qualityfirstproperties

[kthmlk]

casualty or..

[bloogers-boogers]

What do you think of the au concept of kyle having been raised in jersey? And maybe eric meeting him as kyle-b while running away or on one of his escapades

I have so many versions for Kyle b that it’s hard to go on a full rant about him hahaha. BUT, it this scenery jesus aaaaa im glad someone asked me about kyle being born and raised in jersey! It’s an interesting concept.

I genuinely could see Kyle being resentful about the jersey inside him (like his mother) however being stuck in jersey makes him have to maintain a facade by being around his peers and friends. I would like to hc that in this au it’s cousin kyle who lives in sp and Kyle’s the cousin that goes visits him when Sheila and Gerald have to be out somewhere for like a week. This is how kyle gets the opportunity to get out from jersey, a glimpse of “heaven” or “normality” for once.

Kyle is this hardcore, fighting, troublemaker on the outside. He keeps his image impeccable to prevent being seen as weak or being made fun of in any possible way. So unfortunately for him embracing his jersey is always his go to. However internally he’s genuinely sweet, caring and very opened minded. Of course duo to this he’s not the best in expressing himself truly, it comes natural in being a pretentious dick.

When he finally gets out from jersey he couldn’t bare get tired of breathing such clean air. It felt new, it felt fresh. A good change.

He studied his surroundings as if he had never once gotten out from jersey. Arriving to south park he immediately thought it was cabbage but it was better than to having to deal with all those other assholes at home. He arrived, greeted his aunt and told his cousin to fuck off before putting his suitcase in the guest room he was staying in.

He immediately goes outside and examine the whole neighborhood, deciding to walk around and see what else he could find.

And lord and behold! Guess who he sees outside in the front yard of a green house. A chubby guy with brown hair and one of the most flamboyant ass poses he ever seen.

He smirked and approaches him.

“This your neighborhood boy toy?”

“Excuse me?” In immense offensive Cartman turned around and look at the weirdly hot ginger, “you aren’t from here, I can immediately tell by that dumb southern accent you have.”

“Southern?” Kyle spat baffled, offended and annoyed by the obvious taunt. He’s not use to anyone talking to him like that, “have you heard yourself? Or do you have cabage in yor muff?”

“Your.” He corrected to Kyle’s added annoyance.

“You want to get beaten down huh? That’s what you want plump.”

“What did you just call me?”

Before anything more a mortified brunette with rounded glasses gets in between them and lifts his hands to block Kyle from getting anymore closer to Cartman.

“I see you met my cousin Kyle, Eric!”

“Thats your cousin?” Cartman made a face gesture of disgust analyzing him from head to toes, “he’s ginger.”

“Yeah, my aunt Sheila is ginger. Anyways he’s from jersey his kind is a little out of the radar,” the other Kyle tried explaining calmly.

“Ew. Of course he’s from fucking jersey. Not even surprised your family-“

Before he could even finish that sentence Kyle lounged at Cartman and drops him to the ground.

“Oh jesus!” He heard his cousin shout nervously.

And I don’t know, I picture from there Cartman starts finding it amusing to bother Kyle and he of course likes to tease him a lot. And Kyle can’t help but admit he thinks Cartman is kinda “cool” to hang out with. They share their experience, opinions and views on things. Kyle genuinely starts loving south park and sometimes wishes to be able to move there.

Also, he’s very possessive. I need to add this because he’s very possessive over Cartman. Like the few times he visits his cousin he has to fight nails and fists with his aunt and cousin over not trying to kidnap Eric. He wants to take him with him to jersey and own him like some puppy but theres that other side that feels jealousy over just the single thought of any of his friends or people there giving him the eye or dare try to mock him which gives him this angrily feeling of murder. So he tried his best to hold in his impulses.

He also finds it endearing when Eric tries teaching him some of his slangs and also way of speaking to blend more in with the folks in town. Tips on how to dress or to use lesser tan because he thought he looked more like an orange with some added red curls on top.

He also still fights Cartman and tries his best to at-least punch him on the face less than 10 times a day. He does it five for Cartman’s misfortune c:

Cartman is the only one genuinely not afraid of him the rest of the people in town including Cartman’s friends are unsettled or afraid of him.

I guess we could say this isn’t entirely an escape but Kyle does like to go out from jersey and disappears for like three days cause he can’t help himself going back to south park and crashing at his place. His parents kinda fear that would happen the moment they let him out ONCE from jersey because that’s how Sheila would get too. So they wouldn’t say a word to him every time he got back home.

And that’s all I could think of for the moment, hopefully u like this! And sorry for the late reply been busy days lately 🙏🙏 love you!❤️

[enigmaticxbee]

✖️✖️ 10x02 Founder’s Mutation

The one where... a doctor’s experiments on kids with genetic mutations, including his own, make Mulder and Scully think about William.

Best: Mulder: You’re never “just” anything to me, Scully.

Worst: WHY doesn’t Scully have her name on the door - WHERE IS HER DESK?!! This makes me FURIOUS. Ughyfcggbhjjhb!!!!

✔️ Flashlights

❌ Woods/Desert

❌ Slideshow

✔️ Autopsy

✔️ Evidence Disappears

❌ Scully Misses It

❌ Mulder Ditch

❌ Sunflower Seeds

❌ Voiceover

✔️ Catch Phrase: (TTIOT)

✔️ Scully is a (Medical) Doctor

❌ Mulder is Spooky

❌ Scuuullllaaaaayy! Muullllderrrr!

❌ Fox/Dana

✔️ Inappropriate Touching (that I am here for)

✔️ Casual Scully

✔️ Casual Mulder

❌ Trench Coats

❌ Bad Tie Watch

✔️ Glasses Watch 😎

✔️ Taking! It! Personally!: Mulder & Scully

50 States: DC x102 (44/50)

Investigate: Together & Apart

Solve Rate: 50%

✔️ Bechdel Test

MSR: 🐝🐝🐝

Goriness: 👽👽👽👽

Creepiness: 👽👽👽

Humor: 👽👽

Rewatch Thoughts:

William check-in: The incubator conversation outside the hospital is SO clunky…. My baby, Scully? And it’s not like the idea that William was the result of experimentation is new - it’s threaded throughout seasons 8 and 9, Scully should not be shocked about this line of investigation. So much exposition needed to get revival viewers up to speed on William 🙄

Break-up check-in: It makes me sad that even in their dreams (or nightmares) Mulder and Scully imagine themselves to be raising William alone. They can’t share their grief over the loss of their son, or even imagine themselves as a family. But there doesn’t seem to be any tension or issues working together… Why bother with this breakup if they weren’t going to do anything with it?? They didn’t have to be split up for William to be a fissure within their relationship.

I believe this was originally the 5th episode in the production schedule, which I guess is why their return to the X-Files feels so low key here. Guess Skinner just made them Special Agents again!

Mulder: How do you know that? Scully: I’m old school, Mulder - pre-google. Lol poking fun at how much random knowledge they needed to have in the original run to keep the plot flowing. (Never mind Scully GOOGLING HOW TO DO BRAIN SURGERY in IWTB - no, I will never let it go)

GaY pAniC

Scully’s back in the autopsy bay 🥰

It feels weird to see Mulder and Scully in these big SUVs instead of their FBI rental sedans…

Skinner playing both sides as usual, but he brought them back to dig things up, not to play by the rules. It still just doesn’t feel plausible to me that they would rejoin the FBI after everything that happened. Wouldn’t it have been more fun if they were trying to investigate from outside the system and going to Skinner for help and insider access? (See This from next season, I wanted more of that!)

Scully’s worked at Our Lady of Sorrows hospital for 7 years? 🤔 But IWTB was 8 years before this 🧐 Who knows how time works in txf universe.

Oh hey Doug Savant! I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything since Desperate Housewives.

I know some of the genetic disorders the kids have are real disorders - are all of them?

The plot of this episode really bounces all over the place - especially with the detours to remind us about William. Lotsa leaps in logic needed to get to the janitor being the founder’s son.

Why is Mulder the only one who hears the sound? Is Kyle trying to send specifically him a message? Why him?

Bad things happen when the birds gather. Lolololol

I do love me some hurt/comfort and protective!Scully though

Why is the little girl blond in the flashback and has black hair in present day 🧐

I’ve always been into stories about super kids escaping from evil captors who want to exploit their powers - Escape to Witch Mountain was a favorite of mine.

Mulder imaging what it would be like to raise his son really gets me 🥺 - given the way he lost his whole family there’s so much to explore in his hopes and fears… I wish we got more but I do appreciate that we get this little bit.

[pastelwitchling]

Kyle talks to Michael about Alex.

Kyle had had a strange pain in his chest since he’d accepted the surgeon’s offer, but as he stepped into the Wild Pony and saw Alex at their usual table, looking everywhere at once and tapping his fingers on his beer bottle, clearly uncomfortable with being alone, it was like a window suddenly opened to his heart.

A smile tugged at his lips. Alex saw him and smiled himself, raising a hand in greeting.

As Kyle slid into the booth, he said, “I have a raging headache in four corners of my mind, and only one of them is from my hospital shifts.”

Alex huffed a chuckle. “I get the feeling.”

“Right,” he nodded. “I keep forgetting that you’re in the club, too.”

“The club?”

“The We’re-Pretty-Much-On-Call-All-The-Time-Because-Someone-Always-Needs-Something Club.”

“Ah,” Alex leaned back in his seat, and handed Kyle the second bottle he’d ordered. “That club. It’s not so bad, being useful.”

He raised a brow. “That bad? I thought you liked your new job.”

“‘Liked’ may be a strong a word,” he confessed. “It’s definitely interesting.”

“And your boss?”

He sighed. “I’m still trying to crack him. What about you? Have you heard back from that hospital in California?”

Kyle looked down, and huffed a chuckle. “I think you’re the only one that’s asked me that. Come to think of it, I think you’re the only friend I have that doesn’t just call me for rescue.”

Alex’s smile dimmed. “So you have heard from them.”

He nodded. “And I accepted their offer.”

Alex said nothing, and Kyle looked up, expecting disappointment. But Alex wasn’t looking at him. He was staring off into the crowd of cowboys drinking by the pool table, his lips pursed, his brows furrowed.

“Do you hate me?”

“I’m sad,” he confessed, the corner of his lips tugged up in a soft smile. “I’ll miss you.”

Kyle felt a lump in his throat. For two days, he’d been deliberating his choices, wondering if it was the right thing to do. Everyone here, after all, needed him for one thing or another. He was worried he’d be letting people down. But Alex . . .

“Are you disappointed?”

He shook his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” he hesitated, “I’m the resident alien doctor. What’re are they going to do if I’m not here?”

Alex raised a brow like it was obvious. “Manage.”

“Come on, Alex,” his shoulders fell. “You can’t fool me into thinking that you don’t care what happens to Michael.”

“All I’ve ever cared about is Michael,” he said simply, without doubt or pause. “But they’re not alone. I’m here, Liz is here. And you’ve done enough.”

“But you’ve always advocated for – for friendship, and being there for the people you love!”

“And you have been,” Alex chuckled. “And you will be. You’re moving to another state, not another planet. If it gets really bad, and I really can’t think of anything else, I’ve got your number.”

Kyle clenched his jaw. “But –”

“Kyle,” he leaned in, smiling. His eyes were glassy. “Take it from someone who built a career out of the military, and moved on. It’s time to tap out.”

Kyle didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have another argument, not with Alex’s eyes and words so sincere. Alex shrugged. “It’ll just be Roswell’s loss.”

He stared, searching for any sign of mockery or sugarcoating. But this was Alex. He didn’t lie, not for anyone.

He opened his mouth to speak, found the words lodged in his throat, then tried again. He really hadn’t realized how badly he’d needed Alex’s permission.

“Coming from you, Manes,” he confessed, “that means everything.”

 On his way home that night, and after a hug from Alex and a promise that he would come over the next day to help him start packing, Kyle realized there was one more thing he couldn’t leave without doing. One last duty that he owed his best friend.

So instead of going straight home, he turned a road and into the junkyard. Michael Guerin sat in front of the bonfire with a beer in hand, that stupid hat on his head, and raised a disinterested brow at Kyle as he stepped out.

“Well,” he said, “this is a surprise. The good doctor needs something from little old me?”

“Actually,” Kyle said, “yeah, I do.” Michael just stared, and he shrugged. “More of an order, actually.”

Michael started to smirk and leaned forward on his knees. “You’re gonna give me orders.”

“Just one,” Kyle said, hands in his pockets. He supposed he should’ve been more hesitant, more afraid. Michael, after all, was a dangerous loose wire even when he was sober, and he’d been on edge for whatever reason for the past few days.

But then Kyle remembered the dark circles around Alex’s eyes, the slight twitch of his fingers, the way he seemed to be struggling with the weight of Deep Sky and everything that came with it on his shoulders. And Michael. Always Michael.

“I need you to look after Alex.”

Michael’s smirk faltered. “Pardon me?”

“You heard me, Guerin,” he sighed, not in the mood to play back-and-forth. Not anymore. “Look after Alex. He’s not okay.”

That got Michael’s attention, and his eye twitched. “What’s wrong with him?”

Kyle tilted his head. “Oh I don’t know, why don’t you ask him? Or is it only that Alex is allowed to help you, and never the other way around?”

He stood. “Watch it, Valenti.”

“I have been,” he said. “For the past couple of years, I have been careful around you, Guerin, because part of me knew that whatever you broke in Alex, I can just fix. But I’m leaving town, and honestly? I’m scared for him. He’d never ask for help, but there has to be someone who cares enough about him to offer it anyway.”

Michael clenched his jaw and swallowed. “And you think that’s me?”

“I need it to be,” Kyle admitted, “because Alex doesn’t want anyone else.” Michael’s face fell. “He’s never wanted anyone else. So it’s either you, or I find some way to take him with me.”

Michael’s eyes flared, but Kyle held up a hand to silence him. “I’m not, Guerin, but I would. I can’t leave him here alone knowing he’s just going to keep being used.”

“I don’t use Alex,” he growled.

“No?” Kyle scoffed. “Did you know that he left the Air Force just last week?”

Michael looked like he’d been shot.

“With full honors?” he went on. “Did you know that he’s been recruited by the same secret organization that shot Max and drugged Jenna? Or that he’s already been given a mission? Do you have any idea how exhausted he is?”

When Michael didn’t answer, apparently too consumed with taking in all of this information, Kyle shook his head.

“You wouldn’t, would you? Because it’s all about you, all the time.” He shrugged. “Alex doesn’t mind, so why should you?” He shook his head, already starting to walk back to his car. “He deserves better than that.”

Leaving Michael standing in the desert, Kyle got into his car and drove away, finally feeling like he’d wiped the slate clean with his best friend.

*

Michael didn’t know why he was here. He walked the length of Alex’s porch, waiting for Alex, not having a clue as to where he could be. He realized there’d been a lot of that since that year away dismantling Project Shepherd. He had less and less to do with Alex, and it gave him a headache beyond anything else had.

How could he not know where Alex was? How could he not have asked? How did Kyle know?

Because Kyle pays attention to Alex, a voice in his head scorned. You don’t.

Michael clenched his jaw, still a little tipsy from his self-loathing beers, and ran his fists through his curls. Alex’s porch started to upend itself, the hardwood floors battling against the nails keeping them down, and Michael gasped, settling everything back in its place.

Just then, Michael caught a pair of headlights and squinted only for a second before Alex parked and turned off the car.

His heart started to rattle and his breaths came out quicker at the sight of Alex in his flannel and jeans. He missed him. He had no idea how badly he had until he’d come back, until he got to talk to him that first night a few days ago – drunk then, too – but he missed him. He missed him every second he was away, and somehow missed him more when he was here.

Alex had a brow raised, but Michael was studying his face. He saw it clearly now. The dark shadows under his eyes, his hollow cheeks, his hair sticking up in perfect, messy strands like he’d been running his hands through them all day, his stubble. How could he have not noticed?

“Uh oh,” Alex sighed at the look on his face. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

Michael swallowed. Right, he thought. Because Alex only thought he showed up when he needed something.

He pushed past the ever-present lump in his throat and asked, “Why would something be wrong, Private?” He purposely used the nickname. “Can’t I just come say hi?”

Alex glanced down at the word Private, and back up again. He smiled and moved past Michael to open his door. “Not in my experience. Seriously” – he stood by the door, and nudged Michael inside �� “what’s wrong?”

Michael didn’t budge, still smirking though it felt hollow. “Why didn’t you tell me about the Air Force?”

Alex looked startled that Michael knew. Did he really just never expect Michael to care about what was going on with him at all?

He shrugged. “It – uh – it was recent. Who told you? Max?”

Michael stared, then started to chuckle incredulously. “Did everyone but me know?”

Alex was not humoring him. “I told Greg and Kyle. They’ve both been spending time with Maria, and she’s been spending time with Max, I figured one of them must’ve mentioned it to her, and she must’ve mentioned it to him – look, would you please just come inside?”

Michael’s laughter faded and he pressed his lips together. He was still smiling, but his eyes burned. Alex seemed to realize he wouldn’t move on his own, and he gently took Michael’s jacket sleeve, tugging him in.

Once they were both in the living room, Alex set to work on a pot of tea. As he handed Michael a mug, Michael saw the light glimmering off a silver ring on his finger. His brows furrowed.

“That’s new.”

“Oh,” Alex glanced at it. “Yeah. So –”

“Wasn’t that the same ring Long had?”

“Yep.”

Alex was clearly avoiding his eyes. Michael was relentless, a burning in his chest forcing the words out.

“He gave it to you?”

“No,” Alex said. “This one’s mine.”

“Is this about that secret organization you joined?” Michael demanded. “Or was that recent, too?”

Alex smiled as he straightened, understanding dawning. “So Kyle told you. No wonder you’re wound so tight.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning it’s one thing when my own brother knows a secret about me before you do,” Alex said, taking a seat at the end of the couch. “But Kyle knowing it first?” He scoffed and shook his head.

Michael leaned forward, glaring. “So I’m jealous,” he spat. “So what? Why does Kyle get to know more about you than I do?”

“He’s my best friend,” Alex said simply. “We just talk about ourselves around each other.”

“But you don’t talk about yourself to me.”

“Not usually,” Alex agreed.

“Why?” he demanded. “I’m more important?”

“Yes,” he said simply, and Michael clenched his jaw.

“That’s really what you think of me?”

“I think the world of you, Michael,” he said, and Michael faltered. “You’re everything to me.” He smiled. “You think I don’t tell you about what I’m doing because I don’t think you care? I don’t tell you because you’re all I care about. I was going to tell you about the Air Force, I swear, just . . . not yet.” He looked down at his hands, his thumb rubbing the backs of his fingers. “Some of this stuff hurts to talk about, and I just don’t . . . I don’t want to think about it yet.”

Michael’s brows furrowed. “You’re . . . sad about leaving the military?”

He scoffed halfheartedly, slumping against the couch. “My whole life was the military. I had a family. Now I . . . don’t. I just need a minute to adapt.”

Michael tried to consider that, to be sympathetic, but he couldn’t be. For one obvious reason.

“But I’m your family.”

Alex huffed a laugh, and sniffled. He nodded. “I know.” He exhaled shakily, glancing at Michael, then stretched his arms high above his head. Michael was so distracted with his shirt riding up and revealing smooth, delicious skin that he didn’t notice Alex was lying down until his head was on his lap.

Michael froze, not knowing what to do.

“Hold still,” Alex murmured, his eyes already closed. “I haven’t slept in days and I’m exhausted.”

Slowly, Michael set a hand down on Alex’s waist, the other in his hair. His own heart hammered when Alex’s body melted under his touch and he seemed, for the first time since he’d seen him back, relaxed.

He leaned back on the couch, unable and unwilling to look away from Alex. “Then sleep, Private,” he whispered. “I’ll keep you safe.”

[savagenutella46]

Jasonette~ Hogwarts AU

To Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Amortentia smells like baking on a snowy day, or the warm feeling in between your fingers and palms when they latch onto a hot mug of chamomile tea. It’s the smell of the underlying scent of mint immediately hitting her senses when she walks into her home for Christmas break.

The aroma of this ethereal substance is calming, soft, like the fuzziness of a brand new blanket you get from a flea market, or the soft, wispy fur of her purring Maine Coon. Amortentia is everywhere she wants to be and anything she has ever wanted to experience.

Except, she’s never fully subjected her mind to the possibility that, oh, love can be stored in a person, rather than a sentimental object or activity.

Marinette wafts another cloud of the potion from the tiny vial towards her nose, trying to identify the new, but not unwelcomed smell.

“Still can’t believe you stole that.” Jason, her dearest friend, who loves to craft things with his own hands and plays as a wonderful Beater in Quidditch, leans forward from across the table. They’re in the Great Hall, supposed to be studying. Instead, they joke around and idly flip random pages of their textbook, something Madam Kyle, the librarian, would definitely throw them out for.

That’s why they aren’t in the library.

She flicks her eyes upwards to stare at him. “I still can’t figure it out.” Jason rolls his eyes and reaches for the vial to snatch it out of her hands, the slim cork slipping into the opening with a small hiss.

“Tell me what it smells like out of memory.” She ponders for a moment, fiddling with her fingers as she recalls the new aroma stuck to the walls of her nose.

“It’s... sort of like, gunpowder. Broomstick oil? It’s definitely not a new smell, but something I wouldn’t associate with myself.” Her eyes trace the dark wooden lining of the table unconsciously as she wracks her brain for a possible origin. Jason coughs, and she snaps her eyes back to him.

He looks a little flustered. A light pink tints the tops of his cheekbones, his pupils are abnormally dilated, and she almost can’t see the beautiful blue in them.

“Marinette, don’t you think it might be someone else, rather than an object?” Someone? She had briefly thought of the possibility, but no one could come to mind fast enough for her to keep pondering on the topic.

“No?” Jason sighs, and the pop of the cork sounds again, meaning he’s opened the vial. She watches as he smells it himself, and looks at him questioningly.

“The immediate smell that hits your nose after you open an old book, the tingly feeling your hand gets when that someone else slips theirs into yours, the floaty feeling you get when Madam Kyle kicks you out of the library for causing a ruckus.” Marinette giggles a little bit, and Jason continues to list off his favorite feelings.

“Oh, and that time you knitted me a sweater. I still wear it, you know. It used to smell like you after you wandered down to the common room with damp hair.” She blinks in surprise, but he keeps taking.

“You, in general, Marinette.” Jason slides the small bottle back across the table to her, to which she reaches for it with numb fingers. “Because, I-I, um, you’re my comfort, what I smell.” Jason’s eyes are burning into hers with a fiery determination she’s never seen on him before.

“You’re what I’m reminded of on a boring day, what reminds me to do my homework, because we have a Charms exam the next day. I think of you every time I lay in bed, because you’re memory helps me sleep.” Marinette gapes at him, and he reaches over to squeeze her limp hand.

