable first kiss. The feeling had weakened greatly over the last month. But it had been there before. He was getting his hopes up, but he couldn't stop himself.

He was just two steps behind Ink now. And his love raised his head,

“Everything alri-”

Ink stopped talking as he reached forward and wrapped his hand carefully around the other's upper arm. Just below the t-shirt sleeve. Feeling those bones for the first time in over half a year.

“Er-ror?”

Ink gasped and then he had frozen up, and so had he. Just that one moment of contact. It was still prickling as if he had slept on it. But it didn’t hurt, and it didn’t seem to hurt Ink either.

Throwing all caution to the wind he let go and Ink let out another surprise gasp.

He took the last two steps forward and warped his arms around Ink’s chest, Pulling him close against his body. Burying his face into Ink's shoulder. There was a clatter as he yanked Ink's body back, the bowl of ingredients falling over the floor in front of their feet.

For a few seconds, they just stood there, both of their chest heaving with scared quick breaths. His arms tightened as no pain came. Feeling those familiar ribs between his arms and chest. Struggling to hold in his tears.

A trembling hand reached up and rested against his arm…stroking up and down

Once

Twice

Then grabbing on tightly. Scared to let go. Ink’s breath grew labored and quick. Both their bones rattled as reality seemed to settle in over them.

His voice stuttered a bit, but for once it wasn’t the glitches.

“Got you…I’ve got you…”

The sound Ink let out was between a sob and a dry laugh. And then wetness hit his arms. He opened his eyes, raising his head a little. Just able to see yellow-blue tears roll down Ink's face, dripping down his chin. Then feeling them against his arms.

He squeezed a bit tighter. Fighting hard against his own tears.

“Ssshh..it’s okay…It is okay…No need for the waterworks Kiki…if you continue…I will start as well”

A laugh seemed to get punched out of Ink. Along with another sob. A second hand came up to hold onto his arms. In response, he nuzzled softly at Ink's neck. His own face felt warm at feeling that familiar body heat again.

Another sob tore out of Ink's throat. Then Ink started tugging desperately at his arms, making him loosen his grip lightly. Just enough for Ink to turn around. He caught a glimpse of the tears-stained face. Eyeshapes in the form of a soul and a teardrop. Yellow, blue, pink, and purple are all mixed into one.

Inks hands reached up and grabbed his cheeks, feeling it leave behind some more batter, and was pulled down roughly into a kiss.

The last time they kissed, it had burned so bad he had screamed. But now…now all he could feel was inks teeth against his own Just like he remembered how it should feel. Warm and welcome. But also, so very hungry.

Inks magic teased at the seam of his teeth. And for once he didn’t hesitate to open them. Consequences be dammed, as his own hand came to rest against Ink's cheek. Stroking that ink stain that seemed burned into his love's bones.

Tongues quickly rolling out one, by one. Each of which Ink happily devoured. His own tongue fighting so hungrily against his own. Their chest pressed together, their legs tangling together from how much they tried to pull each other closer.

They tumbled onto the ground with painful grunts but neither stopped their hungry kiss. As tears rolled over their cheeks, trying to pour in all of their longing.

Beneath his hands, he could feel Ink’s magic rushing. He knew what was coming, and he growled and pressed closer. Hopefully conveying.

Don’t stop

Let it happen.

Give it to me.

Give me all of you.

The familiar taste of ink hit his tongue. There was still a grossness factor to it. But now it was largely overwhelmed by the fact that it was just able to happen again. And he licked up every single bit that spilled between their mouths. With happy little grunts and groans. Then let his face fall in inks neck.

His boyfriend was now sitting on his lap. Arms looped around his neck and back. Legs warped around his waist, and he was trembling. He tangled around him just as tightly. His own arms held tightly onto Ink’s back, Bringing his legs up to further case him against his chest.

Fuck Ink was trembling so hard. He stroked his hand down the other's spine, trying to calm him. As his own soul hammered faster than ever within his own ribcage.

“Ruru..?” Ink’s voice was thick with tears, and he squeezed a little tighter

“Right here Kiki” Warm hands were gliding over his back. And he was really happy he decided to take off his coat earlier. One of the hands balled into a fist, holding on desperately. It felt so right to hold him close once again.

“Is…is this real?”

He sounded so scared, so fucking scared, and it just made him hold on tighter. Tight enough to hurt his hand, for it to probably bruise Ink's bones.

“I….I didn’t go mad…right?...this isn’t the universe trying to trick me into creating something…right?”

A couple of tears fell, landing against inks shirt.

“Dunno, how that would work Squid…but no…unless we both went mad”

Another sniffling laugh.

“With our track record, we just might have…”

He barked out his own laugh, and gently pinched inks hip bone, making him laugh and flinch away. So he kept doing it. Wanted to hear that laugh more now that he could feel it against himself.,

“What’s that Squid?! Would an insane person make you laugh?”

“Aahh, Nooo, stooop~! “

Ink let out a high shriek as he continued to giggle trying to fight back, but he crushed Ink against himself, making it hard to move

“Trying to undermine my sincerity, aren’t you?!,

“So-orry! Pl-please! S-stop “ Another high burst of laughter, that he could feel through every part of his body, his own face falling into an easy grin

“RURU!” he stopped his teasing fingers, and Ink was panting hard, giving him a soft glare.

He simply raised an eyebrow, and Ink kissed him, quickly and sweetly. Then resting their foreheads together as he tried to catch his breath.

“Thanks, Ru”

He trailed his hands back up Ink’s spine until he was holding onto his back. Giving a quiet hum as he stared into Ink’s eyes. The one teardrop shape had also transformed into a soul, and they were just shifting through all the colors.

But he quickly returned his hands thumbs stroking soothingly beneath his eyes. Eyes raking up and down. Still, a slight tremble in the other's smile.

Ink's hands raised up again, this time he felt them gently trace over the tear marks on his face. Until they hid the frames of his glasses. He blinked, having completely forgotten he had been wearing them.

Ink’s hands gently took hold of them, and with a quiet hum, took them off. Reaching up, and putting them somewhere on the counter, out of danger.

But that hadn’t happened, and now both of them were gonna take their time and enjoy this next kiss. He felt a tongue tease at his teeth, he slowly opened up. He had wanted to return only one. But his body didn’t seem to fully cooperate and summoned three of his tongues.

They both leaned in for another kiss. Half-hooded eyes keeping eye contact the whole time. He didn’t wanna miss a shift in those colors, wanted to see how hard he was affecting him.

.

Their first kiss had been desperate, trying to convince themselves and each other that it was real. Afraid it would be taken away just as quickly as this little miracle had been given.

Ink hummed happily as they invaded his mouth. His hands lowered till they held onto his shoulders. His own hands reached up to hold the back of Ink's head softly guiding them into a soft push and pull.

Ink’s mouth still tasted of the ink he puked up. But underneath that was the taste, that made ink, well ink. It always reminded him of artificial fruit flavors, this time it was strawberry with banana. It also always did taste kinda chemically, but it didn’t bother him, he was sure he himself was a bit static-y.

Breathing is a bit labored and quick. Ink’s eye lights fully pink. And with a trembling smile, his boyfriend hid himself in his neck. And he gently petted the other's spine once more.

His half-open eyes were still locked with Ink’s. The Pink flush on his cheeks slowly gained more and more colors.