“You—you’re my smell.” She says, realizing, under the soft glow of the Great Hall’s floating candle, she knows. Jason Todd is her hearts desire, amongst the baked goods and spicy, warm smells of plants. She loves to see Jason oiling his broom, watching him play against other houses, cherishes the moment the game is over and he rushes over to hug and twirl her around, loves to hear him gush about his latest book read, how he analyzes every characters dynamic and the story’s plot.

And she is Jason’s.

Jason stares at her, smiling so widely she thought his mouth might break. The blush on his cheeks are intensified and run down his neck, past his deep red Gryffindor tie. She realizes that in that moment, Jason Todd might be more than her best friend.

She smiled back with matching intensity and squeezes his hand, hard.

[luvksj]

Undisputed Era: Pay the Price

author’s note: hello, this is part two of my undisputed era smut and please be aware, i’ve never written smut before so... i’m going off what i know so don’t come for me if it doesn’t sound right. 

it’s a bit weird to be writing smut because i don’t really know how to write sexy stuff so... excuse me if this story turns out to be absolute cringe. for the record, it’s basically you giving them a blowjob.

enjoy the story and apologizes for any mistakes!

plot: you did this and now you must pay the price for your actions.

warning: this story contains NSFW, explicit sexual content that may not be suitable for some readers

“They get punished.” 

Adam’s smirk turned sinister, he wasted no time in attacking your neck viciously, leaving purple swollen marks behind as a sign of ownership. Curling your hands into fist, it became challenging to prevent a moan and despite Adam’s best efforts, you prevailed. 

Squeezing your eyes shut, clenching your teeth, holding your breath, and your fists became tighter as you didn’t want him to gain satisfaction. But this only annoyed him, “Okay, have it your way.” Adam shrugged before yanking the zipper down, exposing your breasts and caressed them.

Shaking, you let out a gasp allowing Adam to insert his tongue inside your mouth. The pleasure became overwhelming and you almost gave in but Kyle thankfully interrupted Adam, allowing you to breath a little, sinking down to the floor. 

“Come on dude, stop hogging her.” Kyle complained, ignoring Adam’s annoyed glare.

The other members mumbled in agreement, Adam stares at your disheveled figure and back at the others who eagerly eyed the chance at being pleasured.

Grabbing the hood of the jumper, Adam drags you towards the others who watch your every movement intently. Crouching beside your right ear, he whispers, “Listen Y/N, you’ll pleasure each of us one by one and obey our every commands otherwise there will be a price to pay so... don’t collect too much debt.” he teases.

You could feel his smirk as he continued talking, “Whatever we want, you must do. Now be a good girl and start with Roderick.” Adam points towards him who motions you over with his index finger. 

Crawling over, you take a deep breath and look him in the eyes, “Suck me off.” he commands while removing his jeans, shoes, and boxers revealing his mate which excitedly greets you. “... please spread for me.” you timidly ask and Roderick stretches his legs wider, giving you more room.

Staring at it, you start slowly licking it like a lollipop. Slow, teasing licks up and down his mate making him shiver in pleasure, each time, your tongue grazes past the tip, “Stop teasing.” Roderick scolds and you start taking him in. 

Placing your hands on his inner thighs for support, you start increasing the pace, hungrier licks stroke his mate, nibbling desperately as he throws his back in overwhelming euphoria. Your tongue assaulted him, it was merciless, “GOD FUCK! RIGHT THERE!!” he exclaimed.

Bucking his hips wildly, you struggle to keep up with his alarming pace, the tip of his mate slapping the back of your throat violently. Bouncing, your scream made it vibrate and he grabbed a handful of your hair, tugging it harshly making you scream even more. “I’M--” Roderick didn’t even finish his sentence as he released. 

Releasing with a ‘pop’, you cleaned him up before moving onto Kyle, who was already prepared. “Suck me off as well.” he instructed and you nodded. Looking at his mate, it was already hardened and you could tell he was touching himself during your session with Roderick. 

Laying on the sofa, you climb up as he spreads his legs out to give you full access. Staring lustfully, you stroke it with your skilled hands, brushing past his tip teasingly making Kyle growl, “Stop it.” his voice commanding. Eyeing him, you lick his tip before diving in.

Coating his mate your saliva, you suck him, drenching him in your saliva. Curling your tongue around his mate and letting go with your tongue grazing his member, Kyle grabs your hair, yanking it angrily, “Stop. It.” he frustratingly said.

Couple more long licks before nearly planting your face into his area when taking him in, positioning your hands on his inner thighs for support, you start bouncing. Your tongue continues it magic while Kyle grunts, closing his eyes, enjoying the experience.

He starts bucking his hips, continuously slamming the tip of his mate against the back wall of your throat making you gag. “FASTER! FASTER!” Kyle yells, increasing his pace and you fumble to catch up, he finally lets go and overfills your mouth with his seeds.

Dribbling out, you force it down your throat, giving him a wavering smile. “Good girl.” he pats your cheek. Bobby was next and you didn’t want anyone to know that you were secretly looking forward to this because he was your favorite one amongst the members.

Bobby chuckles, able to see the excitement in your eyes, “I’ll let you have your pick, sweetheart.” he informs and spreads himself out for your eyes. Travelling your eyes down his god-like sculpted body, you had no idea where to start. 

Climbing onto his lap, you start sucking his lips off, squishing his face between your hands. Bobby stumbles back, slightly surprised by your actions, he eventually regains himself and responds back, matching your eagerness. 

While distracting him with your flurry of kisses, you start grinding against his clothed mate whose desperate to touch your needy pussy. Bobby pushes you off, flings his jeans, shoes, and boxers off hurriedly, his mate shoots up, happy to be freed from his restraints. 

Pushing him down, you spread his legs further apart and attack. Your licks were rougher, hungrier and more desperate as he groans, throwing his head back in happiness. Saliva dripped when you released, breathing in some air. “Well I guess we know whose her favorite.” Roderick said making you blush.

“I mean... she’s got taste, fellas.” Bobby responded.

Blushing, you hear Adam’s cough, “You’re not done yet, sweetheart.” Sighing, you reluctantly pull yourself from Bobby’s embrace and limp towards  Adam. “Kneel.” he demanded, cautiously lowering yourself in front of him. 

Staring directly at his member, it was hard not to be turned on, it was physically fighting with his black skinny jeans to be freed. “Do your thing... darling.” Adam instructed as you scan his sculpted figure, quickly trying to figure out where to begin. 

Leaning forward, you take the zipper of his fly between your teeth and slowly pull it down, his member leaps forward and whacks you in the forward making you jump slightly.

Undoing the button, Adam kicks his shoes off and you pull down both his boxers and jeans with your teeth leaving him completely exposed. Even though, your body was aching, it still turned you on and without hesitation, you started doing your thing.

Starting off with slow licks, you curl your tongue around his member in such a way, it makes him howl with pleasure. “Fuck!” he curses, throwing his head back. Smirking, you continue licking his member like a lollipop and ever-so-carefully graze his tip making him shiver.

Taking ahold, you relentlessly lick his tip with such passion and lust, Adam’s howls of pleasure increase. Once you can see his seed starting to leak, you take him in whole without waiting for him, “GOD DAMN Y/N!” Adam yells. 

Your saliva coating his member as you continue to suck, nibble and lick hungrily on his member like you haven’t eaten in over a week. His member bangs like a drum against the back of your neck as Adam bucks his hips wildly to increase the pleasure. 

“I’M ALMOST THERE! I’M ALMOST--”

He doesn’t even finish his sentence as his seed floods your mouth, “Swallow it.” Adam commands and with much difficulty, you do. The exhaustion hits you like a ton of bricks, collapsing against his legs, catching your breath, the other members start praising your performance.

Their words become incoherent to you as your eyes start falling, the heaviness overpowering everything else. Someone picks you up, you don’t know who it is and frankly, right now, you don’t care-- you’re too tried to. “Go to sleep, Y/N.” he whispers but you don’t hear that as your are already asleep on his shoulder.

Waking up, you were inside a hotel room, still in your clothes and looked around, holding your head in absolute pain. “What happened last night...” you trailed off as you saw Bobby Fish sleeping right beside you. 

Of course, the first thing anyone would do is scream but the events of yesterday suddenly invaded your mind and you blushed, remembering the difference between the sessions you gave the other members vs Bobby. 

He must of been the one who took you here... and carried you.

From the corner of your eye, you saw your keys and belongings were (thankfully) on top of the small bedside cabinet beside you. With much difficulty, you got up and wrapped Bobby’s oversized ‘Undisputed Era’ jumper around your petite figure, you venture out to the hotel buffet.

Eating breakfast, you surprisingly didn’t run into any of the members. Heading back to your hotel room, flinging open the door to reveal them sitting patiently inside the tiny living room looking at you. “What’s going on?” you question, closing the door. 

“Where did you go?” Kyle asked. 

“The buffet... to eat breakfast.” you responded truthfully. 

They chuckle, making you confused, Roderick stands up and in a flash, pins you against the wall. “Baby... if you were hungry, you could of just said so.” he teases making your cheeks bright red. 

Tossing you onto the bed, they encase you, preventing you from escaping. Crawling towards you in different direction and hover over your body, making your heart beat rapidly and a heat begins pooling inside your stomach.

“It’s time for us to... return the favor, isn’t that right boys?” Adam says and the others nod in agreement making you blush even harder.

And they attacked, rendering you useless for the next few days. 

hope it’s good, sorry for not updating in a while... been busy !!!

[dusksmote]

How do you ink and color? Any tips? I love your art! 💜🖤

oh shit i got this ask months ago and forgot to answer

inking: god i hate lineart so much. the trick is to not do it 😂 unfortunately, i still find myself spending hours on lineart all the time @_@ 

the biggest thing i’ve found is making your lines varied in thickness. it adds to the interest. i also try to make my outside line thicker than my inside ones to break up the figure from the background. don’t be afraid to skips some lines and imply them with shading instead. i will color over my lines at the end to make them not as strong, but i’ve learned to still keep some lines black for extra emphasis. 

^ here’s one of my older pieces that i’ve been considering redoing. it has very little line variation, ALL the lines are colored so there’s no solid black, and there’s very little hard contrast in shading values. overall, it looks flat and uninteresting and if i had the time i’d redraw this one.

this is a more recent example of lineart that i think works a lot better. the characters are really well defined with a strong outline, but the inside lines aren’t harsh and distracting. you can see i recolored the lineart in kyle’s hair to be a dark red, and in some places it blends with the shadows to imply areas with more highlights. stan’s pants don’t have and lines in them, just the outside shape and pockets. 

you can see in this wip what the lineart looks like before i do all the shading and fancy stuff. stan’s pants look totally flat and straight until i start shading.

a lot of the time though i won’t even do lineart, especially if it’s a big scenic piece. the more zoomed out less detail you can convey, and lineart takes up a lot of space. 

^ this piece is an example where i do both, lineart and no lineart. the mirror image of kyle isn’t the focus, and i honestly didn’t feel like going in and drawing exact lines because they’d probably look fucked up anyway. i typically don’t put hard lines in backgrounds because it would take FOREVER and just be distracting.

the one thing you do have to be careful of with lineless art is contrast. hard lines are good contrast that show you what you’re looking at, and without them your image can blend together. 

here’s part of a painting i did last august, when i was first experimenting with lineless styles (full image on my NSFW twitter). can you tell what’s going on here? i sure as fuck can’t. there’s no contrast, and it makes all the skin tones blend together in an unintelligible mush.

contrast has always been one of my biggest weaknesses as an artist, so i’ve been trying to improve over time. here’s a more recent lineless drawing:

this one works because it had high contrast. the highlights are really bright and the shadows are really deep. you can still make out the facial features too, but there’s no ‘lineart’ layer’. everything was painted on in the same layer.

-

-

coloring: oh my god i love coloring. it’s my favorite part of drawing and the reason why shit takes forever. a lot of the same stuff from before comes into play, like contrast. you can also portray some really interesting moods based on colors if you’re being stylistic, but also pay in mind to your environment.

i always color my background first. in fact, a lot of the time i’ll do the entire background before coloring a piece. the environment establishes your light levels and light source, and it’s typically easier for me to tweak colors on a figure than the ones in the background. in the above example with kenny, the background is a mostly solid black with a beam of light from the left. i picked kenny’s colors to fit in this environment. 

it’s also important to use references.  

you can see in this wip i’ve got a reference image for how light from a TV looks against figures and the way their shadows are cast across the wall. it also helped me figure out what colors to use in this situation.

a lot of coloring is just trial and error to see what works. i usually start with a flat base color and add value to it. if you put all your colors on different layers it’s really easy to change them quickly. 

here’s an example:

i got my base colors down and here i can see the skin tone is blending with the background, so i lightened it up for better contrast

i typically shade the skin first, then clothes. you can see here i did a dull skin tone with a bright colored shadow. this adds more contrast and interest. i always try to avoid doing dull shadows where you shift toward black. black shadows are really uninteresting and they can make your piece look muddy. i’ll typically shade with an orange, red, blue, or purple.

the final piece has a really bright highlight on it coming from behind. this just adds more visual interest and contrast. you can also see i’ve gone back into the pink shadows and added an even lighter, brighter peach value in places to show reflected light. this also gives the darker pink shadow an added outline effect, because it touches the base skin tone but looks lighter within. 

^ this one’s a good example of light and shadow (full image on my NSFW twitter lmao). there’s not a lot of color because it’s dark out, so everything had to be conveyed in values. there’s hard light across the stomach and then a shadow over the chest, but there’s still light being reflected up into stan’s face that lets us make him out. the rest is deep shadow and unimportant, so it’s all black.

that’s the other part, color and value determine where your eye is gonna look, so consider that when drawing. 

^ consider this piece i drew like a year ago. it has a lot of blues and reds, and originally i was going to make stan’s guitar blue. i don’t have the wips anymore, but it didn’t stand out and it didn’t look right with the image. after a lot of playing around i went with yellow because it’s bright, it breaks up the image, and it adds another color to the piece to balance it out.

the same thing happened when i was working on the cover image for What They Say About Us. 

you can see in this really early wip that i’d blocked in the colors and butters is totally naked. for one, i was like “damn that kid is WAY too naked in this image” and he also blended in with stan and cartman. additionally, there was a lot of warm colors on the left, a lack of color on the right, and an overall lack of blue.

first change i made was throwing a shirt on him and it made a huge improvement. the image looks much more balanced now and he’s not super distracting with his naked-ness.

other than that, coloring is just picking your base colors, blocking in shadows, adding highlight, and cleaning it up. if you wanna improve, look at photo references. look at other people’s art and examine how they use color and value. practice practice practice. have fun with it. the most fun i have coloring comes from figuring out interesting textures like the pharaoh headdress or kenny’s leather jacket. 

i find stock photos like this and study them to see how the light works

other than that, the rest is just playing around, seeing what works, and making things up as i go!

[ceoofanticatradora]

We need more anti C//A who are Adora stans (like you seem to be) so that people can understand that C///A is bad for Adora. Heck C//A is bad for Catra too, but the shippers don't seem to realize it. If Catra had been able to let Adora go maybe she could have healed instead of her festering and the abuse may have ended instead of escalated.

Hello Dear, welcome on my Blog and a big thank you for your message! Firstly I wanna apologize that this response is reaching you more than three full days, almost four later. Just real life getting into the way of my online presence (at least I got my A-Levels admission!) but I assure you that replying to you was on my To Do List the entire time. And while I could've typed something quick, I thought you deserved a full length response just as much as the person before you received. That goes for anyone really to ask/write me anything in the future.

Adora is a character that has flaws, her own interests, things she struggles with/is insecure about etc. but she also still works on being better (up to Season 5). This makes her relatable, fleshed out and overall three dimensional. Overall for me that makes Adora very likeable. Which is funny because when I first watched the show I thought of her as too goofy and felt like she as a character was overall just flat. Her character design did not speak to me either, the ponytail with the weird hair poof and these pointy shoulders of her jacket just really were not my taste. Isn't it amazing how perceptions can change?

As you can guess from that description I did not always stan Adora and she's probably still not my favorite character but over the almost two years I've been in this fandom I've grown rather fond of her. Other important characters to me are Kyle (a very relatable comfort character of mine, he learned to stand up for himself and others and I support that, f*ck Season 5 for barely acknowledging his existence), Lonnie (apart from treating Kyle badly (which I really do NOT support or excuse) I really love her, man, some women just do me like that, I mean she really stood up to Catra like that), Entrapta (I'm autistic too! It's great to have some representation, seeing the ableism/treatment she experiences in the show is not so much though), Seahawk (I don't even know why, I have some issues with his behavior towards Mermista at times but overall I love this dork), Scorpia (she reminds me of myself so much and I really wanna give her hugs, I'm so glad she chose to no longer let Catra treat her like that even though I will be forever salty she just immediately forgave her), Peekablue (I can explain this even less than Seahawk, especially since it was not even really him in the end but his existence somehow helped me cope with Season 5, without him I probably would've left this fandom ... and also my favorite color is blue) and Double Trouble (now there's enough people already critcizing how they're not exactly great Non-binary representation but this dramatic lizard will forever be in my heart, that reality check they gave Catra, basically slapping her in the face with facts was satisfying as h*ck, also I like lizards overall).

Now there's plenty of characters I like, dislike (or even hate) or am simply indifferent about but after all this is not a tier list but me talking about Adora, Catra and Catradora. Adora started off as this girl that was so sure what she was doing is right but once she was taught differently she was willing to leave everything she knew (except Catra, because she valued her despite everything) behind. And not only that, she broke out of the abuse cycle that Catra tried so hard to keep upright. And that is exactly what makes Adora such a good role model. She teaches children (or people) that:

Your past doesn't define what/who you are or what/who you can become

-> Adora used to be a Horde soldier and did not know where she came from, but nonetheless she found herself a family and became a hero that saved thousands of people

You can always change your mind and start a new life if you feel disappointed in what you are doing/who you are as a person

-> Basically the exact same point, Adora started a new life as she saw what the Horde really was and changed her mind about who to fight for

You deserve love too, be it platonic or romantic (or se*ual???) (If you're aro and/or ace just ignore the part that does not work for you)

-> While Adora for various reasons thought her only use was to please others and meet their needs and expectations (mostly due to Shadow Weaver and Catra) she learned to accept that she too deserves love and validation (if the love aspect would not have been focused on it being romantic love so she could smooch Catra in the finale this would've been a billion times better because she got love from her friends that showed her her real value)

You can walk away from something/someone, that does not make you egoistic/selfish

-> Adora walked away from the Horde, after Catra stubbornly refused to come with her despite many offers (basically Catra broke the promise, not Adora) from her too and that did not make her a "traitor" or "selfish", h*ck, Adora in the end did this for a bigger purpose too, even if part of it was her not wanting to live with such wrong morals

Your opinions, feelings etc. about a person/something can change and that is perfectly fine and valid, being able to change is part of what makes someone human

-> Adora's views on many things changed throughout the show: The Horde and the Rebellion, the First Ones, Catra, being She-Ra, herself, her priorities and so on ... she actually makes use of her brain, which is why Catra saying "Don't you ge it?" or calling her an idiot and dumb never sat right with me, she's a realistic character for shifting with her thoughts, feelings etc. and sometimes just does not fully think things through

You don't have to let other people treat you like sh*t (just because they have some issues they never worked through does not give them any right to let it out on you)

-> This point is obviously centered mostly around Catra and her abusing Adora almost every chance she gets, which is why Adora standing up for herself and not letting Catra blame her for her own decisions and mistakes is so important, "You made your choice, now live with it" is one of the most powerful lines throughout all the five Seasons

Now I'm sure there is still more to Adora's character than what I just listed and unfortunately almost all the points basically got pushed aside, well, Adora as a character got pushed aside in Season 5. All her growth, the things that made me love her, see her as great role model for so many people robbed of their value for the sake of making everything revolve around Catra. That brings me to her and how you are absolutely right that Catradora is harmful to both characters. Of course Adora is affected most by it in the end but Catra too is obviously suffering under the fandoms obsession and just the overall idea of them being romantically involved.

Just like with Adora the stans make almost everything about Catra over her relationship with Adora. She too can barely exist outside of it and if she wasn't the fan favorite she'd most likely would too be mostly in Fanarts that include Adora and not just her (if you google "Catra Fanart" most content is still Catra and Catra only but here and there Catradora still peaks through). But for whatever reason the fandom still views her more as her own person as the other ones? Catrouble and Scorptra Shippers might actually still get less hate than Glimmadora Shippers (I'm not denying they don't get any, they most certaintly do) which is just plain hypocricy and favorism. Kinda like the: A woman needs to be loyal to her husband and her husband only but if the husband wants to be active with other women that is perfectly fine because "that is just how men are" or how i like to call it ... sexism. Now in this case they are both women so it's not sexism but yo do get my point.

But much more importantly, Catra has an unhealthy obsession with Adora. Signs of that are for example:

Constantly talking about Adora, even when said person is not around (to Shadow Weaver, Scorpia etc.)

Obsessing over having control over Adora like in that one Episode "Are you kidding? I finally got control over Adora, I'm not giving that up!"

Building her entire character and her actions around Adora "We need to take Adora down", "Adora left me", "I'd rather see the whole world end than see you win!", also shown in Season 5 where she states she does save Glimmer only for Adora and not for Glimmer or to do the right thing

Getting aggressive or very emotional over Adora like clawing the wall, having nightmares etc. (destructive behavior towards herself and others)

Having no or barely any characteristics outside of her relationship with Adora like, we don't know her interests or likes and dislikes outside of being evil, obsessed with Adora, being abused by Shadow Weaver ...

Trying to force Adora to meet her needs and expectations regardless of Adora's owns

Sacrificing her oppurtunity to be happy in the Crimson Waste for the sake of her Adora obsession and being better than her at all costs

So yes, you were very right with saying that not putting Catra in a relationship with Adora would've benefited both characters. Catra could've learned to exist on her own, develop interests and a life outside of Adora. Learn to accept herself and eventually come to terms with her childhood abuse. She could've been free and not "the abusive cat girl that ended up with the person she unhealthily obsessed over to the point of no return" she kinda is now. Even if we ignore the whole "dating your long term abuser" part from Adora's side and "being rewarded" for horrible behavior, Catra alone is not giving a good example to people watching. As much as I dislike Catra, disdain her even, an ending where she is dependent on Adora, unable to stand on her own two legs after she led armies in war is not what I would wish for her, even with a decent redemption arc (that she did not get).

[burnt-ghost-toast]

Hyperion Halloween

Angel & Reader // Handsome Jack x Reader

How trick-or-treating with your husband, Jack, and daughter, Angel aboard Helios would go:

It’s the start of October, during the early construction period of Helios, when you start making plans for Halloween

There are other families on Helios, not many, but enough to spark interest in your idea. You know that a lot of the children on board have never been trick-or-treating before—some due to their home planets making it too dangerous to attempt, others having been too young or their parents too busy to escort them—so this would be a fun, new experience for many, not just Angel.

You know that Angel has never been trick-or-treating since, up until pretty recently, Jack has kept her under lock and key; her Siren powers making her a target and Jack wanting to do everything in his power to keep her out of the public eye

That said, you also know that Angel deserves better than to be locked away in a room with little in the way of entertainment, but every time you tried to talk to Jack about it you lost your courage

The topic of Halloween doesn’t come up until a week after you already received approval for your plans

In preparation for a meeting with your VP, you had spent the day running around Helios prepping the new loader bot prototypes for a demonstration. A couple of parts had gotten misplaced, which was a common occurrence during these early stages of Helios’ construction, and you had found yourself bustling around that big ‘H’ looking for replacement pieces and MacGyvering the rest. Fortunately, the demonstration had gone off without a hitch, and while there were still improvements to be made, your frantic morning activities were finally finished.

You were now splayed out over the sofa with your legs resting in Jack’s lap, focused on the feeling of your husband massaging your sore muscles. While one hand busied itself typing out responses to emails, the other made its way from your calf to your bare thigh, then back down the length of your leg before trailing back up again occasionally—and brazenly—moving higher than your thigh.

While some of this messaging was more for his benefit than yours, you couldn’t say you minded much as his nimble fingers worked out the knots that had formed throughout the day. You melted into his touch and the comfortable silence between you, but it was soon interrupted.

“Hey, honey, why did I get an email from that idiot in your department asking if I wanted to dress up as one of the three Musketeers with him for Halloween?” Jack asked, moving his tablet away from his face so he could direct his attention to you.

 You felt yourself flush. Dammit Kylen.

You and Jack argue about whether or not Angel should be allowed to go trick-or-treating with the other kids

“Jack, could we at least talk about this?”

“What’s there to talk about? I just don’t think we should be teaching our daughter that it’s okay to take candy from strangers. Not to mention what I’d have to do if any of those idiots saw her tattoos.” Jack spoke, moving back to focus on his typing and assuming the conversation was over.

It was not, and you fought for Angel’s right to live her life. She’d have her whole life to worry about her powers, but these few moments of childlike wonder and excitement were far and few, and she deserved to experience the best of what the world had to offer

Jack reluctantly agrees to you taking Angel trick-or-treating

Jack places a chaste kiss to your cheek, pulling back just enough to rest his forehead against your neck. 

“Okay,” his breath tickles your skin, “but I think I’m going to sit this one out.” His fingers graze the hem of your Hyperion shorts before making their way back down the muscle, “no offense,” he kisses your neck, “but if Kyle tries to talk to me again,” another kiss, “I’m going to strangle him.” His kisses were more insistent now and you laugh as strands of his hair tickle you.

With your Halloween plans in order, the two of you enjoy each other's company for a bit longer before telling Angel the good news

Angel spends her free time looking up everything there is to know about Halloween

The three of you carve pumpkins together. It becomes Angel’s favorite activity, and, for a child, she’s pretty good at it. Jack, however, is terrible and needs your help more than once to get his carving to look right

Angel starts carving into every fruit, vegetable, and squash she can get her little hands on

“Angel, stop playing with your food.” Jack scolds.

“I’m not playing with it, I’m making a jack-o-lantern!” She exclaims, happily cutting a smile into her apple.

——

“Sweetie, please eat your carrots.”

“But mooom,” she whines, drawing out the o, “I can’t eat Garrett the Carrot Cyclops.”

It’s a time™, but she’s your baby girl, and neither of you can bring yourselves to stop her

Angel decides to dress up as a princess space witch, and no, she can’t settle for “just one.” And aren’t you the one who told her to never settle and that she can do anything she puts her mind to? Or are you a liar, mommy? 👁👄👁

The choice is yours, and your daughter knows how to play her cards, so all hail the princess space witch!

You get her a princess-y witch dress with long sleeves and gloves to hide her tattoos. Underneath her puff skirt she’s wearing striped leggings and the cutest pair of black shoes that can definitely be repurposed for future holiday parties

To top the look off she has a black cape with silver star and moon prints, and you have to admit, this costume is better than anything you did as a child

You go as an astronaut, repurposing an old Hyperion spacesuit, and Angel gives you a tiara so you can be a space queen

Jack decides to go trick-or-treating after seeing all the fun you and Angel have planning

You and Angel had finished putting together your Halloween costumes and were playing in her room when Jack got in. He feels a pang of jealousy at seeing all the fun the two of you are having without him. Angel giggles and ‘cast spells’ on her stuffed animals. After casting a spell to ensure the loyalty of her new subjects, she turns her interest to Jack, who is leaning against the doorframe.

“Bippity boo, I cast a love spell on you!” Angel wiggles her fingers up at her father, retreating to her bed quickly to avoid being in range of the spell.

Jack clutches at his heart letting out a dramatic gasp. “Oh, no! My legs.. can’t... stop them.” His movements are robotic as he pretends to struggle against the love spell, but once you are in his reach, he swiftly throws his arms around your waist and shoulders. Jack covers your face in kisses. Wet, sloppy kisses.

You squirm in his arms, but your bubbling laugher only encourages him to kiss you more.

Once the kisses subside, Angel voices what she’s just noticed, “where’s your costume, daddy?”

And still high off the excitement of having the two of you bright-eyed and smiling at him, because of him, he agrees to go. Why kill the magic?

He’s wearing a cowboy outfit, and pinned to his vest sits a cheap, plastic sheriff’s badge that says ‘space cowboy.’ You don’t really know what that means, but sure! Semi-space themed family!

He looks good in the whole getup… really good 😳

In fact, Jack looks delicious 👀😏 in that cowboy hat and vest, and the smug bastard knows it 

Angel loves the look. She's got her space parents from different time periods, a magic wand, and a bag ready to fill up with candy

Plenty of people agree to hand out candy because, despite what some think, not everyone on this space station is a cutthroat dick looking to destroy everyone else

People have decorated their doors and some parents are hosting parties later in the night

Angel is having a blast, and when co-workers seem to be getting too friendly Jack glares at them until they hand your daughter another piece of candy and say goodbye

Kylen bounds over with his son, the two of them dressed as musketeers. It seems they never got that update from Jack -- oops, totally an accident, Kylie Kylen

Kylen thinks nothing of it and, being the extra™ parent he is, hands out a bunch of candy bars and other large treats

The kids go hog. wild.

Kylen won Halloween and Angel goes nuts showing off the amazing treats he gave her

You have her thank him, then do the same

Jack pouts, crossing his arms, “They’re not that good”

A few apartments later, the two of you call it a wrap and take a tired Angel home

After tucking Angel into bed you see Jack on his laptop, glasses slipping down his nose as he busies himself

You sit next to him on the sofa and see that he’s ordering jumbo candy for Angel. Dork.

[collecting-stories]

Personal Best - John B Routledge

Request: John b x reader, with him and the reader surfing one night then when the waves die down and they sit on their surfboards watching the sunset. They tell one another that they like each other. They move their boards closer to each other and share their first kiss. He asks her to be his girlfriend and she says yes. Then that leads to something more. If you’re able to, make it a little smuttyish. Thank you!! @bearr12

A/N: Once again listening to Maisie Peters while I was writing, so this is named after her song and really just written with the chorus in mind. 

Outer Banks Masterlist

///

You weren’t sure you cared enough about surfing to refer to it as a religious experience but you couldn’t deny that you woke up early every Sunday morning to go surfing with John B. It was your standing surf date with only him. The two of you got up with the sunrise to catch waves or, if there were none, to just float out with him. It was certainly a spiritual endeavor, sitting out in the ocean with John B, just listening to the water. You’d grown so accustom to the tradition that you were shocked when he asked to switch your Sunday surf to evening.

“The sun will just be setting instead of rising...it’s the same.” He insisted when he broached the subject with you on Saturday.  

John B was the only denominator that you factored into these surf excursions, it didn’t matter to you if he changed every detail of them, as long as he was there. Early morning Sunday was only your favorite time of the day because you were out there with John B, it had little to do with all the other contributors. With the time changed, you met him on the beach before dusk, board in hand.  

He was a better surfer than you but you were good enough to keep up with him, even if you wiped out a few more times than he did. You were better than Pope which you considered to be a life accomplishment. The waves were that night were good for the first hour and then the wind shifted and the tide started to even out. It happened more often than not, though it was less likely to happen early in the day, which you made sure to point out to John B as you paddled back out.  

“The waves are better in the morning.”  

“I promise to never change our surf time again.” John B said, laying on his back on the surf board.  

You paddled closer to him, looking out over the horizon. It was coming up on sunset, the sky already starting to trade in its blues for deep oranges and pinks. You looked over at John B laying there with his eyes closed. You flicked some water his way and he opened his eyes, rolling his head to the side to look over at you.

“Yeah?”

“Are you taking a nap right now? DCS should let you live on your own on the grounds that you’re practically a senior citizen.” You teased.  

“Wow, you’re so mean today.” John B laughed, flicking water back at you. He sat up, turning himself around so that he was facing out toward the ocean with you.  

“Must be cause you changed our surf time.”

“Isn’t surfing supposed to make you like, chill?” He asked, reaching over to push you.  

You angled your board toward his, trying to paddle yourself into him. John B leaned over, pushing the top of your board away and then paddling himself away from you. “What are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” He countered, “you’re trying to tip my board.”

“Yeah, I’ve been waiting for years to get you alone at sunset so I could push you into the ocean.” You laughed. You laid down on your board, looking up at the clouds rolling out overhead and the colors that were reflecting in the sky. “What do you think of that guy who works for the Thornton’s?”

John B shrugged, “don’t know him.”  

“He’s been to a couple parties...think he lives near Pope.”

“What about him?”  

“He asked me out.” You replied, looking over at John B. He frowned; brow furrowed as he looked at you.  

“What’d you say?”

“That I’d think about it. He’s alright, like. I don’t, seems like an okay guy. I’m not really...it’s not who I want to ask me out. I don’t wanna hedge all my bets on something that’s never gonna happen but I also don’t wanna string this guy along if things work out in my favor.”

“With this mystery other guy that you like?” John B asked, paddling his board back over to you.  

You sat up again, adjusting your top and nodded, “yeah. If he likes me...it's a long shot but...if he does I don’t wanna be fucking with some other guy.”  

“Do I at least know this other guy?”

“You know the guy who works for the Thornton’s...like I know if I pointed him out you’d be like, that guy!” You replied, avoiding his question for the moment.

“What’s his name?”

“Uh...fuck...I don’t remember. Think it starts with like a P or a...Paul maybe. Kyle...”

“Those are not even close to being the same name.” John B laughed, “you’re really into him, I can tell.”

“I told you-”

“The other guy, I know, I know.” He cut in. He shook his hair out and brushed it out of his face before continuing, “so do I know mystery dream guy?”

You looked over at him for a moment. He’d paddled himself just so that he was sitting alongside your board, facing you, with the sunset behind him. The kind of wide shot that deserved to be broadcast on an imax screen. “Yeah.”  

“Pope?”

“Oh my god, what? No!” You laughed, splashing him with water. “Not JJ either, please.”

“Okay,” he hummed, eyes narrowing as he looked at you, “guys I know...Topper?”

“That’s gross, I’m gonna throw up.” You fake gagged at the thought of Topper being the guy you were crushing on.

“Rafe-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there.” You said, “it’s not a kook.”

“Not a kook, but I know him but not JJ or Pope...” He worried his bottom lip between his teeth, seeming actually stumped by your mystery person. You weren’t sure if he was just fucking around with you or if he honest to god couldn’t figure it out but he looked so perplexed you decided to take pity on him.

You had decided last week, when whatshisname had asked you out that you were going to tell John B about your feelings. If he didn’t reciprocate than whatshisname seemed like a perfectly adequate rebound to distract your heartbreak with. If he did like you back, if somehow John B felt the same way about you that you felt about him, whatshisname would survive. You didn’t want to get your hopes up but you couldn’t help being a little optimistic. You and John B had been friends for years and, thanks to Kiara’s observations, you knew that he had at some point had a crush on you. You could only hope he hadn’t moved on to someone else.

“Give me a hint?” He asked.

“John B.”

“What?”

You shrugged, “that’s it.”

“I don’t-”

“That’s the hint. It’s you. My mystery dream guy is you.” You said, watching his expression. Mouth slack and eyes wide, surprised by the confession. “So, what’d you say?”

Slowly John B smiled, leaning over to grab onto your knee, keeping you and your board as close as possible, “are you sure you wanna date him? He seems like a pretty lame guy.”

“Oh trust me, I know. I’ve been subjected to his jokes.” You teased, leaning toward him.  

“You’re really in it then?”

“What can I say? I’ve got a thing for guys who wear bandanas around their necks like they're in old westerns.” You replied.

“Ouch, damn, I didn’t know you were gonna come for my bandana.” He laughed.

“You still haven’t given me an answer.” You said, “do you like me?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, “yeah. It’s not even a choice.”  

“You are so sappy.”  

He leaned in toward you and you met him halfway, kissing him with the sunset behind you, his board digging into your knee just enough that you could feel it but you couldn’t bring yourself to care. He brushed wet hair behind your ear and held your face in his hands as he deepened the kiss. The oranges and pinks that had been in the sky were beginning to fade and give way to a deep, navy blue, ready for the night. John B pulled away, taking a breath.  

“You should know,” he began, kissing you briefly before continuing, “this isn’t just a stupid summer crush or something.”  

“Trust me, this is everything.”

“Be my girlfriend? I don’t wanna do the just dating, are they aren’t they, shit.” He said, “I want you to be my girlfriend, to be able to introduce you that way to everyone.”

“Yeah, of course. I’m yours.” You said, kissing him and knowing that he was yours too.  

-

taglist: @maplelattes22 @poguesrforlife  @freckled-and-daydreaming  @chasefreakinstokes @millie-753 @fangirlwithme @alex12948 @howdyherron @katherine097 @tangledinsparkles @tragicmisfits @carbonated-beverage @mariofgreengables @ssprayberrythings @pogue-h 

[fanfalc-616]

The Rights Of A Nindroid

Chapter Twenty-Four

(Previous Chapter Here)

This took a while and it’s shorter than normal but uh yeah this is what you get-

“Yes, Master.” Zane nods his acknowledgement of the order and begins to solve the problems he had been given.

It’s been around eight months since his capture. How long exactly, Zane is unsure, but to his dismay, he finds that he… doesn’t really care. Does it matter? He can find out how long he’s been captured if he gets out.

When. When he gets out. He will be freed eventually, it will just… be a little while longer. He will simply have to wait, and follow the orders he is given in the meantime.

He follows every instruction to the best of his ability. He still doesn’t believe the lies they tell him about his worth, but he says what he is told to say on the matter.

“Original. How are you doing?” Martha prompts from nearby.

Zane feels a wave of confusion wash over him. What answer is expected of him here? “Erm… good?” He tries, hoping that his response is correct.

The blast of electricity makes him whimper, shuddering at the horrible feeling.

“You’re a nindroid. You don’t have real emotions- only a fake programmed version of them.” Martha corrects.

Curling in on himself some, Zane nods his agreement, despite not truly believing such. “My apologies, Master. I am doing…” he pauses a moment, trying to find the right words. “... I am functioning properly.” He corrects.

Martha nods, and Zane goes back to his work, studying the complex equations carefully. The point here is not getting the answers, but to make Zane understand that he needs to follow orders.

It had taken him a while to realize that, but there isn’t much he can do. He has to follow the instructions they give him… who knows what they’ll do if he refuses.

He doesn’t speak to Cryptor as often, not even with Morse Code. It’s too risky; they cannot afford to get caught.

It’s been quite some time since they’ve used the images of his team to harm him, and this has the unfortunate consequence of Zane… forgetting.

Contrary to popular belief, being a nindroid does not mean a perfect memory. At first, yes, but there still is not enough storage space for everything, and over time, things are automatically deleted to make room.

The image of Kai’s face is fuzzy now, the sight of his crooked smile and carefully styled hair is foggy at best.

The sound of Jay’s voice is distorted, the way his laugh would ring out after he told a joke humorous only to him and the hyperness in his voice when he was talking about something he was passionate about has begun to fade.

The feeling of being in Cole’s arms is faint, the gentleness that someone so strong had for him and the warmth from his hold is no longer so easily brought to mind.

Zane sighs, trying to dispel the thoughts. He shouldn’t be thinking about that- thinking about what he no longer has will only cause more pain, and he’s miserable enough as it is.

He tries to go back to his work, but much to his dismay, his motor functions glitch, and instead of writing something down, he slams his fist into the table hard enough that it hurts.

Fear takes a grasp on him, and he struggles to go back to the problems once again. Unfortunately, he can’t seem to get a proper grip on the pen, and it slips from his hands.

Martha walks up behind him, and his breathing quickens. “It- it was a glitch. I haven’t been able to do proper maintenance while I’ve been here, and-“

“Be quiet, Original.” Thankfully, she doesn’t sound angry, but instead slightly thoughtful and maybe even slightly concerned. After a moment, she sighs. “We’ll have to get that looked at.” She mutters to herself.

Zane stays perfectly still, wary of upsetting her. An angry Master is the last thing he needs at the moment.

Thankfully, they allow him to stop working on the problems and take him back to his… wait. This- this isn’t the way to his locker.

They’re taking him to the workshop.

The last time Zane was in the workshop, he had been forced to- he had been made to watch them- he- the Falcon was-

Zane can feel himself trembling as he’s taken back, but he doesn’t dare resist. While he can’t see any way that the situation could be worse, he does not doubt for a moment that it could.

He debates trying to run when they start tying him to the table, but he quickly rejects the idea. It’s too risky, and will only result in more punishment.

A mechanic walks in, and Zane feels as though a weight has been lifted off of him. It will not be Kyle working on him, and for that, he is very much grateful.

He remains silent as his chest plate is opened, but when the man begins to dig around inside of him, Zane fails to muffle his quiet noise of fear.

“Stop resisting, Original.” Martha gives the order from off to his side. “This is not a punishment, but it could very easily become one.”

“Y- yes, Master.” Zane chokes on his own fear as he speaks. All he can see is the way his friend was torn apart in front of him, and though the event has passed, it still occupies his mind.

Wires are tugged on, gears are inspected, vital parts are pushed around… this is its own kind of torment, a kind that no human could ever experience. The feeling of his inner guts being toyed with has him breathing heavily, trying to block out both his pain and terror.

“Please…” The word is only a soft whisper, but he silently curses himself for speaking up. He is not supposed to speak out of turn, and doing so will mean that he will end up in pain- more so than he would have gone through if he had been able to keep his mouth shut.

But when a hand brushes against his power source, Zane can’t find it in himself to hold back. The only thing occupying his mind is fear as all common sense is thrown out the window.

“Stop, don’t- please, stop it!” He struggles in his bonds, but is unable to make any leeway. Recently he has become able to ignore quite a deal of pain, but hands manipulating his innards is a feeling that he will likely never get used to.

He can hear the beginnings of a verbal reprimand, but something bumps against what functions as his spinal cord- where all his sensors meet.

He couldn’t hold back his scream if he tried.

Thankfully, the pressure quickly stops, but there is a residual ache where it had been touched, and Zane finds himself sucking in shaky breaths.

Martha seems annoyed as she glares at him. “Original, you-“

“It hurts.” Zane chokes out. “I’ve been behaving, I shouldn’t be being hurt. I haven’t done anything to deserve-“

A blast of pain makes him cry out again, shaking and trembling as they continue to manipulate his inner workings.

“Let me explain something to you, Original.” Martha’s voice is as cold as ice. “You deserve nothing. You aren’t human. You aren’t even alive. You are nothing more than zeroes and ones, and even if you do everything right… you will never be deserving of anything. You’re not even really suffering here, this is only a programmed response to it. Because you are lesser. And you always will be.”

For a moment, Zane doesn’t react. He doesn’t know how. So after a few moments, he resorts to his default reply.

“Yes, Master.” He forces his voice to remain steady.

To agree is the only option he has left.

[gra-sonas]

Hey! I hate to ask this, you already do so much for us! But would you mind just a tiny recap of Vlamis’ live from last night? You don’t have to go into a ton of detail or anything, I just saw that it was a half hour long. I have a weird anxiety thing that keeps me from watching lives and stories for the most. Still haven’t even been able to work myself up to watching the vlamburn one as much as I’d love to! 🙁

Either way, thank you for everything!

Okay, nonnie. I went and watched the whole thing again and wrote you a detailed account of what’s been said. I’ll link the live again, then you can watch here if you want to. Or not. Up to you. 🤗 Hope this helps. 💕

Brushing his teeth and flossing for 3 minutes while talking.

800 new follower lately “where have you been before?”

“Do you do anything to your hair at night?” He adds Moroccan hair oil in the morning, nothing at night.

“What’s your favorite of the drop?” He hasn’t seen everything from the drop (like the COSMIC tie-dye) bc he’s in Santa Fe. He loves the COSMIC and MALEX embroidered things (“so subtle”) bc they are in Vlamburn’s handwriting, he loves the Manesqueeze shirt bc you can make Alex and Michael kiss by putting your wrists together. He *loves* the candle (there’s one burning on his bedside table), the silky PJs are great, but he can’t decide on just one favorite thing.

“How’s Jesa’s sanity?” She needs like 3 weeks of sleep. He explains, that while we *are* the Vlambase, the Vlambase merch company’s just Jesa and Vlamis. Jesa has a team, but all the day-to-day things, ideas, emails/customer service (Jesa), the newsletter (Vlamis). They hadn’t collaborated with anyone before Tyler, so working with him was a new experience. 

One fan mentions how they wanted to buy stuff but couldn’t. Vlamis says that he’s been there, and when he wanted something in the past he couldn’t afford, he started putting away a Dollar a day. 

“Thought on One Direction?” Vlamis is a Harry Styles guy. “Harry Styles’ swagger is next level!”

“What do you think about Russia? Will Vlambase merch be available here?” Talks a bit about how annoying things are with shipping companies, says they wanted to protect themselves for the holidays, and now that the Christmas rush is over, some shipping options have become available again. 

“Who came up with  MANESQUEEZE” He ponders about it, and settles on Jesa. It was Vlamis’s ides to put tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves so that they can kiss tho. And Tyler came up with the idea to put a “toupee” on his head (in a previous drop, the NEVER LOOK AWAY design had tiny Alex and tiny Michael on the sleeves, but poor Alex was bald) for the design.

Someone got a MALEX pin and the candle. He knows the pin sold out fast, and he feels bad about that. They want everyone to get everything they want, but it’s difficult to make proper calculations how well an item will sell. The pandemic made things even harder. Like the PJ sets. Normally, they would wait until the sale ends and see how many sets were actually ordered, but during the pandemic, stock listings have been changing dramatically from day to day, so they had to pre-order the PJs and robes to make sure they had a certain number at their disposal. He said that they “overshot” on a couple of things, but ultimately sales have been great, and he appreciates that.

“I’m excited to make the MANESQUEEZE doodles kiss bc I do that with the NEVER LOOK AWAY shirt” Vlamis jumps up and shows his closet that’s full of Vlambase merch items.