Then there was a desperate little noise, and the hands on his shoulders tightened. In response, he pulled Ink as flush against him as he could. Summoning his final two tongues to tease at the edges of inks mouth. Not able to do more than kinda lick at Ink’s skull. Until, after a few minutes they both pulled away.

“I don’t wanna forget this….” Ink mumbled and he nuzzled the side of Ink's neck.

“You won’t” He breathed out with the utmost confidence This was too important, he just knew he wouldn’t forget.

“But-”

“You won’t” he interrupted. Giving the collarbone a little kiss, which made Ink let out a little surprised gasp.

“...C-could…could you…do something…to ease my mind…that i won’t forget…”

He gave a nod “Anything”

He felt Ink swallow, and his face became a little warmer

“C-could you…mark me?...”

Ink's voice trailed off and became very quiet, and he felt his own eyes widen in surprise, pulling back to look at his boyfriend's face. Which was covered with a pink-blue-ish blush.

“I…you didn’t like it when we tried last time”

Ink nodded. They had only tried once. About a week or two before his death. It had been a spur-of-the-moment thing. They had been making out, He had asked if he could try. Ink agreed but he hadn’t enjoyed the feeling of being marked up.

Ink had said that had liked seeing the mark, but he didn’t like the pain of getting one. He rather tries something different to try and get a similar effect. Like drawing on each other's bones, or hiding one of the thousands of bracelets he had made on his person.

Even if the possessive side of him was disappointed. Ink managed to hold up so many of his boundaries. He’d survive without biting and marking up his lover, it wasn’t the end all be all.

“I…” Ink started, fingers trailing down his arm, until they reached his hands. Then Slowly ever so slowly intertwining their fingers together. Which made his soul beat almost out of its chest. Despite having had their hands all over each other this one thing still felt so much bigger.

There was a soft squeeze which he returned.

“I know….But…I still want to. I want more than words written on my scarf…I…want that proof…something that can only happen because we touched”

Ink still didn’t meet his eyes. There was a pretty big flush on the other cheek, mostly colored blue and pink but it gained a hint of orange. He felt his own face heat up, as his eyes scanned the other's neck,

“Okay…” he breathed out.

Ink’s eyes shot up.

“Really?” He sounded so hopeful. And his own soul tried to beat out of his chest. When he gave a nod. Looking away from the sheer intensity of that gaze

“Where?

He asked if anything to make that gaze stop. He felt Ink pull back a bit, and when he glanced back. He saw Ink’s eyes darting around with a flushed nervousness. Seeing that made him calm down a little.

“A-ah…my neck…I guess…”

He gave a little nod and leaned closer. But then Ink pulled back and he looked back up surprised. Ink’s eyes widened realizing what he did.

“A-ah…sorry Error…I…” At this point, Ink’s whole face had become pink, and he pressed a kiss against his cheek before he could spiral too far.

“It’s okay..” He pressed another a bit lower And he heard his love’s mouth close with a click.

“Just…let me know if it becomes too much…okay?”

A little nod, and he pressed a kiss against Ink’s jaw, then one against the topmost vertebrate. Ink's hand tangled into the bottom of his shirt. The other hand also reached forward, but kept on kind of hovering between them.

He pressed a kiss, a vertebrate lower, Bringing one hand up to where Ink’s neck met his skull, gently guiding him to turn throat. His other hand tugged Ink's shirt out of the way, and then gently wrapped around Ink's spine just below the ribs.

He felt ink freeze up, and he held still himself. Before removing the lower hand and moving it up, gently resting against the scapula instead. And his lover seemed to relax more. He kept kissing down until he reached a little over halfway.

Placing a second kiss, and whispering.

“Here?”

In his own mind, it seemed perfect, Just high enough, that it could be partly obscured by the scarf if he so wished. But not low enough that Ink would not miss it if he glanced into a mirror.

He felt Ink swallow.

“If you think it’s best?” he sounded unsure but also was breathing slowly and deeply. Not something he was used to from his Squid.

His own heart hammered, but still tried to keep a calm voice. Ink seemed nervous enough as it was. And he nuzzled the other's neck softly.

“I can keep go-”

“NO-! “ Ink yelled then stuttered and pulled away., turning completely pink once more

“I..i just…you know how I am with this….stuff. It’s all the same to me...I mean to say..i…uugh. What I mean is..”

“Kiki…..breath”

Ink’s head fell forward burring himself back into his shoulder with a groan. And he kept on petting the other's back soothingly. He was no stranger to Ink’s troubles with emotions. The intimate kind especially.

“You’re okay..”

He breathed against his love's skull. They stayed quiet for a few seconds. Then Ink mumbled softly

“It’s weird to want stuff like this…and at the same time still feel…I dunno. It’s not scared? Abrasive?....something like that....”

He pressed a kiss against Ink’s cheek once more.

“You are allowed to change your mind Inky”

“I know! Like I said I want to….I really, really do…honest. Dunno why I suddenly pulled away…”

Even without seeing his face, he knew Ink was pouting, so he continued to pet his back soothingly.

“Emotions are weird Inky, we can just not dwell on it and try again if you want. Or we can sit and figure it out. Whatever makes you more comfortable in the end.”

Ink shifted around a bit, before pressing closer.

“Drop it and try again…don’t think I have enough paints to last me an emotional rollercoaster”

He gave a nod, gently guiding his love's head back again. As he started kissing back down his neck, until he reached, the same spot... But he decided against pulling back this time. Just kept giving soft closed-mouth kisses against the vertebrates. One hand gently stroking down Ink’s spine. Making him relax a tiny bit.

But he could practically taste the others nervous. He opened his mouth and Ink took in a sharp breath but instead of closing his teeth over the bones, he brought out two of his tongues and started licking them and the sensitive magic between them.

Ink’s breath stuttered out of him

“Er-ror?”

He pulled back just enough, letting his breath ghost over the now wet bones.

“Just…trying something...see if you enjoy it okay?, if not…I’ll stop”

Ink gave a tiny nod, with another sharp intake of breath. And he continued the kiss and lick at the artist's neck It wouldn’t turn tender like ecto would. But he did see Ink’s magic react, the paints swirling towards the points he made contact with misty clouds of pink and purple.

He could feel Ink slowly relax more and more into his arms. Even craning his head to the side more. Ink’s bones tasted a bit like paper he thought distantly. But most of his attention was on the bone beneath his tongue. After a while ink softly asked

“Higher?”

And he did without question, not able to hide his smile, as Ink let out another gasp. Giving the spot the same amount of attention. Then slowly he opened his mouth, resting his teeth against the points he was gonna mark and holding still.

Ink's body tensed again, but not by much, and mumbled a quiet.

“Go ahead”

And he closed his eyes. Focusing on his intent, he bit down slowly and carefully. Trying to pour all his feelings into this bite.

How nervous he was feeling, But also how excited he was. That he loved Ink so much and he was fucking ecstatic that Ink dared to trust him this much. Loving the way Ink just fitted into his arms so perfectly, and that soon everyone would know he was his. That no one could question it, not even Ink himself.

Ink’s breathing quickened beneath him, slowly getting more and more labored. He felt himself growing concerned. And he planned to pull away. But then felt a hand on the back of his head pushing him closer instead.

A surprised noise left him.

“Pl-please…m-more”

Ink’s voice was sounding surprisingly wrecked. Part of him wanted to pull back and check, but the grip on his head increased. And he felt a hungry flare rise up. Ink wanted him to mark him up. Show the world that he was his, so he was gonna give it all that he got.

He bit down a bit harder. And Ink let out a noise between pain and pleasure, that made the heat on his face rise higher and higher. He was pretty sure that along with the love, he was pouring that possessiveness right into Ink.

Mine

That feeling of

Love you

Love you

Mine

LOVE YOU!

MINE!

No one would take ink from him again. Not even his own body was gonna keep Ink at this much distance again. Not if he could fight it. They were gonna stay together like this forever.

His eyes widened but he had sense enough not to suddenly pull back and let go. So he slowly relaxed his jaw and summoned all his tongued to lick, over and under the abused bones.

Ink’s other hand was scrambling against his back, sometimes petting, sometimes grabbing tight. He was pretty sure he had felt the nails scratch through the shirt at his bones.

But he was snapped out of everything when he started tasting marrow.

Then he slowly pulled back to look at the damage.

His face lit up with dark blush at what he saw.

Oh, it looked so good, it was hitting him right in all his possessive tendencies. There was a perfect circle of where he had sunken his teeth in. Part of it held the blue sheen of his own magic.

Ink was gorgeous like this.

His T-shirt was pulled down so his shoulder was bare and panting harshly. Eyes half-lidded, but swirling with rainbow colors and little soul symbols. Even the slight tears in his eyes.

And then there was the mark.

But the wound was also colored yellow and pink. Ink’s current emotional state.

“Looks that good?”

He saw the little bit of blue on Ink's finger before he took it into his own mouth. He felt his whole face burn up.

His eyes snapped up to Ink’s, Who’s smile turned teasing, and he made a dry swallow.

Ink giggled and sat up straighter again. The hand that had held him to Ink’s throat, came down to gently stroke his cheek. Then seemingly wiping the corner of his mouth.

“Ink! What the fuck! Gross!”

Ink just laughed, dismissing him entirely, and dropped his hand tracing over his new mark. And he couldn’t help but go back and forth between his love's face and him tracing it.

“Is it always supposed to feel like this?”

He shook himself out of his stupor.

“What?”

Ink stroked over the mark again, seeming to press it a bit harder.

“Getting one of these…It felt so different from last time…is…is this how it is supposed to feel? Cause…cause that. I want more of that…But..”

Ink’s eyes dropped down, not looking at him anymore, but he could still see Ink’s smile growing every time he pressed into the mark.

He raised his own hand, settling it right next to Ink’s and pressing the mark together. Ink looked up back up Staring into his face with wide surprised eyes.

“I think…it might be a special moment kind of thing. Takes both you wanting it, and me giving. Last time… wasn't like that..was more…”

“Trying for the sake of trying,” Ink finished

He gave a nod, and Ink’s eyes widened slightly as he breathed out

“It only works, if our emotions align”

He closed the gap between their teeth with a small kiss.

“Makes it more special?… Don’t you think?”

Ink’s smile grew, then his eyes dropped down toward his neck

“Could….could I try?”

His face gained color again. And he was sure he heard his body buzz. Even if he didn’t feel it.

“You sur-”

“Yes!” Inks said leaning closer, before backing away with a flush.

“I... I wanna try making you feel like I did! I … I really want to try! “

He felt himself nod and Ink’s smile grew, and before he could comprehend. Ink was leaving kisses on his neck. his hands dropped down and hold onto Ink's arms.

Ink’s breath felt warm against his neck, his soul started beating fast out of his chest. And he felt a tongue join the action just like he himself had done.

His hands held on tighter and he feared he might even be leaving bruises. He didn’t know how long Ink kept kissing and licking at his throat. But it felt longer than when he had done it.

He felt his ribcage brush against Inks with every shuddering breath. The way Ink’s hands held onto him so tenderly. Like he was precious, The solid weight of him on his lap, it was making his head spin.

But then he could focus on the teeth he could feel against his throat. His body shivered, and he felt a wave of glitches pass over him. They stung lightly but luckily didn’t return.

It took him another long embarrassing moment to realize that Ink was waiting for some sort of signal, that he was okay.

So he moved his hands up to his love's shoulders, closing his eyes he breathed

“Okay”

He felt another hot puff of air, and then slight pinching pressure, that slowly, increased. That pain was familiar in a way. In a way, his body normally behaved. But he could also feel something different. It was weak at first, just a shimmer of it.

It was kinda familiar, and after a few seconds, it clicked as to why. It felt like Ink’s healing magic. Something so intention and emotion-based. It was often quite weak. But it was similar. But there was a uniqueness to it. Like it’s its own flavor. And the more he relaxed into it. The more he could feel it. Learn how to pick it apart.

As it slowly draped over him, like a warm crochet blanket. His rapid breathing slowed, as the pain crew. Gently he caressed the others back up and down. He felt a shudder going down Ink's back. And he let out a high-pitched sound, as Ink's teeth dug in deeper. For a second he could feel ink’s ecto body appear, then just as quickly disappear.

There was a fire in the action too, something hot and burning. Ink pressed himself a little closer, and he moved his head to the side, giving Ink all the room he could wish. As he tried to untangle these emotions that were being poured into him.

His face flushed as his bones began to ache pleasantly, His hand gently pressing into Ink’s back, hopefully letting him know how much he was enjoying this experience.

Eventually, Ink slowly pulled away with a darkly flushed face. When their eyes met his. boyfriend's mouth twitched up for a second. It felt like he saw thousands of emotions swirl inside those ever-changing eyes.

He reached his hands up to said face and pulled him into a firm kiss. Holding him close for a few seconds.

“Thank you, Kiki” He whispered against his teeth as he let go, and Ink’s smile was a bit wobbly. And he turned his throat a bit

“So tell me…how does it look?”

Ink stared at it. Then whispered.

“Gorgeous”

He preened at the compliment. Reaching up to touch it. Feeling the slight dend in his bones. It would heal with time, and might even become a bruise for a day or two. Not long. But there was something terribly exciting about having Ink so clearly mark him up.

It was a statement in itself. Cause nobody else would ever be allowed that close to him.

Inks hand hovered between them so he took it and brought it up to his neck just beside the newly made mark. The flush on Ink's face got a lot darker. He simply raised an eyebrow at his boyfriend. And after a few seconds of hesitation, he felt Ink’s thumb press slightly into it.

He had to swallow a moan, but couldn’t suppress the shudder. Inks glanced up, their eyes holding for a second. And Ink did it again with a little smile on his face. And he glared after holding back another moan.

He leaned forward and stole another quick kiss. When he pulled back, Ink was smiling brightly.

“Satisfied?”

Ink nodded. Arms raised around his back once more and pulling him into another hug. Ink tugged his face over his shoulder and he did the same. Glad to be holding Ink close.

“I ain't letting you go for the rest of the day, you know that right,” he muttered

Ink laughed and he could feel the rumble of it through his chest.

“Honestly…same. But…is that safe?…shouldn’t we…you know… try and tone it down so you don’t overload yourself?”

He squeezed Ink tighter

“If this is just a one-time thing, I ain't fucking missing out by toning it down ”

Ink nuzzled and kissed his jaw. Then he let out another laugh

“There is batter all over your face”

He returned the gesture with a kiss of his own, and a little growl

“And who’s fault is that?”