“Why am I here, it’s almost 3am” He mentions that he’s been staying up until 4 in the past couple of days, but he has to be on set in 7 or 8 hours. 

“Hello, just wanted to let you know that I got a tattoo for you” Vlamis asks for a photo and to be tagged.

“Kyle the packer [Vlamis’s roomie KA, who works in the warehouse when a new drop is ready for shipping]” Vlamis says they’re working him to death.

“Please save this live” He doesn’t know whether he’ll save it. Thinks the one with Tyler was important, but since it’s just him, he doesn’t think it’s important.

“I followed Jesa, Jesa is the real MVP” Vlamis says that Jesa is “a beast, and best in the game”. Quickly explains who Jesa is, and that she’s his partner in the Vlambase merch company. He mentions that she recently called him with an idea for Valentine’s Day, and he was like “Jesa, we need to relax!” But she loved the idea. She’s a big fan of RNM and the characters (and Tyler). “Jesa’s amazing.”

“What about new Soli art [Soli’s the artist who created the Boys Will Be Boys art for a previous drop]?” Vlamis smiles. “What about new Soli art. I like that idea. 😏“

“Your house [in New Mexico] is so cute.” Vlamis says thank you and shows the ceiling of the house (which he likes best). “Santa Fe is dope!”

“I adore your teeth” *shows his teeth* Says he had to wear braces (some even adjustable)

“I could’ve used my birthday money to buy something but I forgot” 🤨 << Vlamis’s face. “How you you forget, man?”

“Back to Twitter after this live” He mentions that he’d just been on Twitter before the live.

He got retweeted by Mountain Dew and loves it.

“I’m from Australia and hope my merch arrives before winter” Vlamis says he hopes shipping will be fast. 

“Love the Valentines” They’re not actually Valentines, hence they’re “Love Notes”.  Vlamis considers doing them not just around Valentine’s Day. 

“You catch any of the CW shows returning this month?” “Might have to” But he knows what he’ll be catching on the 12th. “Prodigal Son, baby!”

“Where did you get the Game Boys?” Those are his Game Boys. He has a Game Boy Advanced and a Game Boy Color. 

“How do you feel about Forlex?” *scoffs* 😒 “Yeah” 

“So excited for the robe!” Vlamis gets excited. “The robes and the PJs are so comfy!” Talks about how it’s a bit weird, bc they don’t make them themselves.

Several people mention that their closet looks like his closet bc of all the merch and he loves that. 

“How do you feel about Forlex” *gets agitated* “Why are you asking me this? Don’t do that to me, alright?” *softer* “Don’t do that.”

“How are you doing?” He’s doing very well. Very relieved that eh sale went well. This drop was like 3-4 months of work, the night before the sale felt like an entire month, too. Jesa and Vlamis Facetimed for more than 5hrs. They set up the website, and that’s how the glitch with the GIVE ME MALEX OR GIVE ME DEATH shirts and poster happened. They made a mistake and only noticed after the website went live. 

“Do you know when S3 will air?” No, he thought it might’ve been sooner, but apparently not.

“I love your poetry from the last drop so why no poems this time?” He writes poems when he’s inspired, he hasn’t written a poem in a while. He’s currently preparing to direct his first movie in June 2021, and he’s been very focused on that. 

“The Meet & Greet day changed.”  Filming schedule changed bc they had snow, the schedule’s changing constantly. He’ll be set all day tomorrow (well, today, Jan 11) from 8am until 8 or 9pm. Sometimes they might even wake up in the morning and learn that the schedule’s been changed. 

 “You could talk about nothing and we’d still watch.” He doesn’t want to talk about nothing, wonders if anyone has any questions about the sale.

“I’m so excited about the robe. I was going to buy more but I’m broke.” He says we should be responsible.

Someone’s still waiting about their Black Friday stuff, but he says it’s the shipping company, not them. 

“Vlamentines" He *loves* that, thinks it’s a good pun. 

“Gotta support Aurora.” Always. 🥰

“Jealous Guerin in S3?” You’ll see, you’ll see.

“I placed 3 orders, last one last night. Give me Malex or give me death.” He loves it. He also mentions, that they’re working hard on figuring out how to combine orders in the future so people don’t have to pay for shipping several times. They just can’t do that logistically at the moment. 

“Real talk, how often do you check your DMs?” He says, that some people might’ve noticed that he occasionally likes random photos on people’s IG pages. When that happens, it’s a sign that he read someone’s DM. He feels bad when he checks his mentions with a delay, and people’s stories have already vanished after 24hours. He sometimes doesn’t get to checking DMs for a week.

“Will we ever get the original pic of the kiss recreation?” *smiles* *waggles his eyebrows* “Maybe in the morning”

“So happy the Trevor Project was chosen for this merch drop!” He’s very happy, too. According to him, it was a no-brainer. Tyler’s worked with them in the past, so it made even more sense. They wanted to make sure that Tyler felt very strongly about wherever they’d be donating. 

People urge him to go to sleep. “You want me to go to bed?” 

“Why is your merch not available in India?” *deep breath* “It should be, it’s ridiculous. Unbelievable.”

“Your poetry was awesome.” He appreciates the praise and promises to write some more poetry. 

Someone asks whether the movie he’ll be directing in June will be a comedy, but he says it’s the opposite. He’s mentioned in the past that Aurora and him will both act in the movie, but apparently he forgot about that. He doesn’t want to jinx the movie and doesn’t know how much he should reveal just yet. Talks a bit about 5 Years Apart. 

Someone mentions that it’s Jeanine’s birthday on January 14th. 

“Do (or don?) a face mask, Vlamis.” He refuses. Mentions his friend and roommate Spencer Waldner, who makes face masks.

“If there’s leftover merch, will you do another sale?” He says that most things are actually sold out bc they use Blank Clo’s blanks and will only make what’s been ordered.  They might try to restock some pins tho, bc they went so quickly. 

“USPS are a joke” He defends them. “They’re a public service, they’re trying hard, guys.”

“You should do a Vlambase drop with the Real Vlamis [a.k.a. Jeanie]” He’s excited and thinks it’s a good idea and asks if anyone’d be interested. 

Someone congratulates him on directing his first movie. He points out that he’s directed before (Making It, a 3-part web series, it’s on YouTube).

 “Would you ever come to Australia Comic Con?” He’d love to. Mentions that he’s supposed to be in Paris in May for a convention, but he’s not sure whether that’s gonna happen considering how things are currently going with the pandemic. 

Some more talk about 5 Years Apart.

Circles back to doing a merch drop with Jeanine. People like the idea. 

“Please save this live.” After an IG update, things have changed and he doesn’t know how to do it. In the past he had the option to save it [for 24hrs], now he can only upload it to IGTV. 

“$30 shipping to Australia hurts my soul but I did it anyway.” He appreciates that and mentions, that he lived in Australia for 6 months in the past.

“Sing some Bright Eyes” He thinks his singing would hurt people’s ears. 

Jesa Joy pops up in the chat and urges him to go to bed. 

“Jesa is yelling at you.” Vlamis says that Jesa’s a “yeller”, and that she has a tattoo that says “Don’t yell tho”. He admits that Jesa often yells for a good reason. “I need to be yelled at sometimes.”

Someone asks him to accept a request to join his live. He says he’s pretty tired. 

He says hello to someone from Germany (not me btw :P) “What’s up, Germany ✌️” 

More people ask him to sing, but he says he cannot sing. He says it’s not like a joke  or him being modest, he straight up can’t sing and is a horrible singer. 

“Will there be a sequel to 5 Years Apart?” Maybe a sequel called “10 Years Apart” (he’s joking and visibly tired)

“Should I buy anything before the sale ends?” Yes.

Jesa Joy’s from Michigan, and Vlamis’s grandma’s from Middlesborough, Kentucky.

“Is Tyler singing again?” He doesn’t know. “I hope so. Love that kid’s voice” (Tyler’s 3.5 years older than Vlamis :P)

He’s getting sleepy and will read a little bit before bed. Considers drinking some Mountain Dew. 

“Do you take design ideas.” Sure. Sometimes he sees design ideas from people they’ve been working on for months, but he’s gonna “steal” an idea from someone, he’ll tell them. He’ll steal it, though. 

“Are you still reading SAGA?” He read the first one and is half-way through the second. He’s currently reading a book called “My First Movie” by Stephen Lowenstein. “How cliché.” Aurora got it for him.

Purple Skittles are his favorite. Purple everything.

“Your girlfriend’s the best girlfriend.” She is, she really is.

Asks Jesa Joy whether he should go to bed now.Even though it’s late, he’s hungry. Considers eating something. People tell him to go to bed.

He asks “Should I get naked and put on the PJs?” *waggles eyebrows* “I’M KIDDING, YOU’RE SICK. YOU’RE ALL DISGUSTING.” xD

“Don’t eat!” He laughs.

Says goodbye and says that Jesa’s posted a surprise picture. 

“Any advice for aspiring actors?” Tells them to make their own stuff bc no one’s gonna hire them. (He’s being sarcastic). “It’s dark, but it’s what you need to hear.”

“Okay, love you guys. Thank you again! It was our best sale yet. Means a lot to me. Means a lot to Tyler. Us doing so well might mean that Tyler will work with us again. So I really appreciate it. Okay, I love you all.”

Jesa promises to post the pic in 4 minutes. He’s excited. “See, I got her to do it! The picture is kind of ridiculous.”

*pretends to take off his shirt, stops halfway through* “Noooooo, noooooo, noooooo!”

*throws kiss* “Love you guys, good night.”

[stones-x-bones]

Common Decency || Kyle and Bex

TIMING: Current (Yesterday) PARTIES: @darkh0wl SUMMARY: Bex and Kyle meet up in the Common after weeks apart and things go swimmingly. CONTENT: Domestic abuse mentions, Internalized homophobia, Drug mention (wolfsbane), Memory loss mention, PTSD

Bex checked and rechecked the time on her phone several times. She wouldn’t have blamed Kyle for not coming-- last time they’d met up had been a disaster. But that was a few weeks ago now, and she was better, really, she was. She could handle herself. The hunter in the alley was proof enough. And yes, maybe she still did have nightmares about Kyle attacking her, but she had control now. She had power now. She could stop him if something happened. And hadn’t Kyle said that he had something to help him with control? So, then, this would be fine. And she’d even taken precautions this time. Mina knew she was here, meeting with him. She was on speed dial, even. Bex figured that would have made her feel better, even if she could tell Mina wasn’t excited at the prospect of her meeting up with Kyle. The minutes ticked by as she sat alone at one of the picnic tables in the middle of the common. He was gonna show up, right? Of course he was. He wanted to see her, too. She fidgeted nervously with her phone when she felt the urge to look up, and there, across the way, was Kyle. Her heart both froze and drummed faster. She could look at him, now, without immediately falling into that dark place. Still, her fingers tingled and her legs began to bounce. She stood up and waved at him. “Over here!” But she figured he already knew where she was-- didn’t werewolves have good noses? She hadn’t imagined that, right? She circled around the table and sat on the opposite side. “Y-you can sit,” she gestured, avoiding his eyes for a moment, “If you want.”

He was going to be late. Kyle was going to be late because he had spent too much time trying to sike himself up to meet Bex. She knew the dangers of meeting up with him, but she said she was going to tell someone where she was. They were meeting in a bright, well-populated park. This was not a dark, damp alleyway. But he’d thought campus would be pretty safe, and look how that had turned out. Maybe the wolfsbane would go better this time. It had worked during the full moon; not so much at the bar with Eddie. All he could do was stay calm and keep his fingers crossed.

By the time he had gotten there, Kyle’s stomach was rolling. He couldn’t tell if it was the anxiety or the wolfsbane, but he considered telling Bex to forget the whole thing. He hadn’t called it off, though, and made his way through the park towards Bex. He knew where she was—upwind from him—before she stood and waved to him, but it was a nice gesture anyway. Kyle waved back as he neared. “Hey,” he said, once he was close. “How are you? You look—,” better than last time he’d seen her, better than she did in the alley, better than in his nightmares where he was still ripping her to shreds, “—good.” He swung his legs over the bench of the picnic table and sat down. “How have you been?”

Kyle looked...tired. There were bags under his eyes, but Bex could pretend not to notice them if he didn’t want her to. She doubted she actually looked much better, though make up was convenient for covering up bags under eyes and bruises on foreheads. She brushed some of her hair down and glanced at him across the table. They’d never actually hung out before. They existed inside of each other’s heads and bickered for two weeks straight, and then they’d both snapped, and found each other in an alley, and well-- Bex’s chest was proof of the rest. She tried to stop the itching need to rub at it, old scabs now just jagged scars. “I’m doing better,” she said, and she could look across the table at him, and the open field behind him, and the sun, and not see the wolf and the darkness and the alley. She breathed in with relief. “How are you? I-- I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you for a while. It was just...I needed to let myself rest for a bit, I think.” She needed to let herself reconcile with the idea of death. She smiled gently and relaxed her body. “It is good to see you, though. Is Nell being nice to you, still?”

Kyle smiled. It was nice to see Bex looking relatively relaxed in his presence. It was nice to hear that she was doing better. He let himself relax and propped his elbows up on the table. “I’m glad to hear it. Me? Oh, I’m fine.” That wasn’t true. He lost his job at the bar; they didn’t like that he had nearly killed someone in the alley twice. He had been crushed by a dumpster and his ribs were still bruised. He started taking supernatural drugs that, yes, may help him with keeping his shifting under control, but also left him feeling about as good as he looked. Kyle was terrified he was going to kill someone. Bex didn’t need to carry any of that, though. He could keep that quiet this time. She was better off if he kept his distance, at least a little bit. 

“I understand.” Kyle nodded, pursing his lips with the admission that Bex had needed some time. Of course she did, he had seen that first hand. The reminder, though, stung. He was right to want to keep her at an arm’s length. “You don't need to be sorry. I don’t want there to be any pressure between us. You don’t have to talk to me if you’re ever not feeling it. We— Friendships don’t usually start out this...complicated.” Kyle couldn’t think of another friend he’d ever made that had a backstory like theirs. He hoped that that maybe meant something; they could bond over it. Truthfully, though, he didn’t know Bex. Didn’t know anything about her, what her favorite color was, what she wanted to do with her life, nothing. Not really. But he did know her deepest secrets that she admitted to no one, not even herself. “How’s Mina?” he asked cautiously. 

“Nell and I have come to a sort of...agreement? I don’t know if we’re friends. But she’s cool. She definitely needs to stop cheating at every single video game, but did you know she’s a good cook? She made me this soup—ish-is-i-...it’s like Latin or something, I don’t know.” He chuckled, leaning back in his seat. “It was good soup.”

Bex wondered if this was just what people did. Lie to each other about how they were doing and then pretend like they didn’t know. She wanted to say something to him-- really, she did!-- but something in the back of her head told her not to. It told her that if she tried to get too into it, maybe she would look at him again and just see the wolf. That maybe the panic threatening to bubble in her chest would erupt again and destroy the last chance she had to make things right with him. As much as anyone wanted to blame Kyle, none of this would have happened if it weren’t for her. He might’ve been the one tearing into flesh, but she was the one that had invaded his mind, and that would always be on her. “Good! That’s good. I’m glad you’re doing okay.” But the lie tasted bad on her tongue. Sour. It was all sour.

“No, I guess they don’t, but it’ll make a hell of a story, one day, right?” Bex tried to bring lightness back to the conversation, tried to wash the sour away. “But thinking on it, quite a few of the friends I’ve made here were after disasters.” Though not many of those had been true near death experiences. “So, really, we’re not that far off.” She gave him another gentle smile. She wanted him to know she was comfortable with this. And she was. Really, she was. The fear would probably always be there, she knew that, but she could learn to separate Kyle from the wolf, couldn’t she? His question about Mina threw her for a moment and she felt a blush rise in her cheeks. “She’s great! Fine. We’re-- great. And fine. She’s-- not exactly thrilled I’m here but I think she’ll come around eventually.” 

Clearing her throat, she brushed off the heat in her cheeks and shifted, hands in her lap. “She cooks? I...didn’t know that. That-- was really nice of her. To do that for you. I hope she can help you. She’s been really good to me, too. I think she sorta feels responsible for me, even though she’s only like, four years older than me.”

Kyle wondered if Bex knew. Did she know he was lying? Did she see through him? It wasn’t hard to see how tired he was. He stifled a yawn and blinked hard. His whole body felt off. His stomach was sour. He was exhausted. But Bex didn’t say anything, and he surely wasn’t going to. He wondered if maybe Bex wasn’t telling the truth either, but he had no reason to suspect anything. He leaned against the table again, hunching in on himself a little more. 

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said of Mina and Bex. “You two are really cute together.” He tried not to let the comment, about Mina not wanting Bex here, bother him. He didn’t blame Mina. The first interaction they’d had together was post-mauling. Kyle was lucky she hadn’t decided he was enough of a threat to dispose of. He looked away, eyes wandering the park they were in. How could Mina come around? Kyle didn’t trust himself, he didn’t expect Mina to, either. ”Right,” he mumbled, bringing his attention back to Bex. “She, uh, she’s kind. I don’t know her, really, but she was kind to me the last we spoke. I hope I get to know her in the future.” He offered a smile that he hoped was reassuring, or at least polite, but it was stiff and forced. 

Thinking about the soup made Kyle’s stomach groan. Had the wolfsbane actually been a bad idea? After all, it was literally poison. He couldn’t blame Nell for it; her warning had been crystal clear. Short-term use. He hadn’t listened. “I think you remind of—,” he paused, wondering if Nell had ever told Bex about her sister’s death. “Of a witch that’s close to her. I think Nell would do just about anything to protect another witch.” Nell had seen so much, been through so much. Did Bex know? Kyle clasped his hands together on the table and stared at them. It wasn’t his story to tell, but he hoped Bex understood some of the weight Nell carried and how it probably related to herself.

Bex flustered a moment. “We’re not--” she started, but cut herself off. She didn’t know what they were. She didn’t know if she wanted to know, or talk about it. She just liked having her. Having Mina. As her own. She liked being with her and around her and that was all that mattered, right? She cleared her throat and smoothed her palms down the front of her jeans. “We’re just...taking things one day at a time,” she finally answered. It was a non-answer though, she knew that. She wasn’t sure what else to say. She still couldn’t admit her own feelings. She watched Kyle’s eyes wander, and couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. “You talked to her? When was that?” His smile seemed stiff, but she didn’t comment. Instead, she looked away this time. “She will! Come around. She’s just-- worried about me. You understand, you know? Watching people you like get hurt is-- hard. But she knows it wasn’t your fault.” And so do I. She kept that part to herself.

“I-- yeah,” Bex murmured, staring across the table at Kyle’s hands as well. She wanted to reach out and grab them, squeeze them, reassure him she was okay, that she wanted to be here. To be his friend, to mend what they’d never truly had. “She would.” Bex knew that, too. Nell would tear apart the town for Bex if she needed to. It was a strange thought, but hadn’t she just told Mina she’d do the same for her? And wouldn’t she do the same for Nell? She lifted her gaze. “If Nell’s helping you out, I think it means she likes you, too. She wouldn’t do that for just anyone, you know?”

Was Bex really still lying to herself about this? About her feelings for Mina or the way she was most definitely not straight? Kyle’s eyebrows raised. “One day at a time,” he repeated. “Oh, I asked her...how you were doing. It was a while ago. I just wanted to make sure you were hanging in there.” He scratched the back of his neck, looking away again. “I didn’t think it was…I thought it was too soon to message you myself.” Clearing his throat, he shook his head. “Anyway, I get it. I know how she must feel about me. I don’t blame her. I— It’s a lot.” She knows it’s not your fault. Kyle didn’t want to argue. Not here, not now. But Mina was wrong if she thought it wasn’t Kyle’s fault for attacking Bex. A thousand should’ves and what ifs played in his mind, just like they did every day. If he’d only done things differently, maybe taken Ari up on her offer to shift with her, maybe tried to work on his emotional fragility—but he hadn’t, and that was what he had to make up for. “I know I’ve apologized at least a dozen times, but…I’m working on being better, Bex. And I hope you know that if I could change the way things happened, I would.” His throat was tight and his eyes burned. Kyle couldn’t cry in front of Bex over this. That wouldn’t help either of them move forward. He had to stay calm and talk about this like an adult.

When Kyle caught Bex’s gaze on him, it made him feel vulnerable. Guilty. He crossed his arms in front of himself and leaned on them. He didn’t want to think about Nell liking him in any capacity. She shouldn’t. He had tried his best to kill her, too. They talked about it, sure, but Kyle wasn’t ready to let go of his guilty conscience. It was all he had. If there was no more guilt, what was left? A sad, anxious, undisciplined child. He hated that person. “I don’t know about that,” he said, trying to dismiss the sentiment. “I think she’s trying to make sure I don’t kill anyone. It’s an act of-of charity, you know?” Part of him knew that was a lie, but it was easier if he lied to himself and Bex and everyone else. If he could just pretend he and Nell were just trying to get him to be more docile than dangerous, that felt better than making friends with someone else he’d tried to hurt. He couldn’t stop thinking about the sunrise he and Nell had shared, though. Sitting there in the chill of the morning air, watching the world wake up around them, and swapping stories about their deep hurt. Did it mean as much to Nell as it had meant to Kyle?

“Oh,” was all Bex said. Had Mina mentioned that? She couldn’t remember. She probably had. Mina didn’t hide things from her. Not usually. Not things that were important. Mina just tried to do too many things on her own, but lying wasn’t one of them. “That was...nice of you.” She watched him closely and wondered if her gaze was making him uncomfortable. But the table didn’t hold her attention very well, and neither did the peacefulness of the Common behind Kyle’s head. “I think...you can’t really actually know unless you ask her. She’s not..malicious, though, Kyle. She just cares a lot. Maybe too much sometimes.” She shifted and pulled one of her legs up under her, putting her elbows on the table in front of her and leaning her chin in her hands. “I know, Kyle,” she said quietly, “I’m sorry, too.” They could say it a million and one times but she knew that neither of them would ever stop blaming themselves, would they? She wished it could be easier. She wished she could take his guilt for him. She wished they hadn’t had to suffer like this. She wished she could look at him without having to think about it. “One day, maybe we won’t have to be.”

Bex nearly snorted at that, though, unable to keep the laugh from escaping her lips. “Nell? Give charity?” she stifled the laugh with one of her hands and shook her head. “You can tell yourself that all you want, but Nell doesn’t go around giving people charity cause she feels bad for them. She’s an extremely powerful witch, Kyle, if she really wanted to make sure you didn’t kill anyone, she would. And sitting with you during the moon isn’t one of those things.” She softened a bit. This was nice. She could look at him and see him and know it was him. It was Kyle. Kyle who played DnD at the library, and collected Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and worked at a bar, and thought about pretty girls a lot. It had taken time, but it had gotten better. “Don’t take her for granted, Kyle. I’m willing to bet she cares.”