Ink let out another giggle, and then a deep happy sigh

“I missed this…”

The arms around him squeezed him gently.

“Me too…”

They happily stayed like that for a couple of minutes. Hands gently trailing over backs, hips, arms, their bare bones. With little nuzzling kisses placed here and there. It was almost sickeningly sweet, but fuck it. They hadn’t been able to do as much as hold pinkies. He was gonna indulge all he could for as long as he could.

But the kitchen floor was getting uncomfortable, he opened a small portal beside them to peek into Ink’s room. Happy to see it wasn’t such a mess as the rest of the house.

“Ruru?”

He smirked, and pulled back, placing a quick kiss on Ink’s teeth. And then opened a bigger portal beneath them. Making them fall through right onto Ink’s soft bed.

Ink let out a shriek when they fell, holding on for dear life. Then he angrily sat up and straddled him further pushing him into the bedding.

“What the Hell Error!! “

And he laughed loudly.

“That’s for dragging me into all your portals squid”

Ink gave a pout, and wriggled himself lower, until he was laying on top of him, instead of sitting.

“If you wanted to cuddle, you should have said. No kisses for this clever trick.”

He said while burying his face into his chest. Laughing softly at his boyfriend's slightly childish antics. And raised a hand up to pet, and then softly trace Ink’s skull. Ink let out a soft sigh and buried himself further in.

“Your soul beat…it sounds different…I think”

His hand stopped moving. Staring down at his boyfriend.

“Explain?”

“The beat…is different? Last time…it was… one, two, one, two a pause. One, two, three? And now it is more like..a quicker one, two three, one, two, three. And a longer pause? That… is not normal for souls right? I mean I know yours is not like normal souls..but for it to change?.... Are you alright?”

He could hear the worry creep in. And he craned his neck forward to place a kiss at the top of his skull.

“Dunno if it is or not…just know that the beat is irregular. Sci made no mention of it after he checked me out. So doubt it something serious”

He felt Ink’s arm tighten

“I didn’t like how much you were glitching after the check-up”

“Not much to be done about it, I sure as fuck didn’t like it either. But rather not die a second time because of something stupid”

Ink let out a sad hum.

“How are you doing with the voices by the way?” He asked Ink softly

And Ink let out a sad laugh

“Of course you noticed.”

He rolled his eyes

“Be hard not to Inky”

“The creators have quieted down. For now, I still...feel them. But…then again. They always seemed to leave me alone, when we do stuff like this”

He blinked a couple of times, a hand trailing down Ink's arm until he found his hand, intertwining their fingers softly

“You never told me that”

He felt Ink shrug.

“Didn’t want you to feel obligated to hug me if you were having a bad day”

He felt his soul squeeze in gratitude. But also regret.

“I am willing to fucking help you, you know that right? I can deal with a bit more discomfort than normal. If it helps, I know how terrible it can be when the pressure to do our job becomes too great”

Ink stayed quiet. And he had a feeling that Ink indeed knew. But still felt like this was his own responsibility. He didn’t expect this to resolve in one day. But he could work on this. They work on it together.

He nuzzled to the top of his loves head

“If they still screaming at you tomorrow,. I help you create some SU’s”

Ink shot up, staring at him. A mix of excitement and worry on his face.

“You don’t have to I know-”

He cut him off with a kiss

“YOU have been doing my job, when I was gone. YOU have kept doing my job to keep the balance even after. Because my glitches were so bad that leaving the Anitvoid was a fucking pain. I think I can return the last six months, no fuck, that's wrong, I've only been back six. So that means EIGHT months of work, for ONE fucking day Ink. I don’t like creating any more than you like destroying. But I am willing to do it for you. Just as you are for me. I am sick and tired of seeing you run yourself so fucking racked okay?”

There were some blue tears gathering at the corner of Ink's eyes. And he gently encouraged the other forward to bury his face back into his neck. He noticed the surprise gasp and felt Ink shift away. Ink’s face heated up, and he realized he pulled him to the side ink had left the mark.

“It’s alright Kiki. You have been wonderful, let me return the favor okay? “

Ink was shaking and he felt a slight nod. And he gently traced his hands over Ink's ribs. Trying to follow the patterns of where he thought the tattoos were.

“Ruru…I…sorry…didn’t mean to worry you..”

He kissed the side of his boyfriend's face

“No harm done, you know I love it when you only pay attention to me. But not at the cost of yourself,

“I’ll try…to be better”

He pulled back. Cupping Ink's face in his hands, staring into Ink's eyelights. A pink teardrop and a blue upside-down triangle.

“I Love you as you are, But your consideration is really appreciated”

Ink's eyelight shifted, to a star and heart. And he was pulled up into another soft kiss. He let his eyes close as Ink pressed closer and firmer. Letting himself be pressed back into the soft blankets.

Fingers were tracing up and down his cheeks, as their tongues met once again. Most of the Inky taste was gone, only leaving that artificial flavor that was so Ink. It had shifted as the colors had. It now tasted like watermelon.

His own hands kept trailing up and down Ink's ribs and spine. Stroking the bones through the thin t-shirt. Trying to make Ink let out more soft sighs. He wasn’t trying to rile him up. No, he was trying to find that perfect spot that would make Ink sink into him as if they could do this all day.

Fuck he wouldn’t mind if this is all they did the whole time they could still touch. Minutes ticked by with nothing more happening. Either their tongues were softly sliding together and sharing hot puffs of breath. Or they kept giving each other soft little pecks on the mouth and cheeks.

One hand was simply holding onto Ink's back, the other stroking down his spine. While Ink's hands weren’t letting go of his face. That was until unknowingly to both of them Ink’s shirt rode up a bit and he stroked the bare bone of his love's spine.

Ink let out a very surprised-sounding squeak, and pulled back, blushing madly. Tugging his shirt back down seemingly feeling embarrassed. Sitting back up and glancing away with a flushed face. He slowly raised back up onto his elbows

“You…okay?”

Ink gave a little nod, still avoiding eye contact. He decided gently rest his hands on Ink's upper arms rubbing them gently. Ink’s eyelights were quickly shifting through many symbols, most noticeably an exclamation point.

Ink never mentioned having had a problem with any kind of touch. But then again, he doesn’t remember ever seeing ink in a crop top. Maybe his spine was just super sensitive. Wouldn’t be the strangest thing.

Ink was looking panicked enough that he decided to drop it for now, and see if he could help him calm down.

“Sorry about that”

Ink shook his head,

“I-it’s fine…just…suprised thats all”

It seemed like a load of bullshit as Ink hadn’t really stopped his shaking. He gently tugged at his arms, and to his surprise Ink followed easily. Ink's head laid against his shoulder as he curled himself around his ribs.

Inks eyes seemed to linger on the mark, one hand coming up to trace his own. Still oddly quiet.

“I…just… too much I guess” Ink mumbled softly.

He paused at the admission, gently cradling Ink closer to himself. He understood that feeling perfectly. And he gently nuzzled the top of Ink's head, for now not making eye contact so his boyfriend could calm down.

“It happens Kiki. Anything I can do to help?”

Ink snuggled closer, rubbing his face against his shoulder like a cat would. With every breath seeming to calm down more.

“Can you just talk?”

He hummed,

“Did you check your phone today?”

Ink shook his head and his smile grew, he knew Ink would get a kick out of this news.

“Well, I got a text from Blue, so i am assuming you got it as well”

Ink shuffled around and pulled out his phone. The second it was unlocked he stole it out of his hands. Smiling as he saw that Blue had indeed sent the message to Ink as well so he wasn’t breaking a secret.

Ink tried to make a grab for it, but he just caught it in his strings and rose the phone to the ceiling.

“Uh-uh, no peaking, That’s no fun at all Kiki.”

Ink glared at him and crossed his arms and laid down on him again, seemingly trying to put all his weight on it. It was fine, he didn’t mind and wrapped one arm around his boyfriend. ,

“So, Blue gave us a status update Can you guess what it is about?”

One of Ink’s eyes turned into a question mark. And he was happy that this small discussion was already working on keeping Ink's mind off what just happened.

“Did…did he finally make it into the royal guard?”

“Wrong, sorry that would have been great for him though, you get two more guesses” And he held up two fingers

“Yeah he deserves it, but.. mmmm “ Ink looked around the room.

“Did he win that, ‘Best Sans in the multiverse poll’ thing that was going around?”

Ink gave a shrug that implied he didn’t care so much either way as he lowered one more fingers

He laughed hard

“Fuck I had completely forgotten about that shit, Dunno, check that later, weren’t you up against him?”

“Last chance to guess Squid”

His love closed his eyes and seemed to rack his brain deeply, and made all kinds of little vocal noises. That over some time he just had come to dub as thinking noises.

“Did his brother finally ask out, fell’s brother? “

He brought his fingers to Ink's forehead who went crosseyed following it, then he gave a firm push, making Ink bend backward.

“And wrong again, That was the closest you got through”

Ink rubbed at his forehead with a pout and sat up straighter again.

“Wait really?... I was close? Wait did he ask out someone else?! I was sure Stretch was having a crush on- “

He slapped his hand over Ink's mouth with a little glare.

“Hey no more guesses, you only had three you little sh- EW gross INK did you just lick me?!?”

He was surprised that no glitches sprang up from his angry outburst. Ink only stuck his tongue out at him. And he glared at his boyfriend, he didn’t want to think about how badly that could have gotten if that had activated his glitches.

He wiped his hand on one of the many blankets surrounding them.

“So do you wanna know or not”

He grumbled trying to get the gross feeling of his hand, while seeing Ink excitedly nod. Then his eyelight became an exclamation point.

“Wait!! Don’t tell me…?! “ A smile was growing on Ink's face, the eyelights changing into rotating stars. And he couldn’t help the grin of his own.

“Yup, he and Lust got into a relationship. A couple of months ago apparently”

Inks clapped his hands excitingly. Both had seen the pinning from their shared best friend. And his own case, both of those idiots during the Undernovella’s marathons. Sometimes those two were acting just like his beloved soap opera. It was only a lot more painful to watch it happen in real life”

“Oh, I am so happy for them. But why did they wait so long to tell us “

He chuckled, shaking his head

“Dunno, why didn’t you tell anyone, we were dating those first few months”

Inks eyes turned determined

“Because you didn’t want me….ooh…I see your point….that was insensitive of me wasn’t it?”

He raised his hand up so he could cup Ink’s skull again, placing a chaste little kiss on his nose ridge.

“Perhaps, at least they didn’t hear it”

Ink gave a nod,

“Can I have my phone back now so I can congratulate them properly before I forget?”

“We really aren't going anywhere hmmm?” he asked with a laugh

He chuckled again and lowered the phone, which Ink snatched out of the air, He unlocked it, but then he froze.

Gathering some blankets from around them, wrapping one around them and Ink snuggled up into his side as he texted with a smile.

Ink hummed.

“Wasn’t planning on. No. How about you grab some chocolate, and we then alternate between watching some Undernovella reruns and some art videos? You know….make this a proper impromptu stay-in date”

“Fuck, You read my fucking mind Ink”

He kissed just below Ink's eye, where a light flush still was. Opening a portal into a fell universe and took several bars of chocolate. Breaking off some pieces to nibble on as he warped his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders, pulling him closer to his side.

When he was about to pop the fourth piece into his mouth. His lover tugged on his arm, he looked down to see Ink look up with a little hopeful smile. He brought the piece to Inks' mouth who bit into it with a smile.

Then Ink held up his own little piece bringing it to his mouth. He made sure to lick at Ink’s fingers as he took it. And Ink dove after them for a short-but well loving kiss. And then snuggling back into his side.

After a few moments of silence on which Ink was scrolling through his phone to find a video

“This isn’t gonna last…is it..”

Ink's voice was sad, and low, He closes his eyes and didn't dare to speak louder than a whisper

“Most likely not…”

Ink held him a bit tighter

“You know I don’t blame you for-”

He leaned down for a kiss, cutting Ink off again

“I know, we keep fighting, remember”

Ink gave a soft nod, eyes a pale blue and he nuzzled closer

“Let's just enjoy what we have”

Ink gave a smile, as he started a video.

Later, much later. He woke up, The deep sleep was struggling to let him go. It had been a while since he slept so soundly. Nothing had woke him up in the middle of the night. Or whatever time it was in the Antivoid

But then he realized that he wasn't at home, he wasn’t lying on his bean back. No, he was lying on a bed that he had also come to be familiar with.

Ink’s

Ink and he had been able to hug, they had been able to touch. And by all likelihood.

Yup, there was still a weight on him. Ink was lying on top of him, and one of his hands was tangled in his shirt. His own arm was wrapped around his boyfriend's lower back, holding him to his chest. Their other hands tangled together in a loose hold.

His body didn’t feel as calm as it did yesterday. The second he moved the glitches would most likely start once again.

And he hated that, so he laid still. As still as he could to be able to have Ink in his arms for just a few seconds longer. And by the silence in the room he had the feeling ink was doing the same.

His breathing sounded like he was awake, they lay there, completely still for a while. What was it five minutes? Ten? Fifteen? He didn’t know but he knows they gotta end this at some point.

“Morning Kiki” he breathed out. Making sure his chest still moved as evenly as it could

“Morning Ruru.” Ink’s emotions were always more muted in the morning, as he ran low on paints. But his voice was quivering, dreading the inevitable as much as he, most likely all up on his blues.

He was afraid to squeeze the hand still tangled with his own, to breathe too deep and let their chest start moving out of rhythm. Afraid of the pain he knew would come.

He kept his eyes closed and mumbled

“I love you so much…thanks for yesterday..”

Inks breath hitched and there was wetness leaking into his shirt.

“Love…you to…” The words were quiet, so very quiet. But he knew they would be added to the tally.

He braised himself

“Okay…let’s do this”

“Yeah…”

He counted to three and then removed his arm from around Ink. Immediately his body started prickling and burning badly. Ink pulled away now free from his hold. Shuffling to the other side of the bed a safe distance away. He struggled through the pain feeling the cool air hitting it as the blankets got taken off.

But it was over relatively quickly, his head was buzzing, as were his ears. But he had expected the glitching to last much, much longer.

He slowly sat up and stared at his hands in wonder. Glitches were obviously going down his arms and legs. They were buzzing like crazy, leaving little shocks of pain like always. But it was more bearable,

If he had to rate it, he had been expecting nines across the board. But right now it was at seven. Still painful, quite a lot so. But..fuck he could grin and bear this.