“I’m not afraid of her.” Kyle spoke before he really stopped to think about it. “Well, I mean—I don’t think she’s malicious or dangerous. But she’s someone who means a lot to you, and we really got off on the wrong foot, so I’m afraid to mess up with her. I guess.” In that sense, Kyle was very much afraid of Mina. He didn’t like the thought of forging a friendship with Bex while Bex’s definitely-not-girlfriend-but-more-than-friend disliked him or hated him or just plain didn’t want to be around him. It didn’t sit right with him. It would feel like a weird intrusion of their space. Kyle rubbed at his nose and avoided looking Bex in the eyes as she spoke. She had nothing to be sorry about, but he couldn’t bring himself to argue with her about it. Bex wouldn’t let him, he was sure of it. For now, he could be quietly glad she was alive and here. “Thank you,” he whispered, voice coming out much softer than he anticipated. “One day.”

Bex’s laugh eased the tension he felt and Kyle’s shoulders sagged with relief. He hadn’t been aware he was gritting his teeth until his jaw relaxed, too. He made a point to try to let go of some of the stiffness in his body, and took a deep breath to ground himself. Kyle smiled and shook his head. “I guess you’re right. I just—she‘s protecting people, you know? Herself, you, the town...me. It’s—I don’t know. It’s nice of her to do. I didn’t think it was because she liked me. I won’t take her for granted. She’s done too much for me already.” He looked up and met Bex’s eyes. He was at war with himself, but sometimes everything seemed okay. Just for a moment, he could breathe easy. He wasn’t worried about Bex. She seemed okay.

“I didn’t say you were!” Bex shot back stubbornly, frowning. But it wasn’t a real frown, it was the kind of frown you gave a friend or annoying sibling. “If you just be yourself, you won’t mess up. She just-- kinda overreacts when I get hurt. Well, okay, maybe not overreacts, but she gets really worried and upset and I understand why, but it’s, well--” she stopped talking, suddenly, because she didn’t quite know what she was saying. “She just cares. And I think she could care about you, too, if you let her.” Or maybe Bex was wearing rose-colored glasses for Mina, but she really wanted her to understand that Kyle wasn’t a threat to Bex. That they could be friends. Couldn’t they all just be friends? She sighed and put her chin back in her hand. “I think both of you are just too stubborn right now. But, you know,” she shrugged, “one day.”

Bex smiled as she saw him visibly relaxing. It felt nice, to know that they didn’t have to make each other so stressed. That they didn’t have to worry so much, all the time, about each other. She still would, but it was nice to he wasn’t so tense around her all the time. And her, the same. After what had happened with the hunter, and with Morgan and that zombie, she wanted to learn how to separate the beast from the man. If she was not her magic, than Kyle was not his wolf. She just had to keep telling herself that. “Yeah, she is. She acts all aloof all the time, but she’s a really caring person, inside.” Kyle finally looked up and met her eyes and for the first time since she’d been under his claws, she didn’t feel afraid. She did, however, feel something wet on her lip. Reached up to find her nose bleeding again and shirked away, pressing her hand to her nose. “Sorry, this uh-- has been happening a lot lately.” Something was changing in the air, though. She could feel it. Her eyes scanned behind Kyle’s head. “Hey-- what is that?” she asked, blankly, staring at what seemed to be a hole, opening itself in the middle of the field, like a tear in the air itself. “You see that, right?”

Oh, so Bex was in love and still lying to herself. Kyle couldn’t hold back the smile that lit up his face. It was so cute to watch her ramble about Mina. He told her as much, saying, “This is cute, you know? The way you talk about Mina.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I’m willing to try being her friend. Especially if you two are...friends.” He put an emphasis on friends and tried to hide the satisfied smirk that went along with his words. “I’m not stubborn,” he argued, mirroring Bex’s frown. He stopped short of saying anything more, his frown turning into a petulant pout. “...Okay, fair point.” 

Kyle agreed with Bex about Nell. They both saw through her exterior, at least to some degree. He hadn’t been able to see anything other than his lowkey former high school bully until recently. It was nice to see, though, that Bex saw her in a similar light. Kyle opened his mouth to comment on Nell’s scary tough outer shell, but there was blood dripping from Bex’s nose. “Are you good?” he asked, alarmed. “Hold on.” He patted his pockets and pulled out a little travel sized pack of tissues. “Here, tilt your head forward.” He passed the tissues to Bex, worried about her all over again. He almost ignored her questions, too focused on her seemingly random nose bleed. Kyle cast a fleeting glance over his shoulder and immediately did a double take. He could see the fissure opening over the field, and he’d seen enough movies to know that a tear in the fabric of space itself was not a good thing. Alarmed, Kyle’s hand shot out and grabbed at Bex’s own, though his eyes remained fixed on the—the—whatever it was. “What the f—!”

“It’s not-- we’re not-- I just think she’s really--” Bex stuttered, before grabbing the tissue from Kyle and holding it against her nose. “I’m fine, really. It’s just a nosebleed,” she tried to wave it off, tipping her head forward like both Mina and now Kyle had told her to. God, how much longer was this backlash going to last? She was getting tired of it. It’d been days, but Nell said regaining energy after using so much might take a bit. She nodded. “I do have a fair point. You should probably know I’m right about most things,” she said nonchalantly, her voice a bit drowned out by the tissue in front of her face. Finally, she pulled it away and found that the blood had dried, for the most part. 

Which was a good thing, because she didn’t really have time to worry about a bloody nose. Not when there was a hole ripping open in the middle of the field and Kyle’s hand had shot out to grab her own. Bex startled just for a moment, but fought off the feeling of fear quick enough to not immediately pull away from him. Instead, she squeezed his hand back and tugged on it. “I think it’s a--” but before she could finish her sentence, the sound of roaring water began to fill the common, and out of the hole, came a river of it. “Holy shit!” Bex exclaimed, jumping up. There was no way she could outrun that water-- maybe Kyle could, but Bex wasn’t a runner. So, instead, as it splashed towards them like a flash flood, she jumped up onto the table and pulled Kyle with her. “What’s happening?” she asked, even though she knew neither of them had an answer. “Why is there water coming out of a hole in the sky!?”

Kyle wanted to tease Bex about Mina because there was no way they were just friends. He also hadn’t said they were anything but friends, so her quick response was that much more satisfying. He laughed, tossing his head back as she claimed to be right about most things. Before he could say anything more, though, there were more important things to think about.

Letting himself be pulled on top of the picnic table, Kyle instinctively moved to wrap an arm around Bex. He tried to put his body between her and the water, as if that would make any difference. In a fraction of a second, he considered their options. Option one, run. He didn’t know how fast Bex was, or if he could outrun the water himself. He could always carry her, but if he wasn’t fast enough, they would both be screwed. He couldn’t have her blood on his hands again. Option two, stay right where they were and hope that the table was buoyant. Option three...Kyle didn’t have an option three. The only other thing he could think of was to fight against the wolfsbane and shift so maybe he and Bex could have a chance to actually outrun the water.

“I don’t know! What do we do?!” Kyle yelled over the rushing water, looking at Bex with wide eyes. “You’re the magic one!”

Bex froze for a moment as Kyle wrapped an arm around her. He was safe, he was safe, he was safe. He wasn’t the wolf. He was Kyle. Just Kyle. Just a stupid, silly, annoying boy who was her friend. Besides, he wasn’t the danger present. The water rushing around them was. It splashed against the table and knocked it and Bex would have stumbled had his arm not been around her. She clung to him, looking around. “Should we-- should try and go through it? Do you think it’ll stop?” This wasn’t nearly as fun as ghost hunting with Eddie. Still, it was strangely...fascinating to Bex. Was that a portal to another dimension? Was it anything like the portal Nell used to summon demons from? She squinted at the shimmering portal just a few dozen feet away from them and wondered if there was some way for her to close it. “Okay, well, I’m a beginner magic person, so don’t, like, fault me for not knowing what it is! Or what to do!” she said stubbornly over the roar of the water. “I-- might be able to close it? Let me see what spells Nell made me…” she ruffled through her purse. A spell to freeze someone temporarily, a spell to create a smoke cloud, a spell to turn invisible. No, nothing to help with a random portal opening in the middle of the park. 

When she looked up, she saw other people frantically climbing trees or swimming towards safety, but it wasn’t just people in the water. There was something dark, with glowing eyes, hidden under the waves. She braced an arm against Kyle. It was swimming towards them. “Wh-what is that?”

It was a bad day to go to the park, and a worse day to decide to try some wolfsbane to keep himself calm. Kyle would have liked nothing more than to try to wolf out and carry them, or swim them, both to safety. Instead, he was sleepy, nauseated, and very much human. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to jump in anytime soon!” The water was rising as it continued to pour from the rift. If the picnic table didn’t become a picnic raft, pretty soon they’d be going under. Kyle could not swim, which seemed like a pretty important thing to know how to do right now. Ironically, he could doggy paddle well enough to keep his head above water, but that wouldn’t help if the water didn’t stop.

“Well?” he called as Bex searched her bag. “Do you have an anti-water portal spell!?” He looked around, trying to find a way out, but he only saw water and people trying to get to higher ground. There were people on a playground set, people in trees, people on benches—all of them trying not to drown. Kyle was about to ask if Bex could swim, but was interrupted by her pointing out the thing lurking beneath the waters’ surface. Great, another supernatural something that he didn’t know existed until today. “I don’t know, but I think we’re about to find out!”

“Oh, no, we are not jumping in,” Bex said, shaking her head. She had to do something. Wasn’t there something her magic could do? She tried to think of anything practical, but nothing came to mind. Feather falling, enchanting things to move on their own, and making things float weren’t going to come in handy here. “I can’t swim,” she admitted, giving a sheepish grin. The water splashed up a little more onto the table, wetting their feet. She stepped back as if that would help anything, but of course it wouldn’t. Her feet were still wet and the water was still rising, and the thing in the water was still coming towards them. A head popped up, breaking the waves. “Is-- is that a person?” It looked like a very attractive woman, really. But something just didn’t seem right about that. Suddenly, behind it, another head popped up. And another. And another. Bex groped at Kyle’s shirt, staring wide, tugging. “We-- we need to get to higher ground. Fast.” 

She looked around. There. A tree. It was the tree that was shading the few picnic tables around the area, but it was probably farther than either of them could jump. Unless… She turned to look back at Kyle. “Do you trust me?” she asked, looking him in the eyes.

“I can’t swim either,” Kyle groaned. “We’re gonna drown.” He didn’t want Bex to die. Maybe she could climb on his shoulders or he could—could throw her or— His feet were wet and that was the worst feeling Kyle could possibly imagine right now. A real insult to injury moment. Bex was right about the person in the water. No, not person, singular. It was people, plural. For a split second, Kyle almost relaxed. People weren’t as dangerous as he and Bex combined. Maybe they were okay. But they were definitely outnumbered, and there was something wrong. The women that surfaced smelled all wrong. They weren’t human. They almost smelled like Mina, but definitely distinctly fishier. “Are they—are mermaids real?!” he exclaimed. This was totally not how The Little Mermaid had panned out. 

“What?” Kyle asked, brow creasing together. He looked right into Bex’s eyes. “Trust you? With my life.”

“Mermaids?” Bex asked, raising a brow. She looked back at the women rising from the water and found that they all had identical faces, nearly. There was no way they were human. Or anything. “I-- should we talk to them? I don’t know if mermaids are real, I haven’t asked anyone yet!” But she would after this. And then her next question would be-- how could all the movies get them so wrong? She turned back to Kyle, still gripping his shirt tightly. He looked right at her and said he did. He trusted her. With his life. She almost felt bad about it. She wasn’t sure she returned the sentiment. Not yet. He had almost killed her, and now here they were, and his life was in her hands, and she had to do something. She couldn’t let them die. Even if it hurt. Even if she passed out again. She nodded. “Good, now,” she held out her hand to him and her palm was no longer red. It had faded just a few days ago, “take my hand and...think light thoughts? I...haven’t done this on anything bigger than a head sized rock.” She scooted them towards the edge of the table, in the direction of the tree. “On the count of three, jump as high and far as you can, okay?” She drew in a breath, and drew in her magic. “Together?”

“I’m not talking to them,” Kyle stated, shaking his head. Now didn’t seem like a good time to gamble with the possibility that the—whatever they were, were not only sentient but also willing to talk and not maim, eat, or kill a wolf and a witch when they were so ripe for the taking. “I don’t know if mermaids are real either!” He didn’t really want to find out. That would be just another box to tick off in the ‘mind blowing revelations to keep Kyle up at night’ category. 

Kyle looked at Bex’s outstretched hand and back up to her face before he took her hand. It didn’t make him feel great that she hadn’t tried this with something people sized, let alone two. But there were no options, and Kyle trusted Bex. He nodded at her and tried to think of feathers and balloons and air. He wasn’t sure if that had been a joke or if things really did work like in Peter Pan, but he wasn’t taking any chances. 

“Okay...1...2…”

“Well, they could be nice,” Bex argued for a moment, but just as she did, one of them lifted from the water and a set of gnarly, crooked, blood-stained teeth peered out from under the waves .”Or...maybe not.” She looked back towards the tree and thought of all the times her and Nell had practiced this spell. She thought of air, and being light, and feathers floating down to the ground. She thought of how powerful she’d felt ripping memories from that hunter’s head. She thought about how powerful she could be, if she just tried. If she just concentrated. If she just believed. She let her energy go and let it snake up her arm and into Kyle’s hand and through his body. He counted down and together with him she said the number, “Three!” and she stepped forward and she jumped as high and far as she could and she-- felt her body floating lightly through the air as they arced above the water. She held fast to Kyle’s hand and tried not to instinctively close her eyes as they came back down towards the trunk of the tree. She grappled for a branch, but missed, and sudden thoughts of plunging into the water made her feel heavy again. “G-grab a branch!” she shouted at him as she felt her magic waver, clinging to Kyle. “Hurry!” 

Kyle was not prepared for that. For any of it. He hadn’t been ready for the teeth belonging to the beautiful women in the water. That was unexpected. This was definitely not Ariel’s story. Even more so, he had not been prepared for the jump, even as they counted down together. Eyes screwed tightly shut, Kyle waited for them to land safely. When that didn’t happen, one of his arms shot out, his eyes flying open, and he deftly grabbed a branch, still clinging to Bex with the other hand. “Hold on!” he shouted. “I’ve got you!” He didn’t know how to pull Bex up to safety without a steady grip himself. Kyle looked down at Bex and the water below her and his stomach dropped. “Hold on,” he repeated, less assuredly. He pulled Bex up like a curling weight. “Wrap yourself around me and I’ll pull us both up.”

Bex knew she was putting a lot of strain on Kyle by dangling from his arm, but she couldn’t help it. There were angry gnashing teeth beneath her, and if those didn’t kill her, the current surely would. They just needed to get to higher ground and wait it out, that was all. He curled her up and she scrambled to find purchase on him, wrapping her arms around his midsection and pressing against him tightly. “Pull us up!” she called out, bending her knees as something that look like an overgrown, ravenous otter leapt out of the water and gnashed at her feet. “Hurry!” She didn’t mean to rush him, but she really didn’t feel like being fish food today. She had promised Mina a whole week of nothing disastrous happening and she really figured that getting eaten by a demonic otter counted as disastrous. 

“I’m trying,” Kyle growled through gritted teeth. Once his other hand was free, he gripped the branch above them like a pull-up bar and pulled them both up to its level. He didn’t stop there, wanting to put as much space between himself and the ottershark as possible. “You’re doing great, Bex,” he said, continuing to pull them up a few more feet until there was a branch sturdy enough and wide enough for both of them to sit on. He paused there, arms wrapped around Bex, and looked down at the water again. “Holy shit,” he mumbled. Hesitantly, he loosened his grip on Bex and looked at her. “You okay?” he asked. If her heart rate was anything to go off of, she was at very least rattled.

Bex squeezed Kyle even tighter as she buried her face in his side so she didn’t have to watch, simply hoping she wouldn’t get snapped up off him. Finally, he was pulling on her to climb up and she hoisted herself up onto the branch as well, staring down at the water as the strange creature began circling the tree, much like a shark circling its prey would. Kyle was saying something to her but all she could think about was what had just happened, and what she’d just accomplished. Sure, beside blowing up a doll and ripping the memories from someone’s head, it didn’t seem like much, but she’d floated two people across a distance they normally wouldn’t have been able to jump, and gotten them to safety! She turned to Kyle and even though her heartbeat was racing out of her chest, she was smiling. She didn’t even notice the blood streaming from her nose again. “Did you see that!?” she exclaimed, feeling woozy. Her head spun and she sagged against him. “That was-- I did it! Nell would be so proud,” she slurred. 

Kyle wrapped his arms around Bex again, holding her in earnest this time. Clearly, the leap had taken a lot out of her. He’d learned from Eddie that doing magic—or whatever Eddie did—was draining. It made sense, shifting was incredibly draining for Kyle, too. He didn’t say anything about the blood this time, even when it most definitely got on his shirt. “I’ve got you,” he said quietly, into the top of Bex’s head. The creature still lurking below him, Kyle felt a swell of protectiveness over Bex. It was his job to keep her safe in this tree. It was the least he could do after everything. “I’m sure Nell would be proud of you. I’m proud of you! I don’t know a lot about magic, but that was incredible, Bex.” This hurt a lot less than being crushed by a full dumpster, and it was less terrifying than watching a dozen people relive a near death experience. Flying was scary, but it was almost...Exhilarating. It was maybe the first magic Kyle had seen that he wouldn’t mind trying again.

Kyle was just Kyle, Bex realized. He wasn’t a big, bad, scary wolf, and he had never meant to hurt her. He would never hurt her. She sank into his arms and let her head rest on his shoulder. The scars were still there. The pain was still there. The fear was still there, but Bex could understand that Kyle was just Kyle. She’d spent so long in his head she’d forgotten he was fighting his own battle inside of himself. She’d never been privy to it. She wanted to help him. She wished he understood she didn’t blame him. That she forgave him. “It’s just a simple spell,” Bex murmured, shifting in the tree to sit closer, curling her legs up. The bottoms of her jeans were wet, but she didn’t really mind. Her arms felt numb again, like they had after the spell she’d done on the hunter. “Thank you,” she finally said, reaching up to rub her eyes, “for trusting me.”

Kyle could fall asleep like this. Bex was warm in his arms and, given the precarious position the two of them were still currently in, he felt safe. The creatures that loomed beneath the swirling surface of the water seemed less intimidating from up in the treetops. Kyle didn’t know how they were going to get down from the tree, but that wasn’t a concern of his just yet. This town was weird, maybe they had a weird Coast Guard that knew more about things that lurked in the deep. 

“A simple spell? You said you’d never moved anything this big. That’s impressive. I can’t do that,” he said, grinning. “Don’t sell yourself so short.” Kyle wondered if things would’ve been different had Bex been able to just float away like this in the alley. Would he have still chased her? Would he have attacked someone else? It wasn’t for him to know. He was fighting the urge to apologize again when Bex thanked him. His heart ached with affection for her in that moment. “You don’t have to thank me, Bex. I’ve trusted you this whole time. It helped, being inside your head. I can tell you’re just...a really good person.”

Bex had never imagined she’d feel safe around Kyle ever again, but up in this tree, what was there to feel but that? His arms were tight around her, and she’d never really realized how much muscle he had. He’d pulled them up into the tree all by himself, after all. Or was that a werewolf strength thing? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t really want to ask, though. Her body felt too exhausted to move, anyway, even if she’d wanted to. What would Mina think? Hiding up in a tree with the werewolf who almost killed her. She swallowed and looked at the water below them. It was beginning to slow, but the creatures underneath the surface hadn’t left yet. They could smell a meal, and Bex watched as blood dripped off her chin into the water. “Shit…” she mumbled, wiping it away again. 

“Oh, I mean...the spell itself,” Bex said, looking over at Kyle. He was a little blurry and she strained to focus. “Nell didn’t exactly tell me but I’m pretty sure it was a beginner spell. Like, for kids. I read about some of the beginning spells in a book Morgan let me borrow.” She didn’t mind, though. Not really. She was a beginner at magic, even if she was picking it up at an alarmingly fast rate. She looked away at his second statement, back down to the water. Was she a good person? Would he still say that knowing what she’d done to that hunter? She sniffled again as she felt more blood trickling from her nose and reached up to pinch it closed. “I was in your head, too, you know,” she finally said, “I think you’re a good person. You’re just a little…” she scrunched her nose trying to think of the word, “distracted.” 

Kyle moved to grab the tissues from his pocket again, before realizing they had been left on the picnic table, forgotten as the water rushed in. He used the hem of his shirt to wipe at Bex’s face, aiming to get rid of some of the blood. “What a good time to get a nosebleed,” he said, tone light compared to the concern on his face. “Are you okay?” He reached out to cup Bex’s face in his hand, but hesitated. His hand hovered inches from her face. He was nervous that the gesture would be too much and let his hand fall.

“Even if it’s a beginner spell, you’re new to this. You’re a beginner, it’s okay to take things slow! Wait, Morgan has magic books? That’s cool.” Kyle was worried as the blood continued to flow. Was it normal? Was this just a witch thing? He really wished he’d grabbed the damn tissues. He pursed his lips and looked down at the dark waters below them again. Was he a good person? Would she still say that if she knew what had happened with Eddie at the bar? Distracted. “Why do you say I’m distracted?” he questioned. “What am I distracted from?” What was he distracted by?

“Yeah, sorry,” Bex mumbled, feeling a bit delirious now. “It’s been happening a lot lately. Ever since--” she started, but managed to stop herself, biting down on her cheek-- “something happened.” She didn’t really want to tell Kyle what she’d done to that hunter. She’d done something similar to him, hadn’t she? Would he still want to be her friend if he knew what she did to people? That she’d willingly used the power that had ruined everything for them? She rubbed at her nose and tilted her head back. “I think it’s done now, anyway.” She looked back over at Kyle. “It’s fine, really! Nothing to worry about.” 

She scooted back against the trunk of the tree and let herself rest. “Yeah, I know. I’m new to all this, I need to give it time, yadda yadda,” Bex mumbled, head dizzy. She rubbed her eyes and didn’t notice the blood smearing on the side of her face from it. “I mean you’re always thinking about other things. I might think a lot but you were always...concentrated on something else. You never really...sat alone with yourself,” she explained as best she could, looking over at him with weary eyes. “Guess we’re opposites in that way, huh? I think...too much and you think too little.”

“What happened? Did you break your nose or something?” Kyle asked, still concerned but trying to trust Bex on this one. He trusted her with his life, but that didn’t mean he trusted her to not lie about how she was feeling. “See, you telling me not to worry makes me worry. Funny how that works.” Hadn’t Bex said she was fine after Kyle hurt her? And again when they last met up? It was hard to believe her now.

Kyle let go of Bex, scooting back a little ways to afford her some space on the limb of the tree. “You’ve got some…” He gestured to his face where the blood had smeared. “Can I get that for you? You’re all bloody now. If I send you home bloody, I’m sure Mina will never let us hang out again.” He was joking when he said it, but Kyle worried that maybe there was a grain of truth to his words. He didn’t have much time to worry about it because Bex was out here reading him like a book. “I—,” he began to argue. The words died in his throat because maybe Bex was right. He didn’t put a lot of thought into himself or, well, he did but it was all about how much he wanted to be better for other people and the harm he’d done. None of his thoughts were spent on how to reduce the harm or better himself. Still, the way Bex had worded it caught him off guard. “Ouch,” he said, clutching his chest over his heart and feigning hurt. “I think too little. You really just went for it, huh? Cuts deep.” Again, he was joking, but something about her words actually stung. Was she calling him thoughtless? Brainless? 

“Oh, no, nothing like that,” Bex reassured, shirking away from his concerned gaze. Hadn’t he said he was always worried about her? Especially after what had happened between them? She didn’t know how she felt about that. About all these different people being concerned about her. It was enough to know Mina worried so much about her, having someone else be concerned, especially someone who she had such a storied past with, made her insides feel funny. Or maybe that was the fact that she’d used a hefty amount of magic again after not letting herself relax for long enough. “I’m okay, really! It’s just a magic thing, I guess.” She didn’t want to worry him anymore than he already seemed to be.

“Where?” Bex asked, looking over at him and watching as he scooted away. She furrowed her brow. “I’m sure she’d understand. She knows this has been happening and that it wouldn’t have been your fault.” She didn’t move, looking over to him as he offered to wipe it away for her. Her head was still spinning, so she’d let it happen for now. She could be okay with this. She was totally more okay with this. Being around Kyle. She was feeling-- good about this. “Okay, you know what I meant! You think too little about yourself. Even before-- what happened. You were always thinking about other people. And, well, about Yu-Gi-Oh cards and DnD. And pretty girl butts. And no, I’m not letting you live that one down.”

“A magic thing, huh?” Kyle repeated, scooting closer again, reaching out and cupping Bex’s face with one hand. With the other hand, he wiped at the blood on her cheek. “Why would the magic give you a nosebleed?” His forehead creased with the worry he said he didn’t have. It wasn’t like they’d been honest with each other thus far. He licked his thumb and rubbed at some of the blood that had begun to dry onto Bex’s cheek. Then, he tried to dry her cheek with his sweatshirt sleeve. “I’d like to not give Mina any doubt that I looked after you,” he said softly. Once the worst of the blood smear was cleaned off, Kyle sat back again. “There. Much better.”

He pushed up his sweatshirt sleeves as he scooted back, fidgeting with them to keep himself preoccupied. “I know what you meant,” he said. “I’m always thinking about anything but myself. I don’t like to think about myself. It’s—I’m not as important.” He folded his hands in his lap, looking back up at Bex now. “Yu-Gi-Oh! is good. I think you would maybe like it if you tried. Or if you watched it. DnD is pretty fun, too.” Kyle barked out a laugh when Bex mentioned the butt comment. “Okay, in my defense, you’re very pretty! When I see a good butt, I think about the good butt. Like Nell has a good butt. And Eddie has a pretty good butt. Sometimes, you see a butt and it’s nice!”

“Uh, well,” Bex started, “it’s like-- energy. You know? And when you exert too much energy, you get tired. Or sick. Or--” she gestured at her nose, “--nose bleeds.” She froze entirely when Kyle reached out. His hand was on her cheek and she watched with static eyes as he reached out and began wiping the blood off her cheek, off the side of her head. She swallowed but stayed still as he finished up. Used the sleeve of his sweater to dry her now flushed cheeks. “There’s no doubt,” she said, once he’d finished. She didn’t shift once he was done, and watched him sit back against the tree. Finally, she moved to come sit next to him, struggling only for a moment as a branch snapped under her and settled next to him. She leaned against him and put her head on his shoulder. 

“You are important,” Bex protested quietly, “you’re important to me. And to Nell, and to-- your parents. To all your friends.” She looked down at the water below them and noticed it beginning to recede. She chuckled, her shoulders shaking with the action. “You think so? I’ve never actually tried it. I...don’t even actually know anything about it,” she shrugged, “but if you think so, then I’m willing to try it.” She was surprised by his laugh, but even more surprised by his words. She sat up, then, raising a brow. “You-- what? You like-- hold on. You know Eddie?”

Kyle wrapped his arm around Bex as she scooted closer. “I’m sorry if lifting us was too much exertion,” he said, worried again. “Why didn’t you say something? We could’ve figured something else out maybe.” Her head on his shoulder, he felt protective of her once again. He and Bex were falling easily into this little friendship. In a way, he felt this brotherly sort of affection towards her. Kyle just wanted Bex to be okay and be happy. “Does rest help?” he asked, wanting to do something to make her feel better.

Those feelings became a little stronger when Bex called him important. “You’re important to me, too.” He tried to ignore the way his chest tightened when Bex said he was important to his parents. The relationship they had... She had no way of knowing, but it wasn’t great. It was better than the one Bex had with her own parents, so Kyle stayed quiet. “I think I could totally get you into my nerd games,” he said, letting his head fall to the side on top of Bex’s. The action lasted only a moment as she sat back up. “Oh, uh, yeah. I totally forgot to tell you that I met Eddie. He mentioned you and—,” and what had happened in the alleyway. “—and he said you guys, um, met.”

“No, it wasn’t!” Bex argued back, but she wasn’t sure if that was entirely true. “It wasn’t too much! Not-- really. I just-- may have previously used too much and it may still be affecting me. But, really! Nell said it would be fine. It’ll stop soon.” She hoped it would be fine soon. “I don’t think we had a lot of time to figure anything else out, really. And it worked in the end, didn’t it?” she asked. And, really, she would’ve done it anyway, even if she’d told him and he’d said no. She wasn’t about to let them both drown or get eaten by whatever was circling them in the water below. She peaked over and noticed that the top of the picnic table was sticking back up over the surface, and in the distance, sirens were wailing. “Rest, yeah. Rest helps.” 

She let herself relax a bit more. Despite everything that had happened between them-- and the panic that she still felt trying to worm its way into her chest-- Bex was glad to know she was important to Kyle. She couldn’t quite put her finger on why, but it had something to do with how desperately she’d needed to see him after the incident. How desperately she’d needed to know he was okay. “You think so? I’d be curious to try. I do like proving I’m better than people at their own games,” she teased, but her face fell a little at his statement and she glanced away. “He-- told you what happened, didn’t he?” she asked, shame tinging her voice, her cheeks. 

“You burnt yourself out recently, and then used magic to save us? If rest helps, then get some,” Kyle chided. He cocked his head to the side, eyeing Bex with curiosity. “Was it your practicing with Nell that tired you out so bad? I know she can be...persistent in her methods.” Maybe persistent wasn’t the word when Nell had scared him into shifting. Still, she had been insistent if nothing else, that she help Kyle with his control. “It did work out, I just feel bad that you’re paying for it.”

Feeling a little safer about the slowly receding water below them, Kyle straddled the branch and let his legs swing down. “You have a lot of catching up to do if you’re gonna beat me at my own games.” He grinned at her, but his grin faltered when Bex turned away. “Hey, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to, and Eddie’s okay. I’m—,” he bit his lip and hesitated. Kyle didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want to talk about it if Bex didn’t want to. But he needed to know. “Do you still have the nightmares? About me?”

“I am resting!” Bex huffed, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at Kyle. She unfurled herself and glanced away, hair falling in her face. “No! No, Nell is great with me, really. She’s not pushy or anything like that. She’s really supportive and she never lets me use too much magic.” She wrung her hands together, picking at the bark on the tree. “It was just something I tried on my own, but it won’t happen again.” Probably. Maybe. Well, no, it was going to happen again. If any hunter tried to hurt Mina-- or Kyle-- again, she wasn’t going to hesitate. “Well, I mean, there’s a price for all magic. Sometimes it’s just a little something, sometimes it’s ingredients, sometimes it’s-- energy.” 

Kyle scooted away, but Bex decided to stay planted right where she was. She was a little worried if she moved too much she might pass out and fall from the tree, but she wasn’t going to tell Kyle that and make him fuss over her even more. Surprisingly, though, being stuck up a tree with the person who had nearly killed her didn’t seem as scary as falling into the water below. It was because Kyle was just a boy, not a wolf. Not right now. She couldn’t bring herself to look him in the eyes as she admitted, quietly, “Yes.” Because what good would lying do right now? She wanted to forge a friendship with him, and lying about this wouldn’t spare anyone’s feelings. “Not every night. And-- Mina helps. Being next to Mina helps. When I try to sleep.”

Kyle squinted at Bex. “What to you mean it was something you tried on your own? Bex, I don’t know enough about magic to keep you safe.” He hadn’t meant to word it like that, but it slipped out anyway. “I mean, I’m sure you don’t need me to keep you safe, but I’m worrying again,” he amended, trying to play it off. He did trust Bex, but he didn’t trust the magic. He hadn’t seen magic be used positively or without consequence. It was hard to trust something he couldn’t possibly comprehend. “I just hope you’re being careful.”

If it were possible for Kyle to feel more guilt than he already did, hearing that Bex was still having nightmares about him did it for him. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat and looked down at the tree, picking at the bark. “I’m having them, too.” Truthfully, Kyle hadn’t had a peaceful night’s sleep in weeks now. The closest he’d gotten to peaceful sleep was when the wolfsbane knocked him out cold. He couldn’t sleep without seeing himself on top of Bex, or hearing and feeling the fear she had experienced. “Benefits of being in your head, I guess.” He pulled a small chunk of tree bark off the limb and watched it fall down into the water. The height made him dizzy if he looked for too long, so he closed his eyes. “I can’t apologize enough for that night. It’s—I know you don’t want me to blame myself or whatever, but it’s hard not to. You were already going through a lot and I’m sorry for what I’ve added onto that.” Kyle felt sick again, but this time he was pretty sure it wasn’t the wolfsbane. 

“I don’t need you to keep me safe!” Bex said back before she could stop herself. “I don’t need anyone to keep me safe.” He tried to rescind his statement, but she understood what he meant. People worried for her, and that did feel nice, but she didn’t need them to protect her. She had been fine on her own for twenty years, she could be fine on her own now. She turned her head away and leaned back against the tree, pulling her knees up to her chest. She rubbed a hand across it, feeling the lumps of the scarred flesh that was still healing on it. “I’m being careful,” she muttered. Now at least. She doubted Kyle would count following a hunter into an alley as careful. 

Bex felt a pang at the quietness of his voice. All of this had happened because of her, and she wished, so badly, that she could take it away. It didn’t seem fair, that he had to suffer like this, too. At least when she'd fallen into that dream world, it had only been her. No one else had fallen with her. Even if, sometimes, she’d wished they had. It was a cold loneliness that only ever reminded her of home-- of her parents. “And I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, I don’t blame you. I-- don’t like what happened, and I-- accept that part of it was your fault. But part of it was my fault, too, and the fact of the matter is that we never would’ve been in that situation had I just-- been better at using magic, at-at controlling myself. I was still so-- resistant at that point. That’s why I’m working to get better. For-- for myself but also for-- for you.”

Kyle flinched at Bex’s words and shrunk into himself a little. Something about her tone was like a slap to the face. “I’m sorry,” he said, refusing to make eye contact. “You’re totally capable, I know that. Just—after what I did to you, after thinking I killed you...it’s hard not to want to protect you.” He closed his eyes and locked his jaw, willing himself not to cry. He didn’t want Bex to feel any guilt for his actions or feelings. Clearing his throat and blinking rapidly to keep the tears at bay, Kyle looked around the park. He could still pick out other people up in the foliage of the trees. “That’s—I trust you. I do. I don’t trust what other people might do to you. I don’t want anyone to hurt you. Like I did.” He wiped at his nose, trying to turn away. From his position, still straddling the limb they sat on, that was difficult. He ended up just looking over his shoulder, staring out at the water.

It hurt to hear Bex echoing his words, almost verbatim. If only she had had more control. Kyle shook his head firmly. “No. Don’t do that to yourself. Don’t. I’ve been torturing myself with the same thought process over and over, Bexley.” He conceded and turned to face her. His eyelashes clung together with tears that still threatened to spill over. “If I had more control over my shifting, if I had been better at keeping my cool, none of this would have happened. And I want to change that—I’m trying to change that—to keep you and everyone else in this shitty town safe.” Finally, a single tear ran down Kyle’s cheek. He tried to wipe it away before Bex could see it. “Just—please don’t beat yourself up. You do not carry this alone.”

Bex stiffened and thought of Morgan, and the zombie in the shop. She remembered the look of such sorrow on her face when she came back out of the shop, clean, as if she hadn’t just killed someone just like her. She remembered her saying Bex was worth it. She remembered her saying Bex mattered more. She never wanted anything close to that for Kyle. “I don’t need you to protect me,” she said, quieter, with less gusto. “I just want you to be my friend. That’s all.” She didn’t need a protector or a knight in shining armor or a bodyguard. She just wanted people to stop treating her like she needed protection-- from themselves, from others, from monsters. She didn’t want to be behind people anymore, she wanted to be beside them. “They won’t. Like I said, I can take care of myself now. And I-- I’ve been doing that for a long time, already, anyway. I know how to take care of myself.” She lifted her legs and curled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. “I already know what it’s like to have people hurt me because of the way I am.”

Bex put her chin on her knees and watched Kyle avoid her gaze. She kind of hated it. He was crying, she knew he was crying, so why wouldn’t he just look at her? Did she cause him that much distress? How had they already gotten back here when just a few minutes ago they’d been doing fine? Was this just how it was always going to be? She didn’t want that. “Morgan says I need to process everything and leave the what ifs behind. That I need to accept that I-- almost died. And that it was partially my fault. But I’m allowed to...still be upset about it. And-- scared.” She looked over at Kyle and saw the tear. She blinked away her own. “I think I’ve figured out that-- it’s not you that scares me, Kyle. It’s-- losing control. You or me or...anyone. The wolf wanted to kill me because I made it lose control. And I lost control because I didn’t understand. But I understand now.” She wiped her sleeve across her eyes. “You and the wolf you love and the wolf who attacked me aren’t the same.”

Kyle reached out towards Bex, he wanted to comfort her—tell her he would be her friend. Ultimately, he let his hand drop. He crossed his arms over his chest and pulled his legs up, criss crossed in front of him. “I want to be your friend. I’m worried that I’m the danger, though.” He sighed and carded his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—I’m sorry. I can’t understand what it’s like to be you, but you don’t have to be afraid to be yourself. Not around me.” He hoped she knew that he meant with witchcraft, with being gay, with anything. But Kyle understood too well what it was like to want to hide from yourself.

“You’re always allowed to be scared. I don’t want to...I don’t want to make you feel like you have to be anything but yourself. Whatever self that is.” Kyle sniffled and swiped at his nose again. “Morgan is right. It’s—I have to accept some stuff, too.” How could he? How could he accept himself or what he’d done when he had almost killed someone who was actively asking to be his friend? How could he put her in that situation. “I’m scared, too,” he mumbled, voice soft and tearful. “Of myself. Of losing control. But here’s the thing Bex, I am the wolf. I don’t have control over it, but it’s not like it’s a separate entity. It’s me; just pure primal instinct. I wanted to attack you. I wanted to kill you. It feels good to lose control, even for just a minute. The adrenaline is…a rush. But I wake up, I come back to myself, and I see what I’ve done. And I hate who that person is, but it’s still me. At the end of the day, I can’t separate myself from the wolf. We’re the same.” The tears started falling freely, spilling over his cheeks and dripping off his jaw. “If I had killed you, I couldn’t ever forgive myself. I can’t now. I need to—to work on it. That’s why Nell gave me wolfsbane.” He didn’t originally want to tell Bex about that; he didn’t want to tell her that he was being held together at his most vulnerable, by a fucking flower. But now, spilling all this to her about the wolf—it felt like the right time. “I’m working on it so I don’t ever hurt someone the way I hurt you. If I did, I wouldn’t blame Nell and Mina for doing what they had to.”

Bex watched him reach out, but stop. Why was he so hesitant, now, when he’d been so ready earlier? He’d even held her face and wiped off the blood. She wondered if it was because he thought he was going to hurt her, now, that she’d admitted her fears again. She could still remember how it felt, what had happened, the pain. Sometimes she woke up in a cold sweat screaming from it. Sometimes she felt like she was being clawed again. Sometimes she saw a shadow move out of the corner of her eye and she was reliving the whole thing again. It still ate at every part of her, the death that could have happened, and the pain she had as the reminder. But she wasn’t afraid of Kyle, up here, in this tree. And she hadn’t been afraid, down there, sitting at the table. “You’re not dangerous to me anymore,” she muttered, “I tore out a man’s memories. I could stop you if I wanted to.” She wouldn’t, though. She knew she wouldn’t. Still, it was nice to think that she could. “I know. And-- you, too, you know. You-- don’t have to be afraid. Around me.”

Bex was quiet for a while, as she listened, as she absorbed what he was saying. Her heart was feeling heavy again, and she was tired. She wanted to lay in her bed and listen to Mina’s heartbeat as she fell asleep. Today had simultaneously gone much better and much worse than she’d thought, but she hadn’t torn apart a cafe crowd while having a breakdown, so it was definitely an improvement. “I heard your thoughts, Kyle,” she murmured quietly, “as a wolf.” They haunted her. “I know you wanted to kill me. But it wasn’t...you you. I remember that, too. The...loss of yourself. The loss of control. You were so scared. Up until the very end, you were so scared. That’s why I came. You needed help and I wanted to-- help. But I think...you not being in control, whether you like it or not, that’s not-- that’s not the same you as the one sitting here. And-- you shouldn’t-- you shouldn’t punish yourself for that. I-- don’t know what wolfsbane is, but if it’s anything like what I think, then, then-- please don’t hurt yourself in the process. And you know I wouldn’t let them. I won’t.” She wasn’t sure she’d forgive either of them if they killed Kyle, even if they thought they had to. He didn’t deserve that. 

“You—,” Kyle paused and raised a hand, motioning for the conversation to slow down. “You did what? Ripped out his memories? What does that mean?” He might not know a lot about witches or magic, but could Nell do that too? Could all witches do that? What did that even mean? He had a dozen selfish requests lingering at the back of his mind—could you do that for me?—but he tried to brush aside the thoughts. He didn’t want that, not really, and he couldn’t ask Bex to do something like that, not that she would ever agree to it. “I’m not afraid,” he started to say, but he cut himself off. He was afraid, just not of Bex. Tentatively he reached back out and placed a hand on her knee. “I’m not afraid,” he repeated, with more conviction this time. If they were going to move past this together, he needed to trust himself around Bex, as hard as it was.

Bex was so adamant that Kyle wasn’t the wolf. She heard his thoughts, but she didn’t live through the shift. “How can you be so sure which thoughts were my own? How can you know I didn’t want to—don’t still want to—kill you?” His hand fell from her knee and he pulled his legs up to his chest, mirroring her posture. “I don’t know what’s me and what’s the wolf. It’s so hard. That’s why I have the wolfsbane it—,” how could he explain it without sounding like he was actively abusing it? Was he? “—it helps me calm down. Enough of it puts me to sleep. On the full moon, that’s enough to ensure I don’t hurt anyone. On any other day… I just want to make sure I’m level headed. It’s fine.” Was it fine? Kyle was telling half truths more than he was outright lying. Had Bex been in his head long enough to know? He hoped she didn’t. “I’m sorry this got—this conversation got way darker than I expected it to.” He chuckled to himself without any joy behind the sound, and pawed at his damp cheeks in an effort to dry them.

“It means what I said it means,” Bex stated matter-of-factly. She didn’t need to add on that she was pretty sure it hadn’t worked right, and that the nosebleeds were because there were memories in her head that weren’t her own. She looked over at Kyle, as he reached back out and put a hand on her knee. She shifted one of her own hands to dig under his and curl their fingers together. “I’m not, either,” she said back, quietly, but firmly. And really, she wasn’t. The fear she felt was for a memory, not the present. The fear she felt was about dying, losing control, not about sitting with her friend in a tree. “So..let’s stop worrying so much, and...work through this together? If-- that’s okay?”

At that, Bex had to laugh. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to, but she did. “Kyle, if you wanted to kill me, you’ve had plenty of opportunity. You could’ve just let me drown, or dropped me into the water to be eaten, or push me out of the tree right now. I was in your head for two weeks. I know you don’t want to kill me.” She quieted a little, then, and looked across the small space of the branch between them. “Well, maybe...someone can help you figure that out? Who-- who you are, who the wolf is? And, maybe one day-- they can be the same person. But...how much of ourself are we, really, if we don’t have control? Isn’t control what makes us...us?” His laugh threw her a moment, but she gave a shallow smile. “Don’t apologize. Guess that’s just what happens when you get stuck up a tree with someone.I promise I won’t tell Mina you almost got me eaten by a demonic otter.”

Right, so Bex could do that now. That was new. Kyle’s eyebrows raised and he blinked. He had so many more questions, but he let them die on his tongue. He didn’t want to push her past what she was comfortable talking about, so he dropped it. “Right,” he said softly, then repeated it with more gusto. “Right. We stop worrying and work on this together.” He looked down at where their fingers were laced together and smiled genuinely. 

The laugh startled Kyle and the smile fell from his face. It was quickly replaced with a look of confusion. Bex was so sure he wasn’t a threat to her anymore. He appreciated the faith she had in him. He wished he had the same faith in himself. “I’m gonna keep working on it. I haven’t thrown in the towel quite yet,” he said, nodding. “Thank you. For being yourself.” The mention of Mina had him looking up at Bex. “Speaking of being yourself…” he mumbled under his breath. “Hey, I didn’t hand feed you to the otter. How was I supposed to know that today is the day that the fabric of space and time falls apart?” He chuckled to himself again. Cocking his head, he addressed the other part of Bex’s statement. “What will you tell Mina? About today.” 

Bex let a gentle smile curl onto her face. It crinkled the edges of her eyes and she leaned her chin on her knees, still squeezing Kyle’s hand. His hands were warm, and much bigger than hers, and they fit in a way different from Mina’s, from Morgan’s. She hadn’t figured out what, yet, but friends could be a start. Maybe even good friends, one day. 

“Me, too,” Bex said, determined to not let him be the only one dragging themself through this mud. They’d created it together, they could clean it up together. She didn’t think she’d fully convinced Kyle that he wasn’t a danger to her anymore, but she had taken many precautions, and for the moment, that was all they could do. Until they had control, until they felt good about themselves, that was all they could do. She chuckled softly, light in her throat. “I’m kidding,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I...don’t know yet. Probably...the truth? I’ve been trying to be better about that, about...letting her know things. She always worries so much, and finds out things, anyway. I don’t want her to worry, but, you know...she’s protective. She’d worry anyway. In fact, she’s probably pacing around worried right now. She said she was going for a job, but I doubt she was relaxed enough to.”