He looked back up to his boyfriend. Ink had been staring at the mark on his neck. And when iInk noticed him staring flushed and then quickly started chucking his paints.

Their eyes met. Ink took a last gulp and gave him a sad smile. His mouth opened, but no words came out.

After a couple of false starts. Ink shook his head, moving to the edge of the bed.

“Well, I am sure you need a minute or two, I make us some toast okay?”

Ink tried to do business as normal, maybe so that it wouldn’t hurt as much. It made his soul sink at the thought.

“Wait!” he managed to get out, just before Ink’s feet hit the floor.

Ink looked back up, A question mark in his eyes.

He started at his hands again and held it out. Ink looked back at it, tilting his head from side to side. Before eyes widened with exclamation points.

“You sure?”

He gave a nod. Ink's hand reached forward. Slowly, tentatively. When their fingers almost touched. Ink pulled away slightly as if scared. A flash of orange came over Ink's eyes, and he closed the distance.

He let out a wince, but before Ink could retract his hand back, he intertwined their fingers. And held on. He closed one eye and bared through the pain for a few more seconds and then let go with a slight hiss.

Ink held his hands to his chest. Upset that the touch had hurt him. But also didn’t seem to be rubbing his hand like he had done for the last few months and they accidentally brushed together. A smile broke over his own face

“Yeah…fuck…that hurt…but…if that is how it is when I am agitated…if I rest enough…I think I’ll be able to hold your hand again.”

Ink started at him, eyes little pinpricks

“You…you…really?”

He nodded. Shaking his hand still, trying to cool it down.

“Yeah…maybe rest two? or three days? just to be fucking safe. But I am pretty sure. This feels like…you know a really bad day from before…Then...Yeah I am pretty fucking sure we are able to just-”

He was cut off by the noise Ink let out. Ink's hands had flown to his mouth, and he could see that he was restraining himself to not propell himself forward and hugging him once more

The tears that were flowing out of his eyes had a happy yellow sheen to them.

“I…this is…” Ink laughed sounding half delirious.

Ink closed his eyes tightly hand pressing closer to his chest

“I am trying not to get my hopes up…”

His soul nearly broke in two at the words, As fucking lovely as Ink’s consideration for his condition was. Both of them wanted this back so bady

“Ink…” he said slowly, waiting until ink met his eyes again

Then said with all the conviction he could muster

“I am sure, we won this one battle”

Ink shook, then the smile that broke over his face was large.

“I wanna kiss you…but I can’t so I am gonna do something stupid”

Before he could even make a face. Ink started blowing kisses at him, and it made him huff out a burst of surprised laughter. But Ink didn’t stop, and the giggling, sound of pure happiness was addicting.

So maybe…just maybe, he blew a few back.

Maybe they sat there doing that for longer than was strictly necessary.

But after all this time, when he felt closer to normal than he had in so very very long. Who cares that he was acting a bit silly with his boyfriend.

They earned it. And they were gonna damm well enjoy it. He thought as he stroked over the mark Ink had given him. Ink flushing and doing the same.

He wasn’t gonna let go, not if he could help it. They might not be back to before exactly but they made it.

They finally fucking won.

[sogardenernacho]

Birthday Baby! - Tom Kaulitz

It was Tom's birthday and I drove to his House. I knocked on the door with cake, a gift bag around my wrist and balloons in hand and of course a party hat to accommodate.

Simone, Tom's mother, opened the door.

"Oh hi Y/N!!" She exclaimed grabbing the cake out my hands. I gave her hug and kiss on the cheek.

"How you been?" I asked, glancing at the living room littered in streamers and balloons.

"Great! Just finished setting up and waiting for Tom to get back from the liquor store."

"Eighteen!" I gasp, "how you feel?"

"I'm feeling so old!" She blurted putting her hand on her chest.

I followed her into the kitchen where Tom's mates Georg and Gustav were hanging out. Meanwhile, Georg frantically rummaged through the drawers and cabinets searching for batteries for the turntable set.

"Ah-ha!" Exclaimed Georg holding the batteries in the air. "Oh, hey Y/N" he realised me sitting there and ran over for a bear-hug.

"Hey Georg" I replied earning a quick glance from Gustav who was engrossed in setting up the party games.

He rushed over to the DJ set and starting playing some songs. Simone cringed at the music, quickly hurrying to the backyard before she heard the profanities.

I put down my present and placed the balloons in the corner.

"Where's all these friends Tom's been going on about?" I questioned.

Georg yelled over the music, "He's not having his party today."

I nodded, "So this is it?"

"Yeah, besides Shyla and Bill, they're still glamming up."

I heard a bang on the fly screen and walked to the door.

"Hey girlie" He smirked, leaning against the wall.

"Hey birthday boy." I grinned as I unlocked the door. "Ooh, a carton of Beer, think we grown don't we?"

Tom looked down at the box in his arms.

"Well I am eighteen." He remarked, placing the carton on the floor.

"Come here" He opened his arms and I walked toward his embrace, the smell of musky cologne lingering in my nose.

We kissed each other on the cheek.

"Long drive?" He questioned, picking up the box of alcohol.

"Nah, not too long, it was longer though considering I did drive by the city."

He nodded as I followed him to the kitchen.

Gustav walked up and patted Tom on the back "Happy Birthday Tommy."

"Thanks" he smiled.

At that the fly screen was banging again and there stood Shyla and Bill in their hands were bottles of wine and vodka, as well as a bag of logs.

The pair walked in and placed their drinks in the esky.

"I should get this fire started shouldn't I?" Said Shyla, heading outside with the bag of wood.

I grabbed the esky and wheeled it outside into the shed, inside was a German flag hung up, posters of playboy models, a beat up fridge, TV, pool table, random couches placed everywhere and a pop up table with plastic cups, ping pong balls and a ashtray.

Eveyone started walking inside the shed, Gustav started playing pool with Tom and Georg was setting up the DJ set in the room. Bill sat down and Shyla was still setting up the fire pit.

"Shame we didn't think of starting up the barbecue." Moaned Gustav.

"Always next time." Replied Tom, taking a sip of his beer.

I stood and watched the boys play pool and a sudden sharp pain went in my stomach.

I rushed to the bathroom and saw blood as I wiped myself.

"OH FOR FUCK SAKE!" I yelled in frustration.

"Hey you ok?" Called Gustav from behind the door.

"Uh yeah." I sighed "Can you get Shyla."

"Uh, yeah sure." At that I heard footsteps receding and after 5 minutes I heard Shyla's voice.

"What wrong Doll?" She asked concerned.

"You gotta plug?" I asked.

"No sorry babe, I just used them last week."

"Can you run to the chemist?" I asked.

"I'm sorry can't risked getting pulled over. Im over the alcohol limit."

I groaned.

"What about Bill?"

"He's had more drinks than me." She said hesitantly.

"Only Gustav is sober."

"Can you get him to grab me some tampons?" I pleaded.

"Okay Sweet." She replied.

After another 15 minutes Gustav came back from the deli down the coldersack, handing me the box of tampons.

"Thanks Gus." I called and went to open the box.

I held the tampon in my hand and scoffed. 'What the actual fuck.' I thought.