Kyle laughed quietly and easily. As quickly as things had gotten tense again, here they were, smoothing them back out. If he wasn’t careful, he was going to get whiplash from the rapid shifts in mood today. Anxiety, calm, panic, relief, guilt, sadness—all in one day. He needed a nap after this. The day had been a lot to handle. He listened carefully to Bex talk about Mina. He absorbed what she was saying. Did she not see it, though? Mina clearly cared very much for Bex. Why was Bex so adamant that they were absolutely not together?

“It sounds like Mina cares a lot about you,” Kyle said carefully. “And it sounds like you care a lot about her, too. Can I ask you a kind of weird question?” He didn’t leave much more than a beat of silence before he pressed on. He didn’t want Bex to say no, and this was a very important question. “Does Mina know that you’re definitely not dating? Like, she’s aware that you’re definitely just friends?” He tried to choose his words in a way that didn’t sound incendiary, but there was no good way to ask without the question sounding loaded. Maybe it was a loaded question, but it was one Kyle needed an answer to. 

Bex felt her entire body flush at the question. “I-- she-- we--” she stuttered through words, words she didn’t even know how to string anything else to. “We’re not just-- we’re--” she felt like she didn’t know any words anymore. She didn’t know English or anything language, really. She only knew that she didn’t know the answer to Kyle’s question. Did Mina know? Did Mina care? Did Mina...want more? Did Bex? There were too many questions, actually, that that one question brought up. She pulled her hand away from Kyle’s and glanced away, cheeks burning pink. “I don’t know what we are, okay? We...haven’t talked about it. I just-- want her to be happy, is-- isn’t that enough? Does it have to be something more? Something labeled?” Does it have to mean she was gay? Her body seemed to stiffen on instinct, heartbeat quickening. She looked down and found that the water seemed to be low enough to walk in. Other people were climbing down from their hideouts. The strange women fish were flopping around uselessly, gasping for breath without enough water. She unfurled herself and started scooting towards a lower branch, reaching her foot out. She didn’t want to be here anymore. 

Open mouth insert paw foot. Kyle bit his lip. He knew he was treading into dangerous waters in a lot of ways today. Clearly Bex was uncomfortable. She was blushing and moving to get out of the tree. Whatever little peace they had made today had clearly been shattered again. “I’m sorry—,” he said, reaching out to stop her from getting down from the tree. “I didn’t—I said that all wrong I think. You don’t have to talk to me about this, Bex. I just wanted to try to let you know that you can, if you want to. I won’t make you talk to me about it, but I understand how you’re feeling.” Maybe that wasn’t true. He didn’t know, not really. But he could make a pretty good guess. His first crush on a boy in middle school had really thrown him for a loop. But he’d had the time to find peace with it, and wanted to offer that to Bex now. “It’s fine if you’re gay, or bisexual, or if you don’t know what to call yourself. I don’t either, to be honest. But it’s okay to like Mina and admit that. Your friends, your family—and I’m talking about Morgan when I say that—they still love you.” 

“Stop it!” Bex said loudly, and it made her head hurt. She pulled her arm away from him. “Stop it!” She didn’t want to talk about this. Or think about it. She had a good thing and she just wanted to keep it that way and talking about it might make it go away and that terrified her. It terrified her to think about what Kyle was saying. And maybe, somewhere, she knew she needed to. Talk about it. Confront it. But she didn’t want to right now. She latched onto the branch as she crawled down, her foot slipping. Another branch snapped and fell into the water. “I’m not talking about this. I’m not talking about this to anyone. I’m not gay. I’m not, I can’t be. It’s just-- it’s just Mina. I’m not--” she felt herself spiraling again, falling back into that place where her heart felt like it was being ripped from her chest and every bruise she’d ever had was burning on her body. She was shaking and didn’t even know it. “You don’t understand. How could you? You don’t. You don’t know how I’m feeling or what I’m feeling or what my life was like. You don’t understand.” She couldn’t move anymore and it took every last bit of energy she had left to keep herself from crying. “I want to go home.” She demanded, her voice cracking. “I’d like to go home now.” She wanted to call Mina. She wanted to be somewhere safe. She wanted to curl up under her blanket and maybe never come back out. Not if this was what waited for her in the world. Not if this was what everyone inevitably asked her about. She didn’t have an answer for them. And it terrified her, because she knew, one day, Mina would be the one asking, and then what would she say? 

Well, that hadn’t gone well. That had gone even less well than expected. He didn’t blame her, honestly. It was a confusing, scary thing to deal with alone. The snapping branches beneath Bex’s feet made Kyle’s stomach do flips. He felt dizzy if he looked down, so he looked at Bex and tried not to think about falling. “Can I help you down out of the tree? I don’t want you to fall. I know you’re capable of getting down yourself, but I would like to help you if you would like help.” He tried to speak calmly and quietly, but his voice wavered. He held in the flinch this time when Bex’s voice was sharp and dangerous. She was lashing out because she was afraid. Hadn’t Kyle done the same thing a hundred times? “You’re right, I don’t understand. But I can make a pretty good guess. You’re scared. That’s okay, I’m not trying to make you come out to me or anything. I don’t want that for you. All I want is to let you know that you have someone you can talk to if you ever want to.” He looked at Bex in silence for a few moments and offered her a hand. “Can I take you home now?” He had ruined the day, again. The least he could offer now was a ride back home.

Bex held onto the branch as if her life depended on it. It didn’t. At most, she’d break a bone from the fall. Which, bad, considering she’d promised Mina she’d be good and not get into trouble and, really, this wasn’t her fault. How was she supposed to know a portal to mermaid world was going to open up in the middle of the park? It wasn’t her fault. But she felt glued to this spot, branches barely holding her weight, as she tried her best to keep herself from crying. She didn’t want to cry again. She didn’t want Kyle thinking he’d ruined everything again, although she was pretty sure her yelling at him might’ve done that enough. “I’m sorry,” she sputtered, pressing her cheek to the branch, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell. I don’t want to talk about that, any of that, I don’t. I don’t need to know that. I don’t. I can’t think about that right now.” She needed control of her emotions, not to let them control her. She’d been doing so good. She’d been doing so good. She felt like she might explode, again. “Please take me home,” she muttered, “I want out of this tree.” 

“Okay, okay,” he said, voice softening even more. “We won’t talk about it. Grab ahold of me,” Kyle said, before he wrapped his own arms around Bex as gently as he could. “Is this okay?” he murmured against her shoulder. His ribs were still sore after the Eddie alleyway incident, (why was it always an alleyway?) but he didn’t care if it hurt, he needed to make Bex feel safe. Once Bex was secure, Kyle started slowly and carefully climbing down. Once they were close enough to the ground that he felt like they wouldn’t be hurt, he let go and landed safely on his feet. The ground, still saturated, squished beneath his feet. His shoes immediately were soaked. Kyle grimaced and let out a soft groan, both from the pain that spiked through his abdomen and the sensation of wet shoes. “Sorry, sorry,” he rushed out. “I hope I didn’t jostle you too much.” He set Bex on her feet, trying to make sure she was steady. “Careful,” he mumbled, taking a step back. “You okay? I parked over here.” He gestured vaguely in a general direction, and started to walk. He kept his eyes on Bex, expecting her to follow. “Watch out for the fish. And...mermaids?” He didn’t know what else to say, but he had the overwhelming feeling that he should. Clearly, things were going all wrong and it was all his fault. If he had just kept his mouth shut today, or not chosen to go to the damned park—he was already slipping back into the what ifs.

Bex just nodded. She didn’t want to talk anymore. This always happened. People asked her about it and then she froze up and then things got ruined, because that’s what she did, she ruined things. Everything she touched. Kyle, Mina, Morgan-- fuck, even Dani, Eddie, Nell-- she just ruined it, because that’s what she was. Ruined. Her parents had taken everything from her and she hadn’t found anything to replace the bits they’d pried out of her. Nothing that wasn’t worth risking another person. She clung to Kyle as he lowered them down, and buried her face in his shoulder. She wanted to call Mina, but she didn’t want her to see her like this and think it was because of Kyle, because he’d hurt her, or upset her or-- well, maybe some of that was true, but she didn’t want Mina to see it. She didn’t need her to be mad at Kyle again. “I’m okay,” she said finally, and Kyle started walking away, and she grabbed his arm and pulled him back and hugged him tightly. “I’m sorry,” she said into his shirt, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell.” She squeezed a little tighter. “I-- I’m just scared.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I’m so scared.”

Okay ow. The hug hurt, but Bex didn’t know Kyle had been nearly pancaked by a dumpster. She needed this. He bit back a groan and wrapped his arms around her, hooking his chin over her shoulder. “Hey,” he soothed, and started rubbing small circles onto Bex’s back. “You don’t need to say sorry. I’m really sorry I upset you. I know it’s a sensitive subject.” If he didn’t have super sensory hearing, he might’ve missed what she said next. Bex knew just how to break his heart into a million pieces over and over. “It’s okay. It’s really scary. Everything is really scary. It’ll be okay. I’m here.” He wanted nothing more than to protect Bex from the things that made her this upset. But she didn’t want him to, and it’s hard to protect someone from themself. “We’re pretty messed up. That’s okay, too. This isn’t forever, and things are going to be okay.” Kyle found himself swaying gently from side to side with Bex and his eyes drifted shut. 

Bex breathed in deeply and held it. Just like she was taught. And then, in for three. Out for five. In for three. Out for five. She felt her body relaxing in Kyle’s grip. His touch was gentle. Soothing. She stopped shaking as her body calmed down and she finally opened her eyes, glancing around. Her shoes were soaking wet, and there was probably blood on her pants and her shirt and wow, even if she didn’t tell Mina what had happened, this all looked kind of bad. She sniffled and pulled away gently, too ashamed to look Kyle in the eyes. He’d said everything was going to be okay, but how could he know? He didn’t know. One day, someone would come and take her away from all this. She knew it. She was holding on as tightly as possible, she wanted to stay, but she knew. Breathing in deep, she looked up at Kyle and tried to smile. “Thank you,” she mumbled, chewing on her lip, “for meeting with me.” She scrubbed her hand across her eyes and nodded slowly. “I’m glad you came.”

Kyle felt Bex relaxing in his arms and smiled sadly. It was nice to know she felt comfortable enough to relax, but he hated that this was the circumstance. He tried to breathe in time with her, slowing his own breathing with hers. It surprised him when the tension ebbed away from his body. He would have to remember this in the future. Reluctant to let go, Kyle stepped back, looking at Bex with furrowed brows. She looked so...small. She had a way of looking breakable, like one more thing would undo her completely. He had the urge to grab her right again, but resisted. “Thank you,” he insisted. “I’m glad I came, too. Y’know, there aren’t many other people I’d like to sit in a tree with while we fear for our lives.” He cracked a small smile and extended an elbow for Bex to take. “C’mon. Let’s get you home.”

[insidious-intent]

Scent Memory

For @malexweek Day 5 prompt - Smut. I’m a day late despite @winged-fool‘s reminders. Obviously, this is nsfw. 

Read on AO3

The group project was on day four, and Michael was getting a little tired of it. The Project Shepherd bunker was a little cramped, but it meant Michael didn’t have to walk too far to get to the bathroom. The downside was that he could hear Liz muttering to herself eight feet to his left, and Kyle was standing a little too close to Alex ten feet to his right. 

He should have left an hour ago, it was getting closer to dinner time and the group had been in various forms of concentration all day. Maybe it was the small space getting to him, maybe it was just the press of people around him. He wasn’t used to working in a group project setting. Yes, that’s what it was. 

He moved back to the file at hand, a distilled list of powers his people were discovered to have, without the added agony of revisiting all the torturous experiments that led to the discovery. He pushed the unnerving thought of the crowded space he was forced to work in out of his mind and returned to the task at hand. 

Michael was successful in focusing for another thirty minutes. He was still thirsty and the bottle of water next to him was empty. Sighing to himself, Michael grabbed the bottle and walked towards the small hallway of ancient lockers where Alex had installed a water filter. 

He walked past the desk where Alex and Kyle were almost fused into a cerberus looking thing, staring and muttering at a large pile of documents. He shook his head, tearing his gaze from Valenti’s exceptional looking ass and kept walking to the filter. 

It wasn’t until after Michael filled up his water bottle that he froze. Had he really thought of Valenti’s ass as exceptional? What the fuck. 

Michael walked back to his table slowly, feeling his heartbeat pick up for some reason. But it couldn’t possibly be from having Valenti’s over-gymmed ass in close proximity to himself. There was no way. 

But Michael could feel his body reacting, the familiar zing of heat down his spine, the way his heart had been beating faster this whole time. He recognized the symptoms, but his mind couldn’t pinpoint the source. Michael’s heart felt like he’d run a marathon, sweat beginning to build up on his skin.

He drank the water down in a few gulps, trying to find a distraction from the heat and slow building arousal. Michael made his way back towards the water filter, the need to walk towards Alex and Kyle pulling at him. He walked slowly, trying to pay attention to his surroundings when the smell hit him. 

It was a soft, subtle scent that surrounded him and made him freeze. The scent was woodsy and earthy, like the smell of soft grass in early summer mornings. Like the smell of wet earth after a thunderstorm. 

Oh. 

Michael closed his eyes and prayed to all generic media based religious entities that Valenti hadn’t switched his deodorant or something. 

“You ok, Guerin?” Alex’s voice right behind him made Michael jump a little. He whirled around to see both Alex and Kyle staring at him. 

“What?” he asked. 

“You’ve been standing there looking like a statue for five straight minutes,” Valenti piped up, and Michael’s glare at him was only half-hearted at best. 

“I was thinking,” Michael replied, thinking on his feet, “I know that’s a foreign concept to gymrats like you.” 

Valenti’s eye roll was expected, but Michael didn’t expect Alex to do the same. Instead of responding, Kyle turned and slapped Alex’s shoulder. 

“This one is your problem now, I’m going home to get some sleep,” he said. “Ortecho, you too, move it.”

Liz’s head whipped up and Michael saw how red her eyes were. Dang, they really needed to keep an eye on the crazy scientists, before Max murdered them for letting Liz get sick. 

“Uh, yeah, I should also go I think. I’m starting to see double,” Liz replied, swaying a little as she grabbed her jacket. 

Alex quickly walked over to help her with her bag and jacket. “Kyle, make sure Rosa knows that Liz needs sleep.” He helped Liz walk over to Kyle, who quickly put an arm around her. “And I’ll talk to you in two days.” 

Michael didn’t do anything but stay in place as the mad scientist duo walked out of the lab. He tilted his head, and tried to see if Valenti’s walk did anything to change how he was feeling. And that’s the only reason he would give for not noticing Alex coming up to stand next to him. 

“Alright, Guerin,” Alex’s voice sounded mild but Michael knew better. “Talk.”

“Um, what?” he said. 

“Don’t what me, Michael,” Alex said. “You were eyeing Kyle as if he was going to shoplift the Project Shepherd files right out of here.” His voice turned a little cold then, “and right then you were most definitely checking out his ass. What’s going on with you?”

Michael tried to pay attention to the words Alex was saying, but his mind and body were racing. He wasn’t reacting to Valenti, it was Alex. Alex somehow smelled different, and Michael’s entire being had become attuned to the difference, reacting to it. 

“Why do you smell like that?” he blurted out instead. 

Alex looked a little taken aback, but it was a fleeting expression. “What do you mean? Smell like what?”

Michael’s brain realized the right words were not being said here, so his body had to put in some work too. He turned to face Alex and slowly but without hesitation, ran a hand down Alex’s arm to grab his wrist. Michael watched Alex’s face carefully as he brought the wrist up to his lips. 

Eyes now closed, Michael let his senses flood through - the feel of Alex’s soft skin against his lips, that tantalizing scent surrounding them. He pressed his lips to the wrist, inhaling deeply, and in the silence of the bunker, the soft responding gasp from Alex echoed loudly. 

“Michael,” Alex’s voice was barely a whisper. Michael opened his eyes and tilted his head, taking in Alex’s flushed high cheeks, and dilated pupils. 

“You smell like me,” Michael said, lips brushing the delicate skin of Alex’s wrist. Alex’s lips parted and Michael felt his pulse thundering against his lips. 

“I think it’s my-” Alex didn’t get to finish, pulled up to Michael’s chest. Michael’s whole body was singing, Alex was in his grasp, and he wasn’t going to let go. 

All he could say was mine before he kissed Alex hard. 

He couldn’t help himself from the wet desperate slant of his mouth on Alex’s, tongues tangling and heated breaths mingling. Alex kissed back with equal force, clumsy and desperate in equal measures. It wasn’t a graceful kiss, but it felt better than any kiss Michael had felt in a long long time, sinking into his bones and lighting him up from the inside. 

Michael curled his fingers into Alex’s thick hair, giving into the kiss. But then out of nowhere, Alex pulled back. 

“Guerin, are you sure about this?” Alex’s voice was so hesitant, so soft, Michael hurt. He had wasted too much time, too much energy on tragedy, and not enough on making Alex feel loved. But now he had started, he wasn’t going to stop. 

Instead of replying he pushed into Alex’s space, fitting his lips over Alex’s in a smooth motion. Alex’s mouth was slick and hot, moving to fit at a different angle than before and Michael arched into him, Alex’s hand tight on the small of his back.

“Alex,” Michael said, incoherent with desire and feeling honey warm like he was slowly getting drunk on the best whiskey. The kiss deepened somehow, both their bodies curved as one. The bunker was filled with sounds of their lips, obscene and loud in the silence. Michael made a sound somewhere between a sigh and a moan, and put both his arms around Alex’s neck. 

“Oh god,” Michael panted when Alex broke away briefly to trail hot kisses down his neck, fastening his mouth to the delicate skin over Michael’s pulse point, “oh god, that’s—don’t stop, just—fuck.” Why weren’t they in bed already?

He tightened his fingers in Alex’s hair and pulled him up again, capturing Alex’s mouth. He’d never kissed anyone like this, not during the years he threw himself at every willing warm body while he pined for Alex. Only Alex’s kisses were fierce and frantic and messy, hands everywhere, kissing like fucking, like they were already naked and grasping at each other in bed, like Alex wanted to take him the fuck apart, fuck him into the mattress, come inside. 

Alex’s scent was like a warm blanket around him, enveloping him from inside out. 

He had no idea when his hands unbuckled Alex’s jeans, but he wasn’t complaining when Alex’s breath hitched, Michael’s fingers skimming the hard length of his cock.

“Michael,” Alex whispered, fumbling to unbutton Michael’s jeans, desperate to get his hands on Michael too. The desire to be closer, to have more skin on skin, burned through Michael. He needed to get his hands on Alex, everywhere. He knocked Alex’s hand away, pushing down his own pants and pulling Alex closer, taking them both in hand. The touch of hot hard skin on skin made them both groan, making Michael rub up against Alex a little faster. 

He could feel Alex starting to shake a little, standing in the middle of a bunker, hands clinging on to Michael’s shoulders. Michael’s entire focus was narrowed down to where his cock was sliding in delicious friction against Alex’s cock, the only anchor keeping him from flying apart. Michael wondered if he could hold them in this moment, an amber casing around the feeling of teetering on the edge, savoring the slide of skin against skin, lips against lips. 

But Michael had been on the edge all day, and from the quiet huffs of choked off moans from Alex, the edge was coming up soon. 

Without any warning Michael came, spilling hot against his hand and on Alex’s cock, making Alex bite off a “Michael!” against his lips before he was coming too. 

They stayed clinging on to each other for a few moments, just breathing together in the quiet. Eventually Alex pushed him back and reached behind him, hands thumping around to grab one of the boxes of tissues they kept around the bunker. Handing tissues to Michael, they both cleaned up and buttoned up in relative silence. 

Alex looked up at Michael as he turned from throwing the tissues in the trash. “So I guess you like the new body wash I got, Guerin,” Alex said, his smirk not doing enough to hide the uncertainty Michael could hear in his voice. 

He walked up and put his arms around Alex, making sure to tuck his fingers in Alex’s back pockets. Grinning, he placed three quick but chaste pecks on Alex’s lips. 

“I like all of you, Alex,” he said. 

Alex’s responding smile was like a slow and warm sunrise, and Michael promised himself to never stop making Alex smile like that. 

[alpaca-writes]

Mystics, Chapter 12

When Arch becomes hired on at Mystics by the strange shopkeeper Lyrem Nomadus, everything seems to be going well- in fact, their life nearly becomes perfection. Soon enough, however, Arch realizes that perhaps not everything is as perfect as it seems….

Directory: [chapter one] [chapter two] [chapter three] [chapter four] [chapter five] [chapter six] [chapter seven] [chapter eight] [chapter nine] [chapter ten] [chapter eleven]

Tag list: @myst-in-the-mirror, @livingforthewhump

CW: memory whump, psychological whump, noncon touching (nonsexual), swearing. torture mention, car accident mention

CHAPTER TWELVE: THE FUTURE IS UNCERTAIN

        Store meeting. 8pm tonight. –

        “And, send.” Lyrem muttered to himself, then sighed. He laid his elbow against the countertop, staring mindlessly at his phone and drank the last sip of his coffee before throwing it into the trash bin beside him. The shapeshifter was in the alley, waiting for their cue. All Lyrem needed now, was Arch. A slight flittering sound alerted him to a new text.

        Omw.

        Perfect. Everything was in motion. Everything was going to work out. Arch needed a little more push. Just a slight nudge to keep them interested in working for him. The farther they went, the harder it would be to return to innocence. He couldn’t allow them the chance to turn away. He needed to awaken their memories naturally. He needed them to be lost in their fury. He needed them to take that extra step- he needed them to kill. And who better to help them to do that than-

        The front door flew open in a rage. Lyrem was faced with a version of himself blazoning with passionate anger. His eyes were red, his face was pink. He looked as though…

        “What happened to you?” He asked himself. The other Lyrem wiped a stray unstoppable tear from his face.

        “Oh, you’ll fucking find out!” He shouted. He travelled through the store and directly entered the employee washroom. He remained in there for several minutes before emerging with his face rinsed but still tender. He announced to his other self, still in a fit. “I’m taking the SUV.”

        The present Lyrem raised a brow, then returned to staring at his texts. It wasn’t often that he dared cross himself within a time-stream.

        “Just don’t crash the damn thing.” He hollered, but his future self was already gone through the back.

        -----

        The Labyrinth.

        Arch had only ever heard of it.

        What they knew was simply that it was a place of emptiness. It was a place where nothing existed. A place where suffering, joy, life and death ceased to be. It was also a place that stole you from the world. A step into the depths of the Labyrinth and you’d be forgotten to all. Forgotten to the whole world- except for the very one who had tossed you in. Even on Earth, the Labyrinth would ensure you’d never exist there either- not even in a memory. It wasn’t like simple Latin blood magic. This was a loss to endure forever.

        Now, they saw it, and it was much less impressive than they expected. Lyrem had propped open the back door as Arch held onto the man’s body- or the person they were to assume was the man. But… Arch knew better than to believe everything they heard. They were reminded of the policeman, Grenn, and what he had said a week ago-

        “How does a guy walk away from a car crash with a Bowie stuck in his leg?”