These were massive. I checked the box and saw 'extra heavy flow' written on the box.

I mentally cringed and struggled to get sorted. After all the chaos I sat back in the shed drinking beer while thanking Gustav for his hospitality.

The pain got worse and Tom told me to go and lay in his room if i needed to.

I walked in there and laid down in his bed, cudling in his sheets while I tried nap.

-

I woke up holding my stomach as if it would cure the sharp pain. I heard Music still playing outside and a eruption of laughter. Damn I wish these annoying ass cramps would go away.

The light suddenly flicked on and Tom walked in, reeking of alcohol and a cigarette hanging out his mouth, with a glass of water and packet of fresh panadol.

"Mum quickly popped by and dropped these off.."

I looked up at him

"Tell your Mum I said thanks" I smiled.

"Holy Shit!" He exclaimed "You're so pale."

"I'm sorry" I sighed. "I'll just go home, you shouldn't be looking after me on your birthday."

"No, no don't worry about it. You can stay the night if you wish."

"Thanks Kaulitz." I kissed his cheek and went to get up, putting my jumper back on.

Georg walked in with something in his hands.

"Sorry Tom I forgot to give you your best present." He grinned throwing about 50 condoms at Tom.

His eye went wide and I just laughed silently.

They were scattered everywhere with a label "extra small" scribbled onto them with a sharpie.

Tom frantically picked them up, trying to hide them although I already seen them.

He shot dirty looks at Georg as Georg bellowed with laughter.

"Enjoy Y/N!" He called walking away.

"She's on the fuckin rag!" Yelled Tom.

"And you got the wrong size!" He continued

"It's okay Tom you don't have to be embarrassed not everyone's long in the schlong." I joked to which his face went bright red.

[lovely-lady-lumps]

Sugar Cookie Fun

October Writing 1

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x GN!Reader

Summary: You and Bucky are decorating sugar cookies and can't help but make each other laugh

Word count: 702

TW: some language (Like 2 words)

Very short but I had this idea and needed to get it out there. Might rewrite to be better. Kind Feedback is welcome.

  The smell of freshly baked sugar cookies wafts into the air of your and Bucky’s shared kitchen. Soft music plays from your “spooky” spotify playlist and orange lights litter the cabinets, the feeling of October overwhelming all throughout the apartment. The two of you are standing side by side in front of a countertop covered in frosting and sprinkles, cookies strewn everywhere.

  Bucky watches in amusement as you try your best to ice your skull cookie. Your tongue is slightly poking out from your mouth, eyebrows furrowed in concentration and your hands move slowly to keep the icing neat. Your attempts are futile and as you pout, he knows you know it too. He belts out a “HA” when the piping bag lets out an air bubble, little specks of pink flying across the cookie and work space. You purse your lips together to keep from smiling.

  “Shut up. I’m trying.” You frown, hands shaking slightly with the effort of squeezing more icing to the tip of the tube.

  His hands raise in defense, “I didn’t say anything.” 

  “You laughed you dick! They’re not that bad.” You straighten from your hunched position to look down at the cookie.

  A giggle can be heard as you take them in, frosting dripping off of some.

  “I don’t know babe, yours are pretty bad.” He shrugs and points at one of yours.

  The fat cat shape is covered in smooth white icing, but the black outline you made has a smeared smiley face in place of a cat’s.

  “Hey! Yours aren’t great either, Boo.” You nod to his recently decorated cookie, the word boo no longer eligible under the mountain of sprinkles poured on top.

  “Hey,” He laughs before looking back at you with a grin, “It’s not my fault okay? The stupid cap came off.”

  Your giggles become laughter, getting stronger the longer you look at your failed attempts. It just seems to get worse when you see his cheek, smeared in green.

  “What? Babe what? What?!” Bucky tries to get you to tell him what was so damn funny, voice rising in fake frustration and getting frantic.

  “Come here.” You say once you catch your breath. A small giggle escapes.

  Bucky leans over, one hand braced on the counter and the other taking the piping bag out of your own hand to place elsewhere, most of the icing having dripped out onto the floor. His face gets close enough for you to kiss, which to be fair is exactly what he was expecting. Your hands grab the sides of his face gently, pulling him to you, oh so sweetly. Bucky tilts his head in wait.

A lick from the corner of his mouth to his jaw in a quick swipe has him jerking away in surprise. Wiping his face with the back of his hand only results in what's left being smeared further.

  “Gross! I thought you were being sweet!” He shouts, face twisted in both disgust and somehow, joy.

  His fake anger fades fast as he sees you with your head thrown back and your arm covering your stomach. 

  “You have frosting- all over your face!” You gasp out.

  Bucky grins and grabs you by the shoulders, “Oh yeah? Here, I’ll share it with ya!”

  You scream when his cheek touches yours and try to wiggle yourself free to no avail.

  “No! Please, I’m sorry!” your voice is breathy, giggles interrupting your plea.

  Bucky’s cheek moves up and down your own to get the frosting onto your skin, stubble tickling yet burning as he does so. When he pulls back your face is red and your eyes are closed, mouth wide open in a smile. The green has barely passed onto you but what little of it did sits in speckles on your own cheek, blended together with beard burn. He places a kiss on your nose as you calm down and takes in the sweet moment with a fond glint in his eye. 

  His arms drop to your waist and he pulls you closer, your own arms reaching around his neck. Fingers gently brush through the hair on the nape of his neck.

  “Have I ever told you how much I love you?” He blurts out into the comfortable silence, warm breath brushing your lips.

  “Only every day. And guess what?” You almost whisper, lips brushing his.

  “What?” Even closer.

  “I love you too.”

[justjams2003]

Blossoms-Chapter 8

Leather and candle wax fill every one of my senses. I can feel the leather of my Prince's hands on my waist. My corset is lightweight for the summer weather. Though, it doesn't help the heat pooling in my insides. The closeness of his chest on my back causing every nerve in my body to light up in flames. My breath hitches every now and then. When the horse goes over a bump too fast or we stop too quickly.

 Each time our bodies cause friction, fabrics and skin rubbing perfectly. I can't help but want more than just light touches. At the moment I have to attack my lips just to keep myself from letting out a moan. 

We have been riding for a while. He took me through some back exit I have never seen before. Then onto the biggest most beautiful sleek black horse. We've been following back roads and we're currently riding through the most beautiful forest. I've heard the most charming sounding birds and the most elegant tree.

These trees are so big too. They are growing the thickest roots, covering the entire forest floor. Moss growing over those roots. Flowers and mushrooms litter it everywhere. Causing the most enchanting feeling. As if I am travelling through a fantasy realm, towards my castle that awaits me. I am so writing this into my book.

"We are getting close now, my dear." He curls my hair behind my ear and then whispers to me. I can't believe I rode off with I man I barely know. Yet, it doesn't feel like that. It feels as though our souls are entirely connected from the beginning. Though, I wouldn't mind getting to know each and every little detail of him.

Yet, before I could respond I see the most breathtaking sight. A field of wildflowers, an utter mixture of daisies, tulips, lavender and many other of the wildest colours. My eyes grow wide at the sight. There is a slight incline making it perfect for sledging in the deep Winter. Though, I don't want to even think about that.

Then again I feel strong hands around my waist. It's a strong grip around my body. My coat immediately gets discarded. I just want to feel the sun on my skin. Therefore the moment I'm settled I start running toward the field. My body explodes with joy. Jumping, spinning and dancing in every possible direction.

Even when I give in and fall down, all the grass and flowers catching me causes me to last ever so softly. The flower petals fly up all around me. My hair swooping around me in every direction. The emotions escape me and a laugh falls out of my mouth. My mind races and finally settles, "I made it."

"Made what?" I look up and see a stark white mask. Does he fit in this ideal fantasy I have created for myself? I've always wanted a big family, especially after growing up as an only child. Can I imagine myself doing that with him? I'm moving too fast. I am sure of it. Yet, if my mind thinks of giving myself over to him, I should always be ready for children.

Without even asking for a reply he places the black blanket down. Then places down the basket and takes out several foods. "I grew up in London," I start out, sitting down next to him. "Everyone was so glum there, except my aunt. She travels a lot and would tell me all the stories of her adventures. And the moment she told me about France and the Opera Populaire, I just knew."

I pop a grape into my mouth and look out at the view. It's impeccable. I can see almost every part of the busy city. Especially the famous Opera house. He throws me a cheeky smile, "You are so beautiful." I hear his deep voice compliment. My cheeks light up, "Thank you," I smile at him. "You are every piece of sunshine in one person." The compliment just flows from him.

I can't stop smiling and try my best to hide by playing with the grass under me. "There's a lot of sunshine in the world," I comment, not being able to keep my eyes off him. He merely rolls his eyes and looks at the amazing view of Paris. As I look at him, every bone highlighted by the sun, I can't help but realise once more just how truly attractive he is.

Though I can't help but wonder why he covers up his beauty? I would never force him to show me his full face. He clearly doesn't want the world to see. That would be like stripping someone naked in front of an entire audience.

Even if I am the only one in the room. I don't want to question him either. It's probably a sensitive subject, I can't imagine he wants to talk about it. Yet, my mind can't help but wonder. To creative fantasies of all the allurement that hides underneath that polished mask of his. It only creates more attraction for him. That there might forever be a part of him that not a single person in this world knows about.

"Tell me about yourself, my Prince," I ask, placing my head on my arms and knees. He laughs and shakes his head. "I am no Prince, my dear." He says with such matter-a-fact that it causes pain in my heart. "Then who are you?" I ask, furrowing my brows with a bit more of a directed tone.

He thinks for a moment, "I am Erik, Phantom of the Opera." he places his hand on his heart as if he is giving a piece of it to me. "I think you are much more than a ghost, my dear Erik." The words fall from my mouth. It's true, I can tell there is so much more to him than some unseen mystical being.

"Quite funny, I thought you were Prince Philip. I suppose you're my Prince Erik. I am glad you're the one with a voice. You sing much better than I ever have." I explain to him, in between eating from the array of foods. His cheeks blush ever so lightly, if we were in the dark corners of the Opera House I would not have noticed it.

He plucks are a wildflower, then tucks it behind my ear in my hair. "Who are you then? If not Princess Aurora?" His hand lingers a second on my cheek. Just long enough to cause tingles in my body. A proud smile comes over me, "I'm not exactly Princess Aurora, but my name is Mariposa Aurora Claremont." He thinks for a moment then a cheeky smile comes over his face. "Why my dear, it fits you so perfectly. Mariposa, free as a butterfly. Aurora, as sweet as an angel. Claremont, as refreshing as a clementine." His words are as if he is quoting a famous poem to me. A poem entirely dedicated to me.

"Do you prefer one?" He questions, referring to my various names. I shake my head no. "I shall call you my Clementine." He settles, making each name his own. I nod, "I would like that very much." I smile at him, enjoying every moment with him. We've barely said anything deep to each other yet it still feels like I know all his inners.

I swallow my bite, "You're not a very good ghost, you know." He looks beyond offended. I can't help but laugh at his reaction. "Why do you say so?" He questions, his accent is ever so slightly vibrating through him. I giggle once again, "You claim to watch my every move yet do not know my name." I explain to him.

He freezes up, then I can see his charm gets turned on again. "My sweet Clementine, I was so distracted by your talent." My cheeks immediately flare up and I can't help but cover up my face with my cold hands. Though, Erik gently takes my hand and pulls it away. "I enjoy seeing you smile." He states, his mixed dirty emerald eyes sparkling in the sunlight.

I throw a look at him, and he sighs looking down. "I know I am not one to talk, but it is better this way." His entire body stiffens up yet also emanates pain. I can't help but feel bad, "Thank you, for not trying to remove my mask." His eyes hold years of agony behind them.

I furrow my brows, "Of course, I would never do that." I shake my head in utter disbelief that anyone would even think of doing that. "I'm sorry that people have done that to you." I hold his hand, which has retracted after his comment. His eyes seem to light up at my words but also sorrow from remembrance.

Without even thinking I give each knuckle a gentle kiss. "Thank you for all this," I say looking over at now the empty plates. "It's been the most perfect evening," I smile, taking in each blade of grass. "you have truly spoiled me." His smile swells with pride at my words. This time he takes my hand and gives it a kiss. "Anything for my Princess." His heavy voice echoes out in my mind. Every nerve lights a blaze in my body. Just aching for those lips to be on mine. 

[adrianhalldraws]

Annalyse had sat alone at a table in her favorite coffee shop, sipping on her mocha frappuccino as she scrolled though her phone. Sometimes she would use it to spy on her brother Baylee who had a near addiction level usage of social media. She could tell approximately where he was at any given time due to his shorts and pictures he posted regularly. Today was of course no different. Baylee seemed to be several blocks away documenting the line for the newest Klix phone.

Further scrolling led her down to her own posts, few and far between unlike Baylee's. Her last post had been about a week ago in the Church of Asteria's library with a few of her friends making a video of them together, giggling quietly to themselves as they made jokes about their reading subject. Annalyse smiled and scrolled onward, sipping her frappuccino quietly as she read a news article now.

Annalyse had no time to react as a body-shuddering boom caused splinters of glass to fly inward. Her body was tossed like a ragdoll to the ground, hitting it with a thud. As she regained her bearings, she saw her coffee slung across the floor and litter everywhere. The ground was covered in glass and dishware as well as the stunned bodies of other patrons, some scrambling to get up and run.

Annalyse pushed herself up from the ground, gasping as the glass cut her hands and knees. Spinning around, the windows had been completely blown out and the streets filled with panicked people running from the direction of the sound. At that moment she realized she had no hearing, her ears simply ringing like an alarm.

Running out onto the sidewalk, she was greeted by the sight of a building on fire, over half of it rubble at this point. Confusion took over as she tried to make sense of the scene, her phone vibrating to add more chaos to the moment.

It was Baylee. He must have heard the explosion and was calling to check on her. She put the phone up to her ear, barely making out Baylee's voice between her hearing returning and the crowd on the street. "Anna, did you hear that? Where are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I was right next to the blast though. A building blew up down the street and knocked out the windows while I was drinking coffee. Listen, meet me at the church, okay?"

Arrival at the church granted them with answers. Annalyse, covered in glass shards and powdered rubble, weeped as she learned there had been another terrorist attack, potentially killing at least 50. Baylee reacted with anger and confusion as it was revealed that the target was a technical institute. A motive was not given and never would be beyond terror. This was the fourth attack in three months.