        At the time, it wasn’t as important to know how the man got away, as much as it was important to find him. Lyrem seemed sure that they had found him, but Arch wasn’t so sure- especially not after they leaned into his right leg. There wasn’t anything remotely close to a reaction from him. The knife was buried at lease two inches into his leg, of that, Arch was certain; and no one could heal from that in a week. The Labyrinth wouldn’t be pleasant, certainly, but at least they weren’t about to kill an innocent man.

        “Well?” Lyrem touted, “What are you waiting for?”

        Arch looked up and down the empty alleyway. Usually, Lyrem’s vehicle would be blocking the view of the street from the alley’s entrance, but it wasn’t around tonight. Maybe it was at a mechanics’; maybe Arch would get lucky.

        “Nothing,” they said, dismally. They propped the man up, who was now completely unconscious from a second well-placed blow to the head, and kicked him forward into the darkness.

        Lyrem closed the door after the shapeshifter.

        “I am proud of you, Arch,” he said, but this time, it sounded skeptical. Like he was testing them. He could see the change in their demeanour and he measured what this new version of Arch might mean for him.

        “That wasn’t the man, was it?” They postulated. Lyrem squirmed under their gaze. He nodded apologetically, and gave a half smile.

        “Too clever for your own good,” he praised warmly. Approaching, he clasped his hands together.  “You caught me. That was not the Man- though you certainly put him in his place, didn’t you? The Labyrinth… I would choose death over the Labyrinth a hundred times over if given a choice. Quite diabolical of you to choose the Labyrinth.”

        Arch stepped backward, nearly tripping over their own feet to do so. Lyrem regarded their movement keenly, and furrowed his brows.

        “What’s wrong, Arch?”

        “Nothing,” they mumbled, looking away, towards the door. “What… was he? Why did he look like the man?”

        “Oh,” Lyrem realized. “He is a shapeshifter. Hard beings to find, I will admit but for this particular job, he did just perfect. Well worth the expense I think.”

        Arch squinted their eyes at Lyrem, who was so comfortable with the idea of tossing people away.

        “So, he was like you?” Arch alleged tentatively. “A… a monster?”

         Lyrem stepped forward at the accusation, towering himself over the kid that he regarded so highly. A sharp betrayal stung him in the chest. He had almost forgotten that his future self had visited him to retrieve the SUV. He may finally know exactly what set him off into such a fury.

        “Say that again.”

        Arch stammered and stumbled over their words, their hands finding their way to their pocket where their phone was missing, but the mace, thankfully, remained. Lyrem stopped them with a finger to their lips, resulting in an upsetting silence from Arch.

        “I am not a monster,” he stated. “What I am is a bestower of great gifts. I gave you dominance and power over those who have oppressed you and you would lower me to the tier of a shapeshifter- a monster?”

        Arch was shaking now, unable to move any further away, and too fearful to object to his statements.

        “You promised me your life, your devotion to this work that I do. Arch, if I am truly a monster in your eyes, then you need not fear me any more than the one that stares back at you from a mirror.”

        Lyrem lowered his fingers, and took a deep breath.

        “I will forgive you, Arch. I will forgive you because I care about you, and because you did something very difficult for me today.” Lyrem raised his arm again, setting a hand on their shoulder. “And I suspect you are still trying to remember everything that you and I have done together. So… I apologize if this experience was… rattling.”

        “My…” Arch mumbled, still stricken with a sense of danger that was overwhelming them, reason and all. “My mom… she warned me…”

        The memories were fading… They were fading quickly. But their mom… their mom?... told them… somebody told them not to trust this man. The man with the gem shop. The man who forced them to work late. The man who taught them what power truly was.

        This was the man they feared. And they feared him more than anything else in the world.

        The lid of the mace hit the alleyway’s pavement, rolling into a gutter of the road. The hiss of the spray and the following spewed insults, were enough of a distraction for Arch to run into the street after they had thrown the emptied canister into the old man’s face. The only thing screaming in their mind was the knowledge that they had to return home and not Lyrem’s well chosen words that echoed down to them as he followed them at a slower pace to the sidewalk.

        “YOU UNGRATEFUL WRETCH!”

        Arch flew down the many streets, pushing past the evening street-walkers if needed. Their legs fought them the whole way; still recovering from the bruises from the crash and their back still feeling the panging effects from the whiplash that caused a near-constant aching. For now, they couldn’t care less. They needed to get home. They needed to be safe. They needed…

        For whatever reason, a visual of Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore popped into their head. There was something about it that was wrong. There was something missing. Someone missing. Who was telling them about that ridiculous movie, again?

        Who would be waiting for them at the house? They thought.

        Maleficent. That stupid cat.

        People lived with other people though, didn’t they? Families. They realized. That was what it was called. They had one of those. Human families. Siblings and grandparents and fathers and…

        They reached the end of their block, their own face worn from the fears of that night and exhausted from everything that had been revealed to them. They weren’t a monster… They couldn’t be.

        They were Arch. They were a stupid high school student who had a part-time job. They had friends... they had little hobbies… they failed Spanish class.

        They also tortured Kyle. They flayed his skin so that Lyrem could dry them and use them as paper for certain macabre spell work.

        The more they ran with the knowledge of what they had done and who they had hurt, the harder it was to continue… the easier it was to give up. Their knees buckled, hitting the sidewalk pavement with force. Out of breath, and feeling nauseous, Arch’s forehead met the hot ground next; their arms and hands curled around their head as they threatened to pull their own hair out as a means of distraction from their horrible reality.

        “There you are…”

        Arch gulped, and merely wept, soaking the sidewalk in a small spot where their face was supported only by their forearms. They felt a firm grasp pulling them up by the elbow, and they succumbed to its demands. Their knees were torn into by stray pebbles, tossed on from the boulevards- some were still small enough to remain stuck beneath their there, leaving specks of red across their skin.

        “Wh-where…” Arch started to say- though they didn’t entirely know what they were trying to ask as a fog of grief and anger and fear poured over them. “Where’s… my…”

        It was exhausting, trying to remember exactly what was so wrong- why they couldn’t stand to be around Lyrem right now- and despite their best efforts to pull away, he dutifully remained by their side as they walked the rest of the street together. Slowly they arrived at the front door of the house.  

         Maleficent sat there at the top of the porch, waiting; her blue eyes peering judgmentally at the kid as they found their way up the stairs. A long grey tail swept from side to side lazily, then she proceeded to lick herself.

        Lyrem closed them into the house; the scent of burning paper filling it. He had lit a small fire in the living room and stacked several small Rubbermaid containers beside it- one of which, sitting on the raised slate hearth was half empty.

        The futon was roughly shoved back into the form of a couch. Bags of clothing in multiple colours remained by the door, as well as a stack of math and chemistry texts with haphazardly strewn loose-leaf papers.

        He sat Arch down on the futon as he laid a hand on their back. Gently, he caressed them and pulled a warm fleece throw over their lap. Arch curled into it, and watched the fire burn, engulfing the last memories of the people they thought of as family. Lyrem return to stoking it. He picked through some photos and papers from the open bin, allowing Arch to watch as he tossed them to the flames.

        Arch found themselves drifting into a deep dreamless sleep. With a pillow under their head and the room growing too warm, Lyrem studied them fondly as he continued to shove their past into the flames. Over an hour later, he closed the lid on the one of the last bins. He would return to burning those papers and photos another time. He pushed the little metal bar to close the flue on the fire, and shut the door on it as it groaned like a horn.

        “You rang…?”

        Lyrem turned around, seeing Paimon, he scoffed. Then held a finger to his lips to keep the demon quiet until he shooed him into the kitchen. Lyrem started the kettle on the stove. Paimon looked from the couch and then back to Lyrem warily, and then opened his mouth.

        “Don’t say it,” Lyrem interjected. Paimon looked slightly offended.

        “I was going to say that our lawyer has their papers ready,” Paimon replied with an innocent conjecture. Removing his tall hat, he placed it on the small worn wooden table. Lyrem nodded, and he continued. “But also, that you are getting too close.”

        Lyrem pulled himself away from the cupboard; a tin of hot chocolate powder in his hand, he considered using it as a bludgeoning instrument- but even if he had something more weaponized, Paimon wouldn’t have felt a thing. He was a demon, after all.

         “All Arch has to do is sign and your debts will become their debts. You won’t ever have to worry about what you owe- well until you make another ridiculous deal, that is.”

        “Keeping Maria alive was not a ridiculous deal,” Lyrem said. He pulled three mugs out of the cupboard, filling them with spoonfuls of the powder. Now they only needed to wait for the water to boil.

        “My apologies,” Paimon instilled a silence into the room. Absently he sifted through the mail with Charlotte’s name sprawled over it. Insurance payment reminders, some neighbourhood notices, and list of seemingly random addresses she had penned out over the phone one day, they all sat in a heap. “Their mother, then?”

        Lyrem accepted the shame with dignity and crossed his arms as he leaned into the fridge.

“It had to be done. Arch is too easily influenced by them,” He spoke simply. “Thank you again for providing me with another doorway. It took a lot of energy… I may need to devour a heart or two before I replenish my strength.”

“Have you considered that you might be getting in a little over your head?”

Lyrem shook it. “No. I- I am not in over my head, Paimon. My head is still well above the waterline, thank you very much.”

Paimon smoothed his beard to the end and regarded the man skeptically.

“So, you will still allow Arch to sign?”

Lyrem blinked, his lashes fluttering bit as he thought of his answer. Then he scowled.

“They already said they would sign. I am sure that if Arch cares about me, and cares about the work ahead of them, that they will make the right decision for themselves.”

“And if they make the wrong decision?” Paimon postulated.

Lyrem fell silent just in time for the kettle to scream out with a high whistle. He shut off the stove, and picked it up. Filling the three mugs and giving them a stir, he passed one to Paimon, then moved to the living room.

With a light nudge, Arch awoke to the smell of the warm chocolate sugar and accepted the cup as they sat up. Wrapping their blanket around their shoulders, Lyrem asked.

“Are you feeling better, now?”

Arch nodded, brushing away some dried tears. Past Lyrem’s head of grey, the light was on in the kitchen with the demon in black sitting there still. He caught their gaze and held it carefully. Arch waved.

Paimon nodded back with a slight sideways grin.

“What’s Paimon doing here?” they asked, whispering to Lyrem.

Good. They remembered Paimon.

“He’s just here to catch up, that’s all.” Lyrem left them to their own devices on the couch and returned to the kitchen table as he retrieved his own comforting mug and held onto it with both hands as if the simple act could warm his rapidly cooling heart.

‘Let them enjoy their prom- their graduation. One last night out with their friends.” Lyrem was asking- no, pleading more than telling.

“Immediately after. I don’t want you to be running around any longer with this target on your back. It makes me… uneasy.” Paimon adjusted in his seat. “You and I still have much to do.”

“Yes. Yes, I know.” Lyrem sipped on his hot chocolate as his hazel eyes glazed over from thoughts that were perhaps too deep for his own good.

[ultraintrovertedgryffindor]

Just Like You - Kenny McCormick(South Park)

I wrote this a really long time ago when I was obsessed with South Park. I don’t know why lmao, but here it is. 

Warning: Also wrote this when I was an edgy teen™, so cringe and possible trigger warning.

~~~~~~~~~~

Welp, today’s the day...

New town. New house. New school.

My parents had gotten a better job offer here in this little town of South Park, much to my dismay. I love traveling, but moving from a large city in New York to a small mountain town in Colorado is a lot.

It should be interesting though, more opportunities that I’ve never gotten before. Although, I still have to go to school. The local South Park high school.

I put on my outfit for school and wear my black coat over it. It seems to always snow here, only on rare occasions it gets warm. I run downstairs and grab a piece of toast my mother made from the kitchen. I find a note on the counter.

Have a good first day of school, hon. Try to make some friends, and yes, that means being nice to people. Your father and I will not be back until tomorrow morning, so keep those memories of your first day in you head until we can hear about it. Love you!

My mother is a freak, I love her, but she’s a freak. I’m surprised my father has a job with all the day drinking he does. It helps him get work done, I guess.

I walk to school still eating my buttered toast. Approaching the school, I take in its features. It’s an ugly yellow color. Although, I think all bright colors are ugly. I walk in the school and all eyes are on me. I pretend not to notice. I get my class schedule and such from the receptionist and make my way towards my locker.

“You must be new. I think I would’ve recognized an ass that fine before.” A brunette says to me. I roll my eyes and huff.

“As a matter of fact, I am new. I was hoping for something better than a lame catcall on my first day, but at least you tried.” I said and patted him on the shoulder. He glared, tears filling in his eyes, and stomped off.

I bet he’s never been rejected in his entire life, poor soul.

I walk into my first class and immediately get called on. “Well, hello there! You must be the new student. Y/N right? Well, I’m Mr. Garrison and this here is my little friend Mr. Hat. Say hello Mr. Hat!”

Okay...already creeped the fuck out. Something about his southern accent and oh yeah, his fucking creepy ass puppet just rubs me the wrong way.

“Now, please, go take a seat. Wait...are you a troublemaker?” He asks.

“Oh no. Not at all, sir.” I lie. It’s easy to lie. I have a natural talent for it.

“Oh alright, I guess you can sit next to Kenny. That boy in the orange coat. You can keep him in check.”

Will do, you creepy old fuck.

I take my seat next to the blonde haired boy. He’s kinda cute actually. After class a group of boys came up to me, including that Kenny kid.

“Hi, new kid! Just thought we’d introduce ourselves. I’m Kyle. This here’s Stan, Cartman, and Kenny.” The redhead said.

“Holy shit, look at those tits!”

“Cartman!” Kyle scolded.

“Well, first off. It’s Y/N, not new kid. And nice to meet you too...I guess.” I said and walked off. 

Yeah, I don��t have great people skills. My harshness has pushed people away. I’m trying to work on it. But determined from what the fatass said I probably don’t wanna be friends with those dudes.

Off to lunch, finally. Hopefully the lunch here is better than the ones at my old school. I took my tray and looked around the lunchroom. Everyone in groups or pairs. I see one empty table. I head towards it and sit down.

The food isn’t that bad, but I’ll definitely be bringing my own from now on. While I was eating I noticed people staring at me. One, that Kenny kid, and two, that guy that used that lame catcall. I got uncomfortable real quick.

The rest of school was a bust. It was boring. Now, I want something fun to do. I heard that there’s a pond near here, that sounds like fun. I asked directions to where the pond was, which I found out was called Stark’s Pond, and headed there.

I approached and noticed no one was there. Perfect.

I looked around in my bookbag for some rope, and luckily I carry some around with me at all times. I look a heavy looking rock and tie it to the rope. I’m not that heavy so it should work.

I tie the other end of the rope around my ankle. I throw the boulder into the pond and it yanks me down, breaking my ankle. It drags me down until the rock rests at the bottom of the pond.

It’s dark and cold. I’m floating, suspended in time. I look up and see the sunlight breaking through the surface of the water, but it’s not enough to reach me. My hair flies around, loose and tangling each other. I reach up and run my fingers through my soft hair.

It starts...I try to gasp for breath but it isn’t there. My lungs start to burn with fire as no oxygen reaches them and they only fill with water as I struggle for air.

I always find this part of drowning so fascinating. Your survival instincts kick in and you try so desperately to fight to survive but come up short when your lungs fill completely with water and your body becomes stiff and frozen.

I black out.

*The Next Morning*

I gasp and bolt upright from my bed.

I sigh in relief to see that I’m back again, in my new home. Every time I die, there’s always a part of me that’s afraid I’ll never come back, and yet I always do.

The first time it happened, I was 10. I was at a birthday party. It was my friend’s party cake that killed me. Someone, while making the cake, accidentally put poison in it. I don’t know how in the hell someone “accidentally” puts poison in a cake, but it happened.

I started to feel hungry, it wasn’t time eat yet but the cake was on the kitchen table and I couldn’t help myself. I took a small piece of cake, it was delicious but it caused me to foam out the mouth and have a seizure. I died almost instantly. Good thing I died otherwise the rest of those kids would’ve had a bad day.

Then I woke up in my bed the next morning.

The hardest part was that no one remembered that I died, but I did. I remember the whole painful experience, and my parents didn’t even believe me. They took me to counseling after that, not that it helped.

One day, a few weeks after the first time I died, I tried crossing the road without my parents. I looked both ways and no cars were coming as far as I could tell. As soon as I almost crossed the, a car came out of no where and completely wrecked me. Again, I woke up in my bed like nothing happened.

The day after I built up the courage enough to test out the theory that I was unkillable. My dad had a 9 mil in his safe. I shot myself, and just like that, I woke up in my bed the next day.

At first, I was insanely afraid of myself and it wasn’t until last year that I realized it could be fun.

I’ve tested out so many ways of dying. Yesterday at the pond was my first time drowning, but I wanted to get over it cause I knew I’d drown soon even if I avoided it. Next on my list is falling to my death, but besides drowning heights is my biggest fear. Heights might be a good excuse to procrastinate getting that done.

I get up out of bed and take a quick shower. I wonder if I’ll ever stop being immortal? It’s probably a good thing I am since I’ve become so accident prone.

After my shower, I quickly got dressed and jogged down the stairs, almost falling in the process. I walked into the kitchen where I saw my parents.

“Y/N! Hello, sweetie!” My mom said and gave me a hug.

“Hey.” I said.

My mom was making waffles and my dad was just sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Dick never pays any attention to me.

“So, how was your first day of school? Did you make any friends?”

“Uh, not really. Some guys introduced themselves to me, but you know how I am with people. And school was fine, learned a lot, teachers are a freaky though.” I paused. “Oh, and I drowned myself at Stark’s Pond.” I said nonchalantly.

My mom sighed. “That’s nice dear.”

Ever since I’ve been experimenting with dying over and over, I’ve been telling my parents about it. They never believe me of course. Even when one time I purposely hurt myself and bled to death in front of them, but they never remember. My dad didn’t really give a shit though. Anyway...

“I’m going to school now. Later!” I said, walking out the door.

Hmm, maybe I should take the bus. I wait at the bus stop, cause I don’t feel like walking to school.

“Y/N!” I flinch when I heard my name being called out. I turn to see Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and Cartman walking up to me. “I didn’t know you took the bus.” Kyle went on to say.

“Didn’t really feel like walking to school today.” I said, looking down and kicking the ground beneath me absentmindedly.

The bus finally arrived and we all walked on, I sat in the very back by myself. Until Kenny decided to sit next to me.

“Mmph!” He said, well I don’t exactly know he said. His bright orange parka covering his face made his voice muffled. I’m just gonna assume he said hi.

“Hi.” I replied.

“Mmph mmph mmph mph mmmph mmph!”

“Uh...huh?”

He rolled his eyes and took off his hood, revealing a mop of messy dirty blonde hair. “I said, how are you liking school so far?” He said.

“Oh, um. It’s okay, I guess.” I smiled.

“You guess? Okay, so I take it you don’t really like it.”

“Well, it always sucks when you’re the new kid and you have no friends.” I sighed.

“No friends, huh? Well, I’ll be you friend. I’m sure Kyle and Stan will too!” He said, making me blush. Darn. “Aw, you’re blushing!”

“Shut up. I always blush.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Kenny smirked.

When we finally got to school Kenny walked me to class, which was nice. He’s actually really nice and funny, also really adorable.

*A Week Later*

School so far has been good. I’ve grown really close to Kenny, since he’s basically my only friend. 

Kenny invited me to sit with him at his table, I agreed. Stan and Kyle seemed to enjoy my company though, Cartman didn’t. Didn’t like me for some reason, although he could be just an asshole all the time.

As the talk started to slow down and lunch was almost over, I looked around the lunchroom to avoid small talk. I saw the guy with brown hair staring at me again, but looked away when I saw him. “Hey, Kenny?”

“Yeah?”

“Who is that guy over there?” I ask, discreetly pointing at him.

“Oh, that guy in the red coat is Clyde. Why?” Kenny asked.

“Oh, no reason. He was just staring at me my first day here and also today. He also kinda catcalled me that day too.”

Kenny noticeably frowned. “He has?”

“Yeah, but it’s probably nothing.” I stuttered a little. Kenny giggled. 

“You’re cute when you stutter.” He smiled, which made me blush. “Aw, you’re blushing again.” He poked my blushing cheeks.

“Ugh, stop.” I whined, and shoved his hand away.

The rest of school was okay. Kenny stayed by my side the whole day, I didn’t mind, but he seemed like he was in a clingy mood which was weird. “I’ll walk you home.” Kenny said.

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that.” I said.

“Nah, I insist.” He said.

Well, who could say no to Kenny. We were almost to my house, we had to cross the street first. We both walked side by side, Kenny had his arm around my shoulders to which I giggled. I suddenly hear a loud horn, I tried to push Kenny out of harm’s way but it was too late.

We’d both been run over by a semi-truck. 

I gasp and bolt upright from my bed in a cold sweat.

Oh, god. Kenny. We both got hit. I tried to get Kenny out of the way, but I was too late. I let him get run over. He’s probably dead because of me.

I start to sob. He’s dead and it’s my fault. My fucking fault. God no. Why couldn’t it have just been me? I wouldn’t even care if I wasn’t able to come back, I just want Kenny to still be alive.

My alarm went off. I smashed it. I’m not going to school today. I can’t. Everyone probably knows Kenny’s dead and they’re mourning him school. I can’t be knowing it’s my fault.

My doorbell rings.

Ugh...I don’t feel answering the door. The person is now beating on the door, damn they’re persistent.

I get up to yell at the person who’s beating down my door. I mumble profanities as I answer it. My heart stops. Not literally but it feels like it. 

“K-Kenny?” I start sobbing as I take the blonde haired boy in my arms, holding tightly. “I thought you died!” I sob. I pull away. His face looks like he’s in shock, also confused.

“You...you remember?” He asks.

“Of course I do! I tried pushing you out of the way of that truck, I guess I succeeded.” I sigh in relief.

“But...how? I thought you died too.” He said, flabbergasted.

“What do you mean too? Wait, you remembered I died?” I ask, also so confused.

“Y/N, I died. You didn’t push me out of the way in time, but I didn’t save you either. We both died,” he paused, “and we both remember.”

Suddenly, Kenny grabs both my upper arms and pulls me close to him and gives me a passionate kiss. 

I pull away, shocked. “Woah....what was that for?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just...nobody has ever remembered me dying. No one, but you can.” Kenny explained.

“And you remember me dying?” I ask.

Kenny nods. “You’re the first person that remembers me dying too.” He says.

I don’t know what to say or do. This has never happened to me before. I think Kenny feels the same, since we’re both just stood awkwardly at my front door. I finally break the silence.

“Kenny, I thought you died, and I’ve never been more scared in my entire life.” I said, with still a few salty tears flowing down my red cheeks.

“I was too.” Kenny said. “Well, looks like we have more in common than I originally thought.” He giggled.

~~~~~~~~~~